Putnam patriot., 1916-07-28

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 ad 6ge E#a 6Ha8 ta study law. fat la faGeot as fast as he read and fauu@ # worse taau picking aatzua in aiI" 50 he gave # HP. Ia school he didn't seem to ftt ccuia not learn arithmetic, hung around in the pri- mary classes until he felt in disgrace and while he read better than others had & habit of weeping over the touch ing passages which more practical folk did not seem to understand The fact so mortified him that he got Co run hing away from school te avoid the pathetic things in the readers, with the result that he met some real griefs in the form of whippings both at school and at home. Small wonder tlat he quit school altogether at the age of llfteen
 He did not seem to fit any better at sports and boyish games He has told how he would become tired out" aft CT playing a short time, how he could not keep up at walking or running, how his hands would turn white and his lips purple if be stayed in swim ming as long IS other boys. how he went hunting but once and then near F shot h.s father, with q resultant tarashinR. and bow be never fsbed for bass or brock tfout. but always used worms. on which he spat occasionally, and angled for suufish. Decidedly lit te Jimmy Riley was not like other boys Was it because he was so un- ike them that he sang of them with such sympathy and understanding Was it because he could not stand the rigorous cold of a summer brook that te was able to immortalize -'The Old Swimmin' Hole2. Genius is ever a lining of paradoxes With a spirit f.rong enough to brave the world and command the ages it is often housed ID bodies so frail and finely organized that they cannot bear the brute impact tf the physical world The humor of genius is a sort of forced courage that tests at it's own pathos and suffering. Even in his own laughing account of fl Riley's bOyhood and early life was 2 tragedy Born among good people who yet did not understand in an en- vironment that was. 10 say the least. harsh and uncongeniai, he has im- 1ortaized both. Perhaps he needed tuch schooling If so he repaid the aebt with compound interest.
 Of course after he left school and failed to become a lawyer he had to find something to do. It was drilled into him that he must be practical Il was then he turned his attention tC painting. First he aspired to DOT traits. Gradually he slid down to the practical and became q sign painter Before arriving at this utilitarian goal however. he went with patent medi cine man. painting signs along the way. beating the bass drum, playing q banjo and helping to entertain" the street corner crowds He remained with the patent medicine outfit for one summer and winter and then took UT sign painting more ambitiously.
 At last the writing bug got the better or him, and he conceived the notion of reciting his stuff to little gatherings in his own neighharhood- The mere thought of this filed his soul with 2 stage fright that left him weak and trembling He thereupon approacheo