James Whitcomb Riley (Greenfield, Indiana October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916), American writer and poet called the "Hoosier poet" and America's "Children's Poet" made a start writing newspaper verse in Hoosier dialect for the Indianapolis Journal in 1875. Some of his phrases remained in the popular repertory after the poems were no longer read, such as: "when the frost is on the punkin." Known for his dialect recitations and pithy pragmatic remarks, his popular verse was humorous or sentimental— one of whose sentimental poems was "Little Orphan Annie". He  was also known for "Raggedy Man" and "The Old Swimmin Hole".