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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1907)
10 THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, MAY 3, 1U7. f hi&f m&d wiflv Hbf&l Mmdnj'ss. iFraoxcis ftftxrphj-, xeitLperaoxcG., retires to hjus California Home . - - - BY A. M. ROW. LOS ANGEL.ES, Cal., April 29. (Spe cial Correspondence.) Veiled in dark ness from approaching blindness. Francis Murphy, world-famous and glory crowned, yesterday accepted the inevit able and retired from the platform in Los Angeles, Cal., four days after the 71st an niversary of his birth. He will spend the remainder of his glorious life In the re tirement of his beautiful home on West moreland Heights. He cannot recognize his most intimate friend ten feet distant, and it became unsafe for him to appear on the platform. It is pathetic to realize that after preaching the gospel of temperance to the civilized world for 37 years, and securing the signatures of 16.000,000 people to his pledge, he is to end his life deprived of his sight. But Francis Murphy is the same happy, care-free, courteous Murphy of old, who probably numbers more personal acquaint ances than any other man In the world today. Reveling midst the beauty and fra grance of roses; basking in the perpetual sunshine of Southern California; tenderly watched over by a loving, tactful, accom plished wife and most charming hostess; surrounded by children and grand-children, who worship at his shrine; sought and admired by hundreds of life-long and new-found friends: cheery, gracious, tender; bubbling with Irish wit and redolent with touching pathos; thus shim mers out. like the last golden rays of an Autumn sun, the last soft murmur of the ocean's breath, the Joy-crowned years of glorious, sunny Francis Murphy. With outstretched hand, smiling face, gracious manner; with brotherly love In conceivable, ' see this laurel-crowned victor over self, this conqueror of the af fections of men, standing at the threshold of his love-enshrined home, his rose embowered fortress where every guest is a prince to whom the host and hostess pay homage, with courtly grace bidding you a cordial welcome. It is a fitting climax to the life-work of the most famous temperance advocate. In history, the miracle-made orator and prince -of peacemakers, that his sun should find its setting amidst. such joyous surroundings of peace, quiet and pros perity. Francis Murphy still bubbles with very .1oy, notwithstanding he seems doomed by Providence to spend his remaining days In total blindness, due to cataract, and his physicians have insisted upon his re tirement. Never was there a better exemplifica tion of his now famous pledge than in the Hfe .of its creator. "With malice toward none and charity for all," has led this once simple, uneducated Irish lad to the top of the ladder of fame, and has been the motto that opened to him the hearts and homes of rich and poor alike. In Los Angeles during these recent years, ha has been the recipient of every honor at the hands of her citizens; has been a speaker at almost every public function military, civic and religious: has preached in the most prominent pulpits ny invitation of the pastors, though not an ordained minister, and has been the almost constant guest of honor at the tables of the most exclusive circle, as well as in the homes of the humblest i'itizen. Enamored of the Sun. Francis Murnhy came to Los Angeles in the Spring of 1902. having just re- turned from Australia, where he made -me of his famous campaigns for the pledge. He had never before been in Southern California, and when he came here had no intention of breaking his well-known rule of making a spirited campaign of a ,'cw weeks and then moving on. History repeated itself; the largest halls were overflowed; tipplers flocked to his stand rd; ministers joined hands In his gos pel of temperance and love; capitalists nnd leading business men came to his support; there seemed no place to put on the brakes. It was determined by philanthropic peo ple that there was work In Los Angeles to keep Francis Murphy busy the rest of his life, and plenty of money to support him. He had himself become enamored of the perpetual sunshine, and gave ear to the hint, though he expressed many misgiv ings. The Ave years that have passed have proven the wisdom of the determi nation to cease his roving, though during that period he has evangelized almost every hamlet in Southern California. In the City of Los Angeles he has maintained a regular Sunday night meet ing in a centrally located hall, where he has been uniformly greeted by audiences that overflowed the house. Two year9 ago he built for himself a beautiful and ideal California home, where he has lived a life of Ideal happi ness with Mrs Murphy. His two daugh ters. Mrs. Wayland Trask and Mrs. Jo sephine Holmes, both widows, formerly of New York City, finding that their father had determined to reside perma nently in Los Angeles, also removed here and purchased homes near his. They and their children have brought a new lay of sunshine into his life and have added immensely to the. joy of his latest years. The Murphy home was huilt to catch the sun. and is surrounded with roses, shrubs and beautiful flowers, for Murphy Is tenderly fond of the fragrant blos som. Who has not heard him say: "I've no hankering for flowers after I'm dead; if you have any bouquets, please throw them at me now. I don't have any use for people who can think of nothing good to say about a fellow when he's liv ing, but as soon as he is dead they come around and look at him. shove out a bunch of posies and say, 'Smell o' these. " On the walls of his favorite "den" hang the pictures of his children and grandchildren, and one other a large por trait of Governor Daniel H. Hastings, of Pennsylvania, now deceased. Ordained for War. - Murphy was very fond of Governor Hastings, and only the other day told me with much relish and elaboration of Irish humor how the Governor circumvented the army regulation that requires every chaplain to be an ordained minister of the gospel. Years before Murphy became a temper ance advocate he had served for three years as a private in the Ninety-second New York Infantry during the Civil War. He was then a husky Irish lad, only a few years an American citizen, but in tensely loyal to bis adopted country, a characteristic that has marked his utter ances on the platform during all his life since then. When Governor Hastings called for troops, during the Spanish-American War and the Fifth Regiment was about to go to the front. Murphy was in Pittsburg. His soldier blood got heated and he wrote to the Governor offering himself for any service the latter might wish. The an swer came a few days later, in the form of a telegram requesting Murphy to meet the Governor at Bedford Springs. "I was there the next day." said Murphy. "The Governor met me with his carriage and we drove to the ho tel, w here a lot of people were waiting to see him. He put them all off and Dually said to the last fellow: 'I've col important business to atteod t4 3oposte of J with "Chaplain" Murphy, and i must do that first.' "Up to this time I hadn't the least idea what he wanted with me, and things seemed to be getting pretty serious, when we got off alone in .a room he said to me: " 'I know every boy in the Fifth, and I want you to go with them as chap lain and look after them." "I thought I'd better make a clean breast of it right away, so I told him I was not an ordained minister, and that it would be impossible for me to accept the appointment. " 'That's all right,' said the Gov ernor; 'I'll ordain you. Come out here under this tree-' "So we went out under a big chest nut tree, and he says: 'Take off your hat.' "He laid his hand on. my head and said: 'May God. bless you and make you a father to every boy in the regi ment. Now,' he says, 'you're ordained.' and I accepted his verdict and went with the Fifth." Murphy was with the regiment- dur ing; all the months it laid in camp at Chickamauga, never having been sent to the front, and was mustered out at the close of the war. With royal grace and beaming face, he wears on his lapel the badge of the Loyal Legion, combined with his own "Murphy Blue." Miracle to H Im". Sitting alone with him in his room, we ta-lked over the past, and with tears streaming down his face, he said: "When I look around me and see the beautiful carpets and the fine furni ture, and the good clothes I wear, and think what I used to be. it just breaks my heart. God only knows how it all came about. I feel so grateful to God for it all that I just can't help but cry." Much has been said and written about Francis Murphy, but the humil ity, tenderness and patience of this re markable man is understood by the few. Only those who know him inti mately appreciate at its real worth the unwavering warmth of his great heart. The glamor, of popularity that has surrounded him for so many years, making him the close associate of the most eminent men and women in the world, has never won him away from his lowlier friendships. Only those in the "charmed circle" about him know of his deeper feel ings, and only these have known that dur ing all the years he has lived in Los Angeles he has been practically blind in his right eye and that some time ago it became totally dark, while the other admits but a glimmer of liglit. "Get around on this other side, dear, so I can see your face," has been a common remark to his intimates. Others will recall how they have been seemingly overlooked, though standing close to his right side, and some of them have been perplexed to understand, when lie suddenly turned and with his heartiest manner, greeted them and expressed surprise at their presence. How tenderly he tells of his visit to his birthplace in Tagoat, County Wex ford, Ireland, where he was born April 24. 1836. Filled with pathetic recol lections of the humble, vine-covered cottage, for his idolized little mother had since visited him in America and AN IMPROVEMENT ON NATURE Homer Davenport in New York Mail. THERE is no question whether man in his fads and follies, more es pecially the idle or fashionable class, has ever Improved on nature. Nature haa created the horse as near perfect as it is possible to get him, and when we have harnessed him sen sibly and shod him with care to pro tect his feet, the horse, in return, has accomplished much for mankind and civilisation. It was not till long after he had cleared up the pioneers' homes, changing the rough wooded lands to fields, and when men had .less to do that t'tey began to chop off his tail and pull out his mane, and bit hlra witn his head high up in an unnatural position. AH of this wasn't enough; it seemed to he hot a .alight improvemeai Se .hWmi-i'-wt-:v-: ' ' " 1. f. " A t& T . IsT l III ft p Ml if ' ' KL ' IATEST PICTURE- 3- MP. akd MRS. FRANCIS MURPHY died here, Murphy at once sought it out, when he made his first visit to the "ould sod" in 1S81. He thus told it to me: "I got in a carriage and I told the driver as how T wanted to go and see the cottage where I was born, and I told him just how to find it. But I didn't need to do that; blessed be God, he seemed to know all about It. " 'The cottage is not there; it is burned down,' he told me. "I could have cried, for the little cot tage is sacred to my memory, but I man aged to say to him: " 'Well, drive me around so I can look at the blessed place where I used to be.' "I got out o' the carriage and walked all over the ground where the little house used to stand; I smellcd of the flowers, and broke little bits off o' the bushes, and dreamed and dreamed of my boyhood days and of my sweet-hearted little mother. It did me great good and was worth my trip across the Atlantic." He also takes great delight In telling of his first wonderful campaign in Phila delphia, where there was no building suf ficiently large to accommodate people who flocked to hear him. The big freight annex of the Pennsylvania Railroad was converted into a tabernacle, and for weeks it was the center of the greatest they now teach him to stand with his hind legs far from his fore legs, spread out like a lean-to shed. This seems to have reached the highest point of development where a certain class ot men think they hava Improved on na ture. Any man knows that a horse which stands with his feet under him shows that he is a good horse. But a horse standing with his forward feel thrown away out in front, and his hind feet similarly thrown back, will permit of the head being drawn further back. Owing to this fact, horses trained thus to stand are popular, though they re semble a suspension bridge more than a horse. ' in a few years' time horses bred for this purpose, mainly to show, will de generate the same as our dogs under the breeding and scoring of the mod excitement that had ever struck the city. He was received as the honored guest of George W. Childs. Morton McMichael, John Wanamaker and other well-known Philadelphians. Pittsburg, Pa., was the first place to appeal to him as a permanent home, a few years after he had come out from Maine, on his campaign to carry gospel temperance to the whole country. The city of Pittsburgh proved the scene of some of his greatest triumphs. In winning to sobriety professional and business men of prominence. For many years he con sidered Pittsburgh his home, though it was but the Center from which he radi ated, and it was during this period th? he made his four-year tour of Great Britain. Ten years after Murphy had been re deemed from drink in Portland, Me., in 1S70, the "Murphy Movement" had spread throughout the United States and Mur phy had campaigned in every state In the Union. In 18S1 he went to Great Britain; was received with the most distinguished hon ors in Kngland, Ireland and Scotland, and returned four years later to be received with the greatest reception ever ten dered a private citizen in America. It was held in Cooper Union. New York, and was presided over by Judge Noah Davis, ern bench shows. WJth the modern show horse of today, harnessed as he is, it ceases to be a question of how many miles he can travel in a day, and becomes a question of how long can he stand the agony of traveling under the bitting and shoeing, and ar tificial gaiting of the present time. His action has been developed so high now that it is difficult for him to travel in his once natural gait- His schooling has been so persistent and rigid that he has lost any semblance of grace and ease which the horse naturally has. If you want to see how rapidly we are progressing in our im provements on the horse, look at the photographs of some of our celebrated coaching parties in America, made 50 years ago. You will see on the box and in tVie seats men quite as intelli gent in anrjearance a the horsemen and forms one of the most phenomenal Jinks in Mr. Murphy's phenomenal career. Murphy watches the career of his sons with deepest interest. During the politi cal campaign in Pennsylvania last Fall. HOUSE ojf MRand MBS F-RAUCIS jnURPHHT when his son. Robert S. Murphy, was elected lieutenant-governor, he spent a number of weeks about the headquarters in Philadelphia, and takes great delight in contemplating the elevation of Robert. Kdwin Murphy, the youngest son. is an attorney in Philadelphia: John is man ager of 'the Murphy & Mercer Iron Com pany in the same city, and William is living on a farm in West Virginia, hav ing removed there from Wisconsin last year. Mrs. Francis Murphy, to whom the great reformer was married In 18W). many years after the death of the mother of his children, has traveled with him and shared his labors since that time. Mrs. Murphy is a daughter of ex-Judge J. R. Johnston, formerly of Pittsburgh. but now residing at Fairoaks. Cal. Before her 'marriage to Mr. Murphy she was a well-known platform ' speaker and or ganizer for the Women's Christian Tem perance Union. WHAT WE MAY COME TO A LEXIS ALLADIN. the leader of the marvelling: in New York at tlie strength of the ldbor unions of Amer ica. "Now that I grasp the size and pow er of these unions," he said, smiling:, "I see the point of a story that I failed to understand coming: over on the boat. "Kn American woman told me this story. She said that a young" bride was found, one afternoon, crying bit terly in the smoking-room of her club. " 'Why, my dear said an elderly matron, 'what is the matter with you? 44 'Oh,' sobbed the bride, 'I am going to leave George. Dear me, I am going straight back home to mother "'What!' exclaimed the matron; 'has George already proved unkind? Well, they're all alike, my "But the weeping bride Interrupted her. " No she said, her shoulders shak ing with grief. George is a dear. He is perfect,. But that brute of a Henry Simmons lias refused to buy Mrs. Sim mons a new dinner gown, and District 4 of the Amalgamated Wives' Union, has been ordered out on strike Homer Davenpori p1,cSSreandWord3 of today. Hitched to that coach are beautiful blooded horses, with long: flowing tails, heads carried gracefully and necks naturally arched; some with out checks at all, and others with mild check retns. The bits in their mouths are not punishing the horses in the least. Today, showing the improvement that the modern "horseman" has made over nature, we see four strained, miserable, fretting norses, with their tails cut short, and their lengthened toes heavily shod. The increased weight on some shoes is 12 or 15 ounces. So that the horses in their effort to lug them will lift their knees extraordinarily high. Instead of standing with their feet under them, they stand like stove-up hores. with their feet "and legs en tirely from under the body at each end their heads are pulled up till Seeing Things With Googan Girls "THE SQUEAK IN THE ENGINE" BY HELENA SMITH DAYTON (Copyright, 1907. by W. G. Chapman.) D ID some one knock?" asked Tilly uoogan. "Some one is always knocking," assured Lilly without glancing up from her book. It had been a dull afternoon at the Goo sans' studio and the sisters were enjoying the novelty. "It Is a knock," repeated Tilly. "Wasn't it Socrates who said a knock was as good as a boost?" demanded Lilly with elaborate indifference. Tilly had already opened the door and given a comprehensive glance at the shy figure that stood without. "No, we don't want to buy any feather dusters, collar buttons or china silk shawls." she said preparing to close the door. "I came to take lesstins in automobll ing," explained the mellow-eyed, pianissimo-voiced young man. "Don't you think you'd like the flute better?" asked Tilly. "There's a lovely teacher on the floor below." But he shook his head. "It is the Arts and Accomplishments that I wish to give up and learn to man age the automobile. Alas! You behold in me a disappointed and unappreciated poet." He sank into a chair with a dra matic sob and hid his face in the palms of his hands. "1 am Noel Dlbson Spotts!" "Please don't feel so badly." begged the Googans, now all sympathy. "We'll see what we can do to help you." His eyes, floating in grief, turned upon them gratefully. "Oh! To make enough to supply the sordid necessities." he murmured. "It may be cowardly to give up the fight but starving in a garret isn't as fashionable as it used to be! It is the day of the millionaire poet-banker novelist-financier artist. Ugh! It was not so when the Immortals lived and suffered!" "And so." encouraged Lilly, "you've decided to desert Pegasus and your wagon hitched to a star, for a motor car?" ,'The world does need more chauffeurs Just now than It needs poets," added Tilly. "But make a chauffeur of that? Why, he's nothing but a squeak in the engine!" "Still," argued Lilly, "we are motor ing Robin Hoods, who rob the rich and help the poor. I never saw a -poorer, man nor a poorer poet than Noel Di'bson Spotts. It's up to the Coogans." . "Good morning, scholars!" greeted the Ooogans, as their pupil in motoring pre sented himself for his first lesson. "Is my motor costume correct?" aslted the poet anxiously. 1 "Well." admitted the Googans, "every one couldn't wear It, but it certainly suits you. But now about those curls?" Lilly toyed with the shears. 'That Fauntle roy effect is rather dangerous when you poke your head around busy machinery." "Sacrifice my hair! Never!' he cried tragically. "Don't be too hasty about it. Lilly," pleaded Tilly. "He may be a failure as a driver and have to go back to poetry, and without his hair he could no more versify than a Chinaman can return to his native land queueless." "Then let us" on our way!" ordered Lilly crisply. "Melords. the car waits below." Once in the machine, with Tilly at the wheel, they soon were far from the thor oughfares of town, the open country and unconstructed road stretching before them. On the way out Lilly 'had ex plained many things about the car to the poet, but Noel Dibson Spotts couldn't on they are almost perpendicular over their withers. In' their mouths are bridle bits more cruel, and showing less signs of in telligence than the bridle bits of the most barbaric races. One of these bridle bits that are in their mouths there are two weighs more than two pounds and a half. Frequently the full weight of this bit, aside from any pulling on it, rests on the tenderest bone in the horse's head, the frail part of the underjaw. If you have any doubt whether we are progressing, or degenerating in the treatment of our horses, look at one of the old lithographs, and then look at a coaching team of today. The above picture is drawn so that you may readily see what a graceful, beautiful animal our horse is under modern fashionable treatment. overlook the fleecy clouds, the axure sky. the sweeping .fields and distant hills and ail the other features of a well-arranged landscape that could be turned into verses. "Don't you think we'd better let Mr. Spotts have a try at running the car?" asked Tilly. "The road is wide and clear he couldn't do much damage with one of us ready to assist him." "He must stop cloud-gaping or learn to run an airship." snapped Lilly. "Her I've talked to him all the way out, and all he really has grasped about the machine is the lamps and the number the Alpha and Omega but hardly enough informa tion to got a driver's license on." "Mr. Spotts." commanded the Googans sternly, "explain the carburetor." Mr. Spotts' attention parachuted back to earth. He looked blank for an instant then he broke forth Into the following: "Carburetor? Carburetor? Who. oh who. could 'ere forget her? Dearest little Spanish maid! Colls and coils of midnight hair. Ah. but Carburetor's fair!" Tilly and Lilly looked at each other without a word. "Do you hear the Song of the Engine?" asked Mr. Spotts rolling his eyes. "It's running In perfect meter," Lilly The Kine Tailors Had Dnna Whfi They Could for Noel Dibson Sport., Bat There Was Still Work foe the Googans. replied. "But the words are rather in distinct from where I'm sitting." "It's the tale of a breaking, throbbing heart!" informed Noel Dibson feelingly. "A spirit raging against its prison bars." "It's a very happy and contented en gine," contradicted Tilly. "The more it throbs and rages the happier it is." "It's only the squeak in the engine that's unhappy," assured Lilly. They both looked at Noel Dibson Spotts and laughed. But now that the engine had become a thing that lived and suffered, Noel Dib son showed a keen and intelligent inter est. He asked innumerable questions, to the relief and satisfaction of his in structors, and quite a mechanical appre ciation was discovered in the ex-poet. "We must lead him by the flowery route of fancy," suggested Tilly. "If his interest fags on make-and-break-ignition we'll have to recite 'The Lady of Shalott' or 'Charge of the Light Brigade.' Next time we must bring along our vest pocket edition of the 'World's Best Poems!' " Indeed, in the days that followed, it took time and Googan patience to make a practical driver of the flighty Noel Dibson Spotts. Had he not been such a source of amusement to the girls it is doubtful if his motor edu cation would ever have been per fected. And then, again, his gratitude for all they were doing for him was a touch ing and beautiful thing to see. It's a fine feeling to know you arc doing something for humanity! "VVe've been making so much money lately I've felt we ought to be gin handing out libraries or some lit tle thing, and if it isn't lifting the lit erary standard of the universe to re strain Noel Dibson Spotts then I don't know anything about poetry!" was Tilly Googan's explanation. "Well,"' mused Lilly, "I don't know whether we're turning Noel Dibson into straight prose or whether he is putting us into blank verse. I can't crawl under the car to make a repair that I don't begin to compare it to a wounded bird or a soul in distress. I catch myself trying to make words rhyme, and this morning was quite annoyed because vaseline was the only word I could get to associate with gasolene in the same verse. We must' lose Noel Dibson pretty quick or while we're making a good chauffeur of a bum poet, he'll be making bum poets of two good chauffeurs." Several days later Mr. Spotts left town to fill the position of driver for Mrs. Laura Golden, a wealthy widow. He wept like a child when taking leave of the Googans and swore eternal gratitude. "If only he doesn't go moon gazinie between two trolley cars running be hind schedule!" said the Googans earnestly. "Don't you know me?" smiled thi dandy who entered the Googan studio without even a warning tap. "Well, my good ladies, 'tis not so strange ' after all. I am hardly the same Noel Dibson Spotts you once knew!" The Googans were so completely floored they slid right .out of their chairs! "I have returned to thank you for all that you did for me," he contin ued. "Oh, I can never, never forget! But for you I should be writing verses in a garret unknown, unappreci ated " "Instead of doing some useful work," completed Lilly. "I'm so glad you made such a. success of chauf feuring." "Chauffeuring!" cried Spotts indig nantly. "Why, I have just had my first volume of poems published, and it was to present you with an auto graph copy that I called today. I knew that with your beautiful and unmercenary natures it would mean more than payment for the lessons." "Yes, indeed," murmured the Goo gans. choking with amusement. "As you may have heard, I married Mrs. Golden, who has deep apprecia tion for my work indeed, 'twns Laura who had these little gems col lected in this pretty gold and white booklet." "So he's now the poet Laura-ate," giggled Tilly. "No telling what a squeak in the en gine may develop into after this," marveled Lilly. Tn speaking of Vietorien Sardou's deco ration with the grand cros. of the legion ot honor, the Berliner Tageblatt Bay. thet -the dramatist's biographer failed to make mention of the fact that "Sardou is a spir itualist and a nrst-clasa medium."