Eugene fields orange
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Biography of Eugene Field, 1850-1895
Biographical Sketch by Wendi Capehart
When I was a young child, sometimes my father would not pay our electricity bill and the power would go out. My mother didn't want us to worry, so she would tell us she turned the power off on purpose and it was a popcorn party night. We would pop popcorn on the gas stove and sit in a room lit by candles eating popcorn, telling stories, and sometimes reciting poems. Usually they would be the poems of James Whitcomb Riley, but sometimes we heard some of Eugene Field's poems, too. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod was a favourite, often recited as the candles were blown out and we were sent to bed.
Eugene Field was born in Missouri in 1850, and lived there until he was six years old, when his mother died. His father, was a busy lawyer who was part of a team of lawyers working on an very important legal case in America's history. Dred and Harriet Scott, Black Americans held in slavery, had sued the courts for their freedom. The case took ten years to work through the courts, and the lawyers who took their case agree
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Eugene Field
American writer (1850–1895)
Eugene Field Sr. (September 2, 1850 – November 4, 1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood".[1]
Early life and education
Field was born in St. Louis, Missouri at 634 S. Broadway where today his boyhood home is open to the public as The Eugene Field House and St. Louis Toy Museum.[1] After the death of his mother in 1856, he was raised by an aunt, Mary Field French, in Amherst, Massachusetts.[2]
Field's father, attorney Roswell Martin Field, was the lawyer who filed Dred Scott's case.
Field attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His father died when Eugene turned 19, and he subsequently dropped out of Williams after eight months. He then went to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, but dropped out after a year, followed by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where his brother Roswell was also attending. Field was not a serious student and spent much of his time at school playi
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Eugene Field (1850 - 1895)
By 1895, things appeared to be going well for Eugene and his family.
His books and columns had begun to earn him real money, and for the first time in years the Fields enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. They were able to move into a much larger house, and Eugene began collecting beautiful rare books with his extra income.
He was an in demand speaker, and was invited around the United States and Europe to read his poems and give speeches. Eugene started writing his autobiography in 1894, and continued working on it through 1895.
In November of 1895, Eugene was invited to give a reading of his work in Kansas City. Eugene ended up postponing the trip until later in the week, as he was not feeling well.
The night before Eugene was scheduled to leave for Kansas City, his fourteen-year-old son heard Eugene groaning and went to check on him. He was shocked to find his father dead.
Doctors determined that Eugene had lived for many years with an undiagnosed heart condition, which led to his completely unexpected death. Eugene was only for
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