The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-03-07
rHsoDoRE HILTON.
fRrchanrAl

l rExchanEe.I
 Theodore Stanton writes from Paris to the Lowell Bell:
 Returning home the other night l found on my desk an invitation to break. fast, signed with the wellknown sigma ture of Theodore Triton. accepted. found mine host snuely lodged in cosy, artistic "hat" in the third story of an ancient mansion, built and formerly cc- cupied by one oi the Dukes de Noailies. The house is situated on the very tip et the west end oi the little Isle St. Louie, in the midst of the Seine and in the heart of old Paris. The view from Its windows is superb. While breakfast was being served I had time so study the Paris home ef Theodore Hilton. Ihave been living in Paris over a year." he said to me, and it is very probable that shall spend the rest of my life here. By this ] do not mean to say that shall not ire quently vsit the United States. l may even return there next winter for lyceum work. Bat this house is to be hence forth my permanent residence here shall have my books and pictures, and here shall write and study.
 therefore examined with new interest this Paris snuggery of the celebrated American lecturer, reformer, journalist and poet. The walls were covered with dark, heavy paper, fecked with a small gold flower, each of the halt-dozen tints of the paper beit z reproduced in oil 1 coiors on the cornics aSd oa the Pa1css of the doors. The result was most pleasing to the eye. The harmony and variety of these decorations are always soothing, and they never pail upon the sense," said MT. Hilton, who noticed my gazing at the ceiling. "They were sug gested by the chapels of Noae Dame, and were executed under the immediate direction of my friend, the eminent chess. player, Nj. de Riviere, one of the most remarkable and charming men of Paris"
 noticed many well filled book shelves. The English poets were all there. So were Bain's grammars and rhetoric, and Earrs Philology of the English Tongue" which able works Mir. Hilton studies every morning with great as- siduity. To have produced such book said Mi. Ti.ton, taking up E lrPs volume, is an immortal honor" The little library contains many interesting presentation copies. On the Ay.leaf of 'Victoria Queen of England read : Grace Greenwood, to her kind old /s. debeadesf friend, Theodore rilton Paris, January 20. 1884" The most curious work in the whole collection was picked up, for few francs, by MT. Hilton at a second hand book-stall on the quays. It is I" Lectures in Rhetoric and O atory," by John Q iincy Adams, in two volumes l-published at Cambridge in 1910 But the value of the find " lies in the fact that the following inscription is found on the first page: ITO Levett Harris, Esq Consul General of the United States m Russia, from his friend, John Q lincy Adams; St. Petersburg 6-I8, June, I8II." Adams was at that time Ameri- can minister to R1ssia.
 But the guests are taking their places at table, and while they are unfolding their napkins, let me try and give pen picture of the host. The first time saw Theodore Hilton was on the eve of the civil war. He was making an eloquent speech at an anti-slavery meeting iu the big Cooper Union hall al New York. The n figure, the strong features of the face, full of fire and expression, the easy flow of language, the clear, striking. well-ex- pressed ideas-all this made an impres. sion on my mind which has never been effaced. The other morning, as l sat in his dining.room, under the shadow of Notre Dame, thousands Of miles from the American metropolis, the scene of quarter of a century ago came vividly back to me, and found that had the same man before me. His hair is now slightly sprinkled with white. Otherwise the Theodore Hilton of 1884 does not differ from the Theodore Hilton of 1860 He is still as bright and gsxspd witty as ever. Perhaps, if would lnsfer to your columns one-hah of shsyse said at our breakfast the other morning, you who knew him in those days would de- clare that he is even brighter and gayer, wittier, than of yore-thst, like the old wine which we drank, he has become mellower with age. L.t me give few specimens, at least, of our table-talk.
 Somebody mentioned M. Jules Ferry, the French prime minister, who is rather common looking man, with a young, pretty Alsatian vie. |" saw them last year at one of President Crews recep- tions," said Mir. Til;on, "and my opinion is that the best thing about Jules Ferry is his wife," "Come, Mir. Tilton," banter. ingly said rather ancient maiden lady "you who pretend to be able to do every thing--can you tell me what should do for my poor shoulder, which troubles me terribly2" "Cet new blade, ," was the in- stantaneous response We began to talk about art students in Paris. "What can a model earn in day P some one asked. About fourteen francs" answered a painter. "TAss's good living" con- tinued the first inscriocutor. SIt seems to me a bare one," interrupted Mir. Hilton.
 "I should think you would prefer to live In London, ii is % much more like New York than is Paris" said, during the meal "I like London very much, replied Mir. Triton, and have many agreeable friends there. By the way, did l ever tell you how made Robert BTown- ing's acquaintance? It was in the sam mer of 1883. l came into my hotel one