Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-01-15
EUGENE WAS A JOKER
THE GREAT OBJECT OF FIELDS LIFE
WAS TO "HAvE FUN WITH PEOPLE,"


Eugene Fields father died while he
was at Williams college, and Professor
John W. Burgess of Knox college, at
Galesburg, Ills, was appointed his
guardian Field staid there two years
and then went TO the State university
at Columbia, Mo. In 1871, having at
tanned bis majority, he came into the
$50, 900 which he had inherited from
his father He took one of his intimate
friends, the brother of the woman be
afterward married, and went to Europe.
81 had a lovely time" he said once
in telling his experience to friend. Il
just swatted the money around. just
think of it, boy of 81, without father
OF mother, and with 100000. 1t was a
lovely experience. l saw more things
and did more things than are dreamed
of in your philosophy, Horatio. l had
money paid it out for experience
it was plenty. Experience was lying
around loose -
Field staid abroad until the $50, 900
was spent. Then he came home and
went to work That was in 1878. 1t
had taken him two years to spend his
fortune, but he had done it SO complete
ly that he had to sell his books, keeping
only the choicest and rarest, in order to
live until he could make living for
himself. He went into newspaper work
and Joined the staff of the st. Louis
Eua,,i,,r TO,,rv,a1 Ha
became city editor, but he didn't like it.
He couldn't indulge the propensity to
"have fun with people, which made
him known eventually as one Of the
most incorrigible practical jokers in the
country. Then he went up to st. Joseph
and became city editor of The Gazette.
There he married, in 1878, Miss Julia
S. Comstock. who survives him. He
stuck to his desk in The Gazette office
for two years, and then went back to
the st. Louis Journal as writer of
editorial paragraphs. That was the be-
ginning of his work in the line which
he used to call my own" He wrote
his first verse for The journal. 1t was
Christmas Treasures, beginning with
the stanza:
count my treasures DER with care
The little toy my darling knew,
A little sock of faded hue,
A little lock Of golden hair.
Then he went to the Kansas City
Times as managing editor, and there he
wrote the Little PEACH" which was
set to music and sung all over the coun-
try. In 1881 he went to the Denver Trib-
une, where he staid until he joined
the Chicago News staff in 1883. He
went to The News under contract to
write what he pleased, but he was to
furnish column day of it. His col
umn, "Sharps and Flats" was widely
known, but the strain of the work told
on him. He was facile workman and
produced great deal of copy easily,
but he always felt the burden of that
him. Yet he never got away from it.
He had repeated offers from eastern
newspapers and magazines. One great
New York daily offered him his own
price to join it's editorial staff. Always,
at least twice year, these tempting
offers were made to him, but he steadi-
ly refused them. He was in his element
in the west, he used to say, and he
meant to stay there There was no ele-
ment in the east, only an atmosphere,
and that was mighty thin. He wanted
an element in which he could tumble
around and yell without falling back in
fit for want of breath. He was essen
tiQllu a hi 90
were with the western ways of life and
his likings were for them. He was fear
full of himself in the east. He always
felt the greater formality, and feared
that he would be hanpered by the con-
ditions here. So whatever the attrac-
ton and inducements offered he invari-
ably refused to give up his western free
dom. He wanted to do as he pleased,
and as long as he could he proposed to
do it. So he staid with The News and
Record, as the morning edition of that
paper became.
Field used to say of himself that he
was newspaper man and nothing else,
but it was by his verse that he became
most widely known. He published in
all nine books. The best known of them
are "a Little Book of Western Verse,
"a Little Book Of Profitable Tales,
"a Second Book Of Verse; and "With
Trumpet and Drum. - Besides these he
published an introduction to "Stone's
First Editions of American Authors, !"
"The Holy Cross and Other Tales and
"Love Songs of Childhood" of which
the first edition was limited to 106 spe-
cially prepared copies. A second edition
of this has been made since, and there
has just come from the press the first
public edition of Echoes From the Sa-
bine Farm" which was brought out
first by Francis Wilson, the actor, who
was great friend of Fields. III beau
tiful edition prepared only for private
distribution. Some Of his work ranks
with the best that has ever been done
His poems, particularly those of child
hood, have been printed in nearly every
newspaper from Unalaska to Johannes
burg. One of them, "Wynken, Blynken
and Nod" is little short of being the
best child poem in the language.