The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-27
SALA PASSING AWAY.
PRINCE OF ENGLISH JOURNALISM
NEARING THE END AT BRIGHTON.
Was "A Close Friend of Dickens-A
Chair in Journalistic Circles That
VIII Wear ImmOrteIIes-One of the
Brightest Minds of the Day.

Chair I'm Journalistic Circles That
VIII Wear ImmOrteIIes-One of the
Brightest Minds of the Day.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch
A prince of journalism is passing away.
If the serious illness of George Augustus
Sala, who has been for some time living
in retirement at Brighton. should have the
fatal termination which his hundreds of
personal friends now fear. London would
mourn the loss of one OF its most pictur-
esque figures. And London journalism
without Sala's daily leader in the Tele-
graph would be like Hamlet" minus the
melancholy Dane, says a London corre-
spondent
Had Sala been born under French skies.
and passed his life in that Paris of which
he was so fond, instead of under the
smoky heaven of dear old dingy" Lon
don, he would have left fame as endur-
ing as that of Jules Janin
There is in the English writer's man
ner and his taste a strong resemblance 10
the great French gourmet and book lover
Even in Paris it would be difficult to fnd,
IN our day-since Charles MOnselet is dead
"a man more profoundly instructed in the
dellcate and subtle science of cookery, or
better able TO describe the seductions of
the table in the most bewitching manner
than Sala-
Among the thousands of delightful little
essays which form, perhaps the most val
liable portion of his life work, the famous
English Journalist has left dozens Of
charming chapters on the always interest
ing topic of eating and drinking properly.
There Is perhaps nothing in which Lon
dcn mas greater need of instruction; and
l suppose the publishers. with their fine
instinct of seeming out an authors value
after he is dead, will discover this and
viii give TO the world some dainty vol
umes on good cheer made up from the
contributions daily dictated in Sala's Ii
brary, ana reinforced by amusing cita-
pet hobby.
This little weakness, if so it may be
called, for bringing out the artistic size
OF table luxury, endeared Sala to thou
sands of LOndoners who have abundant
money and who, leading cosmopolitan
hves the greater part of the year, like
10 surround themselves with the best for
in the Season"
Sala himself is thoroughly cosmopoli-
tan, ana MS knowledge is wonderful.
remember little chapter of his upon
the canVass-back duck, ornamented ana
made eminently picturesque by reminis-
cences of everything and everybody in
and near Maryland and Washington, from
a dusky bOatman on the Chesapeake to
the late Sam Ward himself which was
calculated to make an American in Lon
don feel more patriotic than usual.
And the ouillabiasse-that saVory and
enhancing product of the cooks of fair
Provence! Who has ever described it so
completely and attractively as Sala? I
VIII not even except Thackeray. who
made, as we all know, rather lachrymose
ballad about it; whereas a good bouilla-
baisse, with its celestial odors and beau
tiful colors, Is a thing to laugh and grow
fat over. and so Sala understood it.
You may think it strange that, in pass
ing in review the life Of a celebrated jour
nalist who is fading out / should lay such
stress upon his knowledge of and admira-
ton for good cookery. But Jules Janin,
whom l mentioned above was a mighty
epicure, as well as a cOnsummate literary
critic, nor did his fondness for scientific
dinners lessen his critical acuteness.
II was only by chance that l mentioned
this particular one of the many brilliant
and amusing traits of Sala.
In Europe the mass of well-to-do peo-
pie are far more anxious to find in their
morning paper the analysis of q new SEN
sation or the description of an original
sauce than speculation as to who will be
the premier is months later Mr.. Sala $
coruscating essays in the Daily Tele-
graph, for which the proprietors paid him
In princely fashion, We're more sought af-
ter. ] imagine, than the ponderous polit-
ical leaders in the Times which the young
Scotch editor hires oxford under grad
yates to write.
In fact, the editor of the Telegraph
must have recognized that the one thing
that took his paper out of the upper mid
ole class and gave it, an additional public
in higher circles was the daily contribu-
ton of &c. A. r." His editorials were like
rays Of sunshine piercing the general
torial mind expanded itself.
But it must not be supposed because
George, Augustus Sala's chapters on cook
cry did as much as anything else in his
work to make him famous that he was
especially in the last Is or % years a ia
miliar figure in the halls of good cheer
You know it was said of Charles Dickens
that no one could possibly enjoy more
than he did the assembling of the ma
terials for and the brewing of a bowl of
punch, but that, when the punch was
ready, he drank less of it than any of the
other guests, and sometimes did not touch
ii at all.
In like manner Sala, fresh from the
description of a new dish of nightin-
gales tongues, and Astounding in stories
or now the ancient Greeks and Romans
cooked and served the same articles,
would attend public dinner and drink
toast and water and taste none of the
made dishes"
In his gay youth and middle life he
had not been so abstemious else how
could he have acquired his varied knowl-
cage! Whether or not he abstained, as
the American statesman said about his
sudden abstinence from whisky because
advancing years taught him the beauty
of moderation, does not concern us
The fact is that the man who wrote
more attractively than any other En-
glishman about wines and sauces and
luscious game and fish from east and
west and knew an amusing story about
every brand of champagne and Rhine
wine in existence, was a careful liver
and spent his days debating in his Ii
brary and many of his evening in repose
at home. Sala never had occasion to
go down to the Office" His daily ar
ticle prepared and revised after dicta-
ton was sent off by a messenger. and
his duties to the Telegraph We're over.
He never saw a proof, whether he wrote
about politics or partridges. And he
Perhaps l should say writes, for he
is quite capable of furnishing "copy''
even when desperately ILL., For this
readiness he was always renowned. in
the days when, as a special correspond
ent. he spent half of his time afeld He
las / know that he did during the first
turmoils and excitements of the Franco
German war, and after a series of per
sonal adventures sufficient to curdle the
blood of a man of less self-command,
could sit down and write two, three or
four columns, in his neat script, every