Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-09
AN ACCOMPLISHED OFFICIAL.
Imperfect Articulation an Aid TO q
Brilliant Wit.

It was said of Charles Lamb, who is thought
by many to have been one OF the quaIntest OF
English writers of the present century, that he
was the possessor of slight impediment in his
speech that caused hesitancy to free utter
ance which only accumulated the oddities that
gave his conversation a most charming. spark
ling finish. Mr.. Alvy A. Adee, one Of the as
sistant secretaries Of state, has something OF
this characteristic. He is rather deaf and his
articulation is very much broken To
strangers his diction is often a puzzle.
Yet this very fault of speech
is one of Mr.. Adee's most charming qualities.
He is one Of the brightest, wittiest story tell
ers in the government service, and his CONVEX
sation is sure to produce a smile upon the most
solemn occasions This result Is produced not
only by the intrinsic value of his remarks. but
by his mode of utterance, which. like in the
case OF Lamb, lends an additional interest and
a humorous accent TO his wit. Mr.. Adee il "a
close student of cosmopolitan affairs, having
been IN the diplomatic and state service of this
country Tor many years and has thus acquired
an extensive and valuable fund of information
relative TO the peculiarities or customs Of
nearly
EVERY PORTION OF THE HUMAN FAMILY.
This has been acquired, not only by reading
and study, but by personal investigation dur
ing his travels, and it is but seldom that a
person with question TO ask about some out
ot-the-way region or people does not come out
of Mr.. Adde'S room without some bit of infor-
nation tucked away into some corner of his
brain. He has, withal. faculty of adding 20
his facts a bit of anecdote or incident that i'm
presses the new idea and renders forgetting il
almost impossible. Mr.. Adee, besides being
an accomplished diplomat, is an expert with
the camera, having achieved considerable fame
throughout the country as amateur photo
grapher. He possesses an artistic sense of Sc
lection besides having attained great mechanic
cal proficiency, and his room is filed with ex-
quisite bits of the sun-language, telling OF
rambies through delightful scenes, both at homo
and abroad.
SEEKING FOR NEWS.
STAR reporter met Mr.. Adee in the corri-
doris of the State department on Tuesday while
waiting for the appearance Of Mr.. Blaine, the
newly-appointed Secretary. In the face Of
novel barrenness the scribe instinctively put
his lips to Mr.. Adees ear and asked for news
The little man shook his head and said that the
greater light of Mr. Blaine's ascendancy had
totally eclipsed all State department news that
might have existed. The reporter thereupon
rapidly ran over in his mind several possible
questions that might lead 10 bit OF informa-
ton. finally deci ling TO ask for the outcome of
the riots that occurred at Chin-Kiang in China.
about a month ago, directed against all foreign
residents. Mr.. Adee replied:
mo, there ~ nothing new about that They
seem to have quieted down over there You
must understand that a mob in China is q queer
element,snd often stirred 10 action by the most
trivial causes. 1 have no doubt but that this
riot came from a peculiarly in the Chinese
language which very frequently leads 20 mis-
understanding and serious difficulty between
the natives andthe foreigners. II is this: the
Chinese word for foreigner and that for
devil are exactly identical, thus leading fire.
quentiy to confusion of meaning II is even
customary In some parts Of China TO make .
combination Of the two and use them as syno-
nyms calling all persons not natives to the
celestial soil foreign devils.' This idea often
grows rampant and leads 10 a wild, ungovern-
able frenzy on the part of q mob that some
times causes bloodshed. The only way in
which the two words can be distinguished n by
the accent, the word for foreigner having =
rising infection and that for devil a falling in
Election. But as a mob is not over-given 10 the
observation Of the rules Of pronunciation, and
are often wont TO fling infection 10 the winds,
the distinction does not act as very much Of Q
barrier between the ideas Of foreigners and
deyiitry"