The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-27
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 NN the same day, April 23, 1616, that |v ' Shakespeare died in England.
 O Cervantes passed away in Spain
 The death of Cervantes was esteemed as
 great a loss to the Spanish people as was that of Shakespeare to the English All through Spain there were ce,ebra-
 tions of this tercentenary, and were Il not for the overshadowing greatness of Shakespeare the United States also would have paid due tribute to the memory ot the great author of Don Quixote."
 As it is America is contributing her full share to the permanent memorial established in Spain on this occasion. The old house in Valladolid in which Migue. de Cervantes Saavedra lived has been definitely identified, and purchased as a
 lasting memorial through the co-opera-
 ton of the Hispanic Society of New York. of which Archer M. Huntington is president.
 Ceryantes was well entitled to far mon than this belated honor. He was gen. jus, and recognition came to him very late in life. He had, indeed, an adven- turous career. Born in 1547, he soon caught the military fever of his time and became a soldier, fighting against tho Turks. He had been especially fond oi reading and of the stage, and he men- tions in the preface to his Comedies how delighted he was when he saw Lope de Rueda and his company set up their rude stage in the plaza of his native city, Alcala de Henares, where they acted the country farces which he initiated in some of his plays He must have been vor- acious reader, to judge from 'Don Quix- ote' alone, for it shows an intimate knowledge of the romances of chivalry' ballads, popular poetry and chronicles Little is known of his education, and if Is very doubtful if he ever attended university, although there was one Tn his native town. He was one or that company which sailed from Messina III September, 1571, under the command ol Don John of Austria, and in the nrs' hattie with the Turkish fleet he was wounded severely in the breast and lef' arm. He lay seven months in the hospi- tai of Messina before he was discharged with his left hand permanently disabled nerhaps. as he was told, "for the greater glory of his right.
 In 157a he joined the regiment of Man. uel Ponce de Leon and took part in the canture of Tunis It was in September 1 1575. that he sailed for Spain, only to be captured by some Algerine pirates anc taken as a prisoner to Algiers. Ger vantes was allotted to one of the pirates Dali Mani, who insisted upon a very high ransom, for he examined the letters that Cervantes carried and thought hin
 a person of great importance. Hearing of his situation, the father of Cervante' and the people of Alcala raised all tht money they could and his two sisters sur | rendered their marriage portions, but when the money was brought to Dal Mani he refused it as being too little. l Various attempts to escape were mad' 1 by Cervantes. and later he was turned over to the Dey of Algiers, who had hin 1 heavily ironed and put in prison Afte suffering many hardships and trylni many schemes to escape, he was at las jransomed, after having been imprisoned TOT nNe years. TciiiilCHs, iC "oS WHEY to seek military service once more ant l he went to the Azores in 15S2
 l In 1888 he returned to Spain, bringins ! with him the manuscript of his first pas toral romance, "Galatea." and probabl. the first part of 'Persiles and Sigismun da. There seemed no prospect of pro motion for him with that crippled han' blocking the way, and he tried to earl a living by his pen, having "Galatea | printed in A1cala in 1885. It was at thi time that he married Dona Catalina d Pelacios Salazar vozmediano, who ha lived near Madrid, and fortunately pos sessed a little fortune, which helped t support them
 The drama attracted him and within the next three years he wrote 20 or 5 | plays. only two of which have been pre- ! served, ''Numancia" and the 'Trato d Argel" Critics agree that if the play I which were lost are no better than thes two we can well do without them, fo
 these are poorly constructed, clumsy am
 only occasionally show any flashes o power
 j Giving up some hope of making liv ling by his pen, Servants was glad to ac