Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-08
THE TOPICAL TALKER.
Pitcher CIarkson Of the Bostons-A Poet
Who Can't be spared-Mr. Booths
Healfli.

|
Who Can't be spared-Mr. Booths
Health.
| ALTHOUGH the Boston club did not win the
League pennant Clarkson, the great pitcher,
will receive a very comfortable reminder that
his loyal endeavors have been appreciated by
his Bostonian admirers. fund of $1,000 has
been raised by number of Boston brokers and
other wealthy men, and this will be presented
to Mr.. Clarkson on his return to Boston. II
he had won the game OH Saturday he would
| have received a ST. 900 in addition from the
managers of the club, and several other hand
| some presents in all probability. Possibly the
thought Of how much depended upon his
pitching on Saturday affected his skillful hand
little, as it seemed to demorallze his support
ers in the field.
Mr.. Clarkson has number of friends In this
CITY, and he spent Friday night playing whist
with party of them. Everyone who has met
him speaks well of him. Hisquiet, gentlemanly
manner is somewhat of a surprise to those who
have met many stars of the ball field.
THE talented gentlemen who compound the
personal paragraphs for the great journals can.
not be expected to confine themselves strictly
to the domain of fact. The paragraphs would
not be ready every day if their makers were not
permitted to resort to their imaginations from
time to time. Hence it was, doubtless, that we
were favored recently with the report that Mrs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox had resolved to write
poetry no more. Nobody believed the report,
and it must have comfcrted the poet to see
what widespread discussion of one sort and an
other, but mainly fattering to her, the rumor
evoked.
1t would be unfortunate indeed if Mrs. Wilcox
were to make any such cruel resolution. Every
thing she has written since her marriage has
shown a great improvement in taste and style
over her earlier red-hot poems Of passion. And
poets with ideas and the ability TO set them to
the music of poetry are SO uncommonly rare at
this day that we could i'll afford to lose Mrs.
Wilcox. A poem of hers in last weeks
Bulletin, entitled Success" conveys truth
that very few are called to comprehend in
very graceful, tuneful way. There are solid
sense and sincerity in such work as this that
one must look for in vain in the same writer's
Poems of Passion"
For few minutes on Saturday evening in
Manager Willis room at the Grand Opera
House I had the pleasure of talking to Mr..
Booth. 1t was not more than l5 minutes after
he had concluded his very trying performance
in "The Fools Revenge" and that may account
in part for the exhausted appearance OF the
great actor He told me, too, that he had
been suffering from bilious attack, the most
distressing symptom of which was dizziness,
more or less all day. 1.-THE doctors told me-"
he said with grave smile, shat it is too
much smoking again-but-" he didn't
finish the sentence but intimated plainly
enough that he didn't intend to take much
stock in that theory
To tell the plain truth as it appears to me,
Mr.. Booths health is such as to give him and
his friends considerable anxiety, although the
wonderful will power and intellectual force of
the man enable him to keep up the appear
ance of physical strength on the stage. His
manager, Mr.. Chase, laughed at the idea
that Mr.. Booth was not in good health. HE
never was BETTER" he said to me five minutes
before saw the actor myself, but Mr.. Booths
face and his own words gave something very
like the lie to that assertion.
If Mr.. Booth continues to appear in seven
performances every week for season Of thirty
odd weeks, shall not be surprised if he does
not decide to retire next summer 1t is too
much to ask of him. Four or five appearances
a week ought to be the limit. Madam Mod
jeska, in her chosen plays, would draw well
enough without Mr.. Booth, and to my mind she
would be seen to better advantage alone. In
nearly all the plays wherein she supports Mr..
Booth the feminine character is distinctly sub
ordinate. In this way both would be benefited,
Madam Modjeska artistically and Mr.. Booth
nhysically.