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

During our intimate association I had exercised a wholesome restraint on his pie habit and reduced his hours of reading in bed to a minimum. As the reader may remember, our pact concerned ea

the companionship of books and from the daily activities and associations of the newspaper office his assimilation of fo

never he chose to take it. At first it was not Field's intention to avail himself of this generous offer until winter. But when his "Little Books" were safely under way he chan

Trotty, and I will go to Europe in December. The present plan is to go first to London, where I wish to spend most of my time. We shall want to put Trotty in a school near Paris, and her mother will have to make the tour of Italy. Mary French (who reared me) will be with us, and she will go with Julia on the Italian circuit. As for me, I want to spend most of my time in England, with two wee

etty nearly every one of their mutual friends in Denver and Chicago, having something to say about no less than nineteen persons in fourteen lines of his diamond chirography.] It is nearly time for Stone [who had sold out his interest in the Daily News to Mr. Lawson] to reach Paris. I wish you'd tell him that I propose to ?￥!&§[Note] him at billiards under the shadow of St. Paul's in London next Christmas time. Dear boy, I am

!&§ stands for "expletive

ld then and always thought so highly. It contained, in his estimation, more of imagination, as di

es on the sollu

n shadde

an' hemlocks w

doesn'

ain brook sing

ters on

for a child to

l

ted to leave his place on the Daily News. He wrote, "The San Francisco Examiner is making a hot play to get me out

ne 28th, 1889, Field wrote wi

n poems I have recently written: it has never been in print. The others, unpublished, are "Prof. Vere de Blaw" (the character who plays the piano in Casey's restaurant) and "Marthy's Younki

ut of the rut of his general newspaper work on the Kansas City Times, and Field confided to Cowen that "there is no telling what might

best that he should begin his vacation in October instead of waiting for Dec

e me. I carry numerous letters of introduction-all kinds of letters, except letters of credit. I regret that the potent name of Rothschild will not figure in the list of my trans-Atlantic acquaintances. I am exceedingly sorry that Roswell is not to go with us: with me he would have had advantages at his command which he cannot have when he goes alone. I am looking daily for my books; I rather regret now that I did not print a larger edition, for a great many demands are coming in from outsiders. I should like to publish a volume of my paraphrases of Horace while I am in London, and maybe I shall do so. Do give my love to Mrs. Gray and

er, y

NE F

ptember the

the disappointment of all concerned-especially the three boys, who a

e contented. I have written to Moffett asking him whether we ought to locate the children in Paris or in Germany. You know that my means are very limited, and my desire to do the right thing is nece

ent your absence from the city. When we were in Liverpool, Pinny was joshing Daisy because he had no money, and Dais

r-marked Wilmot linen letter-paper and colored inks, Field pr

E, BEDFORD SQ.

and I am to remain in London, since travel disagrees with me so severely. I don't like the idea of separation, but this seems to be a sacrifice which I ought to make. I doubt very much whether I visit any other European city except Paris; I am

moothness and for its weirdness. But Mrs. Field prefers "Krinken," "Marthy's Younkit," et id omne genus. My next verse will be "John Smith, U.S.A.," a poem suggested by seeing this autograph at Gilley's. In it I shall use the Yankee, the Hoosier, the southern and the western dialect,

tiona

NE F

October 2

rse." But it was one of those bits of verse upon which he loved to putter, and he was loath to put it into type beyond the reach of occasional revision. When the "Little Book of Western Verse" was issued in popular fo

w-voyagers should contribute. Mr. Riley was asked to recite some of his original poems, and of course he cheerfully agreed to do so. Among the number present at this mid-ocean entertainment, over which the Rev. Myron Reed presided, were two Scotchmen, very worthy gentlemen, en route

rked one of these Scots, "that a t

d a tradesman?"

intryjuce him as the hoosier poet? Just think of it, mon!-just

ld in the next letter, written from London, November 13th

on in advance has reduced me to a condition of financial weakness which fills me with the gloomiest apprehension. You of fertile r

the children are in Hanover-Trotty at the school of Fraulein Gensen, Allee Strasse, No. 1, and the three boys with Professor C. Rühle (prophetic name!), Heinrich Strasse, 26 A. Parting from them was like plucking my heart from me; but they are contented. The night before they went to

s on them yet, they are being highly praised by the American press. I shall see that you get copies. So far, we have been about but very li

ncerely

NE F

spending his time in London, is the following letter to his quondam guardian, Mr.

the recipient. But you and I seldom write letters of this kind. I do not think I ever before received a letter that moved me so deeply as did the letter you sent me just before I left Chicago. I am not ashamed to admit that I like to know that I have your regard, but the whole tone of this letter was that of a kindly affection which was very comforting to me, and for which I shall always feel deeply grateful to you. My health has improved much since I last wrote to you. I am now

romance, and I am ambitious to write tales about the folk of those particular points. I think it possible that I shall find a way to gratify this urgent desire before ret

seen them for nine weeks, but we hear from them every week, and we are assured that they are making desirable progress. In her last letter Trotty says, with a na?veté that is simply electric: "Nobody would guess that the boys were your boys-they are so gentlemanly!" Prof. Rühle is an old instructor of boys, and for several years he was a professor at Woolwich Acade

number of the Chicago America. I am just now at work on a Folklore tale of the Orkney Islands, and I am enjoying it very much. I hope to get it off to the paper this week. I am hoping that my two books pleased you; they are the beginning only, for if I live I shall publish many beautiful books. Yesterday I got a letter from a New York friend volunteering to put up the money for publishing a new volume of verse at $20 a copy, the number of

dear venerated friend, thi

ectionat

NE F

January

nfirmed dyspeptic now, I forgive her that mince-pie. My permanent

d between the wife of a member of Parliament and Mrs. Humphry Ward. The conversation turned upon P.T. Barnum, who was then in London with his "greatest show on

T. Barnum took me from my mother, clothed me in the bifurcated raiment of civilization, sent me to school, where I began to lisp in numbers before I had mastered the multiplication table, and I have been lisping ever since." Field had a peculiar hesitation in his spe

ase was followed with as much interest in England as in America. When Mrs. Ward learned that Field hailed from that city, she said to him, "I am so g

ame hunting club, and had often shot buffaloes and cougars on the prairie a few miles west of Chicago. As for Sullivan, the ice-man, I assured her that if that man was convicted it would b

maniac, Francis Wilson. The story of how it came to be issued in that particular form is told by Mr. Wilson in his introduction to the subscription edition. It was originally F

A, December

ASON T

R S

proposed book of "Horace"-printed on Japanese proof and pasted on Whatman's hand

y t

IS WI

Field's paraphrases of Horace up to that time warranted the elaborate setting pr

A, December

ASON T

END S

it is Mr. F.'s intention to have you get out his affectionate effort, but I should hope not-being guided, of course, by your expressed doubt and wonderment in the matter. However, I promise not to say anything about this to Mr. Field. I sent you the $20 so as to be in time for the copy I wish, and I know you'll not object to holding it until Mr. Field's return, w

o

since

IS WI

h a prettily worded note, in which he acknowledged his obligation to Mr. Wilson and expressed the hope that the latter would live forever, provided he, Field, could "live one day longer to write his epitaph." Not until I came across the foregoing letter have I understood why Wilson thwarted all

ndon carried the former back to Washington, where he joined with some other equally sanguine writers in the attempt to float a

ut long enough, you will win-you are bound to. You have youth, experience, and ambition upon your side,

must send some little souvenir to Buskett. Do tell him to write to me and tell me how he happened to leave the mountains. By the way, I wish you would secure for me from the Postmaster-General or his assistant a set of proofs of government stamps. I have begun making a collection, and he will provide that much, if properly approached. The children are well. The boys dun me regularly. Pinny is more a

NE F

te the words, "The children are well" and "At any rate, I want to go first," he was returning to America with the body of his eldest son, who died suddenly in Holland, and facing bravely the fact that his own vitality had been fatally impaired. "What exceeding folly," he wrote to a friend, "was it that tempted me to cross the sea

tention and was permitted more license than his brothers. Daisy was his mother's special pet, and Trotty had many of the characteristics of her father. Besides, she was the only girl in the family of boys. Thus Melvin in t

I see not his

s voice in this

e happy to bi

p in my heart

ove that is sw

oy in its ke

is lonely-so, li

ke merry with t

aged to think that his health was improved, it was noticed by his friends that most of his work was done at home and they saw less of him down town. Natural

of your business reverses had abated my regard for you, and this suspicion made me miserable. I have for so long a time been the victim of poverty th

t death calmly and bravely. It will gratify you to know that my own health is steadily improving; the others are very hearty. The second edition of my books,

ncerely

NE F

er 17t

to the work of preparing other books for publication may

. The expensive publication is undertaken by my friend Francis Wilson, the actor, and he is to give me the plates from which to print the popular edition. It will interest, and we are hoping that it will please, you to know that we shall dedicate this volume to you as a slight, though none the less sincere, token of our regard and affection to you as the friend of our father and as a friend to us. Were our father living, it would please him, we think, to see his sons collaborating as versifiers of the Pagan lyrist whose songs he admired; it would please him, too, we are equally certain, to see us dedicating the result of our enthusiastic toil to so good a man and to

in the cemetery making preparations for the observance of Decoration Day. Of this number were many Germans, and these, attracted by the appearance of the pretentious German casket in which our boy's body lay, gathered around wonderingly. They were curious to know the story of that casket, for they had not seen one like it for many years. But

oal. She would find us comfortably located, and the warmth of our welcome and the cordiality of our attentions would perhaps compensate for the absence of many of her home luxuries, which we cannot of cour

! She was one of a family of English Mormons who were stranded in St. Louis. My mother taught her to read. She saw my name in a newspaper, and wrote me. We are now as thick as three in a bed. Her

sincere

NE F

rton Ave.

t out than in the quality of its contents. He was gratified and flattered by the sumptuous manner in which it was being published by Mr. Wilson. "Of the edition of one hundred copies," he wrote to Mr. Gray, "thirty will be printed on Japanese vellum, each copy to contain an original drawing by Garrett and an autograph verse by Roswell and myself; the seventy others will be printed on wh

out in all his correspondence about this time. Writing to M

hristian Union next Christmas. I have delayed answering the letter you wrote to me some time ago, in the hope that I should see my way clear to accepting your invitation. Alas! I think it will be some time yet before I c

onately

NE F

f. In the course of time each story-writer received the munificent sum of $15, the author of the "Symbol and the Saint" the same as the reporter, who turned in the thinnest, flimsiest sort of a sketch. It was a case of levelling all down to a common standard, which Field did not relish. He felt keenly the injustice of estimating the carefully finished product of his month's labor at the same rate as the hurried and rough journeyman work of a local hand

AND E

mass of mo

n youth a pa

f age-with

g of a Chr

8