Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 246, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1912 — Page 3

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY- The Hoosier Poet

T lI} DEN away between two busy thoroughfares in InffilNlMlll} dianapolis is Lockerbie H B street - Scarce two blocks BM in length It resembles nothlug so much as a country J lane. Great elm trees line jSm/l the sides and meet to form f a bower of shade. It is unpaved, for its “leading resident” does not like paving, and when, several years ago, the city council insisted that it should be converted into a conventional city street with a paving of brick, he voiced his protest in a poem beginning: Such a dear little street it Is, nestled away, Worn the noise of the city and heat of the day, In cool shady coverts of whispering trees. With their leaves lifted up to shake hands with the breeze, ' Which In all Its wide wanderings never may meet With a resting-place fairer than Lockerbie street! ' That poem has long been famous and Lockerbie street remains as it always was, “nestled away from the noise of the city and heat of the day." Its "leading resident" is no less a personage than James Whitcomb Riley, recognized as the greatest of living American poets and whose name Is one the best known literary critics of the world treat with a (profound respect Here in Lockerbie street he lives, guletly, unostentatiously, in a large brick house that breathes the verb spirit of comfort, but which makes no pretentions to elegance. And to this spot countless friends will wend their way on Monday, October 7, to extend their congratulations and felicitations, the occasion being the poet's birthday. ‘ •*’

This will begin what Is to be known throughout literary circles as “Riley week,” and which will mark the greatest ovation ever tendered an American writer. This celebration will not be confined to Indianapolis either, for nearly every city in the United States has enthusiastically taken up the Idea and arranged exercises to be held during this week In honor of James 'Whitcomb Riley. Every one seems anxious to pay tribute to the man who has brought sunshine Into thousands of lives. * Only a few months ago there was sadness In many hearts, for the word had gone forth that Mr. Riley had been stricken with an illness from which he could never recover. But today that sadness Is changed to joy, for Mr. Riley has been spared to celebrate another birthday. He Is not only alive, but practically as well as over he was. He Is always happy, and although he no longer strolls through the Indianapolis streets as once he did, he is still a familiar figure, and every day he takes long > rides In his big touring car. He Is an . enthusiastic motorist and one of his principal delights Is to take his friends for a spin around the city or through the country In the vicinity of IndiauappHs. In 1853, In the little country village of Greenfield —scarcely even a village tn those days—there was born James ’Whitcomb Riley, the son of Reuben ißiley, a lawyer and a man known for his fearlessness and unconventionality. The boy’s mother—a Marine —was a .gentle and naturally poet|c woman, and it was from her that Riley Inherited his ability as a rhymester. The young lad’s life, In his earlier years, was not marl&d by any unusual event. His was the life common to boys in small towns. Beyond this, nothing much Is known —there is ■nothing else to know. He attended ■school irregularly, more often than mot a truant —as he himself has pictured —barefoot, browned by summer puns, happy and care-free, listening to a voice no other boy could hear, keeping his heart open and his soul tree —a heart and soul that have never grown old. “I did not go to school very much,"

Automatic Savings Device

. The Nuremberg City Savings Bank (Stedtlsche Bparkasse Nuernberg)' a municipal institution, has Installed three automatic devices for the encouragement of saving among school children. These automats, upon the deposit of a 10-pfennlg piece (2.38 cents) in the slot, deliver a gummed 10-pfennig savings stamp. The bank furnishes without charge a savings card, 5 Inches square, marked off into

he once told an interviewer, “and when I did I was a failure in everything except reading, maybe. I liked to read. We had McGuffey’s readers. But I always ran away when we were to read 'Little NelL’ I knew I couldn’t read it without crying and, it I cried, the other boys would laugh at me." ■ To another visitor Mr: Riley said that he never had much schooling, and, continuing, he remarked: "What little I had never did me much good, I believe. I never could master mathemathlcs, and history was a dull and juiceless thing to me. But I was always fond of reading to a random, desultory way, and took naturally to anything theatrical. I cannot remember when I was not a deCiaimer, and I began to rhyme almost as soon as T could talk. The first verse I ever remember writing. was a four-line valentine. I was so small that I could hardly reach the top of the table, and I was painting a comic sketch on a piece of paper. I had a natural faculty for drawing as well as for rhyming,' and should probably have made a fair artist If I had kept at It. Well, below the sketch I was making I wrote four comic lines, and these were probably my first poetic effort." Perhaps the child Riley studied both the picture he had drawn and the lines he had written and decided then and there that the lines were so much better than the picture that he would devote his efforts thereafter to writing. In any event, he became a poet According to his own autobiographical sketch he was born "so long ago that he persists In never referring to the date. Citizens of his native town of Greenfield, Ind., while warmly welcoming his event were no less demonstrative some years since to ‘speed the parting guest’ It seems, In, fact, that as they came to know him better the more resigned were they to give him Up. He was 111-starred from the very cradle, It appears. One day, while but a toddler, he climbed unseen to an open window where . some potted plants were ranged, and while leaning far out to catch some dainty gilded butterfly, perchance, he lost his footing, and, with a piercing shriek, fell to the sidewalk below; and when, an Instant later, the affrighted parents picked him up, he was-4ie was a poet!” At the age of fifteen Riley ceased to attend school, and at the wish of his father began to study law. As may readily be understood, in view of 4ils career, the law had no attraction for the young poet So, after being advised by the. family physician to travel, Riley seized the first opportunity that offered and, putting aside his Blackstone, fled one afternoon between twilight and sunset to return to his native town no more for a year. Riley, as he afterward said, had no money with which to defray the expenses of a trip, and, when a patent medicine “doctor” made his advent In Greenfield Riley allied himself with the travels caravan and departed when the cavalcade pushed on to the next town. “I was with this man about a year," he said a few months ago. "His home was In Lima, Ohio, and he was a' kindly old fellow. I did a good many things white in his employ—painted signs, beat the bass drum a bit and, maybe, I recited. My experience put An idea to my head—-a business Idea for a wonder—and the next year I went

20 squares, to which these stamps are to be attached. When the card Is filled up, it represents the value of 2 marks (47.6 emits), and upon presentation at the bank, the depositor’s account is credited with that amount. One of these automats has been placed to the corridor of the bank office at the City hall and the other two to the corridors of high-school buildings. These stamp automats cost about $l9O each.

Into partnership with a young man. We organized an advertising company; we called it 'The Graphic company.* There were five or six young fellows—all musicians as well as handy painters. We used to capture the towns with our music, then contract with some merchants and decorate the fences along the country roads with their signs." Riley and his associates continued in this occupation three or four years. All the while the young poet was gaining a reputation here and there as a rhymester, a teller of good stories and a companionable, interesting, lovable young man. He wrote a great deal, and much that was submitted to eastern periodicals. Their editors, however, returned these contributions as regularly as they were received. It was discouraging, especially soln the eyes of the young poet, who believed and doubtless was justified in believing—that his products were as good as those the magazines accepted and published. He did not have a name —and lack of reputation In those days was a serious handicap. Riley never ceased to contend when with his friends that this fact and this alone held him back. To prove it, he wrote the famous "Leonalnle,” and, with the connivance of the editor of a Kokomo (Ind.) paper, presented it to the world as an unpublished poem by Edgar Allen Poe. An elaborate story was . devised, in which it was said that the poem, bearing the initials E. A. P., had been found, on the fly seas of a book. The verse was In Poe’s ‘wellknown style, and its publication aroused much Interest. In the end the hoax was discovered, but not until many critics had accepted the poem as "one of the best Poe had written."

For a time, he said to later life, he was hopelessly despondent. It was to this frame of mind that a letter found him and summoned him to Indianapolis. The note was from the editor of the Indianapolis Journal, and it urged Riley to accept a position on the Journal staff. At the same time a tender, encouraging note came from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. These two .communications revived Riley’s drooping spirits, and, leaving Anderson and * Greenfield, he went to the state capital. Indianapolis gained a poet, and a few months later, In 1883, Riley’s first book of verse was Issued. _ . It was a simple little affair, bound In paper, bearing the title, "The Old Swlmmin’ Hole and ’Leven More Poems." Riley, as may be Imagined, did not long remain to the Journal’s regular emnloy. One after another his bound volumes began to make. their appearance. Then came the poet’s association with Nye on the lecture platform, followed, when that association was severed, by more poems, public readings and then many years of leisurely writing to hte home to quiet little Lockerbie street. Fortune has smiled on him and his wealth has Increased and his fame has grown. But he Is still the same gentle, lovable man who won friends In Greenfield and Anderson and Kokomo. He has made thousands of friends during his lecture tours. Yes, Mr. Riley’s birthday is to be a glorious event, and the tributes which will be paid him during "Riley Week” are indeed well deserved.

They are installed in the hope that they may Induce children to save their 10-pfennlg pieces rather than spend them for candy. Ice cream, or cither temptations, enough of which are always in evidence. If results are satisfactory. more ofthese automats will be Installed at suitable places.—U. 8. Consular Report

Wasted Effort

The heart that must be reached through the stomachy isn’t worth reaching.

NICE WITH AFTERNOON TEA

Suggestions for Delicacies to Servo at Function 80 Popular With the Gentler Sex. Scald half a cupful of milk, add half a cupful of boiling water, then cool to lukewarm. Add one compressed yeast cake, mixed with three tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water, then add half a tablespoonful of lard, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, one cupful of chopped English walnut meats, half a cupful of white flour and three cupfuls of wheat flour. Knead and bake as ordinary bread. Favorite Sandwiches. —Cream two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter, add a cupful of grated cheese, two tablespoonfuls of anchovy essence, a quarter of a tablespoonful of paprika, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mustard and a half cupful of finely chopped olives. Spread between thin slices of buttered bread. ■ Date Finger Sandwiches. —Put one and a half cupfuls of stoned, chopped dates into a saucepan, add half a cupful of water, then boll gently for half an hour. Remove from the fire, add two heaping tablespoohs of sugar, one teaspoonful of lemon juice, and half a cupful of whipped cream; beat till well blended, then spread thickly between lady fingers. Use the Wheel Tray.—This wheel tray can be used for luncheons, dinners, teas, porch parties and also for functions where refreshments are served. Any woman who entertains needs this invaluable assistant to be up to date, to provide correct service and to save the useless steps and unnecessary fatigue required to carry trays around.

IN PUTTING UP PRESERVES

Matter of Importance Is the Selection of the Right Kind of Fruit to Be Handled. Fruit for preserving in any form should be fresh-picked, or gathered, and slightly under-ripe. Such fruit ensures more perfect shape In the finished product and eliminates the possibility of fermented fruit or the loss of pectin or jelly-toaklng property. Handle soft fruit (peaches, berries, etc.) as little as possible. If it Is to be canned to jars, put it into the jars, at once, on hulling or otherwise preparing It. If berries must be washed, put them, a few at a time, Into a colander, pour cold water over them and turn at once upon a large sieve to drain, then hull. Large hard fruit, as apples, pears, and quinces, should be washed and wiped dry before paring. Cut apples and, other hard fruit, for jelly, into quarters, removing all wormy places or imperfections. Retain the skin and cores. The cores of quinces should be discarded, as the excess of gummy properties does not improve jelly. Use a silver-plated knife to pare fruit. Peaches, soft pears, plums and tomatoes, set into a wire basket (frying basket) may be plunged Into a saucepan of boiling water; after three or four minutes remove to a kettle of cold water for the same time, when the fruit may be quickly and easily peeled. This method of peeling Is admissible when a large quantity of fruit is to be put up, but it is thought to detract somewhat from the flavor.

Chicken Pie.

Cut up the chicken and stew It until it is tender, season It with one teaspoonful of pepper, one tablespoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of ground mace, one teaspoonful of ground ginger, one tablespoonful of chopped onion and two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley. Take a deep pie dish and line It with a pie crust, then put a cup In the center of the dish (this cup will hold the gravy). Then put the chicken In the dish, two raw potatoes cut to thin slices and one hard boiled egg cut to slices. Put the potatoes and egg on top of the chicken and cover the dish with pie crust, bake and serve hot.

Swedish Meat Balia.

One pound of finely ground lean beet put through a,meat chopper twice, also a small onion, If you like onions; one tablespoon of flour, a little pepper and salt, and cold water enough to mix easily with a spoon; then wet your hands in cold water and shape into balls; put a piece of butter in the frying pan, have pan hot before putting balls in, fry on both sides and push to one side; make brown gravy by browning a small piece of butter and a teaspoon of flour; pour hot water over all and cook five minutes.

st. Denis Salad.

Cut cold boiled potatoes in one-half-inch cubes. There should be 1 % cups. Cut eold boiled beets In one-quarter-inch Cubes. There should be onethird of a cup. Mix the potatoes and beets, add three hard-boiled eggs finely chopped, one-half tablespoon of chopped green pepper and one-half tea spoon of chopped cheese. Moisten with dressing and serve In nesta of lettuce leaves.

Tart Paste.

Take one-half cupful of water, onehalf cupful of lard, the beaten white of one egg, three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, one teaapconful of cream tartar, and one-half teaspoonful of soda; add flour enough tc make a moderately stiff dough.

Troy Pudding.

One cup of milk, one cup of molasses, one. cup of suet or three-quarters butter, half cup of raisins, more or lees, three full cups flour, tesepoon of soda. Boil or steam four hours. ..

Down the Amazon on a Raft

Ravenous whirlpools, tigers, sharks, cannibals and malaria are incidents of an amazing voyage of 4,000 miles made by a St. Louisan, part of the way on a fragile raft from near the source to the mouth of the Amazon, which Is the longest river in the world. The marvel of the trip Is increased by the fact that ,for most of the journey he was without money. The hero of the adventure is Frank B. Farrar of St. Louis, a mining engineer. His thrilling story, with humorous episodes, is told In his own words. I left home in February, -906, under contract to take charge of placer mines in the interior of Bolivia. The company by which I was employed left me stranded and unpaid at La Pax, Bolivia, in debt to a hotel S2OO for board and lodging. Unable to pay, I stole off in the night, stowed away on a boat crossing Lake Titicaca (which, 11,000 feet above the sea level, Is said to be the highest lake In the world), and so made my way to Peru. Here, with varying fortunes, I obtained work which occupied me for more than three years. I was employed at various times by the Peruvian Railroad corporation and by different mining companies. I was at one time superintendent of the Yardmlna camp, 16,600 feet above sea level, In the Andes, and rich In copper and silver. 1 In the fall of 1910 I wont to Lima, the Paris of South America, and passed three months. I also spent all ot the money I had saved, not foreboding that I was soon to fall ill. I obtained work in a lead smelter at Huancayo and became poisoned with the metal. It was then that I determined to make my way to Yquitos, a city on the upper Amazon, to which, although S.fiOOO miles from the coast, ocean steamers penetrate. I expected there to obtain passage to New York. It was 1,000 miles from Oroya, where my journey started, to Yquitos. Two Hundred Mlles Through Forest. At Oroya I met a locomotive engineer named Paddy O’Neil, who was out of employment, and, like myself, without a penny. He decided to go with me to Yquitos, where he had heard there was plenty of work. The first leg of the trip was a 200mlle walk over the mountains to the Pachitea river, which is the beginning of the Amazon. This tramp was 15 days of nightmare. We followed a government trail through the impenetrable forests, in which at nights we could hear the roars of tigers and jaguars. We subsisted by begging from the natives whose huts we encountered. On the ninth day we were so nearly famished that I took O’Neil’s watch, walked back ten miles on the trail and sold it for $4. With the money I bought a bag of corn and lima beans, on which we lived for the rest of the "hike."

We passed several “tambos," or government posts, in which we were permitted to sleep, but the officers of which never thought of Inviting us to eat At last we reached the river, and O’Neil built a raft of logs twelve feet long and five feet wide, surmounted by a bamboo platform, on which we were to sit to keep ourselves dry. The logs were tied together with the bark of the balsa tree. We had no paddles, but only long poles. The Pachitea river at that time was narrow, but very swift, and there were many logs floating on its surface. It seemed as if our raft perversely insisted upon striking every one of these logs, and at each collision I feared that the craft would go to pieces. Once it struck a stump and turned a complete somersault, flinging us into the water. Our danger was extreme. The water was infested with venomous snakes, alligators and fresh water sharks. It was impracticable to swim ashore, because the dense tropical bamboo forests would not permit us to land, so thickly did they grow. But if we could hare landed we should have been at the mercy of wild beasts. There was nothing to do but swim after the raft, which was floating swiftly down the current After great efforts we overtook it and in a few days reached Porto Vermudls, where there is the first of a string of wirelees telegraph stations extending to the coast Here P'Nell and I both fell 11l of malaria. Despite the fact that we could scarcely lift our heads, the native hotelkeeper made us cut down trees to pay for the scraps of food he doled out to us. There was no medicine available- A native woman,

struck with pity for me, took up a collection of money to buy me a ticket to the village of Marecasas, 50 miles down the river. O’Neil got a job as engineer on the same launch on which I traveled, but was put ashore because he was too ill to perform his duties. Monkey Saved Farrar's Life. & Here I should have died but for a monkey, the property of an unfeeling native, the'keeper of a hotel into whose tender mercies I fell. Although I was “shaking violently with chills, he said to me: “You’ve got to go to work." I protested and begged for quinine. "If you don’t work," he replied, "I’ll put you in the stocks.” I was too sick to care, and told him to go ahead. The stock, an instrument of torture, consisted of a framework with holes through which my feet, arms and head were thrust. For two days and nights I sat In this machine, alternately freezing with chills and consuming with fever. The time passed like an evil dream. It was the custom of the people to pelt with missiles the unfortunate occupants of the stocks. But the natives pitied me, and some of them even gave me tea and food by stealth. Finally the hotelkeeper, muttering that he didn't want, me to "die on him" set me free and ordered the cook to give me the water In which he boiled the rice, so that I would not starve. The monkey of which I have spoken was a prodigious thief. It stole everything It could lay paws on. It occurred to me that it would be safe for me to steal what food I needed and blame the thefts on the monkey. Thereupon the monkey’s pilfering activity doubled, It seemed to its master. One day the hotelkeeper, missing two eggs, which he had intended for breakfast and which, without his knowledge, were In my pockets, said to me: “That monkey Is a thief." "He sure is,” said I, and stole away to eat my eggs unobserved. One day several natives, painted hideously, with thorns thrust through their noses, came to the river to trade. They were peaceful, but Imagine my feelings, after seeing them eye me hungrily, to be told to a whisper: "Those men are cannibals.” When my health was a bit better I revenged myself on the hotel man by appropriating his canoe one night and paddling away down the river. O'Neil, who had been almost as ill as myself, went with me. We made our way to 15 daysto Cantumayo, begging our food as we went. The natives were more than kind to us. The trip was made hideous by millions of huge mosquitoes which swarmed down on us until our feet and hands were black with the insects. The natives do nqt even take the trouble to brush them off, but they tormented us terribly. At last, In payment for my repairing her sewing machine, a woman gave us a strip of mosquito netting, which we spread over the canoe at night while we slept It happened that the chief of police at Cantumayo was an acquaintance of mine. He permitted me to sleep In the police station and paid for my meals at a neighboring house. The mistress of this house had a mania for medicine and Insisted upon dosing me with a horrible mixture until I was sicker than ever. This decoction -Fas a bowl of strong liquor made from sugar cane, lemon juice and salt. I Implored her to give me quinine, but she refused ano felt that I had insulted her. nostrum. I believe I should have died had 1 not met an American »egro named Tolblt • He gave me a pound, or $4.86, with which I bought quinine and cognac In four days the fever was broken, Tolblt obtained a canoe (I suspect he stole it) and we floated down the river for seven days, stopping at villages for the nights. But on the seventh night the negro disappeared. I was picked up by a tall and pompous personage who called hmiself by the resounding name of Don Pedro Segunda La Jera, and who made an average of SIOO a day by selling phony jewelry to the natives took me along to paddle his canoeHe was so stingy that he would not permit me to use the condensedmffk he carried for his coffee, and refused to pay for the provisions he purchased unless compelled by force. I left him at Porto San Francisco, where I got work cutting down trees for 7s cents a day. Here I remained 15 days and •t f- ■.?- ■" '4—z • t