Yet with all the varied charms of foreign life, passed in the most cultivated and refined social circles of Europe, Kate Field never forgot that she was an American, and patriotism grew to be a passion with her. She became a student of English and American politics, and her revelations of the ponderous machinery of the British Parliament, in a series of strong and brilliant press letters, now collected into the little volume called "Hap-Hazzard," was as fine and impressive in its way as is her dramatic criticism or literary papers. All this, perhaps, had paved the way for her to enter into a close and comprehensive study of the subject which she is now so ably discussing in her notable lectures on the social and the political crimes of Utah. The profound and serious attention which she is now giving to this problem stamps her lectures as among the most potent political influences of the time. Miss Field's discussion of Mormonism is one of those events which seem pre-determined by the law of the unconscious, and which seem to choose the individual rather than to be chosen by him. In the summer of 1883, by way of a change from continental travel, Miss Field determined to hitch her wagon to a star and journey westward. She lingered for a month in Denver where she received distinguished social attention and where, by special request, she gave her lecture on an "Evening with Dickens" and her charming "Musical Monologue." Of this Dickens' lecture a western journal said:-- "Charles Dickens was the novelist of humanity, and Kate Field is, to-day, his most sympathetic and intelligent interpreter. Those who were so fortunate as to attend her reading last evening enjoyed an intellectual pleasure not soon forgotten. They saw a slender, graceful woman, dressed in creamy white, with soft laces falling about her; with low, broad brow, and earnest, sympathetic eyes, under a cloud of soft dark hair. With a rich and finely modulated voice of remarkable power of expression, she held her audience for two hours spellbound by the magic of her genius." In Colorado Miss Field enjoyed an unique and picturesque holiday. Picnics and excursions were gotten up in her honor; special trains were run; she rode on horseback with gay parties of friends twenty-five miles a day; she joined friends from New York who were camping out on "The Needles," and she made a visit to the San Juan Silver-mining district. Among other diversions she had the honor of naming a new watering place, located on "The Divide," an hour by rail from Denver, to which, in honor of General Palmer who has practically "made" that region, Miss Field gave the name of Palmero, the Spanish for Palmer. How unconsciously Miss Field came to study the problem presented by the peculiar institutions of Utah is curiously indicated in a letter from Salt Lake City, under date of Jan. 16, 1884, which she wrote to the Boston _Herald_, and which opens thus:--