The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-12
l.\ ER. AL G. FIELD, "King of Black ll\Wll face Comedians was in gor-
 " NS 0eotie bup,ar mheu Uap+ iyr fa

N nR. AL G. FIELD, "King of Black l llWIl face Comedians" was in a gor-
 SuS geous humor when went in to sec him yesterday. almost as gorgeous
 as the day itself.
 l There was a perfectly good reason; in fact, there were two perfectly good req sens, the first of which was that since tho opening of his big minstrel show one month ago there has been hardly a sim gle vacant seat in any playhouse where he has appeared, and you know that helps "some;" the second was that Tor four long. Novely, summer months he en- joyed the beauties of his big, prosperous, beautiful farm, Maple Villa" up in Ohio on the Olentangy river, and that gave him moro pleasure than all the success of all the minstrel shows in the world | combined
 l MT. Field is one of my pet hobbies; he's so nice and big and wholesome and good natured, and one of the very best '.in- terviewees'' extant, which is something,
 may say, en passant, in the life of a newspaper person.
 Recalling in my short career such mo- | 1 George Wilson, George Primrose. Honey
 Boy' Evans and the rest. MT. Field ai- ways looms high in my mind as one or the very incest of them all. pereniaily young, and always deliciously happy. l Now when I said at the beginning that MT. Field was in a happy state of mind, when I saw him yesterday. I didn' [ mean to convey that he was smiling; on | the other hand, frequently when he is happiest he is soberest; in fact, instead of the smile which must como off. quite to the contrary, he is serious, dignified.
 and very reserved.
 1 "When I saw you three years ago. MT. Field began by saying, T was work ! ing on my pet scheme and I'm still at work on it now, and that is my farm" :"
 "I told you then you were farmer at heart" I observed facetiously.
 "Yes," replied the big minstrel man, it is true. And this farm | movement seems to have struck lot of other people just as 1t has struck me, | for within radius of a few miles of my farm, there are a dozen well known men l of business, capitalists, bankers. pro- fessional men and otherwise who have settled on beautiful estates and become real farmers
 Up in my state Ohio, which is not a reproducing state, except for corn, potatoes and hay MT. Field continued. "the chief industry Is the dairy business. Near my farm there is a young woman who runs one of the most successful and jup-to-date dairies in the country; she has over B head of Jersey cattle. and makes g barrel of money out of her dairy. Recently have added to my
 dairy about 10 head of the most beau 10 cows from Senator Pomerene; cows
 which he imported directly from the Isle
 of Jersey. They are beauties.'
 When the high cost of living problem,
 became so dominant after war was de.
 clared, and we were asked by MT
 Hoover to conserve and reduce conditioni
 to practical basis, I made use of sec.
 tion of my farm which has proved to b.
 8 most valuable and interesting asset
 Reading from time to time how the gov ernment was making suggestions in va | which might be converted into lake : where I could have fish of all kinds built splendid dam, work on which was
 begun last December. A wooded tract o , land was cleared of timber; a rustic
 bridge skirting the north side, gives {
 picturesque aspect to the surroundings
 a fringe of weeping willows encircle thu
 lake, and wooded hills surround it. Ths
 location chosen Is beautiful wooded ra 2 vine and the lake is fed by ever ;flowins
 natural springs of unusually pure water ) The concrete wallis of the dam are 25 fee , in height; the foundations are seven fee under ground; the depth of water in th' 1 lake is from I to B feet. Both the stat, , and United States fisheries bureaus ar, ] greatly interested in my venture, ant State Game Warden Speaks has planted one shipment of fish from the stat hatcheries in the lake. A representative , of the United States fisheries has exam g ined the lake and shipment of 300 5 black bass has been made. Besides, W, ? have sun fish, yellow perch. brim. croppie ' which is a fine Mississippi river fish : There are two kinds, salt and fresl {. water, the same being known as Spots on the Virginia coast and the Chesapeak : bay. By large number number of fisl 7 being In Willow lake, expect to be abl to comply with the suggestions from tn
 Secretary of Agriculture of the Unite : States, MT. Houston, to assist largely i solving the high cost of living problem B by using fish instead of meat.
 My farm is great joy to me and yo ' can imagine how I appreciate 1t when k tell you that last Saturday I celebrate r the thirty-first anniversary of my min t strel show organization" MT. Field said
 ''Thirty-one years on the road woul
 make a man appreciate home an
 something of the beauties of nature, don
 you think? And it hasn't always bee velvet with me, either, this minstrel shol business In the early days. I had m