| ORIGINAL TEXT OF "LITTLE BOY BLUE" With drawings in colors by Eugene Field. | [Frontispiece] |
| THE LITTLE DRESS-MAKER From a drawing by Eugene Field. | [23] |
| A PROPER SONET From a drawing in colors by Eugene Field. | [26] |
| FIELD AND BALLANTYNE AWAITING THE ARRIVAL OF A
BISCUIT FROM NEW BRUNSWICK From a drawing by Eugene Field. | [27] |
| THE GOOD KNIGHT SLOSSON'S CASTLE From a drawing by Eugene Field. | [29] |
| A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS From drawings by Eugene Field. | [30, 31] |
| HOW MARY MATILDA WON A PRINCE: From drawings by Eugene Field. | |
| THE PRINCE ASKING EDDIE MARTIN ABOUT THE FAIR MARY MATILDA | [38] |
| THE PRINCE'S COAT-OF-ARMS— FLIGHT OF THE FAIR MARY MATILDA— THE AGGRAVATING MIRAGE | [40] |
| BROTHER SLOSSON AND HIS OTHER FRIEND EN ROUTE TO THE WEDDING | [42] |
| A STAMP ACCOUNT | [57] |
| AN ECHO FROM MACKINAC ISLAND With drawings by Eugene Field. | [58] |
| A BOWLING CHALLENGE FROM EUGENE FIELD | [75] |
| A LETTER FROM EUGENE FIELD CONTAINING THREE DRAWINGS | [78] |
| FIELD'S PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF "As I would have looked but for the refining influence of Old Nompy." | [88] |
| A SCENE IN THE DAILY NEWS OFFICE From a drawing by Eugene Field. | [99] |
| PAGE OF ADVERTISEMENTS FROM "CULTURE'S GARDEN" | [111] |
| "THE ALLIAUNCE" | [124] |
| SKETCH AND EPITAPH From a drawing by Eugene Field. | [168] |
| OFF TO SPRINGFIELD From a drawing by Eugene Field. | [201] |
HALF-TONE PLATES
Facing Page
| ROSWELL FIELD | [142] |
| FIELD THE COMEDIAN | [254] |
| EUGENE FIELD WITH HIS DUTCH RING | [302] |
EUGENE FIELD
CHAPTER I
OUR PERSONAL RELATIONS
In the loving "Memory" which his brother Roswell contributed to the "Sabine Edition" of Eugene Field's "Little Book of Western Verse," he says: "Comradeship was the indispensable factor in my brother's life. It was strong in his youth: it grew to be an imperative necessity in later life. In the theory that it is sometimes good to be alone he had little or no faith." From the time of Eugene's coming to Chicago until my marriage, in 1887, I was his closest comrade and almost constant companion. At the Daily News office, for a time, we shared the same room and then the adjoining rooms of which I have spoken. Field was known about the office as my "habit," a relationship which gave point to the touching appeal which served as introduction to the dearly cherished manuscript copy, in two volumes, of nearly one hundred of his poems, which was his wedding gift to Mrs. Thompson. It was entitled, in red ink, "Ye Piteous Complaynt of a Forsooken Habbit; a Proper Sonet," and reads:
Ye boone y aske is smalle indeede