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 ilthara. Neid fork 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY 
 
 COLLECTED BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
 1854-1919 
 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Date Due 
 
 JUN 2 3 19 43 
 
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 Cornell University Library 
 GV1811.R49 B87 
 
 Life of Dan Rice. 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 937 178 
 
Ih Cornell University 
 
 Wjsf Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029937178 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE OF DAN RICE 
 
 BY 
 
 MARIA WARD BROWN 
 
 LONG BRANCH, N. J. 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
 
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 Copyright, 1901, by 
 MARIA WARD BROWN 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 THEKE is no more fascinating exercise for the mind or imag- 
 ination than to contemplate the career of a gifted man or 
 woman; and the man who illustrates and adorns the profession, to 
 which choice or chance has assigned, should ever be regarded as 
 a fit item for history — whatever that lot might have been. But 
 more especially is this the experience with the man, who, from 
 any circumstances or powers of mind, bursts the fetters of a lowly 
 fortune or position, and, rising superior to common fate, makes 
 for himself a path to higher destiny and forms a niche in its tem- 
 ple which, in af tertime, an impartial world will deem him worthy 
 to occupy. 
 
 " Honor and fame from no condition rise 
 Act well your part — therein the honor lies." 
 
 The history of Dan Eice is replete with startling incident, in- 
 structive fact, and dramatic situations; whilst the trend of 
 thought and action which that history develops, exhibits a 
 mind, heart, and purpose, combined with the rarest, elements. 
 He has lived a varied, adventurous life, has travelled extensively, 
 and mingled with all sorts and conditions of men, the noble- 
 minded and the base. He has been a keen observer, a profound 
 student of mankind, and in his own. person has been subjected 
 to almost every sort of trial, domestic or otherwise, bitter ex- 
 periences which have served to expand and strengthen these 
 characteristics which have proved to be the mainspring of his 
 triumphs in after life. 
 
 Imbued with a well-nigh insatiable love of nature, of a no- 
 madic tendency, with just a trifling tinge of the Bohemian in his 
 temperament — little wonder that at an early age he left the roof 
 of his childhood and became a cosmopolite, before he had im- 
 bibed scarcely more than the primary rudiments of the school- 
 room or formed any stable habits of the right, for at that early 
 period — when association was most likely to give bias to his 
 character— he was cast upon the cold and unsympathetic ocean of 
 life — no beacon light to direct his pathway — the child of circum- 
 stance — the nursling of fate. 
 
 Too much credit cannot be awarded to one who commenced 
 his career under such untoward conditions and conflicting cir- 
 
IV PHEFACE 
 
 cumstanees, and yet achieve so proud a foothold among his 
 fellows. 
 
 It is an incentive to the ambitious — a spur to the self-reliant 
 but lowly circumstanced in life, exemplifying as it does, with 
 such a wealth of eloquent and effective incident and adventure, 
 disheartening trials and temptations, incidental to and insep- 
 arable from the isolated and self-sought career which the brave- 
 hearted but friendless lad mapped out for himself, how in after 
 years the sturdy stripling, having developed his native gifts and 
 utilized the knowledge acquired in the school of experience, for- 
 ever removed, through the influence of a rugged honesty of pur- 
 pose and unswerving principle in execution, the traditional odium 
 from a peculiar class, and thus conferred a benefit upon all who 
 may become identified with a profession of which he was so prom- 
 inent — and it may be added, the most illustrious — member. 
 
 He was yet to know the inebriating sweetness of a popular 
 applause, to witness the bitter revolutions consequent upon that 
 profession's subsequent lapse from popular favor to well-merited 
 censure. An active, athletic lad of quick perception and ready 
 tact, practically friendless and homeless, young Dan Eice, how- 
 ever, was not long in attracting the attention of all with whom he 
 came in contact. The very novelty of such a juvenile, precocious 
 cosmopolite induced the inquiry, "Who is he?" and his per- 
 tinacity in repelling all such inquiries gathered around him an 
 ever-increasing curiosity and interest. His taste for and love 
 of horses, which has since been so strongly evinced, led him to 
 the racecourse and to every place where horses or horsemen were 
 collected. 
 
 A certain magnetism of manner, inviting amiability and hon- 
 est ingenuousness, which in a more mature manhood culminated 
 in an almost resistless fascination, attracted toward him an illus- 
 trious circle of lifelong friendships, many of whom have acquired 
 national distinction, and it is significant of the resistless charms 
 with which he swayed individuals, and vast audiences, that those 
 friends of his early youth have been faithful and constant to the 
 end. No public man can boast of a larger or more conspicuous 
 circle, including as the list does, statesmen, scholars, scientists, 
 men of world-wide fame in the armies and navies of every nation, 
 as well as countless thousands who have acquired fame in the 
 more humanizing walks of life. 
 
 When he finally drifted into the profession wherein he ac- 
 quired such fame, and wherein at the outset he distinguished 
 himself from his fellows by his superior activity, and athletic 
 and gymnastic powers, it was not long until it was discovered 
 that his native wit, acute sense of the ridiculous and humorous 
 conception could be most profitably utilized in motley garb. His 
 
PEEFACE ' V 
 
 wit was Attic and spontaneous, conceived with electric instinct, 
 and thus was given to the world a humorist whose supremacy 
 was at once recognized, and whose fame was equal with the most 
 distinguished members of the more assuming histrionic profes- 
 sions.- 
 
 It was thus that upon the very threshold of his career he 
 attained celebrity for not only rare genius, but for a refinement 
 and polish of address, high-toned sentiment, and sterling worth; 
 the latter quality being established by his benevolent and chari- 
 table actions. Hence he obtained easy access to any and every 
 avenue of social life in which he desired to move, and became the 
 courted guest of every charmed circle in which intellectuality 
 held sway. 
 
 In the course of his eventful career opportunities had been 
 presented in a more exalted sphere, and he has been importuned 
 to enter the arena of politics, and upon more than one occasion 
 overtures have been made to allow himself to be nominated for 
 Congress and State Senate, and at one period for President, in 
 1868, in New York, where his oratorical ability and brilliant 
 originality would have been of incalculable service to the party 
 he espoused. But, however distasteful the profession with which 
 he was connected, he shrank from the harassing turmoil, agita- 
 tions, and antagonisms of political strife, and preferred to reign 
 supreme in the more remunerative, if less exalted, walk of life, 
 which in later years he invested with a distinction unknown prior 
 to his advent. 
 
 A waif thrown on the world at an almost childish age, yet 
 struggling with the inherent ambition of his nature to build up 
 a name and position, surrounded by influences which would dis- 
 may the less resolute, and combating circumstances which were 
 most unfavorable to the development of his genius, yet with the 
 indomitable spirit of a hero, in whose vocabulary there was no 
 such word as fail, he succeeded in establishing a name and repu- 
 tation which will live after these memoirs have left his memory 
 behind. And yet his name will live forever fragrant with 
 memories of his many charitable and beneficent bequests, which 
 are not the less appreciated because unblazoned and without 
 ostentation. 
 
 His rise was rapid, meteoric; from his school-boy days when 
 he succeeded in upsetting the gravity of the learned faculty of 
 Princeton with ludicrous translations and burlesque construc- 
 tions of the ancient classics, making game of august professors 
 in grave discussions upon disputed points in ethics, and finally 
 on his way home, with a " flea in his ear " and his expulsion in 
 his pocket, on up to when, still a mere lad, he is soon after found 
 • in the West, eliciting the most sapient of sayings from the most 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 erudite of pigs, dancing himself into the good graces of the Dig- 
 gers about Galena, 111., as a veritable Ethiopian — his life was ka- 
 leidoscopic. Now we find him running the gauntlet of the 
 authorities of Davenport and Eock Island for licenses unpaid, 
 disseminating Mormon doctrines, with an especial commission 
 from Joe Smith at $50 per month, to see a miracle, to which Ma- 
 homet's coffin was not a circumstance. 
 
 Next we find him exposing the great mesmerizer De Bonne- 
 ville, for being too strong a competitor of his learned pig, and 
 the next day, having lured away his subject, lecturing upon 
 Phreno-mesmerism, with an eclat to which the great Magnetizer 
 could not aspire. Political controversies, temperance lectures, 
 herculean labor, comic negro songs, and still more comical 
 speeches — with itinerant shows — leading characters in the Peri- 
 patetic Thespian Corps — everything served to keep the ball in 
 motion, until about three years after, when Dan succeeded 
 in discovering the true bent of his genius and set himself to 
 work to achieve a reputation. 
 
 Indefatigable study, incessant researches, and a more than 
 usual share of nature's gifts, caused the mountebank who made 
 his debut as a clown of a circus on the Western prairies, three 
 years since, to wake up in New York four months afterward 
 with a fame well-nigh world-wide. From this time his strides 
 to the goal of his ambition were rapid. Taken by the hand in 
 New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore by many who detected 
 the latent spark of genius, there was soon presented the singular 
 spectacle of a fool in motley dress calling out audiences who had 
 never before deigned to cater to anything less artistic than an 
 Italian opera troupe or a five-act tragedy. His rise was meteor- 
 like, bringing to bear as he did, all the accessories with which his 
 varied life had made him familiar. 
 
 Truly his career furnishes an extraordinary example of what 
 can be accomplished by tact, combined with indomitable per- 
 severance and energy. In the course of his life he made and 
 spent several fortunes, rendered his name "as familiar as a 
 household word " in every part of the United States, and created 
 a prestige for the establishment which he originated, and which 
 was exceeded in popularity only by the striking originality of 
 Colonel Rice himself. As the proprietor of the " One-Horse 
 Show," struggling against the opposition of capital, harassed and 
 annoyed bv persecutions, he enlisted the sympathy of the public 
 to a wonderful degree, and from that equestrian establishment 
 in which the equine department was represented by and consoli- 
 dated in one solitary horse, had grown the monster exhibition 
 which made him world famous. As a trainer of animals, he stood 
 without a rival. He was the only man who ever succeeded in 
 
PREFACE Vll 
 
 subduing the rhinoceros. 'Those who have witnessed the ex- 
 traordinary feats of the horses, Excelsior and Excelsior, Jr., the 
 former of which was the identical horse which constituted the 
 " One-Horse Show," cannot have failed to appreciate his skill as 
 a horseman. Still, his great reputation has been gained as a 
 humorist, a cognomen which he introduced in contradistinction 
 to that of the ordinary circus clown, and in which capacity he was 
 acknowledged to stand without an equal. His originality, his 
 ready wit, and his entire good sense, combined to render his 
 delineation of that r61e acceptable to every class of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 He had ever a way of doing everything and saying everything 
 that may be considered idiosyncratic and might be called " Dan 
 Eice-ish." Ordinary subjects received new interest from the 
 garb with which he clothed them. No person probably had ever 
 become a more universal favorite. 
 
 His great personal popularity, and the moral force he carried 
 with him, as the embodiment of everything respectable in the 
 circle, were the secret of his signal triumphs throughout two 
 continents. 
 
 In this biographical age, when almost every ambitious char- 
 acter imagines that the public has an interest in his antecedents, 
 Lord Byron's celebrated quotation is brought to mind: 
 
 " "Pis pleasant to see one's name in print, 
 A book's a book, tho' there's nothing in't." 
 
 It was not so in bygone days when only the memoirs of men 
 or women were published whose fame and remarkable lives were 
 a certain guarantee to both the public and the publisher. To 
 the former, that the perusal would well repay the cost and time, 
 and to the latter that the books would not be left upon his hands 
 and eventually sold as waste paper. In presenting in this vol- 
 ume, the life of Dan Eiee, the biographer feels that she is about 
 to place before the public a volume of an entirely different de- 
 scription to the dull and uninteresting works alluded to. It will 
 contain a series of adventures and incidents alternating from 
 grave to gay; descriptive scenes and thrilling events; the record of 
 half a century of a remarkable life, in the course of which the sub- 
 ject was brought into contact with many of the national celebri- 
 ties of the day. It will abound in anecdotes, humorous and other- 
 wise; and it will afford a clearer view of the inside mysteries of 
 show life than any account heretofore published. 
 
 As a journalist also, he has figured successfully; his paper, 
 " The Cosmopolite," of Girard, Pa., having had, and still con- 
 tinues to maintain, a wide circulation throughout the Lake 
 States. 
 
Vlll PREFACE 
 
 In short, the " Memoirs " will be found replete with such a 
 strange and varied round of adventures, as to supply additional 
 evidence that " truth is stranger than fiction." A biographical 
 sketch of Dan Eice's parentage is introduced, which will contain 
 interesting and hitherto unpublished incidents in the lives of 
 Aaron Burr, Madame Jumel, and other historical personages of 
 a bygone age. 
 
 In closing this synoptic analysis of Mr. Eice's professional 
 career that is so full of phenomenal development, especial pride 
 is taken in giving to the world the best that can be produced 
 from the gifted pen of the critic and the established customs 
 that sway the masses. In weighing the words of cultured men 
 we are brought within the limit of their understanding, and the 
 exacting tide of popular approval, or otherwise, is the inevitable 
 result; therefore, the character delineated by an accurate esti- 
 mate of true worth and actual merit shines forth with bright 
 effulgence through deeds that have crowned themselves with 
 more than ordinary lustre and acknowledgment. "Without a 
 peer in his particular sphere in the amusement world, he still 
 stands as a monarch whose fame is untarnished by the buff etings 
 of clannish presumers, and whose strength has been tried by time 
 and its progress. His fortress has been the hearts of the people 
 and an impenetrable stronghold he found in their unbiased 
 opinions, which place he still occupies and fondly cherishes with 
 a name unscarred by design and its adjuncts. The indescribable 
 traits inherent in his character in earlier life can be traced 
 through all the later efforts of his maturer years; and in those 
 characteristics probably lie the secret of the brilliant successes 
 that have pronounced him the Prince of Jesters and the pride of 
 the social circle in which he moved. With a strength of resolve 
 to bravely meet every apparent duty pointed out by the finger of 
 fate, he promptly responded with his versatile talent and em- 
 phasized it by unselfish contributions in a monetary way, as has 
 been demonstrated by innumerable expressions of public grati- 
 tude that repaid him a thousand-fold. "Without a thought of 
 holding malice, this impenetrable character has calmed the rage 
 of his enemies and offered the hand of good-fellowship to his 
 fallen foes when bitter antagonism waged its war of words in the 
 press and circus ring; but, through all, his star was in the ascend- 
 ancy, and vindictive accusations were buried in charity by this 
 old-time knight of the circle. Bright oases these to encounter 
 in the arduous toils of a busy, public life of over a half a century, 
 contending with every phase of strife, professional, political, and 
 social. The world is critical in its judgment of prominent men 
 whose lives are open to inspection, and these pages invite its in- 
 tellectual perusal; but it is also humane in pronouncing its sen- 
 
PREFACE IX 
 
 tences, which cannot but give to its retinue of subjects the un- 
 tarnished name of the Jester Clown, Dan Kice. 
 
 Dan Kice, the world-renowned jester, is no longer before the 
 public as the life and soul of the arena, the presiding spirit whose 
 original jests, gibes, and witticisms were wont to keep the con- 
 gregated thousands in a roar, but, fortunately, through his cour- 
 tesy, the author of this work has had the privilege of inspecting 
 a pile of manuscripts and papers sufficient to enable her to pre- 
 sent to the public a volume of the great jester's most pungent 
 jokes, comic harangues, caustic hits upon men and manners, 
 lectures, anecdotes, sketches of adventure, original songs and 
 poetical effusions; wise and witty, serious, satirical, and senti- 
 mental sayings of the sawdust arena of other days. The author 
 has been induced to issue this work at the earnest request of a 
 host of Col. Dan Eice's friends and old admirers; at the same 
 time the young of the present generation will be enabled to com- 
 pare the genius of the motley representatives of the past with the 
 weak and degenerate wearers of the cap and bells of to-day. Its 
 perusal, while it will assuredly excite the risibilities of the most 
 unimpressionable, will be found not lacking in instructive mat- 
 ter. No public character has experienced a more checkered life, 
 and it may be truly said that no one, either belonging to the 
 legitimate drama, or the tented circle, has acquired the widely- 
 spread fame or popularity of Colonel Eice. With these few 
 prefatorial remarks, this literary venture is launched, leaving a 
 discriminating public to pass upon its merits. 
 
Reminiscences of Dan Rice 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 DAN BICE'S PARENTAGE — AN EPISODE OF LOVE, AND AN 
 ELOPEMENT — THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE NEVER RUNS 
 SMOOTH — BIRTH OF THE HERO AND SEPARATION OF HIS 
 PARENTS — A LEAF IN THE HISTORY OF AARON BURR AND 
 MADAME JUMEL — THE MATCH-MAKER — MARRIAGE AND 
 DIVORCE — AN ENGAGEMENT BROKEN THROUGH A BAD SET 
 OF TEETH — A GRATEFUL AND MUNIFICENT BEQUEST. 
 
 THEEE are few men living whose lives have been so ad- 
 venturous or characterized by what may be termed " ups 
 and downs" of life as the hero of these memoirs. While the 
 placid course of an uneventful life may be, and is, the lot of 
 many, there are others whose careers are traced by a series of 
 events, many of which would serve as a sensational chapter of a 
 novel, while some may be criticised as imaginative and unreal. 
 
 At the solicitation of many of the personal friends of Dan 
 Eiee, the biographer has been induced to compile for publication 
 the reminiscences of a period of his existence, dating from early 
 boyhood, through the teeming years which have since intervened. 
 
 To give the reader a correct insight into the influences which 
 in a measure controlled his after life, a brief review of his par- 
 entage and the events preceding his birth is necessary, and it 
 will then be understood that the name of Dan Eice is merely a 
 patronymic that has withstood the tests of intelligent criticism. 
 His father, Daniel McLaren, was born in the city of New York, 
 and resided in Mulberry Street, which was at that time one of 
 the best business and residential sections of the city. His mother 
 was Elizabeth Crum, the daughter of Eichard Crum, a Methodist 
 preacher, who was born in Haverstraw, N. Y., in the year 1763. 
 Mr Crum afterward, in early manhood, settled in Ocean Town- 
 ship, in Monmouth County, N. J., and, being married, he became 
 the father of a numerous progeny, fourteen of whom survived 
 and reached maturity. Our hero's mother was the tenth child, 
 
2 REMINISCENCES OE DAN KICE 
 
 being born March 4, 1803, and as she was evidently the favorite 
 of her father, more than usual pains were taken with her educa- 
 tion, and, contrary to the usages of prevailing customs at that 
 period, she was indulged, perhaps too much so, to participate in 
 the enjoyment of many social privileges that belonged to older 
 maidens. 
 
 It was thus at the age of eighteen, she was allowed to attend 
 several "merry-makings" and dances held at Long Branch, a 
 short distance from the paternal home, and it was on one of these 
 occasions that she met young Daniel McLaren. 
 
 It was the old, old story of love at first sight, and the friend- 
 ship thus formed became essential to the happiness of both, for 
 it early terminated in an elopement to New York. Young Mc- 
 Laren, being prompted by entirely pure motives, would not allow 
 a shadow of a reflection to rest upon the fair name of the maiden 
 of his choice, so on the return journey the couple stopped at 
 Heghtstown in New Jersey, where they were married by a Jus- 
 tice of the Peace. This happened in the year 1821, and the 
 young bride was taken to her husband's home on Mulberry Street, 
 where, on the 25th of January, in the year 1823, she gave 
 birth to the subject of these memoirs. Daniel McLaren, being 
 the only son, was a partner with his father in the grocery business, 
 but, meanwhile, following the inclinations of his talent, he was 
 studying law under the famous Aaron Burr, of whom he became 
 an ardent admirer. During all this time there had been a 
 vigilant search by Mr. Crum, to locate the runaway bride, which 
 finally proved successful, when the indignant father immediately 
 instituted proceedings against McLaren, and by means of a writ 
 issued by the court, she was forcibly taken from her husband 
 and returned to her old home at the farm. The marriage was 
 declared null and void, and a suit was instituted against our 
 hero's father for seduction. Damages to the amount of $1,000 
 were awarded, which sum, being paid, was transferred to the 
 child's mother to be held in trust for the boy. Little Dan was 
 subsequently in his mother's custody taken to the home of her 
 father, and, although the grandfather loved the child for his 
 daughter's sake, his misguided judgment never forgave Daniel 
 McLaren, and he would not allow his grandson to use his father's 
 surname, bestowing upon him the surname Bice which belonged 
 to the maternal side. Thus all intercourse between his parents 
 ceased. It was an impulsive love match, a rose-tinted dream that 
 filled two young lives unfolding to the experiences of this world's 
 cares, and a rude awakening by arbitrary and unnatural condi- 
 tions, that created a sorrowful conclusion. 
 
 The parting was final. The mother, now that her marriage 
 had been pronounced invalid, impelled only by a filial discern- 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 3 
 
 ment of duty, made reconciliation with the high-strung McLaren 
 impossible, and so the young husband lived only in her memory. 
 
 It has been previously stated that little Dan's father was 
 equally interested with Daniel McLaren, St., in the grocery 
 business. It was at that time one of the largest establishments 
 embraced in that line in New York, and its patronage was com- 
 posed of many of the select families, who preferred to have their 
 articles guaranteed, a fact that savors of probable adulteration 
 even at that early day. Among those who availed themselves of 
 securing the best standard articles at the McLaren establishment 
 was the historic Aaron Burr. It was here he purchased his claret, 
 imported liquors, tea, etc., the firm being widely celebrated for 
 their excellent quality of the latter article, the senior partner 
 having been, in conjunction with John Jacob Astor, one of the 
 earliest importers of tea in the United States. 
 
 Another patron of the establishment was the famous Madame 
 Jumel, whose name is so inseparably connected with the later life 
 of Aaron Burr. This was in 1822. Madame Jumel was a woman 
 of more than ordinary attractions, and her husband, although 
 considerably older, was one of the finest specimens of well-pre- 
 served manhood in New York. His death occurred as the result 
 of an accident by the collision of his vehicle with a carman's dray 
 at one of the wharves. The carman's horse becoming frightened 
 and unmanageable, fell from the wharf into the river and was 
 drowned, and Mr. Jumel was thrown from the light cart he was 
 driving. The accident was witnessed by a crowd of people, who 
 loudly expressed their sympathy with the drayman, and Jumel, 
 who did not at the time realize the extent of the internal injury 
 he had received, drew from his purse a bill, and, presenting it to 
 the carman, said to the crowd, "I pity him ten dollars. How 
 much do you pity him? " The carman by this means realized 
 an amount that more than covered the value of the horse he had 
 lost, but Mr. Jumel was destined to succumb to the unfortunate 
 accident. 
 
 He was seventy years of age when he died, while his widow was 
 but little past the prime of life, and in the full flush of her 
 womanly charms. Young McLaren had become well acquainted 
 with Madame Jumel by frequently calling to make collections for 
 her purchases at the establishment, and at this juncture she 
 consulted him upon engaging a competent and reliable person to 
 look after her estate and personal matters. 
 
 As previously stated, although equally interested in business 
 with his father, young McLaren was a law student under the 
 instruction of Aaron Burr, and although he never became an 
 active practitioner, he was considered an excellent authority where 
 difficult legal questions were involved. With an inclination to 
 
4 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 advance the interests of his preceptor, he named Aaron Burr as 
 eminently the best selection she could make. Madame Jumel, hav- 
 ing heard many unfavorable reports of Mr. Burr's previous ca- 
 reer, made objections to McLaren's recommendations, but he 
 pleaded so effectually in Burr's behalf that she finally agreed 
 to consult him, and the interview resulted in Madame Jumel in- 
 stalling him as her agent and attorney. 
 
 At the time of Madame JumePs first consultation with Mr. 
 Burr at his office in Eeed Street, he was seventy years of age, but 
 of most fascinating presence, being straight, active, and agile, 
 with a perfect Chesterfieldian deportment. 
 
 Little Dan's father, who is credited with a penchant for match- 
 making, and who really was as much of an adept in the art as 
 any diplomatic duenna exploiting the charms of some fair 
 debutante, was not slow to perceive the favorable impression 
 made by the elderly Adonis upon the susceptible widow, and 
 forthwith conceived the idea of consummating a match which he 
 succeeded in carrying to a successful conclusion. Aaron Burr 
 had no more steadfast friend than Daniel McLaren, whose sin- 
 gularly devoted zeal continued to the last, but it may be said that 
 few lived who could exercise a more masterly influence over those 
 of either sex than Aaron Burr. 
 
 All this happened in 1830, the year when the cholera first 
 visited America, and Madame Jumel, after delegating her busi- 
 ness affairs to Aaron Burr, decided to take a carriage tour in the 
 interior of the State. During the trip she visited Saratoga 
 which about that time became celebrated for its waters. Since 
 his clandestine marriage and the loss of his young bride, Daniel 
 McLaren, Jr., by successful enterprise and strict attention to 
 business had become what in those days was considered wealthy. 
 In the year 1853, he was elected President of the New Jersey, 
 Lombard & Protection Bank, and subsequently he purchased 
 a large property at the Saratoga Springs which he assisted in 
 making famous by a work which he published concerning its 
 medicinal waters and which went through several editions. 
 
 Madame Jumel's visit to Saratoga resulted in her purchase of a 
 completely furnished house from young McLaren, but she did 
 not make it a permanent residence, and only visited it occasion- 
 ally. Meanwhile her intimacy with Aaron Burr became more 
 and more pronounced, and the result was a marriage, kept secret 
 for a while, but finally being publicly acknowledged. 
 
 The subsequent separation of Mr. Burr and Madame Jumel was 
 caused by a land speculation in Texas and an effort on the part 
 of Aaron Burr to found a German colony on the property. He 
 and Daniel McLaren had, in 1830, bought considerable property 
 in that part of the country, then a dependency of Mexico. Some 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 5 
 
 time after this marriage, Burr fitted out an expedition, consisting 
 of Germans of both sexes, for the purpose of settling the land, 
 but it was not successful, and the money which he had used, 
 consisting of collections from the Jumel estate, was a total loss. 
 Madame Jumel-Burr became very indignant, and insisted upon 
 taking the management of the estate out of his hands. This he 
 resisted, and a controversy ensued, which created a breach that 
 even the friendly interposition of the " mutual friend " failed to 
 heal, and a separation was the result. Notwithstanding this state 
 of affairs existing between them, when Madame Jumel learned 
 that Mr. Burr was lying ill, she buried her prejudices, went to his 
 relief, and had him taken to her own home where she could 
 minister to his wants by proper attendance. As a result, their 
 marital differences were healed, but not for long. A violent 
 rupture followed later, making a final separation inevitable. The 
 fateful tract of land that created the lifelong difference between 
 Burr and Madame Jumel, was subsequently purchased by Mr. 
 McLaren. 
 
 The tragic termination of the Burr marriage did not alienate 
 the friendship existing between Madame Jumel and McLaren, 
 and she continued to consult him on legal matters. Business 
 again engendered the tender passion, and Madame Jumel-Burr 
 was ready to assume a new role under the name of McLaren, and 
 so become a stepmother to no less a personage than Dan Bice 
 himself. She was little more than " forty " and exceedingly fair, 
 and Mr. McLaren admired her beauty and her wit alike. The 
 obstacle that prevented Dan Bice from having Madame Jumel 
 for a stepmother is as odd a one as any in his varied career. 
 
 Mr. McLaren was a fine specimen of physical manhood, except 
 in one respect. His teeth were very defective, and Madame Jumel, 
 as she has always been called in spite of her marriage to Burr, 
 could not endure an ugly mouth. She agreed to become Mrs. 
 McLaren on condition that Daniel should have his teeth ex- 
 tracted and replaced by a complete new set. This seems arduous 
 enough even now, but in those days the dentist was generally a 
 barber by trade and a dentist for amusement. The ordeal which 
 Daniel McLaren was thus called to face, before the time of an- 
 aesthetics, was frightful and he protested that marriage on such 
 conditions cost too much. 
 
 But she insisted that she would not have a man with such a 
 "mouthful of snaggle teeth," and as both were obstinate, the 
 projected marriage came to naught. People who had watched 
 the progress of the courtship, said that, however smart McLaren 
 had proved himself in matchmaking for others, he had most 
 signally failed in making one for himself. Mr. Bice says that 
 his father should have married the Madam in spite of his teeth. 
 
6 REMINISCENCES OF DAN MCE 
 
 Among his many acts of free-handed generosity there was one 
 which especially is worthy of mention, inasmuch as it was a 
 benefaction which brought a ten-fold return. As early as 1820 
 he gave the command of the schooner " Comet," originally a 
 privateer in the War of 1812, and which he had purchased, to an 
 impecunious friend, one Captain Brown, who, however, con- 
 tinued to be pursued by bad luck in every venture. McLaren, 
 nevertheless stuck to him and advanced him several thousand 
 dollars to help him to a fresh start in business. Captain Brown's 
 affairs took a turn and he acquired what at that time was con- 
 sidered a princely fortune. He did not forget the generous hand 
 which had lifted him from the mire of poverty. He was one of 
 the wealthiest men in Arkansas, and at his death it was found 
 that his early' benefactor was down in his will for $100,000. Col. 
 U. Brown, for he bore that title at the period of his death, was 
 one of the most popular men in the State. The hero of that act 
 of friendship was the father of the famous fighter, Commodore 
 Brown, of the Confederate navy, whose exploit in running the 
 Union blockade at the mouth of the Yazoo Eiver forms one of 
 the thrilling incidents of the late War of the Eebellion. The 
 blockading fleet seemed to have cut off all hope of escape, but 
 Commodore Brown took it by surprise, dashed boldly through in 
 the early morning and got away with a badly crippled but still 
 seaworthy vessel, the ram " Arkansas." After the war the gal- 
 lant tar purchased a cotton plantation in Mississippi just opposite 
 Helena, Ark., and lived there in delightful retirement until 
 within a few years. There, too, Mr. Kice, the prince of clowns, 
 has often been entertained by his friend and admirer of his 
 father. 
 
 In the latter part of his life Dan Bice's father succeeded 
 to the sole grocery business in Pine Street, New York. One 
 hundred thousand dollars in uncollectable debts remained on his 
 books when he died, and their perusal offers the student of human 
 nature a curious satire on the morals of what we term society 
 even that long ago. McLaren's generosity was not confined to 
 the extension of credit to hungry and thirsty gentility. In his 
 papers there is a hotel bill which he paid at Saratoga for the 
 lovely and unfortunate wife of that Blennerhassett who was 
 tempted to his destruction by his friend Aaron Burr. It read as 
 
 foUowB: Saratoga Springs, August 14, 1832. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Blennerhassett, to Lewis Putnam, Dr. 
 To Board and Entertainment for Mrs. B., serv't and child, 
 
 being 2 weeks $13 
 
 Bec'd Thirteen dollars from D. McLaren this Aug't 14, in full 
 
 Lewis Putnam. 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 7 
 
 This lady was the wife of the celebrated Harman Blenner- 
 hassett, who was a victim of Burr's conspiracy. He was born in 
 Hampshire, England, but possessed of large Irish estates, which 
 he sold for $100,000 and came to America in 1797, where he pur- 
 chased an island of 170 acres on the Ohio Eiver, a short distance 
 below Parkersburg, Va. Upon this island he built a fine man- 
 sion, with all the embellishments which wealth and taste could 
 command. His home became widely known for its elegance and 
 the culture that distinguished its inmates, and among the visitors 
 to this beautiful retreat was Aaron Burr, who became acquainted 
 there in 1805. He soon enlisted his host in his Mexican schemes 
 in the belief that the country was likely to be involved in a war 
 with Spain, and a fortune might easily be made by enterprise. 
 Burr was to be emperor and Blennerhasset a duke and ambas- 
 sador to England. In this way Blennerhasset was induced to 
 invest largely in boats, provisions, arms, and ammunition. He 
 left his home and family and went to Kentucky, where being 
 warned of Burr's real designs, he returned to the island greatly 
 disheartened. However, through Burr's solicitations, backed by 
 his wife's influence, who had now enlisted in the undertaking 
 with her whole soul, he yielded to the overture of the project. 
 
 A proclamation against the scheme having been published 
 by President Jefferson, Blennerhassett, who was in hourly expec- 
 tation of being arrested, escaped from the island and, managing 
 to elude pursuit, joined Burr's flotilla at the mouth of the Cum- 
 berland Eiver. He was afterward arrested and sent to Eich- 
 mond for trial in 1807, but the case against Burr having resulted 
 in acquittal, the other conspirators were discharged. 
 
 In the meantime his island had been seized by creditors and 
 everything upon it that could be converted into money was sold 
 at a ruinous sacrifice. The beautiful grounds were used for the 
 culture of hemp, the mansion being converted into a storehouse 
 for the crops. In 1811 he endeavored to recover from Governor 
 Alston, Burr's son-in-law, $22,500, a balance of some $50,000 
 for which he alleged Alston was responsible. He afterward 
 bought 1,000 acres of land near Port Gibson, Miss., for a cotton 
 plantation, on which ground Dan Eice has many a time since 
 erected his show tent. But the "War of 1812 prostrated all com- 
 mercial enterprises. Becoming continually poorer, in 1819 he 
 removed his family to Montreal, where for a time he practiced 
 law. He subsequently sailed for Ireland in 1822 to prosecute 
 a reversionary interest still existing there, and in this he failed. 
 He next endeavored to procure employment from Portugal and 
 from the United States of Colombia. But during the latter years 
 of his life he was supported by his maiden sister who, at her 
 death, bequeathed her property to his wife and children. 
 
8 KEMINISCENCES OP DAK EICE 
 
 Mme. Blennerhassett published two volumes of poetry — in 
 1822, " The Deserted Isle " and in 1824 " The Widow of the 
 Eock." Henry Clay presented to Congress her petition for re- 
 imbursement for her losses by the United States, but she died 
 before it could be acted on, in the care of the Sisters of Charity 
 in New York City. Dan Bice's father paid for the education of 
 one of her sons, the lawyer, afterward a somewhat noted prac- 
 titioner, who became a citizen of St. Louis, where Dan Eice has 
 often been his client. Mrs. Blennerhassett was a lovely and 
 virtuous woman, who won the respect and admiration of all who 
 knew her. 
 
 In taking a backward glance at the career of Aaron Burr, it is a 
 pathetic appeal to the humanizing instincts that mark the gener- 
 ous thought of our progressive age. With his proud spirit broken 
 by the weight of repeated failures; when his foes assailed him in 
 the decline of his power and his friends had not the courage to 
 uplift him in his helplessness, he turned in sorrow and humilia- 
 tion from the social world and vanished into retirement, appeal- 
 ing to his daughter, Mrs. Alston, of South Carolina, to come to 
 him and thus, by her presence, help him to regain a renewed 
 hold on life. This request from her father touched the sensitive 
 nature of Mrs. Alston, arid as her failing health required a change 
 of climate, she decided to join him on Staten Island and share 
 his loneliness. All the world knows the sad sequel, and can ten- 
 der its generous sympathy, even at this late day, for the anguish 
 of one of our most conspicuous lights of the historical past. 
 
 When the news finally reached Aaron Burr in New York, that 
 his daughter, Theodosia, had lost her life on .the North Carolina 
 coast by the wrecking of the pilot boat " Patriot," on which she 
 had taken passage in order to reach her father at the earliest 
 possible moment, his strong spirit was crushed by his terrible 
 loss and her sad misfortune. In the midst of these trials, when 
 the shadows were gathering fast around his life, and painful 
 memories thrust their realities before him for future retrospect, 
 he sent for his trusted and valued friend, Daniel McLaren, know- 
 ing full well that his sympathies were genuine and his friendship 
 unalloyed. Mr. Eice informs us that Burr entrusted to his 
 father the management of a private arrangement to investigate 
 the wrecking of the " Patriot," for floating rumors aroused a sus- 
 picion that the vessel might probably have fallen into the hands 
 of the land pirates who infested the Carolina coast and those of 
 other States where the sand-bars and other formations made it 
 dangerous for shipping in those times when the government 
 signals were sparsely scattered along the water line. The land 
 pirates, taking advantage of that fact, continued to follow their 
 unholy calling by placing decoy signals, luring the vessels out 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 9 
 
 of safe paths in tempestuous weather and causing them to strand 
 on the bars and shoals; when, under the pretense of giving aid to 
 the unfortunate crew and passengers in acts of mercy, they would 
 board the stranded wreck, secure the valuables, and inhumanly 
 compel the people to " walk the plank." 
 
 Many a life was lost under such circumstances, and many dark 
 deeds and weird scenes were enacted, whose haunting memories 
 still live in the shadowed history of those early days. Being 
 satisfied that such was the fact in regard to the unfortunate 
 " Patriot," upon which the daughter of Aaron Burr took passage, 
 Daniel McLaren, as previously intimated, privately planned and 
 financially supported the investigation that successfully proved 
 beyond a doubt the truth of the rumors that reported the fatality 
 of the pilot boat " Patriot " on the first day of January, 1813. 
 At that period there was a shrewd, prominent public character 
 in New York, by the name of Hayes, and Mr. Eice informs us 
 that, judging from his father's description and his own personal 
 boyhood knowledge of the man, he possessed all the intriguing 
 qualities of a Byrnes and the penetrating cleverness of the 
 Pinkertons of to-day, in the subtle points of the police and de- 
 tective service. This man, possessing all these natural capacities, 
 was well fortified for the mission to unravel the tangled ends of 
 the mystery surrounding the death of Aaron Burr's beautiful 
 daughter. 
 
 So Daniel McLaren, interesting himself in the cause of suffer- 
 ing humanity, secured this man's confidence and furnished him 
 with funds to promote the object, and satisfy his old friend and 
 previous instructor as to the real fate of his cherished child. 
 Therefore, nearly six months after the wrecking of the " Patriot," 
 Mr. Hayes started from New York, furnished with ample means, 
 disguises, etc., and with such instructions as would assist him 
 in his mission of mercy, and arrived in Norfolk, Va., on the first 
 day of June. In due time he began his investigations. Dis- 
 guising himself as a sailor, he visited their lodging-houses and 
 resorts, and by affecting the seaman's swagger, slang, etc., he 
 soon became quite popular among the seafaring fraternity, and 
 won, in time, their confidence. In making inroads upon their 
 prejudices by offering occasional " grogs " whenever and wher- 
 ever they met, he gained an insight into the true character of the 
 different individuals; and, by insinuating his familiarities, he 
 gradually began to weave his web around the victims. After 
 succeeding, by long, persistent efforts, in finding among his boon 
 companions the wreckers of the " Patriot," he sought their so- 
 ciety and gained their confidence to such a degree that they re- 
 vealed their places of rendezvous and gave to him the secrets of 
 the wrecking system. The vantage ground of the "bankers" 
 
10 EEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 was on the long sand-bars that fence the coast outside of Curri- 
 tuck, Albemarle, and Pamlico Sound, and they explained for his 
 benefit the " bankers' " method, and related, among other inci- 
 dents, the story of the wreck of the " Patriot," and of their im- 
 plication in the death of the crew and passengers, among whom 
 was a beautiful lady. Mr. Hayes was now confident that he had 
 sufficient evidence to justify his opinion that he had the 
 assassins within his grasp, so he hastened the proceedings. He 
 had the three men placed under arrest, and, at the hearing before 
 the magistrate, they made a confession and gave to the world 
 the solved mystery of the "Patriot." The main incidents at 
 the trial were as follows: 
 
 A decoy signal had lured the fated " Patriot " on a sand-bank 
 off Kitty Hawk and Nags' Head, and the " bankers," after board- 
 ing the vessel, rifled the crew and passengers of money, jewels, 
 and other valuables. Every individual was either killed in hand- 
 to-hand combat or forced to " walk the plank." 
 
 To the great surprise of the pirates, the beautiful lady, who 
 was none other than Theodosia, the daughter of Aaron Burr, 
 sprang forward of her own accord, and, rushing along the cruel 
 pathway, threw her arms imploringly to heaven as she sank be- 
 neath the waves. And the sweet spirit of Theodosia Burr was 
 soon beyond the reach of such painfully cruel experiences in the 
 calm of a merciful forgetfulness. Before she made the fatal 
 plunge, the leader of the pirates, perhaps imbued at that moment 
 by a faint gleam of conscience, shouted his orders to " save the 
 lady." But they came too late to prevent the tragedy. Thus 
 perished one of the most beautiful, accomplished, and perfect 
 women of those days of chivalry. Besides being the daughter of 
 a man whose historic career had made him famous as a true friend 
 to those who had tested his friendship, and an enemy to be feared 
 when justice to himself demanded it, this superior woman was 
 also the gifted wife of Governor Alston, of South Carolina, who 
 worshipped her memory as the fleeting years brought him nearer 
 to the pure retreat of her spirit's home. Thus, through the com- 
 bined efforts of Daniel McLaren and Mr. Hayes, together with 
 the full approval of Aaron Burr, the death of that lovely woman, 
 Theodosia Burr- Alston was avenged, and the three arrested men, 
 Abner Smith, Joseph Gale, and George Boebeck, the self-ac- 
 cused criminals, paid the penalty with their lives, being hanged 
 on June 28, 1813. 
 
 The only hope that served to brighten the declining years of 
 Aaron Burr had vanished with his daughter's life, and he never 
 ceased to mourn her loss. Being in ill-health at the time, almost 
 ruined socially and financially, and living in anticipation of the 
 expected coming of his daughter, who had previously written to 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 11 
 
 him that she would take passage on the " Patriot " in coming to 
 New York, as Captain Carter was her husband's friend, and she 
 would feel safe under his supervision in the hazardous journey 
 before her, he felt that her presence would, in a measure, serve 
 to harmonize conflicting opinion and cause a smoother flow as he 
 drifted down with advancing years. But the realization never 
 came, and instead, the sobbing sea sent forth a dirge that moaned 
 the passing of his daughter's life. 
 
 Mr. Eice tells us that his father's authority in guarding the 
 memory of this man is unbiased in its authenticity, notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that the world has been prejudiced and taught to 
 think differently. Mr. McLaren has said that "those who 
 were closely associated with Aaron Burr and were intimately 
 acquainted with the inside character of his private life never 
 failed to find anything but grand incentives engendered in his 
 great mind, that have ever been misinterpreted, because of 
 a universal failure to approach his nature correctly, and 'give 
 honor to whom honor is due.' The proof of which is evident 
 in the fact that his natural pride never indulged in controversies 
 in defence of himself." 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE MANAHAN ROMANCE — THE MOTHER'S REMARRIAGE — LITTLE 
 DAN'S BOYHOOD DATS IN NEW YORK — HE LEARNS TO 
 RIDE AT FIVE, AND BECOMES A SUCCESSFUL QUARTER- 
 HORSE JOCKEY — TAKEN BY MANAHAN TO PHILADELPHIA 
 AND TRENTON TO RIDE, WITHOUT HIS MOTHER'S KNOWL- 
 EDGE — SERVING MILK IN A MINIATURE CART — THE TWO 
 DUFFY BROTHERS — DAN'S INDEPENDENT NATURE — HIS 
 ADVENTURES — PETER COOPER HIS LIFELONG ERIEND. 
 
 w 
 
 HEN little Dan Eice had spent two years on the farm in 
 New Jersey, where he acquired his love of fresh air and 
 nature, his mother, who had resumed her maiden name since 
 her separation from his father, went to New York on a visit to 
 her sister, Mrs. Hugh Eeed, who lived at the corner of Centre and 
 Franklin Streets, near where the Tombs now stands. The milk 
 Baby Dan drank, while on this visit, came from Manahan & Mills, 
 who managed one of the largest dairies in the city, and it was 
 served each morning by Mr. Manahan himself. In those days 
 Manahan was considered a handsome man of pleasing address, 
 and Miss Crum was young and gifted in like manner; therefore 
 it is not strange that Cupid's darts pierced both hearts and 
 
12 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 created a courtship, for such it proved to be, that was carried on 
 like that of the reapers and milkmaids in the old song, " In the 
 early morn." 
 
 The young mother had, during the early part of their acquaint- 
 ance, confided to him the story of her life and unpropitious mar- 
 riage, and as she was then beyond the age of parental interfer- 
 ence, she accepted his proposal, and after six months they were 
 married at the home of her sister, Mrs. Eeed. As the mother had 
 command of the one thousand dollars received from her former 
 husband, at which time she assumed the position of trustee of 
 her boy, she very unwisely allowed a portion of this sum to be 
 invested in purchasing the dairy interest of Mills, Manahan's 
 partner, and also in still further increasing the capacity of the 
 establishment. The newly wedded pair had commenced house- 
 keeping on Mulberry Street, at a point between Spring and 
 Prince Streets, and were seemingly devoted to each other; and in 
 consequence everything opened propitiously for a happy future. 
 
 Contrary to the usual custom under similar circumstances, 
 little Dan was an especial favorite with his stepfather, who ever 
 treated him with parental affection, so that his early life was 
 nurtured in love and tenderness. 
 
 Through all the peculiar phases of his varied life, Mr. Eice 
 has never forgotten the first accident which befell him in those 
 early days, and it was, indeed, of such a character as to leave a 
 lasting impression through life. Shortly after Manahan's mar- 
 riage, he one day carried little Dan to the dairy stable, in which 
 there was a great commotion amongst the cattle, and he found 
 that a fractious cow had broken loose. Before unfastening the 
 stable door, with a view of securing the unruly animal, Manahan 
 stood the boy upon a plank lying across a huge square box of 
 stable earth. It required several minutes to restore order in the 
 stable, but when he returned for Dan he was startled to find that 
 he was no longer in sight. He rushed to the box where the only 
 evidence of the boy's existence was seen in the shape of a small 
 pair of red shoes projecting from the surface. He had toppled 
 over headforemost into the vat, and when drawn out was in- 
 sensible. Had he remained a few seconds longer, this history 
 would never have been written. His first visit to a stable re- 
 sulted unfavorably in a disgusting experience, but did not re- 
 strain him from making repeated trips to where the cattle were 
 stabled, and as time advanced, his childish labor performed its 
 share in the demands of increasing cares. He was accustomed 
 to say in after years that he " matured so early because he had 
 been manured so early," the clown's initiative of his premature 
 entrance into the world's cares and its strifes. And a friend has 
 nlso remarked of Mr. Rice, when drawing a comparison, that " A 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN KICE 13 
 
 jewel found in an offal pile loses none of its worth, but sparkles 
 with increased brilliancy when worn upon the bosom of virtue." 
 
 Instruction, also, at an early age was not lacking to open to 
 the precocious mind of little Dan Rice the rudiments of theories 
 that were of such vital importance in his early advent into prac- 
 tical experiences. When he was four years of age he was sent to 
 school regularly; therefore the foundation was laid for the re- 
 sults that followed in succession in after years. 
 
 The Manahan dairy had in the meantime flourished and the 
 town had grown in such close proximity to it, that a sale was 
 consummated by Dan's parents and the proceeds were invested 
 in Thirteenth Street near Sixth Avenue. Success again followed 
 the Manahan dairy and it prospered, but the city still continued 
 to grow, and finally encroached upon it once more, when a second 
 sale was made, and Manahan established his business in a locality 
 now occupied by Twenty-sixth Street and Sixth Avenue, but 
 which was at that time a remote spot just opposite the Varian 
 Farm. A new era now opened in the life of the little lad, and it . 
 was to his stepfather's love for horses that Dan owed the be- 
 ginning of his career on the turf. Manahan taught him to ride 
 when he was five years old, and he became an expert quarter- 
 horse rider by the time he reached the age of seven. His step- 
 father had a passion for quarter-racing, which was then a prime 
 sport with a large portion of the inhabitants of Manhattan Island, 
 as such pastimes invariably are in such primitive neighborhoods. 
 In these quarter-mile races Dan was generally successful. 
 
 Manahan was the owner of a blooded mare named Black Maria, 
 which he had matched for a half-mile dash against an equally 
 celebrated mare belonging to a man named Ludlow. The race 
 was arranged to come off at Hoboken upon the New Jersey side 
 of the North River, and the excuse that Manahan made for tak- 
 ing Dan away from his mother was that he wanted him to assist 
 in driving home a milch cow. While the party waited at the 
 ferry landing for the boat, the boy, with his natural curiosity ever 
 on the alert, was attracted by the sight of the shipping, and 
 stepping around a pile of eordwood to obtain a better view, 
 grasped a projecting stick which happened to be loose and was 
 instantly precipitated into the water, which, as the weather was 
 cold, was thinly covered with ice. The child sank beneath the 
 surface, but a sailor from a sloop lying at anchor near by had 
 witnessed the accident, plunged in, securing the boy as he rose, 
 and saved him from drowning. Manahan was naturally much 
 alarmed and offered the man ten dollars for risking his life to 
 save that of the lad, but the sailor refused to receive it, remarking 
 " it would be a mean business for a man to make a charge for sav- 
 ing a fellow-creature from drowning." The small fellow-crea- 
 
14 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 ture had, in the meantime, met with a narrow escape, and after 
 he had been resuscitated was put to bed in the Bear Tavern, situ- 
 ated on the site of the well-known Everett's Hotel in Barclay 
 and Vesey Streets. Every precaution was taken to prevent the 
 development of unpleasant results that might arise from his ac- 
 cidental plunge, and by the time his clothing was dried he was 
 again in a condition to meet the requirements of the racing pro- 
 gram, and as an example of the elastic frame and physical en- 
 durance of young Bice, it may be stated that within two hours 
 after the immersion he was on his way to Hoboken, and that he 
 came off the victor in a well-contested race. These scenes oc- 
 curred in 1828, and it may here be mentioned that little Dan 
 heard the declaration of the noble sailor who saved his life, and 
 he treasured it deep in his heart, for from that day he evinced 
 a lively interest in whatever concerned the welfare and advance- 
 ment of seafaring men. In after life, his contributions to the 
 building of Seamen's Bethels and donations to Seamen's Homes 
 were fruitful testimony of the warm feeling he cherished in their 
 behalf, nor has any seaman in distress ever appealed to him for 
 assistance without having cause to hold Dan Rice in grateful 
 remembrance. The assertion can be sustained that sturdy little 
 Dan actually rode quarter-races for his stepfather when he was so 
 small that it was found necessary to insure safety by tying him 
 on the horse, a fact that appeals as a protest against Manahan 
 initiating infancy into the reckless sports of the racing. 
 
 Old New York residents may remember the old yellow tavern 
 that stood on a road that represents the present Sixth Avenue, 
 the space between the tavern and Twenty-first Street being ex- 
 actly a quarter of a mile. This was the track upon which these 
 quarter-races were run, and many an audience composed of the 
 sporting fraternity cheered the jockey in embryo on these occa- 
 sions, and those nearest to him by natural ties little dreamed that 
 in the early future he would begin his life's career by an opening 
 on the racecourse. Although Dan was so young and small, yet 
 he was remarkably strong and athletic, and hence was soon in 
 demand as a rider. He was so proficient in the exercises that 
 the prominent sporting character, Jim Kelly, of Philadelphia, 
 who owned a celebrated horse named Snowball, induced Manahan 
 to take Dan to that city to ride him a thousand-yard race. Snow- 
 ball was, without doubt, the fastest horse of his time, and it is 
 questionable if his superior exists at this day in point of speed. 
 He was matched against General Wilkinson's horse, Buck. It 
 may be here mentioned that General Wilkinson is the officer cred- 
 ited by common report in those days with having given informa- 
 tion to the government concerning the expedition of Aaron 
 Burr, although he was in Mr. Burr's employ. Snowball 
 
KICE IN COSTUME OP SIK WILLIAM HAKCOURT 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 15 
 
 was a bad one to get off from the score. He had a habit of rear- 
 ing that would at times throw him off his balance and he would 
 fall over backwards, and upon many occasions caused serious 
 injury to the rider. After several efforts in this event they got 
 a send-off, and were neck and neck, when about half-way up the 
 track Buck bolted towards the cemetery, and first swerving from 
 the course, he made a sudden stop at the stone wall. The boy 
 who rode him was thrown over the wall, and his head striking 
 full upon a tombstone, the skull was fractured and he was taken 
 up dead. 
 
 Dan was next taken to Trenton to ride at the Fall Meeting, 
 where he was engaged by the owner to exercise the ill-natured 
 Buck who had caused so fatal a termination to the race at Phila- 
 delphia. Young as he was and inheriting a love for animals that 
 had in it no trace of fear, Dan felt sure he could cure the horse 
 of bolting and was willing to ride. Buck was matched against 
 a mare named " Big Larry's Mare," her owner being Big Larry, 
 a member of the sporting fraternity who lived in Brooklyn and 
 tipped the scales at three hundred pounds. There was a large 
 attendance and considerable betting. It was an even race until 
 they came to the homestretch, where there was a fence on each 
 side of the track, and at this point Buck made an attempt to bolt. 
 He had previously had some experience of Dan's discipline with 
 the butt of the whip, and quick as thought it was brought down 
 with a heavy blow on his nose. This proved to be an effectual 
 persuader, for there was no other attempt at bolting, and Dan 
 brought him home a winner by half a length. Manahan was 
 highly elated over the success of little Dan as a race rider and in- 
 tended to take him again to Trenton to attend the regular fall 
 meeting of the Jockey Club, and in the interval returned home. 
 He had won considerable money during the trip to Philadelphia 
 and Trenton, to which was added that which Dan had earned by 
 riding. The prospective attendance at the meeting of the Jockey 
 Club came to naught, and Dan remained home the whole of that 
 winter. Child as he was, he milked four cows every morning 
 before daylight, afterwards driving a milk-cart, for Manahan 
 had a special one of small size made for him to deliver milk to 
 a certain round of customers. Thus he was also early initiated 
 in a business capacity, and it will be observed that the home life 
 of the little man was filled with all the novelty and endless variety 
 of tasks that are comprised in a busy home. His mother, not- 
 withstanding her failing health, regularly attended the church 
 service on Sunday, at which times little Dan's presence was also 
 indispensable; and besides, he was required to attend the Sabbath- 
 school, the impressions of which were lasting, for it brought into 
 action all the eloquence and moral suasion that his mother could 
 
16 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 command to prove to him that a duty neglected is something 
 eternally lost. 
 
 In the spring, at his mother's request, he was taken from the 
 charge of the milk route and sent to a school located in what 
 is now the Seventh Avenue near Twenty-first Street, New York 
 City. With the spirit for mischief reigning uppermost in his 
 boyish nature, it seemed almost impossible to interest him in 
 school tasks, and, as he was very apt, he intuitively caught, at a 
 glance, that which would prove hard work to others of his little 
 companions. The restless promptings of his active temperament 
 often led him into committing heedless offences, and, when the 
 summer came, school life was a secondary affair in his opinion, 
 and the balmy air offered its allurements in numerous tempta- 
 tions that often caused him to play the truant and led him to the 
 riverside. Dan and his half-brother, William, went frequently 
 with other boys to the North River to watch the swimmers; and 
 among these truants there would invariably be found two 
 brothers named Peter and Barney Duffy. As little Dan Rice's 
 friendships were warm and true, he formed a great liking for 
 these two brothers, and they claimed a large share of his boyish 
 patronage. Upon one occasion, while watching the pastimes of 
 the swimmers, they stood upon an uncertain raft on the water, 
 and Dan, in his natural forgetfulness of all else except the fun, 
 unfortunately fell in through an airhole, and would certainly 
 have been drowned if it had not been for the presence of mind in 
 that great-hearted lad, Peter Duffy, who slipped down through 
 the hole and with a great effort caught Dan as he was rising, but 
 not before he had floated under the logs. It was an act of mercy 
 that bound more closely the friendship of the two boys; and, re- 
 gardless of the distance between them in after years, and the 
 difference in their careers, that one event was never bridged 
 over by forgetfulness. Peter was somewhat of a pugilist when 
 a boy, and gave Dan his first instructions in boxing, and, whether 
 to his credit or not, Dan proved an apt pupil, and found many 
 opportunities in his after life in which to bring young Duffy's 
 theory into practice, to which many a previous antagonist can 
 testify, even at this late day. Dan's gratitude to Peter Duffy was 
 evinced in later years in an extraordinary way. 
 
 The next event that occurred in little Dan's life was his 
 entrance to the Kellogg Seminary that stood at Prince Street and 
 Broadway, and to which he was driven every morning by one of 
 his father's employees, who also returned for him in the evening. 
 This state of affairs would have proved of incalculable benefit to 
 the lad had he been left to the entire management of his devoted 
 mother, but Mr. Manahan's great love for sport was the handi- 
 capping hindrance to his improvement at the Seminary, for on 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 17 
 
 Saturdays he would create some business excuse, and take little 
 Dan to some prearranged rendezvous to ride quarter-races. 
 
 Tucker's Lane, near Harlem, had now superseded the old Yellow 
 Tavern for those quarter stretches, and this place was the scene 
 of the boy's next advent in the racing world. The excitement 
 attending thtse races soon had a tendency to give him a distaste 
 for school and filled his young mind with ideas that made him 
 restless when under restraint, and as a result, on one occasion, 
 to gain his entire freedom, he ran off with Peter Duffy and re- 
 mained away two days and nights. The two boys were afraid to 
 return home when they awakened to the serious strait into which 
 the misdemeanor had led them; so, to preserve their independ- 
 ence, they obtained situations in Peter Cooper's glue factory. 
 While there, they were as full of mischief as it is possible for two 
 such exuberant spirits to be, and indulged in all sorts of pranks 
 in consequence. Upon one occasion, one little fellow thought- 
 lessly dared the other to follow him to the extreme edge of a roof 
 of the factory, and Mr. Cooper at that moment happened on the 
 scene and, from beneath apprehending the danger, commanded 
 them to stop. He ordered an employee to place a ladder against 
 the eaves and bring the boys down, after which he boxed their 
 ears as a form of mild rebuke, and having previously found out 
 who they were, sent them directly to their homes under escort. 
 Little Dan received a severe chastisement at the hands of his step- 
 father, but the spirit of the lad was not broken nor even sub- 
 dued, and he resented the indignity by again running away. 
 This time he repaired to the home of his aunt, Mrs. Hugh Keed, 
 who lived in Centre Street opposite the Collect. Being a great 
 favorite of hers, he was sure of a warm sympathy in his behalf, 
 which she was not slow in rendering; so Dan felt encouraged 
 to resort once more to his native independence, and his cousin 
 Hugh procured for him a situation in Lorillard's tobacco factory, 
 where he expected to be initiated in a new field of action. But 
 he was not destined to remain long in his new surroundings, for 
 his stepfather, having learned of his whereabouts, went to the 
 establishment, and, adopting a process radically different from 
 the previous policy he had employed, persuaded the little lad to 
 return home with him, and as a panacea to cover the results of 
 his former harshness, offered him a handful of silver coins. The 
 compromise being satisfactory, the boy returned to his home and 
 commenced life again under the old regime, again attending the 
 school, and upon Saturdays, as in previous times, being taken 
 by his stepfather to ride the quarter-races. 
 
 It is worthy of mention here that Mr. Manahan never after- 
 ward resorted to harsh severity with his stepson; for experience 
 had taught him that the high-spirited lad inherited a nature that 
 2 
 
18 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 would not bear it. Living as he did, in an atmosphere where 
 impending shadows seemed ever intruding, although nurtured 
 with the fondest care his gentle mother could bestow, he, with 
 the quick perception of childhood, intuitively felt that something 
 was going wrong as her health gradually failed, and her increasing 
 efforts in his behalf filled the little man's heart witk an awe that 
 only his matured mind, in later years, could interpret. 
 
 It has ever been characteristic of Mr. Eice to remember the 
 friends of his early days, and his benevolent spirit can be traced 
 in many circumstances that bear evidence of this manly attribute, 
 that caused many a heart to take on new courage when his be- 
 hests have been extended ungrudgingly and with wide-open hand. 
 
 In the palmy days of affluence, during the height of his pro- 
 fessional career, one little incident, out of scores of others of 
 greater moment, may be mentioned here. Mr. Kice had ever 
 been grateful to Peter Duffy for his kindness to him in his early 
 days, and, having a strong desire to remunerate his old friend 
 with something more substantial than words, he had a deed 
 drawn in Duffy's name for a handsome farm of two hundred acres 
 near Mr. Eice's old home in Girard, Pa., fully equipped with 
 stock and appurtenances, and presented the deed to him per- 
 sonally. As Mr. Duffy had always been a proverbial city man, 
 his ideas of life at farming were somewhat crude. He felt that 
 he could not honorably accept that which he was entirely un- 
 fitted for, so with tears in his honest eyes as he looked in Mr. 
 Eice's face, he remarked, " Why, Lord bless you, Dan, I'd starve 
 to death on a farm! " 
 
 Late in the fall and winter of 1857-58 when Mr. Eice had his 
 great show at Niblo's Garden, he visited Mr. Cooper at his lovely 
 home on Lexington Avenue, and when he made known to that 
 gentleman who he was, Mr. Cooper remarked, "Are you the 
 famous clown jester, Dan Eice, that I read so much about in the 
 papers? " To which Mr. Eice replied, that he represented that 
 personage. In the course of conversation Mr. Eice related to Mr. 
 Cooper the subject of his boyish pranks at the glue factory and 
 mentioned the practical reprimand he received from his hand, 
 and added, " The impress of your hand on my ears, Mr. Cooper, 
 I have never forgotten, and I think such impressions made at the 
 right time often follow a boy through life." To which he made 
 a laughing reply that they often did, and asked what had be- 
 come of the other boy. Mr. Eice informed him that Peter Duffy 
 was now a respected citizen and struggling manfully with the 
 stream of human adventure. Mr. Coopers retentive memory 
 held many reminiscences of those earlier years, which were as 
 vivid as when they first occurred. 
 
 He had a fondness for horses and trained animals and advo- 
 
EEMINISCBNCES OP DAN EICE 19 
 
 eated athletic sports, so Mr. Eiee invited him to bring his family 
 to Niblo's that evening and see the exhibition, which he did, and 
 expressed himself as highly pleased with every phase of the per- 
 formance. During Mr. Cooper's presidential campaign in 1876, 
 Mr. Eiee being a great admirer of the distinguished candidate, 
 distributed over three hundred thousand circulars favoring Mr. 
 Cooper's election as he travelled with the great show through 
 the different States. 
 
 In April, 1883, when Mr. Eiee was in New York, he was again 
 the guest of Mr. Cooper, and accepted an invitation to accompany 
 him to the Cooper Union, where he was to deliver an address 
 that evening. The weather was decidedly unpropitious, and, 
 Mr. Cooper, being very infirm, gladly availed himself of Mr. 
 Eice's assistance, and with his' help ascended the steps and 
 reached the auditorium, taking Mr. Eiee with him on the plat- 
 form. The chairman of the evening, who introduced Mr. Cooper, 
 in the course of his remarks paid a fine tribute to the many 
 philanthropic acts of that gentleman, who had done so much 
 towards placing advantages within the reach of the people who 
 had aspiring minds, and especially in the erection of the grand 
 building in which they were assembled. " It is a home," he said, 
 "in which growing minds can develop and grapple with the 
 difficult problems of theory and learn how to apply them prac- 
 tically in the requirements of every-day life. And the Cooper 
 Union will ever be a monument to the philanthropic donor whose 
 honored name it bears." Mr. Cooper rose slowly to address that 
 vast concourse of people, and in his opening remarks said that, 
 while he had been enabled to do much toward the advancement of 
 the deserving, he very much regretted that he had not been able 
 to do more. That which he had been instrumental in doing had 
 been confined chiefly to local objects; but he took great pleasure 
 in introducing to that vast assemblage a distinguished gentleman, 
 the famous clown and jester, Mr. Dan Eiee, whose philanthropic 
 acts were universally scattered broadcast throughout the land, 
 and his last achievement that he had read of commended itself 
 to all loyal, loving people — that of erecting, at his own personal 
 expense, in Girard, Pa., a splendid monument, commemorating 
 the deeds of the heroic dead who sacrificed their lives in the War 
 of the Eebellion. At Mr. Cooper's mention of the monument 
 the audience gave an enthusiastic and prolonged applause, to 
 which Mr. Eiee responded by rising and gracefully bowing his 
 acknowledgment of their appreciation of his efforts. Mr. Cooper 
 then continued his remarks; but, in a short time, begged the 
 audience to excuse him as he was not feeling well. He repaired 
 at once to his home, accompanied by Mr. Eiee, his indisposition 
 increasing meanwhile, and he partook of a hot beverage to coun- 
 
20 HEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 teract the chill superinduced by exposure to the damp and frosty 
 night air. Mr. Eice bade him good-night and went to his hotel, 
 feeling, with the rest of his friends, that Mr. Cooper would in a 
 short time be restored to his usual good health, but in a few days 
 was surprised and pained to read the obituary in a morning 
 paper. Thus another grand life passed to his reward, garnered 
 into the progressive state unseen by mortal eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A MEMOEABLE NIGHT AT THE "OLD BOWERY THEATRE" — 
 DOMESTIC TROUBLES — HIS MOTHER'S DEATH — HUGH MAN- 
 AHAN'S REMORSE — YOUNG DAN LEAVES HOME AND BEGINS 
 LIFE ON HIS OWN RESPONSIBILITY — EROM SCHOOL TO 
 SADDLE — HIS SUCCESS IN THE RACING WORLD — NOTES ON 
 THE CLOWN AND THE CLERGYMAN — DANIEL MoLAREN's 
 BEREAVEMENT. 
 
 WHILE this state of affairs was pending, Mr. Manahan had 
 began to show a disposition to neglect his family and to 
 frequently absent himself from them at night; and Dan, taking 
 advantage of the fact, would steal away from his home in com- 
 pany with young Duffy, and together they would wander down- 
 town, bent on seeking amusement. They frequently went to the 
 Bowery Theatre and caught the passion for the play. On one 
 occasion a ghostly performance was being enacted, in which there 
 was a scene representing a graveyard with apparitions of demons, 
 etc., and Mr. Charles Parsons, one of the greatest tragedians of 
 that day, acted the leading part. It created a marked sensation 
 in the audience and the younger element especially were pro- 
 foundly impressed. Our two young heroes being numbered with 
 the latter, it is to be inferred that they also were afflicted with the 
 contagion. 
 
 It was near midnight when the play ended, and Dan and 
 young Duffy started immediately for their homes. They parted 
 in Thirteenth Street, where Peter lived, and our little man 
 pursued his way home alone with his mind wrought to a high 
 state of excitement by what he had experienced. He sturdily 
 strode along rapidly, ruminating on the gruesome incidents of the 
 evening, when suddenly there started up across his path a large 
 black dog, and, to his exaggerated vision, it was, indeed, the 
 largest he had ever seen. It was a moment of great terror to the 
 boy, the lateness of the hour dawned upon him, and, with his 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 21 
 
 nervous temperament strained to the utmost, he imagined that it 
 was the evil one himself that had come to frighten him out of 
 existence. As a natural consequence, the supreme moment came 
 when the great black creature bounded away, and then the terri- 
 fied lad found safety in flight. No foot race on record was ever 
 marked in better time than he accomplished, as he almost flew 
 over the public thoroughfare to his home on Twenty-sixth Street 
 and Sixth Avenue. No thought of the midnight marauder that 
 might enter the house and molest the other inmates ever entered 
 his head as he rushed in, leaving the door wide open behind him, 
 and he seemed to be imbued with but one impression — that " self- 
 preservation is the first law of nature," and he was satisfied that 
 he had found it when he jumped into bed without undressing 
 and buried his head beneath the covers. Many years elapsed be- 
 fore he entered another theatre, for circumstances were forming 
 a path in which he little dreamed his feet would wander; but the 
 memory of that night was never obliterated, although the frosts 
 of time have now whitened the head of our hero. 
 
 In the meantime Dan still continued his course of studies at 
 the Seminary, where the preceptor had received special instruc- 
 tions to improve his talents as rapidly as his capacity would allow, 
 without regard to monetary consideration, therefore every effort 
 was put forth to gain that end. But still the evil genius pursued 
 him in the form of the races; and after witnessing the contests 
 on the Union Course, to which his stepfather took him on one 
 occasion, his sole ambition, regardless of all opposition to the 
 contrary, was to become a great rider. It was only a step from 
 the school to the saddle. The course Mr. Manahan pursued with 
 the little stepson was not approved by the boy's mother, whose 
 ideas were at variance in regard to Mr. Manahan's apparent in- 
 difference to the lad's moral well-being when he was out of the 
 influence of her presence; whilst Manahan, in his mania for the 
 excitement of the sports of the turf, took especial pains to invent 
 misleading excuses to keep from her the knowledge of his en- 
 couragement of the youngster's natural bent, and little Dan him- 
 self with his acute perception was also cultivating an ingenious 
 faculty in the same direction. 
 
 Mr. Manahan was a man of fine presence, Dame Nature haying 
 bestowed upon him some of her choicest gifts in that direction; 
 but it requires inherited attributes of an elevated standard to 
 give character and strength to mental adornment, which he failed 
 to discover, being trammelled by a spirit of inconsistency, albeit 
 a liberal man in his views. The exacting Methodism of his wife 
 annoyed him, his connection with turfmen and the sporting 
 fraternity did not tend to strengthen his moral nature; and soon 
 the winecup and its inferred associate evils made him oblivious 
 
22 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICB 
 
 of his duties as a husband and father. He was one of a coterie 
 of victims led in fetters by that fille de joie, Helen Jewett, whose 
 subtle charms caused many a grief in homes that were supremely 
 happy before her advent. She was a Boston girl of rare beauty, 
 and possessed all the accomplishments and cultivated arts that 
 appeal to man's susceptibility, and, in many instances, causes his 
 downfall. The real name of this woman was Mary Eogers and 
 her wild race in life ended on April 10, 1836, when she fell by the 
 hand of an assassin, who was one of her paramours, named Rob- 
 inson. The murder created a great sensation, especially among 
 those who had been inveigled by the subtlety of her snares, and 
 they had reaped a wretched harvest while her memory sank into 
 forgetfulness. Mr. Manahan, prior to his acquaintance with 
 Robinson, had become infatuated with this woman, and seem- 
 ingly made no effort to conceal his liaison from his wife. As the 
 husband became more estranged, his conduct to his wife and 
 family assumed a more unnatural bearing, until entreaty and re- 
 proaches alike were hopelessly unavailing. But the end was fast 
 approaching when the mother's heart would forever cast aside 
 the painful memories of her short but eventful life, and enter the 
 new existence where time makes all things right and where for- 
 giveness is indeed unalloyed. It should be borne in mind that, 
 although Mrs. Manahan was the mother of several children, in- 
 cluding little Dan, she was only on the verge of twenty-eight 
 when she died, in the winter of 1831. During the consciousness 
 of her last moments when she had made a disposition of William, 
 Elizabeth, and Catherine, the children that composed their little 
 family, Manahan betrayed one redeeming quality in his nature 
 that had not been entirely eradicated by his associations, by ask- 
 ing her — " What shall I do with Dannie? " The mother's heart 
 knowing full well the independent spirit of her cherished lad, 
 answered, " He will take care of himself." Then missing his 
 presence, she inquired, " Where is Dannie? " The almost heart- 
 broken boy had been standing outside the doorway, an eyewitness 
 to the sorrowful scenes that were being enacted, but, hearing his 
 own name mentioned, he hastened to his mother's side, and with 
 her hand on his young head, heard the last words that proved his 
 talisman through a long, eventful career. "Always look after 
 your little sisters; never lose sight of them and never desert 
 them." These parting words whispered in his ear reverberated 
 long after the mother's form was laid to rest in the old graveyard 
 at the corner of Carmine and Hudson Streets, and helped to de- 
 velop the spirit of self-reliance which, when in after years cir- 
 cumstances threw him among the mixed associations of his pro- 
 fessional career, stood him in such good stead. 
 
 Soon after his mother's death, home associations proved so 
 
KESIINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 23 
 
 distasteful to the sensitive lad that he resolved to leave the scenes 
 of his painful memories and look for something, he knew not 
 what, to assist him in forgetting them. He sighed for some relief 
 to deaden his first real sorrow that he could scarcely realize and 
 but crudely interpret. The vacant place in the home was a 
 source of sadness that was almost unbearable, and his child-heart 
 was crushed with its weight of loneliness, for the gentle mother's 
 absence had left an aching void. Being high-spirited, and with 
 no grown relative near to advise him, he left his stepfather's 
 house and exhibited the independence in his nature by seeking 
 his fortune in the wide world. He never dreamed, in his heart- 
 broken sorrow, of appealing to any one near him by the ties of 
 relationship. He manfully shouldered his own burdens and 
 faced his life of fate alone. 
 
 One day, as the early evening came on, the solitude was most 
 depressing, and he determined to make a beginning in forming 
 the opening chapters of his new career. He prepared, as was his 
 custom, the children for retiring, and, as he embraced for the 
 last time his brother and two little sisters, he mentally vowed, 
 with bursting heart and eyes full of tears, that he would return to 
 them when a man and take care of them. The promise he gave 
 to his mother he was ever mindful of during a long period of 
 active usefulness, and it has been redeemed abundantly. It may 
 be mentioned here that the one thousand dollars that had been 
 settled by his grandfather upon little Dan was largely expended 
 by Mr. Manahan in New York and the residue of it was used in 
 purchasing a farm at Fresh Pond (now called North Long 
 Branch), on the Shrewsbury Biver in New Jersey. The pur- 
 chase was made from Joseph West, an uncle of Dan's on the 
 maternal side. After Dan left his home on that memorable 
 evening, his previous experience inclined him to look to the turf 
 for a living; so he crossed the East River at Catherine Street 
 ferry, and made his way to the old Union Course, back of Brook- 
 lyn, to which Mr. Manahan had, on several occasions, taken him. 
 He was now a sturdy, agile, and strong-minded lad of eight years, 
 and had already given promise of the phenomenal physical 
 strength of which he has since made so much capital. He wan- 
 dered to the racecourse stables of Mr. John McCoun, one of the 
 most experienced horse-trainers in the country, who, when he saw 
 the boy, expressed great surprise that he should be so far away 
 from his home at night. But when the lad explained, he compre- 
 hended the situation at a glance, and took the little fellow into 
 the circle of his own family, and in a few days, having recognized 
 his ability, he engaged him in the business, and his task was to 
 exercise and ride the two-year-olds. 
 
 It was very fortunate for the boy that he selected the guardian- 
 
24 REMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 ship of Mr. McCoun, for that gentleman was well qualified to 
 sow the seeds of first principles in the right direction in a nature 
 that was so susceptible at that time of life. He became Dan's 
 first patron on the turf, and it is, an interesting incident to be 
 remembered in that connection that John McCoun's son and suc- 
 cessor, Dave McCoun, won the great Suburban race on the 
 Brooklyn track in 1891. 
 
 The peculiar circumstances that caused our hero to seek the 
 protecting care of Mr. McCoun were sufficient to enable him to 
 take the boy at once under his special care, and he soon discovered 
 that his protege would eventually become one of the best riders 
 upon the course. The thought of returning the youthful truant 
 to his home, or of advising his stepfather of his whereabouts, 
 never entered Mr. McCoun's head, as it was a principle with him 
 to relieve the unfortunate if possible. While horsemen are gen- 
 erally liberal and generous, and passably honest except when 
 making a horse trade, their morality is universally conceded to be 
 somewhat at variance, and it was Bulwer who remarked that the 
 atmosphere of the stable probably had something to do with that 
 fact, but, be that as it may, the knowledge of Dan's escapade 
 rather advanced him than otherwise in the estimation of his 
 trainer as a boy of pluck and spirit, and Mr. McCoun gave him 
 every advantage to become an expert in the business and an 
 honor to himself as well. Our young lad at this time, 1831, had 
 just rounded his eighth year, and as he proved an apt pupil, was 
 pronounced a credit to his trainer, who during his rudimentary 
 training as a rider, took the liveliest interest in his advancement. 
 His first professional mount was at Trenton, N. J., at the Pall 
 races in 1832. President Andrew Jackson, who, with a portion 
 of his cabinet, had been entertained with the great chief Black 
 Hawk at dinner that day in Trenton, was present at this race, 
 and Dan rode the filly Lizzie Jackson, named for the President's 
 favorite niece. It was mile heats and he brought Lizzie cleverly 
 to the front and passed the post a winner. As this was his first 
 professional triumph, it was rendered more memorable by the 
 special notice of President Jackson, who, being doubtless much 
 gratified with the success of the filly named for his niece, placed 
 his hand on Dan's head and said, " My boy, if you live, you will 
 make either a great man or a great fool." In a measure this re- 
 mark was prophetic in a dual sense; he was destined to become a 
 great clown. Such a compliment from the " Hero of New Or- 
 leans," filled the boy's soul with delight, and though at this late 
 day memory recalls the impression of " Old Hickory's " hand 
 upon his head, Mr. Eice at times remarks that it did not hit him 
 hard enough to make a Jaeksonian Democrat of him. After the 
 Trenton episode he returned to Long Island, where his next race 
 
HEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 25 
 
 was upon a horse called April Pool, the property of Walter Liv- 
 ingstone, of Oyster Bay. The race was a single dash of two miles, 
 which he won. The riders in this post stake were George Nel- 
 son, Gil. Patrick, and Charlie Hood. His next mount was 
 Emilius, rated the best three-mile horse in the country, were it 
 not for the fact that in the progress of a race he was liable to 
 sulk and suddenly stop, and besides he was addicted to a vicious 
 habit of reaching around and biting the leg of the rider. As 
 Dan was selected to ride him, he agreed to do so provided he was 
 permitted to adopt what measures he pleased to protect himself. 
 Mr. McCoun, the trainer, who had previously had evidence of the 
 boy's good judgment in such instances, gave his consent, and 
 Dan had a strong leather legging made to cover the left leg, as the 
 vicious creature had never been known to attack the right one. 
 The legging was thickly studded with sharp brads, and when Dan 
 was giving the horse a walking exercise, he allowed him full play 
 of the bridle. In a brief period Emilius reached around with 
 open mouth and seized the leather covering, but in a moment let 
 go and did not attempt to bite until he reached a corner of a road 
 on which lived a well-known individual of that day, the Daniel 
 Drew of steamboat fame, and whose house was passed on the way 
 to the sand track. It was there Emilius made another attempt 
 to bite, holding on to the legging for a moment, but he soon again 
 let go with his mouth pierced and bleeding. At the same time 
 Dan increased the painful treatment by striking him over the 
 nose and ears with the handle of his riding-whip. This punish- 
 ment repeated for a few days completely broke him of his pro- 
 pensity for biting. Next came the question of the best means 
 of breaking him of the habit of sulking, which made him un- 
 reliable when the race was in progress, and to effect this, Dan 
 adopted a purely original method. He brought into requisition 
 a pitchfork with three sharp tines, and when exercising the horse, 
 had one of the sons of Nathaniel Rhodes, who owned the sand 
 track, to ride behind him on Emilius armed with the pitchfork. 
 The first experiment was made on the old sand track when Dan 
 was taking the horse through the process of a sweat. The fitful 
 nature of the spirited creature possibly rebelled against the 
 double burden he was bearing, for Emilius sulked and stood per- 
 fectly still. Young Ehodes thereupon applied freely the punish- 
 ment of the pitchfork, at which Emilius snorted, reared, plunged, 
 and kicked, but the discipline was continued until he started off. 
 The same treatment was subsequently repeated in a trial of speed 
 which finally broke him of the habit; consequently he was en- 
 tered for the three-mile race, and with Dan for his rider, he won. 
 The horse was the property of Duff Green, a sporting man of 
 New York, who recompensed Dan for the trouble he had taken 
 
26 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 with his valuable racer by presenting him with a new suit of 
 clothes and twenty dollars in money, which was a perquisite 
 worth possessing for a boy of his age. He was taught and ad- 
 vised by Mr. McCoun to hold his salary and present money sub- 
 ject only to his personal needs, and he invariably followed that 
 advice during those early days of his career which had a tendency 
 to govern him to some extent in after life. But miserly instincts 
 were entirely foreign to his nature, as subsequent events in his 
 later life showed. 
 
 The young boy's success in breaking this vicious racer at- 
 tracted great attention and made him famous among prominent 
 horsemen in that locality, and, consequently, his services were 
 much sought after and he became quite a hero. He was in par- 
 ticular complimented by Hiram Woodruff, in after years the 
 chief of drivers in trotting-horse contests, especially with Flora 
 Temple, and the two brothers, John I. and Jerome Snediker, 
 declared him to be a "brick." The successful breaking of 
 Emilius was the first knowledge Dan had of his practical capacity 
 in breaking and training horses, a faculty in which, years after- 
 wards, he became so proficient as to cast all competition in the 
 shade. About this time Dan was transferred by Mr. McCoun to 
 " English Joe," a remarkable racehorse trainer, whose horses 
 were stabled at John I. Snediker's, at whose hotel Dan was taken 
 to board. 
 
 His services having been transferred to "English Joe," the 
 prominent young rider continued to be treated with equal con- 
 sideration and kindness, and on account of his genial nature and 
 abundance of good-humor, Dan made many friends under these 
 circumstances that brought him before the public frequently. 
 He was engaged to ride two and three-year-old colts, and his pre- 
 vious reputation for subduing " the fiery, untamed steed " proved 
 to be somewhat of a disadvantage, as it procured for him some of 
 the worst and most unmanageable colts. The first horse he rode 
 under his new trainer was a spirited animal called Dr. Syntax, a 
 two-year-old who was a terror to all the young riders, for he 
 would rear up and fall back, and in this manner had injured 
 many who had attempted to ride him. During his first exercise, 
 knowing full well that only severe punishment would correct 
 his habits, Dan supplied himself with a heavy cowhide whip, and 
 seating himself in the saddle, was prepared for any emergency. 
 By meeting every attempt of the horse at rearing by punishment, 
 he finally broke him of the habit, and in a two-mile post stake, 
 he beat the remarkable Dosoris and two other colts. At the Pall 
 meeting, John C. Stevens, a prominent gentleman and member 
 of the sporting fraternity, engaged Dan Eice to ride Dosoris 
 against Dr. Syntax, a two-mile race, which he easily won. His 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 27 
 
 repeated triumphs caused much jealousy among the other riders, 
 and the climax of their envy was reached when Mr. Stevens took 
 Dan home to live at his house, where he spent the winter, was also 
 admitted into the family circle, and was sent to school. Such 
 a thoughtful arrangement on the part of Mr. Stevens for the 
 boy's welfare is worthy of mention, and how few lads, compara- 
 tively, thus circumstanced, have such advantages in this pro- 
 gressive age. 
 
 Mr. Bice says that his mother's death occurred during one of 
 the most terrific blizzards ever known in New York up to that 
 time, equalling the one that occurred in March, 1888, in violence 
 and magnitude. Some idea of its severity can be conceived when 
 he assures us that several days elapsed before they could bury the 
 body, and the snowfall was so deep that the citizens turned out 
 en masse along the funeral route, and made a road from the 
 home, situated at the corner of Twenty-sixth Street and Sixth 
 Avenue, to the churchyard, a distance of nearly two and a half 
 miles. It was only with the greatest difficulty that three of Mrs. 
 Manahan's sisters, who resided in New York, could attend her 
 funeral. They were the only members of her family, near and 
 dear to her, who could possibly get to her residence to attend the 
 last sad services. 
 
 But there was a stranger noticed following the funeral proces- 
 sion at some distance. A tall, distinguished man, so muffled 
 in a long, heavy Spanish cloak, that he was not recognizable. 
 His peculiar style and bearing caused Mr. Eice's aunts to suspect 
 that the muffled stranger was Daniel McLaren, who was their 
 sister's first husband and lifelong friend. It eventually proved 
 that such was, indeed, the fact; for, after the interment had been 
 made and the assemblage dispersed, he was recognized by the 
 sexton as he stood beside the new-made brave wherein one was 
 laid who occupied and held the highest place in his mind and 
 heart during a long and eventful life. 
 
 He placed a memento on her resting place as he stood there 
 painfully absorbed with his own thoughts, and finally left as 
 silently as he had come. 
 
 In after years he substantiated these facts to Mr. Eice when 
 they were once more drawn together by natural ties that even the 
 world could not sever. 
 
28 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 HOW DAN PLATED CAHDS WITH LOUIS NAPOLEON, THE EXILED 
 FRENCH PRINCE — LIST OF OWNERS YOUNG RICE RODE FOR, 
 AND THE RACES WITH WHICH HE BRUSHED THE TURF 
 — HIS MARVELLOUS JOURNEY TO BUFFALO — ARRIVAL IN 
 PITTSBURG. 
 
 TTNDEE the kind guardianship of Mr. Stevens, a new life 
 LJ seemed to open to the growing lad, a development to new 
 incentives that were encouraged by the Stevens household, for 
 they recognized in Dan's indomitable will the fair promises of 
 great aptitude in any vocation that he might be fitted for in the 
 years to come. Encouragement coming from such a source, filled 
 the boy's mind with a desire to aspire to the requirements of a 
 different calling, but the time had not yet arrived for such devel- 
 opments, so he pursued the old course until he could meet the 
 demands with a broader experience. Isaac Van Leer was Mr. 
 Stevens' trainer, and Dosoris was entered for the Spring meeting 
 in a race of two miles and repeat. While Mr. Stevens was away 
 in New York, the colt, in a trial of speed, sprained a sinew of the 
 foreleg, and Dan was dispatched with a letter to him advising the 
 withdrawal of the horse. Mr. Stevens was staying at the Hotel 
 de Paris on Broadway, and Dan was ushered into his presence in 
 a room where, with several distinguished gentlemen, he was en- 
 gaged in a game of draw poker. He delivered the missive to Mr. 
 Stevens, who excused himself to answer the letter, at the same time 
 introducing Dan. " Gentlemen," he said, " this is my favorite 
 rider, Yankee Dan," and continued, " here, Dan, play this hand 
 for me." One gentleman of the party, whose costume impressed 
 Dan as foreign and peculiar, was addressed as Count Louis. It 
 must be borne in mind that our hero, although otherwise unex- 
 ceptionable in his morals, had by his associations with riders and 
 stablemen become an adept at cheating at card-playing, and so, 
 while the rest of the party were engaged in conversation, Dan put 
 up the cards, dealing his own hand from the bottom. As the 
 Count was out of chips, Dan loaned him, from Mr. Stevens' pile, 
 seventeen dollars, and afterwards "took the pot." The Count 
 Louis who impressed Dan with his personality was Louis Na- 
 poleon, afterwards the destined Emperor of Prance, who was at 
 the time sojourning in the United States, and as he had a fond- 
 ness for the races and the sporting world in general, he spent 
 much of his time at the clubs among turfmen and all good fellows 
 who enjoyed the chances of the card table. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 29 
 
 In the racing fraternity Dan was an acknowledged favorite and 
 had for some time been recognized as the expert rider of his day, 
 in fact one of the best on Long Island, and as his engagements 
 were continuous, he remained here until 1836, when he turned 
 thirteen years of age. His position brought him in contact with 
 many prominent persons who interested themselves in his welfare 
 and extended their friendship, which continued long after he 
 had gained prominence in the world of entertainment. Among 
 the well-known owners for whom he rode were Eobert L. Stevens, 
 John C. Stevens, Billup Seaman, and Gibbons, of Staten Island; 
 Walter Livingstone, of Oyster Bay; Duff Green, of New York; 
 Moccasin Jackson, the owner of Bucktail; Harry Sovereign, the 
 owner of Oneida Chief, and Mr. Elliott, of Baltimore, owner of 
 Betsy Hansom. His competitors were all noted riders of their 
 day, the most prominent of which were Willis, the head rider of 
 Bichard M. Johnson, of Kichmond, Va.; Gil Patrick, George Nel- 
 son, Charley Hood, Jim and Ed. Jewell, and Hiram Woodruff. 
 In each and every contest our hero acquitted himself admirably 
 and won more than his share of the honors of the turf, and on 
 account of his extreme youth, these continued successes were per- 
 haps more noticeable than they would otherwise have been under 
 different circumstances. Mr. Sovereign was the owner of the 
 pacing horse known as Oneida Chief that Dan rode in the unprec- 
 edented time of two minutes and ten seconds in a trial of speed, 
 which fact created an unusual stir in the sporting circles and 
 served to enhance his reputation among the turfmen in general. 
 
 The horses rode by young Dan Bice in the course of his brief 
 experience on the turf were all celebrated flyers. The most 
 prominent among them were Dosoris, Dr. Syntax, Imported En- 
 voy, owned by Judge Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, who on his return 
 to the United States from Bussia, where he acted in the capacity 
 of Minister Plenipotentiary, imported the horse from England 
 and placed him under the training of " English Joe " at Long 
 Island; Boston, when a colt of two years, April Pool, Mingo, and 
 Post Boy, which he rode against the famous filly, Fannie Wyatt. 
 His latest mount was Dusty Foot, one of the most remarkable 
 four-mile horses of his day. Another era now opened in the life 
 of the young lad, the arduous beginning of which would have 
 crushed the stamina and moral courage of most men, but the 
 indomitable perseverance of youth conquered in the nature that 
 knew no such word as fail, and who can question the fact but 
 that some unseen influence preserved the boy by leading him 
 safely through the abyss of difficulties that faced him and tried 
 his powers of endurance to the utmost capacity. In the year 
 1837 he was destined to bid adieu to Long Island, where many 
 cherished memories lingered, and assume the charge of Dusty 
 
30 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Foot, which he rode in many of his previous races. The inten- 
 tion of the owner of the horse, William Goram, a Canadian by 
 adoption, was to transport him to Pittsburg, Pa., by way of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 In those days, as is well known, railroad facilities in the United 
 States were in their infancy, and after reaching Albany by way 
 of a steam tug, Dan's instructions were to lead the horse to his 
 final place of destination, and upon no account to ride him. He 
 left Albany on the 20th of October, 1837, and commenced his 
 wearisome journey. Most boys of his age would not have heeded 
 the prohibition against riding, but notwithstanding his five years' 
 sojourn among the turfmen and riders of questionable morality, 
 he stuck manfully to the task, and so, leading the horse with one 
 hand, and with bucket, sieve, brush, and currycomb upon the 
 other arm, he pluckily pursued his way. It was a dreary, tedious 
 journey, and the weather became bitterly cold, with occasional 
 heavy falls of snow, but although suffering severely, he bravely 
 struggled on and reached Buffalo the first of December. The 
 horse was consigned to Mr. Henry Mosier, who resided at Cold 
 Spring, three miles from the city, where Dan found rest and re- 
 lief, for his feet were frostbitten and he was otherwise prostrated 
 by his arduous and perilous travel. Knowing the difficulties 
 through which the lad would naturally have to pass under the 
 most favorable circumstances, and having some doubt as to 
 whether he had not yielded to the temptation of riding the racer 
 during some part of that long, tedious tramp from Albany, Mr. 
 Mosier queried, " Why did you not ride the horse? " " Because 
 I was forbidden," replied Dan as innocently as if he had always 
 been in attendance at Sunday-school, instead of for half a decade 
 the compulsory associate of sporting men and stable boys. Mr. 
 Mosier gazed curiously at the lad, still almost doubting his verac- 
 ity, but there was such an open look of honesty and ingenuousness 
 in his countenance, that, as he afterward remarked, he could not 
 help being convinced, and Dan received every attention and kind- 
 ness in consequence. As a "natural result, the fatigue and expos- 
 ure to the extreme cold, etc., brought on an attack of fever, during 
 which Dan was tenderly nursed by the family, and when suffi- 
 ciently recovered to continue his journey, his host furnished him 
 with ample pecuniary means to meet the requirements from day 
 to day. On his way through Cattaraugus Swamp, which was 
 inhabited only by Indians, he met with a novel experience as he 
 passed through the reservation. 
 
 The strange spectacle of a horse clothed in trappings and led 
 by a mere boy, excited the curiosity of the Indians, and the whole 
 community assembled en masse to comment upon it. They were 
 so fascinated with the strange sight that they filled Dan's bucket 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 31 
 
 to overflowing with beads, moccasins and other Indian gifts, thus 
 expressing their pleasure at the appearance of the horse, and, per- 
 haps, sympathy for the boy who was laboring through the huge 
 snowdrifts and at times compelled to shovel a path for his equine 
 charge. Pursuing his way under such extreme difficulties in that 
 region, he reached the town of Erie, Pa., in eight days from the 
 time he left Buffalo, and was there taken under the charge of 
 Gen. Charles M. Eeed, who had been notified by letter and ad- 
 vised of Dan's coming. For the brief period that our hero re- 
 mained there to rest General Eeed eared for him with all the 
 tenderness and consideration of a father, and evinced a lively 
 interest in the boy, who, in turn, was also impressed with a senti- 
 ment of regard that bordered upon affection for his kind enter- 
 tainer. 
 
 The young boy's eventful journey closed at Pittsburg, Christ- 
 mas Eve, 1837, having lasted two months and four days, and 
 Dusty Foot was consigned to Judge Wilkins, who, recognizing 
 the lad who rode his horse on Long Island, made life very pleas- 
 ant for him during his stay in that hospitable home. Dan's 
 faithful fulfillment of his mission had entailed the endurance of 
 hardships which would have tried the stamina of the most robust 
 man, but in youthful inexperience, and having no conception of 
 the exorbitant demands made upon his physical endurance by 
 the perils of such a journey, he never questioned the heartless 
 imposition of Mr. Goram, but merely considered he had done his 
 duty. 
 
 There are certain persons still living in Pittsburg to-day who 
 have every reason to remember the advent of the boy who brought 
 the racer " Dusty Foot " into the city dressed in his winter 
 clothes. The spectacle of a horse caparisoned and thus care- 
 fully guarded against the weather, caused a deal of merriment 
 among the street urchins, who made Dan's entry a trifle too con- 
 spicuous by hooting and throwing pieces of coal, etc.; so asking 
 some gentlemen, who stood near watching the proceedings, if 
 they would hold the horse, to which they readily assented, our 
 young hero threw aside his heavy top-coat, and, in the boy's ver- 
 nacular, " pitched in." He caught two of the young arabs and 
 impressed his personality upon them in well-directed blows that 
 ushered in his first successful boy-fight in the Smoky City. 
 
32 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 dan's success as a vendee— the celebeated eacee, dusty 
 foot — nick biddle's waterloo — the eace with geoege 
 sealy — life on keppekt faem— the cheeey pie episode 
 — the fine old style spoeting gentleman — the eo- 
 mance of madame celeste and me. elliott. 
 
 AFTER his wearisome journey from Albany, Dan quickly 
 recuperated under the kind treatment he received from 
 the family of Judge Wilkins, and was able to meet Mr. Goram, 
 the owner of Dusty Foot, who soon after came to Pittsburg, and 
 the whole party retired to Wilkinsburg, a short distance from 
 that place, to spend the remainder of the winter. Mr. Goram 
 brought with him Barney Oldwine, a youth from Long Island, 
 who was, years afterwards, a well-known pilot on the Ohio Eiver. 
 Goram, the trainer, possessed very little of this world's goods 
 beyond his ownership of the racer. But being gifted with the 
 genuine shrewdness of the Vermont Yankee, he felt obliged to 
 bring that gift into active practice and devise some method 
 whereby the party might exist until the racing season opened. 
 Acting on this scheme, he constructed a workshop in part of the 
 house he occupied, and conceived the idea of making rakes, half- 
 bushel and peck measures; and in this venture depended upon 
 the possibility of soliciting a trade for such articles among the 
 farmers and tradespeople of the surrounding country. There 
 lived in the community a Pennsylvania Dutchman named George 
 Peebles, who kept a hostelry known as the Yellow Wagon Tavern, 
 situated between Wilkinsburg and the little village of East Lib- 
 erty. He also owned a large farm with a fine lot of timber land 
 remote from the house, and on Sundays when everything was 
 quiet and resting, Goram would take the boys to these woods and 
 command them to cut saplings and timber, which they would be 
 required to carry half a mile over cross lots to their home. This 
 material was made up into the articles intended for peddling, 
 and as soon as there was a sufficient supply to meet the supposed 
 demand, Dan was initiated to the degree of head salesman, and 
 was sent out to solicit trade and dispose of the wares. It was 
 natural for him to appeal to those with whom he had come in 
 contact since locating in Wilkinsburg, so the first place he called 
 at as a peddler was the Peebles Tavern, where he knew he was 
 a favorite, for during the long winter evenings he had frequently 
 entertained the family and habitues of the tavern with character- 
 istic negro songs, dances, etc., and he felt sure of securing their 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 33 
 
 custom in disposing of his goods. And in this enterprise he was 
 not mistaken, for Mr. Peebles bought liberally, and addressing 
 his wife in broken German, said, " Old voman, das ish der best 
 of timber," alluding to the material of which the rakes and meas- 
 ures were made, and, turning to Dan, asked who made them. 
 He replied that it was Mr. Goram, the owner of the horse, and 
 when asked where he obtained the wood, Peebles received the as- 
 tounding declaration that it came from his own farm. Instead of 
 showing any displeasure and becoming indignant at this disclos- 
 ure, which had been made by the boy in all innocence, the good- 
 natured German laughed heartily as he exclaimed to his wife, 
 " Old voman, das ish der best joke vas I haf efer seen," and after 
 paying Dan for his purchase, he dismissed him with a message 
 to Goram to come and see him. 
 
 Whatever transpired between Mr. Peebles and Goram at the 
 interview, was never, of course, disclosed, but results proved that 
 Mr. Goram was forced to employ his inventive genius in other 
 directions, and without the staple article appropriated from the 
 Peebles farm. Besides the above short-lived manufacturing en- 
 terprise, Goram made contracts for training horses, and soon had 
 quite a stud, which business was, without doubt, the most profit- 
 able to him pecuniarily and otherwise. It was the task of the 
 two boys to exercise and care for the horses, and they were in the 
 habit of procuring the straw needed for their bedding from the 
 Peebles farm, but it was done in strict accordance with the knowl- 
 edge of the farmer, for the boys were obliged to thresh the grain 
 by the old method of stamping it with the horses. His com- 
 panion exhibited a prominent dislike for the labor and proved to 
 be a slothful lad, and Dan, in open good nature, reproached him 
 with leaving to himself the heavier part of the task. These re- 
 proaches Barney resented in earnest, and the result was a boy 
 fight, in which the crude pugilistic powers of each youthful com- 
 batant were brought to play in a furious onset, in which, although 
 Dan was the younger, Barney was brought to terms by the blows 
 of his antagonist, and being of a sulky, unforgiving disposition, 
 he declared his intention of leaving Mr. Goram unless Dan was 
 discharged. But Mr. Goram not being interested in their per- 
 sonal controversies, showed a decided preference for Dan, which 
 so exasperated Barney beyond his endurance, that he made good 
 his threat and left the trainer's employ. He never forgot his 
 defeat and ever cherished his malice for future developments, 
 should he ever meet the victor of his spoils, and it subsequently 
 occurred that such was the feeling when Dan and he met at the 
 races at Charlestown, Kanawha County, Va. Capt. Tom Friend 
 was the owner of the horse, Nick Biddle, against which Dusty 
 Foot was entered in a two-mile race, and this gentleman's horse 
 
34 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 had Dan's old antagonist, Barney, for the rider. Mr. Goram 
 told Barney, to whom he was indebted, that the only hope of his 
 ever being paid was to let Dusty Foot win the race, and this 
 scheme was willingly agreed to by Barney, who had long waited 
 for Goram to cancel the indebtedness, so it was mutually ar- 
 ranged that Barney should make Captain Friend's horse bolt from 
 the track if there was any possibility of outfooting Dusty Foot. 
 But in consequence of the animosity he still cherished against 
 Dan he disobeyed the instructions and won the race. The last 
 day the horses were again entered in a four-mile race and repeat. 
 This was to be a square race, and Dan, who well knew his horse 
 had the bottom, as it is given in horse parlance, was determined, 
 if possible, to win, for Barney had indulged in considerable boast- 
 ing after winning the previous race, and apparently felt that his 
 chances for " getting even " were all but realized. The excite- 
 ment of this race was exceedingly great, and high enthusiasm 
 prevailed, for the first heat was close, but at the last turn Dusty 
 Foot led and came in a winner by two lengths. Barney was ex- 
 asperated and complained to the judges that Dan had cheated in 
 the race, for as they turned into the homestretch, Dan had 
 spurred his horse in the shoulder, but it was evident to the judges 
 that Barney had done the spurring himself, for like all "Western 
 riders of that day, in riding toe up, and without any brace in the 
 stirrup, his heel had moved forward and the spurring was the 
 inevitable result. So amid great enthusiasm the heat was given 
 to Dusty Foot, which so enraged Barney that he unwisely insulted 
 Dan, who replied with a direct blow upon Barney's nose which 
 caused some of his angry blood to flow. The contest was abruptly 
 brought to a close, but not before it was evident that Barney was 
 holding second place, as usual, and as soon as the young com- 
 batants were quieted they prepared for the second heat. Feeling 
 sure that his horse had the staying power, Dan grew ambitious, 
 and was determined to inflict upon Nick Biddle and his rider a 
 Waterloo defeat, and he accomplished his object by pushing the 
 race from the start, and at the close shut out his rival completely. 
 Intense excitement prevailed and our young rider was the hero of 
 the hour. From Charlestown the boy was taken to Lexington, 
 Ky., and as his Long Island reputation in a racing capacity had 
 preceded him in the West, his services were, therefore, in great 
 demand. He also rode for both Harper and Alexander while 
 there and brushed the turf at Crab Orchard, having first obtained 
 the permission of Goram, with whom he was under contract. In 
 following up these advantages he derived much information from 
 his experiences in the racing world, and keeping always in view 
 that one idea of securing a different position when he grew older, 
 he still retained all the cheerfulness of his happy nature and eon- 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 35 
 
 tinned to struggle on to where the star of his destiny led him. 
 He went with Mr. Goram to Pekin, 0., where he was again suc- 
 cessful with Dusty Foot. A four-mile race was also run at Pekin, 
 and to compete in it, George Sealy, a capital fellow, came over 
 from Steuben ville, 0., to ride Mr. John Hanson's horse, Bull-of- 
 the- Woods. George won the first heat from Dan by spurring 
 Dusty Foot in the shoulder and thus sheering him off in the last 
 turn. This injustice aroused the indignation of Dan, who rode 
 up to the judges and complained of George, who answered the 
 charge in race-rider fashion by the vehement exclamation, 
 " You're a liar! " He was a heavier and an older boy than Dan, 
 but such epithets could be followed by but one result, which was 
 demonstrated in quicker time than young Sealy had expected, 
 for the words were scarcely uttered before Dan had left his im- 
 pression so strong upon his young opponent that he needed no 
 other reminder than the repeated volleys of blows that were 
 rapidly implanted upon his personality by the sturdy fists of little 
 Dan Eice, which quickly brought him to terms. The judges 
 ruled him off the course, and Dan. won the other heats, and the 
 race, of course, was placed to his credit. George Sealy, until re- 
 cently, kept a stable in Baltimore, and he and Mr. Eice became 
 very good friends in after years. The great good nature of Mr. 
 Eice is proverbial, and it was never possible for him, in his youth- 
 ful days, to hold malice or entertain the slightest degree of ani- 
 mosity for any length of time, and he invariably showed a spirit 
 of inclination to settle all difficulties on short notice with his 
 young foes, as numerous ones have readily testified in later years. 
 With the winning of this notable race ended also his engagement 
 with Goram, and Dan bade his old companion, Dusty Foot, a last 
 farewell. They had shared the honors of the turf together, and 
 Dan's love for the equestrian art had been perfected in a great 
 degree by the fine control he had gained over the spirited nature 
 of Dusty Foot, whose intelligent instinct so obediently complied 
 with the artistic manoeuvres of the equally spirited boy in the 
 saddle; thus the mutual attachment ended, Dusty Foot to pass 
 into the care of another rider and young Dan Eice to seek a 
 higher position in his vocation. With his reputation as a rider 
 still increasing with the better class of turfmen, he next formed 
 an engagement with Dr. McDowell and Dr. Addison, of Pitts- 
 burg, to exercise their horses and to winter them under his own 
 regime until the following spring, but he soon found that the 
 racing qualities they possessed would never make them successes 
 in the racing world, so he pronounced them failures, as they ulti- 
 mately proved to be. From there he next formed an engagement 
 at the Shakespeare Gardens, owned by James Wilson, a sporting 
 man of .East Liberty, near Pittsburg, who was also half owner of 
 
36 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 the thoroughbred racer Aroostook, in conjunction with Tom Wal- 
 lace, another sporting character. Mr. Wallace, who was passion- 
 ately fond of the races, was exceedingly wealthy, and Mr. Eice 
 has often since declared that Wallace was the only member of the 
 fraternity that he had ever known to die possessed of ample 
 means. Dan was selected to attend Aroostook to the races at 
 Wheeling, in West Virginia, on the occasion of the opening of the 
 new track on Nimrod Farm, built by Y. N. Oliver, of Culpeper 
 Courthouse, Va. Upon the auspicious two-mile day, after a 
 closely contested race, he won a broken heat, and on the next day 
 he rode a four-mile heat for Eiehard E. Johnson, which he also 
 won. 
 
 In those sporting days of the olden time, when a man's honor 
 rested on the words he spoke and not on the legal transactions of 
 trickery, Mr. Johnson was one of the most prominent members 
 and interested patrons of the turf. He was a Virginian by birth 
 and belonged to the old school, and was as generous and whole- 
 souled a gentleman as ever placed foot in the stirrup or measured 
 the range of a racer's speed, but alas, for the vicissitudes of life, 
 and of turfmen of that period in particular, some years later, in 
 1850, when Mr. Johnson was drifting on the stream of adversity, 
 in New Orleans, Mr. Eice, with a few old friends, assisted in con- 
 tributing to the support of this waif of the old-time chivalry. 
 After the engagement closed at Wheeling, Dan went with Aroos- 
 took to Louisville, Ky., where he was entered for the four-mile 
 race over the Oakland course, but Hugh Gallagher, the trainer, 
 advised the withdrawal of the horse, as he showed symptoms 
 of lampas and refused to take his food, but those interested in 
 the racing persisted in entering him for the trial, and Dan, 
 who was especially gifted with foresight in such instances, 
 apprehending the outcome of the" result, advocated the train- 
 er's advice and refused to ride. The feeling this refusal 
 engendered caused a breach of engagement, which was forth- 
 with annulled, and another boy, Warren Peabody, was pro- 
 cured as rider. There were four entries on this occasion — Leg 
 Treasurer, owned by Jim Bell, of Nashville, Tenn.; Wagner, 
 owned by Campbell Bros., of Baltimore; Blacknose, owned by 
 Colonel Shy, of Kentucky, and Aroostook. On this exciting oc- 
 casion, Dan was selected by Col. Jim Shy, of Lexington, to ride 
 his horse Blacknose, which position he accepted and won the 
 race, Aroostook being distanced, as was foreseen by both Dan and 
 the trainer, so also was the four-mile horse Wagner that had 
 eclipsed the great Kentucky favorite, Gray Eagle. After the 
 ending of this series of repeated successes, our young rider had 
 an inclination to leave the turf, as his mind craved the advantages 
 that might lead him eventually into different channels in which 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 37 
 
 his talents could be improved for better openings, so he returned 
 to Pittsburg, his adopted home, and had given to him the care of 
 Eobert Massingham's stables at the corner of Front and Ferry- 
 Streets in that city. But he was not destined to remain here for 
 any length of time, for his reputation as a rider secured for him 
 the position of trainer. He was, therefore, engaged by Mr. Gar- 
 rison Jones to put his horses in training for the races at the 
 Mound Eacecourse (the track at the Nimrod Farm having gone 
 into disuse); and he was especially engaged to ride "Pandora," 
 a four-mile mare, and " Polly Piper," a mile-heat animal, or 
 the best three in five, which he did in three straight heats. These 
 horses were the personal property of a man named Victor, a 
 blacksmith who lived in Wheeling. He was herculean in stature, 
 as well as in strength, for he stood nearly seven feet in height and 
 was a proverbial tobacco-chewer, having his tobacco put up for 
 his special use by a man named Stogy, the inventor of a peculiar 
 form of cigar called the " Wheeling Stogy." Mr. Victor was in 
 the habit of chewing a pound of tobacco a day, which proved 
 quite an item of interest to the unfortunate, crippled manufac- 
 turer, who reminded one of Uriah Heep, that peculiar freak of 
 Charles Dickens' genius. 
 
 At the conclusion of the race the excitement was very great, 
 especially among the Wheeling people, and Mr. Victor was so 
 enthusiastic that he set Dan astride his shoulders and paraded 
 him before the grand stand, where the people threw down 
 money to the boy who brought the Wheeling horse in a 
 winner. 
 
 From thence he went to Marietta, 0., where he placed under 
 training Rat Catcher, belonging to Nat Bishop, a blacksmith; 
 Kosciusko, owned by Warren Wilcox, a merchant; and Osceola, 
 the property of Eobert Johnson, a harness maker. He was lo- 
 cated four miles below Marietta, upon the Humphry Farm, owned 
 and occupied by Mr. George Eeppert, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, 
 who evinced a decided interest in Dan and made him a guest in his 
 own home. It was while there that he himself organized a Jockey 
 Club, and established a mile track, which won considerable prom- 
 inence, and during the summer of that year he caused to be con- 
 structed a judges' and a grand stand, and in the meantime matured 
 and trained horses for the Fall races, and was also generally em- 
 ployed in training horses for persons living in the surrounding 
 country. The enterprise being quite a new undertaking in that 
 •vicinity, created much excitement among the inhabitants, and 
 the Fall meeting was registered to open in October, after the 
 harvest season was over. Fortune seemed also to favor the young 
 lad in a monetary way, for he won every purse through his su- 
 perior knowledge of horsemanship. His successful venture then 
 
38 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICB 
 
 led him to Parkersburg, Va., to which place he repaired, taking 
 with him Osceola and a four-year-pld roan colt, which he stabled 
 with a farmer, Mr. Paul Cook, near the racecourse. 
 
 Something in the boy's nature acted like magic on the sensi- 
 bilities of those with whom he came in contact, for he had the 
 happy faculty of meeting with people who, though representing 
 every strata of society, never failed to treat him in the kindliest 
 manner possible. There was ever an air of mystery about the 
 lad, who carefully guarded the knowledge of his ancestral identity 
 from the curious, and never to his most interested patrons on the 
 turf did he become confidential to that degree to give them his 
 family name. Some innate individuality apparently forbade 
 connecting that sacred tie to the vocation he followed, and many 
 worthy patrons respected the sealed secret of his life on the race- 
 course, and called him merely Dan-the-race-rider, or invented 
 some nom-de-plume that suited the occasion. Thus the happy 
 boy met his hosts of friends on equal footing. It was at Parkers- 
 burg that Dan became acquainted with three fine gentlemen who 
 were prominent throughout the State, and these well-known men 
 were Mr. Mote Holliday, General Maybury, and General Jack- 
 son, all of whom were enthusiastic lovers of the turf. So devoted 
 was General Maybury to the sports of the course that he never 
 failed to give the racing his full attention when the season was in 
 progress, and it was at the races he died many years after, at the 
 advanced age of eighty, while sitting in his carriage and witness- 
 ing the performance of a specially interesting contest. These 
 gentlemen were all thoroughbred Virginians of the old school, 
 and General Jackson was an earnest Presbyterian church digni- 
 tary and the soul of honor, as indeed they all were, including Mr. 
 Cook, who was famous for his superior hospitality. At the con- 
 clusion of the exciting experiences that followed in the course of 
 events at the Fall meeting in Parkersburg, Dan returned to the 
 Eeppert Farm near Marietta, where he spent an enjoyable winter 
 after delivering the horses to their respective destinations and bal- 
 ancing the accounts of the season. Life at the farm was one con- 
 tinual round of enjoyment peculiar to the inhabitants of that 
 locality in those early, hospitable times, when a man's character 
 was measured by the traits he exhibited and not by the length of 
 the purse he carried. Ample means are always essential bless- 
 ings, but it did not, at that time, follow that they were absolutely 
 necessary in order to contract friendships on an equal basis, so 
 young Dan Eice was welcomed among these superior people for- 
 the real true worth that beamed in his great good nature. A 
 young grandson of Mr. Eeppert's made his home at the farm, 
 and, although an older lad, a strong friendship was formed be- 
 tween the two boys, who were brimful to overflowing with fun and 
 

 lagsa ii 
 
 Situated on St. Charles street. 
 
 Between Poydras st- & Commercial Place. 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 39 
 
 frolic, and it was a difficult task to undertake to draw the line 
 of comparison between these mischievous youngsters, who often 
 brought good Grandmother Eeppert to her wit's end to parry their 
 assaults in the household. The grandson, George Barclay, was 
 a fearless fox hunter, and in initiating our young hero into the 
 mysteries of the hunt, it is a well-known joke handed down to the 
 later generations that Dan Rice was so profoundly engrossed with 
 bringing out the speed of the horse he rode that he entirely forgot 
 the game young Barclay was routing, and, through force of habit, 
 made a wild dash for the supposed homestretch, which drove 
 frisky Reynard to safe cover. Young Barclay afterwards located 
 in California, where he became well known in the seafaring world 
 as Capt. George Barclay, and was the first seaman to navigate 
 a steamboat from San Francisco to Sacramento. The Reppert 
 family was notably a large one, and its connections being exten- 
 sive, the kinsmen are now scattered in various walks of life, be- 
 coming prominent in many instances and preserving the integrity 
 of the family name by the same honest principles that have been 
 bequeathed by an untarnished ancestry. It was under the in- 
 fluence of such worthy people that Mr. Rice spent a few happy 
 months, the memories of which have lingered through a long, 
 busy career. At that time his boy life was just verging on the 
 threshold of early manhood, and the careful counsel of Grand- 
 father Reppert was good seed sown in his young heart, that has 
 ripened in his matured years, long after the good old gentleman 
 has passed to a condition that lives only in memory. The ster- 
 ling reputation of Mr. Reppert gained him many friends of solid 
 worth and character, and he was also identified as a partner 
 of the distinguished statesman, Albert Gallatin, in establishing 
 the first glassworks west of the Alleghany Mountains, on the 
 Monongahela River. 
 
 One anecdote of Mr. Rice's life at the Reppert Farm is worth 
 preserving, for it carries us back to the regime of olden time, and 
 also demonstrates some of the mischievous propensities reigning 
 uppermost in the happy nature of Dan Rice. It happened on the 
 occasion of Miss Annie Reppert's marriage to her cousin Jacob, of 
 the same family name. There was a large assemblage of the elite 
 of Marietta, and the company also included representatives from 
 the families of the surrounding country farmers. Mother Rep- 
 pert's skill as a housewife was actively put to the test, and on 
 the gala day in question the great table in the dining-room of 
 the rambling old farmhouse fairly groaned with its weight of 
 choice viands, prepared by loving hands to grace the auspicious 
 occasion, and many of the old German dishes were compounded 
 from recipes brought from the Fatherland, and had been handed 
 down through the previous generations. The festivities were a 
 
40 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 source of great merriment to the younger members of the family, 
 and perhaps no two of them enjoyed it more hugely than did 
 young George Barclay and Dan Bice, for they brought all their 
 mischief into full play, reserving the climax until the marriage 
 ceremony was ended. While the newly wedded pair were receiv- 
 ing the congratulations, the piercing cry of "Murder" was 
 heard coming from the front porch, and the entire company 
 rushed in undignified confusion to the scene of the tragedy, to 
 behold a poor victim with face and hands streaming with gore 
 and the features gruesomely distorted out of all semblance of his 
 former self. The wedding festivities were totally forgotten by 
 this unfortunate disaster, and all thoughts were turned to the 
 victim. Investigation was made in great haste to learn the ex- 
 tent of the injuries he had received, when the applications re- 
 vealed the fact that mischievous Dan Eice was covered with the 
 juicy contents of a huge cherry pie which young Barclay had 
 thrown at him designedly to create the sensation. The plot was 
 betrayed by the smiling look of unconcern with which each 
 youngster greeted the vast assemblage of invited gusts, who were 
 truly grateful that it was only a " cherry-pie tragedy." And 
 dear old Mother Eeppert was forced to emphasize in her broken 
 German, " Oh, mein Gott, mein Gott, Dan, you be such a teufel! " 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 YOUNG BICE'S FIRST MEETING WITH THE DISTINGUISHED HENRI? 
 CLAY — THE WRECK OF THE " MOSELLE " — EXPLOSION OE THE 
 BOILER ON THE STEAMBOAT ON WHICH RICE AND HIS RACE. 
 HOESE WERE PASSENGEES — THEIR MIRACULOUS ESCAPE — 
 YOUNG RICE AS A POSTAL OFFICER. — BUNCH O'BONES 
 — ABRAHAM LINCOLN JUDGE IN A QUARTER RACE — WHY 
 YOUNG EICE WITHDREW FROM THE TURF. 
 
 WHILE the party were at Pittsburg the previous winter, Mr. 
 William Hughes, a celebrated sporting character of that 
 day, having heard of Dan's superior skill with the racers of the 
 turf, formed a contract with Mr. Goram for the lad's services 
 to ride his four-mile horse, "John Clifton," at the Louisville 
 races. Accordingly at the opening of the season the boy started 
 with the horse from Moundville, taking passage at that place in 
 a light-draft stern- wheel boat, with two barges in tow, loaded with 
 emigrants. The water being low, the steamer necessarily ran 
 very slow, and there was plenty of time to devote to amusement. 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 41 
 
 Among the passengers on the boat was the distinguished Senator, 
 Henry Clay, who was on his way to his home in Lexington, Ky. 
 Mr. Clay, with his genial good nature, indulged in the pastimes 
 of the voyage, and on one occasion he walked down to the deck 
 of one of the barges where some of the people were dancing. He 
 was accompanied by Dan, whose acquaintance he had formed by 
 noticing the lad who had in his charge the racer, and together 
 they watched the performances of the emigrants. "Can you dance, 
 Dan? " asked the Senator of the young rider. " Not those Ger- 
 man dances, sir," he replied, " but I can do a jig or reel." " Well, 
 then," said Mr. Clay, " let me see if I can't play something for 
 you," and suiting the action to the word, he borrowed a violin and 
 played the air " Money Musk," which was at that time very popu- 
 lar, to which Dan danced an encore. He has since said, that 
 of all the tunes to which he ever danced, that one of "Money 
 Musk " seemed to him the longest. Arriving at Cincinnati, Mr. 
 Hughes met Dan at the levee, and transferred him and the horse 
 to the steamboat "Moselle," plying between Cincinnati, Louisville, 
 and St. Louis. She was nearly new and was regarded by many as 
 the fastest boat upon the river. Dan took his horse, John Clif- 
 ton, aboard and located him on the extreme stern of the boat on 
 the larboard guard. This was upon April 26, 1838, a day mem- 
 orable' for years afterwards to the people of Cincinnati. The 
 captain, whose name was Perkins, after taking freight and pas- 
 sengers at the Cincinnati wharf, steamed up the river a mile and 
 a half to the village' of Fulton for a family that had engaged pas- 
 sage. Another Louisville boat had started ahead, and while 
 waiting for his Fulton passengers to embark he tied the "Moselle" 
 to a lumber raft, still keeping up a head of steam. This was a 
 dangerous proceeding, as the Evans safety guard to prevent the 
 explosion of steam boilers had not yet been introduced, but he 
 was anxious in passing the city to exhibit the speed of his boat 
 as well as to pass hisrival and reach Louisville first. After the Ful- 
 ton part went on board, the " Moselle " cast off and commenced 
 her journey. At that moment a man who had seen the steam 
 gauge, rushed through the engine room to the stern of the boat 
 shouting loudly, " By G — d, this boat is going to blow up! " and 
 then sprang into the river on the shore side. Dan, with his im- 
 pulsive nature, at once became excited, and, unfastening the 
 horse, succeeded in forcing him overboard, and quick as thought 
 sprang in after him. There were several panic-stricken passen- 
 gers on deck, who, having heard the man's wild shout of alarm, 
 also did likewise, but Dan had scarcely time to mount the horse 
 before the boiler burst and there was an explosion which rever- 
 berated like a clap of thunder from the surrounding hills. It 
 was a wild and terrible scene and indescribable in its dire results, 
 
42 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 but Dan managed to preserve his presence of mind and directed 
 the horse towards the Kentucky shore opposite, avoiding as best 
 he could the flying fragments around and about him, while the 
 heart-rending cries of the perishing passengers and crew smote 
 painfully on his ear. Still the boy persevered in guiding the 
 racer in this struggle for life, and, by almost a miracle, he and 
 the horse made the shore in safety, landing in Covington, which 
 was at that time merely a village. After the explosion, what re- 
 mained of the "Moselle" drifted a short distance down the stream 
 and sank, and the placid waters of the Ohio held in her bosom 
 the secret of the terrible tragedy. With the exception of the 
 few passengers who were in the ladies' cabin and those who, like 
 Dan, had taken to the water prior to the explosion, all were killed 
 outright or so fearfully scalded that they died shortly afterward. 
 The exact number has never been ascertained, but it was esti- 
 mated that at least two hundred were victims to the captain's 
 criminal and insane ambition to outrace any boat upon the river. 
 After experiencing these harrowing events, Dan remained with 
 the horse that night at Covington, and started for Louisville by 
 land the next morning. It was impossible for him to communicate 
 with Hughes, the owner of the horse, and that individual know- 
 ing of the accident, supposed that both the boy and horse had 
 perished in the general calamity. Nor did he suspect otherwise 
 until a few days afterwards when he went to Louisville, he dis- 
 covered our indomitable hero exercising the horse upon the Oak- 
 land course. To say that Hughes was astonished expresses the 
 situation but mildly; he was as much amazed as if he had wit- 
 nessed the resurrection of horse and rider from the tomb. Mr. 
 Eice has since remarked in his quaint way that he never was 
 quite certain as to which of the two Mr. Hughes was most pleased 
 to behold, himself or the thoroughbred; but he gave Mr. Hughes 
 the benefit of the doubt out of charity, for he proclaimed young 
 Eice's presence of mind and successful effort in the rescue of the 
 horse throughout the sporting circle of Louisville, until our hero 
 became indeed the hero of the hour. It is to be regretted that 
 the horse was not destined to win the race after passing through 
 such trying difficulties, for it would have been a triumphant 
 climax to the fame of the boy who rode him. But in forcing him 
 over the side of the boat into the river and in swimming the Ohio, 
 the animal had been strained, and at the time of the race had not 
 sufficiently recovered from the ordeal to win out. But it was 
 admitted that it was not through Dan's mismanagement that the 
 unfortunate results followed. 
 
 At the conclusion of the race that proved so unsatisfactory on 
 account of the accident to the racer, young Eice made prepara- 
 tions to return to Mr. Goram at Charleston and conclude the pro- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 43 
 
 gram at that place, but decided to stop at Marietta on his return 
 journey and visit his old friends at the Eeppert farm. He had 
 been there but a short time when he received word to come 
 directly to Moundville, as Colonel Jones, his guardian, was very 
 ill and supposed to be dying. He made haste to obey the sum- 
 mons, but as the steamboat was delayed on account of low water, 
 he arrived only in time to attend the funeral of the kind-hearted 
 man who had proved such a true friend to the young boy under 
 his charge. After a few days Mrs. Jones informed Dan that her 
 husband had, before his illness, formed an engagement for him 
 with Capt. Tom Moore, of Wheeling, to ride in St. Louis, at the 
 Fall meeting, that gentleman's four-mile mare, " Karina." He, 
 therefore, prepared himself and accompanied Captain Moore with 
 the animal to St. Louis, but the race was not successful, as the 
 mare broke down in her forelegs in the second heat, after winning 
 the first. However, Dan received one hundred dollars for his 
 services according to contract, which, in a measure, proved some 
 compensation to the ambitious lad, who earnestly sought to give 
 satisfaction in every instance that followed in his vocation. 
 
 At the close of the racing season, Mr. Stickney, one of the post- 
 office officials at St. Louis, who was afterwards a well-known 
 landlord of the Planters' House, engaged young Eice for a special 
 mission, which consisted of taking the official papers and riding 
 cross country to the mouth of the Illinois Eiver and establish- 
 ing post-offices as directed by the government on the way. In 
 those days every one ran quarter horses all in the western coun- 
 try, a sport that seemed to be the prevailing pastime for several 
 decades. At these races young Eice, who was passionately fond of 
 athletics, became an active student of gymnastic exercises, in the 
 science of which he became very expert and displayed superior 
 skill, employing the same untiring energy that had ever marked 
 his career upon the turf. He was at this period only seventeen 
 years of age, but was always prepared to banter the field in a foot- 
 race, wrestling match, jumping, or throwing the sledge, and so 
 well were his powers known, that seldom was there found a con- 
 testant hardy enough to accept the challenge, or if accepted, vig- 
 orous enough to escape defeat. He accepted a match with Dick 
 Bradt, the celebrated western footracer, at the little hamlet of 
 Bethel, near Springfield, 111., in which he exhibited the same 
 spirit that characterized every sport in which he participated. 
 In the course of these foot races, in connection with John Ethel, 
 who afterward became a lead miner at Galena, young Eice as- 
 sumed control of "Bunch O'Bones," a quarter-horse that had 
 never been beaten. Bunch O'Bones had become comparatively 
 unprofitable, as he was invariably " expected " in all the quarter- 
 mile races. Young Eice, being always possessed of the one am- 
 
44 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 bition to rise to a different condition, applied himself to get the 
 horse in order with a view to enlarge his sphere of action in a 
 trip through Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia. 
 
 An amateur of the turf called Tom Whiton, a well-known Ohio 
 Eiver pilot, of Marietta, was also connected with the fraternity 
 when not following his legitimate vocation. Having, in com- 
 mon with the great sporting gentry, heard often of Bunch 
 O'Bones, and knowing — so profound was his owner's confidence in 
 him, that a horse that could beat him would " win his pile," pro- 
 cured " Hotspur," a quarter-horse in Virginia who he was willing 
 to put against the combined forces of racers. His previous suc- 
 cesses induced Mr. Whiton to bring his stable to St. Louis to at- 
 tend the Fall races there, and feeling fortified to meet young Bice 
 in his venture, he then proceeded to Bethel, where a match was 
 soon arranged between Hotspur and Bunch O'Bones. 
 
 Quite an excitement was created in the country around, and 
 Whiton laughed at the sly hints of sympathy, that he, a com- 
 parative amateur in the business, should risk a match with Bunch 
 O'Bones, notoriously the fastest horse in the State, and con- 
 gratulated himself that Dan did not suspect that Hotspur was 
 an assumed name covering a steed that had won so many hardly- 
 contested laurels. Young Bice felt some misgivings in regard to 
 the coming race, although the match was only for fifty dollars a 
 side, and either party would have sacrificed the whole amount of 
 the purse to have known to a certainty which horse would win, 
 and both young men probably resolved in their minds how this 
 information could be obtained without the knowledge of the 
 other. Three days before the race, Dan was greatly surprised 
 that Whiton, with whom he had a trivial misunderstanding the 
 year before at Wheeling, was now unusually courteous and urgent 
 in his invitations to a chat and a social glass at Case's Tavern, 
 but his surprise was changed to suspicion when he overheard a 
 groom whisper to Whiton, "At this rate you'll never get Bice 
 drunk enough to open the stable." 
 
 Then it was that he understood their object. Their pretended 
 friendship was a conspiracy to get Bunch O'Bones out of the 
 stable to run a trial race. The suspicious remark which he ac- 
 cidently overheard caused young Bice to change his methods and 
 feign to be gradually overcome by deep potations, and finally to 
 lose all control over himself. He successfully managed his part 
 in the play and soon appeared so nearly overcome with sleep as 
 to require to be shaken vigorously. Another glass of the bever- 
 age was mixed, and shortly after the owner of Hotspur and the 
 groom kindly assisted him to his room and put him to bed to 
 sleep off the effects of dissipation. No sooner, however, did Dan 
 hear their retreating footsteps, than he quickly arose, prepared 
 
EEMINISCBNCES Off DAN EICE 45 
 
 himself, and, running swiftly to the rear of the barn, he effected 
 an entrance to the back of the stable, and changed Bunch O'Bones 
 from the front stall to the back stall, putting in Bunch O'Bones' 
 place another quarter-horse, Gamut, owned by a friend who ac- 
 companied him on the journey speculatively, which horse re- 
 sembled Bunch O'Bones so closely that any one who had seen the 
 latter only twice, as Hotspur's owner had, would not be likely to 
 detect the change, especially at night. This change being made, 
 he secreted himself in the hay-mow overhead, first making a pas- 
 sageway through which he could see into the stable below. 
 Young Eice had only time enough to accomplish this change of 
 horses and prepare his place to watch the proceedings, for almost 
 as soon as this was effected, he heard the staple forced out of the 
 locked door and Whiton and the groom entered stealthily. It 
 was the work of a moment to take out Gamut and proceed to a 
 level lane, where they were followed by Dan, who, by scaling the 
 garden fence in the rear and keeping the shadows, arrived unseen 
 on the field of action as soon as they. Hotspur soon followed 
 Gamut in the hands of the groom and Dan had the great satis- 
 faction of seeing Hotspur, after a hardly-fought trial of speed, 
 come out ahead of Gamut about one length, which Hotspur's rider 
 declared could be increased a length more on the day of the race. 
 Contented with what he had learned, Dan returned to the stable 
 and soon found an opportunity to exchange the horses to their 
 respective stalls, after which he hastened to his room without 
 being detected, greatly relieved in mind and with a fund of spirits 
 the next morning that failed to conceal an affectation of head- 
 ache and drowsiness. He was satisfied that Bunch O'Bones could 
 beat Gamut three lengths easily, and, of course, was good for two 
 with Hotspur. From that time on each side was confident, and 
 Dan took every bet that was offered, advising his friends that he 
 had the " deadwood " on it. Each party was in such good humor 
 with himself on the day of the race that no trouble was had about 
 preliminaries. Dan rode Bunch O'Bones and the same rider that 
 rode him on the night escapade mounted Hotspur. Both started 
 off in the finest style of action, but to the unspeakable mortifica- 
 tion of Hotspur's owner and the consternation of his rider, Bunch 
 O'Bones slowly but surely forged to the front, coming in first 
 just by a nose as was decided by the judge amid the hoots and 
 jeers of the natives. But all opposition to his decision was soon 
 quelled by the judge himself, whose standing in the community 
 was very high, and furthermore the judge had gone so far as to 
 wager a dollar or two himself on Hotspur, who was the neighbor- 
 hood's favorite. 
 
 Now comes one of the most extraordinary incidents in the 
 story. This judge was a gawky young Illinois lawyer named 
 
46 REMINISCENCES 03? DAN BICE 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, who held all the bets made on the race, and 
 handed them over to the winners. He had stopped overnight at 
 Bethel on his circuit from Springfield to Jacksonville, 111., and 
 had been selected to act as stakeholder. His fellow-citizens were 
 quite indignant at his decision in Eice's favor, for they had lost 
 every bet, and their exchequers were exhausted. But when he was 
 President, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Bice enjoyed many hearty laughs 
 over Bunch O'Bones' victory. 
 
 Having successfully fulfilled his mission with Mr. Stickney, 
 young Bice returned to St. Louis, and after having sold the horse 
 to Bob O'Blennis, a well-known character of that city, for a large 
 sum, he gave up his projected tour to the South, and finally re- 
 tired from the turf to follow inclinations that eventually led him 
 into a different calling. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MB. EICE'S DEBUT ON THE STAGE — HE MEETS THE ORIGINAL 
 FAKIR OF AVA — HIS ROLE AS DEMON OF THE FIERY 
 F0KEST — WINNING A STEAMBOAT FROM ITS CAPTAIN — 
 HIGH WAGES WHILE A COACHMAN AT THE ALLEGHANY 
 ARSENAL — A NARROW ESCAPE IN ASSUMING THE R6LE OF 
 GHOST — DANCES THE CAMPTOWN HORNPIPE AT THE NICH- 
 OLLS' CIRCUS IN PITTSBURG — YOUNG RICE'S FIRST MEET- 
 ING WITH SECRETARIES RUSK AND WINDOM IN EARLY 
 DAYS. 
 
 ON young Dan Bice's retirement from the turf in the autumn 
 of 1839, and on his return to St. Louis in December, fate 
 had prepared for him a dramatic debut of which he was not slow 
 to take advantage. He had reported to Mr. Stickney the result 
 of his post-office mission, and while cogitating on the advisability 
 of returning to Pittsburg, he visited several places of amusement, 
 one of which was the St. Louis Museum on Market Street, where 
 he was recognized by several amateur actors. Among the num- 
 ber was Mr. J. H. McVicker, who eventually became the father- 
 in-law of the renowned actor, Edwin Booth. This gentleman 
 cordially greeted Mr. Rice and introduced him to Professor 
 Marshall, the manager of the museum, who kindly asked him to 
 remain and attend the performance. After the play was over, 
 Mr. Bice invited a number of his friends, among whom was Mr. 
 McVicker, with whom he had previously become acquainted with 
 at the races, to lunch with him, which invitation they accepted. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 4:7 
 
 While they enjoyed themselves in the hearty good-fellowship 
 that usually attends such occasions, Mr. McVicker asked Mr. 
 Eice to dance at his benefit in negro character " The Camptown 
 Hornpipe," a very popular dance in those days. This he agreed 
 to do and the benefit took place a few evenings afterwards. Thus 
 young Rice was brought to the public notice in a new guise and 
 entirely different kind of business, and he made a good hit, for 
 he was encored several times. When Professor Marshall, the 
 " Fakir of Ava," saw the natural ability of the young man, he 
 asked him to take a small role in a new production about to be 
 brought out at the museum. 
 
 " The Sleeping Beauty, or the Demon of the Fiery Forest," 
 was to be introduced by Marshall, with a close attention to thrill- 
 ing detail, and Mr. Rice was cast to play the demon, a part more 
 conspicuous in name than in reality. Mr. McVicker was east for 
 the leading role, that of the virtuous young hero whose aim it 
 was to rescue the Sleeping Beauty from the machinations of the 
 demon. Mr. McVicker was at that time pursuing the business 
 of cabinet-maker, with a strong leaning toward the theatrical, and 
 which eventually became his calling in life, as is well known in 
 the theatrical world. The manager on this particular occasion 
 had not been sparing of scenic effects, and when the audience saw 
 the great snakes, hideous dragons, and monsters of form and ges- 
 ture, hitherto undreamed of, peering from the foliage and among 
 the trees and insinuating their writhing folds across the Fiery 
 Forest, there was a distinct sensation. Young Rice, although 
 dressed in the full garb of a demon, proved to be the most pro- 
 foundly seared mortal in the house. It appears that he had not 
 indulged in the pleasure of these adjuncts at rehearsals, therefore, 
 as the curtain rose, he was beheld standing in the midst of these 
 blazing horrors, exceedingly fierce in aspect, but oh, so faint at 
 heart at sight of these goblins doomed, that he suddenly ran off 
 the stage with his tail between his legs, and stood cowering in the 
 wings. The audience, recognizing Dan Rice and his genuine 
 stage fright, roared out its encouragement of security. 
 
 " Get back there and take the centre of the stage! " shouted 
 McVicker, striding on in full heroics, prepared to rescue the 
 Sleeping Beauty, who was apparently resting on a- mossy bank. 
 But young Rice had already recovered his presence of mind. An- 
 noyed at McVieker's brusque language, which had ended with a 
 very pronounced aspirate oath that unmistakably proclaimed him 
 an idiot, he was not slow to perceive that the cries of the people 
 were giving him more than his share of prominence in the play. 
 So he responded with pretended reluctance to the shouts of a 
 score or more of his friends, and with them, flames and all, de- 
 liberately took the stage from the enraged McVicker, and the 
 
48 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 disconsolate, but now wide-awake Beauty, shouldered his Devil's 
 tail and " pitched into " the " Camptown Hornpipe." This in- 
 congruous interlude had a tendency to break up the performance 
 that was advertised, the curtain dropped and the audience dis- 
 persed screaming with laughter. 
 
 It was at this period that gambling was the passion of the day, 
 and the Mississippi steamboats have been characterized as veri- 
 table " floating hells " on the bosom of the " Father of Waters." 
 It is to be regretted that this vocation was soon to become more 
 than amusement to young Eiee, for the hand of fate seemed dis- 
 posed to add also that experience to the decree of his destiny. 
 After leaving St. Louis, where his unfortunate debut as an actor 
 ended in such a ludicrous manner, he drifted into a new channel 
 where cireumst2iK?es propelled him, and thought of a life on the 
 river a§ ihjyiext step toward elevating himself to a higher stand- 
 ard. ,* W^th^f&^jfeuliar aptitude at cards, he soon developed into 
 a professional that hid but few, if any, superiors, and in a sur- 
 prisin^^short timerhe made regular preparations to lay siege to 
 the purse df the travelling public. He procured a fireman's out- 
 fit and shipped on the steamboat Czar, a St. Louis and Pittsburg 
 packet, commanded by.Capt. Billy Porsythe, a celebrated man on 
 the river at that day, though long since gone to his reward, and 
 with all his energies he launched into this new undertaking. 
 These preparations were to enable young Bice to get a chance to 
 play cards with the unfortunate deck passengers, a regular fire- 
 man meanwhile working below in that capacity in his place. 
 With the same exhibitions of success following him that had 
 marked his career on the turf, he won furniture, horses, money, 
 and, indeed, so much in general of everything that suspicion was 
 aroused and he was obliged to disembark at Louisville. There 
 he again ventured on the New Argo, Captain Steele commanding, 
 to go up the Kentucky Biver to Prankf ort, and while on the boat 
 he figured as a watchman. After donning his watchman's garb 
 and going on deck, he would solicit patronage and forthwith 
 proceeded to win everything in sight, and after playing on the 
 New Argo the whole winter, he won the boat itself from the cap- 
 tain; but with the instinctive principle of justice that ruled him 
 in every transaction, he gave her back to Captain Steele when he 
 left the service at Frankfort. 
 
 Yearnings for a permanent location seemed to take possession 
 of the young man in the various phases of his career, and he was 
 naturally inclined to Pittsburg through the force of circum- 
 stances. His old-time boy friends were there and also many 
 prominent persons who had interested themselves in his welfare 
 during his racing days. So it was to that city that his heart in- 
 clined, and he left Frankfort by stage-coach for Pittsburg, by way 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 49 
 
 of Cincinnati. The ruling propensities that governed him dur- 
 ing the past few months on the river predominated during his 
 journey, and he found willing victims to indulge in his favorite 
 winning games at cards while en route to Pittsburg. The ex- 
 traordinary hold the passion for play had, at that time, on the 
 American people is shown in George W. Devol's remarkable work, 
 " Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi Eiver." It was in 
 the spring of 1840 that young Eice arrived in Pittsburg, where he 
 bought a third interest in a livery stable at the corner of Front 
 and Ferry Streets, owned by an Englishman named Massingham, 
 who has been previously mentioned and with whom Dan had 
 formerly associated. In the autumn of that year he disposed of 
 his interest in the stable and deposited his money in the bank. 
 Eoddy Patterson, an acquaintance with whom he had often ex- 
 changed favors, was a well-known livery-stable keeper in Pitts- 
 burg. This person knowing that young Eice was embracing 
 every opportunity to better his condition, one day informed him 
 that Captain Harding, the commander of the Alleghany Arsenal, 
 wanted a careful, experienced man to drive his family carriage. 
 "And Dan," said Patterson, "why don't you go and take the 
 job? " After carefully thinking over the possibilities that might 
 occur if he should take the position, he obtained a note of intro- 
 duction to Captain Harding. He found this gentleman well 
 disposed toward him and he was commissioned by the captain 
 to go and see Mrs. Harding, whose private apartments were lo- 
 cated across the plateau in the Arsenal enclosure, and assure her 
 as to his capabilities as a driver. The commandant's wife was 
 so exceedingly timid that the slightest display of spirit on the 
 part of a horse alarmed her almost to the verge of hysterics. Cor- 
 respondingly great, therefore, was her husband's desire to secure 
 a driver with whom not only he, but his wife as well, might feel 
 the assurance of safety. In the very beginning, Mrs. Harding 
 expressed her belief that Dan was too young and forthwith began 
 questioning him as to his past experience. Young Eice, who did 
 not lack confidence, replied satisfactorily, until she asked him 
 how near the edge of a precipice he could drive without tilting 
 over. And to this he replied that he would not try the experi- 
 ment but would keep as far from it as possible. " You will do," 
 the lady exclaimed, and dismissed him with a brief note to her 
 husband, who read it with great care, and, after a few prelimi- 
 naries, began the final agreements as to what salary he expected. 
 " Understand," said he, " you will not be expected to attend 
 to grooming the horses; all that you will have to do will be to 
 mount the seat when the carriage is brought out, and drive, and 
 upon your return the groom will take the horses back to the 
 stable. Now," said the captain, " what wages will you require? " 
 4 
 
50 BEMINISCENCES OF DAJST EICE 
 
 Dan hesitated a moment, and then replied that he thought 
 sixty dollars a month would be a fair compensation. 
 
 " Sixty dollars a month," echoed the, captain in a tone of as- 
 tonishment, " did I hear aright? " 
 
 "You certainly did," rejoined Dan, "I said sixty dollars a 
 month; do you think it too much? " 
 
 " Why, of course I do," replied the captain. 
 
 " Very well," said Dan, " no harm is done, and I wish you, sir, 
 a very good-day." 
 
 But as he was preparing to leave, the captain called him back 
 and again asked him if he had not made a mistake in his figures 
 and if he did not himself think them unreasonably high. 
 
 " Well, sir," replied Dan, " they do appear high, but they 
 are not so for the work I propose to perform. Now I will 
 make a proposition. Within one month I will engage that the 
 lady will be taught to drive the team herself without fear or 
 hesitation, and if I fail in this, then I will forfeit a month's 
 salary." 
 
 " If you do this," said the captain, " I will not grudge you the 
 sixty dollars," and the contract being made, upon the following 
 Monday young Eice was duly installed in his new and comfortable 
 quarters. 
 
 They were decidedly superior to his apartments in the Massing- 
 ham stable, and altogether it was to him a new life. He was 
 never treated as a menial, but, except when guests were invited, 
 he had his seat at the table as one of the family, and could he 
 have remained contented, his life would have been exceedingly 
 pleasant. True to his promise, a month had not elapsed before 
 Mrs. Harding not only mounted the seat of the carriage but 
 handled the reins and drove the horses in such a fearless way that 
 it astonished the garrison. 
 
 The Hardings had four children, three boys and one girl, the 
 younger boys, William and Van Buren, being at home, and 
 Ebenezer, the elder, at school at Carlisle, Pa. Mischievous, high- 
 spirited, fun-loving youngsters they were. Scarcely a night 
 would pass but William and Van Buren were found to have stolen 
 away from the paternal rooftree. The captain tried at first to 
 frighten them into staying home at night by the recital of hair- 
 raising and blood-curdling ghost stories, but all to no avail. So, 
 one night, he hired young Eice to play ghost, and the result came 
 very near ending Dan's life, for William had happened on that 
 occasion to sally forth with a shotgun, one commonly supposed 
 by his father to be unloaded. Dan, swathed in sheets, stood 
 boldly out in the moonlight, holding high over his head a stout 
 wooden cross, overwhich a sheetwas draped. On being confronted 
 with this awful apparition, Willie calmly fired his fowling-piece 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 51 
 
 and the entire charge passed through the sheets into the cross, 
 just above Dan's head. 
 
 This was one of his first spectacular appearances, but the role 
 of ghost came very near being his last. 
 
 The Harding family have now, at this date, all passed away 
 with the exception of the daughter, who is the wife of Oliver T. 
 Barnes, of New York, the prominent civil engineer who was so 
 important a factor in the survey of the Pennsylvania Eailroad 
 lines. She is a noble woman, and Colonel Eice feels that, to the 
 refining influence of the happy home in which he knew her family 
 fifty years ago in Pittsburg, he owes a debt of lasting gratitude. 
 The lesson unconsciously learned at that time had a wonderful 
 effect upon his morals, for he had arrived at that impressionable 
 age when life is opening new avenues to the understanding and 
 creating desires of a more exalted character, and the associations 
 of refinement and integrity met the innate ideal of our young 
 hero's aspirations, and the result was more redeeming than the 
 Hardings ever suspected. The family was highly connected, and 
 in this home, where he was more of a friend and companion than 
 otherwise, young Eice came in contact with such of the friends 
 and kinsmen as the Cowens, Harmon Denny, and the Eobinsons, 
 all of whom were people of worth and culture. Mingling as he 
 did with the Hardings, brought him also in friendly intercourse 
 with the officers and subordinates of the garrison, the most of 
 whom were intelligent, polished men, and his native spirit 
 yearned to meet them on an equal footing. This was an impos- 
 sibility in the position which he held, and his proud nature felt 
 it most keenly, and notwithstanding the kind and considerate 
 treatment which he received, he sighed for a more active and ad- 
 venturous career that would elevate him to the position he craved 
 among his fellow-men. But how to leave these worthy people was 
 the question. He could form no plausible excuse, and then, in his 
 ignorance as to the affairs at the Arsenal, he thought that having 
 taken a position there, he was in the condition of a soldier, so 
 that if he insisted upon going away he might be arrested and 
 incarcerated in the Black Hole, the fate of more than one de- 
 serter, as had already come under his observation. So he pa- 
 tiently waited for circumstances to shape themselves as to the 
 result of his future action. He had now been at the Arsenal 
 three months, and had not drawn any of his salary, but this was 
 to one of his thoughtless disposition a secondary consideration. 
 At last he made up his mind, and, ignoring his three months' 
 salary, left this pleasant home without announcing his departure, 
 and returning to Pittsburg, took refuge in his old apartments 
 at the Massingham stable. 
 
 While waiting for a change in the tide of affairs, by which 
 
52 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 he could command a remuneration worth accepting, he concluded 
 to go and visit old friends in Marietta and also spend a brief 
 period at the Eeppert farm, around which previous associations 
 hovered that were dear to his mind and heart. The young man 
 was welcomed with hearty cordiality by those warm-hearted 
 Germans who extended their hospitality as freely as on other 
 occasions, when the racing business called him in their vicinity, 
 and he occupied his old place in their midst, while they regaled 
 themselves with rehearsing past reminiscences of his fun-loving 
 propensities. Young Eice's stay in Marietta, at this time, was 
 characterized by a series of adventures that reminded him of 
 other days, and eventually was the means of forming new friend- 
 ships that proved interesting as well as lasting. 
 
 In due time he left his old associates and returned to Pittsburg; 
 that offered new attractions for his vivacious nature to indulge 
 in and investigate. 
 
 Although young Eice had left the Hardings without receiving 
 his salary, he was not without money, for he always had a gener- 
 ous deposit in the bank, and was, therefore, secured in almost 
 any emergency. There was at that time a wooden structure 
 erected on what was known as the Broadhurst lot, near the canal 
 on Penn Street, that was used by the showman, Sam Nicholls, 
 for an amphitheatre. It was now the winter season, and not 
 being engaged, young Eice was almost a nightly visitor to the 
 circus, for the horsemanship fascinated him, and the acrobatic 
 sports appealed to and were a part of his exuberant nature, and 
 very naturally, being similarly constituted, he soon became ac- 
 quainted with the performers. It was, in reality, a star company, 
 consisting of Caroline Devine, who afterwards became Mrs. James 
 M. Nixon, Mrs. Samuel Nicholls, Mrs. Matt Buckley, Messrs. 
 "W. W. and Horace Nicholls, Tom McCollum, James M. Nixon, 
 Matt Buckley, Monsieur Guillot, the Hercules and strongest man 
 of his day; Dave Harlin, a star rider; Hamlin, the contortionist; 
 and Herr Kline, the famous tight-rope performer. The clowns 
 of the company were George Knapp and John May. Knapp was 
 one of the most lugubrious clowns that ever appeared in a motley 
 garb, and May afterward acquired some celebrity, but unfortu- 
 nately, finally ended his days in an insane asylum. 
 
 Under the influence of the exciting exhibitions, it did not re- 
 quire repeated persuasion for young Eice to be admitted behind 
 the scenes, and upon the occasion of a benefit taken by John May, 
 he was induced to volunteer the " Camptown Hornpipe," in 
 which, as has been previously stated, he was known to excel. On 
 this occasion, he was encored to repeat it until he became ex- 
 hausted, and then his friends in the audience suggested a change 
 in the programme and called upon him to sing a negro song. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE S3 
 
 Young Bice tried to excuse himself, alleging that he knew but 
 one which he did not wish to repeat, but it was all in vain, for 
 there was a universal chorus from the audience, " Then give us 
 that one." His innate modesty recoiled from giving the song in 
 question, which was exceedingly broad, and the last verse espe- 
 cially would not bear repeating, but urged as he was by the con- 
 course of people, decided at last to sing it. The mixed masses 
 roared and applauded, but those in the boxes testified their dis- 
 approbation by turning their heads. This was Mr. Bice's first 
 introduction in connection with a circus. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 YOUNG RICE'S SUCCESS AS AN ATHLETE — THE FIRST OF A 
 SERIES OF PHYSICAL ENCOUNTERS WHICH MADE DAN 
 RICE'S FAME WIDESPREAD THROUGH THE COUNTRY — HOW 
 " DEVIL JACK " WAS TAMED — RICE'S FIRST VENTURE AS 
 A SHOWMAN — HIS INTEREST IN "LORD BYRON " — BY 
 WHOM GEORGE WASHINGTON'S NURSE WAS FIRST BROUGHT 
 TO NEW YORK — SUCCESSFUL TOUR OF THE " PIG SHOW " 
 — A SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURE CONNECTED WITH IT — LO- 
 CALIZING HIS FIRST EXTEMPORE SONGS. 
 
 ANOTHEB era now opened in the life of Dan Eice, in which 
 he felt an inclination to test the possibilities it might have 
 in store for him, so he made every effort to improve his mind and 
 prepare his physical capacities according to scientific regime. As 
 a beginning to those preparations, he commenced his first lessons 
 in gymnastics with Monsieur Guillot, the " Strong Man " of the 
 Nieholls Circus. His whole life had been, however, a continual 
 athletic exercise and vigorous exertion, no matter what its im- 
 mediate object may be, and especially, if indulged in the open 
 air, develops the physical man to better advantage than elaborate 
 gymnasium practice indoors. 
 
 Young Eice had, to a great degree, lived out of doors from the 
 time he was three years old, indulging in all the boyish sports that 
 characterized the pastimes of childhood. As he grew older, he 
 had his wrestling matches with boys of his own circle, and in 
 running, jumping, etc., he excelled many of his young friends 
 in powers of execution and endurance. These were some of the 
 methods by which his muscles were hardened, his sinews tough- 
 ened, and the foundation laid for that astonishing physical vigor 
 and endurance which surprised every contestant with whom he 
 
54 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 came in contact. Under Guillot's instruction he evinced great 
 aptitude, and his naturally robust frame was, by the calisthenic 
 exercises through which the French gentleman put him, con- 
 verted into as powerful a human machine as any one of his day 
 and generation ever saw. Every one who knew Rice was aware 
 that whenever he was required to act upon the defensive, he 
 was found equal to the demands in every particular, for he never 
 failed to punish an overt act, and in doing so he was generally 
 victorious, and also secured the good opinion of those who wit- 
 nessed tbe affair, and the opponent usually " buried the hatchet " 
 afterwards. In Bayardstown, just across the canal from Pitts- 
 burg, there lived a notorious barroom character called by the 
 opprobious nom-de-plume " Devil Jack," who, having heard of 
 Dan's professional powers, had boasted that he would whip him 
 the first time he saw him. But he was advised by John Paisley 
 and Eoger Jeffries, two worthy young fellows, that it would be 
 better to let that matter alone, for he would probably be defeated 
 in the attempt. But being assured of his own powers and not dis- 
 posed to credit the warning given him by the young men, he 
 pursued the object of his challenge and decided to test it with his 
 pugilistic skill. Many of the young "roughs" who regarded 
 Jack as their hero, also determined what they would do with 
 young Eice at the first opportunity. Pittsburg was a noted resort 
 in those days for rough characters and fighters. The river popu- 
 lation consisting mainly of foreign element was as disorderly in 
 many respects as any ever known in this country, and Eice, dur- 
 ing his residence there, had felt the necessity of keeping guarded 
 in his remarks if he would avoid personal encounters with the 
 lower element. The notorious gang who upheld Jack's su- 
 premacy numbered among its leading members Coffey Eichard- 
 son, Jake Cameron, and Andy Jackson, each of whom was a 
 pugilist of no mean repute, but all yielding the palm of supremacy 
 to their chief, Jack. Young Eice having been invited, as de- 
 scribed previously, to take part in the benefit given to John May, 
 one of the clowns of the Nicholls Circus, was asked with the 
 rest of the company after the performance to participate in re- 
 freshments at a public house, kept by James Ashworth, an Eng- 
 lishman, and which was a favorite resort of the circus people. 
 While the company was conversing, " Devil Jack," with the 
 members of his party, entered, and in a loud voice called out, 
 " Where is that Dan Eice who thinks he can whip anybody? " 
 Young Eice was standing at the rear of the room, and appre- 
 hending that trouble was brewing, quietly removed his coat, and 
 no sooner had he done so, than Jack, who recognized him, hurled 
 a heavy glass at him. Our hero, being on the alert, dodged the 
 missile, and, unfortunately, it struck the clown, John May, a 
 
DAB Rll> 
 
 THE 0RI6INAL HUMORIST AS HE APPEARD IN HIS 
 
 GREAT UNION SPEECH, 
 
 ■,,., MEJHCAt STUOJNTS • 
 
REMINISCENCES 0¥ DAN EICE 55 
 
 terrible blow in the abdomen, and he cried out in agony, after- 
 wards becoming insensible from the injury. Eiee, in the mean- 
 time, had assumed a crouching position, and, with a rapid move- 
 ment towards the desperado, caught him with one hand and 
 struck him a terrible blow in the face with the other. Then fol- 
 lowed an extraordinary exhibition of strength, scientifically dis- 
 played by the young athlete. Jack was a large, burly fellow, but 
 regardless of his weight and strength Kice drew him to the stove, 
 which, as the night was very cold, was excessively hot, and firmly 
 held one side of his face against it. A shriek of agony from the 
 victim caused those who witnessed the scene to interfere and he 
 was rescued from the perilous situation into which his bravado 
 and misdemeanor had placed him and which he justly merited. 
 But he was marked for life by the hideous scars, and as he had 
 lost prestige, his friends of the lower element deserted him and 
 he disappeared from their enrollment as " The Bully of Bayards- 
 town." At the time of the encounter one of the first to desert 
 his old chief was Andy Jackman, who approached Dan, and, seiz- 
 ing his hand, shook it warmly, expressing for him good-fellow- 
 ship. He afterwards withdrew from those associations that were 
 surely dragging him to a condition from which eventually it 
 would be difficult for him to extricate himself, and subsequently 
 proved one of our hero's stanchest friends. He shortly after- 
 wards married an estimable young woman, and proved himself a 
 devoted husband and father as well as an esteemed citizen. And 
 at his death, many years afterwards, he left a family of children 
 of whom any community might be proud to accept as worthy of 
 their esteem and respect. 
 
 The natural, fun-loving propensities of Dan Eice had gained 
 for him another step in the world of entertainment, and after 
 the exciting scenes at the Nicholls Circus, at which he became 
 very popular, his impulsive nature grasped the idea that he 
 could, himself, venture in a similar undertaking in a small way, 
 and, perhaps, at the same time, utilize the instructions of Mon- 
 sieur Guillot by putting them to practical use. 
 
 This venture was planned and eventually executed almost 
 wholly for the purpose of sight-seeing and the pleasure he might 
 extract from such a tour. The monetary consideration to one of 
 his calibre was merely secondary, and with one or two compan- 
 ions, he was ready to face the world in this new entertainment 
 and derive what benefit he could from the small fees he might 
 gather in his wanderings. In framing the final arrangements 
 of his plans, he decided that he would be more strongly fortified 
 to take the people by storming the citadel with a conspicuous 
 attraction, so he lost no time in laying siege to, and securing, 
 this novelty in the shape of a "Learned Pig," that was the 
 
56 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN SICE 
 
 joint possession of two conspicuous characters who had gained 
 some repute by their previous exhibitions of his majesty, Lord 
 Byron. 
 
 Mr. Osborne, a resident of Cazenovia, N Y., a barber by trade, 
 and who was afterwards the doorkeeper of the Assembly at Al- 
 bany, owned the creature originally. Mr. Osborne was a very 
 intelligent old gentleman, and, as Mr. Eice has since said, " How 
 could he be otherwise, being an old, live Whig? " In all prob- 
 ability his astuteness may have made some impression on the 
 tender mind of the four-footed wonder; for soon after its pre- 
 cocity became noised abroad in Cazenovia, C. L. Kise, an ingen- 
 ious Connecticut Yankee, became part owner of the pig by pur- 
 chase. This extraordinary animal seemed destined to prove a 
 success, for when Mr. Kise exhibited "Lord Byron" under a 
 tent in the Broadhurst lot in Pittsburg, it was the result of that 
 exhibition that caused young Eice, pining for a new field of action 
 for the exercise of his genius, to mature his plans. He was con- 
 stantly watching every available opportunity whereby he could 
 display his physical powers and create a name in the athletic 
 world. As Mr. Osborne wished to withdraw from this form of 
 entertainment, young Eice purchased his half -interest in the show, 
 Mr. Kise still remaining the owner of the other half. Before 
 going any further, it is due to Mr. Kise to mention in connection 
 with these memoirs the fact that it was he who first brought 
 George Washington's " Black Mammy " nurse, Joyce Heth, from 
 honored obscurity in old Virginia and put her on exhibition in 
 New York City. She was first seen in the Bowery, near the old 
 Chatham Theatre, and was afterwards taken at P. T. Barnum's 
 earnest solicitation, to the American Museum where she was in- 
 spected for some time by the interested public. Even in that 
 day, Colonel Eice says, the imposture was regarded as a sort of 
 patriotic " fraud " which at once endeared itself to Mr. Barnum's 
 soul for that reason. Mr. Kise also procured for Barnum the first 
 " mermaid " seen on dry land, and even the " mysterious lady " 
 herself was the product of that gentleman's ingenuity. 
 
 In returning to our subject, we find " Lord Byron " installed 
 as the joint property of C. L. Kise and Dan Eice; and in the 
 spring of 1841, they commenced a starring tour with hopeful 
 expectations that the outcome would furnish to them the desired 
 results, namely, a monetary benefit in the case of Mr. Kise, but 
 merely a name for Dan Eice. This was Mr. Eice's first inde- 
 pendent venture, but he soon became aware of the fact that in- 
 defatigable labor attended the business, and only a strong will 
 and perseverance would pronounce it a success. He, therefore, 
 centered all his energies to establish that end, and his mind grad- 
 ually expanded in his efforts to employ his inventive genius, and 
 
KEMIN1SCENCES OF DAN KICE 57 
 
 his rapid progress in later years, in that peculiar capacity, origi- 
 nated with that little wandering band in those early days. The 
 " Learned Pig " undoubtedly had certain accomplishments, as he 
 was advertised to foretell the future, to play an invincible game 
 of cards, and read the Book of Fate. Mr. Kise with his happy 
 faculty exhibited the creature to good advantage, but the strong 
 feature of the show was the " Young American Hercules," Dan 
 Kice, with his repartee, his songs of sentiment and pathos, and 
 his inimitable feats of strength. Now began that delicate, com- 
 plicated study of human nature in which he was a natural adept; 
 that tenacious grasping after the hopes, sorrows, and joys of the 
 " plain people " which contributed so conspicuously to Colonel 
 Rice's success in after years. No item of news gathered at the 
 roadside while soliciting a ride with a good-natured teamster, 
 or gossiping with an old person at a farmhouse or an inn, was too 
 trivial or unimportant to be treasured in his retentive memory. 
 Every circumstance connected with the history of persons and 
 places collected in his peregrinations, no matter how remote or 
 small in detail, was stowed awa}' to be utilized to an advantage 
 whenever, by chance, he might visit that place or come in con- 
 tact with the individual whom it concerned. Like the gypsy, he 
 was always enabled to astonish some coterie or family in every 
 village in which the quadruped was exhibited with revelations 
 that savored of necromancy, and spread the fame of his lordship 
 far and wide. In all the well-known games of cards, the four- 
 footed gambler, as might have been expected, with young Eice 
 overshadowing the cards of both competitors, was invariably the 
 winner of the small coins staked by his verdant admirers. At 
 Jacksonville, Pa., a Mr. Spangle, an incredulous dignitary of the 
 church of that place, who doubted the possibility of a pig beat- 
 ing him at " all-fours," a game that had been favorite with him 
 in time previous, was, the week following Rice's departure, called 
 before the church tribunal and suspended from his office for in- 
 dulging in "high-low-Jack," in which he was beaten by this 
 pedantic grunter. So largely did Mr. Rice attribute his success 
 in after life to the experience he gained in this employment, that 
 he taught to a poodle dog he called Seth, the most plausible of 
 canine charlatans, the rudiments of the classic lore for which the 
 pig had previously been celebrated. Many readers of these pages 
 will recollect the advent of " Seth," from where, no one knows, 
 led by an old tattered beggar, under whose wig and worthless 
 garments was the graceful and muscular form of Dan Rice, with 
 a spirit ripe for any adventure, no matter how hazardous or wild. 
 This assumed impersonation on the part of Mr. Rice was merely 
 a scheme invented by him to advertise the "Pig Show." Soon 
 after the beginning of his tour with the pig young Rice overheard 
 
58 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 an allusion to a barn that had recently been burned in Greens- 
 burg, a small town in Western Pennsylvania, which he proposed 
 visiting the next day. He soon gleaned from the gossips all the 
 facts with which every one was acquainted, namely, that the barn 
 was burned the preceding Monday night and a man named Wil- 
 liam Gates was suspected of the crime. The appearance of Gates 
 was described as well as that of another person named Jaacks, 
 who was owner of the barn, but there was no other reason for the 
 suspicion of Gates excepting the fact that a quarrel had occurred 
 between the two men a short time previous to the burning of the 
 building. After reaching Greensburg the next day, Mr. Kice 
 placarded the place with his twelve-inch square showbills with a 
 picture of " Lord Byron " at the top, decked in ribbons, wig, and 
 spectacles and scanning what was intended to be the " Book of 
 Fate." Beneath the picture was a glowing description of how 
 the pig foretold General Jackson's election fully six months be- 
 fore it occurred; predicted correctly the number of children Mrs. 
 North would have; how long old Mrs. Jones would live; to whom 
 and when Miss Smith would be married; would play and win a 
 game of " all-fours " with the most dexterous gambler in the 
 place, and would expound all questions relating to the past, pres- 
 ent, and future; besides telling who borrowed Mrs. Barker's 
 spoons and failed to return them, and what biped laid waste the 
 Wilkins chicken-house. This advertising being accomplished, 
 in order to prevent the suspicion of his having learned his news 
 from the townspeople, and partly to enhance his importance by 
 avoiding the eyes of the rabble, he and his inseparable companion 
 confined themselves to their room for the remainder of the day, 
 with a cabalistic curtain hung up before the window, and an unin- 
 telligible jargon between the two whenever a servant had occa- 
 sion to enter the room or a listener was supposed to be at the key- 
 hole. In the evening, when young Eice and the pig made their 
 appearance in the tent, it was, as usual, filled with anxious specta- 
 tors, as might have been expected with such a pig and such 
 strong advertisement. 
 
 The audience was evidently predisposed in favor of the pig, 
 so gayly was he decorated with parti-colored ribbons and so 
 cleanly and tidy did he appear after a toilet as carefully prepared 
 as the most pampered lapdog ever received from its interested 
 mistress. 
 
 After a few introductory remarks to the people assembled, Mr. 
 Eice usually gave a brief synopsis of the creature's endowments, 
 and demonstrated the same in a manner so novel and peculiar, 
 that, to the audience, the facts appeared real and tangible. On 
 this particular occasion he so framed his remarks that he brought 
 about the interesting expose of the burned building. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 59 
 
 " Now," said Mr. Eice to his Lordship, " we will see what you 
 know. Can you tell me what o'clock it is? " 
 
 The pig jumped with his forefeet against his interrogator and 
 caught the seal of his watch gently between his teeth. " Oh! 
 anybody can tell by looking at the watch, but I suppose you must 
 have your way, here it is." 
 
 The pig inspected the timepiece knowingly, and then went to 
 the figured cards that were laid on the platform and brought to 
 his master the figure seven. " Now," said Mr. Eice, " show me 
 how many minutes past seven," and he returned and brought to 
 him the number ten, signifying, Mr. Eice explained, that it was 
 ten minutes past seven o'clock. On submitting the watch to the 
 audience, behold, it was found to be correct. 
 
 " Will some gentleman," pursued Mr. Eice, " draw one of these 
 cards? " producing a well-worn pack. Accordingly, the six of 
 hearts was drawn and then returned to the pack, which was spread 
 face upwards on the floor. Being asked what card had been 
 drawn, the pig picked up the six of hearts. 
 
 " Byron, who is the greatest rogue in the room? " Everybody 
 moved uneasily in their seats as the animal seemingly glanced 
 thoughtfully over the audience, and their delight knew no bounds 
 when he stopped opposite Mr. Eice himself and thrust his nose 
 against his limbs. 
 
 " Byron, what do you deserve when you won't be washed and 
 combed? " 
 
 Byron ran and brought Mr. Eice's walking stick and laid it at 
 his feet. 
 
 " Now, ladies and gentlemen, those who want their fortunes 
 told will please stand up here in a row." 
 
 The verdant element, after a great deal of giggling and ban- 
 tering, proceeded to assemble, and a score of rustic beauties 
 and gallants of the village advanced, while Jaacks and his 
 wife at that moment entered and took their seats. Mr. Eice 
 recognized them readily from the description he had previously 
 obtained, and after a mysterious conference with the pig, Mr. 
 Eice said, addressing Jaacks, who sat in the front row with his 
 aged wife: 
 
 " Your name, sir, is Jaacks, and you have come to inquire who 
 set fire to your barn last Monday night." 
 
 Had a torpedo been east into the tent, it could not have pro- 
 duced greater consternation. Jaacks alone was composed, for his 
 anxiety to ferret out the offender had taken the place of the 
 amazement he would otherwise have felt. 
 
 " Veil, who ish te tarn raschall ash purnt my parn? " 
 
 "Byron always charges ten dollars in advance for making 
 an important revelation like this," responded Mr. Eice. 
 
60 HEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 " Here ish de monish! Now, den, ash your pig, and if he dells 
 me te tarn raschall, I'll give half a tollar more." 
 
 " Well, sir, Byron, do you know who burnt Mr. Jaacks' barn? " 
 
 The pig picked up the word " yes " from the floor. 
 
 " Had he black hair? " 
 
 The pig picked up the word " no " and brought it to his master. 
 
 " Was his hair red? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 Byron then proceeded to describe the culprit accurately by 
 words printed on cards. "Py Got, te very man. I shall go 
 straight to de Justice, by Got, and sue him to jail. Now just 
 ash de pig if he has a scar on his eye." 
 
 Upon that hint, of course, Byron decided indubitably he had 
 a scar over his eye. 
 
 " Dunder and blitzen! I shall speeny te pig to de trial and Bill 
 Gates shall go to Benetentiary." 
 
 These remarkable revelations put all other experiments out of 
 the heads of the audience, who made their way in awe from the 
 tent. 
 
 Contradictory accounts are rife in regard to the subsequent 
 proceedings. On western steamboats, the story is told that Mr. 
 Jaacks had Lord Byron up before the Grand Jury of the county, 
 who were as superstitious as himself, and that a true bill was 
 found against Gates, on the pig's evidence, after which the pig 
 was held in recognizance of $1,000, to appear at the next term of 
 the county court, where, with his interpreter, Mr. Eice, he bore 
 testimony sq conclusive against the prisoner that the jury pro- 
 nounced him guilty without leaving the box, and also that Gates 
 was confined in the county jail a fortnight, until the lamented 
 Governor Shunk heard of his ridiculous incarceration and par- 
 doned him. 
 
 The correct version of the affair is, that Mr. Jaacks, armed with 
 these portentous revelations, which were to him " confirmations 
 strong as proofs of holy writ," made liberal use of the pig's pre- 
 tended truth before the grand jury, confusing his own suspicions 
 with Lord Byron's evidence in such a way as to make a pretty 
 good ex parte case, and that the grand jury adopting the general 
 impression of the county, some of them having been present, pos- 
 sibly, at the exhibition, without any reasonable grounds found a 
 " true bill." That Gates was tried, all accounts agree, but upon 
 a careful examination of the archives of the Secretary of State's 
 office, no record of such conviction or subsequent pardon can be 
 found. 
 
 In the community, however, where these circumstances oc- 
 curred, implicit faith was centered in the pig's omniscience. 
 
 It was at this period of his career that Mr. Eice first developed 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 61 
 
 his remarkable faculty, afterwards so useful, of composing and 
 singing extempore songs on the topics of the hour. He had been 
 a boy friend of Stephen C. Foster and Morrison Foster, his elder 
 brother, who were the sons of the Mayor of Allegheny City. 
 Stephen showed in his earliest years the talent that afterwards 
 made him famous, and Mr. Eice, with some instructions from his 
 gifted chum, afterwards succeeded in accomplishing this difficult 
 art of song-making for himself, that he used to successful advan- 
 tage in localizing events and portraying character. His first 
 effort, " Hard Times," as composed and sung on the " Learned 
 Pig " tour, is as follows: 
 
 HAED TIMES. 
 
 Come listen awhile, and give ear to my song, 
 Concerning these hard times — 'twill not take you long; 
 How everybody is always trying to bite, 
 In cheating each other, and think they do right — 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The landlord will feed your horse on oats, corn, and hay, 
 And as soon as your back's turned, he'll take it away; 
 For oats he'll give chaff, and for corn he'll give bran, 
 Still he will cry, " I'm too honest a man 
 For these hard times." 
 
 There is the Miller, who grinds for his toll; 
 He will do your work well, as he'll care for his soul — 
 As soon as your back's turned, with the dish in his fist, 
 He will leave you the toll, and himself take the grist, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Lawyer— he'll turn like a key- 
 He will tell a big lie to gain a small fee; 
 He will tell you your cause is honest and right, 
 And, if you have no cash, he will swear you're a bite, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Tinker— he will mend all your ware, 
 For little or nothing— some cider or beer; 
 Before he commences he will get half-drunk or more, 
 And in stopping one hole will punch twenty more, 
 In these hard times. 
 
62 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 The Jeweller — he works in the finest of gold, 
 He makes the best earrings that ever were sold; 
 Tells peddlers to lie, to dispel ladies' fears, 
 Till the verdigris eats off their fingers and ears, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Printer — he is a hard case; 
 You always can tell him by the brass in his face; 
 If you owe him a dollar, you will think it no harm, 
 But, if you don't fork it over, he'll lock up your form, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Barber, who labors for pelf; 
 He shaves every blockhead that can't shave himself; 
 A dime he will have from his friends or his foes, 
 Or else he will never let go of your nose, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Constable, who thinks himself wise; 
 He will come to your house with a big pack of lies; 
 He will take all your property and then he will sell — 
 
 Get drunk on your money — that's doing d n well, 
 
 These hard times. 
 
 There is the farmer — Oh, Lord! how he'll cheat, 
 With his oats, corn, and barley, and rusty old wheat; 
 He will thirst for a penny till he is blue at the nose, 
 And he'll d — n you for thanks, that's the way the world goes 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The priest will tell you which way you must steer, 
 To save your poor souls, which he values so dear; 
 And if he can't draw something out of your purse, 
 He will take off his blessing and whack on a curse, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There are some Young Men, who a-courting will go, 
 To see pretty girls, you very well know; 
 The old folks will giggle, they'll squint, and they'll grin, 
 Crying — " Use him well, Sail, or he won't come again, 
 For it's hard times." 
 
 There is the merchant, his goods are the best 
 That ever arrived from the East or the West; 
 With his damaged calicoes, jews'-harps, and brass clocks, 
 Are quite necessary for all clever folks, 
 In these hard times. 
 
" WILL S. HATS' 
 
 rf-~-'»&i£=--&&-^ 
 
 THE " DAN RICE 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 63 
 
 Now come the Ladies, those sweet little dears, 
 To the balls and the parties, how nice they appear, 
 "With their whalebones and corsets, themselves will squeeze, 
 And they have to unlace them before they can sneeze, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 From father to mother, from sister to brother, 
 Prom cousin to cousin, they cheat one another; 
 Maids about modesty make a great rout, 
 And rogues about honesty often fall out, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Blacksmith says he pays cash for his stock, 
 Therefore it's hard for him to trust it out; 
 He'll sell a few shoes, and mend an old plow, 
 And when the Fall comes, he must have your best cow, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Doctor will dose you with physic and squills, 
 With blisters and plasters, and powders and pills; 
 When your money's all spent, and your breathing most done, 
 The Doctor cries out — •" Poor soul, you're most gone," 
 In these hard times. 
 
 'Jhe j ker will cheat you in bread that you eat — 
 So wii. the Butcher, in the weight of his meat; 
 He'll tip up the scales to make them weigh down, 
 And swear it is weight when it lacks half a pound, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Tailor will cabbage your cloth and your skin — 
 He'll cheat and defraud you, and swear it's no sin; 
 Although he is honest, as all the world knows, 
 But he will have his cabbage wherever he goes, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There are some young men who cut quite a dash; 
 They strut around town without a cent of cash — 
 With low pocket pants, and pigeon-tail coats, 
 And hair on their chins like a parcel of goats, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 At Washington City, Politicians throng — 
 Try various ways to make their sessions long; 
 Jfany reasons they give why they are obliged to stay, 
 But the clearest reason yet is eight dollars a day, 
 In these hard times. 
 
64 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 The Judge on the bench is honest and true — 
 He'll gaze at a man, as though to look him through; 
 He'll send you six months or one year .to jail, 
 And for five dollars more he'll send you to h — 11, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 Now, a word for myself, before I make any foes, 
 There are exceptions in all trades, as all the world knows, 
 Although in my song you may errors detect, 
 I hope 'tis as good as my friends could expect, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 ME. RICE AS A POET — HIS FIRST EFFUSION IN HONOR OF 
 LORD BYRON — THE ONLY "READING NOTICE" HE EVER 
 PAID FOR IN A NEWSPAPER — ADVENTURES WITH BASIL 
 BROWN, WHOSE DEATH HE SO STRANGELY FORETOLD — IN- 
 CIDENT OF COL. F. K. HAIN'S BOYHOOD — MR. RICE IN PHI- 
 LADELPHIA — HIS DEBUT UNDER PHINEAS TAYLOR IN FEATS 
 OF STRENGTH — HE OBTAINS AN ENGAGEMENT WITH HOWE'S 
 CIRCUS BY WINNING A HARDLY CONTESTED WRESTLING 
 BOUT — CONTRACT WITH BARNUM — HERCULEAN STRENGTH 
 VERSUS AN EMPTY PUNCHEON — CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTE 
 OF P. T. BARNUM — ENGAGEMENT WITH JENNY LIND'S AGENT 
 TO GO ABROAD. 
 
 THESE new features which Mr. Eice voluntarily introduced 
 in his performances and the spontaneous recognition which 
 greeted his efforts in this direction had a tendency to assure him 
 that his efforts were appreciated. And that knowledge spurred 
 him onward in his attempts to reach a higher standard. His 
 extempore speeches consisting at first of only a few well-chosen 
 remarks, gradually enlarged until he craved for higher subjects 
 that would be a source of interest to the more intelligent of his 
 spectators. This standard could be reached only by hard, in- 
 cessant study, and our hero, being aware of that fact, applied him- 
 self to a regime of mental cultivation which has occupied a long, 
 eventful life. 
 
 Being possessed of a powerful and retentive memory, it has 
 served him faithfully in all the intricate phases of his usefulness, 
 and never, in any instance, betrays him; therefore, he is always 
 prepared, even in his advanced age, for any occasion, and ade- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 65 
 
 quate to the demands made upon his social requirements without 
 any previous preparation. His first poetic effusion 'on the 
 Learned Pig pronounced his genius in that direction to be 
 also m embryo, and the following little incident in connection 
 with it has been related by Colonel Eice himself in later years. 
 .During one of his interviews he remarked, " The only ' puff ' I 
 ever paid for in a newspaper, to use an offensive word, was poetry 
 It was a poem m honor of the Learned Pig, and I paid a half- 
 dollar for its publication in the ' Commonwealth,' of Washing- 
 ton Pa., m 1841. The lines ran as follows, to the best of m V 
 recollection: 
 
 " 'I've seen the Learned Pig. Tig queer 
 To see a hog become a seer. 
 He knows his letters and can hunt 
 The alphabet without a grunt; 
 Can add, subtract, and knows the rule 
 As well as any boy in school; 
 By working with his head and snout 
 He finds the truth without a doubt. 
 Tis wondrous how a brute so low 
 Was taught by man so much to know! " 
 
 " Now it seemed to me," added Mr. Eice, " that the production 
 was worth publishing for its own sake. But the editor of the 
 Washington ' Commonwealth ' did not so see it. Well," with a 
 touch of the old-time humor, " his coffers may have been low, and 
 I thought his conduct equally so." From Washington, the Pig 
 Show departed for Claysville, Pa., and having reached that place, 
 made arrangements for spending the night at the stage hotel 
 kept by Basil Brown, a thrifty boniface. Brown's Hotel was a 
 well-known stop on the National Turnpike, a thoroughfare then 
 in the height of its glory. Nothing unusual occurred during the 
 night, as the performance was conducted harmoniously and the 
 audience was satisfactorily entertained. The Learned Pig and 
 his exhibitors were driven away in the conveyance next morning 
 to Middletown, Pa., and as they stopped in front of the hotel at 
 that place, they were surprised to perceive that Basil Brown, their 
 host of the previous night, was there to meet them. Before they 
 had alighted from the wagon that contained the paraphernalia of 
 the show, including a chest, which, at times, was improvised into 
 a seat in case of an emergency, an officer appeared with a warrant 
 authorizing him to search the show-wagon for a stolen overcoat. 
 Here was a novelty entirely unlooked for and unsolicited, and 
 indignant as they were at the outrageous accusation, Mr. Eice and 
 his companions submitted willingly to the search, in the course 
 5 
 
66 REMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 
 
 of which, however, they were both confident that the missing coat 
 would not be found among their effects. 
 
 As the officer was on the point of giving up the search, Brown, 
 all the while stood looking on with a sardonic smile. At last, he 
 remarked to the officer, " Look under the chest," and to the sur- 
 prise of Mr. Eice and Mr. Kise, there the missing coat was found. 
 Accordingly, the whole outfit was seized, and before one word of 
 remonstrance could be uttered by young Eice and his partner, 
 they were taken back to Washington and confined in the jail. 
 Brown, on the way back, offered to compromise with Mr. Kise 
 for the sum of twenty-five dollars, and expressed a desire to pay 
 the costs, which Mr. Eice refused to accept, as it would not relieve 
 them from the stigma of dishonesty. Mr. Seth T. Hurd, a popu- 
 lar lawyer, was engaged to defend them, and the public interest 
 was aroused to a high state of excitement, for young Eice was 
 widely and favorably known throughout the country. 
 
 Mrs. Cadwallader Evans, a wealthy lady of Pittsburg, whose 
 husband invented the safety guard to prevent the explosion of 
 steam-boilers, was, at the time, visiting in Washington, and en- 
 listed her sympathies in the case, as she was a friend of Mr. Eice's 
 and one of his patrons when he was in the livery business in 
 Pittsburg. This lady kindly offered to furnish bail on this oc- 
 casion, but young Eice declined to accept it, preferring, as he 
 informed her, to stand trial, as he felt sure that some evidence 
 would be furnished to prove them both innocent without any re- 
 flection on them. Nor was his confidence in the argument mis- 
 taken, for the landlord of Middletown and his wife both volun- 
 tarily appeared at the trial and testified that when Brown arrived 
 at their hotel at early dawn that morning, he wore a brown over- 
 coat, and after ordering breakfast left the hotel. When he re- 
 turned, just previous to the arrival of the young men with the 
 show, he had no overcoat, and they overheard him say to the offi- 
 cer who made the search, "Look under the chest." It was 
 clearly proved that Brown must have employed some means for 
 placing the coat where it was found while young Eice and Kise 
 were slowly making their way to Middletown, for he knew so 
 well where to locate it. ■ Mr. Hurd made an eloquent appeal in 
 behalf of the young men and there was a triumphant acquittal of 
 the prisoners. That evening, in the hotel parlor at Washing- 
 ton, Mr. Eice celebrated the finale of the overcoat dilemma by 
 singing a song in mongrel verse descriptive of the whole pro- 
 ceedings, in which Mr. Brown's name figured conspicuously, by 
 being used with satirical freedom. The sequel to this story 
 proved to be a strange one in several details. Years afterwards, 
 in 1863, Colonel Eice, who was now both wealthy and famous, 
 took his circus to the town of Cambridge, 0., and when the place 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 67 
 
 designated for the night was reached, it was found to be 
 " Brown's Hotel." As Colonel Eiee walked from the clerk's desk 
 where he had registered, to go to his room, he noticed a hand- 
 some, matronly woman in one of the parlors looking at him with 
 apprehension in her eyes. She called to him softly, as he was 
 passing and said, " Mr. Eice, spare us! Years ago my husband 
 wronged you, but you won't pursue your vengeance after so long 
 a time. We are well-to-do and respected here, and our son is a 
 cashier in the bank. Let bygones be bygones! " Colonel Rice 
 lost no time in reassuring her, but in the course of conversation, 
 remarked, " Madame, I am gifted with the light of prophecy. I 
 see disaster impending over your household; your husband's oc- 
 cupation exposes him to many perils. If his life is not insured, 
 I advise you to persuade him to insure it at once." The expres- 
 sions Colonel Eice used were not meant to distress the woman, 
 but were made merely to annoy her husband. This good lady, in 
 whom he saw, with the eyes of faith, the potentiality of a rich 
 and favored widow, promised to follow his advice; but a few 
 mornings afterwards when the stage-coach drove up to the en- 
 trance of Brown's Hotel, the host went to assist with the luggage 
 and a drummer's trunk fell upon him from the top of the coach 
 and he was instantly killed. 
 
 Many amusing incidents have been related to the younger gen- 
 erations by the rustic element in those Pennsylvania villages and 
 hamlets in connection with the Rice and Kise Pig Show, and we 
 select the following as it has a bearing upon the early boyhood of 
 the late Col. F. K. Hain, so conspicuous in the financial world of 
 New York as the esteemed and well-known chief manager of the 
 Manhattan Elevated Eailroad System. The circumstance oc- 
 curred in Wormelsdorf, near Stoutville, Col. Hain's native village 
 in Pennsylvania, in the course of the visit of Mr. Eice and the 
 Learned Pig. Farmer Hain attended the show accompanied by 
 his little boy. Being one of the important men of the neighbor- 
 hood, the audience felt gratified at the honor conferred when Mr. 
 Hain was invited to play cards with " Lord Byron," and conse- 
 quently the game was watched with close attention. Mr. Eice's 
 signals to the pig consisted of snapping the thumb and finger 
 nails together, a process unobserved by everyone except Lord 
 Byron. As the animal's wonderful adaptation had created quite 
 a stir in the country circles, Farmer Hain's little son, being a close 
 observer, had not accompanied his father for mere pleasure only; 
 it was a visit of searching investigation as well. When he ob- 
 served the cold, critical eye of the four-footed seer fixed on the 
 cards his father held; he instantly exhibited that shrewd resource- 
 fulness, which, in later years, so successfully characterized his 
 management of affairs, and cried out impulsively, " Take care, 
 
68 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Pop; take care, the pig will beat you. He's looking in your 
 hand." The farmer skillfully manipulated his cards, but all to 
 no purpose, for the pig, having profited as everyone thought, by 
 the stolen glances, successfully won the game. Which fact may 
 be attributed, of course, to the adroitness of Mr. Eiee, who, 
 though young in years, was one of the most skillful card-players 
 of the day. 
 
 The Pig Show episode was concluded in September, 1841, with 
 some profit, and as a controversy arose in regard to the future 
 possessor of " Lord Byron " he was executed after the manner of 
 his common brotherhood, each partner receiving his quota ac- 
 cording to the terms or conditions of contract. 
 
 This Solomonesque partition was made in Eiter's Hotel in 
 Kensington, Pa., and Mr. Eice soon afterwards retired to Pitts- 
 burg. Thus the faithful, obedient creature was disposed of to 
 answer the requirements of a business controversy, and "Lord 
 Byron " dwells only in the shades of memory. 
 
 " The pig," said Colonel Eice in later years, " is by no means 
 the most stupid of animals, and there have been Learned Pigs in 
 all ages. The quality of the pig, on which I mainly relied in 
 performing Lord Byron was his extreme acuteness of hearing. 
 Few animals have such keen ears. The noise of snapping one 
 finger nail against another was distinctly intelligible to the crea- 
 ture and conveyed to his brain a distinct idea, to which he in- 
 stantly responded when the cards were reached, that answered 
 the questions that were propounded." 
 
 The miniature enterprise consisting of the Pig Show had been 
 the means of giving Mr. Eice a self-confidence that he could not 
 have gained under better auspices, as long as he had determined 
 to adapt his talents to this form of entertainment as a feature of 
 his future professional career; therefore, his aspirations were en- 
 couraged by his previous successes and he sought recognition 
 among the better class of managers, who filled the profession 
 with the best talent they could obtain. With his youthful mind 
 filled with high hopes of success, he made arrangements to leave 
 Pittsburg and go to Philadelphia, which city would, in all prob- 
 ability, afford better opportunities for a desirable opening. In 
 taking this step, the results proved very satisfactory to our hero, 
 for in October of 1841, he began an engagement with Phineas 
 Taylor, the uncle of P. T. Barnum, in Masonic Hall on Chestnut 
 Street. The exhibition was called the " Battle of Bunker Hill," 
 and showed a number of life-like figures engaged in combat. It 
 was an ingenious mechanical contrivance, illustrating the scene 
 of the battle with historical accuracy. Mr. Eice's part in this 
 show was to do "feats of strength," comic songs, and dances. 
 On the same evenings, in the Chinese Museum on Sansom Street 
 
BEMINTSCENCES OF DAN EICE 69 
 
 above Ninth, he would sing in character accompanied by the 
 superior talent of Miss Kose Shaw. This accomplished lady, who 
 is an old friend of Mr. Eice's, afterwards became Mrs. Charles 
 Howard, and later Mrs. Harry Watkins; her husband being the 
 well-known actor and playwright of that name. She was the 
 youngest of the well-known and talented Shaw family who origi- 
 nally came from England,- and is also the sister of Josephine 
 Shaw, the theatrical star who afterwards became Mrs. John Hoey. 
 When the Shaw family first came to this country, they were em- 
 ployed by Mr. Eice's father, Daniel McLaren, to entertain the 
 guests of the famous Pavilion Hotel and Gardens, at Saratoga, 
 of which he was the owner and proprietor. Gen. Winfield Scott 
 and others of national reputation heard them sing there. The 
 family consisted of three sisters and a brother. 
 
 Mr. Eice made a decided success in this, his first paid profes- 
 sionah engagement, and after two weeks he was asked to go to 
 the Walnut Street Theatre where Howe's Circus was perform- 
 ing. " Uncle Nathan " Howe, S. B. Howe's elder brother, sent 
 Mr. Eice word that he wanted an interview, and that young 
 gentleman lost no time in obeying the summons at the first op- 
 portunity. After a few preliminaries, " What about those feats 
 of strength of yours," asked Uncle Nathan, " are you really very 
 strong? " Mr. Eice answered readily that he thought he was. 
 " Have a chew? " Uncle Nathan asked, passing to Mr. Eice some 
 tobacco, and keeping his eye all the while fixed on the young 
 athlete's modest face. Young Eice responded in the negative; 
 he did not chew tobacco. 
 
 " How much a week do you want? " was the old gentleman's 
 next question. 
 
 " Fifty dollars," was the reply; and it was a large sum of money 
 in those days. 
 
 " Can you wrestle? " asked Uncle Nathan. 
 
 " I am considered somewhat of a wrestler," said Mr. Eice. 
 
 " Well," the old gentleman went on, " if you can throw Joe 
 Cushing, I'll engage you for the circus for fifty dollars a week." 
 That stipend was a consideration worth risking, so the arrange- 
 ments with Mr. Howe were completed by Mr. Eice accepting on 
 those terms. The news that young Eice was going to test his 
 prowess in the ring with the great fighter and sidehold wrestler 
 of Howe's Circus was soon noised abroad among the attaches. On 
 the occasion in question, Cushing and Eice were attired in 
 wrestling costume and exhibited before a large audience, con- 
 sidering there was no charge and no time to advertise. The 
 first fall, side-hold, Eice won, to everybody's great surprise, and 
 that settled the issue satisfactorily to Uncle Nathan and he en- 
 gaged Mr. Eice according to agreement for two weeks. In re- 
 
70 REMINISCENCES OE DAN RICE 
 
 gard to Clashing, it should be stated that his imprudent habits 
 had for the time being impaired his physical strength, and his 
 condition, when he took part in the contest, contributed largely 
 to making it a failure for him. Mr. Eiee's Philadelphia engage- 
 ments proved a drawing card before metropolitan audiences, and 
 when he finished his contract with Phineas Taylor, he engaged to 
 go to Barnum's Museum in New York, at the corner of Broadway 
 and Ann Street, at a salary of fifty dollars per week. 
 
 There was a dearth of attractions at the Museum at that time, 
 as Joyce Heth was dead, and Tom Thumb, the mermaid, and the 
 Fiji had not yet been discovered; and Mr. Taylor was making 
 strenuous efforts to educate his nephew, Mr. Barnum, to be a 
 showman; and it was Mr. Taylor who engaged Mr. Barnum's peo- 
 ple and advised him generally in those days. Mr. Bice reached 
 the Museum the last week in December, 1841, and after the pre- 
 liminaries regarding terms, benefits, etc., were settled, in which 
 Mr. Barnum's well-known aptness in bargaining shone conspicu- 
 ously, something like the following conversation ensued: " You 
 say that besides all this, you can support upon your breast a barrel 
 of water?" asked Mr. Barnum. "Yes, sir." "Well, then, as 
 the old routine feats of pulling against horses, breaking hempen 
 ropes of thirty-six strands, etc., etc., have been exhausted by the 
 French Monsieurs hereabouts, we will have to make the most of 
 your extempore songs, negro acting, and water carrying. Of 
 course you can support a puncheon as well as a barrel? " 
 
 " How pray ' of course '? " asked Mr. Bice. " A puncheon is 
 twice as heavy as a barrel." 
 
 " You are green," said Mr. Barnum. " It is easy enough. If 
 you can lift a barrel filled with water, you can lift a barrel 
 empty? " 
 
 " Of course. 
 
 " Well, supporting an empty barrel will be no greater exertion 
 than to support an empty puncheon — no gauger will officiously 
 take the measurements of the cask. In fact a pipe of 126 gallons 
 will tell so much better than a hogshead of 63 gallons that we may 
 as well try the whole hog." 
 
 " But you forget, Mr. Barnum, that it will be necessary to call 
 for assistance from the audience to place the pipe upon me and 
 they would smell the cheat in an instant." 
 
 " Intolerable verdancy! I fear you are too soft. Listen! We 
 will have — let's see — four men did you say were necessary to lift 
 a barrel of water? We will have at least ten of our employees 
 seated among the audience, dressed each night in different guise, 
 so that when a call is made for assistance, they will after a little 
 persuasion and exhibition of natural diffidence, good-naturedly 
 step forth, and never be recognized as having done the same 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 71 
 
 manoeuvre the previous evening. This, too, will furnish us with 
 a couple of men to put on top of you and eight more for an 
 effective tahleau. There's nothing like piling it on thick." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Barnum, I am green, and you are a genius! " ad- 
 mitted Mr. Eice. The next day but one, Barnum's posters, al- 
 ways interesting, even in the greatest dearth of novelties, loomed 
 up with unwonted brilliancy as follows: 
 
 AMEBICAN MUSEUM! 
 
 Corner of Broadway and Ann Street, 
 
 P. T. Barnum, Proprietor and Manager. 
 
 DAN EICE, 
 THE YOUNG AMEEICAN HEECULES, 
 
 Having executed his twelve labors west, and, like another ALEX- 
 ANDEB, sighing for another labor to achieve, makes his debut 
 here this evening in his entire round of novel characters; As the 
 
 VIEGINIA NEGEO! 
 
 He acts the negro so naturally as to shame Simon-Pure Darkeys, 
 so miserably do they look the negro in comparison. He will 
 sing a 
 
 BUDGET OF COMIC SONGS! 
 
 Founded upon matters and things occurring through the day, and 
 which as well as his negro songs, will be extempore. He will im- 
 provise in metrical notes upon any subject the audience may sug- 
 gest, and conclude with his " ASTOUNDING FEATS OF HEB- 
 CULEAN STRENGTH! " which have never been and probably 
 never will be accomplished by any other man, and have a parallel 
 only in 
 
 SAMSON'S CAEEYING OFF THE GATES OF GAZA! 
 
 in which he will support a pipe of 126 gallons of water, with two 
 men standing thereupon on his breast; a weight so great that it 
 requires ten men with handspikes to raise the vast vessel to its 
 desired position." 
 
 The whole of this was surmounted by a large wood-cut, repre- 
 senting Mr. Eice in the required position, surmounted by a pun- 
 cheon, two men and eight subordinates, with capstan bars, who 
 were supposed to have raised up the puncheon to a level with Mi;. 
 Bice's breast. Great was the excitement in Gotham and inces- 
 
72 KEMISTISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 sant the demand for tickets. The audience was enchanted when 
 our young Hercules performed to the letter all the difficult parts 
 promised of him, and Mr. Barnum 'began to retrieve his reputa- 
 tion for this once in exhibiting precisely what he advertised with- 
 out any disjointed drawback. The second night the house was 
 even more thronged and Barnum was elated beyond measure, 
 congratulating himself not a little at his success in driving such 
 a close bargain with the " green Yankee " boy who was engaged 
 " for six nights only," with the provisionary clause for as many 
 more as " the said Barnum might desire upon the same terms." 
 
 The third and fourth nights the public seemed to be elated with 
 excitement, and Barnum already projected an enlargement of the 
 lecture-room to accommodate the hundreds that were nightly 
 turned away, " to his great regret that they should be deprived of 
 such an extraordinary sight, particularly as Mr. Eiee remained 
 but two nights more, positively." 
 
 On the fifth night an unusually brilliant audience was assem- 
 bled, and many who did not favor a theatre under any circum- 
 stances made a compromise with their consciences and, under the 
 name of a "museum saloon," made their appearance and wit- 
 nessed a performance theatrical in every phase, except theatrical 
 talent. Loud cheers greeted Mr. Eice when the curtain arose, 
 and were so long continued that he became weary of forcibly 
 bowing his acknowledgments, and almost forgot the subject that 
 had been sent from the audience for him to improvise on. But 
 he caught the inspiration from the surroundings and sent forth 
 in mellow measure his adroit innuendoes at everyone and every- 
 thing in general, with a review of the "on dits" of the day. 
 When Mr. Eice appeared in character the audience could scarcely 
 realize that it was the same fine-looking performer who had left 
 their presence so recently, and were inclined to think it was 
 another hoax imposed upon them by the irresistible Barnum, 
 until the character created shouts of laughter by indulging in an 
 abandon that they easily recognized as the handiwork of the same 
 artist. 
 
 But it was when the curtain arose for his appearance as Her- 
 cules that the excitement was most intense. His entire salary 
 for the week had been expended upon fancy tights, scarf and 
 sandals for this chef d'ceuvre of feats, and many an artist's eye 
 scanned critically the perfection of his proportions and his mus- 
 cular and symmetrical limbs. A huge pipe was discovered in the 
 background, with levers through ropes slung around it. A digni- 
 fied bow and look of calm superiority preceded his gracefully 
 throwing himself backward into a bending position upon his 
 hands without taking his feet from the floor. Then a pale youth 
 in tinselled Turkish garb appeared and desired " ten strong men 
 
BEMINTSCENCES OF DAN EICE 73 
 
 to assist in lifting the pipe." After a little natural dalliance 
 ten men were reluctantly persuaded to overcome their bashful- 
 ness and win the gratitude of the audience by stepping forth. 
 W ith measured tread, accompanying the hand-organ in the win- 
 dow, they proceeded to take hold of the levers. Every nerve was 
 apparently strained to the utmost, and, the perspiration breaking 
 from their faces, they managed finally to raise the pipe to a 
 plane with Mr. Eice's breast. Gradually, and with great effort, 
 they lowered it carefully until it rested upon him, threatening 
 to crush him to the floor. At first he bent under the immense 
 weight, as with one hand they steadied it, until he gradually 
 became accustomed to the burden, while with the other hand 
 they brushed away the evidence of extreme exertion from their 
 faces. 
 
 Soon his strength reacted, and his body, that had at first 
 swayed with the weight, was observed to recover its equilibrium 
 and return to its crescent position. The levers were then re- 
 moved, and the audience shouted and applauded. Two men, 
 joining their hands from opposite sides over the pipe, placed one 
 foot on the recumbent Hercules and simultaneously rose to- 
 gether, standing upon him. The eight subordinates arranged 
 themselves in an effective tableau, leaning on their levers, four 
 on each side of him, their frames swelling and receding with the 
 hard breathing consequent upon such unusual exertion. The 
 house was frenzied, when, horribile dictu! as the two men stepped 
 down, the pipe rolled on the floor with an empty sound which 
 told louder than words that there was not over five gallons of 
 water in it. 
 
 One of the men who had stood on his breast, in getting down, 
 accidentally put his foot on Mr. Eice's hand, and the pain caused 
 him to flinch and throw the puncheon out of balance. The bung 
 had not been inserted, and the barrel turned so far over that 
 its practical emptiness was evident, and Mr. Barnum darted out 
 to stop the rolling of the telltale pipe, exclaiming, " By thunder! 
 I'm sold!" 
 
 The audience surmised at once the state of the case, and re- 
 turned home to laugh over this exposure, while Mr. Barnum put 
 out the lights, ruminating upon the old adage, " There's many a 
 slip, etc." The next morning at ten o'clock a new poster an- 
 nounced that 
 
 ME. DAN" EICE, 
 
 In consequence of temporary indisposition, 
 
 WILL NOT APPEAE 
 
 at the American Museum 
 
 UNTIL FUETHEB NOTICE! 
 
74 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Mr. Barnum was thoroughly mortified over this affair, but al- 
 ways declared that the property men failed to fill the pipe, and 
 were, therefore, to hlame for the fiasco. In his settlement with 
 Barnum Mr. Bice declined to sign a receipt in full, and in ex- 
 planation he reminded that gentleman that when he, Barnum, 
 had been arrested in Pittsburg a year or two previous for sur- 
 reptitiously removing his own luggage from the Grant House, 
 Mr. Bice, then in the livery business, had come to Mr. Barnum's 
 rescue. The showman, accompanied by a celebrated jig-dancer, 
 Johnny Diamond, was fined seven dollars, the hotel bill and 
 costs, in Squire McMasters' court. Young Bice had followed 
 the crowd in the controversy to hear the proceedings, and, seeing 
 Mr. Barnum's plight, in his great-hearted, good-natured way, he 
 relieved him from his position by advancing the seven dollars 
 which covered the amount required. 
 
 Mr. Barnum at once remembered this generous act when Mr. 
 Bice alluded to it in New York, and, handing him a twenty- 
 dollar gold piece, remarked, " There, my boy, there's principal 
 and interest." Mr. Barnum was anxious to re-engage Bice, but 
 he declined, as he had formed a new engagement which would 
 take him across the ocean as an entertainer. 
 
 Mr. Winton, an amusement agent, was in the States at that 
 time looking after the united interests of Jenny Lind and Mr. 
 Bobert L. Fillingham, the English purveyor. While looking 
 around, in his business capacity, he saw that Mr. Barnum was 
 fast gaining the reputation of being in the supremacy in the 
 realm of his pursuits, and, recognizing the fact that Jenny Lind 
 would be a brilliant star in this venture, he went to Mr. Barnum 
 for the purpose of advancing her interests, but taking great care 
 to conceal the fact that he was her special agent. He made a 
 private contract to secure the lady if Mr. Barnum would advance 
 him ten per cent, of his share of the entire gross receipts, to which 
 Mr. Barnum agreed, and thus the bargain was made and sealed 
 as Mr. Winton desired. And Barnum failed to see the possibili- 
 ties of the situation until it was too late. Mr. Winton thus re- 
 ceived a double percentage by his shrewd adjustment of the cir- 
 cumstances. It was at this same period that he engaged Mr. 
 Rice in the interest of Mr. Fillingham for twenty weeks at one 
 hundred dollars a week, including his expenses, as he had wit- 
 nessed his feats of strength, etc., at the American Museum, and 
 on Mr. Winton's return to England Mr. Rice accompanied him to 
 fill his contract with Mr. Fillingham. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 75 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 MR. RICE'S ARRIVAL IN EUROPE — COMMENCES A STARRING 
 TOUR — FLATTERING ATTENTION PAID " THE YOUNG AMERI- 
 CAN HERCULES " — CORDIALLY RECEIVED BY PATRONS AT THE 
 FOREIGN CAPITALS — PERSONALLY INTERVIEWED BY KING 
 WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA — QUEEN ISABELLA'S FAVORITE — HER 
 DEMOCRATIC INTRIGUES — WARNED BY THE AMERICAN CON- 
 SUL TO LEAVE BARCELONA — A SHIP DETAINED SO THAT 
 THE ERRATIC SOVEREIGN'S LATEST CAVALIER MIGHT RETURN 
 IN SAFETY TO NEW YORK — MR. RICE'S RETURN FROM 
 EUROPE — COMMENCES A TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES — DIS- 
 PLAYS FEATS OF STRENGTH IN NEW YORK IN 1842, AND 
 VISITS OTHER CITIES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY — AN IN- 
 GENIOUS INCIDENT CONNECTED WITH A MEMBER OF THE 
 LEGISLATURE AT HARRISBURG — CONTINUED SUCCESSES IN 
 DIFFERENT PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 
 
 OUR young hero was now fairly launched upon the sea of 
 success, and the name he had sought in so many unsuccess- 
 ful efforts was at last in his possession, and his life from this time 
 on was destined to be a continuous round of applause that fol- 
 lowed him on both sides of the Atlantic. No future effort that 
 he made, when once he became recognized in the world of enter- 
 tainment, but unfolded a wealth of advantage for his almost 
 charmed life. Experience enriches with practical lessons every 
 phase in life, and creates an education by its own contrasts with- 
 out the preparatory accomplishments of theory; but when both 
 are combined, a precocious mind is fortified for the inevitable 
 obstacles that are strewn in the path of life's destiny. Thus it 
 proved in the life of Dan Rice in the subsequent adventures that 
 gave breadth to his developing character and enlarged his views 
 by critical contrasts. After perfecting his plans for his journey, 
 Mr. Rice, in company with Mr. Winton, sailed from New York 
 to England early in 1842, and spent five months in giving his 
 entertainment in London and other important cities, and also in 
 Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin. He spent some time in Paris, 
 and also visited Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, and Barcelona. It was 
 at the last series of exhibitions in Barcelona that Mr. Rice at- 
 tracted the favor of that remarkable woman, Queen Isabella of 
 Spain, that personage then being in the first flush of her charms. 
 Barcelona was reached in the early autumn, and was the last city 
 
76 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 on the tour. No American entertainer had as yet had the hardi- 
 hood to visit the country of the hidalgos, and the arrival of Mr. 
 Eiee created the nearest approach to a sensation of which the 
 stately demeanor of the nation was capable. On the occasion of 
 the opening night Queen Isabella came to the Koyal Theatre, as 
 it was her custom to do on " first nights," and occupied the royal 
 box. Perhaps her intriguing propensities were in this instance 
 employed for the purpose of improving the personnel of her 
 army, for she was ever on the alert for recruits of stalwart phy- 
 sique and handsome personal proportions. In young Eiee she 
 seemed to think she had found an additional attraction. The 
 applause from the royal box during the performance was an 
 unusual incident which attracted universal attention, and the 
 audience therefore applauded more vigorously. Assuming one 
 character after another, the young American looked, in every 
 instance, the roles he impersonated of Hercules, Ajax, Apollo, 
 and Milo, and the next morning all Barcelona was commenting 
 on the appearance of the young athlete and his exhibitions. After 
 the curtain had fallen on the evening's pleasure Mr. Eiee was 
 summoned to the royal box and presented to the queen. She re- 
 ceived him most graciously, and was disposed to question him as 
 to his family, his history, and his marvellous strength, which she 
 declared she desired tested in private. In arranging the hour for 
 the private interview she presented to Mr. Eiee a rose from her 
 corsage bouquet, requesting him to keep it until they met again. 
 The meeting was not long deferred, for scarcely had Mr. Eiee 
 arrived at his hotel before an equerry from the royal apartments 
 was announced, with an invitation for him to come to the queen 
 and partake with her at lunch. He prepared himself for the 
 occasion, for such an invitation from such a source was tanta- 
 mount to a command, and on his arrival was surprised to find that 
 the lunch party consisted only of Queen Isabella and himself. 
 The lady, after dismissing her private attendants, received her 
 guest with a democratic simplicity rarely revealed under similar 
 circumstances on this side of the Atlantic; therefore Mr. Eiee 
 was, in a short time, as much at ease as if he were being enter- 
 tained by one .of his own countrywomen. Her English, though 
 defective, was not unintelligible, while Mr. Eice's Spanish con- 
 sisted merely of expressive gesticulation. The situation being 
 entirely unsought on the part of Mr. Eiee, was a source of private 
 amusement to his venturesome undertaking, but the lady did not 
 close the interview until after the early morning hours had ad- 
 vanced, when she herself summoned the equerry to reconduct 
 her new favorite to his hotel. Mr. Eiee was as verdant as any 
 young man of his age who had led his adventurous life could be, 
 but he did not, in his wildest dreams, aspire to posing in the eyes 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 17 
 
 of the Spanish people as even an ally to royalty. The next even- 
 ing, and still the next, he was summoned to lunch with Isabella, 
 and sat in her boudoir partaking of the tempting viands, listen- 
 ing to her Castilian English and indulging in private comments 
 as to the object of this curious woman, the first in the realm, in 
 conducting herself on such democratic principles that were so 
 foreign to the demands of court life. But historical revelations 
 have since solved the problems of this human enigma, at which 
 the eyes of all Europe have looked with undisguised scorn. The 
 queen was a good judge of wine, but with all her efforts at in- 
 triguing she could not succeed in persuading Mr. Eice to take 
 anything stronger than coffee, as he informed her that it inter- 
 fered with his feats of strength, and he was obliged to keep in 
 training. The results were invariably the same at each inter- 
 view, and, when she dismissed him, she summoned the same 
 equerry to conduct her guest to his hotel in a carriage. On the 
 morning of the fourth day after the exhibition at Barcelona Mr. 
 Eice was surprised to receive a personal call from the American 
 consul, who invited him to drive to the consulate. When that 
 gentleman first entered Mr. Eice's apartments his face wore an 
 anxious expression, as if he would not have been surprised to 
 find our hero missing, and he so expressed himself. In the 
 course of conversation with the young performer at the consulate 
 he remarked, " You would not like an army life here, I think." 
 " I do not think so," said Mr. Eice in reply. " Well," continued 
 the gentleman, " judging from what I have heard about the fate 
 of Queen Isabella's favorites, an army life is about the most agree- 
 able thing that ever befalls them. Sometimes they are not seen 
 again after their consignment to the military ranks. Listen to 
 my advice, which I hope you will act upon, for it may save you 
 from serious complications. The Espanola, a Spanish ship bound 
 for New York, is to sail to-morrow. I will see her captain and 
 use my influence to have her hold over until you can arrange 
 your affairs to sail home on her. Don't you think you had better 
 do it? " There was some disposition on the part of Mr. Eice to 
 evade the responsibilities of his position, as he had formed an- 
 other appointment with her majesty, but wisely considering the 
 advice of the consul, he closed his performance that night and 
 sailed the next morning, without apprising any one of his inten- 
 tions, the arrangement having previously been consummated by 
 the consul for an urgent passenger. So ended an international 
 romance. 
 
 Queen Isabella at that period was a stout and rather fine-look- 
 ing young woman, with a penchant for bestowing gifts upon those 
 whom she favored. Upon persuading Mr. Eice to accept some 
 token from her, he selected only a heavy braided silken fillet, 
 
78 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 which was used in tying her abundant black hair. All other 
 gifts, both costly and rare, which she persistently thrust upon 
 him, he invariably refused, but the fillet he kept for a short time 
 as a memento. The lady's tender recollections of Mr. Eice, 
 which he also shares, will be shown later on in the circus experi- 
 ence. 
 
 Queen Isabella was not the only sovereign who manifested a 
 personal interest in Mr. Eice. King William of Prussia, after- 
 ward the beloved Emperor of Germany, while on a visit to the 
 Austrian court, on the occasion of Mr. Eice's opening in Vienna, 
 attended the exhibition and sat in the royal box. He sent for 
 the hero of those herculean feats of strength after the perform- 
 ance, and inquired personally if he really did raise two thousand 
 one hundred pounds dead weight or whether it was all a trick, 
 to all of which questions it was a pleasure for Mr. Eice to reply. 
 And we may safely judge that he was becomingly elated when 
 the king and his private officers admired his physical proportions 
 and commented freely on the athletic performances in which he 
 labored to excel. 
 
 The wily intrigues of the Spanish queen being foiled by the 
 timely intervention of our worthy American consul, Mr. Eice 
 arrived in New York in due time without any further adventure, 
 and having occasion to feel grateful, as he has' since expressed, 
 for his fortunate escape from a bondage that would probably 
 have resulted seriously. 
 
 About this time the arrival in the United States of M. Paul, 
 the French Hercules, directed popular attention specially toward 
 manifestations of physical prowess. Mr. Eice's whole life and 
 training had tended to make him one of the strongest men of his 
 time, a discovery he had not been slow to make, and his reputa- 
 tion as a modern Hercules was now established in Europe as well 
 as in America, and he adapted himself accordingly. The 
 " Learned Pig " tour had given him the zest of popular applause, 
 the love of being with and among people, a social characteristic 
 even to the present time, and he had become an adept in manag- 
 ing public assemblies, no mean coadjutor in the success of show- 
 men. 
 
 So, on his return to New York, he retraced the ground over 
 which he had passed. Thousands who had suspected collusion 
 between the " Learned Pig " and its master would rush to see 
 the same youth pull against four horses, particularly as the per- 
 mission contained in the bills that the audience might furnish 
 the horses precluded the possibility of an illicit understanding. 
 Other similar feats now, from their frequency, exciting little 
 surprise, were then exposed first to the bewildered eyes of the 
 public. 
 
KICB IN COSTUME OP STAKS AND STRIPES AT NEW ORLEANS, 1861 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 79 
 
 His old employer, Phineas Taylor, still had his "Battle of 
 ■Bunker Hill'* show in Broadway, and prevailed upon Mr. 
 -tuce, immediately upon his arrival in New York, to play an en- 
 gagement of two weeks, which he did successfully to crowded 
 houses. 
 
 On his tour west from the metropolis he had a remarkable ad- 
 venture at Harrisburg. The legislature was in session, and a 
 highly exciting political debate engrossed so completely public 
 attention that his exhibition did not draw. Even the introduc- 
 tion of a set-to with George Kensett, the famous pugilist, who 
 was sojourning for a few days at the Pennsylvania capital, did 
 little toward replenishing his coffers. The next day, when the 
 vexatious debate had reached his climax, in which personal in- 
 vective made a resort to arms not improbable, and a few lessons 
 from Eice and Kensett not undesirable, the hotels and corridors 
 were plastered with a placard announcing " to the citizens of 
 Harrisburg and the members of the legislature, another exhibi- 
 tion of the 
 
 NOBLE AND MANLY APT OF SELF-DEFENCE! 
 
 Interspersed with Songs, Comic, Ethiopian, and Sentimental, 
 
 to be concluded with a 
 
 PASSAGE AT AEMS AND SET-TO 
 
 Between Mr. Eice and the Distinguished 
 
 MEMBEE OF THE LEGISLATUEE! 
 
 Who desires his name to be withheld until he enters the lists, 
 when of course all will recognize him, and learn those most un- 
 pleasant circumstances which have, in his opinion, rendered it 
 his duty to resort to the practice and learning of this mode of 
 warfare." 
 
 What the singer and boxer could not do the " distinguished 
 member of the legislature " did do — he filled the house to over- 
 flowing. Members of both houses of legislation and politicians 
 anticipated some rich exposure, from the hints thrown out in 
 the placard. A resolution was almost carried tendering to the 
 two distinguished boxers the use of the assembly chamber for the 
 proposed sparring exhibition. The hall was crowded to its ut- 
 most capacity with ladies longing to see the handsome "Her- 
 cules » — an( i dreaming of the days of chivalry and tournament. 
 The politicians came, more out of curiosity than anything else, 
 to see what member of the legislature was going to make a spec- 
 
80 KEHINISCENCBS OE DAN RICE 
 
 tacle of himself. The programme was carefully gone through 
 down to the last act, viz: 
 
 A SET-TO BETWEEN A MEMBEE OF THE LEGISLA- 
 TIVE AND ME. DAN EICE. 
 
 Here of course the whole audience were upon the qui vive. 
 After a few moments, which suspense magnified into an hour, 
 Mr. Eice stepped forth attired in the most approved fashion, and, 
 after bowing, with a glance around the room, stood as if in ex- 
 pectation. Soon he assumed an indignant mien and, stepping 
 toward the audience with another bow and with the air of an 
 injured man, said: 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen: I had trusted that at this late mo- 
 ment the coming forward of the gentleman whose appearance was 
 announced this morning would save me from the humiliating 
 necessity of making an apology. Though surprised at his non- 
 appearance when the entertainment began, I trusted he was for- 
 tifying himself for the set-to and would now redeem his engage- 
 ment. I did not believe a man who enjoyed the confidence of the 
 citizens of one of the richest counties in the State would conde- 
 scend to practise this vile imposition upon you and upon me. 
 Such unworthy conduct shall not succeed, and if he is now among 
 you, I warn him to retrieve himself by coming to the scene of 
 action at once, or impose the humiliating self -infliction of apolo- 
 gizing to the audience." 
 
 Here a dozen voices shouted "His name! His name!" "Give 
 us his name!" 
 
 Then continued Mr. Eice: 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen, have charity enough to hope he is 
 ill, or has been unexpectedly called away, and therefore I must 
 beg of you the indulgence of being permitted to withhold his 
 name until to-morrow morning. Then, if he does not see fit to ac- 
 count to you forthwith for this strange proceeding, I pledge you 
 my word and honor" — here followed a deferential bow that 
 would make the fortune of an office-seeker or dancing master — 
 "to publish his name. What more than this to say I do not 
 know. I have been cruelly deceived, and am overwhelmed with 
 my painful situation." 
 
 " No matter, Dan; " " Publish the rascal to-morrow, Dan," and 
 " Serve him right," " Don't be frightened, Mr. Eice " (from a 
 lady), " We are all satisfied," proceeded simultaneously from half 
 the people present, and all arose and noiselessly left the room, 
 wondering who could be the recreant member. 
 
 That night a dozen choice spirits from both houses of the legis- 
 lature, who for several days before had thrown aside politics and 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 81 
 
 deserted their seats, on discovering the mine of fun Mr. Eice 
 afforded, were speechless with laughter when our hero explained, 
 what the reader had doubtless expected, that the honorable mem- 
 ber of the legislature existed only in his imagination, and was 
 an ingenious device to procure the means for such suppers as 
 they were then eating. The next morning, of course, the 
 story went broadcast, and the laughter on all sides, like oil upon 
 water, arrested the angry discussions among the sages at the 
 Capitol. 
 
 The tour thereafter was successful, and Mr. Eice played in the 
 Pittsburg Theatre, owned by the Simpsons; in Shire's Garden, 
 managed by William Shire; in Cincinnati, on the site of what is 
 now the Burnet House; in Louisville, at the Jefferson Street 
 Theatre; in St. Louis at Ludlow & Smith's old St. Louis Theatre, 
 and so also to Quincy, Nauvoo, and the Western circuit. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 BICE AS A REVIVALIST — HIS ADVENT AMONG THE MORMONS — 
 ASSUMES THE R6LE OF PREACHER AND MAKES CONVERTS 
 FOR THE FAITHFUL — JOSEPH SMITH'S MIRACLE AND HOW 
 MR. RICE DEFEATED IT — MR. RICE NARROWLY ESCAPES EX- 
 TREME MEASURES AT THE HANDS OF CITIZENS OF MONTROSE 
 — DIFFICULTIES ADJUSTED BY A HAPPY COMPROMISE — CON- 
 TROVERSY BETWEEN MR. RICE AND SMITH REGARDING 
 FINANCIAL SETTLEMENT — THE MORMON PROPHET WALKING 
 ON THE WATER — LUDICROUS RESULTS — MR. RICE AGAIN A 
 SHOWMAN — POSES AS A MESMERIST — HYPNOTIZES A HOSTLER 
 AND THUS DEFEATS A RIVAL — THE NOVEL WAY IN WHICH 
 HE PAID HIS LICENSES AT DAVENPORT AND ROCK ISLAND 
 — AMUSING SEQUEL. 
 
 "VT"AUVOO, ILL., the home of the Mormons, was then in its 
 I \ palmy days, and some ten thousand souls were held in 
 spiritual subjection by the "prophet," and at this place, Mr. Eice 
 rightly calculated, was an abundant field for his labors. He 
 argued, reasonably enough, that in a community where the trans- 
 parent pretexts of Joseph Smith were swallowed with avidity, his 
 apparently superhuman accomplishments might well make him 
 famous, particularly as the lucky thought occurred to him that 
 he and Smith would make a pretty strong team professionally. 
 Joseph Smith readily grasped at a chance for a new miracle, now 
 6 
 
82 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 that his old dodges had become somewhat stale, and his flock 
 thirsted for some new manifestations of divine partiality. He 
 easily yielded to Mr. Eice's terms for a copartnership, which 
 involved an equal distribution of the spoils arising from the con- 
 nection, and it was not hard to demonstrate, to such an in- 
 genious schemer as Smith, that they could be made something 
 handsome. 
 
 Mr. Eice did not demur to the stipulation in the arrangements 
 that the elect should redound to the sole use and behoof of the 
 " prophet," as he had received sufficient evidence that such was 
 the intention of the proprietor of the Nauvoo mansion, of which 
 the " prophet " was the landlord, and in that way Mr. Eice was 
 enlightened, as he was constantly with him. But what were 
 those remarkable feats of strength which were heralded to the 
 elect as miracles? Mr. Smith was too old a practitioner to be 
 caught with flimsy material; besides, he would not enter into this 
 compact without testing Mr. Eice's powers in private, to which 
 exhibition of his skill he was perfectly willing. At the rehearsal 
 in the presence of the " prophet " two horses were called into use, 
 and were unable to dislodge " The Modern Samson " from a 
 workbench upon which he had hastily fastened himself; nor could 
 the " prophet " break with a sledge the back doorstep of stone 
 which, with the assistance of his wife, he managed to place on 
 Mr. Eice's abdomen as he extended himself on all fours. The 
 " prophet " was in ecstasies, which were by no means lessened 
 by our hero's catching up the tongs as he again entered the room 
 and, on his bare arm, bending the double irons into a semicircle. 
 This last feat Mr. Eice threw in for effect, and Smith and his 
 wife, in alarm, began to intercede for the rest of the furniture, 
 not doubting but that he would pull the building down about 
 their heads. Here was a California mine for Smith, out of which 
 he would be able to replenish his exhausted treasury, impose a 
 tax in a less obnoxious form than a direct levy, and rivet his hold 
 on the blind confidence t>f the people in a manner that would 
 thereafter make it blasphemy to question his direct communica- 
 tion with the Almighty. 
 
 In two hours, as might have been expected with two such able 
 projectors, their plans were matured. It was noised about that 
 the morrow would bring a new and still more imposing evidence 
 of the "prophet's" divine endowments — that a poor wayfarer 
 had been guided by the spirit to go to him and say, "Behold 
 your unworthy servant! The Spirit has admonished me at 
 divers times and in sundry places to proceed to the ' prophet ' 
 of the faithful and submit myself to his guidance. Moreover, 
 the Spirit commands me to say, ' In me shall be fulfilled 
 miracles! And whatsoever thou commandest thy servant to do, 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN BICE 83 
 
 even to the performance of acts impossible to man, it shall he 
 done.' " 
 
 The " prophet " himself proclaimed from the foot of the tem- 
 ple, which had already progressed above its foundations, that at 
 12 o'clock the next day this ministering agent from the Al- 
 mighty would appear as an humble instrument for the manifesta- 
 tion of divine power, to encourage the faithful in their labor on 
 the temple, and that all the city on such a memorable occasion 
 should contribute twenty-five cents. Mr. Eice here quietly sug- 
 gested to Smith the advisability of admitting children at half- 
 prica. "Children, too," the "prophet" added, after a little 
 hesitation, "might be imbued with the holy spirit, upon the 
 contribution of twelve and a half cents, and come in to see these 
 miracles." 
 
 Dense was the throng in front of the temple as the hour ap- 
 proached. On his way up from the tavern Mr. Eice observed 
 that all the houses appeared to be disgorging their occupants; 
 from this he foresaw a harvest that would mark a new era in his 
 financial affairs, to say nothing of Smith's spiritual career. The 
 " prophet's " Council meanwhile, prudently unaware of the pro- 
 posals of the prophetic humbug, marked his mysterious prepara- 
 tions with anxiety. The ladies eyed him askance, and without 
 any hesitancy openly admired his manly proportions and muscu- 
 lar appearance. The thousands of spectators who gathered, 
 awaiting with breathless interest the phenomenon, were prepared 
 to see any improbable miraculous manifestation, even, almost, to 
 the descent of Jehovah himself in a cloud of flame. A storm 
 hovered portentously over the horizon as the crowd proceeded, 
 in awe, to deposit their quarters in the " Baptismal Font," hewn 
 out of solid stone and guarded by the " prophet " himself. This 
 financial operation finished, Mr. Eice and the " prophet " stepped 
 forth together; a deep silence prevailed, uninterrupted even by 
 the cries of the children, who could be counted by hundreds, 
 their deluded parents trusting that, perchance, they might brush 
 the hem of the divine agent's garments. 
 
 A hundred willing workmen, at the "prophet's" command, 
 brought forth a ladder, trestles, and a pair of dray horses which 
 had been in use in the construction of the temple. 
 
 The ladder, being firmly fastened, horizontally, to the trestles, 
 with Mr. Eice extended at full length, his hands and feet firmly 
 fixed on the rungs, the horses were attached to a rope which 
 Smith had brought coiled about his arm, and which was now 
 adjusted to the shoulders and the loins of this new proselyte 
 to Mormonism. At the signal 'the powerful horses extended 
 their traces and, leaning in their collars, made a noble effort to 
 tear Mr. Eice from his fastenings, which, it is hardly necessary 
 
84 KBMINISCBNCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 to say, they would have succeeded in doing had they not been 
 compelled to pull at a disadvantage. 
 
 But for the awe that, at the manifestation of the spirit, con- 
 strained them, the whole mass would have fallen down and wor- 
 shipped the " prophet," who was supposed to have conferred this 
 great power upon the young man. 
 
 At another command, a score of hands were extended with 
 alacrity to place a building stone upon Eice's breast as he as- 
 sumed the familiar position, and a pair of stalwart mechanics 
 soon broke the stone into fragments with their ponderous sledges. 
 Then, shaking off the debris, he nimbly resumed his upright posi- 
 tion, the rocks rolling from him on either side. 
 
 In another moment a bar of inch iron was brought from the 
 smithy of the temple and bent nearly double across the naked arm 
 of the youthful giant, protected as it was by the knotted muscles, 
 now contracted in rigid tension. 
 
 With the same expedition a strong rope was detached frpm the 
 hoisting tackle used in the temple, one end secured around a 
 vast pile of building stone and the other to Mr. Bice, as he again 
 extended himself on the ladder, still firmly resting on trestles. 
 Eung by rung, he slowly advanced in this hempen collar until, 
 reaching the far end of the ladder, the rope could stretch no 
 more, and parted like flax. 
 
 This was the climax to the day's wonders, and the infatuated 
 crowd returned to their houses to commune about the miracles 
 and glorify their " prophet." Mr. Eice, with Smith, repaired to 
 the sanctum of the latter in the hotel, where the receipts of the 
 exhibition had been previously sent, but which had mysteriously 
 diminished since being deposited in the font, so Mr. Eice thought. 
 He received for his share six hundred dollars, not, however, with- 
 out being obliged to threaten the " prophet " with a little private 
 exhibition of his strength for pretending to compute the half of 
 twelve hundred to be five hundred. The evidence of Eice's 
 powers that day had been too palpable to permit Smith long to 
 persist in such a dangerous mathematical error. 
 
 From this moment the " prophet " perceived that Mr. Eice was 
 a shining light who could not be dispensed with in his cabinet 
 especially, for the " prophet " found that he could not only sing 
 a capital song and crack jokes by the hour, which no one enjoyed 
 better than Smith, but he could also preach with a zeal and 
 fervor that was calculated to bring hundreds into the fold of 
 this great shepherd. At the same time they commenced a run- 
 ning account of money and sentiment, in which Eice, indeed, 
 was imprudent enough to suffer himself to be the greatest cred- 
 itor, with the ultimate hope that by some coup de main he could 
 aspire to the same exalted position as was enjoyed by his able 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 85 
 
 coadjutor. For he was now sure of the unlimited control he 
 could easily gain over this body of fanatics. Feigned revela- 
 tions were daily made in connection with occult practices that 
 would have consigned him to the stake in the reign of New 
 England witchcraft, and in these he brought to bear an intimate 
 knowledge of chemistry and of legerdemain, as well as tact in 
 controlling an audience. 
 
 It was not long before Smith began to apprehend serious re- 
 sults following Mr. Eice's increasing influence, and thought it 
 expedient to dispatch him on a pilgrimage to Iowa, to make 
 proselytes, under the plausible pretext that no one else could 
 undertake the task with such a prospect of achieving it. Mr. 
 Eice met with great success in his role as preacher until he 
 reached Montrose, just across the river from Nauvoo. There 
 he performed his " miraculous feats of strength " after a sermon, 
 which made a powerful sensation. 
 
 But several St. Louis merchants, who were returning from 
 the Eastern States, where they had witnessed M. Paul's perform- 
 ances, exposed the pretended Mormon's miracles. This so ex- 
 asperated the crowd, many of whom had subsequently assisted 
 in driving the Mormons out of the State of Missouri, as Governor 
 Eeynolds' murder had been charged to their account, that in the 
 short time required for such proceedings in that country a suffi- 
 ciency of tar and feathers and a reasonably angular rail were 
 prepared. Our hero's danger was most imminent. He was in 
 the hands of those who felt no particular compunctions about 
 administering such doses on account of his assumed clerical ap- 
 pearance. The multitude surrounded him too effectually to 
 afford any prospect of success in an attempt at flight. He felt 
 that he could overpower a dozen of the strongest, but to be vic- 
 torious with a multitude would be a veritable hecatomb. His 
 active mind, cool even during these intimidating proceedings, 
 at once decided that tact and ingenuity alone could save him. 
 Confidence in himself imbued him with courage to trust to diplo- 
 macy. " Let me sing you a song," he shouted, " and afterward 
 do your pleasure with me! " Being thus urged, they halted in 
 their proceedings. " A song from the Mormon, a song from the 
 preacher! " was satirically echoed on every side. 
 
 Mounting the top of the tar barrel, so as to obtain a view of the 
 whole assemblage — for in the disturbance he had been forced 
 from his temporary pulpit— he commenced improvising a comic 
 song, narrating with such irresistible humor how he had 
 duped the Mormons, and dwelling so pathetically upon his 
 ridiculous situation, that long before he had hoped to succeed 
 the whole multitude joined with him in the singing, each person 
 having already mentally decided to forgive him. The music and 
 
8G BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 the rhythm were probahly not so mellifluous as the extempore 
 songs with which he has since regaled his audiences, but were the 
 more effective upon his rough auditors for being so unpolished. 
 An eyewitness now residing in Keokuk describes the scene as 
 most exciting. Each man present, unconscious of the determina- 
 tion of his neighbor to save the recent object of their vengeance, 
 began to feel almost as much concern as Mr. Rice himself had 
 lately felt. But Eice, however, who could read their faces, and 
 had already discovered his safety in their plaudits, ceased singing 
 for a moment to tell them, if they would carry away that ugly 
 rail, barrel of tar, and basket of feathers, he would give them an 
 extempore show. 
 
 There was no disguising the fact that they had a jolly time, 
 and the people dispersed pleased with the performance, and 
 Mr. Rice with a feeling of gratitude that his tact had preserved 
 him from the humiliating ordeal that so nearly proved being a 
 reality. This episode, happening so near Nauvoo, must, in the 
 course of events, reach the Mormon " prophet " very soon, so 
 Mr. Rice crossed the river at once and hastened to Smith's house 
 to demand a settlement, not only of money loaned, but of bis 
 salary as preacher at fifty dollars per month and expenses. His 
 pretext for the settlement was the auspicious opening to make 
 a new start and gain converts along the borders of Missouri and 
 Iowa. Mr. Rice subsequently learned that Smith had been prac- 
 tising many expedients during his absence to regain his tottering 
 sway as the only worker of miracles. One of these was to be per- 
 formed on some indefinite morning yet undecided, when, at sun- 
 rise, he was to walk for fifty yards on the waters of the Mississippi. 
 Mr. Rice found the Mormon prophet ready to receive him on 
 his arrival. Little averse to a rupture with our hero now that 
 he had advertised a miracle to be performed by himself, Smith, 
 on this occasion, carried his false computations into practice with 
 success, and cheated Mr. Rice shamefully in that settlement. 
 But as he could not hope to meet Smith alone and secure a proper 
 adjustment, he was fain to express himself satisfied with the por- 
 tion of the consideration offered by Smith, determining eventu- 
 ally, however, to get even. This idea of walking on the water, 
 had been, in fact, a plan of Mr. Rice's, suggested by him to the 
 prophet on his first arrival, and was to be effected by the con- 
 struction of a narrow, raised gangway of planks placed ankle-deep 
 under the water so as not to be detected, and he had no doubt 
 but that such was the way in which Smith proposed to accomplish 
 this newly advertised miracle. Early in the afternoon of the 
 day preceding that finally decided upon for the feat to be ac- 
 complished, Mr. Rice was ferried over to Montrose, ostensibly on 
 his mission to Missouri. In the course of the night, however, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 87 
 
 he returned stealthily, and with a skiff rowed out into the river, 
 and, groping where the platform was laid, took up and carried 
 away a section of thirty feet from the shore. The next morning, 
 m his high-priestly robes, the prophet walked out to the river 
 brink in the presence of an immense concourse of people. The 
 great miracle was again announced with imposing ceremony, and 
 he started out to walk on the water. The crowds of people from 
 the entire city had been, waiting patiently since early dawn in 
 eager anticipation. Mr. Eice, far out in the stream, and in dis- 
 guise, sat in a small boat watching the ceremonies. It had been 
 originally arranged between Eice and Smith that the prophet 
 should walk out thirty-five paces, counting as he went, so as not 
 to come to the end of the submerged gangway unexpectedly. 
 Confidence was apparent oh his visage as the prophet made his 
 thirtieth step, when the section Mr. Eice had eliminated failed to 
 support his holy feet and he went down into the depths of the 
 icy flood. A universal shout of surprise went up from the crowds 
 on the shore, but Mr. Eiee's peals of laughter were distinctly 
 audible as he rowed back to Montrose. The Mormon prophet 
 being speedily rescued by his followers from his perilous situa- 
 tion, he suffered the humiliation of having this so-called miracle 
 exposed by the practical joke of a man who had taken desperate 
 chances of opening the eyes of a deluded following to a sense of 
 the hallucinations under which they were laboring for the ag- 
 grandizement of their peculiar religious calling. 
 
 On escaping from his Mormon surroundings, Eice the preacher 
 became a showman again and took the first boat down the Mis- 
 sissippi to the town of Quincy, 111. Here, after engaging the hall 
 over a cooper shop which had been prepared for amateur per- 
 formances, he dispensed with his conventional garb and donned 
 the necessary paraphernalia for his legitimate business. In vain, 
 however, did he put out his most attractive bills and insert the 
 most glowing cards in the weekly journal, for Professor Boone- 
 ville was lecturing there on Animal Magnetism, and engrossed 
 the public attention. The first night our hero's audience con- 
 sisted merely of himself, his doorkeeper and fiddler, three families 
 who had complimentary tickets, and a ragged urchin who had 
 begged in at half-price. 
 
 At this rate the season was likely to be most disastrous in a 
 financial way and his inventive genius was sorely taxed to coun- 
 teract the "Magnetic Booneville" current so strongly set in 
 against him, so the following day the village was thrown into 
 unusual excitement. The streets were placarded with an an- 
 nouncement that Mr. Eice, in addition to his already ad- 
 vertised feats to numerous to mention, which were performed 
 to the 
 
88 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 "DELIGHTED ELITE! 
 
 Of Quincy last night, will to-night 
 
 EXPOSE MESMEEISM! 
 
 And the charlatanism of 
 
 PEOFESSOE BOONEVILLE, 
 
 And by a new science, much more wonderful and practical 
 
 than ANIMAL MAGNETISM 
 
 Make in one minute a 
 
 PAIE OP SHOES WOBTH ONE DOLLAE! " 
 
 Consternation seized the professor and great was the excite- 
 ment among the beau monde. At seven o'clock Mr. Bice's doors 
 were thronged, and at half-past seven he had the pleasure of see- 
 ing the professor himself come down the street and buy a ticket, 
 a sure evidence that this time it was the professor's turn to have 
 deserted rooms. After a running address, with practical illus- 
 trations and herculean feats, he proceeded to say: 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen: I have prefaced my evening's enter- 
 tainment with a selection of novelties that I see you are pleased 
 with, but as humbugging is all the rage, I could not finish the 
 evening without giving you a spice of its quality. I am now 
 about to make a pair of shoes in one minute, worth a dollar." 
 
 He produced a pair of boots, cut them off at the ankle, and, 
 making an incision down the front, with a punch made holes and 
 placed strings therein, all the while talking. 
 
 Which operation being completed, he held them up to the 
 inspection of the audience with the remark, " And I appeal to 
 you if I have not so far redeemed the pledge I made in the bills 
 this morning? I will proceed to expose human magnetism. 
 Come here, Patrick." This summons was addressed to the 
 hostler of the Quincy House, who was Booneville's best subject, 
 whom Mr. Eice had bribed during the day for two dollars, twice 
 the amount the professor gave him. A sensation was per- 
 ceptible in the professor, as well as in the audience, when Patrick, 
 who was well known, stood up. Pat had been unquestionably 
 magnetized by the professor, and was not cunning enough to con- 
 spire with anybody. When Mr. Eice placed him upon the stage 
 he had not yet settled in his mind how he, Eice, would ridicule 
 the professor's science, but trusted to his wits, which had never 
 yet failed to get him creditably out of a dilemma. After a few 
 preliminary passes and manipulations, done precisely as he had 
 seen Booneville do, Pat closed his eyes and was pronounced 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 89 
 
 asleep. Then in imitation of the professor, Mr. Rice went 
 through many amusing evolutions, himself surprised more than 
 any one else at Pat's ready obedience and in a quandary as to the 
 successful ending of the burlesque. He was half inclined to 
 believe himself that he had somehow unconsciously imbibed this 
 subtle and mysterious power. Causing Pat to follow his hand 
 slowly backward and forwards over the stage, while collecting 
 his now really disturbed thoughts, his eye caught the stove in the 
 miniature orchestra at the bottom of the stage, to which there 
 were no footlights. "Walking quietly that way with the Irishman 
 still following the extended finger, he stepped noiselessly one 
 side when in a straight line with the stove. In an instant Pat 
 was precipitated upon it with a tremendous crash. Eubbing his 
 cheeks and his hands which were smarting with the burns as well 
 as his ribs with the fall, Patrick, to his inexpressible relief, threw 
 the audience into convulsions by exclaiming, "Be Jabers, I 
 wasn't asleep at all, at all." 
 
 With a look of defiance at Mr. Eice he rushed from the house 
 in high dudgeon and in the midst of vociferous shouts. 
 
 It seems the honest Irishman thought it necessary, in order to 
 earn his two dollars, to feign sleep when he found it would not 
 come in the usual way. He had been able to obey Dan's signals 
 with his eyes closed by recollecting the rules of the professor, in 
 such cases made and provided, whom Mr. Rice imitated exactly, 
 until in walking down the stage he depended too implicitly upon 
 the hitherto faithful ear. Then followed his startling fall, and 
 the fiasco got Rice out of his predicament. Of course this started 
 a tide of ridicule which the professor could not stem, and his 
 departure the next day left Mr. Rice in sole possession of the field. 
 
 His next adventure on his tour was his famous visit to the 
 beautiful village of Davenport on the upper Mississippi, in Iowa, 
 which was then a territory. His inimitable social qualities soon 
 made him the favorite of Mr. Miller, the prominent merchant 
 of the village, as well as the courteous host of La Claire House, 
 and also formed the friendship of La Claire, a noted Indian 
 chief who resided in that place. The friendship contracted with 
 these gentlemen, as well as with other prominent citizens of the 
 town, has always been preserved with mutual pleasure, and to-day 
 their descendants are as marked in their approval of the rare per- 
 formances of the Dan Rice of later years as their ancestors were 
 in the scenes of his struggles in those early days. 
 
 On the occasion of his visit here, Mr. Rice advertised an exhi- 
 bition which filled the dining-room of the hotel. Generous liv- 
 ing, however, made heavy demands upon his purse, and his in- 
 debtedness already equalled the aggregate of his reeeipts,_and still 
 there was yet the license to pay. The license that was imposed, 
 
90 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 he, in common with the community, thought exorbitant, and it 
 was a question, indeed, whether it could be demanded for the 
 kind of exhibition he proposed to give. Therefore he felt in- 
 clined to resist the payment, but if the collector felt disposed, as 
 he did, to enforce it, then Mr. Eice felt equal to the emergency 
 by indulging in a little pardonable temporizing to evade it; there- 
 fore, on various pretexts, payment of the license had been post- 
 poned until the performance was over. 
 
 On returning to the hotel and making an estimate of his re- 
 sources, he found it necessary to put off either his hotel or license 
 bill. To relieve himself of the perplexity, which an argument 
 of the matter would have involved, he paid his hotel bill and sent 
 for the ferryman who plied between Davenport and Rock Island. 
 To him he agreed to give two dollars and a half if he would have 
 his boat ready at the shore all night to ferry him across at a mo- 
 ment's notice. As soon as the collector suspected that Mr. Eice 
 intended to evade payment, he placed in the hands of the con- 
 stable a warrant for his arrest for exhibiting without a license. 
 Rice, under the guise of subterfuge, told the constable that he 
 would remit him the money from Eock Island, where he was an- 
 nounced to exhibit the next evening, but the constable demurred 
 and prepared to arrest him. Mr. Eice stepped back a pace and, 
 warning the officer not to approach him, shouldered his carpet 
 bag, which had been previously packed, and walked out of the 
 door as the crowd in the rear made way for him. The constable 
 called on all good citizens to assist him in arresting a man who was 
 "resisting the law," but as all had witnessed his "feats of 
 strength " at the exhibition, no one was willing to expose him- 
 self to the encounter. A colossal, two-fisted countryman, to 
 whom a more direct appeal was made by the constable, replied 
 with indignation, " Do you suppose I want to touch a Samson? " 
 
 Mr. Eice rejected the intervention of his friends who proposed 
 to go on his bail, and persisted in making his way to the river, a 
 short distance away. The crowd followed him down to the 
 boat, accompanied by the constable who was inclined to keep at 
 a respectful distance from Mr. Eice, for he had turned to him 
 when he thought he encroached too near with the threatening 
 inquiry whether " he expected to breakfast in the bosom of his 
 family or in that of Father Abraham's, on the morrow?" 
 
 In this way he reached the river where the faithful boatman 
 was ready with his oars. But even here the posse could not 
 muster the courage to rush upon him, so he stepped deliberately 
 in the boat, deposited his baggage in the bow, adjusted his dress, 
 removed his hat, and, bidding adieu to his friends whose faces 
 he recognized in the moonlight, he made a sardonic speech to the 
 collector and his coterie. The crowd enjoyed the discomfiture 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 91 
 
 of the constable and the bravery of the showman and involun- 
 tarily joined in prolonged cheers which accompanied Kice half- 
 way across the river. 
 
 Much anxiety was felt, however, about the safety of the brave 
 young man; indeed, the boatman himself declared the tide was 
 too strong, but Mr. Eiee coolly informed him that he would im- 
 pose upon him the penalty of drowning if he did not proceed, 
 so the manipulation of the oars was conducted at once. 
 
 At Eock Island he also had some misgivings as to whether he 
 could again evade the license, but the news of his victory over 
 the Davenport authorities had preceded him and produced un- 
 bounded satisfaction, so great was the rivalry between the two 
 places. The village authorities to whom he applied upon the 
 subject of lowering the license, good-humoredly replied that 
 " their minimum price was twenty-five dollars, and that he was 
 at liberty to play them a trick, as he did in Davenport, if he 
 could." This set his wits to work, and was an incentive to spur 
 him on again to escape the license, even though the receipts 
 would justify him in the payment of so large a sum. A dozen 
 different versions of the affair on the opposite side of the river 
 were current, and he was the absorbing topic of the day. The 
 excitement increased towards night, and the doors of Barrett's 
 hotel were thronged early by the crowds, and the authorities had 
 decided that he must pay the license before he exhibited. Mr. 
 Eice was at the door, collecting the admission fees, when the 
 collector approached him with the license. The hallway was 
 full of people going in, and Mr. Eice said to the officer, "All 
 right, sir; step in and take a seat while I attend to these people 
 and I will pay you before the performance commences." Sup- 
 posing that he had not yet rendered himself amenable and that 
 he intended to pay the license out of the money he was then re- 
 ceiving, the officer passed on with the rest and took a seat, wait- 
 ing for Mr. Eice to notify him when the performance was to 
 begin. Mr. Eice had discovered that the rush had subsided, or 
 rather that he was precluded from taking any more money by 
 the room being already filled to its utmost capacity. He asked the 
 officer who had the license prepared to take his place at the door 
 a moment while he went in to start the music and count the 
 money. As he walked from the door through the side aisle with 
 his hat under his arm, the audience cheered him and the ladies 
 were at once captivated by his appearance and enlisted in his 
 favor. As he passed behind the blanket, borrowed of Barrett 
 for a curtain, the utmost silence prevailed excepting the music 
 of the orchestra, which consisted of one violin played by the negro 
 barber of the town. After five minutes' breathless suspense, the 
 more daring ventured upon a few thumps with their canes. The 
 
92 HEMINISCENCES OF DAtf BICE 
 
 solitary fiddler scraped with redoubled fury. Stamping, hand- 
 clapping, and encouraging cheers soon drowned the desperate 
 din of the lone violin. The officer at the door peeped in to see 
 if it was not applause greeting Mr. Eice's initial act. Although 
 he thought sufficient time had passed for his return, still he did 
 not like to desert the responsible post with which he was en- 
 trusted. At this moment a curious little boy in front who could 
 not resist the temptation of lifting a corner and peeping behind 
 the curtain, thrilled the audience with the cry, " He ain't there! " 
 The bird had flown; every one suspected the joke and left the 
 room with but one idea in view, that of reaching home before 
 it was discovered that they had been to the show. The fiddler, 
 the only accomplice Bice had, besides the ferryman, hastened to 
 receive the two dollars he was to have in the event of the show- 
 man's safe retreat, forgetting that the very condition of his agree- 
 ment would effectually prevent him from taking any steps to get 
 his money. Mr. Eice had thrown his carpet bag out of a window 
 upon the projecting woodshed in the rear of the hotel and imme- 
 diately followed himself. With baggage in hand, he jumped 
 from the shed just as Barrett was passing under after a pitcher 
 of water. Alighting on his shoulders, Barrett was thrown 
 sprawling upon the ground and the pitcher broken in fragments. 
 As Barrett knew that Mr. Eice ought to be above stairs amusing 
 the audience, he surmised the trouble, and gathering himself as 
 soon as possible made chase for his tavern bill and room rent. 
 By this time the constables were in Barrett's train, and as it was 
 dark and Eice was incommoded by his carpet bag which con- 
 tained his personal effects, and by the ignorance of the topog- 
 raphy of the premises, he was nearly overtaken when he went 
 headlong in the vault of a neighboring yard and the whole party 
 " came tumbling after " just as he managed to draw himself out 
 of the slough. Under cover of this diversion, he made his way 
 to the ferryboat, into which he emptied his pockets of the night's 
 receipts, and, undressing, he tied his clothes with a string to the 
 side of the boat, and so in puris naturalibus clung outside to the 
 rudder as the trusty ferryman pushed into the stream. The noise 
 of the rowlocks soon attracted the ears of that portion of his 
 pursuers who were in a condition to follow, and they gave chase 
 to the river in full cry, supposing that he was concealed some- 
 where about the yards and could not elude the close watch set 
 upon him. To get out a dozen boats in pursuit was the work 
 of only a few minutes, during which time Mr. Eice seized an o.ar 
 and made such good use of it that they were soon in close 
 proximity to the Davenport shore. His object was to present 
 himself openly in Davenport and win the forgiveness of its citi- 
 zens by his triumph over the Eock Island authorities who had 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 93 
 
 laughed heartily at his previous day's adventures. But it would 
 not do to land in his present plight, and, before he would have 
 time to dress, the Eock Island flotilla would be upon him. He 
 saw the Illinois shore illuminated with lanterns and torches, and 
 a part of his pursuers running to and fro in wild excitement over 
 the supposition that the boats would secure him and bring him 
 back to Eoek Island. Mr. Eice, taking in the situation at a 
 glance, ceased to row, and the ferryman allowed the boat to go 
 noiselessly down the current at the rate of five miles an hour, 
 until six miles below Eock Island, where, after remunerating 
 the ferryman for his trouble, he landed at a wooded shore alone, 
 arranged his toilet and made his way to Grand Detour, with one 
 star only for his guide. As he had not performed at Eock Island 
 he could not have been compelled to pay the license. 
 
 For several years afterwards any of the villagers would have 
 risked a coat of tar and feathers, in either of these localities, by 
 inquiring how Dan Eice got rid of the license, and in a high- 
 spirited manner did they bandy jeers and taunts at each other 
 across the water for being so easily outwitted. When Mr. Eice 
 had become the owner of a circus, which was in reality an estab- 
 lishment worth patronizing, and when he was no longer reduced 
 to the necessity of giving leg-bail to license collectors, the arrival 
 in that part of the world of his advance agent created an excite- 
 ment that threatened to suspend all the ordinary occupations of 
 the inhabitants. Another generation had partly grown up, who, 
 with the recent settlers had so often heard the story, that they 
 began to look upon Dan Eice as Bluebeard or some other fabulous 
 personage. The victims had not before suspected that the Dan 
 Eice of their troubles was the athletic clown of whom they had 
 heard and read so much. The affair was more interesting as Mr. 
 Eice had instructed his agent to publish at Davenport that again 
 he would " dodge the license," and no one doubted but that he 
 would carry his threat into execution. As Chief La Claire, how- 
 ever, tendered him the use of a beautiful lot outside of the cor- 
 poration limits, quite easy of access to its inhabitants, Mr. Eice 
 avoided the license without being obliged to use any particular 
 ingenuity. 
 
 At Eock Island, where the same intention was to be carried 
 into effect, the authorities met him in a more liberal manner, and 
 it would have been ungenerous to have played another prank on 
 them. The foremost among those who gave him a hearty wel- 
 come was Mr. Barrett, who always declared that Mr. Eice had 
 paid him his tavern and room bill. The ex-sheriff of Davenport 
 County and the constables of Eock Island tendered him a wel- 
 come also that had no reflection of the previous episode in it. 
 Even the ex-mayor of Eock Island confessed, as a secret he had 
 
94 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 never before dared to divulge, that he was present at the exhibi- 
 tion that was never produced and cheered loudest when Mr. Rice 
 disappeared behind the curtain, and was greatly chagrined when 
 " he ain't there," resounded through the room. And although 
 he had observed all the respectable portion of the villagers in 
 attendance, no one would ever acknowledge his presence, and he 
 did not like to subject himself to the universal ridicule of being 
 the only one who composed Dan Rice's audience on that occasion. 
 It was advertised that every person who had gone to see the 
 performance at Barrett's Hotel that memorable evening would 
 now receive, free, an admission to the circus, as Mr. Rice felt 
 morally bound to adjust himself honorably with the community. 
 But every man had committed himself by vowing that he had 
 never been near the previous show at all, therefore the ex-mayor 
 of Rock Island received a complimentary family ticket as a 
 reward for his honest confession, and Mr. Rice's humorous re- 
 marks in the arena, of the previous affair, created great amuse- 
 ment at the expense of those who were unmistakably sensitive to 
 his ridicule. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CIRCUS LIFE AS IT WAS AND IS — OLD AND NEW SCHOOLS — 
 PRESENT AND PAST METHODS COMPARED — MORALE AND PER- 
 SONNEL OF THE PERFORMERS THEIR METHODS, TEMPTA- 
 TIONS AND HARDSHIPS CONTRASTED WITH THOSE OF THE 
 PRESENT-DAT ARTISTS — A LUGUBRIOUS INCIDENT — A BIBU- 
 LOUS BRIDEGROOM — A HAPPY DENOUEMENT — A GRUESOME 
 AWAKENING — SAD DEATH OF A ROOM-MATE. 
 
 IN striving to enhance the interests of his little travelling es- 
 tablishment, Mr. Rice was ever on the alert for some attrac- 
 tion to please the public mind and eye, and introducing new 
 novelties of his own invention to strengthen the programme for 
 different localities, and thus win an interested patronage. In 
 the summer of 1843 he revisited Quincy, 111., and on the way to 
 that place he secured, as a drawing card, a nephew of ex-Governor 
 Carlin, who had won somewhat of a reputation among his towns- 
 men at Carlinville as a slack-wire performer. And on account 
 of his professional notoriety, he became an adjunct of the Rice 
 show which was extensively heralded as containing " among its 
 many attractions, a nephew of the ex-Governor of Illinois." But, 
 unfortunately, the very first time young Blackshear gave a per- 
 formance on the strength of this announcement, the wire broke, 
 
BEMINISCENCBS OF DAN RICE 95 
 
 and he was injured to such an extent by the fall that he was 
 obliged to postpone his engagement indefinitely. Also in the 
 summer of 1843, Mr. Rice exhibited through the mining region 
 of Illinois, attracting much attention among the miners by the 
 superb feats of strength he performed. He now added to his 
 regular program the lifting of pigs of lead, beginning with 1,400 
 pounds and gradually increasing the weight to 2,000 pounds. 
 The miners could scarcely believe this feat possible, and the 
 strongest among them was unable to duplicate it. Mr. Eice was 
 of medium stature, and the lead, having been laid regularly on a 
 platform, supported by two trestles, he was able to- get under the 
 platform with bowed shoulders and bent knees, and by straighten- 
 ing his lower limbs would lift the platform clear of the trestles. 
 Among the sturdy fellows of superior strength brought forth by 
 the miners to test the great burden was John Ethel, a powerful 
 man, and also a previous acquaintance of Mr. Eice's, whose efforts 
 to lift the enormous weight were also unsuccessful. The secret 
 of the failure was, that they were all, as a rule, too tall, and 
 when passing under the platform were obliged to bend so much 
 as to destroy their leverage, and they therefore had no strength 
 that they could bring into requisition. It was merely a question 
 of proper adjustment of the trestles to meet the stature of the 
 person who was testing the burden, and Mr. Eice's knowledge of 
 anatomy enabled him to calculate the exact angle and extension 
 so perfectly that he rarely missed those calculations. His daily 
 practice, besides, created a precision that could only be gained 
 by persistent usage. All through that wild, primitive country 
 Eice continued his exhibition, travelling with a horse and buggy 
 and indulging in his favorite game of " seven-up " with the card 
 champion of every new field he visited. His expenses were not 
 very large, but his extravagance consisted mainly in his great- 
 hearted, liberal nature, that could never withstand the appeals 
 made upon his purse, for he was often called upon to contribute 
 to different objects out of compliment, a courtesy he rarely re- 
 fused. 
 
 At Snake Diggins, afterwards called Potosi, in Jo Daviess 
 Countv, he encountered the only man he met on the tour who 
 could play " seven-up " better than he. His name was Lemuel 
 Smith, an old sport, who won six hundred dollars from him, and 
 his horse and buggy also fell a sacrifice, which, however, was 
 returned to him, and fifty dollars besides. This sum Smith 
 loaned to Mr. Eice, with which to go to Plattsburg, Mineral 
 Point, and Galena. Mr. Eice informs us that his assistant on 
 this tour was a young man who gave his name as Arthur S. 
 Pearles, and the two young persons formed a strong friendship 
 for each other. 
 
96 REMINISCENCES OF DAN PJCE 
 
 Pearles represented himself as a Bostonian, and it is evident 
 that he was an intellectual individual, and also a line musician, 
 for he was master of several different instruments, but what he 
 specially preferred was the violin. He was also possessed of fine 
 morals and carefully held himself as far apart as was possible 
 from the rough element of those early days. He told Mr. Rice 
 that he had been carefully raised, and, as he was not naturally 
 strong, he had been advised by his physician to go to the min- 
 ing country and lead a life among its hardships; to experiment 
 if it would effect a cure, as the climate in Boston was too rigid. 
 The result had been so satisfactory that he concluded to return 
 to his home, and, as he preferred a journey long drawn out, he 
 engaged to travel with Mr. Rice and thus eventually accomplish 
 the end with renewed vigor by entering into what seemed to be to 
 him a pleasant pastime. A few days previous to the performance 
 at Plattsburg, Mr. Pearles had been ailing with premonitory 
 symptoms of the quinsy sore throat, and was really quite ill by 
 the time they reached Mineral Point, the next place on the route. 
 The exhibition was held as usual in the dining-room of the hotel, 
 and Mr. Pearles played for Mr. Rice in the songs and dances, 
 but was unable to continue the programme during the feats of 
 strength. He was obliged to retire directly to his room, where 
 the landlady made him as comfortable as possible under the cir- 
 cumstances, renewing the poultices on his throat, etc., for Mr. 
 Rice had strictly charged that Pearles should have the best at- 
 tention, and it was rendered accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Rice, necessarily, retired late, and as he occupied the same 
 room with Pearles, he took to him a hot beverage which, the 
 young man told him, he could not possibly swallow. Mr. Rice, 
 after seeing that Pearles' wants were supplied, retired by his 
 side in the same couch, and was soon in a profound slumber. On 
 awakening the next morning about five o'clock he inquired of his 
 friend if he were feeling better, and, not receiving any response, 
 he laid his hand on him gently to rouse him, and found, to his 
 consternation, that the man was cold. 
 
 Further investigation by a physician proved that the abscess in 
 Mr. Pearles' throat had broken and suffocated him. As there 
 was no organized graveyard in that mining country, Mr. Rice 
 contracted with the landlord to set off a plot of ground with a 
 rude fence, and secured a carpenter to make a stanch box, in 
 which they laid Arthur Pearles away, without any ceremony, in 
 a lonely grave which they dug with their own hands, and left 
 him 'mid the lights and shadows that shifted over the prairie. 
 Mr. Rice gathered together the young man's effects, and after 
 locking the trunk and fastening the key on the cover, had it 
 addressed and despatched to the Mayor of Boston, to whom he 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 97 
 
 also wrote apprising him of the circumstances as they occurred 
 above, and then continued his journey. To that letter he never 
 received any response, and he does not know whether the relatives 
 of Arthur Pearles ever heard of his death, but the sad incident 
 is still impressed on his memory, after all these years, with a 
 painful vividness. 
 
 Before crossing the Wisconsin, Mr. Kice stopped over night at 
 Patch's Grove, on the prairie, and in fireside gossip, before retir- 
 ing that night, discovered that Mr. Patch was related to his 
 stepfather, by his marriage with a Miss Manahan, of Cayuga 
 Lake, N. Y. A bond of relationsnip having thus been estab- 
 lished, it was agreed that he should be Mr. Patch's guest for 
 several days, and give an exhibition in his house. The news 
 having been circulated in that sparsely settled country, the rustic 
 beaux and belles of the neighborhood gathered on the evening 
 of the entertainment in the immense living room of the Patch 
 famity, which did duty for both sitting-room and kitchen, while 
 the gigantic fireplace, curtained off by two sheets, served for 
 dressing-room and stage alike. The silhouette of Mr. Eice's 
 manly form, as he divested himself of his clothes to don his stage 
 garb, came out in clear relief on the curtain and provoked much 
 mirth, as well .as some little consternation, in the audience. It 
 is also recorded that Mr. Eice actually blushed and was greatly 
 discomfited when he discovered that he had, without any design 
 on his part, been the innocent cause of deep mortification to the 
 prairie belles and their beaux; but notwithstanding this ludicrous 
 scene, the remainder of the programme was carried out with 
 equally good effect. In continuing his journey after a series of en- 
 tertainments at Patch's Grove, before crossing the Wisconsin 
 Eiver on his way to Baraboo, Mr. Eice observed a monstrous black 
 snake in the road over which they were driving. This circum- 
 stance would have seemed only a trivial affair to many, but to 
 one so constituted as he, and who has such an intense aversion 
 to those reptiles as he entertains, the mere sight of one is almost 
 ominous, and, besides, he holds peculiar views in regard to them. 
 Not being in a position to despatch this one, which he disliked 
 so much to pass, the party urged the horse to the limit of his 
 speed and made no halt until they reached the arranged destina- 
 tion, so determined was Mr. Eice to get out of that part of the 
 country and leave his evil genius behind him. 
 
 Mr. Seth Hurd, a popular resident of Baraboo, at that period 
 owned the stage line at that place, and also kept the hotel at 
 which Mr. Eice's party registered, and it was in the dining-room, 
 as usual, that he gave his performances. On one occasion he 
 regaled his audience by executing a genuine war-dance to please 
 the Indians, many of whom had come to see the Strong Man. 
 7 
 
98 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 Colonel Eiee has remarked that it was a curious spectacle to see 
 the swarthy fellows seated around on the floor with their blankets 
 folded about them and trinkets displayed to good advantage on 
 this occasion, as they were part of the audience. And they ex- 
 hibited great interest when he went through the war-dance, ap- 
 parently to their satisfaction. They expressed themselves freely 
 at his feats of strength, and applauded every feature of the 
 performance. 
 
 On his return journey he remained over night and gave a 
 performance at Fort Winnebago, a great army station, at which 
 many prominent officers were then quartered, including Gen. 
 Zachary Taylor; young Jefferson Davis, who was afterwards Gen- 
 eral Taylor's son-in-law; and Gen. Simon Cameron. Also Lieu- 
 tenant Rodman, the inventor of the famous Rodman gun. This 
 gentleman had previously met Mr. Rice, when he was a boy, at 
 the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburg, and on this occasion, he was 
 Mr. Rice's sponsor for the evening. The performance was a 
 grateful change to the monotony of garrison life and all expressed 
 their pleasure at the efforts of our hero in "driving dull care 
 away " in the few short hours that he remained their guest. 
 
 Late in the spring of 1844 he gave his performance in Ottawa, 
 111., at the headwaters of the river. He had grown weary of the 
 Far West, as that country was considered at that period; the 
 romance had vanished from the life he was leading and he at last 
 determined to return to the East and follow some other vocation. 
 
 Among the audience who saw his show on the last night at 
 Ottawa, was the Rev. Skipworth Griswold, a remarkable char- 
 acter. Though a preacher of the Baptist Church, at Danbury, 
 Conn., Mr. Griswold was travelling through the West as the 
 advance agent of the North American Circus, of which G. R. 
 Spaulding, of Albany, N. Y., was proprietor. 
 
 Clergymen were not paid salaries in those days, and Mr. Gris- 
 wold, who was a good man, was forced to travel ahead of a circus 
 in summer to get money enough to support his family in winter. 
 
 His superior education made him an excellent representative, 
 and his geographical knowledge, as well as his influence, were of 
 great benefit to such an organization. After Rice's performance 
 was over, Mr. Griswold walked back to the hotel with him. 
 
 " That is a fine exhibition, Mr. Rice," said he, " and it makes 
 a splendid impression. I wonder you do not join a circus and 
 display your surprising feats and do your negro songs and 
 speeches . under canvas. I feel sure you would make a great 
 clown, and you know good clowns are hard to get." Mr. Rice 
 was impressed with Mr. Griswold's earnestness, but he had never 
 thought of joining a circus. Still, any change, of whatever char- 
 acter, seemed just at that time desirable, and when Mr. Griswold 
 
HEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 99 
 
 offered to give him a letter of introduction to G. E. Spaulding, 
 who would soon be with his circus at Galena, Mr. Eice accepted 
 it eagerly, as he was greatly impressed by Mr. Griswold's gen- 
 tlemanly bearing and his evident sincerity. One peculiarity this 
 gentleman had that distinguished him from his brothers in the 
 profession, and that may have been a virtue, was, that he would 
 never travel on Sunday. His employer, however, in this in- 
 stance, appreciated the tone he gave to the circus by observing 
 that custom and thus catering to the church-going public. In 
 those days a circus remained a week, and sometimes two, in a 
 town like Galena, and its patrons would assemble from all parts 
 of the surrounding country. On the arrival of Mr. Spaulding, 
 Mr. Eice found that he was by no means unacquainted with his 
 fame, for everyone in that country knew of Dan Eice by his 
 previous career among them. The letter of introduction was 
 duly presented, and Mr. Spaulding soon began cross-examining 
 him as to what he could do. 
 
 " You say you can sing comic songs? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And do negro songs and dances? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And pull against horses? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And climb the fireman's ladder? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Would you like to go with the circus? " 
 
 " Yes; I'm tired of roaming around the country alone." 
 
 " Can you drive a team? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Can you learn to ride, and figure in the Grand Entry? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 *' Can you play clown? " 
 
 " I can try." 
 
 "Well, if you -can do all those things, and play clown, and 
 whip three men a day in addition, I'll board you and give you 
 $15 a month." 
 
 Mr. Spaulding was having his own little joke in all this ramble, 
 and Mr. Eice was well aware of it, but he accepted, and on the 
 fourth day made his first appearance in the circus ring. He was 
 at once successful and carried out his contract religiously, not 
 excepting the three presumed beatings a day to be administered 
 to the champion of the local bullies who beset travelling circuses 
 in those days, notwithstanding varied reports to the contrary. 
 
 The circus of the early times had nothing in its profession to 
 cast reflection on its actors, and Mr. Eice says he has nothing to 
 regret by being connected with it. 
 
100 EEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 He made his debut as a circus clown at Galena, 111., on the 
 afternoon of a hot day in midsummer in 1844, and while he made 
 every effort to please the audience, he thinks he succeeded, but 
 says he perspired as well as aspired in about equal proportions. 
 On the whole, his debut may have been pronounced a brilliant 
 success, for a large number of friends and acquaintances were 
 there to cheer and encourage him, and everything passed off 
 smoothly at the entertainment. Among Mr. Eice's acquaint- 
 ances who witnessed this, his first, circus performance, was a 
 miner by the name of John Ethel, a tall, gaunt, unprepossessing- 
 looking individual, but a good fellow, and industrious workman, 
 and an honest man as well. He had been in good luck lately, 
 having struck a rich vein of lead ore, and had purchased a neat 
 little home into which he had conducted, on the very morning 
 of Mr. Eice's debut, the rather pretty little daughter of a Con- 
 necticut dominie or minister. 
 
 John Ethel himself was not an educated man, but his wife had 
 been a " schoolmarm," and John regarded her attainment and 
 learning as colossal, while she almost worshipped his physical 
 powers, which were not overestimated; so, as each person admired 
 in the other some quality the chosen one really possessed, the 
 chances for their mutual happiness were good, and the prospects 
 positively assuring. 
 
 John Ethel and Mr. Eice had met occasionally, and were 
 socially on excellent terms, so the groom determined to take in 
 Mr. Eice's debut on his wedding day as part of the festivities 
 of the occasion, and he took it for granted, of course, that his 
 bride would accompany him; but in this natural calculation, he 
 was mistaken. Mrs. John Ethel had been strictly reared by her 
 parents under the true " blue laws " of Connecticut, and had 
 been taught to regard a circus as sinful unless a menagerie went 
 with it. " If only there were some animals, John, dear," she 
 said; " a tiger or two would save it, you know, or a lion would 
 make it all right, or even a leopard or a camel- might take away 
 the curse, but no animals at all, dear; only horses and men in 
 tights and women in spangles and gauze, nothing on; ah, I 
 couldn't do it, John, it would break father's heart, so don't ask 
 me, John." And John, after this, did not insist upon her going, 
 but kissing his bride good-by for awhile, left her to fulfil his 
 engagement, that embraced Mr. Eice's debut. Having previously 
 stopped at various taverns and partaken of more than was neces- 
 sary of spirituous refreshments, he reached Spaulding's Circus 
 tent, where Eice was performing, in a " glorious " condition. On 
 entering and seeing Mr. Eice in the ring he called out his name, 
 and running down to where he was standing, seized him by the 
 hand and shook it heartily. Mr. Eice acknowledged the impul- 
 
fiEMIftlSCENCES 6E DAN EICE lOl 
 
 sive demonstration of Mr. Ethel, as he did not wish to have the 
 performance interrupted. Meanwhile, John's great burly body in- 
 tercepted the view of the audience, and calls of " Sit down there, 
 John Ethel," arose from the crowd. John looked around and not 
 finding any seat vacant, the tent being full to overflowing, delib- 
 erately sat down on the ground beside the ring, interrupting Mr. 
 Bice now and then with his views of the performance, including 
 his own share therein. All was proceeding smoothly when a 
 storm suddenly burst over the tent — a storm of wind and rain, 
 which came, as most of those tornadoes do, with scarcely any 
 previous warning. It blew the tent down and every one nar- 
 rowly escaped being hurt. They hurried away, performers and 
 all, the latter for the once having the best of the situation, as they 
 had hotels or taverns to go to for shelter, which were close at 
 hand. The storm lasted for several hours and prevented any 
 evening performance, but after supper it began to abate in vio- 
 lence, and Dan Eice, the new clown, and another member of the 
 Spaulding Company, a young man who afterwards became fa- 
 mous as W. W. Hobbes, the dashing rider, taking their umbrellas 
 went down to the river to see the steamboats. There was a 
 notable public house, a stone structure, called the Eagle Coffee 
 House, which was, in after years, the favorite resort of General 
 Grant when he was a young man, and which was then, as now, one 
 of the landmarks of the water front. Hobbes and Eice entered 
 this house and looked on a while at the gathering crowd, conspicu- 
 ous among whom was John Ethel, now hilarious in the secondary 
 stages of intoxication. He was dispensing both fun and funds 
 with a degree of extravagance that lacked good judgment, but 
 this was his wedding night, and he the happy but bibulous bride- 
 groom was celebrating the connubial event. Seeing Mr. Eice and 
 Hobbes, he accosted the former and invited him and his com- 
 panion to have a drink. " Dan," he said, as Mr. Eice accepted 
 the invitation, " I saw your debut to-day," with an accent on the 
 but, " and said you were the worst clown I ever saw," which was 
 plain and not complimentary. " I'll tell you what I'll do with 
 you, Dan Eice; paint me up for the clown and I'll play it all 
 around for drinks." The crowd thought it a form of joke, but 
 Ethel was in earnest. " Paint me, Dan," he cried, and for the 
 sheer fun Mr. Eice sent for some stuff to the nearest drug store, 
 such as vermilion, Spanish whiting, and India ink, and painted 
 him in a most hideous fashion, first whitening his face and neck, 
 then painting his mouth from ear to ear with vermilion, and 
 then painted his eyebrows with India ink, adding ink also to the 
 corners of the mouth, thus the clown was portrayed in caricature. 
 He had taken off his coat and vest, and Mr. Eice completed the 
 pictorial outfit by tying a white handkerchief around Ethel's 
 
102 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 head, which framed his painted features in a most hideous way. 
 The gathering was convulsed with laughter, as John, in his 
 maudlin state attempted the clown's grimaces with distorted 
 features, and as he slipped on the wet floor in his wild, un- 
 steady gyrations, his appearance was indeed fiendishly funny, 
 and simply indescribable. The hilarious sport increased, rather 
 than diminished, and the evening waned into midnight, and soon 
 there remained, of all the revellers, only Mr. Eice, his friend, the 
 barkeeper, and John Ethel. The late hour ushered in the time 
 for closing and those present made preparations for leaving. 
 Ethel was about exhausted in his frantic efforts to play the 
 clown, and concluded that he would make his way home to his 
 waiting bride. As he shook Mr. Eice's hand at parting, he said, 
 " Well, good-bye, Dan, you're the worst-looking clown I ever saw, 
 except myself," he added as he caught a glimpse of his own ap- 
 pearance in the glass, in front of which Mr. Eice was standing. 
 The figure, impersonating himself, looked so hideous, that he 
 glared at it with a sort of fascination that had a tendency to sober 
 him into a realization that he had made a ridiculous exhibition of 
 himself, for he remarked, " By gosh, I can't go home to my wife 
 on my wedding night looking like this." He made a frantic 
 dash for the pump which stood in front of the tavern, and the 
 location of which he knew well enough to guess at in the dark- 
 ness. In his rash haste to perform his ablutions, and with his 
 brain still unsettled by his potatioDs and aggravated by his pre- 
 vious violent exercise, he followed the wrong direction and made 
 his way directly to a hitching post, against which a reveller was 
 braced, and indulging in a series of violent efforts to relieve him- 
 self of his Bacchanalian feast, the digestion of which was im- 
 peded, no doubt, by his partaking too freely of the liquors fur- 
 nished at Ethel's expense. The supreme moment for him came 
 just as John staggered up to his imaginary pump, and, securing 
 the man's arm, which he mistook for the pump handle, he raised 
 it and gave a vicious lunge downward which caused the Baccha- 
 nalian stream to flow profusely, which John caught in his out- 
 stretched hands and proceeded forthwith to wash his face. A 
 repetition of the performance was substantial evidence, in his 
 dazed condition, that he was absolutely clean and in readiness 
 to meet the newly made wife in presentable order. 
 
 Mr. Eice and his friend accompanied him to his home to as- 
 sure themselves that no other accident should befall him on the 
 way. On reaching his cottage door, Ethel knocked gently, hav- 
 ing just a glimmering ray of common sense left to remind him 
 that he must approach his dwelling quietly, so as to give assur- 
 ance to the waiting bride that all was well, even though the late- 
 ness of the hour was rather ominous. In response to his knock- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 103 
 
 ing came the tones of a timid voice inquiring, " Who is there? " 
 " It's me, your John," was the answer, in a deep bass voice, that 
 she recognized so well. His wife opened the door and started 
 back aghast, as the light fell full on his face and revealed to her 
 the conglomerated mixture with which he had performed his 
 ablutions, and the nature of which she could not possibly mistake. 
 His unsightly general appearance appalled and disgusted her, and 
 she could only gasp, " Why, John, what on earth is the matter 
 with you? Look at your soiled clothes and filthy condition." 
 And his deep voice hiccoughed out exultantly though rather un- 
 steadily, " Why, Mary (hie), you ought'er seen me (hie) 'fore I 
 was washed," and the cottage door closed upon the first act of the 
 serio-comic drama, the continuation of which was enacted in 
 private. 
 
 The mortification of that night's adventure lasted John Ethel 
 his lifetime, and that one glaring deviation from the path of his 
 hitherto previous respectability caused him to form a resolution 
 • that it would be the last, which, indeed, it proved to be, in his 
 long and honorable career that followed. The initiation of the 
 newly made wife into the almost unpardonable blunder of her 
 husband, was a severe test to her naturally refined sensitiveness, 
 but her womanly instinct covered his first fault with a prudent 
 judgment that exhibited more of sympathy with his lack of dis- 
 cretion in regard to himself than in the injury to her confidence, 
 of which he was so forgetful. In explaining this much to Mr. Kice 
 in after years, he also added that the course his wife pursued on 
 that eventful night had shaped the whole of his future career. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 DAN'S DEBUT IN THE EQUESTRIAN WORLD — THE COMPOSITE 
 CLOWN — RICE IN THE R6LE OF MANAGER AND PROPRIETOR 
 OF HIS FIRST CIRCUS — STRICKEN WITH YELLOW FEVER — 
 NURSED BY GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR — A FACE, A FORTUNE, 
 AND THEIR EFFECT ON A FEVER CONVALESCENT — A WOULD- 
 BE ASSASSIN — RICE'S RARE PRESENCE OF MIND— NEW OR- 
 LEANS CITIZENS' GRAND TESTIMONIAL— THE ARREST. 
 
 ME. RICE'S star of success was now destined to rise in the 
 ascendancy, and the future held for him results that 
 reached far beyond his highest expectations. The keynote of his 
 aspirations had struck the vital chord that was to reverberate 
 from the rustic borders of our growing country to the sea, and 
 
104 BEMINISCENCES OF DAK RlCfi 
 
 elevate the standard of the circus to the heights of a meritorious 
 calling which was, at once, both artistic and dignified. Now that 
 Mr. Eiee had at last become a legitimate circus performer, it will 
 be well to glance, in a general way, at the condition of the circus 
 world in his early days as compared with the circus of the present 
 time. The main difference of the circus fifty years ago and that 
 of this period was that the former was a circus pure and simple, 
 an equestrian exhibition, neither less nor more. There were no 
 animals in the old-time amusement except horses, for the circus 
 was not, as now, a menagerie combined with a side show, and the 
 noticeable features that distinguished the circus of 1840 from that 
 of the present day is that the system was conducted on a more 
 economical and restrictive basis in the forties. There were not 
 as many performers and the salaries were smaller, even allowing 
 for the difference in the value of money at that time and now. 
 A man who received $50 a month and expenses in 1840 was re- 
 garded in the same light as one who gets fifty dollars per week 
 and expenses in 1900. To-day every one is a specialist and con- 
 fines himself to one line of business only, but forty years ago 
 every one was expected to do everything when it was necessary, 
 and generally accomplished it, even to the daring Bare-Back 
 Eider, who assisted in erecting the tents, and the King of the 
 Invineibles who aided in the arranging of the seats. A circus star 
 was practically a "general utility," and perhaps this made him 
 a better " all around man." There were but few appliances, but 
 there was more individuality. 
 
 A circus manager, for example, made less ado, but accomplished 
 more and better results, and although he did not travel with a 
 brass band or a staff of assistants, managed to equip the estab- 
 lishment with artistic accompaniments just the same. Although 
 a variegated, and on the whole, a hard life, yet the experience of 
 the circus performer was, in those days, not an unpleasant one. 
 The company travelled in wagons, roomy and comfortable, from 
 town to town, selecting the best hotels along the routes. There 
 was always a spice of adventure and romance about each day's 
 experience, and the performers were generally orderly, excepting 
 an occasional demonstration of professional jealousy which oc- 
 curs in every organization to some extent. There was, of course, 
 a show of more or less combativeness between the members of 
 a company, and the country element along the route were, at 
 times, disposed to create trouble in order to display supremacy, 
 but such troubles arose mainly in the mining and manufacturing 
 districts where certain types of the foreign element predominate. 
 
 Frequently the circus people were at fault on other occasions, 
 but as a rule, circumstances generally forced them to be aggres- 
 sive. With very few exceptions, the general order of affairs pro- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 105 
 
 gressed pleasantly and the accounts of trouble have been greatly 
 exaggerated. 
 
 The training of the equestrian was most rigid, and his early 
 labors most arduous compared with the condition of the young 
 equestrian neophyte of to-day, which is now greatly ameliorated. 
 Formerly he was subjected to great cruelty, and every step in his 
 advancement accompanied with the lash and curses; now, with 
 occasional exceptions, the apprentice is treated humanely and, as 
 might be expected, his advancement is more rapid. Hence the 
 singular fact that young Hernandez and M'lle Eosa, though mere 
 children, are better performers than those of the old school. 
 
 There was nothing about the business that necessarily militated 
 against law and good morals, nothing inconsistent with the most 
 exemplary life and rigid profession of religion. A disorderly 
 equestrian was an anomaly, or, if disorderly, it was still more rare 
 to find his comrades countenancing him. Non-resistance, though 
 more ostentatiously professed, is never more rigidly practised. 
 When, however (their property dilapidated, their persons at- 
 tacked, and their names maligned by a prejudiced community) 
 " forbearance becomes no longer a virtue," they do resist, and 
 usually with success. Who has ever seen the aggressor neglect 
 to apply for legal redress, or, applied, refused? The showman's 
 case is always prejudged. To be accused is to be convicted. 
 
 Fortunately a brighter day is dawning. A fondness for eques- 
 trian and gymnastic exercises pervades the highest and best in 
 the land, and with their good opinion the maledictions of others 
 can be borne. They know that prurient imaginations that could 
 not safely view the old masters or revel in the beauties of the 
 painters and sculptors of whom the country is so proud, without 
 rinding food for corrupt thought, should, of course, never visit 
 a circus. With such, nothing but what is cold and austere and 
 bare is pure, watching ever to detect a lurking Cupid or Venus 
 in every position and a double entendre in every expression. 
 
 The fanatic may have consolation in the great moral as well 
 as economic axiom that the demand regulated the quality as well 
 as the supply. The trader furnishing the articles most in de- 
 mand amongst his customers does not regard their utility, nor 
 does the merchant in the glaring color in his fabrics when such 
 are in vogue trouble himself about the purity of the taste of his 
 patrons. . 
 
 The extraordinary uniqueness of the entertainments Colonel 
 Eice presented was in bizarre but business-like fidelity with 
 which the minutest detail was invested. The indescribable spirit 
 that imbued everything with its infectious and impressible in- 
 dividuality, to say nothing of the genius for organization which 
 held in check and moulded into a unit the crude and ever-clash- 
 
106 BEMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 ing interests of a professional personnel, rarely if ever encoun- 
 tered in any other channel of the world of amusement. All these 
 characteristics had an inevitable tendency to win a public patron- 
 age, in the face of an ever-present and powerful competition, 
 little short of the marvellous, when the reader seeks to analyze 
 the secret of Mr. Eice's unparalleled triumphs in the circus arena. 
 
 The cordiality with which the better classes and more influ- 
 ential citizens responded to his odd way of casting off the stale, 
 mechanical method of the past in introducing innovations that 
 ordinarily require a century to mature — all this can be accounted 
 for only by the originality and determination, pure and native 
 tact, and brilliant genius of the great moral champion of the 
 arena. 
 
 The following year, 1847, when he had scarcely attained his 
 twenty-fourth year, young Dan identified himself with the Welsh 
 National Circus, making his initial bow in the equestrian world 
 at the National Theatre, Philadelphia. It was while filling an 
 engagement there that his wonderful versatility asserted itself 
 in a marked degree. If in the character of a Shakespearean 
 clown he had hitherto achieved an unrivalled renown, in his 
 presentation of the new, boldly original, and strikingly comic role 
 of an equestrian clown, he had certainly reached the comic 
 climax, so to speak, of his world-wide fame as a fun-maker. 
 
 The composite clown, in which these two opposite types com- 
 bined, was only made possible by such a genius as Eice, and re- 
 vealed in him one of the richest and most natural grotesques that 
 was ever surmounted with the sugar-loaf hat. 
 
 Perhaps no artist is thrown more completely on his own re- 
 sources than is the equestrian clown. Unlike the low comedian, 
 he has no humorous speeches, monologues, jests, jokes, or conun- 
 drums manufactured to the bidding by the best wits of the day, 
 working overtime at that; neither has he the assistance of con- 
 federates drilled to their parts or the extrinsic aids of the arenic 
 illusion and dress. He is, on the contrary, compelled to invent his 
 wit, as it were, on the wing, and being the centre of attraction, 
 the observed of all observers, if a spontaneous sally should prove 
 amiss, he has no alternative but to bear the recoil upon his own 
 shoulders. 
 
 In this semi-blend of the wise fool and the knock-about-jack- 
 of-all-jokes sort of character were revealed the exhaustless re- 
 sources of the remarkable man. 
 
 Mr. Eice was never at fault — never at a loss for anecdote or 
 repartee in any emergency, and while his art was often pungent, 
 his mirth-inspiring personality made ever the object of his shafts 
 the subject of an enviable interest than a target for popular and 
 distasteful gossip. 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EIOE 107 
 
 But in the development of the dual character Mr. Eice had a 
 two-fold purpose. 
 
 The Shakespearian jester, sui generis, had entailed an in- 
 credible drain upon him. In creating or assimilating the eques- 
 trian clown he discovered a sort of side line, a foil in fact, to re- 
 lieve the tremendous strain, mental and physical, which the 
 former role demanded. 
 
 He realized in so doing that, in the event of success as the 
 delineator of the " twin-opposites," his future was assured. 
 
 The mirth he provoked proved indeed a mint of money. It 
 seemed as if at one bound he had reached the top round of his 
 professional ladder. 
 
 Wherever he appeared throughout the United States the most 
 tremendous and enthusiastic audiences greeted his mirth-inspir- 
 ing presence. This is not a little extraordinary when it is con- 
 sidered he made his debut in the ring only three years prior, that 
 is, in the year 1844. His reputation, sprung up thus suddenly, 
 however, was simply and solely due to his indomitable and tire- 
 less energy, reinforced by a business and a social tact that were 
 only surpassed by his engaging personality and professional 
 talents. 
 
 Some one has said that the man who makes two blades of grass 
 grow where but one thrived before is a public benefactor; upon 
 the same principle he who makes us laugh twice when we laughed 
 but once before is as great a philosopher and more truly entitled 
 to the admiration and applause of his fellow-men. Dan Eice 
 was, indeed, such a benefactor, great as a man, yet greater as an 
 artist. His success was electric — instantaneous. He was fairly 
 swamped with nattering offers at home and from abroad. He 
 was flattered and feted on all sides. His Philadelphia engage- 
 ment was one continuous ovation. So it was that under such 
 gratifying auspices the youthful prince of jesters once more 
 branched out for himself, a new departure that proved to be the 
 stepping-stone to far greater triumphs in broader fields, as 
 manager and proprietor of his first circus. 
 
 Late in the spring of the year 1848, with the first circus he 
 ever owned on board of the steamboat " Allegheny Mail," which 
 started from St. Louis, he ascended the Mississippi Eiver as far 
 as St. Paul in Minnesota, exhibiting at alternate towns on both 
 sides of the river. In returning he descended the lower Missis- 
 sippi with a view of spending the winter in New Orleans. Ar- 
 riving at Milliken's Bend, near the mouth of the Yazoo Eiver, 
 Mr. Eiee's indisposition, of which he had complained two days 
 previous, had now developed into a raging fever. At this point, 
 several gentlemen, including an overseer from the surrounding 
 plantations, called to see Mr. Eice, and concluded from his symp- 
 
108 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 toms that he was, in all probability, suffering from the first stages 
 of the yellow fever. They advised him to leave his boat and 
 make use of the overseer's quarters while he was under treatment, 
 at the same time recommending for his medical adviser the plan- 
 tation physician, Dr. O'Neill, a young student from Cincinnati. 
 Mr. Eice retained a reliable employee of his own as night nurse, 
 and during the day he was attended by a planter's young son 
 by the name of Jim Ooff. In appearance this young man was of 
 a sullen, suspicious type, and Mr. Rice imagined that he was 
 capable of any crime, and as his safe, containing $28,000, was 
 removed with him from the boat, that fact made him apprehen- 
 sive of its contents. Therefore he was ever on the alert, with 
 his mind actively engaged on the one absorbing thought, that 
 of watching the safe during the day, thus diverting his attention 
 from his illness, which was evidently the best thing that could 
 have happened under the circumstances. Finally, by the time 
 Mr. Rice became safely convalescent, his boat arrived after meet- 
 ing the appointments on the Yazoo River, and he was then taken 
 by his attending physician to Bayou Sara in Mississippi, to be 
 treated by a celebrated yellow fever practitioner, Dr. Gordon. 
 This gentleman being aware that the young students usually 
 practised first among the plantation negroes, and being surprised 
 that he should have a white patient under his charge, asked Dr. 
 O'Neill what had been his method of treatment in Mr. Rice's case. 
 When the young physician had explained, Dr. Gordon said that 
 it was only by a miracle that the patient had survived under it. 
 Mr. Rice, whose humor was always uppermost, responded: " I 
 lived, Doctor, under the pressure of that iron safe with $28,000 
 in it, and I couldn't die with all that money lying around loose." 
 After the evening exhibition Mr. Rice was able to be taken 
 on the boat and continue the journey with his company to Baton 
 Rouge, Dr. Gordon having advised him how to proceed during his 
 convalescence. Arriving at Baton Rouge, Mr. Rice was removed 
 from the boat to the hotel, where he remained several days, dur- 
 ing which time a number of old friends called to inquire after his 
 condition. Among them was Gen. Zachary Taylor, who had, a 
 short time previous, returned from the War in Mexico loaded with 
 victorious honors. Having had large experience with yellow 
 fever, he insisted that he would become Mr. Rice's nurse, and 
 through the General's kind attention and the delicacies he fur- 
 nished, the patient rapidly improved, so much so that after a few 
 days he was assisted to walk from the hotel to his boat, leaning 
 on the arm of the General, to whom he ever felt grateful, as he 
 afterwards proved by his tribute to him in the arena. A curious 
 incident in connection with this episode occurred long afterward 
 in the autumn of 1875, when Mr. Rice was making his tour by 
 
Reminiscences of dan eice 109 
 
 boat down the river as usual. He landed at Duekport, a few- 
 miles below Milliken's Bend, a locality made famous in history 
 by General Grant digging a canal to cut off Vicksburg from the 
 mainland. The exhibition was held at night only, as the negroes 
 were busily engaged by day cotton-picking. While the prepara- 
 tions were being made for the evening's entertainment, Mr. Eice 
 took a stroll to look at the old relic of war times, the Grant Canal, 
 when his attention was drawn to a couple of bears chained to a 
 tree. He threw himself down on the Bermuda grass which cov- 
 ered the entire levee, to watch their antics, when he was suddenly 
 accosted by a stranger who was bending over him. He glanced 
 up and saw an uncouth character standing there with an arsenal 
 around his waist, and rising to his feet, greeted the stranger 
 with the question, " Do you live here, sir? " " Yes, sah, this is 
 my plantation, and thar, yandah, is my grocery." And then 
 pointing to the circus tent in the distance, he continued, " What 
 is that thar? " To which Mr. Bice replied, " That is Dan Bice's 
 
 Horse Show." The man remarked, "It's a lie, sah; Dan 
 
 Bice is dead." Mr. Bice explained, " Dan Bice is not dead," to 
 which the man responded, " Yes, he is; he died at Milligan's 
 Bend over twenty years ago of yellow fever. I know what I'm 
 talking about," and with a gesture of a man of that class who 
 shows that he is not accustomed to being contradicted, his hand 
 sought the pistol in his belt. Mr. Bice knew the meaning of the 
 ominous sign, but continued nevertheless, " I tell you, sir, Dan 
 Eice is not dead! I am the only Dan Bice that ever lived and 
 I've never been dead once since I was born." " Stranger," the 
 man said solemnly, " I was nurse to Dan Bice when he war down 
 with the yellow fever at Milligan's Bend." "What is your 
 name? " asked Mr. Bice, beginning to recognize him. He replied, 
 " Jim Ooff. Everybody knows me in this country, sah; I work 
 over 200 hands." Upon this information, Mr. Bice, knowing 
 that those 200 negroes could not attend his show without the full 
 consent of the master, brought all his policy to bear upon that 
 question, and with a financial eye to windward, he invited the 
 stranger to come down to his boat at the levee, and, as was his 
 custom, treated his guest very hospitably. In the course of con- 
 versation, Mr. Eice remarked, " Well, Ooff, I really owe my life 
 to you," at which the man smiled. "Do you remember," he 
 continued, " the iron safe I had with me in my room? " " Yes, 
 sah." " Well, there was $28,000 in that safe, and I read petit 
 larceny in your face and it was my anxiety about that money that 
 kept me alive." " What was that you read in my face? " asked 
 Jim doubtfully. As Mr. Eice saw that he did not fully catch 
 the meaning of the term, he felt safe in repeating it, so he re- 
 plied, " I said that I read petit larceny in your face, sir." Jim 
 
110 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 broke into a smile that did not tend to enhance the contour of his 
 features, and remarked jubilantly, " Well, they didn't reckon me 
 a good-lookin' feller in them days! That's a fact." Mr. Eice 
 was closely observing the man, and says the lurking fiend looked 
 out in every feature, and the desperado was stamped in every 
 movement and gesture. As he grasped Mr. Bice's hand on his 
 departure from the boat, that gentleman asked, " What do you 
 keep in your grocery, sir? " " Plantation supplies, sah," he 
 answered. Mr. Rice then asked if he had any eggs for sale, and 
 Ooff replied, " I've got one hundred dozen fresh eggs, sah, at 
 twenty-five cents a dozen." " Then, I will take them all," said 
 Mr. Rice; " send them up to the boat with your bill." " All 
 right, sah." " Bye-the-bye," said Mr. Rice, "here is a family 
 ticket for you to attend the show this evening." " I've got no 
 family, sah; only a nigger gal and her mother who keeps house 
 for me. But I'm much obliged to you, sah, for your ticket," and 
 he grasped Mr. Rice's hand once more before he started away 
 with, " I'm yo friend, sah. Anything I can do for you, sah, com- 
 mand me, sah." After the eggs had been delivered from the 
 plantation and his bill settled, Mr. Rice was surprised to see him 
 return and purchase two hundred tickets for the negroes to at- 
 tend in the evening. The news of Mr. Rice's meeting with Jim 
 Ooff spread among the adjacent plantations, and they were 
 largely represented by the colored population that evening, to- 
 gether with about one hundred ladies and gentlemen who occu- 
 pied the reserved seats. The large audience was due, mainly, to 
 Mr. Rice's diplomacy in dealing with the outlaw. Mr. Rice says 
 that a Southern gentleman would have resented the indignity 
 which Jim Ooff offered in calling him a liar, but, coming as he did 
 from the North, he was of cooler blood and remembered the old 
 saying that, " A drop of honey gathers more flies than a gallon 
 of vinegar." 
 
 When Mr. Rice had fully recovered from the fever, he revived 
 his professional season in the succeeding winter in New Orleans 
 under very auspicious circumstances. The company, being com- 
 posed of some of the very best available talent, was sufficient 
 assurance for the attendance of the elite of the city, and General 
 Taylor and the officers of his staff were also frequent visitors 
 from the barracks at Baton Rouge. 
 
 With his great capacity for localizing events and the broad 
 license of the arena, Mr. Rice always vividly displayed the virtues 
 of the hoary old hero of Buena Vista, and continually kept him 
 before the people in story and song, composing them as the cir- 
 cumstances required and the opportunities offered. The scene 
 he introduced of the " Battle of Buena Vista " was one of his 
 greatest successes in the arena. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 111 
 
 General Taylor was daily growing stronger into the affections 
 of the people and Mr. Eice was one of the first to advocate the 
 General for the Presidency and labored assiduously for that end, 
 bringing all his powers to bear while in the arena and out of it. 
 Mr. Eice was one of the delegates from Louisiana to the con- 
 vention which nominated General Tajdor for the Presidency, and 
 was also present at the inauguration ceremonies. Being a strong 
 personal friend and admirer of the grand old hero, General Tay- 
 lor offered Mr. Eice a place of honor on his private staff, which 
 was accepted for friendship's sake, the General conferring upon 
 him the legitimate title of Colonel, which title he is proud to 
 assume as the gift of one of our greatest soldiers in the nation's 
 list of great and good men. 
 
 During General Taylor's limited term of office, his warm, per- 
 sonal interest was ever enduring, and when the hero of these 
 memoirs was summoned to the bedside of his prostrate friend 
 there was no heart in that assemblage that beat in greater sym- 
 pathy than did that of Col. Dan Eice in those supreme minutes 
 when the President's life went out to penetrate the mystery of the 
 great unknown. Colonel Eice was solicited to act as one of the 
 pallbearers at the obsequies, which honor he was, unavoidably, 
 unable to serve. It has indeed been well said "He was the 
 noblest Eoman of them all. His life was gentle, and the ele- 
 ments so mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up and say to all 
 the world, ' This was a man! ' " 
 
 In pronouncing his eulogy on General Taylor, the Hon. John 
 Marshall said that he was " great, without pride; cautious, with- 
 out fear; brave, without rashness; stern, without harshness; mod- 
 est, without bashfulness; apt, without flippancy; sincere and 
 honest as the sun." 
 
 General Scott, who also knew him well, paid a fine tribute when 
 he said, " He had the true basis of a great character, pure, in- 
 corrupt morals combined with indomitable courage; kind- 
 hearted, sincere, and hospitable in a plain way, he had no vice or 
 prejudice; many friends, and left behind him not an enemy in 
 the world." 
 
 In the spring of this same season, 1848, on the occasion of a 
 benefit tendered him by the citizens of New Orleans, Mr. Eice 
 was the recipient of a massive gold medal presented by a com- 
 mittee representing some of the best business and social elements 
 of the Crescent City. It was executed by the firm of H. E. Bald- 
 win & Co., the Tiffany of those days, in that section. The gem 
 was surmounted by an exquisitely wrought racehorse, with the 
 rider in jockey dress, the whole being beautifully jewelled and 
 enamelled. 
 
 On one side was the inscription " Presented to Mr. Dan Eice, 
 
112 BEMINISCENCE'S OF DAN RICE 
 
 the Shakespearian Jester, as a mark of esteem for private worth 
 and of admiration for professional talent. New Orleans, March 
 4, 1848." On the reverse side is Mr. Eice's crest with the inscrip- 
 tion " Films Momi " — Son of Mirth — and beneath a careworn 
 face, with a branch of birch between, significant of Dan Eice's 
 success in brushing away dull care. The medal was presented in 
 behalf of the donors, in the presence of 5,000 people, by Mr. 
 Foster, a brilliant young Virginia lawyer, in the spring of 1848. 
 From New Orleans Mr. Eice went to St. Louis in the spring 
 of 1849, where he met with an overwhelming demonstration. 
 Parades and banquets were given in his honor. On the last night 
 of his appearance, while the pavilion was crowded to its utmost 
 capacity, the Missouri Fire Company presented the "Prince of 
 Clowns, of managers, and good fellows," with a splendid silver 
 cup. 
 
 During the performance, at a suitable opportunity, Mr. J. A. 
 Valentine entered the ring and, advancing towards Mr. Eice, 
 made him the following neat and appropriate address: 
 
 "Mr. Eice. — As a slight return for the kindness you have 
 shown them, and as a token of respect to your professional merit 
 and to your private worth, the members of the Missouri Fire 
 Company, through me, desire to present you with this cup. They 
 beg of you to accept it as a token of their friendship and esteem, 
 and allow me to add upon my own responsibility, sir, that I sin- 
 cerely trust fifty years hence you may be able to quaff your wine 
 from it, in hale health and fine spirits." 
 
 To which Mr. Eice answered: 
 
 "Mr. Valentine. — This spontaneous expression of the good 
 feeling entertained toward me by the Missouri Fire Company is 
 indeed as gratifying as it was unlooked for. I am highly de- 
 lighted if my efforts to please here have met with their approba- 
 tion. I shall always endeavor to retain their good opinion. To 
 this compliment as to my professional merit I will say that it 
 has always been my aim to improve the style of humor of the 
 arena, and I am glad to see that those efforts have met with appro- 
 bation. To their declarations of private esteem I can only say 
 that from my heart I thank them kindly." 
 
 Mr. Eice with his company then proceeded to Cincinnati in the 
 steamer " Jewess," having disposed of the steamboat " Allegheny 
 Mail," and met there his silent partner, G. E. Spaulding, who 
 had, during Mr. Eice's southern engagement, organized a large 
 wagon show, with which to continue the enterprise in Northern 
 territory, which was to be opened at Pittsburg. 
 
 During the succeeding two years, 1850-185.1, the great humor- 
 ist, after an absence of two seasons made a tour of the Northern 
 States. His appearance in New York State was the signal for a 
 
REMINISCENCE'S OF DAN EICE 113 
 
 most extraordinary series of home-welcomings. His startling 
 successes, however, proved the cause of a most sensational hap- 
 pening. 
 
 Since he had last appeared in his native State, he had encoun- 
 tered many mishaps, and enemies had done their utmost to crush 
 him. For a brief period his foes had exulted over his apparently 
 hapless fortunes, but they knew not the man with whom they had 
 to deal. Misfortunes only served to develop his true character, 
 and the indomitable spirit which existed within him enabled him 
 to rise from adversity and triumph over the machinations of those 
 who sought to destroy him. The tact and genius which nature 
 had so lavishly bestowed on him won for him a world of friend- 
 ships, and so while the engines of persecution had been working 
 against him, he had been steadily growing in public favor. His 
 fame as a fighter, as well as a fun-maker, had preceded him. The 
 relentless revenge with which Spaulding and Van Orden had pur- 
 sued him, only served to keep him more closely in touch with the 
 popular heart. On every side he was met by the most enthusi- 
 astic manifestation of respect and esteem. 
 
 "Whilst Mr. Eice was exhibiting at Kochester in the fall of 1850, 
 Spaulding and Van Orden, lashed to fury by the great success 
 everywhere attending their former associate's enterprises and the 
 consequent failures of their own exhibitions, on a trumped-up 
 charge of alleged slander, procured a warrant for the arrest of 
 Eice, and had him incarcerated in the so-called " Blue Eagle " 
 Jail. The sheriff who executed the warrant was known as 
 " Wooden-leg " Chamberlain. 
 
 Dan Eice did more to increase the fame of the " Blue Eagle " 
 Jail than any other living man. He it was who christened it the 
 " Blue Eagle," the name by which it has been known all over the 
 country. Dan Eice was arrested by Sheriff Chamberlain, and 
 confined in the " Blue Eagle " in the fall of 1850, and the ex- 
 planation and history of his confinement he gives in his once 
 famous song given below. This song was written on the wall of 
 the jail by Eice himself, and the words herewith were taken from 
 a copy made many years ago, and is supposed to be the only one 
 now in existence. The writing has become so faded by age that 
 it was almost impossible to decipher it, in fact parts of the last 
 two lines have entirely disappeared. It has been stated that the 
 inscriptions made by Mr. Eice on the jail wall are still visible. 
 This statement is erroneous, because many years afterwards it 
 was entirely obliterated. Visitors to the jail would invariably 
 inquire which was the cell Dan Eice, the clown, occupied. So 
 popular was the song that persons of all ages and sexes were 
 wrought up to such a state of excitement and sympathy, that 
 they would shed tears, and for years Eice could never get out 
 8 
 
114 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 of the ring without singing that song — visiting the same places 
 annually. Parents would sing the song and transmit it to their 
 children, and some are still singing it to-day in many places in 
 California and Oregon. The song was written to the air of the 
 " Landlord's Pet," an old English tune. 
 
 THE SONG: 
 
 Kind gentlefolks, all give ear to my ditty, 
 
 While I relate a sad tale, 
 What happened to me in Eochester City 
 
 Where I was in " Blue Eagle " jail; 
 But to tell you the cause, and the cause of the cause 
 
 It would cause you to sit here some time, 
 But as you and I do not wish to cry, 
 
 Therefore I will be brief in my rhyme. 
 
 A man named Van Orden, I'd have you to know, 
 
 Who was at one time my agent, 
 He stole my farm and stole my show, 
 
 And robbed me of every cent; 
 And because I told the public so, 
 
 It raised this gentleman's dander; 
 So at Pittsford, in the County Monroe, 
 
 He had me arrested for slander. 
 
 I being a stranger, and unknown in town, 
 
 Therefore I knew no bail, 
 So the sheriff straightway took the clown 
 
 Down to " Blue Eagle " jail. 
 And my bail when it came could be no better, 
 
 It came from Albany town; 
 Accompanying it was the lawyer's letter 
 
 Saying, " It is good bail for the clown." 
 
 But there I stayed for one long week, 
 
 Because they would not take my bail. 
 I believe the sheriff and Van were colleagued 
 
 And determined to keep me in jail. 
 For which I blowed them up sky high 
 
 Every night played in the town, 
 And stated facts they could not deny, 
 
 All about their misusing the clown. 
 
 The citizens then did all complain 
 Of the sheriff who used me so mean. 
 • Their names were Pardee and Chamberlain, 
 Two of the meanest men ever seen. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 115 
 
 I know they were prevailed on to refuse bail 
 
 By Mr. Van Orden & Co., 
 And there I was kept in the " Blue Eagle " jail, 
 
 By " Dot and go one " of Monroe. 
 
 For my appearance at court I then did give bail. 
 
 A bail they could not refuse, 
 And I bid farewell to the " Blue Eagle " jail, 
 
 The moment that I was let loose. 
 So here I am as you do see 
 
 These matters to explain, 
 I am determined to show up rascality 
 
 If they put me in the " Blue Eagle " again! 
 
 In exposing Van Orden, I never will cease 
 
 As long as my name it is Dan, 
 He had me arrested for saying that he was a thief, 
 
 Which I am to prove, and I can, 
 For he knows full well it is the truth I tell, 
 
 For a greater villain than he never run, 
 So on my fortune he cuts a great swell, 
 
 Which money was made by my fun. 
 
 So good gentlemen here, and kind ladies all, 
 
 It is now I must close up my song 
 Of my ups and downs on the raging canal, 
 
 And how I have been getting along; 
 But one word I must say before I go away, 
 
 And then my song is at an end: 
 If you would avoid a-going astray, 
 
 Never trust too much to a friend. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 JESTER AND JUDGE A CLOSE CALL — EICE'S EEMABKABLE 
 
 NEEVE — THE "YANKEE YAHOO " — A STATE SECEET — 
 SPAULDING AND ROGERS' TEEACHEEY — FOILED BY THE 
 PILOT — IN THE AEKANSAS WILDEENESS — DAN EICE HIS 
 OWN ADVANCE AGENT — MEETING WITH TOM MAY, THE 
 WESTEEN OUTLAW — A SENSATIONAL EPISODE — THE START- 
 LING SEQUEL TO A DEEAM — THE SNUFF-DIPPER'S STOEY. 
 
 WHEN the winter season closed in the latter part of March, 
 1852, the Great Show started North, exhibiting along 
 the Mississippi and Ohio Kivers, and eventually brought up at 
 
116 EEMINISCENCES OF BAN RICE 
 
 St. Louis the following August. Among the many spicy adven- 
 tures which served to enliven the homeward journey, two inci- 
 dents are worthy of more than passing notice. While exhibiting 
 in New Madrid, Mo., the local Justice of the Peace, a veritable 
 " Poo-Bah " in that section, came shambling down to the circus 
 in cowhides and clay-pipe outfit, looking more like a hobo than 
 a Lord High " Executioner " of justice. 
 
 Colonel Eice took exception to his tramp-like tendency to 
 shuffle and lounge about, and, of course, not knowing who he 
 was, ordered him away. On his refusal to go, Mr. Eice handled 
 him pretty roughly in the process of ejection. The old judge 
 left, vowing vengeance. 
 
 In about an hour a messenger came hurrying to the circus and 
 informed the Colonel that the judge was coming down with a 
 pistol to shoot him. As soon as the latter heard the name of the 
 object of his wrath mentioned by his friend he recalled the mem- 
 ories of many a desperate encounter in which the grizzly " fire- 
 eater " had figured. Eice was inclined at first to avoid a collision, 
 but when the justice came swaggering down the wharf, horse- 
 pistol in hand, and filling the atmosphere with sundry hints about 
 " Yankee Yahoos," etc., Colonel Eice hurried down the gangway 
 of the steamboat and, snatching the " shooting iron " from the 
 grasp of the man, deliberately fired its contents into the air. Then 
 turning to the thoroughly rattled justice, he handed the gun 
 back, remarking, " Here, judge, is your pepper-box. I am Dan 
 Eice." The former was stumped. The latter, however, with a 
 tactful eye to business, the circus opening that night, extended his 
 hand and invited the dispenser of justice to join him in a drink. 
 Explanations followed and many other things until the "wee 
 hours " of the morning at the conclusion of the performance. 
 
 The judicial gentleman above referred to afterwards became a 
 very pillar of strength in the national polities of the country. 
 For obvious reasons his name is not disclosed. 
 
 The other adventure previously referred to happened while 
 en route a few days later. Spaulding and Eogers had constructed 
 at Cincinnati a floating amphitheatre, or " Marine Palace," em- 
 bracing a ring, auditorium, etc., wherein they gave performances. 
 The undertaking, however, was operated at a heavy loss, and was 
 finally abandoned. 
 
 As the reader may recall, a bitter rivalry had existed since 1849 
 between Spaulding, Van Orden & Co. and the Great Jester. The 
 latter waged war against *his enemies on legitimate lines as an 
 honest competitor; the former carried on their campaign against 
 him through disreputable methods. They, failing to compete 
 successfully, inaugurated a system of persecuting opposition, be- 
 setting him with the tricks and devices and cowardly resources 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 117 
 
 characteristic of the guerilla. It was rule or ruin, a question 
 of the survival of the fittest. It was a most costly struggle for 
 supremacy, carried as it was for four long years, entailing an 
 outlay of over one hundred thousand dollars by Colonel Eice. 
 
 They resorted to every contemptible stratagem to injure one 
 whom they frequently tried, but failed, to ruin. An instance in 
 point. It appears they were a day ahead of Eice's show on the 
 Mississippi. On the way to Caseyville the " Marine Palace " ran 
 aground. It took them nearly a day to sheer off, when, in order 
 to place Eice's in a similar predicament, they anchored the buoys 
 so as to effect that result, and then hove to three or four miles 
 above to await developments. But the pilot, Allan Sutton, quickly 
 noticing the displacement of the buoys, slowed the boat, ordered 
 the lead to be heaved, and, striking the channel, passed safely on. 
 It was a very transparent trick, and so, as the Eice boat steamed 
 past the " Palace," the latter was greeted with ironical cheers. 
 The following song, illustrative of the event, was composed and 
 sung by Mr. Eice at the next stopping place: 
 
 Some New York sharps, I'd have you know, 
 
 They struck upon a plan — 
 They built a boat on the river to float 
 
 To ruin this old fool Dan, 
 And as they failed in previous attempts, 
 
 And found it was no go, 
 They surely thought the " Palace " would prevent 
 
 Success to the one-horse show. 
 And oh, the one-horse show, my boys, 
 
 It is the show for fun; 
 And like this country's motto, 
 
 You find us " many in one." 
 
 This floating scow from Cincinnati, 
 
 Which passed here the other day, 
 The mechanics there that did work at her 
 
 Did not get all their pay, 
 Notwithstanding they were told 
 
 By Messrs. Van Orden & Co. 
 That Commodore Spaulding had plenty of gold 
 
 To ruin the one-horse show. 
 And now, if he has plenty of gold, 
 
 Then I should like to know 
 Why the " Palace " was attached and nearly sold 
 
 By the friends of the one-horse show. 
 
 They try to ring the public in 
 By a church-bell chime, 
 
118 REMINISCENCES 0]? DAN BICE 
 
 And after you have paid your money, 
 
 All you hear is an organ grind, 
 Which squeaks and squalls most mournfully, 
 
 And makes a doleful sound, 
 And seems to say, " Oh, sinners pray, 
 
 Why the devil don't you kneel down 
 And prepare to meet your fate; " 
 
 Which I tell them is below, 
 Or return to Dan before it's too late, 
 
 What belongs to him and his one-horse show. 
 
 They tried to catch me in a trap 
 
 As I left Shawneytown; 
 At Caseyville they laid false buoys 
 
 To lead me hard aground, 
 But Allan Sutton was wide-awake, 
 
 And knew the channel to a spot; 
 Says he, " Old Zac can never be caught 
 
 In such a shallow plot." 
 Our manager, Whitbeck, stood on our deck 
 
 A-laughing at the " Scow," 
 His compliments to Spaulding sent, 
 
 To beware of the one-horse show. 
 
 It's now we are over Treadwater Bar, 
 
 All dirty tricks we shun, 
 We always keep in channel deep, 
 
 And follow the rising sun. 
 So you wealthy men on the floating scow, 
 
 To the breeze unfold your flag, 
 But do not touch the one-horse show, 
 
 For it's an awful snag. 
 So leave me alone, keep to yourselves, 
 
 To break me is no go, 
 For the joke is out, when Dan's about 
 
 With his awful one-horse show. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1852, after a season of the hardest work 
 the great clown had ever accomplished in fighting his old antag- 
 onists, Spaulding and Van Orden. He arranged the route for 
 his " One-Horse Show " on the river to secure for himself a 
 month's respite to recuperate, as he was almost exhausted, both 
 in mind and body, with the heavy demands upon his artistic 
 powers, in filling nearly a six months' season of the most ex- 
 traordinary efforts of his life of vagaries and in accomplishing the 
 success of defeating his enemies, driving them out of the " Old 
 

 WILLIAM FREDERICK WALLET!', THE ENGLISH CLOWN 
 
EEMINISOENQEg Q} 1 DAN BICE 119 
 
 American Theatre/' they absconding under the cover of darkness 
 to the city of Mobile. He had arranged for his agent, Fred 
 Hunt, to advertise the river, leaving out all the large towns, as 
 far as Napoleon, taking only plantations on the way, and giving 
 only afternoon performances each day, as the planters would not 
 permit their slaves to be out at night. But Hunt, not favoring 
 the idea of subjecting himself to the dangerous element that in- 
 fested Arkansas, declined to advertise the interior; so Mr. Eice 
 concluded to fill his place, and represent the interests of his 
 profession, by becoming his own agent. He therefore gave in- 
 structions to the management what course to pursue on the route, 
 leaving out the cities, as his absence in the ring would have 
 proved disastrous in prominent places, and proceeded on his 
 journey alone, taking with him a ease of show bills. 
 
 He took the steamer " Natchez " at New Orleans, and, as he 
 himself was commander of the circus boat " The United. States 
 Aid," it was most fitting for Capt. Dan Eice to become the guest 
 of Capt. Tom Leathers, commander of the "Natchez." Mr. 
 Eice intended to go as far as Chico, now called Arkansas City, 
 and during the journey was introduced to Mr. Shears, whom Cap- 
 tain Leathers called his "most honored friend," and requested 
 him, when they reached Chico, to " Let Dan have a team of horses 
 to drive through the country, for he wants to advertise his ' One- 
 Horse Show ' in all the towns up the Arkansas Eiver as far as 
 Fort Smith, and he will ship them back to you from Memphis 
 by boat. And I'll stand good for it." 
 
 And now began the journey by land. Arriving at a settle- 
 ment, now called Montieello, consisting of a few habitations, and' 
 about thirty miles from Arkansas City, he next day proce'eded 
 to Pine Bluff, a distance of fifty miles; thence to Little Eock, the 
 capital of the great State of " bowie knives," but which is now, 
 in 1900, one of the most peaceful, progressive, productive, and 
 hospitable states in the grand constellation. Mr. Eice adver- 
 tised the rest of the towns as far as Van Buren, six miles below 
 Fort Smith, where the news came by stage that the river was 
 rapidly falling, and it would be disastrous to make any attempt 
 to ascend the Arkansas. He then engaged a messenger who was 
 highly recommended by the landlord of the hotel, as the best 
 man he could secure for the requirements of the case, as he was 
 well acquainted with the whole country and knew the character- 
 istics of its people. He was sent with a letter of instructions to 
 the manager pro tern, of the show, and was to await its arrival 
 at Napoleon, a town at the mouth of the Arkansas Eiver. From 
 there the management went to Helena, and Mr. Hunt preceded 
 it to Memphis, to advertise it for one week. 
 
 Stopping at the same hotel there was an agent of General Boss, 
 
120 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 the chief of the Cherokee Indians, who was on his way to Nash- 
 ville, Tenn., and as a couple of days would elapse before the 
 arrival of the stage, at the suggestion of the landlord, Mr. Rice 
 consented to give the Eoss agent a seat in his wagon as far as 
 Batesville, a distance of one hundred or more miles. In fact 
 he was glad of the agent's company, for hitherto he had been 
 travelling alone; circus agents at that time doing their work 
 singly, without the assistance of a staff of employees equal to that 
 of an army general, as is the system now in vogue. Well, they 
 started in the afternoon and remained that night at the house 
 of a farmer, eighteen miles distant. This man, Tom May, bore 
 the reputation of having killed several men, and, at one time, 
 belonged to the notorious Murrell gang of land pirates. 
 
 After the evening repast they were ushered in the dim twi- 
 light to a loft, where a couple of cots and straw beds were pre- 
 pared for them to pass the night. It was early in the evening, 
 but candles or lamps would have been deemed extravagant luxu- 
 ries, not to be' indulged in, or even thought of, in Tom May's 
 household. However, the weather was quite cool and the rough 
 roads that impeded their travel had predisposed them to sleep, 
 which they did soundly until about four o'clock in the morning, 
 when Mr. Eice was awakened by the Indian agent, who asked if 
 he had observed any one enter the loft during the night. Mr. 
 Eice, half asleep, replied in the negative, and was turning over 
 to finish his nap when the agent said that some one had robbed 
 him of his belt. 
 
 At this information Mr. Eice became wide-awake, and excitedly 
 rising from his cot, inquired of the agent what he meant. Show- 
 ing a. red mark around his waist, evidently the impression made by 
 a girdle, he replied that it was gone, and that it contained notes 
 and gold to the amount of ten thousand dollars, which had been 
 intrusted to him to purchase supplies for the Indian Nation. 
 After this there was no more sleep for Mr. Eice, who rose and 
 made an ineffectual search in the agent's cot for the missing belt. 
 A knowledge of the bad reputation of Tom May, the landlord, 
 caused them to form the conclusion that during the night he had 
 entered the room and taken it from the agent's person. The 
 latter had a forlorn hope that it might have become unbuckled 
 the night previous, while at Van Buren, and had slipped from 
 his waist to the bed while he slept. Meanwhile, during this un- 
 certainty, Mr. Eice was most unhappy, for he was jealous of his 
 character and reputation, and he naturally concluded that the 
 loss of such a considerable sum of money by a roommate would 
 cast reflection of suspicion upon him, especially as circus people 
 then, as now, did not bear a too immaculate reputation. He 
 therefore offered to drive the agent back to Van Buren to investi- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 121 
 
 gate the affair of the lost belt, and declining the breakfast of corn- 
 dodgers and rusty bacon which the Indian agent, despite his loss, 
 appeared to relish, he hastened to the barn, harnessed his horses, 
 and then drove to the house to settle his bill. He was surprised 
 to meet the agent at the farmhouse door with his face wreathed 
 with smiles. " I have found my belt! " he excitedly exclaimed. 
 "How? Where was it?" asked Mr. Eice, equally excited. 
 " Well," said the agent, " I'll tell you. While sitting at break- 
 fast I all at once remembered a dream I had during the night. I 
 thought that Tom May was after my money and I arose, and 
 standing upon the cot, unbuckled my belt and thrust it among 
 the rafters overhead. This dream, as I have said, occurred to me 
 while eating, and I immediately went up to the loft, and, standing 
 upon the cot, I thrust my arm among the rafters, and, sure 
 enough, it was there." 
 
 This, to Mr. Eice, was an agreeable finale to that which had 
 threatened to become a serious adventure. Had the agent not 
 remembered the dream, the belt might have remained hidden 
 until this day, or, until the house was eventually torn down to give 
 place to a more pretentious dwelling in the progressing age. 
 And Mr. Eice and old Tom May would have remained mutually 
 suspicious of each other through the circumstantial evidence of 
 guilt. He often met Tom in after years at his woodyard several 
 miles below Little Eock on the Arkansas Eiver, where he pur- 
 chased a large tract of timber land. Having previously lost his 
 wife, he lived there a hermit life, managing his woodyard and 
 negro slaves. 
 
 The exciting scenes of that night caused the Indian agent to 
 change his plans, and he decided to retrace his steps, deeming the 
 journey to Batesville too hazardous to venture. He also advised 
 Mr. Eice to do the same, pointing out the perils of the route 
 through that rough and lawless country. But Mr. Eice was 
 guided by his native courage, and decided to carry out his pre- 
 viously matured plans, and proceeded on the journey. The agent 
 finding his advice of no avail, hired Tom May to take him back 
 to Van Buren, and thus Mr. Eice parted with him and never saw 
 or heard of him afterward. 
 
 On the way to Batesville he passed through the most poverty- 
 stricken and benighted country that ever befell the fate of a 
 traveller, and one that even a man of experience would not be 
 anxious to revisit again. But being possessed of an indomitable 
 will he pressed onward until evening, and as he had travelled 
 many miles and saw no cabins in sight, he was fearful of having 
 to remain in the woods until daylight. Still continuing on in 
 the darkness, he, all at once, heard the barking of dogs, and was 
 overjoyed to find by a dim light that a habitation was near. He 
 
122 REMINISCENCES OF DAN SICE 
 
 approached a good-sized cabin, when a pack of hounds came 
 bounding out to make it known that a stranger was near. Mr. 
 Eice halted near the cabin and a tall woman appeared to put an 
 end to the canine pandemonium. He asked the lady if it would 
 be convenient for her to allow him to remain during the night 
 and furnish him with supper and have the horses fed and shel- 
 tered. She replied that if he could put up with the accommoda- 
 tions she had to offer, he was quite welcome to stay, but would 
 have to look after his own horses, as her " man is away, and thar's 
 no tellin' when he'll git home, fur he went to Batesville to 'tend 
 the 'lection." "While the horses were being fed and attended the 
 hostess busied herself in preparing the evening meal, which con- 
 sisted of pork and hoe-cake, and a very mild ingredient to which 
 she gave the exhilarating name of coffee. However, it was all 
 very acceptable to Mr. Eice, who rather enjoyed the novelty of the 
 occasion, and his humorous propensities were ever on the alert 
 to make the best of the situation that was forced upon him by 
 a series of circumstances. 
 
 While he was enduring the repast with all the fortitude of his 
 nature, the conversation that had also proved meagre in its de- 
 tails began to lag until it reached a point where Mr. Eice sought 
 to enliven it by his ingenious, happy faculties. By way of a 
 preliminary, he asked the woman if she had a family, and being 
 informed that she was the mother of six children, he brought his 
 observation to bear upon the individual before him, and found 
 her to be a tall, gaunt creature whose pale face and pinched fea- 
 tures betrayed the results of a life warped by the fate of surround- 
 ing circumstances. 
 
 The conversation continued to prove so uninteresting in its 
 nature that it finally ceased entirely, so there was no other alter- 
 native for our hero but to submit to the inevitable. 
 
 As the time wore on and night advanced, the monotony in- 
 creased, and the woman, weary with waiting for her husband, fell 
 asleep in Mr. Eice's presence. While his mind was ruminating 
 on his strange adventures and dwelling on the possibilities of his 
 business prospects in that wild district, the sleeping woman all 
 at once gave a most appalling shriek, which not only awakened 
 her from slumber, but also startled the weary traveller from his 
 reveries. With that bewildering air that comes to the suddenly 
 awakened sleeper, the woman exclaimed, " Jim, did you kill that 
 cowardly cuss that insulted me? " But, recognizing at last the 
 fact that she was addressing a stranger instead of her husband, 
 and being aware that he could not return without her knowledge, 
 she remarked by way of apology, that she " hed bin dreamin', and 
 would go to bed," which she did, wishing him a good night's rest. 
 Before she left the room, however, Mr. Eice, having a curiosity to 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 123 
 
 know of whose hospitality he was partaking, asked his hostess 
 to inform him as to whom her husband was, and she told him that 
 his name was " Jim May, brother of Tom May, who lives a few 
 miles from Van Buren." 
 
 Our hero was uneasy at this startling news, and debated in his 
 mind whether it was quite prudent to remain under a roof whose 
 master was one of the notorious Mays who raided the country in 
 connection with a lawless gang that brought terror to the re- 
 spectable element, and threatened individual safety. He at once 
 concluded that he was in a very dangerous position, particularly 
 if the man May should return and find him a guest in his home; 
 but, being naturally gifted with a courage that was always ready 
 to adjust circumstances as the present required, he prepared him- 
 self for any emergency that would be likely to meet him unawares. 
 So holding his revolver by his side with his finger on the trigger, 
 he felt that he was comparatively secure, and tried to banish all 
 thoughts of the unpleasant situation, endeavoring, at the same 
 time, " to woo the drowsy god to his embrace." 
 
 All at once the dogs outside began to bark, and the noise 
 created such a state of excitement that Mr. Eice was impressed 
 with the idea that May had returned, and, should he be seen by 
 the outlaw, had his trusty weapon ready to meet any aggressive 
 demonstration from the desperate fellow, and also preserved an 
 outward calm that would have deceived even Jim May himself. 
 But it proved to be a false alarm, however, for the dogs soon 
 ceased barking, and everything around and about the cabin set- 
 tled into quiet and repose. The night was well advanced and he 
 was beginning to feel an assurance that circumstances would so 
 shape themselves that all trouble would be avoided should the 
 man chance to return. And without any further apprehension 
 in regard to the possibilities that might occur, he again tried to 
 woo the god of slumber. As the moment of forgetfulness was 
 near at hand and the experiences of the night previous were be- 
 coming obliterated, our weary traveller was again aroused by a 
 muffled noise in the adjoining apartment, and, while conjecturing 
 as to its cause, in a moment he was startled by seeing a tall, white 
 figure emerge from the room with a bundle in its arms. It si- 
 lently approached the fireplace and, bending over the hearth, 
 rolled the bundle in some loose ashes and then quietly retired. 
 This strange, peculiar proceeding tended still further to banish 
 sleep, and Mr. Eice lay cogitating upon it, when he again heard 
 a repetition of the same noise emanating from the room, and 
 from it emerged the figure with, apparently, the same bundle in 
 her arms. The operation was again performed by rolling it in 
 the ashes and a silent disappearance as in the former case. After 
 these singular proceedings nothing more occurred to disturb the 
 
124 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 stillness of the remaining night, and soon the day began to dawn, 
 much to the relief of Mr. Eice, who was thoroughly exhausted by 
 his experiences of the past two days. He took leave of his hostess 
 at the earliest possible moment, when she said to him as he took 
 his departure, " Stranger, if you meet my man, Jim, on your way 
 to Batesville, don't tell him you stayed all night here, fur he's 
 orful jealous of me! " Mr. Eice told her that she might rest as- 
 sured that he would never mention it to any one. And he gave 
 double assurance in his expression when he remembered what 
 she had uttered in her delirious dream. Still having a desire to 
 satisfy his curiosity as to the strange proceedings of the past 
 night, he said to the woman at parting, " Will you tell me the 
 reason why you came into the room so many times during the 
 night, and each time rolled a bundle of something in the loose 
 ashes on the hearth?" "Oh," she replied, "we've hed a long 
 drout. No rain fur several months, an' ther little spring nigh 
 a mile away jes gives nuff to drink, and bile yams, an' it's rily at 
 thet. So you see I can't wash clo'es or nothin' else an' the 
 children are so greasy an' dirty, they slip out of the bed, an' when 
 they do, I hev to get up an' roll them in the ashes to make 'em 
 stick to the bedclo'es." Prom what our hero saw in that forlorn 
 household during his forced sojourn there, he knew the poor 
 " snuff dipping " woman had told the truth. 
 
 In the winter of 1852 while exhibiting in New Orleans (in 
 Frenchtown), Spaulding & Eogers, who were still dogging with 
 vengeful persistence the path of the Great Clown, came along 
 with their " combination " and " staked " their canvas on an ad- 
 joining lot, expecting to play a successful game of freeze-out. 
 But the people would have none of them. In two days Uncle 
 Dan called their hands, and so, in the vernacular of the " green- 
 cloth," chilled feet resulted. 
 
 Spaulding had with him at that time the great English clown, 
 William F. Wallett. The dressing-rooms of the two shows were 
 not far apart. Between the acts, the famous American Clown, 
 as well known for his magnanimity as for his genius, in motley 
 garb, invited Wallett to come into his circus and he would intro- 
 duce him. Arm in arm the two clowns walked into the ring in the 
 garb of their respective nationalities. After the introduction, 
 Uncle Dan made a brief speech, saying he considered Mr. Wallett 
 a personal friend and hoped he would meet with a cordial welcome 
 from the citizens of the Crescent City, and begged to assure that 
 gentleman that as long as he remained on American soil he should 
 never go hungry for the lack of Eice. Wallett responded with 
 his accustomed wit and repartee, assuring his American friend 
 that his " Wallett " should ever be at his disposal. 
 
REMINISCENCES OP BAN filcH 125 
 
 A disagreement later on with Spaulding resulted in Mr. Rice 
 securing Wallett's services for four weeks' engagement, during 
 which Eiee and he alternately played clown and ringmaster to 
 tremendous audiences. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AT NEW ORLEANS — INAUGURATION OP DAN RICE'S MAMMOTH 
 AMPHITHEATRE — A REMARKABLE POPULAR UPRISING— A 
 UNIQUE DRAMATIC INCIDENT — A CLOWN IN TEARS — COL. 
 RICE'S TERRIBLE ARRAIGNMENT — ORGANIZATION OP THE 
 SOUTHERN MUSEUM. 
 
 IN the fall of 1853, Colonel Rice erected on Charles Street, New 
 Orleans, where the Academy of Music now stands, one of the 
 most magnificent places of amusement ever constructed in the 
 Crescent City. 
 
 It was known as Dan Rice's Amphitheatre. In all probability 
 it marked up to that time the most memorable epoch in his 
 career. Despite the horror of the fact that the yellow fever was 
 raging at this period, counting its victims by the thousands, and 
 that, as a consequence of the devastating pestilence, a panic had 
 prostrated every branch of industry, the auditorium on the open- 
 ing night overflowed with the most enthusiastic audience that 
 Colonel Rice says he had ever greeted in any section of the 
 country. 
 
 Colonel Rice delivered the following characteristic extempo- 
 raneous prologue on that occasion: 
 
 Yes, my kind friends, I am here in New Orleans. 
 
 And at the thought fond memory pictures many scenes. 
 
 This theatre of my trials, triumphs, fortune, fame, 
 
 All good that clusters round my humble name. 
 
 Nay, start not, politician, sage, or hero, 
 
 A clown may have a fame as well as Nero, 
 
 Byron, Payne, or any other elf, 
 
 Born to annoy the world and to confound himself. 
 
 The jester's name on page historic glows 
 
 In colors bright and happy, but the woes 
 
 Of fellow mortals ne'er come down 
 
 To make him famous, or to give renown; 
 
 And is its mention worthy of your sneers, 
 
 Because it is not built on orphans' cries or maidens' tears? 
 
 But I'll not argue — mine's above all measure, 
 
 It fills my purse, so 'tis a priceless treasure; 
 
126 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 And if to posterity it never descends, 
 Your presence here to-night makes all amends. 
 So to my task, for it is my delight 
 To see you here, as it will be every night, 
 And as your acquaintance I wish much longer, 
 May friendship's bond each day grow stronger. 
 Mine be the task, with all my might and main, 
 To shake cobwebs of care from every brain, 
 Bid Father Time his wrinkled front undo, 
 And as his step is noiseless, be it trackless too, 
 Nor leave his footprint rough, on beauty's brow 
 Or manhood's lofty front; so cheer up now, 
 Bring in the horse and let the fun begin, 
 For if there's fun about, be sure Dan's in. 
 
 After the performance had proceeded a most sensational inci- 
 dent aroused the vast audience to an extraordinary pitch of ex- 
 citement, recalling with painful vividness the persecutions with 
 which Spaulding and Van Orden had dogged Eice's steps, bring- 
 ing utter ruin not only to his professional enterprises but to his 
 domestic relations. Hundreds of personal friends of the Colonel 
 in that great throng, keenly sensitive of all the details of the 
 fierce antagonism and revengeful rivalry of his former partners, 
 when the great clown reappeared in the arena, greeted him with 
 a veritable cyclone of cheers, alternated with derisive cries, in 
 which the names of Spaulding and Van Orden figured with venge- 
 ful emphasis, " Go for them, Dan "; " Pillory the pirates "; " Let 
 rip on the blackmailers," and scores of similar questionable com- 
 pliments echoed and reechoed through the vast enclosure. A 
 thousand throats took up the cry; again and again Colonel Bice 
 sought to stay the tide with courteous but deprecatory gestures, 
 but the throng would not be denied. The Prince of Jesters was 
 visibly affected. His eyes and voice, but a moment before beam- 
 ing with brilliant bon mots and jest-provoking laughter, grew 
 dim and husky. The jester and the man fought it out for a few 
 minutes; the former was overwhelmed. The man met the occa- 
 sion. Choking with emotion Colonel Kice made the following 
 impassionate address: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: A strange fate has been mine since I 
 last had the honor of appearing before you, and I learn that those 
 who were the instruments of that fate have been most busy in 
 attempts to poison the minds of the citizens of this place against 
 me, otherwise I should not intrude my private affairs upon your 
 notice. These people say they started me in business. So they 
 did, and to me most disastrous business, for I was called by them 
 
NEW ORLEANS 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 127 
 
 from a very profitable engagement in Baltimore to New Orleans, • 
 to play for them. I went; when I got there, they first tried to 
 cajole me into less favorable terms than they had offered me, but 
 finally, finding that I was more important to them than they 
 were to me, they came to terms, by which their shattered fortune 
 was redeemed, as the good people of the South were pleased to 
 favor me with their smiles, and money flowed to the coffers of the 
 managers. After a while I wanted a settlement, as they owed 
 me considerable money. Then it was they started me in busi- 
 ness, for, being unable to pay my claim, I was compelled to pur- 
 chase one-half of their old stock at a high price, and thus become 
 a circus proprietor. You can appreciate the kindness of such a 
 start. Well, we made money; fortune seemed to woo us in every 
 way, and I thought myself rich, but I was deceived. I had given 
 Mr. Van Orden most unlimited control of my affairs, and I too 
 late found that where I vainly supposed bills had been paid, notes 
 for payment only had been given, as I had authorized him to 
 sign my name. What became of the money I have yet to learn. 
 But when I returned, under his charge, to New York, I found 
 myself head over ears in debt, mostly on account of Van Orden 
 & Spaulding. One curious matter will here present itself for 
 yoiir consideration as involving a new principle in arithmetic. 
 Mr. Van Orden was my agent, and received for his services $100 
 per month. He was not worth $10 when he started on that duty; 
 lived like a prince while so engaged, and at the end of eighteen 
 months brought me in debt $3,000, but he was both bookkeeper 
 and treasurer. I leave you to ascertain what rule would work 
 out such a result. 
 
 While deluding me with the idea that I was rich, or, to speak 
 more plainly, while he was perfecting his, scheme of robbing, 
 he persuaded me to let him be my agent in the purchase of a 
 farm near Albany, a lovely place. I did so, and gave him the 
 money to make the first payment, for I had been permitted to 
 handle a little of my own money, and this it seems he wanted to 
 get. The farm was bought and my family moved upon it. It 
 was furnished and stocked at my expense, and the circus stock 
 was placed there to winter, while it was agreed that I should go 
 South and play a series of star engagements, such as have always 
 been open to me. Previous to going, Van Orden suggested that 
 I had better mortgage the personal property to Mr. Spaulding for 
 fear some other creditors should take advantage of my absence 
 and it should be sacrificed. The chief of these creditors, whom 
 I was taught to regard as merciless, was my friend H. M. Whit- 
 beck, by whose kindly aid I am able now to see you in spite of 
 them. 
 
 Having foolishly arranged all things to please them, I started 
 
128 . EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 South, and had been absent but a few days when I received a tele- 
 graphic despatch to the effect that Spaulding had foreclosed the 
 mortgage, and that my family were left in the house and would 
 be, in a few days, without the most common necessaries of life. 
 I returned in haste, and by my presence stopped the sale, for, 
 learning that I was there, neither of the gentlemen dared to show 
 his face at a sale of their own appointment. Having, as I sup- 
 posed, put a quietus to this proceeding, again I started to fulfil my 
 engagements. The next news I got was that the sale had been 
 made; that Mr. Van Orden's father had claimed the farm as his 
 property; that my family had been turned out of doors in mid- 
 winter, and that by a trick of the law I was a houseless wanderer. 
 I hastened to-Albany and there learned that the farm had never 
 been deeded to me, but Mr. Van Orden, pocketing my money, 
 had caused the farm to be deeded to his own father, who was 
 then in possession. The offender was absent. How I burned 
 with indignation, I leave you to guess. But I was moneyless, 
 and, therefore, in law, helpless. I knew my only hope was to 
 get money, therefore I took my wife's jewels, and upon them 
 raised money to start another circus. But I learned to dread 
 the tricking of these men so much that I now started in the name 
 of F. Bossten, a boy whom I had raised, and who, I thought, was 
 bound to me by so many ties of gratitude that I was safe in him. 
 In this I was deceived — they bought him. Stung to desperation, 
 I denounced the whole party, told all the facts, and so incensed 
 the community against them that they were scouted from society. 
 They dared not retort one word while in a place where both were 
 known. But waiting until I reached Bochester, in New York, 
 where they thought I was not known, they pounced on me in a 
 suit for slander, and Spaulding, by virtue of a bill of sale from 
 Bossten, attached my property, an attachment which he has been 
 pleased to release and quietly pay $1,000 rather than stand a trial. 
 I was imprisoned, and, notwithstanding bail worth fifty times the 
 amount required by the court was offered, I could not get a re- 
 lease for one week. As I have sued the sheriff for false imprison- 
 ment, this will all come out in good time. 
 
 Again I thought myself free to pursue the even tenor of my 
 way, and started to reach the sunny South where I knew there 
 were warm hearts to welcome me. Soon after my arrival in 
 Pittsburg I learned that Van Orden was there, and had sworn he 
 would destroy me; that it was his and Spaulding's determination 
 to do so; that for the purpose of pursuing me they had started a 
 circus company, which was to pursue my track, and they were 
 both to keep up a fire upon me until I was finally destroyed. 
 
 I forthwith caused a writ for conspiracy to be issued against 
 them, and they are now under bail to answer to that charge. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 129 
 
 Learning some facts relative to a portion of money surreptitiously 
 obtained and disposed of by Van Orden, I had him also arrested, 
 for larceny, and to both of these he must answer. 
 
 I had with me at Pittsburg a performer of good qualities on 
 horseback, but unprincipled. This man he hired and cajoled 
 into a series of acts which have caused him to be arrested on a 
 criminal charge of grave character. The party shot ahead of me 
 down the river, and, I learn, have endeavored to spread a poison- 
 ous influence against me. I therefore deem myself justifiable in 
 all I have said. Not that I ask any man's sympathy, or court 
 any man's favor. If the public come to see me and my perform- 
 ance, I will try to satisfy them, and as far as this quarrel is con- 
 cerned, I wish your motto to be that of the ancient lawgiver, fiat 
 justitia, ruat caelum. 
 
 In the same year the Southern Museum was projected and 
 organized by Colonel Eice. It was the first museum of any con- 
 siderable size ever opened in New Orleans, or, in fact, in the 
 South, and it was a matter of general astonishment that such a 
 place, combining in the Northern cities so many resources of 
 amusement and instruction, with successful returns to the pro- 
 jectors, had not, long before, become one of the settled features 
 of New Orleans. Colonel Eice seized the first opportunity to 
 gratify the public desire and supply the vacuum, and by his enter- . 
 prise and liberality, the Southern Museum was opened to the 
 public for the first time on the 25th of January, 1853. An estab- 
 lishment of this kind, it is well known, demands years of labor, 
 diligent research, extreme care, and a vast expense to make it 
 complete, or even to bring it within any degree of completion. 
 
 In fact, a museum never is complete so long as anything of a 
 novel description can be added to its stores; but its organization 
 of objects representing the multifarious departments of human 
 knowledge, customs, history, etc., may be rendered perfect 
 though on a skeleton plan, and it is then but a work of time and 
 industry to fit up the ranks of the battalions of curiosities. 
 
 The Southern Museum formed the nucleus, and its active and 
 indefatigable proprietor constantly added to its resource. His 
 agents were everywhere and lost no opportunity to increase the 
 stores of the museum. Already two four-story, large brick build-, 
 ings were required to give them proper display, and it needed 
 but a brief inspection to convince the most careless onlooker 
 that the hand and eye of one thoroughly cognizant of his diffi- 
 cult task had superintended the division and arrangement. Not 
 only dead, but living objects of natural history were there in 
 numbers, and the student of all the " ologies " did not fail to 
 find plentiful material for his investigations. 
 9 
 
130 REMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 
 
 The museum was open to the public all the year round from 
 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the price of admission being twenty-five cents, 
 children, fifteen cents — cheap enough the little ones say to see 
 " the live elephant stuffed with straw," as the old joke has it. 
 
 The following is a brief description of the amphitheatre, St. 
 Charles Street, New Orleans: 
 
 This large and elegant building, an accurate view of which is 
 given by the engraver, was erected expressly for Colonel Eice, 
 during the summer and fall of the year 1853 by Mr. Lawrason, 
 owner of the property, one of the most prominent and respected 
 citizens of New Orleans. It occupied a central and commanding 
 position in that busiest and gayest of the Crescent City's many 
 gay and busy thoroughfares, St. Charles Street, and its original 
 and picturesque exterior immediately arrested the attention of 
 every one who passed. Situated near the Southern Museum and 
 the St. Charles Theatre, it presented a more elegant architecural 
 appearance than either of those noted buildings, and, indeed, it 
 had but few rivals, in this respect, in the entire city. The amphi- 
 theatre was designed for both equestrian and dramatic perform- 
 ances and possessed a large and solidly fitted up " ring " or 
 " circle " where the bold rider has ample room for his feats of 
 graceful or daring horsemanship, and where the jester par excel- 
 lence, Dan Rice himself, swayed night after night, in his motley 
 garb, crowds of delighted listeners. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 COEDS OP WOOD AND " COON " WHISKEY — A WESTERN DESPE- 
 RADO'S LATISH GENEROSITY — MEETING WITH A FAMOUS 
 LAWYER — A TIMELY WARNING — PATE OF THE INDIAN 
 AGENT — ASSASSINATION AND ROBBERY — COL. RICE'S START- 
 LING DISCOVERY — TRACES FRUITS OF THE CRIME — SILENCE 
 AND SAFETY. 
 
 IN April, 1853, Mr. Rice, after finishing the winter season in 
 his amphitheatre in New Orleans, left the city to meet the 
 appointments laid out by his advance agents in the cities and 
 towns along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In each 
 place he was received with great enthusiasm by the public and 
 with increased admiration and sympathy, as they had been kept 
 informed as to the warfare with his common enemies, Spaulding 
 and Van Orden. 
 
 Mr. Rice then ascended the Arkansas River as far as Port 
 Smith, which he failed to do in the spring of 1852 on account of 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 131 
 
 low water. Among the several yards at which he took wood 
 was one several miles below Little Bock, at which he landed and 
 informed the proprietor, " I want fourteen cords of wood. What 
 is your price for the same, sir? " The individual addressed threw 
 a careless glance at the speaker as he answered, " Two dollars 
 a cord, sah." Mr. Eice knew the man at once, but gave no out- 
 ward sign of recognition. 
 
 In the meantime the boat was made fast to the bank, and the 
 men at once began transferring the wood to the boat, while the 
 proprietor went on board. " Are you the captain of this yah boat, 
 sah? " he asked. Mr. Eice replied, " Yes, sir; I am the captain of 
 this boat." "All right, sah," he said; "have a drink, sah?" 
 " No, sir; have a drink with me, sir," said Mr. Eice, who, having 
 discovered that the man displayed two great horse pistols in his 
 overcoat pockets, and knowing that he would possibly stop there 
 again on his return trip, felt that it would be policy to treat 
 the man with courtesy and great liberality. They then proceeded 
 to the bar. They smoked their cigars while the men were load- 
 ing the boat and indulged in a general conversation. Mr. Eice 
 considered the situation and asked his visitor to take another 
 drink, which he did, and Mr. Eice enjoyed another cigar, while 
 his guest smoked his pipe, and, becoming quite social, he turned to 
 the captain and asked, " What is yo' business, sah ? " " I'm a circus 
 man, sir," said Mr. Eice, " and have my company and horses all 
 on this boat." " Well, what circus is it, sah? " the man asked. 
 
 " Dan Eice's Circus," was the answer. "By , sah! I've seen 
 
 Dan Eice's Circus in New Orleans. He beats all the circus 
 clowns I ever seen! Where is Dan?" he continued. "Well, 
 I'm Dan Eice," was the reply. " I'm proprietor of this circus, 
 and captain and owner of this steamboat, sir." He shook Mr. 
 Eice's hand with much warmth and said, " Let's take another 
 drink." Which expression was cut short as the last cord of wood 
 was being put on board and the ready bell had rung. Said Mr. 
 Eice, " My friend, go to the office and get your money, and sign 
 a receipt." Seeing the money lying on the desk he signed the 
 receipt and the clerk handed him the amount, which he counted 
 and said, " You have paid me, sah, for fourteen cords of wood, 
 and I want pay for twenty, sah." Mr. Eice said, " I think you are 
 mistaken." "No, sah! I put twenty cords of wood on the bank, 
 sah! " At the same time his hand fell on his pocket. Mr. Eice 
 then said, "We'll have no more controversy about this matter, 
 sir," and turning to the clerk, said, "Pay this gentleman 
 twelve dollars more and take a receipt for same." To Mr. Eice's 
 surprise, when the man came out of the office, he said, " Captain, 
 call all your men up to this bar, sah; while I call my niggers, 
 sah! " and he kept drinking with them. Mr. Eice called all the 
 
132 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 service of the boat: the pilot, engineers, firemen, deck-hands, 
 grooms, canvasmen, and, finally, the performers, and this curious 
 individual then insisted upon champagne for the ladies. His 
 bill of fifty dollars he readily paid without offering one word of 
 remonstrance. The bell now rang for starting. The master 
 with his slaves got ashore, and, being exceedingly hilarious, they 
 gave three cheers for the circus. The master shouted, " Captain 
 Dan, stop and see me on your way down the river, and don't 
 forget it! " As the boat steamed away up the river, Mr. Eice's 
 mind was filled with anxious, gloomy thoughts of the dark, hor- 
 rible deeds committed by this man, who was the notorious Tom 
 May, and especially as to the fate of the Indian agent of General 
 Boss. 
 
 Landing at Little Eock Sunday evening, May 1, 1853, he was 
 advertised to perform for one week. Having enjoyed the journey 
 up the river to the fullest extent, and participating in the pleas- 
 ures of never-ending changes that naturally attend such a trip, 
 Mr. Eiee was therefore in excellent condition, and his recupera- 
 tive powers perfect. Before leaving New Orleans he had received 
 several letters of introduction to prominent-people in various parts 
 of the country through which he had to pass, and among them 
 was one from Mayor Crossman, of the City of New Orleans, to the 
 Hon. Albert Pike, the distinguished lawyer of Little Eock, which 
 letter Mr. Eice presented, and was received with due recognition 
 and respect, and was introduced to some of the most prominent 
 citizens of the capital city, who called on Albert Pike at his big 
 log-cabin home to be presented to the famous clown, who was 
 Mr. Pike's guest during his week's stay. The friendship formed 
 at that time continued until the death of Mr. Pike, that grand 
 specimen of Dame Nature's choice labors. During the week, in 
 the social intercourse with his distinguished host, Mr. Eice 
 thought he had discovered what had become of General Boss' 
 Indian agent. After telling Mr. Pike of his experience at a wood- 
 yard several miles below the city, that gentleman remarked, 
 " Friend Eice, I sold to that man a thousand acres of timber land 
 where that woodyard stands, and it seems a sacrilege almost to 
 see those great, mammoth trees of walnut, white oak, cherry, and 
 other valuable woods cut down to be burned on the steamboats." 
 Mr. Eice remarked, " You must have got a good price for it? " 
 " Well, yes," was the answer. " I got five dollars per acre for it." 
 " How long is it, Mr. Pike, since you sold this land? " He re- 
 plied, " About nine months ago." Mr. Eice said, " Will you ex- 
 cuse me, sir, for being so inquisitive, but what kind of money 
 was it you received? " He replied, " In gold and bank bills on 
 the Canal Bank of New Orleans." Mr. Eice remarked, " That 
 settles it! Many thanks, Mr. Pike; I think I now know the fate 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 133 
 
 of General Ross' Indian agent!" That gentleman showed his 
 surprise when he asked, " Why, Friend Rice, do you know this 
 man who is proprietor of the woodyard? " " Yes, sir, I do," was 
 the answer, "and his brother Jim, also!" Mr. Pike asked 
 quickly, "Who are they?" Mr Eiee answered, "They were 
 formerly members of Murrell's gang of land pirates." Then said 
 Mr. Pike, " My young friend, I know them also, but I keep my 
 own counsel, and I would advise you to do the same, if you ever 
 expect to visit this country again, for they are very numerous 
 among us, and the slightest intimation of an expose of any of 
 them would endanger your life. Many of them occupy promi- 
 nent positions in the mercantile, financial, and stock-raising busi- 
 ness, and are highly respected; are useful citizens and have ex- 
 cellent families." After this expression from Mr. Pike in trying 
 to mitigate the deed of outlawry among the better representa- 
 tives of the " Murrell gang," Mr. Rice thanked him for his advice 
 and assured him that he would govern himself accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Rice soon after continued his journey up the Arkansas 
 River as far as Fort Smith, taking in the alternate .towns on 
 either side and remaining one day at Fort Smith. He located 
 his tent adjoining the United States District Court in the Indian 
 Territory. Great crowds of people had assembled from all parts 
 of the country to witness the execution of two Indians condemned 
 for murder, and Mr. Rice also had the melancholy pleasure of 
 seeing them make their exit to the happy hunting grounds. 
 Immediately after the execution the band began playing, the 
 doors were opened, and, in a short time, the canvas was filled 
 with a large audience, consisting of about one thousand white 
 people, one thousand Indians, and five hundred slaves, and the 
 tickets sold for one dollar singly. 
 
 Mr. Rice had the pleasure of meeting the distinguished Dr. 
 Boniface of the United States Army, whose acquaintance he had 
 formed at Pittsburg at the Allegheny Arsenal during his boy- 
 hood days, when he drove the carriage for Captain Harding. Mr. 
 Rice exhibited at night to an audience composed mostly of the 
 citizens, who turned out en masse, and the artists were the re- 
 cipients of unbounded applause, and the lady performers received 
 many bouquets. It was the most appreciative audience Mr. Rice 
 had met on the river since he left Little Rock. The next morn- 
 ing he left Fort Smith to begin the trip down the river, and, stop- 
 ping at Van Buren, gave two performances to a large concourse 
 of people. He availed himself of the pleasure of visiting the 
 landlord with whom he stopped the year previous, on the occasion 
 when he was acting as his own agent in advertising the country. 
 He found an opportunity of making an inquiry in regard to Gen- 
 eral Ross' Indian agent, and was told that he had not been seen 
 
134: REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 or heard of since he left with the circus agent, having arranged 
 to ride with him to Batesville. Mr. Kice then inquired of the 
 landlord if he knew Tom May, and was told that he knew him 
 well, but had not seen him for over a year, as he had left the 
 country, having lost his wife, and had located several miles below 
 Little Eock and had started a woodyard there. Having secured 
 the required information, the landlord was then invited to come 
 to the circus and see Dan Eice in his professional attire, and the 
 gentleman was greatly surprised to recognize in the clown the 
 circus agent who was his transient guest the year previous, and 
 he was very much elated to know that the famous clown had been 
 his guest. After the entertainment the landlord was serenaded 
 by the circus band and was very lavish in his hospitality, as were 
 all the people of that country in those early days. 
 
 Mr. Eice left the next morning to take in the alternate towns 
 on the downward trip, and arrived at Little Eock at the end of 
 a week, remaining there two days, giving four performances. 
 The entire gross receipts of the second afternoon performance 
 were given to benefit the "Deaf and Dumb Asylum" at the 
 suggestion of Albert Pike, who was a philanthropist where be- 
 nevolent institutions were concerned. The gift to the institution 
 exceeded a thousand dollars and was gratefully recognized by the 
 officials of the city, represented by Mr. Pike, who spoke in appro- 
 priate words of acknowledgment. 
 
 Mr. Eice was delightfully entertained the following day, Sun- 
 day, by the prominent people of the city, and the pleasant asso- 
 ciations will always live in- memory. The stay over in Little 
 Eock also gave the performers a chance to attend religious wor- 
 ship, and, as several members of the troupe were church-going 
 people, it proved a pleasant source of gratification to their prin- 
 ciples of devotion. At four o'clock in the evening, the circus 
 moved off down the river after firing a salute with the boat's 
 cannon, amid the cheers of the throng assembled on the levee, 
 while the band played its sweetest airs. Arriving just above the 
 four-mile bar, the boat was tied up for the night as it was hazard- 
 ous to continue the journey in darkness, as the river was full of 
 snags. 
 
 Mr. Eice hailed the captain of a passing steamer and asked him 
 if there was any wood at May's woodyard. He replied, " No. I 
 took all there was on the bank; but there is plenty of it cut back 
 in the timber. I would advise you, Captain Dan, to send May 
 word to have it on the bank, so that you can get it early in the 
 morning." Eemembering the pressing invitation that he had re- 
 ceived on the upward trip to visit May again, when he descended, 
 Mr. Eice ordered a yawl and attendants and concluded to attend 
 to the matter in person, and prepared to arm himself accordingly. 
 
RICE S COAT OP ARMS 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 135 
 
 His weapons of defence consisted of a gallon of liquor known as 
 "nigger " whiskey, a quantity of tobacco, and some cigars. These 
 articles were indispensable adjuncts to the consummation of a 
 scheme that Mr. Eice had resolved to execute in regard to the 
 outlaw who had swindled him out of six cords of wood that he 
 never received, besides exposing this robber and murderer before 
 his own slaves and the entire company. In half an hour Mr. Eice 
 stood in Tom May's presence with his arms filled with ammuni- 
 tion, was greeted with a hearty welcome, and hospitably invited 
 to take supper, that consisted of the inevitable " hog-meat " and 
 " corn-dodgers " that had just been prepared. Having accepted 
 May's invitation to remain during the night, Mr. Eice made 
 known his errand — that of procuring twenty cords of wood. The 
 negroes were roused from their quarters and at once proceeded to 
 cart the wood to the river bank while the proprietor made inroads 
 upon the whiskey and tobacco, and Mr. Eice smoked his cigar. 
 A peculiar rigid custom prevailed in those early days among the 
 banditti, as well as among the best of the better classes, in 
 requiring a guest to drink even though he should feel inclined to 
 refuse. It was in this situation that Mr. Eice found himself; but 
 being equal to any emergency, he pretended to indulge from his 
 leaden cup, drinking a health each time to the worthy proprietor 
 of the woodyard, and thus satisfied his host that he had partaken 
 equally with him. In the meantime he regaled the outlaw with 
 story and song, allowing the whiskey to furnish the finale, which 
 came sooner than was expected, for May was so helplessly over- 
 come that his body-servant was obliged to put him to bed, after 
 which service he retired to his quarters, and Mr. Eice was left 
 alone with the branded outlaw, who soon began to indulge in 
 what subsequently proved to be an habitual performance of the 
 nasal organs, which Mr. Eice describes, in his inimitable way, as, 
 " A whirlwind of cadences as furious as the attempts of an ama- 
 teur brass band." Mr. Eice, in order to perfect the projects of 
 his scheme, proceeded to disarm his host by securing his pistols, 
 rifle, and bowie-knife, the only weapons he could discover in the 
 cabin, and concealed them, unobserved, under the bank of the 
 river. On returning to the cabin he found his host still indulg- 
 ing in his involuntary and furious pastime, and taking a candle 
 from the table, looked long and searchingly into Tom May's 
 countenance as he lay in his unconsciousness. He read in the 
 yielding features that he was not long for this world and would 
 soon pass before a tribunal whose legal chains would bind him 
 round about with bands like steel, from which he could not 
 escape on account of his cruel deeds. The early dawn was now 
 approaching and the steamboat blew her whistle for landing, so 
 Mr. Eice left the cabin and repaired to the river bank where the 
 
136 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 slaves with their ox teams were hauling and cording the wood. 
 The boat " rounded to," and, coming to the woodyard, the stag- 
 ing was run out, and the working brigade commenced rapidly 
 " toting " the wood aboard. Tom May's body-servant came to 
 Mr. Eice as he was watching the proceedings and asked him if 
 he should wake up his master. Mr. Eice replied, "Yes, wake 
 him up; put him in good shape and tell him I've invited him to 
 come down to the boat and take breakfast with me." In half an 
 hour he made his appearance at the cabin door, and roughly ac- 
 cused his negroes with stealing his " shooting-irons," which they 
 all denied most emphatically, saying, " We all clar to God, Mars' 
 Tom, we hain't bin nigh dat yah cabin, fer sence yer called us 
 we's bin totin' wood all night." Finding they were all combined 
 in declaring their innocence he made no more comments and al- 
 lowed his body-servant to take him on Mr. Eice's boat, and after 
 indulging in a couple of " whiskey cocktails " to set him straight, 
 he went with Mr. Eice to the boiler deck and smoked while wait- 
 ing for breakfast. The following conversation took place as they 
 enjoyed the morning air, and May asked, " Captain Dan, how did 
 you sleep last night?" "I didn't sleep at all, sir!" "Why, 
 sah? " asked May. " Because you gave me such a musical enter- 
 tainment," said Mr. Eice, " that I laid awake to listen to it, sir." 
 " What do you mean, sah? " " Why, you snored so loud that an 
 elephant couldn't sleep in your presence," said Mr. Eice. " You 
 tell me, sah, that I snore, sah?" asked May. "Yes, sir!" an- 
 swered Mr. Eice, being emboldened to speak out plainly, as May 
 was unarmed, and, also knowing that most men are sensitive on 
 that point, he was not safe in declaring himself. At this point 
 of the proceedings, May arose, and straightening his huge frame 
 of six feet to its full height, assumed a threatening attitude. Mr. 
 Eice simultaneously arose also, expecting an attack from the 
 outlaw, when May said, "Capt. Dan Eice, do you tell me that 
 I snore, sah?" "Yes, sir," answered Mr. Eice emphatically. 
 " Well, sah," said May, " understand distinctly, sah, that I am the 
 boss snorer of Arkansas! " and he broke into a laugh as he spoke 
 these words. The company that had by this time assembled in- 
 dulged heartily in its appreciation of the curious expression of the 
 outlaw when they interpreted his joke and Mr. Eice also caught 
 the infection, and Tom May's joke became proverbial. The bell 
 now rang for breakfast, after which the mate of the boat came to 
 Mr. Eice and informed him that the wood was all on board and 
 the steam up ready for the start. Tom May was hurried to the 
 office to get his money, and signed the receipt for forty dollars, 
 his signature being almost unintelligible as he was still nervous 
 from the debauch of the night before. As Mr. Eice handed him 
 the money he said, " Tom, it's a poor rule that won't work both 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 137 
 
 ways. When I took wood from you on my up trip, you bulldozed 
 me out of twelve dollars for six cords of wood that I never re- 
 ceived." Pressing the money into Tom's hand, he continued, 
 " There's your thirty-four dollars, all you're entitled to. Now, 
 get ashore! " Calling the body-servant, he ordered him to take 
 his master on shore. All the troupe were assembled on the 
 guards and deck of the boat to hear the announcement that Mr. 
 Eice had to make. As May stood at the end of the plank par- 
 tially bewildered by the turn of the tide of affairs, and trying to 
 collect his scattered thoughts and recover his failing powers, al- 
 though he knew he was unarmed, Mr. Eice turned to the company 
 and, calling their attention, said, " This is Tom May, an outlaw, 
 once a member of the notorious Murrell gang of land pirates. I 
 stayed at his home one night about a year ago and he hasn't recog- 
 nized me. I had accompanying me a gentleman who was Gen- 
 eral Boss' Indian agent, and on his way to Nashville to procure 
 supplies for the Cherokee reservation. He concluded to return 
 to Van Buren, while I proceeded on to Batesville. He has never 
 been seen or heard of since, but that man, Tom May, knows what 
 became of him, and so do I! " The wretched man on the river 
 bank grew ashen with fury as the accusing words fell upon his 
 ear and he glared at Mr. Eice, who continued, " This agent had 
 ten thousand dollars in gold and bank bills on the Canal Bank of 
 New Orleans secured in a belt around his waist, and that man 
 Tom May knew it. He murdered and robbed him! " May then 
 grew desperate and shouted to his servant, " Go get my rifle! " 
 and the rest of the slaves stood aghast, stupefied by this terrible 
 declaration. The servant returned without the rifle, which Mr. 
 Eice had previously hidden the night before, apprehending some 
 difficulty with the desperado, and May's face grew dark with rage 
 and his body quivered with pent-up execrations that never found 
 voice in words. And Mr. Eice continued, "With part of that 
 money he purchased this land of Gen. Albert Pike, of Little Bock. 
 Now, Tom May, I advise you to make peace with your God, for 
 your days are numbered, and if you do not die a natural death, 
 and if I live to get to Batesville, you will die with a rope around 
 your neck." The wretched being never uttered a word, but 
 turned away and slowly made his way back to his cabin, his once 
 erect form now bending with his load of guilt. The boat moved 
 from the landing-place and proceeded on her journey while the 
 last act of a cruel tragedy was being performed in the miserable 
 home of the notorious Tom May. The end came quickly, for, 
 strange to tell, when Captain Creighton of the regular steamer 
 of the Memphis line overtook Mr. Eice at Pine Bluff the next 
 day, he informed him that Tom May, at the woodyard, had died 
 during the night while in delirium tremens. Thus justice doth 
 
138 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 work out her deeds in her peculiar way. Mr. Eice says he will 
 ever regret leaving the remainder of that gallon of whiskey with 
 May, for it would have given him great satisfaction to have been 
 instrumental in hanging the first man in Arkansas for murder. 
 
 CHAPTER XVID 
 
 meeting with jefferson davis — a circus croesus — 
 shadows of coming events — calm before the storm — 
 douglas and lee — an interesting interview — "see- 
 ing the elephant" — a ludicrous "elucidation" — 
 ring and rostrum — patriotism and price — senator 
 Cameron's ominous order — rice on the track — 
 president Lincoln's practical joke. 
 
 THE season of 1854 proved to he the most successful one in 
 Colonel Eice's professional career. It was an unbroken 
 series of triumphs, almost without parallel in the circus world of 
 those days, unmarred as it was throughout by accidents or mis- 
 adventures so inseparable from the rush and hustle, risks and 
 trials of the transportation of circus troupes while on the road. 
 
 The season closed with a net profit of over $100,000 — a well- 
 nigh unprecedented gain in those days. 
 
 In the spring Colonel Rice bade farewell to New Orleans, dis- 
 posing of his interest in the famous amphitheatre and museum, 
 and removed his entire circus outfit to Schenectady, N. Y., where 
 he wintered with his family at the Gibbons Hotel. 
 
 In the fall of that year he made a tour of the Southwestern 
 States. Whilst exhibiting at Calhoun, Pittsboro County, Miss., 
 Colonel Eice received his first introduction to Jefferson Davis. 
 It was brought about at a banquet given in honor of the stalwart 
 Secessionist. The Colonel delivered the address of welcome to 
 the illustrious guest. Davis, at that time, was a popular idol. 
 Mr. Eice describes him as a man of most marvellous personal 
 magnetism, modest of bearing, reserved yet not secretive — all in 
 all, a man of most engaging personality and yet possessed of the 
 most radical and positive traits. An obstinate extremist in his 
 views of public men and measures, but most courteous, hospitable, 
 and conservative in his social relations. " Davis," adds Uncle 
 Dan, " was an immortal lover and an eternal hater." 
 
 It was customary in those ante-bellum days for Northern and 
 Southern friends at parting to exchange gifts — swap souvenirs 
 as it were. Colonel Eice presented the great agitator with a sil- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICK 139 
 
 ver-mounted rabbit's foot, expressing the hope that the talismanic 
 traditions associated with the souvenir would not fail of ful- 
 filment. In return he received a rare Mexican silver coin, 
 which General Davis had picked up on the battlefield of Cha- 
 piiltapec. 
 
 During the subsequent seasons from 1855 to 1859, and until the 
 outbreak of the Civil War, Colonel Eiee "swung around the 
 circle," as he puts it, from Dan to Beersheba, from himself, as it 
 were, alternately to the remotest points of the circus compass; 
 in truth from the wheat lands of the frigid North to the Rice 
 fields of the Sunny South. A sort of " Cereal Circle," adds 
 Uncle Dan. He had now reached the topmost crescent of the 
 wave of prosperity. 
 
 Professional triumphs and honors crowded thick and fast upon 
 him, bringing pecuniary profits to his coffers, with such fabulous 
 rapidity, that the late Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania was con- 
 strained at a banquet given in his honor to characterize the 
 Prince of Jesters as the Croesus of the Circus. The spring of 
 1860 found the Mammoth Show at the National Capital. 
 
 At Fairfax Court House was given the initial performance of a 
 tour through Virginia and other Southern States, which was 
 destined to be the last appearance of Colonel Eice in the Southern 
 Circuit for many years. 
 
 Coming events began to cast their shadows before. The cords 
 of the national heart, harassed with maddening doubts and 
 equally fatuous hopes, were even then straining at the leash of 
 reason, swayed as they were by the passion of sectional prejudice 
 and political bigotry. 
 
 The terrible tension upon the popular patience and patriotic 
 pride of all lovers of the Union, the intemperate and impulsive 
 utterances of Southern sympathizers and Northern fanatics, had 
 already begun to tell on every side. Washington society was a 
 smouldering volcano. The suspense was oppressive, the ominous 
 calm before the storm. Men in every station of life, political 
 giants, financial kings, all men, Southern and Northern alike, 
 felt the stifling dread of impending danger. 
 
 Bosom friends looked askance, or greeted each other in a 
 perfunctory way. Kinsmen felt the most sacred ties gradually 
 loosen and unravel under the pitiable strain. 
 
 In the light of after years, when the " storm had spent itself " 
 and that " heavenly calm like a herald of hell " was dispelled — 
 little wonder that the reader may find food for gratifying thought 
 in the following incidents which occurred in those feverish days 
 at the National Capital. 
 
 Colonel Eice, on his way to his apartments one early morning 
 in the spring of 1860, met two men, one of whom subsequently 
 
140 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 became a Northern candidate for the Presidency and the other 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Army — Stephen A. 
 Douglas and Eobert E. Lee. 
 
 A friendship of many years' standing existed between Douglas, 
 Lee, and Eice. The former, after his " early bird " appearance 
 had been explained, by the fact that he had passed a sleepless 
 night, suddenly turned to Eice and said, "I left my home to 
 shake off a feeling of utter loneliness that oppressed me, hoping 
 to find in the bustle of the streets some relief, some rest, but I 
 feel more isolated here somehow. A strange sense of mystery 
 seems to envelop everything-— men, all things — like the ' heav- 
 enly calm half heralding a veritable hell '; I wish it were over 
 with, the dread of the result, but what it may be is as nothing to 
 the agony of the doubt." Pausing a moment Colonel Eice queried 
 " Do you refer to the outcome, Mr. Douglas? " " No, no," thun- 
 dered Douglas, " not the end but the beginning, when and how 
 will the first blow be struck? " 
 
 At that moment Col. Eobert E. Lee approached from an oppo- 
 site direction. The bearing of the gallant Lee was in marked 
 contrast with the too apparent moodiness of the " little giant," 
 marked as it was by that old-school heartiness of greeting and the 
 inimitable charm of unaffected camaraderie with which he, after, 
 inquiring about Mr. Douglas' health, rallied him concerning his 
 failure, to be present at the circus, which Colonel Lee had at- 
 tended the previous night. 
 
 The trio separated, Douglas continuing down Pennsylvania 
 Avenue with his chin on his breast and his hands dug deep in 
 his trousers pockets, Colonels Lee and Eice meanwhile proceed- 
 ing in an opposite direction. When the latter had informed 
 Colonel Lee of what Mr. Douglas had said, he smilingly re- 
 marked that the beginning concerned him but little; the where 
 and when the trouble would be precipitated affected his rest far 
 less than when and how the termination would be reached; the 
 length, the briefness of it, these were the perplexing doubts that 
 haunted him. " But," he added, as he bade Colonel Eice good- 
 by, " Uncle Dan, we are friends to-day despite the insecurity and 
 uncertainty of matters political, let us hope to live — Douglas, 
 you, and I — to renew again under one flag, when the storm has 
 spent itself, the friendship that exists to-day." 
 
 Shortly after leaving Washington with his company, Colonel 
 Eice disposed of his interest in the Great Show without, however, 
 severing his connection with it. 
 
 It was about the time he issued a life-size pictorial sheet repre- 
 senting an elephant performing on a tight-rope, and another an- 
 tipodean extravaganza showing the same beast standing on his 
 head. The publication of the " Elephantine " poster aroused the 
 
EEM1NISCENCES OF DAN RICE 141 
 
 curiosity of the public to concert pitch. The announcement 
 was regarded as a huge circus joke, an incredible but pardon- 
 able instance of the license permitted the projectors of circus- 
 posters. 
 
 The following incident will serve to illustrate the skepticism of 
 the amusement-loving people and the harsh awakening that re- 
 sulted. At Danbury, Conn., a State which despite its wooden 
 nutmeg and hat-block industries, the late P. T. Barnum once said 
 was productive of the most prolific growth of gullible guys in all 
 New England, Colonel Rice and his elephantine wonder had en- 
 countered a veritable cyclone of criticism. Either the most 
 fecund manager had fibbed about his native State for some in- 
 scrutable advertising purpose, or else the people must have seen 
 a new light since the days when the Woolly Horse and What Is It? 
 befogged their.mental vision. There had inevitably been wrought 
 a miraculous change. The pyrrhonist was everywhere when Rice 
 and the rhinoceros put in an appearance. Doubting Thomases 
 and deriding skeptics had sprung forth from the "gullible 
 ground " from which P. T. Barnum had reaped so rich a harvest. 
 Colonel Rice suffered as a result. The press pilloried the " fakes," 
 public opinion took up the matter, and in consequence a commit- 
 tee of citizens waited on Colonel Rice and requested an oppor- 
 tunity to investigate the " animile." One night in the presence 
 of a crowded house this wish was gratified. The spokesman of 
 the committee, a veterinary surgeon and horse expert (?), of some 
 suburban standing, remarlced as he stepped into the ring, that 
 he would proceed to " elucidate." Uncle Dan held the head of 
 the beast in chancery with an iron chain connecting with a ring 
 in the proboscis, while the chairman critically proceeded to ex- 
 amine the " mechanism " of the mastodon. He had reached the 
 rear of the pachydermatous mammal, when the latter suddenly 
 swung about, and, upsetting Colonel Rice, caught the " elucida- 
 tor " on his horns, hurling him across the ring ropes into the row 
 of seats. For a brief moment the audience became panic-stricken. 
 Colonel Rice vaulted over the embankment and soon reached the 
 far-from-doubting but thoroughly dishevelled elucidator, who 
 rapidly recovered his equilibrium and returned with the Colonel 
 to the ring, where, turning to his fellow committeemen, he 
 shouted in piercing sibilants, " Darn yer, come and finish the job; 
 if that yar ' animile ' is all mechaniz then I'll be goll darned if 
 he aren't got more life in him that a ' Sandy Hill's hornet.' " 
 
 It is needless to add, however, that his fellow committeemen 
 had ere this fully realized the enchantment of distance. 
 
 Later, however, complications threatened to keep Uncle Dan 
 himself some time on the horns of a dilemma, when it was bruited 
 about that the said " elucidator " was going to invoke legal re- 
 
14.2 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 dress for the injuries to his dignitary. The affair, however, was 
 amicably adjusted. 
 
 A few years later, at St. Louis, Uncle Dan concluded one of the 
 most unprecedented engagements ever made in that city, that is, 
 considering the excited state of the popular mind and the hard 
 times then prevailing. Wherever Colonel Kice went, from the 
 St. Lawrence to the Delta of the Father of Waters, his patriotism 
 kept pace with his popularity. From the hour when Louisiana 
 seceded from the Union, when, standing in the centre of his 
 great circus tent pitched on St. Charles Street, New Orleans, he 
 unfolded the folds of the stars and stripes and appealed to his 
 Southern brethren to stem the tide that might engulf and efface 
 from among the nations of the earth that glorious emblem, with 
 the thrilling traditions of heroic deeds that hallowed its past, on 
 and up to the fatal hour, when, at Chicago, he became unmanned 
 and wept in a pitiful way in the circus ring, when he was com- 
 pelled to announce the tragic end of the immortal Lincoln, the 
 honest, fearless patriot and true American endeared himself alike 
 to Southern and Northern friends by a fearless, almost reckless, 
 devotion to the Union, and on more than one occasion their 
 friendship stayed the hand of many a would-be assassin. And 
 yet he never spoke slightingly of his friends south of Mason and 
 Dixon's line, hut lived on fostering in every way the hope that the 
 peerless Lee gave voice to, bringing again the day when fraternal 
 hands would grasp each other under the old flag under a newer 
 and more enduring republic. Such were his heartfelt sympathies; 
 such he believed to be the correct ideas of those who cherish the 
 bravery and honor of our ancestors. Little occasion for wonder 
 then that Colonel Eice turned the circus ring into a rostrum, 
 where North and South he alternately discussed with an eloquent 
 fervor the issues of the hour, pleading now with impassioned 
 vehemence for the Union and again hurling scathing invectives 
 at those who sought its destruction. A little incident which oc- 
 curred at Louisville, Ky., aptly illustrates in a characteristic way. 
 Uncle Dan's methods in the direction indicated. George D. 
 Prentiss visited the national theatre and was the recipient of a 
 marked compliment from the celebrated humorist, who after ad- 
 verting upon the calamities of the country and the disasters 
 which had befallen the Union cause through political "prestidiga- 
 tators," expressed his pride and satisfaction at the attendance of 
 the great and patriotic editor. " That man," said Colonel Rice, 
 pointing to a gentleman who occupied a conspicuous position in 
 one of the boxes, " is George D. Prentiss, of Louisville." The 
 effect was electrical, the audience rose en masse and gave three 
 cheers for the great journalist, followed by as many more for Rice 
 himself. 
 
THE "CALL IN TIME" COACII 
 
 DAN IKE'S CARRIAGE 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 143 
 
 September, 1861, found the Great Show homeward bound. 
 For some time Colonel Rice had been hard at work speaking for 
 the Union with fearless energy throughout the South, leaving the 
 circus combinations to run itself. The following analysis of the 
 man, his motives and methods of advocating the Union cause 
 may be quoted with singular appropriateness in this connection. 
 It is from the pen of an unknown contributor to a Northern 
 paper: 
 
 " I attended a public meeting in Mason City, Va., a few days 
 since, and among those who spoke was a gentleman by the name 
 of Eice, whom the venerable Lincoln introduced as a citizen from 
 Erie County Pa., in the Keystone State. Of course, as a Penn- 
 sylvanian, I felt an interest in the man; so, therefore, I gave his 
 remarks more than ordinary attention. He was eloquent, power- 
 ful, and easy in his address and manner, and won the admiration 
 of all who surrounded his rostrum. His practical knowledge of 
 the habits of men in different localities and the system he pur- 
 sued in pointing out the impossibility of the success of secession 
 was no less significant for its originality than its truthfulness. He 
 told what the manufacturing North could do, and how essential 
 the activity, genius, and skill of her people were to the welfare 
 of the great agricultural territory of the ' Sunny South.' He did 
 not abuse or ridicule any people for their peculiarities or scoff at 
 the manners or conventionalities of those who live in certain lo- 
 calities. He showed himself a Union man who had made the 
 history of his country a study, whose object it was to preserve 
 it whole and undivided, and cause it to go conquering and to 
 conquer. 
 
 " But who do you suppose this fine orator to have been? No 
 less a personage than Dan Rice,' the American humorist, whom I 
 had seen and heard frequently in Quakeropolis. I heard that 
 Dan was smart, but had no idea that his talents ran in a political 
 channel. He is dignified on the platform, but, as in his profes- 
 sional circle, evidently seems to command. 
 
 "He is not. an enthusiast, neither does he appear like a man 
 who is laboring for the gratification of personal ambition or pecu- 
 niary advantage. To speak plainly, he talks like a well-informed, 
 educated gentleman, who knows what he is talking about, and 
 who works for the love of the cause he has enlisted in. I do not 
 know whether he has a desire for office, and I presume he has not, 
 but it occurred to me that a man like him, who has travelled so 
 far has observed so much and was so familiar with the wants, 
 habits, and manners of the people of all localities, could not speak 
 in vain among the law-givers and sage councils of the nation 
 Perhaps the next place I may encounter this rising young man 
 Rice will be in the State Senate, or in the Halls of Congress 
 
 k 
 
144 REMINISCENCES OP BAN RICE 
 
 More unlikely things have happened, and men of far less ability 
 and character have been honored in that way. Depend upon it, 
 that Kice will make his mark and turn his abilities to good ac- 
 count." 
 
 In 1861, at Baton Eouge, Colonel Eice received a letter from 
 the secretary of the Confederate Navy, at Montgomery, Ala., re- 
 questing information as to whether his steamboat, " James Ray- 
 mond," could be purchased, and on what terms. Eice replied, 
 in a diplomatic way, asking for time to consider the proposition. 
 It was a time when temporizing was tantamount to treason. As 
 no answer was received Uncle Dan "pulled up stakes" and 
 sought safety in flight, being well aware that the next step would 
 result in confiscation at any price. Subsequently, in 1862, whilst 
 exhibiting in Washington at the National Theatre, a sensational 
 but withal ludicrous sequel grew out of this incident. One eve- 
 ning whilst indulging in the barbarous pastime of being shaved 
 at Willard's Hotel, Senator Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, 
 then Secretary of War, after greeting Colonel Eice in a somewhat 
 brusque manner, informed him, in an austere and somewhat dic- 
 tatorial tone, that the President desired to see him immediately. 
 Dan demurred, as his circus performance was about to commence. 
 Cameron becoming apparently incensed at Eiee's apparent indif- 
 ference, remarked as he walked away in a significant tone, " Well, 
 a bayonet prod may prove more effective." Uncle Dan became 
 suddenly distraught. Something was wrong — there was trouble 
 brewing; and so when, after the circus ended, he received an ad- 
 ditional summons to appear before the President, he lost little 
 time presenting himself at the White House. The cabinet was in 
 session. Eice was ushered in. The first to greet him was the 
 President, who with an air of almost oppressive gravity inquired, 
 if he, Colonel Eice, had while at New Orleans an interview with 
 Secretary Thompson of the Confederacy; if he had not been in 
 communication with members of the Confederate cabinet; if he 
 had not offered to sell his steamboat to the Johnny Eebs; if he 
 had not written a letter to that effect; if he had not received a 
 reply bearing favorably upon that offer, etc., etc. The rapidity 
 with which these questions were uttered, the grave bearing and 
 intensely severe expression of the venerable President's face al- 
 most caused the Colonel to collapse. He looked hurriedly from 
 one cabinet officer to the other, and felt he was up against a crisis. 
 With fiery indignation he denied the charge, protested his patri- 
 otism, his loyalty, and was about launching out in an impassioned, 
 and possibly immortal burst of eloquent defence, when Secretary 
 Stanton stepped forward and, presenting a dog-eared letter for 
 the Colonel's inspection, asked him if the signature attached to 
 that communication was written by Colonel Rice. The Secretary 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN MCE 145 
 
 would not permit the great showman to scan its contents. The 
 Colonel, now bewildered beyond relief, admitted its genuineness, 
 but not before he brought his fist down with tremendous force 
 on the table fronting him and demanded to know " what in h — 11 
 it all meant? " President Lincoln roared laughing, the spell was 
 broken; the other members of the cabinet joined in the merri- 
 ment, and a few moments later Uncle Dan realized he had been 
 the victim of a practical joke. The letter written by him to the 
 Secretary of the Confederacy had been intercepted in transit by 
 the Federal authorities and forwarded to Washington. It fur- 
 nished a clew to turn the laugh on the professional merrymaker, 
 whose aggressive patriotism was as familiar as his fun-making 
 fame. 
 
 It was at this time while performing at the old Bowery Theatre, 
 New York, under the management of Sam Stickney, that Mr. 
 Spaulding sought him out and begged Uncle Dan to bridge over 
 the estrangements of the past — bury the hatchet so to speak, and 
 renew their business associations. This, at first blush, was re- 
 volting to the feelings of the Colonel, who protested that, al- 
 though he never carried a grudge against living or dead, and 
 therefore whilst willing to forgive the ruin which the revengeful 
 acts of his old enemy, abetted by his partner Van Orden, had beset 
 his career, still a business alliance was quite another matter, and 
 one which he did not desire to undertake. Spaulding pleaded 
 his personal regard for Kice, and sought Stickney's assistance to 
 placate the Colonel. But Bice was relentless. For several days 
 Spaulding labored in many ways to accomplish his purpose. He 
 finally renewed his efforts, through a mutual friend, with the 
 result that Uncle Dan yielded and a contract was executed, which 
 in consideration of $5,000 gave Spaulding an undivided one-half 
 interest in the profits of the show. This somewhat unnatural 
 business union lasted three years, and was finally terminated in 
 1864, through the dishonesty of Mr. Spaulding's sons, who, in 
 various capacities, were identified with the enterprise. Colonel 
 Bice closed his season at Pittsburg, Pa., October 5, 18:64, where 
 his mammoth circus properties went into winter quarters. In 
 the spring of 1862 the troupe travelled through Canada west, 
 entering at Sarnia and trailed along the line of the Grand Trunk 
 to Kingston, leaving the province for Oswego on board the 
 steamer "American Lake." Shortly after the steamer had started 
 for Oswego with Colonel Bice and his retinue a salute of seven 
 guns was fired in honor of his departure. This was about three 
 or four o'clock Sunday morning. The " good-by-boom," accord- 
 ing to Uncle Dan, came from Fort Frederick. He had formed 
 the acquaintance of many of the garrison stationed there, hence 
 this flattering display of their good will. 
 10 
 
146 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 IN January, 1861, the principal cities on the Ohio and Missis- 
 sippi were visited by the Great Show. At New Orleans 
 Colonel Rice joined his company. His reappearance in the Cres- 
 cent City was the occasion for many remarkable demonstrations 
 of popular favor. The war fever was rapidly spreading. To 
 uphold " Old Glory " on the one hand; to preach the gospel of 
 the Union, and on the other hand to hold his grasp upon the 
 popular heart, of which he was a veritable idol, was a stupendous 
 task, drawing to the utmost upon the resourcefulness of the man. 
 But Dan's diplomacy and native tact won the day. Whilst ex- 
 hibiting at New Orleans, the following eloquent tribute, paid 
 Uncle Dan by " Chips," the brilliant correspondent of the New 
 York " Spirit of the Times," very effectively emphasizes the es- 
 teem in which the genial jester was held: 
 
 My Dear Colonel Porter: Did you ever meet Dan Rice? 
 I presume you have, as it has been your luck to enjoy the pleas- 
 urable associations of nearly all worthy dignitaries. But for fear 
 you have not, let me, for my own personal gratification and the 
 edification of some of your many thousand readers, give you my 
 opinion of the man. Now as a general thing I am not a very 
 ardent admirer of the circus, and as for clowns, why I abominate 
 them. Joe Millerisms are good enough in their way, but when a 
 fellow in a motley garb with a spotted countenance and white- 
 washed cheek, attempts to pass them off on me as original witti- 
 cisms, I feel disposed to treat the aforesaid mountebank in a re- 
 markably hostile manner. A good ring jester I had not seen 
 since William F. Wallett was here some few years ago, so, actuated 
 by curiosity, I was persuaded to forsake the legitimate drama, 
 forswear the opera, repudiate the burnt-cork melodies, and neg- 
 lect the charming Maggie Mitchell, who was at that moment 
 aforesaid playing the ancient and venerable gentleman in black 
 with susceptible young men who have a proclivity for handsome 
 young girls with neat gaiters on pretty feet, short dresses, capital 
 bonnets, curly hair, and saucy eyes, all of which teasing adjuncts 
 Miss Maggie has got at command. 
 
 Well, to turn from the sublime to the ridiculous, I went into 
 the Academy, when, judge of my surprise to find, instead of an 
 ugly clown who unscrupulously murdered the King's English and 
 made grimaces with impunity, a well-built, commanding gen- 
 tleman, dressed in a court suit, and who walked with grace, 
 manly bearing, and dignity, with a youthful face, a fine forehead, 
 an expressive eye, and a fascinating mobility of countenance. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 147 
 
 Dan Eiee stood before me. He began to talk. He alluded to 
 the state of public affairs; he interspersed his remarks with 
 quaint, funny, and, withal, modest incidents. I was agreeably 
 disappointed, and I wondered how a man so eminently endowed 
 by nature, with a well-balanced mind, a quick intellect, and a 
 liberal education, could possibly have devoted so many years to 
 that pursuit, which, though honorable enough in its way, can 
 never rank with professions that now command the respect and 
 admiration of the world. 
 
 Eiee is, however, a genius, and one who will be regarded as a 
 bright light, and through his example and efforts the " Show- 
 men " are somewhat higher in the social scale than formerly. 
 
 What a romance of reality would Eice's career make! Person- 
 ally, I don't know him, but the. impression he made upon me was 
 most favorable. I have been told that he has been made the vic- 
 tim of many misrepresentations and is the child of misfortune, 
 but that his indomitable will, firmness of mind, and powers of 
 forbearance have enabled him to live down all obstacles. So 
 might it be. Perhaps, dear Colonel, when I know more of Eiee, I 
 may have something more to say about him. 
 
 "Chips." 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 IN THE CRESCENT CITY — PATRIOTISM AUD POPULARITY — THE 
 GREAT CLOWN'S CANDIDACY — A CRITIC'S CONCLUSION — 
 IN THE MANAGERIAL HARNESS ONCE AGAIN — A MAM- 
 MOTH UNDERTAKING — SHOWMAN AND POLITICIAN — UNCLE 
 DAN BREAKS DOWN — THE FUN-FACTORY AFTER FORTY 
 YEARS SHUTS DOWN — A FAREWELL TOUR AND FINAL BOW 
 — PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL TRIUMPHS. 
 
 IN 1864 he was nominated for the State Senate of Pennsylvania 
 by the soldiers. He was in the Far West at that time and had 
 but two weeks to give his answer, which was to the effect that if 
 they ran him they must do it upon their responsibility as he had 
 no time to devote to the labors of a political campaign. He ran 
 eighteen hundred votes ahead of the ticket, and was thankful for 
 the narrow escape he made from being elected, for he could not, 
 under existing circumstances, serve a term as State Senator. His 
 letter of acceptance had but one week's time for circulation 
 among the people of the district. 
 
 Later, in 18fi(i, he wrs nominated by the soldiers of the 19th 
 Congressional District, Pennsylvania. Colonel Eiee declined the 
 
148 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 honor, withdrawing in favor of Glenni W. Schofield, who was 
 elected. 
 
 In April, 1865, Colonel Bice was engaged by Forepaugh & 
 O'Brien, opening at the Walnut Street Amphitheatre, Philadel- 
 phia. Subsequently, whilst with his greatest show at Chicago, 
 Colonel Eice received the news of the assassination of President 
 Lincoln. He at once cancelled all future engagements and re- 
 turned to his home in Girard, Pa. Later he purchased the Mabey 
 Bros.' circus outfit. He also secured the first herd of sacred 
 cattle ever brought to this country, at a cost of $5,000j and ex- 
 hibited the beautiful beasts throughout the Lake cities. They 
 were purchased from the Hofnagel estate at New Hope, Pa. In 
 1866 he renewed his copartnership with Forepaugh, making a 
 tour of the Middle States. A year later he appeared again under 
 the management of Cooper, Gardner & Hemming, receiving 
 $1,000 a week for his services. The years of 1866 and 1867 found 
 Colonel Eice in the managerial harness once again. He launched 
 another mammoth enterprise, a circus and menagerie, organized 
 on a scale hitherto unrivalled in variety and novelty of attraction 
 and lavish expenditure of time and money. It was the largest, 
 most complete, and successful venture ever undertaken by Colo- 
 nel Eice. The menagerie embraced, among many other remark- 
 able attractions, some of the rarest quadruped novelties known 
 to the amusement-loving people of two continents, and without 
 a shadow of doubt, the most costly stud of educated horses ever 
 seen the world over, was represented in this marvellous aggrega- 
 tion. Excelsior, the most wonderfully trained horse on earth, 
 whose equal has never been seen before or since, was the star 
 attraction. The act performed by this blind horse, borne as he 
 was on a platform carried on the shoulders of twelve stalwart at- 
 tendants, who paraded the living statuesque equine around the 
 ring, the horse resting on three legs, while one of his forefeet was 
 adjusted with graceful effect on a pedestal, presented one of the 
 most exquisitely picturesque tableaux ever conceived by a horse 
 trainer or limned by a Eosa Bonheur. The arenic attractions 
 presented to the public an array of talent never gathered together 
 theretofore under one canvased roof and in a single ring. This 
 unique and complete exhibition of circus and menagerie made a 
 tour of the Atlantic seaboard States, giving a final exhibition on 
 the cotton factory lot, Second Street above North, in the City of 
 Harrisburg, Pa. His presence there was the occasion of the fol- 
 lowing tribute to him as a showman, as a patriot, and something 
 of a politician: 
 
 " Mr. Eice as a showman has a reputation in his line of business 
 which is unequalled, and is known to almost every man, woman, 
 and child in the country. In his private walks of life he has be- 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 14:9 
 
 come equally famous for his liberality and undaunted persever- 
 ance. In giving one or two instances to illustrate this, we hope 
 he will pardon us for thus bringing his private with his public 
 reputation in print. We have given,' from time to time, the 
 movements in different counties of our State for the purpose of 
 erecting monuments to their brave sons who fell in the Eebellion, 
 but as yet, in no instance, excepting one, have we learned of the 
 consummation of this praiseworthy purpose, and in this we are 
 indebted to the liberality of the man that almost every negro and 
 bootblack on the street familiarly styles ' Dan Rice, the Clown.' 
 Mr. Eice, though by no means a ' million heir,' partaking of the 
 patriotic spirit, went to work at once, obtained the consent of the 
 authorities of the town he resides in, Girard, Erie County, and 
 erected, at his own expense, a magnificent monument to the 
 soldiers who fell in battle from that county, costing him thou- 
 sands of dollars. Nor is this the only instance of his liberality, 
 his frequent contributions to the sick and wounded soldiers, are 
 acts deserving the highest praise. 
 
 Mr. Eice has also taken considerable part in political matters, 
 and was about this time nominated for State Senator by his 
 friends in a district largely against the party of which he was the 
 nominee, but was so popular that his opponent barely escaped 
 defeat by a very small vote. Dan was off travelling with his 
 show, but had he remained at home and taken the stump in the 
 canvas, he would have been elected. He had recently travelled 
 much through the South, and since his return, at the request of 
 Secretary Seward, has given the government much valuable in- 
 formation relative to those States." — Earrisburg Patriot and 
 Union. 
 
 After thirty weeks of the most brilliant campaign he had ever 
 experienced Colonel Eice, mentally jaded and physically ex- 
 hausted, returned to his palatial home in Girard, Pa. He was 
 shattered in health and his physician urged a much needed rest. 
 But not for long. The merrymaker's mercurial nature would not 
 be denied. *Eest was one thing — restraint quite another. Of 
 physicians, Uncle Dan had a healthy abhorrence, presumably 
 because he had been something of a " Medicine Man " himself. 
 His confinement chafed. It was a sort of strait-jacket to his 
 animal spirits. The fun-factory, which had been running, and 
 working overtime at that, for forty consecutive years, was rusting 
 with inaction. To plan was but to put into practical operation, 
 or as Uncle Dan says, "With me it was at that time a case of 
 kicking and conquering. I won out, got on my feet and put into 
 execution a determination to make a farewell tour of the principal 
 cities of the North and West. I had amassed, it is true, several 
 fortunes. I have given all but the one I now had away. I was 
 
150 HEMINISCENOES OE PAN BICE 
 
 tempted to enjoy it. I decided to withdraw from the amusement 
 world. This would be my final bow." That tour was an extraor- 
 dinary series of professional siiccesses and personal triumphs, 
 born only of the esteem and admiration in which he was held and 
 which were rarely if ever before accorded to an entertainer in his 
 peculiar sphere. 
 
 The following eloquent tributes of the press at this time gave 
 an added interest to his Western tour, which seemed destined to 
 mark the close of his circus career among a people whose regard 
 for him as a man was scarcely paralleled by their admiration for 
 him in a professional role. 
 
 From the " Milwaukee Sentinel: " 
 
 The attendance at Dan Eice's Great Show yesterday was in- 
 deed complimentary considering the intense heat, and both enter- 
 tainments fully justified our remarks of yesterday. Both per- 
 formers and animals seemed inspired by the rest obtained during 
 their sojourn in our beautiful city, and one and all played their 
 parts excellently well. As for the great centre of attraction, Col. 
 Dan Eice, he even outdid himself. Although physically greatly 
 depressed and hoarse to a painful degree, he summoned both 
 muscular and mental powers to do justice to the occasion of his 
 farewell to his warm Milwaukee friends, and never on the saw- 
 dust was witnessed and enjoyed as bright and too brief an hour of 
 eloquence, pathos, wit, and humor. 
 
 In doffing his helmet of felt to say good-by forever, Dan was 
 particularly happy and touching in his remarks. After warmly 
 thanking his friends in this vicinity for the patronage and per- 
 sonal encouragement which had invariably greeted him, he mod- 
 estly and beautifully alluded to the disposition of the immense 
 sums of money he had made in his arduous and often misunder- 
 stood profession. He stated that during a career of nearly thirty 
 years he had given various charitable objects the munificent sum 
 of nearly a million and a half dollars. He did not speak of it 
 boastfully, but seemed really impressed with a true* sense of the 
 blessing Providence had bestowed upon him in permitting him 
 the privilege of so generously giving. 
 
 Dan Eice is truly a remarkable man — remarkable for the abil- 
 ity, energy, and success which has marked his career; remarkable 
 for philanthropy not to have been looked for in one who had much 
 of discouragement and disadvantage to contend with, and still 
 more remarkable for an earnest desire to elevate and benefit 
 where selfishness and hard-heartedness were to be looked for. 
 
 In bidding him farewell, we really regret to part with one who 
 has afforded us so much pleasure, and perhaps taught us lessons 
 of charity in estimating deeds rather than professions." 
 
ltlCE IN KING COSTUME 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 151 
 
 The " Pittsburg Republic " says of the farewell tour: The 
 rush to see the equestrian idol of the masses and to hear his words 
 of farewell was perfectly tremendous. A living avalanche 
 threatened to bury the ticket wagon and poured into the tent 
 until every available foot was occupied, and the closing of the 
 doors upon grievously disappointed hundreds of applicants for 
 admission was rendered imperative. But the merry genius of the 
 ring, made a charmed one by the wit and humor of him whose 
 shoulders the mantle of Momus has dropped, waved his baton of 
 felt over the vast throng, and good humor, sometimes perhaps 
 just a little boisterous, was the rule without exception. No 
 other living man but Dan Rice could have so successfully con- 
 trolled such a crowd, whose anxiety to see and hear everything 
 would have defeated itself but for that firm and yet not un- 
 gracious management born of the ability to command. Mr. Rice's 
 appearance in the ring was greeted with cheers and continued 
 applause. It was apparent that the severe labors of the thirty 
 weeks' amusement campaign he was about so brilliantly to con- 
 clude had severely taxed even his iron constitution, but rallying 
 with wonted determination and energy, his wit, genius, brilliant 
 and philosophic humor and quaint originality were never more 
 effectively displayed. He, of course, carried his auditors with 
 him, and left a permanent impression no one, in his lifetime, at 
 least, will equal or decrease. In the early part of the evening's 
 entertainment, the printers of Pittsburg presented Mr. Rice with 
 a magnificent copy of Shakespeare's works, as a sincere tribute of 
 respect and esteem from the disciples of the " art preservative of 
 arts." 
 
 HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 The " Commercial " says: Before retiring to doff the motley 
 for the last time in Pittsburg, Mr. Rice stepped into the circle 
 which had been the scene to him of so many triumphs and spoke 
 as follows: 
 
 It was. in this city that I spent many of my boyish days. Prob- 
 ably I may have been regarded as being full of wild opinions and 
 some wayward pranks, as all boys are, and perhaps a little dis- 
 posed to resent an insult when it was offered, and I confess I have 
 not entirely recovered from such a spirit yet. (Cheers.) But 
 if this has been the case, I have endeavored from that time to this 
 during twentv-six years, to be in all things just— purely just. 
 (Applause.) I have been in this profession since 1841, that is, in 
 the show business. I have striven hard during that time, and 
 have labored day and night to interest and amuse the people. _ I 
 regard the profession I have followed as an honorable and legiti- 
 mate calling. Like all departments of trade, there will be found 
 
152 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 good and bad people engaged in it. I have endeavored at all 
 times, and under all circumstances to elevate it, and I think I do 
 not exaggerate when I tell you I have so far succeeded as to be 
 patronized by the most learned, eloquent, and distinguished gen- 
 tlemen in the land. (Applause.) I well remember Judge Wil- 
 kins, Harmon, Denny, and Major Harding. There are others 
 yet living. I am glad to mention General Robinson, to whom I 
 am deeply indebted for much of the success I have won, animated 
 as I was by the counsel of these distinguished gentlemen. It 
 built up in my mind such an ambition that at least I can proudly 
 say, in truth and candor, placing my hand on my heart, that no 
 man can say aught against my character. (Loud applause.) I 
 look back with feelings of gratitude as I think of the time when 
 the citizens of Pittsburg came to my assistance in the dark hours 
 of misfortune, letting the rays of sunshine down into my heart. 
 It may not be uninteresting to you for me to say that in all cases 
 you have come to my assistance and encouraged and patronized 
 me; for this sympathy so generously bestowed you will ever be 
 entitled to my sincere gratitude. Although once a poor boy, a 
 stable-boy if you like, a livery stable boy (applause), I have come 
 back to be taken by the hand by all classes of society. Ladies 
 and gentlemen give their smiling approval and words of kindness, 
 and how could I feel otherwise than grateful? No, my heart is 
 filled with gratitude towards you. It may please you to know 
 how I have conducted myself financially since I started out in the 
 business, and I consider the time has come for me to tell you. I 
 have made more money than any six of the richest circus men in 
 the world, and not by trickery or fraud, or gew-gaws or six-penny 
 plays, but what I have accumulated has been accumulated hon- 
 estly by laboring in a circle forty-two feet in diameter, the ring. 
 (Applause.) The question may arise what have I done with my 
 money? In order that my many friends may know what I have 
 done with it, I will say that since 1841 I have devoted to chari- 
 table and patriotic societies, and have given away to assist in 
 succoring the poor, wounded, sick, and oppressed, over a million 
 and a half dollars, and I have the documents to prove it. (Loud 
 cheers.) So you see how much good can be accomplished by 
 laboring to benefit mankind. I have always endeavored to put 
 this fortune which has been given me to proper use, and have 
 ever been ready to listen to the voice of sorrow and distress; con- 
 stantly eager to do good with it, that I might say that I am grate- 
 ful for these gifts. I might have done more, I might have done 
 better, but I have been as judicious in carrying out my plans as 
 my humble ability would admit. How rejoiced I am to think 
 that God has enabled me to do what I have, and yet left me an 
 abundance of this world's cheer for my wife and children. (Ap- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 153 
 
 plause.) And now I would say to you, young men, in starting out 
 in life, be mindful that you can do good; never close your hearts 
 to the appeal of hunger, sorrow, or distress, but try constantly to 
 relieve the wants of suffering humanity. Be an ornament to so- 
 ciety, mindful of your dependence upon the Giver of all good, and 
 when you do this, you can look forward with hope to the time 
 when you can expect to receive a crown of glory. That God may 
 bless you and prosper you all is the heartfelt wish of your humble 
 servant, Dan Eice. 
 
 COL. DAN EICE'S FAEEWELL TO MILWAUKEE. 
 (From the Milwaukee News.) 
 
 Dan Eice's Last Visit: Dan, the original, the remarkable, 
 the innovator, the home jester, and the happy humorist has come, 
 and — we pen it with sincere regret — gone forever. He made his 
 brief visit among us as brilliant and pleasing as we had a right to 
 expect from his ability and popularity. Of the character of the 
 performances, we have already spoken. Those of yesterday were 
 equal in merit to their predecessors and received the same hearty 
 commendation from the public. 
 
 The exhibition of last evening was rendered more than ordinar- 
 ily remarkable by the famous address of Colonel Eice, an address 
 which, for earnest eloquence, pathos, and power, deserves a better 
 chronicling than the reporting facilities of a circus tent admitted 
 of. After gracefully thanking his Milwaukee friends for their 
 continued countenance, he pertinently and beautifully reverted 
 to his own eventful career and defended his profession from the 
 mistaken aspersions ignorantly or maliciously cast upon it. 
 Naturally and properly the occasion called forth reference to the 
 disposition of the large fortunes acquired during his thirty years' 
 of arenic experience. "We, as humble chroniclers of events, have 
 been especially interested in the career of the famous clown and 
 jester, Dan Eice, for a number of years, and know of his many 
 large charities which are creditable both to his heart and head. 
 
 We bid Dan Bice adieu with regret, not only as one who has 
 from our earliest, years afforded us many hours of recreation, but 
 as a pattern of unostentatious and wide liberality who has fur- 
 nished an example well worthy of imitation and respect. 
 
154 REMINISCENCES OE DAN KICE 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 A SERIES OF SENSATIONAL, SPECTACULAR, AND GIGANTIC 
 ENTERPRISES — COL. RICE'S GREATEST VENTURE — UNPAR- 
 ALLELED SUCCESSES — A PINNACLE OF PECUNIARY PROFITS 
 — THE WORLD-FAMOUS PARIS PAVILION — AN ALADDIN'S 
 FLYING PALACE — AN ALEXANDER OF THE ARENA — A PRE- 
 MONITION — THE TELLTALE CREVICE — A DREADFUL DIS- 
 ASTER. 
 
 IN the year 1868 Colonel Eice identified himself with the Fore- 
 paugh Circus, receiving $1,000 a week and expenses. The 
 following season he purchased, at a cost of $10,000, the steamboat 
 " Will S. Hays," so named after the popular Western poet. He 
 toured the principal cities from St. Paul to New Orleans, giving 
 the closing exhibition at St. Louis. About this time Avery 
 Smith, John A. Nathans, and Grirard Quick formed a copartner- 
 ship which subsequently was known in the circus world as the 
 "Fiat-Foot Party." How they came to be branded with this 
 lugubrious title Uncle Dan knoweth not, except, as he facetiously 
 suggests, because they were always walking " on their uppers." 
 Under their management was a troupe of Italian performers, 
 which Dan Eice, when he reached Memphis in the spring of 1870 
 consolidated with his great show. This mammoth institution 
 up to that date represented beyond doubt the greatest arenic tal- 
 ent that two continents could produce. It was the most sensa- 
 tional, spectacular, and gigantic arenic entertainment ever wit- 
 nessed in the United States. Never before had such a combina- 
 tion of circus performers been massed under one canopy. Every 
 artist was an unchallenged world champion.in his class. Beauty, 
 merit, and muscle were combined to an unprecedented and ex- 
 traordinary degree; all in all it proved to be the most elaborate, 
 elegant, novel, and varied entertainment which Dan Eice, as 
 manager and proprietor, ever presented to the public. This vast 
 circus combine made an extended tour of the Mississippi and its 
 tributary streams, visiting the principal cities and towns of the 
 South and Southwest. Some idea of its magnjtude may be de- 
 rived from the fact that it employed two steamers, the " Will S. 
 Hays " and " Dan Eice, Jr.," the former to transport the small 
 army of performers, the magnificent stud of horses, and the gen- 
 eral paraphernalia of a great show, and the latter to carry the 
 advertising contingents and the tons of illuminated and gorgeous 
 circus posters, to herald the coming of the largest show on earth 
 or water. From the organization to the disbandment of these 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 155 
 
 two unrivalled companies of artists, the veteran showman ex- 
 perienced the most gratifying triumphs of his professional life, 
 not alone in the popular applause and laudatory tributes of the 
 press, but in the monetary gains, which reached the very pinnacle 
 of pecuniary profits, in the enormous net return of over $125,000. 
 The succeeding season of 1870 found Colonel Eice again " ex- 
 ploring and exploiting," as he puts it, on the constant, tireless, 
 irrepressible scent after some new and still more startling devel- 
 opments with which to tickle the public palate. His instincts 
 for novel innovations were as marvellous as the rapidity with 
 which he caused his plans to materialize and take practical and 
 profitable form. He spurned the adapter's artifices — he was 
 original or nothing. Woolly horses, Mermaids, and What Is It's? 
 were not the mediums with which his creative brain sought to 
 help himself and humbug the public. As the successful news- 
 paper man must possess a natural nose for news to enable him to 
 rise above his fellows, and attract public recognition of his merits, 
 so Uncle Dan possessed a well-developed nose for novelties, " and 
 you may add a pretty prominent proboscis on physical lines at 
 that," I hear Uncle Dan laughingly hint over my shoulder as I 
 write. His ambition soon found its proper vent. Little wonder 
 then that he decided to purchase the world-famous Paris Pavilion 
 or Amphitheatre Portatif, which was effected in the spring of 
 1871. This undertaking outranked, strange to say, every pre- 
 vious venture of his sensational career. It seemed like the cap- 
 ping of a climax; surely he could go no higher; probably the 
 altitude was too great a risk; well it appeared to be an alternative 
 of the topmost rung or the bottom of the pit with Colonel Eice. 
 Whatever the result, Colonel Eice embarked in the enterprise 
 with his usual fund of indomitable pluck and doggedness of pur- 
 pose, and opened to the public this magnificent palace of amuse- 
 ment at St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 The purchase by Colonel Eice of this magnificent portable 
 amphitheatre, known as the " Paris Circus Pavilion," together 
 with the immense quantity of costly wardrobe, trappings, Gobelin 
 carpets, curtains, and general superb paraphernalia of the most 
 expensive material specially manufactured in Paris, therefore, 
 with a view of giving arenic exhibitions therein in the larger 
 cities of America, inaugurated a new and brilliant era in the 
 world of popular amusements, and was a daring innovation upon 
 the established and manifold discomforts and dangers heretofore 
 regarded as inseparable from and indispensable to circus perform- 
 ances, which Mr. Eice was assured the people would duly appre- 
 ciate and liberally reward. As this elegant realization of 
 Aladdin's Flying Palace was the only edifice of the kind in exist- 
 ence, or ever constructed, and had never been thrown open to the 
 
15G REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 public until that time, a brief chronicle of its origin, and a suc- 
 cinct description of its novel, ingenious, and perfect plan is neces- 
 sary and will be found of interest. 
 
 During the summer of 1866 five of the wealthiest and most 
 enterprising showmen of the United States conceived the idea of 
 establishing a circus composed of champion performers of the 
 New World, in Paris, during the great World's Fair, or Exposition 
 Universelle, of 1867. In furtherance of this project, and that 
 nothing might be wanting to successfully minister to the fastid- 
 ious taste and favorably impress the hypercritical populace of the 
 earth's gay capital, the services of the most celebrated architects 
 and mechanics of the day were employed, whose practical skill 
 and experience was for months devoted to, and an enormous sum 
 expended in, designing and minutely perfecting the Paris Circus 
 Pavilion, or " Amphitheatre Portatif d'Ete." This anomalous 
 yet complete, beautiful, and imposing structure was shipped to 
 Prance in a steamer specially chartered to transport the precious 
 freight; but owing to errors in advance management and the 
 vehement opposition engendered by its preceding fame in the 
 jealous, alarmed minds of managers to the manor born, was never 
 erected on, the then, Imperial soil. Its disappointed and un- 
 justly treated owners reshipped it to this country and carefully 
 stowed it away in New Orleans, where it had remained until 1871 
 in undeserved obscurity, with the exception of being partially put 
 up on one or two occasions for display, in hope of securing a pur- 
 chaser. The unfortunate experience of its proprietors seemed 
 to have somewhat demoralized them, and though exceptionally 
 confident when travelling the old, well-worn show route, their 
 nerve failed them in confronting the expense, risk, and labor 
 attendant upon the cis-Atlantic employment of their admirable 
 conception, and it remained a magnificent elephant upon their 
 hands, until rescued, the ensuing winter, from threatened obliv- 
 ion by Colonel Kice, who, recognizing at once its superior excel- 
 lence, reposing full as much faith in American as in foreign ap- 
 preciation, and reasonably reliant upon a thirty years' day and 
 night experience and acquaintance with the needs and wishes of 
 the amusement-loving public, became at once its proprietor and 
 the revolutionizer of the very circus system of which he had been, 
 for over a quarter of a century, the recognized leader. 
 
 The giant stride in the path of amusement progression, the 
 deference to the ease and security of the public, the radical 
 erasure of conventional ring-marks — the substitution of luxurious 
 comfort for torturing posture and obstructed vision, the trans- 
 formation of bellying and unstable canvas into firm-founded 
 and perfectly appointed amphitheatre — all this has not been con- 
 summated without an outlay and possible intervention of con- 
 
EEMINISCEKCES OF DAN KICE 157 
 
 tingencies that no one, save Dan Eice alone among the many able 
 and wealthy members of his profession had the spirit and confi- 
 dence in the people to assume. Of the size and completeness of 
 the pavilion, and the labor, expense, and responsibility involved 
 in its transportation and erection, a partial idea may be formed 
 from a consideration of the fact that, closely packed, it filled one 
 of the largest-sized freight cars, and an extra force of experienced 
 men, under a master of construction, was required to put it up 
 and handle it. 
 
 The interior view and diagram presented on a preceding page 
 represent with scrupulous accuracy its appearance, arrangement, 
 and capacity, and will aid the reader in locating the following 
 description, which is merely in the nature of a brief and su- 
 perficial sketch of its general appointments and prominent me- 
 chanical peculiarities, as no mere word painting can convey any 
 adequate conception of the magnificent coup d'ceil presented 
 by the vast circular auditorium, when deftly combined, in grace- 
 ful strength and harmonious design, the gorgeous hangings and 
 decorations bathed in a dazzling flood of gaslight. In order to 
 secure perfect symmetry, unyielding strength, and entire equality 
 of observation the sides of the pavilion were subdivided into 
 twenty-two sections, formed into a circle and supporting each 
 other at their termini upon the principle and ancient design of 
 the Great Solomon the keystone of the arch. This gave the build- 
 ing a diameter of 120 feet, making, of course, a total circumfer- 
 ence of 360 feet. Each of these sections was 16 feet in height 
 and composed of handsomely finished and substantial wooden 
 strips closely joined at the sides and dovetailed at the ends, assur- 
 ing mutual strength and support. 
 
 Let us, in the conveniently supposable absence of the gentle- 
 manly doorkeeper, pass free through the broad-arched central 
 entrance and avail ourselves of the opportunity to make our 
 "First appearance in the ring," and from the centre of that 
 ground dedicated to Hercules, Apollo, Mercury, and the Centaurs 
 take in the novel and attractive situation at a sweeping glance. 
 Your preconceived impressions of circus interiors, established 
 from dim childhood recollection, of a sort of tent, a screened and 
 inhabited lumber yard, where some nomadic lunatic has been ap- 
 parently engaged in a hasty and futile effort to square the circle 
 with a lot of treacherous and shifting planks, each one harder to 
 sit on than a stool of repentance, and nowhere a rest for the 
 weary dangling leg, will turn a double somersault and bring you 
 to the sudden conviction that after all there is something de- 
 cidedly new under the circus sun. 
 
 From the edge of the ring extends to the furthest verge of 
 the grand outer circle a matched floor with a sufficient ascending 
 
158 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 tendency to secure an uninterrupted view of the performance 
 from every part of the building, which in this desideratum it may 
 be here remarked is democratically perfect as far as seeing is con- 
 cerned, there being absolutely no preference in seats, all of which 
 were so arranged as to render it impossible for any one to obstruct 
 the view of others. 
 
 The division of seats as to classification begins at the ring; 
 those nearest there representing the parquette, in fact as well as 
 name, and being first on the price list. These premieres, as 
 they are designated in the diagram, contained five hundred and 
 forty luxurious, portable, cane-bottomed sofa seats in sections 
 of twenty-seven (27) each. They commanded the nearest view 
 of the performance and performers, and were therefore consid- 
 ered the most desirable. 
 
 Directly back of these parquette seats, and elevated consider- 
 ably above them, is a circle of forty-four (44) elegant private 
 boxes, designated in the diagram as " loges," divided by railings 
 handsomely finished in black walnut and each supplied with six 
 easy chairs. Many preferred these to seats in the parquette and 
 they were specially adapted for the cosy enjoyment of family 
 parties. Behind the loges was a lobby of three feet in width 
 running the entire circle of the building, for the use of visitors 
 and occupants of the loges. These did not at all interfere with 
 the occupants of the family circle who were behind. This family 
 circle, or secondes, which was raised gradually to the outer wall, 
 and in turn raised several feet above the boxes, contained over 
 1,000 chairs. This was a very commodious station and afforded 
 an excellent view of the whole house. Behind the secondes was 
 another lobby of four feet wide, touching the wall and running 
 around the entire circumference, which was also reserved for 
 promenaders. 
 
 Immediately opposite one another were two very noticeable 
 elevations. One, that of the main entrance, was originally in- 
 tended as the Grand Imperial Box for the special honor and 
 glory of his late Majesty, Napoleon III. Colonel Kiee, in grateful 
 appreciation of invaluable favors and kindness, rededicated it, 
 this time to the Eepublican Majesty of the Free Press of the 
 land, to whose representatives its exclusive use was cordially and 
 respectfully tendered. Here all necessary writing materials, etc., 
 were provided for editorial use. The elevation opposite above the 
 mysterious dressing-room curtain was reserved to the splendid 
 orchestra of tha circus, under the leadership of the distinguished 
 young Prof. Edgar Mentor. 
 
 The building was brilliantly lighted with gas, there being in 
 addition to the powerful star centre-pole chandeliers, candela- 
 bra, with globes, upon each post around the circle of boxes, and a 
 
MONUMENT ERECTED TO THE SOLDIEKS OF PENNSYLVANIA AT GIRAUD, PA. 
 
KEHINISCENCES 01? DAN EICE 159 
 
 row of the same around the family circle, besides the burners in 
 the editorial box and orchestra. 
 
 Special attention had been paid to the important matter of 
 ventilation, which was secured by an opening of some four feet 
 in width, extending all the way round the top of the sides, and 
 provided with a canvas screen of elegant design, which could be 
 raised or lowered, according to the thermometrical and baromet- 
 rical dictation. 
 
 Finally, this splendid establishment, which could on occasion 
 comfortably seat over 3,000 people, was canopied with a canvas 
 top the peak of which soared fully sixty feet above the earth. 
 It was manufactured of a newly discovered material, transparent 
 to the sight, but almost as impervious to water as an otter's back. 
 
 All in all this unique structure was the most elegant edifice of 
 its kind ever dedicated to the God of laughter by so worthy a son 
 of Momus as the subject of these memoirs. 
 
 * * *'* * * * * * 
 
 The following years, from 1872 to 1877, were marked by the 
 same restless, insatiable thirst and passion for " the something 
 new." The Alexander of the arena was ever alert for some un- 
 conquered or undiscovered field for his masterful and ambitious 
 nature, to enable him to add to his almost unbroken series of 
 managerial triumphs. No venture, however risky, no enterprise, 
 however hazardous, checked his progressive and equally aggres- 
 sive ambition. His native versatility of expression was only 
 equalled by his limitless love of variety. Hippodrome and Bac- 
 ing Associations which he organized no sooner served their popu- 
 lar purpose, than a circus of trained horses followed as an accom- 
 plished fact. A little later he " starred " with the Stowes' Circus 
 throughout the South. 
 
 A well-nigh miraculous escape from a shocking death attended 
 a visit made about this time by Colonel Eice to the pit of a lead 
 mine, at Eoseclair on the Ohio Eiver, about five miles below 
 Elizabeth. Uncle Dan had decided to show at this mining town 
 and give a 'benefit there in aid of the sappers' families, many of 
 whom some time previous had been rendered destitute by the 
 devastation caused by the ravages of fire and flood. Accepting 
 an invitation to accompany Mr. Chittendon, the mining superin- 
 tendent, on a visit into the labyrinth of lead, Colonel Eice was soon 
 at the bottom of the main shaft. After making a few minutes' 
 round of inspection, it was suggested that a visit be made to 
 where a large body of miners were employed, when Uncle Dan 
 could make known, after an introduction, the benevolent pur- 
 pose of his visit. About thirty feet from the main shaft Mr. 
 Eice, whilst examining the reculiar construction of the roofing 
 and shoring system, noticed directly over head a great seam in a 
 
160 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 chamber braced by heavy beams, the fissure extending some dis- 
 tance down and diagonally towards the well of the main shaft. 
 He imagined as he noted the deep crevice that it appeared, to 
 his distorted vision, to open and close, widen and warp from 
 time to time. Suddenly he became possessed of an uncanny 
 premonition, a sense of impending disaster, and turning rather 
 abruptly to Mr. Chittendon requested him to defer his intended 
 visit to the miners until the following day, pleading meanwhile 
 personal discomfiture due to his unusual surroundings. A few 
 minutes later, when Superintendent Chittendon and Colonel Eice 
 had reached terra firma, a sudden sound, half-rumble, half -roar, 
 accompanied by a quivering sensation as if the ground beneath 
 their feet was as so much shifting sand, and followed by a dense 
 cloud of smoke from a distant shaft, forecasted the horrible 
 holocaust that followed. In twenty minutes the great cavern 
 of lead collapsed, burying the unfortunate miners in its ruins. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS — BREASTING THE TIDE — SINKING OF 
 THE STEAMBOAT " DAMSEL" — " EXCELSIOR'S " EEMAEKABLE 
 EESCUE — JOHN HOGAN'S HEROISM — COL. BICE'S ROYAL 
 RECEPTION AT SAN FRANCISCO — MRS. MARK HOPKINS'S 
 FRANK AVOWAL — ONE OF THE MOST PAINFUL, PLEASANT, 
 AND PROFITABLE INCIDENTS IN COL. RICE'S CAREER — 
 TWO UNPARALLELED MISFORTUNES — A RAILROAD FIRE 
 AND FINANCIAL FAILURE, BRINGING RUIN TO THE 
 GREAT CLOWN — TWO FORTUNES SWEPT AWAY — A PROVI- 
 DENTIAL INCIDENT. 
 
 THE succeeding six years, crowded as they were with the di- 
 versified interests and manifold incidents inseparable from 
 life on the road, only served to throw new lights and shadows 
 on Uncle Dan's kaleidoscopic career. Now the shadows were 
 growing deeper, tinged with the blinding mists of domestic and 
 financial complications, then again a silver strand fringed the 
 gloomiest prospects. The indomitable spirit of Uncle Dan began 
 to bend under the strain. Business reverses occurred and re- 
 curred with startling rapidity, at unexpected intervals. Mis- 
 fortunes seemed to crowd thick and fast upon his heels. Bank- 
 rupted, crushed with weight of accumulated debts, and broken in 
 health, Colonel Eice was forced to face fearful odds to breast the 
 tide which had set in against him. Still with heroic persistence 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 161 
 
 he fought on to recover his old prestige and its rewards. In the 
 summer of 1879, while in transit from St. Louis to Northern 
 Nebraska, a calamity overtook the great show about seventy-five 
 miles below Decatur on the Missouri Eiver. The steamboat 
 
 Damsel," which was conveying the entire circus exhibits, em- 
 bracing not only the entire property necessary to an arenic enter- 
 tainment, but treasures of untold value to Colonel Kice and his 
 employees was destroyed by fire — all in all a most disastrous and 
 disheartening experience. The steamer and cargo proved an ir- 
 redeemable loss, with but one exception, the peerless blind equine 
 marvel, "Excelsior," who was enabled to swim ashore in the 
 terrifying storm, guided by his faithful groom, John Hogan. 
 
 From Cincinnati to San Francisco in the year 188®, Colonel 
 Eice went overland with the John Eobinson troupe. 
 
 A remarkable circumstance in connection with this visit to the 
 Golden Gate, and which at the time became the all-absorbing 
 subject of the circus world, was developed by the fact that this 
 circus combination was doomed on all sides by the devotees of the 
 sawdust circle to be a dismal and most disastrous undertaking. 
 It was dubbed, and apparently justly so, a makeshift affair, a sort 
 of counterfeit presentment in the circus line. On the whole a 
 second-hand show of the most antiquated type. In truth, Uncle 
 Dan was to enact the Herculean role of a " circus colossus," bear 
 the brunt of the whole business, prove to be the bright particular 
 star, the supreme satellite around which every other performing 
 appendange was to scintillate, pretty much as a tallow dip might, 
 through some astronomical miracle, be suffered to wink and 
 wither in the wagging wake of a comet's tail. But the dismal 
 and disastrous prediction of the past proved far from verification 
 in the near-by future, at least in one direction. Whether Uncle 
 Dan proved to be the all-absorbing orb, or the appendages builded 
 better than the circus critics knew; or whether an estimable and 
 wealthy lady, by one touch of nature proved a mascot to the 
 alleged misfit menage, one fact survives all shafts of prophetic 
 and forecasted failure, inasmuch as that tour netted a profit of 
 well-nigh $300,000. When the Colonel, with the "Eobinson 
 Eovers," reached Frisco, he was confronted with a condition of 
 things wholly unparalleled in all his circus career. The city took 
 on a holiday dress. The mining spirit of '49 dominated, per- 
 meated everything. The route of the grand street parade pre- 
 sented scenes hitherto without precedent in the history of the 
 empire city of the Pacific slope. The home-coming of a con- 
 quering hero, laden with the priceless treasures of foreign con- 
 quest may, in a measure, serve to reflect to the mind's eye of the 
 reader some idea of the overwhelming character of the ovation 
 which greeted the Prince of Jesters as he was escorted through 
 11 
 
162 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 the city. The business as veil as residential portions of the line 
 of march furnished a bewilderingly beautiful picture, the build- 
 ings being decorated with bunting, banners, bannerets, and other 
 devices, in which Old Glory's colors blended again. Flags and 
 flowers flanked the procession as it wended its way amid the 
 dense mass of humanity that greeted its progress. Floral arches 
 of every conceivable design bridged streets and avenues, great 
 banners, emblazoned with the inscriptions "Welcome to Dan 
 Eice," " Hail to the Prince of Jesters," etc., paid flattering tribute 
 to the genial and popular Uncle Dan. A somewhat sensational 
 incident occurred during the passage of this most triumphal spec- 
 tacle. A wheel became detached from one of the chariots pre- 
 ceding the carriage which Colonel Eice occupied. The accident 
 happened in front of Busch's Hotel. The Colonel's vehicle was 
 quickly surrounded by anxious and enthusiastic friends and ad- 
 mirers. Old " Forty-niners " hurried forward and started to un- 
 hitch the horses and bear off, on their stalwart shoulders, the 
 laughing but embarrassed occupant. Presently a handsome 
 woman, whose charming face was familiar to the excited and 
 bustling bystanders, elbowed her way through the throng and 
 reached tne side of the now rescued Eice. Extending her hand 
 she exclaimed, " "Why, Dan, how are you; don't you know me? " 
 In the crush and confusion Colonel Eice, for a moment, evidently 
 failed to meet the situation with his wonted gallantry. In a 
 flash a pair of feminine arms encircled his expansive shoulders; 
 well, something happened, something, perhaps, too divinely fine 
 for the most adroitly delicate touch of biographic description to 
 attempt to portray. If the situation then and there was half as 
 trying in the concrete to Colonel Eice as it is now in the abstract 
 to his biographer, the discomfiture of the genial jester must have 
 indeed been complete. But then there are circumstances, if 
 not situations, when the truthful chronicler is constrained to 
 suppress her emotions, and impelled by a sense of duty to record 
 what she hears, if what she sees should only be viewed as through 
 a glass darkly. When Uncle Dan, however, a moment later had 
 pleaded many apologies for his apparent forgetfulness, why then 
 and there something was said which brought up the Colonel with 
 such a sudden round turn, that doubtless all Californians in 
 general, and 'Friscans in particular, to this day, have but to 
 recall to be convulsed. Still retaining the blushing and be- 
 wildered Eice in her embrace, and within earshot of a hundred 
 spectators, the fair admirer of other days, with an artless, girlish 
 abandon, enthusiastically exclaimed, "Why, Uncle Dan, I 
 danced with you in my native town. You hugged and kissed 
 me then, and we were very good friends until — well, until you 
 pinched me in the stomach and I got mad, but never mind, let 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 163 
 
 us make up now." The effect was electrical. For a brief mo- 
 ment the onlookers regarded alternately with amazement the 
 withal thoroughly self-possessed lady and the confused and over- 
 wrought Bice; amazement, however, was rapidly followed by 
 mingling roars of laughter and applause. Speaking of the oc- 
 casion in later years' Colonel Eice said it proved to be at once 
 the most painful, pleasurable, and profitable experience of his 
 entire existence in the show business, adding that it was the: 
 prime cause of the success of the show, the extraordinary incident 
 having been exploited by the press and public to the utmost limit. 
 The charming cause of this most spectacular and sensational 
 scene was the beautiful and great-hearted widow of Mark Hop- 
 kins, the California multi-millionaire. This estimable lady, 
 during the stay of the show at 'Frisco, expended upwards of 
 $1,000 through the purchase and distribution of circus tickets to 
 the school children, orphans, and waifs within the city's limits. 
 
 The years of 1872 and 1873 were marked by two events pa- 
 thetically suggestive, not only in their nearness, but in the order 
 of their happening, events so strangely reciprocal that they will 
 be invested with a peculiar interest to the reader, resulting as 
 both did in losses practically beyond redemption. The first oc- 
 curred when fire destroyed, in one of the cars of the train con- 
 veying Colonel Eice's troupe on its farewell tours through the 
 West, the priceless treasures of a lifetime of patient hoarding; 
 trophies, tributes, testimonials, gifts of the rarest and most costly 
 devices set in precious stones and prized beyond all pecuniary 
 standards of value, gathered together from all parts of the world, 
 expressive of the esteem, the friendship, and the affectionate in- 
 terest in which he was held, and which bound him, like so many 
 golden links, to the professional and social triumphs of the past. 
 
 The greatest loss, however, was sustained in the destruction of 
 the data, diaries, scrap-books, clippings, letters, portraits, etc., 
 which were to form the material of these memoirs. As a result, 
 the reader may, in some small degree, appreciate the herculean 
 task involved in the preparation of this work, necessitating, as it 
 did, an enormous expenditure of time and money. Following 
 closely in the train of these seemingly hopeless conditions which 
 confronted Colonel Eice when he saw the basic source of the in- 
 spiration wherewith to build his autobiographic sketch of his 
 checkered life forever swept away, there came another and appar- 
 ently more overwhelming calamity when the great banking house 
 of Jay Cooke & Co. announced that it could not meet its obliga- 
 tions (1873). The collapse of this financial tower came like the 
 shock of an earthquake over the civilized world. It was a tre- 
 mendous catastrophe. Colonel Eice was a depositor, in fact, the 
 bulk of his fortune, $80,000, was in the vaults of that firm. The 
 
164 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 night prior to the crash Colonel Rice, who was in Indianapolis 
 at the time, received a telegram from a friend reciting the ru- 
 mored involvement. At midnight he chartered a special car and 
 locomotive and hurried to Washington. But the harm had been 
 done; the great banking institution had closed its doors and 
 Uncle Dan's possessions were forever lost. It was to him a mad- 
 dening situation. The pecuniary loss was bad enough — it dazed 
 him. But while his philosophic nature enabled him to meet 
 that disheartening aspect, he became desperate, dangerously so, 
 when he recalled how Jay Cooke, his confidant and friend, be- 
 trayed and wrecked him. The sense of monetary loss was as 
 nothing to the realization of the sacrificed friendship, confidence, 
 and trust which he reposed in the great, and, withal honest, 
 financier. It was gall and wormwood to the soul of the genial 
 Uncle Dan. For two days and nights he sought out the cause 
 of this apparently unpardonable sin. Every device, every pre- 
 text, every influence was brought to bear to secure an interview 
 with Mr. Cooke. The failures in that direction were indeed most 
 fortunate, providentially so. It may be added that the failure 
 also involved many of Colonel Rice's associates, among whom 
 was his ringmaster, whose life savings, $20,000, were swallowed 
 up in the collapse. It also may be of interest to note that the 
 same personal friend at Washington who apprised Colonel Rice 
 of the gossiped embarrassment of the big banking firm was an 
 intimate of President Johnson's, hence the latter's rapid move in 
 withdrawing $50,000 the night preceding the banker's downfall. 
 The years 1884 and 1885 found Colonel Rice on the lecture plat- 
 form touring the Southwestern States. This new departure was 
 the signal for innumerable popular demonstrations throughout 
 his itinerary, surpassing, certainly from a social viewpoint, every 
 previous reception accorded the versatile veteran in the palmiest 
 days of his circus career. The succeeding year Colonel Rice 
 sought again to retrieve his somewhat impaired fortunes by em- 
 barking in another gigantic enterprise. At Cairo, 111., he con- 
 structed a floating opera house with which he made a circuit of 
 the South. It was not a financial success. Seemingly it was the 
 beginning of the end; mayhap it marked the close of the pro- 
 fessional career of the most gifted man that ever, garbed in mot- 
 ley, entered the canopied arena of the circus ring. Failing 
 health and financial losses again impelled the peerless Prince of 
 Jesters to feel sadly in need of a well-merited retirement, perma- 
 nent perhaps in his isolation from public view as an entertainer 
 in r61es in which he had won his greatest laurels. What shape 
 destiny has decreed his life story should develop these pages have 
 at least sought to faintly reflect, and yet, however vague in out- 
 lines the marvellous tale may prove, sufficient light, it is hoped, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 165 
 
 has been thrown upon the background of his noble character to 
 inspire the reader as well as the recorder with a grateful tribute 
 to Father Time that so remarkable a man lived so long to link 
 so great a past with our younger generation. From the abun- 
 dant proceeds of his ministry of mirth schools have been built, 
 soldiers' monuments erected, seamen's homes founded, orphan 
 asylums established, and churches endowed. Throughout the 
 length and breadth of his native land the memory of his munifi- 
 cent deeds will be in itself an enduring monument. To his gen- 
 erous countrymen and the patriotic, peerless women of three 
 generations this book is now most respectfully and most affection- 
 ately dedicated. 
 
RICE'S PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 MEN HE MET— INCIDENTS AND IMPEESSIONS— 
 TBIBUTES— CAUSTIC CEITICISMS. 
 
 THE first circus known in the history of Ancient Eome was 
 the Circus Maximus, located on a strip of land between 
 the Palatine and Aventine Hills. This was a glorious period of 
 Eoman history. Since then a long line of " fools," " gestours," 
 " jongleurs," etc., has descended to these days. The permanence 
 of the character of the jester is not surprising when the useful- 
 ness of his functions is considered. " To shoot folly as it flies," 
 and with pointed wit to strike and burst the bubble of the hour, 
 and to do so, evoking the laughter of an audience without causing 
 a pang or blush, is no mean accomplishment. We need not won- 
 der, therefore, to find the names and sayings of " fools " carried 
 • down the stream of history with those of kings and poets and 
 warriors. One of these waifs is familiar to the readers of " Edin- 
 burgh Eeview," though few are aware that its caustic motto, by 
 Publius Syrus, " Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur," is the 
 sentence of a Eoman clown. The editor of Bee's Encyclopaedia 
 remarks: 
 
 "We with difficulty can imagine some of the grave and 
 judicious reflections of Syrus to be extracted from the panto- 
 mimes which he exhibited on the stage. The applause given to 
 the pieces of Plautus and Terence did not prevent even the better 
 sort from admiring these pantomimic farces when enlivened by 
 wit and not debased by indecency. The mimographic poets of 
 the Eomans, who chiefly distinguished themselves in these 
 dramatic exhibitions, were Cneius Matius, Decimus Liberius, 
 Publius Syrus, under Julius Caesar; Philiston, under Augustus; 
 Silo, under Tiberius; Virgilius Eomanus, under Trajan, and Mar- 
 cus Mareellus, under Antoninus. But the most celebrated of all 
 these were Decimus Liberius and Publius Syrus. The first di- 
 verted Julius Caesar so much that he made him a Eoman knight 
 and conferred on him the privilege of wearing gold rings. He 
 
168 BEMISTISCENCES OP DAN RICE 
 
 had such a wonderful talent at seizing ridicule as to make every 
 one dread his abilities. To this Cicero alludes in writing to Tre- 
 butius, when he was in Britain with Julius Csesar, telling him 
 that if he was absent much longer inactive he must be expected 
 to be attacked by the mime Liberius. Publius Syrus, however, 
 gained so much more applause that he retired to Puteoli, where 
 he consoled himself for his disgrace and the inconstancy of the 
 people, and the transient state of human affairs by the following 
 admirable verse: 
 
 " ' Cecidi ego: vade et qui sequitur: laus est publica.' 
 " A similar sentiment is thus expressed by Dr. Johnson, 
 
 " ' New fashions rise, and different views engage, 
 Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.' 
 
 " In England the jester was formerly held in considerable es- 
 teem. It should be noted, however, that there was generally a 
 distinction between the office of the ' Jester ' and that of the 
 ' fool,' the former being deemed honorable. It was frequently 
 filled by an educated gentleman, while the latter was considered 
 menial. One Berdic ' joculator ' to William the Conqueror was 
 presented with three towns and five caracutes in Gloucestershire. 
 Will Sommers, jester to Henry VII., was also a man of mark 
 and his portrait is preserved at Hampton Court. Archie Arm- 
 strong, court fool to James I., must have been a great favorite, 
 for that tobacco-eating monarch actually granted him a patent 
 for the manufacture of pipes. And it is even surmised that the 
 prince of all dramatists and poets, Shakespeare himself, once ful- 
 filled an engagement as jester. There are four years of his life 
 unaccounted for, unless the clue may be found in a letter ad- 
 dressed in that period by Sir Philip Sidney to his father-in-law, 
 Walsingham. He says, ' I wrote to you a letter by Will, my 
 Lord of Leicester's jesting player.' Mr. Bruce, in the first vol- 
 ume of the Shakespeare Society's papers, asks, ' Who was Will? ' 
 Besides Shakespeare there were only two players of the name 
 known at that time. 
 
 " As might be expected, the true ideal of a professional jester 
 is to be found in Shakespeare's ' Yorick/ the King's jester, the 
 absence of whose eloquent and loving lips Hamlet mourns when 
 contemplating his skull. ' A fellow of infinite jest, of most ex- 
 cellent fancy,' he elevated or rather restored in his representa- 
 tion the character of a clown from that of a coarse buffoon to that 
 of a merry doctor of philosophy, sometimes attempting the cure 
 of vice and folly after the manner desired by the cynical Jaques. 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 169 
 
 Invest me in my motley; give me leave 
 
 To speak my mind and I will through and through 
 
 Cleanse the foul body of the infected world 
 
 If they will patiently receive my medicine.' 
 
 Sometimes purging out ' loathed melancholy ' by the exhibition 
 of wholesome mirth, sometimes brightening even cheerfulness 
 itself by means of 
 
 " ' Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, 
 Nods and becks and wreathed smiles, 
 Sport that wrinkled care derides 
 And laughter holding both his sides,' 
 
 and at all times infusing the spirit of wisdom in the wine of mer- 
 riment. The advantages of the motley suit are very apparent. 
 The sense of the ludicrous is awakened by the eye before it is 
 excited by the ear, and thus the way is prepared for the pros- 
 perity of the jest which, as Shakespeare says, lies principally ' in 
 the ear of him that hears it.' Like the wearers of other profes- 
 sional costumes, legal and clerical, jesters are privileged to say 
 and do many things which would not be kindly received from 
 laymen. And as children require pills to be gilded and medi- 
 cine to be sweetened, so many a salutary and unpalatable lesson 
 may be administered in the guise of a joke. These things con- 
 sidered, it may be doubted whether the proportion of folly is not 
 greater in the wearers of sober suits than in those disguised as 
 clowns and fools." 
 
 The first place among the eulogies of our Prince of Jesters 
 must be given to the following sonnet by a true poet: 
 
 " Full oft thy efforts in the mimic art 
 
 I've watched, and marvelled at those facile powers 
 That through the bright and swiftly gliding hours 
 
 That through the bright and swiftly gliding hours 
 In truth I scarcely know what is thy part, 
 
 Whether to play the fool in sparkling showers 
 
 Of jest, or in this sinning world of ours 
 With sterling wisdom to amend the heart. 
 
 But this I know— thy genial wit for me 
 Hath stirred life's pulses beating weak and slow, 
 And chased the heavy shadows from my brow 
 
 And lit my languid eye with healthful glee. 
 And so I pray thy gifts may long remain 
 To gladden future days and banish care and pain." 
 
 " A merry heart doeth good like medicine," and is generally 
 the offspring of benevolence seeking to diffuse the happiness it 
 
170 KEMINISCENCES OP BAN RICE 
 
 enjoys. The veteran jester here self-portrayed is an eminent 
 example of this rule and of the reward of the unselfish. " Love, 
 honor, reverence, and troops of friends," are his, and his many 
 charities may cover the imperfection his enemies would discover. 
 It will readily he believed that our task has been easy and 
 agreeable. Thousands can testify of our dictator, that 
 
 " A merrier man within the limits of becoming mirth 
 I never passed an hour's talk withal." 
 
 In conclusion we can only wish that you may have as much 
 pleasure in reading as we have had in " taking the life " of the 
 "Jester Clown," Dan Eice. 
 
 " Three decades ago I doffed the costume of a clown. But my 
 memory reverts to the good old days of the motley when I made 
 mirth for the multitude and money for myself. I am disgusted 
 with the circus of to-day, which is no more than a big show. 
 The idea of performances in four rings at once is absurd, while 
 the clown, who in former days was the standard and star at- 
 traction of every circus, has sunk to the level of a mere panto- 
 mimist. The market rule with these big aggregations seems to 
 be quantity at the expense of quality. Oh! for the circus of our 
 daddies, when the entrance of one into Wayback or Torpidtown 
 meant a holiday for all the country round. The circus of to-day 
 is but a mountebank show. 
 
 " I think the general decadence of the clown in this land has 
 been brought about by the encroachments on the field of fun by 
 the newspaper paragrapher. He has, with his flashes of humor 
 and wit, gradually forced the men of the motley out of sight; his 
 audience is more readily reached, but is not so responsive to 
 subtle wit as when it is presented keenly by an inflection or 
 modulation of the voice. The retirement of the clown has not 
 been caused at all by a dearth of mirth-makers and satirists. 
 Humor is made by Dame Nature in her merriest moods. It is, 
 withal, a scarce commodity; there is little of it in the market. 
 A humorist is by the Almighty made. A wit is a feather, he 
 shifts with every wind; a satirist, a rod — he cuts; a humorist one 
 of the grandest works of God. Bob Ingersoll was not a wit. He 
 simply catered to the vitiated appetites of the uncultured minds 
 of the masses. Artemus Ward, Mark Twain, and other great 
 humorists have arrayed against them a long record of uncredited 
 jests, puns, yarns, and humor stolen from the ring. I class 
 them not as genuine humorists, such as Minor Griswold, who was 
 born to his humor, and reeled it out not with a crank, but as the 
 ebullition of his nature prompts it. "Wit comes by rote. The 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 1T1 
 
 secret of the modern humorist's success is best known by the true 
 humorist. But, alas, this is an age of plagiarists! I never said 
 a witty thing, to recognize it as such at the time, but my mental 
 storehouse has at intervals leaked little drops of wisdom and 
 panned out nuggets of sense. Park Benjamin called me as 
 scathing a satirist as Ben Jonson. Let the people judge of the 
 truth of this. 
 
 "But about the clown. People used to go to a circus to laugh. 
 I discovered that fact early in my career, and made money out 
 of it. A successful clown must possess more intellect, ability, 
 and originality than a comedian. He must be a crack mimic, an 
 elocutionist, a satirist, and so ready-witted that he, to the ring- 
 master, is a stupid fool, a buffoon; to the audience a wise man, 
 whose every remark is impregnated with philosophy as well as 
 humor. This is the dual character of the true clown. No mat- 
 ter how badly a clown may feel, no matter what sorrows and 
 cares may burden his life, while with laugh and jest and sparkling 
 quip he seeks to allay the sufferings of others, he must conceal 
 his own. More than once I have played with a breaking heart 
 and was at my best in making the multitudes merry. Ah, there 
 has been pathos in the jester's life, tears as well as laughter, sun- 
 shine chased away by shadows. Ah, well, life is like a cocktail- 
 it needs a dash of bitters to make it palatable. 
 
 " About myself? Well, I achieved greatness in life at an early 
 age. 'Twas when I was scrub-deck on a Mississippi flatboat that 
 I became great. I carried the tails of President William Henry 
 Harrison's long great coat as he swept majestically down the 
 gangplank. But, unfortunately, my kindly office proved fatal. 
 I lifted his coat so high as to expose his thinly clad nether limbs 
 to the keen air until the President contracted the cold from 
 which he died. Thus was fulfilled the front end of Old Hickory 
 Jackson's prophecy about me. 
 
 "The clowns of European circuses were all pantomimists, 
 called trick clowns, or ' wiesers.' To America belongs the honor 
 of producing the first ' talking clown,' or jester, in the person of 
 Joe Blackburn, who made his appearance in England about 1831. 
 He was an uncle of the present Kentucky senator of the same 
 name. Joe was a scholar as well as a gentleman jester, and was 
 born in Mason County, Ky. A graduate of Dansville College, he 
 was highly cultured and possessed of marvellous wit, much wis- 
 dom, faultless grace, and Chesterfieldian manners. His chief 
 charms to the susceptible were his songs, sung in a mellow, pathet- 
 ically sweet voice never to be forgotten. His wit was pure and 
 sparkling, his jests and songs models of chasteness. Little won- 
 der that he was a man of many friends. W. F. Wallett, better 
 known in England and America as "the Queen's jester," was at 
 
172 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 the time a comedian of repute. He studied Blackburn's creation 
 of the clown, and from him drew his conception of the character. 
 Wallett was the beau ideal of a Touchstone. He was also a 
 collegian, well up in standard literature, a Shakespearian stu- 
 dent, and a widely read man. He became a clown, he told me, 
 because there was more money to be made by playing the fool. 
 Wallett had all the easy assurance, gentle ways, and polish of 
 society, but in my mind, had not, in its entirety, the right con- 
 ception of his character. He recited Shakespeare inimitably in 
 the ring whenever he could apply it to circumstances, interpret- 
 ing truly the language of the author. Now I had a different 
 idea of the character of the clown, and early won the title of 
 Shakespearian Jester by my little paraphrases of the Bard of 
 Avon, now so familiar to all schoolboys. Wallett made his first 
 American appearance in John Tryon's circus, in Astor Place, in 
 the fall of 1850. I made my debut in New York at S. B. Howes' 
 Circus, where Palmo's Opera House afterwards stood, in Cham- 
 bers Street. Wallett was a great drawing card in New York, 
 and attracted the attention of the elite. I was then clown 
 regnant to the American people. Although no direct challenge 
 had passed between Wallett and myself, it was generally under- 
 stood that we were pitted against each other in the contest for 
 public approval. With an eye to a sensation, I engaged Wallett 
 to play in my circus, thus narrowing down the contest for su- 
 premacy. As a result, a decided sensation was created. We 
 played to enormous business, opening in Ned Orleans. I took 
 a great liking to Wallett, introducing him at each performance 
 with merited praise, and seeing that his name appeared in larger 
 print than my own. 
 
 " Now for the difference between the two clowns. Wallett, 
 when occasion permitted, quoted Shakespeare in an eloquent, 
 impassioned manner that commanded admiration for his ability 
 and scholarly training. I followed with a paraphrase. For in- 
 stance, once Wallett quoted from ' Macbeth ' the familiar ' Is this 
 a dagger I see before me,' etc. When I came on with a great 
 flourish I paraphrased it thus: 
 
 " ' Is that a beefsteak I see before me 
 With the burnt side toward my hand? 
 Let me clutch thee! I have thee not, 
 And yet I see thee still in form as palpable 
 As that I ate for breakfast this morning.' 
 
 " That sort of wit delighted circus-goers all over the land. I 
 'arl a marked advantage over my beloved friend Wallet, in that 
 I had added to my comicalities by dancing, tumbling, leaping, 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 173 
 
 and riding. Wallett and I were great friends, though an ocean 
 separated me from that grand merrymaker, now gathered to his 
 fathers, but not until he had been honored with the title by 
 royalty itself of ' The Queen's Jester.' 
 
 " There is money in the circus business. All that's necessary 
 it to get it out. I have often been asked what was the highest 
 salary I ever received. For my services and the use of my name 
 for nine years I drew $1,000 a week. At the end of that time I 
 had to borrow my carfare home. A pig was the means of making 
 a showman of me. In 1841 I was a partner in a livery business 
 at Ferry and Front Streets, Pittsburg, when a man named Os- 
 borne, of Cazenovia, N. Y., came there to exhibit an educated 
 pig. I was so impressed with the tricks of the animal that I saw 
 big money in it. I sold out my share in the livery business, and 
 with the proceeds purchased Osborne's pig and started on the 
 road. Osborne afterward was a doorkeeper of the New York 
 Assembly. My pig made money for me. He told a person's 
 age by cards and indicated affirmative and negative answers by 
 motions of his head. My first hit I made with the pig was at 
 Greensburg, Pa. A Dutch farmer named Jack had recently had 
 his barn burned, and suspected that a recently discharged hand 
 had touched the fire. I heard of the fire and old Herr Jack's 
 suspicions and saw a rare opportunity for a rich joke and much 
 advertising. Jack and his wife were induced to visit my edu- 
 cated pig, and the farmer, after seeing the creature perform seem- 
 ingly wonderful feats of intelligence, asked me if the animal 
 could tell who fired his barn. I assured him gravely that the pig 
 possibly could tell him all about it. I had seen the suspected 
 incendiary, and ostensibly proceeded to describe him to the pig, 
 asking it occasionally if he was the man. From time to time the 
 pig nodded assent, and led the Dutchman to infer that it knew 
 the incendiary's age and habits of life. In amazement Herr 
 Jack declared the pig to be in league with the devil, as by no 
 other means could such a knowledge of the unseen be attained. 
 Farmer Jack at once had a warrant issued for the suspect's ar- 
 rest, and the pig and myself were subpoenaed as witnesses for the 
 State. I shall never forget that court scene. The judge had 
 been duly posted, and the crowd of spectators looked breathlessly 
 on while the pig gave the testimony that sent the accused to jail 
 for thirty days, for arson, as the Dutchman thought, but in real- 
 ity for disorderly conduct, for the pig's testimony was all a 
 farce, as the court officials knew I prompted. But the public was 
 in ignorance, and the news of the affair sped through all the 
 countrv. and brought thousands of people to see the educated 
 pig. That wap a clever strode of advertising. 
 
 " Subsequently I developed into the ' Young American Hercu- 
 
174 REMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 
 
 les,' and astonished the country folks by feats of strength, lifting 
 2,300 pounds with my back. Well, there are tricks in all trades 
 but ours. 
 
 " An amusing episode was in the training of elephants. Once 
 I was training a young elephant to stand on its head, a feat, by 
 the way, never before or afterwards accomplished, and was sud- 
 denly called away on business to another section of the country. 
 Before going I instructed my under-trainers about this particular 
 lesson, and thought my instruction would be faithfully carried 
 out. Imagine my consternation when I subsequently rejoined 
 the circus to find that my elephant would not stand on its head 
 as advertised on the show bills all over the country. I was in 
 a sad predicament, and, to add to my consternation, was arrested 
 at Elliottsville, N. Y., charged with obtaining money under false 
 pretenses, advertising what I was unable to exhibit. It was a 
 blue town, and I was hauled before a blue court. I explained 
 that it was all a mistake of my advertising agents, who had in- 
 advertently pasted the elephant pictures upside down on the 
 fences, so that they looked like those of a pachyderm standing 
 on its head. Strange to say, this story didn't go down. Then I 
 assured the court that my elephant could and would stand on its 
 head, but as it was a female, innate modesty, led it to decline to 
 make such a spectacle of itself save under cover of darkness. Of 
 course I was then honorably discharged. The story got into the 
 papers and was inexpensive advertising. 
 
 " Eeally, I had wonderful success as a trainer and subjugator 
 of wild beasts. With patience and an apt pupil I made a tight- 
 rope walker of the great elephant Lalla Eookh, who made her 
 appearance in that role at Niblo's. Besides, I subjugated the 
 fiercest of her kind that ever killed people in this country. 
 The secret of the wild animal trainer is tact. Will-power goes 
 for little, but judgment a long ways. Until my day, bearding a 
 lion in his den was thought the most daring feat of the circus 
 man, but I trained the kings of the forest so they played and 
 gambolled harmlessly about in the sawdust arena. The great 
 awe of the lion is inspired by his ferocious appearance. He 
 isn't so bloodthirsty as he looks. His growls are often for very 
 joy, but the audience don't know it. A lion always growls for 
 joy when his food appears, and grows to caress the hand that 
 feeds him. ' I always fed my lions while training them, and they 
 always growled with displeasure when I left them. But the pub- 
 lic does not understand it that way. Lion-training is not of 
 necessity dangerous, not more so than elephant training. I once 
 tamed a rhinoceros, a hitherto unaccomplished act. They had 
 been said to be untamable, but I taught mine a simple trick or 
 two that pleased the people vastly. However, a rhinoceros is, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 175 
 
 indeed, a veritable leatherhead and can't be taught much. 
 Horses and dogs are susceptible of much education, and lions can 
 be readily taught many of the tricks done by cats. 
 
 " The secret of making money with a good show lies in the 
 advertising of it. The only question is how to do the most effec- 
 tive advertising. I found no advertising more profitable than 
 that obtained by me or my circus being attacked from the pulpit, 
 which was sometimes the case, though I am, and for many years 
 have been, a stanch supporter of the Christian religion. Down 
 in Tennessee, in my money-making days, I caused to be given 
 a circus performance for the sole benefit of a church in the town 
 where we lay. Then the pastor of another church bitterly at- 
 tacked circuses in general, and mine and me in particular. His 
 attacks were reverted to in the ring, and I did my best to ridicule 
 him, but not his holy calling, and enlisted the people of that 
 section in the squabble. His name was Chapman, and. I shot 
 satire at him until, realizing his mistake, he withdrew his bat- 
 teries. But the war was so much inexpensive advertising for me. 
 Afterward I ran across this same clergyman living in Grenada, 
 Miss. I opened on him in the ring there, and he soon left the 
 field. "Up in New York State the Eev. Dr. Dunham, Baptist, 
 began a crusade against the devil and Dan Eice. The latter 
 looked out for himself, and the fight went so well that neither 
 Dr. Dunham nor the devil have been in that town since. 
 
 " Another method of advertising was also forced upon my at- 
 tention. It was being arrested. Several times I have been in 
 durance vile, with great benefit to my finances. Once I was ar- 
 rested and locked up in the old Blue Eagle Jail, in Elmira, and 
 the news was telegraphed far and wide that the biggest rascal 
 unhung was caged in that town. I stayed there a couple of 
 weeks, won the sympathies of the people, and when I emerged 
 from the jail gave circus performances there until I got nearly 
 all the money in town. I had been arrested for a miserable little 
 debt that I didn't owe, but I made it pay me big returns. This 
 event boomed business and put me on my feet again. The im- 
 prisonment I commemorated in a popular song of forty years ago, 
 ' The Blue Eagle Jail.' Several times in my life as a showman 
 I was arrested in towns where fanaticism's fires burned high, 
 charged with vagrancy. Mind you, vagrancy, and my profession 
 worth thousands a year to me. It took a strong argument at 
 times to secure my release, but I always came off victorious on 
 the merits of the case. In fact, I enjoyed the arrests, which were 
 the cheapest and most effective advertising my shows could get. 
 My old circus also got a great boom when one of my canvasmen 
 killed a man up York State by a blow with a neck yoke. The 
 affair cost me $13,000. The canvasman died a good Methodist 
 
176 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 a year or so ago, and but few people ever knew that he had killed 
 his man. 
 
 " When the war came on I hastened North, and though I never 
 carried a gun, Dan Eice's circus made money for patriotic pur- 
 poses. At the close of the war I settled down at Girard, Pa., 
 having there a magnificent country place on the edge of Lake 
 Erie. Attached to the premises was a splendid park of fine trees, 
 and to it, during a temporary absence, I sent a party of titled 
 Englishmen to shoot. I never saw them afterward, but I heard 
 from them. They had anticipated fine sport and big game, but 
 when they presented their passes and asked for the ' head for- 
 ester,' there arose a slight misunderstanding. My game preserve 
 was populated by a lame elk, three worn-out circus buffaloes, and 
 a couple of stuffed black bears. They went buffalo-hunting first, 
 but the critters refused to run; they shot the stuffed bears full 
 of bullets, and the lame elk followed them about like a lamb. 
 Then it gradually dawned upon them that they had been made 
 the victims of a practical joke, and they left Girard in high 
 dudgeon. 
 
 " And now to think, after all these years and all my narrow 
 escapes by field and flood, I am sitting here quietly in the twi- 
 light of advancing years, convinces me that there is a divinity 
 that shapes our ends. It seems strange that here at Long Branch 
 under such peculiar, quiet circumstances, after years of struggles 
 and triumphs, where my ancestry lived and died, I should have 
 solved the greatest of problems, the secret of contentment." 
 
 " Hey, Eube! " The Cry. 
 
 the ominous slogan of the old-time circus men — always 
 a prelude to battle — the canvasmen were famous 
 fighters, and were ever ready for trouble — times 
 have changed now, and the circus comes and goes 
 
 IN PEACE. 
 
 The circus fight is not what it used to be. Canvasmen have 
 forgotten the traditions of their younger days, and it is no un- 
 common thing for the whole circus to go into a town, show two or 
 three times and then gather up all the small boys and some of the 
 large girls and go on to the next town without having once heard 
 the cry of " Hey, Eube! " and without having seen or heard of 
 a single fight. 
 
 This is not the way it used to be. Time was when the circus 
 had to go about the country prepared to break heads as well as 
 hearts, and while the dandies of the company were making havoc 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 177 
 
 with the flighty young women who semed to think bareback 
 riding was the way to perfect happiness, the other men — the ones 
 whose talent lay in big muscle and hard fists— were usually busy 
 in leaving their print on the noses of all the bullies in town. 
 Older men of to-day will remember some of the fights back in the 
 days before the war, when it really looked as if the spirit of the 
 country had developed to such a point that a little blood-letting 
 was necessary, such as old Zach Chandler had said. But one does 
 not need to go back to antebellum eras. Circus fights continued 
 clear down to the end of the last decade, though in the past ten 
 years one seems to notice a marked falling off in number of 
 fatalities. 
 
 Showmen themselves used to keep a record of the hard towns, 
 and if they could get through one of them without a row they 
 felt like congratulating themselves. And they also kept a list 
 of the good fighters, and when the show season came along these 
 fellows with records had a much surer chance of employment 
 that did the men of whom the boss canvasmen knew nothing. 
 Cohoes, N. Y., used to be considered one of the hardest towns in 
 the country for a circus. It was a town that paid pretty well 
 if the show got through at all, but it was given up to the sluggers 
 from the iron works on show days, and the police had no more 
 control over affairs than if they had never been born. Oldtown, 
 Me., was another bad one, providing the show came along in the 
 spring or fall, but if it was in the middle of the season, when 
 the men were either in the woods or not yet come up from the 
 lower country, then the fights might not occur at all. Paterson, 
 N. J., was one of the hardest towns on the continent for circus 
 fights, and even Champaign, 111., is down on the showman's black- 
 book for a very combative name. 
 
 Scranton, Pa., and, indeed, every coal mining or iron working 
 district, was expected to furnish a fight every time the canvas 
 was raised in it. And it might surprise some people to know 
 that educational centres had a much worse name for this species 
 of lawlessness than did any of the rude districts of the unlettered 
 plains. It took unnumbered thumpings for the men at Yale to 
 learn they could not successfully lam the whole travelling out- 
 fit, but they seemed to have imbibed wisdom at last. Ann Arbor, 
 the seat of the Michigan University, was one of the last to learn 
 the same salutary lesson, but the advent of the railroad show and 
 the disbanding of the companies that were carried about the 
 country in wagons seemed to bring some degree of discretion 
 even to these young men. 
 
 Down at Jacksonville, Tex., in 1873, Eobinson's show under- 
 took to exhibit and they got into one of the hardest fights on 
 record. The battle lasted from three in the afternoon till mid- 
 12 
 
178 REMINISCENCES OP DAN BICE 
 
 night, and twenty-three men were killed and more than fifty 
 wounded. At Somerset, Ky., in 1856, Barnum's show ran across 
 a very bad gang of railroad men, and in the fight which followed, 
 twenty persons were killed, among them several women. Fore- 
 paugh's men got into a row with roughs in Kentucky once, and 
 before it ended they had followed him for three days, stopping 
 his show in that many towns. 
 
 John O'Brien, who, in 1873, ran the best circus on the road, 
 used to carry what they called the Irish Brigade. They were a 
 lot of men who seemed to be hired for the general work of can- 
 vasmen, but whose duties were really to do all necessary fighting. 
 They were trained in it from the toughest parts of tough cities, 
 and they loved a row. They were never beaten, and when they 
 struck a gang of rowdies they always wore them out very 
 promptly. At Quincy, 111., in 1872, some of the three-card- 
 monte men and thieves who always go with a show if they can, 
 robbed a boy, and a negro policeman undertook to arrest them. 
 A showman came to the assistance of the sharpers, and a row 
 followed, in which the negro was killed. The local militia com- 
 pany assisted the town officers, and every man belonging to the 
 circus was arrested. In the trial which followed, the circus man 
 was acquitted, but the first to start the trouble was fined $400 for 
 assaulting an officer. 
 
 In every one of these cases the circus men go along together as 
 long as they can without getting whipped, and then they raise 
 the cry " Hey, Bube! " This seems to be a slogan which calls 
 to the asistanee of the man making it all the men in the show. 
 It is, to any man who understands it, a terrible cry. It means 
 as no other expression in the language does, that a fierce, deadly 
 fight is on, that men who are far away from home must band 
 together in a struggle that means life or death to them, and that 
 the men outside who have incurred their enmity must expect 
 every inch of ground to be bitterly contested. " Hey, Bube! " 
 is the battle crv of the showmen. No one ever raises it unless he 
 is in dire straits, and when once, heard every man is bound by 
 the law of self-preservation to go to an instant relief. The cry 
 was raised in Montpelier some twenty-five years ago, and the 
 fight that followed was so severe that the legislature for many 
 years refused to grant circuses a license in Vermont. 
 
 One time I was showing in a Southern town when my tent 
 was blown down. The roof part was ruined, so I had to show the 
 next day with only the walls up, and the people sat there in the 
 sun and had a good time until two drunken loafers insisted on 
 coming in without paying, and then a bitter fight began, ending 
 in the killing of four men and the serious wounding of many 
 more. Along in the sixties Yankee Robinson and Frank Howe's 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 179 
 
 shows struck an Iowa town on the same day, and as many of the 
 showmen had friends in the other party, all got together and 
 had one of the wildest times on record. They took the whole 
 town, and when the marshal undertook to make an arrest, he 
 was knocked down and a riot followed. The State militia had 
 to be called out to quell the disturbance, but before it did so 
 several men were killed on both sides. In 1881 W. C. Coup's 
 show was giving an exhibition at Cartersville, Ga., when the 
 town marshal hit one of the hands over the head, and in the row 
 that followed, three men were killed and three more crippled for 
 life. 
 
 Showmen who tell about these things always lay the blame on 
 the bad men of the town or neighborhood where the trouble 
 occurs, or on too officious peace officers who try to exercise all 
 their authority in a minute. But it often happens that the show- 
 men are themselves to blame. Sharpers and gamblers of various 
 descriptions travelled with the circus and kept in the favor of 
 the fighters with the show by giving them a share of the money 
 they would take from the countrymen. When the fleeced native 
 would insist on the return of his money, he would be met with 
 the whole fighting force of the company. It often happens, too, 
 that men not really in the employ of the show owners remain with 
 it for months at a time and are fruitful of nothing but trouble. 
 
 Of late years the big shows that chiefly go to large cities have 
 had more peaceful experiences, and the fight that turns out a riot 
 is fast becoming one of the things obsolete. The cry of " Hey, 
 Eube! " is falling into such disuse that in a few years the younger 
 showmen will have to carry a lexicon along to tell them what the 
 time-honored old cry used to mean. 
 
 THE CIECUS OF THE FUTTJKE. 
 
 BY DAN EICE. 
 
 An old saw, which everybody has heard, says that history al- 
 ways repeats itself. The saying can be applied just now to the 
 circus business. For the circus business, like history, is about to 
 repeat itself. 
 
 Fifty years ago a circus was designed to amuse. It was not 
 like the circus of the present, meant to amaze by its glittering 
 profusion. An old-time circus comprised an aggregation of solid 
 merit. There was then but one performing ring, and everything 
 that went on in it was critically watched. The pretty lady bare- 
 back rider, the gymnasts, and even the clown all had to be at the 
 top of their profession to be worthy of an engagement. 
 
 But in the circus of the present, mediocrity reigns. It is now 
 
180 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 the fashion to have three performing rings, in each of which 
 there are simultaneous performances. No person can watch three 
 rings at a time, and the circus managers, with the present system 
 of gigantic aggregations, can engage some really good performers, 
 and can fill in the picture with other cheaper talent, and few in 
 an audience can be the wiser. 
 
 Glitter, gaudy costumes, clowns with no wit, but with a physi- 
 cal aptitude for falling over a ring, and thus, by buffoonery, rais- 
 ing a laugh, make up the circus of the present. 
 
 But the people are becoming weary of this false presentation 
 of a circus, and in the circus of the near future there will be a 
 decided return to the good old days of a one-ring circus, and the 
 best talent that a manager can procure will be a necessity, not 
 an incidental, as at present. This movement is already in the 
 air, and next year there will be several of the old-time shows, 
 which, to the present generation of young circus lovers, are new. 
 
 The first two-ring circus that ever was formed was that of the 
 Great Eastern Aggregation, of which George W. De Haven, in 
 1866, was the manager. Then came P. T. Barnum and his triple- 
 ring combination, and since then until the past year no one has 
 dared to take a proper step and make a one-ring first-class circus a 
 success. 
 
 But from the patronage accorded my present one-ring show I 
 am convinced that the future circus is to be a revival of the old- 
 time aggregation. 
 
 There is one phase of this revival that will affect the pockets 
 of the bright young actors who now act so cleverly in farce- 
 comedies. With the revival there will be a demand for clowns 
 who have humor and spontaneous wit. 
 
 With the death of Charley White, not long since, the best of 
 the old-time clowns passed away, and the clever young farce- 
 comedy men will have a new field each summer open to them in 
 the revival, for there will be a great demand for clowns to take 
 the places of the old-timers who have passed into the great here- 
 after. 
 
 GEEAT LIGHTS OF THE CIRCUS.— ONE DOLLAR 
 A MINUTE. 
 
 " The greatest circus clown I ever met was Joe Blackburn, of 
 Kentucky. He was in some way related to the late eminent 
 Senator from that State, was a man of education, a gentleman, 
 and brave as a lion. He was buried in Maysville, Ky., some time 
 in 1843. It was for many years a custom among circus men 
 whenever they visited Maysville, to take their bands and play a 
 dirge at Joe Blackburn's grave." 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 181 
 
 "And the best voltigeur, who?" 
 
 " Mose Lipman, who is yet alive in Cincinnati. He is on record 
 as haying turned sixty-seven somersaults in succession. Jno. L. 
 Aymar, one of four brothers, was another noted vaulter. He 
 broke his neck in London, at Astley's, trying to turn a triple 
 somersault. 
 
 " The greatest bareback riders I ever knew were Jim Eobinson 
 and Will Showles. In New York, in a little alley running off the 
 Bowery, was born Michael Fitzgerald. He was apprenticed to 
 John Gossin, a famous clown. Some time in the year 1846 Mike 
 was transferred, for a consideration, to James Eobinson, and 
 taking his name rendered it doubly distinguished in circus an- 
 nals. Eobinson was certainly a splendid rider, but William 
 Showles, whose father and mother are residents of Long Branch, 
 is, in my opinion, the greatest bareback rider in the world. Oh, 
 yes, Jimmy Eobinson is still riding, though he must be over fifty 
 years old. 
 
 " The greatest American equestrienne undoubtedly was Kate 
 Stokes, former wife of the late John Stetson. The whole family 
 were very talented. The father was one of the best riding mas- 
 ters known. One sister married J. B. Doris, the circus manager. 
 A young sister, Bella Stokes, is a charming actress." 
 
 " And the best horse trainer? " 
 
 " S. Q. Stokes, of Kentucky. He it was who imposed ' Ella 
 Zoyara ' upon the world. ' Ella's ' real name was Omar Kingsley. 
 He was born in St. Louis, and being quite effeminate in appear- 
 ance, used to do female acts for Stokes. Omar liked the assump- 
 tion well, and stuck to it; wore female clothes in the streets. In 
 Germany he associated entirely with ladies, some of them per- 
 sons of social distinction, and was everywhere received and 
 treated as one of the softer sex. When the deception was first 
 found out in Europe, Stokes narrowly escaped with his life. One 
 old Baron, or Barren — means the same thing in his case — who 
 had offered ' Ella ' his hand in marriage, was so enraged when 
 he discovered the imposture, that he threatened to kill Stokes 
 on sight. Stokes didn't seem to scare much, but he returned to 
 America quicker, 'tis said, than he had at first intended doing. 
 
 "Frank H. Eosston has been praised as the best of ring- 
 masters, and the distinction was deserved. He was a journeyman 
 tailor in Philadelphia, and after joining the circus, which he did, 
 I think, at my suggestion, developed into the most graceful, ac- 
 complished, and impressive ringmaster in the business. 
 
 " The highest salary I ever received was one dollar a minute. 
 Alvah Man of the National Theatre, in Philadelphia, paid it 
 to me." 
 
182 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 A MILLIONAIKE SHOWMAN. 
 
 BAENUM "WAS BY NO MEAN'S THE WEALTHIEST CIRCUS MAN — 
 UNCLE DAN BICE TALKS ENTERTAININGLY ABOUT SETH 
 B. HOWES, WHO HAS EOLLED UP TWENTY MILLIONS AS 
 HIS PEOEITS EEOM THE SAWDUST EING. 
 
 " I regard Seth B. Howes as one of the most famous show- 
 men the world has ever known. Barnum? Why, Barnum was 
 nowhere in comparison. In business ability and enterprise, the 
 two things Barnum was most noted for, this man I am telling 
 
 you of was far and away his superior. Why, B , well, Barnum 
 
 is dead, so we won't try to belittle him, but my man is alive and 
 hearty. Barnum left a couple of millions or so; this man lives 
 and enjoys twenty millions or more, and all made out of the show 
 business. 
 
 " Seth B. Howes is now retired from business and living very 
 quietly at Brewster's, N. Y., where many years ago he built him- 
 self a substantial country house on the very spot where he was 
 born. Where the onion bed was that he used to have to weed 
 as a boy, he now has his greenhouse, and grows orchids, I suppose 
 one single root of which may be worth more than the whole bed 
 of onions of the days gone by. You will see him occasionally 
 at the Murray Hill Hotel, a quiet, wiry-built old gentleman of 
 seventy-seven, with white mustache and no stuck-up airs about 
 him. In fact, you would take him for a parson rather than a 
 showman. 
 
 " His wife was generally with him, as she has been ever since 
 they were married. She is a handsome, queenly Englishwoman, 
 very much his junior. I remember them in the sixties when 
 they travelled with the show. Although she is a thoroughly 
 well-bred woman and wealthy in her own right, in addition to 
 the large amount her husband had scraped together, both she 
 and the old man went about from town to town with just a little 
 handbag apiece. That shows the kind of life partner she is. 
 
 " It was a wonder to everybody that Howes got married at all; 
 it was still a greater wonder that he managed to capture a woman 
 in herself charming and so well up in the world of London. The 
 marriage took place in 1861. Howes was then thirty-six years of 
 age and had shown no disposition for women's society whatever, 
 nr for scarcely any other society, so to speak. He was all business, 
 and seemed to think of nothing else. But among bankers and 
 business men he had already earned a reputation for ability and 
 wealth, and it was in just such society that he met Miss Amy 
 Mosely. Her father was a London merchant and she had many 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 183 
 
 suitors. She not only chose him from among them all, but im- 
 mediately adapted herself to his life. She was born a business 
 woman and it was not long before she was running one of her 
 husband's two great shows in England. 
 
 " Howes comes from a family of showmen, the leaders of the 
 profession in this country. His brother, Nathan A. Howes, in 
 partnership with Aaron Turner, of Danbury, Conn., started a 
 circus from Brewster's in 1826. Seth was working on his 
 brother's farm at the time, but two years later he joined the 
 show. He became a partner in 1831, Eichard Sands having 
 taken the place of Turner in the firm. They had good success 
 for seven years, when the company disbanded. 
 
 "I made my debut under Seth Howes' management. That 
 was in 1845, at Palmer's Opera House, on Chambers Street. 
 Madame McCarte was another of the stars. The partnership 
 consisted of Howes and the brothers Edmund and Jeremiah 
 Mabie, and it began business in 1840 and continued for eight 
 years. I was with the show for two years, yet never knew until 
 after that Howes had anything to do with it, so close was he 
 about all his business affairs. He was the shrewdest circus man 
 who was ever on the road. 
 
 " About this time he saw that Barnum was making quite a 
 name, so he joined him. Then he inflated Barnum's head into a 
 belief that a show travelling around the country would advertise 
 his museum, which, you will remember, was on the corner where 
 the ' St. Paul ' building now stands. So the ' Barnum Exposi- 
 tion on "Wheels' was started, and Howes carried it all through 
 the country. He was supposed to have agents all over the 
 world searching for and importing to the show the most wonder- 
 ful animals that ever existed. As a matter of fact, he bought all 
 the animals in this country; but even Barnum did not know this 
 until long after. However, during the five years he ran the show 
 he made Barnum money, so that did not signify. 
 
 " During this time he was figuring on a circus of his own in 
 New York, and two years before he separated from Barnum, 
 which was in 1855, he opened the Franconies Hippodrome, which 
 was on the site of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. In 1854 I paid him 
 $5,000 for the elephant ' Lalla Rookh,' and went to Boston with 
 his partner, Cushing. ' Lalla Rookh ' was a wonderful elephant, 
 the most wonderful that ever lived. She used to perform on the 
 tight-rope. Poor thing; she went bathing in the river in Indi- 
 ana on a Sunday, took cold and died. 
 
 " Well, after that I sold Mr. Howes my trick mules for $5,000, 
 and he bought them without ever having seen them perform. He 
 was a man of wonderful enterprise. In March, 1857, Howes & 
 Cushing's Circus left here for England. No, that was not the 
 
184 HEMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 first American show that went to Europe. I think the first was m 
 1842, owned by Juan Titus and Angevine. That was the first 
 to compete with Wombwell's Menagerie, then and for many years 
 after an institution without which no English country fair was 
 complete. 
 
 " Howes & Cushing's Circus had a great success in England 
 from the start. They took over with them seventy- two horses 
 and fifty performers and assistants. They travelled through 
 England for a year, and then opened at the Alhambra Palace, 
 London, where Queen Victoria and the royal family honored 
 t 1 em with a visit. That was in 1858. They were at the Palace 
 twelve months, and then tented it through England and Ireland 
 for four or five years, during which, as I told you, Howes man- 
 aged to pick up his estimable life partner. 
 
 " They brought the circus back to New York in 1864, after 
 having made barrels of money. Why, at one time Howes offered 
 me $100,000 for my blind horse, the most intelligent animal 
 and the most marvellous performer there ever was. Understood 
 every word spoken to him. Howes' idea was to put him on the 
 stage. That was my mistake. That horse ought never to have 
 gone into a ring. He was good enough to play all by himself. 
 
 " I joined Howes' Circus at Mobile in 1865. In 1845 he paid 
 me $50 a week; in 1865 he paid me $1,000. He called the show 
 Howes & Cushing's London Circus, and everywhere he went we 
 gathered in the dollars rapidly. I suppose the old man was get- 
 ting to think he had made as much money as he cared for, for in 
 1870 he sold the business to James Kelley and Egbert C. Howes, 
 and retired. But for all his wealth he was never boastful; on the 
 contrary. If you chanced to say to him, ' Splendid house to- 
 night! ' he would slowly reply, ' Well, yes, it will just about pay 
 expenses.' He was liberal, though, without being a fool with his 
 money." 
 
 JAMES A. BAILEY. 
 
 The subject of the present brief sketch was born in the city 
 of Detroit, in 1847, and at the unusually tender age of ten years 
 gave unmistakable evidence of the possession of those rare talents 
 and energy that later in life so markedly distinguished him above 
 all his contemporaries. When at that early age he determined 
 upon leaving home and seeking his fortune, he sacrificed a com- 
 fortable home and surroundings, for, although his parents were 
 not what would be called to-day wealthy, they were well-to-do, 
 and at the death of his father, in 1853, his mother was left in 
 possession of a modest competency. His mother's death occur- 
 ring, however, shortly after, and upon his brother-in-law being 
 appointed his guardian his dislike for the inactive life he was 
 
JAMBS A. BAILEY 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 185 
 
 leading caused him to hurriedly put into practice the ideas he 
 had formed o± " going it alone " on the road of life. First turn- 
 ing his thoughts to the country upon leaving home, young 
 Bailey sought the country and found employment on a farm at 
 the munificent salary of $3 per month, but this existence after a 
 few months proved too tame for his youthful aspirations. He 
 forsook it and made his way to the city of Pontiac, Mich., and 
 secured a position in the leading hotel there as a bell-boy. There 
 was one important factor determining this move, that should not 
 be overlooked, as it serves to show the pluck and spirit of the 
 boy, qualities that afterwards entered so largely into making him 
 successful as a man, enabling him to meet and overcome what to 
 many others would have proved insurmountable difficulties. 
 There was another boy on the farm whose salary was $3.50 per 
 month, half a dollar more than young Bailey received, and as the 
 latter, although in receipt of less money, was conscientiously per- 
 forming his duties and earnestly working more than the other 
 boy, it naturally engendered a spirit of rebellion against such 
 discriminations, and as his employer could not appreciate, or did 
 not, the hardest worker, the latter thought he would remedy. the 
 matter himself, and did so, by first thrashing the boy, and then 
 leaving the farm. 
 
 It can be readily understood that out of his salary he would 
 not have a fortune saved up, so, with a light heart, a quick step, 
 and fifty cents he sought the hotel in Pontiac, Mich. While en- 
 gaged in the hotel his general cleverness, sincere attention to 
 duty, and alertness attracted the attention of the proprietor as 
 well as the guests of the hotel, so it came to pass that when the 
 agent of the Bobinson & Lake Circus came to Pontiac, he also 
 noticed the smartness of the boy, and was so impressed with it 
 that he induced young Bailey to go with him. From this period 
 dates the career of one who subsequently became what he is to- 
 day, the leader of showmen, and virtual dictator in that line of 
 amusements. His career from this time on was a checkered one, 
 rising, however, very rapidly in the estimation of all those with 
 whom he became associated. Eemaining with the circus until 
 1863, he left it to take the position of advertising agent in a thea- 
 tre in Nashville, where, besides attending to his regular duties, he 
 assisted the manager, and at night acted as usher. This was dur- 
 ing the war, when salaries were small and living expenses high. 
 While here one night, a Mr. Green, holding the position of 
 United States sutler, happened in the theatre with a friend, and 
 finding the house crowded, with few, if any, seats unoccupied, 
 in his desire to obtain good seats applied to Mr. Bailey, who, at 
 no little personal trouble, finally secured them. For this cour- 
 teous service a $5 bill was quietly slipped into his hand by Mr. 
 
186 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Green, but it was instantly returned with thanks by young 
 Bailey, who accompanied the action with the remark, " I am 
 amply paid by the house for courteously treating its patrons and 
 cannot accept your generosity." Mr. Green was so struck by 
 this conduct that he instigated inquiries concerning so remark- 
 able a young man, which resulted in his offering him employment 
 with him at double the salary he was then receiving. So our 
 hero became the trusted clerk of an army sutler, and during his 
 engagement was witness of all the battles of the war occurring 
 between Chattanooga and Atlanta. At the close of the hostili- 
 ties, being sent in charge of his employer's goods to Louisville, 
 and finishing all the business entrusted to him, he went for 
 a few days to Cincinnati, where he accidentally again met 
 Mr. Lake, his old circus employer, who exacted a promise 
 from him to again enter that line of business. When Mr. Green 
 learned of this he felt great regret at having to part with his 
 trusted clerk and tried hard to get him to remain with him, but 
 as a promise had been given, it was useless, so the following year 
 saw young Bailey back again in the show business, where he re- 
 mained until 1869. The following year Mr. Bailey became in- 
 terested in the privileges with Hemmings, Cooper & Whitby's 
 Show. When the firm of Hemmings & Cooper was changed in 
 1871, Mr. Bailey was offered, and accepted, a position with them 
 as general agent, remaining such until Mr. J. E. Cooper formed a 
 new firm in 1872 with Mr. Bailey as his partner, the new firm 
 being known as Cooper & Bailey. We now see Mr. Bailey as a 
 proprietor, a proud position and one earned by himself without 
 either capital or aid other than the possession of talent, but whose 
 qualities and abilities were of such a high order that he was in 
 demand everywhere, but it remained for Mr. Cooper to put the 
 highest value upon them and to secure him, offering him half in- 
 terest in the show to remain. It was now his talents were devel- 
 oped as an advertiser, and he showed the remarkable power 
 of his now maturer judgment and riper years, with the venture- 
 some spirit that so conspicuously distinguishes him even at pres- 
 ent. He projected and successfully carried out a tour of the 
 world with the Cooper & Bailey Show in 1876-77, visiting the 
 Sandwich Islands, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South 
 America, with varying financial success, returning to this coun- 
 try in December, 1878, after that extraordinary trip, just in time 
 to purchase the Great London Circus. With this latest addi- 
 tion the Cooper & Bailey Show became the largest, as it was the 
 finest, of all tented shows up to that time, and the birth of 'a 
 baby elephant, the first ever born in captivity in the world, so 
 increased the reputation of the show and added to its attractions, 
 that Mr. Bailey at once determined upon striking a blow that 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 187 
 
 would place his show so far beyond all others that there would 
 really be but one. How well he planned is best evidenced by 
 subsequent events. The late P. T. Barmim was then at the head 
 of the business. Mr. Bailey " went for him " in the language of 
 the day, arid fought him so vigorously, determinedly, and ad- 
 ministered such hard knocks, that he forced the Barnum show 
 to fly, giving up its favorite territory in the East, thus leaving 
 that valuable section to the Cooper & Bailey Circus. Next sea- 
 son (1884), with the shrewdness that characterized Mr. Barnum, 
 he sought Mr. Bailey and made him an offer of partnership. As 
 he could not compete with the London Circus, Mr. Barnum de- 
 sired to be associated with it and its manager, and the negotia- 
 tions resulted in the grand combination known as the Barnum 
 and London Shows, of which Mr. Bailey was the sole manager. 
 From this time out Mr. Barnum ceased to take any more active 
 part, in the circus business than to aid with his money the carry- 
 ing out of the projects emanating in the fertile brain of his young 
 partner, and it is a fact, not known to the public, however, that all 
 the vast details of the business of whatever kind or description re- 
 lating to the combined shows were transacted by Mr. Bailey alone, 
 just as he does to-day, and it is hoped by all his friends he will 
 continue to do so for many years to come. Ever since Mr. 
 Bailey assumed a proprietary interest in the circus, it is worthy of 
 note, that he has striven with great zeal to elevate the business; 
 has sought with dogged pertinacity to eliminate everything of an 
 offending character, correcting abuses when any existed, remedy- 
 ing defects, altering, improving, and finally cleansing and clarify- 
 ing the whole until the great institution of to-day, known as the 
 " Greatest Show on Earth," with its thousand employees, stands 
 a monument to the genius and extraordinary ability of one man 
 and that one J. A. Bailey — an institution of such high and com- 
 mercial character that its checks are equal to legal-tender notes, 
 whose business methods are the best known and whose standing 
 and reputation in the business world are second to none, sound 
 principles governing all. It was this grand show Mr. Bailey 
 organized and sent to Europe in 1899, and for the past two years 
 has amazed the people, the sovereigns, and nobility by its mag- 
 nitude and magnificence. 
 
 WALLETT. 
 
 Wm. Frederick Wallett, the Queen's Jester, was the greatest 
 clown England ever produced. Unlike many other professionals, 
 he bore his real name, and it is a name such as he had a right to be 
 proud of. He appeared in almost every land where the English 
 language was spoken, and in many places where it is not, and be 
 made friends wherever he appeared. He made his first public 
 
188 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 appearance at Hull, his native town, where he played a sub- 
 ordinate part at the Theatre Koyal. Since then his life has 
 been one continued series of professional triumphs. Wallett was 
 never a buffoon. He was a jester of the old-time school. His 
 contagious fun had been of a pure character which left a healthy 
 palate behind. He made his first success professionally in con- 
 junction with Van Amburgh, and subsequently added to his fame 
 and fortune in identifying himself with my American enterprises. 
 In the theatre as a pantomimist, and the circus as a jester, he 
 conclusively demonstrated that a man may be a clown and yet a 
 gentleman — a jester and yet a philosopher. Wallett was also an 
 author^ who has written a most entertaining autobiography. His 
 passing away lately has left me pretty much, in the circus world, 
 like the last man of the club — I call the roll, and none answers 
 but myself. 
 
 BLONDIN. 
 
 One of the most daring athletes and original performers of 
 the century passed away a few years ago in England at the age of 
 seventy-three. Blondin, whose real name was Jean Frangois • 
 Gravelet, was a native of Northern France, and son of a gymnast 
 who had served under Napoleon. Forty years ago Americans 
 discovered that the king of rope walkers and equilibrists had ar- 
 rived in this country as one of the attractions of the Eavels. 
 Blondin was rather a small man, but of square build; well, but 
 not excessively, muscled, and with a look of middle age rather 
 than of youth. His feats placed him in a class of his own and he 
 never had a real rival. Walking a rope was to him like walking" 
 a floor, and he seldom used a pole. Empty-handed, he turned 
 somersaults backward and forward on the rope, landing on his 
 feet, displaying more than the agility of a cat. He walked the 
 rope on stilts and went through vaulting evolutions upon it with 
 a basket on each foot. 
 
 It did not take the public long to discover that this serious- 
 faced Frenchman was a phenomenon, and he was a favorite for 
 many successive seasons. He became much attached to America 
 and looked around for new opportunities to inspire wonder, 
 though he was always able to execute a hundred feats that nobody 
 else could touch. In the course of his travels he reached Niagara 
 Falls and saw as much that interested him in the gorge and whirl- 
 pool as in the waters of the great lakes tumbling over a precipice. 
 He had never before run across such a fine set of scenery for an 
 equilibrist. The idea of walking above the thundering cataract 
 on a bridge of rope never left him. It awoke him in terrified 
 dreams and yet fascinated him the more. At the close of 1858 
 he resided at the falls for several weeks to study the ground. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 189 
 
 Then he told the world that he proposed to stretch a rope 1,100 
 feet long, 170 feet above the torrent, and walk across. He kept 
 his word June 30, 1859, in the presence of 50,000 spectators. 
 Later, he crossed blindfolded, with a man on his back and made 
 sensational rope- walking one of the marvels of the time. 
 
 The feat which tried his nerves the most, according to his own 
 statement, was trundling his infant daughter in a wheelbarrow 
 over a rope 200 feet long at the Crystal Palace, London, and he 
 confessed he would not have undertaken it if his wife had not 
 strengthened his confidence by her own. Ordinarity, Blondin had 
 no nerves and was proof against a false motion. He was very 
 careful in personal habits and never touched even the lightest 
 wines. His only beverage was chocolate. Sometimes his at- 
 tendants blundered, or the rope was disturbed by accident, but 
 he had a code for avoiding a fall by hooking a leg on the rope. 
 He took a young lion in a wheelbarrow partly across a high rope 
 at Liverpool on a windy day, and then, finding the brakes de- 
 ranged, backed to the starting point. Of course he persevered 
 until he carried the feat through, for that was one of his charac- 
 teristics. Blondin said that when he first started up a rope in 
 boyhood it seemed as easy to him as walking on a plank. He 
 stuck to the rope for over fifty years, made an immense aggregate 
 of money, and died with sound bones at a good old age. There 
 is no way to explain the man except to say that he was Blondin. 
 
 GEANT— JOHNSON. 
 
 SOME STARTLING REVELATIONS BT THE " CLOWN OF OUR 
 DADDIES" — COL. DAN" RICE ON THE CAUSES WHICH LED 
 TO THE IMPEACHMENT OF JOHNSON — GRANT THE UNSUS- 
 PECTING DUPE OF DESIGNING MEN — JOHNSON'S UNION 
 RECORD. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice was an intimate personal friend of Henry Clay, 
 Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, and knew General Grant per- 
 haps as well as he was known by any man. During the days of 
 reconstruction he was a United States detective, having been ap- 
 pointed by President Johnson to protect the interests of the 
 Government and the cotton raisers of the South against the dis- 
 honesty of Government agents. Colonel Eice was in Washing- 
 ton at the time of Johnson's inauguration, and for some time 
 after. 
 
 Becalling the circumstances leading up to the breach between 
 President Johnson and those who afterwards sought his impeach- 
 ment, Colonel Eice says: 
 
190 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 " A few days after the inauguration of Johnson, while I was at 
 the White House in conversation with the President, Col. John 
 W. Forney, of Philadelphia, sent in his card. Colonel Forney 
 was well known as an ardent admirer and stanch supporter of 
 Johnson, having been intimately associated with him during the 
 events attending his accession to the Presidency. I retired to 
 an adjoining room occupied by Colonel Moore, the President's 
 private secretary, where I heard, distinctly, the conversation 
 between Colonel Forney and the President. Forney presented 
 to the President a list of post-office and custom-house appoint- 
 ments for Philadelphia for the President's sanction. Johnson 
 said, "John, if there is anything I can do for you personally, 
 command me, but as President, I cannot accept your slate." 
 Forney left the White House abruptly, and on the following 
 morning, his two papers, " The Washington Chronicle " and 
 " Philadelphia Press," familiarly known as " My two papers, 
 both daily," opened on the President in an article headed, " What 
 is the matter at the White House? The President closeted with 
 a clown." I was very intimate with Colonel Forney, and, meet- 
 ing him on the street, asked him what was meant by the articles 
 in his papers. He replied, " Oh, it's a big card for you, Eice." 
 " But," said I, " John, you have made a mistake. The President 
 was right." He complained bitterly at his treatment, and re- 
 marked that he would ruin Johnson as he had ruined Buchanan. 
 This was, undoubtedly, the occurrence which led to the open 
 rupture between the President's party and the impeachment fac- 
 tion. The minds of the people as well as of Government officers 
 were filled with suspicions of the times, and suggestions of dis- 
 loyalty from any quarter found ready credence. Forney did 
 everything in his power to ruin Johnson, even going as far as to 
 indirectly accuse him, through the columns of his papers, of 
 being concerned in the assassination of Lincoln. What was 
 Grant's connection with this matter ? Grant was one of the most 
 unsuspecting men in the world, and his credulity was imposed 
 upon by the Capitol clique, led by John W. Forney, Thad Stevens, 
 Simon Cameron, and others. I was at that time in Washington 
 with a big show bearing my name. I was directing the parade 
 from my seat on the band wagon, and after having serenaded the 
 heads of the various departments, gave the order " On, to the 
 White House! " Grant and Forney were standing together on 
 the sidewalk and overheard the order. Both shook their heads, 
 and Forney, advancing, advised me not to go, on the ground that 
 it would make me unpopular. Grant said nothing, but gravely 
 shook his head. Nevertheless, we proceeded, and the band, under 
 my direction, played "Hail to the Chief," concluding with 
 " Dixie." Forney was mistaken, for the vast crowd which had 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 191 
 
 gathered was vociferous in its demonstrations of enthusiasm. It 
 was Forney who put the idea into Grant's head that it was John- 
 son's intention to become " the Cromwell of the hour," and that 
 his, Grant's, appointment to Mexico was made in order to re- 
 move him from the command of the army, where he was a 
 continual menace to the President. It was at one time the in- 
 tention of the President to dissolve Congress in order to put an 
 end to the incendiary speeches of that body, which were apt to 
 lead to another revolution. It must be remembered that the 
 troops of Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania were in readi- 
 ness to answer to the President's call. " Seward's counsel," how- 
 ever, prevailed. He was first in favor of this plan, but later ad- 
 vised Johnson to wait, thinking that some better solution of the 
 difficulty would be developed. But Johnson's speech at the head 
 of Pennsylvania Avenue, one night, destroyed all opportunities, 
 if any existed, of a compromise between himself and Congress. 
 What was the charge that Johnson was in sympathy with the 
 South and disloyal to the Union? I knew Johnson from boy- 
 hood. He was honest, patriotic, self-sacrificing in his loyalty. 
 Owing to his Union sentiments, he was compelled, in the fall of 
 1859 or the spring of 1860, to flee from his home in Greenville, 
 Tenn., leaving his property unprotected and his family in tears. 
 He was piloted through the timber to a place of safety by a col- 
 ored boy by the name of Dick Kennar, an illegitimate son of the 
 great Kennar of Louisiana. Dick was at one time snare drummer 
 in my band, and afterwards he became a hack driver in New 
 Orleans. 
 
 Johnson made his way by a painful and tedious journey to 
 Cincinnati, where he arrived in a destitute condition, and made 
 his famous speech in front of the Burnett House. From that 
 time onward his star was in the ascendant until dimmed by the 
 conspirators at the Capitol. The statement of General Butler, as 
 published in a subsequent interview, that he had in his possession 
 documents of a secret character which could have been intro- 
 duced at the impeachment trial, and which he refused to make 
 public, I regard as an invention of that ingenious politician. 
 
 What's in a Name? 
 
 Col. Wm. P. Preston, of Louisville, Ky., was a candidate for 
 Congress. He was the descendant of an ancient family of Vir- 
 ginia. Col. Wm. C. Preston was Dan Rice's circus agent, and 
 lived a few miles from the city. At the same time that Wm. P. 
 Preston was running for Congress, Wm. C. Preston was adver- 
 tised to appear in a play at the theatre, the circus season being 
 over. 
 
192 REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 
 
 Col. Wm. P. Preston had a strong advocate in an Irish citizen, 
 who controlled the Irish vote. The opposite party were trying 
 to capture him and his influence, and laughed at him in the way 
 of ridicule of his candidate, by saying that he was nothing but a 
 theatre actor. (While Col. Wm. C. Preston was my agent, he was 
 also an actor, and when he got through travelling with the circus 
 he made a contract for a week or two to play Mazeppa, his favor- 
 ite play.) The Irishman indignantly denied it. They took him 
 out and showed him the lithographs representing Mazeppa on a 
 horse being chased by mountain wolves. The Irishman saw the 
 name, and said, " Be jabbers, I'll go to the theayter, and if it is 
 so, the divil a vote will he get from me frinds." The night ar- 
 rived, the Irishman was present, and was so carried away with 
 the excellence of Col. Wm. C. Preston, thinking he was the 
 politician, that he got up on the stage when they were called out 
 and, taking him by the hand, said, " Oi'll vote, and all me frinds 
 will vote for you. Ye're a damned soight betther actor than ye 
 are a lawyer." 
 
 The incident created great applause and excitement. 
 
 Wm. P. Preston was a general in the late war. An incident of 
 an interesting character occurred in connection with the distin- 
 guished general, living in Lexington, Ky., in 1885. Dan Eice 
 lectured at the Opera House in Lexington when he was on his 
 sixteen months' lecture tour, and he noticed present General 
 Preston. He told the above story to the delight of the vast audi- 
 ence. It created great laughter and applause. The general was 
 one of the interesting and honored citizens of the Blue Grass 
 State. He waited with his friends for Dan Eice, and escorted 
 him to his palatial home and entertained him most royally that 
 evening. Preston was an " old-time " Whig. It was this demo- 
 cratic vote that elected him. 
 
 A Singular Coincidence. 
 
 In the winter of 1889 Colonel Eice was being entertained by 
 the late Col. John A. Cockerill, Judge Duffy, and Gen. James 
 E. O'Beirne, when one evening a gentleman approached the 
 Colonel as they sat in Eoom No. 1 at the Astor House, and asked, 
 " Is this Dan Eice? " Colonel Eice arose, and, extending his 
 hand, replied, " Yes, sir; but you have the best of me." The 
 gentleman remarked, " Well, you got the best of me about thirty 
 years ago when you came into my law office at Cincinnati and 
 wanted my advice about bringing a suit against Mck Longworth, 
 one of our wealthy citizens, for $80,000. I gave you the advice 
 and you went off and settled with the gentleman for $60,000, and 
 never came near your lawyer again." 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 193 
 
 It eventually turned out to be T. C. Campbell, of Cincinnati, 
 now a citizen of Harlem, a leading politician, and a successful 
 'awyer, who as he concluded his remarks hurried away, but not 
 before Colonel Rice had called out to him that the check he re- 
 ceived for the $60,000 went to protest and was now part of the 
 assets of other days. As he has not, up to this date, sought to 
 enforce his claim, the distinguished lawyer is doubtless gen- 
 erously availing himself of the statutes of limitation to the ad- 
 vantage of Colonel Eice. An hour or so later as Colonel Eice was 
 standing at the entrance to the Astor House, Bartley Campbell, 
 the great dramatist, accosted him, and after a few brief and pain- 
 fully disconnected inquiries as to Mr. Eice's financial affairs, 
 drew a check-book from his pocket, and after affixing his signa- 
 ture to a draft, he handed it to the Colonel, remarking as he 
 hurried away, "Write in the amount you need and it will be 
 all right." A few days later again meeting Colonel Cockerill, 
 Colonel Eice, in speaking of the strange coincidence of meeting 
 the two Campbells, he was shocked to learn that that very morn- 
 ing the great-souled Campbell had become forever mentally un- 
 balanced. 
 
 To Hon. Ex-U. S. Senatob Eufus Blodgett. 
 
 Not to describe men as they are is not to describe them at all, 
 and if they should exhibit some few venial imperfections, which 
 is the lot of men, like flaws or specks on a diamond, they are lost 
 in its general brilliancy and lustre, as viewed from the standpoint 
 of this writer. He has one quality, however, said to be the usual 
 concomitant of greatness, and which, no doubt, springs from the 
 strict purity of his motives, and the sincerity of his opinions, and 
 that is obstinacy, or, as it is called in more courtly language, firm- 
 ness. He generally adheres to his opinions certainly from no 
 selfishness or want of magnanimity, but because he firmly be- 
 lieves those opinions to be right, although I positively assert 
 "it is much more magnanimous to retreat than to persist in 
 error," let us say what we may. A proper tenacity of opinion is 
 assuredly preferable to a vibratory, vacillating presiding officer 
 over an intelligent, deliberative body such as our Long Branch 
 Commissioners are presumed to be, who changes his mind as 
 freely and frequently as his apparel, and with much less regard 
 for appearance. It has been said that " obstinacy and firmness 
 spring from the same root; it is obstinacy when the course is bad, 
 firmness when it is good," and with this understanding in its 
 application to our Honorable Mayor let us call it firmness. It 
 matters not to what post he has been called — to the State Legis- 
 lature, the "United States Senate, the Superintendent of the New 
 Jersey Central Railroad, or Mayor of Long Branch, in all he has 
 13 
 
194 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 proved equal to it, and never one jot above it. He did not grad- 
 uate from Princeton, but has good sense abundant. He never 
 amazes with his wisdom, nor shocks you by his folly, the just 
 medium is his highest and safest distinction. He engages the 
 confidence of all without ever having justly forfeited the kind 
 regards of any. 
 
 Zach Chandlee. 
 
 During a political campaign I was journeying from Cincinnati 
 to Chicago on a midnight train. Sleep was out of the question. 
 I had taken an inside seat and, as is usually the case with most 
 travellers, began my railway journey by looking out of the win- 
 dow in an abstracted sort of way and thinking of nothing in par- 
 ticular, when I suddenly was made aware of the presence of a 
 fellow-traveller by a gruff voice asking if the adjoining seat was 
 preempted. Looking up, before removing a valise which rested 
 there, I recognized and cheerily greeted my old friend, Zach 
 Chandler. He received my cordial hand-grasp in a perfunctory 
 way. I noticed he seemed wretchedly wasted. He certainly was 
 so mentally jaded that, despite my best efforts to arouse him 
 with amusing yarns, he scarcely smiled. Eemarking that he was 
 evidently worn out and needed rest, the grizzly political war-horse 
 shook his mane and, placing his arm across the back of the car 
 seat, half grunted with a cynical smile, " Eest, Eice, rest. Where 
 in h — 11 am I to get it here? What kind of rest — like that rock 
 over there," pointing to a big boulder abutting the tracks of the 
 flying train. "See here, Eice, can you harvest without ploughing; 
 reap without sowing? " After a lapse of several minutes he con- 
 tinued: " I am tired, but there is no let-up. It's a case of keep 
 moving with me, or the curtain falls. I am pretty much like a 
 horse my father once had; he was a thoroughbred, but age was 
 creeping on. For nearly eleven months he could not be induced 
 to lie down in his stall; he knew if he did he would never get 
 up. One winter morning I went to the barn to feed him. He 
 was dead — he died on his feet." 
 
 Twenty-two hours later I accompanied Mr. Chandler to Mc- 
 Cormick's Hall, Chicago, where he was scheduled for a campaign 
 speech. When he concluded I alone escorted him to the Grand 
 Pacific Hotel. After a light supper and a cigar he retired to 
 rest. If he slept he never woke again; death came to him; he 
 was found lifeless in the morning. 
 
 Meeting General Grant on his return from his trip around the 
 world, at the St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans, I had a long con- 
 fidential talk with him, during which he asked what I thought 
 of the third term scheme. I replied, " General, under no eir- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 195 
 
 cumstances do you allow your good name to be presented before 
 the National Bepublican Convention, for you will not only be 
 defeated but it will dim the lustre of your military greatness and 
 be a target for your political enemies to direct their shafts of 
 venom. They will dissect the defects of your two administra- 
 tions, such as the whiskey ring at St. Louis, where General Mc- 
 Donald and Colonel Wm. McKee, and others were locked up at 
 the Four Courts. Although you pardoned them out, still it 
 doesn't change the complexion of the rascality and scandal 
 of your two administrations. Those political comets will 
 move heaven and earth to blast your character and prejudice 
 the people." 
 
 Houston and Cameron. 
 
 In "Washington, during his last term in Congress, I was intro- 
 duced to Gen. Sam Houston, by Henry Clay, of Kentucky. I 
 also, on that occasion, met Capt. Forbes Britton, of Corpus 
 Christi, a gallant Texas Eanger. He and General Houston and 
 I were walking on Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol, when 
 we met Hon. Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, with whom I 
 was also intimately acquainted. We shook hands, and Captain 
 Britton was introduced. General Cameron jocularly remarked to 
 General Houston, " You must be a Connecticut man." " Why? " 
 asked the General. " Because I see you not only on the floors 
 of Congress but on this great thoroughfare whittling a stick." 
 " Friend Cameron," said Houston, " I am always laboring to be 
 useful. This is a very small piece of pine timber, you see; it 
 comes from Pennsylvania, your own State. If I could only whit- 
 tle a ton of it a day I would do so if it would only keep a good 
 many of your rabid constituents ' sawing wood and saying noth- 
 ing ' about my people and their private affairs — you Yanks want 
 to know too much." Cameron, who was plainly ruffled, radi- 
 ated one of his graveyard grins and sauntered silently away. 
 
 Hobart. 
 
 It was during the summer of 1899, made memorable in Long 
 Branch by the presence of Vice-President Hobart, who lived at 
 Norwood Park in comparative retirement on account of failing 
 health, that Colonel Eice was a frequent visitor at Normanhurst 
 by special invitation and otherwise. Formalities were dispensed 
 with by Mr. Hobart's request, and the Colonel made his visits 
 whenever he felt disposed to do so. Those informal visits were 
 a source of mutual interest to both gentlemen, whose past ac- 
 quaintance with Washington life embraced all the shades of so- 
 ciety, both civil and political, with this exception — Colonel Eice's 
 
196 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 broader experience with the " old school " politicians of earlier 
 days. To be in the Colonel's presence was a fitting excuse for 
 Mr. Hobart to throw off the dignity of his official requirements 
 and be himself with a congenial spirit; so, on one occasion, he 
 invited Colonel Eice to devote an afternoon to an outing with 
 him, which appointment was religiously kept by the Colonel. 
 The day in question was in August. The Colonel drove over to 
 see the Vice-President and his horse was put in the Hobart 
 stables, and together these two genial spirits in the Hobart car- 
 riage spent a few hours; one to forget the responsibility of public 
 life and of the arduous toils of office, the one to neutralize the 
 regrets of the memories of other days, the other the burdens of 
 a professional one. 
 
 Colonel Eice played the part of chaperon on this occasion, and 
 so faithfully did he meet the requirements that no one ever sus- 
 pected that Vice-President Hobart was the debutant on that 
 day's outing. They visited several of the suburban towns, going 
 over the beautiful drives that make Long Branch famous. Mr. 
 Hobart was particularly communicative to Colonel Eice about 
 his successes in life, his ambitions, failures, etc., and to quote him 
 from Colonel Eiee's notes, " I am weary of it all, Colonel, and 
 my failing health makes it doubly so. Although I am a young 
 man, this affliction is a source of constant torture to me, for I 
 feel that I have only a short time to stay here, and yet should 
 stay longer, as my real work in life is but half completed. It 
 tested the Colonel's strength of will to divert Mr. Hobart' s mind 
 from himself; but with that delightful tact which characterized 
 him in the forum and in the arena, he gradually brought his 
 humor into play until Mr. Hobart again saw the sunny side of life 
 with the famous old clown as his entertainer. They each in turn 
 rehearsed past reminiscences which were, no doubt, a trifle ex- 
 panded by a limited quantity of champagne, which was indulged 
 in merely for mutual good-fellowship's sake. Mr. Hobart ex- 
 pressed himself as not satisfied with the place of his birth. " Lack 
 of energy is so marked among the native born," he said, " and all 
 enterprise is due to the stranger who has made it his adopted 
 home." 
 
 "What is the cause of it all, Colonel?" he asked. "I have 
 but one answer, Mr. Hobart," the Colonel replied, " it is said that 
 from time immemorial Long Branch has been the name of a 
 watering-place, for the Indians used it as such. I think, in all 
 probability, they left their spirits in the air." 
 
 Mr. Hobart suddenly bursting into a hearty laugh, replied, 
 " Spirits in the air; quite good, Colonel, very good. Too much 
 fire-water you know, Colonel, made the red man a poor business 
 man; perhaps the weapon our Christian people in the past used 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 19T 
 
 (with powder and shot as an incidental aid) to exterminate the 
 Indian is an irony on each other in this beautiful place of my 
 birth. I have observed two things to-day," continued the Vice- 
 President, "which suggest the meaning of my remark. I was 
 startled to see so many saloons in Long Branch apparently pros- 
 pering, and in the immediate outskirts such monotonously nu- 
 merous repetitions of houses and farms placarded with the 
 startling legends ' To Let ' or ' For Sale.' It is apparent to me 
 that it is a pathetic case of cause and effect. Spirits in the air, 
 Colonel, surely not Indian spirits." 
 
 Observing boys playing a game of ball in a near-by field as they 
 rode by the Vice-President suddenly exclaimed, " I wish I was 
 there playing shortstop, I do believe I was the most conceited 
 shortstop that ever lived in the world of amateur baseball; I 
 never let anything pass me, never lost an opportunity that came 
 my way." The Colonel, taking advantage of a moment's pause, 
 ventured to add, "And so it was through all your life, Mr. 
 Hobart, you were always on the alert, wide-awake to take advan- 
 tage of every opportunity that came your way to honorable ad- 
 vancement. In truth, you never stopped short until you reached 
 the Vice-Presidency." 
 
 " Speaking of my boyhood days," continued the Vice-Presi- 
 dent, " suggests a humorous ' swaddling ' story. Since I re- 
 turned to Long Branch as a summer resident I have been re- 
 peatedly accosted by scores of old school-fellows, who, with par- 
 donable, if mistaken, pride greet me as an old class chum. Well, 
 honestly, Colonel, it was cruel to disahuse their well-meant im- 
 pressions because, although I was born on what is now Broadway 
 in Long Branch, and although my father was the village school- 
 master opposite where Gus Byard's farm is to-day, I was five years 
 old when father gave up his charge and migrated to other parts. 
 I did not directly disabuse the minds of these gentlemen but 
 good-naturedly suggested — maybe I went to the same school, but, 
 alas, in my mother's arms." 
 
 Thomas McKenna, Long Bhanch Commissioneh. 
 
 A public man of courage and capacity, as just in unmasking 
 the guilty as he was zealous in defending the right; a man in- 
 capable of giving currency to statements having no foundation 
 in fact. 
 
 Bourbonic, perhaps, in presenting his method, yet fearlessly 
 honest in uttering his opinions. Without prejudice or venom, 
 he is naturally devoid of an honest enemy. 
 
 The influence wielded by such a man cannot be of a mushroom 
 growth; its full force can grow but slowly, and improve, like 
 wine, with age. 
 
198 BEMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 Here in all he is a man for conscientious men to cozen to, and 
 one from whom political rogues must shrink. 
 
 His last defeat as a Commissioner will yet prove to be the 
 stepping stone to his greatest triumphs. 
 
 COMMODOBE VANDEEBILT AND DAN ElCE. 
 
 The humble origin of the head of the millionaire family is well 
 known. When a very young man, he sold clams in the streets 
 of New York from a cart and this was the burden of his cry: 
 
 " Here are fine clams, fine clams to-day, 
 Lately come from Eoekaway. 
 Oh, my cart is broke, my horse is blind, 
 Pray little boys keep off behind." 
 
 Dan was one of the little boys thus appealed to, and in after- 
 life, when Vanderbilt became a millionaire and Dan had become 
 famous, the former was a great admirer of the aspiring young 
 jester, and upon several occasions volunteered friendly advice 
 interlarded with anecdote and incident pertaining to himself. 
 
 His youngest daughter was his especial favorite when a child, 
 and she was almost his constant companion. Upon one of his 
 visits to Saratoga, accompanied by his little girl and while walk- 
 ing upon one of the principal promenades, he espied an old 
 huckster woman upon the opposite side of the way attending a 
 fruit stand, whom he had known well in his youth while strug- 
 gling with poverty and fighting the battle of life, and cross- 
 ing over he shook her by the hand, greeted her cordially and, 
 seating himself upon a stool, commenced a familiar chat. In the 
 meantime his little girl, whom he had left standing upon the 
 opposite side, was accosted by some of her bon-ton acquaintances, 
 who expressed surprise at the open familiarity of her father with 
 the poor vender of fruit. Miss, herself, was mortified, and cross- 
 ing to his side she pulled his sleeve and whispered, " Papa, do 
 pray come away, everybody is wondering at your sitting here." 
 
 " My little darling," said the commodore, " shake hands with 
 this old lady, she is an honest wife and noble mother. Pay no 
 attention to what remarks are made by frivolous fools, for this 
 lady is an honest, virtuous woman, commodities scarce in the 
 market. And remember, darling, that poverty is no disgrace, for 
 when I married your mother she was a washerwoman." 
 
 This revelation made such an impression upon the mind of the 
 child that it affected the current of her after life, which, up to 
 the present period has been one of charity and benevolence, ren- 
 dering her name among those with whom she has come in con- 
 tact a cherished memory. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 199 
 
 Dan Eice on Jay Gould. 
 
 The great railroad manipulator was born in the County of 
 Delaware, State of New York, and while a child he exemplified 
 the adage that "the boy is father to the man." The ruling 
 principle was illustrated by an incident that occurred in his 
 native town. 
 
 Some dainty pies in a confectioner's shop attracted his atten- 
 tion, but the price didn't suit him; they were twopence each. 
 While the attention of the female attendant was attracted to a 
 customer, Jay thrust his finger into one and broke the crust, and 
 upon her return he pointed to it, remarking that it was so dam- 
 aged that she ought to let him have it for half price, and he got 
 the pie upon his own terms. 
 
 He has pursued the same course in his dealings with railroads, 
 first depreciating and demoralizing the stock and then buying 
 it up at half price. As Shakespeare says: 
 
 " The devil speed him; 
 No man's pie is ' freed ' from his ambitious fingers." 
 
 Reciprocal Gratitude. 
 
 In the early fifties, while fighting his enemies, Colonel Eice 
 often found himself placed in positions that required financial 
 assistance, and it rarely, if ever, occurred that his requests in 
 that direction were not recognized. His reliability was unques- 
 tioned, therefore he could command any amuont without even 
 so much as the scratch of a pen. It was on one of these occa- 
 sions that Colonel Rice called on Daniel Van Wonder to go on his 
 bond for five thousand dollars to carry on his professional battle, 
 and this man, who followed the vocation of a butcher in Cin- 
 cinnati, came promptly to his aid, and willingly furnished the 
 amount with only a verbal understanding between them. The 
 money, with interest, was returned to Van Wonder at the ex- 
 piration of the time agreed upon. As time advanced he met with 
 reverses, and Colonel Rice was prosperous, and in the spring of 
 1856, while the Colonel was in Cincinnati, Van Wonder applied 
 for a loan of five thousand dollars, with which to buy cattle and 
 save himself from bankruptcy. Colonel Rice gratefully remem- 
 bered the favor which Van Wonder had previously bestowed in 
 his behalf, and he willingly gave the sum to his embarrassed 
 friend under the same conditions of a verbal contract. In four 
 years the indebtedness was cancelled without a word having been 
 spoken by Colonel Rice on the subject. Mrs. Bereford, a daugh- 
 
200 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 ter of Van Wonder, lived also in Cincinnati, and subsequently 
 told the Colonel that her father had instructed his children to 
 " always be a friend to Dan Eice." An opportunity was offered 
 some years later to demonstrate the fact that the father's instruc- 
 tions were not forgotten. Several of the Van Wonders located 
 in St. Louis, and in 1875, Colonel Rice, being in that city, was 
 hunting around for a loan of ten thousand dollars to replevin 
 some horses that were owned by the firm of Glidden & Manifee. 
 They had been trained by Bartholomew in Denver, Col., and were 
 superb creatures adapted to any performance in the ring. In- 
 quiring of the livery keeper if he knew where any of the Van 
 Wonders lived, he received for reply, there is one of them now 
 lying asleep on the couch in the office. It proved to be James 
 Van Wonder, a son of the Colonel's old friend, who lived in St. 
 Paul, and was, at present, visiting his brother in St. Louis. After 
 renewing his acquaintance with Colonel Eice whom he had not 
 met for years, the Colonel made known his wishes in regard to the 
 bond, and Van Wonder readily assented to signing the document. 
 " But you live in Minnesota," said Colonel Rice. " Well," he 
 said, " I can easily fix that all right by telegraph." " But," said 
 the Colonel, " the case is not in St. Louis, it is in Edwardsville, 
 111." Van Wonder replied, " as I own a large tract of land in St. 
 Clair County, I am a freeholder. If it takes the whole claim I 
 will sacrifice it. That was the instruction of my father, to al- 
 ways be a friend to Dan Eice." The result was that Van Wonder 
 telegraphed to the county clerk; the lawyers were satisfied, the 
 sheriff accepted the replevin bond, and the horses were released 
 and shipped to Cincinnati. 
 
 Dan Eice and George D. Prentice. 
 
 On Tuesday evening George D. Prentice visited the National 
 Theatre and was the recipient of a marked compliment from the 
 celebrated humorist, who, after adverting upon the calamities of 
 the country, and the disasters which had befallen the Union 
 cause through political "prestidigitators," expressed his pride 
 and satisfaction at the attendance of our great, accomplished, 
 patriotic, and devoted member of the press. " That man," said 
 he, pointing to the gentleman who occupied a conspicuous posi- 
 tion in the boxes, " is George D. Prentice, of Louisville." 
 
 The effect was electric; the audience rose eh masse, and three 
 cheers were given for the talented journalist, followed by three 
 more for Dan Eice. Mr. Prentice bowed an acknowledgment, 
 and appeared deeply impressed with the compliment, which was 
 indeed an impromptu demonstration. — " Enquirer," May, 1861. 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 201 
 
 A Dishonorable Flag. 
 
 While the circus was exhibiting in Troy, N. Y., Mr. Kice made 
 one of his characteristic speeches with a point to it. Said he: 
 
 "lama son of New York, but I cannot admire the city fathers. 
 They are, in social life, pretty good fellows, but in public, they 
 are a sort of human cormorant. They also possess capacious 
 pockets, all of which must be filled. 
 
 " Some persons have been rude and ungenerous enough to ac- 
 cuse them of stealing, but this must be an error. A part of their 
 public business is to make appropriations. Some of these they 
 make, but never pass; they carry them with them. Hence arises 
 the charge of peculation. If a man is desirous of losing his 
 character, he has only to become an alderman. I once heard a 
 mother say to her offspring who had been detected in some little 
 pilfering, ' If you go on this way you will either be sent to prison 
 or be made an alderman.' Our city fathers are generally fond 
 of celebrations, they like to see the Stars and Stripes floating in 
 the breeze. But there was one Flagg they could never raise — 
 Azariah C. They tried to put him out because he would not pay 
 out some of the city's bills, but he turned the tables on them and 
 let the creditors put out the auctioneer's flag instead. ' There 
 was a sell all around.' " The gist of the last joke was that A. C. 
 Flagg was the Mayor of Troy, and during his term of office he 
 at one time approached a certain alderman of that city as follows: 
 Said he, " A lady called upon one of the members of the Board 
 to ask his contribution for an Institution for Foundlings. The 
 alderman was known to be somewhat promiscuous in his amours 
 and he was equally noted for his parsimony. ' Madame,' said 
 he, ' I have already contributed largely to similar institutions.' 
 
 " ' I have no doubt of it,' she replied, ' but please contribute, 
 in this instance, in money.' " 
 
 Dan Rice. 
 
 A name familiar in almost every household in America. 
 
 Not long since the "Enquirer" published a reminiscence in 
 the life of the old showman which was read by Mr. George A. 
 Emmitt of this city, and it recalled to his mind the time when 
 Mr. Rice came to Waverly with what was then considered his 
 mammoth circus and menagerie and exhibited his wonders in the 
 lot now occupied by the court house. 
 
 This property was owned by Hon. James Emmitt, and the 
 conditions on which Mr. Rice secured the privilege of pitching 
 his acres of tents there were that he should have the ground lev- 
 elled off, the fence repaired, and all other damages occasioned 
 
202 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 during his stay were to be remedied before he left town. To 
 this Mr. Eice willingly agreed, but owing to the rush of business 
 and the late hour of getting together his long train of wagons 
 preparatory to starting to the next town, the grounds were about 
 to be left in their untidy state, when the constable arrested him 
 for breach of contract. 
 
 The humorous circus manager mounted a store box, and, in less 
 that half an hour, he had the whole populace convulsed with 
 laughter by his comical pleading of his own case. Mr. Emmitt 
 was lenient and, instead of pushing the prosecution, insisted on 
 entertaining Mr. Rice at his elegant home and the grounds were 
 afterward put in order at the latter's expense. 
 
 Dan Eice's Aunt's Opinion of a Game of Chess. 
 
 Rice — Do you play chess, Mr. N? 
 
 Mr. N. — Oh, yes, sir, whenever my professional duties will per- 
 mit; I am very fond of it, sir. 
 
 Rice — It's a noble game, and how beautifully our young Amer- 
 ican champion has beaten the proficients of the Old World; not 
 one of them could cope with the splendid Morphy. The veterans 
 in the chess circles have met him and been defeated. One only 
 declined to meet him. His excuse was transparent. He says, 
 " I might under other circumstances; and I might at some future 
 time; and my occupation might form an excuse." He is some- 
 thing like an old Staunton cheese — full of mites! 
 
 Mr. N. — Harwitz and Anderssen acted more nobly. 
 
 Rice — Did they not. They had been accustomed to defeat all 
 with who they came in contact; they were gentlemen, and showed 
 that even when their skill failed before the chess-giant of the 
 West, they could be gentlemen still. It's a splendid game. I 
 have an old aunt, however, who rather inclines to regard it as a 
 sort of social trap. She is somewhat antiquated, and we seldom 
 quarrel with her notions. She will sit bolt-upright in her high- 
 backed chair — one of the ten thousand brought over in the May- 
 flower with the Pilgrim fathers — with her hands crossed upon 
 her lap, her spectacles elevated to her forehead, and her cap frill 
 bobbing with every motion of her head. She says: 
 
 " Chess! Yes, it's all very well to play chess, but it ginerally 
 ends in airnest. A gal gits her feller right afore her, and com- 
 mences her movements. The fust on it is them pawns. I know 
 how they used to redeem pawns when I was a gal. Then the 
 knights goes galivantin' round the queens in their castles. So 
 she advances and backs out, and he keeps a-follering up, an' they 
 get the bishop into the scrape, an' it all ends in their mating. 
 It's a dangerous percedin', an' very much practised by the gals." 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 203 
 
 Dan Eice's Story. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice places his history in Pittsburg, and the date 
 early in 1850. He says at that time there was a livery-stable 
 keeper by the name of " Billy " Patterson and his place of busi- 
 ness on Penn Avenue near Fifth Street. Patterson had in his 
 employ a rather green Irishman, whose name was Terrence Leary, 
 and who loved Patterson better than life. In fact, during the 
 long winter nights, when Patterson's friends would congregate 
 around the stove in the stable office, Terrence would declare that 
 he would murder the man who would dare lay a hand on Patter- 
 son. The friends thereupon chided Terrence, but the doughty 
 Irishman would take it all in good humor, but still stuck to his 
 declaration. 
 
 Finally, Patterson's friends decided to put Terrence to a test, 
 and got Patterson himself in the secret. They chose a time when 
 Terrence was near-by in the stableyard, and then Patterson set 
 up an awful yell. 
 
 "Murder! Help! Terrence, they're killing me," he cried, 
 and Terrence, hearing the shrieks of agony, stopped his work and 
 rushed for the office. 
 
 " Who hit ' Billy ' Patterson? " 
 
 Terrence did not wait to open the door, but in his mad rush to 
 come to his friend's assistance, crashed straight through it and 
 bolted into the office. Furniture was overthrown, and in a corner 
 lay Patterson. 
 
 "Who hit 'Billy' Patterson?" demanded Terrence, his eyes 
 flashing fire, and seizing one of Patterson's friends who happened 
 to be near the prostrate man, threw him bodily through the win- 
 dow. The other jokers fled precipitately, and, in a second, Ter- 
 rence and Patterson were left alone. Terrence was soon told of 
 the joke, but it soon got noised abroad. Colonel Eice got hold 
 of it and was soon telling it from the ring of his " one-hoss " 
 show, and in the meantime every one was asking, "Who hit 
 'Billy 'Patterson?" 
 
 Tim Donahue's Philosophy. 
 
 Capt. Forbes Britton, of Corpus Christi, a gallant Texan 
 ranger, was not only a heroic soldier, a prince of raconteurs, but 
 one of the best of dancers. He was peculiarly fastidious in all 
 his ways, either business or social. In his attire he was a perfect 
 Chesterfield, and the only man who became noted for the atten- 
 tion devoted to his toilet on the eve of battle. I fail to discover, 
 in reading the history of our great warriors, one who ever made 
 a point of wearing a ruffled shirt in battle. One of the best 
 
2Ui JIEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 stories I ever heard him tell was when he had his company in 
 the Mexican War, under General Taylor. On a certain occasion 
 there was a station not far from Victoria. Here the General 
 issued an order that he would review the troops on a certain 
 morning. He had often heard of the gallantry of Captain Brit- 
 ton's company, and one Timothy Donohue, who evidently was an 
 Irish gentleman of culture, but who became demoralized in New 
 Orleans. Eecruiting officers in that city got him to enlist to go 
 to Texas, where he joined Captain Britton's company. On the 
 occasion alluded to the roll was called and all answered but Tim- 
 othy Donahue. Captain Britton suspected the cause, as Tim 
 would sometimes imbibe too freely when off duty. An orderly 
 was dispatched to the camp, when Tim was soon seen coming, 
 staggering, with musket on his shoulder. He fell in line and the 
 Captain addressed him in very stern tones: " Timothy Donahue, 
 you are drunk on duty. I had hoped, on this occasion, to have 
 General Taylor make some recognition of your many gallant 
 deeds by shaking hands with you, but here you are drunk on 
 duty." He answered, " Hist, Captain! Not another word. I 
 have only to ask — how do you expect all the virtues in a man for 
 thirteen dollars a month? " 
 
 Ben Thoknbueg's Fame. 
 
 At the age of ninety-seven Ben Thornburg has died in the 
 Washington County Poor House. Although having rounded 
 out a century with the exception of three years, the man's only 
 claim to fame is that many years ago he whipped Dan Bice, the 
 showman. It was not a great feat. It brought him local celeb- 
 rity, but nothing like so much as Napoleon won by being de- 
 feated instead of victorious at Waterloo. Yet Napoleon and 
 Thornburg died in quite similar predicaments. 
 
 However, licking Dan Bice is not necessary to make all the 
 reputation for a man thct he needs. Fame is nothing more than 
 a place in history and in the mouths of the people who talk. It 
 satisfies vanity, but only occasionally brings bread. Hundreds 
 of young Americans who are comfortably started in life's battle 
 and making business move successfully, would not trade their 
 satisfying incomes for Shakespeare's world-wide fame. Fame, 
 after all, comes only with the accomplishment of something un- 
 common. If all were to be famous, fame would be common- 
 place. Ben Thornburg grew famous through his trouncing of 
 Dan Rice, and maybe he never did anything else m his life but 
 what was more to his credit. Millions of men are pegging away 
 day after day doing meritorious things, looking after their house- 
 holds, and living exemplary lives. They make no name for 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 205 
 
 themselves, because they are not whipping circus clowns, leading 
 armies, wearing their hair long and playing football, making big 
 winnings in pool rooms, etc. But they serve just as good a pur- 
 pose in the world, and that is all that' is required. Ben Thorn- 
 burg's peculiar fame is just as good as anybody's. 
 
 Mrs. Evans. 
 
 The Evans family, of Pittsburg, was a noted one in those days, 
 and many of them were inventors, and it was Mr. Eice's personal 
 friend, George Evans, a nephew of Mr. Cadwallader Evans, who 
 invented the adjustable fire-ladder, and draws a royalty on it at 
 the present day. Miss Sarah, a daughter of Mr. Cadwallader 
 Evans, was considered one of the most beautiful women in Pitts- 
 burg — indeed, the whole of the Evans family were distinguished 
 for their physical and intellectual charms. Miss Evans married 
 her cousin Oliver, who bore the same family name, and as she 
 still continued her residence in Pittsburg after her marriage, 
 she manifested the same interest in Mr. Pace's welfare that ex- 
 isted in her girlhood days. A short time previous to her hus- 
 band's early death, not enjoying very rugged health, she decided 
 to go and spend an indefinite time for recuperation at Eavenna, 
 0., a resort not far from PittsbuTg, and Mr. Eice was selected 
 by her mother to accompany Mrs. Evans, who was to travel by 
 carriage. Upon her arrival at the hotel the proprietor, Mr. Mc- 
 Kibben, who was also a friend of the family and had been advised 
 of her coming, paid every attention and furnished every comfort 
 that the lady could desire. On account of her personal charms 
 she attracted as much attention at Eavenna as she did at her 
 home in Pittsburg, and a few days after her arrival, as she sat 
 on the porch of the Eavenna Hotel one afternoon, Mr. Eice being 
 still in attendance on, her there, a handsome Kentuckian of dash- 
 ing presence and captivating address drove up in a magnificent 
 equipage. No sooner had he alighted than his eyes fell upon 
 the attractive Mrs. Evans as she sat apart from the other guests, 
 and the gentleman at once betrayed an interest that was readily 
 interpreted by the observers as a clear case of " love at first sight." 
 In vain he entreated Mr. McKibben, the host, to present him. 
 The answer was always that Mrs. Evans was not a woman to 
 tolerate any breach of etiquette committed by a stranger, but the 
 newcomer, who was no less a personage than Ten Broeck, the 
 well-known horseman, persevered, and finally recognizing Mr. 
 Eice as the successful race-rider of previous years, renewed his 
 acquaintance, and persuaded that young man to deliver a note to 
 Mrs. Evans begging the honor of an introduction. 
 
 Mrs. Evans tore the note into fragments, declaring there was 
 
20(j REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 no reply necessary, and her indignation at the fact of Mr. Rice 
 being used as the instrument of such an undertaking, together 
 with the offensive perseverance of Mr. Ten Broeck, was sufficient 
 cause for her to shorten her stay at Ravenna. She was relentless, 
 and when Mr. Rice drove her back to Pittsburg, a few days after- 
 ward, Ten Broeck was unknown to her save by reputation. On 
 examining the carriage the next morning after their return, Mr. 
 Rice found a magnificent solitaire diamond ring in a corner under 
 the carpet. Soon afterward a maid came from the Evans man- 
 sion to inquire if the jewel had been found, as Mrs. Evans had 
 missed it on her return. Mr. Rice said nothing, but put the ring 
 into his pocket and went to the Evans house. With all the 
 freedom of his impulsive good nature he asked Mrs. Evans, with 
 a roguish smile, " What will you give to get the ring back? " 
 " One hundred dollars," she cried; " it cost sixteen hundred." 
 Mr. Rice said nothing, but left the house, leaving Mrs. Evans in 
 a state of uncertainty. After he thought he had caused her suffi- 
 cient anxiety, he finally called and restored to her the solitaire, 
 refusing, of course, to take any reward, and telling her that he 
 had only punished her a little for her cruelty to handsome Mr. 
 Ten Broeck. But Mr. Ten Broeck's case was hopeless, though 
 he was afterward presented to Mrs. Evans in Pittsburg through 
 the courtesy of Mr. MeKibben. Mrs. Evans was early left a 
 widow, and some time after her husband's death she visited Phila- 
 delphia, where she stayed at the Merchants' Hotel, which was 
 kept by MeKibben, who had previously entertained Mrs. Evans at 
 Ravenna. It was during her sojourn in Philadelphia that she 
 married MeKibben, and thus ended a romance that had in it the 
 sentiment of the olden time. 
 
 Jean Lafitte Johnson. 
 
 This sketch of the life of Johnson will compare in romantic 
 interest with the ideal heroes of most works of fiction. His 
 grandfather was the famous Jean Lafitte, the celebrated bucca- 
 neer of Barataria, who was born in France, either at St. Malo or 
 Marseilles in 1780. There is uncertainty about his early career, 
 and accounts vary, but the most authentic describes him as a lieu- 
 tenant of a French privateer, which was captured by a British 
 man-of-war and taken into an English port, where, with the 
 officers and crew of the vessel, he was thrown into prison and 
 confined for several years under circumstances of peculiar hard- 
 ship, which were the more galling, as, long before, all his com- 
 rades had obtained their release. His resentment thereat and 
 hatred of England in consequence, inspired, it is said, his subse- 
 quent career, and the important service he did the United States 
 during the British expedition to New Orleans. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 207 
 
 Upon his liberation, in consequence of peace being proclaimed 
 between France and Great Britain, he obtained a privateer's com- 
 mission for the Carthagenian government, then at war with 
 Spain, under cover of which he is said to have carried out his 
 revenge by the capture, of several English merchant ships, as 
 well as those of Spain, and it was this which first caused him to 
 be proclaimed a pirate, although there is no authentic record 
 of his having plundered the vessels of any other nationality. Sub- 
 sequently he settled in New Orleans in 1807, where, it is said, he 
 worked at the trade of a blacksmith, his forge being located at the 
 corner of Bourbon and St. Phillip Streets. The war between 
 France and Spain caused nim and his brother Pierre, who was 
 also a seafaring man, to fit out another privateer, with which to 
 prey upon the rich commerce of the Spanish possessions, then 
 the most valuable and productive in the New World. At that 
 period the seas were swarming with these pests of the ocean, and 
 the ships of neutral nations were frequently subjects of plunder, 
 and a general crusade by the warships of maritime nations was 
 instituted. It was, therefore, found expedient to secure some 
 safe harbor into which they could escape from the ships of war, 
 and where, too, they could establish a depot for the smuggling 
 and sale of their spoils. The little bay or cove of Grand Terre 
 was selected. It was called " Barataria," and several huts and 
 storehouses were built, and cannon planted upon the beach. It 
 was inaccessible to men-of-war, and it was near the city of New 
 Orleans, and from it the lakes and bayous afforded an easy water 
 communication nearly to the banks of the Mississippi, within a 
 short distance of the city. A regular organization of the priva- 
 teers was established, officers were chosen, and agents appointed 
 in New Orleans to enlist men and negotiate the sale of goods. 
 
 Gradually, by his success, enterprise, and address, Jean Lafitte 
 obtained such ascendancy over those fierce and lawless men that 
 they elected him their commander. It is not intended in this 
 sketch to relate the adventurous career of Lafitte, which in itself 
 would embrace a space equal to that employed in this narrative. 
 The object is simply to trace the ancestry and origin of one who, 
 at one time, was intimately connected with the subject of these 
 memoirs. How, through the agency of Lafitte, the Government 
 of the United States was put into possession of the plan of cam- 
 paign of the British, in the contemplated invasion of Louisiana, 
 is a matter of history. The proverbial ingratitude of Eepublics 
 was also exemplified in its treatment of him and his followers, 
 when a combined naval and land force, under the command of 
 Commodore Patterson and Colonel Eoss, entered the bay, and, 
 as the Baratarians would not fight against the flag of the United 
 States, seized their vessels, filled them with the goods found upon 
 
208 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 the island, and made captive the buccaneers. But Lafitte, being 
 forewarned, was not there. He had escaped to a point above 
 New Orleans, known as the German coast, in one of the vessels 
 wherein was considerable treasure. That he was offered a rich 
 reward by the British authorities to aid the English invasion, 
 has never been controverted, and that he dallied with them until 
 he could convey their plans to Governor Claiborne is also undis- 
 puted. The packages of Col. Edward Nichols, Commander of 
 His Britannic Majesty's land forces, and of Sir W. H. Percy, 
 commander of the naval forces in the Gulf of Mexico, dated 
 September 1, 1814, to " Mr. Lafitte," and forwarded to the Gov- 
 ernor, may be seen in the records of the United States District 
 Court in New Orleans. Their authenticity was at first doubted, 
 but afterwards it was fully established. After the retirement of 
 Commodore Patterson, Lafitte and those with him who had es- 
 caped, reoccupied Barataria, and subsequently obtained an am- 
 nesty and pardon of himself and followers, as well as the libera- 
 tion of his brother Pierre, who had been taken prisoner, and in 
 connection with a United States officer, he was employed in for- 
 tifying the passes of Barataria Bay, and in command of a party 
 of his followers, he rendered efficient service in the battle of 
 January 8, 1815. President Madison confirmed the amnesty 
 which had been granted to all the Baratarians who had enlisted 
 in the American service, but Lafitte never received any further 
 reward for his services. The story that he perished at sea in 1817 
 is not borne out by facts. It is known that, after aiding Jackson 
 at the battle of New Orleans, he founded a settlement on the 
 site of the present city of Galveston, where there is a grave known 
 till this day as the Lafitte grave. This rendezvous was broken 
 up by a naval force in command of Lieutenant, after Commodore, 
 Kearney, in 1821, but there is nothing authentic of the after- 
 life or death of Lafitte, who is described as a man of noble pres- 
 ence, over six feet high, hazel eyes, and black hair, and winning 
 and affable address. The terms offered him by the British com- 
 mander, Colonel Nichols, for his cooperation in the invasion of 
 Louisiana were $30,000 and the command of a fine brig of war, 
 which he spurned, only to be afterwards denounced by General 
 Jackson as the leader of a "hellish banditti." 
 
 Barataria is once more a solitude, a few dark mounds and scat- 
 tered debris the only evidence of its brief state of active and law- 
 less existence. A tradition exists that there is wealth hidden 
 beneath its surface, buried by the buccaneers, and the same is 
 said of the Island of Galveston, but so far the enterprising 
 searchers have found nothing to repay their efforts. Lafitte had 
 an only daughter, who, at an early age, became the wife of one 
 of his lieutenants, a young man named Johnson. The fruit of 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 209 
 
 the marriage was the subject of this brief sketch, Jean Lafitte 
 Johnson, named after his grandfather, the so-called " Pirate of 
 Barataria," and a girl whose subsequent history is unknown. 
 After the dispersion of the buccaneers at Galveston, Johnson and 
 his wife settled in New Orleans where Jean was born and chris- 
 tened by a priest named Hemacourt, as the record of his baptism 
 will show. When only seven years old his mother died, and 
 subsequently his father removed to St. Louis. It was in the 
 spring of 1849 when Dan Rice was in the city that Johnson de- 
 termined to cross the plains to the Pacific slope. He had been 
 working as a stevedore, and, as at that time the California fever 
 was strong, he determined upon an effort to better his fortune 
 in the golden region. His son, Jean, was then a youth, but 
 strong and active, and with a form which might have served as 
 a model for Praxiteles. Mr. Eice, who knew the father, saw that 
 he might readily be made an acquisition to the arena, and he 
 agreed to take him as an apprentice, thus relieving the father of 
 considerable anxiety. 
 
 Johnson started, and it was the last seen of him, as on his 
 hazardous journey across the plains he was murdered by the 
 Indians, at least such was supposed to have been his fate. In 
 the meantime young Jean proved himself an apt scholar, and be- 
 came a favorite with the public. His symmetrical and graceful 
 figure and pleasant and ingenuous countenance, added to his 
 speedily acquired skill as an equestrian, were attributes which 
 bid fair to exalt him above most of his fellow professionals, nor 
 did his tutor, Mr. Eice, relax an effort in perfecting his educa- 
 tion, not only as a rider but in the higher school of calisthenics. 
 Before he had served a year of his apprenticeship, Dan Eice's 
 horses were seized at Covington, Ky,. as narrated elsewhere, and 
 Jean Lafitte Johnson became the equestrian hero of the " One- 
 Horse Show." He shared the varying fortunes of his preceptor 
 until the end of his apprenticeship in 1854, when he left and 
 engaged with other companies. Finally he became connected 
 with John Eobinson's Circus, of which he was a distinguished 
 and popular member. At this period he fell in love with an 
 adopted daughter of the proprietor, Maggie Homer by name, 
 whose father was an old member of the Cincinnati police force. 
 She was a fascinating young girl, barely turned sixteen summers, 
 and the attachment was mutual, for Jean was at that time a 
 counterpart of " James Pitz James," as described by the immortal 
 author of the " Lady of the Lake." 
 
 " Light was his footstep in the dance, 
 And firm his stirrup in the lists, 
 And oh, he had the merry glance, 
 Which seldom lady's heart resists." 
 14 
 
210 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 The result was a clandestine marriage which was discovered 
 almost immediately after the performance of the ceremony, and 
 before an hour had elapsed, his young bride was torn weeping 
 from him by the Eobinson family, and he himself summarily 
 discharged. It was a sad termination to " Love's young dream," 
 and a cruel persecution of a couple who might have lived happily 
 and together fought successfully the battle of life. Of the two, 
 poor Jean felt it most poignantly, Maggie's nature was more 
 elastic, for in the course of time she again married, and became 
 the wife of " Billy Emerson," the celebrated Ethiopian comedian, 
 with whom she lived several years. But it is presumed that her 
 second marriage was merely one of convenience, her heart was 
 not in it, and finally they separated, when she drifted to New 
 York and became one of the most noted of the demi-monde. But 
 poor Jean Lafitte never rallied from the blow which was laid 
 with such relentless force upon his devoted head. His had been 
 a pure and unselfish love,, as it was his first. From that time, 
 pride, ambition, and all that had previously incited him to action, 
 and a determination to achieve name, fame, and fortune, lay 
 dead and buried. Life had lost its charm and he became a reck- 
 less castaway. Had the shock and sorrow killed him, or even 
 driven him madly unconscious, it would have been a merciful 
 dispensation, but he lived on to find- relief and f orgetfulness only 
 under the baleful influence of the intoxicating cup. His pro- 
 fession was abandoned, and he became a wanderer about the 
 streets, begging from those who knew him in happier days the 
 wherewith to gratify his craving for the liquid damnation. 
 
 A circumstance which endears itself to Mr. Rice's mind as an 
 incident of his boyhood worth remembering, gives the present 
 reader an insight into purity of heart and purpose, that existed 
 in so many families that belonged to the old-time chivalry. It 
 was the habit of Mr. Eice, as he travelled continually, to entrust 
 a portion of his money with some responsible person for safe- 
 keeping, as the facilities were not so advantageous for depositing 
 as those of the present day. Colonel Jones', of Wheeling, W. 
 Va., wife was a very benevolent lady, whose name, in connection 
 with his, was a household word in all the surrounding country. 
 She was especially beloved and admired for her kindness of 
 heart, and her scrupulous regard in acts of charity, and never 
 neglected a trust that appealed to her sense of honor. Of the 
 many who enjoyed her confidence, Mr. Rice was one of the num- 
 ber, and, as he was a great favorite on account of his cheerful 
 disposition and sense of the humorous, she took great interest in 
 his affairs, and her instructions were always a pleasure to con- 
 template and ponder over. A few days after Colonel Jones had 
 
BEHINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 211 
 
 been laid to rest, while Mr. Kice was making his preparations to 
 leave, she came to him and said, " My boy, before the Colonel 
 was taken away, he told me that if anything happened to him to 
 give you fifty dollars on your return, and here it is in gold." Mr. 
 Bice thanked her, and said that he did not know what to do with 
 it as he was travelling almost constantly from place to place, and 
 asked her to keep it for him, as she had done on other occasions. 
 She readily assented, and soon after Mr. Eice left and never saw 
 her afterwards. Some time had elapsed and he was again in- 
 stalled in Pittsburg, when, one day going to the banking house of 
 Holmes & Co., where he had previously deposited his money form 
 time to time, he was notified that fifty dollars in gold had been 
 added to his credit, and gave him a letter that had accompanied 
 the amount. Which letter explained that Mrs. Jones did not 
 long survive her husband, and, when she was rapidly declining, 
 she sent the money to Mr. John McCourtney, of Wheeling, W. 
 Va., who acted in the capacity of confidential agent for the bank- 
 ing house, and he, knowing that Mr. Eice had deposited his 
 money with them previously, put the amount in their charge, for 
 which Mr. Eice was credited. Thus Mrs. Jones discharged a 
 duty which has few equals in these days of perplexing embarrass- 
 ments. 
 
 It was at the Wheeling races that young Eice met, in the Vir- 
 ginia Hotel, his former patron, Mr. Elliott, of Baltimore, and his 
 beautiful wife, Madame Celeste, whom he had married under 
 the following romantic circumstances: 
 
 Mr. Elliott and a party of his friends attended the old Bowery 
 Theatre in New York, on the evening of June 27, 1837, to wit- 
 ness the performance of Madame Celeste in the play of "The 
 French Spy." The fame of this artist had preceded her in this 
 country, and she was creating here, as she had in Europe, a great 
 sensation. Not only by her pantomimic action, but also her 
 artistic display of terpsichorean skill and fascination, is what 
 caught the impressionable nature of Mr. Elliott, and he pre- 
 sented to her from his box, as she responded to the encore, a very 
 valuable diamond ring that he took from his finger. Mr. T. S. 
 Hamblin, the manager, who was present in the box, immediately 
 went back on the stage and informed the lady through the inter- 
 preter that the gentleman's designs were honorable, then return- 
 ing to the box he invited the coterie of friends to the green-room. 
 Mr. Elliott was then introduced to the great artist, who invited 
 him and his friends to lunch with her at the Hotel de Paris on 
 Broadway, which invitation they accepted. While on the way to 
 the hotel, Mr. Elliott made a bet of five thousand dollars with Mr. 
 Harry Sovereign that he would marry the lady within a month, 
 
212 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 which he did, much to the amusement of his friends and the 
 amazement of Mr. Sovereign, who met the contract with all the 
 spirit of old-time chivalry. Mr. Elliott and his lovely wife lived 
 together several years, during which time a daughter came to 
 grace their home. She was educated at Baltimore, and married 
 eventually one of its most prominent citizens. Madame Celeste 
 returned to London after her separation from Mr. Elliott, and 
 continued her professional career, being a pronounced favorite 
 in the play-going fraternity. 
 
 Among the numerous little episodes that entered the opening 
 career of his early manhood, Mr. Eice mentions one in which he 
 figured largely in subduing the question of right of way in the 
 public thoroughfare, in one locality at least, and which was es- 
 tablished by a resort to honest blows, guided by scientific rules 
 that made the results most emphatic and impressionable. Con- 
 sequently, he was the conquering hero in a well-earned combat, 
 and had, for an opponent, a distinguished statesman in embryo. 
 In the early days, before the railroad had penetrated the remote 
 districts, the main towns being connected by different stage 
 roads, there was, necessarily, much opposition among the rival 
 stage lines that ran on scheduled time over the routes. Promi- 
 nent among those in eastern Ohio, were the two opposition lines 
 running between Columbus and Marietta. One under the inter- 
 ests and ownership of several of the best and most prominent citi- 
 zens, was called the Hildebrand Company Stage Line, and in- 
 cluded the landlord of the Mansion House, Capt. John Lewis, 
 John Marshall, owner of the Horse Ferry, the Barbour Bros., and 
 Mr. Holmes, a prominent merchant. The other was called the 
 Neil Moore & Co. Stage Line, and the divided honors of the two 
 companies were about equal. The route at one point lay along 
 the Muskingum River and the overflow after storms was liable 
 to cause a crevasse in the embankment, and thus impair the stage 
 road so that only one vehicle could pass at a time, while others 
 waited beyond the break. The feeling of opposition ran very 
 high between the drivers of the rival companies, who were gen- 
 erally strong, hardy boys from the farms in the adjoining coun- 
 try, and the excitement was very great when two opposition stages 
 happened to meet at a crevasse where one would be compelled 
 to stop for the other to pass. Many a wordy battle ensued, which 
 often led to both drivers dismounting and indulging in an em- 
 pathic "rough and tumble" that would delay the passengers 
 beyond the schedule time, and each company found it necessary 
 at times to employ guards to assist in preserving the law of 
 order. On such occasions, Mr. Rice, who was then a sturdy lad 
 and not afraid of entering a contest with the largest of them, 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 213 
 
 while on a visit to the Eeppert farm near Marietta, was asked to 
 accompany Lemuel Flowers, of the Hildebrand Co. Line, over 
 the route to McConnellsville and return. With his great love 
 for adventure, and a spirit fortified for any emergency, he ac- 
 cepted, and thus filled the office of guard to Flowers, who appre- 
 hended difficulty on the journey. All went well after the start, 
 until they were met by the rival stage very near to the " break " 
 in the road, and each driver urged his horses with all speed to 
 reach it first. The Hildebrand stage arrived on the scene about 
 twenty feet ahead of the other, and halted in such a position that 
 his rival could not pass. Then it was that " Greek met Greek," 
 the difficulty began, and the guard, springing off the Neil stage, 
 took hold of the wheel horses of the Hildebrand stage to make 
 way for his driver to pass, when Flowers gave the reins to Mr. 
 Eice and contended that he had the right of way as he had 
 reached the "break" first. The guard contested it and they 
 soon came to blows, when the driver of the Neil stage left his 
 horses and came to the guard's assistance. He was a tall, gaunt 
 young man nearly six feet, and was known. about the country 
 by the sobriquet of " Sockless Jerry," because of his proverbial 
 aversion to those useful adjuncts of male attire. Young 
 Flowers could master the guard single-handed, but when the 
 giant Ohian came to the rescue, he was not equal to the size 
 of the reinforcement, so Mr. Eice found it necessary for him also 
 to interfere and test the strength of the adversary. He vaulted 
 over the side of the stage just as Flowers was receiving some well 
 directed kicks from the exasperated driver while he still held the 
 guard down, and, bringing all his science to a focus between the 
 eyes of the giant, rolled over with him into the " break " made 
 by the crevasse, and implanting his scientific blows wherever he 
 could find a place to do so. They afterwards left him in the 
 hands of the guard whom Flowers had released. The passengers 
 commended Mr. Eice for the part he had been forced to take in 
 the affair, and Flowers, with his guard, proceeded on the journey 
 to McConnellsville, reaching there on schedule time. The news 
 of the combat had preceded them, however, and spread in every 
 direction, and the sterner element congregated from the adjacent 
 farms, etc., to see. the heroes of the day. When the stage was 
 ready for the start on the return trip, the people all gave three 
 cheers for Flowers and Mr. Eice, who had whipped Jerry Eusk, 
 and, on arriving at Marietta, they learned that the Neil stage 
 had arrived an hour behind time. The driver was at the Mansion 
 House under the treatment of a physician, and suffering from a 
 badly bruised face, while the guard had gone to his home to 
 recruit after paying the penalty of his defeat, and was never 
 known to show a disposition to be a stage guard again. The long, 
 
214 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 notable career of Mr. Busk is well known, and his name was a 
 household word during President Benjamin Harrison's adminis- 
 tration, when he acted as Secretary of Agriculture. His early 
 manhood was guided and actuated by good motives that devel- 
 oped him into a brilliant accessory as time wore on, and good 
 deeds were the inevitable results of his statesmanship. Beloved 
 for his hearty good-humor, he was always approachable, even in 
 his official state, and benevolence was imprinted in every linea- 
 ment of his features. " Uncle Jerry " Rusk was a personal friend 
 of Mr. Eice all through his life, and pleasant social fetes have 
 brought them many times together. They enjoyed many hearty 
 laughs over the stage line experience, and he always insisted that 
 if Mr. Eice had not thrown him into the gully, he would, to use 
 his own language, " have got away with him." In recalling to 
 mind the death of General Eusk — which occurred while he was 
 under the influence of anaesthetics, and passing through a surgical 
 operation performed by the Surgeon-General, Dr. Hamilton, for 
 a painful malady — it is a strange coincidence that Mr. Eice, being 
 a victim to the same ailment, passed successfully through the 
 same operation without the use of anaesthetics under the skilful 
 surgery of the eminent Dr. D. M. Barr, of Long Branch, N. J. 
 
 In connection with the episode of the stage-line difficulty, an 
 interesting occasion was celebrated the next day in Marietta, 
 which Mr. Eice attended with all the fires of patriotism burning 
 in his impulsive nature. The great Whig mass meeting opened 
 its session in the interest of Gen. William H. Harrison for Presi- 
 dent, and the Hon. Thomas Corwin for Governor. The speeches 
 of the candidates were exceptionally fine, and Mr. Eice regards 
 Mr. Corwin as the most able and eloquent stump orator that he 
 ever listened to. His perfect control over the facial expression 
 has never been equalled either on or off the stage. Mr. Eice at 
 that time had the reputation of being a fine natural singer, and 
 the Committee of Arrangements invited him to go on the stage 
 and join in singing the campaign songs, which invitation he 
 cordially acepted. He had received his first instructions in 
 politics from his esteemed old friend George Eeppert, at the 
 farm, and there had instilled in his mind, a proper understanding 
 of the principles of the Albert Gallatin school. The crowds 
 gathered from all parts of the country to attend the mass meet- 
 ing, and Mr. Eice led the principal vocalists in singing the mem- 
 orable song of 
 
 " Tippecanoe and Tyler too, 
 And with them we'll beat little Van. 
 Van! Van! Van is a used-up man, 
 And with them we'll beat little Van! " 
 
ADAM FOKEPAUQH 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 215 
 
 Among the chorus singers on that occasion was Mr. William 
 Windom, of Belmont County, 0., who eventually became a prom- 
 inent lawyer, and acted in the capacity of attorney in several 
 instances for Mr. Eice when he was in the circus business. It is 
 well known how his naturally gifted mind gradually developed 
 into that of a superior statesman, and he afterward became Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury under President Benjamin Harrison. He 
 was previously a Cabinet officer under President Garfield, and 
 was one of the most efficient statesmen in manipulating great 
 issues that affected either the State or Government that he repre- 
 sented. In later years, when Mr. Eice had retired from his public 
 career, he renewed the acquaintance with Mr. Windom, and 
 they enjoyed many social pleasantries, and exchanged opinions 
 on the prevailing topics of the period; but, upon one subject they 
 always agreed, they had both sung together the Whig campaign 
 song of 1 840, and still retained enough of the old-time spirit to 
 be classed in the school of Old Line Whigs. 
 
 Capt. Tom Leathers. 
 
 Tom Leathers, the brave and big-hearted, has gone over at last 
 to join the majority He has made his last landing, and I trust 
 cast anchor in the tideless port of heaven. He was one of my 
 firmest and most faithful friends. He was a man of superb pres- 
 ence and sterling character. He lived in the most romantic and, 
 at the same time, most material and sensational days of the Ee- 
 public. He was the pioneer pilot of the Mississippi Eiver, and 
 far and away the best-known and most popular man in the 
 imperial domain of the Mississippi Valley, whose greatness he 
 did so much to develop, and in which he was so majestic a figure. 
 In the early '40's I first made his acquaintance. Words are in- 
 deed too weak to recite in detail the story of our mutual interest 
 or do adequate justice to the memory of days that formed the 
 unfaltering friendship that I still maintain for him. The follow- 
 ing tribute of a mutual friend, anent the announcement of his 
 death will suffice to depict, in some measure, his noble character 
 and ennobling career: 
 
 " The popularity and fame of Captain Leathers were a house- 
 hold word in the Mississippi Valley and the staterooms on his 
 boats brought premiums. He never lost a life. His coolness 
 and presence of mind never failed him when danger menaced, 
 which was often. He knew his business thoroughly and his rise 
 was due to merit. His first boat, I think, was the old ' Princess,' 
 of which he was mate before being promoted to her command. 
 In 1858 he built the first ' Natchez,' and from that day his 
 prominence as a river man was assured. When his boat was 
 
216 BEJIINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 burnt on the Black River by the Federal soldiers just after the 
 war commenced, Captain Tom was ruined. All his earnings 
 were invested in the boat, but his friends stood by him and 
 bought the ' Magenta,' which he ran for a while until the second 
 ' Natchez ' was afloat. This is the boat which took part in the 
 historic race with the ' Eobert E. Lee ' from New Orleans to 
 St. Louis. The race created great interest throughout the whole 
 country. Along the river the big race occupied public attention 
 exclusively for weeks before it came off. The betting on the out- 
 come is said to have been the heaviest ever known. 
 
 " Captain Leathers commanded the ' Natchez ' and Captain 
 Canon, another popular boatman, the ' Lee.' Both captains 
 prepared their boats with care. Every extra pound was taken off 
 the ' Lee,' even the doors and shutters, and the decks of both 
 racers were piled with resinous knots. On the day of the start 
 the Crescent City went wild with excitement, and the river for 
 twenty miles up stream was filled with excursion craft loaded to 
 the guards with admirers of the rival boats. The start was on 
 June 30, 1870. The race was a close one and along the river the 
 people came miles from the interior to catch a fleeting glance of 
 the flyers. The ' Lee ' won by several hours, making the dis- 
 tance in three days, eighteen hours and fourteen minutes, ar- 
 riving in St. Louis on July 4th, where her crew as well as that 
 of the defeated ' Natchez,' received the freedom of the city. 
 After this the ' Lee ' ' wore the horns ' as queen of the river, but 
 the result was not considered entirely conclusive. The ' Natchez ' 
 was delayed by fog during the first part of the race and the coal- 
 ing arrangements of the ' Lee ' were much better. She took her 
 coal on board without slackening speed from fast steamers sta- 
 tioned at points on the route, while the ' Natchez ' had to run in 
 and take coal barges in tow. This was the last great race on the 
 river." 
 
 Captain Leathers successively built and commanded five boats 
 called " Natchez," all of them magnificently appointed steamers. 
 In those days the boats monopolized the river passenger traffic, 
 and as there was much competition, the accommodations were of 
 the costliest description, and the tables on first-class boats were 
 equal to those of the best hotels of the present day. The big 
 saloon cabins every night after supper were cleared and the pas- 
 sengers had their choice of amusements. There was always a 
 good band for dancing, and card tables stood invitingly in the 
 forward saloon. These were the palmy days of gambling, and the 
 boats were patronized by all kinds of professional sports. It was 
 difficult for a captain to protect his passengers, but so well-known 
 was Captain Tom Leathers' determined way with card sharpers 
 that his boats enjoyed comparative immunity from the swindling 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 217 
 
 fraternity. He never drank to excess or gambled himself, and if 
 a passenger was fleeced on his boat the accused man was hunted 
 up, summarily investigated, and, if guilty, the boat's nose was 
 pointed to the nearest bank and the offender " walked the plank " 
 and waded through mud and water to the shore, sometimes many 
 miles from a settlement. As such experiences were unpleasant, 
 Captain Tom's boats were given a wide birth by sharpers, and 
 consequently the wealthy river-front planters between Vicks- 
 burg and New Orleans preferred the ' Natchez ' always for them- 
 selves and families. 
 
 The Captain's History. 
 
 Captain Leathers is a Kentuckian, hailing from Covington, 
 and has followed the river since childhood. He has married 
 twice. His second wife was Miss Claiborne, and a member of the 
 well-known New Orleans and St. Louis family of that name. 
 He has six children living, three boys and three girls. Captain 
 Leathers gave up active life on the river ten years ago. He is 
 now largely interested in the company running boats between 
 Vicksburg and New Orleans, and has offices in the latter city. 
 His eldest son, Boland, commands a stern-wheel " Natchez " 
 belonging to the line and is a chip of the old block. The other 
 boys likewise followed in their father's footsteps and are 
 popular. 
 
 Captain George A. Devol, who lived for many years in New 
 Orleans and travelled constantly with Captain Leathers and his 
 compeers, said yesterday: " Yes, I am well acquainted with Cap- 
 tain Leathers. I knew all of the old-time river captains inti- 
 mately. There was a Captain Canon — he is dead. Captain 
 Tobin is dead also. Captain White is gone. I guess Leathers 
 is about the only one left of his generation. And what splendid 
 fellows they were, brave, generous, and charitable. They took 
 the greatest pride in their profession, and were square and trust- 
 worthy. I could never get one of them even to accept a present. 
 The last ' Natchez ' was the fastest boat ever put in the Missis- 
 sippi Kiver. She struck a snag seven or eight years ago while in 
 command of Boland Leathers and was a total loss. Just before 
 she started on her last trip her insurance of $125,000 was reduced 
 to $20,000, and the loss was a bad blow to the old captain. He is 
 rich, though, and lives in splendid style in New Orleans. He is 
 just the same unassuming Captain Tom as ever, and an old 
 friend is always welcomed heartily. His reminiscences of river 
 life are fascinating. I hope to enjoy another 'pipe' and a 
 julep with Captain ' Tom ' before either of us makes our last 
 landing." 
 
218 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Mifflin Kenedy. 
 
 Another brave, strong, gentle spirit has passed away. In the 
 fullness of his ripened years, enriched with the memories of a 
 good and useful life, armored with the respect and aureoled with 
 the tender love of legions, in the twilight of his life's day the 
 end came and dusk melted into dawn. 
 
 His was an instructive career, an inspiring life. 
 
 He was a pioneer, and turned from the peace and tranquility 
 of his boyhood home to mingle in the sterner, ruder scenes in the 
 border land of romance and adventure. He had within him the 
 same inquiring, adventurous blood that set Drake and Ealeigh 
 afloat on the unknown seas and spurred Columbus when he 
 turned his back to the sun and set the Star of Empire forever 
 in the West. 
 
 In a time and country, and among a people where might was 
 often right, he only used his influence and power to make them 
 synonymous. 
 
 There is not a single unjust or oppressive act debited on the 
 ledger of Mifflin Kenedy's life. 
 
 He was early thrown amid associates where violence was not 
 uncommon; he never gave nor took a blow. It was known that 
 he possessed a resolute will, an iron nerve, and a superb courage. 
 He commanded respect. His heart was as tender as a woman's. 
 He inspired affection. 
 
 He knew friendship's sacred meaning. To his friends he 
 was as 
 
 " Constant as the Northern Star, 
 Of whose true, fixed, and resting quality 
 There is no fellow in the firmament." 
 
 Hatred was a luxurious dissipation of the soul from which his 
 spirit revolted. He abhorred deceit, dishonesty, and dishonor, 
 and when he found them in any human being he shunned hinj. 
 
 His charity was as wide as the sky, and wherever he found 
 human suffering, human misfortune, his sympathy fell upon it 
 as the dew. 
 
 Humanity is better because he lived. 
 
 He never sought nor held any political office. This alone 
 entitles him to distinction. But he was keenly alive to the duties 
 of American citizenship, and within the scope of his influence 
 few moves on the political chessboard were made without his 
 advice, given always for good, always for right. 
 
 His time and labor and money had been freely given to bring 
 progress and prosperity to this country and its people, and his 
 
KEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 219 
 
 hopes were centred in their upbuilding and betterment. It is 
 pitiful that he could not have stayed to see the material regen- 
 eration of those whom he had led and loved and served so long. 
 Just now when every sign points to fairer weather, when the 
 commercial hilltops herald the coming of the better day, when 
 the seed he sowed in generous wisdom is ripening into bounteous 
 harvest, when the people, emerging from the wilderness of doubt 
 and despair, behold just beyond the glint and gleam of the prom- 
 ised land, his leadership is still needed, his voice and presence 
 will be sadly missed. 
 
 " One blast upon his bugle horn 
 Were worth a thousand men." 
 
 Mifflin Kenedy was a keen, sagacious business man. He ae- 
 cumulated wealth, but he used money — he never abused it. Upon 
 his soul selfishness left not a single sordid stain. He loved the 
 beautiful, and wealth harnessed literature, art, and science to his 
 bidding. 
 
 Dan Eice, Esq., Girard, Pa. 
 
 My dear Sir: You must not think that I have forgotten your 
 kindness. I write now to say that it will be impossible for me to 
 be present on the first day of November, when the monument 
 you propose to raise at Girard to the heroic defenders of the 
 Republic is to be dedicated. My time is too much occupied with 
 newspaper and other public matters to allow me to leave even for 
 a moment. I trust the celebration may be worthy of the noble 
 object you have in view. For myself, I can say, having watched 
 your course during the whole rebellion, that your services deserve 
 to be remembered and honored by the country. Constantly 
 meeting vast audiences,. men, women, and children of all parties, 
 nothing but loyalty has ever fallen from your lips. Even the 
 early difficulties that beset your path were removed by the con- 
 sistency and courage with which you illustrated great principles. 
 I remember well, in the darkest hours of the war, how you 
 cheered the hearts of those who saw and heard you. Well I do 
 remember accompanying you to see Mr. Lincoln when you took 
 him the draft on the United States Treasury over from General 
 Fremont for $32,000 in payment of steamboat "James Ray- 
 mond " which he forced into service at St. Louis, and how grate- 
 ful he and Mr. Seward and Mr. Stanton were when you asked 
 them to distribute it to the widows and orphans of the soldiers. 
 Again regretting that I will not be able to be present on the first 
 of November, I am, my dear sir, very truly yours, 
 
 Simon Camehon. 
 
 Washington, October 23, 1865. 
 
220 BEMIXISCEXCES OF DAN" BICE 
 
 Dan Eice, Esq., New York. 
 
 Dear Sir: I fully appreciate your claim to be called a " public 
 man," and, in common with the great mass with whom you are so 
 constantly in intercourse, recognize the extent and value of your 
 services as a public man. Whatever may have been Stanton's 
 true sentiments affecting the admonition and advice you prof- 
 fered the Government involving Southern and Western condi- 
 tions, I frankly disavow any suspicion of insincerity as to your 
 purpose in presenting, as you did, with so eloquent and forceful 
 emphasis, the startling facts concerning his own personal safety. 
 The ears of public men are honeycombed these days with similar 
 rumors. Doubtless this may be explanatory of his somewhat 
 heated reply — that if you were a " public man " you might have 
 learned to laugh such threats to scorn. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to say more to one of your intelligence, 
 tact, and courage, than, go ahead as you began in your career of 
 success. 
 
 With assurances of my appreciation of your friendly expres- 
 sions, Very respectfully yours, 
 
 S. A. Douglas. 
 
 Washington, July 30, 1861. 
 
 Eeminiscences of Half a Century Ago. The Venekable 
 Showman Whites to His Old Friend, Hon. S. New- 
 ton Pettis. 
 
 The following letter has been received by Hon. S. Newton 
 Pettis, of this city, from Colonel Eice, in his day the greatest 
 circus clown known, and always a favorite here. As is generally 
 known, Mr. Eice was born and raised in Girard, Erie County. 
 
 Long Branch City, N. J., September 27. 
 Hon. S. Newton Pettis. 
 
 Dear Old Friend: I had long thought you an inhabitant of 
 the city of the dead, where marble shafts bespeak the departed 
 great, statesmen loyal and those of craft, had all succumbed to 
 nature's mandate, but thanks to a mutual friend, Calvin J. 
 Hinds, attorney-at-law at Girard, Erie County, who sent to me 
 an Erie paper containing glad tidings that you still live, though 
 on " crutches," therefore allow me to congratulate you. I trust 
 that you will soon be able to abandon them, and that your exist- 
 ence on this " mundane sphere " will be painless and that your 
 great nerve and physical activity will carry you into a grand and 
 ripe old age, enabling you, when the time arrives to shake off 
 this mortal coil, to look back upon a well-spent life with a heart 
 full of hope. I have often thought of you and the many social 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN ElCE 221 
 
 pleasantries we have enjoyed in the delightful past, and as Moore 
 
 says: 
 
 " Let fate do her worst, there are moments of joy, 
 Bright dreams of the past that she cannot destroy, 
 That come in the night time of sorrow and care, 
 That bring back the features that joy used to wear, 
 Long, long be my heart with such memories filled, 
 Like the vase in which roses have long been distilled; 
 You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 
 But the scent of the roses will cling to it still." 
 
 My dear judge, the joy to me was unspeakable when I read 
 the enclosed newspaper clipping which answered a letter of in- 
 quiry as to your whereabouts, if living. The accident you met 
 with came very near causing a different report to reach me. How 
 sad it is to hear of a person, especially one who has lived a life 
 of usefulness, passing out of this life when years of experience 
 have made him doubly dear to the community at large, and it is 
 thus in your case. Had it been a report of your having left this 
 sublunary world to join the great majority in the dim and mys- 
 terious region upon the other side of Styx, I, in common with all. 
 who know you best, would have mourned the loss of one who was 
 useful to his fellow-man, and an honor to his country. 
 
 And yet why grieve over the departed spirit of him whose 
 exalted virtue and underlying faith in the blood of Calvary are 
 an earnest of beatitude to come? And why should sinners 
 mourn the Christian dead, who, having shaken off life's weary 
 load, mount to the regions of eternal bliss to rest upon the 
 bosom of their God? 
 
 I am, and have been, engaged in writing my history, which is 
 about ready to be placed in the hands of my biographer to revise 
 and compile, and then the publisher takes it and prints in the 
 best leading style for the world's amusement and instruction. 
 And now, as you are aware, I have labored over half a century 
 under a circus tent, within a radius embracing forty-two and a 
 half feet of diameter, to promote the happiness of my fellow- 
 man in the rapidly progressing ages, and I now leave behind me 
 a work which has almost exhausted my pleasure-freighted mind, 
 in order to meet the demands that have emanated from my ex- 
 perience and career in the jesting world, and when I have passed 
 " to the bourne from which no traveller returns," I will have left 
 a memento which will cause all who read to smile at the vagaries 
 of the clown, Dan Eice. 
 
 By dictation, per private secretary, M. W. B. 
 
 p. g. — i would be more than pleased to receive a few lines 
 
222 KEMIXJSCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 from you, and to hear of your perfect restoration to health, and 
 my good wishes follow you to that end. Truly yours, 
 
 Dan Eice, 
 
 Per M. W. B. 
 
 The older class of our citizens, notahly Col. James E. McFar- 
 land, James G. Foster, and J. D. Gill, will probably call to mind 
 the incident that originated the pleasant relations referred to by 
 Mr. Eice as having long existed between him and Judge Pettis. 
 About 1852, Colonel Eice, while in the zenith of his professional 
 glory and prosperity, advertised to give three performances on 
 the Diamond in one day — morning, afternoon, and evening. In 
 the morning, soon after the Colonel's pavilion on the Diamond 
 was pitched, Hon. John W. Howe, as attorney for Judge David 
 Derickson, had Eice arrested, charged with maintaining a 
 nuisance in the square. William H. Davis, Esq., appeared for 
 Eice, but the magistrate, W. D. Tucker, decided that Eice must 
 either move his tent, give bail, or go to jail. At that moment 
 the constable saw Mr. Pettis passing the office, and said to Eice, 
 " There goes a young man who has a great deal of snap in him, 
 and I would advise you to call him in," and Eice replied, " Do 
 so." Pettis looked at the papers and directed the magistrate to 
 make out the jail commitment, and asked the constable to come 
 by his office en route for the jail. When the constable and 
 Colonel Eice reached the office, Pettis joined them with a petition 
 for a writ of habeas corpus, which Judge Adrain soon allowed, 
 and gave notice to Mr. Howe that a hearing would take place in 
 ten minutes, upon the writ looking to and praying for the dis- 
 charge of Eice from the commitment. 
 
 Upon the appearance of Mr. Howe, Mr. Pettis made a speech 
 of a few minutes, charging that the interference with Mr. Bice's 
 business was unauthorized, unlawful, unconstitutional, and in 
 violation of the bill of rights, and concluding with the statement 
 that Mr. Eice's bills were out for Waterford the next day, and 
 Erie the following day, and then sat down to hear what Mr. 
 Howe might have to say against Mr. Eice's discharge. As Mr. 
 Howe rose, Judge Adrain adressed him as follows: 
 
 " Mr. Howe, be brief, be brief, my mind is made up. Mr. Eice 
 cannot be deprived of his liberty in any such way. He has to 
 show in Waterford to-morrow, and it is my duty to discharge 
 him." Mr. Howe, it is said, accepted the inevitable gracefully, 
 fell back in good order without saying a word, although joining 
 in the general applause that followed the judge's decision, and 
 Eice went scot free. The whole scene was reproduced by Dan 
 that forenoon, afternoon, and evening in the ring, to the amuse- 
 ment of everybody but Judge Derickson. 
 
eeminiscences of dan eice 223 
 
 DeaeMb. Eice: 
 
 Yesterday's " Enquirer " contained the enclosed slip which I 
 forward to you with the best wishes of an unknown friend. I 
 cannot but wish to congratulate any being who does his best to 
 make merry, even for a little while, sad hearts and gloomy 
 mortals. 
 
 Stored away in the dreamland of my memory are many photo- 
 graphs, and among them is a cheering one in which you figure 
 conspicuously, and your name always brings forward, possibly 
 even you may not have forgotten it. The incident occurred back 
 in the fifties. John Robinson wanted to have his circus in the 
 west end of our city and the most suitable place in his mind was 
 a vacant portion of my father's, Samuel H. Taft, lumber yard, 
 so Mr. Eobinson requested as a favor the use of it, without men- 
 tioning any remuneration. My father was a great lover of practi- 
 cal jokes, so in return requested the privilege of inviting a few of 
 his friends, his' signature being all that was necessary on the 
 ticket. Then his big heart warmed towards children -who were 
 always his friends, and poor people, and he determined to give 
 them the memory of at least one circus in their lives. So he 
 sent word to all the schools of Green Township to close on a 
 certain day to allow the children to attend en masse, as well as a 
 general invitation to the whole of that township to come to the 
 circus, all with tickets with his signature to be admitted free. 
 Only please call early at his office to avoid crowding and give him 
 a chance. Though but a child, I well remember the comical 
 sight of wagon after wagon of every conceivable style filled to 
 overflowing with chairs on which the country people were seated 
 fairly choking up Western Row (now Central Avenue). Father 
 was rushed from early morning till after circus time signing. He 
 said Robinson was at first mad, but finally the situation got too 
 overwhelming for words even for Robinson. Father said he 
 never had but one regret about it and that was that he had not 
 invited the whole of Hamilton County. The actors enjoyed the 
 joke and did their best, so, for the pleasure you gave that day, I 
 wish you a long and happy life. 
 
 Most cordially, 
 
 Emma Taet Tatlok. 
 Cincinnati, 331 Park Ave., Walnut Hills, Dec. 9, 1894. 
 
 Gieaed, Eeie County, Pa., Nov. 22, 1867. 
 Messrs. C I. Tatloe and T. G. Stevenson, Editors "Ionia 
 County Sentinel," Ionia, Mich.: 
 I cannot address you as "gentlemen," as you have both 
 stamped yourselves as mendacious blackguards and malicious 
 
224 REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 liars, by the unjust, cowardly, and unprovoked assault upon me 
 in your paper, a copy of which has just reached me through a 
 friend. 
 
 Neither can I ask you to give me, through your columns, an 
 opportunity to refute your charge that I abuse religion and its 
 followers, or entertain feelings of animosity toward the colored 
 people, for the reason that knowing your allegations to be ut- 
 terly false, and simply a scurrilous dodge to manufacture a capi- 
 tal for the party of destructionists, political thugs, and thieves, 
 of which you are both, in intellect and character and habits, such 
 eminently fit representatives, you would not dare, of course, al- 
 though you may lie about that too, to give me the benefit of a 
 contradiction. I am, therefore, compelled to resort to the only 
 other public way left of branding and exposing your villainy. 
 
 As far as you are individually concerned, to notice your libel- 
 ous attack would be a condescension I should never think of 
 granting, and that I now accord you even a brief moment of con- 
 temptible notoriety is due solely to the fact that, unfortunately 
 for both the reputation of the Press and the good of society, you 
 have the facilities for perpetuating and disseminating your 
 slanderous lies. 
 
 It is not because I do not respect true religion and its followers 
 that you deliberately violate the ninth commandment in assailing 
 me, but because I will not bow down and worship the idol with the 
 face of brass and feet of clay which you have set up, as now, as 
 your National God, and cry, " Slay! Slay! " before it when 
 resistance has ceased, and through the murder and oppression of 
 my countrymen I may taste official pap. 
 
 My religion is that of the Bible which teaches forgiveness and 
 charity; yours that of Judas to betray and steal. Born of the 
 flesh-pots of Egypt, the bastard offspring of shoddy and central- 
 ization, it is at once the creed of the desperate and the damned; 
 the prelude to destruction and the battle-cry of Hell. 
 
 You, as its apostles and proteges, are expected to blaspheme 
 at and howl against every sentiment of Christian patriotism and 
 honest loyalty, and still divided, distracted, and almost ruined 
 country, a betrayed soldiery, and an impoverished treasury, tes- 
 tify well to the Devil, your master, that you are indeed his faith- 
 ful servants. 
 
 Liars and tricksters that you are, you charge me with cherish- 
 ing unkindly sentiments towards the colored people. Let us 
 compare records, if you dare. I built the first church for slaves 
 ever erected in this country. I have freely given to educate and 
 elevate the colored race to a standard of intelligence justifying 
 their admission to the rights of citizenship, and I have opposed 
 constitutional amendments proposing to immediately and reck- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 225 
 
 lessly confer it because I solemnly believe I am acting for their 
 best interests, as well as that of the whole community. 
 
 What have you done for them? Taxed the country so that 
 they might learn crime through lives of idle dependence upon 
 public charity; encouraged them to lawless violence by inflam- 
 matory appeals and promises of plunder; undertaken to arm them 
 with a weapon both against the country and themselves by plac- 
 ing the ballot in their ignorant and reckless hands. And for 
 what? To ensure their freedom and their rights before the law? 
 To establish a great principle or correct a great wrong? Not so, 
 ye liars, demagogues, hypocrites, and gamblers, for the seamless 
 mantle of Liberty! You would betray them as you have betrayed 
 your country. You would make them an instrumentality for the 
 revival of civil war, well knowing in your black hearts that they 
 must certainly be crushed to atoms in the sanguinary and fratri- 
 cidal struggle, murdered, that with their blood you may patch 
 up your broken power and establish another interregnum of ras- 
 cality. You would make the negro believe himself better than 
 the white man, and leave him far lower in the scale of humanity 
 than he is, weighed down forever with the ponderous load of 
 your iniquity and ingratitude. 
 
 But, thank God! you have utterly, signally, and miserably 
 failed. It is but natural that in the agony of your despair and 
 defeat you should hiss and snap your fangless jaws at the hand 
 which has, in a humble way, been instrumental in bringing that 
 righteous judgment of the people upon you. Twin serpents 
 torn from the bodies of the Furies, by the hand of Discord, and 
 fleeing, surcharged with venom, in our midst, you are at last 
 scratched and the cheering spectacle by your death writhings is 
 a source of thankfulness and congratulation to, 
 
 One of your smiters, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 A correspondent, writing to the Philadelphia " Inquirer," says, 
 " I attended a public meeting of the Union men in Mason City, 
 Va., a few days since, and among those who spoke was a gentle- 
 man by the name of Eice, who the venerable chairman introduced 
 as a citizen from Brie County, Pa., the Keystone State. Of 
 course, as a Pennsylvanian I felt an interest in the man, so there- 
 fore I gave his remarks more than ordinary attention. He was elo- 
 quent, powerful, and easy in his address and manner, and won 
 the admiration of all who surrounded his rostrum. His practi- 
 cal knowledge of the habits of men in different localities, and the 
 system he pursued in pointing out the bitter possibility of the 
 success of secession, was no less significant for its originality 
 than its truthfulness. He told what the manufacturing North 
 15 
 
226 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 could do, and how essential the activity, genius, and skill of her 
 people were to the welfare of the great agricultural territory of 
 the ' Sunny South.' He did not abuse or ridicule any people 
 for their peculiarities, or scoff at the manners and conventional- 
 ities of those who live in certain localities. He showed himself a 
 Union man, who had made the history of his country his study, 
 whose object was to preserve it whole and undivided, and cause 
 it to go ' conquering and still to conquer.' I am told that Mr. 
 Eice has, for some time, been hard at work speaking for the 
 Union, leaving the ' Institution ' to run itself. He is not an 
 enthusiast, neither does he appear like a man who was laboring 
 for the gratification of personal ambition or pecuniary advan- 
 tage. To speak plainly, he talks like a well-informed, educated 
 gentleman, who knows what he is talking about, and who works 
 for the love of the cause he has enlisted in. I do not know 
 whether he has a desire for office, and I presume he has not, but 
 it occurred to me that a man like him, who has travelled so far, 
 has observed so much, and was so familiar with the wants, habits, 
 and manners of the people of all localities, could not speak in 
 vain among the lawgivers and sage councils of the nation. 
 
 " Perhaps the next place I may encounter this rising young 
 man, Mr. Dan Eice, may be in the State Senate, or in the Halls 
 of Congress. More unlikely things have happened, and men of 
 far less ability and character have been honored in that way. 
 Depend upon it, that Eice will make his mark, and turn his 
 abilities to good account." 
 
 New Orleans, February 12, 1851. 
 Dear Sir: Inclosed find my check for five hundred dollars on 
 the Canal Bank of this city, given as a small evidence of my ap- 
 preciation of the noble cause you are engaged in. May God in 
 his goodness prosper you. Although a circus clown, I can sym- 
 pathize with those who sacrifice self for the good of fellow-men. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 To Theobauld Mathew, D.D. Dan Eice. 
 
 New Obleans, February 13, 1851. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your munificent gift to the cause of temperance 
 in which I am a faithful laborer, is gratefully received. I have 
 been already apprised of your many charitable donations in this 
 part of your great country for which you are already rewarded, 
 for it is the conscientiousness of having done a good act that is 
 man's reward. 
 
 Your affectionate friend in the cause of temperance, 
 
 Theobauld Mathew. 
 
 To Colonel Dan Eice. 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 227 
 
 Dan Kice and Charity. 
 
 Evansville, Ind., May 14, 1853. 
 To the Mayor of Louisville. 
 
 Dear Sir: Being about to pay you my accustomed spring 
 visit, I avail myself of the occasion, to return, through you, to the 
 generous citizens of Louisville, my sincere thanks for the kind 
 feeling and liberal support they have ever extended to me. I 
 assure you, sir, that I shall ever remember with the liveliest 
 gratitude the encouragement I met with in your city when fickle 
 fortune had frowned upon my efforts to buffet adversity. My 
 circumstances at present afford me the pleasure of making 
 some small return for these many favors, and to the extent of 
 my humble means, I seize the present opportunity of doing so. 
 I shall be in Louisville with my Hippodrome and Menagerie, on 
 Tuesday the 31st and Wednesday, June 1st, and I tender the 
 afternoon performance — the second day — the same to be devoted 
 to any purpose you in your wisdom may deem most laudable. I 
 remain with great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 Mayor's Office, Louisville, Ky., May 25, 1853. 
 Dan Eice, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your note has just been handed to me, and I as- 
 sure you, none of your old friends could be more rejoiced at your 
 success in life than the citizens of our city, who have had the 
 pleasure of witnessing your performances, and also your liber- 
 ality on former occasions. From the many acts of charity per- 
 formed by you, we would suppose success would attend you 
 through life. I will, therefore, on the part of the citizens, accept 
 your very liberal offer, and designate the " Orphan's Asylum " 
 as the recipients of your charity. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Jas. S. Speed, Mayor. 
 
 A War of Wits. 
 
 DOESTICKS VS. DAN RICE. 
 
 Two well-known public characters, both at present sojourning 
 in this city, and both noted for their ambition and faculty for 
 making the public laugh with, not at, them, have lately taken it 
 into their heads to pitch into each other, and see if they cannot 
 make each other cry, while the public still laugh. Mr. Thomp- 
 son, of the " Tribune," widely known as Doesticks, the author of 
 
228 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE' 
 
 many graphic and eccentric sketches of men and manners, not 
 liking the style, stuff, prolixity, etc., of Dan Eice, of Nixon & 
 Co.'s Circus, recently criticised that humorist and conversational- 
 ist in a rather tart and testy manner; said he was too tedious in. 
 his talk; wrong in his pronunciation, and wholly guiltless of 
 fun or other merit as a clown. In return for which public 
 notice bestowed through the columns of the " Tribune," Mr. 
 Eice very naturally retorted, in his province in the ring, and said 
 several severe things of Mr. Philander Doesticks, which could 
 not be very agreeable to him, unless he is more eccentric than 
 the public have given him credit for being. Both the fun- 
 makers are professional men, each in his line. Both are report- 
 ers, and can give a good or bad report of any one, at any time, 
 with the advantage of a large circulation. Thus it is caustic pen 
 against caustic tongue. Each has his partisans, who, no doubt, 
 severally exclaim, as they sum up the respective hard hits ad- 
 ministered, " If I were not Doesticks, I would be Dan Eice! " or, 
 " If I were not Dan Eice, I would be Doesticks." Whether the 
 war will continue, or when it will end, none can judge, say those 
 who have had experience in the business of bandying person- 
 alities, and can calculate the amount of pleasure and profit in 
 such a game of public give-and-take. The " Tribune '"' has a 
 large circulation, and Doesticks drives a glittering pen. But on 
 the other hand, Nixon's Circus is of such unusual excellence, 
 completeness, and originalitj' as to fill Niblo's Garden nightly, 
 and Dan Eice, with a large audience, has been known to wield 
 a tremendous influence in the South and West, swaying them 
 pretty much as he pleased. Dan is an old war-dog, though a 
 comparatively young man, and his success in taming wild ani- 
 mals, such as the rhinoceros, elephant, bear, camel, and mule, 
 let alone the horse and pony, argues eloquently for his persever- 
 ance, and, besides this, he has owned and managed circuses, 
 menageries, steamboats, theatres, and we know not what else, 
 though we can't say how he will succeed with the " Tribune." 
 
 For our part we are generally advocates of peace, but in this 
 case, we don't care how long the fight lasts. It is a free fight. 
 The pair are well matched, And what with the eccentricities of 
 Dan and the gall of Doesticks, there is plenty of sport for the 
 readers of the " Tribune " and the patrons of Niblo's. 
 
 Is There a Spy Among Us? 
 
 The New York " Tribune," of Monday, has the following: 
 " A sharp lookout should be kept up for the detection of spies. 
 A correspondent writes to inform us that one Dan Eice, the clown 
 of a certain circus, being in New Orleans last winter, formed bis. 
 
BE1IINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 229 
 
 company into a secession military organization under the name 
 of Dan Eice's Zouaves, and that he threatened all his company 
 who declined to join his crew, with summary discharge. 
 
 " Lately coming northward, this same man has tried to pass 
 himself off as a Union man, and a few days ago, actually had the 
 effrontery to deliver a war speech to the volunteers at Erie, Pa. 
 It is also said that he has in his train several Southern men who 
 would make very convenient spies for the Eebels to use. This 
 Eiee may, after the manner of his class, he skilled in riding many 
 horses about the limited circle of his arena, but his attempt to 
 perform a similar feat with two stools will undoubtedly be fol- 
 lowed by a merited and unprofitable fall." 
 
 " Dan is now in this city, and rides but one horse here, and this 
 is a Union one. If, however, he picks up anything that would 
 be consoling to Jeff Davis, he should be permitted to telegraph it. 
 We may add in passing, that Daniel fires a good many point-blank 
 squibs at secession in his ring performances, and seems peculiarly 
 sensible of the disastrous effects of secession." — " The Daily 
 Commercial," Cincinnati, 0., May 15, 1861. 
 
 Dan Eice on Hoeaoe Geeeley. 
 
 Cincinnati, May 17, 1861. 
 
 EDITOES OF " COMMERCIAL." 
 
 Gentlemen : Many of my personal friends, you, sirs, among the 
 number, have expressed a wonder at the vehement remarks the 
 New York " Tribune " promulgated in regard to me. An absurd 
 one you quoted a day or two since, and kindly, in your editorial, 
 proved its fallacy. I respect a free and honest press; appreciate 
 their good feelings, and am willing at all times to be the subject 
 of their criticisms. I know the potential nature of the pen, but 
 I do object to misrepresentation and to have my loyalty ques- 
 tioned. The emeute emanated between myself and one of the 
 "Tribune" employees, who aspired to be the great humorous 
 writer of the age. My opinion was that he would fail and he has 
 done so. His pride was hurt, he became jealous of me, and 
 vented his spleen in the columns of the paper. This soreness 
 accounts for the milk in the cocoanut. As a loyal, humor-loving 
 man, I vindicated the honor of the flag. I was born under the 
 American banner and I reproved the man who hissed at it. I did 
 so publicly in the x\cademy of Music, New Orleans, where I was 
 performing. Perhaps were Mr. Horace Greeley man enough to 
 go there and attempt the same, he would create a greater excite- 
 ment than I could. Petty malice I scorn, therefore I have a poor 
 
230 EEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 opinion of the " Tribune's " raids against me, and I natter my- 
 self that I am too well known to he injured by them. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 Dan Kice. 
 — " Daily Commercial," Cincinnati, 0., May 18, 1861. 
 
 Dan Eice and the Chitics. 
 
 Our good-natured friend, Dan Eice, whose pleasantries in the 
 circle have done more to make people laugh than all the efforts 
 of a modern funny writer has ever achieved, appears to have 
 awakened the spleen of our amicable contemporary of the 
 " Tribune," and generated one or more very ill-natured com- 
 ments in the columns of the immaculate sheet aforesaid. Of 
 course the public, particularly in the locality where the cynical 
 propinquities of the black man's organ are known, receive all 
 the shafts cum grano salis, and we believe Dan, who is callous to 
 malevolence and misrepresentation, laughs at the attack and con- 
 siders himself under obligation to "W. Horace or his subordinates 
 for a first-rate notice. We, as journalists, are fully aware of the 
 responsibilities that devolve upon the position, do most em- 
 phatically object to any paper professing to be respectable, abro- 
 gating to itself the right, by virtue of its privilege, to misrepre- 
 sent a public man, no matter in what relation he stands before 
 the people. 
 
 Personally, we care very little for Mr. Eice, but the position 
 he has acquired in his profession at once proves the total absurd- 
 ity of the " Tribune's " remarks. A man who can start from this 
 city, alone and friendless, as this person did some years ago, and 
 pass the ordeal of criticism before the best judges of humor in 
 the land, succeed in establishing a universal reputation for ex- 
 cellence from Maine to New Orleans, return to the metropolis 
 and proudly take possession of the finest place of amusement our 
 great city can boast of, must surely have merit of no common 
 order. 
 
 Beauty, fashion, and intelligence patronize him, and the papers 
 speak well of his ability. 
 
 Still, the " Tribune " man votes him a bore, and recommends 
 his speedy annihilation. Have mercy, most sanguinary scribbler, 
 for remember by your own assertions, you should like Dan, for 
 has he not taught his mules to act genteely in good society? Do 
 consent to his remaining on this mundane sphere a " few days 
 more," and, perchance, when novelties grow scarce, he may 
 achieve another triumph in rendering acceptable some of the assi- 
 nine individuals who bray so piteously through the columns of 
 the " Tribune."—" Evening Mirror." 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 231 
 
 AS OTHEES SAW HIM. 
 
 auto-biographic and posthumous sketches of the life 
 of the subject of these memoirs by brilliant and 
 unbiased critics, whose relations with col. rice 
 were peculiarly favorable to a dispassionate anal- 
 ysis of the many phases of the character of the 
 great jester, and a graphic review of the trend 
 of circumstances which moulded his life motives 
 and rounded out his remarkable career. 
 
 Eice's Tact and Courage, 
 a rare tribute. 
 
 Charles Stow, the well-known writer of the Barnum and Bailey 
 Show, writing in a reminiscent way of Eice's extraordinary ca- 
 reer, says, " although there have been clowns who were more 
 humorous than he, there have been none who possessed a tithe 
 of his eloquence, personal magnetism, and singular ability to 
 aptly localize the current events of the day. I recall one incident 
 which strongly illustrates this faculty: 
 
 " In the spring of 1868, during the height of the impeachment 
 trial of President Johnson, Eice's show opened for a week in the 
 city of Washington. Of course, the excitement created by the 
 trial militated against all kinds of amusement, and the circus 
 suffered proportionately. The beggarly attendance at the open- 
 ing afternoon exhibition convinced Eice that in order to suc- 
 cessfully meet with what he facetiously termed the competition 
 of that cross-eyed clown, Ben Butler, at the Capitol, he must 
 bring the impeachment question in some shape into the ring, 
 and thereby attract the attention of the public. 
 
 " At the evening exhibition he found his opportunity. Among 
 the patrons of the show was Senator Zach Chandler, of Michigan, 
 well known as an active mover in the impeachment proceedings. 
 Senator Chandler occupied a place in the cross section of seats, 
 which, in those days, divided the menagerie from the circus ring, 
 as both were located under the same canvas. While Eice was in 
 the ring his attention was attracted by a tall colored woman 
 with a colored bandanna handkerchief tied about her head, who 
 was craning her neck in an effort to find a desirable seat. Taking 
 a position immediately in front of where Senator Chandler sat, 
 Eice, in that stentorian voice for which he was famous, said de- 
 liberately ' Will the Senator from Michigan please seat the col- 
 ored sister? ' 
 
232 BEMINISCESTCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 " Chandler, thus unexpectedly addressed, turned crimson with 
 embarrassment, but after a moment's hesitation, arose, went to 
 the colored woman, hat in hand, and escorted her to the seat 
 which he had occupied. The crowd, which had watched the little 
 by-play with puzzled interest, suddenly broke into a perfect 
 storm of applause, and when it had subsided, Rice, taking off his 
 felt fool's hat and making a profound bow, exclaimed: ' That's 
 right, I honor you, Zach Chandler, for I always like to see a man 
 practice what he preaches. Three cheers for Zach Chandler! ' 
 and they were given with a force that made the centre pole 
 quiver. 
 
 "After the performance, upon reaching his quarters at Wil- 
 lard's Hotel, Rice was confronted by Senator Chandler, who in- 
 dignantly reproached him for the unwarrantable liberty which 
 had been taken with him. Rice, who was a consummate actor 
 in his way, was apparently overcome with surprise at being re- 
 proached by Chandler, and with an asumption of sincerity abso- 
 lutely convincing, replied: ' Is it possible that you so cruelly 
 misapprehend my motives? I was animated by the purest feel- 
 ing of personal regard and respect, and, sir, I wish here and now 
 to assure you that to-night you are envied by every politician 
 in "Washington, and, that, sir, if you will but follow my circus for 
 six months I will make you President of the United States.' Of 
 course, before such an explanation, genial Zach Chandler's wrath 
 could but melt away. 
 
 " Rice was essentially a brave man, and I am sure that I do 
 not exaggerate when I say that he never knew the sensation of 
 fear. Like most absolutely courageous men he was kindly and 
 forbearing under provocation. At the same time, he was, in his 
 prime, the strongest man I ever knew, although of medium 
 stature, probably not weighing more than one hundred and 
 seventy pounds, and possessed of extraordinary agility. 
 
 " In those days difficulties between a certain element of the 
 public and circus people were more frequent than now, and Rice, 
 through no desire or fault of his own, gained the reputation of 
 being an invincible fighter. This bred in the hearts of bullies 
 everywhere a desire to gain prominence by whipping the great 
 clown. 
 
 " Rice always tried to avoid these difficulties, but after patience 
 and forbearance had failed, as they usually did, he would turn 
 to and in short order blight the hopes of these aspirants for 
 fistic honors. He never was whipped by any man, frequently 
 vanquishing several opponents at a time, and came out of all these 
 rough contests without serious injury. Possibly his fearlessness 
 was in part due to the fact of his being a genuine fatalist, as he 
 frequently remarked that the bullet was not moulded which 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 233 
 
 would strike him, and his bearing at the pistol's month proved 
 that he believed what he said. 
 
 "Bice pursued his nomadic way down the Father of Waters 
 with varying fortunes and experiences not always safe or pleasant, 
 until he reached Shreveport, La., on the Eed River. This place 
 had been one of the hotbeds of secession, and was, at the time, the 
 rendezvous of as murderous a gang of ruffians as ever terrorized 
 a community. Eice had been warned that, on account of the pre- 
 judicial reports that I have mentioned, it would be exceedingly 
 dangerous for him to attempt to exhibit in the town, and his 
 friends urged him not to do so, but to this advice he turned a 
 deaf ear, simply replying, ' Tell the people of Shreveport that I 
 will exhibit there as announced.' News of this determination 
 preceded him, creating a furore of excitement and apprehension, 
 and when his boat reached the town, a dense crowd was at the 
 wharf to receive him. When the gangplank was run ashore he 
 was the first to land, and so great was the respect provoked by 
 his courageous bearing, that, while verbal insults were heaped 
 upon him, he was allowed to unload his show and erect his tent 
 without molestation. But the feeling against him was so bitter 
 that his entire company refused to appear, the band stampeded, 
 and even his veteran canvasmen could not be induced to work." 
 
 THE GREAT CONVERTED. 
 
 dan eice as sketched by one who knew him— his early 
 life, varied fortunes and romantic career — per- 
 sonal combats and thrilling incidents. 
 
 Chas. Stow in the "Buffalo Daily Courier." 
 
 The recent conversion of Dan Rice, the world-wide famous 
 circus manager and clown, has attracted so much attention, and 
 suggested so many erroneous attempts at biography, that he 
 might have well exclaimed with the jealous Moor, " Speak of me 
 as I am! " The awakened interest manifested in the Man of 
 Motley may render some personal jottings, by one who knew him 
 intimately, acceptable to your readers. 
 
 The arenic brand just snatched from the burning by the hand 
 of the evangelist at St. Louis, was born in the city of New York, 
 about the year 1820. 
 
 While yet a mere boy, Dan wandered as far west as Marietta, 
 0., and became famous the entire length of the Ohio River as a 
 daring jockey and remarkably successful quarter-horse rider. He 
 subsequently resided at Pittsburg, and there became identified 
 
234 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 with the first negro minstrel troupe ever organized. The ex- 
 hibition of a learned pig was his first venture in the show business 
 on his own account. Next he successfully appeared in the more 
 pretentious role of 
 
 "THE MODERN SAMSON," 
 
 giving extraordinary illustrations of strength. This served as 
 his introduction into the ring in his original and unrivalled role 
 of clown, or " Shakespearean Jester," as he was loudly lined on 
 the bills. He speedily eclipsed all rivalry and achieved unparal- 
 leled popularity and success, and for years his name alone was a 
 terror to opposition, and sufficed to draw crowded houses. 
 Strange as it may at first appear, to this latter fact his subsequent 
 misfortunes are partly attributable. For five or six years, pre- 
 ceding 1869, he was regularly engaged by other circus managers 
 who paid him 
 
 A THOUSAND DOLLARS A WEEK 
 
 for his services and the use of his name, and bankrupted his 
 popularity and brilliant professional reputation by associating 
 him with inferior exhibitions, for the shortcomings of which the 
 public held him responsible. Previous to this he owned and 
 managed different circuses, and the fact that he remained for an 
 entire season in the State of New York, drove every other tent- 
 show out of that territory, and cleared nearly a hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, is sufficient evidence of his extraordinary hold upon 
 popular favor. 
 
 In 1869, Dan resumed the reins of management on his own 
 account, but, like Cassio, he had " lost his reputation," and, still 
 more unfortunately for himself, had got above his business. In- 
 stead of attempting to reestablish himself as a clown, he foolishly 
 undertook to play the gentleman in the ring, and substituting 
 semi-political exhortations and pointless lectures for song, jibe, 
 jest, and pantomime, prosed and prosed until even his most 
 faithful admirers fell away. With almost heroic obstinacy, he 
 kept on, as he himself best expressed it, " fighting fate " until 
 1872, when the weight of accumulated debts crushed him. His 
 beautiful home and valuable property, at Girard, Pa., his flour- 
 ishing newspaper, his fine stock, his show — everything was swept 
 away, and yet an enormous deficit left, from which he took refuge 
 in bankruptcy, estimating his debts at something like $200,000, 
 and stating his assets as " one suit of clothes, $35." Since then 
 he has made repeated starts and failures, and even prolonged 
 dissipation, enough to have killed a dozen ordinary men, did not 
 seem to sap his indomitable energy and iron will. Until long- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 235 
 
 continued misfortune drove him to the intoxicating cup for 
 solace and oblivion, Dan was comparatively a temperate man. 
 Let this be remembered in his favor. 
 
 It would literally require volumes to contain the romantic and 
 thrilling incidents in the public career of one of the most ex- 
 traordinary of men, for such was Dan Eice, possessed, moreover, 
 of many of the attributes of positive genius. It is certainly con- 
 clusive evidence of greatness to be greatest in anything, no mat- 
 ter what the calling may happen to be, and that Dan Bice was the 
 greatest clown that ever lived admits of ho argument, if success 
 and public opinion be accepted as the standard by which to judge. 
 He has set the motley pattern for his age, and had scores of 
 imitators, but not an equal. His history is part of the traditional 
 romance of the arena, and thousands of gray beards yet survive 
 to chuckle over his earlier escapades, and tell how they have often 
 seen the performances interrupted with shouts of " Go on, Dan! 
 we don't want to see any circus; we came to hear you! " With 
 the masses he was the demi-god of the sawdust; throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land they nocked in eager crowds to 
 greet him; sang his songs, repeated his jokes, and prolonged his 
 praises. Personally, he was probably the best known man in the 
 world, and there was scarcely a hamlet on the continent in which 
 he could not find an acquaintance, and recognize him when 
 found, for his memory of names and faces was phenomenal, and 
 after a lapse of several years could call by name persons whom 
 he had met but once before. 
 
 Dan, as a pantomimist, was simply inimitable. He recog- 
 nized the fact that gesture, expression, and attitude were fun- 
 nier than words, and employed them with such consummate 
 art that his mere entrance into the ring was greeted with 
 roars of laughter. Add to this a splendid physique; the most 
 sonorous and far-reaching voice ever heard under canvas, fair 
 vocal powers, a happy talent for localizing, keen, quick, and 
 infallible perception, perfect confidence and self-possession, 
 great natural gifts of oratory, personal magnetism sufficient 
 to impress the large audience, unchallenged and graceful 
 mastery over the horse, and a deserved reputation for courage, 
 physical powers, and reckless liberality, and you have the 
 secret of success, as well as the imperfect portraiture of a man 
 more truly sui generis than any of his profession, if not of 
 his time. Out of such a wealth of material, proper education 
 and training might readily have moulded a great man in any of 
 the higher walks of life, and it is well within the range of possi- 
 bility that with grace to continue steadfast in the faith, he 
 might have become a mighty propagator of the Gospel. As a 
 member of the church militant he would have also been most 
 
236 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 redoubtable, for not only was he worthy to be ranked with Ney 
 as " bravest of the brave," but as a physical and fighting wonder 
 he outranked such celebrities as Bill Poole or Yankee Sullivan, 
 though without the offensive pugnacity of either. He was about 
 five feet nine inches in height, and weighed about one hundred 
 and seventy-five pounds, being far from the " giant form," and 
 yet a condensed Hercules in strength, and lithe as a leopard. 
 He has doubtless had more personal encounters than any other 
 man of his time, and came off victorious from every one. In few, 
 if any, cases, was he the aggressor. Local bullies, or rural 
 knight-errants of the fists, hearing of his prowess, came long 
 distances expressly to whip him, and used few courtly terms to 
 make their mission known. Dan invariably sought to avoid bat- 
 tle by enlarging on the beauties of peace and the folly of fight- 
 ing for fame alone; but when it was evident kind words availed 
 not, he summarily thrashed the aspirant for his undesired and 
 inconvenient laurels within an inch of his life. He thus polished 
 a number of quarrelsome ruffians into quite respectable citizens, 
 and was much esteemed as a public benefactor therefor. 
 
 It may be reasonably doubted whether Dan Eice ever experi- 
 enced the sensation of fear, and that his courage was absolutely 
 bullet-proof admits of no question, upon the thrilling evidence 
 furnished by his first trip to the South just after the war. Dan 
 had been a great favorite in that section and the people were pro- 
 portionately incensed against him by the malicious circulation of 
 a false report to the effect that he commanded a negro regiment 
 during the rebellion. Threats to shoot him on sight were fre- 
 quently indulged in, and word was repeatedly sent him, earnestly 
 advising him, as he valued his life, to stay away. His stern and 
 only reply was, " I am coming," and he went. The danger had 
 not been exaggerated; it was simply appalling, and sometimes 
 caused his bravest men to fly and leave him entirely alone to face 
 it. His magnificent courage rose equal to every occasion, and 
 triumphed in every emergency. In one instance he exposed his 
 breast to a howling mob and dared them to shoot, and in another, 
 learning that at a certain rendezvous a crowd was assembled, 
 thirsting for blood, he went there, revealed himself, made an 
 explanatory speech in the face of a dozen cocked revolvers, con- 
 vinced his mercurial hearers that he had been grossly slandered, 
 and was finally carried in triumph on the shoulders of those who 
 had sworn to kill him. 
 
 At a small town in Mississippi, while he was taking tickets at 
 the door of his tent, a drunken bushwhacker came up and fired 
 point blank at him, the bullet passing through his coat. With- 
 out changing a muscle, he looked his assailant straight in the eye 
 and calmly said: " Oh, put that up; we are used to that sort of 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 237 
 
 thing Here. Tickets! Tickets!" " By G—d," exclaimed the 
 assassin, " you are too brave a man to shoot! " and he thrust his 
 pistol in his belt and staggered off. It did seem as though Dan's 
 life was miraculously, and in the light of recent events, it may 
 be thought providentially, preserved. 
 
 m EOMANCE IN EEAL LlFE. 
 
 BY W. C. CHUM. 
 Editor Florida State Republican. 
 
 It was past the midnight hour on a beautiful July night in 
 1848, when loud raps were heard at the hall door of a Methodist 
 preacher's house. That house was conspicuously located on the 
 main thoroughfare of a delightful country village situated in a 
 picturesque valley in the interior of the great State of New York. 
 For a clergyman's family of staid and regular habits to be dis- 
 turbed at such an unusual hour in the thoughts from the visions 
 of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, was among the 
 rare things to happen, especially among a people who had prac- 
 tised the maxim of " Early to bed and early to rise makes men 
 healthy, wealthy, and wise." It was several moments, therefore, 
 before the follower of John Wesley became sufficiently aroused to 
 the fact that a stranger was knocking at the door. The good 
 man hastily dressed himself and, with light in hand, proceeded to 
 the door, and on further inquiry, opened it, when the well- 
 dressed form of a handsome young man of less than five and 
 
 twenty summers appeared, who asked if Gardner lived 
 
 there. On being told that he did, the anxious and blushing 
 young man was surprised to discover that the benignant dominie 
 did not recognize him. 
 
 " You are my uncle," says he, quickly. " Don't you remember 
 the boy you used to call Dandy? " 
 
 " Dandy, Dandy," says the preacher, rapidly revolving in his 
 mind, " why, yes; my sister Elizabeth had a son whom we used 
 to call ' Dandy ' when he was a little fellow. Do you tell me 
 you are my sister's son ? " 
 
 " Yes, uncle, I am the same fellow, only they don't call me 
 • Dandy ' now." 
 
 This last expression, uttered with an air of mental reserve, 
 created just a little feeling of doubt in the mind of the sus- 
 picious uncle, who took a rapid review of the dashing young 
 stranger, whose entire appearance indicated a great transition 
 from the plain and unpretentious surroundings of his amiable 
 
238 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 sister's Methodist home, as he last knew it, while visiting her 
 years before in a suburban town, where is situated now one of the 
 most fashionable watering places on the Atlantic seashore. How 
 can it be possible, thought he, that my sister's son could have 
 suddenly met with a fortune that would justify such wealth of 
 dress, display of jewels, and flash of diamonds? This is hardly 
 compatible with the unostentatious habits of early Methodist 
 life. But the instinct of consanguinity soon bubbles over where 
 evidences of blood kin relationship stands out so conspicuously 
 as it did on the classic features of the honest young man who 
 stood in full outline before his uncle. He could not but recognize 
 in his face the lineaments of both his father and mother, who 
 was considered the belle of the place in her girlhood days, while . 
 his father possessed the physique of a peer of Scotland. It re- 
 quired but a moment longer to unravel the secret of this brief 
 introduction; so, without waiting for any further ceremony, the 
 young man sprang into his long-looked-for uncle's arms, and it 
 may well be imagined how earnest and affectionate was their 
 mutual embrace. Had the young man dropped down out of the 
 heavens, it could not have been a greater surprise to his uncle, 
 who rubbed his hands and shrugged his shoulders, and gave 
 many other manifestations of the great joy he experienced on 
 beholding, after the lapse of so many years, the veritable 
 " Dandy " of his ideal and idolized sister's heart. Years had 
 passed since he had heard anything definite, and these only 
 rumors, in regard to " Dandy's " youthful career. He knew that 
 he had somehow cut his cable, launched forth into the world, and 
 fondly deemed earth, wind, and star his friends, to become the 
 architect of his own fortune. But as to the vicissitudes which 
 had transpired in his career, and the multifarious freaks of for- 
 tune which interposed from the visions of childhood to the more 
 mature thoughts of adolescence, it was plain to the uncle's mind 
 that the dashing young nephew had developed to the full stature 
 of a magnificent specimen of the genus homo, dressed in fault- 
 less style, possessing a physique that would rival an Apollo- 
 Belvidere. 
 
 "Where did you come from, and by what conveyance? " said 
 his uncle in expressions of surprise. 
 
 "I came from Jefferson," said he, "and in my own coach, 
 which is at the door. I cannot stay but a few hours, as I am to 
 appear at Mechlingburg to-morrow, which is twenty miles from 
 here, and I ought to be there by twelve o'clock noon." 
 
 By this time all the members of the family were fully awak- 
 ened, and joined heartily in the family greeting. When the 
 street in front of the house was reached by the inmates of the 
 parsonage, a sight met their gaze hardly paralleled in the scenes 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 239 
 
 of the Arabian Nights' Entertainment. There, before a royal 
 brougham (?) bedizzened with an oriflame of tints as gorgeous as 
 Guido's aurora, or Elijah's chariot of fire, stood four of as beauti- 
 ful milk-white Arabian thoroughbreds, richly caparisoned with 
 an ornate and elaborate solid gold mounted harness as ever 
 graced the royal equerry of King Solomon's court. On the 
 front sat a proudly-dressed colored Jehu holding the ribbons, 
 four in hand; on the rear sat a liveried footman, draped after the 
 custom of his order, lending to the tout ensemble a strikingly 
 picturesque air. Expressions of admiration and surprise from 
 all the members of the household followed in rapid succession, 
 while directions were given to the grooms to carefully house the 
 unique equipage. Suitable lodgings were also provided for the 
 various attaches. It was well into the wee small hours before the 
 studious disciple of the " Fellow of Lincoln College " exhausted 
 himself of questions necessary to solve the meaning of such an 
 elaborate turnout. Briefly running over a few years of his later 
 life, " Dandy " entertained the family with hints only of his 
 chequered but romantic career, which, in effect, possessed all the 
 charms of a fairy tale. The particulars, however, of this portion 
 of our story must be reserved for the future. 
 
 John B. Dohis' Beminiscences op Dan Bice. 
 
 " I can see back thirty-six years as though it were but yester- 
 day," said Mr. Doris. " My first visit to Washington was in 
 1863, as an agent for the old Dan Bice show. He played that 
 season down on Four-and-a-half Street, near the Avenue. Within 
 a stone's throw was the government reservation, afterward trans- 
 formed by the landscape artist into one of the most picturesque 
 parks in the world. Four-and-a-half Street wasn't a very swell 
 neighborhood at that time. It was low, damp, malaria-breeding, 
 and from the door of our tent I could see for blocks over a vast 
 expanse of mud and lowland. But Colonel Shepherd, the Michael 
 Angelo of Washington, came later on and gave the nation a city 
 fit for location in the corner of a star. Dan Bice was, of course, 
 the reigning attraction in those days. 
 
 " We played here a week in 1863, and Bresident Lincoln and 
 his wife were among our distinguished callers. The Bresident 
 was a personal friend of Bice, and came around to Dan's dressing- 
 room after the performance and recalled Dan's barnstorming 
 tours through Illinois in the fifties. 
 
 " Mr. Bice never tired of recalling that visit of the martyred 
 President; of how the great man tossed aside all austerities and 
 decorum and sat on the edge of a huge trunk, his long legs 
 
240 BEMINISCENCES OE BAN EIOE 
 
 entwined, his knees in his hands, and his high, flat-rimmed tile 
 on an angle, as he chatted, laughed, and cracked a batch of favor- 
 ite gags. We played Washington every season from 1863 to the 
 early seventies. In 1867, we rented a lot near the Baltimore 
 and Potomac Station, on Sixth Street. That was my first year 
 with the Forepaugh show. In the early sixties Eice was under 
 the management of Spaulding & Rogers, who made a fortune 
 in the fifties on the Mississippi Eiver with their boat shows. They 
 had a floating circus, and played the town along the levees. The 
 ring was pitched in the middle of the boat, and the performance 
 consisted of trained dogs and horses and the old clown specialties. 
 Spaulding left an enormous fortune, and his son, Col. Charles 
 Spaulding, the owner of the Olympic Theatre, and a million 
 dollars' worth of property in St. Louis, is the wealthiest theatre 
 proprietor in America, though few, even among theatrical people, 
 are aware of that fact. 
 
 " Dan Eice signed a contract for a long term of years with the 
 Forepaugh show at a salary of $25,000 per year. The younger 
 generation of theatre-goers who hear their daddies and mommers 
 rave over Dan Eice have but a hazy idea of the talents of this 
 great genius of the sawdust ring. 
 
 " Eice was a man of versatile talents and a fine mind, deeply 
 read in everything, from the classics to the latest political and 
 sporting events. To be sure, he depended first of all on his suc- 
 cess as a clown, but he wasn't the sort of conventional clown we 
 see in the circus to-day. Eice was a talking clown or jester, a 
 sort of Touchstone with eloquence, wit, poesy, and mirth, the 
 originator of all his quips and sayings. 
 
 " It required an actor of no mean ability to produce the enter- 
 tainment provided by Eice. His artistic Touchstone style of the 
 clown was never equalled before or since. The Eice clown died 
 with his retirement and gave way to the hybrid species of the 
 buffoon. This buffoonery replaced the legitimate jester of the 
 Eice type and the clown of to-day is merely an incident of a 
 circus, a filler-in on the programme, a fickle shadow of the bril- 
 liant substance of the Eice days. But Eice's talents were not 
 confined to the clown specialty. He was a trainer of animals, 
 horses being his specialty. His trained horse, Excelsior, was 
 one of the most intelligent animals that ever bowed to the beck 
 of its master. Excelsior was as blind as a bat. Certain words 
 from his master meant certain tricks. The feat of training a 
 blind horse was regarded as a sensation in those days and would, 
 be just as much of a sensation to-day, for that matter. Eice's 
 trick stallion, Stephen A. Douglas, a graceful Arabian steed, was 
 another of Eice's pet trick animals, and he was almost as big a 
 favorite with the public as old Excelsior." 
 
BBMINISCENOES OF DAN EICE 241 
 
 Dan Eice to the Poee. 
 checkered career of the man. 
 
 BY JOHN A. COCKBRILL. 
 
 Eighty years have sped along since he first saw the light of 
 day. In the earlier years of his career Dan Eice was one of the 
 best-known characters in America, and he was a sort of model 
 for the boys and girls who flocked to see his show. 
 
 Wealth rolled in his coffers and the great showman-clown was 
 believed to be a millionaire. He was extravagant in his habits, 
 and, like many men who possessed a much greater share of edu- 
 cational and refining influences, he could not stand prosperity 
 and gradually he ran down the grade and was lost to public view, 
 bearing the fatal stamp that to him his life was a failure. About 
 a year ago many friends who had a pleasant recollection of his 
 former years of prosperity, and sympathizing with the veteran 
 clown in his declining years of adversity, inaugurated a testi- 
 monial benefit at the Union Square Theatre, and thus raised a 
 substantial sum of money, which placed the old man above imme- 
 diate want. 
 
 Formerly Uncle Dan made his headquarters in New York, 
 and with his faithful wife found a home in the Everett House, 
 where Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and other noted men fre- 
 quently have enjoyed all the comforts of home. The old clown 
 felt an irrepressible desire for a long time to return to the scenes 
 of his first love and earlier triumphs, and expressed a hope that 
 he might, like Eichards, at least die with harness upon his back. 
 Some of his ancient friends and zealous admirers extended en- 
 couragement to him by drawing painful pictures of the strong 
 contrast between the clowns of to-day with the unique and origi- 
 nal character he portrayed. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE OLD SHOWMAN. 
 
 Dan Eice's real name was Daniel McLaren. When a lad he 
 was a stable-boy on various race-tracks and was known as " Dusty 
 Dan." He was agile and acrobatic and became an acrobat, with 
 wonderful energy and amazing physical strength. It was not 
 remarkable, with such training and early surroundings, that his 
 physical prowess should lead him into the roped arena, and in 
 1828 it is recorded that the Pennsylvania Legislature adjourned 
 to witness a sparring exhibition between Kensett, the John L. 
 Sullivan of the day, and young Dan Eice, as he was known then. 
 16 
 
242 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 He was a strapping fellow of twenty, and by this event Uncle 
 Dan's age at present is fixed among the eighties. 
 
 Shortly after this fistic encounter, Dan, who was possessed 
 largely with the gift of gab, began his career as a clown. He 
 modelled his work after Wallett, a famous English jester, and 
 speedily took front rank as a wit in the West and Southwest, his 
 earliest fields of conquest. His popularity became so great that 
 he started a show of his own with a wonderfully trained pure 
 white stallion christened Excelsior, and rival managers used this 
 feature to refer to him as running " a one-horse show." The 
 horse was a winner, however, and proved to be such a success that 
 when Excelsior died another horse much like him and bearing 
 the same name soon supplied his place. Bice in those days was 
 an eloquent stump orator, and when his show reached a small 
 town he would harangue the populace from the balcony of a small 
 tavern while the circus was being filled up, and at its conclusion 
 he would extend a cordial invitation to his hearers to visit " Dan 
 Eice's Great and Only Show." 
 
 A PUBLIC BENEFACTOB., TOO. 
 
 Not only as a clown, but as a benefactor, was Dan Eice known 
 in his early days. He built an iron fence around one of the 
 parks in New Orleans, made generous donations to building 
 schoolhouses, churches, orphan asylums, and market-houses, and 
 often made the small boys happy by scattering a handful of shin- 
 ing coins among them while his procession was moving along the 
 streets. 
 
 Once he landed in jail in Albany. The " Whip," a virulent 
 paper published at the capital by George Jones, late of the New 
 York " Times," and edited by the late Hugh Hastings, attacked 
 Dan, and he employed its author, Chester Clarence Moore, the 
 author of " The Night Before Christmas," to respond in an at- 
 tack upon the late Dr. Spaulding. Dan was arrested for libel 
 and was thrown into the " Blue Eagle Jail." Spaulding's son 
 Charles, of St. Louis, and Eice joined fortunes years afterwards 
 and the show was taken to Paris, but the law was evoked for- 
 bidding the erection of frame buildings and the venture was a 
 failure. In this city, during the year of the International Fair, 
 he became involved pecuniarily and unable to keep engagements 
 elsewhere; he hit upon a happy expedient by placarding the 
 fences of Philadelphia with big posters, reading, "Dan Eice 
 Can't Get Away." The late Avery Smith was pleased with the 
 wit of the clown and loaned to him sufficient money to take him 
 to the Quaker City. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 243 
 
 DILEMMA DURING THE WAR. 
 
 When the Civil War broke out Dan was on a steamboat bound 
 for Mobile, but he presented his show under the Stars and Bars, 
 and on his return North made amends for this indiscretion by 
 sending the Stars and Stripes to the breeze and subsequently 
 erecting a handsome monument in Erie, Pa., dedicated " To the 
 memory of the soldiers of Erie County who fell in the defence of 
 their country — erected by Col. Dan Rice." During one of the 
 Presidential campaigns in this city Dan had banners flung across 
 Broadway reading: 
 
 '• For President, : 
 
 : COL. DAN EICE, : 
 
 OT 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. ; 
 
 His agents laughed at it and made an advertising scheme of 
 it, but the ageing showman entertained the matter seriously, and 
 politics turned his head. His show was a failure, and Dan tried 
 hard to be sent to Congress from one of the Pennsylvania dis- 
 tricts, but failed. In 1865 Forepaugh paid him $25,000 a year 
 to join his show, and during the seasons of 1866 and 1867 he re- 
 ceived $27,500 a year, the largest salary ever paid to a circus 
 clown. 
 
 KNEW DAN RICE. 
 
 MRS. HEMMINGS* TALK OF THE OLD CLOWN WHO HAS JUST 
 DIED — WAS POPULAR AMONG CIRCUS PROFESSION AS 
 WELL AS THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The death of Dan Rice, clown, circus owner, the forerunner of 
 P. T. Barnum, recalls to one Philadelphia family in particular 
 the career of one of the most remarkable men in his line that 
 ever catered to the amusements of the public. Richard Hem- 
 mings, of 656 North Tenth Street, who, in the sixties, was the 
 part owner of the Hemmings & Cooper Circus, paid Dan Rice in 
 the season of 1867, $21,500, which was a salary of $1,000 a week. 
 According to the recollections also of the " earlier inhabitants " 
 of this city, Dan Rice gave full equivalent to the public in so far 
 that he furnished fun by the wholesale. 
 
244 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 Mr. Hemmings is in Baltimore at present attending the great 
 Elk meeting, but Mrs. Hemmings, who was one of the Whitby 
 family, equestrian performers, in those golden days of the circus 
 ring, is intimately acquainted with the life history of Dan Eice. 
 Mrs. Hemmings, already as a child performer, looked upon Eice 
 as the greatest circus man then alive, and her reminiscences of 
 him would fill a volume. 
 
 It seems a long, long while ago when the name of Dan Eice 
 became known to me. I remember distinctly, however, how the 
 country went wild over Eice's antics in the sawdust ring. The 
 older residents of this city should recall easily how he made them 
 shake with laughter. His history, of course, it is not for me to 
 recount here, but from a personal standpoint, and that of my 
 husband, who was his employer once, we had much to do with 
 Eice. How he lost his fortune, reformed his ways, and again lost 
 his all, will some day become part of circus history. Two years 
 ago he called on us and stayed over night at the house. He was, 
 of course, not the same Dan Eice who used to amuse the public 
 and his fellow-performers alike. But there was enough of the 
 old favorite about him to make the visit one we shall long 
 remember. 
 
 Eice as an Artist and a Gentleman. 
 
 BY PARK BENJAMIN. 
 
 One who knew the illustrious Dan only when rigged out in his 
 motley suit and parti-colored garments, would hardly recognize 
 this quiet and gentlemanly looking personage on Broadway to be 
 one and the same. Dan Eice is a New Yorker born and bred. 
 But years have elapsed since he first shone like a meteor in the 
 ring, when his rollicking wit and contagious humor and wanton 
 wiles set the whole audience in a roar. We have seen a great 
 many attempts of fun in our day, but never one who seemed to 
 be possessed of so genuine a spirit of frolic, with so capital, and 
 quick an apprehension of the humorous, with a more certain 
 power of controlling his hearers as if by the influence of animal 
 magnetism. If he goes on as he has begun, studying his art and 
 endeavoring to excel in it, the biography of the stage or circus 
 will present no more successful jester. He will surpass even the 
 renowned Joseph Grimaldi, whose memoirs employed the piquant 
 pen of Charles Dickens through two very considerable volumes. 
 There is a good-looking sobriety and placid composure in Dan's 
 countenance, which are hardly consistent with one's ideas of the 
 character of a clown. But we can assure our readers that Mr. 
 
BEMIiJTSCENCES OF DAN EICE 245 
 
 Bice is a very respectable man in private life, of irreproachable 
 morals, undeviating propriety of conduct, gifted with feelings of 
 kindness, courtesy, and benevolence. He does not imagine, like 
 ■too many of his profession, he has a license of behavior because 
 he is a showman, but thinks that every calling can be rendered 
 honorable by the honor of him who follows it. 
 
 Just after Du Chaillu departed I met Dan Eice, and felt about 
 twenty years younger in a moment, for while I was a small boy, 
 Dan was the most famous clown in the world, and a bigger man 
 in my eyes than the President of the United States and all the 
 crowned heads of Europe combined. I recalled a terrible strug- 
 gle within my little self in an Illinois town as to whether I 
 should go to the circus to see Dan Eice or hang about the hotel 
 to see Abe Lincoln. I got out of it by learning that Lincoln 
 himself had gone to the circus, as every one but the preachers 
 did in those days. Dan is about three-score-and-ten, but looks 
 not a year past sixty, and is loaded to the muzzle with good 
 stories, which he fires off with hair-trigger quickness. He has 
 put many of his recollections in a book, soon to be published, 
 of which he has high hopes. It is dangerously funny, two men 
 already having laughed themselves to death over the opening 
 pages, but he thinks, perhaps, the victims had some unsuspected 
 organic weakness before they began. Dan was one of the few 
 showmen who were bigger than their business. During the Civil 
 War he used to make patriotic speeches at each of his perform- 
 ances and they were full of soul and sense. He subscribed liber- 
 ally for many patriotic purposes during the war, and for soldiers' 
 monuments afterwards. He also did some effective religious 
 exhorting and turned an intimate acquaintance with John Bar- 
 leycorn to good purpose by lecturing on temperance, in which he 
 is still a firm believer, although admitting that there are notable 
 exceptions to the advisability of total abstinence. He said to me: 
 " Drink is very bad for most men, but I can't learn of a really 
 great man in the world who doesn't take his occasional tod — and 
 have to do it." — Anonymous N". Y. Letter to Chicago " Tribune." 
 
 Rice's Peksonality. 
 
 BY DR. FREDERICK VALENTINE. 
 
 My first personal interview with Dan Eice cost me ju§t $50.25 
 and T do not regret it. He came to my little den on the 18th day 
 of October, 1893, with a card of introduction from a mutual 
 friend — a very charming mutual friend I may say — he came to 
 
246 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 remain but a few minutes and these he wished to cut short be- 
 cause he saw how busy I was. 
 
 The minutes grew to hours, that yet seemed seconds. This 
 grand old juvenile who has lightened so many hearts in his bluff, 
 cordial manner, whose charities are none the less splendid be- 
 cause he kept them secret, whose bonhomie and cheerfulness 
 make his seventy-one years of life a simile of the perpetual 
 youth Ponce de Leon did not find, drove to oblivion the cares and 
 troubles that weigh heavily upon us all. He mellowed by his 
 mere presence, by his perennial wit, by his impregnable buoyancy, 
 the very atmosphere, so that my engagements for the day, which 
 would have paid me fifty dollars, were forgotten. He augmented 
 the expense by smoking a cigar that cost me twenty-five cents at 
 wholesale, and, irrepressible entertainer that he is, he consumed 
 a wealth of matches. His jokes were numerous, the cigar con- 
 tinually went out. 
 
 He is the only man I ever met who can use the personal I with- 
 out appearing egotistical. He has the modesty which is an essen- 
 tial to greatness. 
 
 Our conversation was barely finished when he clapped one of 
 his vigorous hands upon my shoulder and exclaimed: " Val, my 
 biography must be written and you are the culprit to do it! " 
 
 It was said in the manner, in the voice, and in the facetious 
 earnestness with which erstwhile he made his bow in the circus 
 ring. 
 
 So this, without the spangles and the paint, this in the sober- 
 ness of real life was the great clown — no, " jester." His every 
 action made me a boy again — wishing the old tent were nearby, 
 so that with throbbing heart I might hear the blare of the band 
 and, if I had not the quarter to purchase admission, might steal 
 my way in, to where the very air was redolent with Dan Eice's 
 jokes — and sawdust. 
 
 Who could refuse the offer, who could decline the honor of 
 endeavoring to make all the world young again by recording the 
 reminiscences of this boy — this hearty, great, good-natured boy, 
 though he has seen seventy-one summers? 
 
 " But I warn you, old man," he said, " you will be the seventh 
 who undertakes the task." 
 
 "The seventh? "I asked. 
 
 " Yes, the first died, the second broke his leg, the third lost 
 his mother-in-law and went crazy with joy, the fourth caught 
 consumption, the fifth gave it up as a hopeless job, the sixth 
 merely copied some of my incoherent manuscript and got a hun- 
 dred dollars out of me — which I blush to confess. So if you 
 take your life into your hands, you must have it insured before 
 you begin the work." 
 
JOHN KOBINSON 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 247 
 
 Men have insured and lost their lives in less worthy causes. 
 
 In accepting the appointment to record Dan Eice's reminis- 
 cences and jot down some of the things about him which he has 
 not told me, I deplore that cold type is inadequate to reflect his 
 inimitable manner, his strong, mobile features, the silver sheen 
 of his hair and beard, white as the driven snow — nothing of the 
 remarkable vitality of this great-grandfather, who will in memory 
 stand as the prototype of " Chidner, the ever youthful." To 
 paraphrase the author, 
 
 " Dan Eice stand immer an diesem Ort 
 Und wird so stehen ewig fort." 
 
 The Eecollections of a Veteran. 
 
 interesting reminiscences of the dats of the one 
 horse show. 
 
 Uncle Dan Eice, the veteran showman and clown, entertained 
 quite a coterie of old friends and acquaintances at the Emmitt 
 House yesterday afternoon. At the conclusion of his lecture, 
 which seemed to be vastly appreciated by the audience, a " Daily 
 News " representative sought and obtained an interview with 
 him. Seated in the reading-room of the above-mentioned hos- 
 telry, a very pleasing hour was spent in chatting with the veteran 
 of the sawdust arena, probably the most popular and original 
 man that ever donned the motley garb, and made jocund the 
 rural heart with genial quips and jests. Although placarded and 
 billed generally as the " Clown of our Daddies," and from the 
 familiarity and notoriety attached to his name, Mr. Eice is not 
 a Methuselah as might be supposed by many. His May of life 
 has not fallen into the seer, the yellow leaf, as Mr. Macbeth re- 
 marked of himself, to any considerable degree. To our repre- 
 sentative he appeared like a well-preserved gentleman, slightly 
 this side of his sixtieth milestone on the journey of life. He is 
 stoutly built, of a good figure, and from his philosophical and 
 contented appearance, the reporter came to the conclusion that 
 he was comfortably lined with good Emmit House capon. A 
 shrewd, kindly, weather-beaten face, ornamented by a snowy 
 beard dependent from his chin, beamed above a billowy expanse 
 of white vest. When he opened the floodgates of mind and mem- 
 ory, the talk flowed incessantly, and was frequently enlivened by 
 a ripple like a dash of epigram or satire. As he had just stated in 
 his lecture that he used to be a frequent visitor to Chillicothe, 
 the reporter asked him when he last came here. He replied that 
 
248 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 he believed it was in 1864, when he gave an exhibition on the old 
 Campbell lot. " I have been all around here since, but haven't 
 touched Chillicothe or Circleville, which used to be a nice little 
 town. I travelled by canal then, and had my one-horse show. 
 There were only two asistants in my business then. One was 
 Jim O'Connell, the tattooed man, and the very best performer 
 in his way I ever saw. The other was Jean Johnson, who did 
 song and dance and negro business. Johnson is now in Cincin- 
 nati, a broken-down wreck. Poor O'Connell is under the daisies. 
 He used to do an egg dance and other surprising feats, and got 
 off a thrilling account of his adventures in the Fiji Islands, 
 where he pretended to have been tattooed. His last request was 
 unique, and in accordance with it, after he was committed to the 
 earth, my band played a lively tune, and Johnson danced a horn- 
 pipe over his grave. These two boys, with the band, myself as 
 clown, with songs and introduction of the horse, made up a better 
 show, I believe, and gave more genuine entertainment, than a 
 great many of the more pretentious ones nowadays." " The 
 war had a rather depressing effect upon the business, did it not? " 
 queried the reporter. " Bless you, no; why we fattened on our 
 country's calamities. The greenbacks were plentiful then, and 
 I made more money than I ever did before in my life. John 
 Morgan ruined several circuses, and caught me out in Indiana, 
 getting away with eight of my horses. I knew him and went 
 straight to his quarters and told my doleful tale. He immedi- 
 ately wrote out an order and sent a man with me to redeem my 
 property. ' You see, Dan,' he explained, ' the boys were out 
 foraging, and they are no respecters of persons.' He was a gal- 
 lant fellow. That was the only difficulty of that kind that I ever 
 encountered, and you see I got out of that very nicely." In re- 
 sponse to another question, Uncle Dan said: "I have been a 
 clown over forty-one years, and I propose to remain in the harness 
 until the last. I am organizing now in Cincinnati, and preparing 
 to start out upon the road again next season. These lectures 
 that I deliver are a little side play, I can't abide idleness, and 
 must be doing something. I would die if I could not be em- 
 ployed at some kind of work. The political excitement is too 
 strong now to make any kind of an exhibition profitable. I am 
 an old-time Whig and am not greatly interested which way the 
 tide turns; I believe in country above all parties. I shall return 
 to Chillicothe and deliver a lecture which will be a continuation 
 of the one given to-night. The theme is endless and boundless, 
 and the beauty of it is that you can talk about anything. — " The 
 Daily News," Chillicothe, 0., November 10, 1884. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 249 
 
 TKIBUTES. 
 Dan Rice, Clown, Dead. 
 
 his death at long branch due to bright's disease — 
 career of the famous ring joker who began life 
 as a stable boy and made and lost three for- 
 TUNES HIS EDUCATION IN SHAKESPEARE— HIS NAME 
 
 was McLaren. 
 
 Long Branch, N. J., Feb. 22.— Dan Eice, the veteran clown, 
 died to-night at seven o'clock after a lingering illness. He was 
 seventy-seven years old. Mr. Rice suffered from Bright's dis- 
 ease and dropsy, but he had been able to go out for a drive until 
 a week ago, when he took to his bed. At the time of his last 
 illness he was writing a book on his life. He had about com- 
 pleted the closing chapter. 
 
 Dan Rice's real name was Daniel McLaren. He was born in 
 New York City. His father, Daniel McLaren, nicknamed the 
 boy Dan Rice, after a famous clown in Ireland. After his 
 father's death his mother married a man named Manahan, who 
 had a dairy near Freehold, Monmouth County, N. J., and Dan, 
 when a small boy, delivered milk to his stepfather's customers. 
 His sister Elizabeth married Jacob Showles, a circus rider, who 
 resides at Long Branch, N. J. Dan, weary of the milk route, 
 struck out for himself when young and made his way to Pitts- 
 burg, where he was successively stable-boy, race-rider, and hack 
 driver. After a little time, under the name of Dan Rice, he 
 achieved prominence, if not exactly fame, as the owner and ex- 
 hibitor of a learned pig, with which he and a man named Lindsay 
 travelled through Pennsylvania and neighboring States. Rice 
 and Lindsay sang songs and danced, but the pig was the principal 
 attraction. 
 
 Old friends of Dan relate that the death of the star performer 
 broke up the show and he drifted out to Naucoo, 111., where the 
 Mormons then were under Joseph Smith's leadership, and re- 
 mained with them for a time. He returned to Pittsburg and 
 went to hack driving again. He married there his first wife, 
 and came to New York in 1844, making here his first appearance 
 as a clown and negro song and dance performer with Dr. Spauld- 
 ing's company in the Old Bowery Amphitheatre, then under the 
 management of John Tryon. In the company with him at that 
 time were Barney "Williams, Dan Emmett, Dan Gardner, Frank 
 W. Whittaker and others whose names have since attained wide 
 celebrity on the stage and in the ring. 
 
250 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 In the season of 1845 Dan travelled with Seth B. Howe's 
 Circus. Seth B. Howe was a brother of Nathan Howe, one of 
 the old " flat-foot combination," which started the famous 
 Zoological Institute at 37 Bowery. He billed and advertised 
 Dan Eice more extensively than any clown ever was advertised 
 before in this country. One of his advertising dodges was to 
 supply Dan with a special carriage and horses to take him 
 through the country. In the winter of 1845-46 Dan made his 
 first appearance in Philadelphia in Gen. Rufus Welch's National 
 Amphitheatre, which was then at the corner of Ninth and Chest- 
 nut Streets, on the site now occupied by the Continental Hotel. 
 At that time he was simply a good " rough knock-about clown," 
 in the phraseology of the ring, not quick to catch points on the 
 audience from the ringmaster, and innocent of any knowledge 
 of Shakespeare. He tried successively Nicholas Johnson and 
 Ben Young, both actors, and Horace Nichols and somebody else, 
 in the capacity of ringmaster, yet could not make a hit with 
 either. Finally he got Frank W. Whittaker, who was at the time 
 master of the ring for other clowns in the same show, assigned to 
 him, and on his first night made a hit, on business suggested 
 by Whittaker, which carried him into instant popularity with 
 Philadelphia audiences. 
 
 That hit cost Sandy Jamieson, leader of the orchestra, a new 
 violin, for the part of the funny business consisted in Dan's 
 tumbling Frank headlong among the orchestra. 
 
 During the summer of 1846 Bice was a clown with Welch's 
 travelling show in Canada, and in the succeeding year he went to 
 New Orleans, with his first manager, Dr. Spaulding. At this 
 time, it is said, Mr. Van Orden, a brother-in-law of Dr. Spauld- 
 ing, took a liking to Dan and urged him to much-needed mental 
 improvement, supplying him with Shakespeare, Byron, and other 
 dramatic and poetic works, aiding him in making from them the 
 selections on which he subsequently became known as a " Shakes- 
 pearean clown," and encouraging him in study, not only for his 
 professional purposes but for the acquisition of general knowl- 
 edge. Mr. Van Orden also wrote a number of Rice's most popu- 
 lar songs. After a season or two Bice obtained an interest with 
 Dr. Spaulding and that connection was kept up until about 1850, 
 when they separated. In 1853, in consequence of some legal 
 proceedings institued by Spaulding for recovery of payment for 
 a show with which he had fitted Rice out a couple of years before, 
 Rice lost a handsome farm which he had acquired in Columbia 
 County, N. Y. Shortly after that Dan bought a homestead in 
 Girard, Pa., and a fine farm two or three miles from that town, 
 where he sheltered his show in the winter. 
 
 By 1856 he had so far recovered from the disaster which fol- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 251 
 
 lowed the severance of his connection with Spaulding that he 
 was deemed a wealthy man and certainly was a popular one 
 wherever he travelled. For he was a genial, whole-souled fellow, 
 kind and generous, seeming to think nothing of riches more than 
 as a means to promote the happiness of all around him. Fortune 
 smiled upon him steadily up to 1860, when there was a separation 
 between him and his wife. Old showmen said: "Dan lost his 
 luck when he parted from her." 
 
 She was spoken of as a noble woman, who by gentle methods 
 supplied Dan with the guidance which he needed. She had 
 never been a professional before her marriage, but he taught her 
 a "manege act," which she continued to do up to the time of 
 their separation. Her daughter Elizabeth became the wife of 
 Charles Eeed, a celebrated pad rider. The daughter Catherine 
 married and lived in Girard, Pa., with her mother. Soon after 
 her divorce, Mrs. Eice married Charles Warren, Eice's treasurer, 
 who had acted as agent between husband and wife in the negotia- 
 tions preceding the divorce, and the couple rejoined the show, 
 he proposing to continue to act as treasurer and she to continue 
 her riding, but after a short time both places were vacant. 
 
 In the early part of 1860 Eice's show journeyed by wagons 
 from the East to St. Louis, where a steamboat was bought for the 
 transportation of the company through the rivers and bayous 
 of the South. It is related that at about that time Charles Eeed 
 and Julian Kent were apprentices with Dan Eice and he required 
 them under all circumstances on Sunday to read to him from one 
 to three chapters of the Bible, an eccentricity akin to that which 
 prompted him to build meeting-houses for the colored people 
 down South. He is said to have built half a dozen meeting- 
 houses. From 1860 to 1862 he was in the South. The story 
 got afloat in the North that Dan had bloomed out as a rampant 
 rebel, and when he appeared in the Walnut Street Theatre, Phila- 
 delphia, in the winter of 1862-63, he met with a very hostile 
 reception. 
 
 When the supposed rebel appeared in the ring there was a 
 crowded house to greet him with a tornado of hisses, groans, yells 
 of "secessionist," " Johnny Eeb," and suggestions that he should 
 be shot or hanged. Fortunately for himself he had the courage 
 to stand up in the ring and face his accusers until they were 
 weary of shouting. Then he told them that he was and always 
 had been a Union man, that his home and interests were North- 
 ern, but that he could not get out of the Confederacy sooner or 
 otherwise than he did, and that he had done nothing that he 
 deemed deserved any apology. His manliness, even more than 
 his words, won for him new consideration, but though there was 
 no longer any idea of mobbing him, enough doubt was left in 
 
252 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 many minds to cast a shadow over his popularity. In 1863 lus 
 show, after a disastrous season, went to pieces and most of it was 
 sold for debt. Out of the wreck he saved his famous trick horse 
 Excelsior and his pair of trained Burmese cattle. He was the 
 first man wbjo ever trained and introduced in the ring a perform- 
 ing rhinoceros. In 1864 a contract for two seasons was made 
 with Porepaugh, by which Eice received for his services as a 
 clown and for the services of his trained horse and cattle $35,000 
 for each season. In 1866 he got $1,000 per week through the 
 season as clown with John O'Brien, and for a season of twenty- 
 six weeks in 1867 he received $21,500 from Gardner, Hemmings 
 & Cooper's Circus. 
 
 From that time on his star seemed to be steadily waning. His 
 property at Oirard was swept away by the foreclosure of a mort- 
 gage. He had married again. His second wife, the daughter of 
 a, banker in Girard, owned a considerable amount of property in 
 her own right, but Bice was ruined.. Disappointment seemed 
 to embitter him and his habits grew worse, but he kept in the 
 ring as clown each season with young circus men. In 1881 he 
 was out with Will Stow, under the firm name of Bice & Stow, 
 but the partnership was dissolved by his enforced retirement 
 before the close of the season. Some years ago he struck an oil 
 well on his wife's property in Girard, put up a derrick, set a drill 
 at work, organized a stock company and sold stock to Avery 
 Smith, Seth B. Howe, and J. J. Nathans and other " old-timers " 
 of the circus business, but it was soon ascertained that there was 
 not a pint of petroleum within a hundred miles of the well. 
 
 In 1878 Dan Bice reformed in St. Louis, and afterward de- 
 livered temperance lectures, occasionally slipping back into old 
 paths. Forepaugh once said that he would let Dan Bice fix his 
 own terms for a season in California if he would engage to keep 
 sober the season through, but the offer was refused. In 1879 
 Nathans, June & Bailey telegraphed to Dan, in Girard, that they 
 would pay him his own price as a clown for four weeks in this 
 city, if he would permit his salary to stand until the conclusion 
 of his engagement as a bond for his sobriety. He refused the 
 offer, saying that he would rather have a hundred dollars a week 
 and liberty to do as he pleased than any terms on such conditions. 
 
 In Girard at one time he ran a newspaper called the " Cosmo- 
 polite." He sought election to Congress in 1879 from that dis- 
 trict, but failed to get it. When wealthy he gave away great 
 sums of money to public institutions in that part of the country, 
 and still more, it is said, in private charities. He built a sol- 
 diers' monument said to have cost $35,000. Yet, as an old show- 
 man and friend of his said, there were long years in which Bice 
 could not borrow five dollars in Girard if he wanted it. 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 253 
 
 During the war General Fremont seized a steamer Eice owned, 
 the " James Eaymond," at St. Louis, and made use of it for Gov- 
 ernment purposes. Eice applied to the Government for com- 
 pensation and $32,000 damages was awarded him. At his re- 
 quest this money was spent by President Lincoln and Secretary 
 Stanton caring for wounded soldiers and their families. 
 
 Dan Eice made three fortunes, but died a comparatively poor 
 man. He married three times. His third wife survives him. 
 She lives in Texas. — " New York Sun." 
 
 EEMINISCENCES. 
 
 PERSONAL — WITTY — HUMOROUS — GRAVE AND GAT — LIVELY 
 AND SEVERE — JOKES — JESTS — ANECDOTES — SATIRES — 
 SONGS — SPEECHES ETC. 
 
 DAN RICE, THE HUMORIST. 
 
 There are reforms in everything mundane. Eeforms are the 
 first great causes of revolutions, they have been the pioneers in 
 the marches of improvement, they have founded new faiths, es- 
 tablished liberal governments, peopled new countries, crushed 
 out feudal systems in the old world, and destroyed illiberal preju- 
 dices in the new. Eeforms are antagonistical to the old fogyism, 
 they are the beacon lights of the "good times coming." 
 
 In the latter sixties liberal teachers, a cheap press, and com- 
 mon schools were not, as to-day, indispensable aids to our exist- 
 ence. Then good common sense alone actuated every thinking 
 man to coolly examine each object presented either for public 
 benefit or enjoyment. What was then an intellectual feast de- 
 generated later into a saturnalia of sensual gratifications. Whilst 
 the dark veil of proscription once thrown around the charmed 
 circle of the circus arena had not been entirely dispelled by the 
 light of liberality, and public amusements regarded as they are 
 to-day necessary institutions, affording a healthy relaxation for 
 the masses, yet withal a Puritanic spirit of intolerance made it- 
 self felt to such an extent that for many years a hitter war was 
 waged against the vulgar circus of early days, which sought alone 
 to gratify a coarse mind at the expense of the intellectual. Colo- 
 nel Eice at first resented the seemingly bigoted and unjust criti- 
 cism of the circus world, as a whole, and for a while bore the 
 brunt of a battle which involved him in an interminable tangle of 
 criminations and recriminations. Later Uncle Dan saw a new 
 light, and, guided by its inspiration, became an ally of the pulpit 
 and the press. As a result, reform in circus methods was actively 
 
254 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 urged. Colonel Eice's efforts were crowned with success. He 
 soon drew an air of refinement around the arena, that in the days 
 of the Olympiad was so purely classical, and made it here a place 
 where the elite, the profound, the philosopher, the naturalist, and 
 the admirer of physical beauty, could resort to for amusement, 
 reflection, and instruction. He restored to the people the gains 
 of the curriculum, the beauties of chivalry, the taming of wild 
 beasts as in the days of ancient Eome, all in all, revolutionized 
 the stale and salacious forms of amusement so prevalent in the 
 past. The thousands of well-educated, intelligent people, who 
 in every section of the country, liberally sustained both the per- 
 manent and transitory exhibitions, quickly evinced by their lib- 
 eral patronage Colonel Kice's laudatory efforts to cleanse the 
 Augean stables. Questionable by-play, indecent gestures, and 
 suggestive jests were no longer tolerated, their places being 
 usurped by rollicking but refined humor, repartee, pungent but 
 stingless satires and true wit, supplemented by a spectacular 
 splendor which had hitherto never been equalled and certainly 
 never surpassed. No man, therefore, did, between 1860 and 
 1870, more to bring about this salutary reaction than Dan Rice. 
 He made the arena a place of classic resort. The grovelling 
 babbler in spotted dress, and the low buffoon were quickly driven 
 from the ring, so there is little occasion or wonder why he then 
 stood out so proudly and won such world-wide fame as the most 
 original humorist of his day. 
 
 Dan Eice had a genius for fun. His humors were adapted to 
 the times, his hits local, his satire telling, his wit pointed, his 
 jokes harmless, and his conversational powers unlimited. As the 
 man who tells a good story at the festive board is indispensable 
 at a goodly gathering, so is the presence of the King of Jesters 
 absolutely required in a Great Show. He was as the central 
 figure of the tan-bark circle, the man whom, above all, the people 
 most admired. With an enviable reputation for integrity of 
 character, and a universal fame as the most amusing man of mod- 
 ern times, his name was a tower of strength. Amongst the upper 
 circles of the metropolitan cities, in the villages, towns, and ham- 
 lets of all this broad domain, Dan Eice wa D the magnet of attrac- 
 tion. Individually he had more personal friends and supporters 
 than any artist of his times. 
 
 It seems that sovereignties are never complete without a clown 
 in motley. Every court has had its fool and each king its jester 
 with cap and bells, the fool usually possessing more wit than his 
 master. As it was in ancient times, so it is in these modern days. 
 The sovereign people right royally crowned Dan Eice their 
 peerless Prince of Jesters. This renowned professor in the- Court 
 of Momus has been before the public for fifty years. His songs, 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN RICE 255 
 
 jokes, and drolleries were always free from the vulgarity which 
 usually characterizes the sayings of the ring and wholly devoid of 
 anything which could offend the most fastidious. Indeed Dan 
 Eice stood alone in the profession he adopted and which he has 
 raised far above what it formerly was. His versatility of talent 
 was remarkable, and his occasional flashes of genius astonished 
 even those who were most intimately acquainted with him. As 
 the fancy took him he changed from gay to grave, from the lu- 
 dicrous to the sublime, from the most pathetic portrayal to the 
 most pungent, piercing satire with a marvellous rapidity that 
 stamped him as a genius and the premier artist of his generation. 
 
 Ancient and Modern Quiddities. 
 
 The art of making anecdotes, jokes, puns, and other witticisms 
 is of much greater importance than many people are apt to 
 imagine. In certain dull seasons of torpid repose, when wars are 
 vexatiously rare, and murders seldom occur, and highway robber- 
 ies are scarcely known, and conflagrations, tornadoes, earth- 
 quakes, freshets, breaches of marriage contract and Dakota di- 
 vorce mills are not working overtime to occasionally relieve the 
 universal drowsiness, the exercise of this art is most especially 
 requisite. 
 
 The ancients, when tired of recording marvellous things for 
 the purpose of exciting astonishment, wisely sought to refresh 
 the world with jokes, quips, and quiddities. Merriment was the 
 sauce, the catsup, that made more palative the more solid viands. 
 Eelaxation was found to be of infinite service, it contributed to 
 keep people properly in countenance, for after a long stretch of 
 the muscles over the miraculously tough tales of Pliny, Livy, 
 Plutarch and other wonder-mongers, men's phizes were discov- 
 ered to be most alarmingly lengthened insomuch that chins 
 dropped into waistbands, nether lips were in danger of being 
 trodden upon. Whereupon I, Mr. Rice, and other fun-giving 
 wags, sought to apply remedies in the form of fable and epigram, 
 divers laughter disposing cranks, reflecting like characters or 
 charms upon the fearful rigidity and longitudity of aspect, and 
 brought back the distant faces of all that were curable to their 
 natural expansion of feature. Mouths that form a continual 
 application of the terrific and amazing had acquired a monstrous 
 prominence towards the centre of gravity, were observed to cor- 
 rugate into a pleasant horizontal, sometimes even turning up at 
 the corners, into a curve from ear to ear; eyes upon whose pro- 
 tuberant spheres one might have traced the heavens and the earth 
 as it were, upon globes celestial and terrestrial, sank comfortably 
 into their sockets, guarded and encompassed by the crowfoot of 
 
~0T' TTTrr>r r; s T*~sr'"Hffit (IF DA5T SETS 
 
 ■zaTetT. Thni by ^n W^o- a j^iieiotcs s~2rirs of z. : ™: r and. ■~ x - 
 riment the "femnan face 'Zz.~zi.~~ ~z~ treserred in due f ~?,te. 
 the Tosaze of Mam,. Efce a wa^ied ~.".^ . ~ p ceznr Ttie-esj tti—e. 
 
 Thsee-iwniiuifi of me ton-m:»t5. >_--/ ^" j ~ and "in z~z>ez- 
 tees with which the world has been li^ertec since the tije tf 
 z* z:zzzzzzm~~~', ire fafenilwos ones made "MEtr of whole eftsih tb.-f~ 
 -i-^- ,-. : ~- If ss warp thaw ~ ~"~p withont fin TrT . -fe — ■-■•■" :• : zsz~ -z~z~j. 
 
 err plinsbiLfty. 
 
 An honest, am iuthenniee history of the oririn of all r/ertrnrje 
 articles of this sort, and a titimrjtT of the inventors «sa sash 
 as were r--in ~':;r:. : rf^i for stem w:n_i he t- ~" ~ ittnsztx at ~~i* 
 present r* -~~rrg Ifoieei a w~t£ csf s~:t nsatnre is ~~ iz zzsBttsi- 
 It roixht throw such light earn the art of "~--."~"~ r zzz~. whidk, is© 
 
 ralne. 
 COLOXEX BICE TELLS OF EABIX DAYS OF TZE 
 
 T1TB l lflwttVIC SHOWMAS I TTT5 OF ~~~ FAKE SPi305E W»W 
 
 05" 15.0=5" HIS CASIO'S" 3»''i TTE3TED OCT TO EE 3SP- 
 
 FXATED ECBBEK — TKS GEEil HOODED FTTHOST 03 "ZEE 
 AMAZQX A5D C'THZE FAKES TO FOOX. THE rS5C5?XCIZI^ 
 PUBLIC. 
 
 Das Anannms Hhs Eabiy Sr::±st to a Bs»-IIx&Bra» 
 
 f rTRf- 
 
 There are tiiipfcg in all trades, and I nt tcse the :zrrts rosfass 
 is included in the category. In all m~ career I st^rdec E nr-re r 
 impostures and fr-iii of ill hinds, well inowhnr. that I itc i 
 reputation to maimtgiw feat in stite of all my jtrennrns efforts. 
 hbjt agents would occasionally tro:> me, in I snzoeei in :-7-°t°t-t 
 hmnbusgiiur the American public, which, a; all shcwuteu '—■•-—, 
 .o~es to be humbugse!- 'Ae incident of the ifn<i in tartic-xlEr 
 :e:ur? to my mini" 
 
 It ~n while t-ayug in the Eistem Snoes in the ^ar.T ";.;"?. 
 that I piotel "oj Bi_ lnmer. wiio. I am j^fe in ^,~"~ ~ -vis tie 
 shrewdest 5h:"^m2n I e^er saw. out fee was nnsomo zL : ns. BiZ 
 wii a likelj Ioo> hinz j onn_r Tiniee, ?niirt ml aetne. inl itfeirr 
 it'O-so from one position t: in::h;r raatil fee became i^sifOint —.-t~- 
 a2 »r of my O'iron?. At yt~:~.rr:ort. Ifas^. ^ixn-r \rzzrr~:-. the 
 Itahon ?.£niioc. othrrvo^ Bill ^nn:h. :f Bonn;:t"; ITlhs. X. J_ 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 257 
 
 who had been astonishing eircus-goers by his prodigious feats of 
 strength, got angry at something and deserted the show. 
 
 That put me in a serious predicament, for he, had been widely 
 advertised, and I had no one to take his place. It was at that 
 juncture that Bill Turner appeared and sought an interview with 
 me at my hotel, which ended in my engaging at $100 a week, 
 Don Sebastian, the Spanish man of iron, whose specialty was 
 toying with large cannon balls. 
 
 Turner was engaged at moderate salary as attendant upon Don 
 Sebastian, who was as bright a looking Irishman as I ever saw. 
 The engagement began at an afternoon performance, when it 
 took four men to carry Sebastian's chest, containing four cannon 
 balls, into the ring. The ringmaster announced the performance 
 of a few feats of strength and endurance by the strongest man 
 in the world, who handled cannon balls of two hundred pounds 
 weight as easily as a lady would handle balls of yarn. Sebastian 
 picked up the balls from the chest and laid them with a deep, 
 dull thud on the platform. Then he placed a ball on each shoul- 
 der, where he balanced it, while he lightly tossed a third to the 
 top of the tent and gracefully caught it in its descent. The audi- 
 ence went wild over his performance, and manifested their en- 
 thusiastic appreciation in a tremendous outburst of applause as 
 he ran lightly from the ring. I was more than satisfied with his 
 success. 
 
 Don Sebastian proved to be one of the strong drawing cards 
 of my circus for several weeks, when, to my surprise, I one day 
 noticed that when he laid the balls upon the platform the sound 
 of their fall did not ring out until a suspiciously long time after- 
 wards. I at once realized that there was some fraud concealed in 
 the strong man's performance; therefore the unrivalled reputa- 
 tion of my circus was at stake, and so at once quietly began an 
 investigation, with the result that the Spanish Iron man was sat- 
 isfactorily proven to be a rank fraud. 
 
 The cannon balls proved to be made of rubber and were in- 
 flated with air like footballs. The dull, deep thud which re- 
 sounded when the balls touched the platform was made with a 
 heavy hammer in the hands of an accomplice behind the curtain. 
 I felt outraged at the deception and sorry for the duped public, 
 and hauled Turner vigorously over the coals, while Don Sebas- 
 tian was reduced in rank and made a candy butcher. 
 
 Had I known that Turner was a party to the deception, I would 
 have immediately discharged him. In view of subsequent events 
 I concluded that Turner was the leader in the iron-man fraud. 
 Upon entering a Kentucky town, after a few days' absence from 
 the show. I found one of our most extensively advertised attrac- 
 tions to be the " Great Hooded Python of the Amazon, 38 feet 
 17 
 
258 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 in length. The only specimen in captivity." It was further 
 represented that so powerful and venomous was this reptile, it 
 was necessary to, keep the monster constantly under the influence 
 of opiates. Upon entering the circus I found a great crowd of 
 people viewing the python, which was coiled in apparently deep 
 slumber in a glass-enclosed cage. It was a great loathsome rep- 
 tile, eight inches through. Turner satisfactorily accounted for 
 its presence, and it drew crowds until I accidentally discovered 
 that it was cleverly made of linsey woolsey and stuffed with saw- 
 dust. 
 
 In calmly looking back over the years I can plainly see that 
 Bill Turner lacked conscientious scruples. There was the in- 
 ebriate bear, for instance. That was his contrivance. It was 
 somewhere in the South that such a creature was exhibited and 
 lavishly advertised as "A great animated temperence lecture, 
 approved by pulpit and press." I saw the attraction. It was a 
 black bear that at every performance waddled into the ring and 
 drank copiously from a large bottle of cheap whiskey until thor- 
 oughly intoxicated, when it would ludicrously stagger back to its 
 cage. One day I was horrified to hear the drunken bear burst 
 out with a torrent of profanity, which was followed by the 
 maudlin singing of " Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl," while 
 the disgusting creature was led to a cage behind the curtain. I 
 humbly apologized to the audience and said that there was no 
 accounting for the work of whiskey. 
 
 Without delay I went behind the curtain, stripped the bear- 
 skin from the insulting drunkard, and gave Fen Dole, a canvas- 
 man, the worst licking of his life for his part in the most out- 
 rageous fraud ever perpetrated upon an unsuspecting and gulli- 
 ble public. And the matter didn't end there, for the newspapers 
 got hold of the affair and vigorously denounced me, and that was 
 the first stain ever cast upon my character as a moral showman. 
 
 I subsequently discharged him. He wandered to the West 
 and became a missionary or something or other among the 
 Indians. It took me some time to recover from the ill-effects 
 of the inebriate bear episode, which was one of the best-paying 
 attractions I ever had on the road. It was a pity that to me was 
 attached the blame of foxy Bill Turner's imposture. But I got 
 a lot of free advertising from it, whether profitable or un- 
 profitable. 
 
 You may not know it, but there are hoodoos in the circus busi- 
 ness as well as in other lines of trade. The only difficulty is to 
 be able to know what the hoodoo is and get rid of it. I remem- 
 ber once old John Robinson's circus constantly lost money on the 
 Central States circuit, where two seasons before it had made an 
 unusually successful tour. Old man John couldn't understand 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 259 
 
 it, but finally concluded that it could not be among the mem- 
 bers of his staff, neither was it one of the performers, for every 
 one on that side of the circus had been with him the season 
 before, which was one of unequalled prosperity. In perplexity 
 he began to reorganize the other parts of his concern, and new 
 hands were discharged by the wholesale. At last he discovered 
 the hoodoo. It was a side-show lecturer, who always wore an 
 alarmingly red necktie. As soon as the lecturer was discharged 
 the circus prospered. 
 
 Phineas T. Barnum one season had a hoodoo that stayed with 
 him until his employer was well-nigh ruined before he was dis- 
 covered and discharged. In that instance the Jonah was a very 
 clever plate-spinner. The trouble with the hoodoo is that he 
 does not imagine the ill-effects of his mere presence in the circus. 
 Adam Forepaugh's worst hoodoo was a cross-eyed candy butcher, 
 and his great circus had very bad luck until the vender of sweet- 
 meats was discharged. John O'Brien's hoodoo was a sweet-faced, 
 soft-spoken lady performer, who brought him mighty bad luck 
 until he released her. Old Van Amburg made barrels of money 
 and prospered travelling through the country with Scriptural 
 mottoes painted upon his wagons, but all that changed as soon as 
 he employed a peg-legged colored cook. His ticket-wagon re- 
 ceipts at once fell off amazingly, there was bad luck in the ring, 
 constant desertions from his company, and several valuable ani- 
 mals died. 
 
 I am perfectly familiar with the history of the noted death- 
 dealing elephant Borneo, who killed three keepers before being 
 brought to this country, where he succeeded in killing four more. 
 Borneo was never anything else than a money-maker and a devil 
 on four legs. In his day he was the greatest drawing card a 
 circus or travelling menagerie could possibly have. Why, the 
 first clergyman I ever saw visit a circus went solely for the pur- 
 pose of seeing the notorious man-slayer. Nearly every circus 
 proprietor in the country was eager to get possession of that ele- 
 phant and anxiously endeavored to buy him, for his value as an 
 advertisement was something enormous. I opened my dicker for 
 him at $25,000, but others raised it until the animal was finally 
 sold for $47,500. 
 
 Now, a red-headed girl or lady in the company is always said 
 to bring luck to the circus. Call it auburn hair, if you prefer, 
 but the redder her hair, especially if she be a performer, the bet- 
 ter the luck the little lurid locks will bring. I have had them 
 more than once in my circus, and so know whereof I speak. I 
 recall one in particular, Mile. Germaine de Greville, otherwise 
 Eliza Butcher, of Ohio. "When she joined my company, business 
 at once began to boom and continued to boom throughout the 
 
260 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 several seasons she was in my employ. I presented her with a 
 magnificent, well-trained white horse, and her hair was so dan- 
 gerously red that, when performing upon her snowy charger, she 
 looked like a rocket flashing around the ring. My success while 
 she was with my circus was really wonderful and mystified the 
 most experienced circus proprietors of the country. I knew one 
 of the secrets of that success, but kept silent. 
 
 Eliza knew that she was appreciated by her employer, and, 
 upon completing her turn in the ring, was often presented with 
 a magnificent bouquet of flowers. But, despite my thoughtful- 
 ness, I at last lost little 'Lize. She went and got married, and 
 to the homeliest man that ever drew breath. When her boy twins 
 were born she split my name in two and gave each one half. 
 
 Eice on Laughtee. 
 
 A hearty laugh is a eatholicon. After all, what a capital, 
 kindly, honest, jolly, glorious thing a good laugh is! It's an anti- 
 dyspeptic; it stirs up the slumbering fires of our nature, caused 
 by ennui, excites our risibilities, and puts us in better humor 
 with ourselves and the rest of mankind. What a tonic! What 
 a digestor! What a febrifuge! What an enemy of evil spirits! 
 Better than a walk before breakfast, or a nap after dinner. How 
 it shuts the mouth of malice and opens the brow of kindness. 
 Whether it discovers the gums of infancy or age, or grinders of 
 folly, or the pearls of beauty. Whether it racks the sides and 
 deforms the countenance of vulgarity, or dims the visage, or 
 moistens the eye of refinement — in all phases and in all faces, 
 contorting, relapsing, overwhelming, convulsing, the human 
 form into the happy, shaking quaking of idiocy, and turning the 
 human countenance into something appropriate to Billy Buttons' 
 transformation. Under every circumstance, and, everywhere, a 
 laugh is a glorious thing. Like a thing of beauty, it is a joy 
 forever. There is no remorse in it. It leaves no sting, except 
 in the sides, and that goes off. Even a single, unparticipated 
 laugh is a great thing to witness. But it is seldom single. It is 
 more infectious than scarlet fever. You cannot gravely con- 
 template a laugh. If there is one witness, there is, forthwith, 
 two laughters, and so on. The convulsion is propagated like 
 sound. What a thing it is when becoming epidemic: 
 
 For your long-faced grumblers 
 With me are no go; 
 
 They give you cold comfort, 
 And none of their dough. 
 
 For my part, and I say it in all solemnity, I have become sin- 
 cerely suspicious of the piety of those who do not love pleasure 
 
KEMINISCENCES OE DAN SICE 261 
 
 in any form. I cannot trust the man who never laughs, who is 
 always sedate, who has no apparent outlets for springs of sport- 
 iveness that are perennial to the human soul. 
 
 Adveetising as an Aet. 
 
 Since Barnum's death many good stories have been told of his 
 methods in advertising his show, but Dan Eiee has, in his day, 
 been the originator of many clever tricks that not only increased 
 his fame, but his fortune as well. 
 
 His first experience in the circus line was with a trained pig, 
 which he purchased from one Osborn, of Cazenovia, this State, 
 with the proceeds of the sale of his share of a livery stable at 
 Ferry and Front Streets, New York, which he partly owned at 
 the time. The animal would tell a person's age with cards and 
 nod its head in a manner that indicated yes or no when questions 
 were put to it. It proved a profitable investment and brought 
 big money to its owner wherever exhibited. At Greensburg, Pa., 
 both pig and owner made a decided hit. Shortly before they ap- 
 peared in that place fire visited the barn of a Dutch farmer named 
 Jack. The farmer suspected an employe of firing the barn. He 
 heard of the wonderful intelligence of the pig and was induced 
 to visit it. Eiee knew of Jack's suspicion as well as his coming. 
 When, after the pig had amazed everybody by its clever per- 
 formance, Jack inquired if the animal could tell who burned his 
 barn. Eiee answered in confident tones and with apparent seri- 
 ousness that it could, and he started to describe the supposed 
 incendiary to the pig, asking frequently in the meantime if the 
 person described was the incendiary. The pig always gave an 
 affirmative nod to this particular question. The farmer was at 
 a loss to understand it all and openly declared the educated 
 porker to be possessed of an evil spirit when it led him, through 
 the affirmative bobbing of its head, to believe that the suspect's 
 age and habits were also known to it. 
 
 Jack swore vengeance and lost no time in procuring a warrant 
 for the arrest of his former workman. The judge had, in the 
 meantime, been posted and he summoned Eiee and his pig as 
 witnesses to testify against the prisoner. The court room was 
 packed with a curious crowd of co.untry people, who looked on 
 with awe. The court attaches knew of the joke that was being 
 perpetrated, the victim of which was sentenced to thirty days' 
 imprisonment on the alleged testimony of the pig. This proved 
 a clever and inexpensive advertising dodge, as the newspapers 
 took the matter up, and both pig and owner attained a national 
 prominence that resulted in bringing thousands of persons to 
 see both. 
 
262 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 Once the old showman got into a tight corner all on account 
 of an elephant which he had been teaching to stand on its head 
 and the failure of his under-trainer to obey his instructions. The 
 elephant was a young one and the first to perform this trick. 
 One day Eice was called away suddenly on business while the 
 show was at Elliottsville, N". Y. The whole country round had 
 been literally covered with posters illustrating the elephant 
 standing on its head. Upon his arrival he was horrified to find 
 that the elephant had not been receiving its lessons regularly. 
 His instructions had not been carried out and the elephant had 
 forgotten all about the trick. When the time for the perform- 
 ance arrived no explanation would satisfy the audience and Eice 
 was arrested. He tried to make the court believe that a mistake 
 had been made by his men in posting the bills upside down, but 
 that story would not be accepted. He then took another tack, 
 and after giving his assurance that the natural modesty of the 
 beast, which was a female, was the only thing that led it to de- 
 cline to perform the trick except under cover of darkness, he 
 was discharged. 
 
 A Cueious Coincidence. 
 
 The city of New Orleans has always been held in high regard 
 by Colonel Eice, for many of his most interesting professional 
 seasons have been spent among its people, who ever extended a 
 liberal patronage. A strange coincidence connected with his ca- 
 reer found its creation in the Crescent City, and its romantic 
 ending took place in the Lone Star State. In bestowing his 
 munificence the Colonel was always liberal, and on the occasion 
 in question, in 1852, he presented one of the fire companies with 
 a new engine. In their appreciation for this recognition, the 
 firemen formed a committee, and gave the Colonel an elegant 
 watch, which he cherished on account of the source from which 
 it emanated. He had possessed it but a short time when, in some 
 mysterious way, it disappeared and no trace of it could be found. 
 A private detective failed in his efforts to locate it, and after a 
 time, as no advertising brought it to light, the watch was given 
 up as lost. While on his lecture tour in 1886, Colonel Eice 
 drifted into Texas, and gave- one of his inimitable lectures at 
 the town of Ennis. During his visit of several days in that place, 
 he met many old-time friends, and was informed by one of them 
 that his watch had been seen at a jeweller's establishment in the 
 city. With his curiosity aroused as to the now ancient timepiece, 
 he proved its identity, but had much difficulty in obtaining it, as 
 legal proceedings had to be enforced to secure the keepsake. Its 
 value to the Colonel was merely based upon the associations con- 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN B.ICE 263 
 
 neeted with it and the long years that had elapsed since it was 
 stolen. With his old treasure recovered, he returned to the city 
 of Marlin, where he had previously lectured, and, in relating the 
 circumstance to friends, was astonished to discover that the old 
 engine which he had presented to New Orleans so long ago, was 
 then in possession of the Marlin Engine Co. No. 1. The engine 
 being the same for which he had received the donation of the 
 token he had so recently recovered. By just such curious coin- 
 cidences, Colonel Eice has been able to trace everything of value 
 that has been surreptitiously taken from him, but his proverbial 
 charity prevents him from exposing the shortcomings of frail 
 humanity. 
 
 A Tale oe Two Cities. 
 
 To those who are well-acquainted with the personal traits of 
 Colonel Eice, it is an established fact that he had a great fondness 
 for children, and he has been known to make sacrifices in their 
 behalf that have surprised even his most intimate friends. In 
 days gone by many little men and women have received gifts 
 from him of ponies, tiny gold rings, and other trinkets that chil- 
 dren prize so highly, and his great heart was satisfied if he could 
 but make them happy. This mania for the little folks often 
 placed him in ludicrous positions, from which he was often com- 
 pelled to take refuge in flight, as the following instance, given in 
 his own words, will show. Colonel Eice was giving an enter- 
 tainment in one of the opera houses in Waco, Tex., and in the 
 course of his remarks, something occurred to remind him of an 
 experience in Galveston, and he applied it in the following man- 
 ner: " In speaking of children," said the Colonel, " when I was 
 in Galveston a few weeks ago, I displayed my proverbial weakness 
 for children, by presenting a pair of new-born twins each with a 
 ten-dollar-bill. The fact became known, and it wasn't a week 
 before several baby carriages containing twins had been wheeled 
 in my presence. My money soon gave out, and as there seemed 
 to be no end to the Galveston twins, I made a bee line for 
 Houston where they don't have twins." 
 
 An Experience With Tbain Eobbees. 
 
 It was while on a business trip to Omaha that Colonel Eice 
 had his experience with the James gang in their first train 
 robbery. The incident occurred July 20, 1873, on the Chicago, 
 Eock Island and Pacific train, which was eastward bound, and 
 fifteen miles from Council Bluffs, la. Colonel Eice occupied the 
 first seat in the front end of a car, when, without any previous 
 warning, four masked men entered, two of whom took their 
 
264 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 stations of guard at each entrance. Simultaneously with their 
 appearance they covered the terrified passengers with their fire- 
 arms and called out " Hands up." In an instant every person 
 had complied with the command, and turning his head to look 
 at his fellow-passengers, Colonel Eice exclaimed in a loud voice, 
 " The first time Dan Eice, the circus clown, ever held up his 
 hands except when over a game of poker." As the desperadoes 
 proceeded through the car, they rifled the passengers of their 
 money and other valuables which they deposited in bags which 
 they carried. When they reached the Colonel's end of the car, 
 they left him unmolested, and as they were in the act of leaving, 
 one of the men addressed him with " How are you, Uncle Dan; 
 I'm one of the boys you used to pass into your circus." The 
 identity of the speaker remained a mystery until a few years ago 
 when Colonel Eice, while on a lecture tour, met Frank James at 
 Huntsville, Ala., to which place he had been remanded for trial, 
 accompanied by a large number of friends and relatives. On 
 being introduced to James, Colonel Eice was favorably impressed 
 with his agreeable address and manner and the conversation 
 turned upon different topics that were very interesting. James 
 remarked that he had known the Colonel from childhood and 
 that he was one of the boys that used to secure admittance to the 
 circus without paying for it, a privilege that always pleased the 
 barefooted youngsters. In touching upon the experience of the 
 train robbery, he admitted to Colonel Eice that his brother had 
 related the incident to him, and also that it was Jesse who made 
 the remark, " How are you, Uncle Dan? " etc. It is more than 
 probable that Colonel Eice escaped much annoyance through the 
 remembrance of a kindness shown to Jesse James in his early 
 boyhood. And the jester has said that it always pays to remem- 
 ber the barefoot boys and one never loses anything by being kind 
 to them, which he has had demonstrated in other instances than 
 the one above mentioned. 
 
 On the Subject of Gkain Elevators. 
 
 The following is too good to be lost. Something like it ap- 
 peared in the " Knickerbocker " last fall, but the true state of 
 affairs having never been made public, we, from the most dis- 
 interested motives, give them the benefit of our researches. 
 
 E. P. Jones, the best show editor and general writer I ever 
 met, had occasion to visit Cleveland, 0., in September, 18—, just 
 before the State Fair commenced. His business was official, and 
 in less than three hours all the compositors in town were un- 
 usually busy, and the demand for steam-presses was decidedly 
 active. Now Jones, who was a young man of most prepossessing 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 265 
 
 exterior, and in suitable times and at proper seasons is a perfect 
 D'Orsay in apparel, did on this occasion give evident proof that 
 he had " travelled " some, and hadn't long waits to attend to his 
 wardrobe. There was in the "Forest City" one certain Fair- 
 banks, a printer, a publisher of the " Herald," a first-rate paper. 
 By the way, Fairbanks, good-natured soul, finding that Jones 
 was worn down by the cares of his position, volunteered to " ride 
 him out " to the fair grounds, and witness the preparations for 
 the anticipated fete. Jones went it " in the rough," and when 
 he got upon the grounds was (through a mistake of Fairbanks, 
 of course) identified as one of the wealthy yeomen from Hamil- 
 ton County. They wanted one man, a practical farmer, to serve 
 as one of the committee on agricultural implements, so poor 
 Jones, nolens volens, was enlisted; like a lamb for the sacrifice, 
 he was introduced to the various other committees in attendance 
 and decorated with two yards, more or less, of colored ribbons. 
 Now it so happened that " Native Wines " were objects of inter- 
 est in the Buckeye State, and that, in all the fairs, manufacturers 
 of the aforesaid article competed for prizes — like skilful physi- 
 cians they never swallow their own drugs — per consequence, a 
 little whiskey. was always around for private comfort and con- 
 solation. 
 
 The committee on "Native Wines" were men after Jones' 
 own heart; they were " his style," and he tasted their specimens 
 and compared the various domestic brands, until he began to feel 
 an utter indifference in regard to the period "when school 
 broke," and there is no knowing but what he would have drank 
 to excess, had not three members of his own committee suddenly 
 demanded his opinion as umpire in regard to the merits of several 
 grain elevators. Out Jones bolted, got the several owners to the 
 several machines to demonstrate their plans of operation, and 
 after he became satisfied with the performance, turned around 
 and said, "Gentlemen of the Committee, I am a man of few 
 words, understand me, of few words; the elevators we have all 
 seen are good, gentlemen, I may say d — n good, but when it 
 comes to be reduced to fine points, curse me, gentlemen, if the 
 'greatest grain elevator in the world ain't Old Rye.'" The 
 committee so reported, much to the horror of the temperance 
 folks, and the amusement of Jones, who had forgotten the cir- 
 cumstance until he found it printed in the annual journal of pro- 
 ceedings, a copy of which was sent him in due time by virtue of 
 his office. 
 
 Not Bad. 
 
 A spark from a rough diamond ofttimes produces brilliant 
 effects. While in Washington, that city of infernal (Dickens was 
 
266 REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 wrong when he styled them magnificent) distances, Colonel Bice 
 endured a walk with Captain Sanford, a well-known and popu- 
 lar manager of minstrel fame. In the course of their ramble 
 they had occasion to pass an imposing looking place of worship, 
 against one of the pillars of which leaned an individual who was 
 too genteel in appearance to be mistaken for a politician or even 
 a Congressman; as they approached, a smile of recognition over- 
 spread his face, and coming towards the Colonel, exclaimed, 
 " Good morning, sir! " " How are you? " responded Colonel 
 Eice with his usual bland manner, " but — a — ah — excuse me, you 
 have the advantage of me." 
 
 "Well, if I have, I'm the first one ever got it," was the 
 rejoinder; " but you ought to know me — I'm Batters, Cully 
 Batters, the boys used to call me. Don't you remember, I drove 
 the property wagon for you." 
 
 " Oh, yes," said the Colonel. " But, Cully, what are you doing 
 here?" at the time eyeing the edifice with a peculiar look of 
 estrangement. 
 
 " Me? why I'm sexton of this crib! " 
 
 "Sexton!" exclaimed Colonel Eice, astonished, "why, what 
 on earth induced you to leave the ' show business ' and turn 
 sexton? " 
 
 " Well," responded Batters, " you see, to quote the language of 
 the preacher, I thought it better to be a doorkeeper in the house 
 of the Lord than dwell in the tent of iniquity, and that hippo- 
 drome of yours; old fellow, was the most consarned tent of in- 
 iquity I ever did see — so I left." 
 
 An Instance of Unparalleled Ignoeance. 
 
 In the old palmy days before the war, Colonel Eice had a 
 staunch friend in Col. W. C. Preston, who owned a plantation 
 at Poverty Eidge, located a short distance from Louisville, Ky. 
 This gentleman's love of adventure led him to become the ad- 
 vance agent of Colonel Eice's Circus, and in his admiration of 
 the popular jester, he bestowed the name of Dan Eice upon his 
 youngest child, to whom he was greatly attached. The regular 
 nurse who cared for the little one was taken seriously ill, and 
 Mrs. Preston was forced to call in an ignorant plantation girl to 
 discharge the nurse's duties. In previously doing errands about 
 the place, she often heard her mistress indulge in words of en- 
 dearment to the babe, and one that seemed to impress the fancy 
 of the dusky maiden consisted of the expression " you are a dear 
 little angel." Being requested one day to take the little one 
 for an airing, she wandered some distance from the house, and 
 having seen Colonel's Eice's elaborate showbills, on which were 
 
EEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 267 
 
 the figures of spirits adorned with wings, representing ethereal 
 subjects, the thought suddenly occurred to her that the baby, 
 which she had so often heard spoken of as an angel, could also 
 fly. Therefore, acting on the impulse, with all her strength she 
 threw the baby into the air, exclaiming, " Dah, yo deah little 
 angel, yo now fly." The result can be easily imagined. It was 
 followed by the funeral of the little namesake of Colonel Eiee. 
 
 Dr. Love is said to be the only real live American resident in 
 Alexandria. Love is bound up in the story of the Eose of 
 Jericho, however, in more ways than one. By it the wonderful 
 octogenarian De Lesseps met his present wife, a beautiful young 
 woman, who was one of the five blooming sisters in a Parisian 
 family the great engineer used to visit. He had been left, at 
 sixty-eight, a widower with a whole troop of sons and daughters. 
 He had a Jericho rose and carried it in his vest pocket one day 
 when he went to call on the five beauties. The prettiest of them, 
 who asked him in a charmingly ingenuous manner why he had 
 never married again, received the Resurrection flower as a gift. 
 
 When De Lesseps made his next visit the young girl ran out 
 to him with the wonderful rose. It was in full bloom. " See," 
 said she, " what a miracle the water has effected. It is like the 
 blossoming of love in old age! " 
 
 The old man did not need more than one suggestion, innocent 
 though it was. He proposed, or rather finished the proposal, 
 and their nuptials were soon solemnized. 
 
 Webster defines the Eose of Jericho as " a plant growing on 
 the plain of Jericho — the anastation hierochuntina. It is evi- 
 dently not the resurrection flower which has become familiarly 
 known of late by this romantic name. 
 
 Cbawling Undee the Canvas. 
 
 An incident that occurred years ago, when Uncle Dan was 
 showing in Kentucky, in which a prominent banker and Ken- 
 tucky distiller figured, is related with a great deal of gusto, by 
 Colonel Eice. " I wasn't performing that year, but simply went 
 into the ring at the opening in citizen's clothes and made a little 
 speech. In the hotel in the morning I heard a couple of old men, 
 who were evidently wealthy and solid men, discussing the circus. 
 They had an itching to go and see the performance, but one of 
 them had a suspicion that I was not with the show, and he told 
 the other man so in such a loud voice that I sought an introduc- 
 tion and convinced him that he was wrong. Then what did the 
 two old fellows do but ask me to let them crawl under the tent 
 as they had done when they were boys. Well, I humored them, 
 
268 HEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 because I saw a way to get a joke on them and make the perform- 
 ance lively. The tent was packed full when I took them down 
 to a place near the dressing-room, raised up the canvas a trifle, 
 and tucked them under in a hurry. The place where I put them 
 in was the space at the end of the reserved seats where the horses 
 and performers came into the ring. Half a dozen of the circus 
 employees saw and seized upon them at once, and there was a 
 great uproar, the entire audience standing up to see what was 
 going on, and laughing at the discomfiture of their solid fellow- 
 citizens. Meanwhile I came in and tipped the boys the wink, 
 and the old fellows went off and sat down in the meekest frame 
 of mind imaginable. When I came to make my speech I got the 
 whole audience in a roar by telling how I had played the joke 
 on them, and I will say that when they understood it, they 
 laughed as heartily as any one." 
 
 The late Congressman Dick, recently, in a reminiscent mood, 
 tells this story of an experience in Washington: " My father was 
 very fond of the circus, and was in Congress when Eice's Greatest 
 Show on Earth gave a day's performance at the capital. Father 
 didn't want to let on to us boys that he would go to the circus, 
 and I think that he was a little bit afraid to let his fellow-mem- 
 bers in Congress know he would take it in, for he slipped away 
 quietly and went to the performance all alone. He took a seat 
 where he thought no one would see him, but when Uncle Dan 
 came in as the clown and began to make his speech, he alluded 
 to his Congressman, the distinguished General Dick, pointing 
 him out as he spoke, while as many as 200 Congressmen and Sen- 
 ators who were present craned their necks to spy out father. 
 Father used to tell of it afterward, and laugh till the tears ran 
 down his cheeks, as he thought how the tables had been turned 
 on him by the old showman." 
 
 A Singular Fourth of July Movement in Lowell, 
 in 1856. 
 
 a gun spiked. 
 
 It seems almost incredible to intelligent belief that in one of 
 the most popular centres of our great country the following inci- 
 dent occurred on the occasion of celebrating our patriotic na- 
 tional holiday, but such was indeed the case, as the following 
 statistics show, and the origin, emanating as it did from the 
 municipal authorities, made the fact more conspicuous.than ordi- 
 nary circumstances could possibly have done. 
 
 It is related that a resolution to appropriate $2,500 for a cele- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 269 1 
 
 bration in Lowell, Mass., was killed by the Board of Aldermen, 
 although they voted to have the customary salute fired. The 
 Common Council, considering that if they could not have a big 
 celebration, they would not have any, killed the vote of the 
 Aldermen for the salute. Consequently Lowell was entirely un- 
 provided by the City Fathers with any kind of a celebration. 
 Mr. Rice, whose " Great Show " was to be exhibited on the 
 Fourth, heard of this state of affairs, and telegraphed to the 
 Commander of the City Guards to fire the salute and he would 
 foot the bill. The offer of Mr. Rice, who was somewhat noted for 
 his oratorical pyrotechnics was generally understood at Lowell. 
 But when the detachment of the Guards went to get their gun in 
 order on the morning in question, they found that the piece had 
 been spiked. The vandals who did the malicious mischief went 
 deliberately to work to consummate this plot, for, it appears, they 
 cut a pane of glass out of a window of the gun-house, so that 
 the hand could reach in and remove the whole sash by taking off 
 the inside fastenings. After this work was done, the sash was 
 replaced and a new pane of glass nicely fitted in the place of the 
 one broken. The idea probably was that in taking the gun be- 
 fore daylight, the spiking would not be noticed until the squad 
 was on the ground for action when it would then be too late to 
 remedy the matter. But the trick did not work. It was dis- 
 covered and the piece was taken to the machine shop where a 
 new vent was speedily drilled so that, after all, the morning 
 salute of thirty-three guns was fired four minutes after one. 
 Commander Busbee of the City Guards showed great energy in 
 repairing the mischief so speedily. 
 
 The affair created a great deal of excitement in Lowell, and 
 Mr. Rice did not fail to enlarge upon it in his speeches in the ring 
 arena, bringing down the house at every allusion he made to it. 
 
 Assuming an attitude of dignity, the clown was lost sight of, 
 for Mr. Rice was all eloquence, and the following are as near his 
 remarks as can be condensed to give them to the readers: 
 
 " Another evolution of the wheels of time has brought around 
 the birthday of the Nation's Freedom, a day sacred to every lover 
 of his country and her glorious institutions; a day on which 
 the heart of every American freeman throbs with patriotic emo- 
 tion. Seventy-five years have passed away since a few patriots 
 pledged ' their lives, their liberty, and their sacred honors ' to 
 throw off the shackles of British tyranny, and yet our country is 
 but in its infancy. The last of this brave band has passed away, 
 and even of those who flourished in the times that ' tried men's 
 souk ' but a small remnant remains scattered over the land. 
 Could those who were prominent actors during that fearful strug- 
 gle revisit the earth and see the giant oak that has sprung up 
 
270 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 from the little acorn that they planted, great indeed would be 
 their astonishment. They would see a mighty empire stretching 
 from the St. John's to the Eio Grande, from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, and flourishing cities standing where, but a few years ago, 
 the wigwam of the savage stood; the echoes of the shrill whistle 
 of the locomotive and steamboat now reverberates where the bay- 
 ing of the wolf and the scream of the panther and the war whoop 
 of the savage alone were heard. 
 
 " No person with one spark of patriotism can look about him 
 and see the rank his country holds in the eyes of the world at 
 this time without emotion and pride. Let us then fervently 
 thank him who made and preserved us as a nation, let us renew 
 our oath on the altar of God, ' eternal hostility to every form of 
 tyranny over the mind of man.' 
 
 " Let us enjoy the day in a national manner as becomes free- 
 men. Let us remember the unanimity of those who fought, bled, 
 and died for our country, and though the horizon is sometimes 
 clouded by the clamor of persons and fanatics, let us never lose 
 sight of our motto: ' Our Country, right or wrong,' and pray for 
 ' The Union, now and forever.' " 
 
 These sentiments of patriotic appeal awoke in the people of 
 Lowell the slumbering fires of loyalty and their demonstrations 
 were successive rounds of noisy cheers that more than repaid the 
 jester for the conspicuous part he played in the city's celebration. 
 The press pronounced his overtures a brilliant success and the 
 affair called forth a universal approbation. 
 
 Henhy Clay and Dan Rice. 
 
 Congress adjourning to attend a circus! Just imagine it. Dan 
 Eice, one of the celebrated showmen of the past generation, told 
 the story, and, of course, vouched for its truth. In April, 1850, 
 he appeared in the circus ring at Washington as the " great jester 
 and clown " to startle and delight the assembled statesmen. 
 
 The day had been set aside for Rice's benefit, and something 
 out of the ordinary must be done. He did it in an unexpected 
 manner. The members of both houses of Congress, the heads 
 of departments, the President and Cabinet, and scores of leading 
 people in the social life of the Capitol received elaborate invita- 
 tions printed on satin for the benefit performance that day. 
 Nearly everybody accepted the invitation, and it was generally 
 supposed that the bits of satin were free passes to the show. 
 
 Among the first to arrive at the tent was Henry Clay with a 
 party of ladies. His colored servant was in advance, and the 
 satin invitations were presented as passes of admission. 
 
KEMINISCENCES OE DAN KICE 271 
 
 " How many in the party? " sternly asked the doorkeeper, who 
 had been drilled for his post. 
 
 " Twelve," answered the great leader, solemnly hut confi- 
 dently. 
 
 "Twelve dollars!" exclaimed the doorkeeper; "buy your 
 tickets at the box-office." Dan Eice was behind the canvas look- 
 ing through a peephole and enjoying the evident agitation of 
 Mr. Clay, when, after fumbling in his pockets, he was unable 
 to find the necessary amount. The practical joker had provided 
 for such emergencies, and had nearby a well-known Washington 
 tradesman of that period with pockets stuffed with silver dollars. 
 Henry Clay's embarrassment was relieved and his party passed 
 in. He remarked: " I'll bet this is one of Dan's tricks." It was. 
 
 Lewis Cass, who came later, was disposed to be ugly, but 
 neither he nor others of the distinguished statesmen hesitated 
 about taking the tradesman's money when necessary. It was a 
 great day for Dan, and a big success. President Zach. Taylor 
 was there; so were Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Stephen A. 
 Douglas, and scores of others who were part of the history of that 
 epoch of National life. That Dan was a high-roller is evinced 
 by the fact that he rattled off fifty original verses of " local hits," 
 and everybody was scored, from the austere President down to 
 the pages in Congress. 
 
 How Peesident Lincoln Got Kid of a Boke. 
 
 During the early part of the war, while professionally visiting 
 Washington, Dan Rice called upon President Lincoln, whose 
 acquaintance he had made long before, while Mr. Lincoln was 
 practising in Springfield, 111. He was cordially received and in- 
 vited to call again and again, for Dan was a good story-teller, 
 and so was the President, and herein was verified the old adage 
 of " birds of a feather." Upon one of these occasions Dan had 
 an illustration of Lincoln's adroit method of getting rid of a 
 bore. 
 
 He was in familiar chat with the President in the White 
 House, when the card of Judge Throckmorton, of Massachusetts, 
 who had been sent by the philanthropic people of that State to 
 protest against the placing of the negro troops in the front of 
 battle, and he forthwith began to urge upon the President the 
 necessity of interference in behalf of the colored brethren. 
 
 Lincoln listened courteously to his statement and then wrote 
 for the Judge a letter of introduction to Secretary of War 
 Stanton, under whose supervision the matter came. The Judge, 
 however, persisted in the discussion, and the President, who was 
 anxious to hear the conclusion of the story which Dan was in the 
 
272 REMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 middle of when interrupted, turned and said, " Judge, excuse me, 
 I neglected to introduce you to my friend here, Col. Dan Eice, 
 the most famous circus clown in the world." 
 
 The Judge was too dumfounded to extend his hand, but 
 bowed himself out, and remarked, as he passed the doorkeeper, 
 " Great heavens, is it possible that the President of the United 
 States can allow himself to be closeted with a clown? " 
 
 President Johnson and the Impeachment Paction. 
 
 There is an inside and unwritten history to every important 
 occurrence of a national character, and the following is Dan 
 Eiee's version of the impeachment of President Johnson. Dur- 
 ing the days of reconstruction, Dan Eice was a United States 
 detective, having been appointed by the President to protect the 
 interests of the government and the cotton raisers of the South 
 against the dishonesty of government agents. 
 
 Eice was in Washington at the time of Johnson's inauguration 
 and for a considerable time after, but, a few days before the event, 
 he was privy to a conversation between Johnson and Col. John 
 W. Forney, of Philadelphia. 
 
 While Eice was in communion with Johnson, Forney sent up 
 his card, and Eice retired to an adjoining room occupied by Colo- 
 nel Moore, the President's private secretary, where he distinctly 
 overheard the conversation between the President and Colonel 
 Forney. 
 
 Hitherto the latter had been an admirer and staunch sup- 
 porter of Johnson, having been intimately associated with him 
 during the events attending his accession to the Presidency. At 
 this interview, Forney presented a list of post-office and custom- 
 house appointments for Philadelphia, for the President's sanc- 
 tion. The latter said, " John, if there is anything I can do for 
 you personally, command me, but as President, I cannot accept 
 your slate." 
 
 Forney left the White House in undisguised anger, and upon 
 the following morning his papers, the " Washington Chronicle " 
 and the " Philadelphia Press," familiarly known in Washington 
 as " my two papers," both daily, opened upon the President in an 
 article headed, " What is the matter at the White House? The 
 President closeted with a clown." 
 
 Now Eice was very intimate with Forney, and meeting him on 
 the street, he asked what was meant by the article in the papers. 
 Fornev put it off with the reply, " Oh, it's a big thing for you, 
 Dan."" 
 
 " But," said Dan, " you have made a mistake, the President 
 was right." At this Forney burst out, and complained bitterly 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 273 
 
 of his treatment, and in the height of his passion he swore that 
 he would ruin Johnson, as he had previously ruined Buchanan, 
 and Eiee naturally surmised that this was the prelude to the open 
 rupture between the President's party and the impeachment 
 faction. 
 
 The minds of the people, as well as of the government officers, 
 were filled with the suspicions of the times, and suggestions of 
 disloyalty, from any quarter, found ready credence. Forney did 
 everything in his power to ruin Johnson, even going so far as to 
 indirectly accuse him, through the columns of his papers, with 
 being concerned with the assassination of President Lincoln. 
 
 Too Much Vietue Foe Thibteen Dollaes. 
 
 Few men have been upon such familiar terms with notable 
 characters, or individuals of national reputation, as Dan Eice, 
 and his reminiscences of the distinguished persons, who are fast 
 passing away, were eqiially entertaining and instructive. In an 
 early day he was introduced to General Houston by Henry Clay 
 and one day while walking with the former on Pennsylvania 
 Avenue, they encountered the Hon. Simon Cameron, with whom 
 Dan was also well acquainted. There was in company another 
 gentleman, a gallant officer, Captain Britton, of Corpus Christi, 
 and a celebrated Texas Eanger. He was a capital story-teller, 
 an immaculate dancer, and a perfect Chesterfield, or Beau Brum- 
 mel in his attire, and it was said that he was noted for his atten- 
 tion to his toilet even preceding a battle. At the time he had 
 a company in the Mexican War, under General Taylor. Upon 
 a certain occasion the General issued an order that he would re- 
 view the troops upon a specified morning. He had often heard 
 of the gallantry of Captain Britton's company, and of one Timo- 
 thy Donahue, evidently an Irishman of culture, but who became 
 demoralized in New Orleans, and recruiting officers there in- 
 duced him to enlist and go to Texas, where he joined Captain 
 Britton's company. 
 
 On the occasion alluded to, the roll was called, and all answered 
 but Timothy. Captain Britton suspected the cause, as Tim 
 would often get drunk when off duty. An orderly was dispatched 
 to the camp, where Tim was seen advancing and staggering with 
 musket on shoulder, and as he fell in, the Captain addressed him 
 in a very stern tone. " Timothy," said he, "you are drunk on 
 duty. I had hoped upon this occasion to have had General 
 Taylor make some recognition of your gallant deeds by shaking 
 hands with you, but here you are drunk on duty. He answered, 
 "Hist Captain, not another word; how do you expect all the 
 virtues in a man for thirteen dollars a month? " 
 18 
 
274 reminiscences op dan rice 
 
 Shaking Hands With Majesty. 
 
 Dan Eice claimed to be the only American that ever shook 
 hands with Queen Victoria. Years ago when Franklyn Pierce 
 was President, and Uncle Dan was not quite old enough to be an 
 uncle, he was a bearer of State despatches from Washington to 
 England. The despatches were received by Her Majesty in per- 
 son, who, upon taking them, handed the package to the secre- 
 tary. She then bowed very graciously as if to intimate that the 
 interview was at an end, and in doing so slightly extended her 
 hand. D,an instantly put forth his huge paw, seized her hand, 
 and said in his hearty style, " My dear Madame, this is the 
 American fashion," and he gave it a hearty shake. 
 
 Dan says that the story of young Van Buren having danced 
 with her, he believes to be all " poppycock," but that it is true 
 that he shook her hand for all it was worth, much to the horror 
 and amazement of the secretary. 
 
 But since that time, other Americans, and the real, simon- 
 pure article, have bad the honor of giving Queen Victoria a hand- 
 shaking. Upon her Majesty's visit to Buffalo, Bill's Wild West 
 Show in London, after the performance she interviewed the In- 
 dian chiefs, when, according to the published report, " Yellow- 
 Striped Face," the half-breed interpreter, was presented, and 
 then came two squaws, mothers of two pappooses in the camp. 
 The little girl pappoose was first presented. The Queen patted 
 her cheek with her black-silk gloved hand, and then the little 
 thing stuck out her brown paw, and the Queen shook it. After 
 this the Queen stepped back but the mother was not content. 
 She walked up and stuck out her hand, and the Queen shook 
 hands gravely and bowed. Then the other squaw came up and 
 said, " How," and offered her hand, and, finally, a little brown 
 boy pappoose came up and offered his hand. The Queen shook 
 hands with them all, these being the only members of the Wild 
 West party who were thus honored. Then Messrs. Cody and 
 Salisbury were presented. Both of them bowed gravely, and 
 Colonel Cody smiled pleasantly at the compliment paid to him 
 by the Queen. She told him that she had been very much inter- 
 ested and that his skill was very great. A moment after this an 
 equerry signalled for the carriage, and it came dashing up. The 
 Queen gave directions to have the top of the carriage lowered. 
 She then turned to the Marquis of Lome and extended to him 
 her right hand. He bent very low and kissed it and then fell 
 back. 
 
 Dan Rice's Gratitude. 
 An interesting incident is related in a late number of the 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN KICE 275 
 
 " Reading Gazette." It appears that some fourteen years ago 
 Dan left Reading with an exhibition of some sort, which turned 
 out badly, and involved the proprietor in difficulty. Judge 
 Heidenreich, of Berks County, found him in this condition, and 
 lent him a horse and wagon, in order that he might pursue his 
 business. Dan was still unsuccessful. In this dilemma he was 
 forced to sell the horse and wagon, which the Judge had only 
 loaned him, in order to raise means to take his wife home to 
 Pittsburg. Not long after this he obtained a situation in one of 
 the theatres of the city, where the Judge saw and recognized him, 
 and in the morning called at his lodgings. Dan was .still poor, 
 and fully expected reproaches, if nothing worse, from his old 
 patron, but instead of these the Judge insisted on his going to 
 the tailor's and being fitted out at his expense. To this, how- 
 ever, Dan would not consent, and they parted, never to meet 
 again until one day, when his company was performing at 
 Reading and the Judge came to attend court. Dan's first duty 
 was to hunt up his old friend and invite him to take a short ride 
 about town, to which he consented, and a horse and vehicle were 
 soon at the door. 
 
 Dan's equipage, like that of his profession generally, seemed 
 a pretty stylish turnout. It consisted of a bran new carriage of 
 elegant make and a spick and span new set of glistening harness. 
 The drive was taken and enjoyed, and time flew swiftly by, as the 
 two friends talked and laughed over the half-forgotten events of 
 old times. Dan drove the Judge back to his lodgings, stepped 
 out upon the pavement, and, before the Judge had time to rise 
 from his seat, handed him the reins and whip, with a graceful 
 bow, and said, " These are yours, Judge, the old horse and wagon 
 restored, with interest; take them with Dan Rice's warmest grati- 
 tude! " The Judge was stricken dumb with amazement for a few 
 moments, but soon recovered his self-possession and began to 
 remonstrate. But Dan was inexorable; he closed his lips firmly, 
 shook his head, waved a polite adieu to his old friend in the 
 carriage, walked off to his hotel, and left the Judge to drive the 
 handsome equipage, now really his own, to the stable. 
 
 How to Detect a Kentuckian. 
 
 When introducing his famous horse Excelsior at Mblo's Gar- 
 den, New York, in the winter of 1857, a controversy arose " be- 
 hind the scenes," as to whether there was a Kentuckian in the 
 audience. "I'll settle that dispute," said Dan, and going for- 
 ward he proceeded to give a brief history of the horse and his 
 pedigree. "He was," he commenced, "sired by Kentucky's 
 favorite horse, ' Gray Eagle ' " (applause from one person only), 
 
276 REMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 Dan continued, "and further, ladies and gentlemen, he was 
 foaled in Kentucky." Thereupon the enthusiastic gentleman 
 who had before applauded, arose and shouted, " Dan Eice, so was 
 I." Great laughter and applause, when Dan, with finger on 
 his nose, remarked, " My friend, you're not the only jackass that 
 has been foaled in Kentucky." There was uproarious laughter, 
 but the Kentuckian failed to see the point. 
 
 A Showman's Last Bequest. 
 
 In the early stage of the " one-horse show," Dan Eice's only 
 performers were Jean Johnson and James O'Connell, known as 
 the tattooed man who professed to have the same distinguishing 
 embellishments upon his cutaneous coat as the Fiji Islanders, al- 
 though it is doubtful if his acquaintance with that geographical 
 part of the globe had any closer relation than in his imagination. 
 His principal act was in dancing a hornpipe between rows of 
 eggs, which was really an agile and clever feat. While travelling 
 with the show, he was taken sick and unable to perform, but he 
 was kindly looked after by Dan Eice and the few members that 
 comprised the company. They did not abandon or leave him 
 behind but carried him along, although his malady increased and 
 his condition became hopeless. Finding the closing hour ap- 
 proaching, he made a characteristic request which was finally 
 carried out. When committed to the earth the band played a 
 lively tune and Jean Johnson danced a hornpipe over the grave. 
 Poor O'Connell thought, and perhaps justly, that the transition 
 from a life of privation and suffering was more appropriately 
 celebrated by music and mirth than grief and lamentation. As 
 stated, these two performers with Dan Eice as clown and vocalist, 
 together with the band and the perfomance of the wonderful 
 horse, made up the show, and a more popular one never travelled 
 the length and breadth of the American continent. In the slang 
 language of the profession, other circuses, no matter how exten- 
 sive or chock-full of performers, had to " get up and get " when 
 Dan's avant courier made his appearance. 
 
 The Foue-Leaf Cloves. 
 
 In the summer of 1842, Dan Eice was exhibiting in Pennsyl- ■ 
 vania. It was a hall exhibition wherein he perfomed feats of 
 strength, legerdemain, and other miscellaneous acts, to the grati- 
 fication and astonishment of the primitive Teutonic denizens of 
 that region. Some of his prestidigitating illusions in particular 
 were amazing to the rustic population, who spread the report that 
 he was " ter tuyfil " himself. Dan and his assistant travelled 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 277 
 
 with a horse and wagon loaned him by Mr. Heidelright, of Cooks- 
 town, an admirer of Dan's and who subsequently became a county 
 judge. In due course they arrived at the village of Womeldorf 
 and put up at the tavern in the place kept by an old Pennsylvania 
 German, who, like the majority of the inhabitants, was a firm 
 believer in the power and efficacy of the four-leaf clover in pro- 
 tecting its possessor from evil influence and impositions. Dan 
 issued his advertisement for an exhibition which was to be given 
 in the dining-hall of the tavern, and, being apprised that the 
 landlord had provided himself with a four-leaf clover, he resolved 
 to humor his conceit. Accordingly upon the night of the exhibi- 
 tion he borrowed a quarter of a dollar from the old gentleman 
 which he placed in a box and announced his intention to transfer 
 it to another box, which the landlord held in his hand, and who all 
 the time had one of the fingers of the other hand upon the four- 
 leaf clover. Dan, in his conjuration, uttered a few words of gib- 
 berish but the charm wouldn't work, and, to his apparent chagrin 
 and mortification, he gave it up when the elated landlord, draw- 
 ing forth the four-leaf clover, held it exultingly aloft, at the same 
 time exclaiming, "Ah, ah, you show fellers can't fool me. By 
 himmel, I got das four-leaf clover and so I beats ' ter tuyfil.' " 
 The audience applauded to the echo, nor was there one who was 
 not satisfied of the superior power of the quadruple-leaf clover 
 over the magic of " ter tuyfil." 
 
 In the meantime Dan had instructed his attendant to harness 
 their horse, load up the traps and wait a short distance upon the 
 road where he was presently joined by Dan, who had uncere- 
 moniously decamped without settling the bill, leaving behind 
 him the following brief note. " How about that four-leaf 
 clover; have you got it yet? You can't be fooled, eh; but you 
 see you can't beat ' ter tuyfil.' " 
 
 It was seven years after this occurrence, in 1849, that Dan was 
 in the zenith of his fame, with a splendidly equipped circus and 
 travelling luxuriantly in a carriage formerly belonging to Louis 
 Philippe, the deposed King of the French. The route lay 
 through Pennsylvania and Dan instructed his agent to make a 
 stand at Womeldorf, much to the latter's surprise, as the "Show" 
 was not wont to exhibit at so small a place. But Dan, remem- 
 bering the scurvy joke he had played upon the landlord, had a 
 mind to see how he would regard the reappearance of "ter 
 tuyfil." 
 
 The old German was well aware that his old customer was the 
 proprietor of the big show, and as the corUge filed past the 
 tavern, he sat in an easy chair upon the porch looking anxiously 
 for the fellow who had served him the trick. During the per- 
 formance Dan told the story in the ring amid peals of merriment 
 
278 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 at the expense of the landlord and his four-leaf clover. The old 
 fellow, however, sat stolid and unmoved, but the next morning 
 upon settling the bill, Dan's old account was found annexed, 
 which Dan laughingly paid. 
 
 Anxious to Fill the Bill. 
 
 While Dan Rice's Circus was in Memphis " long 'fore de war," 
 as the darkies say, Colonel Bankhead, editor of the " Memphis 
 Whig," presented his bill for advertising at the ticket wagon, 
 which was promptly paid and the genial editor wished the show a 
 run of good luck. A short time afterwards Dan Rice received 
 the following letter: 
 
 Dear Dan: In the money paid me for advertising there was 
 a counterfeit two-dollar bill which I return. Please send me 
 another at your earliest convenience. Yours etc. 
 
 In the course of a month Dan answered the letter with an en- 
 closure. It read: " Dear Colonel: I have travelled through the 
 State of Indiana before I could find ' another ' such a bill as you 
 desired me to send. I hope it will suit you. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Dan Rice. 
 
 The editor recognized the sell and enjoyed the joke and pub- 
 lished the correspondence. 
 
 A Gift That Was Declined. 
 
 Dan Rice has, perhaps, been the recipient of as many favors 
 as any public living man, but at Meadville, in the vicinity of his 
 then home, he received an offer which he was fain to decline. 
 After a long and arduous season of travel his mental condition 
 was such that he was constrained to retire and seek quiet and 
 repose at home. He quickly recuperated and, visiting Meadville, 
 he was congratulated by the friends he met there upon his 
 recovery. Among them was an elongated specimen of a Penn- 
 sylvania undertaker, named Jonathan Long, a most appropriate 
 patronymic for one of his longitude. Striding up to Dan and 
 extending his hand, " Dan," said he, " I have not forgotten that 
 when I was a boy you made me a present of a pony, and I feel 
 grateful to you to this day. Now, some time while travelling in 
 some outlandish country, like Texas or Arkansas, you may be 
 
JOEL E. WAUNEE 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 279 
 
 taken sick and die and all I have to say, old fellow, is this, that 
 I want you to send me word and I will send on the finest burial 
 casket in my establishment for you to remember me by." 
 
 One of Dan's peculiarities was to give ponies to boys, whether 
 he was acquainted with them or not, and no souvenir is more 
 acceptable to the average youth. He will remember the donor 
 to the end of time. 
 
 A Law- Abiding Citizen. 
 
 At the time that the Fifteenth Amendment was passed Dan 
 Bice's show was up the Eed Eiver and advertised to exhibit "at 
 Cotile, some distance above Alexandria. The news of the pas- 
 sage of the amendment spread far and wide and created much 
 excitement especially among the newly liberated colored popula- 
 tion, but few of whom, however, could explain what it actually 
 meant. There was one who was particularly anxious. His 
 name was Ben Colfax and he was looked up to by the colored 
 community of that section as an oracle. Accordingly he hied 
 himself to an Israelite who kept a plantation supply store, to 
 explain what the Fifteenth Amendment meant. The Jew, who 
 was a jocular sort of fellow, told him it meant that every colored 
 man in the country must provide himself with fifteen wives. 
 
 At this explanation Ben snapped his fingers, gave a bound, 
 and exclaimed, " I'm d — d if I ain't a law-abiding citizen." 
 
 Two days after this conference with the Jew, Ben called at 
 the ticket wagon where Dan himself was presiding and t handing 
 in a dollar, said, " Massa Rice, give me a ticket for my wife." 
 
 He got the ticket, when he handed in another dollar, with the 
 request of another ticket for his wife. The second ticket was 
 given him. " And now," said he, " give me another ticket for 
 my wife." 
 
 " Why, Ben," exclaimed Dan, " how many wives have you? " 
 
 " Massa Rice," replied the uxorious Ben, " I was a law-abiding 
 citizen and I mean to lib up to that Fifteenth Amendment. I 
 hab only known about it two days and I got already five wives, 
 but before the week's out I'll hab the hull fifteen amendment, 
 you bet." 
 
 Capt. Thomas P. Leathers, a most unique and interesting char- 
 acter, can be classed as one of the early friends of Mr. Rice in 
 New Orleans; and during all the intervening years that connect 
 the past and present, no circumstance ever occurred to mar that 
 friendship or create a doubt as to the genuine hearty principles 
 of Captain Leathers. He was a Kentuckian by birth, claiming 
 
280 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Covington as his native place, and is now about four-score. He 
 was also the oldest steamboat man in the country. 
 
 Being a man of great individuality and firmness of character, 
 his name is a household word throughout the Mississippi Valley. 
 His bearing was very commanding, for he stood over six feet and 
 was as fine a specimen of physical manhood as the eye of man 
 ever looked upon. Mr. Eiee said that his whole life has been 
 devoted to good deeds, which fact commands respect, and he was 
 honored and beloved by all who knew him. His successful ca- 
 reer as a steamboat captain was the result of pure merit. Lead- 
 ing a life of constant activity, he was, naturally, a great friend of 
 Mr. Bice's " One-Horse Show," when it was situated on St. 
 Charles Street, in New Orleans, during the winter of 1851 and 
 1852, and he never failed to give it his patronage whenever he 
 was in the city. At that time the clouds of adversity hung heavy 
 over the establishment in St. Charles Street, for Mr. Eice was 
 battling with enemies and fate, and striving to regain what he 
 had lost by a misplaced confidence in men who were previously 
 his partners and pretended friends. Captain Leathers, being 
 aware of the villainous treatment to which Mr. Eice had been 
 subjected, and which was still trying to crush him, never ceased 
 to condemn those men who, adding insult to injury, were en- 
 deavoring to ruin Mr. Eiee's efforts in exhibiting under a tent, 
 while they, representing a strong circus company with plenty of 
 means at command, were playing in the American Theatre on 
 P — Street. Public sentiment was strongly in favor of Mr. Eice, 
 as he was a general favorite, and its sympathies were with him, 
 therefore it would not tolerate the vituperation of his enemies 
 against him. That fact, coupled with his peculiar satires on the 
 wrongs he had previously endured, was sufficient cause to ruin 
 their prospects of success, and in a few weeks they were com- 
 pelled to leave and extend their efforts in the upper river coun- 
 try. So incensed were the people of New Orleans against the 
 proprietors, Spaulding and Van Orden, of the circus in the Amer- 
 ican Theatre, that, before they left the city, it was positively 
 unsafe for them to appear on the streets after dark. Thus prov- 
 ing that public sentiment shapes its own circumstances in ad- 
 justing its interpretations of right and wrong. Mr. Eiee's suc- 
 cess was unprecedented throughout the season, and though his 
 enemies eluded the warfare of his scathing satire by escaping 
 from New Orleans, they renewed their attacks against him dur- 
 ing the season of 1852 with increased attractions, the principle 
 feature of which was W. P. Wallett, " The Queen's Jester." 
 
reminiscences of dan eice 281 
 
 Bice in the Ring. 
 
 aeenic wit. grotesque humor. 
 
 It is said that " variety is the spiee of life," and the miscellany 
 which we have compiled would not be complete without a selec- 
 tion of the jokes, repartee, and quaint sayings of Dan Eice, when 
 playing the fool in the sawdust arena. Unlike the stereotyped 
 edition of modern clowns he never studied his jokes, they were 
 rendered off-hand and upon local and immediate events, many of 
 which would actually occur within the pavilion or theatre during 
 the performance. To " shoot folly as it flies " was his peculiar 
 forte, and he never repeated a joke. The ring master, whose 
 province it was to reply, was frequently nonplused in a vain 
 endeavor to conjecture what was aimed at or' when or where the 
 point of the joke would come in. His apt and ready extempore 
 wit, as much of a novelty then as now, took his audiences by 
 storm, and he at once, meteor-like, shot upward to the very 
 zenith of his profession. He has had scores of imitators, and so 
 had Shakespeare and Dickens, but they have fallen as far short 
 of the original Dan Eice as the modern playwrights are beneath 
 the Bard of Avon, or as the strained humor of the imitators of 
 " Boz " is flat and insipid in comparison with their illustrious 
 model. Of course the following dialogues occurred at various 
 times and in various places, and as before stated they were ex- 
 tempore, without any prearrangement with the ring master. The 
 scrap-books of Mr. Rice having been preserved, we are able to 
 draw from the vast repository countless selections, a few of which 
 are given by way of illustration. 
 
 Dan Rice and the Ring Master. 
 colloquy. the power of mildness. 
 
 The rider comes into the arena for his act and before mount- 
 ing the horse, throws off his top garment and hands it to Mr. 
 Rice, and when the rider pauses in the act, the clown has folded 
 the cloak about his form. The ring master exclaims: 
 
 Ring Master — " Why, fool, wrapping yourself in the cloak of 
 the rider on a mild night like this surprises me." 
 
 Clown — " Shakespeare says, ' When the clouds begin to gather, 
 then wise men put on their cloaks.' Master, just before I en- 
 tered the arena I looked without and found the clouds were thick 
 and ominous. Though this is the first time I ever assumed the 
 abandoned habit of my neighbor." 
 
 R. M.—" And still thou art a fool " 
 
282 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Clown — " And yet I am a wise fool, for Shakespeare says, ' I 
 have it in my nose ' " (pointing to his nose). 
 
 R. M.—" You have, goodness knows." 
 
 Clown — " You spoke, Master, of the mildness of the weather; 
 do you know there is a great power in mildness? " 
 
 R. M. — " Explain yourself, as you are such a wise fool." 
 
 Clown — " You know the fable in which JEsop related the eon- 
 test between the wind and the sun, demonstrating as to which of 
 them should make the traveller part with his cloak. Also afford- 
 ing an illustration of the means most likely or effective in induc- 
 ing men to throw aside their prejudices; or, as the Jews or any 
 other religious sect would prefer in each case to cling to the faith 
 of their forefathers. As to the story of the traveller and his 
 cloak, it is told thus in the old nursery rhyme: 
 
 " ' The wind quite a hurricane blew, 
 But could not provoke 
 Him to part with his cloak, 
 Which around him the closer he drew.' 
 
 " The mild, melting rays of the sun, however, made garment 
 oppressive and inclined him to throw it aside. 
 
 MOKAL. 
 
 " 'Tis thus that we find 
 The great mass of mankind; 
 
 By mildness are easily won; 
 Persecution compare 
 To the boisterous air, 
 
 Eeligion's the light of the sun." 
 
 Desceiption of a Coquette, 
 colloquy. 
 
 Clown — " Master, you know Shakespeare says, ' All the world's 
 a stage, and men and women are but players, and in their lives 
 play many parts! ' " 
 
 R. M. — " Very true, sir, very true." 
 
 Clown — " I saw the other day a character they call a coquette." 
 
 7?. M. — " Ah, indeed! Can you describe it? " 
 
 Clown — " Yes, sir; I'll attempt it." 
 
 R. M. — " Well, give us your version of a coquette, Mr. Merry- 
 man." 
 
 Clown — " It's a female, Mr. Master, who is fond of you for a 
 moment; faithless for a year; fickle forever. A painted doll, a 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 283 
 
 glittering trifle, a feather, a toy, a bauble. A transient pleasure 
 or eternal pain. An embodiment of absurdities, and a collection 
 of contradictions! " 
 
 -K- M. — "Mr. Merryman, you are entirely too hard on the 
 ladies." 
 
 Clown — " I said nothing about ladies, Master, I said a female. 
 But for fear my remark might be misinterpreted by many, in 
 justice to myself, I wish it distinctly understood that I respect 
 everything in the shape of a female, or, I may say, woman, 
 whether she is of lowly or exalted birth, rich or poor. In fact, 
 my admiration and love for woman is so great, I never neglect 
 to show my gallantry; even if you hung a bonnet or nightcap on 
 a post, I would pay homage to it." 
 
 R. M. (applauds)—" Well done, well done, Mr. Eice." 
 
 Clown — " In truth, as Byron says, ' I wish all women's mouths 
 
 were melted into one that I might kiss them all at once, and 
 > » * 
 
 R. if.— "And what?" 
 
 Clown — " And then, let 'em run." 
 
 (The rider goes out and the Bing Master prepares to follow, 
 but the clown advances ahead of him. This challenges the Bing 
 Master to reprimand him. He roughly seizes the clown and 
 hurls him back saying) : 
 
 R. M. — " Bemember sir, I never follow a fool." 
 
 Clovm — " All right, Master, I'm not so particular about it; I 
 will." (Clown stops at the door, turns his face to the audience 
 and soliloquizes.) 
 
 Clown — " He ruthlessly hurled me from him! Why did he use 
 me thus? I love him ever. As Shakespeare says, 
 
 " Let Hercules himself do what he may, 
 The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.' 
 
 And that is the beauty of this great country, where the god of 
 equality rides on every gale. To-day I shine my master's shoes, 
 to-morrow my beaver's up, he may have to shine mine! We all 
 cannot be masters; and all masters cannot be truly followed, but 
 sooner than he expects my master may find he's left the wisest 
 man behind, for I've noticed that, 
 
 " ' When one sweeps a room, 
 
 The dirt always goes before the broom.' " 
 
 COLLOQUY. 
 
 Mr. Rice — "I have read the Bible, sir, with a great deal of 
 interest and marvelled at its metaphors." 
 
284 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 R. M. — " What circumstance has led you to that conclusion, 
 Mr. Rice?" 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Well, I have read that the good Lord gave to Noah 
 the vine and told him to plant it, and reap its fruit. I also read 
 in the Bible that ' wine gives joy to the human heart.' Further- 
 more our Saviour turned water into wine and drank it, and even 
 used it in holy communion. I find, however, that the water 
 simpleton, the rich man in torment who lifted up his eyes to 
 Lazarus, pleaded for a drop of water. Ah! Master, many opinions 
 conflict on the wine question." 
 
 R. M. — " That is very true, sir." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Byron says, 
 
 " ' Wine invigorates the soul of man, 
 Makes glow the cheek of beauty; 
 Makes heroes fight and poets write, 
 And friendship do its duty.' " 
 
 R. M.— "Beautiful! That is a beautiful thought, sir." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Then you appreciate it, Mr. Master? " 
 
 R. M.—" I do, sir." 
 
 Mr. Rice (insinuatingly) — " I know why." 
 
 R. M. — " Well, sir, explain why." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Because you are in favor of wine." 
 
 R. M. — " Well, Mr. Rice, I confess I do enjoy a glass of fine 
 wine at dinner." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Then, sir, you love woman." 
 
 R. M. — " Does that necessarily follow? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Most assuredly! I have an authority for it." 
 
 R. M.— " Indeed? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — "Yes. It is said that a man who loves a horse, 
 loves woman, and he who does not love a horse, women, or wine, 
 lives a fool his whole lifetime." 
 
 COLLOQUY. 
 
 A young lady comes into the arena to perform her act, and the 
 Ring Master, addressing the Clown, says: 
 
 R. M.—" Mr. Rice, assist the lady." 
 
 Clown — " Oh, yes, a sweet maid of tender years." (The clown 
 in assisting makes a painful effort and assumes an attitude as of 
 suffering.) 
 
 R. M. (assuming alarm) — "Why, Mr. Rice, what is the 
 matter? Have you hurt yourself lifting the lady on her horse? " 
 
 Clown — " I took a crick in my side, sir. You see, Master, I'm 
 getting old ; it is hard to raise a girl now." 
 
 R. M. — " Yes, I see you are getting very old." 
 
KEMINISCENCSS OS 1 DAN SlCE 285 
 
 Clown — " Yes, Mr. Master, but I am strong and lusty, for in 
 my youth I did not apply the hot, rebellious liquors to my blood." 
 
 R- M. — " No, but you have made up for it in your advanced 
 years." 
 
 Clown — " You bet! I have had a heap of fun with John Bar- 
 leycorn, and have paid the penalty of my folly." 
 
 R. M. — " I am aware, of the fact, sir. Mr. Bice, it is an old 
 truism that, ' An honest confession is good for the soul.' " 
 
 Clown — " I am glad you approve of my confession in so priestly 
 a style. Now, being absolved from the error of my ways and 
 turned over a new leaf " (hesitates). 
 
 R- M. — " "Well, then, Mr. Eice, take good care it doesn't blow 
 back again." 
 
 Clown — "But, Master, I am perfectly cognizant of the fact 
 that, ' To err is human; to forgive divine/ and you will over- 
 look and forgive my youthful indiscretions? " 
 
 R. M.—" I do so, fully, sir." 
 
 R. M. — " Very good, Mr. Eice. Now see what the young lady 
 stopped for." 
 
 Clown — " I know what she stopped for." 
 
 R. M. (looking earnestly at the clown). — " Well, sir, what did 
 she stop for ? " 
 
 Clown (innocently) — "Why, you did not know, Master, that 
 I'm a psychologist? " 
 
 R. M.—" No, sir." 
 
 Clown — " Yes, sir, I am, and I know what the lady stopped for 
 without going to ask her." 
 
 R. M. "(cracking the whip) — " Then tell me immediately, sir." 
 
 Clown — " Hold your whip. I will tell you. She stopped to 
 start again, sir." 
 
 R. M. (annoyed) — " Why you ridiculous fool." 
 
 Clown (strikes an attitude) — " No, not ridiculous, Master; I'm 
 a happy fool. I'm vara avis in terra, a happy man! " 
 
 (The rider at this point starts to finish her act of horsemanship 
 and in taking her graceful pose, a sudden increase of speed caused 
 her to fall from her horse, fortunately landing on her feet. While 
 assistants were readjusting the difficulty, there was, necessarily, 
 a delay, and the clown's duty on such occasions is to draw the 
 attention of the audience from the incident, and at the same time 
 to so govern his remarks as to appropriately fill the gap caused 
 by the sudden detention with well-timed wit and humor. Turn- 
 ing to the rider, he remarks): 
 
 Clown — " Don't be discouraged, young lady, yon know Shakes- 
 peare says, 
 
 " ' Woman must fall once in her life, 
 Be she maid, widow, or wife.' 
 
286 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Then turns to the King Master and exclaims, ' So fell our mother 
 Eve, and Adam heard it.' " 
 
 Looking at the horse being made ready, he inquires: 
 
 Clown — " What made the young lady fall from her horse, Mr. 
 Master? " 
 
 jB. M . — " The horse gave a sudden start; the trappings became 
 disarranged and a strap broke, striking him on the forearms." 
 
 Clown — " And that caused him to run irregular? " 
 
 B. M.—" Certainly, sir." 
 
 Clown — " Even Shakespeare knew that, for he says, ' The 
 slightest alteration in the pace of the animal mars the beauty 
 of the most gifted equestrian.' But it never interfers with my 
 riding, Mr. Master." 
 
 B. M.—" How is that, sir? " 
 
 Clown — "Why, I'm like the immortal Abraham Lincoln, in 
 early times in the practice of his legal profession he always trav- 
 elled on ' Shanks's Mare/ and that is the same vehicle I ride in, 
 Mr. Master. But the lady landed on her feet. She must be a 
 Jersey girl, Master, and gifted with a broad tire for travelling in 
 the sand." 
 
 B. M.— "Why so, sir?" 
 
 Clown — " Because in Jersey they have to travel in the sand, 
 especially when they go shell-fishing." 
 
 COLLOQUY. 
 
 As a lady rider appears in the arena, the clown remarks: 
 Clown — " The lady is so unique and so artistic in her terpsi- 
 chorean displays, that it stamps her a star." 
 B. M. — " You are very complimentary to the lady, Mr. Eice." 
 Clown (aside) — " As Shakespeare says, ' A little flattery some- 
 times does well.' " 
 B. M. — " Ah! But you cause the lady to blush." 
 Clown — " Why didn't you blush, Mr. Master, last evening in 
 reference to yourself? " 
 B. M.— "Why so, sir?" 
 
 Clown — "When I quoted Shakespeare, and applied it, as I 
 thought, most appropriately." 
 B. M. — " Why, I don't remember, sir. What was it? " 
 Clown — " I said you were a marvellously gay fellow, with a 
 good leg and foot, and a whip for an emblem." 
 
 B. M. — " And I'll show you, sir, that I know how to handle 
 it." (And cracks the whip, apparently striking the clown on his 
 lower limbs, which causes him to assume an attitude of pain, and 
 exclaim): 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN RICE 287 
 
 Clown — "Master, you have made a mistake. I never allow- 
 any one to feed crackers to my calves! " 
 
 R - M - — "You discover, sir, that I am not susceptible to 
 flattery." 
 
 Clown — " Then, sir, you stand isolated and alone in the world." 
 
 R. M.— "How so, sir?" 
 
 Clown—" For Dean Swift says that, 
 
 " ' It is an old maxim taught in schools, 
 That flattery is the food of fools; 
 And now and then the wisest wit, 
 Will condescend to take a bit.' " 
 
 R. M.—" Why, sir, I'm not a fool." 
 
 Clown — " Well, according to Shakespeare and Burns, we are 
 all fools to a great or less extent. Shakespeare says, ' A man who 
 commits a foolish action is a fool for doing so.' Now, show me, 
 Master, one who never committed a foolish action and I will 
 show j'ou a white chicken that lays a black egg." 
 
 R. M. — " Well, what does Bobbie Burns say about it? " 
 
 Clown — " He says, 
 
 " ' My son, these maxims mak' a rule, 
 An' bind them weel togither, 
 Th' rigid righteous is a fool, 
 Th' rigid wise anither.' " 
 
 R. M. — " Well, sir, that will do now. Go and see what the 
 lady requires." 
 
 Clown (aside) — " Go yourself." 
 
 (Bing Master cracks his whip as if in anger, exclaiming very 
 emphatically): " What is that you say, sir? " 
 
 Clown — "I won't do anything else! Why, Master, don't get 
 angry at the clown's folly. On reflection, I find that I am mis- 
 taken." 
 
 R. M. — " Explain yourself, sir." 
 
 Clown — "Why, in my opinion, you'll never go mad, for the 
 immortal Bard of Avon, my favorite author, says, ' Fools never 
 run mad.' ISTow I'll seek more agreeable company, and see what 
 the star requires. Master, if this lady was not worthy of being 
 classed in the category of equestrian constellations, still she is a 
 star, in my humble judgment. For ' Woman is the morning- 
 star of infancy, the day-star of manhood, the evening-star of age. 
 Bless your stars! May we ever bask in the sunny smiles of their 
 starry influence until they blow us sky high and make us see 
 stars out of our own eyes! ' " The clown moves towards the 
 Master and apparently puts his finger in his eye. At the same 
 time asking, " Master, did they ever make you see stars? " 
 
288 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 R. M. — " No, sir " (angrily). 
 
 Clown — " You've not been married long enough yet. When 
 you have, she'll show you." 
 
 R. M. — " But you have already shown me, sir, by putting your 
 finger in my eye." (Covering his eye as if it hurt him.) " Sup- 
 pose, sir, you had put my eye out? " 
 
 Clown — " I always suit the action to the word; the word to the 
 action." (Eing Master, with his hand still on his eye, angrily 
 chases the clown with the whip.) 
 
 Clown (falling on his knee, imploringly raises his hands, ex- 
 claiming) — " Master, I beg your pardon; I did not mean to hurt 
 you." 
 
 R. M. — " "Well, sir, rise. I forgive you." 
 
 Clown — " You do forgive me? Then give me your hand [both 
 extend hands] . That's Christian-like, Mr. Master, for as we ex- 
 pect forgiveness, so should we be ready to forgive. [Shakes hands 
 cordially]. Now, Master, as you have been so liberal as to for- 
 give me, I have one request to make." 
 
 R. M.—" What is it, sir?" 
 
 Clown (rising) — " Give me " 
 
 R. M.— "Well, what is it?" 
 
 Clown — " A chew of tobacco." 
 
 R. M. — " I never chew, sir. I never use the weed." 
 
 Clown — "Then you cannot give me what you do not have. You 
 are in a similar fix to that of Bobbie Burns when a friend wrote 
 to him for the loan of a sum of money. Burns replied: 
 
 " ' A man may have an earnest heart, 
 Though poverty often stares him; 
 A friend can take another's part, 
 But have no cash to spare him.' " 
 
 R. M. — " Now, Mr. Eice, all this is very pleasant and agree- 
 able, but suppose you had put my eye out when you pointed your 
 finger in my face? " 
 
 Clown — " Then you would have been in the same fix that Lord 
 Nelson was in when he called to the lookout, ' Do you see Tra- 
 falgar? ' The man replied, ' Yes, I think I do.' The answer not 
 being satisfactory to Nelson, he said, ' I'll go aloft and go one 
 eye on it,' having lost an eye in a previous engagement." 
 
 R. M. — " Do you think the great admiral saw positively what 
 the lookout was not positive of? " 
 
 Clown — " Most assuredly." 
 
 R. M. — "Explain how Nelson could see accurately With one 
 eye what the lookout could not with two." 
 
 Clown — "I will illustrate to you. Suppose you had lost an 
 eye, you could see me with two eyes while. I could see you with 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 289 
 
 but one. Do you see the p'int, Master? Now, again, suppose I 
 had put both your eyes out? " 
 
 R. M. — " Suppose you had done so, Mr. Eice, it would have 
 been a most lamentable misfortune." 
 
 Cloivn — " I think not, from a moral standpoint, especially in 
 your ease." 
 
 R. M.— "How so?" 
 
 Clown — " I have read in the Good Book, ' What the eye does 
 not see, the heart does not grieve after.' " 
 
 COLLOQUY. 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Do you know, Mr. Master, there are six signs of 
 a fool?" 
 
 R. 31.—" Well, what are they? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " A fool may be known (1) In anger without cause; 
 (2) In speech without profit; (3) In change without motive; (4) 
 In inquiries without object; (5) In putting faith in a stranger; (6) 
 In not knowing one's friends from one's foes." 
 
 R. M. — " I take issue with you, Mr. Eice, on the sixth point." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Explain, Master." 
 
 R. M. — " He must be a brainless fool not to know his friend 
 from his foe; for all animals from the highest to the lowest grade 
 know a friend from a foe." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " No, no; Master, I differ with you. I don't think 
 there is such a thing as a brainless fool, for no person can live 
 without brains." 
 
 R. M. — "Well, I agree with you, Mr. Eice; no one can live 
 without brains a great while." 
 
 Mr. Rice — "I beg to differ with you again, Mr. Master. I 
 know they can live without brains." 
 
 R. M. — " Well, you are so very sharp, tell me how long a man 
 can live without brains." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Well, I can't exactly tell how long they can live 
 without brains, but if any one will tell me how old you are, I'll 
 tell him how long a man has lived without them." 
 
 R. M.—" Oh, sir, you are a fool indeed." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Shakespeare says, ' Call me not a fool till heaven 
 has sent me a fortune.' Master, heaven has not been very kind 
 to me. It sent me a fortune at one time, and then sent a man to 
 fool me out of it." 
 
 R. M. — " I've heard so." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " I was young then; but, let them fool me now! " 
 
 COLLOQUY. 
 
 Mr. Rice—" Let us suppose a case. If I should hit you and 
 knock you down what would you do? " 
 19 
 
290 REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 R. M. — " Discharge you." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " I don't understand you." 
 
 R. M. — " I mean I would ship you off." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Then I congratulate you,, Master." 
 
 E. Jf._"Why so, sir?" 
 
 Mr. Rice — "You would then be a shipping merchant, you 
 could not locate nor go into business in a better city nor among 
 more agreeable people." 
 
 R. M. — •" No, no; you don't understand me, I mean that I 
 would trade you off." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Then you would be dealing in produce." 
 
 R. M.—" How so, sir? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Because you would be trading in Eice, well, who- 
 ever you might sell me to, they would find me a tough customer 
 to chew on. I might be palatable but the devil himself couldn't 
 digest me. However, whether I might be found palatable or not, 
 
 " In my own guise I appear 
 Shining dimly or bright, 
 If it's shining at all 
 
 'Tis with borrowed light. 
 
 And in speaking of the devil reminds me of hell. Do you know 
 
 where hell is, Master? " 
 
 R. M.—" No, sir, I do not; do you? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Yes, it is here [placing his hand upon his heart] 
 
 each one in his life creates his own hell, and the devil is at our 
 
 elbow." 
 Mr. Rice — " Some very religious people pronounce cards to be 
 
 the devil's book. You play, I suppose? " 
 R. M.—" Yes, sir, a little." 
 Mr. Rice — " A little [aside] . I saw him playing euchre on a 
 
 cellar door yesterday." 
 
 R. M. — " What are you muttering about, sir? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — "I said I never heard you say so before. Well, 
 
 if you do play, you ought to be fond of High, Low, Jack, and 
 
 the Game." 
 R. M.—" Why so, sir? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Because you would be likely to win." 
 R. M. — " Always likely to win. Pray tell me how? " 
 Mr. Rice — " Because you would be always low." 
 R. M. — "You are impertinent, Mr. Merryman [cutting him 
 
 with the whip] ; take that. How do you like that trick? " (Mr. 
 
 Rice rushes and knocks him down.) 
 
 R. M. (rising) — " Zounds, sir, what do you mean by that? " 
 Mr. Rice — " Oh, I just thought I would throw up my hand 
 
 and give you one to finish the game." 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 291 
 
 The Ring Master commands him to hand a hoop to the rider 
 and Mr. Eice runs after him. 
 
 R- M. — " Ah, sir, you came near not overtaking him; you did 
 not run fast enough." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Oh, yes, I ran fast enough, but I didn't start soon 
 enough." 
 
 R. M. — " Nonsense, sir — hush." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Do you know, sir, that I once owned a horse? " 
 • R. M.~" Did you? Well, was he a good one? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Yes, sir; he was a first-rate one if it hadn't been 
 for a couple of slight failings." 
 
 R. M. — " Pray, sir, what were they? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — " Well, sir, one was he was devilish hard to catch." 
 
 R. M.—" And the other, sir? " 
 
 Mr. Rice — "Why he was good for nothing when he was 
 caught." 
 
 R. M. (cracking his whip) — " You never open your mouth un- 
 less upon something soft." 
 
 Mr. Rice — " True, I opened upon you last." 
 
 While exhibiting in Chicago during the war, Mr. Eice re- 
 marked one evening, that some of the people there were so loyal 
 that they wouldn't ride in the South side cars, and while per- 
 forming in Philadelphia a misunderstanding occurred between 
 Mr. Eice and Dr. Shelton McKenzie, the dramatic and literary 
 editor of the " Press " and a gentleman of more than ordinary 
 ability. At one time in early life the doctor paid his addresses 
 to a young lady, but when visiting her one evening he was such 
 a sticking plaster that he outraged propriety by remaining until 
 very unseasonable hours. One night in particular he was more 
 than usually tedious, and the lady becoming weary, in order to 
 give him a hint, arose and went to the door. He followed her, 
 when she dropped her handkerchief outside. He stooped and 
 picked it up, upon which she said "good night" and shut the 
 door. The doctor, who didn't see the point, wrote her the next 
 day an apology for his abrupt departure. The anecdote was cur- 
 rent and Dan Eice got off the following, " Why is Dr. Shelton 
 McKenzie like the artesian well at Columbus, 0.? Because both 
 are great bores." The occasion for the satirical pun was in- 
 spired by a somewhat caustic criticism of Colonel Eice in the 
 "Press." While playing at Hudson, N. Y., in the year 1844, 
 during the anti-rent war, Mr. Eice, then a comparative novice, 
 perpetrated his first conundrum. The leader of the insurrection, 
 known as " Big Thunder," was captured by Judge Edmunds, of 
 New York, and sentenced to be confined in jail, or, in New 
 York slang of the day, " the Jug." " Why," asked Dan of the 
 
292 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 King Master, " is Judge Edmunds a greater man than Dr. Frank- 
 lyn?" and the answer was "Because Franklyn merely bottled 
 lightning, but Judge Edmunds jugged Thunder." 
 
 During the bloomer dress era when short skirts and long panta- 
 lets were the prevailing style with the followers of the aggressive, 
 strong-minded females, Dan Rice got off the following while ex- 
 hibiting in Eochester, N. Y., then the headquarters of the 
 Bloomers. 
 
 Bice — "Master, have you noticed how the fashion of shorf 
 skirts and long pantalets is becoming general with the ladies? " 
 
 R. M. — " I have, sir. Do you object to the style? " 
 
 Bice — " Oh, no, sir; I go in for the largest kind of liberty in 
 dress as in everything else; I've reduced my idea into rhyme." 
 
 B. M.—" Well, sir, let us hear it." 
 
 Rice — 
 
 " Let the dames of America do as they please; 
 Should they all cut their petticoats round by the knees, 
 
 'Tis only a bold protestation 
 Against a bad habit called sputans in Latin, 
 That spoils every place where their husbands have sat in, 
 Defiles all their carpets and dirties their matting! 
 
 And sticks to the skirts of the nation! 
 Don't fancy, dear sir, that ladies are flirts 
 Because they have cut their old dangles the skirts, 
 They have done it to shame you they readily own, 
 And will lengthen their habits when you mend your own." 
 
 Rice — " Master, did you ever enjoy a full-breasted kiss? " 
 
 R. M.— a What kind of a kiss is that? " 
 
 Rice — "I'll give you an illustration. A lady friend of my 
 wife says that the first time she was kissed she felt like a big tub 
 of roses swimming in honey, cologne, nutmegs, and cranberries. 
 She also felt as if something was running through her nerves on 
 the foot of diamonds escorted by angels, shaded by honeysuckles, 
 and the whole spread with the melted rainbows. Jerusalem! 
 what power there is in a full-breasted kiss." 
 
 R. M. — " Well, sir, I never enjoyed that sort of a kiss." 
 
 Rice — " I thought not; now, Master, do you know that I can 
 prove that an Irishman's mud cabin is better than heaven? " 
 
 R. M. — " No, sir, you cannot prove it." 
 
 Rice — " Now listen, ain't a mud cabin better than nothing? " 
 
 R. M. — " Certainly it is better than nothing." 
 
 Rice — "And nothing is better than heaven, ergo, the Irish- 
 man's mud cabin is better than heaven. Master, I can prove that 
 a cat has three tails." 
 
 R. M.—" Granted." 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN BICE 293 
 
 Bice — " Then a eat has one tail more than no eat. Do you 
 see the point? " 
 
 B. M.—" Yes, but I don't see the three tails." 
 
 Bice — "By the way, Master, I saw you elbowing your way 
 through a crowd yesterday." 
 
 B. M. — " Yes, sir, I was in a hurry." 
 
 Bice — " Did you poke your elbow into any person's stomach? " 
 
 B. M. — " No, sir, I did not injure any person's stomach." 
 
 Bice — " No, the only stomach likely to be injured by the crook 
 of your elbow is your own." 
 
 B. M. — " Do you mean, sir, that I am addicted to drinking? " 
 
 Bice — " Oh, no, but I have heard that you were troubled by 
 snakes, and you know hard drinking cures the bite. Say, Master, 
 have you made your will? " 
 
 B. M.—" No, sir. Have you? " 
 
 Bice — " Oh, yes, and it is short and sweet. It reads ' I have 
 nothing, I owe nothing, and I give the rest to the poor.' Now 
 why do they call a powerful mind a high wind? " 
 
 B. M.—" I can't say, sir." 
 
 Bice — " Well, sir, the wind is the merriest and maddest and 
 saddest and gladdest of pipers in the world. He makes all things 
 his instrument. He whistles on the reed and sighs on the flag. 
 Sometimes he makes a chimney his mouthpiece; then the tunes 
 he plays on a single smoke-pipe are the wildest and he puffs and 
 blows and smokes like a burgomaster. And speaking of the wind, 
 master, do you know that it has been all day blowing a terrible 
 gale?" 
 
 B. M. — "Yes, I found it very disagreeable walking the 
 streets." 
 
 Bice — " No doubt. I noticed an impromptu race in the street." 
 
 B. M.—" What sort of a race? " 
 
 Bice — " A race for a hat. May I ask you a single question? " 
 
 B. M. — " Why, yes sir, ask it." 
 
 Bice — " Can you tell me what a mathematical wind is? " 
 
 B. M.—" I give it up." 
 
 Bice — " A wind that extracts roots from the earth." 
 
 B. M. — " Why, sir, that is mere nonsense." 
 
 Rice — " Well, sir, that is my business here and it is my province 
 to indulge in every species of nonsense, so that laughter may hold 
 his sway, and for which I've labored night and day. Hide,. blue 
 devils, fly and drive dull grief from every face and eye. By, the 
 way, Master, I hear that you are dabbling in coal oil." 
 
 B. M. — " I think of embarking in that trade. What is your 
 opinion of coal oil ? " 
 
 Bice — " Coal oil, sir, is the perspiration of bit-u-min-ous coal, 
 and being an offspring of bit-u-men it signifies or implies that 
 
294 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 you men will get bit. Master, we were speaking of nonsense just 
 now, would you like to know the most nonsensical thing I ever 
 came in contact with?" 
 
 R. M.—" Well, sir, what was it? " 
 
 Rice — " It was at Saratoga Springs in the State of New York. 
 A young man got married in the early part of the evening and 
 then sat up the balance of the night courting his wife." 
 
 R. M. — " He must have been a verdant young gentleman." 
 
 Rice — " Yes, a bigger fool than Thompson's colt. I say, Mas- 
 ter, do you know the greatest case on record of absence of mind? " 
 
 R. M .— "No, sir." 
 
 Rice — "A married lady put a house cloth in the cradle and 
 wiped up the floor with her baby." 
 
 R. M. — " Now, sir, how do you know so much about it? " 
 
 Rice — " I was there." 
 
 R. M. — " Then tell me how did she discover her mistake? " 
 
 Rice — "Why, Master, she discovered her mistake when she 
 wrung out the baby." 
 
 R. M. (cracking his whip) — " Such nonsense is ridiculous." 
 
 Rice — " Then you don't appreciate it. Don't you know that 
 " A little nonsense now and then 
 Is relished by the wisest men — 
 (aside) but he don't see it, he's a fool." 
 
 R. M. — "What was that you said, sir? Did you call me a 
 fool? " 
 
 Rice — " No, sir, I said keep cool." 
 
 At the National Theatee, Philadelphia. 
 
 Rice — " Master, you read and studied a deal in your time." 
 
 R. M.—" Yes, sir, I have." 
 
 Rice — "You have read ancient and modern history, I pre- 
 sume? " 
 
 R..M.—" I have, sir." 
 
 Rice — " You have read the twelve Apostles? " 
 
 R. M.—« Yes, sir." 
 
 Rice—" The twelve Caesars? " 
 
 R. M.—" Yes, sir." 
 
 Rice — " The nine muses? " 
 
 R. M.—« Yes, sir." 
 
 Rice — "The seven champions of Christendom?" 
 
 R. M.—" Yes, sir." 
 
 Rice — " And the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence who penned the death warrant of tyranny? " 
 
 R. M.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Rice — " You have read 'em all, have you? " 
 
EEMINISOENCES OF DAN KICE 295 
 
 R. _M .— " I have, sir." 
 
 Rice — "Did you ever read of the six great Daniels or Dans? " 
 
 R. M. — " No, sir, I have not; have you? " 
 
 Rice — " Yes sir, I have." 
 
 R. M.—" Well, who are they? " 
 
 Rice — " There was Dan the prophet, whose fame no one dared 
 scoff at; there was Dan Lambert the stout, history says died with 
 the gout; there was old Dan Tucker, who was too late for his 
 supper; there was Daniel O'Connell the agitator, who, by the by, 
 was no small potato; there was Dan Webster, the expounder, 
 whose word weighed a pound, sir; and here's Dan Eice, the fool, 
 who sends jackasses to school." 
 
 This last was in allusion to his having accomplished a hitherto 
 deemed impossible task in the education of a stubborn mule; he 
 being the first and only man that had ever succeeded in develop- 
 ing the intellect of such an animal, whose performance invariably 
 provoked more laughter than any other comic scene in the circle, 
 at the same time was demonstrated the wonderful capacity of 
 Mr. Eice in stimulating the intellect of so dull, obstinate, and 
 unmanageable a brute. It is a fact that during his professional 
 career he trained four pairs of those animals which he disposed 
 of to other shows for $5,000 a pair. 
 
 Eing Master is about walking off. 
 
 Rice — "Where are you going, Master?" 
 
 R. M. — " I am warm, and I'm going to get a little air." 
 
 Rice — " Going to get a little heir, eh? Well, sir, name him 
 after me." • 
 
 R. M. — " You seem to be very happy this evening." 
 
 Rice — " Yes, sir, as the Irishman says, ' I'm as happy as a flea 
 in a blanket.' " 
 
 R. M. — " Well, I can readily account for your happiness." 
 
 Rice— "How so?" 
 
 R. M. — " You've got a charming, beautiful wife." 
 
 Rice — " Look here, we've always been friendly, haven't we ? " 
 
 R. M. — " Of course we have, Mr. Eice." 
 
 Rice — " And you wish to continue so? " 
 
 R. M. — " Most assuredly I do." 
 
 Rice — " Then avoid such compliments in the future." 
 
 R. M. — " Why what remark did I make to offend? " 
 
 Ri ce — « You are a frequent visitor to my house, ain't you? " 
 
 R. M.—" Why, yes." 
 
 Rice — " And I have always treated you in a hospitable man- 
 ner?" 
 
 R. M. — " You certainly have." 
 
 Rice — "Then don't you ever again remark that I've got a 
 charming young wife." 
 
296 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 E. M.—"Why, Eiee? There's nothing in it." 
 Bice — " No, but there might be." 
 
 In her principal act the equestrienne fell from her horse. Mr. 
 Bice asked the King Master what made the lady fall. The Ring 
 Master replied that she lost her equilibrium, whereupon Mr. Rice 
 goes peering around the ring. 
 
 B. M. — " What are you looking for, sir? " 
 
 Bice (innocently) — " I'm looking for the lady's equilibrium." 
 
 B. M. — " Oh, you stupid fellow; I meant that she had lost her 
 balance." 
 
 Bice — " Don't you know, Master, that woman is less pliable 
 than man?" 
 
 B. M.—" Prove it, sir." 
 
 Bice—" I will, in rhyme." 
 
 " Said a gent once contending how high in the scale 
 Stood man above woman so feeble and frail, 
 When the trial of virtue and vice first began, 
 Satan durst not present his temptation to man. 
 ' Nay,' answered the fair one, ' say not that he " dared," 
 The old serpent knew well that some pains might be spared. 
 " For," thought he, " if I first get the man in my chain, 
 The most difficult part of my task will remain, 
 But could I succeed the fair Eve to allure, 
 Adam follows of course, and then both are secure." ' 
 So cease your proud boast of man's firmness and own 
 If superior either, the woman's the one, 
 Since a woman could overcome Adam, poor elf, 
 But to overcome woman, took Satan himself." 
 
 The following colloquy took place in Brooklyn, N. Y., during 
 the celebrated trial of Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 B. M. — " Why, Mr. Rice, you look sad this evening; I mean 
 that you appear in a reflective mood." 
 
 Bice — " Well, sir, can't a fool have his moments of reflection? 
 Why, Master, there are times when I am a melancholy fool." 
 
 B. M. — " Well, cheer up, cheer up, and tell me what you are 
 thinking about." 
 
 Bice — " I was thinking of what Shakespeare says in one of his 
 plays, 
 
 " ' Man is but a walking shadow, 
 
 A poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
 
 And is heard no more, 
 
 A tale told by an idiot 
 
 Full of sound and fury signifying nothing.' " 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 297 
 
 R. M.—" True, most true." 
 
 Bice — " However, Master, it is but nature; sooner or later we 
 have all got to return to mother earth. Did you ever reflect, 
 Master, that we came from the dust, and all through life we kick 
 up a dust trying to throw dust into each other's eyes, until old 
 Father Time, the Universal Duster, calls all, both great and 
 small, to his universal dust-hole the earth. What a sweeping 
 time there will be when that takes place; when all mankind and 
 all womenkind are trans-magnified and metamorphosed back to 
 their original powder, the dust. And it will take a very large 
 broom, too, I am thinking, as large as eighty acres of forest trees 
 tied all together. Then dukes, dandies, potentates, politicians, 
 in fact, old, young, good, bad, indifferent, regardless of color or 
 previous condition will be swept off like flies off the bung-hole 
 of a molasses cask. Oh, let us hope while going back to our 
 original element that the grains of human virtue may be sepa- 
 rated and rise up as clouds of grateful incense to its Creator. 
 (The Ring Master smiled.) I see that you smile, Master. You 
 have cause to smile, for I rarely imitate men at all, and when I 
 do strive to imitate his virtues and not his follies, and a man 
 might possibly be worse employed than in imitating so distin- 
 guished a divine as Henry Ward Beecher (puts his finger to his 
 nose and winks). And, Master, there was a certain occasion 
 when I would very much have liked to imitate him." There 
 was silence for a minute until the audience saw the point, and 
 then a universal roar. 
 
 Eice shied his hat at the Eing Master, who kicked it. 
 
 Eice — « I dare you to do that again." (Eing Master kicks 
 
 it.) 
 
 Eice — " You dare not kick it again." (Again he kicks it.) 
 Eice — "Now, I'm getting mad; let us see you do it again." 
 (Eing Master kicks it around the ring.) 
 
 Eice — "Well, keep at it; I dare you to kick.it all night." 
 (Eing Master turns away.) Mr. Eice thus apostrophises the hat: 
 " Ill-used castor, the hour of retribution is at hand and you shall 
 be avenged. No longer shall your venerable years be insulted. 
 I will avenge your wrongs." 
 
 (Sings) " We have lived and loved together 
 
 In sunshine and in shade, 
 You've shielded me in wet weather, 
 And warmed my aching head, 
 But though you're old and napless, 
 And spurned by fashion's crew, 
 Old friend, however hapless, 
 I'll still to you prove true." 
 
298 REMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 
 
 Dan Eice to his Bing Master on Louis Philippe abdicating the 
 throne of France: 
 
 Louis Philippe, King of France, was xtravagantly xtolled, 
 xceedingly xeerated. He xhibited xtraordinary xcellence in 
 xigency; he was xemplary in xternals, xtrinsic on xamination. 
 He was xtatic under xhortation, xtreme in xcitement and xtraor- 
 dinary in xtempore xpressions. He was xpatriated for xcesses, 
 and to xpiate his xtravagance, xists in xile. 
 
 Dead? No, still lives! For what sunshine and shade are to 
 the grateful earth the strains of Shakespeare are to the human 
 heart. 
 
 Clown (to his master) — " I went shopping to-day, for my wife." 
 
 Master — " What did you get? " 
 
 Clown — " I bought a new hat. Oh, it was a tiresome job." 
 
 Master— "Why so?" 
 
 Clown — " After I bought it I ran all the way back to the hotel 
 with it." 
 
 Master— "Why so?" 
 
 Clown — " For fear the fashion would change before I reached 
 there." 
 
 " You are rude," said the Eing Master, " and I feel that all my 
 instruction is lost upon you." 
 Clown—" What have I done? " 
 Master — " You appear better fed than taught." 
 Clown — " Yes, I feed myself, and you teach me! " 
 
 Eice the Eationalist, Philosopher and Moralist. 
 
 A more interesting and instructive insight to the philosophic 
 side of Eice as a student of human nature, a dissector of the mo- 
 tives of his fellow-men, the causes and effects of human conduct, 
 the pleasures, pains, and penalties born of the hopes, ambitions, 
 follies and frailties, vices and virtues, loves and friendships of 
 his kind, could scarcely be furnished with more strange and 
 startling force than may be found in the following fragmentary 
 excerpts, pregnant as they are with thoughts that touch the deep- 
 est depths of worldly wit, wisdom, and scathing satire, softened 
 by a veil of sincerest sympathy, and enveloped throughout by a 
 cloak of ennobling and inspiring forbearance, pity, and Christian 
 charity. His love of mother nature, mortal life, of human lib- 
 erty, are illustrated with an eloquent economy and forceful pithi- 
 ness of expression that cannot but impress the reader with an 
 added sense of his greatness of heart and nobility of nature. 
 
keminiscences of dan eice 299 
 
 The Clown's Wisdom. 
 
 He ever is assured whose heart is open to the eye of day, who 
 wears no lurking danger in his smiles, nor dreams of tigers' 
 hearts beneath the fleece of inoffensive flocks; what should I fear? 
 Shall I embitter all the joys of life to shrink from death and die 
 in my own fears? While naught but poisoned bowls and air- 
 drawn daggers and treacherous friends or enemies disguised, and 
 snares and lures and dark conspiracies flit through the fevered 
 brain in endless terror, beset the affrighted soul and prey upon 
 it, till naught remains of life, but dread of death, and all of death 
 is suffered but the name. I pause no longer; flood or ebb in for- 
 tune, he rides the waves triumphant; the ills of life, the tests and 
 touch stones of external glory, by which alone its currency is 
 tried, and sterling coin distinguished from the false, increase his 
 weight and stamp new value on him. 
 
 Contentment. 
 
 I have seen men in tempests of passion, in the greatest depths 
 of grief; the former I have always found easily subdued, the latter 
 readily consoled. All that is required is to know the spring of 
 the heart. The grave is the only grief that has temporal hope 
 there, the only cure is to look beyond it. 
 
 Silence. 
 
 Silence, the watchful sentinel of night, with noiseless step and 
 undiverted ear challenged each sound. 
 
 Romantic love is like the cataract which foams and rages while 
 impediments obstruct its swelling serge. Give it full sway, and 
 lo, its silvery sheen glides gently on and lulls itself to sleep with 
 its own music. 
 
 Like a man who walks backward to destruction and looks at the 
 stars or sun to the last. 
 
 How times are changed. Now Prim plays the lover, and Eng- 
 land's Helen rushes to his arms; while all the pride and pomp 
 of chivalry smile on the triumph of three-score and ten. The 
 rose of spring clasped in the arms of winter, the aloe would befit 
 his highness better; it blooms but once in sixty years. 
 
 I've borne these ribald jests beyond that point where patience 
 is a virtue. Provoke my rage no longer, 'tis not mete that we 
 
300 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 should prattle of our inmost griefs; but there are depths within 
 this wounded heart, which, probed unskilfully, result in death 
 to patient or physician. 
 
 We'll talk no more of women; the winds and waves shall now 
 our topics be, they are not more changeful and less perilous. 
 
 Oh, Alexander; what a soul was thine, that in the prime of 
 manhood and of love — decked with a thousand triumphs — could 
 resist the matchless Persian beauty, Bright Satira. 
 
 The ruling passion is a substitute for courage. If a man be a 
 coward, only offend his ruling passion and he becomes brave in 
 its defence. Look at the miser defending his gold. 
 
 Epitaphs. 
 
 Torn from us in the springtime of his heart; sundered from 
 those dear arms that clung around thee in all thy loveliness, what 
 now remains with the survivors to allay their griefs but the rich 
 memory of thy spotless life, radiant with hope and redolent with 
 virtue, and pointing to those bright realms of endless joy whose 
 earthly portal is the peaceful grave. 
 
 Exalted virtue and undying faith in the atoning blood of 
 Calvary, an earnest of beatitude to come. Why should survivors 
 mourn the pious dead, who, having shaken off life's weary load, 
 mount at the regions of eternal bliss, and rest upon the bosom of 
 their God. 
 
 " Music hath charms to sooth the savage beast, to soften rocks, 
 or bend the knotted oak. I've read that things inanimate have 
 moved, and have numbers and persuasive sounds." 
 
 Time. 
 
 The man that takes twice as much time to accomplish an 
 object as is necessary, abridges his life one-half, and nearly de- 
 stroys the other half by an acquired sluggishness and supineness. 
 
 Why is it that you trim your plants and your trees to remove 
 what is decayed and offensive to the sight, and to promote the 
 growth of that which remains? The very storms that visit the 
 forest remove the rotten or useless portions of the limbs and 
 branches, and thereby increase their general growth and beauty 
 — such are the benefits of adversity. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 301 
 
 A well-provided breast hopes in adversity and fears in pros- 
 perity. 
 
 No vice so bad as virtue run mad. 
 
 Rogues in Eeligious Robes. 
 Men who sometimes watch and pray, of ttimes watch to prey. 
 
 The argument resembles a peacock's tail, filled with beautiful 
 plumage, but supported by deformed and hideous legs. 
 
 There is holy love and a holy rage, and our best virtues never 
 glow so brightly as when our passions are excited in the cause. 
 Sloth, if it has prevented many crimes, has also smothered many 
 virtues, and the best of us are better when roused. Passions 
 are to virtue what wine was to Eschylus and Annius — under its 
 inspiration their powers were at their height. 
 
 To Make Love. 
 
 If you cannot inspire a woman with love for you, fill her above 
 the brim with love for herself; all that runs over will be yours. 
 
 A false friend is like a shadow on a dial, it appears in clear 
 weather but vanishes as soon as a cloud appears. 
 
 To Be Happy. 
 
 Be honest not only in your dealings through life with your 
 fellow-man, but be honest in thought and never allow your neces- 
 sities, be they ever so great and pressing, to force you into the 
 doing of an act that will either compromise your self-respect or 
 forfeit your integrity. 
 
 Laws op Natuke. 
 
 They are just but terrible, there is no weak mercy in them. 
 Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable; the ele- 
 ments have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, 
 the air consumes, the earth buries, and perhaps it would be well 
 for our race if the punishment for crimes against the laws of man 
 were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the laws 
 of nature — were man as unerring in his judgment as nature. 
 
302 REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 Two Lives. 
 
 There are two lives to each of us, gliding on at the same time, 
 scarcely connected with each other — the life of our existence and 
 the life of our minds; the external and the inward history, the 
 movements of the frame, the deep and ever restless workings of 
 the heart. They who have loved know that there is a diary of 
 the affections which we might keep for years without having 
 occasion even to touch upon the exterior surface of life, our busy 
 occupations, the mechanical progress of our existence, yet by 
 the last we are judged, the first is never known. 
 
 Preserve integrity. The consciousness of thine own Tightness 
 will alleviate the toil of business, and soften the harshness of 
 disappointment and give thee a humble confidence before God 
 when the ingratitude of man or the iniquity of the times may rob 
 you of all other due reward. 
 
 If crazy knave built on this construction, deaths' decrees shall 
 lose their bloody impress, and become a passport to regal enter- 
 tainment. 
 
 Advice. 
 
 What's in your breast let no one know, 
 Nor to your friend your secret show. 
 For when your friend becomes your foe, 
 Then will the world your secret know. 
 
 Punctuality begets confidence, temperance the best physic, 
 honesty the best policy, which is the sure road to honor and 
 respect. 
 
 Good actions know themselves with lasting bays, 
 "Who well deserves, needs not another's praise. 
 
 Capital veesus Labor. 
 
 The attitude of capital toward labor is a gigantic blunder, be- 
 cause it is in direct conflict with the requirements of the golden 
 rule, which most capitalists profess and which few of them or 
 any other class practice. They forget that labor is no longer 
 abject; labor may be unreasonable, brutal, even mad at times, 
 but it has ceased to be afraid; it has attained dignity of self- 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 303 
 
 respect. Why does not capital see the " handwriting on the 
 wall," and meet labor in a Christian spirit. Why this church- 
 going if ye lived not up to the teachings of the Golden Eule. 
 Labor asks for arbitration, why not; it is a fact that labor has 
 ceased asking permission to live in the world; it has ceased to 
 kneel; it no longer takes off its hat; labor is erect, it has intelli- 
 gence; is ever worthy of its hire, and it knows what it has done, 
 and is still doing for the world; it knows that it has been robbed 
 and it proposes a new regime, as Bobby Burns says, 
 
 " What tho' on hamely fare we dine, 
 Wear hoddin gray and a' that; 
 Gie fools their silks and knaves their wine, 
 A man's a man for a' that." 
 
 Where is that palace where into foul things sometimes intrude 
 not; who has a breast so pure, but some uncouth apprehension 
 keeps leet and law days, and in sessions sits with meditations 
 lawful. 
 
 Advice. 
 
 If we cannot derive support from religion, it is not that reli- 
 gion cannot furnish it, but because we want faith in its efficiency. 
 God elects all who elect him. 
 
 A man who spends his life getting even, for real or supposed 
 injuries, is an enemy to himself and a traitor to his friends. 
 
 For heaven's sake a quiet life, a constant friend, a loving wife, 
 a good repute, a fund in store, oh! what can man desire more. 
 
 For every evil under the sun, there's a remedy or there's none; 
 if there be one, go find it; if there be none, never mind it. 
 
 In faith and hope, the world will disagree, but all mankind con- 
 tinue in charity. 
 
 Mine is the hand should strike the deadly blow, and mine the 
 eye should look unwavering on. 
 
 We think more of ourselves than of others, and more for others 
 than ourselves. 
 
 A wise man always hesitates to judge another's sin, 
 
 It's good old common sense to wait till all the facts are in. 
 
304 HEJIINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Ye would be leaders, shame upon ye; leaders who never yet 
 have learned to follow where glory marked the way, hence to 
 your homes, is this a fit occasion when Spain's fortunes stand 
 likely equipois'd in fate's dread balance, and heaven and earth 
 pause on her destiny, thus by inglorious faction to provoke the 
 special vengeance of superior powers; but what care you for life's 
 vicissitudes; the night storm drives harmless over your heads, 
 none but the great, the good, the God-like, feel it. You are 
 below its fury. 
 
 Silent Piety. 
 
 I bend me towards the tiny flower, that underneath this tree, 
 Opens its little breast of sweets, in meekest modesty; 
 
 And breathes the eloquence of love, 
 
 A cypress, not a bosom, hides my poor heart. 
 
 Innocence. 
 The harvest of a quiet eye that broods and sleeps on its heart. 
 
 Maech. 
 
 Beautiful, uncertain weather, 
 
 When storm and sunshine meet together. 
 
 Cheebeulness. 
 
 With earth it seems grave holiday, in heaven it looks high 
 jubilee. 
 
 They lack all heart who cannot feel the voice of heaven within 
 them thrill. 
 
 Severed Affections. 
 
 Heart bankrupts both are made. 
 
 Eedeem the Time. 
 
 Eeflection cannot shun the shaft of fate, 
 
 Endure it as she may, 
 
 Thought is too slow, 
 
 Eesting on past to meet approaching woe. 
 
 0, my mother; in that sacred name how many hours of guile- 
 less happiness, of sportive and uneheckered innocence roll back 
 upon the ocean of past years, and burst upon the view. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 305 
 
 Death and Vietue. 
 
 Death, the destroyer, from thy potent spell no sex, nor age, nor 
 strength, nor weakness 'scapes Time's hoary locks; the ringlets 
 of gay youth; the hero's . laurel and the poet's wreath — love, 
 honor, health, and beauty are thy spoil; the mitred and the 
 sceptred yield to thee, in deferential honor, all, all submit, save 
 Virtue, who in radiant smiles beholds thy dread approach and 
 arm'd in heaven proof. 
 
 It is said that in every situation pecuniary competency is neces- 
 sary to happiness; this is a great error, this would be to degrade 
 and destroy the lofty character of man, who, in truth, depends 
 upon nothing for his happiness but a virtuous life and unlimited 
 faith in his Creator; that a dollar more or less should exercise 
 any influence upon his position, as rightly understood, is to make 
 him the meanest, instead of the noblest, of God's creatures. 
 
 Powee. 
 Whose smile was fortune, and whose will was power. 
 
 Fortune attends his smile ere she turns her wheel, and Fate 
 awaits his sigh ere she signs her fiats. 
 
 Nothing tranquilizes excited and angry passions more, or con- 
 veys a more salutary lesson to the mind in soothing or composing 
 it, than the sight of a sleeping infant, climbing to the nest of the 
 vulture and finding a trembling dove within. 
 
 When I see children struggling in hostility over a parent's 
 grave, or when I behold Mammon thrusting his guilty, gilded 
 hand between hearts that were made for each other, between 
 "Brethren who should dwell together in unity," I thank God I 
 was not made like other men. 
 
 I've searched with care the page of life, 
 And learned of man the common lot, 
 
 He lives — his days are toil and strife — 
 He dies — and is forgot. 
 
 What lineage has yon fair and radiant star, that bears the 
 stamp of an immortal hand ? What orbit does it move in but its 
 own ; shines in but its own pure and pristine light, not like your 
 own fair moon that glows in borrowed light. 
 20 
 
306 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Vice. 
 
 The martyrs to vice far exceed the martyrs to virtue, both in 
 endurance and in numbers. So blinded are we by our passions 
 that we suffer more to be damned than to be saved. 
 
 Love. 
 
 Why cease to love or cease to be beloved? The great Creator 
 taught the breast to glow with generous emotion, and cling close 
 to sympathetic arms as to life itself. What is the glare of pomp 
 and pride of pageantry? They cannot buy, vain-glorious as they 
 are, the least emotion that I feel for thee; who is the richer then, 
 the wretch that hugs his golden hoard and nightly gloats upon it, 
 or the warm spirit that shakes off its chains? 
 
 Faults — self-reproach are more than half atoned, and prompt 
 repentance does the work of mercy. 
 
 hard condition that makes the princely state of wretchedness 
 supreme as well as proud. The humble man toils .and sweats 
 from morn till eventide, still sits supreme upon his bosomed 
 throne in native majesty and sways the heart to his own purpose, 
 loves and is loved, and in the dwarf delight of mutual joy looks 
 down upon the worldly pageantry, the pride, the pomp, the tu- 
 mult and the parade that hides the anguished soul and drowns 
 its groans. 
 
 The heart can never learn to throb by rule or shun what it 
 adores. Friendship may swell to love and fill the soul, but love 
 can never shrink to friendship till it dies. Extremes beget ex- 
 tremes, and sometimes hate usurps the throne of tenderness and 
 joy, and riots in their pain. True love shudders at diminution 
 as at death. Nay it is death, the glowing heart is cold, is cheer- 
 less, all its charms are lost, and from its former height it sinks 
 at once to the low level of the instinctive brute. 
 
 His tongue took an oath but his heart was unsworn. 
 
 There is nothing earthly that is not dependent upon something 
 else earthly; while all depend upon the Creator. 
 
 A woman if she maintain her husband, is full of anger, im- 
 pudence, and reproach. 
 
 Those powers that are most terrible in action are always most 
 tranquil in repose. Look at the glossy surface of the smiling 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 307 
 
 ocean when kissed by the southern breeze just ready to expire, 
 and then imagine the terrors of the storm. Look at the sleeping 
 lion, and fancy, if you can, the same animal roaring and rampant 
 for his prey. Look at Samson slumbering in the lap of Delilah, 
 and who but shudders at the fate of the Philistines? The tran- 
 quillity is increased by the unconscious comparison or rather con- 
 trast between extremes, or presented by the same object. 
 
 Care still delves its deepest furrows in the fairest, softest brain; 
 brightest eyes are dimmed with sorrowing; ruby lips shall cease 
 to glow. 
 
 He wielded neither the keen scimitar of Saladin, nor the pon- 
 derous battle-axe of Eichard, but the dull cleaver of a cold- 
 blooded butcher. 
 
 Like a Lilt Lolling on a Rose. 
 
 Prayer was not invented for man; man was born to pray. Man 
 was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for 
 man. 
 
 Quote not the vices of philosophy to justify indulgence of your 
 own, but emulate her virtues, if you can. The love that twines 
 most closely round the heart disdains the use of words and shuns 
 the eye-like truth, despising outward ornament in native worth. 
 The God you worship bends a feeble bow and dips his shaft in 
 wine; the wound soon heals. 
 
 Intolerance in Religion. 
 
 A war against Catholics would involve a war against natives, 
 and not only a religious but a social and domestic war of neighbor 
 against neighbor, brother against brother, husband against wife, 
 parent against child, and child against parent. 
 
 Good springs from evil, strength out of weakness; the pen that 
 governs, guards, adorns, and sustains empires was plucked from 
 the wing of a goose. 
 
 Silent they sit, all faculties absorbed by black despair, the 
 world has vanished and the soul is dead to earthly sympathies, 
 to earthly care, brooding alone on its eternal fate and prostrate 
 in the presence of its God. 
 
308 eeminiscences of dan bice 
 
 Metaphysics. 
 
 The souls of idiots are of the same pieces as those of statesmen, 
 but now and then nature is at fault, and this good guest of ours 
 takes soil in an imperfect body, and so is slackened in showing 
 her wonders, like an excellent musician that cannot utter himself 
 upon a defective instrument. 
 
 Love. 
 
 All thought, all passion, all delight, whatever stirs this mortal 
 frame, all are but ministers of love and feed its sacred flame. 
 
 Happy Pais. 
 
 Crown them with joys perennial, ye blest powers, and guard 
 their hearts 'gainst agonies like mine, too grave to bear, too 
 poignant to conceal. 
 
 Think'st thou I would transplant that fragile flower, from the 
 gay parterre which it now adorns, exhaling odors on the vernal 
 gale, to pine and perish on this winter's bed? 
 
 MODEEATION IN SUCCESS. 
 
 Be wary of success, and bear it wisely, as best becomes the 
 changing tides of life; let not the siren and seductive wiles of 
 proud prosperity ensnare your heart. Self-conquest is the best 
 and proudest triumph, and victory without it is defeat. 
 
 Happiness. 
 
 Blest recompense of evils and dangers past, come to this heart, 
 and therefore reign, thou art the victor, Maria — let me crown 
 thee with thy own work — chains best become the captive. 
 
 Affection. 
 
 The feeblest impulse that affection feels is worth a kingdom. 
 Kingdoms cannot buy it. It springs spontaneous in the human 
 heart, unbrib'd, unfetter'd — precious as the blood that thrills in 
 circling eddies through the veins — offspring of life's citadel. 
 Millions of tribute which unwilling hand pays while the soul 
 withholds its sympathy or shrinks from the exaction. . "What are 
 they, but the dull and slavish homage of a slave — giving what 
 fear forbids him to refuse or power resistless ever may enforce. 
 What mutuality can this bespeak beyond external seeming; the 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 309 
 
 base traffic of sordid worldings wedded to themselves giving to 
 take or yielding to receive. 
 
 Fbiendship. 
 
 For weary anxious years in camps, in courts, in grief, and 
 management we have been more than brothers. Tell me then, 
 what good or evil has befallen thee, that I may share the one, 
 redress the other. 
 
 Who dares to love, yet dares not show his love to the object 
 that inspires it; -say she's a queen, in love she is a subject; the 
 crown begirts her head, but not her heart. The heart's a woman's 
 throne, 'tis there she reigns, 'tis there she rules, is ruled, and 
 must be won. 
 
 Night. 
 
 The glare of day, the grosser glare of pomp, is past, and now 
 the noon of night prevails. Distracted and excursive thoughts 
 return freighted with good or ill, and cast their load of joy or 
 grief on the expectant heart. And how sweet, how beautiful is 
 the night; how mild, yet how luxuriant are the rays that beam 
 from yon cerulean monarchy. Pale Cynthia and all her starry 
 train o'er a tempestuous world lull'd to repose, transient, short- 
 lived repose. To-morrow's dawn shall wake the slumberers and 
 renew their toil. 
 
 Valoe. 
 
 Put up your weapon till the time shall serve; this is no scene 
 for blood. Valor that needs the tongue's loud flourish, and a 
 lady's eye, may well be doubted; though I doubt not yours. Your 
 courage, sir, will keep — so let us part. How we shall meet — how 
 part when met — let time and fate determine. 
 
 Aeistoceact. 
 
 The aristocracy pull off their hats to those whom they hate; 
 the democracy will not do it to those whom they love. There is 
 more policy in one, more honesty in the other. 
 
 Hear this, ye Gods: Where sleep your thunderbolts, that thus 
 the guilty triumph in their guilt, and bold impiety out-faces 
 heaven. 
 
310 REMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 Eesolution. 
 
 Courage, my friends; remember that this hour shall make your 
 fame eternal as the stars, should fortune smile upon you. Should 
 she frown, why let her frown, at worst we can but die, and dying 
 in defence of virtue's freedom, is to subdue the unpropitious 
 Gods, and win those honors which stern fate denies. 
 
 Transient Beauty. 
 
 For women are as roses, whose fair flower being once displayed 
 doth fall that very hour. 
 
 Simplest strains do soonest sound the deep founts of the 
 heart. 
 
 Men take more pains for this world than heaven would cost 
 them; and when they have what they aim at, do not live long to 
 enjoy it. The grave lies unseen between us and the object which 
 we reach after. When one lives to enjoy whatever he has in 
 view, ten thousand are cut off in pursuit of it; so runs the giddy 
 world away. 
 
 So idle are dull readers, and so industrious are dull authors 
 that puffed nonsense bids fair to blow unpuffed sense wholly out 
 of the field. 
 
 Contemporaries appreciate the man, rather than the merit, but 
 posterity will regard the merit rather than man. 
 
 A rugged countenance often conceals the warmest heart, as the 
 richest pearl sleeps in the roughest shell. 
 
 Test the gratitude of men when you can do without it; never 
 rely upon it. In our emergency friendship then, or love, is the 
 only dependence. Eeligion is the consolation where all other 
 resources fail. That never fails. 
 
 Great men, like comets, are eccentric in their causes, and 
 formed to do extensive good by modes unintelligible to vulgar 
 minds, hence, like those erratic orbs in the firmament, i,t is their 
 fate to be misrepresented by knaves, to be abused for all the 
 good they actually do, and to be accused of ills with which they 
 have nothing to do, neither in design nor execution. 
 
 It is easier to pretend to be what you are not, than to hide what 
 you really are; he that can accomplish both has little to learn in 
 
WILLIAM F. WALLETT 
 
REMINISCENCES 01? DAN RICE 311 
 
 hypocrisy. In our attempt to deceive the world they are the 
 most likely to detect us who are sailing on the same tack, or, in 
 other words, set a rogue to catch a rogue. 
 
 Grant graciously what you cannot refuse safely, and conciliate 
 those you cannot conquer. 
 
 Envy. 
 
 Envy as the rays of the sun, notwithstanding their velocity, 
 injure not ye by their minuteness, so the attacks of envy, notwith- 
 standing their number, ought not to wound our virtue by reason 
 of their insignificance; for envy and detraction are the inevitable 
 attendants to genius, for why should the eagle wince at the hos- 
 tile gyrations of the vulture. Again envy surrounded on all 
 sides by the brightness of another's prosperity, like the scorpion 
 confined within his circle of fire will sting itself to death. 
 
 A Blackguard. 
 
 If you cannot avoid a quarrel with a blackguard, let your 
 opponent manage it rather than yourself. No man sweeps his 
 own chimney, but employs a chimney sweeper who has no objec- 
 tion to the dirty work — it is his trade. 
 
 Pulpit Eloquence. 
 
 The greatest difficulty is to give the subject all the dignity it 
 so fully deserves without attaching any importance to self. Some 
 preachers reverse the thing; they give so much importance to 
 themselves that they have none left for the subject. 
 
 In the company of the woman you love it is difficult to avoid 
 two follies, rhapsody and silence. Fortunately the first is never 
 esteemed by her as folly, and the last is considered as the still- 
 ness of brooding love. 
 
 Knowledge. 
 
 If a man empties his purse in his head no one can take it away 
 from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best 
 interest. 
 
 Irrational Fears. 
 
 Our doubts are traitors to heaven and ourselves, and antedate 
 our doom. The craven heart that shuns impending peril expires 
 
312 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 on its own spear, while dauntless courage grapples with death, 
 and rends his terrors from him. Had I a thousand lives, and 
 each immortal, I'd jeopard all for the last hour of honor. 
 
 When, traitors shall grow weary of their lives, fate has sup- 
 plied them other means of death than staining with their blood 
 an honest sword. 
 
 His parting words sink like a funeral knell into my soul, and 
 freeze my blood with horror. The fading day, the death-like 
 sleep of nature, the treacherous calm that rests upon creation, 
 and the deep torpor that invests my brain, are the precursors of 
 calamity. 
 
 War. 
 
 Why should we talk of war when wine inspires our hearts with 
 thrilling ecstacy; let frigid cynics scoff at Cupid's chains, no 
 valued trophy that the hero wears clings half so closely to the 
 heart as love. 
 
 Tinsel and trappings still have virtue in them. 
 A block of frieze would cover twenty lords. 
 
 Popular Furor. 
 
 Where are the people, the Sertoria band, who cling around him 
 with unwavering love like the fond ivy twining round the gnarled 
 oak, or life's warm eddies circling through the heart in conquest 
 and defeat. 
 
 Full of fresh verdure and unnumbered flowers — the negligence 
 of nature. 
 
 0, they love least that let men know they love. 
 
 Separation. 
 
 And calm and smooth it seemed to take its moonlight way be- 
 fore the wind, as if it bore all peace within, nor left one breaking 
 heart behind. 
 
 Eaise we that beggar and denude this lord — the Senator shall 
 bear contempt hereditary, the beggar native honor. 
 
 Plots are the dark and back way to a throne; miss but one step, 
 we roll with ruin down. 
 
KEMIXISCENCES OP DAN KICE 313 
 
 He pauses indeed with the work of destruction, but he paused 
 like the Pythian Apollo, while balancing his body, fixing his eye, 
 adjusting his bow, and deliberately directing the unerring shaft 
 to the heart of his victim. 
 
 The Ruling Passion. 
 
 It is hope or our despair. It often secures success — and in 
 success enjoys the chief happiness, as in cases of failure it suffers 
 the chief misery. 
 
 He that is rich or he that is poor, knows but half of his own 
 nature. The experience furnished by both is the best knowledge. 
 
 Gheat Men. 
 
 Most men would be greater in the close of life if they were not 
 so great in the beginning. 
 
 What, are ye a hireling tribe to be bought out by he who bids 
 the highest? If the design be noble, grasp it nobly, and do not, 
 like a band of sordid slaves, embrace your bondage for the golden 
 fetters. 
 
 A Rake Beauty. 
 
 Bright eyes like rubies, teeth like pearls, and a quiet tongue . 
 within them. Oh, that I could exclaim " Eureka! " 
 
 The gratification of a ruling passion is our chief pleasure, its 
 disappointment our chief earthly penalty. Virtue has its en- 
 joyments in any result and often is more benefited by defeat 
 than success. 
 
 God Elects All Who Elect Him. 
 
 The thoughts passing through an ordinary mind, would, in the 
 course of a long life, if they could be collected, furnish more 
 instruction to mankind than the works of Bacon or Newton. 
 Shakespeare, of all mortals, has exhibited most of his mind, yet 
 he concealed more than he displayed. 
 
 Speech. 
 
 Speech is the morning to the soul. It spreads its beauteous 
 images abroad, which else lie furled and clouded in the brain. 
 
314 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 A man is meaner in adversity than prosperity. In the former 
 he builds upon himself, in the latter his fortune. 
 
 Adversity in itself is nothing, even to a generous spirit. It is 
 the thousand meannesses to which you are exposed that consti- 
 tute its chief misery. 
 
 Spiritualism. 
 
 One of the most remarkable things with Spiritualists is that 
 while they believe everything that few other persons can believe, 
 they deny everything that most reasonable men fully believe. 
 
 My greatest difficulties in life have sprung from my greatest 
 successes, and the greatest enjoyments of life from what have 
 been considered the greatest privations. 
 
 Few men are ever improved by prosperity, but thousands have 
 been benefited by adversity. It is a rough but excellent teacher, 
 whose lessons are rarely forgotten. 
 
 Mind. 
 
 The mind is never impaired except through the disordered 
 functions of the body. If the mind could in itself be diseased 
 it could die; a supposition which would be opposed to the doc- 
 •trine of immortality of the soul, and is, therefore, to be utterly 
 rejected. 
 
 If thou doest any beautifril thing with toil, the toil passeth 
 away, but the beautiful remains. If thou doest a vile thing with 
 pleasure, the pleasure passeth, but the vileness remaineth. 
 
 I don't know how it is with others, but I am never so much 
 disposed to be proud as when my worldly hopes are humblest. 
 
 Political Corruption. 
 
 In those unhappy times when good men are rendered odious, 
 and bad men popular; when great men are little and little men 
 great, he who would serve his country best must be above per- 
 sonal consideration. 
 
 Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree, laden with blooming gold, 
 has need the guard of dragon's watch with enchanted eye. 
 
reminiscences of dan bice 315 
 
 Good Natuhe. 
 
 Good nature is the best feature in the finest face. Wit may 
 raise admiration, honesty may command respect, and knowledge 
 attention; beauty may inflame the heart with love, but good 
 nature has a more peaceful effect, it adds a thousand attractions 
 to the charm of beauty and gives an air of beneficence to the 
 most homely face. 
 
 The man who has suffered the greatest evil in life, can suffer 
 no more. Like death, it cures everything else. 
 
 Being asked why I was so firm a believer in the Saviour, I re- 
 plied, " Both from reason and faith." Reason itself shows that 
 without faith in the doctrine of Christianity no man could be 
 saved. 
 
 To deep and earnest spirits, nature wears the countenance of 
 Deity, but joy and joyful hearts think of her only as a host at 
 whose bounteous table they may freely feast. 
 
 Symbolized Inebhiact. 
 
 Red noses are lighthouses to warn voyagers on the sea of life 
 to keep off the coasts of Malaga, Jamaica, Santa Cruz, and 
 Holland. 
 
 A nip of a mad dog and a nip of adulterated whiskey — both 
 produce a horror of water. 
 
 The National Coloes Symbolized. 
 
 The Red, White, and Blue. The red cheeks, the white teeth, 
 and blue eyes of a lovely girl are as good a flag as a young soldier 
 in the battle of life need fight under. 
 
 Bad Investments. 
 
 Some men deposit all their money inside their vests, in the 
 form of beer and whiskey, and call that investing it; they have 
 no faith in any other bank. 
 
 Embrace Christianity. 
 
 We should embrace Christianity even for prudential reasons, 
 for a just and benevolent God will not punish an intellectual 
 
316 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 being for believing what there is so much reason to believe; there- 
 fore, we run no risk by receiving Christianity if it be false, but a 
 serious one rejecting it if it be true. 
 
 Many men of talent are always under a cloud; they are scarcely 
 noticed and seldom heard. To be considered " Somebody," it 
 is unnecessary to make a great noise. Let the world know you 
 are successful in something, and immediately you become fa- 
 mous. If you wait until they find your virtues you will pass into 
 obscurity like a flower on a prairie. 
 
 Success is the ladder to greatness. No matter how you get on 
 the top, once there, you are adored, until the hook of history 
 takes you down, which is evidence that prosperity swells your 
 head, and you are busted. 
 
 Keep Good Company. 
 
 I know from experience that intercourse with persons of de- 
 cided virtue and excellence is of great importance in the forma- 
 tion of a good character. The force of example is powerful, we 
 are creatures of imitation, and by a necessary influence on temper 
 and habit, become largely the counterpart or model of those with 
 whom we familiarly associate. 
 
 Modesty. 
 
 There is no object that was ever eulogized that equals a modest 
 woman. Earth never revealed a holier vision; the eye of man 
 never gazed upon a lovelier specimen than a chaste woman robed 
 in simple attire. It is a picture that fills the intellectual eye 
 and commands adoration; it matters not whether she dwells in a 
 palace or lives in a hut, she is, indeed, an angel — that is, before 
 marriage. 
 
 Money 
 
 Should be made subordinate to one's moral duty, to society, 
 to country, and especially to God; for he that pursues riches 
 under the impression that their possession will set them at ease 
 and above the world, in the end, " gets left! " 
 
 The Oeigin of Sobbow. 
 
 We fancy that all our afflictions are sent to us directly from 
 above. Sometimes we think we recognize them in piety and con- 
 trition, but oftener we see them in moroseness and discontent. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EIOE 317 
 
 It would be well, however, if we attempted to find the causes of 
 them. We would probably find their origin in some region of 
 the heart which we had never well explored or in which we had 
 secretly deposited our worst indulgences. The clouds that in- 
 tercept the heavens from our view come not from heaven but 
 from earth. 
 
 Marriage. 
 
 Young man, get married! If you truly love and that love is 
 reciprocated. If you have no money, it matters not, for what has 
 money got to do with matrimony? You may say, " How am I to 
 pay for the marriage certificate? " Go to a Justice of the Peace. 
 "Suppose he will not credit me?" Then go to the Minister 
 and stand him off, like the majority of his congregation do. 
 
 Sentiments. 
 
 Young men, this bear in mind, 
 A trusty friend is hard to find; 
 And when you have one good and true, 
 Never change the old for the new. 
 
 Eeligion. 
 
 A religious life is one of the greatest recommendations. What 
 does it profess? A peace with all mankind. It teaches us those 
 attributes which will contribute to our present comfort as well 
 as to our future happiness; and its greatest ornament is charity. 
 It inculcates nothing but love and simplicity of affection. It 
 breathes nothing but the purest spirit of delight. In shojt, it is 
 the system perfectly calculated to benefit the heart, improve the 
 mind, and enlighten the understanding. 
 
 The Bible A Wonderful Book. 
 
 In every respect the Bible is, indeed, a wonderful book. The 
 impress of divinity is in all its pages. Every event is seen by 
 its light linked to God; every doctrine tends to glorify Him and 
 every precept to bless His creatures. There is no trace of flattery 
 to the readers, nor vanity in the writers; no anxiety to do justice 
 to any fact by coloring it, or to explain any circumstance that 
 seems inconsistent. They wrote as those who felt they were 
 amanuenses of God, the sworn witnesses to facts. They conceal 
 nothing from fear, palliate nothing through shame of human 
 nature and have proclaimed the suffering One on the cross to be 
 the Son of God. And from the so-called infidelity of Paine and 
 
318 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Eosseau, there are admissions, it is said, that might be advan- 
 tageously collected that recognize the Bible as the Book of God. 
 
 Mokal Suasion. 
 
 The principle would hold good in almost every worldly affair 
 with three exceptions. First: To persuade a woman she is wrong 
 when she has made up her mind she is right. Second: To per- 
 suade a mule when he does not want to go. Third: To move 
 a steamboat off a sand-bar when she is aground. 
 
 Wit. 
 
 Some men who have evinced a certain degree of wit and talent 
 in private companies fail miserably when they attempt to appear 
 as public characters in the grand theatre of human life. Great 
 men in a little circle, but little men in a great one; they show 
 their learning to the ignorant, but their ignorance to the learned. 
 The powers of their mind seem to be parched up and withered 
 by the public, like the- Welsh Cascades before the summer sun, 
 which, by the by, I know are vastly fine in the winter when no 
 one goes to see them. 
 
 Peace. 
 
 If you would be known and not to know, vegetate in a village; 
 if you would know and not be known, live in a city. 
 
 Triumph of Truth. 
 
 A wise minister would rather preserve the peace than gain a 
 victory, because he knows that even the most successful war 
 leaves nations generally poorer, and always more profligate than 
 it found them. These are real evils that cannot be brought 
 into a list of indemnities, and the demoralizing influence of war 
 is not among the least of them. The triumphs of truth are the 
 most glorious, chiefly because they are the most bloodless of all 
 victories, deriving their highest lustre from the number of the 
 saved, not of the slain. 
 
 Beauty. 
 
 Would you have stars or liquid diamonds? Gaze on her bright 
 eyes which light the way to joy. Pearl? Call to mind the treas- 
 ure of that mouth. Coral? Behold her lip. But, oh! Beware 
 you linger not amidst the sweet enchantment, this labyrinth of 
 love. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 319 
 
 How Should It Be? 
 
 When youth's consigned to the embrace of time, when life is 
 fettered in the arms of death? Canst read the human face and 
 not perceive how fate lies lurking in the wreathed smile? De- 
 crepit age, corruption and decay prey on the vernal cheek and 
 blight its bloom, the temple where this union is confined (?) 
 should be a sepulchre, a charnel house, and bridal robes and 
 jewels and parade give place to sackcloth, shrouds, and tears of 
 blood. 
 
 Bxpeeience. 
 
 Every burden of sorrows seems a stone hung around one's 
 neck; yet are they often only like the stones used by the pearl 
 divers which enable them to reach the prize and rise enriched. 
 
 The tears we shed for those we love are the streams that water 
 the garden of the heart, and without them it would be dry and 
 barren, and the gentle flowers of affection would perish. 
 
 Chaeitt. 
 
 Nothing requires more judgment than the dispensing of 
 one's confidence and charity, if the recipients are not worthy. 
 "We are betrayed in one instance and abused in the other. 
 
 A gentleman never insults another, and the offensive remarks 
 of an inferior person cannot insult a gentleman. In fact, a well- 
 regulated mind does not regard the abusive language of ignorance 
 in the light of an insult, and deems it beneath revenge. All the 
 abominations to which ignorance can give utterance cannot raise 
 the speaker one jot above his proper level, or depress a gentle- 
 man in the slightest degree below his sphere. 
 
 Human Life. 
 
 Hope invites the poetry of the boy, but memory that of the 
 man. Man looks forward with smiles, but backward with sighs. 
 Such is the wise providence of heaven, the cup of life is sweeter 
 at the brim, the flavor is impaired as we drink deeper and the 
 dregs are made bitter that we may not struggle when the cup is 
 taken from our lips. 
 
 Integrity. 
 
 In all things preserve integrity. The consciousness of thy own 
 uprightness will alleviate the toil of business, and soften the 
 harshness of disappointment and give thee an humble confidence 
 
320 HEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 before God, when the ingratitude of man or the iniquity of the 
 times may rob you of the due reward. 
 
 This is a bond of hands and not of hearts; is this generous? 
 Nay, is it just that doting age, forgetful of the tomb, should thus 
 stretch forth its sickly, palsied hand to crop the bloom of youth 
 and blight her days beyond all hope of a reviving spring? 
 
 In adversity the mind grows tough by buffeting the tempest, 
 but in success dissolving sinks to ease and loses all her firmness. 
 
 The Liak His Own Dupe. 
 
 Like one who having unto truth, by telling it, made such a 
 sinner of his memory to credit his own lie. 
 
 In vain the dews of heaven descend above the bleeding flower 
 and blasted fruit of love. 
 
 The Actualities op Liberty. 
 
 Personal liberty, even as a current phrase, is undoubtedly the 
 noblest watchword of our national life. In the vanguard of 
 true progress it has ever resounded as an unanswerable shout of 
 victory, and at the distant echo, oppressors in their short-lived 
 tyranny have trembled. Humiliating submission has never 
 taken any root upon the soil of this great, free country, and 
 never shall, in proof whereof the patriots of the past may be 
 pointed to, who often sealed in death their splendid scorn of sug- 
 gestions to surrender their valued sights as freemen, and shall we 
 of the present day be less courageous or less watchful? I trust 
 not. It is our duty neither to sleep throughout our watch nor 
 sulk within our tents; neither, however, need our hearts beat 
 funeral marches; they ought rather to throb gladly in national 
 unison to the old golden watchword of liberty. The present 
 time, too, is assuredly a season to try the nation's metal, to test 
 its sincerity, the vain, unbiased vaporings, the ultra-Socialist 
 ideas, once the incipient anarchistic leanings of the day must be 
 counteracted, and he who carefully considers the precious herit- 
 age of freedom will not be slow to see that his plain duty, as a 
 lover of commonwealth, is, in truth, a personal privilege as well. 
 To keep silence is a crime against friends, a concession to the 
 enemy, and a servile realization of the lines of Moore: 
 
 Thus freedom now so seldom wakes, the only throbs she gives 
 Is when some heart indignant breaks, to show that still she lives. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 321 
 
 Patriotism. 
 
 The brave man should never outlive his country. As clings 
 the infant to its mother's arms, blessing and blest, so cleaves 
 the nation's heart to the embraces of its native soil, at once de- 
 serving and imparting life. 
 
 Traitor. 
 
 The felon that purloins his country's glory and prostitutes it 
 to his country's shame. 
 
 Bear up, my soul, and, worthy of thyself, endure approaching 
 peril, as the past, dying as all shall die, who hope to live in the 
 proud pages of futurity. 
 
 Gratitude. 
 
 As a May morning arising from the East, or day dismounting 
 in the golden West. 
 
 Idleness. 
 
 The sloth perishes on the limbs after having eaten all their 
 leaves. 
 
 0, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and 
 anger of his lips who pillories an ingrate. 
 
 A murderous guilt shows not itself more soon than love that 
 would seem hid. 
 
 Virtue is sooner found in lowly sheds with smoky rafters than 
 in tapestried halls and courts of princes or brownstone fronts. 
 
 Youth, beauty, pomp, what are they to a woman's heart? 
 Compared with eloquence, the magic of the tongue is the most 
 dangerous of all spells. 
 
 The whole globe outstretched between the soul and its desires, 
 were shorter than the tiresome, tedious league, that turns the 
 back on joy. 
 
 Hopes destroyed endear those which remain. 
 31 
 
322 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Caprice. 
 
 From pride we doth borrow, 
 To part, we both may dare, 
 But the heartbreaks of to-morrow, 
 Nor you nor I can bear. 
 
 The golden day guilds yon sky-helmed mount with purple 
 hues, like fabled dolphins, varying as it dies. 
 
 Ambition. 
 
 His eagle-winged ambition soars so high that we are only left 
 to gaze and wonder at the proud pinnacle in our lowly sphere 
 beneath him. 
 
 Labor. 
 
 The laboring classes of the community in the cities are vastly 
 inferior, in point of intellect, to the same order of society in the 
 country. The mind of the city artificer is mechanized by the 
 constant attention to one single object, an attention into which 
 he is of necessity drilled and disciplined by the minute subdivi- 
 sion of labor which improves, I admit, the art, but debilitates 
 the artist, and converts the man into a mere breathing part of 
 that machinery by which he works. The rustic, on the contrary, 
 is obliged to turn his hand to everything, and must often make 
 his tool before he can use it, and is pregnant with invention and 
 fertile in resources. It is true, that by a combination of their 
 different employments, the city artificers produce specimens in 
 their respective vocations far superior to the best of the rustic. 
 But if, from the effects of systematic combination, the city arti- 
 ficer infers an individual superiority, he is wofully deceived. 
 
 At Home. 
 
 The highest style of being at home grows out of a special state 
 of the affections rather than of the intellect. Who has not met 
 with individuals whose faces would be a passport into any society, 
 and whose manners, the unstudied and spontaneous expressions 
 of their inner selves, make them welcome wherever they go, and 
 attract unbounded confidence in whatever they undertake. They 
 are frank, because they have nothing to conceal; affable because 
 their nature overflows with benevolence; unfiurried, because they 
 have nothing to dread; always at home, because they have within 
 themselves that which can trust to itself anywhere and every- 
 where, purity of soul and fulness of health. Such are our best 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 323 
 
 guarantees for feeling at home in all society to which duty takes 
 us, and in every occupation into which we are obliged to enter. 
 They who are least for themselves, are the least embarrassed by 
 uncertainties. 
 
 Woman is the morning star of infancy, the day star of man- 
 hood, the evening star of old age. Bless our stars! May we ever 
 bask in the sunshine of their smiles until they make us see stars 
 out of our eyes! 
 
 The grave closes all accounts with this world and strikes a 
 balance sheet in the next. 
 
 That which he decides, fate's awful fiat stamps as irrevocable — 
 it is done. 
 
 Great fortunes little men allure to those proud supernal heights 
 which only Gods, and men like Gods, attain. 
 
 There is this wonderful benignity in the providence and econ- 
 omy of God that our very sufferings produce our relief. From 
 this excess great pain renders us insensible to pain. Great heat 
 produces, naturally, refreshing showers. 
 
 God only can cure the wounds that life inflicts. 
 
 Death only hides the scars. 
 
 Time, Force, and Death. 
 
 Do to this body what extremes you can; but the strong base 
 and building of my love is as the very centre of the earth, draw- 
 ing all things to it. 
 
 Sympathy lightens grief> the weight that all men share from 
 sympathy so lightened; but the thunderbolt that falls on one 
 poor heart, scathes, scatters, and destroys it. 
 
 She died, but not alone; she held within a second principle 
 of life which might have dawned a fair and sinless child of sin; 
 but closed its little being without light and went down to the 
 grave unborn, wherein blossom and bough be withered with one 
 blight. 
 
 Ten thousand fools, knaves, cowards lunched together, became 
 all-wise, all-righteous, and all-mighty. 
 
324 ebminiscences of dan eice 
 
 Old Men. 
 
 These old fellows have their ingratitude in them hereditary, 
 their blood is caked, is cold, it seldom flows; 'tis lack of timely 
 warmth, they are not kind, and nature as it grows again towards 
 earth is fashioned for the journey dull and heavy. 
 
 There is religion in amusement. Man takes the wrong course 
 who tries to dam up human nature. I love that man who tries to 
 turn human nature in a right direction, and to let men have 
 good amusements, for they like them. Where is the man who 
 does not like amusement? A circus especially. To see the child 
 in its mother's arms, when the old clown comes in, jump up and 
 down in its mother's lap, clap its tiny hands with joy. I like 
 to see a kitten chase its own tail. If the ministers of religion 
 had done their duty in trying to guide and direct the amuse- 
 ments of the people, there would not be so many bad amusements 
 as there are at the present time. Instead of the clergy standing 
 askance from amusement, I would like to see them taking more 
 interest — taking part in them. John Wesley said some people 
 found fault with him for taking tunes which had been associated 
 with foolish songs, and applying them to sacred hymns. Replied: 
 I see no reason why the devil should have all the good things 
 in the world. 'There is music, painting, chess, baseball, cricket, 
 the circus, etc., I would take them all in the service of religion 
 and virtue. There is a class of people, and I may say ministers, 
 too, who imagine they are serving the Lord by appearing always, 
 and under all circumstances, sanctimonious — 
 
 Who confound the sins they're not inclined to, 
 And damn all those they have a mind to. 
 
 Thy candor wears the livery of Truth, the vesture of the starry 
 court above, where virtue reigns supreme, and the free soul 
 owes fealty only to the King of Kings. 
 
 Rice on the Rostbum. 
 
 Had Dan Rice chosen the lecture field instead of the motley 
 garb he would assuredly have made his mark as one of the most 
 successful and popular lecturers in the United States. Pos- 
 sessed of a commanding presence, an engaging frankness and 
 charm of address, combined with a most sonorous voice and clear 
 enunciation, and, above all, a singular expansion of ideas and 
 marvellous resourcefulness and versatility, there is but little oc- 
 casion for doubt that he would have achieved a gratifying reputar 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 325 
 
 tion on the lectorium, forming a fitting and graceful sequel to 
 the well-nigh unparalleled success he has reaped in the many- 
 sided roles of his remarkable life as a public entertainer. 
 
 The Oeatoet oe the Forum and the Eing. 
 
 " 'It is a curious circumstance/ said a writer in Blackwood, 
 'that every Englishman thinks he can do two things, and is 
 never convinced of his error until he tries; one is that he can 
 write for a newspaper, and the other that he can swim.' To this 
 we may add, that every American thinks he is an orator. The 
 young lady of ten, in all the glory of crinoline, silk flowers, and 
 kid gloves, astonishes a select company with a reading from 
 Tennyson. The young man of the same age, with new jacket 
 and ' shining morning face,' carried off the palm at a school 
 exhibition by declaiming the adventures of a ' boy ' who remained 
 unnecessarily upon some ' burning deck ' from which every sen- 
 sible person 'had fled.' The adolescent orator passes next to the 
 village debating society discussing with much temerity social 
 and political themes, which grave men approach with fear and 
 trembling. When he retires from college, with all the dignity 
 of parchment, blue ribbon, and the bachelor's gown, he pro- 
 nounces a Latin valedictory which he is quite certain is finer than 
 any of Cicero's orations. At the bar, or in the pulpit, at the 
 political meeting, the State Legislature, or in the Congress of 
 the nation, our orator addresses the people, and, as a rule, fails. 
 The number of orators is quite disproportionate to the number 
 of speakers — in all the debates in the Colonial Legislature pre- 
 vious to the assembling of the Continental Congress, but few 
 speeches are remembered. In Congress, but few great orators 
 have ever appeared, and they are all dead. But these facts do 
 not lessen the number of orators — or abbreviate the speeches. 
 So well is it understood that every member of Congress must 
 speak at some time or other, whether he has anything to say or 
 not, the rules provide that the House may, at convenient times, 
 resolve itself into committee of the whole on the state of the 
 Union, when any member may occupy an hour in talking about 
 anything that occurs to him. The amount of desultory nonsense 
 that is spoken in committee is something fearful to contemplate. 
 Some members are profoundly stupid, like Dogberry, of Messina; 
 some essay the role of the ' Motley fool ' in the 'Forest of Arden' ; 
 others are hopelessly dull like Chamberlin— in ' Hamlet.' The 
 speeches are upon all imaginary subjects, earthly and heavenly, 
 terrestrial and celestial. They are not unlike the speeches made 
 by Dan Eice, the jester clown at Niblo's, who is the exponent 
 of the oratory of the ring, as contra-distinguished from the ora- 
 
326 REMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 
 
 tory of the forum. Eiee resolves himself into a committee of 
 the whole every evening, and addresses the audience upon the 
 topics of the day. He has lately incurred the wrath of philoso- 
 phers of the ' Tribune/ who have come down upon him, in the 
 usual neat and elegant style of the journal. The showman de- 
 fends himself exactly like a member of Congress. He begins by 
 deprecating the journal as being beneath his notice; ' but/ said 
 he, ' as it might get into some decent man's house, and create a 
 false impression against me, I am bound to say that though I am 
 a fool by profession, I have some regard for consistency. Now, 
 I don't think that a newspaper which is continually preaching 
 about hot corn, vegetable diet, and so forth, should object to that 
 celestial grain and South Carolina staple — rice. The chief use, 
 however, made by the " Tribune " people of grain, was in the 
 form of whiskey, under the influence of which he had been as- 
 sailed. If he (Eice) thought himself as mean as some of these 
 people, he would " desert the United States and go to live in 
 Jersey." ' Now as a piece of denunciation, sarcasm, ridicule, 
 and wit, this specimen of the oratory of the ring is not inferior 
 to the average of Congressional speeches. If it had been one of 
 the Ely Thayers of the House, it would have been dotted all 
 over with ' laughter ' in parentheses, the concluding mot is en- 
 titled to 'great laughter/ and would have been so received in 
 Congress. 
 
 " There is a growing disposition among our orators of the 
 forum to cultivate the joke department — it might be considered 
 bad taste for a grave Senator to don the parti-colored habit of 
 the buffoon, but the funny members might take a lesson from the 
 great clown above mentioned. Let the professional jokers of 
 Congress summon Eice to the bar of the house, and extract his 
 jokes under oath. It will serve to enliven the debates, and, in 
 due time, some of the members may fit themselves for the cap 
 and bells they seem so anxious to wear." — From N. Y. " Herald," 
 1858, Niblo's Garden, Ned Wilkins, Eeporter, in Box. 
 
 LECTUEES. 
 
 Is there one in all the world who has not heard of Dan Eice, 
 the jester of the nineteenth century? Who of "our daddies" 
 has not seen him in his inimitable performances of the circus 
 ring — the man whose drolleries, wit, and facial expressions have 
 made both hemispheres laugh for half a century; who has amused 
 and made more happy more people than any other man the world 
 has produced? In this he has been a great benefactor, driving 
 sorrow and dull care away with the health-giving laugh, causing 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 327 
 
 the young and the old, the peasant and the king, from the Hot- 
 tentot to the polished Caucasian to hold their sides in uproarious 
 mirth. Think of the good one can do who makes everybody 
 laugh that comes across his way. " Played the fool for a life- 
 time," says Dan, " to amuse the world." " The clown of our 
 daddies," as Dan is pleased to term himself, visited Corpus 
 Christi last Tuesday, and gave one of his unique entertainments 
 at Market Hall, entitled " The Fool's Wisdom." A representa- 
 tive audience of our citizens was present. Mayor Heath in a 
 few well-chosen words introduced the veteran king of the saw- 
 dust ring, who, with one of those graceful salutations to the 
 audience characteristic of " happy Dan," made an impression 
 that placed him and his hearers at once on a common plane of 
 familiar ease. He began by saying he had arrived that day over 
 the San Antonio andAransas Pass Railroad to Papalote, thence to 
 this city by stage; complimented in high terms the new road and 
 its management, the excellent stage line, and described his sen- 
 sations on crossing the reef — all of which he enjoyed very much. 
 " For years," he continued, " I have cherished a wish to visit 
 Corpus Christi, because of its historical associations and the fame 
 of its beautiful location, but chiefly because here lives a friend 
 of my boyhood days, now the well-known and honored citizen of 
 this city, Capt. M. Kennedy, the man whose foresight, liberality, 
 and public spirit have made possible the great railroad enterprise 
 that is about to lift your city into rapid growth and prosperity. 
 We were youths together in Pittsburg, and during the long years 
 since, I have cherished the most pleasant recollections of him, 
 notwithstanding we were rivals at one time for the same girl." 
 He referred to the bright future of Corpus Christi and the enter- 
 prise and growth that are soon to follow in the wake of the iron 
 horse. He talked for nearly an hour and a half, giving reminis- 
 cences from his rich experiences, often causing the audience to 
 shout with laughter. The entertainment Wednesday night was 
 a continuation of the "Fool's Wisdom," and to a much larger 
 audience, among whom were a large number of ladies and chil- 
 dren, also the clergy of the city who were- represented both nights. 
 Throughout the whole Dan tells his tales and points the morals. 
 He dwells especially on the moral and religious life, on education, 
 the dignity of labor, the moral influence of the mother, the in- 
 fluence of the wife over the husband, the duty of the child to its 
 parents, and especially of its duty to its mother. His tribute to 
 women is truly beautiful. Dan often grows pathetic, touching 
 the tender cord of his hearers, observing which, he winds up with 
 a description or story that wovlA turn a tear into a shout of 
 laughter. There is a world of fun in him and it will come out. 
 His description of his visit to the Holy Land, his belief in the 
 
328 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Bible, and his scathing denunciation of infidels are alone well 
 worth the time of every one to hear. His presentation of the 
 features of human life — the idiosyncrasies of the human mind — 
 are not only moral and unique, but open up new avenues for 
 thought and reflection. Dan draws from a fund of knowledge 
 and well-remembered experience that is remarkable. He quotes 
 readily passages from the best authors to give force to his points 
 and embellish his periods. His familiarity with the Bible is 
 remarkable, for one does not expect such from the old clown. 
 
 The " Caller " representative noted the intense interest of his 
 hearers, noticeable in all from the street urchin to the talented 
 divine. Notwithstanding our citizens have an aversion during 
 the heated term to gathering in Market Hall for any entertain- 
 ment, the magnet of the world's greatest humorist was irresisti- 
 ble and the second night the elite of the city gathered in full 
 force. While here Mr. Eiee was part of the time the guest of 
 Captain Kennedy. As the two friends sat down to the elegant 
 dinner many were the old-time episodes recalled of their lives 
 as spent in Pittsburg. Put in print they would make interesting 
 reading for the public, but we forbear. Mr. Eice has been in 
 Texas for about fourteen months, looking after some land inter- 
 ests. He speaks in flattering terms of Texas people, our towns, 
 etc., and especially of San Antonio and this city. His visit to 
 Corpus will long be remembered by our citizens who had the good 
 fortune to see and hear him. The " Caller " advises those of its 
 readers who may have the opportunity, not to fail to hear the 
 " old clown " lecture. — From the Corpus Christi " Caller," 
 August, 1886. 
 
 Common Sense. 
 
 It is generally supposed that nearly everyone is possessed of 
 common sense, while a few have uncommon sense, or, in other 
 words, that there are a favored few who are geniuses. But in 
 my opinion, there are many less than we suppose who have even 
 the ordinary quality which is so essential to our success in life. 
 When I see a man wham the world calls " smart " and " ener- 
 getic," who, in truth, has talents, but instead of using them for 
 the good of mankind, uses them for his own selfish ends, and 
 does not seek to benefit the world by his existence, but lives only 
 for self, and does not look beyond this world for his reward, 
 whose highest aims and plans do not go farther than this life, 
 when I see such a man, who might be an ornament to society but 
 for his own selfish views, I think that person has a great want of 
 common sense. When I see a man who makes the " almighty 
 dollar " his aim, who hesitates not to commit any crime, no mat- 
 ter how great it is, who will, without the least pangs of eon- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN MCE 329 
 
 science (if he has a conscience), defraud men out of their rights, 
 and when money is in view, puts aside all other plans, and rushes 
 madly on for the fickle prize; who, instead of laying up treasures 
 above, makes riches his idol— such a man, I think, lacks very 
 much in sound sense. But, perhaps, there is no character so 
 devoid of sense as the hypocrite. It has been said that " it takes 
 a smart man to be a rogue "; this may be true, yet it is a kind 
 of smartness in which there is not much good sense. The hypo- 
 crite may have a sort of subtle cunning, yet he is destitute of 
 morals, religion, and sense. A man who goes through the world 
 trying to make people believe that he is something which he is 
 not, whose life is all a mere farce, he appears outwardly to be 
 honest and upright, but inwardly is filled with dead man's bones; 
 he is clothed in long robes, and at the same time devours widows' 
 houses. He may be a lawyer, a merchant, or a physician, but in 
 all these places he is as much to be abhorred as those who are 
 openly base and corrupt, and although he may get through this 
 world without it being known how corrupt he is, yet he will one 
 day come before Him whom he cannot deceive, and then it will 
 be seen that he lacked very much in common sense. There are 
 many others who do not act as though they had the least particle 
 of sense; eyes have they, but they see not; ears have they, but 
 they hear not; souls have they, but they feel not. But a word in 
 regard to the geniuses: it has been said (and with a great deal of 
 truthfulness, too) that genius is industry, hard and long work; 
 unceasing effort; and it is in the power of every man to set his 
 aim as high as he will, and with industry he can come up to that 
 aim. True, every man cannot be a Webster or a Washington, 
 yet he may attain to a high position in some of the many ways 
 that are open. How many examples have we of men who arose 
 to rank and station, who at some time in their lives had utterly 
 despaired of reaching a high and noble position, but who, by 
 untiring industry, at last arrived at the height of their ambition. 
 Daniel Webster was not born a genius, although he afterward 
 became one. And so it is with all of our great men, it is labor 
 that makes the genius. Thus we see that we should possess com- 
 mon sense, and with that we shall be sure to prosper. 
 
 Pathos and Mieth. 
 
 COL. EICE DELIVERS ONE OF HIS FAMOUS LECTURES, FOR THE 
 BENEFIT OF M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, HOT SPRINGS. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice, the world-famed jester, showman, and lecturer, 
 delivered one of his characteristic talks at the M. E. Church, 
 South, Hot Springs, last evening. A large and appreciative audi- 
 
330 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 enee was entertained by the white-haired veteran of the ring and 
 rostrum, during one and a half hours of mingled mirth and 
 pathos, interesting reminiscences of men and places, personal 
 experiences, humorous and pathetic, the sublime and the ridicu- 
 lous, all deftly sandwiched together in a manner that caused 
 alternate smiles and tears to come and go upon the faces of his 
 auditors. Among the audience were the energetic pastor of the 
 church and many prominent citizens. The distinguished lec- 
 turer was frequently interrupted by spontaneous rounds of ap- 
 plause, and after his beautiful and logical closing peroration, 
 received the hearty congratulations of the assembly who were 
 loath to leave the edifice. Being in a church, the speaker's won- 
 derful spirit of natural humor was consistently checked to coin- 
 cide with the surroundings, for, as Uncle Dan truthfully remarks, 
 " an edifice devoted to the worship of God, no matter how hum- 
 ble, is a temple sacred from profanation by word or deed." If 
 any one doubts that humor must not be coarse clothed, or is 
 inseparable from vulgarity, he needed but to have been present to 
 have been convinced to the contrary. Beginning with a witty 
 preface, the speaker led his audience over the route of his life 
 wanderings through the length and breadth of the civilized 
 globe, to the courts of royalty and the sacred garden of Geth- 
 semane, under the burning equatorial sun and over rolling seas 
 and back to the canvas-covered 42^-f oot realm of sawdust where 
 he reigned the king of the clowns for over fifty years. He paid 
 a glowing tribute to woman — woman as she should be and woman 
 as she is — with some rib-tickling personal experiences. 
 " Woman," said he, " was the latest and most perfect handiwork 
 of God." Passing to the subject of intemperance he gave utter- 
 ance to advice that all should heed. Said he: "I have quit lec- 
 turing on temperance because I have quit drinking; nine-tenths 
 of all so-called temperance lecturers are either drunk at the time 
 or immediately after. He eulogized the power of moral suasion 
 in working reformation, but, said he, "there are some things 
 that moral suasion will not accomplish. It won't move a steam- 
 boat off a sand-bar, because I have tried it myself." Speaking of 
 Hot Springs, he said, " I have never met so many rheumatic 
 people in my life; every other man is its victim, but this is the 
 footstool of mother Nature, who cures and consoles them all," fol- 
 lowing with humorous imitations of old men and remarks about 
 his own disputed age. He gave a pulpit picture of Henry Ward 
 Beecher and related an amusing incident of the great divine in 
 connection with the sacred cattle of Hindoostan which he (Bice) 
 was the first to exhibit in this country. He quoted profusely 
 from past and contemporary poets and authors and evinced a sur- 
 prising familiarity with historical events and sacred writings. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 331 
 
 No pen picture can portray his kaleidoscopic power of oratory, 
 and suffice it to say that all was eminently characteristic of the 
 eventful career of the original and only Dan Eice. — From the 
 " Daily News/' Hot Springs, Ark., May 25, 1885. 
 
 Uncle Dan's Farewell Talk. 
 
 lights and shadows of an eventful life — painted by a 
 master hand — a triumph of oratory. 
 
 Last night Col. Dan Eice, who has been sojourning at the 
 springs for several weeks recuperating, appeared in a farewell 
 lecture for the benefit of the Knights of Labor, at the Academy 
 of Music. While the audience was not as numerous as the occa- 
 sion deserved, it more than made up in enthusiasm what it 
 lacked in numbers. When the silver-haired veteran of the 42-J- 
 foot diameter ascended the rostrum, he was greeted with a spon- 
 taneous burst of applauding welcome from ladies and gentlemen. 
 As he faced the assembly with his genial smile, precursor of the 
 fun that was to follow, he was presented with a beautiful floral 
 tribute, the gift of our distinguished citizen, Colonel Sumpter. 
 Uncle Dan, as we love to call him, alluded to the gift in an elo- 
 quent and touching manner. He eulogized the generosity and 
 public spirit of the Colonel and spoke feelingly of the interest 
 the donor manifested for the good of his fellow-men. The trib- 
 ute touched the hearts of his auditors and evoked a hearty out- 
 burst of approbation. Passing to his theme the Colonel said: 
 "I am here to tell you of the Fool's Wisdom, culled from the 
 rose-clad but thorn-laden paths of life. For half a century I 
 have worn the motley garb of the fool, laboring for the amuse- 
 ment of mankind. Fools never die, for the fool is ever ' wise at 
 last.' " He took his eager listeners to the " dark continent," to 
 the" Historic banks of the sluggish Nile," to the " Sacred shores 
 of the Dead Sea," to the realms of royalty and the abode of 
 princes, and brought them back with a brilliant mob to the tint 
 and tinsel of the tented ring where he wielded the royal sceptre 
 of mirth from the early memory of the oldest inhabitant. He 
 convulsed his hearers with characteristic illustrations of the old 
 men approaching him daily with tottering steps and the in- 
 evitable remark: "Why, Dan, I went to your circus when I was 
 a boy." Like the flitting figures of the kaleidoscope, he reached 
 hither and thither, plucking rich gems of thought and flowers 
 of oratory, which he intertwined with wreaths of humor, and 
 presented in a beautiful bouquet of mirth, melody of expression, 
 and moral precept. He paid a deserved compliment to the work- 
 ingmen— the Knights of Labor— illustrating with examples of 
 
332 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 prominent men and notably the career of our honored President. 
 His tribute to woman — girl, wife, and mother; his advice to 
 young men, and his laudation of our moral guide, the Holy Bible, 
 were efforts of oratory rarely heard, and were enthusiastically 
 received. He plucked the plumes from Ingersoll's turban and 
 trampled them in the dust of denunciation. He exposed the 
 artifices of humbugs and pretenders, and threw the calcium rays 
 of truth on the cloaked forms of deceitful workers. " Truth," 
 said he, " is the bulwark of eternal happiness." Inspired by the 
 presence of old friends, he seemed to rise above himself, and 
 Words of wisdom and eloquence rippled forth with the rhythm of 
 the running brook. Our pen fails to picture the enchantment of 
 that hour and a half. The well-worn phrase " must be seen to 
 be appreciated," fully expresses the opinion of all who were pres- 
 ent, and when he bowed his thanks and withdrew, all were loath 
 to leave. Notwithstanding the fact that the Academy has borne 
 no enviable reputation, owing to mismanagement, many promi- 
 nent ladies were present, and thoroughly enjoyed the entertain- 
 ment. Uncle Dan's magnetism overcomes all obstacles, and as 
 the story is told to-day on the street and in marts of trade and 
 homes, the careless absentees "kick" themselves for missing 
 the most enjoyable feature of our amusement season. — From 
 " The Sunday News," Hot Springs, Ark., May 28, 1885. 
 
 Dan Eice's Tribute to Woman. 
 
 an eloquent appeal for the fair sex at a banquet 
 given at the astor house, new york, in the 
 winter of 1846 in honor of bancroft, the great 
 historian. 
 
 Dan Eiee was an invited guest. At that time the reputation, of 
 the great jester had spread all over the city, and it was de riguer 
 to invite him to such gatherings in the expectation that he would 
 impart a zest to the entertainment by his original wit and humor. 
 In this they met with memorable disappointment, for very fre- 
 quently when they expected a burlesque harangue, or an out- 
 pouring of humorous satire, they were regaled with an address 
 wherein morality, philosophy, and sound and sober argument 
 were the salient features. And thus it happened at the historical 
 banquet. After a variety of toasts had been given and responded 
 to, that of " Woman " was left until the last, and as Dan Eiee 
 was called upon to reply, a smile stole over the faces of all present, 
 but rising to his feet, with kindling eye, and eloquent gesture, 
 realized the tender grandeur of the subject, and the joke — for 
 such it was meant when he was named as the respondent — turned 
 
HEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 333 
 
 upon themselves. " Woman," said he, " if first in our affections, 
 should not be the last in our toasts. She has fallen into my arms, 
 and I will uphold her with all the chivalry of the feudal age. 
 Woman is a theme worthy the poet or the orator. Did not 
 Homer, the blind bard, sing of woman, and when we read of 
 Hector, bearing thick battle on his sounding shield, or holding 
 aloft young Astynax, trembling at his nodding plume, do we not 
 revert to the beauteous Helen and Andromache. Woman is the 
 type of civilization; in savage life, a slave, in refined society, a 
 queen. What distinguishes this nation most, what impresses 
 the noble of other lands that the ' American ' is more delicately 
 refined, is our veneration for woman; she can travel alone 
 through our vast country, her guardian angel the spirit of Ameri- 
 can manhood. 
 
 " I cannot read the future, the horizon is obscured, the firma- 
 ment is not clear. Who can tell what will grow out of conflicts 
 in the Old World, and the anxieties of the New? This I believe, 
 that as long as the American people preserve their respect for 
 woman, and respect fellows' worth, the American Eepublic will 
 live. This I know, that if the mothers of the nation are good and 
 pure, the sons of the nation will be strong and free. Woman! em- 
 pire is in thy hand. Lead forth from beyond the mountains, from 
 the far Pacific, out of the virgin bosom of the peerless West the 
 young States, and they will come to our Union as mighty as our 
 own, without a canker to consume their youth, without a cloud 
 to darken their destiny. Woman is supreme in good or evil. 
 Did not Cleopatra lead captive conqueror? Who but Eve could 
 have destroyed Paradise? where day was ecstatic joy, and night 
 came as the approach of gentle music; where the couch was 
 fragrant with the breath of flowers, when the very mountains 
 arose in their sublimity to extend their shade over man's repose. 
 Though the chosen angel of the Destroyer, still her name is 
 stamped on the decalogue, ' Honor thy mother.' In song, who 
 more impassioned than Sappho? in prophecy, who more inspiring 
 than Miriam, with harp and timbrel by the shore of the sounding 
 sea? Her destiny overshadows man's — his fate trembles in hers. 
 Napoleon tore from his heaven, his morning star, Josephine, and 
 St. Helena, in retribution, arose from the ocean. Did not the 
 mother of Washington fashion his great mind and breathe her 
 stainless purity into his great heart ? More eloquent than tongue 
 can tell, more glorious than pen can write, are the simple words, 
 Mother' Daughter, Sister, Wife. ' Mother,' how sweet from the 
 lips of the gleeful girl; how holy from the trembling voice of 
 sickness. To the dying captive, to the bleeding soldier, to the 
 oreat man, to the malefactor on the scaffold, thy name, ' Mother,' 
 comes radiant with the light of young Eden days. Wife is thy 
 
334 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 better self; Sister thy loveliest peer; Daughter, sunshine, danc- 
 ing on thy knee. In heathen mythology, Jove was the parent of 
 Wisdom, which sprung a goddess, all created from his immortal 
 mind. In Christianity the Virgin was the mother of our Lord. 
 Woman has ever been divine; with the ancients the symbol of 
 plenty, of beauty, of purity, and wisdom; Minerva, all perfect 
 Ceres with her sheaf of wheat; Diana, with her bended bow; 
 Venus arising from the crowning foam of the sea. With us of 
 the New Testament, she has been chosen as wife and daughter, 
 for the expression of miracle- — at the marriage feast, when the 
 water blushed to wine, and when He bade the daughter of Jarius 
 arise and walk. Faith, Hope, and Charity abideth most in her 
 who touched but the hem of His garment and was made whole, 
 and in the widow who, in giving her mite, gave most to the Lord. 
 Yes, woman is divine. How many orisons ascend daily to the 
 Blessed Mother? Woman is divine, even in her fall. Do you 
 not remember that our ' Saviour,' bowed to the earth, wrote upon 
 the sand, and would not look upon her shame, her degradation, 
 or her punishment. In the creation, heaven lavished upon 
 woman its latest perfection, moulding her in graceful and en- 
 chanting loveliness, and planted an altar for her worship in the 
 bosom of man, where incense to her shall burn forever. 
 
 " With instinctive pride and modesty, she conceals her charms 
 from all but the being she adores, and even from him except in 
 the full fruition of her love. She is" in her perfection, the em- 
 bellishment of man, whose greatest pride is, or should be, to 
 adorn and beautify her person. The egotistical philosopher, or 
 spiritual puritan, may affect a holy horror at the exquisite taste 
 with which fashion robes the female form, but no unselfish, cul- 
 tured man can be insensible to the high claim of a beautiful 
 costume of the gentle companion heaven commits to him to be 
 nurtured and developed into the aerial atmosphere of love." 
 
 The Veteran Dan Eice, in the M. E. Church Last 
 Sunday Evening. 
 
 from the arkansas city journal. 
 
 After being introduced by the pastor of the church, in a few 
 well-timed remarks, he presented the entertainment promised 
 on the " Idiosyncrasies of the Human Mind," to the most intelli- 
 gent audience of our city and surrounding country. The subject 
 chosen for the occasion, covered such a vast field, and furnished 
 such a wonderful scope of thought, that the mind fails to grapple 
 with its entirety, nevertheless the various points were handled 
 in a masterly manner. The veteran showman appeared to be as 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 335 
 
 much at home in the pulpit as he ever was in the sawdust ring, 
 and at times the audience was aroused to a pitch of intense 
 enthusiasm, notwithstanding that it broke over the restraint of 
 church rules. The Colonel briefly but visibly portrayed his en- 
 trance into circus life, relating the history of his wonderful 
 travels in different parts of the world, alluding to such spots as 
 Jerusalem, Jericho, the Sea of Galilee, and many other places 
 rich in historic memory. He also related his experience in Asia, 
 Egypt, and points in Africa, to which countries he had been called 
 in the purchase of wild animals and birds, frequently interspers- 
 ing his remarks with numerous humorous anecdotes. A gentle- 
 man present in the audience, Captain Haynes, who had travelled 
 over the countries named, bears testimony to the wonderful mem- 
 ory and the accuracy of the Colonel's remarks. It is rarely that 
 our citizens are favored with an opportunity of listening to one 
 whose experiences have been so varied, and whose name is 
 known, not only throughout the great continent of America, but 
 also in the capitals of Europe. His lessons of instruction to the 
 young people present will prove profitable; the high moral tone 
 of his language seemed to astonish many who had seen him only 
 in his professional attire. The points he made on the subject of 
 divorce had a telling effect upon all persons present, and his ad- 
 vice to young men in pursuing the path of duty will, no doubt, 
 after due reflection, lead many of them to more frequently visit 
 the house of God. His scathing remarks on " Bob Ingersoll," 
 whom he knew when a school-teacher at Shawneetown, 111., were 
 of such character that, could Ingersoll have been present, he would 
 have covered his head in shame. The parallel that he drew be- 
 tween President Cleveland and James G. Blaine, giving a brief 
 history of both, was something that has never appeared in print. 
 We could readily detect, however, that he was a warm admirer of 
 Cleveland, and that he had always been suspicious of school- 
 teachers, when they became leading politicians, for having come 
 in social contact with the most prominent ones in their homes 
 and in the halls of legislation, and having watched them closely 
 from King Louis Phillipe down to the present day, and invariably 
 found them wily and unscrupulous demagogues. His tribute 
 to woman was couched in the most flowing language, and her 
 influence over the unwise ways of man captivated all present. 
 He stated, just after the war, he had appropriated the first money 
 to the building of this church. After strenuous efforts on the 
 part of the citizens they have succeeded in erecting a very credit- 
 able house of worship, although still unfinished, which, however, 
 he hopes to see completed by next fall, when, if not, he 
 promised to render aid. His entire discourse was silver words of 
 wisdom, the result of long experience, and was an intellectual 
 
336 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 treat to be long remembered with pleasure, and in the words of 
 the New York " Tribune," " As there never was but one Shakes- 
 peare, there will never be but one Dan Rice." — From " The Com- 
 mercial," Pine Bluff, Ark., April 14, 1885. 
 
 Address Delivered Before the Faculty oe University 
 of Ann Arbor, Jan. 1, 1866. 
 
 Among the desires planted in man by the Creator, the desire 
 to please is one of the most natural as well as beneficial. All 
 classes of humanity in every degree or station of life whatsoever, 
 acknowledge its sway, and with the gentle but potent force of 
 love, our tribute is exacted; and we bow ourselves as willing sub- 
 jects to its reign. Folly and wisdom are, in their natures, two 
 extremes, and the distinction between the two at their greater 
 points of diversity, reveal as great a difference to the under- 
 standing as light or the meridian of the sun and darkness 
 at the hour of midnight to the sight. Yet as light and darkness 
 so mingle between the dawn and the sunrise, and in the interval 
 between the setting thereof and night, as to be in reality sus- 
 ceptible to neither the name of light nor dark, so, also, at the 
 margins where wisdom and folly join, it is extremely difficult to 
 assign the medley produced to either wisdom or folly, but placing 
 them at their most distant points, the contrast is of a nature so 
 observable that only those bereft of sight can fail to realize the 
 distinction and note the difference. Like as to the two poles of 
 a battery, wisdom is the positive and folly the negative. Wisdom 
 is understanding; folly, the lack of it. Of all the follies of which 
 humanity can -be capable, the greatest is our attempt to do that 
 which reason proclaims an impossibility. The knowledge of 
 human nature requisite to the reason, deducting the fact concern- 
 ing the impossibility of pleasing every one, is so slight, that he 
 who has not been observant enough to gather such knowledge, 
 must indeed be blind to all the motives that impel human action, 
 and having wandered so far from the realm of wisdom, must in- 
 deed have imbibed much of folly, if it has not totally become his 
 element and habitation. The desire to please was planted in 
 mai by his Deity for good use, the fruits whereof should be a 
 blessing, and not to rob him of character by making of him a 
 chameleon, which, having no color of its own, bears the hue of 
 objects in juxtaposition. The individual who tries to please 
 everyone is soon robbed of character and becomes an object of 
 dislike to those whom he would please; a skeptic on all points con- 
 cerning the true nobility of man or the virtue of woman; loathes 
 self, simply an animated existence without the least resemblance 
 of a virtue prized by men. The Scriptures say it is impossible 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 337 
 
 to serve both God and Mammon. To serve is to please — to serve 
 God is to please the just; to serve Mammon is to please the un- 
 just; to please all is to serve all, which, being an impossibility, is 
 folly. A kite cannot rise with the wind but against it. In order 
 that there be justice, injustice is necessary; the very fact of death 
 proves the fallacy of life — pleasure, sorrow, love, hatred, wisdom, 
 folly. 
 
 Nothing in the world is single, 
 
 All things by a love divine 
 In one another's being mingle; 
 
 Thereby propagate their kind. 
 
 If, therefore, in the beginning, it were possible for one to have 
 pleased all, and each individual being possessed of that power, 
 pleasure, being constant, would have produced upon human na- 
 ture a society which would as surely have formed a negative 
 state as that produced by the pure rays of light in turning sweets 
 sour. Plainly it must be seen that for the existence of pleasure 
 it must have a negative state. As it is impossible for two atoms 
 to occupy the same space in existence at the same time, so it is 
 impossible for us to be good and evil, just and unjust, pleased 
 and displeased, wise and foolish, at one and the same time. To 
 please all one must have or possess this power, knowing that such 
 a state of affairs is out of the range of all laws that govern exist- 
 ence. The mild term of folly is too limited an expression to 
 depict such voluntary insanity. If, with the all-wise Architect 
 of the universe there be an impossibility, the same is not ren- 
 dered possible within the creation of a being endowed with less 
 wisdom that He possesses. Demonstrated, as it is, day by day, 
 that His just, wise, and all-seeing dispensations do not please 
 everyone, how can we, the creatures of his handiwork, hampered 
 by tenements of clay, revel in such folly as an attempt? The 
 pious man is one who endeavors to please his God; the conscien- 
 tious man to please conscience; the just man to please his credi- 
 tors; the wise man to please the majority; the man of folly to 
 please all. 
 
 His Lecture on Chemistry Before the Students of the 
 Medical University of Philadelphia. 
 
 In the spring of 1847 Doctors Goddard and Pancoast, Directors 
 of the Medical College of Philadelphia, invited Dan Eice to at- 
 tend a meeting of the Faculty, when the subject of chemistry 
 
 WAS flisCTlSSGQ 
 
 It was jocuiarly suggested by Dr. Goddard that Mr. Eice should 
 present his ideas on the subject; " for," said he, " Dan has di- 
 22 
 
338 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 rected his mind to the study of everything of importance, and 
 surely he cannot have neglected chemistry." The proposition 
 was greeted with laughter and applause, and Dr. Pancoast pro- 
 posed that he be elected Chairman, which was unanimously 
 adopted and Mr. Bice was forthwith escorted to the seat of honor. 
 
 The following is a report from the " Philadelphia Ledger " of 
 the date : 
 
 Upon taking the chair, he delivered the following extempore 
 address; for, of course, he had no conception that the meeting 
 would resolve itself into so humorous an assembly, or that bur- 
 lesque was to take the place of a dry, scientific lecture. 
 
 " Young gentlemen," said he, " chemistry in its various rami- 
 fications is one of those sublime sciences which are adapted to 
 the development and perfection of human greatness and to the 
 mixing up of paints and dye stuffs. 
 
 " The chair, gentlemen, to which I am now called in this 
 sehoolhouse, is the chair of chemistry, as most of you are probably 
 aware of, that is to say, when I say probably, I mean possibly. 
 This chair, gentlemen, I will tell you privately, is the most dis- 
 tinguished in the whole professorship of the schoolhouse, and if 
 anyone but myself were now addressing you it would not be im- 
 proper for him to state to you that it takes a smarter man to fill 
 this chair than it does to fill any other chair in the whole faculty. 
 
 " Situated as I am, however, and restrained as I am by the 
 delicate position I occupy, it will not do for me to say a word 
 about it. 
 
 " Ambition to be great is one of our innate and most prominent 
 passions. It is a passion that distinguishes humanity and per- 
 vades even the brute creation. It was this passion that led Napo- 
 leon to light the camp-fires of Moscow and induced General Hom- 
 burger to forsake the repose of his hermitage for the clangor of 
 political strife. 
 
 " This insatiable craving after greatness led me, too, in early 
 life, to forsake all else except the study of Shakespeare, and de- 
 veloping the intellect of that noble animal, the horse, and also 
 to devote my giant energies to the study of chemistry. And if 
 I am not the greatest chemist in the country, their toil has lost 
 its reward and disappointed ambition is the only fruit of my un- 
 paralleled labors. 
 
 " In speaking of the universality of human ambition for great- 
 ness, I omitted adverting to one man who forms a remarkable 
 exception to the proposition. That man is ' Old Tidy.' 
 
 " He is as insensible to the fascination of earth's greatness as 
 the dead are to whiskers. His ambition for greatness seems 
 merely nominal, reaching no further than the end of his fishing 
 line, or to the bowl of his pipe, where it is wholly gratified in the 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 339 
 
 nibbling of a fish or in contemplating the ashes of his tobacco 
 conflagration. 
 
 " Such is ' Tidy's ' highest ambition. But let us now turn to a 
 nobler picture. Gaze upon ' Potty,' nursed in the lap of ambi- 
 tion and fed, from his infancy, upon the hope that he would some 
 day be the Jupiter Amnion, whose oracles should be the law to 
 the literary and refined. ' Potty ' stands before the world as the 
 very incarnation of human ambition. 
 
 " Chemistry, gentlemen, in brief, embraces the nature and 
 qualities of the mind, kites, soap bubbles, thunder, lightning, 
 bed-bugs, fleas, mosquitoes, parasites, adulterated teas, coffees, 
 sugar and drinks, music and perfumery, besides many other in- 
 gredients which, if I am again called to preside over this learned 
 assembly, I shall take occasion to notice more particularly." 
 
 In the winter of '46 and '47 Mr. Dan Eice, the original Shakes- 
 pearean Clown and Jester, played in his great character the en- 
 tire winter in Welch & Mann's " National Circus," located on the 
 corner of Ninth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, where the 
 Continental Hotel now stands, and numbered among his admirers 
 the most eminent lawyers, judges, doctors, poets, authors, and 
 members of the press; prominent among whom were Col. James 
 Page, David Paul Brown, Lucas Hurst, and young Benjamin 
 Brewster, who afterward became distinguished for his legal abil- 
 ity and as a wise counsellor, and, at the zenith of his fame as such, 
 unsolicited he was called to fill the position of Attorney-General 
 of the Winter States; Dr. Paul Goddard, Dr. Pancoast, Dr. Rush, 
 and other eminent physicians; Thomas Dunn English, Walt 
 Whitman, and Dr. Shelton McKenzie, author of the most authen- 
 tic history published of the celebrated Charles Dickens; Judge 
 Sharswood, Judge James Thompson, Judge Jeremiah I. Black, 
 and others, who were all lovers of the circus in those days. 
 
 Dan Rice's Lecture, 
 monmouth county democrat — a wonderful old man. 
 
 Owing to a number of social gatherings on Friday evening, 
 and possibly to insufficient local advertising, Dan Rice's lecture 
 was quite slimly attended. Among the audience, however, were 
 a number of citizens who had known the showman in his palmier 
 days, and were glad to greet him again after an absence from 
 our town of nearly a quarter of a century. His personal resem- 
 blance to his half-brother, the late William C. Manahan, at one 
 time a resident and well-known throughout our county, was 
 noticeable as well as certain peculiarities of speech and manner, 
 especially his earnestness of expression and his positive and mas- 
 
340 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 terful way. There was this difference, however, to be observed 
 in the two men — Manahan was uncompromizing in his likes and 
 dislikes, while Eice showed that he had learned to exercise a 
 politic diplomacy in dealing with the public, and to conciliate 
 where he could not convert. He made a good impression on the 
 platform, and, for the most part, was easy and graceful in his 
 style, but occasionally, in the recitation of quotations from dra- 
 matic authors, he lapsed into a " stagey " melodramatic style, ac- 
 quired, no doubt, in his mock delineations in the ring, very 
 effective, possibly, with the appropriate surroundings, but some- 
 what incongruous in a literary performance on the lecture plat- 
 form. He opened with some interesting reminiscences of his 
 boyhood days at Colt's Neck, with recollections of " Sam Laird " 
 and other notables of that neighborhood a generation ago. He 
 then dropped easily into reminiscences of his travels as a show- 
 man in Europe and America and in the Holy Land — told how he 
 had bathed in the Eiver Jordan and played in the Garden of 
 Gethsemane, and closed with a panegyric upon the Bible and its 
 influences, remarkable as coming from one whose early life had 
 been spent among associations so antagonistic to the teachings 
 of that Book. His lecture was interspersed with amusing anec- 
 dotes, old songs, and quaint and wise expressions, with occa- 
 sional flashes of pure and quiet humor worthy of Dickens or 
 Douglas Jerrold. His sallies of wit were frequently applauded, 
 and he held his audience for an hour, who all appeared to be 
 highly delighted with his effort. We had a short interview with 
 him the afternoon before his lecture and found him a highly 
 entertaining conversationalist, overflowing with interesting anec- 
 dotes and recollections of distinguished personages and promi- 
 nent events in both hemispheres, and, above all, with a heart for 
 humanity as big as his ample physique. He bears his years well, 
 and has the springy step of a man of forty. He has led a 
 strangely wild life from boyhood, and down to a recent period 
 the rough influences which surrounded him largely governed his 
 life and moulded his character, but he has lived to reform all 
 that, and we are glad to know that his influences are now on the 
 right side, and that by precept and example he is trying to re- 
 trieve the past, in which effort we can all wish him abundant 
 success. 
 
 Eich, Eare, Eact — Eloquent and Pathetic. 
 
 Last night the veteran clown, Dan Eice, appeared before a 
 Madison audience, not as he is familiarly known to every man, 
 woman, and child, as the clown of clowns, the clown of our 
 daddies, but in the new role of lecturer. The audience that as- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 341 
 
 sembled at Odd Fellows' Hall last night was composed of repre- 
 sentative citizens, who could appreciate the words of wisdom in 
 " The Idiosyncrasies of the Human Mind, or a Fool Wise at 
 Last." Uncle Dan appeared on the rostrum unintroduced, need- 
 ing none, and immediately began his lecture with a few introduc- 
 tory remarks. He said that in appearing before a Madison audi- 
 ence he always felt inspired, and in all his wanderings he ever 
 retained a warm spot in his heart for the citizens of this place, 
 and his thoughts often reverted to the happy days spent in the 
 city 'neath the hills. The Colonel, in a feeling manner, paid a 
 worthy tribute to the memory of the late Colonel Garber, with 
 whom he was exceedingly intimate, and related several character- 
 istic anecdotes of our lamented chief, in which he acknowledged 
 gratefully the many press favors he had received at his hands. 
 He referred to him as one of the most warm-hearted, honorable 
 gentlemen he had ever met in his long list of acquaintances in 
 all parts of the world, and spoke of him with gratitude for his 
 kind and proffered assistance in the days of the " One-Horse 
 Show," when a friend in need was a friend indeed. His many 
 years of experience as a clown has given him that ease upon the 
 stage that at once attracts an audience and undivided attention. 
 The Colonel related in his own happy mood many amusing inci- 
 dents that convulsed the audience with laughter, and elicited 
 hearty applause. 
 
 The lecture is one founded upon years of experience, and none 
 can say that the life of Dan Eice, checkered as it is with fortune 
 and failure, does not afford ample grounds for such a lecture. 
 The speaker, with wonderful ease, would lead the audience to 
 laughter by his anecdotes, and to deep and sober thought by his 
 flights of eloquence and pathos. 
 
 The nature of the lecture admitted of a wide discussion of 
 several of his favorite themes, among them the experience de- 
 rived from travel, the sawdust ring, and intemperance, and the 
 knowledge from these various sources, imparted by a man who 
 has actually been in contact with them, did not fail to impress 
 all present with the wholesome advice. 
 
 Dan Eice as a popular lecturer is eminently successful, and 
 those who failed to hear him last night missed a rare treat. — 
 From the "Evening Courier," Madison, Ind., September 20, 
 1884. 
 
 Dan Eice at the Opera House. 
 
 There was an audience of representative people at the Opera 
 House to hear Dan Eice on the " Idiosyncrasies of the Human 
 Mind." There was a cold rain without, preventing the attend- 
 ance of many ladies, but there were warm hearts within to greet 
 
3±2 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 the Clown of our Daddies. He opened in characteristic form by 
 an allusion to the postponed performance of Maud S. (Eobert 
 Bonner's wonderful racing mare), then entered upon reminis- 
 cences of Lexington, and alluded to the Wickliffs, Warfields, 
 Blackburns, Bufords, Breckenridges, and last, but not least, the 
 immortal Clay, whose mantle he considered had fallen on the 
 present unopposed candidate for Congress. His allusion to Joe 
 Blackburn was greeted with applause. He stated that in visit- 
 ing the cemetery he had noticed the tall shaft looming up, indi- 
 cating that even after death Henry Clay was far above his peers, 
 as was the case in his noble life. First he said, " How reverenced 
 is the face of the tall pile whose symmetrical pillars rear aloft 
 its arched and ponderous roof, by its own weight made steadfast 
 and immovable." Looking tranquilly, we regard this tribute one 
 of the most poetical passages in the English language. Colonel 
 Eice, in speaking of the eloquence of the immortal Henry Clay, 
 said, " Whenever he spoke, heavens! how the listening throng 
 dwelt on the swelling music of his tongue, and when the power 
 of eloquence he'd try, then lightning struck you. Ah, then soft 
 breezes sighed." 
 
 He stated that his maiden vote for President was cast for 
 Henry Clay, who was defeated in two attempts of his friends to 
 place him in the Presidential chair, which honor he could have 
 realized by a sacrifice of principle, and many of his numerous 
 friends urged him to sacrifice pride to the exigencies of the times, 
 but his answer was emphatically, "No! I would rather be right 
 than be President." (Loud applause.) 
 
 He referred to his visits to the churches yesterday, in the 
 morning to hear the son of an old friend, Dr. Nolan, and in the 
 evening to listen to Dr. Hidens' address on the subject of Bible- 
 reading. From this he branched out into an expression of his 
 opinion on the Holy Scriptures, the like of which has never been 
 heard. He impressed upon his hearers such words of wisdom, de- 
 rived from his own experience, as cannot but be profitable to re- 
 flecting minds. Especially impressive was he on the subject of 
 divorce. He stated emphatically that divorce brings a curse upon 
 a man by marking him for the finger of scorn and suspicion 
 through life. His tributes to the departed dead were of such 
 character as to show that " Uncle Dan " is better posted in regard 
 to them than many who were born and raised here. Speaking of 
 the fame of Kentucky, and especially of Lexington, he said: " Her 
 illustrious sons and representative statesmen are known all over 
 the civilized world." He told a good story of a Kentucky lady 
 betting at New Orleans on the great racehorse, "Lexington." 
 After she had put up all her money and jewels on her favorite, 
 she sprang up and said she was willing to bet her husband Lex- 
 
LAST rOKTKAIT OF COLONEL RICE, AND HIS BIOGRAPHER 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 343 
 
 ington would win; and win, he did. His tribute to woman was re- 
 markably fine, and all through the entertaining humor of the dis- 
 course of nearly two hours was a deep, rich vein of worldly wis- 
 dom and Christian philosophy, that only too many of our 
 preachers fail to discover.— Lexington, Ky., " Daily News," Octo- 
 ber 29, 1884. 3 
 
 Col. Dan Eice. 
 
 ISTow that Waco is honored by the presence of this admirable 
 gentleman, the " Examiner " suggests that some of our leading 
 citizens call on him and ask the favor of a lecture. He is one 
 of the most interesting talkers on the rostrum now in this country 
 and he would fill any public hall in the city to overflowing. A 
 lecture from Dan Eice on any subject would be full of sound 
 morality and sound philosophy. The " Examiner " votes for a 
 lecture. 
 
 The same journal, a few days later, published the following: 
 Colonel Eice, upon the urgent solicitation of many leading citi- 
 zens of Waco, will give one of his chaste and intensely interesting 
 personal entertainments at Garland's Opera House on Thursday 
 night, October 15th. Mr. Garland has generously tendered 
 Colonel Eice the house for that night free. We can promise the 
 citizens of Waco an intellectual treat. Colonel Eice is known 
 wherever the English language is spoken as one of the leading 
 humorists of this or any other age, and he is withal, a genial, 
 scholarly gentleman, and with the warmest heart that ever beat 
 in human bosom. The Colonel has given over a million dollars 
 to charity during his wonderful career. Let the generous people 
 of Waco turn out and give the distinguished gentleman a rousing 
 reception. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice, the clown of our daddies, gave a lecture at the 
 Garland Opera House to-night which was well attended. " The 
 Fool's Wisdom " was his theme, and he handled it very cleverly. 
 Yesterday morning the Colonel went down to the three hundred 
 students at chapel hour. He quotes Scripture as readily and 
 fervently as any preacher, and sticks to the King James version. 
 — From " The Waco Examiner," Waco, Tex., October 17, 1885. 
 
 The same paper quotes the following day: It was a pretty 
 picture, last night, in the dress circle of the Garland Opera 
 House, in looking down to the parquette, where an even hundred 
 of the 'bright-faced, pretty girls of the Waco University sat. Dr. 
 Burleson, the venerable president, occupied one of the prosce- 
 nium boxes,, and dress circle and galleries were filled with an 
 
344 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 elegant and enthusiastic audience. All were there to listen to 
 the " Fool's Wisdom, or the Idiosyncrasies of the Human Mind," 
 as expounded by Colonel Rice. The lecture was a potpourri of 
 wit, humor, pathos, and common sense; a talk that was practical 
 and beneficial, and if applied properly it ought to do his hearers 
 good in more ways than one. Nobody got wearied, and at times 
 the old gentleman was applauded to the echo. There is a move- 
 ment to induce him to give a semi-moral lecture at the same place 
 on next Sunday evening. 
 
 Colonel Eice gave a series of lectures, ninety-two in all, 
 throughout the Southern States for the benefit of widows and 
 orphans of the Confederate dead; contributions for the E. E. 
 Lee Memorial at New Orleans, and last, but not least, Galveston 
 has cause to be grateful to the old circus clown for a contribution 
 of $1,000, sent by him to the Howard Association here, from 
 Lansing, Mich., in 1867, when the population of this city was 
 being decimated by the yellow fever scourge. — From " The Day," 
 Waco, Tex., October 15, 1885. 
 
 Dan Eice's Lectuee. 
 
 The lecture of Col. Dan Eice, the veteran showman, from the 
 bandstand on the Beach Hotel lawn, yesterday afternoon, at- 
 tracted much attention, and the old showman completely cap- 
 tured his hearers and held them in sympathy with himself and 
 subject throughout, for such a heterogeneous audience, such as 
 generally assemble at the Beach on Sunday evenings. The lec- 
 ture being a sort of potpourri of wit, humor, sentiment, and wis- 
 dom, was admirably adapted, and few speakers could have held 
 their attention, as successfully as did Colonel Eice. He an- 
 nounced his subject as a " Fool's Wisdom, or, the Idiosyncrasies 
 of the Human Mind." Just wherein the subject matter fitted 
 the caption, it was difficult to discern, without the lecture which, 
 taken in its entirety, was the outgrowth of the idiosyncrasies and 
 peculiar originality of the speaker. It was, indeed, an effort orig- 
 inal in its conception, as the ordinary run of lectures go, and quite 
 as original in its style of delivery. Though very hoarse, Uncle 
 Dan made himself heard quite distinctly, his voice being pecu- 
 liarly suited for outdoor speaking. Within the range of his 
 theme he embraced nearly everything, and would drop from the 
 sublime to the ridiculous and fly from the sentimental and 
 pathetic to the humorous with a grace and ease of method that 
 were absolutely remarkable, showing a perfect mastery of his 
 subject. He never seemed at a loss for words or language to ex- 
 press his ideas, and would string together with a single link anti- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 345 
 
 thetical subject matter with a facility that was marvellous, pre- 
 serving a unity throughout as pleasing as a medley of popular 
 airs. It was a lecture that none but Dan Eice could have deliv- 
 ered, and one that never could be produced in type, for, shorn 
 of the peculiar mannerisms of the speaker and divested of the 
 humor he imparted, it would be of little interest. Uncle Dan's 
 early training in the sawdust ring comes admirably to his aid 
 upon the lecture stand, and his thorough command of facial 
 expressions, art of acting, and mimicry, are the secrets of his suc- 
 cess in being so peculiarly entertaining. He was frequently in- 
 terrupted by applause and vociferously cheered at the close. — 
 From the " Daily News," Galveston, Tex., August 24, 1885. 
 
 Address in the Eing. 
 
 the clown and the parson — a fanatical preacher — 
 a sermon in the sawdust. 
 
 As a clown, Dan Eice's reputation and success superseded all 
 others who had preceded him, or who have since appeared in the 
 motley garb. There is no doubt but that he would have been 
 equally successful had he adopted the stage as a profession. As 
 an elocutionist he had few rivals, and when he occasionally quoted 
 Shakespeare there were many distinguished actors who might 
 have profited in the hearing. But, after all, it is as a preacher of 
 the Gospel that Dan thinks he would have made a still greater 
 reputation, and if he had chosen the ministerial path to fame, 
 at this time he and his admirers are of the opinion that three 
 names would have been linked, Beeeher, Talmage, and Eice. 
 The time of the delivery of the following sermon was May, 1851. 
 Dan Eice's one-horse show was advertised to exhibit at Weeds- 
 port, in the State of New York. In the interim the Eev. Mr. 
 Dunning, of the Methodist Church, denounced all such shows 
 in a style which exhibited, in a marked degree, an intolerant 
 spirit. He was particularly severe upon the one-horse show, 
 and concluded with an excommunication threat to all who visited 
 the show. This did not prevent the attendance of an immense 
 crowd upon the arrival of the circus, and in the course of the 
 entertainment Dan paid his respects to the preacher, and pic- 
 tured him in such a ridiculous light that the audience, many 
 of them members of his church, were convulsed with laughter. 
 As a climax, Dan announced that upon the following day (Sun- 
 day) he would let the canvas remain and preach a sermon in 
 opposition to his uncharitable neighbor, so that all who attended 
 might see with wfiat facility a clown could transform himself 
 into a minister of the Gospel. At the appointed hour, ten 
 
34:6 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 o'clock, on the morning of the 4th of May, 1851, the interior of 
 the canvas was crowded to witness the novel exhibition. The 
 result was in the nature of a surprise, and the severest rebuke to 
 Dan's assailant was that, in the discourse, he was utterly ignored. 
 A special reporter from the " Syracuse Daily Standard " was in 
 attendance, who took down and published the sermon, which, 
 as delivered by Dan Eice, was extempore. 
 
 SEEMON BT DAN EICE. 
 
 The following is the text: " The Lord of Hosts; I am the first 
 and I am the last, and beside me there is no God." 
 
 These words establish most conclusively the doctrine held by 
 the Xew Jerusalem Church concerning the Lord, which is taught 
 in the following words: That Jehovah God, the creator and pre- 
 server of heaven and earth, is essential love and essential wisdom 
 or essential good and essential truth; that He is one both in 
 essence and in person, in whom, nevertheless, is a Divine Trinity, 
 consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, like soul, body, and 
 operation in man; and that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is 
 that God. 
 
 Adopting, therefore, an orderly arrangement of the subject, 
 let us consider: 
 
 First: The proposition that the Lord in His essence is divine 
 love and divine wisdom, or, what is the same thing, divine good 
 and divine truth. Second: That He is one, both in essence and 
 in person, in whom, nevertheless, is a divine trinity, consisting 
 of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, like soul, body, and operation 
 in man; and third: That the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is 
 that God. It must be apparent to everyone that our considera- 
 tion of this divine subject must be greatly circumscribed, inas- 
 much as the time usually allowed to a discourse will necessarily 
 confine us to a very general view of the doctrines here advanced, 
 and not permit of that enlarged and extended survey of all its 
 important particulars which the seriously contemplative mind is 
 disposed to make. Indeed, to consider the subject in all its par- 
 ticulars and singulars were the work of eternity, for we may ex- 
 haust all the powers of human conception in the contemplation 
 of a single attribute of the Great Jehovah, and, after all, we shall, 
 as it were, be merely entering upon the threshold of its considera- 
 tion. The subject is infinite, and therefore can never be fully 
 examined by finite comprehension. The first proposition is 
 " that the Lord in His essence is divine love and divine wisdom, 
 or, what is the same thing, divine good and divine truth," or, 
 what is still the same, divine heat and divine light. 
 
 Our Lord says: "I am the first." He is, therefore, uncreate 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 347 
 
 and infinite, and because He is unereate and infinite He is life 
 ltseli, or life m Himself. Now love is the life of man. This is 
 evident from this, that if you remove affection, which is of love, 
 you can neither think nor act. It may also be made to appear 
 irom its correspondence with heat, without which we know that 
 it is impossible to exist for a moment. Now the Lord, because 
 He is love m its very essence, that is, divine love, appears before 
 the angels as a sun, and from that sun proceeds heat and light; 
 the heat thence proceeding in its essence is love, and the light 
 thence proceeding in its essence is wisdom. 
 
 Because the Lord in the heavens is divine truth, and in divine 
 truth there is light, therefore, the Lord in the word is called light, 
 and likewise all truth which is from Him. Jesus said: " I am the 
 light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in dark- 
 ness, but shall have the light of life. As long as I am in the 
 world I am the light of the world." Jesus said: " Yet a little 
 while the light is with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest 
 darkness come upon you. While ye have the light believe in the 
 light, that ye may be the sons of light." " I am come a light 
 into the world, that everyone that believeth in Me may not 
 remain in darkness." "Light hath come into the world, but 
 men have loved darkness rather than light." John says, concern- 
 ing the Lord: " This is the true light which enlighteneth every 
 man." " The people who sit in darkness shall see a great light, 
 and to thou who sat in the shadow of death, light hath arisen." 
 " The nations that are saved shall walk in His light." " Send 
 Thy light and Thy truth; they shall lead me." In these places 
 and in very many others the Lord is called light. Since from the 
 Lord as a sun, there is light in the heavens, therefore when He 
 was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, " His face ap- 
 peared as the sun, and His garments as the light, glittering and 
 white as snow." That the garments of the Lord appeared so was 
 because they represented divine truth, which is from Him in the 
 heavens. " Since the light of heaven is divine truth, therefore 
 also that light is divine wisdom and intelligence; whence the 
 same is understood by being elevated into the light of heaven, 
 as by being elevated into intelligence and wisdom, and being en- 
 lightened. Because the light of heaven is divine wisdom, there- 
 fore all are known such as they are in the light of heaven." And 
 the heat of heaven in its essence is love. It proceeds from the 
 Lord as a sun, which is the divine love in the Lord and from the 
 Lord. " There are two things which proceed from the Lord as a 
 sun — divine truth and divine good; divine truth stands in the 
 heavens as light and divine good as heat, but they are so united as 
 to be but one," just as the light and heat of the sun of this world 
 are united and are one. 
 
348 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 " And from this that the divine essence itself is love and wis- 
 dom, it is that man has two faculties of life, from one of which 
 he has understanding and from the other he has will. The 
 faculty from which he has understanding derives its all from the 
 influx of wisdom, from God, and the faculty from which he has 
 will derives its all from the influx of love from God." " Hence 
 it is manifest that the divine with a man resides in these two 
 faculties, which are the faculty of being wise and the faculty of 
 loving; that is, the faculty to do so." 
 
 " From this, that the divine essence itself is love and wisdom, 
 it is that all things in the universe refer themselves to good and 
 truth. For all that which proceeds from love is called good, and 
 that which proceeds from wisdom is called truth." From this, 
 that the divine essence itself is love and wisdom, it is that the 
 universe and all things in it, as well the animate as the inanimate, 
 subsist from heat and light; for heat corresponds to love and light 
 corresponds to wisdom; wherefore also spiritual heat is love and 
 spiritual light is wisdom." 
 
 From the divine love and from the divine wisdom, which make 
 the very essence which is God, proceed all affections and thoughts 
 with man; the affections from divine love, and the thoughts from 
 divine wisdom, and all and each of the things of man are nothing 
 but affection and thought; then are these two, as it were, the foun- 
 tains of all things of his life; all the delights and pleasures of his 
 life are from them; the delights from the affection of his love, and 
 the pleasures from his thought thence. Now, because man was 
 created to be a recipient, and is a recipient, so far as he loves God 
 and from love to God, is wise; that is, so far as he is affected by 
 those things which are from God, and so far as he thinks from 
 that affection, it follows that the divine essence, which is creative, 
 is divine love and divine wisdom. 
 
 Yet, though we never can find out the Almighty unto perfec- 
 tion, we may, if we be so disposed, by putting away from us what- 
 ever is in opposition to the spirit and life of the Lord, and look- 
 ing to Him for light, be enabled to see the King in His Glory. 
 For being created with capacities for the reception of love and 
 wisdom, by which we may become images and likenesses of Him- 
 self, if we exercise them right, we may behold, admire, and love 
 the character and attributes of Him who is the King of Israel 
 and his Eedeemer, the Lord of Hosts. And we may be assured, 
 if we put away our evils and look to Him in the way he has 
 pointed out to us in His word, He will manifest himself unto us 
 as He does not unto the world. 
 
 Let us then approach the consideration of this subject with 
 becoming reverence. Let us put away from us every thought, 
 every affection, every tendency of the mind which would in the 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 349 
 
 smallest degree obstruct the light of divine truth, or hinder or 
 oppose the divine influx in its descent into our minds, and, in- 
 voking His divine aid, presence, and blessing upon our medita- 
 tions of Him, let us proceed to notice what the Lord has revealed 
 to us concerning Himself in His holy word. 
 
 At the conclusion of the sermon, Mr. Eice, with a ministerial 
 expression on his countenance, announced the following hymn to 
 be sung by the Circus Troupe accompanied by the band, and it 
 was rendered with thrilling effect. So much so, that the Rev. 
 Dr. Graves of the Presbyterian church, moved by an irresistible 
 impulse, pronounced a benediction, probably the first that was 
 ever called down upon a concourse of people assembled under a 
 circus tent. At the close hundreds of people passed before Mr. 
 Eice to shake his hand and congratulate him, and many expressed 
 the opinion that he had mistaken his calling. 
 
 God is love; his mercy brightens 
 
 All the path in which we rove; 
 Bliss he wakes and woe he lightens, 
 
 God is wisdom, God is love. 
 
 Chance and change are busy ever; 
 
 Man decays, and ages move; 
 But his mercy waneth never; 
 
 God is wisdom, God is love. 
 
 E'en the hour that darkest seemeth, 
 "Will his changeless goodness prove; 
 
 From the gloom his brightness streameth, 
 God is wisdom, God is love. 
 
 He with earthly cares entwineth 
 
 Hope and comfort from above; 
 Everywhere his glory shineth; 
 
 God is wisdom, God is love. 
 
 The New Depaetuee. 
 part of a discouese of dan bice in new orleans. 
 Slavery has been swept away forever, whether as an act of polit- 
 ical expediency or military necessity, it is useless now to inquire. 
 In the bare fact the statist and lawgiver will find much to inter- 
 fere with and reverse their old-time calculations. The causes 
 which interfered with the public school system in our country 
 parishes and made it there " a miserable failure," exist no longer. 
 Between the once rich planter and the poor farmer or mechanic, 
 there is now no difference on the score of wealth; all classes have 
 been reduced, as it were, to the same common level, and the in- 
 
350 REMINISCENCES OF DAX EICE 
 
 telligent planter, who was once too proud to send his children to 
 a free public school will be the first now to recognize its benefits. 
 Though a portion of his old pride may yet remain, it is not of so 
 unreasonable a character as to be fostered in preference to intel- 
 ligence, and as soon as the prejudices against a free public school 
 system are once overcome, it will be found quite as applicable 
 to the country parishes as to our own metropolitan district. 
 
 Not only are the circumstances of our old residents changed, 
 but we will soon have great additions to our white population, 
 and with every such addition the public school system will be- 
 come more and more suited to our wants. The newcomers, it 
 may be fairly assumed, will regard the free school as a public 
 blessing. It has been predicted by a Northern lecturer that " in 
 ten years New England will lose more than a third of her popula- 
 tion. The young and vigorous, who have learned for themselves 
 the great advantages which we possess in soil and climate, will 
 leave their old sterile homes and flock to us as wild pigeons and 
 swallows do on the approach of winter. In ten years we shall 
 hear no more of the sparse population of our country parishes. 
 Such changes will be wrought as were never before accomplished 
 in a single decade. The prediction of President Madison, when 
 standing on the banks of the lower Mississippi, will yet be veri- 
 fied. " Not far distant from this spot," said he, " will stand the 
 future capital of our great Republic." Then with the wrapt 
 gaze of a seer and philosopher, looking into the future, he added: 
 " This valley will yet be unrivalled in agriculture, unrivalled in 
 arts, unrivalled in arms, the great deep its only emblem, which, 
 glorying in its majesty, dignity, and strength, laughs at the 
 opposition of tyrants." 
 
 The recommendation in reference to colored schools is a very 
 proper one. Though the negro has been freed God has set a 
 mark upon him which has always been regarded as well by blacks 
 as whites as an unmistakable sign of inferiority. Only when 
 puffed up by demagogues and fanatical humanitarians does the 
 negro pretend to be the white man's equal, and though our people 
 entertain no deep-seated prejudices on the subject, yet the two 
 races can never stand on the same social level, either practically 
 or theoretically, and different schools will have to be provided for 
 their children and their children's children for all time to come. 
 
 Using the Eyes. 
 
 clipping from a lecture on the above. 
 
 How many of us go through life without ever realizing that our 
 eyes have to be educated to see as well as our tongues to speak, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 351 
 
 and that only the broadest outlines of the complex and ever- 
 changing images focused on the retina ordinarily impress them- 
 selves upon the brain? That the education of the eye may be 
 brought to a high state of perfection is shown in numerous ways. 
 
 There are many delicate processes of manufacture which de- 
 pend for their practical success upon the nice visual perception 
 of the skilled artisan, who almost unconsciously detects variations 
 of temperature, color, density, etc., of his materials which are 
 inappreciable to the ordinary eye. 
 
 The hunter, the mariner, the artist, the scientist, each needs 
 to educate the eye to quick action in his special field of research 
 before he can hope to become expert in it. The following story 
 from the " Penn Monthly," which is quite apropos, is related of 
 Agassiz, and it is sufficiently characteristic of this remarkably 
 accurate observer to have the merit of probability. We are told 
 that once upon a time the professor had occasion to select an 
 assistant from one of his classes. There were a number of candi- 
 dates for the post of honor, and finding himself in a quandary 
 as to which one he should choose, the happy thought occurred to 
 him of subjecting three of the more promising students in turn to 
 the simple test of describing the view from his laboratory win- 
 dow, which overlooked the side yard of the college. One said 
 he merely saw a board fence and a brick pavement; another added 
 a stream of soapy water; a third detected the color of the paint on 
 the fence, noted a green mould or fungus on the bricks, and evi- 
 dences of "bluing" in the water, besides other details. It is 
 needless to tell to which candidate was awarded the coveted posi- 
 tion. 
 
 Houdin, the celebrated prestidigitator, attributed his success in 
 his profession mainly to his quickness of perception, which, he 
 tells us in his entertaining autobiography, he acquired by educa- 
 ting his eye to detect a large number of objects at a single glance. 
 His simple plan was to select a shop window full of a miscellane- 
 ous assortment of articles, and walk rapidly past it a number of 
 times every day, writing down each object which impressed itself 
 on his mind. In this way he was able, after a time, to detect in- 
 stantaneously all the articles in the window, even though they 
 might be numbered by scores. 
 
 Political Speeches and Patriotic Addresses. 
 
 COLONEL RICE'S PROFESSION MADE HIM A COSMOPOLITE. 
 
 While playing an engagement in Stone & McCollom's Circus 
 at Charleston, S. C, in the winter of 1849 and 1850, a compli- 
 mentary dinner was tendered the famous jester by fifty young 
 
352 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 gentlemen, the cream of South Carolina's chivalrous sons, many 
 of whom were upon a holiday vacation from the colleges 61 the 
 North. During the evening there was an extraordinary display 
 of collegiate erudition, and each gentleman became an expounder 
 of the classics, including quotations in the original language from 
 Greek and Koman writers. The humble clown sat a silent but 
 attentive listener, until he was finally called upon, either to make 
 a speech or sing a song in response to a complimentary toast. 
 The result was a recitation, which both astonished and amused 
 his entertainers. The following from the Charleston " Literary 
 Gazette " was the burthen of his speech: 
 
 Of all the characters of ancient or modern times my favorite 
 was Scaramouch; now you may divine that this is an imitation 
 of " Eabelico " and Southey's " Doctor." We will call it Ponti- 
 prus. 
 
 Meanwhile Scaramouch took himself off and applied to all 
 sorts of Divination for the purpose of discovering where the lost 
 bottle was lying. He tried Aeromancy, or divination by the air; 
 Alectryemancy, or divination by a fowl-cock; Aleuromancy, or 
 divination by flour; Alomancy, or divination by salt; Anemos- 
 cosy, or inspection of the winds; Anthracomany, or divination by 
 charcoal; Arithmonancy, or divination by numbers; AstrOmancy, 
 or divination by the stars; He divined according to Bactromancy, 
 or by a rod; Bostrychomany, or by the hair; Botanomancy, or by 
 the plants; Brizomancy, or by the nodding sleep; Capnomancy, 
 or by smoke; Catoptromancy, or by mirrors; Cephaleonomancy, 
 or by the head of an ass turned around; Chartomancy, or by the 
 cards; Cleidomancy, or by the keys; Cleromancy, by lot and dice; 
 Cymomancy, by beans. He tried the divination of Dactylio- 
 mancy, by rings; of Daphnomancy, by burning laurel leaves; of 
 Bxtispiciny, by inspecting the entrails of victims; Geloscopy, by 
 laughter; of Geomancy, by the earth; of Geoty, by sorcery; of 
 Gynecomancy, by women; of Hsemomancy, by blood; of Horos- 
 copy, by calculation nativities; of Hydromancy, by water; of 
 Icthomancy, by fish; of Kerannoscopy, by thunder; of Lampado- 
 mancy, by lamps; of Libanomancy, by incense smoke; of Litho- 
 mancy, by stones. He divined by Metaposcopy, the lines in the 
 forehead; by Myomancy, rats; by Necromancy, evocation of the 
 dead; by Nephelemancy, the clouds; by Oinomancy, wine; by 
 Oneirocracy, dreams; by Oomancy, eggs; by Ophiomancy, ser- 
 pent; by Opthalmascopy, eyes; by Ornithascopy, birds; by, Parthe- 
 nomancy, virgins; by Pasdomancy, children; by Pelomancy, mud; 
 by Pinaeomancy, tablets; by Sychomacy, evocation of souls; by 
 Ptarmoscopy, sneezing; by Pyromancy, fire. He divined, more- 
 over, by Khapsodomancy, verses of poets; by Skiamancy, shad- 
 ows; by Spodomancy, cinders; by Stieomancy, verses of Sybils; 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 353 
 
 by Stoicomancy, the elements; by Syeomancy, figs; by Tevatos- 
 copy, prodigies; by Tetrapodomancy, quadrupeds; by Theolepsy, 
 ecstacy; by Theurgy, celestial spirits; by Tyromancy, cheese; by 
 Uranoscopy, the heavens; by Xylomancy, wood; by Ylomancy, 
 forests; by Zoomancy, living things; and thus, having gone 
 through the alphabet of Divination without discovering where 
 the smelling-bottle was, he cut three thousand three hundred and 
 thirty-three and a third capers, turned ninety-nine thousand 
 nine hundred and ninety-nine summersets, pulled his left ear 
 several times, until it was elongated to the extent of several hun- 
 dred cubits, tweaked his nose until it was as sharp as a needle 
 forty hundred leagues long, and giving a great cry of hullaballi- 
 boowhoohooyoosee, he went to sleep. 
 
 Being suddenly awakened by an astonishing dream, he cried 
 in Hebrew, Anochi, hannabi asher itto 'halom — I am the prophet 
 with whom is a dream! 
 
 He added in Arabic, Ma ya'lamu taweelahu — No one knows its 
 interpretation! 
 
 He added, moreover, in Syriac, Shma'u mishwa, v'lo theshcha- 
 lun vas'hru michzo v'lo thed'un — Even if you hear it you will not 
 understand it, and even if you see it you will not know it! 
 
 He cried in Chaldee, 'Helmaya basimin yattir min dubvsha — 
 Dreams sweeter than honey. 
 
 And he added in Persian, Djan asa ahet amiz, summa zudaz, 
 dil Kusha — Kugia teshrif awurdid — Giving rest to the soul 
 bringing quiet, driving away misfortune. 
 
 He cried in Armenian, Usd amenian desleanus aisorig, vet- 
 zitoxs anooshamdooteamp sharjim — According to all this vision, 
 six times over am I moved with gayety! 
 
 At intervals, during the delivery, peals of laughter and ap- 
 plause greeted the speaker, and at its conclusion, one of the party, 
 in a fit of enthusiasm, arose to his feet, gesticulating as he ex- 
 claimed: 
 
 " Gentlemen, notwithstanding that our famous guest is from 
 the North, still, by G— , he is somewhat of a gentleman." 
 
 Dan Eice's Benefit to Memphis. 
 
 On yesterday afternoon was given the exhibition for the bene- 
 fit of the Memphis sufferers at Dan Rice's Paris pavilion circus. 
 The performance in its entirety was excellent, and this alone 
 should have secured the exhibition better patronage than it had. 
 The cold weather, however, prevented the large attendance which 
 had been anticipated. At the close of the performance Vene P. 
 Armstrong unexpectedly appeared, and thus addressed Colonel 
 Rice, who was standing in the ring: 
 33 
 
354 KEMINTSCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Colonel Dan Eice — Sir: I feel it an honor and no less pleas- 
 ure, sir, to appear for the first time in the " ring " before so 
 happy an audience and so honorable a gentleman as yourself. 
 On behalf of the sufferers of Memphis and our committee, allow 
 me, sir, to tender you the heartfelt thanks and gratitude of a 
 suffering people for your noble generosity upon this occasion; 
 and let me assure my old friend that many a pair of trembling 
 lips will send their message heavenward in these words: " God 
 bless Dan Eice." It is not strange that, while you are feeding 
 the hungry, clothing the naked, shielding the widow, and pro- 
 tecting the orphan, you are, by words of wit, making others more 
 fortunate that they laugh at misfortune and hard times. Such 
 is life. Some laugh while others cry; some smile, others weep; 
 some live, others die. And your large heart, so full of the " milk 
 of human kindness," is never closed to any appeal when human- 
 ity says, " Dan, give." Sir, while you are a veteran in the circus 
 ring, and cannot be called one of " last year's chickens," still you 
 have always looked upon the cheerful side of the picture of life. 
 You are yet young enough to live to see your charities appre- 
 ciated by a magnanimous people. Again allow me to thank you 
 and your company for this excellent entertainment, the proceeds 
 of which will be forwarded to Memphis to alleviate the sufferings 
 of an afflicted people who have been less fortunate than our- 
 selves. May you "live long and prosper" is the heartfelt wish 
 of all who are present here to-day. I believe I speak the senti- 
 ments of our entire city of Memphis and the whole Union when 
 I say, " May God bless and may long live Dan Eice, the philan- 
 thropist, the wit, and the gentleman." Mr. Eice seemed deeply 
 affected by Mr. Armstrong's earnest speech, and wiped his great, 
 honest face with his handkerchief several times. For a moment 
 his feelings were " too deep for utterance," but the great chari- 
 table old heart would be heard, and standing as erect as a Co- 
 lossus, he said: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: My heart is really too full to express 
 in appropriate language what I would like to say to you. I know 
 the very unpropitious weather must have detained many from 
 attending this benefit under the frail protection of a circus tent, 
 who, if the weather had been better, would have been here. But, 
 anyway, those who have come here, whose hearts warm towards 
 those who are in deep distress, care not for the weather. My 
 friends, this is characteristic of Louisville and Kentucky. The 
 people are pioneers in charity and good-fellowship, ever ready to 
 respond from whatever source the demand or cry for help comes. 
 Tt does not become me, my friends, to speak of what I have 
 done; whatever I have done it has been my duty to do. Those 
 people in Memphis are a warm-hearted and generous people, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 355 
 
 too. They have never failed yet to respond to the calls of 
 charity. When communities far away from them were visited 
 by dire affliction they reached out the hand of fellowship and 
 deep sympathy, as you all have done to-day. I must say, my 
 friends, that I feel proud of Mr. Armstrong and the committee 
 he represents, because they have labored so hard in behalf of 
 suffering humanity, showing me that they entered into this mat- 
 ter with that humane and deep sympathy which characterizes a 
 Christian people. They went into it in full force, attending to 
 the affairs of the benefit in order that things might be conducted 
 properly for the benefit of the Memphis sufferers. You remem- 
 ber, my friends, what the good Lord has said to those who re- 
 member the sick and the poor, " Blessed is he that remembereth 
 the poor," and may that blessing come upon you all, is Dan Eice's 
 earnest wish. 
 
 Colonel Eice withdrew amidst the thunderous cheers of his 
 auditors, as he is, and always has been, a great favorite of Louis- 
 ville people. — Prom the "Louisville Courier-Journal," Novem- 
 ber 2d. 
 
 An Official Compliment to Dan Eice. 
 
 The following correspondence speaks for itself: 
 
 Mayob's Office, Memphis, November 8, 1860. 
 < Capt. Dan Eice. 
 
 Dear Sir: The Board of Mayor and Aldermen, meeting No- 
 vember 7, 1860, as a compliment to you for your repeated acts of 
 liberality in giving benefits to benevolent institutions, through 
 your exhibitions in the city of Memphis, and for your gentle- 
 manly deportment and manly carriage, have requested me to 
 present you with their compliments and tender you the privilege 
 of exhibiting " Dan Eice's Great Show " for one week free of 
 any charge on the part of the city of Memphis. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 E. D. Baugh, Mayor. 
 
 Memphis, November 9, 1860. 
 To the Honorable Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the city of 
 Memphis. 
 Gentlemen: The peculiar nature of the compliment which you 
 have so generously conveyed to me in the communication of his 
 Honor the Mayor, dated the 8th inst., so overwhelms me with 
 gratitude that I find myself embarrassed to express in adequate 
 words my sense of the honor you have conferred upon me. It is 
 only one of the many favors and kindnesses which I have received 
 
356 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 at the hands of the good people of Memphis — a community, 
 which to the last day of my life, will be cherished in my memory 
 with the most heartfelt emotions of respect, gratitude, and 
 esteem. 
 
 Most obediently, your obliged and grateful servant, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 Dan Eice and the Sons op Malta. 
 
 In pursuance to an arrangement previously agreed upon by 
 the officers of the S. Grand Council of the State of Louisiana, 
 and the members of the various lodges now in working order, the 
 august and honorable S. G. C. met on Saturday, the 26th inst., 
 for the purpose of tendering to Brother Dan Eice a compli- 
 mentary benefit, under the auspices of the I. 0. S. M. 
 
 Upon the meeting being called to order, it was moved and 
 seconded that one-half of the dress circle of the Academy of 
 Music be secured for the express convenience of the Sons. 
 
 It was further resolved that the G. C. will appear with appro- 
 priate badges and the members of the subordinate lodges appear 
 decorated with the cross of the order. 
 
 It is further resolved that the Sons will proceed to the Acad- 
 emy in a body. 
 
 A committee was formed to officially wait on Dan Eice, and in 
 the name of the S. G. C. of the I. 0. S. M. to extend to him their 
 proposition. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 New Orleans, January 26, 1861. 
 Dan Eice, Esq. 
 
 Sir: The undersigned have been appointed a committee on 
 behalf of the S. G. Council, I. 0. S. M. of the State of Louisiana, 
 to tender you a complimentary benefit on such evening as you 
 may designate. 
 
 Eespeetfully yours, 
 D. I. Eicardo, Aid to S. G. C. of U. S. ; L. A. Clarke, S. G. C. of La. ; 
 J. L. Jacobs, V. C. G. of La.; F. A. Eichardson, S. G. S.; 
 John Burgess, G. P. of La.; J. H. Jones, G. M. of La.; E. D. 
 Willett, P. V. G.; E. F. Proctor, P. G. C. 
 
 Steamer "James Eaymond," January 26, 1861. 
 Brethren: Permit me, as a Son of Malta and an ardent lover 
 of the teachings and practical examples of charity as taught by 
 your august Honorable Order, to express my heartfelt gratitude 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 357 
 
 for the pains you have taken to render me the recipient of a pub- 
 lic honor that I shall ever remember with pride. 
 
 Not to accept cheerfully would be hypocritical on my part, for 
 as a man, my heart burns with enthusiasm when I feel that my 
 professional course has enabled me to command the respect and 
 regard of such a noble body as you have the honor to represent. 
 In accepting, allow me to name Friday, the first of February, as 
 the most convenient time for receiving you. 
 
 Fraternally yours, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 To D. I. Eicardo, L. A. Clarke, and others. 
 
 New York, April 7, 1859. 
 Dan Eice, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: In recognition of the varied and peculiar talents 
 which you have displayed in your profession, and of the sterling 
 qualities of mind and heart which we acknowledge you to possess 
 as a man, we desire to testify in some fitting way our appreciation 
 of the efforts you have made, through a long series of years, to. 
 amuse and instruct the public. 
 
 Such a testimonial would seem to be appropriately timed upon 
 the eve of your departure on your farewell tour through the 
 United States. Aside from motives of personal friendship, we 
 would thus unite in an endorsement of the elevated style of 
 humor in the arena which you have originated, and which, while 
 it has had a tendency to reform, rather seeked to please by its 
 innate merit than by the buffoonery of the clown. We wish also 
 to give an expression of our admiration of the liberality of 
 Nixon & Co., in bringing you again before a metropolitan audi- 
 ence. 
 
 We propose, therefore, to offer you a complimentary benefit at 
 Niblo's Garden at such time as may seem to the manager and 
 yourself the most appropriate. We are, dear sir, with regard 
 and interest, 
 
 Your friends, 
 Fairchild, Walker & Co., Edwin Forrest, Simeon, Leland & Co., 
 J. G. Parmalee, Avery Smith, George Sherman, Judge Eus- 
 sell, I. V. Fowler, D. E. Delevan, Dr. Valentine Mott, Hon, 
 G. G. Bernard, Dr. Quackenboss, Horace Greeley, William 
 Cullen Bryant, George Jones, George William Curtis, James 
 Gordon Bennett, Sr., Hugh Hastings, Sarony & Co., George 
 Law, John Owens. 
 
 New York, April 8, 1859. 
 Messrs. Valentine Mott, Edwtn Forrest, George Law, etc. 
 Gentlemen: It needed but your kind offer to fill to overflowing 
 
358 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 the measure of gratitude for the liberal and continued patronage 
 which has been bestowed upon me since my advent in the city. 
 More than all do I esteem your recognition of my efforts to ele- 
 vate my profession to a position beside kindred arts. To this 
 end I have labored long and faithfully, a labor amply repaid since 
 acknowledged by those who have been my friends and patrons. 
 I love the pursuits which fate or my own predilections have led 
 me into, and I may dare to claim, without the charge of egotism, 
 that no act of mine, either public or private, has ever given occa- 
 sion to my fellow-artists to blush for their brother. But I must 
 not trumpet my own praise, although I confess your welcome 
 and unexpected letter has given me a very great opinion of 
 myself. I am induced to think that I am somebody. But, seri- 
 ously, gentlemen, I feel indebted beyond all power of expression, 
 for the kind tender made me, and although not desiring to dis- 
 claim all credit, yet I feel your generous partiality has given me 
 more credit that I perhaps deserve. I will not, however, affect a 
 modesty that might in its turn affect my pocket; therefore, with 
 renewed thanks, I beg to announce my acceptance of the testi- 
 monial. Messrs. Nixon & Co. wish me to convey to you their 
 sense of your flattering mention of their administration of the 
 series of amusements, and state that, with my consent, they have 
 named the evening of April 11th as the most convenient for the 
 occasion, it being also the last night of the equestrian season at 
 Niblo's Garden. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, with gratitude, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 The following is an extract from the New Orleans " Picayune " 
 of December, 1853, in relation to a public testimonial of the 
 Eev. Father P. M. La Prance to Dan Bice for his liberal dona- 
 tion towards the building of St. Ann's Church: "Yes,. my 
 friends, the money benefit we are now receiving in Dan Bice's 
 contribution of one thousand dollars, has equally pleased and sur- 
 prised me. In my boyhood I have often visited the circus, and 
 the last one I attended was Dan Bice's, at which time I had often 
 read of his large charities to convents, churches, charity hospitals, 
 and Howard Associations, as also to the rebuilding of Dr. Clapp's 
 church which was destroyed by fire, 1850. Por this latter his 
 subscription was larger than that of any other citizen except Judy 
 Yuro. Little did I dream of ever receiving aid to our church 
 without intimation or solicitation. But upon reflection it is not 
 so surprising for ' Dan ' to so act, considering that during his 
 season in New Orleans he has donated large sums to our orphan 
 asylums, the poor of the municipalities, the Irish Immigrant 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 359 
 
 Society, to the widows and 'orphans of the fire department, as 
 well as a large donation towards the monument of General Jack- 
 son. Eecorder Jonti, Seuzenan, Mayor Crossman, Tom Poole, 
 Biers, and Don Eicardo inform me that Dan Eice's public dona- 
 tions in New Orleans since 1847 amount to over ninety thousand 
 dollars, therefore let us praise and thank New Orleans' bene- 
 factor, or, as we might more properly say, Louisiana's benefactor, 
 for all over the State we have read of his benevolent acts, and let 
 us hope that his good deeds will be productive to him of happy 
 fruits in the future, as have been yielded in the past, and let us 
 wish him that happiness which has been promised to those who 
 contribute to God's glory." At the conclusion of the address 
 of the Eeverend Father, there was a simultaneous burst of ap- 
 plause. 
 
 Homeward Bound. 
 
 Dan is homeward bound and is announced to give his last ex- 
 hibition for the season in New Orleans on Saturday next, the 28th 
 inst. His "Great Show" will, of course, attract a "multitude 
 of witnesses." He is an original in his profession, and is every- 
 where popular. Our fellow-citizen seems to have succeeded in 
 astonishing some of the members of the press. A correspondent, 
 writing to the " Philadelphia Enquirer," says: 
 
 I attended a public meeting of the Union men in Mason City, 
 Va., a few days since, and among those who spoke was a gentle- 
 man by the name of Bice, who the venerable president introduced 
 as a citizen from Erie County, Pa., in the Keystone State. Of 
 course, as a Pennsylvanian, I felt an interest- in the man, so, 
 therefore, I gave his remarks more than ordinary attention. He 
 was eloquent, powerful, and easy in his address and manner, and 
 won the admiration of all who surrounded his rostrum. His 
 practical knowledge of the habits of men in different localities, 
 and the system he pursued in pointing out the possibility of the 
 success of secession, was no less significant for its originality than 
 its truthfulness. He told what the manufacturing North could 
 do, and how essential the activity, genius, and skill of her people 
 were to the welfare of the great agricultural territory of the 
 " Sunny South." He did not abuse or ridicule any people for 
 their peculiarities, or scoff at the manners or conventionalities 
 of those who live in certain localities. He showed himself a 
 Union man, who had made the history of his country a study, 
 whose object was to preserve it whole and undivided, and cause 
 it to go " conquering and to conquer." 
 
 But whom do you suppose this fine orator to have been? No 
 less a personage than Dan Eice, the American humorist, whom 
 
360 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 I had seen and heard frequently in 'the arena on Quakeropolis. 
 I heard Dan was smart, but I had no idea that his talent ran in 
 the political channel. He is dignified on the platform, but, like 
 in his professional circle, evidently seems to command. 
 
 I am told that he has for some time been hard at work speaking 
 for the Union, leaving the " institution " to run itself. He is 
 not an enthusiast; neither does he appear like a man who was 
 laboring for the gratification of personal ambition or pecuniary 
 advantage. To speak plainly, he talks like a well-informed, 
 educated gentleman, who knows what he is talking about, and 
 who works for the love of the cause he has enlisted in. I do not 
 know whether he has a desire for office, and I presume he has 
 not, but it occurred to me that a man like him, who has travelled 
 so far, has observed so much, and was as familiar with the wants, 
 habits, and manners of the people of all localities, could not 
 speak in vain among the lawgivers and sage councils of the na- 
 tion. Perhaps the next place I may encounter this rising young 
 man (Eiee) may be in the State Senate or in the Halls of Con- 
 gress. More unlikely things have happened, and men of far less 
 ability and character have been honored in that way. 
 
 Dan Bice's Gkeat Show. 
 
 Last night over 3,500 people attended the " National," to 
 evince to Dan Eice the high regard the public entertain for him 
 as a man and a manager. The recipient of the ovation appeared 
 in good condition, and was remarkably communicative and 
 peculiarly happy. And he should have been, for we think that 
 Dan Rice, both privately and publicly, occupies a position which 
 any man might be proud of. Some of the horsemen of Phila- 
 delphia, " Excelsior's " friends, determined to show him how he 
 stood in their estimation, so they got friend Kelch, of Fifth and 
 Prune Streets, to get up a cover at the moderate sum of one 
 hundred dollars. Kelch did it and also contributed his share to 
 the purchase, and Mr. James Kelly, one of the candidates for 
 Sheriff, threw it into the circle. Mr. Rice made a speech, and a 
 good one, too, and " Excelsior," rigged out in his new attire, 
 appeared as though he was aware that considerable importance 
 was attached to his presence. Melville, the Australian, made his 
 debut, and took the people by surprise. He is a wonder and per- 
 forms feats that no other rider can accomplish. He is a Centaur, 
 and his skill in daring, breakneck, dashaway riding baffles de- 
 scription. We are glad to know that the "Great Show" will 
 remain until Saturday, and that Melville will ride every night. 
 — " Evening Argus," Philadelphia, April 1, 1858. 
 
beminiscences of dan eice 361 
 
 Dan Eice as an Orator. 
 
 Our citizens who have heard Mr. Eice on various occasions 
 and subjects, know that his statements are quite within truth. 
 
 Not the least among the many oratorical effusions with which 
 the people of our land were regaled on the late memorable anni- 
 versary of our National Independence, was the address delivered 
 at Eochester to a congregation of three or four thousand people 
 by the celebrated Dan Eice. "We had supposed that this gentle- 
 man, after having gained an honorable fame in the business to 
 which he has devoted his whole life, would rest satisfied with the 
 results of his labor, and leave other departments of excellence 
 and honor to other candidates for the public esteem. Not so, 
 however. Mr. Eice seems determined to excel in more things than 
 the training of stubborn mules and obstinate men, and judging 
 from his efforts at Eochester, is destined to wear the proud laurels 
 of an orator. Since the commencement of this war we have lis- 
 tened to many able and clear expositions of its real causes and 
 its real nature — but none more clear than that of the great wit 
 and jester on that occasion. It was the frank, honest outburst 
 of a true, honest heart, and as such it was received by the assem- 
 bled thousands with applause perfectly rapturous. Unpremedi- 
 tated, and spoken with scarcely a previous thought as to how it 
 should be delivered, it was, nevertheless, a masterly effort, and 
 one which would have done eminent honor to the proudest ora- 
 tor in our land. His expositions of the subject were most lucid 
 and powerful, and his exhortation to duty and earnest appeals 
 to the loyalty and patriotism of his hearers, beautiful and touch- 
 ing. It was the impetuous and fiery, yet sensitive effort of a 
 born orator, and since its delivery we have not heard the name 
 of Dan Eice mentioned without increasing respect. It is im- 
 possible to estimate the good which a man with Dan Bice's op- 
 portunities and abilities has accomplished in the cause of our 
 country, and may he live long to be honored therefor* — From 
 Eochester correspondent of the " N. Y. Leader." 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 "Nothing extenuate nor aught set down in malice." We 
 take pleasure in laying before our readers the following extracts, 
 showing in their legitimate light the past and present position 
 of Dan Eice, Esq., our worthy fellow-citizen, on the great ques- 
 tion of the Union and the war, which absorb so much of the at- 
 tention of the people at present. Certain New York and Phila- 
 delphia papers, which are remarkable for their spotlessness and 
 purity but which signally failed in their endeavors to levy 
 
362 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 blackmail upon the Great Show, are, and have been, very busy in 
 circulating the report that Eice is a Secessionist, thereby seeking 
 to do him a professional injury, and prejudicing the minds of per- 
 sons who do not know the facts of the case, not only against him 
 personally, but against the exhibition that bears his name. 
 
 This is manifestly a wrong. We know that Dan Eice has, first 
 and last, as the following extracts will show, been a loyal citizen, 
 and in the face of opposition which at one time came near costing 
 him his life, has stood up nobly in defence of the Union and the 
 Stars and Stripes. 
 
 You will pardon me, my -dear and well-tried friends, for you 
 were mine in the hour of adversity, if I should, as an American 
 citizen, allude to the present state of political affairs. I am a 
 public servant, and know no North, no South, no East, no West, 
 and one who draws his support from the people of the constella- 
 tion of States — this great Union, whose youth is but excelled 
 by the fame its own glorious career has given birth to. Why 
 should I not, in common with you, shed a patriotic tear for her 
 anticipated downfall. My mission is to make you happy, for, as 
 Dan Eice, the humorist (or clown as I am familiarly styled), I 
 have caused smiles to usurp the place of tears, and have made 
 genial radiance give place to darkened brows. Cosmopolitan by 
 force of circumstances, I have, as they say in the vernacular, 
 " travelled some." 
 
 When Boreas reigned supreme above the line of Mason and 
 Dixon, I found the icicle melt beneath the warm grasp of friend- 
 ship, which here your warm welcome has opened as genially as 
 the orange blossoms of this tropical State. 
 
 Nor can you pardon this burst of enthusiasm, yes, patriotism. 
 I have been on the field where Jackson won the never-to-be-for- 
 gotten battle of New Orleans, and silently and alone I have raised 
 my hat reverently before him who was " first in peace, first in 
 war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," and who will 
 ever be gratefully remembered as George Washington. In Phila- 
 delphia I have pondered in Independence Hall, and sat myself 
 down within those sacred walls where the first Congress ever 
 assembled. A tall shaft at Boston once told me that I stood on 
 Bunker Hill, and a simple granite slab had written upon it, 
 " Here fell Warren." Amidst the " last, sad honors " and the 
 grateful hosannas of the people who encircled the statue of that 
 noble man, the finger of history pointed to the birthplace of 
 Franklin. Beyond it, far off in one of the most chivalric of the 
 Confederacy, the Palmetto State, South Carolina, I saw the Stars 
 and Stripes waving over Fort Moultrie, planted there when shot 
 down by the enemy by Sergeant Jasper. They float there yet, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 363 
 
 and I hope, in the dispensations of a Divine Providence, they 
 will until time is no more. The South has been aggrieved and 
 she knows it, and the whole civilized world knows it; but none 
 more seriously than those who have attempted to deprive her of 
 her rights, those fanatical people who have violated those holy 
 privileges of the ballot box by passing laws contrary to the Con- 
 stitution. The folly of their ways they have already discovered, 
 and that powerful comedy, good, sound, common sense, is al- 
 ready beginning to operate in those States, the citizens of which, 
 it appears, did forget the eleventh commandment, " Mind your 
 own business." My fellow-citizens, do not let us, as men, per- 
 mit the monster of fanaticism to disturb our equanimity as a 
 nation; our forefathers with strong arms and some with their 
 lives, bequeathed to us this sacred trust. Let us, in maintain- 
 ing our rights, be true to that inheritance, which, though now 
 ours, must in time be that of our children. — Prom the " New 
 Orleans Newsboy," December 11, 1860. 
 
 A Speech Deliveeed at the Metropolitan' Hotel, New 
 York, April 1, 1859. 
 
 Gentlemen : I cannot plead the popular excuse in extenuation 
 of any irrelevant remarks which I may make, for I am " used 
 to public speaking," though I confess that there is less terror to 
 me in the presence of thousands than in the society of the select 
 few who have honored me with their company to-day. And for 
 this very palpable reason, the public come to see the " humorist " 
 and to laugh at his folly, while you look to the man, and expect 
 him to appear as other than Filius Momi. Yet, as I am, here I 
 am; and if I appear ridiculous, you will attribute my shortcom- 
 ing's to long associations. It is undeniable that our pursuits color 
 dispositions; for instance., the man who follows the almighty 
 dollar with a zest that knows no abatement, finally assumes the 
 hue of metal and becomes yaller, or else bilious, both physically 
 and pecuniarily. But I must not be my own trumpeter at the 
 expense of your patience. It is my last week in New York, and 
 I could not leave without bearing with me some remembrance 
 of my friends here. 
 
 I generally find acquaintances may carry me, but those 1 leave 
 are never superseded by the new. Whatever is behind me must 
 be tender for I am so constituted; I expect always to push ahead, 
 but no circumstances can ever crowd such pleasant scenes as 
 these from mv pleasure-freighted memory. We may build new 
 reservoirs but they are not to displace the old, we may contract 
 new friendships, but not at the sacrifice of others. The past is a 
 bank that will ever honor Memory's drafts drawn, no matter how 
 
364 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 long after date. Amid all the press of every-day life, not except- 
 ing the castigations of the daily press, one member of which has 
 arrayed the terrors of its tribunal against me, I shall find occa- 
 sion to look upon this day as one especially dedicated to friend- 
 ship. You will bear with me if I allude for a moment to the 
 unprecedented success that has marked our exhibitions in this 
 city. I do not do this in order to take to myself any great degree 
 of credit, but I cannot forget the applause with which I have 
 been favored, an applause which must be shared with that won- 
 derful horse, Excelsior, and the ass-tute mules. I recollect, some 
 years ago, giving an exhibition in one of the interior towns of 
 Pennsylvania. Among the inhabitants was one who was opposed, 
 not upon principle, but interest, to all such shows. I heard of 
 this and enclosed a card of admission with the request of his com- 
 pany. He returned my note, without the ticket, declining to 
 attend. I felt sure, however, that he would be there. I had 
 him watched. Shortly after the commencement of the perform- 
 ances the gentleman entered. He sneaked in and kept in the 
 background. The mules played particularly well, and almost 
 convulsed the people with laughter. Our solemn friend enjoyed 
 it until the tears ran down his cheeks copiously. My detective 
 walked up to him and, laying his hand gently on the broad shoul- 
 ders of the visitor, said, " You are in tears, my friend." " Yes," 
 replied Broadbrim, taking out his handkerchief and -wiping his 
 eyes, " I am sorrowful. It grieves me to see so much talent per- 
 verted." Whether he meant in my person or in the mules, I 
 never knew, but he has ever borne the name since of " Perverted 
 Talent." I must stop, for I perceive that you are laughing at 
 me, and I cannot bear ridicule. Allow me to propose a senti- 
 ment: May you never have the nightmare from indigestion, and 
 should a diet be recommended, may you ever hold in remem- 
 brance the peculiar properties of Eice. 
 
 "Washington's Birthday in 1859. 
 
 a patriotic gathering. 
 
 A select and talented company met at the Metropolitan in New 
 York City, upon the 22d, to do honor to the " Father of his 
 Country," and, at the same time, unite in their expressions 
 of regard for the public's favorite, Dan Bice, the humorist. 
 There was no unnecessary display at this reunion, no noisy osten- 
 tation that, with a prelude of puffing, would mark such a meet- 
 ing, and parade the fact that such a thing was about to occur. 
 There was an appropriate modesty about the whole affair, at 
 once characteristic of those who were the hosts, and of the un- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 365 
 
 pretending career of the recipient. In response to the principal 
 sentiment Mr. Eice rose to reply. As nearly as we can give his 
 remarks from memory, they are appended, although we must 
 confess our inability to blend, as he did, the pathos, patriotism, 
 and humor which were delivered in turn. After a few appropri- 
 ate remarks, complimentary to those who had thus honored him, 
 he went on to say: 
 
 " There is an every-day patriotism which men can boast be- 
 ing possessed of, and which they ostentatiously parade when- 
 ever an allusion made to our dear native land will permit — a 
 noisy and proscriptive enthusiasm that is more like galvanized 
 metal than true gold. I do not like the mouthy of the barroom. 
 There is a deeper feeling inwrought into every nature of the man, 
 and one that, while it can never be quenched, yet never burns 
 in fitful flames. It is the very life of his inner soul, and the heart 
 must cease to beat ere one spark of that quality ceases to illu- 
 minate his character. Such, I claim, is the reverence I bear to 
 my country and her immortal son. 
 
 " It is with trembling lips that I pronounce the name of Wash- 
 ington. I entertain no mock humility, as I bow before the un- 
 dimmed glory of that great man's memory, and I thank God that 
 he gave to our race one- who in living, ennobled, and in dying 
 immortalized it. The first name, next to those of my heavenly 
 and earthly fathers, my lips were taught to pronounce, was his, 
 and the lessons taught me then, amid all the changes and chances 
 of a busy career, have never been forgotten, and never can be. 
 I would not be irreverent, yet I feel as did the sailor who, branded 
 for disobedience, was asked if he would not always remember 
 the act. ' Yes,' he replied, ' you have impressed it indelibly upon 
 me.' A kinder system led me to remember the ' great one,' but 
 it is indelibly impressed upon my heart as though branded there. 
 
 " Not only in the manhood and continued virtue of the later 
 years of Washington may we find food for instruction and deeds 
 to emulate. His youth was no less marked by truth and honor. 
 The many anecdotes that have come down to us, all precious 
 heirlooms, upon the stage of history, fully attest this. He has 
 served, then, as a model for the young and a glorious example 
 for those of riper years, but other lips than mine have this day 
 pronounced eulogies upon him and I must not be presumptuous 
 enough to attempt it. I am reminded in this connection of an 
 incident that once came under my notice. 
 
 " I was sojourning in one of the small towns of Canada, near 
 the American line, and was seated upon the stoop of its principal 
 hotel, when there passed by its door an aged and travel-stained 
 wayfarer. He had a small package strapped to his back, while a 
 stout staff supported his almost tottering limbs. I addressed 
 
366 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 him; he paused, and in trembling accents said: 'Vouley vous 
 donniz moiun vere d'eau? ' 1 supplied him from the cool spring 
 at the door. He wiped the perspiration from his high, broad 
 brow, and bowing, was about to pass on. ' You are a native of 
 La Belle France,' I said; ' whither are you journeying? ' ' Oui, 
 Monsieur, I am a native of France,' he answered in broken Eng- 
 lish; ' mais j'al leav her forever a pilgrim to ze shrine of liberty 
 - — to ze land of Washington! ' It is sufficient for me to say that 
 the exile went no farther on foot. I saw him afterwards bow in 
 reverence before the tomb enclosing the ashes of him who was 
 ' first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country- 
 men.' And that shrine is to be preserved! All praise to those 
 noble daughters of America, whose best efforts are given to the 
 purchase of that hallowed spot. All honor to the great and good 
 men who have joined them in the work of love. Mount Vernon 
 shall become the mascot of the coming generations, the grand 
 incentive for us to emulate and hold before the unfolding minds 
 whose innate patriotism is still concealed in embryo. When 
 these unfoldings shall have blossomed into the perfect flower of 
 maturity, let us hope that upon the expanded leaves there will be 
 found the three magnetic names that compose our Nation's 
 Trinity — our God, our Country, and our beloved Washington." 
 (Vociferous applause.) 
 
 Dan Eice's Fourth of July Speech. 
 
 We are able to lay before our readers but an imperfect report 
 of Dan Eice's speech under his mammoth pavilion on the 4th inst. 
 to an immense audience of the sturdy yeomanry of Bock County 
 and onr own fellow-citizens, which not only illustrates the sen- 
 timents of the great American humorist on topics of a national 
 character, but also gives evidence of his power and ability to sway 
 the public, which he never fails to entertain, please, and in- 
 struct, be it in the motley garb of a jester, or laying aside his 
 professional robes and assuming the character of a fellow-citizen, 
 he always makes his mark and leaves a good impression behind 
 him. After expressing his thanks and courtesies to the public 
 for their liberal patronage, etc., he proceeds to remark as follows: 
 " We feel highly flattered, Mr. Eosston (addressing the ring- 
 master), to see such a goodly number of ladies and gentlemen 
 present. And then everything is so quiet and orderly, the city 
 fathers, trustees, aldermen, and common council, in fact, the 
 entire city of Janesville, presents such a beautiful picture of 
 harmony and industry that we cannot fail to notice it. To me, 
 ladies and gentlemen," again addressing the people, " the Fourth 
 day of July is one that always comes freighted with interest and 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 367 
 
 especially at this period in our country's history is it rendered 
 doubly interesting by the trials, conflicts, and gigantic efforts 
 now being put forth to squelch the last vestige of that rebellion 
 which has already cost the sacrifice of the best blood that runs 
 in freedom's veins, threatens to drive us to the same alternative 
 that forced the Declaration of Independence, and made the 
 American people a unit, and the great questions involving ,the 
 future life, welfare, and perpetuations of these United States. 
 We have lived too long under the benign eyes of those institu- 
 tions dedicated to the sons of Freedom by our forefathers, and 
 through whose fostering care we have been elevated to the rank 
 of a first-rate power in the eyes of the world, not to revere and 
 perpetuate the memory of those noble patriots who had the man- 
 hood to declare themselves free and independent people, and to 
 celebrate in an appropriate manner that glorious natal day which 
 tolled the death knell of tyranny in this once despotic land, and 
 witnessed the birth of Freedom and independence. From a 
 small and humble band of Pilgrim Fathers who sought in this 
 native wild an asylum for the oppressed and ' freedom to worship 
 God,' we have grown up to be a great and independent nation, 
 and though we are now passing through the ordeal of secession 
 and rebellion, to put down which requires the united efforts of 
 all Union-loving men, we, nevertheless, have great confidence 
 in the power and ability of the Government and should go to 
 every length to sustain and defend it. Taking this view of the 
 subject and' in view of a possible disaster to our army before 
 Eichmond, which, according to the morning's dispatches, has 
 been obliged to withdraw with heavy loss of blood and arms, there 
 should be but one sentiment in regard to the duties of the people, 
 to sustain Honest Abe Lincoln, lose sight of all partisan predilec- 
 tions, and go it strong for the Union." 
 
 Mr. Eice continued his speech much longer and said very many 
 good and telling things, blending his occasional flights of oratory 
 with wit and humor, which told effectually upon his audience 
 and elicited frequent and repeated rounds of applause. — From 
 the " Daily Gazette," City of Janesville, July 8, 1862. 
 
 Dan Eice's Great Show— His Speech. 
 
 The third performance of Dan Eice in this city on Tuesday 
 night was a perfect ovation and of a highly flattering character 
 to Dan and his inimitable company. The canvas was densely 
 crowded, and the entire performance being novel and magnifi- 
 cent gave entire satisfaction. The great feature of the evening 
 was Dan Eice's Union speech, a synopsis of which we will at- 
 tempt to give. 
 
368 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Mr. Eice said he was able to speak of the country from actual 
 observation, and no man who had not done so was able to form 
 any conception of the magnitude and strength of the foe that 
 levelled death and destruction at the fairest and best government 
 on earth. He was no politician — he was for the Union. He had 
 carried the Stars and Stripes aloft in the South during the hottest 
 of the secession mania. 
 
 He had been ordered to haul it down, was shot at, but the old 
 flag was never dishonored in his hands. He kept it floating and 
 he hoped and knew that it would yet be unfurled on the very 
 places from which it had been hauled down in disgrace. The 
 noble Union men of the South were battling bravely for their 
 rights; they needed Northern assistance, and so long as the North 
 remained true to the Constitution and the laws the old flag would 
 find supporters South. The secessionists advocated that the Be- 
 publican party of the North were abolitionists and composed of 
 men who did not respect the Constitution or the laws — men 
 whose sole object was the total extinction of slavery whether or 
 no. He had heard the noble and patriotic Johnson and Ethe- 
 ridge appeal to their countrymen for the Constitution. They 
 pledged that the North was not abolition; that the Administration 
 was not abolition and that this war was conducted without refer- 
 ence to extreme opinions, but solely with a view to the enforce- 
 ment of the terms of the Constitution and the laws. Let the 
 North subscribe to the fanatical doctrine of abolitionists and the 
 war would then assume a sectional attitude. Aid need not be 
 expected from Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, or 
 Western Virginia, and in that case it would require every man 
 to subdue the rebels. This was no time for politics. The only 
 aim of the masses should be the selection of good Union men for 
 office, all party ties should be severed, we should be united as 
 brothers in the holy cause in defence of the Constitution and the 
 laws. Elect your strict partisans, place your rabid abolitionists 
 in power, assert by your votes that the war is not constitutional, 
 but sectional, and you will then drive millions from your sup- 
 port and sympathy. These are the times to try men's souls and 
 men's patriotism. Discard, for the sake of your bleeding coun- 
 try, all prejudices. Bally to the support of the Constitution 
 without reference to the sentiments of extreme abolitionists, and 
 all will be well. If this course is pursued, you may expect a 
 speedy termination of the war— the serpent of secession will re- 
 ceive a death-blow, and the old flag will soon be triumphant. I 
 am glad to know you have a Union ticket in this county — it is 
 composed of good men — both Eepublicans and Democrats, who 
 have accepted the constitutional basis. Those of the Democracy 
 on that ticket acknowledge their error and now go in for the war 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 369 
 
 and the support of Old Abe Lincoln. Lincoln has done right — 
 •he is an honest man, and in his constitutional conduct of affairs 
 deals heavy blows both upon abolitionism and secession. This is 
 as it should be. It is just; it is, in my opinion, the only strict 
 constitutional administration that has existed for the past twenty 
 years. Stick to the Constitution at all hazards, and by doing 
 so, you aid in maintaining this beautiful structure of Ameri- 
 can Liberty. You have a candidate for Senator in this county 
 who has enunciated most inhuman and barbarous doctrines. I 
 mean Mr. Lowry. He has entered the field and advocates strict 
 abolition doctrine — a doctrine which is in opposition to that of 
 Mr. Lincoln. Endorse his doctrine and you but add fuel to the 
 flames. When Mr. Lowry left Wheeling and left his hat in his 
 hurry, I presume that he was aware that the men of Western 
 Virginia were not in favor of his odious doctrine, yet he would, 
 by his advocacy, without venturing personal aid, render the 
 breach between the North and South yet wider, that millions of 
 lives may be lost in battling upon strict sectional issues. God 
 forbid that my fellow-citizens of this county shall endorse a 
 doctrine so odious and unconstitutional as Mr. Lowry is the rep- 
 resentative of. Let the masses disregard the wants of political 
 tricksters and assert their power at the polls in defence of the 
 Union, the Constitution, and the Laws. This is my platform 
 and it should be yours. It is the platform of freemen, men who 
 love their country above all else, and of men who are willing to 
 sacrifice upon the altar of their country all political dissensions. 
 Support the Administration, support it through Union candidates 
 without party platforms, then you will have done your duty and 
 exhibit your love for the Union and the glorious Stars and Stripes. 
 Mr. Kice was vociferously cheered throughout the speech and 
 we are free to confess that the sentiments so expressed touched 
 the right chord in the hearts of the people. — From " The Dis- 
 patch," Erie, Pa., October 5, 1861. 
 
 Dan Eioe in Louisville — He Makes a Speech upon the 
 Crisis of the Times. 
 
 It was whispered during last week that Dan Rice would express 
 his views on the absorbing issues of the present day some time 
 during the performance of Saturday night. The whisperings 
 so fraught with mystery had the effect of drawing a large, intelli- 
 gent, and appreciative audience to the mammoth pavilion, all 
 anxious to hear what the great wit and humorist and showman 
 had to say upon the occasion. About an hour after the opening 
 of the exhibition Dan was announced and appeared in the ring, 
 greeted by cheers and a clapping of hands. During the progress 
 24 
 
370 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 of an equestrian act, he spoke of his world-wide travels, and when 
 in foreign lands how his thoughts turned toward his native" 
 shores, and his heart thrilled at the sight of the national emblem 
 of his government. He alluded to the stories that were circu- 
 lated by the Northern press at the commencement of the rebel- 
 lion, that he, travelling through the South at the time, had 
 adopted the views of secession and become a traitor to the Stars 
 and Stripes. It was not necessary for him to pronounce the story 
 false, as his words and acts had long since proved it to be a base 
 fabrication and a lie. He claimed that he had been unfaltering 
 in the support of the Union, having raised his voice against se- 
 cession and given as much money as any man in the United 
 States to aid and advance the interests of the Union cause. He 
 referred to his early friendship with John G-. Breckenridge, and 
 how, when last they met at Paducah, he had tried to prevail upon 
 him to abandon all thoughts of rebellion against the National 
 Government. He paid an eloquent tribute to the memory of 
 that noble Kentucky patriot, the lamented Crittendon. He re- 
 membered him as the venerable gray-haired man, the brightest 
 genius of the age, the noblest of Kentucky sons, the proudest of 
 heroes, the best of patriots, and the ablest of fearless statesmen. 
 The close of this graceful tribute was wildly applauded by the 
 thousands gathered beneath the canopy of the pavilion, and Dan 
 then spoke of the present impending crisis, and how sadly Ken- 
 tucky had been changed by the ravages of the war. 
 
 He alluded to the disorganized state of society, the arrests of 
 citizens, and the power exercised by the military. He claimed 
 that it was not the object of Federal bayonets to throttle free 
 speech, but to beat back the invader, afford protection to the 
 citizen and preserve the laws inviolate. He argued that the citi- 
 zens should, by firm, decided action, assert their manhood and 
 preserve the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of 
 the United States. He said that the Government should be sup- 
 ported, that nothing should be done to embarrass the movements 
 of our armies in crushing out the rebellion and restoring peace 
 to the distracted country. He asserted that if the people desired 
 a change of rulers they should unite, without regard to party 
 principle, concentrate their vote on some good man, and by the 
 sublime power of the election franchise, raise him to the proud 
 position of Chief Magistrate of the land. He cautioned prudence, 
 firmness, and unity of action. Strict attention was paid to his 
 remarks throughout, and he was frequently applauded. As Dan 
 retired from the ring the opinion gained currency that he was 
 almost as good a statesman as he is a showman. We congratulate 
 him upon his new-earned laurels. — " Louisville Journal," Mon- 
 day, August 21, 1864. 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 371 
 
 Dan Eice in Western Virginia — His Union Speech to 
 the Volunteers and Citizens oe Mason County. 
 
 Our friend, Dan Eice, whose feelings towards the Union he has 
 never attempted to conceal, having freely confessed them even 
 when Secessionists were in the majority, has heen in "Western 
 Virginia, giving full scope to his patriotism and eloquence. On 
 Thursday last, Election Day, he happened on a visit to several of 
 his old friends in Mason City. The soldiers and citizens of the 
 place, becoming aware of the fact, called all hands to muster, 
 waited on Dan, and, through a committee, requested him to ad- 
 dress them on the political aspect of the present crisis. He, 
 though somewhat reluctant, acquiesced, mounted the rostrum 
 rudely and hurriedly prepared amid the rolling of the drum, the 
 shrieking of the fife, the waving of the National Emblem, the 
 cheers of the men, and the smiles of the ladies, and then pro- 
 ceeded to grant their request, a synopsis of which is the follow- 
 ing: 
 Fellow-citizens and Volunteers of Mason City: 
 
 Although I am not an aspirant either for political fame or 
 aggrandizement, I feel as though I would make too great a sacri- 
 fice of personal pride and honor not to avail myself of the kind 
 invitation you have extended to me. 
 
 During the past few weeks my ears have been shocked by the 
 cries of secession, uttered by those whom I had always loved 
 with heartfelt tenderness — men who were my friends in the dark 
 days of tribulation — men who but a year or two ago would have 
 struck to earth as a dastard he who would have dared to sow in 
 this happy land the seed of discord. I believe that in the seced- 
 ing States already the throes of the fetus of monarchy, the com- 
 ing shadow of discord, the approaching footsteps of the dragon 
 dissolution, have completely paralyzed them. Surely Satan has 
 been loosed for a season, and his fiery breath is drying up the 
 wells of loyalty. Would there were more men in the forum and 
 tripod down South like Parson Brownlow and Andrew Johnson, 
 of Tennessee, who dare write their thoughts and are not afraid 
 to speak them. But exclusive power and coercion rule, and well- 
 meaning men have bowed their necks to receive the yoke of op- 
 pression, and unlike you, have lacked the moral courage to step 
 forth and in a proud tone exclaim to the leaders of the rebellion, 
 " Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." Yes, my fellow-citi- 
 zens, whether to the manor born, or children of the United States 
 by adoption, you have nobly done your work to-day and indelibly 
 stamped upon the historical pages of this country acts that will 
 not cause your posterity to blush when future time shall point 
 them to the record. This evening as the sun hies him to his 
 
372 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 golden couch, and your cannon proclaims the Union men's tri- 
 umph, the hills and valleys of your sister State, Ohio, will rever- 
 berate with joy, and before old Sol shall have risen, the lightning 
 conductor, that fleet courier, the telegraph, will make the whole 
 country aware that the fires of liberty have not resolved them- 
 selves into ashes, nor have the favored altars set up by our patri- 
 otic sires of '76 been overturned. (Cheers.) 
 
 As I have before intimated to you, my province is not in the 
 political avenue — my sphere is more limited; but in common with 
 all sober, thinking men, I entertain my ideas of the evils that 
 surround us and the causes that gave them birth. Look at that 
 proud standard waving there with her thirty-four stars, the major 
 portion of which the thirteen adopted after their children had 
 purchased them with their blood. The tree of despotism was 
 hewed down in Virginia at Yorktown; let me conjure you, my 
 friends, that you tread down the first germ of it you see springing 
 up in your midst. (Cries of " We will.") 
 
 If that flag inspires you to much here, what must be the sensa- 
 tions on seeing it in foreign lands? I have experienced this. 
 When quite a boy, myself and three companions, two of whom 
 were Southern boys, the other a Pennsylvanian like your humble 
 servant, spied the banner of Columbia waving from the mast of 
 an American ship, moored near the docks of London. We 
 simultaneously raised our hats and exclaimed, •" God save the 
 Union," and now I hope, and humbly bow before the tribunal 
 of the All-seeing eye, praying and trusting that our prayer of our 
 boyhood was heard, and will be granted. (Cries of " It will be. 
 In God is our trust.") 
 
 It sometimes seems strange what inspiration there is in that 
 piece of bunting. Why, my friends, in one of the river towns 
 on the Ohio, a party of volunteers were about leaving to vindicate 
 the honor and integrity of their country. The town was full of 
 enthusiasm, and the " gem of the ocean " waved from windows 
 and housetops, save one humble cottage. It was the home of a 
 poor but brave man, who at the first call of his country shoul- 
 dered his musket and marched to battlefield, leaving his wife and 
 children to struggle with adversity until he should return to 
 convince them that their liberties were protected and they were 
 still safe under a free administration. As a rule, women are 
 equal to any emergency. She seized the undergarments of her 
 little one, tacked three of them together, then flaunted as good a 
 "red, white, and blue" flag as anybody. This spasmodic act 
 awakened the liveliest enthusiasm; the people applauded her 
 and the volunteers passed by with uncovered heads. Where is 
 the man who would not raise his hab to petticoats when thus 
 exhibited? Yesterday, at Gallipolis, a lovely little girl came to 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 373 
 
 me and handed me a beautiful bouquet, the flowers arranged in 
 the form and colors of a flag. Said the child, " Here are flowers 
 gathered from my papa's garden; my papa is a Union man, and I 
 hear you are too; your little girls are not here to weave them 
 for you, so I have done it for them." My heart was touched, the 
 better feelings of my nature were aroused and I gloried in the 
 thought that patriotism is not dead in the land where parents 
 thus teach their children. 
 
 I wish to assure you, men in arms, that you are not to meet 
 ordinary men in the coming conflict. The Southern soldiers are 
 not cowards, although their leaders are demagogues and specu- 
 lators. But your cause is a holy one; theirs a speculative one. 
 They wish to give power to designing usurpers; you to defend a 
 triumph gained by the pioneers of liberty. You wish the banner 
 of independence to stand where our forefathers planted it; they 
 wish to flaunt a foreign rag in its stead. Never let this be done, 
 and although the field of carnage may be more deeply reddened 
 by your blood, remember the escutcheon of your country must 
 never be stained by the rapacious hand of speculation. Fellow- 
 citizens, I must close. I will have to talk again to-night. In 
 truth I have labored hard the last six months to save our glorious 
 Union. In conclusion I thank you for your kind attention and 
 pleased with all save the name of your city. However, I presume 
 it derives its name from some other than the one from which a 
 Senator is connected. So mote it be. I am suspicious of all 
 Masons except they are free and accepted ones, who work, I 
 guess, " on the square." 
 
 Fourth of July oratory is above mediocrity. The striking 
 difference between Dan and some other " Hail Columbia Ora- 
 tors " consists in the important fact that he is far wiser than he 
 seems, and they are greater fools than they take themselves to be. 
 Friends and Fellow-citizens: 
 
 I address you by a new title at this time. Hitherto we have 
 always met in the relation of auditors and actors, and custom as 
 well as courtesy demanded that my style of address to you should 
 be "Ladies and Gentlemen," but now the partial kindness of a 
 few friends whose hearts would make me all I ought to be, has 
 placed me in the position of active participator in the festivities 
 which ever attend the anniversary of our independence, and 
 standing now in the proud majesty of an American citizen, 
 mingling my voice with the voice of American citizens, on the 
 day which made us free people, it is my privilege to address those 
 before me as my " Friends and fellow-citizens." We are here to 
 celebrate the deeds of those whose patriotism and wisdom this 
 day seventy-five years ago consummated the glorious plan which 
 
374 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 has secured to us the blessings of a freedom. Freedom — now, 
 indeed, I do feel my own littleness when I attempt to give utter- 
 ance to the stupendous gush of burning thoughts that cluster 
 round the word. Freedom political, intellectual, and religious 
 freedom. Freedom the talismanic sound which disperses the 
 mists of ignorance, the clouds of superstition, and the storms 
 of despotism, and enables man to stand forth in the full majesty 
 of his nature, and maintain the high position which his God, 
 when He created him in His own likeness intended him to occupy. 
 Cold and senseless indeed must be that heart which does not thrill 
 with a livelier pulsation at the mere mention of the name of 
 Freedom. But, my fellow-citizens, if this word gathers round 
 the heart such emotions when generally used, what, oh! what 
 sentiments should animate an American freeman! Cast your 
 eyes over this vast continent replete in all things which can minis- 
 ter to man's happiness or dignity, presenting a picture of intel- 
 lectual grandeur for the admiring contemplation of the Old 
 World, and terror to those whose security of position rests in the 
 ignorance of mankind, and who now tremble at the storm which 
 man's awakened wrath will cause to descend on their devoted 
 heads. Know that all this came from the holy fire of freedom 
 which burned upon the altars of your father's hearts, and tell me, 
 if you can, what are your emotions. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I dare not trust myself upon this theme. I 
 know not how to play upon human feelings as with a toy, and 
 when I touch this chord, so fearfully grand is its wild music that 
 I play the child and cry in the fullness of my joy. But, my 
 friends, let us for one moment cast our eyes abroad over the vast 
 country which now is ours, and see if there is not enough in it to 
 call forth the loudest paeans of grateful hearts; let us see if the 
 fire of pride and enthusiasm that fills every American heart and 
 eye when he thinks of his country be only the pride of home or 
 whether there is intrinsically in the country that which com- 
 mands, not only the pride of the Americans, but the admiration 
 of the world. 
 
 Scarcely a century has passed since a few pilgrims, driven by 
 tyranny from their native land, sought in the wilderness of the 
 western hemisphere a home, where they might worship God ac- 
 cording to the dictates of their consciences, nor thought they, as 
 far as we know, aught more. But oppression followed them; 'the 
 rod of the tyrant was still over them; they still were made to 
 know they had masters, hard, relentless masters whose appetite 
 for rapine, plunder, and oppression, seemed only sharpened by 
 the writhings of their victims. But, my fellow-countrymen, 
 these men had now breathed the free, unpolluted air of nature 
 and a new spirit was infused into them, a light had broken into 
 
REMINISCENCES 01' DAN KICE 375 
 
 their minds, a new fire animated their hearts and inspired their 
 actions. Then came forth the edict that spoke a mighty nation 
 into being. Then was proclaimed the heaven-born doctrine, 
 that " all men were born free and equal." The mighty truth de- 
 clared, pervaded the hearts and minds of all men, and each stand- 
 ing forth in the conscious dignity of his intellectual nature, 
 looked upon his fellow only as a fellow, feeling that, being man, 
 he was man's equal, and that no one had been booted and spurred 
 by the grace of God to ride upon his neck, he resolved to live 
 man's equal or die. On this resolve these pilgrims acted, and 
 by this resolve a tyrant's power fell; an obscure colony became 
 a mighty nation; that which was unknown became the cynosure 
 of the world. 
 
 The history of the development of mind in this country has 
 exhibited a range of thought and power which is absolutely in- 
 conceivable to those who live under less enlightened governments 
 and which has stamped upon the age the sobriquet of " The Age 
 of Progression." And mind being wholly untrammelled by legis- 
 lative enactment or executive usurpation travels at will, from the 
 very necessity of its nature, over the vast fields of thought, ex- 
 ploring every avenue of knowledge, opening every mine of intel- 
 lect. It is true that many led astray by the vagaries that must 
 attend such roving, pursue an ingnis fatuus, through their dark 
 labyrinths; but even these as they pass brush jewels from their 
 beds; succeeding travellers seize the glittering specks, free from 
 impurities, and set them in the proud diadem of knowledge until 
 we behold upon her brow a circlet of gems; so rich, so varied, 
 so fast do these things force themselves upon us, that we, on wak- 
 ing in the morning, find the impossible of yesterday the practical 
 of to-day. 
 
 In illustration of this, permit me to relate an incident. Trav- 
 elling the other day, I met a clever Englishman, an iron-founder, 
 who had just landed in this country and who was anxious about 
 business in his own line of trade. Conversation naturally turned 
 upon it, and after listening to a dissertation from us as to the im- 
 provements in easting now in progress in England, I asked him 
 whether the English foundries had yet adopted the plan of cast- 
 ing in cylinders without moulds. The man stared. I repeated 
 the question, when he laughed outright, but recollecting who I 
 was said, " Oh, I forgot you are licensed to jest and quizz whoever 
 you can, and wherever you please." On my assuring him that 
 I was in earnest, he looked wistfully at me, his eyes speaking as 
 plain as eyes can speak, " You are a crazy man." Nor would he 
 be convinced until visiting a foundry his own eyes witnessed to 
 him the paradoxical operation of casting an iron cylinder by the 
 beautiful application of a simple law of nature, the law of centri- 
 
376 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 fugal force, impressed upon the molten metal. Then in amaze- 
 ment, he cried out, "Wonderful people!" and left the estab- 
 lishment perfectly convinced that he had come to America to be 
 taught, not to teach. And, my friends, this is but one illustra- 
 tion of a thousand in every department of knowledge which 
 throng upon us from the ever-ready, ever-restless American 
 brain, to trace a dim outline of which would occupy a volume 
 and consume a year instead of an hour, and leave the mind be- 
 wildered in the meshes of its own weaving. From the moment 
 that the mighty fact " We are free! " was pronounced, up to the 
 present have the same causes produced the same results, and un- 
 dying, ever expanding in their nature, they must continue to 
 develop new wonders while time shall last. And a single thought 
 of advance is taken up and pursued through every possible rami- 
 fication of practical good. Franklin chained the lightning; 
 Pain harnessed it and made it subservient to the powers of loco- 
 motion. Morse made it the instrument of thought and writes 
 with it as with a pen, making it a means of immediate and in- 
 stantaneous communication for thousands of miles, and now it 
 courses through the vitals of the country as the nerves do through 
 the animal frame, giving to the centre instantaneous news of the 
 affairs of the suburbs. Fulton made steam the means of loco- 
 motion, and the majestic steamboat that now " walks the waters 
 like a thing of life " is a monument of his genius more lasting 
 than columns of brass or iron. But who can tell the limit of the 
 use of steam? Now it is used to make every instrument of good, 
 from a shoe peg to a crowbar, and works every machine from 
 a pin mill to a pile-driver. What is the cause of all this? Is the 
 American mind made of different material from other men's 
 minds? No, my friends, it is the genius of our country, which, 
 opening the avenues of knowledge to all, and leaving all free to 
 act, makes the son commence where the sire ended, and thus 
 each goes on to perfection, all giving evidence of the boundless 
 capacities of the human mind. Such is a faint picture which 
 constitutes the living, moving, breathing panorama of American 
 freedom, and now say is it not intrinsically good, grand, beauti- 
 ful, and should we wonder that we love and that other men are 
 amazed at it? But there are those who would tamper with this 
 mighty fabric, and for selfish purposes would endanger, aye, 
 destroy it, men thrown upon the surface of the political tem- 
 pests as seaweed is thrown up by the tempests of nature, who, 
 knowing no love of country, would risk the Union for the pitiful 
 ambition of notoriety. But let them fume and fret and rage. 
 While the helm of State is guided by the wisdom and patriotism 
 which now directs our councils, the storm of fanaticism may 
 howl; it will spend its fury in impotency, or bursting, fall upon 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 377 
 
 the devoted heads of the wicked demagogues who raised it, con- 
 signing them, as they should be, to everlasting infamy. — August 
 5,1887. 
 
 Dan Eice on His Non-Intercoubse Stump Speech, 1860. 
 
 Dan Eice's Great Show in Philadelphia had already been a 
 favorite resort for strangers from the South and West and espe- 
 cially for the Southern medical students, of whom there were 
 generally a large number pursuing their studies at the various 
 medical colleges in the city. During last winter, in consequence 
 of a feeling created in regard to the slavery question, several 
 hundred of the students left the city. Previous to their de- 
 parture, they visited the " Great Show " en masse, and the inci- 
 dents are thus described in the " Daily Press " of the following 
 day: " Yesterday was a gala day at Dan Eice's Great Show, and 
 rarely has a more brilliant audience assembled at any place of 
 amusement in our city. In the first place, it being an off-night 
 at the Academy of Music, the entire company, principals and 
 subordinates, were present en masse, and appeared highly de- 
 lighted with the various performances, applauding them to the 
 echo with true Italian gusto. In the second place, the large dele- 
 gation of Southern medical students, numbering two or three 
 hundred, who had been holding meetings preparatory to a return 
 to their Southern homes, assembled in force, as if for a valedic- 
 tory gala. In the course of the evening Dan Eice made a strong 
 Union and conservative speech, abandoning for once the role of 
 humorist, and delivering a plain, matter-of-fact oration, as be- 
 comes a citizen, that brought down the house in thunderous ap- 
 plause. As a resident citizen of Philadelphia, he stood up boldly 
 for the Keystone City of the Keystone State, and begged his 
 young friends then present not to be rash or hasty in jumping to 
 a conclusion, or imagine that the fanatical principles broached 
 by the few were the sentiments of the many who governed public 
 opinion, advising them not to take steps in a rash moment of 
 public excitement which they might live afterwards to regret. 
 Mr. Eice alluded to the kindness he invariably received in the 
 South which had placed him under a debt of gratitude that he 
 could never repay, and that feeling now prompted him to speak 
 to those about him in a spirit of kindly friendship, which he 
 trusted would be understood and appreciated in the same spirit 
 it was intended. General Jackson had, in his day, strangled the 
 financial hydra-headed monster, and public opinion would adopt 
 the same course with that of less worthy note, reared for fanati- 
 cism. Mr. Eice went on to say that fanaticism of one kind or 
 
378 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN PJCE 
 
 another had been rampant in all ages of the world, and that his- 
 tory had left its absurdities on record as landmarks to succeeding 
 generations, but in every instance, the sober, common sense of the 
 people had come to the rescue of the many, against the impotency 
 of the few would-be disturbers of the public peace, and such 
 would undoubtedly be the case in the present instance. He knew 
 no section of country and lived for the whole Union, believing 
 firmly that if by accident a spoke in the wheel got knocked out, 
 the Federal machine would have to be stopped until the damage 
 was repaired, which would be done immediately, when it would 
 run on in its course better than ever — the tire being sound and 
 the spokes tightened right up to the hub. Speaking of the 
 Xorth and East, he- said they had equal claims on his gratitude 
 as the South, and when the North and South thoroughly under- 
 stood each other, and the great community of interests which 
 Isound them, all fanatical attempts to dissever them would be 
 laughed to scorn. Speaking of his colored friends, he alluded to 
 having built a place of worship for them, and conceived that as 
 long as they obeyed the laws of this great Union, and the sove- 
 reign state in which they lived, they were entitled to all the 
 enjoyments of humanity in equal proportion to the whites — a 
 sentiment that elicited a recognition of approval, whilst his 
 kindly allusions to the blacks were invariably received with tu- 
 multuous applause by the Southern students. The warm and 
 generous impulses of the Southerners were forcibly alluded to, as 
 also the gayety of the negro in his plantation home. The gusto 
 with which Mr. Eice described the incidents of Southern life 
 showed him to be perfectly familiar with his theme, while his 
 introduction of negro stories was inimitable, and seemed highly 
 relished by the colored gallery. 
 
 Mr. Rice concluded with some forcible allusions to the recent 
 Union meetings and the strong conservative feeling evinced 
 throughout the country, commenting on the absurdities of sup- 
 posing that the " tree of Liberty " could exist if deprived of its 
 " Southern roots." " Fellow-citizens," says he, " our spreading 
 tree of Liberty could no more flourish, deprived of its Southern 
 roots, than a banana can bloom in the icebergs of Spitzbergen." 
 Mr. Eice's speech was greeted with marked attention and enthu- 
 siastic applause throughout, and on its conclusion three cheers 
 were unanimously given for the great jester, followed by an 
 equally enthusiastic recall. 
 
 Mr. President, Friends, and Fellow-citizens: 
 
 The name of Eice being somewhat rare in this locality, I guess 
 T am the man called for. I am proud to be here, and being here, 
 I know of no reason why I should refuse to respond to the wishes 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 379 
 
 of my fellow-townsmen who have congregated here for the pur- 
 pose of encouraging volunteers to enlist for the defense of the 
 Union and the maintenance of the honor and dignity of its flag. 
 I am not a Eepublican not yet a Democrat, though it is well 
 known to most of you, perhaps, that I am a disciple of principles 
 and doctrines enunciated by Mr. Douglas, and now being faith- 
 fully carried out by Mr. Lincoln and his administration. It is 
 true that I was opposed to the election of Mr. Lincoln because I 
 believed him to be a sectional candidate. I have travelled ex- 
 tensively in the South, and in my professional career have experi- 
 enced many instances of Southern kindness and generosity. But 
 when I saw that a small party of politicians, who have managed 
 to control the administration of this government for over thirty 
 years, were on the eve of destroying one of the noblest fabrics ever 
 constructed by the genius of man, and fast merging our peace- 
 ful country into the horrors of civil war, I thought it my duty 
 as a citizen of this commonwealth to use all my endeavors to de- 
 fend the national flag, and tender my services and means for the 
 purpose of putting down this great rebellion. The question with 
 which we have now to deal is not that of Abolitionism; not that of 
 Republicanism or Democracy, but that of actual war, bloody, 
 civil war. The North must prove true to herself. No party 
 lines or predilections should mar the harmony of the North, but 
 every man shoiild stand up in the dignity of his nature and give 
 not only his money, but himself if necessary, to swell the ranks of 
 our gallant volunteers. I am personally acquainted with Jeff 
 Davis — whom I charged half a dollar for the privilege — and 
 familiar with the cause of this rebellion. I know the feelings 
 of hostility which prompt him and his enraged minions, but their 
 days are numbered. I " speak from the card." I have been 
 there and a " looker-on in Venice." No moneyed aristocracy 
 shall be allowed to rule this land of freedom. We are proud to 
 defend and keep intact that freedom which was achieved by the 
 blood of our patriotic sires. "We shall never submit to be ruled 
 by the despotism of the doomed South, never! Fiat justitia, mat 
 caelum. We revere the soil that was moistened by the tears and 
 blood of our patriot ancestors, and fling to the breeze those 
 glorious Stars and Stripes that floated over the weary columns 
 of Washington's victorious armies as they marched to the field of 
 battle. The time has come when men must act — sympathy for 
 the Union alone will not save it from the desolating tide of war. 
 What we need is the brave, stalwart arm of the brave volunteer. 
 The gallant McLane, whose personal sacrifices and labors to 
 form a regiment place beyond a doubt his devotion to his coun- 
 try, stands ready to lead them to the field of glory. To the young 
 men of Brie County I would say, " Stand not upon the order of 
 
380 REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 
 
 going, but go at once." The Union men of the South are wait- 
 ing with open arms to receive you, such men as Johnson and 
 Etheridge, of Tennessee; Holt, the God-like Crittendon, and the 
 Union-loving Prentice, of Kentucky, are bidding you to speed. 
 I believe, I know that victory awaits you, while every pulsation 
 of your hearts beats responsive to the call. The enemies of a 
 Eepublican Government are seeking to destroy our institutions 
 before the great principle of self-government is practically car- 
 ried out, and we believe with Washington that, " Whatever meas- 
 ures have a tendency to dissolve the Union or contribute to 
 violate or lessen the sovereign authority ought to be considered 
 as hostile to the Liberty and Independence of America, and the 
 authors of them treated accordingly." And with Henry Clay, that 
 " If any one State choose to place themselves in military array 
 against the Government of the Union I am for trying the 
 strength of the Government. I am for ascertaining whether we 
 have got a Government or not, practical, efficient, capable of 
 maintaining its authority and of upholding the powers and in- 
 terests which belong to a government. Nor, sir, am I to be 
 alarmed or dissuaded from any such course by intimations of the 
 spilling of blood. If blood is to be spilt, by whose fault is it to 
 be spilt? Upon the supposition, I maintain it will be the fault 
 of those who choose to raise the standard of disunion, and en- 
 deavor to prostrate this government, and, sir, when that is done, 
 as long as it please God to give me a voice to express my senti- 
 ments, or an arm, weak and enfeebled as it may be by age, that 
 voice and that arm will be on the side of my country for the 
 support of the general authority and for the maintenance of the 
 powers of the Union. 
 Erie County, 1861. 
 
 Delivered at Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: In taking my leave of you, I cannot 
 refrain from an attempt to give expression to some of the feel- 
 ings which have overpowered me ever since I entered Pittsburg. 
 That I shall succeed in any degree, I hardly hope. But I must 
 try. 
 
 To nine-tenths of the audience here present, I am privately 
 and personally known — known too, in all the vagaries, frolics, 
 indiscretions, mayhap, dissipations of boyish wildness, for Pitts- 
 burg was the home of my boyish days; the theatre of my earlier 
 moments, the spot of earth hallowed by all the joyous pictures 
 that gather round that bright period of our lives when all is- 
 sunny, when no clouds o'ershadow the scene, and the heart sends 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 881 
 
 forth joyous notes to every chord we strike. I went forth from 
 your midst the same wild boy. I entered the world, a foolish 
 boy to play th« fool, which I did after a while. Time passed. 
 My jests were relished by the people wherever I went; money 
 came to my coffers, and I returned to you a man; one, too, on 
 whom the world had smiled. You welcomed me with a mother's 
 fondness. I was truly, for the time, fortune's child. Again I 
 went forth. Still the blind goddess showered her favors on me — 
 I was rich. Thus caressed, thus prosperous, possessed as it were 
 of Midas' touch which converted everything into gold, is it to be 
 wondered at that I was confiding, and I met a smooth-tongued 
 hypocrite, who, operating upon my credulous nature, won my 
 heart. I would have trusted him with my life. I, with my 
 family, was thrust upon the world, homeless wanderers. Gather- 
 ing together all that I could of the wreck of my fortune, I 
 started anew on life's pilgrimage and through trial and perse- 
 cution I reached my home again. I appeared in your midst. 
 I was received with open arms, by warm hearts. And here 
 again, I feel the unborn energy rekindled by your smiles, and 
 thus sustained, I shall rise superior to the machinations of vil- 
 lany and once more become a wooer of fortune's fickle smiles, or, 
 if not, I'll wring my hard-earned favors from her unwilling grasp. 
 To portray the emotions that gather around my heart, as I at this 
 minute contemplate a separation from you, is impossible; to ex- 
 press my gratitude, a hopeless task. All I can do is to say, " God 
 bless you. Farewell! " 
 
 Unveiling of Monument to the Memory of the De- 
 parted Soldiers of Erie County, Penn. 
 
 DAN RICE'S GREAT SHOW. 
 
 THE INAUGURATION OF THE MONUMENT ERECTED TO THE 
 MEMORY OF DEPARTED SOLDIERS OF ERIE COUNTY — IM- 
 MENSE CROWD OF PEOPLE FULLY 10,000 CONGREGATED — 
 
 UNPRECEDENTED ENTHUSIASM — SPEECHES, PROCEEDINGS, 
 ETC. — INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS. 
 
 A finer day than yesterday never dawned, and a fitter assem- 
 blage could not possibly have greeted it. The sky was clear, 
 the atmosphere bracing, and the streets, though a little 
 damper than necessity demanded, were yet in excellent looking 
 order. 
 
 At a little past eight o'clock, the first department under the 
 
382 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 direction of Chief Engineer J. S. Stafford, formed in Peach 
 Street in the following order: First came "Perry, Jr.," a com- 
 pany of juveniles, twenty-five in number, clad in the regulation 
 red shirts and black pantaloons, bearing a banner under the di- 
 rection of Joseph Craig; following them came Perry No. 1, fifty 
 men, commanded by the foreman, W. J. Winfield, with the same 
 uniforms as their predecessors; next came Goodwill No. 3, sixty 
 men, under the direction of "William Hubbard, foreman, clad in 
 white shirts and black pants; after them came Eagle No. 2, fifty 
 men, under foreman William Shoddy, in uniform; and lastly, 
 Keystone Hose Company No. 1, ten men, led by Joseph Boyer, 
 foreman. The procession was led by Mehl's Brass Band, and 
 took their line of march from the engine house down Peach to 
 Fourth, then to State, and up State to the depot. They made 
 a splendid appearance and attracted a great deal of attention. 
 The train left promptly at the appointed time and reached Girard 
 in due season, " right side up and free from damage." A large 
 number of citizens accompanied the excursion, among whom 
 were many of our most prominent business and political men. 
 Presque Isle Lodge, No. 177, I. 0. 0. F., in full regalia, was on 
 hand and formed one of the distinctive features of the delegation 
 from Erie. It was a great day, not only for Girard, but for Erie 
 County and the county adjacent. If Dan Eice had made the 
 weather for the occasion, he could not have suited himself or 
 others better. The excursion train from Erie consisted of thir- 
 teen cars crammed to their utmost capacity. This was followed 
 by the regular train, which disgorged at Girard almost as large a 
 mass of eager humanity, and the train from Greenville, westward, 
 brought a thousand more or less. 
 
 The scene about the depot was one of excitement but not one 
 of confusion, thanks to the preparations made by Dan Rice and 
 the executive ability of the committee of arrangements. A num- 
 ber of teams from Dan Bice's show were on hand to convey the 
 ladies and the invited guests to the village. The procession was 
 about a mile long and presented a very fine and variegated ap- 
 pearance. There were militarjr officers, conspicuous among 
 whom were General Brown; the military bands, Guilford's of 
 Girard, Mehl's of Erie, and Quell's Highland Band, consisting of 
 very small Scotchmen and very large bagpipes. Colonel Bice 
 then opened his house with his accustomed hospitality to the in- 
 vited guests, among whom were Governor Curtin of this State, 
 Ex-Governor Todd, Judge Miles of this county, and other nota- 
 bilities. We saw here L. W. Volk, the sculptor who designed 
 and executed the monument for which the celebration of the 
 day was intended, and the sculptor of a splendid marble bust of 
 Dan Rice, which stands in his parlor. He also executed a fine 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 383 
 
 bust of President Lincoln before his nomination. Mr. Volk has 
 his headquarters in Chicago. 
 
 THE MONUMENT. 
 
 The column is formed of a Corinthian pillar of white marble 
 draped with the Stars and Stripes and surmounted by a laurel 
 wreath and the American Eagle. The pedestal upon which it 
 stands consist of three bases or plinths, plain, bearing a die 
 surmounted by a cap which is supported at each of the four 
 corners by a cannon in relief bound with laurel. Around the 
 summit of the die and at the foot of the shaft is a bas-relief girdle 
 of cannon balls. The whole is surrounded by a handsome oval 
 wire fence. The monument is placed in the centre of the path, 
 a most beautiful spot, and will form an attraction where interest 
 will increase through all coming generations. It is in height 
 twenty-five feet, with a sub-base six feet square. The panel is 
 three and a half feet square and the column ten and a half feet 
 in height. 
 
 On the arrival of the procession at the centre of the village, 
 William A. Galbraith, Esq., of Erie, introduced Governor Curtin 
 to the people in a few appropriate words, which were answered 
 by the Governor briefly, when the crowd dispersed to meet at the 
 ceremonies of the inauguration at half after one o'clock. Promi- 
 nent in the procession was a company of soldiers, volunteers in 
 the late war, who once more marched under arms for the benefit 
 of their country. They numbered about fifty men and marched 
 with uncovered heads at all points in the route of the procession. 
 One of the most prominent features of the procession was a car, 
 drawn by an elephant handsomely caparisoned and attended by a 
 baby elephant, containing a coterie of beautiful damsels dressed in 
 black, each wearing a black hat and plumes with the names of 
 the States which each respectively represented emblazoned on 
 their head fronts. The seats of the car were arranged in pyramid 
 form, rising gradually to the summit, which was surmounted by 
 a single seat occupied by Miss Annie Barker, who represented the 
 Goddess of Liberty. The names of the young ladies, with the 
 respective States they personified, are as follows: Maine, A. N. 
 Ward; New Hampshire, Nancy Daggett; Vermont, Mary Gulli- 
 ford; Massachusetts, Emma Hart; Rhode Island, Inez Shipman; 
 Connecticut, Mary Rockwell; New York, Belle Oliphant; New 
 Jersey, Emma Gulliford; Pennsylvania, Beatrice Keiser; Dela- 
 ware, Maggie Evans; Maryland, Helen McClelland; Virginia, 
 Mary Sterrett; North Carolina, Jane Cole; South Carolina, Dora 
 Morris; Georgia, Florence Deggett; Florida, G. Bliss; Alabama, 
 
384 REMINISCENCES OE DAN EICE 
 
 Maggie Kane; Nebraska, D. "Woodward; Mississippi, Adah 
 Buchardan; Louisiana, Kate Eice; Texas, Jennie Green ward; 
 Ohio, M. J. Sullivan; Indiana, Frank Fletcher; Illinois, B. S. 
 Deggett; Kentucky, Cathie Hibbs; Tennessee, B. M. Pollay; 
 Michigan, Nettie Murray; Wisconsin, Mary Gillett; Iowa, Ada 
 Hathaway; Missouri, L. Traut; Arkansas, Eva Miller; California, 
 Mary Pettibone; Minnesota, Adia Pettibone; Oregon, Nettie 
 Kendig; Kansas, L. Hopkins; Nevada, Ella Hart. 
 
 "We will not lay ourselves open to the charge of sectionalism by 
 declaring our choice or preference of the impersonification which 
 represented the States won anew, renewing their allegiance to the 
 Constitution and the old Union, but if, personally, we put on 
 record our appreciation of the appearance of Louisiana, we hope 
 we may not lay ourselves open to censure or a charge of partiality 
 when the fact is that we do not know the lady. Veterans of the 
 War of 1812 formed a prominent feature of the procession. 
 
 John Hay, Girard; E. B. Hedden, Springfield, Pa.; John B. 
 Gage, Kingsville, 0.; Samuel Ball, Girard; Daniel Bossitier, Con- 
 neaut, 0.; Jesse Mills, Conneaut; Stephen Francis, Franklin, 
 Pa.; Thomas B. Mills, Springfield, Pa.; Walter Derby, Spring- 
 field, Pa.; John Kelly, Girard; J. "W. Miller, Girard; Ezekiel 
 Carrier, Springfield, Pa.; Levi Francis, Franklin, Pa.; Daniel 
 Seyre, Girard. It was nearly two o'clock before the procession 
 re-formed to march to the Speaker's stand and proceed- to the 
 dedication of the monument. Some ten thousand people had 
 assembled. The citizens of the village exerted themselves to 
 their utmost to care for and entertain all who came within their 
 reach. Colonel Bice's residence was the rendezvous of the in- 
 vited guests from abroad, the members of the press, which was 
 represented by the " Cleveland Herald and Leader," the " Cin- 
 cinnati Commercial," the " Philadelphia Press," the " Erie Dis- 
 patch," Conneautsville, Pit Hole City, and other localities. The 
 procession formed, headed by Bice's Cornet Band, followed by 
 carriages containing the Governor and suite, General McCal- 
 mont, president of the day, the Mayor of Erie, and the invited 
 guests. Then followed the funeral car above alluded to, the fire 
 department of Erie, and a long procession of carriages and people 
 on foot. The procession halted in front of the Speakers' stand 
 in the south side of Public Square, near the monument. The 
 stand was fronted by an arch decorated with evergreens and sur- 
 mounted with the motto: " Home gratitude to our fallen heroes." 
 The meeting was called to order by the president of the day, 
 Gen. A. B. McCalmont, of Franklin," who introduced Eev. Chas. 
 B. Shipman, who made the following prayer: 
 
 "Almighty Sovereign of the Universe; God of nature and of 
 men, we invoke Thy blessing. We thank Thee for this occasion 
 
BEMXNISCENCES OF DAN EICE 385 
 
 and for the favorable circumstances which we are this day placed 
 in; we thank Thee for the smiling sun; we thank Thee for the 
 evidence of Thy power in the rolling away of the clouds that have 
 darkened the sky in the days that are past; we thank Thee for 
 the labors of Thy love; we thank Thee especially for the presence 
 of this large number of people convened on this occasion to pay 
 their respects to the memorj r of those brave men who laid down 
 their lives for this government which has been bequeathed to us 
 by our fathers. And we thank Thee, God, for the spirit of pa- 
 triotism that animates all our hearts. We ask Thee that we may 
 live such lives that we will realize and love that cause the more 
 in behalf of which they died; that we may consecrate ourselves 
 more fully to the government in the interest of which they have 
 fallen. We ask that Thy blessing may rest on the audience 
 which has assembled in Thy presence; we pray Thee that those 
 who shall speak to-day may be inspired and the hearts of the 
 hearers inspired to put their trust in Thee, and more especially 
 that the proud spirit of patriotism be developed in every bosom. 
 We ask that Thy blessing may rest over all men; especially, 
 Father, we invoke the riches of Thy grace upon those who fought 
 for liberty in defense of this government and were permitted by 
 Thee to again return to their homes. But bless those who rest 
 in far-off Southern graves, who gave their lives in defense of that 
 liberty; bless our nation throughout all its trials; bless the Presi- 
 dent of the United States and all in authority; bless the govern- 
 ment of this Commonwealth, and all those who occupy positions 
 under it; bless all in authority throughout our land. And bless, 
 we humbly pray Thee, the occasion which has convened us to- 
 gether at this time, and bless this magnificent monument which 
 we have this day reared and will consecrate to the memory of 
 those who have fallen from this country in defense of the govern- 
 ment under which we live; a perpetual memory, reminding all 
 how much we owe them, and we embalm their memories in our 
 hearts, and consecrate those memories so that we may seek to do 
 them all honor by every means that rests in our power. We in- 
 voke Thy blessing upon him whose heart has conceived, whose 
 hand has wrought this monument, who after so many difficulties 
 in the preparation of this monument, may the Lord be with him; 
 we thank Thee for the spirit of patriotism which has actuated 
 and urged people up to the very conclusion of the war. And, 
 Father, we ask that Thy blessing may rest and shine over all. 
 Help us to consecrate this monument more fully to Liberty, Jus- 
 tice, and Eight, to the preservation of the government our fathers 
 have bequeathed to us, and at last receive us in Thy bosom, where 
 peace reigns forever. Amen." 
 The monument was then uncovered by the artist who executed 
 25 
 
386 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 it, and its beauty and symmetry exposed to the view of the 
 admiring multitude. General McCalmont then dedicated it with 
 a most impressive and appropriate speech, which we are unable 
 to give on acount of lack of time and space. It was an effort 
 which did justice to the occasion and justice to the speaker. He 
 was followed by Governor Curtin, the orator of the day, who pro- 
 ceeded as follows: " Fellow citizens: The weather which was 
 yesterday so inauspicious, has to-day changed, and the sun smiles 
 upon the earth enabling us upon this solemn occasion to fulfill 
 our duty. This occasion, my fellow-citizens, is a glorious evi- 
 dence of the patriotic spirit of the citizens of this village. The 
 spirit of liberality which induced you to erect that beautiful 
 monument to those who have fallen in defense of the government, 
 proves what you are. Words cannot express what I feel, words 
 cannot add to the intelligence of the vast multitude who are pres- 
 ent here to-day, unless I might say that the lessons of the war 
 made me reflect upon the stubborn fidelity with which you have 
 maintained your government when it was assaulted by treason. 
 Not in the history of mankind, not in the history of the world, 
 can there anything be found that approaches in sublimity the 
 heroic devotion, the stubborn fidelity of the people of this coun- 
 try to the Government, inherited from their fathers, which gave 
 and gives them so much freedom, which they love so much. This 
 vast multitude before me must have studied well the lessons of 
 the war when they assemble in this place in thousands to pay 
 respect to the memory of the heroic dead. This monument, my 
 friends, was erected to the memory of the soldiers who have fallen 
 for their country. It is not a monument of war! We are called 
 to pay reverence to the memory of the private soldiers of the 
 Republic. Presidents and cabinets, members of the national and 
 State legislature, generals, sink into insignificance when con- 
 sidered even collectively, to the spirit and ardor of the private 
 soldiers who have suffered under the war and contributed to the 
 preservation of the institutions of American liberty. No 
 pageant follows his funeral. His name scarce passes into history. 
 It slumbers in the rolls of the War Office,' or in the military de- 
 partments of the States. And, indeed, he often falls in battle 
 and his name remains forever 'unknown/ His pecuniary re- 
 ward from the government is small, scarce enough to maintain 
 his family which he has left at home and which has to be pro- 
 vided for by special institutions. Yet it is to just such men as 
 these that we owe the preservation of the government. We owe 
 to the private soldiers, to the brave men living or dead all that 
 we have, and the people,- in this monument, show, that though 
 dead, they respect their memory and will hold it in eternal rever- 
 ence. It is one of the pleasant recollections of the times, and 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 387 
 
 you have noticed it, no doubt, when the generals of the war speak 
 in behalf of some institution for the protection of the maimed, 
 for the care of the widows and the orphans, or when they attend 
 the erection or the dedications of monuments in memory of the 
 dead, all of them have agreed in awarding to the private soldier 
 the mead of patriotism, and admitting him the noblest man among 
 his fellows. And this monument erected in Northwest Penn- 
 sylvania is to commemorate the private soldiers of this part of 
 the State who have passed into the armies of the government. 
 You measure civilization, to some extent, by the care taken of 
 the burial places of the dead. It is the observance in the ad- 
 vanced state of civilization and is as old as time. You all re- 
 member with what care the prophet provides a title for the burial 
 place in which was to rest the body of her he loved best in all the 
 world, how he cleared it of brambles and briars, and made it a 
 sacred place. And ever since that day the civilized and refined 
 world has cared for the resting place of their dead, and one of 
 the truest evidences of this civilization consists in the care we 
 take to beautify and consecrate the cities of the departed. It 
 has become a sentiment in man's heart, and we simply express it 
 when we prepare memorials for those who have fallen for their 
 country. What have we done to enrich their graves? What 
 have we done to raise monuments to their memory? Little! But 
 I trust the time will come when a general manifestation of our 
 admiring liberality and patriotic feeling will be manifested in a 
 general erection of monuments, when they will be found in every 
 county of the State, and of all the States, to perpetuate the honor 
 of the dead. They should be in every city and every village so 
 that when the present generation shall have passed away, our 
 children and out children's children may know who it was who 
 suffered and died to preserve the government. Their admiration 
 will be inspired as they think of the heroic services that must 
 have been required to maintain it, and as they grow up they will 
 protect what their fathers died to save — Libeett and Honor! 
 Having had much to do with the army during the late war, send- 
 ing men into the field and keeping up the supply, I know how 
 much suffering there was in this State and how much heroism. 
 I know very well how Pennsylvania has mourned. I know that 
 the cries of widows and orphans have been heard in all her land 
 and in all her valleys. I know very well that every morning 
 and night there were prayers sent up for the safety of the men 
 on the field, but come trials, come death, the people stood stead- 
 fastly by the government in its peril. 
 
 " What a pleasant thing to see what we see to-day! The storm 
 is over and peace has come. I was assisted by men of all the 
 schools of religious belief, and I can stand to-day, facing this 
 
388 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 multitude of people and say that the body of the people of Penn- 
 sylvania never faltered all the time our liberty was placed in peril. 
 I know there were some of my friends who sympathized with the 
 Eebellion; I know in this State of ours a few miserable 
 wretches who slunk into dark corners to crown their plans of 
 slavery, even when they felt it was dead. But they were few, 
 very few, my friends. The great body of our people of Penn- 
 sylvania were very true to our government in the darkest hours 
 of its distress. And you know what our armies have done for 
 us — those brave men who marched in the procession and in 
 whose presence I stand to-day. Who but feels that he has learned 
 a lesson from this great war? What has our army done for us? 
 Look back upon the history of the late war closing with such 
 signal triumph and we cannot but feel that it gives us a higher 
 trust, if possible, in the overwhelming power of the Almighty, 
 that His arm was stretched out to scourge the government for 
 introducing the enormity of human slavery. In existence at the 
 time the Constitution was formed, the wise men of that day, in 
 preparing the national government without overriding the insti- 
 tution, preferred not to introduce it into the instrument, passed 
 it over as property. We have tried for seventy odd years to 
 strengthen the owner of slaves, to make him prouder and prouder 
 and richer, and now when this power has passed away, whether it 
 is owing to the extreme men, the violent men, North and South, 
 it is still more proper to speak more fully on the subject. The 
 institution of human slavery! Let its advocates say what they 
 will, it was the cause of the war. (Applause and cries of ' That's 
 so.') God Almighty laid his hand upon this people and in the 
 execution of his behests, 500,000 men died; $8,000,000 of treasure 
 was spent. An army is dead but Christian principles have tri- 
 umphed, and the experiment of American civilization is to be 
 tried upon four millions of freed men. The soldier has performed 
 his duty faithfully; you can go on erecting monuments to the 
 dead, but you must also give full mead to the living. The states- 
 man has now to take the unslain hand and he must finish well 
 what the soldier has begun. Let them, like you, learn well the 
 lessons of war. In this application let us understand what they 
 are and what they mean. Why did the men die? In whose 
 memory is that beautiful structure erected? They died that the 
 government might live. Their bones rest in Southern soil that 
 liberty might survive. Having performed their work, it is taken 
 from their hands at the end of a humble war. When I assume 
 the importance of the present crisis, it must be evident to every 
 candid man, to every intelligent man, that slavery, that human 
 bondage has brought all the evils just forced upon the country. 
 And slavery must be forever dead, forever and ever. I will not 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 389 
 
 speak about the results of the war. Only let me say, let us never 
 have another war, let us not seek a war with foreign countries, 
 let us consider it (if in no other way) as a question of dollars and 
 cents. Let us pray morning and night that our statesmen may 
 not draw us into another war. We have lost men enough, there 
 are enough widows and orphans now in the land. We have ex- 
 pended enough money. What have we to do with Maximilian? 
 I am of the opinion that if we leave the Mexicans alone, they 
 will be strong enough to drive the bogus emperor into the Gulf 
 themselves. (Great applause.) And much the more glory if they 
 do it by themselves. They are millions strong; they are reason- 
 ably warlike and formidable in many respects. They will not 
 have an emperor forced upon them without their consent, and I 
 can tell you with all frankness that the change in their govern- 
 ment from a republic to a monarchy is just as much a result of 
 the rebellion as the battle of Gettysburg. The French emperor 
 would never have dared to meddle with the affairs of any nation 
 on this side of the ocean if we had not been engaged in an ex- 
 hausting war in which he believed and hoped, without doubt, that 
 we should fail. But his expectations are or will be disappointed. 
 But we can go into no more wars, and when I say that I think I 
 speak the sentiments of every man before me who has been in 
 military service, whose heart vibrates in harmony with my own. 
 And now, fellow-citizens, I'll detain you no longer. I honor 
 your purpose with all my heart. You are the first in this State 
 to set the example of erecting monuments to the memory of the 
 dead soldiers. I hope that your example will be followed all 
 over the State; that everywhere a grateful people will retain the 
 recollections of the services of those who have wrought so well. 
 I congratulate you and them upon your brave fidelity to your 
 country. The soldier has now returned home, passed back to his 
 old pursuits, and resumed the implements of peace he had laid 
 away, and now turns to the development of his gentler traits. 
 The schoolhouse rearing itself beside the church; our population 
 and our resources increasing; our commerce extending itself to 
 every sea; the dignity and power of the American nation height- 
 ened — all this is a monument to the American soldier who has 
 accomplished it. The soldier's best monument is in the heart 
 of the people whom he has served. But there is a monument, 
 too, and it is not a small one; there is a memorial that will be 
 perpetual, and there the soldiers living will find it in the senti- 
 ment of admiration and thankfulness which fills the heart of 
 every citizen. It is very pleasant to be here to-day; to be present 
 on this beautiful day of autumn in the middle of the glories of 
 Indian summer. It is pleasant for me to be here holding office 
 as I have been for five years, five years of anxious days and nights 
 
390 KEMQTISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 and constant watching. When I have travelled before, it has 
 been either to gain soldiers for the government or votes for my- 
 self. (Loud applause.) I succeed, I think, pretty well in both. 
 (Eenewed laughter and applause.) It is pleasant to be here with- 
 out the necessity of either. I do not come now to ask any one to 
 leave the comforts of home to enter military service nor to 
 violate his conscience by giving me another vote. Whatever my 
 own personal inclinations might be, it is provided in the Consti- 
 tution that we can only hold office of Governor but twice in nine 
 years, and as, according to that, I am the only man in Pennsyl- 
 vania ineligible to the position I am free to say I am per- 
 fectly independent. I came here without any notice, but only 
 to mingle with my fellow-citizens and rejoice with them in the 
 new days that have dawned upon the distressed country. No 
 more blood will be shed, men will quit killing each other, no more 
 orphans and widows will be made by war. Now we have passed 
 all trouble and trial and danger, let us pray God to protect and 
 take care of the country." (Applause.) 
 
 The speech of Governor Curtin was followed by Governor 
 Todd, of Ohio, who proceeded to some length to demonstrate the 
 importance and solemnity of the occasion. We have not room 
 for the speech in full. He endorsed the sentiments of Governor 
 Curtin in regard to Pennsylvania, prayed God there might not be 
 another war in which we should be called upon to engage, en- 
 dorsed President Johnson's policy in regard to Southern recon- 
 struction, and contended that the colored race were entitled to 
 all the privileges they were capable of enjoying. He awarded 
 due praise to the patriotism of Col. Dan Eice and hoped his 
 liberality would be well appreciated during the present age as it 
 will be by generations to follow. The speech was well-timed, 
 enthusiastic, full of power and glowing thought and patriotic 
 sentiment. At the close of Governor Todd's speech, a magnifi- 
 cent bouquet of flowers was presented to Governor Curtin by 
 Barbara Keiser (who impersonated Pennsylvania), with the fol- 
 lowing sentiment, " Governor Curtin, please accept this — it is a 
 tribute to the soldier's friend." The Governor received the pres- 
 ent with due expression of thanks, gallantly finishing with a kiss, 
 which we don't doubt he thoiight worth while coming all the way 
 from Harrisburg for. Immediately upon the heels of this came 
 another presentation; this time to Colonel Eice, a bouquet from 
 the hands of Dora Morris (South Carolina). The sentiment 
 was: "Mr. Eice, we appreciate your noble munificence, please 
 accept this as an offering." Colonel Eice, who can never be out- 
 done in gallantry any more than he can in public spirit, received 
 and paid for it in the same manner as the Governor, only with 
 more gusto. 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 391 
 
 Colonel Eice was here loudly called for by the citizens, and he 
 spoke as follows: 
 
 Speech delivered at inauguration of the monument erected to 
 departed soldiers of Erie County, November, 1865. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-citizens: 
 
 Like Governor Todd, I did not come here to make a speech, 
 neither will I permit myself to do so. Governor Curtin, who is 
 a friend of long acquaintance, has insisted I should say something. 
 I can't say much, you know that. But I will try, though my 
 voice is so bad that I cannot speak what I would like to say. The 
 occasion demands something from me that I am unable to say. 
 Having to speak three hours a day for the last six months, I have 
 come to the last day that I have contracted to speak to the people; 
 you can imagine that I am pretty well played out. (Laughter.) 
 Thank God that I have been permitted to mingle humbly with 
 those who have helped to drive back those foes of the Eepublic, 
 the same brave men who fought in the ranks of the Union Army. 
 I thank God that I have been permitted to do so and that I have 
 lived to some purpose, to realize sufficient out of my work to 
 erect a monument to the memory of the brave men who have 
 earned our lasting gratitude. I had no object to influence me in 
 this work. I do not want fame, I do not want reputation outside 
 of what I have got in my own employment. I regard it as my 
 noblest pride that I am an American citizen who dwells in the 
 land where a God of freedom rides upon every gale. (Applause.) 
 Our noblest soldiers stand and have always stood'ready to rush to 
 the defense of the country whenever it is necessary. Maybe I 
 never did that, but I always made a very good home ground. 
 (Laughter.) I look around me and see the Governor, and he is 
 Andy Curtin. He has attempted something which I know better 
 how to do probably than most men, for depend upon it, I have 
 not travelled for nothing. He has on all occasions met me as a 
 fellow-man, and the soldiers have always found in him a defender 
 and a friend. Well, the Governor decided to come here because 
 he respected the object of this gathering. And that was not all. 
 I must say that it looks very much as if he came over here after 
 the girls. (Laughter.) But I gave him notice that if he did I 
 am in the same boat. (Laughter.) I took advantage of the Gov- 
 ernor's nervousness (referring to the salute the Governor had 
 given the young girl who presented the flowers), I made mine go 
 nearer the mark. I struck the centre (laughter) because I have 
 had bettter practice, I suppose. (Laughter.) Fellow-citizens, 
 permit me from my heart to thank you and the gentlemen who 
 have come from abroad to make our reunion the more pleasant. 
 
392 REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 
 
 They are among the most distinguished and eminent in the land 
 ■ — noble and generous. We have here gray-haired men who were 
 soldiers in 1812, men who can look back on a well-spent life with 
 hearts full of hope. I thank them equally, and believe me when 
 I tell you that this is a joyous day of my life. How blessed we 
 have been! How the Almighty has smiled upon us in giving us 
 such a beautiful day for carrying out our dedication. How our 
 hearts should be filled with gratitude to the Giver of all good. 
 The sky is bright and smiling, and all nature is full of loveliness, 
 and over there is a pyramid of loveliness. (Laughter.) They are 
 positively so inviting that I will run the Governor a race over 
 to that stand. I am well practiced and I can beat him I think. 
 I have kissed fully seven thousand ladies in this season alone. 
 Now, gentlemen, 1 have not said a great deal about the monu- 
 ment. It is a product of genius and skill. The man, the artist, 
 the sculptor, is here. I desire to point him out as the author of 
 this beautiful monument. It is really a great work of art, and I 
 present to you the great American artist and sculptor, Leonard 
 W. Volk. Mr. Volk was presented to the audience and in re- 
 sponse to the loud cries, simply said, " I thank you." Mr. Eice 
 was followed by the reading of letters from Generals Sherman, 
 Hancock, Meade, Grant, and President Johnson, expressing re- 
 grets of their inabilit}' to be present on the occasion and wishing 
 it all the success possible. We are compelled to close our report 
 without the elaboration we desire to give the subject. Suffice it 
 to say that never was there anything which passed off with 
 greater success or satisfaction. It was the finest exhibition of 
 enthusiasm and good feeling we ever witnessed and proved that 
 no man had more or warmer friends than Dan Eice, and that no 
 project ever met with more enthusiasm or approbation than the 
 inauguration of his monument erected to the memory of the sol- 
 diers of Erie County who fell in the late Eebellion. We need 
 not say more of its success than to mention that we have the as- 
 surance of Governor Curtin that the crowd was larger and the 
 enthusiasm greater than attended the monumental celebration 
 at Gettysburg. The multitude dispersed with the utmost good 
 cheer and satisfaction, and by seven o'clock Girard was as quiet as 
 the morning sun had found it. — " Erie Daily Dispatch," Thurs- 
 day, November 2, 1865. 
 
 Douglas, Eice, and Forney. 
 
 In view of the fact that Col. Dan Eiee's prominence as a 
 Presidential candidate has called forth from sources, and rabid, 
 radical ones in particular, ill-tempered and even abusive denials 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 393 
 
 of his claims to ability and statesmanship, the following incidents 
 testifying to the esteem in which both were held by the lamented 
 Stephen A. Douglas and John W. Forney, the present Clerk of 
 the United States Senate, and the proprietor of the " Philadel- 
 phia Press," and " Washington Chronicle," furnishes an interest- 
 ing political reminiscence, and a cutting rebuke at the same time 
 to blind puppies who have the temerity to bark and snap at the 
 heels of greatness before consulting the records of their masters, 
 whom they profess to regard as immaculate examples in all 
 things. 
 
 A short time previous to the meeting of the Democratic Na- 
 tional Convention at Charleston, S. C, in 1860, Stephen A. 
 Douglas visited the city of Philadelphia for the purpose of meet- 
 ing and consulting with his friends, among whom John W. 
 Forney was foremost as confidant and counsellor. 
 
 The night after, Horace Greeley, and a committee from New 
 York City, visited Judge Douglas for the purpose of inducing 
 him to take a position that would justify the Eepublican party 
 in accepting him as their candidate for the Presidency. The 
 Judge, by a special messenger, requested a private interview with 
 Dan Eice, which was subsequently held at the Girard House in 
 the Judge's room and in the presence of John W. Forney only. 
 After a few preliminary remarks, Mr. Forney said, " Now, Colo- 
 nel Eice, give the Judge your candid and unbiased view of the 
 feelings and opinions of the people with reference to his posi- 
 tion." . 
 
 Colonel Eice replied, in substance, as follows: 
 
 " I have but little time to devote to you, but first, permit me 
 to say, with all due respect, that if it could possibly be prevented, 
 I never would permit my name to go before the Charleston con- 
 vention. I know the true state of the feeling in the South, and 
 have, through conversation, been made acquainted with the ex- 
 treme views of the delegates, and I know that they are opposed 
 to you, and will defeat you at all hazards. You can be made 
 President of the United States if you put yourself into the hands 
 of the people who are your friends and would certainly elect you 
 as an independent candidate." 
 
 Mr. Forney, addressing Judge Douglas with much earnestness, 
 said, " This is the soundest advice that could possibly be given, 
 and I advise you to adopt it, and shape your course accordingly." 
 Judge Douglas replied, " Gentlemen, I thank you. I know that 
 j'ou are my friends and counsel with pure and patriotic motives, 
 but my banner is up and the people must come to it." 
 
 Further argument failed to influence his determination, but he 
 lived to realize the wisdom of Colonel Eice's suggestion, and sub- 
 sequently at Indianapolis, acknowledged to him that he was right 
 
394 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 and expressed the hope that as he knew the people so well, he 
 would give President Lincoln the benefit of his advice. 
 
 Since those memorable days, Mr. Forney has bent the pregnant 
 hinges of the knee before men of very different opinion from 
 those entertained by the "Little Grant," that "thrift might 
 follow fawning," but Colonel Eice, to his honor be it said, re- 
 mains the same true patriot, the same steadfast, nor-stand-for- 
 trifles, rough-and-tumble spirit of young America. That he has 
 a correct idea of the course and tendency of radicalism is fully 
 set forth in his scathing rebuke of a Michigan journalist who had 
 villified and maliciously defamed him, by publishing a libel at- 
 tacking his private character. His travels throughout this and 
 foreign countries have not been in vain to comprehend the wants 
 of the people or what is necessary for their happiness. 
 
 The present movement in favor of the Colonel as the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for the Presidency has some singular features in 
 connection with it, as we presume when first mooted most people 
 only accepted it as a bit of fun at Dan's expense, and at once 
 dropped, not to be repeated. But the matter, it seems, is not to 
 be quieted so easily. Dan Eice clubs are being formed all over 
 the country, and what it will yet end in no one can conjecture 
 at present. A day or two since one of our townsmen had the 
 necessary documents sent on to organize a club in this place, but 
 whether it is going off or not we cannot say. Dan Eice has 
 worked his way against obstacles which would have discouraged 
 any one but himself, until now he stands as Prince of Showmen 
 in America or the World. — " The Champion," January 16, 1868. 
 
 Dan Eice foe Peesident. 
 
 The great showman is now regularly before the public for the 
 Presidency; his friends, who number many thousands, are re- 
 solved that he shall make the race, and it begins to look as if he 
 might become formidable. If Dan would call an Editorial Con- 
 vention at his princely residence, Girard, Pa., and give the gen- 
 tlemen of the quill lots of Carte d'or Champagne, we dare say 
 he would see "light at last." Por ourselves, we stand uncom- 
 mitted up to this moment, but we unhesitatingly assert that we 
 are for Dan in preference to Johnson. Dan is honest and liberal; 
 he has travelled and knows the world; he is against whiskey and 
 all other vulgar drinks; he loves horses and poetry, and books 
 and pictures, and he is true to his friends. If he would only 
 stand by the Declaration of Independence, a document which in 
 sublimity, in usefulness, and in enlightenment to the human 
 mind excels any that has ever been promulgated among men; if 
 he would only stand by this Declaration we might be induced to 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 395 
 
 support him. But Dan denies that all men " are created free 
 and equal," and refuses to give four millions of native Americans 
 their rights. How can we advocate such a man? We don't ask 
 Dan to become a " Moses " or a Badical, but he should be just. 
 " To thine own self be true, and it must follow as night the day 
 thou canst not be false to anyone." — " The City Item," Phila- 
 delphia, January 18, 1868. 
 
 Candidate fob the Peesidency. 
 
 In no instance is the degeneracy of the popular mind more ap- 
 parent than in the low estimate which men at the present time 
 appear to have of the qualifications necessary to fill the highest 
 office in the gift of the people. Men seem to forget that never 
 in our history was there a greater necessity for the use of the most 
 exalted and vigorous talent in the man who is to fill the office 
 of President for the next four years. Incapacity and a blind and 
 obstinate fanaticism succeeded in less than a decade in prostrat- 
 ing what the statesmanship, patriotism, and devoted labor of 
 seventy odd years had built up. All this ruin is to be made 
 whole; all these waste places are to be built up. Yet, in the face 
 of the terrible responsibilities before us, in one of the Democratic 
 counties in Pennsylvania, meetings have been held and clubs 
 organized for the purpose of advertising the claims of a retired 
 showman and clown for the Presidency, one Dan Eice. 
 
 In the most debased and cruel period of Eoman imperialism, 
 an Emperor descended into the arena and fought with wild 
 beasts, and gladiators, and shamed even clowns by his antics. 
 His cruelties and lasciviousness the people had submitted to in 
 a comparative indifference, but when he consented thus to insult 
 and degrade the very emblem of the Eoman power and be- 
 smirched the imperial diadem with the filth of the arena, the pop- 
 ular patience gave way. Galba raised a revolt against the tyrant, 
 and the Eoman Senate condemned him to be dragged naked 
 throxigh the streets, whipped to death, and his mangled body 
 thrown over the Torpeian Eock, a doom he only escaped by be- 
 coming his own execiitioner. And yet here are men, in this 
 high noon of Christianity and civilization, who would degrade 
 the emblems of the Eepublic by giving them into the hands of a 
 clown to wield. They have no more exalted conception of the 
 office once held by Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, than 
 gravity to mention the name of a fellow for the position they had 
 filled, who had worn the zebra shirt and sported the cap and bells 
 of Master Merryman in a travelling circus. At first we were 
 under the impression that it was intended for a burlesque upon 
 the rush of candidates for this high office, and, more especially, 
 
396 REMINISCENCES -OF DAN RICE 
 
 as a rebuke to the Radicals, who, in some parts of New England 
 and New York, have nominated the negro Fred Douglas for this 
 high office, illustrating the truth of the familiar lines, " Fools 
 rush in where angels fear to tread." 
 
 We have, however, quite recently been informed that the move- 
 ment was started in all seriousness, and was not intended as a 
 joke; nay, that one or two journals have actually run up the 
 name of this ci-devant clown for the Presidency at the head of 
 their columns, and keep it there. Such a gross insult to the 
 honor and dignity of the Republic should receive everywhere, as 
 it deserves, the indignant rebuke of press and people. 
 
 In the present condition of our country we need all the wisdom 
 and discernment the human mind is capable of in making the 
 selection of the proper men for this high office, never higher, 
 never more responsible than now. He should be a citizen who 
 has achieved a national reputation and who is preeminent for 
 ability and virtue. Talents for low intrigue and subserviency to 
 the degrading acts of popularity may be sufficient to elevate a 
 man to the first honors of a country or a State, but it requires 
 other talents and a different kind of merit to establish a man in 
 the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or at least of that 
 considerable part of it that would be necessary to make him a 
 successful candidate. The vanity that seeks the office and that 
 runs after it, as if it were the gift of some township caucus, re- 
 veals gross incapacity for the position, and therefore it was that 
 one of the greatest statesmen of our early day declared " that it 
 was an office that never should be sought for, and never refused." 
 
 We know that these are very exalted requirements, but not too 
 exalted for the high and responsible position which now, more 
 than ever, demands them. It contracts the choice within a very 
 narrow circle, but contracted as it is, there are men within it who 
 fill up to the full the measure we have laid down, and from them 
 the choice should be made. — " Evening Herald," January 22, 
 1868. 
 
 Candidate for the Presidency. 
 
 Under the above caption, the " Evening Herald," a weak- 
 backed, policy-dodging, blackmailer's organ, published daily in 
 the Gin Palace City by Charley Reinstein, and edited by some 
 Bohemian editorial dupe whose name is judiciously kept from the 
 public, proceeds to dispose of a stock of hifalutin knowledge 
 in Roman History. And the cause which produced so straining 
 an effect on the contents of the Bohemian's skull is given in the 
 following paragraph from the Candidate-for-the-Presidency arti- 
 cle which was the leader of the " Herald " of the 22d inst.: 
 
 " Yet in the face of the terrible responsibilities before us, in 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 397 
 
 one of the Democratic counties of Pennsylvania meetings have 
 been held and clubs organized for the purpose of advertising the 
 claims of a retired showman and clown for the Presidency, one 
 Dan Eice." 
 
 " One Dan Eice! " The Bohemian has ascertained the name; 
 he never heard of it, of course, until in connection with the 
 meetings held. The editor of the " Herald " has a mind and 
 memory peculiarly adapted to the present state of affairs with 
 his indirect employer, " the immortal " A. J. The paragraph 
 above quoted is followed with: 
 
 " In the most debased and cruel period of Eoman imperialism 
 an emperor descended into the arena and fought with wild beasts 
 and gladiators, and shamed even clowns by his antics. His 
 cruelties and lasciviousness the people had submitted to in com- 
 parative indifference, but when he consented thus to insult and 
 degrade the very emblems of the Eoman power, and besmirched 
 the imperial diadem with the filth of the arena, the popular pa- 
 tience gave way. Galba raised a revolt against the tyrant, and 
 the Eoman Senate condemned him to be dragged naked through 
 the streets, whipped to death, and his mangled body thrown over 
 the Torpeian Eock, a doom he only escaped by becoming his own 
 executioner." 
 
 That wuz awful, wuzn't it? 
 
 The next noticeable point is this: 
 
 " At first we were under the impression that it was intended 
 as a burlesque upon the rush of candidates for the high office, and 
 more especially a rebuke to the Eadicals, who, in some parts of 
 New England and New York, have nominated the negro Fred 
 Douglas for this high office, illustrating the truth of the familiar 
 lines, that, ' Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' We have, 
 however, quite recently been informed that the movement was 
 started in all seriousness, and was not intended as a joke, nay, 
 that one or two journals have actually run up the name of this 
 ci-devant clown for the Presidency at the head of their columns, 
 and keep it there. Such a gross insult to the honor and dignity 
 of the Bepublic should receive everywhere, as it deserves, the 
 indignant rebuke of press and people." 
 
 This latter quotation can be and is nothing more nor less than a 
 deliberate and direct falsehood from beginning to end. No man 
 that has had any real acquaintance whatever with the leading 
 political circles of the past ten years regarded the putting forward 
 of Dan Eice for President as a burlesque. In regard to one or 
 two journals having actually run up his name for the Presidency, 
 ignorance is the only, and that a poor, excuse for the lie inti- 
 mated. Nearly a score of able, fearless, liberty-loving, Demo- 
 cratic government-sustaining, editors who hate the Congressional 
 
398 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 tyrants and despise the Executive's limber-backed, wavering, 
 trembling, policy-dodging, have pronounced for, and are now 
 advocating their claims on Dan Eice as candidate. And in the 
 city of Philadelphia there are, to our personal knowledge, older, 
 abler, and much more influential journals than the " Herald " is 
 or has the prospects of becoming, who are decidedly favorable 
 to Mr. Bice's nomination, and probably ere this they have hoisted 
 his name at the head of their columns. But we accord the " Her- 
 ald" man the highest premium for supreme assurance and im- 
 pudence, combined with audaciousness, and select the following 
 extracts from the closing paragraphs of his effort, which thor- 
 oughly establish his claim: 
 
 1. In the present condition of our country we need all the 
 wisdom and discernment the human mind is capable of in making 
 the selection of the proper man for this high office, never higher, 
 never more responsible than now. He should be a citizen who 
 has achieved a national reputation and who is preeminent for 
 ability and virtue. 
 
 2. The vanity that seeks the office and runs after it, as if it 
 were the gift of some township caucus, reveals gross incapacity 
 for the position, and therefore it was that one of the greatest 
 statesmen of our early days declared " that it was an office that 
 never should be sought for, and never refused." 
 
 3. We know that these are very exalted requirements, but not 
 too exalted for the high and responsible position which now, more 
 than ever, demands them. It contracts the choice within a very 
 narrow circle, but, contracted as it is, there are men within it who 
 fill up to the full the measure we have laid down and from them 
 the choice should be made. 
 
 COMMENTS. 
 
 1. You unwittingly, and probably unintentionally, penned a 
 fact in the above assertion. We do need all the wisdom and dis- 
 cernment the human mind is capable of in selecting our next 
 President, and he should and he will be a citizen who has attained 
 a national reputation and who is preeminent for ability and vir- 
 tue. And, farther, he should be a man who would not tamely 
 submit to all the indignities and outrages a nest of treasonable 
 plunderers choose to inflict while they are deliberately stealing 
 the most sacred jewels from the Temple of Liberty, which he is 
 especially appointed by the people to protect. To these facts the 
 nomination of Dan Eice is attributable. 
 
 2. The sentence commencing "The vanity that seeks office, 
 etc.," is the principal point on which your medal for assurance is 
 granted. 
 
KEMINTSCENCES OF DAN BICE 399 
 
 3. In the third point you could have saved space, covered the 
 same ground, and have won the premium for impudence by 
 simply saying, " Andrew Johnson, Thomas B. Florence, or Joe 
 Sevvern, one of those three great statesmen should be nomi- 
 nated." There, Bohemian, that's all; now don't get " Torpeian- 
 rocked " nor " stone-fenced " again, but be a good boy. 
 
 " Strike for Andrew and his stamps! 
 , ., Strike for Johnson clubs and camps! 
 
 Strike for oil-inspector's lamps 
 While they dimly burn! 
 
 Do that, and maybe before A. J. vacates, he'll appoint you 
 P. M. at Chambersburg, Pottstown, or some other congenial 
 spot. — " The Champion," January 30, 1868. 
 
 To the Editor of the " Daily News " : 
 
 I notice in your issue of Saturday that you speak of General 
 Grant as a prominent candidate for the Presidency, without in 
 any way alluding to the prominence already attained (through 
 the spontaneous acclamation of the people) of Col. Dan Eice, 
 whose claims are already espoused by no less than seventy-one 
 papers published in different sections of the United States. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice has won a proud distinction during his success- 
 ful career. He has visited all parts of the country, everywhere 
 drawing crowds to witness his wonderful performances and manly 
 bearing. In this way he has attained to a wide popularity, and it 
 is but fair to state that he has already secured an ample fortune, 
 the result of enterprise and saving and a just appreciation of the 
 wants of the people who now call him to the Executive Chair. 
 Overtures have been made to him by the leading politicians of 
 the country, and he could have the nomination of the Democratic 
 party if he would come down with the ready money to secure it, 
 but he scorns advances made to him in this way, choosing rather 
 to remain in the quiet enjoyment of his princely fortune than to 
 gain the distinction by so base a course. He seeks no office, but 
 at the same time, as a good citizen, he feels that if the highest 
 office in the land should be forced upon him by acclamation 
 of the people, he would have no right to decline it. In that case, 
 like Cincinnatus of old, he would leave the retirement in which 
 he had hoped to spend the rest of his life and go forth to the 
 Capitol to straighten the affairs of the nation and relieve the 
 country from the turmoil, anxiety, and strife which are distract- 
 ing it under the present administration. — "Newport Daily 
 News," February 10, 1868. 
 
400 REMINISCENCES 03? DAN BICE 
 
 Dan Eice never fails to draw a big house in Marietta. His 
 name is a power in the land. His entertainment last Friday was 
 one of the most recherche we have ever witnessed. The pavilion 
 was filled to its utmost capacity by his many admirers, friends 
 of his childhood, and staunch friends of his more mature years. 
 His concluding remarks to his vast audience were made in a 
 touching and pungent manner, during which he laughingly re- 
 marked that he expected to be the next President of the United 
 States, and when, at last, he bid a final farewell and made his 
 bow to the concourse who had listened to his remarks with 
 breathless interest, there were many deep-drawn sighs heaved 
 because of the fact that we may never again behold his genial 
 face. 
 
 Farewell, old friend, and may pleasant hours, genial friends, 
 and plethoric purse attend you through life, and when your final 
 hour shall come, may you pass away to heaven with a conscious- 
 ness which you now enjoy of having performed your duty in such 
 a manner that friends grew thickest in the darkest hour. 
 
 Touching the matter of the Presidency, to which we alluded 
 above, we are sure the country might go further and fare worse. 
 Several newspapers which we have seen are urging the name of 
 Mr. Eice for that important position. — " Marietta Times," 
 Marietta, 0., May 30, 1867. 
 
 The question of the next President has already begun to en- 
 gage the attention of politicians, and to affect the conduct of the 
 two great parties into which the people of the United States are 
 divided. Names of prominent men have been freely canvassed, 
 and the adherents of particular candidates have declared them- 
 selves in various parts of the country. We have from various 
 sources the name of Dan Eice, which may surprise many, but 
 does not in the least astonish us, for we know how immensely 
 popular is the name of Dan Eice over the entire length and 
 breadth of the land, as a man of honor, unadulterated patriotism, 
 enlarged views, and a great practical mind, who controls the in- 
 telligent masses of mankind with that delightful ease which 
 qualifies him for a great and popular leader; in fact, we regard 
 him as a second Abraham Lincoln, and if placed properly before 
 the country will be elected beyond a doubt. In which case he 
 would prove a disintegrating power that would lift up the people 
 out of the political quagmires in which overheated partisans and 
 demagogues have placed them. We see the names of Grant, 
 Sherman, and Admiral Farragut as each having claims to the 
 Chief Magistracy. We desire to say nothing in relation to the 
 competition for the office among those distinguished representa- 
 tives of the army and navy, but the exigency of the times de- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 401 
 
 mands in our next President an acquaintance with the wants of 
 the people as well as theory and practice of government, which it 
 is impossible in the very nature of things that a naval or military 
 hero can have acquired. Now, if ever in the history of the 
 government, should the very highest qualities of statesman be 
 sought for in the occupant of the Presidential chair. Democrats 
 and Eepublicans who love their country more than party should 
 unite upon that man who possesses an enlarged and liberal mind 
 trained in the study of that most abstruse of all the sciences, the 
 science of governing. — " Spectator," Girard, Pa., September 11, 
 1867. 
 
 The Presidency. 
 
 We hoist to our masthead this week the name of Dan Eice, of 
 Pennsylvania, as our choice for President in 1868. Colonel Eice 
 is so well and favorably known throughout the American conti- 
 nent as a man of unsullied character, sound principles, and strict 
 integrity, that it is unnecessary for us to say more at this time 
 than to announce his name as a candidate for the Presidency in 
 the approaching campaign. As Westmoreland County was the 
 first to nominate that inflexible hero, Andrew Jackson, and that 
 enlightened statesman, James Buchanan, for the Presidency, so 
 is she now the first to herald to the country the name of Col. 
 Dan Eice, a name to which we defy any one to attach a single 
 blot or stigma; a name loved, honored, respected wherever he 
 who bears it is known. Let the Democratic National Convention 
 give us Col. Dan Eice as our standard-bearer, and the blighting 
 curse of Eadiealism will be swept as with a hurricane from the 
 country. — " Eepublican and Democrat," Greensburg, Pa., No- 
 vember 13, 1867. 
 
 Dan Eice for President. 
 
 The Greensburg "Eepublican and Democrat" of last week 
 flies at its masthead the name of Dan Eice for the Presidency in 
 1868. In the course of a labored eulogy on this man, it boast- 
 ingly declares that Westmoreland was first to nominate Andrew 
 Jackson and James Buchanan, and that it again is the first to 
 herald to the world the name of Dan Eice as the next President 
 of the United States. Having been first to nominate such men 
 as Jackson and Buchanan is something to boast of, we admit, but 
 it does seem to us that the men who nominate Dan Eice betray a 
 strange liking for educated mules. 
 
 We have no fault to find with the " Eepublican and Democrat " 
 for thus publicly expressing its choice for the next Presidency, 
 but we give it as our opinion that it will require a vast deal of 
 
402 REMINISCENCES OF DAN MCE 
 
 argument to convince a high-minded people that it would be 
 either honorable or dignified to choose as their Chief Magistrate 
 a man of whose statesmanship nothing is known and who has 
 amassed wealth by catering to the tastes of the very lowest order 
 of society in the disreputable capacity of a circus clown and show- 
 man. — " Somerset Democrat," November 20, 1867. 
 
 Dan Eice and the Presidency. 
 
 The readers of the " Democrat " will doubtless remember that 
 in our issue of the 20th, we took occasion to comment upon the 
 fitness of the world-renowned circus man, Dan Eice, for the 
 Presidency, whose name has been hoisted for that high position 
 by the editors of the Greensburg " Eepublican and Democrat." 
 We have always believed that statesmanship of the highest order, 
 thorough education in the science of government, and extensive 
 experience in national affairs were essential to qualify a man for 
 the highest office in the gift of the Eepublic. We never for a 
 moment thought that the circus was a school for the training for 
 Presidential candidates, either intellectually or morally. We 
 had no idea that the associations and employments of such an 
 institution would develop the talent requisite to govern and con- 
 trol a great nation. Entertaining these views, we confess we 
 were a little surprised to see the name of Dan Eice, the circus 
 clown, associated with an office that has been rendered sacred by 
 the highest talent and moral worth the world has ever seen. We 
 expressed our opinion briefly at the time, but not intending to 
 disparage the private character of Dan Eice. We do not desire 
 to detract one iota from his professional renown. We cheerfully 
 and generously award him the position of "facile princeps" 
 among the world's clowns. But, should Dan be elected Presi- 
 dent, we fear he could not resist his proclivities to convert the 
 whole machinery of the government into one grand circus. He 
 might spend his time and energies in " tumbling " for the 
 amusement of his old patrons, as Nero fiddled while Eome was 
 burning, instead of reconstructing the Union. Old habits are 
 hard to break off, our ministers tell us. Dan's are no exception 
 to the rule. His were contracted in his youth and confirmed 
 with age, and should he reach the high and exalted position to 
 which he is now aspiring, every act of his administration might 
 savor of his circus associations. Thus we thought when we wrote 
 our strictures on the announcement of his name by the paper 
 above referred to, and thus we think yet. 
 
 But now comes the amusing part of it. Dan, it appears, re- 
 ceived a copy of our paper, and, reading our article, he " went 
 off," tumbled several more somersaults than ever before, forward 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 403 
 
 and backward, to the alarm of his friends, and then, by way of 
 recreation, he sat down and ventilated his brains in a communica- 
 tion to us which will be f ound^ below. If we had known nothing 
 of the antecedents of Dan Eice or his qualifications for the Presi- 
 dency, this letter would have satisfied us. But we pity Dan and 
 hope he will survive. We know that Eepublics are entirely un- 
 grateful and often fail to reward the most meritorious, and Dan 
 must not complain if he goes down to. the grave " unwept, un- 
 honored, and unsung," like other heroes who never attained to 
 the highest honors of the nation. At his death he can have the 
 consolation that the world never saw a greater clown than he. 
 
 We hope that when Dan reads these lines that he will resolve 
 not to " crush us." It would be neither generous nor magnani- 
 mous, but very unbecoming an aspirant to Presidential honors. 
 With these comments, we give Dan's letter to the public to do 
 what it can towards bringing him before the people and hope 
 when he comes into his kingdom we will be permitted to sit down 
 either at his right hand or left. 
 
 . . Gibaed, Pa., November 22, 1867. 
 John J. Hoffman, Esq., Editor " Somerset Democrat." 
 
 Sir: A copy of your paper of the 20th inst., containing a most 
 ungentlemanly, unprovoked, and inexcusable attack upon me, 
 has been forwarded me. It probably emanated from your pen, 
 and must certainly have been published with your sanction. 
 What motive impelled you to thus disgrace yourself in unsuc- 
 cessfully attempting to injure me, I am at an entire loss to con- 
 ceive. I am accustomed to similar assaults from rabid Badi- 
 cal sheets, but it has remained for you to achieve for yourself the 
 unenviable notoriety of being the first Democratic editor to ig- 
 nore my claims upon your party and to disgrace yourself by 
 poorly enacting the role of blackguard. Perhaps I may be as you 
 intimate, an educated mule, but no one can accuse me of being 
 so uneducated a jackass as to spitefully kick where no occasion 
 or offense has been given. 
 
 I have made my profession honorable, and instead of catering 
 to the tastes of the lowest order of society, as you say, my exhibi- 
 tions are patronized by the most respectable of all classes, includ- 
 ing even yourself when opportunity is offered to deadhead in. 
 
 I doubt whether your stupid efforts to incense one whose influ- 
 ence is sought for by your leaders will tend to elevate either your 
 good judgment or even common sense in their estimation, and 
 am more than certain that, unless you make the amende honor- 
 able, you may as well hang up your political fiddle on the most 
 convenient willow, for I can and will crush you unless you give 
 me ample evidence of works meet for repentance. You will 
 
404 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 find that I have at least statesmanship to accomplish this much, 
 and I hope for your sake that you will heed the warning one more 
 easily provoked or less charitable than myself would not extend. 
 
 A word to the wise is said to be sufficient, but as you appear 
 to be very far from wise either in your conduct to your brother 
 editors or the public, I have considered it necessary to benefit you 
 with a sufficiency to reach your comprehension. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Dan Kice. 
 
 The " Somerset Democrat." 
 
 A Candidate of the Democeact. 
 
 It is quite settled that the Democratic party will nominate 
 Andrew Johnson for the Presidency. They flatter and cajole him 
 for the sake of offices and because of his betrayal by the Republi- 
 cans. But as to accepting him as their leader or offering to re- 
 ward him for what he has done for them, they laugh the idea to 
 scorn. But they must have somebody to run against General 
 Grant, and they are in perplexity as to the person who is to be 
 honored with a defeat in the contest. In this difficulty it is well 
 to let the leaders of the party know that Dan Rice, of Girard, 
 Erie County, Pa., has formally announced himself a candidate, 
 and a Western paper says that "A large number of Dan Eice 
 Clubs have already been formed " upon his platform. This plat- 
 form appears to be exactly that of the Democratic Party of the 
 present day. 
 
 As an illustration of Mr. Rice's qualifications as a Democratic 
 candidate, a few sentences may be copied from a letter of his ad- 
 dressed to the editors of a Michigan paper which appears to have 
 ventured to oppose him. He sets out with calling them " men- 
 dacious blackguards and malicious liars." Then after this out- 
 burst of charitable feeling, he informs them concerning their 
 religion thus: 
 
 " My religion is that of the Bible, which teaches forgiveness 
 and charity; yours that of Judas, to betray and steal. Born of 
 the flesh-pots of Egypt, the bastard offspring of shoddy and cen- 
 tralization, it is at once the creed of the desperate and the 
 damned, the prelude to destruction, and the battle cry of hell." 
 Then he says the devil is their master and they are his faithful 
 servants. Further on he calls them liars ana tricksters; also 
 "liars, demagogues, hypocrites, and gamblers for the seamless 
 mantle of Liberty," and finally, they are "twin serpents torn 
 from the head of the Furies by the hand of Discord, and fleeing 
 surcharged with venom, in our midst." 
 
 These examples of fine Democratic feelings and choice Demo- 
 
REMINISCENCES 01' DAN EICE 405 
 
 cratic writings surpass even the best efforts of Andrew Johnson 
 in the same line. Neither Pendleton, Vallandigham, Fermonde, 
 Wood, nor any other aspirants for the Democratic nomination 
 could surpass them. Dan Rice certainly deserves to be rewarded 
 by his party for his many services to it, but they owe him the 
 Presidential nomination as a recognition also of his fine Demo- 
 cratic sentiments, as recently expressed. — "Evening Bulletin," 
 November 29, 1867. 
 
 The Crisis. 
 
 We learn that some of the Republicans of this vicinity are in 
 the habit of saying to our Democratic friends, " I see that your 
 organ here is supporting Dan Rice for President." Now we em- 
 phatically deny all such allegations and challenge any one to 
 produce the proof that we have given him our support. True, we 
 have said on good authority, that "no man occupies a higher 
 position in the estimation of his f ellowmen " ; that " He is com- 
 petent and honest; understands the situation and knows how to 
 handle it," and we are not disposed to retract one word of what 
 we have said, for from our acquaintance with the gentleman, al- 
 though brief, we know whereof we speak. 
 
 Suppose we were to give the Colonel our support? Wherein 
 would we be wrong? The great point which his opponents make 
 against him is that he is a " clown, a circus performer." Well, 
 what of it? Is there any harm in innocent amusement which is 
 calculated to instruct? We admit that the Colonel has, in his 
 time, turned many a somersault; but is that more than all his 
 opponents for Presidential honors have done? No, not by any 
 means. While his have been physical ones, theirs have been 
 moral and political. Look at Sherman, Sumner, Chase, Stevens, 
 and a host of others whom we might easily name, who have each 
 performed more leaps of the latter kind than he ever did of the 
 former, and as for old Ben Wade, his vaulting ambition com- 
 pelled the Buckeye State to throw such a political somersault this 
 fall as to make his chances for the next Senatorship from that 
 State as poor as are his prospects for salvation. All labor hon- 
 estly performed, for legitimate purposes, is honorable, and it is 
 an indisputable fact that while the life of Colonel Rice has been 
 one of toil, it has been his aim to keep his reputation unsullied. 
 That he has been entirely successful in his purpose we have the 
 word of many upright persons who know him well. Our only 
 regret is that we cannot say as much for his political opponents. 
 
 Of his love of country it is unnecessary for us to do more than 
 point to the noble monument which he has erected " in honor of 
 the soldiers and sailors of Brie County." His name will be green 
 
40G REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 in the memory of the people when those who carp at his laudable 
 ambition shall have sunk into oblivion. — " Pittsburg Press," 
 Pittsburg, November 29, 1867. 
 
 Colonel Dan Eice. 
 
 We notice in several of our exchanges that the name of the 
 gentleman who heads this article is mentioned in their columns 
 as a candidate for Presidential honors. Without committing 
 either the Democratic Party or ourselves, we would say in this 
 connection that if patriotism and national pride of our country 
 should be the test of a candidate's ability, then certainly Colonel 
 Eice would carry off the palm. We need not say anything in re- 
 gard to his immense popularity; it is a household word through- 
 out the length and breadth of our land. 
 
 The following is the Colonel's platform: 
 
 As by the people alone, without distinction of party, rebellion 
 was crushed, so by the party of the people alone can the Union, 
 with all its countless blessings, be restored. 
 
 In order to accomplish this, vindictive, fanatical, and dilatory 
 legislation must be rebuked; the absolute right of each State to 
 determine the qualifications of citizenship, under the Constitu- 
 tion, maintained; corruption in office denounced and punished; 
 honesty and the strictest economy in the administration of pub- 
 lic affairs required; equalization of taxation imperatively de- 
 manded; the appointment of soldiers, particularly those wounded 
 or disabled in the service, to all government offices, the duties of 
 which they are qualified to perform, conceded; protection for 
 labor guaranteed; religious tolerance assured, and the rights of 
 every citizen before the law defended and maintained. — "The 
 Advocate," December 5, 1867, Eidgeway, Elk County, Pa. 
 
 A Candidate fob President. 
 
 COLONEL EICE DEFENDS HIMSELF — HE DEFINES THE ATTACK 
 OF MICHIGAN EDITORS — HIS STYLE OF RHETORIC — HE DOES 
 NOT ANNOUNCE HIS PRESIDENTIAL VIEWS, ETC. 
 
 (The following note from Colonel Eice explains the purpose of 
 the subjoined communication.) 
 
 Girard, December 6, 1867. 
 D. F. H. Lynn: 
 
 " The Eepublican," in its issue of the 3d inst. had an attack 
 upon me to which I sent them a reply, of which the enclosed is a 
 copy. So far, they have failed to publish it, and I presume will 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 407 
 
 not do me that justice. I presume you will have no objection to 
 giving it publicity through the columns of the " Dispatch." 
 
 Fraternally yours, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 Girard, Pa., December 4, 1867. 
 Editors " Erie Daily Republican." 
 
 To indulge in unprovoked personal abuse is both reprehensible 
 and ungentlemanly, but it is despicable to steal the brains of 
 others to serve the purpose of sneaking misrepresentation and 
 slanderous personalities as you did in your issue of the 3d inst. in 
 the editorial with the caption, " A Candidate for President," re- 
 flecting upon my political opinions and private character. That 
 editorial you deliberately stole — or appropriated, if the term suits 
 your sensitive tympanums better, from the " Philadelphia Bulle- 
 tin," of Friday, the 29th ult., and transferred it to your columns, 
 disguised in the flimsiest veil of slightly altered expression, and 
 only original in the addition of lying innuendo, to which even 
 the " Bulletin " would not debase itself. With this discreditable 
 difference it is precisely the same in argument, even to the 
 quotation from my letter, which was verbum pro verbo those of 
 the " Bulletin " and follow each other in exactly the same order. 
 
 If additional evidence of your piracy were required it is fur- 
 nished in the similarity of your egregious blunder in attributing 
 the origin of the controversy between myself and the Michigan 
 editors to their preference for some other Presidential candidate. 
 Presidential affairs were not even alluded to in their attack upon 
 me, which was a most unjustifiable misrepresentation of my 
 political views and falsely attributed to remarks I never uttered, 
 and for no other reason that I can conceive of than the fact that 
 I spoke in favor of giving our noble soldiers, particularly those 
 who have been wounded, office in preference to men who never 
 shot a gun or spent a dollar in defense of their country, and ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the richest men ought to pay the most 
 instead of the least taxes. This was substantially all I said with 
 reference to politics, but I presume quite sufficient to condemn 
 me in your loyal sight. If entertaining these views makes me a 
 Democrat and a Copperhead, what excellent company I have in a 
 large majority of the American people, and combined political 
 Eip Van "Winkles and Eobinson Crusoes you will wake up to find 
 yourselves at the next election. 
 
 As I am of and from the people, it is but natural that I should 
 express myself in plain Democratic language, rather than in the. 
 studied contrivances of speech which enable you to successfully 
 play the editorial bravo and stab at one's good name in the shel- 
 tering obscurity of dastardly innuendo. 
 
408 REMINISCENCES OF DAN" RICE 
 
 Were I disposed to retaliate by stigmatizing any one of you as 
 a drunkard, which I would not do, if for no other reason than I 
 do not regard it charitable to drag private failings into the arena 
 of public discussion, I would call him a drunkard, not a " spirit- 
 ual man, ardently so." My designation would certainly be as 
 endurable as the sin to which it referred and by far the most 
 manly and straightforward of the two. 
 
 The standard of criticism established by the " Bulletin," and 
 which you have also purloined, convicts you both of glaring and 
 ridiculous inconsistency. In the same issue in which reference 
 is made to me, your political pap-bottle of ideas declares that a 
 certain official act will " damn " Andrew Johnson, and in the 
 very outset of your echo to its attacks upon me you say that he 
 has gone into the Iscariot business, comparing him to the betrayer 
 of the Saviour. 
 
 As you have been pleased to style my composition Democratic, 
 will you be kind enough to inform me in what political school 
 you class your profanity, blasphemy, and shameful disregard of 
 the respect due the Chief Magistrate of your country. As I 
 neither desire your assistance nor fear your opposition, I do not 
 purpose to favor you with the Presidential views I may entertain, 
 but I cannot refrain from sincerely thanking you for sparing me 
 the unendurable disgrace of a nomination by the clique whose 
 organ you are reported to be. 
 
 Your personal slurs, unfounded and uncalled for as they are, 
 need no refutation, for I am at home where my conduct, both 
 public and private, is its own best defender. You cannot injure 
 me, but in the effort may do yourselves much harm. 
 
 Take my advice, gentlemen, and bear in mind that some of you 
 live at present in very thin glass houses. In the words of a 
 contemporary, from whose enterprise and courtesy you might 
 gather many useful lessons, you are " off the nest," and the 
 sooner you get back again the better it will be for you. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 — " Erie Dispatch," December 7, 1867. (A conservative Eepub- 
 lican paper of Erie, Pa.) 
 
 A Burlesque on a Burlesque. 
 
 A few years ago an obscure man, unknown to the country save 
 as the individual who begun life by selling corn whiskey to 
 Stephen A. Douglas and other prominent men, and who, we be- 
 lieve, his friends said had been a successful flat-boatman on the 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 409 
 
 Wabash, was nominated by a mushroom party for the Presidency, 
 and, by a freak of misfortune, elected. 
 
 To-day a few individuals are endeavoring to organize for a 
 repetition of the disgraceful past. This clique, cabal, or what- 
 ever it may be termed, has hit upon the idea of making a Presi- 
 dent out of a well-known showman and clown of the sawdust 
 ring. Now we are by no means prepared to say that Dan Rice is 
 not just as proper a person for the Presidency as was the " late- 
 lamented," and it is altogether probable that he has told no more 
 smutty jokes, executed altogether less political somersaults, and 
 given more money to the poor than did ever the Springfield 
 lawyer, in Sangamon County, 111. For all these things, however, 
 we are by no means certain that the clown whose side-splitting 
 jokes have excited crowds to mirth is the cohesive plaster just 
 now needed by the country to heal the Union, split in twain by 
 the famous rail-splitter now retired from active life. The pros- 
 pect of bringing out Dan Rice is not altogether news to us, as we 
 learned last summer, while Dan's show was peregrinating the 
 country, that he was organizing clubs in every town in which he 
 pitched his tent, with regular printed constitution and by-laws 
 for the purpose of furthering his designs. He has also got the 
 control of many of the newspapers, and this force, added to a late 
 municipal contest with a pig-headed Radical at Erie, in which 
 the Radical came off second-best, forms Dan's stock in trade. 
 Dan is naturally too sound a Democrat of the old school to be 
 used by supporters of Radicalism, or any other kinds of isms, or 
 he would make them just now what they are so sadly in need of, 
 an available candidate in point of intellectual fitness much su- 
 perior to Lincoln, and with a better record. On behalf of the 
 Democracy of this section, however, we beg to decline Mr. Rice's 
 nattering offer, and while we will be happy to say a good word for 
 his moral exhibition and sacred cattle, we think the sporting fra- 
 ternity cannot spare him at present; that is to say, while he is 
 perfectly au fait in the circus ring, he is by no means inside the 
 Presidential ring. — " The Democrat," Lock Haven, Pa., January 
 2, 1868. 
 
 A Voice Feom Bahaboo. 
 
 The following letter from a soldier of the Union who was one 
 of the most influential farmers of Wisconsin was addressed to 
 Colonel Rice. It is an index of the sentiments which the soldiers 
 sustained towards him after the Civil War. 
 
 Bahaboo, Wis., January 8, 1868. 
 Colonel Rice. 
 
 Dear Sir: Since I met you in this place I have seen some ac- 
 counts of your being a candidate for the Presidency of the United 
 
4:10 REMINISCENCES Of DAN KICK 
 
 States. If such is the case, Colonel, it would give me great pleas- 
 ure to support you, for I think it is full time that there was a 
 change in the administration. I have supported the Eepublican 
 Party for eight years, but I shall go in for a change next fall. I 
 was in the army four years and a half, and shall support a con- 
 servative man for the next President, and you are my choice, for 
 I think you to be an honest man, and I know you to be very gen- 
 erous and free hearted, and that you have done a great deal of 
 good for the suffering poor of our country. Besides this, you 
 have proved yourself to be a true friend to the soldier, and to the 
 soldier's family in time of need, not by words which are not food 
 to the hungry or clothing to the naked, but by deeds, by which 
 you are loved by every defender of the Union. I desire to do 
 right by my country for which I fought, and I wish to choose as 
 my ruler one who is actuated by the same motive. I believe that 
 you are; that politicians cannot make you forget your duty to the 
 people; that you are an abler and better man than any politician 
 that can be put in nomination; that you possess the true courage, 
 and are animated by the patriotic principles to do right at all 
 hazards, and that you will not, in the dav of your prosperity, for- 
 get the claims of those who have saved the government to assist 
 in the administration of its affairs. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 J. C. Miller. 
 
 " Presidential." 
 
 From the many complimentary references to Col. Dan Eice in 
 connection with the Presidency which we find in our exchanges 
 of the past week, we make such extracts as our space permits. 
 
 " The City Item," one of the oldest established and most es- 
 teemed of the Philadelphia journals, in its issue of the 4th inst. 
 
 " Dan is a shrewd, outspoken, hard-hitting, decided man, and 
 he may yet enter the White House. Andrew Johnson is against 
 Dan, who he regards as a formidable opponent; he sees that he 
 possesses elements of popularity. At one time, in the early days 
 of his Presidential career, we stood resolutely for Johnson, now 
 we think Dan Rice a much better man. Dan will not leave his 
 friends, he despises whiskey, affects good society, has a soul above 
 design, and will never again ' swing around the circle,' if made 
 President." 
 
 " Elkhardt Democratic Union," in a lengthy leader expresses 
 its opinion as follows: 
 
 " It would be a fitting joke and offset to the ribboned aristoc- 
 racy to elect a man for a President who would represent the real 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 411 
 
 power and labor of the country at large. Had the country been 
 blessed with no worse man than Dan Eice as an executive of the 
 nation, we are well aware that our condition at the present time 
 would exhibit more favorable features from every point of view. 
 There is more statesmanship about Dan Eice than was ever em- 
 bodied in the dull intelligence of Harrison, or in the war-horse 
 sense of Zach. Taylor. Dan is the representative of the go-ahead 
 dash, don't-care friend of the people; unshaken in his devotion 
 to principle and his sense of duty to his country. 
 
 " To the many accustomed to regard him as an eminently suc- 
 cessful wit and humorist alone, and unaware of the influence he 
 has quietly wielded in the highest government circles and the 
 deference with which his opinions are received, this bit of history 
 may appear doubtful, but we can assure them of its literal truth, 
 and have no doubt Mr. Forney, if questioned on the subject, will 
 also vouch for its authenticity." — " The Girard Spectator," Janu- 
 ary 9, 1868. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice. 
 
 The New York " Evening News," a penny paper, contains the 
 following dispatch: 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y., January 10, 1868. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice was in the city yesterday on his way east, rumor 
 says for the purpose of forwarding the organization of his forces 
 preparatory to the Presidential campaign in which he proposes to 
 appear as principal. Many of our citizens called on him during 
 his sojourn at the Mansion. — " Daily Post," January 12, 1868. 
 
 Dan Eice and the Peesidenct. 
 
 Our remarks a short time since suggesting the propriety of 
 nominating Col. Dan Eice for the Presidency and briefly refer- 
 ring to his qualifications for that high office, have, we notice 
 from our exchanges, been extensively copied and attracted con- 
 siderable attention, calling forth much comment of both a com- 
 plimentary and an antagonistic character. 
 
 The Colonel's ability and amiability are unqualifiedly endorsed 
 by many, even to the extent of placing his name at the head of 
 their columns; other journals speak of him with cordial respect, 
 and it is only the extreme organs of the extremist and destruc- 
 tionist that disparage and. with characteristic blackguardism, 
 personally abuse him. Such attacks will be regarded by all de- 
 cent members of society as evidences of his merit and strength 
 with the people, and may be beneficial, perhaps, in calling forth 
 
412 HEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 an expose of the secret rascalities and purposes of some of the 
 shining lights of Ethiopian darkness, who possess the courage 
 which Henry Clay confessed he lacked, that of laying themselves 
 in the path of the prosperity of their country. 
 
 The Albany (N. Y.) " Evening Post " states that there is good 
 reason to believe that a formidable movement among the soldiers 
 of the West to present Colonel Eice as their candidate is already 
 inaugurated, and proceeds to argue its probable effect upon the 
 chances of other Presidential aspirants. 
 
 A large number of Dan Eice clubs have been formed. It is 
 not the purpose of this brief resume to either champion Colonel 
 Eice or advocate his nomination for the Presidency. We give it 
 as a matter of interesting news, leaving our readers to determine 
 for themselves how much importance may be attached to this 
 new move in the great national game of politics, in view of the 
 indomitable energy and widespread popularity of him selected 
 as its leader. — " The Evansville Citizen," Wisconsin, December 
 4, 1867. 
 
 In alluding to the presence of Dan Eice in Elmira, the " Ad- 
 vertiser " winds up its eulogistic article as follows: 
 
 Dan was on his native heath again, learned, argumentative, 
 logical, historical, poetical, witty, humorous, and political, for 
 Dan would not be himself if he could not get off a stump speech or 
 a dozen or so during a performance. His views are generally 
 sound on Andy, although he made a very hot place for his future 
 retirement. 
 
 We will not carp or cavil with Dan's political capital for the 
 Presidency. Dan has much of nature's nobility about him, and 
 in the neat little speech he made about educating animals, he 
 illustrated how near animal and human nature are akin, and no 
 one could find fault with the sentiments of the few words of fare- 
 well on retiring forever from the ring, which he spoke with an 
 honest heart and purpose. Be true, be honest, be just, are noble 
 watchwords. And we hope that Dan in his waning days, in his 
 seer and yellow leaf, may be able to always refer to them as 
 having been the golden watchword of his life, even as he incul- 
 cated their worth on the young men before him. Long life 
 and prosperity to Dan, that he may live to endow more churches, 
 schoolhouses, build, adorn, and beautify, but never reach the 
 Presidency in this real dishonest age, say we. Dan takes his 
 farewell of Corning to-day. — The Elmira, N. Y., " Daily Adver- 
 tiser," on Dan Eice. 
 
 Dan Eice for President! Why not? The "amusement peo- 
 ple " are wild with the thought; they swear that they can control 
 millions in his favor, and they want to put him through on the 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 413 
 
 workingman's ticket next year, with General Carey of Ohio as the 
 nominee for Vice-President. There's an idea now! Rice lives 
 in Pennsylvania, on a " Sabine Farm " like a Roman warrior re- 
 tired from service. He is overflowing with health and patriotism. 
 Providence has blessed his full and ripened years. Success has 
 never deserted him. All his plans and schemes have triumphed. 
 His children have grown up prosperously around him. Naturally 
 he desires to close the scene in the Executive Mansion. And, 
 after all, when he comes to think about it, the transition from a 
 white tent cloth to a White House is not so wondrous. Ask 
 General Grant, who, like Dan Rice, knows something of both, if 
 it is. If Rice runs he will, of course, canvass the country from 
 North to South. He is a good speaker, tells an anecdote admir- 
 ably, sings a jolly stave, knows the people, human nature, and 
 the ropes. Rice and Carey would be a brilliant combination. 
 Come, who bids? Ha! What say you, " Cincinnati Commer- 
 cial?" Aren't you in? Don't you go for your own man, the 
 immortal Carey? Rice and Carey! Why, the soul of restora- 
 tion breathes in the couplet. There isn't a Radical circus rider 
 in America that won't " take it in his'n," executive documents, 
 Shakespearian annotations and all. — " Nashville Banner," Nash- 
 ville, Tenn., December 8, 1867. 
 
 Personal. 
 
 The " Dispatch " of Friday published a copy of a letter written 
 by Dan Rice to the " Erie Daily Republican " which had been 
 sent the latter journal on the 3d inst. in reply to previous strict- 
 ures made by it in regard to Mr. Rice. Instead of publishing Mr. 
 Rice's letter, which was duly signed by his name in full, the "Re- 
 publican " quietly killed it. This course is not quite consistent 
 with the pledges originally made by that journal, and we cannot 
 approve of its course in first assaulting a private citizen and then 
 refusing him the use of its columns in self vindication. Does it 
 propose to play that game generally? — " Erie Gazette," December 
 12, 1867. 
 
 Dan Rice, feeling aggrieved by some strictures made by the 
 " Ionia Sentinel " upon the character of his exhibitions of himself 
 and his circus on their last tour through this State, has published 
 an abusive circular, ostensibly for his own vindication, addressed 
 to the editors of the " Sentinel." It is greedily copied by the 
 Copperhead organ here, being written in that peculiarly gentle- 
 manly and chaste style so acceptable and pleasing to the hard- 
 shell Democrats. The exact nature of the " Sentinel " criticism 
 
414 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 on Dan Rice, his circus, we do not remember, but if any part of 
 a complete justification for them was omitted in his clownish 
 tirades of the ring, he has evidently supplied the deficiency in his 
 circular letter. It is difficult to imagine what could be said of 
 Dan Rice more derogatory of him than to publish his letter; 
 hence the " Sentinel " has adopted the severest answer possible 
 by publishing it entire. If Andrew Johnson and the Rev. Nasby 
 will stand aside, Dan is evidently a representative man for a 
 Democratic candidate for President, and we are told he really 
 has some aspirations in that direction. — " Daily Eagle," Decem- 
 ber 12, 1867, Grand Rapids, Mich. 
 
 To-day we hoist at the head of our columns our own choice, 
 in common with the choice of thousands of American people, for 
 the next candidate for the office of President of the United 
 States. Already have the names of a number of prominent men 
 been mentioned for the nomination, each one representing the 
 choice of a portion of the people, but among them we know of no 
 one that will meet with as general approbation from the great 
 mass of people as Dan Rice of Pennsylvania. Representing as 
 he does, and will, the working classes, the farmer, the mechanic, 
 the laboring population, we believe he will be a representative 
 proper to carry victoriously in the campaign of 1868, the glorious 
 old Banner of Right, the Flag of the People, the unfurled ensigi* 
 of Democracy. 
 
 He will be a representative proper because he is heart and soul 
 with the people. Because he is not an aspiring politician whose 
 life has been spent in endeavors to gratify an unrighteous and 
 morbid appetite for political aggrandizement. Because he is not 
 bound and committed to any policy-dodging, aristocracy-estab- 
 lishing rings and cliques. Because he stands boldly, firmly, and 
 squarely on the broad platform of: The rights of the people; 
 restoration of the Union; rights of the States; supremacy of the 
 civil law; obedience to the old Constitution; protection of labor; 
 just and equal taxation; redemption of the old interest-bear- 
 ing, non- taxable bonds with greenbacks; opposition to moneyed 
 or political aristocracies; to taxation without representation; to 
 robbers, suborners, perjurers, drunkards, and their dissolute mis- 
 tresses at Washington passing decrees which oppress a Free Peo- 
 ple and destroy State legislation. He is an earnest advocate of: 
 Free speech, free press, and free government by a free people. 
 
 And on this platform of principles we endorse and present him 
 as a candidate of the people, earnestly trusting and believing he 
 will receive the nomination, which, if he does, will be equivalent 
 to his election as the next President of the United States. — " The 
 Champion," December 19, 186?'. 
 
reminiscences of dan eice 415 
 
 Rice — Grant — Douglas. 
 
 January 2, 1868. 
 The New York " Vindicator " says that Dan Eice, Fred Doug- 
 las, and TJ. S. Grant are the three most prominently mentioned 
 aspirants for the Presidency, and that clubs in the interest of the 
 first-named gentleman are actually being formed in every part 
 of our wide dominion. Inasmuch as the " Vindicator " is most 
 bitterly opposed to all three candidates, it would not be apt to 
 overestimate either their prospects or strength. Every day 
 brings us fresh evidence with what energy and marked ability 
 Colonel Eice's friends are advertising his nomination in every 
 direction, and the Press generally accords him a position of 
 prominence in the coming struggle no one dreamt he would 
 occupy a few weeks since. Verily he is a live power and as such 
 will be felt. 
 
 The "Erie Dispatch" on the Character and Qualifica- 
 tions of Our Candidate. 
 
 The majority of Colonel Eice's opponents in his Presidential 
 prospects are Eepublicans of the Eadieal stripe, and are men who 
 endeavor to ignore his claims by the assertion that he is not fit 
 for the position, and that he is a Copperhead, etc., etc., etc. To 
 this class of Eepublicans we commend a careful reading of the 
 following article which we copy from the " Erie Dispatch " : It 
 is cheering to observe the writhings of the more impolitic ultras, 
 and listen to their raving remonstrances, denunciations, and at- 
 tacks, evidencing nothing except their constitutional vulgarity, 
 mendacity, and unserupulousness, and their well-founded and 
 established fears that the honest and patriotic men in their camp, 
 over whom they have so long ruled with fanatical and tyrannical 
 sway, will desert them in a body and rally round the standard of 
 Union, Peace, Prosperity, and Justice, which Colonel Eice will 
 bear in the approaching trouble between the people and their 
 rights on one side and the Bond Kings, Shoddy Princes, and the 
 Satraps and Official Minions of Perpetual Disunion, Subjugation, 
 Labor-crushing Taxation, Fraud, Eapine, Theft, and Oligarch- 
 ical Despotism on the other. 
 
 The " Dispatch " is, and has always been, an outspoken, 
 straightforward, and able Eepublican journal, and the following 
 extract evidences its editor to be a keen, honorable, independent 
 journalist, who, residing within a few miles of Colonel Eice's 
 nome, is personally acquainted with him, and it is fair to presume 
 is cognizant of both his public and private worth. 
 
 The "Dispatch" says: "All parties agree that Dan Eice 
 
416 REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 would be the right man in the right place if sent to Congress. 
 Because he is politically sound and one of the most unobjectional 
 men in the State to fill any position within the gift of the people. 
 Entirely devoid of party prejudice, and possessing a strong, 
 vigorous, native intellect, cultivated rather by study of man than 
 books, are excellent guarantees for the sound, practical character 
 of his statesmanship, and understanding thoroughly, as he un- 
 questionably must, the necessities and wants of the whole people. 
 If elected to represent us, he will prove one of the most faithful 
 engineers of the governmental machinery ever sent to Congress. 
 The intrigues of parties and cliques, the corrupting influences 
 which often surround and control those who represent us in the 
 halls of legislature, will fail to affect Dan Eice, whose name is 
 synonymous of that which is honorable, patriotic, charitable, 
 and of moral worth, 
 
 Does not the false witnessings of distant, uninformed, and po- 
 litically prejudiced papers, of the mere creatures of moneyed 
 aristocracy, published in the sole interest of capital, of the pot- 
 house politicians, hypercritical, jealous, defamers of merit they 
 can neither appreciate nor emulate, kick the beam when placed 
 in the balance against the above evidence? 
 
 But we'll wait until next fall and then let the people, whose 
 firm, true, and able friend he is known to be, answer. — " Buffalo 
 Evening Post," January 4, 1868. 
 
 Geant and Dan Rice. 
 
 The President has most emphatically used up General Grant, 
 but notwithstanding this uncontroverted and uncontrovertible 
 fact, the majority of the Radicals are willing and do accept 
 Grant's letters as truth, while they persistently refuse to believe 
 the President's statements, albeit they are supported by the let- 
 ters of his cabinet and claim that he has been trying to place the 
 General in an unfavorable light before the people, whereas it is 
 Grant who has done himself the injury. From the moment that 
 the General took the war portfolio until he retired, he was acting 
 a duplicity, and every letter which he has lately written, together 
 with those which Stanton and John W. Forney have written for 
 him, exhibits this phase of his character. He has been guilty 
 of conspiracy by conniving with Stanton and certain Congress- 
 men to have the correspondence which had transpired between 
 himself and the President published to the world before the latter 
 could reply to his insulting letter. All these conspirators were 
 evidently afraid of any reply which might emanate from his 
 Excellency, fearing that it might do just what it has, injured the 
 General's character for veracity, destroy the force of his last let- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 417 
 
 ter, and be proof positive of his intended treachery to the Execu- 
 tive, and thus place the President in an unfavorable position 
 before the people. They furthermore hoped that by this action 
 any further correspondence which they knew would be damaging 
 to Grant, would be suppressed, and thus the President forced into 
 a false position. In all their machinations they have signally 
 failed, and Grant, by lending himself to the schemes of those 
 poltroons, has proved himself to be neither a statesman, a diplo- 
 mat, nor a gentleman. This much for the dead Presidential can- 
 didate of the Eadicals. 
 
 On the other hand, let us briefly and cursorily examine the 
 merits and character of that staunch Democrat of the old school, 
 Dan Eiee. Honest in every respect, manly, dignified, and cour- 
 teous alike to all; having the good of the country at heart; seeing 
 the perilous waves of party passion which threaten to engulf us, 
 and feeling that nothing but calm judgment, mature delibera- 
 tion, and acute statesmanship will save us, he has permitted the 
 people to use his name in connection with the approaching Presi- 
 dential contest, and far-sighted Democratic leaders, observing 
 with what fervor the announcement has been received, are taking 
 steps to urge his nomination before the ensuing convention, 
 being fully satisfied that he is a man of iron will and stern deter- 
 mination, and if elevated to this once high position, he will re- 
 store it to its pristine glory, and the country to its former glorious 
 and proud position among nations. In short that he will be the 
 right man in the right place. 
 
 Having sprung from the people and ever entertaining a strong 
 love for his parentage; being a keen observer of all political mat- 
 ters; possessed of a full knowledge of our situation; an honest 
 man; a good executive, and a far-sighted statesman, all these 
 stern qualifications eminently fit him for the position, and we 
 sincerely trust for the sake of the country, which needs and begs 
 for peace, and a safe deliverance from the chaos in which we are 
 now groping, that our next President will be the ever honored 
 Col. Dan Eice.— " The Crisis," February 14, 1868. 
 
 The People's and the Soldiers' Convention Nominating 
 Dan Eice for Congress. 
 
 Col. Dan Eice. 
 
 Dear Sir: We, the undersigned, citizens of Crawford and Erie 
 Counties, in view of the patriotic services rendered the govern- 
 ment, and the many thousands of hard-earned dollars you have 
 expended to sustain and carry on the war against rebellion, hav- 
 ing proved yourself the true friend of the soldier, and knowing 
 you to be a true friend and supporter of Andrew Johnson and 
 27 
 
413 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 his administration in their efforts to restore the Union, and hav- 
 ing confidence in your integrity and ability to discharge the du- 
 ties of Representative of the Nineteenth Congressional District 
 in Congress, we therefore request that you allow your name to be 
 used as the " People's " candidate for that office at the ensuing 
 election. 
 
 A. G. Ely, Jas. L. Thager, I. Y. Simmons, L. B. Chevalier, John 
 H. Guilliford, B. C. Ely, and many others, both Republicans 
 and Democrats. 
 
 To the Citizens of Crawford and Erie Counties. 
 
 My Friends and Fellow-Citizens: Your letter proposing to run 
 me for Congress is received. I would indeed be insensible to the 
 commonest impulse of humanity were I not filled with the warm- 
 est sentiment of gratitude for the friendly expressions and per- 
 sonal regard that your letter contains, signed as it is by Republi- 
 cans and Democrats, whom I know to be staunch supporters of 
 the government, and many who have risked their lives for the 
 Union. Such distinguished consideration overcomes every na- 
 tural objection I may have for political honors, consequently I do 
 accept your kind invitation to allow my name to be used, but 
 with the understanding that I am not to be the standard bearer 
 of either political party (Republicans or Democrats), but, if nomi- 
 nated, it must be by a People's Convention, as I belong to the 
 people. They are my friends and patrons, and in justice to 
 them, composed as they are of all shades of political opinions, I 
 must continue to live in their esteem, and labor to promote their 
 happiness and interests, which has always been the height of my 
 ambition for twenty-five years. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 Dan Rice. 
 
 Dan Rice's Letter of Acceptance. 
 
 Albion, Mich., October 1st, 1864. 
 To Isaac R. Taylor, President Conferees, Thomas D. Nash, 
 and others. 
 Your letter informing me that I have been nominated by a 
 large and respectable portion of conservative patriotic citizens as 
 a candidate for the office of Senator of the Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania, for the district in which I reside, has come to hand. 
 I take the earliest opportunity afforded me to thank you for the 
 honor thus sought to be conferred upon me. But for circum- 
 stances beyond my control, I should have felt it my duty to have 
 met you and those who have put me in nomination, face to face, 
 and thanked you all for this distinguished mark of your public 
 
BEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE ,419 
 
 and private confidence. Your nomination comes to me unsought. 
 It comes to me not as a partisan seeking political preferment, for 
 that I have never sought. It comes to me not as a politician, 
 nor as a worshipper at the shrine of any political dogma. My 
 business has not been in the arena of politics. It does not come 
 to me as a reward for any political or party services I have ren- 
 dered, for I have loved my country more than party. Your 
 nomination does not find me, however, an indifferent spectator 
 of the times. Acquainted as you all are with the views I have 
 heretofore and throughout my life entertained, you cannot doubt 
 that in this great crisis I am possessed of sufficient patriotism to 
 devote myself to the salvation of my country on such principles 
 and by such means as shall be most effective in bringing about 
 the time when the people of the States and the people of all the 
 States, and the States themselves, will acknowledge the dominion 
 of the Constitution and the laws of the Federal Union; nor can 
 you, who know me so well, have any doubts in your minds that in 
 the accomplishment of this purpose I can never consent to the 
 separation of the States. I am for the Union which was formed 
 by our fathers. I am for the country which Washington and 
 Franklin and Jefferson and all the patriots of 1776 bequeathed 
 to posterity. I am for the country, the Union, and the Con- 
 stitution which Webster, Clay, and Jackson sustained, supported, 
 and defended. I would to God that all men in our day could as 
 patriotically and cordially unite in measures for their salvation 
 as these statesmen and lovers of their country did in defending 
 and maintaining the principles of our free institutions. 
 
 The peril of the times demands as high a patriotism now as it 
 did in the days of the Revolution, and the liberties achieved for 
 us by our ancestors require the same price for their protection now 
 as then. This is eternal vigilance. I am not of the number who 
 can see no patriotism in love of country except in the few, or in 
 those who may chance to differ with me in opinion upon measures 
 of public policy merely. My knowledge and experience derived 
 from a pursuit which has for years thrown me into associations 
 with men of all political parties and of all sections has satisfied 
 me of the real patriotism of the great mass of the American peo- 
 ple. I am none the less satisfied and conscious that in a time 
 like the present the greatest danger to our free institutions is an 
 excess of party spirit. We have been admonished of this danger, 
 not only by the counsels of the Father of his Country, but by all 
 the signs of the times. Detraction and abuse, personal vitupera- 
 tion, and slander, and oftentimes a reckless disregard of truth 
 have taken the place of cool reason and calm, sober discussion of 
 measures and principles. Party purposes and plans supplant the 
 feeliDg of a high and genuine patriotism which looks alone to the 
 
420 KEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 good of the country and the real permanency and glory of our 
 institutions. Toleration of opinion is another essential element 
 of perpetuity in a free government. The voice of a majority in 
 a government like ours is acknowledged by all to be the vital 
 principle of the Republic, but is it not true as an important 
 maxim to be observed by those in power, that the voice of the 
 majority in order to be right ought also to be reasonable? That, 
 in the language of Mr. Jefferson, " The minority possess their 
 equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to V-olate which 
 would be oppression." We have indeed gained but little if we 
 countenance in our country a political intolerance, as despotic, 
 as wicked and cruel as any religious intolerance under which 
 mankind so long bled and suffered. Let us all, then, be of one 
 mind in the maintenance of those great principles upon which 
 all our equal rights are founded. Let freedom of religion, free- 
 dom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person 
 be sacredly maintained, as the objects to which the wisdom of our 
 sages and the blood of our heroes has been devoted. The power 
 of arms may be necessary to bring back to the authority of the 
 Constitution and Laws those who by arms resist such authority, 
 but in the vindication of their supremacy any course of policy, 
 however honest and sincere, which has for its effect the division 
 of the real friends of the government by dangerous infringe- 
 ments upon the civil and constitutional rights of those who re- 
 main in allegiance to the established government, or by open and 
 plain infractions of their personal rights and liberties, is but 
 subjecting ourselves to future dangers at home, as destructive, if 
 not more so, than any we have yet experienced. Such a policy 
 will never lead to the adoption and enforcement of the salutary 
 measures hereafter which alone can restore our country to a 
 permanent and lasting fraternity of peace at home, and a restora- 
 tion to that high position we have held among the nations of the 
 earth. If we are looking to the preservation of the general gov- 
 ernment in its whole constitutional vigor, as the " sheet anchor 
 of our future peace at home and of our safety abroad," it is clear 
 to my mind that we must rigidly adhere to the principles I have 
 announced; that while we demand of one section of the country 
 that they should return to the standard of the Constitution and 
 Laws, and while we all meet and repel the invaders of the public 
 order, as a matter of our own personal concern, we ourselves 
 should be equally careful to respect and preserve the same stand- 
 ard to which we ask the support and allegiance of others. In 
 doing this we challenge the respect of the world — ought at least to 
 secure the unity of all patriotic men, and silence all cavil of 
 those who are in arms against the government. I can cheerfully 
 and heartily cooperate with all men who entertain these senti- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 421 
 
 merits. I look for no peace accompanied by terms of dishonor. 
 While I can accept of no terms of peace based in a separation of 
 the States, I desire to see such measures adopted as will bring 
 back with its return all those former feelings of concern, mutual 
 amity, friendship, and love of the Union which characterized 
 the American people in the days of our Fathers. If this is 
 thought by any to be impracticable or impossible, then, I must 
 confess, I can see no such peace in the future as will bring with it 
 the blessings we all expect will flow from a consummation " so 
 devoutly to be wished." The peace we all desire is such a peace 
 as can only flow from a reunion of the States, a reunion of hearts, 
 a reunion of hands, a reunion of commerce, a reunion of inter- 
 ests, a reunion of the whole people with all their industrial and 
 commercial and all their interests combined, for the common 
 benefit and for the common reunion of the whole country; a re- 
 union under the old flag "with not a stripe erased nor a star 
 obscured," bearing on its ample folds, as it floats over the land 
 and over the sea and under the whole heavens, the old motto of 
 our fathers, " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and in- 
 separable." The object of the war, as I understand it, is, or 
 ought to be, to secure this great and glorious purpose. Let it be 
 prosecuted with this end in view, and I firmly believe that we 
 shall, in the Providence of God, once more be prosperous, happy, 
 and powerful people. I can only say that if such were the senti- 
 ments of those who placed me in nomination, I do not feel at lib- 
 erty to decline it, and should your nomination result in an elec- 
 tion, it will be my aim to represent and carry out with fidelity 
 the principles upon which you have selected me as a candidate 
 for the suffrages of the people. 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Dan Bice. 
 
 soldiees' congkessional meeting. 
 
 The soldiers' delegates of the Nineteenth Congressional Dis- 
 trict to the State Convention at Harrisburg, August 1, 1866, met 
 at the Jones House in that city on that evening. 
 
 On motion of Capt. 6. I. Whitney, of Warner County, Col. W. 
 0. Colt was called to the chair, and Capt. L. G. Harmon, of Corry, 
 Secretary. Colonel Colt stated the object of the meetingto be 
 the consideration of the candidates of the District for Congress. 
 Capt. Olney V. Cotter, of Warren, stated that as there was not 
 yet any nominee of either political. party, he thought it right and 
 just for the soldiers of this district to show their appreciation of 
 Col. Dan Eice for his many acts of benevolence to the soldiers. 
 
422 REMINISCENCES OS DAN KICE 
 
 On motion of Captain Sleeper, the chair appointed the follow- 
 ing committee to draft resolutions, expressing our views towards 
 Colonel Eice: Captain Sleeper, 0. II. Stevens, of Brie County, 
 George W. Reed, of Warren, and Thomas Clark, of Clearfield. 
 After a short adjournment the committee reported the following: 
 
 (1) Resolved, That we recognize in Col. Dan Rice a true friend 
 of the soldiers, battling for the integrity of the Union and the 
 preservation of the Constitution. 
 
 (2) Resolved, That if the Congressional convention should 
 nominate Colonel Rice, the soldiers of the Nineteenth District, 
 in consideration of his charities and patriotic bestowal of money 
 to perpetuate the valor of the brave soldiers of Erie County who 
 fell in the late war, believe him to be entitled to a national honor 
 and the gratitude of all true men. 
 
 (3) Resolved, That we believe Colonel Rice to be opposed to the 
 policy of keeping the Southern States out of the Union, after 
 spending so much treasure and so much blood to keep them in, 
 and after the Proclamation of the President that success had at- 
 tended the prosecution of the war, and that the States lately 
 in rebellion were virtually reinstated. 
 
 (4) Resolved, That we commend the political faith and patri- 
 otic devotion of Colonel Rice to the candid consideration of all 
 Union soldiers, and believe that it is the duty of each and every 
 man in the district, loving the Constitution and advocating the 
 just application of constitutional law to all sections, to work 
 zealously to procure the election of Col. Dan Rice. 
 
 On motion of Captain Cotter, the resolutions were accepted 
 and the committee discharged. On motion of Captain "Whitney 
 it was ordered that this meeting be published in all the news- 
 papers of the district, also the "Patriot and the Union" at 
 Harrisburg. 
 
 After some pertinent and eloquent remarks by Captain Sleeper, 
 Whitney, and others, the meeting adjourned sine die, with three 
 hearty cheers for Col. Dan Rice, followed by music from Ring- 
 gold's Brass Band, of old Berks. 
 
 The following are the remarks of Captain Whitney: 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow-Soldiers: I hope you will not expect 
 me to make a speech, therefore I will not disappoint. I am not 
 in the habit of making speeches, it is not my profession. I can 
 run a raft on the Brokenstraw Creek to a better advantage. But 
 the present occasion is one that requires every soldier to say 
 something. You and I have just listened to an able and eloquent 
 speech from our fellow-soldier, Captain Sleeper. He has told 
 you how the political affairs of our country have been managed 
 during the past year by our representatives in the Congress of 
 the United States. You can examine the record, and you will 
 
BEMINISCENCES OE DAN BICE 423 
 
 find he has told you truly. You have done all that is required 
 of you here to-day; you have met in counsel with your late com- 
 panions in arms from every county of this great old Keystone 
 State. You can well say you have done your duty. In a few 
 short hours you will be on your way home, and there to work out 
 the great work that has been laid before you here to-day. Our 
 fellow-soldiers of the Nineteenth Congressional District have 
 adopted some very appropriate resolutions in behalf of Col. Dan 
 Bice, the soldier's true friend, and you owe him a debt of ever- 
 lasting gratitude. You have, by your resolutions here to-night, 
 shown that you appreciate the many noble acts of benevolence 
 that he has extended to the defenders of his country in the hour 
 of the greatest need. Go to the returned soldiers on the bleak 
 shores of Lake Erie and ask them who it was that furnished their 
 wives and children the means to get the necessaries of life while 
 they were serving their country on the blood-stained fields of 
 Virginia, and they will tell you that while we lay in shelter tents 
 on the ground, thinking of the loved ones at home, and wonder- 
 ing how long it would be before the regiment would be paid off, 
 for there was eight months' pay due them, they thought of the 
 last letters received from home, which informed them that the 
 last dollar was gone, and their stay-at-home friends had quit 
 donating to the soldiers' wives and families; they tell her his pay 
 is enough to support her and her little ones. Others tell her 
 they must save all the money they can get so that in case they are 
 drafted they may be able to pay their three hundred dollars. 
 Oh, loyalty, thou art a jewel! Soon the mail arrives in camp, the 
 soldiers rush out of their tents and receive letters from their dear 
 wives, read their contents and leap for joy, for it tells their wants 
 have been supplied by the noble-hearted showman, Col. Dan Eice. 
 Go to the town of Girard, there you will find a beautiful white 
 monument erected to the memory of the fallen heroes, at the cost 
 of thousands of dollars. Who caused that marble statue to be 
 erected? The answer will be Col. Dan Eice. Fellow-soldiers, 
 you know what your duty is now; you know what the duty of 
 every Union soldier is in this district, and that duty will be per- 
 formed next October, by easting your vote for Dan Eice for Con- 
 gress, and sure you know if elected (which he will be) he will 
 give his fellow-members to understand they must look more to 
 the interests of the soldier and less to the negro race. 
 
 As it is now quite late, and you have been on duty for the past 
 eighteen hours, I will not detain you any longer, hoping to hear 
 from some of the other delegates. In conclusion, I wish you all 
 a safe journey home. 
 
 Col. W. 0. Colt, Chairman. 
 
 Capt. L. G. Haemon, Secretary. 
 
424 REMINISCENCES OE DAN MCE 
 
 Dan Eice on Politics. 
 
 The unrivalled Dan Eice, whom Erie County is proud to claim 
 as one of our own citizens, gave his closing entertainments for 
 the season in this city, on Monday evening, Tuesday afternoon 
 and evening. On all three of these occasions, the attendance 
 was immensely large, and the great humorist gave full proof of 
 his gratification by constant flashes of the most genuine wit. 
 We like Dan Eice both as a public man and a private citizen. 
 In the former capacity he has the talent to expose the wrong 
 and the courage to grapple sternly with it, while as a private 
 citizen, he is the embodiment of generosity and manliness. He 
 has, perhaps, inculcated more solid virtue by his keen, satirical 
 method of dealing with error than any other of the popular per- 
 formers. In the course of his Tuesday evening's performance, 
 he gave some severe hits at the Abolition folly of the day. He 
 said that having travelled extensively in the South he knew its 
 public sentiment thoroughly, and declared that if anything 
 causes us to lose the loyal Slave States, it will be the growing 
 conviction created by the efforts of fanatics in the North, that the 
 war was one for the extermination of slavery. He praised the 
 President for his courageous stand against the radical element 
 of the party, in modifying the proclamation of General Fremont, 
 and expressed an earnest hope that the people of this district 
 would, at the election now so close at hand, show their disap- 
 proval of every form of sectionalism by voting for the Union 
 nominees. He incidentally gave a strong endorsement of Mr. 
 Galbraith and a still stronger dig at Mr. Lowry, the latter of which 
 was received with an irrepressible yell of approval. A sound 
 man is Dan, politically as well as physically. " May he live a 
 thousand years and his shadow never grow less." — " Observer," 
 Erie County, Pa., October 5, 1861. 
 
 EICE AS A EHYMSTEE. 
 
 Colonel Eice was singularly gifted as an author of circus com- 
 positions in rhyme, delightful bits of doggerel, quaintly humor- 
 ous, pathetic, and satirical songs, which, a half century ago, 
 gained for him an enviable popularity in the amusement world. 
 
 In composing songs for the ring he selected the name first 
 and wrote the song to fit it, taking especial pains to localize them 
 to suit every section of the United States. 
 
 His fecund fancy as a fun developer was only equalled by his 
 versatility as a verse maker. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 425 
 
 As his humor was harmless and without hurt in its bent, so his 
 songs were without sting in their trend. 
 
 Dan Eice's Ultimatum! 
 
 It has often been written and oftener said 
 
 That the fools in this world were by no means all dead; 
 
 Such being the ease I confess I can't see 
 
 Why the rest of the fools desire to kill me, 
 
 By reporting me dead, when there's no doubt at all 
 
 That I still am the liveliest " Fool " of them all. 
 
 Unless to make fools in each city and town 
 
 Of the thousands who think me no fool of a clown, 
 
 And whenever I come to make a rush to a man 
 
 To warmly shake hands with jolly " Old Dan," 
 
 Don't believe them good friends, for I'm coming to show 
 
 That though older I get still younger I grow, 
 
 And that ne'er from the tomb came so merry a corpse 
 
 To crack you a joke or teach language to horse; 
 
 I still shoot at Folly, wherever she flies, 
 
 Clear proof that some one egregiously lies — 
 
 Under such a mistake as suggests want of candor, 
 
 And imminent danger of action for slander, 
 
 And compels me to rhyme my own resurrection, 
 
 In my popular role of Momus' Son; 
 
 In the grave where they've laid me to laugh and be gay, 
 
 And drive all your cares and blue-devils away. 
 
 I neither am dead, nor yet do I sleep, 
 
 Though I must have done so when I let others keep 
 
 In their mountebank charge, for a season, my name, 
 
 Disappointing the world, greatly risking my fame, 
 
 As it turned out I could not believe what they said — 
 
 Then pray how can you when they tell you I'm dead? 
 
 In neglecting to obey that first law of nature 
 
 I committed a blunder — it could not be greater — 
 
 But a fault when acknowledged is more than half mended; 
 
 And with all speculators my dealings are ended. 
 
 I now come that saddest word Farewell to say, 
 
 For the last time to greet you in motley array; 
 
 With a circus I'm proud to acknowledge my own — 
 
 All my artists are trumps and I " play it alone." 
 
 In a ring very far from the Washington kind, 
 
 I present you the rarest attractions, combined 
 
 From the first of equestrian and muscular schools,, 
 
 And the mirth-teeming brain of the greatest of " Fools." 
 
426 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Fair artistes who vie with the Nereids in grace; 
 
 Bareback riders to whom e'en Mazeppa gives place; 
 
 A Teaper that's stolen swift Mercury's wings; 
 
 Acrobats who perform most impossible things; 
 
 Sprite-like children who seem most at home in mid-air; 
 
 Their Apollo-like father who brings them up there; 
 
 The walkist whose stilts are as high as a steeple; 
 
 The comical chap who singes songs for the people; 
 
 Monsieur Dennie, the Noble just over from France; 
 
 The wonderful ponies that Fve taught to dance; 
 
 The riders who somersault over the moon, 
 
 And in coming down go through a dozen balloons; 
 
 The gymnasts who illustrate life's ups and downs; 
 
 Pete and Barney, the mules, that I've taught to be clowns, 
 
 And would have made whiskey inspectors, but can't, 
 
 As they bolted the ticket and threw General Grant; 
 
 The fiery Arabian Douglas, well known 
 
 As the greatest of trick horses, saving alone 
 
 Excelsior my pride, who though blind is not dumb, 
 
 And through losing his eyesight has since found his tongue, 
 
 And stands, the world's wonder, almost on the verge 
 
 Of the boundary where instinct and reason do merge. 
 
 Add to these a whole squadron of the kind of steed 
 
 That canters on one wheel — dubbed " Velocipede " — ■ 
 
 And you've only a tithe of the marvels that swing 
 
 Eound the circle of which I'm the Humorist King, 
 
 The aim of whose brief reign is, ere he departs, 
 
 To enlighten your heads and lighten your hearts, 
 
 Which he surely will do if you take the advice 
 
 Of your servant, in mai or in motley, 
 
 Dan Rice. 
 
 Hard Times This Side of Jordan. 
 Original Music. 
 
 The times are out of joint — they've been straining ev'ry point, 
 
 And gloriously tight they've got aecordin' — 
 If they don't soon improve, we all will have to move 
 
 Eight over to the other side of Jordan. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then we'll pull off our coat, and roll up our sleeve, 
 
 Jordan is a hard road to travel — 
 Then we'll pull off our coat, and roll up our sleeve, 
 
 For Jordan is a hard road to travel, I believe. 
 
REMINISCENCES OE DAN RICE 427 
 
 Merchants find sales rather dull, and their shelves remaining full, 
 
 And their profits very slender according 
 After a while they'll sell off stock — hang a notice on the lock, 
 
 Bemoved to the other side of Jordan. 
 
 Chorus — Then we'll pull off our coat, etc. 
 
 Lawyers' causes scarcer grow, and fewer briefs they know, 
 And " Hard times," they also cry aeeordin' — 
 
 But they're sure to be all right — let cash be e'er so tight — 
 They'll find practice on the other side of the Jordan. 
 
 Chorus — Then we'll pull off our coat, etc. 
 
 The doctors, too, complain, no patients can they gain, 
 
 And they feel quite consumptive aeeordin' — 
 But the times have played the trick, we can't afford this getting 
 sick, 
 
 They'll find patients on the other side of Jordan. 
 
 Chorus — Then we'll pull off our coat, etc. 
 
 Some maniacs tried to force a mad " Non-intercourse/' 
 'Twixt the North and the South for a burthen, 
 
 But they just as soon could draw the great Niagara 
 With its waters to the t'other side of Jordan. 
 
 Chorus — Then we'll pull off our coat, etc. 
 
 How hard so'er we try, hard times is still the cry, 
 
 Affecting even animals aeeordin' — 
 There was an Ole Bull, who against them tried to pull, 
 
 Then travelled to the other side of Jordan. 
 
 Chorus — Then we'll pull off our coat, etc. ■ 
 
 Foreign shows that advertise greatest artist 'neath the skies, 
 
 And hope to make a fortune here aeeordin' — 
 Will find our home stock large, without any extra charge, 
 
 And they'll mizzle to the other side of Jordan. 
 
 Chorus — Then we'll pull off our coat, etc. 
 
 But, in spite of the hard times, Old Dan still draws the dimes, 
 
 And hopes to keep on doing so aeeordin' — 
 With your favor as his prize, he don't care how hard he tries, 
 
 To stay here upon the sunny side of Jordan. 
 
428 REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 Chorus. 
 Then sound loud the trombone, for here's the place to come, 
 
 You'll find it quite an easy road to travel; 
 Come all and have some fun, ere time its meshes weave — 
 
 You'll find it quite an easy road to travel, I believe. 
 
 Petee Peppehcoen. 
 
 Comic Song. 
 
 When first I went to New Orleans, and pretty Sally spied, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 Cupid's dart went through my heart, I thought I should have 
 died, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 "With bashfulness and modesty I walked about forlorn, 
 And no poor lad was half so sad as Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 
 Then every day I went that way, in hopes to melt her scorn, 
 Oh Sally, pretty, won't you pity poor Peter. Pepper, poor Peter 
 
 Peppercorn; 
 Oh Sally, pretty, won't you pity Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, poor Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 (Eepeat.) 
 
 Sally would not look on me, my love was all in vain, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 I drooped just like a cauliflower, all for want of rain, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 I gathered her a posy sweet, which she refused with scorn, 
 And no poor b'hoy was half so sad as Peter Peppercorn, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 
 Now every day I went that way, in hopes to melt her scorn, 
 Oh Sally, pretty, won't you pity poor Petjer Pepper, poor Peter 
 
 Peppercorn; 
 Oh Sally, pretty, won't you pity Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, poor Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 (Repeat.) 
 
 I wandered for some heart's-ease, but vain were all my sighs, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 Just like a pair of watering pots, the tears ran from my eyes, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 I wasted all my time away, and walked about forlorn, 
 And no poor lad was half so sad as Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 
 Now every day I went that way, etc. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN , EICE 429 
 
 Now, tired of this misery, and by Cupid made more bold, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 I boldly kisses her, and I found her heart was not so cold, 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; 
 She said that she would marry me, and on the wedding morn, 
 No poor lad was half so glad as Peter Peppercorn. 
 
 Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 
 Now every day I went that way, etc. 
 
 Hard Times. 
 
 Come listen awhile, and give ear to my song, 
 Concerning these hard times — 'twill not take you long; 
 How everybody is always trying to bite, 
 In cheating each other, and think they do right — 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Landlord will feed your horse on oats, corn, and hay, 
 And as soon as your back's turned, he'll take them away; 
 For oats he'll give chaff, and for corn he'll give bran, 
 Still he will cry, " I'm too honest a man 
 For these hard times." 
 
 There is the Miller, who grinds for his toll; 
 He will do your work well, as he'll care for his soul — 
 As soon as your back's turned, with the dish in his fist, 
 He will leave you the toll, and himself take the grist, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Lawyer — he'll turn like a key — 
 He will tell a big lie to gain a small fee; 
 He will tell you your cause is honest and right, 
 And, if you have no cash, he will swear you're a bite, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Tinker — he will mend all your ware 
 For little or nothing — some cider or beer; 
 Before he commences he will get half-drunk or more, 
 And in stopping one hole will punch twenty more, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Jeweller — he works in the finest of gold, 
 He makes the best earrings that ever were sold; 
 Tells peddlers to lie, to dispel ladies' fears, 
 Till the verdigris eats off their fingers and ears, 
 In these hard times. 
 
430 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 There is the Printer — he is a hard ease; 
 You always can tell him by the brass in his face; 
 If you owe him a dollar, you will think it no harm, 
 But if you don't fork it over he'll lock up your form, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Barber, who labors for pelf; 
 He shaves every blockhead that can't shave himself; 
 A dime he will have from his friends or his foes, 
 Or else he will never let go of your nose, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There is the Constable, who thinks himself wise; 
 He will come to your house with a big pack of lies; 
 He will take all your property and then he will sell — 
 
 Get drunk on your money — that's doing d n well, 
 
 These hard times. 
 
 There is the Farmer — Oh, Lord! how he'll cheat, 
 "With his oats, corn, and barley, and rusty old wheat; 
 He will thirst for a penny till he is blue at the nose, 
 And he'll d — n you for thanks, that's the way the world goes 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Priest will tell you which way you must steer, 
 To save your poor souls, which he values so dear; 
 And if be can't draw something out of your purse, 
 He will take off his blessing and whack on a curse, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There are some Young Men who a-courtin' will go 
 To see pretty girls, you very well know; 
 The old folks will giggle, they'll squint, and they'll grin, 
 Crying — " Use him well, Sail, or he won't come again, 
 For it's hard times." 
 
 There is the Merchant, his goods are the best 
 That ever arrived from the East or the West; 
 With his damaged calicoes, jews'-harps, and brass clocks, 
 Are quite necessary for all clever folks, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 Now come the Ladies, those sweet little dears, 
 To the balls and the parties, how nice they appear, 
 AVith their whalebones and corsets, themselves will squeeze, 
 And they have to unlace them before they can sneeze, 
 In these hard times. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 431 
 
 From father to mother, from sister to brother, 
 From cousin to cousin, they cheat one another; 
 Maids about modesty make a great rout, 
 And rogues about honesty often fall out, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Blacksmith says he pays cash for his stock, 
 Therefore it's hard for him to trust it out; 
 He'll sell a few shoes, and mend an old plough, 
 And when Fall comes, he must have your best cow, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Doctor will dose you with physic and squills, 
 With blisters and plasters, and powders and pills; 
 When your money's all spent, and your breathing most done, 
 The doctor cries out — " Poor soul, you're most gone," 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Baker will cheat you in the bread that you eat — 
 So will the Butcher in the weight of his meat; 
 He'll tip up the scales to make them weigh down, 
 And swear it is weight when it lacks half a pound, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Tailor will cabbage your cloth and your skin — 
 He'll cheat and defraud you, and swear it's no sin; 
 Although he is honest, as all the world knows, 
 But he will have his cabbage wherever he goes, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 There are some young men who cut quite a dash; 
 They strut around town without a cent of cash — 
 With low pocket pants, and pigeon-tail coats, 
 And hair on their chins like a parcel of goats, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 At Washington City, politicians throng — 
 Try various ways to make their sessions long; 
 Many reasons they give why they are obliged to stay, 
 But, the clearest reason yet, is eight dollars a day, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 The Judge on the bench is honest and true — 
 He'll gaze at a. man, as though to look him through; 
 He'll send you six months or one year to jail, 
 And for five dollars more he'll send you to h— 11, 
 In these hard times. 
 
432 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 Now a word for myself before I make foes, 
 There are exceptions in all trades, as all the world knows; 
 Although in my song you may errors detect, 
 I hope 'tis as good as my friends could expect, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 A man named Van Orden, I had almost forgot — 
 He is the worst one there is in the lot; 
 He will swear, lie, and swindle, he will cheat, and he'll write, 
 And, for sixpence a head, he'll take sheep in the night, 
 In these hard times. 
 
 New Oeleans As It Is — 1852. 
 
 Tune — " Dance, the Boatman, Dance." 
 
 A few nights ago I came to town 
 With a party of friends, to look 'round, 
 And, I must confess, to me it seems, 
 There is no place like New Orleans. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then, boys, let's have a spree, 
 
 And merry, merry be; 
 
 We'll drink all night, till broad daylight, 
 
 And go home tight in the morning. 
 
 Then, drink, boys, till daylight beams, 
 
 To the good old town of New Orleans. 
 
 For New Orleans the tallest place is 
 
 For balls, and fun, and pretty faces; 
 
 The people are the cleverest in the world, I think, 
 
 For they're always asking one to drink. 
 
 Chorus — Then, boys, etc. 
 
 The people have plenty of dollars and cents, 
 And the town is full of foreign gents; 
 From every clime they emigrate, 
 To this very city, to speculate. 
 
 Chorus — Then, boys, etc. 
 
 Hotels you'll find in every street, 
 
 And, I tell you, boys, they're hard to beat; 
 
 With jovial host and open door, 
 
 And he is a Van Orden that asks for more. 
 
 Chorus — Then, boys, etc. 
 
beminIscences op dan eice 433 
 
 The cooking's done in every way, 
 From the English style, to a la Francais; 
 And what with oysters, ducks, and plover, 
 You can live in the tallest kind of clover. 
 Chorus — Then, boys, etc. 
 
 By paying a dime you can get a lunch, 
 And top it off with a glass of punch; 
 St. Charles Street is the place to come 
 To see the elephant and have a little fun. 
 Chorus — Then, boys, etc. 
 
 Here we have all sorts of folks 
 That are always ready to hear our jokes; 
 And treat a friend to the very best, 
 And lend a hand to the distressed. 
 Chorus — Then, boys, etc. 
 
 Oh, there are the boatmen, who come to town — 
 A better set of fellows can't be found; 
 They work quite hard by day and night, 
 And they'll have their rights or raise a fight. 
 Chorus — Then, hoys, etc. 
 
 Things That I Like To See. 
 
 COMPOSED AND SUNG BY DAN BICE. 
 
 Tune — " Irish Washerwoman." 
 
 All people and parties I'm glad to meet here, 
 To show the world's wonders and drive away care; 
 And this show — both old folks and young here so nice! 
 Is the best of all shows to your showman 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 Chorus. 
 
 You may call me a fool; you may call me a guy; 
 To instruct and amuse I'm still bound to try. 
 To deserve your applause, my ambition shall be, 
 And still give you things that you'll all like to see! 
 
 I like a fine horse, well shod and well trained; 
 
 I like a pretty girl, but I don't like her vain; 
 
 Yet if she's fond of the circus, I'll let that point pass, 
 
 For I'm sure of the beaux if I only get the lass. 
 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 28 
 
434 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 I like a good laugh, for it makes a man fat, 
 Kound-shouldered, full-chested, high-breasted, and all that, 
 Your long-faced, sour grumblers with me are no go, 
 For they give me cold comfort and none of their dough. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 Now some folks may not like me, but I am not to blame, 
 For I labor to please all, and keep a good name; 
 I aim to live upright, be honest and true, 
 Make my family happy — that's what I like to do. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 Now I like the circus well filled with folks 
 Huzzaing and laughing at the old fool's jokes; 
 It makes me feel merry, and brings in the chink, 
 And when we meet out I like all hands to drink. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 Now I like a good story, and like it well told; 
 A glass of brandy, and I like it old; 
 With a friend at my elbow enjoying his todd, 
 I could stop until morning, nor think of a nod. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like all the firemen, they're honest and true, 
 Bold and brave at their post, and ready to rescue 
 The life and property of foe or friend, 
 And when the alarm bell rings they always attend. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like an old salt, for, in peace and in war, 
 There's something open and frank about a jolly old tar; 
 At home or abroad, afloat or on land, 
 When the word passes aloft he is always on hand. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see ladies sit here as at home, 
 For wherever they go, there the gentlemen come." 
 The Union is safe while both parties come forth, 
 For Love's flag will rule in the North and the South. 
 Chorus— You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see lads, above and below stairs, 
 Behaving like men and not putting on airs; 
 It proves they know how to behave themselves well, 
 And that when they are men " they can keep a Hotel." 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 435 
 
 I would like North and South to leave Slav'ry alone, 
 And stand by the Union unto the last stone: 
 To settle the question by war, blood and vice, 
 Is like burning your house to scare out a few mice. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to hear preachers preach peace and good-will, 
 Nor sectional hatred e'er try to instill; 
 
 Let them teach the great truth, from the Great Book of all, 
 That States, like a house that's divided, must fall. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I'd like moderation all parties to sway, 
 And Slavery would dry up and soon blow away. 
 Freeman's blood shed by Freemen woidd kill Freedom's tree; 
 And there'll be no shelter for you and for me. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see misses sit by their mammas; 
 I like to see young lads stand by their papas; 
 I like to see young beaux stand close to the fair — 
 It shows Young America " right side up with care." 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see old maids own up to their ages; 
 To see office-hunters stand up to their pledges. 
 I like to see North and South stand by Our Flag, 
 And vow to defend it unto the last rag. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see farmers — the tillers of earth — 
 Come here to receive some instructions with mirth; 
 The toiling mechanic, the brisk merchant, too, 
 For 'tis they put our country's prosperity through. 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see round me such prospects in view, 
 Such a bright smiling circle of old friends and new; 
 Like a family party, so genteel and nice, 
 To cheer on the labors of old Daniel Eice. 
 
 Chorus. 
 You may call me a fool; you may call me a guy; 
 But as long as you call here to please you I'll try. 
 For your smiles and your tin I shall toil like a bee, 
 And still give you things that you'll all like to see. 
 
436 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 I like to see ladies sit here as at home, 
 For wherever they go, all the gentlemen come; 
 For every one knows that wherever they go, 
 They show like a charm and add charms to a show. 
 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like all these things, since they aid my great aim 
 
 To build up a " Show " worthy our country's great name; 
 
 A School where all folks, at a moderate price, 
 
 Can study all nature under Dr. Dan Eiee. 
 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 I like to see Congressmen come to the chalk, 
 Nor waste time and money in buncombe and talk; 
 And I think if we'd stop their eight dollars per day 
 Whenever they quarrel, 'twould soon end the fray. 
 
 Chorus — You may call me, etc. 
 
 Eternal Scold. 
 
 Friend! Hast thou e'er heard Old Ocean roar 
 When the black tempest hovers big with fear? 
 Tempestuous dash against the rocky shore, 
 Its hoarse resounding fills the astonished ear? 
 Hast thou e'er heard loud thunders crack? 
 Swift skim the lightnings 'long the liquid main, 
 When some great oak becomes the mighty wreck, 
 In thousand fragments scattered o'er the plain? 
 The whelp-robbed tigress, hast thou ever met? 
 Or marked the fury of her angry mien? 
 Or the fell lion when, with toils beset, 
 His hideous roaring heard? his flashing eyeballs seen? 
 
 If not, friend, come to me! 
 
 My house displays all these, and every monster more. 
 For there bulls bellow, dragons hiss, the wild ass brays, 
 Whoop owls, croak frogs, and growls the ugly bear; 
 Drums, trumpets, thunders, hurricanes abound, 
 Storms, tempests, earthquakes, in perpetual strife; 
 Fiends, furies, and hell itself may there be found 
 In one strange creature — 
 That's my own dear wife; 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 437 
 
 Spaulding & Eogees' ClROUS 1850. 
 
 Tune — " Susannah." 
 
 Spaulding and Eogers' Drummond light that they set for a trap, 
 To catch the dimes of greenhorns whose heads are filled with sap, 
 Like Paddy's " Jack O'Lantern," that dances 'long the streams, 
 The nigher you get to it, the further off it seems; 
 'Tis like a hollow pumpkin, with face of fiery red — 
 It is a perfect imitation of Spaulding's empty head. 
 
 There's the Father of Our Country held up to ridicule, 
 Eepresented on a cart-horse, by a smart, convenient tool; 
 They bear him round the circle, high-mounted on a truck, 
 The beast a perfect Eosinante, and he a Colonel Pluck; 
 The speeches all throughout the piece are very stale and flat, 
 Stole from some comic almanac — or you can take my hat. 
 
 The bright star of the circle, is a maiden lady fair, 
 
 With powdered face and painted cheeks, and short, false curly 
 
 hair; 
 A sort of would-be widow, well known throughout New York; 
 But to explain just what she is, it might create a talk. 
 Spaulding and Eogers both might say — I should not interfere, 
 Because her husband's far away — the poor grass widow dear. 
 
 They've got a would-be funny man — that's nothing but a stick; 
 "With bull-dog nose and bloated face, well known as drunken 
 
 Dick; 
 For these past twenty years, he's sung but one old, worn-out song, 
 'Bout " Tripe on Friday," " Carrion Crow," or something just as 
 
 strong. 
 He's far beneath my notice, a perfect whiskey tub, 
 A barroom loafer going 'round to sing for rum and grub. 
 
 There's still another female of whom I'd like to tell, 
 But ladies being present here it would not sound quite well; 
 With a tiger's disposition, all her passion she pours forth 
 On a poor adopted orphan, whipped out of ten years' growth. 
 Thus goes she on from day to day, in this her wild career, 
 A perfect slave to alcohol, and Satan she don't fear. 
 
 But next upon the carpet, 111 introduce a thing 
 Who has neither shape or talent, out of or in the ring, 
 
 Lick-spittle to Van , catspaw of Dr. Pill s, 
 
 Q. eor g e > B the very man they want to act the part he fills. 
 
 What more can be expected, considering whence he came, 
 For his wife— she takes in washing; Ain't she a thrifty dame? 
 
438 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Still there's worthy members who are mixed in with his clan, 
 
 Who would do better if they could, and cut them to a man. 
 
 Like dog Tray in the fable, they now must plainly see 
 
 That one is always to be judged just by his company. 
 
 I hope they'll take a fool's advice, before it is too late, 
 
 And leave the villains when they can, or they will share their fate. 
 
 Dan Rice's original song sung by him in his original play of 
 Southern " Uncle Tom's Cabin," entitled 
 
 Wait for the Wagon. 
 
 Now listen while my story with plainness I relate 
 Of my strange adventure among the Northern States; 
 Dey tried to make me b'lieb 'em, and said dey lub'd me well, 
 And jes' as good as white man, in eb'ry ting but de smell. 
 
 Chorus. 
 But gib me de plantation, 
 Gib me de plantation, 
 My Jenny Mules to dribe; 
 Den wait for the wagon, 
 And we'll all take a ride. 
 
 Dey called me brudder Thomas, an' said you're quite secure, 
 An' locked me up to prove it till I broke down de door. 
 I asked 'em for some money, an' what d'ye tink dey said? 
 Why, you must be crazy, fellow, jes' trabel on ahead. 
 Chorus — But gib me de plantation, etc. 
 
 I show'd 'em my diploma, but it was no sort ob use; 
 Dey said I was the gander and Debby was de goose! 
 I says you all am robbers, dat decent people fleece — 
 An' dey put me in de callaboose for 'sturbin' of de peace. 
 Chorus — But gib me de plantation, etc. 
 
 I trabel'd round de country an' felt dat I was free, 
 
 For I was cold and starvin' from de elbow to de knee, 
 
 But Massa hab f orgib me, an' I know dat all am right, 
 
 Tho' if (to audience) it gibs you pleasure, I'll run off eb'ry night. 
 
 Chorus. 
 So gib me de plantation, 
 Gib me de plantation; 
 Oh, gib me de plantation, 
 My Jenny Mules to dribe. 
 
kehiniscences of dan bice 439 
 
 Dan Bice's Humoes of the Day. 
 Tune — " Dearest May." 
 
 Kind folks, I come before you 
 
 As a humorist, to sing 
 On fashion, news, and politics, 
 
 And all that sort of thing; 
 And though I touch on politics, 
 
 Pray understand me clear, 
 I'm singing for no party 
 
 Except the party here. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Of the humors of the day, 
 The humors of the day, 
 For human nature — woman nature, 
 Can't be stopped no way. 
 
 Our Congress is all talk now; 
 
 And the Post : Office rails 
 Because they do not vote the tin 
 
 To carry on the mails; 
 But since our Bepresentatives 
 
 Have proved such jackass tools, 
 Why, rather than the mails should stop 
 
 I'll run it with my mules. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 Our President, Old Buck, sirs, 
 
 Has had bad streak of luck, 
 And with a mighty load of debt 
 
 He's got our wagon stuck. 
 He wanted thirty million 
 
 To buy all Cuba in; 
 But we will buy it, by and by, 
 
 By lead instead of tin. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 Old Austria and France now 
 
 On war begin to blow; 
 And the French cock crows to Austria's eagle 
 
 " Cock-a-doodle-doo." 
 If war breaks out, we've some hot boys 
 
 I hope will that way roam, 
 Instead of shooting down each other 
 
 In our streets at home. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
440 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Poor Mexico's in a tight place, 
 
 And if a peace they'd see, 
 They'd better send for brave old Scott 
 
 To see them all Scot-free. 
 She'll never be a nation, 
 
 Nor free from tyrant's brawls, 
 Till Uncle Sam's bright stars shall float 
 
 O'er Montezuma's halls. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 Famed Brigham Young, the Prophet, 
 
 Now profitably thrives, 
 And, perched up high, he crows Shanghai, 
 
 With his two score of wives. 
 By Mormonism magic 
 
 Our system is outdone; 
 For they can tame a State of wives, 
 
 While we can't manage one. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 The gals wear things called bonnets, 
 
 Upon their heads now spread, 
 That look just like a cabbage-leaf 
 
 Behind a pumpkin head. 
 With hoop-skirts like a circus-tent, 
 
 Spread out a mile around, 
 They flounce along with tiptoe strut (imitating), 
 
 And cover half the ground. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 Our bucks wear paper chokers 
 
 About a half inch high, 
 And look like strangled monkeys 
 
 Hung up by the necktie. 
 With goatees like a horse's tail, 
 
 And striped down pants to see, 
 They look like two-legged zebras 
 
 From my menagerie. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 I don't sing quite so often 
 
 As I used to did of yore, 
 But I see as much as ever, 
 
 And I think a great deal more, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 441 
 
 I think " Free-Love Conventions," 
 
 And " Woman's Eight " gangs, too, 
 Disunion Devil Kitchens 
 
 To keep a home in stew. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 Our land with strife and danger 
 
 Has been disturbed of late; 
 And the pillars of our Union shook 
 
 In old Virginia State. 
 But the voice of the whole nation 
 
 Eesolved, in thunder tone, 
 To keep the Union "right side up," 
 
 And guard it stone by stone. 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 We'll bind our States together 
 
 By telegraph and rail; 
 Our Union grows in length and strength: 
 
 " There's no such word as fail." 
 From York to San Francisco, 
 
 The Iron Horse shall roar, 
 And party strife shall be forgot, 
 
 In the word " EXCELSIOE! " 
 
 Chorus — The humors of the day, etc. 
 
 Good-Moekow to Yotjb Night-Cap. 
 As sung by Dan Eice. 
 
 Dear Kathlane, you no doubt 
 
 Find sleep how very sweet 'tis: 
 Dogs bark, and cocks have crowed out, 
 
 You never dream how late 'tis. 
 This morning gay, I post away, 
 
 To have with you a bit of play; 
 On two legs rid along to bid 
 
 Good-morrow to your night-cap. 
 
 Last night a little bowsy 
 
 With whiskey, ale, and cider, 
 I asked young Betty Blowsy 
 
 To let me sit beside her. 
 Her anger rose, and sour as sloes 
 
 The little gypsy cocked her nose. 
 Yet I've rid along to bid 
 
 Good-morrow to your night-cap. 
 
442 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Beneath the honeysuckle, 
 
 The daisy, and the violet, 
 Compose so sweet a truckle, 
 
 They'll tempt you sure to spoil it. 
 Young Sail and Bell 
 
 I've pleased so well — 
 But hold! I mustn't kiss and tell. 
 
 So here I've rid along to bid 
 
 Good-morrow to your night-cap. 
 
 Dan Bice's Welcome. 
 
 Air—" Dandy Jim." 
 
 Kind friends, once more I welcome you, 
 Who come to see my " one-horse show "; 
 The young, the aged, the beauty bright, 
 I proudly welcome here to-night. 
 
 Chorus. 
 My one-horse show has grown apace 
 Since first I met you face to face; 
 My show of horses had but one — 
 I've now " E Pluribus TTnum." 
 
 Full many a month has come and gone 
 Since first I sang to you the song 
 In which I strove, with truth sincere, 
 To tell my wrongs from one held dear. 
 
 That "friend" my confidence did get — 
 Bobbed me, but the " biter bit "; 
 I told my tale, and showed you then 
 What part was played by Van Orden. 
 
 My money gone, and " dear friend " sloped, 
 Your humble servant finely duped, 
 With sorrow found those he had trusted 
 Did boast of having Dan Bice " busted." 
 
 But then the villains crowed too soon — 
 They could not finish " this old coon." 
 Without resources I did go 
 And beat them with a " one-horse show." 
 
 With your kind aid, my poor endeavor 
 Has managed all their plans to sever; 
 And now they find it won't suffice 
 To kill, by stealing from Dan Bice. 
 
REMINISCENCES OP BAN EICE 443 
 
 That money, though it makes the mare go, 
 Will not make good " a mighty poor show "; 
 That "stolen fruits," though often " sweet," 
 With punishment condign may meet; 
 
 That " gold is but the Guinea's stamp," 
 And not to them Aladdin's lamp; 
 Your hearts they cannot steal from Dan, 
 You've shown them he is still your man. 
 
 Most grateful is Dan for your favor; 
 To all — e'en to that little shaver, 
 Who, grinning, sits in that front seat, 
 With clapping hands and noisy feet. 
 
 By tears and pleadings, oft repeated, 
 (See by his exercise he's heated), 
 He got with pa and ma to go, 
 To see Dan Eice's " one-horse show." 
 
 Yon lady, too — bless her dear soul — 
 Whose heart is many a poor wight's goal, 
 To whom a glance from her bright eyes 
 Would seem a gleam from Paradise. 
 
 She, too, has a kind smile for Dan, 
 And encores give him with her fan; 
 While saying much she would forego, 
 Ere she would miss the " one-horse show." 
 
 With kind friends such as you to cheer, 
 Fate cannot teach my heart to fear; 
 But happy through the world I'll go 
 Attended by my " one-horse show." 
 
 Secure in smiles that prove most clear, 
 Van Orden " the wrong passenger 
 Did wake," when he had thought so nice, 
 With you to ruin your Dan Eice. 
 
 And now that I have sung my song 
 Of welcome to this happy throng, 
 Before I close I'll let you know 
 What I have in my " one-horse show." 
 
 I've birds with plumage bright and rare — 
 Wild monkeys gay, and fierce jaguar — 
 The largest bear, you all must know, 
 That e'er was seen in any show. 
 
444 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 I've camels, elephants, and dogs 
 
 (Van Orden kidnapped all the hogs), 
 
 Or else, indeed, I do not know 
 
 But some you'd find in my one-horse show. 
 
 Then I've the wild boy from Ceylon — 
 Ourang-Outangs, across the sea from — 
 And if in truth must all be told, 
 I've got a pretty considerable large-sized lump of 
 California gold. 
 
 And now before you turn for " hum " 
 
 Look at our petit millennium — 
 
 It is the triumph of the age, 
 
 And with the public " quite the rage." 
 
 Indeed you're right, it is a feature, 
 And puzzles every biped creature — 
 To find existing that anomaly, 
 A bona fide " Happy Family." 
 
 There in one large and splendid cage 
 A sight will greet you, I'll engage, 
 More striking than Titian picture — 
 A curious heterogeneous mixture. 
 
 You'll there see birds of various kinds, 
 By nature strangers, here combined 
 "With 'possums, coons, rabbits, and eats, 
 Dogs, guinea-pigs, and pesky rats. 
 
 The gentle ring-dove, English pheasant, 
 The quail, the pigeon, living pleasant; 
 "With frisky monkevs — can it be! 
 Yes— 'tis " the Happy Family." 
 
 Come now, while we are quite at ease, 
 Let's take a look at the Chinese — 
 Here see the princess, fair Pang Yang, 
 With feet not quite two inches long. 
 
 A beauteous woman she, and young, 
 Attended by the great Souchang — 
 Who, on his flute and light guitar, 
 Will play and sing a Chinese air. 
 
 Then here's a nice young Chinaman, 
 Who, in his turn, will sing a song — 
 While here a wee bit Chinese lady 
 Will ask you can " you Chinese sabe? " 
 
KEMINISOENCBS OF tAtt ftlCfi 445 
 
 Then there's the princess' waiting maid, 
 From China, too, 'tis said she strayed — 
 To find among barbarian beaux 
 One who will shield her from life's woes. 
 
 Now should you want to take your ease, 
 You'll find we've every wish to please — 
 So come, we'll lead you to a seat, 
 Whence you may see our show complete. 
 
 Where, from a cushioned chair, you'll spy, 
 What rarely ever meets your eye — 
 Real artists, as, search high or low, 
 You'll only find in my " one-horse show." 
 
 I've reared a lofty pavilion, 
 
 To hold, not quite, but near a million — 
 
 To enter which, the price is low, 
 
 For all shall see the " one-horse show." 
 
 My friends once kindly aided me, 
 When fortune from my side did flee; 
 And now, that she is once more kind, 
 To pleasure them I feel inclined. 
 
 Thus, then, a gorgeous troupe I bring — 
 Arabian steeds paw in my " ring," 
 And artists, gifted in their line, 
 Who skill, grace, beauty, all combine. 
 
 Shall I describe them? Well, I will, 
 But I'll not answer with what skill; 
 'Twere better you should pay yourselves 
 A visit to my fairy elves. 
 
 But yet, I'll try, for I would fain 
 Show you too much, I do not claim, 
 When craving for my hippodrome, 
 To be the greatest circus known. 
 
 First, as I am " a ladies' man," 
 I'll place the fair ones in the van; 
 Sure, when the prize is due to grace, 
 'Tis they deserve the first best place. 
 
 Now pardon, though a modest man, 
 (And, sure, I hide it all I can). 
 Yet, truth compels that you should know 
 What " stars " are in the " one-horse show." 
 
446 REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 
 
 For grace, for beauty, and for skill, 
 
 For fiery daring, curbed at will; 
 
 For movement, speed, without a rival, 
 
 Rank first, Dame Eice, and steed, " John Slidell." 
 
 Next come twin ponies in the ring, 
 
 And with them, Ma'moiselle Frank they bring; 
 
 As rider, or as light, sylphide, 
 
 Of praise she wins a hearty meed. 
 
 Then come " two chips from the old block," 
 Your senses into bliss to rock; 
 By singing — let this praise suffice, 
 Sweet Katy and wee Libby Eice. 
 
 Next on the stage comes Hercules, 
 Whose massive shoulders bear, with ease, 
 Weights worthy him of heathen myth, 
 Though our man's name is Horace Smith. 
 
 His scenic characters portray 
 The heroes of Will Shakespeare's play, 
 So like to nature, that you'll crown 
 Him first in Shylock or Sir John. 
 
 Then, next in order, we'll bring in 
 That dextrous magii, Frank Eosstin; 
 Who'll on six horses prove no vaunter, 
 He is the great Chinese Enchanter. 
 
 Now comes the young one, Julian Kent, 
 With wee twin steeds on triumph bent; 
 Mark how he boldly clears those bars 
 And ditches, 'mid the loud huzzas. 
 
 And next, we'll have in Master Omer, 
 Surnamed " dare-devil " — all in honor 
 Of his bold riding, as yoix've heard, 
 On his wild steed, the " Prairie Bird." 
 
 Then Master Eobinson comes in," 
 'Mid shouts that make an awful din; 
 His comic acting on a horse 
 Makes one to shout till he is hoarse. 
 
 And last, not least, though small in stature, 
 The funniest fellow in all nature — 
 Jimmy Reynolds, the little clown, 
 Who nightly brings large houses down. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 447 
 
 And yet no people do get hurt, 
 Though I have seen them roll in dirt, 
 "While heaving most prodigious sighs 
 And wiping teardrops from their eyes. 
 
 The truth is, Jim's so full of fun, 
 That after seeing him, you must run 
 To find a doctor, or a plaster, 
 To cure a sideache caused by laughter. 
 
 And then, for animals, I'll bring 
 My steed " Excelsior " in the ring; 
 His tableaux vivants are so true 
 You'll deem your eyes deceiving you. 
 
 And next, " Eureka " draws your gaze, 
 As in the dance's giddy maze 
 He moves around, so full of grace — 
 He would no biped set disgrace. 
 
 And next, cute " Beppo," full of trick, 
 
 Abounds in what we call comique; 
 
 And followed by the funny mules, 
 
 They'll show what's taught them in their schools. 
 
 The next, " Mazeppa," milk-white steed; 
 Proud " Harry Clay," of Arabian breed; 
 " Black Vulture," steed now famed in story; 
 And last, not least, the pure white " Surrey." 
 
 But friends, do not be in a hurry, 
 I would say more of noble Surrey; 
 I'm sure as graceful steed as mine 
 Deserves more notice than one line. 
 
 For strength, for movement, noble action, 
 For all that, in steeds, makes attraction, 
 He's famed; indeed, 'tis him some call 
 The noblest Eoman of them all. 
 
 And now I've finished all my song, 
 I'm sorry it has been so long, 
 But then performances demand, 
 A good long bill, you understand. 
 
 Besides, just think of all the folks 
 To see my show and hear my jokes; 
 For fifty cents you'll all go in, 
 And, for that matter, see me again. 
 
448 reminiscences of dan bice 
 
 Wat Down South in New Orleans. 
 Air — " Susannah." 
 
 There is a city way down South, 
 
 They call it New Orleans, 
 Where people go to the " total swine," 
 
 No 'twixes and betweens; 
 They always taste the pig before 
 
 They say that it won't do, 
 And if it's good, they swallow all, 
 
 The tail and bristles too. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Oh! Bill Spriggins, 
 
 Who heaved that last brickbat? j 
 It didn't hit Dan Eice's head, 
 
 It only smashed his hat! 
 
 A fellow to this city went — 
 
 They called him old Dan Bice — 
 Determined to give double fun 
 
 For just the same old price. 
 A circus he sot up between 
 
 That Hog and Jenny Lind, 
 And by his antics in the ring 
 
 Began to raise the wind. 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
 The little boys dropped in by day, 
 
 The big b'hoys at night, 
 With bouncing gals and long soap-locks, 
 
 To see the wonderous sight. 
 Old Dan was always up to snuff, 
 
 And kept them in a grin — 
 The soap-locks limbered like wet rags, 
 
 The bouncing gals " caved in." 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
 Poor Dan, alas! like every man 
 
 Who tickles for his bread, 
 Soon found that rivals were abroad 
 
 Who wished to kill him dead. 
 The other circuses in town 
 
 Began to cry " Humbug! " — 
 " That flea," they said, " is jumping up 
 
 Too high for our rug." 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 449 
 
 They posted placards all about 
 
 To prove he was no clown, 
 His Shakespeare wit, all common stuff, 
 
 He couldn't " dish it brown." 
 All this they said, and plenty more, 
 
 Till Dan began to feel 
 A leetle riled about the gills, 
 
 And thought he'd have to peel. 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
 But when the big b'hoys and gals, 
 
 Began to cry " For shame! " 
 And swore it was a scurvy trick 
 
 To try to steal his fame. 
 They rallied round him like true friends — 
 
 Through thick, sirs, and through thin; 
 It made his rivals all so sick 
 
 They couldn't raise a grin. 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
 At length when Dan began to talk 
 
 Of pulling up his stakes, 
 His friends cried out, " One bumper more, 
 
 Old Dan, for our sakes. 
 You've done it brown for us before, 
 
 We'll do it brown for you; 
 That little parasol of yours 
 
 Will have to shade ' a few.' " 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
 MOBAL. 
 
 Dear friends, old Dan is here, you see, 
 
 To thank you from his heart; 
 To say, he never will forget 
 
 The friends who took his part. 
 He never will forget the boys 
 
 Who always were so kind, 
 And though he wanders far away, 
 
 His heart he leaves behind. 
 Chorus — Oh! Bill Spriggins, etc. 
 
 The Pleasure Excursion. 
 
 Oh, listen while I sing a song 
 
 That now runs through my pate, oh! 
 
 About a funny time we had 
 In Pennsylvania State, oh! 
 29 
 
450 REMINISCENCES OP DAN RICE 
 
 We made a party up to go 
 
 Upon a short excursion, 
 And, though on a new plan, we'd throw 
 
 Ourselves for our diversion. 
 
 Oh! dear me! 
 
 Sal and our ma went per railroad, 
 
 And I went on my mare, oh; 
 But Mary Jane took a balloon, 
 
 For she was fond of air, oh. 
 The railroad cars ere very long 
 
 Did shuffle off the track, oh, 
 And pitching poor mammy in the mud, 
 
 And Sally on her hack, oh! 
 
 Oh! dear me! 
 
 The heat burst Mary Jane's balloon 
 
 And down she fell, quite fair, oh! 
 She fell afoul the telegraph 
 
 And dangled in the air, oh! 
 The locomotive lay beneath, 
 
 A man cut loose the wire, oh! 
 Poor Mary from the frying pan 
 
 Fell right into the fire, oh! 
 
 Oh! dear me! 
 
 At this my mare so frightened got 
 
 That she jumped through her skin, oh! 
 A thousand crows came flying round 
 
 Quite anxious to begin, oh! 
 The mare jumped up and ran away — 
 
 The crows seized Mary Jane, oh! 
 Flew with her to a steeple top 
 
 And hung her to the vane, oh! 
 
 Oh! dear me! 
 
 A thunder storm then o'er her broke 
 
 And Mary laughed in mirth, oh! 
 And thought she'd catch a streak of light 
 
 And slide down to the earth, oh! 
 She travelled down so awful quick 
 
 She struck upon the ground, oh! 
 If she hadn't had her bustle on 
 
 She never had been found, oh! 
 
 Oh! dear me! 
 
beminiscences oe dan bice 451 
 
 Closing Night — 1852. 
 Air — " Susannah." 
 
 Many days and weeks have passed 
 
 Since I arrived in town; 
 I have quite a sum amassed 
 
 Since then, for playing clown. 
 When first I came, as most folks know, 
 
 I did not have a cent — 
 My circus was called the " one-horse show," 
 
 For it had seen the elephant. 
 But now I've got a dozen or more, 
 
 And a show that can't he heat — 
 In spite of villains that's left our shore, 
 
 I mean those that were in Poodras Street. 
 
 Now, dear folks, those villains I've heat, 
 
 Which you all know is true; 
 Who am I to thank for their defeat? 
 
 Who? why nobody hut you. 
 For you knew I was an injured man, 
 
 And you did me patronize, 
 For you discovered yourselves that Van 
 
 Was daily writing lies. 
 
 This night shall he remembered 
 
 As long as I have life; 
 And when laid in my earthly bed, 
 
 After all my care and strife, 
 I hope to leave something behind 
 
 Engraved on memory's page, 
 Of friends I met in the sunny clime, 
 
 Yes, friends of every age. 
 So now farewell, my kind friends all, 
 
 I hope that every one 
 
 May live to see me when again I call, 
 
 To give you a little fun. 
 
 There's Dr. Mac and Mr. Pool, 
 
 And Tom P. Leathers, Mayor, 
 And many others more, helped the f obi; 
 
 To meet such friends is rare; 
 The hotel keepers and firemen, 
 
 In fact, folks from every part 
 Of this city clone all they can, 
 
 To give old Dan a start; 
 
452 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 Then let me be ever far away, 
 
 OfE in another clime, 
 I never can forget the friends 
 
 That have always been so kind. 
 
 Dan Eice's Original Few Days. 
 
 De world is coming to an end, 
 
 In a few days, 
 
 In a few days. 
 Before de 'Mighty Judge I'll bend, 
 
 For I'm going home. 
 De " Miller Eights " dey speak de truth, 
 
 A few days, 
 
 A few days; 
 De debble was in the calaboose! 
 
 For I'm going home. -J 
 
 I've been a harden sinner, 
 
 Few days, 
 
 Few days. 
 In religion I'm a new beginner, 
 
 I guan home. 
 My wife Jemima I leave alone, ' 
 
 A few days, 
 For I'm over to Jordan bound, ; 
 
 I guan home. 
 
 When I get to de other side, 
 
 Few days, 
 I'll telegraph my happy bride, 
 
 Dat I'm guan home. 
 So now prepare, Jemima, dear, 
 
 Few days, 
 Sejl your furniture and come down here, 
 
 For I'm guan home. 
 
 De old landlord dat you owe rent, 
 
 Few days, 
 Just leave a letter dat you've went, 
 
 I guan home, 
 And in dat letter I'd have you say, 
 
 Few days, 
 He go to de dible and get his pay! 
 
 I'm guan home. 
 
BEMINISOENCES 01' DAN EICE 453 
 
 De railroad dat's under ground, 
 
 Few days, 
 In Canada I can be found, 
 
 I'se guan home. 
 De white folks say dat I must come, 
 
 Few days, 
 De whites and nigs dar are one, 
 
 For I guan home. 
 
 Dan Eice's Degeees of Intoxication. 
 
 The first is Sense-o'er-ius; 
 The next is Vivorious; 
 The third is All-glorious; 
 The fourth is Hic-torious; 
 The fifth is Uproarious; 
 'The sixth is Notorious; 
 The seventh is Somnorious; 
 The result is Deplorious, 
 Especially in Smell-orious. 
 
 Oue Own Side of Joedan. 
 
 I'll sing you a new song, 
 
 To a tune you've heard so long; 
 And our own land's people is its burden: 
 
 Where'er you may roam, 
 
 Stand up for you're own home, 
 And take care of your own side of Jordan. 
 
 Our rich folks spend their means, 
 
 I see, to visit Europe's scenes, 
 Which they find a great expense and burden; 
 
 If through our land they'd roam, 
 
 They'd find greater scenes at home, 
 And freedom on our own side of Jordan! 
 
 We have missionary duns 
 
 That preach around for funds 
 To convert foreign heathens — quite a burden; 
 
 But they'd better keep the dimes, 
 
 To keep away hard times 
 'Mongst the poor on our own side of Jordan. 
 
 Folks send for foreign goods, 
 And they send for foreign duds, 
 For our fashionable Shanghais to gird on; 
 
454 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 When we've Yankee goods quite crack, 
 Fit to grace a Yankee's back, 
 And an honor to our own side of Jordan. 
 
 Folks send away their chink, 
 
 To import each foreign drink, 
 Bogus brandy and champagne they tax hard on; 
 
 But there's nothing like the cheer 
 
 Of " der foaming lager peer," 
 And the whiskey of our own side of Jordan. 
 
 Then mind your own home, friends, 
 
 'Tis the first of all life's ends; 
 Should your neighbor and his wife get high words on, 
 
 Pray don't poke in your snout, 
 
 But let 'em fight it out, 
 And take care of your own side of Jordan. 
 
 Our States, both North and South, 
 
 Are at war, with pens and mouth, 
 Whether slavery's a blessing or a burden; 
 
 But let each one have her right, 
 
 And stand up day and night, 
 For the Union and her own side of Jordan. 
 
 Billy Bahlow. 
 
 Our Congress lawmakers are breakers Shanghai; 
 There's Potter would carve Pryor into pot-pie; 
 And if they in a bowie-knife duel should go, 
 They'll come off as ragged as Billy Barlow. 
 
 They expect the ambassador from great Japan, 
 With sixty red lackeys, the color of tan; 
 They will make sausage scarce, for the dogs must all go 
 For Japanese chowder, says Billy Barlow. 
 
 To Charleston Convention I went for a smell, 
 I snuffed the cook's cellar, but that proved a sell; 
 For a dollar a smell I was locked down below, 
 And a jug nominee was poor Billy Barlow. 
 
 Our Congress shuts down upon Utah's polygamy, 
 And soon Brigham Young, sirs, must give up his Brighamy, 
 But there's many a man out of Utah, I know, 
 That finds one wife too many, like Billy Barlow. 
 
BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 455 
 
 Now, ladies, good-bye to each kind, gentle soul; 
 Though my coat it is ragged, my heart it is whole. 
 There's one sitting yonder, I think, wants a beau; 
 Let her come to the arms of young Billy Barlow. 
 
 The Last Chicken. 
 
 A Parody on the Lost Child. 
 
 Hark! don't you hear him? 
 It is Van Or den's tread, I know; 
 He comes, he comes to ruin at a blow 
 The hopes I cherished next my heart — 
 
 But wait awhile, you've only heard a part: 
 I had a farm, 'way down in Green County, 
 On which I've lavished all my funds and care, 
 Where I hoped to dwell in peace and comfort, 
 And live, and die with my family 'round me there. 
 But Van Orden came with executions vexing, 
 In vain I asked for but a short delay; 
 But he determined on this poor fool perplexing. 
 
 He slyly stole my last chicken away. (Repeat) 
 
 Hark! don't you hear that sound? 
 
 I hear him coming down the lane, (Repeat) 
 
 He comes to seize with might and main. • 
 
 He stole! he stole my last chicken away. (Repeat) 
 
 Once in possession of my worldly gearing, 
 
 My character he vilely now assails; 
 
 And in his handbills means to gull the public, 
 
 A set of half-forged letters he retails. 
 
 And not content with this same foul proceeding, 
 
 Another fowl from Hickok's t'other day — 
 
 Another feature in his bill much needed. 
 
 He slyly stole my Pelican away. (Repeat) 
 
 We hear him in his buggy roll 
 
 Down the shell road (Repeat) 
 
 With the bird he stole. 
 
 He stole! he stole my Pelican away. (Repeat) 
 
 But I'm the old boy to go it strong; 
 Though my body is short, my nose is long; 
 I tell you, friends, in box and pit, 
 That I did give the party fits. 
 
456 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 Though Van Or den did say Oh! 
 That this was but the One-Horse Show, 
 But that one horse is hard to beat, 
 As you can see by their defeat. 
 
 Last Song — 1851. 
 
 This world's been going strangely on, 
 
 Since you and I last met; 
 Tho' various fates surround us both, 
 
 You smile upon me yet! 
 When last I came, as you well know, 
 
 My purse was filled with cash; 
 But one I trusted stole my show, 
 
 And robbed me of the trash! 
 
 Refrain. 
 Well, let him go and try his might 
 
 With his ill-gotten gains, 
 A blur he is to good men's sight, 
 
 Within, he has hell's pains. 
 
 While I am left with health and friends 
 
 I'm sure again to rise; 
 For, thus surrounded, makes amends 
 . For Van's robberies and lies. 
 You know he stole my show and purse, 
 
 And tried to blot my name; 
 But by the boot! I'll prove his curse, 
 
 And hand him down to shame! 
 
 Refrain. 
 Now, here within your very sight 
 
 I'll throw him on his back, 
 And show his liver's very white, 
 
 His heart is very black. 
 
 But now I'll let the poor wretch slip, 
 
 And give you other news; 
 To hear about the State's good ship, 
 
 I'm sure you can't refuse. 
 How Harry of the West did try 
 
 To stop all noise and fuss, 
 And make good humor take its place, 
 
 By a ride in his omnibus! 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 457 
 
 Refrain. 
 
 How those good fellows, Foote and Cass, 
 
 To keep him hard did try: 
 How Bullion blew his clarion blast 
 
 And blew the bill sky-high! 
 
 How Pearce and Phelps and Seward, too, 
 
 'Gainst it did fight like fury; 
 And join the hot-bed Southern crew, 
 
 Led on by Shylock Yulee! 
 But though this bill is gone and lost, 
 
 And we are all at sea again, 
 We cannot long be billow tossed, 
 
 We're brothers in the main. 
 
 Refrain. 
 
 And, though we may our quarrels have, 
 
 We're much like man and wife, 
 Pool sober thought our temples have, 
 
 And thus ends all our strife. 
 
 This glorious Union of the States, 
 
 No faction e'er can sever; 
 Our wise forefathers bound out fates, 
 
 And we'll abide them ever. 
 Then hail the patriotic band, 
 
 Who now stand at the helm; 
 They safely will the good ship land, 
 
 Nor can the storm o'erwhelm. 
 
 Refrain. 
 
 And palsied be the dastard hand 
 
 That e'er can write the word dissolve, 
 
 For by the Union we will stand, 
 It is our true and firm resolve. 
 
 Ode to Jenny Lind. 
 As Sung in 1850. \ 
 
 A song I'll sing to you, _ 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 
 As I've nothing else to do, 
 Jenny Lind. 
 
458 KEMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 You have come across the ocean, 
 And raised a great commotion, 
 All through a Yankee notion, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 Oh, many rack their hrains, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 And get labor for their pains, 
 
 Jenny Lind. 
 But that is not my case: 
 As I've seen your sweet, pretty face, 
 From my mind, I can't erase 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 I do not write for fame, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 Oh, no, that's not my aim, 
 
 Jenny Lind. 
 But I want you to know 
 There is one thing you must do, 
 It's to see the One-Horse Show, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 You have seen much in your time, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 And helped both lame and blind, 
 
 Jenny Lind. 
 You're a maid with a good heart, 
 And well you play your part, 
 Humbug or no, you're smart, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 You're in the Land of the Free, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 And we all love liberty, 
 
 Jenny Lind. 
 So I take the liberty to say, 
 If you come you must pay 
 To hear us sing and play, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 On St. Charles Street, every night, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 
 You'll see by the electric light, 
 Jenny Lind, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 459 
 
 The greatest circus now extant, 
 To describe it here 1 can't, 
 But come and see the Elephant, 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 You're in the Crescent City, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 Where the folks are smart and witty, 
 
 Jenny Lind. 
 They are all clever and quiet, 
 And seldom have a riot, 
 And no one can deny it, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 I hope your health is good, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind, 
 You've been sick, I understand, 
 
 Jenny Lind. 
 May you live happy and blest, 
 And your shadow not be less — 
 You're one of the b'hoys, I guess, 
 
 Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind. 
 
 Eochestee Song. 
 
 Sung by Dan Eiee after being incarcerated in Blue Eagle Jail, 
 Bochester, in 1858. 
 
 Kind gentle folks give ear to my ditty, 
 
 While I relate a sad tale, 
 What happened to me in Bochester City 
 
 When I was in Blue Eagle Jail; 
 But to tell you the cause, and the cause of the cause 
 
 It would cause you to sit here some time, 
 But as you and I do not wish to cry, 
 
 Therefore I will be brief in my rhyme. 
 But to tell you the cause, etc. (Repeat last four lines.) 
 
 A man named Van Orden, I'd have you to know, 
 
 Who was at one time my agent, 
 He took my farm and took my show, 
 
 And robbed me of every cent; 
 And because I told the public so, 
 
 It raised this gentleman's dander; 
 So at Pittsford, in the County of Monroe, 
 
 He had me arrested for slander. 
 And because I told, etc. (Repeat) 
 
460 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 I being a stranger, unacquainted in town, 
 
 Therefore I knew no bail; 
 So the sheriff straightway took the clown 
 
 Down to the Blue Eagle Jail. 
 My bail when it came could be no better, 
 
 It came from Albany town; 
 Accompanying it was the lawyer's letter 
 
 Saying, " It's good bail for the clown." 
 My bail when it came, etc. (Repeat) 
 
 So there I stayed for one long week, 
 
 Because they would not take my bail. 
 I believe that the sheriff and Van were colleagued, 
 
 And determined to keep me in jail; 
 For which I blowed them up sky-high, 
 
 Every night I played in the town 
 And stated facts they could not deny. 
 
 For which I blowed, etc. (Repeat) 
 
 The citizens all did then complain, 
 
 That the sheriff did use me so mean, 
 Their names are Pardu and Chamberlain, 
 
 The two meanest men ever seen; 
 They, no doubt, were prevailed on to refuse bail 
 
 By Mr. Van Orden & Co., 
 So there I was kept in the Blue Eagle Jail 
 
 By Dot-and-go one of Monroe. 
 They, no doubt, etc. (Repeat) 
 
 For my appearance at court I then gave bail — 
 
 A bail they could not refuse: 
 And I bid farewell to the Blue Eagle Jail 
 
 The moment that I was let loose. 
 So here I am, as you do see, 
 
 Those matters to explain, 
 And I'm determined to show up all rascality, 
 
 If they put me in jail again. 
 So here I am, etc. (Repeat) 
 
 In blowing up Van Orden I never will cease 
 
 As long as my name it is Dan; 
 He had me arrested for saying he's a thief, 
 
 Which I am to prove if I can. 
 For he knows full well that it's the truth that I tell, 
 
 A greater villain than he never run; 
 So now on my fortune he cuts a great swell, 
 
 Which money was made by my fun. 
 For he knows, etc. (Repeat) 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF DAN HICE 461 
 
 Good gentlemen here and kind ladies all, 
 
 It's now I must close up my song 
 Of my ups and downs on the raging " eanall " 
 
 And how I've been getting along; 
 But one word I must say before I go away, 
 
 And then my song's at an end: 
 If you would avoid going astray, 
 
 Never trust too much in a friend. 
 But one word, etc. (Repeat) 
 
 Take the Woeld as It Is. 
 
 Take the world as it is, there is good and bad in it, 
 And good and bad will be, from now till the end; 
 And they who expect to make saints in a minute 
 Are in danger of marring more hearts than they mend. 
 If ye wish to be happy, ne'er seek for the faults, 
 Or you're sure to find something or other amiss; 
 'Mid much that debases and much that exists, 
 The world's not a bad one if left as it is. 
 
 Take the world as it is, if the surface be shining, 
 
 Ne'er stir up the sediment hidden below. 
 
 There is wisdom in this, but there's none in repining 
 
 O'er things which can rarely be mended we know. 
 
 There is beauty around us, which let us enjoy, 
 
 And chide not, unless it may be with a kiss, 
 
 Though earth's not the heaven we thought when a boy, 
 
 There's something to live for, if ta'en as it is. 
 
 Take the world as it is, with its smiles and its sorrow, 
 Its love and its friendships — its falsehood and truth — 
 Its schemes that depend on the breath of to-morrow, 
 Its hopes that pass by, like the dreams of our youth. 
 Yet oh! whilst the light of affection might shine, 
 The heart in itself has a fountain of bliss; 
 In the worst there's a spark of nature divine, 
 And the wisest and best take the world as it is. 
 
 Dan Kice was an ardent admirer of Ex-President Johnson, and 
 the following is one of his choicest compositions: 
 
 Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson. 
 
 A mighty ruler stood before the world — 
 Around his head the storms of discord whirled; 
 
462 REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 Firm as the hills of his loved Tennessee 
 
 Stood the old hero in his majesty; 
 
 War against wrong his noble spirit waged; 
 
 He heeded not, though party at him raged; 
 
 " Duty toward his country nobly done," 
 
 This meed he asked for and this meed he won. 
 
 His mad opponents only came to ruth 
 
 Beneath his sweeping battle-axe of truth! 
 
 He lived the people's idol — when he died 
 
 His memory was almost deified, 
 
 And a great nation wept the direful blow, 
 
 In one deep universal burst of woe! 
 
 Now time thus writes, 'neath Andrew Jackson's name 
 
 " Firmness and Truth and Honesty outlive all other fame." 
 
 Where Jackson stood now doth another stand — 
 The favored ruler of our favored land. 
 With heart as pure and patriotism as great 
 A second Andrew steers the ship of State. 
 He stands unmoved upon her noble deck, 
 Nor heeds the mutineers who seek her wreck! 
 " Still let the old flag float," is his decree, 
 " No star struck from the glorious galaxy." 
 Assailed, abused, railed at in every form, 
 He'll bring the ship in safety through the storm, 
 For that vast crew, the people, will defend 
 Their noble pilot 'till the voyage shall end; 
 And the old ship, her starry flag unstruck, 
 Shall ride at peace, entire from keel to truck. 
 
 Oh! bless we God that He gave not the power 
 To some time-serving minion of the hour 
 Our destinies to rule, at this dread time, 
 Pregnant with ruin, redolent of crime; 
 But, in His mercy, gave an honest man, 
 That neither threats, nor fears, nor fawning can 
 Turn from his purpose to defend the right, 
 And save his country from oppression's blight. 
 When treason, rabid, insolent, and grand, 
 Avowed its purpose to divide the land, 
 A.nd played its game of windy bluff and brag 
 Beneath the starry union of our flag, 
 Who, fiercer met their dreadful heresy 
 Than the hold Senator from Tennessee? 
 Eehellion flourished — civil war was waged, 
 Throughout the land accursed secession raged, 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 463 
 
 Our dear old Chieftain sought, but sought in vain 
 To call the stubborn traitors back again; 
 They spurned his counsels, met his proffers kind 
 With taunts and insults, till the Union mind 
 Awoke to fury — dreamed of peace no more, 
 And poured its legions on the Southern shore. 
 
 Amid the traitor Molochs, who was true — 
 Who firmest stood among the loyal few? 
 When treason's armies triumphed for an hour, 
 Who, at the risk of life, defied their power? 
 He, who for Union ever raised his voice; 
 He, who became the people's second choice! 
 When our great chief the murderer's hand laid low, 
 And the whole nation reeled beneath the blow; 
 Our second Andrew, who all hearts had won, 
 Stood at the helm, and the old ship sailed on! 
 What were his acts, such as the world approved, 
 Such, as to kindness, the whole nation moved. 
 Had not base envy striven to rule the hour, 
 All now were one in Union, feeling, power! 
 To thwart his policy, destroy his rule, 
 Is the small work of many a supple tool 
 Of a determined clique who rant and rave, 
 " Divide and ruin! " not " Unite and save," 
 As each one prays whose patriotic mind 
 Desires in Union this vast land to bind: 
 To our great charter all good hearts are true — 
 Our Eunnymede, held " by the boys in blue," 
 Whose valor, in a hundred desperate fights, 
 Has given us back the charter of our rights! 
 
 The Bachelor's Lament. 
 
 Written by Dan Eice. 
 
 What a pitiful thing an old bachelor is, 
 
 With his cheerless house and rueful phiz, 
 
 On a cold winter night when the fierce winds blow 
 
 And the earth is covered with snow; 
 
 When his fire is out and in shivering dread 
 
 He creeps under the cover of his lonely bed. 
 
 How he draws up his toes 
 All incased in yarn hose, 
 And buries his nose 
 In the chilly bedclothes. 
 
464 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 That his nose, and his toes 
 Still incased in yarn hose, 
 May not chance to get froze. 
 
 Then he puffs and he blows, 
 
 And he says that he knows 
 
 No mortal on earth ever suffered such woes; 
 
 And with ah's and with oh's, 
 
 With his limbs to dispose, 
 
 So that his nose and his toes 
 
 May not chance to get froze, 
 
 To his slumbers in silence the bachelor goes. 
 
 In the morning when the cock crows 
 
 And the sun had just rose, 
 
 From beneath the bedclothes 
 
 Pops the old bach's nose; 
 
 And as you may suppose, 
 
 When he hears how the wind blows, 
 
 And sees his windows all froze, 
 
 Why back 'neath the clothes 
 Euns the old fellow's nose, 
 For full well he knows 
 If from that bed he rose 
 To put on his clothes, 
 He would surely be froze. 
 
 Misnomers, or Contradictions. 
 Set to Music and Sung by Dan Kiee. 
 
 Kind folks, I will sing yon a song, 
 
 And I hope you'll be pleased with the same; 
 I will prove — and not keep you too long — 
 
 •With Will Shakespeare, " there's naught in a name.'- 
 Of course I mean not to offend, 
 
 But merely to cause you some fun, 
 Then hear out my song to the end, 
 
 Or you'll miss something good when I've done. 
 
 Miss Brown is exceedingly fair, 
 
 Miss White is as red as a berry, 
 Miss Black has a head of red hair, 
 
 Miss Graves is a flirt ever ready. 
 Miss Short is at least five feet ten, 
 
 Miss Noble's of humble extraction, 
 Miss Love has a hatred of men, 
 
 Miss Still is forever in action. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF BAN EICE 465 
 
 Miss Wright she is constantly wrong, 
 
 Miss Merry, alas, is not funny, 
 Miss Singer ne'er warbled a song, 
 
 And, alas, poor Miss Cash has no money. 
 Miss Bateman would give all she's worth 
 
 To purchase a man to her liking, 
 Miss Jolly is shocked at all mirth, 
 
 Miss Boxer is never found striking. 
 
 Miss Bliss doth with sorrow o'erflow, 
 
 Miss Hope in despair seeks the tomb, 
 Miss Joy still anticipates woe, 
 
 Miss Charity is never at home. 
 Miss Village resides in the city, 
 
 The nerves of Miss Standfast are shaken, 
 Miss Prettyman's beau is not pretty, 
 
 Miss Faithful her love has forsaken. 
 
 Miss Porter despises all froth, 
 
 Miss Scales they'll make wait I am their King, 
 Miss Meekly is apt to be wroth, 
 
 Miss Lofty to meanness is sinking. 
 Miss Seymour's as blind as a bat, 
 
 Miss Last at a party is first, 
 Miss Brindle dislikes a striped cat, 
 
 Miss Waters has always a thirst. 
 
 Miss Green is a regular blue, 
 
 Miss Scarlet looks pale as a lily, 
 Miss Violet ne'er shrunk from our view, ■ 
 
 Miss Wiseman thinks all the men silly. 
 Miss Goodehild's a naughty young elf, 
 
 Miss Lyon's from terror a fool, 
 Miss Mee's not at all like myself, 
 
 Miss Carpenter no one can rule. 
 
 Miss Sadler ne'er mounted a horse, 
 
 Miss Groom from the stable will run, 
 Miss Kilmore can't look on a corpse, 
 
 Miss Aimwell ne'er looked at a gun. 
 Miss Greathead has no brains at all, 
 
 Miss Hartwell is ever complaining, 
 Miss Dance has ne'er been at a ball, 
 
 Over hearts Miss Fairweather likes reigning. 
 
 Miss Knight is now changed into Day, 
 Miss Day wants to marry a Knight, 
 30 
 
406 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 Miss Prudence has just run away, 
 
 And Miss Steady assisted her flight, 
 But success to the fair, one and all, 
 
 No mis-apprehensions be making, 
 Though 'tis wrong the dear sex to miscall, 
 
 There's no harm I should hope in Miss Taking. 
 
 The following lines were a parting tribute to a dear friend: 
 
 Farewell, farewell, like a dream of the night, 
 
 A vanishing vision of love and delight; 
 
 Like the sweets which exhale from the perishing flower 
 
 Which bloomed on my heart the pride of an hour; 
 
 Like the liquid fall when music is fading, 
 
 Or the dying twilight the landscape shading; 
 
 Like the loveliest things which smile in decay 
 
 The memory of thee must pass away. 
 
 Yes, the time will come when I may not hear 
 The sound of thy footstep approaching near, 
 When all the hours I've passed with thee, 
 As part of a former life will be. 
 • Yes, the time will come when I shall gaze 
 With tears on the token of other days, 
 And sigh to think how soon were flown, 
 The trembling hopes I called my own; 
 But, oh! the time can never be 
 When I shall cease to think of thee, 
 And whether cloudy or bright my lot, 
 Your kindness and you will be unforgot. 
 
 The Ieish Felons. 
 Written in 1853. 
 
 Yes, felons they are falsely styled, 
 
 A brave and gallant band; 
 From kindred, home, and friends exiled 
 
 For. loving native land. 
 
 The clanking chain they're doomed to drag 
 
 In torture day and night, 
 Because around their own green flag 
 
 They battled for the right. 
 
 If marshall'd hosts had followed them 
 
 Instead of scattered bands, 
 They would have grasped the ocean gem 
 
 From England's robber hands. 
 
REMINISCENCES OK DAN RICE 467 
 
 And heaven with approving smile 
 
 Would bless the noble deed 
 Which gave new life to Erin's Isle, 
 
 And shackled millions freed. 
 
 Then blame them not because they failed 
 
 In freedom's koly fight, 
 For they were men who would not yield 
 
 Before the tyrant's might. 
 
 They were not coward, crouching slaves, 
 
 They would not minions be, 
 And facing dungeon, gibbet, graves, 
 
 They struggled to be free. 
 
 Alas! the star of freedom paled, 
 
 And set in deeper gloom; 
 And they who once its beaming hailed 
 
 Have met the felon's doom. 
 
 And now within their prison cell 
 
 Those noble, daring braves 
 Yearn for the homes they loved so well, 
 
 Beyond the rolling waves. 
 
 Oh, ye who dwell in this free land, 
 
 Heed sympathy's kind voice, 
 Eeach out to them a willing hand 
 
 And bid their hearts rejoice. 
 
 While Kossuth by your generous aid 
 
 Escaped a traitor's doom, 
 Let not the star of Erin fade 
 
 Above the felon's tomb. 
 
 Song composed and sung by Dan Rice about the time of Jenny 
 Land's visit to New Orleans in 1852. 
 
 Air — « Dandy Jim of Caroline." 
 
 I've sung to you so oft of late 
 Of things I've stowed in my pate, 
 And as I strive but to please you, 
 I'll try and sing you something new. 
 
468 KEMISUSCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 And in my song I will relate, 
 And myself I'm sure 'twill compensate, 
 For in pleasing you all, every one, 
 It pleases me who gives you fun. 
 
 •2. • 
 Men, women, and children now crowd the town, 
 All sorts of amusements here are found; 
 Some go to the St. Charles to hear Jenny Lind, 
 Some to see Frank cut the pigeon wing. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Others go to the varieties, a place very nice, 
 Many come to the circus to hear Dan Eice, 
 Some to see Barnum, heat him you can't, 
 For he's bound to show them the elephant. 
 
 3. 
 
 Everything now is called Jenny, 
 For the purpose of making an honest penny, 
 Children, steamboats, horses, and dogs, 
 Grizzly bears and mammoth hogs. 
 
 Chorus. 
 There's the Jenny Lind hats at D'Arcy's shop, 
 I advise you all in there to drop, 
 The best hats and caps of every size, 
 He's the man who bought the ticket prize. 
 
 4. 
 
 Speculators thought they'd make a hit, 
 In trying to bite, they themselves were bit; 
 In buying up tickets for Jenny's first night, 
 They lost money, and it served 'em right. 
 
 Chorus. 
 For just as sure as my name is Dan, 
 Most folks want to be Barnums if they can, 
 And to see Jenny, they fume and fret, 
 And lavish their money when they're sadly in debt. 
 
 5. 
 We hear steamboat explosions every day, 
 And insurance men say it does not pay; 
 I am told they are going to have a law passed 
 To prevent steamboats a running fast. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN SICE 469 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Now 'twill never do to have that law passed, 
 To prevent steamboats from running fast; 
 Steamboat men will not stand such stuff, 
 For they know their business well enough. 
 
 6. 
 
 There's the newspapers of this town, 
 Of course their betters can't be found, 
 The " Crescent," " Delta," and " Picayune " 
 Are filled with news morning and noon. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 How boats do sink, and Jenny Lind, 
 How Barnum sucks the people in, 
 How Californians, when they come to town, 
 Lose the money which they have found. 
 
 7. 
 
 They speak of mechanics and all sorts of trades, 
 And some get broke, and some are made, 
 How some fight duels and take each other's lives, 
 And how some men run off with other men's wives. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 And how some gentlemen have been accused, 
 And no doubt have been much abused, 
 And the reason why some people say 
 For being engaged in the war with Cuba. 
 
 The Polka, 1852. 
 
 Sung by Dan Rice in New Orleans. 
 
 1. 
 
 Good evening, folks, here's old Dan Rice, 
 I'm going to tell you something nice, 
 And I'll do it without any extra price, 
 Besides I'll dance the polka. 
 So here I am, as you may see, 
 I'll try and suit you to a t, 
 That is, if you will all agree 
 That I shall dance the polka. 
 
470 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 Chorus. 
 Then up and down, fast and slow, 
 Toe and heel, and away we go, 
 Oh, what delight it is to know 
 The pleasures of the polka. 
 
 2. 
 "We have all things in town to amuse us, 
 ' Creole-cotton, calaboose, 
 Plenty of sugar, molasses, and niggers, 
 Plenty of doctors and no grave-diggers, 
 Ballroom juleps, cobblers, punches, 
 Various sorts of generous lunches, 
 Dark and melting quarteroons, 
 Crescents, Deltas, Picayunes. 
 
 Chorus. 
 So if you're dull and want some fun, 
 Why here's the very place to come, 
 And see the wonders that are done, 
 And see us dance the polka. 
 
 3. 
 "We have strong opposition on one side, 
 To break us up quite hard they've tried, 
 But old Dan's mouth is open wide, 
 And we can dance the polka. 
 So hurrah, boys, I'd have you know, 
 This circus is called the " one-horse show," 
 I am not dead but alive and kicking, 
 .Notwithstanding Van stole my last chicken. 
 
 Chorus. 
 They've got a little Drummond light, 
 When ours is up theirs is out of sight, 
 Which we exhibit every night 
 To light us dance the polka. 
 
 4. 
 There is a great long-legged man, 
 Who is well known as thieving Van; 
 He robb'd the bank, and off he ran 
 To the light step of the polka. 
 So he came down to New Orleans, 
 The knowing one knows well what he means; 
 'Tis his intent to give me beans, 
 But I'll make him dance the polka. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 471 
 
 Chorus. ' 
 Quite well he wields the gray goose quills, 
 Scribbling senseless heads of bills, 
 He lies and cheats for Doctor Pills, 
 And tries to dance the polka. 
 
 5. 
 
 He writes each night his circus is full, 
 But the people here he cannot gull 
 "With nonsense from his empty skull, 
 For they understand the polka. 
 He says this circus is not my own, 
 No man to me will money loan, 
 Since me he robbed of house and home, 
 And all he left was the polka. 
 
 Chorus. 
 And if he stays long enough in town, 
 The one-horse show will take him down — 
 In the calaboose he will be found 
 For trying to dance the polka. 
 
 Dan Eice's Tribute to Shakespeare. 
 
 The following was delivered by Dan Rice in New Orleans in 
 April, 1853, upon the anniversary of the poet's birthday. 
 
 " Shakespeare still lives! What sunshine and shade is to the 
 grateful earth, the strains of Shakespeare are to the human 
 heart." 
 
 What shall we say in praise of one whose name 
 Doth foremost stand upon the scroll of fame? 
 His genius, eagle-like, has soared so high 
 'That even Envy drops her dazzled eye 
 And humbly owns that Shakespeare stands confest 
 The peerless bard — the brightest and the best 
 Of all our laurelled ones; and even they 
 Whose lofty brows have borne the honored bay 
 Have owned that all their aspirations cower 
 Before the noonday splendor of his power — 
 That in his presence rivalry is dumb, 
 For he a Giant is where Titans come! 
 
 Our Shakespeare, lowly born and lowly bred, 
 Sprang not, like mythic goddess, from the head 
 
472 HEM1NISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Of Jove, with knowledge armed; but with a light 
 Of more than earthly glory on his sight, 
 Great nature flashed her beauty and her truth, 
 And gave unto his muse immortal youth; 
 Likewise an eye of lightning, that could scan 
 The secret depths within the soul of man. 
 In rage of impotence our Titans strove 
 To reach, in days of yore, the throne of Jove; 
 But Shakespeare has, with more than Titan might, 
 
 To god-like fellowship maintained his right! 
 What though his foot Olympus never trod, 
 His muse has tribute levied from each god 
 Who claims to sit aloft in fabled Heaven — 
 From all their attributes he claims a leaven. 
 Unto his lyre Apollo lent the strings, 
 Unto his fancy Mercury his wings, 
 While Neptune's trident yielded its command 
 O'er yeasty waves, to Prospero's wand. 
 Prometheus-like, he stole the Olympian fire 
 And, scathless all, has lighted up a pyre 
 Of human hearts that ne'er can be consumed 
 While hearts and souls remain to be illumed; 
 For if a mortal dare to prophesy, 
 Our Shakespeare's heavenly fire may only die 
 When day's orient lamp shall cease to burn, 
 Or earth upon its axis fails to turn! 
 
 What wondrous Genius watched his natal hour — 
 How came the germs of this immortal power? 
 It seems as if his mighty mind had brought 
 Each human phase of fancy and of thought 
 Within its range — that nature, with unthrift, 
 To him gave such a soul-inspiring gift, 
 That ever since, with hand more niggard, she 
 Has doled this gift unto posterity. 
 Impalpable to touch as " viewless wind " — 
 The thoughts that flashed across his wondrous mind- 
 Coined into words, transmitted by his pen — 
 For ages live and breathe, and speak to men, 
 While grosser things that erst had life lie rotten — 
 Their features, forms, and very names forgotten. 
 
 What though his earthly form enshrined lies, 
 Where ne'er can pierce our longing mortal eyes, 
 Though soon on earth he reached the mortal goal, 
 In thousand forms of beauty, still his soul 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 473 
 
 Doth walk the earth, and with a quick'ning spell 
 Doth duller souls to noble life impel; 
 And thus we see a strange reality — 
 Our Shakespeare's double immortality. 
 A million hearts shall beat as one to-day 
 And echo oft the universal lay; 
 "While to his swelling praise — the endless theme, 
 We're adding thus our tributary stream, 
 Let not idolatry our souls possess, 
 But let us humbly all the while confess 
 The tribute due to him who gave the prize 
 That makes us honored in the nation's eyes; 
 Still to the mortal let us chaunt out lays, 
 But let us not forget the Maker's praise. 
 
 Dan Eice's Thoughts on "Le Coterie Blanche" 
 
 And the conflagration caused by the burning of 2,000 barrels of 
 petroleum in Philadelphia on the 7th of February, he having 
 been present at both scenes. Delivered extemporaneously at a 
 special matinee in Philadelphia on Monday, February 13, 1860, 
 for the benefit of the sufferers, at which Col. Dan Bice volun- 
 teered to appear: 
 
 On Tuesday night was seen an avalanche 
 
 Of pleasure at " Le Coterie Blanche." 
 
 Hearts bounded, feet fluttered, bright eyes danced — 
 
 Their lustre by the glowing scene enhanced. 
 
 The opening scene hit off, in oily vein, 
 
 The raging plague, called " Oil upon the Brain! " 
 
 There, painted barrels of the oily treasure 
 
 Were seen to move in music's oily measure; 
 
 Bach bogus corporation cask advanced, 
 
 And to the tune, " Cent per Centum " danced. 
 
 But lo! at Ninth and Washington we soon 
 
 Saw oil casks dancing to a fearful tune; 
 
 Shriek upon shriek is heard, while onward run 
 
 The flowing rivers of Petroleum! 
 
 Like fiery Phlezethius, that on their way 
 
 Bear desolation, death, and wild dismay. 
 
 Through floods of fire the husband bears his wife — 
 
 To save her child, the mother risks her life 
 
 Mid cries of " Help! " and " Fire! " Who leads the van? 
 
 The first in danger's front — the Fireman! 
 
 Through flowing streets, through window, door, and wall, 
 
 While hissing fragments hot around him fall, 
 
474 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 He makes his way, nor fears a fiery grave. 
 
 His only aim to rescue and to save! 
 
 Where's Fleetwood, of the " Moya! " Where? — why there! 
 
 In Heaven! with those he strove to save — where 
 
 Famed Franklin, in his philosophic toil, 
 
 Contrived to still the ocean-wave with oil. 
 
 Though life unto the lost we cannot give, 
 
 We'll oil the sea of grief of those that live — 
 
 And may the oil of this great show, to-day, 
 
 Soothe all hearts — till grief shall pass away. 
 
 Dan Eice's Multifarious Account of Shakespeare's 
 Hamlet. 
 
 Hamlet, the Dane, of him just deign to hear, 
 
 And for the object lend, at least, an ear. 
 
 I will a tale unfold, whose lightest word 
 
 Will freeze your soul, and turn your blood to curd. 
 
 He lived in Denmark, Hamlet did, did he, 
 
 A nice young man as ever you did see. 
 
 Not short, but tall, and rather thin than stout, 
 
 His anxious mother knew that he was out 
 
 Of his head, and rather wise than queer, 
 
 And much in love with Miss Ophelia dear — 
 
 But to my tale, or rather yourn — Shakespeare: 
 
 One night two fellows, standing at their post, 
 
 Beheld — my stars! a real, living ghost — 
 
 Whose ghost was he, so dismal and unhappy? 
 
 It was, my eyes, the ghost of Hamlet's pappy. 
 
 And so those fellows went and told Lord Hamlet, 
 
 Who came to see him in a cloak of camlet 
 
 Toss'd over his shoulders, for 'twas bitter cold, 
 
 While that bad spirit did his tale unfold. 
 
 My, wan't he scared to see his pa so soon 
 Ee visit thus the glimpses of the moon; 
 And wan't he mad to hear his daddy say 
 How Hamlet's uncle poisoned, him one day, 
 As in his orchard he did take a snooze. 
 Well, Hamlet was astonished at the news, 
 And swore by jingo, with prodigious rant, 
 To kill his uncle, pa, and mother-aunt. 
 And so he went about making speeches 
 All by himself, in doublet, hose, and breeches. 
 Oh, I can't tell how very bad he felt: 
 He wanted his too solid flesh to melt, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 475 
 
 Thaw, and resolve itself into dew. Dew 
 Is the word; but Charley Keen says Jew. 
 And I, the clown Shakesperean, say so too. 
 I wish I was a tragedian, yes, I do! 
 I'd make about ye'r ears the worst of clatters, 
 And tear my shirt and passion into tatters. 
 
 But what, you'd like to know, did Hamlet next? 
 
 Oh, he was very much perplexed and vexed, 
 
 And cursed the world a tremendous sight 
 
 That he was ever bound to set it right. 
 
 And make believe that he had lost his wits, 
 
 And frighten poor Ophelia into fits — 
 
 Doublet unlaced, and upon his head no hat, 
 
 His stockings foul, ungartered, and all that, 
 
 It was the ecstasy of love, you say, 
 
 But these were actions that man might play. 
 
 The King was puzzled, so he sent, I. learn, 
 
 For Messieurs Kosencrantz and Guildenstern 
 
 To pump Lord Hamlet, whether he had got 
 
 A real, right down crazy fit or not — 
 
 It wouldn't do, although they were so keen, 
 
 They didn't find in Hamlet nothing green. 
 
 It seems to me that Hamlet was not crazy, 
 
 But moped about because he was so lazy. 
 
 At last he said — " The play! The play's the thing 
 
 Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king! " 
 
 So he got up a play — they played so bad 
 
 It made the king and courtiers dreadful mad. 
 
 Gracious! How he did fly around and prance, 
 
 Just in this place Macready makes him dance, 
 
 Which is ridiculous in such a chap 
 
 As Hamlet, up to every sort of trap 
 
 For to revenge his murdered dad, did kick 
 
 His uncle from his kingdom slick and quick; 
 
 But to make a short story rather long — 
 
 Hamlet cut several shindies that were wrong, 
 
 And they packed him off to England, where 
 
 He did not stay — since he did not get there. 
 
 All unexpected by his pa and ma, 
 
 He came to Denmark in a first-class car — 
 
 No, not exactly, for you well may deem 
 
 In Hamlet's day things didn't go by steam; 
 
 But, howsomever, in a graveyard he 
 
 Was found, as grave as any grave could be, 
 
476 REMINISCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 Playing at tenpins with the skulls, and joking 
 
 With the old grave-digger, who the bones was poking. 
 
 Thunder and Moses! wasn't there a scene 
 
 With young Laertes and the King and Queen; 
 
 He jumped into Ophelia's grave, and said, 
 
 "Just pile a million acres on my head! " 
 
 Of course they didn't do it, cause they couldn't, 
 
 And if they could, I rather guess they wouldn't, 
 
 Because of time 'twould take a precious sight, 
 
 And so they all agreed to go and fight, 
 
 Quite in a friendly manner, with some foils; 
 
 But pretty fries they made of all their broils, 
 
 For to the court they hied before the king, 
 
 And round about the people formed a ring. 
 
 And at it hot they went, those nice young men, 
 And stuck each other's gizzards there and then; 
 But.ah, alas, "ho, ho, ha, hi, he, hum; 
 The points of them foils were poisoned some, 
 Which Hamlet soon found out and, like a Turk, 
 Ferocious sung out, " Venom, do thy work! " 
 And stabbed his uncle dead as any nail. 
 Before this time his mother had grown pale 
 As is my shirt, and very dead beside. 
 Not to be singular, Hamlet up and died 
 Himself, and so they all did die; 
 Which is so dismal that it makes me cry — 
 HubDubaluh — boo-boo — a first-rate story: 
 Some die for love — some, they die for glory. 
 
 The Singer's Alms. 
 
 In Lyons, in the mart of that French town, 
 Years since, a woman leading a fair child, 
 
 Craved a small alms of one who, walking down 
 The thoroughfare, caught the child's glance and smiled 
 
 To see behind its eyes a noble soul. 
 
 He paused, but found he had no coin to dole. 
 
 His guardian angel warned him not to lose 
 This chance of pearl to do another good, 
 
 So as he waited, sorry to refuse 
 
 The asked-for penny, there aside he stood, 
 
 And with his hat held, as by limb the nest, 
 
 He covered his kind face and sang his best. 
 
KEMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 477 
 
 The sky was blue above, and all the lane 
 
 Of commerce where the stranger stood, was filled. 
 
 And many paused, and, listening, paused again, 
 
 To hear the voice that through and thro' them thrilled. 
 
 I think the guardian angel helped along 
 
 That cry for pity woven in a song. 
 
 The singer stood between the beggars there, 
 
 Before a church, and overhead the spire, 
 A slim perpetual finger in the air 
 
 Held toward Heaven, land of the heart's desire, 
 As though an angel, pointing up, had said, 
 " Yonder a crown awaits this singer's head." 
 
 The hat of its stamped brood emptied soon 
 Into the woman's lap, who drenched with tears 
 
 Her kiss upon the hand of help; 'twas noon, 
 
 And noon in her glad heart drove forth her fears. 
 
 The singer, pleased, passed on, and softly thought, 
 
 " Men will not know by whom this deed was wrought." 
 
 But when at night he came upon the stage, 
 
 Cheer after cheer went up from that wide throng, 
 
 And flowers rained on him. Nothing could assuage 
 The tumult of the welcome save the song 
 
 That for the beggars he had sung that day 
 
 While standing in the city's busy way. 
 
 0, cramped and narrow is the man who lives 
 
 Only for self, and pawns his years away 
 For gold, nor knows the joys a good deed gives; 
 
 But feels his heart shrink slowly, day by day, 
 And dies at last, his bond of fate outrun; 
 No high aim sought, no worthy action done. 
 
 But brimmed with molten brightness like a star, 
 
 And broad and open as the sea or sky, 
 The generous heart; its kind deeds show afar 
 
 And glow in gold in God's great book on high. 
 And he who does what he can each day, 
 Makes smooth and green, and strews with flowers his way. 
 
 The Blighted Flowee. 
 Composed and Sung by Dan Bice in 1856. 
 I had a flower within my garden growing, 
 
 On which I lavished all my time and care; 
 A gem so rare, of nature's own bestowing; 
 Of tints unrivalled, and of fragrance rare. 
 
478 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 At length one came in evil passion dwelling, 
 One who had blighted many a flower before; 
 
 He saw my gem in innocence excelling, 
 
 He smiled upon it, and it bloomed no more. 
 
 He saw my gem in innocence excelling, 
 He smiled upon it, and it bloomed no more. 
 
 At length I found it withered and degraded, 
 
 Cast by the spoiler carelessly away; 
 Its richness gone, its varied beauties faded; 
 
 Despised, forsaken, and hast'ning to decay. 
 Vainly I strove the fading spark to cherish, 
 
 Naught now remains of what was once so dear, 
 Only with death shall fond remembrance perish, 
 
 Or cease to soothe the unavailing tear. 
 Only with death shall fond remembrance perish, 
 
 Or cease to soothe the unavailing tear. 
 
 The Devil and His Agent, or Dan Rice's Dream. 
 
 A Parody on Death and Dr. Hornbook. 
 
 I've heard it said the harmless worm, 
 When pressed by wicked foot, will turn; 
 Although the scamp it cannot harm — 
 
 Yet hae the right 
 Its fellow creatures to forewarn 
 
 Wi' all its might. 
 
 And caution them to shun the path 
 
 Where walks the wretch who wills their death, 
 
 And without cause would stop their breath. 
 
 So, with my pen, 
 I here forewarn 'gainst fraud and stealth 
 
 All honest men. 
 
 The auld town clock the hour did peal, 
 The burly watch sang, " All is well," 
 I toddled hame frae o' the Hill 
 
 Last Sunday night, 
 When at the Park there met my e'en 
 
 An unco' sight. 
 
 In stature 'twere eight feet or more; 
 Twa horns upon its head it wore; 
 A forked tail all covered o'er 
 
 Wi' dirt and soot. 
 His legs were thin, and on one I saw 
 
 A cloven foot. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 479 
 
 The cudgel in my sleeve did shake, 
 My brow was covered wi' cauld sweat; 
 'Twas many minutes ere I spake 
 
 To break the spell. 
 " Guid, guid friend, you maun matches mak' 
 
 You've sic a smell." 
 
 It spake right out, " I am the Deil, 
 But be na flayed." Quoth I, " Be Ceil; 
 You maun tak' me along to Hell, 
 
 But show ye haun; 
 You better, sootie, tak' care yoursel. 
 
 Leave me alone." 
 
 " I ken, good man, you're nane o' mine; 
 But, 'if to tak you are inclined, 
 Sit down, I'll gie ye a' my mind 
 
 About my agent. 
 You ken I mean the hellish kine 
 
 Wha tak' my rint. 
 
 " He's half a lawyer, half a man; % 
 
 Smart looking chap; folks ca' him Van. 
 Quite young, awa frae hame he ran — 
 
 Good reason why — 
 He used much mair than wa' his ain, 
 
 And caould na' stay. 
 
 " Wi' Johnny next he studied law, 
 Done weel, they say, richt sharp he wa', 
 But soon the bank book show'd a flaw — 
 
 Some hundreds short; 
 His father had to shield the Bairn 
 
 His dirty work. 
 
 " Soon anither smart trick played the child, 
 At Congress Hall out o' the Hill. 
 Ye ken the house I mean quite weel, 
 
 Where stopped the Bairn; 
 He left his trunk to pay the bill — 
 
 ' 'Twas filled with stane.' 
 
 " Being too well known the country o'er, 
 He left the State for Baltimore, 
 To practise law. And above his door 
 
 In letters large, 
 Was ' Van , Attorney and Solicitor, 
 
 Wi' moderate charge.' 
 
480 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 " But law and books could na agree, 
 Wi' ain filled wi' pride and poverty; 
 He had mair credit than industry, 
 
 And well he used it. 
 In buying all his eye could see, 
 
 He soon abused it. 
 
 " 'Twas there I found this nice young man, 
 And kenned he would be the ain one 
 To cheat his father, mither, son, 
 
 Do any job 
 That I maun wish, or wa' ha 5 done, 
 
 E'en kill or rob. 
 
 " Eicht soon wi' him I had a chat 
 About lying, stealing, and a' that. 
 I found him apt, and ken'd he mak' 
 
 A legal deil. 
 And ere a half hour we hae sat 
 
 I bought the chiel. 
 
 " And, sin, wi' ain Dan Kice, the clown, 
 A daft loon, an' o' great renown; 
 He's travelled the country up an' down, 
 
 And done sae wael, 
 In eighteen months this honest loun 
 
 Ha' a' himself." 
 
 " Waes me for Dan, the draftsman move? 
 Quo I, ' If that this news be true, 
 His braid, braw lands must follow too 
 
 His other plunder. 
 For Van the farm will surely fae, 
 
 And keep Dan under.' 
 
 " That's just a swatch o' Van's honest way; 
 Thus goes he on frae day to day, 
 Thus does he cheat and hide awa', 
 
 But pays no creditor. 
 Ask him who owns watch, horse, or sleigh, 
 
 His honest father. 
 
 " I lo' him much, great is his fame, 
 For honest men a' curse his name; 
 Auld Hornies son he maist cam hame 
 
 Wi' me to Sheol! 
 I've saved a hot stool in the flame, 
 
 'Twill make him squeal." 
 
EEMINISCENCES 01? DAN BICE 481 
 
 " Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee, 
 An' let this poor damn'd scoundrel be, 
 For sadly he's in debt to me, 
 
 This man o' dirt. 
 An' if ye tak' him off wi' ye, 
 
 I'll lose my shirt." 
 
 " Weel, weel," says he, " my honest Billee, 
 I'll leave this imp a short time wi' ye; 
 So ye maun try collect your money, 
 
 Yet, I must say, 
 'Tis all in vain to let him be, 
 
 He will na' pay." 
 
 " His heart is harder than a stane, 
 An' as for conscience, he hae nane, 
 0' my sons, on him alane 
 
 I maist depend. 
 He's sic a mild and quiet way 
 
 To damn a friend! 
 
 " An' now, guid man, a short farewell, 
 The auld Town Clock is striking twel', 
 Tell Van ye've seen the King o' Hell 
 
 Who owns his fetid frame, 
 An' soon I'll call on him myseF 
 
 An' tak' him hame." 
 
 Friends, when Old Nick again I see, 
 You certainly shall hear from me, 
 I know not who'll have his agency, 
 
 Yet I will guess 
 His next appointment here will be 
 
 One Dr. S . 
 
 Capt. Dan Rice, the Nation's Humokist, 
 
 On Buchanan's Cabinet, as sung in Washington City on the 
 occasion of the Inauguration by Dan Rice to over twenty thou- 
 sand persons. 
 
 Tune, the favorite air of " Root, hog, or die." 
 
 I'm staying for a while at the Marble-front Hotel, 
 Kept by the brothers Brown, and they feed me mighty well; 
 Politicians thick as bees there, ladies dress so fine, 
 And there all mechanics in the Cabinet-making line. 
 31 
 
482 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Tho' I'm chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 He'll strip off their disguise, like peeling off of 'taters, 
 They say about his Cabinet he's acted very sly, 
 But I've found out all about it's " Root, hog, or die! " 
 
 There's old General Cass, a Senator to date, 
 Who's bound to fill the post, Secretary of State. 
 They beat him out at home, put another in his seat, 
 But tricky diplomatists will find him hard to beat; 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 
 He'll strip off their disguise, like peeling off of 'taters; 
 
 Their cunning and deceit he's able to defy, 
 
 For his way's always been " Boot, hog, or die! " 
 
 To head our gallant navy is Toueey of renown, 
 
 Who'll send no fleets to China to cut their " pigtails " down; 
 
 And this, too, I'm certain, he is the very man 
 
 To open every port belonging to Japan; 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 
 He'll scatter shot around as fast as Pat can swallow 'taters; 
 
 Like a clipper he will sail close up in the wind's eye, 
 
 And the motto on his bunting will be, " Root, hog, or die! " 
 
 The Bureau of our Army he'll call Virginia's son, 
 
 The glorious " Old Dominion," that gave us Washington! 
 
 As into line of battle the troops will be displayed, 
 
 They huzza for " Master James " and " Old Virginia's Floyd." 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 
 Raised in old Virginia on hominy and 'taters; 
 
 Way down in old Virginny the first word he did cry, 
 
 Was, " Go it, ' Old Dominion,' Root, hog, or die." 
 
 To hull out " mint drops " to fill each empty job; 
 " Old Buck " went down to Georgia to hunt him up a Cobb; 
 Then look out, ye defaulters, for you know what he will do, 
 If he catches your fingers dipping in the surplus revenue. 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 
 He'll take the tariff off wool, salt, sugar, and potatoes; 
 
 He'll guard the " strong box " well, and all of you know why, 
 
 For in honesty he's so strong — " Root, hog, or die! " 
 
 As conductor of the train that carries all the mails 
 Is good-humored Aaron Brown, to see but if one fails; 
 In telegraphic times the mails are bound to shine; 
 On land they go by railroads, at sea by Collins' line. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN IUCE 483 
 
 For he's chief cook, hottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 He'll scatter mails around, and watch the operators; 
 In spite of all impediments he'll make the letters fly, 
 When he sings out, all aboard — " Eoot, hog, or die." 
 
 To settle points of law, to know what claims are fudge, 
 
 Our Attorney-General is to be a good " Old Keystone " Judge; 
 
 Impartial Jeremiah Black, who's ready still to stand 
 
 Before our black-robed Judges with presidents at hand, 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 
 From naughty deeds he'll strip the fur and watch the legisla- 
 tors. 
 
 For to swindle " Uncle Sam " 'twill be in vain to try, 
 
 With Jeremiah at his back — " Eoot, hog, or die! " 
 
 " Interior of Affairs " to guard and regulate, 
 Comes sturdy Jacob Thompson, who won't repudiate. 
 Tho' he comes from Mississippi, I'll tell you here to-night 
 That on the great goose question he's always in the right. 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, captain of the waiters; 
 
 He'll deal you out new patents, land warrants, seed for 'taters. 
 
 And if you want a pension, he'll know the reason why, 
 
 Whether in the Bevolution you did " root, hog, or die." 
 
 In olden times, Kings had their fools to while away their time, 
 To please them, as I hope I've done all here in mongrel rhyme; 
 But our James Buchanan these duties to discharge 
 Has given Dan Bice the post of " Humorist at large "; 
 
 For he's chief cook, bottle washer, a captain of a fool, 
 
 Who has set an example to them all of a new and witty school; 
 
 His oddities can but make you laugh, his pathos make you cry; 
 
 The only art he uses is to " root, hog, or die! " 
 
 Dan Eice's Mascot. 
 An Old-Time Eeminiseence. 
 
 You've heard of old Dan Eice, I 'spose, 
 
 The circus man and clown, 
 Well, Dan's way up in eighty now, 
 
 An' still a movin' round. 
 He made his start in Smokyburg, 
 
 Now called Electroville, 
 I guess he hain't forgotten it, 
 
 An' likely never will. 
 
484 REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 
 
 There's lots o' tales a floatin' round, 
 
 'Bout Dan and his trick pig, 
 There's only one o' 'em is true, 
 
 The rest ar' all a rig. 
 One of 'em says Dan's porker wuz 
 
 Striped o'er from head to feet, 
 An' that Bob Hague bounced both of 'em 
 
 Fur showing on the street. 
 
 I took a trip to see " ole Dan " 
 
 An' git the story true, 
 An' jest the way 'twus told to me 
 
 I'm going to tell to you. 
 He sez he hankered fur a pig, 
 
 But didn't have the price, 
 'Cos in 'em days good cash was skearce, 
 
 At least with young Dan Eice. 
 
 Wun day he strolled outside o' town 
 
 To see ole farmer Jay, 
 Who raised pigs fur a livin' when 
 
 He wusn't raisin' hay. 
 Old Jay took Dan down to the barn 
 
 To let him see his stock, 
 When laws! the farmer's eyes stuck out, 
 
 The pig began to talk. 
 
 That pig began to rip and swear 
 
 Jest wus'n any man; 
 Ole Jay says, " Gosh! the thing's bewitched." 
 
 An' gave the pig to Dan. 
 'Twus by ventriloquistic lore, 
 
 Yes, that's what played the rig, 
 And how that pretty porker come 
 
 To be Dan Bice's pig. 
 
 Dan an' his mascot took a trip 
 
 'Way down to New Orleans, 
 An' lo! it wusn't long before 
 
 He wus a man o' means. 
 Fur piggy whistled, sung, and prayed, 
 
 And even danced a jig, 
 An' that wus how the circus grew 
 
 From young Dan Bice's pig. 
 
 — Thomas Whittaker, Ed. " Gatling Gun," Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN KICE 485 
 
 A Peep at Washington. 
 
 Composed and Sung by Mr. Eice, in Washington, D. C, during 
 the session of Congress, 1850. 
 
 I suppose you all heard of the debate 
 
 On the Austrian resolution — 
 How politicians tried their hands 
 
 At wit and elocution. 
 Lewis Cass, from Michigan, 
 
 First opened the discussion, 
 And down on Austria he did come 
 
 With a terrible concussion. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 But, Lewis Cass, you must clear the track 
 For the " old horse " of Kentucky, 
 
 And if you're not floored on your back 
 You can think yourself quite lucky. 
 
 Says Clay to Cass, " With all your talk 
 
 About '54 and '40, 
 Can you tell me how many wives 
 
 Has the Turk in Sublime Porte?" 
 Says Cass to Clay, " Oh, why should you 
 
 Ask me that foolish question? 
 I'll give you another Cobb to chew 
 
 Bather hard for your digestion." 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Although I've travelled Europe o'er \ 
 
 From Paris down to Cadiz, 
 I must confess you're the wisest man 
 
 In affairs concerning ladies. 
 
 Huzza for Mississippi's Foote, 
 
 When it kicks it's sure to kill; 
 Like a man that pays his tavern bills 
 
 He's the first to foot the bill. 
 I tell you, boys, this Foote is some, 
 
 Though it sports an ugly leg; 
 And they say the soul is rough and tough, 
 
 And rather loosely pegged. 
 
486 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then down upon poor Watson Webb, 
 Like a sledge, that Foote it fell, 
 
 It hit so hard that Watson thought 
 He'd never see Pell Mell. 
 
 Now Watson Webb, you know, was shot 
 
 By Marshall, in the knee, 
 And all of Marshall's friends then said 
 
 It was only a temperance spree; 
 Then Watson, with other office-seekers, 
 
 Engaged in the Hungary war, 
 And there he wove his web so well 
 
 He was sent to V. N. E. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 But in going there, he struck smack on 
 
 A Mississippi snag; 
 Says Foote, " I'm opposed to broken legs, 
 
 I'm an ass as well as a nag." 
 
 Now, Watson, you had better come home, 
 
 Your tide's begun to ebb, 
 Although Foote is fond of Cobb, 
 
 He's death upon the Webb. 
 So Watson, when you weave again, 
 
 Your Webb should be a ripper, 
 For you may catch, instead of flies, 
 
 A Mississippi gallinipper. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I tell you, boys, this Foote's a gun 
 That kills whate'er it shoots, 
 
 And now the cry is, " Kick him, Foote! " 
 Instead of, " Go it, Boots! " 
 
 I suppose you all heard of the fuss 
 
 In the election of the Speaker, 
 Oh! I wish I had a poet's brains, 
 
 My rhymes are getting weaker. 
 There's Root the Abolitionist, 
 
 To elect his men did try; 
 Says he, " I'll never vote for Cobb, 
 
 I'll root him out or die." 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 487 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then Brown, he thought he'd try his luck, 
 
 As the cards were going round, 
 But Southern chaps peeped in his hand, 
 
 And finished him up Brown. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop was the candidate 
 
 Of the Whigs, both South and North, 
 But Stephens smelt a rat and said 
 
 He was not of the right cloth. 
 Alas, for the son of the old Bay State! \ 
 
 A cloud upon him glooms; 
 The voice that told of his defeat 
 
 Was heard first from the Toombs. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then after the confusion 
 
 Of this legislative mob, 
 Although no bones were broken, 
 
 Some folks got badly Cobbed. 
 
 The next exciting subject 
 
 That came up for investigation 
 Was the dissolution of 
 
 This great and glorious nation. 
 They call each other such funny names, 
 
 And cut such curious figures, 
 And raise the very devil 'bout 
 
 California and niggers. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 But let them speak with all their might, 
 
 This Union they cannot sever; 
 We'll stick by it, wrong or right, 
 
 Not only now, but ever! 
 
 Mr. Polk was four years President 
 
 Of this glorious nation; 
 And everything flourished 
 
 Under his administration; 
 But now old Jack has got the chair, 
 
 To act as President; 
 He'll make the office-seekers stare, 
 
 For he's seen the Elephant. 
 
488 KEMINTSCENCES OF DAN KICE 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then let office-seekers fool him, 
 
 Oh, that is, if they can; 
 They all will get mistaken, 
 V As did Mr. Santa Ann. 
 
 The One-Horse Show. 
 Tune—" The Low-Back Car." 
 
 A fair young country maiden 
 
 Said to her rustic beau, 
 " Oh! Josie, won't you take a fellar 
 
 To see the One-Horse Show? 
 Of all the sports that come along, 
 
 The show, it is the thing;. 
 One man can ride ten colts astride, 
 
 Stand on his head and sing. 
 As they act in the One-Horse Show, 
 
 The horses and men around go. 
 Oh! Don't tneir clothes shine, 
 
 Trimmed with shad scales so fine, 
 As they act in the One-Horse Show." 
 
 Joe took her to Dan Rice's 
 
 And sat in a front seat; 
 Her two eyes bright stared left and right, 
 
 And jumped with every feat. 
 And when she saw the clown come out, 
 
 She said, " Well, Joe, I swow, 
 What's that I see ? Oh! tell me, now, 
 
 With a skin like a spotted cow! " 
 As they sat in the One-Horse Show, 
 
 While Dan Rice winked at her beau, 
 Saying, " Take care, oh! my lad, 
 
 She'll collapse and go mad, 
 As she sits in the One-Horse Show." 
 
 When next she saw Miss Ella 
 
 Jump through the hoop so fine, 
 She cried out, " Joe, hold onto me 
 
 Or I'll jump out of mine." 
 And when she saw the mules come out, 
 
 She laughed up to her eyes, 
 Saying, " Tell me, Joe, which of them mules 
 
 Is the man they call Dan Rice? " 
 
REMINISCENCES OP DAN EICE 489 
 
 As they sat in the One-Horse Show, 
 
 And quite forgetting her beau, 
 With a wild scream she sprang into the ring, 
 
 On a mule in the One-Horse Show. 
 
 The great performance over, 
 
 Her joy was so complete 
 She married her lad with heart so glad 
 
 For giving her such a treat. 
 And when the show came round next year, 
 
 They sat there with new joy, 
 For on the mamma's lap, in a spangled cap, 
 
 Sat a charming little boy 
 That they brought to the One-Horse Show. 
 
 Said Dan Rice, whispering low, 
 Look there, don't you see, a two made three 
 
 By the charms of the One-Horse Show! 
 
 Peter Phinn. 
 
 Oh, Peter Phinn was a fisherman bold 
 
 As ever went to sea; 
 He neither feared the storm or cold, 
 
 Was happy, blithe, and free. 
 One day as he went out to fish 
 
 Poor Peter's boat upset. 
 Salt Peter he of course became 
 
 As soon as he was wet. 
 
 He strove and struggled manfully 
 
 To reach the shining strand; 
 But lacking strength, he, like his boat, 
 
 Soon found himself unmanned. 
 The numerous errors of his life 
 
 He tried to reckon o'er; 
 But found he'd better try to count 
 
 The sands upon the shore. 
 
 Next a water nymph appeared to him, 
 
 Forerunner of a gale, 
 Her silvery voice was soft and clear, 
 
 And she like a bird did sail. 
 Her hair, it floated on the breeze, 
 
 Her mirror shone like tin, 
 She showed her pearly teeth and then 
 
 Accosted Peter Phinn: 
 
490 BEMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 " My grandsire bold, the turbot was, 
 
 Of fish he took the lead, 
 Your treacherous net became his grave, 
 
 And he was fricasseed. 
 My bosom friends, the sole and smelt, 
 
 The mackerel and spawn, 
 The lobster, oyster, and the crab, 
 
 Have in your net been drawn. 
 
 " The flat fish and plaice lay cold at his head, 
 
 Cold as a marble slab, 
 And he thought he felt the fishes bite, 
 
 And he felt very bad. 
 My sister you sold for a great salt fish, 
 
 My father you sold before, 
 And -here you are in a wat'ry grave, 
 
 A long way out from shore." 
 
 The sun went down in a blue-red flame, 
 
 And the sky looked cloudy and dark, 
 And the tumbling billows rolled in flame, 
 
 One over the other's back. 
 At length his drowning hopes to buoy, 
 
 He spied a sail and mast, 
 He cried out " Ahoy! " but it was not ahoy, 
 
 And so the vessel went past. 
 
 A fishing smack came smacking by, 
 
 That fished along the coast, 
 And saved poor Peter just as he 
 
 Was giving up the ghost. 
 The skipper, he gave him a dram as he lay 
 
 And chafed his shivering skin; 
 And the devil returned, who was flying away^ 
 
 With the spirit of Peter Phinn. 
 
 Jolly Jack the Eovee. 
 
 I am he, and still will be, 
 
 Who spends my time in pleasure, 
 A tailor's bill I seldom fill, 
 
 He never took my measure. 
 But it must be while I do live 
 
 Until I do give over; 
 Until old age doth me engage 
 
 From being a jolly rover. 
 
 (Repeat last four lines.) 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 491 
 
 Upon my vamps I take a tramp — 
 
 My shoes are in bad order, 
 Stockings down unto the ground, 
 
 I seldom wear a garter; 
 But it must be while I do live, 
 
 Until I do give over, 
 Until old age doth me engage 
 
 Prom being a jolly rover. 
 
 {Repeat last four lines!) 
 
 If I was dressed all in good lace, 
 
 The ladies would adore me; 
 Pops and beaux, they wear fine clothes, 
 
 They think to go before me. 
 For I can play both cards and dice, 
 
 Let me be drunk or sober; 
 Win or lose my way I'll choose, 
 
 For I'm Jolly Jack the Eover. 
 {Repeat last four lines.) 
 
 Forty pounds of wool through combs I'd pull 
 
 All in the neatest order, 
 Soft as silk and white as milk, 
 
 To please the farmer's daughter. 
 My work being done and finished, 
 
 I took it to the owner; 
 And I've no doubt but she's found out 
 
 I'm Jolly Jack the Eover. 
 
 {Repeat last four lines.) 
 
 It's when I'm old, if I have gold, 
 
 I'll sit down by the table 
 With you, my dear, I'll 'pose good beer 
 
 And drink whilst I am able; 
 But when I'm dead and in my grave 
 
 Oh! then I must give over; 
 Let each young lass with a foaming glass 
 
 Drink a health to Jack the Eover. 
 {Repeat last four lines.) 
 
 Dan and the Awful Man. 
 
 Air—" Dan Tucker." 
 
 A controversy now is pending, 
 With a beginning and no ending, 
 Between Dan Eice and an awful man, 
 Known all about as Thievish Van. 
 
492 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Then pass him round, show every feature 
 Of this outlandish, roguish creature, 
 Eake him down and give a scalding 
 To this thing attached to Spaulding. 
 
 Some years ago, in this same town, 
 The people thought I was the clown, 
 So they came to see if I was funny, 
 But Van pocketed all the money. — Chorus. 
 
 But still I worked and toiled away, 
 
 To scrape up dimes for a rainy day, 
 
 Till a farm I got by taking pains, 
 
 Which was stole by Van with my other gains. 
 
 — Chorus. 
 
 My family from their happy home, 
 
 He turned adrift through the world to roam; 
 
 He did the clown all kinds of harm, 
 
 The last chicken took from off the farm. — Chorus. 
 
 But even then the clown took heart, 
 And contrived to make another start, 
 But in jail he stuck me as you know, 
 And left me with a one-horse show. — Chorus. 
 
 Then pray attend, kind people all, 
 
 Both old and young, and short and tall, 
 
 If ever you meet this imp of evil, 
 
 Avoid him as you would the devil. — Chorus. 
 
 Dan Bice on Corsets. 
 
 When I was over in your town, 
 
 A week ago or more, 
 I saw a very sing'lar thing 
 
 I never saw before. 
 
 'Twas hanging in a window case, 
 Upon a string a-straddle — 
 
 Looking something like an hour-glass, 
 And something like a saddle. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 493 
 
 I asked of several city " gents " 
 
 Who chanced to be on hand, 
 " What was it," but their gibberish 
 
 I could not understand. 
 
 One fellow called it a " restraint " 
 On certain parties placed, 
 
 Like a decree in chancery 
 To stay the tenant's " waste." 
 
 Another — just the queerest chap 
 
 Of any in the swarm — 
 Said, " 'tweren't the glass of fashion, but 
 
 It was the mould of form." 
 
 Another said "'twas a machine 
 A lady used to rig her; 
 
 To bring her life and form into 
 The very smallest figure." 
 
 At last a little girl came out, 
 And think of my amaze! 
 
 She asked me if I wouldn't " please 
 To buy a pair of stays." 
 
 Of course I'd heard of " stays " before, 
 But strike me deaf and dumb 
 
 If e'er I, until that hour, 
 Suspected " them was um." 
 
 Well, isn't it exceeding strange 
 
 That any maid or wife, 
 Just for a " little taper " should 
 
 Put out " the lamp of life." 
 
 I know that lunatics must have 
 Strait-jackets put about 'em, 
 
 But women in their wits should make 
 A shift to do — without 'em. 
 
494: reminiscences of dan hice 
 
 The Hoese. 
 
 To Mr. Eice's fondness for horses when a boy is to be attributed 
 probably his family estrangements, the interruption of his prom- 
 ising career as a student and his subsequent embrace of the show- 
 business as a profession. On this account, too, as well as his 
 astonishing strength and agility, he selected the circus instead 
 of the theatre for his arena. Here he could indulge his heart's 
 bent, which had always found great pleasure with the brute crea- 
 tion. Many anecdotes are related by his playfellows of his ex- 
 traordinary success in controlling animals. 'The horse, however, 
 was his idol. Here he acknowledged no master, while the quad- 
 ruped in turn reciprocated his partiality. His hair-breadth es- 
 capes and adventures as a trainer and rider are stable chit-chat 
 and would fill a volume. The most perverse and untractable 
 horse was invariably reduced to docility under his hand, and with 
 singular good luck he rarely lost a race. His skill as a trainer 
 of thoroughbreds, however, was as a secondary power paralleled 
 with his marvellous mastery over other quadrupeds of the animal 
 kingdom. 
 
 In the early part of the winter of 1848-49, Poydras Street, New 
 Orleans, was the scene of the most obstinate contest between the 
 human and brute creation. A noble and powerful animal, so 
 obstinate and malicious as to be no longer manageable on the 
 turf, was selected by an experienced horseman with a view to his 
 ultimately yielding to continued and patient training so as to 
 be fit for the road. One year was spent in fruitless attempts 
 to overcome his spirit, and, at the expiration of that time, no 
 person had been found who could retain his seat on the horse's 
 back or urge him through the streets. So many had been specta- 
 tors or victims to the horse's furious movements that he was quite 
 famous in the city, and a report of it soon reached Mr. Eice's ears. 
 His desire to be permitted to attempt to make him submit was 
 readily granted. From that moment the street from which his 
 stud of circus horses were kept, to the pavilion, was the scene of 
 a daily struggle between them. Dan would not even permit him 
 to be led down to the ring, but indomitably determined not only 
 to rub, feed, and ride the horse, but to do so from the beginning, 
 and not only to ride him in the street, but to reduce him to that 
 abject submission which would enable him to be ridden in the 
 entree (the first act in the circus), with the din of the music and 
 the glare of gas lights and variegated dresses about him. Here 
 he found game worth the effort. An animal that after prolonged 
 effort could not be mastered, and one whose beauty, spirit, 
 strength, and blood made him no unworthy antagonist. Fearful 
 were the contests for several days, and Mr. Eice's friends begged 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 495 
 
 him to desist from his perilous undertaking, so utterly uncon- 
 trollable and imminently dangerous did this horse appear. Grad- 
 ualty, however, an influence was seen to be obtained over him. 
 At the commencement of the second week this Van Amburgh of 
 horses was daily seen parading him through the streets, without 
 plunging into every door and vault and against every awning post 
 as he before seemed determined to do. Before the expiration of 
 the third week a lady could ride him with safety, and for several 
 nights the audience at the circus found this unmanageable horse 
 amongst the most quiet and steady that rattled through the lively 
 
 Moke Humane Treatment of Houses. 
 
 Mechanical inventions, the development of the automobile, 
 and even the bicycle are doing a vast amount of labor for man, 
 but horses are not dispensed with to any appreciable extent; on 
 the contrary, their number is increasing in this country every 
 year. Not only so, but their quality is improving, both for the 
 carriage and the heavy work. No other creature is so valuable a 
 servant to man. He is often ill-treated, not so much from inten- 
 tion as from ignorance of what is right. Please allow a man who 
 owns and uses with kindness this noble creature to make a few 
 suggestions: Don't build a manger so high as to make it unnat- 
 ural, and therefore painful, for the horse to eat from it. Kemem- 
 ber a horse is a grazing animal, constructed to take food from the 
 ground. When the head is down near to the surface of the earth, 
 the swallowing muscles are in position to do their work, but when 
 the head is raised four or five feet high the muscles are restricted 
 in their action. What is supposed to be gained by high mangers 
 in the development of high neck and shoulders is more than lost 
 in the depressed back or " saddle back " of the horse in conse- 
 quence of the unnatural elevation of the head. The bottom of 
 the feed box and manger should not he above the horse's knees, 
 or, what is better, never more than a foot from the floor. The 
 manger should be two feet deep, measuring from the top, and 
 about two feet four inches wide at the top. Make the feed box 
 at the bottom of the manger. 
 
 Make the floor of the stall level instead of descending from 
 the manger towards the rear, and use more and better absorbents. 
 In so doing, you not only save the most valuable part of the fer- 
 tilizer, but you remove the strain of standing with his hind feet 
 lower 'than the forward ones. When at rest in the pasture the 
 horse chooses to stand with his forward feet lower than his hind 
 feet- this he does to throw the centre of gravity nearer the fore- 
 legs' and the shoulders, by which the projecting head and neck 
 
496 EEMINISCENCES OF DAN BICE 
 
 are balanced by tbe rear portion of his body. Don't groom your 
 horse while eating, especially while eating his grain. If you 
 doubt the wisdom of this suggestion, try something similar on 
 yourself. While you are eating your breakfast let some one 
 shampoo your hair. You will either stop eating or stop the 
 shampooing. It is an unwise practice to use either currycomb 
 or brush while the horse is eating. Let him have his food with- 
 out being disturbed. Men do this foolish thing with the idea 
 that it saves time. It might save time to drive the horse to his 
 daily task without taking food at all. The horse wants clean 
 food and drink. Nothing is clean where a hen goes. Hens 
 should be kept away from horses, not only from fouling their 
 food but from communicating lice. These parasites are difficult 
 to remove from horses when once upon them. 
 
 Don't work a horse all day on the farm and at night turn him 
 out to pick up a scanty supper when he should be resting in the 
 stable after eating. All that a horse demands for his services is 
 rest, food, and drink, and he is cruel who denies these. There is 
 economy in keeping a working team in the stable at night, where 
 it can be regularly fed and is always ready for use. Don't scrimp 
 the allowance of suitable food. All a horse needs of hay and 
 grain to keep in good condition is for the profit of the owner 
 to supply. One dollar saved in grain is two lost in work. Don't 
 stuff a horse with hay and withhold corn and oats. Less fodder 
 and more food will be better for horse and owner. Don't allow 
 your horse to suffer with cold when a little repairing or blanket- 
 ing will keep him comfortable. The "hardening process" of 
 making horses stand in a cold stable without blankets is hard- 
 hearted. A stable so cold that the manure freezes into solid baHs 
 is too cold for the good of the horse. If these suggestions are 
 heeded by the persons owning and using horses, the writer will 
 have the thanks of thousands of misused horses, if only they could 
 say " We thank you." 
 
 The Hoese's Hoof — How To Peeseeve It. 
 
 The horse's hoof necessarily sees the hardest service of any 
 portion of his structure, and is the only part that can be muti- 
 lated by cutting and burning, as is the common practice, by men 
 calling themselves shoers, by nails made too large and driven too 
 deep. Every horse owner of experience will, when he has occa- 
 sion for the first time to have a colt shod, select a smith who will 
 do as the owner directs, and not follow the practice generally in 
 vogue in times past, and still too commonly practised. It is 
 probable that outside of the farm more horses are defective in the 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 497 
 
 feet than any other part. This comes from the combined influ- 
 ences of hard usage and mutilation in shoeing. Largely from 
 the latter, because the hoof properly trimmed and shod will stand 
 an extraordinary amount of contact, however rough, with every 
 sort of pavement in use. 
 
 It is within the power of the farmer to breed horses with prop- 
 erly formed hoofs, and equally in his power to preserve these in 
 proper form by seeing that they are kept in the shape that nature 
 gave them. If we breed from a flat-footed sire or dam, then, of 
 course, the penalty is incurred of having a pretty soft ground 
 hoof, but in no wise such a one as will stand use upon hard roads 
 and paved streets. The young horse on whom is bred a properly 
 shaped foot goes to the smith for the first time carrying a hard 
 heel, a smooth outer surface, and a sharp ring at the outer circle 
 below. The man who is well informed as to the foot, goes to the 
 average smith the first time with a feeling of dread. 
 
 A properly formed hoof on the well-bred colt is straight from 
 the top downwards, and has exactly the circular shape that should 
 be maintained, the shoe in every case being fitted to the foot, and 
 not as is the practice with the average smith, who cuts and rasps 
 the hoof to fit the shoe. With the botch it is much easier to do 
 the latter than the former, for when the shoe is once made fast, 
 it is but the work of a moment to cut away and rasp down the 
 projecting rim or horny structure. 
 
 The forward portion of the hoof is firm and somewhat thick, as 
 compared to the lamina at the heel, and cuts much harder. Hence 
 it is easier for the smith to pare down the heel at the bottom of 
 the foot than to cut away the toe in like manner. 
 
 The directions should be to cut from the bottom of the hoof till 
 it is of the right depth from the top downwards. 
 
 At this stage of the cutting, the hoof will assume the circular 
 form, and to this form the shoe should be accurately fitted, so 
 accurately that no rim of hoof will project beyond the shoe, at 
 any rate not more than an eighth of an inch, except where, as is 
 often the case, a point of hoof on one side projects further than 
 the opposite side, in which case the foot requires to be made true. 
 
 The nails for a well-bred horse, having a tough hoof, should 
 be considerably less in size than are proper to be used on draught- 
 horses, and in the case of the former, they should not extend up- 
 wards into the hoof more than five-eighths of an inch. For the 
 horse of medium size and the heavy draught-horsMhree-fourths 
 to seven-eighths of an inch would be admissible The face of the 
 hoof should under no pretence be rasped or filed neither should 
 any smith be allowed to hold a hot shoe to the bottom of the foot 
 The surface remains, as in the unshod colt, elastic through the oil 
 and moisture furnished it. But when rasped, this escapes and 
 32 
 
498 REMINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 
 
 the foot becomes brittle and liable to fever. The burning of the 
 bottom of the hoof is barbarous and destructive to the tissues. 
 
 The Trick Horse, Excelsior, Jr. 
 
 The elder generation of our readers who patronized the " One 
 King Circus," in their salad days, doubtless remember the re- 
 markable trick horse Excelsior and his son, Blind Excelsior, or 
 Excelsior, Jr., both owned, trained, and exhibited by Colonel 
 Eice. The illustration of Blind Excelsior is of manifold inter- 
 est. It is not only a perfect likeness of the wonderful horse 
 as he appeared in his declining years, but it is the last picture made 
 by the master hand of the lamented Herbert S. Kittredge. This 
 priceless painting, the only one now in existence, and for which 
 Colonel Bice offered at one time the sum of $500, subsequently 
 became the property of Mr. Chas. T. Harris, then on the editorial 
 staff of " Wallace's Monthly." The following excerpts from the 
 diary of Colonel Bice, concerning the characteristics of the sire 
 and son, # are of interest: 
 
 There was a slight difference in the susceptibility of the two 
 horses, the original Excelsior being purer bred than his son. He 
 was sired by the racehorse Gray Eagle, that ran against Wagner at 
 Louisville, Ky., in the early sixties. His dam was by Envoy, im- 
 ported to this country by Judge Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, who 
 was Minister to Bussia. Excelsior, Sr., was bred and owned by 
 Dr. Thomas, of Hawesville, Hancock County, Ky., and in the 
 fall of 1850 ran a two-mile race over the Lexington track in 
 3.51. I educated him with less trouble than I had with his son, 
 but his performances were of a different character, being classic 
 and artistic in the way of graceful movements and grand and 
 imposing attitudes. Excelsior, Jr., was a keystone to the arch of 
 the original " One-Horse Show " ; for in those days he formed 
 the " whole stud " of that much-talked-of institution. He was 
 a very quintessence of quadruped grandeur. His marvellous sa- 
 gacity was only equalled by his elegance of carriage. With a milk- 
 white skin, and mane and tail of remarkable length and fleecy 
 whiteness, a neck of extraordinary mould and perfect reach of 
 arch; in truth, so powerfully and symmetrically formed was this 
 noble brute, there should be scant surprise that he was univer- 
 sally regarded and enthusiastically conceded to be, in intelligence, 
 color, and general conformation, without a rival in the equine 
 circles of the circus world. So widespread was his fame he at- 
 tracted the notice of Bosa Bonheur, who wrote the famous photo- 
 graphic-artist Sarony to forward her photographs of the blind 
 marvel. After spending several weeks studying Excelsior in 
 every possible pose, a score of superb specimens were sent the 
 
REMINISCENCES OF DAN RICE 499 
 
 great French artist, aboard the ill-fated Ville de Havre, and so 
 never reached their destination. The poet Longfellow was also 
 one of Excelsior's most ardent admirers. One night at the close 
 of the performance he accompanied Colonel Eice to the paddock, 
 and whilst caressing the sightless wonder said: " This horse is so 
 human in his conduct, so beautiful in his presence, so patient and 
 confiding in his affliction, that really, Mr. Eice, I am almost per- 
 suaded to believe there must be a sort of horse heaven after all." 
 
 The loss of sight in Excelsior, Jr., which occurred in his second 
 year, no doubt strengthened his hearing and made him more 
 attentive to what was said to him. So keenly sensitive was he of 
 sound, that, speaking once in a sibilant tone to my ringmaster 
 some fifty feet distant, this whispered remark caught his ear, al- 
 though not heard by Mr. Eosston: "I must shorten the pro- 
 gramme — Excelsior will ascend the stairs." Before I could ad- 
 vance to the horse to give him his cue he arose on his hind legs 
 and proceeded with his forefeet to climb an imaginary staircase. 
 Of course this was after many years of arduous toil in teaching 
 him to understand and distinguish sounds. I took the idea 
 from seeing in early times the wagoners of Pennsylvania driving 
 their spike by word of command. I worked at the principle until 
 I reduced the theory to a science, knowing the horse had the 
 most acute hearing of any of the animal creation, and the great- 
 est memory, not excepting man, for a man frequently forgets — a 
 horse never does. In short, I worked on the principle that we 
 know the meaning of words by their sound, and in educating both 
 horses demonstrated that the horse is next to man in point of 
 instinct and intelligence. 
 
 The feats of this famous animal have been made so familiar to 
 the reader throughout the pages of this biography proper that 
 further attempts to add anything of interest would be superfluous. 
 Perhaps his most wonderful achievement was the ascension and 
 descension of the staircase, going up and down both backward 
 and forward, in an almost perpendicular position, with a rubber 
 ball balanced between his ears — a feat no horse but him could 
 ever be instructed to acquire. He was par excellence the premier 
 performer of the circus world. To quote from a ring rhyme: 
 
 " As the greatest of trick horses saving alone 
 Excelsior, my pride, who though blind is not dumb, 
 And through losing his eyesight has since found his tongue, 
 And stands the world's wonder, almost on the verge 
 Of the boundary where instinct and reason do merge." 
 
 Dr Knox, from whom Colonel Eice obtained Excelsior, was a 
 regular attendant during the days of the One-Horse Show, and 
 
500 BEMINISCENCES Or DAN EICE 
 
 being also a personal friend of the Colonel, his admiration for the 
 jester was very sincere, and his faith as to Excelsior's ability was 
 the result of an idea that a horse bred in Kentucky, even though 
 he was untrained, must, under any circumstances, win. Colonel 
 Eice secured a first-class groom, Jeff Posey, from Daniel Van 
 Wonder, a butcher in Cincinnati, whose skill as a horseman was 
 unsurpassed, but he gracefully shared the honors with Wilson 
 Turner, who took his place when Posey eventually became man- 
 ager of the stud. After coming in possession of Excelsior, Colonel 
 Eice introduced the intelligent creature at once into the ring, 
 and he responded so easily to the requirements imposed, that it 
 can be truly stated, he was broken to his performing feats directly 
 under the eye of the public. Every day during the Southern 
 trip, Colonel Eice was disposed to call attention to the bright gifts 
 of his equine companion, and generally he would remark: " I 
 obtained this horse at Hawesville, Ky. He was the only bright 
 piece of intelligence in the place." This bit of information was 
 carried back to the inhabitants of that place, and they became 
 greatly incensed as time wore on, so much, indeed, that Colonel 
 Eice was notified on his upward journey in the spring that he 
 must not think of exhibiting at Hawesville, as the residents were 
 indignant at his reflection on Kentucky's pride. They had lost 
 sight of the fact that he was a clown, and had license to indulge 
 in foolish innuendoes. But he did exhibit there, nevertheless, and 
 regained his old place in their affections and esteem by explaining 
 that he really had no intention of applying his remark to human- 
 ity — he merely had reference to horses. 
 
 Excelsior died November 17, 1878, age twenty-eight years, at 
 St. Louis, Mo. Three days before his death, Colonel Eice, who was 
 compelled to come East to fill an important engagement, went to 
 the stable of Jerry Arnot, in St. Louis, where Excelsior, who had 
 been ill for some time, was being faithfully looked after. Colonel 
 Eice called him out of his stall in order to test his strength and 
 discover if he could be safely removed to New York. Whining 
 piteously, the thoroughbred staggered with weakness as he backed 
 out towards his master and placed his head on his shoulder, shed- 
 ding tears and quivering in a most pitiable way. Colonel Eice 
 sought to console the sorrowing animal as he led him back in his 
 stall, but to no avail. There were many prominent people present 
 who had come to visit the sick horse, among whom were Supt. 
 Talmage, of the Union Pacific Eailroad, and Mr. Chas. Lucas, the 
 millionaire merchant of St. Louis. All were visibly affected. 
 His funeral, which was nearly a mile long, was one of the most 
 remarkable tributes ever paid to one of his race, and still survives 
 in the memories of thousands — an enduring monument to his 
 popularity. 
 
REKINISCENCES OF DAN EICE 501 
 
 Dan Eice. 
 
 He has gone where the clown and the king 
 
 Meet under the canvas as brothers, 
 Where no one need fool in the ring 
 
 To tickle the fancies of others; 
 And, if God loves the man who has curved 
 
 People's lips into smiles, there's a nice 
 Front seat that has long been reserved — 
 
 Over there for jolly Dan Eice. 
 
 He marshalled not host on the plain, 
 
 Nor rose above men to command, 
 Yet much that he did shall remain 
 
 With his heart and his generous hand, 
 For he made the world laugh in his day — 
 
 And he put sorrow under a ban — 
 So here is a garland to lay 
 
 On the bier of jolly old Dan.