Bok, Edward William. 1921. The Americanization of Edward Bok. Page 210

Edward William Bok > The Americanization of Edward Bok > Page 210

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Edward William Bok (1863–1930). The Americanization of Edward Bok. 1921.

Page 210
suggesting that the story of Jacob and Rachel would have made a theme for a beautiful love-poem. Field’s reply is interesting and characteristic, and throws a light on an omission in his works at which many have wondered:

DEAR BOK:
I’ll see what I can do with the suggestion as to Jacob and Rachel. Several have asked me why I have never written any love-songs. That is hard to answer. I presume it is because I married so young. I was married at twenty-three, and did not begin to write until I was twenty-nine. Most of my lullabies are, in a sense, love-songs; so is “To a Usurper,” “A Valentine,” “The Little Bit of a Woman,” “Lovers’ Lane,” etc., but not the kind commonly called love-songs. I am sending you herewith my first love-song, and even into it has crept a cadence that makes it a love-song of maturity rather than of youth. I do not know that you will care to have it, but it will interest you as the first….
Ever sincerely yours,

EUGENE FIELD.

During the last years of his life, Bok tried to interest Benjamin Harrison, former President of the United States, in golf, since his physician had ordered “moderate outdoor exercise.” Bok offered to equip him with the necessary clubs and balls. When he received the balls, the ex-president wrote:

“Thanks. But does not a bottle of liniment go with each ball?”

When William Howard Taft became President of the United States, the impression was given out that journalists would not be so welcome at the White House as they had been during the administration of President

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