The Washington herald., 1908-02-23
.ASHTON'S PEN RESTS
Composer Quits Writing
Letters to London Papers.
BUTT OF MANY HUMORISTS

I
Musical Efforts Seriously Because
of Propensity for QuibbIing with
Press-Is Appreciated in Germany
and the United States.
London. Feb. PIN Germany the name
Of Ashton is honored as that of a bril-
liant musical composer; in England-his
own country-it is more or less derided.
Algernon Ashton. in fact, has been called
England's greatest bore" He has been
the butt Of humorists. Of the press. and,
unquestiOnably, has added much 10 the
gayety of the nation.
The one and only 'Algy" in England
is Algernon Ashton. Here he is best
known as the man who writes letters 10
the papers To do this IS part Of the
/ birthright OF every Englishman. Not
so many years ago 1t was the direct
/ threat one could make To the exorbitant
caSinan, the impertinent waiter, or bus
conductor. or TO the railway official
when ones train was late-that one
would write and complain TO the Times.
/ Mr.. Ashton began with the Times in
1883. He agreed with the poet who wrote
'Tis pleasant sure TO see ones name
in print for in four years ne had 525
/ letters printed in the leading papers OF
the country. These letters gave him the
name Of "Corrector Of the Press" for
the writer called attention to mistakes in
! the various editorials and other serious
articles, published, or else called public
attention to errors OF inscription on IA
nous tOmbs and monuments
! Since then Mr.. Ashton. off and on. has
written several thousands of letters upon
every conceivable subject. grave and gay
lie he's published a couple OF volumes
containing a collection of these letters.
A majority OF editors and OF the public
have treated everything OF Mr.. Ashton S
and himself as a huge joke. The mus
cal public has refused TO believe tnaI
this man, who. according 10 humorous
writers Of the British press. is a mere
I crank. can be a composer OF merit.
/ Therefore his works nave had little hear
ing in this country and his British pro-
fessional reputation as a composer may
almost be said to be nil.
\ Listening at last 20 the entreaties OF his
friends. particularly Sir Edward Elgar,
/ England's foremost musician. Algernon
Ashton has renodnced his hobby of letter
writing and in an impassioned declara-
ton, just published by 105 papers through
I out the country. he has announced his
final retirement. Mr.. Ashton has retired,
Once he remained in retirement for a
year the second time for two years. Now
II is for all time This fact is assured,
because he has made public declaration
on oath.
Algernon was the twelfth child and the
youngest OF a remarkable family His
mother was Diana Valentino West. a
| poet, who wrote both IN German and
English and translated some 400 German
poems His father was Charles Ashton.
/ the noted tenor. The present generation
knows nothing Of him. for he died dur
I ing the American civil war. He sang IN
| New York making his debut at the Old
! Academy Of Music. a couple of years be-
fore Patti appeared II was in New
! York that one OF AlgeruOn's sisters. Flor
ence. was born. She is nOx The wife or
/ Prof Hans Wofgang. of Dresden In
/ the United States also. another sister.
Diana. made her appearance as a pian-
/ iste. She was the pioneer in America OF
the large crop OF child wonders Diana
married Louis Staab. Of New York, and.
/ some years ago. died. and was buried in
that city
Nearly quarter OF century ago the
/ Royal College of Music, OF England.
chose Algernon AshtonS~as It's professor
of the piano forte. he has held the same
/ post ever since. His musical compost
tons during that time consist Of las vol
umes and 1,oe9 single pieces.
Writes Two Hundred Songs.
OF these nearly 200 are songs, the words
of which were supplied by his mother.
There are sonatas and pieces for a half
dozen different instruments Mr.. Ash
tons works are very popular in Germany
and have also a vogue in the United
States, yet. strange TO say, England viii
have nothing 10 do with them.
1t is this that has made him give up
writing letters 20 the papers. Not so
many months ago. Sir Edward Elgar
/ contributed an article on English COM
pOsers to a musical journal He spoke
enthusiastically Of Mr.. Ashtons work.
Some weeks later a noted music publish
er wrote to Elgar and incidentally penned
this paragraph: II hope you have re-
covered from your rhapsody on Algy
How can such a fool write good music -
Elgar sent this letter 10 his friend and
showed him there and then that so long
as he allowed the press TO treat him as a
buffoou the music publishers and the
public would not accept him seriously as
composer
SO now Algernon has promised TO be
good and has put away for all time his
/ greatest recreation. That ne has done
much good by his letter writing cannot
( be denied. He has directly been the
means Of restoring the graves Of many
noted people. II was he who discovered
/ the grave OF John Paul Jones. in the
4 Protestant grave yard in Paris, and thus
/ enabled the United States to disinter the
remains. 1t is he who demanded that q
memorial TO George Washington be erect
ed in Westminster Abbey. and this may
yet bear fruit. He calls Washington
/ ''One OF the greatest and noblest charac-
/ ters the world has ever produced" who
/ being originally a British subject de-
serves a niche in the Abbey far more
/ than Longfellow and Lowell, who have
/ busts there.
No Indeed, No Angel.
There is an eternal masculine as there
/ is an eternal feminine, and in the younE
muSCuline animal of the human rara tho