The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1891-04-01
DRUNn + R-GRAPHS
TIL Z DEAD BARR r TT: THE DEAD
BOO rus; AND riIE LIVING
BOOTH
The Grave of John Wilkes Booth.-
Tender Hands Are +ursing It,
Especial Cor. SrArE CiEosIcLK)


Especial Cor. STATE CHRONICLE
BALTIMORE, NJ d. Ma % Law
renee Barrett Is dead To- effort of III.
admirers to give him the bssae aud fame
of an histriomic genius, viii fail in the
ratio that distance drags II length be.
tween the trappings Of the u7dertake,
and the future of their purposr.
When ne and Mr. Booth made, lpint-
that the CONSENSUS Of opinion was more
favorable to Barrett than to Booib
Booth, like a great painting, is a
study ever adum brating some fasci-
| nation Of art. When he was in the prime
of splendid uianhood-years ago
| saw him four consecutive nights iu
Hamlet. The first night. | was not sure
that he deserved the position which had
been awarded by the conuoisseurs. The
| second hight, [ saw rare mechanic Al
device in the reading Of his lines Tue
| third, | perceived, In my unders tanding,
that he had intellectually encompassed
the deeper me aning of the bard play
wright. The fourth the Melancholy
| Dane" crept into my heart, caught up
my affections, and invoked my worship
| A sense Of admiration for the lmper-
senator. sweeping away all ,ioubt, settled
| into conviction that Booth has no
| American peer
| l nave seen Barrett Seve al times. His
development WIS 81 den. He could not
| grow. He could not vary a passionate
monologue b. an interspersion of quiet
| in expectations. For two DAYS Sioce
Lawrence Barrett's death | have been
! lndustriously reading critique after
| critique on his work. Tie metropolitan
| press miss the mark, in searching for his
| defects, a, least that part of the press
which comedies that he had defects.
| Btrrett had voice with which be could
| thunder, hands for wild gesticulatiou.
| and, possibly, accurate demonstration at
| times. He also had pocket with keen
understanding Of the pecuniary value of
! art. But he had no heart with which to
love the sacred meanings of the consci-
entiOus les sons, which are the appointed
| missions of art He liked his
art with the passion of ambition;
but it was impossible for him to love
with the unsel6shness of one who be-
holds therein the types of deepest beau
| ty and unchanging truth. He could
never produce from soul that had as
simulated what he essayed, while he rem
| dered his lines the impression would
grow on the critical auditor that he had
tie play in his pocket He was a business
| man all over and throughout. Early in
1891 we fad him making calen Ear dates
| for 1893 The last letter he ever wrote
Was write two days before his death to
John Albough of the fashionable Ly-
! ceum in this place. and who, also, has
theatre in Washington. 1t reads as
follows:
New YORK. March II, 1s91.-Dear
John-Yours received You will hold
January 9, 1898, in Baltimore, and Jan
| nary 16 and 23 in Washington for me-
| Glad to hear all goes Well. We are on
the highway to success here. Edwin
Booth grows stronger as he works, and
| am also Hercules.
Your Friend,
LAWRENCE BARRETT.
81 am, also, Hercules" means what
Barrett did not possibly apprehend. As
the Greek god, Hercules, worked his
miracles by main strength, SO Lawrence
Barrett reached his precarious rank as
an artist
The missive again reminds me of
Booth. While Barrett thought himself
| Hercules he is dead. A great lesson of
| over confidence in our strength to live
solemn warning. He thought Edwin
Booth grew stronger as he worked. He
was as mistaken in speaking of Booths
siren gthfulness as in his estimate of his
own Hercu'ean powers The fact is un-
| denia5le, that Edwin Booth is failing
very rapidly. The lines are gath
ering thick, fast and deeply on the
tragedian's face TT melancholy clouds
on Hamlet's face are being rent With the
| veins Of the latter years. I fear, in
| a few years, that he will sleep beside his
| father in Greenmount, in this city, and,
then, the last of the great line in the Sec
| ond generation, CT emperors Of tragedy
will haFe made the final exit.
1 sometimes visit the burial plat of
the Booths in Greenmount cemetery, in
this city 1t is a fair but sad spot. On
the fVow of hill, overlooking the med
| ow-lxae sloping, where the de; d Booths
| are buried, is the granite vault in which
| all st is earthly of the eloquent Winter
Davis reposes. Winter Davis. What
a 2esld Of national history clusters
| aEoH the name. 1t was the mention of
| his (.me that caused an undying feud
| betVlan Blaine and Conklin. The vanity
of G10slin was such, in his earlier days
in ~ House, that Blaine in unreserved
speech alleged that Conklin was aping
the1 1eeat Winter Davis and posed as if
wearing the Marylander's mantle. Well,
in death the eloquent statesman looks
down where the greatest of all Richards
| sleeps.
| The monumental work raised to the
elder Booth is plain marble monolith.
rising probably ten feet above roughly
| faced granite base. The base is scarcely
visible for the thick, clustering and
tenacious clinging of perennial ivy.
| AS his gravestone rests on base girt
with unfading green, so rests his fame.
| A plain medallion, in relief, in which
there is neat conception of likene So and
l-accnrate work of cunning chisel, IS
shown on the north side of the marble
In this there is a startling penetration
of eye, and steel-edged sharpening OF
every facial feature, under a Romanes-
que designing of hair. 1t is said to be a
fine likeuess of the barrisEeE,~ painter,
sculptor and rragedian, Juuius B-utus
Booth, He died long time ago. This
writer was only ten months old when he
made his exit iiom Behind the footlig ht;
| and went out in the unknown.
Without intervening space the grave
! OF John Wilkes Bo3.h is near his father
he nc aDt s.s than ana an,.Jsa an .loeer to The
%onumenti o1i,naa .nsa hat a U ;e soota's children
Ne m@. aoutt,wardiAa Ikro oe ht oarIes .el
s.st Ia - sntle ham w. pus ~
Y.srerda5s s and twIgs OF ssl
~ 1Ee scythe had 81 e = 'an ~ 90
,,l = rose bash laved the d.
Rsa had h4sn deft det,r zee e, thing