28? March 1883 • Hartford, Conn. (Hartford Courant, 30 March 1883, UCCL 13005)
On the evening of the fourth of April the gifted southerner whose name appears above, will deliver at Unity Hall, in Hartford, a lecture upon “Creole Women,” sauced with illustrative readings from “The Grandissimes” &Ⓐemendation other of his books. Since he compliments us by choosing Hartford as the scene of his first experiment upon the northern platform, I trust we shall return him the compliment of a full house, & a hearty greeting. Mr. Cable is a reader & speaker whose matter is of the finest quality & whose arts of delivery are of distinguished excellence. It seems well to state this, in order that the public may know that Mr. Cable has something more to offer his audience, as an attraction, than his celebrated person alone. I heard him read in New Orleans last spring & in the proof-sheets of my forthcoming book I find this reference to that experience: “Mr. Cable is the only master in the writing of French dialects that the country has produced; & he reads them in perfection. It was a great treat to hear him read about Jean-al-Poquelin, & about Innerarity & his famous ‘pigshoo’ representing ‘LouisihannaⒶemendation Rif-fusing to Hanter the Union,’ along with passages of nicely-shaded German dialect, from a novel which was still in manuscript.”
“He also read conversations occurring between those charming Creole women of ‘The Grandissimes;’ & in his mouth & through his art the music of their quaint & crippled English acquired a new & richer melody.”
From such high authority as the voice of President Gilman of John’s Hopkins university come praises of Mr. Cable’s recent reading in Baltimore, which render this added testimony of mine next to unnecessary.
That this forthcoming lecture is not without interest outside of Hartford is evidenced by the fact that considerable deputations of well-known & not-so-well-known Bostonians & New Yorkers are coming here to attend it, & have already ordered their tickets. Also, I may state that Mr. Cable has been invited to repeat this entertainment in the Madison Square theatre, New York, at an early day.
Hartford Courant, 30 March 1883, 2.