Sandburg's Hometown

January 25, 2016

"Little Boy Blue" musical score - Eugene Field, poet

Little Boy Blue - Musical Score (©1895)


"Little Boy Blue"

by Barbara Schock

As a fifth grade student, Carl Sandburg came under the instruction of Miss Lottie Goldquist. She was one of his favorite teachers. He earned good grades in geography, arithmetic, language and reading under her tutelage. He also learned to appreciate the rhythms and the use of words.

 

Miss Goldsmith told her students about Eugene Field, who had been a student at Knox College in 1869 and 1870. It was her opinion he was “a poet of the Corn Belt and as good as Longfellow.” She read “Little Boy Blue” to the class. In those days the poem was a favorite of many and was recited at gatherings of family  members and of church societies. It was even set to music to be played on the reed organ or piano in family homes.

 Eugene Field (1850-1895) - Poet

Eugene Field was born September 2, 1850, in St. Louis. His parents were Roswell and Frances Reed Field. His father was a respected and successful attorney who had defended Dred Scott, the slave who wanted to be free, in Scott's first successful trial in Missouri. Mrs. Field died when Eugene was six years old. He and his younger brother were sent to a cousin in Amherst, Massachusetts, to be raised.

 John W. Burgess was responsible for bringing Field to Knox College. Burgess became a faculty member at Knox in 1869, teaching political science. Since Field's education was under his supervision, Burgess brought Field to Galesburg. Field had been a student at Williams College, but he didn't like to study, preferring to entertaining his classmates with his wit. Williams decided it wanted no more of him.

 

Field became a popular student at Knox because he was a good writer, a ready speaker and had a charming manner with the females at Whiting Hall. At the age of tweny-one, he received his inheritance and went to Europe with a friend. After the money was gone, he returned to the United States. Thereafter, he turned up in Columbia, Missouri, where his brother was attending the university. Eugene tried studying the law and acting, but never received a college degree.

 

In 1873 Field married Julia Sutherland Comstock, who was sixteen years of age. They had eight children, five of whom survived to maturity. Field worked as a journalist at several newspapers in Missouri for the next few years. He always requested that his earnings be given to his wife as he had no head managing money.

 

In 1881 the family moved to Denver where he became editorial writer, editor and managing editor, in that order, of the Denver Tribune. In 1883 Field and his family moved to Chicago where he worked for the Chicago Morning News. He wrote a column of quips about issues and personalities of the day. The column was titled “Sharps and Flats.” Field was among the first newspapermen to write a column composed of commentary on current events. Field began publishing his writing in books during 1879. Most of the material had previously appeared in the newspapers where he worked.

 

Eugene Field has been called the “Poet of Childhood” because so many of his poems relate to the nursery and playthings. He seldom wrote of children directly. His poems have an appealing charm, but there is a sharp irony as well. Try reading “The Duel”, a description of the fight to the death between the gingham dog and the calico cat.

 

Eugene Field died November 4, 1895, of heart failure. He was buried in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago. In 1926, members of the family had his remains moved to the Church of the Holy Comforter, Kenilworth, Illinois.

 

Sandburg's Hometown
Date Title
February 1, 2016 "Little Boy Blue"
January 25, 2016 Always the Young Strangers
January 18, 2016 George R. Longbrake
January 11, 2016 Fred Cook
January 4, 2016 Domestic Help
December 14, 2015 Justice of the Peace B.F. Holcomb
November 30, 2015 Standardized Time
November 23, 2015 Joseph H. Knutson
November 16, 2015 Wells and Cisterns 
November 2, 2015 Willis E. Calkins
October 26, 2015 Galesburg Pottery
October 19, 2015 Private Lewis H. Kay
October 12, 2015 The Klondike Gold Rush
September 28, 2015 Charles L. Bloomgren
September 21, 2015 The Gilded Age
September 14, 2015 Oliver Optic
August 31, 2015 The "Spanish" Cannon
August 24, 2015 The Company C Men
August 17, 2015 Jacob A. Riis
August 10, 2015 Mason Jars
August 3, 2015  October 7, 1896
July 27, 2015 The Soldier's Monument
July 20, 2015 Ice
July 13, 2015 Moses O. Williamson
July 6, 2015 Sweet Little Alix
June 29, 2015 Sharlie's Shickens
June 22, 2015 Anna Held & John Drew
June 15, 2015 Hartel & Secker Meat Market
June 8, 2015 Girls
June 1, 2015 Old First Church - Part II
May 25, 2015 Old First Church - Part I
May 18, 2015 Marbles
May 11, 2015 Pawnee County, Kansas
May 4, 2015 Detective Stories and the Real Thing
April 27, 2015 Professor Isaac A. Parker
April 20, 2015 Celluloid Collars
April 13, 2015 Asparagus
April 6, 2015  Mayor John C. Stewart 
March 30, 2015 Basket Ball
March 23, 2015 The Courthouse of Knox County, IL
March 16, 2015

“Trifles make perfection...”

March 9, 2015 Uncle Tom's Cabin
March 2, 2015 Martha Sandburg Goldstone
February 23, 2015 Devotion
February 16, 2015  Gumbiner's Pawn Shop 
February 9, 2015 White Bread
February 2, 2015 The Monarch Club
January 26, 2015 The Silver Dollar
January 19, 2015 The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway
January 12, 2015 The Four Corners
December 22, 2014 Swedish Christmas
December 8, 2014 Christmas 1878
December 1, 2014 Bunker Boots & Shoes
November 24, 2014 Galesburg, Illinois
November 17, 2014 It was Buffalo Bill's Day
November 10, 2014 The Election of 1896 (A follow-up story)
November 3, 2014 The Election of 1896 (continued)
October 27, 2014 The Election of 1896
October  24, 2014 The Rissywarn
October 20, 2014 The Parlor Stove
October 13, 2014 Ashes to Ashes
October 6, 2014 Jesse James
Sept. 29, 2014 Lester T. Stone, Public Servant
Sept. 22, 2014 It's Who You Know
Sept 15, 2014 Mother of the Illinois Flag
Sept 8, 2014 The Scissors Grinder
Sept 1, 2014 Baseball
August 25, 2014 Howard K. Knowles, Capitalist
August 18, 2014  Alcoholic Beverages
August 11, 2014 Soda Water
August 4, 2014 Sweet Corn
July 28, 2014 Marching Through Georgia
July 21, 2014 The Knox County Fair
July 14, 2014 The Panic of 1893
July 7, 2014 The Rev. T. N. Hasselquist
June 30, 2014 The Knox County Courthouse
June 23, 2014 The Family Photograph Album
June 16, 2014 Parades
June 9, 2014 Lingonberries
June 2, 2014 Where We Live
May 26, 2014 Old Main
May 19, 2014 Rhythms of the Railroad
May 12, 2014 Spring Tonic
May 5, 2014 The Milkmen
April 28, 2014 Gray's "Elegy..."
April 21, 2014 Off to War
April 14, 2014 Swedish Easter
April 7, 2014 A Father's Face
March 31, 2014 Secret Societies
March 24, 2014 George A. Murdock, Merchant
March 10, 2014 Trade Cards
March 3, 2014 The Demorest Medal
February 24, 2014 Rip Van Winkle
February 17, 2014 Cabbage Soup
February 10, 2014 Lincoln's Birthday
February 3, 2014 4  The Colonel
January 27, 2014 The Lincoln Penny - A Little History
January 20, 2014 Walking to Work
January 13, 2014  A Small Abode
January 6, 2014 Birth of a Poet
December 30, 2013 Christmas 1880
December 23, 2013 Swedish Christmas
December 16, 2013 The Reporter Sees Santa
December 9, 2013 The Coming of Christmas
December 2, 2013 The Fire Boys Talk
November 25, 2013 Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries - Thanksgiving 1893
November 18, 2013 Mary Sandburg Johnson
November 11, 2013 Carl Sandburg's Bicycle
November 4, 2013 Lace Curtains
October 28, 2013 The Front Room
October 21, 2013 A Warm Breakfast
October 14, 2013 Marion D. Shutter
October 7, 2013 Cigars and Consumption
September 30, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg
September 16, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke, Mayor
September 9, 2013 Dusty Streets
September 2, 2013 Typhoid Fever
August 26, 2013 Coffee and Water
August 19, 2013 A Horse! A Horse!
August 12, 2013 Gaddial Scott
August 5, 2013 The Racetrack
July 29, 2013 John Peter Algeld - Part II
July 22, 2013 John Peter Altgeld - Part I
July 15, 2013 Tramps, Tramps, Tramps
July 8, 2013 Lady Liberty
July 1, 2013 Galesburg's Fourth
June 24, 2013 John H. Finley
June 17, 2013 The World's Columbian Exhibition
June 10, 2013 Fruit Short-Cake
June 3, 2013 Horatio Alger, Author
May 27, 2013 Memorial Day, 1887
May 20, 2013 Professor Jon W. Grubb
May 13, 2013 Beginnings of Lombard University
May 6, 2013 Young Sandburg’s View of Lombard College
April 29, 2013 Thinking
April 22, 2013 Robert Colville, Master Mechanic
April 15, 2013 The Galesburg Opera House
April 8, 2013 Grocery Stores and Sample Rooms
April 1, 2013  A Hearty  Breakfast 
March 25, 2013  The Lost Wallpaper Legend 
March 18, 2013 Martin G. Sandburg
March 4, 2013 The Edison Talking Machine
February 25, 2013 Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran
February 18, 2013 Remember the Maine...
February 11, 2013 Lincoln's Birthday
February 4, 2013 Curiosity
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