Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-01
BY WILLIAM S. WALSH

@Noah nothing!' replied the speaker.
3Noah built the ark
In America "Sockless" Jerry Simpson used
to be made the hero of this anecdote.
But, in fact, it antedated Simpson by many
years. and had been told by successive gen
erations about the favorite political butt of
their day.
MARX TWAIN, in the first flush of
~ fatherhood, was fond of telling stories
about his children. One day Elsie Leslie,
who had made great success as Little Lord
Fauntleroy in the play of that name, was
dining with the Clemens at Hartford. There
were present several grown people with
whom she conversed in a perfectly easy
fashion. Jean Clemens, herself mere mite
of a girl, was surprised to see a child SO un-
embarrassed in the presence of strangers, and
felt doubly mortified at her own backward
ness and silence. 1t seemed, however, that
no subject was introduced about which she
had any knowledge. At last some mention
of "Tom Sawyer was made, and Jean piped
up:
Il know who wrote that book. 1t was
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowel'
7 AURENCE HUTTON records that the
only time he ever met John G.. Whittier
was at the Isle of Shoals, where both were
guests of Celia Thaxter. He refrained from
telling the poet how much he admired his
work, and soon found reason to rejoice at his
reticence; for in course of conversation
Whittier referred loosely to the frequence
with which perfunctory compliments of this
sort had been rendered him by his new ac-
quaintances. He added, in his gentle way,
that the compliments were not always lntelh-
gent ones.
For instance, only few days previously a
woman had told him how much she admired
his verses on poor lone Hannah binding
shoes. @And, he added with twinkle of
his old eyes, II hadn't the courage to tell
her that Lucy Larcom wrote that particu-
lar poem
WHITTIER was especially pleased with
story Hutton told him anent blum
ders of this sort.
A young woman professed to literary
stranger her profound admiration for Sir
Walter Scott He asked her how she liked
@Ivanhoe," and she said she liked it inn
mensely. He asked her what she thought of
"The Lady of the Lake" and she thought it
just sweet. Then he said:
sand now tell me, what do you think of
SCOTS Emulsion"
To which she replied that she thought it
about the best thing Scott had ever done.
HUTTON himself was present at mem
- orable dinner given by the literati of
New York to William Black, the English
novelist, on his first American visit. One of
the postprandial orators spoke admiringly
and affectionately of the guest of the even
ing as the author of 3Lorna Doone,' dwell
ing chiefly upon the wonderful merits of that
particular work of the man they had gath
cred to meet and to greet.
This caused somebody to say in an under
tone that what they wanted was little less
Blackmore and little more Black.
RAYARD TAYLOR'S widest fame was
: won as traveller and lecturer on his
travels. He prided himself on his poetry
more than on his prose. One can imagine,
therefore, the sort of grim amusement he
felt in telling this story-and he often told
it to his friends:
Il had delivered lecture in a rural town
out West, and several of my auditors were
accosting me with expressions of their sat
isfaction. One person in particular was
effusively eager, saying, l am delighted,
Mr.. Taylor, to make your acquaintance.
have read everything you have ever written,
and have greatly enjoyed. it ALL This was
pleasant to hear, and, as he grasped my hand
with evident friendship, | responded with a
request for his opinion of my poetry. A look