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��y antes 7. Fields.
��JAMES T. FIELDS.— 1816-1881. By Olive E. Dana.
��There are three ways in which it is possible for men and women to make themselves felt in the world, and con- tribute to the advancement, the cult- ure, and the happiness of their gen- eration. The first is through the in- fluence of their individual or personal lives. This influence is the most po- tent, yet it has ordinarily the narrow- est range. It is as much more cir- cumscribed in its working than the other two forces which make u[i the sum of human influence and achieve- ment, as it is more intense than either. The second outgoino- of our nature is of thought. This makes literature. And whoever is heard and revered for intellectual greatness and beneficence may be no mean factor of reform and progress. The third channel through which we reach mankind lies through the lives and works of others. It is sometimes given to one to open the way for others to grow and enrich the world by his own insight or brav- ery or unselfishness, or by his fulfil- ment of some task which seems dis- tinctiveh' his, a work often unseen and unrewarded, to direct and give impetus to streams whose fertilizing influence shall be felt very widely and graciously and long.
It was ha[)pily granted to James T. F'ields to contribute to the world's finest influences in all these ways. Yet especially perhaps in that last men- tioned his work and influence were beneficent and noteworthy. vVs a man, as an author, and more especial- ly in his own peculiar province of publisher, critic, lUeratetii\ and that
��something added which includes in- sight, wisdom, and far-reaching au- thority in letters, his life is valuable and significant. The story of that life has been told by one nearest to him, depicting all aspects of his char- acter, and the various work that came within the sphere of his alert dili-
��gence.
��The native city of Mr. Fields and the home of his boyhood was Ports- mouth. His mother, left with two lit- tle sons by the death of her husband, a ship-master, was, he was wont to say, "• simi)ly the best and kindest of mothers," and the associations of his boyhood were as pure and safe as her superlatively watchful care could make them. His school-days seem to have ended with the high school, and at fourteen he went to Boston to become clerk in a bookstore. His love for Portsmouth was life-long. He often returned thither, and with delight. Ami indeed the old New England city which was his mf)ther town had been generous with him, and had nourished the Ijeginnings f)f a noble and normal life, rich in the capacit}' for joy, ill delicate perception and hearty appreciation of life's good things. In and around Portsmouth were countless ways his feet had of- ten trodden : journeys to Rye beach and Dover made pleasant memories. Here was nourished that delight in '•the great book of nature" which
- ■' remained his unchanged early love."
And his intellectual life, also, his kindly mother city had not left unre- membered. Its librai-y, the Athe-
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