A Spray of Kentucky Pine

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Title: A Spray of Kentucky Pine
Author: George Douglass Sherley
Release Date: January 28, 2005 [eBook #14821]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SPRAY OF KENTUCKY PINE***
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A SPRAY OF KENTUCKY PINE
--Placed At The Feet Of The Dead Poet--?--James Whitcomb Riley--
By The Hand?Of the Man From?Down On The Farm--?--George Douglass Sherley
--On The Banks
Of Wolf Run--
--1916--
Second Edition
From Ye Olden Printe Shope--?--James M. Byrnes, Esquire--?On Ye Long Highway?Called Shorte in Ye Goodly?Towne Of Lexington Kentucky
The Inscription Two-fold
To The Dead:?Reverently Inscribed?--To the Indiana-Born
World-Wide Poet--?--James Whitcomb Riley--
--This Spray Of Kentucky Pine--
To The Living:?Also Lovingly Inscribed?By The Man From Down?On The Farm To The?Dear Lady Here On The
Banks Of Wolf Run
--His Mother--
On Grateful Commemoration
Of Her Eighty-Fifth Birthday
August 20, 1916
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!
Tenderly, Lovingly, let the Fair Elaine cherish?the Shield Invincible of her Sir Launcelot!?Some Day--Some Glad Day--she too, will go upward?with the Flood, in the Dark Barge, decked with