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Bit of unpublished Verse, written before his hand had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!
The Interlude —Holding Two Telegrams And A Plea— 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...!