RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA, CHIEF
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DISJOINTED SNAKE
COLLECTS ITSELF
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Poet
Reattv Like
V. if
z
f
Men Tvbo knew James Whit
comb Riley and his work in
timately tell something about
the great HoosierMo played
upon the heartstrings of a
nation ith his songs of
common joiR ana manner m
I TrrMi
5
OW'ADAYS ii poetic genius doesn't
i K(Vi ft inlftil imikns 1 it tit to lie ii business
tint ii or n Inw.ViT or n preacher or
tt photographer. Not since tin)
time tf IMgur Allim I'oo have real
poets worn their luilr long us In
tlit comic picturesor ufTccted
wffifrX tlit soulful c.ircsslon. Nowadays
lc.ttWtea when it iiiiiii wenrs Ills Imlr llko
Smtilsli moss on n Honda oak Itu
Is suspected of being lutnl tip. And
If he e.lillilts what Is supposed to
he his soul hy ccrtuln shifting nud stiirlng of Ids
eyes he is pitied its otiu whoso mental geitrlng
has siiud In It.
Illlss (,'iirniiin, former editor of the Independent
unit a poet of note, was one of .Inmes Wliltcoinh
lltlley's closest friends. After thu Indlnnti
Rongstor's denth on July 2.'!. Ciirninn told much
inhnut Ulley to Mr. Joyce Kilmer of the New York
'Times Magazine and Mr. Kilmer In turn told it
'to (hit pulillc.
Some 510 years ngo Citrmitu wits Introduced to
the already famous llonsler. Itlley's keen bird-
llko eyes surveyed tho tall fritnio of thu new nud
young nci'ualntnnce: "Gosh, you're n stalwart,
uln't yo?" ho remarked, grinning. "I guess your
parents must have trained you on n trellis."
Then, tin reported by Mr. Kilmer, Carman went
on to say:
"Tho next time I snw Riley was In I'htladelphlti.
1 wont to rend before tho Drowning society, and
1 don't mind tolling you that I wns Hcared to
death. When I got out nil nlnuo on tho stogo nnd
saw a thousiind people staring up nt me I felt
more like running nway than doing nuythlug else.
nut when I saw Ulley down In tho audience,
looking nt mo In his quaint, friendly way, then
1 felt nil right. 1 wasn't afraid to rend my
poetry to Ulley.
"After tho rending was over Itlloy tucked mo
Kinder his arm nnd said: 'Now, let's get around
'to tho hotel nud we'll tnko off our shoes nnd
Jget n chew of tobacco nud he comfortable.'
"You know, such remarks as this were nil tho
imore piquant because Ulley wus ho very punc
tilious and scrupulous in nil his personal habits.
He nlwnys wns Inminculntely dressed. 1 never
knew hint even to make so much of n concos
Hlon to comfort ns to put on a smoking Jacket
or a lounge coat Hut ho liked to go to his room
und stretch himself on his bed nud talk. And
.tie never talked about anything but literature,
chiefly poetry.
. "Ulley hud n great fund of knowledge, of
.poetry nnd knew lots of out-of-the-wny homely
verso, lie delighted particularly In ridiculously,
tind newspaper verse.
"Ulley liked to rend poetry nloud. When I went
to his house of nn evening, he generally wns wait
ing for me with some favorite hook, reudy to
rend nloud."
"Whut sort of poetry did he prefer?"
"Ills tustes covered n wldo range. Two poets
to whom he wits especially devoted were Long
follow nnd Swinburne.
"Ulley liked Ixmgfollow's dlrnctnoss nud sim
plicity. The things that pleased him In Swin
burne's work were the music and tho deft crafts
'ntanshlp. "After Ulley hnd received his degrees from
Boine of the colleges, ho seemed to feel that ho
ought to bo known us a poet, rather than us n
humorist nnd writer of dialect verse. He tried
iburd to live tip to thu name of poet, and wanted
ihls noiiHenso rhymes of his vngithondage forgot
ten. Yet bis vermicular verse, or, ns he culled It,
Ids dialect verse, was bis chief contribution to
literature.
"Ulley wus Just u poet. That wus nil be ever
.cured to he. lie was not Interested In nuythlug
,hut poetry. He knew nothing of politics ho hail
.not voted for HO years. And as for philosophy,
'he had nothing but contempt for tho modern
thlnkorH.
"Them wns something very pathetic and charm
'lug nbout Itlley's tenacity In holding the serious
poet pose. His nonsense wns Just one of bis ways
of writing which happened to prove popular;
when he got n chnnee to write In another way
how engerly he seized It, nnd how persistently ho
clung to It I
"His lust yenrs were tho happiest of his life.
I think. lie hnd his own enr nnd rodo uround
IndlttnnpollH nnd Its suburbs every day, generally
hiking with hi in some friend. Ho wns honored
and loved, nnd I think be felt thut life hud been
good to him.
"Itlley's father wns a lawyer. Ills grandfather
came to Indlnnn from Pennsylvania. Ills grand
mother on IiIh mother's side was Pennsylvnnln
Dutch. Ills father wns Irish.
"Ulley hnd many prejudices. He disliked Poo
very much, He dMIked Poo's character bo much
thut ho could hardly rend bis poetry. Of course,
ho must have liked Poo's music nnd splendid
metrical effects.
"Of course, you know tho story of Itlley's fa
mous Imitation of Poo? He hnd taken n position
on the stun.' of nn Anderson, Ind., pnper, nnd tho
editor of a rival pnper kept ridiculing bttn. Ulley
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ytfw w t
Head Whistles and Other Parts
Come Back and Link
Themselves.
Lttrned, Kan. I'noch Chase hnd i
peetillur experience while talcing the
logs out of the old dugout on Mel
Hick's south eighty. He run ucross a
Joint snuke down between the logs and
lilt It with his spade. Of course every
Joint Hew tipurt nnd stttrted to wiggle
off.
Hunch. Just for n Joke, picked up
one of the Joints undent It In it bucket
unit then slipped hid id the logs and
walled to see whut would happen. In
nbout ten minutes be heard a sort nf
low whistle nnd then a rustling. Thu
NfMUAlA.7
--a . .1J2!
. '.
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P
IT1H. ftLM&lXyKM
&ZZY& lAjrpopijcApp&mjYa
wnnted to get oven with him, so ho wrote his
imitation of Poo, and had It published In a pnper
In another pnrt of the state with nn elaborate
story about the discovery of the mnnuserlpt.
"At once It made a great sensation all over
tho country. It made so great a sensation that
Ulley was terrified, nud feared that he would bo
accused of literary forgery. Meanwhile tho edi
tor of the rival pnper wrote: 'No doubt our young
friend Ulley will belittle this poem nnd sny It Is
not the work of Poo. Hut It Is Poo, anil Poo's
best manner.' The sensntlon grew to such pro
portions Hint Ulley had to confess thnt ho hud
written tho poem. And then the editor of tho
pnper discharged Ulley because ho hnd not pub
lished It In his pnper.
"Then tho Indianapolis Journal gave him n Job,
which he bold for yenrs. lie wrote renins of
nonsense verse, nnd wrote up In verso tho shops
of the merchants who advertised In the Journal.
"Itlley's first book was called 'The Old Swim
tnln' Hole nnd 'Leven More Poems.' Ho pub
lished It himself. It sold so well thut It wus soon
taken over by u publisher, nnd passed through
ninny editions.
"Itlley's exquisite penmanship showed tho care
with which he wrote. Orlglnnlly ho wrote n cure
less and rather Illegible script, but he had so
much difficulty In getting tho printers to rend his
writing, and printing his dialect verse correctly,
that ho took up tho study of penmanship. Ho
wns cnreful nlwnys to get the dlnlect of one
pnrt of Indiana ns distinct from the dialect of
tiny other pnrt.
" 'Any man's character,' he snld, 'Is best re
membered, I suppose, by some of his habitual
gestures tt ltd expressions.' I remember Ulley ns
very deliberate In bis motions, especially In Ids
Inst years. Smooth shaven, ruddy, well groomed,
ho looked like n benign old ICngllsh bishop moro
than anything else."
Mr. Don Marquis of tho New York Sun aptly
considers Ulley and his poetry from nn entirely
different angle.
"James Whltcnmh Ulley," snys he, "wns the
compnnlon of fairies In Arendy; for tho Hoosler
belongs to a race npnrt. And while some tiro
captured and broken to trade, the gentle poof
escaped nnd kept nlwnys the vision of hidden
things."
With these prefatory remarks the writer goes
on with his essay:
"There are two sorts of Indlanan the ordinary
Indlnnnn, who Is not so very different from tho
Ohlonti or the Illlnolsan, nnd tho Hoosler.
"The Hoosler belong not merely to n race npnrt,
hut to n separate species. Ho Is huninn. hut
with a difference; he Is nwuro of the kinship
between huinnnlty nnd tho so-called lower ani
mals (nnd even the plants and streams) on tho
one side, and nn the other side of tho kinship of
huinnnlty with the elves.
"When the moon turns tho mists to silver nnd
tho owls wnll nnd the frogs wnko up along tho
creeks nnd hikes and the fairies saddle nnd bridle
tho fireflies and mount them nnd go whirring nnd
flushing ofT In search of nlry ndventures tho
Hooslers steal out of tho farmhouses nnd ham
lets nntl creep down to the bottom lands and
dance nnd Mug nnd envort under tho summer
stnrs. They do so secretly, dodging tho mere hu
ninns, for secrecy Is tho essonco of their midnight,
whimsical revels.
"Tn the daytime they pretend they nro Just
ordinary Indlnunns; their own brothers nnd
mothers may not renllzo Hint they nro Hooslers.
"Hut In Indiana, us elsewhere, there Is business
nnd tho need to attend to It. There must have
been even lit Arendy somebody owned tho flocks
nnd herds of Arendy nnd turned them Into
butcher's meat anil leather, nnd tho shepherds
only piped on. tho sufferance of their commercial-
minded mnsters. These Hooslers, these wild bards
nnd prancing, long-legged lovers of tho moon, are
often captured and broken and tamed to trade
and Industry by the more sordid citizenry. They
ure yoked to tho handle end of the plow,
chained to the desk; by the hundreds and thou
sands they become clerks nnd salesmen and rail
road presidents and novelists and business men
of all sorts.
"James Whltcomb Ulley wns a Hoosler who
happily escaped; he wns never captured, never
ensluved; the things hidden from the rest of us,
or revealed only In flushes, remembered but
vaguely from the duys of our own happy lloosler
doin, he continued to see steadily; ho lived among
them familiarly to the end. nud until tho end
wus their Interpreter to us.
" 'Hud coino hero to your undo n spell,' says
Ulley In effect, 'nud I'll show you not only a fairy,
hut a fairy who bus for the moment chosen to o
Just us much of n Hoosler as tho Itnggedy Man,
or Orphnnt Annie, or Old Klugry, or tho folks nt
Orlggsby Station.'
"The critics nnd the learned doctors of liter
ature tiro already debating us to whether Ulley
hud Imagination or only fancy. (It would bo n
terrible calamity to some of them If they said
It was Imagination nnd It wus officially declared
later to ho merely fancy; thut Is tho sort of
mistake thnt damns n critic nnd makes tho sons
and grandsons of critics meek, hncked, apolo
getic young men.) And doubtless the point Is ex
ceedingly linportnnt. For If n poet has Imagi
nation they sny his work Is significant. And If
he tins only fancy his work Is not significant.
"The chief merit of Itlley's dlnlect verse
which Is the most popular part of bis production
nud the part with which the critics chiefly con
cern themselves Is Its effectiveness ns a medium
for character portrayal Whimsical, lovable,
homely, racy, quaint, salty, pathetic, humorous,
tender are his dialect poems; essentially, ho tins
shown ns life ns a superior writer of prose
sketches might do, adding the chnrm of his lyri
cism. "Hut, personally, we never llko him so well as
when he Is writing sheer moonlight nnd music.
Probably no poet who ever wrote Rngllsh cer
tnlnly no American poet got more luscious lan
guage than Ulley. A sweetness thnt Is not so
sugary that It cloys, having nlwnys a winy tung.
Tor Instance, from 'The Flying Islands of the
Night:'
'. . . In lost hours of lute and song,
When he wns but u prince I hut n mouth
For ti 1 111 to lift up slpplngly nntl drain
To his mon ultlmnte of stammering sobs
And mnudlln wanderings of blinded breath '
"There Is no better evidence of the genuine
ness of Itlley's sentiment, particularly In tho dia
lect poems, thiin tho discretion with which he
touches the pathetic chord when ho touches It
nt all. One of the most popular poems ho ever
wrote wns 'Old-Fashioned Hoses,' nnd ono word
too much, one pressure the lenst bit too Insistent
would have made tho thing as offensive ns a
vaudeville ballad. The taste which told him to
be simple nntl the sincerity which begat the
taste save the verses from tho reproach.
"Ills verses for children and about children
Made a Peculiar Whistle.
head of the Joint snake came nut of tho
woods nntl looked uround. It then
made n peculiar whistle uiitl another
Joint bucked up and fastened on to the
hend.
Tho head wltlstlod twice and Joint
No. '1 cumo out, nnd so on, so ninny
whistles for each point, until it cumo
time for the one Enoch hnd In tho
bucket. At its cull the thing thrashed
around In the bucket like all possessed,
but couldn't get out. Of course, with
out the Joint that fit, the snake couldn't
get together.
Enoch snld the last he saw of it the
head had taken charge of one-half and
tho tall tho rest uud had gone off In
different directions to hunt up tho
missing Joint. Enoch got utmost home
with his Joint when an automobile
tooted down the rond. This either
scared tho Joint or it wns its coupling
011 signal, for Enoch says It managed
to flop out of the bucket und get uwuy
In the tall grass.
YELLOWBACKS LIGHT CIGARS
Mysterious Individual In New York
Hotel Excites Wonder of
Bellhops.
New York. "One of your best
cigars," said an elderly man In n silk
suit, gray silk gloves, gray socks and
tho same colored suede shoes.
The girl behind the cigar counter In
nn uptown hotel looked at this person
and brought forth n cedar box with an
aroma that reached for yards.
The symphony In gray selected n f0
cent perfecto, took out n pi)tirl-hundled
knlfo from n gray suede case, cut off
tho end of tho clgnr nnd then placed It
In his mouth. Ho then took out n roll
of bills, handed the cigar counter girl
one with a "V" on it, and then to her
surprise plucked a yellowback from
tho roll nnd applied It to the gas light
er. ITc was slow about lighting the clgnr.
His change wns on the counter. How
ever, ho llnnlly picked it up, threw
the burned bill Into n sand vase and
walked nway.
Four bellboys, who hnd watched tlte
proceeding, sprang to the vase. ' The
paper still was burning nnd all that
was left wus tho part murked with
two X's.
"Sure," snld 0110 of the bellhops, "he
does thut nil thu time. Somebody told
mo that It's a moving picture uctor, but
anyway If this paper can bo redeemed
by Undo Stun I'm for him."
DcmJWashliieOldWay
Auk your jrroccr for a 263
Ixix of MjirIc WuHhlnir Htlek
enough for 15 wnntalnRsj slice
ono section of one stlclc with a
bur ot so.ip ami loll tn n Nat
ion of water; add Hits to the
clothes In n bolter ot hot
WHtrr; boll 80 minutes, Bttr
ring often J rlnfin anil lianff out
to dry. Not n rub In tho whole
Job la tioeJed. Money refund
ed If It falls. Isn't that worth
trying Good Kroccrs bcII tt.
IL P. LAU COMPANY
DIHTHlllUTOIlS
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
IK. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA M
LOOK TO FOURTH GENERATION
Writer Sees Little to Praise In the
First Three Generations of Mod
ern Americans.
The Noith American child Is too
often merely thsv-prnducl of inur
rluge. It serves its n outlet for that
pride which Its parents cannot nlwnys
rensottuhly take In themselves. It Is
petted, cajoled, pumperetl, overdre-etl
ttitil iintlerdlsclpllneil, till there Is
evolved it strange pigmy for whom the
world soon grows banal, who Is desti
tute of the petitionary appeal of child
hood nud who surveys nn tilreuily tin
ilclpiitcd und thoroughly uuuly.ed fu
ture with the cold eyes of tiiiuiiturtil
knowledge, Ainu Sullivan writes In
Harper's Mngn.ine for August. Tho
world Is its football. It Is smart be
yond description. Hut there Is in tho
forced garden of Its life no sheltered
bed where may bloom the flowers of
grnciotisness or pence. Of such will
be the new aristocracy, and Its rndl
.tlons will he of grandfathers who, y
virtue of that flue native American
longhondodnoss, delivered the goods
of their period nntl were promptly und
suitably rewarded. Hut there will be
few traditions of courtliness, scant
reminders that noblesse oblige, and
but scattered memories of Inherited re
sponsibilities. The .sempiternal tlollur
will still dominate. One generation
was too busy collecting and the other
will he too busy spending. Tho sec
ond generation offers no promise and
the third but Jlttle. The fourth will
probubly open n new and finer cycle.
Was His Humor Conscious?
A young woman In Pittsburgh was
recently looking at material In one of
that city's leading dry goods stores In
an attempt to select what would muko
an attractive skirt for the seashore.
The clerk rather strenuously suggested
the availability of several patterns.
"Hut," said the young woman, "they
nro rather loud, don't you think?"
Without n glimmer of a smile, and In
n perfectly correct tone for a salesman
to assume, he replied :
"Too loud for awnings Just right
for skirts."
I
The Difference.
"Politician, Isn't he?"
"Oh, no, he's a statesman."
"Well, what's the difference?"
"A statesmnn, my dear chap, is ono
who Is In politics because he has
money. A politician Is one who has
money because lie is in politics."
Tin vmi iinrii n llvlni? von don't iret
or do you get u living you don't eurn?
The word dollar was first thaler.
REAL BABES IN THE WOODS
Brother and Sister, Aged Nine and
Eight, Lost Five Days In
City Park.
Waterbury, Conn. The fairy title of
"Rubes In the Wood" bus been dupli
cated in tho woods near Lakewood
park, by Andrew Yankauskas, nine
tycurs old, un.l his sister, Mary, uged
eight. Tho children left home one
morning to go fishing. Losing their
tirntr ntlfl tinnntlllni' lintvllflfixjwl tlinti
could only have been written by a man whoso j ren,ncd hldden In the woods five
Imm " ' , T n, "V , IT T' ""?' I0! W vlg on wild berr.es und sleep-
........ .,...... ,., ...tivt nun I;niuiuit7 IlllJ
tlllllg of tho sort thnt Is 'pumped up' for effect,
nnd they contributed enormously to tho general
feeling of affection for hint. Tho regnrd of the
children wns In a way a testimonial to his per
sisting youthf illness of spirit; ho was still their
plnymntp; perhaps It Is nn earnest of Immor
tality, If Immortality can be. Certainly lovo en
dures longer than anything else, nnd this mon
with tho childlike sweetness In his soul goes
from us loved ns few men have been."
,lng under trees. Their parents had
'given up hope, believing tho children
hnd been drowned, but tho pair finally
wero located by a policeman.
Re-Wed After 33 Years.
New York. Mrs. D. Hutler, sixty
four yenrs old, and Peter J. Dobbs,
sixty-eight, who wero divorced 33 years
go, havo Just re-wed. Hoth had takes
other mates, who havo since died.
Two Fellows
are trying to
get ahead.
It's easy to see who'll win.
If you have any doubt
about coffee holding some
people back in fact many
leave the hesitating class, stop
coffee ten days, and use
POSTUM
This delicious pure food
drink, made of wheat, roasted
with a bit of wholesome mo
lasses, has a delightful, snappy
flavor. It is free from the
drugs in coffee and all harm
ful ingredients.
Pottum is good for olcfJ
and young, and makes for'
health and efficiency.
"There's a Reason"
i
