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The Eugene Field 
 I Knew & & & 
 

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The Eugene Field 
 I Knew ¥ ¥ 1 ¥ ¥ 
 By Francis Wilson 
 
 4 rs 
 
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 New York 
 Charles Scribner's Sons 
 
 Mdcccxcviii 
 
 
 
 1st Copy 
 898 
 
 LU« 
 

 Copyright, 1898, by- 
 Charles Scribner's Sons 
 
 The DeVinne Press 
 

 
 To 
 
 my daughters 
 
 Frances and Adelaide 
 
 this book about their good 
 
 friend and mine is 
 
 affectionately 
 
 inscribed 
 
Note 
 
 I am very glad to avail myself of 
 the privilege of a Note in which 
 to express my thanks to James 
 Whitcomb Riley, George W. 
 Cable, Mrs. Julia Field, Roswell 
 M. Field, Re v. Dr. Frank M. Bris- 
 tol, De Witt Miller, Frank M. 
 Morris, W. Irving Way, George 
 M. Millard, Otto Fleischner, 
 Ralph Meeker, Melville E. 
 Stone, Marvin Eddy, and others, 
 for courtesies shown me with re- 
 spect to this publication. 
 
 F. W. 
 
Illustrations 
 
 J Portrait of Eugene Field, in photogravure, 
 with facsimile reproduction of autograph 
 inscription Frontispiece 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 Field, Riley and Nye 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 Early portraits of Eugene Field ... 8 
 
 From photographs. 
 
 Field as the Waitress " Camille" ... 18 
 
 From a drawing by E. W. Kemble. 
 
 Letter to the Rev. Dr. F. M. Bristol, re- 
 produced in facsimile ....... 52 
 
 On the poem " The Singing in God's Acre.'''' 
 
 Field Writing „ 70 
 
 From a drawing by G. W. Ramage. 
 
OPP. PAGE 
 
 Page of Advertisements at the end of " Cul- 
 ture's Garland" 94 
 
 Reproduced in facsimile. 
 
 Julia S. Field 102 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 The Field Children — " Sister Girl" and 
 "Pody" 120 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 Announcement Bill of Field's Last Public 
 
 Appearance 122 
 
 Reproduced in facsimile. 
 
 The Shackelford Letters . . End of Volume 
 
 Reproduced in facsimile. 
 
EUGENE FIELD 
 
 
 BORN AT ST. LOUIS, MO., SEPTEMBER 3, . . 
 
 1850 
 
 STUDENT AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, .... 
 
 1868 
 
 FRESHMAN CLASS 
 
 
 STUDENT AT KNOX COLLEGE 
 
 1869 
 
 SOPHOMORE CLASS 
 
 
 STUDENT AT COLUMBIA (MO.) UNIVERSITY, . 
 
 1870 
 
 JUNIOR CLASS 
 
 
 SPENT SIX MONTHS IN EUROPE, 
 
 1872 
 
 REPORTER ON ST. LOUIS JOURNAL, . . . . 
 
 1873 
 
 CITY EDITOR ST. JOSEPH MO.) GAZETTE, . . 
 
 1875-76 
 
 EDITORIAL WRITER ON ST. LOUIS JOURNAL 
 
 
 AND ST. LOUIS TIMES-JOURNAL, . . . 
 
 l876-€o 
 
 MANAGING EDITOR KANSAS CITY TIMES, . . 
 
 1880-81 
 
 MANAGING BDITOR DENVER TRIBUNE, . . . 
 
 1881-83 
 
 FREE LANCE ON CHICAGO RECORD (FORMERLY 
 
 
 DAILY NEWS), 
 
 1883-95 
 1889 
 
 SPENT THE YEAR IN EUROPE, 
 
 DIBD AT CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 4, .... 
 
 1895 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 THERE were many Eugene Fields. 
 Like the Apostle, he was all things 
 to all men and much to many. Curi- 
 ously enough, the Eugene Field of Julian 
 Hawthorne was diametrically the op- 
 posite of George W. Cable's Eugene 
 Field. 
 
 He was well-nigh idolized in Chicago, 
 where he delighted to live, and from 
 which place "gold, silver, jewels and 
 precious stones" could not tempt him 
 permanently. 
 
 To "Bill Nye" he was an eccentric 
 but charming companion, and James 
 Whitcomb Riley, wondering at his ver- 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 satility of talent, found Field " an iso- 
 lated character running counter to any- 
 prior opinion that might have been 
 formed of him." He was a terror to 
 politicians, a Homer to the children, 
 and different to, as well as from, every- 
 body. He bore unique relations to 
 each of his friends and acquaintances, 
 as many of them have eloquently and 
 affectionately testified. As Field came 
 to be a conspicuous literary figure, it 
 was most interesting to observe his keen 
 enjoyment of growing reputation. He 
 played the lion with admirable modesty 
 and the tact of a Talleyrand. If the 
 situation required it, he could " aggra- 
 vate his voice so that he would roar 
 you as gently as any sucking dove." 
 
 Possessed of a sonorous bass voice, 
 an unconventional manner, and much 
 magnetism, he easily made himself the 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 centre of any group in which he chanced 
 to mingle. He constantly attracted peo- 
 ple who were as far removed as possible, 
 seemingly, from any interest in the work 
 in which he was engaged ; then his mis- 
 sionary labors began; and in a few weeks, 
 under the stimulating guidance of their 
 poetic friend, his new acquaintances 
 would be collecting books and rapidly 
 developing into gentle bibliomaniacs. 
 In this conversion of an indifferent soul 
 into an enthusiastic worshipper at the 
 shrine of literature, Eugene Field re- 
 joiced. 
 
 His devotion to his friends was beau- 
 tiful. With a great degree of truth it is 
 said that his recreation consisted chiefly 
 in the task of illuminating poems, or of 
 writing dedicatory addresses in presen- 
 tation copies of books which he gave 
 them. He would give hours to the em- 
 
 3 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 bellishment of a letter which it had taken 
 him but ten minutes to write. He was 
 fierce and uncompromising in the de- 
 nunciation of shams; he mercilessly 
 lampooned pretension and ignorance; 
 but so winsome was the man's nature, 
 so much was he loved by those with 
 whom he came into personal contact, 
 so touched were they by his tender 
 strains in the praise of childhood, so 
 convinced were all of his earnestness 
 and honesty, of his civic pride, so drawn 
 to him by his magnetic power, that many 
 of those whom for years he publicly ridi- 
 culed stood with bowed heads about his 
 coffin. 
 
 Except at those infrequent times when 
 he permitted his face to take a serious 
 cast, the Eugene Field whom I knew 
 had little or nothing morose about 
 him, little or nothing that was not of 
 
 4 
 
Field, Riley and Nye 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 the brightest, sunniest character. He 
 had a wonderfully keen appreciation of 
 the humorous and the ridiculous, and 
 a facility for turning a proposition from 
 grave to gay and from gay to grave as 
 unusual as it was diverting. 
 
 To know Field in his happiest moods 
 was to sit as audience to him while 
 with book in hand he read aloud some 
 such production as the poems of the 
 Sweet Singer of Michigan, and com- 
 mented thereon. His dry, sly little 
 chuckle (I never heard him laugh 
 heartily) attracted you, if you were 
 observing, while his criticisms were ir- 
 resistible. 
 
 His " Oh, is n't that lovely ! " as he 
 would crow and narrow his shoulders 
 in delight, when he met some especially 
 crude line; as, 
 
 While on earth he done his duty, 
 5 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 and the mock-seriousness with which, 
 still reading, he would troll out : 
 
 And now, kind friends, what I have wrote, 
 
 I hope you will look o'er, 
 And not criticise as some have done, 
 
 Hitherto, herebefore, 
 
 and his unique way of hunching him- 
 self into various comic positions on his 
 chair, were very mirth-compelling. 
 
 He was not unmindful of the effect 
 which he was producing, and grinned 
 good-naturedly all the while at your 
 helpless emotion — the tribute of laugh- 
 ter serving but to stimulate his " antic 
 disposition." 
 
 Every occasion was seized upon by 
 Field's Puritan relatives to provide him 
 with a full store of biblical knowledge. 
 As a child he was encouraged by his 
 grandmother, a devout Congregational- 
 ism to write sermons, for every one of 
 6 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 which, as a reward of merit, he was 
 given ninepence — a very substantial 
 sum in those days, in New England, to 
 a boy of nine. 
 
 A number of these childish homilies 
 was made, the surviving one of which 
 testifies to his neatness and intelligence. 
 The writer has often heard him read 
 the sermon, and Field never failed to 
 chuckle over the jumble — the Grseco- 
 Roman tussle — of the pronouns, and 
 to smile approvingly at the ambitious 
 effort at fine writing of his younger self. 
 
 The " I remark secondly " and the 
 " Oh, it is indeed hard for sinners to go 
 down to perdition over all the obstacles 
 which God has placed in his path" 
 greatly amused him. He did not care 
 much to commit Bible verses to mem- 
 ory — he was fonder of recitations — 
 but grandma's insistence, and grand- 
 7 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 ma's ninepences, gave him a knowledge 
 of the Scriptures of which, later, he was 
 very proud. 
 
 Notes of Sermon by E. P. Field. 1 
 
 Text in Prov., Chap. 13, Verse 15. 
 
 The life of a Christian is often compared to a 
 race that is hard, and to a battle in which a man 
 must fight hard to win ; these comparisons have 
 prevented many from becoming Christians. But 
 the Bible does not compare the Christian's path as 
 one of hard labor. But Solomon says, Wisdom's 
 ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths 
 are peace. Under the word "transgressor" are 
 included all those that disobey their Maker, or in 
 shorter words, the ungodly. Every person looking 
 around will see many who are transgressors and 
 whose lot is very hard. 
 
 I remark secondly that conscience makes the 
 way of transgressors hard, for every act of pleasure, 
 every act of guilt his conscience smites him. The 
 last of his stay on earth will appear horrible to the 
 beholder. Sometimes, however, he will be stayed 
 
 1 Chagrined that, unlike most boys, he had no middle name, 
 Field assumed the " P," which stood for Phillips — Wendell 
 Phillips — of whom Field was a great admirer. 
 
 8 
 
HOI «s 
 
 dn* 
 
 At Twelve 
 
 At Eighteen 
 
 » ? % - ^ W> 
 
 At Nineteen At Nineteen 
 
 Early Portraits of Eugene Field 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 in his guilt. A death in a family of some favorite 
 object, or be attacked by Some disease himself, is 
 brought to the portals of the grave. Then for a 
 little time, perhaps, he is stayed in his wickedness, 
 but before long he returns to his worldly lust. 
 Oh it is indeed hard for sinners to go down into 
 perdition over all the obstacles which God has 
 placed in his path. But many I am afraid do go 
 down into perdition, for wide is the gate and broad 
 is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many 
 there be that go in thereat. 
 
 Suppose now there was a fearful precipice and 
 to allure you there your enemies should scatter 
 flowers on its dreadful edge. Would you if you 
 knew that while you were strolling about on that 
 awful rock that night would settle down on you and 
 that you would fall from that giddy height, would 
 you, I say, go near that dreadful rock? Just so 
 with the transgressor, he falls from that height 
 just because he wishes to appear good in the sight 
 of the world. 
 
 But what will a man gain if he gain the whole 
 world and lose his own soul ? 
 
 Field began to write, in an amateur 
 way, for newspapers in 1871, when he 
 was twenty-one and a Sophomore at 
 
 9 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. To 
 " The Register," a paper published in 
 the town, he made frequent contribu- 
 tions, which were recognized and eagerly 
 read. His literary talent was acknow- 
 ledged even at this early date, and his 
 future success was thought to be as- 
 sured. He is remembered as carelessly 
 dressed, wearing his hair rather long, 
 and smoking a cob pipe. His room 
 was a resort for the college boys; he 
 was very popular with the students, 
 who were attentive listeners to his droll 
 stories. It is unnecessary to say he 
 was concerned in all the college pranks. 
 At that early date he was a collector 
 of books ; but these beginnings of a 
 library were unfortunately destroyed by 
 fire. His kindness, honesty, and sincer- 
 ity are also remembered. 
 
 Field was an inveterate practical 
 
 IO 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 joker, but his jokes had the rare quality 
 of endearing him all the more to those 
 upon whom they were practised. It 
 was waggery pure, but not always sim- 
 ple, for it was oftentimes of the most 
 elaborate character — fancifully con- 
 ceived and carefully wrought. It sel- 
 dom stung, and it rarely ever failed to 
 tickle. One felt flattered to be the ob- 
 ject of so much time, attention, and 
 skill as his conceits frequently involved. 
 Field was very fond of the proprietor 
 of a certain underground bookshop in 
 Chicago, and the feeling was cordially 
 reciprocated. He would go down to 
 this place of an evening. When the 
 doors were closed the proprietor and he 
 would repair to the back of the shop, 
 and Field would put his feet upon the 
 table and sing old songs and tell stories 
 at the top of his tremendous voice. He 
 ii 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 said of this friend, with genial satire, 
 that he had in him " the making of a 
 delightfully unscrupulous and success- 
 ful robber." A trip from his home on 
 the north side to the city proper always 
 included a visit to the " Book Shop," 
 which meant impromptu utterances 
 with congenial folk on books and col- 
 lectors. Indeed, it was in this under- 
 ground shop, at the corner of Madison 
 and State streets, that the gathering 
 began of the Saints and Sinners' Club. 
 There Field would come in his boyish, 
 breezy way and talk at the customers — 
 fashioning his remarks to their supposed 
 character, of which, as it often proved, 
 he was an excellent off-hand judge. 
 
 Now he would stiffen the back of a 
 
 straightlaced dame by demanding, in a 
 
 loud voice, an unexpurgated copy of 
 
 Mrs. Hemans's poems; or, if the visitor 
 
 12 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 scanned the theological books, perhaps 
 Field would declare that Paine's " Age 
 of Reason" was orthodox by comparison 
 with the religious belief to which he 
 surmised the newcomer adhered. This 
 rarely failed in its effect upon the new- 
 comer. During one of these visits the 
 proprietor was away, and Field, finding 
 a print of him, wrote under the picture 
 in his microscopic handwriting : 
 
 This is the robber as sure as you 're born, 
 Against whose guile I fain would warn 
 The bibliomaniac, tattered and torn, 
 Who pauses to look at some second-hand book 
 That lies on the shelf all covered with dust, 
 And is marked " four dollars, for cash, no trust," 
 In a gloomy corner that smells of must, 
 Down in the shop that Morris built. 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 
 This he carefully laid away between the 
 leaves of a book, where it was discov- 
 ered some days later. 
 
 *3 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 In "A Little Book of Western 
 Verse," belonging to " the robber," he 
 wrote : 
 
 Believe me, by all those endearing old charms . 
 
 With which your quaint shop is provided, 
 
 I shall honor the trade by whose help I have 
 
 made 
 A collection of freaks that 's derided. 
 And, if you believe me, why, then I 've to ask, 
 That, till Fortune betimes readjust me, 
 With dollars and dimes for my yarns and my 
 
 rhymes, 
 You shall still continue to trust me. 
 October, 1889. 
 
 Here is the uniquely humorous way 
 in which Field addressed the envelope 
 of a letter to his friend Edmund Clar- 
 ence Stedman: 
 
 There is herein a plaintive ditty 
 For E. C. Stedman, New York city ; 
 In Broadway, 66, fourth story, 
 You '11 find the same in all his glory. 
 So take this packet to that Stedman, 
 Or, by St. Hocus ! you 're a dead man! 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Field was very fertile in jocular in- 
 vention and very swift to seize upon a 
 suggestion. 
 
 He was one of the journalists who 
 once accompanied Carl Schurz from 
 St. Louis on a political campaign 
 through Missouri. At one of their 
 halting places the gentleman who was 
 to introduce Mr. Schurz did not put in 
 an appearance. It was suggested that 
 Field make the introductory remarks. 
 The audience was large and expecta- 
 tion ran high. Field puffed out his 
 chest and, assuming a super-dignified 
 manner and a strong German accent, 
 addressed the meeting as follows : 
 
 Ladies and Chentlemens : 
 
 I have such a severe colt dot I cannot make me 
 a speedg to-night, but I haf die bleasure of to intro- 
 duce to you my prilliant young chournalistic gom- 
 panion, Mr. Eucheene Fielt, who will spheak in my 
 blace. » 
 
 15 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 With this Mr. Schurz was presented, 
 it is said, in no very pleasant frame of 
 mind. The explanation which followed 
 caused uproarious laughter. One can 
 but marvel at Field's temerity, for he 
 was wholly unknown at the time. 
 
 In seeking a verification of this story 
 the following letter was received from 
 Mr. Schurz : 
 
 Whether the Eugene Field anecdote you mention 
 in your letter is literally true, I do not now remem- 
 ber. But I should not wonder if it were. He and 
 another gentleman accompanied me on a " stump- 
 ing" tour in Missouri in 1874, and he constantly 
 amused and sometimes astonished us with his hu- 
 morous pranks. The one you speak of may well 
 have been one of them. 
 
 Here is an illustration of the readi- 
 ness with which he extricated himself 
 from an embarrassing situation. He 
 had invited some friends to a Sunday 
 dinner at his home on Fullerton Ave- 
 16 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 nue. His waitress, guided by that in- 
 comprehensible vagary that seizes upon 
 serving folk at the most inopportune 
 times, suddenly " turned up missing." 
 This seemed to give him no concern, 
 and in the few minutes' chat before the 
 meal was announced, it was noticed 
 that he made a pleasant but gratuitous 
 allusion to " Camille " — the serving 
 maid. This, though not remarked upon, 
 was thought to be a rather romantic 
 name for a servant. Occasionally Field 
 would mysteriously disappear in the 
 direction of the kitchen and anon re- 
 turn and pick up the threads of conver- 
 sation. 
 
 When he opened the dining-room 
 doors it was seen that soup was al- 
 ready served; this course finished, the 
 bell was rung for " Camille." But no 
 "Camille" appeared. Field went to 
 17 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 the door and called : " Camille ! " first 
 softly, and then very loudly, — but still 
 no "Camille" appeared. There was an 
 awkward pause and an interrogatory 
 exchange of frigidities between host 
 and hostess. Just as the guests had 
 settled down to the unpleasant convic- 
 tion that they were to witness an ex- 
 ceedingly embarrassing family jar, Field, 
 with the remark that he would shame 
 " Camille," gathered up the empty soup 
 dishes and dashed into the kitchen. 
 There was some nervous speculation as 
 to what would happen next. There 
 were disputatious voices from the culi- 
 nary department which those of the 
 dining-room tried to drown in a ram- 
 bling chatter. Suddenly the door opens 
 and a huge platter of roast beef comes 
 smoking into view. It is steered by 
 Field, wearing the most expansive of 
 18 
 
Field as the Waitress " Camill< 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 foreign smiles, a cook's white cap and 
 a muslin apron tied high up under his 
 arms in the most ridiculous fashion. 
 
 " Camille " had arrived ! It was all a 
 joke — the tension was loosened and 
 hilarity reigned. He was radiant with 
 the success of his trick, which was many 
 times more amusing in the happening 
 than it could possibly be in the narra- 
 tion. Everybody's enjoyment of it was 
 very keen. Dotted over a period of years, 
 and thus showing his appreciation of 
 appreciation, would come in Field's 
 letters some such allusion as : "I will 
 now repair to the kitchen to help Ca- 
 mille bail soup for the vesper meal" — 
 or, "Eighteen years ago I was so 
 happy ! And now upon this anniver- 
 sary we are to have fried sausages for 
 dinner. I think I will step down into 
 the pantry and lick Camille." 
 
 19 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The plan hit upon to gain a much- 
 needed increase in salary from his em- 
 ployer, the proprietor of the " Daily 
 News," was as original and as success- 
 ful a bit of fooling as Field ever con- 
 ceived and carried to completion. He 
 was of too sensitive a nature to invite 
 the shock of a direct refusal, and so 
 absenting himself from the office for a 
 few days, he finally returned with four 
 of his children, who, with himself, were 
 in as dilapidated a condition as it was 
 possible for mortals to be and still retain 
 a measure of dignity and self-respect. 
 Once in the presence of his employer 
 the five went through a series of appeal- 
 ing gestures and glances, never speak- 
 ing, until Field at length pitifully asked: 
 " Please, Mr. Stone, can't you see your 
 way to raise my salary ? " 
 
 Field's estimate of his long-time pa- 
 20 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 tron may be gathered from this quaint 
 inscription in a book : 
 
 To Melville E. Stone, once my employer, always 
 my creditor, eternally my friend. 
 
 The more unusual the situation, par- 
 ticularly if it partook of the ludicrous, 
 the more enthusiastically he surrendered 
 himself to its requirements. 
 
 It was the custom at the office of 
 the " News " at Christmas-time to give 
 a turkey to each of the employees. 
 Field wrote the head of the paper that 
 he should prefer the Yuletide courtesy 
 in his own case to take the form of a suit 
 of clothes. Here was so good a chance 
 to joke the joker that it must not be 
 neglected. In compliance with the letter 
 of his request, a full suit of convict's 
 clothes was sent to him. For a long time 
 after this, whenever strangers came to 
 
 21 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 the " News " office, Field would don this 
 prison suit, and with shovel and coal- 
 scuttle in hand, having somehow man- 
 aged to engage the visitors in conversa- 
 tion, he would, in perfect keeping with 
 the character which he was portraying, 
 descant volubly upon the wisdom and 
 economy of convict labor. 
 
 At Denver, Field gave himself over 
 to even wilder boyish pranks, as when 
 arrayed in a velveteen coat and knee- 
 breeches, and with a huge sunflower in 
 his hand, he rode through the city in 
 an open barouche, being mistaken by 
 the wondering populace for a well- 
 known esthete who was hourly ex- 
 pected. 
 
 He was a very clubable as well as a 
 very neighborly man. Few people of 
 importance went to Chicago who were 
 not entertained by him at the Union 
 
 22 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 League. He was a much sought-for 
 neighbor, and always very welcome. 
 At his home in Buena Park, a suburb 
 of Chicago, one would always be sure 
 on any summer's day to find a crowd, 
 and Field, the central figure, hilari- 
 ously entertaining them. The children 
 flocked about him, and he won their 
 little hearts by the narration of most 
 marvellous tales, invented on the spot. 
 He joked his neighbors in public and 
 in private. If they affected dogs, he 
 wrote droll stories of their pups. If 
 they were fond of plants, he would take 
 them slips with extraordinary botanical 
 names; these, with great ceremony, he 
 planted on their lawns, and then under- 
 went much good-natured scolding when 
 the plants proved to be Canada thistle. 
 He sometimes figured at a disadvan- 
 tage in a joke, but the uncommon good 
 
 23 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 humor with which he accepted the situ- 
 ation greatly heightened the enjoyment 
 of it, as the following incident will 
 show. 
 
 Dressed in a new white flannel suit, 
 and acting as escort and guide to a 
 party of eastern friends at the Colum- 
 bian Exposition, Field halted them, en 
 route, at a druggist's, for soda water. 
 Owing to the heat of the day, and the 
 better to enjoy the beverage, he sat 
 down on the ledge of the low window- 
 shelf generally used by the druggist 
 for the display of wares. Unfortu- 
 nately, and as a matter of course un- 
 consciously, he sat on a large piece of 
 molasses-like fly-paper. 
 
 When he rose to place his empty 
 glass upon the counter, the fly-paper 
 rose with him. Its infatuation for his 
 person was extravagant, its adjustment 
 
 2 4 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 thereto perfect. Not a corner was rum- 
 pled. Not a fly escaped. Poor Field 
 had just been introduced to a young 
 woman of the party to whom he was 
 especially gallant. When he became 
 aware of the state of affairs, rudely 
 warned as he was by the snickering of 
 the assembled people, he was divided 
 between chagrin and a proper apprecia- 
 tion of the comic side of the situation. 
 Happily the latter prevailed, and by 
 dint of much strength and perseverance 
 the druggist succeeded in disembarrass- 
 ing him of his impromptu plaster. His 
 coat stuck to his trousers, his trousers 
 stuck to him ; and during the continu- 
 ance of the journey it was very amusing 
 to see Field surreptitiously pull aside 
 his constantly clinging garments. 
 
 He had been jesting that day over a 
 friend who hyphened his own name. 
 25 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Next morning he received a note bear- 
 ing the following superscription : 
 
 Eugene Fly-paper-Fly-paper Field, Esq., 
 Buena Park, 
 
 Ills. 
 
 The association of Field and Mr. 
 George W. Cable in a lecturing tour 
 though interesting for the public, was 
 about as quaint and strange a combina- 
 tion as one can well imagine. Cable 
 is all gentleness and suavity; Field, on 
 the other hand, was bristling and bois- 
 terous. It is likely that Cable never 
 quite knew just what unusual thing 
 Field was going to do next. Certain 
 it is that Field gave him many anxious 
 moments. It was not that Field meant 
 to worry his companion, but he was 
 26 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 aware that Cable regarded him as a 
 strangely composite creature, and he 
 could not resist the mischievous delight 
 which he found in corroborating such 
 an estimate. It was understood that 
 Field had presented Mr. Cable with a 
 book containing a humorous inscrip- 
 tion, and in the hope of eliciting some 
 fresh word anent his " partner," a letter 
 was addressed to him on the subject, 
 and there was received the following 
 reply : 
 
 Northampton, Mass., 24 September, 1896. 
 I seize with eagerness the opportunity you give 
 me to speak a word of tribute to the winning per- 
 sonal qualities of Eugene Field. His eccentricities 
 were so many and so droll that one need not dwell 
 a moment upon them, save to say that with them 
 all he was still, in work, in travel, and in sojourn, 
 a companion of unfailing and irresistible charm. I 
 doubt if I could name another man of my acquain- 
 tance who so deftly and unfailingly, or with such 
 apparent unconsciousness, adapted others to him- 
 self and himself to them at one and the same time. 
 
 27 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 During one season we journeyed much together, 
 lodged in the same hotels and homes, were com- 
 rades alone and guests in large companies; but I 
 never saw the hour when he was not in buoyant 
 spirits, mirthful, kind, and witty. 
 
 The inscription spoken of is in a book of his own 
 which he gave me, and reads as follows : 
 "To my beloved but wicked partner, George W. 
 Cable, from Eugene Field." 
 Yours truly, 
 
 G. W. Cable. 
 
 While Field and Cable were lectur- 
 ing at the Walnut Street Theatre, Phila- 
 delphia, desiring to greet the former, 
 I slipped back of the scenes and 
 found him tilted in a chair, feet on ta- 
 ble, book in hand, reading over the 
 poem which he was about to recite. 
 The Cable-Field reading was in the 
 afternoon, and Lottie Collins, the serio- 
 comic vocalist, was to occupy the the- 
 atre in the evening. It was in Miss 
 Collins's room that Field was sitting, 
 28 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 and stage paraphernalia were all about. 
 A glittering hat-pin was remarked in 
 the lapel of Field's coat, and he was 
 questioned about it. " You see," he 
 said, " I am making a collection of 
 rhinestone hat-pins ; and, travelling as I 
 am, lecturing in various theatres, I have 
 exceptional opportunities for picking 
 up such souvenirs at a very low price." 
 While it could hardly be said that 
 Field was of the kind who "never kept 
 a professional, nor broke a social, en- 
 gagement," he certainly delighted in his 
 reputation for eccentricity. Once when 
 the reading was about to begin, Mr. 
 Cable was pained to receive a telegram 
 from Field announcing his sudden ill- 
 ness, which would prevent his presence 
 at the entertainment. Sorrowing for his 
 associate, Cable got through the even- 
 ing as best he could. The following 
 29 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 morning, meeting one of the business 
 staff, Cable inquired anxiously for 
 Field, and felt sure the illness must 
 have been of a serious nature. " I think 
 not," replied the gentleman addressed, 
 " I did n't notice anything unusual. I 
 sat next to him last night in the theatre 
 in Philadelphia." 
 
 "Why, Field," exclaimed Cable, 
 when they met, " how could you do so ? 
 Do you know you disappointed over a 
 thousand people ? " 
 
 "Cable," said Field, solemnly, "I 
 don't care a snap about the thousand 
 people ; it is on your account and yours 
 only that I am deeply contrite." " And," 
 added Cable, " he said it as if that ex- 
 planation really explained." 
 
 " When we were in Michigan," went 
 on Mr. Cable, " we were asked to be the 
 guests of a very dear friend of Field's, 
 
 3° 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Mr. Sol Smith Russell. Mr. Russell, 
 on account of his professional engage- 
 ments, could not be at home to wel- 
 come us, but Mrs. Russell was there to 
 do us honor. With both Field and 
 myself to entertain, I feared we were 
 crowding the limits of her hospitality. 
 Imagine, if you please, my astonish- 
 ment when Field introduced a third 
 member of our party, a seven-foot 
 relative, with the off-hand remark, 
 ' This is only my cousin — put him 
 anywhere, he '11 be satisfied ! ' " 
 
 Blessed with unusual mimetic power, 
 a retentive memory, much magnetism, 
 a strong love and knowledge of dra- 
 matic climaxes, sensitively impression- 
 able and able faithfully to depict the 
 thing seen or imagined, Field in all 
 likelihood would have achieved no little 
 success as an actor. 
 
 31 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Indeed, at one time Field was very 
 ambitious for histrionic honors. On 
 coming into his patrimony one of the 
 first things he did was to provide him- 
 self with a complete outfit of theatrical 
 costumes for such characters as Hamlet, 
 Lear, Othello, etc. These costumes he 
 exhibited to his friends with great pride. 
 He organized a company of his own 
 in conjunction with his friend Marvin 
 Eddy, who tells of a comedy Field 
 wrote in which the heroines were im- 
 personated by Field himself to the he- 
 roes of the only other acting member 
 of the cast — Mr. Eddy. A Madame 
 Saunders was the orchestra or, rather, 
 the pianist, and Monsieur Saunders 
 painted the posters which announced 
 the coming of the " great and only " 
 entertainment. Rehearsals were held 
 in the parlors of the hotels, and the 
 
 32 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 "show" was given in the hotel dining- 
 rooms. While a darky carried a pla- 
 card of announcement, the result of 
 Saunders's artistic handiwork, the local 
 band, specially engaged, played in front 
 of the principal places in town. Mr. 
 Eddy recalls that Field had a sweet 
 bass voice which he used with much 
 effect both in songs and recitations. 
 
 The season, confined to such towns 
 in Missouri as Carrollton, Richmond, 
 etc., lasted about two weeks and was 
 what the papers would call a succes 
 d'estime. A consultation was held as 
 to the advisability of giving the people 
 of Kansas City an opportunity to judge 
 of the new histrion's quality, but it was 
 concluded that Kansas City had done 
 nothing to warrant such an invasion — 
 which proves unusual wisdom on Field's 
 part at so early an age — twenty-two. 
 33 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 It was a tradition of the family that 
 the brothers would prosper either as 
 musicians or actors, and if his lot had 
 been cast with the players, Field would 
 have risen far above mediocrity. Such, 
 at least, was the impression gathered by 
 his friends of the dramatic art, some of 
 the exponents of which he would mimic 
 with startling fidelity. Here was con- 
 firmative evidence of the man's versa- 
 tility of talent, of his being much to 
 everybody and dissimilar to all. For his 
 friends of the cloth he wrote the most 
 beautiful prayers and made charming 
 paraphrases of the psalms. He thought 
 the desire of those who wanted him to 
 be a minister had got into his blood; 
 for, as he said, he had always to preach 
 some little verses, else he could not get 
 through Christmas-tide. He delighted 
 in his power of adaptability, and made 
 
 34 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 its results increasingly happy. Irrespec- 
 tive of circumstances, he bore himself 
 with admirable judgment and adequate 
 knowledge of his part. He was no 
 niggard with his talents, and gave liber- 
 ally of the best he could command. He 
 was ambitious to excel and strove hard 
 to lead, a trait especially characteristic 
 of him from youth to manhood. 
 
 In his later years he suffered from an 
 aggravated form of nervous dyspepsia. 
 It would seem that this had been 
 brought about by his excessive indul- 
 gence in tobacco, and by a lack of 
 sufficient outdoor exercise. He was 
 passionately devoted to reading in bed, 
 when, like Charles Lamb, his " mid- 
 night darlings" were indeed his trea- 
 sured books. He would smoke the 
 while; then, in the small hours, extin- 
 guishing the light and folding himself 
 35 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 chiefly in the fumes of tobacco, he 
 would go to sleep. Naturally this 
 made such inroads upon his constitu- 
 tion that, when it was too late, he gave 
 up tobacco and travelled for his health 
 to Europe, to New Orleans, to San 
 Francisco, but it was all of little avail. 
 
 While in California, Field visited 
 some relatives at Alameda, near San 
 Francisco. He had heard a good deal 
 of " the glorious climate," and, after his 
 arrival, a never-ending clamor about it. 
 Certainly he was a fit subject for its be- 
 neficent effect, but the low tone of his 
 health, the sluggishness of his blood, 
 made it impossible for him to keep 
 warm. He saw no glory in the climate, 
 and, sadly enough, it held no curative 
 qualities for him. He grew discour- 
 aged, and denounced the country and 
 everything concerning it with great 
 36 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 bitterness. One morning he was found 
 in a closet of his room hugging a gas 
 stove, striving to extract enough heat to 
 dispel the chill in his bones. 
 
 It was hoped he had slept well. He 
 had n't done any such thing; his rest 
 had been disturbed with a wretched 
 dream. He had dreamed that his host 
 and cousin had died and gone to 
 heaven. At the gates of the celestial 
 city St. Peter was encountered, and per- 
 mission to enter had been refused unless 
 the applicant's name were on the heav- 
 enly records. 
 
 " What was the name ? " 
 
 " Field." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; Gene Field ! " said the 
 saint, enthusiastically. " Walk in, Mr. 
 Field ! Very glad, indeed, to welcome 
 you. There are hosts of children await- 
 ing your coming." 
 
 37 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 "No," replied the other, "unfortu- 
 nately I am not Eugene Field, but I 
 am his cousin, Henry Field." 
 
 " Pardon me," replied St. Peter, " I 
 must look over my book." 
 
 A careful examination failed to find 
 the name, and the applicant was told 
 that he must go down-stairs, and down 
 below the cousin was obliged to go. 
 
 At the door of Hades sat his Plu- 
 tonic majesty, with horns and hoofs 
 and forked tail. 
 
 "I suppose," said the cousin, "that 
 there is little need to ask if my name be 
 inscribed upon your books? It must be." 
 
 "We '11 see," said the Devil. But 
 here again was disappointment, for 
 Satan could not find the name of 
 Field's relative, and Cousin Henry was 
 told, with a shake of the head, that he 
 could not enter. 
 
 38 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 " What ! " shrieked he, in absolute 
 despair, "is it possible that, after all, 
 I must go back and live in Alameda ! " 
 
 It is not claimed that Field was the 
 originator of this story; he may only 
 have adapted it to his purpose, but it 
 was an actual occurrence with him, and, 
 as such, illustrative of the sufferer's 
 grim humor, it is here presented. 
 
 Latterly Field became more thought- 
 ful and serious. We are told that in 
 his last year he seemed to be making 
 an unconscious preparation for the life 
 beyond. Not to have known him in 
 that year is never to realize the full 
 beauty of his nature. 
 
 It is easy to believe that this " sweet- 
 ening of a character already lovable to 
 an unusual degree " took place ; for who 
 can suppose that any man could speak 
 so directly from the heart, and not be 
 39 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 the better for the tender nobility of his 
 utterances ? 
 
 Why may it not be frankly said that 
 Eugene Field was as full of human 
 nature as are most men? He had 
 his weaknesses and his strengths. In 
 common with the rest of mankind, 
 he said and did things which he 
 might have wished unsaid and undone; 
 Field was what he was, and Uncle 
 Toby was not the only one whose un- 
 conventional English the Recording 
 Angel might be willing to blot out 
 with a tear. We love a man, not be- 
 cause of his faults, but despite them. 
 When we come to be weighed in the 
 balance of friendship, we may count 
 ourselves fortunate indeed if the mea- 
 sure of our shortcomings is not in excess 
 of what we knew Field to possess. He 
 was a great, manly, talented, tender- 
 4 o 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 hearted, lovable fellow, whose kind- 
 nesses and courtesies were many and 
 frequent. 
 
 He had no squeamishness, yet I 
 never heard him tell a coarse story; he 
 appeared only to see the point of a 
 joke without respect to the possible of- 
 fensiveness of its setting. 
 
 It is to be doubted if Field ever did 
 anybody an injury in the whole course 
 of his life; and if I know anything 
 about him at all, I know that even a 
 slight injustice would have been more 
 painful to him than to the person upon 
 whom he might have inflicted it. 
 
 Nothing could have been worse for 
 Field than his trip in 1889 to London, 
 where the weather and the frequent in- 
 vitations to dine, which he knew not 
 how to refuse, told severely upon him. 
 " Talk about weather," he writes from 
 
 41 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 London, "this is the most abominable 
 climate I ever experimented with. 
 Elsewhere I should have been well 
 long ago; but I am so nervous that I 
 dread travel and the excitement incident 
 thereto. My inclination is to stay in 
 the house, keep warm, read and write, 
 and digest my simple food." 
 And again : 
 
 What exceeding folly was it that tempted me to 
 cross the sea in search of what I do not seem able 
 to find here — a righteous stomach? I have been 
 wallowing in the slough of despond for a week, and 
 my digestive apparatus has gone wrong again. I 
 have suffered tortures that would have done credit 
 to the inventive genius of a Dante; and the natural 
 consequence is, that I am as blue as a whetstone. 
 
 He seemed always to have had the 
 inclination to " stay in the house, keep 
 warm, and read and write," and it was 
 this sedentary practice in early life, as 
 I have said, which worked him such 
 42 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 injury. He seemed never to be able 
 to keep comfortable, and he once de- 
 clared he had written everything thus 
 far " freezing to death." 
 
 The insinuating mists and fogs of 
 London would have tried sufficiently 
 his waning health; but when he threw 
 himself into the swirl of gastronomic 
 London, where everything, even a birth 
 or a death, is seized upon as a pretext 
 for a dinner, he was guilty of the ex- 
 treme of dietetic indiscretion. 
 
 On these occasions Field met most 
 of the English literary world, and the 
 descriptions he wrote to his friends of 
 these feasts and those who attended 
 them make racy reading. Indeed, since 
 he was one of the most interesting and 
 careful of letter-writers, a published se- 
 lection of these letters would not fail 
 to attract a host of readers. One can 
 
 43 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 imagine the surprise of Mrs. Humphry- 
 Ward, who had asked him about the 
 manners and customs of the people of 
 America, when Field replied that when 
 he was first caught he was up a tree ! 
 
 His characterization of a number of 
 the London booksellers as robbers 
 was as true as it was quaint. His fa- 
 vorite browsing-place while in London 
 was Sotheran's, where he found " a vast 
 number of second-hand books at reason- 
 able prices." He did not fail to observe 
 that the prices took a strong upward 
 tendency when the dealer suspected his 
 customer to be an American. He railed 
 against this to the dealers, and in no 
 measured terms. 
 
 A friend who was in London with 
 Field, "in the fall of '89," says: 
 
 One episode there was particularly 
 dear to Field. An American, on the 
 
 44 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 eve of sailing, found himself with but 
 a few dollars, after buying his ticket 
 to America. He dropped around to 
 Field's house for a loan. He got it. 
 
 Two hours later an express wagon 
 left a load of presents at the little house 
 in Alfred Place. There were pictures 
 and trinkets for the ladies, expensive 
 Paris umbrellas for the girls, a big 
 rocking-chair for Eugene, books and 
 other things for the boys. They were 
 picturesquely strewn about the sitting- 
 room. Field took in the situation with 
 a comprehensive glance, his face beam- 
 ing as he read a note from his depart- 
 ing friend, thanking them all for their 
 kindnesses, and begging the acceptance 
 of the presents with his friendship and 
 love. 
 
 "Isn't he a jewel!" exclaimed Field. 
 " I adore that man. His presents have 
 45 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 cost me just one hundred dollars ! In 
 his simplicity Charley thinks I will 
 never know that my money paid for 
 them. He has forgotten by this time 
 that he ever borrowed it. We '11 never 
 hear of it again. That 's what I call 
 humor — true American humor. All 
 the family are pleased with their pres- 
 ents, Charley is sailing home with a 
 heart full of joy and gratitude, and I 'm 
 tickled to death. He has repaid me a 
 thousand times and made us all happy. 
 God bless his dear old Connecticut 
 soul ! " 
 
 It was at this period, in London, that 
 Field wrote his patriotic poems "Stoves 
 and Sunshine" and "John Smith." 
 
 His health had improved but little 
 
 at the time of his return to America. 
 
 However much the knowledge of his 
 
 condition weighed upon him in private, 
 
 46 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 he appeared the same fun-loving, viva- 
 cious companion as of old, and he stood 
 nobly by his resolve not to let his ail- 
 ment jaundice his work. Later his com- 
 plaint increased so greatly that he was 
 obliged to deny himself the privilege 
 of dining at his own table. Stouter 
 hearts than his would have quailed 
 under so much suffering, yet he had 
 little or no fear of the result. The idea 
 of death was as far from Eugene Field's 
 thoughts as it is to most men in full 
 habit and health. In the sketch of his 
 life which he wrote for inquiring friends, 
 Field declared that if he lived, as he 
 unquestionably thought he should, he 
 would do his best literary work when 
 he was a grandfather. 
 
 He was the moving spirit in the 
 meeting of a set of congenial people — 
 ministers, literary men, actors, lecturers, 
 
 47 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 and bookmen — at McClurg's store in 
 Chicago; and he called this motley 
 gathering the "Saints and Sinners," and 
 the place of their meeting the " Saints 
 and Sinners' Corner." 
 
 Wherever Field lived, he was always 
 a well-known character to booksellers. 
 When he came to Chicago in 1883 ^ e 
 was drawn irresistibly toward McClurg's 
 book-store. 
 
 The gentleman who had charge of 
 the rare-book department soon learned 
 Field's name, and the fact that he was 
 connected with the " Daily News." 
 Field's enthusiasm for books was evi- 
 dent, and before long he was on terms 
 of intimacy with all the frequenters of 
 the place, and, additionally attracted by 
 the charm of Field's personality, they 
 became very regular in their attendance. 
 Thus, without further ceremony, about 
 48 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 the year 1883 came into being the 
 " Saints and Sinners' Club." There was 
 much merriment at the gatherings, 
 which were purely impromptu; and 
 Field took to reporting them in his 
 "Sharps and Flats" column of the 
 "News." The sayings were cleverly 
 amplified and edited, and oftentimes 
 existed only in the imagination of the 
 reporter; but each man's fad was care- 
 fully set forth and cleverly adhered to, 
 and thus Field found a pleasant way to 
 furnish material for his paper and to 
 gratify his friends by kindly public ut- 
 terances. 
 
 Not long before his death he strolled 
 into the " Corner " and said most pa- 
 thetically that he wished Mr. Millard 
 would send up one of the low chairs of 
 the Saints and Sinners' Corner. On be- 
 ing asked what on earth he could want 
 49 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 with one of the chairs, Field replied 
 that some of the members of the Club 
 would be dying off one of these days, 
 and he would like a chair as a souvenir. 
 It was sent to him, but how little he 
 dreamed that of the pleasant gathering 
 of friends, of which he was the ac- 
 knowledged leader, he himself would 
 be the first to cross the Stygian ferry ! 
 Field was very much attached to the 
 Rev. Dr. Frank M. Bristol and the 
 Rev. Dr. Frank Gunsaulus. These two, 
 with the Rev. Dr. Stryker, were the 
 Saints of the Saints and Sinners' Corner. 
 Field was very circumspect in their 
 presence, and took great pains to please 
 them, both as a man and as a writer. 
 He was equally desirous that his friends 
 and acquaintances who visited the Cor- 
 ner with him for the first time, and met 
 the Saints, should appear well in their 
 
 50 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 eyes. Once, when a certain gentleman 
 inadvertently used the word "damn" in 
 their presence, Field appeared shocked, 
 and apologetically observed that he had 
 never heard the gentleman use that 
 word before. This was all very gro- 
 tesque to those who knew Field, when 
 the fever was upon him, to be a most 
 fertile producer of expletives both 
 forcible and picturesque. 
 
 At times his ecclesiastical book-loving 
 friends, tiring of some of their literary 
 possessions, would seek cheap access to 
 " fresh woods and pastures new " in the 
 world of books by swapping. This 
 greatly amused Field, who used to take 
 pains to point out to " the parsons," as 
 he called them, what he believed to be 
 the error of their ways. Sometimes it 
 would be by a few lines laid in books 
 which he knew they were likely to 
 
 5i 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 read, or by some such method as fol- 
 lows. On a blood-red sheet of paper 
 enclosed in a blood-red envelope, and 
 left in the Saints and Sinners' Corner, 
 was written : 
 
 In Trust for the Preachers. 
 
 The Epistle of 
 
 St. Eugene to St. Francis. 
 
 a. d. 1893. 
 
 Published by the Chicago Tract Society 
 (Elevated). 
 
 And then, with borders of black and 
 gold, came 
 
 THE EPISTLE. 
 When man forsakes the narrow path 
 
 Which righteous Presbyterians tread, 
 He dons the ribald garb of wrath 
 
 And flaunts the wicked color, red. 
 
 His hat and socks of carmine hue 
 Offend his brethren's startled gaze; 
 
 His shoes are red, his kerchief too 
 With vanities, vermilion blaze. 
 
 52 
 
\-i^J -^tAAJi/ -MWfl kfj-n~Lij 1 -y^ Cut*,} $ /zA-U^yS* W 4rt4Mryy )-£w {L/l 
 
 t- 3 H 
 
 n 
 
 l -fU) ^hJUuuJi^J AvjU^aJO, fakrblAs IMi, l%$ I , 
 
Oj-^-a^-tO^vw -^uivta^» 1-LsJI/ h&su L*^kA/JU^Aj -vw Haas fySb^A/ 
 ^) «i-&^ % fZdkfr '\ J bJlu W HaaJI, A-Uaj ^mn/ O^aA, 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 And flaming thus from head to foot, 
 He boldly stalks from bad to worse, 
 
 Pining to paint creation red — 
 And all is read except his verse. 
 
 Pastors, I know whereof I speak ; 
 
 Oh ! shun Damnation's yawning brink, 
 And orthodox salvation seek 
 
 In cream-white note and violet ink. 
 
 The accompanying fac-simile letter 
 to the Rev. Dr. Frank M. Bristol is a 
 characteristic exposition of the thorough 
 understanding Field had of his art and 
 its tools, of the care he took in compo- 
 sition, and also of the extent to which 
 he would go to prove a disputed liter- 
 ary point. Note the touch of humor in 
 the concluding lines. 
 
 Not infrequently with him, as with 
 most book-hunters, it happened that a 
 volume which he ferreted out and cov- 
 eted would be held at a price higher 
 than the one for which he fancied by 
 
 53 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 patient waiting and judicious silence it 
 might be acquired ultimately. And it 
 also happened to him, as to most book- 
 hunters, that the chance to purchase at 
 any price was lost because the book 
 would be snapped up by some prowl- 
 ing bibliophile. This would grieve 
 him and, if he knew the purchaser, he 
 would often lament in verse on the " end 
 papers," as, after the following fashion, 
 he did in a curious old book by Dr. 
 William King, called "The Art of 
 Cookery In Imitation of Horace's Art 
 of Poetry " : 
 
 So Wilson gets this curious book ; 
 
 Well, he is my Maecenas, 
 And, maybe, he will send it me — 
 
 Though this is quite between us. 
 
 But elsewise let his gentle spouse 
 
 Peruse it with attention, 
 And duly seize on recipes 
 
 Too numerous to mention. 
 
 54 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Then when I come she '11 fix me up 
 
 With classic tarts and jellies ; 
 And that 's the food that bodeth good 
 
 For all dyspeptic bellies. 
 
 In a costly volume near the Saints 
 and Sinners' Corner was found a slip of 
 paper, on which was written this para- 
 phrase of the inscription on Shake- 
 speare's tomb : 
 
 Swete friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare 
 To buy ye boke thou findest here, 
 For that when I do get ye pelf, 
 I meane to buy ye boke my selfe. 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 
 The spirit which urged Field on to 
 such pranks was the spirit we knew 
 and loved and applauded. 
 
 The annual home-coming from Eu- 
 rope of the head of McClurg's rare-book 
 department, with a consignment of Hor- 
 aces, Hazlitts, Leigh Hunts, and Lambs, 
 and even a lot of " plug " Kelmscotts, 
 55 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 was once thus celebrated by Field in 
 the " Daily News " : 
 
 George Millard is home! 
 Come, ye maniacs, as of yore, 
 From your musty, dusty hidings, 
 And in answer to the tidings 
 Crowd the Corner full once more. 
 Lo, from distant England's shore, 
 Laden down with spoils galore, 
 Such as bibliophiles adore — 
 Books and prints in endless store, 
 Treasures singly or in set 
 (Labelled "jkt" and "net") — 
 George returns to gratify 
 All who have the means to buy 
 Things that glad the heart and eye. 
 Ye who seek some rare old tome — 
 Maniacs shrewd or imbecilic, 
 Urban, pastoral, or idyllic, 
 Richly clad or dishabillic — 
 Heed the summons bibliophillic: 
 
 " George Millard is home! " 
 
 Field was almost theatrical in his 
 love of effect, and would take great 
 pains to bring about the conditions 
 56 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 necessary to the successful outcome of 
 any of his serious or humorous projects. 
 
 He was very fond of surprises. One 
 of the most impressive of the many he 
 gave his friends was the reading of one 
 of his best poems. He had summoned, 
 by written invitation, all the Saints and 
 Sinners who were in Chicago on New 
 Year's Eve, 1891. A goodly number 
 responded. As the hands of the clock 
 were on the verge of midnight, he rose, 
 and turned out the gas. The store was 
 sepulchrally dark. Then for the first 
 time he recited, by the light of a single 
 candle, " Dibdin's Ghost." 
 
 Field's mind and heart were wide 
 open to the sunshine of humor and the 
 joy of laughter. He declared that the 
 man who neglected an opportunity to 
 laugh was as injudicious as he who 
 denied himself a proper amount of fresh 
 57 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 air; then, with fatal inconsistency, he 
 himself revelled in laughter, but stayed 
 indoors. His boyish sport was conta- 
 gious; it was as if one's glee longed 
 to take on a personal form and shake 
 hands with his equally personified mer- 
 riment. He characterized those wet 
 blankets, those assassinators of mirth, 
 who refuse to believe that the cheer- 
 ful man can be possessed of a refined 
 sensibility, as drones in the hive of 
 happiness, and he thought they mer- 
 ited the fate of their insect confreres, 
 Viewed in the light of policy alone. 
 he believed in laughter, and thought 
 it the surest way to make people 
 kind. What misfortune, he said, was 
 ever made the lighter by grief? What 
 misfortune ever made the heavier by 
 laughter? Since when are people at- 
 tracted by sighs? Since when are 
 58 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 people repelled by smiles ? If one is pa- 
 tronized merely because one smiles, how 
 easy to repay one's patrons with a smirk ! 
 But so varied were Field's talents 
 that he not only repaid his public with 
 smiles, but with tears. Such poems as 
 "Little Boy Blue," "Martha's Youn- 
 kit," the dedicatory lines of his first 
 book of verse, "A Lyttle Boy," the 
 lines inscribed to his wife in the " Sec- 
 ond Book of Verse," the more serious 
 of his stories in " A Little Book of 
 Profitable Tales," such as "The First 
 Christmas Tree," " The Coming of the 
 Prince," "Margaret, a Pearl," "The Oak 
 Tree and the Ivy," " The Little Yaller 
 Baby," amply and sweetly confirm his 
 capacity for tenderness. The subtle, 
 sympathetic power to touch the heart 
 and moisten the eye was his indeed, 
 and noble use he made of it. 
 
 59 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 From those who knew him but 
 slightly, his youthful spirit, with its 
 love of practical jokes, brought him less 
 credit as a scholar than he deserved. 
 He was " a hard sitter at books/' or, 
 rather, a hard Her at them, for nearly all 
 his reading, which covered a wide range, 
 was done in bed. He was constant in 
 his love for Horace, who retained until 
 the very last the warmest place in his 
 affections, and he owned many impor- 
 tant editions of this poet's works. He 
 read and remembered much folk-lore 
 and fairy literature, and professed a be- 
 lief in ghosts and witches — a belief in 
 which he was scarcely sincere, but 
 toward which he was finely sympa- 
 thetic. 
 
 Field knew much Latin and some 
 Greek. He made paraphrases of French 
 songs, and his knowledge of Beranger 
 60 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 and Heine was both wide and accurate. 
 Hans Christian Andersen stood high in 
 Field's literary appreciation, and all the 
 fairy books of various hues which An- 
 drew Lang has given us, Field nearly 
 knew by heart. He learned early and 
 practised assiduously the art of pluck- 
 ing out the heart of the books which 
 he meant should serve him. He had a 
 perfect nose for scenting the arrival at 
 the Saints and Sinners' Corner of all 
 volumes on quaint subjects. He was 
 a book-lover of a pronounced type, and, 
 like the sister of the Canon of Canter- 
 bury, he was much given " to the drug 
 called learning." 
 
 He especially delighted in children 
 who, like himself, were fond of fairy- 
 tales, folk-lore, and mythology, who 
 loved Santa Claus, and who had suffi- 
 cient imagination to see things at night. 
 61 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 In the chapter headed " The Luxury of 
 Reading in Bed," in his " The Love 
 Affairs of a Bibliomaniac," there is an 
 inviting resume of the literature of the 
 subject. He believed, with Beecher, 
 that love of knowledge comes with 
 reading and grows upon it, that chil- 
 dren learn to read by being in the 
 presence of books ; and he felt that a 
 house without books was a Sahara. No 
 family, no individual, ever came to 
 know Eugene Field whose enthusiasm 
 on the subject of reading was not there- 
 by augmented. Few books, he thought, 
 were written in vain. He had no sym- 
 pathy whatever with the latter-day cry 
 of over-production in books, and he 
 felt that it was with them, as with 
 individuals, a simple matter of the sur- 
 vival of the fittest. He agreed, on the 
 other hand, with Austin Dobson that 
 62 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Where a wistful man might look, 
 Finding something through the whole, 
 Beating — like a human soul. 
 
 Though he did not lack in piety, 
 such was his love of a good book that 
 he felt with Charles Lamb that grace 
 before Milton, or grace before Shake- 
 speare, or grace before any author whose 
 work has enriched the world, was as 
 essential as grace before meat. 
 
 In the treatment of books he had all 
 the delicacy of the great Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, who thought that one ought to 
 care far more diligently for a book than 
 for a boot. With the Bishop he in- 
 veighed against the presumption of 
 touching them with "an unclean hand," 
 of opening them in headlong haste and 
 " throwing them away " without first 
 closing them. He was always amused 
 
 63 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 by the incident of the Bishop's botani- 
 cal student who was " a neglector rather 
 than an inspector " of books, who would 
 stuff his book with the violet, the prim- 
 rose, and the rose, and who would then 
 " apply his watery hands, all damp with 
 sweat, to turning over the volumes, and 
 with his finger gloved in long used 
 leather, will hunt o'er the pages, line by 
 line. Then, at the nip of the biting 
 flea, the holy book is flung aside and is 
 scarcely shut within a month, but be- 
 comes so swollen with dust that has 
 fallen into it that it cannot obey the 
 effort of one who would close it." 
 
 Field was indeed a book-lover who 
 revelled in all the delight and all the 
 anguish of bibliomania. Even the 
 odor which his books exhaled gave 
 him pleasure, and furnished him with 
 a theme for this little poem : 
 64 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 My garden aboundeth in pleasant nooks, 
 
 And fragrance is over it all ; 
 For sweet is the smell of my old, old books 
 
 In their places against the wall. 
 
 In Walton the brooks a-babbling tell 
 Where the cheery daisy grows, 
 
 And where in meadow or woodland dwell 
 The buttercup and the rose. 
 
 Come, pluck with me in my garden nooks 
 
 The posies that blow for all ; 
 Oh, sweet is the smell of my old, old books 
 
 In their places against the wall ! 
 
 He never talked much of his own 
 writings, but would not submit to an 
 obvious misconception respecting them. 
 A friend who was making a list of 
 books for a collection of "Juvenilia," 
 asked Field for as many titles as he 
 could recall that should also include 
 " A Little Book of Profitable Tales." 
 
 " But," said Field, " ' A Little Book 
 
 65 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 of Profitable Tales ' was not written for 
 children." 
 
 Many of his stories, and some of his 
 poems, show a familiarity with techni- 
 cal medical phrases which he used hu- 
 morously. Suffering as he did a good 
 part of his life from a weak stomach, 
 which he characterized as his "rebellious 
 midriff," it is not remarkable that he 
 should have turned his attention to 
 pathology and therapeutics. His know- 
 ledge of their nomenclature, "as writ in 
 books," not only astonished the reader, 
 but was even unusual. 
 
 Chaucer's works he knew inside out 
 and upside down; also straight ahead, 
 as most of us would like to know him. 
 He has given us numerous imitations 
 and paraphrases of Chaucer's style and 
 forms of expression, as well as those 
 of Sir John Suckling and Edmund 
 66 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Spenser. He was upon terms of great 
 intimacy with Boccaccio's writings, and 
 the poem describing the discovery of 
 the "brown-paper copy" of the great 
 Italian's " Decameron " is alike humor- 
 ous and pathetic : 
 
 One day, upon a topmost shelf, 
 I found a precious prize indeed, 
 
 Which father used to read himself, 
 But did not want us boys to read. 
 
 I never heard that name before, 
 But in due season it became 
 
 To him who fondly brooded o'er 
 Those pages, a beloved name! 
 
 So rest you there upon the shelf, 
 Clad in your garb of faded brown; 
 
 Perhaps, sometime, my boy himself 
 Will find you out and take you down. 
 
 Then may he feel the joy once more 
 That thrilled me, filled me, years ago, 
 
 When rev'rently I brooded o'er 
 The glories of Boccaccio! 
 
 67 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 He quite agreed with the most of 
 mankind that Boswell's " Life of John- 
 son" and Lockhart's "Life of Scott" 
 were the great models of biographical 
 writing, and he was not sure that Mrs. 
 Gordon's memoir of her father, John 
 Wilson, was not a worthy companion 
 work. He was the constant recipient 
 of books from friends and mere ac- 
 quaintances ; and as far as these related 
 to the biographical or the curious, he 
 was industrious in their perusal, especi- 
 ally the latter. 
 
 The following excerpt from a letter 
 dated "Chicago, Nov. 21, 1891," will 
 give a clear notion of the catholicity of 
 his taste, as well as the variety of his 
 reading : 
 
 The amount of reading I am doing appals me. I 
 fear its variety demoralizes me. With biographies 
 of Landor, Peter Parley, Coleridge, Wordsworth, 
 
 68 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Leslie (the painter), Burns, Congreve, and Lamb, 
 I am mixing up Baker's "Wild Beasts and their 
 Ways," divers works on dyspepsia and nervous 
 diseases, Miller's " Songs of the Sierras," Jeaffre- 
 son's " Doctors," and a multitude of other books 
 treating of all subjects from fairy mythology down 
 to scatologic rites. I am wondering whether from 
 this curious mass I shall expiscate anything of use 
 to me in my work. My Muse has had a month's 
 rest. I am beginning to think of giving the old girl 
 another whirl. I am inclined to try my hand at a 
 series of Russian lyrics, having become much in- 
 terested in Ralston's " Folk-Songs. " 
 
 But it must not be forgotten that be- 
 sides being an author, Field was a news- 
 paper man, a very alert one, and that 
 the daily demand upon him for copy 
 was onerous and important. He had 
 therefore to be constantly on the watch 
 for subjects, — " on the prowl for plun- 
 der," as he expressed it, — and this ac- 
 counts for the eccentric character of the 
 books which formed his library. De- 
 69 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 spite declarations to the contrary by 
 those who should have known better, 
 his " fool books " had great bearing 
 upon his work ; and while many of 
 these volumes have little or no intrinsic 
 value to others, they furnished many 
 a sapient and humorous suggestion to 
 Eugene Field. 
 
 It is true that in the housing and ar- 
 rangement of his books he would place 
 some poor production in comic juxta- 
 position with a writer of great renown, 
 as, for instance, " The Philosophy of 
 Drunkenness " shoulder to shoulder 
 with " Paradise Lost " ; but such an ar- 
 rangement was unusual, and intended 
 only to catch the eye and provoke the 
 laughter of friend or acquaintance. The 
 intimation, therefore, that his library 
 contained few, if any, worthy volumes 
 is a libel. 
 
 70 
 
Field Writing 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Field was a conscientious artist. He 
 selected his material with great care 
 and gave unusual thought to its ex- 
 pression. The mere physical labor of 
 writing out his matter, as he did, in a 
 minute and beautiful hand consumed 
 much time. 
 
 The fact, as he once told his guardian, 
 from whom he was beguiling a loan, 
 that he had spent the seventy-five dol- 
 lars, given him the day before, for post- 
 age-stamps, and the fact that at another 
 time he had exchanged rent money for 
 an ill-used dog or for a box of mounted 
 butterflies, might give the impression 
 that he was without a sense of the 
 proper value of money. Indeed, many 
 of his actions would seem to justify this 
 view. But Field was too strong men- 
 tally not to know his limitations and 
 not to be warned by them. With a 
 71 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 commendable knowledge of his weak- 
 ness he refused to become interested in 
 painting and sculpture and again and 
 again did he refrain even from looking 
 at certain coveted books, the price of 
 which was beyond him, lest he be 
 tempted to his undoing. 
 
 Here, written in the early part of an 
 acquaintance with him, is an extract 
 from a letter of advice on book-collect- 
 ing, in which Field also gives an in- 
 geniously humorous summing up of his 
 characteristics in this direction : 
 
 I hope that you will keep right along collecting, 
 but do not buy too many French, German, Latin, 
 and Italian books ; that is not particularly profit- 
 able. You ought to be able to get together a splendid 
 lot of American first editions, and if I were you I 
 would certainly do that. In time Americana will 
 be immensely valuable. Keep on piling up auto- 
 graph letters, and don't forget to keep the letters 
 you get from contemporaneous people ; these may 
 in time become of great interest and value. The 
 
 72 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 fad of extra-illustrating has never possessed me, 
 and I am hoping that it will not, for the reason 
 that I could never make it profitable, since I never 
 dispose of what I secure. I have absolutely no 
 sense of barter — no, I am simply a royal and un- 
 mitigated sucker. 
 
 You know that when Diogenes returned from his 
 cruise about Athens, under the auspices of a lan- 
 tern, his friend Socrates asked him what his racket 
 had been. " I have been hunting for an honest 
 man," replied he of the tub. " Indeed ! " queried 
 Soc. ; " and did you find any ? " " No, that I did 
 
 not," quoth Diog. ; " but I ran across a heap of 
 
 fools." " So?" saith Soc, " and now, by Pallas ! 
 tell me the names of them." " That were a tedious 
 job," answered Diogenes ; " but I don't mind tell- 
 ing you that the chiefest and veriest fool of 
 
 'em all was a gangling, cadaverous, lantern-jawed, 
 lop-eared, flat-footed Missourian named Field!" 
 "By the dog, you speak truly!" cried Soc. 
 "When it comes to the quintessence of dam- 
 phoolery, Eugene does indeed take the cake ! " 
 
 Nothing seemed too insignificant, 
 certainly nothing too curious, for the 
 man to collect. If he became inter- 
 ested in a subject, physical or mental, 
 
 73 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 he wanted to know all about it, to 
 pursue it to the farthest possible extent. 
 Among the unusual things in his 
 collection of curios were bottles of all 
 sizes, and in all shapes of men and 
 beasts, unlike anything " that is in 
 heaven above, or that is in the earth 
 beneath, or that is in the water under 
 the earth " ; a few of these vials con- 
 tained colored liquids, the better to dis- 
 play their grotesque outlines. He had 
 a collection of envelopes such as were 
 used during the War of the Rebellion, 
 all handsomely mounted and bound in 
 book form ; copies, in sheets, of music 
 which once stirred the popular heart, 
 as : " Away Down South in Dixie," 
 "Annie Laurie," "When Johnnie 
 Comes Marching Home Again," " Bat- 
 tle Cry of Freedom," " Maid of Athens," 
 " Rally Round the Flag, Boys," " Rock 
 
 74 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Me to Sleep, Mother," "Sweet Ellen 
 Bain," " Marching Through Georgia " ; 
 other ditties, procured because of the 
 affectedly sentimental character of their 
 titles, such as : " Be Good to your Mo- 
 ther, John," " Father 's a Drunkard and 
 Mother is Dead"; still others, which 
 he sought because their titles were ex- 
 traordinary, were : " Never Kick your 
 Mother When She's Down," "Papa's 
 Teeth are Plugged with Zinc," "Baby's 
 Food is Filled with Tacks," and " Kiss 
 the Hand that Raised the Lump." 
 Especially were these songs attractive 
 to him if the title-pages contained 
 crude designs weirdly illustrative of 
 the text, and he thought the uncon- 
 scious humor of these clap-trap bits 
 of sentiment much finer than any pre- 
 meditated effort at fun. 
 
 He had a collection of bells, the ring- 
 
 75 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 ing of which caused their handles, made 
 in the shape of old men and women, 
 sprites and freaks, to perform all sorts 
 of laughable tricks, such as sticking out 
 the tongue, shaking the head, and what 
 not. He was very fond of mechanical 
 toys. They were a great attraction to 
 children, whom he took especial pains 
 to entertain, and though he revelled in 
 the delight of the children, their enjoy- 
 ment of these toys never exceeded his. 
 An extract from a letter written at 
 Hanover in 1889 well illustrates his 
 interest in oddities, and the hold which 
 the love of collecting, particularly things 
 of an unusual kind, had upon him: 
 
 Though I have been about but little, I have made 
 several purchases. In Amsterdam I picked up an 
 old English bull's-eye watch of the date of 1617. 
 This pleases me immensely. I have a rosary and 
 crucifix specially blessed by the Pope, several 
 quaint bits of china, a small assortment of walking- 
 
 76 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 sticks, several autograph letters, and a few books. 
 Among the last-named are : Two novels bearing 
 the book-plates of Rev. Sydney Smith ; a curious 
 little work on duelling (1823, Dublin) ; Binns on 
 Sleep ; "The Hair and Beard " (curious !) ; " Final 
 Reliques of Father Prout" ; one of Froude's early 
 pamphlets, "The Rose," etc., etc. I am buying 
 mostly of the curious in literature. I have letters 
 to Charles Dickens, Jr., and through him I hope to 
 pick up some mementos of his father. My chef 
 d'ceuvre, however, will be to secure one of the fa- 
 mous axes with which Mr. Gladstone hews down 
 trees in the Forest of Hawarden. 
 
 Field got his axe, and with it a postal 
 card in attestation of its genuineness 
 from Gladstone. This axe, and the 
 editorial scissors presented to him by 
 Charles A. Dana, were the most valued 
 articles in his collection. 
 
 It was because of his enjoyment of 
 
 the odd and unusual, and because of 
 
 the fact that they could be of service 
 
 in furnishing material for his daily 
 
 77 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 work, that he could write thus appre- 
 ciatively of them : 
 
 Of antique swords and spears I saw a vast and daz- 
 zling heap, 
 
 That Curio Fenton offered me at prices passing 
 cheap ; 
 
 And, oh, the quaint old bureaus, and the warming- 
 pans of brass, 
 
 And the lovely hideous freaks I found in pewter and 
 in glass ! 
 
 And, oh, the sideboards, candlesticks, the cracked 
 old china plates, 
 
 The clocks and spoons from Amsterdam that ante- 
 date all dates ! 
 
 Of such superb monstrosities I found an endless 
 mine 
 
 When I was broke in London in the fall of '89. 
 
 For a number of years the craze for 
 books and relics relating to Napoleon 
 did not interest him, and he gave away 
 such as came to him; but he underwent 
 a change in this matter, and his library 
 possessed a goodly number of standard 
 books on the subject. 
 78 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 He was a liberal man in all respects, 
 but a very prodigal in the presentation 
 of his own delicately illuminated manu- 
 scripts to his friends and acquaintances, 
 even to strangers ; and it has happened, 
 much to his disgust, that one of these 
 gifts, daintily wrought and generously 
 bestowed, turned up " for sale " in some 
 bookshop. 
 
 It fretted him somewhat, but it fur- 
 nished him with the subject of a little 
 poem wherein the transaction is hu- 
 morously set forth: 
 
 One day I got a missive, 
 
 Writ in a dainty hand, 
 Which made my manly bosom 
 
 With vanity expand. 
 'T was from a " young admirer," 
 
 Who asked would I mind 
 Sending her " favorite poem " 
 
 In autograph and signed. 
 
 79 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 But a catalogue from Benjamin's 
 
 Disproves what things meseemed- 
 Dispels with savage certainty 
 
 The flattering dreams I dreamed. 
 For this poor " favorite poem," 
 
 Done and signed in autograph, 
 Is listed in " cheap items 
 
 At a dollar and a half." 
 
 There was nothing especially pre- 
 cocious about Field's genius. True, he 
 versified rather early as a boy, but it is 
 somewhat remarkable that he was nearly 
 forty years of age before he wrote verse 
 steadily. At all events, he could con- 
 sole himself with the pleasing reflection 
 that some of the greater writers, notably 
 Scott and George Eliot, had reached 
 the same age before they produced the 
 works which gave them fame. 
 
 Field wrote and published his first 
 bit of verse in 1879. It was called 
 "Christmas Treasures." 
 80 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 I count my treasures o'er with care^ 
 The little toy my darling knew ; 
 A little sock of faded hue, 
 
 A little lock of golden hair. 
 
 It reminds one of " Little Boy Blue," 
 which is popularly thought to have 
 been suggested by the loss of one of 
 Field's children. 
 
 About ten years later, 1889, Field 
 began to write verse very frequently. 
 In 1880 he wrote and published in 
 the "Kansas City Times," "A Little 
 Peach," which, "warmed by the sun 
 and wet by the dew," grew so fatally 
 for " Johnny Jones and his sister Sue." 
 The poem travelled all over the world, 
 and was found anonymously printed in 
 the corner of an obscure country paper, 
 by Hubbard T. Smith of Washington. 
 It was set by him to an ear-tickling 
 81 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 melody. Because of the exigency of 
 the music Mr. Smith added the re- 
 frain : 
 
 Hard trials for them two — 
 Johnny Jones and his sister Sue. 
 
 Boo, hoo ! Boo, hoo ! 
 Listen to my tale of woe. 
 
 In 1888 I was in London, and visit- 
 ing an old book-store in High Hol- 
 born, I chanced upon a copy of the 
 song, brought it back to America, and 
 had Mr. John Braham of Boston com- 
 pose a dance for it. The words were 
 credited to an English versifier; neither 
 Mr. Smith nor I knew at the time that 
 Field was the author of them. It was 
 sung first, publicly, as a duet in the 
 opera of " Nadjy," at Boston, and in- 
 stantly became popular. The song was 
 afterward introduced into the opera 
 "The Oolah." For years the poem 
 82 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 went the rounds of the papers in their 
 humorous departments. Field himself 
 thought very little of it, and only to 
 set at rest its disputed authorship, pub- 
 lished it in his book, " Culture's Gar- 
 land." A small fortune was netted from 
 the sale of the music — thousands upon 
 thousands of copies being sold. The 
 poem had never been copyrighted by 
 Mr. Field, and years before its success 
 as a song, Mr. Smith had sold his rights 
 to a music-dealer in Washington for 
 ten dollars. 
 
 Many of Field's poems were credited 
 frequently to others, and in one instance, 
 at least, he jocularly so arranged it. 
 " The Wanderer " appeared in the Chi- 
 cago " Morning News " as a poem writ- 
 ten by Madame Modjeska. Madame, 
 it is said, did not rise to a full appre- 
 ciation of the subtleties of this species 
 
 83 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 of American humor, and was very an- 
 gry; but she was speedily reconciled, 
 and until Field's death remained his 
 steadfast friend and admirer. 
 
 " Our Two Opinions " travelled and 
 travels all over the country credited to 
 James Whitcomb Riley, whose style it 
 closely resembles. 
 
 Roswell M. Field is authority for 
 the interesting statement that "Mr. 
 Dana of the New York Sun " was 
 founded upon fact. " Cantell Whop- 
 pers," the hero of the story, he who 
 "worked with Dana," afterward took 
 the Keeley cure, and is to-day one of 
 the great temperance leaders in the 
 West. 
 
 Field was very fond of the writings 
 of Dr. Conan Doyle, and there were 
 interchanges of bookish courtesies be- 
 tween the two authors. In a copy of 
 8 4 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 "A Second Book of Verse," Field 
 wrote : 
 
 Accept, dear Conan Doyle, this " Second Book of 
 Verse"; 
 
 And, though it is but paltry stuff, thank God it is no 
 worse ! 
 
 It comes from one who in seclusion at Buena Park, 
 
 Has read your "Sherlock Holmes," "The Refu- 
 gees," and " Micah Clarke " ; 
 
 Your "Captain of the Polar Star," and— but why 
 enumerate ? 
 
 In all your genius has produced I 'm fully up to date! 
 
 I wish to God I knew you — could press you by the 
 hand; 
 
 I wish I could have met you in your own dear na- 
 tive land ! 
 
 Ah, had we met on t'other side, what happiness 
 were mine — 
 
 For I was broke in London in the fall of '89 ! 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 Buena Park, Oct. 12, 1894. 
 
 Later Dr. Doyle and Field met, and 
 an ardent friendship sprang up between 
 them. 
 
 85 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The " Tribune Primer," Denver, 
 1882, the first of Field's publications 
 in book form, is an i8mo of forty-eight 
 pages, with pink paper covers. 
 
 It appears that a series, to be called 
 " The Tribune Series," was projected. 
 An unfavorable estimate of Colonel 
 R. G. Ingersoll by O. H. Rothacker, 
 the editor-in-chief of the Denver " Trib- 
 une," was issue No. 1 ; Field's con- 
 tribution was issue No. 2 ; and with 
 this covering of the field of tragedy 
 and comedy the series ended. 
 
 In the same year much of the con- 
 tents of the " Tribune Primer " was 
 reprinted by a Brooklyn publisher, who 
 added pictures by " Hop " and auda- 
 ciously copyrighted the whole thing. 
 This publication was called " The 
 Model Primer." It is a small square 
 i6mo, with light salmon-colored paper 
 86 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 covers. It is without pagination, and 
 the front cover bears an illustration of 
 a dunce laughing over an A-B-C book. 
 Field is credited on the same page with 
 the authorship. It is composed of 
 twenty-five leaves, including both cov- 
 ers. The illustrations are capital. In 
 a copy of the book owned by one of his 
 friends, Field wrote : 
 
 The " Model Primer " is composed of about half 
 the little paragraphs to be found in the "Tribune 
 Primer." Tredwell, the publisher, pirated the 
 matter and produced it without consulting me, 
 though subsequently he wrote me saying that he 
 meant to share the profits with me. I suppose 
 there were no profits, for I have not heard from 
 Tredwell again. A copy of this edition of the 
 "Primer" sold at the Libbie sale in Boston, in 
 1893, for $7. The bidders must have been under 
 the erroneous impression that it was one of the 
 original "Tribune Primers." The little sketches 
 appeared originally in the Denver " Tribune " in 
 the fall of 1881 and winter of 1882. The whole 
 number printed did not exceed fifty. I quit writing 
 
 87 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 them because all the other newspapers in the 
 country began imitating the project. 
 Very cordially yours, 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 Buena Park, 111., Aug. 7, 1894. 
 
 Nineteen dollars was recently paid 
 for a copy of " The Model Primer," 
 while the Denver "Tribune Primer" is 
 so infrequently offered for sale as to 
 command almost any price asked for it. 
 
 Confident of the ascendancy of Field's 
 star, and believing that sooner or later his 
 publications, especially those privately 
 printed and those of which only a few 
 copies had been or might be issued, 
 would be very scarce and difficult to ob- 
 tain, I set off on a long, and what proved 
 to be a fruitless, search for a copy of the 
 Denver "Tribune Primer." I was ham- 
 pered by no less a person than Field 
 himself, who, from love of mischief, 
 threw every possible obstacle in the 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 way. This state of affairs continued for 
 ten years. Field would send seductive 
 advertisements of dealers from whom 
 the book might be procured, having 
 carefully scissored away the name of 
 the city and street. He ostentatiously, 
 provokingly, and continuously flaunted 
 his own copy, and otherwise behaved so 
 exasperatingly that at length it became 
 necessary to threaten him with condign 
 punishment unless he surrendered the 
 particular information which he was at 
 the moment withholding. Field re- 
 plied as follows : 
 
 Your note of warning came too late. Miller is 
 already on the trail of the possessor of the 
 " Primer." Way did n't know I meant to keep the 
 thing secret in order to have fun with you, and he 
 bla-a-ted the whole business to Miller, who intends 
 to hunt up the " Primer" owner the next time he 
 goes West. E. F. 
 
 Jan'y 11, 1895. 
 
 89 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The joy of receiving from a very dear 
 friend at Christmas, 1895, a copy of this 
 rare little book was tempered by the 
 thought that Field could not know of 
 the acquisition. He had been dead 
 but a few weeks. 
 
 Field's next publication was " Cul- 
 ture's Garland." It is a 12 mo, paper 
 covers, 325 pages. 
 
 The publishers were Ticknor & Co., 
 Boston, 1889. In addition to the ordi- 
 nary publication, there was an issue of 
 six uncut copies. The book was made 
 up of extracts from the author's news- 
 paper work. The poem "A Little 
 Peach " appears here for the first time 
 in any book. 
 
 Field seemed to have been in almost 
 constant doubt as to the merit of this 
 book. More than once he said he re- 
 90 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 gretted having permitted it to be made. 
 One day he expressed the wish that he 
 had all the copies that had been pub- 
 lished, so that he might destroy them. 
 Shortly after this, my belief in his sin- 
 cerity as to this wish was shaken by his 
 sending to me a copy of the book con- 
 taining the following inscription : 
 
 There were only six uncut copies of "Culture's 
 
 Garland" issued. This is one of them. It may 
 
 be worth keeping. 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 Chicago, Feb. 24th, 1891. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 The fact is, he blew hot and cold on 
 the subject. The critics had not re- 
 ceived the book kindly, and in a letter 
 from London, in 1889, ^ e humorously 
 observed that the Chicago champions 
 of international copyright, before look- 
 ing out for his interests abroad, should 
 foster his local interests by buying up 
 
 9 1 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 the copies of "Culture's Garland" which 
 lumbered the shelves at McClurg's. 
 
 In his own copy of the book is the 
 following : 
 
 1891. 
 
 You read the book and call it stuff— 
 Yes, I am free to say 't is tough. 
 " A sorry failure," critics vote it, 
 So I am sorry that I wrote it. 
 It never yet has paid expenses, 
 Therefore my sorrow more intense is. 
 
 E. F. 
 
 With the growth of his fame began 
 a search by collectors for his earlier 
 books, a fact which greatly elated Field. 
 It also served to raise his estimate of 
 this, his second book. Two communi- 
 cations to a friend in Boston concerning 
 it are worth recording : 
 
 I '11 be glad to do anything for you that you may 
 ask. I start for California about a week from now; 
 so if you are going to send your copy of " Culture's 
 
 92 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Garland," you must hurry it along, or it will not 
 get to me in time. How happened you to be 
 prowling around for that work? It was the error of 
 my youth. You may be interested to know that the 
 book was edited by Tom Ticknor. I simply sent on 
 a lot of my stuff, and the folks at the other end 
 picked out what he wanted, and ran it as he pleased. 
 The alleged advertisements at the end of the vol- 
 ume are its best feature, I think. I have not yet 
 ventured out of doors. I went down-stairs to din- 
 ner yesterday for the first time in six weeks. 
 Cordially yours, 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 Buena Park, 111., Dec. 3d, 1893. 
 
 No time was lost in forwarding the 
 volume, in which Field wrote as follows : 
 
 I am not ashamed of this little book, but, like the 
 boy with the measles, I am sorry for it in spots. 
 You are welcome to what is good in it, and I sub- 
 scribe myself, Dear Sir, with every high regard. 
 Your reformed, 
 Obedient, 
 Willing 
 
 and abject servitor, 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 Chicago, Dec. 8, 1893. 
 
 93 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The " alleged advertisements " spoken 
 of by Field are overlooked generally by 
 the readers of " Culture's Garland." A 
 reproduction of them is given herewith. 
 
 Thomas Bailey Aldrich was not 
 pleased at being called " Colonel " Al- 
 drich throughout an article which Field 
 had written for " The News," and which 
 he afterward incorporated in " Culture's 
 Garland." Field seemed hurt, and 
 could scarcely believe that " a man of 
 Mr. Aldrich's intelligence and humor 
 should take exception to so patent a bit 
 of ' damphoolery.' " 
 
 Field's next publication, and, for the 
 vastly increased reputation it brought 
 him, the most important in his life, 
 was: 1. " A Little Book of Western 
 Verse." 2. " A Little Book of Profit- 
 able Tales." 
 
 94 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Published together, privately, for 
 subscribers. Chicago, 1889. 8vo, half 
 white linen covers. 
 
 The first book has 196 pages, and 
 contains a list of subscribers. The sec- 
 ond book has 286 pages. Both vol- 
 umes are on hand-made paper, and 
 have rubricated titles. Two hundred 
 and fifty numbered copies of each were 
 made and signed "T." (Slason Thomp- 
 son, a Chicago publisher). Field was 
 in Europe when these two volumes 
 came from the press. 
 
 " A Little Book of Western Verse " 
 has attained a greater popularity than 
 any other of Field's works. 
 
 " A Little Book of Profitable Tales " 
 probably does not appeal so much to 
 children as to those who love children, 
 and something of a mistake is made in 
 supposing it to be a child's book. Chil- 
 
 95 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 dren, as a rule, become discouraged 
 when in the course of a single volume 
 of tales, however beautifully written, so 
 many of their little heroes and heroines 
 die. The skill of construction, the 
 delicacy of expression, which appeal 
 to the maturer mind, are lost upon 
 the average boy or girl, who grasps 
 only the broader features of the story. 
 In 1890 Charles Scribner's Sons, New 
 York, issued a popular edition (i6mo, 
 blue cloth, gilt tops) of the foregoing 
 two volumes, and Eugene Field's repu- 
 tation became national. The Scribner 
 issue of "A Little Book of Western 
 Verse " has gone through twenty edi- 
 tions (1898), making a total sale of 
 nearly 40,000 copies. The same issue 
 of " A Little Book of Profitable Tales " 
 has reached, up to date, a total sale 
 of 25,000 copies. 
 
 96 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 This publication was followed by : 
 
 " Echoes from the Sabine Farm, 
 Being certain Horatian 
 Lyrics now for the first 
 Time Discreetly and 
 Delectably Done Into 
 English by 
 Eugene and 
 Roswell M. 
 Field. 
 With sundry little picturings 
 by Edmund H. Garrett, and 
 published in this pleasant wise 
 by Francis Wilson, The Or- 
 chard, New Rochelle, 1891." 
 
 One hundred copies were made, thirty 
 on Japan, seventy on hand-made paper. 
 The title-page was etched, the initials 
 were rubricated throughout, and there 
 was a vignette head-piece over each 
 
 97 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 poem. For each of the copies on 
 Japan paper, Eugene and Roswell Field 
 wrote autograph poems. The copies 
 were numbered and signed. None was 
 for sale. 
 
 This is the inscription Field wrote 
 in copy No. 1 of the Japan-paper issue : 
 
 You should not have sent me this No. 1. I 
 enclose it to you because you alone are entitled to 
 it. You have been collecting first copies of my 
 books, and why should you deprive yourself of this 
 first copy of the little poems you have clothed so 
 very beautifully? We are so very grateful to you— 
 my brother and I are — for this superb recognition 
 of our work ; you have done what you have done so 
 gracefully that our sense of obligation is all the 
 keener. I hope you will live forever, and I should 
 like to live one day longer to write your epitaph. 
 It is so hard to tell one to his face how much we 
 love him, but as words are the only things that live 
 forever, perhaps these lines which I now utter from 
 a full heart will testify, long after old edax rerum 
 has made dust of me, to my gratitude and affection 
 
 for y° u ' Eugene Field. 
 
 Chicago, January 23d, 1893. 
 
 9 8 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 As a gift to his friends Field printed : 
 "The Symbol and the Saint." A 
 Christmas Tale by Eugene Field, Il- 
 lustrated by J. L. Sclauders, 1886. First 
 appeared (in Chicago "Daily News"), 
 1886. Printed as a brochure, 1892. 
 
 Square i8mo, unstitched paper cov- 
 ers (held together with pink ribbons in 
 the perforations). This book is a fac- 
 simile reproduction of the original 
 manuscript with illustrations breaking 
 through the text. Only a few copies 
 were made. 
 
 " With Trumpet and Drum " was 
 published in 1892, by Charles Scribner's 
 Sons, New York. 
 
 There were three issues : 
 
 1. Twelve presentation copies printed 
 for the author upon Imperial Japanese 
 paper. 
 
 99 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 2. Two hundred and fifty copies on 
 hand-made paper. For these Mr. E. H. 
 Garrett drew, and Mr. W. H. W. 
 Bicknell etched, the title-page. 
 
 3. A smaller unnumbered edition, 
 i2mo, blue cloth, gilt top. The copy- 
 right is in the name of Field's daughter, 
 Mary French Field. 
 
 In the No. 1 (of the issues on hand- 
 made paper) after copying a verse with 
 evident difficulty, from the initial poem, 
 he appended the following character- 
 istic rhymes : 
 
 Dear Wilson, I write to inquire if you think 
 I 'm going to put up with this damnable ink, 
 And these horrid pens which these landlords 
 
 provide ? 
 To Tophet with them and their torments, I say ! 
 The fellows are chattering around me — beside 
 I 'm trembly and shaky from Camden, N. J. 
 I '11 finish the task you require of me when 
 I come to eat turkey with you once again ! 
 
 100 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 " The Second Book of Verse " was 
 published privately by Melville E. 
 Stone, Chicago, 1892. 
 
 1. Twelve copies on Japan paper for 
 the author. 
 
 2. Three hundred copies, small 8vo, 
 on hand-made paper. 
 
 The book is copyrighted in the name 
 of Field's wife, Julia Sutherland Field, 
 and the prefatory poem to her is one of 
 the daintiest of Field's efforts : 
 
 A little bit of a woman came 
 
 Athwart my path one day ; 
 So tiny was she that she seemed to be 
 A pixy strayed from the misty sea, 
 
 Or a wandering greenwood fay. 
 
 " Oho, you little elf! " I cried, 
 
 "And what are you doing here? 
 So tiny as you will never do 
 For the brutal rush and hullaballoo 
 Of this practical world, I fear." 
 
 101 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 "Voice have I, good sir," said she,— 
 
 " 'T is soft as an angel's sigh, 
 But to fancy a word of yours were heard 
 In all the din of this world 's absurd," 
 
 Smiling, I made reply. 
 
 " Hands have I, good sir," she quoth,— 
 
 " Marry, and that have you? 
 But amid the strife and tumult rife, 
 In all the struggle and battle for life, 
 
 What can those wee hands do?" 
 
 " Eyes have I, good sir," she said,— 
 
 " Sooth, you have," quoth I ; 
 "And tears shall flow therefrom, I trow, 
 And they, betimes, shall dim with woe 
 
 As the hard, hard years go by! " 
 
 That little bit of a woman cast 
 
 Her two eyes full on me, 
 And they smote me sore to my inmost core, 
 And they held me slaved forevermore 
 
 Yet would I not be free. 
 
 That little bit of a woman's hands 
 
 Reached up into my breast, 
 And rent apart my scoffing heart 
 And they buffet it still with such sweet art 
 
 As cannot be expressed. 
 102 
 
/^l^CiS- . ^^c^^— 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 That little bit of a woman's voice 
 
 Hath grown most wondrous dear; 
 Above the blare of all elsewhere 
 (An inspiration that mocks at care) 
 It riseth full and clear. 
 
 Dear one, I bless the subtle power 
 
 That makes me wholly thine ; 
 And I 'm proud to say that I bless the day 
 When a little woman wrought her way 
 
 Into this life of mine ! 
 
 An ordinary edition of the " Second 
 Book of Verse " was published by 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 
 1893. 
 
 Next followed "Echoes from the 
 Sabine Farm," 500 numbered copies, 
 post 8vo, 149 pages, gilt top, cloth, 
 McClurg, Chicago, 1893. 
 
 The publisher having objected to the 
 personal character of " Maecenas in Chi- 
 cago," as printed in " The Orchard " 
 103 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 (1891) edition (page 50 et seq.), two 
 new paraphrases were substituted — 
 "To His Book" and "Fame vs. Riches," 
 the former by Roswell M. Field, and 
 the latter by Eugene Field. 
 
 For this edition Field wrote "Ad 
 Lectorem," a five-page explanation of 
 how these Horatian paraphrases and 
 adaptations — "more in a spirit of play- 
 fulness than otherwise " — came to be 
 written. 
 
 The next publication was " The Holy 
 Cross and Other Tales," Stone and Kim- 
 ball, i6mo, Cambridge, 1893. There 
 were issued of this — 
 
 1. Twenty copies on Japan paper, 
 five of which were for sale. Signed, 
 " Stone & Kimball." 
 
 2. Large white paper edition of one 
 hundred and ten copies, one hundred 
 
 104 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 of which were for sale. Numbered, 
 and signed, " Stone & Kimball." The 
 title-page and the page bearing the 
 printer's imprint are upon Japan paper. 
 
 3. Ordinary edition, i6mo, cloth, 
 gilt top. The book is copyrighted in 
 Field's name. 
 
 The dedicatory poem is to his bro- 
 ther Roswell: 
 
 The homestead and the pickerel pond, 
 The maple-trees and the pasture lot, 
 
 The Pelham hills away beyond, 
 Brother of mine, have you forgot? 
 
 "Dibdin's Ghost" first appeared in 
 the " Book-Lover's Almanac," Duprat 
 & Co, New York, 1893. Twenty-five 
 separate and special copies of the poem 
 were struck off for the author, and num- 
 bered and signed by him ; it was printed 
 by De Vinne & Co.; i6mo, paper. 
 105 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The next publication with which 
 Field was identified was " First Editions 
 of American Authors, A Manual for 
 Book-Lovers; Compiled by Herbert 
 Stuart Stone, with an Introduction by 
 Eugene Field." 
 
 1. Fifty copies on large paper. 
 
 2. Ordinary edition, i6mo, cloth ; 
 500 copies made. Cambridge, 1893. 
 
 After the year 1893 Charles Scrib- 
 ner's Sons became Mr. Field's publishers. 
 
 Two leaves or four unnumbered pages 
 of "Facts, Confessions, and Observa- 
 tions" were privately printed by Field 
 in 1894. The same was published, with 
 an introduction by Francis Wilson, un- 
 der the title of "Eugene Field, — An 
 Auto-Analysis," 8vo, Chicago, 1896. 
 
 Of this item, as printed by Field, 
 there were two issues : 
 106 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 1. Eight copies on Japan paper, num- 
 bered and signed by the author. 
 
 2. Ordinary issue on white paper. 
 The No. l, in possession of the wri- 
 ter, is dated April 5, 1894. 
 
 There followed " Love Songs of 
 Childhood," Charles Scribner's Sons, 
 New York, 1894. Of this were is- 
 sued : 
 
 1. Fifteen copies on Japan, printed 
 for the author, numbered i-xv. Print- 
 ed on one side of the page, 8vo, loose 
 boards. 
 
 2. One hundred and six copies on 
 Whatman paper, numbered 1-106. 
 Printed on one side of the page, 8vo, 
 vellum. 
 
 3. Ordinary edition, the type for 
 which was completely reset, i6mo, blue 
 cloth, gilt top. 
 
 107 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The next was " Tribute to the Mem- 
 ory of Ruth C. Gray," privately printed, 
 St. Louis, 1894. Square 8vo. It is 
 gilt top, cloth, and has a portrait of Mrs. 
 Gray. The first tribute is by Field, 
 and covers thirty-one pages. The other 
 nine pages are devoted to an "Extract 
 from the Paper of Miss Martha N. 
 Mathews," and a "Tribute by Mrs. 
 Diana Pike." 
 
 The concluding lines of Field's trib- 
 ute are: 
 
 ... As the last night wore away, . . . they saw 
 upon her glorified face no shadow of the Valley, but 
 the shining light of the Eternal City. And through 
 the windows streamed the summer sunshine; and 
 it was morning. 
 
 Mrs. Gray was the wife of Melvin 
 L. Gray, who on the death of Field's 
 father became executor of the Field es- 
 tate, and the Field boys, just coming 
 of age, found Mrs. Gray's "prudent 
 108 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 counsel and disinterested friendship" 
 of great value. 
 
 This publication is not well known 
 to collectors. 
 
 On one of the "end papers" of a 
 copy of the book Field has written : 
 
 Here 's a bit of Fieldana that will sometime be 
 
 rare. At any rate, you will value it, because it tells 
 
 of a lady who was dear to me. 
 
 Eugene Field. 
 Chicago, July 20, 1894. 
 
 It was Mr. Gray to whom Field 
 dedicated "Echoes from the Sabine 
 Farm": 
 
 Come, dear old friend, and with us twain 
 To calm Digentian groves repair. 
 
 Next in order was "Echoes from 
 the Sabine Farm," Charles Scribner's 
 Sons, 1895, New York, of which 1500 
 copies were made. 
 
 This edition has the two odes : " To 
 109 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 His Book," and "Fame vs. Riches," 
 as in the McClurg issue of 1893, an< ^ 
 also the ode "To Maecenas in Chi- 
 cago," which appeared in " The Or- 
 chard " edition. 
 
 The "Echoes" was followed by "The 
 Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac," Charles 
 Scribner's Sons, New York. 
 
 1. One hundred and fifty numbered 
 copies on large paper. 8vo, half white 
 vellum. 
 
 2. Ordinary edition. i2mo, blue 
 cloth, gilt top. 1896. This was suc- 
 ceeded by " The House," an episode 
 in the lives of Reuben Baker and of 
 his wife Alice. Charles Scribner's 
 Sons, New York. 
 
 1. One hundred and fifty numbered 
 copies on large paper, 8vo, half white 
 vellum. 
 
 no 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 2. Ordinary edition, 12 mo, blue cloth, 
 gilt top, 1896. 
 
 Then came " Songs and Other Verse," 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 
 1896. 8vo, half white vellum. 
 
 1. One hundred and fifty copies on 
 large paper. 
 
 2. Ordinary edition, i2mo, blue cloth, 
 gilt top. 
 
 Then followed in the order named: 
 "Second Book of Tales," Charles 
 Scribner's Sons, New York, 1896. 
 
 1. One hundred and fifty copies on 
 large paper, 8vo, half white vellum. 
 
 2. Ordinary edition, i2mo, blue cloth, 
 gilt top. 
 
 44 The Holy Cross, and Other Tales," 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1896, 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 containing five new tales ; twenty large- 
 paper copies issued; i2mo, blue cloth, 
 gilt top. 
 
 "Eugene Field, An Auto- Analysis." 
 Introduction by Francis Wilson; Chi- 
 cago, Frank M. Morris, 1896. 
 
 1. One hundred and fifty copies on 
 Japanese paper. 
 
 2. Three hundred and fifty on deckle- 
 edge paper; square i8mo, boards. 
 
 Eugene Field to Francis Wilson. 
 " Some Attentions." Privately printed 
 by Francis Wilson, " The Orchard," 
 New Rochelle, N. Y., 1896. 
 
 One hundred copies were made, none 
 of which was for sale; illustrated, i6mo, 
 boards, gilt border. 
 
 " The Writings in Prose and Verse 
 of Eugene Field." Charles Scribner's 
 112 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Sons, New York, 1896. Sabine Edi- 
 tion, 10 volumes. 
 
 Of this publication of the complete 
 works there were two issues : 
 
 1. One hundred numbered copies on 
 Japan paper. Duodecimo. Bound in 
 quarter white vellum. The individual 
 or distinctive title to each volume and 
 the initial letter to the text of each vol- 
 ume are rubricated. 
 
 2. The ordinary unnumbered issue, 
 of which the first edition, printed from 
 the same types as the limited edition, 
 consisted of 5000 copies, on white pa- 
 per. Duodecimo. Bound in green cloth 
 with gold lettering on back and gold 
 fillet on side, enclosing a design from 
 Field's bookplate — a sheaf of wheat 
 above a bar, in gold. The Japan- 
 paper copies, $40; .Green cloth edi- 
 tion, $15. 
 
 113 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 " Field Flowers," Chicago, 1896. 8vo, 
 green cloth covers. 
 
 This volume is composed of a fac- 
 simile reproduction of the original 
 manuscript of " Little Boy Blue " and 
 of sixteen of Field's poems, to each of 
 which artist friends — A. B. Frost, 
 George Wharton Edwards, Frederic 
 Remington, F. Hopkinson Smith, A. 
 B. Wenzell, Eric Pape, E. W. Kern- 
 ble, and others — have contributed one, 
 and sometimes two, illustrations. 
 
 Stanford White drew the design for 
 the cover and title-page. The book 
 was issued under the auspices of the 
 Field Monument Fund Committee. 
 The volume is not as satisfactory a 
 specimen of book-making as it should 
 have been, considering the artistic ma- 
 terial so generously and gratuitously 
 contributed. 
 
 114 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 "Songs of Childhood." Verses by- 
 Eugene Field. Music by Reginald de 
 Koven and others. Charles Scribner's 
 Sons, New York, 1897, small 4to, 
 boards. The introduction, or "pre- 
 lude," is by Mr. De Koven. 
 
 "Florence Bardsley's Story: The Life 
 and Death of a Remarkable Woman," 
 by Eugene Field. Chicago, W. Irving 
 Way, 1897. 
 
 Twenty-five copies on Japan paper 
 and one hundred and fifty copies on 
 Dutch hand-made paper were printed. 
 This is the only publication in book 
 form of another of Field's literary jokes. 
 It is Eugene Field's delightful review 
 of an alleged essay by Whitelaw Reid 
 on a mythical book entitled " Un 
 Apercu de la Vie de Mme. la Comtesse 
 de la Tour." The review appeared first 
 
 115 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 in the "Sharps and Flats" column of 
 the Chicago " Daily News." 
 
 "Some letters of Edgar Allan Poe 
 to E. H. N. Patterson of Oquawka, Illi- 
 nois, with comments by Eugene Field." 
 There were issued one hundred and 
 eighty-six copies on American hand- 
 made paper, and three copies on Jap- 
 anese vellum. This is the only pub- 
 lication in book form of Field's article, 
 " Poe, Patterson, and Oquawka," which 
 originally appeared in " America," a 
 literary journal published in Chicago 
 and edited by Slason Thompson. It 
 includes the correspondence of Poe 
 and Patterson relative to the establish- 
 ing of a literary magazine, "The Stylus," 
 in Oquawka. The six manuscripts of 
 Poe are in fac-simile. 
 
 116 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 One of the most amusing of Field's 
 conceits was the method he employed 
 to beguile Mr. Shackelford, the cashier 
 of " The News," to advance a portion 
 of his weekly salary. Field, referring 
 later to the letters to Mr. Shackelford, 1 
 said that he put upon them seventy-five 
 dollars' worth of work to get an ad- 
 vance of five dollars. 
 
 It is interesting to note the frankness 
 with which, in the " Auto- Analysis," 
 the creator of " Little Boy Blue " de- 
 fends his attitude toward children. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that 
 he loved all children. Such was not 
 the case. As he says, he tried to ana- 
 lyze his feelings with respect to them, 
 and found that he loved them in so far 
 as he could make pets of them. He 
 
 1 See end of volume. 
 
 117 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 thought this all out carefully, and wrote 
 it down with much additional and ex- 
 tremely interesting matter about him- 
 self in that curious pamphlet already 
 mentioned, which he published and sent 
 broadcast to people who were constantly 
 importuning him for personal informa- 
 tion. This is the document which 
 appeared subsequently with additional 
 matter, under the title of the " Auto- 
 Analysis." 
 
 The following will illustrate Field's 
 patience as well as his inventiveness in 
 efforts to amuse his children. His 
 youngest son, " Pody," came to him 
 every morning about eight o'clock for 
 a romp. Almost the first thing " Pody " 
 did was to seize a toy gun and " shoot 
 the cat." That he might always be 
 successful in his aim, Field had the toy 
 cat set up on a shelf in the room, and 
 118 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 tied a string to the leg of the animal, so 
 that when the baby cried "Bang!" Field 
 pulled the string, down tumbled the 
 cat, and great was the joy of "Pody." 
 This would be kept up until the child 
 craved some new diversion, which, con- 
 sidering the unerring aim of " Pody " 
 and the delighted surprise of "papa," 
 was not soon. 
 
 Field was a great lover of pets of all 
 kinds, to which, with his fertile imagina- 
 tion, he gave names of peculiar signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 His brother, Roswell Field, says that 
 the first lines of verse Eugene ever wrote 
 were inspired by one of these pets, the 
 family dog, whose conventional name 
 of " Fido " was changed by Field to 
 "Dooley," because it was thought the 
 dog's face possessed certain Hibernian 
 traits. 
 
 119 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 " Oh, had I the Wings of a Dove " 
 was the title of a then very popular 
 song, and the boy Eugene parodied it, 
 making " Dooley " the speaker : 
 
 Oh, had I the wings of a dove, I would fly, 
 
 Away from this world of fleas ; 
 I 'd fly all around Miss Emerson's yard, 
 
 And light on Miss Emerson's trees. 
 
 The Emerson trees were the elms 
 under which the college boys of Am- 
 herst were wont to meet. 
 
 Field revelled in this personification 
 of pets, and also in the application of 
 peculiar names to them. Each chicken 
 in the New England home was care- 
 fully instructed to respond to a peculiar 
 call, and "Finnikin," "Minnikin," 
 " Dump," " Poog," and " Boog " were 
 some of the names employed. Later, 
 when Field's children took the place of 
 his boyish pets, he gratified his whim 
 for strange names by ignoring those 
 1 20 
 
The Field Children — " Sister Girl" and " Pody 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 given at the baptismal font, and by sub- 
 stituting nicknames of his own riotous 
 fancy. To the writer, as to all the 
 friends of the family, the nicknames 
 Field used are the only real ones, and 
 it is difficult for them to realize that 
 the name of Field's eldest daughter, 
 "Trotty," is Mary French; that the 
 three sons, " Pinney," " Daisy," and 
 " Pody," are respectively Eugene, Fred- 
 erick, and Roswell Francis ; and that his 
 youngest child and second daughter, 
 " Sister Girl," is Ruth E. Field. 
 
 Field's sympathy was broad and 
 deep, and was always to be enlisted in 
 a deserving and sometimes, unknow- 
 ingly, in an undeserving cause. Few 
 people came to him for aid and went 
 away empty-handed. His last pub- 
 lic appearance, just three weeks be- 
 fore his death, was in the cause of 
 charity. 
 
 121 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 The bill of announcement is given 
 herewith in fac-simile. His brother 
 
 writes : 
 
 Enclosed you will find a program, or rather the 
 bill of Eugene's last appearance before the general 
 public. Glencoe is a little town on the North- 
 western Railway, about seven miles above Evans- 
 ton. Mel. Stone lived there, and this was a sort of 
 benefit performance for a woman. We were all in 
 great spirits, and had no end of fun. I rarely saw 
 Eugene more "unlimbered," so to speak. 
 
 It is too early to determine what 
 place, if any, the evolution of our liter- 
 ature will assign to Eugene Field. It 
 remains to be seen whether or not the 
 books of quotations, those not always 
 infallible tests of familiarity or popular- 
 ity, while giving space to Paul Moon 
 James, Ellen Sturgis Hooper, Eliza 
 Cook, N. P. Willis, and Jefferson Da- 
 vis, and denying it to John G. Saxe, 
 
 122 
 
MR. OPIE P. READ 
 
 will recite selections from their own writings 
 
 Complimentary Benefit Entertainment, 
 
 TO BE TENDERED 
 
 MRS. EVA JAMES CLEMENTI, 
 
 GLENCOE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 
 
 '•tantav Fvmibiff. 0G{0u8r 12, 1885, 
 
 AT 8 O'CLOCK. 
 
 Mr. Melville E. Stone will preside. 
 
 MRS. L W. HILTMAN. who has in her specialty a reputation 
 
 equal to that of the celebrated Mrs. Shaw 
 
 will whistle a nunjber of airs. 
 
 MR. ROSWELL FIELD 
 
 Will play several selections upon the piano. 
 
 Mrs. Clementi will sing one number. 
 
 ADMISSION 50 CENTS. 
 
 NO RESERVED SEATS. 
 
 TICKETS FOR SALE BY ■ 
 
 BEN JORDAN Clencoe; CEO. B. CUMMINCS, Highland Parte, 
 GARRISON BROS.. Winnetka, and at the door. 
 
 [Announcement Bill of Field's Last Public Appearance] 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas, Henry Ward 
 Beecher, William Edgar (" Bill ") Nye, 
 James Whitcomb Riley, and W, H. 
 Gilbert, will find a quotable line in the 
 works of Eugene Field. 
 
 As far as can be judged from a wholly 
 popular point of view, " A Little Book 
 of Western Verse " will dwell longest in 
 the hearts and minds of the multitude. 
 
 It is more nearly representative of 
 Field's varied powers than any other 
 single volume. It contains examples 
 of his dialect poems, paraphrases, trans- 
 lations, and adaptations from Horace, 
 Chaucer, Spenser, Hugo, Beranger, 
 Heine, occasional verse, and " Little 
 Boy Blue," a poem which, more than 
 anything else he ever wrote, brought 
 him into popular favor. It also con- 
 tains many of his tenderest lullabies, 
 which have endeared him to the moth- 
 123 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 ers and to the children of the land. In 
 this book also are some of the finest and 
 most humorous of Field's poems on 
 books and book-lovers, and from these 
 considerations this volume is not un- 
 likely to outlive all the others. 
 
 Field himself was not of this opinion. 
 He thought " Echoes from the Sabine 
 Farm " set down for that distinction. 
 These "Horatian Odes" were very near 
 and very dear to Field, as was, in fact, 
 everything in connection with the fa- 
 mous Latin lyrist, an affection inherited 
 from his father. His own home was 
 called the Sabine Farm, and the final 
 collection and issue of his works was 
 happily termed the " Sabine Edition." 
 The " Echoes " were a labor of love, 
 with no mercenary incentive either in 
 the creation or in the putting forth. 
 
 But the "Echoes" are not for the 
 124 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 multitude. They were written to be 
 read more than once, and with no 
 thought or effort to make the many 
 admire them. In their composition the 
 advice of the great Venusian was taken 
 — to blot frequently, and to rest con- 
 tent with a few judicious readers. It 
 may be that the "Echoes" will fulfil 
 Field's prediction for them, though au- 
 thors are not always the best judges as 
 to which of their own productions will 
 appeal directly and successfully to the 
 public. 
 
 It is far more likely that these para- 
 phrases of Horace will give place, in 
 point of popularity at least, to "A Little 
 Book of Western Verse," the lullabies 
 of which have crowned their creator the 
 " bard of Babylon." 
 
 But for me the star of Eugene Field's 
 genius shines in another heaven, and 
 125 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 lights toward another haven. With all 
 due justice to his exquisite child's verse, 
 the tenderness of which is unexcelled; 
 with due recognition of the merit of 
 his Horatian strains, than which noth- 
 ing of their kind has yet appeared 
 more graceful, nor, in a surprising num- 
 ber of examples, more faithful; for 
 the ability, wit, and versatility of his 
 newspaper productions, over which all 
 journalists wax enthusiastic, and of 
 which he himself was outspokenly proud, 
 he must be conceded much and a de- 
 served applause. But there is a little 
 coterie of souls, the very core of whose 
 hearts he has touched, to the very ten- 
 drils of whose inner feelings he has 
 penetrated, with his " Bibliomaniac's 
 Prayer," "The Bibliomaniac's Bride," 
 "Dibdin's Ghost," "Odors which My 
 Books Exhale," "Boccaccio," the lilting 
 126 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 "Truth about Horace," and the "De 
 Amicitiis " ; and these folk will keep 
 green the memory of Field's " Love 
 Affairs of a Bibliomaniac" as book- 
 lovers throughout the world keep alive 
 the " Philobiblon " of Richard de Bury. 
 
 The "Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac" 
 is the Bandusian Spring which flows 
 from the mind of the observant trav- 
 eller and ripened scholar. It is the story 
 of mental growth, and it depicts the joys 
 found in books, "those sacred vessels 
 of wisdom," from the Genesis of " Rob- 
 inson Crusoe " to the Revelations of the 
 Odes of Horace. To the lover of 
 books, and to the lover of what they 
 contain, upon this volume is founded 
 the supreme hope of a place in litera- 
 ture for the writings of Eugene Field. 
 
 "Can this man be dead? Not, I 
 am sure, while any of us who knew him 
 127 
 
The Eugene Field I Knew 
 
 remain alive. Only the least part of 
 him is really gone ; but how ill can we 
 spare even that ! " 
 
 With breath of many winds his name 
 Is blown about the world, but to his friends 
 
 A sweeter secret lies behind his fame ; 
 
 And love steals shyly through the loud acclaim 
 To murmur a " God bless you ! " and there ends. 
 
 28 
 

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