Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-16

found the trouble and the heart-breaking
which has enabled them to know the hui
man heart, and by their pens to play the
saddest and the merriest of strains upon
its strings. How few geniuses, are appre-
ciated when they are young! Eugene
Fields father was a celebrated lawyer, but
he evidently had no idea of the literary
ability CT his son. The boy, almost spoiled
by the fortune left him, drifted into news
paper work and thence. step by step, climb
ed into the literary niche which he will
now hold in American history. Mark
Twain's father and himself. according to
his own statements. were always on the
most distant terms when Mark was a
boy, and he says that a sort OF armed
neutrality existed between them. His ia
Their had no appreciation of his humorous
antics. and the stories which are related
in Tom Sawyer were largely based upon
incidents of Mark Twlin's early life which
had no charm for his father. The old man
could no. see the humor of jumping off Il
two-story stable, and when Mark at
circus gave the elephant a plug of to-
bacco. the hubbub which followed was by
no means with the approval of the old
man. VINO had gone along to take care of
the boy and look at the animals. At an
other time Mark pretended to be talking in
his sleep. and got off a portion of a very
original conundrum in the hearing of his
father. The elder Clemens reproved him
in a way which he does not like to remer-
Der to this day. In speaking of it Mark
asks his friends not to pry into the re-
suits OF the experiment. usually concluding
with the sorrowful remark. 1T was of no
consequence to any one but me-.
New Stories of Whitcomb Riley.
1t was the same with James Whitcomb
Riley. His father never appreciated him.
and 1 doubt whether he ever realized the
real greatness of Riley's genius. \ short
time $50 Riley and one of his newspaper
friends were talking about the days of their
boyhood. when Riley said:
They never thought I'd amount to
much at home. My father was a country
lawyer. and he believed in facts. Facts
were all he cared for. and he thought that
the boy who couldn't learn arithmetic
wouldn't amount to anything. My brothers
were a good deal like MIN. They had an
aptitude for mathematics and they stood
well in their classes at school. AS for me,
/ couldn't learn arithmetic I never liked
the crooked things called figures, and I
couldn't see the sense of working away at
them. As for reading. l got along with it
very well. l usually read the books through
for the stories before the class had mas
tered one-third of them But 1 couldn't
make 1t in arithmetic. The result was
that the whole family pitied me- 1
was told again and again that l would
and when / ran off and went away with II
circus one day to stand at the door and
extol the virtues of the sdsshows, it did
not make sensation. My mother perhaps
wiped Ter eyes and thought that 1 might
come back some day, some way; but to
the rest it was settled with the phrase I
told you So / don't think my father ever
understood me. 1 shall never forget one
thing which estranga1 lie from him.
ut was when l was quite little fellow
We were just commencing q new reader.
and as usual. 1 had finished it be-
fore the class had read ten lessons. There
We're several pieces of poetry in the book
and one of these / read over and over again
II was very pathetic, and 1 always had to
cry when read it. At last the class came
to 1t. The day we were to read it l sat
In my seat and figured out just what verses
l would have to read. l knew where
stood in the class. you know. Well 1 saw
where ] always cried. I knew I couldn't
read them before the class without crying
and wasn't going to bawl in public. There
was only one way out Of il, and that was
to run away. Just before the class was
called ard while the teachers back was
turned | slipped out. 1 had hardly left the
school house before l met my father He
asked me what 1 was doing away from
school. l had just been reading the life of
George Washington, and | concluded that
would try the cherry-tree act with him.
told the truth. saying. Father, didn't want
the boys to laugh at me, and l knew it would
make me- cry
Well, I'll see II I can't make you cry
said the old gentleman, and he picked up a
switch and gave me one Of the hest whip
pings I have ever had. I don't blame him
now. His nature was such that he could not
appreciate the situation. He probably
Thought my answer was merely an excuse