Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1893 — PEOPLE. [ARTICLE]

PEOPLE.

The Norwegian explorer, 'Dr. Nansen, who is soon to start on another expedition to the North Pole, has been preparing himself for coming hardships by sleeping as often as possible during the winter in a tent on his place near Christiana. Ex-Senator Wade .Hampton, now United States railroad commissioner, is in San Francisco, whither he has gone on a journey of inspection of the Pacific roads. He has with him a party of about a dozen people, including his two daughters. He will go from San Francisco to Tacoma, and from there begin an examination eastward of the Northern Pacific. % In modeling the horse for his equestrian statue of General Grant for the Union League Club, of Brooklyn, the sculptor, William Ordway Partridge, has had casts made from a living charger kept at his country home in Milton, Mass., where he is at work. It is believed to be the first time that casts of a horse have ever been taken for such a purpose. Mr. von Mumra, formerly of the German legation at Washington, but since transferred to Bucharest and Iheh to Rome, is a zealous amateur photographer. Among the pictnres carried away by him as mementoes of his Washington sojourn was a collection of portraits of nearly every girl prominent in Washington society for the last half dozen years.

The venerable Robert C. Winthrop, who, everything considered, is the most distinguished citizen of Massachusetts, is one ol the summer cottagers at Nahant. Commenting on the fine old man’s sprightliness at eighty-four a Boston journal says. “The man *who takes the hand of Mr. Winthrop to-day takes the hand that William Wordsworth grasped, that was shaken by Samuel Rogers, and that found its way with acceptance into the hands of the Duke of Wellington. Of what other American can the same be said?” A rather amusing story is told of Charles Gervais, a great French cheese merchant, who recently died in Paris full of years and honors and wealth. M. Gervais was a self-made man and no scholar. Last year he stood for some municipal post in the department of Seine Inferleure, and, in the course of his campaign, read a speech composed for him by a journalist of Rouen, beginning as follows: “As a candidate for this important office— comma—fully understanding your wants —I come to solicit your votes —full stop.” The scribe 1 d writen down the stops as a guide to elocution, but poor M. Gervais conscientiously delivered it as part of his speech. A Boston jeweler who had occasion at times to manufacture jewels for Mr. Booth, to be worn in different characters, says he was extremely conscientious in having them made not only of the best material, but as near* as possible historically correct. In having a costly crown of gold and precious stones made for the character of Richard 111. iie sent to L*>*don to get the correct design; so in the jewels for the character of Richelieu he took great pains to consult the best authorities. It did not satisfy him to be told that the real could not be distinguished from the imitation on the stage, hence he bought the costliest laces and materials for his costumes.