The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-12-29


ISL ST 10 A RID SA
the railroad depot nearest his beautiful.
home. Orange Isle, y in Louisiana. for
The convenience of possible visitors,
and whether expected or unexpected.
whether the master Of the house is at
hame or not, the guest is certain of q
hearty welcome. Joe Jefferson's real
character is very like that of Caleb
Plummer, which he takes so wonder
fully we'll in "The Cricket on the
HEARTH made over to fit the times
and circumstances. He shows to all
the world thst same gentle considera-
ton which Caleb shows to his G9y
blind daughter. He comes By his tai
emit legitimately. On his fathers side
the men were actors for three or four
generations back. His great grand
father (also named Joseph Jefferson}
was famous in his day. He was great
friend of Thomas Jefferson, and the
President was fond of claiming relation
ship with the actor, although they were
never able ofully trace it. The father
was named Thomas Jefferson after the
President, and was we'll known as an
actor, although be never gained the
fame which his son has so literally
acquired. The present Joe Jefferson
was born and bred (his mother was an
actress of considerable capability) in
the atmosphere of the stage. He made
his first bow to an audience when he
was but yeyrs Of age, as a fac-simile
in miniature Of q famous neg1o charac
ten in Washington named Rice, while
Rice was making himself famous as
Jim Crow. Mr.. Jefferson, when but s
years old, fought sword combat on
Che stage of the Franklin theater in
New York. The Stage credits him
with saying Of this experience: las
you will imagine, my boyish delight
was great, for T played the part of a
pirate, and gave battle to an honest
sailor, ilnpersonated by another young
s1er, hardly older than myself. He.
however, had the best part Of the two,
as it was my place to get killed and his
to stand in an attitude Of victory over
my prostate BODY Many good stories
CT MIR Jefferson have gone the ROUNDS
Of the press, among them the follwing,
which recently appeared in the Stage:
1.-The night before he appeared in Lon
don he was very nervous and appre-
hensive as to the result, and resolved to
carefully rehearse, alone, the third act
OF the play, He made up thoroughly
for the part. and quite unconscious
that the curtain Of his window, which
faced On Regent street, was raised,
proceeded to go through his part with
all the ardor he possessed. AS a full
view OF the well-lighted room was
easily had from the street, a crowd soon
gathered, under the impression that
they were watching the ancient lunatic
escaped from his keeper, and the
throng rapidly growing, the great
thoroughrare soon became entirely
blocked. The police sent for re inforce-
ments, and after. with much difficulty,
partly scattering the dense crowd and
forcing their way to the door, called
out the landlady, and she in turn, by
pounding on Mr. Jeiferson's door,
awoke him to a sense of the sensa :
ton he was creating, and he hastily
pulled down the curtain" Once, when
he was playing the part of Rip Van
Wrinkle in st. Louis, he went to the
theater tired by long days journey.
The curtain rose on the third act and
disclosed him deep in his twenty years.
nap. Five, ten minutes elapsed. but
he did not awake. The audience grew
impatient. at length the gallery waxed
uproarous and yelled 5heir delight at
one OF them inquirlug 'if there was
going to be nineteen years more of this
sleeping business" Still Jefferson
slept and actually snored. Opening a
small trap door beneath the stage, the
prompter prodded Rip from below. only
to see him tumble In his pocket fer an
imaginary railway ticket and hear him
mutter: "Going clear through, con-
ductor?" OF course this brought down
the house.
FOREIGN NEWS ITEMS.
A marriage has been arranged be.