USA > Missouri > A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I > Part 19
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Leaving college, Field threw his whole heart into his chosen life work. At the outset of his career he was employed by newspapers at St. Louis. . St. Joseph and Kansas City. From the start his newspaper work was distinctive. Turning up sensations against men in public life never
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appealed to him. He would satirize them, but it was in such a way that he made friends of the men at whom his shafts were directed. While Jefferson City correspondent for a St. Louis newspaper, Field wrote a poem about Judge Samuel Davis of Marshall, a thing so cleverly done, and withal so kindly and good-natured that while the whole state laughed at it, Davis enjoyed it as much as anybody. Davis was the young legis- lator from Saline county. Rats had been particularly bad out his way, and he introduced a bill authorizing county courts to pay a bounty on rat scalps, if they desired. This was grist for Field's mill, and he utilized it well. Judge Davis, the victim, said he regarded the poem dedicated to him as one of the finest things Field ever wrote.
Field left Kansas City to enter the service of the Denver Tribune. There he originated a column of humorous paragraphs which he called "The Tribune Primer." Papers everywhere instantly started copying from this column, and in a short time the Tribune was the best known paper in the country.
The litte toy dog so covered with dust But sturdy and staunch he stands. And the little toy soldier is red with rust And his musket molds in his hands. Time was when the little loy deg was new. And the soldier wos passing fair; That was the lime when ourlittle Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
EUGENE FIELD
From Denver, Field went to Chicago, where he took a contract with The News to furnish daily a column of solid agate paragraphs, which he headed "Sharps and Flats." .These enjoyed the same popularity that was accorded "The Tribune Primer."
While residing in Missouri, Field attended all the gatherings of the State Press Association. Of an intensely social disposition, he was the life and soul of such occasions. And never did he suffer a meeting to . go by without creating some laughable feature not on the programme. Field was a lover of childhood. When attending a press association, if he happened to run across some youngsters on the street, he wouldn't hesitate to leave the editors to mix with the small chaps and show them new games.
This poem, written by Field after the death of his little boy, shows the heart of the man who is loved by all the little folks of Missouri and known as "The Children's Poet."
"The little toy dog is covered with dust But sturdy and staunch he stands, And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
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And his musket moulds in his hands. Time was when the little toy dog was new And the soldier was passing fair; That was the time when our little Boy Blue, Kissed them and put them there."
Between times, while engaged on newspaper work, Field wrote the following books, which are yet enjoying great popularity : "Love Songs of Childhood :" "A Little Book of Western Verse:" " A Second Book of Verse;" "The Holy Cross, and Other Tales;" "The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac." With his brother, Roswell Martin Field, the poet made some good translations from Horace,-"Echoes from Sabine Farm."
Mr. Field died in Chicago, November 4, 1895.
RUPERT HUGHES
Perhaps among the living writers born in Northeast Missouri, the one best known by the public of today is Rupert Hughes, now residing at Bedford Hills, New York. Mr. Hughes was born at Lancaster. Schuyler county, January 31, 1872. He is a son of Judge and Mrs. Felix Turner Hughes. For many years Judge Hughes was president of the Keokuk and Western Railroad. He is now engaged in the practice of law, and resides at Keokuk, Iowa.
Rupert Hughes was educated in the public schools of Keokuk, which he attended from 1880 to 1886, inclusive, then went to St. Charles College, the Western Reserve Academy and Western Reserve University, graduating in 1892, taking A. B. degree. Then he spent a year in grad- uate studies at Yale University, finishing with the degree of A. M. His first newspaper experience was that of a reporter for the New York Jour- nal, a position he successfully filled for six months. But literary work was more to his liking, and he accepted a position as editor of Storiettes, then became assistant editor of Godey's Magazine and also of Current Literature. From 1898 to 1901 he was assistant editor of "The Cri- terion," a de luxe publication demanding the highest standard of literary workmanship.
During all this time Mr. Hughes contributed extensively of fiction, verse, essays and criticisms to the leading magazines. From May. 1901. to November, 1902, he was in London with the Encyclopedia Brittanica Company, and from the latter date to May, 1905, in New York with the same concern as chief assistant editor of "The Historian's History of the World."
In January, 1897, Mr. Hughes joined the Seventh Regiment. Dur- ing this country's war with Spain he was acting captain in the 114th Regiment. He`resigned from the army in 1910.
But few writers have been as industrious with their pens as Mr. Hughes. He has written an astonishing number of high-class stories and popular plays for a man of his years, and is still keeping up the tremendous output. Following are some of his books: "American Com- posers," "The Musical Guide," "The Love Affairs of Great Musicians." "Songs by Americans." "Gyges' Ring." "The Whirlwind," "The Real New York," "Zal," and "The Gift Wife."
Among Mr. Hughes's dramatic works are these : "The Bathing Girl," "The Wooden Wedding," "In the Midst of Life." (in collaboration with Dr. Holbrook Curtis : "Tommy Rot." "Alexander the Great." (in collaboration with Collin Kemper;) "The Triangle," "All for a Girl," "The Transformation," (played for five months by Florence Roberts. then for two years under the name of "Two Women," by
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Mrs. Leslie Carter;) "Excuse Me." This last play ran successfully during two hundred and fifty performances in New York, and met with the same encouragement when presented by three companies tour- ing the United States. Next year (1913) two companies will travel this country with it. Arrangements have been made for the produc- tion of "Excuse Me" in France, Germany, England, Italy, Russia, Den- mark, Norway and Sweden.
Mr. Hughes yet finds time to write short and serial stories for the Saturday Evening Post, Holland's Magazine and many other standard publications of the United States.
WALTER WILLIAMS
Walter Williams, dean of the School of Journalism of the University of Missouri, is the author of "Some Saints and Some Sinners in the Holy Land" (1902) ; "How the Cap'n Saved the Day" (1901) ; "The State
MISSOURI EDITORS AND VISITORS AT JOURNALISM WEEK, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
of Missouri" (1904) ; "History of Missouri" (1908) ; "Missouri Since the Civil War" (1909) ; "From Missouri to the Isle of Mull" (1909) : with John Temple Graves and Clark Howell, of "Eloquent Sons of the South" (1909) ; with Frank L. Martin, of "The Practice of Journalism" (1911).
HENRY CLAY DEAN
Henry Clay Dean, lecturer, lawyer and writer, was born in Virginia. in the year 1822; moved to Iowa in 1850, and to Missouri some ten years later, locating on a farm in northwest Putnam county. After the war between the states, his home was referred to as "Rebel Cove," its owner being a stanch adherent of the southern cause. Previous to the war Mr. Dean had been chaplain of the United States Senate for a time.
Soon after coming west Mr. Dean became a national character. He was regarded as a matchless platform speaker. and unsurpassed as a
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pleader at the bar. The argument closing the case is where Mr. Dean's talents shone brightest. He rarely examined witnesses himself, prefer- ring to leave that part of the work to his associate counsel, but his mar- velous memory enabled him to retain and use with effect the evidence in- troduced.
With a wonderful library at command in his country home, Mr. Dean read and wrote constantly. His writing was like his platform speeches -brilliant, forceful and abounding in beautiful metaphor. He was also a past master in withering sarcasm. No one who heard him speak ever forgot the magnetic Henry Clay Dean. Mr. Dean published a strong work entitled "The Crimes of the Civil War." This attracted a great deal of interest at the time of its issuance. When Mr. Dean died he left ready for the press the manuscript for a book, of which the fol- lowing was the title page :
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Being an inquiry into the abolition of the abuse of executive patronage and the election of all the chief officers of the federal government by the direct vote of the people whom they serve.
By Henry Clay Dean.
Liberty will be ruined by providing any kind of substitute for popular election- Necker. In one volume.
This exhaustive work was intended for the political guidance of the public over twenty years ago, but Mr. Dean happened to have his hands full of legal business and lecture engagements at the time he finished the manuscript, and he neglected to publish it. Those who have read the writing say that now a vast majority of the American public, irrespective of party, endorse Mr. Dean's position in this last important literary work of his life, but at the time of its writing many prominent Democratic friends advised him not to publish it, as it was twenty years too soon to dare enunciate such views. At the same time they admitted the teaching was sound, and that it would eventually be a controlling issue in this country. It was characteristic of Mr. Dean to think ahead of his time. Some of the things for which he was criticised for advocat- ing on the platform, are today regarded as results of practical states- manship.
A great many of Mr. Dean's speeches on murder trials or on political questions were reported and printed in pamphlet form. These were given to anybody for the asking. The money feature of his work never interested him. He might have coined his splendid talent into dollars and died wealthy, but he seemed to be impressed with a higher idea; that he was called upon to elevate the people, and to enable them to use their suffrage more intelligently. His big library in his country home was his pride. It was stocked with a double tier of books extending nearly to the ceiling, on all sides, save where the windows were. While they were apparently jumbled together in an unsystematic mass, Mr. Dean was never at a loss to pick out instantly any volume he wanted.
Upon one occasion a young man requested Mr. Dean to advise him regarding the books he should read as an initial education in the law.
"Take the Bible first," said Mr. Dean. "You will find lots of sound law in it, and the most perfect rules of justice that obtain anywhere. Then take a thorough course in Latin from my good friend, Professor Jake Hill, for he knows Latin as few men do. Next read up on Camp- bell's Philosophy of Rhetoric. Then dive into Gibbon's History of Rome. Follow that with Hume's History of England, Macaulay's history of the same country, and Green's History of the English People. This done and well done, you will be qualified to begin the study of law!"
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Those who enjoyed the pleasure of listening to Mr. Dean speak would never doubt that he had fully followed his own prescription as to reading.
Mr. Dean was tall, straight and soldierly-looking. Shortly before his death he was sitting out on his porch with his friend and physician, Dr. A. J. Eidson. Mr. Dean had been quietly interrogating the doctor about his symptoms, and at last had forced from him the reluctant ad- mission that the hour of his death was so close that it could almost be fixed. Then the orator of "Rebel Cove" said calmly :
"Do you see that large elm down there in the grove, doctor ?" indicat- ing with his hand. "I've watched it grow from a tiny sprout. It has stood the assault of hailstorms, of hurricanes and of lightning, and now it reaches up above all the rest, strong. sturdy, unafraid, like my life has been. That tree, doctor, is to be my headstone. You will see to it ?"
Mr. Dean died at his home February 6, 1887.
WILLIAM F. SWITZLER.
Colonel William F. Switzler (1819-1906) of Columbia, was the author of the following works: "Commerce of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers," "History of Statistics and Their Value," "Illustrated History of Mis- souri," "Wool and the Manufacturers of Wool" and "The History of Boone County." The latter, although very complete, was sold at a modest figure and enjoyed a wide circulation in the county it described.
During his latter years Colonel Switzler devoted the greater part of his time to the preparation of a work entitled: "A History of the Missouri University." His eagerness to complete this seemed to add the necessary years to his life. It was intended to crown his long and able toil with the pen, and is said to be a thoroughly accurate and com- plete history of Missouri's great educational institution. The work has not yet been published.
Another ambition of Colonel Switzler's, one which was partly car- ried out, was to publish a volume on "Eminent Missourians." Seven- teen of these sketches by his pen have been printed in the Globe-Demo- crat. He afterwards sent them to his friend, M. C. Tracy, of Macon, who is now engaged in the completion of the work.
One of the noticeable faculties of Colonel Switzler was his almost marvelous memory. Especially did this appear when any matter con- cerning Missouri was under discussion. He could tell you not only the name of every county in the state, but why it was so named, when it was organized and its important features. It has been said of him that he was so well acquainted with men and events that he could sit at his desk, without a reference book about him, and write a first-class history of Missouri entirely from memory.
Lexington, Kentucky, was the birthplace of Colonel Switzler. When he came to Missouri he was in his seventh year, locating in Howard county. In 1841 he removed to Columbia, where he practiced law, and then became editor of the Columbia Patriot. The Columbia Statesman was established by Colonel Switzler in 1843, and in August of that year he was married to Mary Jane Royal, a niece of General Sterling Price.
Colonel Switzler published the Columbia Statesman forty-six years. In 1866 and 1868 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Con- gress. Notwithstanding the general disfranchisement of his friends, he defeated his opponents, George W. Anderson and D. P. Dyer, but was refused a certificate of election each time.
In 1885, Colonel Switzler temporarily abandoned newspaper work and writing to accept the position of chief of the bureau of statistics
MISSOURI WHIG AND GENERAL ADVERTISER.
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ONE OF MISSOURI'S OLDEST NEWSPAPERS
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tendered him by President Cleveland. Retiring from that office, Colonel Switzler returned to the work that was always closest to his heart, writing stories of Missouri and its people, and occasionally lecturing on those subjects. He died at Columbia, May 24, 1906, in his eighty- eighth year.
HOMER CROY
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Homer Croy is a tall, good-natured youth who is making his literary way in the metropolis of the nation, and Northeast Missouri claims him, for it was while attending the State University at Columbia that his pen began to write things that sparkled. Soon after leaving the Uni- versity, Mr. Croy diligently besieged the goddess of fame, and though for some time she turned coyly from his knocking, he was so hopeful and persistent that at last she threw her arms around him, and set him on a pedestal before he was twenty-eight. While attending the Uni- versity Mr. Croy was a regular contributor to a number of high-class magazines and humorous publications. Going from Missouri to New York, he had hard traveling for a year or so. He frankly admits there were times when it took all his diplomacy to convince his landlady and tailor that destiny had a good place picked out for him if they would only be patient like he was. So he kept pegging away, never losing confidence in himself. He established friendly relations with all the big magazine editors, and never let them forget that it was his business to produce grist for their mill. Then he founded the Magazine Maker, and in six months made it an invaluable friend and aid both to editors and writers everywhere. Having successfully established his magazine, and demonstrated that he couldn't be stopped, Mr. Croy was recently ten- dered a good position in the editorial department of Judge and Leslie's, which he accepted, and is climbing right along.
Mr. Croy is a graduate of 1907. Within five years he has ascended the rounds from newspaper reporter to magazine editor, and has a right to feel pretty well satisfied with himself, for a man yet under thirty.
ANDREW J. EIDSON
Dr. Andrew J. Eidson (1837-1903) referred to as the friend and phy- sician of Henry Clay Dean, long resided in Schuyler county. He has to his credit many poems of more than average merit, and these appeared from time to time in the press. One of his poems that attracted pretty general attention is entitled: "No Children's Graves in China." It was inspired by the story of a missionary from China, printed in the Central Baptist, of St. Louis. It described the pagan practice of throw- ing dead children to the fishes.
The poem was used extensively as an inspirational battle-song for increased missionary effort in the Celestial Empire. It follows:
No children's graves in China, The missionaries say ; In cruel haste and silence They put those buds away ; No tombstones mark their resting, To keep their memory sweet ; Their graves unknown, are trodden By many careless feet.
No children 's graves in China. That land of heathen gloom; They deem not that their spirits Will live beyond the tomb. No little coffin holds them, -
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Like to a downy nest, No spotless shroud enfolds them, Low in their quiet rest.
No children's graves in China No parents ever weep; No toy or little relic, The thoughtless mothers keep. No mourners e'er assemble. Around the early dead, And flowers of careful planting Ne'er mark their lowly bed.
No children's graves in China With sad and lovely ties, To make the living humble, And point them to the skies; No musings pure and holy, Of them when day is done; Be faithful, missionary, Your work is just begun.
Dr. Eidson's name occupies an honored place in a work called "The Poets of America," printed by the American Publishers' Association, of Chicago in 1890.
NELSE J. SCURLOCK
Perhaps the strongest poetical genius that ever resided in Northeast Missouri was Nelse J. Scurlock, whose death November 14, 1903, was like a tragedy. His body was found on the highway near Glenwood one frosty morning, but a few days after Mr. Scurlock had written a touch- ing production that was somewhat prophetic, and which he entitled : "The Living and the Dead."
There are some very eminent men of letters who have denominated Mr. Scurlock the real poet laureate of Missouri, and they say they are perfectly willing to stand on the volume printed after his death by his friends and admirer, the Rev. Chas. N. Wood.
Mr. Scurlock was a country lad. He never went to college, but he enjoyed the benefits of a classical education by going to a district school teacher who had been an instructor in a first-class college. Pro- fessor Joseph Barbee taught the classics in the original, and from him young Scurlock received the inspiration which gave his work a dignity and power approached by few other poets.
Scurlock's "Ode to Edgar Allen Poe" was so rich in expression and so well constructed that it would have appealed to Poe himself. "Right Here in Old Missouri," covers all those essential features of the state's pride that were omitted by the officially adopted Missouri song. "Fishin' 'Long Old Ellum Crick," breathes the homely philoso- phy of the real backwoodsman of Missouri, and rings as true to nature as the trees of the forest and the wide rolling meadow. "October in Missouri," "The Gates of Life," "The Isle of Peace," and "The En- chanted Garden" are among the other poems illustrating the splendid education and the harmony of this rustic poet, who only contributed for country newspapers, with never a thought of receiving a cent for his work.
"Living and Dead," next to the last of Mr. Scurlock's poems, ap- pears in the final part of the handsome volume of the poet's work, pub- lished after his death:
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LIVING AND DEAD
Hope for the living, fruition, the dead- After the sexton's work, why all the roses? One down the way of the cactus must tread, Ever and ever the other reposes.
Smiles for the living, aye, smiles like the dew, For the dead, sorrow, serene and uplifting; These rest from trials, where old things are new, Those on the mad current darkly are drifting.
Tears for the living, tears, deep from the heart, Memories holy for all the departed; Death is a Gilead balm for each smart, Life is a school for the hosts broken-hearted.
Nothing but good of the living be said- Rome was barbarian, wrong in her praises; Eulogy reaches not out to the dead, Fair speech is help to those lost in care's mazes.
Peace for the living, peace like the May morn, Flags waving welcome, unvexed by war's thunder, Peace like the dead's, until nations unborn O'er the great crime of their ancestors wonder.
Mr. Scurlock was born near Glenwood, Schuyler county, February 14, 1859.
OTHER MERITORIOUS WRITERS
"Wayside Musings" is a volume of very meritorious verse by the Rev. Charles Newton Wood, the gentleman who compiled and published the poems of Mr. Scurlock. At the time of the publication of "Way- side Musings" Mr. Wood was pastor of the Methodist church at La Plata.
Robertus Love, now of New York, resided in Pike county, Missouri, "during seven years of his formative period," as he expresses it, and there gathered the inspiration for a cheering volume he calls "Poems All the Way from Pike." "In Extenuation," Mr. Love says: "Being a 'Piker' himself, the author of 'Poems All the Way From Pike' feels that he possesses license both poetic and proprietary to draw upon the celebrated ballad (Joe Bowers) for the title of his book." Among the extensive list of poems in Mr. Love's work are these: "A Pike County Christmas Tree," "Joe Bowers' Brother Ike," "Back in Old Mizzoury," "The Old Blue Spelling Book," "The Boy Who Has No Santa Claus" and "Eugene Field." Before going to New York, Mr. Love was engaged in newspaper work in St. Louis. His most successful feat while in that employment was being the first staff correspondent to cover the Galveston flood.
"Robert Devoy," by Frank H. Sosey, of Palmyra, is a fascinating story having for its climax the military execution of ten men at that town, October 18, 1862. Besides the story, there is much historical in- formation setting at rest some of the controversies that grew out of one of the saddest events of war-time.
The late John R. Musick, of Kirksville, was an industrious writer, He has to his record twenty-three books in the State Historical Society of Missouri, of which sixteen are histories. Among his best read novels are "Calamity Row" and "Brother Against Brother." Mr. Musick was one of the many heroes who labored assiduously to save life and re- lieve suffering on the occasion of the disastrous cyclone at Kirksville, April 27, 1899. He died not long after that event.
Other Adair county writers and their books follow :
E. M. Violette, "A History of the First District Normal School," "A History of Adair County," "Early Settlements in Missouri."
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Mrs. Belle Travers McCahan, "The Precious Child," "Stories by American Authors."
Mrs. Martha Prewitt Doneghy, "The Feast of Skeletons," poetry. Mrs. Doneghy has also contributed to the magazines.
Dr. Andrew T. Still, founder of Osteopathy, "Autobiography." Mrs. Ora Bell Goben, contributor to magazines.
The Rev. J. S. Boyd, "The Story of Jonah, The Truant Prophet."
Dr. Horace H. H. St. John of Edina, Knox county, is a song writer whose work has been printed and pronounced of a high order by critics.
George W. Hamilton, of Fulton, Callaway county, has written several good books. The best known of them are "The Lantern Man" and "Wilson's Way."
Elizabeth Fielder, of Pike county, is the author of "The White Canoe," a book which has attracted considerable attention among liter- ary people. She wrote under the pseudonym of "Elizabeth Monckton," and is now a contributor to the magazines.
"Love vs. Law" is the title of a novel dealing with the question of women's suffrage. It is by Mary Anderson Matthews, of Macon, and has
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