Raleigh High School - Excelsior Yearbook (Raleigh, IN)

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of Europe in a battlefield. The poem expresses in a wonderful way, both by its thought and form, the swift speeding of the murderous missile: lt whizzed and whistled along the blurred And red-blent ranks, and it nicked the star Of an epaulet, as it snarled the word- War! On it sped--and the lifted wrist I Of the ensign-bearer stung, and straight E Dropped at his side as the word was hissed- I Hate! On went the missle-smoothed the blue Of a jaunty cap and the curls thereof, Cooing, soft as a dove might do- Love! ' Sang on!-sang on!-sang hate-sang war- Sung love, in sooth, till it needs must cease ' Hushed in the heart it was questing for,- . Peace! i l Mr. Riley made many contributions to the Journal before he mustered courage to ask for remuneration or before it occurred to the editor that he was en- titled to it by reason of the merit of his oierings. Finally, illumination came to the editorial mind and today there exists a list of poems for which a lump sum was paid to the author. The list includes some of his most familiar and most famous verses, but what was paid for them is the author 's own secret. Then it was proposed that Mr. Riley join the l Journal editorial staff at a fixed salary, which he did. 13 His duties were not well defined, but it was then li that he wrote the Benjamin F. Johnson series, The E Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems, one appearing each week in company with a letter pur- porting to be written by Johnson, an illiterate but intelligent old farmer with a strong vein of senti- ment. Meanwhile, Mr. Riley 's personal acquaintance extended rapidly among appreciative people. Some of the men of his group were John C. New, Rev. Myron W. Reed, William Pickney Fishback, Elijah W. Halford, and General Harrison, afterward Presi- dent. His recognition in the Eastern states came more slowly than elsewhere, but when finally given it was generous and enthusiastic. He became a favorite at Boston and always drew large audiences from the most exclusive intellectual circles. His first appearance in New York City was at an author's reading given for some special cause. Many distinguished writers, including William Dean Howells, Thomas Baily Aldrich, and Richard Watson Gilder were on the program. An author 's reading is usually a dull affair, writers seldom being good speakers, and the great audience grew restless and weary. Riley was last on the program, he was un' known and people were indifferent and impatient to be gone. But he proved to be the star of the occas- ion. Quickly it was seen that here was something new and original, that here was an artist. Wave upon wave of applause followed his recitation of a dialect poem-a character sketch in verse-and late as it was encores were demanded. Newspapers next morning gave him much praise and his fame was firmly established in the literary and artistic world. His life to the onlooker seems an ideal one for a literary man, with full honors and recognition be- stowed upon him while yet living, respected and ll ill! gl ill' ll, ll l 1 1 l l Page fifteen

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be etched upon his memory many of the portraits afterwards presented to the public and to fame. It was perhaps on those journeys that he met Jap Miller. Of Jap he writes: He,ll talk you down on tariifg er he'll talk you down on tax, And prove the pore man pays 'em all-and them's about the fans!- Religiou, law, er politics, prize fightin' er baseball- .Tes tech Jap up a little and he'll post you 'bout 'em all. In the course of his ramblings over Indiana, his propensity to write asserted itself and he found his way to country newspaper offices. With at least two of these, one an Anderson and the other a Koko- mo papers, he established more than casual relations, forming lasting friendships with the editors and contributing many of his earliest productions to their columns. In them, he iirst tried his poetical wings. It was when he began to contribute to the India- napolis Journal, however, that his literary career really began. The Journal, an old, well-established paper, had always given more or less attention to matters not strictly of a news character, and was especially hospitable to writers of the state. On its st-aif at that time were several men who were keenly appreciative of literary merit and quick to discern originality. Meanwhile, Mr. Riley himself was a frequent visitor to the Journal oiiice, coming over from his home in Greenfield and before many months taking up his residence in Indianapolis, which city has since been his permanent home, and with which he is closely identified. He made the Journal office his headquarters, and from that time, in the middle Page fourteen seventies, until 1904, when the Journal was sold and merged with the Star, a desk there was assigned to his use, and there he wrote perhaps the greater number of his poems. But he was not a methodical regular worker He was never one of the authors of whom it is re- lated that they produce a certain number of words each day and accomplishing the task at fixed hours. He wrote when the spirit moved him, when the in- spiration came. He fell into the ways of the morn- ing newspaper and formed a habit of dropping into the editorial rooms at midnight and later, some- times iinding the late hours a favorable time for writing. Once he came after twelve o'clock with a bit of manuscript in his hands. I want this, printed in the morning, he said. But Riley, said the editor in charge, running his eye over the lines, the poem 's all right and we'll use it, but it 's too late to get it in in the morning. We 'll use it next day. It can 't be too late. You've got more news to set and you can set this. I had gone to bed and this thing got into my head and I had to get up and write it or I couldn't have slept. I want to see it in type. 'tBut the editorial page where such things go is already made up, objected the editor. I don 't care where it goes. Put it on the market page or among the advertisements. The editor did as he was asked. The poem was The Song of the Bullet. What inspired the lines in that time of peace he does not himself know. It might have been accounted for had it been produced at the time of the writing of this sketch, when all America stands aghast at the sudden transformation

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W5 1. ll 4 , l lg l E l l Page sixteen loved by the people among whom he lives, adorned by children, his writings cherished by people every- where, he goes his way serenely, with a hopeful out- look on this life and the next. It remains true that he spoke for the inarticulate and put into words the hopes and dreams of his friends, their inspirations, their longings and their beliefs-that he is the poet of the people. Orville Morgan. Helen Adams Keller N the village of Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, was born a little baby girl who is now a world-famous young woman, Miss Helen Keller, one of the most interesting characters of the nineteenth century. Her father, Arthur H. Kel- ler, was the editor of a paper. He owned a beauti- ful home, which was named Ivy Green, for the Eng- lish ivy covered the house, trees and the fences. Climbing roses hung in long festoons from the porch, and in the garden grew lilies, roses and trailing clematis. As a baby, Helen was a strong, healthy child, quick and imitative in learning to speak. But when nineteen months old Cin 18823 she was taken seri- ously ill with congestion of the brain, and upon her recovery it was discovered that the extreme illness had left her totally deaf, dumb and blind. This little girl in her world of silence and dark- ness, was constantly trying to make known her wants, which was of intense sorrow to her parents and at the age of six she was taken to Dr. Chisholm, of Baltimore. While on her journey, parents, rela- tives, and friends contributed to make her happy. But Dr, Chisholm gave no hopes, and from there she was taken to an electrician, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, whose inventions also failed to bring to her light or sound, and by his advice Miss Anne Sulli- man was recommended as a teacher. At the age of fourteen, almost blind, she entered the Perkins institution, where she partially re- gained her sight and graduated in 1886. Now ar' rangements were made for her special training. Miss Sullivan, who sincerely loved her pupil, taught her self-control and obedience. She pursued the plan of spelling into her hand everything they did, until Helen had absorbed the hand language as an ordinary child learns the spoken language. Now, as communication was possible with the outer world, Helen's intellectual improvement was rapid. She manifested eagerness and delight in acquiring information and a vocabulary. After three months' Work she knew about three hundred words. There was also evidence of her power in description, as in her description of a snowy land- scape. The trees stood motionless and white like figures in a marble frieze. There was no odor of pine needles. The rays of the sun fell upon the trees so that the twigs sparkled like diamonds and dropped in showers when we touched them. In 1890 Helen Keller was told of a deaf and blind girl in Norway who had been taught to speak. She now determined to learn. She took eleven les-