September 2, 1850

Perhaps you remember  the lines of "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat." The fame of this children's verse by Eugene Field (September 2, 1850 to November 4, 1895) lasted until my chlidhood, and longer I think.

The whole poem goes like this:


The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
T'was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!

The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
I wasn't there: I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate !

The gingham dog went " Bow-wow-wow!"
And the calico cat replied "Mee-ow!"
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,

While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
Up with its hands before its face,
For it always dreaded a family row!
(Now mind: I'm only telling you
What the old Dutch clock declares is true !)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,
And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,

Employing every tooth and claw,
In the awfullest way you ever saw—
And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew
Don t fancy I exaggerate—
I got my news from the Chinese plate

Next morning, where the two had sat
They found no trace' of dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair away!

But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
The old Dutch clock it told me so,
And that is how I came to know.

Eugene Field is more interesting than his children's verse. The very nice write-up at the Poetry Foundation, reminds us of his ribald verse, his dislike for children, his bonhomie and this response to a question from Mrs. Humphrey Ward:

She asked him, "Do you not find the social atmosphere of Chicago exceedingly crude, furnishing one with little intellectual companionship?" Field replied, "Really Mrs. Ward, ... I do not consider myself competent to give an opinion ... up to the time Barnum captured me and took me to Chicago to be civilized I had always lived in a tree in the wilds of Missouri."

The wilds of Missouri was claimed by another writer who made a topic of silly cats. T. S. Eliot was also born in St. Louis. Eliot (1888 – 1965), and presumably heard of calico cats at an impressionable age. Fields was wildly popular during his own life time and ---'calico' and 'practical' share an inner consonance to my ear.