Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-01-10
PATTI AU NATUREL.
Mr.. Puiiszsr's Old Partner-The "Bfil-
and-Joe" Combination Gsnsrsa
sickIss At Dinner.
Icorrespgnasnos Of tho Richmona Dispasch.l


rccrrsspenasncs Of tho Richmond Dtspstch-l
New YonE, January 9.--That marvel
lons little diva Adelina Patti is
With rs again. When saw her
last she had charming Titan hair
hair In which there was suggestion
Of autumnal sunset. Now they tell me her
hair Is as da. k az ravens wing. What
pretty and gifted woman Patti isl And to
think Of the money which she has honest
ly earned with her sweet voice! Not less
than 81 .000. 900. l should cay. including
fo,tocurs from the Gear Of Russia and
the kings and potentates OF Europe;
Her Craig-y-nos Castle 10 royal
palace. OF all the women that have
come and gone upon this earth not
one has eyer earned so much money
as Adelina Patti. the daughter of wander
Ing Italian minstrel Queens and fayorites
have been richer than she, but the wealth
was not Of their begetting. When l last
saw Patti ID was in the Hoffman House last
year. called by invitation. She had
been suffering from o cold, and had not
been singing fox nearly week. she was
gracious and afable and vivacious. but in
the midst of the cbatter--which had lasted
for half hour--her devoted husband.
NicolinI interposed, and informed her
that under the direction Of her physician
she was TO take her evening draueht ana
retire. She obeyed like a dutiful child.
You see," she said. am a slave to my
throat and my doctor" This brings me 10
speak OF Nicolini. Such love and devotion
az exists between this couple Is seldom
seen on our earth. And NicolIni is by no
means bad-looking man. despite ms
ffty-odd years He watches over Patti
with the care Of doting father. Occa--
sionally he goes down in the Kitchen or
the hotel and prepares and cooks for her
some favorite dish. Heis always at her SIDE
and everv wish on her part Is at once COM
pied with. At the opera he looks after her
dresses and Jewels, and he IS always IN
the wings when she Is on the stage. Nor
ton, the manager of the Grand Opera
House in st. LOUIS. told me that on one
occasion when Patti was singing with Ma
pleson there she made tremendous hit.
She had several recalls. which she ac-
cepted with her customary affability, ana
the house was fairly trembling with the
applause of the enraptured audience: AS
the smiling and happy diva tripped on the
stage, radiant with triumph, Nicolini IN
an outburst of loving admiration, dropped
upon his knees and gathered her
robes in his hands and kissed the
very hem of them. Then he caught and
Rugged her in q very delirium. Is 1t any
wonder that the little woman should love
and cling to this man? Her devotion has
been something amazing. Married 10 the
brutal and unmanly Marquis dc Caux at
an age when she scarce knew her own
heart, treated to cuffs and curses, and
robbed of her earnings,Hs it any wonder
that she united her fortunes to one who
loved and honored her? From the day OF
that union no breath of scandal has
touched the name of Patti. She has ful.
filed every obligation, and to me. with all
her noble gifts. she is more to be honored
as wife than as prima donna, peerless
though she be in the great realm OF art.
JoE's OLD PARTNER.
A person entering the spacious billiard
room of the Aston House any time during
the past eight years between the hours of
and 5 p. NJ. would have been pretty Ger.
tain to see a portly. gray-halred man OF
fifty-fiye, perhaps, in shirt sleeves, bang
ing away with cue at one of the tables on
the Barclsy-street side. That man is Colo
mel Bill Grosyenor. of the celebrated po-
litical firm of bill and joe" Grosvenor
is now an editorial writer on the New York
Tribune. He lives over in New Jersey
somewhere. and he 10 crank on billiards.
He never misses an afternoon from his Ia
yorite game. He plays with the zeal OF
maniac, and yet, with practice sufficient 10
make him rs proficient as Slosson or Sha-
ter, he is OILY an ordinary performer. IN
ls7l-'72 Grosyenor was the editor OF the 81.
Louis Democrat. At that time Joseph PuIt-
ger was the editor of Carl Schurz's West
Bche Post. Backed by Gratz Brown the
pair evolved the celebrated liberal move
inent, which resulted in the Greeley fiasco
of 1872 The firm was derisiyely known
as "Bill and Joe." In those days
Grosvenor was shouting free trader.
Meyer aman OF genuine convlcuon, ne SUD.
protection, and since that time he has
ably maintained that cause in the col
umns of the leading protection organ. His
little free-trade brochure, entitled Does
Protection Protect?" is not regarded as
textbook In the Tribune office, but as
Grosvenor never had firm convictions of
any kind, he IS no more troubled by his
free-trsde record than was the Apostle
ponl bv the record which he made
as Saul the Agnostic. He has an
interest now in q patent type-setting
machine. out of which he expects for
tune. While he is poor, but in the enjoy
ment of robust health, his political part
ner. Joseph Pulitzer, worth at least
81 ,OO0, 900. is lying in dark room up
town unable to enjoy the fruits or his
marvellous success. Doubtless the Junior
member of the much-derided firm Of
v
as much as he is worth If he
could get as much happiness
ont of life as does the grizzled Grosvenor
in banking the bllliard-balls in the Astor
House to the occasional cadence OF pop
ping beer cork. Grosyenor has very few
friends and very little character, but he is
an able fellow intellectually. and life still
seems to have roseate aspect for him.
WALT wHITMANs Fad.
Notwithstanding his residence in Wash.
inpton his stay in New Orleans, where he
did some good newspaper work. and not
counting his long vegetation in Camden,
n. j.. Walt Whitman was in every fibre
thorough New Yorker. Why not? He
was born seventy-two years ago in o little
village over on Long Island, and, like
most Long Islanders. naturally drifted to
this town. My old journalistic friend re-
members him here thirty-fve years ago.
when he first put out his =" Leaves OF
Grass This city was comparatively small
then. and Walt Whitman was as con-
spicuous citizen as sny-knew every body
and everybody knew him. He was q
marked figure on Broadway-a most man.
" man. as vigorous and yirile as his own
poetry. His very personality impressed
,tself upon all passers-by, and men, and
sven women. turned around to look at
him. He was almost the first to make the
now fashionable fad OF the flannel shirt
in summer his all-the-year-round conve-
nlence and comfort. and the broad collar
was turned over silk American flag.
His ordinary wear was a neat suit
~ workiucman's clothes. Whatever he
MIGHT be called, q Democrat or Republi-.
can ne prlded himself upon being "one OF
tba nsople.n Brady, then famous as pho
togrsnher. was the first TO capture Whit
man. and thereafter every photographers IN