Anecdotes of public men; by John W. Forney.

A POPULAR RENDEZVOUS. 419
" Such witless sighing and croaking oddly contrast with the
full free bursts of glee which break forth from the merry troops
of children we meet on every hand, or the loud and joyous songs
of the bright birds, to whose pure notes the streams and winds
join their full chorus.
"It was a laugh which gave birth to Eden's first echo, and
why not let it still live on?
"I He who gives us one hour's pure pleasure is a far greater
philanthropist than he who prates of charity and heaven, which
can only be obtained, so says his creed, by passing through
lives of sighing, fasting, and continued slavish fear of Him who
would have us in all things free, living for the beautiful and
good alone."
This is my ninety-sixth anecdote; and yet, among the numerous characters I have attempted to describe, no one has
done more to promote the happiness of his fellow-beings than
Antonio Blitz.
[January 19, I873.]
XCVII.
FOR many years before the war the northwest corner of Seventh and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, was a popular resort
of public men of all sides. The head of the house was Harry
Connelly, one of the handsomest men I ever knew, and full of
excellent traits. You would not have taken him for the proprietor, with his exquisite dress, ruffled shirt, and easy manner.
He was like one of his guests, and left his business to a bright
mulatto called " Lew," who was the facotlum of the concern,
and relieved his employer from a world of care. Both master
and man are gone, and the old dingy building has given way
to a stately structure, in part of which Colonel Greene's Sundtay