The evening times., 1896-06-25
KATE FIELDS HEART.
Jeanette Glider Says She Was the
Kindest Woman She Ever Knew

Jeanette Glider Says She Was the
kindest Woman She Ever Knew.
One OF tile very first OF contemporary
womens names that Remember In connec-
neCtion with literature is that OF Kate
Field. writes JeaDnettG Glider in the Critic.
A copy of her pen Photogra phs of Charles
Dickens Readings" came into my hands as
long go as 1868, and it gave me thrill,
for had heard that she was a young woman
II suppose she was about twenty-eigbt at
the Tune. a nd the name of a young womaa
on the title pa ge of book seemed to me a
great and glorious thing.
Many years after l met Miss Field and
came TO know her well. She was woman
who had her enemies, but she also had a
great many friends. Her enemies were
those who did not understand her; those
who did understand her were her friends.
She was peculiar. because IL is peculiar
to be plainspoken. but she was one of the
kiDdest-hearted women that / ever knew.
would have been better off, and she would
not have had to work as hard as she did
during thela years of herlife.
When L first turned my attention to
journalism with serious intent l talked
the matter over with Miss Kate Field, as |
suppose dozens OF other young women had
done before. She gave me good advice, u nd
she gave me more. She gave me q letter
ofintroductiont to Mr.. James Gordon Bennett.
who at once made me position ON the
editorial sta ff of he Herald.
good many yeursiater Miss Field wanted
to establish a paper of her own. and was
the first person whom she consulted in the
matter. Here the tables were turned; she
had given me my earliest advice. and row
l was to advise her. am afraid, however.
that she did not follow all my advice
when she established Kate Fields Wash
ington, for l told her that money and a
good business manager were essential.
Miss Field was aggressive, as most peo-
pie with very decided opinions are; but
she did not know how to take care of her
self. Anybody could get the better OF her
in business matters though She thought her
self very shrewd.
She had left literature for awhile and
gone into n commercial enterprise know
as the Cooperative Dress Association.
which began In a blaze OF glory and ended
in bankruptcy. Miss Field being the greatest
sufferer. for she had put time. money and
great deal OF hard work into it.
She was good musician, an accom-
plished linguist, and an exceptionally
clever woman. Although she was the
daughter of actors, she did not inherit much
of their dramatic talent. Perhaps If she
might have made Il good actress. but when
she essayed the role of Peg Woffington in
this city she had been too long lecturer
to make a good player. As lecturer she
had the stage to herself, as an actress she
had TO share il with Others. Moreover, she
could never sink her her own individuaityin
that of the character she played. She was
more successful in the musical mono!oGu.
that she gave in the style of G1orge Gross
NTH, which was bright performance anu
deserved a better success than it had.
1t was as a newspaper correspondent
that Miss Field shoBe Ia best advantage.
She had quick observation, keen sense
of huinor and facile pen. In the early
da ys of her career there was no more popu-
lar newspaper writer in America. But To-
ward the end she got worn out: she had
worked too hard and things had not gone
well with her. The ole snap and spiris
were missing. But she worked on with as
much energy as when she was young and
strong.