The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-10-07
SELLERS GHOST.
John T. Raymond Haunted by
His Great Character.
"A Talk With the Eminent Come
cian-The Halcyon Ante
Bellum Days.

"Pll match you for it." The cit
referred TO In this sentence was par
ticularly toothsome-looking dish of
sweetbreads in ses, la Refine Mar
GIT, which waiter had just deposit
ell ON a table in the Southern hotel
dining room, and the speaker
was the eminent comedian,
John T. Raymond. A Post
Dispatch reporter was lunching with
Mr.. Raymond and the waiter had by
mistake brought by mistake brought
but one dish of sweetbreads instead of
two. The comedian had one hand in
his pocket and assumed an earnest ex-
preston and attitude that would have
brought down the house. "By lingo,
l forgotl" he exclaimed. Il have
sworn off, Raymond's ruling passion,
as every one Knows who knows him.
is to match. No matter where he is
or under what circumstances, he is
ready to match for anything from
punched copper to a twenty-dOllar
gold piece. If be were on his death
bed he wonld match nIckels with the
"Old Boy" for his immorials ul. "Ill
tell you how / happened to swear off,
You know l am pretty much of a
hand at matching, and sometimes /
get started and I never know when to
stop. Well. l was playing an en-
gagement-I won't tell where it was,
because it was announced that | was
sicK-and | was to appear for the last
time one night / happened to drop
into friends room in the afternoon,
and, before We knew it, we we're
matching for dollars. The company
didn't XII ow where / was, and luck
W against me, and / was 80 deeply
engaged in the game that l forgot all
about the performance. 1t was near
ly daylight when / came to, and per-
haps there wasn't racket at the the
atre! Why, it is fact that / have
matched away a weeks receipts, and
ali the money had about me. Ii Was
time 20 stop. | took the company
aside one by one, and matched 'em
once for weeks salary, and" =
"WoD it,"
mot by blamed sight! Lost it."
IN THE COURSE OF A LUNCH.
in which Raymond made record OF
Mullagatowny soup, lobster a la
HOllandaise, boiled halibut, spring
chicken, sweetbreads, salad, pastry,
deserts and fruit, the reporter noticed
that he did not touch a single vegeta-
! bic. Remembering the gusto with
which he tackled the turnips as Col
Sellers he was little surprised at this
and took the liberty of commenting
on il.
lit is strange" said Mr.. Raymond.
"but l may truthfully say that /
never tasted vegetable in my life.
don't know how single vegetable
in the whole list that are usually
served on the tables taste | always
did have an antipathy for them that
| cannot get over. Inever could ex-
plan it and never could conquer it. "
This confession puts the turnip act
am 1.-THE greatest achievements in
the drama, as the flavor of a turDip
Is like poison t. him and affects the
actor something like bad egg affects
a pointer dog. he eccentricity must
be placed alongside of his antipathy
for tobacco and liquor as one of the
peculiarities of the man. Off the
stage Raymond is the most genial and
entertaining of good fellows, and he is
thoroughly amusing. He talks like
Cyclone, and in his gestures, action,
expression and in treatment of "a sub
ject is very nearly as amusing as on
the stage. Over the lunch his tongue
vas loosened, AMI he gave HE |
listener as delightful a potpouri of |
theatrical chat as ever heard. The /
only trouble about Raymond is that
to get the cream of conversation an
interview would have to be illustrated
by a series of instantaneous photo
graphs. There has been a great deal
said this season about the decline of
the stage and naturally this came in
for share o. attention.
81 don't believe it, said he, 81 am
not among the GROWERS, grumblers
and kickers. The stage is better now