The evening world., 1888-05-03
HIS WORK NEARLY FINISHED.
AN AUTHOR ONCE NOTED NOW AN INNATE
OF BELLEVUE HOSPITAL.

ttoNo OF q LOuH ana hCttVo LILO t<GhtnH
His Money Through the Failure of His
Publishers-Anxious to Live Lone Enough
to Complete His Pet Book.
On O neat cot in Ward 2 of Bellevue Hos
pital, protected from the gaze of curious
eyes by o large screen, lies o poor, sick, I'M
fortunate man, suffering from exhaustion and
general debility.
His large. well-developed head and strong,
though regular, features at once attract at
~tention, while his dim eyes, once dark and
fiery, and his gray hairs give evidence Of his
declining years.
He is more than seventy-two years old,
having been born at Griswold, Conn, on
July 10, 1915; and he desires the kin nurses
and skilful physicians Of the hospital to re-
store his health only in order that he may
crown his earthly career by completing a
work now nearly finished, and giving to the
world a book which, of the many he has
written, he thinks is the best and will be
most highly priced and appreciated by those
competent to Judge of its merits.
The man is Charles Edwards Lester, once q
writer of note and for six years o United
States Consul in Italy.
Little did he dream in 1910, when he started
across the sea accompanied by his young
wife, that nearly half a century later, instead
of enjoying a happy old age of rest, he would
have been brought unto the very verge of
pauperism.
Mr.. Testers wife was Miss Ellen Brown,
the granddaughter of a wealthy man who
owned a vast tract of land in Oswego County.
| By her he had two children. One, a son, con-
| $1,000 l.aan,n ,,hsln a~htin, Gov khA
Union, and died from its effects. His daugh-
| ter was married to Col. Sylvester Larned, q
lawyer. of Detroit. His wife is in Detroit
with the daughter.
a young man. to practise law. but after he
was admitted to the Bar he changed his mind
and spent two years at Auburn Theological
Seminary, from which he was licensed to
preach. This vocation he was not permitted
to follow, however, because his throat failed
him. He then went abroad and stayed away
six years.
His life since he left the ministry has been
given up to literary pursuits, and his name is
the day. He achieved q reputation as q cor
respondent when he was abroad, and for
years after his return to the United States
was the only correspondent in this country
Among his principal works are The Glory
and Shame of England" 90 Condition and
Fate of England, =" = 1he Artist, Merchant and
Statesman, !" Life and Voyages of Americus
yespucius, " Artists Of America" 80 My
Consulship, - and The Napoleon Dynasty,
q History. of the Bonaparte Family, by the
Berkeley Men"
He also published several TRANSACTIONS.
His present pitiable condition has been
brought a out BY misfortune and overwork.
Two of his publishers failed, and through
them he lost most of his property. He has
met with reverses at every turn and has been
reduced to poverty.
Until recently he was q familiar figure
around the Putnam House, at Fourth avenue
and Twenty-sixth street. For the last four
weeks his health has been failing, but he kept
up his study until last Tuesday, when he
demands Of his body and was taken to
Bellevue.
He has been revising several of his works
but the one in which he is the most deeply
Have Known" which is nearly ready fol
publication. It is this work which he hopei
he can live to see completed. It contains
sketches of the lives of fifty. or sixty cele
from Mr.. Lester's autobiography, and arr
deemed by him Of far more value than mer,
"reminiscences. because, he says, they posses
vividness that canno be had from r~ecollec
ton.
Mr.. Lester knew the subjects Of tn,
sketches personally. Among them are Long
fellow, Gladstone, Dickens. Henry Clay
Daniel Webster, ]. q. Calhoun, Prescott, tn
historian, Gen. Scott, Peter Cooper, Pop
Plus TX. and Charles Sumner
While Mr.. Lester was telling The EVENING
!, WORLD reporter about this book and how
r anxious he was to see it published his weal
nately. 1t tinged with triumph as he relate
| his acquaintance with the eminent men, thel
: changed to a note of sadness when he in
t timated that he might never live to see tn
, work given to the world. 1t seems to be hi
.sSaid he "I was EMPLOYED by the famil