the Pelham hills were full
of marvel and delight, with their tangled pathways and hidden stores
of wintergreen and wild strawberries. Furtive brooks led the little
boy hither and thither in his quest for trout and dace, while to the
gentler-minded the modest flowers of the wild-wood appealed with
singular directness. A partridge rose now and then from the thicket
and whirred away, and with startled eyes the brown thrush peered out
from the bushes. I see these pleasant scenes again, and I hear again
the beloved sounds of old; and so with reverence and with welcoming
I take up my task, for it was among these same Pelham hills that the
dear lady of whom I am to speak was born and spent her childhood.

CHAPTER V

EDUCATION

There was more truth than epigrammatic novelty in Eugene Field's
declaration that his education began when he fancied he had left it off
for the serious business of life. Throughout his boyhood he was far
from a hardy youth. He always gave the impression of having overgrown
his strength, so that delicate health, and not indisposition to study,
has been assigned as the excuse for his backwardness in "book larnin'"
when it was decided to send him away from the congenial distractions of
Amherst to the care of the Rev. James Tufts of Monson.

Monson is a very prettily situated Massachusetts town, about fifteen
miles, as the crow flies, east of Springfield, and not more than
twenty-five miles south by east of Amherst. It boasted then and still
boasts one of the best equipped boys' academies in New England. It was
not to the tender mercies of this academy, however, that Eugene was
entrusted, but to the private tutorship of Mr. Tufts, whose life and
character justify the tribute of Roswell Field that he is "one of those
noble instructors of the blessed old school who are passing away from
the arena of education in America." He is now, in 1901, in his
ninetieth year, and is always spoken of among his neighbors as the
"grand old man of Monson." From his own lips, accompanied by the lively
comments of Mrs. Tufts, and from a loving communication written by him
to the Springfield Republican shortly after Eugene Field's death I have
gleaned the general facts of Eugene Field's school-days at Monson.

[Illustration: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF MONSON, MASS.]

It was in the Fall of 1865 that Eugene became one of a class of six
boys in the private school of Mr. Tufts. This school was chosen bec