Girls High School - Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue Kissed them and put them there. Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand Each in the same old place, Awaiting the touch of .a little hand, The smile of a little face And they wonder as waiting the long years through, In the dust of that little chair, y What has become of the Little Boy Blue Since he kissed them and put them there? Field is the beloved poet that he is, because in him we Hnd not only our aspirations but ourselves. ln him dawned the consciousness of greater powers that urged him on to higher effort. Before this genius we stand awed and our aspirations leap upward, but in our hearts ahides everlasting the love which his songs and sympathy with humanity have stirred. For a greater lover of humanity never lived nor one more in tune with the world for whom he wrote. His love knew no hounds, it extended to all and in return he was allowed to taste freely of the cup of happiness during his lifetime. Rosewell Field has it, What greater assurance can there be of happiness in that life where all is weighed in the scale of love, and love is triumphant, eternal? So we American people, instead of worshiping at the shrine of foreign poets, let us turn our devotion to the great men of our own lands. Never, can we requite the wondrous gift Eugene Field has left to the world. 'tTho' fame dies and honors perish, loving kindness is immortal, and Eugene Field will ever he welcomed in the hearts of the people as Eugene Field, the Beloved. Eugene Field and His Dolls From the EUGENE FIELD BOOK . Byypermission of Charles Scribner's Sons. 12

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1 1 Eugene Field and His Little Friends From the EUGENE FIELD BOOK. By permission of Gharles Scribner's Sons. to a great extent aided in his efforts by his deep love ofgchildren. lnvolun- tarily they were attracted to this kindred spirit, who was capable of telling more marvelous tales than even their vivid litttle imaginations could conjure up. lt is this sympathy for children and implicit belief in their fairy world that inspired most of his poetry. Otherwise how could he have written? l ain't afeard of snakes or toads, or bugs, or worms, or mice An' things 'at girls are skeered uv I think are awful nice! l'm pretty brave 1 guessg an' yet I hate to go to bed, For when l'm tucked up warm an' snug an' when my prayers are said, Mother tells me, 'Happy dreamsi' an' takes away the light, An' leaves me lyin' all alone an' seein' things t at night. Though renowned the world over for his humor, Field reached the height of his poeticaleifusion when writing of tragedy. Some great shock often completely revolutionizes a blithe, care-free nature and .touches hidden springs of sentiment hitherto undiscovered. Thus it seems that a tragedy was destined to bring out the noblest and sweetest in Field's nature. After the death of his litttle son all his works have an appealing touch of sadness. , The little toy dog is covered with dust, But sturdy and staunch he stands, And the little toy soldier is red with rust, And his musket moulds in his hands. Time was when the little toy dog was new And the soldier was passing fair, 11

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The Most, Tragic Figure Among Ameri- can Men of Letters Alumni Prize Essay. Elizabeth Getz- Di UST across the Mason-Dixon Line, in the heart of the sleepy old town J of Baltimore, is the deserted grave of the most pathetic and tragic figure in all the history of American literature. That deserted grave marks the end of a great life-an integral life-a life filled to over- flowing with deepest anguish and heart-rending suffering! Nietzsche says, It is in the school of suffering-of intense suffering-that has been created every great thing which humanity has produced. Edgar Allan Poe cer- tainly spent the greater part of his tragic eventful life in that same bitter school! Born of a morally and physically unhealthy union, that of a loose Bohemian ingenue and a wayward self-indulged aristocrat, poor Poe had the curse of hereditary instincts and tendencies to batttle against. His child- hood, too, was a most unhappy one! The theatrical profession was, in those days, far from highly remunerative, and the improvident Poes and their three small children, William, Edgar and Rosalie, often felt the sharp pinch of poverty. When Edgar was but three years old, his little mother died, and he was adopted by the John Allans of Baltimore as an orphan waif. The Allans were young and childless, and made a great pet of the attractive, bright- eyed, curly-haired little boy, whom they had taken into their comfortable home. Unfortunately, their love for Edgar was simply the pride of pos- session, they had none of the finer parental love, which would have meant sn much! more to a little poet. Miraculously realizing their deficiency in this, they foolishly attempted to make up for it in lavishing untold sums of pocket- money on a mere baby. This early indulgence proved the .beginning of Poe's end! Poe was much like any other little boy while he was at school, although he was unusually quiet and retiring. Some of his early schoolfellows once said of him, No one knew him, and this expresses exactly his unhappy solitary state. His unfortunate parentage had formed an unbridgeable gulf between himself and the children with whom he was thrown in contact. He was socially ostracized for his parents' indiscretions! The realization of this hung over him like an ominous cloud and the supersensitive youth suffered untold agonies at the hands of his social, though not intellectual, superiors. While Poe was a mere youth of fourteen, he was invited to the home of a schoolfellow for a visit. There he met -the boy's mother, Jane Sith Standard, and her responsive sympathy and sweet gracious tenderness imme- diately endeared her to the heart of this lonely little boy, hungry for the mother-love which had always been denied him. Even this purely ideal . 13