The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-02-15
STORIES OF EUGENE FIELD.
Tales Of the Poet That Are Told Among
His Chicago Friends.

STORIES OF EUGENE FIELD.
Tales Of the Poet That Are Told Among
His Chicago Friends.
During one financial crisis that
was especially owe Eugene Field
could g no way out of his difficult
ties except to ask for a raise of sal
airy, and that was as abhorrent to
his fine nature as it would have been
to do a mean action. Several days
in succession he came to the office
resolved to make appeal to Mr..
Stone, and each day he went home
having failed to nerve himself up to
the speaking point. Finally he
formed a thoroughly characteristic
resolution, and for a week was not
seen in the Office at all. Then one
afternoon he marched into Mr..
Stones Office followed by four of his
little children, the five of them pre-
senting such a pitiable appearance
as would have wrung tears from his
employer had his heart and his name
been synonymous. which was far
from being the case. Father and
children were dressed in rags and
tatters from head to foot; the chill.
dren's toes were sticking out bare
through holes in their shoes; their
faces were unwashed and their eyes
red, as if they had been crying.
Field himself was in no better
plight, and there the five stood in
front of Mr.. Stone, speaking not a
word, but looking at him with ap-
pealing glances. All this of course
had been carefully rehearsed by
Field during the week of conspiracy,
and the result was simply over.
whelming. At last Field broke the
silence, looking at his employer, who
was also his best friend, out of those
big eyes so full of human kindness,
and said:
do you think you can see your
way, Mr.. Stone, to raising my sal
ary?"
Needless to say he got the raise.
Fields eccentricity showed itself
in the books he purchased, many of
which had no possible bearing upon
his work and indeed had small in
trinsic value. my library" he
used to say, lis full of fool books"
and there was some truth in this.
For example, he had hundreds of
volumes containing the works of
unknown and or the most part TN
worthy poets. Nothing pleased him
more than to buy some little volume
of exeorable verse produced by a
poet in Peoria or Coldwater or any
other insignificant place, and these
he would range proudly with the
others and sometimes turn over the
pages ''just to see how bad they
WERE" He said that things had to
be either very good or very bad in
order to please him.
One of the queer things he did at
The News Office was the establishing
of what he called the Field mo-
mortal window" really a portion Of
a glass door over which he had an
artist draw a cherub with the ortho-
dox wings attached to his own head
and face. Under this cherub's head
he took delight in FASTING all the
d~isagreeable clippings he could gath
er from newspapers and periodicals
regarding any one in the Office and
especially about himself. This win
dow came to be regarded as a regu-
lar bulletin board of spleen, and
many a quiet chuckle Field would
have watching the long faces of his
companions as they read sarcastic
or facetious remarks about them.
Field never cared how much fun
was made of him, and he was the
first to applaud when the laugh was
at his own expense. New York Sun.