Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-09-05


Says a Hackett8town, N. j., cor
respondent of the New York
Times:
Mr.. Murphy is a man of more
than medium hight, with broad
shoulders and a stalwart form. In
appearance he resembles well.to-
do merchant. Although he is only
forty-one years of age his hair at
the sides is quite silyery; he wears
it cut short, and his face is shaven,
except the upper lip. He wore to-
day black clothes Of unexception-
able cut, and the bow Of his white
cravat was skillfully tied. His
voice is loud, clear and pleasant,
and there is just the slightest trace
of an Irish brogue in his speech.
His gestures are natural, and, for
the most part, graceful. Occasion
ally, however, when he removes
both feet from the floor at one
time, as he did to-day when he
apostrophis9d invisible snakes in
the climax Of his discourse, he sac
rifces grace to force. He has one
curious mannerism; when he sees
that he has impressed his hearers
deeply at some point in his lecture,
he stops abruptly, exclaiming:
"May God bless us allw and waits
for several seconds before he re-
sumes his theme. He has facial
expression, mimetic powers and a
fund of humor. He alternates
pathOs with broad humor, and i'm
mediately after he has made his
hearers weep, and wept himself, at
some affecting incident or impas-
stoned exhortation, he will fire.
quently break out into a rich Irish
brogue, and narrate some tale of
life "beyant the say" making it apt,
however. Moreover, he does his
joiner work well, and his sudden
transitions from grave to gay do
not seem to his hearers to be incon-
gruous. He frequently quotes from
the poets, ard more frequently mis-
quotes, or perhaos it would be bet
ter to say, paraphrases.
Mr.. Murphy began his lecture to-
day with a request that a silent
prayer be offered up for him by
every one present. He said that
his theme was "Real Life" He
had no unkind words for liquor
dealers or liquor drinkers. He
came there with malice toward
none, with charity for all" He
should talk about himself. He
was born, he said, on the gath
of April, 1886, in the county of
Wexford, in the south of Ireland.
in thatched cottage, which later
in the lecture he spoke of as "olap-
boarded with ivy" He spoke at
some length Of his early life, and
some of his word-pictures were
quite poetical. lie imbibed his
love OF liquor at home. He re-
membered having been under the
influence Of liquor at the age of
sixteen years. And from the har.
rowing words called out by such
an incident as this he would drop
lightly into q colloquial style, and
comment upon the difference, Tor
instance, in the training of chill
dren in this country and abroad.
Here, where there was dinner
party, little Bobbin was given a
seat near the head of the table; not
so in Ireland in his boyhood. Then
1rr Murphy amused the children
! (of whom there were many pres
ent) with a story, in dialect, Of his
own adventures at a dinner party.
He spoke Of himself then as "a
little boy who Subsisted a great
deal on what he ate" A few mo-
ments later he exclaimed "Frank
Murphy stands before the world
blackened and marred by the curse
Of drink" He came to this coun-
try at the age of sixteen years,
landing in Portland, Me. He
drank and got into trouble. He
stopped drinking and got out of
it He married. He opened a
hotel; drank again; fell lower and