The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1881-04-30
PROF. POTTER.

one of your ordinary and common
place Professors. But Prof. Potter is
veritable entity and a veritable
genius. No matter what he turns his
head or his hand to he can do 1t, and
do it better than anybody else. Step
into the little airy one story office
just below the Post office, and you
will see the Professor alone in his
grandeur. He has gathered up the
the odds and ends of an old pied-up
and broken up country printing
office-presses that anybody but him
would have sent to the foundry for
old iron, and few fonts of old type
fit only for babbit metal. Well, sir,
with this dilapidated kit Prof Potter,
which, by the way. is also "Potter-
the-Printer," can turn out as neat II job
or rs clean and clear Il newspaper as
you can find in Philadelphia. No body
would be foolish enough to attempt
such things except him with such fa-
cilities. His Office looks as tidy and
neat as a sewing machine parlor, and
he has more convenient contrivances
for expediting work, and for labor
saving and labor-making-easy, than
you will find in So, 900 job office, all of
his own invention and manufacture as
his needs suggest them. The myth
cal chat full of type" in the hands of
Potter is no delusion. He can empty
the hat into form, and run the form
through press, and bring lieut. a
bright "thing of beauty and a joy
forever"
But Potter's skill us a printer is
among the least considerable of his
varied accomplishments. He is n
thoroughly learned musician, and can
play well on various instruments.
The original Swiss Bells are now in
his possession. How they got there it
would take too long to tell now, but
they are there, and have lately been
drawn from the old box which has so
long concealed them, rubbed up and
put to use again. The Professor has
found few Swiss gentlemen in Jack
son and formed them into class, and
has succeeded in teaching them how
to make music on these bells. We
regard this rs about the greatest
achievement of his life-the teaching
of these amateur Swiss boys to play the
bells. These bell ringers were to APP
pear In Canton last night. They are
the same who won numerous encores
and concentrations at an amateur
concert in Jackson last week.
Prof. Potter has been a playwright
and an actor. He readjusted the great
play of Joe Jefferson's Rip Van Win
kle, and adapted it to the size and ca
pacities of his company. He is lee
turer of marked ability, as all who
have heard his famous discourse on
Things Generally, Through Truth
full Pair of Specks," can testify. This
lecture has steady current of humor,
wit and wisdom, with many odd rip
Piles, and bright flashes of pathos and
eloquence. The professor takes "a
crack at creation" and hauls the doc
tor, the lawyer, the politician and the
divine over the Goals. He touches
upon the babies and the girls, the
mothers and the grandmothers, and
undertakes to give their sentiments.
Amid all Of his droll and laughable
excavations, however, he is careful
to accord such praise and homage as
the subject may deserve. We ven
ture to say that not one in four of the
public lectures of this country which
have given national fame to their
authors has as much intellectual meat
and sky-rocket fun in it as Potter's
lecture.
AS professional item-grabber"
for an independent newspaper he is
simply a jewel. No one can throw
into an average item so much individ-
uality and striking originality. He
can "grab" more items than anybody
else, and each one of them is able to
stand upon its own legs. He don't
grind them out with machine, but
fashions them off by hand so that
each item Is distinct institution, and
can be contemplated with satisfaction
singly or in groups, and still preserve
its distinctive identity.
But after all Prof. Potter Is a para
dox. He won't succeed, as the world
understands the term. He is too con-
firmed q genius for success. abe scat
tiers the elements of greatness about
too promiscuously. He needs concern
tration and stick-to-it-iveness. And If
he can ever get firm grip on this
idea there is nothing he cannot
achieve in any Of the great avenues