Two dreary and disheartening years followed this tragic event,
years in which the young poet found no present help, nor future
hope. But over in Indianapolis, twenty miles away, happier
circumstances were shaping themselves. Judge E. B. Martindale,
editor and proprietor of The Indianapolis Journal, had been
attracted by certain poems in various papers over the state and
at the very time that the poet was ready to confess himself
beaten, the judge wrote: "Come over to Indianapolis and we'll
give you, a place on The Journal." Mr. Riley went. That was the
turning point, and though the skies were not always clear, nor
the way easy, still from that time it was ever an ascending
journey. As soon as he was comfortably settled in his new
position, the first of the Benj. F. Johnson poems made its
appearance. These dialect verses were introduced with editorial
comment as coming from an old Boone county farmer, and their
reception was so cordial, so enthusiastic, indeed, that the
business manager of The Journal, Mr. George C. Hitt, privately
published them in pamphlet form and sold the first edition of one
thousand copies in local bookstores and over The Journal office
counter. This marked an epoch in the young poet's progress and
was the beginning of a friendship between him and Mr. Hitt that
has never known interruption. This first edition of The Old
Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems has since become extremely
rare and now commands a high premium. A second edition was
promptly issued by a local book dealer, whose successors, The
Bowen-Merrill Company--now The Bobbs-Merrill Company--have
continued, practically without interruption, to publish Riley's
work.