The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-02-22
MILK AND MINsTRELsY


The Times Union prints the follow
ing about AL g. Field, whose nation
famous minstrel troupe will appear at
the Temple theater next Saturday
night:
One of the best known men in the
United States IF America is probably
Al G. Field, Substantial citizen and
enc time mayor of Cleveland, o., and
for twenty-eight years past at the
head of an amusement enterprise that
has toured the country annually. en-
tertaining hundreds of thousands of
people. Al Field, as Snowman, un-
doubtedly holds the record for con-
tinuous service to the public, and in
all the years his "show" has been
clean, clever and pelasing. But it is
not enough for Al Field to have done
his part in politics and amusements,
the "call of the land" has never been
absent from his ears. although like
many another boy. years ago he ran
away from farm and joined the cir
Gus. At that time he couldn't see the
poetry in the woodpile or appreciate
the barn-yard symphony at feeding
time
Field quit the farm. and although
unsuccessful in his first step toward
the bright light soon tried it again,
and succeeded in starting minstrel
show that has survived all other en-
tertainments of its kind and prom
ises to go on indefinitely or as long
as he chooses to devote a part of his
time TO the enterprise. But a part of
the time is what he is giving now
adays-the best that is in him while
the season is on, and no shirking the
work or slackening his interest in the
quality and manner of offering-but
in summer, when the show is closed
Minstrel Field becomes a dairyman,
and a fine dairyman at that. On his
splendid and most attractive dairy and
stock farm called Maple Grove, near
Cleveland, he has a herd of Jerseys
that are as fine as can be raised any
where, and this is the time he likes
best.
Field has made a wonderful career
as Minstrel and a producer. for he
is both and has only let a single
season pass as yet without putting on
the "blackface and taking a part In
the show" and may get back at it al
most any day the notion strikes him,
but the farm is really his home. And
he is not only finding comfort and
pleasure in rural surroundings but is
making the dairy-farm a real benefit,
for himself and his family and neigh
bors and customers. The dairy cows
are not merely ornamental, but use
full, and the milk is needed in Cleve-
land and sells for good price.
And all of this suggests that no
matter how far away one may get
from it the lands call can be heard
and men turn to the country life after
having seen and participated in the
most intimate of the city's work and
play. The farms the thing, after all,
and the man who can at least spend a
part of his time In the country has a
broader view, and pleasanter smile,
and is generally more full of the milk
of human kindness than the kings
and princes or others in high posi-
tions and yet condemned to stay apart
from nature. We could be sorry that
Dairyman Field has not chosen to
establish his farm home in Florida,
for here are great opportunities, ana
Florida would have been glad to call
him citizen, but it is good to find
that this man who has worked for so
many years to please everybody else
has chance to please himself for a
part of the time. 1t is a good combi-
nation, milk and minstrelsy, and the
public can well know it.