Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-02
OSCAR WILDE AT ST. LOUIS.
His display Of Form and Flow
OF Words.
News of sunday.I

News of Sunday.l
Oscar Wilde arrived at the South
ern yesterday morning, and delivered
his lecture on Decorative Art" at
Mercantile Library Hall last night.
Long before he stepped on the stage
every available seat in the spacious
auditorium was occupied. The audi
ence, which assembled to hear what
the much advertised aesthetic had to
say on the beautiful, was composed of
the most cultured and fashionable
members of st. Louis society. On
the left of the stage sat three intense
maidens, each with q sunfoWer in her
hand, which ever and amor she gazed
upon with a rapt pre-. Raphaelite ex-
preston, while she swayed the sym
bolie flower, with languid sweetness
pictured in her soulful eyes.
The stage upon which the Wilde
E~nglishman spoke was bare of orna-
ment. 1t was, in fact, remarkable for
the barbaric splendor of It's ugliness.
A small reading desk, on one side of
which glimmered a shaded gas jet,
while the other was adorned with a
goblet Of Mississippi water, turbid
with detritus from the bad lands" of
Dakota, completed the stage furnish
ings. with the exception Of a plain,
well-worn carpet, Of no particular de-
sign, which covered the floor. The
chsttering of voices, the hustling of
feet, and the cracking of peanuts
hushed into deepest awe as the long
haired, round bodied, slimly- under
pinned apostle of the BEAUTIFUL
tlided nOiselessly and unannounced
upon the stage. He is not a thing of
Beauty, but his pose and carriage, his
garb and g~arrulity are supposed
to be after the ~strictest can
ons of medieval art. In cum
teDance he has an undone pastry
like look, %surmounted by I superfuity
Of brown name which hung to his
shoulders. He was attired in the
apparel Of beauty in the way of black
velvet knee breaches, while his shanks
below the knee were incased in a pair
Of black silk hose. He wore a full
dress black coat and white vest, while
pendent from his fob glittered a few
golden gew-gaws. On his feet were a
pair of No. 8 CATERS. His vest opened
low down and displayed q huge dia-
mona stud decorating the lower por-
ton of his shirt bosom just opposite
his wishbone. His cravat was Of
spotless purity, and his hands were
lncased in a pair of white gloves. Ly-
ing his manuscript upon the table, he
stepped a little to one side, assumed
the aesthetic pose, shook his tawny
locks and began the delivery Of his
frothy evangel on the
BEAUTIFUL.
The effort was listened to with re-
spectful attention, and sometimes with
interest. Frequent applause greeted
the speaker, which became almost
general when he said that the adver-
tisements in u newspapers were vul.
gar, our rocks and hills ugly and our
streets muddy. The aesthetic verbiage
in which he clothed his dawdling
nothings was run through iambic
molds and fell upon the r of the
audience with a measured regularity
of rise and fall. His attitude was of
the unique etruscan vase order. He
looked like a creature intoxicated with
a sense of its own beauty, engaged in a
futile attempt to express the mex
pressible.
Of the audience which assembled to
hear the greatest Of the age, it may be
said in their favor that they, for the
most part, went out of pure curiosity.
Their curiosity satisfied, they care no
more for the Wilde man of England
than for his prototype, the wild baboon
Of the Amazon.
The lecture expressed nothing new.
1t pleaded for a closer union of the
handi. craftsman and the artist. The
speaker complimented the St. Louis
Museum of Art. He said that art
should be original. 1t must also be
appropriate. Besides these stale and
vapid generalities the lecture was, to
use Carlyle's apt but forcible phrase,
"a lot OF dirty dish water"
After the lecture Mr.. Wilde was
driven to the Press Club rooms,
where he was introduced to Mr.. p. G.
Ferguson, the President of the club.
The latter took the young man anu
bestowed on him the following well
coming speech: Mr.. Wilde, it gives
me pleasure to extend to you the
inequalities of tho st. Louis Press
Club, and to welcome to its rooms
SO distinguished a visitor from Eng
land. There" pointing to the left,
ARE two sunhowers, which are quite
too utterly beautiful for anything but
an occasion like this. | regret that it
was impossible to grace the occasion
with the presence Of some Of our lilies
of the valley, but l assure you the
time at our disposal was quite too
too utterly brief" To which Mr..
Wilde responded, throwing his long
hair back over his right shoulder and
his long chin into the aiE 81 saw
several ofyour lilies Of the valley in
my audience tonight, and they were
quite chahming, | assuah you"
Later in the evening he was enter.
tanned by the Elks. This afternoon
he will visit Mr.. Dousman's art col
lection and o-morrow morning will
leave the city.