Life — December 13, 1883 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

300 LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF HENRY IRVING. i ONDAY, Nov.—Bless my soul! The Herald says this morning that I sat up all last night with Attorney-General Brewster and found him the most interesting man in America. Never saw Brewster in my life. I must tell Brahm Stoker not to have me meet any more of the ‘most interesting men” in America, Brewster is the twenty-seventh, and it begins to look suspicious. Wepyespay, Nov.—Brahm Stoker says this morning I must make a speech at the Lotus Club; wants to know if he had better put into my American speeches the English * gag" about wishing I had been born, or might die, in this particular town. Told him yes, if he would put it in Latin, for I hear a man they call “ Piggy ” Everett is the only inhabitant of this country who understands Latin, and he is way off in Massachusetts. Sunpay, Nov.—Brahm Stoker was taken out to drive (they say ride here) this afternoon. He says he never went so fast before in his life. Tuespay, Nov.—Stoker says Booth has bought a house in Boston, and Aldrich (who the deuce is Aldrich 7) has just given him a reception. Stoker may put the English “gag” into my speech for the St. Botolph Club at Boston. Stoker. says a man named F ** invited him and his wife to stop with him in Boston, Deuced glad Stoker did n't bring his wife. Stoker has certain drawing qualities as a single man that are helpful. PHILADELPHIA, TUESDAY.—Boston Herald says I am‘ en- thussastically artistic,” while Booth is only ‘artistically enthusi- astic.” Why the Devil did n't Stoker think of that? Yes, Iam enthusiastically artistic. Must send the Boston Herald a box. Stoker says, though, that he has promised thirteen boxes in Boston for the opening night. [have it! He can say he thought they were stalls, like the Lyceum, you know. Wepnespay, Nov.—If Lever get Ellen home again, by Jove, I shall keep her there. She flirted with Beecher at his own table. Seems to me I have heard of Beecher before. The Philadelphia Press man, last Monday, praised her acting in “Louis XI.," and she did n't take part at all! O Demmit ! Tuurspay, Nov.—Getting more and more nervous about Boston. Beastly hole. They like Arnold. Don't believe I am like Arnold. Now, New York did n't like Arnold. Stoker says F*® runs all the clubs in Boston, and thinks Ellen had better accept the invitation to the Somerset Club. Stoker says F ** told him I needn't be so English there as I was in New York. That is a great relief. Much of a young man’s success in life depends on his selection of a father. Tue Dude's absorbing pastime is looking at his feet through the wrong end of an opera-glass. Tue Congressional labor investigation revealed the fact that Jay Gould received his first lesson in water- ing stock while working on a farm. An Arkansaw man claims to have discovered the skeleton of De Soto, but a careful examination and measurement of the remains prove that they are not De Soto’s bones the explorer used to wear when he was hunting for big rivers. And now if that man does n't pronounce right, here is a good joke thrown out of gear by the perverse language of a lot of foreigners who never had any business prowling about this coun- try anyhow. > LIFE: “ Mes. Gilpin’s Frugalities,’ an oblong, pink- edged cook-book, by Mrs. Susan Anna Brown, has been received and read, but containing as it does so many indigestible articles, we cannot truth- fully say, has been inwardly digested. We commend it to our readers as being full of good things, or rather full of what in competent hands can be made good things. A perusal of its pages will convince the or- dinary man that “ways that are dark and tricks that are vain” are not peculiarities solely of the “ must- goed” but still “unwent” Heathen Chinee. The plot is rather commonplace, what there is of it, and consists merely of a succession of incidents strung together in an ingenious manner. The situations are in some parts strong, but the book as a whole is en- tirely devoid of humor, while there are scattered here and there touches of the most exquisite pathos. SEVERAL years ago anovel in the No Name Series, called “ His Majesty Myself,” attracted a great deal of attention because of the vivid picture which it gave of the career of a sensational preacher. Many believers in the orthodox ending for all stories found fault with its unsatisfactory conclusion. In time it became known that the Rev. Wm. M. Baker, of Boston, was its author. About a year afterward he wrote another book, “ Blessed Saint, Certainly,” in which some of the old characters appeared, but not the hero and hero- ine. A few months ago he died; but now, as an agreeable surprise to his many readers, there is appear- ing in the Philadelphia Ca// a posthumous story from his pen, called “Thirlmore,” in which the leading characters of “ His Majesty Myself" take the promi- nent part. R. EDGAR FAWCETT’S novel,“ An Ambitious Woman,” has been published in a handsome vol- ume. The story is worth its permanent shape. I N Anthony Comstock’s “ Traps for the Young,” no mention, unaccountably, is made of Old Maids and Christmas Sunday-school festivals. ISHOP PIERCE, of Arkansas, has published a small volume of poems. The title-piece, “ The Agnostic,” does not refer to Jay Gould as a witness in the railway suits. -PEOPLE are wondering what the defense in the Cesnola trial is going to be. If we are to believe what we hear on all sides, the defense has not yet been determined on—in fact, lies entirely in- Choate. Tue new administration in Massachusetts have de- cided to stop that “skin-tanning” business by pro- viding all paupers at Tewksbury with silk umbrellas. comicbooks.com