since won renown! They were "born soldiers," and, in the piping time of
peace, out of unison with the bustling crowd around them. Life seemed a
muddle, and of course they went astray. But when the great guns sounded,
and the bugles rang, they came at once to their birthright, and many a
ne'er-do-well made himself a patriot and hero forever.

Edwin Booth, having the capabilities of a great actor, found himself
about the stage in his childhood, and, by an unwonted kindness of
fortune, went through with perhaps the exact training his genius
required. If the atmosphere of the theatre had not almost enwrapt his
cradle, and thus become a necessity of his after years, his reflective,
brooding temperament and aesthetic sensitiveness might have impelled him
to one of the silent professions, or kept him an irresolute dreamer
through an unsuccessful life. But while his youth was passed in the
green-room, a stern discipline early made him self-reliant, matured his
powers, taught him executive action, and gave him insight of the
passions and manners of our kind. As for black-letter knowledge, such a
nature as his was sure to gain that,--to acquire in any event, and
almost unknowingly, what mere talent only obtains by severe, methodical
application. We know how genius makes unconscious studies, while in the
daily routine of life. The soul works on, unassisted, and at length
bursts out into sudden blaze. How did Booth study? Just as young
Franklin weighed the minister's sermons, while mentally intent upon the
architecture of the church roof. Night after night the lonely face
brightened the shadows of the stage-wings, and the delicate ear drank
in the folly, the feeling, the wit and wisdom of the play. To such a
boyhood the personal contact of his father's nature was all in all. It
was quaffing from the fountain-head, not from streams of the imitation
of imitation. As the genius of the father refined the intellect and
judgment of the son, so the weaknesses coupled with that genius taught
him strength of character and purpose. We have heard of nothing more
dramatic than the wandering companionship of this gifted pair,--whether
the younger is awaiting, weary and patient, the end of the heard but
unseen play, or watching over his father at a distance, when the clouds
settled thickly upon that errant mind, through long nights and along the
desolate streets of a strange city. With other years came the time for
young Booth to fight his own