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} + div.tnotes { padding-left:1em; padding-right:1em; background-color:#e6e6fa; + color: #000000; border:thin solid silver; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; + clear: both; } + .covernote { visibility: hidden; display: none; } + div.tnotes p { text-align:left; } + .x-ebookmaker .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block; } + .figcenter {font-size: .9em; page-break-inside: avoid; max-width: 100%; } + h1 {line-height: 150%; } + .footnote {font-size: .9em; } + div.footnote p {text-indent: 2em; margin-bottom: .5em; } + blockquote {font-size: 90%; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + body {text-align: justify; } + table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; + clear: both; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: auto; } + .pageno {font-size: small; background-color:#ffffff; } + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; + margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .border {border-style: solid;border-width: medium; padding: 1em; clear: both; } + .blackletter {font-family: 'Old English Text MT'; font-weight:bold; + font-style: normal; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78956 ***</div> + + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i000.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>THE AUTHOR AT THE AGE OF 30<br> <br> <span class='small'>[A.D. 1880]</span></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001'><span class='sc'>Culture’s Garland</span><br> <span class='small'><i>BEING MEMORANDA OF</i></span><br> <span class='large'>THE GRADUAL RISE OF LITERATURE, ART, MUSIC AND SOCIETY IN CHICAGO, AND OTHER WESTERN GANGLIA</span></h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='small'>BY</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>EUGENE FIELD</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</span></div> + <div class='c003'>JULIAN HAWTHORNE</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='An ornate shield emblem featuring the stylized, intertwined monogram letters "T & Co" or "T and C" at the center, framed by decorative scrollwork, with a rolled scroll or document suspended by a cord at the top.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>BOSTON</div> + <div><span class='sc'>Ticknor and Company</span></div> + <div><span class='blackletter'>211 Tremont Street</span></div> + <div>1887</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1887, by</span></span></div> + <div><span class='small'>TICKNOR & COMPANY.</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'><i>All rights reserved.</i></span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='small'>ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>BY RAND AVERY COMPANY.</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>BOSTON</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span> + <h2 class='c004'>PREFACE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It has come to pass, I know not how, that what is +accepted as American humor has largely become the +prey of specialists. When we see the signature of +Mark Twain, Bill Nye, Artemus Ward, Bob Burdette, +Bret Harte, or any one of a dozen more, we know +what kind of humor will accompany the name. Each +man has his particular and familiar line, and never +diverges from it. But there is something wrong about +this. Humor—whatever it used to mean in Ben +Jonson’s days—now means something more than the +comic eccentricity of an individual. It means the +arch smile, half quizzical and half tender, that +glimmers upon the countenance of human nature when +contemplating its own follies and perversities.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The name of Eugene Field, of the Chicago “Daily +News,” though heard for the first time only a few +years ago, is already a famous and a favorite name +in journalism. He, too, bears the reputation of a +humorist: but his humor is not of the conventional +order; it has a wider and a loftier scope. He has +a gentle yet intrepid heart, a penetrating but broad +<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>intellect, and a pen that is at once trenchant and +kindly, sensible and imaginative. He is the author +of some of the purest and most charming fairy-tales +that have been written since Hans Christian Andersen’s +time. He has produced poems whose effortless +art and tender pathos have brought them to the knowledge +of perhaps half the newspaper readers of America; +and, withal, he has poured out genuine and spontaneous +fun enough to restore that gayety of nations +which the death of a certain renowned comedian was +said to have eclipsed. Yet, in all his jesting, he has +never jested heedlessly or cruelly. If he has laughed at +what is foolish, he has honored what is good: if he has +unsparingly satirized what is absurd or unworthy in our +civilization, he has always reverenced what is sacred +and holy in our nature. His is no common mind, and we +have as yet seen but a small arc of its complete circle. +No man born on this continent is a more robust +American than he; no man scents a sham more unerringly, +or abominates it more effectively; no man’s +ideal of American literature is higher or sounder. +And though circumstances have hitherto confined his +contributions to that literature within comparatively +narrow limits, yet he has given ample indications of +vigorous powers and a catholic range. He is sometimes +as homely and pithy as a New-England farmer; sometimes +as refined and subtle as a French epigrammatist; +now he chuckles like a Gargantuan, and again he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>evinces the artistic grace of a trained poet or romancer. +But above all and beneath all he is a man, full of the +strength and the richness of human nature, and loving +human nature with all his heart, as only a man can.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The present little volume comprises mainly a bubbling-forth +of delightful <i>badinage</i> and mischievous +raillery, directed at some of the foibles and pretensions +of his enterprising fellow-townsmen; who, however, +can by no means be allowed to claim a monopoly of +either the pretensions or the foibles herein exploited. +Laugh, but look to yourself: <i><span lang="la">mutato nomine, de te +fabula narratur</span></i>. It is a book which should, and +doubtless will, attain a national popularity; but admirable, +and indeed irresistible, though it be in its +way, it represents a very inconsiderable fraction of the +author’s real capacity. We shall hear of Eugene +Field in regions of literature far above the aim and +scope of these witty and waggish sketches. But, as +the wise orator wins his audience at the outset of his +speech by the human sympathy of a smile, so does our +author, in these smiling pages, establish genial relations +with us, before betaking himself to more ambitious +flights. If he have half the confidence that his +friends have in his power of wing, he will be far aloft +ere long; and then, as now, we shall all wish him +heartily God-speed!</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>JULIAN HAWTHORNE.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'><span class='sc'>June, 1887.</span></p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <td class='c008'></td> + <th class='c009'>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Kinsley’s Book</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Literature and Art</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_4'>4</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Cooley Poems</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_5'>5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Judge Cooley’s Denial</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_16'>16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Literary Notes</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Doty Mad</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_19'>19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Chicago Palmistry</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_21'>21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Marvellous Invention</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_24'>24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Books and Authors</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_30'>30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Chicago Hamlets</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Literary Wayside</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_38'>38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Beautiful Article of Virtue</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Shakespeares Identified</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Among the Literati</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Markeesy di Pullman</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_51'>51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Literary Laconics</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_58'>58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>As to the Garter of a Markeesy</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_59'>59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Emerson in ’Frisco</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Summer Philosopher</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_66'>66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Truth about Dante</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_68'>68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Good Cause</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_76'>76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Convention of Western Writers</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Poet’s Corner</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_80'>80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Western Boy’s Lament</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_80'>80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Story of Xanthippe</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Philadelphia</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Humanity</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Baked Beans and Culture</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span><span class='sc'>Mr. Isaac Watts, Tutor</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Revision</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Official Explanation</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Yankee Chorus Girls</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Dixey as a Nemesis</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_109'>109</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Professor Lowell in Chicago</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_113'>113</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Elder’s Fright</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Ethel’s Christmas Tale</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Chicago Weather</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Chicago Christmas Legend</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_138'>138</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Plea for the Classics</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mlle. Prud’homme’s Book</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_142'>142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Her Genuine Culture</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_146'>146</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Demand for Condensed Music</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Opera, Opuses, and Opi</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Chicago the Music Centre</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Still Blooming</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Offence</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Lament</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_155'>155</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Apology</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A German Personal</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_157'>157</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Col. Aldrich’s “Last Cæsar” (1)</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Col. Aldrich’s “Last Cæsar” (2)</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Miss Bayle’s Romance</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Humorist’s Courtship</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>That One Floating Vote</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Persian Mission</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_175'>175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Senator’s Valor</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_179'>179</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Season of New Music</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_182'>182</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Apollo Located</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_184'>184</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>An Exile’s Nuptials</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Patronize Home Art</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_187'>187</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>An Old Feud</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Hegira Threatened</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_192'>192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Spanish Romance</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_197'>197</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>More about Miss Field</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_200'>200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Kentuckian’s Sagacity</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_202'>202</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Col. Judd’s Narrow Escape</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_203'>203</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span><span class='sc'>A White-House Ballad.—I.</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_206'>206</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>An Editorial Schedule</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_207'>207</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A White-House Ballad.—II.</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_209'>209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Haskells, Père et Fils</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A White-House Ballad.—III.</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>More about Col. Haskell</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_212'>212</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Another New Book</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_213'>213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Slattery of Boston</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mme. L’Allemand’s Humor</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_218'>218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Veteran Actor</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A White-House Ballad.—IV.</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_221'>221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Life, Death, and Love</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_222'>222</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Pike’s Peak</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_225'>225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Christian-County Mosquitoes</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_226'>226</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Dying Soldier</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_228'>228</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>His First Day at Editing</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_229'>229</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Little Peach</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_236'>236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Learning and Literature</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Some Famous Apologies</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_240'>240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Victoria at the Show</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_242'>242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Farmer’s Advice</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_243'>243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Chicago German Lyric</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Works of Sappho</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>November</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_253'>253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Novelette</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_254'>254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Inter-State Commerce Bill Items</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Wizard of Vermilion</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_258'>258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Why He was Tardy</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_261'>261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Base-Ball as a Classic</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_262'>262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Culled in Helicon</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_265'>265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Oon Criteek de Bernhardt</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_267'>267</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Oon Conversarzyony Frongsay</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_274'>274</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Fearless Protector</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_277'>277</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Knapp’s Scheme</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_278'>278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Fine Old Book</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_279'>279</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Stealing our Thunder</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_282'>282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Lost, Strayed, or Stolen</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_285'>285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Condensed Literature</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_286'>286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span><span class='sc'>Dr. Warner in Chicago</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_288'>288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>An Anxious Inquiry</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_289'>289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Chip of the Old Block</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_290'>290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Crown Jewels</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_291'>291</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Mr. Goodwin’s Yacht</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_295'>295</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Laudable Scheme</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_297'>297</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Era of Reform</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_298'>298</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Drama Discussed</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_307'>307</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Vale of Cashmere</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_308'>308</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Friend of the Indian</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_309'>309</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Way of the Sex</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_310'>310</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>After Many Years</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_311'>311</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Society Item</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_313'>313</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'><span lang="de">“Die Walküre” und der Boomerangelungen</span></span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_314'>314</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>An Angered Teuton</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_319'>319</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>“<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>” Analyzed</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_320'>320</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>A Felicitous Toast</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_321'>321</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Farmer Candidate</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_322'>322</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>The Mummy’s Conundrum</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_325'>325</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='c002 figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_xv.jpg' alt='A simple black-and-white ink illustration depicting a circular necklace or string made of thirteen sausages, with two additional matching links hanging straight down from the bottom center closure.' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>A CHICAGO LITERARY CIRCLE<br> <br> IN THE SIMILITUDE OF A LAUREL WREATH</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter ph1'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c010'> + <div>CULTURE’S GARLAND.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Kinsley’s Book.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>While it is universally conceded that Chicago +is rapidly achieving world-wide reputation as the +great literary centre of the United States, it is distressing +to note that local critics are slow to recognize +and to encourage the efforts of Chicago +<i>littérateurs</i>. We have been plunged into a most +unhappy condition of mind by the continued neglect +with which a recent literary work of our esteemed +fellow-townsman, Mr. H. M. Kinsley, has +been treated by the moulders of literary thought +in Chicago. We do not know whether it is envy +that lurks in the bosom of our literary critics, and +instigates them to ignore home industries, but we +do know that for the last three months “The Dial,” +“Scandinavia,” “The Current,” and other hypercritical +reviews, have devoted much space to literature +in Norway, France, Italy, Belgium, England, +and Prussia, but have had never a word to say of +Mr. Kinsley’s valuable treatise. We mention this +plain truth more in sorrow than in anger.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>Mr. Kinsley’s book, which now lies before us, +treats of topics of the greatest social importance. +The introductory pages give a careful description +of Mr. Kinsley’s palatial refectory; and following +these are several chapters upon the prices of viands, +upon the lofty dignity of which (the prices) Mr. +Kinsley’s claims to literary recognition would appear +to be based. We learn that we can obtain +a quart of Nesselrode pudding with Maraschino +sauce for one dollar and a quarter, a quart of +<i>tutti-frutti</i> ice for one dollar, a dozen <i><span lang="fr">pommes de +terre fraises</span></i> for three dollars, <i><span lang="fr">sauterne frappe</span></i> for +two dollars and a half per gallon, chicken <i><span lang="fr">à la +Rheine</span></i> soup for one dollar per quart, <i><span lang="fr">à la Marengo</span></i> +sauce for two dollars per quart, <i><span lang="fr">fricadelle de foie +gras</span></i> for seventy-five cents per pound, etc. This +important, not to say necessary, information is +supplemented with a large number of recipes, +which should prove of vast value to the humbler +classes in this city. These recipes give careful +instruction as to the compounding of mushroom +salads, terrapin croquettes, bisque of whitebait +tongues, fricassee of canary-birds’ livers, and other +viands common to the groaning board of the metropolitan +day-laborer. These recipes are stated in +that idiomatic, direct English which instantly conveys +intelligence to the mind of the reader, and joy +ineffable to the soul of the printer at forty cents +per one thousand ems. So much for what we may +term the sordid, worldly, practical part of the book. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>On the succeeding pages the versatile author proceeds +to treat of weddings, parties, receptions, etc., +and we note with pleasure that the importance of +elaborate and costly refreshments is urged in each +instance. But it is in his chapter on “Etiquette +of the Table,” that—if we may be allowed to use +the figure—Mr. Kinsley out-Kinsleys Kinsley. +Perchance it was this chapter that gave our contemporary, +“The Dial,” and other critical reviews, +pause. Howbeit, we shall venture to regale our +readers with a very few specimen excerpts,—</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Fashions change in modes of eating.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Never appear impatient, and employ the time in agreeable +conversation.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Soup should be eaten carefully.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Never eat with a knife.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Never rise until the meal is finished.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Sit upright, with grace and dignity.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“A fork should be used gracefully.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Do not pick the teeth with the cutlery.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Do not break the china or glassware unless you expect +to pay double price for it.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>These are a few of the pleasant and admirable +fundamental laws which author Kinsley lays down +for the guidance of his patrons, presumably the +<i>élite</i>, the <i>crême de la crême</i>, of Chicago. And, possibly +with economic ends in view, Mr. Kinsley +warns his readers, “Never eat so much of any +article as to attract attention.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So we say we like the book; and, having perused +<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>it carefully, we feel warranted in declaring that it +appears to us that none could quit Mr. Kinsley’s +soothing influences without exclaiming, in the historic +language once employed by Ali Baba, “Allah +be praised for this deliverance!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Literature and Art.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>We</span> acknowledge the receipt of a handsome +volume entitled “The Trunk Tragedy: A Complete +History of the Murder of Preller and the +Trial of Maxwell.” The author is none other +than Judge E. A. Noonan of St. Louis, a real-estate +and house-renting agent, and <i>littérateur</i> of +marked ability. The book is strongly written, +and a number of stirring illustrations by leading +local artists give the work a peculiar value. +Bound in paper, with a full-page illustration of +the unfortunate victim on the cover, for the +reasonable price of twenty cents, this <i>chef-d’œuvre</i> +should find its way into every home.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Angelo Ludovico</span>, the famous Chicago sculptor, +has just completed a bass-relief bust of William +Shakespeare, the immortal bard of Avon. The +likeness is a superb one, the artist having made +his designs from the only authentic autograph, +now in possession of Mr. Gunther, the well-known +candy-virtuoso.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Cooley Poems.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='c002 figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_005.jpg' alt='Judge Thomas M. Cooley' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Col. Jasper Eastman, one of the oldest and +most respected citizens of Adrian, Mich., sends +us twenty-eight poems, which he says were written +by Judge Thomas M. Cooley, the venerable +and learned jurist recently appointed to the +Inter-state Commission. These +poems, we are told, were published +originally in “The Ann +Arbor News,” which paper was +owned and conducted twenty-five +years ago by one of Judge +Cooley’s most intimate friends. +The period between the publication +of the first of these +poems and the publication of the last was eight +years (from 1853 to 1861); and, as they appeared, +they were cut out, and pasted into Col. Eastman’s +scrap-book: it is to this old scrap-book that we +are indebted for the specimen gems which we are +enabled to put before our readers at this time. +Col. Eastman says, that, while it is generally +known among his old associates that Judge +Cooley used to be a great hand for writing poems, +it is not known nor believed outside of that +limited circle that the learned jurist ever did, or +ever could, unbend to the muse. “People who +know him to be a severe moralist and a profound +<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>scholar,” writes this old friend, “will laugh you to +scorn if you try to make them believe that Cooley +ever condescended to express his fancies in verse. +Yet you will agree with me, I think, when I say +that most of the learned men of all ages <i>have</i> written +poetry, and that, therefore, there is no positive +reason why the leading intellect of Michigan +should not write poetry.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>There is among psychologists a very pronounced +belief that the practice of writing verse serves as +the best escape-valve (if we may so term it) for +the emotional nature of man. The emotional +nature, albeit it is the lowest part of man’s intellectual +being, is earliest developed in the race and +in the individual. Hence it is the first to spring +to the control of the mind when the intellect is +urged in any direction which prevents his nature +having an escape-valve. It has been observed +from the most ancient times, that the severe legislator +and moralist has often exhibited secret vices +or peculiarities which were but the expression of +his repressed emotional nature. This repression +has produced, as its resulting rebound, ruthless +and horrible crimes; but very often—even in the +cases of illustrious statesmen guilty of monstrous +crimes—<i>further</i> crime has been prevented by an +outburst of the emotional nature in the direction +of poetry, which afforded the escape-valve so +imperatively demanded.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It is very probable that Solon’s occasional pursuit +<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>of the art of poetical composition served to +prevent him from falling victim to the laws he +himself made, and enabled him to stand for all +time as the stern moralist. The poetry of the +ancient Spartans, Romans, Germans, Saxons, and +Scandinavians did much to preserve those races +from the degeneration which must have resulted +had their otherwise repressed emotional natures +not found a vent in song. It was only his devotion +to poetry that prevented Chaucer from becoming +the utterly corrupt politician which such +court associations as his made others. Had Edward +V. stuck to the poetry of his early years, his crimes +would not have lost the crown to his descendants. +The poetic tendencies of James I. served to prevent +his utterly vicious character from fully demonstrating +itself. Francis Bacon’s secret poetizing +kept him from becoming totally depraved by the +court around him. Richelieu’s poetry served to +prevent his indulgence in dangerous methods of satisfying +the emotional nature, gave him an extended +lease of life, and in divers ways assisted him in +the accomplishment of his ends. Mazarin’s poetry +gave utterance in a healthy way to an emotionalism +which would have been dangerous to repress. +The poetry of the statesmen of the era of the +English revolution—Montague, Somers the jurist, +and Harley—saved them the disgrace of finding +satisfaction for their emotional natures in +secret excesses, like those of Jeffreys. Great lawyers, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>statesmen, and divines—Mansfield, Maule, +Mackintosh, Macaulay, Fox, Burke, Beust, Disraeli, +Thiers, Seward, Webster, Leo XIII.—have +recognized that the proper balance of the intellectual +nature required that the emotional nature, +repressed by daily tasks and natural environments, +should find an escape-valve in some +honest and healthy direction; and all found it +in poetic composition.</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_008.jpg' alt='Judge Cooley' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>But it is not our purpose to +seek to explain, or to apologize +for, the poems which Judge +Cooley has written: we will say +simply, that, environed as he was +by a sternly moral community, +his emotional nature found vent +in song, and these songs speak +most eloquently for themselves.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Those who knew Judge Cooley at that time +say that he was “a long, awkward boy, with big +features, moony eyes, a shock of coarse hair, +and the merest shadow of a mustache.” A faded +daguerrotype of the young poet is preserved, +and from it we have produced a tolerably fair +copy, which will surely interest the admirers of +good verse. It appears that young Cooley’s first +poetical attempts were in the direction of versifications +and paraphrases of the ancients. Fully +half the specimens before us are illustrations of +work of this kind, at which the young man exhibited +<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>great proficiency. Here is a bit from +Menecrates that is really prime; it is as good a +piece of versification as any done by the more +pretentious dabblers in Greek anthology:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in20'>OLD AGE.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>When age is absent, we are eager for it;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But when it comes, oh! how we all abhor it!</div> + <div class='line'>So, on the whole, we think we like it better</div> + <div class='line in2'>When it is still a debt, and we the debtor.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>In a lighter vein, but with consummate delicacy, +and with wonderful fidelity to the text of Lucian, +young Cooley thus pays his respects to</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in16'>A CERTAIN FOOL.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A fool, when plagued by fleas at night,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Quoth, “Since these neighbors so despite me,</div> + <div class='line'>I think I will put out the light,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And then they cannot see to bite me!”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>And here is Plato’s famous quatrain to</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in16'>ASTER.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Seeing thee gaze into the night,</div> + <div class='line in2'>I would I were the yonder skies,</div> + <div class='line'>That tenderly, dear love, I might</div> + <div class='line in2'>Behold thee with a myriad eyes.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>In the collection before us, there are two Latin +poems, showing that the young poet was quite +as felicitous at Latin composition as in versification +in his native tongue. One of these poems +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>is entitled “De Consuetudine et de Gustibus,” +and treats in hexameter the evils of political +methods at that time (1859). The other is a +rollicking song which (a foot-note explains) was +sung at the junior class supper at Ann Arbor, +May 14, 1854. We give a specimen stanza:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<span lang="la">Nicyllam bellis oculis—</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="la">(Videre est amare)</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Carminibus et poculis,</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="la">Tra la la, tra la la,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Me placet propinare;</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="la">Tra la la, tra la la—</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Me placet propinare!</span>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>In 1855 the following poem appeared anonymously +in “The Ann Arbor News,” and at once +elicited general attention. N. P. Willis wrote +out from New York to the editor of the “News,” +asking the name of the author; and to this inquiry +the editor answered, “A young barrister of this +village, named Thomas M. Cooley.”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in10'>THE DIVINE LULLABY.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>I hear thy voice, dear Lord;</div> + <div class='line'>I hear it by the stormy sea</div> + <div class='line in2'>When winter nights are black and wild;</div> + <div class='line'>And when affright I call to thee,</div> + <div class='line'>It calms my fears, and whispers me,</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Sleep well, my child.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>I hear thy voice, dear Lord,</div> + <div class='line'>In singing winds, in falling snow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The curfew chime, the midnight bell:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>“Sleep well, my child,” it murmurs low,</div> + <div class='line'>“The guardian angels come and go—</div> + <div class='line in2'>O child, sleep well!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>I hear thy voice, dear Lord:</div> + <div class='line'>Ay, though the singing winds be stilled,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Though hushed the tumult of the deep,</div> + <div class='line'>My fainting heart with anguish chilled,</div> + <div class='line'>By thy assuring tone is thrilled—</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Fear not and sleep.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>Speak on—speak on, dear Lord;</div> + <div class='line'>And when the last dread night is near,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With doubts and fears and terrors wild,</div> + <div class='line'>Oh, let my soul expiring hear</div> + <div class='line'>Only these words of heavenly cheer,</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Sleep well, my child!”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>This beautiful hymn was reprinted far and +wide, and was incorporated, we are told, in “The +Golden Harp” series of choice religious lyrics +compiled by Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1857.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c013'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c006'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. This lullaby has been set to music by Rev. Hon. N. K. Griggs +of Beatrice, Neb. The composer has changed the phraseology +of the lullaby somewhat, “so as to make the tune sing smoothly,” +as he says.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>But the most pretentious of Cooley’s poems—with +the exception of his Latin hexameter discourse—was +his “Vision of the Holy Grail,” a +graceful imitation of Old English, printed in the +holiday edition of “The Ann Arbor News” in 1856. +Although this poem is somewhat longer than we +could wish at this time, when our space is limited, +we are fain to make room for it as a delicately conceived +and artistically executed piece of literature.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>THE VISION OF THE HOLY GRAIL.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>Deere Chryste, let not the cheere of earth</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>To-fill our hearts with heedless mirth</i></div> + <div class='line in6'><i>This holy Christmasse time,</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>But give us of thy heavenly cheere,</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>That we may hold thy love most deere,</i></div> + <div class='line in6'><i>And know thy peace sublime.</i></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Full merry waxed King Pelles court</div> + <div class='line'>With yule-tide cheer and yule-tide sport;</div> + <div class='line in6'>And, when the board was spread,</div> + <div class='line'>Now wit ye well, twas good to see</div> + <div class='line'>So fair and brave a company,</div> + <div class='line in6'>With Pelles at the head.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Come hence, Elaine,” King Pelles cried,</div> + <div class='line'>“Come hence, and sit ye by my side;</div> + <div class='line in6'>For never yet, I trow,</div> + <div class='line'>Have gentle virtues like to thine,</div> + <div class='line'>Been proved by sword nor pledged in wine,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Nor shall be nevermo.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Swote sir, my father,” quoth Elaine,</div> + <div class='line'>“Me it repents to give thee pain,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Yet tarry I may not;</div> + <div class='line'>For I shall soond and I shall die,</div> + <div class='line'>If I behold this company,</div> + <div class='line in6'>And see not Launcelot!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“My heart shall have no love but this—</div> + <div class='line'>My lips shall know none others kiss,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Save only, father, thine;</div> + <div class='line'>So graunt me leave to seek my bower—</div> + <div class='line'>The lonely chamber in the toure,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Where sleeps his child and mine.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>Then frowned the king in sore despite—</div> + <div class='line'>Sais: “May the divell take that knight,</div> + <div class='line in6'>For that the churl hath lied!</div> + <div class='line'>A base, unchristian paynim he,</div> + <div class='line'>Else, by my beard, he would not be</div> + <div class='line in6'>A recreant to his bride!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Oh, I had liefer yield my life</div> + <div class='line'>Than see thee the deserted wife</div> + <div class='line in6'>Of traitrous Launcelot!</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, an thou hast no mind to stay,</div> + <div class='line'>Go with thy damosels away—</div> + <div class='line in6'>Lo, I’ll detain ye not.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Her damosels in goodly train,</div> + <div class='line'>Back to her chamber led Elaine;</div> + <div class='line in6'>And, when her eyes were cast</div> + <div class='line'>Upon her babe, her tears did flow,</div> + <div class='line'>And she did wail and wepe as though</div> + <div class='line in6'>Her heart had like to brast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The while she grieved, the yule-tide sport</div> + <div class='line'>Waxed lustier in King Pelles court,</div> + <div class='line in6'>And louder houre by houre</div> + <div class='line'>The echoes of the rout were borne</div> + <div class='line'>To where the lady all forlorn</div> + <div class='line in6'>Made moning in the toure.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Swete Chryste,” she cried, “ne let me hear</div> + <div class='line'>These ribald sounds of yule-tide cheer,</div> + <div class='line in6'>That mock at mine and me;</div> + <div class='line'>Graunt that my sore affliction cease,</div> + <div class='line'>And give me of the heavenly peace</div> + <div class='line in6'>That comes with thoughts of thee.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>Lo, as she spake, a wondrous light</div> + <div class='line'>Made all that lonely chamber bright;</div> + <div class='line in6'>And o’er the infant’s bed</div> + <div class='line'>A spirit hand, as samite pale,</div> + <div class='line'>Held sodaine forth the Holy Grail</div> + <div class='line in6'>Above the infants head.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And from the sacred golden cup</div> + <div class='line'>A subtle incense floated up,</div> + <div class='line in6'>And filled the conscious air;</div> + <div class='line'>Which, when she breathed, the fair Elaine</div> + <div class='line'>Forgot her grief, forgot her pain,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Forgot her sore despair.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And as the Grails mysterious balm</div> + <div class='line'>Wrought in her heart a wondrous calm,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Great mervail twas to see</div> + <div class='line'>The sleeping child stretch one hand up,</div> + <div class='line'>As if in dreams he held the cup,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Which none mought win but he.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Through all the night King Pelles court</div> + <div class='line'>Made mighty cheer and goodly sport,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Nor never recked the joy</div> + <div class='line'>That was vouchsafed that Christmasse-tide</div> + <div class='line'>To Launcelots deserted bride,</div> + <div class='line in6'>And to her sleeping boy.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>Swete Chryste, let not the cheere of earth</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>To-fill our hearts with heedless mirth</i></div> + <div class='line in6'><i>This present Christmasse night,</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>But send among us, to and fro,</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>Thy Holy Grail, that men may know</i></div> + <div class='line in6'><i>The joy with wisdom dight!</i></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>It appears that Judge Cooley had, and exhibited +ever and anon, a humorous tendency. His “Lines +to a Blue Jay” is as delicate a bit of fun as we +have ever read. It represents the poet addressing +a blue jay that seeks by its querulous carping to +keep the poet from plucking plums: having got +possession of the disputed branch, the poet facetiously +concludes,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“When I had shooed the bird away,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And plucked the plums, a quart or more,</div> + <div class='line'>I noted that the saucy Jay,</div> + <div class='line'>Albeit he had naught to say,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Appeared much <i>bluer</i> than before.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>In one of the poems, entitled “The Unknown +Bards,” occurs this quatrain, which is another fair +illustration of Judge Cooley’s skill in dealing with +the anthology of the dead languages:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'>TO PHIDIAS, ON HIS STATUE OF JUPITER.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>This noble form these godlike features prove</div> + <div class='line in2'>That, when you shaped his figure for our view,</div> + <div class='line'>You sought Olympus, there to look on Jove—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or else Jove came to earth, and posed for you.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>The last poem which Judge Cooley printed was +a parody on the old song of “Dixie.” It was published +in the Ann Arbor paper on July 4, 1861; +and from it we take two specimen stanzas:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>“Undimmed shall float that starry banner</div> + <div class='line'>Over Charleston and Savannah;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Far away, etc.</div> + <div class='line'>And Bunker Hill and Pensacola</div> + <div class='line'>Owe alike its mission holy;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Far away, etc.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then sound the march! We pledge devotion</div> + <div class='line'>In our blood on land or ocean;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Far away, etc.</div> + <div class='line'>Till every traitor in the nation</div> + <div class='line'>Gains a Haman’s elevation.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Far away, etc.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>It seems a pity that such poetic talent as Judge +Cooley evinced was not suffered to develop. His +increasing professional duties and his political employments +put a quietus to those finer intellectual +indulgences with which his earlier years were fruitful. +Still, we doubt not that, through all the noble +practical service he has rendered to his country, +he has carried the old-time fondness for the muse, +and that now, in the fulness of his distinguished +career, he will view without regret the buds of his +poetic genius herein recalled.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Judge Cooley’s Denial.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>In a speech at one of the collegiate suppers, +Judge Cooley has taken occasion to deny that he +ever wrote the poems so ably criticised in the foregoing +paper. It is rather late for the judge to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>come lumbering to the front with his disclaimer, +yet it is possible that he required a good deal of +time to hunt up and examine the back files of his +poetical works. The judge is now about sixty years +of age; and his friends assure us that he has been +writing poetry all his life,—not for publication, but +simply for the pleasure he finds in weaving into +rhyme the beautiful fancies of his active imagination. +It is estimated by a friend, who has known +him intimately for forty years, that if Judge Cooley’s +poems were collected and printed, they would fill +sixteen royal octavo volumes. These poems, we are +told, treat of every theme imaginable, from “To +Niagara Falls by an August Moonlight” to “The +Dimple in my Thisbe’s Arm.” It seems a great +pity that the several thousand epics, ballads, sonnets, +roundels, triolets, odes, jigs, etc., which +Judge Cooley has composed and will confess to—it +seems a pity, we say, that these masterpieces +are not to be had in collected form for the edification +and instruction of our public. Since we have +referred to his Niagara ode, we will ask what sentiment +could be finer than this:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“See how that Luna pauses in her nocturnal soaring,</div> + <div class='line'>To view thee tumbling in thy bed with fierce Gargantuan snoring.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>And what a startling contrast to this sublime +treatment do Judge Cooley’s playful, amorous lines +present:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>“Cloanthus sings his Chloe’s tresses,</div> + <div class='line in2'>For Cynthia’s lips Demetus sighs,</div> + <div class='line'>And Tityrus in verse addresses</div> + <div class='line in2'>The love that lurks in Julia’s eyes;</div> + <div class='line'>Each, on Icarian pinions soaring,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Applauds some ostentatious charm:</div> + <div class='line'>But <i>I’m</i> contented with adoring</div> + <div class='line in2'>The dimple in my Thisbe’s arm.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Yet we find Judge Cooley advising his young +friends not to indulge in poetizing! A man who +has made a success in the highest of literary arts +ought to encourage others to follow in his footsteps—ought +he not? Or does the judge want all the +glory himself?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Literary Notes.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“<span class='sc'>The Swine-Breeder’s Studbook</span>” for 1887 +is at hand, and brings its usual amount of valuable +information. Not an unimportant feature of this +volume is the portrait of the magnificent barrow +“Chester White King,” which took the first premium +at the Kewanee fair last fall.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Squire Enos Hapgood</span>, who expired by a +vicious mule’s kick on the West Side last Monday, +was one of the most prominent patrons of literature +in the West. Before her death, his wife +had been a subscriber to “Godey’s Lady’s Book” +for twenty odd years.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Doty Mad.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Henry K. Doty, one of the most prominent +citizens, and the leading hide and pelt dealer, +in the North-West, has just returned from a European +tour. He has been absent about four months; +and in that time he has made a visit to every +European country, and has become thoroughly +acquainted with the customs, manners, and languages +of the different people. He spent about +seventy-five thousand dollars on the trip; but this +could not be called an extravagant sum when one +takes into consideration the superb paintings, +statuary, and other works of virtue, that he +brought back with him. In Paris, upon the Roo +de Rivoly alone, he purchased fifteen thousand dollars’ +worth of pictures; and in Brussels he bought +several thousand dollars’ worth of those elegant +carpets from which that city derives its name. +Mr. Doty says that he was well treated everywhere +except in England. He is specially bitter against +Mr. Phelps, our representative at the court of St. +James.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“This man Phelps,” says he, “is a little, dried-up, +snobbish Vermont lawyer, with a soul no +bigger than a huckleberry. I dyed my mustache, +and put on my dress-suit and my twenty-thousand-dollar +diamond bosom-pin, and called to see him. +A fine specimen he is to represent our wealth and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>culture! I don’t believe his clothes cost more +than twenty dollars a suit.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘I suppose I ought to call on the queen,’ says +I.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“He didn’t say any thing; and I continued, +‘Would you mind introducing me?’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Really, Mr. Doty,’ says he, ‘I do not feel like +presenting an entire stranger to her Majesty.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Oh! you needn’t be scared,’ says I, ‘for I +carry as big a letter of credit as any American in +London; and when it comes to culture, and that +sort of thing, I can knock the socks off any of +your lords and marqueezies.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, will you believe it? he had the impudence +to shove a printed list of questions at me.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘You will have to answer these on oath before +I can tell you whether I can present you to her +Majesty,’ says he.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I was as mad as a Texas steer. Here are some +of the questions: ‘Did you ever have a grandfather? +and, if so, what was his vocation?’ ‘Have +you contracted the tooth-brush habit?’ ‘Are you +addicted to the use of the double negative?’ +‘Spell phthisis, strychnine, and pneumonia.’ Fine +questions these to put to a gentleman worth a cool +million! I told him to go to —— with his queen; +and I’m going to have my private secretary write +a letter to the President, complaining of Phelps, +and demanding that he be discharged.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Chicago Palmistry.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Heron-Allen, the handsome and talented +young hand-reader, is making a barrel of money in +Chicago. Our most distinguished society leaders +are consulting him, and are delighted with the flattering +pictures which he finds in their dainty palms. +It is understood that the enterprising young professor—who +is as ingenious as he is learned—has +found it necessary to invent a system particularly +adapted to the requirements of the average +Chicago hand. It would be quite as unfair to +judge the Chicago hand by the ordinary rules of +palmistry as it would be to drag the Shakspearian +drama down to the level of criticism required in +the appreciation of a modern horse-play comedy. +The truth seems to be, that the Chicago hand is the +ideal one—the realization of the poetic dreams of +the palmister: it is the perfection of every thing—not +necessarily a purely spiritualized hand, but +a beautiful and symmetrical combination or blending +of the best features of the human hand.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The line marked A in this accurate exhibit is +what Mr. Heron-Allen most felicitously terms the +pork-line. In every Chicago hand, it is distinct +and long. If at the lower end it rounds off toward +the ball of the thumb (the <i>Mons Prudentiœ</i>), it is +a sure indication that the patient attends strictly +to prudent business methods; that he pursues only +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>the vocation in which he has embarked, and that +he eschews all those gambling exploits commonly +called speculation. If, on the contrary, this pork-line +turns to the outside of the palm (the <i>Mons +Asinorum</i>), it indicates positively that the subject +is inclined to desultory deals in wheat, corn, and +other fluctuating staples of trade.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_022.jpg' alt='A black-and-white ink illustration of an open, upturned human right hand, shown from the wrist up. The palm lines are prominently detailed and labeled with small letters "A", "B", "C", "D", and "E". The wrist features a gathered shirt cuff with a distinct, square cufflink.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>The sand-line is B: it betokens prowess and +valor in the execution of those designs inspired by +the pork-line (A). This line (B) is deeply marked +in the average Chicago hand. It is generally conceded, +we think, that in all grades, brands, and departments +of business and culture, the Chicagoan +exhibits more sand than is to be found anywhere +else on the surface of the earth. In a great many +<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>instances it is so strongly marked that its shadow +is plainly outlined on the back of the hand.</p> + +<p class='c006'>These two lines—A and B—exhaust what are +called the physical lines. Next comes the intellectual +or literary line C. It is this demarcation, +broad and distinct, that causes the wearer to take +pleasure in literature, to join literary clubs, to +inquire into the mysteries of summer philosophy, +to subscribe for the local trade weeklies, to buy +handsome wall-paper, and to have the seaside novels +rebound in half-calf. If it were not for this +line in our hands, the newsboys would sell mighty +few books on our trains, and Billy Pinkerton would +never have become famous as an author.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The line D is common to the Chicago hand: it +argues a fondness for the fine arts, for music, and +for all articles of vertoo—such as piano-fortes, +folding-beds, wax flowers, race-horses, perfumery, +$4 opera, pug dogs, statuary, Browning’s poems, +dyspepsia, and lawn tennis. Of late this art-line +has got so deep in a great many Chicago hands, +that it had to be sewed up by a doctor.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The line E is not found in every instance. It is +most commonly met with among the wealthiest of +our cultured people—those whose culture has +come to them with their sudden acquisition of great +wealth. It extends about the wrist, and is clearly +marked about three times a day. It is called the +water-line.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Marvellous Invention.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It is narrated, that, once upon a time, there +lived a youth who required so much money for +the gratification of his dissolute desires, that he +was compelled to sell his library in order to secure +funds. Thereupon, he despatched a letter to his +venerable father, saying, “Rejoice with me, O +father! for already am I beginning to live upon +the profits of my books.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Professor Andrew J. Thorpe has invented an +ingenious machine which will be likely to redound +to the physical comfort and the intellectual benefit +of our fellow-citizens. We are disposed to treat +of this invention at length, for two reasons: first, +because it is a Chicago invention; and, second, +because it seems particularly calculated to answer +an important demand that has existed in Chicago +for a long time. Professor Thorpe’s machine is +nothing less than a combination parlor, library, and +folding bedstead, adapted to the drawing-room, +the study, the dining-room, and the sleeping apartment,—a +producer capable of giving to the world +thousands upon thousands of tomes annually, and +these, too, in a shape most attractive to our public. +Professor Thorpe himself is of New-England +birth and education; and, until he came West, he +was called “Uncle Andy Thorpe.” For many +years he lived in New Britain, Conn.; and there +<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>he pursued the vocation of a manufacturer of +sofas, settees, settles, and bed-lounges. He came +to Chicago three years ago; and not long thereafter, +he discovered that the most imperative +demand of this community was for a bed which +combined, “at one and the same time” (as he +says, for he is no rhetorician), the advantages of a +bed and the advantages of a library. In a word, +Chicago was a literary centre; and it required, +even in the matter of its sleeping <i>apparata</i>, machines +which, when not in use for bed-purposes, +could be utilized to the nobler ends of literary +display. In this emergency the fertile Yankee +wit of the immigrant came to his assistance; and +about a year ago, he put upon the market the +ingenious and valuable combination, which has +commanded the admiration and patronage of our +best literary circles, and which at this moment we +are pleased to discourse of.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It has been our good fortune to inspect the +superb line of folding library-bedsteads which +Professor Thorpe offers to the public at startlingly +low figures, and we are surprised at the ingenuity +and the learning apparent in these contrivances. +The Essay bedstead is a particularly handsome +piece of furniture, being made of polished mahogany, +elaborately carved, and intricately embellished +throughout. When closed, this bedstead +presents the verisimilitude of a large book-case +filled with the essays of Emerson, Carlyle, Bacon, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Montaigne, Hume, Macaulay, Addison, Steele, +Johnson, Budgell, Hughes, and others. These +volumes are made in one piece, of the best seasoned +oak, and are hollow within throughout; so +that each shelf constitutes in reality a chest or +drawer which may be utilized for divers domestic +purposes. In these drawers a husband may keep +his shirts or neckties; or in them a wife may stow +away her furs or flannel underwear in summer, +and her white <i>piqués</i> and muslins in winter. These +drawers (each of which extends to the height of +twelve inches) are faced in superb tree-calf, and +afford a perfect representation of rows of books, +the title and number of each volume being printed +in massive gold characters. The weight of the +six drawers in this Essay bedstead does not exceed +twelve pounds; but the machine is so stoutly +built as to admit of the drawers containing a +weight equivalent to six hundred pounds without +interfering with the ease and nicety of the machine’s +operation. Upon touching a gold-mounted +knob, the book-case divides, the front part of it +descends; and, presto! you have as beautiful a +couch as ever Sancho could have envied.</p> + +<p class='c006'>This Essay bedstead is sold for four hundred +and fifty dollars. Another design, with the case +and bed in black walnut, the books in <i>papier +maché</i>, and none but English essayists in the collection, +can be had for a hundred dollars.</p> + +<p class='c006'>A British Poets’ folding-bed can be had for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>three hundred dollars. This is an imitation of +the blue-and-gold edition published in Boston some +years ago. Busts of Shakespeare and of Wordsworth +appear at the front upper corners of the +book-case, and these serve as pedestals to the +machine when it is unfolded into a bedstead. +This style, we are told by Professor Thorpe, has +been officially indorsed by the poetry committee +of the Chicago Literary Club. A second design, +in royal octavo white pine, and omitting the +works of Chaucer, Spenser, Ben Jonson, and +Herrick, is quoted at a hundred and fifty dollars.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Historical folding-bed contains complete +sets of Hume, Gibbon, Guizot, Prescott, Macaulay, +Bancroft, Lingard, Buckle, etc., together with +Haines’s “History of Lake-County Indians” and +Peck’s “Gazetteer of Illinois,” bound in half-calf, +and having a storage space of three feet by fourteen +inches to each row, there being six rows of +these books. You can get this folding-bed for +two hundred dollars, or there is a second set in +cloth that can be had for a hundred dollars. The +Dramatists’ folding-bed (No. 1) costs three hundred +dollars, bound in tree-calf hard maple, the +case being in polished cherry, elaborately carved. +The works included in this library are Shakespeare’s, +Schiller’s, Molière’s, Goethe’s, Jonson’s, Bartley +Campbell’s, and many others. Style No. 2 of this +folding-bed has not yet been issued, owing to some +difficulty which Professor Thorpe has had with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>Eastern publishers; but when the matter of copyright +has been adjusted, the works of Plautus, +Euripides, Thucydides, and other classic dramatists, +will be brought out for the delectation of +appreciative Chicagoans.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Novelists’ bed can be had in numerous +styles. One contains the novels of Mackenzie, +Fielding, Smollett, Walpole, Dickens, Thackeray, +and Scott, and is bound in tree-calf: another, +better adapted to the serious-minded (especially +to young women), is made up of the novels of +Maria Edgeworth, Miss Jane Porter, Miss Burney, +and the Rev. E. P. Roe. This style can be had +for fifty dollars. But the Novelists’ folding-bed +is manufactured in a dozen different styles, and +one should consult the catalogue before ordering.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The folding-bed that pleased us most in all +Professor Thorpe’s collection was the one that is +called the Chicago Authors’ Own. It is issued in +numerous styles, it being the wish of the manufacturer +to place the boon within the reach of all. +This series (if we may so term it) is made up of +the works of Professor William Mathews, Col. +George P. Upton, Col. Franc B. Wilkie, Franklin +H. Head, Esq., Isaac E. Adams, the Rev. George +C. Lorimer, Helen Starrett, Frank Gray, Col. +Andrew Shuman, Capt. John Coulter, Michael +Ahern, and of the many, many other <i>littérateurs</i> +whose genius has raised Chicago to her enjoyment +of the proudest literary distinction. These works +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>can be had in every style. The cheapest, which +is bound in modest <i>papier maché</i>, and includes a +durable husk mattress, costs but twenty dollars; +from this minimum the price runs up to two +hundred dollars; and a special order (including +Haines’s “Indian History” and the folio libretto of +Pratt’s “Zenobia”) has recently been filled for a +wealthy South-side gentleman of letters, who paid +six hundred dollars for the collection.</p> + +<p class='c006'>There is no telling to what extent this folding-bed +industry may not reach. As our community +grows more and more literary each year, there +will, of course, be an increasing demand for these +luxuries, and accumulating wealth will enable +our people to gratify their elevated tastes. Professor +Thorpe seems to be just the man to be at +the head of an industry calculated to pander to +the literary instincts of Chicago folk. He is +earnest and enterprising: even now he is at work +upon a folding trundle-bed for children, which +will contain a library adapted to develop proper +traits in the young,—such standard books as +Watts’s divine poems, the Rollo series, Bunyan’s +“Pilgrim’s Progress,” Cotton Mather’s “Spiritual +Milk for Babes,” etc.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Speaking of the delights of literary pursuits, the +eloquent Cicero once said, “These things [<i>studia</i>] +nourish our youth, they fortify us in our age, +they make life beautiful, they afford us a refuge +and a solace in adversity, they delight us at home, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>they do not hinder our practical relations with men, +<i>they are with us in our sleep</i>, they accompany us +upon our journeys, and, even afar from civilization, +they grant us unceasing pleasure.” There were +no patent library-beds in Cicero’s time. There +was no Professor Thorpe to unfold the fruit of +his Yankee ingenuity upon Roman civilization. +Old Cicero must have had the spirit of prophecy +upon him when he uttered the words we have +italicized above. The propitious gods must have +given him an inkling of the Professor Thorpe that +was to be.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Books and Authors.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>Among</span> the articles of virtue recently purchased +by our esteemed fellow-townsman, Mr. Townley +J. Morris, is one of the first English translations +of Virgil’s Æneid. This translation was made, +we understand, under the personal supervision of +the eminent poet himself.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>There</span> is a current rumor that Judge Thomas +M. Cooley, chairman of the interstate Comus +commission, has written a poem entitled “Trunk +Lines to a Railroad System.”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Capt. Ben Wingate</span> has named his new barge +the “Felicia Hemans,” and the same departed for +Saginaw last evening for a cargo of shingles.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Chicago Hamlets.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The highly successful engagement which Mr. +George C. Miln is playing in this city at this time, +affords us the long-desired opportunity of paying +that tribute of admiration and of respect which the +genius of the eminent Chicago tragedian would +seem to merit. We confess that we have viewed +with considerable alarm the homage which certain +foreign and Eastern actors (invading our territory +with an audacity amounting almost to effrontery) +have wrung from our populace, which we fear is +too ready to depreciate the paramount work of +home-production, and to fly into ecstasies over less +meritorious, but more pretentious, importations. +Recognizing it to be a lamentable truth, that, +whether he be an actor or only a prophet, a man +is not without honor save at home,—still we believe +that Mr. Miln’s re-appearance in the city that +claims him for her own will go a long way toward +relieving the public mind hereabouts of that cruel +misapprehension, that, when Mr. Miln quitted theology +for theatrics, a good preacher was spoiled +for a bad actor. We doubt not that if they were +called upon to testify touching this matter, the +large and enthusiastic church sociables which +are crowding the Columbia Theatre this week, +would heartily indorse us when we said that Mr. +Miln’s personations evinced the possession of a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>genius that is rarely met with upon the dramatic +stage.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Returning from a provincial tour, as vicissitudinous +as it was extended, and heralded by the +encomiums of the discriminating press of such intelligent +communities as Topeka, Leadville, Cheyenne, +Des Moines, Tipton, etc., it beliked Mr. Miln +to inaugurate his engagement in Chicago with a +presentation of his favorite tragedy, the <i>chef d’œuvre</i> +of his long list of dramatic successes; namely, +the sublime tragedy of “Hamlet.” Sombre as +this play is, it has, nevertheless, become so popular +in this city, that not infrequently are whole scenes +of it enacted in the private theatres of our wealthy +citizens; many of our people have committed to +memory the beautiful soliloquies in which it +abounds; our <i>literati</i> have composed ingenious +screeds about its alleged author, and it is about +this same author that distinguished Eastern scholars +came here to discourse,—in short, the tragedy +of “Hamlet” has become so well known in Chicago, +that he who attempts its public production +must possess rare powers in order to succeed in +winning the public plaudits.</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_033.jpg' alt='A high-contrast, black-and-white ink illustration showing the lower half of an actor. The figure wears dark, heavily silhouetted breeches or baggy trousers tucked into shoes, while the upper portion features a distinct, vertically striped pattern .' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>It was Edwin Forrest, we think, who first played +“Hamlet” in Chicago. At that time this was but +a ragged town—the rival of St. Louis. The muskrat +and the wagtail snipe then frolicked and disported +where now the palatial residence of George +M. Pullman rears its pretentious front; at that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>time, too, Uncle Dick Hooley sang topical songs +with great <i>éclat</i>; Col. J. H. McVicker flourished as +the popular comedian; Dr. Patterson and Long +John Wentworth snowballed each other on the +bleak prairie where Marshall Field’s big wholesale +stone fort now stands; and the untrammelled Indian +coped with the buffalo on the rolling waste +where now are to be found the packing-houses, the +lard-refineries, and the rendering-establishments, of +our most cultured fellow-townsmen, the members +of the Chicago Literary Club. To +this community, as it existed at +that time, Edwin Forrest’s “Hamlet” +was a revelation, and a delightful +one. It came as a kind of +encouragement to the ambitious, +bustling, noisy Western town. It was a lusty Hamlet,—stout, +stubborn, forceful, and vigorous as a +prosperous butcher. It was not the boyish Hamlet +of a Wilson Barrett, nor the melancholy Hamlet +of a Booth, nor the impressive Hamlet of a Lawrence +Barrett, nor yet the foundered Hamlet of +an Irving: it was the sturdy, square-toed, honest, +varicose-veined personation of the actor whose +greatness is most keenly appreciated by those who +have heard tell of him.</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_034_1.jpg' alt='A high-contrast black silhouette of a person' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_034_2.jpg' alt='A high-contrast black silhouette showing the lower body and legs of a figure facing left.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. Edwin Booth has given Chicago two Hamlets,—the +first many years ago, the second quite +recently. His first Hamlet was of the cold-feet +order: it was the particular admiration of young +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>women who ate slate-pencils, and of men who +believed in female suffrage. Having seen this +Hamlet several times, we were +convinced, that, if the original +Hamlet were in reality what Mr. +Booth represented, he could have +been relieved of his malady by +judicious prescriptions of vermifuge. +Mr. Booth’s second Hamlet—the +one he now presents—is a +much healthier one; a trifle lame +and a trifle slow, perhaps, but still a +great improvement upon the morbid +impersonation of twenty years ago.</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_034_3.jpg' alt='A black-and-white ink illustration focusing on a pair of legs from the thighs down.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>While Mr. Booth’s dyspeptic +Dane was in the height of his popularity, along +came a Frenchman from Alsace—a parley-voo of +the name of Fechter—who startled us with a +Hamlet which seemed to be the child of that heartless, +prurient Dutchman Goethe’s imagination. +This grotesque innovation shocked +our sensitive optics with gaudy +silk tights and colored hosiery. +Yet there were those who professed +to admire this refined blasphemy. +Even so famous a critic +as Miss Kate Field declared that +Fechter’s Hamlet—the left one—was a poem. +But this was many years ago: at that time Miss +Field was a giddy, sentimental girl, just out of a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>convent. It is probable that her ideal Hamlet is +no longer a strawberry blonde with Dolly Varden +nether garments.</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_035_1.jpg' alt='A high-contrast black silhouette of a pair of legs from the upper thighs down. The legs are extended downward in a slight V-shape, with the left foot pointing outward to the left and the right foot angled slightly downward.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Another Hamlet which we must speak of is Mr. +Lawrence Barrett’s; and, to quote a cant phrase, +we speak of it more in sorrow than +in anger. We regard it as a cold, +passionless, bloodless Hamlet, with +just the faintest suggestion of +bronchitis. It is a self-conscious +Hamlet, and a well-bred Hamlet: +it never forgets the “l. u. e.,” nor neglects to measure +off so much carpet to as much heptameter. It +is our opinion,—the result of long and conscientious +study,—that the most comfortable time in +the year to hear Mr. Lawrence Barrett’s Hamlet +is August; but even then, in order to insure +against the hostile effects of low temperature, one +should be provided with a lap-robe.</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_035_2.jpg' alt='A high-contrast black silhouette showing a pair of legs standing slightly apart.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Two Hamlets have come over to us from England. +The first was Mr. Henry Irving, who reaped +a golden harvest as a reward for his +admirable imitations of the young +American comedian, Henry E. +Dixey. Of this gentleman’s Hamlet +we have little praise. It was stiff, +halting, and jerky throughout. Perceiving +how unevenly it ran, we +would not have been surprised had the spavined +Dane interrupted his death-soliloquy with Gloster’s +lines,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>“Where sits deformity to mock my body</div> + <div class='line'>And shape my legs of an unequal size?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_036_1.jpg' alt='A high-contrast black silhouette of a pair of legs.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>A much more symmetrical Hamlet was Mr. +Wilson Barrett’s, yet even this performance was +not without its defects. It was +too reposeful, too undulating, too +effeminate in its contours, and too +sensuous in its movement. It was +such a Hamlet as, we surmise, +would create a profound sensation +among the dudes if it were to appear +at the head of the procession +in the grand march in the third act of one of +Col. John A. McCaull’s comic operas. Still, this +kind of Hamlet has its admirers; and as it is called +the boy Hamlet, we can at least hope that it will +acquire the sharply defined angles +of virility when it has put on the +toga virilis.</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_036_2.jpg' alt='A high-contrast ink illustration showing a lower body and legs from the waist down in profile, facing left.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>We prefer not to speak of Miss +Anna Dickinson’s Hamlet: we +shall be content to give our readers +a picture of it. The creation, +as will be observed, is tolerably +symmetrical; and, in spite of those +environments which naturally and properly curtail +a complete view of its merits, it is altogether of +the substantial order.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But all these Hamlets fade into comparative +nothingness when we place them beside Mr. Miln’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>Hamlet, and attempt to judge them by those same +rules and specifications and between the very lines +which are required in a fair criticism of Mr. Miln’s +genius and art.</p> + +<p class='c006'>How vividly occurs to us at this moment the +heart-cry of Sir Andrew Aguecheek, “I had +rather than forty shillings I had such a leg!” +Or these others, quoting old Toby Belch, might +say to our Chicago tragedian, “I did think by the +excellent constitution of thy leg, +it was formed under the star of a +galliard!”</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_037.jpg' alt='A high-contrast black-and-white ink illustration of a pair of legs.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>’Tis not hyperbole to say, that +by as much as these shapely, +sentient, palpitating columns exceed +and surpass in grandeur and +in beauty those other misshapen +supports which the bard of Avon has stigmatized +as riding-rods, by so much does the genius of our +tragedian transcend the strutting, tottering pretences +that are served up by his competitors. +What strength, what decision, what grace, what +durability, what forcefulness, what nobility, do we +perceive herein! What breadth of understanding, +what continuity, what power of endurance, what +bottom, do we instantly recognize! And these +beauties will continue to expand and to grow, just +as they have in the past, provided that the distance +between one-night stands is not shortened, +and the walking holds out good. We remember, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>that, when we first saw Mr. Miln’s Hamlet, three +years ago, it was crude and angular: now we +behold it rounded out and symmetrized. This is +the blossoming of our friend’s genius: what will +the harvest be? Ah! who can say what a perfect +art-picture will be presented when the whole nature +of the actor becomes permeated with, and symmetrized +by, the subtile beauty of that shapely +calf? We hail the prospect with delight, and most +cordially do we congratulate Melpomene thereupon.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Literary Wayside.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>During</span> the base-ball tourney between Chicago +and St. Louis we are issuing extra editions of +“The Daily News,” containing such excellent reports +of the all-important contest as to excite the +warmest admiration in leading literary circles.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>At</span> the meeting of the West-Side Literary Lyceum +last week, the question, “Are Homer’s poems +better reading than Will Carleton’s?” was debated. +The negative was sustained by a vote of 47 to 5. +On this occasion Miss Mamie Buskirk read an exquisite +original poem entitled “Hope; or, The +Milkman’s Dream.”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Col. T. Weston Briggs</span>, the well-known real-estate +agent, offers his magnificent private library +for sale at four dollars per front foot.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Beautiful Article of Virtue.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Our esteemed fellow-townsman, Mr. Charles F. +Gunther, the well-known candy-manufacturer, is indefatigable +in collecting rare old curiosities. Not +very long ago he discovered a genuine autograph +of William Shakespeare, and he paid five thousand +dollars for it; subsequently he found and bought +a volume of Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poems containing +the autograph of Dante Alighieri written in a +clean, round hand on one of the fly-pages; but +still more recently he has come into possession of +a relic more valuable than all the rest combined—in +fact, so highly does Mr. Gunther prize this +latest acquisition, that he freely confesses that he +would not exchange it for an Ossa of caramels +piled upon a Pelion of gum-drops. This relic is +an Egyptian mummy, and Mr. Gunther exhibited +it to us the other day. It seems that when Mr. +Gunther was in Egypt some years ago, he fell in +with Professor Schliemann, the famous excavator, +archæologist, explorer, etc. At that time the professor +was tunnelling into the pyramids, excavating +the sphinx, and pursuing divers other humorous +fads, whims, and crochets. Mr. Gunther took quite +a fancy to the professor, showed him his autograph +of Shakespeare, gave him a recipe for making +lemon-taffy, and presented him with a photograph +of McVicker’s theatre before the fire. For these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>manifestations of sympathy, Professor Schliemann +was deeply grateful, and he promised to reciprocate +in due course of time.</p> + +<p class='c006'>About a month ago Mr. Gunther was charmed +to receive from the professor an express-package +containing a mummy of the first water. Considering +the wear and tear to which it must have +been subjected for the last twenty or thirty centuries, +this mummy is in excellent condition. We +shall refer to the mummy as “it,” although Mr. +Gunther chooses to call it “he.” It is not more +than three feet in length, and its weight is perhaps +equal to that of a two-dollar box of jujube paste. +Its girth does not exceed twenty-eight inches. +Such of its complexion as is exposed, is of the +pronounced hue of chocolate-drops; and the few +strands of hair remaining on the shrivelled scalp +are as black and straight as a stick of licorice. +Beginning at the upper part of the neck, and +extending down beyond the toes, are tightly +wrapped swathings of linen which have become +begrimed with the dust of many hundreds of +years. Outside the swathings which envelop the +breast of this singularly unappetizing object of +<i>virtu</i>, appears a broad strip of thin cloth, upon +which is printed a large number of figures, which +we supposed might have been used in ancient +times as the advertisement of a zoölogical garden, +but which, Mr. Gunther told us, was in fact a +group of Egyptian hieroglyphics stating in brief +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>the biography of the enclosed deceased. Mr. +Gunther said he could not read the hieroglyphics, +but he had asked a committee of members +of the Chicago Literary Club—that quintessence +of local learning and culture—to sit in +inquest, as it were, upon this prehistoric corpse, +and to decipher the rude characters emblazoned +upon its pectoral envelopment. Mr. Gunther +said that the committee had not yet made a +report, but that, until it did, he would continue +to indulge the belief that the remains were those +either of Rameses II. or of Cambyses I. These +persons, he went on to say, were Babylonian +kings, who flourished in that pagan age when +every man had several hundred wives,—a barbaric +custom which most men openly denounce, +but secretly covet. He knew that this specimen +was a king, because of the evident care +that had been taken to preserve him against the +ravages of time; and he was confident that he +was either Rameses II. or Cambyses I., because +he had read recently in a number of the “Candy-Manufacturer’s +Journal” that both these monarchs +had been sepultured in one of the pyramids. It +was with a good deal of anxiety, he added, that +he awaited either the report of the Chicago Literary +Club committee, or advices from Professor +Schliemann, clearing away the clouds of doubt +and mystery now surrounding the identity of this +antique <i>bric-à-brac</i>.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Shakespeares Identified.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>In the “Florida” of Lucius Apuleius it is narrated +that Socrates, having looked for a long time +upon a certain handsome but silent youth, exclaimed, +“Say something, that I may see you.” +From this it is inferred that the grand old philosopher +saw not with his eyes, and that he thought +that men were to be considered rather with the rays +of the intellect and with the gaze of the soul. In +the practical times of the present, however, the +Socratic theory goes for naught; and humanity, +justified in so doing by the counsel of the law, +holds to the opinion of the soldier mentioned by +Plautus as having declared that “one eye-witness +is worth more than ten ear-witnesses.” Therefore, +it is remarkable, we think, that, while the scholars +of these days are searching for clews to the authorship +of certain works of antiquity, none of them +has been pleased to accept and to make the most +of the ocular evidence that has come down from +remote times and that bears directly upon these +things.</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_043_1.jpg' alt='William Shakespeare' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Several portraits of the much-discussed William +Shakespeare are in existence: two corresponding +closely are the Droeshout engraving and the +Chandos painting. The Droeshout engraving was +produced in 1623 in the first collected edition of +the so-called Shakespearian plays; and it was eulogized +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>by the critics of that time, and accepted as a +true likeness by William Blake, the idealist poet +and painter. This engraving represents Shakspere +as an intellectual man +with regular but strong features, +a small, shapely mouth, large, +speaking eyes, and a wondrous +expanse of forehead. In all the +authentic pictures, Shakespeare +is represented as wearing a loose +jerkin, about the top of which a +broad, unstarched shirt-collar is turned down in a +charmingly <i>négligé</i> fashion.</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_043_2.jpg' alt='Sir Francis Bacon' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Of Sir Francis Bacon, so-called, but one portrait +has come down to posterity. The original is now +in possession of the British Museum, having been +given to that institution by the +Earl of Ripon, whose father had +it from Katherine, Duchess of +Marlborough, in payment of a +debt. This portrait would seem +to give us the duplicate of the +facial features of Shakespere; +the eyes, mouth, nose, and expression +being the same, likewise +the cut of the beard, the curl of +the mustache, and the style of wearing the hair. +But Bacon is pictured with his hat on,—a prim +affair, worn cocked somewhat to one side,—and +a ruffle about his neck, as was the fashion among +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>courtiers and gentlemen of the Elizabethan time. +It was to Bacon that the ingenious Jonson addressed +the lines,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Him ruffs and ribands prettily become,</div> + <div class='line'>While at his learning stands the world adumb.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c014'>Yet in his “Masque of the Roses,” which was performed +under royal auspices, Jonson makes Bacon +say,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Beshred me of these silken patches, you will find</div> + <div class='line'>A master wit, a wholesome soul, a generous mind:</div> + <div class='line'>What need of garters and what use of name</div> + <div class='line'>Sith these three fellows do atchieve such fame?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_044.jpg' alt='Ben Jonson' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Of Ben Jonson, the author of these lines, there +are three authentic portraits. That which is +known as the Dinwiddie portrait is the most popular. +It was made while Jonson was visiting his +friend Herbert Latshawe at that +fine old artist’s country-seat near +Patmore. Jonson was then in +his sixty-third year, and therefore +the portrait is that of a man +considerably beyond the prime of +life. Yet, is there any so blind +that he cannot detect under these +spectacles the calm, intelligent eyes of Shakspur +and Bacon, and cannot recognize in the other features, +the features delineated in the Droeshout +engraving of Shakspere and in the Marlborough +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>portrait of Bacon? Several years before this picture +was made by Latshawe, Jonson wrote his +remarkable play of “The Fox.” In the course of +this play (act 3, scene 1), one of the characters, a +literary man, has this to say:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The gaping world shall see me in my age</div> + <div class='line'>Wearing the wit that lumined Shakspere’s page:</div> + <div class='line'>Bacon’s big learning, Beaumont’s virgin grace,</div> + <div class='line'>And Fletcher’s power shall sit upon my face.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_045.jpg' alt='Francis Beaumont' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Francis Beaumont, thus prettily referred to, was +a precocious creature. He is said to have died at +the age of twenty-nine; yet +during his short life, he +earned so great a reputation +as a poet and dramatist, that +to this day he is accorded +half the credit of the work +which Fletcher really did. +It is narrated that Ben Jonson +had so high an opinion +of the young man’s critical +genius, that he used to refer +his plays in manuscript to +Beaumont for revision, when Beaumont was scarce +turned of twelve. The only portrait of Beaumont +is to be found in the collection of the Duke of +Ayrshire: it is in a state of excellent preservation, +and is, perhaps, the handsomest portrait that has +come down from the sixteenth century. It is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>interesting to compare this picture with those of +Shaxspere, Bacon, and Jonson. Leigh Hunt said, +“When he was a boy, how much the poet of the +Elizabethan period must have looked like the +other fellow!” We think so too. Does it require +more than a hasty glance to assure one that, at +twenty-eight years of age, William Shakspeare, +Francis Bacon, and rare Ben Jonson must have +been the very counterparts of handsome, gifted, +winning Francis Beaumont?</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_046.jpg' alt='John Fletcher' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>And how about John Fletcher? Well, there is +but one portrait of him, and that is now in the +British Museum. It was painted +by a Hollander named Bruggmarx, +and Fletcher was then sixty years +old. The face, it will be noted, is +still the face that we have seen in +the authentic pictures of Shakspear, +Bacon, and Jonson! An +older face, perhaps, but the strong, +inspired features are there, and we are forced to +declare it the same face. The hair is scantier than +in the other pictures, but the effect which is produced +by curling the one surviving tuft over and +about the bald cranium so as to give an appearance +of hair—this effect, we say, is artistic.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In one of his letters which are still preserved +for the edification of posterity, the gifted Walter +Raleigh writes, “Right sorely hath her Majesty +the queen been displeased with my lord Bacon for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>that he hath caused privily to be made a likeness +of himself in the similitude of an old man, the +which being carried to the Green Boar, and therein +exhibited under the divers names of Jonson, +Fletcher, Shakesper, and the like, hath brought a +grievous scandal upon the queen, and such sorrow +withal, that, hearing of the same, she did swound, +and even now maintaineth secrecy +in her closet, making great moan, +and weeping beyond all measure.”</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_047.jpg' alt='Robert Greene' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Two other so-called British +dramatists are entitled to our attention. +One is Robert Greene, +and the other is George Peele, of +whom capital portraits have been +handed down. Greene is said to +have been a dissipated, rakish fellow, and the picture +we have of him would appear to confirm this +story. It is not hard to detect traces of dissipation +in this handsome face: it is such a face as old +Ben Jonson might have had, if, instead of devoting +himself to quiet symposiums at the Green Boar +and the Blue Dragon, he had rioted about the +slums of London with evil women. Such a face +might William Shakspeare have been favored with +if, instead of invading his neighbors’ preserves +with his gum-shoes on, he had seen fit to debauch +his talents in the ale-houses of the British metropolis. +And such a face, too, might “that ponderous +sink of learning,” Francis Bacon, have had, if he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>had abandoned the writing of Shakspear’s plays +for the pursuit of Robert Greene’s midnight orgies. +In a word, with the exception of the trifling detail +of his coiffure, happy-go-lucky Bob Greene bears +a striking personal resemblance to the other distinguished +<i>littérateurs</i> who flourished in his time. +And here is a curious extract from a letter which +Greene wrote to his friend Raleigh shortly after +the production of his tragedy of “James IV.” It +is dated in London: “Vastly distraught is my good +Anne Hathaway by the evil rumors that hath +gained prevalence in these parts, and that do +grievously belie me in that they make me to be a +thief by night. But his grace hath signed and +given into my hands a paper confessing it to be a +libel and his bucks to be properly accounted, +whereat methinketh my dame Anne should be set +aright as touching her vexation.” The astute +critic, Malone, wonders how it is that Robert +Greene should have been accused +of poaching, the same charge that +was preferred against Shakspeare; +he wonders, too, how Anne Hathaway, +Shaxpeare’s wife, could be +the wife of Robert Greene also. +His wonderment is not amazing.</p> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_048.jpg' alt='George Peele' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>This interesting portrait is of George Peele; and +its striking likeness to the portraits of Bacon, Jonson, +Shakspur, Beaumont, Greene, and Fletcher +has been remarked by critics from time immemorial. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>In short, the likeness which the pictures of +all the dramatists of the Elizabethan period bear +to each other is so marked that we think there is +good reason for believing that Sheksper, Jonson, +Beaumont, Greene, Fletcher, Peele, and Bacon +were not different individuals, but one man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It is quite true that the scholarly Donnelly and +the learned Holmes have proved to their own satisfaction +that Shaxpeare did not write the plays +commonly imputed to Shaikspore; but they have +not proved who wrote the plays commonly imputed +to Jonson, Peele, and the other alleged dramatists +of the glorious old days when a lady was designated +as a lousy wench, and when <i>liaisons</i> were +made the text of popular society plays. It seems +to us that the pictures of these old dramatists fill +this hiatus, if so we may term it, and these pictures +teach us that once upon a time there was a +humorous genius who figured under many names, +who tossed off many plays, and who posed for +many portraits. We do not know his name, but +we know that he is variously called Shakspeare, +Bacon, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Peele, and +Greene. And we know, too, that his glory will +illumine the world long after wiseacres and charlatans +have abandoned the task of trying to +determine his identity.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The old poet, George Chapman,—he who was +the contemporary of these puzzlingly numerous +one,—understood what he was about when he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>penned these lines to his friend, Francis Shaxpur:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Or seen in poacher’s guise or courtly robes of satin,</div> + <div class='line'>Or read in English verse or tomes of prosy Latin,</div> + <div class='line'>Or viewed in chiselled bust (the best the critic thinks it),</div> + <div class='line'>Or masking in a daub which some rude Dutchman pinxit—</div> + <div class='line'>In all thy verse, prose, portraits, effigies of plaster,</div> + <div class='line'>Shines the vast genius of one universal master.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Among the Literati.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>It</span> is reported in high literary circles that the +McAfee Refining Company will take two pages of +“The Easter Current” for the purpose of advertising +the excellences of its new brand of leaf-lard.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>At</span> the formal dedication of the Blue-Island +Avenue toboggan-slide last Saturday evening, a +beautiful poem in imitation of the Pindaric odes +was read by the gifted authoress, Miss Birdie McLaughlin.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Among</span> the recent additions to the valuable +collection of our esteemed fellow-townsman, N. +Hawthorne Smith, is an autograph of Joaquin +Miller, the poet of the Sahara.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>We</span> are informed that a Browning Society has +been organized by the inmates of the Cook-County +Imbecile Asylum.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Markeesy di Pullman.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="it">“Il bianco di cazerni della graze fio bella,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="it">Di teruca si mazzoni quel’ antista Somno della.”</span></div> + <div class='line in36'><span lang="it"><i>Petrarch.</i></span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“He who conduces to a fellow’s sleep,</div> + <div class='line'>Should noble fame and goodly riches reap.”</div> + <div class='line in36'><i>Tasso.</i></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Sleep mocks at death: when weary of the earth,</div> + <div class='line'>We do not die—we take an upper berth.”</div> + <div class='line in36'><i>Dante.</i></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Never since the great fire of 1871 has Chicago +society been so profoundly agitated as it was +when it became noised about that King Humbert +of Italy had created our esteemed fellow-townsman, +Col. George M. Pullman, a knight of +the first water. At first, grave doubts as to the +genuineness of the report were indulged; but when, +later in the day, it became known that the rumor +was credited at the headquarters of the Italian +legation, the joy of the public burst all restraints, +and manifested itself in every variety of ebullition.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. Pullman is, we believe, the first citizen of +Chicago who has been honored in so distinguished +a manner by royalty. It is true that the Pshaw +of Persia craved the boon of investing the Hon. +Frederick H. Winston with the order of the Yellow +Dromedary, but the negotiations fell through +as soon as the eminent American diplomate +<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>declined to advance the pshaw the ten thousand +golden pistoles which his serene majesty expected +as an evidence of Mr. Winston’s good faith in the +premises. It is true, also, that there are in the +midst of us a number of royal personages—or perhaps +we should say a number of persons of noble +descent. Very many of our Irish citizens are of +high extraction,—descendants of dukes, earls, +booyars, barons, and knights, who for political +offences have been exiled from the land of their +nativity. To our certain knowledge, Col. John F. +Finerty is a lineal descendant of Brian Boroihme; +and many other fellow-townsmen of ours can +boast ancestries almost as noble. Ex-Senator +Millard B. Hereley is one of the Bourbons from +Bourbon co., France; and we could, if we had the +space wherein to tell it, specify who the Duke of +Eniscarty, the Earl of Ballanasloe, the Duke of +Cork, etc., are, and by what aliases they are known +to the people of this city.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In spite of these facts which we have stated, it +is true that Mr. Pullman is the first citizen of +Chicago to be recognized and honored by a +crowned head of Europe. As near as we can come +to it, Mr. Pullman’s elevation to knighthood was +brought about in this wise: Last year he made a +tour through Italy; and when he reached Naples +he called upon King Humbert, and made a formal +complaint touching the railroad facilities with +which his Majesty’s kingdom is, and always has +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>been, cursed. His Majesty was struck at once +with the learning, the eloquence, the earnestness, +the <i>sang froid</i>, and the <i>swaviter in modo</i>, of the petitioner; +and he besought him to suggest an improvement, +if he could, upon the system of travel +then in vogue. Thereupon Mr. Pullman caused to +be made by the Herculaneum and Pompeii Manufacturing +Company (limited) a palace sleeping-coach, +which he presented to King Humbert with +his compliments, demanding no recompense for +the distinguished gift further than the privilege of +appointing and controlling the porters for said car. +The grateful potentate readily granted this request; +for he was charmed, positively delighted, +with the luxurious innovation introduced by the +enterprising American. For the next six months +King Humbert did nothing but travel around: +the chances are that he would be travelling still, +if he had not been compelled to suspend operations +until after the Senate voted him another appropriation. +At the end of the six months, the king +found himself out of pocket about 1,500,000 lires; +and about this time Mr. Pullman’s porter in Naples, +one Giacomo Fiozzo, began buying corner-lots, +and erecting ten-story apartment-buildings on +the principal Neapolitan thoroughfares. Kings, +however, are liberal folk; and well can they afford +to be, even when dealing with a Chicago businessman. +So when King Humbert fell to thinking of +all the pleasures (not to say benefits) he had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>derived from his six months’ experience in Mr. +Pullman’s coach, he paid not even the tribute of +a passing thought to the financial outlay involved, +but rather set his wits to work at inventing some +means whereby he might further distinguish the +gentleman, whom he viewed in the light of a +benefactor. The result is this elevation of Mr. +Pullman from the ranks of the hoi polloi to the +dignity and the title of a marchese, which, in the +Italian tongue, corresponds to the knighthood of +Great Britain, the booyars of Roosha, and the +flambustules of Siam.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Sig. Pietro Casa del Comma, secretary of the +Italian legation in this city, tells us that when the +official communication from his Majesty reaches +Chicago, it will become the duty of the consul at +this point to proceed at once to Mr. Pullman’s +palatial residence on Prairie Avenue, and there, +in the presence of the Italian legation, and in the +name of his Catholic majesty, to dub Mr. Pullman +a marchese or (as Mr. Pullman may prefer to be +called) a chevalier. Sig. del Comma says that +“marchese” is pronounced “mar-kee-sy,” and +that “chevalier” is pronounced “shee-val-ya:” +we are inclined to think that markeesy sounds just +a trifle more bong tong than sheevalya, and we +hope that Mr. Pullman will choose that title.</p> + +<p class='c006'>After he has been invested with this honor, Mr. +Pullman—or, we should say, the Markeesy Pullman—will +be visited by the gardener of the legation +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>(for this is an old custom), who will present +him with a bouquet, saying, “<span lang="it">Io ho l’onore, onorevole +signor, di presentarvi le queste fiori e di gratularvi.</span>” +Upon receiving this bouquet, the markeesy +will be expected to hand the simple gardener fifty +francs (or ten dollars), and this is all the money +the markeesy will have to pay out for the honor. +By a singular coincidence, the gardener of the Italian +legation in Chicago at this time is one Patrick +Murphy, a kinsman of the late Markeesy di Potata +(<i>née</i> Murphy) of San Francisco, who was elevated +from obscurity by the late Pope Pius IX.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Sig. del Comma tells us furthermore that one of +the first things the Markeesy Pullman will have to +do will be to choose a coat-of-arms, for a markeesy +without a coat-of-arms would be an anomaly which +the Italian potentate could not well endure. With +a view to relieving the markeesy of much anxiety +and labor, the signor has compiled a coat-of-arms, +which he will submit for the markeesy’s approval +and adoption.</p> + +<p class='c006'>This chaste design represents a shield engrailed, +bordured, and vert, with a supporting figure at +each side; the figures are what in the vernacular +of heraldry is called expectant and demandant; +the shield dexter is quartured—that is to say, divided +into four berths, or compartments, which are +left blank for posterity to fill; the shield sinister +is decorated with the portraiture of a small feather +pillow issuant, this being the heraldic symbol of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>luxury and ease; upon this pillow appears the personification +of indefatigable industry and ceaseless +vigilance, rampant, illustrating not only the means +by which the markeesy has achieved his noble +ends, but also the still nobler teaching of the most +wise Solomon, who said, “Go to the ant, you +sluggard, or you will go to the dogs.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_056.jpg' alt='A satirical black-and-white ink illustration of a coat of arms. The central shield is split vertically down the middle; the left side features a pillow with a small ant, while the right side is divided into four horizontal blank bars. Flanking the shield as supporters are two Black men in caricature style, dressed in railway porter attire. A flowing banner arches over the top of the shield carrying the Latin motto "PRO PATRIA CAVALIERE".' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Above the shield appears a motto, “Pro Patria +Caveliere,” which is the Latin for “For His Country, +a Knight;” but the particular beauty of this +motto is, that it can be abridged to P. P. C., and +thus be made to serve a business purpose.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As we understand it, the Markeesy di Pullman +becomes, immediately upon the acceptance of this +title, the local protector, patron, promoter, and +<i>chaperon</i> of Italian art. When Col. J. H. Mapleson +comes to Chicago with his wheezy old cantatrices +and spavined tenors, it will be the markeesy’s +duty to go security for advertising, hotel-bills, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>theatre-rent; it will also be the markeesy’s duty to +advance Mapleson and his troupe enough money +to take them to St. Louis; this will be a great +boon to our Opera Festival Association, and we +presume that the markeesy will be glad to make +the trifling sacrifice for the dignity of the crown +that has honored him. As soon as Mme. Adelina +Patti heard of the rumor of the markeesy’s elevation +to the peerage, she sent him a bouquet by Sig. +Nicolini. The markeesy gracefully acknowledged +the compliment in a note made up of polite Italian +phrases judiciously culled from the libretto of “Il +Trovatore.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Italian population of Chicago is highly gratified +with the distinguished tribute paid by their +monarch to our popular fellow-townsman. At a +meeting of the Societa d’Italia in Poggio’s restaurant +last evening, several speeches were made +in eulogy of the Markeesy di Pullman’s many +virtues, his enterprise, his munificence, his philanthropy, +etc. An address to his Majesty King +Humbert, congratulating him upon having recemented +the ties which bind Italy and the United +States, was read by Giovanni Bianco, the banana-merchant, +and approved by the meeting: it was +ordered that the address be cabled to his Majesty, +provided that the Markeesy di Pullman would pay +the toll.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The effect of the Italian boom has already become +apparent in our literary circles. The leading +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>book-sellers say that incessant have been the +calls for Dante, for Petrarch, and for Tasso, since +the news of the Pullman affair reached Chicago. +The markeesy’s portrait in the rooms of the dancing-class +was draped with Italian flags last evening; +and already the caterer at Caveroc’s on +Wabash Avenue has invented a new dish of macaroni, +which is entitled macaroni di Pullman. We +mention these trifling details merely to indicate +how generally and how deeply this compliment +of royalty to our amiable and gifted townsman is +appreciated by his fellow-citizens.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Literary Laconics.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>We</span> understand that Mr. Gunther, the autograph +virtuoso, recently paid two hundred and fifty +dollars for an autograph of Dante Alighieri, which +he discovered on the fly-leaf of a volume of Ella +Wheeler Wilcox’s poems.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Mr. Mæcenas B. Fulsomtone</span>, the well-known +purveyor of green hams, and president of the +Michael Angelo Art Club, has just sent to his +London agent an order for fifteen thousand dollars’ +worth of books. The choice of volumes is left +with the agent; the only specification made by +Mr. Fulsomtone being that the books contain +plenty of pictures, and be bound in red morocco.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>As to the Garter of a Markeesy.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>Within</span> the last two days we have received +a large number of communications touching the +handsome coat-of-arms which the secretary of the +Italian legation has designed for the marchese di +Pullman. Several of the communications contain +comment upon the picture of the industrious insect +represented as sprawling rampant on the +feather pillow in the sinister half of the so-called +Pullman shield. One correspondent says that the +insect is not an ant, but a potato-bug; another declares +that it is a busy bee; and still a third maintains +that it is neither a chinch-bug, nor a busy +bee, nor yet an ant, but one of those predatory +vampires known (by name only) in polite society +as “the flat-backed militia.” A gentleman, signing +his letter “Scholasticus,” writes that he is +deeply learned in heraldic lore, and that he has +studied with increasing pleasure and profit the +design submitted by Sig. Pietro Casa del Comma. +He says, however, that he has one important suggestion +to submit, and it is this: That the dexter +quartures of the shield, which have been left +blank for posterity to fill, should be designated as +No. 1 upper, No. 1 lower, No. 2 upper, and No. 2 +lower.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The suggestion submitted by “Scholasticus” +strikes us most favorably, and we have sent it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>around to the Italian legation. As for the communications +of the other correspondents, we have to +say this only: That the form of animal life depicted +upon the pillow of the shield was designed +by the artist to represent an ant, the most industrious, +the most frugal, and the most provident, of +creatures. It may be that chinch-bugs and busy +bees are in the habit of spending their precious +time gallivanting around over feather pillows, but +we have never met with any of this kind in the +course of our travels. On the other hand, the ant +is to be found everywhere, and in every employment. +As Aristotle truly has it,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Whether upon the raging billow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or o’er the meads her path be bent,</div> + <div class='line'>On buttery shelf or Pullman pillow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The ant is busy and content.</div> + <div class='line'>Full many a bird of rarer beauty</div> + <div class='line in2'>Is heralded by trump of fame:</div> + <div class='line'>The ant toils on in line of duty—</div> + <div class='line in2'>And gets there all the same.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>In connection with this little affair, we will say +that a matter of much more importance than the +marchese di Pullman’s coat-of-arms is bothering us +just at present. We are informed that when a +man is invested with the order of knighthood, he is +expected to wear a garter upon (or around) his +left leg. We have been devoting some time to an +investigation of the subject of garters, and we +think that we are competent to give a pretty able +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>opinion thereupon. Garters, we maintain, are +divided into three grand divisions or schools. The +first is the Elizabethan, the second is the Boston, +and the third is the Reform school. This picture +will give a pretty fair idea of the three:—</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_061.jpg' alt='’roundThree line drawings of legs showing different styles of historical hosiery: on the left, a loose, wrinkled stocking held below the knee by a simple garter band; in the middle, a front-facing leg wearing a mesh-patterned stocking secured by a buttoned strap below the knee; and on the right, a solid black stocking held up by a garter suspender.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Now, here in Fig. 1 (which is the verisimilitude +to the left) is a tableau of the Elizabethan garter +upon the left leg of a knight: we will suppose the +knight to be the marchese di Pullman. The garter +encircles the leg below the knee, and it clasps +the leg so tightly as to shut off the blood-supply +from that part of the member below it: the result +is, that the marchese di Pullman’s left calf shrivels +and abates, until it falls to the level of the ankle, +and, when that unhappy climax is reached, it becomes +necessary to sew the garter to the hose, else +it will not retain the position required by the etiquette +of the court. We doubt very much whether +there could be imagined a more pitiable spectacle +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>than that of the marchese di Pullman travelling +about the world in his knightly robe, with his right +calf normally plump and shapely, and his left calf +all wizened and shrunken under the baleful effects +of the knightly garter. In Fig. 2 (the illustration +in the centre of our design) we have a representation +of the marchese’s left leg adorned with +the Boston garter, which we consider a great improvement +upon the garter of the Elizabethan +period. This modern innovation conduces to the +development of the muscles in the lower part of +the leg, and at the same time it supports the hose +in a most ingenious manner. It permits the blood +to course unimpeded on its way, thus insuring +against cold feet, and proving a very salvation for +corns and bunions.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The third illustration is of the Reform garter. +We hear it highly spoken of, but we have not +looked into its merits. Inasmuch as it is so warmly +recommended by those who have tried it, we +think we can safely say that we hope to see more +of it in the future. As we are told, this machine +consists of divers straps and pulleys so ingeniously +contrived as to bring its weight upon no particular +part of the body, but to distribute it (or diffuse it, +if you please) over the whole system. One part +of it, as we are told, girds the neck, and the other +part holds the hose in a deathlike grip. This establishes +such an immediate and close relationship +between the pedal and the pectoral regions, that, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>if the wearer have corns, a palpitation of the heart +is likely to ensue, or, if the wearer’s feet happen to +get wet, a sore throat is invariably the consequence.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We think, therefore, that, viewed from every +stand-point, the Boston garter has notable advantages +over its competitors; and, if we are called +upon, we shall advise the marchese di Pullman to +adopt it as the insignia of his noble office.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>We</span> heartily sympathize with our ennobled fellow-townsman, +the marchese di Pullman, in the +sorrow entailed upon him by the official announcement +that the Italian olive-crop is almost a total +failure this year. Yet when one accepts the burdensome +responsibilities of the peerage, he is expected +to endure with Spartan fortitude the +providential dispensations that remorselessly crush +those less honorably fortified.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'>“<span class='sc'>The Chicago Tribune</span>” is rather late in the +day: still, we are glad to find it lumbering to +the front with the venerable information that the +Markeesy Giorgio di Pullman is not entitled to +the title of sir. This is what we said last week. +The title which our cultured and opulent fellow-townsman +has, in recognition of his philanthropics, +been honored with, is the Italian title of markeesy, +which corresponds with the English title of sir; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>but the bearer cannot Anglicize the title: he +must remain a markeesy all the days of his natural +life, or until, at least, he is promoted to some +higher dignity. The Markeesy di Pullman understands +this perfectly, and he would not exchange +his markeesyship for the cream and flower of English +knighthood. In connection with this subject, +we beg to say that we deeply deplore the existence +of a bitter malice against, and a rancorous envy of, +the Markeesy di Pullman in certain local society +circles. The existence of this insidious hostility +was first brought to our knowledge by means of a +song composed by a Chicago poet, and set to music +by one of our amateur musicians. The chorus to +this ribald song runs as follows:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“When the party is breezy and wheezy,</div> + <div class='line'>And palpably greasy, it’s easy</div> + <div class='line in6'>To coax or to wring,</div> + <div class='line in6'>From a weak-minded king,</div> + <div class='line'>The titular prize of markeesy.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Emerson in ’Frisco.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>While Ralph Waldo Emerson was on his way +to California, several years ago, he fell in with a +gentleman who was altogether so sociable and +chatty that an otherwise tedious journey was +rendered as cheerful as you please. This gentleman’s +name was Sackett, and he told Mr. Emerson +that he resided in San Francisco: this was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>all the information he ventured concerning himself, +but from his conversation Mr. Emerson +gathered that his newly made acquaintance was +indeed a gentleman of intelligence and standing. +Mr. Sackett pointed out all the points of interest +along the way, retailed a lot of amusing anecdotes, +and, best of all, was an attentive listener +when Mr. Emerson fell to discoursing upon the +Is, the To Be, the Seeming, and other frothy +subjects with which his scholarly and saintly +intellect seemed thoroughly conversant.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The natural consequence was that Mr. Emerson +came to the conclusion that Mr. Sackett was as +charming a gentleman as he had ever met with, +and it was in this positive conviction that he accepted +Mr. Sackett’s invitation to dine with him +immediately upon their arrival in San Francisco. +The next morning Mr. Emerson was well-nigh +paralyzed to find in all the local papers this +startling personal notice: “Professor Ralph Waldo +Emerson, the eminent philosopher, scholar, and +poet, is in our city as the guest of Mr. H. J. +Sackett, the well-known proprietor of the Bush-Street +Dime Museum; <i>matinées</i> every half-hour, +admission only ten cents. The double-headed +calf and the dog-faced boy this week!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. Sackett is now in the amusement business +in Chicago, and he refers to his experience with +the sage of Concord as one of the most profitable +strokes of enterprise in his long and active career.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Summer Philosopher.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Chicago, Ill.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><i>To the Editor.</i>—I cannot express to you how +charmed I am to learn through the columns of +your valued paper that the <i>littérateurs</i> and the +thinkers of Chicago are going to have a School +of Western Philosophy in this city early in July. +Although I have but recently come from the East +(having resided in Michigan for the last five +years), I take a keen interest in the growth of +Western culture; and, knowing the great good +effected by these re-unions whereat sympathetic +intellects may revel in mutual delights, I am exceedingly +anxious that this promised School of +Western Philosophy shall eventuate. I was visiting +friends in Boston in 1879, and went with my +Aunt Holbrook to the first Concord School of +Summer Philosophy. It was then and there that +I got my first taste of the joys which accrue from +the scholarly discussion of such subjects as the +Am, the To Be, and the Knowing. The grandest +minds of the century were there,—Emerson, +Harris, Sanborn, Alcott, Mrs. Cheney, H. K. +Jones, Wasson, Professor Pierce, Higginson, Dr. +Bartol, Harrison G. O. Blake, Aunt Holbrook, and +myself. It was the first and only time I met +Emerson—oh, how I revere that divine man’s +memory! He read an essay on “Memory;” and +we hung upon his utterances, as bees cluster at +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>the swarming. When I was introduced to him, +he smoothed my hair kindly, and murmured, +“Sweet child; sweet child.” He was a dreamy, +poetic man, and his saintly thoughts were always +amid the clouds of the vast Above. While he +was discoursing of metempsychosis, or carving +apple-pie, there was about him a subtile prescience +and an ineffable psychic consciousness that were +beauteous to cognize. Frank Sanborn was +another philosopher-poet who charmed me deeply. +I have in my scrap-book his entire “Address to +the Mutability of Things,” and his tender lines in +memory of Emerson’s dead canary-bird, beginning,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Oh! can this mortal ken descry</div> + <div class='line'>The Whither thou hast went?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>I am preparing a voluminous paper on the subject +of the immortal intellects I met at Concord, +and criticisms upon the various philosophies of +the same. If I get this work completed by that +time, I would like to read it at the Western School +of Summer Philosophy next July. My well-known +maiden effort, “The Chautauqua Cook Book, with +Hints to Young Mothers,” may be cited as an +earnest of my capability; and as a further proof +of my acquaintance with the notables of whom I +am treating, I can produce my album in which are +inscribed the autographs of the same. Yours in +the Noble work,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>MRS. AMIABLE J. HOLBROOK.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Truth about Dante.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Folco di Ricovero Portinari had a daughter +named Beatrice, a comely and amiable child, who +had just turned of nine years when her estimable +father gave a fashionable party to numerous +friends in his palatial Florentine residence. There +came to this party, in company of his father and +mother, a lad named Durante Alighieri, himself but +a few months older than little Beatrice. These +two children, being the only little folk at the +party, took a fancy to each other, and romped and +played together on this occasion, as any other two +children would have played under similar circumstances. +Being somewhat the elder, and considerably +the stronger, of the two, little Durante, or +Dante as he was called, had pretty much his own +way; and having robbed little Beatrice of most of +her cake and all her candies, and having threatened +to thrash her if she ever told, Dante declared +to his doting parents that he had never before met +with so sweet a little playmate as was this same +little Beatrice.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are given to understand that from an +acquaintance thus made, grew an affection that +endured until death removed the two principals to +another sphere. In fact, the love of Dante for +Beatrice has been the theme of many a sentimental +poem and emotional essay.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>The truth, however, is, that although Beatrice +lived to be twenty-five years of age, Dante could +at no time, during the sixteen years he associated +with her, convince himself that he loved her well +enough to make her his wife. It was not until he +heard of her death that he became satisfied that +he had loved Beatrice with an all-consuming love; +and, having satisfied himself on this point, he +began at once to indite elegiac verse to her memory,—a +habit which, we regret to observe, he had +the infinite bad taste to persist in up to the very +date of his demise.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Fortunately, there have been preserved, by the +genius of a Bostonian named Prang, a countless +number of copies of a portrait of Beatrice made +several months previous to that estimable maiden-lady’s +death; and the sad beauty of the unhappy +woman’s face has appealed to the compassion of +all beholders. This portrait, as we interpret its +expression, represents the patient Beatrice as gazing +pensively into space, and wondering when +Dante was going to propose.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Beatrice had been buried scarcely a year when +her heart-broken lover made up his mind that the +best consolation for the loss of one sweetheart was +the procuring of another; and so he began paying +his <i>devoirs</i> to a wealthy and beautiful girl named +Gemma Donati, one of the belles of Florence. +While he was courting this bright, pretty, and unsuspecting +lady, however, he continued to indite +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>whining elegies, sonnets, triolets, quatrains, couplets, +etc., to the memory of Beatrice, the woman +who had died of a broken heart because Dante +didn’t have spunk enough to pop the question. +We take it for granted that none of these mortuary +verses ever reached the eyes or the ears of +Gemma Donati before she was married. Otherwise, +you can depend upon it, she would have +given Mr. Alighieri the mitten he deserved, for +she was a proud, spirited girl. She believed +Dante loved her; and believing in him, and +trusting in his love, she went to the altar with +him.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was not long, however, before Gemma discovered +that she had caught a Tartar. Instead of +the bright, happy fellow she had a right to expect +in her bridegroom, she found that Dante was +capricious, moody, and dyspeptic. He had a habit +of sitting up late of nights, groaning and sighing, +writing poetry which he industriously hid away +from her, but read to everybody else,—doing, in +fine, all manner of things beseeming a person +afflicted with a chronic disorder of the liver and a +natural wrongness of the heart. Truly, an enviable +honeymoon it must have been that poor Gemma +passed with this bridegroom of hers! One day, +at last, she found a verse that explained much to +her. It was a verse in Dante’s chirography; and +Gemma read the cruel lines, and fell down in a +swoon.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>“<span lang="it">Fatto era un stagno piu secura e brutto—</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="it">O Beatrice! di quel grazzia la citta,</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="it">Altro non e dar;</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="it">Uno esperto non Gemma e l’opra</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="it">Un correger soave un pio sostegno—</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="it">Figgo del sperto solle!</span>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>That night she taxed Dante with having deceived +her, and he was mean enough to accuse her +of being jealous. When he discovered that his +bride was hopelessly miserable, he clinched the +general cussedness of the situation by applying +himself more diligently than ever before to the +business of composing maudlin poetry to the +memory of the defunct old maid,—“his sainted +Beatrice,” as he called her in his miserable dago +hypocrisy.</p> + +<p class='c006'>This delectable state of affairs continued a +number of years; and meantime, in spite of his +devotion to the sacred memory of his “first and +only love in heaven,” Dante contrived to become +the father of six children, one of whom was a girl. +This girl should have been named after her estimable +mother; but in order, apparently, to grind +the iron even deeper into his wife’s soul, Dante +stole away to a priest’s house with the baby one +day, and had the little creature christened Beatrice. +There seems to have been no end to this +man’s indecent cruelty.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Well, having wrecked his wife’s life, Dante proceeded +to make a public nuisance of himself; and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>he embarked in politics, and began sloshing around +at a great rate. But dealing with a discriminating +and exacting public is very different from bully-ragging +a patient, submissive wife; and the first +thing he knew, Dante was in deep water,—hot +water too. He was banished from the province; +and, although he made vigorous and persistent +efforts to get back again, his fellow-townsmen +were wise enough to let the decree stand. Of +course Gemma sympathized with her husband in +his troubles, but the burden of these troubles fell +rather upon her; for now it became her duty to +provide for the six children which Dante had left +behind when he made his escape. A small part +of Dante’s property she saved from confiscation +by claiming it as her dower; and it was upon this +pittance that Gemma reared and educated their +children,—Dante’s and hers. It was a hard struggle, +involving countless sacrifices; but it was a +struggle to which Gemma applied herself courageously, +patiently, and grandly,—courageous, +patient, noble woman that she was!</p> + +<p class='c006'>The biographies that have come down to us are +all biographies of Dante. Therefore we can only +surmise at the magnitude of the suffering which +Gemma endured. But we know this, that Gemma +brought her six children to maturity, and that she +lived to see them prosperous and honored. During +all the intervening years, it was one continuous +fight to make the ends meet; and every now and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>then Gemma squeezed out of her paltry savings +a little money to send to her exiled husband.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Meantime, instead of trying to earn means +whereby to contribute to the support of his family, +Dante seems to have devoted all his time to +writing poetry and things calculated to make +trouble for the home-folk. His most pretentious +composition was a grotesque production purporting +to be an account of a visit to hell and purgatory. +His dyspeptic stomach, his torpid liver, and +his malignant temper, qualified him for a work of +this character; and, having consistently raised +—— all his life, it is not surprising that he should +have left to posterity a minute description of that +undesirable locality, and the industries therein +abounding. With the utmost care, Dante drew +his pen-pictures of the infernal regions, and introduced +as figures therein all the Florentines he +disliked, particularly those who were likely to be +of kindly service to his wife and his children. At +one time, having heard that the noble Duke della +Caseras had advanced Gemma the sum of ten +ducats to keep her and her babies from starving, +Dante at once proceeded to represent the noble +duke in hell, with his body submerged in a lake of +sulphurous flame, and his legs sticking up in a +preposterous manner. If any citizen of Florence +was good to Dante’s wife, he was promptly put in +hell by Dante himself. In fact, hell, as Dante +pictured it, was peopled with men and women +<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>who treated Dante’s wife and children humanely. +This made life rather awkward for Mrs. Alighieri +and the rising generation of Alighieris; but their +feelings were not to be considered, so long as Mr. +Alighieri’s demoniacal spite was being gratified.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Many of the Florentine people whom Dante +utilized in this scandalous manner overlooked his +offences in a good-natured way. They regarded +Gemma as a very worthy woman; and they were +prepared at all times to do her kindnesses, no +matter how rudely Gemma’s husband treated them +in his spiteful poems. But there were others who +refused to take kindly to Dante’s ungrateful methods. +Giovanni Ferato, the baker, was one of these. +“Signora,” said he to Gemma one day, “I have +suffered your account to run for many months. +Whenever you came for bread, or called for rolls, +or ordered pie, or sent for cake, I have permitted +you to have them without question; for I knew +you were pressed by poverty, and I thought to do +you a kindness. But your husband has paid the +debt by devoting seven lines of blank verse to me +and my family, representing us as floating about +in a sea of molten lead, with winged devils shooting +flaming darts into our bodies. You will have +to go elsewhere for your pastry hereafter.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Guiseppe Angelo once let Gemma have a load +of fagots at half price, whereupon Dante represented +Guiseppe as being nailed down with red-hot +nails to the very floor of hell; while a vulture +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>tore out his entrails, and devoured them without +seasoning. When Gemma went for another load +of fagots, she had to pay a double price.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In like manner, Torquato Rovera, the cobbler; +Michael Levato, the huckster; Hermozo Bambino, +the butcher; and a score of other tradefolk,—were +prejudiced against this modest, amiable, and +unoffending woman. To put the case as mildly as +possible, it was, so far as Gemma was concerned, +awkward.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But of all the mean, despicable things done in +Dante’s career of incomparable meanness, the +meanest was his allusion to his wife in the sixteenth +canto of his “Hell.” Heedless of the +wrongs he had done her, and forgetting all her +sacrifices for him and for his children, the jaundiced +ingrate left to posterity these lines:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in14'>“—me, my wife</div> + <div class='line'>Of savage temper, more than aught beside,</div> + <div class='line'>Hath to this evil brought.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Dante died at Ravenna. While he was ill, he +wrote his wife a dismal letter, begging for money: +she borrowed three ducats, and sent them to him. +The gold reached him just as he lay at the point +of death. He read the accompanying letter, and +groaned. “She does not say who lent her the +money,” he sighed. “Would that I knew his +name, that I might put him with the others in that +brimstone pit!”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>Then he raised himself feebly, and said to Pietro +Alfieri, his friend, “Take this gold, and with it +pay the printer, who delays too long the publication +of my last poem.” With these words he expired.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Alfieri took the money to the printer. “Have +you a poem here, the work of Dante Alighieri?” +he asked.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have,” said Fernando Pizaro. “There is due +upon it three ducats, else it shall not leave the +shop.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Let me see the poem,” demanded Alfieri.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The printer brought forth the manuscript. It +was entitled, “To My Beatrice in Heaven!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Whistle for your money!” said Alfieri laconically; +and he threw down the manuscript, and +walked out of the shop.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Pietro Alfieri was a man of decency. He sent +the three ducats back to Gemma Alighieri; and +with the money the frugal widow bought shirtwaists +for her five boys, and a nice new jersey for +her little girl.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Good Cause.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>We</span> understand that our talented fellow-townsman, +T. Babbington Greenleaf, is engaged upon a +rhythmical translation of the tripods of Horace.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>The</span> Book-Binders’ Union will give its regular +annual ball in Brand’s Hall immediately after Lent.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Convention of Western Writers.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The Chicago people who went down to Indianapolis +last Tuesday, to attend the convention of +Western writers, have returned; and they are telling +a great many amusing stories of their experiences. +It would appear that the convention was +not as numerously attended as its promoters had +hoped it would be; the mistake seems to have +been in calling a second convention so soon after +the date of the first: once a year is often enough +for authors and poets to get together for consultation. +The Chicago delegates were treated very +hospitably; and it is perhaps to their credit that +they took no part in the proceedings, except to +stand around, look dignified, and hear what the +other people had to say.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“So you’re from Chicago, are you?” would be +the first question asked.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What have you written?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Here would follow a modest confession, made +in tones indicative of embarrassment.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But have you never written any thing for ‘The +Current’?” and this question would be put with +an expression of countenance that seemed to add, +“If you <i>have</i>, you must be all right; but if you +<i>haven’t</i>, you can’t amount to much.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The rooms of the Chicago contingent were the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>resort of the rural <i>littérateurs</i> with “something to +read you for your private opinion.” Poets came +in from every part of Indiana, and each of these +poets had a bundle of original dialect poetry. +Mad because they were not billed in the programme +of the convention, these inspired creatures +insisted upon reading their verses to everybody +they met. Mr. Maurice Thompson seems to have +been the man who impressed the Chicago visitors +most favorably: he was president of the convention, +and one of the first things he did was to tell +the poets that they were nuisances. As the convention +proceeded, and bedlam began to prevail, +Mr. Thompson sat quietly in his chair, regarding +the scene with an expression of hopelessness and +contempt commingled. When the last hours of the +convention drew on apace, the poets and authors +made a constant tumult for the privilege of reading +their poems and things. Of course, there was +not time for all to be heard; and the result was, +that each tried to make himself or herself heard. +The confusion was indescribably ludicrous.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Bill Nye was so disgusted that he retired early +from the fray; and so did James Whitcomb Riley; +Thompson staid because he had to.</p> + +<p class='c006'>One old lady about seventy-five years of age +had prepared a poem; but when she looked in her +reticule for the manuscript, she could not find it. +Her efforts to recover her lost poem would have +been funny had they not been pathetic. She set +<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>everybody to looking under the chairs and on the +tables for the manuscript; and even the cover of the +piano was lifted, in the suspicion that the lost poem +might have found its way into that instrument.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, I’m so glad to meet you!” said one gushing +Hoosier <i>littérateur</i> to a Chicago lady, “for you +can tell me whether the author of ‘The Humbler +Poets’ came down from Chicago with you. I +would so like to see him!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was a good thing for the gentleman in question +that he was a thousand miles away. But +there were constant and numerous inquiries after +him by poets and poetesses who claimed to have +“several little gems” of their own which they felt +he would “be glad to add to his collection.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>At first it was determined to hold the next +convention in Chicago; but subsequently this determination +was reconsidered, and the executive +committee was empowered to call the next convention +at any place it might choose. One of the +Indiana poetesses approached a Chicago visitor, +and said triumphantly, “Well, you aren’t goin’ +to get it, after all!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Get what?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The next convention.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, that is a matter that doesn’t concern me +at all,” replied the Chicagoan. “I’m not here +representing Chicago: I’ve come simply to report +your proceedings for my paper.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, yes! I know,” said the poetess; “but Chicago +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>has acted so indifferent about it that she +can’t have it now. Why, if they had agreed upon +Terry Hut, I’d have risen right up in the convention, +and thanked ’em, and bid ’em welcome!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Poet’s Corner.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“M. E. B.”—The only English translation of +Goethe’s “Faust” we can recommend is that made +by Gen. Zachary Taylor, one of our ex-presidents.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Hannah More Gardiner</span>, president of +the West-Side Browning Club, has suffered a keen +bereavement in the demise of her pet poodle, whom +she had named Robert, in honor of her favorite +poet. While not wishing to invade the sanctity of +the gifted lady’s grief, we cannot forbear saying +that this lamentable occurrence has cast a gloom +over the whole community; and the dispensation +seems all the more distressing, since deceased left +a numerous infant progeny.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Western Boy’s Lament.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I wished I lived away Down East, where codfish salt the sea,</div> + <div class='line'>And where the folks have pumpkin-pie and apple-sass for tea.</div> + <div class='line'>Us boys who’s livin’ here out West, don’t get more’n half a show:</div> + <div class='line'>We don’t have nothin’ else to do but jest to sort o’ grow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Oh! if I wuz a bird I’d fly a million miles away</div> + <div class='line'>To where they feed their boys on pork and beans three times a day;</div> + <div class='line'>To where the place they call the Hub, gives out its shiny spokes,</div> + <div class='line'>And where the folks—so father says—is mostly women-folks.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Story of Xanthippe.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='c002'></div> +<blockquote> +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Chicago, Ill.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><i>To the Editor.</i>—I am in a great dilemma, and I come to +you for counsel. I love and wish to marry a young carpenter +who has been waiting on me for two years. My father +wants me to marry a literary man fifteen years older than +myself,—a very smart man I will admit, but I fancy he is +<i>too</i> smart for me. I much prefer the young carpenter, yet +father says a marriage with the literary man would give me +the social position he fancies I would enjoy. Now, what am +I to do? What would <i>you</i> do, if you were I?</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yours in trouble,</div> + <div class='line in20'><span class='sc'>Priscilla</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</blockquote> + +<p class='c005'>Listen, gentle maiden, and ye others of her sex, +to the story of Xanthippe, the Athenian woman.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Very, very many years ago there dwelt in Athens +a fruit-dealer of the name of Kimon, who was possessed +of two daughters,—the one named Helen +and the other Xanthippe. At the age of twenty, +Helen was wed to Aristagoras the tinker, and went +with him to abide in his humble dwelling in the suburbs +of Athens, about one parasang’s distance from +the Acropolis. Xanthippe, the younger sister, gave +promise of singular beauty; and at an early age +she developed a wit that was the marvel and the +joy of her father’s household, and of the society +that was to be met with there. Prosperous in a +worldly way, Kimon was enabled to give this favorite +daughter the best educational advantages; and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>he was justly proud when at the age of nineteen, +Xanthippe was graduated from the Minerva Female +College with all the highest honors of her class. +There was but one thing that cast a shadow upon +the old gentleman’s happiness, and that was his +pain at observing that among all Xanthippe’s associates, +there was one upon whom she bestowed +her sweetest smiles; namely, Gatippus, the son of +Heliopharnes the plasterer.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“My daughter,” said Kimon, “you are now of +an age when it becomes a maiden to contemplate +marriage as a serious and solemn probability: therefore +I beseech you to practise the severest discrimination +in the choice of your male associates, and +I enjoin upon you to have naught to say or to do +with any youth that might not be considered an +eligible husband; for, by the dog! it is my wish to +see you wed to one of good station.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Kimon thereupon proceeded to tell his daughter +that his dearest ambition had been a desire to unite +her in marriage with a literary man. He saw that +the tendency of the times was in the direction of +literature: schools of philosophy were springing +up on every side, logic and poetry were prated in +every household. Why should not the beautiful +and accomplished daughter of Kimon the fruiterer +become one of that group of geniuses who were +contributing at that particular time to the glory of +Athens as the literary centre of the world? The +truth was, that, having prospered in his trade, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>Kimon pined for social recognition: it grieved him +that one of his daughters had wed a tinker, and +he had registered a vow with Pallas that his other +daughter should be given into the arms of a +worthier man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Xanthippe was a dutiful daughter; she had +been taught to obey her parents; and although +her heart inclined to Gatippus, the son of Heliopharnes +the plasterer, she smothered all rebellious +emotions, and said she would try to do her father’s +will. Accordingly, therefore, Kimon introduced +into his home one evening a certain young Athenian +philosopher,—a typical literary Bohemian of +that time, one Socrates, a creature of wondrous +wisdom and ready wit. The appearance of this +suitor, presumptive if not apparent, did not particularly +please Xanthippe. Socrates was an ill-favored +young man. He was tall, raw-boned, and +gangling. When he walked, he slouched; and +when he sat down, he sprawled like a crab upon +its back. His coarse hair rebelled upon his head +and chin; and he had a broad, flat nose, that had +been broken in two places by the kick of an Assyrian +mule. Withal, Socrates talked delightfully; +and it is not hard to imagine that Xanthippe’s +pretty face, plump figure, and vivacious manners, +served as an inspiration to the young philosopher’s +wit. So it was not long ere Xanthippe found herself +entertaining a profound respect for Socrates.</p> + +<p class='c006'>At all events, Xanthippe, the Athenian beauty, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>was wed to Socrates the philosopher. Putting all +thought of Gatippus, the son of Heliopharnes the +plasterer, out of her mind, Xanthippe went to the +temple of Aphrodite, and was wed to Socrates. +Historians differ as to the details of the affair; but +it seems generally agreed that Socrates was late at +the ceremony, having been delayed on his way to +the temple by one Diogenes, who asked to converse +with him on the immortality of the soul. +Socrates stopped to talk, and would perhaps have +been stopping there still had not Kimon hunted +him up, and fetched him to the wedding.</p> + +<p class='c006'>A great wedding it was. A complete report of +it was written by one of Socrates’ friends, another +literary man, named Xenophon. The literary +guild, including philosophers by the score, were +there in full feather, and Xenophon put himself to +the trouble of giving a complete list of these distinguished +persons; and to the report, as it was +penned for “The Athens Weekly Papyrus,” he +appended a fine puff of Socrates, which has led +posterity to surmise that Socrates conferred a great +compliment on Xanthippe in marrying her. Yet, +what else could we expect of this man Xenophon? +The only other thing he ever did was to conduct a +retreat from a Persian battle-field.</p> + +<p class='c006'>And now began the trials of Xanthippe, the +wife of the literary man. Ay, it was not long ere +the young wife discovered, that, of all husbands in +the worlds, the literary husband was the hardest to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>get along with. Always late to his meals, always +absorbed in his work, always indifferent to the +comforts of home—what a trial this man Socrates +must have been! Why, half the time, poor Xanthippe +didn’t know where the next month’s rent +was coming from; and as for the grocer’s and +butcher’s bills—well, between this creditor and +that creditor the tormented little wife’s life fast +became a burden to her. Had it not been for her +father’s convenient fruit-stall, Xanthippe must +have starved; and, at best, fruit as a regular diet +is hardly preferable to starvation. And while she +scrimped and saved, and made her own gowns, and +patched up the children’s kilts as best she might, +Socrates stood around the streets talking about the +immortality of the soul and the vanity of human +life!</p> + +<p class='c006'>Many times Xanthippe pined for the amusements +and seductive gayeties of social life, but she +got none. The only society she knew was the +prosy men-folk whom Socrates used to fetch +home with him occasionally. Xanthippe grew to +hate them, and we don’t blame her. Just imagine +that dirty old Diogenes lolling around on the furniture, +and expressing his preference for a tub; +picking his teeth with his jack-knife, and smoking +his wretched cob-pipe in the parlor!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Socrates, dear,” Xanthippe would say at times, +“please take me to the theatre to-night: I do so +want to see that new tragedy by Euclydides.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>But Socrates would swear by Hercules, or by +the dog, or by some other classic object, that he +had an engagement with the rhetoricians, or with +the sophists, or with Alcibiades, or with Crito, or +with some of the rest of the boys—he called them +philosophers, but we know what he meant by that.</p> + +<p class='c006'>So it was toil and disappointment, disappointment +and toil, from one month’s end to another’s; +and so the years went by.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Sometimes Xanthippe rebelled; but, with all her +wit, how could she reason with Socrates, the most +gifted and the wisest of all philosophers? He had +a provoking way of practising upon her the exasperating +methods of Socratic debate,—a system he +had invented, and for which he still is revered. +Never excited or angry himself, he would ply her +with questions until she found herself entangled +in a network of contradictions; and then she would +be driven, willy-nilly, to that last argument of +woman—“because.” Then Socrates—the brute!—would +laugh at her, and would go out and sit on +the front door-steps, and look henpecked. This is +positively the meanest thing a man <i>can</i> do!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Look at that poor man,” said the wife of Edippus +the cobbler. “I <i>do</i> believe his wife is cruel +to him: see how sad and lonesome he is.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Don’t play with those Socrates children,” said +another matron. “Their mother must be a dreadful +shiftless creature to let her young ones run the +streets in such patched-up clothes.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>So up and down the street the neighbors gossiped—oh! +it was very humiliating to Xanthippe.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Meanwhile Helen lived in peace with Aristagoras +the tinker. Their little home was cosey and +comfortable. Xanthippe used to go to see them +sometimes, but the sight of their unpretentious +happiness made her even more miserable. Meanwhile, +too, Xanthippe’s old beau, Gatippus, had +married; and from Thessaly came reports of the +beautiful vineyard and the many wine-presses he +had acquired. So Xanthippe’s life became somewhat +more than a struggle: it became a martyrdom. +And the wrinkles came into Xanthippe’s +face, and Xanthippe’s hair grew gray, and Xanthippe’s +heart was filled with the bitterness of disappointment. +And the years, full of grind and of +poverty and of neglect, crept wearily on.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Time is the grim old collector who goes dunning +for the abused wife, and Time finally forced a +settlement with Socrates.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Having loafed around Athens for many years to +the neglect of his family, and having obtruded his +views touching the immortality of the soul upon +certain folk who believed that the first duty of a +man was to keep his family from starving to death, +Socrates was apprehended on a bench-warrant, +thrown into jail, tried by a jury, and sentenced to +die.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was in this emergency that the great, the +divine nobility of the wife asserted itself. She +<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>had been neglected by this man, she had gone in +rags for him, she had sacrificed her beauty and her +hopes and her pride, she had endured the pity of +her neighbors, she had heard her children cry with +hunger—ay, all for <i>him</i>; yet, when a righteous +fate o’ertook him, she forgot all the misery of his +doing, and she went to him to be his comforter.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Well, she could not have done otherwise, for +she was a woman.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Where was his philosophy now? where his wisdom, +his logic, his wit? What had become of his +disputatious and learned associates that not one of +them stood up to plead for the life of Socrates +now? Why, the first breath of adversity had +blown them away as though they were but mist; +and, with these false friends scattered like the +coward chaff they were, grim old Socrates turned +to Xanthippe for consolation. She burdened his +ears with no reproaches, she spoke not of herself. +Her thoughts were of him only, and it was to his +chilled spirit that she alone ministered. Not even +the horrors of the hemlock draught could drive +her from his side, nor unloose her arms from about +his neck; and when at last the philosopher lay +stiff in death, it was Xanthippe that bore away +his corpse, and, with spices moistened by her tears, +made it ready for the grave.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Philadelphia.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“The Philadelphia News,” which is justly +entitled to the great success it enjoys in the field +of evening journalism, has published a double +paper containing divers opinions of Philadelphia +as expressed by certain distinguished men of the +country. We are pleased to see what these eminent +critics have had to say. But we are surprised +that none of them has called attention +to the fact that Philadelphia is one of three +American cities into which and out of which all +railway trains back? The other two cities are +Toledo, O., and Atchison, Kan. St. Louis is the +only city we know of that can be approached +from the civilized world by means only of a tunnel. +Philadelphia discounts this underground or woodchuck +method by running her railroad-line over +the tops of houses; and, as this line is constructed +in the shape of a <strong>Y</strong>, all incoming trains back in, +and all outgoing trains back out.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Another curiosity in Philadelphia is its railway +station. It is the only structure in America that +is composed simply of a roof and a basement. All +trains come in upon and depart from the roof: +cabmen and hack-drivers lie in wait in the basement +for travellers descending from the roof.</p> + +<p class='c006'>There are but two topics of conversation indulged +by the patriotic Philadelphian. The first +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>is a Clover-Club dinner that <i>has</i> been, and the +second is the new City Hall that is going to be. +The Clover Club is an erotic social organization, +founded with a view to stuffing strangers with +terrapin, and then flattening them out with a triphammer. +The new City Hall is a hollow square of +marble, covered with aerial derricks, and medallions +of B. Franklin and W. Penn. It has already +cost as many million dollars as the Philadelphian +narrator believes you capable of swallowing.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The Record” office is said to be the finest +newspaper building on the continent. The counting-room +has a tessellated floor: over the cashier’s +desk hangs an oil-painting of the Holstein cow +that chased the dog that worried the cat that ate +the rat printer. Mr. Singerly, editor of “The +Record,” owns this cow. He is very proud of her, +and she of him. She can set up more ems of solid +brevier milk at one sitting than any other lacteal +compositor now on earth.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Philadelphia is the only city in the country +where street-car fare is six cents, where New-York +papers are sold for seven cents apiece, and where the +barbers charge twenty cents for shaving a stranger. +It is the only city, too, where Twelfth (as the +name of a street) is spelled T-w-e-l-f-v-t-h on the +lamp-posts. It is the only city, too, where people +scrub their front-steps every morning in the dead +of winter, and then sprinkle ashes on the steps to +keep folks from slipping down. It is the only +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>city, too, where editors of morning papers go +home from work at 4.30 <span class='fss'>P.M.</span> every day.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Philadelphia is also the only city that has beaten +Chicago four straight games at base-ball.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Still, Chicago is hardly in a position to criticise +Philadelphia unprejudicedly. Chicago has been so +unfortunate as to become the adopted home of +three of Philadelphia’s most enterprising sons.</p> + +<p class='c006'>One of these gentlemen is Mr. Joseph C. Mackin, +who, owing to circumstances over which he has no +control, is temporarily absent from this city.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Another is Mr. Gallagher, who ought to be +absent, but isn’t.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The third is Mr. Charles T. Yerkes.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Humanity.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The big-eyed baby, just across the way,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Longs for the moon, and reaches out to clasp it:</div> + <div class='line'>He lunges at the crescent, cold and gray,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And waxes wroth to find he cannot grasp it.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Be hushed, O babe! and give thy grief a rest.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Better, a thousand times, for thee to ponder</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the lacteal wealth of mother’s breast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Than reach for that vain milky way up yonder.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet am I like this man of recent birth</div> + <div class='line in2'>That lets a foolish disappointment fret it—</div> + <div class='line'>Scorning the sky, I’m reaching for the earth,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And grunt and groan because I do not get it.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Baked Beans and Culture.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The members of the Boston Commercial Club +are charming gentlemen. They are now the +guests of the Chicago Commercial Club, and are +being shown every attention that our market affords. +They are a fine-looking lot, well-dressed +and well-mannered, with just enough whiskers to +be impressive without being imposing.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“This is a darned likely village,” said Seth +Adams last evening. “Everybody is rushin’ +’round an’ doin’ business as if his life depended +on it. Should think they’d git all tuckered out +’fore night, but I’ll be darned if there ain’t just as +many folks on the street after nightfall as afore. +We’re stoppin’ at the Palmer tavern; an’ my +chamber is up so all-fired high, that I can count +all your meetin’-house steeples from the winder.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Last night five or six of these Boston merchants +sat around the office of the hotel, and discussed +matters and things. Pretty soon they got to talking +about beans: this was the subject which they +dwelt on with evident pleasure.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, sir,” said Ephraim Taft, a wholesale +dealer in maple-sugar and flavored lozenges, “you +kin talk ’bout your new-fashioned dishes an’ highfalutin +vittles; but, when you come right down to +it, there ain’t no better eatin’ than a dish o’ baked +pork ’n’ beans.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>“That’s so, b’ gosh!” chorussed the others.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The truth o’ the matter is,” continued Mr. +Taft, “that beans is good for everybody,—’t don’t +make no difference whether he’s well or sick. +Why, I’ve known a thousand folks—waal, mebbe +not quite a thousand; but,—waal, now, jest to +show, take the case of Bill Holbrook: you remember +Bill, don’t ye?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Bill Holbrook?” said Mr. Ezra Eastman; +“why, of course I do! Used to live down to +Brimfield, next to the Moses Howard farm.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That’s the man,” resumed Mr. Taft. “Waal, +Bill fell sick,—kinder moped round, tired like, +for a week or two, an’ then tuck to his bed. His +folks sent for Dock Smith,—ol’ Dock Smith that +used to carry round a pair o’ leather saddlebags,—gosh, +they don’t have no sech doctors nowadays! +Waal, the dock, he come; an’ he looked at Bill’s +tongue, an’ felt uv his pulse, an’ said that Bill had +typhus fever. Ol’ Dock Smith was a very careful, +conserv’tive man, an’ he never said nothin’ unless +he knowed he was right.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Bill began to git wuss, an’ he kep’ a-gittin’ +wuss every day. One mornin’ ol’ Dock Smith +sez, ‘Look a-here, Bill, I guess you’re a goner: +as I figger it, you can’t hol’ out till nightfall.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Bill’s mother insisted on a con-sul-tation bein’ +held; so ol’ Dock Smith sent over for young Dock +Brainerd. I calc’late, that, next <i>to</i> ol’ Dock Smith, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>young Dock Brainerd was the smartest doctor that +ever lived.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, pretty soon along come Dock Brainerd; +an’ he an’ Dock Smith went all over Bill, an’ looked +at his tongue, an’ felt uv his pulse, an’ told him it +was a gone case, an’ that he had got to die. Then +they went off into the spare chamber to hold their +con-sul-tation.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, Bill he lay there in the front room +a-pantin’ an’ a-gaspin’, an’ a wond’rin’ whether it +wuz true. As he wuz thinkin’, up comes the girl +to git a clean tablecloth out of the clothes-press, +an’ she left the door ajar as she come in. Bill he +gave a sniff, an’ his eyes grew more natural, like: +he gathered together all the strength he had, an’ +he raised himself up on one elbow, an’ sniffed again.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Sary,’ says he, ‘wot’s that a-cookin’?’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Beans,’ says she, ‘beans for dinner.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Sary,’ says the dyin’ man, ‘I must hev a +plate uv them beans!’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Sakes alive, Mr. Holbrook!’ says she: ‘if you +wuz to eat any o’ them beans, it’d kill ye!’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘If I’ve got to die,’ says he, ‘I’m goin’ to die +happy: fetch me a plate uv them beans.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, Sary she pikes off to the doctors.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Look a-here,’ says she, ‘Mr. Holbrook smelt +the beans cookin’, an’ he says he’s got to have a +plate uv ’em. Now, what shall I do about it?’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Waal, doctor,’ says Dock Smith, ‘what do +you think ’bout it?’</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>“‘He’s got to die anyhow,’ says Dock Brainerd; +‘an’ I don’t suppose the beans’ll make any +diff’rence.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘That’s the way I figger it,’ says Dock Smith: +‘in all my practice I never knew of beans hurtin’ +anybody.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“So Sary went down to the kitchen, an’ brought +up a plateful of hot baked beans. Dock Smith +raised Bill up in bed, an’ Dock Brainerd put a +piller under the small of Bill’s back. Then Sary +sat down by the bed, an’ fed them beans into Bill +until Bill couldn’t hold any more.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘How air you feelin’ now?’ asked Dock Smith.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Bill didn’t say nuthin’: he jest smiled sort uv +peaceful, like, an’ closed his eyes.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘The end hez come,’ said Dock Brainerd sof’ly: +‘Bill is dyin’.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Then Bill murmured kind o’ far-away, like +(as if he was dreamin’), ‘I ain’t dyin’: I’m dead +an’ in heaven.’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Next mornin’ Bill got out uv bed, an’ done a +big day’s work on the farm, an’ he hain’t hed +a sick spell since. Them beans cured him! I tell +you, sir, that beans is,” etc.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Isaac Watts, Tutor.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Our valued fellow-townsman, Mr. F. L. Blake, +tells us that he was considerably interested by our +remarks recently on the subject of Dr. Isaac +Watts’s poetry. Such an interest, in fact, did our +words awaken, that, upon reading them, Mr. Blake +threw aside the paper, went to his book-case, and +took down an old volume of Watts’s hymns and +poems. He had not read the volume in many +years, and sweet were the memories that came to +him as he thumbed over the musty pages. “Still,” +says he, “I cannot agree with you when you speak +of Dr. Watts’s verse as ‘quaint, simple poetry.’ +One of the first hymns I struck was a recital of +the joys of the redeemed, and I shuddered when +I read this stanza:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘In heaven above among the blest,</div> + <div class='line in2'>What mortal tongue can tell</div> + <div class='line'>The joys of saints when looking down</div> + <div class='line in2'>On damnèd souls in hell!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>“I don’t believe you really think that this is +‘quaint, simple poetry.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Few men have been more read and less understood +than Dr. Isaac Watts. He was in many +particulars a remarkable man. Old Sam Johnson +described him as a little man not more than five +feet tall, with an austere expression, and a deep, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>resonant voice. Watts was always more or less +of a valetudinarian. He was unwise enough at +the age of twenty-five to hire himself to Sir John +Hartopp of Stoke-Newington as tutor to Sir John’s +children—a lad named Ralph, aged sixteen, and a +girl named Delia, aged eighteen. The care which +this engagement involved so seriously impaired +Watts’s health that he was never thereafter a +robust man. Ralph Hartopp was a wild boy; and +Delia, the girl, appears to have been a rather flippant +miss. There dwelt in Stoke-Newington, at +this time, one Richard Steele, a reckless but bright +fellow, who fell in love with Delia Hartopp, and +by his attentions gave Tutor Watts grave uneasiness; +for Watts recognized in Steele a “godless +young man, given over to the vanities and frivolities +of the world.” Steele had a friend named +Addison,—Joseph Addison,—a taciturn young +man, who exhibited a fondness for sitting around +in ale-houses and at street-corners, merely for the +purpose of watching people, and of hearing them +talk. This Addison had one ambition, and that +was to print a satirical daily paper in London; and +he calculated that when his friend Steele married +Sir John Hartopp’s daughter, Sir John himself +would advance the capital necessary to set Steele +and Addison up in the newspaper business. So, +in his quiet, unobtrusive way, Addison helped +Steele with his wooing of Sir John’s pretty +daughter.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>We can imagine how grievously Steele and +Addison tormented Tutor Watts: both were +shrewd and witty, had seen much of the world, +and were keen satirists of human character. +When it got to them that Watts was in the habit +of writing “religious and moral poems for the +better guidance and wiser admonition” of his +pupils, they set themselves to writing poems too; +and these poems they cast in Watts’s way, and +right often was the good man grievously scandalized +thereby. One of these poems, which appears +to have been the work of Steele and Addison conjointly, +has come down to posterity under the +ostentatious title of “The Redemption of Mistress +Prudence told in Rhyme for the Better Understanding +of Our Sovereign Beauty, the Fair Delia.” +These lines, thus addressed to Delia Hartopp, were +as follow:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Behold our Prudence in her prime</div> + <div class='line in2'>As meek and fair a dame as any;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet was she tempted in her time,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As tempted are, alas! too many.</div> + <div class='line'>Satin and silken gowns had she,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Feathers and ribbons, plumes and laces,—</div> + <div class='line'>Vain gewgaws fetched across the sea</div> + <div class='line in2'>From divers godless foreign places.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thereat her foolish, wicked pride</div> + <div class='line in2'>Did vaunt itself to such condition,</div> + <div class='line'>That she did constantly deride</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her gentle tutor’s admonition.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>In vain he reasoned with the maid;</div> + <div class='line in2'>In fashion’s way she strode undaunted;</div> + <div class='line'>And all the more her tutor prayed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Why, all the more her plumes she flaunted.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At last, however, waxing sick</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of worldly praise and admiration,</div> + <div class='line'>She felt her quickened conscience prick,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And straightway sought her soul’s salvation.</div> + <div class='line'>And when she saw, through tearful eyes,</div> + <div class='line in2'>How nearly Satan’s darts had missed her,</div> + <div class='line'>She doffed her dazzling flummeries,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And gave them to her younger sister.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>It is narrated that these verses shocked Tutor +Watts beyond all telling, and we can believe it. +Sir John Hartopp was a jolly old fellow, immensely +proud of his children, and confident that, after the +wildness natural to youth toned down, they would +be a credit to their family. So Sir John simply +laughed at these verses and others that poor Watts +brought to him as the work of “those evil-minded +young men.” It appears that the conscientious +tutor got very little sympathy from his employer.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The following lines, said to have been instigated +by Richard Steele, were found in Ralph +Hartopp’s copy-book one morning:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in8'>THE HUMANE LAD.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Why should a naughty, froward boy</div> + <div class='line in2'>The harmless little fly assail,</div> + <div class='line'>Or why his precious time employ</div> + <div class='line in2'>At pulling faithful Rover’s tail?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>Where’er I go, each living thing</div> + <div class='line in2'>Has its predestined place to fill;</div> + <div class='line'>And naught that moves on foot or wing</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was made for boys to vex or kill.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The little fly, howe’er so frail,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was made on Rover’s hide to prey;</div> + <div class='line'>And faithful Rover’s honest tail</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was made to brush the flies away.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So let each bird and beast enjoy</div> + <div class='line in2'>The vain, brief life which God has given,</div> + <div class='line'>Whilst I my youthful hours employ</div> + <div class='line in2'>In works that fit the soul for heaven.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Yet, however much Dick Steele and his friend +enjoyed the business of satirizing Tutor Watts’s +poems, they occasionally let slip verse that not +only served to assuage the tutor’s anger, but also +redounded to their own credit. It was Watts’s +custom to take his pupils for a walk every pleasant +day, and during these walks he was wont to +discourse upon profitable topics. The following +lines, written under date of July 21, 1697, are +supposed to have been addressed to Ralph and +Delia Hartopp by Tutor Watts; but Dr. Johnson +pronounces them “clearly the work of Joseph +Addison:”—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in8'>A NOONTIDE HYMN.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Come, gentle pupils, let us kneel</div> + <div class='line in2'>Beneath this tree upon the sod,</div> + <div class='line'>And, mindful of our sin, appeal</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unto the good and gracious God.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>Look out upon the fruitful wold,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And see the ripening grain upraise</div> + <div class='line'>Its bursting tops of green and gold</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unto the sky in silent praise.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The winds are hushed, the fields are still,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The brooks that babbled sink to rest:</div> + <div class='line'>A holy reverence seems to thrill</div> + <div class='line in2'>Creation’s vast, responsive breast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>It is the solemn noontide hour,</div> + <div class='line in2'>When grateful Nature everywhere</div> + <div class='line'>Acknowledges the heavenly power</div> + <div class='line in2'>In one still, universal prayer.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So let us kneel upon the sod,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, with his works before our face,</div> + <div class='line'>Commend our souls anew to God,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And crave his sanctifying grace.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>At another time, in evident imitation of Watts’s +style,—though the imitation is not particularly +clever,—Steele framed an evening hymn, the +original manuscript of which is still preserved, we +believe, among the Hartopp collection in the +British Museum:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in8'>AN EVENING HYMN.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Pardon the evil I have done</div> + <div class='line in2'>To thee, O Lord! this day:</div> + <div class='line'>Vouchsafe thy blessed peace to one</div> + <div class='line in2'>Who seeks the heavenly way.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>As turns the truant to his home,</div> + <div class='line in2'>When sore and sick is he,</div> + <div class='line'>So, penitent and weak, I come,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And give my soul to thee.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>’Tis thine, dear Lord; and, if thou wilt,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Protect it through this night;</div> + <div class='line'>Or, cleansing it of all its guilt,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Take it to realms of light.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Though o’er the sea and on the land</div> + <div class='line in2'>The raging storms may sweep,</div> + <div class='line'>Rocked in the hollow of thy hand</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shall I securely sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I may not know another day,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nor see the morrow’s sun:</div> + <div class='line'>Still, clinging to thy knees, I pray,</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Father, thy will be done.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Verses of this kind were not objectionable in the +eyes of Tutor Watts, but we can imagine how +outraged he felt when he discovered that the following +stanzas were being circulated in Stoke-Newington +as a poem from his pen:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in8'>THE MERCIFUL LAD.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Through all my life the poor shall find</div> + <div class='line in2'>In me a constant friend,</div> + <div class='line'>And on the weak of every kind</div> + <div class='line in2'>My mercy shall attend.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The dumb shall never call on me</div> + <div class='line in2'>In vain for kindly aid,</div> + <div class='line'>And in my hands the blind shall see</div> + <div class='line in2'>A bounteous alms displayed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In all their walks the lame shall know</div> + <div class='line in2'>And feel my goodness near,</div> + <div class='line'>And on the deaf will I bestow</div> + <div class='line in2'>My gentlest words of cheer.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>“’Tis by such pious works as these—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Which I delight to do—</div> + <div class='line'>That men their fellow-creatures please,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And please their Maker too.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Well, to make a long story short, Isaac Watts +broke down at last under the pressure brought +to bear upon him by Sir John Hartopp’s good-natured +indifference, Ralph’s recklessness, Delia’s +giddiness, Dick Steele’s wit, and Joe Addison’s +humor. He went to Sir John one day, and in +a husky, weary voice said, “Good-by, Sir John: +I’m off by next coach.” He was tired, sick, discouraged. +He sought and found refuge in the +house of a hospitable and wealthy friend, and +there he abode for the rest of his life. He never +again served as tutor; but he lived to see his old +pupils, Ralph and Delia, become proper and pious +members of society. Subsequently, too, his +relations with Steele and Addison became of the +friendliest character; and, when “The Spectator” +rose to popularity in London, Dr. Watts not infrequently +contributed to its columns. Delia +Hartopp did not marry Steele, after all, but a +Nottinghamshire gentleman named Mulgrave.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Most of Dr. Watts’s hymns were written, as +we understand, during the later years of his life. +He was such a prolific writer that much of his +work was necessarily indifferent. But his hymns +have, as a whole, been admired by the severest +and most eminent critics; and they have been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>read and sung by people of all classes for many, +many years. We think that they have come to +be almost a part of the Protestant faith.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It is probable that Watts’s “Divine and Moral +Songs for the Young” will live as long as English +literature survives. We can conceive of no +seismic phenomenon capable of obliterating the +two poems, “How doth the little busy bee,” and +“Let dogs delight to bark and bite;” and we +have yet to read a tenderer bit of religious verse +than Watts’s cradle-hymn, “Hush, my babe, lie +still and slumber.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Touching the stanza which Mr. Blake quotes +for our consideration, we will say that it <i>is</i> quaint +and simple. Its meaning is clear, and its language +is forcible: it expresses in four lines what +the average modern poet could not or would not +tell in ten times four lines. Yet we do not believe +that Dr. Watts wrote it.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Revision.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Upon consulting his notes again, we venture to +say that Mr. Julian Hawthorne will find that what +the Hon. James Russell Lowell did really say was +this:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The queen? Oh, yes! I have the highest +admiration, respect, and veneration for her. Imagine, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>if you can, a woman in the prime of life, in +full possession of those physical charms, those personal +graces, and those intellectual accomplishments, +which enthrall every beholder; a woman +of commanding height, of willowy, lissome figure, +panther-like in her movements, with a voice like +the tones of an Æolian harp, and a laughter like +the tinkling exuberance of a sylvan cascade—picture +to yourself such a being, and you will have +a fair idea of the gifted and beautiful lady who +directs, and who for many years will continue to +direct, the destinies of the august British Empire.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Of her talented and amiable young son, I have +formed the most pleasing impression. Though +still a mere boy, he carries upon his slender shoulders +the massive head and thoughtful brain of a +ripened statesman. Naturally of a studious and +contemplative turn, the prince has from childhood +eschewed those temptations which beset royal +youth; and, as he blossoms into manhood, his expanding +character holds out to his loving country +the sweetest and most flattering promises.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Be sure, Julian, to send me six copies of the +paper containing these observations.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Since, according to Mr. Lowell’s card, the Hawthorne +interview was substantially correct in other +particulars, we think that Mr. Hawthorne should +give the distinguished interviewee the benefit of +this revised version of the interviewee’s remarks +about the queen and her son.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Official Explanation.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One night aside the fire at hum,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ez I wuz settin’ nappin’,</div> + <div class='line'>Deown frum the lower hall there come</div> + <div class='line in2'>The seound uv some one rappin’.</div> + <div class='line'>The son uv old Nat Hawthorne he,—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Julian I think his name wuz,—</div> + <div class='line'>Uv course, he feound a friend in me,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not knowin’ what his game wuz.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>An’ ez we visited a spell,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Our talk ranged wide an’ wider;</div> + <div class='line'>An’ ef we struck dry subjects—well,</div> + <div class='line in2'>We washed ’em deown with cider.</div> + <div class='line'>Neow, with that cider coursin’ thru</div> + <div class='line in2'>My system, an’ a-playin’</div> + <div class='line'>Upon my tongue, I hardly knew</div> + <div class='line in2'>Just what I wuz a-sayin’.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I kin remember that I spun</div> + <div class='line in2'>A hifalutin’ story,</div> + <div class='line'>Abeout the Prince uv Wales, an’ one</div> + <div class='line in2'>Abeout old Queen Vic<i>to</i>ry.</div> + <div class='line'>But, sakes alive! I never dreamed</div> + <div class='line in2'>The cuss would get it printed—</div> + <div class='line'>(By that old gal I’m much esteemed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ez she hez often hinted).</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Oh, if I had that critter neow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>You bet your boots I’d larn him</div> + <div class='line'>In mighty lively fashion heow</div> + <div class='line in2'>To walk the chalk, gol darn him!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>Meanwhile, between his folks an’ mine</div> + <div class='line in2'>The breach grows wide an’ wider;</div> + <div class='line'>An’, by the way, it’s my design</div> + <div class='line in2'>To give up drinkin’ cider.</div> + <div class='line in36'><i>Hosea Biglow.</i></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Yankee Chorus Girls.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Col. William H. Foster, the manager of the +Boston Ideals, tells us that his principals do not +cost him so much worry and vexation as his chorus-girls +do. “It is admitted,” says he, “that my +chorus-girls are the prettiest on the operatic stage +this year. I selected them with great care, and +made these three conditions the basis upon which +that selection was made: First, each candidate +had to be under nineteen years of age; second, +each had to weigh over a hundred and thirty +pounds, and less than a hundred and sixty pounds; +third, each had to agree to subsist on the diet prescribed +by me. I have eleven girls in my chorus, +and I venture to say they are the cream and flower +of New-England beauty. I suffer them to eat but +three meals a day.—Their breakfasts consist of +hulled corn or oatmeal, rare beefsteak, and graham +bread. For dinner they eat boiled mutton with +boiled potatoes and Hubbard squash, or corned +beef and cabbage, or pork and beans; and their +only dessert is pumpkin-pie or apple-pie. Their +suppers consist of smoked halibut, dried beef, +graham bread, dried-apple sauce, cold doughnuts, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>and cookies. I watch them all the time lest some +foolish admirer sends them candy or fruit, two +godless luxuries which I never countenance. The +consequence of my jealous care is, that my chorus-girls +are plump, rosy, and vigorous, the paragons +of girlish beauty. I shall never forget the scene +that took place the night we opened this season in +Syracuse, N.Y. Barnabee came off the stage after +the first act, looking like a boy of nineteen. His +eyes were afire, his cheeks were flushed, his step +was bounding, and a joyous smile wreathed his face.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘In Heaven’s name, Foster,’ said he, ‘how can +I ever thank you,—how can I express to you my +gratitude for the inestimable boon you have conferred +upon me!’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘What do you mean?’ I asked, aghast; for +his unusual excitement alarmed me.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘Look at me,’ said he. ‘Scrutinize me closely, +and search me well. I am an old man. Age has +frosted my sparse locks, chilled my blood, and +traced furrows in my cheeks. For twenty-three +years I have been identified with this Boston +Ideal Company; and for twenty-three years have +I groped my way around among the sphinxes, the +obelisks, the ivy-mantled towers, and the grand +old ruins, of ancient female history. So inured +had I become to this hardship, that it came like +second nature to me to weave my arms about +relics, and to sing impassioned sonnets in the dull, +cold ears of survivors of the silurian epoch. To-night, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>however, when I clasped in my embrace, in +view of an enthusiastic public, the female to whom +my serenade had been addressed, I found her not +the mossy reminiscence I expected, but a living, +breathing, palpitating girl, with rosebud lips and +peachy cheeks. Instantly I experienced a blissful +change percolating through my being. For twenty-three +years I had felt like a government mule hauling +a load of pig-iron, but now I feel like a two-year-old +colt behind a band of music. Don’t you +think, Foster, that McDonald needs a rest? I +believe I would like to sing his <i>rôles</i> for the balance +of the season.’”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Dixey as a Nemesis.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Henry E. Dixey is the owner of a St. +Bernard dog that weighs, perhaps, three hundred +pounds; and, after the fashion of the lamb that +was platonically attached to Mary, this dog accompanies +Mr. Dixey wherever Mr. Dixey goes. +Twice across the ocean and all over this continent +makes Prince the most extensive traveller of the +canine kind. Day before yesterday Mr. Dixey +and his leviathan dog were having a romp through +the four or five rooms occupied by the Clan Dixey +at the Hotel Richelieu. First, Mr. Dixey would +shut the dog up in the folding-bed, and hide himself +in the wardrobe: then the dog would break +away from the folding-bed, and begin a hunt for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>Dixey, humorously tipping over tables and chairs, +as humorously breaking the crockery, and still +more humorously accompanying his labors with +volcanic vocal eruptions expressive of fear, hope, +anticipation, joy, etc. This play lasted for about +an hour; Mrs. Dixey sitting in the front-room +meanwhile, smiling contentedly, and thinking to +herself how much better it was for Henry to be +passing a quiet afternoon at home than to be frittering +away his time in the company of frivolous +men about town. But Mme. Patti, whose apartments +at the Richelieu are located directly under +the Dixey rooms, must have thought differently: +for while Mr. Dixey and his dog were in the midst +of their genial sport,—or, we might say, while the +festivities were at their height,—there came a knock +at the door; and Mme. Patti’s maid Hortense, +looking like one of the Two Orphans, presented +this message: “Mme. Patti complemongs Mme. +Dix-<i>see</i>, and will Mme. Dix-<i>see</i> have ze goodness to +make her leetle boy stop to play wiz ze dog?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. Dixey was highly indignant. He did not +care so much for himself, but the insult to the +dog was one he could scarcely brook. Next morning, +as he lay in his bed, he became cognizant of +an angelic voice soaring in song,—a voice so +heavenly that it tarried not in the porches of his +ear, but penetrated to the innermost recesses of +Mr. Dixey’s very soul, and filled his whole being +with an ecstasy of ineffable delight.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>“Ida, my dear,” called Mr. Dixey to his wife, +who was sewing in the adjoining room.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What is it, Henry?” she answered.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You’re in unusually good voice this morning, +my dear,” said Mr. Dixey. “I don’t know when +I’ve heard you sing so pleasantly.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why, Henry!” exclaimed Mrs. Dixey. “<i>I’ve</i> +not been singing. That was Mme. Patti you +heard. She is practising Proch’s variations; and +isn’t it just too lovely?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>But there was a cold, meaningful glitter in Mr. +Dixey’s eye as he straightway arose from his bed, +donned his trousers, and put on one of his red +Hibernian wigs. A few moments later, when, in +answer to a brutal knock, Mme. Patti opened the +door of her parlor, the incomparable song-bird’s +sloe-like orbs beheld what seemed to be a gaunt, +raw Irishman standing in the portal. “Misther +Dixey’s compliments to yees, mum,” said this +hulking apparition; “and wad yees moind sthopping +the tra-la-la-loo, mum, till Misther Dixey +have a bit av slape?”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Mr. James R. Lowell</span>, a Boston writer whose +poems give promise of a brilliant future for the +author, will visit Chicago next week as the guest +of one of our most enterprising citizens, whose reduction +in the price of green hams is noted in our +advertising columns.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>Mr. James Russell Lowell will be cordially welcomed +and hospitably entertained by the people of +Chicago. Our citizens have always had the kindliest +feelings for the Boston people, and they have +ever been prepared to pay the tribute of their respect +to the distinguished son whom Boston delights +to honor. Chicago feels a special interest in +Mr. Lowell at this particular time, because he is +perhaps the foremost representative of the enterprising +and opulent community which within the +last week has secured the services of one of Chicago’s +honored sons for the base-ball season for +1887. The fact that Boston has come to Chicago +for the captain of her base-ball nine has re-invigorated +the bonds of affection between the metropolis +of the Bay State and the metropolis of the mighty +West: the truth of this will appear in the hearty +welcome which our public will give Mr. Lowell +next Tuesday.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Our</span> enterprising fellow-townsmen, the proprietors +of the Home Restaurant, have added to their +popular dinner bill of fare, a new viand entitled +<i><span lang="fr">Beans à la Lowell</span></i>, a delicate compliment to the +distinguished poet now visiting among us.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>In</span> justice to Mr. James Russell Lowell, it should +be said that his lecture upon “Richard III.” last +Tuesday afternoon did not refer to Richard J. +Oglesby, our honored governor.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Professor Lowell in Chicago.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The presence of Mr. James Russell Lowell has +given Chicago a tremendous boom as a literary +centre. In literary circles this boom is not spoken +of as a boom, but as an impetus—impetus being +a word of such classic pedigree as to render it preferable +to the lowly and vulgar word boom. This +impetus first became apparent last Saturday afternoon, +when one of the distinguished members of +the Chicago Literary Club—a manufacturer of +linseed-oil—happened to call at the business office +of another distinguished member of the club, a +wholesale dealer in hides and pelts.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I see by the papers,” said the first <i>littérateur</i>, +“that James Russell Lowell is going to be in town +next week.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Lowell? Lowell?” queried the second <i>littérateur</i>, +as if he were trying to place the name. “Oh, +yes! I remember—the author of ‘The One-Hoss +Shay’!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes: he’s going to read a poem in Central +Music Hall next Tuesday,” explained the first <i>littérateur</i>, +“and it has occurred to me that we ought +to elect him an honorary member of the club.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well,” said the second <i>littérateur</i>, “we’ll think +about that—there’s no special hurry. You know, +we have to be a little careful about taking up with +every stranger that comes along: however, we’ll +<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>talk it over at the next meeting. Here, you Jim, +go up on the back roof, and drag in them calf-pelts +out of the rain!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Since Mr. Lowell’s address last Tuesday afternoon, +we have taken pains to mingle pretty freely +with the recognized literary folk of the town, and +we have been mightily interested in the opinions +that are expressed of Mr. Lowell and his work. We +are told at the house of A. C. McClurg & Co., that +during the last forty-eight hours there has been a +terrific demand for Lowell’s books. One order +came from a wealthy pork-packer, and was for +“Lowell’s works in binding to match my ‘Vues de +Paris.’” Another order was for Lowell’s books, +provided the whole set cost more than a hundred +dollars. These little incidents pleased us greatly, +because they evidence that there is springing up +among our people a choice, a discriminating, an +exacting taste, which demands only the best works +of an author.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Last evening,” said two board-of-trade men, +“we had the pleasure of a long talk with Mr. Lowell. +We were fully prepared to create a favorable +impression; for in anticipation of meeting him, and +following the example of our other fellow-townsmen, +we had secured a complete line of Mr. +Lowell’s poems and essays, and had been feeding +upon them for a fortnight. Much to our disappointment, +however, Mr. Lowell appeared disinclined +to traverse the poetic and misty vistas of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>the past with us; and when we contrived—with +consummate art and ineffable subtilty, as we fondly +imagined—to introduce into our introductory +remarks an apt quotation from ‘Hosea Biglow,’ +he dampened our ardor by adverting to the location +of Chicago, its salubrious climate, and the immense +volume of its trade. Mr. Lowell said that he had +driven about the city a good deal, had been +charmed with the beauty of our avenues, the extent +and embellishments of our commons, the magnitude +of our pond, and hospitality of our citizens. +He said that he had visited the packing-houses on +the South Side, and that he was convinced that the +Western methods of flaying and disembowelling +live-stock had its advantages over the conventional +New-England way of removing the bristles of a +pig with an iron candlestick. At one of the rendering-establishments +the proprietor received the +distinguished poet with great cordiality. After +escorting him about the place, and acquainting him +with the delicate details of the art, this hospitable +host conducted Mr. Lowell to the private office, +and insisted upon opening a case of champagne. +To make the situation all the more comfortable +for his guest, the host remarked pleasantly, ‘We +always whoop it up to you newspaper men; for, +like as not, when you get back home, you’ll write +us up.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Another gentleman who called on Mr. Lowell +was a Mr. Elisha K. Robbins, who represented that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>he was organizing a club which he wanted to call +the James Russell Lowell Literary and Debating +Lyceum. He sought Mr. Lowell’s sympathy with +the enterprise to the extent of a donation of +twenty-five dollars. Mr. Lowell was really very +much embarrassed; he sympathized heartily with +the scheme suggested, and he appreciated very +keenly the compliment which Mr. Robbins and +his associates were ambitious to confer; but he +was compelled to inform Mr. Robbins in the most +delicate manner possible, that, in the hurry and excitement +of starting upon his Western tour, he had +carelessly left his wallet on the <i>escritoire</i> in his +room at home. Mr. Robbins so heartily shared +Mr. Lowell’s regret at this awkward occurrence, +that, at a meeting of his accomplices last evening, +he formally moved that “this organization be, and +hereby is, named the Julian Hawthorne Literary +Club.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>It were useless to deny that many of our citizens +were much disappointed at the change which substituted +a lecture on “Richard III.” for a political +address. We heard several of our most cultured +fellow-townsmen say that Dick Oglesby could talk +all around Lowell: one of our most influential +citizens—a wholesale liquor-dealer—remarked, +“I have heard ’em all now,—Lowell and Logan, +and Gin’ral Palmer and all of ’em; but for real +eloquence and scholarship, give me Carter H. +Harrison in a spring campaign, every time!”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>Austin Fisher, the well-known art-connoisseur, +and dealer in leaf-lard, said, “This man Lowell is +a scholar and a nice gentleman—there’s no denying +<i>that</i>; but, do you know, after all, I think I +prefer Bill Nye.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. Ben Higgins, the owner of Prairie Belle, +Sly Boots, and other noted flyers, thought that +Mr. Lowell’s address was an outrage. “The club +is very indignant,” he said. “We were all there +in our best harness, and we expected that the race +would come off as advertised. Of course, we +were mad when we found that the programme had +been changed. The event was billed as a mile-and-a-quarter +dash; and it was, in fact, only a best-three-in-five +trot, and slow at that!” Col. Higgins +went on to say that Mr. Lowell had offended all +the leading turfmen in Chicago by choosing to talk +about Shakespeare when he had agreed to come +here and make an oration on the Washington Park +Club.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The theatrical people, too, are berating Mr. +Lowell for having maintained that Shakespeare did +not write “Richard III.” “If the governor were +here,” said Mr. Horace McVicker yesterday, “you +can just bet he’d have a card in all the papers, +doing Mr. Lowell up in great shape! The governor +is a great admirer of Shakespeare: when +he was but four years old, he played one of the +little princes in ‘Richard III.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Manager R. M. Hooley was the only theatrical +<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>man who approved the Lowell theory. “I remember +having experimented with ‘Richard III.’ once +on a time,” said he. “It was about three years +ago that George Edgar brought a company to my +theatre, and tried to convince me that Shakespeare +wrote ‘Richard III.’ After he had tried it for two +weeks, I paid railroad-fares for the whole crowd +back East. After Mr. Lowell’s lecture the other +afternoon, I walked up to the platform, and grasped +Mr. Lowell’s hand. ‘You have told the truth,’ +said I: ‘I know how it is myself, for I have been +there.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. T. Percy Bottom-Jones, one of our wealthiest +and most cultured citizens, tells us that he entertained +Mr. Lowell at dinner the other evening; +and, from the description Mr. Bottom-Jones gives, +we judge that the entertainment was in every way +worthy of Chicago’s reputation. “We had eighteen +courses,” says Mr. Bottom-Jones, “and the +whole spread cost me in the neighborhood of seven +thousand dollars. Lowell seemed to be particularly +pleased with the sherry. ‘I must compliment +you,’ he said, ‘upon the nice discrimination you +have evinced in your choice of sherries: this is +simply delicious.’—‘Well, it ought to be,’ says I; +‘for I paid sixteen dollars a bottle for it!’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What did Mr. Lowell say to that?” we asked.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Say?” echoed Mr. Bottom-Jones. “He didn’t +say any thing; but you never saw a more surprised-looking +man in all your born days.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>This brought to mind very vividly the lines of +Paulinas Varro, the Latin poet:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Mæcenas is a model host,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Who, o’er his viands nice,</div> + <div class='line'>Is wont to name each dish, and boast</div> + <div class='line in2'>Its quality and price.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>We do not know how this epigram will impress +others; but, taking it with the results of our daily +observations, it goes a long way toward convincing +us that (to indulge in a pardonable metaphor) the +mantle of the most luxurious, the most fastidious, +and the most refined, of grand old Roman times +has fallen, so to speak, upon the shoulders of the +representatives of Chicago wealth and culture.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Writing</span> to us upon one of his bill-heads, a +prominent member of the Chicago Literary Club +takes us severely to task for “indulging in unseemly +sarcasm and untimely levity at the expense of Mr. +Lowell and those cultured Chicagoans who are +seeking to create a healthy literary atmosphere in +the West.” Our correspondent goes on to set up +a defence of Mr. Lowell’s lecture last Tuesday +afternoon, as if a defence were necessary! He says +that we should remember that any utterance coming +from Mr. Lowell is worth listening to; that to +the study of the subject which he treated last +Tuesday, Mr. Lowell devoted much time, and that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>Chicago ought to regard it as a high compliment +that Mr. Lowell had prepared especially for her +edification a discourse at once so scholarly and so +eloquent, and necessarily involving so much time, +patience, and discrimination in its preparation.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Our correspondent’s burning words would have +great weight with us did they not come to us +written upon a sheet whose prefatory printed matter +informs us that the writer is the proprietor of +a soap-manufactory. We decline to take kindly +to that atmosphere, literary or otherwise, which a +soap-factory is likely to create. As far as regards +the suggestion that we have aimed sarcasms at Mr. +Lowell, we will say that there is no truth in it; +and touching the allegation that Mr. Lowell wrote +his Shakespeare lecture especially for the edification +of the Chicagoans, we will say that there is +no truth in that, either.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We have before us a copy of “The Boston Evening +Transcript” of last Wednesday; and in it we +find a scholarly, thoughtful, and elegant editorial, +entitled “Mr. Lowell in Chicago.” We quote a +few lines:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>“While Mr. Lowell’s praises were being sounded +here yesterday, Mr. Lowell himself was creating +a great deal of discussion at Chicago by suddenly +changing the topic of his address before the Union +League Club from a political to a literary one, and +talking about the authorship of ‘Richard III.,’ +instead of American politics. No doubt, it is quite +<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>natural that there should be a good deal of disappointment +expressed at the change of programme, +since, in lieu of a piquant and healthy political +sensation, Mr. Lowell gave his audience a critical +address, which had already been delivered at Edinburgh; +but he had looked the ground over, and +doubtless had reason to believe that he did wisely +in altering his programme.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>This is startling information: it gives us to +understand, as distinctly as if we had been hit +with a club, that, so far from serving up to us a +specially prepared discourse, Mr. Lowell regaled +us with a chestnut—and a Scotch one, at that! +We regard it as the severest joke ever played upon +our community.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Speaking of jokes reminds us of a little incident +that is being told of the experience Mr. Lowell +had at a dinner given in his honor the other evening. +A wealthy patron of the arts and sciences +wanted to entertain the distinguished poet in fine +style, and he invited in all his rich neighbors to +help him do the hospitable act. As soon as Mr. +Lowell entered the parlors, and was presented to +the company, one of the ladies, giggling and gushing, +said, in those tones peculiar to giddy female +idiocy, “O Mr. Lowell! we’ve been anticipating +this pleasure <i>so</i> much; for we’ve all read your +poetry, and we know you can be ever so funny +when you try!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Another genial imbecile, who wore about twenty +<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>thousand dollars’ worth of big, vulgar diamonds, +smilingly assured Mr. Lowell, that, although she +had never met him before, she had always felt as +if she were well acquainted with him; “for,” she +added, “my maiden name was Bigelow.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>In its editorial discussion of Mr. Lowell’s lecture, +“The Boston Transcript” says that the distinguished +critic has obtained his heterodox opinions +touching the genuineness of “Richard III.” from +a study of the folio edition. This strikes us as a +plausible explanation of the instigation of the melancholy +heresy which Mr. Lowell has disseminated +in the midst of us. From a scholarly gentleman +who is regarded hereabouts as an authority in literary +quotations, we learn that the so-called folio +edition of Shakespeare’s works is the most palpable +fraud ever put upon the market. Its proof-reading +alone, so says our informant, is so loose and incorrect +as to render the work a bane to admirers +of proper orthography and correct punctuation. +Among the Chicago people, the most popular edition +of Shakespeare is that sold on our trains and +at all news-stands for fifty-five cents net. The +folio edition costs eight dollars; and we agree with +this scholarly gentleman who tells us about it, that +a man must be a pitiful idiot indeed to pay eight +dollars for a volume of Shakespeare when he can +get a great deal better edition for fifty-five cents +net. One of the beauties of the Chicago edition +of Shakespeare’s works is the numerous elegant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>engravings, made from designs of local artists. +The picture of “Margaret Mather in the Tomb of +the Capulets under the Management of J. M. Hill” +is said by local art connoisseurs and critics to be a +<i>chef d’œuvre</i>; and one of the finest iambic tetrameter +poems we ever read was inspired by a view +of that superb engraving representing that distinguished +member of the Citizens’ Association, Col. +J. H. McVicker, disguised as the first grave-digger. +We have heard the pictures of Tom Keene as +“Hamlet,” Master Walker Whitesides as “Richard +III.,” George C. Miln as “Romeo,” and N. S. +Wood, the boy-actor, as “Lear,”—these portraitures +we have heard spoken of as masterpieces. It +is impossible, we think, that an edition embellished +with such works of art should be supplanted by an +edition whose typographical incorrectness is so violent +as to be the surest and quickest cause of +ophthalmia.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>We</span> have not said any thing about it before, +because we surmised that Col. James Russell +Lowell’s cup of bitterness was quite full enough +without having any more rue and gall poured +into it. The fact remains, however, that the +Union League Club is not the only Chicago club +that feels aggrieved at Col. Lowell. The Chicago +Literary Club has a grievance against Lowell,—at +least we infer so from divers and sundry bitter +<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>invectives which we have heard fired at Col. Lowell +by certain distinguished members of that organization. +It seems that a formal invitation to +visit the club was sent to Lowell some time before +he came to Chicago. It was supposed, that, being +a literary man himself, he would naturally feel +like identifying himself to a degree with the literary +characters of this metropolis. It was believed +that an association, however brief, with the intellect +and culture of our Literary Club, would reinvigorate, +refresh, and re-inspire the Boston poet,—in +a word, it was, if we mistake not, purely a +charitable motive that prompted the Chicago Literary +Club to signify to Col. Lowell its willingness +to have him commingle with it while he was in +this city. Instead of viewing this dainty boon +in the proper light, Col. Lowell appears to have +regarded it much as he would the cheap effort of +a country debating-club, or a commonplace literary +lyceum, to get some notoriety out of his patronage. +At any rate, he returned a very prompt and +equally decisive negative answer to the invitation; +and this is why the giant literary intellects of +Chicago are so very hostile to Col. Lowell just +now. It is far from our intention to be drawn +into this unhappy complication; but we cannot +forbear giving it as our opinion, that, without the +co-operation of the Chicago Literary Club, Col. +Lowell will find a literary life hardly worth +living.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>In our most refined society circles, Col. James +Russell Lowell’s recent visit to Chicago is still +being discussed with a good deal of relish; and a +number of amusing stories are leaking out concerning +the eminent Boston <i>littérateur’s</i> experiences +in this city. One of our most beautiful and +accomplished belles (the eighteen-year-old daughter +of a wealthy distiller) is assuring the large +circle of her admirers that she doesn’t think Col. +Lowell is half as bright a man as he has the +credit of being. “I wath introduthed to him at +the rethepthion,” says she, “and he indulged in +a few commonplatheth until he found out that +I uthed to live in Kentucky. Then he thaid, ‘I +wonder whether you ever knew my friend Baker +of Kentucky: he uthed to be a particular friend +of mine, and I’ve often wondered what ever became +of him.’—‘Baker?’ thays I, ‘let me thee,—I +am acquainted with theveral gentlemen named +Baker: what ith hith firtht name?’—‘It ithn’t +pothible you could have known him,’ thaid Mr. +Lowell: ‘I hadn’t thought of it before, but he’th +been dead thirty-theven yearth.’ Now, did you +ever hear any thing quite tho thilly ath that? I’d +have been real provoked if I’d thought he wath +quithing me, but he looked tho theriouth that I +made up my mind he wathn’t very thmart; and, +ath thoon ath I could get away, I went off to the +thupper-room with Tham Thawyer.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>One of the most cultured gentlemen in Chicago +<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>society was invited to meet Col. Lowell at a dinner +given by a South-Side friend. He arrived very +late, and was so profuse and so persistent in his +apologies as to make himself really offensive.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh! never mind, my dear sir,” said the genial +host in a consoling tone; “it is all right; you’ve +arrived in time for the sal-<i>lad</i>.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The host’s patronizing tone and air deeply offended +the tardy guest. Telling his club-friends +about the circumstance next day, he exclaimed, in +a voice full of contempt and scorn, “The idea of +that —— bowlegged Michigan farmer’s ‘sal-<i>lading</i>’ +me!”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>To</span> the Lowell literature that is flooding the +Western country at the present time, Col. Horace +Rublee, the distinguished editor of “The Milwaukee +Sentinel,” contributes an interesting page, reminiscent +in character. “It was in 1855,” says Col. +Rublee, “that Col. Lowell visited Milwaukee: he +was then in the prime of his intellectual and physical +manhood, and to this day I can remember +with what pride I introduced him to the large and +enthusiastic audience which had assembled in Turner +Hall to hear his eloquent and thoughtful address +on Early English ballads. This lecture was +conducted under the auspices of the Milwaukee +Lecture Lyceum Bureau. In those days, lectures +were all the rage, and none but the very best talent +was employed. The week after Lowell’s appearance +<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>here, Bayard Taylor came with his lecture +on ‘The Rhine;’ and Lowell remained in town just +for the sake of having a visit with his bright young +friend. Taylor must have been about thirty years +of age, and he was as brilliant and as companionable +a fellow as you could expect to meet. Well, +Lowell and Taylor had a great time together; and +as I knew the town pretty well, and was inclined +to be somewhat coltish myself in those days, it +was my good fortune to be chosen as the third +member of the party. Every night we would go +around to Schimpfermann’s Hall, and sit there, +drinking beer, and telling stories, until nearly +morning. Lowell was a great hand for Yankee +stories, and Taylor could mimic the German dialect +and Irish brogue most artistically. As for me, +I did most of the singing,—for I had a fine baritone +voice in those days; and when it came to +the chorus, Taylor would help me out with his +deep, mellow bass, and Lowell would chip in with +his clear, ringing, bird-like tenor. The last night +they were in town (ah, how distinctly I remember +it!), we all met at Schimpfermann’s; and—how it +came about, I don’t know—we got into a game of +ten-pins. I was an old hand at it, and so was Taylor; +but Lowell had never played before. Well, +Taylor beat the first game with 215 pins, I followed +with 187, and Lowell brought up the rear +with 96. He was a preposterously bad player, but +he was so earnest and so solemn about it that we +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>didn’t dare laugh at him. We played away until +eight o’clock in the morning. In six hours Taylor +had rolled 3,136 pins, my score was 2,944, and +Lowell’s was 1,082. I am able to give the figures, +because I wrote them on the back of a daguerrotype +that Lowell had made of himself that morning +before he started away on the train. It lacked +an hour of train-time; and we went up into Bumblegarten’s +gallery, and had our pictures taken just +as we looked when we got through that five hours’ +bowling-match. I have the daguerrotype still, +and would not part with it for the wealth of a +Midas. Lowell was pretty well played out, poor +fellow! but he did not make any complaint. When +he reached St. Louis, however, he wrote me a +pathetic letter, full of scholarly reference and +classical allusion. ‘I am as sore,’ said he, ‘as if I +had engaged with the Pythian monster, or had +been drawn on the Procrustean bed: not a muscle +in all my anatomy that does not ache, nor a joint +that is not as stiff as the senile Anchises. What +Simothean balm is there for me, and where is there +a Mnestheus to restore me? I am, in short, reduced +to such a condition that neither Pisistratus +nor the afflicted son of Ægeus would envy me; and +I have changed the subject of my St. Louis lecture +from that of ‘Italian Literature’ to that of ‘The +Fall of Ilium.’”’</p> + +<p class='c006'>When Col. Lowell lectured on “The American +Richard of Politics III.,” in this city last month, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>Col. Rublee came down from Milwaukee to renew +acquaintance with him. They got together one +evening in Col. Wirt Dexter’s back parlor, and +talked about the old Grecian and Latin poets until +daylight. Neither gentleman could sing as well +as he used to; but in his travels abroad, Col. Lowell +had picked up a number of jocose Horatian odes +and mirthful classic stories, which he recited with +exceeding zest; and Col. Rublee kept up his end +of the conversation by narrating the many humorous +tales and sketches he had heard at Madison +during the sessions of the Wisconsin Legislature,—all +which Col. Lowell enjoyed mightily, and made +memoranda of, that he might repeat them to his +family physician, a Dr. Holmes, whom he credited +with being a fellow of hearty appreciation and +keen wit.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>The</span> Chicago Literary Club is still feeling very +unkindly toward Col. James Russell Lowell because +that eminent Bostonian declined to visit the +club during his sojourn in Chicago. Every preparation +had been made to give the poet a cordial +welcome; and several of the most eloquent members +had prepared speeches abounding in quotations +from the old Greek, Latin, and Hindoo poets, +and full of that classic allusion and mythological +lore so pleasing to Col. Lowell’s cultured taste. +One of the most scholarly members had written an +essay on “The Pork Industry in Ancient Athens,” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>and another had prepared a poem, “Dante:” in +short, Col. Lowell would have been astonished at +the learning and the culture that would have manifested +themselves had he but accepted the club’s +invitation. It is said that Col. Lowell took an +unjust prejudice against the club, because, having +met and having engaged in conversation with one +of the members thereof, he was shocked to hear +him say that he had always supposed that Sappho +was a kind of tooth-paste. But, be this as it may, +the club is hostile to Col. Lowell now; and upon +the colonel’s picture in the club-room, some sarcastic +linseed-oil <i>littérateur</i> has scribbled the following +venomous quotation from an ancient satire:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Oh! when I think of what I am,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And what I used to was,</div> + <div class='line'>I think I gave myself away</div> + <div class='line in4'>Without sufficient cause.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Col. James Russell Lowell</span> tells the story +that one of the gentlemen he met in Chicago had +a great deal to say of his travels in Europe. Col. +Lowell remarked that he greatly enjoyed the +French literature, and that George Sand was one +of his favorite authors.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, yes!” exclaimed the Chicago gentleman: +“I have had many a happy hour with Sand.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You knew George Sand, then?” asked Col. +Lowell, with an expression of surprise.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>“Knew him? Well, I should rather say I did,” +cried the Chicago man; and then he added as a +clincher, “I roomed with him when I was in +Paris.”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>It</span> is understood that the private dinners given +to Mr. Lowell during his stay here have called for +an expenditure of not less than forty thousand +dollars. Yet there are carping critics who say +that Chicago is not a great literary centre.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Elder’s Fright.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“No words can express the agony of mind I +suffered for six hours yesterday,” said Mr. A. P. +T. Elder, publisher of “Literary Life.” “I would +not for untold millions go through the ordeal +again. I had come down to my palatial office, and +was sitting in a rosewood rocker, with my patent-leather +boots resting gracefully on the cherry desk +before me, when my private secretary (who had +been setting type, and sweeping out the office) +brought me my morning paper. I noticed that his +face looked pale; but it did not startle me, for I +recollected that he sometimes washed it. But +when my eye—in fact, my two eyes—fell upon +the paper, my printer’s—no, I mean my secretary’s—pallor +was explained. With my blood +freezing in my veins, I read that Miss Cleveland’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>house at Holland Patent had been attacked by +flames, and had well-nigh fallen prey to the devouring +element. Then I remembered that I had +forwarded to Miss Cleveland a large bulk of manuscript,—poems, +essays, criticisms, advertisements, +and other contributions to our magazine,—and I +shrieked with horror when it occurred to me that +this treasure might have been destroyed by the +fire-fiend. More dead than alive, I hastened to +the telegraph-office, and sent a despatch to Miss +Cleveland, begging her to advise me at once +whether that precious hoard was safe, or had been +wrested from immortality by the demon of the +flames. For six hours I received no answer, and +during that time I suffered the most exquisite +tortures.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘What will the world say,’ I asked myself, +‘when it learns that it has lost these inestimable +intellectual boons? Will not posterity hold me up +to eternal scorn for having jeoparded the literary +welfare of this country, by consigning to careless +hands the product of Western genius? If this +wealth of literature, this cream of poesy, and this +flower of prose, be destroyed, how will I be able to +bear up under the lamentations of a continent that +awaits, with feverish expectations and anxious +heart-throbbings, the October number of “Literary +Life”?’</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Crucifying my soul with these agonizing interrogations, +I survived, rather than lived, the six +<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>hours that elapsed between the sending of my +telegram and the receipt of an answer. I tore +open the telegram that came at last, and read its +welcome tidings as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class='c006'>“‘<i>To A. P. T. Elder, Chicago Patent, Ill.</i>—Nothing +burned except the back-stoop and the rear-eaves.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘R. E. C.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</blockquote> + +<p class='c006'>“I have been receiving congratulatory telegrams +all day from such literary men as George Sand, +George Eliot, Charles Egbert Haddock, and Oliver +Wendell Holmes, author of Holmes’s ‘Iliad:’ I +also hold in my hand at this moment a kind telegram +from Messrs. Laflin & Rand, publishers of +the ‘New-York Powder Magazine.’ But nothing +has recompensed me for the suffering I endured +during those six hours of waiting. It was a narrow +escape, and I hope the literary world will +appreciate it as well as the torture I experienced +in its behalf.”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Professor Elbridge G. Smith</span>, instructor in +English literature, and professor of elocution, honored +us with a call yesterday for the purpose of +pointing out what he called “a remarkable error, +or series of errors,” we made yesterday. He +referred to that part of our interview with Mr. +A. P. T. Elder, the scholarly editor of “Literary +Life,” wherein George Sand, George Eliot, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>Charles Egbert Haddock are spoken of as literary +men; and wherein, furthermore, Dr. Oliver Wendell +Holmes is said to be the author of Holmes’s +“Iliad.” Professor Smith assures us that Sand, +Eliot, and Craddock were not men at all, but +women; the first two being now deceased, and the +third having taken up her permanent abode in a +St. Louis suburb. “As for Holmes,” said the professor, +“he may have translated the ‘Iliad,’ but +he certainly did not compose it; the author of that +majestic epic having lived so many centuries ago, +that the exact time is not known.” We referred +these corrections to Mr. Elder, and asked him +what he meant by filling our valuable space with +blundering statements that were likely to hold us +up to the scorn and the derision of society. He +declared most solemnly that he had never had so +base a purpose in view; and he expressed deep +regret that he had left the telegrams from George +Sand, George Eliot, and Mr. Craddock in the +pocket of his other coat at home.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But how came you,” we asked, “to say that +Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the ‘Iliad’?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, didn’t he write it?” inquired Mr. Elder.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, sir,” we thundered, for we were deeply +mortified. “Homer wrote it.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, that’s it—that’s the name,” cried Mr. +Elder: “I acknowledge the mistake. Homer was +the name I meant: <i>he</i> was the feller who sent me +the telegram.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Ethel’s Christmas Tale.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='c002'></div> +<blockquote> +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Chicago, Ill.</span>, Dec. 2.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><i>To the Editor.</i>—My little daughter Ethel, who is only +eleven years old, has written a Christmas story, which I send +to you, in the hope that you will recognize in it some indication +of latent literary and imaginative talent.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yours truly,</div> + <div class='line in16'>H. G. B.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</blockquote> + +<h3 class='c016'>A CHRISTMAS STORY.</h3> + +<p class='c017'>It was a sad sight to see Mrs. Jamison and her +little family gathered about the fire one Christmas +Eve, for she had been a widow for twenty years. +Yes, twenty years before had Mr. Jamison, her +husband, set sail on a ship for a foreign land, and +nevermore had been heard of. The snow was falling +fast, and the wind was howling without.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Alas!” Mrs. Jamison said, as she pressed her +hungry babe to her bosom: “I fear we shall have +no turkey to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why not, mother?” asked Robin, a bright lad +of fourteen.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Listen,” said Mrs. Jamison. “I have only +thirty cents left. To-day I pawned my jewels, +and thus we are cast upon the mercy of the cold +world.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mrs. Jamison wept bitterly, and so did the +children.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, if Henry were only here!” moaned Mrs. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>Jamison. Henry was Mr. Jamison’s name before +he was lost at sea, never, never to return. By and +by Mrs. Jamison said, “Put on your fur cape, +Lucy, and take this thirty cents, and go down to +the grocery-store, and buy one dozen eggs. It is +all the money I have; but the eggs will allay our +hunger, and keep the wolf from the door another +day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So Lucy, who was a beautiful girl of fifteen, put +on her fur cape; and Robin went with her. Having +bought the eggs, each of them took an apple +when Mr. Sinclair, the kind-hearted grocer, was +not looking; and with joyous hearts they rode +home in the street-car. While Lucy was eating +her apple, she put the bag of eggs on the seat; and +suddenly a big man entered the car, and sat down +on the bag. Then Lucy began to cry, and Robin too.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Children,” said the big man in kind tones, +“why do you weep?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Alas!” said Lucy: “you have sat on our bag +of eggs.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Never mind the eggs,” said the man. “But, +tell me, have I not heard that voice before, and +have I not seen those features? Is your name +Lucy Jamison?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, sir,” said Lucy.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Then look upon me, child,” cried the man, +“and tell me if you do not know me. Has time +and sorrow changed me so that my children do not +know me?”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>“Father, father!” cried Lucy, throwing herself +into her father’s arms.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was indeed Mr. Jamison. He had been +wrecked on a lone island for twenty years; but a +passing ship picked him up, and brought him home. +He was very rich; and, oh, what a happy meeting +it was for Mrs. Jamison and the children! They +had turkey for dinner, and cranberries, and lived in +peace all the rest of their lives.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Chicago Weather.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>To-day, fair Thisbe—winsome girl!—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Strays o’er the meads where daisies blow,</div> + <div class='line'>Or, ling’ring where the brooklets purl,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Laves in the cool, refreshing flow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>To-morrow, Thisbe, with a host</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of amorous suitors in her train,</div> + <div class='line'>Comes like a goddess forth to coast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or skate upon the frozen main.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>To-day, sweet posies mark her track,</div> + <div class='line in2'>While birds sing gayly in the trees:</div> + <div class='line'>To-morrow morn, her sealskin sack</div> + <div class='line in2'>Defies the piping polar breeze.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So Doris is to-day enthused</div> + <div class='line in2'>By Thisbe’s soft, responsive sighs,</div> + <div class='line'>And on the morrow is confused</div> + <div class='line in2'>By Thisbe’s cold, repellent eyes.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Chicago Christmas Legend.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Gabriel Barton was an editor. After years +of patient toil and continuous self-denial he had +succeeded in amassing as large a competency of +boys and girls as you could expect to find in a +monogamic community.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Yet Gabriel was not content. Instead of being +thankful for the blessings with which his family-board +was surrounded three times a day, he pined +for other boons which he did not possess. He +yearned ever for gold,—that insidious canker that +gnaws the soul beyond reparation, and leaves a +dark, indelible stain on the proudest escutcheons.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Gold—gold! I must have gold!” he cried +incessantly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>His strange demeanor was the occasion of +grievous perplexity to his wife; for Estelle Barton +was a simple, unaffected woman, ill acquainted +with the selfish nature and ways of the cold world.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But why, dear husband,” she asked, “why +clamor for the unattainable? Be satisfied with +what we have; ’tis humble, I know; but so long as +our nine children are in good health, and so long +as the water-tax is not due, we surely shall not +perish of thirst. Would this sordid gold you crave +deepen the color in our darlings’ cheeks, or better +the quality of the nourishment we drink? Prithee, +be content.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>But, alas! Estelle Barton’s wise words weighed +naught with Gabriel. Ceaselessly he yearned for +debasing lucre; and his morbid appetite made him +thin and pale, and brought a faltering into his gait, +and a tremulousness into his voice.</p> + +<p class='c006'>One bitter cold Christmas Eve little Eugenia +Barton, the nine-year-old daughter and the senior +child of the family, asked pleadingly, “Papa, do +you not know what day to-morrow is?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Gazing into the depths of the child’s innocent +blue eyes, Mr. Barton said, “How came you to +know, child, that my note fell due to-morrow?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Nay, papa,” interposed Eugenia, “I did not +know it. But surely you cannot have forgotten! +To-morrow is Christmas—Christmas, papa! the +gladdest, merriest day in all the year!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>A far-off look came into Mr. Barton’s lack-lustre +eyes.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well?” he uttered inquiringly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Tell me, papa,” cried Eugenia, “tell me, will +Santa Claus come this year?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I think I can safely say, that, unless he intends +to break his record, he will not,” replied Mr. +Barton promptly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Alas!” sighed Eugenia; and with this she +hung her beautiful golden head.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. Barton regretted that he had cast a gloom +over the child’s hopes. He sought to explain his +seeming harshness.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why <i>should</i> Santa Claus come?” he asked +<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>bitterly. “Haven’t the neighbors got through +lending us what we need? Where, in all this +great but heartless city, can we expect to borrow +any thing to hang up?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“True,” said Eugenia: “I had not thought of +that. Forgive me, dear papa, if, in my puerile +heedlessness, I have caused you pain!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>That night Eugenia sobbed herself to sleep on +the sofa with a volume of old files tucked around +her shivering form. How long she slept, we will +not presume to say. But the golden sunbeams of +the early Christmas morn were dancing through +the window-frames, and floating o’er the hardwood +floor, when she awoke. A man stood before her,—a +man clad in habiliments of fur. Eugenia +uttered a cry of joy.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Santa Claus!” she cried.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The man smiled pleasantly with that part of his +personality that was exposed to the rigorous temperature +of the editor’s home.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“O Santa Claus!” said Eugenia, “I knew you +would come: we’ve been waiting for you year after +year until the rest had given you up, but I—<i>I +knew</i> you would come!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Again the exposed surface of the fur-clad +stranger wrinkled into a smile.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Thank you for coming,” continued Eugenia. +“I knew that my faith in you would be rewarded. +So tell me, dear Santa Claus, what gifts—what +wealth of beauteous things—have you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>brought to pour out into our grateful laps at +last?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The strange, fur-clad figure stood still a moment, +as if dazed; then drew a bit of coin from the mysterious +depths of his shaggy robe, and tossed it to +the anxious child.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“There’s a nickel for you, little un,” he said; and +his tones betokened a kindly heart. “But, bless +you, I’m not Santa Claus: I’m the constable!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Plea for the Classics.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A Boston gentleman declares</div> + <div class='line in2'>By all the gods, above, below,</div> + <div class='line'>That our degenerate sons and heirs</div> + <div class='line in2'>Must let their Greek and Latin go!</div> + <div class='line'>Forbid, O Fate! we loud implore,</div> + <div class='line in2'>A dispensation harsh as that—</div> + <div class='line'>What! wipe away the sweets of yore—</div> + <div class='line in2'>The dear “<i>Amo, amas, amat</i>”?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The sweetest hour the student knows,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Is not while poring over French,</div> + <div class='line'>Or when, in harsh Teutonic throes,</div> + <div class='line in2'>He writhes upon collegiate bench:</div> + <div class='line'>’Tis when on roots and <i>kais</i> and <i>gars</i></div> + <div class='line in2'>He feeds his soul, and feels it glow,</div> + <div class='line'>Or when his mind transcends the stars</div> + <div class='line in2'>With “<i>Zoa mou, sas agapo!</i>”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So give our bright, ambitious boys</div> + <div class='line in2'>An inkling of these pleasures too—</div> + <div class='line'>A little smattering of the joys</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their old but knowing fathers knew;</div> + <div class='line'>And let them sing—whilst glorying that</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their sires so sang, long years ago—</div> + <div class='line'>The songs “<i>Amo, amas, amat</i>,”</div> + <div class='line in2'>And “<i>Zoa mou, sas agapo!</i>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mlle. Prud’homme’s Book.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='c002'></div> +<blockquote> +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Washington, D.C.</span>, Mai 3.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><span lang="fr"><i>M. le Redacteur</i>,—D’apres votre article dans la New-York +Tribune, copie du Chicago News, je me figure que les habitants +de Chicago ayant grand besoin d’un systeme de prononciation +francaise, je prends la liberte de vous envoyer par +la malle-poste le No. 2 d’un ouvrage que je viens de publier; +si vous desirez les autres numeros, je me ferai un plaisir de +vous les envoyer aussi. Les emballeurs de porc ayant peu +de temps a consacrer a l’etude, vu l’omnipotent dollar, seront +je crois enchantes et reconnaissants d’un systeme par lequel +ils pourront apprendre et comprendre, la langue de la fine +Sara, au bout de trente lecons, si surtout Monsieur le redacteur +vent bien au bout de sa plume spirituelle leur en +indiquer le chemin. Sur ce l’auteur du systeme a bien +l’honneur de le saluer.</span></p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>V. Prud’homme.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</blockquote> + +<p class='c005'>This is a copy of a pleasant letter we have received +from a distinguished Washington lady: we +do not print the accentuations, because the Chicago +patwor admits of none. A literal rendering of the +letter into English is as follows: “From after +your article in ‘The New-York Tribune,’ copied +from ‘The Chicago News,’ I to myself have figured +that the inhabitants of Chicago having great want +of a system of a pronunciation French, I take the +liberty to you to send by the mail-post the number +two of a work which I come from to publish: if +you desire the other numbers, I to myself will make +<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>the pleasure of to you them to send also. The +packers of porkers, having little of time to consecrate +to the study (owing to the omnipotent dollar), +will be, I believe, enchanted and grateful of a +system by the which they may learn and understand +the language of the clever Sara, at the end +of thirty lessons, especially if Mister the editor +will at the end of his pen witty to them thereof +indicate the road. Whereupon the author of the +system has much the honor of him to salute,” etc.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We have not given Mdlle. Prud’homme’s oovray +that conscientious study and that careful research +which we shall devote to it just as soon as the tremendous +spring rush in local literature eases up a +little. The recent opening up of the Straits of +Mackinaw, and the prospect of a new railroad-line +into the very heart of the dialectic region of Indiana, +have given Chicago literature so vast an impetus, +that we find our review-table groaning under +the weight of oovrays that demand our scholarly +consideration. Mdlle. Prud’homme must understand +(for she appears to be exceedingly amiable) +that the oovrays of local <i>littérateurs</i> have to be reviewed +before the oovrays of outside <i>littérateurs</i> +can be taken up. This may seem hard, but it cannot +be helped. Still, we will say that we appreciate, +and are grateful for, the uncommon interest +which Mdlle. Prud’homme seems to take in the +advancement of the French language and French +literature in the midst of us. We have heard +<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>many of our leading <i>savants</i> and scholiasts frequently +express poignant regret that they were +unable to read “La Fem de Fu,” “Mamzel +Zheero Mar Fem,” and other noble old French +classics whose fame has reached this modern +Athens. With the romances of Alexandre Dumas, +our public is thoroughly acquainted, having +seen the talented James O’Neill in Monty Cristo, +and the beautiful and accomplished Grace Hawthorne +(“Only an American Girl”) in Cameel; +yet our more enterprising citizens are keenly aware +that there are other French works worthy of perusal—intensely +interesting works, too, if the steel +engravings therein are to be accepted as a criterion.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We doubt not that Mdlle. Prud’homme is desirous +of doing Chicago a distinct good; and why, +we ask in all seriousness, should this gifted and +amiable French scholar <i>not</i> entertain for Chicago +somewhat more than a friendly spirit, merely? +The first settlers of Chicago were Frenchmen; and, +likely as not, some of Mdlle. Prud’homme’s ancestors +were of the number of those Spartan <i>voyageurs</i> +who first sailed down Chicago River, pitched +their tents on the spot where Kirk’s soap-factory +now stands, and captured and brought into the +refining influences of civilization Long John Wentworth, +who at that remote period was frisking +about on our prairies, a crude, callow boy, only ten +years old, and only seven feet tall. Chicago was +founded by Jean Pierre Renaud, one of the original +<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>two orphans immortalized by Claxton & Halevy’s +play in thirteen acts of the same name. At +that distant date it was any thing but promising; +and its prominent industries were Indians, muskrats, +and scenery. The only crops harvested were +those of malaria, twice per annum,—in October +and in April,—but the yield was sufficient to keep +the community well provided all the year round. +Certain dabblers in etymology have argued that +the name “Chicago” was derived from an Indian +word meaning “a skunk.” There is in the Sioux +dialect, we believe, a word “She-Kag,” literally +meaning Cat-that-Perfumes. Other alleged scholars +insist that the name of our fair city is derived +from the Crow Indian word “Chee-kar-goh,” +meaning “wild onion,” an exotic that is said to +have bloomed hereabouts in the early times. But +this whole matter, which is revived every now and +then to our discredit by envious and ribald writers, +has been set at rest in Howden’s “History of +Illinois,” vol. i. p. 289 (we think Howden is the +name: at any rate, it will serve the purpose of +giving people to understand that we know what +we’re talking about). Howden, who was a conscientious +student, and painstaking historian, asserts +(and we believe him) that the early French +settlers gave to this town the name of Chicago, +and that the name is derived from the two French +words <i>chic</i> and <i>hog</i>, meaning the live (or piquant +or frisky) hog. This, of course, is the literal +<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>meaning; but the subtile idea of old Jean Pierre +Renaud and his fellow-tramps (if so we may term +his distinguished coparceners), was to imply that +Chicago was a living, bustling reality,—a community +made up, if you please, of people now on +earth. Even at that early day the hog was the +national bird of the mighty West; and how proper +it was that the founders of Chicago should couple +indissolubly with the name of this metropolis the +name of that proud animal that has served as the +noble foundation upon which the vast superstructure +of our wealth, our art, and our culture has +been reared. Did their inspired eyes not see in +this sagacious and graceful association what old +Sam Johnson, puttering about at the auction in +Thrale’s brewery, called “the potentiality of acquiring +riches beyond the dreams of avarice”?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Her Genuine Culture.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>There is no longer any doubt that Chicago is +the literary centre of the country. Adam Forepaugh +says so.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I had three times as many people under my +canvas every day last week,” says he, “than I had +in Boston; and I turned away about three thousand +people every night. I know what I am talking +about when I say that for genuine git-up-and-git +culture, Chicago beats the world!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Demand for Condensed Music.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>There is a general belief that the mistake made +by the managers of the symphony concert in +Central Music Hall night before last was in not +opening the concert with Beethoven’s “Eroica,” +instead of making it the last number on the programme. +We incline to the opinion, however, +that, in putting the symphony last, the managers +complied with the very first requirement of dramatic +composition. This requirement is to the +effect that you must not kill all your people off in +the first act.</p> + +<p class='c006'>There doubtless are a small number of worthy +people who enjoy these old symphonies that are +being dragged out of oblivion by glass-eyed Teutons +from Boston. It may argue a very low grade +of intellectuality, spirituality, or whatsoever you +may be pleased to call it; but we must confess in +all candor, that, much as we revere Mr. Beethoven’s +memory, we do not fancy having fifty-five-minute +chunks of his musty opi hurled at us. It is a +marvel to us, that, in these progressive times, such +leaders as Thomas and Gericke do not respond to +the popular demand by providing the public with +symphonies in the nutshell. We have condensations +in every line except music. Even literature +is being boiled down; because in these busy times, +people demand a literature which they can read +<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>while they run. We have condensed milk, condensed +meats, condensed wines,—condensed every +thing but music. What a joyous shout would go +up if Thomas or Gericke would only prepare and +announce</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<i>SYMPHONIES FOR BUSY PEOPLE!</i></div> + <div class='line in4'><i>THE OLD MASTERS EPITOMIZED!</i>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>What Chicago demands, and what every enterprising +and intelligent community needs, is the +highest class of music on the “all-the-news-for-two-cents” +principle. Blanket-sheet concertizing +must go!</p> + +<p class='c006'>Now, here was this concert, night before last. +Two hours and a half to five numbers! Suppose +we figure a little on this subject:—</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr><td class='c018' colspan='2'>EXHIBIT A—SYMPHONY.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'> </td> + <td class='c009'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Total number of minutes</td> + <td class='c009'>150</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Total number of pieces</td> + <td class='c009'>5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Minutes to each piece</td> + <td class='c009'>30</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'> </td> + <td class='c009'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'> </td> + <td class='c009'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c018' colspan='2'>EXHIBIT B—TRADE.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'> </td> + <td class='c009'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Total number of minutes</td> + <td class='c009'>150</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Hog-slaughtering capacity per minute</td> + <td class='c009'>3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Total killing</td> + <td class='c009'>450</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c006'>Figures will not lie, because (as was the reason +with George) they cannot. And figures prove to +us, that, in the time consumed by five symphonic +<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>numbers, the startling number of four hundred +and fifty hogs could be (and are daily) slaughtered, +scraped, disembowelled, hewn, and packed. +While forty or fifty able-bodied musicians are discoursing +Beethoven’s rambling “Eroica,” it were +possible to despatch and to dress a carload of as +fine beeves as ever hailed from Texas; and the +performance of the “Sakuntala” overture might +be regarded as a virtual loss of as much time as +would be required for the beheading, skinning, +and dismembering of two hundred head of sheep.</p> + +<p class='c006'>These comparisons have probably never occurred +to Mr. Thomas or to Mr. Gericke; but they are +urged by the patrons of music in Chicago, and +therefore they must needs be recognized by the +caterers to popular tastes. Chicago society has +been founded upon industry, and the culture +which she now boasts is conserved only by the +strictest attention to business. Nothing is more +criminal hereabouts than a waste of time; and it is +no wonder, then, that the <i>crême de la crême</i> of our +<i>élite</i> lift up their hands, and groan, when they discover +that it takes as long to play a classic symphony +as it does to slaughter a carload of Missouri +razor-backs, or an invoice of prairie-racers from +Kansas.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Opera, Opuses, and Opi.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Gericke, the kappelmeister of the Boston +Symphony Orchestra, called upon us yesterday, +and, with some show of acrimony, asked us what +we meant by calling the symphonies he played +“opi.” He, for his part, insisted that they were +opera, and not opi; and what the poor, misguided +fellow said in defence of his theory indicated very +clearly that his education in music had never been +brought up to the standard of Chicago culture. +There are three kinds of music compositions: they +belong to the one general family of music, yet each +is a distinct class. We divide them into (1) opera, +(2) opuses, and (3) opi. To the first class, or to +the opera, belong such dramatic compositions (set +to light music) as “Evangeline,” “Il Trovatore,” +“Chimes of Normandy,” “Lohengrin,” “Pinafore,” +“Rienzi,” “The Mascot,” and “Tannhauser;” +and the best-known producers of these opera +are Verdi, Ed Rice, Offenbach, Wagner, Sullivan, +Flotow, Gounod, and Edward Solomon. Among +the second class (the opuses) are to be mentioned +the more pretentious and the heavier compositions, +such as “Lucille” and “Zenobia,” and a large +number of other works that have had their origin +in the West, and whose appearance has incited +fears that, perhaps, a <i>renaissance</i> of the old Italian +masters was likely to occur in the midst of us. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>But astrologers assure us that these portents with +which the public is sporadically afflicted signify +simply that music in the Western country is now +passing through its porcine period. As for the +opi, they are the heaviest of all music compositions. +They must be a hundred years old, or they +are not regarded as acceptable. No man can perform +them until he has become addicted to the +spectacles and onion habits, and even then a certain +fineness of expression is said to be lacking +unless to these accomplishments the performer +has added that further accomplishment of enjoying +cheeses that are old enough to vote.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Chicago the Music Centre.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>This is the last week of Mr. Theodore Thomas’s +present concert season in Chicago. After next +Saturday night the Exposition Building will be +relegated to oblivion. Mr. Milward Adams will +skip out for Saratoga, and the Thomas orchestra +will drift Eastward to resume rehearsals for the approaching +American opera season. Mr. Thomas is +deeply gratified with the result of his labors in +Chicago. “There are several music-centres in this +country,” said he last night, “but Chicago is the +grandest of them all. She has responded nobly to +my call, and it is my sweetest hope that she will +ever retain her proud pre-eminence among the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>music-loving cities of the earth. When I came +here six weeks ago, I found the cause languishing +in the midst of you; but the revival of interest in +music set in at once, and I am rejoiced to find my +humble efforts crowned with such glorious fruition. +Two negro-minstrel companies are in full blast at +the leading theatres, and a third will be with you +next week. These are the sweetest rewards a man +in my profession can hope for. Pecuniary profit +is a secondary consideration: it is a mere <i>bagatelle</i> +in the eyes of the true friend of music, when +compared with that calm joy and that ineffable +peace which permeate my bosom when I see that +three negro-minstrel shows are springing into existence +in immediate answer to the demand for higher +music which my work in Chicago has created.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Still Blooming.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Chicago, Ill.</span>, April 28.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><i>To the Editor.</i>—As a gratifying indication that +there is in the midst of us a great and growing +interest in literature, will you please note that +Chicago has a Waverley Temperance Coffee House, +named in honor of the famous Scotch novels of the +same name? I see, too, that Addison’s Livery +Stable and Wordsworth’s Coal and Kindling Yard +are institutions recently established on the West +Side.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yours truly,</div> + <div class='line in6'><span class='sc'>Noctes Ambrosianiæ Phillips</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Offence.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Col. Milward Adams is going to pander to +the refined tastes of the <i>élite</i> of Chicago next +week by giving a series of concerts in his Central +Music Hall. The performers he has engaged as his +tools in this laudable enterprise, are that justly +famed band of peripatetic minstrels known as the +Boston Symphony Orchestra. This organization +consists of sixty-five performers, and it plays only +the most intricate music. A programme of the +three prospective concerts now lies before us; and +from it we learn that the orchestra will interpret +at the first concert the overture of Carl Goldmark’s +“Sakuntala,” Wieniawski’s allegro and +andante for violin, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. +3 (“Eroica”), Op. 55; at the second concert, the +overture of Cherubini’s “Anacreon,” Beethoven’s +first movement for the violin, Bach’s adagio and +gavotte, Saint-Saens’s “Danse Macabre,” and Schumann’s +symphony in B flat, No. 1, Op. 38; at the +third concert, the overture of Weber’s “Freischuetz,” +Mendelssohn’s andante and finale for the +violin, Schubert’s unfinished Symphony No. 8 in +B minor, Brahms’s “Hungarian Dances,” and Wagner’s +vorspiel and liebestod from “Tristan and +Isolde.” A special interest will (or should) attach +to the first concert; for it is for that occasion, +as Mr. George Fair tells us, that Beethoven has +<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>composed the eroica symphony which will then be +given. We do not know what an eroica symphony +is; but in our most cultured circles, it is believed +that eroica is a misprint for erotica. There will be +three soloists (one male and two female) to give +these performances additional <i>éclat</i>. These soloists +are very famous ones. The first is Helene +Hastreiter, the pianiste; the second is Timothee +Adamowski, the renowned Italian lyric tenor; and +the third is Adele Aus der Ohe, the eminent +soprano. Miss Aus der Ohe is a niece of Chris +Von der Ohe, president of the St. Louis Base-ball +Club; and the fact that she is unmarried should +forever set at rest the current rumor that she is +the original Ohe mamma. It will be a great treat +to hear this brilliant vocalist, and our public is +indebted to Col. Adams for billing a number of +Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words” for the +gifted young song-bird’s rendition. Mme. Hastreiter +has never before been in Chicago; but her +fame has preceded her, and it is with intense enthusiasm +that we await the renowned pianiste’s +<i>début</i> in this great music-centre. As for Sig. +Adamowski, he is said to be one of the most promising +robustos on the lyric stage. His real name +is Timothy Adams, and he is a first cousin to our +own Milward Adams; but having been born and +reared in Petersburg, Hampden County, Mass., he +preferred to adopt a Russian name for professional +uses.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>We shall be surprised and pained if these symphony +concerts are not largely attended. Three +weeks of Professor Silas G. Pratt’s “Lucille” has +elevated and refined Chicago’s music-taste to a +degree—we will not specify the degree, but we +think that it is high enough to render an appreciation +of the symphony concerts a probability.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Lament.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The wold is drear, and the sedge is sere,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And gray is the autumn sky,</div> + <div class='line'>And sorrows roll through my riven soul</div> + <div class='line in2'>As lonely I sit and sigh</div> + <div class='line in8'>“Good-by”</div> + <div class='line in2'>To the goose-birds as they fly.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>With his weird wishbone to the temperate zone</div> + <div class='line in2'>Came the goose-bird in the spring;</div> + <div class='line'>And he built his nest in the glorious west,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And sat on a snag to sing—</div> + <div class='line in8'>Sweet thing!—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or flap his beautiful wing.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But the boom of the blast has come at last</div> + <div class='line in2'>To the goose-bird on the lea;</div> + <div class='line'>And the succulent thing, with shivering wing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Flies down to a southern sea—</div> + <div class='line in8'>Ah me,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That such separation should be!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But it’s always so in this world of woe:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The things that gladden our eye</div> + <div class='line'>Are the surest to go to the bugs; and so</div> + <div class='line in2'>We can only wearily sigh</div> + <div class='line in8'>“Good-by”</div> + <div class='line in2'>To the goose-birds as they fly.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Apology.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Col. Milward Adams tells us that we got +things terribly mixed in our notice of his symphony +concerts yesterday morning. He complains +that the whole business was wrong; but this was +not our fault, but the fault of Col. Adams’s lieutenant, +George Fair, who gave us the written notes +upon which we based our article. Of course, it +pains us deeply to learn that we have misrepresented +the colonel’s entertainments, and we hasten +to square ourselves upon the record. In the first +place, therefore, it appears that Miss Helene +Hastreiter is not a piano-player, but a native German +vocalist from Louisville, Ky. She was the +prima donna of the American Opera Company for +a long time; but when Mapleson severed his connection +with the organization, she, too, renounced +her allegiance thereto, and went into the concert +profession. She is an extraordinarily beautiful +woman, and the critics agree that her voice is a +soprano of the first water. So far from being a +lyric tenor, and a native of Massachusetts, M. +Timothee Adamowski is a Russian booyar and a +piano-forte player of unbridled ferocity and tremendous +learning. His name is pronounced Taymotay, +with the accent (a la Frongsay) on the ult, +the penult, and the ante-penult. Col. Adams was +particular in giving us this seemingly trifling +<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>detail, because, he said, cultured circles would +appreciate the art of a Taymotay more keenly +than that of a Timothy. This M. Adamowski +was born under the shadow of the Kremlin, in +Moscow; and he studied music with Tschktsckffky, +the old master whose fugues, symphonies, and +other opi in B minor are unequalled in the gamut +of intricate composition. Our connoisseurs will +be glad to learn that in all his concerts M. +Adamowski has none but the sign of Spiegelbaum +Bros. displayed on the piano-forte he uses. This is +another little detail that always adds to the charm +of a refined music entertainment.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A German Personal.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>In our valued exchange, the “Baden-Baden Freie +Blatter” of Aug. 16, we find a pleasant reference +to Col. Henry Watterson, the distinguished editor +of “The Louisville Courier-Journal.” “On the last +night,” says the “Freie Blatter,” “to the springs +down a man came which was the great statesman +from America, and the journalist, Herr Heinrich +Watterson. ‘Let me to see the springs,’ said he +to the keeper from the place. Then being shown +to her, Herr Watterson cried out, ‘She is the most +beautiful springs which I have set eyes on already. +Will you let me to have some from the water on +the side?’”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Col. Aldrich’s “Last Cæsar”</i> (<i>1</i>).</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Professor W. Thackeray Wilkerson, the +well-known <i>littérateur</i> and dentist of the West Side, +calls our attention to a poem that is printed in the +current number of “The Atlantic Monthly.” For +the information of our public we will say that “The +Atlantic Monthly” is a magazine published in +Boston, being to that intelligent and refined community +what “The Literary Life” was to Chicago +culture before a fourth-ward constable achieved +its downfall with a writ of replevin. “The Atlantic +Monthly” is to the <i>élite</i> of the East what +“The Century” is to the hoi polloi or the kayneel +or the protalyrats. The poem in question is entitled +“The Last Cæsar;” and it is from the pen +of Col. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, the editor of “The +Atlantic.” Professor Wilkerson tells us that Col. +Aldrich belongs to the same literary clique as +Col. J. Russell Lowell, emeritus professor in the +Chicago school of Shakespearian politics, and Dr. +O. Wendell Holmes, author of numerous T. B. +Peterson novels, and composer of the famous +Greek poem entitled “The Iliad.” So it is to +be taken for granted that Col. Aldrich is a very +cultured and very affable gentleman; although, +so far as we can learn, he has never done any +thing for Chicago.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I am very much surprised,” says Professor +<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>Wilkerson, “that none of the critics has pounced +upon this Aldrich poem; for it is as bold a piece +of error as I ever met with in the whole course +of my existence. The poet claims to treat of +one of the Cæsars: yet it is clear that the subject +of his verses is Louis Napoleon, the late ex-emperor +of the French; in fact, right under the +title of his poem, Aldrich has put the figures +1851-1870, with the intention of giving people to +understand thereby that the period of time between +these dates is the era, or epoch,—or whatever +you please,—of which he sings.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>This certainly would appear to be as clear as +logic.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Now,” continues Professor Wilkerson, “there +is none so lost in the Egyptian darkness of ignorance +as to be unaware of the fact that the last +of the Cæsars died very many centuries before +1851. This is a historical matter that is determined +in text-books used in our public schools; +and if anybody has any doubts on the subject, let +him refer to the ‘Lives of the Twelve Cæsars,’ +a series of biographies second only in thrilling +reliability and positive interest to A. T. Andreas +& Co.’s ‘Lives of Prominent Chicagoans’ (half-calf, +$14 net).”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The professor then told us that the author of +this biography (not the half-calf one) was a Latin +gentleman, whose name was Sweetonius. This +Sweetonius seems to have been an Elijah M. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>Haines sort of fellow: he lived not for the Is, nor +for the To Be, but for the Was. He had a morbid +passion for prowling around in rusty old +ruins, and for delving into old bureau-drawers, +after family manuscripts and private letters: +another of his penchants, too, was for sitting +around in corners, and listening to scandals and +legends about the ancients; and, upon his return to +his lodgings, he would make memoranda of the +same for elaboration at some future date. On the +whole, he appears to have been a kind of premature +Poggio, rather than a Haines; for, while our +Haines is content with the proper historical literature +of the meek and lowly Indian, this man Sweetonius +had an appetite for nothing short of the most +flagrant scandals of royalty. In after-years this +lamentable penchant broke out in Kenelm Digby, +old Pepys, G. Y. M. Reynolds, and Mrs. Harriet +Beecher Stowe.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“In his poem,” says Professor Wilkerson, “the +misguided editor of ‘The Atlantic’ shows a better +acquaintance with Paris than with Roman history. +He speaks of the Eleezy (sometimes called +the Shongzy Leezy), the day zonvyleeds, the +Sane, the Tweelyrees, and the Plas de la Concord. +Surprisingly enough, he says nothing +about the basteel, nor the boorse, nor the zhardan +maybeel, nor the Pier la Shays, nor the loover—and, +what is still more preposterous, he has the +effrontery to write about an alleged Cæsar without +<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>even alluding to the Latin quarter! Now, +flippancy is something that people will not tolerate +in poetry: the people of Chicago, at least, +will not read with any patience a narrative that +takes a Roman monarch all the way to Paris for +no other purpose, we will say, than that of satisfying +the whim of an erratic Boston poet. +What if our own poet, Irving J. Higgins, had +tried to play a trick of this kind when he composed +the great lyric which he read at the unveiling +of the corner-stone of the Fairbanks Lard +Refinery? What if, instead of speaking of Apollo +as the ‘smiling god of Belvidere, Ill.,’ he had +located him in Indiana, or some other heathen +community? What if he had assigned Mercury +to one of the suburban packing-houses instead of +to Dale’s drug-store? Would the Chicago public +have stood it?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But is there not a certain amount of freedom +which is allowed to every poet?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“There exists in the minds of the vulgar,” said +Professor Wilkerson, “a base idea that a poet has +license to prance around about as he pleases; but +true culture accords the poet no such license. +There was a time when poets could commit every +sort of—of anarchism—I mean anacreonism—and +yet be regarded as poets. That time has +passed: its end came when Chicago’s output of +pork swept the last prop from under the old Elizabethan +school at Cincinnati. Under the new dispensation, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>poets are compelled to observe certain +rigid rules; and nowadays none can drive his +Pegasus without a snaffle.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“His Pegasus?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That is metaphor. Pegasus is a mythological +horse which every poet mounts when he engages +in composition. Riding this horse Pegasus is +called ‘soaring to empyrean realms,’ or ‘achieving +Parnassan heights.’ Parnassus was a mountain in +Thessaly near the Attic salt-mines: it has been +immortalized by N. P. Willis in his poem of ‘Parnassus +and the Captive.’ The trouble with Col. +Aldrich’s poem is, that Col. Aldrich mounted his +Pegasus in Italy in the second century, and immediately +let it gallop away with him over into +France and the nineteenth century. Boston critics +may wink at this sort of thing, but we of the +West are too precise to abide it. We discussed +this matter at the monthly meeting of the West-Side +Dante Club last Thursday night, and we +adopted a resolution expressing a lack of confidence +in Col. Aldrich and Boston. The only man +who voted against the resolution was a young poet +named Algernon Remorse; and he opposed the +resolution, because, as he said, he had just sent +‘The Atlantic Monthly’ a poem on ‘The Last +Faro; or, The Result of a Spring Election in Chicago.’ +Algernon explained that he hoped to have +his poem accepted, as he needed the money to buy +a railroad ticket to Omaha.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Col. Aldrich’s “Last Cæsar”</i> (<i>2</i>).</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Professor Wilkerson’s critique upon Col. +Thomas B. Aldrich’s “Last Cæsar” appears to have +provoked a great deal of criticism in local literary +circles, and to this criticism our distinguished +dramatic managers have contributed not a little. +It is seldom that we pay attention to the critiques +upon critiques appearing in our columns; but +when gentlemen of wealth and culture take exception +to matter printed in this paper, we very properly +suffer their objections to be heard. Our +respected fellow-townsman, Col. J. H. McVicker, +the veteran theatre manager, and the oldest “first +grave-digger” now on earth, complains that Professor +Wilkerson, so far from correcting the error +into which the poet Aldrich has fallen, involves +himself in follies more labyrinthian than the Boston +poet’s.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It is my lot (whether good or evil, I will not +say) to be personally acquainted with the last +Cæsar,” so Col. McVicker remarked yesterday. +“When I say the last Cæsar, I mean the Cæsar who +last appeared in Chicago; and certainly neither +Col. Aldrich’s Cæsar nor Professor Wilkerson’s +has been visible in the flesh since the fall of 1885. +It was at that time that the Cæsar of whom I speak +appeared upon the stage of my theatre under the +auspices of Lawrence Barrett. It was on a Thursday: +<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>the previous Monday, Barrett had come to +me, and had said, ‘Can you get me a Cæsar for +Thursday night? Southburn, who usually takes +the part, is down with a boil on his neck; and, +unless I can find a substitute, we will have to +change the bill.’ I told Larry that I hated to disappoint +the public, and that I would find a Cæsar, +or die in the attempt. Well, I found one; and I +will venture to say that if he was not the last +Cæsar, he ought to have been. His name (I find +upon consulting my old play-bills) was Terence +O’Toole. Previously he had carried a banner in +one of Kiralfy’s spectacles, and had led in the horse +in the second act of ‘The Black Hussar’ at the +Columbia Theatre. My stage-manager, Louis +Sharpe, told me that he had known Terence for +several years, having become acquainted with him +when he was running the elevator at the Tremont +House, and he said he had made up his mind, then, +that Terence was a rising young man. Louis is a +humorist, you know; but I never suspected that +he would take an advantage of me.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. McVicker then proceeded to tell of the +ovation of which Mr. O’Toole was the recipient +when he made his <i>début</i> that Thursday night as +Cæsar; but, inasmuch as this performance was +criticised in our columns at that time by a professional +hired for that purpose, far be it from us to +supplement that criticism with any remarks now. +But we will confirm Col. McVicker’s assertion +<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>that Mr. O’Toole’s was the last Cæsar seen upon +the Chicago stage.</p> + +<div class='figright id003'> +<img src='images/i_165.jpg' alt='A black-and-white ink illustration of a bearded man in profile facing left, dressed in a short, pleated classical Greek tunic with a geometric Greek key pattern along the hem.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Professor Samuel Kayzer, manager of the Chicago +Conservatory of Acting, calls our attention +to an interesting matter—in fact, it is so interesting +that we would fain lay it before the public. +The professor is an accomplished linguist, and he +speaks living and dead languages +with equal fluency. +He says that in the European +colleges and universities +this word “Cæsar” is +pronounced “Kayzer,” and +that it is the word from +which the Teutonic word +“kaiser,” and the Russian +“czar,” or “tsar,” are derived. +This pronunciation +(viz., Kayzer) has been accepted, +and is taught, in Harvard and in Yale, +and in numerous other fashionable institutions +having in view the preparation of our youth for +the solemn duty of spending their fathers’ estates. +The State University of Missouri, and Knox College +at Galesburg, Ill., are the only prominent educational +institutions in the country where young +men and women are taught to pronounce “Cæsar” +as if it were spelt “Seezur” instead of “Kayzer.” +The preponderance of fashion and wealth is largely +in favor of “Kayzer.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>“Of course,” said the professor, “I make no +boast that Col. Aldrich had me in his mind’s eye +when he wrote that poem. He has never met me, +nor is it likely that he has ever heard of me; although, +now that this question is being agitated, I +shall mail him a prospectus of my conservatory, +and a programme of our recent engagement at +McVicker’s theatre. Still, you will discover, if +you but refer to the city directory, that I am the +only Kayzer in Chicago: therefore, it follows, consecutively +and logically enough, that, to whomsoever +Col. Aldrich’s poem may refer, I am indeed +the last Kayzer.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Our distinguished friend, Col. William F. Poole, +city librarian, and author of the famous “Index of +Salem Witches, with Copious Notes,” tells us that +the Sweetonius to whom Professor Wilkerson refers, +is a very unreliable historian, and that, although +his book is given in the catalogue of the +public library, it is not issued to any reader who +does not produce a certificate that he has arrived +at years of discretion, and is a member of some +church in good standing. Col. Poole says that he +has not read the Aldrich poem, but, for all that, +he stands ready to indorse any thing that Aldrich +has written, or will write. Col. Poole is a great +admirer of Eastern <i>littérateurs</i>. He comes by this +strange infatuation very naturally; for he himself +was born and reared in Massachusetts, and would +never have come West but for his o’erweening lust +<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>for gold. He says that he knew Aldrich when +Aldrich was a boy; that he used to find Aldrich +playing marbles on Boston Common, and that, +noting the precocity of the lad, he sought to woo +him from his childish sports, and incline his tender +mind to nobler pursuits. Many a time, Col. Poole +says, he has taken the boy Aldrich upon his lap, +and there, under the shade of the gingko-tree, and +within a stone’s-throw of the frog-pond, has he +recited to the intent child legends and tales of the +Salem witches, the Roxbury flubdubs, the Chelsea +hobgoblins, and other suburban supernaturals, calculated +to insure to a nervous child a refreshing +night’s repose. Of course, that was a good many +years ago; yet Col. Poole claims the credit of having +inculcated into the child those tastes and inclinations +upon which the imposing superstructure +of Aldrich’s noble poesy has been reared.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>New</span> literature just received: “The Dial,” “The +Grocer’s Criterion,” “The Hide and Leather Journal,” +“The Packer’s Monthly Garland,” “The +South Water Street Review,” “The Hyde Park +Herald,” “The Elite News,” “The Blue Island +Voice and Optic,” “The Tanner’s Guide,” “The +South Chicago Bouquet of Friendship,” “The +Shingle and Clapboard Review,” and “The Wheat +and Grain Journal.” For sale at all book-stores.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Miss Bayle’s Romance.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. send us a circular +announcing that they are upon the eve of publishing +a volume entitled “Miss Bayle’s Romance,” +the same recounting the exploits of “a Miss Bayle +and her family—all of Chicago—among the effete +aristocracy of the Old World.” When Eastern publishers +say “the Old World,” they mean Europe; +although there are reasons for suspecting, that, in +point of fact, Europe is no older than any other +part of the globe. “This novel,” the circular continues, +“which is reported to be the work of <i>a +hand well known in literature</i>, has been considered +important enough to be the subject of some cablegrams +to the press.” Now, if “Miss Bayle’s Romance” +were the work of a Chicago <i>littérateur</i>, we +would not be in any harrowing doubt as to the +authorship. Chicago <i>littérateurs</i> deal in a refreshingly +candid and open-handed way: in all our +voluminous city directory, there is no person (male +or female) of the name of Anon. “A hand well +known in literature” is an ambiguous phrase,—that +is to say, it is ambiguous in the national, +broad sense; but here in Chicago, “a hand well +known in literature” is the horny, warty, but +honest hand, which, after years of patient toil at +skinning cattle, or at boiling lard, or at cleaning +pork, has amassed a competence sufficient to admit +<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>of its master’s triumphant reception into the <i>crême +de la crême</i> of Chicago culture. We fancy that +this “Miss Bayle” is a myth, and that her “romance” +is simply the invention of some envenomed +Eastern scribbler who has become tainted with the +leprosy of Eastern culture, which envies Chicago +her output of pork, beef, wheat, lard, and other +fruits of a refined civilization.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>Col. Alva Eugene Davis</span>, the handsome and +talented proprietor of “The Current,” says that +the Eastern <i>littérateurs</i> are a very snobbish set. He +called on the business editor of “The Century” +magazine while he was in New York, and had +some trouble in identifying himself. “The Current,” +“The Current,” repeated “The Century” +business-manager with a puzzled expression on his +literary countenance. “Really, I cannot locate that +paper—pray tell me where is it published?” Of +course Col. Davis got as hot as a cooking-stove right +away. “Well, if you don’t know where ‘The Current’ +is published, you must be a —— of a <i>littérateur</i>,” +said he; and then he added, “And you +must be a d——d queer sort of a business-manager +too, for you’ve been advertising in ‘The Current’ +for the last two years.” “The Century” man +thought this was such a good joke, that he took +Col. Davis up into the editorial department, and +introduced him to the young reporters who write +the war reminiscences.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Humorist’s Courtship.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The venerable Phocion Howard, who probably +knows more about Illinois and her people than any +other human being does, claims to have been the +discoverer of Robert J. Burdette, the humorist +whose reputation is now world-wide. Col. Howard +was editor of a small paper at Peoria when he became +acquainted with Burdette. The latter was +then a very young man, and he enjoyed the name +of being as wild and as harum-scarum a fellow +as ever woke up a sleepy community. But Col. +Howard saw something more than the mere mischief +in the boy; and, calling him into the office +one day, he gave him a long talk, and wound up by +asking him to go to work on the paper. This was +Burdette’s start in literary work. On one of the +bluffs back of Peoria lived an old justice of the +peace,—sturdy and grim,—who had a bright and +pretty daughter. With this daughter, Burdette +fell in love; and great was his rapture when he +learned, in time, that his affection was reciprocated +by the young lady. But the sturdy squire guarded +his daughter with an austere and jealous eye, and +vast was his rage when he beheld the young reporter +swinging on the front-gate at least three +evenings per week. The squire saw no good in +the boy; and at last he declared in good round +terms that the boy must keep away from that particular +<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>house on the bluff, else perchance the coroner +might be called to sit on the mangled remains +of a promising journalist that had been cut off in +the flower of his youth. This pronunciamento, +which would seem to have been emphasized by the +important fact that the choleric squire kept a gun +swung up on his cottage-wall, and well filled with +formidable slugs—this pronunciamento, we say, +inspired in the bosoms of the daughter and her +lover the most grievous emotions; and it was not +long ere they mutually declared that an heroic step +must be taken toward abating the poignant anguish +which the squire’s harsh declaration imposed. +Therefore the two met one afternoon, and, proceeding +unostentatiously to another justice of the peace, +were married in less time than you could say a +<i>paternoster</i>. This, however, they recognized as +only the beginning of the struggle by which the +Gordian knot was to be untied or cut; but Burdette’s +ingenuity and valor were equal to the rest +of the task. He stepped into the post-office, and +said to one of his friends there employed, “Charlie, +I want to go hunting this afternoon: will you lend +me your gun?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Certainly,” replied his friend; and he handed +out as fine a double-barrelled breech-loader as ever +you clapped eyes on.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Is it loaded?” inquired Burdette.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes,” said the friend.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What kind of shot?” asked Burdette.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>“Duck-shot,” replied the friend.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, I guess that’ll do,” said Burdette. “I’ll +stop in as I go down the street, and get some more +ammunition of the same kind.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So, with the gun on his shoulder, and a smile on +his face, Burdette rejoined his bride on the street +outside. Arm in arm the two toiled up the bluff +toward the testy old squire’s residence, Burdette +stopping every now and then to see whether his +battery was in working-order. It was well-nigh +dusk when the truant couple marched into the +bride’s home. The testy squire sat in his favorite +rocking-chair, grimly reading an evening paper. +You can perhaps imagine his amazement when, +upon looking up, he beheld Burdette boldly intrude +into his presence with the object of his affection +on one arm, and a double-barrelled gun on one +shoulder.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But, with all his testiness, it was to the squire’s +credit that he possessed a fair share of that always +admirable and frequently serviceable quality called +discretion. This quality asserted itself at this critical +moment. Instead of exploding the volcanic +fires which had been pent up in his paternal bosom, +he calmly laid down his evening paper, scrutinized +the twain before him, and in an unruffled tone remarked, +“Well?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>All will agree that this was the shrewdest thing +the testy squire could have done under the circumstances; +for it is universally admitted by authorities +<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>on rhetorical tactics, that the simple word +“well,” when uttered with the proper inflection +and at the proper moment, serves as an invincible +and incomprehensible skirmish-line. But the happy +bridegroom was on this occasion fully equal to the +task of meeting the testy squire’s rhetorical skirmish-line—all +of which goes to prove that a shotgun +in the hand is worth ten thousand “wells” +in rhetoric.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Carrie and I have been getting married,” said +Burdette, looking the squire straight in the eyes; +“and now I want to know what you are going to +do about it?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>If the squire’s calmness but a moment before +had been admirable, it was now phenomenal. The +announcement of his daughter’s marriage did not +seem to even ruffle his temper. He put his paper +aside quietly, and glanced out of the window musingly; +and he put his tongue in his cheek, and appeared +to be absorbed in thought.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You’d better go down and help your mother +get supper, Carrie,” said the squire at last; “and +as for you, Robert, sit down, and make yourself at +home. I want to get better acquainted with you +if you’re my son-in-law.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So much for the courtship and marriage of our +most popular humorist. Of the happy wedded life +that succeeded, we all have heard. The girl became +a devoted wife; and it is not hard for those who +have felt the ennobling influence of woman’s love +<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>to believe Mr. Burdette when he says that the little +woman whom he called wife—whose spiritual +beauty we all admired—with whose physical sufferings +we all sympathized, and whose death we all +deplored—we believe Mr. Burdette when he says +that she was indeed the best and sweetest inspiration +in his life and of his work.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>That One Floating Vote.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Down at the town av Springfield, phwhere our statesmin congregate</div> + <div class='line'>To draw their wages twicet a month to git John Logan bate,</div> + <div class='line'>The Dimmycrats is tremblin’ and a sweatin’ wid dismay</div> + <div class='line in8'>On account av O’Shea.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The all av thim is solid for our horizontal Bill,</div> + <div class='line'>And the all av thim is solid for reform and office—shtill</div> + <div class='line'>The all av thim is worried to anticipate the play</div> + <div class='line in8'>Contem<i>pla</i>ted by O’Shea.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Bill Morrison shtands <i>here</i>, and Logan he shtands <i>there</i>,</div> + <div class='line'>And whin the wotes is even, there’s a tie bechune the pair;</div> + <div class='line'>But whin it comes to wotin’, can innybody say,</div> + <div class='line in8'>Phwhere the divil is O’Shea?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Persian Mission.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>In “The New-York World” we find this remarkable +editorial paragraph: “Mr. Winston, our +new minister to Persia, has had himself appointed +a brigadier-general of Illinois militia in order that +he may be able to shine at the shah’s resplendent +court in a gorgeous uniform. We need a minister +to Persia about as much as we need a consular +agent at the north pole; but, inasmuch as we are +carrying on the tomfoolery, we might, as by special +enactment, authorize our representative at Teheran +to appear in the full dress of a Choctaw chief. +Something variegated and humorous in that line +would be likely to make an impression on the +shah’s mind.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are amazed to find a democratic paper speaking +in these terms of one of the most distinguished +appointments that has been made to our diplomatic +service. Yet we think the gross misrepresentation +comes merely from misinformation. Gen. Winston’s +magnificent record as a citizen and soldier +demands an explanation of these things.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed, that, when President +Cleveland took his seat as executive of this republic, +he cast his eagle eye abroad over all the +land, and allowed each of the eminent statesmen +to pass before him in review, as candidates for the +Persian mission; that after months of careful, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>earnest study, inspired by the sincerest patriotism, +President Cleveland made up his mind, that, in all +the country, there was one man pre-eminently qualified +for this high and responsible office; that the +name of that man was Frederick H. Winston.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed that President Cleveland +sent privily for Gen. Winston, and informed +him of his selection for the Persian mission; that +Gen. Winston demurred, alleging that his ambition +beckoned him not in the direction of diplomatic +exploits; that it was only by personal and constant +importunities, and by presenting the matter +to him in the light of a patriotic duty, that the +president succeeded in overcoming Gen. Winston’s +superhuman modesty, and inducing him to accept +the mission.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed, that, as soon as he +heard of Gen. Winston’s appointment to the court +of Persia, Gov. Oglesby said to himself, “Now is +the time for me to bestow upon this great and +good man some official recognition of his distinguished +civic and military services; but how shall +I do so best? A commission as notary public +would not avail, because the benighted Persian +pagans know naught of the notary system; nor, +for similar reason, would a commission as grain-inspector, +or humane-society agent, or State veterinary +agent, or insane-asylum commissioner, or soldiers’-home +trustee. No,” thought Gov. Oglesby, +“I must bestow upon this human paragon some +<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>distinction, honor, mark, title, and decoration that +will not only be in keeping with his exalted career +at home, but also give to him a certain lustre and +bedazzling brilliancy in the eyes of the heathen +among whom he is soon to exploit most featly. +So, therefore, I will create him a brigadier-general; +and I will invest him with the ever-to-be-revered +authority to wear high top-boots and spurs, as well +as gilt buttons, gold epaulets, and a cocked hat +withal.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed that Gov. Oglesby +had to wrestle rhetorically three whole days and +nights with Gen. Winston before the latter was +induced to accept the proffered military decoration, +and that even then a squad of militia had to be +called out and put on a war-footing before Winston +could be induced to go to his tailor to be measured +for a suit of regimentals; that even when he did +go to said tailor, a corporal and four soldiers had +to guard the doors and windows lest the super-modest +general should repent his errand, and privily +effect his escape from the prick-louse.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed, that, upon calmer and +maturer reflection, the embryotic diplomate travailed +much in spirit, and groaned, and by the advice +of the spirits of Jefferson and Jackson, which +did visit him in dreams and visions, finally made +up his mind that he would have done with this +matter of display, which was opposed in spirit and +in truth to the traditions and practices of democracy; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>that he did so advise Gov. Oglesby, the +press, and the public at large, and that if he <i>did</i> +accept the regimentals from the tailor, and order +them to be packed among his official effects, it was +merely for the purpose of exhibiting them in Persia +as a specimen of American handiwork.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed, that, at a sumptuous +feast tendered to the departing, citizen-soldier-diplomate +by such exalted social, intellectual, and +political stars as Johnnie Hand, Emil Hoechster, +Charlie Felton, J. J. Curran, Austin J. Doyle, +Charlie Kern, John Mattocks, P. Dudley, W. M. +Devine, and other representatives of the cream +and flower of native and naturalized gentility, +there did prevail an eloquent and piteous protest +against the harsh decree of fate which was about +to remove from the midst of them the pole-star, +the central sun, the inspiration of this incomparable +galaxy. So poignant was the grief marking +this lachrymose event, that, ill content with the +restraining powers of prose and poetry, one of the +distinguished chief mourners, to wit, Charlie Kern, +did essay the subtile influence of song to alter +Gen. Winston’s intention of going abroad.</p> + +<p class='c006'>We are reliably informed, that, having heard +Mr. Kern sing, Gen. Winston became more fixed +in his patriotic determination to leave his country.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Of Gen. Winston’s eternal fitness for the Persian +mission, we have no doubt. Since his appointment +he has made a close study of Persia, its history, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>literature, language, people, customs, etc. Hearing +that Persia was the land of the date and palm, +he took no rest until he had secured the very +latest editions of Hayden’s “Dictionary of Dates,” +and Fowler’s “Guide to Palmistry.” Having devoured +these standard works, as well as an unabridged +edition of the “Arabian Nights,” he is, +beyond compare, deeply learned in Persian lore.</p> + +<p class='c006'>And who that has beheld him; who that has +studied his methods; who that is acquainted with +his high and mighty career in the forum, on the +mart, upon the field of carnage; who that has seen +that undaunted integrity, that unselfish patriotism, +that sweet philosophy, and that heroic valor, which +have characterized every act and utterance in his +life; who, in fine, that knows this good and great +man,—will deny that his career in that pagan land, +to which he goes anon, promises to redound to his +own glory, and to the advantage of the government, +which, by his distinguished service, he +places under renewed obligations?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Senator’s Valor.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It is interesting to read and to study the opinions +of different newspapers touching the Hon. +John J. Ingalls, senior senator from Kansas. +The truth is, that no public man is more generally +misunderstood than is Senator Ingalls. By this +<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>we mean that a vast majority of the writers who +have occasion to write about Senator Ingalls, +really do not know him at all. Senator Ingalls +is, in fact, a tender, gentle, lovable man. He is +exceedingly sentimental, as emotional as a woman, +as guileless as a child. He loves nature, and to +commune with nature’s quiet, subtile influences. +Every day he takes long walks in Washington; +he is the most tireless pedestrian in Congress; he +is acquainted with all the woodland strolls on the +Virginia side, and oftentimes his rambles take +him far into rural Maryland. There is a peace, +a tranquillity, a simplicity about this man’s private +life that is as remarkable as it is beautiful; +yet, oh, how grievously he is misjudged!</p> + +<p class='c006'>Illustrative of his humane tenderness, a story +is told of a characteristic incident of Senator +Ingalls’s visit to Colorado some years ago. He +undertook to walk from Leadville to Golden, a +mighty distance across the mountains. His +friends warned him of the dangers that beset +travellers of that mountain fastness, but Senator +Ingalls laughed them to scorn.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have my penknife with me,” he answered. +“It will suffice to protect me, I venture.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Proceeding on his lonely journey, the senator +held sweet communion with the giant trees, the +gnarled rocks, the tawdry wild-flowers, and the +chattering magpies that greeted him from this +side and from that; and his soul contemplated +<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>through his reverential ocular orbs the awful +grandeurs of the eternally snow-clad hills that +rose beyond these hills, and heard the songs the +storm-clouds sang.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Floating placidly, so to speak, upon this pleasant +sea of thought, the senator strode along for +many a league, until finally, all of a sudden, he distinctly +beheld coming down the mountain-road +toward him, a monstrous grizzly bear,—an ursine +megatherium, whose fur bristled, whose eyes +emitted sparks, whose claws rattled, and whose +fangs gnashed, as he scuttled along the mountain-road. +In Senator Ingalls’s place at that supreme +moment, any other man less humane, less tender +than he, would have reached instinctively for his +penknife, with which to have assailed the shaggy +monster, and to have made him pay for his +temerity with his life. But not so with Senator +Ingalls. “Go thy way, poor devil!” he murmured +softly, paraphrasing Uncle Toby. “Go thy +way, poor devil. This mountain pathway is wide +enough for me and thee!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>And with this humane sentiment, Senator +Ingalls crawled into a hollow tree at the roadside, +and waited there until the grizzly bear had +passed by, and was well on his way toward the +bee-hive in a pine-tree near Crazy-Horse Gulch.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Season of New Music.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The Mapleson Italian Opera Company is billed +to appear here shortly, and the programme for the +first week is announced with a considerable flourish. +We do not hesitate to say that the music-loving +public of Chicago has a rich treat in store. +Col. Mapleson is indeed a conscientious, painstaking +caterer. He is indefatigable in his efforts to +provide his patrons with a new and pleasing variety +of musical works, and he is constantly introducing +to American audiences the freshest and +best talent of foreign countries. During his first +week in Chicago he will produce the following +entirely new operas, composed and written especially +for this American tour of Her Majesty’s +Opera Company: “Faust,” “Lucia di Lammermoor,” +“Manon,” “Fra Diavolo,” “Carmen,” and +“La Traviata.” For the second week we are +promised “La Girla Bohemiana” (a beautiful new +opera by a clever Irishman named Balfe), “Il Trovatore,” +“La Favorita,” “Les Huguenots,” “I +Puritani,” “Norma,” and a pleasing light opera +entitled “Martha.” The eminent ladies and gentlemen +who are to interpret the leading <i>rôles</i> of +these charming new works, are Mme. Minnie Hauk, +Mdlle. Dotti, Mme. Lillian Nordica (a lineal descendant +of Frank Mayo’s popular play), Mme. +Lablache, Sig. Ravelli, Sig. De Falco, Sig. Del +<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>Puente, Sig. Cherubini, and Sig. Giannini. None +of these great artists has ever appeared in Chicago +before: they have been fresh culled, so to speak, +from the best musical parterres in Europe, where +they have bloomed without competition for the +last century. Mr. John McConnell, manager of +the Columbia Theatre, has invented a beautiful +design for a three-sheet poster announcing the +Mapleson season. He showed it to us last evening. +It is somewhat as follows:—</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_183.jpg' alt='A satirical, hand-lettered performance schedule titled "GRAND ITALIAN OPERA. FIRST WEEK." It lists the days from Monday through Saturday, substituting the names of the operas and the featured singers (preceded by "Mme." or "Mlle.") with small drawings of hazelnuts. The text below reads: "Assisted by a superb company of [hazelnuts] and an able corps de ballet including all the most noted terpsichorean [hazelnuts] of the century."' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Apollo Located.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>They say, that, just by way of killing time that +hung heavy on his hands, Col. Henry Davis, jun., +visited the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington +last Monday. When he returned to the hotel, he +had a great story to tell of his experiences.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Bill,” said he to Congressman Springer, “I +have been putting in a couple of hours inspecting +the shef doovers of the old masters.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Ah?” said Springer. “I hope you enjoyed +yourself.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Amazingly,” continued Davis. “You didn’t +know I was a good deal of an art connozher, did +you?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I can easily believe you,” answered Springer; +“for I have always admired your delicate refinement +and graceful discrimination.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I ran across one statute that paralyzed me,” +said Davis. “It was a perfect fac-smile of myself +without my clothes on.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What could it have been?” asked Springer.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“When I get back to Illinois,” said Davis, “I’m +going to hunt up the original; for me and him are +as much alike as two peas. He lives at Belvidere!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Boone County?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes; Belvidere, Boone County, Ill. His name +is Apollo.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>An Exile’s Nuptials.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The Hon. Millard B. Hereley is about to do the +wisest act in all his busy and useful career. He +is going to be married. On the 10th instant he +will lead to the hymeneal altar Miss Hannah, +daughter of our esteemed fellow-townsman, Col. +Daniel Murphy, who resides at 202 Oak Street. +The bride-elect is a beautiful and accomplished +young lady, in every particular qualified to adorn +the home, and serve as the best inspiration of a +bright, ambitious, and honorable man. To her +and to him we extend our heartiest congratulations +upon the event which is to bind them together +indissolubly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Knocking the tops off champagne-bottles yesterday, +Senator Hereley vouchsafed to a select crowd +of personal friends the information, that, immediately +after the solemnization of their marriage, +his bride and he would start upon a six-weeks’ +tour through the orange-groves of Louisiana and +the everglades of Florida.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“A number of my ancestors, exiled from France +a century ago,” said he, “lie buried in the old cemetery +just beyond the fortifications at St. Augustine. +I hear that no monument marks the last +resting-place of the Duc de Troiville, my maternal +great-grandfather. If, upon investigation, I find +this to be the case, I shall erect a suitable slab +<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>appropriately inscribed. In New Orleans I have +numerous relations among the old French and +Creole families: in fact, I may in all modesty confess +that in the neighborhood of the French market +my name has become a household word.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Is it true,” we asked, “that the news of your +approaching nuptials has created a stir in foreign +circles?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“In Germany, France, and Spain,—yes,” replied +Senator Hereley. “Germany watches with unabating +interest the movements of every titled +Frenchman abroad, and probably will continue +to do so until the <i>intente cordiale</i> between France +and Prussia has been fully restored. France takes +an interest in my career because I am closely allied +by blood with the aristocracy of that country; and +Spain is interested in me for the reason that many +of the Hereleys fled from Normandy to Madrid +after the fall of the empire, and are now united by +marriage with the oldest and noblest families in +Castile and Aragon.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have already received,” continued Senator +Hereley, “messages of congratulation from the +Duc d’Orleans, Marshal Castiglione, Sir François +de Cavagnac, the Duc d’Ormeil, Prince Bourbon +de Bonsoir, ex-Queen Isabella, President +Grèvy, De Freycine, Queen Regent Christina, +the Duc de Ganda, and other royal and eminent +personages. I am expecting a good many elegant +presents, the most pleasing of which will be a congratulatory +<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>memorial in a diamond-studded gold +case from the council of my native village in +Normandy. Mme. Judic and Mme. Aimee, two +country-women of mine, have sent me handsome +remembrances in the shape of an old-gold toothpick, +and a Dresden china shaving-mug.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But don’t these things awaken in your bosom +a longing to return to the honors, titles, and estates +which await you in your native land?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Not at all,” replied Senator Hereley. “I love +this glorious republic, and am as truly enlisted in +her cause as if I had been born upon her soil. +The glamour of titles and estates beyond the sea +has no charms for me, and my union with a fair +daughter of this republic shall re-affirm and emphasize +with ecstasy my loyalty to the home of my +adoption!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Patronize Home Art.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Chicago, Ill.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><i>To the Editor.</i>—Why is it that Western people +are so hasty to go daft over the doings Down East, +yet are so slow to recognize and to encourage +meritorious home enterprises? Quite recently, +for instance, Chicago and other Western cities +have been all agog over the sale of certain arteffects +of a New-York lady, the widow Morgan, +a relict of undoubted taste, and possessing abundant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>means wherewith to gratify that taste. +Thousands of dollars went out of the West to +purchase certain articles of the Morgan collection +at the recent sale in New York. A wealthy +pork-packer who lives near my house, brought +back from the Morgan sale two “rare pieces of +virtue,” as he terms them: one was a cut-glass +potato-salad dish, manufactured in the third +century by Ptolomy Dago, a Spanish stone-cutter +of wonderful ingenuity; the other was a superb +oil-painting representing mountaineer life in Holland, +and painted by Beethoven, the famous +Italian sculptor. These “articles of virtue” could +not have cost less than twenty thousand dollars. +But why go East for these works of art? I understand +that a great art-sale is about to take +place on the West Side; that the rare and costly +collection of one of our wealthiest soap-manufacturers, +recently deceased, is about to be disposed +of at auction. Why are the papers, which are so +ready to advertise Eastern art-sales, silent now +touching this home enterprise? Why is our public, +ever on the alert to blow in good money for +Yankee notions, so slow to patronize this West-Side +slaughter of genuine rarities? I think Chicago +ought to be ashamed of herself; but here is +an excellent opportunity for her to redeem her +reputation.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yours, etc.,</div> + <div class='line in4'>SILAS G. HARDCASTLE.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>An Old Feud.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Indirectly we learn that Col. Hiram Atkins, +chairman of the Vermont Democratic Committee, +thinks he has been unfairly dealt with by “The +Daily News.” He complains that the quotations +which we gave as coming from his paper, “The +Montpelier Argus and Patriot,” were never printed +in his paper at all: he declares that he never announced +that “Squire Eastman’s tumor has cast +a gloom over our little village,” or that “Mrs. +Mehitabel Ranney laid an egg on our table last +week,” etc. It is possible that we have done Col. +Atkins an injustice; if so, the injustice was done +unintentionally; and we, lamenting it, do hereby +crave pardon therefor. Col. Atkins is a jovial, +enterprising, fair, and bright man: he is incapable +of a mean action. We wish him a big run of sap +every spring, and a powerful harvest of beech-nuts +next Michaelmas.</p> + +<p class='c006'>As to the items about Squire Eastman’s tumor, +Mrs. Mehitabel Ranney’s eggs, etc., which we +printed, and credited to “The Montpelier Argus +and Patriot,” we received them from Senator +Edmunds, with the remark that he had found +them in Atkins’s paper. Edmunds told us that +Atkins was a “fat, pussy man, that sweat twelve +months in the year, and wore out two paper collars +every day:” he said that Atkins had pursued him +<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>for years, maliciously and relentlessly, there being +no species of base piracy to which Atkins would +not willingly stoop.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Atkins’s demoniacal animosity was incurred, so +Edmunds avers, many years ago, when the two +were attending the academy at Rutland. Edmunds, +it appears, was in the senior class when +Atkins entered the academy as a freshman.</p> + +<p class='c006'>At that time the prettiest girl in the school was +a Miss Joyful Higginson, the only daughter of +Squire Nathan Higginson of Bennington. She +had a trim figure, black eyes, curly hair, and red +cheeks; and when she got rigged out in one of her +new gingham gowns on a Sunday morning, she was, +to use a phrase common in those times, “prettier +than a yoke of father’s steers.” To this Miss +Joyful did Edmunds and Atkins pay ardent but +respectful homage, sending her lumps of maple-sugar, +and packages of rose-lozenges, taking her +coasting and to picnics on a Saturday, and showing +her, in short, delicate attentions of that nature +which seldom fail to touch the maidenly heart. +The fact, however, that Edmunds was the older +of the twain, that he had impressive side-whiskers, +and that he sang a delicious bass in the academy-choir, +seems to have made him more acceptable to +Miss Joyful than any of the other young beaux +were: at any rate, Miss Joyful went sliding down +hill with Edmunds oftener than with anybody else, +and his gifts of pippins, maple-sugar, lozenges, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>nosegays, and the like, appeared to go to the spot +which the tokens of other beaux failed to reach.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The preference which Miss Joyful manifested +for young Edmunds set Atkins into a frenzy of +jealous rage; and one night he threw his Livy +upon the floor, trampled upon his Andrew’s Latin +Lexicon, and delivered himself of this volcanic +eruption of long-pent-up wrath: “Gol darn that +bewhiskered crittur! I’ll git even with him if I +hev ter live ter be ez old ez Methuselah! With that +tarnation bass voice o’ his’n, as hard as Pharaoh’s +heart, and them whiskers the color o’ soft-soap, he +hez cut the rest on us clean out o’ our swaths. It +may take an all-fired long time to do it, but I’m +goin’ to, by gosh, knock him higher’n a meetin’-house +steeple afore I git thru’ with him!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>This malignant threat was uttered fifty-eight +years ago; and ever since then, so Senator Edmunds +tells us, Hiram Atkins has had but one grand end +in view,—the annihilation of George F. Edmunds. +The episode of Miss Joyful Higginson was simply +one of the pretty idyls of youth. In 1838 Joyful +married Leander Merrick, the popular young man +who drove the stage for a great many years +between Brattleboro and Townsend.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Hegira Threatened.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>There was a great stir in Chicago yesterday, +and it was all on account of the remarkable speech +which Mr. Gladstone delivered in the British +House of Commons Thursday afternoon. No +sooner was the independence of Ireland assured, +than the leaders of the Irish party in Chicago +began making preparations to return to the beloved +Emerald Isle beyond the sea. The news +that these distinguished gentlemen contemplated +departure from scenes which they had graced with +their presence for many years, spread like a wildfire, +and produced a sensation that can be described +only by the adjective prodigious. Bands of music +paraded the principal streets, discoursing a <i>repertoire</i> +made up of such inspired gems as “Wearing +of the Green,” “St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning,” +and “Croppies, Lie Down.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. John F. Finerty, ex-member of Congress, +and editor of our esteemed contemporary, “The +Citizen,” spent most of the day in his private +apartments, packing his valise, and disposing of +the personal effects he did not wish to take back +to Ireland with him. “I shall leave for home at +once,” he said. “This country has become effete. +It is subservient to British gold, and has no longer +any appreciation of personal honesty and individual +merit. Now that Ireland is to be an independent +<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>nation, it is my purpose to return to her venerated +soil, and to claim the titles and estates which +properly descend to me from a long line of lordly +ancestors. You may not be aware of it,—for +with unflinching assiduity I have concealed the +fact,—but I am the thirty-eighth Lord of Tipperary; +and I am about to lay claim to the magnificent +estates at Ballyclerahan.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. John F. Scanlan said he had made arrangements +for a passage on the steamship “Aurania,” +which would sail from New York early in May. +“Our triumph,” said he, “has been long delayed; +but, Heaven be praised, it has come at last! When +once I have set foot on my native soil, you will +hear no more of John F. Scanlan; but Baron +Ballingarry will dawn upon Europe as one of the +peerage of Ireland. Ballingarry, you must understand, +is a charmingly romantic estate in Munster +County, twelve miles north of Kilmeedy, fifteen +miles south of Rathkeale, and twenty miles west +of Beuree. Upon a gentle elevation stands the +baronial castle which my forefathers erected during +the historic reign of Brian Boroihuee, and it +is of this ancestral domain that I propose to possess +myself. I hear that a St.-Louis man, known +as John D. Finney, claims to be the heir-apparent +to this baronetcy; but I shall show him that I can +handle a blackthorn quite as nimbly as the best +of bogtrotters.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. J. J. Fitzgibbon said he was the Duke of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>Ballaghadereen, a beautiful estate in the county +of Mayo. It was his ambition to spend his declining +years in enjoyment of those lordly pleasures +of which he had long been deprived, but which +now were about to be restored to him by the efforts +of Mr. Gladstone, the British premier.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. William McClure claimed to be the long-missing +heir to the earldom of Armagh, with a +moss-covered castle, and a dreamy expanse of peat-bog, +awaiting him at Loughall, one of the most +picturesque spots in all Ireland. He said he was +making preparations to return to his native land, +and to claim every thing in sight.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Hon. Patrick Sanders admitted, that, having +wound up an active but brief American career, +he was getting ready to start back to Ireland, +where he meant to lay claim to the dukedom of +Dripsey, in county Cork, only a few miles south +of the famous Blarneystone. “Such is my self-abnegation,” +said he, “that, if I perceived any +desire on the part of the Chicago people to retain +me, I would cheerfully abandon every claim to +the Irish peerage which awaits me, and would +devote myself to the service of humanity in this +city. But there is a lack of interest in me hereabouts; +and I shall therefore proceed shortly to +the country where, I am sure, my ability and my +philanthropy will be appreciated. The evening of +my life shall be devoted to teaching the simple +tenantry of my ducal estates the sward-dance of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>our ancestors: and it is barely possible that I shall +put in operation a scheme I have long contemplated; +namely, the colonization of Dripsey with +Italian emigrants.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>It was learned, either from the gentlemen themselves, +or from equally reliable authorities, that +the following distinguished citizens of Chicago +were on the eve of departure to the sod which +they venerate as their common mother:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>Michael Hannigan, claimant to the titles and +estates of Denis, sixteenth Duke of Stradbally, in +the county Leinster.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Thomas E. Moran, heir-presumptive to the earldom +of Knockcroghery, in the county Roscommon, +including the extensive peat-privileges at Athleague.</p> + +<p class='c006'>John M. Dunphy, Baron Gortaroo, with the +ancestral castle in county Cork, overlooking +Youghal Bay, near Knockadoon Head.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Sam Steele (formerly Welsh, but now Irish), +claimant to the dukedom of Londonderry, said to +have been conquered in the thirteenth century by +the Welsh invader, Llewellyn Llnllth.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Michael W. Ryan, Lord Malin More, with a +castle on the western coast of county Donegal, +enjoying fine privileges for conger eel and finnan +haddie fisheries.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Richard Pendergast, heir-apparent to the earldom +of Belgooly, in county Cork, twelve miles +south of Templemichael.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>Edward J. McPhelim, said to be the long-lost +heir to the baronetcy of Kilcullen, enjoying a +magnificent ancestral castle on lake Liffey, in +county Kildare, within five minutes’ walk of the +famous rocky road to Dublin.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Thomas O’Neill (a lineal descendant of the +great Hugh O’Neill), Duke of Coleraine, claiming +the magnificent estates near Lough Foyle, in +Londonderry.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Timothy D’Arcy, Baron Knock, with a grand +old castle of mediæval architecture on the river +Shannon, one of the most beautiful estates in the +county Clare.</p> + +<p class='c006'>James Sullivan, Duke of Tyrone, claiming the +old manor and estate at Beltrim, yielding enormous +rents.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Alexander Kirkland claims the dukedom of +Kerry, which involves large and valuable estates +in the Kenmare-river and Bantry-bay districts; +but Kirkland’s claim is disputed by Vincent B. +Kelly, who alleges that <i>he himself</i> is the lawful +duke, and that Kirkland is simply a Scotch interloper, +who hails from the Frith of Forth, and who +is known at home as the Laird o’ Killiekrankie.</p> + +<p class='c006'>There is a rumor that Joseph Medill becomes, +by the Gladstone act, sole heir to that magnificent +riparian privilege known as the Giants’ Causeway +in Antrim; but it is doubtful whether that distinguished +gentleman will, for this giant legacy, +relinquish the large interests he has acquired in +the country of his adoption.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Spanish Romance.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>There is not an iota of truth in “The Philadelphia +News” rumor that Miss Kate Field is about +to be married to a Western journalist. Miss Field +will never wed; and the secret of her celibacy +is to be found in a singularly sad and romantic +tale which has never yet, we think, been put in +print.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Some years ago Miss Field made a visit to Spain +with a view to acquainting herself with certain old +Castilian legends which she desired to make literary +use of. She took with her many letters of introduction +to Spanish grandees, among them a letter +to Marshal Serrano. This wealthy and influential +nobleman received her most cordially, and entertained +her at his castle in Madrid for several +weeks; his wife, a sister of the Comte de Paris +(now deceased), being particularly charmed by +the vigor of Miss Field’s intellect, and the insinuating +grace of her manners. It happened, that, during +her stay at Serrano Castle, the beautiful young +American met, among other Spanish noblemen, +the young Alvaredo Lopez y Jesus de Ratz, one of +the wealthiest, handsomest, and bravest scions of +Spanish royalty. He was a hidalgo of the thirty-second +magnitude, heir-apparent to the dukedom +of Aragon, and, what was considered better than +all else, he possessed large political influence, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>stood high in the favor of the dominant party. +Alvaredo Lopez de Ratz fell a willing victim to the +personal and intellectual charms of the fascinating +American girl; and with that precipitancy peculiar +to the impassioned sons of stately old Spain, he +avowed his love at the second meeting. Somewhat +startled by the suddenness of his fervid declaration, +though not insensible to his exceeding eligibility, +Miss Field coyly employed those evasive, +Fabian arts which so admirably beseem her sex, +and which render a beautiful girl all the more +beautiful in the opinion of mankind. So, therefore, +Alvaredo set himself bravely to the task of +melting the marble heart of the proud American +at whose imperious feet he had incontinently cast +down his heart, his titles, his hopes, his all. Day +after day he weaved sonnets to her eyes and hair, +or pursued her with sighings and avowals: night +after night he lingered beneath her window, blending +his rich baritone voice in amorous serenades +with the throbbing tones of his mandolin or +lute.</p> + +<p class='c006'>One day, Miss Field, accompanied by the young +Alvaredo Lopez de Ratz, went to the amphitheatre +to witness a bull-fight, the same being a celebration +of the feast of St. Isadore. When they reached +the place, they found that their seats were on the +other side of the amphitheatre; and to save time, +they thought to cut across the arena, the combat +not yet having begun. Scarcely, however, had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>they reached the centre of the arena, when, by +some fatal blunder, the door to the bull-pen was +thrown open, and out rushed a monstrous Andalusian +bull, lashing his tail wildly, pawing the earth, +and bellowing fiercely.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Suave mio! suave mio!” (“Save me! save +me!”) cried Miss Field, in tones that would have +wrung the most callous heart.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“<span lang="it">Carissima mia</span>,” answered Alvaredo Lopez de +Ratz, “<span lang="it">te suavo spezza!</span>” (“Dearest, I will save +thee!”)</p> + +<p class='c006'>Then, drawing his stiletto, the brave young lover +threw himself between the infuriated bull and the +red parasol which Miss Field had unfurled, and +behind which she stood, pale, shrieking, trembling. +While the bull gored at Alvaredo Lopez de Ratz, +that valiant young nobleman carved and whittled +the shaggy monster’s frothing nostrils right dexterously: +meantime, divers picadors, matadors, +and cavaliers hastened to the rescue of Miss Field, +who was borne insensible from the arena.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But what of Alvaredo Lopez y Jesus de Ratz? +Alas! his gored and lifeless remains, mutilated beyond +recognition, were raked up and gathered together +after the matadors had slain the infuriate +bull. A braver man was never borne from the +battle-field on two-score and ten dust-pans!</p> + +<p class='c006'>Ever since that tragedy, Miss Field has disdained +the advances of the masculine sex. Pondering +ever on the fate of her young Spanish suitor, she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>never hears an impassioned avowal that she does +not droop her pretty head, and regretfully murmur, +“Ratz!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>More about Miss Field.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Miss Kate Field, who is to lecture in this city +next Thursday evening, is in many respects a most +remarkable woman. None of her sex possesses to +so marked a degree every feminine charm, coupled +with an intellectual vigor that is certainly masculine. +Miss Field’s life has been a romantic one. +She was born (about thirty years ago) in New +Orleans, and was educated in the Convent de St. +Genevieve, near that city. When sixteen years +of age she was sent to Europe to “finish off;” but, +while travelling in Sicily, she was seized by brigands, +who demanded seventy thousand livres for +her ransom. This sum was paid by the family of +the young girl, after she had been a captive for +six weeks, during which time she acquired a thorough +acquaintance with the Italian language, and +obtained a complete knowledge of the customs of +the banditti. A narrative of her experience in the +Sicilian fastnesses appeared in “El Banano Napoli” +(1865), and is now regarded as a model of Italian +romance. In 1867 Miss Field visited Spain as the +guest of Signora Serrano; and it was at this time +that she was wooed by the young Marquis Miguel +Maria Jesus del Ratz, whose melancholy and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>tragic death, while attending a bull-fight in Madrid, +has already been detailed in these columns. +This was the one love-affair of Miss Field’s life; +but the case of Manrico Bolero, the chief of the +banditti who abducted the fair girl, deserves more +than passing mention. It appears that while she +was a captive, this Bolero became deeply sensible +of the personal and mental charms of young Kate: +his suit was vain, however, the conscientious girl +refusing to become the bandit’s bride. After she +was ransomed, the image of her beauty, and the +recollection of her goodness and her wit, so preyed +upon the mind of the brigand, that he forsook his +godless occupations, distributed his ill-gotten gains +among the poor, became an inmate of a monastery, +and even now, under the name of Brother Felix, +devotes his remaining days to Benedictine piety, +and the manufacture of a well-known cordial of +the same name.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Miss Field returned to her native land in the +spring of 1883, and since that time has published +numerous books, written and delivered several +lectures, and superintended a number of social reforms, +calculated to alleviate the sufferings of, and +to emancipate from political bondage, the feminine +sex. The failure of her philanthropic movement +in New York some years ago, whereby she sought +to introduce a female-suspender system, which +would supersede the odious female garter—this +failure, we say, was due wholly to the duplicity of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>the one man whom, with many other noble women, +she had admitted into a business partnership. +But since that unfortunate—though none the less +praiseworthy—venture, prosperity has attended +the earnest little lady. Her literary work has +brought her handsome returns, her lectures have +been highly profitable; and certain investments in +Washington real-estate have been so fortunate, +that she is now quoted by the leading commercial +agencies among the wealthy women of America.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Kentuckian’s Sagacity.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Col. William M. Haldeman, proprietor of +“The Louisville Courier-Journal,” has a very poor +opinion of Henry Watterson’s business capacity. +The other day he opened one of Watterson’s editorial +correspondences, dated Paris. He handed +it to the cashier to send up to the editorial rooms.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What is it?” asked the cashier.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“A letter from Watterson,” answered Haldeman: +“I haven’t read it, but it’s a long one about +‘The Latin Quarter.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The Latin Quarter? What’s that?” asked the +cashier, with his mouth agape, and his eyes hanging +out on his cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I’m —— if I know,” said Haldeman; “but, +if Watterson got it in change, I’ll bet fifty to one +that it’s a twenty-cent piece.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Col. Judd’s Narrow Escape.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The Hon. S. Corning Judd, our able non-partisan +postmaster, has returned from the South, +where he has been travelling for several weeks. +Although his rheumatic pains have reduced his +weight somewhat, he is the picture of health; and +his sojourn in Florida appears to have been one +continued round of excitement. He tells us of a +marvellous adventure he had in Florida. He says +that when he reached Thomasville, he fell in with +his old friend, Col. J. H. McVicker, who inveigled +him into going alligator-hunting one day. A +negro guide volunteered to conduct them to an +old bayou which had not been visited by white +men for many years, and which was actually alive +with alligators. Col. McVicker was armed with +a Louis Sharpe’s rifle; and Col. Judd had the reliable +old pepper-box pistol, with which he used to +perform prodigies of valor in Southern Illinois +during the civil war; so the twain felt tolerably +secure. The darkey guide piloted them along +through a lone wood, over a deserted rice-field, +and through a luxuriant orange-grove, until they +came to a slimy pool that lay sequestered among +the orange, banana, and palm trees. Myriads of +alligators swarmed upon the banks of this pool, and +the party paused to observe the ingenious manner +in which the monstrous reptiles secured their food. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>Of course, so far away from the haunts of civilization, +these alligators were not able to diet upon +dogs, cats, sheep, calves, pickaninnies, and other +carnivorous prey, but were compelled to subsist +wholly upon vegetables and fruits. While Col. +McVicker and Col. Judd watched them, they saw +the alligators poise themselves on their scaly +snouts, and with magnificent sweeps of their long +tails knock down the red oranges and yellow +bananas from the tall trees o’erhead. It was +observed that not less than a barrel of bananas +and a bushel of oranges satisfied the average alligator; +whereas in other parts of the South, the very +largest alligator has been known to be sated with +a moderately plump six-year old negro child. +Eager for the combat, Col. McVicker rested his +old reliable Louis Sharpe’s rifle on the stump of +a hemlock, drew a bead on the biggest alligator +in range, and blazed away. The unerring ball +sped like lightning toward its victim, and struck +the alligator on his massive forehead; but, so far +from wounding the miserable reptile, it rebounded +again, and buried itself to the depth of eight inches +in the bark of a palm-tree near by. While Col. +McVicker was reloading, Col. Judd popped away +at the alligators with his relic of the civil war, +and the alligators seemed to regard this as a species +of delightful humor. However, one old alligator +bethought himself of a device whereby he +might circumvent the assailants: he cautiously +<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>circled around through the orange-grove, and came +up behind the two Chicago sportsmen as they lay +in ambush. Then, all at once, Col. Judd felt +himself nipped rudely by the legs; and the next +thing he knew, he was being scuttled off toward +the slimy pool, between the remorseless jaws of the +monster alligator. His struggles were vain; and +what increased his horror of death was the hideous +thought that he was about to be cut off in the very +flower of his career as postmaster at Chicago. +Deaf to his piteous entreaties, the alligator trundled +his human prey down into the pool; and there +the twain floundered about, amid the green slime +and malarious ooze. Catching a fleeting glimpse +of his friend McVicker in the crotch of an orange-tree, +Col. Judd threw him a farewell kiss with his +mud-stained hand. Then the alligator rolled Col. +Judd under his tongue, and chewed on him a brief +spell with his cruel fangs. But presently the +alligator stopped chewing.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“My friend,” said the alligator hesitatingly, +“I hate to disappoint you, but I’m afraid I’ll have +to let you go ashore.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. Judd listened: a new hope dawned in his +bosom.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The truth is,” continued the alligator, “I’ve +been raised on a vegetable diet; but for years I +have heard a great deal about that appetizing and +palatable delicacy called human blood. I hoped +to get a sample of this delicacy in you, but I find +<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>that I misplaced my confidence. Being somewhat +of a dyspeptic, I hardly think that skin and bones +would sit well on my stomach, with the fruit I +have already eaten to-day. So, if you are so +disposed, you may crawl out and go ashore.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A White-House Ballad.—I.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in8'>THE TYING OF THE TIE.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Now was Sir Grover passing wroth:</div> + <div class='line'>“A murrain seize the man,” he quoth,</div> + <div class='line in4'>“Who first invented ties!</div> + <div class='line'>Egad, they are a grievous bore,</div> + <div class='line'>And tying of them vexeth sore</div> + <div class='line in4'>A person of my size!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Lo, at his feet upon the floor</div> + <div class='line'>Were sprent the neckties by the score,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And collars all awreck;</div> + <div class='line'>And good Sir Grover’s cheeks were flame,</div> + <div class='line'>And good Sir Grover’s arms were lame,</div> + <div class='line in4'>With wrestling at his neck.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But much it joyed him when he heard</div> + <div class='line'>Sir Daniel say, “I fain will gird</div> + <div class='line in4'>Your necktie on for you,</div> + <div class='line'>As ’twill not cause you constant fear</div> + <div class='line'>Of bobbing round beneath your ear,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Or setting you askew.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Sir Daniel grasped one paltry tie,</div> + <div class='line'>And with a calm, heroic eye</div> + <div class='line in4'>And confidential air</div> + <div class='line'>(As who should say, “Odds bobs! I vow</div> + <div class='line'>There’s nothing like the knowing how”),</div> + <div class='line in4'>He mounted on a chair.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And whilst Sir Grover raised his chin</div> + <div class='line'>(For much he did respect the pin),</div> + <div class='line in4'>Sir Daniel tied the tie,</div> + <div class='line'>The which when good Sir Grover viewed,—</div> + <div class='line'>Albeit it beliked a dude,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>He heaved a grateful sigh.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'><span class='sc'>June 2, 1886.</span></p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>An Editorial Schedule.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It has occurred to us that there could be no +better time than the present for a combined strike +among newspaper-men for less work and more +pay. The employees of the press throughout the +country have been painfully aware for a long time +that their services are not remunerated as they +should be,—that too little pay is doled out to +them for too much work. While train-movers and +butcher-boys and dirt-shovellers in divers parts of +the republic are demanding compensation commensurate +with their toil, why should not the meek +and lowly journalist turn like the trodden worm, +and sting the iron heel that is grinding him in the +dust of starvation and obscurity? We are told +that a secret order is now being organized among +editors and reporters, and that, within a short +time, this continent will be convulsed with the +most prodigious uprising that has ever taken place +between the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific. +The object of this secret, modest, but puissant +organization is to better the condition of the practical +journalist, and thus directly benefit the universal +cause of literature; and we are confidently +informed that upon next Fourth of July,—being +the hundred and tenth anniversary of this nation’s +independence,—the following schedule of weekly +wages to be paid editors and reporters will be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>submitted to the proprietors of American newspapers:—</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To editorial writers who “used to know Thurlow Weed and Horace Greeley,” and who wear long beards and no neckties, and who write essays beginning with “We opine,” or with “Albeit”</td> + <td class='c019'>$30</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To editorial writers who read “The Nation,” and “The Scientific American”</td> + <td class='c019'>40</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To editorial writers who would like to spend their declining years at the head of an established country weekly</td> + <td class='c019'>25</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To editorial writers who receive mail addressed to “The Hon.,” and who covet a foreign mission</td> + <td class='c019'>20</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To reporters who “know Dana, and have worked on ‘The New-York Sun’”</td> + <td class='c019'>8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To reporters who say “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir,” to the city editor</td> + <td class='c019'>12</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To critics who discuss “the rendition,” “the mise en scene,” “the floritures, bravuras,” etc.</td> + <td class='c019'>15</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To poets of the “Hope,” “Eternity,” “Spring,” “Banana,” “Stovepipe,” and “Bobtail-Flush” kind</td> + <td class='c019'>18</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To female reporters who seek to demonstrate that a female can do a man’s work</td> + <td class='c019'>10</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>For “society” drivel</td> + <td class='c019'>8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To ex-lawyers, ex-preachers, ex-statesmen, and ex-tradesmen who have been starved into journalism</td> + <td class='c019'>15</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>To editorial writers who have held a clerkship in Washington one winter, and are thoroughly acquainted with national politics and the tariff question</td> + <td class='c019'>20</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c006'>But we can violate this confidence no further. +Suffice it to say, that, when once the grasping +<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>monopolists who now hold the journalistic intellect +of our country by the throat are compelled to +accede to the just demands of brain-labor, pale +faces and haggard forms will be banished from +our newspaper offices, and affluence will reign +where the twin vultures, starvation and penury, +now brood in hideous silence.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A White-House Ballad.—II.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in6'>THE KISSING OF THE BRIDE.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And when at last, with priestly pray’r</div> + <div class='line'>And music mingling in the air,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The nuptial knot was tied,</div> + <div class='line'>Sir Grover, flaming crimson red—</div> + <div class='line'>“Soothly, it is my mind,” he said,</div> + <div class='line in4'>“That I salute the bride!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Whereat upon her virgin cheek,</div> + <div class='line'>So smooth, so plump, and comely eke,</div> + <div class='line in4'>He did implant a smack</div> + <div class='line'>So lusty that the walls around</div> + <div class='line'>Gave such an echo to the sound</div> + <div class='line in4'>As they had like to crack.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>No modern salutation this—</div> + <div class='line'>No mincing, maudling mugwump kiss</div> + <div class='line in4'>To chill a bride’s felicity;</div> + <div class='line'>Exploding on that blushing cheek,</div> + <div class='line'>Its virile clamor did bespeak</div> + <div class='line in4'>Arcadian simplicity.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'><span class='sc'>June 2, 1886.</span></p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Haskells, Père et Fils.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It will delight the venerable editor of “The +Boston Herald” to learn that his son, Will E. +Haskell, has been commissioned a member of the +military staff of the governor of Minnesota, with +the title of major. As we learn by reference to +Lossing’s “Field-Book of the Massachusetts Militia,” +Haskell <i>père</i> himself is a soldier, having been +commissioned a captain of militia as far back as +1844. In this same reliable volume we read that +“on July 4, 1847, the Cambridge Israel Putnam +Fusileers, under command of Capt. Haskell, elicited +rapturous huzzas by the alacrity and precision of +their evolutions and manœuvres during the general +training on Boston Common” (vol. iii. p. 268). +As we understand it, young Major Haskell’s +military promotion will not necessarily involve +service upon the field of battle. Minnesota +is now in a condition of peace, and is likely to +remain so. All that will be expected of Major +Haskell will be the purchase of a suit of regimentals, +a roan gelding, and a fine sword: upon state +occasions, the major will have to wear these regimentals +and this sword, and will have to ride the +roan gelding to and fro through the streets of +Minnesota’s capital, bearing sealed orders to and +from his excellency the governor, and bestowing +ineffably fascinating smiles upon the throngs of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>admiring ladies. Young Major Haskell is a handsome +man, and it makes us tremble to think of the +increased powers and the illimitable possibilities +with which his regimentals will invest his native +pulchritude.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A White-House Ballad.—III.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'>THE PASSING OF THE COMPLIMENT.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Eftsoons the priest had made his say,</div> + <div class='line'>The courtly knights and ladies gay</div> + <div class='line in4'>Did haste from every side,</div> + <div class='line'>With honeyed words, and hackneyed phrase,</div> + <div class='line'>And dainty smiles, withal, to praise</div> + <div class='line in4'>Sir Grover’s blushing bride.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Outspake the courtly Sir Lamar,</div> + <div class='line'>“Of all fair brides, you, lady, are</div> + <div class='line in4'>The fairest I have seen:</div> + <div class='line'>Not only of this castle grand,</div> + <div class='line'>But of all hearts throughout the land,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Are you acknowledged queen!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Whereat the Lady Frances bowed;</div> + <div class='line'>And rapturous murmurs in the crowd</div> + <div class='line in4'>Did presently attest,</div> + <div class='line'>That, of the chestnuts uttered there,</div> + <div class='line'>This chestnut was without compare—</div> + <div class='line in4'>Foredating all the rest.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'><span class='sc'>June 2, 1886.</span></p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>More about Col. Haskell.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Capt. Ebenezer Holbrook, one of the oldest +and most respected citizens of Waltham, Mass., +happens to be in Chicago at the present time on a +visit to his son, who is engaged in business here. +He tells us that he read with deep interest our +article upon Col. Haskell of “The Boston Herald,” +and his son, William E. Haskell, who has just been +appointed a major upon the military staff of the +governor of Minnesota. Capt. Holbrook says that +the Haskells have always been noted for their +fondness for, and adaptability to, military life. As +far back as 1723, old Elizur Haskell (the great-grandfather +of the Minnesota editor) led the company +of Massachusetts militia which proceeded +against the Indians then encamped near Deerfield, +and routed them after a most bloody battle. It +was during this historic fray that King Philip, the +bravest of the Indian chieftains in New England, +engaged in a hand-to-hand combat with Elizur +Haskell. Finding the sturdy Puritan too much +for him, the discreet savage made his escape to the +fastnesses of that mountain near the Connecticut +River which is now known as Mount Sugarloaf; +and to this day, a singularly romantic chain of rocks +on the summit of this hill is called “King Philip’s +Seat,” for it is here that the dusky chieftain found +refuge after his unsuccessful skirmish with Elizur +<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>Haskell. Capt. Holbrook says that old Elizur’s +son, Joshua Haskell, was the best wrestler in Massachusetts +for twenty years; that on account of +his prowess in this science, he was elected colonel +of the Second Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, +which distinction he enjoyed continuously until, at +a town-meeting in Boston in the fall of 1785, he +was thrown best two in three by Zephaniah +Newton, son of Squire Newton of Worcester. +The “Haskell Book,” compiled by J. Hancock +Haskell of Hartford, Conn., shows that, within the +last two hundred years, there have been four generals, +sixteen colonels, eleven majors, and twenty-eight +captains, in the Haskell family, of which +number none has ever perished upon the field of +battle.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Another New Book.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Local literary circles will be pleased to learn +that the “Art Epicurean,” a new work from the +pen of Mr. H. M. Kinsley, the restaurateur, has +just been issued to the trade. This toothsome +volume, which is calculated to cater to the higher +instincts and tastes of the cultured palate, is illustrated +with choice cuts of Mr. Kinsley’s business-house; +and, as poetry always gives an agreeable +flavor to every kind of literary work, the talented +author has interlarded or sandwiched his work with +rare old tenderlines from the best poets.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Slattery of Boston.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It was our singularly happy fortune to meet with +a number of distinguished Massachusetts gentlemen +last week. Professional duties constantly +bring us into association with people from all over +the country, but never before the felicitous occasion +to which we now refer had we been accorded +the inestimable boon of meeting and conversing +with leading representatives of the intelligence +and the culture of the grand old Bay State. It +appears that these gentlemen whom we met last +week, came all the way from Massachusetts to investigate +the drainage of that beautiful suburban +monarchy conducted by our esteemed fellow-townsman, +George M. Pullman. They were members +of the Massachusetts Legislature, and had been +authorized as a committee to visit Chicago with a +view to learning a few facts about the system of +drainage in vogue hereabout. As soon as it became +known that they had arrived in the midst of +us, our hospitable citizens bestirred themselves to +contribute to the entertainment of the distinguished +delegation. It is to Dr. DeWolf, our +popular city physician, that we are indebted for +the honor of becoming acquainted with the Massachusetts +embassy. Dr. DeWolf gave the distinguished +party a formal dinner at the Grand Pacific +Hotel last Saturday afternoon, and (as one of the +local guests invited to bask in the sunlight of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>the Massachusetts statesmen’s smiles, and to quaff +the nectar of the Massachusett’s statesmen’s wit, +sentiment, and logic) it became our ever-to-be-remembered +but melancholy fortune to sit at table +next to the Hon. E. J. Slattery of Framingham, +Mass. Certain facial contours, features, and expressions +of this honorable person—to say nothing +of his habit of eating with his knife—aroused +a suspicion that we had met Mr. Slattery before +(and it was around the Chicago polls, we thought), +but we have since then concluded that it was not +Mr. Slattery, but several persons who looked like +him that we had met. The New-England vernacular, +as spoken by Mr. Slattery, was different from +what we had expected to hear. There was a richness +and a furriness about it that reminded us of +red flannel a yard wide and an inch thick; and +what excited our surprise (if not admiration) was +the discovery that, although Mr. Slattery had come +all the way from Massachusetts to investigate Illinois +drainage, Mr. Slattery seemed to care little, +and to know less, about that exceedingly useful +and interesting system. To be more explicit, Mr. +Slattery appeared to be disinclined to converse on +the drainage subject, and to be inclined to discuss +the wrongs of Erin, and the subversion of Queen +Victoria’s iron heel. From this representative +Massachusetts gentleman’s remarks, which were +too forcible for publication in our conservative +columns, we gathered in our feeble way that the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>Commonwealth of Massachusetts was on the threshold +of a war with England—that it required but +the firebrand of Mr. Slattery’s eloquence to kindle +the flame which was to raze the throne of the +haughty Guelphs to its nethermost underpinning. +Still, this matter did not particularly interest us; +and taking advantage of the lull in the conversation, +occasioned by Mr. Slattery’s exploiting with +his jack-knife in his mouth, we adroitly changed +the drift of the discourse by observing, that, of all +the distinguished living sons of Massachusetts we +most desired to meet, the one particular distinguished +son was the Hon. James Russell Lowell, +whereupon Mr. Slattery shocked us greatly by saying +that Mr. Lowell was not “worth a ——!” +We replied deferentially, that we had always had a +faint but lingering impression that Mr. Lowell was +revered and beloved by the people of Massachusetts; +but Mr. Slattery corrected that impression +by saying that Mr. Lowell couldn’t be elected +road-overseer in his (Slattery’s) district. Mr. +Slattery said that Mr. Lowell had never done any +thing but sit around all his life, and write poetry—very +bad poetry, too—poetry that couldn’t hold a +candle to Thomas Moore’s songs. Furthermore, +Mr. Slattery said, that, although he had lived in +Massachusetts a good many years, he had never +read a line of Mr. Lowell’s poetry, and, what was +worse, he never would. Another member of the +Massachusetts Legislature said that he had come to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>this country from Holland twenty years ago; that +he had never read Mr. Lowell’s poetry; that he had +no use for Lowell, anyway. With that, Mr. Slattery +and his colleague fell to denouncing Mr. Lowell so +roundly, that, in our confusion, we protested that +we didn’t refer to the man Lowell, but to the town +Lowell, where they make shoes by the cord.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The result of our meeting these eminent Massachusetts +representatives, who are presumed to reflect +the sentiments of their communities, was a +solemn conviction that we had overestimated the +worth of quite a number of New-England people—men +who perhaps were good enough and bright +enough in their day, but who had faded into insignificance +beneath the scrutiny of these later times. +When we heard Mrs. Stowe stigmatized as “a +crank who wrote a book about a naygur,” and +old Dr. Holmes described as “one of them Harvard +professors who never threw an honest shovelful of +dirt,”—when we heard these things, we felt that +we were indeed the victim of a misplaced confidence. +But, even feeling so, we could not help +regretting having learned the truth; and much as +we revere the wit, the learning, and the culture of +Mr. Slattery, and of Mr. Slattery’s colleague from +Amsterdam, we would fain protest against the +habit into which Massachusetts appears to be drifting; +namely, that of sending out broadcast these +bold and unanswerable iconoclasts, whose delight +is in the demolition of our popular idols.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mme. L’Allemand’s Humor.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>A young medical practitioner of this city, who +had occasion to deal professionally with one of the +principals of the National Opera Company a few +weeks ago, tells the following capital story of Mme. +Pauline L’Allemand. It appears that when the +company was in Chicago, the management owed +Mme. L’Allemand considerable back salary, much +to the charming song-bird’s mental perturbation. +It appears also, that, as one of the collateral schemes +of the opera management, it was proposed to give +a grand concert in Washington, and at this concert +it was determined that L’Allemand should figure +as the star attraction. To this proposition, the +gifted lady cheerfully assented; but when Mr. +Jaffray, the treasurer of the company, came to her, +and asked her what numbers she was going to sing +at the concert, she declined to say until her back +salary had been paid to her. Thereupon Mr. +Jaffray told her that he would attend to that little +detail right away; but it must have slipped his +memory, for madam caught no glimpse of the +much-desired money.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In a few days, however, Mr. Jaffray hove in +sight with another request for madam to give him +the names of the songs she intended to contribute +to the Washington concert; but madam said, “No +money, no songs.”—“Quite true,” said Mr. Jaffray +<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>smilingly: “I’ll go right away, and have that matter +attended to.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Time sped on, but the back salary came not. +One evening Jaffray sought Mme. L’Allemand +again. “By ten o’clock to-morrow morning,” said +he, “I must have that memorandum of songs for +the Washington concert. There is no time to +spare.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Very well,” answered L’Allemand: “the list +will be ready at that hour if my check is.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I will see that the check is forthcoming,” said +Mr. Jaffray.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But the appointed hour brought neither Mr. +Jaffray nor the check. Whereupon Mme. L’Allemand +wrote and sent the following note:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class='c006'>“<span class='sc'>Mr. Jaffray</span>,—The delay in the coming of the salary +due me has led me to select for the Washington concert +three numbers peculiarly appropriate to my condition of +mind and purse. You can announce that Mme. L’Allemand +will sing,—</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>When My Ship Comes In</span></td> + <td class='c009'><i>Locke</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Waiting</span></td> + <td class='c009'><i>Jaffray</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>What Shall the Harvest Be?</span></td> + <td class='c009'><i>Thurber</i></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c006'>“Hoping that these selections will please both management +and public, I am respectfully yours,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“PAULINE L’ALLEMAND.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</blockquote> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Veteran Actor.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Major Horace McVicker tells an amusing +story of the veteran Frank Rea, who is, perhaps, +the oldest actor now on earth. About four years +ago, Rea came on from Denver, and took up his +abode in New York. He was aged and old-fashioned, +but his ambition was as big as ever; and he +undertook, with intense enthusiasm, every suburban +engagement that was offered him by kindly disposed +managers and theatrical bureaus. One time +he was sent down to Sunbury, Penn., with a scrub-company, +to give the natives a season of melodrama; +and Rea himself was cast as the first old +man. After the first night’s performance, Rea, +accompanied by one of his fellow-actors, strode +into one of the Sunbury saloons, and advanced toward +the bar with the inevitable precision and unfaltering +intrepidity of Mary Queen of Scots going +to execution. Laying a dime down upon the counter, +he inquired of the barkeeper, in impressive +tones, “Tell me, my good sir, what will that buy?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That,” answered the barkeeper, riveting his +basilisk gaze upon the weather-beaten coin, “that +will buy one glass of whiskey, or two glasses of +beer.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The old actor looked searchingly into his companion’s +face as if he hoped to discover there some +relief from the perplexity which surged in tumultuous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>billows through his bosom. Then he heaved +a deep sigh, and, turning again to the mercenary +Ganymede, he said, in the profound basso voice of +a seventeenth-century tragedian, “That being the +case, give us one glass of beer, and <i>half</i> a glass of +whiskey!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A White-House Ballad.—IV.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in12'>THE PIE.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>King Grover at his table round</div> + <div class='line'>Sate feasting once, and there was sound</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of good things said and sly;</div> + <div class='line'>When, presently, King Grover spake:</div> + <div class='line'>“A murrain seize this futile cake!</div> + <div class='line in4'>Come, Daniel, pass the pie!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then quoth Sir Daniel, flaming hot,</div> + <div class='line'>“Pie hath not been in Camelot</div> + <div class='line in4'>Since Arthur was our king;</div> + <div class='line'>Soothly, I ween, ’twere vain to make</div> + <div class='line'>Demand for pie where there is cake,</div> + <div class='line in4'>For pie’s a ribald thing!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Despite King Arthur’s rash decree,</div> + <div class='line'>Which ill-beseemeth mine and me,”</div> + <div class='line in4'>King Grover answered flat,</div> + <div class='line'>“I will have pie three times a day,—</div> + <div class='line'>Let dotards cavil as they may,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>And <i>pumpkin</i>-pie, at that!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, frowning a prodigious frown,</div> + <div class='line'>Sir Daniel pulled his visor down,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And, with a mighty sigh,</div> + <div class='line'>Out strode he to the kitchen, where</div> + <div class='line'>He bade the varlet slaves prepare</div> + <div class='line in4'>Three times each day a pie.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth King Grover was content,</div> + <div class='line'>And all his reign in peace was spent;</div> + <div class='line in4'>And when ’twas questioned why</div> + <div class='line'>He waxed so hale, and why the while,</div> + <div class='line'>The whole domain was free from guile,</div> + <div class='line in4'>He simply answered, “Pie!”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Life, Death, and Love.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>A man whose greatness had brought him fame +and wealth lay on his death-bed. A woman clasped +his hands, and with her kisses, and words of love, +strove to soothe his dying agonies.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Many years ago this man and this woman were +made husband and wife, and side by side they +started upon life’s journey. Youth, love, and hope +gave them strength. No other possessions had +they, yet the future was full of promise.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The man gloried in his majestic manliness. +Health made him a marvel of noble beauty. His +frame was of iron, his muscles were of steel, and +his brain was clean and vigorous as the sturdy +heart that throbbed in his rugged breast. Success—which +is another term for wealth and fame—came +to him as certainly as it always does to the +brave and strong. Who was there that did not +admire the manliness of his art?</p> + +<p class='c006'>But in the years that followed this success, the +man neglected the woman, his wife. Dazzled by +the glory of his triumphs, his eyes were blind to +the beauty, the loyalty, and the sweetness of her +love. Perhaps he thought the woman whom the +sturdy, unknown youth had taken to his heart was +unworthy to share the fruits of the great and honored +man’s conquests. But he put her away: in +all charity let it be said the wrong came not from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>an evil heart, but from the false glitter by which +an unparalleled prosperity blinded his eyes, and +turned his head.</p> + +<p class='c006'>To this wrong succeeded a greater. Women +who knew not the sweetness and sacredness of +purity, openly and wantonly gloried in his unholy +homage. And into this popular idol’s life, there +crept a shame that meant inevitable and irretrievable +ruin.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Who counted the tears, who heard the agonized +prayers, of the heart-broken wife in all the years of +this proud, strong man’s exaltation? That divine, +almighty Power that has written in every human +bosom this eternal truth,—that he who puts a stain +upon his hearthstone, and violates a wifely love, +shall pay a sure and dreadful penalty.</p> + +<p class='c006'>So it came to pass that at the very height of his +glory, and in the full possession of his powers, an +awful retribution came upon the great, strong +man. The shame of his splendid life had planted +its poisons thick and deep, and the ruin was complete. +A cloud fell upon the strong man’s reason, +and his majestic frame crumbled and withered with +disease. Where, then, were his flatterers, and +where the comely sirens that with their false +charms had allured him from his hearthstone? +At the first warning of impending ruin they disappeared, +like sunbeams before the advance of a +thunder-cloud. Where was his fame now? where +his greatness, the world’s homage, the power of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>riches? All gone, all dissipated, or, at least, as +futile against the hand of divine retribution as the +winds that play around the tops of the everlasting +hills.</p> + +<p class='c006'>From a living dream whose horrors we may +never know, the shattered, enfeebled man awakened +one day. The cloud was lifted from his brain; +and, ere he went to his last judgment, his eyes +looked once more for a short moment upon the +woman he had so grievously wronged. <i>She</i>, woman +that she was! came with forgiveness on her lips, +and love in her broken heart, to minister to him in +his last moments; to bear him back to the hearthstone +he had abandoned. He felt her arms about +his neck, and the death-damp on his brow was +warmed by her caresses.</p> + +<p class='c006'><i>Then</i>, at last, we may suppose, this mighty wreck—this +shattered fabric of human idolatry—saw +and felt the incomparable sweetness and grandeur +of wifely love. At least, we are told he stretched +out his hands to her as though he pleaded for forgiveness. +His lips moved; but from them there +came no sound, as if inexorable retribution decreed +he should not tell that gentle, noble wife how sweetly +her love soothed him. But we are told his eyes +were fixed steadily upon hers, and we know—yes, +we know it well—they spoke tenderly and reverently +to her, and pleaded, oh, so earnestly! for her +love and compassion. We know, too, that all the +love and compassion the dying great man craved +<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>was given freely—ay, even before his trembling +hands and pleading eyes reached out for it.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Such is thy charity, O godlike womanhood! and +in its sweetness and tenderness and purity, God +grant we all may live and die!</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Pike’s Peak.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I stood upon the peak amid the air:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Below me lay the peopled, busy earth;</div> + <div class='line'>Life, life, and life again was everywhere,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And everywhere were melody and mirth—</div> + <div class='line'>Save on that peak, and silence brooded there.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I vaunted then myself, and half aloud</div> + <div class='line in2'>I gloried in the journey I had done:</div> + <div class='line'>“Eschewing earth, and earth’s seductive crowd,</div> + <div class='line in2'>I’ve scaled this steep, despite the rocks and sun;</div> + <div class='line'>Of such a feat might any man be proud!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But, as I boasted thus, my burro brayed;</div> + <div class='line in2'>I turned, and lo! a tear was in his eye;</div> + <div class='line'>And as I gazed, methought the burro sayed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Prithee, who brought you up this mountain high?</div> + <div class='line'>Was it <i>your</i> legs or <i>mine</i> the journey made?”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then moraled I: “The sturdiest peak is fame’s,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And there be many on its very height,</div> + <div class='line'>Who strut in pride, and vaunt their empty claims,</div> + <div class='line in2'>While those poor human asses who delight</div> + <div class='line'>To place them there have unremembered names!”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Christian-County Mosquitoes.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Dr. Cyrus Thomas, formerly of Carbondale, +but now connected with the national entomological +department at Washington, is temporarily in Illinois, +investigating the habits of the mosquitoes that +infest that magnificent Christian-county waterway, +Flat Branch. By a judicious system of bear-traps +exposed along the banks of Flat Branch, Dr. +Thomas has possessed himself of a number of +handsome specimens of Christian-county mosquitoes, +and he is enabled therefore to pursue his researches +with uncommon accuracy and ease. His +investigations have not progressed to that extent, +however, that he is able to declare positively that +the Christian-county mosquito is an insect, and not +a bird: in fact, there are numerous reasons for believing +that these curious and ravenous creatures +are a species of reptile, provided, by an inscrutable +dispensation of nature, with wings. But his researches +have developed many interesting and +hitherto unknown facts about these remarkable +and remorseless nondescripts. In the first place, +the Flat-Branch mosquitoes are carnivorous mammals: +they nurse their young, and they are provided +with incisor and molar teeth for the tearing +and masticating of flesh. There is something almost +human in the way they wear their beards +and mustaches, yet they resemble the equine species +<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>in the particular of the spiked shoes with +which they are invariably shod when they arrive +at maturity, viz., the twenty-first year. In the +matter of rearing their young, their habits seem to +be like those of the ordinary prairie-chicken, for +they retire in the early spring to quiet burrows or +corn-fields along Flat Branch, and raise their +broods, which have been known to number six hundred +souls to one family; in July they become gregarious, +and congregate in the timber, roosting in +the high trees, and laying waste the human population +of the surrounding country. Christian-county +huntsmen—notably the Taylorville Sportsman’s +Association—employ different methods of capturing +these destructive creatures. One way is by +means of quail-nets: another is the old way of +hunting them with pointer-dogs and gun, in the +latter case, buckshot is used, and the heaviest kind +of fowling-piece is preferred. But the most popular +method of capture is the pitfall,—the same employed +to entrap elephants in India. A deep pit +is dug, a light covering is thrown over the opening, +and on this covering is placed a hindquarter of +beef. Attracted thither by the fumes of the meat, +the mosquito unsuspectingly steps upon the deceitful +pitfall, the slight fabric yields under the leviathan’s +weight, and with a sickening groan the +winged monster is precipitated into his gloomy +prison, from which he is not hoisted by his captors +till he is enfeebled by captivity and starvation. In +<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>this way thousands of mosquitoes are taken annually +by the people of Christian County, who +derive a handsome profit from the pelts of the +mosquitoes, which are tanned into shoe-leather, +and the tusks, which are utilized for those varied +purposes to which ivory is usually put. Considering +the importance of this industry, it is not +strange that the result of Dr. Thomas’s explorations +and researches are awaited with a solicitude +bordering upon suspense.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Dying Soldier.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>His listening soul hears no echo of battle,</div> + <div class='line in2'>No pæan of triumph, nor welcome of fame;</div> + <div class='line'>But down through the years comes a little one’s prattle,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And softly he murmurs her idolized name;</div> + <div class='line'>And it seems as if now at his heart she were clinging,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As she clung in those dear, distant years to his knee;</div> + <div class='line'>He sees her fair face, and he hears her sweet singing—</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Nellie is coming from over the sea.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>While each patriot’s hope stays the fulness of sorrow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>While our eyes are bedimmed, and our voices are low,</div> + <div class='line'>He dreams of the daughter who comes with the morrow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like an angel come back from the dear long ago.</div> + <div class='line'>Ah! what to him now is a nation’s emotion?</div> + <div class='line in2'>And what for our love or our grief careth he?</div> + <div class='line'>A swift-speeding ship is a-sail on the ocean,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Nellie is coming from over the sea!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'><span class='sc'>March, 1884.</span></p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>His First Day at Editing.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Yesterday morning Mr. Horace A. Hurlbut +took formal possession of “The Chicago Times,” in +compliance with the mandate of justice making +him receiver of that institution. Bright and early +he was at his post in “The Times” building; and +the expression that coursed over his mobile features +as he lolled back in the editorial chair, and +abandoned himself to pleasing reflections, was an +expression of conscious pride and ineffable satisfaction.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have now attained the summit and the goal +of earthly ambition,” quoth Mr. Hurlbut to himself. +“Embarking in the drug-business at an +early age, I have progressed through the intermediate +spheres of real estate, brokerage, and +money-lending, until finally I have reached the +top round of the ladder of fame, and am now +the head of the greatest daily newspaper on the +American continent. I expect and intend to +prove myself equal to the demands which will be +made upon me in this new capacity. I have my +own notions about journalism,—they differ somewhat +from the conventional notions that prevail, +but that is neither here nor there; for, as the dictator +of this great newspaper, I shall have no difficulty +in putting my theories into practice.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Here’s the mornin’ mail, major,” said the office-boy, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>laying innumerable packages of letters and +circulars on the table before Mr. Hurlbut.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why do you call me major?” inquired Mr. +Hurlbut, with an amused twinkle in his eyes.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh! we always call the editors majors,” replied +the office-boy. “Major Dennett made that +a rule long time ago.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It is not a bad idea,” said Major Hurlbut; “for +it gives one a dignity and prestige which can never +maintain among untitled civilians. So this is the +morning mail, is it?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Major Hurlbut picked up one of the letters, scrutinized +the superscription, heaved a deep sigh, +picked up several other letters, blushed, frowned, +and appeared much embarrassed.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Can you tell me,” he asked, “whether there +are any reporters about this office by the names, or +aliases, or nom de plume, or pseudonym, of ‘M 33,’ +and ‘X 14,’ or ‘S 5,’ or ‘G 38’? I find numerous +letters directed in this wise, and I mistrust +that some unseemly work is being done under +cover of these bogus appellations. I will make +bold to examine one of these letters.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So Major Hurlbut tore open one of the envelopes, +and read as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class='c006'>“G 38, Times Office: I have a nice, quiet, furnished room. +Call after eight o’clock <span class='fss'>P.M.</span>, at No. 1143 Elston Road.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class='c006'>“As I suspected,” cried Major Hurlbut, with a +profound groan. “Under these strange pseudonyms, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>the reporters of this paper are engaging in +a carnival of vice! But the saturnalia must end +at once. From this moment ‘The Times’ becomes +a moral institution. I shall ascertain the +names of these reporters, and have them peremptorily +discharged!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“H’yar’s a package for you, sah,” said the dusky +porter, Martin Lewis, entering, and placing a small +bundle before Major Hurlbut.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Ah, yes! I see,” quoth the major. “They are +the new cards I ordered last Saturday. We editors +have to have cards, so as to let people know +we are editors.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>With this philosophic observation, the major +opened the bundle, and disclosed several hundred +neat pasteboard cards, printed in red and black as +follows:—</p> + +<div class='border'> + +<div class='lg-container-b c020'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in12'><span class='large'>HORACE A. HURLBUT,</span></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in14'>Receiver and Editor “Chicago Times.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>REAL ESTATE A SPECIALTY.</i></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'><i>DRUG ORDERS PROMPTLY FILLED.</i></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in8'>Loans Negotiated without Publicity.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c006'>“They are very handsome,” said Major Hurlbut, +“but I am sorry I did not have the title of major +prefixed to my name. However, I will take that +precaution with the next lot I have printed.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Majah Dennett would like to speak with you, +sah,” said Martin, the porter.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>“Although I am very busy with this mail, you +may show him in,” remarked Major Hurlbut.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Major Dennett pigeon-toed his way into the new +editor’s presence, and was loftily waved to a chair +in which he dropped, and sat with his toes turned +in. Major Hurlbut heaved a weary sigh, ran his +fingers through his hair, and regarded his visitor +with a condescending stare.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“This is a busy hour with us editors,” said Major +Hurlbut, “therefore I hope you will state your +business as succinctly as possible.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I merely called to receive orders,” explained +Major Dennett, with an astonished look.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Orders for what?” cried Major Hurlbut. +“Perhaps you forget, sir, that I am out of the drug-business, +and am an editor. Permit me, sir, to +hand you one of my professional cards.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You mistake me, sir,” replied Major Dennett: +“I am connected with this paper, and have been +managing editor for many years.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Major Hurlbut’s manner changed instantly. His +cold reserve melted at once, and he became docile +as a sucking-dove.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“My dear major,” he exclaimed cordially, “I +am overjoyed to meet you. Draw your chair +closer, and let us converse together upon matters +which concern us both. Each of us has the +interests of this great paper at heart; but I, as the +head of the institution, have a fearful responsibility +resting upon my shoulders. It behooves you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>to assist me; and, as the first and most important +step, I must beg of you to inform me what is +expected of me as an editor. I am willing and +anxious to edit, but how can I?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Major Dennett undertook to explain a few of +the duties which would fall upon the editor’s shoulders, +and would have continued talking all day +had not the venerable Major Andre Matteson been +ushered into the room, thereby interrupting the +conversation. Upon being formally introduced to +the new editor, Major Matteson inquired what the +policy of “The Times” would be henceforward +touching the tariff, the civil service, the war in +the Soudan, and the doctrine of the transmigration +of souls.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have not decided fully what the policy of +the paper will be in these minor matters,” quoth +Major Hurlbut, “except that we shall favor the +abolition of the tariff on quinine, cochineal, and +other drugs and dyestuffs. I have made up my +mind, however, to advocate the opening of a +boulevard in Fleabottom subdivision; and, as you +are one of the editorial writers, Major Matteson, +I would like to have you compose a piece about +the folly of extending the Thirtieth-street sewer +through the Bosbyshell subdivision. And you +may give the firm of Brown, Jones, & Co. a raking +over, for they have seriously interfered with +the sale of my lots out in that part of the city.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Major George McConnell and Major Guy Magee +<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>filed into the room at this juncture, and were formally +presented to Editor Hurlbut, who looked +impressive, and received them with a dignity that +would have done credit to a pagan court.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I had hoped to be in a position to boom the +city department of the paper,” said Major Magee; +“but I find that three of the reporters are sick +with headache to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Sick? What appears to be the matter?” +asked the editor.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I didn’t ask them,” replied Major Magee; +“but they said they had headaches.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“They should try bromide of potassium, tincture +of valerian, and aromatic spirits of ammonia,” +observed Major Hurlbut. “By the way, whenever +any of our editors or reporters get sick, they +should come to me; for I can give them prescriptions +that will fix them up in less than no time.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I presume the policy of the paper touching +the theatres will remain unchanged?” inquired +Major McConnell.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That reminds me,” said Major Hurlbut: “who +gets the show-tickets?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, I have attended to that detail heretofore,” +replied Major McConnell.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“We get as many as we want, don’t we?” asked +Major Hurlbut.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Certainly,” said Major McConnell.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, then, we must give the shows good +notices,” said the editor: “and, by the way, I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>would like to have you leave six tickets with me +every morning; they will come in mighty handy, +you know, among my friends. Do we get railroad-passes +too?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, all we want,” said Major Dennett.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I am glad I am an editor,” said Major Hurlbut +softly but feelingly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The foreman came in.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Shall we set it in nonpareil to-night?” he asked.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Eh?” ejaculated Editor Hurlbut.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Does nonpareil go?” repeated the foreman.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What has he been doing?” inquired Editor +Hurlbut.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The minion is so bad that we ought to put the +paper in nonpareil,” explained the foreman.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It must be understood,” thundered Major +Hurlbut, “that no bad minions will be tolerated +on the premises. If there is any minion here who +is dissatisfied, let him quit at once.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Then, I am to fire the minion?” asked the +foreman.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No,” said Major Hurlbut, “do not fire him, +for that would constitute arson; discharge him, +but use no violence.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>We deeply regret that this astute mandate was +followed by an interchange of sundry smiles, nods, +and winks between the foreman and the members +of the editorial staff, which, however, Major Hurlbut +did not see, or he most assuredly would have +reproved this unseemly and <i>mal-apropos</i> levity.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>And so they talked and talked. And each +moment Major Hurlbut became more and more +impressed with the importance and solemnity of +the new dignity he had attained, and each moment +he became more and more impressive in his mien +and conversation. And each moment, too, he +silently and devoutly thanked High Heaven that in +its goodness and mercy it had called him to the +ennobling profession of journalism.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Little Peach.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A little peach in the orchard grew,</div> + <div class='line'>A little peach of emerald hue:</div> + <div class='line'>Warmed by the sun, and wet by the dew,</div> + <div class='line in28'>It grew.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One day, walking the orchard through,</div> + <div class='line'>That little peach dawned on the view</div> + <div class='line'>Of Johnny Jones and his sister Sue—</div> + <div class='line in28'>Those two.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Up at the peach a club they threw:</div> + <div class='line'>Down from the limb on which it grew,</div> + <div class='line'>Fell the little peach of emerald hue—</div> + <div class='line in28'>Too true!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>John took a bite, and Sue took a chew,</div> + <div class='line'>And then the trouble began to brew,—</div> + <div class='line'>Trouble the doctor couldn’t subdue,—</div> + <div class='line in28'>Paregoric too.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Under the turf where the daisies grew,</div> + <div class='line'>They planted John and his sister Sue;</div> + <div class='line'>And their little souls to the angels flew—</div> + <div class='line in28'>Boo-hoo!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But what of the peach of emerald hue,</div> + <div class='line'>Warmed by the sun, and wet by the dew?</div> + <div class='line'>Ah, well! its mission on earth is through—</div> + <div class='line in28'>Adieu!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Learning and Literature.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. J. N. Whiting writes us from New Litchfield, +Ill., asking if we can tell him the name of +the author of the poem, of which the following +is the first stanza:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The weary heart is a pilgrim</div> + <div class='line in2'>Seeking the Mecca of rest;</div> + <div class='line'>Its burden is one of sorrows;</div> + <div class='line'>And it wails a song as it drags along,—</div> + <div class='line in2'>’Tis the song of a hopeless quest.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. Whiting says that this poem has been attributed +to James Channahon, a gentleman who +flourished about the year 1652; “but,” he adds, +“its authorship has not as yet been established +with any degree of certainty.” Mr. Whiting has +noticed that “The Daily News” is a “criterion on +matters of literary interest,” and he craves the +boon of our valuable opinion, touching this important +question. Now, although it is true that we +occasionally deal with obsolete topics, it is far from +our desire to make a practice of so doing. It is +natural, that, once in a while, when an editor gets +hold of a catalogue of unusual merit, and happens +to have a line of encyclopædias at hand—it is +natural, we say, that, under such circumstances, +an editor should take pleasure in letting his subscribers +know how learnedly he can write about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>books and things. But an editor must be careful +not to write above the comprehension of the +majority of his readers. If we made a practice +of writing as learnedly as we are capable of writing, +the proprietors of this paper would soon have +to raise its price from two cents to five cents per +copy. We say this in no spirit of egotism: it is +simply our good fortune that we happen to +possess extraordinary advantages. We have the +best assortment of cyclopædias in seven States, +and the Public Library is only two blocks off. +It is no wonder, therefore, that our erudition +and our research are of the highest order. Still, +it is not practicable that we, being now on earth, +should devote much time to delving into, and +wallowing among the authors of past centuries. +Ignatius Donnelly has been trying for the last +three years to inveigle us into a discussion as to +the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. We have +declined to participate in any public brawl with the +Minnesota gentleman, for the simple reason that no +good could accrue therefrom to anybody. If there +were an international copyright law, there would +be some use in trying to find out who wrote these +plays, in order that the author might claim royalties +on his works; or, if not the author, his heirs or +assigns forever. Mr. Whiting will understand +that we cannot take much interest in an anonymous +hymn of the seventeenth century. It is +enough for us to know that the hymn in question +<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>could not have been written by a Chicago man, +for the very good reason that Chicago did not +exist in the seventeenth century; that is to say, +it existed merely as the haunt of the musquash +and the mud-turtle, and not as the living, breathing +metropolis of to-day. We have our hands +full examining into, and criticising, the live topics +of current times: if we were to spend our days and +nights in hunting up the estray poets and authors +of the seventeenth century, how long would it be +before the sceptre of trade and culture would slip +irrecoverably from Chicago’s grasp? Chicago has +very little respect for the seventeenth century, +because there is nothing in it. The seventeenth +century has done nothing for Chicago: she does +not even know that this is the greatest hog-market +in the world, and she has never had any commercial +dealings with us in any line. If Chicago +doesn’t cut a wider swath in history than the +seventeenth century has, we shall be very much +ashamed of her. Of one thing we rest assured,—nobody +will be writing to a newspaper two hundred +years hence, asking the name of “the Chicago +man who wrote that exquisite hymn in the +nineteenth century,” beginning,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>“A cultured gent is the packer</div> + <div class='line in4'>Who in this town abides;</div> + <div class='line in2'>He masticates terbacker,</div> + <div class='line'>And rolls in gold; last year he sold</div> + <div class='line in4'>A million hams and sides.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Some Famous Apologies.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. George Riddle, the promising young +actor, who is Miss Kate Field’s cousin, has written +an open letter of apology to the Boston press. It +appears that Mr. Riddle made his <i>début</i> upon +the Boston stage about three weeks ago, and was +very coldly received by the public and the critics. +Before leaving the city, he sent a saucy letter +to the local newspapers, informing the Boston +people that they could go to thunder, and declaring +that he would never again return to +Boston in his professional capacity. Coming to +think the thing over, however, Mr. Riddle concluded +to apologize; and he has done so in very +manly words. It almost kills some men to make +an apology, but in very many instances it is the +handsome and noble thing to do. If Mr. Riddle +thinks that he ought to apologize for having +played an engagement in Boston, and if he is +sincerely sorry for it—why, all that we can say +is, that he has done the manly thing in that +apology. Greater men than Mr. Riddle have +made mistakes, have recognized the folly thereof, +and have apologized therefor. Ajax, for instance, +defied the lightning once upon a time: he actually +girt on his shield, took up his sword, and went +out into a pelting storm, for the declared purpose +of hurling opprobrious epithets at the electric +<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>fluid. He invited the press-reporters to be +present; and he stood around in the rain for an +hour or two, using very wicked old Greek language, +and catching a very bad cold in his mucous +membrane. Meanwhile the storm continued, and +the lightning went right along doing business at +the old stand. Next morning the sky was cloudless: +the rain had refreshed all nature, and the +air was full of the gratitude of flower and foliage. +Ajax had been drinking camomile-tea all night, +and he stepped out of his tent with his wife’s +shawl tied around his head. Raising his grand, +Hellenic countenance heavenward, he cried hoarsely, +yet in tones of sincere contrition, “O light-dig, +I have gub to abologize; dow if you will +gure be of this gold in by head, we will be frieds +agaid.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>There was another man, of the name of Canute, +who had been so flattered by his courtiers that +he imagined he was omnipotent. He had a proscenium-box +erected on the seashore, and thereinto +he ascended; and, in the presence of as many +people as would fill our base-ball park three times, +he called out to the sea to quit rolling up on the +pebbly beach. No sooner, however, had he +uttered this command, than a breaker of unusual +size broke over the proscenium-box, ruining the +furniture, and soaking Canute so thoroughly that +he had great difficulty in getting off his underclothes. +The next day Canute sent a written +<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>apology to the sea; and, as an earnest of his contrition, +he ordered about fourscore of his courtiers +to be bound to the tails of wild horses, as was a +custom in those merry old times.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Victoria at the Show.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Buffalo Bill’s Wild-West Show has met +with a tremendous triumph in London, and people +of all conditions, ages, and sizes have rushed to +see it. The Prince of Wales set the fashion by +attending the first performance, and by lavishing +smiles of approval upon Minnewaha, the alleged +Indian princess, who is advertised as the daughter +of a fiery, untamed Sioux chief named Drink-Heart’s-Blood, +but who is really the seventh child +of an Omaha journeyman tailor. When this +young woman gets on her paint and feathers and +wampum and things, she really presents a very +aboriginal appearance; and we do not wonder +that she sells over seventy dollars’ worth of bead +bags to the British noblemen <i>per diem</i>. At the +breakfast-table the other morning, Queen Victoria +announced that she was going to the show that +afternoon: she had heard Wales talking about it, +and she proposed to take it in on her own account. +So she went, and had a charming time. That evening +Col. James Russell Lowell called upon her, and +she asked him if he had been to see Buffalo Bill yet.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, queen,” answered the colonel; “but I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>passed through his town on my way to Chicago +last winter.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, now, do you know,” said her majesty +frankly, “that I suspected as much to-day when +I was talking with one of the Indian ladies. She +was very strangely dressed, and was really very +homely. I invited her into my presence, and +asked her how she thought our people compared +with American civilization. Then I asked, ‘Did +you ever read any of Col. Lowell’s poems?’ and +when she said, ‘Humph! me no read—me heap +kill,’ I just made up my mind that she couldn’t +have very much social standing at home.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Pardon me, queen,” said Col. Lowell, “if I +remain dumb on this subject. The lady to whom +you refer may be a member of the Chicago Union +League Club; and that, you know, is a very delicate +matter with me.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Farmer’s Advice.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“What kind of threshing-machine do you use +on your farm?” inquired a Knox-county farmer of +Farmer Carter Harrison last week. “To tell you +the truth,” replied the modern Cincinnatus, “I +have not had any use for one for a long time. My +children are all nearly grown. I formerly used the +smooth side of a hairbrush; but if I felt the need +of one now, I fancy I would use a trunk-strap.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Chicago German Lyric.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">DER NIEBELRUNGEN UND DER SCHLABBERGASTERFELDT.</span></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in20'>I.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Ein Niebelrungen schlossen Gold</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="de">Gehabt gehaben Ritcher weiss;</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Ein Schlabbergasterfeldt zum Sold</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="de">Gehaben Meister treulich heiss.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">“Ich dich! Ich dich!” die Maedchen tzwei—</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">“Ich dich!” das Niebelrungen drei.</span></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in20 c002'>II.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Die Turnverein ist lieb und dicht</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="de">Zum Fest und lieben kleiner Geld;</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Der Niebelrungen picht ein Bricht</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="de">Und hitt das Schlabbergasterfeldt!</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">“Ich dich! Ich dich!” die Maedchen schreit—</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Und so das Schlabbergaster deit.</span></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in20 c002'>III.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Ach! weh das Niebelrungen spott—</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="de">Ach! weh das Maedchen Turnverein—</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Und unser Meister lieben Gott—</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="de">Ach! weh das Wienerwurst und Wein.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Ach! weh das Bricht zum kleiner Geld—</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="de">Ach! weh das Schlabbergasterfeldt!</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Works of Sappho.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>It would be hard to say whether Chicago society +is more deeply interested in the circus which +is exhibiting on the lake-front this week, than in +the compilation of Sappho’s complete works just +published in London, and but this week given to +the trade in Chicago. As we understand it, Sappho +and the circus had their beginning about the +same time: if any thing, the origin of the circus +antedated Sappho’s birth some years, and has +achieved the more wide-spread popularity. In the +volume now before us, we learn that Sappho lived +in the seventh century before Christ, and that she +was at the zenith of her fame at the time when +Tarquinius Priscus was king of Rome, and Nebuchadnezzar +was subsisting on a hay-diet. It appears +that, despite her wisdom, this talented lady +did not know who her father was; seventeen hundred +years after her demise, one Suidas claimed +to have discovered that there were seven of her +father; but Herodotus gives the name of the gentleman +most justly suspected as Scamandronymus. +Be this as it may, Sappho married a rich man, and +subsequently fell in love with a dude who cared +nothing for her; whereupon the unfortunate +woman, without waiting to compile her writings, +and without even indicating whom she preferred +for her literary executor, committed suicide by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>hurling herself from a high precipice into the sea. +Sappho was an exceedingly handsome person, as +we see by the engraving which serves as the frontispiece +of the work before us. This engraving, as +we understand, was made from a portrait painted +from life by a contemporaneous old Grecian artist, +one Alma Tadema.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Still, we could not help wondering, as we saw +the magnificent pageant of Forepaugh’s circus +sweep down our majestic boulevards and superb +thoroughfares yesterday; as we witnessed this +imposing spectacle, we say, we could not help +wondering how many people in all the vast crowds +of spectators knew that there ever was such a +poetess as Sappho, or how many, knowing that +there was such a party, have ever read her works. +It has been nearly a year since a circus came to +town; and in that time public taste has been elevated +to a degree by theatrical and operatic performers, +such as Sara Bernhardt, Emma Abbott, +Murray and Murphy, Adèle Patti, George C. Miln, +Helena Modjeska, Fanny Davenport, and Denman +Thompson. Of course, therefore, our public has +come to be able to appreciate with a nicer discrimination +and a finer zest the intellectual <i>morceaux</i> +and the refined tidbits which Mr. Forepaugh’s unparalleled +aggregation offers: this was apparent in +the vast numbers and in the unbridled enthusiasm +of our best citizens gathered upon the housetops +and at the street-corners along the line of the circus +<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>procession. So magnificent a display of silks, +satins, and diamonds has seldom been seen: it +truly seemed as if the fashion and wealth of our +city were trying to vie with the splendors of the +glittering circus pageant. In honor of the event, +many of the stores, public buildings, and private +dwellings displayed banners, mottoes, and congratulatory +garlands. From the balcony of the palatial +edifice occupied by one of our leading literary +clubs, was suspended a large banner of pink silk, +upon which appeared the word “Welcome” in +white; while beneath, upon a scroll, was an appropriate +couplet from one of Robert Browning’s +poems. When we asked one of the members of +this club why the club made such a fuss over the +circus, he looked very much astonished; and he answered, +“Well, why not? Old Forepaugh is worth +over a million dollars, and he always sends us +complimentaries whenever he comes to town!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>We asked this same gentleman if he had read +the new edition of Sappho’s poems. We had a +good deal of confidence in his literary judgment +and taste, because he is our leading linseed-oil +dealer; and no man in the West is possessed of +more enterprise and sand than he.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“My daughter brought home a copy of the book +Saturday,” said he, “and I looked through it yesterday. +Sappho may suit some cranks; but as for +me, give me Ella Wheeler or Will Carleton. I love +good poetry: I’ve got the finest-bound copy of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>Shakespeare in Illinois, and my edition of Coleridge +will knock the socks off any book in the country. +My wife has painted all the Doray illustrations of +the Ancient Marine, and I wouldn’t swap that +book for the costliest Mysonyay in all Paris!</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I can’t see where the poetry comes in,” he +went on to say. “So far as I can make out, this +man Sapolio—I mean Sappho—never did any +sustained or consecutive work. His poems read +to me a good deal like a diary. Some of them +consist of one line only, and quite a number have +only three words. Now, I will repeat five entire +poems taken from this fool-book: I learned them +on purpose to repeat at the club. Here is the +first:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘Me just now the golden-sandalled Dawn.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>“That’s all there is to it. Here’s the second:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘I yearn and seek.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>“A third is complete in—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘Much whiter than an egg;’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c014'>and the fourth is,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘Stir not the shingle,’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c014'>which, I take it, was one of Sapphire’s juvenile +poems addressed to his mother. The fifth poem +is simply,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘And thou thyself, Calliope,’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c014'><span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>which, by the way, reminds me that Forepaugh’s +calliope got smashed up in a railroad accident +night before last,—a circumstance deeply to be +regretted, since there is no instrument calculated +to appeal more directly to one versed in mythological +lore, or more likely to awaken a train of +pleasing associations than the steam-calliope.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>A South-Side packer, who has the largest library +in the city, told us that he had not seen Sappho’s +works yet, but that he intended to read them at +an early date. “I’ve got so sick of Howells and +James,” said he, “that I’m darned glad to hear +that some new fellow has come to the front.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Another prominent social light (a brewer) said +that he had bought a “Sappho,” and was having +it bound in morocco, with turkey-red trimmings. +“I do enjoy a handsome book,” said he. “One of +the most valuable volumes in my library, I bought +of a leading candy-manufacturer in this city. It +is the original libretto and score of the ‘Songs of +Solomon,’ bound in the tanned pelt of the fatted +calf that was killed when the prodigal son came +home.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have simply glanced through the Sappho +book,” said another distinguished representative +of local culture; “and what surprised me, was the +pains that has been taken in getting up the affair. +Why, do you know, the editor has gone to the +trouble of going through the book, and translating +every darned poem into Greek! Of course, this +<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>strikes us business-men of Chicago as a queer bit +of pedantry.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Hon. Elijah M. Haines says that Sappho +was an Indian chief of one of the original Chicago +tribes, and founder of the Ancient Order of Red +Men. “I have never looked into this book you +mention,” says he; “but I presume to say that +there’s nothing new in it. We are digging up +marble slabs at Kaskaskia every week or two, and +they all have Sapphic poems on them; but what +is there in the poetry business? There is more +philanthropy and business in one reliable recipe +for curing hams than in the longest epic poem +ever written.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The scholarly and courtly editor of “The Weekly +Lard Journal and Literary Companion,” Professor +A. J. Lyvely, criticised Sappho very freely as he +stood at the corner of Clark and Madison Streets, +waiting for the superb gold chariot drawn by +twenty milk-white steeds, and containing fifty +musicians to come along. “Just because she +lived in the dark ages,” said he, “she is cracked +up for a great poet; but she will never be as popular +with the masses of Western readers as Ella +Wheeler and Marion Harland are. All of her +works that remains to us are a few fragments, and +they are chestnuts; for they have been printed +within the last ten years in the books of a great +many poets I could name, and I have read them. +We know very little of Sappho’s life. If she had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>amounted to much, we would not be in such ignorance +of her doings. The probability is, that she +was a society or fashion editor on one of the daily +papers of her time,—a sort of Clara-Belle woman, +whose naughtiness was mistaken for a species of +intellectual brilliancy. Sappho was a gamey old +girl, you know. Her life must have been a poem +of passion if there is any truth in the testimony +of the authorities who wrote about her several +centuries after her death. In fact, these verses of +hers that are left, indicate that she was addicted +to late suppers, to loose morning-gowns, to perfumed +stationery, and to hysterics. It is ten to +one that she wore flaming bonnets and striking +dresses; that she talked loud at the theatres and +in public generally; and that she chewed gum, +and smoked cigarettes, when she went to the races. +If that woman had lived in Chicago, she would +have been tabooed.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The amiable gentleman who reads manuscripts +for Rand, McNally, & Co., says that Sappho’s +manuscripts were submitted to him a year ago. +“I looked them over, and satisfied myself that +there was nothing in them; and I told the author +so. He seemed inclined to dispute me, but I told +him I reckoned I understood pretty well what +would sell in our literary circles and on our railroad-trains.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>But while there was a pretty general disposition +to criticise Sappho, there was only one opinion as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>to the circus-parade; and that was complimentary. +For the nonce, we may say, the cares and vexations +of business, of literature, of art, and of science, +were put aside; and our populace abandoned itself +to a hearty enjoyment of the brilliant pageant +which appealed to the higher instincts. And, as +the cage containing the lions rolled by, the shouts +of the enthusiastic spectators swelled above the +guttural roars of the infuriate monarchs of the +desert. Men waved their hats, and ladies fluttered +their handkerchiefs. Altogether, the scene was +so exciting as to be equalled only by the rapturous +ovation which was tendered Mdlle. Hortense de +Vere, queen of the air, when that sylph-like lady +came out into the arena of Forepaugh’s great +circus-tent last evening, and poised herself upon +one tiny toe on the back of an untamed and foaming +Arabian barb that dashed round and round +the sawdust ring. Talk about your Sapphos and +your poetry! Would Chicago hesitate a moment +in choosing between Sappho and Mdlle. Hortense +de Vere, queen of the air? And what rhythm—be +it Sapphic, or choriambic, or Ionic a minore—is +to be compared with the symphonic poetry +of a shapely female balanced upon one delicate +toe on the bristling back of a fiery, untamed palfrey +that whoops round and round to the music +of the band, the plaudits of the public, and the +still, small voice of the dyspeptic gent announcing +a minstrel show “under this canvas after the performance, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>which is not yet half completed”? If +it makes us proud to go into our book-stores, and +see thousands upon thousands of tomes waiting +for customers; if our bosoms swell with delight to +see the quiet and palatial homes of our cultured +society overflowing with the most expensive wallpapers +and the costliest articles of virtue; if we +take an ineffable enjoyment in the thousand indications +of a growing refinement in the midst of +us,—vaster still must be the pride, the rapture, we +feel when we behold our intellect and our culture +paying the tribute of adoration to the circus. +Viewing these enlivening scenes, why may we not +cry in the words of Sappho, “Wealth without +thee, Worth, is a shameless creature; but the +mixture of both is the height of happiness”?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>November.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The night is dark and the night is cold,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And the wind blows fierce and strong:</div> + <div class='line'>And the rich man sits in his castle old;</div> + <div class='line'>He drinks his wine, and he counts his gold,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As the night goes frowning along, along,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And the night wind sings its song.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The wind speeds out to the withered lea,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Afar from the urban throng,</div> + <div class='line'>Where the poet abideth in poverty:</div> + <div class='line'>Nor castle, nor wine, nor gold, hath he,</div> + <div class='line in2'>But he heareth the night wind’s song—its song</div> + <div class='line in2'>As the night goes frowning along.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Oh! give me no castles, proud and old,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nor honors that station brings;</div> + <div class='line'>Give me no plenty of wine and gold;</div> + <div class='line'>But give me the soul, when the nights are cold,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To hear what the night wind sings and sings</div> + <div class='line in2'>As it rustles its voiceful wings.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Novelette.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“Sing me the old song!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The words rang out clear and bell-like upon the +mellow September air, and coquetted with the autumnal +zephyrs that ruffled the cerulean bosom of +the mighty lake. It was night. The moon rolled +proudly through the azure heavens, bathing the +landscape in a shimmer of silvery sheen, and tipping +the dark waters of Chicago River with a wavy, +tremulous light. The nightingale throbbed his +melodious plaints upon the hushed air; the crickets +chirped tunefully in the hedge; and every thing +afar and near bespoke the poetry of that sweet +time dedicate to slumber and repose.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Sing me the old song!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>There was a pleading querulousness in the tones +that betokened William Bross’s anguish and heartache. +The words were wrung from a soul in +which pride and anger and sorrow battled for the +ascendency. William Bross was the prototype of +manly beauty. But now his supple limbs quivered +with agony; his brave bosom heaved with +tumultuous emotions; his ambrosial locks, brushed +back by the hand of despair from his high white +forehead, revealed features strikingly handsome, +but, oh! so cruelly marked by the ravages of mental +woe. What great grief was it that gnawed +like a canker-worm at the vitals of this good and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>valorous young man? what secret anguish preyed +upon his pure, clean white soul, that ever and anon +he stretched forth his pale, quivering hands, and +cried, in tones that would have melted an adamantine +heart, “Sing me the old song”?</p> + +<p class='c006'>The imperious beauty, Joseph Medill, was not +indifferent to the charms of the handsome and +chivalric knight kneeling there. Between the two +the tenderest sentiments had existed for many +years, and ’twere vain to imagine that any passing +zephyr of doubt or discontent could rend apart +two hearts that for so long a time had throbbed in +unison. Joseph Medill’s thoughts went back to +the happy hours, the tender conferences, the mutual +vows, the sweet obligations, the endearing +scenes, the blissful episodes, of the past; and his +beautiful bosom heaved, and his large, liquid, fathomless +eyes filled with tears, and his ripe red lips +quivered, as he momentarily pondered upon that +pathetic panorama, and then gazed upon the limp +and pleading object at his feet.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Sing me the old song!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Yes, Joseph Medill had not forgot that song,—the +dear old song William Bross had taught him +to sing when years ago they had wandered hand +in hand through the primeval forests and tangled +jungles where now a teeming, busy city stands. +It was the song that Joseph Medill had sung +through all the years of his existence since first he +met the knightly William Bross, and learned of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>him that wondrous melody: it was the same sweet +song, which, speeding from Joseph Medill’s tuneful +lips, had spread like a subtile perfume afar and +wide, had wooed every human ear, and awakened +a response in every human breast.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But now for weary weeks that song had been +hushed. A chilling, icy cloud had come between +Joseph Medill and William Bross. Half regretfully, +yet firmly, Joseph had plucked from his soul +the cadences of that harmonious strain, and refused +to sweep his waxen, taper fingers across the golden +strings of his dulcet lyre. For weary weeks William +had brooded o’er his sorrow: for dismal days +had he nursed in bitter silence his grewsome grief +and unavailing anguish. But, tortured to desperation, +he had come at last to implore a reconciliation, +and the mercy of that sweet song again.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What song mean you?” inquired the imperious +Joseph Medill, bestowing upon the kneeling +William a look of melting tenderness that bespoke +a relenting mood.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What song? What other song but that which +you, and you alone, have sung so pathetically and +so divinely all these years?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The imperious Joseph turned his beautiful face +away, as if to conceal the emotion that perturbed +his delicately chiselled features.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In another moment, William Bross had sprung +to his feet, had clasped Joseph Medill in his arms, +and was straining him to his breast.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>“Sing me the old song,” he whispered hotly in +Joseph’s shell-like ear, “the old, sweet song about +free trade.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Inter-State Commerce Bill Items.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The lightning-express train on the Illinois and Iowa +route came in last night, three weeks overdue. The +report that it had ivy and moss growing on the driving-wheels +of its locomotive is not true.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'>J. Arthur Simpson, city agent of the Topeka and +Tophet short line, who has been visiting Joe Bedee and +Jake Aull in Omaha for a week, returned home yesterday +with a beautiful seal-brown taste in his mouth.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'>Projectors of railway enterprises are cordially +invited to come to Chicago, and to investigate our +inducements. We have in the midst of us lands, +riparian privileges, terminal facilities, a city council, +and other advantages which are for sale at preposterously +low figures. Before going elsewhere, give us a +trial.</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'>The community will be deeply shocked to hear that +by the explosion of his lantern on train No. 11, last +evening, genial Conductor Jerseybingle lost the left +lobe of his whiskers; also the distinguished wart he +had always worn on his right nostril. For some inexplicable +reason, the Posey Grand Trunk line seems to +have had a long run of bad luck lately.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Wizard of Vermilion.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>While the great billiard tournament was in +progress in Chicago, Col. Joe Mann came up from +Danville, and saw Maurice Vignaux play his remarkable +game. Maurice saw Col. Mann among +the spectators, and was so much pleased with his +appearance that he asked for an introduction. +The result was, that Maurice and Joe got pretty +thick, and Maurice gave Joe a good many valuable +pointers on “the gentleman’s game.” When Col. +Mann got back to Danville, he had a good deal to +say about billiards; and he talked so loud, that at +last Col. Phocion Howard challenged him to a +series of match-games of 15-ball pool. The tournament +took place last Saturday night; and it was +witnessed by the wealth, fashion, and beauty of +Vermilion County. The Hon. William H. Calhoun +was referee; and he sends us a full report of the +tournament, with diagrams of several of the more +remarkable shots. We regret that we have not +space for this full report and all these diagrams. +We print a few of the latter, in order that our +readers may know to what an extraordinary height +the billiard-art has risen in the provinces.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_259_1.jpg' alt='A top-down line diagram of a rectangular pool table showing six pockets, a cue ball with an arrow indicating its trajectory, and a triangular rack of fifteen object balls. Solid black lines map out complex geometric angles and bounce paths across the table cushions.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='figleft id003'> +<img src='images/i_259_2.jpg' alt='A top-down line diagram of a vertical pool table layout. An arrow points to a cue ball moving toward the upper left corner pocket, while a curved line tracks a ball flying completely off the top-right edge of the table, striking one of the spectators full in the nose.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>This represents the remarkable around-the-table +shot made by Col. Howard at the beginning of the +first game. The balls were bunched on the spot +at the lower end of the table, and Howard led off +<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>to break the combination. His cue, not being +properly chalked, did not strike the ball full. The +ball, therefore, barely touched the maroon-colored +ball at the apex of the group, glanced to the left, +cushioned to the right, carromed thence to the +right cushion, thence to the left across the table, +and then shot across into the pocket at the confluence +of the right hand and +upper rails at the head of +the table amid loud applause.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span> +<img src='images/i_260.jpg' alt='A top-down line diagram of a rectangular pool table with six pockets. On the left side of the table, a pool cue strikes a cue ball, creating a small, messy impact scribble. From the hit, a wavy, curved line traces the erratic path of the ball across the green, ending at a small, solid black circle.' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>Here we have an extraordinary +play made by +Col. Mann near the close of the +second game. He desired to +put the yellow ball in the lower +left-corner pocket: to do this, +required a long reach across the +table; bridges being barred, under +the rules of the Danville Billiard Association. +Col. Mann overreached himself, and gave his cue-ball +such an unusual impetus that it rapidly described +two acute angles, bounced across the table +and over the right rail, and struck one of the spectators +full in the nose. This very properly was +accounted one of the marvellous shots of the tourney; +and the referee shook hands with Col. Mann, +and complimented him in high terms. At the close +of the third game, Col. Mann made a remarkable +massay shot, the like of which had never before +been witnessed in Vermilion County. There were +but two balls (the speckled one and the dark-blue) +on the table, and Col. Mann determined to try +one of the massays Mr. Vignaux had taught him. +The dark-blue lay within the 14-inch line, and the +speckled ball just outside: the thing was, to tick +the speckled one, chassez around it, and strike the +dark-blue hard enough to send it into the middle +pocket of the left rail. This required a good deal +of what is called “English” by the Vermilion-county +experts. Col. Mann reached over the table, +held his cue perpendicularly over the cue-ball, +had jabbed it fiercely down—just as Mr. Vignaux +had told him to do. The massay was perfect; but, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>after striking the cue-ball, the cue glanced to the +bed of the table, and ploughed up about three +cubic inches, or fifteen dollars’ worth, of the +cloth.</p> + +<p class='c006'>This ended the tournament; and the championship +was awarded to Col. Howard, who is now +familiarly known as the “Wizard of the Vermilion-county +cue.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Why He was Tardy.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Ruggles of the Michigan Central road tells of +a funny dream he had the other night. He had been +eating stewed terrapin at Caveroc’s; and when he +finally got to sleep, he dreamed that he had died, and +was knocking at the jasper gate of heaven.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Who’s there?” demanded St. Peter.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“O. W. Ruggles of Chicago,” was the reply.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Let me see,” said St. Peter, looking over his books, +“let me see; when did you die?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Last week Tuesday,” said Ruggles.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“A week ago!” cried the saint, “seems to me +you’ve been a long time on the way.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, you can’t blame me for it,” protested Mr. +Ruggles; “for under the old system, there’d have been +no trouble; but this interstate commerce law is seriously +interrupting travel.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Base-Ball as a Classic.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“The St. Paul Globe” must not be too severe +on the class of people whom it stigmatizes as base-ball +cranks; for base-ball is our national game, and +it includes among its admirers many of the wisest +and the best of our citizens. Love of the game +of ball is no new thing: it is as old as history +itself. It is a pity that old Izaak Walton knew +nothing of the sport; for how he would have enjoyed +it, and how charmingly he would have written +of it! It is a particularly desirable game, +because it calls into, and keeps in, the open air a +large number of people who otherwise would +remain cramped up indoors. It is the enemy—call +it rival, if you please—of billiards and other +house-sports, and we are heartily glad that it is so +successful. It has charms not only for those who +participate in it, but also for those who are spectators +simply; and it is rapidly acquiring those +scientific excellences which will ultimately place +it far above other athletic sports. A certain class +of writers (who cannot know what they are talking +about) inveigh against what they are pleased +to term the “ball-craze;” and the circumstance +that Mike Kelly recently got a large sum of money +for leaving the Chicago to join the Boston club, is +dished up in every style to prove that these are +degenerate times, and that humanity is on the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>highway to idiocy. But the truth of the matter +is, ball-playing isn’t made nearly so much of as it +was many centuries ago, when even Homer delighted +to weave its praises into his immortal +verse. Athens had its Mike Kelly. Of course, he +was not as good a man as our own Mike Kelly is; +but the world was comparatively young then, and +we think we can safely say that Aristonicus the +Carystian was a worthy representative of our +national game at that time. At any rate, Aristonicus +won the admiration of King Alexander; +and his majesty was not satisfied until he had +bought Aristonicus’s release from the Carystian +Club, and had signed him with the Athens White +Buskins. The sum which Alexander paid for this +release is said to have been four didrachms and +three tetrobolons, a prodigious price for those days, +but a comparatively small amount for modern +times. Money was scarce then: if the cashier of +an Athenian bank had tried to abscond with four +dollars’ worth of money, he would have required +thirty elephants and sixteen four-horse chariots to +transport the coin. The money which King Alexander +paid for Aristonicus’s release was equivalent +to a dollar and twenty-five cents in our money; +but it was esteemed such an extravagant sum at +that time, that the contemporary press of Thrace +pounced upon it, and paraded it as an instance of +preposterous profligacy. But his majesty felt more +than repaid for the investment: his ball-club won +<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>the championship, and held it until the death of +Aristonicus. This famous player became very +popular with the Athenians: they made him a free +man, and they erected a statue to him! Now, just +imagine the Boston people erecting a Monson granite +statue to Mike Kelly on the banks of the frog-pond +in Boston Common,—ay, and under the very +shade of the classic gingko-tree!</p> + +<p class='c006'>Demoxenus, who seems to have been the Browning +of Athenian poesy, has left us this word-picture +of the Grecian ball-player,—to be more explicit, a +picture of the third-base man of the Athens White +Buskins:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The youth I saw was playing ball,—</div> + <div class='line'>Seventeen years of age, and tall;</div> + <div class='line'>From Cos he came; and well I wot</div> + <div class='line'>The gods looked kindly on that spot,</div> + <div class='line'>For when he took the ball, or threw it,</div> + <div class='line'>So pleased were all of us to view it,</div> + <div class='line'>We all cried out. So great his grace,</div> + <div class='line'>Such frank good-humor in his face,</div> + <div class='line'>That, every time he spoke or moved,</div> + <div class='line'>All felt as if that youth they loved.</div> + <div class='line'>Had I staid long, most sad my plight</div> + <div class='line'>Had been to lose my wits outright;</div> + <div class='line'>And even now, the recollection</div> + <div class='line'>Disturbs my senses’ calm reflection.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'>It appears, however, that, even among the ancients, +there were those who thought that too much +attention was being paid to ball-playing. One of +the grumblers was a person of the name of Chærephanes, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>who, notwithstanding his blatant and persistent +decrying of the sport, was in the habit of +attending every game to which he could get a +free pass. This inconsistency irritated the alleged +base-ball cranks of Athens; and one day, while a +match-game was in progress in the park at the base +of the Acropolis, Demoteles, who appears to have +been the Baby Anson of the White Buskins aforementioned, +addressed Chærephanes rather testily. +“Tell me, O Chærephanes! how comes it, that, not +liking this game, you are always on hand whensoever +you can get a free pass?” To him Chærephanes +responded, “Because I enjoy seeing you +boys play it, think not that I approve the game.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Culled in Helicon.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Here is an important literary item which we +find in the current number of “The Chicago +Indicator:” “W. S. Crouse of Mitchell, Dak., +has given a chattel mortgage for eighty-five +dollars.”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'>It pains us to note that our local literary boom +has suffered somewhat of a set-back in the violent +interest which, all of a sudden, is being taken in +the subject of drainage. It were much better, we +think, if these twin arts could go together hand in +hand.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Oon Criteek de Bernhardt.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The re-appearance of Sara Bernhardt in the +midst of us has, of course, set our best society circles +into a flutter of excitement; and we have been +highly edified by the various criticisms which we +have heard passed upon that gifted woman’s performance +of “Fedora” night before last. All +these criticisms have flavored of that directness, +that frankness, and that rugged discrimination, +which are so characteristic of true Western culture. +Col. J. M. Hill, the esteemed lessee of the +Columbia Theatre, told us some weeks ago that his +object in securing a season of Bernhardt was to +give a series of entertainments which would appeal +for appreciation and for patronage to the intellectuality +of our <i>crême de la crême</i>, and which would +be several degrees above the comprehension of +the hoi polloi. We noticed last Monday evening +that the hoi polloi were not on hand to welcome +the eminent French artiste; and we were ineffably +pained to notice, too, that the <i>crême de la crême</i> +was very meagrely represented. This amazed as +well as pained us: if Sara Bernhardt cannot pack +the Columbia at Col. Hill’s popular prices, who, +by the memory of Racine and Molière! who—we +ask in all solemnity—who can? And what +amazed us, furthermore,—perhaps we should say +what <i>shocked</i> us,—was the exceeding frigidity with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>which the select few of our <i>crême de la crême</i> received +the superb bits of art which Sara Bernhardt +threw out, much as an emery-wheel emits beauteous +vari-colored sparks.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Zis eez awful!” exclaimed Sara to her stage-manager, +as she came off the stage after the first +act of “Fedora.” “Ze play eez in Russia, but ze +audiongce eez in ze circle polaire!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>It strikes us that Sara was pretty nearly correct; +but for the date on the play-bill, we might have +surmised that our French friends were performing +amid surroundings of the glacial period.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Ze play eez ‘Fedora,’” said Sara to M. le General +Carson, <i>entre acte</i>, “ze artiste eez Bernhardt, +and ze audiongce eez ‘Les Miserables!’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>M. le General came right out, and told this to +distinguished friends in the lobby. He said it was +a bong mo; but young Horace McVicker, who +once conducted a Paris-green manufactory in California, +and therefore is an accomplished French +scholar, corrected M. le General by alleging that +Sara’s witticism was not a bong mo, but a judy +spree.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Markeesy di Pullman applauded the famous +actress a great deal after he had once located her. +In order to make sure of doing the proper thing, +he applauded every woman that appeared on the +stage; and by the time the second act was fairly under +way, he was able to identify the “cantatreese” +(as he called her) by the color of her hair. “But,” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>he remarked to his friend, M. le Colonnel Potter +Palmer, later in the evening, “I don’t mind telling +you that I don’t like her as well as I do Patti; and +as for this man Sardoo”—</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Sardoo? Who’s he?” interrupted M. le Colonnel +Palmer.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why, he’s the man who wrote this piece,” said +the markeesy; “and he doesn’t hold a candle to +our Italian poets, Danty and Bockashyo.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I don’t know any thing about such things,” +said M. le Colonnel Palmer meekly. “As for myself, +I like to be amused when I go to a show; and +I presume I’d like this woman very much if I could +see her in one of the fine old English comedies, +such as the ‘Bunch of Keys,’ or the ‘Rag Baby.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Now, while these two distinguished personages +were aware that the play was “Fedora,” there +were many in the auditorium who had not very +clear convictions on this point. M. Thomas J. +Hooper, the prominent linseed-oil manufacturer +(whose palatial residence on Prairie Avenue is the +Mecca of our most cultured society),—M. Hooper, +we say, sat through three acts without dreaming +that the play was “Fedora.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I like Clara Morris better in this <i>rôle</i>,” said he +to M. T. Desplaines Wiggins, one of the vice-presidents +of the Chicago Literary Club.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But, my dear fellow,” said M. Wiggins, in a +tone of expostulation, “Clara Morris never played +the part.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>“Never played Cameel?” cried M. Hooper. +“Why, bless you, man, I seen her do it right here +in this theatre!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“But this isn’t Cameel,” said M. Wiggins: “it’s +Feedorer.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, now, I’ll bet you fifty it’s Cameel,” said +M. Hooper, calmly but firmly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>M. Wiggins covered the wager, and M. Billy +Lyon decided in favor of Wiggins and Fedora.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I knew I was right,” exclaimed M. Wiggins +triumphantly, “for I saw it on the programme.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>M. Hooper was very much put out. “You don’t +pronounce that word right, anyway,” he muttered +sulkily.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What word?” demanded M. Wiggins hotly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That word programmay,” said M. Hooper. +“It’s French; and it isn’t program, but programmay.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>They wagered fifty dollars on it between them, +and referred it to M. Jean McConnell.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“At popular prices, it’s program,” said M. +McConnell; “but during this engagement, it’s +programmay, sure.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>So M. Hooper squared himself financially; and +M. Wiggins went down to his seat in the parquettay, +muttering something that sounded very like a +profane and inexcusable rhyme for program.</p> + +<p class='c006'>But, as we have hinted above, M. Hooper was +not the only one in the audience who was unsettled +as to what the play was, and what it was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>all about. Throughout the auditorium, messieurs, +mesdames, and mademoiselles were sadly bothered +to know whether it was Cameel, or Faydorah, or +Tayodorah, or Fru-Fru, or some other morso from +the Bernhardt repertevoi. M. James M. Billings, +the prominent restaurateur, told his family that the +bill had been changed, and that the piece was +“Jennie Saper.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why, no, ’taint, pa,” protested Mdlle. Billings: +“it’s ‘Faydorah.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Now, look here, Birdie,” said M. Billings +sternly. “I know what I’m talking about. As +we were comin’ in, I asked one of the men in the +entry what the piece was, and he said ‘Jennie +Saper;’ and he knew, for he was a Frenchman.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Our seats,” said M. T. Frelinghuysen Boothby, +“were so far back, that we had difficulty in making +out what Burnhart said; but from what I <i>did</i> hear, +I would judge that she spoke better English than +Rhea: at any rate, I could understand her better +than I ever could Rhea.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>M. le Colonnel Fitzgerald confessed to being +disappointed. “It may be my fault, however,” +said he: “for I am very rusty in my French, having +paid no attention to it since I visited Montreal +in the summer of 1880. I brought my ‘French +Conversations’ along with me to-night, but it was +of no assistance to me. I hadn’t got half through +the first scene in the first act, when Fedora was +dying in the last act. This was slow business. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>Of course, there were a good many words and +phrases that were familiar, such as, ‘voyla,’ ‘toot +sweet,’ ‘tray be-yen,’ ‘mercee,’ ‘pardong,’ ‘bong +zhour,’ and ‘wee wee.’ You can depend upon it, +that, whenever I heard these old friends, I applauded +with the nicest and the heartiest discrimination.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Now, all these criticisms and features (and there +were many, many more such) interested us—or, +at least, they entertained us. But we were +grieved to discover a disposition (shall we say a +pongshong?) on the part of the audience to compare +Bernhardt’s Fedora with Fanny Davenport’s. +To institute any such comparison would be a sore +injustice to both ladies. Bernhardt and Davenport +represent two very different dramatic schools: one +is the school of avoirdupois, and the other is essentially +so different that it must be estimated only +under the accepted rules of troy weight. To be +more explicit, we will say, that, while you would +properly weigh Miss Davenport’s art on a hayscales, +you must use a more delicate machine if +you would seek to learn the true magnitude and +concinnity of Bernhardt’s art. It is quite true +that to both Fedoras the same amount of practical +appreciation is paid here in Chicago. When Miss +Davenport played Fedora at the Columbia Theatre +last January, she was applauded rapturously by +2,000 delighted tradesfolk at 50 cents apiece: +now Bernhardt comes along with her subtile impersonation, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>and does business to 333⅓ of the <i>crême +de la crême</i> of our pork-packers at $3 per head. +You see that the box-office receipts are the same +in both instances: it would be impossible, therefore, +to compare the merits of each actress by the +amount of money derived from the performance +of each.</p> + +<p class='c006'>It is far from our purpose to institute any invidious +comparisons between these two gifted +women: each excels in her way; and the way of +the one is as far from the way of the other as the +beauties of a fat-stock show are removed from the +beauties of a floral display. If there is in Fanny’s +art a breadth and a weight that remind us of the +ponderous thud of a meat-axe, there is (it must also +be confessed) in Sara’s art a daintiness and an +insinuation that remind us of the covert swish of +a Japanese paper-knife. Horace has explained this +very difference in that charming ode wherein he +tells of Næera, who, “with ruddy, glowing arm, +holds out an earthen cup of goat’s milk,” while, +on the other hand, Lydia extends to the parched +poet a silver flagon, “filled to the brim with old +Falernian chilled with snow.” Now, there is no +doubt in our mind that Horace chose the Falernian; +but we are not all Horaces; and we presume +to say, that, as between goat’s milk at popular +prices, and Falernian at war-rates, a vast majority +of Chicagoans would choose the former.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The last act was a great disappointment,” said +<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>one of our most cultured beef-canners. “It is +there that Davenport gets away with this French +woman. Why, Davenport’s tussle with that young +Rooshan is the grandest piece of art I ever saw! +she just tears around and horns the furniture like +a Texas steer in a box-car.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>George Bowron, leader of the orchestra at the +Columbia, says that he knew, just as soon as he +saw the score of the incidental music, that Bernhardt’s +Fedora was very unlike Davenport’s.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Bernhardt’s score,” says he, “is interspersed +throughout with ‘pianissimo,’ ‘con moto,’ and ‘andante.’ +On the other hand, the music of Davenport’s +Fedora is in big black type, and every other +bar is labelled ‘forte’ or ‘fortissimo;’ and our +trombone-player blew himself into a hemorrhage +last January, trying to keep up with the rest of +the orchestra in the death-struggle in the last +act.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>We can see that Bernhardt labors under one +serious disadvantage, and that is the fact that her +plays are couched in a foreign language. We +asked Col. J. M. Hill why Sardoo did not write +his plays in English, and he said he supposed it +was because Sardoo was a Frenchman. This may +be all very well for Paris, but we opine that it will +not do in Chicago. What protection has a Chicago +audience in a case of this kind? What assurance +have we, that, while we are admiring this +woman’s art, the woman herself is not brazenly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>guying and blackguarding us in her absurd foreign +language?</p> + +<p class='c006'>Now, we would not seek to create the impression +that Sardoo’s work is not meritorious: on the +contrary, we are free to say, and we say it boldly, +that we recognize considerable merit in it. We +fancy, however, that Sardoo is not always original: +we find him making use of a good many lines that +certainly were not born of his creative genius. +As we remember now, Sardoo introduces into his +dialogue the very “pardonnez-moy,” the very +“mong-du,” and the very “too zhoors,” which we +hear every day in our best society; and will he +have the effrontery to deny that he has stolen from +us—ay, brazenly stolen from us—the very “wee-wee” +which is the grand commercial basis upon +which Chicago culture stands and defies all +competition?</p> + +<p class='c006'>Oh, how glad—how proud—Chicago is that +Bronson Howard and William Shakespeare and +Charley Hoyt, and her other favorite dramatists, +have been content to put their plays in honest but +ennobling Anglo-Saxon!</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Oon Conversarzyony Frongsay.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The Bernhardt engagement has brought out all +the French scholars in Chicago. Never before had +we suspected that there were so many able linguists +<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>in the midst of us. Gen. Stiles, we have +just discovered, speaks French like a native of +Paris (Edgar County). He attended the “Frou-Frou” +performance last evening with his friend +Judge Prendergast. The judge is a proficient +Greek and Latin scholar; but he knows little +of French, his vocabulary being limited to such +phrases as “fo par,” “liaison,” “kelky shoze,” and +“olly bonnur:” so Gen. Stiles had to explain the +play to him as it progressed last evening.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Now what is she saying?” the judge would +ask.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“She said, ‘Good-evening,’” the general would +answer.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Does ‘bung swor’ mean ‘good-evening’?” the +judge would inquire.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, what rot!” the judge would exclaim; and +then a dude usher in one of Willoughby & Hill’s +nineteen-dollar dress-suits would teeter down the +aisle, and warn the gentlemen not to whisper so +loud.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Presently Col. William Penn Nixon, the gifted +editor of “The Inter-Ocean,” came along, and +slipped into the seat next to Gen. Stiles. He had +an opera-glass, and he levelled it at once at Bernhardt’s +red, red hair.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Do you speak French?” asked Gen. Stiles in +the confidential tone of a member of the Citizens’ +Committee.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>“Oony poo,” said Col. Nixon guardedly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Vooley voo donny moy voter ver de lopera?” +asked the general, motioning toward the opera-glass.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“See nay par zoon ver de lopera!” protested +the colonel. “Say lay zhoomels.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Mong doo! What do I want of zhoomels?” +cried Gen. Stiles. “Zhoomels is twins!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Par bloo!” said Col. Nixon: “it is not twins, +it is opera-glasses.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You’re all wrong, William,” urged the general. +“The French idiom is ‘the glass of the +opera.’ ‘Ver’ is glass, and ‘de lopera’ is of the +opera.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have heard them called lornyets,” suggested +Judge Prendergast, in the deferential tone of a +young barrister seeking a change of venue.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, I don’t know what the general’s opera-glass +is,” said Col. Nixon; “but this one of mine +is a ‘lay zhoomels.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Call it what you please,” replied the judge: +“it is de tro as far as I am concerned, until the +corpse de bally makes its ontray.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I thought you didn’t speak French,” said Gen. +Stiles, turning fiercely upon the judge.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, well!” the judge explained apologetically, +“I’m not what you and the colonel would call oh +fay—I’m a june primmer at the business; but +when the wind is southerly, I reckon I can tell a +grizet from a garsong.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>Chicago society is still in considerable doubt as +to where Bernhardt should be located in the +artistic scale. A good many of the <i>élite</i> think +that her Fedora is second to Fanny Davenport’s, +and there are very many others who prefer Clara +Morris’s Camille. We notice that the popular +inquiry in cultured circles is, “Have you been to +see Bernhardt?” not, “Have you been to hear +Bernhardt?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, you don’t know how I enjoyed Bayernhayerdt +the other evening!” exclaimed one of our +most beautiful and accomplished belles. “Her +dresses are beautiful, and they do say she is dreadfully +naughty!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Fearless Protector</i>.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>At the rehearsal of “Frou-Frou” in the Columbia +Theatre last Thursday noon, Col. J. M. Hill, +the urbane lessee, stood in the lobby chatting with +Miss Bernhardt; and, while they were thus chatting, +a card bearing the name of a strange gentleman +was handed to the eminent actress. Miss +Bernhardt took the card, scrutinized it, and exclaimed +in her pretty French way, “Sacre bleue! +Who eez zis gentilhomme? I haf not ze honaire +to know him.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Noticing the lady’s dilemma, Col. Hill, with +characteristic gallantry, was not slow in coming to +her rescue.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>“Have no fear, madam,” said he to Miss Bernhardt, +“have no fear while I am by your side. Go +back, young man, to him who sent you, and ask +him if his intentions are honorable.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Knapp’s Scheme.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Thomas J. Knapp, manager of the Elgin +Opera-House, returned home last evening very +much disgusted. He had been in Chicago a week, +trying to arrange for one night of Bernhardt in +Elgin.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Our town,” says he, “is the best one-night +stand in Illinois. Our watch-factory employs ten +thousand hands, and we have the best society in +the West. It would pay this French woman to +stop over a night with us.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why doesn’t she?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The manager wants a guaranty of five thousand +dollars,” says Mr. Knapp, “and I wouldn’t +give it. I was willing to raise the price of seats to +seventy-five cents, and we would have packed the +house! But Bernhardt wants the earth,—or at +least her manager does. You see, her expenses +would be light,—virtually nothing. In the first +place, she wouldn’t have had any hotel-bill to +pay.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No hotel-bill? Why, how’s that?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, none at all: I had made all the arrangements +to have her stop with the minister.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Fine Old Book.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>There has come into our hands a small volume +which we value very much as illustrating the degree +of proficiency to which Boston had attained +in 1842. At that time, Boston was about two +hundred years older than Chicago now is. This +volume, consisting of sixty-three pages, is entitled +“Boston Common;” and it bears the imprint of +William D. Ticknor and H. B. Williams. The +latter gentleman appears to have been the compiler +of the work; and he treats of the formation of the +Common, the sky over the Common, the liberty-tree, +the old elm, the frog-pond, booths around +the Common, the National Lancers, Hollis-street +steeple, the iron fence, fountains on the Common, +the gingko-tree, cows on the Common, etc. The +compilation is done very cleverly, and betrays a +fine literary taste, and sound literary judgment. +Here and there are introduced apt poetical quotations,—one +from Homer, one from Robert Treat +Paine, and two from Dr. Isaac Watts. We will +make a few excerpts at random, from this pleasing +work, for the edification of our readers:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The iron fence and brick sidewalk which surround +the Common are noble monuments of public +enterprise, and of the energy of American +mechanics.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Since the day when Elder Oliver’s horse had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>the exclusive right of pasturage in the Common, +there has been various legislation on the subject +of admitting the cows to feed there. The gradual +and now entire disappearance of the cow from our +streets, is a sure sign of the triumph of artificial +life over primitive manners.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The gingko-tree is enclosed by a slight paling. +This species of tree is common in Japan.... It +lives and thrives, while the family in whose ancient +enclosure it once grew has shared the common +destiny of families in this land.... The gingko-tree +has left the family enclosure, and grows on the +Common. We perceive in this fact a correspondence +with that law of republicanism which scatters +the names and the wealth of rich men into the +great community; or, if they are preserved for +a while, allows their continuance, and concedes to +them a voluntary regard, even as the gingko-tree, +in its careful preservation, is permitted to hold an +honorable place amongst the public trees. This +particular tree is the object of an interest in which +a degree of sadness mingles with respect, at the +thought of changes which,” etc.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Here is an interesting paragraph: “The Common +with its varied surface is admirably fitted for +military exhibitions.... The National Lancers, a +company of able-bodied men, mounted on fine-looking +horses, each lance bearing a red flag, and +the mounted musicians adding not a little to the +life and novelty of the moving show, are a most +<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>interesting sight. A knowledge of the effectiveness +of their weapon mingles a little dread with +our feelings of admiration. The lance rests in a +socket on the stirrup: when a charge is made, the +lance, remaining in the socket, is dropped into a +horizontal position, and, being so held, the horse is +urged against the enemy, and thus the whole +power of the animal is thrown into the lance, which +is thereby capable of transfixing an assailant with +irresistible force.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>At the time this elegant passage was written, the +present editor of “The Boston Herald,” the venerable +Col. Haskell (father of the editor of “The +Minneapolis Tribune,” now in Europe on a bridal +tour), was captain of the Lancers; and the lance +he used to carry may still be seen in the Boston +Museum, hanging on the wall beside the sword of +Bunker Hill.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The perusal of this book, “Boston Common,” +has awakened in us the hope that some enterprising +Chicagoan will do a similar work for this city +by writing a history and description of Dearborn +Park. This park is the oldest in the city, having +been laid out when Long John Wentworth was a +rosy-cheeked lad, only nine years old, and only +eight feet tall. We cannot say that it has improved +with age: it has no frog-pond, nor any old +elm, nor any gingko-tree. But it reeks with associations, +and we think that some local <i>littérateur</i> +ought to compile these associations into a tome.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Stealing Our Thunder.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Boston has been making a great palaver over +her “Longfellow memorial readings.” These +readings were given in the Boston Dime Museum +last Thursday, and the persons who participated +were as follows: Col. J. R. Lowell, the Shakespearian +lecturer; Mr. Mark Twain, the Missouri +humorist; Mr. W. D. Howells, the New-York novelist; +Mr. G. William Curtis, the New-Jersey +Mugwump; the Rev. E. Everett Hale, editor of +“The Lending Hand;” Col. Thomas B. Aldrich, +editor of “The Atlantic Monthly;” Dr. Oliver +Wendell Holmes, the eminent surgeon; Mrs. +Julia Ward Howe, mother of Miss Maud Howe; +the venerable John G. Whittier, author of the +New-Hampshire idyl, “Joaquin Miller;” and Col. +T. Wentworth Higginson, the friend of the late +James T. Fields. “The Boston Globe” publishes +the pictures of these <i>littérateurs</i>, and we observe +that five of them (including Mrs. Howe) part +their hair in the middle. But this is neither here +nor there. What we wish to say, and what we +wish the public at large to believe, is, that Boston +stole this idea of giving memorial-fund readings: +she stole it from Chicago. Two months ago, a +movement was set on foot in this city to secure +a fund for the purpose of erecting on the lake-front +a splendid monument to the memory of “The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>Literary Life,” that never-to-be-forgotten literary +journal, which, under the inspired genius of Rose +Elizabeth Cleveland, waxed and waned in the midst +of us one all-too-brief year ago. Professor Henry +T. Bosbyshell, analytical chemist for Byers & Co., +the eminent soap-manufacturers, conceived the +laudable plan of securing this monument-fund by +giving in Central Music Hall a grand symposium +at which Chicago <i>littérateurs</i> would read from +their original works. The date fixed for this +unique performance was May 28; and the following +local authors were bespoken, and promised to +participate:—</p> + +<p class='c006'>Professor H. T. Bosbyshell, author of “American +Soaps Analyzed,” “The Secret of Perfuming Revealed,” +“The Boss Baking Powder,” and “How +to Remove Paint Stains.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. T. Shelby Sothers, author of the “Chicago +Directory for 1859,” “The Travellers’ Guide to +Chicago,” “Compendium of Railroad Information,” +and “Chicago Trade Statistics for 1883.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Professor William Mathews, author of “How +to get on in the World.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Miss Tryphena Cora Swartwout, author of +“West-Side Poems,” “Ode to the Chicago River +and Other Sonnets,” “An Analysis of Browning,” +and “A Complete Cook Book.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. Peter G. Hobby, author of “The New +Baconian Theory; or, A Modern Method of Smoking +Sidemeats.”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>Mr. Wellington Boothkins, author of “Handbook +of Etiquette; or, Ten Years a Chicago Clubman,” +and “A Review of the Linseed-Oil Trade +in the West.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mrs. Martha W. Lester-Tubbs, author of “The +Dawn of Chicago Literature,” “The Mother’s +Companion,” and compiler of “Epics of the +Hennepin Valley.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Professor Thomas O’B. Swigert, author of “The +Art of Composition; or, The Manufacture of +Press-Rollers Made Easy.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. DeLancey Morris Sowerby, author of +“Noctes Ambrosianæ; or, Ten Nights in the Chicago +Literary Club,” and compiler of “The +Record of the Chicago Races for 1886.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mrs. Minerva J. Peabody, the Calumet poetess, +whose nautical poems, “Will Henry Come when +Navigation Opens?” and “Aboard the Three-Mast +Schooner when the Shingle Crop Comes In,” +are sung in every Chicago household.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Col. James Russell Lowell was let into this +secret when he was here last February; and it is +probable that he went right back to Boston, and +betrayed the whole scheme. It is very aggravating +to have our original ideas snapped up in this +piratical manner by the conscienceless Yankees; +but we hope that our <i>littérateurs</i> will stick to their +programme, and show the false Bostonians that +here, in the home of the muses, and in this wallow +(if we may so term it) of culture, we can prepare +<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>and execute a literary programme which will put +the presumptuous Bostonians to the blush. We +can do this, too, without calling on Missouri, New +York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire for help.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Lost, Strayed, or Stolen.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Oh! what has become of the mugwump bird</div> + <div class='line in2'>In this weather of wind and snow?</div> + <div class='line'>And does he roost as high as we heard</div> + <div class='line in2'>He roosted a year ago?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A year ago, and his plumes were red</div> + <div class='line in2'>As the deepest of cardinal hues;</div> + <div class='line'>But in the year they’ve changed, ’tis said,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To the bluest of bilious blues!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A year ago, and this beautiful thing</div> + <div class='line in2'>Warbled in careless glee;</div> + <div class='line'>But now the tune he is forced to sing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Is pitched in a minor key.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>It’s oh, we sigh, for the times gone by,</div> + <div class='line in2'>When the mugwump lived to laugh—</div> + <div class='line'>When, coy and shy, he roosted high,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And couldn’t be caught with chaff.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And it’s oh, we say, for the good old day</div> + <div class='line in2'>Which never again may come—</div> + <div class='line'>When the mugwump threaded his devious way,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And whistled his lumpty-tum!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Condensed Literature.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The enterprising firm of Plankinton, Armour, +& Co. announces that it is prepared to meet the +demands of the large and constantly increasing +demands of our literary public, by putting into +the spring market an entirely new line of canned +goods, scheduled and classified, in the prominent +trade-catalogues as “Condensed Literature.” These +ingenious preparations, which promise to become a +boon to Western civilization, are so compounded as +to serve (each in its proper place) in lieu of that +particular kind or branch of literature which may +be demanded. There are eleven varieties of these +canned goods; to wit, 1, epic poetry; 2, lyric +poetry; 3, ancient history; 4, modern history; 5, +Grecian romance; 6, Latin romance; 7, German +philosophy; 8, English philosophy; 9, English +romance; 10, Norse mythology; 11, Chicago +belles lettres. If one feels the need of information +on any one of these topics, he has but to purchase +and consume one of these compounds, and his +desire speedily becomes allayed. For instance, +when Mr. Jones experiences an appetite for, say, +epic poetry, he will pay twenty-five cents for can +No. 1, and, having devoured the contents, he will +find that appetite temporarily satisfied. Thus, at +one and the same time (as the showman says), the +cravings of the stomach and the hungerings of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>the mind are satisfied. The value of this invention +cannot be overestimated. In this pushing +community of ours, time is money: recognizing +this fact, Messrs. Plankinton & Armour have +invented and patented this grand device for answering +in fifteen minutes, and for twenty-five +cents, each and every literary craving which years +of reading and study would not satisfy. No home, +we think, will be complete without a full line of +these goods on its library-shelves.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In addition to the above, and in order to meet +the demands of those who have more time at their +disposal (such as old people, sentimental spinsters, +invalids, and professional writers), this firm is now +issuing superb editions of sugar-cured hams, upon +the canvas covers of which are published the following +works: 1, Arnold’s Light of Asia; 2, Tennyson’s +In Memoriam; 3, Helen’s Babies; 4, Lives +of Famous Highwaymen and Pirates; 5, Longfellow +and Rice’s Evangeline; 6, The Complete +Cook Book; 7, Baxter’s Saints’ Rest (religious); +8, Spalding’s Base-Ball Guide; 9, Alice in Wonderland; +10, The Complete Letter Writer; 11, Rand +& McNally’s Railroad Guide; 12, Browning’s +Poems (selected). In ordering, care should be +taken to state the title of the ham required. Illustrated +editions, containing handsome wood-cut of +the author, can be had at a slight advance; tinted +covers, and file for preserving same, twenty-five +cents extra.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Dr. Warner in Chicago.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Local literary circles were thrown into a condition +of feverish excitement yesterday by the rumor +that Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, a well-known +Eastern <i>littérateur</i>, had arrived in the city, and was +the honored guest of Col. Wirt Dexter, the popular +South-Side Boniface. When the rumor first +gained circulation, it was discredited by very many, +including that cautious and exacting body known +as the Chicago Literary Club. Mr. T. Arthur +Whiffen, the talented son of the wealthy wholesale +fig-dealer, and a member of the club in high +standing, refused to believe that Mr. Warner was +really in the city.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“As soon as I heard it,” said he, “I stepped +around to Dale’s drug-store, and asked the proprietor +if he had received any confirmation of the +rumor, and he replied in the negative. Mr. Dale +is the general Western agent for Mr. Warner’s +works; and, as he very pertinently observed, he +would have been likely to know if Warner were +in this vicinity.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Later in the day, however, it was learned that +Mr. Warner was indeed in the midst of us: in +fact, along about three o’clock in the afternoon he +was seen bowling down Drexel Boulevard in Mr. +Dexter’s elegant St. Bernard dog-cart behind Mr. +Dexter’s famous bay gelding, Grover Cleveland. It +<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>was stated that Mr. Warner had come to Chicago +for the purpose of delivering an address before the +Clan-na-Gael on St. Patrick’s Day, the 17th inst., +and had chosen as the theme for that address, “The +Theory that Ben Jonson Did Not Write Rasselas.” +Subsequently, however, it was ascertained that +this statement was unfounded. In a conversation +with Professor Benjamin F. Lawkins, president of +the Emerson Literary Society, and author of the +scholarly <i>brochure</i> entitled “The Relations Between +Fifteen-Ball Poole and the Librarian of +Our Public Library,” it was developed that Mr. +Warner had produced the following works: “A +Liver Safe Cure,” “Some Golden Remedies,” +“Comets and Their Relations to Purgative Pellets,” +and “What I Know About Farming.” We +are told that Mr. Warner will leave for the Pacific +slope in a day or two, but will be in Chicago again +during the month of June; and we doubt not, +that, upon his return, he will be cordially welcomed +and handsomely entertained by our appreciative +public.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>An Anxious Inquiry.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Chicago, Ill.</span>, April 17.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><i>To the Editor.</i>—You said some time ago that +Dr. Charles Dudley Warner, the eminent <i>littérateur</i>, +and compounder of Warner’s famous safe liver and +kidney pills, would visit Chicago on his return +<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>from California: can you give me the exact date +of his coming? As one deeply interested in Chicago +culture, I am anxious to become acquainted +with Dr. Warner, and to ascertain from him +whether a use of his pills would be likely to facilitate +the literary movement in this city.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yours truly,</div> + <div class='line in4'>ARBA N. JACKSON, V.S.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Chip of the Old Block.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Ex-Postmaster-General Frank Hatton has +a fourteen-year-old son who resembles his distinguished +father in many particulars.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Pa,” said he the other day, “I’ve made up my +mind where I would like to go to college.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Aha,” replied his father; “and where is it, my +boy?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“To Vassar,” said the precocious child.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Humph!” ejaculated the proud father: “darned +if I wouldn’t like to go there myself!”</p> + +<hr class='c011'> + +<p class='c006'>We understand that Professor Thomas DeQuincey +Smythe, the gifted <i>littérateur</i> who edited +the famous Chicago edition of Browning’s poems, +with copious notes, has recently invented a wonderful +powder for removing fleas from pet cats and +dogs.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Crown Jewels.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Considerable interest (not to say excitement) +has been manifested here in Chicago during the +sale of the crown jewels in Paris. There is vast +wealth in our most cultured circles; and this +wealth, we are gratified to note, is being invested +quite largely in articles de virtue, such, for instance, +as oil-paintings, St. Bernard dogs, statuary, trotting-horses, +tally-ho coaches, upright piano-fortes, Egyptian +mummies, crown jewels, Shakespearian autographs, +bicycles, and coats-of-arms. Some years ago +one of our most prominent citizens (a gentleman +of wealth and sand) went to Europe for the express +purpose of buying the Venus de Milo; but +when he came to see the statue, he refused to pay +the price demanded, for the very good reason that +the goods were damaged. But he did not return +empty-handed: on the contrary, he brought back +with him from New York the finest line of Rogers +statuette groups you ever clapped eyes on. He +told us at the time, that he could have bought a +genuine Raphael prima donna for thirty thousand +dollars, but had concluded to get along with one +of Prang’s Beatrices: on the whole, he rather preferred +the Beatrice for two reasons,—first, because +he did not go much on opera, anyway; and, second, +because his wife belonged to a Dante club, and +would like to have a picture of her favorite poet’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>lady-love in her drawing-room. The famous peachblow +vase, for which an Eastern liquor-dealer paid +eighteen thousand dollars, would surely have come +to Chicago if it had not been so expensive. There +was a deep-seated desire among our better classes +to have it in the midst of us; but there happened +to be an unfortunate flurry in the pork-market +just at the time the Morgan sale took place, and +the consequent depression in local cultured circles +was such that the coveted article de virtue was +allowed to go to Baltimore. The truth of the +matter is,—and there is no use denying it,—that +Chicago is taking a powerful interest in art. It +was only last month that Col. N. K. Fairbank had +his portrait painted by Michael Angelo. The distinguished +artist called at the colonel’s office, and +told him he was hard pressed for money, and would +paint his portrait at a very reasonable cash-price. +Col. Fairbank had some doubts about his being the +original Angelo, but these doubts were removed +when the artist showed him the original written +contract he made for decorating St. Peter’s.</p> + +<p class='c006'>About three weeks ago, the agents of several +wealthy Chicagoans sailed for Paris to be present +at the sale of the crown jewels. It was understood +that this was to be a sheriff’s sale of the +diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, amethysts, +pearls, and other gems seized on a writ of attachment +under a first mortgage from the unhappy +Eugenie, relict of Louis Napoleon, late emperor of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>the French. The sale, as advertised, was to occur +at the Hotel de Veal, and was to be conducted on +a strictly cash basis. Among the articles listed +were brooches, garlands, pendants, flowerets, bracelets, +garters, necklaces, tiaras, briolettes, rings, +crosses, talismans, lockets, medallions, etc., indefinitely. +At the present time, there are, undoubtedly, +more diamonds and other precious stones in +Chicago than in all the rest of this country combined. +On State Street on almost any pleasant +afternoon, you can see thousands of beautiful +women doing their shopping in superb costumes +positively resplendent with diamonds of the first +water and the thirty-second magnitude. In short, +culture has reached that point in the midst of us, +that no lady is received into our most refined circles +unless she wears fifteen thousand dollars’ worth +of diamonds when she goes marketing. Naturally, +therefore, our bong tong were upon the kee veev +when they heard of the mammoth sheriff’s sale of +crown jewels in Paris. Moses Jacobson, the Dearborn-street +connoisseur, was despatched to France +at once by a Prairie-avenue syndicate; and he carried +with him a cart blonch to buy as many diamonds +and valuables as he thought would add to +the intellectual and personal charms of his employers’ +wives and daughters. No sooner did they +hear of this, than a number of prominent millionnaires +on Michigan Avenue made up a pool, and +hired Abraham Levy, the Monroe-street connoisseur, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>to follow Mr. Jacobson, and to outbid him at +the Hotel de Veal sale. Presently the West Side +and the North Side waked up, and betimes Wabash +Avenue and other fashionable localities became +enthused; to make short of a long and thrilling +story, there cannot be fewer than a dozen representatives +of Chicago culture in Paris at this time, +each struggling for possession of those crown jewels. +We feel pretty confident that the Frenchmen +will not be able to impose upon these representatives; +for, if there is one thing which a Chicagoan +understands better than he does pork and belles +lettres, it is diamonds. When he gets his hands +on a stone of unusual lustre, the first thing he +does is to draw his tongue across it, to assure himself +that it isn’t alum: then he turns it around, to +see if there is any tinfoil back of it. If the stone +endures these tests, the Chicagoan will pay the +handsomest market-price for it; for, as we have +frequently remarked with pride, the truly cultured +Chicagoan is a man of enterprise and sand. It +will not surprise us at all if the Chicago agents +now in Paris come back with a box-car load of +crown jewels.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>Mr. Goodwin’s Yacht.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mr. Nat C. Goodwin, the comedian, has gained +twenty pounds in weight since his last visit to Chicago +five months ago. He says that life on the +Massachusetts beach has wrought this marked improvement +in his health and appearance: he has +done nothing all summer, but cruise around in his +yacht, mingle his handsome form with the billows +of the Atlantic, eat clams, and drink bilge-water. +Mr. Goodwin is a honored member of the famous +Hull Yacht Club of Boston, and the experiences of +his yacht have been so numerous that they would +fill tomes to overflowing. His yacht is, not inappropriately, +named “The Sinker;” and it is justly +considered the most remarkable craft on the Atlantic +coast. Whenever Mr. Goodwin sets sail in it, +his Boston friends buy pools on the chances of his +ever showing up again. It is worthy of note, that +the chances of his never returning are invariably +the favorite in the pools. Mr. Goodwin tells us, +and we are inclined to believe him, that his yacht +is the only sailing-vessel in American waters that +can jump a fence. He says, that whenever he +leaves the Boston wharf, and heads “The Sinker” +for the mighty expanse of brine due east, every tug +in the harbor gets up steam, and gives chase; it +seeming to be a friendly rivalry among the tugs to +see who will earn the ten dollars, and the honor of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>convoying “The Sinker” back into port, when it +staves a hole in its hold, or splits its mizzen-mast, or +loses its boom, or disables its rudder, or meets with +any one of the misfortunes which appear to be +inevitable when Mr. Goodwin is in practical command. +“When I have my new yacht built,” says +Mr. Goodwin, “I shall have it constructed upon +ingenious plans which are the result of a long and +eventful experience. It will be so devised and +built as to be capable of shutting up like an accordion +whenever it strikes a rock or a sand-bar. In +this way all disaster will be averted, and I will be +spared the humiliation and expense of liquidating +the damages which now attend every cruise of ‘The +Sinker.’ The log of this unfortunate vessel reveals +the startling fact, that although ‘The Sinker’ actually +sailed only sixty-two miles last summer, the +cost for repairs exceeded three thousand dollars.” +Mr. Goodwin said he was amazed to discover that +William H. Crane, the actor, had such a large +reputation in the West for nautical prowess. He +was free to confess that Crane was a very indifferent +yachtsman, and he seriously doubted whether +Crane had ever been out of sight of Bunker-hill +Monument in all of his much-vaunted ocean experience. +“This man Crane,” says Goodwin, “is an +interloper: he talks very glibly about mainstays +and jibs and ‘to leeward’ and ‘aft’ and ‘hard-a-port,’ +but he knows absolutely nothing about practical +marine-service. I had him out with me ten +<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>minutes in ‘The Sinker’ one afternoon last August; +and, when they fished him out of the water +with boat-hooks, he cried like a baby, and vowed he +would never again test the faith of the bounding +billows. Stuart Robson is the sailor of the two,—a +regular old salt; but of course he is getting too +advanced in years to enter into aquatic sports with +enthusiasm.” Mr. Goodwin said Mr. Crane was +enjoying more robust health now than ever before. +In a year or two we might expect to see him waddling +around with a ponderous abdomen, carrying +a big cane, and talking sententiously about “the +young men in the profession.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Laudable Scheme.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Mrs. Antoinette J. Bascomb, Professor Tremaine +Lomax, and Mr. T. Boileau Ransome, have +been delegated by the Browning Club of Blue +Island to formulate a plan for a Western School of +Summer Philosophy, to be held in Kumpf’s Grove, +near Sixteen-mile Creek, next August. It is the +sense of the club that such a school, conducted +largely on the plan of the Concord summer retreat +for the feeble-minded, would redound largely to the +intellectual reputation of the West; but, in order to +throw about the enterprise a practical atmosphere, +it is intended to devote the financial proceeds of +this series of picnics to the building of a new +roller-skating rink on Madison Street.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Era of Reform.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Having eaten a hearty breakfast of corn-beef +hash and johnny-cake, President Cleveland put on +his hat and overcoat, and strode toward the front-door +of the White House.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Your excellency,” cried Secretary Lamont, +“where are you going at this early hour of the +morning? It is hardly five o’clock.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I am going for a short walk,” replied the President. +“I will be back by half-past seven,—in +plenty of time to read the paper, look over my +mail, write a proclamation or two, and make out a +list of nominations before the Senate convenes. I +am going around to the various departments to see +if my cabinet officers have caught the spirit of the +administration, and have returned to the Arcadian +simplicity of the Jacksonian epoch.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>And with these words, President Cleveland +opened the front-door, and issued forth into the +raw, chilly air of the March morning. The brisk +breeze blowing from the south-east bore to his ears +the faint echo of the din of hammers busily employed +in the distant navy-yard at the good work +of restoring American sovereignty on the waters +of the globe. The lights in the Treasury Department +were dim; yet every room was lighted up, +and it was evident that all hands were at work, in +accordance with Secretary Manning’s order that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>all employees of the civil service should report for +duty at half-past four <span class='fss'>A.M.</span> every week-day. President +Cleveland entered the Treasury building, and +asked the janitor where Col. Manning was to be +found.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“He is down in the vaults, counting the +money,” said the janitor; “and he cannot be +disturbed.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Mr. Cleveland expostulated, and was compelled +to disclose his identity before the janitor would +listen to him. But, being satisfied at last that the +visitor really was the President, the janitor conducted +him through devious passages, down winding +stairways, and under curious moats, until finally +the labyrinthine vaults were reached. Here, surrounded +by piles of shining gold and silver pieces, +sat the Secretary of the Treasury, counting the +national hoard by the dim light of a candle.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I am sorry you came,” said the secretary to the +President; “for I really have so much work to do, +that I have no time to talk.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Then Mr. Cleveland observed that Col. Manning +was attired in naught but an undershirt, his trousers, +and a pair of high-heeled boots.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Good!” thought the President. Then he said +aloud, “But where is the gas, Dan? and why are +you using this wretched tallow-dip?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have had the gas-meter taken out of the +building,” said the secretary, “and have returned +to the good old democratic simplicity of candles. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>By this means, the sum of ninety thousand dollars +will be saved to the country annually.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“And what are you doing now?” asked the +President.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Counting the money in the Treasury,” replied +Col. Manning. “I intend to know for myself +whether any peculations have been indulged in by +my Republican predecessors. Already I have discovered +a number of questionable things. For +instance, I have found the tail-feathers pulled out +of a large number of the eagles on the 1877 coinage +of twenty-dollar gold-pieces, and I intend to +trace the burglarious outrage to its uttermost until +the guilty party is brought to justice.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“That is right,” said the President; and as he +walked away, he felicitated himself and his country +upon having secured the co-operation of such +an honest, fearless patriot as the Albany journalist.</p> + +<p class='c006'>In the State Department, too, the tawdry gas-fixtures +had been removed, to make way for the +unostentatious candle. Owing to a dimness of +vision, however, Secretary Bayard was compelled +to use a kerosene-lamp; and this stood upon his +white-pine table, emitting a fragrance which the +rose of Sharon might have envied. Bayard wore +no collar nor tie. He was in his shirt-sleeves, and +the President observed that the shirt was a woollen +one; only to preserve the necessary dignity on +state occasions, the secretary wore a white celluloid +bosom; but otherwise his attire was rigidly plain.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>“Yes, I am very busy,” said Mr. Bayard, “and +I have been hard at work since three o’clock this +morning. Having abolished the three hundred +typewriters and forty-eight stenographers formerly +employed in this department, I have my hands full +answering the letters. Here,” he continued, as he +wearily laid his pale hand on a mass of crumpled +sheets of paper, “here are letters from Queen +Victoria, King William, Dom Pedro, Kalakaua, +Alfonzo, the Czar, Taing-ho, Gen. Barrios, the +Ahkoond of Swet, the Emir of Bagdool, the +Begum of Mysore, and a hundred other potentates, +which must be answered before the noon-mail +goes out.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>In the Navy Department, Secretary Whitney +was not to be found. Over a work-bench in one +corner of the room leaned a boy, contemplating +with awe and admiration the model of a patent +canal-boat, which calmly floated on the bosom of a +tub of cistern-water.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Can you tell me where to find the Secretary of +the Navy?” sternly demanded the President, who +was evidently pained to see one of the lad’s years +idling in this manner.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Dunno,” replied the boy, “but guess he’s in +the gymnasium over ’cross the hall.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>President Cleveland stepped across the hall, and +opened a door on which was pasted a sheet of paper +bearing the written legend “Private.” Yes, there +was the Secretary of the Navy, attired in a sleeveless +<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>jersey and a pair of white cotton drawers, and +engaged at pulling vigorously at a rowing-machine.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, I declare!” exclaimed President Cleveland. +“What on earth are you doing?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Learning the business,” replied Secretary +Whitney, between pulls. “I am determined to +acquaint myself with every detail of the marine +and navy service. My arms have grown an inch +and a half in ten days. Bill Chandler knew nothing +about the minutiæ of the department, and I +am resolved to put his administration to the blush. +I am learning to swim, and I go to the natatorium +twice a day to take lessons.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>As the President strolled toward the War-Department +offices, his bosom heaved with emotions +of exultation.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“How admirably have I chosen my associates!” +he murmured. “On every hand I find irrefutable +evidence that the spirit of my administration has +infused every subordinate and co-ordinate branch.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>On the walls of the war-office were divers +chromos and lithographic prints of Hannibal, Alexander, +Cæsar, Napoleon, Israel Putnam, Zachary +Taylor, Andrew Jackson, Winfield Scott Hancock, +and other great generals; also a framed daguerrotype +of old Admiral Crowninshield, in the costume +of an honorary member of the Hull Yacht +Club of Boston. Armed soldiers paced to and fro +over the sanded floor, or studied the maps of the +Sioux, Ute, and Modoc reservations, which were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>spread out on the varnished deal tables. When +President Cleveland inquired where Secretary +Endicott was, one of the gloomy sentinels pointed +in the direction of an inner room; and thither the +President drifted. A surprising spectacle greeted +him as he entered. Secretary Endicott, clad only +in a blouse and trousers of army blue, and wearing +a fatigue-cap, stood at one end of the room, holding +a cavalry pistol in both hands, and firing at a +target at the other end of the room. The target +consisted of the head of a barrel, upon which +uncertain rings had been described with white +chalk. “Bang!” went the big pistol, and the +recoil threw the Secretary of War into the President’s +arms.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“It is all-fired strange,” explained the secretary, +“but I have fired over two hundred cartridges at +that gol-darned target, and I hain’t hit it once. +I’m a mighty poor shot,—don’t believe I could +hit the side of a meetin’-house,—but I’m goin’ to +keep on tryin’ till the country owns up I’m the +gol-darnedest best cabinet officer they had since +Uncle Crowninshield was on deck.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Then the secretary sat down on the corner of +the table, and ate his modest luncheon of nutcakes +and cheese, while the President talked with him +about the troubles on the Oklahoma border.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“By the way,” said the President, picking up a +cartridge from the pile that lay on the floor, +“have you been using these all the time?”</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>“Yes,” replied the secretary, mopping the powder-dust +and perspiration from his undaunted +brow. “I’ve fired more’n three hundred of ’em +this mornin’.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Then, it’s no wonder you haven’t hit the target,” +said the President, with an amused chuckle; +“for, my dear fellow, these are blank cartridges!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, I swow!” exclaimed the secretary. +“You don’t say so!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>President Cleveland chuckled to himself all the +way over to the Post-Office Department. But he +was proud of his war-secretary, just the same. +Endicott was honest and earnest: that was the +kind of man the era of reform demanded.</p> + +<p class='c006'>A beautiful young woman, wearing a calico +dress, was carrying a three-hundred-pound mail-sack +filled with letters through the hall.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Is Secretary Vilas in?” inquired the President.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“No, sir,” answered the beautiful being in the +calico, as she hurried along with the mail-sack.</p> + +<p class='c006'>President Cleveland was shocked: he had never +suspected that Vilas would be the first to grow +remiss in his duties. With anguish in his soul, the +President entered the Attorney-General’s office. +It was in full blast. The subordinates were +ranged in two semicircles about Gen. Garland, +who, in his shirt-sleeves, was propounding questions +upon matters which concerned the intelligent +conduct of the department. “What is replevin?” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>“What is the jurisdiction of a Missouri justice of +the peace?” “Explain the difference between <i>de +jure</i> and <i>de facto</i>.” “What is a <i>posse comitatus</i>, +and wherein does it differ from the Arkansas +possum?” “What is a change of venue?” These +and similar interrogatories did the learned Attorney-General +put to his class; and the President was +pleased to hear that the responses came quickly, +and for the greater part were correct.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I will not interrupt them,” thought the President; +so he retired noiselessly, and slipped over +to the Interior Department. All was commotion +here, and Secretary Lamar was busiest of the busy.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“We have been hard at work since daylight,” +said the secretary. “You see, I have not had time +to brush my hair, or comb my beard: in fact, I +was in such a hurry that I came down-town with +my night-cap on. As Horace said, ‘<i>De juvente +pluribus noctantur</i>;’ and in the words of the old +Greek philosopher, ‘<i>Kai telos epithalmos gar gignosko</i>.’”</p> + +<p class='c006'>The President applauded the enthusiasm which +prevailed. Outside the pension office several hundred +one-armed and wooden-legged veterans were +seeking admittance: inside the office the crowd +of old soldiers was still greater. Standing on +tiptoe, and peering over the crowd, the President +could see the pension commissioner, Gen. Black, +hard at work handing out bags of money to the +crippled pensioners.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>“’Tis well,” said President Cleveland, smiling. +Then he went back to the Post-Office Department, +but Vilas was not there. This was a severe blow,—an +awful shock. President Cleveland brooded +over it, and the tears came into his eyes. As he +passed the Department of Agriculture, he saw the +commissioner in the garden, watering the tulips, +and pruning the young rhubarb-plants. This +sight cheered him somewhat; but still the President +brooded over Vilas’s absence from his post +of duty, and he indulged in the most melancholy +reflections until he nearly reached home,—yes, +till he had come to the White-House gate. Then +a cheery whistle startled him from his sad revery. +Looking up, he beheld Secretary Vilas tripping +gayly down the walk, carrying a leathern bag, and +whistling a merry air from “Falka.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I have just left a bundle of letters with Lamont +for you,” said Vilas.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“How do you happen to be here, instead of +at your post of duty?” inquired the President +gloomily.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Why, when I got down to the office at four +o’clock this morning,” explained Vilas, “I found +one of our men sick; so I concluded to carry his +route for him myself to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>A few moments later, President Cleveland, having +removed his coat, collar, and necktie, seated +himself at his desk in the White House, and was +ready for work.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>“Daniel,” said he to his private secretary, “I +feel encouraged, for I have irrefutable evidence +that my cabinet is <i>en rapport</i> with the administration. +The republic has indeed entered upon an +era of Arcadian simplicity.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Drama Discussed.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Our esteemed fellow-townsman, Egbert Jamieson, +Esq., had a remarkably pleasant interview +with President Cleveland the other day. The +President was in his best mood, and he produced +a favorable impression upon his gifted visitor.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Col. Lamont tells me,” said Mr. Cleveland, +“that you are a dramatic author.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Ah!” replied Mr. Jamieson, blushing, “I do +not know that I would call myself one, although +it is true that in leisure moments I have tossed off +a comedy or two.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I would like to read your works,” said Mr. +Cleveland cordially. “When I was living in Buffalo, +and had more time than I have now, I used +to go to the theatre quite often. I saw Matilda +Heron play ‘Camille’ in 1859; and, although the +lady appeared to be suffering with a severe cold at +the time, I don’t know when I have witnessed a +more satisfactory performance. I have also seen +Joseph Winkle in ‘Rip Van Jefferson,’ and Mark +Twain in Mulberry Raymond’s play of ‘Millions +<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>In It.’ I am naturally fond of the drama, and I +read Shakespeare, Sheridan, Jonson, and other +dramatists every now and then; but I never had +the pleasure of meeting with your works.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“My dramatic work,” explained Mr. Jamieson +modestly, “belongs to the modern school: do you +like the modern school? have you heard that piece +of Dixey’s yet?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes, often, often,” answered Mr. Cleveland. +“The Marine Band plays it every Saturday afternoon, +and I fancy it mightily; although I am averse +to what might be called sectional or partisan music.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>Thus in pleasant discourse did the President +and Mr. Jamieson pass as profitable an hour as +ever fell to the lot of two agreeable gentlemen. +When Mr. Jamieson returned to Willard’s Hotel, +an anxious friend asked him whether Cleveland +had promised him the attorneyship he was after.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Well, no, I can’t say that he has,” said Mr. +Jamieson; “but there is a good deal of satisfaction +in knowing that the administration and I are <i>en +rapport</i> on the subject of the drama.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Vale of Cashmere.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>When the Hon. F. H. Winston, our minister to +Persia, heard that President Cleveland had married +without letting him know any thing about it, he +was deeply mortified. He brooded in grim silence +<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>while his dragoman, Prince von Schierbrand, read +aloud the official report of the wedding.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Hold on a minute,” he cried, interrupting the +prince at one point in his perusal: “read that last +sentence again.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“‘The bride wore a tulle veil bedecked with +orange-blossoms,’” repeated the dragoman slowly +and with emphasis.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Good enough for her!” ejaculated the great +diplomate, smiling with diabolical satisfaction. +“If they’d only let me into the secret, with my +influence here at court, I could have sent the bride +the veil of cashmere; and I’ll bet <i>that</i> would have +beaten the rest of her <i>trousseau</i> all hollow!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Friend of the Indian.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>As President Cleveland was proceeding from the +east front of the Capitol, after the inauguration +ceremonies yesterday, among the vast throng that +surrounded him with congratulatory words was a +very neat-looking gentleman wearing a dark-brown +overcoat, black kid gloves, and a shiny plug hat, +and carrying an umbrella in a nice new silk cover.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“How do you do, Mr. President?” exclaimed +the neat-looking gentleman cordially.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Pretty well, thank you,” replied Mr. Cleveland.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Can I see you a moment privately?” inquired +the neat-looking gentleman, attempting to draw +the new President to one side.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>“Really, sir, it is impossible to grant your +request just at this moment,” said Mr. Cleveland, +stanchly maintaining his ground.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You seem to have forgotten me,” persisted the +neat-looking gentleman: “I am Erskine M. Phelps, +president of the Iroquois Club.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I can do nothing for you just at this moment,” +replied Mr. Cleveland; “but you can depend upon +it, I was sincere when I declared in my speech to-day +that you Indians should be fairly and honestly +treated.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Way of the Sex.</i></h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One morning in May, as the doodle-bug lay</div> + <div class='line in2'>In her cavern a fathom down under the ground,</div> + <div class='line'>The poodle-dog came, and he murmured her name,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And the doodle-bug’s heart gave a rapturous bound.</div> + <div class='line in10'>“O doodle, dear doodle!”</div> + <div class='line in10'>Soft murmured the poodle:</div> + <div class='line in10'>“What now, Mr. Poodle?”</div> + <div class='line in10'>Responded the doodle.</div> + <div class='line'>Then he told her his love, did the amorous poodle.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But the doodle-bug said, with a toss of her head,</div> + <div class='line in2'>“What stocks, bonds, or moneys, I pri’thee have you?”</div> + <div class='line'>But the poodle replied, “I have nothing beside</div> + <div class='line in2'>My beautiful fleece and a heart that is true.”</div> + <div class='line in10'>“Well, then, Mr. Poodle,”</div> + <div class='line in10'>Retorted the doodle,</div> + <div class='line in10'>“I’m not such a noodle,</div> + <div class='line in10'>To wed a kiudle</div> + <div class='line in10'>Who hasn’t a boodle”—</div> + <div class='line'>And she gave him the mitten, the frugal Miss Doodle.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>After Many Years.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>At the panorama of the Battle of Shiloh in this +city a few days ago, a small, shrivelled-up man made +himself conspicuous by going around the place +snivelling dolorously. He did not appear to be +more than five feet high. He was dressed all in +black, and his attenuated form and gray whiskers +gave him a peculiarly grotesque appearance. He +seemed to be greatly interested in the panorama; +and, as he moved from one point of view to another, +he groaned and wept copiously. A tall, +raw-boned man approached him: he wore gray +clothes and a military slouch hat, and he had the +general appearance of a Missourian away from +home on a holiday.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Reckon you were at Shiloh, eh, stranger?” +asked the tall, raw-boned man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes,” replied the small, shrivelled-up man, +“and I shall never forget it: it was the toughest +battle of the war.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I was thar,” said the tall, raw-boned man; “and +my regiment was drawn up right over yonder +where you see that clump of trees.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“You were a rebel, then?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I was a Confederate,” replied the tall, raw-boned +man; “and I did some right smart fighting +among that clump of trees that day.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I remember it well,” said the small, shrivelled-up +<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>man, “for I was a Federal soldier; and the +toughest scrimmage in all that battle was just +among that clump of trees.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Prentiss was the Yankee general,” remarked +the tall, raw-boned man; “and I’d have given a +pretty to have seen him that day. But, dog-on +me! the little cuss kept out of sight, and we uns +came to the conclusion he was hidin’ back in the +rear somewhar.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Our boys were after Marmaduke,” said the +small, shrivelled-up man; “for he was the rebel +general, and had bothered us a great deal. But +we could get no glimpse of him: he was too sharp to +come to the front, and it was lucky for him too.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Oh, but what a scrimmage it was!” said the +tall, raw-boned man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“How the sabres clashed, and how the minies +whistled!” cried the small, shrivelled-up man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The panorama brought back the old time with +all the vividness of a yesterday’s occurrence. The +two men were filled with a strange yet beautiful +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Stranger,” cried the tall, raw-boned man, “we +fought each other like devils that day, and we +fought to kill. But the war’s over now, and +we ain’t soldiers any longer—gimme your hand!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“With pleasure,” said the small, shrivelled-up +man; and the two clasped hands.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What might be your name?” inquired the tall, +raw-boned man.</p> + +<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>“I am Gen. B. M. Prentiss,” said the small, +shrivelled-up man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“The —— you say!” exclaimed the tall, raw-boned +man.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes,” re-affirmed the small, shrivelled-up man; +“and who are you?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I,” replied the tall, raw-boned man, “I am +Gen. John S. Marmaduke.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Society Item.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The observed of all observers at the opera last +evening was Mrs. Col. Henry J. Bowers, the beautiful +and accomplished wife of Col. Henry J. +Bowers, general manager of the Fond du Lac +Narrow Gauge. Mrs. Bowers, accompanied by Miss +Cecilia Muggins of Grand Rapids, her queenly +niece, occupied proscenium-box B, and won universal +admiration, not more by the nice discrimination +with which she approved the performance, +than by the superb toilet in which she was attired. +Mrs. B. is the daughter of Peter Muggins, the +millionnaire pork-packer of Omaha, who came to +this country forty years ago a poor lad, and engaged +in commerce as a driver on the Illinois and +Michigan Canal. Before her marriage, she was the +belle of her native town; and since that auspicious +event, she has been the acknowledged queen of the +<i>recherche</i> social circle in which she moves.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i><span lang="de">“Die Walküre” und der Boomerangelungen.</span></i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>There is a strange fascination about Herr +Wagner’s musical drama of “<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>.” A +great many people have supposed that Herr Sullivan’s +opera of “<span lang="de">Das Pinafore</span>” was the most +remarkable musical work extant, but we believe +the mistake will become apparent as Herr Wagner’s +masterpiece grows in years. We will not +pretend to say that “<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>” will ever be +whistled about the streets, as the airs from “Das +Pinafore” are whistled: the fact is, that no rendition +of “<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>” can be satisfactory without +the accompaniment of weird flashes of fire; and it +is hardly to be expected that our youth will carry +packages of lycopodium, and boxes of matches, +around with them, for the sole purpose of giving +the desired effect to any snatches from Herr Wagner’s +work they may take the notion to whistle. +But in the sanctity of our homes, around our firesides, +in the front-parlor, where the melodeon or +the newly hired piano has been set up, it is there +that Herr Wagner’s name will be revered, and his +masterpiece repeated o’er and o’er. The libretto +is not above criticism: it strikes us that there is +not enough of it. The probability is, that Herr +Wagner ran out of libretto before he had got +through with his music, and therefore had to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>spread out comparatively few words over a vast +expanse of music. The result is, that a great part +of the time the performers are on the stage is +devoted to thought, the orchestra doing a tremendous +amount of fiddling, etc., while the actors +wander drearily around, with their arms folded +across their pulmonary departments, and their +minds evidently absorbed in profound cogitation. +As for the music, the only criticism we have to +pass upon it is, that it changes its subject too +often: in this particular it resembles the dictionary,—in +fact, we believe “<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>” can +be termed the Webster’s Unabridged of musical +language. Herr Wagner has his own way of +doing business. He goes at it on the principle of +the twelfth man, who holds out against the eleven +other jurors, and finally brings them around to his +way of thinking. For instance, in the midst of +a pleasing strain in B natural, Herr Wagner has a +habit of suddenly bringing out a small reed-instrument +with a big voice (we do not know its name), +piped in the key of F sharp. This small reed-instrument +will not let go: it holds on to that F +sharp like a mortgage. For a brief period the +rest of the instruments—fiddles, bassoons, viols, +flutes, flageolets, cymbals, drums, etc.—struggle +along with an attempt to either drown the intruder, +or bring it around to their way of doing +business; but it is vain. Every last one of them +has to slide around from B natural to F sharp, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>and they do it as best they can. Having accomplished +its incendiary and revolutionary purpose, +the small reed-instrument subsides until it finds +another chance to break out. It is a mugwump.</p> + +<p class='c006'>Die Walkuren, as given us by the Damrosch +Company, are nine stout, comely, young women, +attired in costumes somewhat similar to the armor +worn by Herr Lawrence Barrett’s Roman army in +Herr Shakespeare’s play of “Der Julius Cæsar.” +Readers of Norse mythology may suppose that +these weird sisters were dim, vague, shadowy +creatures; but they are mistaken. Brunnhilde +has the <i>embonpoint</i> of a dowager, and her arms +are as robust and red as a dairymaid’s. As for +Gerhilde, Waltraute, Helmwige, and the rest, they +are well-fed, buxom ladies, evidently of middle +age, whose very appearance exhales an aroma of +kraut and garlic, which, by the way, we see, by +the libretto, was termed “mead” in the days of +Wotan and his court. These Die Walkuren are +said to ride fiery, untamed steeds; but only one +steed is exhibited in the drama, as it is given at +the Columbia. This steed, we regret to say, is a +restless, noisy brute, and invariably has to be led +off the stage by one of das supes, before his act +concludes. However, no one should doubt his +heroic nature, inasmuch as the cabalistic letters +“U. S.” are distinctly branded upon his left flank.</p> + +<p class='c006'>The Sieglinde of the piece is Fraulein Slach, a +young lady no bigger than a minute, but with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>wonderful powers of endurance. To say nothing +of Hunding’s persecutions, she has to shield Siegmund, +elope with him, climb beetling precipices, +ride Brunnhilde’s fiery, untamed steed, confront +die Walkuren, and look on her slain lover, and, +in addition to these prodigies, participate in a +Græco-Roman wrestling-match with an orchestra +of sixty-five pieces for three hours and a half. +Yet she is equal to the emergency. Up to the +very last she is as fresh as a daisy; and, after +recovering from her swooning-spell in the second +act, she braces her shoulders back, and dances all +around the top notes of the chromatic scale with +the greatest of ease. She is a wonderful little +woman, is Fraulein Slach! What a wee bit of +humanity, yet what a volume of voice she has, +and what endurance!</p> + +<p class='c006'>Down among the orchestra people sat a pale, +sad man. His apparent lonesomeness interested +us deeply. We could not imagine what he was +there for. Every once in a while he would get +up and leave the orchestra, and dive down under +the stage, and appear behind the scenes, where we +could catch glimpses of him practising with a pair +of thirty-pound dumb-bells, and testing a spirometer. +Then he would come back and re-occupy +his old seat among the orchestra, and look paler +and sadder than ever. What strange, mysterious +being was he? Why did he inflict his pale, sad +presence upon that galaxy of tuneful revellers? +<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>What a cunning master the great Herr Wagner +is! For what emergency does he not provide? +It was half-past eleven when the third act began. +Die Walkuren had assembled in the dismal dell,—all +but the den Walkure, Brunnhilde. Wotan +is approaching on appalling storm-clouds, composed +of painted mosquito-bars and blue lights. +The sheet-iron thunder crashes; and the orchestra +is engaged in another mortal combat with that +revolutionary mugwump, the small reed-instrument, +that persists in reforming the tune of the +opera. Then the pale, sad man produces a large +brass horn, big enough at the business end for +a cow to walk into. It is a fearful, ponderous +instrument, manufactured especially for “<span lang="de">Die +Walküre</span>” at the Krupp Gun Factory in Essen. +It has an appropriate name: the master himself +christened it the boomerangelungen. It is the +monarch, the Jumbo of all musical dinguses. The +cuspidor end of it protrudes into one of the proscenium-boxes. +The fair occupants of the box are +frightened, and timidly shrink back. Wotan is at +hand. He comes upon seven hundred yards of +white tarletan, and fourteen pounds of hissing, +blazing lycopodium! The pale, sad man at the +other end of the boomerangelungen explains his +wherefore. He applies his lips to the brazen monster. +His eyeballs hang out upon his cheeks, the +veins rise on his neck, and the lumpy cords and +muscles stand out on his arms and hands. Boohoop, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>boohoop!—yes, six times boohoop does that +brazen megatherium blare out, vivid and distinct, +above all the other sixty instruments in the orchestra. +Then the white tarletan clouds vanish, +the blazing lycopodium goes out, and Wotan +stands before the excited spectators. Then the +pale, sad man lays down the boomerangelungen, +and goes home. That is all he has to do: the six +sonorous boohoops, announcing the presence of +Wotan, is all that is demanded of the boomerangelungen. +But it is enough: it is marvellous, +appalling, prodigious. Whose genius but Herr +Wagner’s could have found employment for the +boomerangelungen? We hear talk of the sword +motive, the love motive, the Walhalla motive, and +this motive, and that; but they all shrink into +nothingness when compared with the motive of +the boomerangelungen.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>An Angered Teuton.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>A gentleman living out on Franklin Street +sends the following communication to this paper, +under date of March 12:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class='c006'>“<i>To the Editor.</i>—Your to-day’s edition brings +an article on ‘<span lang="de">The Walküre</span>.’ Are you aware of +the fact that your daily issue is, according to your +own statement, nearly a hundred and fifty thousand? +<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>You ought to expect that out of these +hundred and fifty thousand, at least fifteen hundred +will read your paper. Now, how can you, +in the face of this number, print the monstrous +pollutions of a Lausbub, who sat down and described +his voluptuous ignorance in a manner +which ought to drive the blush of shame to his +face, if he has any? There is no use going into +the details of his work: they, as well as it, are +simply disgusting. I would excuse any <i>gentleman</i> +who does not like Wagner’s music, for saying so +in a gentleman-like manner; but a man of the +standing of your correspondent, whose expressions +are printed in a paper of the standing of ‘The Daily +News,’—I expect without control,—such a man, +if he really be the brute he attempts to make out +of himself, ought to be tortured to death by +Wagner’s music, and the smell of garlic of ‘<span lang="de">The +Walküre</span>.’ I write this to you as an expression +of my disgust,” etc.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>“<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>” Analyzed.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Professor Eliphalet J. Snodgrass, emeritus +professor of æsthetic chemistry at Chicago University, +has analyzed the specimen of Wagner’s “<span lang="de">Die +Walküre</span>” we sent him last Wednesday morning, +and he finds that this inspired work of the great +<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>German master is composed of the following proportionate +parts:—</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Libretto</td> + <td class='c009'>06</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>String-music</td> + <td class='c009'>12</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Wind-music</td> + <td class='c009'>15</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Motives</td> + <td class='c009'>25</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Bass-drums and cymbals</td> + <td class='c009'>14</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Lycopodium and sheet-iron thunder</td> + <td class='c009'>13</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Flapdoodle, flubdub, and imagination</td> + <td class='c009'>15</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'> </td> + <td class='c009'><hr></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c021'>Total</td> + <td class='c009'>100</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c006'>This chemical analysis is confirmed, we understand, +by the numerous musical critics of the +Chicago press, who have surveyed the performance +of “<span lang="de">Die Walküre</span>” at the Columbia this +week, with quadrants, theodolites, and tuning-forks, +in the parquette circle. We are not sure +but what a study of these critics, as they appear +under full headway at an opera, is more profitable +than a study of the performance on the stage. +At least, an observation of their methods teaches +us the means by which the human mind can +arrive at perfection in the art of musical criticism.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>A Felicitous Toast.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“May your shadow never grow less!” was the +singularly felicitous toast which Major M. P. +Handy, president of the Clover Club, proposed to +Miss Sara Bernhardt at a Philadelphia banquet +the other evening.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Farmer Candidate.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Farmer Carter H. Harrison, the Democratic +candidate for governor, went out to the State Fair +yesterday in his honest old lumber-wagon, drawn +by a couple of steers. He was received with intense +enthusiasm by the simple country-folk, who +seem to regard him as the modern Cincinnatus. +Much to his chagrin, however, the sturdy old +farmer discovered, through the shrewd tactics of +the Hon. John W. Bunn, chairman of the State +Republican Executive Committee, the fair had +assumed the air and appearance of a Blaine and +Logan ratification meeting. There were Jim +Blaine squashes, John Logan pumpkins, Plumed +Knight butter, Black Jack preserves, Magnetic +pears, Mulligan potatoes, to say nothing of the +cattle, sheep, swine, horses, mules, goats, roosters, +drakes, and ganders that bore the inspiring names +of Blaine, Logan, Black Eagle, Pride of Maine, +Our James, Eloquent John, Little Rock Jim, Sunstroke, +etc. In a word, it was evident that the +determination on the part of Bunn, and other Republican +managers, to give none of the premiums +to any exhibiter who was not a reliable Republican, +had converted the State Fair into a mammoth Republican +ratification meeting. Farmer Harrison’s +bosom was perturbed by the contending emotion +of wounded pride, righteous indignation, horror, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>and scorn. His eagle eyes flashed, and an ominous +scowl clouded his sunburned brow. He determined +to do something at once that would counteract +the effect of this infamous trickery, and +confound the conscienceless Republican managers +upon their own vantage-ground. So he approached +one of the stock-stalls, where a guileless-looking +old rustic was lazily chewing tobacco, and watching +over a fine, fat specimen of the bovine kind.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Ah, my good friend,” said Farmer Harrison, in +his oiliest tones, “what a superb animal that is!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Yes,” replied the rustic, “a very clever critter.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What do you call him?” inquired Farmer +Harrison. “Do you call him Jim Blaine?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Naw,” replied the rustic.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Logan or Oglesby?” asked Farmer Harrison.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Naw.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Perhaps you have named him the Plumed +Knight, or Black Eagle, or Uncle Dick?” suggested +the farmer candidate.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Naw,” said the rustic: “’tain’t got no name ’t all.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I thought not,” cried Farmer Harrison. “There +was an indescribable something about your appearance, +my good friend,—a certain candor, dignity, +and valor,—that told me, ‘This man is no tool of +the corrupt ringsters who are now attempting to +foist themselves upon the honest yeomanry of Illinois.’ +Your erect figure, your manly face, your +hearty voice, and your ingenious manner, bespeak +your independence of all the subtle influences of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>corruption. You are a Democrat, sir,—a grand +old Jacksonian Democrat,—unless your honest +looks belie you!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, I am, by gosh!” said the rustic earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Now, I’ve a proposition to make to you,” said +Farmer Harrison softly, “and it is this: you name +this noble animal after me, and placard him ‘Carter +H. Harrison,’ and I’ll do something for you +after I’m elected governor.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, now, gov’ner,” said the rustic, confused +like, “I’m drefful sorry, but I can’t conscientiously +do it.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“What!” cried Farmer Harrison. “Do you +mean to say that you, an old Jacksonian Democrat, +decline to perform this simple duty at a moment +when the hand of corruption is outstretched to +throttle our fair republic? Do you mean to say +that in this emergency and at this supreme moment +you refuse to name this sleek brute ‘Carter H. +Harrison,’ and thereby redeem this State Fair from +eternal ignominy?”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Now, really, gov’ner, I can’t,” persisted the +rustic.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“And why not?” demanded Farmer Harrison.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“I don’t care to say: I don’t want to hurt your +feelin’s.”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Speak out, old man,” cried Farmer Harrison. +“‘Hew to the line, let the chips fall where they +may.’ At this moment, let there be no equivocation, +no hesitation, no concealment: speak out, old +<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>man, that your answer may be recorded, and go +thundering down the ages!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>“Waal, then,” said the venerable rustic, “if you +insist upon knowin’ my reason, I can’t do it, ’cause +the critter’s a heifer!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c004'><i>The Mummy’s Conundrum.</i></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>A floating item tells us that Omaha is the +cheapest place in the country to die in. But why +die in Omaha, when one can live as cheap in St. +Louis, and at the same time serve all the purposes +of being dead in other localities? It is related by +one of our most reliable citizens, who has travelled +much abroad, that he once visited the catacombs +of Rome. Deep in the bowels of the earth, surrounded +by the mouldy skeletons of other centuries, +and oppressed by the weird gloom of the +labyrinth of the dead, the traveller abandoned +himself to solemn reflections.</p> + +<p class='c006'>“This, then,” said he, half aloud, “this is the +city of the dim, mysterious past—the vast charnel-house +in which the glory, the flower, the cream, +the ambition, of other generations crumble to dust! +Grim mocker of mortality—genius of oblivion! +this granary of human clay is thy cherished and +supreme abode!”</p> + +<p class='c006'>To this apostrophe, a musty mummy of the time +of Nero the violinist, raising himself rheumatically +from his couch in a mouldy niche, replied, “Stranger, +I reckon you’ve never been in St. Louis, Mo.”</p> + +<div class='c002 figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_326.jpg' alt='A simple black-and-white line drawing of a wooden gallows structure. It consists of a horizontal crossbeam supported by two vertical side posts with diagonal corner braces. A rope hangs from the center of the crossbeam, terminating in a noose, with the rest of the rope trailing down toward the right post.' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>THE END.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c003'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c010'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c002'> + <li>Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + + </li> + <li>The author appeared to dislike the use of apostrophes to indicate possession in + poetry and did not alter them. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78956 ***</div> +</body> +<!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57i (with regex) on 2026-06-26 18:17:00 GMT --> +</html> |