The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-01-01

OF the younger feminine journalists of
MISS KATE FIELD


has perhaps the best reason to be statistic
with the success she has made. Holdin
the acquaintance of the best artists an
tragedians known to the stage, admitte
to the intimacy of the Republican coter
: of England, contributor by pecial invit;
ton to the London -dtien ,tna and othe
leading foreign magazines, favored Col
respondent of the New York Tribtn.
and appointed to an editorial position o
the Herald, second hardly to that of tn
brilliant head of its Paris bureau.
most striking mark of esteem from tina
newspaper, which, as general thing, doe
not believe in woman,-sh has reache,
the summit Of woman's ambition in Jour
nalism, unless she aspires 10 manage on
of the chief dailies, or TO edit the North
american Rerie,C. Her advantages o
position were decided for the profession
she chose, but it was
/ NATIVE TALENT
showed her how to make prompt and iu
dicious use Of them. Her fathers posi-
/ ton as theatrical manager gave her the
| entree to the best society of actors, and
she had musical gifts which were first
put TO use in aid Of the limited resources
of the family at her fathers death Fol
while she was soprano in the choir al
| DIR. Bellows church, till her attention
was turned to writing dramatic criticisms,
brief, pictorial, and pungent, which she
did so much better than anything else, or
than anybody else at the time, that her
success drew her away from other ven
I ~ al, -
which people felt the most interest for the
moment, no less than her treatment of
them with light and skillful fingers,
caught the ear Of her audience. Her
papers on Ristori, in the atlantic Monthly
and the daily papers, were so well re-
ceived as to teach her at once the secret
ofarresting attention, which she followed
up in her Pen-Photographs of Dickens
and her enthusiasm over Fletcher In
stead of launching herself, as most femi-
nine writers do, into space after their
topics, then to shine in their own vague
ness, she put the point of her pen
through a star, and
HER INK WAS INDUSTRIOUS.
She never wasted herself on any but the
popular interests Of the day, and had the
uncommon sense to see the necessity of
knowing something of subject before
she began TO write on it. Sombre critics
complained Of her rs gushing, but they
never find fault except with too freely
flowing praise. Squirting is the word for
their fiuency when something is to blame;
for instance. the last attack of Mr.. Nym
Crnkle, the gorgeous and malignant critic
of the New York World.
After Miss Fields visit abroad, when
she sailed with Ristori, and her success as
a writer was assured, the step she took of
GOING ON THE LECTURE-sTAGE
was opposed to the wishes Of her relatives.
She preferred independence, however,
and place Of her own choosing in the
world, to a home i'll the family of her
wealthy uncle at Newport, where she was,
and az reat favorite. 1t was not, howey-
err, lurking passion for the stage which
she gratitied in this profession Lectur-
ing with her was a means to an end,
which having successfully served it, was
laid aside for the leisurely labor OF polite
journalism, and the role Of a woman of
society, the ambition of every newspa-
per feminine from the lowest up Hand
some apartments, her box at the opera, new
er without its attendance Of brilliant lit
erary men, her name on the list of lady
managers of charity-balls, summers
abroad with titled English Radicals, and
autumns Oh the Continent with prima
donna or so for company, form the vista
Of many dream Of the newspaper-neo-
phyte. Beyond this lies the charmed life
of the salods which aspiring woman are
irving to transplant into New York houses
of seventeen-feet front. To infuece the
questions of the time in art, politics, and
social customs, is a temptation to any
woman with brains. Miss Field has
thrown herself ardently into the
COMPLICATIONS OF EUROPEAN POLITICS.
Meeting the heads of the Radical party
in England during her seasons at the
house of Sir Charles Dixie, Of course she
has come to believe in the actual resou-
ton of the English Government into
high-tonei JeffersOnian Democracy, with
persons of distinguished taste returned for
all the principal offices. 1t is difficult for
a woman not to be partisan, but it is
unworthy of Miss Field to allow paltry
filings in her Tribune letters, like her quiz
zing the Queens manners in taking brown
stout and sandwiches at a review, as any
old lady would, and for not offering them
to the Czarowich and the Shah, as if any
man would peril his appetite tor dinner
by taking luncheon, unless he were deer
stalking. Such causeless satire in things
greater and less has lost friends and made
critics for Miss Field. 1t is noticed when
her epigrams are overlooked, like the
capital one on the Portsmouth review,
that the British emblem, instead of a lion
and a unicorn, ought to be horse and
dolphin, -ailuding to the national love of
field and naval sports She is
CAPABLE OF HUMoR
that bears repeating, as woman's wit sell
dom does, as when, at ball-supper, she
declares that she lives on air, sometimes
this ere, and sometimes that 'ere;" which
was worthy of Henry Clapp himself.
Her invitation to write for the Herald
was decidedly her browning laurel, reti-
cent as she has been as to her connection
with that paper, for the Herald office has
been a SOFT of St. Severus' isle in It's h0r-
ror of women and their work. When il
grew fashionable to have a s'lal e.ii=ot,
al" in the fourth column, and siEi' ] glil
work OF this sort was indispensable TO tue
completeness ola large paper, of course
the Herald would look for the best. Mr..
Bennett applied for Miss Fields services,
but she at first declined This only en-
HANGED her value, and Mr.. Bennett sent
word to her name her own price for arti-
cles. OF course she knew how to make it
enough, and in consequence, between diff
terent journals is making
AS HANDSOME SALARY
as many managing editors have to show.