The times., 1899-09-24
THIS BOOK COST So. 600.
1t Was Bought by Captain Pabsf, of
milwaukee,

~ ~ oUht- ny 1uDtnin tHnStr OF
Milwaukee.
1t is not very often that book OF purely
modern manufacture brings the rouad sum
of eight thousand hard American dollars.
but that is just what Captain Pabst. of
Milwaukee, paid the other day, setting the
price himself. for as sumptuous and inter-
esting a volume as ever adorned q library
table. Now, Captain Pabst is rot a
bibliomaniac. but he is something better,
generous hearted, patriotic citizen of
these United States. and when Mrs. Lydia
Ely, of Milwaukee,. approached him with
the story of her heroic endeavors 10 raise
thirty thousand dollars necessary for
fitting soldiers monument in her city. she
found deeply interested listener. Mrs.
Ely had undertaken her task singie-h hand
ed, and by fairs. BY rafiies, by solicitations
and dozens of ingenious devices. known to
an enterpriSing, energetic, tactful feminine
mind, she had accumulated a sum that
IL takes many men a lifetime to hoard
| Armed with knowledge of the saereduess
OF her cause and with collection OF au-
tographs of the most prominent men AMI
women of the day, she laid her project be-
fore Captain Pabst. Those carefully gath
one volume and from the sale of it add to
her big monument fund. That Mrs. Ely
expected snug sum for this quite unpar-
alleied collection of most valuable human
! documents was natural enough, but the re-
ply she got to her proposition was charac-
teristic of the man she had approached
He did not ask at what the book was val
ued how much she hoped for nor his own
estimate OF it.
What is needed to complete the fund
for the monument" enquired this gentle
man, who once, from sheer love of and
| belief in the American soldier. bought up
$4,000 worth of grand stand seats at one
of the G. A. r. national encampments and
tnen gave the seats back again.
Mrs. Ely admitted that $4,000 was re-
| quired for the monument done by John
| Severino Conway, and that. said Captain
Pabst. was what he would give to own the
| book of autographs. In June the monu-
| ment. admittedly one of the finest in the
United States, was unveiled in Milwaukee,
and not long since huge pigskin- bound.
ilverciasped volume containing $50
pounds of precious autographs, was de-
livered to Captain Pabst by the book
| binder.
| Aside from the almost romantic patri-
| otic zeal displayed by the collector of the
| tones invaluable contents and the not
| less patriotic generosity OF its purchaser
and owner, the book itself. aside from all
| its associations, IS a unique wonder. Cap
| tains. generals, admirals, Presidents,
| judges, actors, authors. artists. and mu-
| sieians all responded to Mrs. Ely's re-
| quest when her motive was explained. and
| though here and there rather aimiess and
| inappropriate quotations are given. in the
majority the signatures are accompanied
| by gracefully fitting sentiments.
| "a soldiers monument would be like
a soldiers fortune were his only tool the
| sword. Enthusiastically writes Capt.
| Charles King. Fighting Bob Evans
charmingly inscribes above his. name that
"A patriotic woman is the best thing in
the world, and from his poem, The Adj
vance Guard Secretary of State John
Hay quotes verse.
In a flowing. delicate hand, Admiral
| George Dewey, with the simple straight
forwardness of man CT action, writes his
name, his official position in the Navy, the
date on which he entered the service of
| his country, and also of his promotion as
commander. G. J. Bonaparte says ''the
most fitting monument will be a govern
Inent worthy all the blood. all the tears
shed to preserve it, and among the ar
| lists Frederic Remington contributes most
fittingly vigorous pen and ink sketch of
! Grover Cleveland and William McKin-
ley satisfy themselves by signatures on y.
and, euriously enough, their handwritings
are not dissimilar. OF the musicians,
! three, Walter DamFosch and the de Riszke
| brothers, turned to Wagner for suitable
| Inspirations. and found them in 4Seig-
| fried" Damrosch writes a bit of the sword
music, Jean de Riszke words of the sword
music, and his brother martial exelama-
| tion CT The Wanderer"
Few of the authors who answered Mrs.
| Ely's request complied with particularly
apt sentences. Kipling, who has had war
for his theme so often, gave only his
name, ard rare, curiously rare, are any
! selections from the Bible Strangest of
the pages is that written on here. there
and everywhere by George Francis Train.
/ and should an expert be called in, he
would have, of all the signatures, the
greatest difficulty in unraveiing that OF
Charles Dana Gibson were not the very
curve OF his capitals 50 familiar to US all