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Show FILEY S -OLD Sr.lfc.MlN HOLEY ClUaaaa mt tka roefa Sfatlv. TUIag. mj lie Can I IdeallTy It, From the New York Times. "I aj-waya aj-waya thought." said the newipaper ' man. "that that proverb about prophet pro-phet In their own country was ail bosh until I spent a week In Green-fleld. Green-fleld. Ind . last summer. That'a the town, you know, where R'.ley waa born and raised. Now you'd tuppoaa on general prim Iplcs that the towna-pcople towna-pcople mould be prouder of that than of any other fait In connection with Greenfield, but the truth U that tha younger set scarcely know that Riley ever lived there, and the older people peo-ple are rather envious of hi reputation, reputa-tion, and bear him n good will. On j old lady wita w nom I talked the Urtt ; day or two I was there la a fair aam-! aam-! pie of the w hole town. I "Did you ever know James Whlt-comb Whlt-comb Kiiey?" I asked with what I thought was a proper amount of care. "'Jim Riley!' she sniffed, 'why. yes, of course. I've known Jim Riley ever since him and my boys ust to play ta roun' in our backyard, an' a (hiflesa lot he alius was, I can tell you. Why. he never did nothln' till he waa twenty-one or two year old but lay aroun' on store boxes an' gab. 1'it to pertend he was a reporter, but It'a mighty little reportln" he ever did-Kverybody did-Kverybody said he was no good. Laws sakea, if he hadn't happened to her made a bit with them pomes of his, he never would her amounted to anything any-thing In the world.' " 'He seemi to hare aucceeded pretty pret-ty well In that line, though,' I remon- trated feebly. " 'Oh. yes. I guess he' pretty well flied. and he got a big enough name, such as It I. I must say I don't think much of his poetry, th msn. Take that 'Old Swimmln' Hole pome of hla. W'hy. I believe Jim Riley made the whole thing up out of whole cloth. Did you ever hear about the time be waa here three or four years ago, and waa axed to point out the original swimmln' hole? Well, he showed them a likely enough place until omebodr come up and proved that that place never existed at all when Riley waa a boy. The cresek'i channel had bea changed since then, an" the hole he pointed out was in the dug channel. That shows Jest how much truth thera is in Jim Riley's poetry.'" |