Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-27
IN CAR AND CORRIDOR.
a Cigar Not to Be Snoked-A "Reminiscences
OF Grant Faces In MarbIe-An Odd
Portrait of Conl<iinG in onyx-souvenir
SuOOns From All PARTS of the Land.

Spoons From All Parts of the Land.
81 HAVE a cigar At home that was given me
nearly 20 years ago." SAID George C. Waldo.
the New FORK banker, 20 me recently. ut is
the only cigar that has escaped fiery death Of
the many thousands that have come into my
hands during that tina. 1t was in the summer
OF 1870, warm, delightful day in July, and
was stopping at tae Overlook House, on tine
Delaware and Ulster Railroad, in the Catskill
Mountains when General Grant came there. l
was invited by some of the party. among whom
besides General Grant were General George
Fl. Sharpe. General Porter and General Bah
cock, to go with them to Hurley. the high
est point IN the Catskills. 1t was q very pleas
ant excursion. and Grant was in high spirits
and not the least conscious of his Presidential
dignity We talked and smoked great deal,
and the President insisted that ! should
try one of his cigars pretty large and heavy
rerfecto. took the cigar, but managed to
avoid lighting it, for 1 wanted to keep it as \
memento of the day and the hero. To establish
the record OF the cigars origin had affidlyits
prepared on my return TO the Overlook House,
and the witnesses 10 the gift signed them. The
cigar and the papers describing it are. safely
stored away IN my vault. and some day 1t Will
be relic of priceless value. The Overlook
House has been burned down since then and
the register showing that Grant and the others
were there at the time was was destroyed, so
that the affidavits are doubly valuable"
The Face in the Pillar.
IF YOU have made any study of marble and
especially that beautiful stalagmitic variety
known as Mexican onyx, you must have often
found in the translucent stone markings that,
with but little trifiing exercise of the imagi-
nation, became landscapes or portraits Very
beautiful are some of the pictures thus pro-
duced accidentally in marble, and probably as
rule by the infltrarion of water containing
some powerful mineral-in the case of a certain
marble found near Bristol, in England for ex-
ample, the tree-like traceries are caused by the
action of water holding oxide of manganese
upon the limestone.
A curious example of this natural painting
is to be found in the great fireplace of
the lobby in the Park Hotel at Hot Springs.
The mantelpiece is of white marble supported
by pillars of Mexican onyx. In the left hand
pillar, half way down, the warm brown
cloudiDg OF the stone takes the semblance of a
face, and singularly enough, it is good like
ness of the late Roscoe Conkllng.
including the Hyperion curl. long,
thin nose and pointed beard or
the great statesman. So strong and true
portrait was it that very few of the hundreds Of
visitors to whom it was shown but recognized
it at the first glance. Yet it is nothing more
than an accidental CONT mbinstion of the natural
veins in the stone, untouched or tinged by man
except in so far as the polishing of the block
has brought out the rich color of the onyx's
markings.
A Great Chicago Preacher.
Mr.. Gonsaulus is to Chicago what Beecher
was TO Brooklyn, and Plymouth Church on
Michigan avenue is the counterpart of the
older church of the same name in influence
popularity and broad-gauge Christianity. The
personality of Mr.. Gonsaulus Is intensely mag
netic, even more so than was Beecher's, and the
moral Der of the former strikes one as being
finer than that of the great divine whose voice
has been stilled forever. In the course
of the last three years Mr.. Gonsaulus
has risen into an extraordinary position toward
Chicago, one that iustifies the assertion of a
brother clergyman recently that "Gonsaulus
dominates the Protestant church as whole in
Chicago"
He is not merely popular and powerful in his
own church. but with the people generally and
it is worth remembering that Chicago numbers
now more than l,OOO. 900 souls. During the past
winter, with the consent of his congregation
proper, he has conducted 4 popular service in
the Central Music Hall. 1 tried two Sundays
ago to witness this service but the hall was
packed when got there, some time before the
hour of commencement, and could not get
seat. The hall, believe, holds about 1000
people, and it has been filled every Sunday
evening since Gonsaulus has preached there.
Besides his sermon, always the great attraction
to the multitude, the quartet from Plymouth
Church. which is one of the best and most
handsomely paid in Chicago, lenas its aid with
Two or three anthems and leads the congrega-
tional singing of hymns. The effect of that
great audience singing in unison must be
superb.
How He Catches the People.
Why is Central Music Hall crowded. when
most of the churches are not half fullf A
member of Plymouth Church answered this
question for me. He said: "Before Gonsaulus
began these popular services he made a tour of
the thearers, which are open,y you know, in Chica-
go ON Sunday evenings, and observed, as best he
might, what drew the people to them. 1 can't
say what he found out, but he planned the
service for the people in direct competition
with the theaters and think the provision of
comfortable seats, of brilliantly lighted and
well-warmed auditorium, and plenty OF good
music, as well as simple, short prayers, and
sermon containing more humanity than theolo-
gy, and more CHEEKY helpfulness than denun-
citation for sinners, may be counted
among the magnetic agents he employs.
The services nen OF all denominations
admit, have done a vast deal of good and among
people who, for the most part, never go inside
a church The expenses of the services-Mr
Gonsaulus and the Plymouth Church Quartet
will accept nothing-are met by private SUBJ
scripton, chiefly of the great storekeepers and
merchants in the business center of the city.
Eloquent testimony to the value of the services
was rendered recently by the great drygoods
firm of Mandel Brothers, who wrote to Mr.
Gonsaulus begging him to continue the Music
Hall services and offering to bear large share
of the expense The Mandels are Hebrews
Mr. Gonsaulus' Personality.
In person Mr.. Gonsaulus is singularly
Something over six feet in
height his figure is erect and graceful. He has
plenty of dark hair, an except for a mustache
he is clean shaven. In his dark eyes, clear
olive complexion, straight nose, heavy eye.
brows and other notable features, his Spanish
origin, remote though il be, for his parents
were American citizens, and think his grand
parents also shows itself plainly. it does also
in his name, which in Spain would be spelled
Gonzalez. Most men and all women would
call him handsome, and there is manliness
about him that few great pulpit orators have
possessed in so great a degree. On the plat
form-for of course as a ConGregationaliss he
does not preach from a pulpit-he is wont to
stand still only at the beginning of his sermon.
AS he warns Up he walks back and forth and
uses his arms very freely to indicate the prog
ress of a thought or the evolution of
an argument. Joe Jefferson who wen. to
hear him preach few Sundays |
ago rold his colleague. Billy Florence, that the
stage lost great actor when Gonsaulus en-
tered the church, and that explains another of
the preachers charms. Extraordinary to say