An attendant at an exhibition once wished to relieve him of his cane, but he exclaimed:
“Oh, no, my man! I keep this for the critics.”
The following, by a London correspondent, is a very good description, though of late years he had abandoned the cane and his hair was somewhat grayer:
“They say Whistler is fifty-six. But years have nothing to do with him. He is as young in spirit, as lithe in body, as dapper in ‘get-up’ as he was twenty years ago.
“Is there another man in London with such vitality as Whistler has,—I care not what his age,—another so dainty, another so sprightly in wit? Do you see that dapper gentleman coming along Cheyne Walk, silk hat with very tall crown and very straight brim; habit apparently broadcloth (frock coat), fitting to perfection a supple figure; feet small as a girl’s,—an American girl’s; hands delicately gloved in yellow; in the right hand a lithe, slim wand, twice as long as a walking stick; glass in eye; black moustache and slight ‘imperial;’ black hair with wavy threads of gray here and there? The dainty gentleman lifts his hat, and you see above his forehead the slender, white lock—the white plume as famous as that of Navarre. This is our friend Whistler, the inimitable, truly called ‘the master.’ You may meet him in the early morning, or at a private view in the afternoon, at an evening party, two hours before midnight or two hours after it; and you will find him as fresh in spirit, as dainty, as lively, as witty at one time as at another.”
Some one once gave him an American umbrella,—one of those that when rolled tightly are as small as walking-sticks. He was delighted with it, and used it as a cane. One day, coming out of the studio with a friend, and while hurrying to the cab-stand a few blocks away, it began to drizzle, and his friend, who had no umbrella, said:
“Hurry and put up your umbrella or we’ll get our hats wet.”
He fumbled a second at the umbrella, then hurried on.
“But I would get my umbrella wet.”
It was commonly said Whistler was unapproachable. In his studio, when at work, yes; in his home, no.