_Question_. I was told that you came to St. Louis on your wedding
trip some thirty years ago and went to Shaw's Garden?
_Answer_. Yes; we were married on the 13th of February, 1862. We
were here in St. Louis, and we did visit Shaw's Garden, and we
thought it perfectly beautiful. Afterward we visited the Kew
Gardens in London, but our remembrance of Shaw's left Kew in the
shade.
Of course, I have been in St. Louis many times, my first visit
being, I think, in 1854. I have always liked the town. I was
acquainted at one time with a great many of your old citizens.
Most of them have died, and I know but few of the present generation.
I used to stop at the old Planter's House, and I was there quite
often during the war. In those days I saw Hackett as Falstaff,
the best Falstaff that ever lived. Ben de Bar was here then, and
the Maddern sisters, and now the daughter of one of the sisters,
Minnie Maddern Fiske, is one of the greatest actresses in the world.
She has made a wonderful hit in New York this season. And so the
ebb and flow of life goes on--the old pass and the young arrive.
"Death and progress!" It may be that death is, after all, a great
blessing. Maybe it gives zest and flavor to life, ardor and flame
to love. At the same time I say, "long life" to all my friends.
I want to live--I get great happiness out of life. I enjoy the
company of my friends. I enjoy seeing the faces of the ones I
love. I enjoy art and music. I love Shakespeare and Burns; love
to hear the music of Wagner; love to see a good play. I take
pleasure in eating and sleeping. The fact is, I like to breathe.
I want to get all the happiness out of life that I can. I want to
suck the orange dry, so that when death comes nothing but the
peelings will be left, and so I say: "Long life!"
--_The Republic_, St. Louis, April 11, 1897.