The San Francisco call., 1897-11-14

At the very outset of his newspaper
career his inclinations led him to the So
ciety OF the greenroom. OF Western
critics and reviewers he was the first
favorite among dramatic people. Helpful
kind and enthusiastic, he was rarely severe
and never captous. Though in no sense
an analyst he was an amusing reviewer
and a rreat advertiser. Once he conceived
an attachment for an actor or actress his
generous mind set about bringing such
fortunate person more conspicuously int
public notice. Emma Abbotts baby,
which she never had and of whose in
vented existence he wrote at least book
ful of startling and funny adventures;
Francis Wilson's legs, Sol Smith Kussell's
Yankee yarns, Billy Cranes contes drola-
tlques, Mo ljeska's SPICY wjtticisms-these
| and other jocular pufferies, quo ted and
read everywhere with relish tor years
We're among his hobbyhorse perform
ances, tegun at that time and continued
long after he had settled down in the must
and dust OF bibliomania. He mad
vague and wavering ambition to write
comedy or libretto, which was restrained
by fear of public failure that never
teazed him in any other direction his
! fancy followed. Once he wrote far into
the second act of libretto, The Begun"
then timorously threw it aside. The title
did service atterward for the first comic
opera prod uced by Harry Is. Smith and
Reginald &c Koyen.
Fields abilities were diverted into new
and deeper channel, and at the same time
| concentrated, in 1883. Stricken by dys-
pepsia so severely that he fell into a
state OF chronic depression and alarm, he
eagerly accepted the timely offer OF Mr..
Melville E. Stone-then surrounding him
self with the best Western talent he
could procure-of virtually nde pendent
desk on the Chicago Daily News. There
| he quickly regained health, though he
| never recovered from his a1lment. Com
ing Immediately under the influence of
John BaIlantyne and Slasson Thompson,
respectively managing editor aid chief
editorial writer OF the News-the one
possessed OF Scotch gravity and jude-
ment and the other of fine literary taste
and discrimina tion-the character of his
work quickly modified, and his free-and-
easy, irregular habits succG mbed 10 studi-
Gus application and metho ical labors.
Ballantyne used the blue pencil tenderly,
| first attacking Fields trick 'abrlcat tions
and suppressng the levity which found
vent the preceding years IN such mocking
| tinalities IN sentimental verse as:
Oh how lovingly stroked those tresses
in the happy days gone by;
Now / strike them every meal time
In the butter or the pie.
And discouraging the spirit of the grim
| acier out of which had been evolved such
versltied tragedies of childhood as "a lit
! tie peach in the orchard grew" | doubt
whe ther any BODY ever apprt cated as did
Field himself the motive and merit of the
latter BIT of rhyme. For publishing it
subsequently in his initial volume OF
! poetry lie was rather roughly criticized by
some fastidious book reviewers, who re-
garded it as a sample of coarse humor,
vulgarly placed. He himself priced it
from the child's point Of view, as grew
some fiction with a fearful moral. He
| wrote it as terrible warning to childish
| perversity, and not for farce comedy in
| terpolation-its fate. l was with him the
| night he heard Marie Jansen sing it, after
| Harry Smith of Washington had set it
to music with the plantation refrain,
Listen to My Tale of Woe" and | shall
never forget he Rabelaisan disgust he ex-
pressed on leaving the theater, though
the audience arplauded uproariously.
The everyday practical joker and enter
tanning mimic of Denver recoiled in Chi
cago from the reputation of Merry An
| drew, the prosnect of gaining which he
| disrelished ana feared. He pre- ferred to
invent photographic pIeasantries for the
world at large and indulge his personal
humor in the office, at home or with per-
sonal friends. Gayety was his element.
lie lived, loved, inspired and translated
! il; in the doing which latter he wrote
without strain or embarrassment reams Of
prose satire, contes risque and Hudibrastic
verse.
Fields instructive penetration of char
acter was remarkable. He had a talent
for instantly detecting foibe or pretense
in others, coupled with the ability TO re-
prove or punish with ridicule. He de-
tested sham and delighted in faying it, no
matter where found. Consideration OF the
power place or riches of the subject was
no deterrent His emotions. seemingly
volatile, were deep-Seated and vivid,
though veneered with sportiveness. While
he could not restrain that feline malice
that cat-pawed the frailty of friend and
! reveled in the facial min cries which
threw wondering babes into convul-
| sions of tears, he cherished the ten