The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-11
PRACTICAL JOKES OF A POET.
How Eugene Field Amused Himself
and His Friends.

From Current Literature.
In the aftermath of "reminiscences of Eu-
gene Field. of which the newspapers have
been filled appear the following anecdotes
of the western poet by Francis Wilson, the
comedian:
Field was an inveterate practical Joker
but his jokes had the rare quality of en-
dearing him all the more to those upon
whom they Were practiced. 1t was wag
gerry pure, but not always simple, for il
was oftentimes of the most elaborate char
acter. fancifully conceived and carefully
wrought. 1t seldom stung, and it rarely
failed to tickle. One felt f1attered to be
the object of so much time, attention and
skill as his conceits frequently involved.
Field was very fond of the proprietor of
a certain underground bookshop in Chi
cage, and the feeling was cordially recip
rocatcd. He would go down to this place
of an evening. When the doors were closed
the proprietor and he would repair to the
back of the shop and Field would put his
feet upon the table and sing old songs and
tell stories at the top of his tremendous
voice. He said of this friend with genial
satire, that he had In him 1.-The making of
a delightfully."- INSCRIPTIONS and successful
robber" trip from his home the
north side to the city proper always in
cluded visit to the Book Shop" which
meant mpromptu utterances with congen-
ial folk on books and collectors Indeed,
it was in this underground shop, at the
corner of Madison and State streets, that
the gathering began of the Saints and Sim
ners' Club. Field would come in his boyish,
breezy way and talk at the customers,
fashioning his remarks to their supposed
character of which, as ii often proved,
he was an excellent offhand judge.
Now he would stiffen the back of
strait laced dame by demanding, in a loud
voice, an unexpurgated copy of Mrs. He
mans poems; or. if the visitor scanned
the theological books, perhaps Field would
declare that Paine's Age of Reason"
was orthodox by comparison with the re-
hgious belief to which he surmised the
newcomer adhered. This rarely failed in
its effect upon the newcomer. During one
of these visits the proprietor was away,
and Field, finding a print of him, wrote
under the picture in his microscopic hand
writing:
This is the robber as sure as you're born
Against whose guile fain would warn
The Bibliomaniac, tattered and torn,
Who pauses to look at some secondhand
book
That lies on the shelf all covered with
dust
And is marked -Four dollars, for cash, no
trust"
In a gloomy corner that smells Of must.
Down in the shops that Morris built
Eugene Field.
This he carefully laid away between the
leaves of a book, where 1t was discovered
some days later.
In "a Little Book of Western Verse"
belonging to the robber," he wrote:
Believe me, by all those endearing old
charms
With which your quaint shop is pro-
Vided,
I shall honor the trade by whose help
have made
A collection of freaks that's derided
And, if you believe me. then I've to ask
That till Fortune betimes readjust me,
With dollars and dimes for my yarns ana
my rhymes
You shah continue to trust me-
Here is the uniquely humorous way I'm
which Field addressed the envelope of a
letter 10 his friend, Edmund Clarence
Stedman
There is a plaintive ditty
For e. c. Stedman New York city;
In Broadway, 66. fourth story
You'n find the same in all his glory.
So take this packet to that Steadman.
Or, by St. Hocus, you're a dead man.
Field was very fertile in jocular inven-
ton and very swift TO seize upon a sug-
gestion. He was one of the journalists
who once accompanied Carl Schurz from
ST. Louis on a political campaign through