, 1884-12-05
a STRANGE LIFE.
The Unique Career Of Geo. C. Min,
the Tragedian.
Once a Preacher of Renown, Now
an Actor Famous.

as in the United States. Not only dc
men ascend from the lowest level to the
very highest social altitude-as Grant,
Garfield and Lincoln-but Others, having
encountered disaster, are able to build
again n new life and a new career upon
the very ashes of the old. We are a
people essentially living in the present.
We ask of a man, what is he doing to.
day?' not What did he do yesterday"
Wejudge men by their to-days and not
by their yesterdays This automatic
truth has never been more forcibly illus
trated than in the case of Mr.. George G.
Min, who isnow ranked as one of the lead
ing interpreters of the legitimate drama in
this country. But a few years ago he was
the honored minister Of the greatest and
most influential Unitarian church in all
the West-Unity church, Chicago; to day
he takes rank among the leading TRACE
dians of the day. Yesterday his name
was mentioned in company with the
names of Beecher, Bellows and Swing;
to-day it is classified with those of Booth,
Mccullough and Barrett. The singularity
Of such an experience is most striking;
from pulpit to stage, from the priest's
robe to the actors toga, from the elo-
quence of the homiletician to the declama-
ton of the actor. To win success in both
professions mean not only pluck, energy
and p~ersistence-it means genius.
At first it was generally supposed that
Min had adopted the stage from sensa-
tional motives, and he was obliged to en-
counte the contumely of the
superficial. But the sincerity
of his work, his perseverance in
the face of every obstacle, his quiet en-
durance of thoughtless taunts, have long
since proven him to be possessed of as
much good sense as he is of marked
ability.
The reason for his action in leaving the
pulpit may be of interest At 80 years
of age he was the brilliant preacher of
the pulpit so long occupied by Robert
Collyer. In Chicago he was regarded as
the coming man. As an orator he was
on the crest of the wave, and those who
have ever heard him will not readily
forget the charm OF his voice nor the
magni6cence of his diction. The time
came, however, when he was compelled to
yield up all he had achieved. The voice
Of conscience commanded and he obeyed
He had simply outgrown the theology Of
the pulpit. Like an honest man he pro-
claimed his heresy, and asserted his own
unfitness to preach a dogmatic system in
which he had ceased to believe. After a
short, decisive controversy, Min was're-
leased from his pulpit. and stood alone,
his occupation gone" the work of ten
years literally lost to him.
Many a man in the same circumstances
would have given way to dependency, or
to cynicism, or to the work Of the ieono-
clast- Not so Min. When urged to
enter the field as a liberal lecturer, he re-
piled instantly. mo, l will not turn and
kick the cradle in which I have been
rocked"
After debating for several months, and
counseling with many friends, he yielded
to his own inclinations and publicly
adopted the life of tragedian. He tried
the back door of the theater and found it
closed against his entrance. The lower
ranks of the profession provided no place
for him. He was a marked man. No
star would risk the presence in his
company of a man who would so thor
oughly claim the attention of the press
and public as Min was obliged to do. He
was obliged to enter by the front door Of
the profession, and fortunate indeed was
the necessity. Instead Of walking, he
into fame His fame as an orator
attended in his new career, and when it
became known thstadded to his eloouence
was a most distinct gift of dramatic in
stinct, he a. once excited ever greater in
terest as an actor than he had as a
preacher.
His career is unique. 1t is unlike that
Of any other public man in America He
has given himself to the study of his COW
art with the devotion of an enthusiast
Thankful for words pf praise, he has
chiefly pondered adyase criticism. His
enemies have been his tutors A vainer
man would have paused to glory over his
success. He, realizing low ephemeral is
human commentator, has constantly
spressed forward to higher I'D nobler at
tarnments. BE is an enthuiast, an idola-
ter AZ 1he shrine Of Shakspearei The
words ofAt the great master ger lovingly
on his ina He feels, as h<peaks them,
their beautS What wondcAhen that he
has succeeded? ~And when Us recorded
that all this has been sesecompbed by a
young man who has just pass5A his S3d
birthday, and who has still allA mature
years Of manhood before him, IN posi-
bilities which lie in his future ara gen to
be Indeed great. Young, handsome ro-
mantle and yet practical, with o niure
strangely blending the qualities Of the
idealist tnd the man of affairs, no wd ter
that he has wrung from even a hole
critic the declaration that "An evefAg
with Minis worth five years study Y
ShakespcAe"
Messrs. Alnt& WhippIe, the druggists,