The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 12, 1897, Page 20

20 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALIL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1897. HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIIL — 77;7 T P . ‘domeo“.hcv: alt, \\'ixhhislrmslope;\inzllo | anity. B 5 or beauty, [issot’'s Great Pamtmg, P ot 3y | maj sy. From the chin to the crown it The nting by James Tissot, com- | church decorative art. Itisa work of the measures six feet and a half. l»l is filty pleted i - absidal vault of the Domin- greatest merit, as well as being one of curi- | feet from hand to hand of the immense can chapel in the Faubourg Saint Honore, | ous interest he design is that of Christ, | configuration, and the single phalange Paris, is a colossal innovation in modern | as seen above the wais of a little finger cannot b covered by the 3 fullest stretching of the human nand. In this work Tissot has essayed to re- vive the religious art of the Byzantines, whom he regards as ihe masiers of deco- ration. He was aided throughout by the counsel and encouragement of M. Sertil- lange, the first of eritics in art subjects of nis class in creating a human visage in which would be combined the strongest | expression of intelligence, ot tenderness and of beauty. What the thousands of visitors admire in the figure, perhaps without susp:cting it, is the olic idea conveyed by each tone and feature. The mouth is partiy open, to signify the spiritual word of God; | the lips slightly in the shadow symbolize the mystery of the commurication; the severity of the profoundly interrogating cyes is softened by a vague, merciful smile; the supple nosirils express sensi- tiveness; their width and fineness, power. As to the vastments, so nobly draped, they are arranged, conformably to history, | cf three pieces of the scamless tunic of dark red; the linen robe, called the Geba, of immaculate white, held at the waist by From a Portrait Painted in the Vatican. By A. Benziger. nising into " the | over the left shoulder is the white woolen a girdle, and outside all proudly thrown mantel of the 1rophets. The ground work i (| painting by August Berziger, an artist | = |for many vears domiciled in Paris, bat sired the world at large to take of him. the Vatican at Romea little mocre than LWO years ago. | heavy, antiqua:ed pair, What makes this pictare rare and | unique is the fact that itis the only one | in existence which porirays his Holiress them, save when sleeping. He wears a and baving powerful lenses. Who ever saw Leo XI1L depicted as bent with age and showing his remarkable face in the exactly as he is—or was a littie wh le ago. | truth ol its extraordinary pailor? Yet here There are many eo-called “cflicial” por-| it i traits of the Pope, all more or lexs familiar | M. Benziger, who, by the way, 1s a to the public, but not one of them is a | member of the Roman Catholic family of truthful likenes: of this remarkable old | that name which for many generations | man. Not one of the originals of which | has been the foremest of Roman Catholic | these “official”’ poriraits are copies was | publishers, was asked how he came to allowed to leave the Vatican until the ven- | paint a porirait of the Pope as heis. “I MADE INTO A COMPOSER WHILE YOU WAIT made of silver | 1 stood in | that view of his Holiness which he de- | the background, moving a litt'e here and | | there as my unconscious model moved, to doing?”’ “Ob, yes; certainly they did. After- ward several of them wanted my sketch and begged for it. But 1 made that sketch for m:yself alone and I dd not part with it. And the resuit is thelittle painting which hangs there on the wall.”” “Was it merely a pencil etch thit you made or ¢id you use color?” he was asked. | I hed taken a small pocket color-box | and pad with me to the Vaiican and it was these I used to such gocd parpose,’” s | 1 1 || The striking portrait of his Holiness | erable Pontiff had examined itand passea | was at a large audience,” he said. “There | was his reply. = | Pope Leo XIIT which sprears on this|upon it favorably, and not one ever re- | were manv present and the Pope spoke | pege is from a photouraphic copy of a | ceived such approval unless it presented | long with each person in turp. *I remember well his first words as my name was announced—*Benziger, voila un nom qui sonne bien au Vatican!’ It was then, kneeling at the feet uf this supreme who at present occupies a studio in New Did anv reaaer, asks the New York | preserve the same point of view. Yousee | head of the church, c! asping those eged York. Herald, which presents the rortrait here | [ am tail and can :e3 nicely ovcr people’s | hands which the faith:ul believe may lock This poitrait is from a paintingof his | reproduced, ever see, anywhere in the | heads. {and unlock the gates of life, thar I re- Holiness, the groundwork of which wasa | world, a portrait of Leo XIII in spec- “But,” interrupted the correspondent, | soived to secure, if possible, a truthfal sketcn from Jife made by M. Benziger in | tacies? Yet he is rarely, if ever, without | **did not tlLe officials see what you were | likeness of the wonderful face before me. *I bave given him the flush he had on | that warm summer day, and the red back- | ground made by a cardinal’s robe. And I have tried to give his smile, that ‘fin sou- rire,’ so unlike :hat of his Holiness’ pre- | decessor, Pius 1X.” few reproductions of M. Benziger's painting have been made. One hangsin the study of M. Bonnat, under whom the ) young srtist studied. Others are possessed | by the King of Portugai, the Comtesse de | Paris, Mgr. Ferrata, papal nuncio to | France. he conghed delicately—nnder his *‘direc- tion,”” Would it not pay him better to write and publish songs himself, than to part Wby not? It was their own matter and a thing to be settled by their own feel- ngs. The claim to bs a poet and a musician might not be in accordance with nestled his head under my fifth rib and | another player felt my pulse with the heel | of hi« spiked shoe I decided to leave the | field, ith all d woult have done so had not two 1 am about to become a composer of | known notary public. Lut all that could b> arranged if I cared t0 | to work over my words and music and | :'x;‘;”““_. ‘:";‘n:’;“‘( and ‘i"h !olham’fohr S0 | the strict letter of truth in some cases, | other paided assassins boen sitting tete-z music. 1am going to hang graceful fes-| When sic, Leavenly maid,” becomes | pay fir it. The price he named would | then have the result published as my own lhoiin ke ‘:I“‘l:??:"k “;0':8 ot & ‘en: but—with a comprehensive wave of both | tete on my head. toons and garlands of poesy upon an | Janus-faced, and aids and abets impostors | have Leen no-ovstacle 10 one realiv in pur- | composition? Certainly he did. If I Sy e e not feel | hand<—how many things are elaborate and intricate latticework of har- monized lody, and then announce my- €elf as the artist who de igned the whole | in obtaining praise which is not their due it is time i0 jo'n the ranks oi the doubt- ers, and I have done so. that he had in a way been defrauded of his due? But the musical man shook his bead. “Birds in the hand"” are what he suit (f und-served reputation, but I told him that I should have to think about it, and then I sounded him as to his ideas on bought and paid for his work it was mine, todo what I liked with; 1 could publish it or burn it for ail he cared. Itwa:a | in this | world at the p-esenttime? At any rate | the deception was a harmless one, and | It makesa man awfully angry to have a | fellow-being sitting on his head and [ | probably would have said things unfit for o e | it—tiie professor evidently was a student | publication were it not for the fact that Lem beauti‘ul creation. Thatis, Iam goingto | Iheard the tale first asin a dream. It | ih= question of ethics involved. common thing to do, and many of the | ‘°°kmhz for, ’andh"dcu}nu: s futures” | of economics—put money in circulation | was busily engaged swallowinz my front doso if among my numerous kind, gener- | was vag ebulous and evasive, bui | D.d he think it right for me to hire him | songs now on the market were written— min charms for his eminently practical | which might otherwise bo hoarded. | teeth. About this time some one mistook ous and wealthy acquaintances I e=n | search aud inquiry condensed it into ,_l:l;m et i o vonTR e s waitiu iy the seosp for the football and attempted to kick manage 10 raise the small sum of $7 50, | something substantial and certain. 1 > publishing,” | tion-room when I came out, with a for- | a goal, and the last I remember they wers If I can be torrow or steal $45 more I | found sev \ dealers in musical wsres am going to | he said, “and even the best of songs may midable roll of manuscript music in her i | A ] : | | endeavoring to make a fouchdown on the e that same song of mine | who make quite a satisfactory addition to | "fll e flat. A professional could not | hands. She had the harassed expression | identical spot where I was lying. The pubiishel, with my name printed on the | the sunny side of their jedgers by bring- | :‘x °"I io experimentalize constantly, but | characteristic of the small arniy of music- | rest of the day the doctors spent probing title page in the Ligeest kind of letters, | ing together parsons who wish to have the | wb ladies and gentiemen who wish 10 | teachers who go into business on an in- |for my teth and untying my spinal over the assertion that I am the “author | creditof being wise in the wags of music | publish a song or a piecs of instrumental | sufficient capital of real knowledge and | column. Still, itis claimed that football acd composer’” of the outfi. Then I[and arenot, and those who are, and do | music, just, perhaps, 10 show that they | gpend iheir days teaching blundering and |1s flot a dangerous game, and I do not am straigbtway going to become famous. | not care a snap for the credir, if they get | are capable of doing something creditable | cyreless children cheaply because they | want to contradict the statement, but any That i famous a8 1000 copies of this | paid for the work they do in the prem- | inthose lines, do not mind the smail ex- | ean aspire to nothing better. She, how- | one wishing me to go before a notary and ¢ flower of my g scatt judiciously | ises, and I found some of the *musical | | pense 1ncurred and do not fret if their | ever, had evidently determined o distin- | make an affidavit to that cffoct will bave 4 among my fellow-mortals cin make me. | men'’ themseives, | | productious fail to become popular. Oi | guisn herself from the rank and file by | to send around an ambulence. Now, I am well aware thai there are| 1prov.ded mvself with some verses as {course we arrangers do our best, but| pecominga composer, but being privately NIcK EowpEN. many who know me who, with that irank | bad as even I could possibly string to- | sometimes” —here Le glanced involun- | gware of certain weak links in her chain | o et disagreeableness which is one of the pre. | pether, and sought audience with one of | tarily at the small rol of paperin my | of musical attainment, was going pru- | WHAT IS A MUGWUMP? rogatives of {riendship, real or assumed, | Apollo’s foliowers wto calls himselt an band—*the material brouzht us is very | dently to have them strengthened by | Mugwumpis the name given to s small group will receive this rmation with scorn. | “arranger” of music, but witl, in reality, } | unpromising. some one who really did understand the | of people who ere eminently respestable, but Stuff and nonsense!” they will say, or our musical jackknile a new b.ade | At the next place which I visited I|fundamental principies of music bsfore | Who are very much impressed with their own words to that eifect. *How can you write | and handleif y wish him to. i found a callow youth with football hair | puttin: them on public exhibition. superiority, and who imagine they have a songs when you dor’t know enough sbout He was a hund<ome man, with a sort of verse to wrile obituary poetry even? And melancholy Thad teus-of-Warsaw-like ex- already in pos-ession seated ata pianoplay- There was no need to visit the other | monoroly of political viriue. They are so sure ing and singing one of his on “compos: | piaces to which I had been directed, for T | by oty oy 1op. e Lielr party, wad thu bow can you compose music when you | pression at which I did not wonder col | tions,” while the professor hung over him | was thoroughly convineed that ali 1 had | n deprecinting other people’s efforts. They don’t know one unote from é@nother anu | sidering his avocation, and it was quite | with an anxious and perturbed countr-!been told was true. 1 now look askance |came into existence in Ergland with the more than a ‘mud-turt'e | evident that both as a musician and a nance, though when the ordeal was onr}aznew music bearing names utterly un- | re‘orm bill movement (1% as what John ttell 'Old Hundred’ fiom ‘Yankee | man he lad “.ean pe ter davs.” He| he affected to have discerned much of | known to “the world of sweet sounds,” | Bright called “Adullamites.” They deserted Doudtie’ unless the words go with ihe a trifle more melancholy as he | tune?”’ i looked read over my song words, and his gloom promise in the performance. but all the same it 1s a fine thing to see from the really progres ive political partv and It needs proning and polithing, per- | one’s cognomen on the front page of even | doined ;"" “’“"l‘ ":,‘,‘j“"“n‘u“""" “"‘l“'}:“j“ ot How? Listen wnile I tell you. And |increasel wh:n [ told him that I bad not | Liaps,” be said, turaing over the sheet of | a pastabie musicel composition, and Tam | jay eerence s 1851 as TR A any one else may do likewise, provided he | been able the melody in | defaced musio paper thoughtfuilr, “but,'” | fired with ambition to follow in the foor. | TDiTes o ¥ or she bas the cash to spare and can find | which I wisbed to s m. | any on of the half dczen places in that will grind out ‘“‘original music” for any one who will “put in the slot” nick- s enough to start his mental m c. nery this | city where there is an animated music-box | Coult I play it? He waved me to the piano, but I confessed my inability to ex- | press my soul’s music through the m dim of 'the beautifal cold keys.” 1 could sing it, then? I confessed to you will be pleased with it afterward.” Of course he would be. He was pleased with it already, even in its raw state, and imagine the pleasure be would have in with a burst of real honesty, “I am sure | steps of those wio have by this simple means attained a high position in th- es- timation of their friends and acquaint- | ances. Ove thing troubles me, though. After I Republican part nomina Iy for pe to Cieveland. They deserted al reasons aguinst Mr. | Blaine, but really to oppose proteciion. Stuce then they have been conmspicuous as fault- finders of everything constructive and Ame ican end of everybody who showed any ev presenting copies to his young lady | have become a self-advertisea “l“‘hfll’}dih-\“ D‘\é:‘“ :‘; :;Y'g;"‘l\-\ihllnl sucecss. and keep it going until the order is filled. | being rather of a failure vocslly, but I | iriends, ana knowing that they would | and composer” some one may have the | seirhe vtn ot meimie) men o opL¥e: but During the past few days I bave had a | wou'd try to hum it, ana I dii. henceforth speak of him 12 awed tones s | bad taste 10 insist upon my nerforming | jere Tilayats SoRd Gt mionsliy Widbrnt o ot great awakening. Formerly 1 believed | The poor man lisiened attentively and being *'so talente 11" my own charming work for his or her edi- | human nature, and are nea:ly alwavs foun everything that anybody told me. When | struck a chord now and then which didn’t Money is no oujsct in such a c and | ficatio and I shall not ba able to | on the negative side of all realiy whnlesome my friends told me of their social, literaiy | by any accident happen to fit with the by tne pleased expression on the profess- | “‘oblig | flesh-and-bloo 1 movemeonts in public effair, or artistia successes I swallowed ths in- | note I was attempting. He looked a trifle | formation as a toad swallows flies, and like him vlinked appreciatively afterward. 1 beljeved people wrote everything to which their names were sigaed; I believed even thet Governors wrote their own Thanks- giving 1roclamations instead of depend. ing ona tyndicate. But now I know that tergiversaiion flourishes in the land and that deceprion is tbe rule of the honr, and I won't credit that anybody ever did | anything that he or she claims to bave done unless I am shown an affidavit 10 that effect, sworn to before some well- tired and careworn as I proceeded with my alleged tune, but he did not interrupt me. He only sighed deeply when I paused and looked at him for conimendation. He thought he “'grasped the idea,” he said, which wascertainly more than I did. | It was something like this, and te played # heavenly strain which I had never even | dreamed of, but he was afraid. It was too bud, since the sentiments were so good, that the words would need remodeling. The meter was a trifle uncertain 2nd some ol the rhymes were scarcely satisfactory, or's face when he emerged from the vrivate room {into which they retired to arrange mercenary details, I knew that a new star was soon to arise in the musi- cal firmament. My composition, of which I was truth by no means proud, met with ten- tative favor here aiso. He “caught the air’ which I hummed, and interpreted it most sweetly, and encouraged me to have it put info definite and payable form. He, too, loved lucre tetter than re. nown, and thought it nolharm for his customers to shine in borrowed plumes. | in | CrarA DovgrLass, 'FOOTBALL. I once attempted 10 play fostball. That is the reason I speak with a cute little] sp through the «pace where my teeth used to te—and frankly admit that if *a thing of beauty is a joy forever,” I come very near being an eternal morrow. Ah, the first game I entered 1 piey 4 with all the en- thusiasm of a tyro—ihe z2al of a begin- ner. I gained glory but 1 lost most of my epidermis, and when the left tackle There are many active, helpfal pioneers social reform who sometimes al.y themsely with Mnzwump movements becuuse of tha § aifference of the old parties, but such men seldom possesi the characteristic Mugwump traits. ¢ -~ Tramy—Gnu ss where I'm goin’ to sleep to-nighi? Haysesd—Can’t do it. Where? Tramp—1 ain't no good at guessin’, either. S Ul o) There is said to be a movement on foot among the occupanis of murierers’ row to form a society of Ean Quentin ploueers,