The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-30

| he remained until MS death,
Mr. Jefferson starred at Booths the
atre under the management of Augustin
Daily In the latter part OF 1876 and from
that time on regularly played in most
Of the principal cities of America
| IN 1900 Mr.. Jefferson built a beautiful
summer home at Buzzard's Bay, which
he called Crows Nest" There he housed
his splendid collection of pictures by such
artists as Corot, Troyon, Daubigny, Diaz,
Jules Dupre Greuze. Mauve, Israel, Sir
Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Law
| renee Here also he established his Ii
brary with an accumulation of a lifetime.
included in which were some original
manuscripts of priceless value. On April
l. 1893 the house and an its contents were
destroyed by fire.
He was neighbor of Grover Cleveland
at Buzzard's Bay and they We're great
friends He was also a great friend of
E. c. Benedict. the banker Mr. Jeffer-
son had seven children and fourteen
grandchildren.
His Talk on Longevity.
The advanced age TO which Mr.. JEFF
| ferson lived makes it appropriate to
quote here from a speech he made be-
fore the legislature in Albany in 1898
In opposing efforts of the Gerry society
to further restrict the appearance of
children on the stage. Mr.. jefferson said
in part:
II wish to define my position in a few
words have come here through no in
terest of my own, but in the interests of
the children of the stage. I naturally
sympathize with them because 1 was
child of the stage, and there is no re-
Fiction in my life of the past that is
more delightful to me now than the fact
that l helped to bring a little honey to
the domestic hive when the domestic hive
was very short of 1t.
81 know very little of the legal points,
amendments, etc, but of the children or
the stage / know great deal There is
no one behind me, as Mr.. Gerry would
seem to imply, unless it is Satan; there
fore there can be no harm in saying 'Sa-
tan, get thee behind me- | nave come
here simply to tell you my experience
and to answer any questions that you or
Mr.. Gerry may put to me. If you desire
my experience and knowledge of stage
life and some of it's past history l Will
give 1t to you in a few words.
Weighted With Years.
'It has been said that the theatrical
profession is an unhealthy one. You Will
be surprised and amazed when l tell you
that 1t is a healthy one. We can only
Judge by statistics. We have hundreds
and hundreds of cases of persons who
acted up to the very day of their death.
Actors have come to the stage Ill, and
the applause and the excitement nave
helped them to forget their illness ana
they recovered after one night perform
ance As to longevity on the stage, that
brings us back to the days of Betterion'
who | believe, lived to be eighty years
of age and down to our own time 10
William Warren, John Gilbert, Henry
Placide Macready, Charles Matthew's
Phelps, who reached seventy-hVe or
eighty years of age and in some IN
stances, as in the case of Mr.. Hadaway,
ninety years of age. You will be still
more amazed when l tell you that Mack
lin, the tragedian, retired from the stage
at ninety; that he returned to 1t at one
hundred; that he then played ShylocK'
and died at one hundred and seven years
of age ] could go on Tor a long tiine
citing such instances, and 1t IS amazing
that there are so few actors In the asy-
lums, whereas the farmer, whose exer-
else Is of the muscle and not of the
BRAIN furnishes your insane asylums
with one-third of their inmates.
Plea for Stage Children.
NOW, with regard to the children OF
the stage. Mrs John Drew was a child
of the stage and is acting today, at sew
enty-five years. with Miss Julia Marlowe'
and plays, | believe, tonight. Master
Burke, who was prodigy IN 1882. is alive
in washington today and teaching mu-
sic Clara Fisher, of whom you must
have heard, and of whom your grand
fathers heard. acted in the days Of
Charles Lamb She was enthusiastically
praised by John Howard Payne, the au-
thor of Home, Sweet Home and she
is still living. over eighty years OF age
and | have no doubt can act as well To-
day as any day in her life
These have been children OF the stage
They were taught singing and dancing.
to stage children we shall have no sing
ers or dancers in the future. Adelina
Patti made her great hit when she was
less than sixteen years or age. IL she
had been taken from the stage When she
made her debut-and j think that was
when she was nine years OF age-the loss
to the American stage and to the opera
of the world would have been beyond
the limits of theorists of the most san
guine character There certainly would
not have been any Adelina Patti To-Day
had the law now in force been In exist
ence when she was a girl IN snort
clothes"
The late A. NJ. Palmer then asked Mr..
Jefferson IL he had not tried to dance
when he first went on the stage. This
caused the veteran comedian to burst
into laughter in which all his audience
joined:
II did" he replied. But how well
did i not aware OF. fancy my cuu-
cation was neglected in that regard. be-
cause / do not dance very well now.
Outside Of his art and his home Jefter-
son loved nature and little ehsldren. lie
was a mighty hunter, great fisherman,
had a passion for the woods ana MOVERS
and little children tagged at his heels
or scrambled about his knees as ne sat
on the porch of his summer home. FLOW
ers bloomed everywhere about him, and
seemed to thrive as much under the sun
shine of his loving care as under the
sunshine from the skies.
1t was Jeffersons gentle nature that
made him love children and made emil
dren love him This gentleness was with
him both on the stage and off, and It
drew from the pen of e. H. Sothern this
warm tributes:
s.None of us seem to have much gentle
moss nowadays. We all have bicycle
faces-hard and set, tense and eager
looking. and suggestive, | fear, or the
Thought that we have full opinions OF
orr own worth The art OF Jo-
semi jefferson does not strike you In the
face and demand your approval or your
life II reaches out across the foothshts
and nuts its arms around your neck
draws Won close to its heart and comforts
Won lust the reward of practicing the
gentle art 1t is-when practiced by gen.
tie folk"
Some Amusing Anecdotes.
MANY amusing stories have been tod
of Mr. Jefferson, and he has entertained
many with his own stories and with
ntsr,s ITnon one occasion when he was