The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-06-12
Autographs.
a Synopsis of the Treasures of an Albany
Collector.

The present seems to be the period when
it is popular and fashionable 10 indulge in
anything that is odd or ridiculous, and per-
haps never before was there time when the
saying, eve all have our hobbys," was more
applicable than il is to-day. There are few
persons, however, who care to devote much
of their time in fostering those peculiarities
that make possibly idle moments, moments
Of pleasure aud instruction, and which Oft
times save from destruction things that tend
to show the progress and make up the history
of a community or nation.
The tastes and inclinations Of some people
undoubtedly appear incomprehensible and
useless to the world at large; as in the case
of the numismatist, who revels in the riches
of his cabinet containing the coins of all
nations and periods, aud which may have
boost thousands OF dollars, and yet, for whom
the old red cent of 1909 or 1S04-which
are precisely like other cents of that period
excepting in date-possesses a value much
greater than found in any of the coins of the
Caesars.
Then there are collectors of pottery who
see something more interesting In an old
blue cup aud saucer than they do in the fin
est ware produced by the Havilands, which
makes truthful the lines of Peter Plndar:
ssRare are the buttons of a Romans brooches.
In antiquarian eyes surprising riches;
Rare is each cracked black, rotten, earthern dish
That held OF ancient Rome the flesh ana fish,"
A,,I u al.
graphs, who assiduoasly hunts through
stacks of old and mus;y papers, and fire.
quently saves from the pulp of the paper
mill, letters and documents containing facts
of historical Importance. Who will be as
sured of the sanity of this genus homo who
spends hours in an old cobwebbed garnet OBJ
livious to everything around him excepting
autographs, forgetful, in the pleasure of hi
occupation, of the need of the inner man
until his work of search is done, and he
emerges covered with dirt and dust, his ca
| pacious pockets crammed with the fruits of
his industry, which, to him, have an inter-
est and value scarcely equalled by any other
earthly matter.
In this line of curiosity hunters 1t NAV be
said that the late Rev. DR.. William B.
| Sprague had the most extensive collection in
| the United States, the American potion of
| which contained the handwriting of nearly
| every person who figured prominently in our
history. After the death of the venerable
| Doctor, his accumulations of a lifetime
many being letters having historical inter-
est-were offered to the State for large
sum of money, but as the State was not in
elined to buy they were disposed of private
| ly, and while many enrich score of collec-
| tions in different parts of the country, the
| greater portion of them are owned by a gen.
tlemaa in Philadelphia.
Probably the most interesting collection in
the East is owned by Mr.. Monroe Crannell,
of A lbany, N. Y, who has treated the SUBJ
ject with the same intelligence that made
the Sprague collection famous throughout
the world, and who, in fact, received the cue
in the art of collecting from the distinguished
| Doctor himself. The collection is classified
and arranged in large bound volumes made
expressly for the purpose. Illustrations and
newspaper scraps accompany letters. There
are no autographs scrawls found among
them, such as yours truly, John Smith, !"
bat genuine letters, some being three or
four pages in length.
Presidents, vice presidents, cabinet off,
GERS, governors of States, distinguished
statesmen, eminent divines, writer's in prose
and poetry. artists, soldiers, actors, scien-
tists, etc., all have their proper place in this
collection. While the collection might be
considered an American one, 1t is not dis
tine lively so, for many noted foreigners are
represented. Merely to give a list would
prove extremely uninteresting reading mat
ter, so we will Gull few extracts from some
| of the most interesting, which will give the
| reader an idea of the enjoyment to be found
| in an examination OF this collection of chi
rographie treasures.
| The first page in the Presidential volume
| is four-page letter of George Washington,
| written one hundred years ago, and as it
| contains matter, public and private, If an
extremely interesting character, we give it
| entire. 1t was written at Tappan MAY g.
| 17e3; to Lund Washington. Lund was the
agent in charge of Mount Vernon;during the
| absence of Washington, end was in no way
related by blood to the General:
s'TAPPAN, May 9th, 1888.
''DEAR LUND; By the last Post
informed you of my intended meet
ing with Sir Guy Carleton for set
Ting, among other things, plan
for restoring the Negroes and other property
belonging to the Citizens of the United
States.-This meeting have held, & tho it
has been interrupted by the indisposition of
Sir Guy, which has, This morning, carried
him back to New York; yet, have collected
| enough to convince me, that the owners of
Slaves have very little chance to recover
them.-Sir Guy puts a very different con-
struction upon the It'll article to what we
do, d. such an one, as | have before observ-
ed, as leaves little prospect Of recovering the
Negroes, if they do the value of them. how
ever, as the business which occasioned the
meeting is not defnitive; & as l am to re-
ceiye written answer to my propositions
made to him | will suspend final opinion
till receive it.-In the meanwhile, IL Is
certain that great numbers of Slaves have
been carried off to Nova Scotia.
You have sent me letter from Mr.. Geo:
Muse demanding payment of Forty pounds
specie for his Expenses to Pittsburg; to
which he says am bound in bond of e1000.
But you have not taken the least notice of
this matter in yonr letter, not even to say
whether you had paid it--rejected it--post-
ponep it-or what. If he really has such
Bond Of mine, which had entirely escaped
me IF lie showed this Bond to yol!& called
upon you for the fulfillment of it;-and IL it
shall appear by my Book Of accounts that he
never has-been paid-nor no sum has been
advanced to him (either in an acct which
may have been raised in his name, nor in
the cash acct. certainly then he ought to be
paid as soon as possible; either the G40, IL
1t shall be thought reasonable or an acct
of the actual Expenditures which is GER
tainly more Tegular--more consistent with
justice-and what, from his own letter is
most consistent with the spirit of my agree
ment; which suppose the Bond, or the
agreement entered into, is expressive of.
His letter brings some recollections of the
matter to my mind; together with this cir
cumstance, that he was drinking-weeks to-
gether in place-partlcularly at Charles
Smth's--I am very willing, however, to
comply literally with my agreement--& wish
you to settle the matter upon terms Of lber-
ality rather than otherwise with him, as he
has lain ont of his money so long.
Muses. Letter / seed back to you; which
should be a ground for you to act on--and
to keep; | am in hurry.
Yr. affect. friend & servt.,
Go. Washington"
Next in order are the following:
John Adams, a tbree-page letter, dated
Philadelphia, Dec. 3, 1894, while he was
Vice-President of the United States, con-
tains advice written to young friend.
80 Science, literature in general,
law, and policy in particular, arts, agricul-
ture, commerce and taste ought to be your
objects. And have care how you lose
your admiration of the sublimest philosophy
which the human mind can conceive, or
your love Of the purest morals which ever
touched the human heart. ~
Thomas Jefferson. dated Monticello, July