Another poet of world-wide fame—Eugene Field—who was extremely discriminating in his friendships and exceedingly sparing of compliment, said: “’Gene Debs is the most lovable man I ever knew. Debs is sincere. His heart is as gentle as a woman’s and as fresh as a mountain brook. If Debs were a priest the world would listen to his eloquence, and that gentle, musical voice and sad, sweet smile of his would soften the hardest heart.” There have been paid to Debs enough tender tributes in verse to fill a large volume. At one time when Riley was confined to his room by illness, Debs sent him a bouquet of the poet’s favorite flowers, which called forth the following appreciation: THEM FLOWERS. (To My Good Friend, Eugene V. Debs.) Take a feller ’ats sick, and laid up on the shelf, All shaky, and ga’nted and pore, And all so knocked out he can’t handle hisself With a stiff upper lip any more; Shet him up all alone in the gloom of a room As dark as a tomb, and as grim, And then take and send him some roses in bloom, And you kin have fun out o’ him! You’ve seed him, ’fore now, when his liver was sound, And his appetite notched like a saw, A chaffin’ you, mebby, for romancin’ round With a big posey bunch in yer paw. But you ketch him, say, when his health is away And he’s flat on his back, in distress, And then you can trot out your little bokay And not be insulted, I guess! You see, it’s like this, what his weaknesses is, Them flowers makes him think of the days Of his innocent youth, and that mother o’ his, And the roses she used to raise; So here all alone with the roses you send, Bein’ sick and all trimbly and faint, My eyes is—my eyes is—my eyes is—old friend, Is a-leakin’—I’m blamed ef they ain’t! And in the “Hoosier Bard’s” poem “Regardin’ Terry Hut,” appears these lines: And there’s ’Gene Debs—a man ’at stands And jest holds out in his two hands As warm a heart as ever beat Betwixt here and the Jedgment Seat. The picturesque genius, Capt. Jack Crawford, renowned as “The Poet-Scout,” wrote of Debs: The same old pard of long ago, The whole-souled ’Gene I used to know, With the love of Truth writ on Justice’s scroll, With a woman’s heart and a warrior’s soul. At a reception given to Debs by the Denver Press Club Walter Juan Davis recited these lines, written for the occasion: DEBS.