The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-23

things In a really amazing manner. He
is fully alive to the Importance of a
draWl- in giving point to an anecdote.
He used constantly to say to a man
with a dreadful stutter, You know,
what makes you so amazing is that
stammer of yours. If it weren't too
late, I should try to grow one like it
myself If [ could stutter like you
do, I should get off some astounding
things" 1t is impossible to be in Mr..
Whistler's society long without hear
ing him talk of ,"getting off" amazing
or astounding things, by which he
means epigrams. He will spare no
pains to get off a. good one, and will
lead up to it with the most painstak-
ing ingenuity, so that it may at last
be jerked out in a natural way. His
best known mot-when oscar Wilde
said to him ct wish I had said that,
Jimmy" and he said oscar, you
will" was the result of days of
preparation, and was carefully treas
ured UP until the right moment came
to "get it off" When an epigram has
once been got off, Mr. Whistler is in
the seventh heaven and goes about re-
peating it with all the attendant cir
cumstances wherever he goes. His
conversation consists largely of "He
said to me, don't you know and
"Then l said to him. When the point
has been reached, he gives vent to
one of his long, wild, satanic laughs.
and is bitterly disappointed if every
body else does not laugh too.
ONE OF WHISTLER'S BEST STOR-
les.
Some of the stories that he invents
are quite up to the mark of those
which really happen to him. 1 remem-
Der one about his suffering friend
just referred to. According to the
story, this man was in the habit of
eating mullins for breakfast, and one
morning he called his landlady and
said to her, acknowledgements
m-m-m-n-" 1t was no good, he could
not say it. So, as was his wont, he
began the sentence again-'I-Want-to-
have-for-my breakfact some-m-m-n-
Then he had to have crumpets for his
breakfast every morning, though he
hated crumpets. At last he could
stand it no longer; so he sent for his
landlady again, and began drawing,
Il : don't want to-have-any- morocco
&C" He wrestIed and struggled
with this word for a long time, but at
last had to give up trying to say it in
despair; and for the rest of his stay
CEuIlDGCS
his breakfast, though he got to de-
test the sight of them more and more
every day.
All through the summer Mr.. Whistler
holds kind Of reception every SUN
day afternoon in the garden at the
back of his house. You meet all sorts
and conditions of people there; men of
light and leading in the world of art
and literature; tenth-rate daubers
VINO adulate him and whom he takes
pleasure in constantly snubbing.
eccentric people who have taken his
fancy; theatrical people-in fact. the
sort OF menagerie that could but rare
ly congregate at the same time any
where else. He is the life and soul of
the party, strolling about with a lit
tie childs straw hat on the back Of
his head and a bit of ribbon in place
OF necktie, and chattering away nm
ceasingly wherever he can get the
largest audience. He has habit,
M vaa en-, i talking to anyone, of gazing
searchlngly into his eyes and IiteraIIv
buttonholding him, that is. holding
him firmly by the buttonhole so that
ne cannot escape.
FEATURES AND
GARB.
HIS face is a remarkable one 1t is
covered with countless wrinkles. but
is clear of complexion and evidently
very we'll groomed. He wears a we'll
curled gray moustache and slight i'm
perial. His eyebrows are unusually
oushy, and his ghstening brown eyes
peer out from underneath them like
snakes in the grass. His hair is the
most amazing" part of his get-up. If
is all arranged in separate curIs. most |
put together. They are
all dyed black with the execution of |
one, which remains quite white. and
on grand occasions is tied I'D with q
small ribbon
When he gets out in London. he al
ways gets himself UP very elaborately
N a way that is sure to arouse at
lention. He wears a very long black
oVercoat, rather like that of one of the
little men in the Noah's Ark. and a
French top hat with the brir1 standing
out In his hand he carries
q kind of wand Of bamboo about four
rect long and very thin. His gloves
and boots are very carefully selected
and OF irreproachable fit. When he
walk about the streets of London
he generally has crowd of small bows
IN pursuit, and nearly every body
turns round TO look at him with a
smile as he passes. However, he very
rarely walks, but usually goes every
Where IN a hanson, except just in the
very fashionable quarters. Most of
the hansom-cab drivers in PieadiIIv
and Bond street know him, and. when
he hires them, they say simn1v
Home. Sir?"
just one trial, and you win be con-
E,~sk