Evening Star Newspaper, July 4, 1926, Page 35

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 4, 1926—PART 5. John Wilkes Booth Performance Spirit of ’76 Has Been Marching On Among the Citizensof ManyNations " Independence Days Have Since Been Established in Many Parts of Werld as Despotism Met With United Opposition. BY JENNY GIRTON WALKER. { ID the United States start| the fashion in independence | days? The war of the| American Revolution was | scarcely over when the London Political Review declared that “the example of North America ! is the great subject of discourse and | the grand object of imitation. that the love of liberty was anything | new in the thought of the world, or that the rights of man had never been the subject of impassioned dec- laration, but many smoldering fires &prang to life at the news of Ameri- ca’s success, and in the roll call of modern nations July 4, 1776, hends the | list of dates which are celebrated as | the birthdays of independent govern- ments. The first date after July 4 now hon- ored as an_anniversary of independ- ence was July 14, 1789, or Bastille day in France. Next in order came the declaration of independence by Hadti, January 1, 1804; Ecuador, Au- gust 10, 1809; Argentina, May 25, 1810; Mexico, September 16, and Chili, September 18, 1810. In 1811 there were Paraguay, May 14; Vemezuela, July 5, and Colombia, July 20. For a date during the next few vears we cross the Atlantic, where Norway celebrates her separation from Denmark, May 17, 1814. Greece declared her independence March 25, 1821, and for the New World that vear there are six birthdays—FPeru, ly 28, and Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Salvador, Guatemala and Hondu- all September 15. On_ the way to the next century we find Brazil, September 7, 1822; Bollvia, August 5, 1825; Uruguay August 25, 1825; Belgium, July 21, 1831; Dominican Republic, February 37, 1844; and Rumania, May 10, 1877. First in the twentleth century, the Republic of Panama celebrates her separation from Colombia November 3,1908. Then came Bulgaria, October 8, 1908, and the Chinese Republic, October 10, 1912, In_ 1917 there were the new king- dom of the Serbs, Croats and Slo- venes, July 20; Finland, December 6, and Poland. Lithuania’s date is Febru- ary 16, 1918; Czechoslovakia, October 28, and Latvia, November 18, 1918. 'The present government of Egypt celebrates March 15, 1923, as Inde- pendence day, and Greece closes the list with a second declaration on March 25, 1924. * ok X X ASTILLE day commemorates a swift and decisive blow for liberty rather than the adoption of a set of written resolutions. June of 1789 had been the month for words in France, according to Belloc. In that month the House of Commons had declared ithelf the National Assembly, and, driven out from the great hall of thelr accustomed meeting place, the mem- bers “found in an adjoining street an empty tennis court at their disposal. There they met, organized a session, and took oath that they would not disperse until they had achieved a new cofstitution for France.” This | momentous day in the old tennis | court is scarcely less famous than | that a few weeks later when weapons were substituted for words and the fall of the old prison under the furi- [* ous assault of the French citizens symbolized the downfall of absolute monarchy in France, July 14, 1789. The richest colonfal possession of | France at this period was the beauti- | ful island of Haiti. It was considered @ part of France and elected dele- gates to the National Assembly. great majority of the ha were either negroes or mulattoes and | 800 of these mulattoes enlisted under Count d'Estaing and were with the French allies who fought for Ameri- can liberty at Savannah. The Haitian people, especially those of the better educated classes, had naturally been influenced by the French doctrine of the equality of man, and so it was not strange that Haiti was the first na- tion of the Western world, after the United States, to engage in a war for independence. Toussaint 1'Ouverture, the ex-slave, whose name is derlved from the fact that he overturned the French gov- ernment in the island, was the first great leader. January 1, 1804, Touis- saint’s successor. Jean Jacques Des. salines, promulgated the declaration of Haitlan independence, * % X % T HE closing vears of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth witnessed revolutions in all of the Spanish possessions of the South American continent. Ecuador, where the Spanish governor was de- | posed by a revolutionary congress at Quito, August 10, 1809, claims the first definite declaration of independ- ence against ‘Spain. Aygentina's declaration took a simflar form on May 25, 1810. In the Fall of that =ume year came the ringing of Mex- foo's Hberty bell. Hanging In the tower of the parish sfurch at Dolores, this bell was at least 200 years old when Miguel Hidalgo rang it to summon his peo- ple to revolt instead of to mass. Plots against Spain in which the priest was implicated had been dis- covered, and on that day he hastily assembled a small and Dbadly cquipped patriot army. Their war, cry, “Long live America and death | to bad government!” became famous | as the “Grito de Dolores.” It was a | number of vears before the last Spanish viceroy was deposed, and | Mexico's written declaration is dated 1821, The old bell has been removed | from the church at Dolores and now hangs from the facade of the na- tional palace in Mexico City. Tradi- tion differs as to whether it first rang for independence late Septem- ber 15 or early the next morning, and so, although September 16 is celebrated as Independence day, every vear on the evening of the 15th a great crowd gathers before the ace to sing patriotic songs arfd watch the illuminations. As mid- nizht approaches the President of the republic rings the bell once more, and again the Grito de Dolores | is pronounced. Cathedral hells proclaimed Para- guay’s declaration on the evening of May 10, 1811. This was not the orig- inal date set for concerted action by ! the revolutionists, but their plans having been discovered by the Span- ish governor, word was dispatched) to the military leader of the patriots to begin the attack. “If we are to hang tomorrow,” rang the aeflnm; message, “let us rather die today. Tell them that tonight after the last beat of music we will take the bar- racks.” Although now a republic, Brazil's daclaration of independence against Fortugal, the mother country, was as ©2 American empire, and the Portu-| guese rulers, father and son, were literally separated. The event, which September 7 commemorates, occurred in 1822, after King John and his royal court had returned to Portugal, and is called *“The Cry of Ypirango.” In the well known picture of that name we see that King John’s son, Dom Pedro, has reined in his horse on the banks of a small stream called the - Ypiranga to read a peremptory mes. sage from the home government. Sur- rounded by his escort and the waiting piessengers R raises his drawn ra; FRONT OF NATIONAL PALACE IN MEXICO CITY, WHERE THE MEXICAN LIBERTY BELL NOW HANGS. sword and shouts the famous chal- lenge, “‘Independence or death.” The influence of '76 is easily traced in Brazil. Long before the events portrayed Thomas Jefferson wrote from Paris, where Brazilian students had consulted him: “The Brazilians consider the American Revolution as the forerunner of the one they de- sired.” e ABOUT 1783 a young Venezuelan, Franclsco Miranda, came to the United States and had opportunity to examine many of the spots mads famous by our Revolution, and to talk with several of our heroes then living. and as Senator Hiram Bingham has said, “it is probably quite as correct as that of a_similar event now hang- ing in the United States Capitol in Washington.” We cannot claim that Venezuela was following the example of the United States in providing a permanent shrine for such sacred memorials as the constitution and declaration of independence, for in 1911 a beauti- fully carved chest was prepared for the minutes of the Congress which declared for independence. The min- tes were deposited in this chest dur- ng the centennial celebrations of Venezuela, and the key of the chest STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON IN CARACAS, VENEZUELA. THE BASE OF THE STATUE IS USUALLY COVERED WITH FLOWERS, “From your own altars,” a New York wdience was told in later years, “he caught the holy fire.” : Miranda’s early revolutionary ef- forts centered around Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and his 18 one of the principal figures in the artist Tovar y Tovar's- conception of the “Signing of the Declaration of Inde- pendence of Venezuela.” This paint- ing hangs In the Salon Municipal of the governor's palace in Caracas, and looks down upon the very spot in which the signing of the declaration took place, July 5, 1811. Many other Venezuelan patriots are represented, given to the President of the republic. Venezuela not only has its Inde- pendence Hall and its Declaration of Independence, but Caracas was the birthplace of the Washington of South America, Sirgon Bolivar, “the great liberator of half a continent and the founder of five free repub- lics.” Most prized of the medals worn_by Bolivar was a_portrait_of WasHington brought to him by La- fayette in 1825. All of the busts made of the liberator in later years, such as the one presented to the Pan- American Union by Venezuela, repre- MARBLE BUST OF SIMON BOLIVAR IN THE PAN-AMERICAN UNI?N BUILDING, WASHINGTON, sent him as wearing this medal, symbolic of the friendship betwee! the two countries. * ook % EPTE!IRER 15 1s day for those five countries which in 1821 made up the vice royalty of Guatemala—Nicaragud, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala. During the years from 1811 to 1821 there were thousands of victims to the cause of independence throughout all of Central America, although no great war was fought and no large army involved. By the Fall of 1821 the majority of the people of Guatemala were ready and anxious for a change. Even the representative of Spanish authority, Senor Gainza, had consented to cal a meeting of delegates from the dif- ferent ~ provinces to consider the formation of a mnew government. Early in the morning of September 14 the government house in Guate- mala was crowded with delegates and streets and plaza were overflowing with patriots who were ready to hiss and groan at any sign of opposition to the idea of immediate independ- ence. Frightened at the sentiment displayed, the royalists withdrew from the place and an act of independence was drawn up, sworn to and signed by all the delegates who remained. This act was publicly proclaimed the next day amid great rejoicing. The five provinces named ratified this action on different dates and have since had, other revolutions and cele- brated other anniversaries, but, like the province which still bears the name of Guatemala, they have, one by one, decided that September 15 is, for them, the only truly national an- niversary of independénce. Not S0 many years ago we were told that national birthdays were dis- tinctly American, older nations hav- ing attained their present state by the slow process of evolution. There are now, however, numerous coun- tries in the old world which celebrate A day that marks the birth of inde- pendence. * kX ¥ INGS were often the leaders in the patriotic wars of European nations. It was Charles Albert of Piedmont, whose son, Victor Em- manuel, was to be the first king of United Italy, who sald in 1846: “If Providence sends us a war of Italian .|a cannon sprinkled with the bl independence I will mount my horse with my sons. What a glorious day it will be when we can raise the cry of a war for the independence of Italy!" About the time the early wars of independence in America were end- ing Greece began her struggle against the despotism of Turkey. In the course of the funeral oration pro- nounced for Lord Byron at Misso- longhi, where he was alluded to as “the most valuable friend of Greece,” it was said that almost all nations of the world have fallen from the hands of one master into that of an- other, but that the insurrection of a nation enslaved by barbarians, root- ed forever in their soil, was a phe- nomenon which stands alone in the political history of nations. The manifesto issued by the leaders of the rebellion on Independence day, March 25, 1821, refers to this “long- accustomed bondage” in the follow- ing remarkable paragraphs: “‘Our arms—shackled up to this hour with chains of iron, now burst their bonds and eagerly grasp the sword to annthilate the enforced tyranny. “Our feet—that have labored day and night at the most cruel tasks, now hasten to vindicate our rights. “‘Our heads—which bent the neck to the yoke, now plan our freedom. “‘Our tongues—which before dared not utter a sound except vain suppli- cations for clemency, now cry with a loud voice and make the air re-echo with the sweet name of liberty. “In one word, we are unanimously resolved on liberty or death.” They were not empty words, for the scenes described by our own poet enacted on the red fleld, where Marco Bozzaris found death for liberty a pleasure and not a pain, were repeat- ed many times before the war of in- dependence was over. Very different were the circum- stances when, on an anniversary of the first declaration, Greece was for- mally declared a republic. A writer describes the scene in Athens, March 26, 1924, where 283 members of the National Assembly voted a resolution proclaiming Greece a republic and de- claring theesdynasty deposed. ‘‘While the vote was being taken there was a great demonstration on the floor and in the galleries, and when the result was announced 10 white doves' we released in the chamber as a symbol of peace. The city burst into a mass of blue and white bunting and gave itself over to joyous celebration.” Two other nations, Rumania and Bulgaria, which have gained independ- ence from Turkey, are still monarchies and a crown is reverenced as the em- blem of Rumania's liberty. Her inde- pendence day was May 10, 1877, dur- ing.the Turko-Russian War, and when Prince Charles was to be crowned King at Bucharest he asked that a crown should be made from the metal of a Turkish gun taken by the Ru- manian forces at the seige of Plevna. At the coronation, Charles, taking the crown in his hand, said: *“I assume | with pride this crown, wrought from church, ] the quoted paragraph, one would un- derstand that Booth's engagement . | was one night, Saturday, April 11, 1863, and that the only play done was “Richard IIL" Independence | Turning to The Evening Star file, 1 l | Attended by Lincoln, Record Shows Rambler Finds Old Account of Dramatic Incident Which Is Unrecorded by Anv Uiher Historians of That Pericd. OHN WILKES BOOTH nplayed at Grover's Natlonal Theater April 11 to 18, 1863, and I find a reference that President Lin- coln was present on the first night. This is a note one seldom comes on, and I have not found it in any narrative of the tragedy of April, 1866, or any narrative dealing with Booth. In the pamphlet by Alexan- der Hunter and J. H. Polkinhorn, printed in 1885 and entitled ord of Fifty Years of the National Theater,” the Rambler finds this: “On Saturday, April 11, 1863, the announcement is made that the dis- tinguished young actor, John Wilkes Booth, will make his first appearance in Washington as ‘King Richard IIL’ “A very large and fashionable audience greeted him and, a singu- lar coincidence, President Lincoln and Senator Oliver P. Morton occupied a private box. As the great Lincoln sat there, heartily applauding the young actor, how little he imagined he be- held his fate, and the delicate hand that handed the signet ring in the play to the governor of the tower was destined to hold the fatal weapon that was to end his own life at a time when he had climbed the very pinna- cle of human greatness. Mr. J Wilkes Booth played but one engage- ment in this house, the occasion re- ferred to. After considerable trouble and research we were enabled to procure the play-bill of that engage- ment, and here reproduce {t.” I do not know where the authors of the pamphlet got the information that Lincoln attended the play. There is nothing improbable in the state- ment, but one would like to have a reference to the authority. Hunter and Polkinhorn did a worthwhile work in preparing a history of the old theater, yet in that work are some loose joints. For example, in reading find that John Wilkes Booth played not only that night, but every night from Monday, April 13, to Saturday, “The Marble Heart,” ‘‘Mone: “Hamlet,” “‘Mer- chant of Venice” and “Taming of the Shrew.” No mention is made in The Star that President Lincoln attended the theater, but that is not signifi- cant. The Star was a paper of four puges, and its news space was used for dispatches from the armies and for local matters generally having re- lation to the Civil War. It is not likely that the editor at that time April 18, and put on would consider important an that “the President went to the thea- ter last night.” *h ¥ * T is likely that President Lincoln saw John Wilkes Booth in one or more of his plays in Washington in 1863. April, that year, was a calm war month. The most important news was of fighting in Charleston harbor between Confederate forts and Union monitors. There was some news from Grant's Army on the Mississippl. The fall of Vicksburg and defeat of the Army of Narthern Virginia at Gettysburg were but three months in the future, but war news was slack when John Wilkes Booth was playing at Grover's. A great many of our people went to hear ‘‘the distinguished young actor.” Not to attend plays, especially Shakespeare's plays, and to express opinions of the actors was to admit one’s self not up-to-date. The theater was a matter in which the greater part of our people were interested. It was such a current theme that people felt they must be Informed and be able to talk about fit. T know that in the period we are thinking of there were adherents of Christian sects who abhorred the theater as they abhorred dancing and games. They believed the theater to Ye one haunt of the devil and his train. Those people did not go to hear John Wilkes Booth, but most persons who took a contrary view on life and after-life did go to hear this actor. For nearly half a century Junius Rrutus Booth the elder was accepted as the greatest, or as one of the great actors, and to tens of thousands of Americans there was magic in the name “Booth.” So it is probable that Abraham Lincoln saw John Wilkes Booth at Grover's Theater in 1863. On the other hand, if he aid not, it would be easy and might be the independence and power of Ru- mania.” Of that group of nations whose independence was acknowledged dur- ing or at the close of the World War several issued their declarations on foreign soll. For instance, in 1917, remnants of the Serbian army, under old King Peter, reached the shores of the Adriatic and were joined at Corfu by political refugees from the South Slav provinces and by other members of the Serblan government. In Corfu of ancient memories, his- torically famous as victor in the first recorded naval battle, the new state of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed on July 20, 1917, as “free, national‘and independent.” On the other side of the Atlantic, October 26, 1918, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, witnessed a scene rem- iniscent of the days of '76. Tere, * in convention assembled,” a declaration was signed by the Mid-European Union, representing more than 50,000.,- 000 of the oppressed races of Europe. In this declaration gratitude was ex- pressed to their allles and the princl- ples outlined which should govern their future states. One of the signers of this declara- tion was Thomas G. Masaryk, who, in December, returned to his native land to become the first President of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. For four years he had continued what he referred to as “a strange, unthought- of tour around the world"—a mis- sfonary journey which had presented the cause of his peoples to other coun- tries and gained much needed under- standing and assistance. A political exile in 1914, Masaryk established the National Council of Czechoslovakia in Paris, with branches in all the allied countries. This council acted in com- plete accord with the Czech leaders in Bohemia, and the declaration adopted by the Czech Deputies at Prague on January 8, 1918, was the basis of the declaration of independence issued in October by the National Council. In this latter document the Czechoslo- vaks affirm: “We accept and adhere Yo the ideals of modern democracy which have been the ideals of our na- tion for centuries. We, the nation of Comenius, cannot but accept the principles expressed in -the American Declaration of Independence. We be- lieve in democracy, we believe in lib- erty—and liberty for evermore.” In such manner the spirit of '76 has been reflected in the national declara- tions which have more lately taken their place among the world's me- morials. ‘“Whenever men seek to frame policies or constitutions,” af- firmed Winston Churchill at a great 4th of July celebration in London, “which are intended to safeguard the citizen on the one hand from the shame of despotism, and on the other from the miseries of anarchy, which are devised to combine. personal lib- of | erty with love of country—it is to this our heroes and consecrated by the original inspiration that they will in- I acgept it as a symbol of evitably be drawn.” item | LESTER WALLACK. Photos by Handy. thought dramatic, after Booth killed Lincoln in April, 1865, to invent the story that Lincoln sat in_a theater hox and saw John Wilkes Booth play Richard III two years befcre. x x k¥ The Evening Star of April 13, 1863, it was advertised that “J Wilkes Booth will play Phidias and Raphael Duchaleet in ‘The Marble Heart’” and that Annette Ince would take the role of Mlle. Marco the Marble Ieart, and that Susan Denfn, Ben Rogers and Mrs. G. C. German would play important parts. On Tuesday night, April 14, Booth was advertised to appear as Hamlet, and, in addition to the names above, I find that W. H. Bokee was to pla the Ghost and Charles Wyndham Osric. “The Lady of Lyons billed as the play for Wednes The advertisement f . April 16, tells that the play ir Lytton Bulwer's comedy | That Is a strange slip. It should have heen Sir Bulwer Lytton's comedy. That English politician, novel- ist and playwright, Edward George Bulwer Lytton, born 1803, dled 1873, long list of novels, wrote that were favored by your | fathers, and of the plays, ““Richelieu written in 1838, Is sometimes played for this generation, huius aetatis homines. vo others were “The Lad; written ia 1840. also written in 1838, | John | Wilkes Booth was advertised to ap- pear on Friday night April 17, Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice' and Petrucio in “The Taming of the | Shrew” with Annette Ince as Portia and Katherine. On Saturday night, April 18, Wilkes Booth closed his en- gagement at Grover's with “The Marble Heart.” The only mention I find in The Star, outside of what are plainly advertisements, is this: “Mr. Wilkes Booth closes his en gagement this evening. It has been a most successful one and our play- goers feel that the name of Booth is yet to hold its own on the stage.” That was'a curious statement, be cause Edwin Booth had played in ‘Washington in November, 1856, and was accepted as the successor to his father, Junius Brutus Booth the elder. In the booklet on the old National Theater I find this: “Edwin Booth is the pride and ornament of the Ameri- can stage. He stands in his Aulelean majesty the finest Anglo-Saxon artist alive.” That adjective ‘“Aulelean” makes a dent in me. I do not find it in the big English dictionary in our library. In my Latin dictionary I find uleum,” the curtain of a the- ater; “aulicus,” an adjective meaning “belonging to the court, princely,” and “aula,” or princely power. In my Greek dictionary I find “auleos,” be- longing to the court, and I am so ignorant that I can’t make head or tail of “Aulelean majesty,” unless it means courtly majesty, or princely majesty. You can set a fellow straight on that, because every reader knows that he can do this job better than I. * K x ok I MEANT to tell you at this sitting about the farm the elder Booth bought in Maryland and on which | Edwin, Wilkes and other children of Junius Brutus and Mary Ann Booth were born. It was a farm of 150 acres between the villages of Belair, Churchville and Hickory, in Harford County. When we drive to ¢ we take the Belair road out of Baltimore. 1 measure on the map that Belair is miles northeast of City Hall, Bal- timore. Churchville is 7 miles north- east of Belair and Hickory is § miles northwest of Belair. About the cen- ter of that triangle is Tudor Hall, the country home of the Booths when they had their city home on Exeter street, Baltimore. I wanted to go more into this mat- THE ELDER BOOTH. ter, but the typed pages that have come from my machine warn me that my story nears its end, and I have letters for you which are more in- teresting than my writing. You re- member that last week I spoke to vou of Setchell and other old actors at Grover's, and of Willlam Seymour, whose wife, May Davenport Seymour, a daughter of the late E. L. Daven- Here is a letter from Mr. Sey- mour: “SOUTH DUXBURY, Mass., “June 19, 1926. “Our friend John B. Randolph has sent me your articles on Grover’s Na- tional Theater, which were extremely interesting. [You're a flatterer, Bill.] 1 knew Leonard Grover—produced his play, ‘Our Boarding House,' for Rob- son and Crane at the Park Theater, New York, in 1877, and heard many stories of his management of the National from Charles Barron and Theodore Hamilton. I knew all of those whom you mention as having composed his opening company, and my father, James Seymour, succeed- ed John Collins—he was called ‘Paddy” Collins by those who knew him — at Niblo's Garden in the part of Car- rickfergus in ‘The Duke’s Motto,’ in 1864. ‘Ned’ Tilton, H. B. (Nosey) Phil- lips, W. H. Bokee, Bob Mildrum and JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. 1 Dan Setchell were all cowfreres of mine, and Dan Setchell was in New Orlaans with Lawrence Barrett and me ‘n 1863-64. Perhaps tis inclosed galley of my latest contribution to the Boston Transcript may interest you. 1 was sorry that I could not get to see you on my last visit to Wash- ington—with ‘The School for Scandal’ last November. But ‘Morgle' Sher- wood was in evidence—the last of the Old Guard. *With regard and remembrance, “I am sincerely, “WM. SEYMOUR.” * x % ¥ HEP. another: “Dear Rambler: I thank you for the recent articles in The Sunday Star on Grover's Theater. These let- ters have recalled pleasant memories of long ago. I am 80 years of age. I remember all vou have mentioned appearing at the National Theater since 1864, Of those performing at the Natfonal many were great fa- vorites in Washington and thelr visits were hailed with pleasure and no one was more welcome than Magglie Mitchell in “The Pearl of Savoy' and ‘Fanchon the Cricket.’ Little Lotta was another favorite. A few of your readers remember John S. Clark in the farce, ‘Toodles, and John E. Owens in ‘Forty Winks.' In the 60s we had the ‘Black Crook’ from New York, with Emiline Zavistowski; at that time a great spectacular perform- ance. James E. Murdock played ‘The Stranger,’ with Mrs. D. Bt Bowers as Mrs. Haller—a long remembered per formance. The Ritchings' Opera Co., with Miss Caroline Ritchings. Mrs. Sequin, Willlam Castle, Mr. Peakes-Campbell and Mr. Sequin in | light operas. 1 could speak of many more, but it 18 not necessary. This letter, Mr. Rambler, will attest there is one, and maybe hundreds, who ap- preciate your telling of events of the past that linger in our memory. Again I thank you. CHARLES S. WILLIS, 1477 Newton street. Here's a letter from my old friend Ed. Lioy: Dear Sir: Your article in The Sun- day Star in regard to Leonard Grover 1s certainly correct as far as I remem- ber from accounts given me by my mother, who was a first cousin to Mr. | Grover. My father, James T. Llovd, was also interested in the theatrical business and was a member of the : dent's Mounted Guards. Col. Willlam E. Sinn was also interested in business with Mr. Grover in theaters and he was a cousin of Mr. Grover and my mother. Col. Sinn took over the Front Street, Baltimore, and he married Cora Tanner, who starred in ‘The Refugee’s Daughter,’ ‘Little Lord ‘auntleroy’ and other pla | Tanner also supported Rose Coghlan in many of her plays. I would like to mention that while Mr. Grover was in Washington he resided with my grand- mother, who then conducted the Fitz- gerald House on the Avenue near the Capito!, and many prominent states- men stopped there. My father also conducted Lloyd's United States Hotel, 1 think. opposite to the old B. & O. depot. I do not know that this will be any information to you. but I vould like to let you know that your writings have furnished immense knowledge to the general public through The Sunday Star, which the parties that I am living with have taken since its first publication. “Respectfully “EDWARD A. LLOYD, 58 Que St. N.W." Thank you, Ed, for that letter. sounds so natural. And another: Here follows a letter from Gus Bruehl: 3 “Continuously employed ‘behind the scenes’ since 1868, I belleve Morgan Sherwood, ‘property man' at the Na- letional, has a record for length of serv- ice that is seldom equaled. Modest. always he was a willing worker for the different managements—five at least. Probably he aided and knew more artists than any other Wash- ingtonian. Some of these were John E. Owens, John Brougham, the elder Sothern—Lord Dundreary; Bret Harte, whom he greatly aided in the pre. mier of his best known play, ‘Ah Sin’; Lester Wallack, Boucicault, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Florence, Robson and Crane and other late comers. Of sing- ers he, of course, must remember Caroline Ritchings, Brignoli, Emma Thursby, Clara Louise Kellogg, Mile. Aimee, Del Puente, Emma Eames, the De Reszkes—Edouard and Jean; Planton, Melba, Caruso, etc. “Mr. Geary about 15 years after leaving the National opened a billiard parlor at the northwest corner of Sixth and C streets northwest, hav- ing as partner Michael Scanlon, where they entertained Jake Schaefer, the then billilard champion.” * X ox X HOPE I have room for two letters sent me by Dr. Sarah M. Huddles- ton. They refer to the stories on churches which the Rambler wrote just_before going to the theaters: “Dear Mr. Rambler: The inclosed letter from our mutual friend, Miss Belle Morris, formerly of Washington, now of New York City, will show you how absentees from the Capital enjoy vour Methodist Episcopal Church let- er: “S. M. HUDDLESTON, M. D. 202 11th St. S.W. Here is the letter: “‘Dear Huldie: The Old Metropolitan Church and its history is, indeed, inter- esting to me—dear pal. What recol- lections that roster of names recalls! When I worked for Mrs. Haines— you remember—back in the early 89's 1 had to do a lot of work for the church—clerical work, you know. Mrs. Haines' proudest boast was that she owned the pew Gen. Grant wor- shiped in. At one of the entertain- ments for the benefit of the church, my cousin, Abe Gradwoh), recited ‘The Star Spangled Banner,” and the Im- perial Quartet, consisting of Aaron, Julius and Charley Becker, with sister Saidee Becker at the piano, rendered appropriate music for the evening. Thank you for the synagogue picturee. One went to Saidee Becker—same gal —and the other to Abe Grandwohl out in Spokane, who is just after leaving the Sacred Heart Hospital, where he had to stay nearly six weeks on a cot. Thank you, dear heart, for the clip- ping an’ everything. Lots of love, “BELLE.” It Goi(e; Common Near Sea. THE medical sclentists have found that goiter is due to a lack of fodine in the body. Iodine is plentiful in sea water, hence it has n thought that people living near the sea have a great advantage over those living inland, since the sea air would carry at least some jodine to them. But this conclusion has been proven doubtful, if not entirely wrong. Tests have been made recently with the in- habitants of New Zealand, which {s so narrow an island that no part of it is more than a hundred miles from the ocean. To their surprise the doctors found that goiter was very common. It seems, then, that the botly probab] gets its fodine mainly if not entirely from the soil, by way of food grown in the sofl and also from the drinking the moist ocean