Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1902-02-11
EUGENE FIELD.
Sest Work Was Done in Poverty Bis
Meager Library

pcat Work was Done ID EOFefty-- DIS
Meager Library,
"There were two Fiells--the au.
thor and the man, says Slason
Thompson, in the biography Of Eu-
gene Field which the ScriLners have
just published, "and it is the purpose
of this study to reproduce the latteras
he appeared to those who kaew and
loved him for what he was personally
for the beneftof those who have only
known him through tbemedium Of his
writings.
"In doing this it is far from my in
tention and farther from my friend
ship to disturb any Of the preconcep-
tions that have been formed in the
perusal Of his works. These are the
creations Of something entirely apart
from the man whose genius produced
them. His fame as an author rests on
his printed books. and viii endure as
surely as the basis Of his art was true,
his methods severely simple, and his
spirit gentle and pure. In his daily
work the dominant note was that of
fun and conviviality."
1t is more than probable that Eu-
gene Field chose Chicago for the place
of his permanent abode after deliber-
ately weighing the advantages and
limitations of its situation with refer
ence to his literary career He felt
that it was as fareast as he could make
mis- home without coming within the
influence Of those social and literary
conventions that have squeezed So
much of genuine American flavor out
Of literature,
Gle had received many tempting
offers from New York newspapers be-
fore coming TO Chicago, and after our
acquaintance do not believe a year
went by hat Field did not decline an
engagement, personally rendered by
Mr.. Dana, to 90 to the New York Sun.
at salary nearly double that he was
receiving here
"But, as he told Julian Ralph on
one occasion. he would not live in, or
write for, the east. For as he put it.
there was more liberty and fewer lit
erary fellers' out west, and man had
more chance to be judged on his mer-
its and 'growup with the country
Practically all Fields scholarship
and mental equipment, so far as they
were obtained from books, were ac-
quired after he came to Chicago, and
he was never lifted above the ragged
edge of impecuniosity until he began
to receive royalties from the popular
edition of ga Little Book of Western
Verse and "A Little Book of Profit
able Tales
"His domestic life was spent in
flats or rented houses until less than
five months before his death. The
photographs taken few months be-
fore his death of Eugene Fields home
and the beautiful library in which he
wrote are ghastly trayesties on theno-
madic character of his domestic ar
rangements for many years before
June, 1895-dreams for which he
longed, but only lived to realize 70,
four brief months.
"All the best Field wrote previous
to 189O-aud it includes the best he
ever wrote except The Love Affairs Of
a Bibliomaniac'-was written in
room towhich many a box stallis pala-
tial, and his sole library was a dilap-
idated edition of Bartlett's Familiar
Quotations. Cruden's Concordance
of the Bible, and well-thumbed copy
of the King James version ofthe Bible
He detested the revised version. The
genius Of this man at this time die
not depend on scholarship or sur
roundings, but on the companionshir
of his fellows and the unconvention-
alitv of his home life"