Omaha daily bee., 1916-07-24
RILEY IS PASSING.

oh, the old troubadour has laid down the
broken Lutte,
singing lips are mute;
For the stream Of song and laughter That
so sweetly used to roll,
It has dwindled down and persisted like
the old swimming hole;
And the soul of ,whitcomb Riley seems to
family flutter by;
Like the ghost of daisy. dropped out
Of the sky
For we loved his homely rhyming by Its
rustic grammar marred.
"And Its hard to part forever with the
old Hoosier bard.
For Riley now Is passing: he has folded up
his scroll.
And he'll sing no more in rapture of the
old swimming hole. ...'s
where the bullrushes grew, and the cat
tails so tall,
And the sunshine and shadow fell over 1t
all"
For the sunshine Of his life 10 a red glow
In the West,
And the old Hoosisr poet, he Is lying down
to rest, ~
And littls orphan Annie. with the teardrop.
Is standing like an angel DER the cot where
Riley lies.
The voice of Riley. singing Of the land
VI loHB dBO
Sounded like the laugh of something that
For it took us back to childhood tb the
attic trundle bed,
And we could almost hear the locust
blossoms dropping on the shed"
Again we made the journey down the old
dusty lane"
Where the tracks Of our bare feet were
printed all so plain
And the merry days Of youth" bresthed
an incense round the SOUL
When he sang his sweetest number TO the
old Swimming hole.
Oh. the old Hoosier bard, when he turned
the pipes O. Pam"
He wove golden glory round the ragged
hired man;
And the farm was an enchantment, where
the dearest dreams would flock.
When the frost was on the pumpkin and
the foder in the shock" -
He set to words and music every humble
task and chore,
And revealed the sleeping beauties we had
never seen before;
He touched our hearts to tenderness and
awe too deep for tears,
And the simple songs of Riley journey
with US through the years
We 60 back to Griggsby station, where the
people all were poor"
Yet wealth Of "pinks and hollyhocks were
growing round each door,"
And "out<to old Aunt Marys" there was
never ending fun, --..
And cookies made Of cinnamon and many
buttered bun;
And the hired man SO ''raggedy' that fed
the ''wobbly calf"
And told the funny tales that made the
little children laugh
Though the Riley ryhmes were common
place. they nursed the spark divine
And this passing Hoosier poet was land
old sweetheart Of mine"
But them days Is passed and gone, and
Old Times tuck his TOLL"
From the old man" that wrote OF the
old swimming hole; H..
And little orphan Annie" 10 Erown.up
now, no doubt.
"For the goblin. Age, will get us ~ we
don't watch outs"
And the happy little cripple. who had
curvture Of the SPINE"
IL looking down from heaven with an
angel form divine,
And waiting for the singer who ....would
strip to his soul
And plunge of in his grave. like the
out into the afterwhiles'' the sands of
Is, life have run;
The dreamer and the endless dream are
merging into one;
But the picture he limned, all the Years
can never blot
Though his rold diving log, It lies sunk
and forgot
still the scene on the creek bank will never
grow dim,
Though no more will the shade of the
trees shelter him."
For Riley 10 passing. and "our tears In
sorrow rolf
Like the rain that used to dapple up the
old swimming hole" :: -