The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-08-04
n t-nawT Thomson. who

oocs He knew Thompson, VINO
',snd to he n constant guest at MS
sa,har's ho,se. and | think died there'
ua Jsscribed him as the most ehten-
-. informed man and the most de-
I;,.e,e,,l talker he had ever met.
20 Extraordinary, he said, were ms
powers as c0nversatlonai's' ,""s
became the custom for q numoei "
persons To drop in on SunnaS al1ol
noon at his fathers. where thompson
always dined that day. simply 70 near
him talk. Henderson himself was COZ
le0e student at the time, and IN com
nanv with several other college irienus
he determined to test Thompson know
ledge. Accordingly they "crammed up
tho list of the Chinese sovereigns, ana
one afternoon drew tho conversation
around TO this subject, when their
Spokesman astonished the rest OF the
party by giving the list almost entire.
10 Thompson alone it seemed matter
of course. II think you left out one or
two. Mr.. - he said. quietly, sup
plying Immediately those which had
been omitted.
From Mrs. M0ulton's we went with
Henderson and his wife to call on Mrs.
Burnett. who has Just established her.
self i'm a London house. and from there
we went home to The Bottoms and
dined with our new friends. And such
a sweet home it is. A grassy church
ward Is lust i'm front, aud behind, what
with rs would be a back yard, Is a
lawn with a row of fine naples at the
end. and. as the whole square was built
in the same way, the result Is long
stretch of lawns from end 10 end. |
felt rs if | had suddenly dropped into
sweet, quiet American village home,
and two little girls, eight ard
ten years old. completed the
charm. The only other member Of the
family j. a magnificent 81. Bernard, the
son of Fritz Emett's famous 1000 gui
nea dog. and his exact counterpart. lie
permits the little girls to play with bin
and.pull at HIM until he gets tired. when
he quietly lays them on their backs and
with his great paw holds them down
until they will let him alone. We all
became great friends.
We dined there again the following
day. when we had the pleasure OF meet
ing Mrs Burnett. who Is one of the
most delightful takers in the world.
She is very much smaller
very much younger and very
much more entertaining than |
expected to find her. for unhappily. the
genius OF writing and the genius Of
companionship do not always dwell in
the same temple She is small but has
a str0ugly-knit figure and most strik-
ing face, with strong features and
laughing eyes Her hair Is halfway /
between golden and auburn. She talks /
as # she saw the fun in everything, aud. /
what is better. makes you see it. She /
showed us pictures OF her two hand 7
some boys. one OF whom il SO we'll t
known now to the Euglish-speaking .
race.
Whilst speaking Of genius I may ,
mention again the great vioinist,
JOHANNES WOLFF,
who is as fond of our friends, the
O ConnOrs. as we are. which IS saying
a great deal. We have thus seen HIM
very frequently. He is a handsome.
black haired. brown-eyed young Hol-
lander. who has been, not the fashion
merely UNi the ihAt llii7 0'h0'N. Ills
father is one Of the ministers in H0l-
land. and tried TO make Wolf an advC-
cate, but the youngster heard the music
of the spheres and could not be drawn
away. He had a hard time for a while.
but his genius has secured its
reward. and he Is today, perhaps, the
greatest OF yi0linists. He is a warm.
hearted young fellow. as fresh as "a
boy. and as honest as sunlight He
was asked by one .of the priuce-ses the
other day whether he was q Republican
or a Royalist. IL am "a yi0lnist. he
said. with bow.
Ny nextletter will be of Paris, which
luder the inspiring influences of ITS
great exhibition. is almost as gay As il
was under the Emperor
THOMAS NELSON PAGE. {