San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-05-18
WILDE IN AMERICA.
THE Ex-APOSTLE OF ESTHETICISM
AS HE APPEARED TO US.

the C2rlCaGurlSC nor the SaIlrlNJ Nlullu-
ished the ardOr with which Wilde pur-
sued what was vaguely called TSthetl-
cism. The BunthorneS of Patience
made up in exact imitation Of Wilde,
and he posed in the Hobbies of the same
theaters and composed phrases which
outdid in lilylike languOr the phrases
Gilbert had thought to be satireS. One
of the songs of Patience" which seems
to contain a more or less pointed al
fusion to Wilde runs:
fashion
Should excite your languid spleen;
An attachment, a Ia Plato, for a baShful young
potato,
Or a not too French French bean,
Though the Philistines may jostle, you will
rank as apostle
In the sentimental band,
If you walk down Piccadilly with poppy or
lily
In your medieval hand,
And every one will say
As you walk your mystic way,
"If he's content with vegetable love that
would certainly not suit me-
Why, what most particularly pure young
man this pure young man must be"
Tie more limp Du Maurier drew his
caricature the limper was Oscar when
he confronted the next asscmblagc; the
longer Du Maurier made his peoples
hair the longer Wilde staid away from
the BARRIERS.
Up to that time, Is years ago, Wilde
had done little else to attract attention
to himself Hewas known to be the son
of exceptionally clever parents and win
ner of the Newdigatc at Oxford, but be-
sides Cleverly advertising himself and
writing few verses he had done no
clever original work and was not seri-
ously considered His reputation as
lecturer, man Of fashion wit poet nov
elist, essayist, playwright, has been
made in most particulars i'll tn" last half
dozen years, all since his iecturing tour
in this country.
He came here about - years ago,
frankly advertised as freak lccturing
on "astheticism. He wore knee
breeches, silk hose, lace cuffs and was
otherwise variOusly freakish i'll his
dress At Boston q half hundred Har
ward boys marched into his lecture hall
dressed as he was, each carrying lily.
Wilde's noted mperturbability did not
desert him. He merely lisped How
tenderly drollv' and went on with his
lecture.
In a western city he was the guest Of
a club among whose members were a
number of stout drinkers. They under
took to tank up the aesthetic, as they
expressed it. The process was long.
As the sun was breaking into the club
windows Wilde looked about over a
room strewn with falling braves and
said to the one man still able to COM
prehend speech:
We've had Charmingly quiet lit
tie evening. Don't you feel like bit of
run about town before breakfast"
But those who met him under normal
conditions found Mr.. Wilde a witty,
engaging talker, unusually well inform
ed on wide range of literary and art
subjects, and quite able to care for him
self in any mental encounter The pub
lie at large, not knowing this of him,
refused to accept him or his cult seri-
ouSly, and Wilde returned to England
richer only in experiences and a few
hundred pounds. He had apologists, not
Of his class, for his "Iilylike' cCCcn-
tririCi.S.
About three years ago his play,
Lady Windermcr,'S Fan, was pro
duc,d in London and later here, and
that at once made him one Of the most
talked about playwrightS living. There
was not much seriously Objectionable III
the sentiments expressed i'll this play,
not to theater gocrs who had become aC'
custOmed to "Divorcon" and its kind,
and this did not seem to satisfy Mr..
Wilde He wrote 'Salome, wrote II
in French, and arranged with Sarah
Bernhardt to produce it in London, but
the lord chamberlain refused to author
ize its production, or, to put 1t the IA
miliar way, prohibited it, and Wild,
threatened to go to France to live
which the Marquis of Queensberry eX
pressed longing for him to do, but b
did not.
A year and a half ago Mr.. Wild
managed to contrive and have ventilat
ed in The Pail Mall Budget a quarre
with T. p. O'Connor, in which he e2
pressed his opinion Of the "ordinar
journalist" in manner intended to IL
crease the scope of the quarrel, but
did not.
In spite of the harsh things whic
have been written lately about Il
moral quality Of his later literary worl
recent London critic wrote Of him: