Newspaper Page Text
[For The Suuny South.]
BETTER THAN REASON.
BY LILLIAN BOZELL MESSENGER.
Oh, tell me why the butterfly,
W ith happy wiug and beaming eye,
In royal, splendid colors drest.
As woven in the summer-west,
W ith such t*et and grace and power
Finds its beauty and its flower—
Never envying the bee.
Nor crossing its felicity,—
Tell me this, and I will prove
Why I sing and why I love!
Whisper how the song-bird finds
Every harp of all the winds—
Why he mounts the waves of light,
And never fears for wing or night;
And how he builds his nest, and where
The velvet breast awaits him there,
W'ith pensive eye and brooding wiug,
Love-cooings break her slumbering,—
Tell me this, and I will prove
Why I sing and why I love!
Come whisper how the sweet bee knows
Where the first spring blossom blows—
Why he waited the winter long,
And never sought the flow'ry throng;
When fading day dreamed in the west,
He slipped into his golden rest!
Next say why the sky is blue,
And yet wears veils of every hue,
Forever beautiful and new,—
Else cease thy scorn and murmuring
Why I love and why I sing!
And yet another truth impart:
How heart and soul find soul and heart;
And why the heav'nly message flies
From tender lip and flashing eyes;
Why nor time nor space can sever
Loves two, made one, with God forever.
Tell me this, and why, sweet spirit,
Thy fair brow was made to merit
The truth and beauty that it bears.
And kiss of angelhood it wears;
While thy love-born soul confesses
’Twas the saints wove thy soul’s dresses!
Then say when were fetters wrought.
That thou hast chain’d me, soul and thought!
Thus the reason thou wilt bring
Why I love and why I sing!
OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
HON. BENJAMIN F. PERRY.
The Honorable Benjamin Franklin Perry, a
distinguished member of the South Carolina
bar, and still more distinguished for the ability
and firmness with which he resisted the dis
union movement in South Carolina, was born
November 20, 1805, in the district of Pendleton.
Benjamin Perry, the father of the subject of
this sketch, was a native of Massachusetts.
His ancestors were English. There were three
brothers who immigrated to America in the early
settlement of Massachusetts. Two of them re
mained in the old Bay State, and the third
moved to Rhode Island; from that brother has
descended the family of Commodore Oliver H.
Perry. At the early age of sixteen, Benjamin |
Perry volunteered his services in the army of
the Revolution, and was in the attack on Rhode
Island in 1778, made by the combined forces of j
General Sullivan and Count de Estaing with the \
French fleet. Immediately after the close of the
American Revolution, he-entered a store in Bos-
ton as clerk, where he remained till his removal
to Charleston, S. C., in 1784. Thence he came
to Greenville, where he married Anne Foster,
daughter of John Foster, of Virginia, who bore
a Lieutenant’s commission in the regular army
of the Revolution. The mother of Benjamin F.*
Perry, like the mothers of all distinguished men,
was a woman of great vigor of intellect and
character.
The childhood and youth of Benj. F. Perry
were spent amid hills and mountains, alternate}-
going to school and working on the farm, till he
was sixteen years old. During that period, he
manifested a great passion for books, and read
everything he could lay his hands on, even to
the American Encyclopedia! This early and ;
strong manifestation for reading and learning
induced his uncle, Robert S. C. Foster, to pre
vail on his parents to give him a classical edu
cation and a profession. He commenced the
study of the languages at Asheville, N. C., where
he met David L. Swain as a fellow-student, who j
was afterwards Governor of North Carolina and
President of Chapell Hill University, between ,
whom there sprang up an ardent friendship,
which continued through life. The Latin gram
mar was put into his hands Tuesday morning,
and such was his intense application, combined
with remarkable facility for learning, that he
memorized the whole of it before the coming
Saturday evening. In the course of ten months
he read all the Latin and Greek books required
to enter the junior class of the South Carolina
College.
In 1824, Mr. Perry entered the law-office of
Judge Earle, and being only eighteen years old,
he was enabled to furnish his mind with those
rich stores of general information and literature
which have since enabled him to mingle with
the labors of a large professional practice very
many able articles to the periodical literature of
the country. He varied his reading daily between
hrw, history, poetry, and novels. He finished
his course of legal study in the office of that
eminent lawyer, Col. James Gregg, of Colum
bia, and was admitted to the bar in 1827.
In commencing his profession at Greenville,
he had more than the usual severe probation of
young lawyers, for there was very little business
and an unusual number of eminent lawyers at
the bar on the Western Circuit, which included
Greenville. Mr. Perry has pursued the labori
ous study of his profession even more assidu
ously since than before his admission, and has
realized, by a commanding practice on the cir
cuit which he rides, the rich rewards of emolu
ments and reputation to which talents of a high
order, great labor and study, high personal char
acter, and speaking talent of a high order, so
well entitle him.
- in the exciting and memorable nullification
contest of 1832, Mr. Perry took charge of the
editorial department of a newspaper then pub
lished in the town of Greenville, where he re
sided. Nearly all of his friends—Judge Earle,
Warren R. Davis, General Thompson, and oth
ers who would have been most likely to influ
ence and convert his opinions, and would have
influenced those of most any other young man—
were all nullifiers. Most of the young men of
the State were on the same side—as they are
always apt to be on the side that seems to be
that of honor and patriotism, because perhaps
it is the side of action and danger. But the
opinions of Mr. Perry were fixed and undevi
ating in favor of the Union—the result of much
reading and reflection, not crude and hastily
formed.
The whole theory of nullification, as set forth \ Mr. Hoar was sent by Massachusetts to South
by Mr. Calhoun in his various publications, was, 1 Carolina, aqd was the only Senator who spoke
in the judgment of Mr. Perry, at war with the I and voted against the expulsion of that gentle-
• _ . . - i man f r0 m the State. Although in a minority of
one, lie told the Senate that this carried no ter
rors to his mind while conscientiously discharg
ing his duty as a Senator.
South Carolina has been for the last twenty
fundamental principles of our Federal Govern
nient, and impracticable in its operation. But
it was a painful struggle for him to separate from
cherished and honored friends, and from a large
portion of the eml odied chivalry and honor of
the State. The crisis was one. however, which
demanded the sacrifice, and he made it, and
firmly and resolutely did he pursue the path of
| duty as he regarded it. which is always the path
! of honor. The Mountaineer soon became a pow
erful and leading organ of the Union party, and
I all sorts of influences were exerted to bring over
' its talented young editor. Appeals to old and
i cherished friendships, to patriotism, courage,
| interest and honor, to go with his State -and
i friends, were all made in vain.
In the course of this angry and exciting strug-
i gle, Mr. Perry became involved in a duel with
five years a disunion State, and Mr. Perry has
been consistently a Union man ever since he
entered public life. This has effectually exclu
ded him from all State honors and office. But
he never aspired to any before the Legislature.
On several occasions, his friends voted for him
for Chancellor and President of the State bank.
When General Cass was the Democratic nominee
for the Presidency. Mr. Perry was not in the
Legislature, but was elected by that body as an
elector to represent the State at large in that
election. Governor Orr and himself had pre
viously been opposing candidates for Congress.
submitted one of his own, which was elaborately
written, and attracted considerable attention.
In the summer of 184(5, Mr. Perry made an ex
tensive tour through the Northern States and
Canada. He carried letters of introduction from
his friend and neighbor, the Hon. Joel R. Poin
sett, to a great many of the distinguished men
tion of seeing all his political measures, which
he had been contending for throughout his po
litical life, adopted by the State during his Pro
visional Governorship.
Having declined to be a candidate for Gov
ernor, the Legislature elected him, almost unan
imously, United States Senator for six years.
in Washington, New York and Boston. His trip But like all Southern Senators, Governor Perry
was a most interesting one, and he made the ac- was not allowed to take his seat in the Senate of
quaintance of President Polk, ex-President Van the United States.
Buren, ex-President Adams, Mr. Webster, Col. When the second reconstruction of the States
Benton, Mr. Everett, Governor Kendell, and was ordered, Governor Perry opposed it in a
many others. But we have no space to mention i series of articles, which were published tlirough-
the particulars of his travels and conversations
with the distinguished men whom he met.
In 1837, Mr. Perry was married in the city of
Charleston to a lady considerably younger than
himself, Miss Elizabeth F. McCall, daughter of j
West McCall, Esq., and niece of Governor Rob- j
ert Y. Hayne, a lovely and accomplished woman. ;
He has had seven children, and only four, one
daughter and three sons, are now surviving.
Mr. Perry has always lived like a gentleman, in I
a style happily combining elegance and frugal
ity, and only extravagant in the purchase of
books. He has the most extensive library in
the upper country. He has saved a competency,
and has a handsome income from his profession.
out the Southern States. He thought it better
to remain under a military government than be
governed by negroes, carpet-baggers and scalla-
wags.
Governor Perry preserves the dignity and
courtesy of manner always ascribed to him.
He is remarkably familiar with his friends, and
accessible to all. He is a capital talker, and at
the same time a good listener. The stores of
reading, observation and anecdotes which he
possesses are freely dispensed, and embrace a
wide range in science, literature and politics.
“He retains still much vigor of constitution,
and his firm tread and elastic step would indi
cate that he is a much vounger man than he is.
His person is tall and commanding, with a i Of large and commanding person, with strikin
They were both Democrats; but Governor Orr
came out in favor of General Taylor, which se
cured him the Whig vote, and he was elected.
In the course of his life, Mr. Perry lias been
called on to make a great many public addresses
the editor of a nullification paper published in
j the same town. His adversary was mortally
wounded at the first tire. This we have reason
to know, has been the most painful circumstance
of Mr. Perry’s life, although he has nothing to
reproach himself for in the circumstances which
led to it. His adversary was comparatively a stran
ger to him, a young man of talent and promise,
toward whom he entertained nothing approach-
ing a feeling of unkindliness. But under the j of Revolutionary inci
circumstances of the case, the temper of the
times, and the prevalent feeling in South Caro
lina, there was no alternative.
A Convention of the Union party assembled
in Columbia, August, 1832, for the purpose of
adopting measures to counteract the movement
of the nullifiers. Mr. Perry was a delegate to
that Convention, which was composed of such
men as the venerable revolutionary hero and
patriot, Colonel Thomas Taylor, Judge Huger,
Chief Justice O’Neall, Governor Johnson, Poin
sett, Pettigrew, Governor Manning, Judge Rich
ardson, Governor Middleton, Judge King, and
many others of the most distinguished names
of the State.
The opposition of the Union party at home
and the denunciations of President Jackson’s
proclamation seemed only to madden almost to
fury a gallant and already excited people. In
the ensuing fall, a regular Convention of the
people of the State was convened, by order of
the Legislature, in the capitol at Columbia.
Mr. Perry was elected a member of this Con
vention from Greenville, at the head of the
ticket. His colleagues were Governor Middle-
ton, Colonel Brockmore, and Silas R. Whitten,
Esquire.
In 1834, Mr. Perry was put in nomination by
the Union party for Congress, and was beaten
only sixty votes, in a poll of six or seven thou
sand (and this in Mr. Calhoun’s district), by
that liighlv-gifted and most popular man, the
Hon. Warren R. Davis. Mr. Davis died before
biking his seat in Congress, to which he had been
re-elected, and Mr. Perry was again brought for
ward as a candidate, opposed by General Thomp
son. He was soon after thrown from his car
riage and seriously injured; was confined to his
bed till after the election, and consequently Gen
eral Thompson was elected by a large majority.
Mr. Perry now withdrew from politics, as he
hail long previously done from the editorial chair. J^ng h^ne wspapW,* neither'hisTife
and devoted himself exclusively to Ins profes- i yj
sion and general literature. Few lawyers in the
State have enjoyed a larger or more lucrative
practice, and none have exhibited more learn
ing and ability.
In the fall of 1830, Mr. Perry was elected,
without opposition, to a seat in the State Legis
lature. He was placed on the Judiciary Com
mittee and the Committee on Federal Relations.
He strenuously opposed the agitation of the
slavery question, and made a speech on the an
nexation of Texas, eminently successful, which
elicited a very high compliment from Mr. Petti
grew—“Laudnre a laudato.” The Louisville and
Cincinnati Railroad came up before the Legisla
ture at this session, and Mr. Perry was its warm
advocate and defender. He was re-elected to
the Legislature in 1838 and placed at the head
of the Committee on Claims, and in that posi
tion saved the State many thousands of dollars
by his thorough and searching investigation of
all matters presented to the House. In all the
active business of the Legislature, and in all
before various literarf societies, ile has occa
sionally written for the Southern Revieic and other
periodical and literary journals. In The Mag
nolia, published in Sijyannah- ly v , ri , > Ay a series
ents, whicl wele embod-
: ied by Dr. Johnson in his book on the traditions
of the American Revolution. He has kept a
journal of his life for the last twenty-five years,
in which he has recorded not only the incidents
j connected with himself, but the important con-
! versations he has had with distinguished men,
, after the fashion of Boswell’s life of Dr. Jolin-
! son. He has written sketches and reminiscences
of a great many public men, which would make
a large octavo volume, and may some day be of
interest to the public. For the last thirty years,
he has kept a file of all his letters, newspapers
and pamphlets, which he has had substantially
bound. In the investigation of cases for court,
he preserves all his notes of authorities and ar-
I gnments. This he has found of great service in
his future practice.
In all public improvements of the country,
I Mr. Perry has taken an active part, and contrib
uted most liberally from his purse. The Green
ville and Columbia Railroad, the greatest enter
prise of the upper country, owes its origin and
success in a great measure to him.
In 1850, the secession and disunion feeling
rose so high in South Carolina that it was said
the State was a unit in breaking up the govern
ment and forming a new Confederacy. Mr.
Perry, however, remained “faithful amongst
thou* Pithless,” an, l boldly proclaimed his opposi
tion to secession and disunion, as destructive of
liberty and the
for the preservation
be dissolved. He suggested the propriety of
establishing a Union paper at Geeenville after
every newspaper in the State had gone over to
secession and espoused the cause of disunion.
He thought it would be a rallying point for the
dismembered and broken Union party through
out the State, and perhaps be the means of
face more than ordinarily intellectual. His
J manners are at the same time dignified, cordial
| and refined. His nature is frank, confiding,
: generous and impulsive—more quick to forgive
j and forget than to take offense. In all the do-
; mestie relations of life, he is without fault and
!■ without blemish; as a lawyer, able and learned,
j in public offices, as firm as Cato and as just as
[ Aristides.
I‘ The above sketch of the life and character of
1 Gov. Perry was written by the late Gen. AVaddy
i. Thompson, in 1852, and is so full that very little
J' space is left for the continuation of his life in
i' The Sunny South.
li In 1852, Governor Perry was employed by
/ General Thompson to go with him to Wasliing-
j ton and assist Messrs. Bradley and Carlisle in
| the defense of Dr. Gardner, who was indicted
i in the district for perjury in presenting a false
claim against the Mexican Government. After
[ spending five or six weeks in the investigation
; of the case in court, he became satisfied of the
f guilt of Dr. Gardner, and returned home,
i In tiie spring of 1880, Givernor Perry was ap-
j pointed a delegate to the National Democratic
1 Convention in Charleston. When the South
j Carolina delegates withdrew from that Conven-
f tion, Governor Perry refused to go with them,
! and remained in the Convention, voting for
. Hunter, of Virginia. He was hissed by the gal-
i lery every time he rose to cast a vote. When he
j rose to make a speech, the hissing was so loud
' and continued so long that the Chairman, Gen.
j Cushing, ordered the galleries cleared. Gov-
; ernor Perry begged that the order might not be
[ enforced, for he wished them to hear what he
! had to say. He thought the salvation of the
i republic depended upon the preservation of the
! great National Democratic party. In this, all
j now admit that he was correct. It is said that a
j great man, thoroughly conscientious, is apt to
pass much of his life in minorities. Like Lord
Mansfield, he never “mistakes the shouts of a
mob for the trumpet of fame.”
In 18(50, an election was ordered again for
members of a State Convention to dissolve the
| Union because Abraham Lincoln had been
elected President of the United States! Gov
ernor Perry contended that this was no cause
for breaking up the government, and that the
Southern people still had a majority in both
Houses of Congress and in the Supreme Court
of the United States. He also urged that the
Presidential vote showed that a majority of the
people were opposed to Lincoln’s election, and
he was elected only by tlio divisions in the Dem
ocratic party. He warned the people, too, that
they were about to plunge the country into a
bloody civil war, which would result in the
defeat of the South and the loss of their slave
property. But such was the temper of the times
that he was nowhere heeded. Even in Green
ville, where he had never failed, in thirty years,
to secure a majority of votes in any election
where he was a candidate, he was beaten for the
Convention, in company with Chief Justice
O’Neall and the Rev. Dr. James P. Boyce.
When the States seceded, Governor Means
came to Governor Perry and wished to know
what his course would be. He replied: “ I have
been trying to prevent this sad issue for the last
thirty years. You are all now going to the devil, I
and I will go with you. ” He consequently urged
his Union friends to stand by the State and vol
unteer in her defense. His son, William H.
Perry, and all his young friends did so, and re
mained in the Confederate army until they w r ere
killed, or until the surrender of Generals John
ston and Lee.
As the war progressed, the people of Green
ville began to regret their action in the election
of members of the Convention, and elected Gov
ernor Perry a member of the Legislature with
out his being a candidate, and almost unani
mously. During the war, he was appointed
commissioner under the Confederate Govern
ment to regulate prices, etc. He also received
intellectuality of face, he readily impresses every
one as being far above the mediocrity of men,
and one of nature’s true noblemen.”
[For The Suuuy South.]
Enigmas.
Why is a bee-hive like a spoilt potato?
Why is a four-quart jug like a side-saddle?
Why is a fashionable young lady like a lazy
mule? (Answer next number.)
Can you tell why
A hypocrite’s eye
Can better descry
Thau you or IV
On how many toes
A pussy-cat goes ?
There is now in this place a prophet whose
| generation was before Adam; was with Noah in
the ark, and with Christ just before he was cru
cified. lie never knew his father, and was never
nursed by his mother. Goes bare-foot like a
friar: wears no hat. His coat is not spun, knit,
nor woven; it is not silk, hair, linen, nor wool,
yet of very fine texture and gloss. He walks
boldly in the face of his enemies, without gun,
sword, or staff, yet has such a weapon as none
other ever had to defend himself from his foes.
He is often abused by wicked men for their di
version, but takes it patiently. At a certain
time, his voice is heard by all nations; he de
clares the day of the Lord is at hand; as he
cries, the doors flv open, and behold it is true.
He is much admired for his vigilance; does not
sleep on a bed, neither does he take off his
clothes. Though apparently proud, he cares
not for the pomp of this world. The only ser
mon he ever preached caused a sinner to repent
and weep bitterly. He is not the Wandering
Jew, the sin of Noah, a Levite, nor St. John, as
some may think he is. Anonymous.
THEATRICALS.
She
very institution nOhe South the appointment of District Attorney and Dis-
ion of which the union was to u . nder the Confederacy.
Alter the close ot the war, he was appointed
i Provisional Governor by President Johnson,
without any solicitation or knowledge on his
I part or on the part of his friends. About the
time of his appointment, he made a very strong
i Southern speech at a public meeting in Green-
i ville, which was very severely criticised at the
North, and was the subject of a cabinet meeting.
checking disunion. Some of his personal friends f] , . , . . . , _ -
„.1 ;*■ i. i : I It was thought strange for a Provisional Gov
ernor to express such sentiments. The conduct
came to him and said if he persevered in estab-
nor his
property would be safe. His reply deserves
being repeated. He said: “I will go on with
the paper if it sinks my fortune and sacrifices
my life!” The crowning glory of Mr. Perry’s
life is the more than Roman courage with which
he took this position. No one living out of the
State can adequately appreciate the terrific ex
citement of the people at this dangerous crisis.
Mr. Perry boldly assumed the editorial depart
ment of the paper. The difficult and dangerous
path which was before him he trod with courage,
patriotism, wisdom and high courtesy, which
have won the respect and admiration of even his
opponents.
The Legislature met in November, and Mr.
Perry and his colleagues from Greenville, Col.
Brockmore and Mr. Duncan, were the only Union
members in that assembly. When the question
of Federal relations was discussed in the House,
he opposed the action of the State in a speech of
great length and ability, and boldly assumed
that the Union was a blessing and not a curse,
the discussions of the House, Mr. Perry took a j an 'l that slavery would not survive its dissolu-
decided and prominent part. He brought for- ' tion. After concluding his speech, he said to a
ward various measures of reform and improve- friend: “I intend that my speech To-oity shall
ment in our laws and State government of the i * je published to the world, and will leave it as j\
highest importance. Among them was the estab- legacy to my country and children.” This
lishment of a penitentiary system, the election
of Governor by the people, and the election of
Presidential electors by popular votes, the equal
representation of the upper and lower country
in the State Senate, the election of Judges for a
term of years, and the blending of the courts of
law and equity. He was opposed to all connec
tion between bank and State, and, in connec
tion with Colonel Memininger, advocated the
winding up of the State Bank.
Mr. Perry was elected to a seat in the State
Senate in 1844. He was there placed at the head
of the Committee on Finance and Banks. Dur
ing the four years he served in the Senate, no
member of that body took a more active and
speech was published, and has been republished
throughout the Southern States. Ten thousand
copies were struck off in Charleston, at the ex
pense of two or three gentlemen, for distribu
tion in South Carolina and Georgia. It was
hailed in Washington and New Orleans as a ray
of light from South Carolina, and was certainly
the first check which secession and disunion re
ceived in the State.
The State Convention met in 1851, and Mr.
Perry was elected a member of it from Green
ville. He was placed on the committee of twenty-
one to prepare business for the Convention.
Judge Cheves was chairman of this committee,
and made a report, asserting the right of seces-
prominent part in all the debates and proceed- I sion, but declining to exercise it at that time,
ings of that body. He was in the Senate when i Mr. Perry did not acquiesce in this report, and
of Governor Perry as Provisional Governor re
flects the highest credit on his character as a
man and a statesman. It is a monument of the
magnanimity of his nature and unselfish patri
otism. There was no effort at mere personal
ends. He seemed inspired only by the noble
ambition of restoring to a ruined commonwealth
order, prosperity and contentment. He sought
to build no party for himself, to punish no old
political enemies nor to reward any partisans.
He restored to office all who were in office at
the close of the war, without inquiring what
their politics had been.
When Governor Perry called to see President
Johnson, he gave So favorable an account of
South Carolina, that the President requested
him to go and repeat the same conversation
to Seward, Secretary of State. On his return
from Washington, tile mails brought him, from
all parts of the State, letters of congratulation
on his appointment. He said, good-humor-
edly, to his friends, that it seemed he had all at
once become the most popular man in South
Carolina, from having been the most unpopular,
and that he was forcibly reminded of a remark
of Charles the Second ot England, on his resto
ration to the throne. He had been so warmly
greeted by the people everywhere, that he began
to think it was his own fault that he was not re
called sooner; so Governor Perry said that it
would seem to have been his own fault that he
was not made Governor of South Carolina sooner.
The Provisional Governorship of South Caro
lina was remarkable in one respect,—Governor
Perry’s administration neither received nor paid
out one^lollar! He was authorized to levy a tax
and sell public property, but he declined to do
either, as the whole State was poverty stricken.
He met General Meade, commanding the Atlan
tic States, and had a stop put to the military au
thorities trying civil and criminal cases, except
where negroes were concerned. He had to act
on all pardons and appointments. No pardon
was refused where the applicant took the oath of
allegiance. Governor Perry had the satisfac
Clara Morris acts in Boston in October,
has never yet been seen in Baltimore.
Patti has sung “Violetta” in London with
“abiding charm.” “La Traviata” is a great
favorite in the British metropolis.
“ Love is Loud,” one of the pieces in which
Mr. George Clarke will act in London, is an
adaptation by Mr. John Brougham of a work by
Scribe.
M. Georges Biget, died recently in Paris at
the age of thirty-six. It was only a few weeks
ago that accounts came of the great success at
the Opera Comique of his last opera, “Carmen.”
Mr. Melville Bonham has just finished an
extended professional tour through the Southern
States. Mr. Bonham is one of the finest readers
in America, not excepting Charlotte Cushman,
Vanderhoff or Murdock.
Mule. Teresa Tiet.tens, the greatest dramatic
prima donna in Europe, and the only represent-
1 ative to-day of the grandest roles in Italian opera,
has been engaged by Mr. Max Strakosch, ami
| will appear for the first time in New York City
in October.
| Mlle. Albani’s first appearance as “ Margue
rite” is favorably commented upon, and her
1 chief success is declared to have been made in
the final trio, where power as well as beauty of
voice is demanded. Her performance is likened
unto “a white lily.”
AVartel, the Paris maestro, tutor of a few suc
cessful prima donnas and not a few promising
singers, is described as very tall, with a straight
form and broad shoulders, hair tinged with gray,
a white beard, and brilliant black eyes that light
up his face with a kindly yet shrewd expres
sion.
Mr. Montague would seem to have produced
the inevitable effect in San Francisco. The
Chronicle of a recent date says: “The beautiful
Mr. Montague made the tour of the matinees
yesterday under the care of Mr. McCullough
and six policemen, who gallantly defended him
from the onslaught of his admirers. The Adon
ises of Hooley’s troupe had the pleasure of play
ing to the chignons of the audience while he
stood in the door-way. An extra box has been
engaged at the post-office for all letters in pink
envelopes, and all the precautions necessary for
the gentleman’s safety are duly observed.”
Miss Kate Field sails for England shortly.
She intends to make a critical study of foreign
dramas and dramatic people, have a score or so
of plays written for her, come back to America
in a few months and “star it” in all of them,
capture theatrical managers, captivate the crit
ics, and go with a hip, hip, huzza to the highest
niche of immortal fame. Of course, those who
witnessed her recent agonizing effort in Cleve
land will not doubt her ability to do all this and
more. A woman who could deliberately abuse
the memory of poor Peg Woffington as Miss
Field did at that time is capable of accomplish
ing almost anything.
\ ears ago, while taking horseback exercise in
a country road in this State, a rich merchant of
this city was attracted by an extraordinary burst
of melody from the open window of a cottage by
the roadside. He entered the cabin and was in
troduced to Florence, the childish singer. She
sang tor him, and heightened the admiration
that the first tones of her voice had won for her.
The merchant then prevailed upon Florence’s
father to allow him to take her to his splendid
Brooklyn home. There she received the best
musical and general culture, and at the proper
age was presented as the merchant’s adopted
daughter. Soon afterward, she was married to
Mr. Edward Knox, a son of the well-known hat
ter. After living in New York in grand style for
a short time, Mr. and Mrs. Knox went to Paris,
and the latter became one of Professor Wartel’s
most promising pupils. In an account of a
visit of its Paris correspondent to the class-room
of Professor Wartel, the Chicago Times recently
mentioned Mrs. Edward Knox, nee Miss Flor
ence Rice, in this wise: “Her voice is a superb
mezzo soprano or high contralto, and she is
making astonishing progress under Professor
Wartel’s tuition. Mrs. Knox will sing ‘LaFa-
vorita ’ and ‘L’Afrieane,’ with the double attrac
tion of a magnificent form and e^iressive face
added to one of the rarest voices nature has ever
gifted her children with. Mrs. Knox will sing
in France, and expects to appear at the Grand i
Opera House in the tall.”—Neic York Sun.