The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-01-28
MAJOR PONDS
FRIENDS.
Anecdotes and Pictures OF
Famous Men and Wo-
men at Whittier
House Last
Night.
REV. DR.. BRADFORD APPAUDED
Newsboys Behave Well and
Are Congratulated-The
Pictures.

Whittier House is running a series VI
very pleasant entertainments and lectures
Friday evenings, as a diversion from the
regular weekly study classes. Last
evening Major Pond was the lecturer. lie
spoke on the people Of note whom ne nad
met, throwing upon the canvas, per
stereopticon, portraits of each person
mentioned, and framing his lecture IN SIM
pie language that the smaller members OF
the Newsboys' Club, whom he compi-
mented from time to time upon their good
behavior, might understand, and, IN 1act,
thew not only understood, but were great
ly interested.
Among the portraits which appeared
were Harriet Beecher Stowe, WnoI1
Abraham Lincoln introduced as the IN
stigator of the Civil War, and who' IN
Major Ponds estimation, has written tie
American novel in t"Uncle Toms Capln
Maud Darlington Booth of the American
Volunteers. Thomas Mast, the great CHAR
acter cartoonist, who was a potent force
in public opinion during the Civil war,
and at whose door is laid the death OF
Horace Greeley, and Colonel Robert O.
Ingersoll, one of the greatest orators OIL
the day, with IN immense stock OF VII,
sarcasm and pathos, all combined, ana
of whom Henry Ward Beecher once wrote
the epitaph, Robert Burns"
All these came, fingered a moment, ana
disappeared from the canvas at a signal
from the Major, produced by striking the
blunt end of a pencil on a dust pan, Ma
jor Ponds own invention, and one which
| caused considerable amusement.
F. T.. Barnum was the next to appear.
The boys in the front row did not have
| TO hear his name twice before there was
a yolley of applause. Barnum spoke for
himself. With George FRANCIS Train
| thew were not so we'll acquainted, and
Major Pond explained now, any day, this
| gentleman could be found in Madison
| SQUARE Park, the friend of the children.
| General Butler, of Civil War fame, was
next. Then came the actresses ac-
tors. Mary Scott Siddons, Mary Ander-
| son Ellen Terry, Sir Henry Irving and
| Charlotte Cushman, each doing a little
turn on the canvas to the accompaniment
of some bit of reminiscent history based
on the Majors personal experience with
them.
A long list of reformers came next, and
James Ridpath, William Lloyd Garrison,
Wendell Phillips, one of the most pohshed
orators of the age, and Abraham Llncoln,
| for whom the lecturer never had the
pleasure of acting as manager, each
honored the audience with a glimpse OF
their photos. Frederick Douglas, the
greatest black man this country ever pro-
duced''; Booker T. Washington, with his
gifts of oratory, and John B. Golf, the
great temperance lecturer, also came uh-
| der the head of reformers.
Nellie Mayo, Clara Louise Kellogg and
Annie Gray honored Whittier House with
their faces if not their voices, and the
lecturer passed on the poets, Longfellow,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell
Lowell and Oliver Wendell Holmes. all
coming and going with lightning ra-
pidity. Then came the novelist, General
Lew Wallace, Thomas Nelson Page, w.
D. Howels George William Curtis, F.
Marion Crawford and Ian MacLaren,
each with some interesting anecdote.
Several of tine clergy were paraded SOL
| ennly before the audience, Bishop Potter,
Rev. DR.. Lyman Abbott, Rev. DR.. Herr
and Rev. Amory Bradford, of Montclair,
greeted with cheers of applause from the
boys, and Henry Ward Beecher being in
the procession.
Bill Nye, Hall Game, Chauncey M. Depue
and Joseph Jefferson were also included IN
the list Of Major Ponds acquaintance.
and many interesting anecdotes were told
Of Mark Twain, accompanied by illus
~trations of a trip Major Pond took with
him. One especially interesting scene
was Mark Twain's last interview with re-
~porters, the writer being in bed, Wit
pen, ink, newspapers and manuscript
scattered round him. John Billings and
Rev. P. De Witt Talmadge, .the funniest
man of the lot" according to the Major,
also appeared among the humorists.
The lecturer closed with a number of
heroes, among which Admiral Dewey
was loudly cheered, and various battle-
ships, the names of which were guessed,
and guessed rightly, too, by the boys.
Nor was Lieutenant Peary and the Arctic
region sighted. The Major then thanked
the boys for their attention through so
long a lecture, saying he hoped if any of
them ever met him in the street they
would come right up to him and say.
Good morning, Major Pond" Cheers fol-
lowed, and Whittier House was once more
the scene of darkened quiet.
Besides the boys, there were many
prominent citizens and representatives
from the Hill present.