The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-10-19
THEY ALL HAVE HOBBIES
Some of the Peculiar Diversions
Of Prominent Persons.
Mrs. Harrison's Love of Painting and the
President's Mania for Collecting Brio
a~-Brsc-Jay GouId's Conservatory
and Rockefeller's Charities.
Joe Jefferson is an artist.

jus JeHeTSOn ID an artlSC.
Edwin Booth IL an enthusiastic whist
player.
Billy Florence is q fisherman. His chief
hobby, though, seems to be practical joking.
Oscar s. Straus, ok minister to Turkey,
makes a hobby of collecting and studying
books on American history.
George Bancroft, the historian, is pas
%sionately fond of roses, and has some of
the finest specimens in the country.
Robert Bonner devotes all his time and
attention to his horses. His mania Is to
own the fastest horse on the trotting turf.
George w. Childs, the Philadelphia jour
nalist and philanthropist, is fond of collect
ing authors manuscripts, china and bric-a-
brac.
William Rockefeller is an admirer of fast
horses. He W a three-quarter-mile
track at which he treats his friends to
races between his own horses.
Cooper Hewitt, son of ex-Mayor Hewitt,
has one of the best collections of musical
instruments IL America and knows how to
play on nearly all Of them.
John D.. Rockefeller's hobbies are churches
and charities, and he devotes all his spare
time to furthering the interests Of the
Methodist church. He is also fond Of horses.
Henry Willard, the railroad magnate, is
passionately fond OF music. He is q good
performer on the viol ~ncello, and is thorough
ly posted on all the doings in the operatic
world.
Russell Sage is an enthusiastic chess
player. After solving the problems Of the
bulls and bears, and puts and calls on Wall
street, he goes home to solve problems on
the chess board.
Mrs. Harrison is q very good painter.
Nearly all the pictures in the Harrison
homestead were painted by her, and many
of them are really works of art. The Pres
ident takes a great deal Of interest In his
wife's work.
Jesse Seligman devotes all his spare time
and attention to the Hebrew Orphan Asy-
lum, improving that institution and doing
what he can to add to the comfort Of the
children who live there. This seems to be a
perfect hobby with him.
George Gould is a phIlatelist. He has one
of the finest collections Of foreign stamps
In the world and devotes a great deal of his
spare time in arranging them and sticking
them in albums according to their classified
ton. Another hobby Is his baby.
Brayton Ives, of all street, has perhaps
the finest and most valuable collection of
old manuscripts, missals and rare books in
the country. He attends all the sales and
frequently sends commissioners to the book
sales that TAX place in Europe, and is con-
sidered a well-posted photographer.
w. E. Kimball, the great tobacconist Of
Rochester, has the finest collection of
orchids in the country. He has spent fabu-
lous sums of money to buy some of the
rarest of these queer plants that could be
found. He devotes u great deal of his time
in studying and watching their growth.
Henry Clews, of Wall street fame, de-
votes all his spare time and attention to his
house. You can take his attention away
from his business if you begin to talk about
his house, and he is perfectly delighted
when anybody requests to be taken over
the building. His bathroom is of solid
onyx and cost fifty thousand dollars.
John Wanamaker, the Postmaster-Gen-
eral, has been a busy man all his life. His
only hobby is the Sunday-schocl which is
connected with Bethany Church in Phila-
delphia. He is so wrapt up in the success
of this Sunday-school that he Is frequently
caught neglectlng his business to discuss
S~unday-school matters.
Charles A. Dana finds recreation among
the flowers. His flowers have taken prizes
at the flower shows in this vicinity for a
number of years and always form one of
the most attractive exhibits at tho show,
He is especially fond of chrysanthemums
and has thousands of varieties of these
beautiful plants in his garden.
Jay Gould's hobby seems to rave been
collecting dollars; but in addition to this
very interesting collection, which now mum
bers several millions, he Is very fond of
flowers. He has, perhaps, the finest con-
servatory in the country, and he works
among his flowers and rare plants in this
conservatory just as his gardener would.
President Harrison is very fond of brio-a.
brac. In his house in indianapolis he has u
very rare collection, among which are some
very valuable Greek and Roman coins. He
also keeps a scrap book in which he has O
copy OF all the speeches he has ever made,
This scrap book was very useful when Gen
eral Lew Wallace was compiling his auto
biography.
William Waldorf Aston, who Is heir pro
sumptive to ABOUT $500, O0O, 900, is a very
model young man for n millionaire's son.
He is Il good business man, and has no par
tIcular hobby. He is moderately fond OF
horses and yachting, and is IL good fencer
and boxer. He is Il man of strong literary
and artistic tastes, and If he had not been "a
millionaire's son he would probably have
been an artist.