Show rd I 1 A 4 1 childrens beloved poet wi I 1 15 churche churchs shadow by DEWITT J MASON JHEN LIEN eugene field moved thirty years rears ago last summer to his sabine farm in the outskirts of chicago he said now that I 1 am liere here in my own house bouse I 1 shall do better work than ever before the beloved childrens poet assembled his thousands of books arranged ills his treasured collection of antique bottles old songs bells walking sticks and tops hung on tile the wall the ax gladstone had given him laid out danas scissors and was supremely happy but lie he died that fall and was burled buried in graceland graveland Gra celand cemetery in chicago now the sabine farm home Is to give way to an apartment house also fields remains are to be removed from graceland graveland Gra celand to cemetery a 7 specially I villi built memorial tomb in the u cloisters of the little ivy clad episcopal church I 1 of the holy comforter at kenilworth it may be that there have been poets not necessarily better poets or moie choi e religious ones writes robert L duffus in the new york times who would feel more at home in the shadow of a cloister than would eugene field r beld yet the two incidents together hae their significance the sabine farm dissolves into the thin substance BUb stance of dreams but the memory of eugene field has not been corroded by the years it may be homeer ho howe weer er that those who pass through the kenilworth cloisters will remember the author of the sug sugarplum sugar gar plum tree and Wyn ken blyn ken and nod and forget the madcap editor and of the old denver and chicago Clil cago days the wild humorist who gave utterance to the tribune abune primer the great jester who lived for the purpose of making pose aud and pretense ridiculous the relentless satirist eugene field came of a distinguished family but not of one given to eccentric genius ills father as counsel for the runaway ne negro ro dred scott made a protest against slavery which for a moment gave him national prominence ills his mother a women of beauty and charm died to in 1850 when eugene was only six years old and lie he and his brother were brought up by an aunt mary field french in amherst mass at fifteen he be went to a school at monson ll onson mass kept by a clergyman and tile his wife and at eighteen lie ile entered williams college the influences that surrounded were thus sobering IY it not absolutely puritanical ile he left williams partly because of the death of his father and partly because of the lack of enthusiasm over the prospect of having him tiny any longer lie ile had bad not committed any unpardonable offenses oi but he too plainly lacked that respect for office and authority which was deemed essential sent ial next year lie entered knox college nt at galesburg ill an event chiefly important because during that year he began newspaper work by contributing to tile galesburg 1 le giNter lie ile was restless und mid in 1870 moved on to the university of missouri nt at columbia the most significant thing that happened to him there was lila ilia F 91 F km e ft i meeting with the hie girl of fifteen who was later to become his wife ills share of his fathers estate was at the end of the year in ID columbia mo he be shook the dust of higher education forever from his feet and set oft off with his friend edgar comstock Comsto clr brother of the young lady with whom lie he was in love for a hilarious tour of europe from time to time he cabled home for money when sly six months had passed and the two adventurers had reached italy the was all gone 1 I came home broke he afterward said so I 1 got married mrs field was then sixteen their life together waa vas a happy one she bore him eight children and understood his whimsical var variety lety of humor she also managed the family finances a task of which lie was constitutionally incapable their only clashes came when he was caught trying to smuggle home books w when hen money woe wad needed to pay the grocer field knew that he was not in every respect a model husband and liked to tell about a conversation lie once had in a dream with the patriarch job it Is true job was represented as saying that for a long time I 1 enjoyed quite a reputation for being very patient but now I 1 have to take a back seat scat you see theres a woman 11 in chicago named domed mrs eugene field who lias has proved herself a lot pa pat lenter than L I 1 field had always wanted to be an actor ile he even bought complete sets of costumes tor for hamlet lear and othello and in 1872 actually went out with a company of other reckless youths on a barnstorming tour in june 1873 lie he went to the st loula evening journal as a cub re end and before the year closed was city editor subsequently lie was city editor of tile gazette of st joseph a for the journal and the dimps journal in st louis managing editor of tile the kansas city times and then in 1881 managing editor of the denver tribune it was in denver that he began to acquire more than llian local tame fame not merely us as managing editor of a lively paper but as dramatic critic and it Is essential to add practical JOL joker er in 1883 he was called to chicago at a considerable increase of salary to write whatever he pleased for the chicago news lie he took over a nondescript column called current gossip naich blossomed out on august jl 31 1883 as tile hie famous sharps lind and flats eugenie Eu getie field did not talk as a rule in terms of little boy blue bine ot or the wonderer wanderer lie ile saved that side of his nature mostly for pen end and yet it spilled out I 1 1 I always feel like shedding tears he salil said to george millard one christmas when I 1 see all those people going home with their little gifts for the babies I 1 cant help crying it overwhelms me lie he did not have to unbend to children lie he understood them because he looked at the world through their eyes for him as for them it had mystery 1 I believe he be said in ghosts in witches and in fairles fairies ile he had the air of a changeling an air of knowing more than ho be meant to tell that lin mum mers face as a friend called it hid bid more than it revealed ne he lamen lamented ted as Dews newspaper paper men have done ever since the acts acta of rome that ills his job left him insufficient time and strength A gaunt awkward homely counted on to make people laugh and cry not even his wife knew perhaps what lie was like when the makeup make up was off dana announced a standing offer of double the chicago salary it if field would come to new york ue ile preferred to sit in the record and let fame find him there if it so BO desired 11 A little cook book of western verse containing much of his best work appeared in 1889 and in a popular edition in 1890 so did A little book of profitable tales when ile he went to E england in ISSO he found his name a passport into whatever literary circles ile he cared to enter lie he was conscious of growing powers of larger plans but his health had never been ro bust and because he be hated bated exercise was fond of tobacco and pastry and would not take enough bleep bleed it grew worse for years he fought with humorous gallantry the inroads of dyspepsia in lie nearly died of typhoid fever ills heart gave way and he died in his bis bleep bleed durin during the night of november 4 1805 lie ile may have felt death coming for lie he had said a few days before this Is the flying dying time of year ue ids had grown gentler and more like ike the childrens eugene field tile the uncouth dancing spirit of the woods wa was I 1 less e ss w with it h him toward tile the 0 last just ills final mood was that in w which I 1 deb b lie he wrote by way of preface go forth little lyrics and sing to the hearts of men this beautiful world Is full of song and thy voices may not dot ile be lizard heard alkali adall but fing on children of ours slug sing to tile the hearts of men man and thy song shall hhall at least swell the universal harmony that gods love and tile the sweetness of humanity lon |