Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-04-30
Roger Macpherson's Fate.
Paris Correspondent New York World


/ people, members or guests, came to
meet him, among the latter, Don Emilio
de Santos ex-governor Of Cuba, whose
portrait Dumaresq has Hlst painted tor
the Salon, Gen. Mott, Mr.. Riggs, and
! young Bakmetched, of the Russian En-
bassy, a foreigner distinguished for his
/ good taste, inasmuch as he Is the hus
band of an American wife. Gudin, old
as he is, LEFT his home at Auteuil to do
| honor 10 the occasion, and left two of
/ his pictures to decorate the reception
room, The Discovery Of the St. Law
renee 10y Jacques Cartier" and the LAST
Shot OF De Ruyter, the tough old adj
miral living sort of parting salute be-
| fore going to the bottom of the Medi.
| Ierranean rather than strike his flag to
a Frenchman. Mark Twain, thought
looked i'll, and | thought so chiefly
because herd it from his own lips.
He IS suffering from rheumatism and
study. What is he studying shall
/ try to find out. The dinner over, he
was called upon for the inevitable
speech by the chairman, Mr.. RYAN.
/ Thanks to this gentleman's eyer,ions,
the Stanley Is quite an oratcrical club,
End you may study ali rhetorical styles
( there a good deal better than in a col
| lection Of elegant extracts. He has a
very dexterous way of tapping his man
/ for Just what he wants and, when
he alluded to the guests of
/ the evening rs an innocent
abroad" we knew that he wanted
something i tn ole vein. 1t was given,
and | wish | could give it in my turn,
| but my bare precis or it would be moth
| ing without that incompatible manner,
the American drawl set to music,
| scored according to the laws Of time
harmony, point and counterpoint
/ When first heard him, and that was
a year ago. thought 1t was his stage
manner only, but since then | have
seen enough Of him IN private to con-
vince me that he would pause and
linger and drag the weary syllable IN
| the same style if he were ordering a
outlet or asking the way to the Mad
eleine. He began by sagety, and | be-
lleve quite severely, complaining that
! he should have been called up. He
| thought he was among friends. How
/ ever he had found out his mistake, but
/ the discovery came "too late to save
Roger Macpherson" thought this last
phrase must be some well-known alm-
sion in history or fiction which 1 had
missed in the course of my reading, 50
determined to look as though | knew
all about it, but wouldn't tell. " Yes,
SIR" he drawled again in his very
mournfullest cadence, 1.-The news came
/ l,ta tn
And 1t is always so; the road of life is
strewn with the gravestones of our
murdered opportunities. {" suppose
he has known a good deal Of trouble"
said a gentleman near me, who took
MIN literally in view of his rather
long face, his smallish eyes blinking in
the light of the chandeliers, it might
| be with the deepest emotions, his long
| hair lying III sweep of utter self
| abandonment across the brow-above
all in listening to that dirge-like note.
" No man can have known nsore,"
said, for every word he utters
is expected to be a Joke" But
listen.) Had | known of this, Mr..
Chairman, | might have prepared N.Y.
self. might have told you something
of what | had seen in this wonderful
city--something of the church of Notre
Dame, of its cabs and other antiquities,
of It's intellectual lie in the three great
branches OF modern French thought
the fine arts, science, and-adultery.
But, sir, why tell YOU what | might
have done? The news had come too late
to save Roger Macpherson" This
phrase was getting troublesome. At
any moment some one might ask me
for particulars, and | should have to
answer evasively, 'One of SCOTS char
acters," with the risk Of being found
out. "Roger Macpherson, sir, was a
| mana light was coming ut last-"l
met on voyage from the Bermudas,
who had been permanently saddened
by an experience which befel him in
/ Wisconsin. He had been aske ed to con
vey the remains OF a valued friend to
/ his home in that state from distant
town where he died. He had the body
put in n rough case, which, | am sorry
| to say, was exchanged at the depot dur
ing his mOmentary absence for case
of rifles which very much resembled 1t
| in outward form. The rifles were put
! in the car, and Roger took his place
/ beside them in awe-struck silence,
thinking he was still guarding the re-
mains of his friend. Another traveller,
sir, had meanwhile deposited Timber
ger cheese in the car, which, somehow
or other, | can hardly tell why, tended
to keep up the mourner's illusion. Mac
pherson knew nothing of his having
this delicacy for travelling COM
panion. Yet it was in all probability
the cause OF his thinking necessarily OF
his late friend. 1t had the same effect
on others. Did be die recently,-that