Produced by David Clarke, Chandra Friend and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Note: Dialect has been retained as it appears in the original publication. THE OLD SOLDIER'S STORY _Poems and Prose Sketches_ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Indianapolis The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers Copyright 1913, 1914, 1915 James Whitcomb Riley Press of Braunworth & Co. Bookbinders and Printers Brooklyn, N. Y. TO GEORGE THOMPSON, ESQ. "_Apples ben ripe in my gardayne_" CONTENTS PAGE THE OLD SOLDIER'S STORY 1 SOMEP'N COMMON-LIKE 5 MONSIEUR LE SECRETAIRE 6 A PHANTOM 7 IN THE CORRIDOR 8 LOUELLA WAINIE 9 THE TEXT 11 WILLIAM BROWN 12 WHY 14 THE TOUCH OF LOVING HANDS 15 A TEST 16 A SONG FOR CHRISTMAS 17 SUN AND RAIN 19 WITH HER FACE 20 MY NIGHT 21 THE HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN 22 GOOD-BY, OLD YEAR 23 FALSE AND TRUE 24 A BALLAD FROM APRIL 25 BRUDDER SIMS 27 DEFORMED 28 FAITH 30 THE LOST THRILL 31 AT DUSK 32 ANOTHER RIDE FROM GHENT TO AIX 33 IN THE HEART OF JUNE 36 DREAMS 37 BECAUSE 42 TO THE CRICKET 43 THE OLD-FASHIONED BIBLE 44 UNCOMFORTED 46 WHAT THEY SAID 48 AFTER THE FROST 50 CHARLES H. PHILLIPS 51 WHEN IT RAINS 53 AN ASSASSIN 55 BEST OF ALL 56 BIN A-FISHIN' 57 UNCLE DAN'L IN TOWN OVER SUNDAY 59 SOLDIERS HERE TO-DAY 61 SHADOW AND SHINE 65 THAT NIGHT 66 AUGUST 67 THE GUIDE 68 SUTTER'S CLAIM 71 HER LIGHT GUITAR 73 WHILE CIGARETTES TO ASHES TURN 74