The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-18

/ OF all the books he referred to Shakes
peare and the Bible held the foremost
I place. His knowledge Of the divine book
was not exceeded by that OF any cler-
/ gyman ever met. and he cOntended that
/ In Shakespeare and Solomon one might
/ find symposium OF all human wisdom
/ II one only knew the exact places TO
I look for IT, The book Of Job was es-
/ pecially loved by him, and I have often
| heard him say II contained much OF the
finest poetry in any language.
OF course, his interest in the history Of
/ the world. and especially in the political
career Of this country. for which he had
done so much. made him constant read
er Of the papers and the congressional re-
ports.
After he had gone to his rest his especial
library, relating to government sub
| Jects, many OF the volumes annonated
by him on the margins, was removed to
New Orleans, where IL might be at the
easy command of the students, and for
lack OF space in the room devoted to books
in the main building the volumes relating
10 sacred subjects were moved over into
his old study. This circumstance gave
rise to a natural but erroneous conclu-
sion as TO the trend of his mind. mention
ed In graceful and kindly article-writtcn
by literary man who made pilgrimage
10 Beauvoir lately.
In the quiet leisure of my fathers old
age great many OF the winter nights
as his eyes failed a fondness for games
grew upon him, and the backgammon
board and card table became a part OF
every evenings amusement. He never
played for money, no matter how small the
stake, but the tally of the games of
euchre was scrupulously kept in buttons
or counters, which were added together
at the end OF the evening with quite as
keen an interest as if they had repre-
scented something more substantial than
the past pleasure of a game of cards.
His taste in music, like his love for
books. was unusually just, little short OF
wonderful when one remembers that the
harmonic sense is mentally the first TO
crystalize into a set form. In his youth
my father had possessed a remarkable
fine baritone, and even in his extreme old
age. as he moved about the house, he
would softly hum old ballads to himself
in voice that showed a business to
pitch and sweetness that old and much
smoking could not destroy. He loved
''Mary's Dream" and annie Laurie" beJ-
ter than any other songs, certainly he
hummed them oftener, but 1.-THE Last
Rose of Summer" and "Of a the Arts
the Wind Can Blaw," could hardly be
said to take second place in his affections.
Several of the airs in the Bohemian
Girl has warm corner also in his
heart. One would hardly expect from the
musical models of his own day that ChO-
pin would have attracted him, yet 1 do
not remember his ever commencing a
modern composition so highly or asking
so often for any one song as he did
for the POlen's "Grablied," by that COM
poser. As much as he admired the genius
of the great Pole, he detested Sullivan's
music, which he could not be brought TO
tolerate. Indeed, he did not care for
comic opera as q rule, seeming to adiudge
melody and farce as an Unmatched pair.
Connected with his keen musical percep-
ton was an acute sensibility TO sharp or
disagreeable voices, and the quotation
"a low voice is a most excellent thing
in woman" was one with which he IA
miliarized us before we We're fairly on;
of long clothes
My father had been considered a COOL
draughtsman at West Point, and he al
ways retained just sense of proportion
and a perception of color that made him
no mean judge of pictures and statuary.
He held, with the men OF his generation,
that a modern work Of art had not reach
ed its highest possible expression until it
carried with its appeal to the aesthetic
sense also the suggestion of a story that
might fascinate the mind He loved the
Greek marbles in the Louvre and the
| British museum with an almost religious
veneTation. / could never persuade him to
agree with the usual estimate of Reu-
hens, for he used to say, half laughingly:
The eternal Dedication of Marie de Me-
dici was so wearisome that II was impos-
sible to enjoy the wealth of color with
which she was depicted" He admired
Rafael Titan extravagantly and even
David. He was exceedingly fond of Dores
work, although he saw and used to remark
the deficiencies In drawing that mar some
of this artists pictures. Any fault Of this
kind in an object he approved seemed to
worry him strangely, and he would Of
ten mention 1t in conversation long after
we supposed he had forgotten the exist
/ ence of the thing to which he referred.
| A case in point was the statue of the
Maid of Orleans, standing not far from
/ the Tuilleries Garden. The cramped posi-
| ton of the rider was an amending source
! of regret to my father. partly because he
| admired LIE Pucelle so greatly that he dis
/ liked seeing her memorialized in an I'M
worthy fashion, but ! believe chiefly be-
cause the strained attitude of the figure
offended his taste.
Brave little JOAN" he used often to
j say, they have mounted her up there
with such long stirrups that the poor child
| can barely touch them by stretching down
her toes. She must feel cramped. No
! Frenchman ever could design an equstr ria N
statue properly"
the art my father understood best and
loved sincerely was architecture. To him
the glory of a bridges span or the noble
! lines of a facade We're a never ending de-
HSut lie might, indeed, like GOneril
have counted space" among the most
precious possessions of mindkind, for he
heartily rejoiced in the high pitched square
rooms and the long, wide porticos of the
| typical southern houses of his youth, and
| cordially detested the bastard Queen Anne
! cottages that have begun to Gust the
classic style from its long supremacy. He
used to say that in his ideal dwelling the
| internal plan should be declared by the
position of the outer walls. AS one of
the original regents of the Smithsonian
! and one of the committee for the orna-
| mentation and repair of the capitol. he
had developed his taste for building, and
! think no single portion of the light
! er labors of his career was more pleasant
to him in retrospect than the time he de-
voted to the Improvement and eonstruc-
ton of the public edilices
Although his habits in most respects
were extremely simple my father was
never an early riser. He said laughingly
that he had been Obliged to get up to re-
veille for so many years that he had never
| been able to make up for his lost morning,
| maps The more serious reason underlv-
ing the habit was that he was a MARTYR
TO Insomnia and found sleep before mid
[ night a impOSSfhilifV parbaps