RILEY AS A HOOSIER DEUTSCH WRITER

     Riley celebrates the Hoosier Deutsch as no other writer does.  The Hoosier Deutch were settlers of German ancestry and Central Indiana was sometimes referred to as the land of the "Hoosier Deutsch." Riley was predominantly
of Hoosier Deutsch cultural influence. Riley's father, Reuben, spoke Deutsch in his boyhood home and did not learn
to speak English until after his childhood even though he came from Irish roots.  Riley's mother was of course pure Hoosier Deutsch. Riley's ancestors kept alive many of the old folktales and stories of their lives. Few of these Deutsch tales survive. I myself preserved one in a book called THE WILD BULL OF BLUE RIVER.

The records are very, very scant about the hardy Deutsch settlers of Central Indiana. Their language was once spoken

on the street corners of Greenfield. Cultural influences discouraged it. For example, in Riley's own Bradley Methodist Church of Greenfield, Indiana those who spoke German were consigned to the back of the church since it was deemed only the English speaking Methodists could derive benefit of the English sermons. Balconies were built in some such churches so that the Deutsch might see what was going on at the altar since they could not be expected to understand the service verbally. The Deutsch language was slowly lost in Indiana until the time of the First World War. In fact Deutsch was made illegal in Greenfield schools by an ordinance of the Greenfield City Council during World War One and was rarely spoken after that. One of the Deutsch poems was preserved by Riley. It was

called "Lullaby," and was published in Riley's famous column in the Indianapolis Saturday HERALD called "Poetical

Gymnastics" in 1879. Its subtitle says "From the German." It has never been included in Riley's COMPLETE WORKS apparently because Riley translated it and it was not an original composition. Riley did write another "Lullaby" but it was not his Hoosier Deutsch translation.

HOOSIER DEUTSCH LULLABY

Leedle dutch baby haff gome to town!

Jabber and jump till der day goes down;

Jabber unt schpluter, unt blubber unt phizz

Vot a dutch baby dees lannsman is!

I dink dose mout vas leedle too vide

Obber you laugh fon dot also-side;

Haff got blenty of deemple unt vrown?

Hey, leedle dutchman gome to town.

Leedle dutch baby, I dink me proud

Obber your fader can schquall dot loud

Ven he vos leedle dutch baby like you,

Unt yoost don'd gare like he always do;

Guess ven dey vean id on beer you bet

Dots der reason he don'd vean'd yet -

Vot you said off he drink you down,

Hey, leedle dutchman gome to town.

Leedle dutch baby, yoost schquall avay -

Schquall fon breakfast till gisterday:

Better you all-time gry unt shoud

Dan schmile me vonce fon der coffin oud!

Vot I gare off you keek my nose

Downside-up, mit you heels unt toes -

Downside-up, or sideup-down

Hey! leedle dutchman gome to town.

Riley enjoyed being a Hoosier Deutschman as we can tell from this recollection of one of their poems. The Hoosier

Deutsch were a playful, happy people who enjoyed life as well as industry. They were wanderers. Jucklet sprang from

predominantly Deutsch culture although not entirely from Deutsch roots.