diff options
Diffstat (limited to '35634.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 35634.txt | 1863 |
1 files changed, 1863 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/35634.txt b/35634.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cafbcd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/35634.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1863 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Word Hoosier; John Finley, by +Jacob Piatt Dunn and Sarah A. Wrigley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Word Hoosier; John Finley + Indiana Historical Society Publications, Volume IV, Number 2 + +Author: Jacob Piatt Dunn + Sarah A. Wrigley + +Release Date: March 20, 2011 [EBook #35634] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORD HOOSIER; JOHN FINLEY *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, David E. Brown and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + + INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS + + VOLUME IV NUMBER 2 + + THE WORD HOOSIER + + _By_ JACOB PIATT DUNN + + AND + + JOHN FINLEY + + _By_ MRS. SARAH A. WRIGLEY + (His Daughter) + + INDIANAPOLIS + THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + 1907 + + + + +THE WORD "HOOSIER." + + +During the period of about three-quarters of a century in which the +State of Indiana and its people have been designated by the word +"Hoosier," there has been a large amount of discussion of the origin and +meaning of the term, but with a notable lack of any satisfactory result. +Some of these discussions have been almost wholly conjectural in +character, but others have been more methodical, and of the latter the +latest and most exhaustive--that of Mr. Meredith Nicholson[1]--sums up +the results in the statement "The origin of the term 'Hoosier' is not +known with certainty." Indeed the statement might properly have been +made much broader, for a consideration of the various theories offered +leaves the unprejudiced investigator with the feeling that the real +solution of the problem has not even been suggested. This lack of +satisfactory conclusions, however, may be of some value, for it strongly +suggests the probability that the various theorists have made some false +assumption of fact, and have thus been thrown on a false scent, at the +very beginning of their investigations. + +As is natural in such a case, there has been much of assertion of what +was merely conjectural, often accompanied by the pioneer's effort to +make evidence of his theory by the statement that he was "in Indiana at +the time and knows the facts." The acceptance of all such testimony +would necessarily lead to the adoption of several conflicting +conclusions. In addition to this cause of error, there have crept into +the discussion several misstatements of fact that have been commonly +adopted, and it is evident that in order to reach any reliable +conclusion now, it will be necessary to examine the facts critically and +ascertain what are tenable. + +The traditional belief in Indiana is that the word was first put in +print by John Finley, in his poem "The Hoosiers Nest," and this is +noted by Berry Sulgrove, who was certainly as well acquainted with +Indiana tradition as any man of his time.[2] This belief is at least +probably well founded, for up to the present time no prior use of the +word in print has been discovered. This poem attracted much attention at +the time, and was unquestionably the chief cause of the widespread +adoption of the word in its application to Indiana, for which reasons it +becomes a natural starting-point in the inquiry. + +It is stated by Oliver H. Smith that this poem originally appeared as a +New Year's "carriers' address" of the Indianapolis Journal in 1830,[3] +and this statement has commonly been followed by other writers, but this +is clearly erroneous, as any one may see by inspection of the files of +the Journal, for it printed its address in the body of the paper in +1830, and it is a totally different production. After that year it +discontinued this practice and issued its addresses on separate sheets, +as is commonly done at present. No printed copy of the original +publication is in existence, so far as known, but Mr. Finley's +daughter--Mrs. Sarah Wrigley, former librarian of the Morrison Library, +at Richmond, Indiana--has a manuscript copy, in the author's +handwriting, which fixes the date of publication as Jan. 1, 1833. There +is no reason to question this date, although Mr. Finley states in his +little volume of poems printed in 1860, that this poem was written in +1830. The poem as it originally appeared was never reprinted in full, so +far as is known, and in that form it is entirely unknown to the present +generation, although it has been reproduced in several forms, and in two +of them by direct authority of the author.[4] The author used his +privilege of revising his work, and while he may have improved his +poetry, he seriously marred its historical value. + +As the manuscript copy is presumably a literal transcript of the +original publication, with possibly the exception that the title may +have been added at a later date, I reproduce it here in full: + + ADDRESS + Of the Carrier of the Indianapolis Journal, + January 1, 1833. + THE HOOSIER'S NEST. + + Compelled to seek the Muse's aid, + Your carrier feels almost dismay'd + When he attempts in nothing less + Than verse his patrons to address, + Aware how very few excel + In the fair art he loves so well, + And that the wight who would pursue it + Must give his whole attention to it; + But, ever as his mind delights + To follow fancy's airy flights + Some object of terrestrial mien + Uncourteously obtrudes between + And rudely scatters to the winds + The tangled threads of thought he spins; + His wayward, wild imagination + Seeks objects of its own creation + Where Joy and Pleasure, hand in hand, + Escort him over "Fairyland," + Till some imperious earth-born care + Will give the order, "As you were!" + From this the captious may infer + That I am but a groveling cur + Who would essay to pass for more + Than other people take me for, + So, lest my friends be led to doubt it, + I think I'll say no more about it, + But hope that on this noted day + My annual tribute of a lay + In dogg'rel numbers will suffice + For such as are not over nice. + + The great events which have occur'd + (And all have seen, or read or heard) + Within a year, are quite too many + For me to tarry long on any-- + Then let not retrospection roam + But be confined to things at home. + A four years' wordy war just o'er + Has left us where we were before + Old Hick'ry triumphs,--we submit + (Although we thought another fit) + For all of Jeffersonian school + Wish the majority to rule-- + Elected for another term + We hope his measures will be firm + But peaceful, as the case requires + To nullify the nullifiers-- + And if executive constructions + By inf'rence prove the sage deductions + That Uncle Sam's "old Mother Bank" + Is managed by a foreign crank + And constituted by adoption + The "heir apparent" of corruption-- + No matter if the facts will show + That such assertions are not so, + His Veto vengeance must pursue her + And all that are appended to her-- + But tho' hard times may sorely press us, + And want, and debts, and duns distress us, + We'll share a part of Mammon's manna + By chart'ring Banks in Indiana. + + Blest Indiana! In whose soil + Men seek the sure rewards of toil, + And honest poverty and worth + Find here the best retreat on earth, + While hosts of Preachers, Doctors, Lawyers, + All independent as wood-sawyers, + With men of every hue and fashion, + Flock to this rising "Hoosher" nation. + Men who can legislate or plow, + Wage politics or milk a cow-- + So plastic are their various parts, + Within the circle of their arts, + With equal tact the "Hoosher" loons, + Hunt offices or hunt raccoons. + A captain, colonel, or a 'squire, + Who would ascend a little higher, + Must court the people, honest souls. + He bows, caresses and cajoles, + Till they conceive he has more merit + Than nature willed he should inherit, + And, running counter to his nature, + He runs into the Legislature, + Where if he pass for wise and mute, + Or chance to steer the proper chute, + In half a dozen years or more + He's qualified for Congress floor. + + I would not have the world suppose + Our public men are all like those, + For even in this infant State + Some may be wise, and good, and great. + But, having gone so far, 'twould seem + (Since "Hoosher" manners is the theme) + That I, lest strangers take exception, + Should give a more minute description, + And if my strains be not seraphic + I trust you'll find them somewhat graphic. + + Suppose in riding somewhere West + A stranger found a "Hoosher's" nest, + In other words, a buckeye cabin + Just big enough to hold Queen Mab in, + Its situation low but airy + Was on the borders of a prairie, + And fearing he might be benighted + He hailed the house and then alighted + The "Hoosher" met him at the door, + Their salutations soon were o'er; + He took the stranger's horse aside + And to a sturdy sapling tied; + Then, having stripped the saddle off, + He fed him in a sugar trough. + The stranger stooped to enter in, + The entrance closing with a pin, + And manifested strong desire + To seat him by the log heap fire, + Where half a dozen Hoosheroons, + With mush and milk, tincups and spoons, + White heads, bare feet and dirty faces, + Seemed much inclined to keep their places, + But Madam, anxious to display + Her rough and undisputed sway, + Her offspring to the ladder led + And cuffed the youngsters up to bed. + Invited shortly to partake + Of venison, milk and johnny-cake + The stranger made a hearty meal + And glances round the room would steal; + One side was lined with skins of "varments" + The other spread with divers garments, + Dried pumpkins overhead were strung + Where venison hams in plenty hung, + Two rifles placed above the door, + Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor, + In short, the domicile was rife, + With specimens of "Hoosher" life. + + The host who centered his affections, + On game, and range, and quarter sections + Discoursed his weary guest for hours, + Till Somnus' ever potent powers + Of sublunary cares bereft them + And then I came away and left them. + No matter how the story ended + The application I intended + Is from the famous Scottish poet + Who seemed to feel as well as know it + "That buirdly chiels and clever hizzies + Are bred in sic a way as this is." + One more subject I'll barely mention + To which I ask your kind attention + My pockets are so shrunk of late + I can not nibble "Hoosher bait." + +It will be noted that throughout the manuscript the word is spelled +"Hoosher" and is always put in quotation marks. Mrs. Wrigley informs me +that her father had no knowledge of the origin of the word, but found it +in verbal use when he wrote. She is confident, however, that he coined +the word "hoosheroon," and the probability of this is increased by the +fact that he did not quote it in his manuscript. In later editions of +the poem he used the form "Hoosier." His original spelling shows that +the word was not common in print, and several years passed before the +spelling became fixed in its present form. + +Although the word "Hoosier" has not been found in print earlier than +January 1, 1833, it became common enough immediately afterwards. In fact +the term seems to have met general approval, and to have been accepted +by everybody. On January 8, 1833, at the Jackson dinner at Indianapolis, +John W. Davis gave the toast, "The Hooshier State of Indiana."[5] On +August 3, 1833, the Indiana Democrat published the following prospectus +of a new paper to be established by ex-Gov. Ray and partner: + + PROSPECTUS + FOR PUBLISHING + THE HOOSIER + AT GREENCASTLE, INDIANA, + BY J. B. RAY & W. M. TANNEHILL. + + We intend publishing a real _Newspaper_. To this promise, + (though comprehensive enough) we would add, that it is + intended to make the _moral_ and political world contribute + their full share, in enriching its columns. + + The arts and sciences, and agriculture and commerce, and + literature shall all receive a due portion of our care. + + Left to our choice we might refrain from remark on presidential + matters; but supposing, that you may require an intimation, + suffice it to say, that our past preference has been for + General Jackson and his administration; and we deem it + premature to decide as to the future without knowing who are to + be the candidates. Those men who shall sustain _Western + measures_, shall be our men. Believing that there is but _one_ + interest in the _West_, and but little occasion for partyism + beyond the investigation of principles and the conduct of + functionaries, we would rather encourage _union_ than excite + _division_. We shall constantly keep in view the happiness, + interest and prosperity of _all_. To the _good_, this paper + will be as a shield; to the _bad_, a terror. + + The Hoosier will be published weekly, at $2 in advance and 25 + cents for every three months delay of payment, per annum, on a + good sheet of paper of superroyal size, to be enlarged to an + imperial as the subscription will justify it. + + This paper shall do honor to the people of Putnam county; and + we expect to see them patronize us. The press is now at + Greencastle. Let subscription papers be returned by the 1st of + Sept. when the first number will appear. + +On Oct. 26, 1833 the Indiana Democrat republished from the Cincinnati +Republican a discussion of the origin and making of the word "Hoosier," +which will be quoted in full hereafter, which shows that the term had +then obtained general adoption. C. F. Hoffman, a traveler who passed +through the northern part of the state, says, under date of Dec. 29, +1833: + + I am now in the land of the _Hooshiers_, and find that + long-haired race much more civilized than some of their Western + neighbors are willing to represent them. The term "Hooshier," + like that of Yankee, or Buckeye, first applied contemptuously, + has now become a _soubriquet_ that bears nothing invidious with + it to the ear of an Indianian.[6] + +On Jan. 4, 1834, the Indiana Democrat quoted from the Maysville, Ky., +Monitor, "The _Hoosier_ State like true democrats have taken the lead in +appointing delegates to a National Convention etc." On May 10, 1834, the +Indianapolis Journal printed the following editorial paragraph: + + The Hooshier, started some time ago by Messrs. Ray and + Tannehill, at Greencastle, has sunk into repose; and a new + paper entitled the "Greencastle Advertiser," published by + James M. Grooms, has taken its place. + +It is quite possible that this statement was made with the mischievous +intent of stirring up Gov. Ray, for he was rather sensitive, and the +Whigs seemed to delight in starting stories that called forth indignant +denials from him. If this was the purpose it was successful, for on May +31 the Journal said: + + We understand that another No. of the Hooshier has been + recently received in town, and that it contains quite a bitter + complaint about our remark a week or two ago, that it had "sunk + into repose." We assure the Editor that we made the remark as a + mere matter of news, without any intention to rejoice at the + suspension of the paper. Several weeks had passed over without + any paper being received, and it was currently reported that it + had "blowed out" and therefore, as a mere passing remark, we + stated that it had "sunk into repose." We have no objection + that it should live a thousand years. + +The new paper, however, did not last as long as that. It was sold in the +fall of 1834 to J. W. Osborn who continued the publication, but changed +the name, in the following spring, to the "Western Plough Boy." On Sept. +19, 1834, the Indiana Democrat had the following reference to Mr. +Finley: + + The poet _laureat_ of Hoosierland and editor of the Richmond + Palladium has threatened to cut acquaintance with B. of the + Democrat!! The gentleman alluded to is the same individual that + was unceremoniously robbed, by the Cincinnati Chronicle, of the + credit of immortalizing our State in verse, by that justly + celebrated epic of the "Hoosier's Nest." + +On Nov. 29. 1834, the Vincennes Sun used the caption, "Hoosier and +Mammoth Pumpkins," over an article reprinted from the Cincinnati Mirror +concerning a load of big pumpkins from Indiana. + +These extracts sufficiently demonstrate the general acceptation of the +name in the two years following the publication of Finley's poem. The +diversified spelling of the word at this period shows that it was new in +print, and indeed some years elapsed before the now accepted spelling +became universal. On Jan. 6, 1838 the Ft. Wayne Sentinel, republished +the portion of the poem beginning with the words, "Blest Indiana, in +her soil." It was very probable that this publication was made directly +from an original copy of the carrier's address, for Thomas Tigar, one of +the founders and editors of the Ft. Wayne Sentinel, had been connected +with the Indianapolis press in January 1833, and the old-fashioned +newspaperman was accustomed to preserve articles that struck his fancy, +and reproduce them. In this publication the poem is given as in the +Finley manuscript, except that the first two times the word occurs it is +spelled "hoosier" and once afterward "hoosheer," the latter evidently a +typograpical error. At the other points it is spelled "hoosher." This +original form of the word also indicates that there has been some change +in the pronunciation, and this is confirmed from another source. For +many years there have been perodical discussions of the origin of the +word in the newspapers of the State, and in one of these, which occurred +in the Indianapolis Journal, in 1860, when numerous contemporaries of +Finley were still living, Hon. Jere Smith, a prominent citizen of +Winchester, made this statement: + + My recollection is that the word began to be used in this + country in the fall of 1824, but it might have been as late as + 1826 or 1827, when the Louisville & Portland canal was being + made. I first heard it at a corn-husking. It was used in the + sense of "rip-roaring," "half horse" and "half alligator," and + such like backwoods coinages. It was then, and for some years + afterwards, spoken as if spelled "husher," the "u" having the + sound it has in "bush," "push," etc. In 1829, 1830 and 1831 its + sound glided into "hoosher," till finally Mr. Finley's + "Hoosier's Nest" made the present orthography and pronunciation + classical, and it has remained so since.[7] + +Of course, this is not conclusive evidence that there was a change in +pronunciation, for Mr. Smith's observation may have extended to one +neighborhood only, and it may have taken on a variant pronunciation at +the start, but his testimony, in connection with the changed spelling, +is certainly very plausible. + +There have been offered a number of explanations of the origin of the +word, and naturally those most commonly heard are those that have been +most extensively presented in print. Of the "authorities" on the subject +perhaps the best known is Bartlett "Dictionary of Americanism's" which +was originally published in 1838 and was widely circulated in that and +the subsequent edition, besides being frequently quoted. Its statement +is as follows: + + Hoosier. A nickname given at the West, to natives of Indiana. + + A correspondent of the Providence Journal, writing from + Indiana, gives the following account of the origin of this + term: + Throughout all the early Western settlements were men + who rejoiced in their physical strength, and on numerous + occasions, at log-rollings and house-raisings, demonstrated + this to their entire satisfaction. They were styled by their + fellow-citizens, hushers, from their primary capacity to still + their opponents. It was a common term for a bully throughout + the West. The boatmen of Indiana were formerly as rude and + primitive a set as could well belong to a civilized country, + and they were often in the habit of displaying their pugilistic + accomplishments upon the levee at New Orleans. Upon a certain + occasion there one of these rustic professors of the "noble + art" very adroitly and successfully practiced the "fancy" upon + several individuals at one time. Being himself not a native of + the Western world, in the exuberance of his exultation he + sprang up, exclaiming, in a foreign accent, "I'm a hoosier, I'm + a hoosier." Some of the New Orleans papers reported the case, + and afterwards transferred the corruption of the word "husher" + (hoosier) to all the boatmen from Indiana, and from thence to + all her citizens. The Kentuckians, on the contrary, maintained + that the nickname expresses the gruff exclamation of their + neighbors, when one knocks at a door, etc., "Who's yere?" + +Both of these theories have had adherents, and especially the latter, +though nobody has ever found any basis for their historical features +beyond the assertion of this newspaper correspondent. Nobody has ever +produced any evidence of the use of the word "husher" as here indicated. +It is not found in any dictionary of any kind--not even in Bartlett's. I +have never found any indication of its former use or its present +survival. And there is no greater evidence of the use of the expression +"Who's yere?" when approaching a house. As a matter of fact, the common +custom when coming to a house and desiring communication with the +residents was to call, "Hallo the house!" And this custom is referred +to in Finley's line: + + He hailed the house, and then alighted. + +Furthermore, if a person who came to a house called "Who's yere?" what +cause would there be for calling the people who lived in the house +"who's yeres?" There is neither evidence nor reason to support it. But +there is still a stronger reason for discarding these theories, and most +others. To produce the change of a word or term by corruption, there +must be practical identity of sound and accent. It was natural enough +for the Indiana pioneers to convert "au poste" into "Opost." It was +natural enough for the New Mexican settlers to change "Jicarilla" to +"Hickory." It was natural enough for the Colorado cowboys to transform +"Purgatoire river" to "Picketwire river." But there is scant possibility +of changing "husher," or "who's yere"--as it would probably be +spoken--into "hoosh-er." This consideration has led to the suggestion +that the expression from which the word came was "who is yer?" but there +is nothing to support this. The early settlers did not use "is" for +"are" but usually pronounced the latter "air." And they did not say +"yer" for "you," though they often used it for "your." + +Another theory, almost as popular as these, derives the word from +"hussar," and this theory, in its various forms, harks back to a Col. +John Jacob Lehmanowsky, who served under Napoleon, and afterwards +settled in Indiana, where he became widely known as a lecturer on the +Napoleonic wars. The tradition preserved in his family is that once +while in Kentucky he became engaged in a dispute with some natives, and +sought to settle the matter by announcing that he was a hussar. They +understood him to say that he was a "hoosier," and thereafter applied +that name to everybody from Indiana. This theory has several shapes, one +being presented by the Rev. Aaron Wood, the pioneer preacher, thus: + + The name "hoosier" originated as follows: When the young men of + the Indiana side of the Ohio river went to Louisville, the + Kentucky men boasted over them, calling them "New Purchase + Greenies," claiming to be a superior race, composed of half + horse, half alligator, and tipped off with snapping turtle. + These taunts produced fights in the market house and streets of + Louisville. On one occasion a stout bully from Indiana was + victor in a fist fight, and having heard Colonel Lehmanowsky + lecture on the "Wars of Europe," who always gave martial + prowess to the German Hussars in a fight, pronouncing hussars + "hoosiers" the Indianian, when the Kentuckian cried "enough," + jumped up and said: "I am a Hoosier," and hence the Indianians + were called by that name. This was its true origin. I was in + the State when it occured.[8] + +Unfortunately, others are equally positive as to their "true origins." +The chief objection that has been urged to this theory is that +Lehmanowsky was not in the State when the term began to be used, and the +evidence on this point is not very satisfactory. His son, M. L. +Lehmanowsky, of DePauw, Ind., informs me that his father came to this +country in 1815, but he is unable to fix the date of his removal to +Indiana. Published sketches of his life[9] state that he was with +Napoleon at Waterloo; that he was afterwards imprisoned at Paris; that +he escaped and made his way to New York; that he remained for several +years at New York and Philadelphia where he taught school; that he came +to Rush county, Indiana, and there married and bought a farm; that after +bearing him seven children his wife died; that he then removed to +Harrison county, arriving there in 1837. These data would indicate that +he came to Indiana sometime before 1830. The date of the deed to his +farm, as shown by the Rush county records, is April 30, 1835. Aside from +the question of date, it is not credible that a Polish officer +pronounced "hussar" "hoosier," or that from the use of that word by a +known foreigner a new term could spring into existence, and so quickly +be applied to the natives of the State where he chanced to live. + +To these theories of the origin of the word may be added one +communicated to me by James Whitcomb Riley, whose acquaintance with +dialect makes him an authority on the subject. It is evidently of later +origin than the others, and not so well known to the public. A casual +conversation happening to turn to this subject, he said: "These stories +commonly told about the origin of the word 'Hoosier' are all nonsense. +The real origin is found in the pugnacious habits of the early settlers. +They were very vicious fighters, and not only gouged and scratched, but +frequently bit off noses and ears. This was so ordinary an affair that a +settler coming into a bar room on a morning after a fight, and seeing an +ear on the floor, would merely push it aside with his foot and +carelessly ask, 'Who's year'?" I feel safe in venturing the opinion that +this theory is quite as plausible, and almost as well sustained by +historical evidence, as any of the others. + +In this connection it is of interest to note the earliest known +discussion of the meaning of the word, which has been referred to as +republished in the Indiana Democrat of Oct. 26, 1833. It is as follows: + + HOOSHIER. + + The appellation of Hooshier has been used in many of the + Western States, for several years, to designate, in a good + natural way, an inhabitant of our sister state of Indiana. + Ex-Governor Ray has lately started a newspaper in Indiana, + which he names "The Hoshier" (sic). Many of our ingenious + native philologists have attempted, though very + unsatisfactorily, to explain this somewhat singular term. + Mordecai M. Noah, in the late number of his Evening Star, + undertakes to account for it upon the faith of a rather + apocryphal story of a recruiting officer, who was engaged + during the last war, in enlisting a company of HUSSARS, whom by + mistake he unfortunately denominated Hooshiers. Another + etymologist tells us that when the state of Indiana was being + surveyed, the surveyors, on finding the residence of a + squatter, would exclaim "_Who's here_,"--that this exclamation, + abbreviated to _Hooshier_ was, in process of time, applied as a + distinctive appellation to the original settlers of that state, + and, finally to its inhabitants generally. Neither of these + hypotheses are deserving any attention. The word Hooshier is + indebted for its existence to that once numerous and unique, + but now extinct class of mortals called the Ohio Boatmen.--In + its original acceptation it was equivalent to "Ripstaver," + "Scrouger," "Screamer," "Bulger," "Ring-tailroarer," and a + hundred others, equally expressive, but which have never + attained to such a respectable standing as itself. By some + caprice which can never be explained, the appellation Hooshier + became confined solely to such boatmen as had their homes upon + the Indiana shore, and from them it was gradually applied to + all the Indianians, who acknowledge it as good naturedly as the + appellation of Yankee--Whatever may have been the original + acceptation of Hooshier this we know, that the people to whom + it is now applied, are amongst the bravest, most intelligent, + most enterprising, most magnanimous, and most democratic of the + Great West, and should we ever feel disposed to quit the state + in which we are now sojourning, our own noble Ohio, it will be + to enroll ourselves as adopted citizens in the land of the + "HOOSHIER."--Cincinnati Republican. + +Here is a presentation of the question, ten months after Finley's +publication, covering most of the ground that has since been occupied. +The "hussar" theory is carried back to the war of 1812, long before Col. +Lehmanowsky was in this country. The "who's here" theory is carried back +to the government surveys, although it is certain that there were few, +if any, "squatters" on government lands in Indiana before the surveys +were made. The "husher" theory, in embryo, is presented in the writers +theory, which is apparently conjectural, except perhaps as evidence that +the word was applied to the rather rough-looking class of flat-boatmen +who made their trips down the Ohio and Mississippi. + +There has been notable tendency to locate these stories at Louisville, +and to connect them with the building of the Louisville and Portland +canal which was under construction from 1826 to 1831, inclusive. The +"husher" story is located there by several of its advocates. Another +story, of recent origin, coming from one Vanblaricum, was recounted by +Mr. George Cottman in the Indianapolis Press of February 6, 1901. +Vanblaricum claimed that while passing through southern Tennessee he met +a man named Hoosier, and this man said that a member of his family had a +contract on the construction of the Louisville and Portland canal; that +he employed his laborers from the Indiana side, and the neighbors got to +calling them "Hoosier's men," from which the name "Hoosier" came to be +applied to Indiana men generally. Vanblaricum could not give the +address of his informant, or any information tending to confirm the +story. At my request Mr. Louis Ludlow, Washington correspondent of the +Indianapolis Sentinel, made inquiry of the representatives from the +southern districts of Tennessee, and learned that none of them had ever +heard of such a story, or knew of the name "Hoosier" in his district. An +examination of the directories of Atlanta, Augusta, Baltimore, +Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, +Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Richmond, St. Louis, St. Joseph, +Savannah, Wheeling, Wilmington, the District of Columbia, and the state +of Tennessee, failed to reveal any such name as Hoosier. As it is hardly +possible for a family name to disappear completely, we may reasonably +drop the Vanblaricum story from consideration. The same conclusion will +also apply to the story of a Louisville baker, named Hoosier, from whom +the term is sometimes said to have come. It is now known that the +occurrence of "Hoosier" as a Christian name in the minutes of an early +Methodist conference in Indiana, was the result of misspelling. The +members name was "Ho-si-er (accent on the second syllable) J. Durbin," +and the secretary in writing it put in an extra "o." It may be mentioned +in this connection that "Hooser" is a rather common family name in the +South, and that "Hoos" is occasionally found. + +One of the most interesting wild-goose chases I ever indulged in was +occasioned by a passage in the narrative of Francis and Theresa Pulszky, +entitled "White, Red and Black." The Pulskys accompanied Kossuth on his +trip through the States and visited Indianapolis in 1852. In the account +of this visit Mrs. Pulszky says: + + Governor Wright is a type of the Hoosiers, and justly proud to + be one of them. I asked him wherefrom his people had got this + name. He told me that "Hoosa" is the Indian name for maize, the + principal produce of the State. + + This opened a new vista. The names "Coosa" and "Tallapoosa" + came to memory. How simple! The Indiana flatboatmen taking + their loads of corn down the river were called "Hoosa men" by + the Southern Indians, and so the name originated. But a search + of Indian vocabularies showed no such name for maize or for + anything else. The nearest approaches to it are "Hoosac" and + "Housatonic," which are both probably corruptions from the same + stem, "awass," meaning beyond or further. The latter word is + supposed to be the Indian "wassatinak," which is the New + England form of the Algonquin "awassadinang," meaning beyond + the mountains. + +In 1854 Amelia M. Murray visited Indianapolis, and was for a time the +guest of Governor Wright. In her book entitled "Letters from the United +States, Cuba and Canada" (page 324), she says: + + Madame Pfeiffer (she evidently meant Mrs. Pulszky, for Madame + Pfeiffer did not come here and does not mention the subject) + mistook Governor Wright, when she gave from his authority + another derivation for the word "Hoosier." It originated in a + settler's exclaiming "Huzza," upon gaining the victory over a + marauding party from a neighboring State. + +With these conflicting statements, I called on Mr. John C. Wright, son +of Governor Wright. He remembered the visits of the Pulszkys and Miss +Murray, but knew nothing of Madame Pfeiffer. He said: "I often heard my +father discuss this subject. His theory was that the Indiana flatboatmen +were athletic and pugnacious, and were accustomed, when on the levees of +the Southern cities, to 'jump up and crack their heels together' and +shout 'Huzza,' whence the name of 'huzza fellows.' We have the same idea +now in 'hoorah people,' or 'a hoorah time.'" + +It will be noted that all these theories practically carry three +features in common: + +1. They are alike in the idea that the word was first applied to a +rough, boisterous, uncouth, illiterate class of people, and that the +word originally implied this character. + +2. They are alike in the idea that the word came from the South, or was +first applied by Southern people. + +3. They are alike in the idea that the word was coined for the purpose +of designating Indiana people, and was not in existence before it was +applied to them. + +If our primary suspicion be correct, that all the investigators and +theorists have followed some false lead from the beginning, it will +presumably be found in one of these three common features. Of the three, +the one that would more probably have been derived from assumption than +from observation is the third. If we adopt the hypothesis that it is +erroneous, we have left the proposition that the word "hoosier," was in +use at the South, signifying a rough or uncouth person, before it was +applied to Indiana; and if this were true it would presumably continue +to be used there in that sense. Now this condition actually exists, as +appears from the following evidence. + +In her recent novel, "In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim," Mrs. +Frances Hodgson Burnett refers several times to one of her characters--a +boy from North Carolina--as a "hoosier." In reply to an inquiry she +writes to me: + + The word "hoosier" in Tennessee and North Carolina seems to + imply, as you suggest, an uncouth sort of rustic. In the days + when I first heard it my idea was also that--in agreement with + you again--it was a slang term. I think a Tennesseean or + Carolinian of the class given to colloquialisms would have + applied the term "hoosier" to any rustic person without + reference to his belonging to any locality in particular. But + when I lived in Tennessee I was very young and did not inquire + closely into the matter. + +Mrs. C. W. Bean, of Washington, Ind., furnishes me this statement: + + In the year 1888, as a child, I visited Nashville, Tenn. One + day I was walking down the street with two of my aunts, and our + attention was attracted by a large number of mountaineers on + the streets, mostly from northern Georgia, who had come in to + some sort of society meeting. One of my aunts said, "What a lot + of hoosiers there are in town." In surprise I said, "Why I am a + Hoosier." A horrified look came over my aunt's face and she + exclaimed, "For the Lord's sake, child, don't let any one here + know you're a hoosier." I did not make the claim again for on + inspection the visitors proved a wild-looking lot who might be + suspected of never having seen civilization before. + +Miss Mary E. Johnson, of Nashville, Tenn., gives the following +statement: + + I have been familiar with the use of the word "hoosier" all my + life, and always as meaning a rough class of country people. + The idea attached to it, as I understand it, is not so much + that they are from the country, as that they are green and + gawky. I think the sense is much the same as in "hayseed," + "jay" or "yahoo." + +Hon. Thetus W. Sims, Representative in Congress from the Tenth Tennessee +district, says: + + I have heard all my life of the word "hoosier" as applied to an + ignorant, rough, unpolished fellow. + +Mrs. Samuel M. Deal (formerly Miss Mary L. Davis of Indianapolis) gives +me this statement: + + While visiting Columbia, S. C., I was walking one day with a + young gentleman, and we passed a rough looking countryman, "My! + what a hoosier," exclaimed my escort. "That is a very noble + term to apply to such an object," I said. "Why so," he + inquired. "Why I am a Hoosier--all Indiana people are," I + answered. "Oh! we do not use it in that sense here," he + rejoined. "With us a hoosier means a jay." + +The following three statements were furnished to me by Mr. Meredith +Nicholson, who collected them some months since: + +John Bell Henneman, of the department of English, University of +Tennessee, Knoxville, writes: + + The word "hoosier" is generally used in Virginia, South + Carolina, Tennessee as an equivalent for "a country hoodlum," + "a rough, uncouth countryman," etc. The idea of "country" is + always attached to it in my mind, with a degree of + "uncouthness" added. I simply speak from my general + understanding of the term as heard used in the States mentioned + above. + +Mr. Raymond Weeks, of Columbia, Mo., writes: + + Pardon my delay in answering your question concerning the word + "hoosier" in this section. The word means a native of Indiana, + and has a rare popular sense of a backwoodsman, a rustic. One + hears: "He is a regular hoosier." + +Mrs. John M. Judah, of Memphis, writes: + + About the word "Hoosier"--one hears it in Tennessee often. It + always means rough, uncouth, countrified. "I am a Hoosier," I + have said, and my friends answer bewilderingly, "But all + Indiana-born are Hoosiers," I declare, "What nonsense!" is the + answer generally, but one old politician responded with a + little more intelligence on the subject: "You Indianians should + forget that. It has been untrue for many years." In one of Mrs. + Evans's novels--"St. Elmo," I think--a noble philanthropic + young Southern woman is reproached by her haughty father for + teaching the poor children in the neighborhood--"a lot of + hoosiers," he calls them. I have seen it in other books, too, + but I can not recall them. In newspapers the word is common + enough, in the sense I referred to. + +It is scarcely possible that this widespread use of the word in this +general sense could have resulted if the word had been coined to signify +a native of Indiana, but it would have been natural enough, if the word +were in common use as slang in the South, to apply it to the people of +Indiana. Many of the early settlers were of a rough and ready character, +and doubtless most of them looked it in their long and toilsome +emigration, but, more than that, it is an historical fact that about the +time of the publication of Finley's poem there was a great fad of +nicknaming in the West, and especially as to the several States. It was +a feature of the humor of the day, and all genial spirits "pushed it +along." A good illustration of this is seen in the following passage +from Hoffman's "Winter in the West"[10] referred to above: + + There was a long-haired "hooshier" from Indiana, a couple of + smart-looking "suckers" from the southern part of Illinois, a + keen-eyed, leather-belted "badger" from the mines of + Ouisconsin, and a sturdy, yoemanlike fellow, whose white capot, + Indian moccasins and red sash proclaimed, while he boasted a + three years' residence, the genuine "wolverine," or naturalized + Michiganian. Could one refuse to drink with such a company? The + spokesman was evidently a "red horse" from Kentucky, and + nothing was wanting but a "buckeye" from Ohio to render the + assemblage as complete as it was select. + +This same frontier jocularity furnishes an explanation for the origin of +several of the theories of the derivation of the name. If an assuming +sort of person, in a crowd accustomed to the use of "hoosier" in its +general slang sense, should pretentiously announce that he was a +"husher," or a "hussar," nothing would be more characteristically +American than for somebody to observe, "He is a hoosier, sure enough." +And the victim of the little pleasantry would naturally suppose that the +joker had made a mistake in the term. But the significance of the word +must have been quite generally understood, for the testimony is uniform +that it carried its slurring significance from the start. Still it was +not materially more objectionable than the names applied to the people +of other States, and it was commonly accepted in the spirit of humor. As +Mr. Finley put it, in later forms of his poem: + + With feelings proud we contemplate + The rising glory of our State; + Nor take offense by application + Of its good-natured appellation. + +It appears that the word was not generally known throughout the State +until after the publication of "The Hoosiers' Nest," though it was known +earlier in some localities, and these localities were points of contact +with the Southern people. And this was true as to Mr. Finley's locality, +for the upper part of the Whitewater valley was largely settled by +Southerners, and from the Tennessee-Carolina mountain region, where the +word was especially in use. Such settlements had a certain +individuality. In his "Sketches" (page 38) the Rev. Aaron Wood says: + + Previous to 1830 society was not homogeneous, but in scraps, + made so by the electic affinity of race, tastes, sects and + interest. There was a wide difference in the domestic habits of + the families peculiar to the provincial gossip, dialect and + tastes of the older States from which they had emigrated. + +The tradition in my own family, which was located in the lower part of +the Whitewater valley, is that the word was not heard there until "along +in the thirties." In that region it always carried the idea of roughness +or uncouthness, and it developed a derivative--"hoosiery"--which was +used as an adjective or adverb to indicate something that was rough, +awkward or shiftless. Testimony as to a similar condition in the middle +part of the Whitewater valley is furnished in the following statement, +given me by the Rev. T. A. Goodwin: + + In the summer of 1830 I went with my father, Samuel Goodwin, + from our home at Brookville to Cincinnati. We traveled in an + old-fashioned one-horse Dearborn wagon. I was a boy of twelve + years and it was a great occasion for me. At Cincinnati I had a + fip for a treat, and at that time there was nothing I relished + so much as one of those big pieces of gingerbread that were + served as refreshment on muster days, Fourth of July and other + gala occasions, in connection with cider. I went into a baker's + shop and asked for "a fip's worth of gingerbread." The man + said, "I guess you want hoosier-bait," and when he produced it + I found that he had the right idea. That was the first time I + ever heard the word "hoosier," but in a few years it became + quite commonly applied to Indiana people. The gingerbread + referred to was cooked in square pans--about fifteen inches + across, I should think--and with furrows marked across the top, + dividing it into quarter-sections. A quarter-section sold for a + fip, which was 6-1/4 cents. It is an odd fact that when Hosier + J. Durbin joined the Indiana Methodist Conference, in 1835, his + name was misspelled "Hoosier" in the minutes, and was so + printed. The word "Hoosier" always had the sense of roughness + or uncouthness in its early use. + +At the time this statement was made, neither Mr. Goodwin nor I knew of +the existence of the last four lines of Finley's poem, in which this +same term "hoosier-bait" occurs, they being omitted in all the ordinary +forms of the poem. The derivation of this term is obvious, whether +"bait" be taken in its sense of a lure or its sense of food. It was +simply something that "hoosiers" were fond of, and its application was +natural at a time when the ideal of happiness was "a country-boy with a +hunk of gingerbread." + +After the word had been applied to Indiana, and had entered on its +double-sense stage, writers who were familiar with both uses +distinguished between them by making it a proper noun when Indiana was +referred to. An illustration of this is seen in the writings of J. S. +Robb, author of "The Swamp Doctor in the Southwest" and other humorous +sketches, published in 1843. He refers to Indiana as "the Hoosier +state," but in a sketch of an eccentric St. Louis character he writes +thus: + + One day, opposite the Planter's House, during a military + parade, George was engaged in selling his edition of the + Advocate of Truth, when a tall hoosier, who had been gazing at + him with astonishment for some time, roared out in an + immoderate fit of laughter. + + "What do you see so funny in me to laugh at?" inquired George. + + "Why, boss," said the hoosier, "I wur jest a thinkin' ef I'd + seed you out in the woods, with all that har on, they would a + been the d--dest runnin' done by this 'coon ever seen in them + diggins--you're ekill to the elephant! and a leetle the haryest + small man I've seen scart up lately." + +Unfortunately, however, not many writers were familiar with the double +use of the word, and the distinction has gradually died out, while +persistent assertions that the word was coined to designate Indiana +people have loaded on them all the odium for the significance that the +word has anywhere. + +The real problem of the derivation of the word "hoosier," is not a +question of the origin of a word formed to designate the State of +Indiana and its people, but of the origin of a slang term widely in use +in the South, signifying an uncouth rustic. There seems never to have +been any attempt at a rational philological derivation, unless we may so +account Mr. Charles G. Leland's remarks in Barriere and Leland's +"Dictonary of Slang, Jargon and Cant," which are as follows: + + Hoosier (American). A nickname given to natives of Indiana. + Bartlett cites from the Providence journal a story which has + the appearance of being an after-manufacture to suit the name, + deriving hoosier from "husher--from their primary capacity to + still their opponents." He also asserts that the Kentuckians + maintained that the nickname expresses the exclamation of an + Indianian when he knocks at a door and exclaims "Who's yere?" + However, the word originally was not hoosier at all, but + hoosieroon, or hoosheroon, hoosier being an abbreviation of + this. I can remember that in 1834, having read of hoosiers, and + spoken of them a boy from the West corrected me, and said that + the word was properly hoosieroon. This would indicate a Spanish + origin. + +The source of Mr. Leland's error is plain. "Hoosieroon" was undoubtedly +coined by Mr. Finley to designate a Hoosier child, and what the boy +probably told Mr. Leland was that the name to apply properly to him +would be Hoosieroon. But that alone would not dispose wholly of the +Spanish suggestion, for "oon" or "on" is not only a Spanish ending, but +is a Spanish diminutive indicating blood relation. In reality, however, +Mr. Finley did not understand Spanish, and the ending was probably +suggested to him by quadroon and octoron, which, of course, were in +general use. There is no Spanish word that would give any suggestion of +"hoosier." The only other language of continental Europe that could be +looked to for its origin would be French, but there is no French word +approaching it except, perhaps, "huche," which means a kneading trough, +and there is no probability of derivation from that. + +In fact, "hoosier" carries Anglo-Saxon credentials. It is Anglo-Saxon in +form and Anglo-Saxon in ring. If it came from any foreign language, it +has been thoroughly anglicized. And in considering its derivation it is +to be remembered that the Southerners have always had a remarkable +faculty for creating new words and modifying old ones. Anyone who has +noted the advent of "snollygoster" in the present generation, or has +read Longstreet's elucidation of "fescue," "abisselfa," and +"anpersant"[11] will readily concede that. And in this connection it is +to be observed that the word "yahoo" has long been in use in Southern +slang, in almost exactly the same sense as "hoosier," and the latter +word may possibly have developed from its last syllable. We have a very +common slang word in the North--"yap"--with the same signification, +which may have come from the same source, though more probably from the +provincial English "yap," to yelp or bark. "Yahoo" is commonly said to +have been coined by Swift, but there is a possibility that it was in +slang use in his day. + +It is very probable that the chief cause of the absence of conjectures +of the derivation of "Hoosier" from an English stem was the lack in our +dictionaries of any word from which it could be supposed to come, and it +is a singular fact that in our latest dictionaries--the Standard and the +Century--there appears the word "hoose," which has been in use for +centuries in England. It is used now to denote a disease common to +calves, similar to the gapes in chickens, caused by the lodgement of +worms in the throat. The symptons of this disease include staring eyes, +rough coat with hair turned backward, and hoarse wheezing. So forlorn an +aspect might readily suggest giving the name "hooser" or "hoosier" to an +uncouth, rough-looking person. In this country, for some reason, this +disease has been known only by the name of the worm that causes +it--"strongylus micrurus"--it sounds very much like "strangle us marcus" +as the veterinarians pronounce it--but in England "hoose" is the common +name. This word is from a very strong old stem. Halliwell, in his +"Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words," gives "hooze" and "hoors," +and states that "hoos" occurs in the "Promptorium Parvulorum," and +"hoozy" in the "Cornwall Glossary," the latter being used also in +Devonshire. Palmer, in his "Folk-Etymology," says that "hoarst--a +Lincolnshire word for a cold on the chest, as if that which makes one +hoarse," is a corruption of the Old English "host," a cough, Danish +"hoste," Dutch "hoeste," Anglo-Saxon "hweost," a wheeziness; and refers +to Old English "hoose," to cough, and Cleveland "hooze," to wheeze. +Descriptions of the effect of hoose on the appearance of animals will be +found in Armatage's "Cattle Doctor," and in the "Transactions of the +Highland Society of Scotland," fourth series, Vol. 10, at page 206. + +There is also a possibility of a geographical origin for the word, for +there is a coast parish of Cheshire, England, about seven miles west of +Liverpool, named Hoose. The name probably refers to the cliffs in the +vicinity, for "hoo," which occurs both in composition and independently +in old English names of places, is a Saxon word signifying high. +However, this is an obscure parish, and no especial peculiarity of the +people is known that would probably give rise to a distinctive name for +them. + +There is one other possibility that is worthy of mention--that the word +may come to us through England from the Hindoo. In India there is in +general use a word commonly written "huzur," which is a respectful form +of address to persons of rank or superiority. In "The Potter's Thumb" +Mrs. Steel writes it "hoozur." Akin to it is "housha," the title of a +village authority in Bengal. It may seem impossible that "hoosier" could +come from so far off a source, and get it is almost certain that our +slang word "fakir," and its derivative verb "fake," came from the Hindoo +through England, whither for many years people of all classes have been +returning from Indian service. It is even more certain that the word +"khaki" was introduced from India, and passed into general use in +English and American nurseries long before khaki-cloth was known to us. + +As a matter of fact, words pass from one language to another in slang +very readily. For example, throughout England and America a kidnapper is +said in thieves' slang to be "on the kinchin lay," and it can scarcely +be questioned that this word is direct from the German "kindchen." The +change in meaning from "huzur" to "hoosier" would be explicable by the +outlandish dress and looks of the Indian grandees from a native English +standpoint, and one might naturally say of an uncouth person, "He looks +like a huzur." + +It is not my purpose to urge that any one of these suggested +possibilities of derivation is preferable to the other, or to assert +that there may not be other and more rational ones. It is sufficient to +have pointed out that there are abundant sources from which the word may +have been derived. The essential point is that Indiana and her people +had nothing whatever to do with its origin or its signification. It was +applied to us in raillery, and our only connection with it is that we +have meekly borne it for some three score years and ten, and have made +it widely recognized as a badge of honor, rather than a term or +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_Addendum_, February, 1907. The greater part of the preceding was +published in the Indianapolis News of Aug. 23 and 30, 1902. Afterwards I +rewrote and enlarged it. Since then there have appeared two publications +which threw some additional light on the subject. One of these is an +account of Col. Lehmanowsky, purporting to be autobiographical, +published under the title, "Under Two Captains," by Rev. W. A. Sadtler, +Ph. D., of Philadelphia. This demonstrates that Lehmanowsky believed he +originated the word, for he gives the following account of it: + + In this connection I may mention an amusing incident that + occured somewhat later in a town in Kentucky, where I happened + for a day or two. There was a drunken brawl in progress on the + street, and as quite a number were involved in it, the people + with whom I was speaking began to be alarmed. I remarked just + then that a few hussars would soon quiet them. My remark was + caught up by some bystander, and the word hussar construed to + mean the men of the State of Indiana (from which I had just + come), and thus the word "Hoosier" came into existence. Such is + the irony of fate! Learned men have labored long to introduce + some favored word of the most approved classic derivation, and + as a rule have failed. Here a chance word of mine, miscalled by + an ignorant loafer, catches the popular fancy and passes into + Literature.[12] + +At the same time he furnishes conclusive evidence that he did not +originate it, for he says that he did not leave Washington for the West +until the spring of 1833; that he went as far as Ohio with his family +and passed the winter of 1833-4 in the state,[13] reaching Indiana the +next spring, or more than a year after "The Hoosier's Nest" had appeared +in print. His story, as given above, locates the incident at a still +later date. + +The other publication is the third volume of The English Dialect +Dictionary, in which appears the following: + +"HOOZER, Cum. 4 (hu-zer) said of anything unusually large." + +The "Cum 4" is a reference to "A Glossary of the Words and Phrases +pertaining to the Dialect of Cumberland;" edition of 1899. + +Although I had long been convinced that "hoosier," or some word closely +resembling it, must be an old English dialect or slang word, I had never +found any trace of a similar substantive with this ending until in this +publication, and, in my opinion, this word "hoozer" is the original form +of our "hoosier." It evidently harks back to the Anglo-Saxon "hoo" for +its derivation. It might naturally signify a hill-dweller or highlander +as well as something large, but either would easily give rise to the +derivative idea of uncouthness and rusticity. + +There is a suggestiveness in the fact that it is Cumberland dialect. The +very center of hoosierdom in the South is the Cumberland Plateau with +its associated Cumberland Mountains, Cumberland River, Cumberland Gap, +and Cumberland Presbyterianism. The name Cumberland in these, however, +is honorary in origin, the river and mountains having been named for +that Duke of Cumberland who is known to the Scotch as "The Butcher of +Culloden." But many of the settlers of this region, or their immediate +forebears, were from Cumberland county, England, and so "hoozer" was a +natural importation to the region. Thence it was probably brought to us +by their migratory descendants, many of whom settled in the upper +Whitewater Valley--the home of John Finley. + + + + +JOHN FINLEY. + + +For many years Mr. Finley was known as "The Hoosier Poet," an +appellation since transferred to James Whitcomb Riley, who wrote of him: + + "The voice that sang the Hoosier's Nest-- + Of Western singers first and best--" + +Readers are always interested in the development of an author. They +naturally inquire of his ancestry, early environment and education: how +much was due to native talent, how much acquired by association with +kindred spirits. + +Mr. Finley's ancestors were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians; the family was +driven from Scotland to Ireland by religious persecution, and failing to +find the religious and political freedom they sought the seven brothers +emigrated to America, in 1724. Samuel Finley became president of +Princeton College; John explored the western wilds with Daniel Boone, +and the youngest brother, William, settled on a farm in Western +Pennsylvania. His son, Andrew, married and removed to Brownsburg, +Rockridge county, Virginia, where John Finley was born, January 11, +1797. + +Andrew Finley was a merchant in the village, but the family occupied a +farm in a beautiful valley near the Blue Ridge Mountains. This mountain +range could not fail to impress a child of poetic temperament--the blue +haze veiling its summit, the drifting clouds that clung to its side, the +rising sun dispersing the mists in the valley, or, the shadows creeping +over valley and mountain as the setting sun disappeared beyond the +western horizon, all left lasting pictures in his memory and influenced +his after life. + +His school days were cut short by his father's financial reverses, +following the capture of a cargo of flour by the British during the war +of 1812. This misfortune threw the boy of sixteen on his own resources, +and, as nothing better offered he accepted a position with a relative +who was conducting a tanning and currying business in Greenbrier county. +This was a most humiliating alternative for a young Virginian whose +surroundings led him to look upon manual labor as only fit for slaves, +but it was part of the discipline of life which resulted in marked +regard for all practical workmen, and an abhorence of the institution of +slavery. + +In 1816 he joined an emigrant company and with fifty dollars in his +pocket, a saddle-horse and rifle and a pair of saddle-bags, turned his +face towards the "Eldorado of the West." His first stopping place was +Cincinnati, Ohio, but in 1820, we find him in Richmond, Ind., where he +lived to see a small village develop into a thriving city. + +Taking an active part in its growth, he was rewarded by the confidence +and esteem of his fellow citizens who elected him to various offices of +trust and responsibility. His official career began in 1822, as Justice +of the Peace. He represented Wayne county in the Legislature, 1828-31, +and then was Enrolling Clerk of the Senate for three years. During this +time he met the leading men of the State and formed many lasting +friendships. 1833-37, he edited and held a controlling interest in the +principal newspaper of the county, the Richmond Palladium, and in 1837, +was elected clerk of the Wayne County Courts, with a term of seven +years; this necessitated a removal to the county seat, Centerville, but +on the expiration of the terns (1845) he returned to Richmond, having +always considered it his home. Elected mayor of the city in the spring +of 1852, he retained the office, by re-election, until his death, +December 23, 1866, having almost continuous public service for more than +forty years. + +He was a man of sterling integrity; none who knew him ever doubted his +word; an oath could not make it more binding. As a member of the Masonic +fraternity he was active in the relief of the poor and needy; his +sympathy and assistance were freely given to the ignorant negroes +seeking refuge in Indiana: he looked upon them as children that had +been deprived of their birthright. + +A self-educated man, his reading covered a wide field; he was familiar +with standard English authors and was a constant reader of the best +current periodicals and newspapers, especially those containing the +opinions of leading statesmen on political questions and internal +improvements. + +He was twice married, and had six children, one son, Maj. John H. +Finley, gave his life for his country in the war for the Union--from +this blow the father never recovered. A widow and three daughters +survived him. Robert Burns was his favorite poet, the humor convulsed +him with silent laughter, and "Highland Mary," or "The Cotter's Saturday +Night" brought the quick tears to his eyes. + +Mr. Finley's reputation as a poet was established when the Indiana +Journal published "The Hoosier's Nest," January 1, 1833. It was the +first "Carrier's Address" written by the author, and was followed by an +"address" to the Journal for eight or nine years in succession. The +Palladium also had an annual "address." These were rhyming reviews of +State and National questions or humorous references to peculiarities of +candidates for public office. They were of local interest but did not +arrest general attention as the graphic description of Hoosier life had +done. After a lapse of seventy-five years "The Hoosier's Nest" is still +in demand at Old Settlers' Picnics, and at the reunions of the many +"Hoosier Clubs" springing up wherever Indiana's sons have become +prominent in the Great West. The following extract is conceded to be the +best description of pioneer life to be found in print: + + "I'm told in riding somewhere West + A stranger found a _Hoosier's Nest_-- + In other words a Buckeye cabin, + Just big enough to hold Queen _Mab_ in; + Its situation, low but airy, + Was on the borders of a prairie; + And fearing he might be benighted, + He hailed the house, and then alighted. + The Hoosier met him at the door-- + Their salutations soon were o'er. + He took the stranger's horse aside, + And to a sturdy sapling tied; + Then having stripped the saddle off, + He fed him in a sugar trough. + The stranger stooped to enter in-- + The entrance closing with a pin + And manifested strong desire + To seat him by the log-heap fire, + Where half a dozen _Hoosieroons_, + With mush and milk, tin cups and spoons, + White heads, bare feet, and dirty faces, + Seemed much inclined to keep their places, + But Madame, anxious to display + Her rough but undisputed sway, + Her offsprings to the ladder led, + And cuffed the youngsters up to bed. + Invited shortly to partake + Of venison, milk, and _johnny cake_, + The stranger made a hearty meal, + And glances round the room would steal. + One side was lined with divers' garments, + The other spread with skins of _varmints_; + Dried pumpkins overhead were strung, + Where venison hams in plenty hung; + Two rifles placed above the door; + Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor-- + In short, the domicile was rife + With specimens of Hoosier life." + +The word _Hoosieroon_ was coined for the poem, and "_Hoosier_" no longer +designated a rough, uncouth backwoodsman but a self-reliant man who was +able to subdue the wilderness, defend his home, and command the respect +of his neighbors: + + "He is, (and not the little-great) + The bone and sinew of the State." + +"Bachelor's Hall" was published anonymously, and was immediately +credited to the Irish poet, Thomas Moore; it was reproduced in England +and Ireland many times before the authorship was established. It was set +to music for "Miss Leslie's Magazine," and was sung at a banquet given +for the members of the Indiana Legislature: + + "Bachelor's Hall! What a quare-looking place it is! + Kape me from sich all the days of my life! + Sure, but I think what a burnin' disgrace it is, + Niver at all to be gettin' a wife. + See the ould bachelor, gloomy and sad enough, + Placing his tay-kittle over the fire; + Soon it tips over--St. Patrick! he's mad enough + (If he were present) to fight with the Squire. + + Pots, dishes, pans, and sich grasy commodities, + Ashes and praty-skins kiver the floor; + His cupboard's a storehouse of comical oddities, + Things that had niver been neighbors before. + Late in the night then he goes to bed shiverin'; + Niver the bit is the bed made at all; + He crapes like a terrapin under the kiverin': + Bad luck to the picture of Bachelor's Hall!" + +His poem entitled, Our Home's Fireside, expresses his appreciation of +domestic life. He felt that the homes of a country are the fountain of +all true happiness, and the bulwark of civil and religious liberty: + + "There's not a place on earth so dear + As our Home's Fireside, + When parents, children all draw near + To our Home's Fireside; + When the toil-spent day is past, + And loud roars the wintry blast, + Then how sweet to get at last + By our Home's Fireside! + + 'Tis wedded love's peculiar seat, + At our Home's Fireside, + Where happiness and virtue meet + At our Home's Fireside; + When each prattler, loth to miss, + Climbs to claim the wonted kiss, + 'Tis the sum of human bliss, + At our Home's Fireside." + +He was ambitious to write a National Hymn which should voice the +patriotism of the people, but this wish was never gratified. The "Ode +for the Fourth of July" was an effort in that direction--constant +attention to business prevented the cultivation of his poetical talent: + + + "ODE FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY." + + Tune--"Hail to the Chief." + + Hail to the day that gave birth to a nation! + And hail each remembrance it annu'lly brings! + Hail Independence! Thy stern declaration + Gave Freedom a home in defiance of Kings. + Britain's despotic sway + Trammeled thy early day. + Infant America, "child of the skies." + Till with a daring hand + Freedom's immortal band + Severed thy shakles and bid thee arise! + + Then was the standard of Liberty planted-- + The star-spangled banner proud floated on high; + Columbia's sons met the foeman undaunted, + With firm resolution to conquer or die. + Precious the prize they sought, + Dearly that prize they bought: + Freedom and peace cost the blood of the brave. + Heaven befriended them, + Fortune attended them-- + Liberty triumphed o'er tyranny's grave! + + Peace to those patriots, heroes, and sages, + Whose glorious legacy now we enjoy! + May it descend to the world's latest ages, + Like primitive gold, without any alloy! + Then let our motto be, + "Union and Liberty," + High on our national banner enshrined, + Like a bright morning star, + Glittering from afar, + Casting its beams o'er the world of mankind. + +When urged by friends to make a collection of poems for publication; he +found, (in 1866), that many had been lost beyond recovery, his hope of +writing something more worthy of preservation made him careless of that +which had been published; there is, however, considerable variety in the +collection, ranging from "grave to gay." These are some of the titles; +"Lines," written on opening a mound on the bank of Whitewater near +Richmond, Ind. containing a human skeleton. "What is Life," "What is +Faith," "A Prayer," "My Loves and Hates." This was the first poem +written for publication. "Valedictory, on closing my term as Clerk of +the Wayne County Courts." + +In lighter vein are, "Advertisment for a Wife," "The Last of the +Family," "To My Old Coat," and "The Miller." + +Mr. Finley was not a church member but his creed is embraced in the +following sentence--"The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man." + +An unpublished fragment, found after death in the pocket-book he +carried, shows his truly devotional spirit:-- + + "My Heav'nly Father! deign to hear + The supplications of a child, + Who would before thy throne appear, + With spirit meek, and undefiled. + + Let not the vanities of earth + Forbid that I should come to Thee, + Of such as I, (by Heav'nly birth) + Thy Kingdom, Thou hast said, shall be." + + + TO JOHN FINLEY. + + By Benjamin S. Parker. + + "Hail thou poet occidental, + First in Indiana's Clime-- + Whose true passions sentimental, + Outward flowed in living rhyme. + + Let no more thy harp, forsaken, + Hang upon the willow tree, + But again its chords awaken + To thy songs blithe melody, + + As thou didst in time now olden, + When our Hoosier state was young, + 'Ere the praises of these golden + Days of progress yet were sung." + +Strickland W. Gillilan, wrote a "Versified Tribute." + + "He nursed the Infant Hoosier muse + When she could scarcely lisp her name; + Forerunner of the world's great lights + That since have added to her fame, + He blazed the way to greater things, + With "Hoosier's Nest," and "Bachelor's Hall;" + And, while the grand world-chorus rings + With songs our Hoosier choir sings, + Let not the stream forget the springs,-- + Let Finley's name before them all." + + + + +Footnotes: + + [1] "The Hoosiers," pp. 20-30. + + [2] History of Indianapolis and Marion County, p. 72. + + [3] "Early Indiana Trials and Sketches," p. 211. + + [4] Coggeshall's "The Poets and Poetry of the West," and Finley's "The + Hoosier's Nest and Other Poems" published in 1860. + + [5] Indiana Democrat, Jan. 12, 1833. + + [6] "A Winter in the West," p. 226. + + [7] Indianapolis Journal, January 20, 1860. + + [8] Sketches, p. 45. + + [9] Salem Democrat, October 25, 1899; March 28, 1900. + + [10] Published in 1835, Vol. 1, Page 210. + + [11] Georgia Scenes, page 73. + + [12] Pages 188-9. + + [13] Pages 182-5. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the +original. + + Page 11: typograpical should be typographical; + perodical should be periodical + Page 14: occured should be occurred + Page 17: Pulskys should be Pulszkys + Page 22: electic should be eclectic + Page 24: Dictonary should be Dictionary + Page 26: symptons should be symptoms + Page 28: occured should be occurred + Page 32: abhorence should be abhorrence + Page 36: shakles should be shackles + Advertisment should be Advertisement + +Punctuation has been corrected without note. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Word Hoosier; John Finley, by +Jacob Piatt Dunn and Sarah A. Wrigley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORD HOOSIER; JOHN FINLEY *** + +***** This file should be named 35634.txt or 35634.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/6/3/35634/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, David E. Brown and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |