MR. EUGENE FIELD'S JOKE.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 50, 27 August 1904, Page 13

MR. EUGENE FIELD'S JOKE.

Mr. Eugeno Field, tho American, was a woll-knowu book-collector, and one of tiis jokes (according, to the 'Philadelphia Post) was to enter a bookshop and in tho most solemn manner ask for an expurgated edition of Mrs. Hemans's poems. Ono day in Milwaukee he was walking along the street with bis friend George Yenowiiie, when tho latter halted in front of a bookshop and said: "Gene, the proprietor of this place is the most serious man I ever know. Ho never saw a joke in his lifo. Wouldn't it bo a good chance lo try again for that expurgated Mrs, Hemans?" Without a word Field entered, aekod for tho proprietor, and then mado the usual request. "That is v. rather scarce book," came tho reply. "Aro you prepared to pay a fair prico for itV For just a second Field was taken aback ; then ho said : "Certainly, certainly ; I — I — know it's rare." The man stepped to a case, took out a cheaply-bound volume, and handed it to Field, saying : "The prico is fivo dollars." Field took it nervously, opened to tho title-page, and read in correct print, "The Poems of Mrs. Felicia Hemans. Selected and Arranged, with All Objectionable Passages Excised, by Georgo Yenowine, Editor of 'Isaac Watts for rhe Home,' 'The Fireside Hannah Moro,' etc.," with tho usual publisher's name and dato at the bottom. Field glanced up at the bookseller. He stood thero tho veiy picture 6f sad solemnity. "I'll tako it," said Field faintly, producing tho money. Outside Yenowine was missing. At his office tho boy said that ho had juat left, saying that he was going to Standing Rock, Dakota, to kcop an appointment with Sitting BulL