A Spray of Kentucky Pine

Excerpt

The Prelude

—A Note Explanatory—

With James Whitcomb Riley,

some years ago. This Man From Down On The Farm,

made a Reading Tour, of—in Population—more than

one-half of this Imperial Republic, including

the Cream of the Canadian Provinces.

Of that Tour, at some other time, in some more

leisurely hour, he desires, if able, to make

a full and faithful Record.

This, is but a humble Spray of Kentucky Pine,

placed at the feet of the Dead Poet!

According to a long established Custom,

the Man, in some way, in private print—

—for the Relative, for the Friend, for the Stranger too—

quietly Celebrates the various Red-Letter Days, of the

Dear Lady Here, On the Banks of Wolf Run—his Mother!

Her full Restoration, to her usual Good Health,

is a Source of much Joy, and the cause of much Gratitude.

The many Prayers made for her Recovery must have been of

much avail before the Great White Throne, of Infinite Mercy!

He is also deeply grateful, that the nearness of her

Eighty-Fifth Birthday, makes it possible for him,

to make an Inscription Two-fold, for the Dead,

for the Living—for the Dear Poet, for the Beloved Mother!

The linking of their names together, under this Spray of

Kentucky Pine—culled by a hand most loving—is like

unto finding the other half of a broken Chord, in some

Prelude Elusive: for James Whitcomb Riley, deeply

endeared himself, to the Dear Lady Here, while he and

her son were a long while away, on their Reading Tour.

Out of sheer Kindliness, out of Goodness of Heart, he often

wrote to her, delightful Letters of Good Cheer, filled with

a charming detail, with more than a trifle of over-Praise;

all of which, is most acceptable, to the heart of a too fond mother.

Recently, from his Winter Home in the South-land, he sent to

her, in response to one of these Farm Bubbles, a little

Bit of unpublished Verse, written before his hand had

failed him, reproduced for her—and others—in fac-simile.

Pray deem it not, all too presumptuous, this humble

Spray of Kentucky Pine!

It serves as a Reverent Tribute to the One!

As a Loving Commemoration to the Other!

I.

When the word came that

James Whitcomb Riley was Dead

this Telegram was sent to a near

Relative an astute Man of Affairs

who with the Head of a Great Publishing

House—a Prime Favorite from

his early Boyhood of the Poet—held

his well-placed Confidence in all

matters concerning the necessary

material Things of Life.

The mightiest Monarch of the Indiana Forest

lies prone upon his Native Soil!

This Man From Down On The Farm,

Reverently, sends this humble Spray of Kentucky Pine,

as a Symbol, ever-green, of his Lasting Love, for the Dead Poet:

as a Symbol, made manifest, of his deep Sympathy,

for You, for Yours.

II.

This Message was wired to a most

Gentle Lady who had meant

so much in so many ways to

James Whitcomb Riley

appealing as she did to the Best

to the Highest in his Nature and who

was indeed a "Ministering Angel"

when "Pain and Anguish" wrung

his brow, racked his frail body

where lingered its Tenant

his Immortal Soul...!