The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1864-11-29
A Wonderful Boy.

IsiisOne of the most wonderful of all the
wonderful children of which history
has preserved record, is now in this
city--Master Dudley Waller, the ia
nous boy-orator, whose astonishing
memory and wonderful rhetorical pow.
er has made him widely known through
out the East. His remarkable talents
give him an extraordinary claim to no.
tice, and we deem it worth while to
lay before our readers the facts of his
origin and development.
| q Dudley Waller is now only eight
years old, and was born in New York
City, Of German descent, and his
mother was Irish but lived in this
country ever since she was child.
Master Dudley was left an orphan
when he was but three years of age.
The little fellow is indebted for sup
port, protection and care to the lady
whose name he bears, and who has
adopted him. He has had almost no
schooling, his precocity being such
that it was deemed dangerous to allow
him to study. But his love for books
was so great that he would abandon
his play at all times for book. He
learned to read with great rapidity,
and soon developed the wonderful pow
er of meEory which has made him fa-
nous. 1t is said that he has never
had any training in elocution, and yet
he speaks with propriety, beauty,
passion and force which would do cred
it to any rhetorician In the country.
He has been before the public about
three years, meeting everywhere with
the greatest and most deserved sue
cess, and winning the most fattering
expressions of delight from the most
distinguished men Of the country. He
comes to this city from Buffalo, where
he has been giving series of very sue
cessful exhibitions, and where he re-
ceived the most complimentary notices
from the press.
Since he has been in this city he has
given two or three exhibitions private,
ono at the house OF Stillman Witt, Esq.
on Friday evening, which was attend
ed by several of our leading citizens,
and one Saturday afternoon, at his
rooms at the Weddell, attended by the
members of the press and several other
gentlemen. AT both he succeeded in
giving the greatest delight to all who
listened to him. He possesses robust
form the very embodiment of grace
and health, and the face of boy
Adonis. His head is crowned with
golden curling hair, his blue eye is full
of merriment, and his singularly refin-
ed and clear-cut fac, bears the fresh
flush of ruddy health. When he re-
cites piece curious change comes
over his features. Though boyish
enough on other occasions, when he
speaks his face assumes an abstracted
air and seems, in miniature, that of
refined and cultivated man of twenty
five. His memory is almost without
parallel-embracing in its scope all
that he reads and hears. lie is already
a master of the gems in prose and poe !
try of our language, numbering 1900
different pieces. His elocution and
acting are no less wonderful, and if, rs
we are told, he has never had tutor,
are positively marvellous. We heard
him give "Bingen on the Rhine;" "The
Charge of the Light Brigade" '''rhe
Smack in SCHOOL, ''Will the New Year
Come Tonight Mamma;" the dialogue
between Sir Peter and Lady Teazle,
in the ''School for Scandal" and an
extract from Emmett's Defence In
these four widely different pieces he
was fully as successful as the best of
our elocutionists. The latter piece as
a specimen of impassioncd and earnest
defamation, could not be surpassed.
The little fellow is, in all respects
but this one, a child. He is only rs
far advanced as other children. His
bodily and mental health is perfect
II is difficult to say what he may not
become. Should he fulfil his early
promise, he will be the Admirable
Crichton ofthc present generation.
We have omitted to say, that in ad.
dition to his other qualifications, Mas
ter Dudleyis natural machinist, and |
has constructed alone and without aid |
a complete steam-engine.
To say that we were highly graft
fed and astonished at the wonderful
performance of Master Waller, would
but family express the interest and de-
light with which we witnessed his ren-
dering of some of the finest and most
difficult pieces of composition in the
English language. And in the opin-
ion of all that were present last eve
ning,.i is hardly too much to say that
his rendering of the scene between Sir
Peter Teazle and and his wife in the
"School for Scandal" "Will the New
Year Come Tonight Mammal" and
various other compositions, dramatic,
comic, and sentimental, would do cred
it to the finest elocutionists in the |
country.
Master Waller brings the highest
testimonials front the East, among 9th
ers, letters from Thurlow Weed, Gov.
S,ym ,ur, Mllard Fillmore, and Sena-
tor Harris, all of whom speak of him
and his amazing talents as an orator in
tho u-arp,oef farms