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Show y "BILLY" FLORENCE. 2 he death of no well known character charac-ter could have caused a more universal regret than does that of the actor Florence. Flor-ence. His personal friends, and he counted them by the thousands, and the innumerable theater goers everywhere every-where in the United States liked best to know and think of him not as formal W. J. Florence, but just plain "Billy." Mr. Florence never objected to that contraction of his name, but even that is not strange for he never protested against anything that betokened uncon-ventionality uncon-ventionality and good fellowship. There was such a warmth of nature and magnetism mag-netism about him that whenever he made his entrance on the stage every heart from exclusive orchestra, to gallery gal-lery heaven cried out, "that's Billy," and it used to set the old actor's heart in a glow. He was a grand old man every way, and he leaves a place in the raDks of the profession that is hard to fill. Iu the line of parts with which the public best loves to associate his name, he was without a peer. He was classed as a comedian and he deserved that classification classifi-cation in every snese, for he occupied the highest rank iu that line. His comedy com-edy was of that pure type that denotes the true artist. But if he could provoke a laugh he could also touch ou those liner chords and inspire a pathos that was sincere and real. His was a superb su-perb mastery of the actors art. There were some characters that he plaj ed in which he stood alone, and while the public remembers him in them, few other members of the profession .will have the temerity to attempt those roles. Among these were "Captain Cuttle," -'Hon. Bakdwkll .Sloat," stud other parts. The lirst of these is an exquisite memory to all who have ever seen him portray the part. For j the past two years he hts been : associated with Joseph Jefferson, Jeffer-son, playing the old standard comedies, and in these hi3 success has not been less pronounced than it was when he was starring alone. There is yet another class of men who will regret re-gret his death more than anybody else, who will feel his loss as truly as they would that of a brother those are the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. For them there is no one who can take his place; for it was he who lirst instituted that order. It was" like Florence to found an order like tho Mystic Shrine, which, a the writer understands it, is a purely social organization, in which there is no aristocracy but that which comes from intelligence. Human hearts sustain sus-tain a shock in tho loss of such a man, but if there is any consciousness beyond be-yond the grave, dear old "Billy" Florence Flor-ence will have that of knowing that the virtues of his life are universally recognized. recog-nized. There will be maDy flowers placed on his bier by friends who knew am Joved him, but none will be more exquisite that those tributes which are w rij-tea aud spoken of him. . |