- [Narrator] This Indiana Bicentennial Minute
is made possible by the Indiana Historical Society
and the law firm of Krieg Devault.
- [Jane] Born in Greenfield Indiana in 1849,
he was famously known across the country
as the Hoosier poet.
James Whitcomb Riley was one of the nation's
most popular writers, rivaling Mark Twain.
And Riley's unmistakable verse
was known throughout the country.
- [Man] "O, it sets my heart a-clickin'
"like the tickin' of a clock.
"When the frost is on the pumpkin
"and the fodder's in the shock."
- [Jane] Read that poem, The Old Swimming Hole,
or his other works and you'll meet characters
that live to this day.
Raggedy Man, Old Aunt Mary,
and especially Little Orphan Annie.
Publishers urged him to move east,
but Riley remained in Indiana,
a true Hoosier until his death in 1916.
I'm Jane Pauley with this Indiana Bicentennial Minute.
- [Narrator] Made possible by the Indiana Historical Society
and the law firm of Krieg Devault.