Warren E Comstock

 Warren Ennis Comstock (1859-1928) = Advertising Sales Rep. Poet. Born in Calhoun County, Michigan, on May 3 to Hattie (Ennis) and Nicoll H. Comstock, grandson of Congressman Rev. Dr. Oliver Cromwell Comstock, Sr. and nephew of American Baptist missionary to Burma , Rev. Grover S Comstock. 

Warren married Maria Wilson "Boxie" Chiles (1869-1955), daughter of William H. and Mary (Graves) Chiles of Lexington, MO. on 17 October 1888.  They had three lovely daughters, Gladys (b.1889-90), Catherine (b.1892) and Grace (b.1893) and they spent many happy hours in Lexington visiting their daughter's maternal grandparents.  

Near the end of the 19th century, Kansas City's Commercial Club (Chamber of Commerce) was inspired to create their own version of a New Orleans' Mardi Gras festival to bring people into Kansas City, so they invented the Priest of Pallas festival complete with a large parade with floats. Invitations were sent to all the socialites to attend a ball (it ran annually until about 1912).  Boxie wore a brown satin ballgown with a Persian waist, overlaid with blue velvet bands, pink carnations and diamonds to the 1896 Pallas Ball. 

Gladys, in October of 1912, married a Mr. Rollins Smith in her parent's home at 806 East 41st Street. The ceremony was performed by Rev. J. C. Armstrong of the Westport Baptist Church. Catherine, Gladys' sister, was her maid of honor and Mr. Henry Clay Chiles, Glady's uncle, was the best man. 

Warren wrote poetry during his leisure hours when he wasn't engaged in traveling for an advertising sales agency. In 1917, Mr. Comstock was elected as the President of the Quill Club of Kansas City and was a member of the Writer's Guild in Missouri.  

He took a trip to England and returning, he left Liverpool on the ship Cedric and arrived back in New York on 17 Oct 1927 almost a year before he passed away on 17th of September 1928 of cancer and was quietly buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City. His tombstone carries the inscription "Missouri's Beloved Poet." 

Warren's Writings:

1. "The First Woman and Other Poems." By Warren E. Comstock, Bishop Press, Kansas City. 1907.
2. The days of long ago and Immortality (antithesis of "The Rubaiyat"), by Warren E. Comstock. Richard G. Badger, Boston, MA, 1908. Internet Archive.
3. Poem: "Evolution." By Warren E. Comstock. The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 13 Nov 1909. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
4. Various Poems. By Warren E. Comstock. Livezey Studio, Kansas City, Missouri, 1910. UMKC Library.
5. Poem: "Hail! and Farewell!" by Warren E. Comstock. 1910.
6. "Mother" By Warren E. Comstock. The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 24 Sept 1910. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
7. The days of long ago and immortality (antithesis of "The Rubaiyat"), by Warren E. Comstock. Foss Publishing Co, St. Joseph, MO. 1912.. UMKC Library.
8. Poem: "The Great Southwest." By Warren E. Comstock. 1912.
9. Poem: "Mental Hospitality." By Warren Comstock. The Detroit Times, Detroit, MI, 15 July 1916. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
10. Poem: "If". By Warren Comstock, President of the Kansas City Quill Club. 1917. 
11. Poem: "Made-In-Japan" Banquet. By Warren E. Comstock (Kansas City). The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 30 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
12. "Courage & Culture," "The Willow Tree, or A Legend of Old Japan." By Warren E. Comstock of Kansas City. 1920. 

Farewell forever to the past;

Regrets to leeward we must cast.

Live well the Present; ne'er despair;

Hail to the Future bright and fair. 

By Warren E. Comstock, 1910. 

More to Read:

1. His mother's family's genealogy = Genealogy of the Descendants of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick of Salem, Mass.: the original emigrants, and the ancestors of the families who have since borne his name. By James Moore Caller (1813-1884), J. H. Coate & Co, Salem, MA, 1881. p. 278, 425. Internet Archive.
2. "Rev. Grover Smith Comstock." By Rev. Pharcellus Church, D.D. Brandon, VT. 
    American Missionary Memorial: including biographical and historical sketches. By Hamilton Wilcox Pierson. Harper & Brothers, New York. 1853. p. 149. Internet Archive.  
3. "Personalities." The Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 13 October 1888. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
4. "The Priests of Pallas Shaped Kansas City's Spirit." by Diane Euston. Martin City and South KC Telegraph. Kansas City, Missouri.  1 July 2019. 
5. "Pallas' Tenth Annual Ball: Scene in the Ballroom." Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 8 Oct 1896. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
6. Kansas City Journal, Kansas City, MO. 21 Feb 1897. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
7. "Was Like a Dream." and "Invitation List." Kansas City Journal. Kansas City, MO. 5 Oct 1899. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
8. Some Descendants of Samuel Comstock of Providence, R.I. who died about 1660. Edited by C. B. Comstock. The Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1905. p. 127-128, 190, 221. Internet Archive, HathiTrust. 
9. The Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, MO. 8 July 1905. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
10. "A Clever Poet." The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 1 Feb 1908. Chronicling America Newspaper. 
11. "Local Briefs." The Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, MO. 5 September 1908. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
12. The Annual American Catalog, 1900-1909. The University of Michigan, 1901. Vol. 6., p. 1908. Google Books. 
13. The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 8 Jan 1910. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
14. "Talk About Ads: Big Men in Business World at Leavenworth." The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, KS, 21 Feb 1912. Chronicling America Newspapers.  
15. "Smith-Comstock." The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 25 October 1912. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
16. The Daily Missourian. Columbia, MO. 14 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
17. "MO. Writers Open Journalism Week." The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 14 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
18. "Journalism Week Notes." The Daily Missourian. Columbia, MO. 15 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers.  
19. "Missouri Ranks High in Literary Field: Active and Associate Members." The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 18 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
20. "Paddling" Impresses Visitor: Warren E. Comstock of Kansas City Tells of Journalism Week Incident. The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 31 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
21. "Echoes of Journalism Week: An Honor to Missouri." The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO 21 June, 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
22. "Journalism Week: Switzler Hall." Two Poems," Warren E. Comstock of Kansas City. 
23. The Evening Missourian, Columbia, MO. 3 May 1919. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
24. "Guild Opens Tenth Journalism Week." The Evening Missourian. Columbia, MO. 5 May 1919. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
25. "I. D. Mullinax First on Week's Program." The Evening Missourian, Columbia, MO. 3 May 1920. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
26. "Script-Crafters Please." The Evening Missourian. Columbia, MO. 4 May 1920. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
27. "Will Hear Missouri Writers on Monday." The Evening Missourian. Columbia, MO. 1 May 1920. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
28. USA Census Records
29. Missouri Death Certificate #30591 and Marie's Missouri Death Certificate #4700. 

Places to Visit:
Elmwood Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri. 

XXVIII

We'll dwell throughout Eternity, and Wait

For other Pilgrims who have traveled Straight

The Narrow Path that leads to Heaven's Gate. 

By Warren E. Comstock, Immortality (Antithesis of "The Rubaiyat")

Citation: "Warren E Comstock." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 4 October 2022. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Church in a Schoolhouse

By Thelma Burleson.

 

Church in a schoolhouse – no spire and no steeple,
Just a group of good humble people;
Shabbily dressed, but in their best, those brave pioneers
Came to worship God, and let Him dispel their fears.
No recreation room or kitchen in that church was found.
But we were blessed with all day preaching and dinner on the ground.
We had no budget committee to settle our fate
Just relied on God, and passed the plate.
Church in a schoolhouse – one roomed at that
They were all over this country – Oak Dale, Little RUSH and Elm Flat.
We had no stained glass windows or dome
But we took a Spiritual blessing back home.
At the old double desks, hands folded in prayer
A feeling of reverence ALWAYS was there.
Sunday School in the cloak room for the littlest child.
The bright Sunday School cards were hoarded and filed.
The lessons he learned there, he kept all his life
To help me withstand today’s turmoil and strife.

Circuit Riding Preacher

The circuit ridin’ preacher
Used to ride across the land
With a rifle on his saddle
And a Bible in his hand;
He told the prairie people
All about the promised land,
And he went riding by.

The circuit riding preacher
Traveled through the mire and mud
Told about the fiery furnace,
And of Noah and the flood.
He preached the way to heaven
Was by water and the blood,
As he went riding by

~ Tim Spencer, Manna Music.

The Ancient Ones

By Judith Wilson.
Used by permission.

It was embarrassing when your own parent got
Up on Wednesday night and testified.
But it was worse when some of the
Real ancient saints got up and cried
Or shouted or waved their hankerchiefs.

We pretended we didn’t hear what those ancient,
Glowing saints said, but we heard . . . and later
The Holy Spirit called their praises of Jesus back
To our remembrance.

It was their steadfast witness. . .
Their genuine spirits of praise . . .
Their lives which were above reproach
That made their words stick . . .to
Later be remembered in times of trial. . .
Need . . . or discouragement.

They were special . . .
And I miss
Hearing from God’s saints
Whom Your light
Had shone through.

Eugene Field

Eugene Field (1850-1895) = Children's Poet Laureate. Eccentric Journalist. Toy & book collector. Best known for his sentimental poetry for children. Eugene was born on the third of September to Roswell Martin & Francis Reed Field in St. Louis, MO. His Irish nanny was Temperance Moon. When he was six years old, his mother died of cholera and he and his brother, Roswell, Jr. were sent to live with Cousin Mary Field French in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Eugene was a fun-loving boy. He loved playing with the neighborhood boys or pulling pranks or messing about with his menagerie of pets including Dooley the dog. This dog inspired Gene to write his first bit of verse when he was about eleven years old.

When Eugene learned to read, he discovered fairy tales and would often read them instead of studying. He didn't much like school, but on Sundays, Miss Mary held a strict Puritan Sabbath, going to church in the mornings and making the boys study the Bible in the afternoons after dinner. Eugene declared that the Bible study he did in those days was of the greatest benefit to him in his writing later.

Gene and Julia Sutherland Comstock, daughter of Alexander Comstock, had an October wedding at the Christ Episcopal Church in St. Joseph, MO. in 1873. To this union eight children were born.

He began his writing career as a reporter. He was employed by the St. Louis Journal (1873-1875); the St. Joseph Gazette (1875-1876); St. Louis Times-Journal (1876-1880); the Kansas City Times (1880-1881) and other papers outside of Missouri.

At the early age of 45; Gene's funeral services were held in the Fourth Presbyterian Church at RUSH & Superior streets in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Reverend F.M. Bristol gave the eulogy address.

In the Firelight.
By Eugene Field.

The fire upon the hearth is low,
And there is stillness everywhere,
And, like wing'd spirits, here and there
The firelight shadows round me creep,
A childish treble breaks the gloom,
And softly from a further room
Comes: "Now I lay me down to sleep."

And, somehow, with that little pray'r
And that sweet treble in my ears,
My thought goes back to distant years,
And lingers with a dear one there;
And as I hear my child's amen,
My mother's faith comes back to me –
Crouched at her side I seem to be,
And mother holds my hands again.

Oh, for an hour in that dear place –
Oh, for the peace of that dear time –
Oh, for that childish trust sublime –
Oh, for a glimpse of mother's face!
Yet, as the shadows round me creep,
I do not seem to be alone –
Sweet magic of that treble tone
And "Now I lay me down to sleep!"

More to Read:

1. Bufton's Universal Cyclopaedia. Ed. By Alexander, Bailey, Bufton, Clintock, Colledge, Crampton, Higgins, Jeffrey, Neergaard, & RUSH. Mutual Pub; Kansas City, 1925.

2. Eugene Field: The Children's Poet. Carol Greene. 1994.

3. Field Days: The Life, Times & Reputation of Eugene Field. By Robert Conrow. 1974. ( * not recommended reading for children)

4. Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. John W. Brown. 2008

5. One Hundred and One Famous Poems. Edited by Roy C. Cook. 1928.

6. Poems of Childhood: Eugene Field. Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.

7. The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat. By Eugene Field. Illustrated by Janet Street. 1990.

8. Webster's Biographical Dictionary. G & C. Merriam, 1956.

9. The World Book Encyclopedia. Field Enterprises Educational Corp; Chicago; 1967.

10. “A Condensed History of the Kansas City Area: Its Mayors and Some V.I.P.s 1850-1950 ” Assembled by George Fuller Green. City Historian. The Lowell Press; Kansas City, MO. 1968.
11. St. Louis Courthouse Postcard by Raphael & Tuck.

12. Missouri: Day by Day. By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Editor. Mo State Historical Society, 1942.
13. Findagrave #4706

Eugene Field's books: The Tribune Primer (1882); A Little Book of Western Verse (1889); A Little Book of Profitable Tales (1889-90); With Trumpet and Drum (1892); Second Book of Verse (1892); Echoes from the Sabine Farm (1892).

 Places to Visit in MO.:

1. Eugene Field House & St. Louis Toy Museum. Home of poet and toy collector

2. Eugene Field and Dred Scott Case lawyer, Roswell Field, 634 South Broadway, St. Louis. 

3. Old Courthouse. 11 N. Fourth St. St. Louis. Place of Dred & Harriet Scott's Trial.

4. Dred Scott is buried at Calvary Cemetery, 5239 West Florissant Avenue, St. Louis,

5. Marker c, 1875, 211 Capitol Ave, Jefferson City, MO.

6. Little Boy Blue Statue, Public Library, St. Joseph

7. Lovers Lane, NW Parkway and Lover's Lane, St. Joseph

Quote:

"Gene, during his college days, was a round peg in a square hole." ~ Dr. Hopkins, President of Williams College.

 Holiday:

1897 = November 4. Eugene Field Day. Schools throughout Missouri, on the recommendation of the State Superintendent of Public Schools, annually observed the date of Field's death with recitation programs.

Citation: "Eugene Field." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 23 October 2010. History Nut of Missouri, USA.