The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-12-16

To only one woman in Honolulu, One
who knew nothing of her early life
until. on picking up a recent number OF
The Bookman, she found in an article
on Mrs. Browning passages quoted
from Kate Field. which revealed her
intimate knowledge of the Florence
circle. When Miss Field was told OF
this discovery her face grew sad and
tender as her thoughts few back TO
those golden days Yes. indeed. she
had known the Brownings and Walter
Savage Landor. He taught her Latin
and formed her English style. Little
wonder that her style was a well of
pure English fed by perpetual springs
of life and wit"
On that golden June Sunday, as |
sat by the tomb marked &c. b. b.,
with the grave of lisa Blagden almost
within touch and that of Landor. with
the kneeling woman sculptured in mar.
BILE at its head, very near. as | sat in
the shadow of the tall dark cypress
trees, the silence broken only b. the
chirp of birds
o. the little birds sand east, and the
little birds sand vest
the life of Kate Field seemed to rise
as a panorama before me. lt was but
five weeks since her mortal form had
been placed in the flower-laden casket
in Honolulu it was thirty-five years
since she had stood-a girl of eighteen
with her visions before her-by that
grave of one who had been to her, SUI
premely. friend and poet. And now the
drama of earth for her, too, was over.
The gifted girl who had been the idol
of that choice circle of spirits-Mrs.
Browning, Landor lisa Blagden, by
whose graves l sat-had now rejoined
them in the life just beyond. The mo-
ment was a dramatic one.
Kate Field was the only child of Jo-
seph NJ. and Eliza (Riddle) Field, and
a cousin of George Riddle, the distin-
guished reader. She was born in st.
Louis, where her parents, both actors
on the stage, were then living. Mr..
Field was a journalist as well as an
actor, and at that time was publish
ing his sparkling daily paper the Rev
ellie. He could trace his direct descent
from Nathaniel Field, one of the Eliza
bethan dramatists and the friend Of
Shakespeare An old friend of Mr..
and Mrs. Fields visiting them when
Kate was about seven years old thus
speaks of her:
"a little maiden, with 1.-THE, slender
form, great blue-gray eyes, with the
fairest of skins and a well-developed
head covered with a mass of curls,
brown, tinted with gold,-I see now her
bonny bright face, and hear her gay
| laugh as her papa teased her about
some nonsense. For while it was evil
dent that she was wrapped deep in
the tender mothers heart ii was even
more evident that she was her fathers
| idol"
Not strictly beautiful. Kate Field
had always that delicate grace, more
beautiful than beauty-an exquisite
charm, as indefinable as a strain of
music She was pre-eminently "a spir-
! it finely touched, but 10 fine issues" In
her childhood she was placed in school
near Boston, and she studied under
private tutors here and there. In her
early girlhood she was taken to Flor
| ence, and there placed under the care
of Miss Blagden (who occupied the Vii
! la Belosguardo immortaliZed in 'Au-
rora Leigh") where for five years she
| studied music and the languages Her
aim at this time was the lyric stage,
and meeting her, Bayard Taylor re-
marked to a friend that here was
girl with the most remarkable literary
promise, who yet was possessed to go
upon the operate stage. A fall from
a horse obliged her to relinquish this
purpose, and to literature she turned,
writing at this time a series of ex-
quisite papers for the Atlantic Month
| ly. on Walter Savage Lander, on Eng
| lish Authors in Florence" on Mrs.
! Browning, Ristori "A Conversation on
! the Stage" and other matters Of life
| or criticism During these years she
was under most stimulating influences.
| The gifted girl was the idol Of choice
group. residents and those who came
and went. including Landor, the
! Brownings the Trollopes, Dali, On
caro- the Italian poet, George Eliot and
! Mr.. Lewes. and others. George Eliot
! took great interest in her-an inter
est that deepened in later years to
permanent friendship. Vedder painted
| her poFtrait-a picture now in the pos
| session of the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts. These dawning years Of the
girls life tempt one TO linger over so
fair a picture, with the purple hills and
marvellous sunsets of Florence for its
| background but life and stories must
| always move on. AT this time Kate
! Field was considered by her uncle,
Milton B. Stanford a Newport million
aire. as his heiress, a prospect she sac
rificed out of her patriotism and her
intense love of justice TO the colored
race. The war came on, and she began
a series of press letters, espousing the
Union side. Her uncle's sympathies
were with the South and her loyalty
caused her the loss of this inheritance.
a matter she never regretted; and in