ABSTRACT
Eugene Field may be more readily remembered as the author of sentimental poems about children such as "Little Boy Blue" and "Dutch Lullaby" than as a humorist. The satirist who loved his fellow man was born in a house on Collins Street in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 3, 1850, to Roswell M. Field and Frances Reed. Boyhood in St. Louis ended after Eugene's mother died in 1856. The following year Eugene and his younger brother, Roswell, were sent to Amherst, Massachusetts, to be raised by their cousin, Mary Field French, who lovingly provided a home and instilled New England virtues in the lively young boys. In 1868, he enrolled in Williams College. Field was cursed with a delicate stomach and a lanky body that did not lend itself to vigorous physical activity. Eugene Field's irrepressible humor brought him early success that sustains his literary reputation today.
