The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 14, 1897, Page 29

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 29 MEMORIES OF EUGENE FIELD-POET WRITER. GOOD FELLOW Certain events of the few weeks past, | mellow mood to demand an ex hough melancholy in themselves. bring | ana finding himselfin possession, hamor- | mind the skill and sanz froid of Lugene | ously proceeded to destroy ail the copy in | eld as a practical joker. Charles A. |sizht. Having gratified this weird sense | Dana, between whom and the master poet | of the ridiculous he denuded the cesks of | of childhood’s world he has joined on the | their litter, broke all the pens and peacils, | other shore existed a bond formed of | and ended by toning the picture of edito- | mutual respect and admiration, aided | rial desolation with the violet cbntents of Field in perpetrating on the critics of | all th bottles he could find, e ceneral | Chicago eleven years ago a humorous J about that time the fu raud the victims will never iorget or ! of ti rces in the great Chi 0 | T ine emeute was in the state of philanthropic | 0dd moments for weeks and weeks were | ecstacy supposed 1o be fixed and un- spen preparing i i alterable with such geniuses as the re- consisted of n pamber Of T form leader he afterward vanquished. He was on a strike, and a_destructive at that, from the scene cf which he escaped as soon as the ruin was complete. The stafi was busily patching the he had made in their day's work when he returned in the dark of the n and been admin- | bombarded the windows of the editorial bus work | rooms with the staves of old ash-barrels X he hal broken up for that purpose in the w York Sun, | alley near by. credited as an ext m the London | This was another good joke, of course— Standard. Inthe proseintroduction plaus- | the smashing into smithereens oi the | ible proof was given as to the genuine- | Tribune eaitorial windows. | ody. which was alleged to However, no one ins de seemed toap- | the correspond- preciate it, and Wickes’ inspired sense of tions of ihe soothing v Fiel ability in the art of par was never excelied, and in this an intellectual uffaw r cimals of a week’s he fairl ter t ered the inve s meiled to Dana. day it appeared in su have been ex ol ament friend of Watts. humor having failed to gain h'm a boon When the publ ion reached Chicazo | companion, even to assisi at an operation 1be fthe c'everest interviewers on | on a single bottie of hzz, he tacked oif to 10 om were COr ed the apartments he ha tken at the St sof the plot, were turned loose James Hotel, hilariousiy disgusted. ocal literati with cor rew ques Then began Field's reven deliberately e vlanned and maliciously executed. Freld <t morning a pace full of quotations, | had a notion enjoyed by a few pe A larded with the most convincing | here and there, that the greatest benefit style and sentiment, oune can confer is to heip, with the oppor- d t the poems must have | tunity of seli-help, those timia stru come from the pen of Watts. Oniy one | f —to borrow a mede analyst held aloof from | stantive—who are alway relativi forcele Such and, and | “Possum Jim,” a very s n the | colored man, who spent most of nce on the same strest corner wailing a job. His tools consisied of an express wagon, ng together with remnants of tele- graph wire, and a pathetic four-footed nondescript that some decades before had every great poet from encer do been a horse. Whenever Field had an odd the author of *Beautiful Snow.” job to be done for his household he w Puliman’s death hasa brought into | g0 out of his way to let old ‘“Possum Jim’ nence, this time as the possible earn the ¢ In return for this con- SOr 10 the presidency of sideration and the gooa word with which second vice-] w iccompanied old “Jim’’ 2 manager of e y grateful and devored to Field. opoly. W ore the Tribune went to press a ser- dent of the Sou geant of rolice called on F.eld in respon el to a tetephoned request. He came with troubled countenance, but left in a halo of on ibe other, w mentioned above a w of those Chicago 1 supposed tc fidential terms witn the astral body arpers wh iar and c¢ sleep Wickes was supe noft 2 Tom arters e legi tbose days every | smiles. | ature in every Accompanied by a membear of the staff, -Pullman | who was made confederate in tue plot, ter.ous disap- | Field soon aiter left the office to make the tee Wickes | rounds of l-night Launts in which about, with | the newspa e and na- | for bed. H sentatives, in stan er men were wont to prepare If a dozen first-class repre- ing and capacity, of a champ He never failed ly for the son | worldly literary species than dignified by with bis | the title of Bohemians, were ully got- en together and finally stalled at the re- eriod of the career of the pres- | sort (wk ail) of one K al manager, the Pallman com- v gentleman named J , Opposiie 5 did notenjoy a royalty and def St. James Hotel. The amber milk of nce with the raiiroad corny 1 as Dow protects it azainst rat tion everywhere, and W simost continuously on the go, mal i friendships. Period ed to appear 4 car, accon tt, the superinte ie and ed a bottle in b e of every onet et to the hote! Half an hour later he returned. Han ing to his arm was Tom Wickes, very bappy, more of a gocd fellow than ever and ready for red-eved anarchy of any sort. After 2 swift hour, and as mornir pened out, Field insisied on breakir for sunlight and fresh air. Wickes w aiways a leader, even in the matter of muking a noise.* He sang; every one else applauded. He shrieked and shouted; ail approved. Windows went up across the way in the hotel and gh capped heads protruded to investigate. The frantic din of the electric bells could be d doing a good turn for—* heard. The clerk appeared to protest. w and a thoroughbred. Just then old “Possum Jim’s’ Rosi- variably celebrated by | nante and rattle-trap rounded the corner. yd-up of all the good fellows, *I say, old man,” shouted Field, *‘we ralization from which he | want your rig for an hour. Whst is it s coat, got the remain and crossed promi the st kes was k aging ed , was 1al was of eve itor hav he , as trodaction, of being the sort of a ctical politician never tires of ade surreptitiou fled in the direction of worth?” Jim played his part slyl Texas, lea many aching heads and | the bargain parched recollections to re, t that he tne owner to present no claim for possible lived. damages. Wickes was so delighted with The sanity, the manifest motive, of these | the shrewdness of the deal that he in- visitations, Field was quick to perceive, | sisted on paying the bill. The horse was and from that moment his decision, al- ickl harnessed and tied 10 a tele- firmed as lawin the Tribune office, was | granh pole, and before Wickes realized that Tom Wickes would have to piay a | he was himself harnessed in the shaft lone hand in his next thor bred game. | The novelty of his position suited his Consequently when he reappeared on | mood. He pranced and snorted ani the circuit no one in the Tribune edito: pawed and whinneyed and played horse rooms wou :im, not even to | in tine form until the word go. Field held take a ¢ en to the pop | the reins, with a companion beside him. uf a cork. Wickes brooded over the chiil | The others helped the thoroughbred the | reception, and got up as much steam as | besi they could by pushing. possible ow that he could do very | In this manner, and a!l yelling in dis- well sing ded, with the result that | cord, the run of the block was made twice. while the desks were vacated at the even- | Every guest in the front of the big hotei | ing dinner hour he returned in an extra- | was head out of the window when the | pation, | police serzeant popped in sicht with a squad of four men. given the signal and Wickes was aban- aoned to bis fate, the crowd making good their retreat to Jones', and Wickes was released from his Promethean thongs and tossed about by the five big peace-keepers until the last word ot explanation died away on his lips. tr ed the legisiative idea, but bribes were not in order. When the last thrill of the zeal of riot and disorder had oozed out of him and a | n.orning appearance in tke police court d ck seemed to be the inevitable, the ser- nt, under the pretext of capturing the allied forces, took the prisoner into Jones'. Quarter of an hour later the police squad | made their exit by the back door, and less Tom Wickes’ special was bearing him southward toward Meanwhile F' remonstrance and was this all. The Tribaneat the | IN THE EXCHANGE ROOM. coalition whose ive slate was successful that year. wan rate bill, a reduction of n the Tribuae n the House by the | ilroad Comr road and poli office and intro irman of the Ra sorts of sacks to conjure a cure Tribune roasted him department. fellow so merd %0Odds and Euds"’ | enious siander: L T H. Wickes; the Pullman palace carin the darksome legislative iobby, o W:indsor Hotel with hisniece, Miss Muudie Verede Vere.”” To intensify and complica.e the tortures of the cccasion a marked copy of the issue containing this paragraph was Mrs. Wickes at St. Lous. x weeks of the ses- W.ckes d:dn’t dare to look Never was represanting corners of the gislature received a Pull- Cnampagne flowed, not by member of the Le begeed for quarter without avaii: nor did the whole affair wasa put-up job until t e bill was finally lost committee. was always particularly erate- anner in which his wit gamed them ace mas tree of Chri-tine Nilsson. ame was traveling over- When the ma: arcuz Mayer and lie Matthews, to Omaba, | anticipat.ng inquiry as to the manner travel were | that erratic | being to prepare ketch of the trip. ve a brief | peker, dar- in which tbe duil prima donna, the design a newspaper ply was barre allusion to certain sittinzs at ing which the madame {00k the conceit | out of Mayer, who had earned the repu- | tation of a penurious player. Out of this i inch of cloth quite a yard of material was made, Now the madame thought the American world looked askance at a woman who dared to gamble, and when the harmless | little figment was republished from the Tribune in the San Francisco papers on the eve of her concert she flew into one of thote rages which were the real | tragedics of her private life. When returning overland to Denver, Abbey : telegraphed to Field, and together we went up to Cheyenne to meet the party. On entering the drawing-room car we were burried into Abbey’s comuartment with | an uir of profound mystery, and there in- formed in whispers that the madame was | furious against the Tribune and would | never forgive anybody and everybody at- | tached to it ©Oh, I'll arrange that,” said Field. “Don’tannounce us, butlet us call on the time was owned and controlied by a rail- | madame and be introduced.” FIELD'S FAVORITE CARICATURES OF HIMSELF. GRINDING OUT After affrighted protestations this was done. “Meestair Field—zee T-r-ree-bune!’’ she exclaimed hotly. *“I prefair not zee ac- quaintance ot your joor-nal.” cuse me, madame,’”’ persisted Field bland and smiling, *'[ think, from what Mr. Abbey has told us, you are bent on doug the Tribune and its staff a great in- | justice. It was notthe Tribune that puo- listied the poker story that caused you so much annoyance. It wes our rival, the Republican, a verv disreputable news- paper, which is cdited by persons who haven’t the least in<tinet of gentlemen and no consideration whatever for the sensibilities of a lady like yourseif.” At this the madame thawed visibly and | promptly appealed to Abvey, Matthews and Mayer to learn if she had made a mistake. They, of course, fell in with | Field’s joke, and upon being assured that she was in error the mudame's anger re- /axed and she was soon holding her side from laughter at Field’s quiddities. result was that the Republican staff could not get within speakipg distance of her while she remained at Denver, and the second night, when she held her Christ- mas tree in the Windsor Hotel, the Trib- une men were there as fuli-dress favorites. Oscar Wiide accepted with better grace the knowledge of Field’s public imperson- ation of him during the epidemic of estheticism that swept across the conti- Anticipating Wilde’s appearance by one day, and making announcements through th- Tribune in keeping with his project, Field secured the finest equipage in town ana wasdriven through the streets in the caricatured form of the yellow poet. The make-up was entirely aeceptive, supported as it was by pronounced facial resemblance and his clevarness as a come- the hooting, wd assembled at the corners or in pur- suit suspected the delusion, and after an hour's parade Field succeeded in making his exit from the public gaze without pe- traying his identity. up next day he was not a little mystified to learn that he had created a sensation driving around Denver in the raiment of | Bunthorne, while in reality traveling over ! the plainsin a Pullman palace car until Field dispelled his curiosity with a face- 1 tious narrative of the experience from the standpoint of the joker. Wilde saw nothing funny in the af- His only comment was, splendid advertizement for my lecture!” One of Field’s cruelest inventions, fatal to the vengeance of every visitor who came with a threat of libel suit, and tem- porarily subversive of the good feeling of those frienas whom be tricked, was a bot- tomless black walnut chair, over the yawn- ing seat of which he kept a newspaper as if it were an exchange carelessly thrown As it was the only chairin the ! room, his calier, thovgh never asked to do | so, would be sure to see in Field’s snave property smile an invitation to drop into the trap, and through it he would shoot When Wilde turned | fancy followed. Once he wrote far into | ous application and metho .ical labors, ! and suppresiing the levity which found | garded it as asample of coarse humor, | When the victim chanced to be an irate complainant ¥ield would make profuse apologies for the scant furnish- ings ot the office, owing to the poverty of the publishing company, and tender his own chair as some small compensation for | the mishap. It was in this famous piece of furniiure that Bill Nye saw stars when he paid his first visit to Field, an experience he has related in his own inimitabie style. Daring this insouciant period of Field’s life he was on the point, on more than one | occasion,’in consequence of flattering of- of abandoning journalism for the he was sorely tempted by the bids of admirers to under- take theatrical management. of mimicry he had no superior. | a natural comedian, a polished raconteur As a farceur and en- | teriainer no professional could surpass to the floor. In the arts and a fine vocalist. At the very cutset of his ne\\'s.’nper‘deres! feelings for both and made im- career his inclinations led him to ite so- | mediate reparation in some manner de ciety of the greenroom. Of Western [lightiul and endearing. He hated parsi- critics and reviewers he was the first| mony as the meanest of vices in others, favorite among dramatic people. Heipful, | and indulged prodigality in himself as a kind and enthusiastic, he wasrarely severe | failing affording the kéenest diversion. and never captious. Though in nosense| Childife was to bim crowded with an analyst, he was an amusing reviewer | comedies and tragedies of which he never and a creat advertiser. Once he conceived [ tived, either as auditor or historian. A an attachment for an actor or actress his | marked change in hs attitude toward generous mind set about bringing such | that sphere of human activities which re- fortunate person more conspicuously into | volves around the nursery was perceptibie public notice. Emmin Abbott’s baby, | saortly aiter he became attached to tha which she never had and of whose | News. The sentiments and sympathies vented existence he wrote at least a boo! he mocked so often in himself and masked ful of startling and funny aiventures; solongin the jingle and jest of macca- Francis Wilson’s legs, Sol Smith Kussell's | ronics now began to find clear utterance Yankee varns, Billy Crane’s contes drola- | in a language fascindting to childhood tiques, Mo ljeska’s sp'cy witticisms—these | and ennobling to maternity. Hissongs of and other jocular pufferies, qucted and | the cradfe, his lullabys, his tales of the read everywhere with relish ior years— | toys, will live with the English tongue. In were among his hobby-norse perform-| irausmitiing to verse and vitalizing the ances, Legun at that time and continued | romiarces, idealities, ambitions, heroics long after he had settled downin the must | ana misfortunes of infant humanity, he and dust of bibliomania. He 4| saw things as through the humorous or vague and wavering ambition to Write a | pathetic lens o a mind looking back from comedy or libretto, which was restrained | reason to its aawn. Hisdeep affection for by a fear of publlc failure that never | children was emphasized by the caressing feazed him in any other direction his| manner of his jccose teasings; his toler- ance for their passionsand perversions was constant and at times an infirmity. No the second acc of alibretto, *“The Begum,” { i then timorously threw it aside. The title { matter how grave the misdeea he could | i aid service atterward for the first comic | neither punish bis own children, nor bear overa produced by Harry B. Smith and | to be present when the children of others Reginald d¢e Koven. were punished. Field’s abilities were diverted intoa new | Tue severest chastiscment he ever ad- and deeper channel, and at the same time | ministered to the young ones was to mock concentrated, in 1883. Stricken by dys- | their badness with facial conlortions that vepsia so severely that he fell into 8| often awakened the conscience and pro- state of chronic depression and alarm, he | duced an incredible corrective effect. eagerly accepted the timely offer of Mr. | Ridicule he used as an assistant. Accord- | Melville E. Stone—then surrounaing him- | ing to Field's idea the juvenile wrongdo- | self witn the best Western talent he|ing from whicha laugh could be extracted could procure—of a virtually independent | indicated no moral perverseness. He had a desk on the Chicago Daily News. There | way all his own of putiing into the heads he quickly ined health, though he | of the children notions of doing grotesque- never recovered from his aiiment. Com- | |y funny things, from the effect of which ing immediately under the influence of | 3 desirable reform in their own affairs Jonn Ballantyne and Slasson Thompson, | would come about. respectively managing editor and chief | For example, they had a goat at one editorial writer of the News—the one time that became the innocent cause of possessed of Scotch gravily and juds- | much domestic disturbance. It was an ment and the other of tine literary taste | odorous goat, and the children were so and discrimination—ihe character of his | jond of caressing and fonaling it that they work quickly modified, and his free-and- | exuded goat scent everywhere; in bed, at easy, irregular habits succumbed 10 studi- | (aple and at school. Threats to dispossess i | | | them of their pet provoked howls more Ballantyne used tte blue pencil tenderly, | . i 5 i distressing than the noisome isance. first attacking Field's trick ‘abrications No argument, persuasion or bribe had nd | efiect. Finally a friend who dined with vent the preceding yearsin such mocking | the family one evening and had the prob- tinalities in seniimental verse as: ! lem brought home to him by olfactory 013 how lovingly I stroked v.hose tresses | proof thought to solve it by compromise, A\_;r‘\‘_‘ih:‘:ing\ ‘ln\w :‘sfife‘:i“;l s | If he should send to the bouse a bottle of P e sttt | cologne it was agreed b_y 1hg c{nldren :_hu: And discouraging the spirit of the grim- | ey womay s pee, (elr ioflet every time acier, out of which had been evolved such | poov " T IOME Ot PIY Wh the versified tragedies of childhood as “A lit- | o contio for a e Biaiaa tle peach in the orchard grew.” I doube | *Gi0° 2 OHECIARKIeR R BGE | e whether anybody ever appr ciated as did | rrg)goment. The logical processes of his Field bimself the motive and merit of the | 6-year-old son were set to work on the latter bit of rhyme. For yublisbing it| oo 0 ion, with this perfectly natural subsequently in nis initial volume of | ,qy)i; " uIf g litile cologne three times a poetry Le was rather roughly criticized by day takes goat smell away from me, all some fastidious book reviewers, who re- 1 Ths Golormia il gk (ha soatilave oo emell.” So the large dollar bottle full of cologne was carefully rubbed into the oily hide of his goatship, with the expectaiion of & triumphant settlement of the whole L : SN gificulty. Aas, sickness and horror per- perversity, and not for farce comedy in- | ¢y4oq the Field household that night, for terpolation—its fate. I was with him the | = e | the alcohol bad extracted a nausealing night he heard Marie Jansen sing it, after | something from the angora cuticle that Harry Smith of Washington bad set it | G = myum Cith the.istation Fersain all fled from, but none could escape. Next N Listen 1 My Tale of Woer and I stal} | 40 the children took council of this new e forant e iisenst he ex. | JEVelation respecting the secret power of > S S *° | goat scent, and gave the goat away. pressed on leaving the theater, though PeC S e the audience a plzuded uproariously. sdnsoline demnel lokes el cro The every-day practical jokerand enter- | Lo, Fpl sl Shposta {alnihg mimié of Der.ver vecolled in Chi- | o Portmentof the United States, though cago from the reputation of a Merry An. | PO doubt it repaid the service with its drfw Iha brcsrectiotiatates wm‘m 4o | provocation for smiles. When Kate Fieid e 8 wa aring £ e disrelished ana feared. He preferred to Mo’,.]"o':‘j,md“sbgrslf:l‘;d“:;“'inq‘;‘;:“'v‘; invent paragraphic pleasantries for the z e i a'l IurLe ‘;ud f;lmnne T cr_otml | correspondence with her namesake, whose e \hegoflice e hoe w‘;m‘ | humorous primer was at that time spread- W:'nl s (.fl'\_e.y s ‘;j’h Eh‘mf:i' ing his fame. The two soon discovered SR s et e = * | that they were cousins,a fact that ine f“}’ a'A'T’u',’f\Zffig ’:jx‘;::':‘v‘]:a:r‘;-‘e":{‘:f‘: spired Field to thus address a letter: H : 6 A maiden fair of untold age \vuhmfl strain or embarrassment reams of | Seeks to adorn our Western stage; prose satire, contes risque and Hudibrastic | How foolish of her, yet how nice vulgarly placed. He himself prized it | from the child’s point of view, as a grew- | some fiction with a fearful moral. He | wrote it asa terrible warning to childish verse. | To write me, asking my advice! Field's instinctive penetration of char- | New York’s the city where you'll find acter was remarkable. He had a talent| This prodigy of female kind; for instantly detecting foible or pretense Hotel Victoria’s tue vlace in others, coupled with the ability to re- Where you will see her smiling face. prove or punish with ridicule, He de- | I prayiismotnan AT dwe tested sham and delighted in flaying it, no | ;—:X::;n] eZZJZ‘.fi”aTfiff:x’:Z‘y me— matter where found. Consideration of the A Field am I, a Field is she. power, place or riches of the subject was Two very fertile Fields 1 ween, no deterrent. His emotions, seemingly In constant bloom, yet never green, volatile, were deep--eated and vivid, She is my cousin; happy fate though veneered with sportiveness. While | Taat gave me such a cousin Kate! he could not restrain that feline malice | (magine the postal clerks unraveling that cat-pawed the frailty of a friend and | this envelope superscription, from Denver reveled in the facial mimicries which | to New York, and you may fancy the ex- threw wondering babes into convul- | quisite sense of kumor that prompted the IN GAY NEW YORK. Words by Hugh Morton. Music by Gustave Allegro non troppo con spirtto 5 vol - 1 - ty reigus su - prime wo-men ,are won - drous fair. comrign MpCEEXTVI By T Englich Copyrght and performing Tighls securc reseried e ro - sy dream,. men are be-yond com-pare,. ... In New _In gay . New pop-u - lar talk, Youll nev-er know mis-er -y thereb. sions of tears, he cherished tie ten-|composition. E. D. Cowex. ettt - e o—e = 5 e Sbe == —= Theres; J-(— po— ] ===Ss=s=== > daz-zled by their tev-el, the whole day 100g,. . In beau-ty and wine ... When they come from the ma ar - ray, ... =r 5= 1] hap-pi-ness ev - er- y - where? Oh! no-bo-dy ev- er-goea = e » gay New York, tn gay NewYork. If wereto be-lieve the CXTECAT N ~AS SUNG IN THE PRODUCTION OF “IN GAY NEW YORK,” AT THE BALDWIN.