N Hi I CANNOT LEAVE THE LIBRARY. § i .13 6 - 1^*^ i I SHELF -.---^-r-^ I T )EF .^. COPYRIGHT D^PO^IT. I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ^ 'J— 1G5 ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/boysofoldgleeclvOOrile THE BOY5 OF THE OLD GLEE CLVB By JAMES "WlilKBMB RILEY INDIANAPOLIS [ THE BCBBS-MERRILLglMMNY * ~k, -PVBLISHEI^-tf— ^^ "^ LAtA/ \. copybigiit 1907 James Whitcomb Rii,et November }Lri>'(iiRY of CONeRcSSi T>vo Ccoies Received NOV 27 isar CLASS CX AXc. i^o, | / 9 3 1, q COPY A. / BY¥ILL-J^^WTE& DE5IGN5***BY LIST OF ILLVSTR^ION5 Then Th' Old Glee Club marched out to victory ! — Frontispiece ^ Politics was runnin' high Burgess Brown's friends all 'low He is 'most as lively now Prompt on time to vote at home ! " Er sometimes jest set and talk ' Bout old times back here — He says, "Course I'm bald a. bit' — ever one — Loved to love Will Tarkington ! ^ And a Brass, and Sheepskin Band Heerd high 'bove the hoarsest roar O' any storm on sea er shore ! Time's be'n cloekin' on, you know ! Campaign work and jubilees To wake up the primaries Mahlon Butler he come past , My shop " — Thank God, they're singing yet!" rr JL To EE ii u, l=il \7 JL^'o YOU-tolks rickollect, I know — 'Tain't so very long ago — Th' Old Glee Club — was got up here 'Bout first term Grant tuk the Cheer Fer President four year — and then Riz — and tuk the thing again! Politics was runnin' high, And the Soldiers mighty nigh Swep' the Country — 'bout on par With their rickord through the War. Glee Club, mainly. Soldiers, too — Most the Boys had wore the blue, — So their singin' had the swing — Kindo'-sorto' Shiloh-ring, Don't you know, 'at kindo' got Clean inside a man and shot Telegrams o' joy dee-vine Up and down his mortal spine! «.*t^ They was jest boys then, all young — And 'bout lively as they sung! No^v they hain't young anymore — ('Less the ones 'at's gone before 'S got their youth back, glad and free 'N' keerless as they used to be!) Burgess Brown s old friends all 'low He is 'most as lively now, And as full o' music, too. As when Old Glee Club was new ! And John Blake, you mind, 'at had The near-sightedness so bad. When he sung by note, the rest 'em fer him, er he guessed they run — and sung 'em, too, and sweet as honey-dew! ■ snnn(f\~ Harry Adams 's here — and he's JoUyin' ever' man he sees 'At complains o' gittin' gray Er 2.-age\n' anyway. Harry he jest thrives on fun — "Troubles?" he says, — "Nary one! — Got gran'-childern I can play And keep young with, night and day!" Then there's Ozzy Weaver — he's Kickin', lively as you please, — 'N' Dearie Macy. — Called 'em then "The Cherubs." Sung "We are two Men O' th' Olden Time." Well! their duets \y/ Was jest sweet as violets ! 4f -^ And Dan Ransdell — he's still here — Not jest in the town, but near Enough, you bet, to alius come Prompt' on time to vote at home! Dan he's be'n in Washington Sence he went with Harrison. . . . And John Slauson — (Boys called John "Sloppy Weather.")— he went on Once to Washington; and Dan Intertained him : — Ever' man, From the President, to all Other big-guns Dan could haul In posish 'ud have to shake Hands with John fer old times' sake. ,o\(// ^ ^^ ^~'^ / ~" 'sfinjFrS: c^-^ ..»^3S W |>ift^ >/,^: / And to hear John, when he got Home again, w'y, you'd a-caught His own sperit and dry fun And mis-<:/ziVi;^-y-ousness 'at run Through his talk of all he see : — "Ruther pokey there, fer me" John says, — "though, of course, I met Mostly jest the Cabinet Members; and the President He'd drop round : and then we went Incogg fer a quiet walk — Er sometimes jest set and talk 'Bout old times back here — and how All yoM-boys was doin' now. And Old Glee Club songs ; and then He'd say, 'f he could, once again. Jest hear us — 'once more,' says he, — 'I'd shed Washington, D. C, And jest fall in ranks with you And march home, a-singin', too!' " Jt>\ m And Bob Ginger — Now lives down At Atlanty, — but this town 'S got Bob's heart — a permanent And time-honored resident. Then there's Mahlon Butler — still Lookin' like he alius will ! "How you feelin'?" s'l, last time I see Mahlon : 'N' he says, "I'm ^Feelin'?' " says, "so peert and gay 'F I's hitched up I'd run away!" He says, "Course I'm bald a bit, But not 'nough to brag on it Like Dave Wallace does," he says, "With his two shamef acetedness !" (Dave jest laughs and lifts his "dice" At the joke, and blushes — twice.) ^•?=^anlt|i, iJcJjtJ And Ed. Thompson, he's gone on — They's a whole quartette 'at's gone — Yes, a whole quartette, and more, Has crossed on the Other Shore. . . . Sab old and Doc Woodward's gone — 'N' Ward; and— last,— ^/// Tarkin^ton. Ward 'at made an Irish bull Actchully jest beautiful ! — " 'Big-nose Ben,' " says Ward, "I s'pose, Makes an eyesore of his nose!" And Will Tarkington — Ef he Ever had an inemy. The Good Bein's plans has be'n Tampered with ! — because all men. Women and childern — ever' one — Loved to love Will Tarkington! The last time I heerd 'em all Was at Tomilsonian Hall, As I rickollect — and know, — Must be'n fifteen year' ago! — Big Mass Meetin' — thousands here. . Old Dick Thompson in the Cheer On the stage— and three er four 0/A^r "Silver-Tongues" er more! . . Mind Ben Harrison? — Clean, rich, Ringin' voice — " 'bout concert-pitch," Tarkington he called it, and Said its music 'clipsed the band And Glee Club both rolled in one ! — ('Course you all knowed Harrison!) ''(oi.!.ii» i5o.yt iVri'^i Yes, and Old Flag, streamin' clean From the high arch 'bove the scene And each side the Speaker's stand.— And a Brass, and Sheepskin Band, ('Twixt the speeches 'at was made) 'At cut loose and banged and played — S'pose, to have the noise all through So's th' crowd could listen to Some real music! — Then Th' Old Glee Club marched out to victory! — And sich singin'! — Boys was jest At their very level-best! . . . My/ to hear 'em! — From old "Red- White-and-Blue," to "Uncle Ned"!— From "The Sword of Bunker Hill," To "Billy Magee-Magaw"!— And— still The more they sung, the more, you know, The crowd jest wouldn't let 'em go! — Till they reached the final notch O' glory with old "Larboard Watch!" '-*: M o ^i <^ .'■'^(Ih «Vo|tt— -— - Well ! that song's a song my soul Jest swings ofif in, past control! — Alius did and alius will Lift me clair of earthly ill And interrogance and doubt O' what the good Lord's workin' out Anyway er anyhow! . . . Shet my eyes and hear it now/ — Till, at night, that ship and sea And wet waves jest wallers me Into that same sad yet glad Certainty the Sailor had When waked to his watch and ward By th' lone whisper of the Lord — Heerd high 'bove the hoarsest roar O' any storm on sea er shore ! Time's be'n clockin' on, you know! Sabold, who was first to go, Died back East, in ninety-three. At his old home, Albany: Ward was next to leave us — Died New York . . . How we've laughed and cried Both together at them two Friends and comards tried and true!— Ner they wasn't, when they died. Parted long — 'most side-by-side They went singin', you might say, Till their voices died away Kindo' into a duet O' silence they're rehearsin' yet. Old Glee Club's be'n meetin' less And less frequenter, I guess, Sence so many's had to go — And the rest all miss 'em so ! Still they's calls they' got to make, Fer old reputation's sake, So to speak ; but, 'course, they all Can't jest answer ever call — 'Ceptin' Christmas-times, er when Charity calls on 'em then ; And — not chargin' anything — W'y, the Boys 's jest got to sing! Campaign work, and jubilees To wake up the primaries; Loyal Legions — G. A. R.'s — Big Reunions — Stripes-and-Stars Fer School-houses ever'where — And Church-doin's, here and there- And Me-morial Meetin's, when Our War-Gov'ner lives again ! Yes, and Decoration Days — Martial music — prayers and praise Fer the Boys 'at marched away So's we 'd have a place to stay! . Little childern, 'mongst the flowers, Learnin' 'bout this Land of Ours, And the price these Soldiers paid, Gethered in their last parade. . . that sweetest, saddest sound! — ^'Tenting on the old Campground." . . . The Old Glee Club— singin' so Quaverln'-like and soft and low, Ever' listener in the crowd Sings in whispers — but, out 'loud, Sings as ef he didn't keer — Not fer nothin'l .... Ketch me here Whilse I'm honest, and I'll say God's way is the only way! . . . So I' alius felt, i jing! Ever' time the Boys 'ud sing 'Bout "A Thousand Years, my Own Columbia!" — er "The Joys we've Known"- 'Hear dem Bells"— er "Hi-lo, Hail!"— 1 have felt God must prevail — m J Jest like ever' boy 'at's gone Of 'em all, whilse he was on Deck here with us, seemed to be Livin', laughin' proof, to me, Of Eternal Life — No more Will than them all, gone heiorcl . Can't I — many-a-time — jest see Them all, like they used to be! — Tarkington, fer instance, clean Outside o' the man you seen, Singin' — till not only you Heerd his voice but felt it, too, In back of the bench you set In — And 'most can feel it yet! Yes, and Will's the last o' five Now that's dead — ^yet still alive. True as Holy Writ's own word Has be'n spoke and man has heerd! ^f?^ *;«^^£^ ^'. Them was left when Will went on Has met once sence he was gone — Met jest once — but not to sing Ner to practice anything. — Facts is, they jest didn't know Why they was a-meetin' so ; — But John Brush he had it done And invited ever' one Of 'em he could find, to call At his office, Music Hall, Four o'clock — one Saturd'y Afternoon. — And this was three Er four weeks, mind, sence the day We had laid poor Will away. ■^mVk^, Mahlon Butler he come past My shop, and I dropped my last And went with him, wonder'n', too, What new joke Brush had in view ; — But, when all got there, and one- By-one was give' a seat, and none O' Brush's twinkles seemed in sight, 'N' he looked biz all right, all right, — We saw — ^when he'd locked the door — What some of us, years before. Had seen, and long sence fergot — {Seen but not heerd, like as not.) — How Brush, once when Admiral Brown 'S back here in his old home-town And flags ever'wheres — and Old Glee Club tellin' George to "Hold The Fort!" and "We" would "make 'em flee By land and sea," etcetery,- How Brush had got the Boys to sing A song in that-there very thing Was on the table there to-day — Some kind o' ^ phone, you know. — But say! When John touched it off, and we Heerd it singin' — No-sir-ee! — Not the machine a-singin' — No, — Th' 0/J G/^^C/w^o' long ago! . . . There was Sab old's voice again — 'N' Ward's; — and, sweet as summer-rain, With glad boy-laughture's trills and runs, Ed. Thompson's voice and Tarkington's! . . And ah, to hear them, through the storm Of joy that swayed each listener's form — Seeming to call, with hail and cheer. From Heaven's high seas down to us here : — ' ''But who can speak the joy he feels While o'er the foam his vessel reels, ^-^W/Mi. And his tired eyelids slumbering fall, He rouses at the welcome call Of 'Larboard Watch, Ahoy!' " And To hear them — same as long ago — The listeners whispered, still as death, With trembling lips and broken breath, As with one voice — and eyes all wet, — J "God! — God! — Thank God, they're singing yet!" DEC 3 W'J/ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ^ 016 255 956 4