Field was a Republican by inheritance, and a Missouri Republican at that, which means a Republican who may die but never compromises.  The Vermont views and prejudices which he inherited from his father were not weakened, we may be sure, under the tutelage of the women folks at Amherst, or of Dr. Tufts, at Monson.  But rock-ribbed as he was in his adherence to the Republican party, he never took the trouble to make a study of its principles, nor did he care to discuss any of the political issues of his day.  It was enough that the Democratic party embodied in his mind his twin aversions, slavery and rebellion, against the Union.  He was a thorough-going believer in the doctrine, “To the victors belong the spoils,” and as he credited the Republican party with the preservation of the Union, he saw no reason why its adherents should not use or abuse its government without let or hindrance from men who had sought to destroy it.  This view he has set forth in a scornful bit of verse, which I copy from his rough draft: 

  REFORM

  What means this pewter teapot storm,
    This incoherent yell—­
  This boisterous blubber for “reform”
    When everything goes well? 
  Why should the good old party cease
    To rule our prosperous land? 
  Is not our country blessed with peace
    And wealth on every hand?

  The Democrats desired reform
    Two dozen years ago,
  But with our life-blood, red and warm,
    We gave the answer “No.” 
  We see the same old foe to-day
    We saw in Sixty-one—­
  “Deeds of reform,” they whining say,
    Must for our land be done!

  “Deeds of reform?” And these the men
    Who, in the warful years,
  Starved soldiers in a prison-pen,
    And mocked their dying tears! 
  By these our mother’s heart was broke—­
    By these our father fell—­
  These bold “reformers” once awoke
    Our land with rebel yell!

  These quondam rebels come to-day
    In penitential form,
  And hypocritically say
    The country needs “reform!”
  Out on reformers such as these! 
    By Freedom’s sacred pow’rs
  We’ll run the country as we please—­
    We saved it, and it’s ours!_

From this as the rock of all his political prejudices, Field was immovable.  But happily, for the pleasure of his friends and the entertainment of his readers, he took politics no more seriously than he did many of the other responsibilities of life.  As early as 1873, in a letter already published, he announced that he had “given over all hope of rescuing my torn and bleeding country from Grant and his minions,” and from that time on he devoted his study of politics to the development of satirical and humorous paragraphs at the expense of the two classes of prominent and practical politicians.

[Illustration:  OFF TO SPRINGFIELD. From a drawing by Eugene Field.]