New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-04-05

, aruSt They all have 20 do with
Punch, TO which Lucy himself has
| been contributor for something over
( thirty years, and i'm which his Es-
sence OF Parliament stin energies
weekly; the most readable and genial
/ OF the innumerahlc accounts which
Hood the daily and weekly Press. lie
tells, in his easy way, two stories Of
the two dinners given by MIR. Punch in
Tenniers honor
II was Tcnners uninterrupted half
+ century of service which the first din
nor was meant to recognize. on the
night OF December I. 1900. Tenniel
was then eighty years old. lie almost
never missed any one Of the regular
weekly dinners, and his presence at
this one was SO far taken for granted
/ that the plans OF tho staff were kept
secret from him. But he was in and
absent. So a deputation went 10 him
I from Bouverie street bearing messages
! nom the company and silver tobacco
/ box--"sold silver" says the accurate
/ Lucy, ami Handsome" IL had been
designed by Linley Sambourne. in
scribed with record of the fifty years.
and on the four square sides were en-
graved in facsimile the signatures of
Mr.. Punch's stan.
Six months later Sir John Tenniel
laid his pencil finally aside Not only
the stan but men whom the world
Politics. Art and the Drama. were
there to do him honor. Mr.. Balfour
presided and spoke, as his habit is,
without preparation. or with little; and
with unstudied eloquence. His sem
tence. "a great artist and a great
gentleman" which has been singled
out for praise. seems commonplace
enough. but no speech OF Mr.. Balfour's
is. as a whole. commonplace. He and
Lord Rosebery are the two men who
stand apart in the felicity of what are
known as after dinner speeches. LORD
Rosebery eXcels in the unexpected.
in spontaneous humor, i'm flashing
phrases. Mr. Balfour's touch is per-
Election wider; his method has the
House of Commons stamp which the
other cannot have, since OF that House
he was never a member. Our Ambas-
sad,r. Mr.. Choate was there, whose
orstory is at least as much admired in
England as at home; with its breadth
Of style. its freedom. its turn OF wit,
and its human quality. Mr.. Birrell, his
mind not then embarrassed by the
cares OF office or by the endless NeXa-
tons Of his Irish responsibilities, de-
lvered apophthegms and undress cpl
grams which find their way as II by
chance into his most serious orations.
But the chief success of a brilliant
night was the speech Tenniel didn't
make" He hated speaking. had no
aptitude for it. and had spent two
months in composing and memorizing
this address; then totally forgot it, and
stood dumb before the expectant yet
not surprised company. Presently he
sat down. Not word, had fallen from
his lips There was no embarrassment
or awlwardness on either side. Mr.
Birrell described it as "a speech that
makes one in love with silence" Other
speeches have had that effect. but for
a different reason.
Because Tenniers name is associated
necessarily with Punch" and because
Punch is supposed to be comic
paper. and sometimes is, his real great
ness is perhaps a little obscured. But
the truth is that while Tenniel was on
il this London Charivari, as It called
itself, was q kind Of national epitome
week by week. 1t had a real mission
TO perform, and performed it, You
must go back for half a century TO see
how this was done. The cartoon was
always its most efficient weapon or in
strument though now and again it had
a message Of literature or Of patri-
otism, and spoke with an inspired
voice: as i'm Shirley Brooks's mem
orable verses on Lincolns death.
Those moments were rare then, and in
these days Of its decadence recur no
more The cartoon. in lesser but still
capable hands, is more than ever the
chief attraction of the paper; Lucy's
work excepted, which is still superla-
tive
But Tenniel had an imaginative en-
ergy unequalled in its kind. He trans
for -led his own art. II he did not
found school he remains an inspira-
ton
What he has written week by week
is History Of England. His touch is
unerring, his vision clear and what ne
puts on record are the essential facts.
And not facts only: You may trace in
his drawings the movement Of ideas:
the growth of principles, the revolu
/ tions which have shaken the State; the
stir of the forces whence issues the
new world that lies about us; not here
/ only, but everywhere. He had 1t in
/ him to be statesman as well as artist.
\ He understood social laws and political
/ energies; he was a man of his time;
which is the phrase Gambetta used to
describe himself. And in him there
was both sweetness and strength.
G. w. S.