An Old Sweetheart of Mine
James Whitcomb Riley
Drawings by Howard Chandler Christy
Decorations by Virginia Keep
The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers Indianapolis
Copyright, 1888-1899-1902 James Whitcomb Riley
Copyright, 1902 The Bowen-Merrill Company
An Old Sweetheart of Mine
INSCRIBED
To GEORGE C. HITT
The beginning of whose steadfast friendship was marked by the first publication of these verses which now, expanded by writer, honored by publisher and masterfully graced by artist, seem to be a worthier symbol of the author's grateful and affectionate regard for his earliest friend
List of Illustrations
I Frontispiece--An Old Sweetheart of Mine.
II A fair, illusive vision that would vanish into air
III The _then_ of changeless sunny days--The _now_ of shower and shine
IV The old bookshelves and prints along the wall
V I find the smiling features of an old sweetheart of mine
VI Its fate with my tobacco and to vanish with the smoke
VII When my truant fancies wander with that old sweetheart of mine
VIII The voices of my children and the mother as she sings
IX For I find an extra flavor in Memory's mellow wine
X O childhood days enchanted! O the magic of the spring
XI To--smile, behind my lesson, at that old sweetheart of mine
XII A face of lily-beauty, with a form of airy grace
XIII When first I kissed her, and she answered the caress
XIV I slipped the apple in it--and the teacher didn't know
XV She gave me her _photograph_, and printed "Ever Thine"
XVI And again I feel the pressure of her slender little hand
XVII Where the vines were ever fruited, and the weather ever fine
XVIII And she my faithful sweetheart till the golden hair was gray
XIX The door is softly opened, and--my wife is standing there
_The ordered intermingling_ _of the real and the dream,--_ _The mill above the river,_ _and the mist above the stream;_ _The life of ceaseless labor,_ _brave with song and cheery call--_ _The radiant skies of evening,_ _with its rainbow o'er us all._