Hoosier Lyrics

Title: Hoosier Lyrics

Author: Eugene Field

Release date: May 18, 2011 [eBook #36150]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36150

Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[1]

HOOSIER LYRICS

BY

EUGENE FIELD

AUTHOR OF

THE CLINK OF THE ICE, JOHN SMITH, U. S. A., IN WINK-A-WAY-LAND, ETC.

M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY

CHICAGO, ILL.

[2]

SELECTED WORKS of EUGENE FIELD

Uniform with this volume

The Clink of the Ice Hoosier Lyrics In Wink-a-Way Land John Smith, U. S. A.

Four volumes, boxed, $3.00 Single volumes, 75 cents, postpaid

M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 701-727 S. DEARBORN ST. CHICAGO

Copyright, 1905 M. A. Donohue & Co.

[3]

INTRODUCTION.

From whatever point of view the character of Eugene Field is seen, genius—rare and quaint presents itself in childlike simplicity. That he was a poet of keen perception, of rare discrimination, all will admit. He was a humorist as delicate and fanciful as Artemus Ward, Mark Twain, Bill Nye, James Whitcomb Riley, Opie Read, or Bret Harte in their happiest moods. Within him ran a poetic vein, capable of being worked in any direction, and from which he could, at will, extract that which his imagination saw and felt most. That he occasionally left the child-world, in which he longed to linger, to wander among the older children of men, where intuitively the hungry listener follows him into his Temple of Mirth, all should rejoice, for those who knew him not, can while away the moments imbibing the genius of his imagination in the poetry and prose here presented.

Though never possessing an intimate acquaintanceship with Field, owing largely to the disparity in our ages, still there existed a bond of[4] friendliness that renders my good opinion of him in a measure trustworthy. Born in the same city, both students in the same college, engaged at various times in newspaper work both in St. Louis and Chicago, residents of the same ward, with many mutual friends, it is not surprising that I am able to say of him that "the world is better off that he lived, not in gold and silver or precious jewels, but in the bestowal of priceless truths, of which the possessor of this book becomes a benefactor of no mean share of his estate."

Every lover of Field, whether of the songs of childhood or the poems that lend mirth to the out-pouring of his poetic nature, will welcome this unique collection of his choicest wit and humor.

Charles Walter Brown.

Chicago, January, 1905.

[5]

CONTENTS.

[8]

[9]

HOOSIER LYRICS PARAPHRASED.

[10]

[11]

[14]

GETTIN' ON.

[16]

MINNIE LEE.

Writing from an Indiana town a young woman asks: "Is the enclosed poem worth anything?"

We find that the poem is as follows:

To[17] the question as to whether this poem is worth anything we chose to answer in verse as follows:

[18]

LIZZIE.

[20]

OUR LADY OF THE MINE.

[25]

PENN-YAN BILL.

[31]

ED.

[33]

HOW SALTY WIN OUT.

[36]

HIS QUEEN.

Our gifted and genial friend, Mr. William J. Florence, the comedian, takes to verses as naturally as a canvas-back duck takes to celery sauce. As a balladist he has few equals and no superiors, and when it comes to weaving compliments to the gentler sex he is without a peer. We find in the New York Mirror the latest verses from Mr. Florence's pen; they are entitled "Pasadene," and the first stanza flows in this wise:

Following this introduction come five stanzas heaping even more glowing compliments upon this Miss Pasadene—whoever she may be—we know her not. They are handsome compliments, beautifully phrased, yet they give us the heartache, for we know Mrs. Florence, and it grieves us to see her husband dribbling away his superb intellect in[37] penning verses to other women. Yet we think we understand it all; these poets have a pretty way of hymning the virtues of their wives under divers aliases. So, catching the afflatus of the genial actor-poet's muse, we would answer:

[38]

ALASKAN BALLADRY.—III.

(Skans in Love.)

[39]

THE BIGGEST FISH.

[42]

BONNIE JIM CAMPBELL: A LEGISLATIVE MEMORY.

[44]

LYMAN, FREDERICK AND JIM.

[46]

A WAIL.

[48]

CLENDENIN'S LAMENT.

[49]

ON THE WEDDING OF G. C.

(June 2, 1886.)

[51]

TO G. C.

(July 12, 1886.)

[52]

TO DR. F. W. R.

[54]

HORACE'S ODE TO "LYDIA" ROCHE.

[56]

A PARAPHRASE, CIRCA 1715.

[57]

A PARAPHRASE, OSTENSIBLY BY DR. I. W.

[58]

HORACE I, 27.

[59]

HEINE'S "WIDOW OR DAUGHTER."

[60]

HORACE II, 20.

[62]

HORACE'S SPRING POEM.

(Odes I, 4.)

[64]

HORACE TO LIGURINE.

(Odes IV, 10.)

[65]

HORACE ON HIS MUSCLE.

(Epode VI.)

[66]

HORACE TO MAECENAS.

(Odes III, 29.)

[68]

HORACE IN LOVE AGAIN.

(Epode XI.)

[70]

"GOOD-BY—GOD BLESS YOU!"

[72]

HORACE.

(Epode XIV.)

[74]

HORACE I, 23.

[75]

A PARAPHRASE.

[76]

A PARAPHRASE BY CHAUCER.

[77]

HORACE I, 5.

[78]

HORACE I, 20.

ENVOY.

[79]

HORACE II, 7.

[81]

HORACE I, 11.

[82]

HORACE I, 13.

[83]

HORACE IV, 1.

[85]

HORACE TO HIS PATRON.

[87]

THE "ARS POETICA" OF HORACE—XVIII.

(Lines 323-333.)

[88]

HORACE I, 34.

[89]

HORACE I, 33.

[91]

THE "ARS POETICA" OF HORACE—I.

(Lines 1-23.)

[93]

THE GREAT JOURNALIST IN SPAIN.

[95]

REID, THE CANDIDATE.

[97]

A VALENTINE.

[98]

KISSING-TIME.

[100]

THE FIFTH OF JULY.

[101]

PICNIC-TIME.

[103]

THE ROMANCE OF A WATCH.

[104]

OUR BABY.

[106]

THE COLOR THAT SUITS ME BEST.

[108]

HOW TO "FILL."

It is understood that our esteemed Col. Franc B. Wilkie is going to formulate a reply to Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox's latest poem, which begins as follows:

We fancy the genial colonel will start off with some such quatrain as this:

[109]

POLITICS IN 1888.

The Cleveland Leader must be getting ready for the campaign of 1888. We find upon its editorial page quite a pretentious poem, entitled "Alpha and Omega," and here is a sample stanza:

Well, may be so, but may we be permitted to add a stanza which seems to us to be very pertinent just now?

[110]

THE BASEBALL SCORE.

[112]

CHICAGO NEWSPAPER LIFE.

It pleases us to observe that the shocking habit of hurling opprobrious epithets at each other has been abandoned by the venerable editor of the Journal and the venerable editor of the Tribune. At this moment we are reminded of the inspired lines of the eminent but now, alas! neglected Watts:

[114]

THE MIGHTY WEST.

[116]

APRIL.

[118]

REPORT OF THE BASEBALL GAME.

[120]

THE ROSE.

[121]

KANSAS CITY VS. DETROIT.

[122]

ME AND BILKAMMLE.

[124]

TO THE DETROIT BASEBALL CLUB.

[125]

A BALLAD OF ANCIENT OATHS.

[128]

AN OLD SONG REVISED.

[130]

THE GRATEFUL PATIENT.

[131]

THE BEGINNING AND THE END.

[133]

CLARE MARKET.

[135]

UNCLE EPHRAIM.

[138]

THIRTY-NINE.

[141]

HORACE I, 18.

[143]

THREE RHINELAND DRINKING SONGS.

I.

II.

("Fiducit.")

III.

(Der Mann im Keller.)

[147]

THE THREE TAILORS.

(From the German of C. Herlossohn.)

[150]

MORNING HYMN.

[151]

DOCTORS.

[155]

BEN APFELGARTEN.

[158]

IN HOLLAND.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:

Page 6: Japan changed to Spain Page 85: you re changed to you're Page 101: comma added after spiders Page 113: ' changed to " before Let Page 157: the changed to they