The Washington times., 1901-11-17

lous North, would | net come down for a
week or two to this sylvan retreat on the
- River, that they might show me what
real Southern welcome was like, 1t was
a most innocent and idyllic invitation"
Mr. Black answered with warm regrets
that he could not go, and used to tell the
story proudly, till at last he told it one
day to MIR. Bret Harte, who suddenly in
terrupted. Didn't the letter go on some
thing Ike this?" Alas the idyIlic invita-
tion was device of some wretched au-
tograph hunter, who had Yictilaized half
the famous writer's of the time James
Payne used to narrate a similar device
which he finally introduce l into on. of his
novels; We believe 1t was 'opied from life.
The huntress in this case usually bagged
her autograph by a fictitious invitation,
which brought such replies as one Begin
ming: Upon this sarth-planet of ours
hospitality dearest TO those under an
others roof-tree) is perennial, an sternaf
verify, etc. But her crowning triumph
was achieved by an epistle from a soi-dis-
ant shipmaster in reduced circumstances,
who used to write to the unusually recall
citrant, My last chance is settled in a
vessel about 10 be launched upon the
Clyde II | could obtain permission from
yor to call 1t by your name, it would give
me heart and hope. May II" No poet
was insensible to this delicate compliment,
and it extracted an ELUSIVE and charac-
teristic letter from one Of them who had
not sent any one his autograph for twenty
years.
1t would be very unfair, of course. to
deny that autograph collecting has a
higher aspect than appears from the con-
temptation Of these freaks. Its apotheosis
is TO be seen in the King Library of the
British Museum, or III the Forster Collec-
ton at South kensington. For the ordi-
nary and more humble collector its pleas
ures and triumphs are well described in
Mr. Scotts article in the "Connoisseur"
A rt cent writer In the Spectator sug-
SestS that the fictitious value" set on
autographs nowadays may arise from "a
dos Il fGffa aINa
some relation to character We think
that 1t has more TO do. with that taste for
relies which is so. deeply rooted in the
human mind that II nearly moved the
Is stirred at Marathon. says g1r. Scott,
and piety inhamed at Iona, surely some
subtle influence WEI move the mind at
the sight OF the writing of Shakespear
Milton, Dryden, Pope. Goldsmith John
son, Byron, or Scott TO hold in the hand
a letter Of one OF the great of the earth
distinguished either by action, inventive
genius, or phildnthrOpy-2 post, or one
who has SWayed his fellows by subIimity
of thought or speech-must be indeed re-
garded as privilege when We realize
that there, in those lines. is crystailized
a portion OF the man himself-a feN mo-
ments of his actual iife-sUme links of
that train OF thought which flowed con-
tinuouslv through his brain during his
earthly course
This is the feeling that inspires the most
respectable collectors Of autographs. II
may be said that such feeling is some
what akin to the childish need of stage
properties Of which Stevenson speaks so
well. and that an enlightened mind should
regard the thought contained in such
letter, not the mere paper and ink, as the
true represer tatlvc Of its producer. Hor-
ace Walpoie letters in Cunningham s
nine volumes ought to charm US exactly
as much as the original autographs-be-
sides being more legible. There is good
deal OF truth - that but we are mostly
human, and a mixture of the concrete
doth ever add pleasure One thinks Of
Thackeray pressing Lambs autograph to
his forehead and muttering, Saint
Charlesi" Probably the IDEAL posse ssion
in each case would be the complete let
ters in print, with a single autograph to
handle at sympathetic moments. Even
that modest ambition is beyond most Of
us, and we hzve to persuade ourselves
that the passion for autographs Is akin
to that OF a schoolboy for silkworms or
stamps, and quite beneath the notice of
weli-regulated mind.-London News.