The evening times., 1895-11-08
Was POET And HUMORIsf
Thoughts Of Al Impartial Critic in Regard
to The Work Of Eugene Field.
OF Children's Ballads, and Ye. az
aCreator ofLofty Prose Epics.

Wneu man mas larry estaDllsneu III:
reputation in print as a humorist 1t is hard
| for him to gain quick recognition as seri
| Gus writer. Eugene Field so long amused
the public, and SO well, that looks of in.
credulity and suspicious OF a hoax some
where, attended his first efforts at sober
prose and verse.
Not long did the puzzlement last, how
ever. A style simple to seryerity, full OF
meaning, feeling and grace, marked such
stray bits Of both prose and verse as ap-
peared from time to time in Mr. Field &
famous Sharps and Flats column in the
Morning News.
After these had grown In number to the
proportions of collection, his friends
begged him to punish them in abiding form.
"A Little Book OF Western Verse" was the
result, a book which. in spite OF its exclu-
sive and expensive character, became IN
stantly popular.
There was clamor for a cheaper edi-
ton, and Eastern as well as Western shelves
contain 1t. The Little Boy Blue, Broth
ers," "wynken, Biynken and Nod" and
Knee Deep" poems which are destined to
stand, which are enshrined in the hearts
of the simplest as well as the most COM
plex of our people, and which are Ameri-
can classics already, are in this collection.
Eugene Field never wrote and never
could have written anything finer or fuller
OF the spirit OF poetry than these. 1t is by
these that he will be mainly known.
In dialect verse he has succeeded in win
ming and retaining the popular heart, and
some OF his larger aud more pretentious ef-
forts like Echoes from the Sabine Farm. ~
Horatiau translations which Eugene Field
and Roswell Field, his brother. made to-
gether, show q fine literary flavor and
scholarly attainment.
But Eugene Fields original verse is not
surpassed by any produced in this country
for many years, IL ever.
For a long time Mr.. Field has been earning
distinction as writer of graceful, thought
full and tender prose. His familiarity with
the early English writers, from careful
study Of their works, has shown itself in
purity of style, aud his love of nature. of
childhood aud Keen admiration for all that
is good and untaiDted in life have been em-
bodied In allegory, fairy tale and romance
of ennobling order.
'.The Holy Cross was the first of his
serious books-not wholly serious even that.
after the first story; but ''The Holy Cross"
itself is semi religious in character and
written with high purpose.
The Wandering Jew is the hero of this
allegorical romance, and the reverence with
which he is treated and the divine halo put
over his brow Show the all-embraciBg width
of Eugene Fields catholic charity.
upon that holy ground where slept the
Jew was stretched cross, a mighty cross
OF snow on which the sun never fell and
which no breath of wind ever disturbed.
Elsewhere was the tender warmth of verdure
and the sacred passion of the blood-red
flowers, but over that lonely grave was
stretched the symbol of him that went his
way to Calvary, and in that grave slept
the Jew
OF course it is as a humorist that Eugene
Field will be most publicly kno wn, ndfitly
too, for his being was pernieated with real
funniness. A love of the hyperboIic, the
topsy-turvy, the mock sublime, and, above
all, a mania for the practical joke, which
he would take no end of trouble to elaborate
in print, seemed to pervade his being.
In the story OF "Fido," one Of the PRO
fItable Tales republished Just the other
day, there is an account of the little dogs
scratching himself, which is in the nature
Of an abrupt anti-cliniax to ease burA.
ing >heart. Another instance Of this Kind
occurs in Little Miss Merciiess," re-
miniscence OF a painfully sacred character
concerning the deaf hof q beloved child, in
which reference is made to the "doll Beauti-
fuI, right tngeniously constructed Of bed