Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-03-07
SAKE.
Poem % f. 'Lsss 80. e s 81 s'-Phi'

Nhontcf Asunt Nthhts
Ats o'clock last evening the Memphis
TheAter was dllsd 10 overlooking BY gen
tlemsn aud ladies who were eager 10
hear SAKE, the poet and wit, discourse
on Love" Mr. SAKE was introduced
to the audience by Mr.. Il. 9. Mcdowell,
President Of tho Reading Room Assoei.
alton. Mr.. SAKE Is tall, and wore a
black suit. which fitted him we'll. He
stood in front Of the stand and glanced
for moment around the dress circle A.
il evidently pleased with the warm re.
ceplion be had received in Memphis. lie
is well-preseryed gentleman, anywhere
between twenty-five and fifty, OF fne
presence, gray English'looking side
whiskers and mustache, and very young
eyes, which sparkle like the Gres Of a
skirmish line, 10 advance Of the IRE.
sistible light artillery Of art, which is
pretty sure to follow their premonitory
signal. He recited the poem from mem
DRY in the style Of an improvisatore. The
subject was divided aud subdivided into
heads, such as maternal love, love Of
country, with a description Of the dema-
gogue aud the patriots Of old love Of
race aud the great love which makes
the world go round; love Of the bache-
lor, love of the coquette, love Of the
model husband, love Of the model wife,
love Of money, war story Of love, and
love OF God. In opening he introduced
the subject as one
"0ld as Adam, yet as new
As heaven. as angels or the morning dew"
In describing the demagogue he pho
tographed to life persons well known in
Tennessee as in other States. He paid
glowing tribute to Andrew Jackson,
who
Through many q battlefield
To victory bore the stripes and stars"
In describing the religious philanthro.
pist Of New England he disposed of
- man,
Whom nature nodded on her cheapest plan.
His love was universal, so he saidi
At least know twas very thinly spread"
And thus the lecturer went on, throw
ing off shafts of ridicule, wit and satire.
Maiden's love he described POLITICALLY as
- slender lasso, which the maiden threw.
Coiled in the folding Of billet douc."
The rich old bachelor he depicted as
giving way to grief over common schools:
- with many a groan.
For taxes paid for children not his owns"
And the fate of the coquette was told in
few brief words:
Like faded glove, DO laid upon the shelf,
Or weathercoek, as soulless as herself"
Love without money was described as
4" Love in a cottage is not Just the same,
When wind and water strive TO drown its
reign.
A northern blast, beyond the slightest
doubt,
May fairly blow the torch of Hymen out"
The Platonic love of the ancient dame
and beau of sixty-fve was caricatured
as belonging to those
I" Who take their love quite properly, think;
Cold, without sugar, as they do their
drink.
In describing the model husband
Mr.. SAKE brought down the house by the
couplet: -s..rr re
lone marvel more must to the world be
known
The wife he loved and cherished was his
own
And SO Mr.. SAKE went on for an hour
or more, handling the subject in his
most felicitous epigramatic style, and his
poetical readings were as effective as
trained elocution and cultivated taste
could render very feIcitous verse. The
finest good sense points his sharpest
satire, and not unseldem his winged
shafts are feathered with the poetry as
we'll as the fun, which is native TO him.
At the close of the lecture, by request
Mr.. SAKE recited his well known poem,
The Proud Miss Mcbride, which is
constructed much in the style of the
Ingoldsby Legen DIS, and is sharp satire
on American aristocracy. Our readers
we'll remember the stanza:
d" Depend upon 1t, my snobbish friend,
Your family thread you can't ascend,
Without finding it waxed at the other end
BY some piebeian vocation.
And worse than that your ancestral line,
May end in rope of stronger Irvine,
That plagued some worthy relation"
The above is but hasty and imper-
r Al. Al.