Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-13

| whistler, the painter, was once cadet at
West Point, His old drawing instructor, now
| a well known artist was asked not long ago
| IL he could recall the ability of his pupils, the
cadets, and particularly If he remembered
| Whistler. whistler" said he, "at once
| showed his prediction for art. He had to
| be painter. Mr.. Grant-General Grant,
| why, sir, he was the very poorest draughts-
| man in the class"
At Komorn, the fortress town on the
! Danube, monument to Klapka the Honved
general was unveiled the other day. Komorn
was the scene of a brilliant victory by the
| insurgent army In 1919. Klapka, who was
| chief of the general staff of the Hungarian
| army, Joined the weak garrison, several times
defeated the besegng Austrians and held
| the fortress as late as September, when all
| the other Hungarian corps had been over
| powered and beaten. Klapka and his officers
and men were allowed to march out OF the
fortress free. He went to England, where
he wrote his Memoirs OF the War of In
dependence in Hungary" After 1851 he
lived in Geneva, and he died in Hungary
in 1892.
Rev. DR.. Oliver Crane, who died at his
home in Boston recently, was specially
distinguished as an Oriental and classical
scholar He was graduated from Yale in
1S45 and for nine years he was engaged In
he Oris mt in the work of the Ameri an Board
took the practice of medicine. in which he
attained some success. In 1864 he declined
an election to the chair of Oriental and
political literature at Rutgers Female col
lege to accept a call to church in Pennsyl-
vania. where he served until 1870 when he
retired from the ministry.
Prince Bismarck Is reported as enjoying
the political commotion he has caused by
his revelations. To visitor the other day
atpIty hn CT
which the Hamburger Nachrichten threw
into the duck pond would cause a good
deal of quacking, but that the noise would
be so dreadful is a great surprise to me"
Then he added "You overrate my political
passion. Besides, / have as little responsi-
biity as influence. and | shall scarcely live
to see the consequences of what Is now being
done or left undone i regret that after
being for thirty years on the rise we are now
going backward. / shall not, 1t Is true, live
to see the end, but / pity my sons" Some
one in the party mentioned the proposal to
prosecute the prince For my part" he
replied. 81 have not the slightest objection
to 1t. II they wish to give me a dramatic
exit" The conversation then turned to Bis
marcks great age and the hopes which his
foes built upon it. Smiling, the prince said:
II am, of course, powerless against age but
don't feel so frall es those gentlemen be-
lieve. | am certainly going downward on
the path OF life, bur only slowly"
Samuel Smiles the author of "Self-Help"
and other well known books for boys and
young men, is now over so years old. He
Is still living quietly at his suburban home
near London, writing a little now and then,
and looking after his literary interests. Mr.,
Smiles has led stirring and successful life,
being excessively merchant, railroad man
ager and author. His son, Samuel Smiles,
jr, who Is a member OF one CT the great
English tea importing firms Is accounted
hlEinpS1 /
He Is a man OF delightful personality, His
tastes are artistic and he is the author OF
several papers on artists, and one or two
books. Speaking recently of his father
Samuel Smiles. jr., said: when / was
youth / was determined to go where should
not always be known as my fathers son
and where | could make a name for myself.
SO | went out to Australia, which was the
end OF the earth in those days. Imagine
my disappointment to find that even there
| could not escape my fathers name! And
the position that | secured there was really
owing entirely to the name"
Next to Booker T. Washington, the lead
ing colored man In America Is r. Thomas
Fortune, now editor OF the New York Age.
a journal devoted to all good causes and
especially to the uplifting OF the colored race.
Mr.. Fortune was born at Mariana. Fla, In
1856. Although OF very dark complexion,
and usually classed az a negro. he has no
III MS ilio ldlHcI "hb
OF mixed Irish. Spanish. and Indian blood
and his mother OF Spanish, Indian and
American descent. He was educated at
Howard university.
Millals had a favorite story OF a pretty
but rather gushing young woman who sat
next him at dinner but had not caught his
name. and TO make conversation, said II
suppose you've been to the academy? Did