, 1885-11-17
HoealEs OF NOTED MEN.


Inc Advantages OF Hobbles and thr Old
varietIes BY Which Men Are tempted.
lfinciinati Tnqnirerl
Hobbies reveal a persons character
more than any thing else. II shows
she possessor in n more lovable and
amiable light. lie must have both
heart and Imagination to ride a hobby.
show me n person who has no indivil-
ual Ii ings and tastes to which ne is
rassionately attached, and you will find
a man cold, hard- hearted, calculating.
Great mems hobbies have been many,
and so eccentric as to lead the common
horde to think their possessors were in
sane Wendell Phillips hobby was tho
negro and his freedom. John G.. Cal
houn's was South Carolina and NULL
ticJtion. Webster's, Stewards and
bases were the presidency, yet they
never reached their goal; Elihu Bur
r~itt's, the learning of languages Do
Lewis, exercise and physical develop
ment; Trask's, the condemnation of to
bacco, and John b. Coughs, the recla-
nation of d~runkards.
T. obhies are profitable, in that a man
with II idea becomes a specialist, q
connoisseur in his line, an authority.
John Allen, IN old citizen OF New York,
spent q lifetime collecting bric-a-brac.
He was a yeritable antiquarian, and
saw wealth in odd trinkets and sou
yenirs, to which the worldly minded
person would attach no value, aud say,
what is all this good forl' lis port
folios were crammed with rare auto
graphs and superb prints, and his cab
inets of coins, watches, shoe-buckles,
amor, antique costumes, china and
plate had not its equal in America. At
his death the sale realized enormously,
so that the wor. of his life time was
not entirely in vain.
Walpole was one of the most famous
of collectors in his day. His house was
a veritable curiosity shop of antiquities.
This was his hobby, MS well an old
woman's love Of gossip, which he has
handed down to US in his admirable
memoirs. Signor La Blache, the great
5uffo and basso, had a hobby for snuT-
Y and walking-sticks, and it was i'm
possible to possess too great a variety.
snuff-boxes of every description,
wooden, papier- mache, tin. silver,
gold and snuff-boxes set with
tmeralds and rubies were all
eagerly sought for, and carefully
cherished when acquired AS for walk
ing sticks, he had them for every day
III the year.
elliott, the celebrated steel pen man
ufacturer, had n hobby for Cremona fd-
dies. He possessed more than sufficient
to stock the orchestras of the two
great opera houses of London, yet he
could not play a note himself The
duke of Sussex, brother of George IL,
had a great collection of cigars and
Bibles. Count Henry Won Bruhl, the
German diplomatic, was said by / red
erick the Great, ito have, of all men of
his time, the most watches, lace boots,
shoes and slippers" OF all his curiosi-
ties none could exceed his collection of
wigs.
Frederick the Greats hobby was for
giants for his Potsdam regiment. Louis
ANL. had a mania for 10 KS and keys
and clocks. The late king of Bavaria
had a strange mania for hats. Bull
wer 8 DIR. Riccabocca' will stand 70,
the pipe lobbyist and Dickens ''Fagin
was the greatest collector of handker-
chiefs. Wilkie Collins has a detective
whose hobby was the culture of roses.
Miss Farebrother, in George Eliots
"Middlemarch, - has a hobby for drop
ping Jumps of sugar into a little basket
that she may have them to give to her
friends, the boys of the street. There
was once an old nurse who had been in
the employ of one o the court ladies of
William ", whose hobby was to col
lect pieces of wedding cake of all the
princesses of the royal family, including
Queen Victoria and some of her dau-
gh1s1s.