Anecdotes of public men; by John W. Forney.

2 72 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN.
surer and a better rest than in listening to the words of the great
-men of the past as these are echoed from the stage by cultivated
students? The President, who visits the theatre, not only sees
the people and is seen by them, but reposes, so to speak, without interruption, upon the delightful utterances of deathless
minds. Mr. Lincoln liked the theatre not so much for itself
as because of the rest it afforded him, I have seen him more
than once looking at a play without seeming to know what was
going on before him. Abstracted and silent, scene after scene
would pass, and nothing roused him until some broad joke or
curious antic disturbed his equanimity. We are in the habit of
saying that the drama of the present is not equal to the drama
of the past-a truism, like many others, easily contradicted.
Turn to New York, Philadelphia, or any of the great cities,
and compare the number of amusements offered every night
with the scarcity of the same attractions fifty years ago; the
delightful repetition of the works of the great masters; the
endless inventions of modern playwrights; the infinite variety
of opera, comedy, tragedy, and spectacular pantomime; and no
other fact is needed to enforce the argument that if we are not
wiser than our ancestors, we certainly ought to be.
Uanuary 28,1872.]
LVI.
MUCH of the recreation of the public men at the capital of
the nation in former times was entertaining and instructive.
The era of lectures seems to have superseded these symposiaperhaps for the better; but I always recur to them as the unforgotten and unsurpassed pleasures of my life. There were
cards and wine, of course; but the real attractions were impromptu wit and humor, recitations, magnetic speeches, music,