Produced by Charles Aldarondo Keren Vergon Charles Bidwelland PG Distributed ProofreadersTHE WORKS OF EUGENE FIELDVol IXTHE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE OF EUGENE FIELD    SONGS AND OTHER VERSEINTRODUCTIONIt is about impossible for a man to get rid of his Puritan grandfathersand nobody who has ever had one has ever escaped his Puritan grandmotherso said Eugene Field to me one sweet April day when we talked together ofthe things of the spirit It is one of his own confessions that he wasfond of clergymen Most preachers are supposed to be helplessly tied upwith such a set of limitations that there are but a few jokes which theymay tolerate and a small number of delights into which they may enterDoubtless many a cheerful soul likes to meet such of the clergy in orderthat the worldling may feel the contrast of liberty with bondage anddemonstrate by bombardment of wit and humor how intellectually thin arethe walls against which certain forms of skepticism and fun offend EugeneField did not belong to these He called them a tribe which do unseemlybeset the saints Nobody has ever had a more numerous or loving clientageof friendship among the ministers of this city than the author of TheHoly Cross and The Little Yaller Baby Those of this number who wereclosest to the fullhearted singer know that beneath and within all hisexquisite wit and ludicrous railleryso often directed against theshallow formalist or the unctuous hypocritethere were an aspirationtoward the divine and a desire for what is often slightingly calledreligious conversation as sincere as it was resistless within him Myown first remembrance of him brings back a conversation which ended in aprayer and the last sight I had of him was when he said only four daysbefore his death Well then we will set the day soon and you will comeout and baptize the childrenSome of the most humorous of his letters which have come under theobservation of his clerical friends were addressed to the secretary ofone of them Some little business matters with regard to his readings andthe like had acquainted him with a better kind of handwriting than he hadbeen accustomed to receive from his pastor and noting the finelyappended signature per   Field wrote a most effusivelycomplimentary letter to his ministerial friend congratulating him uponthe fact that emanations from his office or parochial study were nowreadable as far West as Buena Park At length nothing having appeared inwriting by which he might discover that   was a lady of his ownacquaintance she whose valuable services he desired to recognize was madethe recipient of a series of beautifully illuminated and daintily writtenletters all of them quaintly begun continued and ended inecclesiastical terminology most of them having to do with affairs inwhich the two gentlemen only were primarily interested the larger numberof them addressed in English to Brother  in care of the ministerand yet others directed in LatinAd Fratrem    In curam Sanctissimi patris  doctoris divinitatis    Apud Institutionem Armouriensem          CHICAGO              ILLINOISAb Eugenic Agro peccatore misereEven the mailcarrier appeared to know what fragrant humor escaped fromthe envelopeHere is a specimen inclosureBROTHER  I am to read some of my things before the senior class ofthe Chicago University next Monday evening As there is undoubtedly moreor less jealousy between the presidents of the two south side institutionsof learning I take it upon myself to invite the lord bishop ofArmourville our holy père to be present on that occasion in hispontifical robes and followed by all the dignitaries of his see includingyourself The processional will occur at 8 oclock sharp and therecessional circa 930 Pax vobiscum Salute the holy Father with a kissand believe me dear brotherYour fellow lamb in the old AdamEUGENIO AGROA Lamb SEALThe First Wednesday after Pay daySeptember 11 1895On an occasion of this ladys visit to the Southwest where Fieldsfancied association of cowboys and miners was formed she was fortunateenough to obtain for the decoration of his library the ratherextraordinary Indian blanket which often appears in the sketches of hisloved workshop and for the decoration of himself a very fine necktie madeof the skin of a diamondback rattlesnake Some other friend had given hisboys a vociferant burro After the presentation was made though for twoyears he had met her socially and at the pastors office he wrote to thesecretary in acknowledgment as followsDEAR BROTHER  I thank you most heartily for the handsome specimens ofheathen manufacture which you brought with you for me out of the land ofNod Mrs Field is quite charmedwith the blanket but I think I preferthe necktie the Old Adam predominates in me and this pelt of the serpentappeals with peculiar force to my appreciation of the vicious and thesinful Nearly every morning I don that necktie and go out and twist thesupersensitive tail of our intelligent imported burro until the profanebeast burthens the air with his ribald protests I shall ask the holyfatherPere  to bring you with him when he comes again to pay aparochial visit to my house I have a fair and gracious daughter intowhose companionship I would fain bring so circumspect and diligent a youngman as the holy father represents you to be Therefore without fear ortrembling accompany that saintly man whensoever he says the word Therebyyou shall further make me your debtor I send you every assurance ofcordial regard and I beg you to salute the holy father for me with akiss and may peace be unto his house and unto all that dwell thereinAlways faithfully yoursEUGENE FIELDCHICAGO MAY 26 1892He became acquainted with the leading ladies of the Aid Society of thePlymouth Church and was thoroughly interested in their work Partly inorder to say Goodbye before his leaving for California in 1893 andpartly no doubt that he might continue this humorous correspondence ashe did he hunted up an old number of Petersons Magazine