Girls, This Man Bought Comfort To Many!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darlings, I am telling you, the older I get, the more I seem to fall back onto memories of comfort from childhood. And one of those memories was curling up in one of our living room couches, reading and perusing those pages of "My Book House," that contained two famous poems by the poet, Eugene Field!!!!!!!!

Who??????? No, lambs, not Eugene 0"Neill! And not Edward Lear, though we all know him from "The Owl And The Pussycat." The poem, you dolls, NOT the Barbra Streisand movie!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eugene Field lived a relatively brief life--45 years! But in that time he managed to produce eight children!!!!!!!! He wrote a lot--humor, poetry, etc, but his two most famous "children" are the two poems for which he is most famous, and from which I have always drawn comfort--"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," and "The Sugar Plum Tree." The latter was always my personal favorite. The poems will be discussed in separate posts, and I have tried SO hard to find the Book House illustrations, which I wanted to share with all you, girls, but instead I am forced to do my best by selecting those that approximated best the mood and feel of these illustrations.

Mr. Field knew something about needing comfort himself. His mother died when he was 6, in 1856, and from that point on, he was raised by a cousin, Mary Field French of Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated from Williams College and ended up in Chicago, where he married, had those eight children and died of a heart attack (probably from the eight children!!) at the age of 45.

There is little doubt that out of a need for comfort for himself, which he needed in the wake of his mother's passing, and as a way of passing on that comfort to his children, and generations after, he created his two most celebrated works. The image of a trio sailing off on the stars in a wooden shoe, and a candy tree that grows in a place called Shut Eye Town have enchanted countless kiddies, including yours truly!!!!!! Hey, I wanna go to Shut Eye Town for my next vacation.

Eugene Field has been on my mind lately. He has not been given enough recognition, in my opinion. But now, thanks to the Raving Queen, he has!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations, Mr. Field!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And let's all go to Shut Eye Town, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!