New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-16
JOSEPH JEFFERSON.
A CHARMING BOOK.
TEsy AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON
Illustrated. $40, DID. 500. The Century Compen

had career Of ample prosperity cuminatins IL, ~
honorable renown and abundant happiness. nc
was born in Philadelphia. February ~ io,.
lie went on the stage when he was four years DID,
and he has been on the stage ever since. mn
achievements as en- actor have been recognized ono
accepted with admiration in several parts OF the
world I'm Australia and New-zealand ana In Eng
land. Scotland and Ireland. as well as In .ne
United States. Among EnglshSPeaklng so'oi'
he is perhaps the foremost living NpreSen""'e
Of the art OF eccentric comedy. He has not' OF
late v..rs nlaved q wide range Of parts. but, re-
strictinr himself to few characters, and those OF
a representetive kind, the manner in which he has
acted them is a perfect manner-and IL IL th's
which has gained for him his distinctive emi
nence. Mr. Jefferson. however, is not simply ana
exclusively an actor. His mind is many-sloeo'
He has painted landscape pictures Of high order
NJ merit-pictures in which elusive moods and
subtle sentiments of nature are grasped with I'M
aeinative insight and denoted and interpreted with
free delicate, and luminous touch lie now aiso
addresses the public as an author. He has written
an easy. colloquisl account Of his own life, ana
This breezy. off-hand, expeditions wOrk,-after
nass;nr II as a serial through their Century
Magazine, the Century Company has published
in beautiful volume. II is work that, for the
sake Of the writer, will be welcomed everywhere,
o,a for ito own sake as well as his, will every
where be preserved.
Begiupiug theatrical career nearly sixty years
ago. rowing up and down the earth ever sihce' ''"
seldom continuing in one place. MI Jeherso" I
had uncommon opportunities OF noapg '"s W
yelopment of the United States and OF ooSei ms
in both hcmisphercs, the changefui aspect '. ~ ~
Of the most eventful periods in the history VI .o
world Actors, as a class, know notning 'uy ~
STAGE and see nothing but the pursuit IN WINCH
"a
among them knows this fact from personal o"Soi-
walton. Whoever has road the various ana SOME
what numerous memoirs that have from plme "
time hem published by elderly members OF '.'"'
professon must have been amused 70 Per0eivs
that while they conventionally agree that 81,
th. worlds a stage" they are conourrentiy anu
inevitably convinced that the stage Is oil VIC
world. Mr. Jefferson's book, although IL con'~'A'
much about the theatre, shows him 10 DE al eATp-
,ion in this rcsuect, even as he is in many o'@e'.
He bas seen many countries and many kinos 81
mon and things. and he has long looked upon iic
with the thoughtful gaze OF pni"S'rn,,
as we'll as the wise smile Of humons,. 0
can, if he likes. talk of something oeSiees 'Ao
sbon His account of his life lacks 1orm q
little" and his indifference to accurate st@.is"os
-wh;ch he declares to be somewhat tedious -
;s now and then felt by bis reader to be an em-
barrassmente One would like to know, Tor IN
stance. while reading about the primitive theaTi-
cal times when actors sailed the Western rivers
in flatboats, and shot beasts and bros on tne
bank, precisely the extent and hmits Oh tna'
period Nor is this the only queer aspect OF tne
dramatio past that might be illumined. The total
environment of a mans life Is equally Important
with the lite itself-being, indeed, the scenery
amid which the action passes-and good metnou
for the writing of biography is that winch
sharply defines the successive periods Of Childhood
youth. manhood, and age, and, while depicting
the development of the individual from point to
point, depicts also the entire field through which
he moves, and the mutations, affecting bis HE.
which occur in the historic and social fabric
around him. Mr.. jefferson, while he has painted
vigorously and often happily, large canvas,
has left many spaces empty and others but thinIy
filed. The reader who accompanies him may,
nevertheless with little care piece out the story
50 as to perceive it as sequent, distinct. har-
monious and rounded narrative. Meanwhile the
companonship of this needless historian is delight
ful-for whether as actor painter, or writer, Mr..
Jefferson steadily eXerts the charm of genial
personality. You are as one walking along
country road, on a golden autumn day, with
kind, merry companion, who knows all about the
trees that fringe your track and the birds THAI
fit through their branches and who beguiles the
pleasant remembrance, now impressing your mind
by the sagacity of his reflections. now touching
your heart by some sudden trait OF sentiment or
pathos and always pleasing and satisfying you
with the consciousness Of q sweet, humane broad,
charitable. piquant nature. Although an autobi-
Ographer Mr.. jefferson is not egotstical and, al
though moralist he is not q bore. There il q tinge
Of the Horatian mood in him-for his reader often
becomes aware of that composed, sagacious half
drol, quietly quizzcal mind which indicates, with
grave gentleness, the folly of ambition, the
vanity of riches the value of the present hour the
ideness of borrowing trouble, the blessing of the
golden medium state in fortune, the absurdity
Of fatterers, and the comfort Of keeping q stead
fast spirit amid the inevitable vioisstudes of
this mortal state.
M Jefferson has memories of boyhood that
was passed in Washington Baltimore and New
York. He went to Chicago in 1888, when that
place was scarcely more than village-malxing
the journey from New-York TO Buffalo in canal
boat, and sailing thence, aboard of steamer,
through the Lakes of Erie, Huron and Michigan.
lie travelled with his parents. and they gave
dramatic performances in which he assisted in
western towns II was time of poverty and
hardship, but those ills were borne cheerfuy-
the brighter side of a hard life being
kept steadily in view, and every comic in
cdent of it being seen and appreciated. His
father was gentleman of the Mark Tapley tenn
permanent. who came out strong amid adverse
circumstances, and the early disappearance from
the book Of that delightful person who died in
1872 OF yellow fever, at Mobile is a positive
sorrow. His mother, refined and gentle lady, Of
steadfaet character and of uncommon musical and
dramatic talents and accomplishments, survived
till lS49. and her ashes rest in Ronsldson's
Cemetery, in Philadelphia Mr. Jefferson might
have said much more about his parents, and
especially about his famous grandfather, without
risk Of becoming tedious-for they were re-
markably interesting people: but he was writing
bis own life and not theirs, and he has explained
that he likes not to dwell much upon domestic
matters. The story Of his long ancestry of actors
which reaches back to the days Of Garrck flor
there have been five generations of the .Jefersons
upon the staze), he has not mentioned and the