Scanned by Charles Keller with
OmniPage Professional OCR softwaredonated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226.Contact Mike Lough <Mikel caere.com>
Memorial EditionThe Complete Works ofJames Whitcomb RileyIN TEN VOLUMESIncluding Poems and Prose Sketches, manyof which have not heretofore beenpublished; an authentic Biography, anelaborate Index and numerousIllustrations in color from Paintings
The Complete Worksof James Whitcomb Riley
All who knew Mr. Clark intimately, casually,or by sight alone, smiled always, meetinghim, and thought, "What an odd man he is!" Notthat there was anything extremely or ridiculouslyobtrusive in Mr. Clark's peculiarities either offeature, dress, or deportment, by which a gradedestimate of his really quaint character might aptly begiven; but rather, perhaps, it was the curiouscombination of all these things that had gainedfor Mr. Clark the transient celebrity of being avery eccentric man.
And Mr. Clark, of all the odd inhabitants of thebusy metropolis in which he lived, seemed leastconscious of the fact of his local prominence. Trueit was that when familiarly addressed as "Clark,old boy," by sportive individuals he never recollectedhaving seen before, he would oftentimes stareblankly in return, and with evident embarrassment;but as these actions may have been attributable toweak eyes, or to the confusion consequent uponbeing publicly recognized by the quondam associatesof bacchanalian hours, the suggestive facts onlyserved to throw his eccentricities in new relief.
And in the minds of many, that Mr. Clark was somewhat given todissipation, there was but littledoubt; for, although in no way, and at no time,derelict in the rigid duties imposed upon him asan accountant in a wholesale liquor house on SouthJohn Street, a grand majority of friends had longago conceded that a certain puffiness of flesh anda soiled-like pallor of complexion were in nowisethe legitimate result of over-application simply inthe counting-room of the establishment in which hefound employment; but as to the complicity of Mr.Clark's direct associates in this belief, it is onlyjustice to the gentleman to state that by themhe was held above all such suspicion, from thegray-haired senior of the firm, down to the pink-nosed porter of the warerooms, who, upon everyavailable occasion, would point out the eccentricMr. Clark as "the on'y man in the biznez 'at neversunk a 'thief' er drunk a drop o' 'goods' o' anykind, under no consideration!"
And Mr. Clark himself, when playfullyapproached on the subject, would quietly assert thatnever, under any circumstances, had the taste ofintoxicating liquors passed his lips, though at suchasseverations it was a noticeable fact that Mr.Clark's complexion invariably grew more sultrythan its wont, and that his eyes, forever moist, grewdewier, and that his lips and tongue would seemcovertly entering upon some lush conspiracy, whichin its incipiency he would be forced to smother withhis hastily drawn handkerchief. Then the eccentricMr. Clark would laugh nervously, and pouncingon some subject so vividly unlike the one justpreceding it as