The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-23
MORRIS SlEINERI'S BOOK
4 HIGHLY INTERESTJNG AND
 READdBLE VOLUME,

Telling of the Career of Ono of New
 Travels in Various European coun.
 fries-IIis Struggles and Triumphs-A
 Public Benepctor.
 No one can read "The "Reminiscences
 of Morris Steinert," an autobiography
 of our distinguished townsman, Morris
 Steinert, without being impressed witt
 the absolute honesty of the story there.
 In contained, and that 1t is very read
 able and interesting volume. It tells in
 an original and striking way the story
 of MT. Steinert's life, and the story is
 philosophical, pathetic and humorous
 practical and poetic His hoyhood and
 young manhood were replete with strug- Tgling first to satisfy cravings of his
 taste for the artistic and beautiful in
 the realm of music, and second to gain
 a livelihood. A strong and strikingly absorbing feature of the work is his Iunvarnished pictures of life in Ger
 many, Switzerland, France and Russia,
 as he found it when 1ourneying in
 those countries disposing of optical
 goods, he having learned the business
 of an optlcian as means of support
 though never for moment losing sight
 of his musical ideals and aims. One
 Sees the people of the different countries
 as they were, their habits, customs.
 mode of life, their churches, theaters,
 opera houses, as far as he came In con-
 tact with them in his travels with his
 employer. In Russia he and his em- ployer narrowly escaped assassination
 at the hands of their guides while trav-
 cling over the trackess snows from
 one of the villages to another on their
 way to the cities where they, were to
 dispose of their goods. Mr. Steinert
 overheard a plot to murder him and his
 employer and they with great resolu-
 tion and promptitude covered the mur derous guides with their pistols and compelled them to hand over their weapons and beg for mercy. Mir. Stein ert also while being piloted to the top l of Russian church steeple up nar- row winding staircase was stealthily
 robbed by the guide of his watch and chain in narrow turn in the passage. ] Ascending to the landing Mr. Steinert promptly covered the villainous guide with his pistol, charged him with the
 robbery and had the satisfaction of
 securing a most abject apology from
 the guide accompanied by prompt re- turn of the stolen goods. Mr. Steinert stopped the ascent then and there and continuing to cover the guide with his ,t,tA 1nI tl at,1 hn stairway ahead of him until the church auditorium which was full of worship pers, was reached. On his return to Germany MT. Steinert engaged in diff ferent enterprises, but for a short time only, and after other events took ship for America, landing here with less than dollar in his pocket. His endeavors to gain livelihood for several years thereafter and vicisstudes he encoun- tered are graphically related. All is told with touch of humor peculiar to MT. Steinert, and of which he has ever an unfailing fund MT. Steinert, by the way, has won much renown for his many witty sayings. One of the most humorous portions of the book is the story of his life in the. southern states just before the war, when he served smart congregations as organ ist and gave music lessons to the swell | set of young ladies of the community. | His recital of incidents that befel him | in the southern states as hefjourneyed | either as music professor or as a | piano tuner are full of interest and hu- | mor. His story of a notable mule back | ride which he had in journeying to execute an order for piano tuning from a nabob southern planter, Is extremely The civil war broke out, and the little property which he had gath cred in the south had to be forsaken as he left as soon as possible with his wife and family for the north to avoid being compelled to fight against the flag of our union. Dire distress for want of immediate funds confronted him and his various experiences in different try ing positions are quaintly and graphic ally told. At last he came to New Ha- ven, and here at last, after a time the tide turned and dame fortune began to smile upon him in earnest and has con- tinued to smile upon him until he is now one of New Haven's wealthiest men. The concluding portions of the book tell of his return to the fatherland and his requirement of his wonderful collec- .ion of ancient musical instruments, which he has just presented to Yale of the honors paid him and ls collection at the Vienna exposition, md the Worlds fair at Chicago, and by he Smithsonian institute, and, finally If his development of the musical in- 'trument of his life long dream, the piano.
 One striking and predominating feat ire of MT Steiner's life, which is also l presented is his intense devotion to the 1 musical art and his success in an ar | istic point of view, as shown in vari- us ways-by his achievements In pro- noting the love of music in New Ha- Y en, by his creation of a world wide | | interest in his collection of ancient mu- t ical instruments; by his lectures deliv- d red at the great colleges and other in- il titutions of learning in presenting the q lerits of this collection; by his gift b fund to Yale for musical scholar V hip. Endowed by nature with rare F lusical talent he has fostered it and F lade it of great service to the public, f. here were also many interesting feat O
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