r since she reached St.
Louis and is heartily glad that she is coming home. Dunlap, of the
McCaul Company, invites me to be his guest at the Southern Hotel
while the company sings in St. Louis, but that sort of thing is out
of the question. Do you intend to go to Indianapolis with me? E----
W---- has been very friendly of late. I suspect he is getting hard
up. B----'s latest fad is to organize a Friday night club to discuss
literature, art, science, etc. Hearing him talk about it to-day gave
the old Dock a violent attack of nausea. Speaking of nausea reminds
me that P---- has been seriously indisposed for two days as the
consequence of eating nine peaches, two apples, and a pound of
grapes! He is satisfied, however, that this variable fall weather is
very trying. Shackelford is off on his vacation, but I do not
complain, since I find Rogers, his substitute, a pleasant gentleman
to do Saturday business with....

Affectionately yours,

EUGENE FIELD.

An interesting point in this letter is its reference to his proposed
first appearance as a reader after coming to Chicago before the
convention of Western Association of Writers at Indianapolis. Previous
to this, during our acquaintance he had repeatedly declined requests to
appear upon the platform. But in this case he was persuaded by Richard
Lew Dawson, the secretary of the association, to make an exception in
its favor. In a letter to Mr. Dawson, under date of September 3d, 1886,
Field gives the following interesting estimate of some of his own work:

"Since reading your last letter, I have thought that it might be
wise for me to contribute to your programme the following pieces,
which exhibit pretty nearly all styles of my work:

1. Death and the Soldier Prose. 10 minutes.
2. The Humane Lad (new) Verse. 3 minutes
3. The Noontide Hymn (new) Verse. 3 minutes
4. The Merciful Lad (new) Verse. 2 minutes
5. The Divine Lullaby (new) Verse. 2 minutes.

"The reading of these pieces will require not more than twenty
minutes, and I would prefer to give them consecutively. Numbers 2
and 4 are humorous. I do not like 'Death and the Soldier' as much as
'The First Christmas Tree,' the 'Robin and the Violet,' or 'The
Mountain and the Sea'--I mean I do not like it so much as a piece of
fanciful literary work, but it may be more catchy. You know what
your audience will like, a