A Chat About Celebrities Author:Curtis Guild Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A BIT ABOUT ACTORS (I) Lincoln's Secretary Of War Here is a portrait of Hon. E. M. Stanton, who, Dickens said, had a most extraordinary knowledge of his bo... more »oks and a power of taking up the text at any point. Stanton, it will be remembered, was United States Secretary of War from 1862 to 1868, and was noted for being the most tremendous and indefatigable of workers during the War of the Rebellion. For months he slept in his office, working until two o'clock in the morning and rising with the sun. His assistant secretaries broke down one after the other, but, sustained by a most wonderful courage and constitution, he wrought on with the most inflexible perseverance and unqualified ability. Stanton resigned his position May, 1868, and was appointed judge of the United States Supreme Court Dec. 20, 1869. His health, however, had become so shattered by his arduous labors during the war that he died Dec. 24, 1869, before his commission to the Supreme Court bench had been made out. Stanton may truly be said to have given his life to his country. A BIT ABOUT ACTORS Charles Fechter, the actor, as Ruy Blas, of whom Dickens writes that he gave " a foaming stirrup-cup atGad's Hill," and praises his acting of Hamlet, comes next. Bright and vivacious Kate Field, whom I have known from childhood, and who is author of an excellent life of Fechter in the "American Actor Series," writes to me of him: " The material for Fechter's life was given me by the actor himself when we were good friends and he was the adoration of Boston. The criticisms of his several impersonations were the result of close and I hope of appreciative study. He was one of the few actors who put brains into their work, and was worth studying." I thoroughly agree with Kate on this point, for Fechter put brains and ...« less