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JULY 5, 1107
The Goimaoner.
15
"mi
When Riley
Went Back
Few are, the prophets honored In
their own country, and fewer still,
perhaps, the poets. But Mr. James
Whitcomb Riley is the exception. It
may he remembered that "Jim," as
he is called pretty Universally in In
diana, hails from the little town of
Greenfield, that state, where as a
youth, he shook the dust off his hare
fedt to travel with an itinerant sign
painter. He learned the trade
mighty well, and today storekeepers
in many Indiana towns are the proud
possessors of signs painted by the
Hoosier poet. It was his facility in
sign painting which was responsible
largely for the beautiful, painstaking
hand the poet writes today. "When
fame came to Mr. Riley and ho was
in demand as a lecturor and reader,
when with "Bill Nye" he toured the
country and made a fortune, there
was a great demand in Greenfield for
"Jim" to come back. Those who haJ,
Ithow him as a tow-headed, barefoot
ed youngster, playing hookey from
school and going off fishing, wanted
to see the frock-coated, bespectacled
poet whose fame was abroad in the
land. But Mr. Riley is shy, or per
haps he did not care to appear to
gloat with his success over his overall-wearing
friends of other days; at
any rate, for years 'he declined to do
any of his "stunts" in Greenfield. If
they needed him for a charity he
sent a check as his representative,
and many a church and worthy char
ity has received part of the proceeds
of the Riley lectures. But at last he
did go to Greenfield and gave a read
ing for the benefit of a church, and
it was a unique gathering. The hall
was crowded, of course, and the mu
sic was furnished by that old Green
field band which Riley has immortal
ized in the poem "I Want to Hear
th' Old Band Play." He knew. them
all by 3iame, -from the "slip-horn"
player to the "little old man in the
tinshop," and the Greenfield veterans
put their hearts into the music.
"When he read about "The Raggedy
Man" there was the original, leaning
sheepishly against the wall: when he
told about "Little Orphant Annie,"
many eyes picked her out in the
audience, and when, with tender
pathos, Riley recited "An Old Sweet
heart of Mine" old bachelor that he
is a sweet-faced middle-aged lady
who had been provided with a seat
very near the platform nodded in a
most sympathetic way, and furtively
wiped her spectacles. Surely never
before was poet so beset and blessed
with the spirits of his poesy as Riley
was that night. Washington Herald.
LET US LIVE 100 YEARS
"I belong to a 100-year-club, any
member-of which who shall die be
fore he's 100 years,, old will be im
mediately expelled in disgrace."
That is what Dr. Harvey Wiley
said lately, addressing the graduat
ing class of one of the 'universities.
What he said sounds good. You
must remember that he ia one of
'the men who know about things, for
he is chief chemist of the United
States department of agriculture.
Wo would all like to belong to
such a club.
When we come to think of it, we
wonder why people should die, after
all, at 20 or 30 or 40 or even 70
barring accidents, of course, and pre
carious habits like riding on the train
and so on. Yet the insurance people
tell us that the average man lives
4 somewhere around JJ3 years.
"Now, we knojvwe are not like
clocks which run-down thirty-years
after they are started. Why shouldn't
each one of.us'-Hye to be at least
100? ' '
"The present generation is going
to live much longer thanthe one
which came before," Dr. Wiley goes
on, "because it know more about
tho laws of diet, hygiene and surgery.
It's a rank disgrace for any man to
die except from old ago'
We have been trying to contribute
something to this knowledge which
Dr. Wiley says will make us longer
lived for example, Dr. Latson's re
cent series on the subject of "Bat
ing," and other articles which have
had for their text tho words, "Keep
Well."
The way not to die is to keep
well, and the way to keep well is to
be sensible sensible about what we
eat and what wo drink and the
clothes w6 wear and the air we
breathe and what we do with these
wonderful bodies of ours.
We must read the helpful articles
like those of Dr. Latson, and think
about them. We must eat enough,
but not too much. We must rest our
brains by exercising our bodies, or
rest our bodies by exercising our
brains; and then wo must find a few
good friends, and teach ourselves, a
little more every day, to look on the
bright side.
There is a 100-year club in Los
Angeles. Its membership should
be -limited only by the city's popula
tion. If everybody would join, we would
probably be. living 150 years before
many generations. Los Angeles
Record.
THEIR LIFE WORK
For some time it has been the cus
tom of the authorities of Yale to
take a poll of that institution's grad
uating classes to find out what ca
reers have been chosen by tho grad
uates. This year there was a class
or several classes, numbering 2,243,
and the poll showed this .interesting
result:
Occupations: No.
Law : 718
Finances ... ...320
Education ." , .... 261
Medicine ' ; 203
Ministry 185
Farming and politics 170
Merchants 166
Journalists 77
Engineers -69
Miscellaneous 74
While the honored profession of
the law continues to hold its own, as
indicated by the fact that 718 gradu
ates are going in for it, the table
shows also that 320 are to become
"financiers.'" Unfortunately it isn't
quite plain just what is understood
by this term. In this day and gen
eration a "financier" is anybody that
handles money, from a nickle-in-the-slot
speculator to a trust fiscal agent.
Kansas City Journal,
SHADOWS
A nervous man on his. lonely home
ward way heard the echoing of foot
steps behind him, and dim visions
of hold-up men and garroters
coursed through his brain. The fast
er he walked the mpre the man be
hind increased his speed, and al
though the nervous one took the
most roundabout and devious course
he could devise, still his tracker fol
lowed. At last he turned into a
churchyard.
"If he follows me here," he de
cided, "there can be no doubt about
his intentions."
The man behind did follow, and
quivering with fear and rage; the
nervous one turned and confronted
him.
"What do you want?" he demand
ed "Why are you following me?"
"Do you always go home like
this?" asked the stranger, "or are
you giving yourself a treat tonight?
I am going up to Mr. Brown's, and
the porter at the statio.n. told me to
follow you, as you lived ,next door.
Excuse any asking, but are you going
home at all tonight?" Philadelphia
Public Ledger. ' '
PATIENCE EXHAUSTED
Tho people of Russia have gained
much in their sincere efforts to ac
complish a reorganisation of govern
ment by peaceful means. They havo
gained tho respect and tho sympathy
of tho civilized world, and now, hav
ing exhausted all peaceful means and
forced tho czar to disclose his real
purposo, a revolution would com
mand a very large measure of sonti
mental indorsement abroad. It is
evident from tho dispatches that the
Russian people havo reached tho re
luctant conclusion that thoy have
boon hoodwinked and betrayed, and '
that thoy must depend upon them-'
selves henceforth. Perhaps, aftor all ,
a short and tcrriblo revolution in
Russia would bo tho best thing that
could happen. Tho land Is now
prostrate and persecution and misery
ovorywhero abound. Conditions
could scarcely bo worse, and they
might be infinitely hotter under a
now regime. Kansas City Journal.
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