The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-11-12
THE LATE KATE FIELD
IN THE CAREER OF A No
TABLE, STRONG CHARACTER,
Told I'm an Appreciative Way by Miss
Lillian Whiting, an Intimate Asso-
ciate and Personal Friend.

Miss Kate Field, whose death occurred
two or three years ago In Honolulu. where
she had gone a newspaper correspondent
was a notable and picturesque character.
Her career was eventful, her personality
vivid and she made friends everywhere. Miss
Lillian Whiting, q Boston writer, was an
intimate associate and has written a biog-
raphy OF Miss Field, which is being brought
out by Little Brown * Co., OF Boston
Some advance sheets show the character or
the work and leave no doubt that the his
tory OF this representative American woman
will prove very interesting even 10 readers
who had no personal acquaintance with her.
The biographer says. in introduction:
''She was prominently woman who inn
pressed the imagination. She aboundSd IN
spiritual energy. Delicate in physique, ar
tstic in temperament, exquisite In taste,
lofty in all poetic ane heroic aspiration. she
had in the utmost degree tnat intense and
finely wrought nature that leaves In some
form or other its haunting impress Kate
Field was made of spirit. and fire, and dew,
and her tenacity of endurance was signal
illustration Of the power OF the mind over
the body"
Some excerpts going TO show the variety
of her experiences are made from the pages
1t may be remarked, incidentally. as mat
ter OF local interest, that the volume is in
scribed by Miss Whiting to T. SANFORD
Beaty, whose nODle aflo generous
ship gladdened the life of Kate Field"
In her early life Miss Field went abroad
and met many noted people, at Rome be-
coming intimately acquainted with the
Brownings, the Trollopes and Charlotte
Cushman. She also made the acquaintance
of &c Eliot, and one of her letters con-
tain" passage concerning the great
nov nd others:
u night We went 70 the Trollopes and
thef~ met the authoress OF Adam Bede,
and Mr. Lewes, the Life-of-Goethe man.
Miss Evans, or Mrs. Lewes. is a woman
whose whole face is OF the horse make, but
there is something interesting about her,
and you feel impressed with her Importance.
Tney say she converses finely. she Is very
Trollope. / liked Mr. Lewes who Is a very
ugly man, but very charming in CONVERSE
ton. so that you forget his looks, and Mr..
OBSTINATE John Bull, though a young man.
/ thought TO myself, Shall i ever have the
plsasure,, Of LOCKING upon you In the light Of
Florence their home. returning here in the
autumn. L hear that Dickens Is making
somely for his wife and lives very quietly
indeed. Ii is reported of Mrs. Stowe that,
having desired 10 know Dickens, he gave a
acceptance. Later the Duchess of Suther-
land desired her company and Mrs. Stowe
b h1 h Sa se esea him
afterwards and he refused to receive her,
After her return TO America she entered
upon a career as newspaper correspondent
and lecturer. About this time came an Of
fer of marriage from an artist. whom she
had known some years and for whom she
had a girlish fancy. but a man whom Miss
Whiting describes as vacillating and un-
worthy of the woman be admired. His let
Tor IN a
reply until May. and her response contains
the following curious psssase:
1.-The letter you wrote last December
ought TO have been written in 1852. This
was in 1865 You were a moral
Now you know you were; therefore. / shall
say nothing further because don't care
That episode has passed out of my life;
and is as dead TO me as If IL were buried
six feet under ground. The friendship L
entertained for you is very sensihly d'min-
isned Dy now q Sn same time certain
respect for man who even at the eleventh
hour will voluntarily enter the confessional
and show himself In his true colors.'
She also offers to be friend TO him as
before, but is evidently Indifferent as 10
whether he accepts the old position or not.
This man, says the biographer. died in the
same year with Miss Field.
On one occasion she wanted TO lecture IN
Plymouth Church and Henry Ward Beecher
wrote to her thus:
'If the Plymouth Church was mine, you
should have IL just often as you wanted
IL and free too. But except 10 preach in.
IL is not mine alas. but Is held by trustees,
who have TO extend TO the secuiaritles' ana
filthy lucre. But two facts IL behooyes me
to mention: First that, as i believe the
church has engagements for lectures on the
dates YOU specify; and then lectures are a
dead failure I'm Brooklyn-not a single one
has begun 20 pay expenses are you ricn.
Do Won deal I'm superfiuous money? Do You
want TO use some OF IL? Yes. Dickens sent
me word after speaking In our church never
to build another as u s t b,s no, dy ges So
have noticed the very favorable words pt
you and your lecture In the papers,
The purchase Of the ground where John
Brown is buried was due to Miss Fields
efforts. During a visit in the North Woods
she found that the farm. then occupied by
a distant relative of Browns. was for SALE
docs that plot OF land go with the
farm?' ] asked. looking from the window
where John Browns body lay mouldrins
"-Oh, no That is reserved by Mrs.
Brown. There are 24i acres. and N.co
Telling this story. the 5000 were, within
forty-eight hours. subscribed. twenty per-
and Mrs. Waterson tnee Quincy another.
giving each 500. and thus was John Browns
farm purchased TO, be held historic
ground; this act Of national justice being
entirely due to Kate Field.
Miss Field always believed in the gospel
of good gowns. and she writes that on one
OF her early consultations with Sir Morell
Mackenzie he exclaimed 10 her:
What a pretty hat you have on. I've
tried TO describe IL TO my wife. It's the pref
tiest hat I've seen this season or course
this led 10 my saying that I'd be happy TO
show IL TO Mrs. Mackenzie. He rushed up
stairs. dragged her down. and II ended IN
eeption day. Here strangers call first"
Wasn't 1t funny! she ADDS
Her lecture on Charles Dickens contains
the following eloquent passage:
Dickens the unconmercial traveller for
tie great house of Human Interest Broth
ers. has made hts last journey. The light
Of Gads hill has gone OFT: the light OF ths
orld Is dimmed - He lies with Eng
lands best and greatest, with tuneful Han-
del gazing heayenward above him, win
Garrick by his side, with Johnson al his
feet. with Dryden. Chaucer, Spenser and
of kings and queens. philosophers and gen.
erals. 10 sing hosannaS as they welcome him
TO this city OF the dead. But mightier q
that congregation OF living. humble souls
silently filling the sombre abbey from noon
TO night. treadiBg lightly lest the dead be
be walked, casting flowers into the still open
grave until the dark void is made bright
and beautiful IL with the bloom Of ever
lasting peace and hope. Last 10 linger 10
woman, listening To the voice OF memory
as IL repeats the words OF him who lies
so silently al her fest: % woman. Goc-be-