IN WINK A WAY LAND - 1905 - INTRODUCTION - From whatever point of view the character of Eugene Field is seen, genius-rare and quaint presents itself is childlike simplicity. That he was a poet of keen perception, of rare discrimination, all vivill admit. He was a humorist as delicate and fanciful as Artemus Ward, Mark Twain, Bill Nye, James Whitcomb Riley, Opie Read, or Bret Harte in their happiest moods. Within him ran a poetic vein, capable of being worked in any direction, and from which he could, at will, extract that which his imagination saw and felt most. That he occasionally left the child-world, in which he longed to linger, to wander among the older children of men, where intuitively the hungry listener follows him into his Temple of Mirth, all should rejoice, for those who knew him not, can while away the moments imbibing the genius of his imagination in the poetry and prose here presented. Though never possessing an intimate acquaintanceship with Field, owing largely to the disparity in our ages, still there existed a bond of friendliness that renders my good opinion of him in a measure trustworthy. Born in the same. city, both students in the same college, engaged at various times in newspaper work both in St. Louis and Chicago, residents of the same ward, with many mutual friends, it is not surprising that I am able to say of him that the world is better off that he lived, not in gold and silver or precious jemels, but in the bestowal of priceless truths, of which the possessor of this book becomes a benefactor of no mean share of his estate. Every lover of Field, whether of the songs of childhood or the poems that lend mirth to the, out-pouring of his poetic nature, will welcome this unique collection of his choicest wit and humor. CHARLEWS ALTER B ROWN. Chicago, CONTENTS . PAGE . The Bottle Tree .......................... 9 The Sugar-Plum Tree ....................... 11 New YearsEve ........................... 13 Buttercup. Poppy. Forget. me. not ............ 15 Armenian Folk Song-The Mother ............ 17 Little Homers Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The Dream. Ship ........................... 21 TheBoy ................................. 24 Lady Button-Eyes ........................ 25 Teeny-weeny ............................. 28 Pittypat and Tippytoe .................... 31 The Humming Top ......................... 34 The Dinkey Bird .......................... 36 Fiddle-dee-dee ............................ 39 The Happy Household ..................... 41 Good-Children Street ...................... 44 The Drum ................................ 46 Three Valentines .......................... 48 TheDuel ................................. 52 Booh .................................... 54 Child and Mother .......................... 56 Fairy and Child .......................... 58 Over the Hills and Far Away ................ 60 . The Hawthorne Children ................... 62 Nightfall in Dordrecht ..................... 65 Intry-Mintry ......................... .... 67 6 I 6 CON TENTS . PAGE . Telling the Bees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Hi-Spy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 The Naughty Doll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Ganderfeathers Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 The Brook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Little Croodlin Doo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The Bow-Leg Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Hymn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 The Straw Parlor ................