Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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._ AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE!--Is this her presence here with me, Or but a vain creation of a lover's memory? A fair, illusive vision that would vanish into air Dared I even touch the silence with the whisper of a prayer? [Illustration] Nay, let me then believe in all the blended false and true-- The semblance of the _old_ love and the substance of the _new_,-- The _then_ of changeless sunny days-- the _now_ of shower and shine-- But Love forever smiling,-- as that old sweetheart of mine. [Illustration] This ever-restful sense of _home_, though shouts ring in the hall.-- The easy-chair--the old bookshelves and prints along the wall;