Sarah Bernhardt and the Whale

Mataura Ensign, Volume 9, Issue 642, 11 February 1887, Page 2

Sarah Bernhardt and the Whale

While the French tragedienne was staying I at the Morton House, New York, an intelli- j gent and well-dressed man, wearing a sealskin cap, called upon her and entreated her I to pay a visit to his whale. He represented j himself as, a sort of second-class Barnum, ] who had made a hundred thousand dollars in j exhibiting curiositie?, and lost his fortune in j an attempt to establish a daily illustrated i journal. He represented that out of. the j wreck of his : fortune he had saved a fewdol- ! lars, and had bought a whale. Says Madame ; Bernhardt — ! " Well, the man seemed so much in earnest, ■ and implored me so piteously, and having rather a fancy to see a monster of the deep, ' I consented, and he gave me a private view, \ and 1 had the big fish all to myself, as it . were. He received me like a queen, opened the choicest brands of G. 11. Mumra (the ac- ! cepted champagne of the United States), and even went so far as to offer to treat me to a piece of the flesh of the huge beast, so that I could say I had partaken of wbalcsteak. " Now," continued Dona Sol, "do you know what happened ? He persistently followed me to every town, and as soon as the bills announcing my representations had been posted, another placard appeared, close to mine, of course, informing 1 the public of the GIGANTIC WHALE, Admired and Patronised by Sakah Bernhardt. " The whaio became, so to speak, my shadow," added Sarah, with a fimile ; " a regular travelling iucubus. However, we became friends — not the whale and 1, but its exhibitor. When I descended from my carriage after the play he was always there. He took off his sealskin cap, prostrated himself, | and bade mis ' Good-night, and adorable dreams !' Sometimes he worried me. ' Vous voila encore vous /' I shouted at him ; but he answered me so amiably that it was impossible to be angry with him, At every I town, after having heard me, people went to | see the whale, or vice versa. The whale tumbled to pieces, and had to be propped up, | and the exhibitor spent from fifty to seventy ; dollars daily in inflating it. But oh, vanity i of human affairs 1 the result was he put by five hundred dollars a day, aud, as he had less j expenses than I, when we arrived at the last ! station of our artistic tour, John P. Smith — that was his name — had gained a hundred thousand dollars by the whale admired by Sarah Bernhardt. "But I must be just. When his day's work was finished he became a finished gentleman — he donnad lavender gloves, a white tie, and a dress-coat, and came to hear me. He paid for his seat 1 He declined to be a ' dead-head,' as they call a man. in America who goes in free. The time of our parting was heartrendering to John P. Smith. He would have liked me to continue a little 1 longer my American tour, but at the last moment he asked for an audience, and came to express his gratitude. " ' You have";* he said, ♦ re-made my fortune.' " ' And what will you do with it npw ?' " ' Perhaps I shall start another illustrated journal.' '"Which will probably finish like the other.' "'Oh, what does that matter? I have been in turns journalist, millionaire, omnibus conductor, hotelkeeper, dentist, and sewingmachine agent. 1 will begin j.gain. But will the great Sarah accept a token of my admiration V " ' Tell mo what it is. 1 " • The skeleton of your pet -whale.' Sarah thanked him, but gently intimated that the gift might increase her luggage inconveniently, and they parted. Sarah set sail for Europe, and John P. Smith is still in the United States iv search of another sensation, and, if he can catch her, another Sarah.