The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-01-28
AN AUTOGRAPH HUNTER
TELLS HOW SHE OBTAINED THE SIG.
NATURES OF CELEBRITIES.
The ley Indifference of Bismarck and
Tennyson-A Bundle of Old it;t-rs
-Beaconsfieid an Tn. Get
At-Abie Individual.

When in England | served an apprentice
ship to the art Of autograph hunting, which
ended in my becoming q proficient. Yet l
blush at times to think of the ways thai ats
dark and tricks that are vain resorted to by
an otherwise unsophisticated danlsei as
means to an end | suppose have always
been hero worshiper, for when girl not
yet in my teens | consumed my little allow
ance Of pin-moaey i'll buying portraits OF
distinguished men and women, with which
to adorn nay album Autograph letters OF
celebrities are now harder to obtain than
they were few years ago. 1t has become
a mania with 50 many that men OF hight
and learning are deluged with applications
for their autographs, and a hunter must IN
deed be ingenious and interchangeable who can
elicit reply from those whose eailgrsphy -
worth the having.
TWO HARD NUTS TO CRACK,
At first ] hunted exclusively for anto-
graphs, but it occurred to INC that auto
graphs alone were of little interest or va!ns
unless affixed to letter, and | will tell yo',
how | enhanced the value Of my collection.
The two hardest nuts To crack, or, in other
words, the two celebrities who are Jelly IN
different to the opportunities Of autograph
mongefs, are Bismarck and Tennyson Even
scraps of their handwriting are valued at SO
apiece by brio -brac dealers IA London In
Vulnerable Letters sent direct I" the great
chancellor brought nevel'a hne iii response
and grew sad A bright idea struck ne
Why not write 10 his wife, who Is reputed 70
be i,aneyolence personifiedi suited the
action to the word, and by return of mail
came an imposing epistle with the Berlin
POSTWAR upon it, which set my heart beat
ing nt fearful rats and destroyed my ap
petite for q whole DAY. It contained a cab
met photograph of Bismarck, with his toit,
clear signature at the foot and a kind not''
from the princess, saying that She was happy
to comply with nay request q! how
gl0ated over that portrait, 1t was speak
ilr likeness of the man who rules Europe,
and looked al the more striking from the
fact that it represented him in the full glory
and blaze Of his military uniform, with Il
helmet shading the upper part of bus face,
and leaving the lower part with Its iron-clad
jaw clearly depicted,
Tennyson's autograph was my next desld-
eratum It came to me unexpectedly, but
not until had wasted much ink and paper
in appealing TO the laureate himself. l wrote
TO the late duke of Wellington little man
with a big heart, who wore cotton gloves
and invariably rode on the top of an Ornni-
bus-asking for few words or lines III the
handwriting of the hero of Waterloo. He
sent me check. yellow and musty, which
had been filed in By the iron duke, and, 10
Iny unutterabie JOY, he inclosed "a batch OF
letters, hoping, as he playfully put it, that
they would be worth a place in my album.
The batch Of letters consisted Of one from.
Tennyson, another from from Queen Vic
toria, and one III the legib'e, though some
what boyish, handwriting Of Albert Ed
ward, prince of Wales There others from
smaller fry, but trio did indeed fol'Iu place
in my aibuld, and, as am a Conservative,
they occupy very prominent position.
BEAC0NSFIELD AND Won hoLrkE,
Lord BaGconsfcl1 was another un-get-at-
able individual His secretary would re-
spond 10 your first application, saying that
his lordship never gave his autograph to
to ANYBODY Ii was useless tn impress upon
Beaconsa2ld that his was the only autograph
necessary 10 make your collection of modern
celebrities cosnplete You might wait long
and anxiously for q rejoinder, hut you
wouldn't get it Then, perhaps, you would
write, expressing regret for having tres
passed 50 nnch on his valuable time and, il
you were rash, you would spend - OF 50
cents on an elegant photograph, and urge
him just to afliX his signature thereto AMI
return it He would do neither, aud AM
further portraits you might send him would
be gone from your gaze forever.
But / got he autograph nevertheless My
brother came across an impecunious man
who had in his heyday spent some months Of
his existence i'll writing Mandatory poem
on the royal family, and who ven
turei to submit the proof sheets
this eyerjdg. and have read them
with traHsceud5nt interest, wrote Beacons-
field in reply A small sum purchased this
letter for me, and / was made the happy
p1sses5or Of Beaconsfield's autograph
Won Moltke is a dear old man He will
send his autograph to anybody, but he has
this popularity, that he always returns your
own communication with his signature
craTnped into corner.
Charles Darwin would rarely respond to
al application for his autograph but when
wrote, asking for an calculation of what tn
ms was a complex portion Of his Origin Of
Species" he was prompt in replying. His
caligraphy was wretched, and | felt like
asking him to explain his explanation. An
initial letter. dash Of the pen, and final
letter were made to represent word. His
reply could only be understood by guess
work ard the aid of a powerful microscope
SCIENTIST, STATESMAN, THEoLoGIAN
To Professor Tyndall and Professor Hux-
ley ! wrote, asking their opinion with re-
gard to a theory which had been put forth
by scientist named Neutrality-suspicious. the
sun was not source Of heat or light to the
solar system. Huxley, | verify believe, es-
taeined me lunatic, but, although bis reply
was curt, il gave ms his autograph Tyndall
wrote at some length, saying that he had
heard of Mr.. Harrington's theory, but Mr..
ilarFington's ideas were not his, and he
would advise me to pause before making
hem my own.
Probably no man is so much importuned
a Mr. Gladstone, and unlike Beaconstield,
he will, when out of Office send personal
answer to almost every communication he
Ie+'HiFeaf eiu IL W SittlpcS d request Tor Ma
autograph should be unsuccessful, one has
only to mention some current political topic
to open the tioodgates of his eloquence and
draw from him torrent of closeiy-written
Sentences.
Cardinal Newman is ever responsive, but
IL nine cases out Of ten you don't actually
get his handwriting, although you
think you do. The great theologian
has had Autographed few lines
which serve as an answer to most Of the
commonplace communications he receives
sort of literary panacea for the ailments Of
autograph-hunters 1t runs thus Excuse
me ! am an old mau, and my hand d
feeble New York Sun
The Craze Has yisibly AIated.