Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-04-22
PERFECT SPECIMENS OF MEN.


On the occasion of the dinner given to DIR.
Oliver Wendell Holmes by $50 New York
physicians, the guest and the chairman were
wo perfect specimens OF men in whom the
intellectual dominated the physicsl. 1t
seemed rather strange to me that they should
eat or drink at all, SO conspicuousy big were
their heads compared with their bodies.
DIR. Holmes has q commanding face, with
cranial development 10 match, but the top Of
it il only five feet six from The ground when
he stands erect, which he do in spite of his
seventy four years. He was on a visit 10
the metropolis after long absence, and
the previous week had been round
Of social festivities, and yet he did
not seem to be in the leaet tagged, or lacking
in zest tor this elaborate entertainment. He
was sprightly in conversation, and his brig hit
eyes sparkled With humor. he proved that
his memory was wopderful by identifying
persons whom he ad not met for a quarter
of century, aud who were surprised by his
clear recollection OF small incidents which,
in his busy life, they supposed he had fer
gotten. He struck me As having made room
in his mind for all the pleasant thoughts
that had ever come into it by ejecting all the
unpleasant ones. He certainly had the
power of bringing out the the former in great
numbers on the slightest provocaiiou.
/ supposed it would be too much TO
expect a man who has been Bostou's liter
ary pet for 80 many years to be dIfhdenl, or
even to escape decided and chronic self-sat-
isfaction. Although DR.. Holiness voice was
soft aud pleasing in ordinary conversation,
whenever the talk became earnest discu -sion
he grew somewhat dogmatic and assertive.
In reading the long poem which he had
written for this dinner, his uttersnce was
=: opA Tha aha
man was Wllliau1 NJ. Evarts, who has ex-
actly the profile given to Ce.ar on the old
Roman. coins, and a physique FIR
from robust. If his head could
be placed in balance against the
rest of him l would bet on its greater weight
and yet he was light enough mentally, being
as witty and gay as anybody at the board.
The wonder was how so thin a pair could be
so IDLY. They looked like the figures with
maguified heads which caricaiurisls draw, or
the conventional pictures of boys whose
brains have been over-cultivated at the ex-
pepse of physical nature. Holiness poem
of 200 lines was rather long for an after
dinner response, but he read With excellent
emphasis, and with freedom from the
atilted tricks If the professional eloculionist
so that every point intended to raise laugh
Ter did it.
THE NEWEST FASH BILE CRAZE.
Speaking of social addresses, the newest craz'
of the highly fashionable young man is TO b;
a lecturer; not professional one, of course
but before gatherings of his friends-l al
most wrote victims, fer the ordeal OF listen
ing an hour to fellow who doesn't know
| much Of what he is talking about, and can.
not impart that little entertainingly, is 8
tiresome Que, more particularly rs polite
, ness forsids escape or any snow of wesri.
| ness. An admission fee, often az high as 81
or %, is charged at these amateur lectures
| bull the money goes 10 charity, and lis con-
| tribulion, like the endurance OF ths speak,
| er's fiction, may be regarded in the
| light Of religious pensnce. But the sristo-
cratic speaker has no such ides. He has
copied out his lecture with great deal OF
pains from histories, encyclopedias and
newspaper articles, and perhaps taken sev-
eral lessons from an elocutionist in the de-
livery of his piagisrisms. How could he
drea "a that his tfort-a great effort for him
could bore his bearers? / spoke of him as
| an sristocrst, and did not use the word mad
yertspuy. We now have an aristocra cy
here in New York, you know. Il has this
week defined its own qualities and limits
| The Knickerbocker Club is composed ex.
cIusively of descendants OF the original
Dutch settlers of Manhattan Island. They
have been aware, all along, that they were
much better than the average of the city
population, but other people have not giveu
| due recognition. They have now pointed
drawn attention to their declaration of arts
tocracy. On Thursday they gave dinner
to which only the offspring of familie
settled in America prior to 1776 were III
vited. That settles it.
UNCERTAINTY OF DRAMATIC DEVICES.
One need not 60 far for illustrations o
The uncertainty Of dramatic devices. Il
| Willie Edouin's new play, st the San Fran
cisco Minstrel Hall, feature is made b.
| the chief comedian OF a mock attemot Il
hang himself, and no doubt he fully ex
pected, judging by the care and elaboration
| given 10 the act, that the audience woul,
roar during the whole five minutes that i
/ lasted. Toe result is contrary; they do no
laugh at all. On the other hand, momenta
~ aud trifiDg incident in the same scen
| fairly convulses them, and does more thai
| anything else to make the success OF tn
| piece. The place Is a hotel Office, an,
q six-foot, broad-shouldered traveller, ate
| inquiring if his friend Slugger Sullivan i
stopping there, takes up the pen TO register
| A porter grasps his handbag, which contain
| his precious boxing gloves, and he resent
| the liberty taken with it. Selling the often
der, he dlRgs him clear through the lhil
| board front Of the coun,er. ihs splinter
nv, the astounded porter crawls out from n
breach, and the unexpectedness Of the thins
| is what strikes the audience hard.
Down at the Theater Comique the man
agement prepared with pains and expense t.
delight the audience by putting into the ne'
| play a procession, in which public mel
should appear Enormous heads were mod
eled In pdpier Haaehe Licensees OF The person
to be represented, and these were cleverl.
placed on the shoulders OF properly clothed
supers. 1t was intended that these carica
tures should be q surprise to the audience