New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-08

ing. and accompanied herself on
the piano.
One of her dramas. "1he Worlds
q yn"- not that which she wrote al
the age of nine was played IN Ne"
York and Boston by that rare strange
genius. Matilda Heron, and the elder
Sothern. Another, "Hippolytus,' was
10 have been produced by i. l.. Daven-
mort. with Charlotte Cushman and Id
win Booth in the chief parts, but al
ter numerous rehearsals, 10 was WIN
drawn by Davenport before public pro-
duction. This was a great disappolnt-
ment 10 her. from which she probably
never recovered. But there was some
compensation for II IN the cultivation
Of her friendship with Edwin Booth
of which these volumes afford a few
delightful climpses. lie was fire.
quent visitor at her Boston home. and
her children were all his worshippers:
The elder girls worked his in
itials on the under side OF the
chair in which he once sat, which
was thereafter like no other chair.
We gave n party for him. and Bea-
con Street came i'm force 10 meet
the brilliant young actor. Alas!
the brilliant young actor, after the
briefest and shyest of greetings
TO the company. retired into cor
ner with eight-year- Maud,
where he sat on the floor making
dolls and rabbits out Of his pocket
handkerchief
Il would be difficult 20 imagine two
temperaments more radically different,
and even antagonistic, than those Of
Edwin Booth and Charles Sumner; and
il is an index of Mrs. Howe's versatility
and catholicity that they were equally
cherished and welcome friends OF hers.
She generously though rashly wished
them 70 meet and become friends, and
told Sumner so. In her Journal next
day she wrote: Sumner to tea. Made
q rude speech on being asked TO meet
Booth. Said: Il don't know that
should care to meet him. | have out
lived my interest in individuals.
Fortunately" she added. God Al
mighty has not yet, by last accounts,
got so far Sumner was afterward
told, in her presence, that she had made
this record and comment IN her Jour
nal. What strange sort OF book.
he exclaimed. "yOur diary must be!
You ought to strike that out lmmedl-
ately." Thank goodness, she didn't
Her life was filled with many pure
and lovely friendships. and with many
interesting acquaintance with and OBJ
servations of men who were worth
while knowing, in three generations.
There were Sumner and Booth, Just
mentioned; Hawthorne, Holmes and
Longfellow; Agasslz, Kossuth, Ineo-
dore Parker, John Brown; Dickens,
-
Ter: and host Of their contemporaries.
Toward all she had the gift Of appreci
alton. almost Of divination. and for all
who were admitted 90 the circle Of her
friends she had the gifts OF charm and
confidence VIII ich spontaneously DIRE"
out their finest and most interesting
characterigtics. She was rot greatly
given 10 criticism. or even 20 comment
upon them; but now and tAen she re-
vealed and lilumined their very cs-
sence in a single phrase. Thus on the
funeral of Nathaniel Willis she wrote:
Thus ends man Of perhaps frst-rate
genius, ruined by the adoption of an
utterly frivolous standard Of labor and
Of life. George " and Bulwer have TO
answer for some of these failures
In music she was an amateur OF gen
Jus. At ninety she was still daily prac-
Using her scales. and she would play
the score Of an opera THE Barber Of
Seville" for example almost from be
ginning TO end. from memory. To her.
Handers Messiah" touched the most
divine point reached by earthly music;
though Of Mozart che said: "He must
be in heaven; they could never get on
without him" She eXcelled, TOO, BY eX-
traordinary contrast, in playing Chopin.
and enjoyed the music OF that strange
and morbid genius almost too much
ale is exquisite" she would say. but
somehow rotten!"
Many Of the most charming passages
in these altogether charming volumes
arc. as might be expected. those which
pertain to her intimate personal and
family life, as the woman, the wife and
the mother. Here is an excerpt from
her diary IN 1860:
Much worried by want Of pre-
paredness for to-day's picnic. Man
aged 10 get three chickens killed
on short notice. a pan of excellent
gingerbread. two cans OF peaches
and "a little bread and butter. Went
i'm the express wagon. Az the pic
nc repeated my Cambridge poem