Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-14
PROMINENT PEOPLE.

| Gated for the Church, but stammered too badly
| to pursue that profession.
Mr.. HENRICK IBsEM, the hero Of the latest
literary craze in England, Is 81 years old, and
was educated to be a chemist. He owes his
dramatic success largely to the friendship and
patronage of Ole Bull.
| MARION HARLAND, whose maiden name was
Mary Virginia Haw, was a bright, handsome
| girl scarcely 16 years old when she wrote her
first book, Marrying From Prudential
| Motives" 1t attracted attention. In 1854 when
! 19 years old, she published "Alone," novel,
| which quickly ran through 10 editions, and she
| has since written l9 other novels, all more
| less successful. In 1856 she was married to the
Rev. Edward Payson Terhune, when she re-
moved from Richmond to the North, and she
has resided in Brooklyn, New York and New
ark, N. ]. She is now the editor of the Home
Maker.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES is little wiz
ened man, 80 years old, but with freshness of
| heart that time cannot wither Like all Bos-
tonians, he is an Anglomaniac, but he is not
dancing mad on the subject. Unlike some of
his fellow townsmen, he does not think nod
from lord is better than breakfast at the
Parker House He was, it is true, a little taken
off his feet by the: attention shown him in En-
gland, during his last visit but he has too much
common sense not to see that small quantity
of that sort of thing will go great way DR..
Holiness literary reputation will probably rest
upon the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,"
which was the making of the Atlantic Monthly.
HENRY WATTERsoN. editor of the Louis
vile Courier-JourndI, is almost blind in one
eye and sees very badly out OF The other. He
uses magnifying glass when reading, and does
much of his writing through an amanuensis;
I, ,,,sfz -1-- LII Lsa
he writes himself he uses thick, glazed paper
and quill pen. He writes a scrawl almost as
hard to read as Horace Greeley's. When he
works he goes at 1t with a vim, taking off his
coat and rolling up his sleeves. Sometimes for
days he does not write a line, but amuses him
self chatting with his friends. He enjoys a
good dinner. He has been in Congress, has
lectured, written book or two, and in early
life was ambitious to be a novelist.
REMBRANDT PEALE, the famous artist who
painted Death on Pale Horse" was the first
to introduce gas in the city of Baltimore. In
iSl6 he was the proprietor of the old Baltimore
Museum, and in order to show off the paintings
which he was exhibiting, he had lighted gas
arranged in jets to play on them. Having
proved in this way the power of gas as an illu-
minator. he proposed to the Baltimore author
tiles to light the streets with it. The City
Council, with the usual stupidity of such
bodies, rejected the plan as not feasible. Mr..
Peale found some of the citizens of Baltimore
more enlightened than the City Council. The
dwelling of Jacob I. Cohen was the first house
in Baltimore lighted by gas. 1t was not for
nearly 80 years that gas was introduced in the
Lexington Market. Rembrandt Peale lived to
be so years old, but did not derive much Pc
cuniary return from his enterprise in the gas
business.
GENERAL JOHN BANKHEAD MAGRUDER
was an officer in the army and was particularly
proud Of his horsemanship. During the Mexi-
can War he rode a splendid charger, Black
Prince. Magruder. who was then a captain,
could perform all sorts of feats on horseback,
and took pleasure in showing off his skill One
day he was witching the army with his horse
manship when a Texan came along and de-
clared that he could beat Mapruder riding on
his own horse. Naturally disgusted at this
piece of presumption he called his brother
officers and said he was going to have a trial
of horsemanship with the Texan, and should
the latter be defeated 1t would be only right
and proper that he should be whipped out of
camp. They all agreed, and the riding CON-
menced. Magruder excelled all his former
feats on horseback, and was rewarded with
loud cheers. The Texan then mounted Black
Prince and rode around and around in the
most reckless manner, when, suddenly, when
he got to the farthest side of the camp he
darted off and Magruder never saw horse or
rider again. When the laugh which greeted
this feat was over Magruder said it served him
right for trusting an unknown man to ride his
best horse.