&£ r\ 1 k -4 JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY PEACEFULIife:~t oil,duty, rest- All his desire :- To read the books he liked the best Beside die cabinfire- a Gods wordand mans;- to peer sometime: sometimes Above the page, insmoulaemjMeams, tch, like far heroic rhymes, The onmarch of his dreams. peaceful life:- to hear the low Of pastured herds, Or woodman's axjhat, blow on blow. Fell sweet as rhythmic words. And yet there stirred within his breast A fateful pulse that, like a roll Of drums, made hi^h above his rest A tumult in his soul. jpeacefullife! — They haled him even * As One was haled ose open palms were nailed towardneaven When prayers nor au^ht availed- And,lo,he paid the selfsame price To lull a nation s awful strife And will us, through the sacrifice Of self, his peaceful life. if TOT P =i h \y: p§ f'-' : J. ► . 4 s 4 TllF RHAI>KK MAGAZINE POET AND PRESIDENT Riley's Estimate of Lincoln R. Gerald McMurtry Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/poetpresidentrilOOmcmu POET AND PRESIDENT Riley's Estimate of Lincoln By R. Gerald McMurtry Published by Department of Lincolniana Lincoln Memorial Unwersity Harrogate, Tennessee 1945 To JOSIAH K. LILLY, JR. Whose gift of the Riley broadside "Lincoln" to the Department of Lincolniana led to the publication of this article. 3// fiJ ^0O>r\ f-yw POET AND PRESIDENT Riley's Estimate of Lincoln By R. Gerald McMurtry James Whitcomb Riley did not have the good fortune to know Abraham Lincoln. The elements of time and place denied them an acquaintanceship, but the Poet must have sensed in Lincoln's character a kindred na- ture. Undoubtedly Lincoln's chief attraction to Riley was the log cabin symbol of humility, but if they had been friends they would have seen in each other a strange mixture of re- semblances and an odd assortment of differ- ences. They spoke the same language and emerged from the same social-economic en- vironment. They would have found common ground in the memories of their boyhood. Riley and Lincoln would have delighted in the same rural stories with a flavoring of Joe Miller zest. Both men would have sensed in the nature of the other a feeling of poetry and a searching for a solution of the mysteries of life. Riley would have discovered considerable merit in the doggerel composed by Lincoln while he was still a young man. The Epi- taph For Johnny Kongapod is singularly like many of Riley's couplets. Lincoln's crude verses beginning with, My Childhood Home . . . and The Bear Hunt may never have come to the Poet's attention, if so Riley was deprived of a heart warming experience. Both Poet and President were unevenly educated, yet both had a desire for learning. The schoolroom could be omitted from Riley's history for all he accomplished in formal edu- cation, while Lincoln's total schooling amount- ed to less than a year, — five terms under five different schoolmasters. Riley had the knack of acquiring knowledge not found be- tween the covers of text books. It has been said that he knew the biography of Captain Kidd from "A to Izzard." Lincoln was truly the product of the library and unlike most men he never quit learning. Humor was to them a safety valve for their temperaments which occasionally emitted an anecdote or a story to relieve a strain of lone- liness and melancholia. Their wit proved to be an antitoxin for hypochondria. Unques- tionably the two men can be classed among the great humorists of their age. It was in their nature to see the good and to be tolerant of those that were evil. Riley could not have found a mutual inter- est with Lincoln in the technicalities of law. The Hoosier Poet read law, but he never stu- died it. The quips and quillets of the barrister had no interest for the impractical bard. Lincoln enjoyed the intricacies of a legal suit, but even then he found politics much more exciting. In matters of love the two men were hesitant. Both had only the humblest estimate of their availability for marriage. Lincoln said he could "never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY From Afterwhiles by James Whitcomb Riley, Bowen-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1895. Page three to have me [him]". Riley realized that "should he find the 'right woman' she would fail to find him the 'right man' ". Lincoln eventually married and was reasonably con- tent, while Riley remained unmarried think- ing that his maturing temperament disquali- fied him for the obligations of matrimony. The Poet once said that the highest compli- ment he could pay to a woman is not to marry her. His ideal girl was "an angel without fleck or flaw of earthly imperfection and with a pair of snowy wings 'leven feet from tip to tip.- Lincoln was no political standard-bearer to Riley, but a tousled-headed barefoot boy of Indiana, or again the statesman who gave his life "to lull a nation's awful strife". This sincere admiration of the memory of the boy and the man prompted Riley to write two poems about his beau-ideal, namely; Lincoln —The Boy and Lincoln. In addition to his poetry he often made oral statements, some of which have been recorded, concerning the President, and his voluminous correspondence contains numerous comments concerning the man which give even a better insight of his interest and admiration of the Illinois States- man. The Poet's father, Reuben A. Riley, was a staunch supporter of Lincoln and he ex- pounded the principles of the Republican party in his local community as no other orator. Early in his career he had been a Democrat, but when slavery became the burn- ing issue in national affairs, he embraced the principles of the new Republican party. With Lincoln's nomination for the presidency at Chicago, the elder Riley took the stump and urged the citizens of Hancock County, Indi- ana, to vote the straight Republican ticket. Riley took no little credit for carrying his state into the Republican column in 1860. After the election he backed the administra- tion of the tall Illinoisian from the day of his first inauguration until the hour of his death, even to heeding to the call for volunteers for the Union army. Captain Riley neg- lected his law practice to indulge his patriot- ism, and when Lincoln was assassinated there was no more sincere mourner than the father of the future Poet. To honor the Martyred President, Captain Riley, who was considered by many to be the most eloquent orator of Indiana, was called on to speak at a memorial meeting. While his entire speech is no longer extant, one sig- nificant paragraph has been preserved: "Never in the history of recorded time has the transition from free, exultant, forgiving, universal joy, been so quick, so sudden, to universal gloom and sor- row. We rejoice with joy unspeakable at the realized salvation of our govern- ment. We are stricken with harrow dumb, with dark forebodings, almost with despair, at this blackest crime against the nation— against humanity —the assassination of Abraham Lin- coln.'' With the delivery of this eulogy, the orator sat down ant I wept. Admiration for Abraham Lincoln was Whit. Riley's heritage. The Poet could not re- member when he did not revere the name of the Railsplitter. Like the President he could boast of a log cabin birth (Greenfield, Indi- ana), and he gloried in the fact that the days of his youth were spent in much the same way that Lincoln spent his Kentucky and Indiana years. He once made the ob- servation that, "to be born in a log cabin is to be rich. I came within an ace of missing it. Had Lincoln been born amidst a wilder- ness of brick and lath and nails and mortar, he never would have become the 'Savior of his Country'." On another occasion Riley affirmed that "poverty is the north wind that lashes men like Mark Twain and Lincoln into Vikings- women like May Alcott, it makes a queen of the earth. She was enshrined in the heart of mankind, not because she had to do second work including washing at two dollars a week —not that. Her history is inspiring because she rose above two dollars a week.'' Riley always maintained that he would prefer Lincoln's experiences than suffer the blight of prosperity. The Poet would never Page four THE GREAT AMERICAN HUMORISTS OF THE 19TH CENTURY Photograph courtesy of Lincoln National Life Foundation of Fort Wayne, Indiana This large plaster panel, in the collection of the Lincoln National Life Foundation, portrays in an informal study an illustrious company of humorists. The laughter-makers are Bret Harte, Mark Twain, James Whitcomh Riley, Abraham Lincoln, Josh Billings and Artemus Ward. The artist, Jullian Lee Rayford, evidently as an afterthought, believed one other humorist should have been included in the company, because he added under the inscription identifying the figures the fol- lowing postscript: "Bill Nye was here but he's out to lunch right now." The panel contains brief quotations from each humorist: — "Did you ever have the measles, if so; how many?" A. Ward. — "Be virtuous and you will be eccentric." M. Twain. — "The heathen Chinee is peculiar." B. Harte. — "The goblin 'ill get you." Riley. — "If I did not laugh I should die." Lincoln. — "Good for 90 daze, yours without a struggle." J. Billings. It is interesting to note that Riley and Lincoln in the center position of the panel dominate the entire company. They are all depicted in a story telling pose, with Lincoln resting his right arm on Riley's shoulder. The artist has used either a physical peculiarity or a property stamp to iden- tify each character. For additional information concerning this panel see Lincoln Lore number 789, May 22, 1944, entitled "Hoosier Humor." concede that he or Lincoln ever suffered the blight of poverty— pitiful poverty. He was rich with "three meals of potatoes and corn bread and milk— freedom, fresh air, miles of landscape, blackberries and watermelons in season and walnuts for Christmas." The Poet was familiar with the events pertaining to Lincoln's life and political ca- reer. He ever studied the physiognomy of Lincoln's face, and in recalling his own school days he remembered his first teacher— an old lady with a "mole on her face— right spang where Abraham Lincoln wore his, only a little boy once said 'they was eye winkers' in that mole of hers." In 1890 the Poet wrote a letter to Jesse W. Weik, a collaborator with William H. Herndon in the production of the biography Herndon's Lincoln — The True Story of a Great Life, in which he referred to the Presi- dent as the "most perfect American type". This letter was written after Riley had heard the Indiana historian deliver a Lincoln ad- dress: (See accompanying photostat). Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 18, 1890 Jesse W. Weik, Esq. Dear Sir: You must take a special word of thanks and congratulation from me in regard to the newness and refreshing value of your talk on the great Lincoln— the most perfect American type, doubtless, in History. Your clear, dispassionate treatment and noble summary and estimate of the high character of the man at once loved and revered of all nations, seemed to me expressive of consummate taste and wisdom on your part, having been so intimately associated in life with a personage of such lofty genius and yet so simply lovable. Let me express the wish that you will go on before the public with this work which seems so solely your own endowment. Again with thanks, your friend James Whitcomb Riley. In commenting on a Lincoln address he once heard (presumably the address of Jesse Page five W. Weik) Riley made the following re- marks: "I once heard a speaker say of the [Lincoln] cabin in Kentucky that it is now lifted and set on one of the shining summits of the world— and so it is. Lincoln was a rich man. He lived in the American woods. They said it was a mental wilderness. It was a mental university. I low rich he was with that handful of seven books by the cabin fire. What value he attached to his visit to this world, every day a day of discovery, a new survey of facts and principles, every day reaching out like the wide-spreading trees around him for soil and water. I would rather see what he saw and loved than see the sky-line of a great city." The genial Poet was of the opinion that "the child is but the father of the man" and in a letter to Edward W. Bok dated October 23, 1890, he expressed such a sentiment; "I think of what a child Lincoln must have been— and the same child-heart at home with- in his breast when death came by." With this idea in mind, Riley wrote Lincoln— The Boy. This was not his first Lincoln poem, but it is truly more typical of his rhymes of childhood than the poem Lincoln which he composed in 1884. LINCOLN-THE BOY O simple as the rhmyes that tell The simplest tales of youth, Or simple as a miracle Beside the simplest truth— So simple seems the view we share With our Immortals, sheer From Glory looking down to where They were as children here. Or thus we know, nor doubt it not, The boy he must have been Whose budding heart bloomed with the thought All men are kith and kin— With love-light in his eyes and shade Of prescient tears:— Because Only of such a boy were made The loving man he was. Lincoln— The Boy appeared in the Feb- ruary 10, 1906 issue of Collier's Weekly. It was next published in the book, Morning, 1907, and in 1911 it was included in The Lockerbie Book. This poem can be found in several of the editions of The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley. During Riley's mature years, after he had achieved fame as one of the great poets of his day he carried on an extensive correspond- ence with his literary friends. One author in particular to whom he addressed many letters was Joel Chandler Harris. Riley's letters to Harris were oftentimes signed "Jamesy." This southern author who wrote stories about "Br'er Rabbit" and "Tar Baby" tried his hand at writing historical fiction and in 1900 he published an interesting book entitled On The Wings of Occasion which bore the following sub-title; Being the Author- ized Version of Certain Curious Episodes of the Late Civil War, Including the Hitherto Suppressed Narrative of the Kidnapping of President Lincoln. This book enjoyed a modest sale appearing in several different editions, one of which bore a London, Eng- land, imprint. During the Lincoln Centen- nial Year (1909) a new edition of the Harris book was published by Doubleday, Page & Company because it was believed by the publishers that it would be in great demand. CAPTAIN REUBEN A. RILEY Father of the "Iloosier Poet" from The Youth of James Whitcomb Riley by Marcus Dicker, The Bobbs-Merrill Com- pany, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1919. Page six K o3* 4 A K5*^ V <$ J J V 3s, s 8 / ^ 1 ^ g £C .2? c rSl 6 = (/5 8 s o ■a r~ p- o Page seven H f iiakhy ** Itrw ncrnliir The INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL Thtf Indianapolis JNwmat l*wsp*p*r Company, Publish**? W»- "JW^f*|. F*wr tiv^r j dJtMt^t ,^~^*j£^ " #►*%£; "k^e^,^ £*w_~-^ *^*. Uw^u «* "fcu ^ - . \ ftjEjf "H^tL«r\*_^ .3 — Original letter in files of the Lincoln National Life Foundation of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and used by permission of the Riley heirs. Page eight The book bore a new title in 1909, The Kidnapping of President Lincoln and Other War Detective Stories. The Indiana Poet secured a copy of the Harris book and after reading the preliminary chapters he wrote his friend on June 8, 1900; "I've ravenously consumed the first part of your Lincoln story. It is a brave intrepid theme you've struck; and, better yet, it is as veritable as history, the way you're creating it. Over and over I think as I read, 'How this would please the shrewd Lincoln him- self." BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: James Whitcomb Riley, 1849-1916, Indiana Poet, b. Greenfield, Ind. Giving up the idea of following in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, he became a wanderer. For a while he was an itinerant sign-painter and later appeared with a traveling theatrical company. In 1875 he began submitting verses to the Indianapolis Journal and served on the staff of that paper from 1877 to 1885. His numerous contributions of poems to this paper established his fame. He wrote many poems in dialect dealing with the scenes of simple life, which were imbued with humor, pathos, sincerity and naturalness. He became known as the "Hoosier poet" and later gained the sobriquet of "the poet laureate of democracy." Among his works are "When the Frost is on the Pumpkin," "Little Orphant Annie," "The Raggedy Man," and "When the World Bu'st Through." Under the pseudonym of "Benj. F. Johnson, of Boone" he published The Old Swimmiri Hole, and 'Leven More Poems, 1883. Laier volumes published were Afterwhiles, 1887; Rhymes of Child- hood, 1889; Green Fields and Running Brooks, 1892; The Book of Joyous Children, 1902; An Old Sweetheart of Mine, 1902; Old Schoolday Ro- mances, 1909; Knee-Deep in June, 1912; and Old Times, 1915, etc. His Complete Works were pub- lished in 1913 after being edited by E. H. Eitel. W. L. Phelp edited his Letters which were pub- lished in 1930. Of the two Lincoln poems which Riley published, the one entitled Lincoln has proved the most popular. This poem was first printed in the Indianapolis journal of October 26, 1884. The original manuscript now in the possession of Mr. J. K. Lilly, Jr., of Indianapolis, bears the following notation: "Greenfield, Ind., October 25, 1884." The first appearance of the poem in book form was in the pirated volume A Tinkle of Bells And Other Poems by James Whitcomb Riley. This scarce volume was printed in Chicago in 1895 and was soon withdrawn from the market. The Lincoln poem appeared on page 67. Attention is called to the fact that the poem as given on the broadside, reproduced on the front cover of this pamphlet, and appearing originally in this form in the Reader's Mag- azine on February 12, 1905, is a redraft of the original poem reproduced on these pages in facsimile. This beautiful broadside, print- ed in colors, was copyrighted in 1905 by The Bobbs-Merrill Company and bears in the lower margin in the author's handwriting the dates of "February 12, 1809 . . . 1905" and his original signature. The Poet signed a number of the broadsides for his personal friends, and the copy now in the collection of the Department of Lincolniana, is one of these originals which came to us as a gift from the library of Mr. J. K. Lilly, Jr. A comparison of the original draft with later printed versions leads one to believe the earlier effort was the best. The version published in the volume, A Tinkle of Bells And Other Poems is identical to the original draft with the exception of the last line of the last stanza which reads "The peace of his quiet life." In Osborn H. Oldroyd's compilation of poems entitled, The Poets' Lincoln— Tributes In Verse To The Martyred President published in Boston in 1915 the title of Riley's poem is given on page 31 as A Peaceful Life with the name "Lincoln" in parenthesis as a sub-title. Then, too, the first line of the first stanza differs with the broadside version as follows; "A peaceful life —just toil and rest—." While the Oldroyd version has become standard, the publishers of The Complete Works of ]ames Whitcomb Riley have retained the original title. Riley's themes were seldom concerned with "presidents and kings," but he, nevertheless, went on record as his father had done be- fore him as an admirer of Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps Reuben Riley displayed more zeal, but the Hoosier Poet's statement to Jesse W. Weik that "the great Lincoln (is) the most perfect American type, doubtless in History" is certainlv more significant. Page nine NOTE: The information contained in Letters of James Whitcomb Riley Edited by Wil- i . . i i j r j-rr Ham Lvon Phelps. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, this article was gleaned from many different Indianapolis> IndianSj 1930 . sources, however, the published works used The quotations from and other use made here in compiling data on James Whitcomb Riley's of books issued by The Bobb-Merrill Company have rAi^i t- l in been accorded their consent. estimate of Abraham Lincoln are as rollows: Dickey, Marcus: The Youth of James Whit- * ile * James Whitcomb: A Tinkle of Bells And comh Riley. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indian- °f er Poems > E " A " Weeks & Company, Chicago, apolis, Indiana, 1919. inois, The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley Nolan, Jeannette Covert: James Whitcomb Riley Bibliographical Edition, 6 vols. The Bobbs-Merrill —Hoosier Poet, Julian Messner, Inc.; New York, Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1913. New York, 1941. Page ten 150 Copies Reprinted from Lincoln Herald Harrogate, Tennessee February, 1945, Vol. 47, No. 1 NOT FOR SALE