Burlington, Indiana thought they were in for a treat when they hosted the famous poet James Whitcomb Riley. A hugely popular writer, he penned countless poems, and toured the country on the lecture circuit which increased his fame. His works were the inspiration for Little Orphan Annie and he gave us the adage, “If it looks like a duck…” and many children’s poems as well.
The ‘little hamlet’ of 300 souls wanted to give their fellow Indianan, the ‘Hooiser Poet,’ an unforgettable time. Here is the account of that visit in the Delphi Times of February 12, 1892.
You may have had a similar experience. I know I have where I invite someone over, wine and dine, and top off the night with an introduction to crokinole. Usually it ends favorably and the guest knows that this is good stuff. But sometimes, just like in crokinole, you inexplicably miss the mark and you want your unappreciative guest, just like your errant disk, to end up in a ditch. Now the good people of Burlington did not quite say that, they probably had too much mid-western manner to say that out loud. But I’m sure that they thought they and crokinole would be the next subject of one of his popular poems. Luckily, their good-nature prevailed and they were not as sore as Mr. Riley’s finger.