The Interlude
Reading edition
—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 Flowers: clasping in her Beautiful Hand of Gentle Service, the Lily of Fidelity: floating with the Mystic Tide, to meet again—at Towered Camelot— —her Gallant, her Waiting Knight! For Love shares with the Soul its Precious Immortality!