The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1868-08-26
Death Of the Menken.


e Death Of the Menken.
The same lighting, says the New Orleans
Times, that flashes to as the news Of the
death of Tbaddeus Stevens, one Of the
stars Of the Congressional armament, slso
blots out from tha theatrical sky . van.
dering pleiad from the Crescent City. The
Menken il no more That lady with her
peplexinaly numerous names, received Il
SO many hymenial altars, now sleeps To-
gether with them in one common gave.
Ada McCoard was, ike many other distin.
guished subjects Of biography, born OF poor
but honest parents. at Memphis, and was
brought to this city when child. Bless
ed with beautiful person but slender
purse, she became imbued to great extent
With the Shakespearean quality Of ambi.
ton. The dreamy splendors Of the varie-
ties Theatre, when controlled by the magic
wand of Tom Placide, acting upon young
and vivid imagination, soon led her to
essay the empyrian heights of theatricd
fame, and joining the band Of ETHEREAL
creatures who composed his ballet troups,
she first courtesied TO the public from Tie
boards Of the Gravier street Temple, under
the leadership Of the famous Hilariot. Miss
Ada was not slow to find friends, and rich
ones at that, who spent large sums upon
her education and perfection in the art
which she rendered 90 famous. The Men
ken. sfter q few years left New Orleans and
the friends Of her girlhood; her life from
that time. in consequence of being 50
strangely eventful, 30 diverse, somuch mar
ried, presents Kaleidoscope calculated to
stagger the most determined biogrsphee.
Not only this country, but every nation Of
Europe, become, by turns, the scene Of her
triumphs. Scoring all the lighter tram
mels Of the stage, recognizing the truth Of
the artistic axiom that nature unsdornsd 10
adorned the most, she never failed to rest
her successful appeals to the plaudits ofths
audience upon the eccentricity Of her idem
with regard to classical drapery. In such
characters ~ Mazepps, her performance
was said to be startling. With rare con-
ception, borrowing her ideas Of costume
from the harness upon the "untamed sseed,"
her daring feats were 90 natural a. to leave
nothing for the eye to desire. As dam
seuse, her flights were lofty; reducing
weight to the limits Of possibility, she dew
through the cir upon xephry wings, and
realized to the gaping beholder the treasur-
es Of the ballet in ell its richness and Nm
blushing beauty. Even as her idioeyucn,.
were not confined to her dress but extend
ed to her conduct, 80 her talents did NOT,
Achilles like, rest entirely in her heels, but
did credit.to her head. The Menken could
turn ., rhyme with the most talented
Bohemian, and her literary talents n e..
hibited in the preparation Of scented pink
billets would have done credit to tho
Pompadour. Of IN eminently social M
ture she generally preferred the society Of
the sterner sex to thatof the more iEsgile
and beautiful, and with q remarkable spirit
Of adaptability entered into al their pless-
ures, holding her own at the wine bottle
Apd the cigarette. A touching memsato Of
this qualification has been preserved 70
posterity BY photograph in which she sp-
pears in the same picture with the great
Dumas combination of literature and
legs-romance and reality, which ct once
touches the feelings Of every beholdsr.
Cut OF in the flower of her days, we await
the fuller details Of her untimely end With
regretful anxiety. - :
/ LYING IN STATE.-Says the Georgia
C onstitutionalist
| Seventy odd years of rottenness afe
lying in state under the dome Of The
Capitol. The mud-mudinesso Of q wick
cd old man is appropriately honored.-
Nothing could be more dramatic and
in more perfect keeping than the death
watch over Thaddcus Stevens. Butler
black guards, with bayonets; curious
mourners, principally negroes. The
next scene, we presume, win INTRODUCES
his weeping and dusky spouse-se.
duced from q colonel barber-and then
a dark pit in the African Cemetery al
Lancaster.
I "He might have scared in the morning
Il light,
But be built his nest with the birds o.
night"
n WHOLESALE SwINDLING.-The Ma
tional lntelligoncer proves that swiDd'
ling at the Capitol is the order Of tn
day among the Rumpites and thosl