Eugene Field, a Study in Heredity and Contradictions - Volume 2

umn of "Sharps and Flats" to the end bore almost daily testimony to his enthusiastic devotion to the national game and of his critical familiarity with i

lub for the then unheard-of premium of $10,000. When the base-ball season was at its height his column would bristle with the proofs of his vivid interest in it. I have known it on one day to contain over a score of paragraphs relating to the nation

Welch's down curves over the left-field fence. Therefore we say again, as we have said many times before, that much as we revere Benjamin Harri

the melodramatic stage in 1893 it is not surprising to find that Field, in a

base-ball professionals are either dull brutes or ribald brutes; ignorance as dense as Egyptian darkness has seemed to constitute one of the essentials to successful base-ball playing, and the average professional occupies an intellectual plane hardly above that of the average stall-fed ox or the fat pig at a country fair. Mik

ld once discovered that he had a special knack with the finger-balls we hunted them up and tested most of them. After a while we settled down on the alleys under Slosson's billiard-room on Monroe Street for our afternoon games and on the Superior Alleys on North Clark Street on the evenings when it was my turn to walk home with "Gene." Rolling together we were scarcely ever overmatched, and he was the better man of the two. He rolled a slow, insinuating ball. It appeared to amble aimlessly down the alley, threatening

ese matches. He and Willis Hawkins had challenged Cowen and me to a tourney, as he called it, of five strings. His record of this "gr

78 Thom

697 Co

5 1

cored 231 and 223 in his turns upon it. The modern experts m

X X X

117 144 16

oiled by the frames he was forced to roll on the poorer alleys, where all his cunning could not insure a safe passage of his slow delivery on their billowy surfaces.

ALLENGE FROM

s graceful

t modest ga

only Bow

d long the

ess of O

r yet how

nto the fr

l is hi

fears his

htway runs

4th,

ings" moved along at the office while I was gone. It pleased his sense of humor to dispatch a letter to me every evening invariably addressed "For Si

ber 10th (Frida

Kelly 3, Anson 2, Pfeffer 3, Williamson 1, Burns 1 and Ryan 2; on the part of Detroit. Richardson made 2, Brouthers 4, Thompson 1 and Dunlap 1. The Chicagos played in excellent form, yet batting seemed to be the feature of the game. McCormick struck out 6 men and gave 2 men bases on called balls; Conway struck out 4 men a

, it took an hour to do it) Ballantyne came in. "That's

ime to Kansas City. Poor man! his slavish devotion to the de

and she will go down to St. Louis with Julia and Mrs. Ballantyne

eventh it had resumed its normal shape, and in the ninth it was as big as a dinner-plate and we could hear it tick, although hung in Moses Levy's secluded retreat on Dearborn Street, two and one-half miles distant. As we were riding over to the base-ball grounds Cowen's eyes rested on a vision of female loveliness-a girl he knew-standing on the corner of Madison and Aberdeen

onately

NE F

etter will assure him that its composition and embellishment must have cost its fanciful writer at l

in gamb

night, September

over and I have come to the appalling conclusion that I shall starve before you get back, unless, per

idal tour. I have given Peattie divers letters of introduction to Denver folks: to Dr. Lemen, introducing him as an invalid; to Judge Tall, as a client; to Fred Skiff, as a rich young man anxious to invest in Colorado mines-etc., etc. The dear boy will have a lovely time methinks. Hawkins has moved his desk up into Dennis's room, and Dock sits here at your table close to me while you are gone. If he can afford it I do not object. It is Ballantyne's plan to keep Hawkins doing paragraphs for the morning and evening papers, and to put Bates (

s as

EL

ry Matilda and to your impetuous siste

.

dressees of these letters and the manager of the hotel of his fell purpose, Mr. and Mrs. Peattie found themselves the victims of insistent and deliberate misapprehensions from the moment they were shown to the bridal suite until they fled from the swarm o

ATTIE'

s Mr. Peat

s Mr. Peat

dreamy, sen

eattie's sw

. Peatti

of honest w

bout with c

winds are ch

ig heart that

Peattie

loose abou

neck from t

s envious nei

fellow i

Peattie

defiance t

a pledge in

e heart is

nceals a l

Peattie

cotch dialect, which he seldom attempted. It was inspired by the fact that Peattie had

N OF THE

ow and veil

kenned his

he cried, "my

ll some wan w

n," the gude

anither wod

le woes and

Field did af

e bonnie h

ae braw as thi

arm to shiel

eart beneath

Knox or S

hompson tak

we wi' gho

Field wod do

eattie glowed

do the dee

ield shall b

which I ken

took his g

feast o' Fi

soft he prai

kiss her b

r 23d,

n the evening of April 28th we descended on Mrs. Coonley's North Side mansion and ransacked it from cellar to garret. It was Field's humor that day to set every picture in the house just enough awry to disturb Mrs. Bates's sensitive vision. When she arrived on the scene she greeted us with the utmost cordiality, as we did her. But no matter where she stood, her eye would be annoyed by a picture-frame just out of plumb, and she would be excused while she straightened it. Nearly every picture and portrait on the lower floor had been adjusted before she understood the motive of Field's solicitude to see every painting and engraving in the house. U

RA DOT

this fair and

ear ladies, you

urpose cheer

ult on Bates'

skirmish dut

it, of hungry

ot I claim, on

kes life easy

ave achieved

than selfishne

eful children

nk-then to th

, it is to w

whose muse will

.

April 2

I

night, Septembe

d medical literature over my table, he has a constant stream of idiot callers, and he refuses to give up when I demand truage of him. I hope you will pack your gripsack and start home immediately upon r

wn in the car a pretty girl got aboard, and in trying to get a peep at her Cowen dropped the box containing the crickets. For some moments it rained crickets. The wom

ay (4 to 5). Flynn pitched yesterday and your friend Clarkson pitched to

his desk back to the library and

ron, 2 papers of pins, 2 papers of hairpins, 1 darning ball, 2 combs, 1 bottle Calder's tooth powder, 1

all well. Remember me to Marie

onately

NE F

tions with Dr. Reilly were ever anything but the most friendly and grate

y night, Septembe

banks of Newfoundland and letting the chill east wind blow through your whiskers. We, too, are demoralized. That senile old substitute of your

ton whipped her day before yesterday and Washington shut her out to-day! now if Detroit will only lose a game

t. I suggested it in the hope that with two sets on h

ul phraseology to the b

s as

EL

evening, Septemb

ved in this city to-day at seven A.M., but up to this hour (eight

has uttered about you since you went away. Stone kept Reilly busy at writing from two o'clock yesterday afternoon un

ighted with the letter written by the old Quakeress, Mrs. Hobbs. It i

emocratic Convention, the defeat of Dunphy giving him part

s as

EL

called at end of fifth inning

day, September

here is nothing worth seeing at any other house. There is nobody for me to visit with, so here I sit in this box trying to kill the time. I see very little of Cowen. A disreputable l

ever, you

EL

I

day, Septemb

pper and told me he had only eighty cents. He ordered twenty cents worth and made me scrimp along on sixty cents. When he came to pay the check he produced

he night and eat his piece. He told me this morning that he dreamed that he was married to Mr. Cowen. Last evening I wandered down town in a furious rain

, "Private Secretary." Dock is trying to get me to go to the Columbia to-night, but your pale fa

importunity of some autograph fiend from whose tribe I ha

I

y, September t

a bitter look: "You never wrote to me while I was at Springfield!" Ah, how little he knows of you, this peevish old glutton who cares for naught above pandering to his dyspeptic maw! But my writing to you has caused a great deal of scandal here in the office, and I fear I am seriously compromised. Cowen has bee

t Detroit to-day-7 to 3 in favor of Chicago!

has dropped about 1,000 in less than a fortnight; he has been hobnobbing with B

have asked me if you were the Thompson referred to and I have indignantly repudiated the l

self being scrutinized by a buxom country lass who looked as if she might be the fair unknown from Evanston. Her rueful visag

her. It has comforted me a good deal, however, to hear John say

his head. I let him have everything he wanted and I paid the bill wit

e last base-ball game of the season-a postponed game between the Chicagos an

rials the expression "seismic phenomena," and he seems to be as tickled a

nk this the most beautiful page she ever saw. I am sorry, but not surprised, to hear that your passes failed you on the Canadian Pacific. You should have applied for them sooner. I have always [d] found railway officials the slowest people in the world, and they are particularly slow when it comes

your

NE F

which ran down to the letter "a" in the above, was written in pale green ink; the second, running to "b," was in black; the third, running to "c," was i

ay, September

rd him suggest no scheme whereby the dawdling condition of affairs is to be bettered. The whole staff is demoralized, and I believe that, so far from getting better, matters and things are steadily going to worse. The outlook is very discouraging. One sensible thing has been done in hiring Reilly to do regular work. Under the

d in St. Louis. I thought she might arrive to-night, and so I went down to the station and sat around on the trucks an

e Roche (fresh from his bridal tour through Colorado) with a thunder-gust of tedious experiences. The Dock bore the infliction with Christian fortitude and thanked God when Roche left. In a moment or two thereafter, however, a Kansas City friend of mine called-very drunk, and not finding me, insisted upon discussing me, my work, and my prospects, with the Dock. John Thatcher dropped in subsequently, and so the Dock ha

y bankrupting me; then, too, it is a long time since I had a square meal. But, japes, bourds,

in fri

NE F

er which the editorial staff worked in those days. Field was the only one who could shut himself away from such annoyances to do his own wood-sawing.

esday, Septem

know why the revered Miss Mollie Tillie deems me a capricious man and a fickle; nor can I imagine. You should not suffer her to missay me so grievously. Where could the skeptical damosell have found a person more faithful th

cking in the book-case. When I reproach him with these evidences of a failing mind, he smiles and cries. I wish he were here that I might rea

ck in his high-chair weeping lustily, whilst baby Cowen has crept out of his chair, toddled to the wall and is reaching for his bottle!

eading a great deal. Read Mrs. Gordon's Life of Christopher North, parts of Burns's poems, life of Dr. Faustus, and Morte D'Arthur since you left, and hope to read Goethe's poems, Life of Bunyan,

s, but that sort of thing is out of the question. Do you intend to go to Indianapolis with me? E-- W-- has been very friendly of late. I suspect he is getting hard up. B--'s latest fad is to organize a Friday night club to discuss literature, art, science, etc. Hearing him talk about it to-day gave the old Dock a violent attack of nausea. Speaking of nausea re

onately

NE F

napolis. Previous to this, during our acquaintance he had repeatedly declined requests to appear upon the platform. But in this case he was persuaded by Richard Lew Dawson, the secretary

t be wise for me to contribute to your programme the followi

he Soldier Pro

Lad (new) Ve

e Hymn (new) V

l Lad (new) Ve

ullaby (new) Ve

o not like 'Death and the Soldier' as much as 'The First Christmas Tree,' the 'Robin and the Violet,' or 'The Mountain and the Sea'-I mean I do not like

tended to me, which I duly received. This accounts for the reference t

oethe's name than instruction from the perusal of his poems. He was always

Renaissance set in, since which epoch it has rhymed it with "ity." This is hardly fair. In a

ast John Wo

home, upwar

Fredericton se

unday the

back again. A mighty smart woman is Kate! My wife returned from St. Louis last Thursday, bringing about fifty of my books with her. They were mostly of the Bohn's Library series, but among them was a set of Boswell's Johnson, Routledge edition of 1859. I want you to hav

orrow. You alone are delinquent. Not only am I lonesome-egad, I am starving! So if you don't come in propria persona, at least send something. The old Dock has been as grumpy as a bear to-day and I have had a hard time bearing with him. He announced to me to-day that he thought that I was fickle-I tell you

ctes. Think it all over whilst you are away. What are you going to bring me for a present? Don't go to buying any foolish trumpery; you h

r y

EL

except the set for Fi

I

eptember 2

I confidently expect to see you back here next Sunday. On Monday I go to Indianapolis for two or three days, and I heartily wish you were going with me to help bear the expense of the trip. In fact, I am so anxious to have you along that I would cheerfully consent to letting you pay everything. But at any rate I agree to take supp

point that way now. I enclose you a letter to my friend Mitchell of the Sun. Tell him about the Goethe poem. I promised to send him a copy of it when Literary Life p

s as

EL

Rose Cleveland, as its editor, not only led to her early retirement from an impossible position, but to the early collapse of t

E

of old Adam the

ses of sweet-

rapturous phr

unt beauty

'bides, whether

the proud u

rose her distin

gnant queen a

we of the Wes

ith her gift

the rose who is

n our wild We

the East as an

and jeal

l Chicago is

the rose, s