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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12081-0.txt b/12081-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a513bbe --- /dev/null +++ b/12081-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8978 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12081 *** + +LIVES + +OF + +GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +BY + +SARAH K. BOLTON, + +AUTHOR OF "POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "SOCIAL STUDIES IN ENGLAND," +ETC. + + +1914 + + + + +"_Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected._" +--JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +"_Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from them_." +--MADAME DE STAEËL. + + + + +TO + +MY AUNT, + +MRS. MARTHA W. MILLER, +Whose culture and kindness I count +among the blessings of +my life. + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +All of us have aspirations. We build air-castles, and are probably the +happier for the building. However, the sooner we learn that life is +not a play-day, but a thing of earnest activity, the better for us and +for those associated with us. "Energy," says Goethe, "will do anything +that can be done in this world"; and Jean Ingelow truly says, that +"Work is heaven's hest." + +If we cannot, like George Eliot, write _Adam Bede_, we can, like +Elizabeth Fry, visit the poor and the prisoner. If we cannot, like +Rosa Bonheur, paint a "Horse Fair," and receive ten thousand dollars, +we can, like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Alcott, do some kind of work to +lighten the burdens of parents. If poor, with Mary Lyon's persistency +and noble purpose, we can accomplish almost anything. If rich, like +Baroness Burdett-Coutts, we can bless the world in thousands of ways, +and are untrue to God and ourselves if we fail to do it. + +Margaret Fuller said, "All might be superior beings," and doubtless +this is true, if all were willing to cultivate the mind and beautify +the character. + +S.K.B. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE Novelist + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON Poet and Prose Writer + +LUCRETIA MOTT Preacher + +MARY A LIVERMORE Lecturer + +MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI Journalist + +MARIA MITCHELL Scientist + +LOUISA M ALCOTT Author + +MARY LYON Teacher + +HARRIET G HOSMER Sculptor + +MADAME DE STAËL Novelist and Political Writer + +ROSA BONHEUR Artist + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet + +"GEORGE ELIOT" Novelist + +ELIZABETH FRY Philanthropist + +ELIZABETH THOMPSON BUTLER Painter + +FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE Hospital Nurse + +LADY BRASSEY Traveller + +BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS Benefactor + +JEAN INGELOW Poet + + * * * * * + + + + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. + +[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.] + + +In a plain home, in the town of Litchfield, Conn., was born, June 14, +1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The house was well-nigh full of little +ones before her coming. She was the seventh child, while the oldest +was but eleven years old. + +Her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, a man of remarkable mind and sunshiny +heart, was preaching earnest sermons in his own and in all the +neighboring towns, on the munificent salary of five hundred dollars a +year. Her mother, Roxana Beecher, was a woman whose beautiful life has +been an inspiration to thousands. With an education superior for those +times, she came into the home of the young minister with a strength of +mind and heart that made her his companion and reliance. + +There were no carpets on the floors till the girl-wife laid down a +piece of cotton cloth on the parlor, and painted it in oils, with a +border and a bunch of roses and others flowers in the centre. When one +of the good deacons came to visit them, the preacher said, "Walk in, +deacon, walk in!" + +"Why, I can't," said he, "'thout steppin' on't." Then he exclaimed, in +admiration, "D'ye think ya can have all that, _and heaven too_?" + +So meagre was the salary for the increasing household, that Roxana +urged that a select school be started; and in this she taught +French, drawing, painting, and embroidery, besides the higher English +branches. With all this work she found time to make herself the idol +of her children. While Henry Ward hung round her neck, she made dolls +for little Harriet, and read to them from Walter Scott and Washington +Irving. + +These were enchanting days for the enthusiastic girl with brown curls +and blue eyes. She roamed over the meadows, and through the forests, +gathering wild flowers in the spring or nuts in the fall, being +educated, as she afterwards said, "first and foremost by Nature, +wonderful, beautiful, ever-changing as she is in that +cloudland, Litchfield. There were the crisp apples of the pink +azalea,--honeysuckle-apples, we called them; there were scarlet +wintergreen berries; there were pink shell blossoms of trailing +arbutus, and feathers of ground pine; there were blue and white and +yellow violets, and crowsfoot, and bloodroot, and wild anemone, and +other quaint forest treasures." + +A single incident, told by herself in later years, will show the +frolic-loving spirit of the girl, and the gentleness of Roxana +Beecher. "Mother was an enthusiastic horticulturist in all the small +ways that limited means allowed. Her brother John, in New York, had +just sent her a small parcel of fine tulip-bulbs. I remember rummaging +these out of an obscure corner of the nursery one day when she was +gone out, and being strongly seized with the idea that they were good +to eat, and using all the little English I then possessed to persuade +my brothers that these were onions, such as grown people ate, and +would be very nice for us. So we fell to and devoured the whole; and I +recollect being somewhat disappointed in the odd, sweetish taste, and +thinking that onions were not as nice as I had supposed. Then mother's +serene face appeared at the nursery door, and we all ran toward her, +and with one voice began to tell our discovery and achievement. We had +found this bag of onions, and had eaten them all up. + +"There was not even a momentary expression of impatience, but she sat +down and said, 'My dear children, what you have done makes mamma very +sorry; those were not onion roots, but roots of beautiful flowers; +and if you had let them alone, ma would have had next summer in the +garden, great, beautiful red and yellow flowers, such as you never +saw.' I remember how drooping and disappointed we all grew at this +picture, and how sadly we regarded the empty paper bag." + +When Harriet was five years old, a deep shadow fell upon the happy +household. Eight little children were gathered round the bedside of +the dying mother. When they cried and sobbed, she told them, with +inexpressible sweetness, that "God could do more for them than she had +ever done or could do, and that they must trust Him," and urged her +six sons to become ministers of the Gospel. When her heart-broken +husband repeated to her the verse, "You are now come unto Mount Zion, +unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an +innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of +the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of +all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the +Mediator of the New Covenant," she looked up into his face with a +beautiful smile, and closed her eyes forever. That smile Mr. Beecher +never forgot to his dying day. + +The whole family seemed crushed by the blow. Little Henry (now the +great preacher), who had been told that his mother had been buried +in the ground, and also that she had gone to heaven, was found one +morning digging with all his might under his sister's window, saying, +"I'm going to heaven, to find ma!" + +So much did Mr. Beecher miss her counsel and good judgment, that he +sat down and wrote her a long letter, pouring out his whole soul, +hoping somehow that she, his guardian angel, though dead, might see +it. A year later he wrote a friend: "There is a sensation of loss +which nothing alleviates--a solitude which no society interrupts. Amid +the smiles and prattle of children, and the kindness of sympathizing +friends, I am _alone; Roxana is not here_. She partakes in none of my +joys, and bears with me none of my sorrows. I do not murmur; I only +feel daily, constantly, and with deepening impression, how much I have +had for which to be thankful, and how much I have lost.... The whole +year after her death was a year of great emptiness, as if there was +not motive enough in the world to move me. I used to pray earnestly +to God either to take me away, or to restore to me that interest in +things and susceptibility to motive I had had before." + +Once, when sleeping in the room where she died, he dreamed that Roxana +came and stood beside him, and "smiled on me as with a smile from +heaven. With that smile," he said, "all my sorrow passed away. I awoke +joyful, and I was lighthearted for weeks after." + +Harriet went to live for a time with her aunt and grandmother, and +then came back to the lonesome home, into which Mr. Beecher had +felt the necessity of bringing a new mother. She was a refined and +excellent woman, and won the respect and affection of the family. At +first Harriet, with a not unnatural feeling of injury, said to her: +"Because you have come and married my father, when I am big enough, I +mean to go and marry your father;" but she afterwards learned to love +her very much. + +At seven, with a remarkably retentive memory,--a thing which many of +us spoil by trashy reading, or allowing our time and attention to +be distracted by the trifles of every-day life,--Harriet had learned +twenty-seven hymns and two long chapters of the Bible. She was +exceedingly fond of reading, but there was little in a poor minister's +library to attract a child. She found _Bell's Sermons_, and _Toplady +on Predestination_. "Then," she says, "there was a side closet full of +documents, a weltering ocean of pamphlets, in which I dug and toiled +for hours, to be repaid by disinterring a delicious morsel of a _Don +Quixote_, that had once been a book, but was now lying in forty or +fifty _dissecta membra_, amid Calls, Appeals, Essays, Reviews, and +Rejoinders. The turning up of such a fragment seemed like the rising +of an enchanted island out of an ocean of mud." Finally _Ivanhoe_ was +obtained, and she and her brother George read it through seven times. + +At twelve, we find her in the school of Mr. John P. Brace, +a well-known teacher, where she developed great fondness for +composition. At the exhibition at the close of the year, it was +the custom for all the parents to come and listen to the wonderful +productions of their children. From the list of subjects given, +Harriet had chosen, "Can the Immortality of the Soul be proved by the +Light of Nature?" + +"When mine was read," she says, "I noticed that father brightened +and looked interested. 'Who wrote that composition?' he asked of Mr. +Brace. '_Your daughter, sir!_' was the answer. There was no mistaking +father's face when he was pleased, and to have interested _him_ was +past all juvenile triumphs." + +A new life was now to open to Harriet. Her only sister Catharine, +a brilliant and noble girl, was engaged to Professor Fisher of Yale +College. They were to be married on his return from a European tour, +but alas! the _Albion_, on which he sailed, went to pieces on the +rocks, and all on board, save one, perished. Her betrothed was never +heard from. For months all hope seemed to go out of Catharine's life, +and then, with a strong will, she took up a course of mathematical +study, _his_ favorite study, and Latin under her brother Edward. She +was now twenty-three. Life was not to be along the pleasant paths she +had hoped, but she must make it tell for the future. + +With remarkable energy, she went to Hartford, Conn., where her brother +was teaching, and thoroughly impressed with the belief that God had a +work for her to do for girls, she raised several thousand dollars and +built the Hartford Female Seminary. Her brothers had college doors +opened to them; why, she reasoned, should not women have equal +opportunities? Society wondered of what possible use Latin and moral +philosophy could be to girls, but they admired Miss Beecher, and +let her do as she pleased. Students poured in, and the seminary soon +overflowed. My own school life in that beloved institution, years +afterward, I shall never forget. + +And now the little twelve-year-old Harriet came down from Litchfield +to attend Catharine's school, and soon become a pupil-teacher, that +the burden of support might not fall too heavily upon the father. +Other children had come into the Beecher home, and with a salary of +eight hundred dollars, poverty could not be other than a constant +attendant. Once when the family were greatly straitened for money, +while Henry and Charles were in college, the new mother went to bed +weeping, but the father said, "Well, the Lord always has taken care of +me, and I am sure He always will," and was soon fast asleep. The next +morning, Sunday, a letter was handed in at the door, containing a $100 +bill, and no name. It was a thank-offering for the conversion of a +child. + +Mr. Beecher, with all his poverty, could not help being generous. His +wife, by close economy, had saved twenty-five dollars to buy a new +overcoat for him. Handing him the roll of bills, he started out to +purchase the garment, but stopped on the way to attend a missionary +meeting. His heart warmed as he stayed, and when the contribution-box +was passed, he put in the roll of bills for the Sandwich Islanders, +and went home with his threadbare coat! + +Three years later, Mr. Beecher, who had now become widely known as +a revivalist and brilliant preacher, was called to Boston, where he +remained for six years. His six sermons on intemperance had stirred +the whole country. + +Though he loved Boston, his heart often turned toward the great West, +and he longed to help save her young men. When, therefore, he was +asked to go to Ohio and become the president of Lane Theological +Seminary at Cincinnati, he accepted. Singularly dependent upon his +family, Catharine and Harriet must needs go with him to the new home. +The journey was a toilsome one, over the corduroy roads and across the +mountains by stagecoach. Finally they were settled in a pleasant +house on Walnut Hills, one of the suburbs of the city, and the sisters +opened another school. + +Four years later, in 1836, Harriet, now twenty-five, married the +professor of biblical criticism and Oriental literature in the +seminary, Calvin E. Stowe, a learned and able man. + +Meantime the question of slavery had been agitating the minds of +Christian people. Cincinnati being near the border-line of Kentucky, +was naturally the battle-ground of ideas. Slaves fled into the +free State and were helped into Canada by means of the "Underground +Railroad," which was in reality only a friendly house about every ten +miles, where the colored people could be secreted during the day, and +then carried in wagons to the next "station" in the night. + +Lane Seminary became a hot-bed of discussion. Many of the Southern +students freed their slaves, or helped to establish schools for +colored children in Cincinnati, and were disinherited by their fathers +in consequence. Dr. Bailey, a Christian man who attempted to carry on +a fair discussion of the question in his paper, had his presses broken +twice and thrown into the river. The feeling became so intense, that +the houses of free colored people were burned, some killed, and the +seminary was in danger from the mob. The members of Professor Stowe's +family slept with firearms, ready to defend their lives. Finally +the trustees of the college forbade all slavery discussion by the +students, and as a result, nearly the whole body left the institution. + +Dr. Beecher, meantime, was absent at the East, having raised a large +sum of money for the seminary, and came back only to find his labor +almost hopeless. For several years, however, he and his children +stayed and worked on. Mrs. Stowe opened her house to colored children, +whom she taught with her own. One bright boy in her school was claimed +by an estate in Kentucky, arrested, and was to be sold at auction. The +half-crazed mother appealed to Mrs. Stowe, who raised the needed money +among her friends, and thus saved the lad. + +Finally, worn out with the "irrepressible conflict," the Beecher +family, with the Stowes, came North in 1850, Mr. Stowe accepting a +professorship at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. A few boarders +were taken into the family to eke out the limited salary, and Mrs. +Stowe earned a little from a sketch written now and then for the +newspapers. She had even obtained a prize of fifty dollars for a New +England story. Her six brothers had fulfilled their mother's dying +wish, and were all in the ministry. She was now forty years old, a +devoted mother, with an infant; a hard-working teacher, with her hands +full to overflowing. It seemed improbable that she would ever do other +than this quiet, unceasing labor. Most women would have said, "I can +do no more than I am doing. My way is hedged up to any outside work." + +But Mrs. Stowe's heart burned for those in bondage. The Fugitive Slave +Law was hunting colored people and sending them back into servitude +and death. The people of the North seemed indifferent. Could she not +arouse them by something she could write? + +One Sunday, as she sat at the communion table in the little Brunswick +church, the pattern of Uncle Tom formed itself in her mind, and, +almost overcome by her feelings, she hastened home and wrote out the +chapter on his death. When she had finished, she read it to her two +sons, ten and twelve, who burst out sobbing, "Oh! mamma, slavery is +the most cursed thing in the world." + +After two or three more chapters were ready, she wrote to Dr. Bailey, +who had moved his paper from Cincinnati to Washington, offering the +manuscript for the columns of the _National Era_, and it was accepted. +Now the matter must be prepared each week. She visited Boston, and +at the Anti-Slavery rooms borrowed several books to aid in furnishing +facts. And then the story wrote itself out of her full heart and +brain. When it neared completion, Mr. Jewett of Boston, through the +influence of his wife, offered to become the publisher, but feared if +the serial were much longer, it would be a failure. She wrote him that +she could not stop till it was done. + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was published March 20,1852. Then came the +reaction in her own mind. Would anybody read this book? The subject +was unpopular. It would indeed be a failure, she feared, but she would +help the story make its way if possible. She sent a copy of the book +to Prince Albert, knowing that both he and Queen Victoria were deeply +interested in the subject; another copy to Macaulay, whose father +was a friend of Wilberforce; one to Charles Dickens; and another +to Charles Kingsley. And then the busy mother, wife, teacher, +housekeeper, and author waited in her quiet Maine home to see what the +busy world would say. + +In ten days, ten thousand copies had been sold. Eight presses were run +day and night to supply the demand. Thirty different editions appeared +in London in six months. Six theatres in that great city were playing +it at one time. Over three hundred thousand copies were sold in less +than a year. + +Letters poured in upon Mrs. Stowe from all parts of the world. Prince +Albert sent his hearty thanks. Dickens said, "Your book is worthy of +any head and any heart that ever inspired a book." Kingsley wrote, +"It is perfect." The noble Earl of Shaftesbury wrote, "None but a +Christian believer could have produced such a book as yours, which has +absolutely startled the whole world.... I live in hope--God grant it +may rise to faith!--that this system is drawing to a close. It seems +as though our Lord had sent out this book as the messenger before +His face to prepare His way before Him." He wrote out an address of +sympathy "From the women of England to the women of America," to +which were appended the signatures of 562,448 women. These were in +twenty-six folio volumes, bound in morocco, with the American eagle on +the back of each, the whole in a solid oak case, sent to the care of +Mrs. Stowe. + +The learned reviews gave long notices of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. +_Blackwood_ said, "There are scenes and touches in this book which no +living writer that we know can surpass, and perhaps none can equal." +George Eliot wrote her beautiful letters. + +How the heart of Lyman Beecher must have been gladdened by this +wonderful success of his daughter! How Roxana Beecher must have looked +down from heaven, and smiled that never-to-be-forgotten smile! +How Harriet Beecher Stowe herself must have thanked God for this +unexpected fulness of blessing! Thousands of dollars were soon paid to +her as her share of the profits from the sale of the book. How restful +it must have seemed to the tired, over-worked woman, to have more than +enough for daily needs! + +The following year, 1853, Professor Stowe and his now famous +wife decided to cross the ocean for needed rest. What was their +astonishment, to be welcomed by immense public meetings in Liverpool, +Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee; indeed, in every city which they +visited. People in the towns stopped her carriage, to fill it with +flowers. Boys ran along the streets, shouting, "That's her--see the +_courls!_" A penny offering was made her, given by people of all +ranks, consisting of one thousand golden sovereigns on a beautiful +silver salver. When the committee having the matter in charge visited +one little cottage, they found only a blind woman, and said, "She will +feel no interest, as she cannot read the book." + +"Indeed," said the old lady, "if I cannot read, my son has read it to +me, and I've got my penny saved to give." + +The beautiful Duchess of Sutherland entertained Mrs. Stowe at her +house, where she met Lord Palmerston, the Duke of Argyle, Macaulay, +Gladstone, and others. The duchess gave her a solid gold bracelet +in the form of a slave's shackle, with the words, "We trust it is a +memorial of a chain that is soon to be broken." On one link was the +date of the abolition of the slave trade, March 25, 1807, and of +slavery in the English territories, Aug. 1, 1834. On the other +links are now engraved the dates of Emancipation in the District of +Columbia; President Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery in the +States in rebellion, Jan. 1, 1863; and finally, on the clasp, the date +of the Constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery forever in the +United States. Only a decade after _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was written, +and nearly all this accomplished! Who could have believed it possible? + +On Mrs. Stowe's return from Europe, she wrote _Sunny Memories of +Foreign Lands_, which had a large sale. Her husband was now appointed +to the professorship of sacred literature in the Theological Seminary +at Andover, Mass., and here they made their home. The students found +in her a warm-hearted friend, and an inspiration to intellectual work. +Other books followed from her pen: _Dred_, a powerful anti-slavery +story; _The Minister's Wooing_, with lovely Mary Scudder as its +heroine; _Agnes of Sorrento_, an Italian story; the _Pearl of Orr's +Island_, a tale of the New England coast; _Old Town Folks; House and +Home Papers; My Wife and I; Pink and White Tyranny_; and some others, +all of which have been widely read. + +The sale of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has not ceased. It is estimated that +over one and a half million copies have been sold in Great Britain and +her colonies, and probably an equal or greater number in this country. +There have been twelve French editions, eleven German, and +six Spanish. It has been published in nineteen different +languages,--Russian, Hungarian, Armenian, Modern Greek, Finnish, +Welsh, Polish, and others. In Bengal the book is very popular. A lady +of high rank in the court of Siam, liberated her slaves, one hundred +and thirty in number, after reading this book, and said, "I am wishful +to be good like Harriet Beecher Stowe, and never again to buy human +bodies, but only to let them go free once more." In France the sale +of the Bible was increased because the people wished to read the book +Uncle Tom loved so much. + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_, like _Les Miserà bles_, and a few other novels, +will live, because written with a purpose. No work of fiction is +permanent without some great underlying principle or object. + +Soon after the Civil War, Mrs. Stowe bought a home among the orange +groves of Florida, and thither she goes each winter, with her family. +She has done much there for the colored people whom she helped to make +free. With the proceeds of some public readings at the North she +built a church, in which her husband preached as long as his health +permitted. Her home at Mandarin, with its great moss-covered oaks and +profusion of flowers, is a restful and happy place after these most +fruitful years. + +Her summer residence in Hartford, Conn., beautiful without, and +artistic within, has been visited by thousands, who honor the noble +woman not less than the gifted author. + +Many of the Beecher family have died; Lyman Beecher at eighty-three, +and Catharine at seventy-eight. Some of Mrs. Stowe's own children are +waiting for her in the other country. She says, "I am more interested +in the other side of Jordan than this, though this still has its +pleasures." + +On Mrs. Stowe's seventy-first birthday, her publishers, Messrs. +Houghton, Mifflin & Co., gave a garden party in her honor, at the +hospitable home of Governor Claflin and his wife, at Newton, Mass. +Poets and artists, statesmen and reformers, were invited to meet the +famous author. On a stage, under a great tent, she sat, while poems +were read and speeches made. The brown curls had become snowy white, +and the bright eyes of girlhood had grown deeper and more earnest. The +manner was the same as ever, unostentatious, courteous, kindly. + +Her life is but another confirmation of the well-known fact, that the +best work of the world is done, not by the loiterers, but by those +whose hearts and hands are full of duties. Mrs. Stowe died about +noon, July 1, 1896, of paralysis, at Hartford, Conn., at the age of +eighty-five. She passed away as if to sleep, her son, the Rev. Charles +Edward Stowe, and her daughters, Eliza and Harriet, standing by her +bedside. Since the death of her husband, Professor Calvin E. Stowe, in +1886, Mrs. Stowe had gradually failed physically and mentally. She was +buried July 3 in the cemetery connected with the Theological Seminary +at Andover, Mass., between the graves of her husband and her son, +Henry. The latter was drowned in the Connecticut River, while a member +of Dartmouth College, July 19, 1857. + + + + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON. + +[Illustration: HELEN HUNT JACKSON.] + + +Thousands were saddened when, Aug. 12, 1885, it was flashed across the +wires that Helen Hunt Jackson was dead. The _Nation_ said, "The news +will probably carry a pang of regret into more American homes than +similar intelligence in regard to any other woman, with the possible +exception of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe." + +How, with the simple initials, "H.H.," had she won this place in +the hearts of the people? Was it because she was a poet? Oh no! many +persons of genius have few friends. It was because an earnest life was +back of her gifted writings. A great book needs a great man or woman +behind it to make it a perfect work. Mrs. Jackson's literary work will +be abiding, but her life, with its dark shadow and bright sunlight, +its deep affections and sympathy with the oppressed, will furnish a +rich setting for the gems of thought which she gave to the world. + +Born in the cultured town of Amherst, Mass., Oct. 18, 1831, she +inherited from her mother a sunny, buoyant nature, and from her +father, Nathan W. Fiske, professor of languages and philosophy in the +college, a strong and vigorous mind. Her own vivid description of the +"naughtiest day in my life," in _St. Nicholas_, September and October, +1880, shows the ardent, wilful child who was one day to stand out +fearlessly before the nation and tell its statesmen the wrong they had +done to "her Indians." + +She and her younger sister Annie were allowed one April day, by their +mother, to go into the woods just before school hours, to gather +checkerberries. Helen, finding the woods very pleasant, determined to +spend the day in them, even though sure she would receive a whipping +on her return home. The sister could not be coaxed to do wrong, but a +neighbor's child, with the promise of seeing live snails with horns, +was induced to accompany the truant. They wandered from one forest to +another, till hunger compelled them to seek food at a stranger's home. +The kind farmer and his wife were going to a funeral, and wished to +lock their house; but they took pity on the little ones, and gave +them some bread and milk. "There," said the woman, "now, you just make +yourselves comfortable, and eat all you can; and when you're done, you +push the bowls in among them lilac-bushes, and nobody'll get 'em." + +Urged on by Helen, she and her companion wandered into the village, +to ascertain where the funeral was to be held. It was in the +meeting-house, and thither they went, and seated themselves on the +bier outside the door. Becoming tired of this, they trudged on. One +of them lost her shoe in the mud, and stopping at a house to dry their +stockings, they were captured by two Amherst professors, who had come +over to Hadley to attend the funeral. The children had walked four +miles, and nearly the whole town, with the frightened mother, were +in search of the runaways. Helen, greatly displeased at being caught, +jumped out of the carriage, but was soon retaken. At ten o'clock at +night they reached home, and the child walked in as rosy and smiling +as possible, saying, "Oh, mother! I've had a perfectly splendid time!" + +A few days passed, and then her father sent for her to come into his +study, and told her because she had not said she was sorry for running +away, she must go into the garret, and wait till he came to see her. +Sullen at this punishment, she took a nail and began to bore holes +in the plastering. This so angered the professor, that he gave her +a severe whipping, and kept her in the garret for a week. It is +questionable whether she was more penitent at the end of the week than +she was at the beginning. + +When Helen was twelve, both father and mother died, leaving her to +the care of a grandfather. She was soon placed in the school of the +author, Rev. J.S.C. Abbott, of New York, and here some of her happiest +days were passed. She grew to womanhood, frank, merry, impulsive, +brilliant in conversation, and fond of society. + +At twenty-one she was married to a young army officer, Captain, +afterward Major, Edward B. Hunt, whom his friends called "Cupid" Hunt +from his beauty and his curling hair. He was a brother of Governor +Hunt of New York, an engineer of high rank, and a man of fine +scientific attainments. They lived much of their time at West Point +and Newport, and the young wife moved in a fashionable social circle, +and won hosts of admiring friends. Now and then, when he read a paper +before some learned society, he was proud to take his vivacious and +attractive wife with him. + +Their first baby died when he was eleven months old, but another +beautiful boy came to take his place, named after two friends, Warren +Horsford, but familiarly called "Rennie." He was an uncommonly bright +child, and Mrs. Hunt was passionately fond and proud of him. Life +seemed full of pleasures. She dressed handsomely, and no wish of her +heart seemed ungratified. + +Suddenly, like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky, the happy life was +shattered. Major Hunt was killed Oct. 2, 1863, while experimenting in +Brooklyn, with a submarine gun of his own invention. The young widow +still had her eight-year-old boy, and to him she clung more tenderly +than ever, but in less than two years she stood by his dying bed. +Seeing the agony of his mother, and forgetting his own even in that +dread destroyer, diphtheria, he said, almost at the last moment, +"Promise me, mamma, that you will not kill yourself." + +She promised, and exacted from him also a pledge that if it were +possible, he would come back from the other world to talk with +his mother. He never came, and Mrs. Hunt could have no faith in +spiritualism, because what Rennie could not do, she believed to be +impossible. + +For months she shut herself into her own room, refusing to see her +nearest friends. "Any one who really loves me ought to pray that I may +die, too, like Rennie," she said. Her physician thought she would die +of grief; but when her strong, earnest nature had wrestled with itself +and come off conqueror, she came out of her seclusion, cheerful as +of old. The pictures of her husband and boy were ever beside her, and +these doubtless spurred her on to the work she was to accomplish. + +Three months after Rennie's death, her first poem, _Lifted Over_, +appeared in the _Nation_:-- + + "As tender mothers, guiding baby steps, + When places come at which the tiny feet + Would trip, lift up the little ones in arms + Of love, and set them down beyond the harm, + So did our Father watch the precious boy, + Led o'er the stones by me, who stumbled oft + Myself, but strove to help my darling on: + He saw the sweet limbs faltering, and saw + Rough ways before us, where my arms would fail; + So reached from heaven, and lifting the dear child, + Who smiled in leaving me, He put him down + Beyond all hurt, beyond my sight, and bade + Him wait for me! Shall I not then be glad, + And, thanking God, press on to overtake!" + +The poem was widely copied, and many mothers were comforted by it. +The kind letters she received in consequence were the first gleam of +sunshine in the darkened life. If she were doing even a little good, +she could live and be strong. + +And then began, at thirty-four, absorbing, painstaking literary work. +She studied the best models of composition. She said to a friend, +years after, "Have you ever tested the advantages of an analytical +reading of some writer of finished style? There is a little book +called _Out-Door Papers_, by Wentworth Higginson, that is one of +the most perfect specimens of literary composition in the English +language. It has been my model for years. I go to it as a text-book, +and have actually spent hours at a time, taking one sentence after +another, and experimenting upon them, trying to see if I could take +out a word or transpose a clause, and not destroy their perfection." +And again, "I shall never write a sentence, so long as I live, without +studying it over from the standpoint of whether you would think it +could be bettered." + +Her first prose sketch, a walk up Mt. Washington from the Glen House, +appeared in the _Independent_, Sept. 13, 1866; and from this time she +wrote for that able journal three hundred and seventy-one articles. +She worked rapidly, writing usually with a lead-pencil, on large +sheets of yellow paper, but she pruned carefully. Her first poem in +the _Atlantic Monthly_, entitled _Coronation_, delicate and full of +meaning, appeared in 1869, being taken to Mr. Fields, the editor, by a +friend. + +At this time she spent a year abroad, principally in Germany and +Italy, writing home several sketches. In Rome she became so ill that +her life was despaired of. When she was partially recovered and went +away to regain her strength, her friends insisted that a professional +nurse should go with her; but she took a hard-working young Italian +girl of sixteen, to whom this vacation would be a blessing. + +On her return, in 1870, a little book of _Verses_ was published. Like +most beginners, she was obliged to pay for the stereotyped plates. +The book was well received. Emerson liked especially her sonnet, +_Thought_. He ranked her poetry above that of all American women, +and most American men. Some persons praised the "exquisite musical +structure" of the _Gondolieds_, and others read and re-read her +beautiful _Down to Sleep_. But the world's favorite was _Spinning_:-- + + "Like a blind spinner in the sun, + I tread my days; + I know that all the threads will run + Appointed ways; + I know each day will bring its task, + And, being blind, no more I ask. + + * * * * * + + "But listen, listen, day by day, + To hear their tread + Who bear the finished web away, + And cut the thread, + And bring God's message in the sun, + 'Thou poor blind spinner, work is done." + + +After this came two other small books, _Bits of Travel_ and _Bits of +Talk about Home Matters_. She paid for the plates of the former. Fame +did not burst upon Helen Hunt; it came after years of work, after it +had been fully earned. The road to authorship is a hard one, and only +those should attempt it who have courage and perseverance. + +Again her health failed, but not her cheerful spirits. She travelled +to Colorado, and wrote a book in praise of it. Everywhere she made +lasting friends. Her German landlady in Munich thought her the kindest +person in the world. The newsboy, the little urchin on the street +with a basket full of wares, the guides over the mountain passes, all +remembered her cheery voice and helpful words. She used to say, "She +is only half mother who does not see her own child in every child. Oh, +if the world could only stop long enough for one generation of mothers +to be made all right, what a Millennium could be begun in thirty +years!" Some one, in her childhood, called her a "stupid child" before +strangers, and she never forgot the sting of it. + +In Colorado, in 1876, eleven years after the death of Major Hunt, she +married Mr. William Sharpless Jackson, a Quaker and a cultured banker. +Her home, at Colorado Springs, became an ideal one, sheltered under +the great Manitou, and looking toward the Garden of the Gods, full +of books and magazines, of dainty rugs and dainty china gathered +from many countries, and richly colored Colorado flowers. Once, when +Eastern guests were invited to luncheon, twenty-three varieties of +wildflowers, each massed in its own color, adorned the home. A friend +of hers says: "There is not an artificial flower in the house, on +embroidered table-cover or sofa cushion or tidy; indeed, Mrs. Jackson +holds that the manufacture of silken poppies and crewel sun-flowers +is a 'respectable industry,' intended only to keep idle hands out of +mischief." + +Mrs. Jackson loved flowers almost as though they were children. She +writes: "I bore on this June day a sheaf of the white columbine,--one +single sheaf, one single root; but it was almost more than I could +carry. In the open spaces, I carried it on my shoulder; in the +thickets, I bore it carefully in my arms, like a baby.... There is a +part of Cheyenne Mountain which I and one other have come to call 'our +garden.' When we drive down from 'our garden,' there is seldom room +for another flower in our carriage. The top thrown back is filled, the +space in front of the driver is filled, and our laps and baskets are +filled with the more delicate blossoms. We look as if we were on our +way to the ceremonies of Decoration Day. So we are. All June days are +decoration days in Colorado Springs, but it is the sacred joy of life +that we decorate,--not the sacred sadness of death." But Mrs. Jackson, +with her pleasant home, could not rest from her work. Two novels +came from her pen, _Mercy Philbrick's Choice_ and _Hetty's Strange +History_. It is probable also that she helped to write the beautiful +and tender _Saxe Holm Stories_. It is said that _Draxy Miller's Dowry_ +and _Esther Wynn's Love Letters_ were written by another, while Mrs. +Jackson added the lovely poems; and when a request was made by the +publishers for more stories from the same author, Mrs. Jackson was +prevailed upon to write them. + +The time had now come for her to do her last and perhaps her best +work. She could not write without a definite purpose, and now the +purpose that settled down upon her heart was to help the defrauded +Indians. She believed they needed education and Christianization +rather than extermination. She left her home and spent three months +in the Astor Library of New York, writing her _Century of Dishonor_, +showing how we have despoiled the Indians and broken our treaties with +them. She wrote to a friend, "I cannot think of anything else from +night to morning and from morning to night." So untiringly did she +work that she made herself ill, and was obliged to go to Norway, +leaving a literary ally to correct the proofs of her book. + +At her own expense, she sent a copy to each member of Congress. Its +plain facts were not relished in some quarters, and she began to taste +the cup that all reformers have to drink; but the brave woman never +flinched in her duty. So much was the Government impressed by her +earnestness and good judgment, that she was appointed a Special +Commissioner with her friend, Abbott Kinney, to examine and report on +the condition of the Mission Indians in California. + +Could an accomplished, tenderly reared woman go into their _adobe_ +villages and listen to their wrongs? What would the world say of its +poet? Mrs. Jackson did not ask; she had a mission to perform, and the +more culture, the more responsibility. She brought cheer and hope +to the red men and their wives, and they called her "the Queen." She +wrote able articles about them in the _Century_. + +The report made by Mr. Kinney and herself, which she prepared largely, +was clear and convincing. How different all this from her early life! +Mrs. Jackson had become more than poet and novelist; even the leader +of an oppressed people. At once, in the winter of 1883, she began to +write her wonderfully graphic and tender _Ramona_, and into this, she +said, "I put my heart and soul." The book was immediately reprinted in +England, and has had great popularity. She meant to do for the Indian +what Mrs. Stowe did for the slave, and she lived long enough to see +the great work well in progress. + +This true missionary work had greatly deepened the earnestness of the +brilliant woman. Not always tender to other peoples' "hobbies," as she +said, she now had one of her own, into which she was putting her life. +Her horizon, with her great intellectual gifts, had now become as +wide as the universe. Had she lived, how many more great questions she +would have touched. + +In June, 1884, falling on the staircase of her Colorado home, she +severely fractured her leg, and was confined to the house for several +months. Then she was taken to Los Angeles, Cal., for the winter. The +broken limb mended rapidly, but malarial fever set in, and she was +carried to San Francisco. Her first remark was, as she entered the +house looking out upon the broad and lovely bay, "I did not imagine it +was so pleasant! What a beautiful place to die in!" + +To the last her letters to her friends were full of cheer. "You must +not think because I speak of not getting well that I am sad over it," +she wrote. "On the contrary, I am more and more relieved in my mind, +as it seems to grow more and more sure that I shall die. You see that +I am growing old" (she was but fifty-four), "and I do believe that my +work is done. You have never realized how, for the past five years, my +whole soul has been centered on the Indian question. _Ramona_ was +the outcome of those five years. The Indian cause is on its feet now; +powerful friends are at work." + +To another she wrote, "I am heartily, honestly, and cheerfully ready +to go. In fact, I am glad to go. My _Century of Dishonor_ and _Ramona_ +are the only things I have done of which I am glad now. The rest is +of no moment. They will live, and they will bear fruit. They already +have. The change in public feeling on the Indian question in the last +three years is marvellous; an Indian Rights Association in every large +city in the land." + +She had no fear of death. She said, "It is only just passing from one +country to another.... My only regret is that I have not accomplished +more work; especially that it was so late in the day when I began to +work in real earnest. But I do not doubt we shall keep on working.... +There isn't so much difference, I fancy, between this life and the +next as we think, nor so much barrier.... I shall look in upon you +in the new rooms some day; but you will not see me. Good-bye. Yours +affectionately forever, H.H." Four days before her death she wrote to +President Cleveland:-- + + "From my death-bed I send you a message of heart-felt + thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. + I ask you to read my _Century of Dishonor_. I am + dying happier for the belief I have that it is your hand + that is destined to strike the first steady blow toward + lifting this burden of infamy from our country, and + righting the wrongs of the Indian race. + + "With respect and gratitude, + + "HELEN JACKSON." + +That same day she wrote her last touching poem:-- + + "Father, I scarcely dare to pray, + So clear I see, now it is done, + That I have wasted half my day, + And left my work but just begun; + + "So clear I see that things I thought + Were right or harmless were a sin; + So clear I see that I have sought, + Unconscious, selfish aim to win + + "So clear I see that I have hurt + The souls I might hare helped to save, + That I have slothful been, inert, + Deaf to the calls Thy leaders gave. + + "In outskirts of Thy kingdoms vast, + Father, the humblest spot give me; + Set me the lowliest task Thou hast, + Let me repentant work for Thee!" + +That evening, Aug. 8, after saying farewell, she placed her hand in +her husband's, and went to sleep. After four days, mostly unconscious +ones, she wakened in eternity. + +On her coffin were laid a few simple clover-blossoms, flowers she +loved in life; and then, near the summit of Cheyenne Mountain, four +miles from Colorado Springs, in a spot of her own choosing, she was +buried. + + "Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree + Or flower the little grave which shelters me. + Let the wild wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed, + And back and forth all summer, unalarmed, + Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep; + Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep; + And when, remembering me, you come some day + And stand there, speak no praise, but only say, + 'How she loved us! It was for that she was so dear.' + These are the only words that I shall smile to hear." + +Many will stand by that Colorado grave in the years to come. Says a +California friend: "Above the chirp of the balm-cricket in the grass +that hides her grave, I seem to hear sweet songs of welcome from the +little ones. Among other thoughts of her come visions of a child and +mother straying in fields of light. And so I cannot make her dead, +who lived so earnestly, who wrought so unselfishly, and passed so +trustfully into the mystery of the unseen." + +All honor to a woman who, with a happy home, was willing to leave +it to make other homes happy; who, having suffered, tried with a +sympathetic heart to forget herself and keep others from suffering; +who, being famous, gladly took time to help unknown authors to win +fame; who, having means, preferred a life of labor to a life of ease. + +Mrs. Jackson's work is still going forward. Five editions of her +_Century of Dishonor_ have been printed since her death. _Ramona_ is +in its thirtieth thousand. _Zeph_, a touching story of frontier +life in Colorado, which she finished in her last illness, has been +published. Her sketches of travel have been gathered into _Glimpses +of Three Coasts_, and a new volume of poems, _Sonnets and Lyrics_, has +appeared. + + + + +LUCRETIA MOTT. + +[Illustration: Lucretia Mott.] + + +Years ago I attended, at some inconvenience, a large public meeting, +because I heard that Lucretia Mott was to speak. After several +addresses, a slight lady, with white cap and drab Quaker dress, came +forward. Though well in years, her eyes were bright; her smile was +winsome, and I thought her face one of the loveliest I had ever looked +upon. The voice was singularly sweet and clear, and the manner had +such naturalness and grace as a queen might envy. I have forgotten +the words, forgotten even the subject, but the benign presence and +gracious smile I shall never forget. + +Born among the quiet scenes of Nantucket, Jan. 3, 1793, Lucretia grew +to girlhood with habits of economy, neatness, and helpfulness in +the home. Her father, Thomas Coffin, was a sea-captain of staunch +principle; her mother, a woman of great energy, wit, and good sense. +The children's pleasures were such as a plain country home afforded. +When Mrs. Coffin went to visit her neighbors, she would say to her +daughters, "Now after you have finished knitting twenty bouts, you +may go down cellar and pick out as many as you want of the smallest +potatoes,--the very smallest,--and roast them in the ashes." Then +the six little folks gathered about the big fireplace and enjoyed a +frolic. + +When Lucretia was twelve years old, the family moved to Boston. At +first all the children attended a private school; but Captain Coffin, +fearing this would make them proud, removed them to a public school, +where they could "mingle with all classes without distinction." Years +after Lucretia said, "I am glad, because it gave me a feeling of +sympathy for the patient and struggling poor, which, but for this +experience, I might never have known." + +A year later, she was sent to a Friends' boarding-school at Nine +Partners, N.Y. Both boys and girls attended this school, but were not +permitted to speak to each other unless they were near relatives; if +so, they could talk a little on certain days over a certain corner +of the fence, between the playgrounds! Such grave precautions did not +entirely prevent the acquaintance of the young people; for when a lad +was shut up in a closet, on bread and water, Lucretia and her sister +supplied him with bread and butter under the door. This boy was a +cousin of the teacher, James Mott, who was fond of the quick-witted +school-girl, so that it is probable that no harm came to her from +breaking the rules. + +At fifteen, Lucretia was appointed an assistant teacher, and she and +Mr. Mott, with a desire to know more of literature, and quite possibly +more of each other, began to study French together. He was tall, with +light hair and blue eyes, and shy in manner; she, petite, with dark +hair and eyes, quick in thought and action, and fond of mirth. +When she was eighteen and James twenty-one, the young teachers were +married, and both went to her father's home in Philadelphia to reside, +he assisting in Mr. Coffin's business. + +The war of 1812 brought financial failure to many, and young Mott soon +found himself with a wife and infant daughter to support, and no work. +Hoping that he could obtain a situation with an uncle in New York +State, he took his family thither, but came back disappointed. Finally +he found work in a plow store at a salary of six hundred dollars a +year. + +Captain Coffin meantime had died, leaving his family poor. James could +do so little for them all with his limited salary, that he determined +to open a small store; but the experiment proved a failure. His health +began to be affected by this ill success, when Lucretia, with her +brave heart, said, "My cousin and I will open a school; thee must not +get discouraged, James." + +The school was opened with four pupils, each paying seven dollars a +quarter. The young wife put so much good cheer and earnestness into +her work, that soon there were forty pupils in the school. Mr. Mott's +prospects now brightened, for he was earning one thousand dollars a +year. The young couple were happy in their hard work, for they loved +each other, and love lightens all care and labor. + +But soon a sorrow worse than poverty came. Their only son, Thomas, a +most affectionate child, died, saying with his latest breath, "I love +thee, mother." It was a crushing blow; but it proved a blessing in the +end, leading her thoughts heavenward. + +A few months afterwards her voice was heard for the first time in +public, in prayer, in one of the Friends' meetings. The words were +simple, earnest, eloquent. The good Quakers marvelled, and encouraged +the "gift." They did not ask whether man or woman brought the message, +so it came from heaven. + +And now, at twenty-five, having resigned her position as teacher, she +began close study of the Bible and theological books. She had four +children to care for, did all her sewing, even cutting and making her +own dresses; but she learned what every one can learn,--to economize +time. Her house was kept scrupulously clean. She says: "I omitted much +unnecessary stitching and ornamental work in the sewing for my family, +so that I might have more time for the improvement of my mind. +For novels and light reading I never had much taste; the ladies' +department in the periodicals of the day had no attraction for me. "She +would lay a copy of William Penn's ponderous volumes open at the foot +of her bed, and drawing her chair close to it, with her baby on her +lap, would study the book diligently. A woman of less energy and less +will-power than young Mrs. Mott would have given up all hope of being +a scholar. She read the best books in philosophy and science. John +Stuart Mill and Dean Stanley, though widely different, were among her +favorite authors. + +James Mott was now prospering in the cotton business, so that they +could spare time to go in their carriage and speak at the Quaker +meetings in the surrounding country. Lucretia would be so absorbed +in thought as not to notice the beauties of the landscape, which her +husband always greatly enjoyed. Pointing out a fine view to her, she +replied, "Yes, it is beautiful, now that thou points it out, but +I should not have noticed it. I have always taken more interest in +_human_ nature." From a child she was deeply interested for the slave. +She had read in her school-books Clarkson's description of the slave +ships, and these left an impression never to be effaced. When, Dec. 4, +1833, a convention met in Philadelphia for the purpose of forming the +American Anti-Slavery Society, Lucretia Mott was one of the four +women who braved the social obloquy, as friends of the despised +abolitionists. She spoke, and was listened to with attention. +Immediately the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was formed, +and Mrs. Mott became its president and its inspiration. So unheard of +a thing was an association of women, and so unaccustomed were they to +the methods of organization, that they were obliged to call a colored +man to the chair to assist them. + +The years of martyrdom which followed, we at this day can scarcely +realize. Anti-slavery lecturers were tarred and feathered. Mobs in New +York and Philadelphia swarmed the streets, burning houses and breaking +church windows. In the latter city they surrounded the hall of the +Abolitionists, where the women were holding a large convention, and +Mrs. Mott was addressing them. All day long they cursed and threw +stones, and as soon as the women left the building, they burned it +to ashes. Then, wrought up to fury, the mob started for the house of +James and Lucretia Mott. Knowing that they were coming, the calm woman +sent her little children away, and then in the parlor, with a few +friends, peacefully awaited a probable death. + +In the turbulent throng was a young man who, while he was no friend +of the colored man, could not see Lucretia Mott harmed. With skilful +ruse, as they neared the house, he rushed up another street, shouting +at the top of his voice, "On to Motts!" and the wild crowd blindly +followed, wreaking their vengeance in another quarter. + +A year later, in Delaware, where Mrs. Mott was speaking, one of her +party, a defenceless old man, was dragged from the house, and tarred +and feathered. She followed, begging the men to desist, and saying +that she was the real offender, but no violent hands were laid upon +her. + +At another time, when the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society +in New York was broken up by the mob, some of the speakers were +roughly handled. Perceiving that several ladies were timid, Mrs. Mott +said to the gentleman who was accompanying her, "Won't thee look after +some of the others?" + +"But who will take care of you?" he said. + +With great tact and a sweet smile, she answered, "This man," laying +her hand on the arm of one of the roughest of the mob; "he will see me +safe through." + +The astonished man had, like others, a tender heart beneath the +roughness, and with respectful manner took her to a place of safety. +The next day, going into a restaurant, she saw the leader of the mob, +and immediately sat down by him, and began to converse. Her kindness +and her sweet voice left a deep impression. As he went out of the +room, he asked at the door, "Who is that lady?" + +"Why, that is Lucretia Mott!" + +For a second he was dumbfounded; but he added, "Well, she's a good, +sensible woman." + +In 1839 a World's Convention was called at London to debate the +slavery question. Among the delegates chosen were James and Lucretia +Mott, Wendell Phillips and his wife, and others. Mrs. Mott was +jubilant at the thought of the world's interest in this great +question, and glad for an opportunity to cross the ocean and enjoy a +little rest, and the pleasure of meeting friends who had worked in the +same cause. + +When the party arrived, they were told, to their astonishment, that +no women were to be admitted to the Convention as delegates. They had +faced mobs and ostracism; they had given money and earnest labor, +but they were to be ignored. William Lloyd Garrison, hurt at such +injustice, refused to take part in the Convention, and sat in the +gallery with the women. Although Mrs. Mott did not speak in the +assembly, the _Dublin Herald_ said, "Nobody doubts that she was the +lioness of the Convention." She was entertained at public breakfasts, +and at these spoke with the greatest acceptance to both men and women. +The Duchess of Sutherland and Lady Byron showed her great attention. +Carlyle was "much pleased with the Quaker lady, whose quiet manner had +a soothing effect on him," wrote Mrs. Carlyle to a friend. At Glasgow +"she held a delighted audience for nearly two hours in breathless +attention," said the press. + +After some months of devoted Christian work, along with sight-seeing, +Mr. and Mrs. Mott started homeward. He had spoken less frequently +than his wife, but always had been listened to with deep interest. +Her heart was moved toward a large number of Irish emigrants in the +steerage, and she desired to hold a religious meeting among them. When +asked about it, they said they would not hear a woman preacher, for +women priests were not allowed in their church. Then she asked that +they would come together and consider whether they would have a +meeting. This seemed fair, and they came. She explained to them +that she did not intend to hold a church service; that, as they were +leaving their old homes and seeking new ones in her country, she +wanted to talk with them in such a way as would help them in the land +of strangers. And then, if they would listen,--they were all the time +listening very eagerly,--she would give an outline of what she had +intended to say, if the meeting had been held. At the close, when all +had departed, it dawned upon some of the quicker-witted ones that they +"had got the preachment from the woman preacher, after all." + +The steamer arrived at the close of a twenty-nine days' voyage, and, +after a brief rest, Mrs. Mott began again her public work. She spoke +before the legislatures of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. She +called on President Tyler, and he talked with her cordially and freely +about the slave. In Kentucky, says one of the leading papers, "For an +hour and a half she enchained an ordinarily restless audience--many +were standing--to a degree never surpassed here by the most popular +orators. She said some things that were far from palatable, but said +them with an air of sincerity that commanded respect and attention." + +Mrs. Mott was deeply interested in other questions besides +slavery,--suffrage for women, total abstinence, and national +differences settled by arbitration instead of war. Years before, when +she began to teach school, and found that while girls paid the same +tuition as boys, "when they became teachers, women received only half +as much as men for their services," she says: "The injustice of this +distinction was so apparent, that I early resolved to claim for myself +all that an impartial Creator had bestowed." + +In 1848, Mrs. Mott, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and some others, +called the first Woman's Suffrage Convention in this country, at +Seneca Falls, N.Y. There was much ridicule,--we had not learned, forty +years ago, to treat with courtesy those whose opinions are different +from our own,--but the sweet Quaker preacher went serenely forward, as +though all the world were on her side. When she conversed with those +who differed, she listened so courteously to objections, and stated +her own views so delicately and kindly, and often so wittily, that +none could help liking her, even though they did not agree with +her. She realized that few can be driven, while many can be won with +gentleness and tact. + +In all these years of public speaking, her home was not only a refuge +for the oppressed, but a delightful social centre, where prominent +people gathered from both Europe and America. At the table black and +white were treated with equal courtesy. One young man, a frequent +visitor, finding himself seated at dinner next to a colored man, +resolved to keep away from the house in future; but as he was in +love with one of Mrs. Mott's pretty daughters, he found that his +"principles" gave way to his affections. He renewed his visits, became +a son-in-law, and, later, an ardent advocate of equality for the +colored people. + +Now the guests at the hospitable home were a mother and seven +children, from England, who, meeting with disappointments, had become +reduced to poverty. Now it was an escaped slave, who had come from +Richmond, Va., in a dry-goods box, by Adams Express. This poor man, +whose wife and three children had been sold from him, determined to +seek his freedom, even if he died in the effort. Weighing nearly two +hundred pounds, he was encased in a box two feet long, twenty-three +inches wide, and three feet high, in a sitting posture. He was +provided with a few crackers, and a bladder filled with water. With a +small gimlet he bored holes in the box to let in fresh air, and fanned +himself with his hat, to keep the air in motion. The box was covered +with canvas, that no one might suspect its contents. His sufferings +were almost unbearable. As the box was tossed from one place to +another, he was badly bruised, and sometimes he rested for miles +on his head and shoulders, when it seemed as though his veins would +burst. Finally he reached the Mott home, and found shelter and +comfort. + +Their large house was always full. Mr. Mott had given up a prosperous +cotton business, because the cotton was the product of slave labor; +but he had been equally successful in the wool trade, so that the days +of privation had passed by long ago. Two of their six children, +with their families, lived at home, and the harmony was remarked by +everybody. Mrs. Mott rose early, and did much housework herself. She +wrote to a friend: "I prepared mince for forty pies, doing every part +myself, even to meat-chopping; picked over lots of apples, stewed a +quantity, chopped some more, and made apple pudding; all of which kept +me on my feet till almost two o'clock, having to come into the parlor +every now and then to receive guests." As a rule, those women are the +best housekeepers whose lives are varied by some outside interests. + +In the broad hall of the house stood two armchairs, which the children +called "beggars' chairs," because they were in constant use for all +sorts of people, "waiting to see the missus." She never refused to see +anybody. When letters came from all over the country, asking for all +sorts of favors, bedding, silver spoons, a silk umbrella, or begging +her to invest some money in the manufacture of an article, warranted +"to take the kink out of the hair of the negro," she would always +check the merriment of her family by saying, "Don't laugh too much; +the poor souls meant well." + +Mrs. Mott was now sixty-three years of age. For forty years she had +been seen and loved by thousands. Strangers would stop her on the +street and say, "God bless you, Lucretia Mott!" Once, when a slave was +being tried for running away, Mrs. Mott sat near him in the court, +her son-in-law, Mr. Edward Hopper, defending his case. The opposing +counsel asked that her chair might be moved, as her face would +influence the jury against him! Benjamin H. Brewster, afterwards +United States Attorney-General, also counsel for the Southern master, +said: "I have heard a great deal of your mother-in-law, Hopper; but I +never saw her before to-day. She is an angel." Years after, when Mr. +Brewster was asked how he dared to change his political opinions, he +replied, "Do you think there is anything I dare not do, after facing +Lucretia Mott in that court-room?" + +It seemed best at this time, in 1856, as Mrs. Mott was much worn with +care, to sell the large house in town and move eight miles into the +country, to a quaint, roomy house which they called Roadside. Before +they went, however, at the last family gathering a long poem was read, +ending with:-- + + "Who constantly will ring the bell, + And ask if they will please to tell + Where Mrs. Mott has gone to dwell? + The beggars. + + "And who persistently will say, + 'We cannot, cannot go away; + Here in the entry let us stay?' + Colored beggars. + + "Who never, never, nevermore + Will see the 'lions' at the door + That they've so often seen before? + The neighbors. + + "And who will miss, for months at least, + That place of rest for man and beast, + from North, and South, and West, and East? + Everybody." + +Much of the shrubbery was cut down at Roadside, that Mrs. Mott might +have the full sunlight. So cheery a nature must have sunshine. Here +life went on quietly and happy. Many papers and books were on her +table, and she read carefully and widely. She loved especially Milton +and Cowper. Arnold's _Light of Asia_ was a great favorite in later +years. The papers were sent to hospitals and infirmaries, that no good +reading might be lost. She liked to read aloud; and if others were +busy, she would copy extracts to read to them when they were at +leisure. Who can measure the power of an educated, intellectual mother +in a home? + +The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mott was celebrated in 1861, and a +joyous season it was. James, the prosperous merchant, was proud of his +gifted wife, and aided her in every way possible; while Lucretia +loved and honored the true-hearted husband. Though Mrs. Mott was +now seventy, she did not cease her benevolent work. Her carriage was +always full of fruits, vegetables, and gifts for the poor. In buying +goods she traded usually with the small stores, where things were +dearer, but she knew that for many of the proprietors it was a +struggle to make ends meet. A woman so considerate of others would of +course be loved. + +Once when riding on the street-cars in Philadelphia, when no black +person was allowed to ride inside, every fifth car being reserved for +their use, she saw a frail-looking and scantily-dressed colored woman, +standing on the platform in the rain. The day was bitter cold, and +Mrs. Mott begged the conductor to allow her to come inside. "The +company's orders must be obeyed," was the reply. Whereupon the slight +Quaker lady of seventy walked out and stood beside the colored woman. +It would never do to have the famous Mrs. Mott seen in the rain on his +car; so the conductor, in his turn, went out and begged her to come +in. + +"I cannot go in without this woman," said Mrs. Mott quietly. +Nonplussed for a moment, he looked at the kindly face, and said, "Oh, +well, bring her in then!" Soon the "company's orders" were changed in +the interests of humanity, and colored people as well as white enjoyed +their civil rights, as becomes a great nation. + +With all this beauty of character, Lucretia Mott had her trials. +Somewhat early in life she and her husband had joined the so-called +Unitarian branch of Quakers, and for this they were persecuted. So +deep was the sectarian feeling, that once, when suffering from acute +neuralgia, a physician who knew her well, when called to attend her, +said, "Lucretia, I am so deeply afflicted by thy rebellious spirit, +that I do not feel that I can prescribe for thee," and he left her to +her sufferings. Such lack of toleration reads very strangely at this +day. + +In 1868, Mr. Mott and his wife, the one eighty, and the other +seventy-five, went to Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit their grandchildren. +He was taken ill of pneumonia, and expressed a wish to go home, but +added, "I suppose I shall die here, and then I shall be at home; it +is just as well." Mrs. Mott watched with him through the night, and at +last, becoming weary, laid her head upon his pillow and went to sleep. +In the morning, the daughter coming in, found the one resting from +weariness, the other resting forever. + +At the request of several colored men, who respected their benefactor, +Mr. Mott was borne to his grave by their hands. Thus ended, for this +world, what one who knew them well called "the most perfect wedded +life to be found on earth." + +Mrs. Mott said, "James and I loved each other more than ever since we +worked together for a great cause." She carried out the old couplet:-- + + "And be this thy pride, what but few have done, + To hold fast the love thou hast early won." + +After his death, she wrote to a friend, "I do not mourn, but rather +remember my blessings, and the blessing of his long life with me." + +For twelve years more she lived and did her various duties. She had +seen the slave freed, and was thankful. The other reforms for which +she labored were progressing. At eighty-five she still spoke in the +great meetings. Each Christmas she carried turkeys, pies, and a gift +for each man and woman at the "Aged Colored Home," in Philadelphia, +driving twenty miles, there and back. Each year she sent a box +of candy to each conductor and brakeman on the North Pennsylvania +Railroad, "Because," she said, "they never let me lift out my bundles, +but catch them up so quickly, and they all seem to know me." + +Finally the time came for her to go to meet James. As the end drew +near, she seemed to think that she was conducting her own funeral, and +said, as though addressing an audience, "If you resolve to follow the +Lamb wherever you may be led, you will find all the ways pleasant and +the paths peace. Let me go! Do take me!" + +There was a large and almost silent funeral at the house, and at the +cemetery several thousand persons were gathered. When friends were +standing by the open grave, a low voice said, ""Will no one say +anything?" and another responded, "Who can speak? the preacher is +dead!" + +Memorial services were held in various cities. For such a woman as +Lucretia Mott, with cultured mind, noble heart, and holy purpose, +there are no sex limitations. Her field is the world. + +Those who desire to know, more of this gifted woman will find it in a +most interesting volume, _Lives of James and Lucretia Mott_, written +by their grandaughter, Anna Davis Hallowell, West Medford, Mass. + + + + +MARY A. LIVERMORE. + +[Illustration: MARY A. LIVERMORE.] + + +When a nation passes through a great struggle like our Civil War, +great leaders are developed. Had it not been for this, probably Mrs. +Livermore, like many other noble women, would be to-day living quietly +in some pleasant home, doing the common duties of every-day life. She +would not be the famous lecturer, the gifted writer, the leader of the +Sanitary Commission in the West; a brilliant illustration of the work +a woman may do in the world, and still retain the truest womanliness. + +She was born in Boston, descended from ancestors who for six +generations had been Welsh preachers, and reared by parents of the +strictest Calvinistic faith. Mr. Rice, her father, was a man of +honesty and integrity, while the mother was a woman of remarkable +judgment and common sense. + +Mary was an eager scholar, and a great favorite in school, because she +took the part of all the poor children. If a little boy or girl was +a cripple, or wore shabby clothes, or had scanty dinners, or was +ridiculed, he or she found an earnest friend and defender in the +courageous girl. + +So fond was she of the five children in the home, younger than +herself, and so much did she take upon herself the responsibility of +their conversion, that when but ten years old, unable to sleep, she +would rise from her bed and waken her father and mother that they +might pray for the sisters. "It's no matter about me," she would say; +"if they are saved, I can bear anything." + +Mature in thought and care-taking beyond her years, she was still +fond of out-door sports and merry times. Sliding on the ice was her +especial delight. One day, after a full hour's fun in the bracing +air, she rushed into the house, the blood tingling in every vein, +exclaiming, "It's splendid sliding!" "Yes," replied the father, "it's +good fun, but wretched for shoes." + +All at once the young girl saw how hard it was for her parents to buy +shoes, with their limited means; and from that day to this she never +slid upon the ice. + +There were few playthings in the simple home, but her chief pastime +was in holding meetings in her father's woodshed, with the other +children. Great logs were laid out for benches, and split sticks were +set upon them for people. Mary was always the leader, both in praying +and preaching, and the others were good listeners. Mrs. Rice would be +so much amused at the queer scene, that a smile would creep over her +face; but Mr. Rice would look on reverently, and say, "I wish you had +been a boy; you could have been trained for the ministry." + +When she was twelve years old she began to be eager to earn something. +She could not bear to see her father work so hard for her. Alas! how +often young women, twice twelve, allow their father's hair to grow +white from overwork, because they think society will look down upon +them if they labor. Is work more a disgrace to a girl than a boy? Not +at all. Unfortunate is the young man who marries a girl who is either +afraid or ashamed to work. + +Though not fond of sewing, Mary decided to learn dressmaking, because +this would give her self-support. For three months she worked in a +shop, that she might learn the trade, and then she stayed three months +longer and earned thirty-seven cents a day. As this seemed meagre, she +looked about her for more work. Going to a clothing establishment, +she asked for a dozen red flannel shirts to make. The proprietor might +have wondered who the child was, but he trusted her honest face, +and gave her the bundle. She was to receive six and a quarter cents +apiece, and to return them on a certain day. Working night after +night, sometimes till the early morning hours, she was able to finish +only half at the time specified. + +On that day a man came to the door and asked, "Does Mary Rice live +here?" + +The mother had gone to the door, and answered in the affirmative. + +"Well, she took a dozen red flannel shirts from my shop to make, and +she hain't returned 'em!" + +"It can't be my daughter," said Mrs. Rice. + +The man was sure he had the right number, but he looked perplexed. +Just then Mary, who was in the sitting-room, appeared on the scene. + +"Yes, mother, I got these shirts of the man." + +"You promised to get 'em done, Miss," he said, "and we are in a great +hurry." + +"You shall have the shirts to-morrow night," said Mrs. Rice. + +After the man left the house, the mother burst into tears, saying, "We +are not so poor as that. My dear child, what is to become of you if +you take all the cares of the world upon your shoulders?" + +When the work was done, and the seventy-five cents received, Mary +would take only half of it, because she had earned but half. + +A brighter day was dawning for Mary Rice. A little later, longing for +an education, Dr. Neale, their good minister, encouraged and assisted +her to go to the Charlestown Female Seminary. Before the term closed +one of the teachers died, and the bright, earnest pupil was asked to +fill the vacancy. She accepted, reciting out of school to fit herself +for her classes, earning enough by her teaching to pay her way, and +taking the four years' course in two years. Before she was twenty she +taught two years on a Virginia plantation as a governess, and came +North with six hundred dollars and a good supply of clothes. Probably +she has never felt so rich since that day. + +She was now asked to take charge of the Duxbury High School, where she +became an inspiration to her scholars. Even the dullest learned under +her enthusiasm. She took long walks to keep up her health and spirits, +thus making her body as vigorous as her heart was sympathetic. + +It was not to be wondered at that the bright young teacher had +many admirers. Who ever knew an educated, genial girl who was not a +favorite with young men? It is a libel on the sex to think that they +prefer ignorant or idle girls. + +Among those who saw the beauty of character and the mental power of +Miss Rice was a young minister, whose church was near her schoolhouse. +The first time she attended his services, he preached from the text, +"And thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from +their sins." Her sister had died, and the family were in sorrow; but +this gospel of love, which he preached with no allusion to eternal +punishment, was full of comfort. What was the minister's surprise +to have the young lady ask to take home the sermon and read it, and +afterwards, some of his theological books. What was the teacher's +surprise, a little later, to find that while she was interested in his +sermons and books, he had become interested in her. The sequel can +be guessed easily; she became the wife of Rev. D.P. Livermore at +twenty-three. + +He had idolized his mother; very naturally, with deep reverence +for woman, he would make a devoted husband. For fifteen years the +intelligent wife aided him in editing _The New Covenant_, a religious +paper published in Chicago, in which city they had made their home. +Her writings were always clear, strong, and helpful. Three children +had been born into their home, and life, with its cares and its work, +was a very happy one. + +But the time came for the quiet life to be entirely changed. In 1861 +the nation found itself plunged into war. The slave question was to +be settled once for all at the point of the bayonet. Like every other +true-hearted woman, Mrs. Livermore had been deeply stirred by passing +events. When Abraham Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men +was eagerly responded to, she was in Boston, and saw the troops, all +unused to hardships, start for the battle-fields. The streets were +crowded with tens of thousands. Bells rung, bands played, and women +smiled and said good-bye, when their hearts were breaking. After the +train moved out of the station, four women fainted; nature could no +longer bear the terrible strain. Mrs. Livermore helped restore +the women to consciousness. She had no sons to send; but when such +partings were seen, and such sorrows were in the future, she could not +rest. + +What could women do to help in the dreadful struggle? A meeting of +New York ladies was called, which resulted in the formation of an Aid +Society, pledging loyalty to the Government, and promising assistance +to soldiers and their families. Two gentlemen were sent to Washington +to ask what work could be done, but word came back that there was no +place for women at the front, nor no need for them in the hospitals. +Such words were worse than wasted on American women. Since the day +when men and women together breasted the storms of New England in the +_Mayflower_, and together planted a new civilization, together they +have worked side by side in all great matters. They were untiring +in the Revolutionary War; they worked faithfully in the dark days of +anti-slavery agitation, taking their very lives in their hands. And +now their husbands and sons and brothers had gone from their homes. +They would die on battle-fields, and in lonely camps untended, and the +women simply said, "Some of us must follow our best-beloved." + +The United States Sanitary Commission was soon organized, for working +in hospitals, looking after camps, and providing comforts for the +soldiers. Branch associations were formed in ten large cities. +The great Northwestern Branch was put under the leadership of Mrs. +Livermore and Mrs. A.H. Hoge. Useful things began to pour in from all +over the country,--fruits, clothing, bedding, and all needed comforts +for the army. Then Mrs. Livermore, now a woman of forty, with great +executive ability, warm heart, courage, and perseverance, with a few +others, went to Washington to talk with President Lincoln. + +"Can no women go to the front?" they asked. + +"No civilian, either man or woman, is permitted by _law_," said +Mr. Lincoln. But the great heart of the greatest man in America was +superior to the law, and he placed not a straw in their way. He was in +favor of anything which helped the men who fought and bled for their +country. + +Mrs. Livermore's first broad experience in the war was after the +battle of Fort Donelson. There were no hospitals for the men, and the +wounded were hauled down the hillside in rough-board Tennessee wagons, +most of them dying before they reached St. Louis. Some poor fellows +lay with the frozen earth around them, chopped out after lying in the +mud from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. + +One blue-eyed lad of nineteen, with both legs and both arms shattered, +when asked, "How did it happen that you were left so long?" said, +"Why, you see, they couldn't stop to bother with us, _because they had +to take the fort_. When they took it, we forgot our sufferings, and +all over the battle-field cheers went up from the wounded, and even +from the dying." + +At the rear of the battle-fields the Sanitary Commission now began +to keep its wagons with hot soup and hot coffee, women, fitly chosen, +always joining in this work, in the midst of danger. After the first +repulse at Vicksburg, there was great sickness and suffering. The +Commission sent Mrs. Hoge, two gentlemen accompanying her, with a +boat-load of supplies for the sick. One emaciated soldier, to whom she +gave a little package of white sugar, with a lemon, some green tea, +two herrings, two onions, and some pepper, said, "Is that _all_ for +me?" She bowed assent. She says: "He covered his pinched face with his +thin hands and burst into a low, sobbing cry. I laid my hand upon +his shoulder, and said, 'Why do you weep?' 'God bless the women!' +he sobbed out. 'What should we do but for them? I came from father's +farm, where all knew plenty; I've lain sick these three months; I've +seen no woman's face, nor heard her voice, nor felt her warm hand +till to-day, and it unmans me; but don't think I rue my bargain, for +I don't. I've suffered much and long, but don't let them know at +home. Maybe I'll never have a chance to tell them how much; but I'd go +through it all for the old flag.'" + +Shortly after, accompanied by an officer, she went into the +rifle-pits. The heat was stifling, and the minie-balls were whizzing. +"Why, madam, where did you come from? Did you drop from heaven into +these rifle-pits? You are the first lady we have seen here;" and then +the voice was choked with tears. + +"I have come from your friends at home, and bring messages of love and +honor. I have come to bring you the comforts we owe you, and love +to give. I've come to see if you receive what they send you," she +replied. + +"Do they think as much of as as that? Why, boys, we can fight another +year on that, can't we?" + +"Yes, yes!" they cried, and almost every hand was raised to brush away +the tears. + +She made them a kindly talk, shook the hard, honest hands, and said +good-bye. "Madame," said the officer, "promise me that you'll visit my +regiment to-morrow; 'twould be worth a victory to them. You don't know +what good a lady's visit to the army does. These men whom you have +seen to-day will talk of your visit for six months to come. Around +the fires, in the rifle-pits, in the dark night, or on the march, they +will repeat your words, describe your looks, voice, size, and dress; +and all agree in one respect,--that you look like an angel, and +exactly like each man's wife or mother. Ah! was there no work for +women to do? + +The Sanitary and Christian Commissions expended about fifty million +dollars during the war, and of this, the women raised a generous +portion. Each battle cost the Sanitary Commission about seventy-five +thousand dollars, and the battle of Gettysburg, a half million +dollars. Mrs. Livermore was one of the most efficient helpers in +raising this money. She went among the people, and solicited funds and +supplies of every kind. + +One night it was arranged that she should speak in Dubuque, Iowa, that +the people of that State might hear directly from their soldiers at +the front. When she arrived, instead of finding a few women as she had +expected, a large church was packed with both men and women, eager to +listen. The governor of the State and other officials were present. +She had never spoken in a mixed assembly. Her conservative training +made her shrink from it, and, unfortunately, made her feel incapable +of doing it. + +"I cannot speak!" she said to the women who had asked her to come. + +Disappointed and disheartened, they finally arranged with a prominent +statesman to jot down the facts from her lips; and then, as best he +could, tell to the audience the experiences of the woman who had been +on battle-fields, amid the wounded and dying. Just as they were about +to go upon the platform, the gentleman said, "Mrs. Livermore, I have +heard you say at the front, that you would give your all for the +soldiers,--a foot, a hand, or a voice. Now is the time to give your +voice, if you wish to do good." + +She meditated a moment, and then she said, "I will try." + +When she arose to speak, the sea of faces before her seemed blurred. +She was talking into blank darkness. She could not even hear her own +voice. But as she went on, and the needs of the soldiers crowded upon +her mind, she forgot all fear, and for two hours held the audience +spell-bound. Men and women wept, and patriotism filled every heart. At +eleven o'clock eight thousand dollars were pledged, and then, at the +suggestion of the presiding officer, they remained until one o'clock +to perfect plans for a fair, from which they cleared sixty thousand +dollars. After this, Mrs. Livermore spoke in hundreds of towns, +helping to organize many of the more than twelve thousand five hundred +aid societies formed during eighteen months. + +As money became more and more needed, Mrs. Livermore decided to try +a sanitary commission fair in Chicago. The women said, "We will +raise twenty-five thousand dollars," but the men laughed at such +an impossibility. The farmers were visited, and solicited to give +vegetables and grain, while the cities were not forgotten. Fourteen of +Chicago's largest halls were hired. The women had gone into debt ten +thousand dollars, and the men of the city began to think they were +crazy. The Board of Trade called upon them and advised that the fair +be given up; the debts should be paid, and the men would give the +twenty-five thousand, when, in their judgment, it was needed! The +women thanked them courteously, but pushed forward in the work. + +It had been arranged that the farmers should come on the opening day, +in a procession, with their gifts of vegetables. Of this plan the +newspapers made great sport, calling it the "potato procession." The +day came. The school children had a holiday, the bells were rung, +one hundred guns were fired, and the whole city gathered to see the +"potato procession." Finally it arrived,--great loads of cabbages, +onions, and over four thousand bushels of potatoes. The wagons each +bore a motto, draped in black, with the words, "We buried a son at +Donelson," "Our father lies at Stone River," and other similar ones. +The flags on the horses' heads were bound with black; the women who +rode beside a husband or son, were dressed in deep mourning. When the +procession stopped before Mrs. Livermore's house, the jeers were over, +and the dense crowd wept like children. + +Six of the public halls were filled with beautiful things for sale, +while eight were closed so that no other attractions might compete +with the fair. Instead of twenty-five thousand, the women cleared one +hundred thousand dollars. + +Then Cincinnati followed with a fair, making two hundred and +twenty-five thousand; Boston, three hundred and eighty thousand; New +York, one million; and Philadelphia, two hundred thousand more than +New York. The women had found that there was work enough for them to +do. + +Mrs. Livermore was finally ordered to make a tour of the hospitals +and military posts on the Mississippi River, and here her aid was +invaluable. It required a remarkable woman to undertake such a work. +At one point she found twenty-three men, sick and wounded, whose +regiments had left them, and who could not be discharged because they +had no descriptive lists. She went at once to General Grant, and said, +"General, if you will give me authority to do so, I will agree to take +these twenty-three wounded men home." + +The officials respected the noble woman, and the red tape of army life +was broken for her sake. + +When the desolate company arrived in Chicago, on Saturday, the last +train had left which could have taken a Wisconsin soldier home. She +took him to the hotel, had a fire made for him, and called a doctor. + +"Pull him through till Monday, Doctor," she said, "and I'll get him +home." Then, to the lad, "You shall have a nurse, and Monday morning I +will go with you to your mother." + +"Oh! don't go away," he pleaded; "I never shall see you again." + +"Well, then, I'll go home and see my family, and come back in two +hours. The door shall be left open, and I'll put this bell beside you, +so that the chambermaid will come when you ring." + +He consented, and Mrs. Livermore came back in two hours. The soldier's +face was turned toward the door, as though waiting for her, but he was +dead. He had gone home, but not to Wisconsin. + +After the close of the war, so eager were the people to hear her, +that she entered the lecture field and has for years held the foremost +place among women as a public speaker. She lectures five nights a +week, for five months, travelling twenty-five thousand miles annually. +Her fine voice, womanly, dignified manner, and able thought have +brought crowded houses before her, year after year. She has +earned money, and spent it generously for others. The energy and +conscientiousness of little Mary Rice have borne their legitimate +fruit. + +Every year touching incidents came up concerning the war days. Once, +after she had spoken at Fabyan's American Institute of Instruction, a +military man, six feet tall, came up to her and said, "Do you remember +at Memphis coming over to the officers' hospital?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Livermore. + +While the officers were paid salaries, very often the paymasters could +not find them when ill, and for months they would not have a penny, +not even receiving army rations. Mrs. Livermore found many in +great need, and carried them from the Sanitary Commission blankets, +medicine, and food. Milk was greatly desired, and almost impossible to +be obtained. One day she came into the wards, and said that a certain +portion of the sick "could have two goblets of milk for every meal." + +"Do you remember," said the tall man, who was then a major, "that one +man cried bitterly and said, 'I want two glasses of milk,' and that +you patted him on the head, as he lay on his cot? And that the man +said, as he thought of the dear ones at home, whom he might not see +again, 'Could you kiss me?' and the noble woman bent down and kissed +him? I am that man, and God bless you for your kindness." + +Mrs. Livermore wears on her third finger a plain gold ring which has a +touching history. + +After lecturing recently at Albion, Mich., a woman came up, who had +driven eight miles, to thank her for a letter written for John, +her son, as he was dying in the hospital. The first four lines were +dictated by the dying soldier; then death came, and Mrs. Livermore +finished the message. The faded letter had been kept for twenty years, +and copies made of it. "Annie, my son's wife," said the mother, "never +got over John's death. She kept about and worked, but the life had +gone out of her. Eight years ago she died. One day she said, 'Mother, +if you ever find Mrs. Livermore, or hear of her, I wish you would give +her my wedding ring, which has never been off my finger since John put +it there. Ask her to wear it for John's sake and mine, and tell her +this was my dying request.'" + +With tears in the eyes of both giver and receiver, Mrs. Livermore held +out her hand, and the mother placed on the finger this memento of two +precious lives. + +Mrs. Livermore has spent ten years in the temperance reform. While +she has shown the dreadful results of the liquor traffic, she has +been kind both in word and deed. Some time ago, passing along a Boston +street, she saw a man in the ditch, and a poor woman bending over him. + +"Who is he?" she asked of the woman. + +"He's my husband, ma'am. He's a good man when he is sober, and earns +four dollars a day in the foundry. I keep a saloon." + +Mrs. Livermore called a hack. "Will you carry this man to number ----?" + +"No, madam, he's too dirty. I won't soil my carriage." + +"Oh!" pleaded the wife, "I'll clean it all up for ye, if ye'll take +him," and pulling off her dress-skirt, she tried to wrap it around her +husband. Stepping to a saloon near by, Mrs. Livermore asked the men to +come out and help lift him. At first they laughed, but were soon made +ashamed, when they saw that a lady was assisting. The drunken man was +gotten upon his feet, wrapped in his wife's clothing, put into the +hack, and then Mrs. Livermore and the wife got in beside him, and he +was taken home. The next day the good Samaritan called, and brought +the priest, from whom the man took the pledge. A changed family was +the result. + +Her life is filled with thousands of acts of kindness, on the cars, in +poor homes, and in various charitable institutions. She is the author +of two or more books, _What shall we do with Our Daughters?_ and +_Reminiscences of the War;_ but her especial power has been her +eloquent words, spoken all over the country, in pulpits, before +colleges, in city and country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. +Like Abraham Lincoln, who said, "I go for all sharing the privileges +of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens,--by no means +excluding women," she has advocated the enfranchisement of her sex, +along with her other work. + +Now, past sixty, her active, earnest life, in contact with the people, +has kept her young in heart and in looks. + +"A great authority on what constitutes beauty complains that the +majority of women acquire a dull, vacant expression towards middle +life, which makes them positively plain. He attributes it to their +neglect of all mental culture, their lives having settled down to a +monotonous routine of house-keeping, visiting, gossip, and shopping. +Their thoughts become monotonous, too, for, though these things are +all good enough in their way, they are powerless to keep up any mental +life or any activity of thought." + +Mrs. Livermore has been an inspiration to girls to make the most +of themselves and their opportunities. She has been an ideal of +womanhood, not only to "the boys" on the battle-fields, but to tens +of thousands who are fighting the scarcely less heroic battles of +every-day life. May it be many years before she shall go out forever +from her restful, happy home, at Melrose, Mass. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Livermore died at her home, May 23, 1905, at 8 A.M., of +bronchitis. She was in her eighty-fourth year, and had survived her +husband six years. When her funeral services were held, the schools of +Melrose closed, business was suspended, bells were tolled, and flags +floated at half-mast. She was an active member of thirty-seven clubs. +The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon her, in 1896, by Tufts +College. + + + + +MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI. + +[Illustration: MARGARET FULLER + +From engraving by Hall] + + +Margaret Fuller, in some respects the most remarkable of American +women, lived a pathetic life and died a tragic death. Without money +and without beauty, she became the idol of an immense circle of +friends; men and women were alike her devotees. It is the old story: +that the woman of brain makes lasting conquests of hearts, while the +pretty face holds its sway only for a month or a year. + +Margaret, born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, was the +oldest child of a scholarly lawyer, Mr. Timothy Fuller, and of a +sweet-tempered, devoted mother. The father, with small means, had +one absorbing purpose in life,--to see that each of his children was +finely educated. To do this, and make ends meet, was a struggle. His +daughter said, years after, in writing of him: "His love for my mother +was the green spot on which he stood apart from the commonplaces of +a mere bread-winning existence. She was one of those fair and +flower-like natures, which sometimes spring up even beside the most +dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom I have known, she had in +her most of the angelic,--of that spontaneous love for every living +thing, for man and beast and tree, which restores the Golden Age." + +Very fond of his oldest child, Margaret, the father determined that +she should be as well educated as his boys. In those days there were +no colleges for girls, and none where they might enter with their +brothers, so that Mr. Fuller was obliged to teach his daughter after +the wearing work of the day. The bright child began to read Latin +at six, but was necessarily kept up late for the recitation. When +a little later she was walking in her sleep, and dreaming strange +dreams, he did not see that he was overtaxing both her body and brain. +When the lessons had been learned, she would go into the library, and +read eagerly. One Sunday afternoon, when she was eight years old, she +took down Shakespeare from the shelves, opened at Romeo and Juliet, +and soon became fascinated with the story. + +"What are you reading?" asked her father. + +"Shakespeare," was the answer, not lifting her eyes from the page. + +"That won't do--that's no book for Sunday; go put it away, and take +another." + +Margaret did as she was bidden; but the temptation was too strong, and +the book was soon in her hands again. + +"What is that child about, that she don't hear a word we say?" said an +aunt. + +Seeing what she was reading, the father said, angrily, "Give me the +book, and go directly to bed." + +There could have been a wiser and gentler way of control, but he had +not learned that it is better to lead children than to drive them. + +When not reading, Margaret enjoyed her mother's little garden of +flowers. "I loved," she says, "to gaze on the roses, the violets, the +lilies, the pinks; my mother's hand had planted them, and they bloomed +for me. I kissed them, and pressed them to my bosom with passionate +emotions. An ambition swelled my heart to be as beautiful, as perfect +as they." + +Margaret grew to fifteen with an exuberance of life and affection, +which the chilling atmosphere of that New England home somewhat +suppressed, and with an increasing love for books and cultured people. +"I rise a little before five," she writes, "walk an hour, and then +practise on the piano till seven, when we breakfast. Next, I read +French--Sismondi's _Literature of the South of Europe_--till eight; +then two or three lectures in Brown's _Philosophy._ About half past +nine I go to Mr. Perkins's school, and study Greek till twelve, when, +the school being dismissed, I recite, go home, and practise again till +dinner, at two. Then, when I can, I read two hours in Italian." + +And why all this hard work for a girl of fifteen? The "all-powerful +motive of ambition," she says. "I am determined on distinction, which +formerly I thought to win at an easy rate; but now I see that long +years of labor must be given." + +She had learned the secret of most prominent lives. The majority in +this world will always be mediocre, because they lack high-minded +ambition and the willingness to work. + +Two years after, at seventeen, she writes: "I am studying Madame de +Staël, Epictetus, Milton, Racine, and the Castilian ballads, with +great delight.... I am engrossed in reading the elder Italian +poets, beginning with Berni, from whom I shall proceed to Pulci and +Politian." How almost infinitely above "beaus and dresses" was such +intellectual work as this! + +It was impossible for such a girl not to influence the mind of every +person she met. At nineteen she became the warm friend of Rev. James +Freeman Clarke, "whose friendship," he says, "was to me a gift of the +gods.... With what eagerness did she seek for knowledge! What fire, +what exuberance, what reach, grasp, overflow of thought, shone in her +conversation!... And what she thus was to me, she was to many others. +Inexhaustible in power of insight, and with a good will 'broad as +ether,' she could enter into the needs, and sympathize with the +various excellences, of the greatest variety of characters. One +thing only she demanded of all her friends, that they should not be +satisfied with the common routine of life,--that they should aspire to +something higher, better, holier, than had now attained." + +Witty, learned, imaginative, she was conceded to be the best +conversationist in any circle. She possessed the charm that every +woman may possess,--appreciation of others, and interest in their +welfare. This sympathy unlocked every heart to her. She was made the +confidante of thousands. All classes loved her. Now it was a serving +girl who told Margaret her troubles and her cares; now it was a +distinguished man of letters. She was always an inspiration. Men never +talked idle, commonplace talk with her; she could appreciate the best +of their minds and hearts, and they gave it. She was fond of social +life, and no party seemed complete without her. + +At twenty-two she began to study German, and in three months was +reading with ease Goethe's _Faust, Tasso and Iphigenia_, Körner, +Richter, and Schiller. She greatly admired Goethe, desiring, like him, +"always to have some engrossing object of pursuit." Besides all this +study she was teaching six little children, to help bear the expenses +of the household. + +The family at this time moved to Groton, a great privation for +Margaret, who enjoyed and needed the culture of Boston society. But +she says, "As, sad or merry, I must always be learning, I laid down a +course of study at the beginning of the winter." This consisted of the +history and geography of modern Europe, and of America, architecture, +and the works of Alfieri, Goethe, and Schiller. The teaching was +continued because her brothers must be sent to Harvard College, and +this required money; not the first nor the last time that sisters have +worked to give brothers an education superior to their own. + +At last the constitution, never robust, broke down, and for nine days +Margaret lay hovering between this world and the next. The tender +mother called her "dear lamb," and watched her constantly, while the +stern father, who never praised his children, lest it might harm them, +said, "My dear, I have been thinking of you in the night, and I cannot +remember that you have any _faults._ You have defects, of course, as +all mortals have, but I do not know that you have a single fault." + +"While Margaret recovered, the father was taken suddenly with cholera, +and died after a two days' illness. He was sadly missed, for at heart +he was devoted to his family. When the estate was settled, there was +little left for each; so for Margaret life would be more laborious +than ever. She had expected to visit Europe with Harriet Martineau, +who was just returning home from a visit to this country, but the +father's death crushed this long-cherished and ardently-prayed-for +journey. She must stay at home and work for others. + +Books were read now more eagerly than ever,--_Sartor Resartus_, +Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Heine. But money must be earned. Ah! if +genius could only develop in ease and prosperity. It rarely has the +chance. The tree grows best when the dirt is oftenest stirred about +the roots; perhaps the best in us comes only from such stirring. + +Margaret now obtained a situation as teacher of French and Latin in +Bronson Alcott's school. Here she was appreciated by both master and +pupils. Mr. Alcott said, "I think her the most brilliant talker of +the day. She has a quick and comprehensive wit, a firm command of her +thoughts, and a speech to win the ear of the most cultivated." She +taught advanced classes in German and Italian, besides having several +private pupils. + +Before this time she had become a valued friend of the Emerson family. +Mr. Emerson says, "Sometimes she stayed a few days, often a week, more +seldom a month, and all tasks that could be suspended were put aside +to catch the favorable hour in walking, riding, or boating, to talk +with this joyful guest, who brought wit, anecdotes, love-stories, +tragedies, oracles with her.... The day was never long enough to +exhaust her opulent memory, and I, who knew her intimately for ten +years, never saw her without surprise at her new powers." + +She was passionately fond of music and of art, saying, "I have been +very happy with four hundred and seventy designs of Raphael in my +possession for a week." She loved nature like a friend, paying homage +to rocks and woods and flowers. She said, "I hate not to be beautiful +when all around is so." + +After teaching with Mr. Alcott, she became the principal teacher in a +school at Providence, R.I. Here, as ever, she showed great wisdom both +with children and adults. The little folks in the house were allowed +to look at the gifts of many friends in her room, on condition that +they would not touch them. One day a young visitor came, and insisted +on taking down a microscope, and broke it. The child who belonged +in the house was well-nigh heart-broken over the affair, and, though +protesting her innocence, was suspected both of the deed and of +falsehood. Miss Fuller took the weeping child upon her knee, saying, +"Now, my dear little girl, tell me all about it; only remember +that you must be careful, for I shall believe every word you say." +Investigation showed that the child thus confided in told the whole +truth. + +After two years in Providence she returned to Boston, and in 1839 +began a series of parlor lectures, or "conversations," as they were +called. This seemed a strange thing for a woman, when public speaking +by her sex was almost unknown. These talks were given weekly, +from eleven o'clock till one, to twenty-five or thirty of the most +cultivated women of the city. Now the subject of discussion was +Grecian mythology; now it was fine arts, education, or the relations +of woman to the family, the church, society, and literature. These +meetings were continued through five winters, supplemented by evening +"conversations," attended by both men and women. In these gatherings +Margaret was at her best,--brilliant, eloquent, charming. + +During this time a few gifted men, Emerson, Channing, and others, +decided to start a literary and philosophical magazine called the +_Dial_. Probably no woman in the country would have been chosen as the +editor, save Margaret Fuller. She accepted the position, and for four +years managed the journal ably, writing for it some valuable essays. +Some of these were published later in her book on _Literature and +Art_. Her _Woman in the Nineteenth Century_, a learned and vigorous +essay on woman's place in the world, first appeared in part in the +_Dial_. Of this work, she said, in closing it, "After taking a long +walk, early one most exhilarating morning, I sat down to work, and did +not give it the last stroke till near nine in the evening. Then I felt +a delightful glow, as if I had put a good deal of my true life in it, +and as if, should I go away now, the measure of my footprint would be +left on the earth." + +Miss Fuller had published, besides these works, two books of +translations from the German, and a sketch of travel called _Summer +on the Lakes_. Her experience was like that of most authors who are +beginning,--some fame, but no money realized. All this time she was +frail in health, overworked, struggling against odds to make a living +for herself and those she loved. But there were some compensations +in this life of toil. One person wrote her, "What I am I owe in large +measure to the stimulus you imparted. You roused my heart with high +hopes; you raised my aims from paltry and vain pursuits to those which +lasted and fed the soul; you inspired me with a great ambition, and +made me see the worth and the meaning of life." + +William Hunt, the renowned artist, was looking in a book that lay on +the table of a friend. It was Mrs. Jameson's _Italian Painters._ In +describing Correggio, she said he was "one of those superior beings of +whom there are so few." Margaret had written on the margin, "And +yet all might be such." Mr. Hunt said, "These words struck out a new +strength in me. They revived resolutions long fallen away, and made me +set my face like a flint." + +Margaret was now thirty-four. The sister was married, the brothers had +finished their college course, and she was about to accept an +offer from the _New York Tribune_ to become one of its constant +contributors, an honor that few women would have received. Early in +December, 1844, Margaret moved to New York and became a member of +Mr. Greeley's family. Her literary work here was that of, says Mr. +Higginson, "the best literary critic whom America has yet seen." + +Sometimes her reviews, like those on the poetry of Longfellow and +Lowell, were censured, but she was impartial and able. Society opened +wide its doors to her, as it had in Boston. Mrs. Greeley became her +devoted friend, and their little son "Pickie," five years old, the +idol of Mr. Greeley, her restful playmate. + +A year and a half later an opportunity came for Margaret to go to +Europe. Now, at last, she would see the art-galleries of the old +world, and places rich in history, like Rome. Still there was the +trouble of scanty means, and poor health from overwork. She said, "A +noble career is yet before me, if I can be unimpeded by cares. If +our family affairs could now be so arranged that I might be tolerably +tranquil for the next six or eight years, I should go out of life +better satisfied with the page I have turned in it than I shall if I +must still toil on." + +After two weeks on the ocean, the party of friends arrived in +London, and Miss Fuller received a cordial welcome. Wordsworth, now +seventy-six, showed her the lovely scenery of Rydal Mount, pointing +out as his especial pride, his avenue of hollyhocks--crimson, +straw-color, and white. De Quincey showed her many courtesies. Dr. +Chalmers talked eloquently, while William and Mary Howitt seemed like +old friends. Carlyle invited her to his home. "To interrupt him," she +said, "is a physical impossibility. If you get a chance to remonstrate +for a moment, he raises his voice and bears you down." + +In Paris, Margaret attended the Academy lectures, saw much of George +Sand, waded through melting snow at Avignon to see Laura's tomb, and +at last was in Italy, the country she had longed to see. Here Mrs. +Jameson, Powers, and Greenough, and the Brownings and Storys, were her +warm friends. Here she settled down to systematic work, trying to keep +her expenses for six months within four hundred dollars. Still, when +most cramped for means herself, she was always generous. Once, when +living on a mere pittance, she loaned fifty dollars to a needy artist. +In New York she gave an impecunious author five hundred dollars to +publish his book, and, of course, never received a dollar in return. +Yet the race for life was wearing her out. So tired was she that she +said, "I should like to go to sleep, and be born again into a state +where my young life should not be prematurely taxed." + +Meantime the struggle for Italian unity was coming to its climax. +Mazzini and his followers were eager for a republic. Pius IX. had +given promises to the Liberal party, but afterwards abandoned it, and +fled to Gaeta. Then Mazzini turned for help to the President of the +French Republic, Louis Napoleon, who, in his heart, had no love for +republics, but sent an army to reinstate the Pope. Rome, when she +found herself betrayed, fought like a tiger. Men issued from the +workshops with their tools for weapons, while women from the housetops +urged them on. One night over one hundred and fifty bombs were thrown +into the heart of the city. + +Margaret was the friend of Mazzini, and enthusiastic for Roman +liberty. All those dreadful months she ministered to the wounded and +dying in the hospitals, and was their "saint," as they called her. + +But there was another reason why Margaret Fuller loved Italy. + +Soon after her arrival in Rome, as she was attending vespers at St. +Peter's with a party of friends, she became separated from them. +Failing to find them, seeing her anxious face, a young Italian came +up to her, and politely offered to assist her. Unable to regain her +friends, Angelo Ossoli walked with her to her home, though he could +speak no English, and she almost no Italian. She learned afterward +that he was of a noble and refined family; that his brothers were in +the Papal army, and that he was highly respected. + +After this he saw Margaret once or twice, when she left Rome for some +months. On her return, he renewed the acquaintance, shy and quiet +though he was, for her influence seemed great over him. His father, +the Marquis Ossoli, had just died, and Margaret, with her large heart, +sympathized with him, as she alone knew how to sympathize. He joined +the Liberals, thus separating himself from his family, and was made a +captain of the Civic Guard. + +Finally he confessed to Margaret that he loved her, and that he "must +marry her or be miserable." She refused to listen to him as a lover, +said he must marry a younger woman,--she was thirty-seven, and he but +thirty,--but she would be his friend. For weeks he was dejected and +unhappy. She debated the matter with her own heart. Should she, +who had had many admirers, now marry a man her junior, and not of +surpassing intellect, like her own? If she married him, it must be +kept a secret till his father's estate was settled, for marriage with +a Protestant would spoil all prospect of an equitable division. + +Love conquered, and she married the young Marquis Ossoli in December, +1847. He gave to Margaret the kind of love which lasts after marriage, +veneration of her ability and her goodness. "Such tender, unselfish +love," writes Mrs. Story, "I have rarely before seen; it made green +her days, and gave her an expression of peace and serenity which +before was a stranger to her. When she was ill, he nursed and watched +over her with the tenderness of a woman. No service was too trivial, +no sacrifice too great for him. 'How sweet it is to do little things +for you,' he would say." + +To her mother, Margaret wrote, though she did not tell her secret, +"I have not been so happy since I was a child, as during the last six +weeks." + +But days of anxiety soon came, with all the horrors of war. Ossoli was +constantly exposed to death, in that dreadful siege of Rome. Then Rome +fell, and with it the hopes of Ossoli and his wife. There would be +neither fortune nor home for a Liberal now--only exile. Very sadly +Margaret said goodbye to the soldiers in the hospitals, brave fellows +whom she honored, who in the midst of death itself, would cry "Viva l' +Italia!" + +But before leaving Rome, a day's journey must be made to Rieta, at the +foot of the Umbrian Apennines. And for what? The most precious thing +of Margaret's life was there,--her baby. The fair child, with blue +eyes and light hair like her own, had already been named by the people +in the house, Angelino, from his beauty. She had always been fond +of children. Emerson's Waldo, for whom _Threnody_ was written was an +especial favorite; then "Pickie," Mr. Greeley's beautiful boy, and now +a new joy had come into her heart, a child of her own. She wrote to +her mother: "In him I find satisfaction, for the first time, to +the deep wants of my heart. Nothing but a child can take the worst +bitterness out of life, and break the spell of loneliness. I shall not +be alone in other worlds, whenever Eternity may call me.... I wake in +the night,--I look at him. He is so beautiful and good, I could die +for him!" + +When Ossoli and Margaret reached Rieta, what was their horror to find +their child worn to a skeleton, half starved through the falsity of a +nurse. For four weeks the distressed parents coaxed him back to life, +till the sweet beauty of the rounded face came again, and then they +carried him to Florence, where, despite poverty and exile, they were +happy. + +"In the morning," she says, "as soon as dressed, he signs to come into +our room; then draws our curtain with his little dimpled hand, kisses +me rather violently, and pats my face.... I feel so refreshed by his +young life, and Ossoli diffuses such a power and sweetness over every +day, that I cannot endure to think yet of our future.... It is very +sad we have no money, we could be so quietly happy a while. I rejoice +in all Ossoli did; but the results, in this our earthly state, are +disastrous, especially as my strength is now so impaired. This much I +hope--in life or death, to be no more separated from Angelino." + +Margaret's friends now urged her return to America. She had nearly +finished a history of Rome in this trying time, 1848, and could better +attend to its publication in this country. Ossoli, though coming to a +land of strangers, could find something to help, support the family. + +To save expense, they started from Leghorn, May 17, 1850, in the +_Elizabeth_, a sailing vessel, though Margaret dreaded the two months' +voyage, and had premonitions of disaster. She wrote: "I have a vague +expectation of some crisis,--I know not what. But it has long seemed +that, in the year 1850, I should stand on a plateau in the ascent of +life, when I should be allowed to pause for a while, and take more +clear and commanding views than ever before. Yet my life proceeds as +regularly as the fates of a Greek tragedy, and I can but accept the +pages as they turn.... I shall embark, praying fervently that it may +not be my lot to lose my boy at sea, either by unsolaced illness, or +amid the howling waves; or, if so, that Ossoli, Angelo, and I may go +together, and that the anguish may be brief." + +For a few days all went well on shipboard; and then the noble Captain +Hasty died of small-pox, and was buried at sea. Angelino took this +dread disease, and for a time his life was despaired of, but he +finally recovered, and became a great pet with the sailors. Margaret +was putting the last touches to her book. Ossoli and young Sumner, +brother of Charles, gave each other lessons in Italian and English, +and thus the weeks went by. + +On Thursday, July 18, after two months, the _Elizabeth_ stood off the +Jersey coast, between Cape May and Barnegat. Trunks were packed, good +nights were spoken, and all were happy, for they would be in New York +on the morrow. At nine that night a gale arose; at midnight it was +a hurricane; at four o'clock, Friday morning, the ship struck Fire +Island beach. The passengers sprung from their berths. "We must die!" +said Sumner to Mrs. Hasty. "Let us die calmly, then!" was the response +of the widow of the captain. + +At first, as the billows swept over the vessel, Angelino, wet and +afraid, began to cry; but his mother held him closely in her arms and +sang him to sleep. Noble courage on a sinking ship! The Italian girl +who had come with them was in terror; but after Ossoli prayed with +her, she became calm. For hours they waited anxiously for help from +the shore. They could see the life-boat, and the people collecting the +spoils which had floated thither from the ship, but no relief came. +One sailor and another sprang into the waves and saved themselves. +Then Sumner jumped overboard, but sank. + +One of the sailors suggested that if each passenger sit on a plank, +holding on by ropes, they would attempt to push him or her to land. +Mrs. Hasty was the first to venture, and after being twice washed +off, half-drowned, reached the shore. Then Margaret was urged, but she +hesitated, unless all three could be saved. Every moment the danger +increased. The crew were finally ordered "to save themselves," but +four remained with the passengers. It was useless to look longer +to the people on shore for help, though it was now past three +o'clock,--twelve hours since the vessel struck. + +Margaret had finally been induced to try the plank. The steward had +taken Angelino in his arms, promising to save him or die with him, +when a strong sea swept the forecastle, and all went down together. +Ossoli caught the rigging for a moment, but Margaret sank at once. +When last seen, she was seated at the foot of the foremast, still +clad in her white nightdress, with her hair fallen loose upon her +shoulders. Angelino and the steward were washed upon the beach +twenty minutes later, both dead, though warm. Margaret's prayer was +answered,--that they "might go together, and that the anguish might be +brief." + +The pretty boy of two years was dressed in a child's frock taken from +his mother's trunk, which had come to shore, laid in a seaman's +chest, and buried in the sand, while the sailors, who loved him, +stood around, weeping. His body was finally removed to Mt. Auburn, and +buried in the family lot. The bodies of Ossoli and Margaret were never +recovered. The only papers of value which came to shore were their +love letters, now deeply prized. The book ready for publication was +never found. + +When those on shore were asked why they did not launch the life-boat, +they replied, "Oh! if we had known there were any such persons of +importance on board, we should have tried to do our best!" + +Thus, at forty, died one of the most gifted women in America, when her +work seemed just begun. To us, who see how the world needed her, her +death is a mystery; to Him who "worketh all things after the counsel +of His own will" there is no mystery. She filled her life with +charities and her mind with knowledge, and such are ready for the +progress of Eternity. + + + + +MARIA MITCHELL. + +[Illustration: MARIA MITCHELL.] + + +In the quiet, picturesque island of Nantucket, in a simple home, lived +William and Lydia Mitchell with their family of ten children. William +had been a school-teacher, beginning when he was eighteen years of +age, and receiving two dollars a week in winter, while in summer he +kept soul and body together by working on a small farm, and fishing. + +In this impecunious condition he had fallen in love with and married +Lydia Coleman, a true-hearted Quaker girl, a descendant of Benjamin +Franklin, one singularly fitted to help him make his way in life. She +was quick, intelligent, and attractive in her usual dress of white, +and was the clerk of the Friends' meeting where he attended. She +was enthusiastic in reading, becoming librarian successively of two +circulating libraries, till she had read every book upon the +shelves, and then in the evenings repeating what she had read to her +associates, her young lover among them. + +When they were married, they had nothing but warm hearts and willing +hands to work together. After a time William joined his father in +converting a ship-load of whale oil into soap, and then a little +money was made; but at the end of seven years he went back to +school-teaching because he loved the work. At first he had charge of +a fine grammar school established at Nantucket, and later, of a school +of his own. + +Into this school came his third child, Maria, shy and retiring, with +all her mother's love of reading. Faithful at home, with, as she says, +"an endless washing of dishes," not to be wondered at where there were +ten little folks, she was not less faithful at school. The teacher +could not help seeing that his little daughter had a mind which would +well repay all the time he could spend upon it. + +While he was a good school-teacher, he was an equally good student of +nature, born with a love of the heavens above him. When eight years +old, his father called him to the door to look at the planet Saturn, +and from that time the boy calculated his age from the position of +the planet, year by year. Always striving to improve himself, when he +became a man, he built a small observatory upon his own land, that he +might study the stars. He was thus enabled to earn one hundred dollars +a year in the work of the United States Coast Survey. Teaching at +two dollars a week, and fishing, could not always cramp a man of such +aspiring mind. + +Brought up beside the sea, he was as broad as the sea in his thought +and true nobility of character. He could see no reason why his +daughters should not be just as well educated as his sons. He +therefore taught Maria the same as his boys, giving her especial drill +in navigation. Perhaps it is not strange that after such teaching, +his daughter could have no taste for making worsted work or Kensington +stitches. She often says to this day, "A woman might be learning seven +languages while she is learning fancy work," and there is little doubt +that the seven languages would make her seven times more valuable as +a wife and mother. If teaching navigation to girls would give us +a thousand Maria Mitchells in this country, by all means let it be +taught. + +Maria left the public school at sixteen, and for a year attended a +private school; then, loving mathematics, and being deeply interested +in her father's studies, she became at seventeen his helper in the +work of the Coast Survey. This astronomical labor brought Professors +Agassiz, Bache, and other noted men to the quiet Mitchell home, and +thus the girl heard the stimulating conversation of superior minds. + +But the family needed more money. Though Mr. Mitchell wrote articles +for _Silliman's Journal_, and delivered an able course of lectures +before a Boston society of which Daniel Webster was president, +scientific study did not put many dollars in a man's pocket. An elder +sister was earning three hundred dollars yearly by teaching, and Maria +felt that she too must help more largely to share the family burdens. +She was offered the position of librarian at the Nantucket library, +with a salary of sixty dollars the first year, and seventy-five the +second. While a dollar and twenty cents a week seemed very little, +there would be much time for study, for the small island did not +afford a continuous stream of readers. She accepted the position, +and for twenty years, till youth had been lost in middle life, Maria +Mitchell worked for one hundred dollars a year, studying on, that she +might do her noble work in the world. + +Did not she who loved nature, long for the open air and the blue sky, +and for some days of leisure which so many girls thoughtlessly waste? +Yes, doubtless. However, the laws of life are as rigid as mathematics. +A person cannot idle away the hours and come to prominence. No great +singer, no great artist, no great scientist, comes to honor without +continuous labor. Society devotees are heard of only for a day or a +year, while those who develop minds and ennoble hearts have lasting +remembrance. + +Miss Mitchell says, "I was born of only ordinary capacity, but of +extraordinary persistency," and herein is the secret of a great life. +She did not dabble in French or music or painting and give it up; she +went steadily on to success. Did she neglect home duties? Never. She +knit stockings a yard long for her aged father till his death, usually +studying while she knit. To those who learn to be industrious early in +life, idleness is never enjoyable. + +There was another secret of Miss Mitchell's success. She read good +books early in life. She says: "We always had books, and were bookish +people. There was a public library in Nantucket before I was born. +It was not a free library, but we always paid the subscription of +one dollar per annum, and always read and studied from it. I remember +among its volumes Hannah More's books and Rollin's _Ancient History_. +I remember too that Charles Folger, the present Secretary of the +Treasury, and I had both read this latter work through before we were +ten years old, though neither of us spoke of it to the other until a +later period." + +All this study had made Miss Mitchell a superior woman. It was not +strange, therefore, that fame should come to her. One autumn night, +October, 1847, she was gazing through the telescope, as usual, when, +lo! she was startled to perceive an unknown comet. She at once told +her father, who thus wrote to Professor William C. Bond, director of +the Observatory at Cambridge: -- + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--I write now merely to say that + Maria discovered a telescopic comet at half-past ten on + the evening of the first instant, at that hour nearly above + Polaris five degrees. Last evening it had advanced + westerly; this evening still further, and nearing the pole. + It does not bear illumination. Maria has obtained its + right ascension and declination, and will not suffer me to + announce it. Pray tell me whether it is one of Georgi's, + and whether it has been seen by anybody. Maria supposes + it may be an old story. If quite convenient, just + drop a line to her; it will oblige me much. I expect to + leave home in a day or two, and shall be in Boston next + week, and I would like to have her hear from you before I + can meet you. I hope it will not give thee much trouble + amidst thy close engagements. Our regards are to all of + you most truly. + +WILLIAM MITCHELL. + +The answer showed that Miss Mitchell had indeed made a new discovery. +Frederick VI., King of Denmark, had, sixteen years before, offered a +gold medal of the value of twenty ducats to whoever should discover +a telescopic comet. That no mistake might be made as to the real +discoverer, the condition was made that word be sent at once to the +Astronomer Royal of England. This the Mitchells had not done, +on account of their isolated position. Hon. Edward Everett, then +President of Harvard College, wrote to the American Minister at the +Danish Court, who in turn presented the evidence to the King. "It +would gratify me," said Mr. Mitchell, "that this generous monarch +should know that there is a love of science even in this, to him, +remote corner of the earth." + +The medal was at last awarded, and the woman astronomer of Nantucket +found herself in the scientific journals and in the press as the +discoverer of "Miss Mitchell's Comet." Another had been added to the +list of Mary Somervilles and Caroline Herschels. Perhaps there was +additional zest now in the mathematical work in the Coast Survey. She +also assisted in compiling the _American Nautical Almanac_, and wrote +for the scientific periodicals. Did she break down from her unusual +brain work? Oh, no! Probably astronomical work was not nearly so hard +as her mother's,--the care of a house and ten children! + +For ten years more Miss Mitchell worked in the library, and in +studying the heavens. But she had longed to see the observatories of +Europe, and the great minds outside their quiet island. Therefore, +in 1857, she visited England, and was at once welcomed to the most +learned circles. Brains always find open doors. Had she been rich or +beautiful simply, Sir John Herschel, and Lady Herschell as well, would +not have reached out both hands, and said, "You are always welcome at +this house," and given her some of his own calculations? and some of +his Aunt Caroline's writing. Had she been rich or handsome simply, +Alexander Von Humboldt would not have taken her to his home, and, +seating himself beside her on the sofa, talked, as she says, "on +all manner of subjects, and on all varieties of people. He spoke of +Kansas, India, China, observatories; of Bache, Maury, Gould, Ticknor, +Buchanan, Jefferson, Hamilton, Brunow, Peters, Encke, Airy, Leverrier, +Mrs. Somerville, and a host of others." + +What, if he had said these things to some women who go abroad! It is +safe for women who travel to read widely, for ignorance is quickly +detected. Miss Mitchell said of Humboldt: "He is handsome--his hair +is thin and white, his eyes very blue. He is a little deaf, and so is +Mrs. Somerville. He asked me what instruments I had, and what I was +doing; and when I told him that I was interested in the variable +stars, he said I must go to Bonn and see Agelander." + +There was no end of courtesies to the scholarly woman. Professor +Adams, of Cambridge, who, with his charming wife, years afterward +helped to make our own visit to the University a delight, showed +her the spot on which he made his computations for Neptune, which +he discovered at the same time as Leverrier. Sir George Airy, the +Astronomer Royal of England, wrote to Leverrier in Paris to announce +her coming. When they met, she said, "His English was worse than my +French." + +Later she visited Florence, where she met, several times, Mrs. +Somerville, who, she says, "talks with all the readiness and clearness +of a man," and is still "very gentle and womanly, without the least +pretence or the least coldness." She gave Miss Mitchell two of her +books, and desired a photographed star sent to Florence. "She had +never heard of its being done, and saw at once the importance of such +a step." She said with her Scotch accent, "Miss Mitchell, ye have done +yeself great credit." + +In Rome she saw much of the Hawthornes, of Miss Bremer, who was +visiting there, and of the artists. From here she went to Venice, +Vienna, and Berlin, where she met Encke, the astronomer, who took her +to see the wedding presents of the Princess Royal. + +Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in an admirable sketch of Miss Mitchell, tells +how the practical woman, with her love of republican institutions, +was impressed. "The presents were in two rooms," says Miss Mitchell, +"ticketed and numbered, and a catalogue of them sold. All the +manufacturing companies availed themselves of the opportunity to +advertise their commodities, I suppose, as she had presents of all +kinds. What she will do with sixty albums I can't see, but I can +understand the use of two clothes-lines, because she can lend one to +her mother, who must have a large Monday's wash!" + +After a year, Miss Mitchell returned to her simple Nantucket home, +as devoted to her parents and her scientific work as ever. Two years +afterward, in 1860, her good mother died, and a year later, desiring +to be near Boston, the family removed to Lynn. Here Miss Mitchell +purchased a small house for sixteen hundred and fifty dollars. From +her yearly salary of one hundred dollars, and what she could earn +in her government work, she had saved enough to buy a home for +her father! The rule is that the fathers wear themselves out for +daughters; the rule was reversed in this case. + +Miss Mitchell now earned five hundred dollars yearly for her +government computations, while her father received a pension of three +hundred more for his efficient services. Five years thus passed +quietly and comfortably. + +Meanwhile another life was carrying out its cherished plan, and Miss +Mitchell, unknowingly, was to have an important part in it. Soon +after the Revolutionary War there came to this country an English +wool-grower and his family, and settled on a little farm near the +Hudson River. The mother, a hard-working and intelligent woman, +was eager in her help toward earning a living, and would drive the +farm-wagon to market, with butter and eggs, and fowls, while her +seven-year-old boy sat beside her. To increase the income some English +ale was brewed. The lad grew up with an aversion to making beer, and +when fourteen, his father insisting that he should enter the business, +his mother helped him to run away. Tying all his worldly possessions, +a shirt and pair of stockings, in a cotton handkerchief, the mother +and her boy walked eight miles below Poughkeepsie, when, giving him +all the money she had, seventy-five cents, she kissed him, and with +tears in her eyes saw him cross the ferry and land safely on the other +side. He trudged on till a place was found in a country store, and +here, for five years, he worked honestly and industriously, coming +home to his now reconciled father with one hundred and fifty dollars +in his pocket. + +Changes had taken place. The father's brewery had burned, the oldest +son had been killed in attempting to save something from the wreck, +all were poorer than ever, and there seemed nothing before the boy of +nineteen but to help support the parents, his two unmarried sisters, +and two younger brothers. Whether he had the old dislike for the ale +business or not, he saw therein a means of support, and adopted +it. The world had not then thought so much about the misery which +intoxicants cause, and had not learned that we are better off without +stimulants than with them. + +Every day the young man worked in his brewery, and in the evening till +midnight tended a small oyster house, which he had opened. Two years +later, an Englishman who had seen Matthew Vassar's untiring industry +and honesty, offered to furnish all the capital which he needed. The +long, hard road of poverty had opened at last into a field of plenty. +Henceforward, while there was to be work and economy, there was to be +continued prosperity, and finally, great wealth. + +Realizing his lack of early education, he began to improve himself by +reading science, art, history, poetry, and the Bible. He travelled in +Europe, and being a close observer, was a constant learner. + +One day, standing by the great London hospital, built by Thomas Guy, +a relative, and endowed by him with over a million dollars, Mr. Vassar +read these words on the pedestal of the bronze statue:-- + + SOLE FOUNDER OF THE HOSPITAL. + IN HIS LIFETIME. + +The last three words left a deep impression on his mind. He had no +children. He desired to leave his money where it would be of permanent +value to the world. He debated many plans in his own mind. It is +said that his niece, a hard-working teacher, Lydia Booth, finally +influenced him to his grand decision. + +There was no real college for women in the land. He talked the matter +over with his friends, but they were full of discouragements. "Women +will never desire college training," said some. "They will be ruined +in health, if they attempt it," said others. "Science is not needed +by women; classical education is not needed; they must have something +appropriate to their sphere," was constantly reiterated. Some wise +heads thought they knew just what that education should be, and just +what were the limits of woman's sphere; but Matthew Vassar had his own +thoughts. + +Calling together, Feb. 26, 1861, some twenty or thirty of the men in +the State most conversant with educational matters, the white-haired +man, now nearly seventy, laid his hand upon a round tin box, labelled +"Vassar College Papers," containing four hundred thousand dollars in +bonds and securities, and said: "It has long been my desire, after +suitably providing for those of my kindred who have claims upon me, +to make such a disposition of my means as should best honor God and +benefit my fellow-men. At different periods I have regarded various +plans with favor; but these have all been dismissed one after another, +until the subject of erecting and endowing a college for the education +of young women was presented for my consideration. The novelty, +grandeur, and benignity of the idea arrested my attention. + +"It occurred to me that woman, having received from the Creator the +same intellectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to +intellectual culture and development. + +"I considered that the mothers of a country mould its citizens, +determine its institutions, and shape its destiny. + +"It has also seemed to me that if woman was properly educated, some +new avenues of useful and honorable employment, in entire harmony with +the gentleness and modesty of her sex, might be opened to her. + +"It further appeared, there is not in our country, there is not in +the world, so far as known, a single fully endowed institution for +the education of women.... I have come to the conclusion that the +establishment and endowment of a COLLEGE FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG +WOMEN is a work which will satisfy my highest aspirations, and will +be, under God, a rich blessing to this city and State, to our country +and the world. + +"It is my hope to be the instrument in the hands of Providence, of +founding and perpetuating an institution _which shall accomplish for +young women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men_." + +For four years Matthew Vassar watched the great buildings take form +and shape in the midst of two hundred acres of lake and river and +green sward, near Poughkeepsie; the main building, five hundred feet +long, two hundred broad, and five stories high; the museum of natural +history, with school of art and library; the great observatory, three +stories high, furnished with the then third largest telescope in the +country. + +In 1865 Vassar College was opened, and three hundred and fifty +students came pouring in from all parts of the land. Girls, after all, +did desire an education equal to that of young men. Matthew Vassar +was right. His joy seemed complete. He visited the college daily, +and always received the heartiest welcome. Each year his birthday +was celebrated as "Founder's Day." On one of these occasions he said: +"This is almost more happiness than I can bear. This one day more than +repays me for all I have done." An able and noble man, John Howard +Raymond, was chosen president. + +Mr. Vassar lived but three years after his beloved institution was +opened. June 23, 1868, the day before commencement, he had called the +members of the Board around him to listen to his customary address. +Suddenly, when he had nearly finished, his voice ceased, the paper +dropped from his hand, and--he was dead! His last gifts amounted to +over five hundred thousand dollars, making in all $989,122.00 for +the college. The poor lad wrought as he had hoped, a blessing "to the +country and the world." His nephews, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy +Vassar, have given over one hundred and forty thousand dollars. + +After the observatory was completed, there was but one wish as to who +should occupy it; of course, the person desired was Maria Mitchell. +She hesitated to accept the position. Her father was seventy and +needed her care, but he said, "Go, and I will go with you." So she +left her Lynn home for the arduous position of a teacher. For four +years Mr. Mitchell lived to enjoy the enthusiastic work of his +gifted daughter. He said, "Among the teachers and pupils I have made +acquaintances that a prince might covet." + +Miss Mitchell makes the observatory her home. Here are her books, her +pictures, her great astronomical clock, and a bust of Mrs. Somerville, +the gift of Frances Power Cobbe. Here for twenty years she has helped +to make Vassar College known and honored both at home and abroad. +Hundreds have been drawn thither by her name and fame. A friend of +mine who went, intending to stay two years, remained five, for her +admiration of and enjoyment in Miss Mitchell. She says: "She is one of +the few genuine persons I have ever known. There is not one particle +of deceit about her. For girls who accomplish something, she has great +respect; for idlers, none. She has no sentimentality, but much wit and +common sense. No one can be long under her teaching without learning +dignity of manner and self-reliance." + +She dresses simply, in black or gray, somewhat after the fashion of +her Quaker ancestors. Once when urging economy upon the girls, she +said, "All the clothing I have on cost but seventeen dollars, and four +suits would last each of you a year." There was a quiet smile, but +no audible expression of a purpose to adopt Miss Mitchell's style of +dress. + +The pupils greatly honor and love the undemonstrative woman, who, they +well know, would make any sacrifices for their well-being. Each week +the informal gatherings at her rooms, where various useful topics +are discussed, are eagerly looked forward to. Chief of all, Miss +Mitchell's own bright and sensible talk is enjoyed. Her "dome +parties," held yearly in June, under the great dome of the +observatory, with pupils coming back from all over the country, +original poems read and songs sung, are among the joys of college +life. + +All these years the astronomer's fame has steadily increased. In 1868, +in the great meteoric shower, she and her pupils recorded the paths +of four thousand meteors, and gave valuable data of their height above +the earth. In the summer of 1869 she joined the astronomers who went +to Burlington, Iowa, to observe the total eclipse of the sun, Aug. 7. +Her observations on the transit of Venus were also valuable. She has +written much on the _Satellites of Saturn_, and has prepared a work on +the _Satellites of Jupiter_. + +In 1873 she again visited Europe, spending some time with the +family of the Russian astronomer, Professor Struve, at the Imperial +Observatory at Pultowa. + +She is an honor to her sex, a striking example of what a quiet country +girl can accomplish without money or fortuitous circumstances. + + * * * * * + +She resigned her position at Vassar in 1888. Miss Mitchell died on the +morning of June 28, 1889, at Lynn, Mass., at the age of seventy-one, +and was buried at Nantucket on Sunday afternoon, June 30. + + + + +LOUISA M. ALCOTT. + +[Illustration: LOUISA M. ALCOTT.] + + +A dozen of us sat about the dinner-table at the Hotel Bellevue, +Boston. One was the gifted wife of a gifted clergyman; one had written +two or three novels; one was a journalist; one was on the eve of a +long journey abroad; and one, whom we were all glad to honor, was the +brilliant author of _Little Women_. She had a womanly face, bright, +gray eyes, that looked full of merriment, and would not see the hard +side of life, and an air of common sense that made all defer to her +judgment. She told witty stories of the many who wrote her for +advice or favors, and good-naturedly gave bits of her own personal +experience. Nearly twenty years before, I had seen her, just after +her _Hospital Sketches_ were published, over which I, and thousands of +others, had shed tears. Though but thirty years old then, Miss Alcott +looked frail and tired. That was the day of her struggle with life. +Now, at fifty, she looked happy and comfortable. The desire of her +heart had been realized,--to do good to tens of thousands, and earn +enough money to care for those whom she loved. + +Louisa Alcott's life, like that of so many famous women, has been full +of obstacles. She was born in Germantown, Pa., Nov. 29, 1832, in the +home of an extremely lovely mother and cultivated father, Amos Bronson +Alcott. Beginning life poor, his desire for knowledge led him to +obtain an education and become a teacher. In 1830 he married Miss May, +a descendant of the well-known Sewells and Quincys, of Boston. Louise +Chandler Moulton says, in her excellent sketch of Miss Alcott, "I have +heard that the May family were strongly opposed to the union of their +beautiful daughter with the penniless teacher and philosopher;" but he +made a devoted husband, though poverty was long their guest. + +For eleven years, mostly in Boston, he was the earnest and successful +teacher. Margaret Fuller was one of his assistants. Everybody +respected his purity of life and his scholarship. His kindness +of heart made him opposed to corporal punishment, and in favor of +self-government. The world had not come then to his high ideal, +but has been creeping toward it ever since, until whipping, both in +schools and homes, is fortunately becoming one of the lost arts. + +He believed in making studies interesting to pupils; not the dull, +old-fashioned method of learning by rote, whereby, when a hymn was +taught, such as, "A Charge to keep I have," the children went home +to repeat to their astonished mothers, "Eight yards to keep I have," +having learned by ear, with no knowledge of the meaning of the words. +He had friendly talks with his pupils on all great subjects; and some +of these Miss Elizabeth Peabody, the sister of Mrs. Hawthorne, so +greatly enjoyed, that she took notes, and compiled them in a book. + +New England, always alive to any theological discussion, at once +pronounced the book unorthodox. Emerson had been through the same kind +of a storm, and bravely came to the defence of his friend. Another +charge was laid at Mr. Alcott's door: he was willing to admit colored +children to his school, and such a thing was not countenanced, except +by a few fanatics(?) like Whittier, and Phillips, and Garrison. The +heated newspaper discussion lessened the attendance at the school; and +finally, in 1839, it was discontinued, and the Alcott family moved to +Concord. + +Here were gifted men and women with whom the philosopher could feel at +home, and rest. Here lived Emerson, in the two-story drab house, +with horsechestnut-trees in front of it. Here lived Thoreau, near his +beautiful Walden Lake, a restful place, with no sound save, perchance, +the dipping of an oar or the note of a bird, which the lonely man +loved so well. Here he built his house, twelve feet square, and lived +for two years and a half, giving to the world what he desired others +to give,--his inner self. Here was his bean-field, where he "used to +hoe from five o'clock in the morning till noon," and made, as he said, +an intimate acquaintance with weeds, and a pecuniary profit of eight +dollars seventy-one and one-half cents! Here, too, was Hawthorne, +"who," as Oliver Wendell Holmes says, "brooded himself into a +dream-peopled solitude." + +Here Mr. Alcott could live with little expense and teach his four +daughters. Louisa, the eldest, was an active, enthusiastic child, +getting into little troubles from her frankness and lack of policy, +but making friends with her generous heart. Who can ever forget Jo in +_Little Women_, who was really Louisa, the girl who, when reproved +for whistling by Amy, the art-loving sister, says: "I hate affected, +niminy-piminy chits! I'm not a young lady; and if turning up my hair +makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty. I hate to +think I've got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and +look as prim as a china-aster! Its bad enough to be a girl, anyway, +when I like boy's games and work and manners!" + +At fifteen, "Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of +a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, +which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical +nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were +by turns fierce or funny or thoughtful. Her long, thick hair was her +one beauty, but it was usually bundled into a net to be out of her +way. Round shoulders had Jo, and big hands and feet, a fly-away look +to her clothes, and the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was +rapidly shooting up into a woman, and didn't like it." + +The four sisters lived a merry life in the Concord haunts, +notwithstanding their scanty means. Now, at the dear mother's +suggestion, they ate bread and milk for breakfast, that they might +carry their nicely prepared meal to a poor woman, with six children, +who called them _Engel-kinder_, much to Louisa's delight. Now they +improvised a stage, and produced real plays, while the neighbors +looked in and enjoyed the fun. + +Louisa was especially fond of reading Shakespeare, Goethe, Emerson, +Margaret Fuller, Miss Edgeworth, and George Sand. As early as eight +years of age she wrote a poem of eight lines, _To a Robin_, which her +mother carefully preserved, telling her that "if she kept on in this +hopeful way, she might be a second Shakespeare in time." Blessings on +those people who have a kind smile or a word of encouragement as we +struggle up the hard hills of life! + +At thirteen she wrote _My Kingdom_. When, years afterward, Mrs. Eva +Munson Smith wrote to her, asking for some poems for _Woman in Sacred +Song_, Miss Alcott sent her this one, saying, "It is the only hymn I +ever wrote. It was composed at thirteen, and as I still find the +same difficulty in governing my kingdom, it still expresses my soul's +desire, and I have nothing better to offer." + + "A little kingdom I possess + Where thoughts and feelings dwell, + And very hard the task I find + Of governing it well; + For passion tempts and troubles me, + A wayward will misleads, + And selfishness its shadow casts + On all my words and deeds. + + "How can I learn to rule myself, + To be the child I should, + Honest and brave, and never tire + Of trying to be good? + How can I keep a sunny soul + To shine along life's way? + How can I tune my little heart + To sweetly sing all day? + + "Dear Father, help me with the love + That casteth out my fear; + Teach me to lean on Thee, and feel + That Thou art very near: + That no temptation is unseen, + No childish grief too small, + Since Thou, with patience infinite, + Doth soothe and comfort all. + + "I do not ask for any crown, + But that which all may win; + Nor try to conquer any world + Except the one within. + Be Thou my guide until I find, + Led by a tender hand, + Thy happy kingdom in myself, + And dare to take command." + +Louisa was very imaginative, telling stories to her sisters and her +mates, and at sixteen wrote a book for Miss Ellen Emerson, entitled +_Flower Fables_. It was not published till six years later, and then, +being florid in style, did not bring her any fame. She was now anxious +to earn her support. She was not the person to sit down idly and +wait for marriage, or for some rich relation to care for her; but +she determined to make a place in the world for herself. She says in +_Little Women_, "Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; what +it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to tell her," and +at sixteen the time had come to make the attempt. + +She began to teach school with twenty pupils. Instead of the +theological talks which her father gave his scholars, she told them +stories, which she says made the one pleasant hour in her school-day. +Now the long years of work had begun--fifteen of them--which should +give the girl such rich yet sometimes bitter experiences, that she +could write the most fascinating books from her own history. Into her +volume called _Work_, published when she had become famous, she put +many of her own early sorrows in those of "Christie." + +Much of this time was spent in Boston. Sometimes she cared for an +invalid child; sometimes she was a governess; sometimes she did +sewing, adding to her slender means by writing late at night. +Occasionally she went to the house of Rev. Theodore Parker, where she +met Emerson, Sumner, Garrison, and Julia Ward Howe. Emerson always had +a kind word for the girl whom he had known in Concord, and Mr. Parker +would take her by the hand and say, "How goes it, my child? God bless +you; keep your heart up, Louisa," and then she would go home to her +lonely room, brave and encouraged. + +At nineteen, one of her early stories was published in _Gleason's +Pictorial_, and for this she received five dollars. How welcome was +this brain-money! Some months later she sent a story to the _Boston +Saturday Gazette_, entitled _The Rival Prima Donnas_, and, to her +great delight, received ten dollars; and what was almost better still, +a request from the editor for another story. Miss Alcott made the +_Rival Prima Donnas_ into a drama, and it was accepted by a theatre, +and would have been put upon the stage but for some disagreement among +the actors. However, the young teacher received for her work a pass to +the theatre for forty nights. She even meditated going upon the stage, +but the manager quite opportunely broke his leg, and the contract +was annulled. What would the boys and girls of America have lost, had +their favorite turned actress! + +A second story was, of course, written for the _Saturday Evening +Gazette_. And now Louisa was catching a glimpse of fame. She says, +"One of the memorial moments of my life is that in which, as I trudged +to school on a wintry day, my eye fell upon a large yellow poster with +these delicious words, '_Bertha_, a new tale by the author of _The +Rival Prima Donnas_, will appear in the _Saturday Evening Gazette_.' I +was late; it was bitter cold; people jostled me; I was mortally afraid +I should be recognized; but there I stood, feasting my eyes on the +fascinating poster, and saying proudly to myself, in the words of the +great Vincent Crummles, 'This, this is fame!' That day my pupils had +an indulgent teacher; for, while they struggled with their +pot-hooks, I was writing immortal works; and when they droned out the +multiplication table, I was counting up the noble fortune my pen +was to earn for me in the dim, delightful future. That afternoon my +sisters made a pilgrimage to behold this famous placard, and finding +it torn by the wind, boldly stole it, and came home to wave it like +a triumphal banner in the bosom of the excited family. The tattered +paper still exists, folded away with other relics of those early days, +so hard and yet so sweet, when the first small victories were won, and +the enthusiasm of youth lent romance to life's drudgery." + +Finding that there was money in sensational stories, she set herself +eagerly to work, and soon could write ten or twelve a month. She says +in _Little Women:_ "As long as _The Spread Eagle_ paid her a dollar a +column for her 'rubbish,' as she called it, Jo felt herself a woman +of means, and spun her little romances diligently. But great plans +fermented in her busy brain and ambitious mind, and the old tin +kitchen in the garret held a slowly increasing pile of blotted +manuscript, which was one day to place the name of March upon the roll +of fame." + +But sensational stories did not bring much fame, and the conscientious +Louisa tired of them. A novel, _Moods_, written at eighteen, shared +nearly the same fate as _Flower Fables_. Some critics praised, some +condemned, but the great world was indifferent. After this, she +offered a story to Mr. James T. Fields, at that time editor of the +_Atlantic Monthly_, but it was declined, with the kindly advice that +she stick to her teaching. But Louisa Alcott had a strong will and a +brave heart, and would not be overcome by obstacles. + +The Civil War had begun, and the school-teacher's heart was deeply +moved. She was now thirty, having had such experience as makes us very +tender toward suffering. The perfume of natures does not usually come +forth without bruising. She determined to go to Washington and offer +herself as a nurse at the hospital for soldiers. After much official +red tape, she found herself in the midst of scores of maimed and +dying, just brought from the defeat at Fredericksburg. She says: +"Round the great stove was gathered the dreariest group I ever +saw,--ragged, gaunt, and pale, mud to the knees, with bloody bandages +untouched since put on days before; many bundled up in blankets, coats +being lost or useless, and all wearing that disheartened look which +proclaimed defeat more plainly than any telegram, of the Burnside +blunder. I pitied them so much, I dared not speak to them. I yearned +to serve the dreariest of them all. + +"Presently there came an order, 'Tell them to take off socks, coats, +and shirts; scrub them well, put on clean shirts, and the attendants +will finish them off, and lay them in bed.' + +"I chanced to light on a withered old Irishman," she says, "wounded in +the head, which caused that portion of his frame to be tastefully +laid out like a garden, the bandages being the walks, and his hair the +shrubbery. He was so overpowered by the honor of having a lady wash +him, as he expressed it, that he did nothing but roll up his eyes and +bless me, in an irresistible style which was too much for my sense of +the ludicrous, so we laughed together; and when I knelt down to take +off his shoes, he wouldn't hear of my touching 'them dirty craters.' +Some of them took the performance like sleepy children, leaning their +tired heads against me as I worked; others looked grimly scandalized, +and several of the roughest colored like bashful girls." + +When food was brought, she fed one of the badly wounded men, and +offered the same help to his neighbor. "Thank you, ma'am," he said, "I +don't think I'll ever eat again, for I'm shot in the stomach. But I'd +like a drink of water, if you ain't too busy." + +"I rushed away," she says; "but the water pails were gone to be +refilled, and it was some time before they reappeared. I did not +forget my patient, meanwhile, and, with the first mugful, hurried back +to him. He seemed asleep; but something in the tired white face +caused me to listen at his lips for a breath. None came. I touched his +forehead; it was cold; and then I knew that, while he waited, a better +nurse than I had given him a cooler draught, and healed him with a +touch. I laid the sheet over the quiet sleeper, whom no noise could +now disturb; and, half an hour later, the bed was empty." + +With cheerful face and warm heart she went among the soldiers, now +writing letters, now washing faces, and now singing lullabies. One day +a tall, manly fellow was brought in. He seldom spoke, and uttered no +complaint. After a little, when his wounds were being dressed, Miss +Alcott observed the big tears roll down his cheeks and drop on the +floor. + +She says: "My heart opened wide and took him in, as, gathering the +bent head in my arms, as freely as if he had been a child, I said, +'Let me help you bear it, John!' Never on any human countenance have I +seen so swift and beautiful a look of gratitude, surprise, and comfort +as that which answered me more eloquently than the whispered-- + +"'Thank you, ma'am; this is right good! this is what I wanted.' + +"'Then why not ask for it before?' + +"'I didn't like to be a trouble, you seemed so busy, and I could +manage to get on alone.'" + +The doctors had told Miss Alcott that John must die, and she must take +the message to him; but she had not the heart to do it. One evening he +asked her to write a letter for him. "Shall it be addressed to wife or +mother, John?" + +"Neither, ma'am; I've got no wife, and will write to mother myself +when I get better. Mother's a widow; I'm the oldest child she has, +and it wouldn't do for me to marry until Lizzy has a home of her own, +and Jack's learned his trade; for we're not rich, and I must be father +to the children and husband to the dear old woman, if I can." + +"No doubt you are both, John; yet how came you to go to war, if you +felt so?" + +"I went because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory or the +pay; I wanted the right thing done, and people kept saying the men who +were in earnest ought to fight. I was in earnest, the Lord knows! but +I held off as long as I could, not knowing which was my duty. Mother +saw the case, gave me her ring to keep me steady, and said 'Go'; so I +went." + +"Do you ever regret that you came, when you lie here suffering so +much?" + +"Never, ma'am; I haven't helped a great deal, but I've shown I was +willing to give my life, and perhaps I've got to.... This is my first +battle; do they think it's going to be my last?" + +"I'm afraid they do, John." + +He seemed startled at first, but desired Miss Alcott to write the +letter to Jack, because he could best tell the sad news to the mother. +With a sigh, John said, "I hope the answer will come in time for me to +see it." + +Two days later Miss Alcott was sent for. John stretched out both hands +as he said, "I knew you'd come. I guess I'm moving on, ma'am." Then +clasping her hand so close that the death marks remained long upon +it, he slept the final sleep. An hour later John's letter came, +and putting it in his hand, Miss Alcott kissed the dead brow of the +Virginia blacksmith, for his aged mother's sake, and buried him in the +government lot. + +The noble teacher after a while became ill from overwork, and was +obliged to return home, soon writing her book, _Hospital Sketches_, +published in 1865. This year, needing rest and change, she went to +Europe as companion to an invalid lady, spending a year in Germany, +Switzerland, Paris, and London. In the latter city she met Jean +Ingelow, Frances Power Cobbe, John Stuart Mill, George Lewes, and +others, who had known of the brilliant Concord coterie. Such persons +did not ask if Miss Alcott were rich, nor did they care. + +In 1868 her father took several of her more recent stories to Roberts +Brothers to see about their publication in book form. Mr. Thomas +Niles, a member of the firm, a man of refinement and good judgment, +said: "We do not care just now for volumes of collected stories. Will +not your daughter write us a new book consisting of a single story for +girls?" + +Miss Alcott feared she could not do it, and set herself to write +_Little Women_, to show the publishers that she could _not_ write a +story for girls. But she did not succeed in convincing them or the +world of her inability. In two months the first part was finished, and +published October, 1868. It was a natural, graphic story of her three +sisters and herself in that simple Concord home. How we, who are +grown-up children, read with interest about the "Lawrence boy," +especially if we had boys of our own, and sympathized with the little +girl who wrote Miss Alcott, "I have cried quarts over Beth's sickness. +If you don't have her marry Laurie in the second part, I shall never +forgive you, and none of the girls in our school will ever read any +more of your books. Do! do! have her, please." + +The second part appeared in April, 1869, and Miss Alcott found herself +famous. The "pile of blotted manuscript" had "placed the name of March +upon the roll of fame." Some of us could not be reconciled to +dear Jo's marriage with the German professor, and their school at +Plumfield, when Laurie loved her so tenderly. "We cried over Beth, and +felt how strangely like most young housekeepers was Meg. How the tired +teacher, and tender-hearted nurse for the soldiers must have rejoiced +at her success! "This year," she wrote her publishers, "after toiling +so many years along the uphill road, always a hard one to women +writers, it is peculiarly grateful to me to find the way growing +easier at last, with pleasant little surprises blossoming on either +side, and the rough places made smooth." + +When _Little Men_ was announced, fifty thousand copies were ordered in +advance of its publication! About this time Miss Alcott visited Rome +with her artist sister May, the "Amy" of _Little Women_, and on +her return, wrote _Shawl-straps_, a bright sketch of their journey, +followed by an _Old-Fashioned Girl_; that charming book _Under the +Lilacs_, where your heart goes out to Ben and his dog Sancho; six +volumes of _Aunt Jo's Scrap-bag_; _Jack and Jill_; and others. +From these books Miss Alcott has already received about one hundred +thousand dollars. + +She has ever been the most devoted of daughters. Till the mother went +out of life, in 1877, she provided for her every want. May, the gifted +youngest sister, who was married in Paris in 1878 to Ernst Nieriker, +died a year and a half later, leaving her infant daughter, Louisa +May Nieriker, to Miss Alcott's loving care. The father, who became +paralyzed in 1882, now eighty-six years old, has had her constant +ministries. How proud he has been of his Louisa! I heard him say, +years ago, "I am riding in her golden chariot." + +Miss Alcott now divides her time between Boston and Concord. "The +Orchards," the Alcott home for twenty-five years, set in its frame of +grand trees, its walls and doors daintily covered with May Alcott's +sketches, has become the home of the "Summer School of Philosophy," +and Miss Alcott and her father live in the house where Thoreau died. + +Most of her stories have been written in Boston, where she finds +more inspiration than at Concord. "She never had a study," says Mrs. +Moulton; "any corner will answer to write in. She is not particular +as to pens and paper, and an old atlas on her knee is all the desk she +cares for. She has the wonderful power to carry a dozen plots in her +head at a time, thinking them over whenever she is in the mood. Often +in the dead waste and middle of the night she lies awake and plans +whole chapters. In her hardest working days she used to write fourteen +hours in the twenty-four, sitting steadily at her work, and scarcely +tasting food till her daily task was done. When she has a story to +write, she goes to Boston, hires a quiet room, and shuts herself up in +it. In a month or so the book will be done, and its author comes +out 'tired, hungry, and cross,' and ready to go back to Concord and +vegetate for a time." + +Miss Alcott, like Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is an earnest advocate of +woman's suffrage, and temperance. When Meg in _Little Women_ prevails +upon Laurie to take the pledge on her wedding-day, the delighted Jo +beams her approval. In 1883 she writes of the suffrage reform, "Every +year gives me greater faith in it, greater hope of its success, a +larger charity for those who cannot see its wisdom, and a more earnest +wish to use what influence I possess for its advancement." + +Miss Alcott has done a noble work for her generation. Her books have +been translated into foreign languages, and expressions of affection +have come to her from both east and west. She says, "As I turn my face +toward sunset, I find so much to make the down-hill journey smooth and +lovely, that, like Christian, I go on my way rejoicing with a cheerful +heart." + + * * * * * + +Miss Alcott died March 6, 1888, at the age of fifty-five, three +days after the death of her distinguished father, Bronson Alcott, +eighty-eight years old. She had been ill for some months, from care +and overwork. On the Saturday morning before she died, she wrote to +a friend: "I am told that I must spend another year in this 'Saint's +Rest,' and then I am promised twenty years of health. I don't want +so many, and I have no idea I shall see them. But as I don't live for +myself, I will live on for others." + +On the evening of the same day she became unconscious, and remained so +till her death, on Tuesday morning. + + + + +MARY LYON. + +[Illustration] + + +There are two women whose memory the girls in this country should +especially revere,--Mary Lyon and Catharine Beecher. When it was +unfashionable for women to know more than to read, write, and cipher +(the "three R's," as reading, writing, and arithmetic were called), +these two had the courage to ask that women have an education equal to +men, a thing which was laughed at as impracticable and impossible. To +these two pioneers we are greatly indebted for the grand educational +advantages for women to-day in America. + +Amid the mountains of Western Massachusetts, at Buckland, Feb. 28, +1797, the fifth of seven children, Mary Lyon came into the world, in +obscurity. The little farm-house was but one story high, in the midst +of rocks and sturdy trees. The father, Aaron Lyon, was a godly man, +beloved by all his neighbors,--"the peacemaker," he was called,--who +died at forty-five, leaving his little family well-nigh helpless--no, +not helpless, because the mother was of the same material of which +Eliza Garfields are made. + +Such women are above circumstances. She saw to it that the farm +yielded its best. She worked early and late, always cheerful, always +observing the Sabbath most devotedly, always keeping the children +clean and tidy. In her little garden the May pinks were the sweetest +and the peonies the reddest of any in the neighborhood. One person +begged to set a plant in the corner of her garden, sure that if Mrs. +Lyon tended it, it could never die. "How is it," said the hard-working +wife of a farmer, "that the widow can do more for me than any one +else?" She had her trials, but she saw no use in telling them +to others, so with a brave heart she took up her daily tasks and +performed them. + +Little Mary was an energetic, frank, warm-hearted child, full of +desire to help others. Her mind was eager in grasping new things, and +curious in its investigations. Once, when her mother had given her +some work to do, she climbed upon a chair to look at the hour-glass, +and said, as she studied it, "I know I have found a way to _make more +time_." + +At the village school she showed a remarkable memory and the power of +committing lessons easily. She was especially good in mathematics and +grammar. In four days she learned all of Alexander's Grammar, which +scholars were accustomed to commit, and recited it accurately to the +astonished teacher. + +When Mary was thirteen, the mother married a second time, and soon +after removed to Ohio. The girl remained at the old homestead, keeping +house for the only brother, and so well did she do the work, that he +gave her a dollar a week for her services. This she used in buying +books and clothes for school. Besides, she found opportunities to spin +and weave for some of the neighbors, and thus added a little more to +her purse. + +After five years, the brother married and sought a home in New York +State. Mary, thus thrown upon herself, began to teach school for +seventy-five cents a week and her board. This amount would not buy +many silks or embroideries, but Mary did not care much for these. "She +is all intellect," said a friend who knew her well; "she does not know +that she has a body to care for." + +She had now saved enough money to enable her to spend one term at the +Sanderson Academy at Ashfield. What an important event in life that +seemed to the struggling country girl! The scholars watched her +bright, intellectual face, and when she began to recite, laid aside +their books to hear her. The teacher said, "I should like to see what +she would make if she could be sent to college." When the term ended, +her little savings were all spent, and now she must teach again. If +she only could go forward with her classmates! but the laws of poverty +are inexorable. Just as she was leaving the school, the trustees came +and offered the advantages of the academy free, for another term. Did +ever such a gleam of sunshine come into a cloudy day? + +But how could she pay her board? She owned a, bed and some table +linen, and taking these to a boarding house, a bargain was made +whereby she could have a room and board in exchange for her household +articles. + +Her red-letter days had indeed come. She might never have a chance +for schooling again; so, without regard to health, she slept only four +hours out of the twenty-four, ate her meals hurriedly, and gave all +her time to her lessons. Not a scholar in the school could keep up +with her. When the teacher gave her Adams' _Latin Grammar_, telling +her to commit such portions as were usual in going over the book the +first time, she learned them all in three days! + +When the term closed, she had no difficulty in finding a place to +teach. All the towns around had heard of the surprising scholar, Mary +Lyon, and probably hoped she could inspire the same scholarship in her +pupils, a matter in which she was most successful. + +As soon as her schools were finished, she would spend the money in +obtaining instruction in some particular study, in which she thought +herself deficient. Now she would go into the family of Rev. Edward +Hitchcock, afterward president of Amherst College, and study natural +science of him, meantime taking lessons, of his wife in drawing +and painting. Now she would study penmanship, following the copy +as closely as a child. Once when a teacher, in deference to her +reputation, wrote the copy in Latin, she handed it back and asked him +to write in English, lest when the books were examined, she might be +thought wiser than she really was. Thus conscientious was the young +school-teacher. + +She was now twenty-four, and had laid up enough money to attend the +school of Rev. Joseph Emerson, at Byfield. He was an unusual man in +his gifts of teaching and broad views of life. He had been blest with +a wife of splendid talents, and as Miss Lyon was wont to say, "Men +judge of the whole sex by their own wives," so Mr. Emerson believed +women could understand metaphysics and theology as well as men. He +discussed science and religion with his pupils, and the result was a +class of self-respecting, self-reliant, thinking women. + +Miss Lyon's friends discouraged her going to Byfield, because they +thought she knew enough already. "Why," said they, "you will never be +a minister, and what is the need of going to school?" She improved her +time here. One of her classmates wrote home, "Mary sends love to all; +but time with her is too precious to spend it in writing letters. She +is gaining knowledge by handfuls." + +The next year, an assistant was wanted in the Sanderson Academy. The +principal thought a man must be engaged. "Try Mary Lyon," said one of +her friends, "and see if she is not sufficient," and he employed her, +and found her a host. But she could not long be retained, for she +was wanted in a larger field, at Derry, N.H. Miss Grant, one of the +teachers at Mr. Emerson's school, had sent for her former bright +pupil. Mary was glad to be associated with Miss Grant, for she was +very fond of her; but before going, she must attend some lectures in +chemistry and natural history by Professor Eaton at Amherst. Had she +been a young man, how easily could she have secured a scholarship, and +thus worked her way through college; but for a young woman, neither +Amherst, nor Dartmouth, nor Williams, nor Harvard, nor Yale, with all +their wealth, had an open door. Very fond of chemistry, she could only +learn in the spare time which a busy professor could give. + +Was the cheerful girl never despondent in these hard working years? +Yes; because naturally she was easily discouraged, and would have long +fits of weeping; but she came to the conclusion that such seasons of +depression were wrong, and that "there was too much to be done, for +her to spend her time in that manner." She used to tell her pupils +that "if they were unhappy, it was probably because they had so many +thoughts about themselves, and so few about the happiness of others." +The friend who had recommended her for the Sanderson Academy now +became surety for her for forty dollars' worth of clothing, and the +earnest young woman started for Derry. The school there numbered +ninety pupils, and Mary Lyon was happy. She wrote her mother, "I do +not number it among the least of my blessings that I am permitted to +_do something_. Surely I ought to be thankful for an active life." + +But the Derry school was held only in the summers, so Miss Lyon +came back to teach at Ashfield and Buckland, her birthplace, for the +winters. The first season she had twenty-five scholars; the last, one +hundred. The families in the neighborhood took the students into their +homes to board, charging them one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five +cents per week, while the tuition was twenty-five cents a week. No +one would grow very rich on such an income. So popular was Miss Lyon's +teaching that a suitable building was erected for her school, and the +Ministerial Association passed a resolution of praise, urging her to +remain permanently in the western part of Massachusetts. + +However, Miss Grant had removed to Ipswich, and had urged Miss Lyon +to join her, which she did. For six years they taught a large and most +successful school. Miss Lyon was singularly happy in her intercourse +with the young ladies. She won them to her views, while they scarcely +knew that they were being controlled. She would say to them: "Now, +young ladies, you are here at great expense. Your board and tuition +cost a great deal, and your time ought to be worth more than both; +but, in order to get an equivalent for the money and time you are +spending, you must be systematic, and that is impossible, unless you +have a regular hour for rising.... Persons who run round all day after +the half-hour they lost in the morning never accomplish much. You +may know them by a rip in the glove, a string pinned to the bonnet, a +shawl left on the balustrade, which they had no time to hang up, they +were in such a hurry to catch their lost thirty minutes. You will see +them opening their books and trying to study at the time of general +exercises in school; but it is a fruitless race; they never will +overtake their lost half-hour. Good men, from Abraham to Washington, +have been early risers." Again, she would say, "Mind, wherever it is +found, will secure respect.... Educate the women, and the men will be +educated. Let the ladies understand the great doctrine of seeking +the greatest good, of loving their neighbors as themselves; let them +indoctrinate their children in this fundamental truth, and we shall +have wise legislators." + +"You won't do so again, will you, dear?" was almost always sure to win +a tender response from a pupil. + +She would never allow a scholar to be laughed at. If a teacher spoke +jestingly of a scholar's capacity, Miss Lyon would say, "Yes, I know +she has a small mind, but we must do the best we can for her." + +For nearly sixteen years she had been giving her life to the education +of girls. She had saved no money for herself, giving it to her +relatives or aiding poor girls in going to school. She was simple in +her tastes, the blue cloth dress she generally wore having been spun +and woven by herself. A friend tells how, standing before the mirror +to tie her bonnet, she said, "Well, I _may_ fail of Heaven, but I +shall be very much disappointed if I do--very much disappointed;" and +there was no thought of what she was doing with the ribbons. + +Miss Lyon was now thirty-three years old. It would be strange indeed +if a woman with her bright mind and sunshiny face should not have +offers of marriage. One of her best opportunities came, as is often +the case, when about thirty, and Miss Lyon could have been made +supremely happy by it, but she had in her mind one great purpose, and +she felt that she must sacrifice home and love for it. This was the +building of a high-grade school or college for women. Had she decided +otherwise, there probably would have been no Mount Holyoke Seminary. + +She had the tenderest sympathy for poor girls; they were the ones +usually most desirous of an education, and they struggled the hardest +for it. For them no educational societies were provided, and no +scholarships. Could she, who had no money, build "a seminary which +should be so moderate in its expenses as to be open to the daughters +of farmers and artisans, and to teachers who might be mainly dependent +for their support on their own exertions"? + +In vain she tried to have the school at Ipswich established +permanently by buildings and endowments. In vain she talked with +college presidents and learned ministers. Nearly all were indifferent. +They could see no need that women should study science or the +classics. That women would be happier with knowledge, just as they +themselves were made happier by it, seemed never to have occurred to +them. That women were soon to do nine-tenths of the teaching in the +schools of the country could not be foreseen. Oberlin and Cornell, +Vassar and Wellesley, belonged to a golden age as yet undreamed of. + +For two years she thought over it, and prayed over it, and when all +seemed hopeless, she would walk the floor, and say over and over +again, "Commit thy way unto the Lord. He will keep thee. Women _must_ +be educated; they _must_ be." Finally a meeting was called in Boston +at the same time as one of the religious anniversaries. She wrote to +a friend, "Very few were present. The meeting was adjourned; and the +adjourned meeting utterly failed. There were not enough present to +organize, and there the business, in my view, has come to an end." + +Still she carried the burden on her heart. She writes, in 1834, +"During the past year my heart has so yearned over the adult female +youth in the common walks of life, that it has sometimes seemed as +though a fire were shut up in my bones." She conceived the idea of +having the young women do the work of the house, partly to lessen +expenses, partly to teach them useful things, and also because she +says, "Might not this single feature do away much of the prejudice +against female education among common people?" + +At last the purpose in her heart became so strong that she resigned +her position as a teacher, and went from house to house in Ipswich +collecting funds. She wrote to her mother, "I hope and trust that this +is of the Lord, and that He will prosper it. In this movement I have +thought much more constantly, and have felt much more deeply, about +doing that which shall be for the honor of Christ, and for the good +of souls, than I ever did in any step in my life." She determined +to raise her first thousand dollars from women. She talked in her +good-natured way with the father or the mother. She asked if they +wanted a new shawl or card-table or carpet, if they would not find a +way to procure it. Usually they gave five or ten dollars; some, only +a half-dollar. So interested did two ladies become that they gave one +hundred dollars apiece, and later, when their house was burned, and +the man who had their money in charge lost it, they worked with their +own hands and earned the two hundred, that their portion might not +fail in the great work. + +In less than two months she had raised the thousand; but she +wrote Miss Grant, "I do not recollect being so fatigued, even to +prostration, as I have been for a few weeks past." She often quoted a +remark of Dr. Lyman Beecher's, "The wear and tear of what I cannot do +is a great deal more than the wear and tear of what I do." When she +became quite worn, her habit was to sleep nearly all the time, for two +or three days, till nature repaired the system. + +She next went to Amherst, where good Dr. Hitchcock felt as deeply +interested for girls as for the boys in his college. One January +morning, with the thermometer below zero, three or four hours before +sunrise, he and Miss Lyon started on the stage for Worcester. Each was +wrapped in a buffalo robe, so that the long ride was not unpleasant. +A meeting was to be held, and a decision made as to the location of +the seminary, which, at last, was actually to be built. After a long +conference, South Hadley was chosen, ten miles south of Amherst. + +One by one, good men became interested in the matter, and one +true-hearted minister became an agent for the raising of funds. Miss +Lyon was also untiring in her solicitations. She spoke before ladies' +meetings, and visited those in high station and low. So troubled were +her friends about this public work for a woman, that they reasoned +with her that it was in better taste to stay at home, and let +gentlemen do the work. + +"What do I that is wrong?" she replied. "I ride in the stage coach +or cars without an escort. Other ladies do the same. I visit a family +where I have been previously invited, and the minister's wife, or +some leading woman, calls the ladies together to see me, and I lay our +object before them. Is that wrong? I go with Mr. Hawks [the agent], +and call on a gentleman of known liberality, at his own house, and +converse with him about our enterprise. What harm is there in that? +My heart is sick, my soul is pained, with this empty gentility, this +genteel nothingness. I am doing a great work. I cannot come down." +Pitiful, that so noble a woman should have been hampered by public +opinion. How all this has changed! Now, the world and the church +gladly welcome the voice, the hand, and the heart of woman in their +philanthropic work. + +At last, enough money was raised to begin the enterprise, and the +corner-stone of Mount Holyoke Seminary was laid, Oct. 3, 1836. "It was +a day of deep interest," writes Mary Lyon. "The stones and brick and +mortar speak a language which vibrates through my very soul." + +"With thankful heart and busy hands she watched the progress of the +work. Every detail was under her careful eye. She said: "Had I a +thousand lives, I could sacrifice them all in suffering and hardship, +for the sake of Mount Holyoke Seminary. Did I possess the greatest +fortune, I could readily relinquish it all, and become poor, and more +than poor, if its prosperity should demand it." + +Finally, in the autumn of 1837, the seminary was ready for pupils. +The main building, four stories high, had been erected. An admirable +course of study had been provided. For the forty weeks of the school +year, the charges for board and tuition were sixty dollars,--only one +dollar and twenty-five cents per week. Miss Lyon's own salary was but +two hundred a year and she never would receive anything higher. +The accommodations were only for eighty pupils, but one hundred and +sixteen came the first year. + +While Miss Lyon was heartily loved by her scholars, they yet respected +her good discipline. It was against the rules for any one to absent +herself from meals without permission to do so. One of the young +ladies, not feeling quite as fresh as usual, concluded not to go down +stairs at tea time, and to remain silent on the subject. Miss Lyon's +quick eye detected her absence. Calling the girl's room-mate to her, +she asked, "Is Miss ---- ill?" + +"Oh, no," was the reply, "only a little indisposed, and she +commissioned me to carry her a cup of tea and cracker." + +"Very well, I will see to it." + +After supper, the young lady ascended to her room, in the fourth +story, found her companion enjoying a glorious sunset, and seating +herself beside her, they began an animated conversation. Presently +there was a knock. "Come in!" both shouted gleefully, when lo! in +walked Mary Lyon, with the tea and cracker. She had come up four +flights of stairs; but she said every one was tired at night, and she +could as well bring up the supper as anybody. She inquired with great +kindness about the young lady's health, who, greatly abashed, had +nothing to say. She was ever after present at meal time, unless sick +in bed. + +The students never forgot Miss Lyon's plain, earnest words. When they +entered, they were told that they were expected to do right without +formal commands; if not, they better go to some smaller school, where +they could receive the peculiar training needed by little girls. She +urged loose clothing and thick shoes. "If you will persist in killing +yourselves by reckless exposure," she would say, "we are not willing +to take the responsibility of the act. We think, by all means, you +better go home and die, in the arms of your dear mothers." + +Miss Lyon had come to her fiftieth birthday. Her seminary had +prospered beyond her fondest hopes. She had raised nearly seventy +thousand dollars for her beloved school, and it was out of debt. +Nearly two thousand pupils had been at South Hadley, of whom a large +number had become missionaries and teachers. Not a single year had +passed without a revival, and rarely did a girl leave the institution +without professing Christianity. + +She said to a friend shortly after this fiftieth birthday: "It was the +most solemn day of my life. I devoted it to reflection and prayer. Of +my active toils I then took leave. I was certain that before another +fifty years should have elapsed, I should wake up amid far different +scenes, and far other thoughts would fill my mind, and other +employments would engage my attention. I felt it. There seemed to be +no ladder between me and the world above. The gates were opened, and +I seemed to stand on the threshold. I felt that the evening of my days +had come, and that I needed repose." + +And the repose came soon. The last of February, 1849, a young lady +in the seminary died. Miss Lyon called the girls together and spoke +tenderly to them, urging them not to fear death, but to be ready to +meet it. She said, "There is nothing in the universe that I am afraid +of, but that I shall not know and do all my duty." Beautiful words! +carved shortly after on her monument. + +A few days later, Mary Lyon lay upon her death-bed. The brain had been +congested, and she was often unconscious. In one of her lucid moments, +her pastor said, "Christ precious?" Summoning all her energies, she +raised both hands, clasped them, and said, "Yes." "Have you trusted +Christ too much?" he asked. Seeing that she made an effort to speak, +he said, "God can be glorified by silence." An indescribable smile lit +up her face, and she was gone. + +On the seminary grounds the beloved teacher was buried, her pupils +singing about her open grave, "Why do we mourn departing friends?" +A beautiful monument of Italian marble, square, and resting upon a +granite pedestal, marks the spot. On the west side are the words:-- + + MARY LYON, + THE FOUNDER OF + MOUNT HOLYOKE FEMALE SEMINARY, + AND FOR TWELVE YEARS + ITS PRINCIPAL; + A TEACHER + FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, + AND OF MORE THAN + THREE THOUSAND PUPILS. + BORN, FEBRUARY 28, 1797; + DIED, MARCH 5, 1849. + +What a devoted, heroic life! and its results, who can estimate? + +Her work has gone steadily on. The seminary grounds now cover +twenty-five acres. The main structure has two large wings, while a +gymnasium; a library building, with thirteen thousand volumes; the +Lyman Williston Hall, with laboratories and art gallery; and the +new observatory, with fine telescope, astronomical clock, and other +appliances, afford such admirable opportunities for higher education +as noble Mary Lyon could hardly have dared to hope for. The property +is worth about three hundred thousand dollars. How different from +the days when half-dollars were given into Miss Lyon's willing hands! +Nearly six thousand students have been educated here, three-fourths of +whom have become teachers, and about two hundred foreign missionaries. +Many have married ministers, presidents of colleges, and leading men +in education and good works. + +The board and tuition have become one hundred and seventy-five dollars +a year, only enough to cover the cost. The range of study has been +constantly increased and elevated to keep pace with the growing demand +that women shall be as fully educated as men. Even Miss Lyon, in those +early days, looked forward to the needs of the future, by placing in +her course of study, Sullivan's _Political Class-Book_, and Wayland's +_Political Economy_. The four years' course is solid and thorough, +while the optional course in French, German, and Greek is admirable. +Eventually, when our preparatory schools are higher, all our colleges +for women will have as difficult entrance examinations as Harvard and +Yale. + +The housework at Mount Holyoke Seminary requires but half an hour each +day for each of the two hundred and ninety-seven pupils. Much time +is spent wisely in the gymnasium, and in boating on the lake near by. +Habits of punctuality, thoroughness, and order are the outcome of life +in this institution. An endowment of twenty thousand dollars, called +"the Mary Lyon Fund," is now being raised by former students for +the Chair of the Principal. Schools like the Lake Erie Seminary at +Painesville, Ohio, have grown out of the school at South Hadley. +Truly, Mary Lyon was doing a great work, and she could not come down. +Between such a life and the ordinary social round there can be no +comparison. + +The English ivy grows thickly over Miss Lyon's grave, covering it like +a mantle, and sending out its wealth of green leaves in the spring. So +each year her own handiwork flourishes, sending out into the world +its strongest forces, the very foundation of the highest +civilization,--educated and Christian wives and mothers. + + + + +HARRIET G. HOSMER. + +[Illustration: (From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and +Women.")] + + +Some years ago, in an art store in Boston, a crowd of persons stood +gazing intently upon a famous piece of statuary. The red curtains were +drawn aside, and the white marble seemed almost to speak. A group of +girls stood together, and looked on in rapt admiration. One of them +said, "Just to think that a woman did it!" + +"It makes me proud and glad," said another. + +"Who is Harriet Hosmer?" said a third. "I wish I knew about her." + +And then one of us, who had stolen all the hours she could get from +school life to read art books from the Hartford Athenaeum, and kept +crude statues, made by herself from chalk and plaster, secreted in her +room, told all she had read about the brilliant author of "Zenobia." + +The statue was seven feet high, queenly in pose and face, yet delicate +and beautiful, with the thoughts which genius had wrought in it. +The left arm supported the elegant drapery, while the right hung +listlessly by her side, both wrists chained; the captive of +the Emperor Aurelian. Since that time, I have looked upon other +masterpieces in all the great galleries of Europe, but perhaps none +have ever made a stronger impression upon me than "Zenobia," in those +early years. + +And who was the artist of whom we girls were so proud? Born in +Watertown, Mass., Oct. 9, 1830, Harriet Hosmer came into the welcome +home of a leading physician, and a delicate mother, who soon died +of consumption. Dr. Hosmer had also buried his only child besides +Harriet, with the same disease, and he determined that this girl +should live in sunshine and air, that he might save her if possible. +He used to say, "There is a whole life-time for the education of +the mind, but the body develops in a few years; and during that time +nothing should be allowed to interfere with its free and healthy +growth." + +As soon as the child was large enough, she was given a pet dog, which +she decked with ribbons and bells. Then, as the Charles River flowed +past their house, a boat was provided, and she was allowed to row at +will. A Venetian gondola was also built for her, with silver prow and +velvet cushions. "Too much spoiling--too much spoiling," said some +of the neighbors; but Dr. Hosmer knew that he was keeping his little +daughter on the earth instead of heaven. + +A gun was now purchased, and the girl became an admirable marksman. +Her room was a perfect museum. Here were birds, bats, beetles, snakes, +and toads; some dissected, some preserved in spirits, and others +stuffed, all gathered and prepared by her own hands. Now she made an +inkstand from the egg of a sea-gull and the body of a kingfisher; now +she climbed to the top of a tree and brought down a crow's nest. She +could walk miles upon miles with no fatigue. She grew up like a boy, +which is only another way of saying that she grew up healthy and +strong physically. Probably polite society was shocked at Dr. Hosmer's +methods. Would that there were many such fathers and mothers, that we +might have a vigorous race of women, and consequently, a vigorous race +of men! + +When Harriet tired of books,--for she was an eager reader,--she found +delight in a clay-pit in the garden, where she molded horses and dogs +to her heart's content. Unused to restraint, she did not like +the first school at which she was placed, the principal, the +brother-in-law of Nathaniel Hawthorne, writing to her father that he +"could do nothing with her." + +She was then taken to Mrs. Sedgwick, who kept a famous school at +Lenox, Berkshire County. She received "happy Hatty," as she was +called, with the remark, "I have a reputation for training wild +colts, and I will try this one." And the wise woman succeeded. She won +Harriet's confidence, not by the ten thousand times repeated "don't," +which so many children hear in home and school, till life seems a +prison-pen. She let her run wild, guiding her all the time with so +much tact, that the girl scarcely knew she was guided at all. Blessed +tact! How many thousands of young people are ruined for lack of it! + +She remained here three years. Mrs. Sedgwick says, "She was the most +difficult pupil to manage I ever had, but I think I never had one in +whom I took so deep an interest, and whom I learned to love so well." +About this time, not being quite as well as usual, Dr. Hosmer engaged +a physician of, large practice to visit his daughter. The busy man +could not be regular, which sadly interfered with Harriet's boating +and driving. Complaining one day that it spoiled her pleasure, he +said, "If I am alive, I will be here," naming the day and hour. + +"Then if you are not here, I am to conclude that you are dead," was +the reply. + +As he did not come, Harriet drove to the newspaper offices in Boston +that afternoon, and the next morning the community was startled to +read of Dr. ----'s sudden death. Friends hastened to the house, and +messages of condolence came pouring in. It is probable that he was +more punctual after this. + +On Harriet's return from Lenox, she began to take lessons in drawing, +modeling, and anatomical studies, in Boston, frequently walking from +home and back, a distance of fourteen miles. Feeling the need of a +thorough course in anatomy, she applied to the Boston Medical School +for admittance, and was refused because of her sex. The Medical +College of St. Louis proved itself broader, glad to encourage talent +wherever found, and received her. + +Professor McDowell, under whom the artists Powers and Clevenger +studied anatomy, spared no pains to give her every advantage, while +the students were uniformly courteous. "I remember him," says Miss +Hosmer, "with great affection and gratitude as being a most thorough +and patient teacher, as well as at all times a good, kind friend." +In testimony of her appreciation, she cut, from a bust of Professor +McDowell by Clevenger, a life-size medallion in marble, now treasured +in the college museum. + +While in St. Louis she made her home with the family of Wayman Crow, +Esq., whose daughter had been her companion at Lenox. This gentleman +proved himself a constant and encouraging friend, ordering her first +statue from Rome, and helping in a thousand ways a girl who had chosen +for herself an unusual work in life. + +After completing her studies she made a trip to New Orleans, and then +North to the Falls of St. Anthony, smoking the pipe of peace with +the chief of the Dakota Indians, exploring lead mines in Dubuque, and +scaling a high mountain that was soon after named for her. Did the +wealthy girl go alone on these journeys? Yes. As a rule, no harm comes +to a young woman who conducts herself with becoming reserve with men. +Flirts usually are paid in their own coin. + +On her return home, Dr. Hosmer fitted up a studio for his daughter, +and her first work was to copy from the antique. Then she cut Canova's +"Napoleon" in marble for her father, doing all the work, that he +might especially value the gift. Her next statue was an ideal bust of +Hesper, "with," said Lydia Maria Child, "the face of a lovely maiden +gently falling asleep with the sound of distant music. Her hair is +gracefully arranged, and intertwined with capsules of the poppy. A +star shines on her forehead, and under her breast lies the crescent +moon. The swell of the cheeks and the bust is like pure, young, +healthy flesh, and the muscles of the beautiful mouth so delicately +cut, it seems like a thing that breathes. She did every stroke of the +work with her own small hands, except knocking off the corners of the +block of marble. She employed a man to do that; but as he was unused +to work for sculptors, she did not venture to have him approach within +several inches of the surface she intended to cut. Slight girl as she +was, she wielded for eight or ten hours a day a leaden mallet +weighing four pounds and a half. Had it not been for the strength and +flexibility of muscle acquired by rowing and other athletic exercises, +such arduous labor would have been impossible." + +After "Hesper" was completed, she said to her father, "I am ready to +go to Rome." + +"You shall go, my child, this very autumn," was the response. + +He would, of course, miss the genial companionship of his only child, +but her welfare was to be consulted rather than his own. When autumn +came, she rode on horseback to Wayland to say good-bye to Mrs. Child. +"Shall you never be homesick for your museum-parlor in Watertown? Can +you be contented in a foreign land?" + +"I can be happy anywhere," said Miss Hosmer, "with good health and a +bit of marble." + +Late in the fall Dr. Hosmer and his daughter started for Europe, +reaching Rome Nov. 12, 1852. She had greatly desired to study under +John Gibson, the leading English sculptor, but he had taken young +women into his studio who in a short time became discouraged or showed +themselves afraid of hard work, and he feared Miss Hosmer might be of +the same useless type. + +When the photographs of "Hesper" were placed before him by an artist +friend of the Hosmers, he looked at them carefully, and said, "Send +the young lady to me, and whatever I know, and can teach her, she +shall learn." He gave Miss Hosmer an upstairs room in his studio, and +here for seven years she worked with delight, honored and encouraged +by her noble teacher. She wrote to her friends: "The dearest wish of +my heart is gratified in that I am acknowledged by Gibson as a pupil. +He has been resident in Rome thirty-four years, and leads the van. I +am greatly in luck. He has just finished the model of the statue of +the queen; and as his room is vacant, he permits me to use it, and I +am now in his own studio. I have also a little room for work which was +formerly occupied by Canova, and perhaps inspiration may be drawn from +the walls." + +The first work which she copied, to show Gibson whether she had +correctness of eye and proper knowledge, was the Venus of Milo. When +nearly finished, the iron which supported the clay snapped, and the +figure lay spoiled upon the floor. She did not shrink nor cry, but +immediately went to work cheerfully to shape it over again. This +conduct Mr. Gibson greatly admired, and made up his mind to assist her +all he could. + +After this she copied the "Cupid" of Praxitiles and Tasso from the +British Museum. Her first original work was Daphne, the beautiful +girl whom Apollo loved, and who, rather than accept his addresses, was +changed into laurel by the gods. Apollo crowned his head with laurel, +and made the flower sacred to himself forever. + +Next, Miss Hosmer produced "Medusa," famed for her beautiful hair, +which Minerva turned into serpents because Neptune loved her. +According to Grecian mythology, Perseus made himself immortal by +conquering Medusa, whose head he cut off, and the blood dripping from +it filled Africa with snakes. Miss Hosmer represents the beautiful +maiden, when she finds, with horror, that her hair is turning into +serpents. + +Needing a real snake for her work, Miss Hosmer sent a man into the +suburbs to bring her one alive. When it was obtained, she chloroformed +it till she had made a cast, keeping it in plaster for three hours and +a half. Then, instead of killing it, like a true-hearted woman, as she +is, she sent it back into the country, glad to regain its liberty. + +"Daphne" and "Medusa" were both exhibited in Boston the following +year, 1853, and were much praised. Mr. Gibson said: "The power of +imitating the roundness and softness of flesh, he had never +seen surpassed." Rauch, the great Prussian, whose mausoleum at +Charlottenburg of the beautiful queen Louise can never be forgotten, +gave Miss Hosmer high praise. + +Two years later she completed "Oenone," made for Mr. Crow of St. +Louis. It is the full-length figure of the beautiful nymph of Mount +Ida. The story is a familiar one. Before the birth of Paris, the son +of Priam, it was foretold that he by his imprudence should cause +the destruction of Troy. His father gave orders for him to be put to +death, but possibly through the fondness of his mother, he was spared, +and carried to Mount Ida, where he was brought up by the shepherds, +and finally married Oenone. In time he became known to his family, +who forgot the prophecy and cordially received him. For a decision in +favor of Venus he was promised the most beautiful woman in the world +for his wife. Forgetting Oenone, he fell in love with the beautiful +Helen, already the wife of Menelaus, and persuaded her to fly with him +to Troy, to his father's court. War resulted. When he found himself +dying of his wounds, he fled to Oenone for help, but died just as +he came into her presence. She bathed the body with her tears, and +stabbed herself to the heart, a very foolish act for so faithless a +man. Miss Hosmer represents her as a beautiful shepherdess, bowed with +grief from her desertion. + +This work was so much liked in America, that the St. Louis Mercantile +Library made a liberal offer for some other statue. Accordingly, two +years after, "Beatrice Cenci" was sent. The noble girl lies asleep, +the night before her execution, after the terrible torture. "It was," +says Mrs. Child, "the sleep of a body worn out with the wretchedness +of the soul. On that innocent face suffering had left its traces. The +arm that had been tossing in the grief tempest, had fallen heavily, +too weary to change itself into a more easy position. Those large +eyes, now so closely veiled by their swollen lids, had evidently wept +till the fountain of tears was dry. That lovely mouth was still the +open portal of a sigh, which the mastery of sleep had left no time to +close." + +To make this natural, the sculptor caused several models to go to +sleep in her studio, that she might study them. Gibson is said to have +remarked upon seeing this, "I can teach her nothing." This was also +exhibited in London and in several American cities. + +For three years she had worked continuously, not leaving Rome even in +the hot, unhealthy summers. She had said, "I will not be an amateur; I +will work as if I had to earn my daily bread." However, as her health +seemed somewhat impaired, at her father's earnest wish, she had +decided to go to England for the season. Her trunks were packed, and +she was ready to start, when lo! a message came that Dr. Hosmer had +lost his property, that he could send her no more money, and suggested +that she return home at once. + +At first she seemed overwhelmed; then she said firmly, "I cannot go +back, and give up my art." Her trunks were at once unpacked and a +cheap room rented. Her handsome horse and saddle were sold, and she +was now to work indeed "as if she earned her daily bread." + +By a strange freak of human nature, by which we sometimes do our most +humorous work when we are saddest, Miss Hosmer produced now in her +sorrow her fun-loving "Puck." It represents a child about four years +old seated on a toadstool which breaks beneath him. The left hand +confines a lizard, while the right holds a beetle. The legs are +crossed, and the great toe of the right foot turns up. The whole +is full of merriment. The Crown Princess of Germany, on seeing it, +exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Hosmer, you have such a talent for toes!" Very +true, for this statue, with the several copies made from it, brought +her thirty thousand dollars! The Prince of Wales has a copy, the +Duke of Hamilton also, and it has gone even to Australia and the West +Indies. A companion piece is the "Will-o'-the-wisp." + +About this time the lovely sixteen-year-old daughter of Madam +Falconnet died at Rome, and for her monument in the Catholic church +of San Andrea del Fratte, Miss Hosmer produced an exquisite figure +resting upon a sarcophagus. Layard, the explorer of Babylon and +Nineveh, wrote to Madam Falconnet: "I scarcely remember to have seen +a monument which more completely commanded my sympathy and more deeply +interested me. I really know of none, of modern days, which I would +rather have placed over the remains of one who had been dear to me." + +Miss Hosmer also modeled a fountain from the story of Hylas. The +lower basin contains dolphins spouting jets, while in the upper basin, +supported by swans, the youth Hylas stands, surrounded by the nymphs +who admire his beauty, and who eventually draw him into the water, +where he is drowned. + +Miss Hosmer returned to America in 1857, five years after her +departure. She was still young, twenty-seven, vivacious, hopeful, not +wearied from her hard work, and famous. While here she determined upon +a statue of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and read much concerning her +and her times. She had touched fiction and poetry; now she would +attempt history. She could scarcely have chosen a more heroic or +pathetic subject. The brave leader of a brave people, a skilful +warrior, marching at the head of her troops, now on foot, and now on +horseback, beautiful in face, and cultured in mind, acquainted with +Latin, Greek, Syriac, and Egyptian, finally captured by Aurelian, and +borne through the streets of Rome, adorning his triumphal procession. + +After Miss Hosmer's return to Rome, she worked on "Zenobia" with +energy and enthusiasm, as she molded the clay, and then the plaster. +When brought to this country, it awakened the greatest interest; +crowds gathered to see it. In Chicago it was exhibited at the +Sanitary Fair in behalf of the soldiers. Whittier said: "It very fully +expresses my conception of what historical sculpture should be. It +tells its whole proud and melancholy story. In looking at it, I felt +that the artist had been as truly serving her country while working +out her magnificent design abroad, as our soldiers in the field, and +our public officers in their departments." From its exhibition Miss +Hosmer received five thousand dollars. It was purchased by Mr. A.W. +Griswold, of New York. So great a work was the statue considered in +London, that some of the papers declared Gibson to be its author. Miss +Hosmer at once began suits for libel, and retractions were speedily +made. + +In 1860 Miss Hosmer again visited America, to see her father, who +was seriously ill. How proud Dr. Hosmer must have been of his gifted +daughter now that her fame was in two hemispheres! Surely he had not +"spoiled" her. She could now spend for him as he had spent for her in +her childhood. While here, she received a commission from St. Louis +for a bronze portrait-statue of Missouri's famous statesman, Thomas +Hart Benton. The world wondered if she could bring out of the marble a +man with all his strength and dignity, as she had a woman with all her +grace and nobility. + +She visited St. Louis, to examine portraits and mementos of Colonel +Benton, and then hastened across the ocean to her work. The next year +a photograph of the model was sent to the friends, and the likeness +pronounced good. The statue was cast at the great royal foundry at +Munich, and in due time shipped to this country. May 27, 1868, it was +unveiled in Lafayette Park, in the presence of an immense concourse of +people, the daughter, Mrs. John C. Fremont, removing the covering. The +statue is ten feet high, and weighs three and one-half tons. It rests +on a granite pedestal, ten feet square, the whole being twenty-two +feet square. On the west side of the pedestal are the words from +Colonel Benton's famous speech on the Pacific Railroad, "There is the +East--there is India." Both press and people were heartily pleased +with this statue, for which Miss Hosmer received ten thousand dollars, +the whole costing thirty thousand. + +She was now in the midst of busy and successful work. Orders crowded +upon her. Her "Sleeping Faun," which was exhibited at the Dublin +Exhibition in 1865, was sold on the day of opening for five thousand +dollars, to Sir Benjamin Guinness. Some discussion having arisen about +the sale, he offered ten thousand, saying, that if money could buy it, +he would possess it. Miss Hosmer, however, would receive only the five +thousand. The faun is represented reclining against the trunk of a +tree, partly draped in the spoils of a tiger. A little faun, with +mischievous look, is binding the faun to the tree with the tiger-skin. +The newspapers were enthusiastic about the work. + +The _London Times_ said: "In the groups of statues are many works of +exquisite beauty, but there is one which at once arrests attention and +extorts admiration. It is a curious fact that amid all the statues in +this court, contributed by the natives of lands in which the fine arts +were naturalized thousands of years ago, one of the finest should be +the production of an American artist." The French _Galignani_ said, +"The gem of the classical school, in its nobler style of composition, +is due to an American lady, Miss Hosmer." The _London Art Journal_ +said, "The works of Miss Hosmer, Hiram Powers, and others we might +name, have placed American on a level with the best modern sculptors +of Europe." This work was repeated for the Prince of Wales and for +Lady Ashburton, of England. + +Not long ago I visited the studio of Miss Hosmer in the Via Margutta, +at Rome, and saw her numerous works, many of them still unfinished. +Here an arm seemed just reaching out from the rough block of marble; +here a sweet face seemed like Pygmalion's statue, coming into life. In +the centre of the studio was the "Siren Fountain," executed for Lady +Marion Alford. A siren sits in the upper basin and sings to the music +of her lute. Three little cupids sit on dolphins, and listen to her +music. + +For some years Miss Hosmer has been preparing a golden gateway for an +art gallery at Ashridge Hall, England, ordered by Earl Brownlow. These +gates, seventeen feet high, are covered with bas-reliefs representing +the Air, Earth, and Sea. The twelve hours of the night show "Aeolus +subduing the Winds," the "Descent of the Zephyrs," "Iris descending +with the Dew," "Night rising with the Stars," "The Rising Moon," "The +Hour's Sleep," "The Dreams Descend," "The Falling Star," "Phosphor and +Hesper," "The Hours Wake," "Aurora Veils the Stars," and "Morning." +More than eighty figures are in the nineteen bas-reliefs. Miss Hosmer +has done other important works, among them a statue of the beautiful +Queen of Naples, who was a frequent visitor to the artist's studio, +and several well-known monuments. With her girlish fondness for +machinery, she has given much thought to mechanics in these later +years, striving to find, like many another, the secret of producing +perpetual motion. She spends much of her time now in England. She is +still passionately fond of riding, the Empress of Austria, who owns +more horses than any woman in the world, declaring "that there was +nothing she looked forward to with more interest in Rome, than to see +Miss Hosmer ride." + +Many of the closing years of the sculptor's long life were spent in +Rome, where she had a wide circle of eminent American and English +friends, among whom were Hawthorne, Thackeray, George Eliot, and the +Brownings. She made several discoveries in her work, one of which was +a process of hardening limestone so that it resembled marble. She +also wrote both prose and poetry, and would have been successful as +an author, if she had not given the bulk of her time to her beloved +sculpture. + +After her long sojourn in Rome she spent several years in England, +executing important commissions, and then turned her face toward +America. In Watertown, where she was born, she again made her home; +and here she breathed her last, February 21, 1908, after an illness of +three weeks. She was in her seventy-eighth year. By her long life of +earnest work and self-reliant purpose, coupled with her high gift, she +has made for herself an abiding place in the history of art. + + + + +MADAME DE STAËL. + +[Illustration: MADAME DE STAËL. + +From the painting by Mlle. Godefroy.] + + +It was the twentieth of September, 1881. The sun shone out mild and +beautiful upon Lake Geneva, as we sailed up to Coppet. The banks were +dotted with lovely homes, half hidden by the foliage, while brilliant +flower-beds came close to the water's edge. Snow-covered Mont Blanc +looked down upon the restful scene, which seemed as charming as +anything in Europe. + +We alighted from the boat, and walked up from the landing, between +great rows of oaks, horsechestnuts, and sycamores, to the famous home +we had come to look upon,--that of Madame de Staël. It is a French +chateau, two stories high, drab, with green blinds, surrounding an +open square; vines clamber over the gate and the high walls, and +lovely flowers blossom everywhere. As you enter, you stand in a long +hall, with green curtains, with many busts, the finest of which is +that of Monsieur Necker. The next room is the large library, with +furniture of blue and white; and the next, hung with old Gobelin +tapestry, is the room where Madame Recamier used to sit with Madame de +Staël, and look out upon the exquisite scenery, restful even in their +troubled lives. Here is the work-table of her whom Macaulay called +"the greatest woman of her times," and of whom Byron said, "She is +a woman by herself, and has done more than all the rest of them +together, intellectually; she ought to have been a man." + +Next we enter the drawing-room, with carpet woven in a single piece; +the furniture red and white. We stop to look upon the picture of +Monsieur Necker, the father, a strong, noble-looking man; of the +mother, in white silk dress, with powdered hair, and very beautiful; +and De Staël herself, in a brownish yellow dress, with low neck and +short sleeves, holding in her hand the branch of flowers, which she +always carried, or a leaf, that thus her hands might be employed while +she engaged in the conversation that astonished Europe. Here also +are the pictures of the Baron, her husband, in white wig and military +dress; here her idolized son and daughter, the latter beautiful, with +mild, sad face, and dark hair and eyes. + +What brings thousands to this quiet retreat every year? Because here +lived and wrote and suffered the only person whom the great Napoleon +feared, whom Galiffe, of Geneva, declared "the most remarkable woman +that Europe has produced"; learned, rich, the author of _Corinne_ and +_Allemagne_, whose "talents in conversation," says George Ticknor, +"were perhaps the most remarkable of any person that ever lived." + +April 27, 1766, was the daughter of James Necker, Minister of Finance +under Louis XVI., a man of fine intellect, the author of fifteen +volumes; and Susanna, daughter of a Swiss pastor, beautiful, educated, +and devotedly Christian. Necker had become rich in early life through +banking, and had been made, by the republic of Geneva, her resident +minister at the Court of Versailles. + +When the throne of Louis seemed crumbling, because the people were +tired of extravagance and heavy taxation, Necker was called to his +aid, with the hope that economy and retrenchment would save the +nation. He also loaned the government two million dollars. The home +of the Neckers, in Paris, naturally became a social centre, which the +mother of the family was well fitted to grace. Gibbon had been deeply +in love with her. + +He says: "I found her learned without pedantry, lively in +conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and the first +sudden emotion was fortified by the habits and knowledge of a more +familiar acquaintance.... At Crassier and Lausanne I indulged my dream +of felicity; but on my return to England I soon discovered that my +father would not hear of this strange alliance, and that, without +his consent, I was myself destitute and helpless. After a painful +struggle, I yielded to my fate; I sighed as a lover; I obeyed as a +son." Gibbon never married, but retained his life-long friendship and +admiration for Madame Necker. + +It was not strange, therefore, that Gibbon liked to be present in +her _salon_, where Buffon, Hume, Diderot, and D'Alembert were wont +to gather. The child of such parents could scarcely be other than +intellectual, surrounded by such gifted minds. Her mother, too, was a +most systematic teacher, and each day the girl was obliged to sit by +her side, erect, on a wooden stool, and learn difficult lessons. + +"She stood in great awe of her mother," wrote Simond, the traveller, +"but was exceedingly familiar with and extravagantly fond of her +father. Madame Necker had no sooner left the room one day, after +dinner, than the young girl, till then timidly decorous, suddenly +seized her napkin, and threw it across the table at the head of her +father, and then flying round to him, hung upon his neck, suffocating +all his reproofs by her kisses." Whenever her mother returned to the +room, she at once became silent and restrained. + +The child early began to show literary talent, writing dramas, and +making paper kings and queens to act her tragedies. This the mother +thought to be wrong, and it was discontinued. But when she was twelve, +the mother having somewhat relented, she wrote a play, which she and +her companions acted in the drawing-room. Grimm was so pleased with +her attempts, that he sent extracts to his correspondents throughout +Europe. At fifteen she wrote an essay on the _Revocation of the Edict +of Nantes_, and another upon Montesquieu's _Spirit of Laws_. + +Overtaxing the brain with her continuous study, she became ill, +and the physician, greatly to her delight, prescribed fresh air and +sunshine. Here often she roamed from morning till night on their +estate at St. Ouen. Madame Necker felt deeply the thwarting of her +educational plans, and years after, when her daughter had acquired +distinction, said, "It is absolutely nothing compared to what I would +have made it." + +Monsieur Necker's restriction of pensions and taxing of luxuries +soon aroused the opposition of the aristocracy, and the weak but +good-hearted King asked his minister to resign. Both wife and daughter +felt the blow keenly, for both idolized him, so much so that the +mother feared lest she be supplanted by her daughter. Madame de Staël +says of her father, "From the moment of their marriage to her death, +the thought of my mother dominated his life. He was not like other +men in power, attentive to her by occasional tokens of regard, but by +continual expressions of most tender and most delicate sentiment." +Of herself she wrote, "Our destinies would have united us forever, if +fate had only made us contemporaries." At his death she said, "If he +could be restored to me, I would give all my remaining years for six +months." To the last he was her idol. + +For the next few years the family travelled most of the time, Necker +bringing out a book on the _Finances_, which had a sale at once of a +hundred thousand copies. A previous book, the _Compte Rendu au Roi_, +showing how for years the moneys of France had been wasted, had also a +large sale. For these books, and especially for other correspondence, +he was banished forty leagues from Paris. The daughter's heart seemed +well-nigh broken at this intelligence. Loving Paris, saying she would +rather live there on "one hundred francs a year, and lodge in the +fourth story," than anywhere else in the world, how could she bear for +years the isolation of the country? Joseph II., King of Poland, and +the King of Naples, offered Necker fine positions, but he declined. + +Mademoiselle Necker had come to womanhood, not beautiful, but with +wonderful fascination and tact. She could compliment persons without +flattery, was cordial and generous, and while the most brilliant +talker, could draw to herself the thoughts and confidences of others. +She had also written a book on _Rousseau_, which was much talked +about. Pitt, of England, Count Fersen, of Sweden, and others, sought +her in marriage, but she loved no person as well as her father. Her +consent to marriage could be obtained only by the promise that she +should never be obliged to leave him. + +Baron de Staël, a man of learning and fine social position, ambassador +from Sweden, and the warm friend of Gustavus, was ready to make +any promises for the rich daughter of the Minister Necker. He was +thirty-seven, she only a little more than half his age, twenty, but +she accepted him because her parents were pleased. Going to Paris, she +was, of course, received at Court, Marie Antoinette paying her much +attention. Necker was soon recalled from exile to his old position. + +The funds rose thirty per cent, and he became the idol of the people. +Soon representative government was demanded, and then, though the King +granted it, the breach was widened. Necker, unpopular with the bad +advisers of the King, was again asked to leave Paris, and make no +noise about it; but the people, hearing of it, soon demanded his +recall, and he was hastily brought back from Brussels, riding through +the streets like "the sovereign of a nation," said his daughter. The +people were wild with delight. + +But matters had gone too far to prevent a bloody Revolution. Soon a +mob was marching toward Versailles; thousands of men, women, and even +children armed with pikes. They reached the palace, killed the guards, +and penetrated to the queen's apartments, while some filled the +court-yard and demanded bread. The brave Marie Antoinette appeared +on the balcony leading her two children, while Lafayette knelt by her +side and kissed her hand. But the people could not be appeased. + +Necker finding himself unable to serve his king longer, fled to his +Swiss retreat at Coppet, and there remained till his death. Madame +de Staël, as the wife of the Swedish ambassador, continued in the +turmoil, writing her father daily, and taking an active interest in +politics. "In England," she said, "women are accustomed to be silent +before men when political questions are discussed. In France, they +direct all conversation, and their minds readily acquire the facility +and talent which this privilege requires." Lafayette, Narbonne, +and Talleyrand consulted with her. She wrote the principal part of +Talleyrand's report on Public Instruction in 1790. She procured the +appointment of Narbonne to the ministry; and later, when Talleyrand +was in exile, obtained his appointment to the Department of Foreign +Affairs. + +Matters had gone from bad to worse. In 1792 the Swedish government +suspended its embassy, and Madame de Staël prepared to fly, but stayed +for a time to save her friends. The seven prisons of Paris were all +crowded under the fearful reign of Danton and Marat. Great heaps of +dead lay before every prison door. During that Reign of Terror it is +estimated that eighteen thousand six hundred persons perished by the +guillotine. Whole squares were shot down. "When the police visited +her house, where some of the ministers were hidden, she met them +graciously, urging that they must not violate the privacy of an +ambassador's house. When her friends were arrested, she went to the +barbarous leaders, and with her eloquence begged for their safety, and +thus saved the lives of many. + +At last she must leave the terror-stricken city. Supposing that +her rank as the wife of a foreign ambassador would protect her, she +started with a carriage and six horses, her servants in livery. At +once a crowd of half-famished and haggard women crowded around, and +threw themselves against the horses. The carriage was stopped, and the +occupants were taken to the Assembly. She plead her case before the +noted Robespierre, and then waited for six hours for the decision of +the Commune. Meantime she saw the hired assassins pass beneath the +windows, their bare arms covered with the blood of the slain. The mob +attempted to pillage her carriage, but a strong man mounted the box +and defended it. She learned afterward that it was the notorious +Santerre, the person who later superintended the execution of Louis +XVI., ordering his drummers to drown the last words of the dying King. +Santerre had seen Necker distribute corn to the poor of Paris in a +time of famine, and now he was befriending the daughter for this noble +act. Finally she was allowed to continue her journey, and reached +Coppet with her baby, Auguste, well-nigh exhausted after this terrible +ordeal. + +The Swiss home soon became a place of refuge for those who were flying +from the horrors of the Commune. She kept a faithful agent, who knew +the mountain passes, busy in this work of mercy. + +The following year, 1793, longing for a change from these dreadful +times, she visited England, and received much attention from prominent +persons, among them Fanny Burny, the author of _Evelina_, who owned +"that she had never heard conversation before. The most animated +eloquence, the keenest observation, the most sparkling wit, the most +courtly grace, were united to charm her." + +On Jan. 21 of this year, the unfortunate King had met his death on the +scaffold before an immense throng of people. Six men bound him to the +plank, and then his head was severed from his body amid the shouts +and waving of hats of the blood-thirsty crowd. Necker had begged to go +before the Convention and plead for his king, but was refused. Madame +de Staël wrote a vigorous appeal to the nation in behalf of the +beautiful and tenderhearted Marie Antoinette; but on Sept. 16, 1793, +at four o'clock in the morning, in an open cart, in the midst of +thirty thousand troops and a noisy rabble, she, too, was borne to +the scaffold; and when her pale face was held up bleeding before the +crowd, they jeered and shouted themselves hoarse. + +The next year 1794, Madame Necker died at Coppet, whispering to her +husband, "We shall see each other in Heaven." "She looked heavenward," +said Necker in a most affecting manner, "listening while I prayed; +then, in dying, raised the finger of her left hand, which wore the +ring I had given her, to remind me of the pledge engraved upon it, to +love her forever." His devotion to her was beautiful. "No language," +says his daughter, "can give any adequate idea of it. Exhausted by +wakefulness at night, she slept often in the daytime, resting her +head on his arm. I have seen him remain immovable, for hours together, +standing in the same position for fear of awakening her by the least +movement. Absent from her during a few hours of sleep, he inquired, on +his return, of her attendant, if she had asked for him? She could no +longer speak, but made an effort to say 'yes, yes.'" + +When the Revolution was over, and France had become a republic, Sweden +sent back her ambassador, Baron de Staël, and his wife returned to him +at Paris. Again her _salon_ became the centre for the great men of +the time. She loved liberty, and believed in the republican form +of government. She had written her book upon the _Influence of the +Passions on the Happiness of Individuals and Nations_, prompted by +the horrors of the Revolution, and it was considered "irresistible in +energy and dazzling in thought." + +She was also devoting much time to her child, Auguste, developing him +without punishment, thinking that there had been too much rigor in her +own childhood. He well repaid her for her gentleness and trust, and +was inseparable from her through life, becoming a noble Christian man, +and the helper of all good causes. Meantime Madame de Staël saw with +alarm the growing influence of the young Corsican officer, Bonaparte. +The chief executive power had been placed in the hands of the +Directory, and he had control of the army. He had won brilliant +victories in Italy, and had been made commander-in-chief of the +expedition against Egypt He now returned to Paris, turned out the +Directory, drove out the Council of Five Hundred from the hall of +the Assembly at the point of the bayonet, made the government into a +consulate with three consuls, of whom he was the first, and lived at +the Tuileries in almost royal style. + +All this time Madame de Staël felt the egotism and heartlessness of +Napoleon. Her _salon_ became more crowded than ever with those who +had their fears for the future. "The most eloquent of the Republican +orators were those who borrowed from her most of their ideas and +telling phrases. Most of them went forth from her door with speeches +ready for the next day, and with resolution to pronounce them--a +courage which was also derived from her." Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte, +the brothers of Napoleon, were proud of her friendship, and often were +guests at her house, until forbidden by their brother. + +When Benjamin Constant made a speech against the "rising tyranny," +Napoleon suspected that she had prompted it, and denounced her +heartily, all the time declaring that he loved the Republic, and would +always defend it! He said persons always came away from De Staël's +home "less his friends than when they entered." About this time her +book, _Literature considered in its Relation to Social Institutions_, +was published, and made a surprising impression from its wealth +of knowledge and power of thought. Its analysis of Greek and Latin +literature, and the chief works in Italian, English, German, and +French, astonished everybody, because written by a woman! + +Soon after Necker published his _Last Views of Politics and Finance_, +in which he wrote against the tyranny of a single man. At once +Napoleon caused a sharp letter to be written to Necker advising him +to leave politics to the First Consul, "who was alone able to govern +France," and threatening his daughter with exile for her supposed aid +in his book. She saw the wisdom of escaping from France, lest she be +imprisoned, and immediately hastened to Coppet. A few months later, +in the winter of 1802, she returned to Paris to bring home Baron de +Staël, who was ill, and from whom she had separated because he was +spending all her fortune and that of her three children. He died on +the journey. + +Virtually banished from France, she now wrote her _Delphine_, a +brilliant novel which was widely read. It received its name from a +singular circumstance. + +"Desirous of meeting the First Consul for some urgent reason," says +Dr. Stevens in his charming biography of Madame de Staël, "she went to +the villa of Madame de Montessan, whither he frequently resorted. She +was alone in one of the _salles_ when he arrived, accompanied by the +consular court of brilliant young women. The latter knew the growing +hostility of their master toward her, and passed, without noticing +her, to the other end of the _salle_, leaving her entirely alone. +Her position was becoming extremely painful, when a young lady, more +courageous and more compassionate than her companions, crossed the +_salle_ and took a seat by her side. Madame de Staël was touched +by this kindness, and asked for her Christian name. 'Delphine,' she +responded. 'Ah, I will try to immortalize it,' exclaimed Madame +de Staël; and she kept her word. This sensible young lady was the +Comtesse de Custine." + +Her home at Coppet became the home of many great people. Sismondi, the +author of the _History of the Italian Republics_, and _Literature of +Southern Europe_, encouraged by her, wrote here several of his famous +works. Bonstetten made his home here for years. Schlegel, the greatest +critic of his age, became the teacher of her children, and a most +intimate friend. Benjamin Constant, the author and statesman, was +here. All repaired to their rooms for work in the morning, and in the +evening enjoyed philosophic, literary, and political discussions. + +Bonstetten said: "In seeing her, in hearing her, I feel myself +electrified.... She daily becomes greater and better; but souls of +great talent have great sufferings: they are solitary in the world, +like Mont Blanc." + +In the autumn of 1803, longing for Paris, she ventured to within ten +leagues and hired a quiet home. Word was soon borne to Napoleon that +the road to her house was thronged with visitors. He at once sent an +officer with a letter signed by himself, exiling her to forty leagues +from Paris, and commanding her to leave within twenty-four hours. + +At once she fled to Germany. At Frankfort her little daughter was +dangerously ill. "I knew no person in the city," she writes. "I did +not know the language; and the physician to whom I confided my child +could not speak French. But my father shared my trouble; he consulted +physicians at Geneva, and sent me their prescriptions. Oh, what would +become of a mother trembling for the life of her child, if it were not +for prayer!" + +Going to Weimar, she met Goethe, Wieland, Schiller, and other noted +men. At Berlin, the greatest attention was shown her. The beautiful +Louise of Prussia welcomed her heartily. During this exile her father +died, with his latest breath saying," She has loved me dearly! She +has loved me dearly!" On his death-bed he wrote a letter to Bonaparte +telling him that his daughter was in nowise responsible for his book, +but it was never answered. It was enough for Napoleon to know that she +did not flatter him; therefore he wished her out of the way. + +Madame de Staël was for a time completely overcome by Necker's death. +She wore his picture on her person as long as she lived. Only once did +she part with it, and then she imagined it might console her daughter +in her illness. Giving it to her, she said, "Gaze upon it, gaze upon +it, when you are in pain." + +She now sought repose in Italy, preparing those beautiful descriptions +for her _Corinne_, and finally returning to Coppet, spent a year in +writing her book. It was published in Paris, and, says Sainte-Beuve, +"its success was instantaneous and universal. As a work of art, as a +poem, the romance of _Corinne_ is an immortal monument." Jeffrey, +in the _Edinburgh Review_, called the author the greatest writer in +France since Voltaire and Rousseau, and the greatest woman writer of +any age or country. Napoleon, however, in his official paper, caused a +scathing criticism on _Corinne_ to appear; indeed, it was declared to +be from his own pen. She was told by the Minister of Police, that she +had but to insert some praise of Napoleon in _Corinne_, and she would +be welcomed back to Paris. She could not, however, live a lie, and she +feared Napoleon had evil designs upon France. + +Again she visited Germany with her children, Schlegel, and Sismondi. +So eager was everybody to see her and hear her talk, that Bettina von +Arnim says in her correspondence with Goethe: "The gentlemen stood +around the table and planted themselves behind us, elbowing one +another. They leaned quite over me, and I said in French, 'Your +adorers quite suffocate me.'" + +While in Germany, her eldest son, then seventeen, had an interview +with Bonaparte about the return of his mother. "Your mother," said +Napoleon, "could not be six months in Paris before I should be +compelled to send her to Bicêtre or the Temple. I should regret this +necessity, for it would make a noise and might injure me a little +in public opinion. Say, therefore, to her that as long as I live she +cannot re-enter Paris. I see what you wish, but it cannot be; she will +commit follies; she will have the world about her." + +On her return to Coppet, she spent two years in writing her +_Allemagne_, for which she had been making researches for four years. +She wished it published in Paris, as _Corinne_ had been, and submitted +it to the censors of the Press. They crossed out whatever sentiments +they thought might displease Napoleon, and then ten thousand copies +were at once printed, she meantime removing to France, within her +proscribed limits, that she might correct the proof-sheets. + +What was her astonishment to have Napoleon order the whole ten +thousand destroyed, and her to leave France in three days! Her two +sons attempted to see Bonaparte, who was at Fontainebleau, but were +ordered to turn back, or they would be arrested. The only reason given +for destroying the work was the fact that she had been silent about +the great but egotistical Emperor. + +Broken in spirit, she returned to Geneva. Amid all this darkness a new +light was about to beam upon her life. In the social gatherings made +for her, she observed a young army officer, Monsieur Rocca, broken in +health from his many wounds, but handsome and noble in face, and, as +she learned, of irreproachable life. Though only twenty-three and she +forty-five, the young officer was fascinated by her conversation, +and refreshed in spirits by her presence. She sympathized with his +misfortunes in battle; she admired his courage. He was lofty in +sentiments, tender in heart, and gave her what she had always needed, +an unselfish and devoted love. When discouraged by his friends, he +replied, "I will love her so much that I will finish by making her +marry me." + +They were married in 1811, and the marriage was a singularly happy +one. The reason for it is not difficult to perceive. A marriage that +has not a pretty face or a passing fancy for its foundation, but +appreciation of a gifted mind and noble heart,--such a marriage +stands the test of time. + +The marriage was kept secret from all save a few intimate friends, +Madame de Staël fearing that if the news reached Napoleon, Rocca +would be ordered back to France. Her fears were only too well founded. +Schlegel, Madame Recamier, all who had shown any sympathy for her, +began to be exiled. She was forbidden under any pretext whatever from +travelling in Switzerland, or entering any region annexed to France. +She was advised not to go two leagues from Coppet, lest she be +imprisoned, and this with Napoleon usually meant death. + +The Emperor seemed about to conquer the whole world. Whither could she +fly to escape his persecution? She longed to reach England, but there +was an edict against any French subject entering that country without +special permit. Truly his heel was upon France. The only way to reach +that country was through Austria, Russia, and Sweden, two thousand +leagues. But she must attempt it. She passed an hour in prayer by her +parent's tomb, kissed his armchair and table, and took his cloak to +wrap herself in should death come. + +May 23, 1812, she, with Rocca and two of her children, began their +flight by carriage, not telling the servants at the chateau, but that +they should return for the next meal. + +They reached Vienna June 6, and were at once put under surveillance. +Everywhere she saw placards admonishing the officers to watch her +sharply. Rocca had to make his way alone, because Bonaparte had +ordered his arrest. They were permitted to remain only a few hours +in any place. Once Madame de Staël was so overcome by this brutal +treatment that she lost consciousness, and was obliged to be taken +from her carriage to the roadside till she recovered. Every hour she +expected arrest and death. + +Finally, worn in body, she reached Russia, and was cordially received +by Alexander and Empress Elizabeth. From here she went to Sweden, and +had an equally cordial welcome from Bernadotte, the general who +became king. Afterward she spent four months in England, bringing out +_Allemagne._ Here she received a perfect ovation. At Lord Lansdowne's +the first ladies in the kingdom mounted on chairs and tables to catch +a glimpse of her. Sir James Mackintosh said: "The whole fashionable +and literary world is occupied with Madame de Staël, the most +celebrated woman of this, or perhaps of any age." Very rare must be +the case where a woman of fine mind does not have many admirers among +gentlemen. + +Her _Allemagne_ was published in 1813, the manuscript having been +secretly carried over Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the Baltic +Sea. The first part treated of the manners of Germany; the second, its +literature and art; the third, its philosophy and morals; the fourth, +its religion. The book had a wonderful sale, and was soon translated +into all the principal tongues of Europe. Lamartine said: "Her style, +without losing any of its youthful vigor and splendor, seemed now to +be illuminated with more lofty and eternal lights as she approached +the evening of life, and the diviner mysteries of thought. This style +no longer paints, no longer chants; it adores.... Her name will live +as long as literature, as long as the history of her country." + +Meantime, great changes had taken place in France. Napoleon had been +defeated at Leipsic, leaving a quarter of a million murdered on his +battle-fields; he had abdicated, and was on his way to Elba. She +immediately returned to Paris, with much the same feeling as Victor +Hugo, when he wept as he came from his long exile under "Napoleon the +Little." Again to her _salon_ came kings and generals, Alexander of +Russia, Wellington, and others. + +But soon Napoleon returned, and she fled to Coppet. He sent her an +invitation to come to Paris, declaring he would now live for the peace +of Europe, but she could not trust him. She saw her daughter, lovely +and beautiful, married to the Duc de Broglie, a leading statesman, +and was happy in her happiness. Rocca's health was failing, and they +repaired to Italy for a time. + +In 1816 they returned to Paris, Napoleon having gone from his final +defeat to St. Helena. But Madame de Staël was broken with her trials. +She seemed to grow more and more frail, till the end came. She said +frequently, "My father awaits me on the other shore." To Chateaubriand +she said, "I have loved God, my father, and my country." She could +not and would not go to sleep the last night, for fear she might never +look upon Rocca again. He begged her to sleep and he would awaken her +often. "Good night," she said, and it was forever. She never wakened. +They buried her beside her father at Coppet, under the grand old +trees. Rocca died in seven months, at the age of thirty-one. "I +hoped," he said, "to have died in her arms." + +Her little son, and Rocca's, five years old, was cared for by Auguste +and Albertine, her daughter. After Madame de Staël's death, her +_Considerations on the French Revolution_ and _Ten Years of Exile_ +were published. Of the former, Sainte-Beuve says: "Its publication was +an event. It was the splendid public obsequies of the authoress. +Its politics were destined to long and passionate discussions and +a durable influence. She is perfect only from this day; the full +influence of her star is only at her tomb." + +Chateaubriand said, "Her death made one of those breaches which the +fall of a superior intellect produces once in an age, and which can +never be closed." + +As kind as she was great, loving deeply and receiving love in return, +she has left an imperishable name. No wonder that thousands visit that +quiet grave beside Lake Geneva. + + + + +ROSA BONHEUR + +[Illustration: ROSA BONHEUR.] + +In a simple home in Paris could have been seen, in 1829, Raymond +Bonheur and his little family,--Rosa, seven years old, August, +Isadore, and Juliette. He was a man of fine talent in painting, but +obliged to spend his time in giving drawing-lessons to support his +children. His wife, Sophie, gave lessons on the piano, going from +house to house all day long, and sometimes sewing half the night, to +earn a little more for the necessities of life. + +Hard work and poverty soon bore its usual fruit, and the tired young +mother died in 1833. The three oldest children were sent to board with +a plain woman, "La mère Cathérine," in the Champs Elysées, and the +youngest was placed with relatives. For two years this good woman +cared for the children, sending them to school, though she was greatly +troubled because Rosa persisted in playing in the woods of the Bois +de Boulogne, gathering her arms full of daisies and marigolds, rather +than to be shut up in a schoolroom. "I never spent an hour of fine +weather indoors during the whole of the two years," she has often said +since those days. + +Finally the father married again and brought the children home. The +two boys were placed in school, and M. Bonheur paid their way by +giving drawing lessons three times a week in the institution. If Rosa +did not love school, she must be taught something useful, and she was +accordingly placed in a sewing establishment to become a seamstress. + +The child hated sewing, ran the needle into her fingers at every +stitch, cried for the fresh air and sunshine, and finally, becoming +pale and sickly, was taken back to the Bonheur home. The anxious +painter would try his child once more in school; so he arranged that +she should attend, with compensation met in the same way as for his +boys. Rosa soon became a favorite with the girls in the Fauborg +St. Antoine School, especially because she could draw such witty +caricatures of the teachers, which she pasted against the wall, with +bread chewed into the consistency of putty. The teachers were not +pleased, but so struck were they with the vigor and originality of the +drawings, that they carefully preserved the sketches in an album. + +The girl was far from happy. Naturally sensitive--as what poet or +painter was ever born otherwise?--she could not bear to wear a calico +dress and coarse shoes, and eat with an iron spoon from a tin cup, +when the other girls wore handsome dresses, and had silver mugs and +spoons. She grew melancholy, neglected her books, and finally became +so ill that she was obliged to be taken home. + +And now Raymond Bonheur very wisely decided not to make plans for his +child for a time, but see what was her natural tendency. It was well +that he made this decision in time, before she had been spoiled by his +well-meant but poor intentions. + +Left to herself, she constantly hung about her father's studio, now +drawing, now modeling, copying whatever she saw him do. She seemed +never to be tired, but sang at her work all the day long. + +Monsieur Bonheur suddenly awoke to the fact that his daughter had +great talent. He began to teach her carefully, to make her accurate in +drawing, and correct in perspective. Then he sent her to the Louvre to +copy the works of the old masters. Here she worked with the greatest +industry and enthusiasm, not observing anything that was going on +around her. Said the director of the Louvre, "I have never seen an +example of such application and such ardor for work." + +One day an elderly English gentleman stopped beside her easel, and +said: "Your copy, my child, is superb, faultless. Persevere as you +have begun, and I prophesy that you will be a great artist." How glad +those few words made her! She went home thinking over to herself the +determination she had made in the school when she ate with her iron +spoon, that sometime she would be as famous as her schoolmates, and +have some of the comforts of life. + +Her copies of the old masters were soon sold, and though they brought +small prices, she gladly gave the money to her father, who needed it +now more than ever. His second wife had two sons when he married her, +and now they had a third, Germain, and every cent that Rosa could +earn was needed to help support seven children. "La mamiche," as +they called the new mother, was an excellent manager of the meagre +finances, and filled her place well. + +Rosa was now seventeen, loving landscape, historical, and genre +painting, perhaps equally; but happening to paint a goat, she was so +pleased in the work, that she determined to make animal painting a +specialty. Having no money to procure models, she must needs make long +walks into the country on foot to the farms. She would take a piece of +bread in her pocket, and generally forget to eat it. After working +all day, she would come home tired, often drenched with rain, and her +shoes covered with mud. + +She took other means to study animals. In the outskirts of Paris were +great _abattoirs_, or slaughter-pens. Though the girl tenderly loved +animals, and shrank from the sight of suffering, she forced herself to +see the killing, that she might know how to depict the death agony +on canvas. Though obliged to mingle more or less with drovers and +butchers, no indignity was ever offered her. As she sat on a bundle of +hay, with her colors about her, they would crowd around to look at +the pictures, and regard her with honest pride. The world soon +learns whether a girl is in earnest about her work, and treats her +accordingly. + +The Bonheur family had moved to the sixth story of a tenement house +in the Rue Rumfort, now the Rue Malesherbes. The sons, Auguste and +Isadore, had both become artists; the former a painter, the latter a +sculptor. Even little Juliette was learning to paint. Rosa was working +hard all day at her easel, and at night was illustrating books, or +molding little groups of animals for the figure-dealers. All the +family were happy despite their poverty, because they had congenial +work. + +On the roof, Rosa improvised a sort of garden, with honeysuckles, +sweet-peas, and nasturtiums, and here they kept a sheep, with long, +silky wool, for a model. Very often Isadore would take him on his back +and carry him down the six flights of stairs,--the day of elevators +had not dawned,--and after he had enjoyed grazing, would bring him +back to his garden home. It was a docile creature, and much loved by +the whole family. For Rosa's birds, the brothers constructed a net, +which they hung outside the window, and then opened the cage into it. + +At nineteen Rosa was to test the world, and see what the critics would +say. She sent to the Fine Arts Exhibition two pictures, "Goats and +Sheep" and "Two Rabbits." The public was pleased, and the press gave +kind notices. The next year "Animals in a Pasture," a "Cow lying in a +Meadow," and a "Horse for sale," attracted still more attention. Two +years later she exhibited twelve pictures, some from her father and +brother being hung on either side of hers, the first time they had +been admitted. More and more the critics praised, and the pathway of +the Bonheur family grew less thorny. + +Then, in 1849, when she was twenty-seven, came the triumph. Her +magnificent picture, "Cantal Oxen," took the gold medal, and was +purchased by England. Horace Vernet, the president of the commission +of awards, in the midst of a brilliant assembly, proclaimed the new +laureate, and gave her, in behalf of the government, a superb Sèvres +vase. + +Raymond Bonheur seemed to become young again at this fame of his +child. It brought honors to him also, for he was at once made director +of the government school of design for girls. But the release from +poverty and anxiety came too late, and he died the same year, greatly +lamented by his family. "He had grand ideas," said his daughter, "and +had he not been obliged to give lessons for our support, he would have +been more known, and to-day acknowledged with other masters." + +Rosa was made director in his place, and Juliette became a professor +in the school. This same year appeared her "Plowing Scene in the +Nivernais," now in the Luxembourg Gallery, thought to be her most +important work after her "Horse Fair." Orders now poured in upon her, +so that she could not accede to half the requests for work. A rich +Hollander offered her one thousand crowns for a painting which she +could have wrought in two hours; but she refused. + +Four years later, after eighteen long months of preparatory studies, +her "Horse Fair" was painted. This created the greatest enthusiasm +both in England and America. It was sold to a gentleman in England for +eight thousand dollars, and was finally purchased by A. T. Stewart, of +New York, for his famous collection. No one who has seen this picture +will ever forget the action and vigor of these Normandy horses. In +painting it, a petted horse, it is said, stepped back upon the canvas, +putting his hoof through it, thus spoiling the work of months. + +So greatly was this picture admired, that Napoleon III. was urged to +bestow upon her the Cross of the Legion of Honor, entitled her from +French usage. Though she was invited to the state dinner at the +Tuileries, always given to artists to whom the Academy of Fine Arts +has awarded its highest honors, Napoleon had not the courage to give +it to her, lest public opinion might not agree with him in conferring +it upon a woman. Possibly he felt, more than the world knew, the +insecurity of his throne. + +Henry Bacon, in the _Century_, thus describes the way in which Rosa +Bonheur finally received the badge of distinction. "The Emperor, +leaving Paris for a short summer excursion in 1865, left the Empress +as Regent. From the imperial residence at Fontainebleau it was only a +short drive to By (the home of Mademoiselle Bonheur). The countersign +at the gate was forced, and unannounced, the Empress entered the +studio where Mademoiselle Rosa was at work. She rose to receive the +visitor, who threw her arms about her neck and kissed her. It was only +a short interview. The imperial vision had departed, the rumble of +the carriage and the crack of the outriders' whips were lost in the +distance. Then, and not till then, did the artist discover that as the +Empress had given the kiss, she had pinned upon her blouse the Cross +of the Legion of Honor." Since then she has received the Leopold Cross +of Honor from the King of Belgium, said to be the first ever conferred +upon a woman; also a decoration from the King of Spain. Her brother +Auguste, now dead, received the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1867, +two years after Rosa. + +In preparing to paint the "Horse Fair" and other similar pictures, +which have brought her much into the company of men, she has found it +wise to dress in male costume. A laughable incident is related of this +mode of dress. One day when she returned from the country, she found a +messenger awaiting to announce to her the sudden illness of one of +her young friends. Rosa did not wait to change her male attire, but +hastened to the bedside of the young lady. In a few minutes after +her arrival, the doctor, who had been sent for, entered, and seeing a +young man, as he supposed, seated on the side of the bed, with his +arm round the neck of the sick girl, thought he was an intruder, and +retreated with all possible speed. "Oh! run after him! He thinks you +are my lover, and has gone and left me to die!" cried the sick girl. +Rosa flew down stairs, and soon returned with the modest doctor. + +She also needs this mannish costume, for her long journeys over +the Pyrenees into Spain or in the Scottish Highlands. She is always +accompanied by her most intimate friend, Mademoiselle Micas, herself +an artist of repute, whose mother, a widow, superintends the home for +the two devoted friends. + +Sometimes in the Pyrenees these two ladies see no one for six weeks +but muleteers with their mules. The people in these lonely mountain +passes live entirely upon the curdled milk of sheep. Once Rosa Bonheur +and her friend were nearly starving, when Mademoiselle Micas obtained +a quantity of frogs, and covering the hind legs with leaves, roasted +them over a fire. On these they lived for two days. + +In Scotland she painted her exquisite "Denizens of the Mountains," +"Morning in the Highlands," and "Crossing a Loch in the Highlands." In +England she was treated like a princess. Sir Edwin Landseer, whom some +persons thought she would marry, is reported to have said, when he +first looked upon her "Horse Fair," "It surpasses me, though it's +a little hard to be beaten by a woman." On her return to France she +brought a skye-terrier, named "Wasp," of which she is very fond, and +for which she has learned several English phrases. When she speaks to +him in English, he wags his tail most appreciatively. + +Rosa Bonheur stands at the head of her profession, an acknowledged +master. Her pictures bring enormous sums, and have brought her wealth. +A "View in the Pyrenees" has been sold for ten thousand dollars, and +some others for twice that sum. + +She gives away much of her income. She has been known to send to the +_Mont de Pieté_ her gold medals to raise funds to assist poor artists. +A woman artist, who had been refused help by several wealthy painters, +applied to Rosa Bonheur, who at once took down from the wall a small +but valuable painting, and gave it to her, from which she received a +goodly sum. A young sculptor who greatly admired her work, enclosed +twenty dollars, asking her for a small drawing, and saying that this +was all the money he possessed. She immediately sent him a sketch +worth at least two hundred dollars. She has always provided most +generously for her family, and for servants who have grown old in her +employ. + +She dresses very simply, always wearing black, brown, or gray, with +a close fitting jacket over a plain skirt. When she accepts a social +invitation, which is very rare, she adorns her dress with a lace +collar, but without other ornament. Her working dress is usually a +long gray linen or blue flannel blouse, reaching nearly from head to +foot. She has learned that the conventional tight dress of women +is not conducive to great mental or physical power. She is small +in stature, with dainty hands and feet, blue eyes, and a noble and +intelligent face. + +She is an indefatigable worker, rising usually at six in the morning, +and painting throughout the day. + +So busy is she that she seldom permits herself any amusements. On one +occasion she had tickets sent her for the theatre. She worked till the +carriage was announced. "_Je suis prête_," said Rosa, and went to the +play in her working dress. A daintily gloved man in the box next to +hers looked over in disdain, and finally went into the vestibule and +found the manager. + +"Who is this woman in the box next to mine?" he said, in a rage. +"She's in an old calico dress, covered with paint and oil. The odor is +terrible. Turn her out. If you do not, I will never enter your theatre +again." + +The manager went to the box, and returning, informed him that it was +the great painter. + +"Rosa Bonheur!" he gasped. "Who'd have thought it? Make my apology to +her. I dare not enter her presence again." + +She usually walks at the twilight, often thinking out new subjects for +her brush, at that quiet hour. She said to a friend: "I have been a +faithful student since I was ten years old. I have copied no master. I +have studied Nature, and expressed to the best of my ability the ideas +and feelings with which she has inspired me. Art is an absorbent--a +tyrant. It demands heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of the +votary. Nothing less will win its highest favor. I wed art. It is my +husband, my world, my life-dream, the air I breathe. I know nothing +else, feel nothing else, think nothing else, My soul finds in it +the most complete satisfaction.... I have no taste for general +society,--no interest in its frivolities. I only seek to be known +through my works. If the world feel and understand them, I have +succeeded.... If I had got up a convention to debate the question of +my ability to paint '_Marché au Chevaux_' [The Horse Fair], for which +England paid me forty thousand francs, the decision would have been +against me. I felt the power within me to paint; I cultivated it, and +have produced works that have won the favorable verdicts of the great +judges. I have no patience with women who ask _permission to think_!" + +For years she lived in Rue d'Assas, a retired street half made up of +gardens. Here she had one of the most beautiful studios of Paris, the +room lighted from the ceiling, the walls covered with paintings, with +here and there old armor, tapestry, hats, cloaks, sandals, and skins +of tigers, leopards, foxes, and oxen on the floor. One Friday, the day +on which she received guests, one of her friends, coming earlier +than usual, found her fast asleep on her favorite skin, that of a +magnificent ox, with stuffed head and spreading horns. She had come in +tired from the School of Design, and had thrown herself down to rest. +Usually after greeting her friends she would say, "Allow me to resume +my brush; we can talk just as well together." For those who have any +great work to do in this worlds there is little time for visiting; +interruptions cannot be permitted. No wonder Carlyle groaned when some +person had taken two hours of his time. He could better have spared +money to the visitor. + +For several years Rosa Bonheur has lived near Fontainebleau, in the +Chateau By. Henry Bacon says: "The chateau dates from the time of +Louis XV., and the garden is still laid out in the style of Le Notre. +Since it has been in the present proprietor's possession, a quaint, +picturesque brick building, containing the carriage house and +coachman's lodge on the first floor, and the studio on the second, +has been added; the roof of the main building has been raised, and the +chapel changed into an orangery: beside the main carriage-entrance, +which is closed by iron gates and wooden blinds, is a postern gate, +with a small grated opening, like those found in convents. The blinds +to the gate and the slide to the grating are generally closed, and +the only communication with the outside world is by the bell-wire, +terminating in a ring beside the gate. Ring, and the jingle of the +bell is at once echoed by the barking of numerous dogs,--the hounds +and bassets in chorus, the grand Saint Bernard in slow measure, like +the bass-drum in an orchestra. After the first excitement among the +dogs has begun to abate, a remarkably small house-pet that has been +somewhere in the interior arrives upon the scene, and with his sharp, +shrill voice again starts and leads the canine chorus. By this time +the eagle in his cage has awakened, and the parrot, whose cage is +built into the corner of the studio looking upon the street, adds to +the racket. + +"Behind the house is a large park divided from the forest by a high +wall; a lawn and flower-beds are laid out near the buildings; and on +the lawn, in pleasant weather, graze a magnificent bull and cow, +which are kept as models. In a wire enclosure are two chamois from the +Pyrenees, and further removed from the house, in the wooded part of +the park, are enclosures for sheep and deer, each of which knows its +mistress. Even the stag, bearing its six-branched antlers, receives +her caresses like a pet dog. At the end of one of the linden avenues +is a splendid bronze, by Isadore Bonheur, of a Gaul attacking a lion. + +"The studio is very large, with a huge chimney at one end, the +supports of which are life-size dogs, modeled by Isadore Bonheur. +Portraits of the father and mother in oval frames hang at each +side, and a pair of gigantic horns ornaments the centre. The room +is decorated with stuffed heads of animals of various kinds,--boars, +bears, wolves, and oxen; and birds perch in every convenient place." + +When Prussia conquered France, and swept through this town, orders +were given that Rosa Bonheur's home and paintings be carefully +preserved. Even her servants went unmolested. The peasants idolized +the great woman who lived in the chateau, and were eager to serve her. +She always talked to them pleasantly. Rosa Bonheur died at her home at +11 P.M., Thursday, May 25, 1899. + + + + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. + +[Illustration: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Rome. February. 1859] + +Ever since I had received in my girlhood, from my best friend, the +works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in five volumes in blue and gold, +I had read and re-read the pages, till I knew scores by heart. I +had longed to see the face and home of her whom the English call +"Shakespeare's daughter," and whom Edmund Clarence Stedman names "the +passion-flower of the century." + +I shall never forget that beautiful July morning spent in the Browning +home in London. The poet-wife had gone out from it, and lay buried in +Florence, but here were her books and her pictures. Here was a marble +bust, the hair clustering about the face, and a smile on the lips that +showed happiness. Near by was another bust of the idolized only child, +of whom she wrote in _Casa Guidi Windows_:-- + + "The sun strikes through the windows, up the floor: + Stand out in it, my own young Florentine, + Not two years old, and let me see thee more! + It grows along thy amber curls to shine + Brighter than elsewhere. Now look straight before + And fix thy brave blue English eyes on mine, + And from thy soul, which fronts the future so + With unabashed and unabated gaze, + Teach me to hope for what the Angels know + When they smile clear as thou dost!" + +Here was the breakfast-table at which they three had often sat +together. Close beside it hung a picture of the room in Florence, +where she lived so many years in a wedded bliss as perfect as any +known in history. Tears gathered in the eyes of Robert Browning, as he +pointed out her chair, and sofa, and writing-table. + +Of this room in Casa Guidi, Kate Field wrote in the _Atlantic +Monthly_, September, 1861: "They who have been so favored can never +forget the square ante-room, with its great picture and piano-forte, +at which the boy Browning passed many an hour; the little dining room +covered with tapestry, and where hung medallions of Tennyson, Carlyle, +and Robert Browning; the long room filled with plaster casts and +studies, which was Mr. Browning's retreat; and, dearest of all, the +large drawing-room, where _she_ always sat. It opens upon a balcony +filled with plants, and looks out upon the old iron-gray church of +Santa Felice. There was something about this room that seemed to make +it a proper and especial haunt for poets. The dark shadows and +subdued light gave it a dreamy look, which was enhanced by the +tapestry-covered walls, and the old pictures of saints that looked +out sadly from their carved frames of black wood. Large bookcases, +constructed of specimens of Florentine carving selected by Mr. +Browning, were brimming over with wise-looking books. Tables were +covered with more gayly bound volumes, the gifts of brother authors. +Dante's grave profile, a cast of Keats' face and brow taken after +death, a pen-and-ink sketch of Tennyson, the genial face of John +Kenyon, Mrs. Browning's good friend and relative, little paintings of +the boy Browning, all attracted the eye in turn, and gave rise to a +thousand musings. But the glory of all, and that which sanctified all, +was seated in a low armchair near the door. A small table, strewn with +writing materials, books and newspapers, was always by her side." + +Then Mr. Browning, in the London home, showed us the room where he +writes, containing his library and hers. The books are on simple +shelves, choice, and many very old and rare. Here are her books, many +in Greek and Hebrew. In the Greek, I saw her notes on the margin in +Hebrew, and in the Hebrew she had written her marginal notes in Greek. +Here also are the five volumes of her writings, in blue and gold. + +The small table at which she wrote still stands beside the larger +where her husband composes. His table is covered with letters and +papers and books; hers stands there unused, because it is a constant +reminder of those companionable years, when they worked together. +Close by hangs a picture of the "young Florentine," Robert Barrett +Browning, now grown to manhood, an artist already famed. He has a +refined face, as he sits in artist garb, before his easel, sketching +in a peasant's house. The beloved poet who wrote at the little table, +is endeared to all the world. Born in 1809, in the county of Durham, +the daughter of wealthy parents, she passed her early years partly in +the country in Herefordshire, and partly in the city. That she loved +the country with its wild flowers and woods, her poem, _The Lost +Bower_, plainly shows. + + "Green the land is where my daily + Steps in jocund childhood played, + Dimpled close with hill and valley, + Dappled very close with shade; + Summer-snow of apple-blossoms running up from glade to glade. + + * * * * * + + "But the wood, all close and clenching + Bough in bough and root in root,-- + No more sky (for overbranching) + At your head than at your foot,-- + Oh, the wood drew me within it, by a glamour past dispute. + + "But my childish heart beat stronger + Than those thickets dared to grow: + _I_ could pierce them! I could longer + Travel on, methought, than so. + Sheep for sheep-paths! braver children climb and creep where they + would go. + + * * * * * + + "Tall the linden-tree, and near it + An old hawthorne also grew; + And wood-ivy like a spirit + Hovered dimly round the two, + Shaping thence that bower of beauty which I sing of thus to you. + + "And the ivy veined and glossy + Was enwrought with eglantine; + And the wild hop fibred closely, + And the large-leaved columbine, + Arch of door and window mullion, did right sylvanly entwine. + + * * * * * + + "I have lost--oh, many a pleasure, + Many a hope, and many a power-- + Studious health, and merry leisure, + The first dew on the first flower! + But the first of all my losses was the losing of the bower. + + * * * * * + + "Is the bower lost then? Who sayeth + That the bower indeed is lost? + Hark! my spirit in it prayeth + Through the sunshine and the frost,-- + And the prayer preserves it greenly, to the last + and uttermost. + + "Till another open for me + In God's Eden-land unknown, + With an angel at the doorway, + White with gazing at His throne, + And a saint's voice in the palm-trees, singing, 'All is lost ... + and _won_!'" + +Elizabeth Barrett wrote poems at ten, and when seventeen, published +an _Essay on Mind, and Other Poems_. The essay was after the manner +of Pope, and though showing good knowledge of Plato and Bacon, did not +find favor with the critics. It was dedicated to her father, who was +proud of a daughter who preferred Latin and Greek to the novels of the +day. + +Her teacher was the blind Hugh Stuart Boyd, whom she praises in her +_Wine of Cyprus_. + + "Then, what golden hours were for us!-- + While we sate together there; + + * * * * * + + "Oh, our Aeschylus, the thunderous! + How he drove the bolted breath + Through the cloud to wedge it ponderous + In the gnarlèd oak beneath. + Oh, our Sophocles, the royal, + Who was born to monarch's place, + And who made the whole world loyal, + Less by kingly power than grace. + + "Our Euripides, the human, + With his droppings of warm tears, + And his touches of things common + Till they rose to touch the spheres! + Our Theocritus, our Bion, + And our Pindar's shining goals!-- + These were cup-bearers undying, + Of the wine that's meant for souls." + +More fond of books than of social life, she was laying the necessary +foundation for a noble fame. The lives of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, +George Eliot, and Margaret Fuller, emphasize the necessity of almost +unlimited knowledge, if woman would reach lasting fame. A great man +or woman of letters, without great scholarship, is well-nigh an +impossible thing. + +Nine years after her first book, _Prometheus Bound and Miscellaneous +Poems_ was published in 1835. She was now twenty-six. A translation +from the Greek of Aeschylus by a woman caused much comment, but like +the first book it received severe criticism. Several years afterward, +when she brought her collected poems before the world, she wrote: "One +early failure, a translation of the _Prometheus of Aeschylus_, which, +though happily free of the current of publication, may be remembered +against me by a few of my personal friends, I have replaced here by an +entirely new version, made for them and my conscience, in expiation of +a sin of my youth, with the sincerest application of my mature mind." +"This latter version," says Mr. Stedman, "of a most sublime tragedy +is more poetical than any other of equal correctness, and has the +fire and vigor of a master-hand. No one has succeeded better than its +author in capturing with rhymed measures the wilful rushing melody of +the tragic chorus." + +In 1835 Miss Barrett made the acquaintance of Mary Russell Mitford, +and a life-long friendship resulted. Miss Mitford says: "She was +certainly one of the most interesting persons I had ever seen. +Everybody who then saw her said the same. Of a slight, delicate +figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on either side of a most +expressive face, large tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, +a smile like a sunbeam, and such a look of youthfulness, that I had +some difficulty in persuading a friend, in whose carriage we went +together to Cheswick, that the translatress of the _Prometheus of +Aeschylus_, the authoress of the _Essay on Mind_, was old enough to +be introduced into company, in technical language, was out. We met so +constantly and so familiarly that, in spite of the difference of +age, intimacy ripened into friendship, and after my return into the +country, we corresponded freely and frequently, her letters being just +what letters ought to be,--her own talk put upon paper." + +The next year Miss Barrett, never robust, broke a blood-vessel in the +lungs. For a year she was ill, and then with her eldest and favorite +brother, was carried to Torquay to try the effect of a warmer climate. +After a year spent here, she greatly improved, and seemed likely to +recover her usual health. + +One beautiful summer morning she went on the balcony to watch her +brother and two other young men who had gone out for a sail. Having +had much experience, and understanding the coast, they allowed the +boatman to return to land. Only a few minutes out, and in plain sight, +as they were crossing the bar, the boat went down, and the three +friends perished. Their bodies even were never recovered. + +The whole town was in mourning. Posters were put upon every cliff and +public place, offering large rewards "for linen cast ashore marked +with the initials of the beloved dead; for it so chanced that all the +three were of the dearest and the best: one, an only son; the other, +the son of a widow"; but the sea was forever silent. + +The sister, who had seen her brother sink before her eyes, was utterly +prostrated. She blamed herself for his death, because he came to +Torquay for her comfort. All winter long she heard the sound of +waves ringing in her ears like the moans of the dying. From this time +forward she never mentioned her brother's name, and later, exacted +from Mr. Browning a promise that the subject should never be broached +between them. + +The following year she was removed to London in an invalid carriage, +journeying twenty miles a day. And then for seven years, in a large +darkened room, lying much of the time upon her couch, and seeing only +a few most intimate friends, the frail woman lived and wrote. Books +more than ever became her solace and joy. Miss Mitford says, "She read +almost every book worth reading, in almost every language, and gave +herself heart and soul to that poetry of which she seem born to be the +priestess." When Dr. Barry urged that she read light books, she had a +small edition of Plato bound so as to resemble a novel, and the good +man was satisfied. She understood her own needs better than he. + +When she was twenty-nine, she published _The Seraphim and Other +Poems_. The _Seraphim_ was a reverential description of two angels +watching the Crucifixion. Though the critics saw much that was +strikingly original, they condemned the frequent obscurity of meaning +and irregularity of rhyme. The next year, _The Romaunt of the Page_ +and other ballads appeared, and in 1844, when she was thirty-five, a +complete edition of her poems, opening with the _Drama of Exile_. +This was the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, the first scene +representing "the outer side of the gate of Eden shut fast with cloud, +from the depth of which revolves a sword of fire self-moved. Adam and +Eve are seen in the distance flying along the glare." + +In one of her prefaces she said: "Poetry has been to me as serious a +thing as life itself,--and life has been a _very_ serious thing; there +has been no playing at skittles for me in either. I never mistook +pleasure for the final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of +the poet. I have done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand +and head work, apart from the personal being, but as the completest +expression of that being to which I could attain,--and as work I offer +it to the public, feeling its shortcomings more deeply than any of +my readers, because measured from the height of my aspiration; but +feeling also that the reverence and sincerity with which the work was +done should give it some protection from the reverent and sincere." + +While the _Drama of Exile_ received some adverse criticism, the shorter +poems became the delight of thousands. Who has not held his breath in +reading the _Rhyme of the Duchess May_?-- + + "And her head was on his breast, where she smiled as one at rest,-- + _Toll slowly_. + 'Ring,' she cried, 'O vesper-bell, in the beech-wood's old chapelle!' + But the passing-bell rings best! + + "They have caught out at the rein, which Sir Guy threw loose--in vain,-- + _Toll slowly_. + For the horse in stark despair, with his front hoofs poised in air, + On the last verge rears amain. + + "Now he hangs, he rocks between, and his nostrils curdle in!-- + _Toll slowly_. + Now he shivers head and hoof, and the flakes of foam fall off, + And his face grows fierce and thin! + + "And a look of human woe from his staring eyes did go, + _Toll slowly_. + And a sharp cry uttered he, in a foretold agony of the headlong death below." + +Who can ever forget that immortal _Cry of the Children_, which awoke +all England to the horrors of child-labor? That, and Hood's _Song of +the Shirt_, will never die. + +Who has not read and loved one of the most tender poems in any +language, _Bertha in the Lane_?-- + + "Yes, and He too! let him stand + In thy thoughts, untouched by blame. + Could he help it, if my hand + He had claimed with hasty claim? + That was wrong perhaps--but then + Such things be--and will, again. + Women cannot judge for men. + + * * * * * + + "And, dear Bertha, let me keep + On this hand this little ring, + Which at night, when others sleep, + I can still see glittering. + Let me wear it out of sight, + In the grave,--where it will light + All the Dark up, day and night." + +No woman has ever understood better the fulness of love, or described +it more purely and exquisitely. + +One person among the many who had read Miss Barrett's poems, felt +their genius, because he had genius in his own soul, and that person +was Robert Browning. That she admired his poetic work was shown in +_Lady Geraldine's Courtship_, when Bertram reads to his lady-love:-- + + "Or at times a modern volume,--Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted idyl, + Howitt's ballad verse, or Tennyson's enchanted reverie, + Or from Browning some _Pomegranate_, which, if cut deep down the middle, + Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity." + +Mr. Browning determined to meet the unknown singer. Years later he +told the story to Elizabeth C. Kinney, when she had gone with the +happy husband and wife on a day's excursion from Florence. She says: +"Finding that the invalid did not receive strangers, he wrote her a +letter, intense with his desire to see her. She reluctantly consented +to an interview. He flew to her apartment, was admitted by the nurse, +in whose presence only could he see the deity at whose shrine he had +long worshipped. But the golden opportunity was not to be lost; love +became oblivious to any save the presence of the real of its ideal. +Then and there Robert Browning poured his impassioned soul into hers; +though his tale of love seemed only an enthusiast's dream. Infirmity +had hitherto so hedged her about, that she deemed herself forever +protected from all assaults of love. Indeed, she felt only injured +that a fellow-poet should take advantage, as it were, of her +indulgence in granting him an interview, and requested him to withdraw +from her presence, not attempting any response to his proposal, which +she could not believe in earnest. Of course, he withdrew from her +sight, but not to withdraw the offer of his heart and hand; on the +contrary, to repeat it by letter, and in such wise as to convince her +how 'dead in earnest' he was. Her own heart, touched already when she +knew it not, was this time fain to listen, be convinced, and overcome. + +"As a filial daughter, Elizabeth told her father of the poet's love, +and of the poet's love in return, and asked a parent's blessing to +crown their happiness. At first he was incredulous of the strange +story; but when the truth flashed on him from the new fire in +her eyes, he kindled with rage, and forbade her ever seeing or +communicating with her lover again, on the penalty of disinheritance +and banishment forever from a father's love. This decision was founded +on no dislike for Mr. Browning personally, or anything in him or his +family; it was simply arbitrary. But the new love was stronger +than the old in her,--it conquered." Mr. Barrett never forgave his +daughter, and died unreconciled, which to her was a great grief. + +In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett arose from her sick-bed to marry the man +of her choice, who took her at once to Italy, where she spent fifteen +happy years. At once, love seemed to infuse new life into the delicate +body and renew the saddened heart. She was thirty-seven. She had +wisely waited till she found a person of congenial tastes and kindred +pursuits. Had she married earlier, it is possible that the cares of +life might have deprived the world of some of her noblest works. + +The marriage was an ideal one. Both had a grand purpose in life. +Neither individual was merged in the other. George S. Hillard, in his +_Six Months in Italy_, when he visited the Brownings the year after +their marriage, says, "A happier home and a more perfect union than +theirs it is not easy to imagine; and this completeness arises not +only from the rare qualities which each possesses, but from their +perfect adaptation to each other.... Nor is she more remarkable +for genius and learning, than for sweetness of temper and purity of +spirit. It is a privilege to know such beings singly and separately, +but to see their powers quickened, and their happiness rounded, by the +sacred tie of marriage, is a cause for peculiar and lasting gratitude. +A union so complete as theirs--in which the mind has nothing to +crave nor the heart to sigh for--is cordial to behold and soothing to +remember." + +"Mr. Browning," says one who knew him well, "did not fear to speak +of his wife's genius, which he did almost with awe, losing himself so +entirely in her glory that one could see that he did not feel worthy +to unloose her shoe-latchet, much less to call her his own." + +When mothers teach their daughters to cultivate their minds as did +Mrs. Browning, as well as to emulate her sweetness of temper, then +will men venerate women for both mental and moral power. A love that +has reverence for its foundation knows no change. + +"Mrs. Browning's conversation was most interesting. She never made an +insignificant remark. All that she said was _always_ worth hearing; a +greater compliment could not be paid her. She was a most conscientious +listener, giving you her mind and heart, as well as her magnetic eyes. +_Persons_ were never her theme, unless public characters were under +discussion, or friends were to be praised. One never dreamed of +frivolities in Mrs. Browning's presence, and gossip felt itself out +of place. Yourself, not herself, was always a pleasant subject to her, +calling out all her best sympathies in joy, and yet more in sorrow. +Books and humanity, great deeds, and above all, politics, which +include all the grand questions of the day, were foremost in her +thoughts, and therefore oftenest on her lips. I speak not of religion, +for with her everything was religion. + +"Thoughtful in the smallest things for others, she seemed to give +little thought to herself. The first to see merit, she was the last +to censure faults, and gave the praise that she felt with a generous +hand. No one so heartily rejoiced at the success of others, no one +was so modest in her own triumphs. She loved all who offered her +affection, and would solace and advise with any. Mrs. Browning +belonged to no particular country; the world was inscribed upon the +banner under which she fought. Wrong was her enemy; against this she +wrestled, in whatever part of the globe it was to be found." + +Three years after her marriage her only son was born. The Italians +ever after called her "the mother of the beautiful child." And now +some of her ablest and strongest work was done. Her _Casa Guidi +Windows_ appeared in 1851. It is the story of the struggle for Italian +liberty. In the same volume were published the _Portuguese Sonnets_, +really her own love-life. It would be difficult to find any thing more +beautiful than these. + + "First time he kissed me he but only kissed + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write, + And ever since, it grew more clean and white, + Slow to world-greetings, quick with its 'Oh, list,' + When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst + I could not wear here, plainer to my sight, + Than that first kiss. The second passed in height + The first, and sought the forehead, and half-missed + Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed! + That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown + With sanctifying sweetness, did precede. + The third upon my lips was folded down + In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed, + I have been proud and said, 'My love, my own!' + + * * * * * + + How do I love thee? Let me count the ways, + I love thee to the depth and breadth and height + My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight + For the ends of being and ideal Grace. + I love thee to the level of every day's + Most quiet need, by sun and candle light. + I love thee freely, as men strive for Right, + I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. + I love thee with the passion put to use + In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. + I love thee with a love I seemed to lose + With my lost saints--I love thee with the breath, + Smiles, tears of all my life!--and, if God choose, + I shall but love thee better after death." + +Mrs. Browning's next great poem, in 1856, was _Aurora Leigh_, a novel +in blank verse, "the most mature," she says in the preface, "of my +works, and the one into which my highest convictions upon Life and Art +have entered." Walter Savage Landor said of it: "In many pages there +is the wild imagination of Shakespeare. I had no idea that any one in +this age was capable of such poetry." + +For fifteen years this happy wedded life, with its work of brain and +hand, had been lived, and now the bond was to be severed. In June, +1861, Mrs. Browning took a severe cold, and was ill for nearly a week. +No one thought of danger, though Mr. Browning would not leave her +bedside. On the night of June 29, toward morning she seemed to be in +a sort of ecstasy. She told her husband of her love for him, gave +him her blessing, and raised herself to die in his arms. "It is +beautiful," were her last words as she caught a glimpse of some +heavenly vision. On the evening of July 1, she was buried in the +English cemetery, in the midst of sobbing friends, for who could carry +out that request?-- + + "And friends, dear friends, when it shall be + That this low breath is gone from me, + And round my bier ye come to weep, + Let one most loving of you all + Say, 'Not a tear must o'er her fall,-- + He giveth his beloved sleep!'" + +The Italians, who loved her, placed on the doorway of Casa Guidi a +white marble tablet, with the words:-- + +"_Here wrote and died E.B. Browning, who, in the heart of a woman, +united the science of a sage and the spirit of a poet, and made with +her verse a golden ring binding Italy and England. + +"Grateful Florence placed this memorial, 1861_." + +For twenty-five years Robert Browning and his artist-son have done +their work, blessed with the memory of her whom Mr. Stedman calls +"the most inspired woman, so far as known, of all who have composed in +ancient or modern tongues, or flourished in any land or time." + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT. + +[Illustration: GEORGE ELIOT--1864.] + +Going to the Exposition at New Orleans, I took for reading on the +journey, the life of George Eliot, by her husband, Mr. J.W. Cross, +written with great delicacy and beauty. An accident delayed us, so +that for three days I enjoyed this insight into a wonderful life. I +copied the amazing list of books she had read, and transferred to my +note-book many of her beautiful thoughts. To-day I have been reading +the book again; a clear, vivid picture of a very great woman, whose +works, says the _Spectator_, "are the best specimens of powerful, +simple English, since Shakespeare." + +What made her a superior woman? Not wealthy parentage; not congenial +surroundings. She had a generous, sympathetic heart for a foundation, +and on this she built a scholarship that even few men can equal. She +loved science, and philosophy, and language, and mathematics, and grew +broad enough to discuss great questions and think great thoughts. And +yet she was affectionate, tender, and gentle. + +Mary Ann Evans was born Nov. 22, 1819, at Arbury Farm, a mile from +Griff, in Warwickshire, England. When four months old the family +moved to Griff, where the girl lived till she was twenty-one, in a +two-story, old-fashioned, red brick house, the walls covered with +ivy. Two Norway firs and an old yew-tree shaded the lawn. The father, +Robert Evans, a man of intelligence and good sense, was bred a builder +and carpenter, afterward becoming a land-agent for one of the large +estates. The mother was a woman of sterling character, practical and +capable. + +For the three children, Christiana, Isaac, and Mary Ann, there was +little variety in the commonplace life at Griff. Twice a day the coach +from Birmingham to Stamford passed by the house, and the coachman +and guard in scarlet were a great diversion. She thus describes, the +locality in _Felix Holt_: "Here were powerful men walking queerly, +with knees bent outward from squatting in the mine, going home to +throw themselves down in their blackened flannel, and sleep through +the daylight, then rise and spend much of their high wages at the +alehouse with their fellows of the Benefit Club; here the pale, eager +faces of handloom weavers, men and women, haggard from sitting up late +at night to finish the week's work, hardly begun till the Wednesday. +Everywhere the cottages and the small children were dirty, for the +languid mothers gave their strength to the loom." + +Mary Ann was an affectionate, sensitive child, fond of out-door +sports, imitating everything she saw her brother do, and early in +life feeling in her heart that she was to be "somebody." When but four +years old, she would seat herself at the piano and play, though she +did not know one note from another, that the servant might see that +she was a distinguished person! Her life was a happy one, as is shown +in her _Brother and Sister Sonnet_:-- + + "But were another childhood's world my share, + I would be born a little sister there." + +At five, the mother being in poor health, the child was sent to a +boarding-school with her sister, Chrissy, where she remained three or +four years. The older scholars petted her, calling her "little mamma." +At eight she went to a larger school, at Nuneaton, where one of the +teachers, Miss Lewis, became her life-long friend. The child had the +greatest fondness for reading, her first book, a _Linnet's Life_, +being tenderly cared for all her days. _Aesop's Fables_ were read and +re-read. At this time a neighbor had loaned one of the Waverley novels +to the older sister, who returned it before Mary Ann had finished +it. Distressed at this break in the story, she began to write out as +nearly as she could remember, the whole volume for herself. Her amazed +family re-borrowed the book, and the child was happy. The mother +sometimes protested against the use of so many candles for night +reading, and rightly feared that her eyes would be spoiled. + +At the next school, at Coventry, Mary Ann so surpassed her comrades +that they stood in awe of her, but managed to overcome this when +a basket of dainties came in from the country home. In 1836 the +excellent mother died. Mary Ann wrote to a friend in after life, "I +began at sixteen to be acquainted with the unspeakable grief of a last +parting, in the death of my mother." In the following spring Chrissy +was married, and after a good cry with her brother over this breaking +up of the home circle, Mary Ann took upon herself the household +duties, and became the care-taker instead of the school-girl. Although +so young she took a leading part in the benevolent work of the +neighborhood. + +Her love for books increased. She engaged a well-known teacher to come +from Coventry and give her lessons in French, German, and Italian, +while another helped her in music, of which she was passionately fond. +Later, she studied Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. Shut up in +the farm-house, hungering for knowledge, she applied herself with +a persistency and earnestness that by-and-by were to bear their +legitimate fruit. That she felt the privation of a collegiate course +is undoubted. She says in _Daniel Deronda_: "You may try, but you can +never imagine what it is to have a man's force of genius in you, and +yet to suffer the slavery of being a girl." + +She did not neglect her household duties. One of her hands, which +were noticeable for their beauty of shape, was broader than the other, +which, she used to say with some pride, was owing to the butter +and cheese she had made. At twenty she was reading the _Life of +Wilberforce_, Josephus' _History of the Jews_, Spenser's _Faery Queen, +Don Quixote_, Milton, Bacon, Mrs. Somerville's _Connection of the +Physical Sciences_, and Wordsworth. The latter was always an especial +favorite, and his life, by Frederick Myers in the _Men of Letters_ +series, was one of the last books she ever read. + +Already she was learning the illimitableness of knowledge. "For my +part," she says, "I am ready to sit down and weep at the impossibility +of my understanding or barely knowing a fraction of the sum of objects +that present themselves for our contemplation in books and in life." + +About this time Mr. Evans left the farm, and moved to Foleshill, near +Coventry. The poor people at Griff were very sorry, and said, "We +shall never have another Mary Ann Evans." Marian, as she was now +called, found at Foleshill a few intellectual and companionable +friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bray, both authors, and Miss Hennell, their +sister. + +Through the influence of these friends she gave up some of her +evangelical views, but she never ceased to be a devoted student +and lover of the Bible. She was happy in her communing with nature. +"Delicious autumn," she said. "My very soul is wedded to it, and if +I were a bird, I would fly about the earth, seeking the successive +autumns.... I have been revelling in Nichol's _Architecture, of +the Heavens and Phenomena of the Solar System_, and have been in +imagination winging my flight from system to system, from universe to +universe." + +In 1844, when Miss Evans was twenty-five years old, she began the +translation of Strauss' _Life of Jesus_. The lady who was to marry +Miss Hennell's brother had partially done the work, and asked Miss +Evans to finish it. For nearly three years she gave it all the time at +her command, receiving only one hundred dollars for the labor. + +It was a difficult and weary work. "When I can work fast," she said, +"I am never weary, nor do I regret either that the work has been begun +or that I have undertaken it. I am only inclined to vow that I will +never translate again, if I live to correct the sheets for Strauss." +When the book was finished, it was declared to be "A faithful, +elegant, and scholarlike translation ... word for word, thought for +thought, and sentence for sentence." Strauss himself was delighted +with it. + +The days passed as usual in the quiet home. Now she and her father, +the latter in failing health, visited the Isle of Wight, and saw +beautiful Alum Bay, with its "high precipice, the strata upheaved +perpendicularly in rainbow,--like streaks of the brightest maize, +violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and brilliant white,--worn by the +weather into fantastic fretwork, the deep blue sky above, and the +glorious sea below." Who of us has not felt this same delight in +looking upon this picture, painted by nature? + +Now Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as other famous people, visited the +Bray family. Miss Evans writes: "I have seen Emerson,--the first _man_ +I have ever seen." High praise indeed from our "great, calm soul," +as he called Miss Evans. "I am grateful for the Carlyle eulogium (on +Emerson). I have shed some quite delicious tears over it. This is +a world worth abiding in while one man can thus venerate and love +another." + +Each evening she played on the piano to her admiring father, and +finally, through months of illness, carried him down tenderly to the +grave. He died May 31, 1849. + +Worn with care, Miss Evans went upon the Continent with the Brays, +visiting Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, and finally resting for some +months at Geneva'. As her means were limited, she tried to sell her +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ at half-price, so that she could have money +for music lessons, and to attend a course of lectures on experimental +physics, by the renowned Professor de la Rive. She was also carefully +reading socialistic themes, Proudhon, Rousseau, and others. She wrote +to friends: "The days are really only two hours long, and I have so +many things to do that I go to bed every night miserable because I +have left out something I meant to do.... I take a dose of mathematics +every day to prevent my brain from becoming quite soft." + +On her return to England, she visited the Brays, and met Mr. Chapman, +the editor of the _Westminster Review_, and Mr. Mackay, upon whose +_Progress of the Intellect_ she had just written a review. Mr. Chapman +must have been deeply impressed with the learning and ability of Miss +Evans, for he offered her the position of assistant editor of the +magazine,--a most unusual position for a woman, since its contributors +were Froude, Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and other able men. + +Miss Evans accepted, and went to board with Mr. Chapman's family in +London. How different this from the quiet life at Foleshill! The best +society, that is, the greatest in mind, opened wide its doors to her. +Herbert Spencer, who had just published _Social Statics_, became one of +her best friends. Harriet Martineau came often to see her. Grote was +very friendly. + +The woman-editor was now thirty-two; her massive head covered with +brown curls, blue-gray eyes, mobile, sympathetic mouth, strong +chin, pale face, and soft, low voice, like Dorothea's in +_Middlemarch_,--"the voice of a soul that has once lived in an Aeolian +harp." Mr. Bray thought that Miss Evans' head, after that of Napoleon, +showed the largest development from brow to ear of any person's +recorded. + +She had extraordinary power of expression, and extraordinary +psychological powers, but her chief attraction was her universal +sympathy. "She essentially resembled Socrates," says Mathilde Blind, +"in her manner of eliciting whatsoever capacity for thought might +be latent in the people she came in contact with; were it only a +shoemaker or day-laborer, she would never rest till she had found out +in what points that particular man differed from other men of his +class. She always rather educed what was in others than impressed +herself on them; showing much kindliness of heart in drawing out +people who were shy. Sympathy was the keynote of her nature, the +source of her iridescent humor, of her subtle knowledge of character, +of her dramatic genius." No person attains to permanent fame without +sympathy. + +Miss Evans now found her heart and hands full of work. Her first +article was a review of Carlyle's _Life of John Sterling_. She was +fond of biography. She said: "We have often wished that genius would +incline itself more frequently to the task of the biographer, +that when some great or good person dies, instead of the dreary +three-or-five volume compilation of letter and diary and detail, +little to the purpose, which two-thirds of the public have not the +chance, nor the other third the inclination, to read, we could have +a real 'life,' setting forth briefly and vividly the man's inward and +outward struggles, aims, and achievements, so as to make clear the +meaning which his experience has for his fellows. + +"A few such lives (chiefly autobiographies) the world possesses, +and they have, perhaps, been more influential on the formation of +character than any other kind of reading.... It is a help to read such +a life as Margaret Fuller's. How inexpressibly touching that passage +from her journal, 'I shall always reign through the intellect, but the +life! the life! O my God! shall that never be sweet?' I am thankful, +as if for myself, that it was sweet at last." + +The great minds which Miss Evans met made life a constant joy, though +she was frail in health. Now Herbert Spencer took her to hear _William +Tell_ or the _Creation_. She wrote of him: "We have agreed that we +are not in love with each other, and that there is no reason why we +should not have as much of each other's society as we like. He is a +good, delightful creature, and I always feel better for being with +him.... My brightest spot, next to my love of _old_ friends, is the +deliciously calm, _new_ friendship that Herbert Spencer gives me. +We see each other every day, and have a delightful _camaraderie_ in +everything. But for him my life would be desolate enough." + +There is no telling what this happy friendship might have resulted in, +if Mr. Spencer had not introduced to Miss Evans, George Henry Lewes, a +man of brilliant conversational powers, who had written a _History of +Philosophy_, two novels, _Ranthorpe_, and _Rose, Blanche, and Violet_, +and was a contributor to several reviews. Mr. Lewes was a witty +and versatile man, a dramatic critic, an actor for a short time, +unsuccessful as an editor of a newspaper, and unsuccessful in his +domestic relations. + +That he loved Miss Evans is not strange; that she admired him, while +she pitied him and his three sons in their broken home-life, is +perhaps not strange. At first she did not like him, nor did Margaret +Fuller, but Miss Evans says: "Mr. Lewes is kind and attentive, and has +quite won my regard, after having had a good deal of my vituperation. +Like a few other people in the world, he is much better than he seems. +A man of heart and conscience wearing a mask of flippancy." + +Miss Evans tired of her hard work, as who does not in this working +world? "I am bothered to death," she writes, "with article-reading and +scrap-work of all sorts; it is clear my poor head will never produce +anything under these circumstances; _but I am patient_.... I had +a long call from George Combe yesterday. He says he thinks the +_Westminster_ under _my_ management the most important means of +enlightenment of a literary nature in existence; the _Edinburgh_, +under Jeffrey, nothing to it, etc. I wish _I_ thought so too." + +Sick with continued headaches, she went up to the English lakes to +visit Miss Martineau. The coach, at half-past six in the evening, +stopped at "The Knoll," and a beaming face came to welcome her. During +the evening, she says, "Miss Martineau came behind me, put her hands +round me, and kissed me in the prettiest way, telling me she was so +glad she had got me here." + +Meantime Miss Evans was writing learned and valuable articles on +_Taxation, Woman in France, Evangelical Teaching_, etc. She received +five hundred dollars yearly from her father's estate, but she lived +simply, that she might spend much of this for poor relations. + +In 1854 she resigned her position on the _Westminster_, and went with +Mr. Lewes to Germany, forming a union which thousands who love her +must regard as the great mistake of a very great life. + +Mr. Lewes was collecting materials for his _Life of Goethe_. This took +them to Goethe's home at Weimar. "By the side of the bed," she says, +"stands a stuffed chair where he used to sit and read while he drank +his coffee in the morning. It was not until very late in his life that +he adopted the luxury of an armchair. From the other side of the +study one enters the library, which is fitted up in a very make-shift +fashion, with rough deal shelves, and bits of paper, with Philosophy, +History, etc., written on them, to mark the classification of the +books. Among such memorials one breathes deeply, and the tears rush to +one's eyes." + +George Eliot met Liszt, and "for the first time in her life beheld +real inspiration,--for the first time heard the true tones of the +piano." Rauch, the great sculptor, called upon them, and "won our +hearts by his beautiful person and the benignant and intelligent charm +of his conversation." + +Both writers were hard at work. George Eliot was writing an article +on _Weimar_ for _Fraser_, on _Cumming_ for _Westminster_, and +translating Spinoza's _Ethics_. No name was signed to these +productions, as it would not do to have it known that a woman wrote +them. The education of most women was so meagre that the articles +would have been considered of little value. Happily Girton and Newnham +colleges are changing this estimate of the sex. Women do not like +to be regarded as inferior; then they must educate themselves as +thoroughly as the best men are educated. + +Mr. Lewes was not well. "This is a terrible trial to us poor +scribblers," she writes, "to whom health is money, as well as all +other things worth having." They had but one sitting-room between +them, and the scratching of another pen so affected her nerves, as to +drive her nearly wild. Pecuniarily, life was a harder struggle than +ever, for there were four more mouths to be fed,--Mr. Lewes' three +sons and their mother. + +"Our life is intensely occupied, and the days are far too short," +she writes. They were reading in every spare moment, twelve plays of +Shakespeare, Goethe's works, _Wilhelm Meister, Götz von Berlichingen, +Hermann and Dorothea, Iphigenia, Wanderjahre, Italianische Reise_, +and others; Heine's poems; Lessing's _Laocoön_ and _Nathan the +Wise_; Macaulay's _History of England_; Moore's _Life of Sheridan_; +Brougham's _Lives of Men of Letters_; White's _History of Selborne_; +Whewell's _History of Inductive Sciences_; Boswell; Carpenter's +_Comparative Physiology_; Jones' _Animal Kingdom_; Alison's _History +of Europe_; Kahnis' _History of German Protestantism_; Schrader's +_German Mythology_; Kingsley's _Greek Heroes_; and the _Iliad_ and +_Odyssey_ in the original. She says, "If you want delightful reading, +get Lowell's _My Study Windows_, and read the essays called _My Garden +Acquaintances_ and _Winter_." No wonder they were busy. + +On their return from Germany they went to the sea-shore, that Mr. +Lewes might perfect his _Sea-side Studies_. George Eliot entered +heartily into the work. "We were immensely excited," she says, "by the +discovery of this little red mesembryanthemum. It was a _crescendo_ of +delight when we found a 'strawberry,' and a _fortissimo_ when I, for +the first time, saw the pale, fawn-colored tentacles of an _Anthea +cereus_ viciously waving like little serpents in a low-tide pool." +They read here Gosse's _Rambles on the Devonshire Coast_, Edward's +_Zoology_, Harvey's sea-side book, and other scientific works. + +And now at thirty-seven George Eliot was to begin her creative work. +Mr. Lewes had often said to her, "You have wit, description, and +philosophy--those go a good way towards the production of a novel." +"It had always been a vague dream of mine," she says, "that sometime +or other I might write a novel ... but I never went further toward +the actual writing than an introductory chapter, describing a +Staffordshire village, and the life of the neighboring farm-houses; +and as the years passed on I lost any hope that. I should ever be +able to write a novel, just as I desponded about everything else in my +future life. I always thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both +of construction and dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease in the +descriptive parts." + +After she had written a portion of _Amos Barton_ in her _Scenes of +Clerical Life_, she read it to Mr. Lewes, who told her that now he +was sure she could write good dialogue, but not as yet sure about her +pathos. One evening, in his absence, she wrote the scene describing +Milly's death, and read it to Mr. Lewes, on his return. "We both cried +over it," she says, "and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying, +'I think your pathos is better than your fun!'" + +Mr. Lewes sent the story to Blackwood, with the signature of "George +Eliot,"--the first name chosen because it was his own name, and the +last because it pleased her fancy. Mr. Lewes wrote that this story +by a friend of his, showed, according to his judgment, "such humor, +pathos, vivid presentation, and nice observation as have not been +exhibited, in this style, since the _Vicar of Wakefield_." + +Mr. John Blackwood accepted the story, but made some comments which +discouraged the author from trying another. Mr. Lewes wrote him the +effects of his words, which he hastened to withdraw, as there was so +much to be said in praise that he really desired more stories from the +same pen, and sent her a check for two hundred and fifty dollars. + +This was evidently soothing, as _Mr. Gilfil's Love Story_ and _Janet's +Repentance_ were at once written. Much interest began to be expressed +about the author. Some said Bulwer wrote the sketches. Thackeray +praised them, and Arthur Helps said, "He is a great writer." Copies of +the stories bound together, with the title _Scenes of Clerical +Life_, were sent to Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Ruskin, and +Faraday. Dickens praised the humor and the pathos, and thought the +author was a woman. + +Jane Welch Carlyle thought it "a _human_ book, written out of the +heart of a live man, not merely out of the brain of an author, full +of tenderness and pathos, without a scrap of sentimentality, of sense +without dogmatism, of earnestness without twaddle--a book that makes +one feel friends at once and for always with the man or woman who +wrote it." She guessed the author was "a man of middle age, with a +wife, from whom he has got those beautiful _feminine_ touches in his +book, a good many children, and a dog that he has as much fondness for +as I have for my little Nero." + +Mr. Lewes was delighted, and said, "Her fame is beginning." George +Eliot was growing happier, for her nature had been somewhat +despondent. She used to say, "Expecting disappointments is the only +form of hope with which I am familiar." She said, "I feel a deep +satisfaction in having done a bit of faithful work that will perhaps +remain, like a primrose-root in the hedgerow, and gladden and chasten +human hearts in years to come." "'Conscience goes to the hammering +in of nails' is my gospel," she would say. "Writing is part of my +religion, and I can write no word that is not prompted from within. +At the same time I believe that almost all the best books in the world +have been written with the hope of getting money for them." + +"My life has deepened unspeakably during the last year: I feel a +greater capacity for moral and intellectual enjoyment, a more acute +sense of my deficiencies in the past, a more solemn desire to be +faithful to coming duties." + +For _Scenes of Clerical Life_ she received six hundred dollars for the +first edition, and much more after her other books appeared. + +And now another work, a longer one, was growing in her mind, _Adam +Bede_, the germ of which, she says, was an anecdote told her by her +aunt, Elizabeth Evans, the Dinah Morris of the book. A very ignorant +girl had murdered her child, and refused to confess it. Mrs. Evans, +who was a Methodist preacher, stayed with her all night, praying with +her, and at last she burst into tears and confessed her crime. +Mrs. Evans went with her in the cart to the place of execution, and +ministered to the unhappy girl till death came. + +When the first pages of _Adam Bede_ were shown to Mr. Blackwood, +he said, "That will do." George Eliot and Mr. Lewes went to Munich, +Dresden, and Vienna for rest and change, and she prepared much of the +book in this time. When it was finished, she wrote on the manuscript, +_Jubilate_. "To my dear husband, George Henry Lewes, I give the Ms. of +a work which would never have been written but for the happiness which +his love has conferred on my life." + +For this novel she received four thousand dollars for the copyright +for four years. Fame had actually come. All the literary world were +talking about it. John Murray said there had never been such a book. +Charles Reade said, putting his finger on Lisbeth's account of her +coming home with her husband from their marriage, "the finest thing +since Shakespeare." A workingman wrote: "Forgive me, dear sir, my +boldness in asking you to give us a cheap edition. You would confer on +us a great boon. I can get plenty of trash for a few pence, but I am +sick of it." Mr. Charles Buxton said, in the House of Commons: "As the +farmer's wife says in _Adam Bede_, 'It wants to be hatched over again +and hatched different.'" This of course greatly helped to popularize +the book. + +To George Eliot all this was cause for the deepest gratitude. They +were able now to rent a home at Wandworth, and move to it at once. +The poverty and the drudgery of life seemed over. She said: "I sing my +magnificat in a quiet way, and have a great deal of deep, silent joy; +but few authors, I suppose, who have had a real success, have known +less of the flush and the sensations of triumph that are talked of as +the accompaniments of success. I often think of my dreams when I was +four or five and twenty. I thought then how happy fame would make +me.... I am assured now that _Adam Bede_ was worth writing,--worth +living through those long years to write. But now it seems impossible +that I shall ever write anything so good and true again." Up to this +time the world did not know who George Eliot was; but as a man by +the name of Liggins laid claim to the authorship, and tried to borrow +money for his needs because Blackwood would not pay him, the real name +of the author had to be divulged. + +Five thousand copies of _Adam Bede_ were sold the first two weeks, and +sixteen thousand the first year. So excellent was the sale that Mr. +Blackwood sent her four thousand dollars in addition to the first +four. The work was soon translated into French, German, and Hungarian. +Mr. Lewes' _Physiology of Common Life_ was now published, but it +brought little pecuniary return. + +The reading was carried on as usual by the two students. The _Life +of George Stephenson_; the _Electra_ of Sophocles; the _Agamemnon_ of +Aeschylus, Harriet Martineau's _British Empire in India_; and _History +of the Thirty Years' Peace_; Béranger, _Modern Painters_, containing +some of the finest writing of the age; Overbech on Greek art; Anna +Mary Howitt's book on Munich; Carlyle's _Life of Frederick the Great_; +Darwin's _Origin of Species_; Emerson's _Man the Reformer_, "which +comes to me with fresh beauty and meaning"; Buckle's _History of +Civilization_; Plato and Aristotle. + +An American publisher now offered her six thousand dollars for a book, +but she was obliged to decline, for she was writing the _Mill on the +Floss_, in 1860, for which Blackwood gave her ten thousand dollars +for the first edition of four thousand copies, and Harper & Brothers +fifteen hundred dollars for using it also. Tauchnitz paid her five +hundred for the German reprint. + +She said: "I am grateful and yet rather sad to have finished; sad that +I shall live with my people on the banks of the Floss no longer. But +it is time that I should go, and absorb some new life and gather fresh +ideas." They went at once to Italy, where they spent several months in +Florence, Venice, and Rome. + +In the former city she made her studies for her great novel, _Romola_. +She read Sismondi's _History of the Italian Republics_, Tenneman's +_History of Philosophy_, T.A. Trollope's _Beata_, Hallam on the _Study +of Roman Law in the Middle Ages_, Gibbon on the _Revival of Greek +Learning_, Burlamachi's _Life of Savonarola_; also Villari's life +of the great preacher, Mrs. Jameson's _Sacred and Legendary Art_, +Machiavelli's works, Petrarch's Letters, _Casa Guidi Windows_, Buhle's +_History of Modern Philosophy_, Story's _Roba di Roma_, Liddell's +_Rome_, Gibbon, Mosheim, and one might almost say the whole range of +Italian literature in the original. Of Mommsen's _History of Rome_ +she said, "It is so fine that I count all minds graceless who read it +without the deepest stirrings." + +The study necessary to make one familiar with fifteenth century times +was almost limitless. No wonder she told Mr. Cross, years afterward, +"I began _Romola_ a young woman, I finished it an old woman"; but +that, with _Adam Bede_ and _Middlemarch_, will be her monument. "What +courage and patience," she says, "are wanted for every life that +aims to produce anything!" "In authorship I hold carelessness to be +a mortal sin." "I took unspeakable pains in preparing to write +_Romola_." + +For this one book, on which she spent a year and a half, _Cornhill +Magazine_ paid her the small fortune of thirty-five thousand dollars. +She purchased a pleasant home, "The Priory," Regent's Park, where she +made her friends welcome, though she never made calls upon any, for +lack of time. She had found, like Victor Hugo, that time is a very +precious thing for those who wish to succeed in life. Browning, +Huxley, and Herbert Spencer often came to dine. + +Says Mr. Cross, in his admirable life: "The entertainment was +frequently varied by music when any good performer happened to be +present. I think, however, that the majority of visitors delighted +chiefly to come for the chance of a few words with George Eliot +alone. When the drawing-room door of the Priory opened, a first glance +revealed her always in the same low arm-chair on the left-hand side +of the fire. On entering, a visitor's eye was at once arrested by the +massive head. The abundant hair, streaked with gray now, was draped +with lace, arranged mantilla fashion, coming to a point at the top +of the forehead. If she were engaged in conversation, her body was +usually bent forward with eager, anxious desire to get as close as +possible to the person with whom she talked. She had a great +dislike to raising her voice, and often became so wholly absorbed in +conversation that the announcement of an in-coming visitor failed to +attract her attention; but the moment the eyes were lifted up, and +recognized a friend, they smiled a rare welcome--sincere, cordial, +grave--a welcome that was felt to come straight from the heart, not +graduated according to any social distinction." + +After much reading of Fawcett, Mill, and other writers on political +economy, _Felix Holt_ was written, in 1866, and for this she received +from Blackwood twenty-five thousand dollars. + +Very much worn with her work, though Mr. Lewes relieved her in every +way possible, by writing letters and looking over all criticisms of +her books, which she never read, she was obliged to go to Germany for +rest. + +In 1868 she published her long poem, _The Spanish Gypsy_, reading +Spanish literature carefully, and finally passing some time in Spain, +that she might be the better able to make a lasting work. Had she +given her life to poetry, doubtless she would have been a great poet. + +_Silas Marner_, written before _Romola_, in 1861, had been well +received, and _Middlemarch_, in 1872, made a great sensation. It was +translated into several languages. George Bancroft wrote her from +Berlin that everybody was reading it. For this she received a much +larger sum than the thirty-five thousand which she was paid for +_Romola_. + +A home was now purchased in Surrey, with eight or nine acres of +pleasure grounds, for George Eliot had always longed for trees and +flowers about her house. "Sunlight and sweet air," she said, "make a +new creature of me." _Daniel Deronda_ followed in 1876, for which, it +is said, she read nearly a thousand volumes. Whether this be true +or not, the list of books given in her life, of her reading in these +later years, is as astonishing as it is helpful for any who desire +real knowledge. + +At Witley, in Surrey, they lived a quiet life, seeing only a few +friends like the Tennysons, the Du Mauriers, and Sir Henry and Lady +Holland. Both were growing older, and Mr. Lewes was in very poor +health. Finally, after a ten days' illness, he died, Nov. 28, 1878. + +To George Eliot this loss was immeasurable. She needed his help and +his affection. She said, "I like not only to be loved, but also to +be told that I am loved," and he had idolized her. He said: "I owe +Spencer a debt of gratitude. It was through him that I learned to know +Marian,--to know her was to love her, and since then, my life has been +a new birth. To her I owe all my prosperity and all my happiness. God +bless her!" + +Mr. John Walter Cross, for some time a wealthy banker in New York, had +long been a friend of the family, and though many years younger than +George Eliot, became her helper in these days of need. A George Henry +Lewes studentship, of the value of one thousand dollars yearly, was to +be given to Cambridge for some worthy student of either sex, in memory +of the man she had loved. "I want to live a little time that I may do +certain things for his sake," she said. She grew despondent, and the +Cross family used every means to win her away from her sorrow. + +Mr. Cross' mother, to whom he was devotedly attached, had also died, +and the loneliness of both made their companionship more comforting. +They read Dante together in the original, and gradually the younger +man found that his heart was deeply interested. It was the higher kind +of love, the honor of mind for mind and soul for soul. + +"I shall be," she said, "a better, more loving creature than I could +have been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly grateful for this +gift of a perfect love is the best illumination of one's mind to all +the possible good there may be in store for man on this troublous +little planet." + +Mr. Cross and George Eliot were married, May 6, 1880, a year and a +half after Mr. Lewes' death, his son Charles giving her away, and went +at once to Italy. She wrote: "Marriage has seemed to restore me to my +old self.... To feel daily the loveliness of a nature close to me, and +to feel grateful for it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength +to endure." Having passed through a severe illness, she wrote to a +friend: "I have been cared for by something much better than angelic +tenderness.... If it is any good for me that my life has been +prolonged till now, I believe it is owing to this miraculous affection +that has chosen to watch over me." + +She did not forget Mr. Lewes. In looking upon the Grande Chartreuse, +she said, "I would still give up my own life willingly, if he could +have the happiness instead of me." + +On their return to London, they made their winter home at 4 Cheyne +Walk, Chelsea, a plain brick house. The days were gliding by happily. +George Eliot was interested as ever in all great subjects, giving five +hundred dollars for woman's higher education at Girton College, and +helping many a struggling author, or providing for some poor friend of +early times who was proud to be remembered. + +She and Mr. Cross began their reading for the day with the Bible, she +especially enjoying Isaiah, Jeremiah, and St. Paul's Epistles. Then +they read Max Muller's works, Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, and whatever +was best in English, French, and German literature. Milton she called +her demigod. Her husband says she had "a limitless persistency in +application." Her health was better, and she gave promise of doing +more great work. When urged to write her autobiography, she said, half +sighing and half smiling: "The only thing I should care much to dwell +on would be the absolute despair I suffered from, of ever being able +to achieve anything. No one could ever have felt greater despair, and +a knowledge of this might be a help to some other struggler." + +Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, she went to see _Agamemnon_ performed in +Greek by Oxford students, and the next afternoon to a concert at St. +James Hall. She took cold, and on Monday was treated for sore throat. +On Wednesday evening the doctors came, and she whispered to her +husband, "Tell them I have great pain in the left side." This was +the last word. She died with every faculty bright, and her heart +responsive to all noble things. + +She loved knowledge to the end. She said, "My constant groan is that +I must leave so much of the greatest writing which the centuries have +sifted for me, unread for want of time." + +She had the broadest charity for those whose views differed from +hers. She said, "The best lesson of tolerance we have to learn, is to +tolerate intolerance." She hoped for and "looked forward to the time +when the impulse to help our fellows shall be as immediate and as +irresistible as that which I feel to grasp something firm if I am +falling." + +One Sunday afternoon I went to her grave in Highgate Cemetery, London. +A gray granite shaft, about twenty-five feet high, stands above it, +with these beautiful words from her great poem:-- + + "O may I join the choir invisible, + Of those immortal dead who live again + In minds made better by their presence." + + HERE LIES THE BODY + OF + GEORGE ELIOT, + MARY ANN CROSS. + + BORN, 22d NOVEMBER, 1819; + DIED, 22d DECEMBER, 1880. + + +A stone coping is around this grave, and bouquets of yellow crocuses +and hyacinths lie upon it. Next to her grave is a horizontal slab, +with the name of George Henry Lewes upon the stone. + + + + +ELIZABETH FRY. + +[Illustration: My attached and obliged friend Elizabeth Fry] + +When a woman of beauty, great wealth, and the highest social position, +devotes her life to the lifting of the lowly and the criminal, and +preaches the Gospel from the north of Scotland to the south of France, +it is not strange that the world admires, and that books are written +in praise of her. Unselfishness makes a rare and radiant life, and +this was the crowning beauty of the life of Elizabeth Fry. + +Born in Norwich, England, May 21, 1780, Elizabeth was the third +daughter of Mr. John Gurney, a wealthy London merchant. Mrs. Gurney, +the mother, a descendant of the Barclays of Ury, was a woman of much +personal beauty, singularly intellectual for those times, making her +home a place where literary and scientific people loved to gather. + +Elizabeth wellnigh idolized her mother, and used often to cry after +going to bed, lest death should take away the precious parent. In the +daytime, when the mother, not very robust, would sometimes lie down +to rest, the child would creep to the bedside and watch tenderly and +anxiously, to see if she were breathing. Well might Mrs. Gurney say, + + "My dove-like Betsy scarcely ever offends, and is, in every + sense of the word, truly engaging." + +Mrs. Fry wrote years afterward: "My mother was most dear to me, and +the walks she took with me in the old-fashioned garden are as fresh +with me as if only just passed, and her telling me about Adam and Eve +being driven out of Paradise. I always considered it must be just +like our garden.... I remember with pleasure my mother's beds of wild +flowers, which, with delight, I used as a child to attend with her; it +gave me that pleasure in observing their beauties and varieties that, +though I never have had time to become a botanist, few can imagine, in +my many journeys, how I have been pleased and refreshed by observing +and enjoying the wild flowers on my way." + +The home, Earlham Hall, was one of much beauty and elegance, a seat of +the Bacon family. The large house stood in the centre of a well-wooded +park, the river Wensum flowing through it. On the south front of the +house was a large lawn, flanked by great trees, underneath which wild +flowers grew in profusion. The views about the house were so artistic +that artists often came there to sketch. + +In this restful and happy home, after a brief illness, Mrs. Gurney +died in early womanhood, leaving eleven children, all young, the +smallest but two years old. Elizabeth was twelve, old enough to feel +the irreparable loss. To the day of her death the memory of this time +was extremely sad. + +She was a nervous and sensitive child, afraid of the dark, begging +that a light be left in her room, and equally afraid to bathe in +the sea. Her feelings were regarded as the whims of a child, and her +nervous system was injured in consequence. She always felt the lack of +wisdom in "hardening" children, and said, "I am now of opinion that my +fear would have been much more subdued, and great suffering spared, +by its having been still more yielded to: by having a light left in my +room, not being long left alone, and never forced to bathe." + +After her marriage she guided her children rather than attempt "to +break their wills," and lived to see happy results from the good sense +and Christian principle involved in such guiding. In her prison work +she used the least possible governing, winning control by kindness and +gentleness. + +Elizabeth grew to young womanhood, with pleasing manners, slight and +graceful in body, with a profusion of soft flaxen hair, and a bright, +intelligent face. Her mind was quick, penetrating, and original. She +was a skilful rider on horseback, and made a fine impression in her +scarlet riding-habit, for, while her family were Quakers, they did not +adopt the gray dress. + +She was attractive in society and much admired. She writes in her +journal: "Company at dinner; I must beware of not being a flirt, it is +an abominable character; I hope I shall never be one, and yet I fear I +am one now a little.... I think I am by degrees losing many excellent +qualities. I lay it to my great love of gayety, and the world.... I am +now seventeen, and if some kind and great circumstance does not happen +to me, I shall have my talents devoured by moth and rust. They will +lose their brightness, and one day they will prove a curse instead of +a blessing." + +Before she was eighteen, William Savery, an American friend, came to +England to spend two years in the British Isles, preaching. The seven +beautiful Gurney sisters went to hear him, and sat on the front seat, +Elizabeth, "with her smart boots, purple, laced with scarlet." + +As the preacher proceeded, she was greatly moved, weeping during the +service, and nearly all the way home. She had been thrown much among +those who were Deists in thought, and this gospel-message seemed a +revelation to her. + +The next morning Mr. Savery came to Earlham Hall to breakfast. "From +this day," say her daughters, in their interesting memoir of their +mother, "her love of pleasure and the world seemed gone." She, +herself, said, in her last illness, "Since my heart was touched, at +the age of seventeen, I believe I never have awakened from sleep, in +sickness or in health, by day or by night, without my first waking +thought being, how best I might serve my Lord." + +Soon after she visited London, that she might, as she said, "try all +things" and choose for herself what appeared to her "to be good." She +wrote: + +"I went to Drury Lane in the evening. I must own I was extremely +disappointed; to be sure, the house is grand and dazzling; but I +had no other feeling whilst there than that of wishing it over.... I +called on Mrs. Siddons, who was not at home; then on Mrs. Twiss, who +gave me some paint for the evening. I was painted a little, I had my +hair dressed, and did look pretty for me." + +On her return to Earlham Hall she found that the London pleasure had +not been satisfying. She says, "I wholly gave up on my own ground, +attending all places of public amusement; I saw they tended to promote +evil; therefore, if I could attend them without being hurt myself, I +felt in entering them I lent my aid to promote that which I was sure +from what I saw hurt others." + +She was also much exercised about dancing, thinking, while "in a +family, it may be of use by the bodily exercise," that "the more the +pleasures of life are given up, the less we love the world, and our +hearts will be set upon better things." + +The heretofore fashionable young girl began to visit the poor and the +sick in the neighborhood, and at last decided to open a school for +poor children. Only one boy came at first; but soon she had seventy. +She lost none of her good cheer and charming manner, but rather grew +more charming. She cultivated her mind as well, reading logic,--Watts +on Judgment, Lavater, etc. + +The rules of life which she wrote for herself at eighteen are worth +copying: "First,--Never lose any time; I do not think that lost which +is spent in amusement or recreation some time every day; but always be +in the habit of being employed. Second,--Never err the least in truth. +Third,--Never say an ill thing of a person when I can say a good thing +of him; not only speak charitably, but feel so. Fourth,--Never be +irritable or unkind to anybody. Fifth,--Never indulge myself +in luxuries that are not necessary. Sixth,--Do all things with +consideration, and when my path to act right is most difficult, put +confidence in that Power alone which is able to assist me, and exert +my own powers as far as they go." + +Gradually she laid aside all jewelry, then began to dress in quiet +colors, and finally adopted the Quaker garb, feeling that she could +do more good in it. At first her course did not altogether please her +family, but they lived to idolize and bless her for her doings, and to +thankfully enjoy her worldwide fame. + +At twenty she received an offer of marriage from a wealthy London +merchant, Mr. Joseph Fry. She hesitated for some time, lest her active +duties in the church should conflict with the cares of a home of her +own. She said, "My most anxious wish is, that I may not hinder my +spiritual welfare, which I have so much feared as to make me often +doubt if marriage were a desirable thing for me at this time, or even +the thoughts of it." + +However, she was soon married, and a happy life resulted. For most +women this marriage, which made her the mother of eleven children, +would have made all public work impossible; but to a woman of +Elizabeth Fry's strong character nothing seemed impossible. Whether +she would have accomplished more for the world had she remained +unmarried, no one can tell. + +Her husband's parents were "plain, consistent friends," and his sister +became especially congenial to the young bride. A large and airy house +was taken in London, St. Mildred's Court, which became a centre for +"Friends" in both Great Britain and America. + +With all her wealth and her fondness for her family, she wrote in her +journal, "I have been married eight years yesterday; various trials +of faith and patience have been permitted me; my course has been very +different to what I had expected; instead of being, as I had hoped, +a useful instrument in the Church Militant, here I am a careworn +wife and mother outwardly, nearly devoted to the things of this life; +though at times this difference in my destination has been trying +to me, yet I believe those trials (which have certainly been very +pinching) that I have had to go through have been very useful, and +have brought me to a feeling sense of what I am; and at the same time +have taught me where power is, and in what we are to glory; not in +ourselves nor in anything we can be or do, but we are alone to desire +that He may be glorified, either through us or others, in our being +something or nothing, as He may see best for us." + +After eleven years the Fry family moved to a beautiful home in the +country at Plashet. Changes had come in those eleven years. The father +had died; one sister had married Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and she +herself had been made a "minister" by the Society of Friends. While +her hands were very full with the care of her seven children, she had +yet found time to do much outside Christian work. + +Naturally shrinking, she says, "I find it an awful thing to rise +amongst a large assembly, and, unless much covered with love and +power, hardly know how to venture." But she seemed always to be +"covered with love and power," for she prayed much and studied her +Bible closely, and her preaching seemed to melt alike crowned heads +and criminals in chains. + +Opposite the Plashet House, with its great trees and flowers, was a +dilapidated building occupied by an aged man and his sister. They had +once been well-to-do, but were now very poor, earning a pittance by +selling rabbits. The sister, shy and sorrowful from their reduced +circumstances, was nearly inaccessible, but Mrs. Fry won her way to +her heart. Then she asked how they would like to have a girls' school +in a big room attached to the building. They consented, and soon +seventy poor girls were in attendance. + +"She had," says a friend, "the gentlest touch with children. She would +win their hearts, if they had never seen her before, almost at the +first glance, and by the first sound of her musical voice." + +Then the young wife, now thirty-one, established a depot of calicoes +and flannels for the poor, with a room full of drugs, and another +department where good soup was prepared all through the hard winters. +She would go into the "Irish Colony," taking her two older daughters +with her, that they might learn the sweetness of benevolence, +"threading her way through children and pigs, up broken staircases, +and by narrow passages; then she would listen to their tales of want +and woe." + +Now she would find a young mother dead, with a paper cross pinned upon +her breast; now she visited a Gypsy camp to care for a sick child, and +give them Bibles. Each year when the camp returned to Plashet, their +chief pleasure was the visits of the lovely Quaker. Blessings on thee, +beautiful Elizabeth Fry! + +She now began to assist in the public meetings near London, but with +some hesitation, as it took her from home; but after an absence of two +weeks, she found her household "in very comfortable order; and so far +from having suffered in my absence, it appears as if a better blessing +had attended them than common." + +She did not forget her home interests. One of her servants being ill, +she watched by his bedside till he died. When she talked with him of +the world to come, he said, "God bless you, ma'am." She said, "There +is no set of people I feel so much about as servants, as I do not +think they have generally justice done to them; they are too much +considered as another race of beings, and we are apt to forget that +the holy injunction holds good with them, 'Do as thou wouldst be done +unto.'" + +She who could dine with kings and queens, felt as regards servants, +"that in the best sense we are all one, and though our paths here may +be different, we have all souls equally valuable, and have all the +same work to do; which, if properly considered, should lead us +to great sympathy and love, and also to a constant care for their +welfare, both here and hereafter." + +When she was thirty-three, having moved to London for the winter, +she began her remarkable work in Newgate prison. The condition of +prisoners was pitiable in the extreme. She found three hundred women, +with their numerous children, huddled together, with no classification +between the most and least depraved, without employment, in rags and +dirt, and sleeping on the floor with no bedding, the boards simply +being raised for a sort of pillow. Liquors were purchased openly at a +bar in the prison; and swearing, gambling, obscenity, and pulling each +other's hair were common. The walls, both in the men's and women's +departments, were hung with chains and fetters. + +When Mrs. Fry and two or three friends first visited the prison, +the superintendent advised that they lay aside their watches before +entering, which they declined to do. Mrs. Fry did not fear, nor need +she, with her benign presence. + +On her second visit she asked to be left alone with the women, and +read to them the tenth chapter of Matthew, making a few observations +on Christ's having come to save sinners. Some of the women asked who +Christ was. Who shall forgive us for such ignorance in our very midst? + +The children were almost naked, and ill from want of food, air, and +exercise. Mrs. Fry told them that she would start a school for their +children, which announcement was received with tears of joy. She +asked that they select one from their own number for a governess. Mary +Conner was chosen, a girl who had been put in prison for stealing a +watch. So changed did the girl become under this new responsibility, +that she was never known to infringe a rule of the prison. After +fifteen months she was released, but died soon after of consumption. + +When the school was opened for all under twenty-five, "the railing +was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together for the front +situations, with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the +utmost vociferation." + +Mrs. Fry saw at once the need of these women being occupied, but the +idea that these people could be induced to work was laughed at, as +visionary, by the officials. They said the work would be destroyed or +stolen at once. But the good woman did not rest till an association of +twelve persons was formed for the "Improvement of the Female Prisoners +of Newgate"; "to provide for the clothing, the instruction, and the +employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy +Scriptures; and to form in them, as much as possible, those habits +of order, sobriety, and industry, which may render them docile and +peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when they leave it." + +It was decided that Botany Bay could be supplied with stockings, and +indeed with all the articles needed by convicts, through the work +of these women. A room was at once made ready, and matrons were +appointed. A portion of the earnings was to be given the women for +themselves and their children. In ten months they made twenty thousand +articles of wearing apparel, and knit from sixty to one hundred pairs +of stockings every month. The Bible was read to them twice each day. +They received marks for good behavior, and were as pleased as children +with the small prizes given them. + +One of the girls who received a prize of clothing came to Mrs. Fry, +and "hoped she would excuse her for being so forward, but if she +might say it, she felt exceedingly disappointed; she little thought of +having clothing given to her, but she had hoped I would have given her +a Bible, that she might read the Scriptures herself." + +No woman was ever punished under Mrs. Fry's management. They said, +"it would be more terrible to be brought up before her than before the +judge." When she told them she hoped they would not play cards, five +packs were at once brought to her and burned. + +The place was now so orderly and quiet, that "Newgate had become +almost a show; the statesman and the noble, the city functionary and +the foreign traveller, the high-bred gentlewoman, the clergyman and +the dissenting minister, flocked to witness the extraordinary change," +and to listen to Mrs. Fry's beautiful Bible readings. + +Letters poured in from all parts of the country, asking her to come +to their prisons for a similar work, or to teach others how to work. +A committee of the House of Commons summoned her before them to learn +her suggestions, and to hear of her methods; and later the House of +Lords. + +Of course the name of Elizabeth Fry became known everywhere. Queen +Victoria gave her audience, and when she appeared in public, everybody +was eager to look at her. The newspapers spoke of her in the highest +praise. Yet with a beautiful spirit she writes in her journal, "I +am ready to say in the fulness of my heart, surely 'it is the Lord's +doing, and marvellous in our eyes'; so many are the providential +openings of various kinds. Oh! if good should result, may the praise +and glory of the whole be entirely given where it is due by us, and by +all, in deep humiliation and prostration of spirit." + +Mrs. Fry's heart was constantly burdened with the scenes she +witnessed. The penal laws were a caricature on justice. Men and women +were hanged for theft, forgery, passing counterfeit money, and for +almost every kind of fraud. One young woman, with a babe in her +arms, was hanged for stealing a piece of cloth worth one dollar and +twenty-five cents! Another was hanged for taking food to keep herself +and little child from starving. It was no uncommon thing to see women +hanging from the gibbet at Newgate, because they had passed a forged +one-pound note (five dollars). + +George Cruikshank in 1818 was so moved at one of these executions that +he made a picture which represented eight men and three women hanging +from the gallows, and a rope coiled around the faces of twelve others. +Across the picture were the words, "I promise to perform during the +issue of Bank-notes easily imitated ... for the Governors and Company +of the Bank of England." + +He called the picture a "Bank-note, not to be imitated." It at once +created a great sensation. Crowds blocked the street in front of +the shop where it was hung. The pictures were in such demand that +Cruikshank sat up all night to etch another plate. The Gurneys, +Wilberforce, Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir James Mackintosh, all worked +vigorously against capital punishment, save, possibly, for murder. + +Among those who were to be executed was Harriet Skelton, who, for the +man she loved, had passed forged notes. She was singularly open in +face and manner, confiding, and well-behaved. When she was condemned +to death, it was a surprise and horror to all who knew her. Mrs. Fry +was deeply interested. Noblemen went to see her in her damp, dark +cell, which was guarded by a heavy iron door. The Duke of Gloucester +went with Mrs. Fry to the Directors of the Bank of England, and to +Lord Sidmouth, to plead for her, but their hearts were not to be +moved, and the poor young girl was hanged. The public was enthusiastic +in its applause for Mrs. Fry, and unsparing in its denunciation of +Sidmouth. At last the obnoxious laws were changed. + +Mrs. Fry was heartily opposed to capital punishment. She said, "It +hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light +to them"; it does not lead to reformation, and "does not deter others +from crime, because the crimes subject to capital punishment are +gradually increasing." + +When the world is more civilized than it is to-day, when we have +closed the open saloon, that is the direct cause of nearly all the +murders, then we shall probably do away with hanging; or, if men and +women must be killed for the safety of society, a thing not easily +proven, it will be done in the most humane manner, by chloroform. + +Mrs. Fry was likewise strongly opposed to solitary confinement, +which usually makes the subject a mental wreck, and, as regards moral +action, an imbecile. How wonderfully in advance of her age was this +gifted woman! + +Mrs. Fry's thoughts now turned to another evil. When the women +prisoners were transported to New South Wales, they were carried +to the ships in open carts, the crowd jeering. She prevailed upon +government to have them carried in coaches, and promised that she +would go with them. When on board the ship, she knelt on the deck and +prayed with them as they were going into banishment, and then bade +them a tender good by. Truly woman can be an angel of light. + +Says Captain Martin, "Who could resist this beautiful, persuasive, and +heavenly-minded woman? To see her was to love her; to hear her was +to feel as if a guardian angel had bid you follow that teaching which +could alone subdue the temptations and evils of this life, and secure +a Redeemer's love in eternity." + +At this time Mrs. Fry and her brother Joseph visited Scotland and the +north of England to ascertain the condition of the prisons. They found +much that was inhuman; insane persons in prison, eighteen months in +dungeons! Debtors confined night and day in dark, filthy cells, and +never leaving them; men chained to the walls of their cells, or to +rings in the floor, or with their limbs stretched apart till they +fainted in agony; women with chains on hands, and feet, and body, +while they slept on bundles of straw. On their return a book was +published, which did much to arouse England. + +Mrs. Fry was not yet forty, but her work was known round the world. +The authorities of Russia, at the desire of the Empress, wrote Mrs. +Fry as to the best plans for the St. Petersburg lunatic asylum and +treatment of the inmates, and her suggestions were carried out to the +letter. + +Letters came from Amsterdam, Denmark, Paris, and elsewhere, asking +counsel. The correspondence became so great that two of her daughters +were obliged to attend to it. + +Again she travelled all over England, forming "Ladies' Prison +Associations," which should not only look after the inmates of +prisons, but aid them to obtain work when they were discharged, or "so +provide for them that stealing should not seem a necessity." + +About this time, 1828, one of the houses in which her husband was +a partner failed, "which involved Elizabeth Fry and her family in a +train of sorrows and perplexities which tinged the remaining years of +her life." + +They sold the house at Plashet, and moved again to Mildred Court, now +the home of one of their sons. Her wealthy brothers and her children +soon re-established the parents in comfort. + +She now became deeply interested in the five hundred Coast-Guard +stations in the United Kingdom, where the men and their families led +a lonely life. Partly by private contributions and partly through +the aid of government, she obtained enough money to buy more than +twenty-five thousand volumes for libraries at these stations. The +letters of gratitude were a sufficient reward for the hard work. She +also obtained small libraries for all the packets that sailed from +Falmouth. + +In 1837, with some friends, she visited Paris, making a detailed +examination of its prisons. Guizot entertained her, the Duchess de +Broglie, M. de Pressensé, and others paid her much attention. The +King and Queen sent for her, and had an earnest talk. At Nismes, where +there were twelve hundred prisoners, she visited the cells, and +when five armed soldiers wished to protect her and her friends, she +requested that they be allowed to go without guard. In one dungeon she +found two men, chained hand and foot. She told them she would plead +for their liberation if they would promise good behavior. They +promised, and kept it, praying every night for their benefactor +thereafter. When she held a meeting in the prison, hundreds shed +tears, and the good effects of her work were visible long after. + +The next journey was made to Germany. At Brussels, the King held out +both hands to receive her. In Denmark, the King and Queen invited her +to dine, and she sat between them. At Berlin, the royal family treated +her like a sister, and all stood about her while she knelt and prayed +for them. + +The new penitentiaries were built after her suggestions, so perfect +was thought to be her system. The royal family never forget her. When +the King of Prussia visited England, to stand sponsor for the infant +Prince of Wales, in 1842, he dined with her at her home. She presented +to him her eight daughters and daughters-in-law, her seven sons and +eldest grandson, and then their twenty-five grandchildren. + +Finally, the great meetings, and the earnest plans, with their +wonderful execution, were coming to an end for Elizabeth Fry. + +There had been many breaks in the home circle. Her beloved son +William, and his two children, had just died. Some years before she +had buried a very precious child, Elizabeth, at the age of five, who +shortly before her death said, "Mamma, I love everybody better than +myself, and I love thee better than everybody, and I love Almighty +much better than thee, and I hope thee loves Almighty much better than +me." This was a severe stroke, Mrs. Fry saying, "My much-loved husband +and I have drank this cup together, in close sympathy and unity of +feeling. It has at times been very bitter to us both, but we have been +in measure each other's joy and helpers in the Lord." + +During her last sickness she said, "I believe this is not death, +but it is as passing through the valley of the shadow of death, and +perhaps with more suffering, from more sensitiveness; but the 'rock is +here'; the distress is awful, but He has been with me." + +The last morning came, Oct. 13, 1845. About nine o'clock, one of her +daughters, sitting by her bedside, read from Isaiah: "I, the Lord thy +God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, thou worm +of Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and +thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." The mother said slowly, "Oh! my +dear Lord, help and keep thy servant!" and never spoke afterward. + +She was buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Barking, by the +side of her little Elizabeth, a deep silence prevailing among the +multitudes gathered there, broken only by the solemn prayer of her +brother, Joseph John Gurney. + +Thus closed one of the most beautiful lives among women. To the last +she was doing good deeds. When she was wheeled along the beach in her +chair, she gave books and counsel to the passers-by. When she stayed +at hotels, she usually arranged a meeting for the servants. She was +sent for, from far and near, to pray with the sick, and comfort the +dying, who often begged to kiss her hand; no home was too desolate for +her lovely and cheerful presence. No wonder Alexander of Russia called +her "one of the wonders of the age." + +Her only surviving son gives this interesting testimony of her home +life: "I never recollect seeing her out of temper or hearing her speak +a harsh word, yet still her word was law, but always the law of love." + +Naturally timid, always in frail health, sometimes misunderstood, even +with the highest motives, she lived a heroic life in the best sense, +and died the death of a Christian. What grander sphere for woman than +such philanthropy as this! And the needs of humanity are as great as +ever, waiting for the ministration of such noble souls. + + + +ELIZABETH THOMPSON BUTLER. + + +While woman has not achieved such brilliant success in art, perhaps, +as in literature, many names stand high on the lists. Early history +has its noted women: Propersia di Rossi, of Bologna, whose romantic +history Mrs. Hemans has immortalized; Elisabetta Sirani, painter, +sculptor, and engraver on copper, herself called a "miracle of art," +the honored of popes and princes, dying at twenty-six; Marietta +Tintoretta, who was invited to be the artist at the courts of +emperors and kings, dying at thirty, leaving her father inconsolable; +Sophonisba Lomellini, invited by Philip II. of Spain to Madrid, to +paint his portrait, and that of the Queen, concerning whom, though +blind, Vandyck said he had received more instruction from a blind +woman than from all his study of the old masters; and many more. + +The first woman artist in England was Susannah Hornebolt, daughter of +the principal painter who immediately preceded Hans Holbein, Gerard +Hornebolt, a native of Ghent. Albrecht Dürer said of her, in 1521: +"She has made a colored drawing of our Saviour, for which I gave her a +florin [forty cents]. It is wonderful that a female should be able +to do such work." Her brother Luke received a larger salary from King +Henry VIII. than he ever gave to Holbein,--$13.87 per month. Susannah +married an English sculptor, named Whorstly, and lived many years in +great honor and esteem with all the court. + +Arts flourished under Charles I. To Vandyck and Anne Carlisle he gave +ultra-marine to the value of twenty-five hundred dollars. Artemisia +Gentileschi, from Rome, realized a splendid income from her work; +and, although forty-five years old when she came to England, she was +greatly admired, and history says made many conquests. This may be +possible, as George IV. said a woman never reaches her highest powers +of fascination till she is forty. Guido was her instructor, and one of +her warmest eulogizers. She was an intimate friend of Domenichino and +of Guercino, who gave all his wealth to philanthropies, and when in +England was the warm friend of Vandyck. Some of her works are in the +Pitti Palace, at Florence, and some at Madrid, in Spain. + +Of Maria Varelst, the historical painter, the following story is told: +At the theatre she sat next to six German gentlemen of high rank, who +were so impressed with her beauty and manner that they expressed great +admiration for her among each other. The young lady spoke to them in +German, saying that such extravagant praise in the presence of a lady +was no real compliment. One of the party immediately repeated what he +had said in Latin. She replied in the same tongue "that it was unjust +to endeavor to deprive the fair sex of the knowledge of that tongue +which was the vehicle of true learning." The gentlemen begged to call +upon her. Each sat for his portrait, and she was thus brought into +great prominence. + +The artist around whose beauty and talent romance adds a special +charm, was Angelica Kauffman, the only child of Joseph Kauffman, +born near Lake Constance, about 1741. At nine years of age she made +wonderful pastel pictures. Removing to Lombardy, it is asserted that +her father dressed her in boy's clothing, and smuggled her into the +academy, that she might be improved in drawing. At eleven she went to +Como, where the charming scenery had a great impression upon the young +girl. No one who wishes to grow in taste and art can afford to live +away from nature's best work. The Bishop of Como became interested +in her, and asked her to paint his portrait. This was well done in +crayon, and soon the wealthy patronized her. Years after, she wrote: +"Como is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como, in my most happy youth, +that I tasted the first real enjoyment of life." + +When she went to Milan, to study the great masters, the Duke of Modena +was attracted by her beauty and devotion to her work. He introduced +her to the Duchess of Massa Carrara, whose portrait she painted, as +also that of the Austrian governor, and soon those of many of the +nobility. When all seemed at its brightest, her mother, one of the +best of women, died. Her father, broken-hearted, accepted the offer to +decorate the church of his native town, and Angelica joined him in the +frescoing. After much hard work, they returned to Milan. The constant +work had worn on the delicate girl. She gave herself no time for rest. +When not painting, she was making chalk and crayon drawings, mastering +the harpsichord, or lost in the pages of French, German, or Italian. +For a time she thought of becoming a singer; but finally gave herself +wholly to art. After this she went to Florence, where she worked from +sunrise to sunset, and in the evening at her crayons. In Rome, with +her youth, beauty, fascinating manners, and varied reading, she gained +a wide circle of friends. Her face was a Greek oval, her complexion +fresh and clear, her eyes deep blue, her mouth pretty and always +smiling. She was accused of being a coquette, and quite likely was +such. + +For three months she painted in the Royal Gallery at Naples, and then +returned to Rome to study the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo. +From thence she went to Bologna and beautiful Venice. Here she met +Lady Wentworth, who took her to London, where she was introduced at +once to the highest circles. Sir Joshua Reynolds had the greatest +admiration for her, and, indeed, was said to have offered her his hand +and heart. The whole world of art and letters united in her praise. +Often she found laudatory verses pinned on her canvas. The great +people of the land crowded her studio for sittings. She lived in +Golden Square, now a rather dilapidated place back of Regent Street. +She was called the most fascinating woman in England. Sir Joshua +painted her as "Design Listening to Poetry," and she, in turn, painted +him. She was the pet of Buckingham House and Windsor Castle. + +In the midst of all this unlimited attention, a man calling himself +the Swedish Count, Frederic de Horn, with fine manners and handsome +person, offered himself to Angelica. He represented that he was +calumniated by his enemies and that the Swedish Government was about +to demand his person. He assured her, if she were his wife, she could +intercede with the Queen and save him. She blindly consented to the +marriage, privately. At last, she confessed it to her father, who took +steps at once to see if the man were true, and found that he was the +vilest impostor. He had a young wife already in Germany, and would +have been condemned to a felon's death if Angelica had been willing. +She said, "He has betrayed me; but God will judge him." + +She received several offers of marriage after this, but would accept +no one. Years after, when her father, to whom she was deeply devoted, +was about to die, he prevailed upon her to marry a friend of his, +Antonio Zucchi, thirteen years her senior, with whom she went to Rome, +and there died. He was a man of ability, and perhaps made her life +happy. At her burial, one hundred priests accompanied the coffin, +the pall being held by four young girls, dressed in white, the four +tassels held by four members of the Academy. Two of her pictures were +carried in triumph immediately after her coffin. Then followed a grand +procession of illustrious persons, each bearing a lighted taper. + +Goethe was one of her chosen friends. He said of her: "She has a most +remarkable and, for a woman, really an unheard-of talent. No living +painter excels her in dignity, or in the delicate taste with which she +handles the pencil." + +Miss Ellen C. Clayton, in her interesting volumes, _English Female +Artists_, says, "No lady artist, from the days of Angelica Kauffman, +ever created such a vivid interest as Elizabeth Thompson Butler. None +had ever stepped into the front rank in so short a time, or had in +England ever attained high celebrity at so early an age." + +She was born in the Villa Clermont, Lausanne, Switzerland, a +country beautiful enough to inspire artistic sentiments in all its +inhabitants. Her father, Thomas James Thompson, a man of great culture +and refinement, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a warm +friend of Charles Dickens, Lord Lytton, and their literary associates. +Somewhat frail in health, he travelled much of the time, collecting +pictures, of which he was extremely fond, and studying with the eye +of an artist the beauties of each country, whether America, Italy, or +France. + +His first wife died early, leaving one son and daughter. The second +wife was an enthusiastic, artistic girl, especially musical, a friend +of Dickens, and every way fitted to be the intelligent companion of +her husband. + +After the birth of Elizabeth, the family resided in various parts of +Southern Europe. Now they lived, says Mrs. Alice Meynell, her only +sister, in the January, 1883, _St. Nicholas_, "within sight of the +snow-capped peaks of the Apennines, in an old palace, the Villa de +Franchi, immediately overlooking the Mediterranean, with olive-clad +hills at the back; on the left, the great promontory of Porto Fino; on +the right, the Bay of Genoa, some twelve miles away, and the long +line of the Apennines sloping down into the sea. The palace garden +descended, terrace by terrace, to the rocks, being, indeed, less a +garden than what is called a _villa_ in the Liguria, and a _podere_ +in Tuscany,--a fascinating mixture of vine, olive, maize, flowers, +and corn. A fountain in marble, lined with maiden-hair, played at the +junction of each flight of steps. A great billiard-room on the first +floor, hung with Chinese designs, was Elizabeth Thompson's first +school-room; and there Charles Dickens, upon one of his Italian +visits, burst in upon a lesson in multiplication. + +"The two children never went to school, and had no other teacher than +their father,--except their mother for music, and the usual professors +for 'accomplishments' in later years. And whether living happily in +their beautiful Genoese home, or farther north among the picturesque +Italian lakes, or in Switzerland, or among the Kentish hop-gardens and +the parks of Surrey, Elizabeth's one central occupation of drawing was +never abandoned,--literally not for a day." + +She was a close observer of nature, and especially fond of animals. +When not out of doors sketching landscapes, she would sit in the house +and draw, while her father read to her, as he believed the two things +could be carried on beneficially. + +She loved to draw horses running, soldiers, and everything which +showed animation and energy. Her educated parents had the good sense +not to curb her in these perhaps unusual tastes for a girl. They saw +the sure hand and broad thought of their child, and, no doubt, had +expectations of her future fame. + +At fifteen, as the family had removed to England, Elizabeth joined +the South Kensington School of Design, and, later, took lessons in oil +painting, for a year, of Mr. Standish. Thus from the years of five to +sixteen she had studied drawing carefully, so that now she was ready +to touch oil-painting for the first time. How few young ladies would +have been willing to study drawing for eleven years, before trying to +paint in oil! + +The Thompson family now moved to Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, +staying for three years at Bonchurch, one of the loveliest places in +the world. Ivy grows over walls and houses, roses and clematis bloom +luxuriantly, and the balmy air and beautiful sea make the place +as restful as it is beautiful. Here Elizabeth received lessons in +water-color and landscape from Mr. Gray. + +After another visit abroad the family returned to London, and the +artist daughter attended the National Art School at South Kensington, +studying in the life-class. The head master, Mr. Richard Burchett, saw +her talent, and helped her in all ways possible. + +Naturally anxious to test the world's opinion of her work, she sent +some water-colors to the Society of British Artists for exhibition, +and they were rejected. There is very little encouragement for +beginners in any profession. However, "Bavarian Artillery going into +Action" was exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, and received favorable +notice from Mr. Tom Taylor, art critic of the _Times_. + +Between two long courses at South Kensington Elizabeth spent a summer +in Florence and a winter at Rome, studying in both places. At Florence +she entered the studio of Signor Guiseppe Bellucci, an eminent +historical painter and consummate draughtsman, a fellow-student of Sir +Frederick Leighton at the Academy. + +Here the girlish student was intensely interested in her work. +She rose early, before the other members of the family, taking her +breakfast alone, that she might hasten to her beloved labor. "On the +day when she did not work with him," says Mrs. Meynell, "she copied +passages from the frescoes in the cloisters of the Annunziata, +masterpieces of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio, making a special +study of the drapery of the last-named painter. The sacristans of the +old church--the most popular church in Florence--knew and welcomed the +young English girl, who sat for hours so intently at her work in the +cloister, unheeding the coming and going of the long procession of +congregations passing through the gates. + +"Her studies in the galleries were also full of delight and profit, +though she made no other copies, and she was wont to say that of all +the influences of the Florentine school which stood her in good stead +in her after-work, that of Andrea del Sarto was the most valuable and +the most important. The intense heat of a midsummer, which, day after +day, showed a hundred degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, could not make +her relax work, and her master, Florentine as he was, was obliged +to beg her to spare him, at least for a week, if she would not spare +herself. It was toward the end of October that artist and pupil +parted, his confidence in her future being as unbounded as her +gratitude for his admirable skill and minute carefulness." + +During her seven months in Rome she painted, in 1870, for an +ecclesiastical art exhibition, opened by Pope Pius IX., in the +cloisters of the Carthusian Monastery, the "Visitation of the Blessed +Virgin to St. Elizabeth," and the picture gained honorable mention. + +On her return to England the painting was offered to the Royal Academy +and rejected. And what was worse still, a large hole had been torn +in the canvas, in the sky of the picture. Had she not been very +persevering, and believed in her heart that she had talent, perhaps +she would not have dared to try again, but she had worked steadily +for too many years to fail now. Those only win who can bear refusal a +thousand times if need be. + +The next year, being at the Isle of Wight, she sent another picture to +the Academy, and it was rejected. Merit does not always win the +first, nor the second, nor the third time. It must have been a little +consolation to Elizabeth Thompson, to know that each year the judges +were reminded that a person by that name lived, and was painting +pictures! + +The next year a subject from the Franco-Prussian War was taken, as +that was fresh in the minds of the people. The title was "Missing." +"Two French officers, old and young, both wounded, and with one +wounded horse between them, have lost their way after a disastrous +defeat; their names will appear in the sad roll as missing, and the +manner of their death will never be known." + +The picture was received, but was "skyed," that is, placed so high +that nobody could well see it. During this year she received a +commission from a wealthy art patron to paint a picture. What should +it be? A battle scene, because into that she could put her heart. + +A studio was taken in London, and the "Roll-Call" (calling the roll +after an engagement,--Crimea) was begun. She put life into the faces +and the attitudes of the men, as she worked with eager heart and +careful labor. In the spring of 1874 it was sent to the Royal Academy, +with, we may suppose, not very enthusiastic hopes. + +The stirring battle piece pleased the committee, and they cheered when +it was received. Then it began to be talked at the clubs that a woman +had painted a battle scene! Some had even heard that it was a great +picture. When the Academy banquet was held, prior to the opening, the +speeches of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, both gave +high praise to the "Roll-Call." + +Such an honor was unusual. Everybody was eager to see the painting. It +was the talk at the clubs, on the railway trains, and on the crowded +thoroughfares. All day long crowds gathered before it, a policeman +keeping guard over the painting, that it be not injured by its eager +admirers. The Queen sent for it, and it was carried, for a few hours, +to Buckingham Palace, for her to gaze upon. So much was she pleased +that she desired to purchase it, and the person who had ordered it +gave way to Her Majesty. The copyright was bought for fifteen times +the original sum agreed upon as its value, and a steel-plate +engraving made from it at a cost of nearly ten thousand dollars. After +thirty-five hundred impressions, the plate was destroyed, that there +might be no inferior engravings of the picture. The "Roll-Call" was +for some time retained by the Fine Art Society, where it was seen by +a quarter of a million persons. Besides this, it was shown in all the +large towns of England. It is now at Windsor Castle. + +Elizabeth Thompson had become famous in a day, but she was not elated +over it; for, young as she was, she did not forget that she had +been working diligently for twenty years. The newspapers teemed with +descriptions of her, and incidents of her life, many of which were, of +course, purely imaginative. Whenever she appeared in society, people +crowded to look at her. + +Many a head would have been turned by all this praise; not so the +well-bred student. She at once set to work on a more difficult +subject, "The Twenty-eighth Regiment at Quatre Bras." When this +appeared, in 1875, it drew an enormous crowd. The true critics praised +heartily, but there were some persons who thought a woman could not +possibly know about the smoke of a battle, or how men would act under +fire. That she studied every detail of her work is shown by Mr. W. +H. Davenport Adams, in his _Woman's Work and Worth._ "The choice of +subject," he says, "though some people called it a 'very shocking one +for a young lady,' engaged the sympathy of military men, and she was +generously aided in obtaining material and all kinds of data for the +work. Infantry officers sent her photographs of 'squares.' But these +would not do, the men were not in earnest; they would kneel in such +positions as they found easiest for themselves; indeed, but for the +help of a worthy sergeant-major, who saw that each individual assumed +and maintained the attitude proper for the situation at whatever +inconvenience, the artist could not possibly have impressed upon her +picture that verisimilitude which it now presents. + +"Through the kindness of the authorities, an amount of gunpowder was +expended at Chatham, to make her see, as she said, how 'the men's +faces looked through the smoke,' that would have justified the +criticisms of a rigid parliamentary economist. Not satisfied with +seeing how men _looked_ in square, she desired to secure some faint +idea of how they _felt_ in square while 'receiving cavalry.' And +accordingly she repaired frequently to the Knightsbridge Barracks, +where she would kneel to 'receive' the riding-master and a mounted +sergeant of the Blues, while they thundered down upon her the full +length of the riding-school, deftly pulling up, of course, to avoid +accident. The fallen horse presented with such truth and vigor in +'Quatre Bras' was drawn from a Russian horse belonging to Hengler's +Circus, the only one in England that could be trusted to remain for a +sufficient time in the required position. A sore trial of patience was +this to artist, to model, to Mr. Hengler, who held him down, and +to the artist's father, who was present as spectator. Finally the +rye,--the 'particularly tall rye' in which, as Colonel Siborne says, +the action was fought,--was conscientiously sought for, and found, +after much trouble, at Henly-on-Thames." + +I saw this beautiful and stirring picture, as well as several others +of Mrs. Butler's, while in England. Mr. Ruskin says of "Quatre Bras": +"I never approached a picture with more iniquitous prejudice against +it than I did Miss Thompson's; partly because I have always said that +no woman could paint, and secondly, because I thought what the public +made such a fuss about _must_ be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's +work, this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-raphaelite picture +of battle we have had, profoundly interesting, and showing all manner +of illustrative and realistic faculty. The sky is most tenderly +painted, and with the truest outline of cloud of all in the +exhibition; and the terrific piece of gallant wrath and ruin on the +extreme left, where the cuirassier is catching round the neck of his +horse as he falls, and the convulsed fallen horse, seen through the +smoke below, is wrought through all the truth of its frantic passions +with gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of +since Turner's death." + +This year, 1875, a figure from the picture, the "Tenth Bengal Lancers +at Tent-pegging," was published as a supplement to the Christmas +number of _London Graphic_, with the title "Missed." In 1876, "The +Return from Balaklava" was painted, and in 1877, "The Return from +Inkerman," for which latter work the Fine Art Society paid her fifteen +thousand dollars. + +This year, 1877, on June 11, Miss Thompson was married to Major, now +Colonel, William Francis Butler, K.C.B. He was then thirty-nine years +of age, born in Ireland, educated in Dublin, and had received many +honors. He served on the Red River expedition, was sent on a special +mission to the Saskatchewan territories in 1870-71, and served on the +Ashantee expedition in 1873. He has been honorably mentioned several +times in the House of Lords by the Field-Marshal-Commanding-in-Chief. +He wrote _The Great Lone Land_ in 1872, _The Wild North Land_ in 1873, +and _A Kimfoo_ in 1875. + +After the marriage they spent much time in Ireland, where Mrs. Butler +painted "Listed for the Connaught Rangers" in 1879. Her later works +are "The Remnant of an Army," showing the arrival at Jellalabad, in +1842, of Dr. Brydon, the sole survivor of the sixteen thousand men +under General Elphinstone, in the unfortunate Afghan campaign; the +"Scots Greys Advancing," "The Defence of Rorke's Drift," an incident +of the Zulu War, painted at the desire of the Queen and some others. + +Still a young and very attractive woman, she has before her a bright +future. She will have exceptional opportunities for battle studies in +her husband's army life. She will probably spend much time in Africa, +India, and other places where the English army will be stationed. Her +husband now holds a prominent position in Africa. + +In her studio, says her sister, "the walls are hung with old +uniforms--the tall shako, the little coatee, and the stiff +stock--which the visitor's imagination may stuff out with the form of +the British soldier as he fought in the days of Waterloo. These are +objects of use, not ornament; so are the relics from the fields of +France in 1871, and the assegais and spears and little sharp wooden +maces from Zululand." + +Mrs. Butler has perseverance, faithfulness in her work, and courage. +She has won remarkable fame, but has proved herself deserving by her +constant labor, and attention to details. Mrs. Butler's mother has +also exhibited some fine paintings. The artist herself has illustrated +a volume of poems, the work of her sister, Mrs. Meynell. A cultivated +and artistic family have, of course, been an invaluable aid in Mrs. +Butler's development. + + + + +FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. + +[Illustration: Florence Nightingale--From the "Portrait Gallery of +Eminent Men and Women."] + +One of the most interesting places in the whole of London, is St. +Thomas' Hospital, an immense four-story structure of brick with +stone trimmings. Here is the Nightingale Training School for nurses, +established through the gift to Miss Nightingale of $250,000 by the +government, for her wonderful work in the Crimean War. She would not +take a cent for herself, but was glad to have this institution opened, +that girls through her training might become valuable to the world as +nurses, as she has been. + +Here is the "Nightingale Home." The dining-room, with its three long +tables, is an inviting apartment. The colors of wall and ceiling are +in red and light shades. Here is a Swiss clock presented by the Grand +Duchess of Baden; here a harpsichord, also a gift. Here is the marble +face and figure I have come especially to see, that of lovely Florence +Nightingale. It is a face full of sweetness and refinement, having +withal an earnest look, as though life were well worth living. + + +What better work than to direct these girls how to be useful? Some +are here from the highest social circles. The "probationers," or nurse +pupils, must remain three years before they can become Protestant +"sisters." Each ward is in charge of a sister; now it is Leopold, +because the ward bears that name; and now Victoria in respect to the +Queen, who opened the institution. + +The sisters look sunny and healthy, though they work hard. They have +regular hours for being off duty, and exercise in the open air. The +patients tell me how "homelike it seems to have women in the wards, +and what a comfort it is in their agony, to be handled by their +careful hands." Here are four hundred persons in all phases of +suffering, in neat, cheerful wards, brightened by pots of flowers, and +the faces of kind, devoted women. + +And who is this woman to whom the government of Great Britain felt +that it owed so much, and whom the whole world delights to honor? + +Florence Nightingale, born in 1820, in the beautiful Italian city +of that name, is the younger of two daughters of William Shore +Nightingale, a wealthy land-owner, who inherited both the name and +fortune of his granduncle, Peter Nightingale. The mother was the +daughter of the eminent philanthropist and member of Parliament, +William Smith. + +Most of Miss Nightingale's life has been spent on their beautiful +estate, Lea Hurst, in Derbyshire, a lovely home in the midst of +picturesque scenery. In her youth her father instructed her carefully +in the classics and higher mathematics; a few years later, partly +through extensive travel, she became proficient in French, German, and +Italian. + +Rich, pretty, and well-educated, what was there more that she could +wish for? Her heart, however, did not turn toward a fashionable life. +Very early she began to visit the poor and the sick near Lea Hurst, +and her father's other estate at Embly Park, Hampshire. Perhaps the +mantle of the mother's father had fallen upon the young girl. + +She had also the greatest tenderness toward dumb animals, and never +could bear to see them injured. Miss Alldridge, in an interesting +sketch of Miss Nightingale, quotes the following story from _Little +Folks:_-- + +"Some years ago, when the celebrated Florence Nightingale was a little +girl, living at her father's home, a large, old Elizabethan house, +with great woods about it, in Hampshire, there was one thing that +struck everybody who knew her. It was that she seemed to be always +thinking what she could do to please or help any one who needed either +help or comfort. She was very fond, too, of animals, and she was so +gentle in her way, that even the shyest of them would come quite close +to her, and pick up whatever she flung down for them to eat. + +"There was, in the garden behind the house, a long walk with trees on +each side, the abode of many squirrels; and when Florence came down +the walk, dropping nuts as she went along, the squirrels would run +down the trunks of their trees, and, hardly waiting until she passed +by, would pick up the prize and dart away, with their little bushy +tails curled over their backs, and their black eyes looking about as +if terrified at the least noise, though they did not seem to be afraid +of Florence. + +"Then there was an old gray pony named Peggy, past work, living in +a paddock, with nothing to do all day long but to amuse herself. +Whenever Florence appeared at the gate, Peggy would come trotting up +and put her nose into the dress pocket of her little mistress, and +pick it of the apple or the roll of bread that she knew she would +always find there, for this was a trick Florence had taught the +pony. Florence was fond of riding, and her father's old friend, the +clergyman of the parish, used often to come and take her for a ride +with him when he went to the farm cottages at a distance. He was a +good man and very kind to the poor. + +"As he had studied medicine when a young man, he was able to tell the +people what would do them good when they were ill, or had met with an +accident. Little Florence took great delight in helping to nurse those +who were ill; and whenever she went on these long rides, she had a +small basket fastened to her saddle, filled with something nice which +she saved from her breakfast or dinner, or carried for her mother, who +was very good to the poor. + +"There lived in one of two or three solitary cottages in the wood +an old shepherd of her father's, named Roger, who had a favorite +sheep-dog called Cap. Roger had neither wife nor child, and Cap lived +with him and kept him, and kept him company at night after he had +penned his flock. Cap was a very sensible dog; indeed, people used to +say he could do everything but speak. He kept the sheep in wonderfully +good order, and thus saved his master a great deal of trouble. One +day, as Florence and her old friend were out for a ride, they came +to a field where they found the shepherd giving his sheep their night +feed; but he was without the dog, and the sheep knew it, for they were +scampering in every direction. Florence and her friend noticed that +the old shepherd looked very sad, and they stopped to ask what was the +matter, and what had become of his dog. + +"'Oh,' said Roger, 'Cap will never be of any more use to me; I'll have +to hang him, poor fellow, as soon as I go home to-night.' + +"'Hang him!' said Florence. 'Oh, Roger, how wicked of you! What has +dear old Cap done?' + +"'He has done nothing,' replied Roger; 'but he will never be of any +more use to me, and I cannot afford to keep him for nothing; one of +the mischievous school-boys throwed a stone at him yesterday, and +broke one of his legs.' And the old shepherd's eyes filled with tears, +which he wiped away with his shirt-sleeve; then he drove his spade +deep in the ground to hide what he felt, for he did not like to be +seen crying. + +"'Poor Cap!' he sighed; 'he was as knowing almost as a human being.' + +"'But are you sure his leg is broken?' asked Florence. + +"'Oh, yes, miss, it is broken safe enough; he has not put his foot to +the ground since.' + +"Florence and her friend rode on without saying anything more to +Roger. + +"'We will go and see poor Cap,' said the vicar; 'I don't believe the +leg is really broken. It would take a big stone and a hard blow to +break the leg of a big dog like Cap.' + +"'Oh, if you could but cure him, how glad Roger would be!' replied +Florence. + +"They soon reached the shepherd's cottage, but the door was fastened; +and when they moved the latch, such a furious barking was heard that +they drew back, startled. However, a little boy came out of the next +cottage, and asked if they wanted to go in, as Roger had left the key +with his mother. So the key was got, and the door opened; and there on +the bare brick floor lay the dog, his hair dishevelled, and his eyes +sparkling with anger at the intruders. But when he saw the little boy +he grew peaceful, and when he looked at Florence, and heard her call +him 'poor Cap,' he began to wag his short tail; and then crept from +under the table, and lay down at her feet. She took hold of one of his +paws, patted his old rough head, and talked to him, whilst her friend +examined the injured leg. It was dreadfully swollen, and hurt very +much to have it examined; but the dog knew it was meant kindly, and +though he moaned and winced with pain, he licked the hands that were +hurting him. + +"'It's only a bad bruise; no bones are broken,' said her old friend; +'rest is all Cap needs; he will soon be well again.' + +"'I am so glad,' said Florence; 'but can we do nothing for him? he +seems in such pain.' + +"'There is one thing that would ease the pain and heal the leg all the +sooner, and that is plenty of hot water to foment the part.' + +"Florence struck a light with the tinder-box, and lighted the fire, +which was already laid. She then set off to the other cottage to get +something to bathe the leg with. She found an old flannel petticoat +hanging up to dry, and this she carried off, and tore up into slips, +which she wrung out in warm water, and laid them tenderly on Cap's +swollen leg. It was not long before the poor dog felt the benefit of +the application, and he looked grateful, wagging his little stump of a +tail in thanks. On their way home they met the shepherd coming slowly +along, with a piece of rope in his hand. + +"'Oh, Roger,' cried Florence, 'you are not to hang poor old Cap; his +leg is not broken at all.' + +"'No, he will serve you yet,' said the vicar. + +"'Well, I be main glad to hear it,' said the shepherd, 'and many +thanks to you for going to see him.' + +"On the next morning Florence was up early, and the first thing she +did was to take two flannel petticoats to give to the poor woman whose +skirt she had torn up to bathe Cap. Then she went to the dog, and was +delighted to find the swelling of his leg much less. She bathed it +again, and Cap was as grateful as before. + +"Two or three days afterwards Florence and her friend were riding +together, when they came up to Roger and his sheep. This time Cap was +watching the sheep, though he was lying quite still, and pretending to +be asleep. When he heard the voice of Florence speaking to his master, +who was portioning out the usual food, his tail wagged and his eyes +sparkled, but he did not get up, for he was on duty. The shepherd +stopped his work, and as he glanced at the dog with a merry laugh, +said, 'Do look at the dog, Miss; he be so pleased to hear your voice.' +Cap's tail went faster and faster. 'I be glad,' continued the old man, +'I did not hang him. I be greatly obliged to you, Miss, and the vicar, +for what you did. But for you I would have hanged the best dog I ever +had in my life.'" + +A girl who was made so happy in saving the life of an animal would +naturally be interested to save human beings. Occasionally her family +passed a season in London, and here, instead of giving much time +to concerts or parties, she would visit hospitals and benevolent +institutions. When the family travelled in Egypt, she attended several +sick Arabs, who recovered under her hands. They doubtless thought the +English girl was a saint sent down from heaven. + +The more she felt drawn toward the sick, the more she felt the need +of study, and the more she saw the work that refined women could do in +the hospitals. The Sisters of Charity were standing by sick-beds; why +could there not be Protestant sisters? When they travelled in Germany, +France, and Italy, she visited infirmaries, asylums, and hospitals, +carefully noting the treatment given in each. + +Finally she determined to spend some months at Kaiserwerth, near +Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, in Pastor Fliedner's great Lutheran +hospital. He had been a poor clergyman, the leader of a scanty flock, +whose church was badly in debt. A man of much enterprise and warm +heart, he could not see his work fail for lack of means; so he set +out among the provinces, to tell the needs of his little parish. +He collected funds, learned much about the poverty and ignorance +of cities, preached in some of the prisons, because interested in +criminals, and went back to his loyal people. + +But so poor were they that they could not meet the yearly expenses, so +he determined to raise an endowment fund. He visited Holland and Great +Britain, and secured the needed money. + +In England, in 1832, he became acquainted with Elizabeth Fry. How one +good life influences another to the end of time! When he went back to +Germany his heart was aglow with a desire to help humanity. + +He at once opened an asylum for discharged prison-women. He saw how +almost impossible it was for those who had been in prison to obtain +situations. Then he opened a school for the children of such as worked +in factories, for he realized how unfit for citizenship are those who +grow up in ignorance. He did not have much money, but he seemed able +to obtain what he really needed. Then he opened a hospital; a home for +insane women; a home of rest for his nurses, or for those who needed +a place to live after their work was done. Soon the "Deaconesses" at +Kaiserwerth became known the country over. Among the wildest Norwegian +mountains we met some of these Kaiserwerth nurses, refined, educated +ladies, getting in summer a new lease of life for their noble labors. + +This Protestant sisterhood consists now of about seven hundred +sisters, at about two hundred stations, the annual expense being about +$150,000. What a grand work for one man, with no money, the pastor of +a very humble church! + +Into this work of Pastor Fliedner, Florence Nightingale heartily +entered. Was it strange taste for a pretty and wealthy young woman, +whose life had been one of sunshine and happiness? It was a saintlike +taste, and the world is rendered a little like Paradise by the +presence of such women. Back in London the papers were full of +the great exhibition of 1851, but she was more interested in her +Kaiserwerth work than to be at home. When she had finished her course +of instruction, Pastor Fliedner said, since he had been director +of that institution no one had ever passed so distinguished an +examination, or shown herself so thoroughly mistress of all she had +learned. + +On her return to Lea Hurst, she could not rest very long, while there +was so much work to be done in the world. In London, a hospital +for sick governesses was about to fail, from lack of means and poor +management. Nobody seemed very deeply interested for these overworked +teachers. But Miss Nightingale was interested, and leaving her lovely +home, she came to the dreary house in Harley Street, where she gave +her time and her fortune for several years. Her own frail health +sank for a time from the close confinement, but she had seen the +institution placed on a sure foundation, and prosperous. + +The Crimean War had begun. England had sent out ship-loads of men to +the Black Sea, to engage in war with Russia. Little thought seemed to +have been taken, in the hurry and enthusiasm of war, to provide proper +clothing or food for the men in that changing climate. In the desolate +country there was almost no means of transportation, and men and +animals suffered from hunger. After the first winter cholera broke +out, and in one camp twenty men died in twenty-four hours. + +Matters grew from bad to worse. William Howard Russell, the _Times_ +correspondent, wrote home to England: "It is now pouring rain,--the +skies are black as ink,--the wind is howling over the staggering +tents,--the trenches are turned into dykes,--in the tents the water +is sometimes a foot deep,--our men have not either warm or +waterproof clothing,--they are out for twelve hours at a time in the +trenches,--they are plunged into the inevitable miseries of a winter +campaign,--and not a soul seems to care for their comfort, or even +for their lives. These are hard truths, but the people of England must +hear them. They must know that the wretched beggar who wanders +about the streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince, +compared with the British soldiers who are fighting out here for their +country. + +"The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there is not +the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness; the stench +is appalling; the fetid air can barely struggle out to taint the +atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls and roofs; and, for +all I can observe, these men die without the least effort being made +to save them. There they lie, just as they were let gently down on the +ground by the poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on their +backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness, but who are not +allowed to remain with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, +and the dying by the dying." + +During the rigorous winter of 1854, with snow three feet thick, many +were frozen in their tents. Out of nearly forty-five thousand, over +eighteen thousand were reported in the hospitals. The English nation +became aroused at this state of things, and in less than two weeks +seventy-five thousand dollars poured into the Times office for the +suffering soldiers. A special commissioner, Mr. Macdonald, was sent to +the Crimea with shirts, sheets, flannels, and necessary food. + +But one of the greatest of all needs was woman's hand and brain, in +the dreadful suffering and the confusion. The testimony of the world +thus far has been that men everywhere need the help of women, and +women everywhere need the help of men. Right Honorable Sydney Herbert, +the Secretary of War, knew of but one woman who could bring order +and comfort to those far-away hospitals, and that woman was Miss +Nightingale. She had made herself ready at Kaiserwerth for a great +work, and now a great work was ready for her. + +But she was frail in health, and was it probable that a rich and +refined lady would go thousands of miles from her kindred, to live +in feverish wards where there were only men? A true woman dares do +anything that helps the world. + +Mr. Herbert wrote her, Oct. 15: "There is, as far as I know, only one +person in England capable of organizing and directing such a plan, and +I have been several times on the point of asking you if you would +be disposed to make the attempt. That it will be difficult to form +a corps of nurses, no one knows better than yourself.... I have this +simple question to put to you: Could you go out yourself, and take +charge of everything? It is, of course, understood that you will have +absolute authority over all the nurses, unlimited power to draw on the +government for all you judge necessary to the success of your mission; +and I think I may assure you of the co-operation of the medical +staff. Your personal qualities, your knowledge, and your authority in +administrative affairs, all fit you for this position." + +It was a strange coincidence that on that same day, Oct. 15, Miss +Nightingale, her heart stirred for the suffering soldiers, had written +a letter to Mr. Herbert, offering her services to the government. A +few days later the world read, with moistened eyes, this letter from +the war office: "Miss Nightingale, accompanied by thirty-four nurses, +will leave this evening. Miss Nightingale, who has, I believe, greater +practical experience of hospital administration and treatment than any +other lady in this country, has, with a self-devotion for which I have +no words to express my gratitude, undertaken this noble but arduous +work." + +The heart of the English nation followed the heroic woman. Mrs. +Jameson wrote: "It is an undertaking wholly new to our English +customs, much at variance with the usual education given to women in +this country. If it succeeds, it will be the true, the lasting glory +of Florence Nightingale and her band of devoted assistants, that they +have broken down a Chinese wall of prejudices,--religious, social, +professional,--and have established a precedent which will, indeed, +multiply the good to all time." She did succeed, and the results can +scarcely be overestimated. + +As the band of nurses passed through France, hotel-keepers would take +no pay for their accommodation; poor fisherwomen at Boulogne struggled +for the honor of carrying their baggage to the railway station. They +sailed in the _Vectis_ across the Mediterranean, reaching Scutari, +Nov. 5, the day of the battle of Inkerman. + +They found in the great Barrack Hospital, which had been lent to the +British by the Turkish government, and in another large hospital near +by, about four thousand men. The corridors were filled with two rows +of mattresses, so close that two persons could scarcely walk between +them. There was work to be done at once. + +One of the nurses wrote home, "The whole of yesterday one could only +forget one's own existence, for it was spent, first in sewing the +men's mattresses together, and then in washing them, and assisting the +surgeons, when we could, in dressing their ghastly wounds after their +five days' confinement on board ship, during which space their wounds +had not been dressed. Hundreds of men with fever, dysentery, and +cholera (the wounded were the smaller portion) filled the wards in +succession from the overcrowded transports." + +Miss Nightingale, calm and unobtrusive, went quietly among the men, +always with a smile of sympathy for the suffering. The soldiers often +wept, as for the first time in months, even years, a woman's hand +adjusted their pillows, and a woman's voice soothed their sorrows. + +Miss Nightingale's pathway was not an easy one. Her coming did not +meet the general approval of military or medical officials. Some +thought women would be in the way; others felt that their coming was +an interference. Possibly some did not like to have persons about who +would be apt to tell the truth on their return to England. But with +good sense and much tact she was able to overcome the disaffection, +using her almost unlimited power with discretion. + +As soon as the wounded were attended to, she established an invalid's +kitchen, where appetizing food could be prepared,--one of the +essentials in convalescence. Here she overlooked the proper cooking +for eight hundred men who could not eat ordinary food. Then she +established a laundry. The beds and shirts of the men were in a filthy +condition, some wearing the ragged clothing in which they were brought +down from the Crimea. It was difficult to obtain either food or +clothing, partly from the immense amount of "red tape" in official +life. + +Miss Nightingale seemed to be everywhere. Dr. Pincoffs said: "I +believe that there never was a severe case of any kind that escaped +her notice; and sometimes it was wonderful to see her at the bedside +of a patient who had been admitted perhaps but an hour before, and +of whose arrival one would hardly have supposed it possible she could +already be cognizant." + +She aided the senior chaplain in establishing a library and +school-room, and in getting up evening lectures for the men. She +supplied books and games, wrote letters for the sick, and forwarded +their little savings to their home-friends. + +For a year and a half, till the close of the war, she did a wonderful +work, reducing the death-rate in the Barrack Hospital from sixty per +cent to a little above one per cent. Said the _Times_ correspondent: +"Wherever there is disease in its most dangerous form, and the hand of +the spoiler distressingly nigh, there is that incomparable woman sure +to be seen; her benignant presence is an influence for good comfort +even amid the struggles of expiring nature. She is a 'ministering +angel,' without any exaggeration, in these hospitals, and as her +slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's +face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical +officers have retired for the night, and silence and darkness have +settled down upon these miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed, +alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds. + +"With the heart of a true woman and the manner of a lady, accomplished +and refined beyond most of her sex, she combines a surprising calmness +of judgment and promptitude and decision of character. The popular +instinct was not mistaken, which, when she set out from England on her +mission of mercy, hailed her as a heroine; I trust she may not earn +her title to a higher, though sadder, appellation. No one who has +observed her fragile figure and delicate health can avoid misgivings +lest these should fail." + +One of the soldiers wrote home: "She would speak to one and another, +and nod and smile to many more; but she could not do it to all, you +know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could kiss her shadow as it +fell, and lay our heads on our pillows again content." Another wrote +home: "Before she came there was such cussin' and swearin', and after +that it was as holy as a church." No wonder she was called the "Angel +of the Crimea." Once she was prostrated with fever, but recovered +after a few weeks. + +Finally the war came to an end. London was preparing to give Miss +Nightingale a royal welcome, when, lo! she took passage by design on a +French steamer, and reached Lea Hurst, Aug. 15, 1856, unbeknown to +any one. There was a murmur of disappointment at first, but the +people could only honor all the more the woman who wished no blare of +trumpets for her humane acts. + +Queen Victoria sent for her to visit her at Balmoral, and presented +her with a valuable jewel; a ruby-red enamel cross on a white field, +encircled by a black band with the words, "Blessed are the merciful." +The letters V. R., surmounted by a crown in diamonds, are impressed +upon the centre of the cross. Green enamel branches of palm, tipped +with gold, form the framework of the shield, while around their stems +is a riband of the blue enamel with the single word "Crimea." On +the top are three brilliant stars of diamonds. On the back is an +inscription written by the Queen. The Sultan sent her a magnificent +bracelet, and the government, $250,000, to found the school for nurses +at St. Thomas' Hospital. + +Since the war, Miss Nightingale has never been in strong health, +but she has written several valuable books. Her _Hospital Notes_, +published in 1859, have furnished plans for scores of new hospitals. +Her _Notes on Nursing_, published in 1860, of which over one hundred +thousand have been sold, deserve to be in every home. She is the most +earnest advocate of sunlight and fresh air. + +She says: "An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What +air can we breathe at night but night air? The choice is between pure +night air from without, and foul night air from within. Most people +prefer the latter,--an unaccountable choice. What will they say if it +be proved true that fully _one-half of all the disease we suffer from, +is occasioned by people sleeping with their windows shut?_ An open +window most nights of the year can never hurt any one. In great cities +night air is often the best and purest to be had in the twenty-four +hours. + +"The five essentials, for healthy houses," she says, are "pure air, +pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light.... I have +known whole houses and hospitals smell of the sink. I have met just as +strong a stream of sewer air coming up the back staircase of a grand +London house, from the sink, as I have ever met at Scutari; and I have +seen the rooms in that house all ventilated by the open doors, and +the passages all _un_ventilated by the close windows, in order that as +much of the sewer air as possible might be conducted into and retained +in the bed-rooms. It is wonderful!" + +Miss Nightingale has much humor, and she shows it in her writings. She +is opposed to dark houses; says they promote scrofula; to old papered +walls, and to carpets full of dust. An uninhabited room becomes full +of foul air soon, and needs to have the windows opened often. She +would keep sick people, or well, forever in the sunlight if possible, +for sunlight is the greatest possible purifier of the atmosphere. +"In the unsunned sides of narrow streets, there is degeneracy and +weakliness of the human race,--mind and body equally degenerating." +Of the ruin wrought by bad air, she says: "Oh, the crowded national +school, where so many children's epidemics have their origin, what +a tale its air-test would tell! We should have parents saying, and +saying rightly, 'I will not send my child to that school; the +air-test stands at "horrid."' And the dormitories of our great +boarding-schools! Scarlet fever would be no more ascribed to +contagion, but to its right cause, the air-test standing at 'Foul.' We +should hear no longer of 'Mysterious Dispensations' and of 'Plague and +Pestilence' being in 'God's hands,' when, so far as we know, He has +put them into our own." She urges much rubbing of the body, washing +with warm water and soap. "The only way I know to _remove_ dust, is to +wipe everything with a damp cloth.... If you must have a carpet, the +only safety is to take it up two or three times a year, instead of +once.... The best wall now extant is oil paint." + +"Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, requires as +exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter's or +sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or cold +marble compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of +God's Spirit? Nursing is one of the fine arts; I had almost said, the +finest of the fine arts." + +Miss Nightingale has also written _Observations on the Sanitary State +of the Army in India,_ 1863; _Life or Death in India_, read before the +National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1873, with +an appendix on _Life or Death by Irrigation_, 1874. + +She is constantly doing deeds of kindness. With a subscription sent +recently by her to the Gordon Memorial Fund, she said: "Might but the +example of this great and pure hero be made to tell, in that self no +longer existed to him, but only God and duty, on the soldiers who have +died to save him, and on boys who should live to follow him." + +Miss Nightingale has helped to dignify labor and to elevate humanity, +and has thus made her name immortal. + +Florence Nightingale died August 13, 1910, at 2 P.M., of heart +failure, at the age of ninety. She had received many distinguished +honors: the freedom of the city of London in 1908, and from King +Edward VII, a year previously, a membership in the Order of Merit, +given only to a select few men; such as Field Marshal Roberts, Lord +Kitchener, Alma Tadema, James Bryce, George Meredith, Lords Kelvin and +Lister, and Admiral Togo. + +Her funeral was a quiet one, according to her wishes. + + + +LADY BRASSEY. + +[Illustration: LADY BRASSEY.] + +One of my pleasantest days in England was spent at old Battle Abbey, +the scene of the ever-memorable Battle of Hastings, where William of +Normandy conquered the Saxon Harold. + +The abbey was built by William as a thank-offering for the victory, on +the spot where Harold set up his standard. The old gateway is one of +the finest in England. Part of the ancient church remains, flowers and +ivy growing out of the beautiful gothic arches. + +As one stands upon the walls and looks out upon the sea, that great +battle comes up before him. The Norman hosts disembark; first come the +archers in short tunics, with bows as tall as themselves and quivers +full of arrows; then the knights in coats of mail, with long lances +and two-edged swords; Duke William steps out last from the ship, and +falls foremost on both hands. His men gather about him in alarm, but +he says, "See, my lords, I have taken possession of England with both +my hands. It is now mine, and what is mine is yours." + +Word is sent to Harold to surrender the throne, but he returns answer +as haughty as is sent. Brave and noble, he plants his standard, a +warrior sparkling with gold and precious stones, and thus addresses +his men:-- + +"The Normans are good knights, and well used to war. If they pierce +our ranks, we are lost. Cleave, and do not spare!" Then they build +up a breastwork of shields, which no man can pass alive. William of +Normandy is ready for action. He in turn addresses his men: "Spare +not, and strike hard. There will be booty for all. It will be in vain +to ask for peace; the English will not give it. Flight is impossible; +at the sea you will find neither ship nor bridge; the English would +overtake and annihilate you there. The victory is in our hands." + +From nine till three the battle rages. The case becomes desperate. +William orders the archers to fire into the air, as they cannot pierce +English armor, and arrows fall down like rain upon the Saxons. Harold +is pierced in the eye. He is soon overcome and trampled to death by +the enemy, dying, it is said, with the words "Holy Cross" upon his +lips. + +Ten thousand are killed on either side, and the Saxons pass forever +under foreign rule. Harold's mother comes and begs the body of her +son, and pays for it, some historians say, its weight in gold. + +Every foot of ground at Battle Abbey is historic, and all the country +round most interesting. We drive over the smoothest of roads to a +palace in the distance,--Normanhurst, the home of Lady Brassey, the +distinguished author and traveller. Towers are at either corner and +in the centre, and ivy climbs over the spacious vestibule to the roof. +Great buildings for waterworks, conservatories, and the like, are +adjoining, in the midst of flower-gardens and acres of lawn and +forest. It is a place fit for the abode of royalty itself. + +In no home have I seen so much that is beautiful gathered from all +parts of the world. The hall, as you enter, square and hung with +crimson velvet, is adorned with valuable paintings. Two easy-chairs +before the fireplace are made from ostriches, their backs forming the +seats. These birds were gifts to Lady Brassey in her travels. In the +rooms beyond are treasures from Japan, the South Sea Islands, South +America, indeed from everywhere; cases of pottery, works in marble, +Dresden candelabra, ancient armor, furs, silks, all arrayed with +exquisite taste. + +One room, called the Marie Antoinette room, has the curtains and +furniture, in yellow, of this unfortunate queen. Here are pictures by +Sir Frederick Leighton, Landseer, and others; stuffed birds and +fishes and animals from every clime, with flowers in profusion. In +the dining-room, with its gray walls and red furniture, is a large +painting of the mistress of this superb home, with her favorite horse +and dogs. The views from the windows are beautiful, Battle Abbey ruin +in the distance, and rivers flowing to the sea. The house is rich in +color, one room being blue, another red, a third yellow, while large +mirrors seem to repeat the apartments again and again. As we leave the +home, not the least of its attractions come up the grounds,--a load of +merry children, all in sailor hats; the Mabelle and Muriel and Marie +whom we have learned to know in Lady Brassey's books. + +The well-known author is the daughter of the late Mr. John Alnutt of +Berkley Square, London, who, as well as his father, was a patron of +art, having made large collections of paintings. Reared in wealth and +culture, it was but natural that the daughter, Annie, should find +in the wealthy and cultured Sir Thomas Brassey a man worthy of her +affections. In 1860, while both were quite young, they were married, +and together they have travelled, written books, aided working men and +women, and made for themselves a noble and lasting fame. + +Sir Thomas is the eldest son of the late Mr. Brassey, "the leviathan +contractor, the employer of untold thousands of navvies, the genie of +the spade and pick, and almost the pioneer of railway builders, not +only in his own country, but from one end of the continent to the +other." Of superior education, having been at Rugby and University +College, Oxford, Sir Thomas was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in +1864, and was elected to Parliament from Devonport the following year, +and from Hastings three years later, in 1868, which position he has +filled ever since. + +Exceedingly fond of the sea, he determined to be a practical sailor, +and qualified himself as a master-marine, by passing the requisite +Board of Trade examination, and receiving a certificate as a seaman +and navigator. In 1869 he was made Honorary Lieutenant in the Royal +Naval Reserve. + +Besides his parliamentary work, he has been an able and voluminous +writer. His _Foreign Work and English Wages_ I purchased in England, +and have found it valuable in facts and helpful in spirit. The +statement in the preface that he "has had under consideration the +expediency of retiring from Parliament, with the view of devoting an +undivided attention to the elucidation of industrial problems, and +the improvement of the relations between capital and labor," shows the +heart of the man. In 1880 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and +in 1881 was created by the Queen a Knight Commander of the Order +of the Bath, for his important services in connection with the +organization of the Naval Reserve forces of the country. + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BRASSEY.] + +In 1869, after Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey had been nine years +married, they determined to take a sea-voyage in his yacht, and +between this time and 1872 they made two cruises in the Mediterranean +and the East. From her childhood the wife had kept a journal, and from +fine powers of observation and much general knowledge was well fitted +to see whatever was to be seen, and describe it graphically. She +wrote long, journal-like letters to her father, and on her return _The +Flight of the Meteor_ was prepared for distribution among relatives +and intimate friends. + +In the year last mentioned, 1872, they took a trip to Canada and +the United States, sailing up several of the long rivers, and on her +return, _A Cruise in the Eothen_ was published for friends. + +Four years later they decided to go round the world, and for this +purpose the beautiful yacht _Sunbeam_ was built. The children, the +animal pets, two dogs, three birds, and a Persian kitten for the baby, +were all taken, and the happy family left England July 1, 1876. With +the crew, the whole number of persons on board was forty-three. +Almost at the beginning of the voyage they encountered a severe storm. +Captain Lecky would have been lost but for the presence of mind of +Mabelle Brassey, the oldest daughter, who has her mother's courage +and calmness. When asked if she thought she was going overboard, she +answered, "I did not think at all, mamma, but felt sure we were gone." + +"Soon after this adventure," says Lady Brassey, "we all went to bed, +full of thanksgiving that it had ended as well as it did; but, alas, +not, so far as I was concerned, to rest in peace. In about two hours I +was awakened by a tremendous weight of water suddenly descending upon +me and flooding the bed. I immediately sprang out, only to find myself +in another pool on the floor. It was pitch dark, and I could not think +what had happened; so I rushed on deck, and found that the weather +having moderated a little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of fresh +air, had opened the skylight rather too soon, and one of the angry +waves had popped on board, deluging the cabin. + +"I got a light, and proceeded to mop up, as best I could, and then +endeavored to find a dry place to sleep in. This, however, was no easy +task, for my own bed was drenched, and every other berth occupied. +The deck, too, was ankle-deep in water, as I found when I tried to +get across to the deck-house sofa. At last I lay down on the floor, +wrapped in my ulster, and wedged between the foot stanchion of our +swing bed and the wardrobe athwart-ship; so that as the yacht rolled +heavily, my feet were often higher than my head." + +No wonder that a woman who could make the best of such circumstances +could make a year's trip on the _Sunbeam_ a delight to all on board. +Their first visits were to the Madeira, Teneriffe, and Cape de Verde +Islands, off the coast of Africa. With simplicity, the charm of all +writing, and naturalness, Lady Brassey describes the people, the +bathing where the sharks were plentiful, and the masses of wild +geranium, hydrangea, and fuchsia. They climb to the top of the lava +Peak of Teneriffe, over twelve thousand feet high; they rise at +five o'clock to see the beautiful sunrises; they watch the slaves at +coffee-raising at Rio de Janeiro, in South America, and Lady Brassey +is attracted toward the nineteen tiny babies by the side of their +mothers; "the youngest, a dear, little woolly-headed thing, as black +as jet, and only three weeks old." + +In Belgrano, she says: "We saw for the first time the holes of the +bizcachas, or prairie-dogs, outside which the little prairie-owls keep +guard. There appeared to be always one, and generally two, of these +birds, standing like sentinels, at the entrance to each hole, with +their wise-looking heads on one side, pictures of prudence and +watchfulness. The bird and the beast are great friends, and are seldom +to be found apart." And then Lady Brassey, who understands photography +as well as how to write several languages, photographs this pretty +scene of prairie-dogs guarded by owls, and puts it in her book. + +On their way to the Straits of Magellan, they see a ship on fire. They +send out a boat to her, and bring in the suffering crew of fifteen +men, almost wild with joy to be rescued. Their cargo of coal had been +on fire for four days. The men were exhausted, the fires beneath +their feet were constantly growing hotter, and finally they gave up in +despair and lay down to die. But the captain said, "There is One above +who looks after us all," and again they took courage. They lashed the +two apprentice boys in one of the little boats, for fear they would be +washed overboard, for one was the "only son of his mother, and she a +widow." + +"The captain," says Lady Brassey, "drowned his favorite dog, a +splendid Newfoundland, just before leaving the ship; for although a +capital watchdog and very faithful, he was rather large and fierce; +and when it was known that the _Sunbeam_ was a yacht with ladies and +children on board, he feared to introduce him. Poor fellow! I wish I +had known about it in time to save his life!" + +They "steamed past the low sandy coast of Patagonia and the rugged +mountains of Tierra del Fuego, literally, Land of Fire, so called from +the custom the inhabitants have of lighting fires on prominent points +as signals of assembly." The people are cannibals, and naked. "Their +food is of the most meagre description, and consists mainly of +shell-fish, sea-eggs, for which the women dive with much dexterity, +and fish, which they train their dogs to assist them in catching. +These dogs are sent into the water at the entrance of a narrow creek +or small bay, and they then bark and flounder about and drive the fish +before them into shallow water, where they are caught." + +Three of these Fuegians, a man, woman, and lad, come out to the yacht +in a craft made of planks rudely tied together with the sinews of +animals, and give otter skins for "tobáco and galléta" (biscuit), for +which they call. When Lady Brassey gives the lad and his mother some +strings of blue, red, and green glass beads, they laugh and jabber +most enthusiastically. Their paddles are "split branches of trees, +with wider pieces tied on at one end, with the sinews of birds or +beasts." At the various places where they land, all go armed, Lady +Brassey herself being well skilled in their use. + +She never forgets to do a kindness. In Chili she hears that a poor +engine-driver, an Englishman, has met with a serious accident, and at +once hastens to see him. He is delighted to hear about the trip of the +_Sunbeam_, and forgets for a time his intense suffering in his joy at +seeing her. + +In Santiago she describes a visit to the ruin of the Jesuit church, +where, Dec. 8, 1863, at the Feast of the Virgin, two thousand persons, +mostly women and children, were burned to death. A few were drawn up +through a hole in the roof and thus saved. + +Their visit to the South Sea Islands is full of interest. At Bow +Island Lady Brassey buys two tame pigs for twenty-five cents each, +which are so docile that they follow her about the yacht with the +dogs, to whom they took a decided fancy. She calls one Agag, because +he walks so delicately on his toes. The native women break cocoanuts +and offer them the milk to drink. At Maitea the natives are puzzled to +know why the island is visited. "No sell brandy?" they ask. "No." +"No stealy men?" "No." "No do what then?" The chief receives most +courteously, cutting down a banana-tree for them, when they express a +wish for bananas. He would receive no money for his presents to them. + +In Tahiti a feast is given in their honor, in a house seemingly made +of banana-trees, "the floor covered with the finest mats, and +the centre strewn with broad green plantain leaves, to form the +table-cloth.... Before each guest was placed a half-cocoanut full of +salt water, another full of chopped cocoanut, a third full of fresh +water, and another full of milk, two pieces of bamboo, a basket of +poi, half a breadfruit, and a platter of green leaves, the latter +being changed with each course. We took our seats on the ground round +the green table. The first operation was to mix the salt water and +the chopped cocoanut together, so as to make an appetizing sauce, into +which we were supposed to dip each morsel we ate. We were tolerably +successful in the use of our fingers as substitutes for knives and +forks." + +At the Sandwich Islands, in Hilo, they visit the volcano of Kilauea. +They descend the precipice, three hundred feet, which forms the wall +of the old crater. They ascend the present crater, and stand on the +"edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake of molten fire, a hundred +feet below us, and nearly a mile across. Dashing against the cliffs on +the opposite side, with a noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, +waves of blood-red, fiery liquid lava hurled their billows upon an +iron-bound headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss +their gory spray high in the air." + +They pass the island of Molokai, where the poor lepers end their days +away from home and kindred. At Honolulu they are entertained by the +Prince, and then sail for Japan, China, Ceylon, through Suez, stopping +in Egypt, and then home. On their arrival, Lady Brassey says, "How +can I describe the warm greetings that met us everywhere, or the crowd +that surrounded us; how, along the whole ten miles from Hastings to +Battle, people were standing by the roadside and at the cottage doors +to welcome us; how the Battle bell-ringers never stopped ringing +except during service time; or how the warmest of welcomes ended our +delightful year of travel and made us feel we were home at last, with +thankful hearts for the providential care which had watched over us +whithersoever we roamed!" + +The trip had been one of continued ovation. Crowds had gathered in +every place to see the _Sunbeam_, and often trim her with flowers from +stem to stern. Presents of parrots, and kittens, and pigs abounded, +and Lady Brassey had cared tenderly for them all. Christmas was +observed on ship-board with gifts for everybody; thoughtfulness +and kindness had made the trip a delight to the crew as well as the +passengers. + +The letters sent home from the _Sunbeam_ were so thoroughly enjoyed +by her father and friends, that they prevailed upon her to publish a +book, which she did in 1878. It was found to be as full of interest +to the world as it had been to the intimate friends, and it passed +rapidly through four editions. An abridged edition appeared in the +following year; then the call for it was so great that an edition +was prepared for reading in schools, in 1880, and finally, in 1881, a +twelve-cent edition, that the poor as well as the rich might have an +opportunity of reading this fascinating book, _Around the World in +the Yacht Sunbeam_. And now Lady Brassey found herself not only the +accomplished and benevolent wife of a member of Parliament, but a +famous author as well. + +This year, July, 1881, the King of the Sandwich Islands, who had been +greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, was entertained +at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady Brassey with the Order of +Kapiolani. + +The next trip made was to the far East, and a book followed in 1880, +entitled, _Sunshine and Storm in the East; or, Cruises to Cyprus and +Constantinople_, dedicated "to the brave, true-hearted sailors of +England, of all ranks and services." + +The book is intensely interesting. Now she describes the Sultan going +to the mosque, which he does every Friday at twelve o'clock. "He +appeared in a sort of undress uniform, with a flowing cloak over +it, and with two or three large diamond stars on his breast. He was +mounted on a superb white Arab charger, thirty-three years old, +whose saddle-cloths and trappings blazed with gold and diamonds. The +following of officers on foot was enormous; and then came two hundred +of the fat blue and gold pashas, with their white horses and brilliant +trappings, the rear being brought up by some troops and a few +carriages.... Nobody dares address the Sultan, even if he speaks to +them, except in monosyllables, with their foreheads almost touching +the floor, the only exception being the grand vizier, who dares not +look up, but stands almost bent double. He is entirely governed by his +mother, who, having been a slave of the very lowest description, to +whom his father, Mahmoud II., took a fancy as she was carrying wood +to the bath, is naturally bigoted and ignorant.... The Sultan is not +allowed to marry, but the slaves who become mothers of his children +are called sultanas, and not allowed to do any more work. They have a +separate suite of apartments, a retinue of servants, besides carriages +and horses, and each hopes some day to be the mother of the future +Sultan, and therefore the most prominent woman in Turkey. The sultanas +may not sit at table with their own children, on account of their +having been slaves, while the children are princes and princesses in +right of their father." + +Lady Brassey tells the amusing story of a visit of Eugenie to the +Sultan's mother, when the Empress of the French saluted her on the +cheek. The Turkish woman was furious, and said she had never been so +insulted in her life. "She retired to bed at once, was bled, and had +several Turkish baths, to purify her from the pollution. Fancy the +Empress' feelings when, after having so far condescended as to kiss +the old woman, born one of the lowest of slaves, she had her embrace +received in such a manner." + +The habits and customs of the people are described by Lady Brassey +with all the interest of a novel. On their return home, "again the +Battle bells rang out a merry peal of gladness; again everybody rushed +out to welcome us. At home once again, the servants and the animals +seemed equally glad to see us back; the former looked the picture of +happiness, while the dogs jumped and barked; the horses and ponies +neighed and whinnied; the monkeys chattered; the cockatoos and parrots +screamed; the birds chirped; the bullfinches piped their little paean +of welcome.... Our old Sussex cowman says that even the cows eat their +food 'kind of kinder like' when the family are at home. The deer and +the ostriches too, the swans and the call ducks, all came running to +meet us, as we drove round the place to see them." Kindness to both +man and beast bears its legitimate fruit. + +Two years later she prepared the letter-press to _Tahiti: a Series of +Photographs_, taken by Colonel Stuart Wortley. He also is a gentleman +of much culture and noble work, in whose home we saw beautiful things +gathered from many lands. + +The last long trip of Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey was made in the fall +of 1883, and resulted in a charming book, _In the Trades, the Tropics, +and the Roaring Forties_, with about three hundred illustrations. The +route lay through Madeira, Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and home +by way of the Azores. The resources of the various islands, their +history, and their natural formation, are ably told, showing much +study as well as intelligent observation. The maps and charts are also +valuable. At Trinidad they visit the fine Botanic Gardens, and see +bamboos, mangoes, peach-palms, and cocoa-plants, from whose seeds +chocolate is made. The quantity exported annually is 13,000,000 +pounds. + +They also visit great coffee plantations. "The leaves of the +coffee-shrub," says Lady Brassey, "are of a rich, dark, glossy green; +the flowers, which grow in dense white clusters, when in full bloom, +giving the bushes the appearance of being covered with snow. The +berries vary in color from pale green to reddish orange or dark +red, according to their ripeness, and bear a strong resemblance to +cherries. Each contains two seeds, which, when properly dried, become +what is known to us as 'raw' coffee." + +At Caracas they view with interest the place which, on March 26, +1812, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, twelve thousand persons +perishing, thousands of whom were buried alive by the opening of +the ground. They study the formation of coral-reefs, and witness the +gathering of sponges in the Bahamas. "These are brought to the surface +by hooked poles, or sometimes by diving. When first drawn from the +water they are covered with a soft gelatinous substance, as black as +tar and full of organic life, the sponge, as we know, being only the +skeleton of the organism." + +While all this travelling was being enjoyed, and made most useful +as well, to hundreds of thousands of readers, Lady Brassey was not +forgetting her works of philanthropy. For years she has been a leading +spirit in the St. John's Ambulance Association. Last October she +gave a valuable address to the members of the "Workingmen's Club and +Institute Union," composed of several hundred societies of workingmen. +Her desire was that each society take up the work of teaching +its members how to care for the body in case of accidents. The +association, now numbering over one hundred thousand persons, is an +offshoot of the ancient order of St. John of Jerusalem, founded eight +hundred years ago, to maintain a hospital for Christian pilgrims. She +says: "The method of arresting bleeding from an artery is so easy that +a child may learn it; yet thousands of lives have been lost through +ignorance, the life-blood ebbing away in the presence of sorrowing +spectators, perfectly helpless, because none among them had been +taught one of the first rudiments of instruction of an ambulance +pupil,--the application of an extemporized tourniquet. Again, how +frequent is the loss of life by drowning; yet how few persons, +comparatively, understand the way to treat properly the apparently +drowned." Lectures are given by this association on, first, aid to the +injured; also on the general management of the sick-room. + +Lady Brassey, with the assistance of medical men, has held classes in +all the outlying villages about her home, and has arranged that simple +but useful medical appliances, like plasters, bandages, and the like, +be kept at some convenient centres. + +At Trindad, and Bahamas, and Bermudas, when they stayed there in +their travels, she caused to be held large meetings among the most +influential residents; also at Madeira and in the Azores. A class was +organized on board the _Sunbeam_, and lectures were delivered by +a physician. In the Shetland Islands she has also organized these +societies, and thus many lives have been saved. When the soldiers +went to the Soudan, she arranged for these helpful lectures to them +on their voyage East, and among much other reading-matter which +she obtained for them, sent them books and papers on this essential +medical knowledge. + +She carries on correspondence with India, Australia, and New Zealand, +where ambulance associations have been formed. For her valued services +she was elected in 1881 a _Dame Chevaliere_ of the Order of St. John +of Jerusalem. + +Her work among the poor in the East End of London is admirable. Too +much of this cannot be done by those who are blessed with wealth +and culture. She is also interested in all that helps to educate the +people, as is shown by her Museum of Natural History and Ethnological +Specimens, open for inspection in the School of Fine Art at Hastings. +How valuable is such a life compared with one that uses its time and +money for personal gratification alone. + +In August, 1885, Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey took Mr. and Mrs. +Gladstone, and a few other friends, in the _Sunbeam_, up the coast of +Norway. When they landed at Stavanger, a quaint, clean little town, +she says, in the October _Contemporary Review_: "The reception which +we met in this comparatively out-of-the-way place, where our visit had +been totally unexpected, was very striking. From early morning little +groups of townspeople had been hovering about the quays, trying to get +a distant glimpse of the world-renowned statesman who was among our +passengers." When they walked through the town, "every window and +doorway was filled with on-lookers, several flags had been hoisted in +honor of the occasion, and the church bells were set ringing. It was +interesting and touching to see the ex-minister walking up the +narrow street, his hat almost constantly raised in response to the +salutations of the townspeople." + +They sail up the fiords, they ride in stolkjoerres over the country, +they climb mountains, they visit old churches, and they dine with the +Prince of Wales on board the royal yacht _Osborne_. Before landing, +Mr. Gladstone addresses the crew, thanking them that "the voyage has +been made pleasant and safe by their high sense of duty, constant +watchfulness, and arduous exertion." While he admires the "rare +knowledge of practical seamanship of Sir Thomas Brassey," and thanks +both him and his wife for their "genial and generous hospitality," +he does not forget the sailors, for whom he "wishes health and +happiness," and "prays that God may speed you in all you undertake." + +Lady Brassey is living a useful and noble as well as intellectual +life. In London, Sir Thomas and herself recently gave a reception to +over a thousand workingmen in the South Kensington Museum. Devoted to +her family, she does not forget the best interests of her country, +nor the welfare of those less fortunate than herself. Successful in +authorship, she is equally successful in good works; loved at home and +honored abroad. + + * * * * * + +Lady Brassey's last voyage was made in the yacht she loved: the +_Sunbeam_. Three or four years before, her health had received a +serious shock through an attack of typhoid fever, and it was hoped +that travel would restore her. A trip was made in 1887 to Ceylon, +Rangoon, North Borneo and Australia, in company with Lord Brassey, +a son, and three daughters. While in mid-ocean, on their way to +Mauritius, Lady Brassey died of malarial fever, and was buried at sea, +September 14, 1887. + + + + +BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. + +[Illustration: BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS.] + +We hear, with comparative frequency, of great gifts made by men: +George Peabody and Johns Hopkins, Ezra Cornell and Matthew Vassar, +Commodore Vanderbilt and Leland Stanford. But gifts of millions have +been rare from women. Perhaps this is because they have not, as often +as men, had the control of immense wealth. + +It is estimated that Baroness Burdett-Coutts has already given away +from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and is constantly dispensing +her fortune. She is feeling, in her lifetime, the real joy of giving. +How many benevolent persons lose all this joy, by waiting till death +before they bestow their gifts. + +This remarkable woman comes from a remarkable family. Her father, +Sir Francis Burdett, was one of England's most prominent members of +Parliament. So earnest and eloquent was he that Canning placed him +"very nearly, if not quite, at the head of the orators of the day." +His colleague from Westminster, Hobhouse, said, "Sir Francis Burdett +was endowed with qualities rarely united. A manly understanding and a +tender heart gave a charm to his society such as I have never derived +in any other instance from a man whose principal pursuit was politics. +He was the delight both of young and old." + +He was of fine presence, with great command of language, natural, +sincere, and impressive. After being educated at Oxford, he spent some +time in Paris during the early part of the French Revolution, and +came home with enlarged ideas of liberty. With as much courage as +eloquence, he advocated liberty of the press in England, and many +Parliamentary reforms. Whenever there were misdeeds to be exposed, he +exposed them. The abuses of Cold Bath Fields and other prisons were +corrected through his searching public inquiries. + +When one of his friends was shut up in Newgate for impugning the +conduct of the House of Commons, Sir Francis took his part, and for +this it was ordered that he too be arrested. Believing in free speech +as he did, he denied the right of the House of Commons to arrest +him, and for nearly three days barricaded his house, till the police +forcibly entered, and carried him to the Tower. A riot resulted, the +people assaulting the police and the soldiers, for the statesman was +extremely popular. Several persons were killed in the tumult. + +Nine years later, in 1819, because he condemned the proceedings of the +Lancashire magistrates in a massacre case, he was again arrested for +libel (?). His sentence was three months' imprisonment, and a fine of +five thousand dollars. The banknote with which the money was paid +is still preserved in the Bank of England, "with an inscription +in Burdett's own writing, that to save his life, which further +imprisonment threatened to destroy, he submitted to be robbed." + +For thirty years he represented Westminster, fearless in what he +considered right; strenuous for the abolition of slavery, and in all +other reforms. Napoleon said at St. Helena, if he had invaded England +as he had intended, he would have made it a republic, with Sir Francis +Burdett, the popular idol, at its head. + +Wealthy himself, Sir Francis married Sophia, the youngest daughter of +the wealthy London banker, Thomas Coutts. One son and five daughters +were born to them, the youngest Angela Georgina (April 21, 1814), +now the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Mr. Coutts was an eccentric and +independent man, who married for his first wife an excellent girl of +very humble position. Their children, from the great wealth of the +father, married into the highest social rank, one being Marchioness of +Bute, one countess of Guilford, and the third Lady Burdett. + +When Thomas Coutts was eighty-four he married for the second time, +a well-known actress, Harriet Mellon, who for seven years, till his +death, took excellent care of him. He left her his whole fortune, +amounting to several millions, feeling, perhaps, that he had provided +sufficiently for his daughters at their marriage, by giving them a +half-million each. But Harriet Mellon, with a fine sense of honor, +felt that the fortune belonged to his children. Though she married +five years later the Duke of St. Albans, twenty-four years old, about +half her own age, at her death, in ten years, she left the whole +property, some fifteen millions, to Mr. Coutts' granddaughter, Angela +Burdett. Only one condition was imposed,--that the young lady should +add the name of Coutts to her own. + +Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts became, therefore, at twenty-three, the +sole proprietor of the great Coutts banking-house, which position she +held for thirty years, and the owner of an immense fortune. Very many +young men manifested a desire to help care for the property, and to +share it with her, but she seems from the first to have had but one +definite life-purpose,--to spend her money for the good of the human +race. She had her father's strength of character, was well educated, +and was a friend of royalty itself. Alas, how many young women, with +fifteen million dollars in hand, and the sum constantly increasing, +would have preferred a life of display and self-aggrandizement rather +than visiting the poor and the sorrowing! + +Baroness Burdett-Coutts is now over seventy, and for fifty years her +name has been one of the brightest and noblest in England, or, indeed, +in the world. Crabb Robinson said, she is "the most generous, and +delicately generous, person I ever knew." + +Her charities have extended in every direction. Among her first good +works was the building of two large churches, one at Carlisle, and +another, St. Stephen's, at Westminster, the latter having also three +schools and a parsonage. But Great Britain did not require all her +gifts. Gospel work was needed in Australia, Africa, and British +America. She therefore endowed three colonial bishoprics, at Adelaide, +Cape Town, and in British Columbia, with a quarter of a million +dollars. In South Australia she also provided an institution for the +improvement of the aborigines, who were ignorant, and for whom the +world seemed to care little. + +She has generously aided her own sex. Feeling that sewing and other +household work should be taught in the national schools, as from her +labors among the poor she had seen how often food was badly cooked, +and mothers were ignorant of sewing, she gave liberally to the +government for this purpose. Her heart also went out to children in +the remote districts, who were missing all school privileges, and for +these she arranged a plan of "travelling teachers," which was heartily +approved by the English authorities. Even now in these later years the +Baroness may often be seen at the night-schools of London, offering +prizes, or encouraging the young men and women in their desire to +gain knowledge after the hard day's work is done. She has opened +"Reformatory Homes" for girls, and great good has resulted. + +Like Peabody, she has transformed some of the most degraded portions +of London by her improved tenement houses for the poor. One place, +called Nova Scotia gardens,--the term "gardens" was a misnomer,--she +purchased, tore down the old rookeries where people slept and ate in +filth and rags, and built tasteful homes for two hundred families, +charging for them low and weekly rentals. Close by she built Columbia +Market, costing over a million dollars, intended for the convenience +of small dealers and people in that locality, where clean, healthful +food could be procured. She opened a museum and reading-room for the +neighborhood, and brought order and taste out of squalor and distress. + +This building she presented to the city of London, and in +acknowledgment of the munificent gift, the Common Council presented +her, July, 1872, in a public ceremony, the freedom of the city, an +uncommon honor to a woman. It was accompanied by a complimentary +address, enclosed in a beautiful gold casket with several +compartments. One bore the arms of the Baroness, while the other +seven represented tableaux emblematic of her noble life, "Feeding +the Hungry," "Giving Drink to the Thirsty," "Clothing the Naked," +"Visiting the Captive," "Lodging the Homeless," "Visiting the +Sick," and "Burying the Dead." The four cardinal virtues, Prudence, +Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice, supported the box at the four +corners, while the lid was surmounted by the arms of the city. + +The Baroness made an able response to the address of the Council, +instead of asking some gentleman to reply for her. Women who can do +valuable benevolent work should be able to read their own reports, +or say what they desire to say in public speech, without feeling +that they have in the slightest degree departed from the dignity and +delicacy of their womanhood. + +Two years later, 1874, Edinburgh, for her many charities, also +presented the Baroness the freedom of the city. Queen Victoria, three +years before this, in June, 1871, had made her a peer of the realm. + +In Spitalfields, London, where the poverty was very great, she started +a sewing-school for adult women, and provided not only work for them, +but food as well, so that they might earn for themselves rather than +receive charity. To furnish this work, she took contracts from the +government. From this school she sent out nurses among the sick, +giving them medical supplies, and clothes for the deserving. When +servants needed outfits, the Baroness provided them, aiding in all +ways those who were willing to work. All this required much executive +ability. + +So interested is she in the welfare of poor children, that she has +converted some of the very old burying-grounds of the city, where +the bodies have long since gone back to dust, into playgrounds, with +walks, and seats, and beds of flowers. Here the children can romp +from morning till night, instead of living in the stifled air of +the tenement houses. In old St. Pancras churchyard, now used as a +playground, she has erected a sundial as a memorial to its illustrious +dead. + +Not alone does Lady Burdett-Coutts build churches, and help women and +girls. She has fitted hundreds of boys for the Royal Navy; educated +them on her training-ships. She usually tries them in a shoe-black +brigade, and if they show a desire to be honest and trustworthy, she +provides homes, either in the navy or in some good trade. + +When men are out of work, she encourages them in various ways. When +the East End weavers had become reduced to poverty by the decay of +trade, she furnished funds for them to emigrate to Queensland, with +their families. A large number went together, and formed a prosperous +and happy colony, gratefully sending back thanks to their benefactor. +They would have starved, or, what is more probable, gone into crime in +London; now they were contented and satisfied in their new home. + +When the inhabitants of Girvan, Scotland, were in distress, she +advanced a large sum to take all the needy families to Australia. Here +in America we talk every now and then of forming societies to help the +poor to leave the cities and go West, and too often the matter ends in +talk; while here is a woman who forms a society in and of herself, +and sends the suffering to any part of the world, expecting no money +return on the capital used. To see happy and contented homes grow from +our expenditures is such an investment of capital as helps to bring on +the millennium. + +When the people near Skibbereen, Ireland, were in want, she sent food, +and clothing, and fishing-tackle, to enable them to carry on their +daily employment of fishing. She supplied the necessary funds for Sir +Henry James' topographical survey of Jerusalem, in the endeavor to +discover the remains of King Solomon's temple, and offered to restore +the ancient aqueduct, to supply the city with water. Deeply interested +in art, she has aided many struggling artists. Her homes also contain +many valuable pictures. + +The heart of the Baroness seems open to distress from every clime. In +1877, when word reached England of the suffering through war of the +Bulgarian and Turkish peasantry, she instituted the "Compassion Fund," +by which one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and stores +were sent, and thousands of lives saved from starvation and death. For +this generosity the Sultan conferred upon her the Order of Medjidie, +the first woman, it is said, who has received this distinction. + +In all this benevolence she has not overlooked the animal creation. +She has erected four handsome drinking fountains: one in Victoria +Park, one at the entrance to the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, +one near Columbia Market, and one in the city of Manchester. At the +opening of the latter, the citizens gave Lady Burdett-Coutts a most +enthusiastic reception. To the unique and interesting home for lost +dogs in London, she has contributed very largely. If the poor animals +could speak, how would they thank her for a warm bed to lie on, and +proper food to eat! + +Her private gifts to the poor have been numberless. Her city house, +I Stratton Street, Piccadilly, and her country home at Holly Lodge, +Highgate, are both well known. When, in 1868, the great Reform +procession passed her house, and she was at the window, though half +out of sight, says a person who was present, "in one instant a shout +was raised. For upwards of two hours and a half the air rang with the +reiterated huzzas--huzzas unanimous and heart-felt, as if representing +a national sentiment." + +At Holly Lodge, which one passes in visiting the grave of George Eliot +at Highgate Cemetery, the Baroness makes thousands of persons happy +year by year. Now she invites two thousand Belgian volunteers to meet +the Prince and Princess of Wales, with some five hundred royal and +distinguished guests; now she throws open her beautiful gardens to +hundreds of school-children, and lets them play at will under the oak +and chestnut trees; and now she entertains at tea all her tenants, +numbering about a thousand. So genial and considerate is she that +all love her, both rich and poor. She has fine manners and an open, +pleasant face. + +For some years a young friend, about half her own age, Mr. William +Ashmead-Bartlett, had assisted her in dispensing her charities, and +in other financial matters. At one time he went to Turkey, at her +request, using wisely the funds committed to his trust. Baroness +Coutts had refused many offers of marriage, but she finally desired +to bestow her hand upon this young but congenial man. On February 12, +1881, they were wedded in Christ Church, Piccadilly. Her husband +took the name of Mr. Burdett-Coutts Bartlett, and has since become a +capable member of Parliament. The marriage proved a happy one. + +The final years of the Baroness' long, useful life were rather +secluded, being spent at her London residence, or at her delightful +country place near Highgate, where she formerly entertained largely. + +On Christmas Eve, in 1906, she became ill of bronchitis, and though +her wonderful vitality led her to revive somewhat, she finally +succumbed on December 30, at the age of ninety-two. She was greatly +beloved from the highest to the humblest citizens. Queen Alexandra +sent repeated inquiries and messages. King Edward once said that he +regarded the Baroness, after his mother, as the most remarkable woman +in England. Her life was a link with the past, as it began during the +reign of Emperor Napoleon I, and witnessed the reigns of five British +sovereigns. Throughout it was spent in doing good. + + + + +JEAN INGELOW. + +[Illustration: JEAN INGELOW.] + +The same friend who had given me Mrs. Browning's five volumes in blue +and gold, came one day with a dainty volume just published by Roberts +Brothers, of Boston. They had found a new poet, and one possessing a +beautiful name. Possibly it was a _nom de plume_, for who had heard +any real name so musical as that of Jean Ingelow? + +I took the volume down by the quiet stream that flows below Amherst +College, and day after day, under a grand old tree, read some of +the most musical words, wedded to as pure thought as our century has +produced. + +The world was just beginning to know _The High Tide on the Coast of +Lincolnshire_. Eyes were dimming as they read,-- + + "I looked without, and lo! my sonne + Came riding downe with might and main: + He raised a shout as he drew on, + Till all the welkin rang again, + 'Elizabeth! Elizabeth!' + (A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath + Than my sonne's wife Elizabeth.) + + "'The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe, + The rising tide comes on apace, + And boats adrift in yonder towne + Go sailing uppe the market-place.' + He shook as one who looks on death: + 'God save you, mother!' straight he saith; + 'Where is my wife, Elizabeth?'" + +And then the waters laid her body at his very door, and the sweet +voice that called, "Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!" was stilled forever. + +The _Songs of Seven_ soon became as household words, because they +were a reflection of real life. Nobody ever pictured a child more +exquisitely than the little seven-year-old, who, rich with the little +knowledge that seems much to a child, looks down from superior heights +upon + + "The lambs that play always, they know no better; + They are only one times one." + +So happy is she that she makes boon companions of the flowers:-- + + "O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow, + Give me your honey to hold! + + "O columbine, open your folded wrapper, + Where two twin turtle-doves dwell! + O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper + That hangs in your clear green bell!" + +At "seven times two," who of us has not waited for the great heavy +curtains of the future to be drawn aside? + + "I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster, + Nor long summer bide so late; + And I could grow on, like the fox-glove and aster, + For some things are ill to wait." + +At twenty-one the girl's heart flutters with expectancy:-- + + "I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover, + Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate; + Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover; + Hush nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale wait + Till I listen and hear + If a step draweth near, + For my love he is late!" + +At twenty-eight, the happy mother lives in a simple home, made +beautiful by her children:-- + + "Heigho! daisies and buttercups! + Mother shall thread them a daisy chain." + +At thirty-five a widow; at forty-two giving up her children to +brighten other homes; at forty-nine, "Longing for Home." + + "I had a nestful once of my own, + Ah, happy, happy I! + Right dearly I loved them, but when they were grown + They spread out their wings to fly. + O, one after another they flew away, + Far up to the heavenly blue, + To the better country, the upper day, + And--I wish I was going too." + +The _Songs of Seven_ will be read and treasured as long as there are +women in the world to be loved, and men in the world to love them. + +My especial favorite in the volume was the poem _Divided_. Never have +I seen more exquisite kinship with nature, or more delicate and tender +feeling. Where is there so beautiful a picture as this? + + "An empty sky, a world of heather, + Purple of fox-glove, yellow of broom; + We two among them, wading together, + Shaking out honey, treading perfume. + + "Crowds of bees are giddy with clover, + Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, + Crowds of larks at their matins hang over, + Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet. + + * * * * * + + "We two walk till the purple dieth, + And short, dry grass under foot is brown; + But one little streak at a distance lieth + Green like a ribbon to prank the down. + + "Over the grass we stepped into it, + And God He knoweth how blithe we were! + Never a voice to bid us eschew it; + Hey the green ribbon that showed so fair! + + * * * * * + + "A shady freshness, chafers whirring, + A little piping of leaf-hid birds; + A flutter of wings, a fitful stirring, + A cloud to the eastward, snowy as curds. + + "Bare, glassy slopes, where kids are tethered; + Round valleys like nests all ferny lined; + Round hills, with fluttering tree-tops feathered, + Swell high in their freckled robes behind. + + * * * * * + + "Glitters the dew and shines the river, + Up comes the lily and dries her bell; + But two are walking apart forever, + And wave their hands for a mute farewell. + + * * * * * + + "And yet I know past all doubting, truly-- + And knowledge greater than grief can dim-- + I know, as he loved, he will love me duly-- + Yea, better--e'en better than I love him. + + "And as I walk by the vast calm river, + The awful river so dread to see, + I say, 'Thy breadth and thy depth forever + Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me.'" + +In what choice but simple language we are thus told that two loving +hearts cannot be divided. + +Years went by, and I was at last to see the author of the poems I had +loved in girlhood. I had wondered how she looked, what was her manner, +and what were her surroundings. + +In Kensington, a suburb of London, in a two-story-and-a-half stone +house, cream-colored, lives Jean Ingelow. Tasteful grounds are in +front of the home, and in the rear a large lawn bordered with many +flowers, and conservatories; a real English garden, soft as velvet, +and fragrant as new-mown hay. The house is fit for a poet; roomy, +cheerful, and filled with flowers. One end of the large, double +parlors seemed a bank of azalias and honeysuckles, while great bunches +of yellow primrose and blue forget-me-not were on the tables and in +the bay-windows. + +But most interesting of all was the poet herself, in middle life, with +fine, womanly face, friendly manner, and cultivated mind. For an hour +we talked of many things in both countries. Miss Ingelow showed great +familiarity with American literature and with our national questions. + +While everything about her indicated deep love for poetry, and a keen +sense of the beautiful, her conversation, fluent and admirable, +showed her to be eminently practical and sensible, without a touch of +sentimentality. Her first work in life seems to be the making of her +two brothers happy in the home. She usually spends her forenoons +in writing. She does her literary work thoroughly, keeping her +productions a long time before they are put into print. As she is +never in robust health, she gives little time to society, and passes +her winters in the South of France or Italy. A letter dated Feb. 25, +from the Alps Maritime, at Cannes, says, "This lovely spot is full of +flowers, birds, and butterflies." Who that recalls her _Songs on +the Voices of Birds_, the blackbird, and the nightingale, will not +appreciate her happiness with such surroundings? + +With great fondness for, and pride in, her own country, she has the +most kindly feelings toward America and her people. She says in the +preface of her novel, _Fated to be Free_, concerning this work and +_Off the Skelligs_, "I am told that they are peculiar; and I feel that +they must be so, for most stories of human life are, or at least aim +at being, works of art--selections of interesting portions of life, +and fitting incidents put together and presented as a picture is; and +I have not aimed at producing a work of art at all, but a piece of +nature." And then she goes on to explain her position to "her American +friends," for, she says, "I am sure you more than deserve of me some +efforts to please you. I seldom have an opportunity of saying how +truly I think so." + +Jean Ingelow's life has been a quiet but busy and earnest one. She was +born in the quaint old city of Boston, England, in 1830. Her father +was a well-to-do banker; her mother a cultivated woman of Scotch +descent, from Aberdeenshire. Jean grew to womanhood in the midst of +eleven brothers and sisters, without the fate of struggle and poverty, +so common among the great. + +She writes to a friend concerning her childhood:-- + +"As a child, I was very happy at times, and generally wondering at +something.... I was uncommonly like other children.... I remember seeing +a star, and that my mother told me of God who lived up there and made +the star. This was on a summer evening. It was my first hearing of +God, and made a great impression on my mind. I remember better than +anything that certain ecstatic sensations of joy used to get hold of +me, and that I used to creep into corners to think out my thoughts by +myself. I was, however, extremely timid, and easily overawed by fear. +We had a lofty nursery with a bow-window that overlooked the river. My +brother and I were constantly wondering at this river. The coming up +of the tides, and the ships, and the jolly gangs of towers ragging +them on with a monotonous song made a daily delight for us. The +washing of the water, the sunshine upon it, and the reflections of the +waves on our nursery ceiling supplied hours of talk to us, and days +of pleasure. At this time, being three years old, ... I learned my +letters.... I used to think a good deal, especially about the origin +of things. People said often that they had been in this world, that +house, that nursery, before I came. I thought everything must have +begun when I did.... No doubt other children have such thoughts, +but few remember them. Indeed, nothing is more remarkable among +intelligent people than the recollections they retain of their early +childhood. A few, as I do, remember it all. Many remember nothing +whatever which occurred before they were five years old.... I have +suffered much from a feeling of shyness and reserve, and I have not +been able to do things by trying to do them. What comes to me comes of +its own accord, and almost in spite of me; and I have hardly any power +when verses are once written to make them any better.... There were no +hardships in my youth, but care was bestowed on me and my brothers and +sisters by a father and mother who were both cultivated people." + +To another friend she writes: "I suppose I may take for granted that +mine was the poetic temperament, and since there are no thrilling +incidents to relate, you may think you should like to have my views +as to what that means. I cannot tell you in an hour, or even in a day, +for it means so much. I suppose it, of its absence or presence, to +make far more difference between one person and another than any +contrast of circumstances can do. The possessor does not have it for +nothing. It isolates, particularly in childhood; it takes away some +common blessings, but then it consoles for them all." + +With this poetic temperament, that saw beauty in flower, and sky, and +bird, that felt keenly all the sorrow and all the happiness of the +world about her, that wrote of life rather than art, because to live +rightly was the whole problem of human existence, with this poetic +temperament, the girl grew to womanhood in the city bordering on the +sea. + +Boston, at the mouth of the Witham, was once a famous seaport, the +rival of London in commercial prosperity, in the thirteenth century. +It was the site of the famous monastery of St. Botolph, built by +a pious monk in 657. The town which grew up around it was called +Botolph's town, contracted finally to Boston. From this town Reverend +John Cotton came to America, and gave the name to the capital of +Massachusetts, in which he settled. The present famous old church of +St. Botolph was founded in 1309, having a bell-tower three hundred +feet high, which supports a lantern visible at sea for forty miles. + +The surrounding country is made up largely of marshes reclaimed from +the sea, which are called fens, and slightly elevated tracts of land +called moors. Here Jean Ingelow studied the green meadows and the +ever-changing ocean. + +Her first book, _A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and Feelings_, was +published in 1850, when she was twenty, and a novel, _Allerton and +Dreux_, in 1851; nine years later her _Tales of Orris_. But her +fame came at thirty-three, when her first full book of _Poems_ was +published in 1863. This was dedicated to a much loved brother, George +K. Ingelow:-- + + "YOUR LOVING SISTER + OFFERS YOU THESE POEMS, PARTLY AS + AN EXPRESSION OF HER AFFECTION, PARTLY FOR THE + PLEASURE OF CONNECTING HER EFFORT + WITH YOUR NAME." + +The press everywhere gave flattering notices. A new singer had come; +not one whose life had been spent in the study of Greek roots, simply, +but one who had studied nature and humanity. She had a message to give +the world, and she gave it well. It was a message of good cheer, of +earnest purpose, of contentment and hope. + + "What though unmarked the happy workman toil, + And break unthanked of man the stubborn clod? + It is enough, for sacred is the soil, + Dear are the hills of God. + + "Far better in its place the lowliest bird + Should sing aright to him the lowliest song, + Than that a seraph strayed should take the word + And sing his glory wrong." + + "But like a river, blest where'er it flows, + Be still receiving while it still bestows." + "That life + Goes best with those who take it best. + --it is well + For us to be as happy as we can!" + + "Work is its own best earthly meed, + Else have we none more than the sea-born throng + Who wrought those marvellous isles that bloom afar." + +The London press said: "Miss Ingelow's new volume exhibits abundant +evidence that time, study, and devotion to her vocation have both +elevated and welcomed the powers of the most gifted poetess we +possess, now that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Adelaide Proctor sing +no more on earth. Lincolnshire has claims to be considered the Arcadia +of England at present, having given birth to Mr. Tennyson and our +present Lady Laureate." + +The press of America was not less cordial. "Except Mrs. Browning, Jean +Ingelow is first among the women whom the world calls poets," said the +_Independent_. + +The songs touched the popular heart, and some, set to music, were sung +at numberless firesides. Who has not heard the _Sailing beyond Seas?_ + + "Methought the stars were blinking bright, + And the old brig's sails unfurled; + I said, 'I will sail to my love this night + At the other side of the world.' + I stepped aboard,--we sailed so fast,-- + The sun shot up from the bourne; + But a dove that perched upon the mast + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn. + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + And dove with the white breast, + Let me alone, the dream is my own, + And my heart is full of rest. + + "My love! He stood at my right hand, + His eyes were grave and sweet. + Methought he said, 'In this fair land, + O, is it thus we meet? + Ah, maid most dear, I am not here; + I have no place,--no part,-- + No dwelling more by sea or shore! + But only in thy heart!' + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + Till night rose over the bourne, + The dove on the mast as we sailed past, + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn." + +Edmund Clarence Stedman, one of the ablest and fairest among American +critics, says: "As the voice of Mrs. Browning grew silent, the songs +of Miss Ingelow began, and had instant and merited popularity. They +sprang up suddenly and tunefully as skylarks from the daisy-spangled, +hawthorn-bordered meadows of old England, with a blitheness long +unknown, and in their idyllic underflights moved with the tenderest +currents of human life. Miss Ingelow may be termed an idyllic lyrist, +her lyrical pieces having always much idyllic beauty. _High Tide, +Winstanley, Songs of Seven, and the Long White Seam_ are lyrical +treasures, and the author especially may be said to evince that +sincerity which is poetry's most enduring warrant." + +_Winstanley_ is especially full of pathos and action. We watch this +heroic man as he builds the lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks:-- + + "Then he and the sea began their strife, + And worked with power and might: + Whatever the man reared up by day + The sea broke down by night. + + * * * * * + + "A Scottish schooner made the port + The thirteenth day at e'en: + 'As I am a man,' the captain cried, + 'A strange sight I have seen; + + "'And a strange sound heard, my masters all, + At sea, in the fog and the rain, + Like shipwrights' hammers tapping low, + Then loud, then low again. + + "'And a stately house one instant showed, + Through a rift, on the vessel's lea; + What manner of creatures may be those + That build upon the sea?'" + +After the lighthouse was built, Winstanley went out again to see his +precious tower. A fearful storm came up, and the tower and its builder +went down together. + +Several books have come from Miss Ingelow's pen since 1863. The +following year, Studies for Stories was published, of which the +Athenaeum said, "They are prose poems, carefully meditated, and +exquisitely touched in by a teacher ready to sympathize with every joy +and sorrow." The five stories are told in simple and clear language, +and without slang, to which she heartily objects. For one so rich +in imagination as Miss Ingelow, her prose is singularly free from +obscurity and florid language. + +_Stories told to a Child_ was published in 1865, and _A Story of Doom, +and Other Poems_, in 1868, the principal poem being drawn from the +time of the Deluge. _Mopsa the Fairy_, an exquisite story, followed a +year later, with _A Sister's Bye-hours_, and since that time, _Off the +Skelligs_ in 1872, _Fated to be Free_ in 1875, _Sarah de Berenger_ +in 1879, _Don John_ in 1881, and _Poems of the Old Days and the New_, +recently issued. Of the latter, the poet Stoddard says: "Beyond all +the women of the Victorian era, she is the most of an Elizabethan.... +She has tracked the ocean journeyings of Drake, Raleigh, and +Frobisher, and others to whom the Spanish main was a second home, +the _El Dorado_ of which Columbus and his followers dreamed in their +stormy slumbers.... The first of her poems in this volume, _Rosamund_, +is a masterly battle idyl." + +Her books have had large sale, both here and in Europe. It is stated +that in this country one hundred thousand of her _Poems_ have been +sold, and half that number of her prose works. + +Miss Ingelow has not been elated by her deserved success. She has +told the world very little of herself in her books. She once wrote a +friend: "I am far from agreeing with you 'that it is rather too bad +when we read people's works, if they won't let us know anything about +themselves.' I consider that an author should, during life, be as much +as possible, impersonal. I never import myself into my writings, and +am much better pleased that others should feel an interest in me, +and wish to know something of me, than that they should complain of +egotism." + +It is said that the last of her _Songs with Preludes_ refers to a +brother who lies buried in Australia:-- + + "I stand on the bridge where last we stood + When delicate leaves were young; + The children called us from yonder wood, + While a mated blackbird sung. + + * * * * * + + "But if all loved, as the few can love, + This world would seldom be well; + And who need wish, if he dwells above, + For a deep, a long death-knell? + + "There are four or five, who, passing this place, + While they live will name me yet; + And when I am gone will think on my face, + And feel a kind of regret." + +With all her literary work, she does not forget to do good personally. +At one time she instituted a "copyright dinner," at her own expense, +which she thus described to a friend: "I have set up a dinner-table +for the sick poor, or rather, for such persons as are just out of the +hospitals, and are hungry, and yet not strong enough to work. We have +about twelve to dinner three times a week, and hope to continue the +plan. It is such a comfort to see the good it does. I find it one of +the great pleasures of writing, that it gives me more command of money +for such purposes than falls to the lot of most women." Again, she +writes to an American friend: "I should be much obliged to you if you +would give in my name twenty-five dollars to some charity in Boston. +I should prefer such a one as does not belong to any party in +particular, such as a city infirmary or orphan school. I do not like +to draw money from your country, and give none in charity." + +Miss Ingelow is very fond of children, and herein is, perhaps, one +secret of her success. In Off the Skelligs she says: "Some people +appear to feel that they are much wiser, much nearer to the truth and +to realities, than they were when they were children. They think of +childhood as immeasurably beneath and behind them. I have never been +able to join in such a notion. It often seems to me that we lose quite +as much as we gain by our lengthened sojourn here. I should not at all +wonder if the thoughts of our childhood, when we look back on it after +the rending of this vail of our humanity, should prove less unlike +what we were intended to derive from the teaching of life, nature, and +revelation, than the thoughts of our more sophisticated days." + +Best of all, this true woman and true poet as well, like Emerson, sees +and believes in the progress of the race. + + "Still humanity grows dearer, + Being learned the more," + +she says, in that tender poem, _A Mother showing the Portrait of her +Child._ Blessed optimism! that amid all the shortcomings of human +nature sees the best, lifts souls upward, and helps to make the world +sunny by its singing. + + * * * * * + +Jean Ingelow died at her home in Kensington, London, July 19, 1897, at +the age of sixty-seven, having been born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in +1830. Her long illness ended in simple exhaustion, and she welcomed +death gladly. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of Girls Who Became Famous +by Sarah Knowles Bolton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12081 *** diff --git a/12081-h/12081-h.htm b/12081-h/12081-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50540c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12081-h/12081-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10737 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> + <meta name="generator" content= + "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st March 2004), see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + + <title>Lives of Girls Who Became Famous</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- +body +{ + background-color: white; + color: black; + font-family: "Courier New", "Fixedsys", "Times New Roman"; + font-size: 1em; +} + +div.page +{ + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; +} + +caption +{ + font-size: 1.17em; + font-weight: 900; +} + +table.toc +{ + background-color: #e5e5e5; + border: 2px solid black; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-bottom: 2em; + width: 80%; + padding: 2%; + font-size: 1em; +} + +td.c_head +{ + text-align: left; + vertical-align: top; +} + +tr.even +{ + background-color: #e8e8e8; +} + +td.c_note +{ + text-align: right; + font-size: .83em; + width: 40%; +} + +hr +{ + height: 2px; + color: black; + background-color: black; + width: 80%; +} + +a +{ + color: blue; + text-decoration: none; +} + +a:hover +{ + color: black; +} + +div.poetry +{ + text-align: left; + margin-left: 3em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-family: "Courier New", "Fixedsys", "Times New Roman"; + font-size: .83em; +} + +div.ln +{ + margin: 0px; + text-indent: -1em; +} + +div.tail_r +{ + padding-left: 12em; +} + +div.tail_m +{ + padding-left: 7em; + text-indent: -1em; +} + +div.tail_m div +{ + padding-left: 7em; +} + +div.spacer +{ + margin-left: 7em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + +p.spacer +{ + text-align: center; +} + +p +{ + margin-left: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0%; + text-align: left; + font-family: "Times New Roman"; + font-size: .93em; +} + +p.dedication +{ + text-align: center; + font-size: .93em; + line-height: 2; +} + +p.signature +{ + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + +q +{ + text-align: justify; +} + + +img +{ + text-align: center; + border: none; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + +blockquote +{ + margin: 1em; +} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12081 ***</div> + + <!-- BEGINNING OF TEXT --> + + <div class="page"> + <h2>Lives</h2> + + <h4>of</h4> + + <h2>Girls Who Became Famous.</h2> + + <h4>by</h4> + + <h3>Sarah K. Bolton,</h3> + + <h5>Author of <i>Poor Boys Who Became Famous</i>, <i>Social + Studies in England</i>, etc.</h5><br /> + + <h5>1914</h5><br /> + <br /> + + <p>"<i>Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected.</i>" -- + <b>James Russell Lowell.</b></p> + + <p>"<i>Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from + them.</i>" -- <b>Madame de Staël.</b></p><br /> + <br /> + + <p class="dedication">To<br /> + My aunt<br /> + Mrs. Martha W. Miller<br /> + Whose culture and kindness I count<br /> + among the blessings of<br /> + my life.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + + <h3>Preface.</h3> + + <p>All of us have aspirations. We build air-castles, and are + probably the happier for the building. However, the sooner we + learn that life is not a play-day, but a thing of earnest + activity, the better for us and for those associated with us. + <q lang="en" xml:lang="en">Energy,</q> says Goethe, <q lang= + "en" xml:lang="en">will do anything that can be done in this + world</q>; and Jean Ingelow truly says, that <q lang="en" + xml:lang="en">Work is heaven's hest.</q></p> + + <p>If we cannot, like George Eliot, write <i>Adam Bede</i>, we + can, like Elizabeth Fry, visit the poor and the prisoner. If we + cannot, like Rosa Bonheur, paint a "Horse Fair," and receive + ten thousand dollars, we can, like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Alcott, + do some kind of work to lighten the burdens of parents. If + poor, with Mary Lyon's persistency and noble purpose, we can + accomplish almost anything. If rich, like Baroness + Burdett-Coutts, we can bless the world in thousands of ways, + and are untrue to God and ourselves if we fail to do it.</p> + + <p>Margaret Fuller said, <q lang="en" xml:lang="en">All might + be superior beings,</q> and doubtless this is true, if all were + willing to cultivate the mind and beautify the character.</p> + + <p class="signature">S.K.B.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + + <table class="toc" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <caption> + Contents. + </caption> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c1">Harriet + Beecher Stowe</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Novelist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c2">Helen Hunt + Jackson</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Poet and Prose Writer</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c3">Lucretia + Mott</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Preacher</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c4">Mary A + Livermore</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Lecturer</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c5">Margaret + Fuller Ossoli</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Journalist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c6">Maria + Mitchell</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Scientist</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c7">Louisa M + Alcott</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Author</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c8">Mary + Lyon</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Teacher</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c9">Harriet G + Hosmer</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Sculptor</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c10">Madame de + Staël</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Novelist and Political Writer</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c11">Rosa + Bonheur</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Artist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c12">Elizabeth + Barrett Browning</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Poet</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c13">"George + Eliot"</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Novelist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c14">Elizabeth + Fry</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Philanthropist</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c15">Elizabeth + Thompson Butler</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Painter</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c16">Florence + Nightingale</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Hospital Nurse</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c17">Lady + Brassey</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Traveller</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c18">Baroness + Burdett-Coutts</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Benefactor</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c19">Jean + Ingelow</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Poet</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c1" id="c1"></a> + + <h3>Harriet Beecher Stowe.</h3><a href= + "images/c1stowe.jpg"><br /> + <br /> + <img src="images/c1stowe_t.jpg" alt= + "Harriet Beecher Stowe" /></a> + + <p>In a plain home, in the town of Litchfield, Conn., was born, + June 14, 1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The house was well-nigh + full of little ones before her coming. She was the seventh + child, while the oldest was but eleven years old.</p> + + <p>Her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, a man of remarkable mind and + sunshiny heart, was preaching earnest sermons in his own and in + all the neighboring towns, on the munificent salary of five + hundred dollars a year. Her mother, Roxana Beecher, was a woman + whose beautiful life has been an inspiration to thousands. With + an education superior for those times, she came into the home + of the young minister with a strength of mind and heart that + made her his companion and reliance.</p> + + <p>There were no carpets on the floors till the girl-wife laid + down a piece of cotton cloth on the parlor, and painted it in + oils, with a border and a bunch of roses and others flowers in + the centre. When one of the good deacons came to visit them, + the preacher said, "Walk in, deacon, walk in!"</p> + + <p>"Why, I can't," said he, "'thout steppin' on't." Then he + exclaimed, in admiration, "D'ye think ya can have all that, + <i>and heaven too</i>?"</p> + + <p>So meagre was the salary for the increasing household, that + Roxana urged that a select school be started; and in this she + taught French, drawing, painting, and embroidery, besides the + higher English branches. With all this work she found time to + make herself the idol of her children. While Henry Ward hung + round her neck, she made dolls for little Harriet, and read to + them from Walter Scott and Washington Irving.</p> + + <p>These were enchanting days for the enthusiastic girl with + brown curls and blue eyes. She roamed over the meadows, and + through the forests, gathering wild flowers in the spring or + nuts in the fall, being educated, as she afterwards said, + "first and foremost by Nature, wonderful, beautiful, + ever-changing as she is in that cloudland, Litchfield. There + were the crisp apples of the pink azalea,--honeysuckle-apples, + we called them; there were scarlet wintergreen berries; there + were pink shell blossoms of trailing arbutus, and feathers of + ground pine; there were blue and white and yellow violets, and + crowsfoot, and bloodroot, and wild anemone, and other quaint + forest treasures."</p> + + <p>A single incident, told by herself in later years, will show + the frolic-loving spirit of the girl, and the gentleness of + Roxana Beecher. "Mother was an enthusiastic horticulturist in + all the small ways that limited means allowed. Her brother + John, in New York, had just sent her a small parcel of fine + tulip-bulbs. I remember rummaging these out of an obscure + corner of the nursery one day when she was gone out, and being + strongly seized with the idea that they were good to eat, and + using all the little English I then possessed to persuade my + brothers that these were onions, such as grown people ate, and + would be very nice for us. So we fell to and devoured the + whole; and I recollect being somewhat disappointed in the odd, + sweetish taste, and thinking that onions were not as nice as I + had supposed. Then mother's serene face appeared at the nursery + door, and we all ran toward her, and with one voice began to + tell our discovery and achievement. We had found this bag of + onions, and had eaten them all up.</p> + + <p>"There was not even a momentary expression of impatience, + but she sat down and said, 'My dear children, what you have + done makes mamma very sorry; those were not onion roots, but + roots of beautiful flowers; and if you had let them alone, ma + would have had next summer in the garden, great, beautiful red + and yellow flowers, such as you never saw.' I remember how + drooping and disappointed we all grew at this picture, and how + sadly we regarded the empty paper bag."</p> + + <p>When Harriet was five years old, a deep shadow fell upon the + happy household. Eight little children were gathered round the + bedside of the dying mother. When they cried and sobbed, she + told them, with inexpressible sweetness, that "God could do + more for them than she had ever done or could do, and that they + must trust Him," and urged her six sons to become ministers of + the Gospel. When her heart-broken husband repeated to her the + verse, "You are now come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the + living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable + company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the + first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge + of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to + Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant," she looked up into his + face with a beautiful smile, and closed her eyes forever. That + smile Mr. Beecher never forgot to his dying day.</p> + + <p>The whole family seemed crushed by the blow. Little Henry + (now the great preacher), who had been told that his mother had + been buried in the ground, and also that she had gone to + heaven, was found one morning digging with all his might under + his sister's window, saying, "I'm going to heaven, to find + ma!"</p> + + <p>So much did Mr. Beecher miss her counsel and good judgment, + that he sat down and wrote her a long letter, pouring out his + whole soul, hoping somehow that she, his guardian angel, though + dead, might see it. A year later he wrote a friend: "There is a + sensation of loss which nothing alleviates--a solitude which no + society interrupts. Amid the smiles and prattle of children, + and the kindness of sympathizing friends, I am <i>alone; Roxana + is not here</i>. She partakes in none of my joys, and bears + with me none of my sorrows. I do not murmur; I only feel daily, + constantly, and with deepening impression, how much I have had + for which to be thankful, and how much I have lost.... The + whole year after her death was a year of great emptiness, as if + there was not motive enough in the world to move me. I used to + pray earnestly to God either to take me away, or to restore to + me that interest in things and susceptibility to motive I had + had before."</p> + + <p>Once, when sleeping in the room where she died, he dreamed + that Roxana came and stood beside him, and "smiled on me as + with a smile from heaven. With that smile," he said, "all my + sorrow passed away. I awoke joyful, and I was lighthearted for + weeks after."</p> + + <p>Harriet went to live for a time with her aunt and + grandmother, and then came back to the lonesome home, into + which Mr. Beecher had felt the necessity of bringing a new + mother. She was a refined and excellent woman, and won the + respect and affection of the family. At first Harriet, with a + not unnatural feeling of injury, said to her: "Because you have + come and married my father, when I am big enough, I mean to go + and marry your father;" but she afterwards learned to love her + very much.</p> + + <p>At seven, with a remarkably retentive memory,--a thing which + many of us spoil by trashy reading, or allowing our time and + attention to be distracted by the trifles of every-day + life,--Harriet had learned twenty-seven hymns and two long + chapters of the Bible. She was exceedingly fond of reading, but + there was little in a poor minister's library to attract a + child. She found <i>Bell's Sermons</i>, and <i>Toplady on + Predestination</i>. "Then," she says, "there was a side closet + full of documents, a weltering ocean of pamphlets, in which I + dug and toiled for hours, to be repaid by disinterring a + delicious morsel of a <i>Don Quixote</i>, that had once been a + book, but was now lying in forty or fifty <i>dissecta + membra</i>, amid Calls, Appeals, Essays, Reviews, and + Rejoinders. The turning up of such a fragment seemed like the + rising of an enchanted island out of an ocean of mud." Finally + <i>Ivanhoe</i> was obtained, and she and her brother George + read it through seven times.</p> + + <p>At twelve, we find her in the school of Mr. John P. Brace, a + well-known teacher, where she developed great fondness for + composition. At the exhibition at the close of the year, it was + the custom for all the parents to come and listen to the + wonderful productions of their children. From the list of + subjects given, Harriet had chosen, "Can the Immortality of the + Soul be proved by the Light of Nature?"</p> + + <p>"When mine was read," she says, "I noticed that father + brightened and looked interested. 'Who wrote that composition?' + he asked of Mr. Brace. '<i>Your daughter, sir!</i>' was the + answer. There was no mistaking father's face when he was + pleased, and to have interested <i>him</i> was past all + juvenile triumphs."</p> + + <p>A new life was now to open to Harriet. Her only sister + Catharine, a brilliant and noble girl, was engaged to Professor + Fisher of Yale College. They were to be married on his return + from a European tour, but alas! the <i>Albion</i>, on which he + sailed, went to pieces on the rocks, and all on board, save + one, perished. Her betrothed was never heard from. For months + all hope seemed to go out of Catharine's life, and then, with a + strong will, she took up a course of mathematical study, + <i>his</i> favorite study, and Latin under her brother Edward. + She was now twenty-three. Life was not to be along the pleasant + paths she had hoped, but she must make it tell for the + future.</p> + + <p>With remarkable energy, she went to Hartford, Conn., where + her brother was teaching, and thoroughly impressed with the + belief that God had a work for her to do for girls, she raised + several thousand dollars and built the Hartford Female + Seminary. Her brothers had college doors opened to them; why, + she reasoned, should not women have equal opportunities? + Society wondered of what possible use Latin and moral + philosophy could be to girls, but they admired Miss Beecher, + and let her do as she pleased. Students poured in, and the + seminary soon overflowed. My own school life in that beloved + institution, years afterward, I shall never forget.</p> + + <p>And now the little twelve-year-old Harriet came down from + Litchfield to attend Catharine's school, and soon become a + pupil-teacher, that the burden of support might not fall too + heavily upon the father. Other children had come into the + Beecher home, and with a salary of eight hundred dollars, + poverty could not be other than a constant attendant. Once when + the family were greatly straitened for money, while Henry and + Charles were in college, the new mother went to bed weeping, + but the father said, "Well, the Lord always has taken care of + me, and I am sure He always will," and was soon fast asleep. + The next morning, Sunday, a letter was handed in at the door, + containing a $100 bill, and no name. It was a thank-offering + for the conversion of a child.</p> + + <p>Mr. Beecher, with all his poverty, could not help being + generous. His wife, by close economy, had saved twenty-five + dollars to buy a new overcoat for him. Handing him the roll of + bills, he started out to purchase the garment, but stopped on + the way to attend a missionary meeting. His heart warmed as he + stayed, and when the contribution-box was passed, he put in the + roll of bills for the Sandwich Islanders, and went home with + his threadbare coat!</p> + + <p>Three years later, Mr. Beecher, who had now become widely + known as a revivalist and brilliant preacher, was called to + Boston, where he remained for six years. His six sermons on + intemperance had stirred the whole country.</p> + + <p>Though he loved Boston, his heart often turned toward the + great West, and he longed to help save her young men. When, + therefore, he was asked to go to Ohio and become the president + of Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, he accepted. + Singularly dependent upon his family, Catharine and Harriet + must needs go with him to the new home. The journey was a + toilsome one, over the corduroy roads and across the mountains + by stagecoach. Finally they were settled in a pleasant house on + Walnut Hills, one of the suburbs of the city, and the sisters + opened another school.</p> + + <p>Four years later, in 1836, Harriet, now twenty-five, married + the professor of biblical criticism and Oriental literature in + the seminary, Calvin E. Stowe, a learned and able man.</p> + + <p>Meantime the question of slavery had been agitating the + minds of Christian people. Cincinnati being near the + border-line of Kentucky, was naturally the battle-ground of + ideas. Slaves fled into the free State and were helped into + Canada by means of the "Underground Railroad," which was in + reality only a friendly house about every ten miles, where the + colored people could be secreted during the day, and then + carried in wagons to the next "station" in the night.</p> + + <p>Lane Seminary became a hot-bed of discussion. Many of the + Southern students freed their slaves, or helped to establish + schools for colored children in Cincinnati, and were + disinherited by their fathers in consequence. Dr. Bailey, a + Christian man who attempted to carry on a fair discussion of + the question in his paper, had his presses broken twice and + thrown into the river. The feeling became so intense, that the + houses of free colored people were burned, some killed, and the + seminary was in danger from the mob. The members of Professor + Stowe's family slept with firearms, ready to defend their + lives. Finally the trustees of the college forbade all slavery + discussion by the students, and as a result, nearly the whole + body left the institution.</p> + + <p>Dr. Beecher, meantime, was absent at the East, having raised + a large sum of money for the seminary, and came back only to + find his labor almost hopeless. For several years, however, he + and his children stayed and worked on. Mrs. Stowe opened her + house to colored children, whom she taught with her own. One + bright boy in her school was claimed by an estate in Kentucky, + arrested, and was to be sold at auction. The half-crazed mother + appealed to Mrs. Stowe, who raised the needed money among her + friends, and thus saved the lad.</p> + + <p>Finally, worn out with the "irrepressible conflict," the + Beecher family, with the Stowes, came North in 1850, Mr. Stowe + accepting a professorship at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. + A few boarders were taken into the family to eke out the + limited salary, and Mrs. Stowe earned a little from a sketch + written now and then for the newspapers. She had even obtained + a prize of fifty dollars for a New England story. Her six + brothers had fulfilled their mother's dying wish, and were all + in the ministry. She was now forty years old, a devoted mother, + with an infant; a hard-working teacher, with her hands full to + overflowing. It seemed improbable that she would ever do other + than this quiet, unceasing labor. Most women would have said, + "I can do no more than I am doing. My way is hedged up to any + outside work."</p> + + <p>But Mrs. Stowe's heart burned for those in bondage. The + Fugitive Slave Law was hunting colored people and sending them + back into servitude and death. The people of the North seemed + indifferent. Could she not arouse them by something she could + write?</p> + + <p>One Sunday, as she sat at the communion table in the little + Brunswick church, the pattern of Uncle Tom formed itself in her + mind, and, almost overcome by her feelings, she hastened home + and wrote out the chapter on his death. When she had finished, + she read it to her two sons, ten and twelve, who burst out + sobbing, "Oh! mamma, slavery is the most cursed thing in the + world."</p> + + <p>After two or three more chapters were ready, she wrote to + Dr. Bailey, who had moved his paper from Cincinnati to + Washington, offering the manuscript for the columns of the + <i>National Era</i>, and it was accepted. Now the matter must + be prepared each week. She visited Boston, and at the + Anti-Slavery rooms borrowed several books to aid in furnishing + facts. And then the story wrote itself out of her full heart + and brain. When it neared completion, Mr. Jewett of Boston, + through the influence of his wife, offered to become the + publisher, but feared if the serial were much longer, it would + be a failure. She wrote him that she could not stop till it was + done.</p> + + <p><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> was published March 20,1852. Then + came the reaction in her own mind. Would anybody read this + book? The subject was unpopular. It would indeed be a failure, + she feared, but she would help the story make its way if + possible. She sent a copy of the book to Prince Albert, knowing + that both he and Queen Victoria were deeply interested in the + subject; another copy to Macaulay, whose father was a friend of + Wilberforce; one to Charles Dickens; and another to Charles + Kingsley. And then the busy mother, wife, teacher, housekeeper, + and author waited in her quiet Maine home to see what the busy + world would say.</p> + + <p>In ten days, ten thousand copies had been sold. Eight + presses were run day and night to supply the demand. Thirty + different editions appeared in London in six months. Six + theatres in that great city were playing it at one time. Over + three hundred thousand copies were sold in less than a + year.</p> + + <p>Letters poured in upon Mrs. Stowe from all parts of the + world. Prince Albert sent his hearty thanks. Dickens said, + "Your book is worthy of any head and any heart that ever + inspired a book." Kingsley wrote, "It is perfect." The noble + Earl of Shaftesbury wrote, "None but a Christian believer could + have produced such a book as yours, which has absolutely + startled the whole world.... I live in hope--God grant it may + rise to faith!--that this system is drawing to a close. It + seems as though our Lord had sent out this book as the + messenger before His face to prepare His way before Him." He + wrote out an address of sympathy "From the women of England to + the women of America," to which were appended the signatures of + 562,448 women. These were in twenty-six folio volumes, bound in + morocco, with the American eagle on the back of each, the whole + in a solid oak case, sent to the care of Mrs. Stowe.</p> + + <p>The learned reviews gave long notices of <i>Uncle Tom's + Cabin</i>. <i>Blackwood</i> said, "There are scenes and touches + in this book which no living writer that we know can surpass, + and perhaps none can equal." George Eliot wrote her beautiful + letters.</p> + + <p>How the heart of Lyman Beecher must have been gladdened by + this wonderful success of his daughter! How Roxana Beecher must + have looked down from heaven, and smiled that + never-to-be-forgotten smile! How Harriet Beecher Stowe herself + must have thanked God for this unexpected fulness of blessing! + Thousands of dollars were soon paid to her as her share of the + profits from the sale of the book. How restful it must have + seemed to the tired, over-worked woman, to have more than + enough for daily needs!</p> + + <p>The following year, 1853, Professor Stowe and his now famous + wife decided to cross the ocean for needed rest. What was their + astonishment, to be welcomed by immense public meetings in + Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee; indeed, in + every city which they visited. People in the towns stopped her + carriage, to fill it with flowers. Boys ran along the streets, + shouting, "That's her--see the <i>courls!</i>" A penny offering + was made her, given by people of all ranks, consisting of one + thousand golden sovereigns on a beautiful silver salver. When + the committee having the matter in charge visited one little + cottage, they found only a blind woman, and said, "She will + feel no interest, as she cannot read the book."</p> + + <p>"Indeed," said the old lady, "if I cannot read, my son has + read it to me, and I've got my penny saved to give."</p> + + <p>The beautiful Duchess of Sutherland entertained Mrs. Stowe + at her house, where she met Lord Palmerston, the Duke of + Argyle, Macaulay, Gladstone, and others. The duchess gave her a + solid gold bracelet in the form of a slave's shackle, with the + words, "We trust it is a memorial of a chain that is soon to be + broken." On one link was the date of the abolition of the slave + trade, March 25, 1807, and of slavery in the English + territories, Aug. 1, 1834. On the other links are now engraved + the dates of Emancipation in the District of Columbia; + President Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery in the + States in rebellion, Jan. 1, 1863; and finally, on the clasp, + the date of the Constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery + forever in the United States. Only a decade after <i>Uncle + Tom's Cabin</i> was written, and nearly all this accomplished! + Who could have believed it possible?</p> + + <p>On Mrs. Stowe's return from Europe, she wrote <i>Sunny + Memories of Foreign Lands</i>, which had a large sale. Her + husband was now appointed to the professorship of sacred + literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., and + here they made their home. The students found in her a + warm-hearted friend, and an inspiration to intellectual work. + Other books followed from her pen: <i>Dred</i>, a powerful + anti-slavery story; <i>The Minister's Wooing</i>, with lovely + Mary Scudder as its heroine; <i>Agnes of Sorrento</i>, an + Italian story; the <i>Pearl of Orr's Island</i>, a tale of the + New England coast; <i>Old Town Folks; House and Home Papers; My + Wife and I; Pink and White Tyranny</i>; and some others, all of + which have been widely read.</p> + + <p>The sale of <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> has not ceased. It is + estimated that over one and a half million copies have been + sold in Great Britain and her colonies, and probably an equal + or greater number in this country. There have been twelve + French editions, eleven German, and six Spanish. It has been + published in nineteen different languages,--Russian, Hungarian, + Armenian, Modern Greek, Finnish, Welsh, Polish, and others. In + Bengal the book is very popular. A lady of high rank in the + court of Siam, liberated her slaves, one hundred and thirty in + number, after reading this book, and said, "I am wishful to be + good like Harriet Beecher Stowe, and never again to buy human + bodies, but only to let them go free once more." In France the + sale of the Bible was increased because the people wished to + read the book Uncle Tom loved so much.</p> + + <p><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, like <i>Les Miseràbles</i>, + and a few other novels, will live, because written with a + purpose. No work of fiction is permanent without some great + underlying principle or object.</p> + + <p>Soon after the Civil War, Mrs. Stowe bought a home among the + orange groves of Florida, and thither she goes each winter, + with her family. She has done much there for the colored people + whom she helped to make free. With the proceeds of some public + readings at the North she built a church, in which her husband + preached as long as his health permitted. Her home at Mandarin, + with its great moss-covered oaks and profusion of flowers, is a + restful and happy place after these most fruitful years.</p> + + <p>Her summer residence in Hartford, Conn., beautiful without, + and artistic within, has been visited by thousands, who honor + the noble woman not less than the gifted author.</p> + + <p>Many of the Beecher family have died; Lyman Beecher at + eighty-three, and Catharine at seventy-eight. Some of Mrs. + Stowe's own children are waiting for her in the other country. + She says, "I am more interested in the other side of Jordan + than this, though this still has its pleasures."</p> + + <p>On Mrs. Stowe's seventy-first birthday, her publishers, + Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., gave a garden party in her + honor, at the hospitable home of Governor Claflin and his wife, + at Newton, Mass. Poets and artists, statesmen and reformers, + were invited to meet the famous author. On a stage, under a + great tent, she sat, while poems were read and speeches made. + The brown curls had become snowy white, and the bright eyes of + girlhood had grown deeper and more earnest. The manner was the + same as ever, unostentatious, courteous, kindly.</p> + + <p>Her life is but another confirmation of the well-known fact, + that the best work of the world is done, not by the loiterers, + but by those whose hearts and hands are full of duties. Mrs. + Stowe died about noon, July 1, 1896, of paralysis, at Hartford, + Conn., at the age of eighty-five. She passed away as if to + sleep, her son, the Rev. Charles Edward Stowe, and her + daughters, Eliza and Harriet, standing by her bedside. Since + the death of her husband, Professor Calvin E. Stowe, in 1886, + Mrs. Stowe had gradually failed physically and mentally. She + was buried July 3 in the cemetery connected with the + Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., between the graves of + her husband and her son, Henry. The latter was drowned in the + Connecticut River, while a member of Dartmouth College, July + 19, 1857.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c2" id="c2"></a> + + <h3>Helen Hunt Jackson.</h3><a href= + "images/c2jackson.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c2jackson_t.jpg" alt= + "HELEN HUNT JACKSON." /></a> + + <p>Thousands were saddened when, Aug. 12, 1885, it was flashed + across the wires that Helen Hunt Jackson was dead. The + <i>Nation</i> said, "The news will probably carry a pang of + regret into more American homes than similar intelligence in + regard to any other woman, with the possible exception of Mrs. + Harriet Beecher Stowe."</p> + + <p>How, with the simple initials, "H.H.," had she won this + place in the hearts of the people? Was it because she was a + poet? Oh no! many persons of genius have few friends. It was + because an earnest life was back of her gifted writings. A + great book needs a great man or woman behind it to make it a + perfect work. Mrs. Jackson's literary work will be abiding, but + her life, with its dark shadow and bright sunlight, its deep + affections and sympathy with the oppressed, will furnish a rich + setting for the gems of thought which she gave to the + world.</p> + + <p>Born in the cultured town of Amherst, Mass., Oct. 18, 1831, + she inherited from her mother a sunny, buoyant nature, and from + her father, Nathan W. Fiske, professor of languages and + philosophy in the college, a strong and vigorous mind. Her own + vivid description of the "naughtiest day in my life," in <i>St. + Nicholas</i>, September and October, 1880, shows the ardent, + wilful child who was one day to stand out fearlessly before the + nation and tell its statesmen the wrong they had done to "her + Indians."</p> + + <p>She and her younger sister Annie were allowed one April day, + by their mother, to go into the woods just before school hours, + to gather checkerberries. Helen, finding the woods very + pleasant, determined to spend the day in them, even though sure + she would receive a whipping on her return home. The sister + could not be coaxed to do wrong, but a neighbor's child, with + the promise of seeing live snails with horns, was induced to + accompany the truant. They wandered from one forest to another, + till hunger compelled them to seek food at a stranger's home. + The kind farmer and his wife were going to a funeral, and + wished to lock their house; but they took pity on the little + ones, and gave them some bread and milk. "There," said the + woman, "now, you just make yourselves comfortable, and eat all + you can; and when you're done, you push the bowls in among them + lilac-bushes, and nobody'll get 'em."</p> + + <p>Urged on by Helen, she and her companion wandered into the + village, to ascertain where the funeral was to be held. It was + in the meeting-house, and thither they went, and seated + themselves on the bier outside the door. Becoming tired of + this, they trudged on. One of them lost her shoe in the mud, + and stopping at a house to dry their stockings, they were + captured by two Amherst professors, who had come over to Hadley + to attend the funeral. The children had walked four miles, and + nearly the whole town, with the frightened mother, were in + search of the runaways. Helen, greatly displeased at being + caught, jumped out of the carriage, but was soon retaken. At + ten o'clock at night they reached home, and the child walked in + as rosy and smiling as possible, saying, "Oh, mother! I've had + a perfectly splendid time!"</p> + + <p>A few days passed, and then her father sent for her to come + into his study, and told her because she had not said she was + sorry for running away, she must go into the garret, and wait + till he came to see her. Sullen at this punishment, she took a + nail and began to bore holes in the plastering. This so angered + the professor, that he gave her a severe whipping, and kept her + in the garret for a week. It is questionable whether she was + more penitent at the end of the week than she was at the + beginning.</p> + + <p>When Helen was twelve, both father and mother died, leaving + her to the care of a grandfather. She was soon placed in the + school of the author, Rev. J.S.C. Abbott, of New York, and here + some of her happiest days were passed. She grew to womanhood, + frank, merry, impulsive, brilliant in conversation, and fond of + society.</p> + + <p>At twenty-one she was married to a young army officer, + Captain, afterward Major, Edward B. Hunt, whom his friends + called "Cupid" Hunt from his beauty and his curling hair. He + was a brother of Governor Hunt of New York, an engineer of high + rank, and a man of fine scientific attainments. They lived much + of their time at West Point and Newport, and the young wife + moved in a fashionable social circle, and won hosts of admiring + friends. Now and then, when he read a paper before some learned + society, he was proud to take his vivacious and attractive wife + with him.</p> + + <p>Their first baby died when he was eleven months old, but + another beautiful boy came to take his place, named after two + friends, Warren Horsford, but familiarly called "Rennie." He + was an uncommonly bright child, and Mrs. Hunt was passionately + fond and proud of him. Life seemed full of pleasures. She + dressed handsomely, and no wish of her heart seemed + ungratified.</p> + + <p>Suddenly, like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky, the happy + life was shattered. Major Hunt was killed Oct. 2, 1863, while + experimenting in Brooklyn, with a submarine gun of his own + invention. The young widow still had her eight-year-old boy, + and to him she clung more tenderly than ever, but in less than + two years she stood by his dying bed. Seeing the agony of his + mother, and forgetting his own even in that dread destroyer, + diphtheria, he said, almost at the last moment, "Promise me, + mamma, that you will not kill yourself."</p> + + <p>She promised, and exacted from him also a pledge that if it + were possible, he would come back from the other world to talk + with his mother. He never came, and Mrs. Hunt could have no + faith in spiritualism, because what Rennie could not do, she + believed to be impossible.</p> + + <p>For months she shut herself into her own room, refusing to + see her nearest friends. "Any one who really loves me ought to + pray that I may die, too, like Rennie," she said. Her physician + thought she would die of grief; but when her strong, earnest + nature had wrestled with itself and come off conqueror, she + came out of her seclusion, cheerful as of old. The pictures of + her husband and boy were ever beside her, and these doubtless + spurred her on to the work she was to accomplish.</p> + + <p>Three months after Rennie's death, her first poem, <i>Lifted + Over</i>, appeared in the <i>Nation</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "As tender mothers, guiding baby steps,<br /> + When places come at which the tiny feet<br /> + Would trip, lift up the little ones in arms<br /> + Of love, and set them down beyond the harm,<br /> + So did our Father watch the precious boy,<br /> + Led o'er the stones by me, who stumbled oft<br /> + Myself, but strove to help my darling on:<br /> + He saw the sweet limbs faltering, and saw<br /> + Rough ways before us, where my arms would fail;<br /> + So reached from heaven, and lifting the dear child,<br /> + Who smiled in leaving me, He put him down<br /> + Beyond all hurt, beyond my sight, and bade<br /> + Him wait for me! Shall I not then be glad,<br /> + And, thanking God, press on to overtake!" + </div> + + <p>The poem was widely copied, and many mothers were comforted + by it. The kind letters she received in consequence were the + first gleam of sunshine in the darkened life. If she were doing + even a little good, she could live and be strong.</p> + + <p>And then began, at thirty-four, absorbing, painstaking + literary work. She studied the best models of composition. She + said to a friend, years after, "Have you ever tested the + advantages of an analytical reading of some writer of finished + style? There is a little book called <i>Out-Door Papers</i>, by + Wentworth Higginson, that is one of the most perfect specimens + of literary composition in the English language. It has been my + model for years. I go to it as a text-book, and have actually + spent hours at a time, taking one sentence after another, and + experimenting upon them, trying to see if I could take out a + word or transpose a clause, and not destroy their perfection." + And again, "I shall never write a sentence, so long as I live, + without studying it over from the standpoint of whether you + would think it could be bettered."</p> + + <p>Her first prose sketch, a walk up Mt. Washington from the + Glen House, appeared in the <i>Independent</i>, Sept. 13, 1866; + and from this time she wrote for that able journal three + hundred and seventy-one articles. She worked rapidly, writing + usually with a lead-pencil, on large sheets of yellow paper, + but she pruned carefully. Her first poem in the <i>Atlantic + Monthly</i>, entitled <i>Coronation</i>, delicate and full of + meaning, appeared in 1869, being taken to Mr. Fields, the + editor, by a friend.</p> + + <p>At this time she spent a year abroad, principally in Germany + and Italy, writing home several sketches. In Rome she became so + ill that her life was despaired of. When she was partially + recovered and went away to regain her strength, her friends + insisted that a professional nurse should go with her; but she + took a hard-working young Italian girl of sixteen, to whom this + vacation would be a blessing.</p> + + <p>On her return, in 1870, a little book of <i>Verses</i> was + published. Like most beginners, she was obliged to pay for the + stereotyped plates. The book was well received. Emerson liked + especially her sonnet, <i>Thought</i>. He ranked her poetry + above that of all American women, and most American men. Some + persons praised the "exquisite musical structure" of the + <i>Gondolieds</i>, and others read and re-read her beautiful + <i>Down to Sleep</i>. But the world's favorite was + <i>Spinning</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Like a blind spinner in the sun,<br /> + I tread my days; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I know that all the threads will run<br /> + Appointed ways; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I know each day will bring its task, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And, being blind, no more I ask. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "But listen, listen, day by day,<br /> + To hear their tread + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Who bear the finished web away,<br /> + And cut the thread, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And bring God's message in the sun, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'Thou poor blind spinner, work is done." + </div> + </div> + + <p>After this came two other small books, <i>Bits of Travel</i> + and <i>Bits of Talk about Home Matters</i>. She paid for the + plates of the former. Fame did not burst upon Helen Hunt; it + came after years of work, after it had been fully earned. The + road to authorship is a hard one, and only those should attempt + it who have courage and perseverance.</p> + + <p>Again her health failed, but not her cheerful spirits. She + travelled to Colorado, and wrote a book in praise of it. + Everywhere she made lasting friends. Her German landlady in + Munich thought her the kindest person in the world. The + newsboy, the little urchin on the street with a basket full of + wares, the guides over the mountain passes, all remembered her + cheery voice and helpful words. She used to say, "She is only + half mother who does not see her own child in every child. Oh, + if the world could only stop long enough for one generation of + mothers to be made all right, what a Millennium could be begun + in thirty years!" Some one, in her childhood, called her a + "stupid child" before strangers, and she never forgot the sting + of it.</p> + + <p>In Colorado, in 1876, eleven years after the death of Major + Hunt, she married Mr. William Sharpless Jackson, a Quaker and a + cultured banker. Her home, at Colorado Springs, became an ideal + one, sheltered under the great Manitou, and looking toward the + Garden of the Gods, full of books and magazines, of dainty rugs + and dainty china gathered from many countries, and richly + colored Colorado flowers. Once, when Eastern guests were + invited to luncheon, twenty-three varieties of wildflowers, + each massed in its own color, adorned the home. A friend of + hers says: "There is not an artificial flower in the house, on + embroidered table-cover or sofa cushion or tidy; indeed, Mrs. + Jackson holds that the manufacture of silken poppies and crewel + sun-flowers is a 'respectable industry,' intended only to keep + idle hands out of mischief."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Jackson loved flowers almost as though they were + children. She writes: "I bore on this June day a sheaf of the + white columbine,--one single sheaf, one single root; but it was + almost more than I could carry. In the open spaces, I carried + it on my shoulder; in the thickets, I bore it carefully in my + arms, like a baby.... There is a part of Cheyenne Mountain + which I and one other have come to call 'our garden.' When we + drive down from 'our garden,' there is seldom room for another + flower in our carriage. The top thrown back is filled, the + space in front of the driver is filled, and our laps and + baskets are filled with the more delicate blossoms. We look as + if we were on our way to the ceremonies of Decoration Day. So + we are. All June days are decoration days in Colorado Springs, + but it is the sacred joy of life that we decorate,--not the + sacred sadness of death." But Mrs. Jackson, with her pleasant + home, could not rest from her work. Two novels came from her + pen, <i>Mercy Philbrick's Choice</i> and <i>Hetty's Strange + History</i>. It is probable also that she helped to write the + beautiful and tender <i>Saxe Holm Stories</i>. It is said that + <i>Draxy Miller's Dowry</i> and <i>Esther Wynn's Love + Letters</i> were written by another, while Mrs. Jackson added + the lovely poems; and when a request was made by the publishers + for more stories from the same author, Mrs. Jackson was + prevailed upon to write them.</p> + + <p>The time had now come for her to do her last and perhaps her + best work. She could not write without a definite purpose, and + now the purpose that settled down upon her heart was to help + the defrauded Indians. She believed they needed education and + Christianization rather than extermination. She left her home + and spent three months in the Astor Library of New York, + writing her <i>Century of Dishonor</i>, showing how we have + despoiled the Indians and broken our treaties with them. She + wrote to a friend, "I cannot think of anything else from night + to morning and from morning to night." So untiringly did she + work that she made herself ill, and was obliged to go to + Norway, leaving a literary ally to correct the proofs of her + book.</p> + + <p>At her own expense, she sent a copy to each member of + Congress. Its plain facts were not relished in some quarters, + and she began to taste the cup that all reformers have to + drink; but the brave woman never flinched in her duty. So much + was the Government impressed by her earnestness and good + judgment, that she was appointed a Special Commissioner with + her friend, Abbott Kinney, to examine and report on the + condition of the Mission Indians in California.</p> + + <p>Could an accomplished, tenderly reared woman go into their + <i>adobe</i> villages and listen to their wrongs? What would + the world say of its poet? Mrs. Jackson did not ask; she had a + mission to perform, and the more culture, the more + responsibility. She brought cheer and hope to the red men and + their wives, and they called her "the Queen." She wrote able + articles about them in the <i>Century</i>.</p> + + <p>The report made by Mr. Kinney and herself, which she + prepared largely, was clear and convincing. How different all + this from her early life! Mrs. Jackson had become more than + poet and novelist; even the leader of an oppressed people. At + once, in the winter of 1883, she began to write her wonderfully + graphic and tender <i>Ramona</i>, and into this, she said, "I + put my heart and soul." The book was immediately reprinted in + England, and has had great popularity. She meant to do for the + Indian what Mrs. Stowe did for the slave, and she lived long + enough to see the great work well in progress.</p> + + <p>This true missionary work had greatly deepened the + earnestness of the brilliant woman. Not always tender to other + peoples' "hobbies," as she said, she now had one of her own, + into which she was putting her life. Her horizon, with her + great intellectual gifts, had now become as wide as the + universe. Had she lived, how many more great questions she + would have touched.</p> + + <p>In June, 1884, falling on the staircase of her Colorado + home, she severely fractured her leg, and was confined to the + house for several months. Then she was taken to Los Angeles, + Cal., for the winter. The broken limb mended rapidly, but + malarial fever set in, and she was carried to San Francisco. + Her first remark was, as she entered the house looking out upon + the broad and lovely bay, "I did not imagine it was so + pleasant! What a beautiful place to die in!"</p> + + <p>To the last her letters to her friends were full of cheer. + "You must not think because I speak of not getting well that I + am sad over it," she wrote. "On the contrary, I am more and + more relieved in my mind, as it seems to grow more and more + sure that I shall die. You see that I am growing old" (she was + but fifty-four), "and I do believe that my work is done. You + have never realized how, for the past five years, my whole soul + has been centered on the Indian question. <i>Ramona</i> was the + outcome of those five years. The Indian cause is on its feet + now; powerful friends are at work."</p> + + <p>To another she wrote, "I am heartily, honestly, and + cheerfully ready to go. In fact, I am glad to go. My <i>Century + of Dishonor</i> and <i>Ramona</i> are the only things I have + done of which I am glad now. The rest is of no moment. They + will live, and they will bear fruit. They already have. The + change in public feeling on the Indian question in the last + three years is marvellous; an Indian Rights Association in + every large city in the land."</p> + + <p>She had no fear of death. She said, "It is only just passing + from one country to another.... My only regret is that I have + not accomplished more work; especially that it was so late in + the day when I began to work in real earnest. But I do not + doubt we shall keep on working.... There isn't so much + difference, I fancy, between this life and the next as we + think, nor so much barrier.... I shall look in upon you in the + new rooms some day; but you will not see me. Good-bye. Yours + affectionately forever, H.H." Four days before her death she + wrote to President Cleveland:--</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"From my death-bed I send you a message of heart-felt + thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. I ask + you to read my <i>Century of Dishonor</i>. I am dying happier + for the belief I have that it is your hand that is destined + to strike the first steady blow toward lifting this burden of + infamy from our country, and righting the wrongs of the + Indian race.</p> + + <p>"With respect and gratitude,</p> + + <p>"HELEN JACKSON."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>That same day she wrote her last touching poem:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Father, I scarcely dare to pray,<br /> + So clear I see, now it is done, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That I have wasted half my day,<br /> + And left my work but just begun; + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "So clear I see that things I thought<br /> + Were right or harmless were a sin; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + So clear I see that I have sought,<br /> + Unconscious, selfish aim to win + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "So clear I see that I have hurt<br /> + The souls I might hare helped to save, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That I have slothful been, inert,<br /> + Deaf to the calls Thy leaders gave. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "In outskirts of Thy kingdoms vast,<br /> + Father, the humblest spot give me; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Set me the lowliest task Thou hast,<br /> + Let me repentant work for Thee!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>That evening, Aug. 8, after saying farewell, she placed her + hand in her husband's, and went to sleep. After four days, + mostly unconscious ones, she wakened in eternity.</p> + + <p>On her coffin were laid a few simple clover-blossoms, + flowers she loved in life; and then, near the summit of + Cheyenne Mountain, four miles from Colorado Springs, in a spot + of her own choosing, she was buried.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree<br /> + Or flower the little grave which shelters me.<br /> + Let the wild wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed,<br /> + And back and forth all summer, unalarmed,<br /> + Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep;<br /> + Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep;<br /> + And when, remembering me, you come some day<br /> + And stand there, speak no praise, but only say,<br /> + 'How she loved us! It was for that she was so dear.'<br /> + These are the only words that I shall smile to hear." + </div> + + <p>Many will stand by that Colorado grave in the years to come. + Says a California friend: "Above the chirp of the balm-cricket + in the grass that hides her grave, I seem to hear sweet songs + of welcome from the little ones. Among other thoughts of her + come visions of a child and mother straying in fields of light. + And so I cannot make her dead, who lived so earnestly, who + wrought so unselfishly, and passed so trustfully into the + mystery of the unseen."</p> + + <p>All honor to a woman who, with a happy home, was willing to + leave it to make other homes happy; who, having suffered, tried + with a sympathetic heart to forget herself and keep others from + suffering; who, being famous, gladly took time to help unknown + authors to win fame; who, having means, preferred a life of + labor to a life of ease.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Jackson's work is still going forward. Five editions of + her <i>Century of Dishonor</i> have been printed since her + death. <i>Ramona</i> is in its thirtieth thousand. <i>Zeph</i>, + a touching story of frontier life in Colorado, which she + finished in her last illness, has been published. Her sketches + of travel have been gathered into <i>Glimpses of Three + Coasts</i>, and a new volume of poems, <i>Sonnets and + Lyrics</i>, has appeared.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c3" id="c3"></a> + + <h3>Lucretia Mott.</h3><a href="images/c3mott.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c3mott_t.jpg" alt="Lucretia Mott." /></a> + + <p>Years ago I attended, at some inconvenience, a large public + meeting, because I heard that Lucretia Mott was to speak. After + several addresses, a slight lady, with white cap and drab + Quaker dress, came forward. Though well in years, her eyes were + bright; her smile was winsome, and I thought her face one of + the loveliest I had ever looked upon. The voice was singularly + sweet and clear, and the manner had such naturalness and grace + as a queen might envy. I have forgotten the words, forgotten + even the subject, but the benign presence and gracious smile I + shall never forget.</p> + + <p>Born among the quiet scenes of Nantucket, Jan. 3, 1793, + Lucretia grew to girlhood with habits of economy, neatness, and + helpfulness in the home. Her father, Thomas Coffin, was a + sea-captain of staunch principle; her mother, a woman of great + energy, wit, and good sense. The children's pleasures were such + as a plain country home afforded. When Mrs. Coffin went to + visit her neighbors, she would say to her daughters, "Now after + you have finished knitting twenty bouts, you may go down cellar + and pick out as many as you want of the smallest potatoes,--the + very smallest,--and roast them in the ashes." Then the six + little folks gathered about the big fireplace and enjoyed a + frolic.</p> + + <p>When Lucretia was twelve years old, the family moved to + Boston. At first all the children attended a private school; + but Captain Coffin, fearing this would make them proud, removed + them to a public school, where they could "mingle with all + classes without distinction." Years after Lucretia said, "I am + glad, because it gave me a feeling of sympathy for the patient + and struggling poor, which, but for this experience, I might + never have known."</p> + + <p>A year later, she was sent to a Friends' boarding-school at + Nine Partners, N.Y. Both boys and girls attended this school, + but were not permitted to speak to each other unless they were + near relatives; if so, they could talk a little on certain days + over a certain corner of the fence, between the playgrounds! + Such grave precautions did not entirely prevent the + acquaintance of the young people; for when a lad was shut up in + a closet, on bread and water, Lucretia and her sister supplied + him with bread and butter under the door. This boy was a cousin + of the teacher, James Mott, who was fond of the quick-witted + school-girl, so that it is probable that no harm came to her + from breaking the rules.</p> + + <p>At fifteen, Lucretia was appointed an assistant teacher, and + she and Mr. Mott, with a desire to know more of literature, and + quite possibly more of each other, began to study French + together. He was tall, with light hair and blue eyes, and shy + in manner; she, petite, with dark hair and eyes, quick in + thought and action, and fond of mirth. When she was eighteen + and James twenty-one, the young teachers were married, and both + went to her father's home in Philadelphia to reside, he + assisting in Mr. Coffin's business.</p> + + <p>The war of 1812 brought financial failure to many, and young + Mott soon found himself with a wife and infant daughter to + support, and no work. Hoping that he could obtain a situation + with an uncle in New York State, he took his family thither, + but came back disappointed. Finally he found work in a plow + store at a salary of six hundred dollars a year.</p> + + <p>Captain Coffin meantime had died, leaving his family poor. + James could do so little for them all with his limited salary, + that he determined to open a small store; but the experiment + proved a failure. His health began to be affected by this ill + success, when Lucretia, with her brave heart, said, "My cousin + and I will open a school; thee must not get discouraged, + James."</p> + + <p>The school was opened with four pupils, each paying seven + dollars a quarter. The young wife put so much good cheer and + earnestness into her work, that soon there were forty pupils in + the school. Mr. Mott's prospects now brightened, for he was + earning one thousand dollars a year. The young couple were + happy in their hard work, for they loved each other, and love + lightens all care and labor.</p> + + <p>But soon a sorrow worse than poverty came. Their only son, + Thomas, a most affectionate child, died, saying with his latest + breath, "I love thee, mother." It was a crushing blow; but it + proved a blessing in the end, leading her thoughts + heavenward.</p> + + <p>A few months afterwards her voice was heard for the first + time in public, in prayer, in one of the Friends' meetings. The + words were simple, earnest, eloquent. The good Quakers + marvelled, and encouraged the "gift." They did not ask whether + man or woman brought the message, so it came from heaven.</p> + + <p>And now, at twenty-five, having resigned her position as + teacher, she began close study of the Bible and theological + books. She had four children to care for, did all her sewing, + even cutting and making her own dresses; but she learned what + every one can learn,--to economize time. Her house was kept + scrupulously clean. She says: "I omitted much unnecessary + stitching and ornamental work in the sewing for my family, so + that I might have more time for the improvement of my mind. For + novels and light reading I never had much taste; the ladies' + department in the periodicals of the day had no attraction for + me. "She would lay a copy of William Penn's ponderous volumes + open at the foot of her bed, and drawing her chair close to it, + with her baby on her lap, would study the book diligently. A + woman of less energy and less will-power than young Mrs. Mott + would have given up all hope of being a scholar. She read the + best books in philosophy and science. John Stuart Mill and Dean + Stanley, though widely different, were among her favorite + authors.</p> + + <p>James Mott was now prospering in the cotton business, so + that they could spare time to go in their carriage and speak at + the Quaker meetings in the surrounding country. Lucretia would + be so absorbed in thought as not to notice the beauties of the + landscape, which her husband always greatly enjoyed. Pointing + out a fine view to her, she replied, "Yes, it is beautiful, now + that thou points it out, but I should not have noticed it. I + have always taken more interest in <i>human</i> nature." From a + child she was deeply interested for the slave. She had read in + her school-books Clarkson's description of the slave ships, and + these left an impression never to be effaced. When, Dec. 4, + 1833, a convention met in Philadelphia for the purpose of + forming the American Anti-Slavery Society, Lucretia Mott was + one of the four women who braved the social obloquy, as friends + of the despised abolitionists. She spoke, and was listened to + with attention. Immediately the Philadelphia Female + Anti-Slavery Society was formed, and Mrs. Mott became its + president and its inspiration. So unheard of a thing was an + association of women, and so unaccustomed were they to the + methods of organization, that they were obliged to call a + colored man to the chair to assist them.</p> + + <p>The years of martyrdom which followed, we at this day can + scarcely realize. Anti-slavery lecturers were tarred and + feathered. Mobs in New York and Philadelphia swarmed the + streets, burning houses and breaking church windows. In the + latter city they surrounded the hall of the Abolitionists, + where the women were holding a large convention, and Mrs. Mott + was addressing them. All day long they cursed and threw stones, + and as soon as the women left the building, they burned it to + ashes. Then, wrought up to fury, the mob started for the house + of James and Lucretia Mott. Knowing that they were coming, the + calm woman sent her little children away, and then in the + parlor, with a few friends, peacefully awaited a probable + death.</p> + + <p>In the turbulent throng was a young man who, while he was no + friend of the colored man, could not see Lucretia Mott harmed. + With skilful ruse, as they neared the house, he rushed up + another street, shouting at the top of his voice, "On to + Motts!" and the wild crowd blindly followed, wreaking their + vengeance in another quarter.</p> + + <p>A year later, in Delaware, where Mrs. Mott was speaking, one + of her party, a defenceless old man, was dragged from the + house, and tarred and feathered. She followed, begging the men + to desist, and saying that she was the real offender, but no + violent hands were laid upon her.</p> + + <p>At another time, when the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery + Society in New York was broken up by the mob, some of the + speakers were roughly handled. Perceiving that several ladies + were timid, Mrs. Mott said to the gentleman who was + accompanying her, "Won't thee look after some of the + others?"</p> + + <p>"But who will take care of you?" he said.</p> + + <p>With great tact and a sweet smile, she answered, "This man," + laying her hand on the arm of one of the roughest of the mob; + "he will see me safe through."</p> + + <p>The astonished man had, like others, a tender heart beneath + the roughness, and with respectful manner took her to a place + of safety. The next day, going into a restaurant, she saw the + leader of the mob, and immediately sat down by him, and began + to converse. Her kindness and her sweet voice left a deep + impression. As he went out of the room, he asked at the door, + "Who is that lady?"</p> + + <p>"Why, that is Lucretia Mott!"</p> + + <p>For a second he was dumbfounded; but he added, "Well, she's + a good, sensible woman."</p> + + <p>In 1839 a World's Convention was called at London to debate + the slavery question. Among the delegates chosen were James and + Lucretia Mott, Wendell Phillips and his wife, and others. Mrs. + Mott was jubilant at the thought of the world's interest in + this great question, and glad for an opportunity to cross the + ocean and enjoy a little rest, and the pleasure of meeting + friends who had worked in the same cause.</p> + + <p>When the party arrived, they were told, to their + astonishment, that no women were to be admitted to the + Convention as delegates. They had faced mobs and ostracism; + they had given money and earnest labor, but they were to be + ignored. William Lloyd Garrison, hurt at such injustice, + refused to take part in the Convention, and sat in the gallery + with the women. Although Mrs. Mott did not speak in the + assembly, the <i>Dublin Herald</i> said, "Nobody doubts that + she was the lioness of the Convention." She was entertained at + public breakfasts, and at these spoke with the greatest + acceptance to both men and women. The Duchess of Sutherland and + Lady Byron showed her great attention. Carlyle was "much + pleased with the Quaker lady, whose quiet manner had a soothing + effect on him," wrote Mrs. Carlyle to a friend. At Glasgow "she + held a delighted audience for nearly two hours in breathless + attention," said the press.</p> + + <p>After some months of devoted Christian work, along with + sight-seeing, Mr. and Mrs. Mott started homeward. He had spoken + less frequently than his wife, but always had been listened to + with deep interest. Her heart was moved toward a large number + of Irish emigrants in the steerage, and she desired to hold a + religious meeting among them. When asked about it, they said + they would not hear a woman preacher, for women priests were + not allowed in their church. Then she asked that they would + come together and consider whether they would have a meeting. + This seemed fair, and they came. She explained to them that she + did not intend to hold a church service; that, as they were + leaving their old homes and seeking new ones in her country, + she wanted to talk with them in such a way as would help them + in the land of strangers. And then, if they would listen,--they + were all the time listening very eagerly,--she would give an + outline of what she had intended to say, if the meeting had + been held. At the close, when all had departed, it dawned upon + some of the quicker-witted ones that they "had got the + preachment from the woman preacher, after all."</p> + + <p>The steamer arrived at the close of a twenty-nine days' + voyage, and, after a brief rest, Mrs. Mott began again her + public work. She spoke before the legislatures of New Jersey, + Delaware, and Pennsylvania. She called on President Tyler, and + he talked with her cordially and freely about the slave. In + Kentucky, says one of the leading papers, "For an hour and a + half she enchained an ordinarily restless audience--many were + standing--to a degree never surpassed here by the most popular + orators. She said some things that were far from palatable, but + said them with an air of sincerity that commanded respect and + attention."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Mott was deeply interested in other questions besides + slavery,--suffrage for women, total abstinence, and national + differences settled by arbitration instead of war. Years + before, when she began to teach school, and found that while + girls paid the same tuition as boys, "when they became + teachers, women received only half as much as men for their + services," she says: "The injustice of this distinction was so + apparent, that I early resolved to claim for myself all that an + impartial Creator had bestowed."</p> + + <p>In 1848, Mrs. Mott, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and some + others, called the first Woman's Suffrage Convention in this + country, at Seneca Falls, N.Y. There was much ridicule,--we had + not learned, forty years ago, to treat with courtesy those + whose opinions are different from our own,--but the sweet + Quaker preacher went serenely forward, as though all the world + were on her side. When she conversed with those who differed, + she listened so courteously to objections, and stated her own + views so delicately and kindly, and often so wittily, that none + could help liking her, even though they did not agree with her. + She realized that few can be driven, while many can be won with + gentleness and tact.</p> + + <p>In all these years of public speaking, her home was not only + a refuge for the oppressed, but a delightful social centre, + where prominent people gathered from both Europe and America. + At the table black and white were treated with equal courtesy. + One young man, a frequent visitor, finding himself seated at + dinner next to a colored man, resolved to keep away from the + house in future; but as he was in love with one of Mrs. Mott's + pretty daughters, he found that his "principles" gave way to + his affections. He renewed his visits, became a son-in-law, + and, later, an ardent advocate of equality for the colored + people.</p> + + <p>Now the guests at the hospitable home were a mother and + seven children, from England, who, meeting with + disappointments, had become reduced to poverty. Now it was an + escaped slave, who had come from Richmond, Va., in a dry-goods + box, by Adams Express. This poor man, whose wife and three + children had been sold from him, determined to seek his + freedom, even if he died in the effort. Weighing nearly two + hundred pounds, he was encased in a box two feet long, + twenty-three inches wide, and three feet high, in a sitting + posture. He was provided with a few crackers, and a bladder + filled with water. With a small gimlet he bored holes in the + box to let in fresh air, and fanned himself with his hat, to + keep the air in motion. The box was covered with canvas, that + no one might suspect its contents. His sufferings were almost + unbearable. As the box was tossed from one place to another, he + was badly bruised, and sometimes he rested for miles on his + head and shoulders, when it seemed as though his veins would + burst. Finally he reached the Mott home, and found shelter and + comfort.</p> + + <p>Their large house was always full. Mr. Mott had given up a + prosperous cotton business, because the cotton was the product + of slave labor; but he had been equally successful in the wool + trade, so that the days of privation had passed by long ago. + Two of their six children, with their families, lived at home, + and the harmony was remarked by everybody. Mrs. Mott rose + early, and did much housework herself. She wrote to a friend: + "I prepared mince for forty pies, doing every part myself, even + to meat-chopping; picked over lots of apples, stewed a + quantity, chopped some more, and made apple pudding; all of + which kept me on my feet till almost two o'clock, having to + come into the parlor every now and then to receive guests." As + a rule, those women are the best housekeepers whose lives are + varied by some outside interests.</p> + + <p>In the broad hall of the house stood two armchairs, which + the children called "beggars' chairs," because they were in + constant use for all sorts of people, "waiting to see the + missus." She never refused to see anybody. When letters came + from all over the country, asking for all sorts of favors, + bedding, silver spoons, a silk umbrella, or begging her to + invest some money in the manufacture of an article, warranted + "to take the kink out of the hair of the negro," she would + always check the merriment of her family by saying, "Don't + laugh too much; the poor souls meant well."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Mott was now sixty-three years of age. For forty years + she had been seen and loved by thousands. Strangers would stop + her on the street and say, "God bless you, Lucretia Mott!" + Once, when a slave was being tried for running away, Mrs. Mott + sat near him in the court, her son-in-law, Mr. Edward Hopper, + defending his case. The opposing counsel asked that her chair + might be moved, as her face would influence the jury against + him! Benjamin H. Brewster, afterwards United States + Attorney-General, also counsel for the Southern master, said: + "I have heard a great deal of your mother-in-law, Hopper; but I + never saw her before to-day. She is an angel." Years after, + when Mr. Brewster was asked how he dared to change his + political opinions, he replied, "Do you think there is anything + I dare not do, after facing Lucretia Mott in that + court-room?"</p> + + <p>It seemed best at this time, in 1856, as Mrs. Mott was much + worn with care, to sell the large house in town and move eight + miles into the country, to a quaint, roomy house which they + called Roadside. Before they went, however, at the last family + gathering a long poem was read, ending with:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "Who constantly will ring the bell,<br /> + And ask if they will please to tell<br /> + Where Mrs. Mott has gone to dwell?<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + The beggars. + </div><br /> + "And who persistently will say,<br /> + 'We cannot, cannot go away;<br /> + Here in the entry let us stay?'<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + Colored beggars. + </div><br /> + "Who never, never, nevermore<br /> + Will see the 'lions' at the door<br /> + That they've so often seen before?<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + The neighbors. + </div><br /> + "And who will miss, for months at least,<br /> + That place of rest for man and beast,<br /> + from North, and South, and West, and East?<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + Everybody." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Much of the shrubbery was cut down at Roadside, that Mrs. + Mott might have the full sunlight. So cheery a nature must have + sunshine. Here life went on quietly and happy. Many papers and + books were on her table, and she read carefully and widely. She + loved especially Milton and Cowper. Arnold's <i>Light of + Asia</i> was a great favorite in later years. The papers were + sent to hospitals and infirmaries, that no good reading might + be lost. She liked to read aloud; and if others were busy, she + would copy extracts to read to them when they were at leisure. + Who can measure the power of an educated, intellectual mother + in a home?</p> + + <p>The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mott was celebrated in + 1861, and a joyous season it was. James, the prosperous + merchant, was proud of his gifted wife, and aided her in every + way possible; while Lucretia loved and honored the true-hearted + husband. Though Mrs. Mott was now seventy, she did not cease + her benevolent work. Her carriage was always full of fruits, + vegetables, and gifts for the poor. In buying goods she traded + usually with the small stores, where things were dearer, but + she knew that for many of the proprietors it was a struggle to + make ends meet. A woman so considerate of others would of + course be loved.</p> + + <p>Once when riding on the street-cars in Philadelphia, when no + black person was allowed to ride inside, every fifth car being + reserved for their use, she saw a frail-looking and + scantily-dressed colored woman, standing on the platform in the + rain. The day was bitter cold, and Mrs. Mott begged the + conductor to allow her to come inside. "The company's orders + must be obeyed," was the reply. Whereupon the slight Quaker + lady of seventy walked out and stood beside the colored woman. + It would never do to have the famous Mrs. Mott seen in the rain + on his car; so the conductor, in his turn, went out and begged + her to come in.</p> + + <p>"I cannot go in without this woman," said Mrs. Mott quietly. + Nonplussed for a moment, he looked at the kindly face, and + said, "Oh, well, bring her in then!" Soon the "company's + orders" were changed in the interests of humanity, and colored + people as well as white enjoyed their civil rights, as becomes + a great nation.</p> + + <p>With all this beauty of character, Lucretia Mott had her + trials. Somewhat early in life she and her husband had joined + the so-called Unitarian branch of Quakers, and for this they + were persecuted. So deep was the sectarian feeling, that once, + when suffering from acute neuralgia, a physician who knew her + well, when called to attend her, said, "Lucretia, I am so + deeply afflicted by thy rebellious spirit, that I do not feel + that I can prescribe for thee," and he left her to her + sufferings. Such lack of toleration reads very strangely at + this day.</p> + + <p>In 1868, Mr. Mott and his wife, the one eighty, and the + other seventy-five, went to Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit their + grandchildren. He was taken ill of pneumonia, and expressed a + wish to go home, but added, "I suppose I shall die here, and + then I shall be at home; it is just as well." Mrs. Mott watched + with him through the night, and at last, becoming weary, laid + her head upon his pillow and went to sleep. In the morning, the + daughter coming in, found the one resting from weariness, the + other resting forever.</p> + + <p>At the request of several colored men, who respected their + benefactor, Mr. Mott was borne to his grave by their hands. + Thus ended, for this world, what one who knew them well called + "the most perfect wedded life to be found on earth."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Mott said, "James and I loved each other more than ever + since we worked together for a great cause." She carried out + the old couplet:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "And be this thy pride, what but few have done,<br /> + To hold fast the love thou hast early won." + </div> + + <p>After his death, she wrote to a friend, "I do not mourn, but + rather remember my blessings, and the blessing of his long life + with me."</p> + + <p>For twelve years more she lived and did her various duties. + She had seen the slave freed, and was thankful. The other + reforms for which she labored were progressing. At eighty-five + she still spoke in the great meetings. Each Christmas she + carried turkeys, pies, and a gift for each man and woman at the + "Aged Colored Home," in Philadelphia, driving twenty miles, + there and back. Each year she sent a box of candy to each + conductor and brakeman on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, + "Because," she said, "they never let me lift out my bundles, + but catch them up so quickly, and they all seem to know + me."</p> + + <p>Finally the time came for her to go to meet James. As the + end drew near, she seemed to think that she was conducting her + own funeral, and said, as though addressing an audience, "If + you resolve to follow the Lamb wherever you may be led, you + will find all the ways pleasant and the paths peace. Let me go! + Do take me!"</p> + + <p>There was a large and almost silent funeral at the house, + and at the cemetery several thousand persons were gathered. + When friends were standing by the open grave, a low voice said, + ""Will no one say anything?" and another responded, "Who can + speak? the preacher is dead!"</p> + + <p>Memorial services were held in various cities. For such a + woman as Lucretia Mott, with cultured mind, noble heart, and + holy purpose, there are no sex limitations. Her field is the + world.</p> + + <p>Those who desire to know, more of this gifted woman will + find it in a most interesting volume, <i>Lives of James and + Lucretia Mott</i>, written by their grandaughter, Anna Davis + Hallowell, West Medford, Mass.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c4" id="c4"></a> + + <h3>Mary A. Livermore.</h3><a href= + "images/c4livermore.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c4livermore_t.jpg" alt= + "MARY A. LIVERMORE." /></a> + + <p>When a nation passes through a great struggle like our Civil + War, great leaders are developed. Had it not been for this, + probably Mrs. Livermore, like many other noble women, would be + to-day living quietly in some pleasant home, doing the common + duties of every-day life. She would not be the famous lecturer, + the gifted writer, the leader of the Sanitary Commission in the + West; a brilliant illustration of the work a woman may do in + the world, and still retain the truest womanliness.</p> + + <p>She was born in Boston, descended from ancestors who for six + generations had been Welsh preachers, and reared by parents of + the strictest Calvinistic faith. Mr. Rice, her father, was a + man of honesty and integrity, while the mother was a woman of + remarkable judgment and common sense.</p> + + <p>Mary was an eager scholar, and a great favorite in school, + because she took the part of all the poor children. If a little + boy or girl was a cripple, or wore shabby clothes, or had + scanty dinners, or was ridiculed, he or she found an earnest + friend and defender in the courageous girl.</p> + + <p>So fond was she of the five children in the home, younger + than herself, and so much did she take upon herself the + responsibility of their conversion, that when but ten years + old, unable to sleep, she would rise from her bed and waken her + father and mother that they might pray for the sisters. "It's + no matter about me," she would say; "if they are saved, I can + bear anything."</p> + + <p>Mature in thought and care-taking beyond her years, she was + still fond of out-door sports and merry times. Sliding on the + ice was her especial delight. One day, after a full hour's fun + in the bracing air, she rushed into the house, the blood + tingling in every vein, exclaiming, "It's splendid sliding!" + "Yes," replied the father, "it's good fun, but wretched for + shoes."</p> + + <p>All at once the young girl saw how hard it was for her + parents to buy shoes, with their limited means; and from that + day to this she never slid upon the ice.</p> + + <p>There were few playthings in the simple home, but her chief + pastime was in holding meetings in her father's woodshed, with + the other children. Great logs were laid out for benches, and + split sticks were set upon them for people. Mary was always the + leader, both in praying and preaching, and the others were good + listeners. Mrs. Rice would be so much amused at the queer + scene, that a smile would creep over her face; but Mr. Rice + would look on reverently, and say, "I wish you had been a boy; + you could have been trained for the ministry."</p> + + <p>When she was twelve years old she began to be eager to earn + something. She could not bear to see her father work so hard + for her. Alas! how often young women, twice twelve, allow their + father's hair to grow white from overwork, because they think + society will look down upon them if they labor. Is work more a + disgrace to a girl than a boy? Not at all. Unfortunate is the + young man who marries a girl who is either afraid or ashamed to + work.</p> + + <p>Though not fond of sewing, Mary decided to learn + dressmaking, because this would give her self-support. For + three months she worked in a shop, that she might learn the + trade, and then she stayed three months longer and earned + thirty-seven cents a day. As this seemed meagre, she looked + about her for more work. Going to a clothing establishment, she + asked for a dozen red flannel shirts to make. The proprietor + might have wondered who the child was, but he trusted her + honest face, and gave her the bundle. She was to receive six + and a quarter cents apiece, and to return them on a certain + day. Working night after night, sometimes till the early + morning hours, she was able to finish only half at the time + specified.</p> + + <p>On that day a man came to the door and asked, "Does Mary + Rice live here?"</p> + + <p>The mother had gone to the door, and answered in the + affirmative.</p> + + <p>"Well, she took a dozen red flannel shirts from my shop to + make, and she hain't returned 'em!"</p> + + <p>"It can't be my daughter," said Mrs. Rice.</p> + + <p>The man was sure he had the right number, but he looked + perplexed. Just then Mary, who was in the sitting-room, + appeared on the scene.</p> + + <p>"Yes, mother, I got these shirts of the man."</p> + + <p>"You promised to get 'em done, Miss," he said, "and we are + in a great hurry."</p> + + <p>"You shall have the shirts to-morrow night," said Mrs. + Rice.</p> + + <p>After the man left the house, the mother burst into tears, + saying, "We are not so poor as that. My dear child, what is to + become of you if you take all the cares of the world upon your + shoulders?"</p> + + <p>When the work was done, and the seventy-five cents received, + Mary would take only half of it, because she had earned but + half.</p> + + <p>A brighter day was dawning for Mary Rice. A little later, + longing for an education, Dr. Neale, their good minister, + encouraged and assisted her to go to the Charlestown Female + Seminary. Before the term closed one of the teachers died, and + the bright, earnest pupil was asked to fill the vacancy. She + accepted, reciting out of school to fit herself for her + classes, earning enough by her teaching to pay her way, and + taking the four years' course in two years. Before she was + twenty she taught two years on a Virginia plantation as a + governess, and came North with six hundred dollars and a good + supply of clothes. Probably she has never felt so rich since + that day.</p> + + <p>She was now asked to take charge of the Duxbury High School, + where she became an inspiration to her scholars. Even the + dullest learned under her enthusiasm. She took long walks to + keep up her health and spirits, thus making her body as + vigorous as her heart was sympathetic.</p> + + <p>It was not to be wondered at that the bright young teacher + had many admirers. Who ever knew an educated, genial girl who + was not a favorite with young men? It is a libel on the sex to + think that they prefer ignorant or idle girls.</p> + + <p>Among those who saw the beauty of character and the mental + power of Miss Rice was a young minister, whose church was near + her schoolhouse. The first time she attended his services, he + preached from the text, "And thou shalt call his name Jesus; + for he shall save his people from their sins." Her sister had + died, and the family were in sorrow; but this gospel of love, + which he preached with no allusion to eternal punishment, was + full of comfort. What was the minister's surprise to have the + young lady ask to take home the sermon and read it, and + afterwards, some of his theological books. What was the + teacher's surprise, a little later, to find that while she was + interested in his sermons and books, he had become interested + in her. The sequel can be guessed easily; she became the wife + of Rev. D.P. Livermore at twenty-three.</p> + + <p>He had idolized his mother; very naturally, with deep + reverence for woman, he would make a devoted husband. For + fifteen years the intelligent wife aided him in editing <i>The + New Covenant</i>, a religious paper published in Chicago, in + which city they had made their home. Her writings were always + clear, strong, and helpful. Three children had been born into + their home, and life, with its cares and its work, was a very + happy one.</p> + + <p>But the time came for the quiet life to be entirely changed. + In 1861 the nation found itself plunged into war. The slave + question was to be settled once for all at the point of the + bayonet. Like every other true-hearted woman, Mrs. Livermore + had been deeply stirred by passing events. When Abraham + Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men was eagerly + responded to, she was in Boston, and saw the troops, all unused + to hardships, start for the battle-fields. The streets were + crowded with tens of thousands. Bells rung, bands played, and + women smiled and said good-bye, when their hearts were + breaking. After the train moved out of the station, four women + fainted; nature could no longer bear the terrible strain. Mrs. + Livermore helped restore the women to consciousness. She had no + sons to send; but when such partings were seen, and such + sorrows were in the future, she could not rest.</p> + + <p>What could women do to help in the dreadful struggle? A + meeting of New York ladies was called, which resulted in the + formation of an Aid Society, pledging loyalty to the + Government, and promising assistance to soldiers and their + families. Two gentlemen were sent to Washington to ask what + work could be done, but word came back that there was no place + for women at the front, nor no need for them in the hospitals. + Such words were worse than wasted on American women. Since the + day when men and women together breasted the storms of New + England in the <i>Mayflower</i>, and together planted a new + civilization, together they have worked side by side in all + great matters. They were untiring in the Revolutionary War; + they worked faithfully in the dark days of anti-slavery + agitation, taking their very lives in their hands. And now + their husbands and sons and brothers had gone from their homes. + They would die on battle-fields, and in lonely camps untended, + and the women simply said, "Some of us must follow our + best-beloved."</p> + + <p>The United States Sanitary Commission was soon organized, + for working in hospitals, looking after camps, and providing + comforts for the soldiers. Branch associations were formed in + ten large cities. The great Northwestern Branch was put under + the leadership of Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. A.H. Hoge. Useful + things began to pour in from all over the country,--fruits, + clothing, bedding, and all needed comforts for the army. Then + Mrs. Livermore, now a woman of forty, with great executive + ability, warm heart, courage, and perseverance, with a few + others, went to Washington to talk with President Lincoln.</p> + + <p>"Can no women go to the front?" they asked.</p> + + <p>"No civilian, either man or woman, is permitted by + <i>law</i>," said Mr. Lincoln. But the great heart of the + greatest man in America was superior to the law, and he placed + not a straw in their way. He was in favor of anything which + helped the men who fought and bled for their country.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore's first broad experience in the war was after + the battle of Fort Donelson. There were no hospitals for the + men, and the wounded were hauled down the hillside in + rough-board Tennessee wagons, most of them dying before they + reached St. Louis. Some poor fellows lay with the frozen earth + around them, chopped out after lying in the mud from Saturday + morning until Sunday evening.</p> + + <p>One blue-eyed lad of nineteen, with both legs and both arms + shattered, when asked, "How did it happen that you were left so + long?" said, "Why, you see, they couldn't stop to bother with + us, <i>because they had to take the fort</i>. When they took + it, we forgot our sufferings, and all over the battle-field + cheers went up from the wounded, and even from the dying."</p> + + <p>At the rear of the battle-fields the Sanitary Commission now + began to keep its wagons with hot soup and hot coffee, women, + fitly chosen, always joining in this work, in the midst of + danger. After the first repulse at Vicksburg, there was great + sickness and suffering. The Commission sent Mrs. Hoge, two + gentlemen accompanying her, with a boat-load of supplies for + the sick. One emaciated soldier, to whom she gave a little + package of white sugar, with a lemon, some green tea, two + herrings, two onions, and some pepper, said, "Is that + <i>all</i> for me?" She bowed assent. She says: "He covered his + pinched face with his thin hands and burst into a low, sobbing + cry. I laid my hand upon his shoulder, and said, 'Why do you + weep?' 'God bless the women!' he sobbed out. 'What should we do + but for them? I came from father's farm, where all knew plenty; + I've lain sick these three months; I've seen no woman's face, + nor heard her voice, nor felt her warm hand till to-day, and it + unmans me; but don't think I rue my bargain, for I don't. I've + suffered much and long, but don't let them know at home. Maybe + I'll never have a chance to tell them how much; but I'd go + through it all for the old flag.'"</p> + + <p>Shortly after, accompanied by an officer, she went into the + rifle-pits. The heat was stifling, and the minie-balls were + whizzing. "Why, madam, where did you come from? Did you drop + from heaven into these rifle-pits? You are the first lady we + have seen here;" and then the voice was choked with tears.</p> + + <p>"I have come from your friends at home, and bring messages + of love and honor. I have come to bring you the comforts we owe + you, and love to give. I've come to see if you receive what + they send you," she replied.</p> + + <p>"Do they think as much of as as that? Why, boys, we can + fight another year on that, can't we?"</p> + + <p>"Yes, yes!" they cried, and almost every hand was raised to + brush away the tears.</p> + + <p>She made them a kindly talk, shook the hard, honest hands, + and said good-bye. "Madame," said the officer, "promise me that + you'll visit my regiment to-morrow; 'twould be worth a victory + to them. You don't know what good a lady's visit to the army + does. These men whom you have seen to-day will talk of your + visit for six months to come. Around the fires, in the + rifle-pits, in the dark night, or on the march, they will + repeat your words, describe your looks, voice, size, and dress; + and all agree in one respect,--that you look like an angel, and + exactly like each man's wife or mother. Ah! was there no work + for women to do?</p> + + <p>The Sanitary and Christian Commissions expended about fifty + million dollars during the war, and of this, the women raised a + generous portion. Each battle cost the Sanitary Commission + about seventy-five thousand dollars, and the battle of + Gettysburg, a half million dollars. Mrs. Livermore was one of + the most efficient helpers in raising this money. She went + among the people, and solicited funds and supplies of every + kind.</p> + + <p>One night it was arranged that she should speak in Dubuque, + Iowa, that the people of that State might hear directly from + their soldiers at the front. When she arrived, instead of + finding a few women as she had expected, a large church was + packed with both men and women, eager to listen. The governor + of the State and other officials were present. She had never + spoken in a mixed assembly. Her conservative training made her + shrink from it, and, unfortunately, made her feel incapable of + doing it.</p> + + <p>"I cannot speak!" she said to the women who had asked her to + come.</p> + + <p>Disappointed and disheartened, they finally arranged with a + prominent statesman to jot down the facts from her lips; and + then, as best he could, tell to the audience the experiences of + the woman who had been on battle-fields, amid the wounded and + dying. Just as they were about to go upon the platform, the + gentleman said, "Mrs. Livermore, I have heard you say at the + front, that you would give your all for the soldiers,--a foot, + a hand, or a voice. Now is the time to give your voice, if you + wish to do good."</p> + + <p>She meditated a moment, and then she said, "I will try."</p> + + <p>When she arose to speak, the sea of faces before her seemed + blurred. She was talking into blank darkness. She could not + even hear her own voice. But as she went on, and the needs of + the soldiers crowded upon her mind, she forgot all fear, and + for two hours held the audience spell-bound. Men and women + wept, and patriotism filled every heart. At eleven o'clock + eight thousand dollars were pledged, and then, at the + suggestion of the presiding officer, they remained until one + o'clock to perfect plans for a fair, from which they cleared + sixty thousand dollars. After this, Mrs. Livermore spoke in + hundreds of towns, helping to organize many of the more than + twelve thousand five hundred aid societies formed during + eighteen months.</p> + + <p>As money became more and more needed, Mrs. Livermore decided + to try a sanitary commission fair in Chicago. The women said, + "We will raise twenty-five thousand dollars," but the men + laughed at such an impossibility. The farmers were visited, and + solicited to give vegetables and grain, while the cities were + not forgotten. Fourteen of Chicago's largest halls were hired. + The women had gone into debt ten thousand dollars, and the men + of the city began to think they were crazy. The Board of Trade + called upon them and advised that the fair be given up; the + debts should be paid, and the men would give the twenty-five + thousand, when, in their judgment, it was needed! The women + thanked them courteously, but pushed forward in the work.</p> + + <p>It had been arranged that the farmers should come on the + opening day, in a procession, with their gifts of vegetables. + Of this plan the newspapers made great sport, calling it the + "potato procession." The day came. The school children had a + holiday, the bells were rung, one hundred guns were fired, and + the whole city gathered to see the "potato procession." Finally + it arrived,--great loads of cabbages, onions, and over four + thousand bushels of potatoes. The wagons each bore a motto, + draped in black, with the words, "We buried a son at Donelson," + "Our father lies at Stone River," and other similar ones. The + flags on the horses' heads were bound with black; the women who + rode beside a husband or son, were dressed in deep mourning. + When the procession stopped before Mrs. Livermore's house, the + jeers were over, and the dense crowd wept like children.</p> + + <p>Six of the public halls were filled with beautiful things + for sale, while eight were closed so that no other attractions + might compete with the fair. Instead of twenty-five thousand, + the women cleared one hundred thousand dollars.</p> + + <p>Then Cincinnati followed with a fair, making two hundred and + twenty-five thousand; Boston, three hundred and eighty + thousand; New York, one million; and Philadelphia, two hundred + thousand more than New York. The women had found that there was + work enough for them to do.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore was finally ordered to make a tour of the + hospitals and military posts on the Mississippi River, and here + her aid was invaluable. It required a remarkable woman to + undertake such a work. At one point she found twenty-three men, + sick and wounded, whose regiments had left them, and who could + not be discharged because they had no descriptive lists. She + went at once to General Grant, and said, "General, if you will + give me authority to do so, I will agree to take these + twenty-three wounded men home."</p> + + <p>The officials respected the noble woman, and the red tape of + army life was broken for her sake.</p> + + <p>When the desolate company arrived in Chicago, on Saturday, + the last train had left which could have taken a Wisconsin + soldier home. She took him to the hotel, had a fire made for + him, and called a doctor.</p> + + <p>"Pull him through till Monday, Doctor," she said, "and I'll + get him home." Then, to the lad, "You shall have a nurse, and + Monday morning I will go with you to your mother."</p> + + <p>"Oh! don't go away," he pleaded; "I never shall see you + again."</p> + + <p>"Well, then, I'll go home and see my family, and come back + in two hours. The door shall be left open, and I'll put this + bell beside you, so that the chambermaid will come when you + ring."</p> + + <p>He consented, and Mrs. Livermore came back in two hours. The + soldier's face was turned toward the door, as though waiting + for her, but he was dead. He had gone home, but not to + Wisconsin.</p> + + <p>After the close of the war, so eager were the people to hear + her, that she entered the lecture field and has for years held + the foremost place among women as a public speaker. She + lectures five nights a week, for five months, travelling + twenty-five thousand miles annually. Her fine voice, womanly, + dignified manner, and able thought have brought crowded houses + before her, year after year. She has earned money, and spent it + generously for others. The energy and conscientiousness of + little Mary Rice have borne their legitimate fruit.</p> + + <p>Every year touching incidents came up concerning the war + days. Once, after she had spoken at Fabyan's American Institute + of Instruction, a military man, six feet tall, came up to her + and said, "Do you remember at Memphis coming over to the + officers' hospital?"</p> + + <p>"Yes," said Mrs. Livermore.</p> + + <p>While the officers were paid salaries, very often the + paymasters could not find them when ill, and for months they + would not have a penny, not even receiving army rations. Mrs. + Livermore found many in great need, and carried them from the + Sanitary Commission blankets, medicine, and food. Milk was + greatly desired, and almost impossible to be obtained. One day + she came into the wards, and said that a certain portion of the + sick "could have two goblets of milk for every meal."</p> + + <p>"Do you remember," said the tall man, who was then a major, + "that one man cried bitterly and said, 'I want two glasses of + milk,' and that you patted him on the head, as he lay on his + cot? And that the man said, as he thought of the dear ones at + home, whom he might not see again, 'Could you kiss me?' and the + noble woman bent down and kissed him? I am that man, and God + bless you for your kindness."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore wears on her third finger a plain gold ring + which has a touching history.</p> + + <p>After lecturing recently at Albion, Mich., a woman came up, + who had driven eight miles, to thank her for a letter written + for John, her son, as he was dying in the hospital. The first + four lines were dictated by the dying soldier; then death came, + and Mrs. Livermore finished the message. The faded letter had + been kept for twenty years, and copies made of it. "Annie, my + son's wife," said the mother, "never got over John's death. She + kept about and worked, but the life had gone out of her. Eight + years ago she died. One day she said, 'Mother, if you ever find + Mrs. Livermore, or hear of her, I wish you would give her my + wedding ring, which has never been off my finger since John put + it there. Ask her to wear it for John's sake and mine, and tell + her this was my dying request.'"</p> + + <p>With tears in the eyes of both giver and receiver, Mrs. + Livermore held out her hand, and the mother placed on the + finger this memento of two precious lives.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore has spent ten years in the temperance reform. + While she has shown the dreadful results of the liquor traffic, + she has been kind both in word and deed. Some time ago, passing + along a Boston street, she saw a man in the ditch, and a poor + woman bending over him.</p> + + <p>"Who is he?" she asked of the woman.</p> + + <p>"He's my husband, ma'am. He's a good man when he is sober, + and earns four dollars a day in the foundry. I keep a + saloon."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore called a hack. "Will you carry this man to + number ----?"</p> + + <p>"No, madam, he's too dirty. I won't soil my carriage."</p> + + <p>"Oh!" pleaded the wife, "I'll clean it all up for ye, if + ye'll take him," and pulling off her dress-skirt, she tried to + wrap it around her husband. Stepping to a saloon near by, Mrs. + Livermore asked the men to come out and help lift him. At first + they laughed, but were soon made ashamed, when they saw that a + lady was assisting. The drunken man was gotten upon his feet, + wrapped in his wife's clothing, put into the hack, and then + Mrs. Livermore and the wife got in beside him, and he was taken + home. The next day the good Samaritan called, and brought the + priest, from whom the man took the pledge. A changed family was + the result.</p> + + <p>Her life is filled with thousands of acts of kindness, on + the cars, in poor homes, and in various charitable + institutions. She is the author of two or more books, <i>What + shall we do with Our Daughters?</i> and <i>Reminiscences of the + War</i>; but her especial power has been her eloquent words, + spoken all over the country, in pulpits, before colleges, in + city and country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Like + Abraham Lincoln, who said, "I go for all sharing the privileges + of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens,--by no + means excluding women," she has advocated the enfranchisement + of her sex, along with her other work.</p> + + <p>Now, past sixty, her active, earnest life, in contact with + the people, has kept her young in heart and in looks.</p> + + <p>"A great authority on what constitutes beauty complains that + the majority of women acquire a dull, vacant expression towards + middle life, which makes them positively plain. He attributes + it to their neglect of all mental culture, their lives having + settled down to a monotonous routine of house-keeping, + visiting, gossip, and shopping. Their thoughts become + monotonous, too, for, though these things are all good enough + in their way, they are powerless to keep up any mental life or + any activity of thought."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore has been an inspiration to girls to make the + most of themselves and their opportunities. She has been an + ideal of womanhood, not only to "the boys" on the + battle-fields, but to tens of thousands who are fighting the + scarcely less heroic battles of every-day life. May it be many + years before she shall go out forever from her restful, happy + home, at Melrose, Mass.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore died at her home, May 23, 1905, at 8 A.M., of + bronchitis. She was in her eighty-fourth year, and had survived + her husband six years. When her funeral services were held, the + schools of Melrose closed, business was suspended, bells were + tolled, and flags floated at half-mast. She was an active + member of thirty-seven clubs. The degree of Doctor of Laws was + conferred upon her, in 1896, by Tufts College.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c5" id="c5"></a> + + <h3>Margaret Fuller Ossoli.</h3><a href= + "images/c5fuller.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c5fuller_t.jpg" alt= + "MARGARET FULLER From engraving by Hall." /></a> + + <p>Margaret Fuller, in some respects the most remarkable of + American women, lived a pathetic life and died a tragic death. + Without money and without beauty, she became the idol of an + immense circle of friends; men and women were alike her + devotees. It is the old story: that the woman of brain makes + lasting conquests of hearts, while the pretty face holds its + sway only for a month or a year.</p> + + <p>Margaret, born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, was + the oldest child of a scholarly lawyer, Mr. Timothy Fuller, and + of a sweet-tempered, devoted mother. The father, with small + means, had one absorbing purpose in life,--to see that each of + his children was finely educated. To do this, and make ends + meet, was a struggle. His daughter said, years after, in + writing of him: "His love for my mother was the green spot on + which he stood apart from the commonplaces of a mere + bread-winning existence. She was one of those fair and + flower-like natures, which sometimes spring up even beside the + most dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom I have known, + she had in her most of the angelic,--of that spontaneous love + for every living thing, for man and beast and tree, which + restores the Golden Age."</p> + + <p>Very fond of his oldest child, Margaret, the father + determined that she should be as well educated as his boys. In + those days there were no colleges for girls, and none where + they might enter with their brothers, so that Mr. Fuller was + obliged to teach his daughter after the wearing work of the + day. The bright child began to read Latin at six, but was + necessarily kept up late for the recitation. When a little + later she was walking in her sleep, and dreaming strange + dreams, he did not see that he was overtaxing both her body and + brain. When the lessons had been learned, she would go into the + library, and read eagerly. One Sunday afternoon, when she was + eight years old, she took down Shakespeare from the shelves, + opened at Romeo and Juliet, and soon became fascinated with the + story.</p> + + <p>"What are you reading?" asked her father.</p> + + <p>"Shakespeare," was the answer, not lifting her eyes from the + page.</p> + + <p>"That won't do--that's no book for Sunday; go put it away, + and take another."</p> + + <p>Margaret did as she was bidden; but the temptation was too + strong, and the book was soon in her hands again.</p> + + <p>"What is that child about, that she don't hear a word we + say?" said an aunt.</p> + + <p>Seeing what she was reading, the father said, angrily, "Give + me the book, and go directly to bed."</p> + + <p>There could have been a wiser and gentler way of control, + but he had not learned that it is better to lead children than + to drive them.</p> + + <p>When not reading, Margaret enjoyed her mother's little + garden of flowers. "I loved," she says, "to gaze on the roses, + the violets, the lilies, the pinks; my mother's hand had + planted them, and they bloomed for me. I kissed them, and + pressed them to my bosom with passionate emotions. An ambition + swelled my heart to be as beautiful, as perfect as they."</p> + + <p>Margaret grew to fifteen with an exuberance of life and + affection, which the chilling atmosphere of that New England + home somewhat suppressed, and with an increasing love for books + and cultured people. "I rise a little before five," she writes, + "walk an hour, and then practise on the piano till seven, when + we breakfast. Next, I read French--Sismondi's <i>Literature of + the South of Europe</i>--till eight; then two or three lectures + in Brown's <i>Philosophy</i>. About half past nine I go to Mr. + Perkins's school, and study Greek till twelve, when, the school + being dismissed, I recite, go home, and practise again till + dinner, at two. Then, when I can, I read two hours in + Italian."</p> + + <p>And why all this hard work for a girl of fifteen? The + "all-powerful motive of ambition," she says. "I am determined + on distinction, which formerly I thought to win at an easy + rate; but now I see that long years of labor must be + given."</p> + + <p>She had learned the secret of most prominent lives. The + majority in this world will always be mediocre, because they + lack high-minded ambition and the willingness to work.</p> + + <p>Two years after, at seventeen, she writes: "I am studying + Madame de Staël, Epictetus, Milton, Racine, and the + Castilian ballads, with great delight.... I am engrossed in + reading the elder Italian poets, beginning with Berni, from + whom I shall proceed to Pulci and Politian." How almost + infinitely above "beaus and dresses" was such intellectual work + as this!</p> + + <p>It was impossible for such a girl not to influence the mind + of every person she met. At nineteen she became the warm friend + of Rev. James Freeman Clarke, "whose friendship," he says, "was + to me a gift of the gods.... With what eagerness did she seek + for knowledge! What fire, what exuberance, what reach, grasp, + overflow of thought, shone in her conversation!... And what she + thus was to me, she was to many others. Inexhaustible in power + of insight, and with a good will 'broad as ether,' she could + enter into the needs, and sympathize with the various + excellences, of the greatest variety of characters. One thing + only she demanded of all her friends, that they should not be + satisfied with the common routine of life,--that they should + aspire to something higher, better, holier, than had now + attained."</p> + + <p>Witty, learned, imaginative, she was conceded to be the best + conversationist in any circle. She possessed the charm that + every woman may possess,--appreciation of others, and interest + in their welfare. This sympathy unlocked every heart to her. + She was made the confidante of thousands. All classes loved + her. Now it was a serving girl who told Margaret her troubles + and her cares; now it was a distinguished man of letters. She + was always an inspiration. Men never talked idle, commonplace + talk with her; she could appreciate the best of their minds and + hearts, and they gave it. She was fond of social life, and no + party seemed complete without her.</p> + + <p>At twenty-two she began to study German, and in three months + was reading with ease Goethe's <i>Faust, Tasso and + Iphigenia</i>, Körner, Richter, and Schiller. She greatly + admired Goethe, desiring, like him, "always to have some + engrossing object of pursuit." Besides all this study she was + teaching six little children, to help bear the expenses of the + household.</p> + + <p>The family at this time moved to Groton, a great privation + for Margaret, who enjoyed and needed the culture of Boston + society. But she says, "As, sad or merry, I must always be + learning, I laid down a course of study at the beginning of the + winter." This consisted of the history and geography of modern + Europe, and of America, architecture, and the works of Alfieri, + Goethe, and Schiller. The teaching was continued because her + brothers must be sent to Harvard College, and this required + money; not the first nor the last time that sisters have worked + to give brothers an education superior to their own.</p> + + <p>At last the constitution, never robust, broke down, and for + nine days Margaret lay hovering between this world and the + next. The tender mother called her "dear lamb," and watched her + constantly, while the stern father, who never praised his + children, lest it might harm them, said, "My dear, I have been + thinking of you in the night, and I cannot remember that you + have any <i>faults</i>. You have defects, of course, as all + mortals have, but I do not know that you have a single + fault."</p> + + <p>"While Margaret recovered, the father was taken suddenly + with cholera, and died after a two days' illness. He was sadly + missed, for at heart he was devoted to his family. When the + estate was settled, there was little left for each; so for + Margaret life would be more laborious than ever. She had + expected to visit Europe with Harriet Martineau, who was just + returning home from a visit to this country, but the father's + death crushed this long-cherished and ardently-prayed-for + journey. She must stay at home and work for others.</p> + + <p>Books were read now more eagerly than ever,--<i>Sartor + Resartus</i>, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Heine. But money must + be earned. Ah! if genius could only develop in ease and + prosperity. It rarely has the chance. The tree grows best when + the dirt is oftenest stirred about the roots; perhaps the best + in us comes only from such stirring.</p> + + <p>Margaret now obtained a situation as teacher of French and + Latin in Bronson Alcott's school. Here she was appreciated by + both master and pupils. Mr. Alcott said, "I think her the most + brilliant talker of the day. She has a quick and comprehensive + wit, a firm command of her thoughts, and a speech to win the + ear of the most cultivated." She taught advanced classes in + German and Italian, besides having several private pupils.</p> + + <p>Before this time she had become a valued friend of the + Emerson family. Mr. Emerson says, "Sometimes she stayed a few + days, often a week, more seldom a month, and all tasks that + could be suspended were put aside to catch the favorable hour + in walking, riding, or boating, to talk with this joyful guest, + who brought wit, anecdotes, love-stories, tragedies, oracles + with her.... The day was never long enough to exhaust her + opulent memory, and I, who knew her intimately for ten years, + never saw her without surprise at her new powers."</p> + + <p>She was passionately fond of music and of art, saying, "I + have been very happy with four hundred and seventy designs of + Raphael in my possession for a week." She loved nature like a + friend, paying homage to rocks and woods and flowers. She said, + "I hate not to be beautiful when all around is so."</p> + + <p>After teaching with Mr. Alcott, she became the principal + teacher in a school at Providence, R.I. Here, as ever, she + showed great wisdom both with children and adults. The little + folks in the house were allowed to look at the gifts of many + friends in her room, on condition that they would not touch + them. One day a young visitor came, and insisted on taking down + a microscope, and broke it. The child who belonged in the house + was well-nigh heart-broken over the affair, and, though + protesting her innocence, was suspected both of the deed and of + falsehood. Miss Fuller took the weeping child upon her knee, + saying, "Now, my dear little girl, tell me all about it; only + remember that you must be careful, for I shall believe every + word you say." Investigation showed that the child thus + confided in told the whole truth.</p> + + <p>After two years in Providence she returned to Boston, and in + 1839 began a series of parlor lectures, or "conversations," as + they were called. This seemed a strange thing for a woman, when + public speaking by her sex was almost unknown. These talks were + given weekly, from eleven o'clock till one, to twenty-five or + thirty of the most cultivated women of the city. Now the + subject of discussion was Grecian mythology; now it was fine + arts, education, or the relations of woman to the family, the + church, society, and literature. These meetings were continued + through five winters, supplemented by evening "conversations," + attended by both men and women. In these gatherings Margaret + was at her best,--brilliant, eloquent, charming.</p> + + <p>During this time a few gifted men, Emerson, Channing, and + others, decided to start a literary and philosophical magazine + called the <i>Dial</i>. Probably no woman in the country would + have been chosen as the editor, save Margaret Fuller. She + accepted the position, and for four years managed the journal + ably, writing for it some valuable essays. Some of these were + published later in her book on <i>Literature and Art</i>. Her + <i>Woman in the Nineteenth Century</i>, a learned and vigorous + essay on woman's place in the world, first appeared in part in + the <i>Dial</i>. Of this work, she said, in closing it, "After + taking a long walk, early one most exhilarating morning, I sat + down to work, and did not give it the last stroke till near + nine in the evening. Then I felt a delightful glow, as if I had + put a good deal of my true life in it, and as if, should I go + away now, the measure of my footprint would be left on the + earth."</p> + + <p>Miss Fuller had published, besides these works, two books of + translations from the German, and a sketch of travel called + <i>Summer on the Lakes</i>. Her experience was like that of + most authors who are beginning,--some fame, but no money + realized. All this time she was frail in health, overworked, + struggling against odds to make a living for herself and those + she loved. But there were some compensations in this life of + toil. One person wrote her, "What I am I owe in large measure + to the stimulus you imparted. You roused my heart with high + hopes; you raised my aims from paltry and vain pursuits to + those which lasted and fed the soul; you inspired me with a + great ambition, and made me see the worth and the meaning of + life."</p> + + <p>William Hunt, the renowned artist, was looking in a book + that lay on the table of a friend. It was Mrs. Jameson's + <i>Italian Painters</i>. In describing Correggio, she said he + was "one of those superior beings of whom there are so few." + Margaret had written on the margin, "And yet all might be + such." Mr. Hunt said, "These words struck out a new strength in + me. They revived resolutions long fallen away, and made me set + my face like a flint."</p> + + <p>Margaret was now thirty-four. The sister was married, the + brothers had finished their college course, and she was about + to accept an offer from the <i>New York Tribune</i> to become + one of its constant contributors, an honor that few women would + have received. Early in December, 1844, Margaret moved to New + York and became a member of Mr. Greeley's family. Her literary + work here was that of, says Mr. Higginson, "the best literary + critic whom America has yet seen."</p> + + <p>Sometimes her reviews, like those on the poetry of + Longfellow and Lowell, were censured, but she was impartial and + able. Society opened wide its doors to her, as it had in + Boston. Mrs. Greeley became her devoted friend, and their + little son "Pickie," five years old, the idol of Mr. Greeley, + her restful playmate.</p> + + <p>A year and a half later an opportunity came for Margaret to + go to Europe. Now, at last, she would see the art-galleries of + the old world, and places rich in history, like Rome. Still + there was the trouble of scanty means, and poor health from + overwork. She said, "A noble career is yet before me, if I can + be unimpeded by cares. If our family affairs could now be so + arranged that I might be tolerably tranquil for the next six or + eight years, I should go out of life better satisfied with the + page I have turned in it than I shall if I must still toil + on."</p> + + <p>After two weeks on the ocean, the party of friends arrived + in London, and Miss Fuller received a cordial welcome. + Wordsworth, now seventy-six, showed her the lovely scenery of + Rydal Mount, pointing out as his especial pride, his avenue of + hollyhocks--crimson, straw-color, and white. De Quincey showed + her many courtesies. Dr. Chalmers talked eloquently, while + William and Mary Howitt seemed like old friends. Carlyle + invited her to his home. "To interrupt him," she said, "is a + physical impossibility. If you get a chance to remonstrate for + a moment, he raises his voice and bears you down."</p> + + <p>In Paris, Margaret attended the Academy lectures, saw much + of George Sand, waded through melting snow at Avignon to see + Laura's tomb, and at last was in Italy, the country she had + longed to see. Here Mrs. Jameson, Powers, and Greenough, and + the Brownings and Storys, were her warm friends. Here she + settled down to systematic work, trying to keep her expenses + for six months within four hundred dollars. Still, when most + cramped for means herself, she was always generous. Once, when + living on a mere pittance, she loaned fifty dollars to a needy + artist. In New York she gave an impecunious author five hundred + dollars to publish his book, and, of course, never received a + dollar in return. Yet the race for life was wearing her out. So + tired was she that she said, "I should like to go to sleep, and + be born again into a state where my young life should not be + prematurely taxed."</p> + + <p>Meantime the struggle for Italian unity was coming to its + climax. Mazzini and his followers were eager for a republic. + Pius IX. had given promises to the Liberal party, but + afterwards abandoned it, and fled to Gaeta. Then Mazzini turned + for help to the President of the French Republic, Louis + Napoleon, who, in his heart, had no love for republics, but + sent an army to reinstate the Pope. Rome, when she found + herself betrayed, fought like a tiger. Men issued from the + workshops with their tools for weapons, while women from the + housetops urged them on. One night over one hundred and fifty + bombs were thrown into the heart of the city.</p> + + <p>Margaret was the friend of Mazzini, and enthusiastic for + Roman liberty. All those dreadful months she ministered to the + wounded and dying in the hospitals, and was their "saint," as + they called her.</p> + + <p>But there was another reason why Margaret Fuller loved + Italy.</p> + + <p>Soon after her arrival in Rome, as she was attending vespers + at St. Peter's with a party of friends, she became separated + from them. Failing to find them, seeing her anxious face, a + young Italian came up to her, and politely offered to assist + her. Unable to regain her friends, Angelo Ossoli walked with + her to her home, though he could speak no English, and she + almost no Italian. She learned afterward that he was of a noble + and refined family; that his brothers were in the Papal army, + and that he was highly respected.</p> + + <p>After this he saw Margaret once or twice, when she left Rome + for some months. On her return, he renewed the acquaintance, + shy and quiet though he was, for her influence seemed great + over him. His father, the Marquis Ossoli, had just died, and + Margaret, with her large heart, sympathized with him, as she + alone knew how to sympathize. He joined the Liberals, thus + separating himself from his family, and was made a captain of + the Civic Guard.</p> + + <p>Finally he confessed to Margaret that he loved her, and that + he "must marry her or be miserable." She refused to listen to + him as a lover, said he must marry a younger woman,--she was + thirty-seven, and he but thirty,--but she would be his friend. + For weeks he was dejected and unhappy. She debated the matter + with her own heart. Should she, who had had many admirers, now + marry a man her junior, and not of surpassing intellect, like + her own? If she married him, it must be kept a secret till his + father's estate was settled, for marriage with a Protestant + would spoil all prospect of an equitable division.</p> + + <p>Love conquered, and she married the young Marquis Ossoli in + December, 1847. He gave to Margaret the kind of love which + lasts after marriage, veneration of her ability and her + goodness. "Such tender, unselfish love," writes Mrs. Story, "I + have rarely before seen; it made green her days, and gave her + an expression of peace and serenity which before was a stranger + to her. When she was ill, he nursed and watched over her with + the tenderness of a woman. No service was too trivial, no + sacrifice too great for him. 'How sweet it is to do little + things for you,' he would say."</p> + + <p>To her mother, Margaret wrote, though she did not tell her + secret, "I have not been so happy since I was a child, as + during the last six weeks."</p> + + <p>But days of anxiety soon came, with all the horrors of war. + Ossoli was constantly exposed to death, in that dreadful siege + of Rome. Then Rome fell, and with it the hopes of Ossoli and + his wife. There would be neither fortune nor home for a Liberal + now--only exile. Very sadly Margaret said goodbye to the + soldiers in the hospitals, brave fellows whom she honored, who + in the midst of death itself, would cry "Viva l' Italia!"</p> + + <p>But before leaving Rome, a day's journey must be made to + Rieta, at the foot of the Umbrian Apennines. And for what? The + most precious thing of Margaret's life was there,--her baby. + The fair child, with blue eyes and light hair like her own, had + already been named by the people in the house, Angelino, from + his beauty. She had always been fond of children. Emerson's + Waldo, for whom <i>Threnody</i> was written was an especial + favorite; then "Pickie," Mr. Greeley's beautiful boy, and now a + new joy had come into her heart, a child of her own. She wrote + to her mother: "In him I find satisfaction, for the first time, + to the deep wants of my heart. Nothing but a child can take the + worst bitterness out of life, and break the spell of + loneliness. I shall not be alone in other worlds, whenever + Eternity may call me.... I wake in the night,--I look at him. + He is so beautiful and good, I could die for him!"</p> + + <p>When Ossoli and Margaret reached Rieta, what was their + horror to find their child worn to a skeleton, half starved + through the falsity of a nurse. For four weeks the distressed + parents coaxed him back to life, till the sweet beauty of the + rounded face came again, and then they carried him to Florence, + where, despite poverty and exile, they were happy.</p> + + <p>"In the morning," she says, "as soon as dressed, he signs to + come into our room; then draws our curtain with his little + dimpled hand, kisses me rather violently, and pats my face.... + I feel so refreshed by his young life, and Ossoli diffuses such + a power and sweetness over every day, that I cannot endure to + think yet of our future.... It is very sad we have no money, we + could be so quietly happy a while. I rejoice in all Ossoli did; + but the results, in this our earthly state, are disastrous, + especially as my strength is now so impaired. This much I + hope--in life or death, to be no more separated from + Angelino."</p> + + <p>Margaret's friends now urged her return to America. She had + nearly finished a history of Rome in this trying time, 1848, + and could better attend to its publication in this country. + Ossoli, though coming to a land of strangers, could find + something to help, support the family.</p> + + <p>To save expense, they started from Leghorn, May 17, 1850, in + the <i>Elizabeth</i>, a sailing vessel, though Margaret dreaded + the two months' voyage, and had premonitions of disaster. She + wrote: "I have a vague expectation of some crisis,--I know not + what. But it has long seemed that, in the year 1850, I should + stand on a plateau in the ascent of life, when I should be + allowed to pause for a while, and take more clear and + commanding views than ever before. Yet my life proceeds as + regularly as the fates of a Greek tragedy, and I can but accept + the pages as they turn.... I shall embark, praying fervently + that it may not be my lot to lose my boy at sea, either by + unsolaced illness, or amid the howling waves; or, if so, that + Ossoli, Angelo, and I may go together, and that the anguish may + be brief."</p> + + <p>For a few days all went well on shipboard; and then the + noble Captain Hasty died of small-pox, and was buried at sea. + Angelino took this dread disease, and for a time his life was + despaired of, but he finally recovered, and became a great pet + with the sailors. Margaret was putting the last touches to her + book. Ossoli and young Sumner, brother of Charles, gave each + other lessons in Italian and English, and thus the weeks went + by.</p> + + <p>On Thursday, July 18, after two months, the <i>Elizabeth</i> + stood off the Jersey coast, between Cape May and Barnegat. + Trunks were packed, good nights were spoken, and all were + happy, for they would be in New York on the morrow. At nine + that night a gale arose; at midnight it was a hurricane; at + four o'clock, Friday morning, the ship struck Fire Island + beach. The passengers sprung from their berths. "We must die!" + said Sumner to Mrs. Hasty. "Let us die calmly, then!" was the + response of the widow of the captain.</p> + + <p>At first, as the billows swept over the vessel, Angelino, + wet and afraid, began to cry; but his mother held him closely + in her arms and sang him to sleep. Noble courage on a sinking + ship! The Italian girl who had come with them was in terror; + but after Ossoli prayed with her, she became calm. For hours + they waited anxiously for help from the shore. They could see + the life-boat, and the people collecting the spoils which had + floated thither from the ship, but no relief came. One sailor + and another sprang into the waves and saved themselves. Then + Sumner jumped overboard, but sank.</p> + + <p>One of the sailors suggested that if each passenger sit on a + plank, holding on by ropes, they would attempt to push him or + her to land. Mrs. Hasty was the first to venture, and after + being twice washed off, half-drowned, reached the shore. Then + Margaret was urged, but she hesitated, unless all three could + be saved. Every moment the danger increased. The crew were + finally ordered "to save themselves," but four remained with + the passengers. It was useless to look longer to the people on + shore for help, though it was now past three o'clock,--twelve + hours since the vessel struck.</p> + + <p>Margaret had finally been induced to try the plank. The + steward had taken Angelino in his arms, promising to save him + or die with him, when a strong sea swept the forecastle, and + all went down together. Ossoli caught the rigging for a moment, + but Margaret sank at once. When last seen, she was seated at + the foot of the foremast, still clad in her white nightdress, + with her hair fallen loose upon her shoulders. Angelino and the + steward were washed upon the beach twenty minutes later, both + dead, though warm. Margaret's prayer was answered,--that they + "might go together, and that the anguish might be brief."</p> + + <p>The pretty boy of two years was dressed in a child's frock + taken from his mother's trunk, which had come to shore, laid in + a seaman's chest, and buried in the sand, while the sailors, + who loved him, stood around, weeping. His body was finally + removed to Mt. Auburn, and buried in the family lot. The bodies + of Ossoli and Margaret were never recovered. The only papers of + value which came to shore were their love letters, now deeply + prized. The book ready for publication was never found.</p> + + <p>When those on shore were asked why they did not launch the + life-boat, they replied, "Oh! if we had known there were any + such persons of importance on board, we should have tried to do + our best!"</p> + + <p>Thus, at forty, died one of the most gifted women in + America, when her work seemed just begun. To us, who see how + the world needed her, her death is a mystery; to Him who + "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" there is + no mystery. She filled her life with charities and her mind + with knowledge, and such are ready for the progress of + Eternity.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c6" id="c6"></a> + + <h3>Maria Mitchell.</h3><a href="images/c6mitchell.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c6mitchell_t.jpg" alt="MARIA MITCHELL." /></a> + + <p>In the quiet, picturesque island of Nantucket, in a simple + home, lived William and Lydia Mitchell with their family of ten + children. William had been a school-teacher, beginning when he + was eighteen years of age, and receiving two dollars a week in + winter, while in summer he kept soul and body together by + working on a small farm, and fishing.</p> + + <p>In this impecunious condition he had fallen in love with and + married Lydia Coleman, a true-hearted Quaker girl, a descendant + of Benjamin Franklin, one singularly fitted to help him make + his way in life. She was quick, intelligent, and attractive in + her usual dress of white, and was the clerk of the Friends' + meeting where he attended. She was enthusiastic in reading, + becoming librarian successively of two circulating libraries, + till she had read every book upon the shelves, and then in the + evenings repeating what she had read to her associates, her + young lover among them.</p> + + <p>When they were married, they had nothing but warm hearts and + willing hands to work together. After a time William joined his + father in converting a ship-load of whale oil into soap, and + then a little money was made; but at the end of seven years he + went back to school-teaching because he loved the work. At + first he had charge of a fine grammar school established at + Nantucket, and later, of a school of his own.</p> + + <p>Into this school came his third child, Maria, shy and + retiring, with all her mother's love of reading. Faithful at + home, with, as she says, "an endless washing of dishes," not to + be wondered at where there were ten little folks, she was not + less faithful at school. The teacher could not help seeing that + his little daughter had a mind which would well repay all the + time he could spend upon it.</p> + + <p>While he was a good school-teacher, he was an equally good + student of nature, born with a love of the heavens above him. + When eight years old, his father called him to the door to look + at the planet Saturn, and from that time the boy calculated his + age from the position of the planet, year by year. Always + striving to improve himself, when he became a man, he built a + small observatory upon his own land, that he might study the + stars. He was thus enabled to earn one hundred dollars a year + in the work of the United States Coast Survey. Teaching at two + dollars a week, and fishing, could not always cramp a man of + such aspiring mind.</p> + + <p>Brought up beside the sea, he was as broad as the sea in his + thought and true nobility of character. He could see no reason + why his daughters should not be just as well educated as his + sons. He therefore taught Maria the same as his boys, giving + her especial drill in navigation. Perhaps it is not strange + that after such teaching, his daughter could have no taste for + making worsted work or Kensington stitches. She often says to + this day, "A woman might be learning seven languages while she + is learning fancy work," and there is little doubt that the + seven languages would make her seven times more valuable as a + wife and mother. If teaching navigation to girls would give us + a thousand Maria Mitchells in this country, by all means let it + be taught.</p> + + <p>Maria left the public school at sixteen, and for a year + attended a private school; then, loving mathematics, and being + deeply interested in her father's studies, she became at + seventeen his helper in the work of the Coast Survey. This + astronomical labor brought Professors Agassiz, Bache, and other + noted men to the quiet Mitchell home, and thus the girl heard + the stimulating conversation of superior minds.</p> + + <p>But the family needed more money. Though Mr. Mitchell wrote + articles for <i>Silliman's Journal</i>, and delivered an able + course of lectures before a Boston society of which Daniel + Webster was president, scientific study did not put many + dollars in a man's pocket. An elder sister was earning three + hundred dollars yearly by teaching, and Maria felt that she too + must help more largely to share the family burdens. She was + offered the position of librarian at the Nantucket library, + with a salary of sixty dollars the first year, and seventy-five + the second. While a dollar and twenty cents a week seemed very + little, there would be much time for study, for the small + island did not afford a continuous stream of readers. She + accepted the position, and for twenty years, till youth had + been lost in middle life, Maria Mitchell worked for one hundred + dollars a year, studying on, that she might do her noble work + in the world.</p> + + <p>Did not she who loved nature, long for the open air and the + blue sky, and for some days of leisure which so many girls + thoughtlessly waste? Yes, doubtless. However, the laws of life + are as rigid as mathematics. A person cannot idle away the + hours and come to prominence. No great singer, no great artist, + no great scientist, comes to honor without continuous labor. + Society devotees are heard of only for a day or a year, while + those who develop minds and ennoble hearts have lasting + remembrance.</p> + + <p>Miss Mitchell says, "I was born of only ordinary capacity, + but of extraordinary persistency," and herein is the secret of + a great life. She did not dabble in French or music or painting + and give it up; she went steadily on to success. Did she + neglect home duties? Never. She knit stockings a yard long for + her aged father till his death, usually studying while she + knit. To those who learn to be industrious early in life, + idleness is never enjoyable.</p> + + <p>There was another secret of Miss Mitchell's success. She + read good books early in life. She says: "We always had books, + and were bookish people. There was a public library in + Nantucket before I was born. It was not a free library, but we + always paid the subscription of one dollar per annum, and + always read and studied from it. I remember among its volumes + Hannah More's books and Rollin's <i>Ancient History</i>. I + remember too that Charles Folger, the present Secretary of the + Treasury, and I had both read this latter work through before + we were ten years old, though neither of us spoke of it to the + other until a later period."</p> + + <p>All this study had made Miss Mitchell a superior woman. It + was not strange, therefore, that fame should come to her. One + autumn night, October, 1847, she was gazing through the + telescope, as usual, when, lo! she was startled to perceive an + unknown comet. She at once told her father, who thus wrote to + Professor William C. Bond, director of the Observatory at + Cambridge: --</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>MY DEAR FRIEND,--I write now merely to say that Maria + discovered a telescopic comet at half-past ten on the evening + of the first instant, at that hour nearly above Polaris five + degrees. Last evening it had advanced westerly; this evening + still further, and nearing the pole. It does not bear + illumination. Maria has obtained its right ascension and + declination, and will not suffer me to announce it. Pray tell + me whether it is one of Georgi's, and whether it has been + seen by anybody. Maria supposes it may be an old story. If + quite convenient, just drop a line to her; it will oblige me + much. I expect to leave home in a day or two, and shall be in + Boston next week, and I would like to have her hear from you + before I can meet you. I hope it will not give thee much + trouble amidst thy close engagements. Our regards are to all + of you most truly.</p> + + <p>WILLIAM MITCHELL.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The answer showed that Miss Mitchell had indeed made a new + discovery. Frederick VI., King of Denmark, had, sixteen years + before, offered a gold medal of the value of twenty ducats to + whoever should discover a telescopic comet. That no mistake + might be made as to the real discoverer, the condition was made + that word be sent at once to the Astronomer Royal of England. + This the Mitchells had not done, on account of their isolated + position. Hon. Edward Everett, then President of Harvard + College, wrote to the American Minister at the Danish Court, + who in turn presented the evidence to the King. "It would + gratify me," said Mr. Mitchell, "that this generous monarch + should know that there is a love of science even in this, to + him, remote corner of the earth."</p> + + <p>The medal was at last awarded, and the woman astronomer of + Nantucket found herself in the scientific journals and in the + press as the discoverer of "Miss Mitchell's Comet." Another had + been added to the list of Mary Somervilles and Caroline + Herschels. Perhaps there was additional zest now in the + mathematical work in the Coast Survey. She also assisted in + compiling the <i>American Nautical Almanac</i>, and wrote for + the scientific periodicals. Did she break down from her unusual + brain work? Oh, no! Probably astronomical work was not nearly + so hard as her mother's,--the care of a house and ten + children!</p> + + <p>For ten years more Miss Mitchell worked in the library, and + in studying the heavens. But she had longed to see the + observatories of Europe, and the great minds outside their + quiet island. Therefore, in 1857, she visited England, and was + at once welcomed to the most learned circles. Brains always + find open doors. Had she been rich or beautiful simply, Sir + John Herschel, and Lady Herschell as well, would not have + reached out both hands, and said, "You are always welcome at + this house," and given her some of his own calculations? and + some of his Aunt Caroline's writing. Had she been rich or + handsome simply, Alexander Von Humboldt would not have taken + her to his home, and, seating himself beside her on the sofa, + talked, as she says, "on all manner of subjects, and on all + varieties of people. He spoke of Kansas, India, China, + observatories; of Bache, Maury, Gould, Ticknor, Buchanan, + Jefferson, Hamilton, Brunow, Peters, Encke, Airy, Leverrier, + Mrs. Somerville, and a host of others."</p> + + <p>What, if he had said these things to some women who go + abroad! It is safe for women who travel to read widely, for + ignorance is quickly detected. Miss Mitchell said of Humboldt: + "He is handsome--his hair is thin and white, his eyes very + blue. He is a little deaf, and so is Mrs. Somerville. He asked + me what instruments I had, and what I was doing; and when I + told him that I was interested in the variable stars, he said I + must go to Bonn and see Agelander."</p> + + <p>There was no end of courtesies to the scholarly woman. + Professor Adams, of Cambridge, who, with his charming wife, + years afterward helped to make our own visit to the University + a delight, showed her the spot on which he made his + computations for Neptune, which he discovered at the same time + as Leverrier. Sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal of England, + wrote to Leverrier in Paris to announce her coming. When they + met, she said, "His English was worse than my French."</p> + + <p>Later she visited Florence, where she met, several times, + Mrs. Somerville, who, she says, "talks with all the readiness + and clearness of a man," and is still "very gentle and womanly, + without the least pretence or the least coldness." She gave + Miss Mitchell two of her books, and desired a photographed star + sent to Florence. "She had never heard of its being done, and + saw at once the importance of such a step." She said with her + Scotch accent, "Miss Mitchell, ye have done yeself great + credit."</p> + + <p>In Rome she saw much of the Hawthornes, of Miss Bremer, who + was visiting there, and of the artists. From here she went to + Venice, Vienna, and Berlin, where she met Encke, the + astronomer, who took her to see the wedding presents of the + Princess Royal.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in an admirable sketch of Miss + Mitchell, tells how the practical woman, with her love of + republican institutions, was impressed. "The presents were in + two rooms," says Miss Mitchell, "ticketed and numbered, and a + catalogue of them sold. All the manufacturing companies availed + themselves of the opportunity to advertise their commodities, I + suppose, as she had presents of all kinds. What she will do + with sixty albums I can't see, but I can understand the use of + two clothes-lines, because she can lend one to her mother, who + must have a large Monday's wash!"</p> + + <p>After a year, Miss Mitchell returned to her simple Nantucket + home, as devoted to her parents and her scientific work as + ever. Two years afterward, in 1860, her good mother died, and a + year later, desiring to be near Boston, the family removed to + Lynn. Here Miss Mitchell purchased a small house for sixteen + hundred and fifty dollars. From her yearly salary of one + hundred dollars, and what she could earn in her government + work, she had saved enough to buy a home for her father! The + rule is that the fathers wear themselves out for daughters; the + rule was reversed in this case.</p> + + <p>Miss Mitchell now earned five hundred dollars yearly for her + government computations, while her father received a pension of + three hundred more for his efficient services. Five years thus + passed quietly and comfortably.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile another life was carrying out its cherished plan, + and Miss Mitchell, unknowingly, was to have an important part + in it. Soon after the Revolutionary War there came to this + country an English wool-grower and his family, and settled on a + little farm near the Hudson River. The mother, a hard-working + and intelligent woman, was eager in her help toward earning a + living, and would drive the farm-wagon to market, with butter + and eggs, and fowls, while her seven-year-old boy sat beside + her. To increase the income some English ale was brewed. The + lad grew up with an aversion to making beer, and when fourteen, + his father insisting that he should enter the business, his + mother helped him to run away. Tying all his worldly + possessions, a shirt and pair of stockings, in a cotton + handkerchief, the mother and her boy walked eight miles below + Poughkeepsie, when, giving him all the money she had, + seventy-five cents, she kissed him, and with tears in her eyes + saw him cross the ferry and land safely on the other side. He + trudged on till a place was found in a country store, and here, + for five years, he worked honestly and industriously, coming + home to his now reconciled father with one hundred and fifty + dollars in his pocket.</p> + + <p>Changes had taken place. The father's brewery had burned, + the oldest son had been killed in attempting to save something + from the wreck, all were poorer than ever, and there seemed + nothing before the boy of nineteen but to help support the + parents, his two unmarried sisters, and two younger brothers. + Whether he had the old dislike for the ale business or not, he + saw therein a means of support, and adopted it. The world had + not then thought so much about the misery which intoxicants + cause, and had not learned that we are better off without + stimulants than with them.</p> + + <p>Every day the young man worked in his brewery, and in the + evening till midnight tended a small oyster house, which he had + opened. Two years later, an Englishman who had seen Matthew + Vassar's untiring industry and honesty, offered to furnish all + the capital which he needed. The long, hard road of poverty had + opened at last into a field of plenty. Henceforward, while + there was to be work and economy, there was to be continued + prosperity, and finally, great wealth.</p> + + <p>Realizing his lack of early education, he began to improve + himself by reading science, art, history, poetry, and the + Bible. He travelled in Europe, and being a close observer, was + a constant learner.</p> + + <p>One day, standing by the great London hospital, built by + Thomas Guy, a relative, and endowed by him with over a million + dollars, Mr. Vassar read these words on the pedestal of the + bronze statue:--</p> + + <p class="dedication">SOLE FOUNDER OF THE HOSPITAL.<br /> + IN HIS LIFETIME.</p> + + <p>The last three words left a deep impression on his mind. He + had no children. He desired to leave his money where it would + be of permanent value to the world. He debated many plans in + his own mind. It is said that his niece, a hard-working + teacher, Lydia Booth, finally influenced him to his grand + decision.</p> + + <p>There was no real college for women in the land. He talked + the matter over with his friends, but they were full of + discouragements. "Women will never desire college training," + said some. "They will be ruined in health, if they attempt it," + said others. "Science is not needed by women; classical + education is not needed; they must have something appropriate + to their sphere," was constantly reiterated. Some wise heads + thought they knew just what that education should be, and just + what were the limits of woman's sphere; but Matthew Vassar had + his own thoughts.</p> + + <p>Calling together, Feb. 26, 1861, some twenty or thirty of + the men in the State most conversant with educational matters, + the white-haired man, now nearly seventy, laid his hand upon a + round tin box, labelled "Vassar College Papers," containing + four hundred thousand dollars in bonds and securities, and + said: "It has long been my desire, after suitably providing for + those of my kindred who have claims upon me, to make such a + disposition of my means as should best honor God and benefit my + fellow-men. At different periods I have regarded various plans + with favor; but these have all been dismissed one after + another, until the subject of erecting and endowing a college + for the education of young women was presented for my + consideration. The novelty, grandeur, and benignity of the idea + arrested my attention.</p> + + <p>"It occurred to me that woman, having received from the + Creator the same intellectual constitution as man, has the same + right as man to intellectual culture and development.</p> + + <p>"I considered that the mothers of a country mould its + citizens, determine its institutions, and shape its + destiny.</p> + + <p>"It has also seemed to me that if woman was properly + educated, some new avenues of useful and honorable employment, + in entire harmony with the gentleness and modesty of her sex, + might be opened to her.</p> + + <p>"It further appeared, there is not in our country, there is + not in the world, so far as known, a single fully endowed + institution for the education of women.... I have come to the + conclusion that the establishment and endowment of a COLLEGE + FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG WOMEN is a work which will satisfy + my highest aspirations, and will be, under God, a rich blessing + to this city and State, to our country and the world.</p> + + <p>"It is my hope to be the instrument in the hands of + Providence, of founding and perpetuating an institution + <i>which shall accomplish for young women what our colleges are + accomplishing for young men</i>."</p> + + <p>For four years Matthew Vassar watched the great buildings + take form and shape in the midst of two hundred acres of lake + and river and green sward, near Poughkeepsie; the main + building, five hundred feet long, two hundred broad, and five + stories high; the museum of natural history, with school of art + and library; the great observatory, three stories high, + furnished with the then third largest telescope in the + country.</p> + + <p>In 1865 Vassar College was opened, and three hundred and + fifty students came pouring in from all parts of the land. + Girls, after all, did desire an education equal to that of + young men. Matthew Vassar was right. His joy seemed complete. + He visited the college daily, and always received the heartiest + welcome. Each year his birthday was celebrated as "Founder's + Day." On one of these occasions he said: "This is almost more + happiness than I can bear. This one day more than repays me for + all I have done." An able and noble man, John Howard Raymond, + was chosen president.</p> + + <p>Mr. Vassar lived but three years after his beloved + institution was opened. June 23, 1868, the day before + commencement, he had called the members of the Board around him + to listen to his customary address. Suddenly, when he had + nearly finished, his voice ceased, the paper dropped from his + hand, and--he was dead! His last gifts amounted to over five + hundred thousand dollars, making in all $989,122.00 for the + college. The poor lad wrought as he had hoped, a blessing "to + the country and the world." His nephews, Matthew Vassar, Jr., + and John Guy Vassar, have given over one hundred and forty + thousand dollars.</p> + + <p>After the observatory was completed, there was but one wish + as to who should occupy it; of course, the person desired was + Maria Mitchell. She hesitated to accept the position. Her + father was seventy and needed her care, but he said, "Go, and I + will go with you." So she left her Lynn home for the arduous + position of a teacher. For four years Mr. Mitchell lived to + enjoy the enthusiastic work of his gifted daughter. He said, + "Among the teachers and pupils I have made acquaintances that a + prince might covet."</p> + + <p>Miss Mitchell makes the observatory her home. Here are her + books, her pictures, her great astronomical clock, and a bust + of Mrs. Somerville, the gift of Frances Power Cobbe. Here for + twenty years she has helped to make Vassar College known and + honored both at home and abroad. Hundreds have been drawn + thither by her name and fame. A friend of mine who went, + intending to stay two years, remained five, for her admiration + of and enjoyment in Miss Mitchell. She says: "She is one of the + few genuine persons I have ever known. There is not one + particle of deceit about her. For girls who accomplish + something, she has great respect; for idlers, none. She has no + sentimentality, but much wit and common sense. No one can be + long under her teaching without learning dignity of manner and + self-reliance."</p> + + <p>She dresses simply, in black or gray, somewhat after the + fashion of her Quaker ancestors. Once when urging economy upon + the girls, she said, "All the clothing I have on cost but + seventeen dollars, and four suits would last each of you a + year." There was a quiet smile, but no audible expression of a + purpose to adopt Miss Mitchell's style of dress.</p> + + <p>The pupils greatly honor and love the undemonstrative woman, + who, they well know, would make any sacrifices for their + well-being. Each week the informal gatherings at her rooms, + where various useful topics are discussed, are eagerly looked + forward to. Chief of all, Miss Mitchell's own bright and + sensible talk is enjoyed. Her "dome parties," held yearly in + June, under the great dome of the observatory, with pupils + coming back from all over the country, original poems read and + songs sung, are among the joys of college life.</p> + + <p>All these years the astronomer's fame has steadily + increased. In 1868, in the great meteoric shower, she and her + pupils recorded the paths of four thousand meteors, and gave + valuable data of their height above the earth. In the summer of + 1869 she joined the astronomers who went to Burlington, Iowa, + to observe the total eclipse of the sun, Aug. 7. Her + observations on the transit of Venus were also valuable. She + has written much on the <i>Satellites of Saturn</i>, and has + prepared a work on the <i>Satellites of Jupiter</i>.</p> + + <p>In 1873 she again visited Europe, spending some time with + the family of the Russian astronomer, Professor Struve, at the + Imperial Observatory at Pultowa.</p> + + <p>She is an honor to her sex, a striking example of what a + quiet country girl can accomplish without money or fortuitous + circumstances.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>She resigned her position at Vassar in 1888. Miss Mitchell + died on the morning of June 28, 1889, at Lynn, Mass., at the + age of seventy-one, and was buried at Nantucket on Sunday + afternoon, June 30.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c7" id="c7"></a> + + <h3>Louisa M. Alcott.</h3><a href="images/c7alcott.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c7alcott_t.jpg" alt="LOUISA M. ALCOTT." /></a> + + <p>A dozen of us sat about the dinner-table at the Hotel + Bellevue, Boston. One was the gifted wife of a gifted + clergyman; one had written two or three novels; one was a + journalist; one was on the eve of a long journey abroad; and + one, whom we were all glad to honor, was the brilliant author + of <i>Little Women</i>. She had a womanly face, bright, gray + eyes, that looked full of merriment, and would not see the hard + side of life, and an air of common sense that made all defer to + her judgment. She told witty stories of the many who wrote her + for advice or favors, and good-naturedly gave bits of her own + personal experience. Nearly twenty years before, I had seen + her, just after her <i>Hospital Sketches</i> were published, + over which I, and thousands of others, had shed tears. Though + but thirty years old then, Miss Alcott looked frail and tired. + That was the day of her struggle with life. Now, at fifty, she + looked happy and comfortable. The desire of her heart had been + realized,--to do good to tens of thousands, and earn enough + money to care for those whom she loved.</p> + + <p>Louisa Alcott's life, like that of so many famous women, has + been full of obstacles. She was born in Germantown, Pa., Nov. + 29, 1832, in the home of an extremely lovely mother and + cultivated father, Amos Bronson Alcott. Beginning life poor, + his desire for knowledge led him to obtain an education and + become a teacher. In 1830 he married Miss May, a descendant of + the well-known Sewells and Quincys, of Boston. Louise Chandler + Moulton says, in her excellent sketch of Miss Alcott, "I have + heard that the May family were strongly opposed to the union of + their beautiful daughter with the penniless teacher and + philosopher;" but he made a devoted husband, though poverty was + long their guest.</p> + + <p>For eleven years, mostly in Boston, he was the earnest and + successful teacher. Margaret Fuller was one of his assistants. + Everybody respected his purity of life and his scholarship. His + kindness of heart made him opposed to corporal punishment, and + in favor of self-government. The world had not come then to his + high ideal, but has been creeping toward it ever since, until + whipping, both in schools and homes, is fortunately becoming + one of the lost arts.</p> + + <p>He believed in making studies interesting to pupils; not the + dull, old-fashioned method of learning by rote, whereby, when a + hymn was taught, such as, "A Charge to keep I have," the + children went home to repeat to their astonished mothers, + "Eight yards to keep I have," having learned by ear, with no + knowledge of the meaning of the words. He had friendly talks + with his pupils on all great subjects; and some of these Miss + Elizabeth Peabody, the sister of Mrs. Hawthorne, so greatly + enjoyed, that she took notes, and compiled them in a book.</p> + + <p>New England, always alive to any theological discussion, at + once pronounced the book unorthodox. Emerson had been through + the same kind of a storm, and bravely came to the defence of + his friend. Another charge was laid at Mr. Alcott's door: he + was willing to admit colored children to his school, and such a + thing was not countenanced, except by a few fanatics(?) like + Whittier, and Phillips, and Garrison. The heated newspaper + discussion lessened the attendance at the school; and finally, + in 1839, it was discontinued, and the Alcott family moved to + Concord.</p> + + <p>Here were gifted men and women with whom the philosopher + could feel at home, and rest. Here lived Emerson, in the + two-story drab house, with horsechestnut-trees in front of it. + Here lived Thoreau, near his beautiful Walden Lake, a restful + place, with no sound save, perchance, the dipping of an oar or + the note of a bird, which the lonely man loved so well. Here he + built his house, twelve feet square, and lived for two years + and a half, giving to the world what he desired others to + give,--his inner self. Here was his bean-field, where he "used + to hoe from five o'clock in the morning till noon," and made, + as he said, an intimate acquaintance with weeds, and a + pecuniary profit of eight dollars seventy-one and one-half + cents! Here, too, was Hawthorne, "who," as Oliver Wendell + Holmes says, "brooded himself into a dream-peopled + solitude."</p> + + <p>Here Mr. Alcott could live with little expense and teach his + four daughters. Louisa, the eldest, was an active, enthusiastic + child, getting into little troubles from her frankness and lack + of policy, but making friends with her generous heart. Who can + ever forget Jo in <i>Little Women</i>, who was really Louisa, + the girl who, when reproved for whistling by Amy, the + art-loving sister, says: "I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits! + I'm not a young lady; and if turning up my hair makes me one, + I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty. I hate to think I've + got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and + look as prim as a china-aster! Its bad enough to be a girl, + anyway, when I like boy's games and work and manners!"</p> + + <p>At fifteen, "Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded + one of a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her + long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided + mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to + see everything, and were by turns fierce or funny or + thoughtful. Her long, thick hair was her one beauty, but it was + usually bundled into a net to be out of her way. Round + shoulders had Jo, and big hands and feet, a fly-away look to + her clothes, and the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was + rapidly shooting up into a woman, and didn't like it."</p> + + <p>The four sisters lived a merry life in the Concord haunts, + notwithstanding their scanty means. Now, at the dear mother's + suggestion, they ate bread and milk for breakfast, that they + might carry their nicely prepared meal to a poor woman, with + six children, who called them <i>Engel-kinder</i>, much to + Louisa's delight. Now they improvised a stage, and produced + real plays, while the neighbors looked in and enjoyed the + fun.</p> + + <p>Louisa was especially fond of reading Shakespeare, Goethe, + Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Miss Edgeworth, and George Sand. As + early as eight years of age she wrote a poem of eight lines, + <i>To a Robin</i>, which her mother carefully preserved, + telling her that "if she kept on in this hopeful way, she might + be a second Shakespeare in time." Blessings on those people who + have a kind smile or a word of encouragement as we struggle up + the hard hills of life!</p> + + <p>At thirteen she wrote <i>My Kingdom</i>. When, years + afterward, Mrs. Eva Munson Smith wrote to her, asking for some + poems for <i>Woman in Sacred Song</i>, Miss Alcott sent her + this one, saying, "It is the only hymn I ever wrote. It was + composed at thirteen, and as I still find the same difficulty + in governing my kingdom, it still expresses my soul's desire, + and I have nothing better to offer."</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "A little kingdom I possess<br /> + Where thoughts and feelings dwell, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And very hard the task I find<br /> + Of governing it well; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + For passion tempts and troubles me,<br /> + A wayward will misleads, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And selfishness its shadow casts<br /> + On all my words and deeds. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "How can I learn to rule myself,<br /> + To be the child I should, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Honest and brave, and never tire<br /> + Of trying to be good? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + How can I keep a sunny soul<br /> + To shine along life's way? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + How can I tune my little heart<br /> + To sweetly sing all day? + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Dear Father, help me with the love<br /> + That casteth out my fear; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Teach me to lean on Thee, and feel<br /> + That Thou art very near: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That no temptation is unseen,<br /> + No childish grief too small, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Since Thou, with patience infinite,<br /> + Doth soothe and comfort all. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "I do not ask for any crown,<br /> + But that which all may win; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Nor try to conquer any world<br /> + Except the one within. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Be Thou my guide until I find,<br /> + Led by a tender hand, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Thy happy kingdom in myself,<br /> + And dare to take command." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Louisa was very imaginative, telling stories to her sisters + and her mates, and at sixteen wrote a book for Miss Ellen + Emerson, entitled <i>Flower Fables</i>. It was not published + till six years later, and then, being florid in style, did not + bring her any fame. She was now anxious to earn her support. + She was not the person to sit down idly and wait for marriage, + or for some rich relation to care for her; but she determined + to make a place in the world for herself. She says in <i>Little + Women</i>, "Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; + what it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to + tell her," and at sixteen the time had come to make the + attempt.</p> + + <p>She began to teach school with twenty pupils. Instead of the + theological talks which her father gave his scholars, she told + them stories, which she says made the one pleasant hour in her + school-day. Now the long years of work had begun--fifteen of + them--which should give the girl such rich yet sometimes bitter + experiences, that she could write the most fascinating books + from her own history. Into her volume called <i>Work</i>, + published when she had become famous, she put many of her own + early sorrows in those of "Christie."</p> + + <p>Much of this time was spent in Boston. Sometimes she cared + for an invalid child; sometimes she was a governess; sometimes + she did sewing, adding to her slender means by writing late at + night. Occasionally she went to the house of Rev. Theodore + Parker, where she met Emerson, Sumner, Garrison, and Julia Ward + Howe. Emerson always had a kind word for the girl whom he had + known in Concord, and Mr. Parker would take her by the hand and + say, "How goes it, my child? God bless you; keep your heart up, + Louisa," and then she would go home to her lonely room, brave + and encouraged.</p> + + <p>At nineteen, one of her early stories was published in + <i>Gleason's Pictorial</i>, and for this she received five + dollars. How welcome was this brain-money! Some months later + she sent a story to the <i>Boston Saturday Gazette</i>, + entitled <i>The Rival Prima Donnas</i>, and, to her great + delight, received ten dollars; and what was almost better + still, a request from the editor for another story. Miss Alcott + made the <i>Rival Prima Donnas</i> into a drama, and it was + accepted by a theatre, and would have been put upon the stage + but for some disagreement among the actors. However, the young + teacher received for her work a pass to the theatre for forty + nights. She even meditated going upon the stage, but the + manager quite opportunely broke his leg, and the contract was + annulled. What would the boys and girls of America have lost, + had their favorite turned actress!</p> + + <p>A second story was, of course, written for the <i>Saturday + Evening Gazette</i>. And now Louisa was catching a glimpse of + fame. She says, "One of the memorial moments of my life is that + in which, as I trudged to school on a wintry day, my eye fell + upon a large yellow poster with these delicious words, + '<i>Bertha</i>, a new tale by the author of <i>The Rival Prima + Donnas</i>, will appear in the <i>Saturday Evening + Gazette</i>.' I was late; it was bitter cold; people jostled + me; I was mortally afraid I should be recognized; but there I + stood, feasting my eyes on the fascinating poster, and saying + proudly to myself, in the words of the great Vincent Crummles, + 'This, this is fame!' That day my pupils had an indulgent + teacher; for, while they struggled with their pot-hooks, I was + writing immortal works; and when they droned out the + multiplication table, I was counting up the noble fortune my + pen was to earn for me in the dim, delightful future. That + afternoon my sisters made a pilgrimage to behold this famous + placard, and finding it torn by the wind, boldly stole it, and + came home to wave it like a triumphal banner in the bosom of + the excited family. The tattered paper still exists, folded + away with other relics of those early days, so hard and yet so + sweet, when the first small victories were won, and the + enthusiasm of youth lent romance to life's drudgery."</p> + + <p>Finding that there was money in sensational stories, she set + herself eagerly to work, and soon could write ten or twelve a + month. She says in <i>Little Women</i>: "As long as <i>The + Spread Eagle</i> paid her a dollar a column for her 'rubbish,' + as she called it, Jo felt herself a woman of means, and spun + her little romances diligently. But great plans fermented in + her busy brain and ambitious mind, and the old tin kitchen in + the garret held a slowly increasing pile of blotted manuscript, + which was one day to place the name of March upon the roll of + fame."</p> + + <p>But sensational stories did not bring much fame, and the + conscientious Louisa tired of them. A novel, <i>Moods</i>, + written at eighteen, shared nearly the same fate as <i>Flower + Fables</i>. Some critics praised, some condemned, but the great + world was indifferent. After this, she offered a story to Mr. + James T. Fields, at that time editor of the <i>Atlantic + Monthly</i>, but it was declined, with the kindly advice that + she stick to her teaching. But Louisa Alcott had a strong will + and a brave heart, and would not be overcome by obstacles.</p> + + <p>The Civil War had begun, and the school-teacher's heart was + deeply moved. She was now thirty, having had such experience as + makes us very tender toward suffering. The perfume of natures + does not usually come forth without bruising. She determined to + go to Washington and offer herself as a nurse at the hospital + for soldiers. After much official red tape, she found herself + in the midst of scores of maimed and dying, just brought from + the defeat at Fredericksburg. She says: "Round the great stove + was gathered the dreariest group I ever saw,--ragged, gaunt, + and pale, mud to the knees, with bloody bandages untouched + since put on days before; many bundled up in blankets, coats + being lost or useless, and all wearing that disheartened look + which proclaimed defeat more plainly than any telegram, of the + Burnside blunder. I pitied them so much, I dared not speak to + them. I yearned to serve the dreariest of them all.</p> + + <p>"Presently there came an order, 'Tell them to take off + socks, coats, and shirts; scrub them well, put on clean shirts, + and the attendants will finish them off, and lay them in + bed.'</p> + + <p>"I chanced to light on a withered old Irishman," she says, + "wounded in the head, which caused that portion of his frame to + be tastefully laid out like a garden, the bandages being the + walks, and his hair the shrubbery. He was so overpowered by the + honor of having a lady wash him, as he expressed it, that he + did nothing but roll up his eyes and bless me, in an + irresistible style which was too much for my sense of the + ludicrous, so we laughed together; and when I knelt down to + take off his shoes, he wouldn't hear of my touching 'them dirty + craters.' Some of them took the performance like sleepy + children, leaning their tired heads against me as I worked; + others looked grimly scandalized, and several of the roughest + colored like bashful girls."</p> + + <p>When food was brought, she fed one of the badly wounded men, + and offered the same help to his neighbor. "Thank you, ma'am," + he said, "I don't think I'll ever eat again, for I'm shot in + the stomach. But I'd like a drink of water, if you ain't too + busy."</p> + + <p>"I rushed away," she says; "but the water pails were gone to + be refilled, and it was some time before they reappeared. I did + not forget my patient, meanwhile, and, with the first mugful, + hurried back to him. He seemed asleep; but something in the + tired white face caused me to listen at his lips for a breath. + None came. I touched his forehead; it was cold; and then I knew + that, while he waited, a better nurse than I had given him a + cooler draught, and healed him with a touch. I laid the sheet + over the quiet sleeper, whom no noise could now disturb; and, + half an hour later, the bed was empty."</p> + + <p>With cheerful face and warm heart she went among the + soldiers, now writing letters, now washing faces, and now + singing lullabies. One day a tall, manly fellow was brought in. + He seldom spoke, and uttered no complaint. After a little, when + his wounds were being dressed, Miss Alcott observed the big + tears roll down his cheeks and drop on the floor.</p> + + <p>She says: "My heart opened wide and took him in, as, + gathering the bent head in my arms, as freely as if he had been + a child, I said, 'Let me help you bear it, John!' Never on any + human countenance have I seen so swift and beautiful a look of + gratitude, surprise, and comfort as that which answered me more + eloquently than the whispered--</p> + + <p>"'Thank you, ma'am; this is right good! this is what I + wanted.'</p> + + <p>"'Then why not ask for it before?'</p> + + <p>"'I didn't like to be a trouble, you seemed so busy, and I + could manage to get on alone.'"</p> + + <p>The doctors had told Miss Alcott that John must die, and she + must take the message to him; but she had not the heart to do + it. One evening he asked her to write a letter for him. "Shall + it be addressed to wife or mother, John?"</p> + + <p>"Neither, ma'am; I've got no wife, and will write to mother + myself when I get better. Mother's a widow; I'm the oldest + child she has, and it wouldn't do for me to marry until Lizzy + has a home of her own, and Jack's learned his trade; for we're + not rich, and I must be father to the children and husband to + the dear old woman, if I can."</p> + + <p>"No doubt you are both, John; yet how came you to go to war, + if you felt so?"</p> + + <p>"I went because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory + or the pay; I wanted the right thing done, and people kept + saying the men who were in earnest ought to fight. I was in + earnest, the Lord knows! but I held off as long as I could, not + knowing which was my duty. Mother saw the case, gave me her + ring to keep me steady, and said 'Go'; so I went."</p> + + <p>"Do you ever regret that you came, when you lie here + suffering so much?"</p> + + <p>"Never, ma'am; I haven't helped a great deal, but I've shown + I was willing to give my life, and perhaps I've got to.... This + is my first battle; do they think it's going to be my + last?"</p> + + <p>"I'm afraid they do, John."</p> + + <p>He seemed startled at first, but desired Miss Alcott to + write the letter to Jack, because he could best tell the sad + news to the mother. With a sigh, John said, "I hope the answer + will come in time for me to see it."</p> + + <p>Two days later Miss Alcott was sent for. John stretched out + both hands as he said, "I knew you'd come. I guess I'm moving + on, ma'am." Then clasping her hand so close that the death + marks remained long upon it, he slept the final sleep. An hour + later John's letter came, and putting it in his hand, Miss + Alcott kissed the dead brow of the Virginia blacksmith, for his + aged mother's sake, and buried him in the government lot.</p> + + <p>The noble teacher after a while became ill from overwork, + and was obliged to return home, soon writing her book, + <i>Hospital Sketches</i>, published in 1865. This year, needing + rest and change, she went to Europe as companion to an invalid + lady, spending a year in Germany, Switzerland, Paris, and + London. In the latter city she met Jean Ingelow, Frances Power + Cobbe, John Stuart Mill, George Lewes, and others, who had + known of the brilliant Concord coterie. Such persons did not + ask if Miss Alcott were rich, nor did they care.</p> + + <p>In 1868 her father took several of her more recent stories + to Roberts Brothers to see about their publication in book + form. Mr. Thomas Niles, a member of the firm, a man of + refinement and good judgment, said: "We do not care just now + for volumes of collected stories. Will not your daughter write + us a new book consisting of a single story for girls?"</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott feared she could not do it, and set herself to + write <i>Little Women</i>, to show the publishers that she + could <i>not</i> write a story for girls. But she did not + succeed in convincing them or the world of her inability. In + two months the first part was finished, and published October, + 1868. It was a natural, graphic story of her three sisters and + herself in that simple Concord home. How we, who are grown-up + children, read with interest about the "Lawrence boy," + especially if we had boys of our own, and sympathized with the + little girl who wrote Miss Alcott, "I have cried quarts over + Beth's sickness. If you don't have her marry Laurie in the + second part, I shall never forgive you, and none of the girls + in our school will ever read any more of your books. Do! do! + have her, please."</p> + + <p>The second part appeared in April, 1869, and Miss Alcott + found herself famous. The "pile of blotted manuscript" had + "placed the name of March upon the roll of fame." Some of us + could not be reconciled to dear Jo's marriage with the German + professor, and their school at Plumfield, when Laurie loved her + so tenderly. "We cried over Beth, and felt how strangely like + most young housekeepers was Meg. How the tired teacher, and + tender-hearted nurse for the soldiers must have rejoiced at her + success! "This year," she wrote her publishers, "after toiling + so many years along the uphill road, always a hard one to women + writers, it is peculiarly grateful to me to find the way + growing easier at last, with pleasant little surprises + blossoming on either side, and the rough places made + smooth."</p> + + <p>When <i>Little Men</i> was announced, fifty thousand copies + were ordered in advance of its publication! About this time + Miss Alcott visited Rome with her artist sister May, the "Amy" + of <i>Little Women</i>, and on her return, wrote + <i>Shawl-straps</i>, a bright sketch of their journey, followed + by an <i>Old-Fashioned Girl</i>; that charming book <i>Under + the Lilacs</i>, where your heart goes out to Ben and his dog + Sancho; six volumes of <i>Aunt Jo's Scrap-bag</i>; <i>Jack and + Jill</i>; and others. From these books Miss Alcott has already + received about one hundred thousand dollars.</p> + + <p>She has ever been the most devoted of daughters. Till the + mother went out of life, in 1877, she provided for her every + want. May, the gifted youngest sister, who was married in Paris + in 1878 to Ernst Nieriker, died a year and a half later, + leaving her infant daughter, Louisa May Nieriker, to Miss + Alcott's loving care. The father, who became paralyzed in 1882, + now eighty-six years old, has had her constant ministries. How + proud he has been of his Louisa! I heard him say, years ago, "I + am riding in her golden chariot."</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott now divides her time between Boston and Concord. + "The Orchards," the Alcott home for twenty-five years, set in + its frame of grand trees, its walls and doors daintily covered + with May Alcott's sketches, has become the home of the "Summer + School of Philosophy," and Miss Alcott and her father live in + the house where Thoreau died.</p> + + <p>Most of her stories have been written in Boston, where she + finds more inspiration than at Concord. "She never had a + study," says Mrs. Moulton; "any corner will answer to write in. + She is not particular as to pens and paper, and an old atlas on + her knee is all the desk she cares for. She has the wonderful + power to carry a dozen plots in her head at a time, thinking + them over whenever she is in the mood. Often in the dead waste + and middle of the night she lies awake and plans whole + chapters. In her hardest working days she used to write + fourteen hours in the twenty-four, sitting steadily at her + work, and scarcely tasting food till her daily task was done. + When she has a story to write, she goes to Boston, hires a + quiet room, and shuts herself up in it. In a month or so the + book will be done, and its author comes out 'tired, hungry, and + cross,' and ready to go back to Concord and vegetate for a + time."</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott, like Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is an earnest + advocate of woman's suffrage, and temperance. When Meg in + <i>Little Women</i> prevails upon Laurie to take the pledge on + her wedding-day, the delighted Jo beams her approval. In 1883 + she writes of the suffrage reform, "Every year gives me greater + faith in it, greater hope of its success, a larger charity for + those who cannot see its wisdom, and a more earnest wish to use + what influence I possess for its advancement."</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott has done a noble work for her generation. Her + books have been translated into foreign languages, and + expressions of affection have come to her from both east and + west. She says, "As I turn my face toward sunset, I find so + much to make the down-hill journey smooth and lovely, that, + like Christian, I go on my way rejoicing with a cheerful + heart."</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott died March 6, 1888, at the age of fifty-five, + three days after the death of her distinguished father, Bronson + Alcott, eighty-eight years old. She had been ill for some + months, from care and overwork. On the Saturday morning before + she died, she wrote to a friend: "I am told that I must spend + another year in this 'Saint's Rest,' and then I am promised + twenty years of health. I don't want so many, and I have no + idea I shall see them. But as I don't live for myself, I will + live on for others."</p> + + <p>On the evening of the same day she became unconscious, and + remained so till her death, on Tuesday morning.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c8" id="c8"></a> + + <h3>Mary Lyon.</h3><a href="images/c8lyon.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c8lyon_t.jpg" alt="Mary Lyon." /></a> + + <p>There are two women whose memory the girls in this country + should especially revere,--Mary Lyon and Catharine Beecher. + When it was unfashionable for women to know more than to read, + write, and cipher (the "three R's," as reading, writing, and + arithmetic were called), these two had the courage to ask that + women have an education equal to men, a thing which was laughed + at as impracticable and impossible. To these two pioneers we + are greatly indebted for the grand educational advantages for + women to-day in America.</p> + + <p>Amid the mountains of Western Massachusetts, at Buckland, + Feb. 28, 1797, the fifth of seven children, Mary Lyon came into + the world, in obscurity. The little farm-house was but one + story high, in the midst of rocks and sturdy trees. The father, + Aaron Lyon, was a godly man, beloved by all his + neighbors,--"the peacemaker," he was called,--who died at + forty-five, leaving his little family well-nigh helpless--no, + not helpless, because the mother was of the same material of + which Eliza Garfields are made.</p> + + <p>Such women are above circumstances. She saw to it that the + farm yielded its best. She worked early and late, always + cheerful, always observing the Sabbath most devotedly, always + keeping the children clean and tidy. In her little garden the + May pinks were the sweetest and the peonies the reddest of any + in the neighborhood. One person begged to set a plant in the + corner of her garden, sure that if Mrs. Lyon tended it, it + could never die. "How is it," said the hard-working wife of a + farmer, "that the widow can do more for me than any one else?" + She had her trials, but she saw no use in telling them to + others, so with a brave heart she took up her daily tasks and + performed them.</p> + + <p>Little Mary was an energetic, frank, warm-hearted child, + full of desire to help others. Her mind was eager in grasping + new things, and curious in its investigations. Once, when her + mother had given her some work to do, she climbed upon a chair + to look at the hour-glass, and said, as she studied it, "I know + I have found a way to <i>make more time</i>."</p> + + <p>At the village school she showed a remarkable memory and the + power of committing lessons easily. She was especially good in + mathematics and grammar. In four days she learned all of + Alexander's Grammar, which scholars were accustomed to commit, + and recited it accurately to the astonished teacher.</p> + + <p>When Mary was thirteen, the mother married a second time, + and soon after removed to Ohio. The girl remained at the old + homestead, keeping house for the only brother, and so well did + she do the work, that he gave her a dollar a week for her + services. This she used in buying books and clothes for school. + Besides, she found opportunities to spin and weave for some of + the neighbors, and thus added a little more to her purse.</p> + + <p>After five years, the brother married and sought a home in + New York State. Mary, thus thrown upon herself, began to teach + school for seventy-five cents a week and her board. This amount + would not buy many silks or embroideries, but Mary did not care + much for these. "She is all intellect," said a friend who knew + her well; "she does not know that she has a body to care + for."</p> + + <p>She had now saved enough money to enable her to spend one + term at the Sanderson Academy at Ashfield. What an important + event in life that seemed to the struggling country girl! The + scholars watched her bright, intellectual face, and when she + began to recite, laid aside their books to hear her. The + teacher said, "I should like to see what she would make if she + could be sent to college." When the term ended, her little + savings were all spent, and now she must teach again. If she + only could go forward with her classmates! but the laws of + poverty are inexorable. Just as she was leaving the school, the + trustees came and offered the advantages of the academy free, + for another term. Did ever such a gleam of sunshine come into a + cloudy day?</p> + + <p>But how could she pay her board? She owned a, bed and some + table linen, and taking these to a boarding house, a bargain + was made whereby she could have a room and board in exchange + for her household articles.</p> + + <p>Her red-letter days had indeed come. She might never have a + chance for schooling again; so, without regard to health, she + slept only four hours out of the twenty-four, ate her meals + hurriedly, and gave all her time to her lessons. Not a scholar + in the school could keep up with her. When the teacher gave her + Adams' <i>Latin Grammar</i>, telling her to commit such + portions as were usual in going over the book the first time, + she learned them all in three days!</p> + + <p>When the term closed, she had no difficulty in finding a + place to teach. All the towns around had heard of the + surprising scholar, Mary Lyon, and probably hoped she could + inspire the same scholarship in her pupils, a matter in which + she was most successful.</p> + + <p>As soon as her schools were finished, she would spend the + money in obtaining instruction in some particular study, in + which she thought herself deficient. Now she would go into the + family of Rev. Edward Hitchcock, afterward president of Amherst + College, and study natural science of him, meantime taking + lessons, of his wife in drawing and painting. Now she would + study penmanship, following the copy as closely as a child. + Once when a teacher, in deference to her reputation, wrote the + copy in Latin, she handed it back and asked him to write in + English, lest when the books were examined, she might be + thought wiser than she really was. Thus conscientious was the + young school-teacher.</p> + + <p>She was now twenty-four, and had laid up enough money to + attend the school of Rev. Joseph Emerson, at Byfield. He was an + unusual man in his gifts of teaching and broad views of life. + He had been blest with a wife of splendid talents, and as Miss + Lyon was wont to say, "Men judge of the whole sex by their own + wives," so Mr. Emerson believed women could understand + metaphysics and theology as well as men. He discussed science + and religion with his pupils, and the result was a class of + self-respecting, self-reliant, thinking women.</p> + + <p>Miss Lyon's friends discouraged her going to Byfield, + because they thought she knew enough already. "Why," said they, + "you will never be a minister, and what is the need of going to + school?" She improved her time here. One of her classmates + wrote home, "Mary sends love to all; but time with her is too + precious to spend it in writing letters. She is gaining + knowledge by handfuls."</p> + + <p>The next year, an assistant was wanted in the Sanderson + Academy. The principal thought a man must be engaged. "Try Mary + Lyon," said one of her friends, "and see if she is not + sufficient," and he employed her, and found her a host. But she + could not long be retained, for she was wanted in a larger + field, at Derry, N.H. Miss Grant, one of the teachers at Mr. + Emerson's school, had sent for her former bright pupil. Mary + was glad to be associated with Miss Grant, for she was very + fond of her; but before going, she must attend some lectures in + chemistry and natural history by Professor Eaton at Amherst. + Had she been a young man, how easily could she have secured a + scholarship, and thus worked her way through college; but for a + young woman, neither Amherst, nor Dartmouth, nor Williams, nor + Harvard, nor Yale, with all their wealth, had an open door. + Very fond of chemistry, she could only learn in the spare time + which a busy professor could give.</p> + + <p>Was the cheerful girl never despondent in these hard working + years? Yes; because naturally she was easily discouraged, and + would have long fits of weeping; but she came to the conclusion + that such seasons of depression were wrong, and that "there was + too much to be done, for her to spend her time in that manner." + She used to tell her pupils that "if they were unhappy, it was + probably because they had so many thoughts about themselves, + and so few about the happiness of others." The friend who had + recommended her for the Sanderson Academy now became surety for + her for forty dollars' worth of clothing, and the earnest young + woman started for Derry. The school there numbered ninety + pupils, and Mary Lyon was happy. She wrote her mother, "I do + not number it among the least of my blessings that I am + permitted to <i>do something</i>. Surely I ought to be thankful + for an active life."</p> + + <p>But the Derry school was held only in the summers, so Miss + Lyon came back to teach at Ashfield and Buckland, her + birthplace, for the winters. The first season she had + twenty-five scholars; the last, one hundred. The families in + the neighborhood took the students into their homes to board, + charging them one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five cents + per week, while the tuition was twenty-five cents a week. No + one would grow very rich on such an income. So popular was Miss + Lyon's teaching that a suitable building was erected for her + school, and the Ministerial Association passed a resolution of + praise, urging her to remain permanently in the western part of + Massachusetts.</p> + + <p>However, Miss Grant had removed to Ipswich, and had urged + Miss Lyon to join her, which she did. For six years they taught + a large and most successful school. Miss Lyon was singularly + happy in her intercourse with the young ladies. She won them to + her views, while they scarcely knew that they were being + controlled. She would say to them: "Now, young ladies, you are + here at great expense. Your board and tuition cost a great + deal, and your time ought to be worth more than both; but, in + order to get an equivalent for the money and time you are + spending, you must be systematic, and that is impossible, + unless you have a regular hour for rising.... Persons who run + round all day after the half-hour they lost in the morning + never accomplish much. You may know them by a rip in the glove, + a string pinned to the bonnet, a shawl left on the balustrade, + which they had no time to hang up, they were in such a hurry to + catch their lost thirty minutes. You will see them opening + their books and trying to study at the time of general + exercises in school; but it is a fruitless race; they never + will overtake their lost half-hour. Good men, from Abraham to + Washington, have been early risers." Again, she would say, + "Mind, wherever it is found, will secure respect.... Educate + the women, and the men will be educated. Let the ladies + understand the great doctrine of seeking the greatest good, of + loving their neighbors as themselves; let them indoctrinate + their children in this fundamental truth, and we shall have + wise legislators."</p> + + <p>"You won't do so again, will you, dear?" was almost always + sure to win a tender response from a pupil.</p> + + <p>She would never allow a scholar to be laughed at. If a + teacher spoke jestingly of a scholar's capacity, Miss Lyon + would say, "Yes, I know she has a small mind, but we must do + the best we can for her."</p> + + <p>For nearly sixteen years she had been giving her life to the + education of girls. She had saved no money for herself, giving + it to her relatives or aiding poor girls in going to school. + She was simple in her tastes, the blue cloth dress she + generally wore having been spun and woven by herself. A friend + tells how, standing before the mirror to tie her bonnet, she + said, "Well, I <i>may</i> fail of Heaven, but I shall be very + much disappointed if I do--very much disappointed;" and there + was no thought of what she was doing with the ribbons.</p> + + <p>Miss Lyon was now thirty-three years old. It would be + strange indeed if a woman with her bright mind and sunshiny + face should not have offers of marriage. One of her best + opportunities came, as is often the case, when about thirty, + and Miss Lyon could have been made supremely happy by it, but + she had in her mind one great purpose, and she felt that she + must sacrifice home and love for it. This was the building of a + high-grade school or college for women. Had she decided + otherwise, there probably would have been no Mount Holyoke + Seminary.</p> + + <p>She had the tenderest sympathy for poor girls; they were the + ones usually most desirous of an education, and they struggled + the hardest for it. For them no educational societies were + provided, and no scholarships. Could she, who had no money, + build "a seminary which should be so moderate in its expenses + as to be open to the daughters of farmers and artisans, and to + teachers who might be mainly dependent for their support on + their own exertions"?</p> + + <p>In vain she tried to have the school at Ipswich established + permanently by buildings and endowments. In vain she talked + with college presidents and learned ministers. Nearly all were + indifferent. They could see no need that women should study + science or the classics. That women would be happier with + knowledge, just as they themselves were made happier by it, + seemed never to have occurred to them. That women were soon to + do nine-tenths of the teaching in the schools of the country + could not be foreseen. Oberlin and Cornell, Vassar and + Wellesley, belonged to a golden age as yet undreamed of.</p> + + <p>For two years she thought over it, and prayed over it, and + when all seemed hopeless, she would walk the floor, and say + over and over again, "Commit thy way unto the Lord. He will + keep thee. Women <i>must</i> be educated; they <i>must</i> be." + Finally a meeting was called in Boston at the same time as one + of the religious anniversaries. She wrote to a friend, "Very + few were present. The meeting was adjourned; and the adjourned + meeting utterly failed. There were not enough present to + organize, and there the business, in my view, has come to an + end."</p> + + <p>Still she carried the burden on her heart. She writes, in + 1834, "During the past year my heart has so yearned over the + adult female youth in the common walks of life, that it has + sometimes seemed as though a fire were shut up in my bones." + She conceived the idea of having the young women do the work of + the house, partly to lessen expenses, partly to teach them + useful things, and also because she says, "Might not this + single feature do away much of the prejudice against female + education among common people?"</p> + + <p>At last the purpose in her heart became so strong that she + resigned her position as a teacher, and went from house to + house in Ipswich collecting funds. She wrote to her mother, "I + hope and trust that this is of the Lord, and that He will + prosper it. In this movement I have thought much more + constantly, and have felt much more deeply, about doing that + which shall be for the honor of Christ, and for the good of + souls, than I ever did in any step in my life." She determined + to raise her first thousand dollars from women. She talked in + her good-natured way with the father or the mother. She asked + if they wanted a new shawl or card-table or carpet, if they + would not find a way to procure it. Usually they gave five or + ten dollars; some, only a half-dollar. So interested did two + ladies become that they gave one hundred dollars apiece, and + later, when their house was burned, and the man who had their + money in charge lost it, they worked with their own hands and + earned the two hundred, that their portion might not fail in + the great work.</p> + + <p>In less than two months she had raised the thousand; but she + wrote Miss Grant, "I do not recollect being so fatigued, even + to prostration, as I have been for a few weeks past." She often + quoted a remark of Dr. Lyman Beecher's, "The wear and tear of + what I cannot do is a great deal more than the wear and tear of + what I do." When she became quite worn, her habit was to sleep + nearly all the time, for two or three days, till nature + repaired the system.</p> + + <p>She next went to Amherst, where good Dr. Hitchcock felt as + deeply interested for girls as for the boys in his college. One + January morning, with the thermometer below zero, three or four + hours before sunrise, he and Miss Lyon started on the stage for + Worcester. Each was wrapped in a buffalo robe, so that the long + ride was not unpleasant. A meeting was to be held, and a + decision made as to the location of the seminary, which, at + last, was actually to be built. After a long conference, South + Hadley was chosen, ten miles south of Amherst.</p> + + <p>One by one, good men became interested in the matter, and + one true-hearted minister became an agent for the raising of + funds. Miss Lyon was also untiring in her solicitations. She + spoke before ladies' meetings, and visited those in high + station and low. So troubled were her friends about this public + work for a woman, that they reasoned with her that it was in + better taste to stay at home, and let gentlemen do the + work.</p> + + <p>"What do I that is wrong?" she replied. "I ride in the stage + coach or cars without an escort. Other ladies do the same. I + visit a family where I have been previously invited, and the + minister's wife, or some leading woman, calls the ladies + together to see me, and I lay our object before them. Is that + wrong? I go with Mr. Hawks [the agent], and call on a gentleman + of known liberality, at his own house, and converse with him + about our enterprise. What harm is there in that? My heart is + sick, my soul is pained, with this empty gentility, this + genteel nothingness. I am doing a great work. I cannot come + down." Pitiful, that so noble a woman should have been hampered + by public opinion. How all this has changed! Now, the world and + the church gladly welcome the voice, the hand, and the heart of + woman in their philanthropic work.</p> + + <p>At last, enough money was raised to begin the enterprise, + and the corner-stone of Mount Holyoke Seminary was laid, Oct. + 3, 1836. "It was a day of deep interest," writes Mary Lyon. + "The stones and brick and mortar speak a language which + vibrates through my very soul."</p> + + <p>"With thankful heart and busy hands she watched the progress + of the work. Every detail was under her careful eye. She said: + "Had I a thousand lives, I could sacrifice them all in + suffering and hardship, for the sake of Mount Holyoke Seminary. + Did I possess the greatest fortune, I could readily relinquish + it all, and become poor, and more than poor, if its prosperity + should demand it."</p> + + <p>Finally, in the autumn of 1837, the seminary was ready for + pupils. The main building, four stories high, had been erected. + An admirable course of study had been provided. For the forty + weeks of the school year, the charges for board and tuition + were sixty dollars,--only one dollar and twenty-five cents per + week. Miss Lyon's own salary was but two hundred a year and she + never would receive anything higher. The accommodations were + only for eighty pupils, but one hundred and sixteen came the + first year.</p> + + <p>While Miss Lyon was heartily loved by her scholars, they yet + respected her good discipline. It was against the rules for any + one to absent herself from meals without permission to do so. + One of the young ladies, not feeling quite as fresh as usual, + concluded not to go down stairs at tea time, and to remain + silent on the subject. Miss Lyon's quick eye detected her + absence. Calling the girl's room-mate to her, she asked, "Is + Miss ---- ill?"</p> + + <p>"Oh, no," was the reply, "only a little indisposed, and she + commissioned me to carry her a cup of tea and cracker."</p> + + <p>"Very well, I will see to it."</p> + + <p>After supper, the young lady ascended to her room, in the + fourth story, found her companion enjoying a glorious sunset, + and seating herself beside her, they began an animated + conversation. Presently there was a knock. "Come in!" both + shouted gleefully, when lo! in walked Mary Lyon, with the tea + and cracker. She had come up four flights of stairs; but she + said every one was tired at night, and she could as well bring + up the supper as anybody. She inquired with great kindness + about the young lady's health, who, greatly abashed, had + nothing to say. She was ever after present at meal time, unless + sick in bed.</p> + + <p>The students never forgot Miss Lyon's plain, earnest words. + When they entered, they were told that they were expected to do + right without formal commands; if not, they better go to some + smaller school, where they could receive the peculiar training + needed by little girls. She urged loose clothing and thick + shoes. "If you will persist in killing yourselves by reckless + exposure," she would say, "we are not willing to take the + responsibility of the act. We think, by all means, you better + go home and die, in the arms of your dear mothers."</p> + + <p>Miss Lyon had come to her fiftieth birthday. Her seminary + had prospered beyond her fondest hopes. She had raised nearly + seventy thousand dollars for her beloved school, and it was out + of debt. Nearly two thousand pupils had been at South Hadley, + of whom a large number had become missionaries and teachers. + Not a single year had passed without a revival, and rarely did + a girl leave the institution without professing + Christianity.</p> + + <p>She said to a friend shortly after this fiftieth birthday: + "It was the most solemn day of my life. I devoted it to + reflection and prayer. Of my active toils I then took leave. I + was certain that before another fifty years should have + elapsed, I should wake up amid far different scenes, and far + other thoughts would fill my mind, and other employments would + engage my attention. I felt it. There seemed to be no ladder + between me and the world above. The gates were opened, and I + seemed to stand on the threshold. I felt that the evening of my + days had come, and that I needed repose."</p> + + <p>And the repose came soon. The last of February, 1849, a + young lady in the seminary died. Miss Lyon called the girls + together and spoke tenderly to them, urging them not to fear + death, but to be ready to meet it. She said, "There is nothing + in the universe that I am afraid of, but that I shall not know + and do all my duty." Beautiful words! carved shortly after on + her monument.</p> + + <p>A few days later, Mary Lyon lay upon her death-bed. The + brain had been congested, and she was often unconscious. In one + of her lucid moments, her pastor said, "Christ precious?" + Summoning all her energies, she raised both hands, clasped + them, and said, "Yes." "Have you trusted Christ too much?" he + asked. Seeing that she made an effort to speak, he said, "God + can be glorified by silence." An indescribable smile lit up her + face, and she was gone.</p> + + <p>On the seminary grounds the beloved teacher was buried, her + pupils singing about her open grave, "Why do we mourn departing + friends?" A beautiful monument of Italian marble, square, and + resting upon a granite pedestal, marks the spot. On the west + side are the words:--</p> + + <p class="dedication">MARY LYON,<br /> + THE FOUNDER OF<br /> + MOUNT HOLYOKE FEMALE SEMINARY,<br /> + AND FOR TWELVE YEARS<br /> + ITS PRINCIPAL;<br /> + A TEACHER<br /> + FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS,<br /> + AND OF MORE THAN<br /> + THREE THOUSAND PUPILS.<br /> + BORN, FEBRUARY 28, 1797;<br /> + DIED, MARCH 5, 1849.<br /></p> + + <p>What a devoted, heroic life! and its results, who can + estimate?</p> + + <p>Her work has gone steadily on. The seminary grounds now + cover twenty-five acres. The main structure has two large + wings, while a gymnasium; a library building, with thirteen + thousand volumes; the Lyman Williston Hall, with laboratories + and art gallery; and the new observatory, with fine telescope, + astronomical clock, and other appliances, afford such admirable + opportunities for higher education as noble Mary Lyon could + hardly have dared to hope for. The property is worth about + three hundred thousand dollars. How different from the days + when half-dollars were given into Miss Lyon's willing hands! + Nearly six thousand students have been educated here, + three-fourths of whom have become teachers, and about two + hundred foreign missionaries. Many have married ministers, + presidents of colleges, and leading men in education and good + works.</p> + + <p>The board and tuition have become one hundred and + seventy-five dollars a year, only enough to cover the cost. The + range of study has been constantly increased and elevated to + keep pace with the growing demand that women shall be as fully + educated as men. Even Miss Lyon, in those early days, looked + forward to the needs of the future, by placing in her course of + study, Sullivan's <i>Political Class-Book</i>, and Wayland's + <i>Political Economy</i>. The four years' course is solid and + thorough, while the optional course in French, German, and + Greek is admirable. Eventually, when our preparatory schools + are higher, all our colleges for women will have as difficult + entrance examinations as Harvard and Yale.</p> + + <p>The housework at Mount Holyoke Seminary requires but half an + hour each day for each of the two hundred and ninety-seven + pupils. Much time is spent wisely in the gymnasium, and in + boating on the lake near by. Habits of punctuality, + thoroughness, and order are the outcome of life in this + institution. An endowment of twenty thousand dollars, called + "the Mary Lyon Fund," is now being raised by former students + for the Chair of the Principal. Schools like the Lake Erie + Seminary at Painesville, Ohio, have grown out of the school at + South Hadley. Truly, Mary Lyon was doing a great work, and she + could not come down. Between such a life and the ordinary + social round there can be no comparison.</p> + + <p>The English ivy grows thickly over Miss Lyon's grave, + covering it like a mantle, and sending out its wealth of green + leaves in the spring. So each year her own handiwork + flourishes, sending out into the world its strongest forces, + the very foundation of the highest civilization,--educated and + Christian wives and mothers.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c9" id="c9"></a> + + <h3>Harriet G. Hosmer.</h3><a href="images/c9hosmer.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c9hosmer_t.jpg" alt= + "(From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women.")" /> + </a> + + <p>Some years ago, in an art store in Boston, a crowd of + persons stood gazing intently upon a famous piece of statuary. + The red curtains were drawn aside, and the white marble seemed + almost to speak. A group of girls stood together, and looked on + in rapt admiration. One of them said, "Just to think that a + woman did it!"</p> + + <p>"It makes me proud and glad," said another.</p> + + <p>"Who is Harriet Hosmer?" said a third. "I wish I knew about + her."</p> + + <p>And then one of us, who had stolen all the hours she could + get from school life to read art books from the Hartford + Athenaeum, and kept crude statues, made by herself from chalk + and plaster, secreted in her room, told all she had read about + the brilliant author of "Zenobia."</p> + + <p>The statue was seven feet high, queenly in pose and face, + yet delicate and beautiful, with the thoughts which genius had + wrought in it. The left arm supported the elegant drapery, + while the right hung listlessly by her side, both wrists + chained; the captive of the Emperor Aurelian. Since that time, + I have looked upon other masterpieces in all the great + galleries of Europe, but perhaps none have ever made a stronger + impression upon me than "Zenobia," in those early years.</p> + + <p>And who was the artist of whom we girls were so proud? Born + in Watertown, Mass., Oct. 9, 1830, Harriet Hosmer came into the + welcome home of a leading physician, and a delicate mother, who + soon died of consumption. Dr. Hosmer had also buried his only + child besides Harriet, with the same disease, and he determined + that this girl should live in sunshine and air, that he might + save her if possible. He used to say, "There is a whole + life-time for the education of the mind, but the body develops + in a few years; and during that time nothing should be allowed + to interfere with its free and healthy growth."</p> + + <p>As soon as the child was large enough, she was given a pet + dog, which she decked with ribbons and bells. Then, as the + Charles River flowed past their house, a boat was provided, and + she was allowed to row at will. A Venetian gondola was also + built for her, with silver prow and velvet cushions. "Too much + spoiling--too much spoiling," said some of the neighbors; but + Dr. Hosmer knew that he was keeping his little daughter on the + earth instead of heaven.</p> + + <p>A gun was now purchased, and the girl became an admirable + marksman. Her room was a perfect museum. Here were birds, bats, + beetles, snakes, and toads; some dissected, some preserved in + spirits, and others stuffed, all gathered and prepared by her + own hands. Now she made an inkstand from the egg of a sea-gull + and the body of a kingfisher; now she climbed to the top of a + tree and brought down a crow's nest. She could walk miles upon + miles with no fatigue. She grew up like a boy, which is only + another way of saying that she grew up healthy and strong + physically. Probably polite society was shocked at Dr. Hosmer's + methods. Would that there were many such fathers and mothers, + that we might have a vigorous race of women, and consequently, + a vigorous race of men!</p> + + <p>When Harriet tired of books,--for she was an eager + reader,--she found delight in a clay-pit in the garden, where + she molded horses and dogs to her heart's content. Unused to + restraint, she did not like the first school at which she was + placed, the principal, the brother-in-law of Nathaniel + Hawthorne, writing to her father that he "could do nothing with + her."</p> + + <p>She was then taken to Mrs. Sedgwick, who kept a famous + school at Lenox, Berkshire County. She received "happy Hatty," + as she was called, with the remark, "I have a reputation for + training wild colts, and I will try this one." And the wise + woman succeeded. She won Harriet's confidence, not by the ten + thousand times repeated "don't," which so many children hear in + home and school, till life seems a prison-pen. She let her run + wild, guiding her all the time with so much tact, that the girl + scarcely knew she was guided at all. Blessed tact! How many + thousands of young people are ruined for lack of it!</p> + + <p>She remained here three years. Mrs. Sedgwick says, "She was + the most difficult pupil to manage I ever had, but I think I + never had one in whom I took so deep an interest, and whom I + learned to love so well." About this time, not being quite as + well as usual, Dr. Hosmer engaged a physician of, large + practice to visit his daughter. The busy man could not be + regular, which sadly interfered with Harriet's boating and + driving. Complaining one day that it spoiled her pleasure, he + said, "If I am alive, I will be here," naming the day and + hour.</p> + + <p>"Then if you are not here, I am to conclude that you are + dead," was the reply.</p> + + <p>As he did not come, Harriet drove to the newspaper offices + in Boston that afternoon, and the next morning the community + was startled to read of Dr. ----'s sudden death. Friends + hastened to the house, and messages of condolence came pouring + in. It is probable that he was more punctual after this.</p> + + <p>On Harriet's return from Lenox, she began to take lessons in + drawing, modeling, and anatomical studies, in Boston, + frequently walking from home and back, a distance of fourteen + miles. Feeling the need of a thorough course in anatomy, she + applied to the Boston Medical School for admittance, and was + refused because of her sex. The Medical College of St. Louis + proved itself broader, glad to encourage talent wherever found, + and received her.</p> + + <p>Professor McDowell, under whom the artists Powers and + Clevenger studied anatomy, spared no pains to give her every + advantage, while the students were uniformly courteous. "I + remember him," says Miss Hosmer, "with great affection and + gratitude as being a most thorough and patient teacher, as well + as at all times a good, kind friend." In testimony of her + appreciation, she cut, from a bust of Professor McDowell by + Clevenger, a life-size medallion in marble, now treasured in + the college museum.</p> + + <p>While in St. Louis she made her home with the family of + Wayman Crow, Esq., whose daughter had been her companion at + Lenox. This gentleman proved himself a constant and encouraging + friend, ordering her first statue from Rome, and helping in a + thousand ways a girl who had chosen for herself an unusual work + in life.</p> + + <p>After completing her studies she made a trip to New Orleans, + and then North to the Falls of St. Anthony, smoking the pipe of + peace with the chief of the Dakota Indians, exploring lead + mines in Dubuque, and scaling a high mountain that was soon + after named for her. Did the wealthy girl go alone on these + journeys? Yes. As a rule, no harm comes to a young woman who + conducts herself with becoming reserve with men. Flirts usually + are paid in their own coin.</p> + + <p>On her return home, Dr. Hosmer fitted up a studio for his + daughter, and her first work was to copy from the antique. Then + she cut Canova's "Napoleon" in marble for her father, doing all + the work, that he might especially value the gift. Her next + statue was an ideal bust of Hesper, "with," said Lydia Maria + Child, "the face of a lovely maiden gently falling asleep with + the sound of distant music. Her hair is gracefully arranged, + and intertwined with capsules of the poppy. A star shines on + her forehead, and under her breast lies the crescent moon. The + swell of the cheeks and the bust is like pure, young, healthy + flesh, and the muscles of the beautiful mouth so delicately + cut, it seems like a thing that breathes. She did every stroke + of the work with her own small hands, except knocking off the + corners of the block of marble. She employed a man to do that; + but as he was unused to work for sculptors, she did not venture + to have him approach within several inches of the surface she + intended to cut. Slight girl as she was, she wielded for eight + or ten hours a day a leaden mallet weighing four pounds and a + half. Had it not been for the strength and flexibility of + muscle acquired by rowing and other athletic exercises, such + arduous labor would have been impossible."</p> + + <p>After "Hesper" was completed, she said to her father, "I am + ready to go to Rome."</p> + + <p>"You shall go, my child, this very autumn," was the + response.</p> + + <p>He would, of course, miss the genial companionship of his + only child, but her welfare was to be consulted rather than his + own. When autumn came, she rode on horseback to Wayland to say + good-bye to Mrs. Child. "Shall you never be homesick for your + museum-parlor in Watertown? Can you be contented in a foreign + land?"</p> + + <p>"I can be happy anywhere," said Miss Hosmer, "with good + health and a bit of marble."</p> + + <p>Late in the fall Dr. Hosmer and his daughter started for + Europe, reaching Rome Nov. 12, 1852. She had greatly desired to + study under John Gibson, the leading English sculptor, but he + had taken young women into his studio who in a short time + became discouraged or showed themselves afraid of hard work, + and he feared Miss Hosmer might be of the same useless + type.</p> + + <p>When the photographs of "Hesper" were placed before him by + an artist friend of the Hosmers, he looked at them carefully, + and said, "Send the young lady to me, and whatever I know, and + can teach her, she shall learn." He gave Miss Hosmer an + upstairs room in his studio, and here for seven years she + worked with delight, honored and encouraged by her noble + teacher. She wrote to her friends: "The dearest wish of my + heart is gratified in that I am acknowledged by Gibson as a + pupil. He has been resident in Rome thirty-four years, and + leads the van. I am greatly in luck. He has just finished the + model of the statue of the queen; and as his room is vacant, he + permits me to use it, and I am now in his own studio. I have + also a little room for work which was formerly occupied by + Canova, and perhaps inspiration may be drawn from the + walls."</p> + + <p>The first work which she copied, to show Gibson whether she + had correctness of eye and proper knowledge, was the Venus of + Milo. When nearly finished, the iron which supported the clay + snapped, and the figure lay spoiled upon the floor. She did not + shrink nor cry, but immediately went to work cheerfully to + shape it over again. This conduct Mr. Gibson greatly admired, + and made up his mind to assist her all he could.</p> + + <p>After this she copied the "Cupid" of Praxitiles and Tasso + from the British Museum. Her first original work was Daphne, + the beautiful girl whom Apollo loved, and who, rather than + accept his addresses, was changed into laurel by the gods. + Apollo crowned his head with laurel, and made the flower sacred + to himself forever.</p> + + <p>Next, Miss Hosmer produced "Medusa," famed for her beautiful + hair, which Minerva turned into serpents because Neptune loved + her. According to Grecian mythology, Perseus made himself + immortal by conquering Medusa, whose head he cut off, and the + blood dripping from it filled Africa with snakes. Miss Hosmer + represents the beautiful maiden, when she finds, with horror, + that her hair is turning into serpents.</p> + + <p>Needing a real snake for her work, Miss Hosmer sent a man + into the suburbs to bring her one alive. When it was obtained, + she chloroformed it till she had made a cast, keeping it in + plaster for three hours and a half. Then, instead of killing + it, like a true-hearted woman, as she is, she sent it back into + the country, glad to regain its liberty.</p> + + <p>"Daphne" and "Medusa" were both exhibited in Boston the + following year, 1853, and were much praised. Mr. Gibson said: + "The power of imitating the roundness and softness of flesh, he + had never seen surpassed." Rauch, the great Prussian, whose + mausoleum at Charlottenburg of the beautiful queen Louise can + never be forgotten, gave Miss Hosmer high praise.</p> + + <p>Two years later she completed "Oenone," made for Mr. Crow of + St. Louis. It is the full-length figure of the beautiful nymph + of Mount Ida. The story is a familiar one. Before the birth of + Paris, the son of Priam, it was foretold that he by his + imprudence should cause the destruction of Troy. His father + gave orders for him to be put to death, but possibly through + the fondness of his mother, he was spared, and carried to Mount + Ida, where he was brought up by the shepherds, and finally + married Oenone. In time he became known to his family, who + forgot the prophecy and cordially received him. For a decision + in favor of Venus he was promised the most beautiful woman in + the world for his wife. Forgetting Oenone, he fell in love with + the beautiful Helen, already the wife of Menelaus, and + persuaded her to fly with him to Troy, to his father's court. + War resulted. When he found himself dying of his wounds, he + fled to Oenone for help, but died just as he came into her + presence. She bathed the body with her tears, and stabbed + herself to the heart, a very foolish act for so faithless a + man. Miss Hosmer represents her as a beautiful shepherdess, + bowed with grief from her desertion.</p> + + <p>This work was so much liked in America, that the St. Louis + Mercantile Library made a liberal offer for some other statue. + Accordingly, two years after, "Beatrice Cenci" was sent. The + noble girl lies asleep, the night before her execution, after + the terrible torture. "It was," says Mrs. Child, "the sleep of + a body worn out with the wretchedness of the soul. On that + innocent face suffering had left its traces. The arm that had + been tossing in the grief tempest, had fallen heavily, too + weary to change itself into a more easy position. Those large + eyes, now so closely veiled by their swollen lids, had + evidently wept till the fountain of tears was dry. That lovely + mouth was still the open portal of a sigh, which the mastery of + sleep had left no time to close."</p> + + <p>To make this natural, the sculptor caused several models to + go to sleep in her studio, that she might study them. Gibson is + said to have remarked upon seeing this, "I can teach her + nothing." This was also exhibited in London and in several + American cities.</p> + + <p>For three years she had worked continuously, not leaving + Rome even in the hot, unhealthy summers. She had said, "I will + not be an amateur; I will work as if I had to earn my daily + bread." However, as her health seemed somewhat impaired, at her + father's earnest wish, she had decided to go to England for the + season. Her trunks were packed, and she was ready to start, + when lo! a message came that Dr. Hosmer had lost his property, + that he could send her no more money, and suggested that she + return home at once.</p> + + <p>At first she seemed overwhelmed; then she said firmly, "I + cannot go back, and give up my art." Her trunks were at once + unpacked and a cheap room rented. Her handsome horse and saddle + were sold, and she was now to work indeed "as if she earned her + daily bread."</p> + + <p>By a strange freak of human nature, by which we sometimes do + our most humorous work when we are saddest, Miss Hosmer + produced now in her sorrow her fun-loving "Puck." It represents + a child about four years old seated on a toadstool which breaks + beneath him. The left hand confines a lizard, while the right + holds a beetle. The legs are crossed, and the great toe of the + right foot turns up. The whole is full of merriment. The Crown + Princess of Germany, on seeing it, exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Hosmer, + you have such a talent for toes!" Very true, for this statue, + with the several copies made from it, brought her thirty + thousand dollars! The Prince of Wales has a copy, the Duke of + Hamilton also, and it has gone even to Australia and the West + Indies. A companion piece is the "Will-o'-the-wisp."</p> + + <p>About this time the lovely sixteen-year-old daughter of + Madam Falconnet died at Rome, and for her monument in the + Catholic church of San Andrea del Fratte, Miss Hosmer produced + an exquisite figure resting upon a sarcophagus. Layard, the + explorer of Babylon and Nineveh, wrote to Madam Falconnet: "I + scarcely remember to have seen a monument which more completely + commanded my sympathy and more deeply interested me. I really + know of none, of modern days, which I would rather have placed + over the remains of one who had been dear to me."</p> + + <p>Miss Hosmer also modeled a fountain from the story of Hylas. + The lower basin contains dolphins spouting jets, while in the + upper basin, supported by swans, the youth Hylas stands, + surrounded by the nymphs who admire his beauty, and who + eventually draw him into the water, where he is drowned.</p> + + <p>Miss Hosmer returned to America in 1857, five years after + her departure. She was still young, twenty-seven, vivacious, + hopeful, not wearied from her hard work, and famous. While here + she determined upon a statue of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and + read much concerning her and her times. She had touched fiction + and poetry; now she would attempt history. She could scarcely + have chosen a more heroic or pathetic subject. The brave leader + of a brave people, a skilful warrior, marching at the head of + her troops, now on foot, and now on horseback, beautiful in + face, and cultured in mind, acquainted with Latin, Greek, + Syriac, and Egyptian, finally captured by Aurelian, and borne + through the streets of Rome, adorning his triumphal + procession.</p> + + <p>After Miss Hosmer's return to Rome, she worked on "Zenobia" + with energy and enthusiasm, as she molded the clay, and then + the plaster. When brought to this country, it awakened the + greatest interest; crowds gathered to see it. In Chicago it was + exhibited at the Sanitary Fair in behalf of the soldiers. + Whittier said: "It very fully expresses my conception of what + historical sculpture should be. It tells its whole proud and + melancholy story. In looking at it, I felt that the artist had + been as truly serving her country while working out her + magnificent design abroad, as our soldiers in the field, and + our public officers in their departments." From its exhibition + Miss Hosmer received five thousand dollars. It was purchased by + Mr. A.W. Griswold, of New York. So great a work was the statue + considered in London, that some of the papers declared Gibson + to be its author. Miss Hosmer at once began suits for libel, + and retractions were speedily made.</p> + + <p>In 1860 Miss Hosmer again visited America, to see her + father, who was seriously ill. How proud Dr. Hosmer must have + been of his gifted daughter now that her fame was in two + hemispheres! Surely he had not "spoiled" her. She could now + spend for him as he had spent for her in her childhood. While + here, she received a commission from St. Louis for a bronze + portrait-statue of Missouri's famous statesman, Thomas Hart + Benton. The world wondered if she could bring out of the marble + a man with all his strength and dignity, as she had a woman + with all her grace and nobility.</p> + + <p>She visited St. Louis, to examine portraits and mementos of + Colonel Benton, and then hastened across the ocean to her work. + The next year a photograph of the model was sent to the + friends, and the likeness pronounced good. The statue was cast + at the great royal foundry at Munich, and in due time shipped + to this country. May 27, 1868, it was unveiled in Lafayette + Park, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, the + daughter, Mrs. John C. Fremont, removing the covering. The + statue is ten feet high, and weighs three and one-half tons. It + rests on a granite pedestal, ten feet square, the whole being + twenty-two feet square. On the west side of the pedestal are + the words from Colonel Benton's famous speech on the Pacific + Railroad, "There is the East--there is India." Both press and + people were heartily pleased with this statue, for which Miss + Hosmer received ten thousand dollars, the whole costing thirty + thousand.</p> + + <p>She was now in the midst of busy and successful work. Orders + crowded upon her. Her "Sleeping Faun," which was exhibited at + the Dublin Exhibition in 1865, was sold on the day of opening + for five thousand dollars, to Sir Benjamin Guinness. Some + discussion having arisen about the sale, he offered ten + thousand, saying, that if money could buy it, he would possess + it. Miss Hosmer, however, would receive only the five thousand. + The faun is represented reclining against the trunk of a tree, + partly draped in the spoils of a tiger. A little faun, with + mischievous look, is binding the faun to the tree with the + tiger-skin. The newspapers were enthusiastic about the + work.</p> + + <p>The <i>London Times</i> said: "In the groups of statues are + many works of exquisite beauty, but there is one which at once + arrests attention and extorts admiration. It is a curious fact + that amid all the statues in this court, contributed by the + natives of lands in which the fine arts were naturalized + thousands of years ago, one of the finest should be the + production of an American artist." The French <i>Galignani</i> + said, "The gem of the classical school, in its nobler style of + composition, is due to an American lady, Miss Hosmer." The + <i>London Art Journal</i> said, "The works of Miss Hosmer, + Hiram Powers, and others we might name, have placed American on + a level with the best modern sculptors of Europe." This work + was repeated for the Prince of Wales and for Lady Ashburton, of + England.</p> + + <p>Not long ago I visited the studio of Miss Hosmer in the Via + Margutta, at Rome, and saw her numerous works, many of them + still unfinished. Here an arm seemed just reaching out from the + rough block of marble; here a sweet face seemed like + Pygmalion's statue, coming into life. In the centre of the + studio was the "Siren Fountain," executed for Lady Marion + Alford. A siren sits in the upper basin and sings to the music + of her lute. Three little cupids sit on dolphins, and listen to + her music.</p> + + <p>For some years Miss Hosmer has been preparing a golden + gateway for an art gallery at Ashridge Hall, England, ordered + by Earl Brownlow. These gates, seventeen feet high, are covered + with bas-reliefs representing the Air, Earth, and Sea. The + twelve hours of the night show "Aeolus subduing the Winds," the + "Descent of the Zephyrs," "Iris descending with the Dew," + "Night rising with the Stars," "The Rising Moon," "The Hour's + Sleep," "The Dreams Descend," "The Falling Star," "Phosphor and + Hesper," "The Hours Wake," "Aurora Veils the Stars," and + "Morning." More than eighty figures are in the nineteen + bas-reliefs. Miss Hosmer has done other important works, among + them a statue of the beautiful Queen of Naples, who was a + frequent visitor to the artist's studio, and several well-known + monuments. With her girlish fondness for machinery, she has + given much thought to mechanics in these later years, striving + to find, like many another, the secret of producing perpetual + motion. She spends much of her time now in England. She is + still passionately fond of riding, the Empress of Austria, who + owns more horses than any woman in the world, declaring "that + there was nothing she looked forward to with more interest in + Rome, than to see Miss Hosmer ride."</p> + + <p>Many of the closing years of the sculptor's long life were + spent in Rome, where she had a wide circle of eminent American + and English friends, among whom were Hawthorne, Thackeray, + George Eliot, and the Brownings. She made several discoveries + in her work, one of which was a process of hardening limestone + so that it resembled marble. She also wrote both prose and + poetry, and would have been successful as an author, if she had + not given the bulk of her time to her beloved sculpture.</p> + + <p>After her long sojourn in Rome she spent several years in + England, executing important commissions, and then turned her + face toward America. In Watertown, where she was born, she + again made her home; and here she breathed her last, February + 21, 1908, after an illness of three weeks. She was in her + seventy-eighth year. By her long life of earnest work and + self-reliant purpose, coupled with her high gift, she has made + for herself an abiding place in the history of art.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c10" id="c10"></a> + + <h3>Madame de Staël.</h3><a href= + "images/c10stael.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c10stael_t.jpg" alt= + "MADAME DE STAËL. From the painting by Mlle. Godefroy." /></a> + + <p>It was the twentieth of September, 1881. The sun shone out + mild and beautiful upon Lake Geneva, as we sailed up to Coppet. + The banks were dotted with lovely homes, half hidden by the + foliage, while brilliant flower-beds came close to the water's + edge. Snow-covered Mont Blanc looked down upon the restful + scene, which seemed as charming as anything in Europe.</p> + + <p>We alighted from the boat, and walked up from the landing, + between great rows of oaks, horsechestnuts, and sycamores, to + the famous home we had come to look upon,--that of Madame de + Staël. It is a French chateau, two stories high, drab, + with green blinds, surrounding an open square; vines clamber + over the gate and the high walls, and lovely flowers blossom + everywhere. As you enter, you stand in a long hall, with green + curtains, with many busts, the finest of which is that of + Monsieur Necker. The next room is the large library, with + furniture of blue and white; and the next, hung with old + Gobelin tapestry, is the room where Madame Recamier used to sit + with Madame de Staël, and look out upon the exquisite + scenery, restful even in their troubled lives. Here is the + work-table of her whom Macaulay called "the greatest woman of + her times," and of whom Byron said, "She is a woman by herself, + and has done more than all the rest of them together, + intellectually; she ought to have been a man."</p> + + <p>Next we enter the drawing-room, with carpet woven in a + single piece; the furniture red and white. We stop to look upon + the picture of Monsieur Necker, the father, a strong, + noble-looking man; of the mother, in white silk dress, with + powdered hair, and very beautiful; and De Staël herself, + in a brownish yellow dress, with low neck and short sleeves, + holding in her hand the branch of flowers, which she always + carried, or a leaf, that thus her hands might be employed while + she engaged in the conversation that astonished Europe. Here + also are the pictures of the Baron, her husband, in white wig + and military dress; here her idolized son and daughter, the + latter beautiful, with mild, sad face, and dark hair and + eyes.</p> + + <p>What brings thousands to this quiet retreat every year? + Because here lived and wrote and suffered the only person whom + the great Napoleon feared, whom Galiffe, of Geneva, declared + "the most remarkable woman that Europe has produced"; learned, + rich, the author of <i>Corinne</i> and <i>Allemagne</i>, whose + "talents in conversation," says George Ticknor, "were perhaps + the most remarkable of any person that ever lived."</p> + + <p>April 27, 1766, was the daughter of James Necker, Minister + of Finance under Louis XVI., a man of fine intellect, the + author of fifteen volumes; and Susanna, daughter of a Swiss + pastor, beautiful, educated, and devotedly Christian. Necker + had become rich in early life through banking, and had been + made, by the republic of Geneva, her resident minister at the + Court of Versailles.</p> + + <p>When the throne of Louis seemed crumbling, because the + people were tired of extravagance and heavy taxation, Necker + was called to his aid, with the hope that economy and + retrenchment would save the nation. He also loaned the + government two million dollars. The home of the Neckers, in + Paris, naturally became a social centre, which the mother of + the family was well fitted to grace. Gibbon had been deeply in + love with her.</p> + + <p>He says: "I found her learned without pedantry, lively in + conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and + the first sudden emotion was fortified by the habits and + knowledge of a more familiar acquaintance.... At Crassier and + Lausanne I indulged my dream of felicity; but on my return to + England I soon discovered that my father would not hear of this + strange alliance, and that, without his consent, I was myself + destitute and helpless. After a painful struggle, I yielded to + my fate; I sighed as a lover; I obeyed as a son." Gibbon never + married, but retained his life-long friendship and admiration + for Madame Necker.</p> + + <p>It was not strange, therefore, that Gibbon liked to be + present in her <i>salon</i>, where Buffon, Hume, Diderot, and + D'Alembert were wont to gather. The child of such parents could + scarcely be other than intellectual, surrounded by such gifted + minds. Her mother, too, was a most systematic teacher, and each + day the girl was obliged to sit by her side, erect, on a wooden + stool, and learn difficult lessons.</p> + + <p>"She stood in great awe of her mother," wrote Simond, the + traveller, "but was exceedingly familiar with and extravagantly + fond of her father. Madame Necker had no sooner left the room + one day, after dinner, than the young girl, till then timidly + decorous, suddenly seized her napkin, and threw it across the + table at the head of her father, and then flying round to him, + hung upon his neck, suffocating all his reproofs by her + kisses." Whenever her mother returned to the room, she at once + became silent and restrained.</p> + + <p>The child early began to show literary talent, writing + dramas, and making paper kings and queens to act her tragedies. + This the mother thought to be wrong, and it was discontinued. + But when she was twelve, the mother having somewhat relented, + she wrote a play, which she and her companions acted in the + drawing-room. Grimm was so pleased with her attempts, that he + sent extracts to his correspondents throughout Europe. At + fifteen she wrote an essay on the <i>Revocation of the Edict of + Nantes</i>, and another upon Montesquieu's <i>Spirit of + Laws</i>.</p> + + <p>Overtaxing the brain with her continuous study, she became + ill, and the physician, greatly to her delight, prescribed + fresh air and sunshine. Here often she roamed from morning till + night on their estate at St. Ouen. Madame Necker felt deeply + the thwarting of her educational plans, and years after, when + her daughter had acquired distinction, said, "It is absolutely + nothing compared to what I would have made it."</p> + + <p>Monsieur Necker's restriction of pensions and taxing of + luxuries soon aroused the opposition of the aristocracy, and + the weak but good-hearted King asked his minister to resign. + Both wife and daughter felt the blow keenly, for both idolized + him, so much so that the mother feared lest she be supplanted + by her daughter. Madame de Staël says of her father, "From + the moment of their marriage to her death, the thought of my + mother dominated his life. He was not like other men in power, + attentive to her by occasional tokens of regard, but by + continual expressions of most tender and most delicate + sentiment." Of herself she wrote, "Our destinies would have + united us forever, if fate had only made us contemporaries." At + his death she said, "If he could be restored to me, I would + give all my remaining years for six months." To the last he was + her idol.</p> + + <p>For the next few years the family travelled most of the + time, Necker bringing out a book on the <i>Finances</i>, which + had a sale at once of a hundred thousand copies. A previous + book, the <i>Compte Rendu au Roi</i>, showing how for years the + moneys of France had been wasted, had also a large sale. For + these books, and especially for other correspondence, he was + banished forty leagues from Paris. The daughter's heart seemed + well-nigh broken at this intelligence. Loving Paris, saying she + would rather live there on "one hundred francs a year, and + lodge in the fourth story," than anywhere else in the world, + how could she bear for years the isolation of the country? + Joseph II., King of Poland, and the King of Naples, offered + Necker fine positions, but he declined.</p> + + <p>Mademoiselle Necker had come to womanhood, not beautiful, + but with wonderful fascination and tact. She could compliment + persons without flattery, was cordial and generous, and while + the most brilliant talker, could draw to herself the thoughts + and confidences of others. She had also written a book on + <i>Rousseau</i>, which was much talked about. Pitt, of England, + Count Fersen, of Sweden, and others, sought her in marriage, + but she loved no person as well as her father. Her consent to + marriage could be obtained only by the promise that she should + never be obliged to leave him.</p> + + <p>Baron de Staël, a man of learning and fine social + position, ambassador from Sweden, and the warm friend of + Gustavus, was ready to make any promises for the rich daughter + of the Minister Necker. He was thirty-seven, she only a little + more than half his age, twenty, but she accepted him because + her parents were pleased. Going to Paris, she was, of course, + received at Court, Marie Antoinette paying her much attention. + Necker was soon recalled from exile to his old position.</p> + + <p>The funds rose thirty per cent, and he became the idol of + the people. Soon representative government was demanded, and + then, though the King granted it, the breach was widened. + Necker, unpopular with the bad advisers of the King, was again + asked to leave Paris, and make no noise about it; but the + people, hearing of it, soon demanded his recall, and he was + hastily brought back from Brussels, riding through the streets + like "the sovereign of a nation," said his daughter. The people + were wild with delight.</p> + + <p>But matters had gone too far to prevent a bloody Revolution. + Soon a mob was marching toward Versailles; thousands of men, + women, and even children armed with pikes. They reached the + palace, killed the guards, and penetrated to the queen's + apartments, while some filled the court-yard and demanded + bread. The brave Marie Antoinette appeared on the balcony + leading her two children, while Lafayette knelt by her side and + kissed her hand. But the people could not be appeased.</p> + + <p>Necker finding himself unable to serve his king longer, fled + to his Swiss retreat at Coppet, and there remained till his + death. Madame de Staël, as the wife of the Swedish + ambassador, continued in the turmoil, writing her father daily, + and taking an active interest in politics. "In England," she + said, "women are accustomed to be silent before men when + political questions are discussed. In France, they direct all + conversation, and their minds readily acquire the facility and + talent which this privilege requires." Lafayette, Narbonne, and + Talleyrand consulted with her. She wrote the principal part of + Talleyrand's report on Public Instruction in 1790. She procured + the appointment of Narbonne to the ministry; and later, when + Talleyrand was in exile, obtained his appointment to the + Department of Foreign Affairs.</p> + + <p>Matters had gone from bad to worse. In 1792 the Swedish + government suspended its embassy, and Madame de Staël + prepared to fly, but stayed for a time to save her friends. The + seven prisons of Paris were all crowded under the fearful reign + of Danton and Marat. Great heaps of dead lay before every + prison door. During that Reign of Terror it is estimated that + eighteen thousand six hundred persons perished by the + guillotine. Whole squares were shot down. "When the police + visited her house, where some of the ministers were hidden, she + met them graciously, urging that they must not violate the + privacy of an ambassador's house. When her friends were + arrested, she went to the barbarous leaders, and with her + eloquence begged for their safety, and thus saved the lives of + many.</p> + + <p>At last she must leave the terror-stricken city. Supposing + that her rank as the wife of a foreign ambassador would protect + her, she started with a carriage and six horses, her servants + in livery. At once a crowd of half-famished and haggard women + crowded around, and threw themselves against the horses. The + carriage was stopped, and the occupants were taken to the + Assembly. She plead her case before the noted Robespierre, and + then waited for six hours for the decision of the Commune. + Meantime she saw the hired assassins pass beneath the windows, + their bare arms covered with the blood of the slain. The mob + attempted to pillage her carriage, but a strong man mounted the + box and defended it. She learned afterward that it was the + notorious Santerre, the person who later superintended the + execution of Louis XVI., ordering his drummers to drown the + last words of the dying King. Santerre had seen Necker + distribute corn to the poor of Paris in a time of famine, and + now he was befriending the daughter for this noble act. Finally + she was allowed to continue her journey, and reached Coppet + with her baby, Auguste, well-nigh exhausted after this terrible + ordeal.</p> + + <p>The Swiss home soon became a place of refuge for those who + were flying from the horrors of the Commune. She kept a + faithful agent, who knew the mountain passes, busy in this work + of mercy.</p> + + <p>The following year, 1793, longing for a change from these + dreadful times, she visited England, and received much + attention from prominent persons, among them Fanny Burny, the + author of <i>Evelina</i>, who owned "that she had never heard + conversation before. The most animated eloquence, the keenest + observation, the most sparkling wit, the most courtly grace, + were united to charm her."</p> + + <p>On Jan. 21 of this year, the unfortunate King had met his + death on the scaffold before an immense throng of people. Six + men bound him to the plank, and then his head was severed from + his body amid the shouts and waving of hats of the + blood-thirsty crowd. Necker had begged to go before the + Convention and plead for his king, but was refused. Madame de + Staël wrote a vigorous appeal to the nation in behalf of + the beautiful and tenderhearted Marie Antoinette; but on Sept. + 16, 1793, at four o'clock in the morning, in an open cart, in + the midst of thirty thousand troops and a noisy rabble, she, + too, was borne to the scaffold; and when her pale face was held + up bleeding before the crowd, they jeered and shouted + themselves hoarse.</p> + + <p>The next year 1794, Madame Necker died at Coppet, whispering + to her husband, "We shall see each other in Heaven." "She + looked heavenward," said Necker in a most affecting manner, + "listening while I prayed; then, in dying, raised the finger of + her left hand, which wore the ring I had given her, to remind + me of the pledge engraved upon it, to love her forever." His + devotion to her was beautiful. "No language," says his + daughter, "can give any adequate idea of it. Exhausted by + wakefulness at night, she slept often in the daytime, resting + her head on his arm. I have seen him remain immovable, for + hours together, standing in the same position for fear of + awakening her by the least movement. Absent from her during a + few hours of sleep, he inquired, on his return, of her + attendant, if she had asked for him? She could no longer speak, + but made an effort to say 'yes, yes.'"</p> + + <p>When the Revolution was over, and France had become a + republic, Sweden sent back her ambassador, Baron de Staël, + and his wife returned to him at Paris. Again her <i>salon</i> + became the centre for the great men of the time. She loved + liberty, and believed in the republican form of government. She + had written her book upon the <i>Influence of the Passions on + the Happiness of Individuals and Nations</i>, prompted by the + horrors of the Revolution, and it was considered "irresistible + in energy and dazzling in thought."</p> + + <p>She was also devoting much time to her child, Auguste, + developing him without punishment, thinking that there had been + too much rigor in her own childhood. He well repaid her for her + gentleness and trust, and was inseparable from her through + life, becoming a noble Christian man, and the helper of all + good causes. Meantime Madame de Staël saw with alarm the + growing influence of the young Corsican officer, Bonaparte. The + chief executive power had been placed in the hands of the + Directory, and he had control of the army. He had won brilliant + victories in Italy, and had been made commander-in-chief of the + expedition against Egypt He now returned to Paris, turned out + the Directory, drove out the Council of Five Hundred from the + hall of the Assembly at the point of the bayonet, made the + government into a consulate with three consuls, of whom he was + the first, and lived at the Tuileries in almost royal + style.</p> + + <p>All this time Madame de Staël felt the egotism and + heartlessness of Napoleon. Her <i>salon</i> became more crowded + than ever with those who had their fears for the future. "The + most eloquent of the Republican orators were those who borrowed + from her most of their ideas and telling phrases. Most of them + went forth from her door with speeches ready for the next day, + and with resolution to pronounce them--a courage which was also + derived from her." Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte, the brothers of + Napoleon, were proud of her friendship, and often were guests + at her house, until forbidden by their brother.</p> + + <p>When Benjamin Constant made a speech against the "rising + tyranny," Napoleon suspected that she had prompted it, and + denounced her heartily, all the time declaring that he loved + the Republic, and would always defend it! He said persons + always came away from De Staël's home "less his friends + than when they entered." About this time her book, + <i>Literature considered in its Relation to Social + Institutions</i>, was published, and made a surprising + impression from its wealth of knowledge and power of thought. + Its analysis of Greek and Latin literature, and the chief works + in Italian, English, German, and French, astonished everybody, + because written by a woman!</p> + + <p>Soon after Necker published his <i>Last Views of Politics + and Finance</i>, in which he wrote against the tyranny of a + single man. At once Napoleon caused a sharp letter to be + written to Necker advising him to leave politics to the First + Consul, "who was alone able to govern France," and threatening + his daughter with exile for her supposed aid in his book. She + saw the wisdom of escaping from France, lest she be imprisoned, + and immediately hastened to Coppet. A few months later, in the + winter of 1802, she returned to Paris to bring home Baron de + Staël, who was ill, and from whom she had separated + because he was spending all her fortune and that of her three + children. He died on the journey.</p> + + <p>Virtually banished from France, she now wrote her + <i>Delphine</i>, a brilliant novel which was widely read. It + received its name from a singular circumstance.</p> + + <p>"Desirous of meeting the First Consul for some urgent + reason," says Dr. Stevens in his charming biography of Madame + de Staël, "she went to the villa of Madame de Montessan, + whither he frequently resorted. She was alone in one of the + <i>salles</i> when he arrived, accompanied by the consular + court of brilliant young women. The latter knew the growing + hostility of their master toward her, and passed, without + noticing her, to the other end of the <i>salle</i>, leaving her + entirely alone. Her position was becoming extremely painful, + when a young lady, more courageous and more compassionate than + her companions, crossed the <i>salle</i> and took a seat by her + side. Madame de Staël was touched by this kindness, and + asked for her Christian name. 'Delphine,' she responded. 'Ah, I + will try to immortalize it,' exclaimed Madame de Staël; + and she kept her word. This sensible young lady was the + Comtesse de Custine."</p> + + <p>Her home at Coppet became the home of many great people. + Sismondi, the author of the <i>History of the Italian + Republics</i>, and <i>Literature of Southern Europe</i>, + encouraged by her, wrote here several of his famous works. + Bonstetten made his home here for years. Schlegel, the greatest + critic of his age, became the teacher of her children, and a + most intimate friend. Benjamin Constant, the author and + statesman, was here. All repaired to their rooms for work in + the morning, and in the evening enjoyed philosophic, literary, + and political discussions.</p> + + <p>Bonstetten said: "In seeing her, in hearing her, I feel + myself electrified.... She daily becomes greater and better; + but souls of great talent have great sufferings: they are + solitary in the world, like Mont Blanc."</p> + + <p>In the autumn of 1803, longing for Paris, she ventured to + within ten leagues and hired a quiet home. Word was soon borne + to Napoleon that the road to her house was thronged with + visitors. He at once sent an officer with a letter signed by + himself, exiling her to forty leagues from Paris, and + commanding her to leave within twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p>At once she fled to Germany. At Frankfort her little + daughter was dangerously ill. "I knew no person in the city," + she writes. "I did not know the language; and the physician to + whom I confided my child could not speak French. But my father + shared my trouble; he consulted physicians at Geneva, and sent + me their prescriptions. Oh, what would become of a mother + trembling for the life of her child, if it were not for + prayer!"</p> + + <p>Going to Weimar, she met Goethe, Wieland, Schiller, and + other noted men. At Berlin, the greatest attention was shown + her. The beautiful Louise of Prussia welcomed her heartily. + During this exile her father died, with his latest breath + saying," She has loved me dearly! She has loved me dearly!" On + his death-bed he wrote a letter to Bonaparte telling him that + his daughter was in nowise responsible for his book, but it was + never answered. It was enough for Napoleon to know that she did + not flatter him; therefore he wished her out of the way.</p> + + <p>Madame de Staël was for a time completely overcome by + Necker's death. She wore his picture on her person as long as + she lived. Only once did she part with it, and then she + imagined it might console her daughter in her illness. Giving + it to her, she said, "Gaze upon it, gaze upon it, when you are + in pain."</p> + + <p>She now sought repose in Italy, preparing those beautiful + descriptions for her <i>Corinne</i>, and finally returning to + Coppet, spent a year in writing her book. It was published in + Paris, and, says Sainte-Beuve, "its success was instantaneous + and universal. As a work of art, as a poem, the romance of + <i>Corinne</i> is an immortal monument." Jeffrey, in the + <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, called the author the greatest writer + in France since Voltaire and Rousseau, and the greatest woman + writer of any age or country. Napoleon, however, in his + official paper, caused a scathing criticism on <i>Corinne</i> + to appear; indeed, it was declared to be from his own pen. She + was told by the Minister of Police, that she had but to insert + some praise of Napoleon in <i>Corinne</i>, and she would be + welcomed back to Paris. She could not, however, live a lie, and + she feared Napoleon had evil designs upon France.</p> + + <p>Again she visited Germany with her children, Schlegel, and + Sismondi. So eager was everybody to see her and hear her talk, + that Bettina von Arnim says in her correspondence with Goethe: + "The gentlemen stood around the table and planted themselves + behind us, elbowing one another. They leaned quite over me, and + I said in French, 'Your adorers quite suffocate me.'"</p> + + <p>While in Germany, her eldest son, then seventeen, had an + interview with Bonaparte about the return of his mother. "Your + mother," said Napoleon, "could not be six months in Paris + before I should be compelled to send her to Bicêtre or + the Temple. I should regret this necessity, for it would make a + noise and might injure me a little in public opinion. Say, + therefore, to her that as long as I live she cannot re-enter + Paris. I see what you wish, but it cannot be; she will commit + follies; she will have the world about her."</p> + + <p>On her return to Coppet, she spent two years in writing her + <i>Allemagne</i>, for which she had been making researches for + four years. She wished it published in Paris, as <i>Corinne</i> + had been, and submitted it to the censors of the Press. They + crossed out whatever sentiments they thought might displease + Napoleon, and then ten thousand copies were at once printed, + she meantime removing to France, within her proscribed limits, + that she might correct the proof-sheets.</p> + + <p>What was her astonishment to have Napoleon order the whole + ten thousand destroyed, and her to leave France in three days! + Her two sons attempted to see Bonaparte, who was at + Fontainebleau, but were ordered to turn back, or they would be + arrested. The only reason given for destroying the work was the + fact that she had been silent about the great but egotistical + Emperor.</p> + + <p>Broken in spirit, she returned to Geneva. Amid all this + darkness a new light was about to beam upon her life. In the + social gatherings made for her, she observed a young army + officer, Monsieur Rocca, broken in health from his many wounds, + but handsome and noble in face, and, as she learned, of + irreproachable life. Though only twenty-three and she + forty-five, the young officer was fascinated by her + conversation, and refreshed in spirits by her presence. She + sympathized with his misfortunes in battle; she admired his + courage. He was lofty in sentiments, tender in heart, and gave + her what she had always needed, an unselfish and devoted love. + When discouraged by his friends, he replied, "I will love her + so much that I will finish by making her marry me."</p> + + <p>They were married in 1811, and the marriage was a singularly + happy one. The reason for it is not difficult to perceive. A + marriage that has not a pretty face or a passing fancy for its + foundation, but appreciation of a gifted mind and noble + heart,--such a marriage stands the test of time.</p> + + <p>The marriage was kept secret from all save a few intimate + friends, Madame de Staël fearing that if the news reached + Napoleon, Rocca would be ordered back to France. Her fears were + only too well founded. Schlegel, Madame Recamier, all who had + shown any sympathy for her, began to be exiled. She was + forbidden under any pretext whatever from travelling in + Switzerland, or entering any region annexed to France. She was + advised not to go two leagues from Coppet, lest she be + imprisoned, and this with Napoleon usually meant death.</p> + + <p>The Emperor seemed about to conquer the whole world. Whither + could she fly to escape his persecution? She longed to reach + England, but there was an edict against any French subject + entering that country without special permit. Truly his heel + was upon France. The only way to reach that country was through + Austria, Russia, and Sweden, two thousand leagues. But she must + attempt it. She passed an hour in prayer by her parent's tomb, + kissed his armchair and table, and took his cloak to wrap + herself in should death come.</p> + + <p>May 23, 1812, she, with Rocca and two of her children, began + their flight by carriage, not telling the servants at the + chateau, but that they should return for the next meal.</p> + + <p>They reached Vienna June 6, and were at once put under + surveillance. Everywhere she saw placards admonishing the + officers to watch her sharply. Rocca had to make his way alone, + because Bonaparte had ordered his arrest. They were permitted + to remain only a few hours in any place. Once Madame de + Staël was so overcome by this brutal treatment that she + lost consciousness, and was obliged to be taken from her + carriage to the roadside till she recovered. Every hour she + expected arrest and death.</p> + + <p>Finally, worn in body, she reached Russia, and was cordially + received by Alexander and Empress Elizabeth. From here she went + to Sweden, and had an equally cordial welcome from Bernadotte, + the general who became king. Afterward she spent four months in + England, bringing out <i>Allemagne.</i> Here she received a + perfect ovation. At Lord Lansdowne's the first ladies in the + kingdom mounted on chairs and tables to catch a glimpse of her. + Sir James Mackintosh said: "The whole fashionable and literary + world is occupied with Madame de Staël, the most + celebrated woman of this, or perhaps of any age." Very rare + must be the case where a woman of fine mind does not have many + admirers among gentlemen.</p> + + <p>Her <i>Allemagne</i> was published in 1813, the manuscript + having been secretly carried over Germany, Poland, Russia, + Sweden, and the Baltic Sea. The first part treated of the + manners of Germany; the second, its literature and art; the + third, its philosophy and morals; the fourth, its religion. The + book had a wonderful sale, and was soon translated into all the + principal tongues of Europe. Lamartine said: "Her style, + without losing any of its youthful vigor and splendor, seemed + now to be illuminated with more lofty and eternal lights as she + approached the evening of life, and the diviner mysteries of + thought. This style no longer paints, no longer chants; it + adores.... Her name will live as long as literature, as long as + the history of her country."</p> + + <p>Meantime, great changes had taken place in France. Napoleon + had been defeated at Leipsic, leaving a quarter of a million + murdered on his battle-fields; he had abdicated, and was on his + way to Elba. She immediately returned to Paris, with much the + same feeling as Victor Hugo, when he wept as he came from his + long exile under "Napoleon the Little." Again to her + <i>salon</i> came kings and generals, Alexander of Russia, + Wellington, and others.</p> + + <p>But soon Napoleon returned, and she fled to Coppet. He sent + her an invitation to come to Paris, declaring he would now live + for the peace of Europe, but she could not trust him. She saw + her daughter, lovely and beautiful, married to the Duc de + Broglie, a leading statesman, and was happy in her happiness. + Rocca's health was failing, and they repaired to Italy for a + time.</p> + + <p>In 1816 they returned to Paris, Napoleon having gone from + his final defeat to St. Helena. But Madame de Staël was + broken with her trials. She seemed to grow more and more frail, + till the end came. She said frequently, "My father awaits me on + the other shore." To Chateaubriand she said, "I have loved God, + my father, and my country." She could not and would not go to + sleep the last night, for fear she might never look upon Rocca + again. He begged her to sleep and he would awaken her often. + "Good night," she said, and it was forever. She never wakened. + They buried her beside her father at Coppet, under the grand + old trees. Rocca died in seven months, at the age of + thirty-one. "I hoped," he said, "to have died in her arms."</p> + + <p>Her little son, and Rocca's, five years old, was cared for + by Auguste and Albertine, her daughter. After Madame de + Staël's death, her <i>Considerations on the French + Revolution</i> and <i>Ten Years of Exile</i> were published. Of + the former, Sainte-Beuve says: "Its publication was an event. + It was the splendid public obsequies of the authoress. Its + politics were destined to long and passionate discussions and a + durable influence. She is perfect only from this day; the full + influence of her star is only at her tomb."</p> + + <p>Chateaubriand said, "Her death made one of those breaches + which the fall of a superior intellect produces once in an age, + and which can never be closed."</p> + + <p>As kind as she was great, loving deeply and receiving love + in return, she has left an imperishable name. No wonder that + thousands visit that quiet grave beside Lake Geneva.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c11" id="c11"></a> + + <h3>Rosa Bonheur.</h3><a href="images/c11bonheur.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c11bonheur_t.jpg" alt="ROSA BONHEUR." /></a> + + <p>In a simple home in Paris could have been seen, in 1829, + Raymond Bonheur and his little family,--Rosa, seven years old, + August, Isadore, and Juliette. He was a man of fine talent in + painting, but obliged to spend his time in giving + drawing-lessons to support his children. His wife, Sophie, gave + lessons on the piano, going from house to house all day long, + and sometimes sewing half the night, to earn a little more for + the necessities of life.</p> + + <p>Hard work and poverty soon bore its usual fruit, and the + tired young mother died in 1833. The three oldest children were + sent to board with a plain woman, "La mère + Cathérine," in the Champs Elysées, and the + youngest was placed with relatives. For two years this good + woman cared for the children, sending them to school, though + she was greatly troubled because Rosa persisted in playing in + the woods of the Bois de Boulogne, gathering her arms full of + daisies and marigolds, rather than to be shut up in a + schoolroom. "I never spent an hour of fine weather indoors + during the whole of the two years," she has often said since + those days.</p> + + <p>Finally the father married again and brought the children + home. The two boys were placed in school, and M. Bonheur paid + their way by giving drawing lessons three times a week in the + institution. If Rosa did not love school, she must be taught + something useful, and she was accordingly placed in a sewing + establishment to become a seamstress.</p> + + <p>The child hated sewing, ran the needle into her fingers at + every stitch, cried for the fresh air and sunshine, and + finally, becoming pale and sickly, was taken back to the + Bonheur home. The anxious painter would try his child once more + in school; so he arranged that she should attend, with + compensation met in the same way as for his boys. Rosa soon + became a favorite with the girls in the Fauborg St. Antoine + School, especially because she could draw such witty + caricatures of the teachers, which she pasted against the wall, + with bread chewed into the consistency of putty. The teachers + were not pleased, but so struck were they with the vigor and + originality of the drawings, that they carefully preserved the + sketches in an album.</p> + + <p>The girl was far from happy. Naturally sensitive--as what + poet or painter was ever born otherwise?--she could not bear to + wear a calico dress and coarse shoes, and eat with an iron + spoon from a tin cup, when the other girls wore handsome + dresses, and had silver mugs and spoons. She grew melancholy, + neglected her books, and finally became so ill that she was + obliged to be taken home.</p> + + <p>And now Raymond Bonheur very wisely decided not to make + plans for his child for a time, but see what was her natural + tendency. It was well that he made this decision in time, + before she had been spoiled by his well-meant but poor + intentions.</p> + + <p>Left to herself, she constantly hung about her father's + studio, now drawing, now modeling, copying whatever she saw him + do. She seemed never to be tired, but sang at her work all the + day long.</p> + + <p>Monsieur Bonheur suddenly awoke to the fact that his + daughter had great talent. He began to teach her carefully, to + make her accurate in drawing, and correct in perspective. Then + he sent her to the Louvre to copy the works of the old masters. + Here she worked with the greatest industry and enthusiasm, not + observing anything that was going on around her. Said the + director of the Louvre, "I have never seen an example of such + application and such ardor for work."</p> + + <p>One day an elderly English gentleman stopped beside her + easel, and said: "Your copy, my child, is superb, faultless. + Persevere as you have begun, and I prophesy that you will be a + great artist." How glad those few words made her! She went home + thinking over to herself the determination she had made in the + school when she ate with her iron spoon, that sometime she + would be as famous as her schoolmates, and have some of the + comforts of life.</p> + + <p>Her copies of the old masters were soon sold, and though + they brought small prices, she gladly gave the money to her + father, who needed it now more than ever. His second wife had + two sons when he married her, and now they had a third, + Germain, and every cent that Rosa could earn was needed to help + support seven children. "La mamiche," as they called the new + mother, was an excellent manager of the meagre finances, and + filled her place well.</p> + + <p>Rosa was now seventeen, loving landscape, historical, and + genre painting, perhaps equally; but happening to paint a goat, + she was so pleased in the work, that she determined to make + animal painting a specialty. Having no money to procure models, + she must needs make long walks into the country on foot to the + farms. She would take a piece of bread in her pocket, and + generally forget to eat it. After working all day, she would + come home tired, often drenched with rain, and her shoes + covered with mud.</p> + + <p>She took other means to study animals. In the outskirts of + Paris were great <i>abattoirs</i>, or slaughter-pens. Though + the girl tenderly loved animals, and shrank from the sight of + suffering, she forced herself to see the killing, that she + might know how to depict the death agony on canvas. Though + obliged to mingle more or less with drovers and butchers, no + indignity was ever offered her. As she sat on a bundle of hay, + with her colors about her, they would crowd around to look at + the pictures, and regard her with honest pride. The world soon + learns whether a girl is in earnest about her work, and treats + her accordingly.</p> + + <p>The Bonheur family had moved to the sixth story of a + tenement house in the Rue Rumfort, now the Rue Malesherbes. The + sons, Auguste and Isadore, had both become artists; the former + a painter, the latter a sculptor. Even little Juliette was + learning to paint. Rosa was working hard all day at her easel, + and at night was illustrating books, or molding little groups + of animals for the figure-dealers. All the family were happy + despite their poverty, because they had congenial work.</p> + + <p>On the roof, Rosa improvised a sort of garden, with + honeysuckles, sweet-peas, and nasturtiums, and here they kept a + sheep, with long, silky wool, for a model. Very often Isadore + would take him on his back and carry him down the six flights + of stairs,--the day of elevators had not dawned,--and after he + had enjoyed grazing, would bring him back to his garden home. + It was a docile creature, and much loved by the whole family. + For Rosa's birds, the brothers constructed a net, which they + hung outside the window, and then opened the cage into it.</p> + + <p>At nineteen Rosa was to test the world, and see what the + critics would say. She sent to the Fine Arts Exhibition two + pictures, "Goats and Sheep" and "Two Rabbits." The public was + pleased, and the press gave kind notices. The next year + "Animals in a Pasture," a "Cow lying in a Meadow," and a "Horse + for sale," attracted still more attention. Two years later she + exhibited twelve pictures, some from her father and brother + being hung on either side of hers, the first time they had been + admitted. More and more the critics praised, and the pathway of + the Bonheur family grew less thorny.</p> + + <p>Then, in 1849, when she was twenty-seven, came the triumph. + Her magnificent picture, "Cantal Oxen," took the gold medal, + and was purchased by England. Horace Vernet, the president of + the commission of awards, in the midst of a brilliant assembly, + proclaimed the new laureate, and gave her, in behalf of the + government, a superb Sèvres vase.</p> + + <p>Raymond Bonheur seemed to become young again at this fame of + his child. It brought honors to him also, for he was at once + made director of the government school of design for girls. But + the release from poverty and anxiety came too late, and he died + the same year, greatly lamented by his family. "He had grand + ideas," said his daughter, "and had he not been obliged to give + lessons for our support, he would have been more known, and + to-day acknowledged with other masters."</p> + + <p>Rosa was made director in his place, and Juliette became a + professor in the school. This same year appeared her "Plowing + Scene in the Nivernais," now in the Luxembourg Gallery, thought + to be her most important work after her "Horse Fair." Orders + now poured in upon her, so that she could not accede to half + the requests for work. A rich Hollander offered her one + thousand crowns for a painting which she could have wrought in + two hours; but she refused.</p> + + <p>Four years later, after eighteen long months of preparatory + studies, her "Horse Fair" was painted. This created the + greatest enthusiasm both in England and America. It was sold to + a gentleman in England for eight thousand dollars, and was + finally purchased by A. T. Stewart, of New York, for his famous + collection. No one who has seen this picture will ever forget + the action and vigor of these Normandy horses. In painting it, + a petted horse, it is said, stepped back upon the canvas, + putting his hoof through it, thus spoiling the work of + months.</p> + + <p>So greatly was this picture admired, that Napoleon III. was + urged to bestow upon her the Cross of the Legion of Honor, + entitled her from French usage. Though she was invited to the + state dinner at the Tuileries, always given to artists to whom + the Academy of Fine Arts has awarded its highest honors, + Napoleon had not the courage to give it to her, lest public + opinion might not agree with him in conferring it upon a woman. + Possibly he felt, more than the world knew, the insecurity of + his throne.</p> + + <p>Henry Bacon, in the <i>Century</i>, thus describes the way + in which Rosa Bonheur finally received the badge of + distinction. "The Emperor, leaving Paris for a short summer + excursion in 1865, left the Empress as Regent. From the + imperial residence at Fontainebleau it was only a short drive + to By (the home of Mademoiselle Bonheur). The countersign at + the gate was forced, and unannounced, the Empress entered the + studio where Mademoiselle Rosa was at work. She rose to receive + the visitor, who threw her arms about her neck and kissed her. + It was only a short interview. The imperial vision had + departed, the rumble of the carriage and the crack of the + outriders' whips were lost in the distance. Then, and not till + then, did the artist discover that as the Empress had given the + kiss, she had pinned upon her blouse the Cross of the Legion of + Honor." Since then she has received the Leopold Cross of Honor + from the King of Belgium, said to be the first ever conferred + upon a woman; also a decoration from the King of Spain. Her + brother Auguste, now dead, received the Cross of the Legion of + Honor in 1867, two years after Rosa.</p> + + <p>In preparing to paint the "Horse Fair" and other similar + pictures, which have brought her much into the company of men, + she has found it wise to dress in male costume. A laughable + incident is related of this mode of dress. One day when she + returned from the country, she found a messenger awaiting to + announce to her the sudden illness of one of her young friends. + Rosa did not wait to change her male attire, but hastened to + the bedside of the young lady. In a few minutes after her + arrival, the doctor, who had been sent for, entered, and seeing + a young man, as he supposed, seated on the side of the bed, + with his arm round the neck of the sick girl, thought he was an + intruder, and retreated with all possible speed. "Oh! run after + him! He thinks you are my lover, and has gone and left me to + die!" cried the sick girl. Rosa flew down stairs, and soon + returned with the modest doctor.</p> + + <p>She also needs this mannish costume, for her long journeys + over the Pyrenees into Spain or in the Scottish Highlands. She + is always accompanied by her most intimate friend, Mademoiselle + Micas, herself an artist of repute, whose mother, a widow, + superintends the home for the two devoted friends.</p> + + <p>Sometimes in the Pyrenees these two ladies see no one for + six weeks but muleteers with their mules. The people in these + lonely mountain passes live entirely upon the curdled milk of + sheep. Once Rosa Bonheur and her friend were nearly starving, + when Mademoiselle Micas obtained a quantity of frogs, and + covering the hind legs with leaves, roasted them over a fire. + On these they lived for two days.</p> + + <p>In Scotland she painted her exquisite "Denizens of the + Mountains," "Morning in the Highlands," and "Crossing a Loch in + the Highlands." In England she was treated like a princess. Sir + Edwin Landseer, whom some persons thought she would marry, is + reported to have said, when he first looked upon her "Horse + Fair," "It surpasses me, though it's a little hard to be beaten + by a woman." On her return to France she brought a + skye-terrier, named "Wasp," of which she is very fond, and for + which she has learned several English phrases. When she speaks + to him in English, he wags his tail most appreciatively.</p> + + <p>Rosa Bonheur stands at the head of her profession, an + acknowledged master. Her pictures bring enormous sums, and have + brought her wealth. A "View in the Pyrenees" has been sold for + ten thousand dollars, and some others for twice that sum.</p> + + <p>She gives away much of her income. She has been known to + send to the <i>Mont de Pieté</i> her gold medals to + raise funds to assist poor artists. A woman artist, who had + been refused help by several wealthy painters, applied to Rosa + Bonheur, who at once took down from the wall a small but + valuable painting, and gave it to her, from which she received + a goodly sum. A young sculptor who greatly admired her work, + enclosed twenty dollars, asking her for a small drawing, and + saying that this was all the money he possessed. She + immediately sent him a sketch worth at least two hundred + dollars. She has always provided most generously for her + family, and for servants who have grown old in her employ.</p> + + <p>She dresses very simply, always wearing black, brown, or + gray, with a close fitting jacket over a plain skirt. When she + accepts a social invitation, which is very rare, she adorns her + dress with a lace collar, but without other ornament. Her + working dress is usually a long gray linen or blue flannel + blouse, reaching nearly from head to foot. She has learned that + the conventional tight dress of women is not conducive to great + mental or physical power. She is small in stature, with dainty + hands and feet, blue eyes, and a noble and intelligent + face.</p> + + <p>She is an indefatigable worker, rising usually at six in the + morning, and painting throughout the day.</p> + + <p>So busy is she that she seldom permits herself any + amusements. On one occasion she had tickets sent her for the + theatre. She worked till the carriage was announced. "<i>Je + suis prête</i>," said Rosa, and went to the play in her + working dress. A daintily gloved man in the box next to hers + looked over in disdain, and finally went into the vestibule and + found the manager.</p> + + <p>"Who is this woman in the box next to mine?" he said, in a + rage. "She's in an old calico dress, covered with paint and + oil. The odor is terrible. Turn her out. If you do not, I will + never enter your theatre again."</p> + + <p>The manager went to the box, and returning, informed him + that it was the great painter.</p> + + <p>"Rosa Bonheur!" he gasped. "Who'd have thought it? Make my + apology to her. I dare not enter her presence again."</p> + + <p>She usually walks at the twilight, often thinking out new + subjects for her brush, at that quiet hour. She said to a + friend: "I have been a faithful student since I was ten years + old. I have copied no master. I have studied Nature, and + expressed to the best of my ability the ideas and feelings with + which she has inspired me. Art is an absorbent--a tyrant. It + demands heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of the votary. + Nothing less will win its highest favor. I wed art. It is my + husband, my world, my life-dream, the air I breathe. I know + nothing else, feel nothing else, think nothing else, My soul + finds in it the most complete satisfaction.... I have no taste + for general society,--no interest in its frivolities. I only + seek to be known through my works. If the world feel and + understand them, I have succeeded.... If I had got up a + convention to debate the question of my ability to paint + '<i>Marché au Chevaux</i>' [The Horse Fair], for which + England paid me forty thousand francs, the decision would have + been against me. I felt the power within me to paint; I + cultivated it, and have produced works that have won the + favorable verdicts of the great judges. I have no patience with + women who ask <i>permission to think</i>!"</p> + + <p>For years she lived in Rue d'Assas, a retired street half + made up of gardens. Here she had one of the most beautiful + studios of Paris, the room lighted from the ceiling, the walls + covered with paintings, with here and there old armor, + tapestry, hats, cloaks, sandals, and skins of tigers, leopards, + foxes, and oxen on the floor. One Friday, the day on which she + received guests, one of her friends, coming earlier than usual, + found her fast asleep on her favorite skin, that of a + magnificent ox, with stuffed head and spreading horns. She had + come in tired from the School of Design, and had thrown herself + down to rest. Usually after greeting her friends she would say, + "Allow me to resume my brush; we can talk just as well + together." For those who have any great work to do in this + worlds there is little time for visiting; interruptions cannot + be permitted. No wonder Carlyle groaned when some person had + taken two hours of his time. He could better have spared money + to the visitor.</p> + + <p>For several years Rosa Bonheur has lived near Fontainebleau, + in the Chateau By. Henry Bacon says: "The chateau dates from + the time of Louis XV., and the garden is still laid out in the + style of Le Notre. Since it has been in the present + proprietor's possession, a quaint, picturesque brick building, + containing the carriage house and coachman's lodge on the first + floor, and the studio on the second, has been added; the roof + of the main building has been raised, and the chapel changed + into an orangery: beside the main carriage-entrance, which is + closed by iron gates and wooden blinds, is a postern gate, with + a small grated opening, like those found in convents. The + blinds to the gate and the slide to the grating are generally + closed, and the only communication with the outside world is by + the bell-wire, terminating in a ring beside the gate. Ring, and + the jingle of the bell is at once echoed by the barking of + numerous dogs,--the hounds and bassets in chorus, the grand + Saint Bernard in slow measure, like the bass-drum in an + orchestra. After the first excitement among the dogs has begun + to abate, a remarkably small house-pet that has been somewhere + in the interior arrives upon the scene, and with his sharp, + shrill voice again starts and leads the canine chorus. By this + time the eagle in his cage has awakened, and the parrot, whose + cage is built into the corner of the studio looking upon the + street, adds to the racket.</p> + + <p>"Behind the house is a large park divided from the forest by + a high wall; a lawn and flower-beds are laid out near the + buildings; and on the lawn, in pleasant weather, graze a + magnificent bull and cow, which are kept as models. In a wire + enclosure are two chamois from the Pyrenees, and further + removed from the house, in the wooded part of the park, are + enclosures for sheep and deer, each of which knows its + mistress. Even the stag, bearing its six-branched antlers, + receives her caresses like a pet dog. At the end of one of the + linden avenues is a splendid bronze, by Isadore Bonheur, of a + Gaul attacking a lion.</p> + + <p>"The studio is very large, with a huge chimney at one end, + the supports of which are life-size dogs, modeled by Isadore + Bonheur. Portraits of the father and mother in oval frames hang + at each side, and a pair of gigantic horns ornaments the + centre. The room is decorated with stuffed heads of animals of + various kinds,--boars, bears, wolves, and oxen; and birds perch + in every convenient place."</p> + + <p>When Prussia conquered France, and swept through this town, + orders were given that Rosa Bonheur's home and paintings be + carefully preserved. Even her servants went unmolested. The + peasants idolized the great woman who lived in the chateau, and + were eager to serve her. She always talked to them pleasantly. + Rosa Bonheur died at her home at 11 P.M., Thursday, May 25, + 1899.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c12" id="c12"></a> + + <h3>Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</h3><a href= + "images/c12browning.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c12browning_t.jpg" alt= + "Elizabeth Barrett Browning Rome. February. 1859" /></a> + + <p>Ever since I had received in my girlhood, from my best + friend, the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in five + volumes in blue and gold, I had read and re-read the pages, + till I knew scores by heart. I had longed to see the face and + home of her whom the English call "Shakespeare's daughter," and + whom Edmund Clarence Stedman names "the passion-flower of the + century."</p> + + <p>I shall never forget that beautiful July morning spent in + the Browning home in London. The poet-wife had gone out from + it, and lay buried in Florence, but here were her books and her + pictures. Here was a marble bust, the hair clustering about the + face, and a smile on the lips that showed happiness. Near by + was another bust of the idolized only child, of whom she wrote + in <i>Casa Guidi Windows</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "The sun strikes through the windows, up the floor:<br /> + Stand out in it, my own young Florentine, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Not two years old, and let me see thee more!<br /> + It grows along thy amber curls to shine + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Brighter than elsewhere. Now look straight before<br /> + And fix thy brave blue English eyes on mine, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And from thy soul, which fronts the future so<br /> + With unabashed and unabated gaze, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Teach me to hope for what the Angels know<br /> + When they smile clear as thou dost!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>Here was the breakfast-table at which they three had often + sat together. Close beside it hung a picture of the room in + Florence, where she lived so many years in a wedded bliss as + perfect as any known in history. Tears gathered in the eyes of + Robert Browning, as he pointed out her chair, and sofa, and + writing-table.</p> + + <p>Of this room in Casa Guidi, Kate Field wrote in the + <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, September, 1861: "They who have been + so favored can never forget the square ante-room, with its + great picture and piano-forte, at which the boy Browning passed + many an hour; the little dining room covered with tapestry, and + where hung medallions of Tennyson, Carlyle, and Robert + Browning; the long room filled with plaster casts and studies, + which was Mr. Browning's retreat; and, dearest of all, the + large drawing-room, where <i>she</i> always sat. It opens upon + a balcony filled with plants, and looks out upon the old + iron-gray church of Santa Felice. There was something about + this room that seemed to make it a proper and especial haunt + for poets. The dark shadows and subdued light gave it a dreamy + look, which was enhanced by the tapestry-covered walls, and the + old pictures of saints that looked out sadly from their carved + frames of black wood. Large bookcases, constructed of specimens + of Florentine carving selected by Mr. Browning, were brimming + over with wise-looking books. Tables were covered with more + gayly bound volumes, the gifts of brother authors. Dante's + grave profile, a cast of Keats' face and brow taken after + death, a pen-and-ink sketch of Tennyson, the genial face of + John Kenyon, Mrs. Browning's good friend and relative, little + paintings of the boy Browning, all attracted the eye in turn, + and gave rise to a thousand musings. But the glory of all, and + that which sanctified all, was seated in a low armchair near + the door. A small table, strewn with writing materials, books + and newspapers, was always by her side."</p> + + <p>Then Mr. Browning, in the London home, showed us the room + where he writes, containing his library and hers. The books are + on simple shelves, choice, and many very old and rare. Here are + her books, many in Greek and Hebrew. In the Greek, I saw her + notes on the margin in Hebrew, and in the Hebrew she had + written her marginal notes in Greek. Here also are the five + volumes of her writings, in blue and gold.</p> + + <p>The small table at which she wrote still stands beside the + larger where her husband composes. His table is covered with + letters and papers and books; hers stands there unused, because + it is a constant reminder of those companionable years, when + they worked together. Close by hangs a picture of the "young + Florentine," Robert Barrett Browning, now grown to manhood, an + artist already famed. He has a refined face, as he sits in + artist garb, before his easel, sketching in a peasant's house. + The beloved poet who wrote at the little table, is endeared to + all the world. Born in 1809, in the county of Durham, the + daughter of wealthy parents, she passed her early years partly + in the country in Herefordshire, and partly in the city. That + she loved the country with its wild flowers and woods, her + poem, <i>The Lost Bower</i>, plainly shows.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Green the land is where my daily<br /> + Steps in jocund childhood played, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Dimpled close with hill and valley,<br /> + Dappled very close with shade; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Summer-snow of apple-blossoms running up from glade to + glade. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "But the wood, all close and clenching<br /> + Bough in bough and root in root,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + No more sky (for overbranching)<br /> + At your head than at your foot,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Oh, the wood drew me within it, by a glamour past dispute. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "But my childish heart beat stronger<br /> + Than those thickets dared to grow: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + <i>I</i> could pierce them! I could longer<br /> + Travel on, methought, than so. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Sheep for sheep-paths! braver children climb and creep + where they would go. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Tall the linden-tree, and near it<br /> + An old hawthorne also grew; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And wood-ivy like a spirit<br /> + Hovered dimly round the two, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Shaping thence that bower of beauty which I sing of thus to + you. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "And the ivy veined and glossy<br /> + Was enwrought with eglantine; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And the wild hop fibred closely,<br /> + And the large-leaved columbine, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Arch of door and window mullion, did right sylvanly + entwine. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "I have lost--oh, many a pleasure,<br /> + Many a hope, and many a power-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Studious health, and merry leisure,<br /> + The first dew on the first flower! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But the first of all my losses was the losing of the bower. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Is the bower lost then? Who sayeth<br /> + That the bower indeed is lost? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Hark! my spirit in it prayeth<br /> + Through the sunshine and the frost,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And the prayer preserves it greenly, to the last and + uttermost. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Till another open for me<br /> + In God's Eden-land unknown, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + With an angel at the doorway,<br /> + White with gazing at His throne, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And a saint's voice in the palm-trees, singing, 'All is + lost ... and <i>won</i>!'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>Elizabeth Barrett wrote poems at ten, and when seventeen, + published an <i>Essay on Mind, and Other Poems</i>. The essay + was after the manner of Pope, and though showing good knowledge + of Plato and Bacon, did not find favor with the critics. It was + dedicated to her father, who was proud of a daughter who + preferred Latin and Greek to the novels of the day.</p> + + <p>Her teacher was the blind Hugh Stuart Boyd, whom she praises + in her <i>Wine of Cyprus</i>.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Then, what golden hours were for us!--<br /> + While we sate together there; + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Oh, our Aeschylus, the thunderous!<br /> + How he drove the bolted breath + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Through the cloud to wedge it ponderous<br /> + In the gnarlèd oak beneath. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Oh, our Sophocles, the royal,<br /> + Who was born to monarch's place, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And who made the whole world loyal,<br /> + Less by kingly power than grace. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Our Euripides, the human,<br /> + With his droppings of warm tears, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And his touches of things common<br /> + Till they rose to touch the spheres! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Our Theocritus, our Bion,<br /> + And our Pindar's shining goals!-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + These were cup-bearers undying,<br /> + Of the wine that's meant for souls." + </div> + </div> + + <p>More fond of books than of social life, she was laying the + necessary foundation for a noble fame. The lives of Elizabeth + Barrett Browning, George Eliot, and Margaret Fuller, emphasize + the necessity of almost unlimited knowledge, if woman would + reach lasting fame. A great man or woman of letters, without + great scholarship, is well-nigh an impossible thing.</p> + + <p>Nine years after her first book, <i>Prometheus Bound and + Miscellaneous Poems</i> was published in 1835. She was now + twenty-six. A translation from the Greek of Aeschylus by a + woman caused much comment, but like the first book it received + severe criticism. Several years afterward, when she brought her + collected poems before the world, she wrote: "One early + failure, a translation of the <i>Prometheus of Aeschylus</i>, + which, though happily free of the current of publication, may + be remembered against me by a few of my personal friends, I + have replaced here by an entirely new version, made for them + and my conscience, in expiation of a sin of my youth, with the + sincerest application of my mature mind." "This latter + version," says Mr. Stedman, "of a most sublime tragedy is more + poetical than any other of equal correctness, and has the fire + and vigor of a master-hand. No one has succeeded better than + its author in capturing with rhymed measures the wilful rushing + melody of the tragic chorus."</p> + + <p>In 1835 Miss Barrett made the acquaintance of Mary Russell + Mitford, and a life-long friendship resulted. Miss Mitford + says: "She was certainly one of the most interesting persons I + had ever seen. Everybody who then saw her said the same. Of a + slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on + either side of a most expressive face, large tender eyes, + richly fringed by dark eyelashes, a smile like a sunbeam, and + such a look of youthfulness, that I had some difficulty in + persuading a friend, in whose carriage we went together to + Cheswick, that the translatress of the <i>Prometheus of + Aeschylus</i>, the authoress of the <i>Essay on Mind</i>, was + old enough to be introduced into company, in technical + language, was out. We met so constantly and so familiarly that, + in spite of the difference of age, intimacy ripened into + friendship, and after my return into the country, we + corresponded freely and frequently, her letters being just what + letters ought to be,--her own talk put upon paper."</p> + + <p>The next year Miss Barrett, never robust, broke a + blood-vessel in the lungs. For a year she was ill, and then + with her eldest and favorite brother, was carried to Torquay to + try the effect of a warmer climate. After a year spent here, + she greatly improved, and seemed likely to recover her usual + health.</p> + + <p>One beautiful summer morning she went on the balcony to + watch her brother and two other young men who had gone out for + a sail. Having had much experience, and understanding the + coast, they allowed the boatman to return to land. Only a few + minutes out, and in plain sight, as they were crossing the bar, + the boat went down, and the three friends perished. Their + bodies even were never recovered.</p> + + <p>The whole town was in mourning. Posters were put upon every + cliff and public place, offering large rewards "for linen cast + ashore marked with the initials of the beloved dead; for it so + chanced that all the three were of the dearest and the best: + one, an only son; the other, the son of a widow"; but the sea + was forever silent.</p> + + <p>The sister, who had seen her brother sink before her eyes, + was utterly prostrated. She blamed herself for his death, + because he came to Torquay for her comfort. All winter long she + heard the sound of waves ringing in her ears like the moans of + the dying. From this time forward she never mentioned her + brother's name, and later, exacted from Mr. Browning a promise + that the subject should never be broached between them.</p> + + <p>The following year she was removed to London in an invalid + carriage, journeying twenty miles a day. And then for seven + years, in a large darkened room, lying much of the time upon + her couch, and seeing only a few most intimate friends, the + frail woman lived and wrote. Books more than ever became her + solace and joy. Miss Mitford says, "She read almost every book + worth reading, in almost every language, and gave herself heart + and soul to that poetry of which she seem born to be the + priestess." When Dr. Barry urged that she read light books, she + had a small edition of Plato bound so as to resemble a novel, + and the good man was satisfied. She understood her own needs + better than he.</p> + + <p>When she was twenty-nine, she published <i>The Seraphim and + Other Poems</i>. The <i>Seraphim</i> was a reverential + description of two angels watching the Crucifixion. Though the + critics saw much that was strikingly original, they condemned + the frequent obscurity of meaning and irregularity of rhyme. + The next year, <i>The Romaunt of the Page</i> and other ballads + appeared, and in 1844, when she was thirty-five, a complete + edition of her poems, opening with the <i>Drama of Exile</i>. + This was the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, the first + scene representing "the outer side of the gate of Eden shut + fast with cloud, from the depth of which revolves a sword of + fire self-moved. Adam and Eve are seen in the distance flying + along the glare."</p> + + <p>In one of her prefaces she said: "Poetry has been to me as + serious a thing as life itself,--and life has been a + <i>very</i> serious thing; there has been no playing at + skittles for me in either. I never mistook pleasure for the + final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of the poet. I + have done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand and head + work, apart from the personal being, but as the completest + expression of that being to which I could attain,--and as work + I offer it to the public, feeling its shortcomings more deeply + than any of my readers, because measured from the height of my + aspiration; but feeling also that the reverence and sincerity + with which the work was done should give it some protection + from the reverent and sincere."</p> + + <p>While the <i>Drama of Exile</i> received some adverse + criticism, the shorter poems became the delight of thousands. + Who has not held his breath in reading the <i>Rhyme of the + Duchess May</i>?--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "And her head was on his breast, where she smiled as one at + rest,-- + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'Ring,' she cried, 'O vesper-bell, in the beech-wood's old + chapelle!'<br /> + But the passing-bell rings best! + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "They have caught out at the rein, which Sir Guy threw + loose--in vain,-- + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + For the horse in stark despair, with his front hoofs poised + in air, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + On the last verge rears amain. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Now he hangs, he rocks between, and his nostrils curdle + in!-- + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Now he shivers head and hoof, and the flakes of foam fall + off,<br /> + And his face grows fierce and thin! + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "And a look of human woe from his staring eyes did go, + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And a sharp cry uttered he, in a foretold agony of the + headlong death below." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Who can ever forget that immortal <i>Cry of the + Children</i>, which awoke all England to the horrors of + child-labor? That, and Hood's <i>Song of the Shirt</i>, will + never die.</p> + + <p>Who has not read and loved one of the most tender poems in + any language, <i>Bertha in the Lane</i>?--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Yes, and He too! let him stand<br /> + In thy thoughts, untouched by blame. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Could he help it, if my hand<br /> + He had claimed with hasty claim?<br /> + That was wrong perhaps--but then<br /> + Such things be--and will, again.<br /> + Women cannot judge for men. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "And, dear Bertha, let me keep<br /> + On this hand this little ring, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Which at night, when others sleep,<br /> + I can still see glittering.<br /> + Let me wear it out of sight,<br /> + In the grave,--where it will light<br /> + All the Dark up, day and night." + </div> + </div> + + <p>No woman has ever understood better the fulness of love, or + described it more purely and exquisitely.</p> + + <p>One person among the many who had read Miss Barrett's poems, + felt their genius, because he had genius in his own soul, and + that person was Robert Browning. That she admired his poetic + work was shown in <i>Lady Geraldine's Courtship</i>, when + Bertram reads to his lady-love:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "Or at times a modern volume,--Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted + idyl,<br /> + Howitt's ballad verse, or Tennyson's enchanted reverie,<br /> + Or from Browning some <i>Pomegranate</i>, which, if cut deep + down the middle,<br /> + Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity." + </div> + + <p>Mr. Browning determined to meet the unknown singer. Years + later he told the story to Elizabeth C. Kinney, when she had + gone with the happy husband and wife on a day's excursion from + Florence. She says: "Finding that the invalid did not receive + strangers, he wrote her a letter, intense with his desire to + see her. She reluctantly consented to an interview. He flew to + her apartment, was admitted by the nurse, in whose presence + only could he see the deity at whose shrine he had long + worshipped. But the golden opportunity was not to be lost; love + became oblivious to any save the presence of the real of its + ideal. Then and there Robert Browning poured his impassioned + soul into hers; though his tale of love seemed only an + enthusiast's dream. Infirmity had hitherto so hedged her about, + that she deemed herself forever protected from all assaults of + love. Indeed, she felt only injured that a fellow-poet should + take advantage, as it were, of her indulgence in granting him + an interview, and requested him to withdraw from her presence, + not attempting any response to his proposal, which she could + not believe in earnest. Of course, he withdrew from her sight, + but not to withdraw the offer of his heart and hand; on the + contrary, to repeat it by letter, and in such wise as to + convince her how 'dead in earnest' he was. Her own heart, + touched already when she knew it not, was this time fain to + listen, be convinced, and overcome.</p> + + <p>"As a filial daughter, Elizabeth told her father of the + poet's love, and of the poet's love in return, and asked a + parent's blessing to crown their happiness. At first he was + incredulous of the strange story; but when the truth flashed on + him from the new fire in her eyes, he kindled with rage, and + forbade her ever seeing or communicating with her lover again, + on the penalty of disinheritance and banishment forever from a + father's love. This decision was founded on no dislike for Mr. + Browning personally, or anything in him or his family; it was + simply arbitrary. But the new love was stronger than the old in + her,--it conquered." Mr. Barrett never forgave his daughter, + and died unreconciled, which to her was a great grief.</p> + + <p>In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett arose from her sick-bed to marry + the man of her choice, who took her at once to Italy, where she + spent fifteen happy years. At once, love seemed to infuse new + life into the delicate body and renew the saddened heart. She + was thirty-seven. She had wisely waited till she found a person + of congenial tastes and kindred pursuits. Had she married + earlier, it is possible that the cares of life might have + deprived the world of some of her noblest works.</p> + + <p>The marriage was an ideal one. Both had a grand purpose in + life. Neither individual was merged in the other. George S. + Hillard, in his <i>Six Months in Italy</i>, when he visited the + Brownings the year after their marriage, says, "A happier home + and a more perfect union than theirs it is not easy to imagine; + and this completeness arises not only from the rare qualities + which each possesses, but from their perfect adaptation to each + other.... Nor is she more remarkable for genius and learning, + than for sweetness of temper and purity of spirit. It is a + privilege to know such beings singly and separately, but to see + their powers quickened, and their happiness rounded, by the + sacred tie of marriage, is a cause for peculiar and lasting + gratitude. A union so complete as theirs--in which the mind has + nothing to crave nor the heart to sigh for--is cordial to + behold and soothing to remember."</p> + + <p>"Mr. Browning," says one who knew him well, "did not fear to + speak of his wife's genius, which he did almost with awe, + losing himself so entirely in her glory that one could see that + he did not feel worthy to unloose her shoe-latchet, much less + to call her his own."</p> + + <p>When mothers teach their daughters to cultivate their minds + as did Mrs. Browning, as well as to emulate her sweetness of + temper, then will men venerate women for both mental and moral + power. A love that has reverence for its foundation knows no + change.</p> + + <p>"Mrs. Browning's conversation was most interesting. She + never made an insignificant remark. All that she said was + <i>always</i> worth hearing; a greater compliment could not be + paid her. She was a most conscientious listener, giving you her + mind and heart, as well as her magnetic eyes. <i>Persons</i> + were never her theme, unless public characters were under + discussion, or friends were to be praised. One never dreamed of + frivolities in Mrs. Browning's presence, and gossip felt itself + out of place. Yourself, not herself, was always a pleasant + subject to her, calling out all her best sympathies in joy, and + yet more in sorrow. Books and humanity, great deeds, and above + all, politics, which include all the grand questions of the + day, were foremost in her thoughts, and therefore oftenest on + her lips. I speak not of religion, for with her everything was + religion.</p> + + <p>"Thoughtful in the smallest things for others, she seemed to + give little thought to herself. The first to see merit, she was + the last to censure faults, and gave the praise that she felt + with a generous hand. No one so heartily rejoiced at the + success of others, no one was so modest in her own triumphs. + She loved all who offered her affection, and would solace and + advise with any. Mrs. Browning belonged to no particular + country; the world was inscribed upon the banner under which + she fought. Wrong was her enemy; against this she wrestled, in + whatever part of the globe it was to be found."</p> + + <p>Three years after her marriage her only son was born. The + Italians ever after called her "the mother of the beautiful + child." And now some of her ablest and strongest work was done. + Her <i>Casa Guidi Windows</i> appeared in 1851. It is the story + of the struggle for Italian liberty. In the same volume were + published the <i>Portuguese Sonnets</i>, really her own + love-life. It would be difficult to find any thing more + beautiful than these.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "First time he kissed me he but only kissed<br /> + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write,<br /> + And ever since, it grew more clean and white,<br /> + Slow to world-greetings, quick with its 'Oh, list,'<br /> + When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst<br /> + I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,<br /> + Than that first kiss. The second passed in height<br /> + The first, and sought the forehead, and half-missed<br /> + Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!<br /> + That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown<br /> + With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.<br /> + The third upon my lips was folded down<br /> + In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,<br /> + I have been proud and said, 'My love, my own!'<br /> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div>How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,<br /> + I love thee to the depth and breadth and height<br /> + My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight<br /> + For the ends of being and ideal Grace.<br /> + I love thee to the level of every day's<br /> + Most quiet need, by sun and candle light.<br /> + I love thee freely, as men strive for Right,<br /> + I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.<br /> + I love thee with the passion put to use<br /> + In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.<br /> + I love thee with a love I seemed to lose<br /> + With my lost saints--I love thee with the breath,<br /> + Smiles, tears of all my life!--and, if God choose,<br /> + I shall but love thee better after death." + </div> + + <p>Mrs. Browning's next great poem, in 1856, was <i>Aurora + Leigh</i>, a novel in blank verse, "the most mature," she says + in the preface, "of my works, and the one into which my highest + convictions upon Life and Art have entered." Walter Savage + Landor said of it: "In many pages there is the wild imagination + of Shakespeare. I had no idea that any one in this age was + capable of such poetry."</p> + + <p>For fifteen years this happy wedded life, with its work of + brain and hand, had been lived, and now the bond was to be + severed. In June, 1861, Mrs. Browning took a severe cold, and + was ill for nearly a week. No one thought of danger, though Mr. + Browning would not leave her bedside. On the night of June 29, + toward morning she seemed to be in a sort of ecstasy. She told + her husband of her love for him, gave him her blessing, and + raised herself to die in his arms. "It is beautiful," were her + last words as she caught a glimpse of some heavenly vision. On + the evening of July 1, she was buried in the English cemetery, + in the midst of sobbing friends, for who could carry out that + request?--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "And friends, dear friends, when it shall be + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That this low breath is gone from me,<br /> + And round my bier ye come to weep, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Let one most loving of you all + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Say, 'Not a tear must o'er her fall,--<br /> + He giveth his beloved sleep!'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>The Italians, who loved her, placed on the doorway of Casa + Guidi a white marble tablet, with the words:--</p> + + <p>"<i>Here wrote and died E.B. Browning, who, in the heart of + a woman, united the science of a sage and the spirit of a poet, + and made with her verse a golden ring binding Italy and + England</i>.</p> + + <p>"<i>Grateful Florence placed this memorial, 1861</i>."</p> + + <p>For twenty-five years Robert Browning and his artist-son + have done their work, blessed with the memory of her whom Mr. + Stedman calls "the most inspired woman, so far as known, of all + who have composed in ancient or modern tongues, or flourished + in any land or time."</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c13" id="c13"></a> + + <h3>George Eliot.</h3><a href="images/c13eliot.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c13eliot_t.jpg" alt= + "GEORGE ELIOT--1864." /></a> + + <p>Going to the Exposition at New Orleans, I took for reading + on the journey, the life of George Eliot, by her husband, Mr. + J.W. Cross, written with great delicacy and beauty. An accident + delayed us, so that for three days I enjoyed this insight into + a wonderful life. I copied the amazing list of books she had + read, and transferred to my note-book many of her beautiful + thoughts. To-day I have been reading the book again; a clear, + vivid picture of a very great woman, whose works, says the + <i>Spectator</i>, "are the best specimens of powerful, simple + English, since Shakespeare."</p> + + <p>What made her a superior woman? Not wealthy parentage; not + congenial surroundings. She had a generous, sympathetic heart + for a foundation, and on this she built a scholarship that even + few men can equal. She loved science, and philosophy, and + language, and mathematics, and grew broad enough to discuss + great questions and think great thoughts. And yet she was + affectionate, tender, and gentle.</p> + + <p>Mary Ann Evans was born Nov. 22, 1819, at Arbury Farm, a + mile from Griff, in Warwickshire, England. When four months old + the family moved to Griff, where the girl lived till she was + twenty-one, in a two-story, old-fashioned, red brick house, the + walls covered with ivy. Two Norway firs and an old yew-tree + shaded the lawn. The father, Robert Evans, a man of + intelligence and good sense, was bred a builder and carpenter, + afterward becoming a land-agent for one of the large estates. + The mother was a woman of sterling character, practical and + capable.</p> + + <p>For the three children, Christiana, Isaac, and Mary Ann, + there was little variety in the commonplace life at Griff. + Twice a day the coach from Birmingham to Stamford passed by the + house, and the coachman and guard in scarlet were a great + diversion. She thus describes, the locality in <i>Felix + Holt</i>: "Here were powerful men walking queerly, with knees + bent outward from squatting in the mine, going home to throw + themselves down in their blackened flannel, and sleep through + the daylight, then rise and spend much of their high wages at + the alehouse with their fellows of the Benefit Club; here the + pale, eager faces of handloom weavers, men and women, haggard + from sitting up late at night to finish the week's work, hardly + begun till the Wednesday. Everywhere the cottages and the small + children were dirty, for the languid mothers gave their + strength to the loom."</p> + + <p>Mary Ann was an affectionate, sensitive child, fond of + out-door sports, imitating everything she saw her brother do, + and early in life feeling in her heart that she was to be + "somebody." When but four years old, she would seat herself at + the piano and play, though she did not know one note from + another, that the servant might see that she was a + distinguished person! Her life was a happy one, as is shown in + her <i>Brother and Sister Sonnet</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "But were another childhood's world my share,<br /> + I would be born a little sister there." + </div> + + <p>At five, the mother being in poor health, the child was sent + to a boarding-school with her sister, Chrissy, where she + remained three or four years. The older scholars petted her, + calling her "little mamma." At eight she went to a larger + school, at Nuneaton, where one of the teachers, Miss Lewis, + became her life-long friend. The child had the greatest + fondness for reading, her first book, a <i>Linnet's Life</i>, + being tenderly cared for all her days. <i>Aesop's Fables</i> + were read and re-read. At this time a neighbor had loaned one + of the Waverley novels to the older sister, who returned it + before Mary Ann had finished it. Distressed at this break in + the story, she began to write out as nearly as she could + remember, the whole volume for herself. Her amazed family + re-borrowed the book, and the child was happy. The mother + sometimes protested against the use of so many candles for + night reading, and rightly feared that her eyes would be + spoiled.</p> + + <p>At the next school, at Coventry, Mary Ann so surpassed her + comrades that they stood in awe of her, but managed to overcome + this when a basket of dainties came in from the country home. + In 1836 the excellent mother died. Mary Ann wrote to a friend + in after life, "I began at sixteen to be acquainted with the + unspeakable grief of a last parting, in the death of my + mother." In the following spring Chrissy was married, and after + a good cry with her brother over this breaking up of the home + circle, Mary Ann took upon herself the household duties, and + became the care-taker instead of the school-girl. Although so + young she took a leading part in the benevolent work of the + neighborhood.</p> + + <p>Her love for books increased. She engaged a well-known + teacher to come from Coventry and give her lessons in French, + German, and Italian, while another helped her in music, of + which she was passionately fond. Later, she studied Greek, + Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. Shut up in the farm-house, + hungering for knowledge, she applied herself with a persistency + and earnestness that by-and-by were to bear their legitimate + fruit. That she felt the privation of a collegiate course is + undoubted. She says in <i>Daniel Deronda</i>: "You may try, but + you can never imagine what it is to have a man's force of + genius in you, and yet to suffer the slavery of being a + girl."</p> + + <p>She did not neglect her household duties. One of her hands, + which were noticeable for their beauty of shape, was broader + than the other, which, she used to say with some pride, was + owing to the butter and cheese she had made. At twenty she was + reading the <i>Life of Wilberforce</i>, Josephus' <i>History of + the Jews</i>, Spenser's <i>Faery Queen</i>, <i>Don Quixote</i>, + Milton, Bacon, Mrs. Somerville's <i>Connection of the Physical + Sciences</i>, and Wordsworth. The latter was always an especial + favorite, and his life, by Frederick Myers in the <i>Men of + Letters</i> series, was one of the last books she ever + read.</p> + + <p>Already she was learning the illimitableness of knowledge. + "For my part," she says, "I am ready to sit down and weep at + the impossibility of my understanding or barely knowing a + fraction of the sum of objects that present themselves for our + contemplation in books and in life."</p> + + <p>About this time Mr. Evans left the farm, and moved to + Foleshill, near Coventry. The poor people at Griff were very + sorry, and said, "We shall never have another Mary Ann Evans." + Marian, as she was now called, found at Foleshill a few + intellectual and companionable friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bray, both + authors, and Miss Hennell, their sister.</p> + + <p>Through the influence of these friends she gave up some of + her evangelical views, but she never ceased to be a devoted + student and lover of the Bible. She was happy in her communing + with nature. "Delicious autumn," she said. "My very soul is + wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the + earth, seeking the successive autumns.... I have been revelling + in Nichol's <i>Architecture, of the Heavens and Phenomena of + the Solar System</i>, and have been in imagination winging my + flight from system to system, from universe to universe."</p> + + <p>In 1844, when Miss Evans was twenty-five years old, she + began the translation of Strauss' <i>Life of Jesus</i>. The + lady who was to marry Miss Hennell's brother had partially done + the work, and asked Miss Evans to finish it. For nearly three + years she gave it all the time at her command, receiving only + one hundred dollars for the labor.</p> + + <p>It was a difficult and weary work. "When I can work fast," + she said, "I am never weary, nor do I regret either that the + work has been begun or that I have undertaken it. I am only + inclined to vow that I will never translate again, if I live to + correct the sheets for Strauss." When the book was finished, it + was declared to be "A faithful, elegant, and scholarlike + translation ... word for word, thought for thought, and + sentence for sentence." Strauss himself was delighted with + it.</p> + + <p>The days passed as usual in the quiet home. Now she and her + father, the latter in failing health, visited the Isle of + Wight, and saw beautiful Alum Bay, with its "high precipice, + the strata upheaved perpendicularly in rainbow,--like streaks + of the brightest maize, violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and + brilliant white,--worn by the weather into fantastic fretwork, + the deep blue sky above, and the glorious sea below." Who of us + has not felt this same delight in looking upon this picture, + painted by nature?</p> + + <p>Now Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as other famous people, + visited the Bray family. Miss Evans writes: "I have seen + Emerson,--the first <i>man</i> I have ever seen." High praise + indeed from our "great, calm soul," as he called Miss Evans. "I + am grateful for the Carlyle eulogium (on Emerson). I have shed + some quite delicious tears over it. This is a world worth + abiding in while one man can thus venerate and love + another."</p> + + <p>Each evening she played on the piano to her admiring father, + and finally, through months of illness, carried him down + tenderly to the grave. He died May 31, 1849.</p> + + <p>Worn with care, Miss Evans went upon the Continent with the + Brays, visiting Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, and finally + resting for some months at Geneva'. As her means were limited, + she tried to sell her <i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i> at + half-price, so that she could have money for music lessons, and + to attend a course of lectures on experimental physics, by the + renowned Professor de la Rive. She was also carefully reading + socialistic themes, Proudhon, Rousseau, and others. She wrote + to friends: "The days are really only two hours long, and I + have so many things to do that I go to bed every night + miserable because I have left out something I meant to do.... I + take a dose of mathematics every day to prevent my brain from + becoming quite soft."</p> + + <p>On her return to England, she visited the Brays, and met Mr. + Chapman, the editor of the <i>Westminster Review</i>, and Mr. + Mackay, upon whose <i>Progress of the Intellect</i> she had + just written a review. Mr. Chapman must have been deeply + impressed with the learning and ability of Miss Evans, for he + offered her the position of assistant editor of the + magazine,--a most unusual position for a woman, since its + contributors were Froude, Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and other + able men.</p> + + <p>Miss Evans accepted, and went to board with Mr. Chapman's + family in London. How different this from the quiet life at + Foleshill! The best society, that is, the greatest in mind, + opened wide its doors to her. Herbert Spencer, who had just + published <i>Social Statics</i>, became one of her best + friends. Harriet Martineau came often to see her. Grote was + very friendly.</p> + + <p>The woman-editor was now thirty-two; her massive head + covered with brown curls, blue-gray eyes, mobile, sympathetic + mouth, strong chin, pale face, and soft, low voice, like + Dorothea's in <i>Middlemarch</i>,--"the voice of a soul that + has once lived in an Aeolian harp." Mr. Bray thought that Miss + Evans' head, after that of Napoleon, showed the largest + development from brow to ear of any person's recorded.</p> + + <p>She had extraordinary power of expression, and extraordinary + psychological powers, but her chief attraction was her + universal sympathy. "She essentially resembled Socrates," says + Mathilde Blind, "in her manner of eliciting whatsoever capacity + for thought might be latent in the people she came in contact + with; were it only a shoemaker or day-laborer, she would never + rest till she had found out in what points that particular man + differed from other men of his class. She always rather educed + what was in others than impressed herself on them; showing much + kindliness of heart in drawing out people who were shy. + Sympathy was the keynote of her nature, the source of her + iridescent humor, of her subtle knowledge of character, of her + dramatic genius." No person attains to permanent fame without + sympathy.</p> + + <p>Miss Evans now found her heart and hands full of work. Her + first article was a review of Carlyle's <i>Life of John + Sterling</i>. She was fond of biography. She said: "We have + often wished that genius would incline itself more frequently + to the task of the biographer, that when some great or good + person dies, instead of the dreary three-or-five volume + compilation of letter and diary and detail, little to the + purpose, which two-thirds of the public have not the chance, + nor the other third the inclination, to read, we could have a + real 'life,' setting forth briefly and vividly the man's inward + and outward struggles, aims, and achievements, so as to make + clear the meaning which his experience has for his fellows.</p> + + <p>"A few such lives (chiefly autobiographies) the world + possesses, and they have, perhaps, been more influential on the + formation of character than any other kind of reading.... It is + a help to read such a life as Margaret Fuller's. How + inexpressibly touching that passage from her journal, 'I shall + always reign through the intellect, but the life! the life! O + my God! shall that never be sweet?' I am thankful, as if for + myself, that it was sweet at last."</p> + + <p>The great minds which Miss Evans met made life a constant + joy, though she was frail in health. Now Herbert Spencer took + her to hear <i>William Tell</i> or the <i>Creation</i>. She + wrote of him: "We have agreed that we are not in love with each + other, and that there is no reason why we should not have as + much of each other's society as we like. He is a good, + delightful creature, and I always feel better for being with + him.... My brightest spot, next to my love of <i>old</i> + friends, is the deliciously calm, <i>new</i> friendship that + Herbert Spencer gives me. We see each other every day, and have + a delightful <i>camaraderie</i> in everything. But for him my + life would be desolate enough."</p> + + <p>There is no telling what this happy friendship might have + resulted in, if Mr. Spencer had not introduced to Miss Evans, + George Henry Lewes, a man of brilliant conversational powers, + who had written a <i>History of Philosophy</i>, two novels, + <i>Ranthorpe</i>, and <i>Rose, Blanche, and Violet</i>, and was + a contributor to several reviews. Mr. Lewes was a witty and + versatile man, a dramatic critic, an actor for a short time, + unsuccessful as an editor of a newspaper, and unsuccessful in + his domestic relations.</p> + + <p>That he loved Miss Evans is not strange; that she admired + him, while she pitied him and his three sons in their broken + home-life, is perhaps not strange. At first she did not like + him, nor did Margaret Fuller, but Miss Evans says: "Mr. Lewes + is kind and attentive, and has quite won my regard, after + having had a good deal of my vituperation. Like a few other + people in the world, he is much better than he seems. A man of + heart and conscience wearing a mask of flippancy."</p> + + <p>Miss Evans tired of her hard work, as who does not in this + working world? "I am bothered to death," she writes, "with + article-reading and scrap-work of all sorts; it is clear my + poor head will never produce anything under these + circumstances; <i>but I am patient</i>.... I had a long call + from George Combe yesterday. He says he thinks the + <i>Westminster</i> under <i>my</i> management the most + important means of enlightenment of a literary nature in + existence; the <i>Edinburgh</i>, under Jeffrey, nothing to it, + etc. I wish <i>I</i> thought so too."</p> + + <p>Sick with continued headaches, she went up to the English + lakes to visit Miss Martineau. The coach, at half-past six in + the evening, stopped at "The Knoll," and a beaming face came to + welcome her. During the evening, she says, "Miss Martineau came + behind me, put her hands round me, and kissed me in the + prettiest way, telling me she was so glad she had got me + here."</p> + + <p>Meantime Miss Evans was writing learned and valuable + articles on <i>Taxation, Woman in France, Evangelical + Teaching</i>, etc. She received five hundred dollars yearly + from her father's estate, but she lived simply, that she might + spend much of this for poor relations.</p> + + <p>In 1854 she resigned her position on the <i>Westminster</i>, + and went with Mr. Lewes to Germany, forming a union which + thousands who love her must regard as the great mistake of a + very great life.</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes was collecting materials for his <i>Life of + Goethe</i>. This took them to Goethe's home at Weimar. "By the + side of the bed," she says, "stands a stuffed chair where he + used to sit and read while he drank his coffee in the morning. + It was not until very late in his life that he adopted the + luxury of an armchair. From the other side of the study one + enters the library, which is fitted up in a very make-shift + fashion, with rough deal shelves, and bits of paper, with + Philosophy, History, etc., written on them, to mark the + classification of the books. Among such memorials one breathes + deeply, and the tears rush to one's eyes."</p> + + <p>George Eliot met Liszt, and "for the first time in her life + beheld real inspiration,--for the first time heard the true + tones of the piano." Rauch, the great sculptor, called upon + them, and "won our hearts by his beautiful person and the + benignant and intelligent charm of his conversation."</p> + + <p>Both writers were hard at work. George Eliot was writing an + article on <i>Weimar</i> for <i>Fraser</i>, on <i>Cumming</i> + for <i>Westminster</i>, and translating Spinoza's + <i>Ethics</i>. No name was signed to these productions, as it + would not do to have it known that a woman wrote them. The + education of most women was so meagre that the articles would + have been considered of little value. Happily Girton and + Newnham colleges are changing this estimate of the sex. Women + do not like to be regarded as inferior; then they must educate + themselves as thoroughly as the best men are educated.</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes was not well. "This is a terrible trial to us poor + scribblers," she writes, "to whom health is money, as well as + all other things worth having." They had but one sitting-room + between them, and the scratching of another pen so affected her + nerves, as to drive her nearly wild. Pecuniarily, life was a + harder struggle than ever, for there were four more mouths to + be fed,--Mr. Lewes' three sons and their mother.</p> + + <p>"Our life is intensely occupied, and the days are far too + short," she writes. They were reading in every spare moment, + twelve plays of Shakespeare, Goethe's works, <i>Wilhelm + Meister, Götz von Berlichingen, Hermann and Dorothea, + Iphigenia, Wanderjahre, Italianische Reise</i>, and others; + Heine's poems; Lessing's <i>Laocoön</i> and <i>Nathan the + Wise</i>; Macaulay's <i>History of England</i>; Moore's <i>Life + of Sheridan</i>; Brougham's <i>Lives of Men of Letters</i>; + White's <i>History of Selborne</i>; Whewell's <i>History of + Inductive Sciences</i>; Boswell; Carpenter's <i>Comparative + Physiology</i>; Jones' <i>Animal Kingdom</i>; Alison's + <i>History of Europe</i>; Kahnis' <i>History of German + Protestantism</i>; Schrader's <i>German Mythology</i>; + Kingsley's <i>Greek Heroes</i>; and the <i>Iliad</i> and + <i>Odyssey</i> in the original. She says, "If you want + delightful reading, get Lowell's <i>My Study Windows</i>, and + read the essays called <i>My Garden Acquaintances</i> and + <i>Winter</i>." No wonder they were busy.</p> + + <p>On their return from Germany they went to the sea-shore, + that Mr. Lewes might perfect his <i>Sea-side Studies</i>. + George Eliot entered heartily into the work. "We were immensely + excited," she says, "by the discovery of this little red + mesembryanthemum. It was a <i>crescendo</i> of delight when we + found a 'strawberry,' and a <i>fortissimo</i> when I, for the + first time, saw the pale, fawn-colored tentacles of an + <i>Anthea cereus</i> viciously waving like little serpents in a + low-tide pool." They read here Gosse's <i>Rambles on the + Devonshire Coast</i>, Edward's <i>Zoology</i>, Harvey's + sea-side book, and other scientific works.</p> + + <p>And now at thirty-seven George Eliot was to begin her + creative work. Mr. Lewes had often said to her, "You have wit, + description, and philosophy--those go a good way towards the + production of a novel." "It had always been a vague dream of + mine," she says, "that sometime or other I might write a novel + ... but I never went further toward the actual writing than an + introductory chapter, describing a Staffordshire village, and + the life of the neighboring farm-houses; and as the years + passed on I lost any hope that. I should ever be able to write + a novel, just as I desponded about everything else in my future + life. I always thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both + of construction and dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease + in the descriptive parts."</p> + + <p>After she had written a portion of <i>Amos Barton</i> in her + <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i>, she read it to Mr. Lewes, who + told her that now he was sure she could write good dialogue, + but not as yet sure about her pathos. One evening, in his + absence, she wrote the scene describing Milly's death, and read + it to Mr. Lewes, on his return. "We both cried over it," she + says, "and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying, 'I + think your pathos is better than your fun!'"</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes sent the story to Blackwood, with the signature of + "George Eliot,"--the first name chosen because it was his own + name, and the last because it pleased her fancy. Mr. Lewes + wrote that this story by a friend of his, showed, according to + his judgment, "such humor, pathos, vivid presentation, and nice + observation as have not been exhibited, in this style, since + the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>."</p> + + <p>Mr. John Blackwood accepted the story, but made some + comments which discouraged the author from trying another. Mr. + Lewes wrote him the effects of his words, which he hastened to + withdraw, as there was so much to be said in praise that he + really desired more stories from the same pen, and sent her a + check for two hundred and fifty dollars.</p> + + <p>This was evidently soothing, as <i>Mr. Gilfil's Love + Story</i> and <i>Janet's Repentance</i> were at once written. + Much interest began to be expressed about the author. Some said + Bulwer wrote the sketches. Thackeray praised them, and Arthur + Helps said, "He is a great writer." Copies of the stories bound + together, with the title <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i>, were + sent to Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Ruskin, and + Faraday. Dickens praised the humor and the pathos, and thought + the author was a woman.</p> + + <p>Jane Welch Carlyle thought it "a <i>human</i> book, written + out of the heart of a live man, not merely out of the brain of + an author, full of tenderness and pathos, without a scrap of + sentimentality, of sense without dogmatism, of earnestness + without twaddle--a book that makes one feel friends at once and + for always with the man or woman who wrote it." She guessed the + author was "a man of middle age, with a wife, from whom he has + got those beautiful <i>feminine</i> touches in his book, a good + many children, and a dog that he has as much fondness for as I + have for my little Nero."</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes was delighted, and said, "Her fame is beginning." + George Eliot was growing happier, for her nature had been + somewhat despondent. She used to say, "Expecting + disappointments is the only form of hope with which I am + familiar." She said, "I feel a deep satisfaction in having done + a bit of faithful work that will perhaps remain, like a + primrose-root in the hedgerow, and gladden and chasten human + hearts in years to come." "'Conscience goes to the hammering in + of nails' is my gospel," she would say. "Writing is part of my + religion, and I can write no word that is not prompted from + within. At the same time I believe that almost all the best + books in the world have been written with the hope of getting + money for them."</p> + + <p>"My life has deepened unspeakably during the last year: I + feel a greater capacity for moral and intellectual enjoyment, a + more acute sense of my deficiencies in the past, a more solemn + desire to be faithful to coming duties."</p> + + <p>For <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i> she received six hundred + dollars for the first edition, and much more after her other + books appeared.</p> + + <p>And now another work, a longer one, was growing in her mind, + <i>Adam Bede</i>, the germ of which, she says, was an anecdote + told her by her aunt, Elizabeth Evans, the Dinah Morris of the + book. A very ignorant girl had murdered her child, and refused + to confess it. Mrs. Evans, who was a Methodist preacher, stayed + with her all night, praying with her, and at last she burst + into tears and confessed her crime. Mrs. Evans went with her in + the cart to the place of execution, and ministered to the + unhappy girl till death came.</p> + + <p>When the first pages of <i>Adam Bede</i> were shown to Mr. + Blackwood, he said, "That will do." George Eliot and Mr. Lewes + went to Munich, Dresden, and Vienna for rest and change, and + she prepared much of the book in this time. When it was + finished, she wrote on the manuscript, <i>Jubilate</i>. "To my + dear husband, George Henry Lewes, I give the Ms. of a work + which would never have been written but for the happiness which + his love has conferred on my life."</p> + + <p>For this novel she received four thousand dollars for the + copyright for four years. Fame had actually come. All the + literary world were talking about it. John Murray said there + had never been such a book. Charles Reade said, putting his + finger on Lisbeth's account of her coming home with her husband + from their marriage, "the finest thing since Shakespeare." A + workingman wrote: "Forgive me, dear sir, my boldness in asking + you to give us a cheap edition. You would confer on us a great + boon. I can get plenty of trash for a few pence, but I am sick + of it." Mr. Charles Buxton said, in the House of Commons: "As + the farmer's wife says in <i>Adam Bede</i>, 'It wants to be + hatched over again and hatched different.'" This of course + greatly helped to popularize the book.</p> + + <p>To George Eliot all this was cause for the deepest + gratitude. They were able now to rent a home at Wandworth, and + move to it at once. The poverty and the drudgery of life seemed + over. She said: "I sing my magnificat in a quiet way, and have + a great deal of deep, silent joy; but few authors, I suppose, + who have had a real success, have known less of the flush and + the sensations of triumph that are talked of as the + accompaniments of success. I often think of my dreams when I + was four or five and twenty. I thought then how happy fame + would make me.... I am assured now that <i>Adam Bede</i> was + worth writing,--worth living through those long years to write. + But now it seems impossible that I shall ever write anything so + good and true again." Up to this time the world did not know + who George Eliot was; but as a man by the name of Liggins laid + claim to the authorship, and tried to borrow money for his + needs because Blackwood would not pay him, the real name of the + author had to be divulged.</p> + + <p>Five thousand copies of <i>Adam Bede</i> were sold the first + two weeks, and sixteen thousand the first year. So excellent + was the sale that Mr. Blackwood sent her four thousand dollars + in addition to the first four. The work was soon translated + into French, German, and Hungarian. Mr. Lewes' <i>Physiology of + Common Life</i> was now published, but it brought little + pecuniary return.</p> + + <p>The reading was carried on as usual by the two students. The + <i>Life of George Stephenson</i>; the <i>Electra</i> of + Sophocles; the <i>Agamemnon</i> of Aeschylus, Harriet + Martineau's <i>British Empire in India</i>; and <i>History of + the Thirty Years' Peace</i>; Béranger, <i>Modern + Painters</i>, containing some of the finest writing of the age; + Overbech on Greek art; Anna Mary Howitt's book on Munich; + Carlyle's <i>Life of Frederick the Great</i>; Darwin's + <i>Origin of Species</i>; Emerson's <i>Man the Reformer</i>, + "which comes to me with fresh beauty and meaning"; Buckle's + <i>History of Civilization</i>; Plato and Aristotle.</p> + + <p>An American publisher now offered her six thousand dollars + for a book, but she was obliged to decline, for she was writing + the <i>Mill on the Floss</i>, in 1860, for which Blackwood gave + her ten thousand dollars for the first edition of four thousand + copies, and Harper & Brothers fifteen hundred dollars for + using it also. Tauchnitz paid her five hundred for the German + reprint.</p> + + <p>She said: "I am grateful and yet rather sad to have + finished; sad that I shall live with my people on the banks of + the Floss no longer. But it is time that I should go, and + absorb some new life and gather fresh ideas." They went at once + to Italy, where they spent several months in Florence, Venice, + and Rome.</p> + + <p>In the former city she made her studies for her great novel, + <i>Romola</i>. She read Sismondi's <i>History of the Italian + Republics</i>, Tenneman's <i>History of Philosophy</i>, T.A. + Trollope's <i>Beata</i>, Hallam on the <i>Study of Roman Law in + the Middle Ages</i>, Gibbon on the <i>Revival of Greek + Learning</i>, Burlamachi's <i>Life of Savonarola</i>; also + Villari's life of the great preacher, Mrs. Jameson's <i>Sacred + and Legendary Art</i>, Machiavelli's works, Petrarch's Letters, + <i>Casa Guidi Windows</i>, Buhle's <i>History of Modern + Philosophy</i>, Story's <i>Roba di Roma</i>, Liddell's + <i>Rome</i>, Gibbon, Mosheim, and one might almost say the + whole range of Italian literature in the original. Of Mommsen's + <i>History of Rome</i> she said, "It is so fine that I count + all minds graceless who read it without the deepest + stirrings."</p> + + <p>The study necessary to make one familiar with fifteenth + century times was almost limitless. No wonder she told Mr. + Cross, years afterward, "I began <i>Romola</i> a young woman, I + finished it an old woman"; but that, with <i>Adam Bede</i> and + <i>Middlemarch</i>, will be her monument. "What courage and + patience," she says, "are wanted for every life that aims to + produce anything!" "In authorship I hold carelessness to be a + mortal sin." "I took unspeakable pains in preparing to write + <i>Romola</i>."</p> + + <p>For this one book, on which she spent a year and a half, + <i>Cornhill Magazine</i> paid her the small fortune of + thirty-five thousand dollars. She purchased a pleasant home, + "The Priory," Regent's Park, where she made her friends + welcome, though she never made calls upon any, for lack of + time. She had found, like Victor Hugo, that time is a very + precious thing for those who wish to succeed in life. Browning, + Huxley, and Herbert Spencer often came to dine.</p> + + <p>Says Mr. Cross, in his admirable life: "The entertainment + was frequently varied by music when any good performer happened + to be present. I think, however, that the majority of visitors + delighted chiefly to come for the chance of a few words with + George Eliot alone. When the drawing-room door of the Priory + opened, a first glance revealed her always in the same low + arm-chair on the left-hand side of the fire. On entering, a + visitor's eye was at once arrested by the massive head. The + abundant hair, streaked with gray now, was draped with lace, + arranged mantilla fashion, coming to a point at the top of the + forehead. If she were engaged in conversation, her body was + usually bent forward with eager, anxious desire to get as close + as possible to the person with whom she talked. She had a great + dislike to raising her voice, and often became so wholly + absorbed in conversation that the announcement of an in-coming + visitor failed to attract her attention; but the moment the + eyes were lifted up, and recognized a friend, they smiled a + rare welcome--sincere, cordial, grave--a welcome that was felt + to come straight from the heart, not graduated according to any + social distinction."</p> + + <p>After much reading of Fawcett, Mill, and other writers on + political economy, <i>Felix Holt</i> was written, in 1866, and + for this she received from Blackwood twenty-five thousand + dollars.</p> + + <p>Very much worn with her work, though Mr. Lewes relieved her + in every way possible, by writing letters and looking over all + criticisms of her books, which she never read, she was obliged + to go to Germany for rest.</p> + + <p>In 1868 she published her long poem, <i>The Spanish + Gypsy</i>, reading Spanish literature carefully, and finally + passing some time in Spain, that she might be the better able + to make a lasting work. Had she given her life to poetry, + doubtless she would have been a great poet.</p> + + <p><i>Silas Marner</i>, written before <i>Romola</i>, in 1861, + had been well received, and <i>Middlemarch</i>, in 1872, made a + great sensation. It was translated into several languages. + George Bancroft wrote her from Berlin that everybody was + reading it. For this she received a much larger sum than the + thirty-five thousand which she was paid for <i>Romola</i>.</p> + + <p>A home was now purchased in Surrey, with eight or nine acres + of pleasure grounds, for George Eliot had always longed for + trees and flowers about her house. "Sunlight and sweet air," + she said, "make a new creature of me." <i>Daniel Deronda</i> + followed in 1876, for which, it is said, she read nearly a + thousand volumes. Whether this be true or not, the list of + books given in her life, of her reading in these later years, + is as astonishing as it is helpful for any who desire real + knowledge.</p> + + <p>At Witley, in Surrey, they lived a quiet life, seeing only a + few friends like the Tennysons, the Du Mauriers, and Sir Henry + and Lady Holland. Both were growing older, and Mr. Lewes was in + very poor health. Finally, after a ten days' illness, he died, + Nov. 28, 1878.</p> + + <p>To George Eliot this loss was immeasurable. She needed his + help and his affection. She said, "I like not only to be loved, + but also to be told that I am loved," and he had idolized her. + He said: "I owe Spencer a debt of gratitude. It was through him + that I learned to know Marian,--to know her was to love her, + and since then, my life has been a new birth. To her I owe all + my prosperity and all my happiness. God bless her!"</p> + + <p>Mr. John Walter Cross, for some time a wealthy banker in New + York, had long been a friend of the family, and though many + years younger than George Eliot, became her helper in these + days of need. A George Henry Lewes studentship, of the value of + one thousand dollars yearly, was to be given to Cambridge for + some worthy student of either sex, in memory of the man she had + loved. "I want to live a little time that I may do certain + things for his sake," she said. She grew despondent, and the + Cross family used every means to win her away from her + sorrow.</p> + + <p>Mr. Cross' mother, to whom he was devotedly attached, had + also died, and the loneliness of both made their companionship + more comforting. They read Dante together in the original, and + gradually the younger man found that his heart was deeply + interested. It was the higher kind of love, the honor of mind + for mind and soul for soul.</p> + + <p>"I shall be," she said, "a better, more loving creature than + I could have been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly + grateful for this gift of a perfect love is the best + illumination of one's mind to all the possible good there may + be in store for man on this troublous little planet."</p> + + <p>Mr. Cross and George Eliot were married, May 6, 1880, a year + and a half after Mr. Lewes' death, his son Charles giving her + away, and went at once to Italy. She wrote: "Marriage has + seemed to restore me to my old self.... To feel daily the + loveliness of a nature close to me, and to feel grateful for + it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength to endure." + Having passed through a severe illness, she wrote to a friend: + "I have been cared for by something much better than angelic + tenderness.... If it is any good for me that my life has been + prolonged till now, I believe it is owing to this miraculous + affection that has chosen to watch over me."</p> + + <p>She did not forget Mr. Lewes. In looking upon the Grande + Chartreuse, she said, "I would still give up my own life + willingly, if he could have the happiness instead of me."</p> + + <p>On their return to London, they made their winter home at 4 + Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, a plain brick house. The days were + gliding by happily. George Eliot was interested as ever in all + great subjects, giving five hundred dollars for woman's higher + education at Girton College, and helping many a struggling + author, or providing for some poor friend of early times who + was proud to be remembered.</p> + + <p>She and Mr. Cross began their reading for the day with the + Bible, she especially enjoying Isaiah, Jeremiah, and St. Paul's + Epistles. Then they read Max Muller's works, Shakespeare, + Milton, Scott, and whatever was best in English, French, and + German literature. Milton she called her demigod. Her husband + says she had "a limitless persistency in application." Her + health was better, and she gave promise of doing more great + work. When urged to write her autobiography, she said, half + sighing and half smiling: "The only thing I should care much to + dwell on would be the absolute despair I suffered from, of ever + being able to achieve anything. No one could ever have felt + greater despair, and a knowledge of this might be a help to + some other struggler."</p> + + <p>Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, she went to see <i>Agamemnon</i> + performed in Greek by Oxford students, and the next afternoon + to a concert at St. James Hall. She took cold, and on Monday + was treated for sore throat. On Wednesday evening the doctors + came, and she whispered to her husband, "Tell them I have great + pain in the left side." This was the last word. She died with + every faculty bright, and her heart responsive to all noble + things.</p> + + <p>She loved knowledge to the end. She said, "My constant groan + is that I must leave so much of the greatest writing which the + centuries have sifted for me, unread for want of time."</p> + + <p>She had the broadest charity for those whose views differed + from hers. She said, "The best lesson of tolerance we have to + learn, is to tolerate intolerance." She hoped for and "looked + forward to the time when the impulse to help our fellows shall + be as immediate and as irresistible as that which I feel to + grasp something firm if I am falling."</p> + + <p>One Sunday afternoon I went to her grave in Highgate + Cemetery, London. A gray granite shaft, about twenty-five feet + high, stands above it, with these beautiful words from her + great poem:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "O may I join the choir invisible,<br /> + Of those immortal dead who live again<br /> + In minds made better by their presence." + </div> + + <p>HERE LIES THE BODY<br /> + OF<br /> + GEORGE ELIOT,<br /> + MARY ANN CROSS.<br /> + <br /> + BORN, 22d NOVEMBER, 1819;<br /> + DIED, 22d DECEMBER, 1880.</p> + + <p>A stone coping is around this grave, and bouquets of yellow + crocuses and hyacinths lie upon it. Next to her grave is a + horizontal slab, with the name of George Henry Lewes upon the + stone.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c14" id="c14"></a> + + <h3>Elizabeth Fry.</h3><a href="images/c14fry.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c14fry_t.jpg" alt= + "My attached and obliged friend Elizabeth Fry" /></a> + + <p>When a woman of beauty, great wealth, and the highest social + position, devotes her life to the lifting of the lowly and the + criminal, and preaches the Gospel from the north of Scotland to + the south of France, it is not strange that the world admires, + and that books are written in praise of her. Unselfishness + makes a rare and radiant life, and this was the crowning beauty + of the life of Elizabeth Fry.</p> + + <p>Born in Norwich, England, May 21, 1780, Elizabeth was the + third daughter of Mr. John Gurney, a wealthy London merchant. + Mrs. Gurney, the mother, a descendant of the Barclays of Ury, + was a woman of much personal beauty, singularly intellectual + for those times, making her home a place where literary and + scientific people loved to gather.</p> + + <p>Elizabeth wellnigh idolized her mother, and used often to + cry after going to bed, lest death should take away the + precious parent. In the daytime, when the mother, not very + robust, would sometimes lie down to rest, the child would creep + to the bedside and watch tenderly and anxiously, to see if she + were breathing. Well might Mrs. Gurney say,</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"My dove-like Betsy scarcely ever offends, and is, in + every sense of the word, truly engaging."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>Mrs. Fry wrote years afterward: "My mother was most dear to + me, and the walks she took with me in the old-fashioned garden + are as fresh with me as if only just passed, and her telling me + about Adam and Eve being driven out of Paradise. I always + considered it must be just like our garden.... I remember with + pleasure my mother's beds of wild flowers, which, with delight, + I used as a child to attend with her; it gave me that pleasure + in observing their beauties and varieties that, though I never + have had time to become a botanist, few can imagine, in my many + journeys, how I have been pleased and refreshed by observing + and enjoying the wild flowers on my way."</p> + + <p>The home, Earlham Hall, was one of much beauty and elegance, + a seat of the Bacon family. The large house stood in the centre + of a well-wooded park, the river Wensum flowing through it. On + the south front of the house was a large lawn, flanked by great + trees, underneath which wild flowers grew in profusion. The + views about the house were so artistic that artists often came + there to sketch.</p> + + <p>In this restful and happy home, after a brief illness, Mrs. + Gurney died in early womanhood, leaving eleven children, all + young, the smallest but two years old. Elizabeth was twelve, + old enough to feel the irreparable loss. To the day of her + death the memory of this time was extremely sad.</p> + + <p>She was a nervous and sensitive child, afraid of the dark, + begging that a light be left in her room, and equally afraid to + bathe in the sea. Her feelings were regarded as the whims of a + child, and her nervous system was injured in consequence. She + always felt the lack of wisdom in "hardening" children, and + said, "I am now of opinion that my fear would have been much + more subdued, and great suffering spared, by its having been + still more yielded to: by having a light left in my room, not + being long left alone, and never forced to bathe."</p> + + <p>After her marriage she guided her children rather than + attempt "to break their wills," and lived to see happy results + from the good sense and Christian principle involved in such + guiding. In her prison work she used the least possible + governing, winning control by kindness and gentleness.</p> + + <p>Elizabeth grew to young womanhood, with pleasing manners, + slight and graceful in body, with a profusion of soft flaxen + hair, and a bright, intelligent face. Her mind was quick, + penetrating, and original. She was a skilful rider on + horseback, and made a fine impression in her scarlet + riding-habit, for, while her family were Quakers, they did not + adopt the gray dress.</p> + + <p>She was attractive in society and much admired. She writes + in her journal: "Company at dinner; I must beware of not being + a flirt, it is an abominable character; I hope I shall never be + one, and yet I fear I am one now a little.... I think I am by + degrees losing many excellent qualities. I lay it to my great + love of gayety, and the world.... I am now seventeen, and if + some kind and great circumstance does not happen to me, I shall + have my talents devoured by moth and rust. They will lose their + brightness, and one day they will prove a curse instead of a + blessing."</p> + + <p>Before she was eighteen, William Savery, an American friend, + came to England to spend two years in the British Isles, + preaching. The seven beautiful Gurney sisters went to hear him, + and sat on the front seat, Elizabeth, "with her smart boots, + purple, laced with scarlet."</p> + + <p>As the preacher proceeded, she was greatly moved, weeping + during the service, and nearly all the way home. She had been + thrown much among those who were Deists in thought, and this + gospel-message seemed a revelation to her.</p> + + <p>The next morning Mr. Savery came to Earlham Hall to + breakfast. "From this day," say her daughters, in their + interesting memoir of their mother, "her love of pleasure and + the world seemed gone." She, herself, said, in her last + illness, "Since my heart was touched, at the age of seventeen, + I believe I never have awakened from sleep, in sickness or in + health, by day or by night, without my first waking thought + being, how best I might serve my Lord."</p> + + <p>Soon after she visited London, that she might, as she said, + "try all things" and choose for herself what appeared to her + "to be good." She wrote:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"I went to Drury Lane in the evening. I must own I was + extremely disappointed; to be sure, the house is grand and + dazzling; but I had no other feeling whilst there than that + of wishing it over.... I called on Mrs. Siddons, who was not + at home; then on Mrs. Twiss, who gave me some paint for the + evening. I was painted a little, I had my hair dressed, and + did look pretty for me."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>On her return to Earlham Hall she found that the London + pleasure had not been satisfying. She says, "I wholly gave up + on my own ground, attending all places of public amusement; I + saw they tended to promote evil; therefore, if I could attend + them without being hurt myself, I felt in entering them I lent + my aid to promote that which I was sure from what I saw hurt + others."</p> + + <p>She was also much exercised about dancing, thinking, while + "in a family, it may be of use by the bodily exercise," that + "the more the pleasures of life are given up, the less we love + the world, and our hearts will be set upon better things."</p> + + <p>The heretofore fashionable young girl began to visit the + poor and the sick in the neighborhood, and at last decided to + open a school for poor children. Only one boy came at first; + but soon she had seventy. She lost none of her good cheer and + charming manner, but rather grew more charming. She cultivated + her mind as well, reading logic,--Watts on Judgment, Lavater, + etc.</p> + + <p>The rules of life which she wrote for herself at eighteen + are worth copying: "First,--Never lose any time; I do not think + that lost which is spent in amusement or recreation some time + every day; but always be in the habit of being employed. + Second,--Never err the least in truth. Third,--Never say an ill + thing of a person when I can say a good thing of him; not only + speak charitably, but feel so. Fourth,--Never be irritable or + unkind to anybody. Fifth,--Never indulge myself in luxuries + that are not necessary. Sixth,--Do all things with + consideration, and when my path to act right is most difficult, + put confidence in that Power alone which is able to assist me, + and exert my own powers as far as they go."</p> + + <p>Gradually she laid aside all jewelry, then began to dress in + quiet colors, and finally adopted the Quaker garb, feeling that + she could do more good in it. At first her course did not + altogether please her family, but they lived to idolize and + bless her for her doings, and to thankfully enjoy her worldwide + fame.</p> + + <p>At twenty she received an offer of marriage from a wealthy + London merchant, Mr. Joseph Fry. She hesitated for some time, + lest her active duties in the church should conflict with the + cares of a home of her own. She said, "My most anxious wish is, + that I may not hinder my spiritual welfare, which I have so + much feared as to make me often doubt if marriage were a + desirable thing for me at this time, or even the thoughts of + it."</p> + + <p>However, she was soon married, and a happy life resulted. + For most women this marriage, which made her the mother of + eleven children, would have made all public work impossible; + but to a woman of Elizabeth Fry's strong character nothing + seemed impossible. Whether she would have accomplished more for + the world had she remained unmarried, no one can tell.</p> + + <p>Her husband's parents were "plain, consistent friends," and + his sister became especially congenial to the young bride. A + large and airy house was taken in London, St. Mildred's Court, + which became a centre for "Friends" in both Great Britain and + America.</p> + + <p>With all her wealth and her fondness for her family, she + wrote in her journal, "I have been married eight years + yesterday; various trials of faith and patience have been + permitted me; my course has been very different to what I had + expected; instead of being, as I had hoped, a useful instrument + in the Church Militant, here I am a careworn wife and mother + outwardly, nearly devoted to the things of this life; though at + times this difference in my destination has been trying to me, + yet I believe those trials (which have certainly been very + pinching) that I have had to go through have been very useful, + and have brought me to a feeling sense of what I am; and at the + same time have taught me where power is, and in what we are to + glory; not in ourselves nor in anything we can be or do, but we + are alone to desire that He may be glorified, either through us + or others, in our being something or nothing, as He may see + best for us."</p> + + <p>After eleven years the Fry family moved to a beautiful home + in the country at Plashet. Changes had come in those eleven + years. The father had died; one sister had married Sir Thomas + Fowell Buxton, and she herself had been made a "minister" by + the Society of Friends. While her hands were very full with the + care of her seven children, she had yet found time to do much + outside Christian work.</p> + + <p>Naturally shrinking, she says, "I find it an awful thing to + rise amongst a large assembly, and, unless much covered with + love and power, hardly know how to venture." But she seemed + always to be "covered with love and power," for she prayed much + and studied her Bible closely, and her preaching seemed to melt + alike crowned heads and criminals in chains.</p> + + <p>Opposite the Plashet House, with its great trees and + flowers, was a dilapidated building occupied by an aged man and + his sister. They had once been well-to-do, but were now very + poor, earning a pittance by selling rabbits. The sister, shy + and sorrowful from their reduced circumstances, was nearly + inaccessible, but Mrs. Fry won her way to her heart. Then she + asked how they would like to have a girls' school in a big room + attached to the building. They consented, and soon seventy poor + girls were in attendance.</p> + + <p>"She had," says a friend, "the gentlest touch with children. + She would win their hearts, if they had never seen her before, + almost at the first glance, and by the first sound of her + musical voice."</p> + + <p>Then the young wife, now thirty-one, established a depot of + calicoes and flannels for the poor, with a room full of drugs, + and another department where good soup was prepared all through + the hard winters. She would go into the "Irish Colony," taking + her two older daughters with her, that they might learn the + sweetness of benevolence, "threading her way through children + and pigs, up broken staircases, and by narrow passages; then + she would listen to their tales of want and woe."</p> + + <p>Now she would find a young mother dead, with a paper cross + pinned upon her breast; now she visited a Gypsy camp to care + for a sick child, and give them Bibles. Each year when the camp + returned to Plashet, their chief pleasure was the visits of the + lovely Quaker. Blessings on thee, beautiful Elizabeth Fry!</p> + + <p>She now began to assist in the public meetings near London, + but with some hesitation, as it took her from home; but after + an absence of two weeks, she found her household "in very + comfortable order; and so far from having suffered in my + absence, it appears as if a better blessing had attended them + than common."</p> + + <p>She did not forget her home interests. One of her servants + being ill, she watched by his bedside till he died. When she + talked with him of the world to come, he said, "God bless you, + ma'am." She said, "There is no set of people I feel so much + about as servants, as I do not think they have generally + justice done to them; they are too much considered as another + race of beings, and we are apt to forget that the holy + injunction holds good with them, 'Do as thou wouldst be done + unto.'"</p> + + <p>She who could dine with kings and queens, felt as regards + servants, "that in the best sense we are all one, and though + our paths here may be different, we have all souls equally + valuable, and have all the same work to do; which, if properly + considered, should lead us to great sympathy and love, and also + to a constant care for their welfare, both here and + hereafter."</p> + + <p>When she was thirty-three, having moved to London for the + winter, she began her remarkable work in Newgate prison. The + condition of prisoners was pitiable in the extreme. She found + three hundred women, with their numerous children, huddled + together, with no classification between the most and least + depraved, without employment, in rags and dirt, and sleeping on + the floor with no bedding, the boards simply being raised for a + sort of pillow. Liquors were purchased openly at a bar in the + prison; and swearing, gambling, obscenity, and pulling each + other's hair were common. The walls, both in the men's and + women's departments, were hung with chains and fetters.</p> + + <p>When Mrs. Fry and two or three friends first visited the + prison, the superintendent advised that they lay aside their + watches before entering, which they declined to do. Mrs. Fry + did not fear, nor need she, with her benign presence.</p> + + <p>On her second visit she asked to be left alone with the + women, and read to them the tenth chapter of Matthew, making a + few observations on Christ's having come to save sinners. Some + of the women asked who Christ was. Who shall forgive us for + such ignorance in our very midst?</p> + + <p>The children were almost naked, and ill from want of food, + air, and exercise. Mrs. Fry told them that she would start a + school for their children, which announcement was received with + tears of joy. She asked that they select one from their own + number for a governess. Mary Conner was chosen, a girl who had + been put in prison for stealing a watch. So changed did the + girl become under this new responsibility, that she was never + known to infringe a rule of the prison. After fifteen months + she was released, but died soon after of consumption.</p> + + <p>When the school was opened for all under twenty-five, "the + railing was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together + for the front situations, with the most boisterous violence, + and begging with the utmost vociferation."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry saw at once the need of these women being occupied, + but the idea that these people could be induced to work was + laughed at, as visionary, by the officials. They said the work + would be destroyed or stolen at once. But the good woman did + not rest till an association of twelve persons was formed for + the "Improvement of the Female Prisoners of Newgate"; "to + provide for the clothing, the instruction, and the employment + of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy + Scriptures; and to form in them, as much as possible, those + habits of order, sobriety, and industry, which may render them + docile and peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when + they leave it."</p> + + <p>It was decided that Botany Bay could be supplied with + stockings, and indeed with all the articles needed by convicts, + through the work of these women. A room was at once made ready, + and matrons were appointed. A portion of the earnings was to be + given the women for themselves and their children. In ten + months they made twenty thousand articles of wearing apparel, + and knit from sixty to one hundred pairs of stockings every + month. The Bible was read to them twice each day. They received + marks for good behavior, and were as pleased as children with + the small prizes given them.</p> + + <p>One of the girls who received a prize of clothing came to + Mrs. Fry, and "hoped she would excuse her for being so forward, + but if she might say it, she felt exceedingly disappointed; she + little thought of having clothing given to her, but she had + hoped I would have given her a Bible, that she might read the + Scriptures herself."</p> + + <p>No woman was ever punished under Mrs. Fry's management. They + said, "it would be more terrible to be brought up before her + than before the judge." When she told them she hoped they would + not play cards, five packs were at once brought to her and + burned.</p> + + <p>The place was now so orderly and quiet, that "Newgate had + become almost a show; the statesman and the noble, the city + functionary and the foreign traveller, the high-bred + gentlewoman, the clergyman and the dissenting minister, flocked + to witness the extraordinary change," and to listen to Mrs. + Fry's beautiful Bible readings.</p> + + <p>Letters poured in from all parts of the country, asking her + to come to their prisons for a similar work, or to teach others + how to work. A committee of the House of Commons summoned her + before them to learn her suggestions, and to hear of her + methods; and later the House of Lords.</p> + + <p>Of course the name of Elizabeth Fry became known everywhere. + Queen Victoria gave her audience, and when she appeared in + public, everybody was eager to look at her. The newspapers + spoke of her in the highest praise. Yet with a beautiful spirit + she writes in her journal, "I am ready to say in the fulness of + my heart, surely 'it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our + eyes'; so many are the providential openings of various kinds. + Oh! if good should result, may the praise and glory of the + whole be entirely given where it is due by us, and by all, in + deep humiliation and prostration of spirit."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry's heart was constantly burdened with the scenes she + witnessed. The penal laws were a caricature on justice. Men and + women were hanged for theft, forgery, passing counterfeit + money, and for almost every kind of fraud. One young woman, + with a babe in her arms, was hanged for stealing a piece of + cloth worth one dollar and twenty-five cents! Another was + hanged for taking food to keep herself and little child from + starving. It was no uncommon thing to see women hanging from + the gibbet at Newgate, because they had passed a forged + one-pound note (five dollars).</p> + + <p>George Cruikshank in 1818 was so moved at one of these + executions that he made a picture which represented eight men + and three women hanging from the gallows, and a rope coiled + around the faces of twelve others. Across the picture were the + words, "I promise to perform during the issue of Bank-notes + easily imitated ... for the Governors and Company of the Bank + of England."</p> + + <p>He called the picture a "Bank-note, not to be imitated." It + at once created a great sensation. Crowds blocked the street in + front of the shop where it was hung. The pictures were in such + demand that Cruikshank sat up all night to etch another plate. + The Gurneys, Wilberforce, Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir James + Mackintosh, all worked vigorously against capital punishment, + save, possibly, for murder.</p> + + <p>Among those who were to be executed was Harriet Skelton, + who, for the man she loved, had passed forged notes. She was + singularly open in face and manner, confiding, and + well-behaved. When she was condemned to death, it was a + surprise and horror to all who knew her. Mrs. Fry was deeply + interested. Noblemen went to see her in her damp, dark cell, + which was guarded by a heavy iron door. The Duke of Gloucester + went with Mrs. Fry to the Directors of the Bank of England, and + to Lord Sidmouth, to plead for her, but their hearts were not + to be moved, and the poor young girl was hanged. The public was + enthusiastic in its applause for Mrs. Fry, and unsparing in its + denunciation of Sidmouth. At last the obnoxious laws were + changed.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry was heartily opposed to capital punishment. She + said, "It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life + appear light to them"; it does not lead to reformation, and + "does not deter others from crime, because the crimes subject + to capital punishment are gradually increasing."</p> + + <p>When the world is more civilized than it is to-day, when we + have closed the open saloon, that is the direct cause of nearly + all the murders, then we shall probably do away with hanging; + or, if men and women must be killed for the safety of society, + a thing not easily proven, it will be done in the most humane + manner, by chloroform.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry was likewise strongly opposed to solitary + confinement, which usually makes the subject a mental wreck, + and, as regards moral action, an imbecile. How wonderfully in + advance of her age was this gifted woman!</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry's thoughts now turned to another evil. When the + women prisoners were transported to New South Wales, they were + carried to the ships in open carts, the crowd jeering. She + prevailed upon government to have them carried in coaches, and + promised that she would go with them. When on board the ship, + she knelt on the deck and prayed with them as they were going + into banishment, and then bade them a tender good by. Truly + woman can be an angel of light.</p> + + <p>Says Captain Martin, "Who could resist this beautiful, + persuasive, and heavenly-minded woman? To see her was to love + her; to hear her was to feel as if a guardian angel had bid you + follow that teaching which could alone subdue the temptations + and evils of this life, and secure a Redeemer's love in + eternity."</p> + + <p>At this time Mrs. Fry and her brother Joseph visited + Scotland and the north of England to ascertain the condition of + the prisons. They found much that was inhuman; insane persons + in prison, eighteen months in dungeons! Debtors confined night + and day in dark, filthy cells, and never leaving them; men + chained to the walls of their cells, or to rings in the floor, + or with their limbs stretched apart till they fainted in agony; + women with chains on hands, and feet, and body, while they + slept on bundles of straw. On their return a book was + published, which did much to arouse England.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry was not yet forty, but her work was known round the + world. The authorities of Russia, at the desire of the Empress, + wrote Mrs. Fry as to the best plans for the St. Petersburg + lunatic asylum and treatment of the inmates, and her + suggestions were carried out to the letter.</p> + + <p>Letters came from Amsterdam, Denmark, Paris, and elsewhere, + asking counsel. The correspondence became so great that two of + her daughters were obliged to attend to it.</p> + + <p>Again she travelled all over England, forming "Ladies' + Prison Associations," which should not only look after the + inmates of prisons, but aid them to obtain work when they were + discharged, or "so provide for them that stealing should not + seem a necessity."</p> + + <p>About this time, 1828, one of the houses in which her + husband was a partner failed, "which involved Elizabeth Fry and + her family in a train of sorrows and perplexities which tinged + the remaining years of her life."</p> + + <p>They sold the house at Plashet, and moved again to Mildred + Court, now the home of one of their sons. Her wealthy brothers + and her children soon re-established the parents in + comfort.</p> + + <p>She now became deeply interested in the five hundred + Coast-Guard stations in the United Kingdom, where the men and + their families led a lonely life. Partly by private + contributions and partly through the aid of government, she + obtained enough money to buy more than twenty-five thousand + volumes for libraries at these stations. The letters of + gratitude were a sufficient reward for the hard work. She also + obtained small libraries for all the packets that sailed from + Falmouth.</p> + + <p>In 1837, with some friends, she visited Paris, making a + detailed examination of its prisons. Guizot entertained her, + the Duchess de Broglie, M. de Pressensé, and others paid + her much attention. The King and Queen sent for her, and had an + earnest talk. At Nismes, where there were twelve hundred + prisoners, she visited the cells, and when five armed soldiers + wished to protect her and her friends, she requested that they + be allowed to go without guard. In one dungeon she found two + men, chained hand and foot. She told them she would plead for + their liberation if they would promise good behavior. They + promised, and kept it, praying every night for their benefactor + thereafter. When she held a meeting in the prison, hundreds + shed tears, and the good effects of her work were visible long + after.</p> + + <p>The next journey was made to Germany. At Brussels, the King + held out both hands to receive her. In Denmark, the King and + Queen invited her to dine, and she sat between them. At Berlin, + the royal family treated her like a sister, and all stood about + her while she knelt and prayed for them.</p> + + <p>The new penitentiaries were built after her suggestions, so + perfect was thought to be her system. The royal family never + forget her. When the King of Prussia visited England, to stand + sponsor for the infant Prince of Wales, in 1842, he dined with + her at her home. She presented to him her eight daughters and + daughters-in-law, her seven sons and eldest grandson, and then + their twenty-five grandchildren.</p> + + <p>Finally, the great meetings, and the earnest plans, with + their wonderful execution, were coming to an end for Elizabeth + Fry.</p> + + <p>There had been many breaks in the home circle. Her beloved + son William, and his two children, had just died. Some years + before she had buried a very precious child, Elizabeth, at the + age of five, who shortly before her death said, "Mamma, I love + everybody better than myself, and I love thee better than + everybody, and I love Almighty much better than thee, and I + hope thee loves Almighty much better than me." This was a + severe stroke, Mrs. Fry saying, "My much-loved husband and I + have drank this cup together, in close sympathy and unity of + feeling. It has at times been very bitter to us both, but we + have been in measure each other's joy and helpers in the + Lord."</p> + + <p>During her last sickness she said, "I believe this is not + death, but it is as passing through the valley of the shadow of + death, and perhaps with more suffering, from more + sensitiveness; but the 'rock is here'; the distress is awful, + but He has been with me."</p> + + <p>The last morning came, Oct. 13, 1845. About nine o'clock, + one of her daughters, sitting by her bedside, read from Isaiah: + "I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto + thee, Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I + will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One + of Israel." The mother said slowly, "Oh! my dear Lord, help and + keep thy servant!" and never spoke afterward.</p> + + <p>She was buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Barking, by + the side of her little Elizabeth, a deep silence prevailing + among the multitudes gathered there, broken only by the solemn + prayer of her brother, Joseph John Gurney.</p> + + <p>Thus closed one of the most beautiful lives among women. To + the last she was doing good deeds. When she was wheeled along + the beach in her chair, she gave books and counsel to the + passers-by. When she stayed at hotels, she usually arranged a + meeting for the servants. She was sent for, from far and near, + to pray with the sick, and comfort the dying, who often begged + to kiss her hand; no home was too desolate for her lovely and + cheerful presence. No wonder Alexander of Russia called her + "one of the wonders of the age."</p> + + <p>Her only surviving son gives this interesting testimony of + her home life: "I never recollect seeing her out of temper or + hearing her speak a harsh word, yet still her word was law, but + always the law of love."</p> + + <p>Naturally timid, always in frail health, sometimes + misunderstood, even with the highest motives, she lived a + heroic life in the best sense, and died the death of a + Christian. What grander sphere for woman than such philanthropy + as this! And the needs of humanity are as great as ever, + waiting for the ministration of such noble souls.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c15" id="c15"></a> + + <h3>Elizabeth Thompson Butler.</h3> + + <p>While woman has not achieved such brilliant success in art, + perhaps, as in literature, many names stand high on the lists. + Early history has its noted women: Propersia di Rossi, of + Bologna, whose romantic history Mrs. Hemans has immortalized; + Elisabetta Sirani, painter, sculptor, and engraver on copper, + herself called a "miracle of art," the honored of popes and + princes, dying at twenty-six; Marietta Tintoretta, who was + invited to be the artist at the courts of emperors and kings, + dying at thirty, leaving her father inconsolable; Sophonisba + Lomellini, invited by Philip II. of Spain to Madrid, to paint + his portrait, and that of the Queen, concerning whom, though + blind, Vandyck said he had received more instruction from a + blind woman than from all his study of the old masters; and + many more.</p> + + <p>The first woman artist in England was Susannah Hornebolt, + daughter of the principal painter who immediately preceded Hans + Holbein, Gerard Hornebolt, a native of Ghent. Albrecht + Dürer said of her, in 1521: "She has made a colored + drawing of our Saviour, for which I gave her a florin [forty + cents]. It is wonderful that a female should be able to do such + work." Her brother Luke received a larger salary from King + Henry VIII. than he ever gave to Holbein,--$13.87 per month. + Susannah married an English sculptor, named Whorstly, and lived + many years in great honor and esteem with all the court.</p> + + <p>Arts flourished under Charles I. To Vandyck and Anne + Carlisle he gave ultra-marine to the value of twenty-five + hundred dollars. Artemisia Gentileschi, from Rome, realized a + splendid income from her work; and, although forty-five years + old when she came to England, she was greatly admired, and + history says made many conquests. This may be possible, as + George IV. said a woman never reaches her highest powers of + fascination till she is forty. Guido was her instructor, and + one of her warmest eulogizers. She was an intimate friend of + Domenichino and of Guercino, who gave all his wealth to + philanthropies, and when in England was the warm friend of + Vandyck. Some of her works are in the Pitti Palace, at + Florence, and some at Madrid, in Spain.</p> + + <p>Of Maria Varelst, the historical painter, the following + story is told: At the theatre she sat next to six German + gentlemen of high rank, who were so impressed with her beauty + and manner that they expressed great admiration for her among + each other. The young lady spoke to them in German, saying that + such extravagant praise in the presence of a lady was no real + compliment. One of the party immediately repeated what he had + said in Latin. She replied in the same tongue "that it was + unjust to endeavor to deprive the fair sex of the knowledge of + that tongue which was the vehicle of true learning." The + gentlemen begged to call upon her. Each sat for his portrait, + and she was thus brought into great prominence.</p> + + <p>The artist around whose beauty and talent romance adds a + special charm, was Angelica Kauffman, the only child of Joseph + Kauffman, born near Lake Constance, about 1741. At nine years + of age she made wonderful pastel pictures. Removing to + Lombardy, it is asserted that her father dressed her in boy's + clothing, and smuggled her into the academy, that she might be + improved in drawing. At eleven she went to Como, where the + charming scenery had a great impression upon the young girl. No + one who wishes to grow in taste and art can afford to live away + from nature's best work. The Bishop of Como became interested + in her, and asked her to paint his portrait. This was well done + in crayon, and soon the wealthy patronized her. Years after, + she wrote: "Como is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como, in my + most happy youth, that I tasted the first real enjoyment of + life."</p> + + <p>When she went to Milan, to study the great masters, the Duke + of Modena was attracted by her beauty and devotion to her work. + He introduced her to the Duchess of Massa Carrara, whose + portrait she painted, as also that of the Austrian governor, + and soon those of many of the nobility. When all seemed at its + brightest, her mother, one of the best of women, died. Her + father, broken-hearted, accepted the offer to decorate the + church of his native town, and Angelica joined him in the + frescoing. After much hard work, they returned to Milan. The + constant work had worn on the delicate girl. She gave herself + no time for rest. When not painting, she was making chalk and + crayon drawings, mastering the harpsichord, or lost in the + pages of French, German, or Italian. For a time she thought of + becoming a singer; but finally gave herself wholly to art. + After this she went to Florence, where she worked from sunrise + to sunset, and in the evening at her crayons. In Rome, with her + youth, beauty, fascinating manners, and varied reading, she + gained a wide circle of friends. Her face was a Greek oval, her + complexion fresh and clear, her eyes deep blue, her mouth + pretty and always smiling. She was accused of being a coquette, + and quite likely was such.</p> + + <p>For three months she painted in the Royal Gallery at Naples, + and then returned to Rome to study the works of Raphael and + Michael Angelo. From thence she went to Bologna and beautiful + Venice. Here she met Lady Wentworth, who took her to London, + where she was introduced at once to the highest circles. Sir + Joshua Reynolds had the greatest admiration for her, and, + indeed, was said to have offered her his hand and heart. The + whole world of art and letters united in her praise. Often she + found laudatory verses pinned on her canvas. The great people + of the land crowded her studio for sittings. She lived in + Golden Square, now a rather dilapidated place back of Regent + Street. She was called the most fascinating woman in England. + Sir Joshua painted her as "Design Listening to Poetry," and + she, in turn, painted him. She was the pet of Buckingham House + and Windsor Castle.</p> + + <p>In the midst of all this unlimited attention, a man calling + himself the Swedish Count, Frederic de Horn, with fine manners + and handsome person, offered himself to Angelica. He + represented that he was calumniated by his enemies and that the + Swedish Government was about to demand his person. He assured + her, if she were his wife, she could intercede with the Queen + and save him. She blindly consented to the marriage, privately. + At last, she confessed it to her father, who took steps at once + to see if the man were true, and found that he was the vilest + impostor. He had a young wife already in Germany, and would + have been condemned to a felon's death if Angelica had been + willing. She said, "He has betrayed me; but God will judge + him."</p> + + <p>She received several offers of marriage after this, but + would accept no one. Years after, when her father, to whom she + was deeply devoted, was about to die, he prevailed upon her to + marry a friend of his, Antonio Zucchi, thirteen years her + senior, with whom she went to Rome, and there died. He was a + man of ability, and perhaps made her life happy. At her burial, + one hundred priests accompanied the coffin, the pall being held + by four young girls, dressed in white, the four tassels held by + four members of the Academy. Two of her pictures were carried + in triumph immediately after her coffin. Then followed a grand + procession of illustrious persons, each bearing a lighted + taper.</p> + + <p>Goethe was one of her chosen friends. He said of her: "She + has a most remarkable and, for a woman, really an unheard-of + talent. No living painter excels her in dignity, or in the + delicate taste with which she handles the pencil."</p> + + <p>Miss Ellen C. Clayton, in her interesting volumes, + <i>English Female Artists</i>, says, "No lady artist, from the + days of Angelica Kauffman, ever created such a vivid interest + as Elizabeth Thompson Butler. None had ever stepped into the + front rank in so short a time, or had in England ever attained + high celebrity at so early an age."</p> + + <p>She was born in the Villa Clermont, Lausanne, Switzerland, a + country beautiful enough to inspire artistic sentiments in all + its inhabitants. Her father, Thomas James Thompson, a man of + great culture and refinement, educated at Trinity College, + Cambridge, was a warm friend of Charles Dickens, Lord Lytton, + and their literary associates. Somewhat frail in health, he + travelled much of the time, collecting pictures, of which he + was extremely fond, and studying with the eye of an artist the + beauties of each country, whether America, Italy, or + France.</p> + + <p>His first wife died early, leaving one son and daughter. The + second wife was an enthusiastic, artistic girl, especially + musical, a friend of Dickens, and every way fitted to be the + intelligent companion of her husband.</p> + + <p>After the birth of Elizabeth, the family resided in various + parts of Southern Europe. Now they lived, says Mrs. Alice + Meynell, her only sister, in the January, 1883, <i>St. + Nicholas</i>, "within sight of the snow-capped peaks of the + Apennines, in an old palace, the Villa de Franchi, immediately + overlooking the Mediterranean, with olive-clad hills at the + back; on the left, the great promontory of Porto Fino; on the + right, the Bay of Genoa, some twelve miles away, and the long + line of the Apennines sloping down into the sea. The palace + garden descended, terrace by terrace, to the rocks, being, + indeed, less a garden than what is called a <i>villa</i> in the + Liguria, and a <i>podere</i> in Tuscany,--a fascinating mixture + of vine, olive, maize, flowers, and corn. A fountain in marble, + lined with maiden-hair, played at the junction of each flight + of steps. A great billiard-room on the first floor, hung with + Chinese designs, was Elizabeth Thompson's first school-room; + and there Charles Dickens, upon one of his Italian visits, + burst in upon a lesson in multiplication.</p> + + <p>"The two children never went to school, and had no other + teacher than their father,--except their mother for music, and + the usual professors for 'accomplishments' in later years. And + whether living happily in their beautiful Genoese home, or + farther north among the picturesque Italian lakes, or in + Switzerland, or among the Kentish hop-gardens and the parks of + Surrey, Elizabeth's one central occupation of drawing was never + abandoned,--literally not for a day."</p> + + <p>She was a close observer of nature, and especially fond of + animals. When not out of doors sketching landscapes, she would + sit in the house and draw, while her father read to her, as he + believed the two things could be carried on beneficially.</p> + + <p>She loved to draw horses running, soldiers, and everything + which showed animation and energy. Her educated parents had the + good sense not to curb her in these perhaps unusual tastes for + a girl. They saw the sure hand and broad thought of their + child, and, no doubt, had expectations of her future fame.</p> + + <p>At fifteen, as the family had removed to England, Elizabeth + joined the South Kensington School of Design, and, later, took + lessons in oil painting, for a year, of Mr. Standish. Thus from + the years of five to sixteen she had studied drawing carefully, + so that now she was ready to touch oil-painting for the first + time. How few young ladies would have been willing to study + drawing for eleven years, before trying to paint in oil!</p> + + <p>The Thompson family now moved to Ventnor, in the Isle of + Wight, staying for three years at Bonchurch, one of the + loveliest places in the world. Ivy grows over walls and houses, + roses and clematis bloom luxuriantly, and the balmy air and + beautiful sea make the place as restful as it is beautiful. + Here Elizabeth received lessons in water-color and landscape + from Mr. Gray.</p> + + <p>After another visit abroad the family returned to London, + and the artist daughter attended the National Art School at + South Kensington, studying in the life-class. The head master, + Mr. Richard Burchett, saw her talent, and helped her in all + ways possible.</p> + + <p>Naturally anxious to test the world's opinion of her work, + she sent some water-colors to the Society of British Artists + for exhibition, and they were rejected. There is very little + encouragement for beginners in any profession. However, + "Bavarian Artillery going into Action" was exhibited at the + Dudley Gallery, and received favorable notice from Mr. Tom + Taylor, art critic of the <i>Times</i>.</p> + + <p>Between two long courses at South Kensington Elizabeth spent + a summer in Florence and a winter at Rome, studying in both + places. At Florence she entered the studio of Signor Guiseppe + Bellucci, an eminent historical painter and consummate + draughtsman, a fellow-student of Sir Frederick Leighton at the + Academy.</p> + + <p>Here the girlish student was intensely interested in her + work. She rose early, before the other members of the family, + taking her breakfast alone, that she might hasten to her + beloved labor. "On the day when she did not work with him," + says Mrs. Meynell, "she copied passages from the frescoes in + the cloisters of the Annunziata, masterpieces of Andrea del + Sarto and Franciabigio, making a special study of the drapery + of the last-named painter. The sacristans of the old + church--the most popular church in Florence--knew and welcomed + the young English girl, who sat for hours so intently at her + work in the cloister, unheeding the coming and going of the + long procession of congregations passing through the gates.</p> + + <p>"Her studies in the galleries were also full of delight and + profit, though she made no other copies, and she was wont to + say that of all the influences of the Florentine school which + stood her in good stead in her after-work, that of Andrea del + Sarto was the most valuable and the most important. The intense + heat of a midsummer, which, day after day, showed a hundred + degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, could not make her relax work, + and her master, Florentine as he was, was obliged to beg her to + spare him, at least for a week, if she would not spare herself. + It was toward the end of October that artist and pupil parted, + his confidence in her future being as unbounded as her + gratitude for his admirable skill and minute carefulness."</p> + + <p>During her seven months in Rome she painted, in 1870, for an + ecclesiastical art exhibition, opened by Pope Pius IX., in the + cloisters of the Carthusian Monastery, the "Visitation of the + Blessed Virgin to St. Elizabeth," and the picture gained + honorable mention.</p> + + <p>On her return to England the painting was offered to the + Royal Academy and rejected. And what was worse still, a large + hole had been torn in the canvas, in the sky of the picture. + Had she not been very persevering, and believed in her heart + that she had talent, perhaps she would not have dared to try + again, but she had worked steadily for too many years to fail + now. Those only win who can bear refusal a thousand times if + need be.</p> + + <p>The next year, being at the Isle of Wight, she sent another + picture to the Academy, and it was rejected. Merit does not + always win the first, nor the second, nor the third time. It + must have been a little consolation to Elizabeth Thompson, to + know that each year the judges were reminded that a person by + that name lived, and was painting pictures!</p> + + <p>The next year a subject from the Franco-Prussian War was + taken, as that was fresh in the minds of the people. The title + was "Missing." "Two French officers, old and young, both + wounded, and with one wounded horse between them, have lost + their way after a disastrous defeat; their names will appear in + the sad roll as missing, and the manner of their death will + never be known."</p> + + <p>The picture was received, but was "skyed," that is, placed + so high that nobody could well see it. During this year she + received a commission from a wealthy art patron to paint a + picture. What should it be? A battle scene, because into that + she could put her heart.</p> + + <p>A studio was taken in London, and the "Roll-Call" (calling + the roll after an engagement,--Crimea) was begun. She put life + into the faces and the attitudes of the men, as she worked with + eager heart and careful labor. In the spring of 1874 it was + sent to the Royal Academy, with, we may suppose, not very + enthusiastic hopes.</p> + + <p>The stirring battle piece pleased the committee, and they + cheered when it was received. Then it began to be talked at the + clubs that a woman had painted a battle scene! Some had even + heard that it was a great picture. When the Academy banquet was + held, prior to the opening, the speeches of the Prince of Wales + and the Duke of Cambridge, both gave high praise to the + "Roll-Call."</p> + + <p>Such an honor was unusual. Everybody was eager to see the + painting. It was the talk at the clubs, on the railway trains, + and on the crowded thoroughfares. All day long crowds gathered + before it, a policeman keeping guard over the painting, that it + be not injured by its eager admirers. The Queen sent for it, + and it was carried, for a few hours, to Buckingham Palace, for + her to gaze upon. So much was she pleased that she desired to + purchase it, and the person who had ordered it gave way to Her + Majesty. The copyright was bought for fifteen times the + original sum agreed upon as its value, and a steel-plate + engraving made from it at a cost of nearly ten thousand + dollars. After thirty-five hundred impressions, the plate was + destroyed, that there might be no inferior engravings of the + picture. The "Roll-Call" was for some time retained by the Fine + Art Society, where it was seen by a quarter of a million + persons. Besides this, it was shown in all the large towns of + England. It is now at Windsor Castle.</p> + + <p>Elizabeth Thompson had become famous in a day, but she was + not elated over it; for, young as she was, she did not forget + that she had been working diligently for twenty years. The + newspapers teemed with descriptions of her, and incidents of + her life, many of which were, of course, purely imaginative. + Whenever she appeared in society, people crowded to look at + her.</p> + + <p>Many a head would have been turned by all this praise; not + so the well-bred student. She at once set to work on a more + difficult subject, "The Twenty-eighth Regiment at Quatre Bras." + When this appeared, in 1875, it drew an enormous crowd. The + true critics praised heartily, but there were some persons who + thought a woman could not possibly know about the smoke of a + battle, or how men would act under fire. That she studied every + detail of her work is shown by Mr. W. H. Davenport Adams, in + his <i>Woman's Work and Worth</i>. "The choice of subject," he + says, "though some people called it a 'very shocking one for a + young lady,' engaged the sympathy of military men, and she was + generously aided in obtaining material and all kinds of data + for the work. Infantry officers sent her photographs of + 'squares.' But these would not do, the men were not in earnest; + they would kneel in such positions as they found easiest for + themselves; indeed, but for the help of a worthy + sergeant-major, who saw that each individual assumed and + maintained the attitude proper for the situation at whatever + inconvenience, the artist could not possibly have impressed + upon her picture that verisimilitude which it now presents.</p> + + <p>"Through the kindness of the authorities, an amount of + gunpowder was expended at Chatham, to make her see, as she + said, how 'the men's faces looked through the smoke,' that + would have justified the criticisms of a rigid parliamentary + economist. Not satisfied with seeing how men <i>looked</i> in + square, she desired to secure some faint idea of how they + <i>felt</i> in square while 'receiving cavalry.' And + accordingly she repaired frequently to the Knightsbridge + Barracks, where she would kneel to 'receive' the riding-master + and a mounted sergeant of the Blues, while they thundered down + upon her the full length of the riding-school, deftly pulling + up, of course, to avoid accident. The fallen horse presented + with such truth and vigor in 'Quatre Bras' was drawn from a + Russian horse belonging to Hengler's Circus, the only one in + England that could be trusted to remain for a sufficient time + in the required position. A sore trial of patience was this to + artist, to model, to Mr. Hengler, who held him down, and to the + artist's father, who was present as spectator. Finally the + rye,--the 'particularly tall rye' in which, as Colonel Siborne + says, the action was fought,--was conscientiously sought for, + and found, after much trouble, at Henly-on-Thames."</p> + + <p>I saw this beautiful and stirring picture, as well as + several others of Mrs. Butler's, while in England. Mr. Ruskin + says of "Quatre Bras": "I never approached a picture with more + iniquitous prejudice against it than I did Miss Thompson's; + partly because I have always said that no woman could paint, + and secondly, because I thought what the public made such a + fuss about <i>must</i> be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's + work, this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-raphaelite + picture of battle we have had, profoundly interesting, and + showing all manner of illustrative and realistic faculty. The + sky is most tenderly painted, and with the truest outline of + cloud of all in the exhibition; and the terrific piece of + gallant wrath and ruin on the extreme left, where the + cuirassier is catching round the neck of his horse as he falls, + and the convulsed fallen horse, seen through the smoke below, + is wrought through all the truth of its frantic passions with + gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of + since Turner's death."</p> + + <p>This year, 1875, a figure from the picture, the "Tenth + Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging," was published as a supplement + to the Christmas number of <i>London Graphic</i>, with the + title "Missed." In 1876, "The Return from Balaklava" was + painted, and in 1877, "The Return from Inkerman," for which + latter work the Fine Art Society paid her fifteen thousand + dollars.</p> + + <p>This year, 1877, on June 11, Miss Thompson was married to + Major, now Colonel, William Francis Butler, K.C.B. He was then + thirty-nine years of age, born in Ireland, educated in Dublin, + and had received many honors. He served on the Red River + expedition, was sent on a special mission to the Saskatchewan + territories in 1870-71, and served on the Ashantee expedition + in 1873. He has been honorably mentioned several times in the + House of Lords by the Field-Marshal-Commanding-in-Chief. He + wrote <i>The Great Lone Land</i> in 1872, <i>The Wild North + Land</i> in 1873, and <i>A Kimfoo</i> in 1875.</p> + + <p>After the marriage they spent much time in Ireland, where + Mrs. Butler painted "Listed for the Connaught Rangers" in 1879. + Her later works are "The Remnant of an Army," showing the + arrival at Jellalabad, in 1842, of Dr. Brydon, the sole + survivor of the sixteen thousand men under General Elphinstone, + in the unfortunate Afghan campaign; the "Scots Greys + Advancing," "The Defence of Rorke's Drift," an incident of the + Zulu War, painted at the desire of the Queen and some + others.</p> + + <p>Still a young and very attractive woman, she has before her + a bright future. She will have exceptional opportunities for + battle studies in her husband's army life. She will probably + spend much time in Africa, India, and other places where the + English army will be stationed. Her husband now holds a + prominent position in Africa.</p> + + <p>In her studio, says her sister, "the walls are hung with old + uniforms--the tall shako, the little coatee, and the stiff + stock--which the visitor's imagination may stuff out with the + form of the British soldier as he fought in the days of + Waterloo. These are objects of use, not ornament; so are the + relics from the fields of France in 1871, and the assegais and + spears and little sharp wooden maces from Zululand."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Butler has perseverance, faithfulness in her work, and + courage. She has won remarkable fame, but has proved herself + deserving by her constant labor, and attention to details. Mrs. + Butler's mother has also exhibited some fine paintings. The + artist herself has illustrated a volume of poems, the work of + her sister, Mrs. Meynell. A cultivated and artistic family + have, of course, been an invaluable aid in Mrs. Butler's + development.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c16" id="c16"></a> + + <h3>Florence Nightingale.</h3><a href= + "images/c16nightingale.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c16nightingale_t.jpg" alt= + "Florence Nightingale--From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women."" /> + </a> + + <p>One of the most interesting places in the whole of London, + is St. Thomas' Hospital, an immense four-story structure of + brick with stone trimmings. Here is the Nightingale Training + School for nurses, established through the gift to Miss + Nightingale of $250,000 by the government, for her wonderful + work in the Crimean War. She would not take a cent for herself, + but was glad to have this institution opened, that girls + through her training might become valuable to the world as + nurses, as she has been.</p> + + <p>Here is the "Nightingale Home." The dining-room, with its + three long tables, is an inviting apartment. The colors of wall + and ceiling are in red and light shades. Here is a Swiss clock + presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden; here a harpsichord, + also a gift. Here is the marble face and figure I have come + especially to see, that of lovely Florence Nightingale. It is a + face full of sweetness and refinement, having withal an earnest + look, as though life were well worth living.</p> + + <p>What better work than to direct these girls how to be + useful? Some are here from the highest social circles. The + "probationers," or nurse pupils, must remain three years before + they can become Protestant "sisters." Each ward is in charge of + a sister; now it is Leopold, because the ward bears that name; + and now Victoria in respect to the Queen, who opened the + institution.</p> + + <p>The sisters look sunny and healthy, though they work hard. + They have regular hours for being off duty, and exercise in the + open air. The patients tell me how "homelike it seems to have + women in the wards, and what a comfort it is in their agony, to + be handled by their careful hands." Here are four hundred + persons in all phases of suffering, in neat, cheerful wards, + brightened by pots of flowers, and the faces of kind, devoted + women.</p> + + <p>And who is this woman to whom the government of Great + Britain felt that it owed so much, and whom the whole world + delights to honor?</p> + + <p>Florence Nightingale, born in 1820, in the beautiful Italian + city of that name, is the younger of two daughters of William + Shore Nightingale, a wealthy land-owner, who inherited both the + name and fortune of his granduncle, Peter Nightingale. The + mother was the daughter of the eminent philanthropist and + member of Parliament, William Smith.</p> + + <p>Most of Miss Nightingale's life has been spent on their + beautiful estate, Lea Hurst, in Derbyshire, a lovely home in + the midst of picturesque scenery. In her youth her father + instructed her carefully in the classics and higher + mathematics; a few years later, partly through extensive + travel, she became proficient in French, German, and + Italian.</p> + + <p>Rich, pretty, and well-educated, what was there more that + she could wish for? Her heart, however, did not turn toward a + fashionable life. Very early she began to visit the poor and + the sick near Lea Hurst, and her father's other estate at Embly + Park, Hampshire. Perhaps the mantle of the mother's father had + fallen upon the young girl.</p> + + <p>She had also the greatest tenderness toward dumb animals, + and never could bear to see them injured. Miss Alldridge, in an + interesting sketch of Miss Nightingale, quotes the following + story from <i>Little Folks:</i>--</p> + + <p>"Some years ago, when the celebrated Florence Nightingale + was a little girl, living at her father's home, a large, old + Elizabethan house, with great woods about it, in Hampshire, + there was one thing that struck everybody who knew her. It was + that she seemed to be always thinking what she could do to + please or help any one who needed either help or comfort. She + was very fond, too, of animals, and she was so gentle in her + way, that even the shyest of them would come quite close to + her, and pick up whatever she flung down for them to eat.</p> + + <p>"There was, in the garden behind the house, a long walk with + trees on each side, the abode of many squirrels; and when + Florence came down the walk, dropping nuts as she went along, + the squirrels would run down the trunks of their trees, and, + hardly waiting until she passed by, would pick up the prize and + dart away, with their little bushy tails curled over their + backs, and their black eyes looking about as if terrified at + the least noise, though they did not seem to be afraid of + Florence.</p> + + <p>"Then there was an old gray pony named Peggy, past work, + living in a paddock, with nothing to do all day long but to + amuse herself. Whenever Florence appeared at the gate, Peggy + would come trotting up and put her nose into the dress pocket + of her little mistress, and pick it of the apple or the roll of + bread that she knew she would always find there, for this was a + trick Florence had taught the pony. Florence was fond of + riding, and her father's old friend, the clergyman of the + parish, used often to come and take her for a ride with him + when he went to the farm cottages at a distance. He was a good + man and very kind to the poor.</p> + + <p>"As he had studied medicine when a young man, he was able to + tell the people what would do them good when they were ill, or + had met with an accident. Little Florence took great delight in + helping to nurse those who were ill; and whenever she went on + these long rides, she had a small basket fastened to her + saddle, filled with something nice which she saved from her + breakfast or dinner, or carried for her mother, who was very + good to the poor.</p> + + <p>"There lived in one of two or three solitary cottages in the + wood an old shepherd of her father's, named Roger, who had a + favorite sheep-dog called Cap. Roger had neither wife nor + child, and Cap lived with him and kept him, and kept him + company at night after he had penned his flock. Cap was a very + sensible dog; indeed, people used to say he could do everything + but speak. He kept the sheep in wonderfully good order, and + thus saved his master a great deal of trouble. One day, as + Florence and her old friend were out for a ride, they came to a + field where they found the shepherd giving his sheep their + night feed; but he was without the dog, and the sheep knew it, + for they were scampering in every direction. Florence and her + friend noticed that the old shepherd looked very sad, and they + stopped to ask what was the matter, and what had become of his + dog.</p> + + <p>"'Oh,' said Roger, 'Cap will never be of any more use to me; + I'll have to hang him, poor fellow, as soon as I go home + to-night.'</p> + + <p>"'Hang him!' said Florence. 'Oh, Roger, how wicked of you! + What has dear old Cap done?'</p> + + <p>"'He has done nothing,' replied Roger; 'but he will never be + of any more use to me, and I cannot afford to keep him for + nothing; one of the mischievous school-boys throwed a stone at + him yesterday, and broke one of his legs.' And the old + shepherd's eyes filled with tears, which he wiped away with his + shirt-sleeve; then he drove his spade deep in the ground to + hide what he felt, for he did not like to be seen crying.</p> + + <p>"'Poor Cap!' he sighed; 'he was as knowing almost as a human + being.'</p> + + <p>"'But are you sure his leg is broken?' asked Florence.</p> + + <p>"'Oh, yes, miss, it is broken safe enough; he has not put + his foot to the ground since.'</p> + + <p>"Florence and her friend rode on without saying anything + more to Roger.</p> + + <p>"'We will go and see poor Cap,' said the vicar; 'I don't + believe the leg is really broken. It would take a big stone and + a hard blow to break the leg of a big dog like Cap.'</p> + + <p>"'Oh, if you could but cure him, how glad Roger would be!' + replied Florence.</p> + + <p>"They soon reached the shepherd's cottage, but the door was + fastened; and when they moved the latch, such a furious barking + was heard that they drew back, startled. However, a little boy + came out of the next cottage, and asked if they wanted to go + in, as Roger had left the key with his mother. So the key was + got, and the door opened; and there on the bare brick floor lay + the dog, his hair dishevelled, and his eyes sparkling with + anger at the intruders. But when he saw the little boy he grew + peaceful, and when he looked at Florence, and heard her call + him 'poor Cap,' he began to wag his short tail; and then crept + from under the table, and lay down at her feet. She took hold + of one of his paws, patted his old rough head, and talked to + him, whilst her friend examined the injured leg. It was + dreadfully swollen, and hurt very much to have it examined; but + the dog knew it was meant kindly, and though he moaned and + winced with pain, he licked the hands that were hurting + him.</p> + + <p>"'It's only a bad bruise; no bones are broken,' said her old + friend; 'rest is all Cap needs; he will soon be well + again.'</p> + + <p>"'I am so glad,' said Florence; 'but can we do nothing for + him? he seems in such pain.'</p> + + <p>"'There is one thing that would ease the pain and heal the + leg all the sooner, and that is plenty of hot water to foment + the part.'</p> + + <p>"Florence struck a light with the tinder-box, and lighted + the fire, which was already laid. She then set off to the other + cottage to get something to bathe the leg with. She found an + old flannel petticoat hanging up to dry, and this she carried + off, and tore up into slips, which she wrung out in warm water, + and laid them tenderly on Cap's swollen leg. It was not long + before the poor dog felt the benefit of the application, and he + looked grateful, wagging his little stump of a tail in thanks. + On their way home they met the shepherd coming slowly along, + with a piece of rope in his hand.</p> + + <p>"'Oh, Roger,' cried Florence, 'you are not to hang poor old + Cap; his leg is not broken at all.'</p> + + <p>"'No, he will serve you yet,' said the vicar.</p> + + <p>"'Well, I be main glad to hear it,' said the shepherd, 'and + many thanks to you for going to see him.'</p> + + <p>"On the next morning Florence was up early, and the first + thing she did was to take two flannel petticoats to give to the + poor woman whose skirt she had torn up to bathe Cap. Then she + went to the dog, and was delighted to find the swelling of his + leg much less. She bathed it again, and Cap was as grateful as + before.</p> + + <p>"Two or three days afterwards Florence and her friend were + riding together, when they came up to Roger and his sheep. This + time Cap was watching the sheep, though he was lying quite + still, and pretending to be asleep. When he heard the voice of + Florence speaking to his master, who was portioning out the + usual food, his tail wagged and his eyes sparkled, but he did + not get up, for he was on duty. The shepherd stopped his work, + and as he glanced at the dog with a merry laugh, said, 'Do look + at the dog, Miss; he be so pleased to hear your voice.' Cap's + tail went faster and faster. 'I be glad,' continued the old + man, 'I did not hang him. I be greatly obliged to you, Miss, + and the vicar, for what you did. But for you I would have + hanged the best dog I ever had in my life.'"</p> + + <p>A girl who was made so happy in saving the life of an animal + would naturally be interested to save human beings. + Occasionally her family passed a season in London, and here, + instead of giving much time to concerts or parties, she would + visit hospitals and benevolent institutions. When the family + travelled in Egypt, she attended several sick Arabs, who + recovered under her hands. They doubtless thought the English + girl was a saint sent down from heaven.</p> + + <p>The more she felt drawn toward the sick, the more she felt + the need of study, and the more she saw the work that refined + women could do in the hospitals. The Sisters of Charity were + standing by sick-beds; why could there not be Protestant + sisters? When they travelled in Germany, France, and Italy, she + visited infirmaries, asylums, and hospitals, carefully noting + the treatment given in each.</p> + + <p>Finally she determined to spend some months at Kaiserwerth, + near Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, in Pastor Fliedner's great + Lutheran hospital. He had been a poor clergyman, the leader of + a scanty flock, whose church was badly in debt. A man of much + enterprise and warm heart, he could not see his work fail for + lack of means; so he set out among the provinces, to tell the + needs of his little parish. He collected funds, learned much + about the poverty and ignorance of cities, preached in some of + the prisons, because interested in criminals, and went back to + his loyal people.</p> + + <p>But so poor were they that they could not meet the yearly + expenses, so he determined to raise an endowment fund. He + visited Holland and Great Britain, and secured the needed + money.</p> + + <p>In England, in 1832, he became acquainted with Elizabeth + Fry. How one good life influences another to the end of time! + When he went back to Germany his heart was aglow with a desire + to help humanity.</p> + + <p>He at once opened an asylum for discharged prison-women. He + saw how almost impossible it was for those who had been in + prison to obtain situations. Then he opened a school for the + children of such as worked in factories, for he realized how + unfit for citizenship are those who grow up in ignorance. He + did not have much money, but he seemed able to obtain what he + really needed. Then he opened a hospital; a home for insane + women; a home of rest for his nurses, or for those who needed a + place to live after their work was done. Soon the "Deaconesses" + at Kaiserwerth became known the country over. Among the wildest + Norwegian mountains we met some of these Kaiserwerth nurses, + refined, educated ladies, getting in summer a new lease of life + for their noble labors.</p> + + <p>This Protestant sisterhood consists now of about seven + hundred sisters, at about two hundred stations, the annual + expense being about $150,000. What a grand work for one man, + with no money, the pastor of a very humble church!</p> + + <p>Into this work of Pastor Fliedner, Florence Nightingale + heartily entered. Was it strange taste for a pretty and wealthy + young woman, whose life had been one of sunshine and happiness? + It was a saintlike taste, and the world is rendered a little + like Paradise by the presence of such women. Back in London the + papers were full of the great exhibition of 1851, but she was + more interested in her Kaiserwerth work than to be at home. + When she had finished her course of instruction, Pastor + Fliedner said, since he had been director of that institution + no one had ever passed so distinguished an examination, or + shown herself so thoroughly mistress of all she had + learned.</p> + + <p>On her return to Lea Hurst, she could not rest very long, + while there was so much work to be done in the world. In + London, a hospital for sick governesses was about to fail, from + lack of means and poor management. Nobody seemed very deeply + interested for these overworked teachers. But Miss Nightingale + was interested, and leaving her lovely home, she came to the + dreary house in Harley Street, where she gave her time and her + fortune for several years. Her own frail health sank for a time + from the close confinement, but she had seen the institution + placed on a sure foundation, and prosperous.</p> + + <p>The Crimean War had begun. England had sent out ship-loads + of men to the Black Sea, to engage in war with Russia. Little + thought seemed to have been taken, in the hurry and enthusiasm + of war, to provide proper clothing or food for the men in that + changing climate. In the desolate country there was almost no + means of transportation, and men and animals suffered from + hunger. After the first winter cholera broke out, and in one + camp twenty men died in twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p>Matters grew from bad to worse. William Howard Russell, the + <i>Times</i> correspondent, wrote home to England: "It is now + pouring rain,--the skies are black as ink,--the wind is howling + over the staggering tents,--the trenches are turned into + dykes,--in the tents the water is sometimes a foot deep,--our + men have not either warm or waterproof clothing,--they are out + for twelve hours at a time in the trenches,--they are plunged + into the inevitable miseries of a winter campaign,--and not a + soul seems to care for their comfort, or even for their lives. + These are hard truths, but the people of England must hear + them. They must know that the wretched beggar who wanders about + the streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince, + compared with the British soldiers who are fighting out here + for their country.</p> + + <p>"The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there + is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness; the + stench is appalling; the fetid air can barely struggle out to + taint the atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls and + roofs; and, for all I can observe, these men die without the + least effort being made to save them. There they lie, just as + they were let gently down on the ground by the poor fellows, + their comrades, who brought them on their backs from the camp + with the greatest tenderness, but who are not allowed to remain + with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the + dying by the dying."</p> + + <p>During the rigorous winter of 1854, with snow three feet + thick, many were frozen in their tents. Out of nearly + forty-five thousand, over eighteen thousand were reported in + the hospitals. The English nation became aroused at this state + of things, and in less than two weeks seventy-five thousand + dollars poured into the Times office for the suffering + soldiers. A special commissioner, Mr. Macdonald, was sent to + the Crimea with shirts, sheets, flannels, and necessary + food.</p> + + <p>But one of the greatest of all needs was woman's hand and + brain, in the dreadful suffering and the confusion. The + testimony of the world thus far has been that men everywhere + need the help of women, and women everywhere need the help of + men. Right Honorable Sydney Herbert, the Secretary of War, knew + of but one woman who could bring order and comfort to those + far-away hospitals, and that woman was Miss Nightingale. She + had made herself ready at Kaiserwerth for a great work, and now + a great work was ready for her.</p> + + <p>But she was frail in health, and was it probable that a rich + and refined lady would go thousands of miles from her kindred, + to live in feverish wards where there were only men? A true + woman dares do anything that helps the world.</p> + + <p>Mr. Herbert wrote her, Oct. 15: "There is, as far as I know, + only one person in England capable of organizing and directing + such a plan, and I have been several times on the point of + asking you if you would be disposed to make the attempt. That + it will be difficult to form a corps of nurses, no one knows + better than yourself.... I have this simple question to put to + you: Could you go out yourself, and take charge of everything? + It is, of course, understood that you will have absolute + authority over all the nurses, unlimited power to draw on the + government for all you judge necessary to the success of your + mission; and I think I may assure you of the co-operation of + the medical staff. Your personal qualities, your knowledge, and + your authority in administrative affairs, all fit you for this + position."</p> + + <p>It was a strange coincidence that on that same day, Oct. 15, + Miss Nightingale, her heart stirred for the suffering soldiers, + had written a letter to Mr. Herbert, offering her services to + the government. A few days later the world read, with moistened + eyes, this letter from the war office: "Miss Nightingale, + accompanied by thirty-four nurses, will leave this evening. + Miss Nightingale, who has, I believe, greater practical + experience of hospital administration and treatment than any + other lady in this country, has, with a self-devotion for which + I have no words to express my gratitude, undertaken this noble + but arduous work."</p> + + <p>The heart of the English nation followed the heroic woman. + Mrs. Jameson wrote: "It is an undertaking wholly new to our + English customs, much at variance with the usual education + given to women in this country. If it succeeds, it will be the + true, the lasting glory of Florence Nightingale and her band of + devoted assistants, that they have broken down a Chinese wall + of prejudices,--religious, social, professional,--and have + established a precedent which will, indeed, multiply the good + to all time." She did succeed, and the results can scarcely be + overestimated.</p> + + <p>As the band of nurses passed through France, hotel-keepers + would take no pay for their accommodation; poor fisherwomen at + Boulogne struggled for the honor of carrying their baggage to + the railway station. They sailed in the <i>Vectis</i> across + the Mediterranean, reaching Scutari, Nov. 5, the day of the + battle of Inkerman.</p> + + <p>They found in the great Barrack Hospital, which had been + lent to the British by the Turkish government, and in another + large hospital near by, about four thousand men. The corridors + were filled with two rows of mattresses, so close that two + persons could scarcely walk between them. There was work to be + done at once.</p> + + <p>One of the nurses wrote home, "The whole of yesterday one + could only forget one's own existence, for it was spent, first + in sewing the men's mattresses together, and then in washing + them, and assisting the surgeons, when we could, in dressing + their ghastly wounds after their five days' confinement on + board ship, during which space their wounds had not been + dressed. Hundreds of men with fever, dysentery, and cholera + (the wounded were the smaller portion) filled the wards in + succession from the overcrowded transports."</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale, calm and unobtrusive, went quietly among + the men, always with a smile of sympathy for the suffering. The + soldiers often wept, as for the first time in months, even + years, a woman's hand adjusted their pillows, and a woman's + voice soothed their sorrows.</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale's pathway was not an easy one. Her coming + did not meet the general approval of military or medical + officials. Some thought women would be in the way; others felt + that their coming was an interference. Possibly some did not + like to have persons about who would be apt to tell the truth + on their return to England. But with good sense and much tact + she was able to overcome the disaffection, using her almost + unlimited power with discretion.</p> + + <p>As soon as the wounded were attended to, she established an + invalid's kitchen, where appetizing food could be + prepared,--one of the essentials in convalescence. Here she + overlooked the proper cooking for eight hundred men who could + not eat ordinary food. Then she established a laundry. The beds + and shirts of the men were in a filthy condition, some wearing + the ragged clothing in which they were brought down from the + Crimea. It was difficult to obtain either food or clothing, + partly from the immense amount of "red tape" in official + life.</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale seemed to be everywhere. Dr. Pincoffs said: + "I believe that there never was a severe case of any kind that + escaped her notice; and sometimes it was wonderful to see her + at the bedside of a patient who had been admitted perhaps but + an hour before, and of whose arrival one would hardly have + supposed it possible she could already be cognizant."</p> + + <p>She aided the senior chaplain in establishing a library and + school-room, and in getting up evening lectures for the men. + She supplied books and games, wrote letters for the sick, and + forwarded their little savings to their home-friends.</p> + + <p>For a year and a half, till the close of the war, she did a + wonderful work, reducing the death-rate in the Barrack Hospital + from sixty per cent to a little above one per cent. Said the + <i>Times</i> correspondent: "Wherever there is disease in its + most dangerous form, and the hand of the spoiler distressingly + nigh, there is that incomparable woman sure to be seen; her + benignant presence is an influence for good comfort even amid + the struggles of expiring nature. She is a 'ministering angel,' + without any exaggeration, in these hospitals, and as her + slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor + fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When + all the medical officers have retired for the night, and + silence and darkness have settled down upon these miles of + prostrate sick, she may be observed, alone, with a little lamp + in her hand, making her solitary rounds.</p> + + <p>"With the heart of a true woman and the manner of a lady, + accomplished and refined beyond most of her sex, she combines a + surprising calmness of judgment and promptitude and decision of + character. The popular instinct was not mistaken, which, when + she set out from England on her mission of mercy, hailed her as + a heroine; I trust she may not earn her title to a higher, + though sadder, appellation. No one who has observed her fragile + figure and delicate health can avoid misgivings lest these + should fail."</p> + + <p>One of the soldiers wrote home: "She would speak to one and + another, and nod and smile to many more; but she could not do + it to all, you know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could + kiss her shadow as it fell, and lay our heads on our pillows + again content." Another wrote home: "Before she came there was + such cussin' and swearin', and after that it was as holy as a + church." No wonder she was called the "Angel of the Crimea." + Once she was prostrated with fever, but recovered after a few + weeks.</p> + + <p>Finally the war came to an end. London was preparing to give + Miss Nightingale a royal welcome, when, lo! she took passage by + design on a French steamer, and reached Lea Hurst, Aug. 15, + 1856, unbeknown to any one. There was a murmur of + disappointment at first, but the people could only honor all + the more the woman who wished no blare of trumpets for her + humane acts.</p> + + <p>Queen Victoria sent for her to visit her at Balmoral, and + presented her with a valuable jewel; a ruby-red enamel cross on + a white field, encircled by a black band with the words, + "Blessed are the merciful." The letters V. R., surmounted by a + crown in diamonds, are impressed upon the centre of the cross. + Green enamel branches of palm, tipped with gold, form the + framework of the shield, while around their stems is a riband + of the blue enamel with the single word "Crimea." On the top + are three brilliant stars of diamonds. On the back is an + inscription written by the Queen. The Sultan sent her a + magnificent bracelet, and the government, $250,000, to found + the school for nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital.</p> + + <p>Since the war, Miss Nightingale has never been in strong + health, but she has written several valuable books. Her + <i>Hospital Notes</i>, published in 1859, have furnished plans + for scores of new hospitals. Her <i>Notes on Nursing</i>, + published in 1860, of which over one hundred thousand have been + sold, deserve to be in every home. She is the most earnest + advocate of sunlight and fresh air.</p> + + <p>She says: "An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night + air. What air can we breathe at night but night air? The choice + is between pure night air from without, and foul night air from + within. Most people prefer the latter,--an unaccountable + choice. What will they say if it be proved true that fully + <i>one-half of all the disease we suffer from, is occasioned by + people sleeping with their windows shut?</i> An open window + most nights of the year can never hurt any one. In great cities + night air is often the best and purest to be had in the + twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p>"The five essentials, for healthy houses," she says, are + "pure air, pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, and + light.... I have known whole houses and hospitals smell of the + sink. I have met just as strong a stream of sewer air coming up + the back staircase of a grand London house, from the sink, as I + have ever met at Scutari; and I have seen the rooms in that + house all ventilated by the open doors, and the passages all + <i>un</i>ventilated by the close windows, in order that as much + of the sewer air as possible might be conducted into and + retained in the bed-rooms. It is wonderful!"</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale has much humor, and she shows it in her + writings. She is opposed to dark houses; says they promote + scrofula; to old papered walls, and to carpets full of dust. An + uninhabited room becomes full of foul air soon, and needs to + have the windows opened often. She would keep sick people, or + well, forever in the sunlight if possible, for sunlight is the + greatest possible purifier of the atmosphere. "In the unsunned + sides of narrow streets, there is degeneracy and weakliness of + the human race,--mind and body equally degenerating." Of the + ruin wrought by bad air, she says: "Oh, the crowded national + school, where so many children's epidemics have their origin, + what a tale its air-test would tell! We should have parents + saying, and saying rightly, 'I will not send my child to that + school; the air-test stands at "horrid."' And the dormitories + of our great boarding-schools! Scarlet fever would be no more + ascribed to contagion, but to its right cause, the air-test + standing at 'Foul.' We should hear no longer of 'Mysterious + Dispensations' and of 'Plague and Pestilence' being in 'God's + hands,' when, so far as we know, He has put them into our own." + She urges much rubbing of the body, washing with warm water and + soap. "The only way I know to <i>remove</i> dust, is to wipe + everything with a damp cloth.... If you must have a carpet, the + only safety is to take it up two or three times a year, instead + of once.... The best wall now extant is oil paint."</p> + + <p>"Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, requires + as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any + painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with + dead canvas or cold marble compared with having to do with the + living body, the temple of God's Spirit? Nursing is one of the + fine arts; I had almost said, the finest of the fine arts."</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale has also written <i>Observations on the + Sanitary State of the Army in India</i>, 1863; <i>Life or Death + in India</i>, read before the National Association for the + Promotion of Social Science, 1873, with an appendix on <i>Life + or Death by Irrigation</i>, 1874.</p> + + <p>She is constantly doing deeds of kindness. With a + subscription sent recently by her to the Gordon Memorial Fund, + she said: "Might but the example of this great and pure hero be + made to tell, in that self no longer existed to him, but only + God and duty, on the soldiers who have died to save him, and on + boys who should live to follow him."</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale has helped to dignify labor and to elevate + humanity, and has thus made her name immortal.</p> + + <p>Florence Nightingale died August 13, 1910, at 2 P.M., of + heart failure, at the age of ninety. She had received many + distinguished honors: the freedom of the city of London in + 1908, and from King Edward VII, a year previously, a membership + in the Order of Merit, given only to a select few men; such as + Field Marshal Roberts, Lord Kitchener, Alma Tadema, James + Bryce, George Meredith, Lords Kelvin and Lister, and Admiral + Togo.</p> + + <p>Her funeral was a quiet one, according to her wishes.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c17" id="c17"></a> + + <h3>Lady Brassey.</h3><a href="images/c17brassey.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c17brassey_t.jpg" alt="LADY BRASSEY." /></a> + + <p>One of my pleasantest days in England was spent at old + Battle Abbey, the scene of the ever-memorable Battle of + Hastings, where William of Normandy conquered the Saxon + Harold.</p> + + <p>The abbey was built by William as a thank-offering for the + victory, on the spot where Harold set up his standard. The old + gateway is one of the finest in England. Part of the ancient + church remains, flowers and ivy growing out of the beautiful + gothic arches.</p> + + <p>As one stands upon the walls and looks out upon the sea, + that great battle comes up before him. The Norman hosts + disembark; first come the archers in short tunics, with bows as + tall as themselves and quivers full of arrows; then the knights + in coats of mail, with long lances and two-edged swords; Duke + William steps out last from the ship, and falls foremost on + both hands. His men gather about him in alarm, but he says, + "See, my lords, I have taken possession of England with both my + hands. It is now mine, and what is mine is yours."</p> + + <p>Word is sent to Harold to surrender the throne, but he + returns answer as haughty as is sent. Brave and noble, he + plants his standard, a warrior sparkling with gold and precious + stones, and thus addresses his men:--</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"The Normans are good knights, and well used to war. If + they pierce our ranks, we are lost. Cleave, and do not + spare!" Then they build up a breastwork of shields, which no + man can pass alive. William of Normandy is ready for action. + He in turn addresses his men: "Spare not, and strike hard. + There will be booty for all. It will be in vain to ask for + peace; the English will not give it. Flight is impossible; at + the sea you will find neither ship nor bridge; the English + would overtake and annihilate you there. The victory is in + our hands."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>From nine till three the battle rages. The case becomes + desperate. William orders the archers to fire into the air, as + they cannot pierce English armor, and arrows fall down like + rain upon the Saxons. Harold is pierced in the eye. He is soon + overcome and trampled to death by the enemy, dying, it is said, + with the words "Holy Cross" upon his lips.</p> + + <p>Ten thousand are killed on either side, and the Saxons pass + forever under foreign rule. Harold's mother comes and begs the + body of her son, and pays for it, some historians say, its + weight in gold.</p> + + <p>Every foot of ground at Battle Abbey is historic, and all + the country round most interesting. We drive over the smoothest + of roads to a palace in the distance,--Normanhurst, the home of + Lady Brassey, the distinguished author and traveller. Towers + are at either corner and in the centre, and ivy climbs over the + spacious vestibule to the roof. Great buildings for waterworks, + conservatories, and the like, are adjoining, in the midst of + flower-gardens and acres of lawn and forest. It is a place fit + for the abode of royalty itself.</p> + + <p>In no home have I seen so much that is beautiful gathered + from all parts of the world. The hall, as you enter, square and + hung with crimson velvet, is adorned with valuable paintings. + Two easy-chairs before the fireplace are made from ostriches, + their backs forming the seats. These birds were gifts to Lady + Brassey in her travels. In the rooms beyond are treasures from + Japan, the South Sea Islands, South America, indeed from + everywhere; cases of pottery, works in marble, Dresden + candelabra, ancient armor, furs, silks, all arrayed with + exquisite taste.</p> + + <p>One room, called the Marie Antoinette room, has the curtains + and furniture, in yellow, of this unfortunate queen. Here are + pictures by Sir Frederick Leighton, Landseer, and others; + stuffed birds and fishes and animals from every clime, with + flowers in profusion. In the dining-room, with its gray walls + and red furniture, is a large painting of the mistress of this + superb home, with her favorite horse and dogs. The views from + the windows are beautiful, Battle Abbey ruin in the distance, + and rivers flowing to the sea. The house is rich in color, one + room being blue, another red, a third yellow, while large + mirrors seem to repeat the apartments again and again. As we + leave the home, not the least of its attractions come up the + grounds,--a load of merry children, all in sailor hats; the + Mabelle and Muriel and Marie whom we have learned to know in + Lady Brassey's books.</p> + + <p>The well-known author is the daughter of the late Mr. John + Alnutt of Berkley Square, London, who, as well as his father, + was a patron of art, having made large collections of + paintings. Reared in wealth and culture, it was but natural + that the daughter, Annie, should find in the wealthy and + cultured Sir Thomas Brassey a man worthy of her affections. In + 1860, while both were quite young, they were married, and + together they have travelled, written books, aided working men + and women, and made for themselves a noble and lasting + fame.</p> + + <p>Sir Thomas is the eldest son of the late Mr. Brassey, "the + leviathan contractor, the employer of untold thousands of + navvies, the genie of the spade and pick, and almost the + pioneer of railway builders, not only in his own country, but + from one end of the continent to the other." Of superior + education, having been at Rugby and University College, Oxford, + Sir Thomas was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1864, and + was elected to Parliament from Devonport the following year, + and from Hastings three years later, in 1868, which position he + has filled ever since.</p> + + <p>Exceedingly fond of the sea, he determined to be a practical + sailor, and qualified himself as a master-marine, by passing + the requisite Board of Trade examination, and receiving a + certificate as a seaman and navigator. In 1869 he was made + Honorary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.</p> + + <p>Besides his parliamentary work, he has been an able and + voluminous writer. His <i>Foreign Work and English Wages</i> I + purchased in England, and have found it valuable in facts and + helpful in spirit. The statement in the preface that he "has + had under consideration the expediency of retiring from + Parliament, with the view of devoting an undivided attention to + the elucidation of industrial problems, and the improvement of + the relations between capital and labor," shows the heart of + the man. In 1880 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and + in 1881 was created by the Queen a Knight Commander of the + Order of the Bath, for his important services in connection + with the organization of the Naval Reserve forces of the + country.</p> + + <p>In 1869, after Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey had been nine + years married, they determined to take a sea-voyage in his + yacht, and between this time and 1872 they made two cruises in + the Mediterranean and the East. From her childhood the wife had + kept a journal, and from fine powers of observation and much + general knowledge was well fitted to see whatever was to be + seen, and describe it graphically. She wrote long, journal-like + letters to her father, and on her return <i>The Flight of the + Meteor</i> was prepared for distribution among relatives and + intimate friends.</p> + + <p>In the year last mentioned, 1872, they took a trip to Canada + and the United States, sailing up several of the long rivers, + and on her return, <i>A Cruise in the Eothen</i> was published + for friends.</p> + + <p>Four years later they decided to go round the world, and for + this purpose the beautiful yacht <i>Sunbeam</i> was built. The + children, the animal pets, two dogs, three birds, and a Persian + kitten for the baby, were all taken, and the happy family left + England July 1, 1876. With the crew, the whole number of + persons on board was forty-three. Almost at the beginning of + the voyage they encountered a severe storm. Captain Lecky would + have been lost but for the presence of mind of Mabelle Brassey, + the oldest daughter, who has her mother's courage and calmness. + When asked if she thought she was going overboard, she + answered, "I did not think at all, mamma, but felt sure we were + gone."</p> + + <p>"Soon after this adventure," says Lady Brassey, "we all went + to bed, full of thanksgiving that it had ended as well as it + did; but, alas, not, so far as I was concerned, to rest in + peace. In about two hours I was awakened by a tremendous weight + of water suddenly descending upon me and flooding the bed. I + immediately sprang out, only to find myself in another pool on + the floor. It was pitch dark, and I could not think what had + happened; so I rushed on deck, and found that the weather + having moderated a little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of + fresh air, had opened the skylight rather too soon, and one of + the angry waves had popped on board, deluging the cabin.</p> + + <p>"I got a light, and proceeded to mop up, as best I could, + and then endeavored to find a dry place to sleep in. This, + however, was no easy task, for my own bed was drenched, and + every other berth occupied. The deck, too, was ankle-deep in + water, as I found when I tried to get across to the deck-house + sofa. At last I lay down on the floor, wrapped in my ulster, + and wedged between the foot stanchion of our swing bed and the + wardrobe athwart-ship; so that as the yacht rolled heavily, my + feet were often higher than my head."</p> + + <p>No wonder that a woman who could make the best of such + circumstances could make a year's trip on the <i>Sunbeam</i> a + delight to all on board. Their first visits were to the + Madeira, Teneriffe, and Cape de Verde Islands, off the coast of + Africa. With simplicity, the charm of all writing, and + naturalness, Lady Brassey describes the people, the bathing + where the sharks were plentiful, and the masses of wild + geranium, hydrangea, and fuchsia. They climb to the top of the + lava Peak of Teneriffe, over twelve thousand feet high; they + rise at five o'clock to see the beautiful sunrises; they watch + the slaves at coffee-raising at Rio de Janeiro, in South + America, and Lady Brassey is attracted toward the nineteen tiny + babies by the side of their mothers; "the youngest, a dear, + little woolly-headed thing, as black as jet, and only three + weeks old."</p> + + <p>In Belgrano, she says: "We saw for the first time the holes + of the bizcachas, or prairie-dogs, outside which the little + prairie-owls keep guard. There appeared to be always one, and + generally two, of these birds, standing like sentinels, at the + entrance to each hole, with their wise-looking heads on one + side, pictures of prudence and watchfulness. The bird and the + beast are great friends, and are seldom to be found apart." And + then Lady Brassey, who understands photography as well as how + to write several languages, photographs this pretty scene of + prairie-dogs guarded by owls, and puts it in her book.</p> + + <p>On their way to the Straits of Magellan, they see a ship on + fire. They send out a boat to her, and bring in the suffering + crew of fifteen men, almost wild with joy to be rescued. Their + cargo of coal had been on fire for four days. The men were + exhausted, the fires beneath their feet were constantly growing + hotter, and finally they gave up in despair and lay down to + die. But the captain said, "There is One above who looks after + us all," and again they took courage. They lashed the two + apprentice boys in one of the little boats, for fear they would + be washed overboard, for one was the "only son of his mother, + and she a widow."</p> + + <p>"The captain," says Lady Brassey, "drowned his favorite dog, + a splendid Newfoundland, just before leaving the ship; for + although a capital watchdog and very faithful, he was rather + large and fierce; and when it was known that the <i>Sunbeam</i> + was a yacht with ladies and children on board, he feared to + introduce him. Poor fellow! I wish I had known about it in time + to save his life!"</p> + + <p>They "steamed past the low sandy coast of Patagonia and the + rugged mountains of Tierra del Fuego, literally, Land of Fire, + so called from the custom the inhabitants have of lighting + fires on prominent points as signals of assembly." The people + are cannibals, and naked. "Their food is of the most meagre + description, and consists mainly of shell-fish, sea-eggs, for + which the women dive with much dexterity, and fish, which they + train their dogs to assist them in catching. These dogs are + sent into the water at the entrance of a narrow creek or small + bay, and they then bark and flounder about and drive the fish + before them into shallow water, where they are caught."</p> + + <p>Three of these Fuegians, a man, woman, and lad, come out to + the yacht in a craft made of planks rudely tied together with + the sinews of animals, and give otter skins for "tobáco + and galléta" (biscuit), for which they call. When Lady + Brassey gives the lad and his mother some strings of blue, red, + and green glass beads, they laugh and jabber most + enthusiastically. Their paddles are "split branches of trees, + with wider pieces tied on at one end, with the sinews of birds + or beasts." At the various places where they land, all go + armed, Lady Brassey herself being well skilled in their + use.</p> + + <p>She never forgets to do a kindness. In Chili she hears that + a poor engine-driver, an Englishman, has met with a serious + accident, and at once hastens to see him. He is delighted to + hear about the trip of the <i>Sunbeam</i>, and forgets for a + time his intense suffering in his joy at seeing her.</p> + + <p>In Santiago she describes a visit to the ruin of the Jesuit + church, where, Dec. 8, 1863, at the Feast of the Virgin, two + thousand persons, mostly women and children, were burned to + death. A few were drawn up through a hole in the roof and thus + saved.</p> + + <p>Their visit to the South Sea Islands is full of interest. At + Bow Island Lady Brassey buys two tame pigs for twenty-five + cents each, which are so docile that they follow her about the + yacht with the dogs, to whom they took a decided fancy. She + calls one Agag, because he walks so delicately on his toes. The + native women break cocoanuts and offer them the milk to drink. + At Maitea the natives are puzzled to know why the island is + visited. "No sell brandy?" they ask. "No." "No stealy men?" + "No." "No do what then?" The chief receives most courteously, + cutting down a banana-tree for them, when they express a wish + for bananas. He would receive no money for his presents to + them.</p> + + <p>In Tahiti a feast is given in their honor, in a house + seemingly made of banana-trees, "the floor covered with the + finest mats, and the centre strewn with broad green plantain + leaves, to form the table-cloth.... Before each guest was + placed a half-cocoanut full of salt water, another full of + chopped cocoanut, a third full of fresh water, and another full + of milk, two pieces of bamboo, a basket of poi, half a + breadfruit, and a platter of green leaves, the latter being + changed with each course. We took our seats on the ground round + the green table. The first operation was to mix the salt water + and the chopped cocoanut together, so as to make an appetizing + sauce, into which we were supposed to dip each morsel we ate. + We were tolerably successful in the use of our fingers as + substitutes for knives and forks."</p> + + <p>At the Sandwich Islands, in Hilo, they visit the volcano of + Kilauea. They descend the precipice, three hundred feet, which + forms the wall of the old crater. They ascend the present + crater, and stand on the "edge of a precipice, overhanging a + lake of molten fire, a hundred feet below us, and nearly a mile + across. Dashing against the cliffs on the opposite side, with a + noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, waves of blood-red, + fiery liquid lava hurled their billows upon an iron-bound + headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss + their gory spray high in the air."</p> + + <p>They pass the island of Molokai, where the poor lepers end + their days away from home and kindred. At Honolulu they are + entertained by the Prince, and then sail for Japan, China, + Ceylon, through Suez, stopping in Egypt, and then home. On + their arrival, Lady Brassey says, "How can I describe the warm + greetings that met us everywhere, or the crowd that surrounded + us; how, along the whole ten miles from Hastings to Battle, + people were standing by the roadside and at the cottage doors + to welcome us; how the Battle bell-ringers never stopped + ringing except during service time; or how the warmest of + welcomes ended our delightful year of travel and made us feel + we were home at last, with thankful hearts for the providential + care which had watched over us whithersoever we roamed!"</p> + + <p>The trip had been one of continued ovation. Crowds had + gathered in every place to see the <i>Sunbeam</i>, and often + trim her with flowers from stem to stern. Presents of parrots, + and kittens, and pigs abounded, and Lady Brassey had cared + tenderly for them all. Christmas was observed on ship-board + with gifts for everybody; thoughtfulness and kindness had made + the trip a delight to the crew as well as the passengers.</p> + + <p>The letters sent home from the <i>Sunbeam</i> were so + thoroughly enjoyed by her father and friends, that they + prevailed upon her to publish a book, which she did in 1878. It + was found to be as full of interest to the world as it had been + to the intimate friends, and it passed rapidly through four + editions. An abridged edition appeared in the following year; + then the call for it was so great that an edition was prepared + for reading in schools, in 1880, and finally, in 1881, a + twelve-cent edition, that the poor as well as the rich might + have an opportunity of reading this fascinating book, <i>Around + the World in the Yacht Sunbeam</i>. And now Lady Brassey found + herself not only the accomplished and benevolent wife of a + member of Parliament, but a famous author as well.</p> + + <p>This year, July, 1881, the King of the Sandwich Islands, who + had been greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, + was entertained at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady + Brassey with the Order of Kapiolani.</p> + + <p>The next trip made was to the far East, and a book followed + in 1880, entitled, <i>Sunshine and Storm in the East; or, + Cruises to Cyprus and Constantinople</i>, dedicated "to the + brave, true-hearted sailors of England, of all ranks and + services."</p> + + <p>The book is intensely interesting. Now she describes the + Sultan going to the mosque, which he does every Friday at + twelve o'clock. "He appeared in a sort of undress uniform, with + a flowing cloak over it, and with two or three large diamond + stars on his breast. He was mounted on a superb white Arab + charger, thirty-three years old, whose saddle-cloths and + trappings blazed with gold and diamonds. The following of + officers on foot was enormous; and then came two hundred of the + fat blue and gold pashas, with their white horses and brilliant + trappings, the rear being brought up by some troops and a few + carriages.... Nobody dares address the Sultan, even if he + speaks to them, except in monosyllables, with their foreheads + almost touching the floor, the only exception being the grand + vizier, who dares not look up, but stands almost bent double. + He is entirely governed by his mother, who, having been a slave + of the very lowest description, to whom his father, Mahmoud + II., took a fancy as she was carrying wood to the bath, is + naturally bigoted and ignorant.... The Sultan is not allowed to + marry, but the slaves who become mothers of his children are + called sultanas, and not allowed to do any more work. They have + a separate suite of apartments, a retinue of servants, besides + carriages and horses, and each hopes some day to be the mother + of the future Sultan, and therefore the most prominent woman in + Turkey. The sultanas may not sit at table with their own + children, on account of their having been slaves, while the + children are princes and princesses in right of their + father."</p> + + <p>Lady Brassey tells the amusing story of a visit of Eugenie + to the Sultan's mother, when the Empress of the French saluted + her on the cheek. The Turkish woman was furious, and said she + had never been so insulted in her life. "She retired to bed at + once, was bled, and had several Turkish baths, to purify her + from the pollution. Fancy the Empress' feelings when, after + having so far condescended as to kiss the old woman, born one + of the lowest of slaves, she had her embrace received in such a + manner."</p> + + <p>The habits and customs of the people are described by Lady + Brassey with all the interest of a novel. On their return home, + "again the Battle bells rang out a merry peal of gladness; + again everybody rushed out to welcome us. At home once again, + the servants and the animals seemed equally glad to see us + back; the former looked the picture of happiness, while the + dogs jumped and barked; the horses and ponies neighed and + whinnied; the monkeys chattered; the cockatoos and parrots + screamed; the birds chirped; the bullfinches piped their little + paean of welcome.... Our old Sussex cowman says that even the + cows eat their food 'kind of kinder like' when the family are + at home. The deer and the ostriches too, the swans and the call + ducks, all came running to meet us, as we drove round the place + to see them." Kindness to both man and beast bears its + legitimate fruit.</p> + + <p>Two years later she prepared the letter-press to <i>Tahiti: + a Series of Photographs</i>, taken by Colonel Stuart Wortley. + He also is a gentleman of much culture and noble work, in whose + home we saw beautiful things gathered from many lands.</p> + + <p>The last long trip of Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey was made + in the fall of 1883, and resulted in a charming book, <i>In the + Trades, the Tropics, and the Roaring Forties</i>, with about + three hundred illustrations. The route lay through Madeira, + Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and home by way of the + Azores. The resources of the various islands, their history, + and their natural formation, are ably told, showing much study + as well as intelligent observation. The maps and charts are + also valuable. At Trinidad they visit the fine Botanic Gardens, + and see bamboos, mangoes, peach-palms, and cocoa-plants, from + whose seeds chocolate is made. The quantity exported annually + is 13,000,000 pounds.</p> + + <p>They also visit great coffee plantations. "The leaves of the + coffee-shrub," says Lady Brassey, "are of a rich, dark, glossy + green; the flowers, which grow in dense white clusters, when in + full bloom, giving the bushes the appearance of being covered + with snow. The berries vary in color from pale green to reddish + orange or dark red, according to their ripeness, and bear a + strong resemblance to cherries. Each contains two seeds, which, + when properly dried, become what is known to us as 'raw' + coffee."</p> + + <p>At Caracas they view with interest the place which, on March + 26, 1812, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, twelve + thousand persons perishing, thousands of whom were buried alive + by the opening of the ground. They study the formation of + coral-reefs, and witness the gathering of sponges in the + Bahamas. "These are brought to the surface by hooked poles, or + sometimes by diving. When first drawn from the water they are + covered with a soft gelatinous substance, as black as tar and + full of organic life, the sponge, as we know, being only the + skeleton of the organism."</p> + + <p>While all this travelling was being enjoyed, and made most + useful as well, to hundreds of thousands of readers, Lady + Brassey was not forgetting her works of philanthropy. For years + she has been a leading spirit in the St. John's Ambulance + Association. Last October she gave a valuable address to the + members of the "Workingmen's Club and Institute Union," + composed of several hundred societies of workingmen. Her desire + was that each society take up the work of teaching its members + how to care for the body in case of accidents. The association, + now numbering over one hundred thousand persons, is an offshoot + of the ancient order of St. John of Jerusalem, founded eight + hundred years ago, to maintain a hospital for Christian + pilgrims. She says: "The method of arresting bleeding from an + artery is so easy that a child may learn it; yet thousands of + lives have been lost through ignorance, the life-blood ebbing + away in the presence of sorrowing spectators, perfectly + helpless, because none among them had been taught one of the + first rudiments of instruction of an ambulance pupil,--the + application of an extemporized tourniquet. Again, how frequent + is the loss of life by drowning; yet how few persons, + comparatively, understand the way to treat properly the + apparently drowned." Lectures are given by this association on, + first, aid to the injured; also on the general management of + the sick-room.</p> + + <p>Lady Brassey, with the assistance of medical men, has held + classes in all the outlying villages about her home, and has + arranged that simple but useful medical appliances, like + plasters, bandages, and the like, be kept at some convenient + centres.</p> + + <p>At Trindad, and Bahamas, and Bermudas, when they stayed + there in their travels, she caused to be held large meetings + among the most influential residents; also at Madeira and in + the Azores. A class was organized on board the <i>Sunbeam</i>, + and lectures were delivered by a physician. In the Shetland + Islands she has also organized these societies, and thus many + lives have been saved. When the soldiers went to the Soudan, + she arranged for these helpful lectures to them on their voyage + East, and among much other reading-matter which she obtained + for them, sent them books and papers on this essential medical + knowledge.</p> + + <p>She carries on correspondence with India, Australia, and New + Zealand, where ambulance associations have been formed. For her + valued services she was elected in 1881 a <i>Dame + Chevaliere</i> of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.</p> + + <p>Her work among the poor in the East End of London is + admirable. Too much of this cannot be done by those who are + blessed with wealth and culture. She is also interested in all + that helps to educate the people, as is shown by her Museum of + Natural History and Ethnological Specimens, open for inspection + in the School of Fine Art at Hastings. How valuable is such a + life compared with one that uses its time and money for + personal gratification alone.</p> + + <p>In August, 1885, Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey took Mr. and + Mrs. Gladstone, and a few other friends, in the <i>Sunbeam</i>, + up the coast of Norway. When they landed at Stavanger, a + quaint, clean little town, she says, in the October + <i>Contemporary Review</i>: "The reception which we met in this + comparatively out-of-the-way place, where our visit had been + totally unexpected, was very striking. From early morning + little groups of townspeople had been hovering about the quays, + trying to get a distant glimpse of the world-renowned statesman + who was among our passengers." When they walked through the + town, "every window and doorway was filled with on-lookers, + several flags had been hoisted in honor of the occasion, and + the church bells were set ringing. It was interesting and + touching to see the ex-minister walking up the narrow street, + his hat almost constantly raised in response to the salutations + of the townspeople."</p> + + <p>They sail up the fiords, they ride in stolkjoerres over the + country, they climb mountains, they visit old churches, and + they dine with the Prince of Wales on board the royal yacht + <i>Osborne</i>. Before landing, Mr. Gladstone addresses the + crew, thanking them that "the voyage has been made pleasant and + safe by their high sense of duty, constant watchfulness, and + arduous exertion." While he admires the "rare knowledge of + practical seamanship of Sir Thomas Brassey," and thanks both + him and his wife for their "genial and generous hospitality," + he does not forget the sailors, for whom he "wishes health and + happiness," and "prays that God may speed you in all you + undertake." Lady Brassey is living a useful and noble as well + as intellectual life. In London, Sir Thomas and herself + recently gave a reception to over a thousand workingmen in the + South Kensington Museum. Devoted to her family, she does not + forget the best interests of her country, nor the welfare of + those less fortunate than herself. Successful in authorship, + she is equally successful in good works; loved at home and + honored abroad.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Lady Brassey's last voyage was made in the yacht she loved: + the <i>Sunbeam</i>. Three or four years before, her health had + received a serious shock through an attack of typhoid fever, + and it was hoped that travel would restore her. A trip was made + in 1887 to Ceylon, Rangoon, North Borneo and Australia, in + company with Lord Brassey, a son, and three daughters. While in + mid-ocean, on their way to Mauritius, Lady Brassey died of + malarial fever, and was buried at sea, September 14, + 1887.</p><a href="images/c17thasbrassey.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c17thasbrassey_t.jpg" alt= + "SIR THOMAS BRASSEY." /></a> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c18" id="c18"></a> + + <h3>Baroness Burdett-Coutts.</h3><a href= + "images/c18baroness.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c18baroness_t.jpg" alt= + "BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS." /></a> + + <p>We hear, with comparative frequency, of great gifts made by + men: George Peabody and Johns Hopkins, Ezra Cornell and Matthew + Vassar, Commodore Vanderbilt and Leland Stanford. But gifts of + millions have been rare from women. Perhaps this is because + they have not, as often as men, had the control of immense + wealth.</p> + + <p>It is estimated that Baroness Burdett-Coutts has already + given away from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and is + constantly dispensing her fortune. She is feeling, in her + lifetime, the real joy of giving. How many benevolent persons + lose all this joy, by waiting till death before they bestow + their gifts.</p> + + <p>This remarkable woman comes from a remarkable family. Her + father, Sir Francis Burdett, was one of England's most + prominent members of Parliament. So earnest and eloquent was he + that Canning placed him "very nearly, if not quite, at the head + of the orators of the day." His colleague from Westminster, + Hobhouse, said, "Sir Francis Burdett was endowed with qualities + rarely united. A manly understanding and a tender heart gave a + charm to his society such as I have never derived in any other + instance from a man whose principal pursuit was politics. He + was the delight both of young and old."</p> + + <p>He was of fine presence, with great command of language, + natural, sincere, and impressive. After being educated at + Oxford, he spent some time in Paris during the early part of + the French Revolution, and came home with enlarged ideas of + liberty. With as much courage as eloquence, he advocated + liberty of the press in England, and many Parliamentary + reforms. Whenever there were misdeeds to be exposed, he exposed + them. The abuses of Cold Bath Fields and other prisons were + corrected through his searching public inquiries.</p> + + <p>When one of his friends was shut up in Newgate for impugning + the conduct of the House of Commons, Sir Francis took his part, + and for this it was ordered that he too be arrested. Believing + in free speech as he did, he denied the right of the House of + Commons to arrest him, and for nearly three days barricaded his + house, till the police forcibly entered, and carried him to the + Tower. A riot resulted, the people assaulting the police and + the soldiers, for the statesman was extremely popular. Several + persons were killed in the tumult.</p> + + <p>Nine years later, in 1819, because he condemned the + proceedings of the Lancashire magistrates in a massacre case, + he was again arrested for libel (?). His sentence was three + months' imprisonment, and a fine of five thousand dollars. The + banknote with which the money was paid is still preserved in + the Bank of England, "with an inscription in Burdett's own + writing, that to save his life, which further imprisonment + threatened to destroy, he submitted to be robbed."</p> + + <p>For thirty years he represented Westminster, fearless in + what he considered right; strenuous for the abolition of + slavery, and in all other reforms. Napoleon said at St. Helena, + if he had invaded England as he had intended, he would have + made it a republic, with Sir Francis Burdett, the popular idol, + at its head.</p> + + <p>Wealthy himself, Sir Francis married Sophia, the youngest + daughter of the wealthy London banker, Thomas Coutts. One son + and five daughters were born to them, the youngest Angela + Georgina (April 21, 1814), now the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Mr. + Coutts was an eccentric and independent man, who married for + his first wife an excellent girl of very humble position. Their + children, from the great wealth of the father, married into the + highest social rank, one being Marchioness of Bute, one + countess of Guilford, and the third Lady Burdett.</p> + + <p>When Thomas Coutts was eighty-four he married for the second + time, a well-known actress, Harriet Mellon, who for seven + years, till his death, took excellent care of him. He left her + his whole fortune, amounting to several millions, feeling, + perhaps, that he had provided sufficiently for his daughters at + their marriage, by giving them a half-million each. But Harriet + Mellon, with a fine sense of honor, felt that the fortune + belonged to his children. Though she married five years later + the Duke of St. Albans, twenty-four years old, about half her + own age, at her death, in ten years, she left the whole + property, some fifteen millions, to Mr. Coutts' granddaughter, + Angela Burdett. Only one condition was imposed,--that the young + lady should add the name of Coutts to her own.</p> + + <p>Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts became, therefore, at + twenty-three, the sole proprietor of the great Coutts + banking-house, which position she held for thirty years, and + the owner of an immense fortune. Very many young men manifested + a desire to help care for the property, and to share it with + her, but she seems from the first to have had but one definite + life-purpose,--to spend her money for the good of the human + race. She had her father's strength of character, was well + educated, and was a friend of royalty itself. Alas, how many + young women, with fifteen million dollars in hand, and the sum + constantly increasing, would have preferred a life of display + and self-aggrandizement rather than visiting the poor and the + sorrowing!</p> + + <p>Baroness Burdett-Coutts is now over seventy, and for fifty + years her name has been one of the brightest and noblest in + England, or, indeed, in the world. Crabb Robinson said, she is + "the most generous, and delicately generous, person I ever + knew."</p> + + <p>Her charities have extended in every direction. Among her + first good works was the building of two large churches, one at + Carlisle, and another, St. Stephen's, at Westminster, the + latter having also three schools and a parsonage. But Great + Britain did not require all her gifts. Gospel work was needed + in Australia, Africa, and British America. She therefore + endowed three colonial bishoprics, at Adelaide, Cape Town, and + in British Columbia, with a quarter of a million dollars. In + South Australia she also provided an institution for the + improvement of the aborigines, who were ignorant, and for whom + the world seemed to care little.</p> + + <p>She has generously aided her own sex. Feeling that sewing + and other household work should be taught in the national + schools, as from her labors among the poor she had seen how + often food was badly cooked, and mothers were ignorant of + sewing, she gave liberally to the government for this purpose. + Her heart also went out to children in the remote districts, + who were missing all school privileges, and for these she + arranged a plan of "travelling teachers," which was heartily + approved by the English authorities. Even now in these later + years the Baroness may often be seen at the night-schools of + London, offering prizes, or encouraging the young men and women + in their desire to gain knowledge after the hard day's work is + done. She has opened "Reformatory Homes" for girls, and great + good has resulted.</p> + + <p>Like Peabody, she has transformed some of the most degraded + portions of London by her improved tenement houses for the + poor. One place, called Nova Scotia gardens,--the term + "gardens" was a misnomer,--she purchased, tore down the old + rookeries where people slept and ate in filth and rags, and + built tasteful homes for two hundred families, charging for + them low and weekly rentals. Close by she built Columbia + Market, costing over a million dollars, intended for the + convenience of small dealers and people in that locality, where + clean, healthful food could be procured. She opened a museum + and reading-room for the neighborhood, and brought order and + taste out of squalor and distress.</p> + + <p>This building she presented to the city of London, and in + acknowledgment of the munificent gift, the Common Council + presented her, July, 1872, in a public ceremony, the freedom of + the city, an uncommon honor to a woman. It was accompanied by a + complimentary address, enclosed in a beautiful gold casket with + several compartments. One bore the arms of the Baroness, while + the other seven represented tableaux emblematic of her noble + life, "Feeding the Hungry," "Giving Drink to the Thirsty," + "Clothing the Naked," "Visiting the Captive," "Lodging the + Homeless," "Visiting the Sick," and "Burying the Dead." The + four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and + Justice, supported the box at the four corners, while the lid + was surmounted by the arms of the city.</p> + + <p>The Baroness made an able response to the address of the + Council, instead of asking some gentleman to reply for her. + Women who can do valuable benevolent work should be able to + read their own reports, or say what they desire to say in + public speech, without feeling that they have in the slightest + degree departed from the dignity and delicacy of their + womanhood.</p> + + <p>Two years later, 1874, Edinburgh, for her many charities, + also presented the Baroness the freedom of the city. Queen + Victoria, three years before this, in June, 1871, had made her + a peer of the realm.</p> + + <p>In Spitalfields, London, where the poverty was very great, + she started a sewing-school for adult women, and provided not + only work for them, but food as well, so that they might earn + for themselves rather than receive charity. To furnish this + work, she took contracts from the government. From this school + she sent out nurses among the sick, giving them medical + supplies, and clothes for the deserving. When servants needed + outfits, the Baroness provided them, aiding in all ways those + who were willing to work. All this required much executive + ability.</p> + + <p>So interested is she in the welfare of poor children, that + she has converted some of the very old burying-grounds of the + city, where the bodies have long since gone back to dust, into + playgrounds, with walks, and seats, and beds of flowers. Here + the children can romp from morning till night, instead of + living in the stifled air of the tenement houses. In old St. + Pancras churchyard, now used as a playground, she has erected a + sundial as a memorial to its illustrious dead.</p> + + <p>Not alone does Lady Burdett-Coutts build churches, and help + women and girls. She has fitted hundreds of boys for the Royal + Navy; educated them on her training-ships. She usually tries + them in a shoe-black brigade, and if they show a desire to be + honest and trustworthy, she provides homes, either in the navy + or in some good trade.</p> + + <p>When men are out of work, she encourages them in various + ways. When the East End weavers had become reduced to poverty + by the decay of trade, she furnished funds for them to emigrate + to Queensland, with their families. A large number went + together, and formed a prosperous and happy colony, gratefully + sending back thanks to their benefactor. They would have + starved, or, what is more probable, gone into crime in London; + now they were contented and satisfied in their new home.</p> + + <p>When the inhabitants of Girvan, Scotland, were in distress, + she advanced a large sum to take all the needy families to + Australia. Here in America we talk every now and then of + forming societies to help the poor to leave the cities and go + West, and too often the matter ends in talk; while here is a + woman who forms a society in and of herself, and sends the + suffering to any part of the world, expecting no money return + on the capital used. To see happy and contented homes grow from + our expenditures is such an investment of capital as helps to + bring on the millennium.</p> + + <p>When the people near Skibbereen, Ireland, were in want, she + sent food, and clothing, and fishing-tackle, to enable them to + carry on their daily employment of fishing. She supplied the + necessary funds for Sir Henry James' topographical survey of + Jerusalem, in the endeavor to discover the remains of King + Solomon's temple, and offered to restore the ancient aqueduct, + to supply the city with water. Deeply interested in art, she + has aided many struggling artists. Her homes also contain many + valuable pictures.</p> + + <p>The heart of the Baroness seems open to distress from every + clime. In 1877, when word reached England of the suffering + through war of the Bulgarian and Turkish peasantry, she + instituted the "Compassion Fund," by which one hundred and + fifty thousand dollars in money and stores were sent, and + thousands of lives saved from starvation and death. For this + generosity the Sultan conferred upon her the Order of Medjidie, + the first woman, it is said, who has received this + distinction.</p> + + <p>In all this benevolence she has not overlooked the animal + creation. She has erected four handsome drinking fountains: one + in Victoria Park, one at the entrance to the Zoological Gardens + in Regent's Park, one near Columbia Market, and one in the city + of Manchester. At the opening of the latter, the citizens gave + Lady Burdett-Coutts a most enthusiastic reception. To the + unique and interesting home for lost dogs in London, she has + contributed very largely. If the poor animals could speak, how + would they thank her for a warm bed to lie on, and proper food + to eat!</p> + + <p>Her private gifts to the poor have been numberless. Her city + house, I Stratton Street, Piccadilly, and her country home at + Holly Lodge, Highgate, are both well known. When, in 1868, the + great Reform procession passed her house, and she was at the + window, though half out of sight, says a person who was + present, "in one instant a shout was raised. For upwards of two + hours and a half the air rang with the reiterated + huzzas--huzzas unanimous and heart-felt, as if representing a + national sentiment."</p> + + <p>At Holly Lodge, which one passes in visiting the grave of + George Eliot at Highgate Cemetery, the Baroness makes thousands + of persons happy year by year. Now she invites two thousand + Belgian volunteers to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales, + with some five hundred royal and distinguished guests; now she + throws open her beautiful gardens to hundreds of + school-children, and lets them play at will under the oak and + chestnut trees; and now she entertains at tea all her tenants, + numbering about a thousand. So genial and considerate is she + that all love her, both rich and poor. She has fine manners and + an open, pleasant face.</p> + + <p>For some years a young friend, about half her own age, Mr. + William Ashmead-Bartlett, had assisted her in dispensing her + charities, and in other financial matters. At one time he went + to Turkey, at her request, using wisely the funds committed to + his trust. Baroness Coutts had refused many offers of marriage, + but she finally desired to bestow her hand upon this young but + congenial man. On February 12, 1881, they were wedded in Christ + Church, Piccadilly. Her husband took the name of Mr. + Burdett-Coutts Bartlett, and has since become a capable member + of Parliament. The marriage proved a happy one.</p> + + <p>The final years of the Baroness' long, useful life were + rather secluded, being spent at her London residence, or at her + delightful country place near Highgate, where she formerly + entertained largely.</p> + + <p>On Christmas Eve, in 1906, she became ill of bronchitis, and + though her wonderful vitality led her to revive somewhat, she + finally succumbed on December 30, at the age of ninety-two. She + was greatly beloved from the highest to the humblest citizens. + Queen Alexandra sent repeated inquiries and messages. King + Edward once said that he regarded the Baroness, after his + mother, as the most remarkable woman in England. Her life was a + link with the past, as it began during the reign of Emperor + Napoleon I, and witnessed the reigns of five British + sovereigns. Throughout it was spent in doing good.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c19" id="c19"></a> + + <h3>Jean Ingelow.</h3><a href="images/c19ingelow.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c19ingelow_t.jpg" alt="JEAN INGELOW." /></a> + + <p>The same friend who had given me Mrs. Browning's five + volumes in blue and gold, came one day with a dainty volume + just published by Roberts Brothers, of Boston. They had found a + new poet, and one possessing a beautiful name. Possibly it was + a <i>nom de plume</i>, for who had heard any real name so + musical as that of Jean Ingelow?</p> + + <p>I took the volume down by the quiet stream that flows below + Amherst College, and day after day, under a grand old tree, + read some of the most musical words, wedded to as pure thought + as our century has produced.</p> + + <p>The world was just beginning to know <i>The High Tide on the + Coast of Lincolnshire</i>. Eyes were dimming as they + read,--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I looked without, and lo! my sonne<br /> + Came riding downe with might and main: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + He raised a shout as he drew on,<br /> + Till all the welkin rang again, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'Elizabeth! Elizabeth!'<br /> + (A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath<br /> + Than my sonne's wife Elizabeth.) + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "'The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe,<br /> + The rising tide comes on apace, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And boats adrift in yonder towne<br /> + Go sailing uppe the market-place.' + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + He shook as one who looks on death:<br /> + 'God save you, mother!' straight he saith;<br /> + 'Where is my wife, Elizabeth?'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>And then the waters laid her body at his very door, and the + sweet voice that called, "Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!" was stilled + forever.</p> + + <p>The <i>Songs of Seven</i> soon became as household words, + because they were a reflection of real life. Nobody ever + pictured a child more exquisitely than the little + seven-year-old, who, rich with the little knowledge that seems + much to a child, looks down from superior heights upon</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "The lambs that play always, they know no better;<br /> + They are only one times one." + </div> + </div> + + <p>So happy is she that she makes boon companions of the + flowers:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,<br /> + Give me your honey to hold! + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "O columbine, open your folded wrapper,<br /> + Where two twin turtle-doves dwell! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper<br /> + That hangs in your clear green bell!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>At "seven times two," who of us has not waited for the great + heavy curtains of the future to be drawn aside?</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster,<br /> + Nor long summer bide so late; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And I could grow on, like the fox-glove and aster,<br /> + For some things are ill to wait." + </div> + </div> + + <p>At twenty-one the girl's heart flutters with + expectancy:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover,<br /> + Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover;<br /> + Hush nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale wait + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + Till I listen and hear<br /> + If a step draweth near,<br /> + For my love he is late!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>At twenty-eight, the happy mother lives in a simple home, + made beautiful by her children:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Heigho! daisies and buttercups!<br /> + Mother shall thread them a daisy chain." + </div> + </div> + + <p>At thirty-five a widow; at forty-two giving up her children + to brighten other homes; at forty-nine, "Longing for Home."</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I had a nestful once of my own,<br /> + Ah, happy, happy I! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Right dearly I loved them, but when they were grown<br /> + They spread out their wings to fly. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + O, one after another they flew away,<br /> + Far up to the heavenly blue, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + To the better country, the upper day,<br /> + And--I wish I was going too." + </div> + </div> + + <p>The <i>Songs of Seven</i> will be read and treasured as long + as there are women in the world to be loved, and men in the + world to love them.</p> + + <p>My especial favorite in the volume was the poem + <i>Divided</i>. Never have I seen more exquisite kinship with + nature, or more delicate and tender feeling. Where is there so + beautiful a picture as this?</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "An empty sky, a world of heather,<br /> + Purple of fox-glove, yellow of broom; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + We two among them, wading together,<br /> + Shaking out honey, treading perfume. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Crowds of bees are giddy with clover,<br /> + Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Crowds of larks at their matins hang over,<br /> + Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "We two walk till the purple dieth,<br /> + And short, dry grass under foot is brown; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But one little streak at a distance lieth<br /> + Green like a ribbon to prank the down. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Over the grass we stepped into it,<br /> + And God He knoweth how blithe we were! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Never a voice to bid us eschew it;<br /> + Hey the green ribbon that showed so fair! + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "A shady freshness, chafers whirring,<br /> + A little piping of leaf-hid birds; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + A flutter of wings, a fitful stirring,<br /> + A cloud to the eastward, snowy as curds. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Bare, glassy slopes, where kids are tethered;<br /> + Round valleys like nests all ferny lined; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Round hills, with fluttering tree-tops feathered,<br /> + Swell high in their freckled robes behind. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Glitters the dew and shines the river,<br /> + Up comes the lily and dries her bell; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But two are walking apart forever,<br /> + And wave their hands for a mute farewell. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "And yet I know past all doubting, truly--<br /> + And knowledge greater than grief can dim-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I know, as he loved, he will love me duly--<br /> + Yea, better--e'en better than I love him. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "And as I walk by the vast calm river,<br /> + The awful river so dread to see, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I say, 'Thy breadth and thy depth forever<br /> + Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me.'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>In what choice but simple language we are thus told that two + loving hearts cannot be divided.</p> + + <p>Years went by, and I was at last to see the author of the + poems I had loved in girlhood. I had wondered how she looked, + what was her manner, and what were her surroundings.</p> + + <p>In Kensington, a suburb of London, in a two-story-and-a-half + stone house, cream-colored, lives Jean Ingelow. Tasteful + grounds are in front of the home, and in the rear a large lawn + bordered with many flowers, and conservatories; a real English + garden, soft as velvet, and fragrant as new-mown hay. The house + is fit for a poet; roomy, cheerful, and filled with flowers. + One end of the large, double parlors seemed a bank of azalias + and honeysuckles, while great bunches of yellow primrose and + blue forget-me-not were on the tables and in the + bay-windows.</p> + + <p>But most interesting of all was the poet herself, in middle + life, with fine, womanly face, friendly manner, and cultivated + mind. For an hour we talked of many things in both countries. + Miss Ingelow showed great familiarity with American literature + and with our national questions.</p> + + <p>While everything about her indicated deep love for poetry, + and a keen sense of the beautiful, her conversation, fluent and + admirable, showed her to be eminently practical and sensible, + without a touch of sentimentality. Her first work in life seems + to be the making of her two brothers happy in the home. She + usually spends her forenoons in writing. She does her literary + work thoroughly, keeping her productions a long time before + they are put into print. As she is never in robust health, she + gives little time to society, and passes her winters in the + South of France or Italy. A letter dated Feb. 25, from the Alps + Maritime, at Cannes, says, "This lovely spot is full of + flowers, birds, and butterflies." Who that recalls her <i>Songs + on the Voices of Birds</i>, the blackbird, and the nightingale, + will not appreciate her happiness with such surroundings?</p> + + <p>With great fondness for, and pride in, her own country, she + has the most kindly feelings toward America and her people. She + says in the preface of her novel, <i>Fated to be Free</i>, + concerning this work and <i>Off the Skelligs</i>, "I am told + that they are peculiar; and I feel that they must be so, for + most stories of human life are, or at least aim at being, works + of art--selections of interesting portions of life, and fitting + incidents put together and presented as a picture is; and I + have not aimed at producing a work of art at all, but a piece + of nature." And then she goes on to explain her position to + "her American friends," for, she says, "I am sure you more than + deserve of me some efforts to please you. I seldom have an + opportunity of saying how truly I think so."</p> + + <p>Jean Ingelow's life has been a quiet but busy and earnest + one. She was born in the quaint old city of Boston, England, in + 1830. Her father was a well-to-do banker; her mother a + cultivated woman of Scotch descent, from Aberdeenshire. Jean + grew to womanhood in the midst of eleven brothers and sisters, + without the fate of struggle and poverty, so common among the + great.</p> + + <p>She writes to a friend concerning her childhood:--</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"As a child, I was very happy at times, and generally + wondering at something.... I was uncommonly like other + children.... I remember seeing a star, and that my mother + told me of God who lived up there and made the star. This was + on a summer evening. It was my first hearing of God, and made + a great impression on my mind. I remember better than + anything that certain ecstatic sensations of joy used to get + hold of me, and that I used to creep into corners to think + out my thoughts by myself. I was, however, extremely timid, + and easily overawed by fear. We had a lofty nursery with a + bow-window that overlooked the river. My brother and I were + constantly wondering at this river. The coming up of the + tides, and the ships, and the jolly gangs of towers ragging + them on with a monotonous song made a daily delight for us. + The washing of the water, the sunshine upon it, and the + reflections of the waves on our nursery ceiling supplied + hours of talk to us, and days of pleasure. At this time, + being three years old, ... I learned my letters.... I used to + think a good deal, especially about the origin of things. + People said often that they had been in this world, that + house, that nursery, before I came. I thought everything must + have begun when I did.... No doubt other children have such + thoughts, but few remember them. Indeed, nothing is more + remarkable among intelligent people than the recollections + they retain of their early childhood. A few, as I do, + remember it all. Many remember nothing whatever which + occurred before they were five years old.... I have suffered + much from a feeling of shyness and reserve, and I have not + been able to do things by trying to do them. What comes to me + comes of its own accord, and almost in spite of me; and I + have hardly any power when verses are once written to make + them any better.... There were no hardships in my youth, but + care was bestowed on me and my brothers and sisters by a + father and mother who were both cultivated people."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>To another friend she writes: "I suppose I may take for + granted that mine was the poetic temperament, and since there + are no thrilling incidents to relate, you may think you should + like to have my views as to what that means. I cannot tell you + in an hour, or even in a day, for it means so much. I suppose + it, of its absence or presence, to make far more difference + between one person and another than any contrast of + circumstances can do. The possessor does not have it for + nothing. It isolates, particularly in childhood; it takes away + some common blessings, but then it consoles for them all."</p> + + <p>With this poetic temperament, that saw beauty in flower, and + sky, and bird, that felt keenly all the sorrow and all the + happiness of the world about her, that wrote of life rather + than art, because to live rightly was the whole problem of + human existence, with this poetic temperament, the girl grew to + womanhood in the city bordering on the sea.</p> + + <p>Boston, at the mouth of the Witham, was once a famous + seaport, the rival of London in commercial prosperity, in the + thirteenth century. It was the site of the famous monastery of + St. Botolph, built by a pious monk in 657. The town which grew + up around it was called Botolph's town, contracted finally to + Boston. From this town Reverend John Cotton came to America, + and gave the name to the capital of Massachusetts, in which he + settled. The present famous old church of St. Botolph was + founded in 1309, having a bell-tower three hundred feet high, + which supports a lantern visible at sea for forty miles.</p> + + <p>The surrounding country is made up largely of marshes + reclaimed from the sea, which are called fens, and slightly + elevated tracts of land called moors. Here Jean Ingelow studied + the green meadows and the ever-changing ocean.</p> + + <p>Her first book, <i>A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and + Feelings</i>, was published in 1850, when she was twenty, and a + novel, <i>Allerton and Dreux</i>, in 1851; nine years later her + <i>Tales of Orris</i>. But her fame came at thirty-three, when + her first full book of <i>Poems</i> was published in 1863. This + was dedicated to a much loved brother, George K. Ingelow:--</p> + + <p class="dedication">"YOUR LOVING SISTER<br /> + OFFERS YOU THESE POEMS, PARTLY AS<br /> + AN EXPRESSION OF HER AFFECTION, PARTLY FOR THE<br /> + PLEASURE OF CONNECTING HER EFFORT<br /> + WITH YOUR NAME."</p> + + <p>The press everywhere gave flattering notices. A new singer + had come; not one whose life had been spent in the study of + Greek roots, simply, but one who had studied nature and + humanity. She had a message to give the world, and she gave it + well. It was a message of good cheer, of earnest purpose, of + contentment and hope.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "What though unmarked the happy workman toil,<br /> + And break unthanked of man the stubborn clod? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + It is enough, for sacred is the soil,<br /> + Dear are the hills of God. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Far better in its place the lowliest bird<br /> + Should sing aright to him the lowliest song, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Than that a seraph strayed should take the word<br /> + And sing his glory wrong." + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "But like a river, blest where'er it flows,<br /> + Be still receiving while it still bestows." + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + "That life + </div>Goes best with those who take it best. + + <div class="tail_r"> + --it is well + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + For us to be as happy as we can!" + </div><br /> + + <div class="tail_m"> + "Work is its own best earthly meed, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Else have we none more than the sea-born throng + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Who wrought those marvellous isles that bloom afar." + </div> + </div> + + <p>The London press said: "Miss Ingelow's new volume exhibits + abundant evidence that time, study, and devotion to her + vocation have both elevated and welcomed the powers of the most + gifted poetess we possess, now that Elizabeth Barrett Browning + and Adelaide Proctor sing no more on earth. Lincolnshire has + claims to be considered the Arcadia of England at present, + having given birth to Mr. Tennyson and our present Lady + Laureate."</p> + + <p>The press of America was not less cordial. "Except Mrs. + Browning, Jean Ingelow is first among the women whom the world + calls poets," said the <i>Independent</i>.</p> + + <p>The songs touched the popular heart, and some, set to music, + were sung at numberless firesides. Who has not heard the + <i>Sailing beyond Seas</i>?</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Methought the stars were blinking bright,<br /> + And the old brig's sails unfurled; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I said, 'I will sail to my love this night<br /> + At the other side of the world.' + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I stepped aboard,--we sailed so fast,--<br /> + The sun shot up from the bourne; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But a dove that perched upon the mast<br /> + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn. + </div><br /> + + <div class="tail_m"> + O fair dove! O fond dove!<br /> + And dove with the white breast, + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + Let me alone, the dream is my own,<br /> + And my heart is full of rest. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "My love! He stood at my right hand,<br /> + His eyes were grave and sweet. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Methought he said, 'In this fair land,<br /> + O, is it thus we meet? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Ah, maid most dear, I am not here;<br /> + I have no place,--no part,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + No dwelling more by sea or shore!<br /> + But only in thy heart!' + </div><br /> + + <div class="tail_m"> + O fair dove! O fond dove!<br /> + Till night rose over the bourne, + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + The dove on the mast as we sailed past,<br /> + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Edmund Clarence Stedman, one of the ablest and fairest among + American critics, says: "As the voice of Mrs. Browning grew + silent, the songs of Miss Ingelow began, and had instant and + merited popularity. They sprang up suddenly and tunefully as + skylarks from the daisy-spangled, hawthorn-bordered meadows of + old England, with a blitheness long unknown, and in their + idyllic underflights moved with the tenderest currents of human + life. Miss Ingelow may be termed an idyllic lyrist, her lyrical + pieces having always much idyllic beauty. <i>High Tide, + Winstanley, Songs of Seven, and the Long White Seam</i> are + lyrical treasures, and the author especially may be said to + evince that sincerity which is poetry's most enduring + warrant."</p> + + <p><i>Winstanley</i> is especially full of pathos and action. + We watch this heroic man as he builds the lighthouse on the + Eddystone rocks:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Then he and the sea began their strife,<br /> + And worked with power and might: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Whatever the man reared up by day<br /> + The sea broke down by night. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "A Scottish schooner made the port<br /> + The thirteenth day at e'en: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'As I am a man,' the captain cried,<br /> + 'A strange sight I have seen; + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "'And a strange sound heard, my masters all,<br /> + At sea, in the fog and the rain, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Like shipwrights' hammers tapping low,<br /> + Then loud, then low again. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "'And a stately house one instant showed,<br /> + Through a rift, on the vessel's lea; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + What manner of creatures may be those<br /> + That build upon the sea?'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>After the lighthouse was built, Winstanley went out again to + see his precious tower. A fearful storm came up, and the tower + and its builder went down together.</p> + + <p>Several books have come from Miss Ingelow's pen since 1863. + The following year, Studies for Stories was published, of which + the Athenaeum said, "They are prose poems, carefully meditated, + and exquisitely touched in by a teacher ready to sympathize + with every joy and sorrow." The five stories are told in simple + and clear language, and without slang, to which she heartily + objects. For one so rich in imagination as Miss Ingelow, her + prose is singularly free from obscurity and florid + language.</p> + + <p><i>Stories told to a Child</i> was published in 1865, and + <i>A Story of Doom, and Other Poems</i>, in 1868, the principal + poem being drawn from the time of the Deluge. <i>Mopsa the + Fairy</i>, an exquisite story, followed a year later, with <i>A + Sister's Bye-hours</i>, and since that time, <i>Off the + Skelligs</i> in 1872, <i>Fated to be Free</i> in 1875, <i>Sarah + de Berenger</i> in 1879, <i>Don John</i> in 1881, and <i>Poems + of the Old Days and the New</i>, recently issued. Of the + latter, the poet Stoddard says: "Beyond all the women of the + Victorian era, she is the most of an Elizabethan.... She has + tracked the ocean journeyings of Drake, Raleigh, and Frobisher, + and others to whom the Spanish main was a second home, the + <i>El Dorado</i> of which Columbus and his followers dreamed in + their stormy slumbers.... The first of her poems in this + volume, <i>Rosamund</i>, is a masterly battle idyl."</p> + + <p>Her books have had large sale, both here and in Europe. It + is stated that in this country one hundred thousand of her + <i>Poems</i> have been sold, and half that number of her prose + works.</p> + + <p>Miss Ingelow has not been elated by her deserved success. + She has told the world very little of herself in her books. She + once wrote a friend: "I am far from agreeing with you 'that it + is rather too bad when we read people's works, if they won't + let us know anything about themselves.' I consider that an + author should, during life, be as much as possible, impersonal. + I never import myself into my writings, and am much better + pleased that others should feel an interest in me, and wish to + know something of me, than that they should complain of + egotism."</p> + + <p>It is said that the last of her <i>Songs with Preludes</i> + refers to a brother who lies buried in Australia:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I stand on the bridge where last we stood<br /> + When delicate leaves were young; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + The children called us from yonder wood,<br /> + While a mated blackbird sung. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "But if all loved, as the few can love,<br /> + This world would seldom be well; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And who need wish, if he dwells above,<br /> + For a deep, a long death-knell? + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "There are four or five, who, passing this place,<br /> + While they live will name me yet; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And when I am gone will think on my face,<br /> + And feel a kind of regret." + </div> + </div> + + <p>With all her literary work, she does not forget to do good + personally. At one time she instituted a "copyright dinner," at + her own expense, which she thus described to a friend: "I have + set up a dinner-table for the sick poor, or rather, for such + persons as are just out of the hospitals, and are hungry, and + yet not strong enough to work. We have about twelve to dinner + three times a week, and hope to continue the plan. It is such a + comfort to see the good it does. I find it one of the great + pleasures of writing, that it gives me more command of money + for such purposes than falls to the lot of most women." Again, + she writes to an American friend: "I should be much obliged to + you if you would give in my name twenty-five dollars to some + charity in Boston. I should prefer such a one as does not + belong to any party in particular, such as a city infirmary or + orphan school. I do not like to draw money from your country, + and give none in charity."</p> + + <p>Miss Ingelow is very fond of children, and herein is, + perhaps, one secret of her success. In Off the Skelligs she + says: "Some people appear to feel that they are much wiser, + much nearer to the truth and to realities, than they were when + they were children. They think of childhood as immeasurably + beneath and behind them. I have never been able to join in such + a notion. It often seems to me that we lose quite as much as we + gain by our lengthened sojourn here. I should not at all wonder + if the thoughts of our childhood, when we look back on it after + the rending of this vail of our humanity, should prove less + unlike what we were intended to derive from the teaching of + life, nature, and revelation, than the thoughts of our more + sophisticated days."</p> + + <p>Best of all, this true woman and true poet as well, like + Emerson, sees and believes in the progress of the race.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Still humanity grows dearer,<br /> + Being learned the more," + </div> + </div> + + <p>she says, in that tender poem, <i>A Mother showing the + Portrait of her Child</i>. Blessed optimism! that amid all the + shortcomings of human nature sees the best, lifts souls upward, + and helps to make the world sunny by its singing.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Jean Ingelow died at her home in Kensington, London, July + 19, 1897, at the age of sixty-seven, having been born in + Boston, Lincolnshire, in 1830. Her long illness ended in simple + exhaustion, and she welcomed death gladly.</p> + </div><!--END OF TEXT--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12081 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12081-h/images/c10stael.jpg b/12081-h/images/c10stael.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..013af64 --- /dev/null +++ b/12081-h/images/c10stael.jpg diff --git a/12081-h/images/c10stael_t.jpg b/12081-h/images/c10stael_t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed5b5e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/12081-h/images/c10stael_t.jpg diff --git a/12081-h/images/c11bonheur.jpg b/12081-h/images/c11bonheur.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..484b829 --- /dev/null +++ b/12081-h/images/c11bonheur.jpg diff --git a/12081-h/images/c11bonheur_t.jpg b/12081-h/images/c11bonheur_t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6e67c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/12081-h/images/c11bonheur_t.jpg diff --git a/12081-h/images/c12browning.jpg 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38dc828 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12081 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12081) diff --git a/old/12081-8.txt b/old/12081-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be71133 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12081-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9405 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lives of Girls Who Became Famous, by Sarah Knowles Bolton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lives of Girls Who Became Famous + +Author: Sarah Knowles Bolton + +Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12081] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mike Boto, Ylva Lind +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +LIVES + +OF + +GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +BY + +SARAH K. BOLTON, + +AUTHOR OF "POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "SOCIAL STUDIES IN ENGLAND," +ETC. + + +1914 + + + + +"_Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected._" +--JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +"_Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from them_." +--MADAME DE STAEËL. + + + + +TO + +MY AUNT, + +MRS. MARTHA W. MILLER, +Whose culture and kindness I count +among the blessings of +my life. + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +All of us have aspirations. We build air-castles, and are probably the +happier for the building. However, the sooner we learn that life is +not a play-day, but a thing of earnest activity, the better for us and +for those associated with us. "Energy," says Goethe, "will do anything +that can be done in this world"; and Jean Ingelow truly says, that +"Work is heaven's hest." + +If we cannot, like George Eliot, write _Adam Bede_, we can, like +Elizabeth Fry, visit the poor and the prisoner. If we cannot, like +Rosa Bonheur, paint a "Horse Fair," and receive ten thousand dollars, +we can, like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Alcott, do some kind of work to +lighten the burdens of parents. If poor, with Mary Lyon's persistency +and noble purpose, we can accomplish almost anything. If rich, like +Baroness Burdett-Coutts, we can bless the world in thousands of ways, +and are untrue to God and ourselves if we fail to do it. + +Margaret Fuller said, "All might be superior beings," and doubtless +this is true, if all were willing to cultivate the mind and beautify +the character. + +S.K.B. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE Novelist + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON Poet and Prose Writer + +LUCRETIA MOTT Preacher + +MARY A LIVERMORE Lecturer + +MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI Journalist + +MARIA MITCHELL Scientist + +LOUISA M ALCOTT Author + +MARY LYON Teacher + +HARRIET G HOSMER Sculptor + +MADAME DE STAËL Novelist and Political Writer + +ROSA BONHEUR Artist + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet + +"GEORGE ELIOT" Novelist + +ELIZABETH FRY Philanthropist + +ELIZABETH THOMPSON BUTLER Painter + +FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE Hospital Nurse + +LADY BRASSEY Traveller + +BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS Benefactor + +JEAN INGELOW Poet + + * * * * * + + + + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. + +[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.] + + +In a plain home, in the town of Litchfield, Conn., was born, June 14, +1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The house was well-nigh full of little +ones before her coming. She was the seventh child, while the oldest +was but eleven years old. + +Her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, a man of remarkable mind and sunshiny +heart, was preaching earnest sermons in his own and in all the +neighboring towns, on the munificent salary of five hundred dollars a +year. Her mother, Roxana Beecher, was a woman whose beautiful life has +been an inspiration to thousands. With an education superior for those +times, she came into the home of the young minister with a strength of +mind and heart that made her his companion and reliance. + +There were no carpets on the floors till the girl-wife laid down a +piece of cotton cloth on the parlor, and painted it in oils, with a +border and a bunch of roses and others flowers in the centre. When one +of the good deacons came to visit them, the preacher said, "Walk in, +deacon, walk in!" + +"Why, I can't," said he, "'thout steppin' on't." Then he exclaimed, in +admiration, "D'ye think ya can have all that, _and heaven too_?" + +So meagre was the salary for the increasing household, that Roxana +urged that a select school be started; and in this she taught +French, drawing, painting, and embroidery, besides the higher English +branches. With all this work she found time to make herself the idol +of her children. While Henry Ward hung round her neck, she made dolls +for little Harriet, and read to them from Walter Scott and Washington +Irving. + +These were enchanting days for the enthusiastic girl with brown curls +and blue eyes. She roamed over the meadows, and through the forests, +gathering wild flowers in the spring or nuts in the fall, being +educated, as she afterwards said, "first and foremost by Nature, +wonderful, beautiful, ever-changing as she is in that +cloudland, Litchfield. There were the crisp apples of the pink +azalea,--honeysuckle-apples, we called them; there were scarlet +wintergreen berries; there were pink shell blossoms of trailing +arbutus, and feathers of ground pine; there were blue and white and +yellow violets, and crowsfoot, and bloodroot, and wild anemone, and +other quaint forest treasures." + +A single incident, told by herself in later years, will show the +frolic-loving spirit of the girl, and the gentleness of Roxana +Beecher. "Mother was an enthusiastic horticulturist in all the small +ways that limited means allowed. Her brother John, in New York, had +just sent her a small parcel of fine tulip-bulbs. I remember rummaging +these out of an obscure corner of the nursery one day when she was +gone out, and being strongly seized with the idea that they were good +to eat, and using all the little English I then possessed to persuade +my brothers that these were onions, such as grown people ate, and +would be very nice for us. So we fell to and devoured the whole; and I +recollect being somewhat disappointed in the odd, sweetish taste, and +thinking that onions were not as nice as I had supposed. Then mother's +serene face appeared at the nursery door, and we all ran toward her, +and with one voice began to tell our discovery and achievement. We had +found this bag of onions, and had eaten them all up. + +"There was not even a momentary expression of impatience, but she sat +down and said, 'My dear children, what you have done makes mamma very +sorry; those were not onion roots, but roots of beautiful flowers; +and if you had let them alone, ma would have had next summer in the +garden, great, beautiful red and yellow flowers, such as you never +saw.' I remember how drooping and disappointed we all grew at this +picture, and how sadly we regarded the empty paper bag." + +When Harriet was five years old, a deep shadow fell upon the happy +household. Eight little children were gathered round the bedside of +the dying mother. When they cried and sobbed, she told them, with +inexpressible sweetness, that "God could do more for them than she had +ever done or could do, and that they must trust Him," and urged her +six sons to become ministers of the Gospel. When her heart-broken +husband repeated to her the verse, "You are now come unto Mount Zion, +unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an +innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of +the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of +all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the +Mediator of the New Covenant," she looked up into his face with a +beautiful smile, and closed her eyes forever. That smile Mr. Beecher +never forgot to his dying day. + +The whole family seemed crushed by the blow. Little Henry (now the +great preacher), who had been told that his mother had been buried +in the ground, and also that she had gone to heaven, was found one +morning digging with all his might under his sister's window, saying, +"I'm going to heaven, to find ma!" + +So much did Mr. Beecher miss her counsel and good judgment, that he +sat down and wrote her a long letter, pouring out his whole soul, +hoping somehow that she, his guardian angel, though dead, might see +it. A year later he wrote a friend: "There is a sensation of loss +which nothing alleviates--a solitude which no society interrupts. Amid +the smiles and prattle of children, and the kindness of sympathizing +friends, I am _alone; Roxana is not here_. She partakes in none of my +joys, and bears with me none of my sorrows. I do not murmur; I only +feel daily, constantly, and with deepening impression, how much I have +had for which to be thankful, and how much I have lost.... The whole +year after her death was a year of great emptiness, as if there was +not motive enough in the world to move me. I used to pray earnestly +to God either to take me away, or to restore to me that interest in +things and susceptibility to motive I had had before." + +Once, when sleeping in the room where she died, he dreamed that Roxana +came and stood beside him, and "smiled on me as with a smile from +heaven. With that smile," he said, "all my sorrow passed away. I awoke +joyful, and I was lighthearted for weeks after." + +Harriet went to live for a time with her aunt and grandmother, and +then came back to the lonesome home, into which Mr. Beecher had +felt the necessity of bringing a new mother. She was a refined and +excellent woman, and won the respect and affection of the family. At +first Harriet, with a not unnatural feeling of injury, said to her: +"Because you have come and married my father, when I am big enough, I +mean to go and marry your father;" but she afterwards learned to love +her very much. + +At seven, with a remarkably retentive memory,--a thing which many of +us spoil by trashy reading, or allowing our time and attention to +be distracted by the trifles of every-day life,--Harriet had learned +twenty-seven hymns and two long chapters of the Bible. She was +exceedingly fond of reading, but there was little in a poor minister's +library to attract a child. She found _Bell's Sermons_, and _Toplady +on Predestination_. "Then," she says, "there was a side closet full of +documents, a weltering ocean of pamphlets, in which I dug and toiled +for hours, to be repaid by disinterring a delicious morsel of a _Don +Quixote_, that had once been a book, but was now lying in forty or +fifty _dissecta membra_, amid Calls, Appeals, Essays, Reviews, and +Rejoinders. The turning up of such a fragment seemed like the rising +of an enchanted island out of an ocean of mud." Finally _Ivanhoe_ was +obtained, and she and her brother George read it through seven times. + +At twelve, we find her in the school of Mr. John P. Brace, +a well-known teacher, where she developed great fondness for +composition. At the exhibition at the close of the year, it was +the custom for all the parents to come and listen to the wonderful +productions of their children. From the list of subjects given, +Harriet had chosen, "Can the Immortality of the Soul be proved by the +Light of Nature?" + +"When mine was read," she says, "I noticed that father brightened +and looked interested. 'Who wrote that composition?' he asked of Mr. +Brace. '_Your daughter, sir!_' was the answer. There was no mistaking +father's face when he was pleased, and to have interested _him_ was +past all juvenile triumphs." + +A new life was now to open to Harriet. Her only sister Catharine, +a brilliant and noble girl, was engaged to Professor Fisher of Yale +College. They were to be married on his return from a European tour, +but alas! the _Albion_, on which he sailed, went to pieces on the +rocks, and all on board, save one, perished. Her betrothed was never +heard from. For months all hope seemed to go out of Catharine's life, +and then, with a strong will, she took up a course of mathematical +study, _his_ favorite study, and Latin under her brother Edward. She +was now twenty-three. Life was not to be along the pleasant paths she +had hoped, but she must make it tell for the future. + +With remarkable energy, she went to Hartford, Conn., where her brother +was teaching, and thoroughly impressed with the belief that God had a +work for her to do for girls, she raised several thousand dollars and +built the Hartford Female Seminary. Her brothers had college doors +opened to them; why, she reasoned, should not women have equal +opportunities? Society wondered of what possible use Latin and moral +philosophy could be to girls, but they admired Miss Beecher, and +let her do as she pleased. Students poured in, and the seminary soon +overflowed. My own school life in that beloved institution, years +afterward, I shall never forget. + +And now the little twelve-year-old Harriet came down from Litchfield +to attend Catharine's school, and soon become a pupil-teacher, that +the burden of support might not fall too heavily upon the father. +Other children had come into the Beecher home, and with a salary of +eight hundred dollars, poverty could not be other than a constant +attendant. Once when the family were greatly straitened for money, +while Henry and Charles were in college, the new mother went to bed +weeping, but the father said, "Well, the Lord always has taken care of +me, and I am sure He always will," and was soon fast asleep. The next +morning, Sunday, a letter was handed in at the door, containing a $100 +bill, and no name. It was a thank-offering for the conversion of a +child. + +Mr. Beecher, with all his poverty, could not help being generous. His +wife, by close economy, had saved twenty-five dollars to buy a new +overcoat for him. Handing him the roll of bills, he started out to +purchase the garment, but stopped on the way to attend a missionary +meeting. His heart warmed as he stayed, and when the contribution-box +was passed, he put in the roll of bills for the Sandwich Islanders, +and went home with his threadbare coat! + +Three years later, Mr. Beecher, who had now become widely known as +a revivalist and brilliant preacher, was called to Boston, where he +remained for six years. His six sermons on intemperance had stirred +the whole country. + +Though he loved Boston, his heart often turned toward the great West, +and he longed to help save her young men. When, therefore, he was +asked to go to Ohio and become the president of Lane Theological +Seminary at Cincinnati, he accepted. Singularly dependent upon his +family, Catharine and Harriet must needs go with him to the new home. +The journey was a toilsome one, over the corduroy roads and across the +mountains by stagecoach. Finally they were settled in a pleasant +house on Walnut Hills, one of the suburbs of the city, and the sisters +opened another school. + +Four years later, in 1836, Harriet, now twenty-five, married the +professor of biblical criticism and Oriental literature in the +seminary, Calvin E. Stowe, a learned and able man. + +Meantime the question of slavery had been agitating the minds of +Christian people. Cincinnati being near the border-line of Kentucky, +was naturally the battle-ground of ideas. Slaves fled into the +free State and were helped into Canada by means of the "Underground +Railroad," which was in reality only a friendly house about every ten +miles, where the colored people could be secreted during the day, and +then carried in wagons to the next "station" in the night. + +Lane Seminary became a hot-bed of discussion. Many of the Southern +students freed their slaves, or helped to establish schools for +colored children in Cincinnati, and were disinherited by their fathers +in consequence. Dr. Bailey, a Christian man who attempted to carry on +a fair discussion of the question in his paper, had his presses broken +twice and thrown into the river. The feeling became so intense, that +the houses of free colored people were burned, some killed, and the +seminary was in danger from the mob. The members of Professor Stowe's +family slept with firearms, ready to defend their lives. Finally +the trustees of the college forbade all slavery discussion by the +students, and as a result, nearly the whole body left the institution. + +Dr. Beecher, meantime, was absent at the East, having raised a large +sum of money for the seminary, and came back only to find his labor +almost hopeless. For several years, however, he and his children +stayed and worked on. Mrs. Stowe opened her house to colored children, +whom she taught with her own. One bright boy in her school was claimed +by an estate in Kentucky, arrested, and was to be sold at auction. The +half-crazed mother appealed to Mrs. Stowe, who raised the needed money +among her friends, and thus saved the lad. + +Finally, worn out with the "irrepressible conflict," the Beecher +family, with the Stowes, came North in 1850, Mr. Stowe accepting a +professorship at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. A few boarders +were taken into the family to eke out the limited salary, and Mrs. +Stowe earned a little from a sketch written now and then for the +newspapers. She had even obtained a prize of fifty dollars for a New +England story. Her six brothers had fulfilled their mother's dying +wish, and were all in the ministry. She was now forty years old, a +devoted mother, with an infant; a hard-working teacher, with her hands +full to overflowing. It seemed improbable that she would ever do other +than this quiet, unceasing labor. Most women would have said, "I can +do no more than I am doing. My way is hedged up to any outside work." + +But Mrs. Stowe's heart burned for those in bondage. The Fugitive Slave +Law was hunting colored people and sending them back into servitude +and death. The people of the North seemed indifferent. Could she not +arouse them by something she could write? + +One Sunday, as she sat at the communion table in the little Brunswick +church, the pattern of Uncle Tom formed itself in her mind, and, +almost overcome by her feelings, she hastened home and wrote out the +chapter on his death. When she had finished, she read it to her two +sons, ten and twelve, who burst out sobbing, "Oh! mamma, slavery is +the most cursed thing in the world." + +After two or three more chapters were ready, she wrote to Dr. Bailey, +who had moved his paper from Cincinnati to Washington, offering the +manuscript for the columns of the _National Era_, and it was accepted. +Now the matter must be prepared each week. She visited Boston, and +at the Anti-Slavery rooms borrowed several books to aid in furnishing +facts. And then the story wrote itself out of her full heart and +brain. When it neared completion, Mr. Jewett of Boston, through the +influence of his wife, offered to become the publisher, but feared if +the serial were much longer, it would be a failure. She wrote him that +she could not stop till it was done. + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was published March 20,1852. Then came the +reaction in her own mind. Would anybody read this book? The subject +was unpopular. It would indeed be a failure, she feared, but she would +help the story make its way if possible. She sent a copy of the book +to Prince Albert, knowing that both he and Queen Victoria were deeply +interested in the subject; another copy to Macaulay, whose father +was a friend of Wilberforce; one to Charles Dickens; and another +to Charles Kingsley. And then the busy mother, wife, teacher, +housekeeper, and author waited in her quiet Maine home to see what the +busy world would say. + +In ten days, ten thousand copies had been sold. Eight presses were run +day and night to supply the demand. Thirty different editions appeared +in London in six months. Six theatres in that great city were playing +it at one time. Over three hundred thousand copies were sold in less +than a year. + +Letters poured in upon Mrs. Stowe from all parts of the world. Prince +Albert sent his hearty thanks. Dickens said, "Your book is worthy of +any head and any heart that ever inspired a book." Kingsley wrote, +"It is perfect." The noble Earl of Shaftesbury wrote, "None but a +Christian believer could have produced such a book as yours, which has +absolutely startled the whole world.... I live in hope--God grant it +may rise to faith!--that this system is drawing to a close. It seems +as though our Lord had sent out this book as the messenger before +His face to prepare His way before Him." He wrote out an address of +sympathy "From the women of England to the women of America," to +which were appended the signatures of 562,448 women. These were in +twenty-six folio volumes, bound in morocco, with the American eagle on +the back of each, the whole in a solid oak case, sent to the care of +Mrs. Stowe. + +The learned reviews gave long notices of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. +_Blackwood_ said, "There are scenes and touches in this book which no +living writer that we know can surpass, and perhaps none can equal." +George Eliot wrote her beautiful letters. + +How the heart of Lyman Beecher must have been gladdened by this +wonderful success of his daughter! How Roxana Beecher must have looked +down from heaven, and smiled that never-to-be-forgotten smile! +How Harriet Beecher Stowe herself must have thanked God for this +unexpected fulness of blessing! Thousands of dollars were soon paid to +her as her share of the profits from the sale of the book. How restful +it must have seemed to the tired, over-worked woman, to have more than +enough for daily needs! + +The following year, 1853, Professor Stowe and his now famous +wife decided to cross the ocean for needed rest. What was their +astonishment, to be welcomed by immense public meetings in Liverpool, +Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee; indeed, in every city which they +visited. People in the towns stopped her carriage, to fill it with +flowers. Boys ran along the streets, shouting, "That's her--see the +_courls!_" A penny offering was made her, given by people of all +ranks, consisting of one thousand golden sovereigns on a beautiful +silver salver. When the committee having the matter in charge visited +one little cottage, they found only a blind woman, and said, "She will +feel no interest, as she cannot read the book." + +"Indeed," said the old lady, "if I cannot read, my son has read it to +me, and I've got my penny saved to give." + +The beautiful Duchess of Sutherland entertained Mrs. Stowe at her +house, where she met Lord Palmerston, the Duke of Argyle, Macaulay, +Gladstone, and others. The duchess gave her a solid gold bracelet +in the form of a slave's shackle, with the words, "We trust it is a +memorial of a chain that is soon to be broken." On one link was the +date of the abolition of the slave trade, March 25, 1807, and of +slavery in the English territories, Aug. 1, 1834. On the other +links are now engraved the dates of Emancipation in the District of +Columbia; President Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery in the +States in rebellion, Jan. 1, 1863; and finally, on the clasp, the date +of the Constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery forever in the +United States. Only a decade after _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was written, +and nearly all this accomplished! Who could have believed it possible? + +On Mrs. Stowe's return from Europe, she wrote _Sunny Memories of +Foreign Lands_, which had a large sale. Her husband was now appointed +to the professorship of sacred literature in the Theological Seminary +at Andover, Mass., and here they made their home. The students found +in her a warm-hearted friend, and an inspiration to intellectual work. +Other books followed from her pen: _Dred_, a powerful anti-slavery +story; _The Minister's Wooing_, with lovely Mary Scudder as its +heroine; _Agnes of Sorrento_, an Italian story; the _Pearl of Orr's +Island_, a tale of the New England coast; _Old Town Folks; House and +Home Papers; My Wife and I; Pink and White Tyranny_; and some others, +all of which have been widely read. + +The sale of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has not ceased. It is estimated that +over one and a half million copies have been sold in Great Britain and +her colonies, and probably an equal or greater number in this country. +There have been twelve French editions, eleven German, and +six Spanish. It has been published in nineteen different +languages,--Russian, Hungarian, Armenian, Modern Greek, Finnish, +Welsh, Polish, and others. In Bengal the book is very popular. A lady +of high rank in the court of Siam, liberated her slaves, one hundred +and thirty in number, after reading this book, and said, "I am wishful +to be good like Harriet Beecher Stowe, and never again to buy human +bodies, but only to let them go free once more." In France the sale +of the Bible was increased because the people wished to read the book +Uncle Tom loved so much. + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_, like _Les Miseràbles_, and a few other novels, +will live, because written with a purpose. No work of fiction is +permanent without some great underlying principle or object. + +Soon after the Civil War, Mrs. Stowe bought a home among the orange +groves of Florida, and thither she goes each winter, with her family. +She has done much there for the colored people whom she helped to make +free. With the proceeds of some public readings at the North she +built a church, in which her husband preached as long as his health +permitted. Her home at Mandarin, with its great moss-covered oaks and +profusion of flowers, is a restful and happy place after these most +fruitful years. + +Her summer residence in Hartford, Conn., beautiful without, and +artistic within, has been visited by thousands, who honor the noble +woman not less than the gifted author. + +Many of the Beecher family have died; Lyman Beecher at eighty-three, +and Catharine at seventy-eight. Some of Mrs. Stowe's own children are +waiting for her in the other country. She says, "I am more interested +in the other side of Jordan than this, though this still has its +pleasures." + +On Mrs. Stowe's seventy-first birthday, her publishers, Messrs. +Houghton, Mifflin & Co., gave a garden party in her honor, at the +hospitable home of Governor Claflin and his wife, at Newton, Mass. +Poets and artists, statesmen and reformers, were invited to meet the +famous author. On a stage, under a great tent, she sat, while poems +were read and speeches made. The brown curls had become snowy white, +and the bright eyes of girlhood had grown deeper and more earnest. The +manner was the same as ever, unostentatious, courteous, kindly. + +Her life is but another confirmation of the well-known fact, that the +best work of the world is done, not by the loiterers, but by those +whose hearts and hands are full of duties. Mrs. Stowe died about +noon, July 1, 1896, of paralysis, at Hartford, Conn., at the age of +eighty-five. She passed away as if to sleep, her son, the Rev. Charles +Edward Stowe, and her daughters, Eliza and Harriet, standing by her +bedside. Since the death of her husband, Professor Calvin E. Stowe, in +1886, Mrs. Stowe had gradually failed physically and mentally. She was +buried July 3 in the cemetery connected with the Theological Seminary +at Andover, Mass., between the graves of her husband and her son, +Henry. The latter was drowned in the Connecticut River, while a member +of Dartmouth College, July 19, 1857. + + + + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON. + +[Illustration: HELEN HUNT JACKSON.] + + +Thousands were saddened when, Aug. 12, 1885, it was flashed across the +wires that Helen Hunt Jackson was dead. The _Nation_ said, "The news +will probably carry a pang of regret into more American homes than +similar intelligence in regard to any other woman, with the possible +exception of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe." + +How, with the simple initials, "H.H.," had she won this place in +the hearts of the people? Was it because she was a poet? Oh no! many +persons of genius have few friends. It was because an earnest life was +back of her gifted writings. A great book needs a great man or woman +behind it to make it a perfect work. Mrs. Jackson's literary work will +be abiding, but her life, with its dark shadow and bright sunlight, +its deep affections and sympathy with the oppressed, will furnish a +rich setting for the gems of thought which she gave to the world. + +Born in the cultured town of Amherst, Mass., Oct. 18, 1831, she +inherited from her mother a sunny, buoyant nature, and from her +father, Nathan W. Fiske, professor of languages and philosophy in the +college, a strong and vigorous mind. Her own vivid description of the +"naughtiest day in my life," in _St. Nicholas_, September and October, +1880, shows the ardent, wilful child who was one day to stand out +fearlessly before the nation and tell its statesmen the wrong they had +done to "her Indians." + +She and her younger sister Annie were allowed one April day, by their +mother, to go into the woods just before school hours, to gather +checkerberries. Helen, finding the woods very pleasant, determined to +spend the day in them, even though sure she would receive a whipping +on her return home. The sister could not be coaxed to do wrong, but a +neighbor's child, with the promise of seeing live snails with horns, +was induced to accompany the truant. They wandered from one forest to +another, till hunger compelled them to seek food at a stranger's home. +The kind farmer and his wife were going to a funeral, and wished to +lock their house; but they took pity on the little ones, and gave +them some bread and milk. "There," said the woman, "now, you just make +yourselves comfortable, and eat all you can; and when you're done, you +push the bowls in among them lilac-bushes, and nobody'll get 'em." + +Urged on by Helen, she and her companion wandered into the village, +to ascertain where the funeral was to be held. It was in the +meeting-house, and thither they went, and seated themselves on the +bier outside the door. Becoming tired of this, they trudged on. One +of them lost her shoe in the mud, and stopping at a house to dry their +stockings, they were captured by two Amherst professors, who had come +over to Hadley to attend the funeral. The children had walked four +miles, and nearly the whole town, with the frightened mother, were +in search of the runaways. Helen, greatly displeased at being caught, +jumped out of the carriage, but was soon retaken. At ten o'clock at +night they reached home, and the child walked in as rosy and smiling +as possible, saying, "Oh, mother! I've had a perfectly splendid time!" + +A few days passed, and then her father sent for her to come into his +study, and told her because she had not said she was sorry for running +away, she must go into the garret, and wait till he came to see her. +Sullen at this punishment, she took a nail and began to bore holes +in the plastering. This so angered the professor, that he gave her +a severe whipping, and kept her in the garret for a week. It is +questionable whether she was more penitent at the end of the week than +she was at the beginning. + +When Helen was twelve, both father and mother died, leaving her to +the care of a grandfather. She was soon placed in the school of the +author, Rev. J.S.C. Abbott, of New York, and here some of her happiest +days were passed. She grew to womanhood, frank, merry, impulsive, +brilliant in conversation, and fond of society. + +At twenty-one she was married to a young army officer, Captain, +afterward Major, Edward B. Hunt, whom his friends called "Cupid" Hunt +from his beauty and his curling hair. He was a brother of Governor +Hunt of New York, an engineer of high rank, and a man of fine +scientific attainments. They lived much of their time at West Point +and Newport, and the young wife moved in a fashionable social circle, +and won hosts of admiring friends. Now and then, when he read a paper +before some learned society, he was proud to take his vivacious and +attractive wife with him. + +Their first baby died when he was eleven months old, but another +beautiful boy came to take his place, named after two friends, Warren +Horsford, but familiarly called "Rennie." He was an uncommonly bright +child, and Mrs. Hunt was passionately fond and proud of him. Life +seemed full of pleasures. She dressed handsomely, and no wish of her +heart seemed ungratified. + +Suddenly, like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky, the happy life was +shattered. Major Hunt was killed Oct. 2, 1863, while experimenting in +Brooklyn, with a submarine gun of his own invention. The young widow +still had her eight-year-old boy, and to him she clung more tenderly +than ever, but in less than two years she stood by his dying bed. +Seeing the agony of his mother, and forgetting his own even in that +dread destroyer, diphtheria, he said, almost at the last moment, +"Promise me, mamma, that you will not kill yourself." + +She promised, and exacted from him also a pledge that if it were +possible, he would come back from the other world to talk with +his mother. He never came, and Mrs. Hunt could have no faith in +spiritualism, because what Rennie could not do, she believed to be +impossible. + +For months she shut herself into her own room, refusing to see her +nearest friends. "Any one who really loves me ought to pray that I may +die, too, like Rennie," she said. Her physician thought she would die +of grief; but when her strong, earnest nature had wrestled with itself +and come off conqueror, she came out of her seclusion, cheerful as +of old. The pictures of her husband and boy were ever beside her, and +these doubtless spurred her on to the work she was to accomplish. + +Three months after Rennie's death, her first poem, _Lifted Over_, +appeared in the _Nation_:-- + + "As tender mothers, guiding baby steps, + When places come at which the tiny feet + Would trip, lift up the little ones in arms + Of love, and set them down beyond the harm, + So did our Father watch the precious boy, + Led o'er the stones by me, who stumbled oft + Myself, but strove to help my darling on: + He saw the sweet limbs faltering, and saw + Rough ways before us, where my arms would fail; + So reached from heaven, and lifting the dear child, + Who smiled in leaving me, He put him down + Beyond all hurt, beyond my sight, and bade + Him wait for me! Shall I not then be glad, + And, thanking God, press on to overtake!" + +The poem was widely copied, and many mothers were comforted by it. +The kind letters she received in consequence were the first gleam of +sunshine in the darkened life. If she were doing even a little good, +she could live and be strong. + +And then began, at thirty-four, absorbing, painstaking literary work. +She studied the best models of composition. She said to a friend, +years after, "Have you ever tested the advantages of an analytical +reading of some writer of finished style? There is a little book +called _Out-Door Papers_, by Wentworth Higginson, that is one of +the most perfect specimens of literary composition in the English +language. It has been my model for years. I go to it as a text-book, +and have actually spent hours at a time, taking one sentence after +another, and experimenting upon them, trying to see if I could take +out a word or transpose a clause, and not destroy their perfection." +And again, "I shall never write a sentence, so long as I live, without +studying it over from the standpoint of whether you would think it +could be bettered." + +Her first prose sketch, a walk up Mt. Washington from the Glen House, +appeared in the _Independent_, Sept. 13, 1866; and from this time she +wrote for that able journal three hundred and seventy-one articles. +She worked rapidly, writing usually with a lead-pencil, on large +sheets of yellow paper, but she pruned carefully. Her first poem in +the _Atlantic Monthly_, entitled _Coronation_, delicate and full of +meaning, appeared in 1869, being taken to Mr. Fields, the editor, by a +friend. + +At this time she spent a year abroad, principally in Germany and +Italy, writing home several sketches. In Rome she became so ill that +her life was despaired of. When she was partially recovered and went +away to regain her strength, her friends insisted that a professional +nurse should go with her; but she took a hard-working young Italian +girl of sixteen, to whom this vacation would be a blessing. + +On her return, in 1870, a little book of _Verses_ was published. Like +most beginners, she was obliged to pay for the stereotyped plates. +The book was well received. Emerson liked especially her sonnet, +_Thought_. He ranked her poetry above that of all American women, +and most American men. Some persons praised the "exquisite musical +structure" of the _Gondolieds_, and others read and re-read her +beautiful _Down to Sleep_. But the world's favorite was _Spinning_:-- + + "Like a blind spinner in the sun, + I tread my days; + I know that all the threads will run + Appointed ways; + I know each day will bring its task, + And, being blind, no more I ask. + + * * * * * + + "But listen, listen, day by day, + To hear their tread + Who bear the finished web away, + And cut the thread, + And bring God's message in the sun, + 'Thou poor blind spinner, work is done." + + +After this came two other small books, _Bits of Travel_ and _Bits of +Talk about Home Matters_. She paid for the plates of the former. Fame +did not burst upon Helen Hunt; it came after years of work, after it +had been fully earned. The road to authorship is a hard one, and only +those should attempt it who have courage and perseverance. + +Again her health failed, but not her cheerful spirits. She travelled +to Colorado, and wrote a book in praise of it. Everywhere she made +lasting friends. Her German landlady in Munich thought her the kindest +person in the world. The newsboy, the little urchin on the street +with a basket full of wares, the guides over the mountain passes, all +remembered her cheery voice and helpful words. She used to say, "She +is only half mother who does not see her own child in every child. Oh, +if the world could only stop long enough for one generation of mothers +to be made all right, what a Millennium could be begun in thirty +years!" Some one, in her childhood, called her a "stupid child" before +strangers, and she never forgot the sting of it. + +In Colorado, in 1876, eleven years after the death of Major Hunt, she +married Mr. William Sharpless Jackson, a Quaker and a cultured banker. +Her home, at Colorado Springs, became an ideal one, sheltered under +the great Manitou, and looking toward the Garden of the Gods, full +of books and magazines, of dainty rugs and dainty china gathered +from many countries, and richly colored Colorado flowers. Once, when +Eastern guests were invited to luncheon, twenty-three varieties of +wildflowers, each massed in its own color, adorned the home. A friend +of hers says: "There is not an artificial flower in the house, on +embroidered table-cover or sofa cushion or tidy; indeed, Mrs. Jackson +holds that the manufacture of silken poppies and crewel sun-flowers +is a 'respectable industry,' intended only to keep idle hands out of +mischief." + +Mrs. Jackson loved flowers almost as though they were children. She +writes: "I bore on this June day a sheaf of the white columbine,--one +single sheaf, one single root; but it was almost more than I could +carry. In the open spaces, I carried it on my shoulder; in the +thickets, I bore it carefully in my arms, like a baby.... There is a +part of Cheyenne Mountain which I and one other have come to call 'our +garden.' When we drive down from 'our garden,' there is seldom room +for another flower in our carriage. The top thrown back is filled, the +space in front of the driver is filled, and our laps and baskets are +filled with the more delicate blossoms. We look as if we were on our +way to the ceremonies of Decoration Day. So we are. All June days are +decoration days in Colorado Springs, but it is the sacred joy of life +that we decorate,--not the sacred sadness of death." But Mrs. Jackson, +with her pleasant home, could not rest from her work. Two novels +came from her pen, _Mercy Philbrick's Choice_ and _Hetty's Strange +History_. It is probable also that she helped to write the beautiful +and tender _Saxe Holm Stories_. It is said that _Draxy Miller's Dowry_ +and _Esther Wynn's Love Letters_ were written by another, while Mrs. +Jackson added the lovely poems; and when a request was made by the +publishers for more stories from the same author, Mrs. Jackson was +prevailed upon to write them. + +The time had now come for her to do her last and perhaps her best +work. She could not write without a definite purpose, and now the +purpose that settled down upon her heart was to help the defrauded +Indians. She believed they needed education and Christianization +rather than extermination. She left her home and spent three months +in the Astor Library of New York, writing her _Century of Dishonor_, +showing how we have despoiled the Indians and broken our treaties with +them. She wrote to a friend, "I cannot think of anything else from +night to morning and from morning to night." So untiringly did she +work that she made herself ill, and was obliged to go to Norway, +leaving a literary ally to correct the proofs of her book. + +At her own expense, she sent a copy to each member of Congress. Its +plain facts were not relished in some quarters, and she began to taste +the cup that all reformers have to drink; but the brave woman never +flinched in her duty. So much was the Government impressed by her +earnestness and good judgment, that she was appointed a Special +Commissioner with her friend, Abbott Kinney, to examine and report on +the condition of the Mission Indians in California. + +Could an accomplished, tenderly reared woman go into their _adobe_ +villages and listen to their wrongs? What would the world say of its +poet? Mrs. Jackson did not ask; she had a mission to perform, and the +more culture, the more responsibility. She brought cheer and hope +to the red men and their wives, and they called her "the Queen." She +wrote able articles about them in the _Century_. + +The report made by Mr. Kinney and herself, which she prepared largely, +was clear and convincing. How different all this from her early life! +Mrs. Jackson had become more than poet and novelist; even the leader +of an oppressed people. At once, in the winter of 1883, she began to +write her wonderfully graphic and tender _Ramona_, and into this, she +said, "I put my heart and soul." The book was immediately reprinted in +England, and has had great popularity. She meant to do for the Indian +what Mrs. Stowe did for the slave, and she lived long enough to see +the great work well in progress. + +This true missionary work had greatly deepened the earnestness of the +brilliant woman. Not always tender to other peoples' "hobbies," as she +said, she now had one of her own, into which she was putting her life. +Her horizon, with her great intellectual gifts, had now become as +wide as the universe. Had she lived, how many more great questions she +would have touched. + +In June, 1884, falling on the staircase of her Colorado home, she +severely fractured her leg, and was confined to the house for several +months. Then she was taken to Los Angeles, Cal., for the winter. The +broken limb mended rapidly, but malarial fever set in, and she was +carried to San Francisco. Her first remark was, as she entered the +house looking out upon the broad and lovely bay, "I did not imagine it +was so pleasant! What a beautiful place to die in!" + +To the last her letters to her friends were full of cheer. "You must +not think because I speak of not getting well that I am sad over it," +she wrote. "On the contrary, I am more and more relieved in my mind, +as it seems to grow more and more sure that I shall die. You see that +I am growing old" (she was but fifty-four), "and I do believe that my +work is done. You have never realized how, for the past five years, my +whole soul has been centered on the Indian question. _Ramona_ was +the outcome of those five years. The Indian cause is on its feet now; +powerful friends are at work." + +To another she wrote, "I am heartily, honestly, and cheerfully ready +to go. In fact, I am glad to go. My _Century of Dishonor_ and _Ramona_ +are the only things I have done of which I am glad now. The rest is +of no moment. They will live, and they will bear fruit. They already +have. The change in public feeling on the Indian question in the last +three years is marvellous; an Indian Rights Association in every large +city in the land." + +She had no fear of death. She said, "It is only just passing from one +country to another.... My only regret is that I have not accomplished +more work; especially that it was so late in the day when I began to +work in real earnest. But I do not doubt we shall keep on working.... +There isn't so much difference, I fancy, between this life and the +next as we think, nor so much barrier.... I shall look in upon you +in the new rooms some day; but you will not see me. Good-bye. Yours +affectionately forever, H.H." Four days before her death she wrote to +President Cleveland:-- + + "From my death-bed I send you a message of heart-felt + thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. + I ask you to read my _Century of Dishonor_. I am + dying happier for the belief I have that it is your hand + that is destined to strike the first steady blow toward + lifting this burden of infamy from our country, and + righting the wrongs of the Indian race. + + "With respect and gratitude, + + "HELEN JACKSON." + +That same day she wrote her last touching poem:-- + + "Father, I scarcely dare to pray, + So clear I see, now it is done, + That I have wasted half my day, + And left my work but just begun; + + "So clear I see that things I thought + Were right or harmless were a sin; + So clear I see that I have sought, + Unconscious, selfish aim to win + + "So clear I see that I have hurt + The souls I might hare helped to save, + That I have slothful been, inert, + Deaf to the calls Thy leaders gave. + + "In outskirts of Thy kingdoms vast, + Father, the humblest spot give me; + Set me the lowliest task Thou hast, + Let me repentant work for Thee!" + +That evening, Aug. 8, after saying farewell, she placed her hand in +her husband's, and went to sleep. After four days, mostly unconscious +ones, she wakened in eternity. + +On her coffin were laid a few simple clover-blossoms, flowers she +loved in life; and then, near the summit of Cheyenne Mountain, four +miles from Colorado Springs, in a spot of her own choosing, she was +buried. + + "Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree + Or flower the little grave which shelters me. + Let the wild wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed, + And back and forth all summer, unalarmed, + Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep; + Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep; + And when, remembering me, you come some day + And stand there, speak no praise, but only say, + 'How she loved us! It was for that she was so dear.' + These are the only words that I shall smile to hear." + +Many will stand by that Colorado grave in the years to come. Says a +California friend: "Above the chirp of the balm-cricket in the grass +that hides her grave, I seem to hear sweet songs of welcome from the +little ones. Among other thoughts of her come visions of a child and +mother straying in fields of light. And so I cannot make her dead, +who lived so earnestly, who wrought so unselfishly, and passed so +trustfully into the mystery of the unseen." + +All honor to a woman who, with a happy home, was willing to leave +it to make other homes happy; who, having suffered, tried with a +sympathetic heart to forget herself and keep others from suffering; +who, being famous, gladly took time to help unknown authors to win +fame; who, having means, preferred a life of labor to a life of ease. + +Mrs. Jackson's work is still going forward. Five editions of her +_Century of Dishonor_ have been printed since her death. _Ramona_ is +in its thirtieth thousand. _Zeph_, a touching story of frontier +life in Colorado, which she finished in her last illness, has been +published. Her sketches of travel have been gathered into _Glimpses +of Three Coasts_, and a new volume of poems, _Sonnets and Lyrics_, has +appeared. + + + + +LUCRETIA MOTT. + +[Illustration: Lucretia Mott.] + + +Years ago I attended, at some inconvenience, a large public meeting, +because I heard that Lucretia Mott was to speak. After several +addresses, a slight lady, with white cap and drab Quaker dress, came +forward. Though well in years, her eyes were bright; her smile was +winsome, and I thought her face one of the loveliest I had ever looked +upon. The voice was singularly sweet and clear, and the manner had +such naturalness and grace as a queen might envy. I have forgotten +the words, forgotten even the subject, but the benign presence and +gracious smile I shall never forget. + +Born among the quiet scenes of Nantucket, Jan. 3, 1793, Lucretia grew +to girlhood with habits of economy, neatness, and helpfulness in +the home. Her father, Thomas Coffin, was a sea-captain of staunch +principle; her mother, a woman of great energy, wit, and good sense. +The children's pleasures were such as a plain country home afforded. +When Mrs. Coffin went to visit her neighbors, she would say to her +daughters, "Now after you have finished knitting twenty bouts, you +may go down cellar and pick out as many as you want of the smallest +potatoes,--the very smallest,--and roast them in the ashes." Then +the six little folks gathered about the big fireplace and enjoyed a +frolic. + +When Lucretia was twelve years old, the family moved to Boston. At +first all the children attended a private school; but Captain Coffin, +fearing this would make them proud, removed them to a public school, +where they could "mingle with all classes without distinction." Years +after Lucretia said, "I am glad, because it gave me a feeling of +sympathy for the patient and struggling poor, which, but for this +experience, I might never have known." + +A year later, she was sent to a Friends' boarding-school at Nine +Partners, N.Y. Both boys and girls attended this school, but were not +permitted to speak to each other unless they were near relatives; if +so, they could talk a little on certain days over a certain corner +of the fence, between the playgrounds! Such grave precautions did not +entirely prevent the acquaintance of the young people; for when a lad +was shut up in a closet, on bread and water, Lucretia and her sister +supplied him with bread and butter under the door. This boy was a +cousin of the teacher, James Mott, who was fond of the quick-witted +school-girl, so that it is probable that no harm came to her from +breaking the rules. + +At fifteen, Lucretia was appointed an assistant teacher, and she and +Mr. Mott, with a desire to know more of literature, and quite possibly +more of each other, began to study French together. He was tall, with +light hair and blue eyes, and shy in manner; she, petite, with dark +hair and eyes, quick in thought and action, and fond of mirth. +When she was eighteen and James twenty-one, the young teachers were +married, and both went to her father's home in Philadelphia to reside, +he assisting in Mr. Coffin's business. + +The war of 1812 brought financial failure to many, and young Mott soon +found himself with a wife and infant daughter to support, and no work. +Hoping that he could obtain a situation with an uncle in New York +State, he took his family thither, but came back disappointed. Finally +he found work in a plow store at a salary of six hundred dollars a +year. + +Captain Coffin meantime had died, leaving his family poor. James could +do so little for them all with his limited salary, that he determined +to open a small store; but the experiment proved a failure. His health +began to be affected by this ill success, when Lucretia, with her +brave heart, said, "My cousin and I will open a school; thee must not +get discouraged, James." + +The school was opened with four pupils, each paying seven dollars a +quarter. The young wife put so much good cheer and earnestness into +her work, that soon there were forty pupils in the school. Mr. Mott's +prospects now brightened, for he was earning one thousand dollars a +year. The young couple were happy in their hard work, for they loved +each other, and love lightens all care and labor. + +But soon a sorrow worse than poverty came. Their only son, Thomas, a +most affectionate child, died, saying with his latest breath, "I love +thee, mother." It was a crushing blow; but it proved a blessing in the +end, leading her thoughts heavenward. + +A few months afterwards her voice was heard for the first time in +public, in prayer, in one of the Friends' meetings. The words were +simple, earnest, eloquent. The good Quakers marvelled, and encouraged +the "gift." They did not ask whether man or woman brought the message, +so it came from heaven. + +And now, at twenty-five, having resigned her position as teacher, she +began close study of the Bible and theological books. She had four +children to care for, did all her sewing, even cutting and making her +own dresses; but she learned what every one can learn,--to economize +time. Her house was kept scrupulously clean. She says: "I omitted much +unnecessary stitching and ornamental work in the sewing for my family, +so that I might have more time for the improvement of my mind. +For novels and light reading I never had much taste; the ladies' +department in the periodicals of the day had no attraction for me. "She +would lay a copy of William Penn's ponderous volumes open at the foot +of her bed, and drawing her chair close to it, with her baby on her +lap, would study the book diligently. A woman of less energy and less +will-power than young Mrs. Mott would have given up all hope of being +a scholar. She read the best books in philosophy and science. John +Stuart Mill and Dean Stanley, though widely different, were among her +favorite authors. + +James Mott was now prospering in the cotton business, so that they +could spare time to go in their carriage and speak at the Quaker +meetings in the surrounding country. Lucretia would be so absorbed +in thought as not to notice the beauties of the landscape, which her +husband always greatly enjoyed. Pointing out a fine view to her, she +replied, "Yes, it is beautiful, now that thou points it out, but +I should not have noticed it. I have always taken more interest in +_human_ nature." From a child she was deeply interested for the slave. +She had read in her school-books Clarkson's description of the slave +ships, and these left an impression never to be effaced. When, Dec. 4, +1833, a convention met in Philadelphia for the purpose of forming the +American Anti-Slavery Society, Lucretia Mott was one of the four +women who braved the social obloquy, as friends of the despised +abolitionists. She spoke, and was listened to with attention. +Immediately the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was formed, +and Mrs. Mott became its president and its inspiration. So unheard of +a thing was an association of women, and so unaccustomed were they to +the methods of organization, that they were obliged to call a colored +man to the chair to assist them. + +The years of martyrdom which followed, we at this day can scarcely +realize. Anti-slavery lecturers were tarred and feathered. Mobs in New +York and Philadelphia swarmed the streets, burning houses and breaking +church windows. In the latter city they surrounded the hall of the +Abolitionists, where the women were holding a large convention, and +Mrs. Mott was addressing them. All day long they cursed and threw +stones, and as soon as the women left the building, they burned it +to ashes. Then, wrought up to fury, the mob started for the house of +James and Lucretia Mott. Knowing that they were coming, the calm woman +sent her little children away, and then in the parlor, with a few +friends, peacefully awaited a probable death. + +In the turbulent throng was a young man who, while he was no friend +of the colored man, could not see Lucretia Mott harmed. With skilful +ruse, as they neared the house, he rushed up another street, shouting +at the top of his voice, "On to Motts!" and the wild crowd blindly +followed, wreaking their vengeance in another quarter. + +A year later, in Delaware, where Mrs. Mott was speaking, one of her +party, a defenceless old man, was dragged from the house, and tarred +and feathered. She followed, begging the men to desist, and saying +that she was the real offender, but no violent hands were laid upon +her. + +At another time, when the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society +in New York was broken up by the mob, some of the speakers were +roughly handled. Perceiving that several ladies were timid, Mrs. Mott +said to the gentleman who was accompanying her, "Won't thee look after +some of the others?" + +"But who will take care of you?" he said. + +With great tact and a sweet smile, she answered, "This man," laying +her hand on the arm of one of the roughest of the mob; "he will see me +safe through." + +The astonished man had, like others, a tender heart beneath the +roughness, and with respectful manner took her to a place of safety. +The next day, going into a restaurant, she saw the leader of the mob, +and immediately sat down by him, and began to converse. Her kindness +and her sweet voice left a deep impression. As he went out of the +room, he asked at the door, "Who is that lady?" + +"Why, that is Lucretia Mott!" + +For a second he was dumbfounded; but he added, "Well, she's a good, +sensible woman." + +In 1839 a World's Convention was called at London to debate the +slavery question. Among the delegates chosen were James and Lucretia +Mott, Wendell Phillips and his wife, and others. Mrs. Mott was +jubilant at the thought of the world's interest in this great +question, and glad for an opportunity to cross the ocean and enjoy a +little rest, and the pleasure of meeting friends who had worked in the +same cause. + +When the party arrived, they were told, to their astonishment, that +no women were to be admitted to the Convention as delegates. They had +faced mobs and ostracism; they had given money and earnest labor, +but they were to be ignored. William Lloyd Garrison, hurt at such +injustice, refused to take part in the Convention, and sat in the +gallery with the women. Although Mrs. Mott did not speak in the +assembly, the _Dublin Herald_ said, "Nobody doubts that she was the +lioness of the Convention." She was entertained at public breakfasts, +and at these spoke with the greatest acceptance to both men and women. +The Duchess of Sutherland and Lady Byron showed her great attention. +Carlyle was "much pleased with the Quaker lady, whose quiet manner had +a soothing effect on him," wrote Mrs. Carlyle to a friend. At Glasgow +"she held a delighted audience for nearly two hours in breathless +attention," said the press. + +After some months of devoted Christian work, along with sight-seeing, +Mr. and Mrs. Mott started homeward. He had spoken less frequently +than his wife, but always had been listened to with deep interest. +Her heart was moved toward a large number of Irish emigrants in the +steerage, and she desired to hold a religious meeting among them. When +asked about it, they said they would not hear a woman preacher, for +women priests were not allowed in their church. Then she asked that +they would come together and consider whether they would have a +meeting. This seemed fair, and they came. She explained to them +that she did not intend to hold a church service; that, as they were +leaving their old homes and seeking new ones in her country, she +wanted to talk with them in such a way as would help them in the land +of strangers. And then, if they would listen,--they were all the time +listening very eagerly,--she would give an outline of what she had +intended to say, if the meeting had been held. At the close, when all +had departed, it dawned upon some of the quicker-witted ones that they +"had got the preachment from the woman preacher, after all." + +The steamer arrived at the close of a twenty-nine days' voyage, and, +after a brief rest, Mrs. Mott began again her public work. She spoke +before the legislatures of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. She +called on President Tyler, and he talked with her cordially and freely +about the slave. In Kentucky, says one of the leading papers, "For an +hour and a half she enchained an ordinarily restless audience--many +were standing--to a degree never surpassed here by the most popular +orators. She said some things that were far from palatable, but said +them with an air of sincerity that commanded respect and attention." + +Mrs. Mott was deeply interested in other questions besides +slavery,--suffrage for women, total abstinence, and national +differences settled by arbitration instead of war. Years before, when +she began to teach school, and found that while girls paid the same +tuition as boys, "when they became teachers, women received only half +as much as men for their services," she says: "The injustice of this +distinction was so apparent, that I early resolved to claim for myself +all that an impartial Creator had bestowed." + +In 1848, Mrs. Mott, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and some others, +called the first Woman's Suffrage Convention in this country, at +Seneca Falls, N.Y. There was much ridicule,--we had not learned, forty +years ago, to treat with courtesy those whose opinions are different +from our own,--but the sweet Quaker preacher went serenely forward, as +though all the world were on her side. When she conversed with those +who differed, she listened so courteously to objections, and stated +her own views so delicately and kindly, and often so wittily, that +none could help liking her, even though they did not agree with +her. She realized that few can be driven, while many can be won with +gentleness and tact. + +In all these years of public speaking, her home was not only a refuge +for the oppressed, but a delightful social centre, where prominent +people gathered from both Europe and America. At the table black and +white were treated with equal courtesy. One young man, a frequent +visitor, finding himself seated at dinner next to a colored man, +resolved to keep away from the house in future; but as he was in +love with one of Mrs. Mott's pretty daughters, he found that his +"principles" gave way to his affections. He renewed his visits, became +a son-in-law, and, later, an ardent advocate of equality for the +colored people. + +Now the guests at the hospitable home were a mother and seven +children, from England, who, meeting with disappointments, had become +reduced to poverty. Now it was an escaped slave, who had come from +Richmond, Va., in a dry-goods box, by Adams Express. This poor man, +whose wife and three children had been sold from him, determined to +seek his freedom, even if he died in the effort. Weighing nearly two +hundred pounds, he was encased in a box two feet long, twenty-three +inches wide, and three feet high, in a sitting posture. He was +provided with a few crackers, and a bladder filled with water. With a +small gimlet he bored holes in the box to let in fresh air, and fanned +himself with his hat, to keep the air in motion. The box was covered +with canvas, that no one might suspect its contents. His sufferings +were almost unbearable. As the box was tossed from one place to +another, he was badly bruised, and sometimes he rested for miles +on his head and shoulders, when it seemed as though his veins would +burst. Finally he reached the Mott home, and found shelter and +comfort. + +Their large house was always full. Mr. Mott had given up a prosperous +cotton business, because the cotton was the product of slave labor; +but he had been equally successful in the wool trade, so that the days +of privation had passed by long ago. Two of their six children, +with their families, lived at home, and the harmony was remarked by +everybody. Mrs. Mott rose early, and did much housework herself. She +wrote to a friend: "I prepared mince for forty pies, doing every part +myself, even to meat-chopping; picked over lots of apples, stewed a +quantity, chopped some more, and made apple pudding; all of which kept +me on my feet till almost two o'clock, having to come into the parlor +every now and then to receive guests." As a rule, those women are the +best housekeepers whose lives are varied by some outside interests. + +In the broad hall of the house stood two armchairs, which the children +called "beggars' chairs," because they were in constant use for all +sorts of people, "waiting to see the missus." She never refused to see +anybody. When letters came from all over the country, asking for all +sorts of favors, bedding, silver spoons, a silk umbrella, or begging +her to invest some money in the manufacture of an article, warranted +"to take the kink out of the hair of the negro," she would always +check the merriment of her family by saying, "Don't laugh too much; +the poor souls meant well." + +Mrs. Mott was now sixty-three years of age. For forty years she had +been seen and loved by thousands. Strangers would stop her on the +street and say, "God bless you, Lucretia Mott!" Once, when a slave was +being tried for running away, Mrs. Mott sat near him in the court, +her son-in-law, Mr. Edward Hopper, defending his case. The opposing +counsel asked that her chair might be moved, as her face would +influence the jury against him! Benjamin H. Brewster, afterwards +United States Attorney-General, also counsel for the Southern master, +said: "I have heard a great deal of your mother-in-law, Hopper; but I +never saw her before to-day. She is an angel." Years after, when Mr. +Brewster was asked how he dared to change his political opinions, he +replied, "Do you think there is anything I dare not do, after facing +Lucretia Mott in that court-room?" + +It seemed best at this time, in 1856, as Mrs. Mott was much worn with +care, to sell the large house in town and move eight miles into the +country, to a quaint, roomy house which they called Roadside. Before +they went, however, at the last family gathering a long poem was read, +ending with:-- + + "Who constantly will ring the bell, + And ask if they will please to tell + Where Mrs. Mott has gone to dwell? + The beggars. + + "And who persistently will say, + 'We cannot, cannot go away; + Here in the entry let us stay?' + Colored beggars. + + "Who never, never, nevermore + Will see the 'lions' at the door + That they've so often seen before? + The neighbors. + + "And who will miss, for months at least, + That place of rest for man and beast, + from North, and South, and West, and East? + Everybody." + +Much of the shrubbery was cut down at Roadside, that Mrs. Mott might +have the full sunlight. So cheery a nature must have sunshine. Here +life went on quietly and happy. Many papers and books were on her +table, and she read carefully and widely. She loved especially Milton +and Cowper. Arnold's _Light of Asia_ was a great favorite in later +years. The papers were sent to hospitals and infirmaries, that no good +reading might be lost. She liked to read aloud; and if others were +busy, she would copy extracts to read to them when they were at +leisure. Who can measure the power of an educated, intellectual mother +in a home? + +The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mott was celebrated in 1861, and a +joyous season it was. James, the prosperous merchant, was proud of his +gifted wife, and aided her in every way possible; while Lucretia +loved and honored the true-hearted husband. Though Mrs. Mott was +now seventy, she did not cease her benevolent work. Her carriage was +always full of fruits, vegetables, and gifts for the poor. In buying +goods she traded usually with the small stores, where things were +dearer, but she knew that for many of the proprietors it was a +struggle to make ends meet. A woman so considerate of others would of +course be loved. + +Once when riding on the street-cars in Philadelphia, when no black +person was allowed to ride inside, every fifth car being reserved for +their use, she saw a frail-looking and scantily-dressed colored woman, +standing on the platform in the rain. The day was bitter cold, and +Mrs. Mott begged the conductor to allow her to come inside. "The +company's orders must be obeyed," was the reply. Whereupon the slight +Quaker lady of seventy walked out and stood beside the colored woman. +It would never do to have the famous Mrs. Mott seen in the rain on his +car; so the conductor, in his turn, went out and begged her to come +in. + +"I cannot go in without this woman," said Mrs. Mott quietly. +Nonplussed for a moment, he looked at the kindly face, and said, "Oh, +well, bring her in then!" Soon the "company's orders" were changed in +the interests of humanity, and colored people as well as white enjoyed +their civil rights, as becomes a great nation. + +With all this beauty of character, Lucretia Mott had her trials. +Somewhat early in life she and her husband had joined the so-called +Unitarian branch of Quakers, and for this they were persecuted. So +deep was the sectarian feeling, that once, when suffering from acute +neuralgia, a physician who knew her well, when called to attend her, +said, "Lucretia, I am so deeply afflicted by thy rebellious spirit, +that I do not feel that I can prescribe for thee," and he left her to +her sufferings. Such lack of toleration reads very strangely at this +day. + +In 1868, Mr. Mott and his wife, the one eighty, and the other +seventy-five, went to Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit their grandchildren. +He was taken ill of pneumonia, and expressed a wish to go home, but +added, "I suppose I shall die here, and then I shall be at home; it +is just as well." Mrs. Mott watched with him through the night, and at +last, becoming weary, laid her head upon his pillow and went to sleep. +In the morning, the daughter coming in, found the one resting from +weariness, the other resting forever. + +At the request of several colored men, who respected their benefactor, +Mr. Mott was borne to his grave by their hands. Thus ended, for this +world, what one who knew them well called "the most perfect wedded +life to be found on earth." + +Mrs. Mott said, "James and I loved each other more than ever since we +worked together for a great cause." She carried out the old couplet:-- + + "And be this thy pride, what but few have done, + To hold fast the love thou hast early won." + +After his death, she wrote to a friend, "I do not mourn, but rather +remember my blessings, and the blessing of his long life with me." + +For twelve years more she lived and did her various duties. She had +seen the slave freed, and was thankful. The other reforms for which +she labored were progressing. At eighty-five she still spoke in the +great meetings. Each Christmas she carried turkeys, pies, and a gift +for each man and woman at the "Aged Colored Home," in Philadelphia, +driving twenty miles, there and back. Each year she sent a box +of candy to each conductor and brakeman on the North Pennsylvania +Railroad, "Because," she said, "they never let me lift out my bundles, +but catch them up so quickly, and they all seem to know me." + +Finally the time came for her to go to meet James. As the end drew +near, she seemed to think that she was conducting her own funeral, and +said, as though addressing an audience, "If you resolve to follow the +Lamb wherever you may be led, you will find all the ways pleasant and +the paths peace. Let me go! Do take me!" + +There was a large and almost silent funeral at the house, and at the +cemetery several thousand persons were gathered. When friends were +standing by the open grave, a low voice said, ""Will no one say +anything?" and another responded, "Who can speak? the preacher is +dead!" + +Memorial services were held in various cities. For such a woman as +Lucretia Mott, with cultured mind, noble heart, and holy purpose, +there are no sex limitations. Her field is the world. + +Those who desire to know, more of this gifted woman will find it in a +most interesting volume, _Lives of James and Lucretia Mott_, written +by their grandaughter, Anna Davis Hallowell, West Medford, Mass. + + + + +MARY A. LIVERMORE. + +[Illustration: MARY A. LIVERMORE.] + + +When a nation passes through a great struggle like our Civil War, +great leaders are developed. Had it not been for this, probably Mrs. +Livermore, like many other noble women, would be to-day living quietly +in some pleasant home, doing the common duties of every-day life. She +would not be the famous lecturer, the gifted writer, the leader of the +Sanitary Commission in the West; a brilliant illustration of the work +a woman may do in the world, and still retain the truest womanliness. + +She was born in Boston, descended from ancestors who for six +generations had been Welsh preachers, and reared by parents of the +strictest Calvinistic faith. Mr. Rice, her father, was a man of +honesty and integrity, while the mother was a woman of remarkable +judgment and common sense. + +Mary was an eager scholar, and a great favorite in school, because she +took the part of all the poor children. If a little boy or girl was +a cripple, or wore shabby clothes, or had scanty dinners, or was +ridiculed, he or she found an earnest friend and defender in the +courageous girl. + +So fond was she of the five children in the home, younger than +herself, and so much did she take upon herself the responsibility of +their conversion, that when but ten years old, unable to sleep, she +would rise from her bed and waken her father and mother that they +might pray for the sisters. "It's no matter about me," she would say; +"if they are saved, I can bear anything." + +Mature in thought and care-taking beyond her years, she was still +fond of out-door sports and merry times. Sliding on the ice was her +especial delight. One day, after a full hour's fun in the bracing +air, she rushed into the house, the blood tingling in every vein, +exclaiming, "It's splendid sliding!" "Yes," replied the father, "it's +good fun, but wretched for shoes." + +All at once the young girl saw how hard it was for her parents to buy +shoes, with their limited means; and from that day to this she never +slid upon the ice. + +There were few playthings in the simple home, but her chief pastime +was in holding meetings in her father's woodshed, with the other +children. Great logs were laid out for benches, and split sticks were +set upon them for people. Mary was always the leader, both in praying +and preaching, and the others were good listeners. Mrs. Rice would be +so much amused at the queer scene, that a smile would creep over her +face; but Mr. Rice would look on reverently, and say, "I wish you had +been a boy; you could have been trained for the ministry." + +When she was twelve years old she began to be eager to earn something. +She could not bear to see her father work so hard for her. Alas! how +often young women, twice twelve, allow their father's hair to grow +white from overwork, because they think society will look down upon +them if they labor. Is work more a disgrace to a girl than a boy? Not +at all. Unfortunate is the young man who marries a girl who is either +afraid or ashamed to work. + +Though not fond of sewing, Mary decided to learn dressmaking, because +this would give her self-support. For three months she worked in a +shop, that she might learn the trade, and then she stayed three months +longer and earned thirty-seven cents a day. As this seemed meagre, she +looked about her for more work. Going to a clothing establishment, +she asked for a dozen red flannel shirts to make. The proprietor might +have wondered who the child was, but he trusted her honest face, +and gave her the bundle. She was to receive six and a quarter cents +apiece, and to return them on a certain day. Working night after +night, sometimes till the early morning hours, she was able to finish +only half at the time specified. + +On that day a man came to the door and asked, "Does Mary Rice live +here?" + +The mother had gone to the door, and answered in the affirmative. + +"Well, she took a dozen red flannel shirts from my shop to make, and +she hain't returned 'em!" + +"It can't be my daughter," said Mrs. Rice. + +The man was sure he had the right number, but he looked perplexed. +Just then Mary, who was in the sitting-room, appeared on the scene. + +"Yes, mother, I got these shirts of the man." + +"You promised to get 'em done, Miss," he said, "and we are in a great +hurry." + +"You shall have the shirts to-morrow night," said Mrs. Rice. + +After the man left the house, the mother burst into tears, saying, "We +are not so poor as that. My dear child, what is to become of you if +you take all the cares of the world upon your shoulders?" + +When the work was done, and the seventy-five cents received, Mary +would take only half of it, because she had earned but half. + +A brighter day was dawning for Mary Rice. A little later, longing for +an education, Dr. Neale, their good minister, encouraged and assisted +her to go to the Charlestown Female Seminary. Before the term closed +one of the teachers died, and the bright, earnest pupil was asked to +fill the vacancy. She accepted, reciting out of school to fit herself +for her classes, earning enough by her teaching to pay her way, and +taking the four years' course in two years. Before she was twenty she +taught two years on a Virginia plantation as a governess, and came +North with six hundred dollars and a good supply of clothes. Probably +she has never felt so rich since that day. + +She was now asked to take charge of the Duxbury High School, where she +became an inspiration to her scholars. Even the dullest learned under +her enthusiasm. She took long walks to keep up her health and spirits, +thus making her body as vigorous as her heart was sympathetic. + +It was not to be wondered at that the bright young teacher had +many admirers. Who ever knew an educated, genial girl who was not a +favorite with young men? It is a libel on the sex to think that they +prefer ignorant or idle girls. + +Among those who saw the beauty of character and the mental power of +Miss Rice was a young minister, whose church was near her schoolhouse. +The first time she attended his services, he preached from the text, +"And thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from +their sins." Her sister had died, and the family were in sorrow; but +this gospel of love, which he preached with no allusion to eternal +punishment, was full of comfort. What was the minister's surprise +to have the young lady ask to take home the sermon and read it, and +afterwards, some of his theological books. What was the teacher's +surprise, a little later, to find that while she was interested in his +sermons and books, he had become interested in her. The sequel can +be guessed easily; she became the wife of Rev. D.P. Livermore at +twenty-three. + +He had idolized his mother; very naturally, with deep reverence +for woman, he would make a devoted husband. For fifteen years the +intelligent wife aided him in editing _The New Covenant_, a religious +paper published in Chicago, in which city they had made their home. +Her writings were always clear, strong, and helpful. Three children +had been born into their home, and life, with its cares and its work, +was a very happy one. + +But the time came for the quiet life to be entirely changed. In 1861 +the nation found itself plunged into war. The slave question was to +be settled once for all at the point of the bayonet. Like every other +true-hearted woman, Mrs. Livermore had been deeply stirred by passing +events. When Abraham Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men +was eagerly responded to, she was in Boston, and saw the troops, all +unused to hardships, start for the battle-fields. The streets were +crowded with tens of thousands. Bells rung, bands played, and women +smiled and said good-bye, when their hearts were breaking. After the +train moved out of the station, four women fainted; nature could no +longer bear the terrible strain. Mrs. Livermore helped restore +the women to consciousness. She had no sons to send; but when such +partings were seen, and such sorrows were in the future, she could not +rest. + +What could women do to help in the dreadful struggle? A meeting of +New York ladies was called, which resulted in the formation of an Aid +Society, pledging loyalty to the Government, and promising assistance +to soldiers and their families. Two gentlemen were sent to Washington +to ask what work could be done, but word came back that there was no +place for women at the front, nor no need for them in the hospitals. +Such words were worse than wasted on American women. Since the day +when men and women together breasted the storms of New England in the +_Mayflower_, and together planted a new civilization, together they +have worked side by side in all great matters. They were untiring +in the Revolutionary War; they worked faithfully in the dark days of +anti-slavery agitation, taking their very lives in their hands. And +now their husbands and sons and brothers had gone from their homes. +They would die on battle-fields, and in lonely camps untended, and the +women simply said, "Some of us must follow our best-beloved." + +The United States Sanitary Commission was soon organized, for working +in hospitals, looking after camps, and providing comforts for the +soldiers. Branch associations were formed in ten large cities. +The great Northwestern Branch was put under the leadership of Mrs. +Livermore and Mrs. A.H. Hoge. Useful things began to pour in from all +over the country,--fruits, clothing, bedding, and all needed comforts +for the army. Then Mrs. Livermore, now a woman of forty, with great +executive ability, warm heart, courage, and perseverance, with a few +others, went to Washington to talk with President Lincoln. + +"Can no women go to the front?" they asked. + +"No civilian, either man or woman, is permitted by _law_," said +Mr. Lincoln. But the great heart of the greatest man in America was +superior to the law, and he placed not a straw in their way. He was in +favor of anything which helped the men who fought and bled for their +country. + +Mrs. Livermore's first broad experience in the war was after the +battle of Fort Donelson. There were no hospitals for the men, and the +wounded were hauled down the hillside in rough-board Tennessee wagons, +most of them dying before they reached St. Louis. Some poor fellows +lay with the frozen earth around them, chopped out after lying in the +mud from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. + +One blue-eyed lad of nineteen, with both legs and both arms shattered, +when asked, "How did it happen that you were left so long?" said, +"Why, you see, they couldn't stop to bother with us, _because they had +to take the fort_. When they took it, we forgot our sufferings, and +all over the battle-field cheers went up from the wounded, and even +from the dying." + +At the rear of the battle-fields the Sanitary Commission now began +to keep its wagons with hot soup and hot coffee, women, fitly chosen, +always joining in this work, in the midst of danger. After the first +repulse at Vicksburg, there was great sickness and suffering. The +Commission sent Mrs. Hoge, two gentlemen accompanying her, with a +boat-load of supplies for the sick. One emaciated soldier, to whom she +gave a little package of white sugar, with a lemon, some green tea, +two herrings, two onions, and some pepper, said, "Is that _all_ for +me?" She bowed assent. She says: "He covered his pinched face with his +thin hands and burst into a low, sobbing cry. I laid my hand upon +his shoulder, and said, 'Why do you weep?' 'God bless the women!' +he sobbed out. 'What should we do but for them? I came from father's +farm, where all knew plenty; I've lain sick these three months; I've +seen no woman's face, nor heard her voice, nor felt her warm hand +till to-day, and it unmans me; but don't think I rue my bargain, for +I don't. I've suffered much and long, but don't let them know at +home. Maybe I'll never have a chance to tell them how much; but I'd go +through it all for the old flag.'" + +Shortly after, accompanied by an officer, she went into the +rifle-pits. The heat was stifling, and the minie-balls were whizzing. +"Why, madam, where did you come from? Did you drop from heaven into +these rifle-pits? You are the first lady we have seen here;" and then +the voice was choked with tears. + +"I have come from your friends at home, and bring messages of love and +honor. I have come to bring you the comforts we owe you, and love +to give. I've come to see if you receive what they send you," she +replied. + +"Do they think as much of as as that? Why, boys, we can fight another +year on that, can't we?" + +"Yes, yes!" they cried, and almost every hand was raised to brush away +the tears. + +She made them a kindly talk, shook the hard, honest hands, and said +good-bye. "Madame," said the officer, "promise me that you'll visit my +regiment to-morrow; 'twould be worth a victory to them. You don't know +what good a lady's visit to the army does. These men whom you have +seen to-day will talk of your visit for six months to come. Around +the fires, in the rifle-pits, in the dark night, or on the march, they +will repeat your words, describe your looks, voice, size, and dress; +and all agree in one respect,--that you look like an angel, and +exactly like each man's wife or mother. Ah! was there no work for +women to do? + +The Sanitary and Christian Commissions expended about fifty million +dollars during the war, and of this, the women raised a generous +portion. Each battle cost the Sanitary Commission about seventy-five +thousand dollars, and the battle of Gettysburg, a half million +dollars. Mrs. Livermore was one of the most efficient helpers in +raising this money. She went among the people, and solicited funds and +supplies of every kind. + +One night it was arranged that she should speak in Dubuque, Iowa, that +the people of that State might hear directly from their soldiers at +the front. When she arrived, instead of finding a few women as she had +expected, a large church was packed with both men and women, eager to +listen. The governor of the State and other officials were present. +She had never spoken in a mixed assembly. Her conservative training +made her shrink from it, and, unfortunately, made her feel incapable +of doing it. + +"I cannot speak!" she said to the women who had asked her to come. + +Disappointed and disheartened, they finally arranged with a prominent +statesman to jot down the facts from her lips; and then, as best he +could, tell to the audience the experiences of the woman who had been +on battle-fields, amid the wounded and dying. Just as they were about +to go upon the platform, the gentleman said, "Mrs. Livermore, I have +heard you say at the front, that you would give your all for the +soldiers,--a foot, a hand, or a voice. Now is the time to give your +voice, if you wish to do good." + +She meditated a moment, and then she said, "I will try." + +When she arose to speak, the sea of faces before her seemed blurred. +She was talking into blank darkness. She could not even hear her own +voice. But as she went on, and the needs of the soldiers crowded upon +her mind, she forgot all fear, and for two hours held the audience +spell-bound. Men and women wept, and patriotism filled every heart. At +eleven o'clock eight thousand dollars were pledged, and then, at the +suggestion of the presiding officer, they remained until one o'clock +to perfect plans for a fair, from which they cleared sixty thousand +dollars. After this, Mrs. Livermore spoke in hundreds of towns, +helping to organize many of the more than twelve thousand five hundred +aid societies formed during eighteen months. + +As money became more and more needed, Mrs. Livermore decided to try +a sanitary commission fair in Chicago. The women said, "We will +raise twenty-five thousand dollars," but the men laughed at such +an impossibility. The farmers were visited, and solicited to give +vegetables and grain, while the cities were not forgotten. Fourteen of +Chicago's largest halls were hired. The women had gone into debt ten +thousand dollars, and the men of the city began to think they were +crazy. The Board of Trade called upon them and advised that the fair +be given up; the debts should be paid, and the men would give the +twenty-five thousand, when, in their judgment, it was needed! The +women thanked them courteously, but pushed forward in the work. + +It had been arranged that the farmers should come on the opening day, +in a procession, with their gifts of vegetables. Of this plan the +newspapers made great sport, calling it the "potato procession." The +day came. The school children had a holiday, the bells were rung, +one hundred guns were fired, and the whole city gathered to see the +"potato procession." Finally it arrived,--great loads of cabbages, +onions, and over four thousand bushels of potatoes. The wagons each +bore a motto, draped in black, with the words, "We buried a son at +Donelson," "Our father lies at Stone River," and other similar ones. +The flags on the horses' heads were bound with black; the women who +rode beside a husband or son, were dressed in deep mourning. When the +procession stopped before Mrs. Livermore's house, the jeers were over, +and the dense crowd wept like children. + +Six of the public halls were filled with beautiful things for sale, +while eight were closed so that no other attractions might compete +with the fair. Instead of twenty-five thousand, the women cleared one +hundred thousand dollars. + +Then Cincinnati followed with a fair, making two hundred and +twenty-five thousand; Boston, three hundred and eighty thousand; New +York, one million; and Philadelphia, two hundred thousand more than +New York. The women had found that there was work enough for them to +do. + +Mrs. Livermore was finally ordered to make a tour of the hospitals +and military posts on the Mississippi River, and here her aid was +invaluable. It required a remarkable woman to undertake such a work. +At one point she found twenty-three men, sick and wounded, whose +regiments had left them, and who could not be discharged because they +had no descriptive lists. She went at once to General Grant, and said, +"General, if you will give me authority to do so, I will agree to take +these twenty-three wounded men home." + +The officials respected the noble woman, and the red tape of army life +was broken for her sake. + +When the desolate company arrived in Chicago, on Saturday, the last +train had left which could have taken a Wisconsin soldier home. She +took him to the hotel, had a fire made for him, and called a doctor. + +"Pull him through till Monday, Doctor," she said, "and I'll get him +home." Then, to the lad, "You shall have a nurse, and Monday morning I +will go with you to your mother." + +"Oh! don't go away," he pleaded; "I never shall see you again." + +"Well, then, I'll go home and see my family, and come back in two +hours. The door shall be left open, and I'll put this bell beside you, +so that the chambermaid will come when you ring." + +He consented, and Mrs. Livermore came back in two hours. The soldier's +face was turned toward the door, as though waiting for her, but he was +dead. He had gone home, but not to Wisconsin. + +After the close of the war, so eager were the people to hear her, +that she entered the lecture field and has for years held the foremost +place among women as a public speaker. She lectures five nights a +week, for five months, travelling twenty-five thousand miles annually. +Her fine voice, womanly, dignified manner, and able thought have +brought crowded houses before her, year after year. She has +earned money, and spent it generously for others. The energy and +conscientiousness of little Mary Rice have borne their legitimate +fruit. + +Every year touching incidents came up concerning the war days. Once, +after she had spoken at Fabyan's American Institute of Instruction, a +military man, six feet tall, came up to her and said, "Do you remember +at Memphis coming over to the officers' hospital?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Livermore. + +While the officers were paid salaries, very often the paymasters could +not find them when ill, and for months they would not have a penny, +not even receiving army rations. Mrs. Livermore found many in +great need, and carried them from the Sanitary Commission blankets, +medicine, and food. Milk was greatly desired, and almost impossible to +be obtained. One day she came into the wards, and said that a certain +portion of the sick "could have two goblets of milk for every meal." + +"Do you remember," said the tall man, who was then a major, "that one +man cried bitterly and said, 'I want two glasses of milk,' and that +you patted him on the head, as he lay on his cot? And that the man +said, as he thought of the dear ones at home, whom he might not see +again, 'Could you kiss me?' and the noble woman bent down and kissed +him? I am that man, and God bless you for your kindness." + +Mrs. Livermore wears on her third finger a plain gold ring which has a +touching history. + +After lecturing recently at Albion, Mich., a woman came up, who had +driven eight miles, to thank her for a letter written for John, +her son, as he was dying in the hospital. The first four lines were +dictated by the dying soldier; then death came, and Mrs. Livermore +finished the message. The faded letter had been kept for twenty years, +and copies made of it. "Annie, my son's wife," said the mother, "never +got over John's death. She kept about and worked, but the life had +gone out of her. Eight years ago she died. One day she said, 'Mother, +if you ever find Mrs. Livermore, or hear of her, I wish you would give +her my wedding ring, which has never been off my finger since John put +it there. Ask her to wear it for John's sake and mine, and tell her +this was my dying request.'" + +With tears in the eyes of both giver and receiver, Mrs. Livermore held +out her hand, and the mother placed on the finger this memento of two +precious lives. + +Mrs. Livermore has spent ten years in the temperance reform. While +she has shown the dreadful results of the liquor traffic, she has +been kind both in word and deed. Some time ago, passing along a Boston +street, she saw a man in the ditch, and a poor woman bending over him. + +"Who is he?" she asked of the woman. + +"He's my husband, ma'am. He's a good man when he is sober, and earns +four dollars a day in the foundry. I keep a saloon." + +Mrs. Livermore called a hack. "Will you carry this man to number ----?" + +"No, madam, he's too dirty. I won't soil my carriage." + +"Oh!" pleaded the wife, "I'll clean it all up for ye, if ye'll take +him," and pulling off her dress-skirt, she tried to wrap it around her +husband. Stepping to a saloon near by, Mrs. Livermore asked the men to +come out and help lift him. At first they laughed, but were soon made +ashamed, when they saw that a lady was assisting. The drunken man was +gotten upon his feet, wrapped in his wife's clothing, put into the +hack, and then Mrs. Livermore and the wife got in beside him, and he +was taken home. The next day the good Samaritan called, and brought +the priest, from whom the man took the pledge. A changed family was +the result. + +Her life is filled with thousands of acts of kindness, on the cars, in +poor homes, and in various charitable institutions. She is the author +of two or more books, _What shall we do with Our Daughters?_ and +_Reminiscences of the War;_ but her especial power has been her +eloquent words, spoken all over the country, in pulpits, before +colleges, in city and country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. +Like Abraham Lincoln, who said, "I go for all sharing the privileges +of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens,--by no means +excluding women," she has advocated the enfranchisement of her sex, +along with her other work. + +Now, past sixty, her active, earnest life, in contact with the people, +has kept her young in heart and in looks. + +"A great authority on what constitutes beauty complains that the +majority of women acquire a dull, vacant expression towards middle +life, which makes them positively plain. He attributes it to their +neglect of all mental culture, their lives having settled down to a +monotonous routine of house-keeping, visiting, gossip, and shopping. +Their thoughts become monotonous, too, for, though these things are +all good enough in their way, they are powerless to keep up any mental +life or any activity of thought." + +Mrs. Livermore has been an inspiration to girls to make the most +of themselves and their opportunities. She has been an ideal of +womanhood, not only to "the boys" on the battle-fields, but to tens +of thousands who are fighting the scarcely less heroic battles of +every-day life. May it be many years before she shall go out forever +from her restful, happy home, at Melrose, Mass. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Livermore died at her home, May 23, 1905, at 8 A.M., of +bronchitis. She was in her eighty-fourth year, and had survived her +husband six years. When her funeral services were held, the schools of +Melrose closed, business was suspended, bells were tolled, and flags +floated at half-mast. She was an active member of thirty-seven clubs. +The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon her, in 1896, by Tufts +College. + + + + +MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI. + +[Illustration: MARGARET FULLER + +From engraving by Hall] + + +Margaret Fuller, in some respects the most remarkable of American +women, lived a pathetic life and died a tragic death. Without money +and without beauty, she became the idol of an immense circle of +friends; men and women were alike her devotees. It is the old story: +that the woman of brain makes lasting conquests of hearts, while the +pretty face holds its sway only for a month or a year. + +Margaret, born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, was the +oldest child of a scholarly lawyer, Mr. Timothy Fuller, and of a +sweet-tempered, devoted mother. The father, with small means, had +one absorbing purpose in life,--to see that each of his children was +finely educated. To do this, and make ends meet, was a struggle. His +daughter said, years after, in writing of him: "His love for my mother +was the green spot on which he stood apart from the commonplaces of +a mere bread-winning existence. She was one of those fair and +flower-like natures, which sometimes spring up even beside the most +dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom I have known, she had in +her most of the angelic,--of that spontaneous love for every living +thing, for man and beast and tree, which restores the Golden Age." + +Very fond of his oldest child, Margaret, the father determined that +she should be as well educated as his boys. In those days there were +no colleges for girls, and none where they might enter with their +brothers, so that Mr. Fuller was obliged to teach his daughter after +the wearing work of the day. The bright child began to read Latin +at six, but was necessarily kept up late for the recitation. When +a little later she was walking in her sleep, and dreaming strange +dreams, he did not see that he was overtaxing both her body and brain. +When the lessons had been learned, she would go into the library, and +read eagerly. One Sunday afternoon, when she was eight years old, she +took down Shakespeare from the shelves, opened at Romeo and Juliet, +and soon became fascinated with the story. + +"What are you reading?" asked her father. + +"Shakespeare," was the answer, not lifting her eyes from the page. + +"That won't do--that's no book for Sunday; go put it away, and take +another." + +Margaret did as she was bidden; but the temptation was too strong, and +the book was soon in her hands again. + +"What is that child about, that she don't hear a word we say?" said an +aunt. + +Seeing what she was reading, the father said, angrily, "Give me the +book, and go directly to bed." + +There could have been a wiser and gentler way of control, but he had +not learned that it is better to lead children than to drive them. + +When not reading, Margaret enjoyed her mother's little garden of +flowers. "I loved," she says, "to gaze on the roses, the violets, the +lilies, the pinks; my mother's hand had planted them, and they bloomed +for me. I kissed them, and pressed them to my bosom with passionate +emotions. An ambition swelled my heart to be as beautiful, as perfect +as they." + +Margaret grew to fifteen with an exuberance of life and affection, +which the chilling atmosphere of that New England home somewhat +suppressed, and with an increasing love for books and cultured people. +"I rise a little before five," she writes, "walk an hour, and then +practise on the piano till seven, when we breakfast. Next, I read +French--Sismondi's _Literature of the South of Europe_--till eight; +then two or three lectures in Brown's _Philosophy._ About half past +nine I go to Mr. Perkins's school, and study Greek till twelve, when, +the school being dismissed, I recite, go home, and practise again till +dinner, at two. Then, when I can, I read two hours in Italian." + +And why all this hard work for a girl of fifteen? The "all-powerful +motive of ambition," she says. "I am determined on distinction, which +formerly I thought to win at an easy rate; but now I see that long +years of labor must be given." + +She had learned the secret of most prominent lives. The majority in +this world will always be mediocre, because they lack high-minded +ambition and the willingness to work. + +Two years after, at seventeen, she writes: "I am studying Madame de +Staël, Epictetus, Milton, Racine, and the Castilian ballads, with +great delight.... I am engrossed in reading the elder Italian +poets, beginning with Berni, from whom I shall proceed to Pulci and +Politian." How almost infinitely above "beaus and dresses" was such +intellectual work as this! + +It was impossible for such a girl not to influence the mind of every +person she met. At nineteen she became the warm friend of Rev. James +Freeman Clarke, "whose friendship," he says, "was to me a gift of the +gods.... With what eagerness did she seek for knowledge! What fire, +what exuberance, what reach, grasp, overflow of thought, shone in her +conversation!... And what she thus was to me, she was to many others. +Inexhaustible in power of insight, and with a good will 'broad as +ether,' she could enter into the needs, and sympathize with the +various excellences, of the greatest variety of characters. One +thing only she demanded of all her friends, that they should not be +satisfied with the common routine of life,--that they should aspire to +something higher, better, holier, than had now attained." + +Witty, learned, imaginative, she was conceded to be the best +conversationist in any circle. She possessed the charm that every +woman may possess,--appreciation of others, and interest in their +welfare. This sympathy unlocked every heart to her. She was made the +confidante of thousands. All classes loved her. Now it was a serving +girl who told Margaret her troubles and her cares; now it was a +distinguished man of letters. She was always an inspiration. Men never +talked idle, commonplace talk with her; she could appreciate the best +of their minds and hearts, and they gave it. She was fond of social +life, and no party seemed complete without her. + +At twenty-two she began to study German, and in three months was +reading with ease Goethe's _Faust, Tasso and Iphigenia_, Körner, +Richter, and Schiller. She greatly admired Goethe, desiring, like him, +"always to have some engrossing object of pursuit." Besides all this +study she was teaching six little children, to help bear the expenses +of the household. + +The family at this time moved to Groton, a great privation for +Margaret, who enjoyed and needed the culture of Boston society. But +she says, "As, sad or merry, I must always be learning, I laid down a +course of study at the beginning of the winter." This consisted of the +history and geography of modern Europe, and of America, architecture, +and the works of Alfieri, Goethe, and Schiller. The teaching was +continued because her brothers must be sent to Harvard College, and +this required money; not the first nor the last time that sisters have +worked to give brothers an education superior to their own. + +At last the constitution, never robust, broke down, and for nine days +Margaret lay hovering between this world and the next. The tender +mother called her "dear lamb," and watched her constantly, while the +stern father, who never praised his children, lest it might harm them, +said, "My dear, I have been thinking of you in the night, and I cannot +remember that you have any _faults._ You have defects, of course, as +all mortals have, but I do not know that you have a single fault." + +"While Margaret recovered, the father was taken suddenly with cholera, +and died after a two days' illness. He was sadly missed, for at heart +he was devoted to his family. When the estate was settled, there was +little left for each; so for Margaret life would be more laborious +than ever. She had expected to visit Europe with Harriet Martineau, +who was just returning home from a visit to this country, but the +father's death crushed this long-cherished and ardently-prayed-for +journey. She must stay at home and work for others. + +Books were read now more eagerly than ever,--_Sartor Resartus_, +Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Heine. But money must be earned. Ah! if +genius could only develop in ease and prosperity. It rarely has the +chance. The tree grows best when the dirt is oftenest stirred about +the roots; perhaps the best in us comes only from such stirring. + +Margaret now obtained a situation as teacher of French and Latin in +Bronson Alcott's school. Here she was appreciated by both master and +pupils. Mr. Alcott said, "I think her the most brilliant talker of +the day. She has a quick and comprehensive wit, a firm command of her +thoughts, and a speech to win the ear of the most cultivated." She +taught advanced classes in German and Italian, besides having several +private pupils. + +Before this time she had become a valued friend of the Emerson family. +Mr. Emerson says, "Sometimes she stayed a few days, often a week, more +seldom a month, and all tasks that could be suspended were put aside +to catch the favorable hour in walking, riding, or boating, to talk +with this joyful guest, who brought wit, anecdotes, love-stories, +tragedies, oracles with her.... The day was never long enough to +exhaust her opulent memory, and I, who knew her intimately for ten +years, never saw her without surprise at her new powers." + +She was passionately fond of music and of art, saying, "I have been +very happy with four hundred and seventy designs of Raphael in my +possession for a week." She loved nature like a friend, paying homage +to rocks and woods and flowers. She said, "I hate not to be beautiful +when all around is so." + +After teaching with Mr. Alcott, she became the principal teacher in a +school at Providence, R.I. Here, as ever, she showed great wisdom both +with children and adults. The little folks in the house were allowed +to look at the gifts of many friends in her room, on condition that +they would not touch them. One day a young visitor came, and insisted +on taking down a microscope, and broke it. The child who belonged +in the house was well-nigh heart-broken over the affair, and, though +protesting her innocence, was suspected both of the deed and of +falsehood. Miss Fuller took the weeping child upon her knee, saying, +"Now, my dear little girl, tell me all about it; only remember +that you must be careful, for I shall believe every word you say." +Investigation showed that the child thus confided in told the whole +truth. + +After two years in Providence she returned to Boston, and in 1839 +began a series of parlor lectures, or "conversations," as they were +called. This seemed a strange thing for a woman, when public speaking +by her sex was almost unknown. These talks were given weekly, +from eleven o'clock till one, to twenty-five or thirty of the most +cultivated women of the city. Now the subject of discussion was +Grecian mythology; now it was fine arts, education, or the relations +of woman to the family, the church, society, and literature. These +meetings were continued through five winters, supplemented by evening +"conversations," attended by both men and women. In these gatherings +Margaret was at her best,--brilliant, eloquent, charming. + +During this time a few gifted men, Emerson, Channing, and others, +decided to start a literary and philosophical magazine called the +_Dial_. Probably no woman in the country would have been chosen as the +editor, save Margaret Fuller. She accepted the position, and for four +years managed the journal ably, writing for it some valuable essays. +Some of these were published later in her book on _Literature and +Art_. Her _Woman in the Nineteenth Century_, a learned and vigorous +essay on woman's place in the world, first appeared in part in the +_Dial_. Of this work, she said, in closing it, "After taking a long +walk, early one most exhilarating morning, I sat down to work, and did +not give it the last stroke till near nine in the evening. Then I felt +a delightful glow, as if I had put a good deal of my true life in it, +and as if, should I go away now, the measure of my footprint would be +left on the earth." + +Miss Fuller had published, besides these works, two books of +translations from the German, and a sketch of travel called _Summer +on the Lakes_. Her experience was like that of most authors who are +beginning,--some fame, but no money realized. All this time she was +frail in health, overworked, struggling against odds to make a living +for herself and those she loved. But there were some compensations +in this life of toil. One person wrote her, "What I am I owe in large +measure to the stimulus you imparted. You roused my heart with high +hopes; you raised my aims from paltry and vain pursuits to those which +lasted and fed the soul; you inspired me with a great ambition, and +made me see the worth and the meaning of life." + +William Hunt, the renowned artist, was looking in a book that lay on +the table of a friend. It was Mrs. Jameson's _Italian Painters._ In +describing Correggio, she said he was "one of those superior beings of +whom there are so few." Margaret had written on the margin, "And +yet all might be such." Mr. Hunt said, "These words struck out a new +strength in me. They revived resolutions long fallen away, and made me +set my face like a flint." + +Margaret was now thirty-four. The sister was married, the brothers had +finished their college course, and she was about to accept an +offer from the _New York Tribune_ to become one of its constant +contributors, an honor that few women would have received. Early in +December, 1844, Margaret moved to New York and became a member of +Mr. Greeley's family. Her literary work here was that of, says Mr. +Higginson, "the best literary critic whom America has yet seen." + +Sometimes her reviews, like those on the poetry of Longfellow and +Lowell, were censured, but she was impartial and able. Society opened +wide its doors to her, as it had in Boston. Mrs. Greeley became her +devoted friend, and their little son "Pickie," five years old, the +idol of Mr. Greeley, her restful playmate. + +A year and a half later an opportunity came for Margaret to go to +Europe. Now, at last, she would see the art-galleries of the old +world, and places rich in history, like Rome. Still there was the +trouble of scanty means, and poor health from overwork. She said, "A +noble career is yet before me, if I can be unimpeded by cares. If +our family affairs could now be so arranged that I might be tolerably +tranquil for the next six or eight years, I should go out of life +better satisfied with the page I have turned in it than I shall if I +must still toil on." + +After two weeks on the ocean, the party of friends arrived in +London, and Miss Fuller received a cordial welcome. Wordsworth, now +seventy-six, showed her the lovely scenery of Rydal Mount, pointing +out as his especial pride, his avenue of hollyhocks--crimson, +straw-color, and white. De Quincey showed her many courtesies. Dr. +Chalmers talked eloquently, while William and Mary Howitt seemed like +old friends. Carlyle invited her to his home. "To interrupt him," she +said, "is a physical impossibility. If you get a chance to remonstrate +for a moment, he raises his voice and bears you down." + +In Paris, Margaret attended the Academy lectures, saw much of George +Sand, waded through melting snow at Avignon to see Laura's tomb, and +at last was in Italy, the country she had longed to see. Here Mrs. +Jameson, Powers, and Greenough, and the Brownings and Storys, were her +warm friends. Here she settled down to systematic work, trying to keep +her expenses for six months within four hundred dollars. Still, when +most cramped for means herself, she was always generous. Once, when +living on a mere pittance, she loaned fifty dollars to a needy artist. +In New York she gave an impecunious author five hundred dollars to +publish his book, and, of course, never received a dollar in return. +Yet the race for life was wearing her out. So tired was she that she +said, "I should like to go to sleep, and be born again into a state +where my young life should not be prematurely taxed." + +Meantime the struggle for Italian unity was coming to its climax. +Mazzini and his followers were eager for a republic. Pius IX. had +given promises to the Liberal party, but afterwards abandoned it, and +fled to Gaeta. Then Mazzini turned for help to the President of the +French Republic, Louis Napoleon, who, in his heart, had no love for +republics, but sent an army to reinstate the Pope. Rome, when she +found herself betrayed, fought like a tiger. Men issued from the +workshops with their tools for weapons, while women from the housetops +urged them on. One night over one hundred and fifty bombs were thrown +into the heart of the city. + +Margaret was the friend of Mazzini, and enthusiastic for Roman +liberty. All those dreadful months she ministered to the wounded and +dying in the hospitals, and was their "saint," as they called her. + +But there was another reason why Margaret Fuller loved Italy. + +Soon after her arrival in Rome, as she was attending vespers at St. +Peter's with a party of friends, she became separated from them. +Failing to find them, seeing her anxious face, a young Italian came +up to her, and politely offered to assist her. Unable to regain her +friends, Angelo Ossoli walked with her to her home, though he could +speak no English, and she almost no Italian. She learned afterward +that he was of a noble and refined family; that his brothers were in +the Papal army, and that he was highly respected. + +After this he saw Margaret once or twice, when she left Rome for some +months. On her return, he renewed the acquaintance, shy and quiet +though he was, for her influence seemed great over him. His father, +the Marquis Ossoli, had just died, and Margaret, with her large heart, +sympathized with him, as she alone knew how to sympathize. He joined +the Liberals, thus separating himself from his family, and was made a +captain of the Civic Guard. + +Finally he confessed to Margaret that he loved her, and that he "must +marry her or be miserable." She refused to listen to him as a lover, +said he must marry a younger woman,--she was thirty-seven, and he but +thirty,--but she would be his friend. For weeks he was dejected and +unhappy. She debated the matter with her own heart. Should she, +who had had many admirers, now marry a man her junior, and not of +surpassing intellect, like her own? If she married him, it must be +kept a secret till his father's estate was settled, for marriage with +a Protestant would spoil all prospect of an equitable division. + +Love conquered, and she married the young Marquis Ossoli in December, +1847. He gave to Margaret the kind of love which lasts after marriage, +veneration of her ability and her goodness. "Such tender, unselfish +love," writes Mrs. Story, "I have rarely before seen; it made green +her days, and gave her an expression of peace and serenity which +before was a stranger to her. When she was ill, he nursed and watched +over her with the tenderness of a woman. No service was too trivial, +no sacrifice too great for him. 'How sweet it is to do little things +for you,' he would say." + +To her mother, Margaret wrote, though she did not tell her secret, +"I have not been so happy since I was a child, as during the last six +weeks." + +But days of anxiety soon came, with all the horrors of war. Ossoli was +constantly exposed to death, in that dreadful siege of Rome. Then Rome +fell, and with it the hopes of Ossoli and his wife. There would be +neither fortune nor home for a Liberal now--only exile. Very sadly +Margaret said goodbye to the soldiers in the hospitals, brave fellows +whom she honored, who in the midst of death itself, would cry "Viva l' +Italia!" + +But before leaving Rome, a day's journey must be made to Rieta, at the +foot of the Umbrian Apennines. And for what? The most precious thing +of Margaret's life was there,--her baby. The fair child, with blue +eyes and light hair like her own, had already been named by the people +in the house, Angelino, from his beauty. She had always been fond +of children. Emerson's Waldo, for whom _Threnody_ was written was an +especial favorite; then "Pickie," Mr. Greeley's beautiful boy, and now +a new joy had come into her heart, a child of her own. She wrote to +her mother: "In him I find satisfaction, for the first time, to +the deep wants of my heart. Nothing but a child can take the worst +bitterness out of life, and break the spell of loneliness. I shall not +be alone in other worlds, whenever Eternity may call me.... I wake in +the night,--I look at him. He is so beautiful and good, I could die +for him!" + +When Ossoli and Margaret reached Rieta, what was their horror to find +their child worn to a skeleton, half starved through the falsity of a +nurse. For four weeks the distressed parents coaxed him back to life, +till the sweet beauty of the rounded face came again, and then they +carried him to Florence, where, despite poverty and exile, they were +happy. + +"In the morning," she says, "as soon as dressed, he signs to come into +our room; then draws our curtain with his little dimpled hand, kisses +me rather violently, and pats my face.... I feel so refreshed by his +young life, and Ossoli diffuses such a power and sweetness over every +day, that I cannot endure to think yet of our future.... It is very +sad we have no money, we could be so quietly happy a while. I rejoice +in all Ossoli did; but the results, in this our earthly state, are +disastrous, especially as my strength is now so impaired. This much I +hope--in life or death, to be no more separated from Angelino." + +Margaret's friends now urged her return to America. She had nearly +finished a history of Rome in this trying time, 1848, and could better +attend to its publication in this country. Ossoli, though coming to a +land of strangers, could find something to help, support the family. + +To save expense, they started from Leghorn, May 17, 1850, in the +_Elizabeth_, a sailing vessel, though Margaret dreaded the two months' +voyage, and had premonitions of disaster. She wrote: "I have a vague +expectation of some crisis,--I know not what. But it has long seemed +that, in the year 1850, I should stand on a plateau in the ascent of +life, when I should be allowed to pause for a while, and take more +clear and commanding views than ever before. Yet my life proceeds as +regularly as the fates of a Greek tragedy, and I can but accept the +pages as they turn.... I shall embark, praying fervently that it may +not be my lot to lose my boy at sea, either by unsolaced illness, or +amid the howling waves; or, if so, that Ossoli, Angelo, and I may go +together, and that the anguish may be brief." + +For a few days all went well on shipboard; and then the noble Captain +Hasty died of small-pox, and was buried at sea. Angelino took this +dread disease, and for a time his life was despaired of, but he +finally recovered, and became a great pet with the sailors. Margaret +was putting the last touches to her book. Ossoli and young Sumner, +brother of Charles, gave each other lessons in Italian and English, +and thus the weeks went by. + +On Thursday, July 18, after two months, the _Elizabeth_ stood off the +Jersey coast, between Cape May and Barnegat. Trunks were packed, good +nights were spoken, and all were happy, for they would be in New York +on the morrow. At nine that night a gale arose; at midnight it was +a hurricane; at four o'clock, Friday morning, the ship struck Fire +Island beach. The passengers sprung from their berths. "We must die!" +said Sumner to Mrs. Hasty. "Let us die calmly, then!" was the response +of the widow of the captain. + +At first, as the billows swept over the vessel, Angelino, wet and +afraid, began to cry; but his mother held him closely in her arms and +sang him to sleep. Noble courage on a sinking ship! The Italian girl +who had come with them was in terror; but after Ossoli prayed with +her, she became calm. For hours they waited anxiously for help from +the shore. They could see the life-boat, and the people collecting the +spoils which had floated thither from the ship, but no relief came. +One sailor and another sprang into the waves and saved themselves. +Then Sumner jumped overboard, but sank. + +One of the sailors suggested that if each passenger sit on a plank, +holding on by ropes, they would attempt to push him or her to land. +Mrs. Hasty was the first to venture, and after being twice washed +off, half-drowned, reached the shore. Then Margaret was urged, but she +hesitated, unless all three could be saved. Every moment the danger +increased. The crew were finally ordered "to save themselves," but +four remained with the passengers. It was useless to look longer +to the people on shore for help, though it was now past three +o'clock,--twelve hours since the vessel struck. + +Margaret had finally been induced to try the plank. The steward had +taken Angelino in his arms, promising to save him or die with him, +when a strong sea swept the forecastle, and all went down together. +Ossoli caught the rigging for a moment, but Margaret sank at once. +When last seen, she was seated at the foot of the foremast, still +clad in her white nightdress, with her hair fallen loose upon her +shoulders. Angelino and the steward were washed upon the beach +twenty minutes later, both dead, though warm. Margaret's prayer was +answered,--that they "might go together, and that the anguish might be +brief." + +The pretty boy of two years was dressed in a child's frock taken from +his mother's trunk, which had come to shore, laid in a seaman's +chest, and buried in the sand, while the sailors, who loved him, +stood around, weeping. His body was finally removed to Mt. Auburn, and +buried in the family lot. The bodies of Ossoli and Margaret were never +recovered. The only papers of value which came to shore were their +love letters, now deeply prized. The book ready for publication was +never found. + +When those on shore were asked why they did not launch the life-boat, +they replied, "Oh! if we had known there were any such persons of +importance on board, we should have tried to do our best!" + +Thus, at forty, died one of the most gifted women in America, when her +work seemed just begun. To us, who see how the world needed her, her +death is a mystery; to Him who "worketh all things after the counsel +of His own will" there is no mystery. She filled her life with +charities and her mind with knowledge, and such are ready for the +progress of Eternity. + + + + +MARIA MITCHELL. + +[Illustration: MARIA MITCHELL.] + + +In the quiet, picturesque island of Nantucket, in a simple home, lived +William and Lydia Mitchell with their family of ten children. William +had been a school-teacher, beginning when he was eighteen years of +age, and receiving two dollars a week in winter, while in summer he +kept soul and body together by working on a small farm, and fishing. + +In this impecunious condition he had fallen in love with and married +Lydia Coleman, a true-hearted Quaker girl, a descendant of Benjamin +Franklin, one singularly fitted to help him make his way in life. She +was quick, intelligent, and attractive in her usual dress of white, +and was the clerk of the Friends' meeting where he attended. She +was enthusiastic in reading, becoming librarian successively of two +circulating libraries, till she had read every book upon the +shelves, and then in the evenings repeating what she had read to her +associates, her young lover among them. + +When they were married, they had nothing but warm hearts and willing +hands to work together. After a time William joined his father in +converting a ship-load of whale oil into soap, and then a little +money was made; but at the end of seven years he went back to +school-teaching because he loved the work. At first he had charge of +a fine grammar school established at Nantucket, and later, of a school +of his own. + +Into this school came his third child, Maria, shy and retiring, with +all her mother's love of reading. Faithful at home, with, as she says, +"an endless washing of dishes," not to be wondered at where there were +ten little folks, she was not less faithful at school. The teacher +could not help seeing that his little daughter had a mind which would +well repay all the time he could spend upon it. + +While he was a good school-teacher, he was an equally good student of +nature, born with a love of the heavens above him. When eight years +old, his father called him to the door to look at the planet Saturn, +and from that time the boy calculated his age from the position of +the planet, year by year. Always striving to improve himself, when he +became a man, he built a small observatory upon his own land, that he +might study the stars. He was thus enabled to earn one hundred dollars +a year in the work of the United States Coast Survey. Teaching at +two dollars a week, and fishing, could not always cramp a man of such +aspiring mind. + +Brought up beside the sea, he was as broad as the sea in his thought +and true nobility of character. He could see no reason why his +daughters should not be just as well educated as his sons. He +therefore taught Maria the same as his boys, giving her especial drill +in navigation. Perhaps it is not strange that after such teaching, +his daughter could have no taste for making worsted work or Kensington +stitches. She often says to this day, "A woman might be learning seven +languages while she is learning fancy work," and there is little doubt +that the seven languages would make her seven times more valuable as +a wife and mother. If teaching navigation to girls would give us +a thousand Maria Mitchells in this country, by all means let it be +taught. + +Maria left the public school at sixteen, and for a year attended a +private school; then, loving mathematics, and being deeply interested +in her father's studies, she became at seventeen his helper in the +work of the Coast Survey. This astronomical labor brought Professors +Agassiz, Bache, and other noted men to the quiet Mitchell home, and +thus the girl heard the stimulating conversation of superior minds. + +But the family needed more money. Though Mr. Mitchell wrote articles +for _Silliman's Journal_, and delivered an able course of lectures +before a Boston society of which Daniel Webster was president, +scientific study did not put many dollars in a man's pocket. An elder +sister was earning three hundred dollars yearly by teaching, and Maria +felt that she too must help more largely to share the family burdens. +She was offered the position of librarian at the Nantucket library, +with a salary of sixty dollars the first year, and seventy-five the +second. While a dollar and twenty cents a week seemed very little, +there would be much time for study, for the small island did not +afford a continuous stream of readers. She accepted the position, +and for twenty years, till youth had been lost in middle life, Maria +Mitchell worked for one hundred dollars a year, studying on, that she +might do her noble work in the world. + +Did not she who loved nature, long for the open air and the blue sky, +and for some days of leisure which so many girls thoughtlessly waste? +Yes, doubtless. However, the laws of life are as rigid as mathematics. +A person cannot idle away the hours and come to prominence. No great +singer, no great artist, no great scientist, comes to honor without +continuous labor. Society devotees are heard of only for a day or a +year, while those who develop minds and ennoble hearts have lasting +remembrance. + +Miss Mitchell says, "I was born of only ordinary capacity, but of +extraordinary persistency," and herein is the secret of a great life. +She did not dabble in French or music or painting and give it up; she +went steadily on to success. Did she neglect home duties? Never. She +knit stockings a yard long for her aged father till his death, usually +studying while she knit. To those who learn to be industrious early in +life, idleness is never enjoyable. + +There was another secret of Miss Mitchell's success. She read good +books early in life. She says: "We always had books, and were bookish +people. There was a public library in Nantucket before I was born. +It was not a free library, but we always paid the subscription of +one dollar per annum, and always read and studied from it. I remember +among its volumes Hannah More's books and Rollin's _Ancient History_. +I remember too that Charles Folger, the present Secretary of the +Treasury, and I had both read this latter work through before we were +ten years old, though neither of us spoke of it to the other until a +later period." + +All this study had made Miss Mitchell a superior woman. It was not +strange, therefore, that fame should come to her. One autumn night, +October, 1847, she was gazing through the telescope, as usual, when, +lo! she was startled to perceive an unknown comet. She at once told +her father, who thus wrote to Professor William C. Bond, director of +the Observatory at Cambridge: -- + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--I write now merely to say that + Maria discovered a telescopic comet at half-past ten on + the evening of the first instant, at that hour nearly above + Polaris five degrees. Last evening it had advanced + westerly; this evening still further, and nearing the pole. + It does not bear illumination. Maria has obtained its + right ascension and declination, and will not suffer me to + announce it. Pray tell me whether it is one of Georgi's, + and whether it has been seen by anybody. Maria supposes + it may be an old story. If quite convenient, just + drop a line to her; it will oblige me much. I expect to + leave home in a day or two, and shall be in Boston next + week, and I would like to have her hear from you before I + can meet you. I hope it will not give thee much trouble + amidst thy close engagements. Our regards are to all of + you most truly. + +WILLIAM MITCHELL. + +The answer showed that Miss Mitchell had indeed made a new discovery. +Frederick VI., King of Denmark, had, sixteen years before, offered a +gold medal of the value of twenty ducats to whoever should discover +a telescopic comet. That no mistake might be made as to the real +discoverer, the condition was made that word be sent at once to the +Astronomer Royal of England. This the Mitchells had not done, +on account of their isolated position. Hon. Edward Everett, then +President of Harvard College, wrote to the American Minister at the +Danish Court, who in turn presented the evidence to the King. "It +would gratify me," said Mr. Mitchell, "that this generous monarch +should know that there is a love of science even in this, to him, +remote corner of the earth." + +The medal was at last awarded, and the woman astronomer of Nantucket +found herself in the scientific journals and in the press as the +discoverer of "Miss Mitchell's Comet." Another had been added to the +list of Mary Somervilles and Caroline Herschels. Perhaps there was +additional zest now in the mathematical work in the Coast Survey. She +also assisted in compiling the _American Nautical Almanac_, and wrote +for the scientific periodicals. Did she break down from her unusual +brain work? Oh, no! Probably astronomical work was not nearly so hard +as her mother's,--the care of a house and ten children! + +For ten years more Miss Mitchell worked in the library, and in +studying the heavens. But she had longed to see the observatories of +Europe, and the great minds outside their quiet island. Therefore, +in 1857, she visited England, and was at once welcomed to the most +learned circles. Brains always find open doors. Had she been rich or +beautiful simply, Sir John Herschel, and Lady Herschell as well, would +not have reached out both hands, and said, "You are always welcome at +this house," and given her some of his own calculations? and some of +his Aunt Caroline's writing. Had she been rich or handsome simply, +Alexander Von Humboldt would not have taken her to his home, and, +seating himself beside her on the sofa, talked, as she says, "on +all manner of subjects, and on all varieties of people. He spoke of +Kansas, India, China, observatories; of Bache, Maury, Gould, Ticknor, +Buchanan, Jefferson, Hamilton, Brunow, Peters, Encke, Airy, Leverrier, +Mrs. Somerville, and a host of others." + +What, if he had said these things to some women who go abroad! It is +safe for women who travel to read widely, for ignorance is quickly +detected. Miss Mitchell said of Humboldt: "He is handsome--his hair +is thin and white, his eyes very blue. He is a little deaf, and so is +Mrs. Somerville. He asked me what instruments I had, and what I was +doing; and when I told him that I was interested in the variable +stars, he said I must go to Bonn and see Agelander." + +There was no end of courtesies to the scholarly woman. Professor +Adams, of Cambridge, who, with his charming wife, years afterward +helped to make our own visit to the University a delight, showed +her the spot on which he made his computations for Neptune, which +he discovered at the same time as Leverrier. Sir George Airy, the +Astronomer Royal of England, wrote to Leverrier in Paris to announce +her coming. When they met, she said, "His English was worse than my +French." + +Later she visited Florence, where she met, several times, Mrs. +Somerville, who, she says, "talks with all the readiness and clearness +of a man," and is still "very gentle and womanly, without the least +pretence or the least coldness." She gave Miss Mitchell two of her +books, and desired a photographed star sent to Florence. "She had +never heard of its being done, and saw at once the importance of such +a step." She said with her Scotch accent, "Miss Mitchell, ye have done +yeself great credit." + +In Rome she saw much of the Hawthornes, of Miss Bremer, who was +visiting there, and of the artists. From here she went to Venice, +Vienna, and Berlin, where she met Encke, the astronomer, who took her +to see the wedding presents of the Princess Royal. + +Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in an admirable sketch of Miss Mitchell, tells +how the practical woman, with her love of republican institutions, +was impressed. "The presents were in two rooms," says Miss Mitchell, +"ticketed and numbered, and a catalogue of them sold. All the +manufacturing companies availed themselves of the opportunity to +advertise their commodities, I suppose, as she had presents of all +kinds. What she will do with sixty albums I can't see, but I can +understand the use of two clothes-lines, because she can lend one to +her mother, who must have a large Monday's wash!" + +After a year, Miss Mitchell returned to her simple Nantucket home, +as devoted to her parents and her scientific work as ever. Two years +afterward, in 1860, her good mother died, and a year later, desiring +to be near Boston, the family removed to Lynn. Here Miss Mitchell +purchased a small house for sixteen hundred and fifty dollars. From +her yearly salary of one hundred dollars, and what she could earn +in her government work, she had saved enough to buy a home for +her father! The rule is that the fathers wear themselves out for +daughters; the rule was reversed in this case. + +Miss Mitchell now earned five hundred dollars yearly for her +government computations, while her father received a pension of three +hundred more for his efficient services. Five years thus passed +quietly and comfortably. + +Meanwhile another life was carrying out its cherished plan, and Miss +Mitchell, unknowingly, was to have an important part in it. Soon +after the Revolutionary War there came to this country an English +wool-grower and his family, and settled on a little farm near the +Hudson River. The mother, a hard-working and intelligent woman, +was eager in her help toward earning a living, and would drive the +farm-wagon to market, with butter and eggs, and fowls, while her +seven-year-old boy sat beside her. To increase the income some English +ale was brewed. The lad grew up with an aversion to making beer, and +when fourteen, his father insisting that he should enter the business, +his mother helped him to run away. Tying all his worldly possessions, +a shirt and pair of stockings, in a cotton handkerchief, the mother +and her boy walked eight miles below Poughkeepsie, when, giving him +all the money she had, seventy-five cents, she kissed him, and with +tears in her eyes saw him cross the ferry and land safely on the other +side. He trudged on till a place was found in a country store, and +here, for five years, he worked honestly and industriously, coming +home to his now reconciled father with one hundred and fifty dollars +in his pocket. + +Changes had taken place. The father's brewery had burned, the oldest +son had been killed in attempting to save something from the wreck, +all were poorer than ever, and there seemed nothing before the boy of +nineteen but to help support the parents, his two unmarried sisters, +and two younger brothers. Whether he had the old dislike for the ale +business or not, he saw therein a means of support, and adopted +it. The world had not then thought so much about the misery which +intoxicants cause, and had not learned that we are better off without +stimulants than with them. + +Every day the young man worked in his brewery, and in the evening till +midnight tended a small oyster house, which he had opened. Two years +later, an Englishman who had seen Matthew Vassar's untiring industry +and honesty, offered to furnish all the capital which he needed. The +long, hard road of poverty had opened at last into a field of plenty. +Henceforward, while there was to be work and economy, there was to be +continued prosperity, and finally, great wealth. + +Realizing his lack of early education, he began to improve himself by +reading science, art, history, poetry, and the Bible. He travelled in +Europe, and being a close observer, was a constant learner. + +One day, standing by the great London hospital, built by Thomas Guy, +a relative, and endowed by him with over a million dollars, Mr. Vassar +read these words on the pedestal of the bronze statue:-- + + SOLE FOUNDER OF THE HOSPITAL. + IN HIS LIFETIME. + +The last three words left a deep impression on his mind. He had no +children. He desired to leave his money where it would be of permanent +value to the world. He debated many plans in his own mind. It is +said that his niece, a hard-working teacher, Lydia Booth, finally +influenced him to his grand decision. + +There was no real college for women in the land. He talked the matter +over with his friends, but they were full of discouragements. "Women +will never desire college training," said some. "They will be ruined +in health, if they attempt it," said others. "Science is not needed +by women; classical education is not needed; they must have something +appropriate to their sphere," was constantly reiterated. Some wise +heads thought they knew just what that education should be, and just +what were the limits of woman's sphere; but Matthew Vassar had his own +thoughts. + +Calling together, Feb. 26, 1861, some twenty or thirty of the men in +the State most conversant with educational matters, the white-haired +man, now nearly seventy, laid his hand upon a round tin box, labelled +"Vassar College Papers," containing four hundred thousand dollars in +bonds and securities, and said: "It has long been my desire, after +suitably providing for those of my kindred who have claims upon me, +to make such a disposition of my means as should best honor God and +benefit my fellow-men. At different periods I have regarded various +plans with favor; but these have all been dismissed one after another, +until the subject of erecting and endowing a college for the education +of young women was presented for my consideration. The novelty, +grandeur, and benignity of the idea arrested my attention. + +"It occurred to me that woman, having received from the Creator the +same intellectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to +intellectual culture and development. + +"I considered that the mothers of a country mould its citizens, +determine its institutions, and shape its destiny. + +"It has also seemed to me that if woman was properly educated, some +new avenues of useful and honorable employment, in entire harmony with +the gentleness and modesty of her sex, might be opened to her. + +"It further appeared, there is not in our country, there is not in +the world, so far as known, a single fully endowed institution for +the education of women.... I have come to the conclusion that the +establishment and endowment of a COLLEGE FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG +WOMEN is a work which will satisfy my highest aspirations, and will +be, under God, a rich blessing to this city and State, to our country +and the world. + +"It is my hope to be the instrument in the hands of Providence, of +founding and perpetuating an institution _which shall accomplish for +young women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men_." + +For four years Matthew Vassar watched the great buildings take form +and shape in the midst of two hundred acres of lake and river and +green sward, near Poughkeepsie; the main building, five hundred feet +long, two hundred broad, and five stories high; the museum of natural +history, with school of art and library; the great observatory, three +stories high, furnished with the then third largest telescope in the +country. + +In 1865 Vassar College was opened, and three hundred and fifty +students came pouring in from all parts of the land. Girls, after all, +did desire an education equal to that of young men. Matthew Vassar +was right. His joy seemed complete. He visited the college daily, +and always received the heartiest welcome. Each year his birthday +was celebrated as "Founder's Day." On one of these occasions he said: +"This is almost more happiness than I can bear. This one day more than +repays me for all I have done." An able and noble man, John Howard +Raymond, was chosen president. + +Mr. Vassar lived but three years after his beloved institution was +opened. June 23, 1868, the day before commencement, he had called the +members of the Board around him to listen to his customary address. +Suddenly, when he had nearly finished, his voice ceased, the paper +dropped from his hand, and--he was dead! His last gifts amounted to +over five hundred thousand dollars, making in all $989,122.00 for +the college. The poor lad wrought as he had hoped, a blessing "to the +country and the world." His nephews, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy +Vassar, have given over one hundred and forty thousand dollars. + +After the observatory was completed, there was but one wish as to who +should occupy it; of course, the person desired was Maria Mitchell. +She hesitated to accept the position. Her father was seventy and +needed her care, but he said, "Go, and I will go with you." So she +left her Lynn home for the arduous position of a teacher. For four +years Mr. Mitchell lived to enjoy the enthusiastic work of his +gifted daughter. He said, "Among the teachers and pupils I have made +acquaintances that a prince might covet." + +Miss Mitchell makes the observatory her home. Here are her books, her +pictures, her great astronomical clock, and a bust of Mrs. Somerville, +the gift of Frances Power Cobbe. Here for twenty years she has helped +to make Vassar College known and honored both at home and abroad. +Hundreds have been drawn thither by her name and fame. A friend of +mine who went, intending to stay two years, remained five, for her +admiration of and enjoyment in Miss Mitchell. She says: "She is one of +the few genuine persons I have ever known. There is not one particle +of deceit about her. For girls who accomplish something, she has great +respect; for idlers, none. She has no sentimentality, but much wit and +common sense. No one can be long under her teaching without learning +dignity of manner and self-reliance." + +She dresses simply, in black or gray, somewhat after the fashion of +her Quaker ancestors. Once when urging economy upon the girls, she +said, "All the clothing I have on cost but seventeen dollars, and four +suits would last each of you a year." There was a quiet smile, but +no audible expression of a purpose to adopt Miss Mitchell's style of +dress. + +The pupils greatly honor and love the undemonstrative woman, who, they +well know, would make any sacrifices for their well-being. Each week +the informal gatherings at her rooms, where various useful topics +are discussed, are eagerly looked forward to. Chief of all, Miss +Mitchell's own bright and sensible talk is enjoyed. Her "dome +parties," held yearly in June, under the great dome of the +observatory, with pupils coming back from all over the country, +original poems read and songs sung, are among the joys of college +life. + +All these years the astronomer's fame has steadily increased. In 1868, +in the great meteoric shower, she and her pupils recorded the paths +of four thousand meteors, and gave valuable data of their height above +the earth. In the summer of 1869 she joined the astronomers who went +to Burlington, Iowa, to observe the total eclipse of the sun, Aug. 7. +Her observations on the transit of Venus were also valuable. She has +written much on the _Satellites of Saturn_, and has prepared a work on +the _Satellites of Jupiter_. + +In 1873 she again visited Europe, spending some time with the +family of the Russian astronomer, Professor Struve, at the Imperial +Observatory at Pultowa. + +She is an honor to her sex, a striking example of what a quiet country +girl can accomplish without money or fortuitous circumstances. + + * * * * * + +She resigned her position at Vassar in 1888. Miss Mitchell died on the +morning of June 28, 1889, at Lynn, Mass., at the age of seventy-one, +and was buried at Nantucket on Sunday afternoon, June 30. + + + + +LOUISA M. ALCOTT. + +[Illustration: LOUISA M. ALCOTT.] + + +A dozen of us sat about the dinner-table at the Hotel Bellevue, +Boston. One was the gifted wife of a gifted clergyman; one had written +two or three novels; one was a journalist; one was on the eve of a +long journey abroad; and one, whom we were all glad to honor, was the +brilliant author of _Little Women_. She had a womanly face, bright, +gray eyes, that looked full of merriment, and would not see the hard +side of life, and an air of common sense that made all defer to her +judgment. She told witty stories of the many who wrote her for +advice or favors, and good-naturedly gave bits of her own personal +experience. Nearly twenty years before, I had seen her, just after +her _Hospital Sketches_ were published, over which I, and thousands of +others, had shed tears. Though but thirty years old then, Miss Alcott +looked frail and tired. That was the day of her struggle with life. +Now, at fifty, she looked happy and comfortable. The desire of her +heart had been realized,--to do good to tens of thousands, and earn +enough money to care for those whom she loved. + +Louisa Alcott's life, like that of so many famous women, has been full +of obstacles. She was born in Germantown, Pa., Nov. 29, 1832, in the +home of an extremely lovely mother and cultivated father, Amos Bronson +Alcott. Beginning life poor, his desire for knowledge led him to +obtain an education and become a teacher. In 1830 he married Miss May, +a descendant of the well-known Sewells and Quincys, of Boston. Louise +Chandler Moulton says, in her excellent sketch of Miss Alcott, "I have +heard that the May family were strongly opposed to the union of their +beautiful daughter with the penniless teacher and philosopher;" but he +made a devoted husband, though poverty was long their guest. + +For eleven years, mostly in Boston, he was the earnest and successful +teacher. Margaret Fuller was one of his assistants. Everybody +respected his purity of life and his scholarship. His kindness +of heart made him opposed to corporal punishment, and in favor of +self-government. The world had not come then to his high ideal, +but has been creeping toward it ever since, until whipping, both in +schools and homes, is fortunately becoming one of the lost arts. + +He believed in making studies interesting to pupils; not the dull, +old-fashioned method of learning by rote, whereby, when a hymn was +taught, such as, "A Charge to keep I have," the children went home +to repeat to their astonished mothers, "Eight yards to keep I have," +having learned by ear, with no knowledge of the meaning of the words. +He had friendly talks with his pupils on all great subjects; and some +of these Miss Elizabeth Peabody, the sister of Mrs. Hawthorne, so +greatly enjoyed, that she took notes, and compiled them in a book. + +New England, always alive to any theological discussion, at once +pronounced the book unorthodox. Emerson had been through the same kind +of a storm, and bravely came to the defence of his friend. Another +charge was laid at Mr. Alcott's door: he was willing to admit colored +children to his school, and such a thing was not countenanced, except +by a few fanatics(?) like Whittier, and Phillips, and Garrison. The +heated newspaper discussion lessened the attendance at the school; and +finally, in 1839, it was discontinued, and the Alcott family moved to +Concord. + +Here were gifted men and women with whom the philosopher could feel at +home, and rest. Here lived Emerson, in the two-story drab house, +with horsechestnut-trees in front of it. Here lived Thoreau, near his +beautiful Walden Lake, a restful place, with no sound save, perchance, +the dipping of an oar or the note of a bird, which the lonely man +loved so well. Here he built his house, twelve feet square, and lived +for two years and a half, giving to the world what he desired others +to give,--his inner self. Here was his bean-field, where he "used to +hoe from five o'clock in the morning till noon," and made, as he said, +an intimate acquaintance with weeds, and a pecuniary profit of eight +dollars seventy-one and one-half cents! Here, too, was Hawthorne, +"who," as Oliver Wendell Holmes says, "brooded himself into a +dream-peopled solitude." + +Here Mr. Alcott could live with little expense and teach his four +daughters. Louisa, the eldest, was an active, enthusiastic child, +getting into little troubles from her frankness and lack of policy, +but making friends with her generous heart. Who can ever forget Jo in +_Little Women_, who was really Louisa, the girl who, when reproved +for whistling by Amy, the art-loving sister, says: "I hate affected, +niminy-piminy chits! I'm not a young lady; and if turning up my hair +makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty. I hate to +think I've got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and +look as prim as a china-aster! Its bad enough to be a girl, anyway, +when I like boy's games and work and manners!" + +At fifteen, "Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of +a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, +which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical +nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were +by turns fierce or funny or thoughtful. Her long, thick hair was her +one beauty, but it was usually bundled into a net to be out of her +way. Round shoulders had Jo, and big hands and feet, a fly-away look +to her clothes, and the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was +rapidly shooting up into a woman, and didn't like it." + +The four sisters lived a merry life in the Concord haunts, +notwithstanding their scanty means. Now, at the dear mother's +suggestion, they ate bread and milk for breakfast, that they might +carry their nicely prepared meal to a poor woman, with six children, +who called them _Engel-kinder_, much to Louisa's delight. Now they +improvised a stage, and produced real plays, while the neighbors +looked in and enjoyed the fun. + +Louisa was especially fond of reading Shakespeare, Goethe, Emerson, +Margaret Fuller, Miss Edgeworth, and George Sand. As early as eight +years of age she wrote a poem of eight lines, _To a Robin_, which her +mother carefully preserved, telling her that "if she kept on in this +hopeful way, she might be a second Shakespeare in time." Blessings on +those people who have a kind smile or a word of encouragement as we +struggle up the hard hills of life! + +At thirteen she wrote _My Kingdom_. When, years afterward, Mrs. Eva +Munson Smith wrote to her, asking for some poems for _Woman in Sacred +Song_, Miss Alcott sent her this one, saying, "It is the only hymn I +ever wrote. It was composed at thirteen, and as I still find the +same difficulty in governing my kingdom, it still expresses my soul's +desire, and I have nothing better to offer." + + "A little kingdom I possess + Where thoughts and feelings dwell, + And very hard the task I find + Of governing it well; + For passion tempts and troubles me, + A wayward will misleads, + And selfishness its shadow casts + On all my words and deeds. + + "How can I learn to rule myself, + To be the child I should, + Honest and brave, and never tire + Of trying to be good? + How can I keep a sunny soul + To shine along life's way? + How can I tune my little heart + To sweetly sing all day? + + "Dear Father, help me with the love + That casteth out my fear; + Teach me to lean on Thee, and feel + That Thou art very near: + That no temptation is unseen, + No childish grief too small, + Since Thou, with patience infinite, + Doth soothe and comfort all. + + "I do not ask for any crown, + But that which all may win; + Nor try to conquer any world + Except the one within. + Be Thou my guide until I find, + Led by a tender hand, + Thy happy kingdom in myself, + And dare to take command." + +Louisa was very imaginative, telling stories to her sisters and her +mates, and at sixteen wrote a book for Miss Ellen Emerson, entitled +_Flower Fables_. It was not published till six years later, and then, +being florid in style, did not bring her any fame. She was now anxious +to earn her support. She was not the person to sit down idly and +wait for marriage, or for some rich relation to care for her; but +she determined to make a place in the world for herself. She says in +_Little Women_, "Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; what +it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to tell her," and +at sixteen the time had come to make the attempt. + +She began to teach school with twenty pupils. Instead of the +theological talks which her father gave his scholars, she told them +stories, which she says made the one pleasant hour in her school-day. +Now the long years of work had begun--fifteen of them--which should +give the girl such rich yet sometimes bitter experiences, that she +could write the most fascinating books from her own history. Into her +volume called _Work_, published when she had become famous, she put +many of her own early sorrows in those of "Christie." + +Much of this time was spent in Boston. Sometimes she cared for an +invalid child; sometimes she was a governess; sometimes she did +sewing, adding to her slender means by writing late at night. +Occasionally she went to the house of Rev. Theodore Parker, where she +met Emerson, Sumner, Garrison, and Julia Ward Howe. Emerson always had +a kind word for the girl whom he had known in Concord, and Mr. Parker +would take her by the hand and say, "How goes it, my child? God bless +you; keep your heart up, Louisa," and then she would go home to her +lonely room, brave and encouraged. + +At nineteen, one of her early stories was published in _Gleason's +Pictorial_, and for this she received five dollars. How welcome was +this brain-money! Some months later she sent a story to the _Boston +Saturday Gazette_, entitled _The Rival Prima Donnas_, and, to her +great delight, received ten dollars; and what was almost better still, +a request from the editor for another story. Miss Alcott made the +_Rival Prima Donnas_ into a drama, and it was accepted by a theatre, +and would have been put upon the stage but for some disagreement among +the actors. However, the young teacher received for her work a pass to +the theatre for forty nights. She even meditated going upon the stage, +but the manager quite opportunely broke his leg, and the contract +was annulled. What would the boys and girls of America have lost, had +their favorite turned actress! + +A second story was, of course, written for the _Saturday Evening +Gazette_. And now Louisa was catching a glimpse of fame. She says, +"One of the memorial moments of my life is that in which, as I trudged +to school on a wintry day, my eye fell upon a large yellow poster with +these delicious words, '_Bertha_, a new tale by the author of _The +Rival Prima Donnas_, will appear in the _Saturday Evening Gazette_.' I +was late; it was bitter cold; people jostled me; I was mortally afraid +I should be recognized; but there I stood, feasting my eyes on the +fascinating poster, and saying proudly to myself, in the words of the +great Vincent Crummles, 'This, this is fame!' That day my pupils had +an indulgent teacher; for, while they struggled with their +pot-hooks, I was writing immortal works; and when they droned out the +multiplication table, I was counting up the noble fortune my pen +was to earn for me in the dim, delightful future. That afternoon my +sisters made a pilgrimage to behold this famous placard, and finding +it torn by the wind, boldly stole it, and came home to wave it like +a triumphal banner in the bosom of the excited family. The tattered +paper still exists, folded away with other relics of those early days, +so hard and yet so sweet, when the first small victories were won, and +the enthusiasm of youth lent romance to life's drudgery." + +Finding that there was money in sensational stories, she set herself +eagerly to work, and soon could write ten or twelve a month. She says +in _Little Women:_ "As long as _The Spread Eagle_ paid her a dollar a +column for her 'rubbish,' as she called it, Jo felt herself a woman +of means, and spun her little romances diligently. But great plans +fermented in her busy brain and ambitious mind, and the old tin +kitchen in the garret held a slowly increasing pile of blotted +manuscript, which was one day to place the name of March upon the roll +of fame." + +But sensational stories did not bring much fame, and the conscientious +Louisa tired of them. A novel, _Moods_, written at eighteen, shared +nearly the same fate as _Flower Fables_. Some critics praised, some +condemned, but the great world was indifferent. After this, she +offered a story to Mr. James T. Fields, at that time editor of the +_Atlantic Monthly_, but it was declined, with the kindly advice that +she stick to her teaching. But Louisa Alcott had a strong will and a +brave heart, and would not be overcome by obstacles. + +The Civil War had begun, and the school-teacher's heart was deeply +moved. She was now thirty, having had such experience as makes us very +tender toward suffering. The perfume of natures does not usually come +forth without bruising. She determined to go to Washington and offer +herself as a nurse at the hospital for soldiers. After much official +red tape, she found herself in the midst of scores of maimed and +dying, just brought from the defeat at Fredericksburg. She says: +"Round the great stove was gathered the dreariest group I ever +saw,--ragged, gaunt, and pale, mud to the knees, with bloody bandages +untouched since put on days before; many bundled up in blankets, coats +being lost or useless, and all wearing that disheartened look which +proclaimed defeat more plainly than any telegram, of the Burnside +blunder. I pitied them so much, I dared not speak to them. I yearned +to serve the dreariest of them all. + +"Presently there came an order, 'Tell them to take off socks, coats, +and shirts; scrub them well, put on clean shirts, and the attendants +will finish them off, and lay them in bed.' + +"I chanced to light on a withered old Irishman," she says, "wounded in +the head, which caused that portion of his frame to be tastefully +laid out like a garden, the bandages being the walks, and his hair the +shrubbery. He was so overpowered by the honor of having a lady wash +him, as he expressed it, that he did nothing but roll up his eyes and +bless me, in an irresistible style which was too much for my sense of +the ludicrous, so we laughed together; and when I knelt down to take +off his shoes, he wouldn't hear of my touching 'them dirty craters.' +Some of them took the performance like sleepy children, leaning their +tired heads against me as I worked; others looked grimly scandalized, +and several of the roughest colored like bashful girls." + +When food was brought, she fed one of the badly wounded men, and +offered the same help to his neighbor. "Thank you, ma'am," he said, "I +don't think I'll ever eat again, for I'm shot in the stomach. But I'd +like a drink of water, if you ain't too busy." + +"I rushed away," she says; "but the water pails were gone to be +refilled, and it was some time before they reappeared. I did not +forget my patient, meanwhile, and, with the first mugful, hurried back +to him. He seemed asleep; but something in the tired white face +caused me to listen at his lips for a breath. None came. I touched his +forehead; it was cold; and then I knew that, while he waited, a better +nurse than I had given him a cooler draught, and healed him with a +touch. I laid the sheet over the quiet sleeper, whom no noise could +now disturb; and, half an hour later, the bed was empty." + +With cheerful face and warm heart she went among the soldiers, now +writing letters, now washing faces, and now singing lullabies. One day +a tall, manly fellow was brought in. He seldom spoke, and uttered no +complaint. After a little, when his wounds were being dressed, Miss +Alcott observed the big tears roll down his cheeks and drop on the +floor. + +She says: "My heart opened wide and took him in, as, gathering the +bent head in my arms, as freely as if he had been a child, I said, +'Let me help you bear it, John!' Never on any human countenance have I +seen so swift and beautiful a look of gratitude, surprise, and comfort +as that which answered me more eloquently than the whispered-- + +"'Thank you, ma'am; this is right good! this is what I wanted.' + +"'Then why not ask for it before?' + +"'I didn't like to be a trouble, you seemed so busy, and I could +manage to get on alone.'" + +The doctors had told Miss Alcott that John must die, and she must take +the message to him; but she had not the heart to do it. One evening he +asked her to write a letter for him. "Shall it be addressed to wife or +mother, John?" + +"Neither, ma'am; I've got no wife, and will write to mother myself +when I get better. Mother's a widow; I'm the oldest child she has, +and it wouldn't do for me to marry until Lizzy has a home of her own, +and Jack's learned his trade; for we're not rich, and I must be father +to the children and husband to the dear old woman, if I can." + +"No doubt you are both, John; yet how came you to go to war, if you +felt so?" + +"I went because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory or the +pay; I wanted the right thing done, and people kept saying the men who +were in earnest ought to fight. I was in earnest, the Lord knows! but +I held off as long as I could, not knowing which was my duty. Mother +saw the case, gave me her ring to keep me steady, and said 'Go'; so I +went." + +"Do you ever regret that you came, when you lie here suffering so +much?" + +"Never, ma'am; I haven't helped a great deal, but I've shown I was +willing to give my life, and perhaps I've got to.... This is my first +battle; do they think it's going to be my last?" + +"I'm afraid they do, John." + +He seemed startled at first, but desired Miss Alcott to write the +letter to Jack, because he could best tell the sad news to the mother. +With a sigh, John said, "I hope the answer will come in time for me to +see it." + +Two days later Miss Alcott was sent for. John stretched out both hands +as he said, "I knew you'd come. I guess I'm moving on, ma'am." Then +clasping her hand so close that the death marks remained long upon +it, he slept the final sleep. An hour later John's letter came, +and putting it in his hand, Miss Alcott kissed the dead brow of the +Virginia blacksmith, for his aged mother's sake, and buried him in the +government lot. + +The noble teacher after a while became ill from overwork, and was +obliged to return home, soon writing her book, _Hospital Sketches_, +published in 1865. This year, needing rest and change, she went to +Europe as companion to an invalid lady, spending a year in Germany, +Switzerland, Paris, and London. In the latter city she met Jean +Ingelow, Frances Power Cobbe, John Stuart Mill, George Lewes, and +others, who had known of the brilliant Concord coterie. Such persons +did not ask if Miss Alcott were rich, nor did they care. + +In 1868 her father took several of her more recent stories to Roberts +Brothers to see about their publication in book form. Mr. Thomas +Niles, a member of the firm, a man of refinement and good judgment, +said: "We do not care just now for volumes of collected stories. Will +not your daughter write us a new book consisting of a single story for +girls?" + +Miss Alcott feared she could not do it, and set herself to write +_Little Women_, to show the publishers that she could _not_ write a +story for girls. But she did not succeed in convincing them or the +world of her inability. In two months the first part was finished, and +published October, 1868. It was a natural, graphic story of her three +sisters and herself in that simple Concord home. How we, who are +grown-up children, read with interest about the "Lawrence boy," +especially if we had boys of our own, and sympathized with the little +girl who wrote Miss Alcott, "I have cried quarts over Beth's sickness. +If you don't have her marry Laurie in the second part, I shall never +forgive you, and none of the girls in our school will ever read any +more of your books. Do! do! have her, please." + +The second part appeared in April, 1869, and Miss Alcott found herself +famous. The "pile of blotted manuscript" had "placed the name of March +upon the roll of fame." Some of us could not be reconciled to +dear Jo's marriage with the German professor, and their school at +Plumfield, when Laurie loved her so tenderly. "We cried over Beth, and +felt how strangely like most young housekeepers was Meg. How the tired +teacher, and tender-hearted nurse for the soldiers must have rejoiced +at her success! "This year," she wrote her publishers, "after toiling +so many years along the uphill road, always a hard one to women +writers, it is peculiarly grateful to me to find the way growing +easier at last, with pleasant little surprises blossoming on either +side, and the rough places made smooth." + +When _Little Men_ was announced, fifty thousand copies were ordered in +advance of its publication! About this time Miss Alcott visited Rome +with her artist sister May, the "Amy" of _Little Women_, and on +her return, wrote _Shawl-straps_, a bright sketch of their journey, +followed by an _Old-Fashioned Girl_; that charming book _Under the +Lilacs_, where your heart goes out to Ben and his dog Sancho; six +volumes of _Aunt Jo's Scrap-bag_; _Jack and Jill_; and others. +From these books Miss Alcott has already received about one hundred +thousand dollars. + +She has ever been the most devoted of daughters. Till the mother went +out of life, in 1877, she provided for her every want. May, the gifted +youngest sister, who was married in Paris in 1878 to Ernst Nieriker, +died a year and a half later, leaving her infant daughter, Louisa +May Nieriker, to Miss Alcott's loving care. The father, who became +paralyzed in 1882, now eighty-six years old, has had her constant +ministries. How proud he has been of his Louisa! I heard him say, +years ago, "I am riding in her golden chariot." + +Miss Alcott now divides her time between Boston and Concord. "The +Orchards," the Alcott home for twenty-five years, set in its frame of +grand trees, its walls and doors daintily covered with May Alcott's +sketches, has become the home of the "Summer School of Philosophy," +and Miss Alcott and her father live in the house where Thoreau died. + +Most of her stories have been written in Boston, where she finds +more inspiration than at Concord. "She never had a study," says Mrs. +Moulton; "any corner will answer to write in. She is not particular +as to pens and paper, and an old atlas on her knee is all the desk she +cares for. She has the wonderful power to carry a dozen plots in her +head at a time, thinking them over whenever she is in the mood. Often +in the dead waste and middle of the night she lies awake and plans +whole chapters. In her hardest working days she used to write fourteen +hours in the twenty-four, sitting steadily at her work, and scarcely +tasting food till her daily task was done. When she has a story to +write, she goes to Boston, hires a quiet room, and shuts herself up in +it. In a month or so the book will be done, and its author comes +out 'tired, hungry, and cross,' and ready to go back to Concord and +vegetate for a time." + +Miss Alcott, like Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is an earnest advocate of +woman's suffrage, and temperance. When Meg in _Little Women_ prevails +upon Laurie to take the pledge on her wedding-day, the delighted Jo +beams her approval. In 1883 she writes of the suffrage reform, "Every +year gives me greater faith in it, greater hope of its success, a +larger charity for those who cannot see its wisdom, and a more earnest +wish to use what influence I possess for its advancement." + +Miss Alcott has done a noble work for her generation. Her books have +been translated into foreign languages, and expressions of affection +have come to her from both east and west. She says, "As I turn my face +toward sunset, I find so much to make the down-hill journey smooth and +lovely, that, like Christian, I go on my way rejoicing with a cheerful +heart." + + * * * * * + +Miss Alcott died March 6, 1888, at the age of fifty-five, three +days after the death of her distinguished father, Bronson Alcott, +eighty-eight years old. She had been ill for some months, from care +and overwork. On the Saturday morning before she died, she wrote to +a friend: "I am told that I must spend another year in this 'Saint's +Rest,' and then I am promised twenty years of health. I don't want +so many, and I have no idea I shall see them. But as I don't live for +myself, I will live on for others." + +On the evening of the same day she became unconscious, and remained so +till her death, on Tuesday morning. + + + + +MARY LYON. + +[Illustration] + + +There are two women whose memory the girls in this country should +especially revere,--Mary Lyon and Catharine Beecher. When it was +unfashionable for women to know more than to read, write, and cipher +(the "three R's," as reading, writing, and arithmetic were called), +these two had the courage to ask that women have an education equal to +men, a thing which was laughed at as impracticable and impossible. To +these two pioneers we are greatly indebted for the grand educational +advantages for women to-day in America. + +Amid the mountains of Western Massachusetts, at Buckland, Feb. 28, +1797, the fifth of seven children, Mary Lyon came into the world, in +obscurity. The little farm-house was but one story high, in the midst +of rocks and sturdy trees. The father, Aaron Lyon, was a godly man, +beloved by all his neighbors,--"the peacemaker," he was called,--who +died at forty-five, leaving his little family well-nigh helpless--no, +not helpless, because the mother was of the same material of which +Eliza Garfields are made. + +Such women are above circumstances. She saw to it that the farm +yielded its best. She worked early and late, always cheerful, always +observing the Sabbath most devotedly, always keeping the children +clean and tidy. In her little garden the May pinks were the sweetest +and the peonies the reddest of any in the neighborhood. One person +begged to set a plant in the corner of her garden, sure that if Mrs. +Lyon tended it, it could never die. "How is it," said the hard-working +wife of a farmer, "that the widow can do more for me than any one +else?" She had her trials, but she saw no use in telling them +to others, so with a brave heart she took up her daily tasks and +performed them. + +Little Mary was an energetic, frank, warm-hearted child, full of +desire to help others. Her mind was eager in grasping new things, and +curious in its investigations. Once, when her mother had given her +some work to do, she climbed upon a chair to look at the hour-glass, +and said, as she studied it, "I know I have found a way to _make more +time_." + +At the village school she showed a remarkable memory and the power of +committing lessons easily. She was especially good in mathematics and +grammar. In four days she learned all of Alexander's Grammar, which +scholars were accustomed to commit, and recited it accurately to the +astonished teacher. + +When Mary was thirteen, the mother married a second time, and soon +after removed to Ohio. The girl remained at the old homestead, keeping +house for the only brother, and so well did she do the work, that he +gave her a dollar a week for her services. This she used in buying +books and clothes for school. Besides, she found opportunities to spin +and weave for some of the neighbors, and thus added a little more to +her purse. + +After five years, the brother married and sought a home in New York +State. Mary, thus thrown upon herself, began to teach school for +seventy-five cents a week and her board. This amount would not buy +many silks or embroideries, but Mary did not care much for these. "She +is all intellect," said a friend who knew her well; "she does not know +that she has a body to care for." + +She had now saved enough money to enable her to spend one term at the +Sanderson Academy at Ashfield. What an important event in life that +seemed to the struggling country girl! The scholars watched her +bright, intellectual face, and when she began to recite, laid aside +their books to hear her. The teacher said, "I should like to see what +she would make if she could be sent to college." When the term ended, +her little savings were all spent, and now she must teach again. If +she only could go forward with her classmates! but the laws of poverty +are inexorable. Just as she was leaving the school, the trustees came +and offered the advantages of the academy free, for another term. Did +ever such a gleam of sunshine come into a cloudy day? + +But how could she pay her board? She owned a, bed and some table +linen, and taking these to a boarding house, a bargain was made +whereby she could have a room and board in exchange for her household +articles. + +Her red-letter days had indeed come. She might never have a chance +for schooling again; so, without regard to health, she slept only four +hours out of the twenty-four, ate her meals hurriedly, and gave all +her time to her lessons. Not a scholar in the school could keep up +with her. When the teacher gave her Adams' _Latin Grammar_, telling +her to commit such portions as were usual in going over the book the +first time, she learned them all in three days! + +When the term closed, she had no difficulty in finding a place to +teach. All the towns around had heard of the surprising scholar, Mary +Lyon, and probably hoped she could inspire the same scholarship in her +pupils, a matter in which she was most successful. + +As soon as her schools were finished, she would spend the money in +obtaining instruction in some particular study, in which she thought +herself deficient. Now she would go into the family of Rev. Edward +Hitchcock, afterward president of Amherst College, and study natural +science of him, meantime taking lessons, of his wife in drawing +and painting. Now she would study penmanship, following the copy +as closely as a child. Once when a teacher, in deference to her +reputation, wrote the copy in Latin, she handed it back and asked him +to write in English, lest when the books were examined, she might be +thought wiser than she really was. Thus conscientious was the young +school-teacher. + +She was now twenty-four, and had laid up enough money to attend the +school of Rev. Joseph Emerson, at Byfield. He was an unusual man in +his gifts of teaching and broad views of life. He had been blest with +a wife of splendid talents, and as Miss Lyon was wont to say, "Men +judge of the whole sex by their own wives," so Mr. Emerson believed +women could understand metaphysics and theology as well as men. He +discussed science and religion with his pupils, and the result was a +class of self-respecting, self-reliant, thinking women. + +Miss Lyon's friends discouraged her going to Byfield, because they +thought she knew enough already. "Why," said they, "you will never be +a minister, and what is the need of going to school?" She improved her +time here. One of her classmates wrote home, "Mary sends love to all; +but time with her is too precious to spend it in writing letters. She +is gaining knowledge by handfuls." + +The next year, an assistant was wanted in the Sanderson Academy. The +principal thought a man must be engaged. "Try Mary Lyon," said one of +her friends, "and see if she is not sufficient," and he employed her, +and found her a host. But she could not long be retained, for she +was wanted in a larger field, at Derry, N.H. Miss Grant, one of the +teachers at Mr. Emerson's school, had sent for her former bright +pupil. Mary was glad to be associated with Miss Grant, for she was +very fond of her; but before going, she must attend some lectures in +chemistry and natural history by Professor Eaton at Amherst. Had she +been a young man, how easily could she have secured a scholarship, and +thus worked her way through college; but for a young woman, neither +Amherst, nor Dartmouth, nor Williams, nor Harvard, nor Yale, with all +their wealth, had an open door. Very fond of chemistry, she could only +learn in the spare time which a busy professor could give. + +Was the cheerful girl never despondent in these hard working years? +Yes; because naturally she was easily discouraged, and would have long +fits of weeping; but she came to the conclusion that such seasons of +depression were wrong, and that "there was too much to be done, for +her to spend her time in that manner." She used to tell her pupils +that "if they were unhappy, it was probably because they had so many +thoughts about themselves, and so few about the happiness of others." +The friend who had recommended her for the Sanderson Academy now +became surety for her for forty dollars' worth of clothing, and the +earnest young woman started for Derry. The school there numbered +ninety pupils, and Mary Lyon was happy. She wrote her mother, "I do +not number it among the least of my blessings that I am permitted to +_do something_. Surely I ought to be thankful for an active life." + +But the Derry school was held only in the summers, so Miss Lyon +came back to teach at Ashfield and Buckland, her birthplace, for the +winters. The first season she had twenty-five scholars; the last, one +hundred. The families in the neighborhood took the students into their +homes to board, charging them one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five +cents per week, while the tuition was twenty-five cents a week. No +one would grow very rich on such an income. So popular was Miss Lyon's +teaching that a suitable building was erected for her school, and the +Ministerial Association passed a resolution of praise, urging her to +remain permanently in the western part of Massachusetts. + +However, Miss Grant had removed to Ipswich, and had urged Miss Lyon +to join her, which she did. For six years they taught a large and most +successful school. Miss Lyon was singularly happy in her intercourse +with the young ladies. She won them to her views, while they scarcely +knew that they were being controlled. She would say to them: "Now, +young ladies, you are here at great expense. Your board and tuition +cost a great deal, and your time ought to be worth more than both; +but, in order to get an equivalent for the money and time you are +spending, you must be systematic, and that is impossible, unless you +have a regular hour for rising.... Persons who run round all day after +the half-hour they lost in the morning never accomplish much. You +may know them by a rip in the glove, a string pinned to the bonnet, a +shawl left on the balustrade, which they had no time to hang up, they +were in such a hurry to catch their lost thirty minutes. You will see +them opening their books and trying to study at the time of general +exercises in school; but it is a fruitless race; they never will +overtake their lost half-hour. Good men, from Abraham to Washington, +have been early risers." Again, she would say, "Mind, wherever it is +found, will secure respect.... Educate the women, and the men will be +educated. Let the ladies understand the great doctrine of seeking +the greatest good, of loving their neighbors as themselves; let them +indoctrinate their children in this fundamental truth, and we shall +have wise legislators." + +"You won't do so again, will you, dear?" was almost always sure to win +a tender response from a pupil. + +She would never allow a scholar to be laughed at. If a teacher spoke +jestingly of a scholar's capacity, Miss Lyon would say, "Yes, I know +she has a small mind, but we must do the best we can for her." + +For nearly sixteen years she had been giving her life to the education +of girls. She had saved no money for herself, giving it to her +relatives or aiding poor girls in going to school. She was simple in +her tastes, the blue cloth dress she generally wore having been spun +and woven by herself. A friend tells how, standing before the mirror +to tie her bonnet, she said, "Well, I _may_ fail of Heaven, but I +shall be very much disappointed if I do--very much disappointed;" and +there was no thought of what she was doing with the ribbons. + +Miss Lyon was now thirty-three years old. It would be strange indeed +if a woman with her bright mind and sunshiny face should not have +offers of marriage. One of her best opportunities came, as is often +the case, when about thirty, and Miss Lyon could have been made +supremely happy by it, but she had in her mind one great purpose, and +she felt that she must sacrifice home and love for it. This was the +building of a high-grade school or college for women. Had she decided +otherwise, there probably would have been no Mount Holyoke Seminary. + +She had the tenderest sympathy for poor girls; they were the ones +usually most desirous of an education, and they struggled the hardest +for it. For them no educational societies were provided, and no +scholarships. Could she, who had no money, build "a seminary which +should be so moderate in its expenses as to be open to the daughters +of farmers and artisans, and to teachers who might be mainly dependent +for their support on their own exertions"? + +In vain she tried to have the school at Ipswich established +permanently by buildings and endowments. In vain she talked with +college presidents and learned ministers. Nearly all were indifferent. +They could see no need that women should study science or the +classics. That women would be happier with knowledge, just as they +themselves were made happier by it, seemed never to have occurred to +them. That women were soon to do nine-tenths of the teaching in the +schools of the country could not be foreseen. Oberlin and Cornell, +Vassar and Wellesley, belonged to a golden age as yet undreamed of. + +For two years she thought over it, and prayed over it, and when all +seemed hopeless, she would walk the floor, and say over and over +again, "Commit thy way unto the Lord. He will keep thee. Women _must_ +be educated; they _must_ be." Finally a meeting was called in Boston +at the same time as one of the religious anniversaries. She wrote to +a friend, "Very few were present. The meeting was adjourned; and the +adjourned meeting utterly failed. There were not enough present to +organize, and there the business, in my view, has come to an end." + +Still she carried the burden on her heart. She writes, in 1834, +"During the past year my heart has so yearned over the adult female +youth in the common walks of life, that it has sometimes seemed as +though a fire were shut up in my bones." She conceived the idea of +having the young women do the work of the house, partly to lessen +expenses, partly to teach them useful things, and also because she +says, "Might not this single feature do away much of the prejudice +against female education among common people?" + +At last the purpose in her heart became so strong that she resigned +her position as a teacher, and went from house to house in Ipswich +collecting funds. She wrote to her mother, "I hope and trust that this +is of the Lord, and that He will prosper it. In this movement I have +thought much more constantly, and have felt much more deeply, about +doing that which shall be for the honor of Christ, and for the good +of souls, than I ever did in any step in my life." She determined +to raise her first thousand dollars from women. She talked in her +good-natured way with the father or the mother. She asked if they +wanted a new shawl or card-table or carpet, if they would not find a +way to procure it. Usually they gave five or ten dollars; some, only +a half-dollar. So interested did two ladies become that they gave one +hundred dollars apiece, and later, when their house was burned, and +the man who had their money in charge lost it, they worked with their +own hands and earned the two hundred, that their portion might not +fail in the great work. + +In less than two months she had raised the thousand; but she +wrote Miss Grant, "I do not recollect being so fatigued, even to +prostration, as I have been for a few weeks past." She often quoted a +remark of Dr. Lyman Beecher's, "The wear and tear of what I cannot do +is a great deal more than the wear and tear of what I do." When she +became quite worn, her habit was to sleep nearly all the time, for two +or three days, till nature repaired the system. + +She next went to Amherst, where good Dr. Hitchcock felt as deeply +interested for girls as for the boys in his college. One January +morning, with the thermometer below zero, three or four hours before +sunrise, he and Miss Lyon started on the stage for Worcester. Each was +wrapped in a buffalo robe, so that the long ride was not unpleasant. +A meeting was to be held, and a decision made as to the location of +the seminary, which, at last, was actually to be built. After a long +conference, South Hadley was chosen, ten miles south of Amherst. + +One by one, good men became interested in the matter, and one +true-hearted minister became an agent for the raising of funds. Miss +Lyon was also untiring in her solicitations. She spoke before ladies' +meetings, and visited those in high station and low. So troubled were +her friends about this public work for a woman, that they reasoned +with her that it was in better taste to stay at home, and let +gentlemen do the work. + +"What do I that is wrong?" she replied. "I ride in the stage coach +or cars without an escort. Other ladies do the same. I visit a family +where I have been previously invited, and the minister's wife, or +some leading woman, calls the ladies together to see me, and I lay our +object before them. Is that wrong? I go with Mr. Hawks [the agent], +and call on a gentleman of known liberality, at his own house, and +converse with him about our enterprise. What harm is there in that? +My heart is sick, my soul is pained, with this empty gentility, this +genteel nothingness. I am doing a great work. I cannot come down." +Pitiful, that so noble a woman should have been hampered by public +opinion. How all this has changed! Now, the world and the church +gladly welcome the voice, the hand, and the heart of woman in their +philanthropic work. + +At last, enough money was raised to begin the enterprise, and the +corner-stone of Mount Holyoke Seminary was laid, Oct. 3, 1836. "It was +a day of deep interest," writes Mary Lyon. "The stones and brick and +mortar speak a language which vibrates through my very soul." + +"With thankful heart and busy hands she watched the progress of the +work. Every detail was under her careful eye. She said: "Had I a +thousand lives, I could sacrifice them all in suffering and hardship, +for the sake of Mount Holyoke Seminary. Did I possess the greatest +fortune, I could readily relinquish it all, and become poor, and more +than poor, if its prosperity should demand it." + +Finally, in the autumn of 1837, the seminary was ready for pupils. +The main building, four stories high, had been erected. An admirable +course of study had been provided. For the forty weeks of the school +year, the charges for board and tuition were sixty dollars,--only one +dollar and twenty-five cents per week. Miss Lyon's own salary was but +two hundred a year and she never would receive anything higher. +The accommodations were only for eighty pupils, but one hundred and +sixteen came the first year. + +While Miss Lyon was heartily loved by her scholars, they yet respected +her good discipline. It was against the rules for any one to absent +herself from meals without permission to do so. One of the young +ladies, not feeling quite as fresh as usual, concluded not to go down +stairs at tea time, and to remain silent on the subject. Miss Lyon's +quick eye detected her absence. Calling the girl's room-mate to her, +she asked, "Is Miss ---- ill?" + +"Oh, no," was the reply, "only a little indisposed, and she +commissioned me to carry her a cup of tea and cracker." + +"Very well, I will see to it." + +After supper, the young lady ascended to her room, in the fourth +story, found her companion enjoying a glorious sunset, and seating +herself beside her, they began an animated conversation. Presently +there was a knock. "Come in!" both shouted gleefully, when lo! in +walked Mary Lyon, with the tea and cracker. She had come up four +flights of stairs; but she said every one was tired at night, and she +could as well bring up the supper as anybody. She inquired with great +kindness about the young lady's health, who, greatly abashed, had +nothing to say. She was ever after present at meal time, unless sick +in bed. + +The students never forgot Miss Lyon's plain, earnest words. When they +entered, they were told that they were expected to do right without +formal commands; if not, they better go to some smaller school, where +they could receive the peculiar training needed by little girls. She +urged loose clothing and thick shoes. "If you will persist in killing +yourselves by reckless exposure," she would say, "we are not willing +to take the responsibility of the act. We think, by all means, you +better go home and die, in the arms of your dear mothers." + +Miss Lyon had come to her fiftieth birthday. Her seminary had +prospered beyond her fondest hopes. She had raised nearly seventy +thousand dollars for her beloved school, and it was out of debt. +Nearly two thousand pupils had been at South Hadley, of whom a large +number had become missionaries and teachers. Not a single year had +passed without a revival, and rarely did a girl leave the institution +without professing Christianity. + +She said to a friend shortly after this fiftieth birthday: "It was the +most solemn day of my life. I devoted it to reflection and prayer. Of +my active toils I then took leave. I was certain that before another +fifty years should have elapsed, I should wake up amid far different +scenes, and far other thoughts would fill my mind, and other +employments would engage my attention. I felt it. There seemed to be +no ladder between me and the world above. The gates were opened, and +I seemed to stand on the threshold. I felt that the evening of my days +had come, and that I needed repose." + +And the repose came soon. The last of February, 1849, a young lady +in the seminary died. Miss Lyon called the girls together and spoke +tenderly to them, urging them not to fear death, but to be ready to +meet it. She said, "There is nothing in the universe that I am afraid +of, but that I shall not know and do all my duty." Beautiful words! +carved shortly after on her monument. + +A few days later, Mary Lyon lay upon her death-bed. The brain had been +congested, and she was often unconscious. In one of her lucid moments, +her pastor said, "Christ precious?" Summoning all her energies, she +raised both hands, clasped them, and said, "Yes." "Have you trusted +Christ too much?" he asked. Seeing that she made an effort to speak, +he said, "God can be glorified by silence." An indescribable smile lit +up her face, and she was gone. + +On the seminary grounds the beloved teacher was buried, her pupils +singing about her open grave, "Why do we mourn departing friends?" +A beautiful monument of Italian marble, square, and resting upon a +granite pedestal, marks the spot. On the west side are the words:-- + + MARY LYON, + THE FOUNDER OF + MOUNT HOLYOKE FEMALE SEMINARY, + AND FOR TWELVE YEARS + ITS PRINCIPAL; + A TEACHER + FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, + AND OF MORE THAN + THREE THOUSAND PUPILS. + BORN, FEBRUARY 28, 1797; + DIED, MARCH 5, 1849. + +What a devoted, heroic life! and its results, who can estimate? + +Her work has gone steadily on. The seminary grounds now cover +twenty-five acres. The main structure has two large wings, while a +gymnasium; a library building, with thirteen thousand volumes; the +Lyman Williston Hall, with laboratories and art gallery; and the +new observatory, with fine telescope, astronomical clock, and other +appliances, afford such admirable opportunities for higher education +as noble Mary Lyon could hardly have dared to hope for. The property +is worth about three hundred thousand dollars. How different from +the days when half-dollars were given into Miss Lyon's willing hands! +Nearly six thousand students have been educated here, three-fourths of +whom have become teachers, and about two hundred foreign missionaries. +Many have married ministers, presidents of colleges, and leading men +in education and good works. + +The board and tuition have become one hundred and seventy-five dollars +a year, only enough to cover the cost. The range of study has been +constantly increased and elevated to keep pace with the growing demand +that women shall be as fully educated as men. Even Miss Lyon, in those +early days, looked forward to the needs of the future, by placing in +her course of study, Sullivan's _Political Class-Book_, and Wayland's +_Political Economy_. The four years' course is solid and thorough, +while the optional course in French, German, and Greek is admirable. +Eventually, when our preparatory schools are higher, all our colleges +for women will have as difficult entrance examinations as Harvard and +Yale. + +The housework at Mount Holyoke Seminary requires but half an hour each +day for each of the two hundred and ninety-seven pupils. Much time +is spent wisely in the gymnasium, and in boating on the lake near by. +Habits of punctuality, thoroughness, and order are the outcome of life +in this institution. An endowment of twenty thousand dollars, called +"the Mary Lyon Fund," is now being raised by former students for +the Chair of the Principal. Schools like the Lake Erie Seminary at +Painesville, Ohio, have grown out of the school at South Hadley. +Truly, Mary Lyon was doing a great work, and she could not come down. +Between such a life and the ordinary social round there can be no +comparison. + +The English ivy grows thickly over Miss Lyon's grave, covering it like +a mantle, and sending out its wealth of green leaves in the spring. So +each year her own handiwork flourishes, sending out into the world +its strongest forces, the very foundation of the highest +civilization,--educated and Christian wives and mothers. + + + + +HARRIET G. HOSMER. + +[Illustration: (From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and +Women.")] + + +Some years ago, in an art store in Boston, a crowd of persons stood +gazing intently upon a famous piece of statuary. The red curtains were +drawn aside, and the white marble seemed almost to speak. A group of +girls stood together, and looked on in rapt admiration. One of them +said, "Just to think that a woman did it!" + +"It makes me proud and glad," said another. + +"Who is Harriet Hosmer?" said a third. "I wish I knew about her." + +And then one of us, who had stolen all the hours she could get from +school life to read art books from the Hartford Athenaeum, and kept +crude statues, made by herself from chalk and plaster, secreted in her +room, told all she had read about the brilliant author of "Zenobia." + +The statue was seven feet high, queenly in pose and face, yet delicate +and beautiful, with the thoughts which genius had wrought in it. +The left arm supported the elegant drapery, while the right hung +listlessly by her side, both wrists chained; the captive of +the Emperor Aurelian. Since that time, I have looked upon other +masterpieces in all the great galleries of Europe, but perhaps none +have ever made a stronger impression upon me than "Zenobia," in those +early years. + +And who was the artist of whom we girls were so proud? Born in +Watertown, Mass., Oct. 9, 1830, Harriet Hosmer came into the welcome +home of a leading physician, and a delicate mother, who soon died +of consumption. Dr. Hosmer had also buried his only child besides +Harriet, with the same disease, and he determined that this girl +should live in sunshine and air, that he might save her if possible. +He used to say, "There is a whole life-time for the education of +the mind, but the body develops in a few years; and during that time +nothing should be allowed to interfere with its free and healthy +growth." + +As soon as the child was large enough, she was given a pet dog, which +she decked with ribbons and bells. Then, as the Charles River flowed +past their house, a boat was provided, and she was allowed to row at +will. A Venetian gondola was also built for her, with silver prow and +velvet cushions. "Too much spoiling--too much spoiling," said some +of the neighbors; but Dr. Hosmer knew that he was keeping his little +daughter on the earth instead of heaven. + +A gun was now purchased, and the girl became an admirable marksman. +Her room was a perfect museum. Here were birds, bats, beetles, snakes, +and toads; some dissected, some preserved in spirits, and others +stuffed, all gathered and prepared by her own hands. Now she made an +inkstand from the egg of a sea-gull and the body of a kingfisher; now +she climbed to the top of a tree and brought down a crow's nest. She +could walk miles upon miles with no fatigue. She grew up like a boy, +which is only another way of saying that she grew up healthy and +strong physically. Probably polite society was shocked at Dr. Hosmer's +methods. Would that there were many such fathers and mothers, that we +might have a vigorous race of women, and consequently, a vigorous race +of men! + +When Harriet tired of books,--for she was an eager reader,--she found +delight in a clay-pit in the garden, where she molded horses and dogs +to her heart's content. Unused to restraint, she did not like +the first school at which she was placed, the principal, the +brother-in-law of Nathaniel Hawthorne, writing to her father that he +"could do nothing with her." + +She was then taken to Mrs. Sedgwick, who kept a famous school at +Lenox, Berkshire County. She received "happy Hatty," as she was +called, with the remark, "I have a reputation for training wild +colts, and I will try this one." And the wise woman succeeded. She won +Harriet's confidence, not by the ten thousand times repeated "don't," +which so many children hear in home and school, till life seems a +prison-pen. She let her run wild, guiding her all the time with so +much tact, that the girl scarcely knew she was guided at all. Blessed +tact! How many thousands of young people are ruined for lack of it! + +She remained here three years. Mrs. Sedgwick says, "She was the most +difficult pupil to manage I ever had, but I think I never had one in +whom I took so deep an interest, and whom I learned to love so well." +About this time, not being quite as well as usual, Dr. Hosmer engaged +a physician of, large practice to visit his daughter. The busy man +could not be regular, which sadly interfered with Harriet's boating +and driving. Complaining one day that it spoiled her pleasure, he +said, "If I am alive, I will be here," naming the day and hour. + +"Then if you are not here, I am to conclude that you are dead," was +the reply. + +As he did not come, Harriet drove to the newspaper offices in Boston +that afternoon, and the next morning the community was startled to +read of Dr. ----'s sudden death. Friends hastened to the house, and +messages of condolence came pouring in. It is probable that he was +more punctual after this. + +On Harriet's return from Lenox, she began to take lessons in drawing, +modeling, and anatomical studies, in Boston, frequently walking from +home and back, a distance of fourteen miles. Feeling the need of a +thorough course in anatomy, she applied to the Boston Medical School +for admittance, and was refused because of her sex. The Medical +College of St. Louis proved itself broader, glad to encourage talent +wherever found, and received her. + +Professor McDowell, under whom the artists Powers and Clevenger +studied anatomy, spared no pains to give her every advantage, while +the students were uniformly courteous. "I remember him," says Miss +Hosmer, "with great affection and gratitude as being a most thorough +and patient teacher, as well as at all times a good, kind friend." +In testimony of her appreciation, she cut, from a bust of Professor +McDowell by Clevenger, a life-size medallion in marble, now treasured +in the college museum. + +While in St. Louis she made her home with the family of Wayman Crow, +Esq., whose daughter had been her companion at Lenox. This gentleman +proved himself a constant and encouraging friend, ordering her first +statue from Rome, and helping in a thousand ways a girl who had chosen +for herself an unusual work in life. + +After completing her studies she made a trip to New Orleans, and then +North to the Falls of St. Anthony, smoking the pipe of peace with +the chief of the Dakota Indians, exploring lead mines in Dubuque, and +scaling a high mountain that was soon after named for her. Did the +wealthy girl go alone on these journeys? Yes. As a rule, no harm comes +to a young woman who conducts herself with becoming reserve with men. +Flirts usually are paid in their own coin. + +On her return home, Dr. Hosmer fitted up a studio for his daughter, +and her first work was to copy from the antique. Then she cut Canova's +"Napoleon" in marble for her father, doing all the work, that he +might especially value the gift. Her next statue was an ideal bust of +Hesper, "with," said Lydia Maria Child, "the face of a lovely maiden +gently falling asleep with the sound of distant music. Her hair is +gracefully arranged, and intertwined with capsules of the poppy. A +star shines on her forehead, and under her breast lies the crescent +moon. The swell of the cheeks and the bust is like pure, young, +healthy flesh, and the muscles of the beautiful mouth so delicately +cut, it seems like a thing that breathes. She did every stroke of the +work with her own small hands, except knocking off the corners of the +block of marble. She employed a man to do that; but as he was unused +to work for sculptors, she did not venture to have him approach within +several inches of the surface she intended to cut. Slight girl as she +was, she wielded for eight or ten hours a day a leaden mallet +weighing four pounds and a half. Had it not been for the strength and +flexibility of muscle acquired by rowing and other athletic exercises, +such arduous labor would have been impossible." + +After "Hesper" was completed, she said to her father, "I am ready to +go to Rome." + +"You shall go, my child, this very autumn," was the response. + +He would, of course, miss the genial companionship of his only child, +but her welfare was to be consulted rather than his own. When autumn +came, she rode on horseback to Wayland to say good-bye to Mrs. Child. +"Shall you never be homesick for your museum-parlor in Watertown? Can +you be contented in a foreign land?" + +"I can be happy anywhere," said Miss Hosmer, "with good health and a +bit of marble." + +Late in the fall Dr. Hosmer and his daughter started for Europe, +reaching Rome Nov. 12, 1852. She had greatly desired to study under +John Gibson, the leading English sculptor, but he had taken young +women into his studio who in a short time became discouraged or showed +themselves afraid of hard work, and he feared Miss Hosmer might be of +the same useless type. + +When the photographs of "Hesper" were placed before him by an artist +friend of the Hosmers, he looked at them carefully, and said, "Send +the young lady to me, and whatever I know, and can teach her, she +shall learn." He gave Miss Hosmer an upstairs room in his studio, and +here for seven years she worked with delight, honored and encouraged +by her noble teacher. She wrote to her friends: "The dearest wish of +my heart is gratified in that I am acknowledged by Gibson as a pupil. +He has been resident in Rome thirty-four years, and leads the van. I +am greatly in luck. He has just finished the model of the statue of +the queen; and as his room is vacant, he permits me to use it, and I +am now in his own studio. I have also a little room for work which was +formerly occupied by Canova, and perhaps inspiration may be drawn from +the walls." + +The first work which she copied, to show Gibson whether she had +correctness of eye and proper knowledge, was the Venus of Milo. When +nearly finished, the iron which supported the clay snapped, and the +figure lay spoiled upon the floor. She did not shrink nor cry, but +immediately went to work cheerfully to shape it over again. This +conduct Mr. Gibson greatly admired, and made up his mind to assist her +all he could. + +After this she copied the "Cupid" of Praxitiles and Tasso from the +British Museum. Her first original work was Daphne, the beautiful +girl whom Apollo loved, and who, rather than accept his addresses, was +changed into laurel by the gods. Apollo crowned his head with laurel, +and made the flower sacred to himself forever. + +Next, Miss Hosmer produced "Medusa," famed for her beautiful hair, +which Minerva turned into serpents because Neptune loved her. +According to Grecian mythology, Perseus made himself immortal by +conquering Medusa, whose head he cut off, and the blood dripping from +it filled Africa with snakes. Miss Hosmer represents the beautiful +maiden, when she finds, with horror, that her hair is turning into +serpents. + +Needing a real snake for her work, Miss Hosmer sent a man into the +suburbs to bring her one alive. When it was obtained, she chloroformed +it till she had made a cast, keeping it in plaster for three hours and +a half. Then, instead of killing it, like a true-hearted woman, as she +is, she sent it back into the country, glad to regain its liberty. + +"Daphne" and "Medusa" were both exhibited in Boston the following +year, 1853, and were much praised. Mr. Gibson said: "The power of +imitating the roundness and softness of flesh, he had never +seen surpassed." Rauch, the great Prussian, whose mausoleum at +Charlottenburg of the beautiful queen Louise can never be forgotten, +gave Miss Hosmer high praise. + +Two years later she completed "Oenone," made for Mr. Crow of St. +Louis. It is the full-length figure of the beautiful nymph of Mount +Ida. The story is a familiar one. Before the birth of Paris, the son +of Priam, it was foretold that he by his imprudence should cause +the destruction of Troy. His father gave orders for him to be put to +death, but possibly through the fondness of his mother, he was spared, +and carried to Mount Ida, where he was brought up by the shepherds, +and finally married Oenone. In time he became known to his family, +who forgot the prophecy and cordially received him. For a decision in +favor of Venus he was promised the most beautiful woman in the world +for his wife. Forgetting Oenone, he fell in love with the beautiful +Helen, already the wife of Menelaus, and persuaded her to fly with him +to Troy, to his father's court. War resulted. When he found himself +dying of his wounds, he fled to Oenone for help, but died just as +he came into her presence. She bathed the body with her tears, and +stabbed herself to the heart, a very foolish act for so faithless a +man. Miss Hosmer represents her as a beautiful shepherdess, bowed with +grief from her desertion. + +This work was so much liked in America, that the St. Louis Mercantile +Library made a liberal offer for some other statue. Accordingly, two +years after, "Beatrice Cenci" was sent. The noble girl lies asleep, +the night before her execution, after the terrible torture. "It was," +says Mrs. Child, "the sleep of a body worn out with the wretchedness +of the soul. On that innocent face suffering had left its traces. The +arm that had been tossing in the grief tempest, had fallen heavily, +too weary to change itself into a more easy position. Those large +eyes, now so closely veiled by their swollen lids, had evidently wept +till the fountain of tears was dry. That lovely mouth was still the +open portal of a sigh, which the mastery of sleep had left no time to +close." + +To make this natural, the sculptor caused several models to go to +sleep in her studio, that she might study them. Gibson is said to have +remarked upon seeing this, "I can teach her nothing." This was also +exhibited in London and in several American cities. + +For three years she had worked continuously, not leaving Rome even in +the hot, unhealthy summers. She had said, "I will not be an amateur; I +will work as if I had to earn my daily bread." However, as her health +seemed somewhat impaired, at her father's earnest wish, she had +decided to go to England for the season. Her trunks were packed, and +she was ready to start, when lo! a message came that Dr. Hosmer had +lost his property, that he could send her no more money, and suggested +that she return home at once. + +At first she seemed overwhelmed; then she said firmly, "I cannot go +back, and give up my art." Her trunks were at once unpacked and a +cheap room rented. Her handsome horse and saddle were sold, and she +was now to work indeed "as if she earned her daily bread." + +By a strange freak of human nature, by which we sometimes do our most +humorous work when we are saddest, Miss Hosmer produced now in her +sorrow her fun-loving "Puck." It represents a child about four years +old seated on a toadstool which breaks beneath him. The left hand +confines a lizard, while the right holds a beetle. The legs are +crossed, and the great toe of the right foot turns up. The whole +is full of merriment. The Crown Princess of Germany, on seeing it, +exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Hosmer, you have such a talent for toes!" Very +true, for this statue, with the several copies made from it, brought +her thirty thousand dollars! The Prince of Wales has a copy, the +Duke of Hamilton also, and it has gone even to Australia and the West +Indies. A companion piece is the "Will-o'-the-wisp." + +About this time the lovely sixteen-year-old daughter of Madam +Falconnet died at Rome, and for her monument in the Catholic church +of San Andrea del Fratte, Miss Hosmer produced an exquisite figure +resting upon a sarcophagus. Layard, the explorer of Babylon and +Nineveh, wrote to Madam Falconnet: "I scarcely remember to have seen +a monument which more completely commanded my sympathy and more deeply +interested me. I really know of none, of modern days, which I would +rather have placed over the remains of one who had been dear to me." + +Miss Hosmer also modeled a fountain from the story of Hylas. The +lower basin contains dolphins spouting jets, while in the upper basin, +supported by swans, the youth Hylas stands, surrounded by the nymphs +who admire his beauty, and who eventually draw him into the water, +where he is drowned. + +Miss Hosmer returned to America in 1857, five years after her +departure. She was still young, twenty-seven, vivacious, hopeful, not +wearied from her hard work, and famous. While here she determined upon +a statue of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and read much concerning her +and her times. She had touched fiction and poetry; now she would +attempt history. She could scarcely have chosen a more heroic or +pathetic subject. The brave leader of a brave people, a skilful +warrior, marching at the head of her troops, now on foot, and now on +horseback, beautiful in face, and cultured in mind, acquainted with +Latin, Greek, Syriac, and Egyptian, finally captured by Aurelian, and +borne through the streets of Rome, adorning his triumphal procession. + +After Miss Hosmer's return to Rome, she worked on "Zenobia" with +energy and enthusiasm, as she molded the clay, and then the plaster. +When brought to this country, it awakened the greatest interest; +crowds gathered to see it. In Chicago it was exhibited at the +Sanitary Fair in behalf of the soldiers. Whittier said: "It very fully +expresses my conception of what historical sculpture should be. It +tells its whole proud and melancholy story. In looking at it, I felt +that the artist had been as truly serving her country while working +out her magnificent design abroad, as our soldiers in the field, and +our public officers in their departments." From its exhibition Miss +Hosmer received five thousand dollars. It was purchased by Mr. A.W. +Griswold, of New York. So great a work was the statue considered in +London, that some of the papers declared Gibson to be its author. Miss +Hosmer at once began suits for libel, and retractions were speedily +made. + +In 1860 Miss Hosmer again visited America, to see her father, who +was seriously ill. How proud Dr. Hosmer must have been of his gifted +daughter now that her fame was in two hemispheres! Surely he had not +"spoiled" her. She could now spend for him as he had spent for her in +her childhood. While here, she received a commission from St. Louis +for a bronze portrait-statue of Missouri's famous statesman, Thomas +Hart Benton. The world wondered if she could bring out of the marble a +man with all his strength and dignity, as she had a woman with all her +grace and nobility. + +She visited St. Louis, to examine portraits and mementos of Colonel +Benton, and then hastened across the ocean to her work. The next year +a photograph of the model was sent to the friends, and the likeness +pronounced good. The statue was cast at the great royal foundry at +Munich, and in due time shipped to this country. May 27, 1868, it was +unveiled in Lafayette Park, in the presence of an immense concourse of +people, the daughter, Mrs. John C. Fremont, removing the covering. The +statue is ten feet high, and weighs three and one-half tons. It rests +on a granite pedestal, ten feet square, the whole being twenty-two +feet square. On the west side of the pedestal are the words from +Colonel Benton's famous speech on the Pacific Railroad, "There is the +East--there is India." Both press and people were heartily pleased +with this statue, for which Miss Hosmer received ten thousand dollars, +the whole costing thirty thousand. + +She was now in the midst of busy and successful work. Orders crowded +upon her. Her "Sleeping Faun," which was exhibited at the Dublin +Exhibition in 1865, was sold on the day of opening for five thousand +dollars, to Sir Benjamin Guinness. Some discussion having arisen about +the sale, he offered ten thousand, saying, that if money could buy it, +he would possess it. Miss Hosmer, however, would receive only the five +thousand. The faun is represented reclining against the trunk of a +tree, partly draped in the spoils of a tiger. A little faun, with +mischievous look, is binding the faun to the tree with the tiger-skin. +The newspapers were enthusiastic about the work. + +The _London Times_ said: "In the groups of statues are many works of +exquisite beauty, but there is one which at once arrests attention and +extorts admiration. It is a curious fact that amid all the statues in +this court, contributed by the natives of lands in which the fine arts +were naturalized thousands of years ago, one of the finest should be +the production of an American artist." The French _Galignani_ said, +"The gem of the classical school, in its nobler style of composition, +is due to an American lady, Miss Hosmer." The _London Art Journal_ +said, "The works of Miss Hosmer, Hiram Powers, and others we might +name, have placed American on a level with the best modern sculptors +of Europe." This work was repeated for the Prince of Wales and for +Lady Ashburton, of England. + +Not long ago I visited the studio of Miss Hosmer in the Via Margutta, +at Rome, and saw her numerous works, many of them still unfinished. +Here an arm seemed just reaching out from the rough block of marble; +here a sweet face seemed like Pygmalion's statue, coming into life. In +the centre of the studio was the "Siren Fountain," executed for Lady +Marion Alford. A siren sits in the upper basin and sings to the music +of her lute. Three little cupids sit on dolphins, and listen to her +music. + +For some years Miss Hosmer has been preparing a golden gateway for an +art gallery at Ashridge Hall, England, ordered by Earl Brownlow. These +gates, seventeen feet high, are covered with bas-reliefs representing +the Air, Earth, and Sea. The twelve hours of the night show "Aeolus +subduing the Winds," the "Descent of the Zephyrs," "Iris descending +with the Dew," "Night rising with the Stars," "The Rising Moon," "The +Hour's Sleep," "The Dreams Descend," "The Falling Star," "Phosphor and +Hesper," "The Hours Wake," "Aurora Veils the Stars," and "Morning." +More than eighty figures are in the nineteen bas-reliefs. Miss Hosmer +has done other important works, among them a statue of the beautiful +Queen of Naples, who was a frequent visitor to the artist's studio, +and several well-known monuments. With her girlish fondness for +machinery, she has given much thought to mechanics in these later +years, striving to find, like many another, the secret of producing +perpetual motion. She spends much of her time now in England. She is +still passionately fond of riding, the Empress of Austria, who owns +more horses than any woman in the world, declaring "that there was +nothing she looked forward to with more interest in Rome, than to see +Miss Hosmer ride." + +Many of the closing years of the sculptor's long life were spent in +Rome, where she had a wide circle of eminent American and English +friends, among whom were Hawthorne, Thackeray, George Eliot, and the +Brownings. She made several discoveries in her work, one of which was +a process of hardening limestone so that it resembled marble. She +also wrote both prose and poetry, and would have been successful as +an author, if she had not given the bulk of her time to her beloved +sculpture. + +After her long sojourn in Rome she spent several years in England, +executing important commissions, and then turned her face toward +America. In Watertown, where she was born, she again made her home; +and here she breathed her last, February 21, 1908, after an illness of +three weeks. She was in her seventy-eighth year. By her long life of +earnest work and self-reliant purpose, coupled with her high gift, she +has made for herself an abiding place in the history of art. + + + + +MADAME DE STAËL. + +[Illustration: MADAME DE STAËL. + +From the painting by Mlle. Godefroy.] + + +It was the twentieth of September, 1881. The sun shone out mild and +beautiful upon Lake Geneva, as we sailed up to Coppet. The banks were +dotted with lovely homes, half hidden by the foliage, while brilliant +flower-beds came close to the water's edge. Snow-covered Mont Blanc +looked down upon the restful scene, which seemed as charming as +anything in Europe. + +We alighted from the boat, and walked up from the landing, between +great rows of oaks, horsechestnuts, and sycamores, to the famous home +we had come to look upon,--that of Madame de Staël. It is a French +chateau, two stories high, drab, with green blinds, surrounding an +open square; vines clamber over the gate and the high walls, and +lovely flowers blossom everywhere. As you enter, you stand in a long +hall, with green curtains, with many busts, the finest of which is +that of Monsieur Necker. The next room is the large library, with +furniture of blue and white; and the next, hung with old Gobelin +tapestry, is the room where Madame Recamier used to sit with Madame de +Staël, and look out upon the exquisite scenery, restful even in their +troubled lives. Here is the work-table of her whom Macaulay called +"the greatest woman of her times," and of whom Byron said, "She is +a woman by herself, and has done more than all the rest of them +together, intellectually; she ought to have been a man." + +Next we enter the drawing-room, with carpet woven in a single piece; +the furniture red and white. We stop to look upon the picture of +Monsieur Necker, the father, a strong, noble-looking man; of the +mother, in white silk dress, with powdered hair, and very beautiful; +and De Staël herself, in a brownish yellow dress, with low neck and +short sleeves, holding in her hand the branch of flowers, which she +always carried, or a leaf, that thus her hands might be employed while +she engaged in the conversation that astonished Europe. Here also +are the pictures of the Baron, her husband, in white wig and military +dress; here her idolized son and daughter, the latter beautiful, with +mild, sad face, and dark hair and eyes. + +What brings thousands to this quiet retreat every year? Because here +lived and wrote and suffered the only person whom the great Napoleon +feared, whom Galiffe, of Geneva, declared "the most remarkable woman +that Europe has produced"; learned, rich, the author of _Corinne_ and +_Allemagne_, whose "talents in conversation," says George Ticknor, +"were perhaps the most remarkable of any person that ever lived." + +April 27, 1766, was the daughter of James Necker, Minister of Finance +under Louis XVI., a man of fine intellect, the author of fifteen +volumes; and Susanna, daughter of a Swiss pastor, beautiful, educated, +and devotedly Christian. Necker had become rich in early life through +banking, and had been made, by the republic of Geneva, her resident +minister at the Court of Versailles. + +When the throne of Louis seemed crumbling, because the people were +tired of extravagance and heavy taxation, Necker was called to his +aid, with the hope that economy and retrenchment would save the +nation. He also loaned the government two million dollars. The home +of the Neckers, in Paris, naturally became a social centre, which the +mother of the family was well fitted to grace. Gibbon had been deeply +in love with her. + +He says: "I found her learned without pedantry, lively in +conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and the first +sudden emotion was fortified by the habits and knowledge of a more +familiar acquaintance.... At Crassier and Lausanne I indulged my dream +of felicity; but on my return to England I soon discovered that my +father would not hear of this strange alliance, and that, without +his consent, I was myself destitute and helpless. After a painful +struggle, I yielded to my fate; I sighed as a lover; I obeyed as a +son." Gibbon never married, but retained his life-long friendship and +admiration for Madame Necker. + +It was not strange, therefore, that Gibbon liked to be present in +her _salon_, where Buffon, Hume, Diderot, and D'Alembert were wont +to gather. The child of such parents could scarcely be other than +intellectual, surrounded by such gifted minds. Her mother, too, was a +most systematic teacher, and each day the girl was obliged to sit by +her side, erect, on a wooden stool, and learn difficult lessons. + +"She stood in great awe of her mother," wrote Simond, the traveller, +"but was exceedingly familiar with and extravagantly fond of her +father. Madame Necker had no sooner left the room one day, after +dinner, than the young girl, till then timidly decorous, suddenly +seized her napkin, and threw it across the table at the head of her +father, and then flying round to him, hung upon his neck, suffocating +all his reproofs by her kisses." Whenever her mother returned to the +room, she at once became silent and restrained. + +The child early began to show literary talent, writing dramas, and +making paper kings and queens to act her tragedies. This the mother +thought to be wrong, and it was discontinued. But when she was twelve, +the mother having somewhat relented, she wrote a play, which she and +her companions acted in the drawing-room. Grimm was so pleased with +her attempts, that he sent extracts to his correspondents throughout +Europe. At fifteen she wrote an essay on the _Revocation of the Edict +of Nantes_, and another upon Montesquieu's _Spirit of Laws_. + +Overtaxing the brain with her continuous study, she became ill, +and the physician, greatly to her delight, prescribed fresh air and +sunshine. Here often she roamed from morning till night on their +estate at St. Ouen. Madame Necker felt deeply the thwarting of her +educational plans, and years after, when her daughter had acquired +distinction, said, "It is absolutely nothing compared to what I would +have made it." + +Monsieur Necker's restriction of pensions and taxing of luxuries +soon aroused the opposition of the aristocracy, and the weak but +good-hearted King asked his minister to resign. Both wife and daughter +felt the blow keenly, for both idolized him, so much so that the +mother feared lest she be supplanted by her daughter. Madame de Staël +says of her father, "From the moment of their marriage to her death, +the thought of my mother dominated his life. He was not like other +men in power, attentive to her by occasional tokens of regard, but by +continual expressions of most tender and most delicate sentiment." +Of herself she wrote, "Our destinies would have united us forever, if +fate had only made us contemporaries." At his death she said, "If he +could be restored to me, I would give all my remaining years for six +months." To the last he was her idol. + +For the next few years the family travelled most of the time, Necker +bringing out a book on the _Finances_, which had a sale at once of a +hundred thousand copies. A previous book, the _Compte Rendu au Roi_, +showing how for years the moneys of France had been wasted, had also a +large sale. For these books, and especially for other correspondence, +he was banished forty leagues from Paris. The daughter's heart seemed +well-nigh broken at this intelligence. Loving Paris, saying she would +rather live there on "one hundred francs a year, and lodge in the +fourth story," than anywhere else in the world, how could she bear for +years the isolation of the country? Joseph II., King of Poland, and +the King of Naples, offered Necker fine positions, but he declined. + +Mademoiselle Necker had come to womanhood, not beautiful, but with +wonderful fascination and tact. She could compliment persons without +flattery, was cordial and generous, and while the most brilliant +talker, could draw to herself the thoughts and confidences of others. +She had also written a book on _Rousseau_, which was much talked +about. Pitt, of England, Count Fersen, of Sweden, and others, sought +her in marriage, but she loved no person as well as her father. Her +consent to marriage could be obtained only by the promise that she +should never be obliged to leave him. + +Baron de Staël, a man of learning and fine social position, ambassador +from Sweden, and the warm friend of Gustavus, was ready to make +any promises for the rich daughter of the Minister Necker. He was +thirty-seven, she only a little more than half his age, twenty, but +she accepted him because her parents were pleased. Going to Paris, she +was, of course, received at Court, Marie Antoinette paying her much +attention. Necker was soon recalled from exile to his old position. + +The funds rose thirty per cent, and he became the idol of the people. +Soon representative government was demanded, and then, though the King +granted it, the breach was widened. Necker, unpopular with the bad +advisers of the King, was again asked to leave Paris, and make no +noise about it; but the people, hearing of it, soon demanded his +recall, and he was hastily brought back from Brussels, riding through +the streets like "the sovereign of a nation," said his daughter. The +people were wild with delight. + +But matters had gone too far to prevent a bloody Revolution. Soon a +mob was marching toward Versailles; thousands of men, women, and even +children armed with pikes. They reached the palace, killed the guards, +and penetrated to the queen's apartments, while some filled the +court-yard and demanded bread. The brave Marie Antoinette appeared +on the balcony leading her two children, while Lafayette knelt by her +side and kissed her hand. But the people could not be appeased. + +Necker finding himself unable to serve his king longer, fled to his +Swiss retreat at Coppet, and there remained till his death. Madame +de Staël, as the wife of the Swedish ambassador, continued in the +turmoil, writing her father daily, and taking an active interest in +politics. "In England," she said, "women are accustomed to be silent +before men when political questions are discussed. In France, they +direct all conversation, and their minds readily acquire the facility +and talent which this privilege requires." Lafayette, Narbonne, +and Talleyrand consulted with her. She wrote the principal part of +Talleyrand's report on Public Instruction in 1790. She procured the +appointment of Narbonne to the ministry; and later, when Talleyrand +was in exile, obtained his appointment to the Department of Foreign +Affairs. + +Matters had gone from bad to worse. In 1792 the Swedish government +suspended its embassy, and Madame de Staël prepared to fly, but stayed +for a time to save her friends. The seven prisons of Paris were all +crowded under the fearful reign of Danton and Marat. Great heaps of +dead lay before every prison door. During that Reign of Terror it is +estimated that eighteen thousand six hundred persons perished by the +guillotine. Whole squares were shot down. "When the police visited +her house, where some of the ministers were hidden, she met them +graciously, urging that they must not violate the privacy of an +ambassador's house. When her friends were arrested, she went to the +barbarous leaders, and with her eloquence begged for their safety, and +thus saved the lives of many. + +At last she must leave the terror-stricken city. Supposing that +her rank as the wife of a foreign ambassador would protect her, she +started with a carriage and six horses, her servants in livery. At +once a crowd of half-famished and haggard women crowded around, and +threw themselves against the horses. The carriage was stopped, and the +occupants were taken to the Assembly. She plead her case before the +noted Robespierre, and then waited for six hours for the decision of +the Commune. Meantime she saw the hired assassins pass beneath the +windows, their bare arms covered with the blood of the slain. The mob +attempted to pillage her carriage, but a strong man mounted the box +and defended it. She learned afterward that it was the notorious +Santerre, the person who later superintended the execution of Louis +XVI., ordering his drummers to drown the last words of the dying King. +Santerre had seen Necker distribute corn to the poor of Paris in a +time of famine, and now he was befriending the daughter for this noble +act. Finally she was allowed to continue her journey, and reached +Coppet with her baby, Auguste, well-nigh exhausted after this terrible +ordeal. + +The Swiss home soon became a place of refuge for those who were flying +from the horrors of the Commune. She kept a faithful agent, who knew +the mountain passes, busy in this work of mercy. + +The following year, 1793, longing for a change from these dreadful +times, she visited England, and received much attention from prominent +persons, among them Fanny Burny, the author of _Evelina_, who owned +"that she had never heard conversation before. The most animated +eloquence, the keenest observation, the most sparkling wit, the most +courtly grace, were united to charm her." + +On Jan. 21 of this year, the unfortunate King had met his death on the +scaffold before an immense throng of people. Six men bound him to the +plank, and then his head was severed from his body amid the shouts +and waving of hats of the blood-thirsty crowd. Necker had begged to go +before the Convention and plead for his king, but was refused. Madame +de Staël wrote a vigorous appeal to the nation in behalf of the +beautiful and tenderhearted Marie Antoinette; but on Sept. 16, 1793, +at four o'clock in the morning, in an open cart, in the midst of +thirty thousand troops and a noisy rabble, she, too, was borne to +the scaffold; and when her pale face was held up bleeding before the +crowd, they jeered and shouted themselves hoarse. + +The next year 1794, Madame Necker died at Coppet, whispering to her +husband, "We shall see each other in Heaven." "She looked heavenward," +said Necker in a most affecting manner, "listening while I prayed; +then, in dying, raised the finger of her left hand, which wore the +ring I had given her, to remind me of the pledge engraved upon it, to +love her forever." His devotion to her was beautiful. "No language," +says his daughter, "can give any adequate idea of it. Exhausted by +wakefulness at night, she slept often in the daytime, resting her +head on his arm. I have seen him remain immovable, for hours together, +standing in the same position for fear of awakening her by the least +movement. Absent from her during a few hours of sleep, he inquired, on +his return, of her attendant, if she had asked for him? She could no +longer speak, but made an effort to say 'yes, yes.'" + +When the Revolution was over, and France had become a republic, Sweden +sent back her ambassador, Baron de Staël, and his wife returned to him +at Paris. Again her _salon_ became the centre for the great men of +the time. She loved liberty, and believed in the republican form +of government. She had written her book upon the _Influence of the +Passions on the Happiness of Individuals and Nations_, prompted by +the horrors of the Revolution, and it was considered "irresistible in +energy and dazzling in thought." + +She was also devoting much time to her child, Auguste, developing him +without punishment, thinking that there had been too much rigor in her +own childhood. He well repaid her for her gentleness and trust, and +was inseparable from her through life, becoming a noble Christian man, +and the helper of all good causes. Meantime Madame de Staël saw with +alarm the growing influence of the young Corsican officer, Bonaparte. +The chief executive power had been placed in the hands of the +Directory, and he had control of the army. He had won brilliant +victories in Italy, and had been made commander-in-chief of the +expedition against Egypt He now returned to Paris, turned out the +Directory, drove out the Council of Five Hundred from the hall of +the Assembly at the point of the bayonet, made the government into a +consulate with three consuls, of whom he was the first, and lived at +the Tuileries in almost royal style. + +All this time Madame de Staël felt the egotism and heartlessness of +Napoleon. Her _salon_ became more crowded than ever with those who +had their fears for the future. "The most eloquent of the Republican +orators were those who borrowed from her most of their ideas and +telling phrases. Most of them went forth from her door with speeches +ready for the next day, and with resolution to pronounce them--a +courage which was also derived from her." Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte, +the brothers of Napoleon, were proud of her friendship, and often were +guests at her house, until forbidden by their brother. + +When Benjamin Constant made a speech against the "rising tyranny," +Napoleon suspected that she had prompted it, and denounced her +heartily, all the time declaring that he loved the Republic, and would +always defend it! He said persons always came away from De Staël's +home "less his friends than when they entered." About this time her +book, _Literature considered in its Relation to Social Institutions_, +was published, and made a surprising impression from its wealth +of knowledge and power of thought. Its analysis of Greek and Latin +literature, and the chief works in Italian, English, German, and +French, astonished everybody, because written by a woman! + +Soon after Necker published his _Last Views of Politics and Finance_, +in which he wrote against the tyranny of a single man. At once +Napoleon caused a sharp letter to be written to Necker advising him +to leave politics to the First Consul, "who was alone able to govern +France," and threatening his daughter with exile for her supposed aid +in his book. She saw the wisdom of escaping from France, lest she be +imprisoned, and immediately hastened to Coppet. A few months later, +in the winter of 1802, she returned to Paris to bring home Baron de +Staël, who was ill, and from whom she had separated because he was +spending all her fortune and that of her three children. He died on +the journey. + +Virtually banished from France, she now wrote her _Delphine_, a +brilliant novel which was widely read. It received its name from a +singular circumstance. + +"Desirous of meeting the First Consul for some urgent reason," says +Dr. Stevens in his charming biography of Madame de Staël, "she went to +the villa of Madame de Montessan, whither he frequently resorted. She +was alone in one of the _salles_ when he arrived, accompanied by the +consular court of brilliant young women. The latter knew the growing +hostility of their master toward her, and passed, without noticing +her, to the other end of the _salle_, leaving her entirely alone. +Her position was becoming extremely painful, when a young lady, more +courageous and more compassionate than her companions, crossed the +_salle_ and took a seat by her side. Madame de Staël was touched +by this kindness, and asked for her Christian name. 'Delphine,' she +responded. 'Ah, I will try to immortalize it,' exclaimed Madame +de Staël; and she kept her word. This sensible young lady was the +Comtesse de Custine." + +Her home at Coppet became the home of many great people. Sismondi, the +author of the _History of the Italian Republics_, and _Literature of +Southern Europe_, encouraged by her, wrote here several of his famous +works. Bonstetten made his home here for years. Schlegel, the greatest +critic of his age, became the teacher of her children, and a most +intimate friend. Benjamin Constant, the author and statesman, was +here. All repaired to their rooms for work in the morning, and in the +evening enjoyed philosophic, literary, and political discussions. + +Bonstetten said: "In seeing her, in hearing her, I feel myself +electrified.... She daily becomes greater and better; but souls of +great talent have great sufferings: they are solitary in the world, +like Mont Blanc." + +In the autumn of 1803, longing for Paris, she ventured to within ten +leagues and hired a quiet home. Word was soon borne to Napoleon that +the road to her house was thronged with visitors. He at once sent an +officer with a letter signed by himself, exiling her to forty leagues +from Paris, and commanding her to leave within twenty-four hours. + +At once she fled to Germany. At Frankfort her little daughter was +dangerously ill. "I knew no person in the city," she writes. "I did +not know the language; and the physician to whom I confided my child +could not speak French. But my father shared my trouble; he consulted +physicians at Geneva, and sent me their prescriptions. Oh, what would +become of a mother trembling for the life of her child, if it were not +for prayer!" + +Going to Weimar, she met Goethe, Wieland, Schiller, and other noted +men. At Berlin, the greatest attention was shown her. The beautiful +Louise of Prussia welcomed her heartily. During this exile her father +died, with his latest breath saying," She has loved me dearly! She +has loved me dearly!" On his death-bed he wrote a letter to Bonaparte +telling him that his daughter was in nowise responsible for his book, +but it was never answered. It was enough for Napoleon to know that she +did not flatter him; therefore he wished her out of the way. + +Madame de Staël was for a time completely overcome by Necker's death. +She wore his picture on her person as long as she lived. Only once did +she part with it, and then she imagined it might console her daughter +in her illness. Giving it to her, she said, "Gaze upon it, gaze upon +it, when you are in pain." + +She now sought repose in Italy, preparing those beautiful descriptions +for her _Corinne_, and finally returning to Coppet, spent a year in +writing her book. It was published in Paris, and, says Sainte-Beuve, +"its success was instantaneous and universal. As a work of art, as a +poem, the romance of _Corinne_ is an immortal monument." Jeffrey, +in the _Edinburgh Review_, called the author the greatest writer in +France since Voltaire and Rousseau, and the greatest woman writer of +any age or country. Napoleon, however, in his official paper, caused a +scathing criticism on _Corinne_ to appear; indeed, it was declared to +be from his own pen. She was told by the Minister of Police, that she +had but to insert some praise of Napoleon in _Corinne_, and she would +be welcomed back to Paris. She could not, however, live a lie, and she +feared Napoleon had evil designs upon France. + +Again she visited Germany with her children, Schlegel, and Sismondi. +So eager was everybody to see her and hear her talk, that Bettina von +Arnim says in her correspondence with Goethe: "The gentlemen stood +around the table and planted themselves behind us, elbowing one +another. They leaned quite over me, and I said in French, 'Your +adorers quite suffocate me.'" + +While in Germany, her eldest son, then seventeen, had an interview +with Bonaparte about the return of his mother. "Your mother," said +Napoleon, "could not be six months in Paris before I should be +compelled to send her to Bicêtre or the Temple. I should regret this +necessity, for it would make a noise and might injure me a little +in public opinion. Say, therefore, to her that as long as I live she +cannot re-enter Paris. I see what you wish, but it cannot be; she will +commit follies; she will have the world about her." + +On her return to Coppet, she spent two years in writing her +_Allemagne_, for which she had been making researches for four years. +She wished it published in Paris, as _Corinne_ had been, and submitted +it to the censors of the Press. They crossed out whatever sentiments +they thought might displease Napoleon, and then ten thousand copies +were at once printed, she meantime removing to France, within her +proscribed limits, that she might correct the proof-sheets. + +What was her astonishment to have Napoleon order the whole ten +thousand destroyed, and her to leave France in three days! Her two +sons attempted to see Bonaparte, who was at Fontainebleau, but were +ordered to turn back, or they would be arrested. The only reason given +for destroying the work was the fact that she had been silent about +the great but egotistical Emperor. + +Broken in spirit, she returned to Geneva. Amid all this darkness a new +light was about to beam upon her life. In the social gatherings made +for her, she observed a young army officer, Monsieur Rocca, broken in +health from his many wounds, but handsome and noble in face, and, as +she learned, of irreproachable life. Though only twenty-three and she +forty-five, the young officer was fascinated by her conversation, +and refreshed in spirits by her presence. She sympathized with his +misfortunes in battle; she admired his courage. He was lofty in +sentiments, tender in heart, and gave her what she had always needed, +an unselfish and devoted love. When discouraged by his friends, he +replied, "I will love her so much that I will finish by making her +marry me." + +They were married in 1811, and the marriage was a singularly happy +one. The reason for it is not difficult to perceive. A marriage that +has not a pretty face or a passing fancy for its foundation, but +appreciation of a gifted mind and noble heart,--such a marriage +stands the test of time. + +The marriage was kept secret from all save a few intimate friends, +Madame de Staël fearing that if the news reached Napoleon, Rocca +would be ordered back to France. Her fears were only too well founded. +Schlegel, Madame Recamier, all who had shown any sympathy for her, +began to be exiled. She was forbidden under any pretext whatever from +travelling in Switzerland, or entering any region annexed to France. +She was advised not to go two leagues from Coppet, lest she be +imprisoned, and this with Napoleon usually meant death. + +The Emperor seemed about to conquer the whole world. Whither could she +fly to escape his persecution? She longed to reach England, but there +was an edict against any French subject entering that country without +special permit. Truly his heel was upon France. The only way to reach +that country was through Austria, Russia, and Sweden, two thousand +leagues. But she must attempt it. She passed an hour in prayer by her +parent's tomb, kissed his armchair and table, and took his cloak to +wrap herself in should death come. + +May 23, 1812, she, with Rocca and two of her children, began their +flight by carriage, not telling the servants at the chateau, but that +they should return for the next meal. + +They reached Vienna June 6, and were at once put under surveillance. +Everywhere she saw placards admonishing the officers to watch her +sharply. Rocca had to make his way alone, because Bonaparte had +ordered his arrest. They were permitted to remain only a few hours +in any place. Once Madame de Staël was so overcome by this brutal +treatment that she lost consciousness, and was obliged to be taken +from her carriage to the roadside till she recovered. Every hour she +expected arrest and death. + +Finally, worn in body, she reached Russia, and was cordially received +by Alexander and Empress Elizabeth. From here she went to Sweden, and +had an equally cordial welcome from Bernadotte, the general who +became king. Afterward she spent four months in England, bringing out +_Allemagne._ Here she received a perfect ovation. At Lord Lansdowne's +the first ladies in the kingdom mounted on chairs and tables to catch +a glimpse of her. Sir James Mackintosh said: "The whole fashionable +and literary world is occupied with Madame de Staël, the most +celebrated woman of this, or perhaps of any age." Very rare must be +the case where a woman of fine mind does not have many admirers among +gentlemen. + +Her _Allemagne_ was published in 1813, the manuscript having been +secretly carried over Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the Baltic +Sea. The first part treated of the manners of Germany; the second, its +literature and art; the third, its philosophy and morals; the fourth, +its religion. The book had a wonderful sale, and was soon translated +into all the principal tongues of Europe. Lamartine said: "Her style, +without losing any of its youthful vigor and splendor, seemed now to +be illuminated with more lofty and eternal lights as she approached +the evening of life, and the diviner mysteries of thought. This style +no longer paints, no longer chants; it adores.... Her name will live +as long as literature, as long as the history of her country." + +Meantime, great changes had taken place in France. Napoleon had been +defeated at Leipsic, leaving a quarter of a million murdered on his +battle-fields; he had abdicated, and was on his way to Elba. She +immediately returned to Paris, with much the same feeling as Victor +Hugo, when he wept as he came from his long exile under "Napoleon the +Little." Again to her _salon_ came kings and generals, Alexander of +Russia, Wellington, and others. + +But soon Napoleon returned, and she fled to Coppet. He sent her an +invitation to come to Paris, declaring he would now live for the peace +of Europe, but she could not trust him. She saw her daughter, lovely +and beautiful, married to the Duc de Broglie, a leading statesman, +and was happy in her happiness. Rocca's health was failing, and they +repaired to Italy for a time. + +In 1816 they returned to Paris, Napoleon having gone from his final +defeat to St. Helena. But Madame de Staël was broken with her trials. +She seemed to grow more and more frail, till the end came. She said +frequently, "My father awaits me on the other shore." To Chateaubriand +she said, "I have loved God, my father, and my country." She could +not and would not go to sleep the last night, for fear she might never +look upon Rocca again. He begged her to sleep and he would awaken her +often. "Good night," she said, and it was forever. She never wakened. +They buried her beside her father at Coppet, under the grand old +trees. Rocca died in seven months, at the age of thirty-one. "I +hoped," he said, "to have died in her arms." + +Her little son, and Rocca's, five years old, was cared for by Auguste +and Albertine, her daughter. After Madame de Staël's death, her +_Considerations on the French Revolution_ and _Ten Years of Exile_ +were published. Of the former, Sainte-Beuve says: "Its publication was +an event. It was the splendid public obsequies of the authoress. +Its politics were destined to long and passionate discussions and +a durable influence. She is perfect only from this day; the full +influence of her star is only at her tomb." + +Chateaubriand said, "Her death made one of those breaches which the +fall of a superior intellect produces once in an age, and which can +never be closed." + +As kind as she was great, loving deeply and receiving love in return, +she has left an imperishable name. No wonder that thousands visit that +quiet grave beside Lake Geneva. + + + + +ROSA BONHEUR + +[Illustration: ROSA BONHEUR.] + +In a simple home in Paris could have been seen, in 1829, Raymond +Bonheur and his little family,--Rosa, seven years old, August, +Isadore, and Juliette. He was a man of fine talent in painting, but +obliged to spend his time in giving drawing-lessons to support his +children. His wife, Sophie, gave lessons on the piano, going from +house to house all day long, and sometimes sewing half the night, to +earn a little more for the necessities of life. + +Hard work and poverty soon bore its usual fruit, and the tired young +mother died in 1833. The three oldest children were sent to board with +a plain woman, "La mère Cathérine," in the Champs Elysées, and the +youngest was placed with relatives. For two years this good woman +cared for the children, sending them to school, though she was greatly +troubled because Rosa persisted in playing in the woods of the Bois +de Boulogne, gathering her arms full of daisies and marigolds, rather +than to be shut up in a schoolroom. "I never spent an hour of fine +weather indoors during the whole of the two years," she has often said +since those days. + +Finally the father married again and brought the children home. The +two boys were placed in school, and M. Bonheur paid their way by +giving drawing lessons three times a week in the institution. If Rosa +did not love school, she must be taught something useful, and she was +accordingly placed in a sewing establishment to become a seamstress. + +The child hated sewing, ran the needle into her fingers at every +stitch, cried for the fresh air and sunshine, and finally, becoming +pale and sickly, was taken back to the Bonheur home. The anxious +painter would try his child once more in school; so he arranged that +she should attend, with compensation met in the same way as for his +boys. Rosa soon became a favorite with the girls in the Fauborg +St. Antoine School, especially because she could draw such witty +caricatures of the teachers, which she pasted against the wall, with +bread chewed into the consistency of putty. The teachers were not +pleased, but so struck were they with the vigor and originality of the +drawings, that they carefully preserved the sketches in an album. + +The girl was far from happy. Naturally sensitive--as what poet or +painter was ever born otherwise?--she could not bear to wear a calico +dress and coarse shoes, and eat with an iron spoon from a tin cup, +when the other girls wore handsome dresses, and had silver mugs and +spoons. She grew melancholy, neglected her books, and finally became +so ill that she was obliged to be taken home. + +And now Raymond Bonheur very wisely decided not to make plans for his +child for a time, but see what was her natural tendency. It was well +that he made this decision in time, before she had been spoiled by his +well-meant but poor intentions. + +Left to herself, she constantly hung about her father's studio, now +drawing, now modeling, copying whatever she saw him do. She seemed +never to be tired, but sang at her work all the day long. + +Monsieur Bonheur suddenly awoke to the fact that his daughter had +great talent. He began to teach her carefully, to make her accurate in +drawing, and correct in perspective. Then he sent her to the Louvre to +copy the works of the old masters. Here she worked with the greatest +industry and enthusiasm, not observing anything that was going on +around her. Said the director of the Louvre, "I have never seen an +example of such application and such ardor for work." + +One day an elderly English gentleman stopped beside her easel, and +said: "Your copy, my child, is superb, faultless. Persevere as you +have begun, and I prophesy that you will be a great artist." How glad +those few words made her! She went home thinking over to herself the +determination she had made in the school when she ate with her iron +spoon, that sometime she would be as famous as her schoolmates, and +have some of the comforts of life. + +Her copies of the old masters were soon sold, and though they brought +small prices, she gladly gave the money to her father, who needed it +now more than ever. His second wife had two sons when he married her, +and now they had a third, Germain, and every cent that Rosa could +earn was needed to help support seven children. "La mamiche," as +they called the new mother, was an excellent manager of the meagre +finances, and filled her place well. + +Rosa was now seventeen, loving landscape, historical, and genre +painting, perhaps equally; but happening to paint a goat, she was so +pleased in the work, that she determined to make animal painting a +specialty. Having no money to procure models, she must needs make long +walks into the country on foot to the farms. She would take a piece of +bread in her pocket, and generally forget to eat it. After working +all day, she would come home tired, often drenched with rain, and her +shoes covered with mud. + +She took other means to study animals. In the outskirts of Paris were +great _abattoirs_, or slaughter-pens. Though the girl tenderly loved +animals, and shrank from the sight of suffering, she forced herself to +see the killing, that she might know how to depict the death agony +on canvas. Though obliged to mingle more or less with drovers and +butchers, no indignity was ever offered her. As she sat on a bundle of +hay, with her colors about her, they would crowd around to look at +the pictures, and regard her with honest pride. The world soon +learns whether a girl is in earnest about her work, and treats her +accordingly. + +The Bonheur family had moved to the sixth story of a tenement house +in the Rue Rumfort, now the Rue Malesherbes. The sons, Auguste and +Isadore, had both become artists; the former a painter, the latter a +sculptor. Even little Juliette was learning to paint. Rosa was working +hard all day at her easel, and at night was illustrating books, or +molding little groups of animals for the figure-dealers. All the +family were happy despite their poverty, because they had congenial +work. + +On the roof, Rosa improvised a sort of garden, with honeysuckles, +sweet-peas, and nasturtiums, and here they kept a sheep, with long, +silky wool, for a model. Very often Isadore would take him on his back +and carry him down the six flights of stairs,--the day of elevators +had not dawned,--and after he had enjoyed grazing, would bring him +back to his garden home. It was a docile creature, and much loved by +the whole family. For Rosa's birds, the brothers constructed a net, +which they hung outside the window, and then opened the cage into it. + +At nineteen Rosa was to test the world, and see what the critics would +say. She sent to the Fine Arts Exhibition two pictures, "Goats and +Sheep" and "Two Rabbits." The public was pleased, and the press gave +kind notices. The next year "Animals in a Pasture," a "Cow lying in a +Meadow," and a "Horse for sale," attracted still more attention. Two +years later she exhibited twelve pictures, some from her father and +brother being hung on either side of hers, the first time they had +been admitted. More and more the critics praised, and the pathway of +the Bonheur family grew less thorny. + +Then, in 1849, when she was twenty-seven, came the triumph. Her +magnificent picture, "Cantal Oxen," took the gold medal, and was +purchased by England. Horace Vernet, the president of the commission +of awards, in the midst of a brilliant assembly, proclaimed the new +laureate, and gave her, in behalf of the government, a superb Sèvres +vase. + +Raymond Bonheur seemed to become young again at this fame of his +child. It brought honors to him also, for he was at once made director +of the government school of design for girls. But the release from +poverty and anxiety came too late, and he died the same year, greatly +lamented by his family. "He had grand ideas," said his daughter, "and +had he not been obliged to give lessons for our support, he would have +been more known, and to-day acknowledged with other masters." + +Rosa was made director in his place, and Juliette became a professor +in the school. This same year appeared her "Plowing Scene in the +Nivernais," now in the Luxembourg Gallery, thought to be her most +important work after her "Horse Fair." Orders now poured in upon her, +so that she could not accede to half the requests for work. A rich +Hollander offered her one thousand crowns for a painting which she +could have wrought in two hours; but she refused. + +Four years later, after eighteen long months of preparatory studies, +her "Horse Fair" was painted. This created the greatest enthusiasm +both in England and America. It was sold to a gentleman in England for +eight thousand dollars, and was finally purchased by A. T. Stewart, of +New York, for his famous collection. No one who has seen this picture +will ever forget the action and vigor of these Normandy horses. In +painting it, a petted horse, it is said, stepped back upon the canvas, +putting his hoof through it, thus spoiling the work of months. + +So greatly was this picture admired, that Napoleon III. was urged to +bestow upon her the Cross of the Legion of Honor, entitled her from +French usage. Though she was invited to the state dinner at the +Tuileries, always given to artists to whom the Academy of Fine Arts +has awarded its highest honors, Napoleon had not the courage to give +it to her, lest public opinion might not agree with him in conferring +it upon a woman. Possibly he felt, more than the world knew, the +insecurity of his throne. + +Henry Bacon, in the _Century_, thus describes the way in which Rosa +Bonheur finally received the badge of distinction. "The Emperor, +leaving Paris for a short summer excursion in 1865, left the Empress +as Regent. From the imperial residence at Fontainebleau it was only a +short drive to By (the home of Mademoiselle Bonheur). The countersign +at the gate was forced, and unannounced, the Empress entered the +studio where Mademoiselle Rosa was at work. She rose to receive the +visitor, who threw her arms about her neck and kissed her. It was only +a short interview. The imperial vision had departed, the rumble of +the carriage and the crack of the outriders' whips were lost in the +distance. Then, and not till then, did the artist discover that as the +Empress had given the kiss, she had pinned upon her blouse the Cross +of the Legion of Honor." Since then she has received the Leopold Cross +of Honor from the King of Belgium, said to be the first ever conferred +upon a woman; also a decoration from the King of Spain. Her brother +Auguste, now dead, received the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1867, +two years after Rosa. + +In preparing to paint the "Horse Fair" and other similar pictures, +which have brought her much into the company of men, she has found it +wise to dress in male costume. A laughable incident is related of this +mode of dress. One day when she returned from the country, she found a +messenger awaiting to announce to her the sudden illness of one of +her young friends. Rosa did not wait to change her male attire, but +hastened to the bedside of the young lady. In a few minutes after +her arrival, the doctor, who had been sent for, entered, and seeing a +young man, as he supposed, seated on the side of the bed, with his +arm round the neck of the sick girl, thought he was an intruder, and +retreated with all possible speed. "Oh! run after him! He thinks you +are my lover, and has gone and left me to die!" cried the sick girl. +Rosa flew down stairs, and soon returned with the modest doctor. + +She also needs this mannish costume, for her long journeys over +the Pyrenees into Spain or in the Scottish Highlands. She is always +accompanied by her most intimate friend, Mademoiselle Micas, herself +an artist of repute, whose mother, a widow, superintends the home for +the two devoted friends. + +Sometimes in the Pyrenees these two ladies see no one for six weeks +but muleteers with their mules. The people in these lonely mountain +passes live entirely upon the curdled milk of sheep. Once Rosa Bonheur +and her friend were nearly starving, when Mademoiselle Micas obtained +a quantity of frogs, and covering the hind legs with leaves, roasted +them over a fire. On these they lived for two days. + +In Scotland she painted her exquisite "Denizens of the Mountains," +"Morning in the Highlands," and "Crossing a Loch in the Highlands." In +England she was treated like a princess. Sir Edwin Landseer, whom some +persons thought she would marry, is reported to have said, when he +first looked upon her "Horse Fair," "It surpasses me, though it's +a little hard to be beaten by a woman." On her return to France she +brought a skye-terrier, named "Wasp," of which she is very fond, and +for which she has learned several English phrases. When she speaks to +him in English, he wags his tail most appreciatively. + +Rosa Bonheur stands at the head of her profession, an acknowledged +master. Her pictures bring enormous sums, and have brought her wealth. +A "View in the Pyrenees" has been sold for ten thousand dollars, and +some others for twice that sum. + +She gives away much of her income. She has been known to send to the +_Mont de Pieté_ her gold medals to raise funds to assist poor artists. +A woman artist, who had been refused help by several wealthy painters, +applied to Rosa Bonheur, who at once took down from the wall a small +but valuable painting, and gave it to her, from which she received a +goodly sum. A young sculptor who greatly admired her work, enclosed +twenty dollars, asking her for a small drawing, and saying that this +was all the money he possessed. She immediately sent him a sketch +worth at least two hundred dollars. She has always provided most +generously for her family, and for servants who have grown old in her +employ. + +She dresses very simply, always wearing black, brown, or gray, with +a close fitting jacket over a plain skirt. When she accepts a social +invitation, which is very rare, she adorns her dress with a lace +collar, but without other ornament. Her working dress is usually a +long gray linen or blue flannel blouse, reaching nearly from head to +foot. She has learned that the conventional tight dress of women +is not conducive to great mental or physical power. She is small +in stature, with dainty hands and feet, blue eyes, and a noble and +intelligent face. + +She is an indefatigable worker, rising usually at six in the morning, +and painting throughout the day. + +So busy is she that she seldom permits herself any amusements. On one +occasion she had tickets sent her for the theatre. She worked till the +carriage was announced. "_Je suis prête_," said Rosa, and went to the +play in her working dress. A daintily gloved man in the box next to +hers looked over in disdain, and finally went into the vestibule and +found the manager. + +"Who is this woman in the box next to mine?" he said, in a rage. +"She's in an old calico dress, covered with paint and oil. The odor is +terrible. Turn her out. If you do not, I will never enter your theatre +again." + +The manager went to the box, and returning, informed him that it was +the great painter. + +"Rosa Bonheur!" he gasped. "Who'd have thought it? Make my apology to +her. I dare not enter her presence again." + +She usually walks at the twilight, often thinking out new subjects for +her brush, at that quiet hour. She said to a friend: "I have been a +faithful student since I was ten years old. I have copied no master. I +have studied Nature, and expressed to the best of my ability the ideas +and feelings with which she has inspired me. Art is an absorbent--a +tyrant. It demands heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of the +votary. Nothing less will win its highest favor. I wed art. It is my +husband, my world, my life-dream, the air I breathe. I know nothing +else, feel nothing else, think nothing else, My soul finds in it +the most complete satisfaction.... I have no taste for general +society,--no interest in its frivolities. I only seek to be known +through my works. If the world feel and understand them, I have +succeeded.... If I had got up a convention to debate the question of +my ability to paint '_Marché au Chevaux_' [The Horse Fair], for which +England paid me forty thousand francs, the decision would have been +against me. I felt the power within me to paint; I cultivated it, and +have produced works that have won the favorable verdicts of the great +judges. I have no patience with women who ask _permission to think_!" + +For years she lived in Rue d'Assas, a retired street half made up of +gardens. Here she had one of the most beautiful studios of Paris, the +room lighted from the ceiling, the walls covered with paintings, with +here and there old armor, tapestry, hats, cloaks, sandals, and skins +of tigers, leopards, foxes, and oxen on the floor. One Friday, the day +on which she received guests, one of her friends, coming earlier +than usual, found her fast asleep on her favorite skin, that of a +magnificent ox, with stuffed head and spreading horns. She had come in +tired from the School of Design, and had thrown herself down to rest. +Usually after greeting her friends she would say, "Allow me to resume +my brush; we can talk just as well together." For those who have any +great work to do in this worlds there is little time for visiting; +interruptions cannot be permitted. No wonder Carlyle groaned when some +person had taken two hours of his time. He could better have spared +money to the visitor. + +For several years Rosa Bonheur has lived near Fontainebleau, in the +Chateau By. Henry Bacon says: "The chateau dates from the time of +Louis XV., and the garden is still laid out in the style of Le Notre. +Since it has been in the present proprietor's possession, a quaint, +picturesque brick building, containing the carriage house and +coachman's lodge on the first floor, and the studio on the second, +has been added; the roof of the main building has been raised, and the +chapel changed into an orangery: beside the main carriage-entrance, +which is closed by iron gates and wooden blinds, is a postern gate, +with a small grated opening, like those found in convents. The blinds +to the gate and the slide to the grating are generally closed, and +the only communication with the outside world is by the bell-wire, +terminating in a ring beside the gate. Ring, and the jingle of the +bell is at once echoed by the barking of numerous dogs,--the hounds +and bassets in chorus, the grand Saint Bernard in slow measure, like +the bass-drum in an orchestra. After the first excitement among the +dogs has begun to abate, a remarkably small house-pet that has been +somewhere in the interior arrives upon the scene, and with his sharp, +shrill voice again starts and leads the canine chorus. By this time +the eagle in his cage has awakened, and the parrot, whose cage is +built into the corner of the studio looking upon the street, adds to +the racket. + +"Behind the house is a large park divided from the forest by a high +wall; a lawn and flower-beds are laid out near the buildings; and on +the lawn, in pleasant weather, graze a magnificent bull and cow, +which are kept as models. In a wire enclosure are two chamois from the +Pyrenees, and further removed from the house, in the wooded part of +the park, are enclosures for sheep and deer, each of which knows its +mistress. Even the stag, bearing its six-branched antlers, receives +her caresses like a pet dog. At the end of one of the linden avenues +is a splendid bronze, by Isadore Bonheur, of a Gaul attacking a lion. + +"The studio is very large, with a huge chimney at one end, the +supports of which are life-size dogs, modeled by Isadore Bonheur. +Portraits of the father and mother in oval frames hang at each +side, and a pair of gigantic horns ornaments the centre. The room +is decorated with stuffed heads of animals of various kinds,--boars, +bears, wolves, and oxen; and birds perch in every convenient place." + +When Prussia conquered France, and swept through this town, orders +were given that Rosa Bonheur's home and paintings be carefully +preserved. Even her servants went unmolested. The peasants idolized +the great woman who lived in the chateau, and were eager to serve her. +She always talked to them pleasantly. Rosa Bonheur died at her home at +11 P.M., Thursday, May 25, 1899. + + + + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. + +[Illustration: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Rome. February. 1859] + +Ever since I had received in my girlhood, from my best friend, the +works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in five volumes in blue and gold, +I had read and re-read the pages, till I knew scores by heart. I +had longed to see the face and home of her whom the English call +"Shakespeare's daughter," and whom Edmund Clarence Stedman names "the +passion-flower of the century." + +I shall never forget that beautiful July morning spent in the Browning +home in London. The poet-wife had gone out from it, and lay buried in +Florence, but here were her books and her pictures. Here was a marble +bust, the hair clustering about the face, and a smile on the lips that +showed happiness. Near by was another bust of the idolized only child, +of whom she wrote in _Casa Guidi Windows_:-- + + "The sun strikes through the windows, up the floor: + Stand out in it, my own young Florentine, + Not two years old, and let me see thee more! + It grows along thy amber curls to shine + Brighter than elsewhere. Now look straight before + And fix thy brave blue English eyes on mine, + And from thy soul, which fronts the future so + With unabashed and unabated gaze, + Teach me to hope for what the Angels know + When they smile clear as thou dost!" + +Here was the breakfast-table at which they three had often sat +together. Close beside it hung a picture of the room in Florence, +where she lived so many years in a wedded bliss as perfect as any +known in history. Tears gathered in the eyes of Robert Browning, as he +pointed out her chair, and sofa, and writing-table. + +Of this room in Casa Guidi, Kate Field wrote in the _Atlantic +Monthly_, September, 1861: "They who have been so favored can never +forget the square ante-room, with its great picture and piano-forte, +at which the boy Browning passed many an hour; the little dining room +covered with tapestry, and where hung medallions of Tennyson, Carlyle, +and Robert Browning; the long room filled with plaster casts and +studies, which was Mr. Browning's retreat; and, dearest of all, the +large drawing-room, where _she_ always sat. It opens upon a balcony +filled with plants, and looks out upon the old iron-gray church of +Santa Felice. There was something about this room that seemed to make +it a proper and especial haunt for poets. The dark shadows and +subdued light gave it a dreamy look, which was enhanced by the +tapestry-covered walls, and the old pictures of saints that looked +out sadly from their carved frames of black wood. Large bookcases, +constructed of specimens of Florentine carving selected by Mr. +Browning, were brimming over with wise-looking books. Tables were +covered with more gayly bound volumes, the gifts of brother authors. +Dante's grave profile, a cast of Keats' face and brow taken after +death, a pen-and-ink sketch of Tennyson, the genial face of John +Kenyon, Mrs. Browning's good friend and relative, little paintings of +the boy Browning, all attracted the eye in turn, and gave rise to a +thousand musings. But the glory of all, and that which sanctified all, +was seated in a low armchair near the door. A small table, strewn with +writing materials, books and newspapers, was always by her side." + +Then Mr. Browning, in the London home, showed us the room where he +writes, containing his library and hers. The books are on simple +shelves, choice, and many very old and rare. Here are her books, many +in Greek and Hebrew. In the Greek, I saw her notes on the margin in +Hebrew, and in the Hebrew she had written her marginal notes in Greek. +Here also are the five volumes of her writings, in blue and gold. + +The small table at which she wrote still stands beside the larger +where her husband composes. His table is covered with letters and +papers and books; hers stands there unused, because it is a constant +reminder of those companionable years, when they worked together. +Close by hangs a picture of the "young Florentine," Robert Barrett +Browning, now grown to manhood, an artist already famed. He has a +refined face, as he sits in artist garb, before his easel, sketching +in a peasant's house. The beloved poet who wrote at the little table, +is endeared to all the world. Born in 1809, in the county of Durham, +the daughter of wealthy parents, she passed her early years partly in +the country in Herefordshire, and partly in the city. That she loved +the country with its wild flowers and woods, her poem, _The Lost +Bower_, plainly shows. + + "Green the land is where my daily + Steps in jocund childhood played, + Dimpled close with hill and valley, + Dappled very close with shade; + Summer-snow of apple-blossoms running up from glade to glade. + + * * * * * + + "But the wood, all close and clenching + Bough in bough and root in root,-- + No more sky (for overbranching) + At your head than at your foot,-- + Oh, the wood drew me within it, by a glamour past dispute. + + "But my childish heart beat stronger + Than those thickets dared to grow: + _I_ could pierce them! I could longer + Travel on, methought, than so. + Sheep for sheep-paths! braver children climb and creep where they + would go. + + * * * * * + + "Tall the linden-tree, and near it + An old hawthorne also grew; + And wood-ivy like a spirit + Hovered dimly round the two, + Shaping thence that bower of beauty which I sing of thus to you. + + "And the ivy veined and glossy + Was enwrought with eglantine; + And the wild hop fibred closely, + And the large-leaved columbine, + Arch of door and window mullion, did right sylvanly entwine. + + * * * * * + + "I have lost--oh, many a pleasure, + Many a hope, and many a power-- + Studious health, and merry leisure, + The first dew on the first flower! + But the first of all my losses was the losing of the bower. + + * * * * * + + "Is the bower lost then? Who sayeth + That the bower indeed is lost? + Hark! my spirit in it prayeth + Through the sunshine and the frost,-- + And the prayer preserves it greenly, to the last + and uttermost. + + "Till another open for me + In God's Eden-land unknown, + With an angel at the doorway, + White with gazing at His throne, + And a saint's voice in the palm-trees, singing, 'All is lost ... + and _won_!'" + +Elizabeth Barrett wrote poems at ten, and when seventeen, published +an _Essay on Mind, and Other Poems_. The essay was after the manner +of Pope, and though showing good knowledge of Plato and Bacon, did not +find favor with the critics. It was dedicated to her father, who was +proud of a daughter who preferred Latin and Greek to the novels of the +day. + +Her teacher was the blind Hugh Stuart Boyd, whom she praises in her +_Wine of Cyprus_. + + "Then, what golden hours were for us!-- + While we sate together there; + + * * * * * + + "Oh, our Aeschylus, the thunderous! + How he drove the bolted breath + Through the cloud to wedge it ponderous + In the gnarlèd oak beneath. + Oh, our Sophocles, the royal, + Who was born to monarch's place, + And who made the whole world loyal, + Less by kingly power than grace. + + "Our Euripides, the human, + With his droppings of warm tears, + And his touches of things common + Till they rose to touch the spheres! + Our Theocritus, our Bion, + And our Pindar's shining goals!-- + These were cup-bearers undying, + Of the wine that's meant for souls." + +More fond of books than of social life, she was laying the necessary +foundation for a noble fame. The lives of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, +George Eliot, and Margaret Fuller, emphasize the necessity of almost +unlimited knowledge, if woman would reach lasting fame. A great man +or woman of letters, without great scholarship, is well-nigh an +impossible thing. + +Nine years after her first book, _Prometheus Bound and Miscellaneous +Poems_ was published in 1835. She was now twenty-six. A translation +from the Greek of Aeschylus by a woman caused much comment, but like +the first book it received severe criticism. Several years afterward, +when she brought her collected poems before the world, she wrote: "One +early failure, a translation of the _Prometheus of Aeschylus_, which, +though happily free of the current of publication, may be remembered +against me by a few of my personal friends, I have replaced here by an +entirely new version, made for them and my conscience, in expiation of +a sin of my youth, with the sincerest application of my mature mind." +"This latter version," says Mr. Stedman, "of a most sublime tragedy +is more poetical than any other of equal correctness, and has the +fire and vigor of a master-hand. No one has succeeded better than its +author in capturing with rhymed measures the wilful rushing melody of +the tragic chorus." + +In 1835 Miss Barrett made the acquaintance of Mary Russell Mitford, +and a life-long friendship resulted. Miss Mitford says: "She was +certainly one of the most interesting persons I had ever seen. +Everybody who then saw her said the same. Of a slight, delicate +figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on either side of a most +expressive face, large tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, +a smile like a sunbeam, and such a look of youthfulness, that I had +some difficulty in persuading a friend, in whose carriage we went +together to Cheswick, that the translatress of the _Prometheus of +Aeschylus_, the authoress of the _Essay on Mind_, was old enough to +be introduced into company, in technical language, was out. We met so +constantly and so familiarly that, in spite of the difference of +age, intimacy ripened into friendship, and after my return into the +country, we corresponded freely and frequently, her letters being just +what letters ought to be,--her own talk put upon paper." + +The next year Miss Barrett, never robust, broke a blood-vessel in the +lungs. For a year she was ill, and then with her eldest and favorite +brother, was carried to Torquay to try the effect of a warmer climate. +After a year spent here, she greatly improved, and seemed likely to +recover her usual health. + +One beautiful summer morning she went on the balcony to watch her +brother and two other young men who had gone out for a sail. Having +had much experience, and understanding the coast, they allowed the +boatman to return to land. Only a few minutes out, and in plain sight, +as they were crossing the bar, the boat went down, and the three +friends perished. Their bodies even were never recovered. + +The whole town was in mourning. Posters were put upon every cliff and +public place, offering large rewards "for linen cast ashore marked +with the initials of the beloved dead; for it so chanced that all the +three were of the dearest and the best: one, an only son; the other, +the son of a widow"; but the sea was forever silent. + +The sister, who had seen her brother sink before her eyes, was utterly +prostrated. She blamed herself for his death, because he came to +Torquay for her comfort. All winter long she heard the sound of +waves ringing in her ears like the moans of the dying. From this time +forward she never mentioned her brother's name, and later, exacted +from Mr. Browning a promise that the subject should never be broached +between them. + +The following year she was removed to London in an invalid carriage, +journeying twenty miles a day. And then for seven years, in a large +darkened room, lying much of the time upon her couch, and seeing only +a few most intimate friends, the frail woman lived and wrote. Books +more than ever became her solace and joy. Miss Mitford says, "She read +almost every book worth reading, in almost every language, and gave +herself heart and soul to that poetry of which she seem born to be the +priestess." When Dr. Barry urged that she read light books, she had a +small edition of Plato bound so as to resemble a novel, and the good +man was satisfied. She understood her own needs better than he. + +When she was twenty-nine, she published _The Seraphim and Other +Poems_. The _Seraphim_ was a reverential description of two angels +watching the Crucifixion. Though the critics saw much that was +strikingly original, they condemned the frequent obscurity of meaning +and irregularity of rhyme. The next year, _The Romaunt of the Page_ +and other ballads appeared, and in 1844, when she was thirty-five, a +complete edition of her poems, opening with the _Drama of Exile_. +This was the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, the first scene +representing "the outer side of the gate of Eden shut fast with cloud, +from the depth of which revolves a sword of fire self-moved. Adam and +Eve are seen in the distance flying along the glare." + +In one of her prefaces she said: "Poetry has been to me as serious a +thing as life itself,--and life has been a _very_ serious thing; there +has been no playing at skittles for me in either. I never mistook +pleasure for the final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of +the poet. I have done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand +and head work, apart from the personal being, but as the completest +expression of that being to which I could attain,--and as work I offer +it to the public, feeling its shortcomings more deeply than any of +my readers, because measured from the height of my aspiration; but +feeling also that the reverence and sincerity with which the work was +done should give it some protection from the reverent and sincere." + +While the _Drama of Exile_ received some adverse criticism, the shorter +poems became the delight of thousands. Who has not held his breath in +reading the _Rhyme of the Duchess May_?-- + + "And her head was on his breast, where she smiled as one at rest,-- + _Toll slowly_. + 'Ring,' she cried, 'O vesper-bell, in the beech-wood's old chapelle!' + But the passing-bell rings best! + + "They have caught out at the rein, which Sir Guy threw loose--in vain,-- + _Toll slowly_. + For the horse in stark despair, with his front hoofs poised in air, + On the last verge rears amain. + + "Now he hangs, he rocks between, and his nostrils curdle in!-- + _Toll slowly_. + Now he shivers head and hoof, and the flakes of foam fall off, + And his face grows fierce and thin! + + "And a look of human woe from his staring eyes did go, + _Toll slowly_. + And a sharp cry uttered he, in a foretold agony of the headlong death below." + +Who can ever forget that immortal _Cry of the Children_, which awoke +all England to the horrors of child-labor? That, and Hood's _Song of +the Shirt_, will never die. + +Who has not read and loved one of the most tender poems in any +language, _Bertha in the Lane_?-- + + "Yes, and He too! let him stand + In thy thoughts, untouched by blame. + Could he help it, if my hand + He had claimed with hasty claim? + That was wrong perhaps--but then + Such things be--and will, again. + Women cannot judge for men. + + * * * * * + + "And, dear Bertha, let me keep + On this hand this little ring, + Which at night, when others sleep, + I can still see glittering. + Let me wear it out of sight, + In the grave,--where it will light + All the Dark up, day and night." + +No woman has ever understood better the fulness of love, or described +it more purely and exquisitely. + +One person among the many who had read Miss Barrett's poems, felt +their genius, because he had genius in his own soul, and that person +was Robert Browning. That she admired his poetic work was shown in +_Lady Geraldine's Courtship_, when Bertram reads to his lady-love:-- + + "Or at times a modern volume,--Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted idyl, + Howitt's ballad verse, or Tennyson's enchanted reverie, + Or from Browning some _Pomegranate_, which, if cut deep down the middle, + Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity." + +Mr. Browning determined to meet the unknown singer. Years later he +told the story to Elizabeth C. Kinney, when she had gone with the +happy husband and wife on a day's excursion from Florence. She says: +"Finding that the invalid did not receive strangers, he wrote her a +letter, intense with his desire to see her. She reluctantly consented +to an interview. He flew to her apartment, was admitted by the nurse, +in whose presence only could he see the deity at whose shrine he had +long worshipped. But the golden opportunity was not to be lost; love +became oblivious to any save the presence of the real of its ideal. +Then and there Robert Browning poured his impassioned soul into hers; +though his tale of love seemed only an enthusiast's dream. Infirmity +had hitherto so hedged her about, that she deemed herself forever +protected from all assaults of love. Indeed, she felt only injured +that a fellow-poet should take advantage, as it were, of her +indulgence in granting him an interview, and requested him to withdraw +from her presence, not attempting any response to his proposal, which +she could not believe in earnest. Of course, he withdrew from her +sight, but not to withdraw the offer of his heart and hand; on the +contrary, to repeat it by letter, and in such wise as to convince her +how 'dead in earnest' he was. Her own heart, touched already when she +knew it not, was this time fain to listen, be convinced, and overcome. + +"As a filial daughter, Elizabeth told her father of the poet's love, +and of the poet's love in return, and asked a parent's blessing to +crown their happiness. At first he was incredulous of the strange +story; but when the truth flashed on him from the new fire in +her eyes, he kindled with rage, and forbade her ever seeing or +communicating with her lover again, on the penalty of disinheritance +and banishment forever from a father's love. This decision was founded +on no dislike for Mr. Browning personally, or anything in him or his +family; it was simply arbitrary. But the new love was stronger +than the old in her,--it conquered." Mr. Barrett never forgave his +daughter, and died unreconciled, which to her was a great grief. + +In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett arose from her sick-bed to marry the man +of her choice, who took her at once to Italy, where she spent fifteen +happy years. At once, love seemed to infuse new life into the delicate +body and renew the saddened heart. She was thirty-seven. She had +wisely waited till she found a person of congenial tastes and kindred +pursuits. Had she married earlier, it is possible that the cares of +life might have deprived the world of some of her noblest works. + +The marriage was an ideal one. Both had a grand purpose in life. +Neither individual was merged in the other. George S. Hillard, in his +_Six Months in Italy_, when he visited the Brownings the year after +their marriage, says, "A happier home and a more perfect union than +theirs it is not easy to imagine; and this completeness arises not +only from the rare qualities which each possesses, but from their +perfect adaptation to each other.... Nor is she more remarkable +for genius and learning, than for sweetness of temper and purity of +spirit. It is a privilege to know such beings singly and separately, +but to see their powers quickened, and their happiness rounded, by the +sacred tie of marriage, is a cause for peculiar and lasting gratitude. +A union so complete as theirs--in which the mind has nothing to +crave nor the heart to sigh for--is cordial to behold and soothing to +remember." + +"Mr. Browning," says one who knew him well, "did not fear to speak +of his wife's genius, which he did almost with awe, losing himself so +entirely in her glory that one could see that he did not feel worthy +to unloose her shoe-latchet, much less to call her his own." + +When mothers teach their daughters to cultivate their minds as did +Mrs. Browning, as well as to emulate her sweetness of temper, then +will men venerate women for both mental and moral power. A love that +has reverence for its foundation knows no change. + +"Mrs. Browning's conversation was most interesting. She never made an +insignificant remark. All that she said was _always_ worth hearing; a +greater compliment could not be paid her. She was a most conscientious +listener, giving you her mind and heart, as well as her magnetic eyes. +_Persons_ were never her theme, unless public characters were under +discussion, or friends were to be praised. One never dreamed of +frivolities in Mrs. Browning's presence, and gossip felt itself out +of place. Yourself, not herself, was always a pleasant subject to her, +calling out all her best sympathies in joy, and yet more in sorrow. +Books and humanity, great deeds, and above all, politics, which +include all the grand questions of the day, were foremost in her +thoughts, and therefore oftenest on her lips. I speak not of religion, +for with her everything was religion. + +"Thoughtful in the smallest things for others, she seemed to give +little thought to herself. The first to see merit, she was the last +to censure faults, and gave the praise that she felt with a generous +hand. No one so heartily rejoiced at the success of others, no one +was so modest in her own triumphs. She loved all who offered her +affection, and would solace and advise with any. Mrs. Browning +belonged to no particular country; the world was inscribed upon the +banner under which she fought. Wrong was her enemy; against this she +wrestled, in whatever part of the globe it was to be found." + +Three years after her marriage her only son was born. The Italians +ever after called her "the mother of the beautiful child." And now +some of her ablest and strongest work was done. Her _Casa Guidi +Windows_ appeared in 1851. It is the story of the struggle for Italian +liberty. In the same volume were published the _Portuguese Sonnets_, +really her own love-life. It would be difficult to find any thing more +beautiful than these. + + "First time he kissed me he but only kissed + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write, + And ever since, it grew more clean and white, + Slow to world-greetings, quick with its 'Oh, list,' + When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst + I could not wear here, plainer to my sight, + Than that first kiss. The second passed in height + The first, and sought the forehead, and half-missed + Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed! + That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown + With sanctifying sweetness, did precede. + The third upon my lips was folded down + In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed, + I have been proud and said, 'My love, my own!' + + * * * * * + + How do I love thee? Let me count the ways, + I love thee to the depth and breadth and height + My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight + For the ends of being and ideal Grace. + I love thee to the level of every day's + Most quiet need, by sun and candle light. + I love thee freely, as men strive for Right, + I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. + I love thee with the passion put to use + In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. + I love thee with a love I seemed to lose + With my lost saints--I love thee with the breath, + Smiles, tears of all my life!--and, if God choose, + I shall but love thee better after death." + +Mrs. Browning's next great poem, in 1856, was _Aurora Leigh_, a novel +in blank verse, "the most mature," she says in the preface, "of my +works, and the one into which my highest convictions upon Life and Art +have entered." Walter Savage Landor said of it: "In many pages there +is the wild imagination of Shakespeare. I had no idea that any one in +this age was capable of such poetry." + +For fifteen years this happy wedded life, with its work of brain and +hand, had been lived, and now the bond was to be severed. In June, +1861, Mrs. Browning took a severe cold, and was ill for nearly a week. +No one thought of danger, though Mr. Browning would not leave her +bedside. On the night of June 29, toward morning she seemed to be in +a sort of ecstasy. She told her husband of her love for him, gave +him her blessing, and raised herself to die in his arms. "It is +beautiful," were her last words as she caught a glimpse of some +heavenly vision. On the evening of July 1, she was buried in the +English cemetery, in the midst of sobbing friends, for who could carry +out that request?-- + + "And friends, dear friends, when it shall be + That this low breath is gone from me, + And round my bier ye come to weep, + Let one most loving of you all + Say, 'Not a tear must o'er her fall,-- + He giveth his beloved sleep!'" + +The Italians, who loved her, placed on the doorway of Casa Guidi a +white marble tablet, with the words:-- + +"_Here wrote and died E.B. Browning, who, in the heart of a woman, +united the science of a sage and the spirit of a poet, and made with +her verse a golden ring binding Italy and England. + +"Grateful Florence placed this memorial, 1861_." + +For twenty-five years Robert Browning and his artist-son have done +their work, blessed with the memory of her whom Mr. Stedman calls +"the most inspired woman, so far as known, of all who have composed in +ancient or modern tongues, or flourished in any land or time." + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT. + +[Illustration: GEORGE ELIOT--1864.] + +Going to the Exposition at New Orleans, I took for reading on the +journey, the life of George Eliot, by her husband, Mr. J.W. Cross, +written with great delicacy and beauty. An accident delayed us, so +that for three days I enjoyed this insight into a wonderful life. I +copied the amazing list of books she had read, and transferred to my +note-book many of her beautiful thoughts. To-day I have been reading +the book again; a clear, vivid picture of a very great woman, whose +works, says the _Spectator_, "are the best specimens of powerful, +simple English, since Shakespeare." + +What made her a superior woman? Not wealthy parentage; not congenial +surroundings. She had a generous, sympathetic heart for a foundation, +and on this she built a scholarship that even few men can equal. She +loved science, and philosophy, and language, and mathematics, and grew +broad enough to discuss great questions and think great thoughts. And +yet she was affectionate, tender, and gentle. + +Mary Ann Evans was born Nov. 22, 1819, at Arbury Farm, a mile from +Griff, in Warwickshire, England. When four months old the family +moved to Griff, where the girl lived till she was twenty-one, in a +two-story, old-fashioned, red brick house, the walls covered with +ivy. Two Norway firs and an old yew-tree shaded the lawn. The father, +Robert Evans, a man of intelligence and good sense, was bred a builder +and carpenter, afterward becoming a land-agent for one of the large +estates. The mother was a woman of sterling character, practical and +capable. + +For the three children, Christiana, Isaac, and Mary Ann, there was +little variety in the commonplace life at Griff. Twice a day the coach +from Birmingham to Stamford passed by the house, and the coachman +and guard in scarlet were a great diversion. She thus describes, the +locality in _Felix Holt_: "Here were powerful men walking queerly, +with knees bent outward from squatting in the mine, going home to +throw themselves down in their blackened flannel, and sleep through +the daylight, then rise and spend much of their high wages at the +alehouse with their fellows of the Benefit Club; here the pale, eager +faces of handloom weavers, men and women, haggard from sitting up late +at night to finish the week's work, hardly begun till the Wednesday. +Everywhere the cottages and the small children were dirty, for the +languid mothers gave their strength to the loom." + +Mary Ann was an affectionate, sensitive child, fond of out-door +sports, imitating everything she saw her brother do, and early in +life feeling in her heart that she was to be "somebody." When but four +years old, she would seat herself at the piano and play, though she +did not know one note from another, that the servant might see that +she was a distinguished person! Her life was a happy one, as is shown +in her _Brother and Sister Sonnet_:-- + + "But were another childhood's world my share, + I would be born a little sister there." + +At five, the mother being in poor health, the child was sent to a +boarding-school with her sister, Chrissy, where she remained three or +four years. The older scholars petted her, calling her "little mamma." +At eight she went to a larger school, at Nuneaton, where one of the +teachers, Miss Lewis, became her life-long friend. The child had the +greatest fondness for reading, her first book, a _Linnet's Life_, +being tenderly cared for all her days. _Aesop's Fables_ were read and +re-read. At this time a neighbor had loaned one of the Waverley novels +to the older sister, who returned it before Mary Ann had finished +it. Distressed at this break in the story, she began to write out as +nearly as she could remember, the whole volume for herself. Her amazed +family re-borrowed the book, and the child was happy. The mother +sometimes protested against the use of so many candles for night +reading, and rightly feared that her eyes would be spoiled. + +At the next school, at Coventry, Mary Ann so surpassed her comrades +that they stood in awe of her, but managed to overcome this when +a basket of dainties came in from the country home. In 1836 the +excellent mother died. Mary Ann wrote to a friend in after life, "I +began at sixteen to be acquainted with the unspeakable grief of a last +parting, in the death of my mother." In the following spring Chrissy +was married, and after a good cry with her brother over this breaking +up of the home circle, Mary Ann took upon herself the household +duties, and became the care-taker instead of the school-girl. Although +so young she took a leading part in the benevolent work of the +neighborhood. + +Her love for books increased. She engaged a well-known teacher to come +from Coventry and give her lessons in French, German, and Italian, +while another helped her in music, of which she was passionately fond. +Later, she studied Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. Shut up in +the farm-house, hungering for knowledge, she applied herself with +a persistency and earnestness that by-and-by were to bear their +legitimate fruit. That she felt the privation of a collegiate course +is undoubted. She says in _Daniel Deronda_: "You may try, but you can +never imagine what it is to have a man's force of genius in you, and +yet to suffer the slavery of being a girl." + +She did not neglect her household duties. One of her hands, which +were noticeable for their beauty of shape, was broader than the other, +which, she used to say with some pride, was owing to the butter +and cheese she had made. At twenty she was reading the _Life of +Wilberforce_, Josephus' _History of the Jews_, Spenser's _Faery Queen, +Don Quixote_, Milton, Bacon, Mrs. Somerville's _Connection of the +Physical Sciences_, and Wordsworth. The latter was always an especial +favorite, and his life, by Frederick Myers in the _Men of Letters_ +series, was one of the last books she ever read. + +Already she was learning the illimitableness of knowledge. "For my +part," she says, "I am ready to sit down and weep at the impossibility +of my understanding or barely knowing a fraction of the sum of objects +that present themselves for our contemplation in books and in life." + +About this time Mr. Evans left the farm, and moved to Foleshill, near +Coventry. The poor people at Griff were very sorry, and said, "We +shall never have another Mary Ann Evans." Marian, as she was now +called, found at Foleshill a few intellectual and companionable +friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bray, both authors, and Miss Hennell, their +sister. + +Through the influence of these friends she gave up some of her +evangelical views, but she never ceased to be a devoted student +and lover of the Bible. She was happy in her communing with nature. +"Delicious autumn," she said. "My very soul is wedded to it, and if +I were a bird, I would fly about the earth, seeking the successive +autumns.... I have been revelling in Nichol's _Architecture, of +the Heavens and Phenomena of the Solar System_, and have been in +imagination winging my flight from system to system, from universe to +universe." + +In 1844, when Miss Evans was twenty-five years old, she began the +translation of Strauss' _Life of Jesus_. The lady who was to marry +Miss Hennell's brother had partially done the work, and asked Miss +Evans to finish it. For nearly three years she gave it all the time at +her command, receiving only one hundred dollars for the labor. + +It was a difficult and weary work. "When I can work fast," she said, +"I am never weary, nor do I regret either that the work has been begun +or that I have undertaken it. I am only inclined to vow that I will +never translate again, if I live to correct the sheets for Strauss." +When the book was finished, it was declared to be "A faithful, +elegant, and scholarlike translation ... word for word, thought for +thought, and sentence for sentence." Strauss himself was delighted +with it. + +The days passed as usual in the quiet home. Now she and her father, +the latter in failing health, visited the Isle of Wight, and saw +beautiful Alum Bay, with its "high precipice, the strata upheaved +perpendicularly in rainbow,--like streaks of the brightest maize, +violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and brilliant white,--worn by the +weather into fantastic fretwork, the deep blue sky above, and the +glorious sea below." Who of us has not felt this same delight in +looking upon this picture, painted by nature? + +Now Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as other famous people, visited the +Bray family. Miss Evans writes: "I have seen Emerson,--the first _man_ +I have ever seen." High praise indeed from our "great, calm soul," +as he called Miss Evans. "I am grateful for the Carlyle eulogium (on +Emerson). I have shed some quite delicious tears over it. This is +a world worth abiding in while one man can thus venerate and love +another." + +Each evening she played on the piano to her admiring father, and +finally, through months of illness, carried him down tenderly to the +grave. He died May 31, 1849. + +Worn with care, Miss Evans went upon the Continent with the Brays, +visiting Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, and finally resting for some +months at Geneva'. As her means were limited, she tried to sell her +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ at half-price, so that she could have money +for music lessons, and to attend a course of lectures on experimental +physics, by the renowned Professor de la Rive. She was also carefully +reading socialistic themes, Proudhon, Rousseau, and others. She wrote +to friends: "The days are really only two hours long, and I have so +many things to do that I go to bed every night miserable because I +have left out something I meant to do.... I take a dose of mathematics +every day to prevent my brain from becoming quite soft." + +On her return to England, she visited the Brays, and met Mr. Chapman, +the editor of the _Westminster Review_, and Mr. Mackay, upon whose +_Progress of the Intellect_ she had just written a review. Mr. Chapman +must have been deeply impressed with the learning and ability of Miss +Evans, for he offered her the position of assistant editor of the +magazine,--a most unusual position for a woman, since its contributors +were Froude, Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and other able men. + +Miss Evans accepted, and went to board with Mr. Chapman's family in +London. How different this from the quiet life at Foleshill! The best +society, that is, the greatest in mind, opened wide its doors to her. +Herbert Spencer, who had just published _Social Statics_, became one of +her best friends. Harriet Martineau came often to see her. Grote was +very friendly. + +The woman-editor was now thirty-two; her massive head covered with +brown curls, blue-gray eyes, mobile, sympathetic mouth, strong +chin, pale face, and soft, low voice, like Dorothea's in +_Middlemarch_,--"the voice of a soul that has once lived in an Aeolian +harp." Mr. Bray thought that Miss Evans' head, after that of Napoleon, +showed the largest development from brow to ear of any person's +recorded. + +She had extraordinary power of expression, and extraordinary +psychological powers, but her chief attraction was her universal +sympathy. "She essentially resembled Socrates," says Mathilde Blind, +"in her manner of eliciting whatsoever capacity for thought might +be latent in the people she came in contact with; were it only a +shoemaker or day-laborer, she would never rest till she had found out +in what points that particular man differed from other men of his +class. She always rather educed what was in others than impressed +herself on them; showing much kindliness of heart in drawing out +people who were shy. Sympathy was the keynote of her nature, the +source of her iridescent humor, of her subtle knowledge of character, +of her dramatic genius." No person attains to permanent fame without +sympathy. + +Miss Evans now found her heart and hands full of work. Her first +article was a review of Carlyle's _Life of John Sterling_. She was +fond of biography. She said: "We have often wished that genius would +incline itself more frequently to the task of the biographer, +that when some great or good person dies, instead of the dreary +three-or-five volume compilation of letter and diary and detail, +little to the purpose, which two-thirds of the public have not the +chance, nor the other third the inclination, to read, we could have +a real 'life,' setting forth briefly and vividly the man's inward and +outward struggles, aims, and achievements, so as to make clear the +meaning which his experience has for his fellows. + +"A few such lives (chiefly autobiographies) the world possesses, +and they have, perhaps, been more influential on the formation of +character than any other kind of reading.... It is a help to read such +a life as Margaret Fuller's. How inexpressibly touching that passage +from her journal, 'I shall always reign through the intellect, but the +life! the life! O my God! shall that never be sweet?' I am thankful, +as if for myself, that it was sweet at last." + +The great minds which Miss Evans met made life a constant joy, though +she was frail in health. Now Herbert Spencer took her to hear _William +Tell_ or the _Creation_. She wrote of him: "We have agreed that we +are not in love with each other, and that there is no reason why we +should not have as much of each other's society as we like. He is a +good, delightful creature, and I always feel better for being with +him.... My brightest spot, next to my love of _old_ friends, is the +deliciously calm, _new_ friendship that Herbert Spencer gives me. +We see each other every day, and have a delightful _camaraderie_ in +everything. But for him my life would be desolate enough." + +There is no telling what this happy friendship might have resulted in, +if Mr. Spencer had not introduced to Miss Evans, George Henry Lewes, a +man of brilliant conversational powers, who had written a _History of +Philosophy_, two novels, _Ranthorpe_, and _Rose, Blanche, and Violet_, +and was a contributor to several reviews. Mr. Lewes was a witty +and versatile man, a dramatic critic, an actor for a short time, +unsuccessful as an editor of a newspaper, and unsuccessful in his +domestic relations. + +That he loved Miss Evans is not strange; that she admired him, while +she pitied him and his three sons in their broken home-life, is +perhaps not strange. At first she did not like him, nor did Margaret +Fuller, but Miss Evans says: "Mr. Lewes is kind and attentive, and has +quite won my regard, after having had a good deal of my vituperation. +Like a few other people in the world, he is much better than he seems. +A man of heart and conscience wearing a mask of flippancy." + +Miss Evans tired of her hard work, as who does not in this working +world? "I am bothered to death," she writes, "with article-reading and +scrap-work of all sorts; it is clear my poor head will never produce +anything under these circumstances; _but I am patient_.... I had +a long call from George Combe yesterday. He says he thinks the +_Westminster_ under _my_ management the most important means of +enlightenment of a literary nature in existence; the _Edinburgh_, +under Jeffrey, nothing to it, etc. I wish _I_ thought so too." + +Sick with continued headaches, she went up to the English lakes to +visit Miss Martineau. The coach, at half-past six in the evening, +stopped at "The Knoll," and a beaming face came to welcome her. During +the evening, she says, "Miss Martineau came behind me, put her hands +round me, and kissed me in the prettiest way, telling me she was so +glad she had got me here." + +Meantime Miss Evans was writing learned and valuable articles on +_Taxation, Woman in France, Evangelical Teaching_, etc. She received +five hundred dollars yearly from her father's estate, but she lived +simply, that she might spend much of this for poor relations. + +In 1854 she resigned her position on the _Westminster_, and went with +Mr. Lewes to Germany, forming a union which thousands who love her +must regard as the great mistake of a very great life. + +Mr. Lewes was collecting materials for his _Life of Goethe_. This took +them to Goethe's home at Weimar. "By the side of the bed," she says, +"stands a stuffed chair where he used to sit and read while he drank +his coffee in the morning. It was not until very late in his life that +he adopted the luxury of an armchair. From the other side of the +study one enters the library, which is fitted up in a very make-shift +fashion, with rough deal shelves, and bits of paper, with Philosophy, +History, etc., written on them, to mark the classification of the +books. Among such memorials one breathes deeply, and the tears rush to +one's eyes." + +George Eliot met Liszt, and "for the first time in her life beheld +real inspiration,--for the first time heard the true tones of the +piano." Rauch, the great sculptor, called upon them, and "won our +hearts by his beautiful person and the benignant and intelligent charm +of his conversation." + +Both writers were hard at work. George Eliot was writing an article +on _Weimar_ for _Fraser_, on _Cumming_ for _Westminster_, and +translating Spinoza's _Ethics_. No name was signed to these +productions, as it would not do to have it known that a woman wrote +them. The education of most women was so meagre that the articles +would have been considered of little value. Happily Girton and Newnham +colleges are changing this estimate of the sex. Women do not like +to be regarded as inferior; then they must educate themselves as +thoroughly as the best men are educated. + +Mr. Lewes was not well. "This is a terrible trial to us poor +scribblers," she writes, "to whom health is money, as well as all +other things worth having." They had but one sitting-room between +them, and the scratching of another pen so affected her nerves, as to +drive her nearly wild. Pecuniarily, life was a harder struggle than +ever, for there were four more mouths to be fed,--Mr. Lewes' three +sons and their mother. + +"Our life is intensely occupied, and the days are far too short," +she writes. They were reading in every spare moment, twelve plays of +Shakespeare, Goethe's works, _Wilhelm Meister, Götz von Berlichingen, +Hermann and Dorothea, Iphigenia, Wanderjahre, Italianische Reise_, +and others; Heine's poems; Lessing's _Laocoön_ and _Nathan the +Wise_; Macaulay's _History of England_; Moore's _Life of Sheridan_; +Brougham's _Lives of Men of Letters_; White's _History of Selborne_; +Whewell's _History of Inductive Sciences_; Boswell; Carpenter's +_Comparative Physiology_; Jones' _Animal Kingdom_; Alison's _History +of Europe_; Kahnis' _History of German Protestantism_; Schrader's +_German Mythology_; Kingsley's _Greek Heroes_; and the _Iliad_ and +_Odyssey_ in the original. She says, "If you want delightful reading, +get Lowell's _My Study Windows_, and read the essays called _My Garden +Acquaintances_ and _Winter_." No wonder they were busy. + +On their return from Germany they went to the sea-shore, that Mr. +Lewes might perfect his _Sea-side Studies_. George Eliot entered +heartily into the work. "We were immensely excited," she says, "by the +discovery of this little red mesembryanthemum. It was a _crescendo_ of +delight when we found a 'strawberry,' and a _fortissimo_ when I, for +the first time, saw the pale, fawn-colored tentacles of an _Anthea +cereus_ viciously waving like little serpents in a low-tide pool." +They read here Gosse's _Rambles on the Devonshire Coast_, Edward's +_Zoology_, Harvey's sea-side book, and other scientific works. + +And now at thirty-seven George Eliot was to begin her creative work. +Mr. Lewes had often said to her, "You have wit, description, and +philosophy--those go a good way towards the production of a novel." +"It had always been a vague dream of mine," she says, "that sometime +or other I might write a novel ... but I never went further toward +the actual writing than an introductory chapter, describing a +Staffordshire village, and the life of the neighboring farm-houses; +and as the years passed on I lost any hope that. I should ever be +able to write a novel, just as I desponded about everything else in my +future life. I always thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both +of construction and dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease in the +descriptive parts." + +After she had written a portion of _Amos Barton_ in her _Scenes of +Clerical Life_, she read it to Mr. Lewes, who told her that now he +was sure she could write good dialogue, but not as yet sure about her +pathos. One evening, in his absence, she wrote the scene describing +Milly's death, and read it to Mr. Lewes, on his return. "We both cried +over it," she says, "and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying, +'I think your pathos is better than your fun!'" + +Mr. Lewes sent the story to Blackwood, with the signature of "George +Eliot,"--the first name chosen because it was his own name, and the +last because it pleased her fancy. Mr. Lewes wrote that this story +by a friend of his, showed, according to his judgment, "such humor, +pathos, vivid presentation, and nice observation as have not been +exhibited, in this style, since the _Vicar of Wakefield_." + +Mr. John Blackwood accepted the story, but made some comments which +discouraged the author from trying another. Mr. Lewes wrote him the +effects of his words, which he hastened to withdraw, as there was so +much to be said in praise that he really desired more stories from the +same pen, and sent her a check for two hundred and fifty dollars. + +This was evidently soothing, as _Mr. Gilfil's Love Story_ and _Janet's +Repentance_ were at once written. Much interest began to be expressed +about the author. Some said Bulwer wrote the sketches. Thackeray +praised them, and Arthur Helps said, "He is a great writer." Copies of +the stories bound together, with the title _Scenes of Clerical +Life_, were sent to Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Ruskin, and +Faraday. Dickens praised the humor and the pathos, and thought the +author was a woman. + +Jane Welch Carlyle thought it "a _human_ book, written out of the +heart of a live man, not merely out of the brain of an author, full +of tenderness and pathos, without a scrap of sentimentality, of sense +without dogmatism, of earnestness without twaddle--a book that makes +one feel friends at once and for always with the man or woman who +wrote it." She guessed the author was "a man of middle age, with a +wife, from whom he has got those beautiful _feminine_ touches in his +book, a good many children, and a dog that he has as much fondness for +as I have for my little Nero." + +Mr. Lewes was delighted, and said, "Her fame is beginning." George +Eliot was growing happier, for her nature had been somewhat +despondent. She used to say, "Expecting disappointments is the only +form of hope with which I am familiar." She said, "I feel a deep +satisfaction in having done a bit of faithful work that will perhaps +remain, like a primrose-root in the hedgerow, and gladden and chasten +human hearts in years to come." "'Conscience goes to the hammering +in of nails' is my gospel," she would say. "Writing is part of my +religion, and I can write no word that is not prompted from within. +At the same time I believe that almost all the best books in the world +have been written with the hope of getting money for them." + +"My life has deepened unspeakably during the last year: I feel a +greater capacity for moral and intellectual enjoyment, a more acute +sense of my deficiencies in the past, a more solemn desire to be +faithful to coming duties." + +For _Scenes of Clerical Life_ she received six hundred dollars for the +first edition, and much more after her other books appeared. + +And now another work, a longer one, was growing in her mind, _Adam +Bede_, the germ of which, she says, was an anecdote told her by her +aunt, Elizabeth Evans, the Dinah Morris of the book. A very ignorant +girl had murdered her child, and refused to confess it. Mrs. Evans, +who was a Methodist preacher, stayed with her all night, praying with +her, and at last she burst into tears and confessed her crime. +Mrs. Evans went with her in the cart to the place of execution, and +ministered to the unhappy girl till death came. + +When the first pages of _Adam Bede_ were shown to Mr. Blackwood, +he said, "That will do." George Eliot and Mr. Lewes went to Munich, +Dresden, and Vienna for rest and change, and she prepared much of the +book in this time. When it was finished, she wrote on the manuscript, +_Jubilate_. "To my dear husband, George Henry Lewes, I give the Ms. of +a work which would never have been written but for the happiness which +his love has conferred on my life." + +For this novel she received four thousand dollars for the copyright +for four years. Fame had actually come. All the literary world were +talking about it. John Murray said there had never been such a book. +Charles Reade said, putting his finger on Lisbeth's account of her +coming home with her husband from their marriage, "the finest thing +since Shakespeare." A workingman wrote: "Forgive me, dear sir, my +boldness in asking you to give us a cheap edition. You would confer on +us a great boon. I can get plenty of trash for a few pence, but I am +sick of it." Mr. Charles Buxton said, in the House of Commons: "As the +farmer's wife says in _Adam Bede_, 'It wants to be hatched over again +and hatched different.'" This of course greatly helped to popularize +the book. + +To George Eliot all this was cause for the deepest gratitude. They +were able now to rent a home at Wandworth, and move to it at once. +The poverty and the drudgery of life seemed over. She said: "I sing my +magnificat in a quiet way, and have a great deal of deep, silent joy; +but few authors, I suppose, who have had a real success, have known +less of the flush and the sensations of triumph that are talked of as +the accompaniments of success. I often think of my dreams when I was +four or five and twenty. I thought then how happy fame would make +me.... I am assured now that _Adam Bede_ was worth writing,--worth +living through those long years to write. But now it seems impossible +that I shall ever write anything so good and true again." Up to this +time the world did not know who George Eliot was; but as a man by +the name of Liggins laid claim to the authorship, and tried to borrow +money for his needs because Blackwood would not pay him, the real name +of the author had to be divulged. + +Five thousand copies of _Adam Bede_ were sold the first two weeks, and +sixteen thousand the first year. So excellent was the sale that Mr. +Blackwood sent her four thousand dollars in addition to the first +four. The work was soon translated into French, German, and Hungarian. +Mr. Lewes' _Physiology of Common Life_ was now published, but it +brought little pecuniary return. + +The reading was carried on as usual by the two students. The _Life +of George Stephenson_; the _Electra_ of Sophocles; the _Agamemnon_ of +Aeschylus, Harriet Martineau's _British Empire in India_; and _History +of the Thirty Years' Peace_; Béranger, _Modern Painters_, containing +some of the finest writing of the age; Overbech on Greek art; Anna +Mary Howitt's book on Munich; Carlyle's _Life of Frederick the Great_; +Darwin's _Origin of Species_; Emerson's _Man the Reformer_, "which +comes to me with fresh beauty and meaning"; Buckle's _History of +Civilization_; Plato and Aristotle. + +An American publisher now offered her six thousand dollars for a book, +but she was obliged to decline, for she was writing the _Mill on the +Floss_, in 1860, for which Blackwood gave her ten thousand dollars +for the first edition of four thousand copies, and Harper & Brothers +fifteen hundred dollars for using it also. Tauchnitz paid her five +hundred for the German reprint. + +She said: "I am grateful and yet rather sad to have finished; sad that +I shall live with my people on the banks of the Floss no longer. But +it is time that I should go, and absorb some new life and gather fresh +ideas." They went at once to Italy, where they spent several months in +Florence, Venice, and Rome. + +In the former city she made her studies for her great novel, _Romola_. +She read Sismondi's _History of the Italian Republics_, Tenneman's +_History of Philosophy_, T.A. Trollope's _Beata_, Hallam on the _Study +of Roman Law in the Middle Ages_, Gibbon on the _Revival of Greek +Learning_, Burlamachi's _Life of Savonarola_; also Villari's life +of the great preacher, Mrs. Jameson's _Sacred and Legendary Art_, +Machiavelli's works, Petrarch's Letters, _Casa Guidi Windows_, Buhle's +_History of Modern Philosophy_, Story's _Roba di Roma_, Liddell's +_Rome_, Gibbon, Mosheim, and one might almost say the whole range of +Italian literature in the original. Of Mommsen's _History of Rome_ +she said, "It is so fine that I count all minds graceless who read it +without the deepest stirrings." + +The study necessary to make one familiar with fifteenth century times +was almost limitless. No wonder she told Mr. Cross, years afterward, +"I began _Romola_ a young woman, I finished it an old woman"; but +that, with _Adam Bede_ and _Middlemarch_, will be her monument. "What +courage and patience," she says, "are wanted for every life that +aims to produce anything!" "In authorship I hold carelessness to be +a mortal sin." "I took unspeakable pains in preparing to write +_Romola_." + +For this one book, on which she spent a year and a half, _Cornhill +Magazine_ paid her the small fortune of thirty-five thousand dollars. +She purchased a pleasant home, "The Priory," Regent's Park, where she +made her friends welcome, though she never made calls upon any, for +lack of time. She had found, like Victor Hugo, that time is a very +precious thing for those who wish to succeed in life. Browning, +Huxley, and Herbert Spencer often came to dine. + +Says Mr. Cross, in his admirable life: "The entertainment was +frequently varied by music when any good performer happened to be +present. I think, however, that the majority of visitors delighted +chiefly to come for the chance of a few words with George Eliot +alone. When the drawing-room door of the Priory opened, a first glance +revealed her always in the same low arm-chair on the left-hand side +of the fire. On entering, a visitor's eye was at once arrested by the +massive head. The abundant hair, streaked with gray now, was draped +with lace, arranged mantilla fashion, coming to a point at the top +of the forehead. If she were engaged in conversation, her body was +usually bent forward with eager, anxious desire to get as close as +possible to the person with whom she talked. She had a great +dislike to raising her voice, and often became so wholly absorbed in +conversation that the announcement of an in-coming visitor failed to +attract her attention; but the moment the eyes were lifted up, and +recognized a friend, they smiled a rare welcome--sincere, cordial, +grave--a welcome that was felt to come straight from the heart, not +graduated according to any social distinction." + +After much reading of Fawcett, Mill, and other writers on political +economy, _Felix Holt_ was written, in 1866, and for this she received +from Blackwood twenty-five thousand dollars. + +Very much worn with her work, though Mr. Lewes relieved her in every +way possible, by writing letters and looking over all criticisms of +her books, which she never read, she was obliged to go to Germany for +rest. + +In 1868 she published her long poem, _The Spanish Gypsy_, reading +Spanish literature carefully, and finally passing some time in Spain, +that she might be the better able to make a lasting work. Had she +given her life to poetry, doubtless she would have been a great poet. + +_Silas Marner_, written before _Romola_, in 1861, had been well +received, and _Middlemarch_, in 1872, made a great sensation. It was +translated into several languages. George Bancroft wrote her from +Berlin that everybody was reading it. For this she received a much +larger sum than the thirty-five thousand which she was paid for +_Romola_. + +A home was now purchased in Surrey, with eight or nine acres of +pleasure grounds, for George Eliot had always longed for trees and +flowers about her house. "Sunlight and sweet air," she said, "make a +new creature of me." _Daniel Deronda_ followed in 1876, for which, it +is said, she read nearly a thousand volumes. Whether this be true +or not, the list of books given in her life, of her reading in these +later years, is as astonishing as it is helpful for any who desire +real knowledge. + +At Witley, in Surrey, they lived a quiet life, seeing only a few +friends like the Tennysons, the Du Mauriers, and Sir Henry and Lady +Holland. Both were growing older, and Mr. Lewes was in very poor +health. Finally, after a ten days' illness, he died, Nov. 28, 1878. + +To George Eliot this loss was immeasurable. She needed his help and +his affection. She said, "I like not only to be loved, but also to +be told that I am loved," and he had idolized her. He said: "I owe +Spencer a debt of gratitude. It was through him that I learned to know +Marian,--to know her was to love her, and since then, my life has been +a new birth. To her I owe all my prosperity and all my happiness. God +bless her!" + +Mr. John Walter Cross, for some time a wealthy banker in New York, had +long been a friend of the family, and though many years younger than +George Eliot, became her helper in these days of need. A George Henry +Lewes studentship, of the value of one thousand dollars yearly, was to +be given to Cambridge for some worthy student of either sex, in memory +of the man she had loved. "I want to live a little time that I may do +certain things for his sake," she said. She grew despondent, and the +Cross family used every means to win her away from her sorrow. + +Mr. Cross' mother, to whom he was devotedly attached, had also died, +and the loneliness of both made their companionship more comforting. +They read Dante together in the original, and gradually the younger +man found that his heart was deeply interested. It was the higher kind +of love, the honor of mind for mind and soul for soul. + +"I shall be," she said, "a better, more loving creature than I could +have been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly grateful for this +gift of a perfect love is the best illumination of one's mind to all +the possible good there may be in store for man on this troublous +little planet." + +Mr. Cross and George Eliot were married, May 6, 1880, a year and a +half after Mr. Lewes' death, his son Charles giving her away, and went +at once to Italy. She wrote: "Marriage has seemed to restore me to my +old self.... To feel daily the loveliness of a nature close to me, and +to feel grateful for it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength +to endure." Having passed through a severe illness, she wrote to a +friend: "I have been cared for by something much better than angelic +tenderness.... If it is any good for me that my life has been +prolonged till now, I believe it is owing to this miraculous affection +that has chosen to watch over me." + +She did not forget Mr. Lewes. In looking upon the Grande Chartreuse, +she said, "I would still give up my own life willingly, if he could +have the happiness instead of me." + +On their return to London, they made their winter home at 4 Cheyne +Walk, Chelsea, a plain brick house. The days were gliding by happily. +George Eliot was interested as ever in all great subjects, giving five +hundred dollars for woman's higher education at Girton College, and +helping many a struggling author, or providing for some poor friend of +early times who was proud to be remembered. + +She and Mr. Cross began their reading for the day with the Bible, she +especially enjoying Isaiah, Jeremiah, and St. Paul's Epistles. Then +they read Max Muller's works, Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, and whatever +was best in English, French, and German literature. Milton she called +her demigod. Her husband says she had "a limitless persistency in +application." Her health was better, and she gave promise of doing +more great work. When urged to write her autobiography, she said, half +sighing and half smiling: "The only thing I should care much to dwell +on would be the absolute despair I suffered from, of ever being able +to achieve anything. No one could ever have felt greater despair, and +a knowledge of this might be a help to some other struggler." + +Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, she went to see _Agamemnon_ performed in +Greek by Oxford students, and the next afternoon to a concert at St. +James Hall. She took cold, and on Monday was treated for sore throat. +On Wednesday evening the doctors came, and she whispered to her +husband, "Tell them I have great pain in the left side." This was +the last word. She died with every faculty bright, and her heart +responsive to all noble things. + +She loved knowledge to the end. She said, "My constant groan is that +I must leave so much of the greatest writing which the centuries have +sifted for me, unread for want of time." + +She had the broadest charity for those whose views differed from +hers. She said, "The best lesson of tolerance we have to learn, is to +tolerate intolerance." She hoped for and "looked forward to the time +when the impulse to help our fellows shall be as immediate and as +irresistible as that which I feel to grasp something firm if I am +falling." + +One Sunday afternoon I went to her grave in Highgate Cemetery, London. +A gray granite shaft, about twenty-five feet high, stands above it, +with these beautiful words from her great poem:-- + + "O may I join the choir invisible, + Of those immortal dead who live again + In minds made better by their presence." + + HERE LIES THE BODY + OF + GEORGE ELIOT, + MARY ANN CROSS. + + BORN, 22d NOVEMBER, 1819; + DIED, 22d DECEMBER, 1880. + + +A stone coping is around this grave, and bouquets of yellow crocuses +and hyacinths lie upon it. Next to her grave is a horizontal slab, +with the name of George Henry Lewes upon the stone. + + + + +ELIZABETH FRY. + +[Illustration: My attached and obliged friend Elizabeth Fry] + +When a woman of beauty, great wealth, and the highest social position, +devotes her life to the lifting of the lowly and the criminal, and +preaches the Gospel from the north of Scotland to the south of France, +it is not strange that the world admires, and that books are written +in praise of her. Unselfishness makes a rare and radiant life, and +this was the crowning beauty of the life of Elizabeth Fry. + +Born in Norwich, England, May 21, 1780, Elizabeth was the third +daughter of Mr. John Gurney, a wealthy London merchant. Mrs. Gurney, +the mother, a descendant of the Barclays of Ury, was a woman of much +personal beauty, singularly intellectual for those times, making her +home a place where literary and scientific people loved to gather. + +Elizabeth wellnigh idolized her mother, and used often to cry after +going to bed, lest death should take away the precious parent. In the +daytime, when the mother, not very robust, would sometimes lie down +to rest, the child would creep to the bedside and watch tenderly and +anxiously, to see if she were breathing. Well might Mrs. Gurney say, + + "My dove-like Betsy scarcely ever offends, and is, in every + sense of the word, truly engaging." + +Mrs. Fry wrote years afterward: "My mother was most dear to me, and +the walks she took with me in the old-fashioned garden are as fresh +with me as if only just passed, and her telling me about Adam and Eve +being driven out of Paradise. I always considered it must be just +like our garden.... I remember with pleasure my mother's beds of wild +flowers, which, with delight, I used as a child to attend with her; it +gave me that pleasure in observing their beauties and varieties that, +though I never have had time to become a botanist, few can imagine, in +my many journeys, how I have been pleased and refreshed by observing +and enjoying the wild flowers on my way." + +The home, Earlham Hall, was one of much beauty and elegance, a seat of +the Bacon family. The large house stood in the centre of a well-wooded +park, the river Wensum flowing through it. On the south front of the +house was a large lawn, flanked by great trees, underneath which wild +flowers grew in profusion. The views about the house were so artistic +that artists often came there to sketch. + +In this restful and happy home, after a brief illness, Mrs. Gurney +died in early womanhood, leaving eleven children, all young, the +smallest but two years old. Elizabeth was twelve, old enough to feel +the irreparable loss. To the day of her death the memory of this time +was extremely sad. + +She was a nervous and sensitive child, afraid of the dark, begging +that a light be left in her room, and equally afraid to bathe in +the sea. Her feelings were regarded as the whims of a child, and her +nervous system was injured in consequence. She always felt the lack of +wisdom in "hardening" children, and said, "I am now of opinion that my +fear would have been much more subdued, and great suffering spared, +by its having been still more yielded to: by having a light left in my +room, not being long left alone, and never forced to bathe." + +After her marriage she guided her children rather than attempt "to +break their wills," and lived to see happy results from the good sense +and Christian principle involved in such guiding. In her prison work +she used the least possible governing, winning control by kindness and +gentleness. + +Elizabeth grew to young womanhood, with pleasing manners, slight and +graceful in body, with a profusion of soft flaxen hair, and a bright, +intelligent face. Her mind was quick, penetrating, and original. She +was a skilful rider on horseback, and made a fine impression in her +scarlet riding-habit, for, while her family were Quakers, they did not +adopt the gray dress. + +She was attractive in society and much admired. She writes in her +journal: "Company at dinner; I must beware of not being a flirt, it is +an abominable character; I hope I shall never be one, and yet I fear I +am one now a little.... I think I am by degrees losing many excellent +qualities. I lay it to my great love of gayety, and the world.... I am +now seventeen, and if some kind and great circumstance does not happen +to me, I shall have my talents devoured by moth and rust. They will +lose their brightness, and one day they will prove a curse instead of +a blessing." + +Before she was eighteen, William Savery, an American friend, came to +England to spend two years in the British Isles, preaching. The seven +beautiful Gurney sisters went to hear him, and sat on the front seat, +Elizabeth, "with her smart boots, purple, laced with scarlet." + +As the preacher proceeded, she was greatly moved, weeping during the +service, and nearly all the way home. She had been thrown much among +those who were Deists in thought, and this gospel-message seemed a +revelation to her. + +The next morning Mr. Savery came to Earlham Hall to breakfast. "From +this day," say her daughters, in their interesting memoir of their +mother, "her love of pleasure and the world seemed gone." She, +herself, said, in her last illness, "Since my heart was touched, at +the age of seventeen, I believe I never have awakened from sleep, in +sickness or in health, by day or by night, without my first waking +thought being, how best I might serve my Lord." + +Soon after she visited London, that she might, as she said, "try all +things" and choose for herself what appeared to her "to be good." She +wrote: + +"I went to Drury Lane in the evening. I must own I was extremely +disappointed; to be sure, the house is grand and dazzling; but I +had no other feeling whilst there than that of wishing it over.... I +called on Mrs. Siddons, who was not at home; then on Mrs. Twiss, who +gave me some paint for the evening. I was painted a little, I had my +hair dressed, and did look pretty for me." + +On her return to Earlham Hall she found that the London pleasure had +not been satisfying. She says, "I wholly gave up on my own ground, +attending all places of public amusement; I saw they tended to promote +evil; therefore, if I could attend them without being hurt myself, I +felt in entering them I lent my aid to promote that which I was sure +from what I saw hurt others." + +She was also much exercised about dancing, thinking, while "in a +family, it may be of use by the bodily exercise," that "the more the +pleasures of life are given up, the less we love the world, and our +hearts will be set upon better things." + +The heretofore fashionable young girl began to visit the poor and the +sick in the neighborhood, and at last decided to open a school for +poor children. Only one boy came at first; but soon she had seventy. +She lost none of her good cheer and charming manner, but rather grew +more charming. She cultivated her mind as well, reading logic,--Watts +on Judgment, Lavater, etc. + +The rules of life which she wrote for herself at eighteen are worth +copying: "First,--Never lose any time; I do not think that lost which +is spent in amusement or recreation some time every day; but always be +in the habit of being employed. Second,--Never err the least in truth. +Third,--Never say an ill thing of a person when I can say a good thing +of him; not only speak charitably, but feel so. Fourth,--Never be +irritable or unkind to anybody. Fifth,--Never indulge myself +in luxuries that are not necessary. Sixth,--Do all things with +consideration, and when my path to act right is most difficult, put +confidence in that Power alone which is able to assist me, and exert +my own powers as far as they go." + +Gradually she laid aside all jewelry, then began to dress in quiet +colors, and finally adopted the Quaker garb, feeling that she could +do more good in it. At first her course did not altogether please her +family, but they lived to idolize and bless her for her doings, and to +thankfully enjoy her worldwide fame. + +At twenty she received an offer of marriage from a wealthy London +merchant, Mr. Joseph Fry. She hesitated for some time, lest her active +duties in the church should conflict with the cares of a home of her +own. She said, "My most anxious wish is, that I may not hinder my +spiritual welfare, which I have so much feared as to make me often +doubt if marriage were a desirable thing for me at this time, or even +the thoughts of it." + +However, she was soon married, and a happy life resulted. For most +women this marriage, which made her the mother of eleven children, +would have made all public work impossible; but to a woman of +Elizabeth Fry's strong character nothing seemed impossible. Whether +she would have accomplished more for the world had she remained +unmarried, no one can tell. + +Her husband's parents were "plain, consistent friends," and his sister +became especially congenial to the young bride. A large and airy house +was taken in London, St. Mildred's Court, which became a centre for +"Friends" in both Great Britain and America. + +With all her wealth and her fondness for her family, she wrote in her +journal, "I have been married eight years yesterday; various trials +of faith and patience have been permitted me; my course has been very +different to what I had expected; instead of being, as I had hoped, +a useful instrument in the Church Militant, here I am a careworn +wife and mother outwardly, nearly devoted to the things of this life; +though at times this difference in my destination has been trying +to me, yet I believe those trials (which have certainly been very +pinching) that I have had to go through have been very useful, and +have brought me to a feeling sense of what I am; and at the same time +have taught me where power is, and in what we are to glory; not in +ourselves nor in anything we can be or do, but we are alone to desire +that He may be glorified, either through us or others, in our being +something or nothing, as He may see best for us." + +After eleven years the Fry family moved to a beautiful home in the +country at Plashet. Changes had come in those eleven years. The father +had died; one sister had married Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and she +herself had been made a "minister" by the Society of Friends. While +her hands were very full with the care of her seven children, she had +yet found time to do much outside Christian work. + +Naturally shrinking, she says, "I find it an awful thing to rise +amongst a large assembly, and, unless much covered with love and +power, hardly know how to venture." But she seemed always to be +"covered with love and power," for she prayed much and studied her +Bible closely, and her preaching seemed to melt alike crowned heads +and criminals in chains. + +Opposite the Plashet House, with its great trees and flowers, was a +dilapidated building occupied by an aged man and his sister. They had +once been well-to-do, but were now very poor, earning a pittance by +selling rabbits. The sister, shy and sorrowful from their reduced +circumstances, was nearly inaccessible, but Mrs. Fry won her way to +her heart. Then she asked how they would like to have a girls' school +in a big room attached to the building. They consented, and soon +seventy poor girls were in attendance. + +"She had," says a friend, "the gentlest touch with children. She would +win their hearts, if they had never seen her before, almost at the +first glance, and by the first sound of her musical voice." + +Then the young wife, now thirty-one, established a depot of calicoes +and flannels for the poor, with a room full of drugs, and another +department where good soup was prepared all through the hard winters. +She would go into the "Irish Colony," taking her two older daughters +with her, that they might learn the sweetness of benevolence, +"threading her way through children and pigs, up broken staircases, +and by narrow passages; then she would listen to their tales of want +and woe." + +Now she would find a young mother dead, with a paper cross pinned upon +her breast; now she visited a Gypsy camp to care for a sick child, and +give them Bibles. Each year when the camp returned to Plashet, their +chief pleasure was the visits of the lovely Quaker. Blessings on thee, +beautiful Elizabeth Fry! + +She now began to assist in the public meetings near London, but with +some hesitation, as it took her from home; but after an absence of two +weeks, she found her household "in very comfortable order; and so far +from having suffered in my absence, it appears as if a better blessing +had attended them than common." + +She did not forget her home interests. One of her servants being ill, +she watched by his bedside till he died. When she talked with him of +the world to come, he said, "God bless you, ma'am." She said, "There +is no set of people I feel so much about as servants, as I do not +think they have generally justice done to them; they are too much +considered as another race of beings, and we are apt to forget that +the holy injunction holds good with them, 'Do as thou wouldst be done +unto.'" + +She who could dine with kings and queens, felt as regards servants, +"that in the best sense we are all one, and though our paths here may +be different, we have all souls equally valuable, and have all the +same work to do; which, if properly considered, should lead us +to great sympathy and love, and also to a constant care for their +welfare, both here and hereafter." + +When she was thirty-three, having moved to London for the winter, +she began her remarkable work in Newgate prison. The condition of +prisoners was pitiable in the extreme. She found three hundred women, +with their numerous children, huddled together, with no classification +between the most and least depraved, without employment, in rags and +dirt, and sleeping on the floor with no bedding, the boards simply +being raised for a sort of pillow. Liquors were purchased openly at a +bar in the prison; and swearing, gambling, obscenity, and pulling each +other's hair were common. The walls, both in the men's and women's +departments, were hung with chains and fetters. + +When Mrs. Fry and two or three friends first visited the prison, +the superintendent advised that they lay aside their watches before +entering, which they declined to do. Mrs. Fry did not fear, nor need +she, with her benign presence. + +On her second visit she asked to be left alone with the women, and +read to them the tenth chapter of Matthew, making a few observations +on Christ's having come to save sinners. Some of the women asked who +Christ was. Who shall forgive us for such ignorance in our very midst? + +The children were almost naked, and ill from want of food, air, and +exercise. Mrs. Fry told them that she would start a school for their +children, which announcement was received with tears of joy. She +asked that they select one from their own number for a governess. Mary +Conner was chosen, a girl who had been put in prison for stealing a +watch. So changed did the girl become under this new responsibility, +that she was never known to infringe a rule of the prison. After +fifteen months she was released, but died soon after of consumption. + +When the school was opened for all under twenty-five, "the railing +was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together for the front +situations, with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the +utmost vociferation." + +Mrs. Fry saw at once the need of these women being occupied, but the +idea that these people could be induced to work was laughed at, as +visionary, by the officials. They said the work would be destroyed or +stolen at once. But the good woman did not rest till an association of +twelve persons was formed for the "Improvement of the Female Prisoners +of Newgate"; "to provide for the clothing, the instruction, and the +employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy +Scriptures; and to form in them, as much as possible, those habits +of order, sobriety, and industry, which may render them docile and +peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when they leave it." + +It was decided that Botany Bay could be supplied with stockings, and +indeed with all the articles needed by convicts, through the work +of these women. A room was at once made ready, and matrons were +appointed. A portion of the earnings was to be given the women for +themselves and their children. In ten months they made twenty thousand +articles of wearing apparel, and knit from sixty to one hundred pairs +of stockings every month. The Bible was read to them twice each day. +They received marks for good behavior, and were as pleased as children +with the small prizes given them. + +One of the girls who received a prize of clothing came to Mrs. Fry, +and "hoped she would excuse her for being so forward, but if she +might say it, she felt exceedingly disappointed; she little thought of +having clothing given to her, but she had hoped I would have given her +a Bible, that she might read the Scriptures herself." + +No woman was ever punished under Mrs. Fry's management. They said, +"it would be more terrible to be brought up before her than before the +judge." When she told them she hoped they would not play cards, five +packs were at once brought to her and burned. + +The place was now so orderly and quiet, that "Newgate had become +almost a show; the statesman and the noble, the city functionary and +the foreign traveller, the high-bred gentlewoman, the clergyman and +the dissenting minister, flocked to witness the extraordinary change," +and to listen to Mrs. Fry's beautiful Bible readings. + +Letters poured in from all parts of the country, asking her to come +to their prisons for a similar work, or to teach others how to work. +A committee of the House of Commons summoned her before them to learn +her suggestions, and to hear of her methods; and later the House of +Lords. + +Of course the name of Elizabeth Fry became known everywhere. Queen +Victoria gave her audience, and when she appeared in public, everybody +was eager to look at her. The newspapers spoke of her in the highest +praise. Yet with a beautiful spirit she writes in her journal, "I +am ready to say in the fulness of my heart, surely 'it is the Lord's +doing, and marvellous in our eyes'; so many are the providential +openings of various kinds. Oh! if good should result, may the praise +and glory of the whole be entirely given where it is due by us, and by +all, in deep humiliation and prostration of spirit." + +Mrs. Fry's heart was constantly burdened with the scenes she +witnessed. The penal laws were a caricature on justice. Men and women +were hanged for theft, forgery, passing counterfeit money, and for +almost every kind of fraud. One young woman, with a babe in her +arms, was hanged for stealing a piece of cloth worth one dollar and +twenty-five cents! Another was hanged for taking food to keep herself +and little child from starving. It was no uncommon thing to see women +hanging from the gibbet at Newgate, because they had passed a forged +one-pound note (five dollars). + +George Cruikshank in 1818 was so moved at one of these executions that +he made a picture which represented eight men and three women hanging +from the gallows, and a rope coiled around the faces of twelve others. +Across the picture were the words, "I promise to perform during the +issue of Bank-notes easily imitated ... for the Governors and Company +of the Bank of England." + +He called the picture a "Bank-note, not to be imitated." It at once +created a great sensation. Crowds blocked the street in front of +the shop where it was hung. The pictures were in such demand that +Cruikshank sat up all night to etch another plate. The Gurneys, +Wilberforce, Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir James Mackintosh, all worked +vigorously against capital punishment, save, possibly, for murder. + +Among those who were to be executed was Harriet Skelton, who, for the +man she loved, had passed forged notes. She was singularly open in +face and manner, confiding, and well-behaved. When she was condemned +to death, it was a surprise and horror to all who knew her. Mrs. Fry +was deeply interested. Noblemen went to see her in her damp, dark +cell, which was guarded by a heavy iron door. The Duke of Gloucester +went with Mrs. Fry to the Directors of the Bank of England, and to +Lord Sidmouth, to plead for her, but their hearts were not to be +moved, and the poor young girl was hanged. The public was enthusiastic +in its applause for Mrs. Fry, and unsparing in its denunciation of +Sidmouth. At last the obnoxious laws were changed. + +Mrs. Fry was heartily opposed to capital punishment. She said, "It +hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light +to them"; it does not lead to reformation, and "does not deter others +from crime, because the crimes subject to capital punishment are +gradually increasing." + +When the world is more civilized than it is to-day, when we have +closed the open saloon, that is the direct cause of nearly all the +murders, then we shall probably do away with hanging; or, if men and +women must be killed for the safety of society, a thing not easily +proven, it will be done in the most humane manner, by chloroform. + +Mrs. Fry was likewise strongly opposed to solitary confinement, +which usually makes the subject a mental wreck, and, as regards moral +action, an imbecile. How wonderfully in advance of her age was this +gifted woman! + +Mrs. Fry's thoughts now turned to another evil. When the women +prisoners were transported to New South Wales, they were carried +to the ships in open carts, the crowd jeering. She prevailed upon +government to have them carried in coaches, and promised that she +would go with them. When on board the ship, she knelt on the deck and +prayed with them as they were going into banishment, and then bade +them a tender good by. Truly woman can be an angel of light. + +Says Captain Martin, "Who could resist this beautiful, persuasive, and +heavenly-minded woman? To see her was to love her; to hear her was +to feel as if a guardian angel had bid you follow that teaching which +could alone subdue the temptations and evils of this life, and secure +a Redeemer's love in eternity." + +At this time Mrs. Fry and her brother Joseph visited Scotland and the +north of England to ascertain the condition of the prisons. They found +much that was inhuman; insane persons in prison, eighteen months in +dungeons! Debtors confined night and day in dark, filthy cells, and +never leaving them; men chained to the walls of their cells, or to +rings in the floor, or with their limbs stretched apart till they +fainted in agony; women with chains on hands, and feet, and body, +while they slept on bundles of straw. On their return a book was +published, which did much to arouse England. + +Mrs. Fry was not yet forty, but her work was known round the world. +The authorities of Russia, at the desire of the Empress, wrote Mrs. +Fry as to the best plans for the St. Petersburg lunatic asylum and +treatment of the inmates, and her suggestions were carried out to the +letter. + +Letters came from Amsterdam, Denmark, Paris, and elsewhere, asking +counsel. The correspondence became so great that two of her daughters +were obliged to attend to it. + +Again she travelled all over England, forming "Ladies' Prison +Associations," which should not only look after the inmates of +prisons, but aid them to obtain work when they were discharged, or "so +provide for them that stealing should not seem a necessity." + +About this time, 1828, one of the houses in which her husband was +a partner failed, "which involved Elizabeth Fry and her family in a +train of sorrows and perplexities which tinged the remaining years of +her life." + +They sold the house at Plashet, and moved again to Mildred Court, now +the home of one of their sons. Her wealthy brothers and her children +soon re-established the parents in comfort. + +She now became deeply interested in the five hundred Coast-Guard +stations in the United Kingdom, where the men and their families led +a lonely life. Partly by private contributions and partly through +the aid of government, she obtained enough money to buy more than +twenty-five thousand volumes for libraries at these stations. The +letters of gratitude were a sufficient reward for the hard work. She +also obtained small libraries for all the packets that sailed from +Falmouth. + +In 1837, with some friends, she visited Paris, making a detailed +examination of its prisons. Guizot entertained her, the Duchess de +Broglie, M. de Pressensé, and others paid her much attention. The +King and Queen sent for her, and had an earnest talk. At Nismes, where +there were twelve hundred prisoners, she visited the cells, and +when five armed soldiers wished to protect her and her friends, she +requested that they be allowed to go without guard. In one dungeon she +found two men, chained hand and foot. She told them she would plead +for their liberation if they would promise good behavior. They +promised, and kept it, praying every night for their benefactor +thereafter. When she held a meeting in the prison, hundreds shed +tears, and the good effects of her work were visible long after. + +The next journey was made to Germany. At Brussels, the King held out +both hands to receive her. In Denmark, the King and Queen invited her +to dine, and she sat between them. At Berlin, the royal family treated +her like a sister, and all stood about her while she knelt and prayed +for them. + +The new penitentiaries were built after her suggestions, so perfect +was thought to be her system. The royal family never forget her. When +the King of Prussia visited England, to stand sponsor for the infant +Prince of Wales, in 1842, he dined with her at her home. She presented +to him her eight daughters and daughters-in-law, her seven sons and +eldest grandson, and then their twenty-five grandchildren. + +Finally, the great meetings, and the earnest plans, with their +wonderful execution, were coming to an end for Elizabeth Fry. + +There had been many breaks in the home circle. Her beloved son +William, and his two children, had just died. Some years before she +had buried a very precious child, Elizabeth, at the age of five, who +shortly before her death said, "Mamma, I love everybody better than +myself, and I love thee better than everybody, and I love Almighty +much better than thee, and I hope thee loves Almighty much better than +me." This was a severe stroke, Mrs. Fry saying, "My much-loved husband +and I have drank this cup together, in close sympathy and unity of +feeling. It has at times been very bitter to us both, but we have been +in measure each other's joy and helpers in the Lord." + +During her last sickness she said, "I believe this is not death, +but it is as passing through the valley of the shadow of death, and +perhaps with more suffering, from more sensitiveness; but the 'rock is +here'; the distress is awful, but He has been with me." + +The last morning came, Oct. 13, 1845. About nine o'clock, one of her +daughters, sitting by her bedside, read from Isaiah: "I, the Lord thy +God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, thou worm +of Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and +thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." The mother said slowly, "Oh! my +dear Lord, help and keep thy servant!" and never spoke afterward. + +She was buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Barking, by the +side of her little Elizabeth, a deep silence prevailing among the +multitudes gathered there, broken only by the solemn prayer of her +brother, Joseph John Gurney. + +Thus closed one of the most beautiful lives among women. To the last +she was doing good deeds. When she was wheeled along the beach in her +chair, she gave books and counsel to the passers-by. When she stayed +at hotels, she usually arranged a meeting for the servants. She was +sent for, from far and near, to pray with the sick, and comfort the +dying, who often begged to kiss her hand; no home was too desolate for +her lovely and cheerful presence. No wonder Alexander of Russia called +her "one of the wonders of the age." + +Her only surviving son gives this interesting testimony of her home +life: "I never recollect seeing her out of temper or hearing her speak +a harsh word, yet still her word was law, but always the law of love." + +Naturally timid, always in frail health, sometimes misunderstood, even +with the highest motives, she lived a heroic life in the best sense, +and died the death of a Christian. What grander sphere for woman than +such philanthropy as this! And the needs of humanity are as great as +ever, waiting for the ministration of such noble souls. + + + +ELIZABETH THOMPSON BUTLER. + + +While woman has not achieved such brilliant success in art, perhaps, +as in literature, many names stand high on the lists. Early history +has its noted women: Propersia di Rossi, of Bologna, whose romantic +history Mrs. Hemans has immortalized; Elisabetta Sirani, painter, +sculptor, and engraver on copper, herself called a "miracle of art," +the honored of popes and princes, dying at twenty-six; Marietta +Tintoretta, who was invited to be the artist at the courts of +emperors and kings, dying at thirty, leaving her father inconsolable; +Sophonisba Lomellini, invited by Philip II. of Spain to Madrid, to +paint his portrait, and that of the Queen, concerning whom, though +blind, Vandyck said he had received more instruction from a blind +woman than from all his study of the old masters; and many more. + +The first woman artist in England was Susannah Hornebolt, daughter of +the principal painter who immediately preceded Hans Holbein, Gerard +Hornebolt, a native of Ghent. Albrecht Dürer said of her, in 1521: +"She has made a colored drawing of our Saviour, for which I gave her a +florin [forty cents]. It is wonderful that a female should be able +to do such work." Her brother Luke received a larger salary from King +Henry VIII. than he ever gave to Holbein,--$13.87 per month. Susannah +married an English sculptor, named Whorstly, and lived many years in +great honor and esteem with all the court. + +Arts flourished under Charles I. To Vandyck and Anne Carlisle he gave +ultra-marine to the value of twenty-five hundred dollars. Artemisia +Gentileschi, from Rome, realized a splendid income from her work; +and, although forty-five years old when she came to England, she was +greatly admired, and history says made many conquests. This may be +possible, as George IV. said a woman never reaches her highest powers +of fascination till she is forty. Guido was her instructor, and one of +her warmest eulogizers. She was an intimate friend of Domenichino and +of Guercino, who gave all his wealth to philanthropies, and when in +England was the warm friend of Vandyck. Some of her works are in the +Pitti Palace, at Florence, and some at Madrid, in Spain. + +Of Maria Varelst, the historical painter, the following story is told: +At the theatre she sat next to six German gentlemen of high rank, who +were so impressed with her beauty and manner that they expressed great +admiration for her among each other. The young lady spoke to them in +German, saying that such extravagant praise in the presence of a lady +was no real compliment. One of the party immediately repeated what he +had said in Latin. She replied in the same tongue "that it was unjust +to endeavor to deprive the fair sex of the knowledge of that tongue +which was the vehicle of true learning." The gentlemen begged to call +upon her. Each sat for his portrait, and she was thus brought into +great prominence. + +The artist around whose beauty and talent romance adds a special +charm, was Angelica Kauffman, the only child of Joseph Kauffman, +born near Lake Constance, about 1741. At nine years of age she made +wonderful pastel pictures. Removing to Lombardy, it is asserted that +her father dressed her in boy's clothing, and smuggled her into the +academy, that she might be improved in drawing. At eleven she went to +Como, where the charming scenery had a great impression upon the young +girl. No one who wishes to grow in taste and art can afford to live +away from nature's best work. The Bishop of Como became interested +in her, and asked her to paint his portrait. This was well done in +crayon, and soon the wealthy patronized her. Years after, she wrote: +"Como is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como, in my most happy youth, +that I tasted the first real enjoyment of life." + +When she went to Milan, to study the great masters, the Duke of Modena +was attracted by her beauty and devotion to her work. He introduced +her to the Duchess of Massa Carrara, whose portrait she painted, as +also that of the Austrian governor, and soon those of many of the +nobility. When all seemed at its brightest, her mother, one of the +best of women, died. Her father, broken-hearted, accepted the offer to +decorate the church of his native town, and Angelica joined him in the +frescoing. After much hard work, they returned to Milan. The constant +work had worn on the delicate girl. She gave herself no time for rest. +When not painting, she was making chalk and crayon drawings, mastering +the harpsichord, or lost in the pages of French, German, or Italian. +For a time she thought of becoming a singer; but finally gave herself +wholly to art. After this she went to Florence, where she worked from +sunrise to sunset, and in the evening at her crayons. In Rome, with +her youth, beauty, fascinating manners, and varied reading, she gained +a wide circle of friends. Her face was a Greek oval, her complexion +fresh and clear, her eyes deep blue, her mouth pretty and always +smiling. She was accused of being a coquette, and quite likely was +such. + +For three months she painted in the Royal Gallery at Naples, and then +returned to Rome to study the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo. +From thence she went to Bologna and beautiful Venice. Here she met +Lady Wentworth, who took her to London, where she was introduced at +once to the highest circles. Sir Joshua Reynolds had the greatest +admiration for her, and, indeed, was said to have offered her his hand +and heart. The whole world of art and letters united in her praise. +Often she found laudatory verses pinned on her canvas. The great +people of the land crowded her studio for sittings. She lived in +Golden Square, now a rather dilapidated place back of Regent Street. +She was called the most fascinating woman in England. Sir Joshua +painted her as "Design Listening to Poetry," and she, in turn, painted +him. She was the pet of Buckingham House and Windsor Castle. + +In the midst of all this unlimited attention, a man calling himself +the Swedish Count, Frederic de Horn, with fine manners and handsome +person, offered himself to Angelica. He represented that he was +calumniated by his enemies and that the Swedish Government was about +to demand his person. He assured her, if she were his wife, she could +intercede with the Queen and save him. She blindly consented to the +marriage, privately. At last, she confessed it to her father, who took +steps at once to see if the man were true, and found that he was the +vilest impostor. He had a young wife already in Germany, and would +have been condemned to a felon's death if Angelica had been willing. +She said, "He has betrayed me; but God will judge him." + +She received several offers of marriage after this, but would accept +no one. Years after, when her father, to whom she was deeply devoted, +was about to die, he prevailed upon her to marry a friend of his, +Antonio Zucchi, thirteen years her senior, with whom she went to Rome, +and there died. He was a man of ability, and perhaps made her life +happy. At her burial, one hundred priests accompanied the coffin, +the pall being held by four young girls, dressed in white, the four +tassels held by four members of the Academy. Two of her pictures were +carried in triumph immediately after her coffin. Then followed a grand +procession of illustrious persons, each bearing a lighted taper. + +Goethe was one of her chosen friends. He said of her: "She has a most +remarkable and, for a woman, really an unheard-of talent. No living +painter excels her in dignity, or in the delicate taste with which she +handles the pencil." + +Miss Ellen C. Clayton, in her interesting volumes, _English Female +Artists_, says, "No lady artist, from the days of Angelica Kauffman, +ever created such a vivid interest as Elizabeth Thompson Butler. None +had ever stepped into the front rank in so short a time, or had in +England ever attained high celebrity at so early an age." + +She was born in the Villa Clermont, Lausanne, Switzerland, a +country beautiful enough to inspire artistic sentiments in all its +inhabitants. Her father, Thomas James Thompson, a man of great culture +and refinement, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a warm +friend of Charles Dickens, Lord Lytton, and their literary associates. +Somewhat frail in health, he travelled much of the time, collecting +pictures, of which he was extremely fond, and studying with the eye +of an artist the beauties of each country, whether America, Italy, or +France. + +His first wife died early, leaving one son and daughter. The second +wife was an enthusiastic, artistic girl, especially musical, a friend +of Dickens, and every way fitted to be the intelligent companion of +her husband. + +After the birth of Elizabeth, the family resided in various parts of +Southern Europe. Now they lived, says Mrs. Alice Meynell, her only +sister, in the January, 1883, _St. Nicholas_, "within sight of the +snow-capped peaks of the Apennines, in an old palace, the Villa de +Franchi, immediately overlooking the Mediterranean, with olive-clad +hills at the back; on the left, the great promontory of Porto Fino; on +the right, the Bay of Genoa, some twelve miles away, and the long +line of the Apennines sloping down into the sea. The palace garden +descended, terrace by terrace, to the rocks, being, indeed, less a +garden than what is called a _villa_ in the Liguria, and a _podere_ +in Tuscany,--a fascinating mixture of vine, olive, maize, flowers, +and corn. A fountain in marble, lined with maiden-hair, played at the +junction of each flight of steps. A great billiard-room on the first +floor, hung with Chinese designs, was Elizabeth Thompson's first +school-room; and there Charles Dickens, upon one of his Italian +visits, burst in upon a lesson in multiplication. + +"The two children never went to school, and had no other teacher than +their father,--except their mother for music, and the usual professors +for 'accomplishments' in later years. And whether living happily in +their beautiful Genoese home, or farther north among the picturesque +Italian lakes, or in Switzerland, or among the Kentish hop-gardens and +the parks of Surrey, Elizabeth's one central occupation of drawing was +never abandoned,--literally not for a day." + +She was a close observer of nature, and especially fond of animals. +When not out of doors sketching landscapes, she would sit in the house +and draw, while her father read to her, as he believed the two things +could be carried on beneficially. + +She loved to draw horses running, soldiers, and everything which +showed animation and energy. Her educated parents had the good sense +not to curb her in these perhaps unusual tastes for a girl. They saw +the sure hand and broad thought of their child, and, no doubt, had +expectations of her future fame. + +At fifteen, as the family had removed to England, Elizabeth joined +the South Kensington School of Design, and, later, took lessons in oil +painting, for a year, of Mr. Standish. Thus from the years of five to +sixteen she had studied drawing carefully, so that now she was ready +to touch oil-painting for the first time. How few young ladies would +have been willing to study drawing for eleven years, before trying to +paint in oil! + +The Thompson family now moved to Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, +staying for three years at Bonchurch, one of the loveliest places in +the world. Ivy grows over walls and houses, roses and clematis bloom +luxuriantly, and the balmy air and beautiful sea make the place +as restful as it is beautiful. Here Elizabeth received lessons in +water-color and landscape from Mr. Gray. + +After another visit abroad the family returned to London, and the +artist daughter attended the National Art School at South Kensington, +studying in the life-class. The head master, Mr. Richard Burchett, saw +her talent, and helped her in all ways possible. + +Naturally anxious to test the world's opinion of her work, she sent +some water-colors to the Society of British Artists for exhibition, +and they were rejected. There is very little encouragement for +beginners in any profession. However, "Bavarian Artillery going into +Action" was exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, and received favorable +notice from Mr. Tom Taylor, art critic of the _Times_. + +Between two long courses at South Kensington Elizabeth spent a summer +in Florence and a winter at Rome, studying in both places. At Florence +she entered the studio of Signor Guiseppe Bellucci, an eminent +historical painter and consummate draughtsman, a fellow-student of Sir +Frederick Leighton at the Academy. + +Here the girlish student was intensely interested in her work. +She rose early, before the other members of the family, taking her +breakfast alone, that she might hasten to her beloved labor. "On the +day when she did not work with him," says Mrs. Meynell, "she copied +passages from the frescoes in the cloisters of the Annunziata, +masterpieces of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio, making a special +study of the drapery of the last-named painter. The sacristans of the +old church--the most popular church in Florence--knew and welcomed the +young English girl, who sat for hours so intently at her work in the +cloister, unheeding the coming and going of the long procession of +congregations passing through the gates. + +"Her studies in the galleries were also full of delight and profit, +though she made no other copies, and she was wont to say that of all +the influences of the Florentine school which stood her in good stead +in her after-work, that of Andrea del Sarto was the most valuable and +the most important. The intense heat of a midsummer, which, day after +day, showed a hundred degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, could not make +her relax work, and her master, Florentine as he was, was obliged +to beg her to spare him, at least for a week, if she would not spare +herself. It was toward the end of October that artist and pupil +parted, his confidence in her future being as unbounded as her +gratitude for his admirable skill and minute carefulness." + +During her seven months in Rome she painted, in 1870, for an +ecclesiastical art exhibition, opened by Pope Pius IX., in the +cloisters of the Carthusian Monastery, the "Visitation of the Blessed +Virgin to St. Elizabeth," and the picture gained honorable mention. + +On her return to England the painting was offered to the Royal Academy +and rejected. And what was worse still, a large hole had been torn +in the canvas, in the sky of the picture. Had she not been very +persevering, and believed in her heart that she had talent, perhaps +she would not have dared to try again, but she had worked steadily +for too many years to fail now. Those only win who can bear refusal a +thousand times if need be. + +The next year, being at the Isle of Wight, she sent another picture to +the Academy, and it was rejected. Merit does not always win the +first, nor the second, nor the third time. It must have been a little +consolation to Elizabeth Thompson, to know that each year the judges +were reminded that a person by that name lived, and was painting +pictures! + +The next year a subject from the Franco-Prussian War was taken, as +that was fresh in the minds of the people. The title was "Missing." +"Two French officers, old and young, both wounded, and with one +wounded horse between them, have lost their way after a disastrous +defeat; their names will appear in the sad roll as missing, and the +manner of their death will never be known." + +The picture was received, but was "skyed," that is, placed so high +that nobody could well see it. During this year she received a +commission from a wealthy art patron to paint a picture. What should +it be? A battle scene, because into that she could put her heart. + +A studio was taken in London, and the "Roll-Call" (calling the roll +after an engagement,--Crimea) was begun. She put life into the faces +and the attitudes of the men, as she worked with eager heart and +careful labor. In the spring of 1874 it was sent to the Royal Academy, +with, we may suppose, not very enthusiastic hopes. + +The stirring battle piece pleased the committee, and they cheered when +it was received. Then it began to be talked at the clubs that a woman +had painted a battle scene! Some had even heard that it was a great +picture. When the Academy banquet was held, prior to the opening, the +speeches of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, both gave +high praise to the "Roll-Call." + +Such an honor was unusual. Everybody was eager to see the painting. It +was the talk at the clubs, on the railway trains, and on the crowded +thoroughfares. All day long crowds gathered before it, a policeman +keeping guard over the painting, that it be not injured by its eager +admirers. The Queen sent for it, and it was carried, for a few hours, +to Buckingham Palace, for her to gaze upon. So much was she pleased +that she desired to purchase it, and the person who had ordered it +gave way to Her Majesty. The copyright was bought for fifteen times +the original sum agreed upon as its value, and a steel-plate +engraving made from it at a cost of nearly ten thousand dollars. After +thirty-five hundred impressions, the plate was destroyed, that there +might be no inferior engravings of the picture. The "Roll-Call" was +for some time retained by the Fine Art Society, where it was seen by +a quarter of a million persons. Besides this, it was shown in all the +large towns of England. It is now at Windsor Castle. + +Elizabeth Thompson had become famous in a day, but she was not elated +over it; for, young as she was, she did not forget that she had +been working diligently for twenty years. The newspapers teemed with +descriptions of her, and incidents of her life, many of which were, of +course, purely imaginative. Whenever she appeared in society, people +crowded to look at her. + +Many a head would have been turned by all this praise; not so the +well-bred student. She at once set to work on a more difficult +subject, "The Twenty-eighth Regiment at Quatre Bras." When this +appeared, in 1875, it drew an enormous crowd. The true critics praised +heartily, but there were some persons who thought a woman could not +possibly know about the smoke of a battle, or how men would act under +fire. That she studied every detail of her work is shown by Mr. W. +H. Davenport Adams, in his _Woman's Work and Worth._ "The choice of +subject," he says, "though some people called it a 'very shocking one +for a young lady,' engaged the sympathy of military men, and she was +generously aided in obtaining material and all kinds of data for the +work. Infantry officers sent her photographs of 'squares.' But these +would not do, the men were not in earnest; they would kneel in such +positions as they found easiest for themselves; indeed, but for the +help of a worthy sergeant-major, who saw that each individual assumed +and maintained the attitude proper for the situation at whatever +inconvenience, the artist could not possibly have impressed upon her +picture that verisimilitude which it now presents. + +"Through the kindness of the authorities, an amount of gunpowder was +expended at Chatham, to make her see, as she said, how 'the men's +faces looked through the smoke,' that would have justified the +criticisms of a rigid parliamentary economist. Not satisfied with +seeing how men _looked_ in square, she desired to secure some faint +idea of how they _felt_ in square while 'receiving cavalry.' And +accordingly she repaired frequently to the Knightsbridge Barracks, +where she would kneel to 'receive' the riding-master and a mounted +sergeant of the Blues, while they thundered down upon her the full +length of the riding-school, deftly pulling up, of course, to avoid +accident. The fallen horse presented with such truth and vigor in +'Quatre Bras' was drawn from a Russian horse belonging to Hengler's +Circus, the only one in England that could be trusted to remain for a +sufficient time in the required position. A sore trial of patience was +this to artist, to model, to Mr. Hengler, who held him down, and +to the artist's father, who was present as spectator. Finally the +rye,--the 'particularly tall rye' in which, as Colonel Siborne says, +the action was fought,--was conscientiously sought for, and found, +after much trouble, at Henly-on-Thames." + +I saw this beautiful and stirring picture, as well as several others +of Mrs. Butler's, while in England. Mr. Ruskin says of "Quatre Bras": +"I never approached a picture with more iniquitous prejudice against +it than I did Miss Thompson's; partly because I have always said that +no woman could paint, and secondly, because I thought what the public +made such a fuss about _must_ be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's +work, this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-raphaelite picture +of battle we have had, profoundly interesting, and showing all manner +of illustrative and realistic faculty. The sky is most tenderly +painted, and with the truest outline of cloud of all in the +exhibition; and the terrific piece of gallant wrath and ruin on the +extreme left, where the cuirassier is catching round the neck of his +horse as he falls, and the convulsed fallen horse, seen through the +smoke below, is wrought through all the truth of its frantic passions +with gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of +since Turner's death." + +This year, 1875, a figure from the picture, the "Tenth Bengal Lancers +at Tent-pegging," was published as a supplement to the Christmas +number of _London Graphic_, with the title "Missed." In 1876, "The +Return from Balaklava" was painted, and in 1877, "The Return from +Inkerman," for which latter work the Fine Art Society paid her fifteen +thousand dollars. + +This year, 1877, on June 11, Miss Thompson was married to Major, now +Colonel, William Francis Butler, K.C.B. He was then thirty-nine years +of age, born in Ireland, educated in Dublin, and had received many +honors. He served on the Red River expedition, was sent on a special +mission to the Saskatchewan territories in 1870-71, and served on the +Ashantee expedition in 1873. He has been honorably mentioned several +times in the House of Lords by the Field-Marshal-Commanding-in-Chief. +He wrote _The Great Lone Land_ in 1872, _The Wild North Land_ in 1873, +and _A Kimfoo_ in 1875. + +After the marriage they spent much time in Ireland, where Mrs. Butler +painted "Listed for the Connaught Rangers" in 1879. Her later works +are "The Remnant of an Army," showing the arrival at Jellalabad, in +1842, of Dr. Brydon, the sole survivor of the sixteen thousand men +under General Elphinstone, in the unfortunate Afghan campaign; the +"Scots Greys Advancing," "The Defence of Rorke's Drift," an incident +of the Zulu War, painted at the desire of the Queen and some others. + +Still a young and very attractive woman, she has before her a bright +future. She will have exceptional opportunities for battle studies in +her husband's army life. She will probably spend much time in Africa, +India, and other places where the English army will be stationed. Her +husband now holds a prominent position in Africa. + +In her studio, says her sister, "the walls are hung with old +uniforms--the tall shako, the little coatee, and the stiff +stock--which the visitor's imagination may stuff out with the form of +the British soldier as he fought in the days of Waterloo. These are +objects of use, not ornament; so are the relics from the fields of +France in 1871, and the assegais and spears and little sharp wooden +maces from Zululand." + +Mrs. Butler has perseverance, faithfulness in her work, and courage. +She has won remarkable fame, but has proved herself deserving by her +constant labor, and attention to details. Mrs. Butler's mother has +also exhibited some fine paintings. The artist herself has illustrated +a volume of poems, the work of her sister, Mrs. Meynell. A cultivated +and artistic family have, of course, been an invaluable aid in Mrs. +Butler's development. + + + + +FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. + +[Illustration: Florence Nightingale--From the "Portrait Gallery of +Eminent Men and Women."] + +One of the most interesting places in the whole of London, is St. +Thomas' Hospital, an immense four-story structure of brick with +stone trimmings. Here is the Nightingale Training School for nurses, +established through the gift to Miss Nightingale of $250,000 by the +government, for her wonderful work in the Crimean War. She would not +take a cent for herself, but was glad to have this institution opened, +that girls through her training might become valuable to the world as +nurses, as she has been. + +Here is the "Nightingale Home." The dining-room, with its three long +tables, is an inviting apartment. The colors of wall and ceiling are +in red and light shades. Here is a Swiss clock presented by the Grand +Duchess of Baden; here a harpsichord, also a gift. Here is the marble +face and figure I have come especially to see, that of lovely Florence +Nightingale. It is a face full of sweetness and refinement, having +withal an earnest look, as though life were well worth living. + + +What better work than to direct these girls how to be useful? Some +are here from the highest social circles. The "probationers," or nurse +pupils, must remain three years before they can become Protestant +"sisters." Each ward is in charge of a sister; now it is Leopold, +because the ward bears that name; and now Victoria in respect to the +Queen, who opened the institution. + +The sisters look sunny and healthy, though they work hard. They have +regular hours for being off duty, and exercise in the open air. The +patients tell me how "homelike it seems to have women in the wards, +and what a comfort it is in their agony, to be handled by their +careful hands." Here are four hundred persons in all phases of +suffering, in neat, cheerful wards, brightened by pots of flowers, and +the faces of kind, devoted women. + +And who is this woman to whom the government of Great Britain felt +that it owed so much, and whom the whole world delights to honor? + +Florence Nightingale, born in 1820, in the beautiful Italian city +of that name, is the younger of two daughters of William Shore +Nightingale, a wealthy land-owner, who inherited both the name and +fortune of his granduncle, Peter Nightingale. The mother was the +daughter of the eminent philanthropist and member of Parliament, +William Smith. + +Most of Miss Nightingale's life has been spent on their beautiful +estate, Lea Hurst, in Derbyshire, a lovely home in the midst of +picturesque scenery. In her youth her father instructed her carefully +in the classics and higher mathematics; a few years later, partly +through extensive travel, she became proficient in French, German, and +Italian. + +Rich, pretty, and well-educated, what was there more that she could +wish for? Her heart, however, did not turn toward a fashionable life. +Very early she began to visit the poor and the sick near Lea Hurst, +and her father's other estate at Embly Park, Hampshire. Perhaps the +mantle of the mother's father had fallen upon the young girl. + +She had also the greatest tenderness toward dumb animals, and never +could bear to see them injured. Miss Alldridge, in an interesting +sketch of Miss Nightingale, quotes the following story from _Little +Folks:_-- + +"Some years ago, when the celebrated Florence Nightingale was a little +girl, living at her father's home, a large, old Elizabethan house, +with great woods about it, in Hampshire, there was one thing that +struck everybody who knew her. It was that she seemed to be always +thinking what she could do to please or help any one who needed either +help or comfort. She was very fond, too, of animals, and she was so +gentle in her way, that even the shyest of them would come quite close +to her, and pick up whatever she flung down for them to eat. + +"There was, in the garden behind the house, a long walk with trees on +each side, the abode of many squirrels; and when Florence came down +the walk, dropping nuts as she went along, the squirrels would run +down the trunks of their trees, and, hardly waiting until she passed +by, would pick up the prize and dart away, with their little bushy +tails curled over their backs, and their black eyes looking about as +if terrified at the least noise, though they did not seem to be afraid +of Florence. + +"Then there was an old gray pony named Peggy, past work, living in +a paddock, with nothing to do all day long but to amuse herself. +Whenever Florence appeared at the gate, Peggy would come trotting up +and put her nose into the dress pocket of her little mistress, and +pick it of the apple or the roll of bread that she knew she would +always find there, for this was a trick Florence had taught the +pony. Florence was fond of riding, and her father's old friend, the +clergyman of the parish, used often to come and take her for a ride +with him when he went to the farm cottages at a distance. He was a +good man and very kind to the poor. + +"As he had studied medicine when a young man, he was able to tell the +people what would do them good when they were ill, or had met with an +accident. Little Florence took great delight in helping to nurse those +who were ill; and whenever she went on these long rides, she had a +small basket fastened to her saddle, filled with something nice which +she saved from her breakfast or dinner, or carried for her mother, who +was very good to the poor. + +"There lived in one of two or three solitary cottages in the wood +an old shepherd of her father's, named Roger, who had a favorite +sheep-dog called Cap. Roger had neither wife nor child, and Cap lived +with him and kept him, and kept him company at night after he had +penned his flock. Cap was a very sensible dog; indeed, people used to +say he could do everything but speak. He kept the sheep in wonderfully +good order, and thus saved his master a great deal of trouble. One +day, as Florence and her old friend were out for a ride, they came +to a field where they found the shepherd giving his sheep their night +feed; but he was without the dog, and the sheep knew it, for they were +scampering in every direction. Florence and her friend noticed that +the old shepherd looked very sad, and they stopped to ask what was the +matter, and what had become of his dog. + +"'Oh,' said Roger, 'Cap will never be of any more use to me; I'll have +to hang him, poor fellow, as soon as I go home to-night.' + +"'Hang him!' said Florence. 'Oh, Roger, how wicked of you! What has +dear old Cap done?' + +"'He has done nothing,' replied Roger; 'but he will never be of any +more use to me, and I cannot afford to keep him for nothing; one of +the mischievous school-boys throwed a stone at him yesterday, and +broke one of his legs.' And the old shepherd's eyes filled with tears, +which he wiped away with his shirt-sleeve; then he drove his spade +deep in the ground to hide what he felt, for he did not like to be +seen crying. + +"'Poor Cap!' he sighed; 'he was as knowing almost as a human being.' + +"'But are you sure his leg is broken?' asked Florence. + +"'Oh, yes, miss, it is broken safe enough; he has not put his foot to +the ground since.' + +"Florence and her friend rode on without saying anything more to +Roger. + +"'We will go and see poor Cap,' said the vicar; 'I don't believe the +leg is really broken. It would take a big stone and a hard blow to +break the leg of a big dog like Cap.' + +"'Oh, if you could but cure him, how glad Roger would be!' replied +Florence. + +"They soon reached the shepherd's cottage, but the door was fastened; +and when they moved the latch, such a furious barking was heard that +they drew back, startled. However, a little boy came out of the next +cottage, and asked if they wanted to go in, as Roger had left the key +with his mother. So the key was got, and the door opened; and there on +the bare brick floor lay the dog, his hair dishevelled, and his eyes +sparkling with anger at the intruders. But when he saw the little boy +he grew peaceful, and when he looked at Florence, and heard her call +him 'poor Cap,' he began to wag his short tail; and then crept from +under the table, and lay down at her feet. She took hold of one of his +paws, patted his old rough head, and talked to him, whilst her friend +examined the injured leg. It was dreadfully swollen, and hurt very +much to have it examined; but the dog knew it was meant kindly, and +though he moaned and winced with pain, he licked the hands that were +hurting him. + +"'It's only a bad bruise; no bones are broken,' said her old friend; +'rest is all Cap needs; he will soon be well again.' + +"'I am so glad,' said Florence; 'but can we do nothing for him? he +seems in such pain.' + +"'There is one thing that would ease the pain and heal the leg all the +sooner, and that is plenty of hot water to foment the part.' + +"Florence struck a light with the tinder-box, and lighted the fire, +which was already laid. She then set off to the other cottage to get +something to bathe the leg with. She found an old flannel petticoat +hanging up to dry, and this she carried off, and tore up into slips, +which she wrung out in warm water, and laid them tenderly on Cap's +swollen leg. It was not long before the poor dog felt the benefit of +the application, and he looked grateful, wagging his little stump of a +tail in thanks. On their way home they met the shepherd coming slowly +along, with a piece of rope in his hand. + +"'Oh, Roger,' cried Florence, 'you are not to hang poor old Cap; his +leg is not broken at all.' + +"'No, he will serve you yet,' said the vicar. + +"'Well, I be main glad to hear it,' said the shepherd, 'and many +thanks to you for going to see him.' + +"On the next morning Florence was up early, and the first thing she +did was to take two flannel petticoats to give to the poor woman whose +skirt she had torn up to bathe Cap. Then she went to the dog, and was +delighted to find the swelling of his leg much less. She bathed it +again, and Cap was as grateful as before. + +"Two or three days afterwards Florence and her friend were riding +together, when they came up to Roger and his sheep. This time Cap was +watching the sheep, though he was lying quite still, and pretending to +be asleep. When he heard the voice of Florence speaking to his master, +who was portioning out the usual food, his tail wagged and his eyes +sparkled, but he did not get up, for he was on duty. The shepherd +stopped his work, and as he glanced at the dog with a merry laugh, +said, 'Do look at the dog, Miss; he be so pleased to hear your voice.' +Cap's tail went faster and faster. 'I be glad,' continued the old man, +'I did not hang him. I be greatly obliged to you, Miss, and the vicar, +for what you did. But for you I would have hanged the best dog I ever +had in my life.'" + +A girl who was made so happy in saving the life of an animal would +naturally be interested to save human beings. Occasionally her family +passed a season in London, and here, instead of giving much time +to concerts or parties, she would visit hospitals and benevolent +institutions. When the family travelled in Egypt, she attended several +sick Arabs, who recovered under her hands. They doubtless thought the +English girl was a saint sent down from heaven. + +The more she felt drawn toward the sick, the more she felt the need +of study, and the more she saw the work that refined women could do in +the hospitals. The Sisters of Charity were standing by sick-beds; why +could there not be Protestant sisters? When they travelled in Germany, +France, and Italy, she visited infirmaries, asylums, and hospitals, +carefully noting the treatment given in each. + +Finally she determined to spend some months at Kaiserwerth, near +Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, in Pastor Fliedner's great Lutheran +hospital. He had been a poor clergyman, the leader of a scanty flock, +whose church was badly in debt. A man of much enterprise and warm +heart, he could not see his work fail for lack of means; so he set +out among the provinces, to tell the needs of his little parish. +He collected funds, learned much about the poverty and ignorance +of cities, preached in some of the prisons, because interested in +criminals, and went back to his loyal people. + +But so poor were they that they could not meet the yearly expenses, so +he determined to raise an endowment fund. He visited Holland and Great +Britain, and secured the needed money. + +In England, in 1832, he became acquainted with Elizabeth Fry. How one +good life influences another to the end of time! When he went back to +Germany his heart was aglow with a desire to help humanity. + +He at once opened an asylum for discharged prison-women. He saw how +almost impossible it was for those who had been in prison to obtain +situations. Then he opened a school for the children of such as worked +in factories, for he realized how unfit for citizenship are those who +grow up in ignorance. He did not have much money, but he seemed able +to obtain what he really needed. Then he opened a hospital; a home for +insane women; a home of rest for his nurses, or for those who needed +a place to live after their work was done. Soon the "Deaconesses" at +Kaiserwerth became known the country over. Among the wildest Norwegian +mountains we met some of these Kaiserwerth nurses, refined, educated +ladies, getting in summer a new lease of life for their noble labors. + +This Protestant sisterhood consists now of about seven hundred +sisters, at about two hundred stations, the annual expense being about +$150,000. What a grand work for one man, with no money, the pastor of +a very humble church! + +Into this work of Pastor Fliedner, Florence Nightingale heartily +entered. Was it strange taste for a pretty and wealthy young woman, +whose life had been one of sunshine and happiness? It was a saintlike +taste, and the world is rendered a little like Paradise by the +presence of such women. Back in London the papers were full of +the great exhibition of 1851, but she was more interested in her +Kaiserwerth work than to be at home. When she had finished her course +of instruction, Pastor Fliedner said, since he had been director +of that institution no one had ever passed so distinguished an +examination, or shown herself so thoroughly mistress of all she had +learned. + +On her return to Lea Hurst, she could not rest very long, while there +was so much work to be done in the world. In London, a hospital +for sick governesses was about to fail, from lack of means and poor +management. Nobody seemed very deeply interested for these overworked +teachers. But Miss Nightingale was interested, and leaving her lovely +home, she came to the dreary house in Harley Street, where she gave +her time and her fortune for several years. Her own frail health +sank for a time from the close confinement, but she had seen the +institution placed on a sure foundation, and prosperous. + +The Crimean War had begun. England had sent out ship-loads of men to +the Black Sea, to engage in war with Russia. Little thought seemed to +have been taken, in the hurry and enthusiasm of war, to provide proper +clothing or food for the men in that changing climate. In the desolate +country there was almost no means of transportation, and men and +animals suffered from hunger. After the first winter cholera broke +out, and in one camp twenty men died in twenty-four hours. + +Matters grew from bad to worse. William Howard Russell, the _Times_ +correspondent, wrote home to England: "It is now pouring rain,--the +skies are black as ink,--the wind is howling over the staggering +tents,--the trenches are turned into dykes,--in the tents the water +is sometimes a foot deep,--our men have not either warm or +waterproof clothing,--they are out for twelve hours at a time in the +trenches,--they are plunged into the inevitable miseries of a winter +campaign,--and not a soul seems to care for their comfort, or even +for their lives. These are hard truths, but the people of England must +hear them. They must know that the wretched beggar who wanders +about the streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince, +compared with the British soldiers who are fighting out here for their +country. + +"The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there is not +the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness; the stench +is appalling; the fetid air can barely struggle out to taint the +atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls and roofs; and, for +all I can observe, these men die without the least effort being made +to save them. There they lie, just as they were let gently down on the +ground by the poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on their +backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness, but who are not +allowed to remain with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, +and the dying by the dying." + +During the rigorous winter of 1854, with snow three feet thick, many +were frozen in their tents. Out of nearly forty-five thousand, over +eighteen thousand were reported in the hospitals. The English nation +became aroused at this state of things, and in less than two weeks +seventy-five thousand dollars poured into the Times office for the +suffering soldiers. A special commissioner, Mr. Macdonald, was sent to +the Crimea with shirts, sheets, flannels, and necessary food. + +But one of the greatest of all needs was woman's hand and brain, in +the dreadful suffering and the confusion. The testimony of the world +thus far has been that men everywhere need the help of women, and +women everywhere need the help of men. Right Honorable Sydney Herbert, +the Secretary of War, knew of but one woman who could bring order +and comfort to those far-away hospitals, and that woman was Miss +Nightingale. She had made herself ready at Kaiserwerth for a great +work, and now a great work was ready for her. + +But she was frail in health, and was it probable that a rich and +refined lady would go thousands of miles from her kindred, to live +in feverish wards where there were only men? A true woman dares do +anything that helps the world. + +Mr. Herbert wrote her, Oct. 15: "There is, as far as I know, only one +person in England capable of organizing and directing such a plan, and +I have been several times on the point of asking you if you would +be disposed to make the attempt. That it will be difficult to form +a corps of nurses, no one knows better than yourself.... I have this +simple question to put to you: Could you go out yourself, and take +charge of everything? It is, of course, understood that you will have +absolute authority over all the nurses, unlimited power to draw on the +government for all you judge necessary to the success of your mission; +and I think I may assure you of the co-operation of the medical +staff. Your personal qualities, your knowledge, and your authority in +administrative affairs, all fit you for this position." + +It was a strange coincidence that on that same day, Oct. 15, Miss +Nightingale, her heart stirred for the suffering soldiers, had written +a letter to Mr. Herbert, offering her services to the government. A +few days later the world read, with moistened eyes, this letter from +the war office: "Miss Nightingale, accompanied by thirty-four nurses, +will leave this evening. Miss Nightingale, who has, I believe, greater +practical experience of hospital administration and treatment than any +other lady in this country, has, with a self-devotion for which I have +no words to express my gratitude, undertaken this noble but arduous +work." + +The heart of the English nation followed the heroic woman. Mrs. +Jameson wrote: "It is an undertaking wholly new to our English +customs, much at variance with the usual education given to women in +this country. If it succeeds, it will be the true, the lasting glory +of Florence Nightingale and her band of devoted assistants, that they +have broken down a Chinese wall of prejudices,--religious, social, +professional,--and have established a precedent which will, indeed, +multiply the good to all time." She did succeed, and the results can +scarcely be overestimated. + +As the band of nurses passed through France, hotel-keepers would take +no pay for their accommodation; poor fisherwomen at Boulogne struggled +for the honor of carrying their baggage to the railway station. They +sailed in the _Vectis_ across the Mediterranean, reaching Scutari, +Nov. 5, the day of the battle of Inkerman. + +They found in the great Barrack Hospital, which had been lent to the +British by the Turkish government, and in another large hospital near +by, about four thousand men. The corridors were filled with two rows +of mattresses, so close that two persons could scarcely walk between +them. There was work to be done at once. + +One of the nurses wrote home, "The whole of yesterday one could only +forget one's own existence, for it was spent, first in sewing the +men's mattresses together, and then in washing them, and assisting the +surgeons, when we could, in dressing their ghastly wounds after their +five days' confinement on board ship, during which space their wounds +had not been dressed. Hundreds of men with fever, dysentery, and +cholera (the wounded were the smaller portion) filled the wards in +succession from the overcrowded transports." + +Miss Nightingale, calm and unobtrusive, went quietly among the men, +always with a smile of sympathy for the suffering. The soldiers often +wept, as for the first time in months, even years, a woman's hand +adjusted their pillows, and a woman's voice soothed their sorrows. + +Miss Nightingale's pathway was not an easy one. Her coming did not +meet the general approval of military or medical officials. Some +thought women would be in the way; others felt that their coming was +an interference. Possibly some did not like to have persons about who +would be apt to tell the truth on their return to England. But with +good sense and much tact she was able to overcome the disaffection, +using her almost unlimited power with discretion. + +As soon as the wounded were attended to, she established an invalid's +kitchen, where appetizing food could be prepared,--one of the +essentials in convalescence. Here she overlooked the proper cooking +for eight hundred men who could not eat ordinary food. Then she +established a laundry. The beds and shirts of the men were in a filthy +condition, some wearing the ragged clothing in which they were brought +down from the Crimea. It was difficult to obtain either food or +clothing, partly from the immense amount of "red tape" in official +life. + +Miss Nightingale seemed to be everywhere. Dr. Pincoffs said: "I +believe that there never was a severe case of any kind that escaped +her notice; and sometimes it was wonderful to see her at the bedside +of a patient who had been admitted perhaps but an hour before, and +of whose arrival one would hardly have supposed it possible she could +already be cognizant." + +She aided the senior chaplain in establishing a library and +school-room, and in getting up evening lectures for the men. She +supplied books and games, wrote letters for the sick, and forwarded +their little savings to their home-friends. + +For a year and a half, till the close of the war, she did a wonderful +work, reducing the death-rate in the Barrack Hospital from sixty per +cent to a little above one per cent. Said the _Times_ correspondent: +"Wherever there is disease in its most dangerous form, and the hand of +the spoiler distressingly nigh, there is that incomparable woman sure +to be seen; her benignant presence is an influence for good comfort +even amid the struggles of expiring nature. She is a 'ministering +angel,' without any exaggeration, in these hospitals, and as her +slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's +face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical +officers have retired for the night, and silence and darkness have +settled down upon these miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed, +alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds. + +"With the heart of a true woman and the manner of a lady, accomplished +and refined beyond most of her sex, she combines a surprising calmness +of judgment and promptitude and decision of character. The popular +instinct was not mistaken, which, when she set out from England on her +mission of mercy, hailed her as a heroine; I trust she may not earn +her title to a higher, though sadder, appellation. No one who has +observed her fragile figure and delicate health can avoid misgivings +lest these should fail." + +One of the soldiers wrote home: "She would speak to one and another, +and nod and smile to many more; but she could not do it to all, you +know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could kiss her shadow as it +fell, and lay our heads on our pillows again content." Another wrote +home: "Before she came there was such cussin' and swearin', and after +that it was as holy as a church." No wonder she was called the "Angel +of the Crimea." Once she was prostrated with fever, but recovered +after a few weeks. + +Finally the war came to an end. London was preparing to give Miss +Nightingale a royal welcome, when, lo! she took passage by design on a +French steamer, and reached Lea Hurst, Aug. 15, 1856, unbeknown to +any one. There was a murmur of disappointment at first, but the +people could only honor all the more the woman who wished no blare of +trumpets for her humane acts. + +Queen Victoria sent for her to visit her at Balmoral, and presented +her with a valuable jewel; a ruby-red enamel cross on a white field, +encircled by a black band with the words, "Blessed are the merciful." +The letters V. R., surmounted by a crown in diamonds, are impressed +upon the centre of the cross. Green enamel branches of palm, tipped +with gold, form the framework of the shield, while around their stems +is a riband of the blue enamel with the single word "Crimea." On +the top are three brilliant stars of diamonds. On the back is an +inscription written by the Queen. The Sultan sent her a magnificent +bracelet, and the government, $250,000, to found the school for nurses +at St. Thomas' Hospital. + +Since the war, Miss Nightingale has never been in strong health, +but she has written several valuable books. Her _Hospital Notes_, +published in 1859, have furnished plans for scores of new hospitals. +Her _Notes on Nursing_, published in 1860, of which over one hundred +thousand have been sold, deserve to be in every home. She is the most +earnest advocate of sunlight and fresh air. + +She says: "An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What +air can we breathe at night but night air? The choice is between pure +night air from without, and foul night air from within. Most people +prefer the latter,--an unaccountable choice. What will they say if it +be proved true that fully _one-half of all the disease we suffer from, +is occasioned by people sleeping with their windows shut?_ An open +window most nights of the year can never hurt any one. In great cities +night air is often the best and purest to be had in the twenty-four +hours. + +"The five essentials, for healthy houses," she says, are "pure air, +pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light.... I have +known whole houses and hospitals smell of the sink. I have met just as +strong a stream of sewer air coming up the back staircase of a grand +London house, from the sink, as I have ever met at Scutari; and I have +seen the rooms in that house all ventilated by the open doors, and +the passages all _un_ventilated by the close windows, in order that as +much of the sewer air as possible might be conducted into and retained +in the bed-rooms. It is wonderful!" + +Miss Nightingale has much humor, and she shows it in her writings. She +is opposed to dark houses; says they promote scrofula; to old papered +walls, and to carpets full of dust. An uninhabited room becomes full +of foul air soon, and needs to have the windows opened often. She +would keep sick people, or well, forever in the sunlight if possible, +for sunlight is the greatest possible purifier of the atmosphere. +"In the unsunned sides of narrow streets, there is degeneracy and +weakliness of the human race,--mind and body equally degenerating." +Of the ruin wrought by bad air, she says: "Oh, the crowded national +school, where so many children's epidemics have their origin, what +a tale its air-test would tell! We should have parents saying, and +saying rightly, 'I will not send my child to that school; the +air-test stands at "horrid."' And the dormitories of our great +boarding-schools! Scarlet fever would be no more ascribed to +contagion, but to its right cause, the air-test standing at 'Foul.' We +should hear no longer of 'Mysterious Dispensations' and of 'Plague and +Pestilence' being in 'God's hands,' when, so far as we know, He has +put them into our own." She urges much rubbing of the body, washing +with warm water and soap. "The only way I know to _remove_ dust, is to +wipe everything with a damp cloth.... If you must have a carpet, the +only safety is to take it up two or three times a year, instead of +once.... The best wall now extant is oil paint." + +"Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, requires as +exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter's or +sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or cold +marble compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of +God's Spirit? Nursing is one of the fine arts; I had almost said, the +finest of the fine arts." + +Miss Nightingale has also written _Observations on the Sanitary State +of the Army in India,_ 1863; _Life or Death in India_, read before the +National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1873, with +an appendix on _Life or Death by Irrigation_, 1874. + +She is constantly doing deeds of kindness. With a subscription sent +recently by her to the Gordon Memorial Fund, she said: "Might but the +example of this great and pure hero be made to tell, in that self no +longer existed to him, but only God and duty, on the soldiers who have +died to save him, and on boys who should live to follow him." + +Miss Nightingale has helped to dignify labor and to elevate humanity, +and has thus made her name immortal. + +Florence Nightingale died August 13, 1910, at 2 P.M., of heart +failure, at the age of ninety. She had received many distinguished +honors: the freedom of the city of London in 1908, and from King +Edward VII, a year previously, a membership in the Order of Merit, +given only to a select few men; such as Field Marshal Roberts, Lord +Kitchener, Alma Tadema, James Bryce, George Meredith, Lords Kelvin and +Lister, and Admiral Togo. + +Her funeral was a quiet one, according to her wishes. + + + +LADY BRASSEY. + +[Illustration: LADY BRASSEY.] + +One of my pleasantest days in England was spent at old Battle Abbey, +the scene of the ever-memorable Battle of Hastings, where William of +Normandy conquered the Saxon Harold. + +The abbey was built by William as a thank-offering for the victory, on +the spot where Harold set up his standard. The old gateway is one of +the finest in England. Part of the ancient church remains, flowers and +ivy growing out of the beautiful gothic arches. + +As one stands upon the walls and looks out upon the sea, that great +battle comes up before him. The Norman hosts disembark; first come the +archers in short tunics, with bows as tall as themselves and quivers +full of arrows; then the knights in coats of mail, with long lances +and two-edged swords; Duke William steps out last from the ship, and +falls foremost on both hands. His men gather about him in alarm, but +he says, "See, my lords, I have taken possession of England with both +my hands. It is now mine, and what is mine is yours." + +Word is sent to Harold to surrender the throne, but he returns answer +as haughty as is sent. Brave and noble, he plants his standard, a +warrior sparkling with gold and precious stones, and thus addresses +his men:-- + +"The Normans are good knights, and well used to war. If they pierce +our ranks, we are lost. Cleave, and do not spare!" Then they build +up a breastwork of shields, which no man can pass alive. William of +Normandy is ready for action. He in turn addresses his men: "Spare +not, and strike hard. There will be booty for all. It will be in vain +to ask for peace; the English will not give it. Flight is impossible; +at the sea you will find neither ship nor bridge; the English would +overtake and annihilate you there. The victory is in our hands." + +From nine till three the battle rages. The case becomes desperate. +William orders the archers to fire into the air, as they cannot pierce +English armor, and arrows fall down like rain upon the Saxons. Harold +is pierced in the eye. He is soon overcome and trampled to death by +the enemy, dying, it is said, with the words "Holy Cross" upon his +lips. + +Ten thousand are killed on either side, and the Saxons pass forever +under foreign rule. Harold's mother comes and begs the body of her +son, and pays for it, some historians say, its weight in gold. + +Every foot of ground at Battle Abbey is historic, and all the country +round most interesting. We drive over the smoothest of roads to a +palace in the distance,--Normanhurst, the home of Lady Brassey, the +distinguished author and traveller. Towers are at either corner and +in the centre, and ivy climbs over the spacious vestibule to the roof. +Great buildings for waterworks, conservatories, and the like, are +adjoining, in the midst of flower-gardens and acres of lawn and +forest. It is a place fit for the abode of royalty itself. + +In no home have I seen so much that is beautiful gathered from all +parts of the world. The hall, as you enter, square and hung with +crimson velvet, is adorned with valuable paintings. Two easy-chairs +before the fireplace are made from ostriches, their backs forming the +seats. These birds were gifts to Lady Brassey in her travels. In the +rooms beyond are treasures from Japan, the South Sea Islands, South +America, indeed from everywhere; cases of pottery, works in marble, +Dresden candelabra, ancient armor, furs, silks, all arrayed with +exquisite taste. + +One room, called the Marie Antoinette room, has the curtains and +furniture, in yellow, of this unfortunate queen. Here are pictures by +Sir Frederick Leighton, Landseer, and others; stuffed birds and +fishes and animals from every clime, with flowers in profusion. In +the dining-room, with its gray walls and red furniture, is a large +painting of the mistress of this superb home, with her favorite horse +and dogs. The views from the windows are beautiful, Battle Abbey ruin +in the distance, and rivers flowing to the sea. The house is rich in +color, one room being blue, another red, a third yellow, while large +mirrors seem to repeat the apartments again and again. As we leave the +home, not the least of its attractions come up the grounds,--a load of +merry children, all in sailor hats; the Mabelle and Muriel and Marie +whom we have learned to know in Lady Brassey's books. + +The well-known author is the daughter of the late Mr. John Alnutt of +Berkley Square, London, who, as well as his father, was a patron of +art, having made large collections of paintings. Reared in wealth and +culture, it was but natural that the daughter, Annie, should find +in the wealthy and cultured Sir Thomas Brassey a man worthy of her +affections. In 1860, while both were quite young, they were married, +and together they have travelled, written books, aided working men and +women, and made for themselves a noble and lasting fame. + +Sir Thomas is the eldest son of the late Mr. Brassey, "the leviathan +contractor, the employer of untold thousands of navvies, the genie of +the spade and pick, and almost the pioneer of railway builders, not +only in his own country, but from one end of the continent to the +other." Of superior education, having been at Rugby and University +College, Oxford, Sir Thomas was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in +1864, and was elected to Parliament from Devonport the following year, +and from Hastings three years later, in 1868, which position he has +filled ever since. + +Exceedingly fond of the sea, he determined to be a practical sailor, +and qualified himself as a master-marine, by passing the requisite +Board of Trade examination, and receiving a certificate as a seaman +and navigator. In 1869 he was made Honorary Lieutenant in the Royal +Naval Reserve. + +Besides his parliamentary work, he has been an able and voluminous +writer. His _Foreign Work and English Wages_ I purchased in England, +and have found it valuable in facts and helpful in spirit. The +statement in the preface that he "has had under consideration the +expediency of retiring from Parliament, with the view of devoting an +undivided attention to the elucidation of industrial problems, and +the improvement of the relations between capital and labor," shows the +heart of the man. In 1880 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and +in 1881 was created by the Queen a Knight Commander of the Order +of the Bath, for his important services in connection with the +organization of the Naval Reserve forces of the country. + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BRASSEY.] + +In 1869, after Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey had been nine years +married, they determined to take a sea-voyage in his yacht, and +between this time and 1872 they made two cruises in the Mediterranean +and the East. From her childhood the wife had kept a journal, and from +fine powers of observation and much general knowledge was well fitted +to see whatever was to be seen, and describe it graphically. She +wrote long, journal-like letters to her father, and on her return _The +Flight of the Meteor_ was prepared for distribution among relatives +and intimate friends. + +In the year last mentioned, 1872, they took a trip to Canada and +the United States, sailing up several of the long rivers, and on her +return, _A Cruise in the Eothen_ was published for friends. + +Four years later they decided to go round the world, and for this +purpose the beautiful yacht _Sunbeam_ was built. The children, the +animal pets, two dogs, three birds, and a Persian kitten for the baby, +were all taken, and the happy family left England July 1, 1876. With +the crew, the whole number of persons on board was forty-three. +Almost at the beginning of the voyage they encountered a severe storm. +Captain Lecky would have been lost but for the presence of mind of +Mabelle Brassey, the oldest daughter, who has her mother's courage +and calmness. When asked if she thought she was going overboard, she +answered, "I did not think at all, mamma, but felt sure we were gone." + +"Soon after this adventure," says Lady Brassey, "we all went to bed, +full of thanksgiving that it had ended as well as it did; but, alas, +not, so far as I was concerned, to rest in peace. In about two hours I +was awakened by a tremendous weight of water suddenly descending upon +me and flooding the bed. I immediately sprang out, only to find myself +in another pool on the floor. It was pitch dark, and I could not think +what had happened; so I rushed on deck, and found that the weather +having moderated a little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of fresh +air, had opened the skylight rather too soon, and one of the angry +waves had popped on board, deluging the cabin. + +"I got a light, and proceeded to mop up, as best I could, and then +endeavored to find a dry place to sleep in. This, however, was no easy +task, for my own bed was drenched, and every other berth occupied. +The deck, too, was ankle-deep in water, as I found when I tried to +get across to the deck-house sofa. At last I lay down on the floor, +wrapped in my ulster, and wedged between the foot stanchion of our +swing bed and the wardrobe athwart-ship; so that as the yacht rolled +heavily, my feet were often higher than my head." + +No wonder that a woman who could make the best of such circumstances +could make a year's trip on the _Sunbeam_ a delight to all on board. +Their first visits were to the Madeira, Teneriffe, and Cape de Verde +Islands, off the coast of Africa. With simplicity, the charm of all +writing, and naturalness, Lady Brassey describes the people, the +bathing where the sharks were plentiful, and the masses of wild +geranium, hydrangea, and fuchsia. They climb to the top of the lava +Peak of Teneriffe, over twelve thousand feet high; they rise at +five o'clock to see the beautiful sunrises; they watch the slaves at +coffee-raising at Rio de Janeiro, in South America, and Lady Brassey +is attracted toward the nineteen tiny babies by the side of their +mothers; "the youngest, a dear, little woolly-headed thing, as black +as jet, and only three weeks old." + +In Belgrano, she says: "We saw for the first time the holes of the +bizcachas, or prairie-dogs, outside which the little prairie-owls keep +guard. There appeared to be always one, and generally two, of these +birds, standing like sentinels, at the entrance to each hole, with +their wise-looking heads on one side, pictures of prudence and +watchfulness. The bird and the beast are great friends, and are seldom +to be found apart." And then Lady Brassey, who understands photography +as well as how to write several languages, photographs this pretty +scene of prairie-dogs guarded by owls, and puts it in her book. + +On their way to the Straits of Magellan, they see a ship on fire. They +send out a boat to her, and bring in the suffering crew of fifteen +men, almost wild with joy to be rescued. Their cargo of coal had been +on fire for four days. The men were exhausted, the fires beneath +their feet were constantly growing hotter, and finally they gave up in +despair and lay down to die. But the captain said, "There is One above +who looks after us all," and again they took courage. They lashed the +two apprentice boys in one of the little boats, for fear they would be +washed overboard, for one was the "only son of his mother, and she a +widow." + +"The captain," says Lady Brassey, "drowned his favorite dog, a +splendid Newfoundland, just before leaving the ship; for although a +capital watchdog and very faithful, he was rather large and fierce; +and when it was known that the _Sunbeam_ was a yacht with ladies and +children on board, he feared to introduce him. Poor fellow! I wish I +had known about it in time to save his life!" + +They "steamed past the low sandy coast of Patagonia and the rugged +mountains of Tierra del Fuego, literally, Land of Fire, so called from +the custom the inhabitants have of lighting fires on prominent points +as signals of assembly." The people are cannibals, and naked. "Their +food is of the most meagre description, and consists mainly of +shell-fish, sea-eggs, for which the women dive with much dexterity, +and fish, which they train their dogs to assist them in catching. +These dogs are sent into the water at the entrance of a narrow creek +or small bay, and they then bark and flounder about and drive the fish +before them into shallow water, where they are caught." + +Three of these Fuegians, a man, woman, and lad, come out to the yacht +in a craft made of planks rudely tied together with the sinews of +animals, and give otter skins for "tobáco and galléta" (biscuit), for +which they call. When Lady Brassey gives the lad and his mother some +strings of blue, red, and green glass beads, they laugh and jabber +most enthusiastically. Their paddles are "split branches of trees, +with wider pieces tied on at one end, with the sinews of birds or +beasts." At the various places where they land, all go armed, Lady +Brassey herself being well skilled in their use. + +She never forgets to do a kindness. In Chili she hears that a poor +engine-driver, an Englishman, has met with a serious accident, and at +once hastens to see him. He is delighted to hear about the trip of the +_Sunbeam_, and forgets for a time his intense suffering in his joy at +seeing her. + +In Santiago she describes a visit to the ruin of the Jesuit church, +where, Dec. 8, 1863, at the Feast of the Virgin, two thousand persons, +mostly women and children, were burned to death. A few were drawn up +through a hole in the roof and thus saved. + +Their visit to the South Sea Islands is full of interest. At Bow +Island Lady Brassey buys two tame pigs for twenty-five cents each, +which are so docile that they follow her about the yacht with the +dogs, to whom they took a decided fancy. She calls one Agag, because +he walks so delicately on his toes. The native women break cocoanuts +and offer them the milk to drink. At Maitea the natives are puzzled to +know why the island is visited. "No sell brandy?" they ask. "No." +"No stealy men?" "No." "No do what then?" The chief receives most +courteously, cutting down a banana-tree for them, when they express a +wish for bananas. He would receive no money for his presents to them. + +In Tahiti a feast is given in their honor, in a house seemingly made +of banana-trees, "the floor covered with the finest mats, and +the centre strewn with broad green plantain leaves, to form the +table-cloth.... Before each guest was placed a half-cocoanut full of +salt water, another full of chopped cocoanut, a third full of fresh +water, and another full of milk, two pieces of bamboo, a basket of +poi, half a breadfruit, and a platter of green leaves, the latter +being changed with each course. We took our seats on the ground round +the green table. The first operation was to mix the salt water and +the chopped cocoanut together, so as to make an appetizing sauce, into +which we were supposed to dip each morsel we ate. We were tolerably +successful in the use of our fingers as substitutes for knives and +forks." + +At the Sandwich Islands, in Hilo, they visit the volcano of Kilauea. +They descend the precipice, three hundred feet, which forms the wall +of the old crater. They ascend the present crater, and stand on the +"edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake of molten fire, a hundred +feet below us, and nearly a mile across. Dashing against the cliffs on +the opposite side, with a noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, +waves of blood-red, fiery liquid lava hurled their billows upon an +iron-bound headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss +their gory spray high in the air." + +They pass the island of Molokai, where the poor lepers end their days +away from home and kindred. At Honolulu they are entertained by the +Prince, and then sail for Japan, China, Ceylon, through Suez, stopping +in Egypt, and then home. On their arrival, Lady Brassey says, "How +can I describe the warm greetings that met us everywhere, or the crowd +that surrounded us; how, along the whole ten miles from Hastings to +Battle, people were standing by the roadside and at the cottage doors +to welcome us; how the Battle bell-ringers never stopped ringing +except during service time; or how the warmest of welcomes ended our +delightful year of travel and made us feel we were home at last, with +thankful hearts for the providential care which had watched over us +whithersoever we roamed!" + +The trip had been one of continued ovation. Crowds had gathered in +every place to see the _Sunbeam_, and often trim her with flowers from +stem to stern. Presents of parrots, and kittens, and pigs abounded, +and Lady Brassey had cared tenderly for them all. Christmas was +observed on ship-board with gifts for everybody; thoughtfulness +and kindness had made the trip a delight to the crew as well as the +passengers. + +The letters sent home from the _Sunbeam_ were so thoroughly enjoyed +by her father and friends, that they prevailed upon her to publish a +book, which she did in 1878. It was found to be as full of interest +to the world as it had been to the intimate friends, and it passed +rapidly through four editions. An abridged edition appeared in the +following year; then the call for it was so great that an edition +was prepared for reading in schools, in 1880, and finally, in 1881, a +twelve-cent edition, that the poor as well as the rich might have an +opportunity of reading this fascinating book, _Around the World in +the Yacht Sunbeam_. And now Lady Brassey found herself not only the +accomplished and benevolent wife of a member of Parliament, but a +famous author as well. + +This year, July, 1881, the King of the Sandwich Islands, who had been +greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, was entertained +at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady Brassey with the Order of +Kapiolani. + +The next trip made was to the far East, and a book followed in 1880, +entitled, _Sunshine and Storm in the East; or, Cruises to Cyprus and +Constantinople_, dedicated "to the brave, true-hearted sailors of +England, of all ranks and services." + +The book is intensely interesting. Now she describes the Sultan going +to the mosque, which he does every Friday at twelve o'clock. "He +appeared in a sort of undress uniform, with a flowing cloak over +it, and with two or three large diamond stars on his breast. He was +mounted on a superb white Arab charger, thirty-three years old, +whose saddle-cloths and trappings blazed with gold and diamonds. The +following of officers on foot was enormous; and then came two hundred +of the fat blue and gold pashas, with their white horses and brilliant +trappings, the rear being brought up by some troops and a few +carriages.... Nobody dares address the Sultan, even if he speaks to +them, except in monosyllables, with their foreheads almost touching +the floor, the only exception being the grand vizier, who dares not +look up, but stands almost bent double. He is entirely governed by his +mother, who, having been a slave of the very lowest description, to +whom his father, Mahmoud II., took a fancy as she was carrying wood +to the bath, is naturally bigoted and ignorant.... The Sultan is not +allowed to marry, but the slaves who become mothers of his children +are called sultanas, and not allowed to do any more work. They have a +separate suite of apartments, a retinue of servants, besides carriages +and horses, and each hopes some day to be the mother of the future +Sultan, and therefore the most prominent woman in Turkey. The sultanas +may not sit at table with their own children, on account of their +having been slaves, while the children are princes and princesses in +right of their father." + +Lady Brassey tells the amusing story of a visit of Eugenie to the +Sultan's mother, when the Empress of the French saluted her on the +cheek. The Turkish woman was furious, and said she had never been so +insulted in her life. "She retired to bed at once, was bled, and had +several Turkish baths, to purify her from the pollution. Fancy the +Empress' feelings when, after having so far condescended as to kiss +the old woman, born one of the lowest of slaves, she had her embrace +received in such a manner." + +The habits and customs of the people are described by Lady Brassey +with all the interest of a novel. On their return home, "again the +Battle bells rang out a merry peal of gladness; again everybody rushed +out to welcome us. At home once again, the servants and the animals +seemed equally glad to see us back; the former looked the picture of +happiness, while the dogs jumped and barked; the horses and ponies +neighed and whinnied; the monkeys chattered; the cockatoos and parrots +screamed; the birds chirped; the bullfinches piped their little paean +of welcome.... Our old Sussex cowman says that even the cows eat their +food 'kind of kinder like' when the family are at home. The deer and +the ostriches too, the swans and the call ducks, all came running to +meet us, as we drove round the place to see them." Kindness to both +man and beast bears its legitimate fruit. + +Two years later she prepared the letter-press to _Tahiti: a Series of +Photographs_, taken by Colonel Stuart Wortley. He also is a gentleman +of much culture and noble work, in whose home we saw beautiful things +gathered from many lands. + +The last long trip of Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey was made in the fall +of 1883, and resulted in a charming book, _In the Trades, the Tropics, +and the Roaring Forties_, with about three hundred illustrations. The +route lay through Madeira, Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and home +by way of the Azores. The resources of the various islands, their +history, and their natural formation, are ably told, showing much +study as well as intelligent observation. The maps and charts are also +valuable. At Trinidad they visit the fine Botanic Gardens, and see +bamboos, mangoes, peach-palms, and cocoa-plants, from whose seeds +chocolate is made. The quantity exported annually is 13,000,000 +pounds. + +They also visit great coffee plantations. "The leaves of the +coffee-shrub," says Lady Brassey, "are of a rich, dark, glossy green; +the flowers, which grow in dense white clusters, when in full bloom, +giving the bushes the appearance of being covered with snow. The +berries vary in color from pale green to reddish orange or dark +red, according to their ripeness, and bear a strong resemblance to +cherries. Each contains two seeds, which, when properly dried, become +what is known to us as 'raw' coffee." + +At Caracas they view with interest the place which, on March 26, +1812, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, twelve thousand persons +perishing, thousands of whom were buried alive by the opening of +the ground. They study the formation of coral-reefs, and witness the +gathering of sponges in the Bahamas. "These are brought to the surface +by hooked poles, or sometimes by diving. When first drawn from the +water they are covered with a soft gelatinous substance, as black as +tar and full of organic life, the sponge, as we know, being only the +skeleton of the organism." + +While all this travelling was being enjoyed, and made most useful +as well, to hundreds of thousands of readers, Lady Brassey was not +forgetting her works of philanthropy. For years she has been a leading +spirit in the St. John's Ambulance Association. Last October she +gave a valuable address to the members of the "Workingmen's Club and +Institute Union," composed of several hundred societies of workingmen. +Her desire was that each society take up the work of teaching +its members how to care for the body in case of accidents. The +association, now numbering over one hundred thousand persons, is an +offshoot of the ancient order of St. John of Jerusalem, founded eight +hundred years ago, to maintain a hospital for Christian pilgrims. She +says: "The method of arresting bleeding from an artery is so easy that +a child may learn it; yet thousands of lives have been lost through +ignorance, the life-blood ebbing away in the presence of sorrowing +spectators, perfectly helpless, because none among them had been +taught one of the first rudiments of instruction of an ambulance +pupil,--the application of an extemporized tourniquet. Again, how +frequent is the loss of life by drowning; yet how few persons, +comparatively, understand the way to treat properly the apparently +drowned." Lectures are given by this association on, first, aid to the +injured; also on the general management of the sick-room. + +Lady Brassey, with the assistance of medical men, has held classes in +all the outlying villages about her home, and has arranged that simple +but useful medical appliances, like plasters, bandages, and the like, +be kept at some convenient centres. + +At Trindad, and Bahamas, and Bermudas, when they stayed there in +their travels, she caused to be held large meetings among the most +influential residents; also at Madeira and in the Azores. A class was +organized on board the _Sunbeam_, and lectures were delivered by +a physician. In the Shetland Islands she has also organized these +societies, and thus many lives have been saved. When the soldiers +went to the Soudan, she arranged for these helpful lectures to them +on their voyage East, and among much other reading-matter which +she obtained for them, sent them books and papers on this essential +medical knowledge. + +She carries on correspondence with India, Australia, and New Zealand, +where ambulance associations have been formed. For her valued services +she was elected in 1881 a _Dame Chevaliere_ of the Order of St. John +of Jerusalem. + +Her work among the poor in the East End of London is admirable. Too +much of this cannot be done by those who are blessed with wealth +and culture. She is also interested in all that helps to educate the +people, as is shown by her Museum of Natural History and Ethnological +Specimens, open for inspection in the School of Fine Art at Hastings. +How valuable is such a life compared with one that uses its time and +money for personal gratification alone. + +In August, 1885, Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey took Mr. and Mrs. +Gladstone, and a few other friends, in the _Sunbeam_, up the coast of +Norway. When they landed at Stavanger, a quaint, clean little town, +she says, in the October _Contemporary Review_: "The reception which +we met in this comparatively out-of-the-way place, where our visit had +been totally unexpected, was very striking. From early morning little +groups of townspeople had been hovering about the quays, trying to get +a distant glimpse of the world-renowned statesman who was among our +passengers." When they walked through the town, "every window and +doorway was filled with on-lookers, several flags had been hoisted in +honor of the occasion, and the church bells were set ringing. It was +interesting and touching to see the ex-minister walking up the +narrow street, his hat almost constantly raised in response to the +salutations of the townspeople." + +They sail up the fiords, they ride in stolkjoerres over the country, +they climb mountains, they visit old churches, and they dine with the +Prince of Wales on board the royal yacht _Osborne_. Before landing, +Mr. Gladstone addresses the crew, thanking them that "the voyage has +been made pleasant and safe by their high sense of duty, constant +watchfulness, and arduous exertion." While he admires the "rare +knowledge of practical seamanship of Sir Thomas Brassey," and thanks +both him and his wife for their "genial and generous hospitality," +he does not forget the sailors, for whom he "wishes health and +happiness," and "prays that God may speed you in all you undertake." + +Lady Brassey is living a useful and noble as well as intellectual +life. In London, Sir Thomas and herself recently gave a reception to +over a thousand workingmen in the South Kensington Museum. Devoted to +her family, she does not forget the best interests of her country, +nor the welfare of those less fortunate than herself. Successful in +authorship, she is equally successful in good works; loved at home and +honored abroad. + + * * * * * + +Lady Brassey's last voyage was made in the yacht she loved: the +_Sunbeam_. Three or four years before, her health had received a +serious shock through an attack of typhoid fever, and it was hoped +that travel would restore her. A trip was made in 1887 to Ceylon, +Rangoon, North Borneo and Australia, in company with Lord Brassey, +a son, and three daughters. While in mid-ocean, on their way to +Mauritius, Lady Brassey died of malarial fever, and was buried at sea, +September 14, 1887. + + + + +BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. + +[Illustration: BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS.] + +We hear, with comparative frequency, of great gifts made by men: +George Peabody and Johns Hopkins, Ezra Cornell and Matthew Vassar, +Commodore Vanderbilt and Leland Stanford. But gifts of millions have +been rare from women. Perhaps this is because they have not, as often +as men, had the control of immense wealth. + +It is estimated that Baroness Burdett-Coutts has already given away +from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and is constantly dispensing +her fortune. She is feeling, in her lifetime, the real joy of giving. +How many benevolent persons lose all this joy, by waiting till death +before they bestow their gifts. + +This remarkable woman comes from a remarkable family. Her father, +Sir Francis Burdett, was one of England's most prominent members of +Parliament. So earnest and eloquent was he that Canning placed him +"very nearly, if not quite, at the head of the orators of the day." +His colleague from Westminster, Hobhouse, said, "Sir Francis Burdett +was endowed with qualities rarely united. A manly understanding and a +tender heart gave a charm to his society such as I have never derived +in any other instance from a man whose principal pursuit was politics. +He was the delight both of young and old." + +He was of fine presence, with great command of language, natural, +sincere, and impressive. After being educated at Oxford, he spent some +time in Paris during the early part of the French Revolution, and +came home with enlarged ideas of liberty. With as much courage as +eloquence, he advocated liberty of the press in England, and many +Parliamentary reforms. Whenever there were misdeeds to be exposed, he +exposed them. The abuses of Cold Bath Fields and other prisons were +corrected through his searching public inquiries. + +When one of his friends was shut up in Newgate for impugning the +conduct of the House of Commons, Sir Francis took his part, and for +this it was ordered that he too be arrested. Believing in free speech +as he did, he denied the right of the House of Commons to arrest +him, and for nearly three days barricaded his house, till the police +forcibly entered, and carried him to the Tower. A riot resulted, the +people assaulting the police and the soldiers, for the statesman was +extremely popular. Several persons were killed in the tumult. + +Nine years later, in 1819, because he condemned the proceedings of the +Lancashire magistrates in a massacre case, he was again arrested for +libel (?). His sentence was three months' imprisonment, and a fine of +five thousand dollars. The banknote with which the money was paid +is still preserved in the Bank of England, "with an inscription +in Burdett's own writing, that to save his life, which further +imprisonment threatened to destroy, he submitted to be robbed." + +For thirty years he represented Westminster, fearless in what he +considered right; strenuous for the abolition of slavery, and in all +other reforms. Napoleon said at St. Helena, if he had invaded England +as he had intended, he would have made it a republic, with Sir Francis +Burdett, the popular idol, at its head. + +Wealthy himself, Sir Francis married Sophia, the youngest daughter of +the wealthy London banker, Thomas Coutts. One son and five daughters +were born to them, the youngest Angela Georgina (April 21, 1814), +now the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Mr. Coutts was an eccentric and +independent man, who married for his first wife an excellent girl of +very humble position. Their children, from the great wealth of the +father, married into the highest social rank, one being Marchioness of +Bute, one countess of Guilford, and the third Lady Burdett. + +When Thomas Coutts was eighty-four he married for the second time, +a well-known actress, Harriet Mellon, who for seven years, till his +death, took excellent care of him. He left her his whole fortune, +amounting to several millions, feeling, perhaps, that he had provided +sufficiently for his daughters at their marriage, by giving them a +half-million each. But Harriet Mellon, with a fine sense of honor, +felt that the fortune belonged to his children. Though she married +five years later the Duke of St. Albans, twenty-four years old, about +half her own age, at her death, in ten years, she left the whole +property, some fifteen millions, to Mr. Coutts' granddaughter, Angela +Burdett. Only one condition was imposed,--that the young lady should +add the name of Coutts to her own. + +Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts became, therefore, at twenty-three, the +sole proprietor of the great Coutts banking-house, which position she +held for thirty years, and the owner of an immense fortune. Very many +young men manifested a desire to help care for the property, and to +share it with her, but she seems from the first to have had but one +definite life-purpose,--to spend her money for the good of the human +race. She had her father's strength of character, was well educated, +and was a friend of royalty itself. Alas, how many young women, with +fifteen million dollars in hand, and the sum constantly increasing, +would have preferred a life of display and self-aggrandizement rather +than visiting the poor and the sorrowing! + +Baroness Burdett-Coutts is now over seventy, and for fifty years her +name has been one of the brightest and noblest in England, or, indeed, +in the world. Crabb Robinson said, she is "the most generous, and +delicately generous, person I ever knew." + +Her charities have extended in every direction. Among her first good +works was the building of two large churches, one at Carlisle, and +another, St. Stephen's, at Westminster, the latter having also three +schools and a parsonage. But Great Britain did not require all her +gifts. Gospel work was needed in Australia, Africa, and British +America. She therefore endowed three colonial bishoprics, at Adelaide, +Cape Town, and in British Columbia, with a quarter of a million +dollars. In South Australia she also provided an institution for the +improvement of the aborigines, who were ignorant, and for whom the +world seemed to care little. + +She has generously aided her own sex. Feeling that sewing and other +household work should be taught in the national schools, as from her +labors among the poor she had seen how often food was badly cooked, +and mothers were ignorant of sewing, she gave liberally to the +government for this purpose. Her heart also went out to children in +the remote districts, who were missing all school privileges, and for +these she arranged a plan of "travelling teachers," which was heartily +approved by the English authorities. Even now in these later years the +Baroness may often be seen at the night-schools of London, offering +prizes, or encouraging the young men and women in their desire to +gain knowledge after the hard day's work is done. She has opened +"Reformatory Homes" for girls, and great good has resulted. + +Like Peabody, she has transformed some of the most degraded portions +of London by her improved tenement houses for the poor. One place, +called Nova Scotia gardens,--the term "gardens" was a misnomer,--she +purchased, tore down the old rookeries where people slept and ate in +filth and rags, and built tasteful homes for two hundred families, +charging for them low and weekly rentals. Close by she built Columbia +Market, costing over a million dollars, intended for the convenience +of small dealers and people in that locality, where clean, healthful +food could be procured. She opened a museum and reading-room for the +neighborhood, and brought order and taste out of squalor and distress. + +This building she presented to the city of London, and in +acknowledgment of the munificent gift, the Common Council presented +her, July, 1872, in a public ceremony, the freedom of the city, an +uncommon honor to a woman. It was accompanied by a complimentary +address, enclosed in a beautiful gold casket with several +compartments. One bore the arms of the Baroness, while the other +seven represented tableaux emblematic of her noble life, "Feeding +the Hungry," "Giving Drink to the Thirsty," "Clothing the Naked," +"Visiting the Captive," "Lodging the Homeless," "Visiting the +Sick," and "Burying the Dead." The four cardinal virtues, Prudence, +Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice, supported the box at the four +corners, while the lid was surmounted by the arms of the city. + +The Baroness made an able response to the address of the Council, +instead of asking some gentleman to reply for her. Women who can do +valuable benevolent work should be able to read their own reports, +or say what they desire to say in public speech, without feeling +that they have in the slightest degree departed from the dignity and +delicacy of their womanhood. + +Two years later, 1874, Edinburgh, for her many charities, also +presented the Baroness the freedom of the city. Queen Victoria, three +years before this, in June, 1871, had made her a peer of the realm. + +In Spitalfields, London, where the poverty was very great, she started +a sewing-school for adult women, and provided not only work for them, +but food as well, so that they might earn for themselves rather than +receive charity. To furnish this work, she took contracts from the +government. From this school she sent out nurses among the sick, +giving them medical supplies, and clothes for the deserving. When +servants needed outfits, the Baroness provided them, aiding in all +ways those who were willing to work. All this required much executive +ability. + +So interested is she in the welfare of poor children, that she has +converted some of the very old burying-grounds of the city, where +the bodies have long since gone back to dust, into playgrounds, with +walks, and seats, and beds of flowers. Here the children can romp +from morning till night, instead of living in the stifled air of +the tenement houses. In old St. Pancras churchyard, now used as a +playground, she has erected a sundial as a memorial to its illustrious +dead. + +Not alone does Lady Burdett-Coutts build churches, and help women and +girls. She has fitted hundreds of boys for the Royal Navy; educated +them on her training-ships. She usually tries them in a shoe-black +brigade, and if they show a desire to be honest and trustworthy, she +provides homes, either in the navy or in some good trade. + +When men are out of work, she encourages them in various ways. When +the East End weavers had become reduced to poverty by the decay of +trade, she furnished funds for them to emigrate to Queensland, with +their families. A large number went together, and formed a prosperous +and happy colony, gratefully sending back thanks to their benefactor. +They would have starved, or, what is more probable, gone into crime in +London; now they were contented and satisfied in their new home. + +When the inhabitants of Girvan, Scotland, were in distress, she +advanced a large sum to take all the needy families to Australia. Here +in America we talk every now and then of forming societies to help the +poor to leave the cities and go West, and too often the matter ends in +talk; while here is a woman who forms a society in and of herself, +and sends the suffering to any part of the world, expecting no money +return on the capital used. To see happy and contented homes grow from +our expenditures is such an investment of capital as helps to bring on +the millennium. + +When the people near Skibbereen, Ireland, were in want, she sent food, +and clothing, and fishing-tackle, to enable them to carry on their +daily employment of fishing. She supplied the necessary funds for Sir +Henry James' topographical survey of Jerusalem, in the endeavor to +discover the remains of King Solomon's temple, and offered to restore +the ancient aqueduct, to supply the city with water. Deeply interested +in art, she has aided many struggling artists. Her homes also contain +many valuable pictures. + +The heart of the Baroness seems open to distress from every clime. In +1877, when word reached England of the suffering through war of the +Bulgarian and Turkish peasantry, she instituted the "Compassion Fund," +by which one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and stores +were sent, and thousands of lives saved from starvation and death. For +this generosity the Sultan conferred upon her the Order of Medjidie, +the first woman, it is said, who has received this distinction. + +In all this benevolence she has not overlooked the animal creation. +She has erected four handsome drinking fountains: one in Victoria +Park, one at the entrance to the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, +one near Columbia Market, and one in the city of Manchester. At the +opening of the latter, the citizens gave Lady Burdett-Coutts a most +enthusiastic reception. To the unique and interesting home for lost +dogs in London, she has contributed very largely. If the poor animals +could speak, how would they thank her for a warm bed to lie on, and +proper food to eat! + +Her private gifts to the poor have been numberless. Her city house, +I Stratton Street, Piccadilly, and her country home at Holly Lodge, +Highgate, are both well known. When, in 1868, the great Reform +procession passed her house, and she was at the window, though half +out of sight, says a person who was present, "in one instant a shout +was raised. For upwards of two hours and a half the air rang with the +reiterated huzzas--huzzas unanimous and heart-felt, as if representing +a national sentiment." + +At Holly Lodge, which one passes in visiting the grave of George Eliot +at Highgate Cemetery, the Baroness makes thousands of persons happy +year by year. Now she invites two thousand Belgian volunteers to meet +the Prince and Princess of Wales, with some five hundred royal and +distinguished guests; now she throws open her beautiful gardens to +hundreds of school-children, and lets them play at will under the oak +and chestnut trees; and now she entertains at tea all her tenants, +numbering about a thousand. So genial and considerate is she that +all love her, both rich and poor. She has fine manners and an open, +pleasant face. + +For some years a young friend, about half her own age, Mr. William +Ashmead-Bartlett, had assisted her in dispensing her charities, and +in other financial matters. At one time he went to Turkey, at her +request, using wisely the funds committed to his trust. Baroness +Coutts had refused many offers of marriage, but she finally desired +to bestow her hand upon this young but congenial man. On February 12, +1881, they were wedded in Christ Church, Piccadilly. Her husband +took the name of Mr. Burdett-Coutts Bartlett, and has since become a +capable member of Parliament. The marriage proved a happy one. + +The final years of the Baroness' long, useful life were rather +secluded, being spent at her London residence, or at her delightful +country place near Highgate, where she formerly entertained largely. + +On Christmas Eve, in 1906, she became ill of bronchitis, and though +her wonderful vitality led her to revive somewhat, she finally +succumbed on December 30, at the age of ninety-two. She was greatly +beloved from the highest to the humblest citizens. Queen Alexandra +sent repeated inquiries and messages. King Edward once said that he +regarded the Baroness, after his mother, as the most remarkable woman +in England. Her life was a link with the past, as it began during the +reign of Emperor Napoleon I, and witnessed the reigns of five British +sovereigns. Throughout it was spent in doing good. + + + + +JEAN INGELOW. + +[Illustration: JEAN INGELOW.] + +The same friend who had given me Mrs. Browning's five volumes in blue +and gold, came one day with a dainty volume just published by Roberts +Brothers, of Boston. They had found a new poet, and one possessing a +beautiful name. Possibly it was a _nom de plume_, for who had heard +any real name so musical as that of Jean Ingelow? + +I took the volume down by the quiet stream that flows below Amherst +College, and day after day, under a grand old tree, read some of +the most musical words, wedded to as pure thought as our century has +produced. + +The world was just beginning to know _The High Tide on the Coast of +Lincolnshire_. Eyes were dimming as they read,-- + + "I looked without, and lo! my sonne + Came riding downe with might and main: + He raised a shout as he drew on, + Till all the welkin rang again, + 'Elizabeth! Elizabeth!' + (A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath + Than my sonne's wife Elizabeth.) + + "'The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe, + The rising tide comes on apace, + And boats adrift in yonder towne + Go sailing uppe the market-place.' + He shook as one who looks on death: + 'God save you, mother!' straight he saith; + 'Where is my wife, Elizabeth?'" + +And then the waters laid her body at his very door, and the sweet +voice that called, "Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!" was stilled forever. + +The _Songs of Seven_ soon became as household words, because they +were a reflection of real life. Nobody ever pictured a child more +exquisitely than the little seven-year-old, who, rich with the little +knowledge that seems much to a child, looks down from superior heights +upon + + "The lambs that play always, they know no better; + They are only one times one." + +So happy is she that she makes boon companions of the flowers:-- + + "O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow, + Give me your honey to hold! + + "O columbine, open your folded wrapper, + Where two twin turtle-doves dwell! + O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper + That hangs in your clear green bell!" + +At "seven times two," who of us has not waited for the great heavy +curtains of the future to be drawn aside? + + "I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster, + Nor long summer bide so late; + And I could grow on, like the fox-glove and aster, + For some things are ill to wait." + +At twenty-one the girl's heart flutters with expectancy:-- + + "I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover, + Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate; + Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover; + Hush nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale wait + Till I listen and hear + If a step draweth near, + For my love he is late!" + +At twenty-eight, the happy mother lives in a simple home, made +beautiful by her children:-- + + "Heigho! daisies and buttercups! + Mother shall thread them a daisy chain." + +At thirty-five a widow; at forty-two giving up her children to +brighten other homes; at forty-nine, "Longing for Home." + + "I had a nestful once of my own, + Ah, happy, happy I! + Right dearly I loved them, but when they were grown + They spread out their wings to fly. + O, one after another they flew away, + Far up to the heavenly blue, + To the better country, the upper day, + And--I wish I was going too." + +The _Songs of Seven_ will be read and treasured as long as there are +women in the world to be loved, and men in the world to love them. + +My especial favorite in the volume was the poem _Divided_. Never have +I seen more exquisite kinship with nature, or more delicate and tender +feeling. Where is there so beautiful a picture as this? + + "An empty sky, a world of heather, + Purple of fox-glove, yellow of broom; + We two among them, wading together, + Shaking out honey, treading perfume. + + "Crowds of bees are giddy with clover, + Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, + Crowds of larks at their matins hang over, + Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet. + + * * * * * + + "We two walk till the purple dieth, + And short, dry grass under foot is brown; + But one little streak at a distance lieth + Green like a ribbon to prank the down. + + "Over the grass we stepped into it, + And God He knoweth how blithe we were! + Never a voice to bid us eschew it; + Hey the green ribbon that showed so fair! + + * * * * * + + "A shady freshness, chafers whirring, + A little piping of leaf-hid birds; + A flutter of wings, a fitful stirring, + A cloud to the eastward, snowy as curds. + + "Bare, glassy slopes, where kids are tethered; + Round valleys like nests all ferny lined; + Round hills, with fluttering tree-tops feathered, + Swell high in their freckled robes behind. + + * * * * * + + "Glitters the dew and shines the river, + Up comes the lily and dries her bell; + But two are walking apart forever, + And wave their hands for a mute farewell. + + * * * * * + + "And yet I know past all doubting, truly-- + And knowledge greater than grief can dim-- + I know, as he loved, he will love me duly-- + Yea, better--e'en better than I love him. + + "And as I walk by the vast calm river, + The awful river so dread to see, + I say, 'Thy breadth and thy depth forever + Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me.'" + +In what choice but simple language we are thus told that two loving +hearts cannot be divided. + +Years went by, and I was at last to see the author of the poems I had +loved in girlhood. I had wondered how she looked, what was her manner, +and what were her surroundings. + +In Kensington, a suburb of London, in a two-story-and-a-half stone +house, cream-colored, lives Jean Ingelow. Tasteful grounds are in +front of the home, and in the rear a large lawn bordered with many +flowers, and conservatories; a real English garden, soft as velvet, +and fragrant as new-mown hay. The house is fit for a poet; roomy, +cheerful, and filled with flowers. One end of the large, double +parlors seemed a bank of azalias and honeysuckles, while great bunches +of yellow primrose and blue forget-me-not were on the tables and in +the bay-windows. + +But most interesting of all was the poet herself, in middle life, with +fine, womanly face, friendly manner, and cultivated mind. For an hour +we talked of many things in both countries. Miss Ingelow showed great +familiarity with American literature and with our national questions. + +While everything about her indicated deep love for poetry, and a keen +sense of the beautiful, her conversation, fluent and admirable, +showed her to be eminently practical and sensible, without a touch of +sentimentality. Her first work in life seems to be the making of her +two brothers happy in the home. She usually spends her forenoons +in writing. She does her literary work thoroughly, keeping her +productions a long time before they are put into print. As she is +never in robust health, she gives little time to society, and passes +her winters in the South of France or Italy. A letter dated Feb. 25, +from the Alps Maritime, at Cannes, says, "This lovely spot is full of +flowers, birds, and butterflies." Who that recalls her _Songs on +the Voices of Birds_, the blackbird, and the nightingale, will not +appreciate her happiness with such surroundings? + +With great fondness for, and pride in, her own country, she has the +most kindly feelings toward America and her people. She says in the +preface of her novel, _Fated to be Free_, concerning this work and +_Off the Skelligs_, "I am told that they are peculiar; and I feel that +they must be so, for most stories of human life are, or at least aim +at being, works of art--selections of interesting portions of life, +and fitting incidents put together and presented as a picture is; and +I have not aimed at producing a work of art at all, but a piece of +nature." And then she goes on to explain her position to "her American +friends," for, she says, "I am sure you more than deserve of me some +efforts to please you. I seldom have an opportunity of saying how +truly I think so." + +Jean Ingelow's life has been a quiet but busy and earnest one. She was +born in the quaint old city of Boston, England, in 1830. Her father +was a well-to-do banker; her mother a cultivated woman of Scotch +descent, from Aberdeenshire. Jean grew to womanhood in the midst of +eleven brothers and sisters, without the fate of struggle and poverty, +so common among the great. + +She writes to a friend concerning her childhood:-- + +"As a child, I was very happy at times, and generally wondering at +something.... I was uncommonly like other children.... I remember seeing +a star, and that my mother told me of God who lived up there and made +the star. This was on a summer evening. It was my first hearing of +God, and made a great impression on my mind. I remember better than +anything that certain ecstatic sensations of joy used to get hold of +me, and that I used to creep into corners to think out my thoughts by +myself. I was, however, extremely timid, and easily overawed by fear. +We had a lofty nursery with a bow-window that overlooked the river. My +brother and I were constantly wondering at this river. The coming up +of the tides, and the ships, and the jolly gangs of towers ragging +them on with a monotonous song made a daily delight for us. The +washing of the water, the sunshine upon it, and the reflections of the +waves on our nursery ceiling supplied hours of talk to us, and days +of pleasure. At this time, being three years old, ... I learned my +letters.... I used to think a good deal, especially about the origin +of things. People said often that they had been in this world, that +house, that nursery, before I came. I thought everything must have +begun when I did.... No doubt other children have such thoughts, +but few remember them. Indeed, nothing is more remarkable among +intelligent people than the recollections they retain of their early +childhood. A few, as I do, remember it all. Many remember nothing +whatever which occurred before they were five years old.... I have +suffered much from a feeling of shyness and reserve, and I have not +been able to do things by trying to do them. What comes to me comes of +its own accord, and almost in spite of me; and I have hardly any power +when verses are once written to make them any better.... There were no +hardships in my youth, but care was bestowed on me and my brothers and +sisters by a father and mother who were both cultivated people." + +To another friend she writes: "I suppose I may take for granted that +mine was the poetic temperament, and since there are no thrilling +incidents to relate, you may think you should like to have my views +as to what that means. I cannot tell you in an hour, or even in a day, +for it means so much. I suppose it, of its absence or presence, to +make far more difference between one person and another than any +contrast of circumstances can do. The possessor does not have it for +nothing. It isolates, particularly in childhood; it takes away some +common blessings, but then it consoles for them all." + +With this poetic temperament, that saw beauty in flower, and sky, and +bird, that felt keenly all the sorrow and all the happiness of the +world about her, that wrote of life rather than art, because to live +rightly was the whole problem of human existence, with this poetic +temperament, the girl grew to womanhood in the city bordering on the +sea. + +Boston, at the mouth of the Witham, was once a famous seaport, the +rival of London in commercial prosperity, in the thirteenth century. +It was the site of the famous monastery of St. Botolph, built by +a pious monk in 657. The town which grew up around it was called +Botolph's town, contracted finally to Boston. From this town Reverend +John Cotton came to America, and gave the name to the capital of +Massachusetts, in which he settled. The present famous old church of +St. Botolph was founded in 1309, having a bell-tower three hundred +feet high, which supports a lantern visible at sea for forty miles. + +The surrounding country is made up largely of marshes reclaimed from +the sea, which are called fens, and slightly elevated tracts of land +called moors. Here Jean Ingelow studied the green meadows and the +ever-changing ocean. + +Her first book, _A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and Feelings_, was +published in 1850, when she was twenty, and a novel, _Allerton and +Dreux_, in 1851; nine years later her _Tales of Orris_. But her +fame came at thirty-three, when her first full book of _Poems_ was +published in 1863. This was dedicated to a much loved brother, George +K. Ingelow:-- + + "YOUR LOVING SISTER + OFFERS YOU THESE POEMS, PARTLY AS + AN EXPRESSION OF HER AFFECTION, PARTLY FOR THE + PLEASURE OF CONNECTING HER EFFORT + WITH YOUR NAME." + +The press everywhere gave flattering notices. A new singer had come; +not one whose life had been spent in the study of Greek roots, simply, +but one who had studied nature and humanity. She had a message to give +the world, and she gave it well. It was a message of good cheer, of +earnest purpose, of contentment and hope. + + "What though unmarked the happy workman toil, + And break unthanked of man the stubborn clod? + It is enough, for sacred is the soil, + Dear are the hills of God. + + "Far better in its place the lowliest bird + Should sing aright to him the lowliest song, + Than that a seraph strayed should take the word + And sing his glory wrong." + + "But like a river, blest where'er it flows, + Be still receiving while it still bestows." + "That life + Goes best with those who take it best. + --it is well + For us to be as happy as we can!" + + "Work is its own best earthly meed, + Else have we none more than the sea-born throng + Who wrought those marvellous isles that bloom afar." + +The London press said: "Miss Ingelow's new volume exhibits abundant +evidence that time, study, and devotion to her vocation have both +elevated and welcomed the powers of the most gifted poetess we +possess, now that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Adelaide Proctor sing +no more on earth. Lincolnshire has claims to be considered the Arcadia +of England at present, having given birth to Mr. Tennyson and our +present Lady Laureate." + +The press of America was not less cordial. "Except Mrs. Browning, Jean +Ingelow is first among the women whom the world calls poets," said the +_Independent_. + +The songs touched the popular heart, and some, set to music, were sung +at numberless firesides. Who has not heard the _Sailing beyond Seas?_ + + "Methought the stars were blinking bright, + And the old brig's sails unfurled; + I said, 'I will sail to my love this night + At the other side of the world.' + I stepped aboard,--we sailed so fast,-- + The sun shot up from the bourne; + But a dove that perched upon the mast + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn. + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + And dove with the white breast, + Let me alone, the dream is my own, + And my heart is full of rest. + + "My love! He stood at my right hand, + His eyes were grave and sweet. + Methought he said, 'In this fair land, + O, is it thus we meet? + Ah, maid most dear, I am not here; + I have no place,--no part,-- + No dwelling more by sea or shore! + But only in thy heart!' + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + Till night rose over the bourne, + The dove on the mast as we sailed past, + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn." + +Edmund Clarence Stedman, one of the ablest and fairest among American +critics, says: "As the voice of Mrs. Browning grew silent, the songs +of Miss Ingelow began, and had instant and merited popularity. They +sprang up suddenly and tunefully as skylarks from the daisy-spangled, +hawthorn-bordered meadows of old England, with a blitheness long +unknown, and in their idyllic underflights moved with the tenderest +currents of human life. Miss Ingelow may be termed an idyllic lyrist, +her lyrical pieces having always much idyllic beauty. _High Tide, +Winstanley, Songs of Seven, and the Long White Seam_ are lyrical +treasures, and the author especially may be said to evince that +sincerity which is poetry's most enduring warrant." + +_Winstanley_ is especially full of pathos and action. We watch this +heroic man as he builds the lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks:-- + + "Then he and the sea began their strife, + And worked with power and might: + Whatever the man reared up by day + The sea broke down by night. + + * * * * * + + "A Scottish schooner made the port + The thirteenth day at e'en: + 'As I am a man,' the captain cried, + 'A strange sight I have seen; + + "'And a strange sound heard, my masters all, + At sea, in the fog and the rain, + Like shipwrights' hammers tapping low, + Then loud, then low again. + + "'And a stately house one instant showed, + Through a rift, on the vessel's lea; + What manner of creatures may be those + That build upon the sea?'" + +After the lighthouse was built, Winstanley went out again to see his +precious tower. A fearful storm came up, and the tower and its builder +went down together. + +Several books have come from Miss Ingelow's pen since 1863. The +following year, Studies for Stories was published, of which the +Athenaeum said, "They are prose poems, carefully meditated, and +exquisitely touched in by a teacher ready to sympathize with every joy +and sorrow." The five stories are told in simple and clear language, +and without slang, to which she heartily objects. For one so rich +in imagination as Miss Ingelow, her prose is singularly free from +obscurity and florid language. + +_Stories told to a Child_ was published in 1865, and _A Story of Doom, +and Other Poems_, in 1868, the principal poem being drawn from the +time of the Deluge. _Mopsa the Fairy_, an exquisite story, followed a +year later, with _A Sister's Bye-hours_, and since that time, _Off the +Skelligs_ in 1872, _Fated to be Free_ in 1875, _Sarah de Berenger_ +in 1879, _Don John_ in 1881, and _Poems of the Old Days and the New_, +recently issued. Of the latter, the poet Stoddard says: "Beyond all +the women of the Victorian era, she is the most of an Elizabethan.... +She has tracked the ocean journeyings of Drake, Raleigh, and +Frobisher, and others to whom the Spanish main was a second home, +the _El Dorado_ of which Columbus and his followers dreamed in their +stormy slumbers.... The first of her poems in this volume, _Rosamund_, +is a masterly battle idyl." + +Her books have had large sale, both here and in Europe. It is stated +that in this country one hundred thousand of her _Poems_ have been +sold, and half that number of her prose works. + +Miss Ingelow has not been elated by her deserved success. She has +told the world very little of herself in her books. She once wrote a +friend: "I am far from agreeing with you 'that it is rather too bad +when we read people's works, if they won't let us know anything about +themselves.' I consider that an author should, during life, be as much +as possible, impersonal. I never import myself into my writings, and +am much better pleased that others should feel an interest in me, +and wish to know something of me, than that they should complain of +egotism." + +It is said that the last of her _Songs with Preludes_ refers to a +brother who lies buried in Australia:-- + + "I stand on the bridge where last we stood + When delicate leaves were young; + The children called us from yonder wood, + While a mated blackbird sung. + + * * * * * + + "But if all loved, as the few can love, + This world would seldom be well; + And who need wish, if he dwells above, + For a deep, a long death-knell? + + "There are four or five, who, passing this place, + While they live will name me yet; + And when I am gone will think on my face, + And feel a kind of regret." + +With all her literary work, she does not forget to do good personally. +At one time she instituted a "copyright dinner," at her own expense, +which she thus described to a friend: "I have set up a dinner-table +for the sick poor, or rather, for such persons as are just out of the +hospitals, and are hungry, and yet not strong enough to work. We have +about twelve to dinner three times a week, and hope to continue the +plan. It is such a comfort to see the good it does. I find it one of +the great pleasures of writing, that it gives me more command of money +for such purposes than falls to the lot of most women." Again, she +writes to an American friend: "I should be much obliged to you if you +would give in my name twenty-five dollars to some charity in Boston. +I should prefer such a one as does not belong to any party in +particular, such as a city infirmary or orphan school. I do not like +to draw money from your country, and give none in charity." + +Miss Ingelow is very fond of children, and herein is, perhaps, one +secret of her success. In Off the Skelligs she says: "Some people +appear to feel that they are much wiser, much nearer to the truth and +to realities, than they were when they were children. They think of +childhood as immeasurably beneath and behind them. I have never been +able to join in such a notion. It often seems to me that we lose quite +as much as we gain by our lengthened sojourn here. I should not at all +wonder if the thoughts of our childhood, when we look back on it after +the rending of this vail of our humanity, should prove less unlike +what we were intended to derive from the teaching of life, nature, and +revelation, than the thoughts of our more sophisticated days." + +Best of all, this true woman and true poet as well, like Emerson, sees +and believes in the progress of the race. + + "Still humanity grows dearer, + Being learned the more," + +she says, in that tender poem, _A Mother showing the Portrait of her +Child._ Blessed optimism! that amid all the shortcomings of human +nature sees the best, lifts souls upward, and helps to make the world +sunny by its singing. + + * * * * * + +Jean Ingelow died at her home in Kensington, London, July 19, 1897, at +the age of sixty-seven, having been born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in +1830. Her long illness ended in simple exhaustion, and she welcomed +death gladly. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of Girls Who Became Famous +by Sarah Knowles Bolton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS *** + +***** This file should be named 12081-8.txt or 12081-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/8/12081/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mike Boto, Ylva Lind +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lives of Girls Who Became Famous + +Author: Sarah Knowles Bolton + +Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12081] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mike Boto, Ylva Lind +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + <!-- BEGINNING OF TEXT --> + + <div class="page"> + <h2>Lives</h2> + + <h4>of</h4> + + <h2>Girls Who Became Famous.</h2> + + <h4>by</h4> + + <h3>Sarah K. Bolton,</h3> + + <h5>Author of <i>Poor Boys Who Became Famous</i>, <i>Social + Studies in England</i>, etc.</h5><br /> + + <h5>1914</h5><br /> + <br /> + + <p>"<i>Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected.</i>" -- + <b>James Russell Lowell.</b></p> + + <p>"<i>Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from + them.</i>" -- <b>Madame de Staël.</b></p><br /> + <br /> + + <p class="dedication">To<br /> + My aunt<br /> + Mrs. Martha W. Miller<br /> + Whose culture and kindness I count<br /> + among the blessings of<br /> + my life.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + + <h3>Preface.</h3> + + <p>All of us have aspirations. We build air-castles, and are + probably the happier for the building. However, the sooner we + learn that life is not a play-day, but a thing of earnest + activity, the better for us and for those associated with us. + <q lang="en" xml:lang="en">Energy,</q> says Goethe, <q lang= + "en" xml:lang="en">will do anything that can be done in this + world</q>; and Jean Ingelow truly says, that <q lang="en" + xml:lang="en">Work is heaven's hest.</q></p> + + <p>If we cannot, like George Eliot, write <i>Adam Bede</i>, we + can, like Elizabeth Fry, visit the poor and the prisoner. If we + cannot, like Rosa Bonheur, paint a "Horse Fair," and receive + ten thousand dollars, we can, like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Alcott, + do some kind of work to lighten the burdens of parents. If + poor, with Mary Lyon's persistency and noble purpose, we can + accomplish almost anything. If rich, like Baroness + Burdett-Coutts, we can bless the world in thousands of ways, + and are untrue to God and ourselves if we fail to do it.</p> + + <p>Margaret Fuller said, <q lang="en" xml:lang="en">All might + be superior beings,</q> and doubtless this is true, if all were + willing to cultivate the mind and beautify the character.</p> + + <p class="signature">S.K.B.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + + <table class="toc" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <caption> + Contents. + </caption> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c1">Harriet + Beecher Stowe</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Novelist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c2">Helen Hunt + Jackson</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Poet and Prose Writer</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c3">Lucretia + Mott</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Preacher</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c4">Mary A + Livermore</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Lecturer</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c5">Margaret + Fuller Ossoli</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Journalist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c6">Maria + Mitchell</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Scientist</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c7">Louisa M + Alcott</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Author</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c8">Mary + Lyon</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Teacher</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c9">Harriet G + Hosmer</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Sculptor</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c10">Madame de + Staël</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Novelist and Political Writer</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c11">Rosa + Bonheur</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Artist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c12">Elizabeth + Barrett Browning</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Poet</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c13">"George + Eliot"</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Novelist</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c14">Elizabeth + Fry</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Philanthropist</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c15">Elizabeth + Thompson Butler</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Painter</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c16">Florence + Nightingale</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Hospital Nurse</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c17">Lady + Brassey</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Traveller</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="even"> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c18">Baroness + Burdett-Coutts</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Benefactor</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="c_head"><a class="toc" href="#c19">Jean + Ingelow</a></td> + + <td class="c_note">Poet</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c1" id="c1"></a> + + <h3>Harriet Beecher Stowe.</h3><a href= + "images/c1stowe.jpg"><br /> + <br /> + <img src="images/c1stowe_t.jpg" alt= + "Harriet Beecher Stowe" /></a> + + <p>In a plain home, in the town of Litchfield, Conn., was born, + June 14, 1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The house was well-nigh + full of little ones before her coming. She was the seventh + child, while the oldest was but eleven years old.</p> + + <p>Her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, a man of remarkable mind and + sunshiny heart, was preaching earnest sermons in his own and in + all the neighboring towns, on the munificent salary of five + hundred dollars a year. Her mother, Roxana Beecher, was a woman + whose beautiful life has been an inspiration to thousands. With + an education superior for those times, she came into the home + of the young minister with a strength of mind and heart that + made her his companion and reliance.</p> + + <p>There were no carpets on the floors till the girl-wife laid + down a piece of cotton cloth on the parlor, and painted it in + oils, with a border and a bunch of roses and others flowers in + the centre. When one of the good deacons came to visit them, + the preacher said, "Walk in, deacon, walk in!"</p> + + <p>"Why, I can't," said he, "'thout steppin' on't." Then he + exclaimed, in admiration, "D'ye think ya can have all that, + <i>and heaven too</i>?"</p> + + <p>So meagre was the salary for the increasing household, that + Roxana urged that a select school be started; and in this she + taught French, drawing, painting, and embroidery, besides the + higher English branches. With all this work she found time to + make herself the idol of her children. While Henry Ward hung + round her neck, she made dolls for little Harriet, and read to + them from Walter Scott and Washington Irving.</p> + + <p>These were enchanting days for the enthusiastic girl with + brown curls and blue eyes. She roamed over the meadows, and + through the forests, gathering wild flowers in the spring or + nuts in the fall, being educated, as she afterwards said, + "first and foremost by Nature, wonderful, beautiful, + ever-changing as she is in that cloudland, Litchfield. There + were the crisp apples of the pink azalea,--honeysuckle-apples, + we called them; there were scarlet wintergreen berries; there + were pink shell blossoms of trailing arbutus, and feathers of + ground pine; there were blue and white and yellow violets, and + crowsfoot, and bloodroot, and wild anemone, and other quaint + forest treasures."</p> + + <p>A single incident, told by herself in later years, will show + the frolic-loving spirit of the girl, and the gentleness of + Roxana Beecher. "Mother was an enthusiastic horticulturist in + all the small ways that limited means allowed. Her brother + John, in New York, had just sent her a small parcel of fine + tulip-bulbs. I remember rummaging these out of an obscure + corner of the nursery one day when she was gone out, and being + strongly seized with the idea that they were good to eat, and + using all the little English I then possessed to persuade my + brothers that these were onions, such as grown people ate, and + would be very nice for us. So we fell to and devoured the + whole; and I recollect being somewhat disappointed in the odd, + sweetish taste, and thinking that onions were not as nice as I + had supposed. Then mother's serene face appeared at the nursery + door, and we all ran toward her, and with one voice began to + tell our discovery and achievement. We had found this bag of + onions, and had eaten them all up.</p> + + <p>"There was not even a momentary expression of impatience, + but she sat down and said, 'My dear children, what you have + done makes mamma very sorry; those were not onion roots, but + roots of beautiful flowers; and if you had let them alone, ma + would have had next summer in the garden, great, beautiful red + and yellow flowers, such as you never saw.' I remember how + drooping and disappointed we all grew at this picture, and how + sadly we regarded the empty paper bag."</p> + + <p>When Harriet was five years old, a deep shadow fell upon the + happy household. Eight little children were gathered round the + bedside of the dying mother. When they cried and sobbed, she + told them, with inexpressible sweetness, that "God could do + more for them than she had ever done or could do, and that they + must trust Him," and urged her six sons to become ministers of + the Gospel. When her heart-broken husband repeated to her the + verse, "You are now come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the + living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable + company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the + first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge + of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to + Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant," she looked up into his + face with a beautiful smile, and closed her eyes forever. That + smile Mr. Beecher never forgot to his dying day.</p> + + <p>The whole family seemed crushed by the blow. Little Henry + (now the great preacher), who had been told that his mother had + been buried in the ground, and also that she had gone to + heaven, was found one morning digging with all his might under + his sister's window, saying, "I'm going to heaven, to find + ma!"</p> + + <p>So much did Mr. Beecher miss her counsel and good judgment, + that he sat down and wrote her a long letter, pouring out his + whole soul, hoping somehow that she, his guardian angel, though + dead, might see it. A year later he wrote a friend: "There is a + sensation of loss which nothing alleviates--a solitude which no + society interrupts. Amid the smiles and prattle of children, + and the kindness of sympathizing friends, I am <i>alone; Roxana + is not here</i>. She partakes in none of my joys, and bears + with me none of my sorrows. I do not murmur; I only feel daily, + constantly, and with deepening impression, how much I have had + for which to be thankful, and how much I have lost.... The + whole year after her death was a year of great emptiness, as if + there was not motive enough in the world to move me. I used to + pray earnestly to God either to take me away, or to restore to + me that interest in things and susceptibility to motive I had + had before."</p> + + <p>Once, when sleeping in the room where she died, he dreamed + that Roxana came and stood beside him, and "smiled on me as + with a smile from heaven. With that smile," he said, "all my + sorrow passed away. I awoke joyful, and I was lighthearted for + weeks after."</p> + + <p>Harriet went to live for a time with her aunt and + grandmother, and then came back to the lonesome home, into + which Mr. Beecher had felt the necessity of bringing a new + mother. She was a refined and excellent woman, and won the + respect and affection of the family. At first Harriet, with a + not unnatural feeling of injury, said to her: "Because you have + come and married my father, when I am big enough, I mean to go + and marry your father;" but she afterwards learned to love her + very much.</p> + + <p>At seven, with a remarkably retentive memory,--a thing which + many of us spoil by trashy reading, or allowing our time and + attention to be distracted by the trifles of every-day + life,--Harriet had learned twenty-seven hymns and two long + chapters of the Bible. She was exceedingly fond of reading, but + there was little in a poor minister's library to attract a + child. She found <i>Bell's Sermons</i>, and <i>Toplady on + Predestination</i>. "Then," she says, "there was a side closet + full of documents, a weltering ocean of pamphlets, in which I + dug and toiled for hours, to be repaid by disinterring a + delicious morsel of a <i>Don Quixote</i>, that had once been a + book, but was now lying in forty or fifty <i>dissecta + membra</i>, amid Calls, Appeals, Essays, Reviews, and + Rejoinders. The turning up of such a fragment seemed like the + rising of an enchanted island out of an ocean of mud." Finally + <i>Ivanhoe</i> was obtained, and she and her brother George + read it through seven times.</p> + + <p>At twelve, we find her in the school of Mr. John P. Brace, a + well-known teacher, where she developed great fondness for + composition. At the exhibition at the close of the year, it was + the custom for all the parents to come and listen to the + wonderful productions of their children. From the list of + subjects given, Harriet had chosen, "Can the Immortality of the + Soul be proved by the Light of Nature?"</p> + + <p>"When mine was read," she says, "I noticed that father + brightened and looked interested. 'Who wrote that composition?' + he asked of Mr. Brace. '<i>Your daughter, sir!</i>' was the + answer. There was no mistaking father's face when he was + pleased, and to have interested <i>him</i> was past all + juvenile triumphs."</p> + + <p>A new life was now to open to Harriet. Her only sister + Catharine, a brilliant and noble girl, was engaged to Professor + Fisher of Yale College. They were to be married on his return + from a European tour, but alas! the <i>Albion</i>, on which he + sailed, went to pieces on the rocks, and all on board, save + one, perished. Her betrothed was never heard from. For months + all hope seemed to go out of Catharine's life, and then, with a + strong will, she took up a course of mathematical study, + <i>his</i> favorite study, and Latin under her brother Edward. + She was now twenty-three. Life was not to be along the pleasant + paths she had hoped, but she must make it tell for the + future.</p> + + <p>With remarkable energy, she went to Hartford, Conn., where + her brother was teaching, and thoroughly impressed with the + belief that God had a work for her to do for girls, she raised + several thousand dollars and built the Hartford Female + Seminary. Her brothers had college doors opened to them; why, + she reasoned, should not women have equal opportunities? + Society wondered of what possible use Latin and moral + philosophy could be to girls, but they admired Miss Beecher, + and let her do as she pleased. Students poured in, and the + seminary soon overflowed. My own school life in that beloved + institution, years afterward, I shall never forget.</p> + + <p>And now the little twelve-year-old Harriet came down from + Litchfield to attend Catharine's school, and soon become a + pupil-teacher, that the burden of support might not fall too + heavily upon the father. Other children had come into the + Beecher home, and with a salary of eight hundred dollars, + poverty could not be other than a constant attendant. Once when + the family were greatly straitened for money, while Henry and + Charles were in college, the new mother went to bed weeping, + but the father said, "Well, the Lord always has taken care of + me, and I am sure He always will," and was soon fast asleep. + The next morning, Sunday, a letter was handed in at the door, + containing a $100 bill, and no name. It was a thank-offering + for the conversion of a child.</p> + + <p>Mr. Beecher, with all his poverty, could not help being + generous. His wife, by close economy, had saved twenty-five + dollars to buy a new overcoat for him. Handing him the roll of + bills, he started out to purchase the garment, but stopped on + the way to attend a missionary meeting. His heart warmed as he + stayed, and when the contribution-box was passed, he put in the + roll of bills for the Sandwich Islanders, and went home with + his threadbare coat!</p> + + <p>Three years later, Mr. Beecher, who had now become widely + known as a revivalist and brilliant preacher, was called to + Boston, where he remained for six years. His six sermons on + intemperance had stirred the whole country.</p> + + <p>Though he loved Boston, his heart often turned toward the + great West, and he longed to help save her young men. When, + therefore, he was asked to go to Ohio and become the president + of Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, he accepted. + Singularly dependent upon his family, Catharine and Harriet + must needs go with him to the new home. The journey was a + toilsome one, over the corduroy roads and across the mountains + by stagecoach. Finally they were settled in a pleasant house on + Walnut Hills, one of the suburbs of the city, and the sisters + opened another school.</p> + + <p>Four years later, in 1836, Harriet, now twenty-five, married + the professor of biblical criticism and Oriental literature in + the seminary, Calvin E. Stowe, a learned and able man.</p> + + <p>Meantime the question of slavery had been agitating the + minds of Christian people. Cincinnati being near the + border-line of Kentucky, was naturally the battle-ground of + ideas. Slaves fled into the free State and were helped into + Canada by means of the "Underground Railroad," which was in + reality only a friendly house about every ten miles, where the + colored people could be secreted during the day, and then + carried in wagons to the next "station" in the night.</p> + + <p>Lane Seminary became a hot-bed of discussion. Many of the + Southern students freed their slaves, or helped to establish + schools for colored children in Cincinnati, and were + disinherited by their fathers in consequence. Dr. Bailey, a + Christian man who attempted to carry on a fair discussion of + the question in his paper, had his presses broken twice and + thrown into the river. The feeling became so intense, that the + houses of free colored people were burned, some killed, and the + seminary was in danger from the mob. The members of Professor + Stowe's family slept with firearms, ready to defend their + lives. Finally the trustees of the college forbade all slavery + discussion by the students, and as a result, nearly the whole + body left the institution.</p> + + <p>Dr. Beecher, meantime, was absent at the East, having raised + a large sum of money for the seminary, and came back only to + find his labor almost hopeless. For several years, however, he + and his children stayed and worked on. Mrs. Stowe opened her + house to colored children, whom she taught with her own. One + bright boy in her school was claimed by an estate in Kentucky, + arrested, and was to be sold at auction. The half-crazed mother + appealed to Mrs. Stowe, who raised the needed money among her + friends, and thus saved the lad.</p> + + <p>Finally, worn out with the "irrepressible conflict," the + Beecher family, with the Stowes, came North in 1850, Mr. Stowe + accepting a professorship at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. + A few boarders were taken into the family to eke out the + limited salary, and Mrs. Stowe earned a little from a sketch + written now and then for the newspapers. She had even obtained + a prize of fifty dollars for a New England story. Her six + brothers had fulfilled their mother's dying wish, and were all + in the ministry. She was now forty years old, a devoted mother, + with an infant; a hard-working teacher, with her hands full to + overflowing. It seemed improbable that she would ever do other + than this quiet, unceasing labor. Most women would have said, + "I can do no more than I am doing. My way is hedged up to any + outside work."</p> + + <p>But Mrs. Stowe's heart burned for those in bondage. The + Fugitive Slave Law was hunting colored people and sending them + back into servitude and death. The people of the North seemed + indifferent. Could she not arouse them by something she could + write?</p> + + <p>One Sunday, as she sat at the communion table in the little + Brunswick church, the pattern of Uncle Tom formed itself in her + mind, and, almost overcome by her feelings, she hastened home + and wrote out the chapter on his death. When she had finished, + she read it to her two sons, ten and twelve, who burst out + sobbing, "Oh! mamma, slavery is the most cursed thing in the + world."</p> + + <p>After two or three more chapters were ready, she wrote to + Dr. Bailey, who had moved his paper from Cincinnati to + Washington, offering the manuscript for the columns of the + <i>National Era</i>, and it was accepted. Now the matter must + be prepared each week. She visited Boston, and at the + Anti-Slavery rooms borrowed several books to aid in furnishing + facts. And then the story wrote itself out of her full heart + and brain. When it neared completion, Mr. Jewett of Boston, + through the influence of his wife, offered to become the + publisher, but feared if the serial were much longer, it would + be a failure. She wrote him that she could not stop till it was + done.</p> + + <p><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> was published March 20,1852. Then + came the reaction in her own mind. Would anybody read this + book? The subject was unpopular. It would indeed be a failure, + she feared, but she would help the story make its way if + possible. She sent a copy of the book to Prince Albert, knowing + that both he and Queen Victoria were deeply interested in the + subject; another copy to Macaulay, whose father was a friend of + Wilberforce; one to Charles Dickens; and another to Charles + Kingsley. And then the busy mother, wife, teacher, housekeeper, + and author waited in her quiet Maine home to see what the busy + world would say.</p> + + <p>In ten days, ten thousand copies had been sold. Eight + presses were run day and night to supply the demand. Thirty + different editions appeared in London in six months. Six + theatres in that great city were playing it at one time. Over + three hundred thousand copies were sold in less than a + year.</p> + + <p>Letters poured in upon Mrs. Stowe from all parts of the + world. Prince Albert sent his hearty thanks. Dickens said, + "Your book is worthy of any head and any heart that ever + inspired a book." Kingsley wrote, "It is perfect." The noble + Earl of Shaftesbury wrote, "None but a Christian believer could + have produced such a book as yours, which has absolutely + startled the whole world.... I live in hope--God grant it may + rise to faith!--that this system is drawing to a close. It + seems as though our Lord had sent out this book as the + messenger before His face to prepare His way before Him." He + wrote out an address of sympathy "From the women of England to + the women of America," to which were appended the signatures of + 562,448 women. These were in twenty-six folio volumes, bound in + morocco, with the American eagle on the back of each, the whole + in a solid oak case, sent to the care of Mrs. Stowe.</p> + + <p>The learned reviews gave long notices of <i>Uncle Tom's + Cabin</i>. <i>Blackwood</i> said, "There are scenes and touches + in this book which no living writer that we know can surpass, + and perhaps none can equal." George Eliot wrote her beautiful + letters.</p> + + <p>How the heart of Lyman Beecher must have been gladdened by + this wonderful success of his daughter! How Roxana Beecher must + have looked down from heaven, and smiled that + never-to-be-forgotten smile! How Harriet Beecher Stowe herself + must have thanked God for this unexpected fulness of blessing! + Thousands of dollars were soon paid to her as her share of the + profits from the sale of the book. How restful it must have + seemed to the tired, over-worked woman, to have more than + enough for daily needs!</p> + + <p>The following year, 1853, Professor Stowe and his now famous + wife decided to cross the ocean for needed rest. What was their + astonishment, to be welcomed by immense public meetings in + Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee; indeed, in + every city which they visited. People in the towns stopped her + carriage, to fill it with flowers. Boys ran along the streets, + shouting, "That's her--see the <i>courls!</i>" A penny offering + was made her, given by people of all ranks, consisting of one + thousand golden sovereigns on a beautiful silver salver. When + the committee having the matter in charge visited one little + cottage, they found only a blind woman, and said, "She will + feel no interest, as she cannot read the book."</p> + + <p>"Indeed," said the old lady, "if I cannot read, my son has + read it to me, and I've got my penny saved to give."</p> + + <p>The beautiful Duchess of Sutherland entertained Mrs. Stowe + at her house, where she met Lord Palmerston, the Duke of + Argyle, Macaulay, Gladstone, and others. The duchess gave her a + solid gold bracelet in the form of a slave's shackle, with the + words, "We trust it is a memorial of a chain that is soon to be + broken." On one link was the date of the abolition of the slave + trade, March 25, 1807, and of slavery in the English + territories, Aug. 1, 1834. On the other links are now engraved + the dates of Emancipation in the District of Columbia; + President Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery in the + States in rebellion, Jan. 1, 1863; and finally, on the clasp, + the date of the Constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery + forever in the United States. Only a decade after <i>Uncle + Tom's Cabin</i> was written, and nearly all this accomplished! + Who could have believed it possible?</p> + + <p>On Mrs. Stowe's return from Europe, she wrote <i>Sunny + Memories of Foreign Lands</i>, which had a large sale. Her + husband was now appointed to the professorship of sacred + literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., and + here they made their home. The students found in her a + warm-hearted friend, and an inspiration to intellectual work. + Other books followed from her pen: <i>Dred</i>, a powerful + anti-slavery story; <i>The Minister's Wooing</i>, with lovely + Mary Scudder as its heroine; <i>Agnes of Sorrento</i>, an + Italian story; the <i>Pearl of Orr's Island</i>, a tale of the + New England coast; <i>Old Town Folks; House and Home Papers; My + Wife and I; Pink and White Tyranny</i>; and some others, all of + which have been widely read.</p> + + <p>The sale of <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> has not ceased. It is + estimated that over one and a half million copies have been + sold in Great Britain and her colonies, and probably an equal + or greater number in this country. There have been twelve + French editions, eleven German, and six Spanish. It has been + published in nineteen different languages,--Russian, Hungarian, + Armenian, Modern Greek, Finnish, Welsh, Polish, and others. In + Bengal the book is very popular. A lady of high rank in the + court of Siam, liberated her slaves, one hundred and thirty in + number, after reading this book, and said, "I am wishful to be + good like Harriet Beecher Stowe, and never again to buy human + bodies, but only to let them go free once more." In France the + sale of the Bible was increased because the people wished to + read the book Uncle Tom loved so much.</p> + + <p><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, like <i>Les Miseràbles</i>, + and a few other novels, will live, because written with a + purpose. No work of fiction is permanent without some great + underlying principle or object.</p> + + <p>Soon after the Civil War, Mrs. Stowe bought a home among the + orange groves of Florida, and thither she goes each winter, + with her family. She has done much there for the colored people + whom she helped to make free. With the proceeds of some public + readings at the North she built a church, in which her husband + preached as long as his health permitted. Her home at Mandarin, + with its great moss-covered oaks and profusion of flowers, is a + restful and happy place after these most fruitful years.</p> + + <p>Her summer residence in Hartford, Conn., beautiful without, + and artistic within, has been visited by thousands, who honor + the noble woman not less than the gifted author.</p> + + <p>Many of the Beecher family have died; Lyman Beecher at + eighty-three, and Catharine at seventy-eight. Some of Mrs. + Stowe's own children are waiting for her in the other country. + She says, "I am more interested in the other side of Jordan + than this, though this still has its pleasures."</p> + + <p>On Mrs. Stowe's seventy-first birthday, her publishers, + Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., gave a garden party in her + honor, at the hospitable home of Governor Claflin and his wife, + at Newton, Mass. Poets and artists, statesmen and reformers, + were invited to meet the famous author. On a stage, under a + great tent, she sat, while poems were read and speeches made. + The brown curls had become snowy white, and the bright eyes of + girlhood had grown deeper and more earnest. The manner was the + same as ever, unostentatious, courteous, kindly.</p> + + <p>Her life is but another confirmation of the well-known fact, + that the best work of the world is done, not by the loiterers, + but by those whose hearts and hands are full of duties. Mrs. + Stowe died about noon, July 1, 1896, of paralysis, at Hartford, + Conn., at the age of eighty-five. She passed away as if to + sleep, her son, the Rev. Charles Edward Stowe, and her + daughters, Eliza and Harriet, standing by her bedside. Since + the death of her husband, Professor Calvin E. Stowe, in 1886, + Mrs. Stowe had gradually failed physically and mentally. She + was buried July 3 in the cemetery connected with the + Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., between the graves of + her husband and her son, Henry. The latter was drowned in the + Connecticut River, while a member of Dartmouth College, July + 19, 1857.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c2" id="c2"></a> + + <h3>Helen Hunt Jackson.</h3><a href= + "images/c2jackson.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c2jackson_t.jpg" alt= + "HELEN HUNT JACKSON." /></a> + + <p>Thousands were saddened when, Aug. 12, 1885, it was flashed + across the wires that Helen Hunt Jackson was dead. The + <i>Nation</i> said, "The news will probably carry a pang of + regret into more American homes than similar intelligence in + regard to any other woman, with the possible exception of Mrs. + Harriet Beecher Stowe."</p> + + <p>How, with the simple initials, "H.H.," had she won this + place in the hearts of the people? Was it because she was a + poet? Oh no! many persons of genius have few friends. It was + because an earnest life was back of her gifted writings. A + great book needs a great man or woman behind it to make it a + perfect work. Mrs. Jackson's literary work will be abiding, but + her life, with its dark shadow and bright sunlight, its deep + affections and sympathy with the oppressed, will furnish a rich + setting for the gems of thought which she gave to the + world.</p> + + <p>Born in the cultured town of Amherst, Mass., Oct. 18, 1831, + she inherited from her mother a sunny, buoyant nature, and from + her father, Nathan W. Fiske, professor of languages and + philosophy in the college, a strong and vigorous mind. Her own + vivid description of the "naughtiest day in my life," in <i>St. + Nicholas</i>, September and October, 1880, shows the ardent, + wilful child who was one day to stand out fearlessly before the + nation and tell its statesmen the wrong they had done to "her + Indians."</p> + + <p>She and her younger sister Annie were allowed one April day, + by their mother, to go into the woods just before school hours, + to gather checkerberries. Helen, finding the woods very + pleasant, determined to spend the day in them, even though sure + she would receive a whipping on her return home. The sister + could not be coaxed to do wrong, but a neighbor's child, with + the promise of seeing live snails with horns, was induced to + accompany the truant. They wandered from one forest to another, + till hunger compelled them to seek food at a stranger's home. + The kind farmer and his wife were going to a funeral, and + wished to lock their house; but they took pity on the little + ones, and gave them some bread and milk. "There," said the + woman, "now, you just make yourselves comfortable, and eat all + you can; and when you're done, you push the bowls in among them + lilac-bushes, and nobody'll get 'em."</p> + + <p>Urged on by Helen, she and her companion wandered into the + village, to ascertain where the funeral was to be held. It was + in the meeting-house, and thither they went, and seated + themselves on the bier outside the door. Becoming tired of + this, they trudged on. One of them lost her shoe in the mud, + and stopping at a house to dry their stockings, they were + captured by two Amherst professors, who had come over to Hadley + to attend the funeral. The children had walked four miles, and + nearly the whole town, with the frightened mother, were in + search of the runaways. Helen, greatly displeased at being + caught, jumped out of the carriage, but was soon retaken. At + ten o'clock at night they reached home, and the child walked in + as rosy and smiling as possible, saying, "Oh, mother! I've had + a perfectly splendid time!"</p> + + <p>A few days passed, and then her father sent for her to come + into his study, and told her because she had not said she was + sorry for running away, she must go into the garret, and wait + till he came to see her. Sullen at this punishment, she took a + nail and began to bore holes in the plastering. This so angered + the professor, that he gave her a severe whipping, and kept her + in the garret for a week. It is questionable whether she was + more penitent at the end of the week than she was at the + beginning.</p> + + <p>When Helen was twelve, both father and mother died, leaving + her to the care of a grandfather. She was soon placed in the + school of the author, Rev. J.S.C. Abbott, of New York, and here + some of her happiest days were passed. She grew to womanhood, + frank, merry, impulsive, brilliant in conversation, and fond of + society.</p> + + <p>At twenty-one she was married to a young army officer, + Captain, afterward Major, Edward B. Hunt, whom his friends + called "Cupid" Hunt from his beauty and his curling hair. He + was a brother of Governor Hunt of New York, an engineer of high + rank, and a man of fine scientific attainments. They lived much + of their time at West Point and Newport, and the young wife + moved in a fashionable social circle, and won hosts of admiring + friends. Now and then, when he read a paper before some learned + society, he was proud to take his vivacious and attractive wife + with him.</p> + + <p>Their first baby died when he was eleven months old, but + another beautiful boy came to take his place, named after two + friends, Warren Horsford, but familiarly called "Rennie." He + was an uncommonly bright child, and Mrs. Hunt was passionately + fond and proud of him. Life seemed full of pleasures. She + dressed handsomely, and no wish of her heart seemed + ungratified.</p> + + <p>Suddenly, like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky, the happy + life was shattered. Major Hunt was killed Oct. 2, 1863, while + experimenting in Brooklyn, with a submarine gun of his own + invention. The young widow still had her eight-year-old boy, + and to him she clung more tenderly than ever, but in less than + two years she stood by his dying bed. Seeing the agony of his + mother, and forgetting his own even in that dread destroyer, + diphtheria, he said, almost at the last moment, "Promise me, + mamma, that you will not kill yourself."</p> + + <p>She promised, and exacted from him also a pledge that if it + were possible, he would come back from the other world to talk + with his mother. He never came, and Mrs. Hunt could have no + faith in spiritualism, because what Rennie could not do, she + believed to be impossible.</p> + + <p>For months she shut herself into her own room, refusing to + see her nearest friends. "Any one who really loves me ought to + pray that I may die, too, like Rennie," she said. Her physician + thought she would die of grief; but when her strong, earnest + nature had wrestled with itself and come off conqueror, she + came out of her seclusion, cheerful as of old. The pictures of + her husband and boy were ever beside her, and these doubtless + spurred her on to the work she was to accomplish.</p> + + <p>Three months after Rennie's death, her first poem, <i>Lifted + Over</i>, appeared in the <i>Nation</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "As tender mothers, guiding baby steps,<br /> + When places come at which the tiny feet<br /> + Would trip, lift up the little ones in arms<br /> + Of love, and set them down beyond the harm,<br /> + So did our Father watch the precious boy,<br /> + Led o'er the stones by me, who stumbled oft<br /> + Myself, but strove to help my darling on:<br /> + He saw the sweet limbs faltering, and saw<br /> + Rough ways before us, where my arms would fail;<br /> + So reached from heaven, and lifting the dear child,<br /> + Who smiled in leaving me, He put him down<br /> + Beyond all hurt, beyond my sight, and bade<br /> + Him wait for me! Shall I not then be glad,<br /> + And, thanking God, press on to overtake!" + </div> + + <p>The poem was widely copied, and many mothers were comforted + by it. The kind letters she received in consequence were the + first gleam of sunshine in the darkened life. If she were doing + even a little good, she could live and be strong.</p> + + <p>And then began, at thirty-four, absorbing, painstaking + literary work. She studied the best models of composition. She + said to a friend, years after, "Have you ever tested the + advantages of an analytical reading of some writer of finished + style? There is a little book called <i>Out-Door Papers</i>, by + Wentworth Higginson, that is one of the most perfect specimens + of literary composition in the English language. It has been my + model for years. I go to it as a text-book, and have actually + spent hours at a time, taking one sentence after another, and + experimenting upon them, trying to see if I could take out a + word or transpose a clause, and not destroy their perfection." + And again, "I shall never write a sentence, so long as I live, + without studying it over from the standpoint of whether you + would think it could be bettered."</p> + + <p>Her first prose sketch, a walk up Mt. Washington from the + Glen House, appeared in the <i>Independent</i>, Sept. 13, 1866; + and from this time she wrote for that able journal three + hundred and seventy-one articles. She worked rapidly, writing + usually with a lead-pencil, on large sheets of yellow paper, + but she pruned carefully. Her first poem in the <i>Atlantic + Monthly</i>, entitled <i>Coronation</i>, delicate and full of + meaning, appeared in 1869, being taken to Mr. Fields, the + editor, by a friend.</p> + + <p>At this time she spent a year abroad, principally in Germany + and Italy, writing home several sketches. In Rome she became so + ill that her life was despaired of. When she was partially + recovered and went away to regain her strength, her friends + insisted that a professional nurse should go with her; but she + took a hard-working young Italian girl of sixteen, to whom this + vacation would be a blessing.</p> + + <p>On her return, in 1870, a little book of <i>Verses</i> was + published. Like most beginners, she was obliged to pay for the + stereotyped plates. The book was well received. Emerson liked + especially her sonnet, <i>Thought</i>. He ranked her poetry + above that of all American women, and most American men. Some + persons praised the "exquisite musical structure" of the + <i>Gondolieds</i>, and others read and re-read her beautiful + <i>Down to Sleep</i>. But the world's favorite was + <i>Spinning</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Like a blind spinner in the sun,<br /> + I tread my days; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I know that all the threads will run<br /> + Appointed ways; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I know each day will bring its task, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And, being blind, no more I ask. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "But listen, listen, day by day,<br /> + To hear their tread + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Who bear the finished web away,<br /> + And cut the thread, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And bring God's message in the sun, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'Thou poor blind spinner, work is done." + </div> + </div> + + <p>After this came two other small books, <i>Bits of Travel</i> + and <i>Bits of Talk about Home Matters</i>. She paid for the + plates of the former. Fame did not burst upon Helen Hunt; it + came after years of work, after it had been fully earned. The + road to authorship is a hard one, and only those should attempt + it who have courage and perseverance.</p> + + <p>Again her health failed, but not her cheerful spirits. She + travelled to Colorado, and wrote a book in praise of it. + Everywhere she made lasting friends. Her German landlady in + Munich thought her the kindest person in the world. The + newsboy, the little urchin on the street with a basket full of + wares, the guides over the mountain passes, all remembered her + cheery voice and helpful words. She used to say, "She is only + half mother who does not see her own child in every child. Oh, + if the world could only stop long enough for one generation of + mothers to be made all right, what a Millennium could be begun + in thirty years!" Some one, in her childhood, called her a + "stupid child" before strangers, and she never forgot the sting + of it.</p> + + <p>In Colorado, in 1876, eleven years after the death of Major + Hunt, she married Mr. William Sharpless Jackson, a Quaker and a + cultured banker. Her home, at Colorado Springs, became an ideal + one, sheltered under the great Manitou, and looking toward the + Garden of the Gods, full of books and magazines, of dainty rugs + and dainty china gathered from many countries, and richly + colored Colorado flowers. Once, when Eastern guests were + invited to luncheon, twenty-three varieties of wildflowers, + each massed in its own color, adorned the home. A friend of + hers says: "There is not an artificial flower in the house, on + embroidered table-cover or sofa cushion or tidy; indeed, Mrs. + Jackson holds that the manufacture of silken poppies and crewel + sun-flowers is a 'respectable industry,' intended only to keep + idle hands out of mischief."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Jackson loved flowers almost as though they were + children. She writes: "I bore on this June day a sheaf of the + white columbine,--one single sheaf, one single root; but it was + almost more than I could carry. In the open spaces, I carried + it on my shoulder; in the thickets, I bore it carefully in my + arms, like a baby.... There is a part of Cheyenne Mountain + which I and one other have come to call 'our garden.' When we + drive down from 'our garden,' there is seldom room for another + flower in our carriage. The top thrown back is filled, the + space in front of the driver is filled, and our laps and + baskets are filled with the more delicate blossoms. We look as + if we were on our way to the ceremonies of Decoration Day. So + we are. All June days are decoration days in Colorado Springs, + but it is the sacred joy of life that we decorate,--not the + sacred sadness of death." But Mrs. Jackson, with her pleasant + home, could not rest from her work. Two novels came from her + pen, <i>Mercy Philbrick's Choice</i> and <i>Hetty's Strange + History</i>. It is probable also that she helped to write the + beautiful and tender <i>Saxe Holm Stories</i>. It is said that + <i>Draxy Miller's Dowry</i> and <i>Esther Wynn's Love + Letters</i> were written by another, while Mrs. Jackson added + the lovely poems; and when a request was made by the publishers + for more stories from the same author, Mrs. Jackson was + prevailed upon to write them.</p> + + <p>The time had now come for her to do her last and perhaps her + best work. She could not write without a definite purpose, and + now the purpose that settled down upon her heart was to help + the defrauded Indians. She believed they needed education and + Christianization rather than extermination. She left her home + and spent three months in the Astor Library of New York, + writing her <i>Century of Dishonor</i>, showing how we have + despoiled the Indians and broken our treaties with them. She + wrote to a friend, "I cannot think of anything else from night + to morning and from morning to night." So untiringly did she + work that she made herself ill, and was obliged to go to + Norway, leaving a literary ally to correct the proofs of her + book.</p> + + <p>At her own expense, she sent a copy to each member of + Congress. Its plain facts were not relished in some quarters, + and she began to taste the cup that all reformers have to + drink; but the brave woman never flinched in her duty. So much + was the Government impressed by her earnestness and good + judgment, that she was appointed a Special Commissioner with + her friend, Abbott Kinney, to examine and report on the + condition of the Mission Indians in California.</p> + + <p>Could an accomplished, tenderly reared woman go into their + <i>adobe</i> villages and listen to their wrongs? What would + the world say of its poet? Mrs. Jackson did not ask; she had a + mission to perform, and the more culture, the more + responsibility. She brought cheer and hope to the red men and + their wives, and they called her "the Queen." She wrote able + articles about them in the <i>Century</i>.</p> + + <p>The report made by Mr. Kinney and herself, which she + prepared largely, was clear and convincing. How different all + this from her early life! Mrs. Jackson had become more than + poet and novelist; even the leader of an oppressed people. At + once, in the winter of 1883, she began to write her wonderfully + graphic and tender <i>Ramona</i>, and into this, she said, "I + put my heart and soul." The book was immediately reprinted in + England, and has had great popularity. She meant to do for the + Indian what Mrs. Stowe did for the slave, and she lived long + enough to see the great work well in progress.</p> + + <p>This true missionary work had greatly deepened the + earnestness of the brilliant woman. Not always tender to other + peoples' "hobbies," as she said, she now had one of her own, + into which she was putting her life. Her horizon, with her + great intellectual gifts, had now become as wide as the + universe. Had she lived, how many more great questions she + would have touched.</p> + + <p>In June, 1884, falling on the staircase of her Colorado + home, she severely fractured her leg, and was confined to the + house for several months. Then she was taken to Los Angeles, + Cal., for the winter. The broken limb mended rapidly, but + malarial fever set in, and she was carried to San Francisco. + Her first remark was, as she entered the house looking out upon + the broad and lovely bay, "I did not imagine it was so + pleasant! What a beautiful place to die in!"</p> + + <p>To the last her letters to her friends were full of cheer. + "You must not think because I speak of not getting well that I + am sad over it," she wrote. "On the contrary, I am more and + more relieved in my mind, as it seems to grow more and more + sure that I shall die. You see that I am growing old" (she was + but fifty-four), "and I do believe that my work is done. You + have never realized how, for the past five years, my whole soul + has been centered on the Indian question. <i>Ramona</i> was the + outcome of those five years. The Indian cause is on its feet + now; powerful friends are at work."</p> + + <p>To another she wrote, "I am heartily, honestly, and + cheerfully ready to go. In fact, I am glad to go. My <i>Century + of Dishonor</i> and <i>Ramona</i> are the only things I have + done of which I am glad now. The rest is of no moment. They + will live, and they will bear fruit. They already have. The + change in public feeling on the Indian question in the last + three years is marvellous; an Indian Rights Association in + every large city in the land."</p> + + <p>She had no fear of death. She said, "It is only just passing + from one country to another.... My only regret is that I have + not accomplished more work; especially that it was so late in + the day when I began to work in real earnest. But I do not + doubt we shall keep on working.... There isn't so much + difference, I fancy, between this life and the next as we + think, nor so much barrier.... I shall look in upon you in the + new rooms some day; but you will not see me. Good-bye. Yours + affectionately forever, H.H." Four days before her death she + wrote to President Cleveland:--</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"From my death-bed I send you a message of heart-felt + thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. I ask + you to read my <i>Century of Dishonor</i>. I am dying happier + for the belief I have that it is your hand that is destined + to strike the first steady blow toward lifting this burden of + infamy from our country, and righting the wrongs of the + Indian race.</p> + + <p>"With respect and gratitude,</p> + + <p>"HELEN JACKSON."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>That same day she wrote her last touching poem:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Father, I scarcely dare to pray,<br /> + So clear I see, now it is done, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That I have wasted half my day,<br /> + And left my work but just begun; + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "So clear I see that things I thought<br /> + Were right or harmless were a sin; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + So clear I see that I have sought,<br /> + Unconscious, selfish aim to win + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "So clear I see that I have hurt<br /> + The souls I might hare helped to save, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That I have slothful been, inert,<br /> + Deaf to the calls Thy leaders gave. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "In outskirts of Thy kingdoms vast,<br /> + Father, the humblest spot give me; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Set me the lowliest task Thou hast,<br /> + Let me repentant work for Thee!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>That evening, Aug. 8, after saying farewell, she placed her + hand in her husband's, and went to sleep. After four days, + mostly unconscious ones, she wakened in eternity.</p> + + <p>On her coffin were laid a few simple clover-blossoms, + flowers she loved in life; and then, near the summit of + Cheyenne Mountain, four miles from Colorado Springs, in a spot + of her own choosing, she was buried.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree<br /> + Or flower the little grave which shelters me.<br /> + Let the wild wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed,<br /> + And back and forth all summer, unalarmed,<br /> + Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep;<br /> + Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep;<br /> + And when, remembering me, you come some day<br /> + And stand there, speak no praise, but only say,<br /> + 'How she loved us! It was for that she was so dear.'<br /> + These are the only words that I shall smile to hear." + </div> + + <p>Many will stand by that Colorado grave in the years to come. + Says a California friend: "Above the chirp of the balm-cricket + in the grass that hides her grave, I seem to hear sweet songs + of welcome from the little ones. Among other thoughts of her + come visions of a child and mother straying in fields of light. + And so I cannot make her dead, who lived so earnestly, who + wrought so unselfishly, and passed so trustfully into the + mystery of the unseen."</p> + + <p>All honor to a woman who, with a happy home, was willing to + leave it to make other homes happy; who, having suffered, tried + with a sympathetic heart to forget herself and keep others from + suffering; who, being famous, gladly took time to help unknown + authors to win fame; who, having means, preferred a life of + labor to a life of ease.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Jackson's work is still going forward. Five editions of + her <i>Century of Dishonor</i> have been printed since her + death. <i>Ramona</i> is in its thirtieth thousand. <i>Zeph</i>, + a touching story of frontier life in Colorado, which she + finished in her last illness, has been published. Her sketches + of travel have been gathered into <i>Glimpses of Three + Coasts</i>, and a new volume of poems, <i>Sonnets and + Lyrics</i>, has appeared.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c3" id="c3"></a> + + <h3>Lucretia Mott.</h3><a href="images/c3mott.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c3mott_t.jpg" alt="Lucretia Mott." /></a> + + <p>Years ago I attended, at some inconvenience, a large public + meeting, because I heard that Lucretia Mott was to speak. After + several addresses, a slight lady, with white cap and drab + Quaker dress, came forward. Though well in years, her eyes were + bright; her smile was winsome, and I thought her face one of + the loveliest I had ever looked upon. The voice was singularly + sweet and clear, and the manner had such naturalness and grace + as a queen might envy. I have forgotten the words, forgotten + even the subject, but the benign presence and gracious smile I + shall never forget.</p> + + <p>Born among the quiet scenes of Nantucket, Jan. 3, 1793, + Lucretia grew to girlhood with habits of economy, neatness, and + helpfulness in the home. Her father, Thomas Coffin, was a + sea-captain of staunch principle; her mother, a woman of great + energy, wit, and good sense. The children's pleasures were such + as a plain country home afforded. When Mrs. Coffin went to + visit her neighbors, she would say to her daughters, "Now after + you have finished knitting twenty bouts, you may go down cellar + and pick out as many as you want of the smallest potatoes,--the + very smallest,--and roast them in the ashes." Then the six + little folks gathered about the big fireplace and enjoyed a + frolic.</p> + + <p>When Lucretia was twelve years old, the family moved to + Boston. At first all the children attended a private school; + but Captain Coffin, fearing this would make them proud, removed + them to a public school, where they could "mingle with all + classes without distinction." Years after Lucretia said, "I am + glad, because it gave me a feeling of sympathy for the patient + and struggling poor, which, but for this experience, I might + never have known."</p> + + <p>A year later, she was sent to a Friends' boarding-school at + Nine Partners, N.Y. Both boys and girls attended this school, + but were not permitted to speak to each other unless they were + near relatives; if so, they could talk a little on certain days + over a certain corner of the fence, between the playgrounds! + Such grave precautions did not entirely prevent the + acquaintance of the young people; for when a lad was shut up in + a closet, on bread and water, Lucretia and her sister supplied + him with bread and butter under the door. This boy was a cousin + of the teacher, James Mott, who was fond of the quick-witted + school-girl, so that it is probable that no harm came to her + from breaking the rules.</p> + + <p>At fifteen, Lucretia was appointed an assistant teacher, and + she and Mr. Mott, with a desire to know more of literature, and + quite possibly more of each other, began to study French + together. He was tall, with light hair and blue eyes, and shy + in manner; she, petite, with dark hair and eyes, quick in + thought and action, and fond of mirth. When she was eighteen + and James twenty-one, the young teachers were married, and both + went to her father's home in Philadelphia to reside, he + assisting in Mr. Coffin's business.</p> + + <p>The war of 1812 brought financial failure to many, and young + Mott soon found himself with a wife and infant daughter to + support, and no work. Hoping that he could obtain a situation + with an uncle in New York State, he took his family thither, + but came back disappointed. Finally he found work in a plow + store at a salary of six hundred dollars a year.</p> + + <p>Captain Coffin meantime had died, leaving his family poor. + James could do so little for them all with his limited salary, + that he determined to open a small store; but the experiment + proved a failure. His health began to be affected by this ill + success, when Lucretia, with her brave heart, said, "My cousin + and I will open a school; thee must not get discouraged, + James."</p> + + <p>The school was opened with four pupils, each paying seven + dollars a quarter. The young wife put so much good cheer and + earnestness into her work, that soon there were forty pupils in + the school. Mr. Mott's prospects now brightened, for he was + earning one thousand dollars a year. The young couple were + happy in their hard work, for they loved each other, and love + lightens all care and labor.</p> + + <p>But soon a sorrow worse than poverty came. Their only son, + Thomas, a most affectionate child, died, saying with his latest + breath, "I love thee, mother." It was a crushing blow; but it + proved a blessing in the end, leading her thoughts + heavenward.</p> + + <p>A few months afterwards her voice was heard for the first + time in public, in prayer, in one of the Friends' meetings. The + words were simple, earnest, eloquent. The good Quakers + marvelled, and encouraged the "gift." They did not ask whether + man or woman brought the message, so it came from heaven.</p> + + <p>And now, at twenty-five, having resigned her position as + teacher, she began close study of the Bible and theological + books. She had four children to care for, did all her sewing, + even cutting and making her own dresses; but she learned what + every one can learn,--to economize time. Her house was kept + scrupulously clean. She says: "I omitted much unnecessary + stitching and ornamental work in the sewing for my family, so + that I might have more time for the improvement of my mind. For + novels and light reading I never had much taste; the ladies' + department in the periodicals of the day had no attraction for + me. "She would lay a copy of William Penn's ponderous volumes + open at the foot of her bed, and drawing her chair close to it, + with her baby on her lap, would study the book diligently. A + woman of less energy and less will-power than young Mrs. Mott + would have given up all hope of being a scholar. She read the + best books in philosophy and science. John Stuart Mill and Dean + Stanley, though widely different, were among her favorite + authors.</p> + + <p>James Mott was now prospering in the cotton business, so + that they could spare time to go in their carriage and speak at + the Quaker meetings in the surrounding country. Lucretia would + be so absorbed in thought as not to notice the beauties of the + landscape, which her husband always greatly enjoyed. Pointing + out a fine view to her, she replied, "Yes, it is beautiful, now + that thou points it out, but I should not have noticed it. I + have always taken more interest in <i>human</i> nature." From a + child she was deeply interested for the slave. She had read in + her school-books Clarkson's description of the slave ships, and + these left an impression never to be effaced. When, Dec. 4, + 1833, a convention met in Philadelphia for the purpose of + forming the American Anti-Slavery Society, Lucretia Mott was + one of the four women who braved the social obloquy, as friends + of the despised abolitionists. She spoke, and was listened to + with attention. Immediately the Philadelphia Female + Anti-Slavery Society was formed, and Mrs. Mott became its + president and its inspiration. So unheard of a thing was an + association of women, and so unaccustomed were they to the + methods of organization, that they were obliged to call a + colored man to the chair to assist them.</p> + + <p>The years of martyrdom which followed, we at this day can + scarcely realize. Anti-slavery lecturers were tarred and + feathered. Mobs in New York and Philadelphia swarmed the + streets, burning houses and breaking church windows. In the + latter city they surrounded the hall of the Abolitionists, + where the women were holding a large convention, and Mrs. Mott + was addressing them. All day long they cursed and threw stones, + and as soon as the women left the building, they burned it to + ashes. Then, wrought up to fury, the mob started for the house + of James and Lucretia Mott. Knowing that they were coming, the + calm woman sent her little children away, and then in the + parlor, with a few friends, peacefully awaited a probable + death.</p> + + <p>In the turbulent throng was a young man who, while he was no + friend of the colored man, could not see Lucretia Mott harmed. + With skilful ruse, as they neared the house, he rushed up + another street, shouting at the top of his voice, "On to + Motts!" and the wild crowd blindly followed, wreaking their + vengeance in another quarter.</p> + + <p>A year later, in Delaware, where Mrs. Mott was speaking, one + of her party, a defenceless old man, was dragged from the + house, and tarred and feathered. She followed, begging the men + to desist, and saying that she was the real offender, but no + violent hands were laid upon her.</p> + + <p>At another time, when the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery + Society in New York was broken up by the mob, some of the + speakers were roughly handled. Perceiving that several ladies + were timid, Mrs. Mott said to the gentleman who was + accompanying her, "Won't thee look after some of the + others?"</p> + + <p>"But who will take care of you?" he said.</p> + + <p>With great tact and a sweet smile, she answered, "This man," + laying her hand on the arm of one of the roughest of the mob; + "he will see me safe through."</p> + + <p>The astonished man had, like others, a tender heart beneath + the roughness, and with respectful manner took her to a place + of safety. The next day, going into a restaurant, she saw the + leader of the mob, and immediately sat down by him, and began + to converse. Her kindness and her sweet voice left a deep + impression. As he went out of the room, he asked at the door, + "Who is that lady?"</p> + + <p>"Why, that is Lucretia Mott!"</p> + + <p>For a second he was dumbfounded; but he added, "Well, she's + a good, sensible woman."</p> + + <p>In 1839 a World's Convention was called at London to debate + the slavery question. Among the delegates chosen were James and + Lucretia Mott, Wendell Phillips and his wife, and others. Mrs. + Mott was jubilant at the thought of the world's interest in + this great question, and glad for an opportunity to cross the + ocean and enjoy a little rest, and the pleasure of meeting + friends who had worked in the same cause.</p> + + <p>When the party arrived, they were told, to their + astonishment, that no women were to be admitted to the + Convention as delegates. They had faced mobs and ostracism; + they had given money and earnest labor, but they were to be + ignored. William Lloyd Garrison, hurt at such injustice, + refused to take part in the Convention, and sat in the gallery + with the women. Although Mrs. Mott did not speak in the + assembly, the <i>Dublin Herald</i> said, "Nobody doubts that + she was the lioness of the Convention." She was entertained at + public breakfasts, and at these spoke with the greatest + acceptance to both men and women. The Duchess of Sutherland and + Lady Byron showed her great attention. Carlyle was "much + pleased with the Quaker lady, whose quiet manner had a soothing + effect on him," wrote Mrs. Carlyle to a friend. At Glasgow "she + held a delighted audience for nearly two hours in breathless + attention," said the press.</p> + + <p>After some months of devoted Christian work, along with + sight-seeing, Mr. and Mrs. Mott started homeward. He had spoken + less frequently than his wife, but always had been listened to + with deep interest. Her heart was moved toward a large number + of Irish emigrants in the steerage, and she desired to hold a + religious meeting among them. When asked about it, they said + they would not hear a woman preacher, for women priests were + not allowed in their church. Then she asked that they would + come together and consider whether they would have a meeting. + This seemed fair, and they came. She explained to them that she + did not intend to hold a church service; that, as they were + leaving their old homes and seeking new ones in her country, + she wanted to talk with them in such a way as would help them + in the land of strangers. And then, if they would listen,--they + were all the time listening very eagerly,--she would give an + outline of what she had intended to say, if the meeting had + been held. At the close, when all had departed, it dawned upon + some of the quicker-witted ones that they "had got the + preachment from the woman preacher, after all."</p> + + <p>The steamer arrived at the close of a twenty-nine days' + voyage, and, after a brief rest, Mrs. Mott began again her + public work. She spoke before the legislatures of New Jersey, + Delaware, and Pennsylvania. She called on President Tyler, and + he talked with her cordially and freely about the slave. In + Kentucky, says one of the leading papers, "For an hour and a + half she enchained an ordinarily restless audience--many were + standing--to a degree never surpassed here by the most popular + orators. She said some things that were far from palatable, but + said them with an air of sincerity that commanded respect and + attention."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Mott was deeply interested in other questions besides + slavery,--suffrage for women, total abstinence, and national + differences settled by arbitration instead of war. Years + before, when she began to teach school, and found that while + girls paid the same tuition as boys, "when they became + teachers, women received only half as much as men for their + services," she says: "The injustice of this distinction was so + apparent, that I early resolved to claim for myself all that an + impartial Creator had bestowed."</p> + + <p>In 1848, Mrs. Mott, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and some + others, called the first Woman's Suffrage Convention in this + country, at Seneca Falls, N.Y. There was much ridicule,--we had + not learned, forty years ago, to treat with courtesy those + whose opinions are different from our own,--but the sweet + Quaker preacher went serenely forward, as though all the world + were on her side. When she conversed with those who differed, + she listened so courteously to objections, and stated her own + views so delicately and kindly, and often so wittily, that none + could help liking her, even though they did not agree with her. + She realized that few can be driven, while many can be won with + gentleness and tact.</p> + + <p>In all these years of public speaking, her home was not only + a refuge for the oppressed, but a delightful social centre, + where prominent people gathered from both Europe and America. + At the table black and white were treated with equal courtesy. + One young man, a frequent visitor, finding himself seated at + dinner next to a colored man, resolved to keep away from the + house in future; but as he was in love with one of Mrs. Mott's + pretty daughters, he found that his "principles" gave way to + his affections. He renewed his visits, became a son-in-law, + and, later, an ardent advocate of equality for the colored + people.</p> + + <p>Now the guests at the hospitable home were a mother and + seven children, from England, who, meeting with + disappointments, had become reduced to poverty. Now it was an + escaped slave, who had come from Richmond, Va., in a dry-goods + box, by Adams Express. This poor man, whose wife and three + children had been sold from him, determined to seek his + freedom, even if he died in the effort. Weighing nearly two + hundred pounds, he was encased in a box two feet long, + twenty-three inches wide, and three feet high, in a sitting + posture. He was provided with a few crackers, and a bladder + filled with water. With a small gimlet he bored holes in the + box to let in fresh air, and fanned himself with his hat, to + keep the air in motion. The box was covered with canvas, that + no one might suspect its contents. His sufferings were almost + unbearable. As the box was tossed from one place to another, he + was badly bruised, and sometimes he rested for miles on his + head and shoulders, when it seemed as though his veins would + burst. Finally he reached the Mott home, and found shelter and + comfort.</p> + + <p>Their large house was always full. Mr. Mott had given up a + prosperous cotton business, because the cotton was the product + of slave labor; but he had been equally successful in the wool + trade, so that the days of privation had passed by long ago. + Two of their six children, with their families, lived at home, + and the harmony was remarked by everybody. Mrs. Mott rose + early, and did much housework herself. She wrote to a friend: + "I prepared mince for forty pies, doing every part myself, even + to meat-chopping; picked over lots of apples, stewed a + quantity, chopped some more, and made apple pudding; all of + which kept me on my feet till almost two o'clock, having to + come into the parlor every now and then to receive guests." As + a rule, those women are the best housekeepers whose lives are + varied by some outside interests.</p> + + <p>In the broad hall of the house stood two armchairs, which + the children called "beggars' chairs," because they were in + constant use for all sorts of people, "waiting to see the + missus." She never refused to see anybody. When letters came + from all over the country, asking for all sorts of favors, + bedding, silver spoons, a silk umbrella, or begging her to + invest some money in the manufacture of an article, warranted + "to take the kink out of the hair of the negro," she would + always check the merriment of her family by saying, "Don't + laugh too much; the poor souls meant well."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Mott was now sixty-three years of age. For forty years + she had been seen and loved by thousands. Strangers would stop + her on the street and say, "God bless you, Lucretia Mott!" + Once, when a slave was being tried for running away, Mrs. Mott + sat near him in the court, her son-in-law, Mr. Edward Hopper, + defending his case. The opposing counsel asked that her chair + might be moved, as her face would influence the jury against + him! Benjamin H. Brewster, afterwards United States + Attorney-General, also counsel for the Southern master, said: + "I have heard a great deal of your mother-in-law, Hopper; but I + never saw her before to-day. She is an angel." Years after, + when Mr. Brewster was asked how he dared to change his + political opinions, he replied, "Do you think there is anything + I dare not do, after facing Lucretia Mott in that + court-room?"</p> + + <p>It seemed best at this time, in 1856, as Mrs. Mott was much + worn with care, to sell the large house in town and move eight + miles into the country, to a quaint, roomy house which they + called Roadside. Before they went, however, at the last family + gathering a long poem was read, ending with:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "Who constantly will ring the bell,<br /> + And ask if they will please to tell<br /> + Where Mrs. Mott has gone to dwell?<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + The beggars. + </div><br /> + "And who persistently will say,<br /> + 'We cannot, cannot go away;<br /> + Here in the entry let us stay?'<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + Colored beggars. + </div><br /> + "Who never, never, nevermore<br /> + Will see the 'lions' at the door<br /> + That they've so often seen before?<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + The neighbors. + </div><br /> + "And who will miss, for months at least,<br /> + That place of rest for man and beast,<br /> + from North, and South, and West, and East?<br /> + + <div class="tail_r"> + Everybody." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Much of the shrubbery was cut down at Roadside, that Mrs. + Mott might have the full sunlight. So cheery a nature must have + sunshine. Here life went on quietly and happy. Many papers and + books were on her table, and she read carefully and widely. She + loved especially Milton and Cowper. Arnold's <i>Light of + Asia</i> was a great favorite in later years. The papers were + sent to hospitals and infirmaries, that no good reading might + be lost. She liked to read aloud; and if others were busy, she + would copy extracts to read to them when they were at leisure. + Who can measure the power of an educated, intellectual mother + in a home?</p> + + <p>The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mott was celebrated in + 1861, and a joyous season it was. James, the prosperous + merchant, was proud of his gifted wife, and aided her in every + way possible; while Lucretia loved and honored the true-hearted + husband. Though Mrs. Mott was now seventy, she did not cease + her benevolent work. Her carriage was always full of fruits, + vegetables, and gifts for the poor. In buying goods she traded + usually with the small stores, where things were dearer, but + she knew that for many of the proprietors it was a struggle to + make ends meet. A woman so considerate of others would of + course be loved.</p> + + <p>Once when riding on the street-cars in Philadelphia, when no + black person was allowed to ride inside, every fifth car being + reserved for their use, she saw a frail-looking and + scantily-dressed colored woman, standing on the platform in the + rain. The day was bitter cold, and Mrs. Mott begged the + conductor to allow her to come inside. "The company's orders + must be obeyed," was the reply. Whereupon the slight Quaker + lady of seventy walked out and stood beside the colored woman. + It would never do to have the famous Mrs. Mott seen in the rain + on his car; so the conductor, in his turn, went out and begged + her to come in.</p> + + <p>"I cannot go in without this woman," said Mrs. Mott quietly. + Nonplussed for a moment, he looked at the kindly face, and + said, "Oh, well, bring her in then!" Soon the "company's + orders" were changed in the interests of humanity, and colored + people as well as white enjoyed their civil rights, as becomes + a great nation.</p> + + <p>With all this beauty of character, Lucretia Mott had her + trials. Somewhat early in life she and her husband had joined + the so-called Unitarian branch of Quakers, and for this they + were persecuted. So deep was the sectarian feeling, that once, + when suffering from acute neuralgia, a physician who knew her + well, when called to attend her, said, "Lucretia, I am so + deeply afflicted by thy rebellious spirit, that I do not feel + that I can prescribe for thee," and he left her to her + sufferings. Such lack of toleration reads very strangely at + this day.</p> + + <p>In 1868, Mr. Mott and his wife, the one eighty, and the + other seventy-five, went to Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit their + grandchildren. He was taken ill of pneumonia, and expressed a + wish to go home, but added, "I suppose I shall die here, and + then I shall be at home; it is just as well." Mrs. Mott watched + with him through the night, and at last, becoming weary, laid + her head upon his pillow and went to sleep. In the morning, the + daughter coming in, found the one resting from weariness, the + other resting forever.</p> + + <p>At the request of several colored men, who respected their + benefactor, Mr. Mott was borne to his grave by their hands. + Thus ended, for this world, what one who knew them well called + "the most perfect wedded life to be found on earth."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Mott said, "James and I loved each other more than ever + since we worked together for a great cause." She carried out + the old couplet:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "And be this thy pride, what but few have done,<br /> + To hold fast the love thou hast early won." + </div> + + <p>After his death, she wrote to a friend, "I do not mourn, but + rather remember my blessings, and the blessing of his long life + with me."</p> + + <p>For twelve years more she lived and did her various duties. + She had seen the slave freed, and was thankful. The other + reforms for which she labored were progressing. At eighty-five + she still spoke in the great meetings. Each Christmas she + carried turkeys, pies, and a gift for each man and woman at the + "Aged Colored Home," in Philadelphia, driving twenty miles, + there and back. Each year she sent a box of candy to each + conductor and brakeman on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, + "Because," she said, "they never let me lift out my bundles, + but catch them up so quickly, and they all seem to know + me."</p> + + <p>Finally the time came for her to go to meet James. As the + end drew near, she seemed to think that she was conducting her + own funeral, and said, as though addressing an audience, "If + you resolve to follow the Lamb wherever you may be led, you + will find all the ways pleasant and the paths peace. Let me go! + Do take me!"</p> + + <p>There was a large and almost silent funeral at the house, + and at the cemetery several thousand persons were gathered. + When friends were standing by the open grave, a low voice said, + ""Will no one say anything?" and another responded, "Who can + speak? the preacher is dead!"</p> + + <p>Memorial services were held in various cities. For such a + woman as Lucretia Mott, with cultured mind, noble heart, and + holy purpose, there are no sex limitations. Her field is the + world.</p> + + <p>Those who desire to know, more of this gifted woman will + find it in a most interesting volume, <i>Lives of James and + Lucretia Mott</i>, written by their grandaughter, Anna Davis + Hallowell, West Medford, Mass.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c4" id="c4"></a> + + <h3>Mary A. Livermore.</h3><a href= + "images/c4livermore.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c4livermore_t.jpg" alt= + "MARY A. LIVERMORE." /></a> + + <p>When a nation passes through a great struggle like our Civil + War, great leaders are developed. Had it not been for this, + probably Mrs. Livermore, like many other noble women, would be + to-day living quietly in some pleasant home, doing the common + duties of every-day life. She would not be the famous lecturer, + the gifted writer, the leader of the Sanitary Commission in the + West; a brilliant illustration of the work a woman may do in + the world, and still retain the truest womanliness.</p> + + <p>She was born in Boston, descended from ancestors who for six + generations had been Welsh preachers, and reared by parents of + the strictest Calvinistic faith. Mr. Rice, her father, was a + man of honesty and integrity, while the mother was a woman of + remarkable judgment and common sense.</p> + + <p>Mary was an eager scholar, and a great favorite in school, + because she took the part of all the poor children. If a little + boy or girl was a cripple, or wore shabby clothes, or had + scanty dinners, or was ridiculed, he or she found an earnest + friend and defender in the courageous girl.</p> + + <p>So fond was she of the five children in the home, younger + than herself, and so much did she take upon herself the + responsibility of their conversion, that when but ten years + old, unable to sleep, she would rise from her bed and waken her + father and mother that they might pray for the sisters. "It's + no matter about me," she would say; "if they are saved, I can + bear anything."</p> + + <p>Mature in thought and care-taking beyond her years, she was + still fond of out-door sports and merry times. Sliding on the + ice was her especial delight. One day, after a full hour's fun + in the bracing air, she rushed into the house, the blood + tingling in every vein, exclaiming, "It's splendid sliding!" + "Yes," replied the father, "it's good fun, but wretched for + shoes."</p> + + <p>All at once the young girl saw how hard it was for her + parents to buy shoes, with their limited means; and from that + day to this she never slid upon the ice.</p> + + <p>There were few playthings in the simple home, but her chief + pastime was in holding meetings in her father's woodshed, with + the other children. Great logs were laid out for benches, and + split sticks were set upon them for people. Mary was always the + leader, both in praying and preaching, and the others were good + listeners. Mrs. Rice would be so much amused at the queer + scene, that a smile would creep over her face; but Mr. Rice + would look on reverently, and say, "I wish you had been a boy; + you could have been trained for the ministry."</p> + + <p>When she was twelve years old she began to be eager to earn + something. She could not bear to see her father work so hard + for her. Alas! how often young women, twice twelve, allow their + father's hair to grow white from overwork, because they think + society will look down upon them if they labor. Is work more a + disgrace to a girl than a boy? Not at all. Unfortunate is the + young man who marries a girl who is either afraid or ashamed to + work.</p> + + <p>Though not fond of sewing, Mary decided to learn + dressmaking, because this would give her self-support. For + three months she worked in a shop, that she might learn the + trade, and then she stayed three months longer and earned + thirty-seven cents a day. As this seemed meagre, she looked + about her for more work. Going to a clothing establishment, she + asked for a dozen red flannel shirts to make. The proprietor + might have wondered who the child was, but he trusted her + honest face, and gave her the bundle. She was to receive six + and a quarter cents apiece, and to return them on a certain + day. Working night after night, sometimes till the early + morning hours, she was able to finish only half at the time + specified.</p> + + <p>On that day a man came to the door and asked, "Does Mary + Rice live here?"</p> + + <p>The mother had gone to the door, and answered in the + affirmative.</p> + + <p>"Well, she took a dozen red flannel shirts from my shop to + make, and she hain't returned 'em!"</p> + + <p>"It can't be my daughter," said Mrs. Rice.</p> + + <p>The man was sure he had the right number, but he looked + perplexed. Just then Mary, who was in the sitting-room, + appeared on the scene.</p> + + <p>"Yes, mother, I got these shirts of the man."</p> + + <p>"You promised to get 'em done, Miss," he said, "and we are + in a great hurry."</p> + + <p>"You shall have the shirts to-morrow night," said Mrs. + Rice.</p> + + <p>After the man left the house, the mother burst into tears, + saying, "We are not so poor as that. My dear child, what is to + become of you if you take all the cares of the world upon your + shoulders?"</p> + + <p>When the work was done, and the seventy-five cents received, + Mary would take only half of it, because she had earned but + half.</p> + + <p>A brighter day was dawning for Mary Rice. A little later, + longing for an education, Dr. Neale, their good minister, + encouraged and assisted her to go to the Charlestown Female + Seminary. Before the term closed one of the teachers died, and + the bright, earnest pupil was asked to fill the vacancy. She + accepted, reciting out of school to fit herself for her + classes, earning enough by her teaching to pay her way, and + taking the four years' course in two years. Before she was + twenty she taught two years on a Virginia plantation as a + governess, and came North with six hundred dollars and a good + supply of clothes. Probably she has never felt so rich since + that day.</p> + + <p>She was now asked to take charge of the Duxbury High School, + where she became an inspiration to her scholars. Even the + dullest learned under her enthusiasm. She took long walks to + keep up her health and spirits, thus making her body as + vigorous as her heart was sympathetic.</p> + + <p>It was not to be wondered at that the bright young teacher + had many admirers. Who ever knew an educated, genial girl who + was not a favorite with young men? It is a libel on the sex to + think that they prefer ignorant or idle girls.</p> + + <p>Among those who saw the beauty of character and the mental + power of Miss Rice was a young minister, whose church was near + her schoolhouse. The first time she attended his services, he + preached from the text, "And thou shalt call his name Jesus; + for he shall save his people from their sins." Her sister had + died, and the family were in sorrow; but this gospel of love, + which he preached with no allusion to eternal punishment, was + full of comfort. What was the minister's surprise to have the + young lady ask to take home the sermon and read it, and + afterwards, some of his theological books. What was the + teacher's surprise, a little later, to find that while she was + interested in his sermons and books, he had become interested + in her. The sequel can be guessed easily; she became the wife + of Rev. D.P. Livermore at twenty-three.</p> + + <p>He had idolized his mother; very naturally, with deep + reverence for woman, he would make a devoted husband. For + fifteen years the intelligent wife aided him in editing <i>The + New Covenant</i>, a religious paper published in Chicago, in + which city they had made their home. Her writings were always + clear, strong, and helpful. Three children had been born into + their home, and life, with its cares and its work, was a very + happy one.</p> + + <p>But the time came for the quiet life to be entirely changed. + In 1861 the nation found itself plunged into war. The slave + question was to be settled once for all at the point of the + bayonet. Like every other true-hearted woman, Mrs. Livermore + had been deeply stirred by passing events. When Abraham + Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men was eagerly + responded to, she was in Boston, and saw the troops, all unused + to hardships, start for the battle-fields. The streets were + crowded with tens of thousands. Bells rung, bands played, and + women smiled and said good-bye, when their hearts were + breaking. After the train moved out of the station, four women + fainted; nature could no longer bear the terrible strain. Mrs. + Livermore helped restore the women to consciousness. She had no + sons to send; but when such partings were seen, and such + sorrows were in the future, she could not rest.</p> + + <p>What could women do to help in the dreadful struggle? A + meeting of New York ladies was called, which resulted in the + formation of an Aid Society, pledging loyalty to the + Government, and promising assistance to soldiers and their + families. Two gentlemen were sent to Washington to ask what + work could be done, but word came back that there was no place + for women at the front, nor no need for them in the hospitals. + Such words were worse than wasted on American women. Since the + day when men and women together breasted the storms of New + England in the <i>Mayflower</i>, and together planted a new + civilization, together they have worked side by side in all + great matters. They were untiring in the Revolutionary War; + they worked faithfully in the dark days of anti-slavery + agitation, taking their very lives in their hands. And now + their husbands and sons and brothers had gone from their homes. + They would die on battle-fields, and in lonely camps untended, + and the women simply said, "Some of us must follow our + best-beloved."</p> + + <p>The United States Sanitary Commission was soon organized, + for working in hospitals, looking after camps, and providing + comforts for the soldiers. Branch associations were formed in + ten large cities. The great Northwestern Branch was put under + the leadership of Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. A.H. Hoge. Useful + things began to pour in from all over the country,--fruits, + clothing, bedding, and all needed comforts for the army. Then + Mrs. Livermore, now a woman of forty, with great executive + ability, warm heart, courage, and perseverance, with a few + others, went to Washington to talk with President Lincoln.</p> + + <p>"Can no women go to the front?" they asked.</p> + + <p>"No civilian, either man or woman, is permitted by + <i>law</i>," said Mr. Lincoln. But the great heart of the + greatest man in America was superior to the law, and he placed + not a straw in their way. He was in favor of anything which + helped the men who fought and bled for their country.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore's first broad experience in the war was after + the battle of Fort Donelson. There were no hospitals for the + men, and the wounded were hauled down the hillside in + rough-board Tennessee wagons, most of them dying before they + reached St. Louis. Some poor fellows lay with the frozen earth + around them, chopped out after lying in the mud from Saturday + morning until Sunday evening.</p> + + <p>One blue-eyed lad of nineteen, with both legs and both arms + shattered, when asked, "How did it happen that you were left so + long?" said, "Why, you see, they couldn't stop to bother with + us, <i>because they had to take the fort</i>. When they took + it, we forgot our sufferings, and all over the battle-field + cheers went up from the wounded, and even from the dying."</p> + + <p>At the rear of the battle-fields the Sanitary Commission now + began to keep its wagons with hot soup and hot coffee, women, + fitly chosen, always joining in this work, in the midst of + danger. After the first repulse at Vicksburg, there was great + sickness and suffering. The Commission sent Mrs. Hoge, two + gentlemen accompanying her, with a boat-load of supplies for + the sick. One emaciated soldier, to whom she gave a little + package of white sugar, with a lemon, some green tea, two + herrings, two onions, and some pepper, said, "Is that + <i>all</i> for me?" She bowed assent. She says: "He covered his + pinched face with his thin hands and burst into a low, sobbing + cry. I laid my hand upon his shoulder, and said, 'Why do you + weep?' 'God bless the women!' he sobbed out. 'What should we do + but for them? I came from father's farm, where all knew plenty; + I've lain sick these three months; I've seen no woman's face, + nor heard her voice, nor felt her warm hand till to-day, and it + unmans me; but don't think I rue my bargain, for I don't. I've + suffered much and long, but don't let them know at home. Maybe + I'll never have a chance to tell them how much; but I'd go + through it all for the old flag.'"</p> + + <p>Shortly after, accompanied by an officer, she went into the + rifle-pits. The heat was stifling, and the minie-balls were + whizzing. "Why, madam, where did you come from? Did you drop + from heaven into these rifle-pits? You are the first lady we + have seen here;" and then the voice was choked with tears.</p> + + <p>"I have come from your friends at home, and bring messages + of love and honor. I have come to bring you the comforts we owe + you, and love to give. I've come to see if you receive what + they send you," she replied.</p> + + <p>"Do they think as much of as as that? Why, boys, we can + fight another year on that, can't we?"</p> + + <p>"Yes, yes!" they cried, and almost every hand was raised to + brush away the tears.</p> + + <p>She made them a kindly talk, shook the hard, honest hands, + and said good-bye. "Madame," said the officer, "promise me that + you'll visit my regiment to-morrow; 'twould be worth a victory + to them. You don't know what good a lady's visit to the army + does. These men whom you have seen to-day will talk of your + visit for six months to come. Around the fires, in the + rifle-pits, in the dark night, or on the march, they will + repeat your words, describe your looks, voice, size, and dress; + and all agree in one respect,--that you look like an angel, and + exactly like each man's wife or mother. Ah! was there no work + for women to do?</p> + + <p>The Sanitary and Christian Commissions expended about fifty + million dollars during the war, and of this, the women raised a + generous portion. Each battle cost the Sanitary Commission + about seventy-five thousand dollars, and the battle of + Gettysburg, a half million dollars. Mrs. Livermore was one of + the most efficient helpers in raising this money. She went + among the people, and solicited funds and supplies of every + kind.</p> + + <p>One night it was arranged that she should speak in Dubuque, + Iowa, that the people of that State might hear directly from + their soldiers at the front. When she arrived, instead of + finding a few women as she had expected, a large church was + packed with both men and women, eager to listen. The governor + of the State and other officials were present. She had never + spoken in a mixed assembly. Her conservative training made her + shrink from it, and, unfortunately, made her feel incapable of + doing it.</p> + + <p>"I cannot speak!" she said to the women who had asked her to + come.</p> + + <p>Disappointed and disheartened, they finally arranged with a + prominent statesman to jot down the facts from her lips; and + then, as best he could, tell to the audience the experiences of + the woman who had been on battle-fields, amid the wounded and + dying. Just as they were about to go upon the platform, the + gentleman said, "Mrs. Livermore, I have heard you say at the + front, that you would give your all for the soldiers,--a foot, + a hand, or a voice. Now is the time to give your voice, if you + wish to do good."</p> + + <p>She meditated a moment, and then she said, "I will try."</p> + + <p>When she arose to speak, the sea of faces before her seemed + blurred. She was talking into blank darkness. She could not + even hear her own voice. But as she went on, and the needs of + the soldiers crowded upon her mind, she forgot all fear, and + for two hours held the audience spell-bound. Men and women + wept, and patriotism filled every heart. At eleven o'clock + eight thousand dollars were pledged, and then, at the + suggestion of the presiding officer, they remained until one + o'clock to perfect plans for a fair, from which they cleared + sixty thousand dollars. After this, Mrs. Livermore spoke in + hundreds of towns, helping to organize many of the more than + twelve thousand five hundred aid societies formed during + eighteen months.</p> + + <p>As money became more and more needed, Mrs. Livermore decided + to try a sanitary commission fair in Chicago. The women said, + "We will raise twenty-five thousand dollars," but the men + laughed at such an impossibility. The farmers were visited, and + solicited to give vegetables and grain, while the cities were + not forgotten. Fourteen of Chicago's largest halls were hired. + The women had gone into debt ten thousand dollars, and the men + of the city began to think they were crazy. The Board of Trade + called upon them and advised that the fair be given up; the + debts should be paid, and the men would give the twenty-five + thousand, when, in their judgment, it was needed! The women + thanked them courteously, but pushed forward in the work.</p> + + <p>It had been arranged that the farmers should come on the + opening day, in a procession, with their gifts of vegetables. + Of this plan the newspapers made great sport, calling it the + "potato procession." The day came. The school children had a + holiday, the bells were rung, one hundred guns were fired, and + the whole city gathered to see the "potato procession." Finally + it arrived,--great loads of cabbages, onions, and over four + thousand bushels of potatoes. The wagons each bore a motto, + draped in black, with the words, "We buried a son at Donelson," + "Our father lies at Stone River," and other similar ones. The + flags on the horses' heads were bound with black; the women who + rode beside a husband or son, were dressed in deep mourning. + When the procession stopped before Mrs. Livermore's house, the + jeers were over, and the dense crowd wept like children.</p> + + <p>Six of the public halls were filled with beautiful things + for sale, while eight were closed so that no other attractions + might compete with the fair. Instead of twenty-five thousand, + the women cleared one hundred thousand dollars.</p> + + <p>Then Cincinnati followed with a fair, making two hundred and + twenty-five thousand; Boston, three hundred and eighty + thousand; New York, one million; and Philadelphia, two hundred + thousand more than New York. The women had found that there was + work enough for them to do.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore was finally ordered to make a tour of the + hospitals and military posts on the Mississippi River, and here + her aid was invaluable. It required a remarkable woman to + undertake such a work. At one point she found twenty-three men, + sick and wounded, whose regiments had left them, and who could + not be discharged because they had no descriptive lists. She + went at once to General Grant, and said, "General, if you will + give me authority to do so, I will agree to take these + twenty-three wounded men home."</p> + + <p>The officials respected the noble woman, and the red tape of + army life was broken for her sake.</p> + + <p>When the desolate company arrived in Chicago, on Saturday, + the last train had left which could have taken a Wisconsin + soldier home. She took him to the hotel, had a fire made for + him, and called a doctor.</p> + + <p>"Pull him through till Monday, Doctor," she said, "and I'll + get him home." Then, to the lad, "You shall have a nurse, and + Monday morning I will go with you to your mother."</p> + + <p>"Oh! don't go away," he pleaded; "I never shall see you + again."</p> + + <p>"Well, then, I'll go home and see my family, and come back + in two hours. The door shall be left open, and I'll put this + bell beside you, so that the chambermaid will come when you + ring."</p> + + <p>He consented, and Mrs. Livermore came back in two hours. The + soldier's face was turned toward the door, as though waiting + for her, but he was dead. He had gone home, but not to + Wisconsin.</p> + + <p>After the close of the war, so eager were the people to hear + her, that she entered the lecture field and has for years held + the foremost place among women as a public speaker. She + lectures five nights a week, for five months, travelling + twenty-five thousand miles annually. Her fine voice, womanly, + dignified manner, and able thought have brought crowded houses + before her, year after year. She has earned money, and spent it + generously for others. The energy and conscientiousness of + little Mary Rice have borne their legitimate fruit.</p> + + <p>Every year touching incidents came up concerning the war + days. Once, after she had spoken at Fabyan's American Institute + of Instruction, a military man, six feet tall, came up to her + and said, "Do you remember at Memphis coming over to the + officers' hospital?"</p> + + <p>"Yes," said Mrs. Livermore.</p> + + <p>While the officers were paid salaries, very often the + paymasters could not find them when ill, and for months they + would not have a penny, not even receiving army rations. Mrs. + Livermore found many in great need, and carried them from the + Sanitary Commission blankets, medicine, and food. Milk was + greatly desired, and almost impossible to be obtained. One day + she came into the wards, and said that a certain portion of the + sick "could have two goblets of milk for every meal."</p> + + <p>"Do you remember," said the tall man, who was then a major, + "that one man cried bitterly and said, 'I want two glasses of + milk,' and that you patted him on the head, as he lay on his + cot? And that the man said, as he thought of the dear ones at + home, whom he might not see again, 'Could you kiss me?' and the + noble woman bent down and kissed him? I am that man, and God + bless you for your kindness."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore wears on her third finger a plain gold ring + which has a touching history.</p> + + <p>After lecturing recently at Albion, Mich., a woman came up, + who had driven eight miles, to thank her for a letter written + for John, her son, as he was dying in the hospital. The first + four lines were dictated by the dying soldier; then death came, + and Mrs. Livermore finished the message. The faded letter had + been kept for twenty years, and copies made of it. "Annie, my + son's wife," said the mother, "never got over John's death. She + kept about and worked, but the life had gone out of her. Eight + years ago she died. One day she said, 'Mother, if you ever find + Mrs. Livermore, or hear of her, I wish you would give her my + wedding ring, which has never been off my finger since John put + it there. Ask her to wear it for John's sake and mine, and tell + her this was my dying request.'"</p> + + <p>With tears in the eyes of both giver and receiver, Mrs. + Livermore held out her hand, and the mother placed on the + finger this memento of two precious lives.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore has spent ten years in the temperance reform. + While she has shown the dreadful results of the liquor traffic, + she has been kind both in word and deed. Some time ago, passing + along a Boston street, she saw a man in the ditch, and a poor + woman bending over him.</p> + + <p>"Who is he?" she asked of the woman.</p> + + <p>"He's my husband, ma'am. He's a good man when he is sober, + and earns four dollars a day in the foundry. I keep a + saloon."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore called a hack. "Will you carry this man to + number ----?"</p> + + <p>"No, madam, he's too dirty. I won't soil my carriage."</p> + + <p>"Oh!" pleaded the wife, "I'll clean it all up for ye, if + ye'll take him," and pulling off her dress-skirt, she tried to + wrap it around her husband. Stepping to a saloon near by, Mrs. + Livermore asked the men to come out and help lift him. At first + they laughed, but were soon made ashamed, when they saw that a + lady was assisting. The drunken man was gotten upon his feet, + wrapped in his wife's clothing, put into the hack, and then + Mrs. Livermore and the wife got in beside him, and he was taken + home. The next day the good Samaritan called, and brought the + priest, from whom the man took the pledge. A changed family was + the result.</p> + + <p>Her life is filled with thousands of acts of kindness, on + the cars, in poor homes, and in various charitable + institutions. She is the author of two or more books, <i>What + shall we do with Our Daughters?</i> and <i>Reminiscences of the + War</i>; but her especial power has been her eloquent words, + spoken all over the country, in pulpits, before colleges, in + city and country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Like + Abraham Lincoln, who said, "I go for all sharing the privileges + of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens,--by no + means excluding women," she has advocated the enfranchisement + of her sex, along with her other work.</p> + + <p>Now, past sixty, her active, earnest life, in contact with + the people, has kept her young in heart and in looks.</p> + + <p>"A great authority on what constitutes beauty complains that + the majority of women acquire a dull, vacant expression towards + middle life, which makes them positively plain. He attributes + it to their neglect of all mental culture, their lives having + settled down to a monotonous routine of house-keeping, + visiting, gossip, and shopping. Their thoughts become + monotonous, too, for, though these things are all good enough + in their way, they are powerless to keep up any mental life or + any activity of thought."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore has been an inspiration to girls to make the + most of themselves and their opportunities. She has been an + ideal of womanhood, not only to "the boys" on the + battle-fields, but to tens of thousands who are fighting the + scarcely less heroic battles of every-day life. May it be many + years before she shall go out forever from her restful, happy + home, at Melrose, Mass.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Mrs. Livermore died at her home, May 23, 1905, at 8 A.M., of + bronchitis. She was in her eighty-fourth year, and had survived + her husband six years. When her funeral services were held, the + schools of Melrose closed, business was suspended, bells were + tolled, and flags floated at half-mast. She was an active + member of thirty-seven clubs. The degree of Doctor of Laws was + conferred upon her, in 1896, by Tufts College.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c5" id="c5"></a> + + <h3>Margaret Fuller Ossoli.</h3><a href= + "images/c5fuller.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c5fuller_t.jpg" alt= + "MARGARET FULLER From engraving by Hall." /></a> + + <p>Margaret Fuller, in some respects the most remarkable of + American women, lived a pathetic life and died a tragic death. + Without money and without beauty, she became the idol of an + immense circle of friends; men and women were alike her + devotees. It is the old story: that the woman of brain makes + lasting conquests of hearts, while the pretty face holds its + sway only for a month or a year.</p> + + <p>Margaret, born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, was + the oldest child of a scholarly lawyer, Mr. Timothy Fuller, and + of a sweet-tempered, devoted mother. The father, with small + means, had one absorbing purpose in life,--to see that each of + his children was finely educated. To do this, and make ends + meet, was a struggle. His daughter said, years after, in + writing of him: "His love for my mother was the green spot on + which he stood apart from the commonplaces of a mere + bread-winning existence. She was one of those fair and + flower-like natures, which sometimes spring up even beside the + most dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom I have known, + she had in her most of the angelic,--of that spontaneous love + for every living thing, for man and beast and tree, which + restores the Golden Age."</p> + + <p>Very fond of his oldest child, Margaret, the father + determined that she should be as well educated as his boys. In + those days there were no colleges for girls, and none where + they might enter with their brothers, so that Mr. Fuller was + obliged to teach his daughter after the wearing work of the + day. The bright child began to read Latin at six, but was + necessarily kept up late for the recitation. When a little + later she was walking in her sleep, and dreaming strange + dreams, he did not see that he was overtaxing both her body and + brain. When the lessons had been learned, she would go into the + library, and read eagerly. One Sunday afternoon, when she was + eight years old, she took down Shakespeare from the shelves, + opened at Romeo and Juliet, and soon became fascinated with the + story.</p> + + <p>"What are you reading?" asked her father.</p> + + <p>"Shakespeare," was the answer, not lifting her eyes from the + page.</p> + + <p>"That won't do--that's no book for Sunday; go put it away, + and take another."</p> + + <p>Margaret did as she was bidden; but the temptation was too + strong, and the book was soon in her hands again.</p> + + <p>"What is that child about, that she don't hear a word we + say?" said an aunt.</p> + + <p>Seeing what she was reading, the father said, angrily, "Give + me the book, and go directly to bed."</p> + + <p>There could have been a wiser and gentler way of control, + but he had not learned that it is better to lead children than + to drive them.</p> + + <p>When not reading, Margaret enjoyed her mother's little + garden of flowers. "I loved," she says, "to gaze on the roses, + the violets, the lilies, the pinks; my mother's hand had + planted them, and they bloomed for me. I kissed them, and + pressed them to my bosom with passionate emotions. An ambition + swelled my heart to be as beautiful, as perfect as they."</p> + + <p>Margaret grew to fifteen with an exuberance of life and + affection, which the chilling atmosphere of that New England + home somewhat suppressed, and with an increasing love for books + and cultured people. "I rise a little before five," she writes, + "walk an hour, and then practise on the piano till seven, when + we breakfast. Next, I read French--Sismondi's <i>Literature of + the South of Europe</i>--till eight; then two or three lectures + in Brown's <i>Philosophy</i>. About half past nine I go to Mr. + Perkins's school, and study Greek till twelve, when, the school + being dismissed, I recite, go home, and practise again till + dinner, at two. Then, when I can, I read two hours in + Italian."</p> + + <p>And why all this hard work for a girl of fifteen? The + "all-powerful motive of ambition," she says. "I am determined + on distinction, which formerly I thought to win at an easy + rate; but now I see that long years of labor must be + given."</p> + + <p>She had learned the secret of most prominent lives. The + majority in this world will always be mediocre, because they + lack high-minded ambition and the willingness to work.</p> + + <p>Two years after, at seventeen, she writes: "I am studying + Madame de Staël, Epictetus, Milton, Racine, and the + Castilian ballads, with great delight.... I am engrossed in + reading the elder Italian poets, beginning with Berni, from + whom I shall proceed to Pulci and Politian." How almost + infinitely above "beaus and dresses" was such intellectual work + as this!</p> + + <p>It was impossible for such a girl not to influence the mind + of every person she met. At nineteen she became the warm friend + of Rev. James Freeman Clarke, "whose friendship," he says, "was + to me a gift of the gods.... With what eagerness did she seek + for knowledge! What fire, what exuberance, what reach, grasp, + overflow of thought, shone in her conversation!... And what she + thus was to me, she was to many others. Inexhaustible in power + of insight, and with a good will 'broad as ether,' she could + enter into the needs, and sympathize with the various + excellences, of the greatest variety of characters. One thing + only she demanded of all her friends, that they should not be + satisfied with the common routine of life,--that they should + aspire to something higher, better, holier, than had now + attained."</p> + + <p>Witty, learned, imaginative, she was conceded to be the best + conversationist in any circle. She possessed the charm that + every woman may possess,--appreciation of others, and interest + in their welfare. This sympathy unlocked every heart to her. + She was made the confidante of thousands. All classes loved + her. Now it was a serving girl who told Margaret her troubles + and her cares; now it was a distinguished man of letters. She + was always an inspiration. Men never talked idle, commonplace + talk with her; she could appreciate the best of their minds and + hearts, and they gave it. She was fond of social life, and no + party seemed complete without her.</p> + + <p>At twenty-two she began to study German, and in three months + was reading with ease Goethe's <i>Faust, Tasso and + Iphigenia</i>, Körner, Richter, and Schiller. She greatly + admired Goethe, desiring, like him, "always to have some + engrossing object of pursuit." Besides all this study she was + teaching six little children, to help bear the expenses of the + household.</p> + + <p>The family at this time moved to Groton, a great privation + for Margaret, who enjoyed and needed the culture of Boston + society. But she says, "As, sad or merry, I must always be + learning, I laid down a course of study at the beginning of the + winter." This consisted of the history and geography of modern + Europe, and of America, architecture, and the works of Alfieri, + Goethe, and Schiller. The teaching was continued because her + brothers must be sent to Harvard College, and this required + money; not the first nor the last time that sisters have worked + to give brothers an education superior to their own.</p> + + <p>At last the constitution, never robust, broke down, and for + nine days Margaret lay hovering between this world and the + next. The tender mother called her "dear lamb," and watched her + constantly, while the stern father, who never praised his + children, lest it might harm them, said, "My dear, I have been + thinking of you in the night, and I cannot remember that you + have any <i>faults</i>. You have defects, of course, as all + mortals have, but I do not know that you have a single + fault."</p> + + <p>"While Margaret recovered, the father was taken suddenly + with cholera, and died after a two days' illness. He was sadly + missed, for at heart he was devoted to his family. When the + estate was settled, there was little left for each; so for + Margaret life would be more laborious than ever. She had + expected to visit Europe with Harriet Martineau, who was just + returning home from a visit to this country, but the father's + death crushed this long-cherished and ardently-prayed-for + journey. She must stay at home and work for others.</p> + + <p>Books were read now more eagerly than ever,--<i>Sartor + Resartus</i>, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Heine. But money must + be earned. Ah! if genius could only develop in ease and + prosperity. It rarely has the chance. The tree grows best when + the dirt is oftenest stirred about the roots; perhaps the best + in us comes only from such stirring.</p> + + <p>Margaret now obtained a situation as teacher of French and + Latin in Bronson Alcott's school. Here she was appreciated by + both master and pupils. Mr. Alcott said, "I think her the most + brilliant talker of the day. She has a quick and comprehensive + wit, a firm command of her thoughts, and a speech to win the + ear of the most cultivated." She taught advanced classes in + German and Italian, besides having several private pupils.</p> + + <p>Before this time she had become a valued friend of the + Emerson family. Mr. Emerson says, "Sometimes she stayed a few + days, often a week, more seldom a month, and all tasks that + could be suspended were put aside to catch the favorable hour + in walking, riding, or boating, to talk with this joyful guest, + who brought wit, anecdotes, love-stories, tragedies, oracles + with her.... The day was never long enough to exhaust her + opulent memory, and I, who knew her intimately for ten years, + never saw her without surprise at her new powers."</p> + + <p>She was passionately fond of music and of art, saying, "I + have been very happy with four hundred and seventy designs of + Raphael in my possession for a week." She loved nature like a + friend, paying homage to rocks and woods and flowers. She said, + "I hate not to be beautiful when all around is so."</p> + + <p>After teaching with Mr. Alcott, she became the principal + teacher in a school at Providence, R.I. Here, as ever, she + showed great wisdom both with children and adults. The little + folks in the house were allowed to look at the gifts of many + friends in her room, on condition that they would not touch + them. One day a young visitor came, and insisted on taking down + a microscope, and broke it. The child who belonged in the house + was well-nigh heart-broken over the affair, and, though + protesting her innocence, was suspected both of the deed and of + falsehood. Miss Fuller took the weeping child upon her knee, + saying, "Now, my dear little girl, tell me all about it; only + remember that you must be careful, for I shall believe every + word you say." Investigation showed that the child thus + confided in told the whole truth.</p> + + <p>After two years in Providence she returned to Boston, and in + 1839 began a series of parlor lectures, or "conversations," as + they were called. This seemed a strange thing for a woman, when + public speaking by her sex was almost unknown. These talks were + given weekly, from eleven o'clock till one, to twenty-five or + thirty of the most cultivated women of the city. Now the + subject of discussion was Grecian mythology; now it was fine + arts, education, or the relations of woman to the family, the + church, society, and literature. These meetings were continued + through five winters, supplemented by evening "conversations," + attended by both men and women. In these gatherings Margaret + was at her best,--brilliant, eloquent, charming.</p> + + <p>During this time a few gifted men, Emerson, Channing, and + others, decided to start a literary and philosophical magazine + called the <i>Dial</i>. Probably no woman in the country would + have been chosen as the editor, save Margaret Fuller. She + accepted the position, and for four years managed the journal + ably, writing for it some valuable essays. Some of these were + published later in her book on <i>Literature and Art</i>. Her + <i>Woman in the Nineteenth Century</i>, a learned and vigorous + essay on woman's place in the world, first appeared in part in + the <i>Dial</i>. Of this work, she said, in closing it, "After + taking a long walk, early one most exhilarating morning, I sat + down to work, and did not give it the last stroke till near + nine in the evening. Then I felt a delightful glow, as if I had + put a good deal of my true life in it, and as if, should I go + away now, the measure of my footprint would be left on the + earth."</p> + + <p>Miss Fuller had published, besides these works, two books of + translations from the German, and a sketch of travel called + <i>Summer on the Lakes</i>. Her experience was like that of + most authors who are beginning,--some fame, but no money + realized. All this time she was frail in health, overworked, + struggling against odds to make a living for herself and those + she loved. But there were some compensations in this life of + toil. One person wrote her, "What I am I owe in large measure + to the stimulus you imparted. You roused my heart with high + hopes; you raised my aims from paltry and vain pursuits to + those which lasted and fed the soul; you inspired me with a + great ambition, and made me see the worth and the meaning of + life."</p> + + <p>William Hunt, the renowned artist, was looking in a book + that lay on the table of a friend. It was Mrs. Jameson's + <i>Italian Painters</i>. In describing Correggio, she said he + was "one of those superior beings of whom there are so few." + Margaret had written on the margin, "And yet all might be + such." Mr. Hunt said, "These words struck out a new strength in + me. They revived resolutions long fallen away, and made me set + my face like a flint."</p> + + <p>Margaret was now thirty-four. The sister was married, the + brothers had finished their college course, and she was about + to accept an offer from the <i>New York Tribune</i> to become + one of its constant contributors, an honor that few women would + have received. Early in December, 1844, Margaret moved to New + York and became a member of Mr. Greeley's family. Her literary + work here was that of, says Mr. Higginson, "the best literary + critic whom America has yet seen."</p> + + <p>Sometimes her reviews, like those on the poetry of + Longfellow and Lowell, were censured, but she was impartial and + able. Society opened wide its doors to her, as it had in + Boston. Mrs. Greeley became her devoted friend, and their + little son "Pickie," five years old, the idol of Mr. Greeley, + her restful playmate.</p> + + <p>A year and a half later an opportunity came for Margaret to + go to Europe. Now, at last, she would see the art-galleries of + the old world, and places rich in history, like Rome. Still + there was the trouble of scanty means, and poor health from + overwork. She said, "A noble career is yet before me, if I can + be unimpeded by cares. If our family affairs could now be so + arranged that I might be tolerably tranquil for the next six or + eight years, I should go out of life better satisfied with the + page I have turned in it than I shall if I must still toil + on."</p> + + <p>After two weeks on the ocean, the party of friends arrived + in London, and Miss Fuller received a cordial welcome. + Wordsworth, now seventy-six, showed her the lovely scenery of + Rydal Mount, pointing out as his especial pride, his avenue of + hollyhocks--crimson, straw-color, and white. De Quincey showed + her many courtesies. Dr. Chalmers talked eloquently, while + William and Mary Howitt seemed like old friends. Carlyle + invited her to his home. "To interrupt him," she said, "is a + physical impossibility. If you get a chance to remonstrate for + a moment, he raises his voice and bears you down."</p> + + <p>In Paris, Margaret attended the Academy lectures, saw much + of George Sand, waded through melting snow at Avignon to see + Laura's tomb, and at last was in Italy, the country she had + longed to see. Here Mrs. Jameson, Powers, and Greenough, and + the Brownings and Storys, were her warm friends. Here she + settled down to systematic work, trying to keep her expenses + for six months within four hundred dollars. Still, when most + cramped for means herself, she was always generous. Once, when + living on a mere pittance, she loaned fifty dollars to a needy + artist. In New York she gave an impecunious author five hundred + dollars to publish his book, and, of course, never received a + dollar in return. Yet the race for life was wearing her out. So + tired was she that she said, "I should like to go to sleep, and + be born again into a state where my young life should not be + prematurely taxed."</p> + + <p>Meantime the struggle for Italian unity was coming to its + climax. Mazzini and his followers were eager for a republic. + Pius IX. had given promises to the Liberal party, but + afterwards abandoned it, and fled to Gaeta. Then Mazzini turned + for help to the President of the French Republic, Louis + Napoleon, who, in his heart, had no love for republics, but + sent an army to reinstate the Pope. Rome, when she found + herself betrayed, fought like a tiger. Men issued from the + workshops with their tools for weapons, while women from the + housetops urged them on. One night over one hundred and fifty + bombs were thrown into the heart of the city.</p> + + <p>Margaret was the friend of Mazzini, and enthusiastic for + Roman liberty. All those dreadful months she ministered to the + wounded and dying in the hospitals, and was their "saint," as + they called her.</p> + + <p>But there was another reason why Margaret Fuller loved + Italy.</p> + + <p>Soon after her arrival in Rome, as she was attending vespers + at St. Peter's with a party of friends, she became separated + from them. Failing to find them, seeing her anxious face, a + young Italian came up to her, and politely offered to assist + her. Unable to regain her friends, Angelo Ossoli walked with + her to her home, though he could speak no English, and she + almost no Italian. She learned afterward that he was of a noble + and refined family; that his brothers were in the Papal army, + and that he was highly respected.</p> + + <p>After this he saw Margaret once or twice, when she left Rome + for some months. On her return, he renewed the acquaintance, + shy and quiet though he was, for her influence seemed great + over him. His father, the Marquis Ossoli, had just died, and + Margaret, with her large heart, sympathized with him, as she + alone knew how to sympathize. He joined the Liberals, thus + separating himself from his family, and was made a captain of + the Civic Guard.</p> + + <p>Finally he confessed to Margaret that he loved her, and that + he "must marry her or be miserable." She refused to listen to + him as a lover, said he must marry a younger woman,--she was + thirty-seven, and he but thirty,--but she would be his friend. + For weeks he was dejected and unhappy. She debated the matter + with her own heart. Should she, who had had many admirers, now + marry a man her junior, and not of surpassing intellect, like + her own? If she married him, it must be kept a secret till his + father's estate was settled, for marriage with a Protestant + would spoil all prospect of an equitable division.</p> + + <p>Love conquered, and she married the young Marquis Ossoli in + December, 1847. He gave to Margaret the kind of love which + lasts after marriage, veneration of her ability and her + goodness. "Such tender, unselfish love," writes Mrs. Story, "I + have rarely before seen; it made green her days, and gave her + an expression of peace and serenity which before was a stranger + to her. When she was ill, he nursed and watched over her with + the tenderness of a woman. No service was too trivial, no + sacrifice too great for him. 'How sweet it is to do little + things for you,' he would say."</p> + + <p>To her mother, Margaret wrote, though she did not tell her + secret, "I have not been so happy since I was a child, as + during the last six weeks."</p> + + <p>But days of anxiety soon came, with all the horrors of war. + Ossoli was constantly exposed to death, in that dreadful siege + of Rome. Then Rome fell, and with it the hopes of Ossoli and + his wife. There would be neither fortune nor home for a Liberal + now--only exile. Very sadly Margaret said goodbye to the + soldiers in the hospitals, brave fellows whom she honored, who + in the midst of death itself, would cry "Viva l' Italia!"</p> + + <p>But before leaving Rome, a day's journey must be made to + Rieta, at the foot of the Umbrian Apennines. And for what? The + most precious thing of Margaret's life was there,--her baby. + The fair child, with blue eyes and light hair like her own, had + already been named by the people in the house, Angelino, from + his beauty. She had always been fond of children. Emerson's + Waldo, for whom <i>Threnody</i> was written was an especial + favorite; then "Pickie," Mr. Greeley's beautiful boy, and now a + new joy had come into her heart, a child of her own. She wrote + to her mother: "In him I find satisfaction, for the first time, + to the deep wants of my heart. Nothing but a child can take the + worst bitterness out of life, and break the spell of + loneliness. I shall not be alone in other worlds, whenever + Eternity may call me.... I wake in the night,--I look at him. + He is so beautiful and good, I could die for him!"</p> + + <p>When Ossoli and Margaret reached Rieta, what was their + horror to find their child worn to a skeleton, half starved + through the falsity of a nurse. For four weeks the distressed + parents coaxed him back to life, till the sweet beauty of the + rounded face came again, and then they carried him to Florence, + where, despite poverty and exile, they were happy.</p> + + <p>"In the morning," she says, "as soon as dressed, he signs to + come into our room; then draws our curtain with his little + dimpled hand, kisses me rather violently, and pats my face.... + I feel so refreshed by his young life, and Ossoli diffuses such + a power and sweetness over every day, that I cannot endure to + think yet of our future.... It is very sad we have no money, we + could be so quietly happy a while. I rejoice in all Ossoli did; + but the results, in this our earthly state, are disastrous, + especially as my strength is now so impaired. This much I + hope--in life or death, to be no more separated from + Angelino."</p> + + <p>Margaret's friends now urged her return to America. She had + nearly finished a history of Rome in this trying time, 1848, + and could better attend to its publication in this country. + Ossoli, though coming to a land of strangers, could find + something to help, support the family.</p> + + <p>To save expense, they started from Leghorn, May 17, 1850, in + the <i>Elizabeth</i>, a sailing vessel, though Margaret dreaded + the two months' voyage, and had premonitions of disaster. She + wrote: "I have a vague expectation of some crisis,--I know not + what. But it has long seemed that, in the year 1850, I should + stand on a plateau in the ascent of life, when I should be + allowed to pause for a while, and take more clear and + commanding views than ever before. Yet my life proceeds as + regularly as the fates of a Greek tragedy, and I can but accept + the pages as they turn.... I shall embark, praying fervently + that it may not be my lot to lose my boy at sea, either by + unsolaced illness, or amid the howling waves; or, if so, that + Ossoli, Angelo, and I may go together, and that the anguish may + be brief."</p> + + <p>For a few days all went well on shipboard; and then the + noble Captain Hasty died of small-pox, and was buried at sea. + Angelino took this dread disease, and for a time his life was + despaired of, but he finally recovered, and became a great pet + with the sailors. Margaret was putting the last touches to her + book. Ossoli and young Sumner, brother of Charles, gave each + other lessons in Italian and English, and thus the weeks went + by.</p> + + <p>On Thursday, July 18, after two months, the <i>Elizabeth</i> + stood off the Jersey coast, between Cape May and Barnegat. + Trunks were packed, good nights were spoken, and all were + happy, for they would be in New York on the morrow. At nine + that night a gale arose; at midnight it was a hurricane; at + four o'clock, Friday morning, the ship struck Fire Island + beach. The passengers sprung from their berths. "We must die!" + said Sumner to Mrs. Hasty. "Let us die calmly, then!" was the + response of the widow of the captain.</p> + + <p>At first, as the billows swept over the vessel, Angelino, + wet and afraid, began to cry; but his mother held him closely + in her arms and sang him to sleep. Noble courage on a sinking + ship! The Italian girl who had come with them was in terror; + but after Ossoli prayed with her, she became calm. For hours + they waited anxiously for help from the shore. They could see + the life-boat, and the people collecting the spoils which had + floated thither from the ship, but no relief came. One sailor + and another sprang into the waves and saved themselves. Then + Sumner jumped overboard, but sank.</p> + + <p>One of the sailors suggested that if each passenger sit on a + plank, holding on by ropes, they would attempt to push him or + her to land. Mrs. Hasty was the first to venture, and after + being twice washed off, half-drowned, reached the shore. Then + Margaret was urged, but she hesitated, unless all three could + be saved. Every moment the danger increased. The crew were + finally ordered "to save themselves," but four remained with + the passengers. It was useless to look longer to the people on + shore for help, though it was now past three o'clock,--twelve + hours since the vessel struck.</p> + + <p>Margaret had finally been induced to try the plank. The + steward had taken Angelino in his arms, promising to save him + or die with him, when a strong sea swept the forecastle, and + all went down together. Ossoli caught the rigging for a moment, + but Margaret sank at once. When last seen, she was seated at + the foot of the foremast, still clad in her white nightdress, + with her hair fallen loose upon her shoulders. Angelino and the + steward were washed upon the beach twenty minutes later, both + dead, though warm. Margaret's prayer was answered,--that they + "might go together, and that the anguish might be brief."</p> + + <p>The pretty boy of two years was dressed in a child's frock + taken from his mother's trunk, which had come to shore, laid in + a seaman's chest, and buried in the sand, while the sailors, + who loved him, stood around, weeping. His body was finally + removed to Mt. Auburn, and buried in the family lot. The bodies + of Ossoli and Margaret were never recovered. The only papers of + value which came to shore were their love letters, now deeply + prized. The book ready for publication was never found.</p> + + <p>When those on shore were asked why they did not launch the + life-boat, they replied, "Oh! if we had known there were any + such persons of importance on board, we should have tried to do + our best!"</p> + + <p>Thus, at forty, died one of the most gifted women in + America, when her work seemed just begun. To us, who see how + the world needed her, her death is a mystery; to Him who + "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" there is + no mystery. She filled her life with charities and her mind + with knowledge, and such are ready for the progress of + Eternity.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c6" id="c6"></a> + + <h3>Maria Mitchell.</h3><a href="images/c6mitchell.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c6mitchell_t.jpg" alt="MARIA MITCHELL." /></a> + + <p>In the quiet, picturesque island of Nantucket, in a simple + home, lived William and Lydia Mitchell with their family of ten + children. William had been a school-teacher, beginning when he + was eighteen years of age, and receiving two dollars a week in + winter, while in summer he kept soul and body together by + working on a small farm, and fishing.</p> + + <p>In this impecunious condition he had fallen in love with and + married Lydia Coleman, a true-hearted Quaker girl, a descendant + of Benjamin Franklin, one singularly fitted to help him make + his way in life. She was quick, intelligent, and attractive in + her usual dress of white, and was the clerk of the Friends' + meeting where he attended. She was enthusiastic in reading, + becoming librarian successively of two circulating libraries, + till she had read every book upon the shelves, and then in the + evenings repeating what she had read to her associates, her + young lover among them.</p> + + <p>When they were married, they had nothing but warm hearts and + willing hands to work together. After a time William joined his + father in converting a ship-load of whale oil into soap, and + then a little money was made; but at the end of seven years he + went back to school-teaching because he loved the work. At + first he had charge of a fine grammar school established at + Nantucket, and later, of a school of his own.</p> + + <p>Into this school came his third child, Maria, shy and + retiring, with all her mother's love of reading. Faithful at + home, with, as she says, "an endless washing of dishes," not to + be wondered at where there were ten little folks, she was not + less faithful at school. The teacher could not help seeing that + his little daughter had a mind which would well repay all the + time he could spend upon it.</p> + + <p>While he was a good school-teacher, he was an equally good + student of nature, born with a love of the heavens above him. + When eight years old, his father called him to the door to look + at the planet Saturn, and from that time the boy calculated his + age from the position of the planet, year by year. Always + striving to improve himself, when he became a man, he built a + small observatory upon his own land, that he might study the + stars. He was thus enabled to earn one hundred dollars a year + in the work of the United States Coast Survey. Teaching at two + dollars a week, and fishing, could not always cramp a man of + such aspiring mind.</p> + + <p>Brought up beside the sea, he was as broad as the sea in his + thought and true nobility of character. He could see no reason + why his daughters should not be just as well educated as his + sons. He therefore taught Maria the same as his boys, giving + her especial drill in navigation. Perhaps it is not strange + that after such teaching, his daughter could have no taste for + making worsted work or Kensington stitches. She often says to + this day, "A woman might be learning seven languages while she + is learning fancy work," and there is little doubt that the + seven languages would make her seven times more valuable as a + wife and mother. If teaching navigation to girls would give us + a thousand Maria Mitchells in this country, by all means let it + be taught.</p> + + <p>Maria left the public school at sixteen, and for a year + attended a private school; then, loving mathematics, and being + deeply interested in her father's studies, she became at + seventeen his helper in the work of the Coast Survey. This + astronomical labor brought Professors Agassiz, Bache, and other + noted men to the quiet Mitchell home, and thus the girl heard + the stimulating conversation of superior minds.</p> + + <p>But the family needed more money. Though Mr. Mitchell wrote + articles for <i>Silliman's Journal</i>, and delivered an able + course of lectures before a Boston society of which Daniel + Webster was president, scientific study did not put many + dollars in a man's pocket. An elder sister was earning three + hundred dollars yearly by teaching, and Maria felt that she too + must help more largely to share the family burdens. She was + offered the position of librarian at the Nantucket library, + with a salary of sixty dollars the first year, and seventy-five + the second. While a dollar and twenty cents a week seemed very + little, there would be much time for study, for the small + island did not afford a continuous stream of readers. She + accepted the position, and for twenty years, till youth had + been lost in middle life, Maria Mitchell worked for one hundred + dollars a year, studying on, that she might do her noble work + in the world.</p> + + <p>Did not she who loved nature, long for the open air and the + blue sky, and for some days of leisure which so many girls + thoughtlessly waste? Yes, doubtless. However, the laws of life + are as rigid as mathematics. A person cannot idle away the + hours and come to prominence. No great singer, no great artist, + no great scientist, comes to honor without continuous labor. + Society devotees are heard of only for a day or a year, while + those who develop minds and ennoble hearts have lasting + remembrance.</p> + + <p>Miss Mitchell says, "I was born of only ordinary capacity, + but of extraordinary persistency," and herein is the secret of + a great life. She did not dabble in French or music or painting + and give it up; she went steadily on to success. Did she + neglect home duties? Never. She knit stockings a yard long for + her aged father till his death, usually studying while she + knit. To those who learn to be industrious early in life, + idleness is never enjoyable.</p> + + <p>There was another secret of Miss Mitchell's success. She + read good books early in life. She says: "We always had books, + and were bookish people. There was a public library in + Nantucket before I was born. It was not a free library, but we + always paid the subscription of one dollar per annum, and + always read and studied from it. I remember among its volumes + Hannah More's books and Rollin's <i>Ancient History</i>. I + remember too that Charles Folger, the present Secretary of the + Treasury, and I had both read this latter work through before + we were ten years old, though neither of us spoke of it to the + other until a later period."</p> + + <p>All this study had made Miss Mitchell a superior woman. It + was not strange, therefore, that fame should come to her. One + autumn night, October, 1847, she was gazing through the + telescope, as usual, when, lo! she was startled to perceive an + unknown comet. She at once told her father, who thus wrote to + Professor William C. Bond, director of the Observatory at + Cambridge: --</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>MY DEAR FRIEND,--I write now merely to say that Maria + discovered a telescopic comet at half-past ten on the evening + of the first instant, at that hour nearly above Polaris five + degrees. Last evening it had advanced westerly; this evening + still further, and nearing the pole. It does not bear + illumination. Maria has obtained its right ascension and + declination, and will not suffer me to announce it. Pray tell + me whether it is one of Georgi's, and whether it has been + seen by anybody. Maria supposes it may be an old story. If + quite convenient, just drop a line to her; it will oblige me + much. I expect to leave home in a day or two, and shall be in + Boston next week, and I would like to have her hear from you + before I can meet you. I hope it will not give thee much + trouble amidst thy close engagements. Our regards are to all + of you most truly.</p> + + <p>WILLIAM MITCHELL.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The answer showed that Miss Mitchell had indeed made a new + discovery. Frederick VI., King of Denmark, had, sixteen years + before, offered a gold medal of the value of twenty ducats to + whoever should discover a telescopic comet. That no mistake + might be made as to the real discoverer, the condition was made + that word be sent at once to the Astronomer Royal of England. + This the Mitchells had not done, on account of their isolated + position. Hon. Edward Everett, then President of Harvard + College, wrote to the American Minister at the Danish Court, + who in turn presented the evidence to the King. "It would + gratify me," said Mr. Mitchell, "that this generous monarch + should know that there is a love of science even in this, to + him, remote corner of the earth."</p> + + <p>The medal was at last awarded, and the woman astronomer of + Nantucket found herself in the scientific journals and in the + press as the discoverer of "Miss Mitchell's Comet." Another had + been added to the list of Mary Somervilles and Caroline + Herschels. Perhaps there was additional zest now in the + mathematical work in the Coast Survey. She also assisted in + compiling the <i>American Nautical Almanac</i>, and wrote for + the scientific periodicals. Did she break down from her unusual + brain work? Oh, no! Probably astronomical work was not nearly + so hard as her mother's,--the care of a house and ten + children!</p> + + <p>For ten years more Miss Mitchell worked in the library, and + in studying the heavens. But she had longed to see the + observatories of Europe, and the great minds outside their + quiet island. Therefore, in 1857, she visited England, and was + at once welcomed to the most learned circles. Brains always + find open doors. Had she been rich or beautiful simply, Sir + John Herschel, and Lady Herschell as well, would not have + reached out both hands, and said, "You are always welcome at + this house," and given her some of his own calculations? and + some of his Aunt Caroline's writing. Had she been rich or + handsome simply, Alexander Von Humboldt would not have taken + her to his home, and, seating himself beside her on the sofa, + talked, as she says, "on all manner of subjects, and on all + varieties of people. He spoke of Kansas, India, China, + observatories; of Bache, Maury, Gould, Ticknor, Buchanan, + Jefferson, Hamilton, Brunow, Peters, Encke, Airy, Leverrier, + Mrs. Somerville, and a host of others."</p> + + <p>What, if he had said these things to some women who go + abroad! It is safe for women who travel to read widely, for + ignorance is quickly detected. Miss Mitchell said of Humboldt: + "He is handsome--his hair is thin and white, his eyes very + blue. He is a little deaf, and so is Mrs. Somerville. He asked + me what instruments I had, and what I was doing; and when I + told him that I was interested in the variable stars, he said I + must go to Bonn and see Agelander."</p> + + <p>There was no end of courtesies to the scholarly woman. + Professor Adams, of Cambridge, who, with his charming wife, + years afterward helped to make our own visit to the University + a delight, showed her the spot on which he made his + computations for Neptune, which he discovered at the same time + as Leverrier. Sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal of England, + wrote to Leverrier in Paris to announce her coming. When they + met, she said, "His English was worse than my French."</p> + + <p>Later she visited Florence, where she met, several times, + Mrs. Somerville, who, she says, "talks with all the readiness + and clearness of a man," and is still "very gentle and womanly, + without the least pretence or the least coldness." She gave + Miss Mitchell two of her books, and desired a photographed star + sent to Florence. "She had never heard of its being done, and + saw at once the importance of such a step." She said with her + Scotch accent, "Miss Mitchell, ye have done yeself great + credit."</p> + + <p>In Rome she saw much of the Hawthornes, of Miss Bremer, who + was visiting there, and of the artists. From here she went to + Venice, Vienna, and Berlin, where she met Encke, the + astronomer, who took her to see the wedding presents of the + Princess Royal.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in an admirable sketch of Miss + Mitchell, tells how the practical woman, with her love of + republican institutions, was impressed. "The presents were in + two rooms," says Miss Mitchell, "ticketed and numbered, and a + catalogue of them sold. All the manufacturing companies availed + themselves of the opportunity to advertise their commodities, I + suppose, as she had presents of all kinds. What she will do + with sixty albums I can't see, but I can understand the use of + two clothes-lines, because she can lend one to her mother, who + must have a large Monday's wash!"</p> + + <p>After a year, Miss Mitchell returned to her simple Nantucket + home, as devoted to her parents and her scientific work as + ever. Two years afterward, in 1860, her good mother died, and a + year later, desiring to be near Boston, the family removed to + Lynn. Here Miss Mitchell purchased a small house for sixteen + hundred and fifty dollars. From her yearly salary of one + hundred dollars, and what she could earn in her government + work, she had saved enough to buy a home for her father! The + rule is that the fathers wear themselves out for daughters; the + rule was reversed in this case.</p> + + <p>Miss Mitchell now earned five hundred dollars yearly for her + government computations, while her father received a pension of + three hundred more for his efficient services. Five years thus + passed quietly and comfortably.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile another life was carrying out its cherished plan, + and Miss Mitchell, unknowingly, was to have an important part + in it. Soon after the Revolutionary War there came to this + country an English wool-grower and his family, and settled on a + little farm near the Hudson River. The mother, a hard-working + and intelligent woman, was eager in her help toward earning a + living, and would drive the farm-wagon to market, with butter + and eggs, and fowls, while her seven-year-old boy sat beside + her. To increase the income some English ale was brewed. The + lad grew up with an aversion to making beer, and when fourteen, + his father insisting that he should enter the business, his + mother helped him to run away. Tying all his worldly + possessions, a shirt and pair of stockings, in a cotton + handkerchief, the mother and her boy walked eight miles below + Poughkeepsie, when, giving him all the money she had, + seventy-five cents, she kissed him, and with tears in her eyes + saw him cross the ferry and land safely on the other side. He + trudged on till a place was found in a country store, and here, + for five years, he worked honestly and industriously, coming + home to his now reconciled father with one hundred and fifty + dollars in his pocket.</p> + + <p>Changes had taken place. The father's brewery had burned, + the oldest son had been killed in attempting to save something + from the wreck, all were poorer than ever, and there seemed + nothing before the boy of nineteen but to help support the + parents, his two unmarried sisters, and two younger brothers. + Whether he had the old dislike for the ale business or not, he + saw therein a means of support, and adopted it. The world had + not then thought so much about the misery which intoxicants + cause, and had not learned that we are better off without + stimulants than with them.</p> + + <p>Every day the young man worked in his brewery, and in the + evening till midnight tended a small oyster house, which he had + opened. Two years later, an Englishman who had seen Matthew + Vassar's untiring industry and honesty, offered to furnish all + the capital which he needed. The long, hard road of poverty had + opened at last into a field of plenty. Henceforward, while + there was to be work and economy, there was to be continued + prosperity, and finally, great wealth.</p> + + <p>Realizing his lack of early education, he began to improve + himself by reading science, art, history, poetry, and the + Bible. He travelled in Europe, and being a close observer, was + a constant learner.</p> + + <p>One day, standing by the great London hospital, built by + Thomas Guy, a relative, and endowed by him with over a million + dollars, Mr. Vassar read these words on the pedestal of the + bronze statue:--</p> + + <p class="dedication">SOLE FOUNDER OF THE HOSPITAL.<br /> + IN HIS LIFETIME.</p> + + <p>The last three words left a deep impression on his mind. He + had no children. He desired to leave his money where it would + be of permanent value to the world. He debated many plans in + his own mind. It is said that his niece, a hard-working + teacher, Lydia Booth, finally influenced him to his grand + decision.</p> + + <p>There was no real college for women in the land. He talked + the matter over with his friends, but they were full of + discouragements. "Women will never desire college training," + said some. "They will be ruined in health, if they attempt it," + said others. "Science is not needed by women; classical + education is not needed; they must have something appropriate + to their sphere," was constantly reiterated. Some wise heads + thought they knew just what that education should be, and just + what were the limits of woman's sphere; but Matthew Vassar had + his own thoughts.</p> + + <p>Calling together, Feb. 26, 1861, some twenty or thirty of + the men in the State most conversant with educational matters, + the white-haired man, now nearly seventy, laid his hand upon a + round tin box, labelled "Vassar College Papers," containing + four hundred thousand dollars in bonds and securities, and + said: "It has long been my desire, after suitably providing for + those of my kindred who have claims upon me, to make such a + disposition of my means as should best honor God and benefit my + fellow-men. At different periods I have regarded various plans + with favor; but these have all been dismissed one after + another, until the subject of erecting and endowing a college + for the education of young women was presented for my + consideration. The novelty, grandeur, and benignity of the idea + arrested my attention.</p> + + <p>"It occurred to me that woman, having received from the + Creator the same intellectual constitution as man, has the same + right as man to intellectual culture and development.</p> + + <p>"I considered that the mothers of a country mould its + citizens, determine its institutions, and shape its + destiny.</p> + + <p>"It has also seemed to me that if woman was properly + educated, some new avenues of useful and honorable employment, + in entire harmony with the gentleness and modesty of her sex, + might be opened to her.</p> + + <p>"It further appeared, there is not in our country, there is + not in the world, so far as known, a single fully endowed + institution for the education of women.... I have come to the + conclusion that the establishment and endowment of a COLLEGE + FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG WOMEN is a work which will satisfy + my highest aspirations, and will be, under God, a rich blessing + to this city and State, to our country and the world.</p> + + <p>"It is my hope to be the instrument in the hands of + Providence, of founding and perpetuating an institution + <i>which shall accomplish for young women what our colleges are + accomplishing for young men</i>."</p> + + <p>For four years Matthew Vassar watched the great buildings + take form and shape in the midst of two hundred acres of lake + and river and green sward, near Poughkeepsie; the main + building, five hundred feet long, two hundred broad, and five + stories high; the museum of natural history, with school of art + and library; the great observatory, three stories high, + furnished with the then third largest telescope in the + country.</p> + + <p>In 1865 Vassar College was opened, and three hundred and + fifty students came pouring in from all parts of the land. + Girls, after all, did desire an education equal to that of + young men. Matthew Vassar was right. His joy seemed complete. + He visited the college daily, and always received the heartiest + welcome. Each year his birthday was celebrated as "Founder's + Day." On one of these occasions he said: "This is almost more + happiness than I can bear. This one day more than repays me for + all I have done." An able and noble man, John Howard Raymond, + was chosen president.</p> + + <p>Mr. Vassar lived but three years after his beloved + institution was opened. June 23, 1868, the day before + commencement, he had called the members of the Board around him + to listen to his customary address. Suddenly, when he had + nearly finished, his voice ceased, the paper dropped from his + hand, and--he was dead! His last gifts amounted to over five + hundred thousand dollars, making in all $989,122.00 for the + college. The poor lad wrought as he had hoped, a blessing "to + the country and the world." His nephews, Matthew Vassar, Jr., + and John Guy Vassar, have given over one hundred and forty + thousand dollars.</p> + + <p>After the observatory was completed, there was but one wish + as to who should occupy it; of course, the person desired was + Maria Mitchell. She hesitated to accept the position. Her + father was seventy and needed her care, but he said, "Go, and I + will go with you." So she left her Lynn home for the arduous + position of a teacher. For four years Mr. Mitchell lived to + enjoy the enthusiastic work of his gifted daughter. He said, + "Among the teachers and pupils I have made acquaintances that a + prince might covet."</p> + + <p>Miss Mitchell makes the observatory her home. Here are her + books, her pictures, her great astronomical clock, and a bust + of Mrs. Somerville, the gift of Frances Power Cobbe. Here for + twenty years she has helped to make Vassar College known and + honored both at home and abroad. Hundreds have been drawn + thither by her name and fame. A friend of mine who went, + intending to stay two years, remained five, for her admiration + of and enjoyment in Miss Mitchell. She says: "She is one of the + few genuine persons I have ever known. There is not one + particle of deceit about her. For girls who accomplish + something, she has great respect; for idlers, none. She has no + sentimentality, but much wit and common sense. No one can be + long under her teaching without learning dignity of manner and + self-reliance."</p> + + <p>She dresses simply, in black or gray, somewhat after the + fashion of her Quaker ancestors. Once when urging economy upon + the girls, she said, "All the clothing I have on cost but + seventeen dollars, and four suits would last each of you a + year." There was a quiet smile, but no audible expression of a + purpose to adopt Miss Mitchell's style of dress.</p> + + <p>The pupils greatly honor and love the undemonstrative woman, + who, they well know, would make any sacrifices for their + well-being. Each week the informal gatherings at her rooms, + where various useful topics are discussed, are eagerly looked + forward to. Chief of all, Miss Mitchell's own bright and + sensible talk is enjoyed. Her "dome parties," held yearly in + June, under the great dome of the observatory, with pupils + coming back from all over the country, original poems read and + songs sung, are among the joys of college life.</p> + + <p>All these years the astronomer's fame has steadily + increased. In 1868, in the great meteoric shower, she and her + pupils recorded the paths of four thousand meteors, and gave + valuable data of their height above the earth. In the summer of + 1869 she joined the astronomers who went to Burlington, Iowa, + to observe the total eclipse of the sun, Aug. 7. Her + observations on the transit of Venus were also valuable. She + has written much on the <i>Satellites of Saturn</i>, and has + prepared a work on the <i>Satellites of Jupiter</i>.</p> + + <p>In 1873 she again visited Europe, spending some time with + the family of the Russian astronomer, Professor Struve, at the + Imperial Observatory at Pultowa.</p> + + <p>She is an honor to her sex, a striking example of what a + quiet country girl can accomplish without money or fortuitous + circumstances.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>She resigned her position at Vassar in 1888. Miss Mitchell + died on the morning of June 28, 1889, at Lynn, Mass., at the + age of seventy-one, and was buried at Nantucket on Sunday + afternoon, June 30.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c7" id="c7"></a> + + <h3>Louisa M. Alcott.</h3><a href="images/c7alcott.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c7alcott_t.jpg" alt="LOUISA M. ALCOTT." /></a> + + <p>A dozen of us sat about the dinner-table at the Hotel + Bellevue, Boston. One was the gifted wife of a gifted + clergyman; one had written two or three novels; one was a + journalist; one was on the eve of a long journey abroad; and + one, whom we were all glad to honor, was the brilliant author + of <i>Little Women</i>. She had a womanly face, bright, gray + eyes, that looked full of merriment, and would not see the hard + side of life, and an air of common sense that made all defer to + her judgment. She told witty stories of the many who wrote her + for advice or favors, and good-naturedly gave bits of her own + personal experience. Nearly twenty years before, I had seen + her, just after her <i>Hospital Sketches</i> were published, + over which I, and thousands of others, had shed tears. Though + but thirty years old then, Miss Alcott looked frail and tired. + That was the day of her struggle with life. Now, at fifty, she + looked happy and comfortable. The desire of her heart had been + realized,--to do good to tens of thousands, and earn enough + money to care for those whom she loved.</p> + + <p>Louisa Alcott's life, like that of so many famous women, has + been full of obstacles. She was born in Germantown, Pa., Nov. + 29, 1832, in the home of an extremely lovely mother and + cultivated father, Amos Bronson Alcott. Beginning life poor, + his desire for knowledge led him to obtain an education and + become a teacher. In 1830 he married Miss May, a descendant of + the well-known Sewells and Quincys, of Boston. Louise Chandler + Moulton says, in her excellent sketch of Miss Alcott, "I have + heard that the May family were strongly opposed to the union of + their beautiful daughter with the penniless teacher and + philosopher;" but he made a devoted husband, though poverty was + long their guest.</p> + + <p>For eleven years, mostly in Boston, he was the earnest and + successful teacher. Margaret Fuller was one of his assistants. + Everybody respected his purity of life and his scholarship. His + kindness of heart made him opposed to corporal punishment, and + in favor of self-government. The world had not come then to his + high ideal, but has been creeping toward it ever since, until + whipping, both in schools and homes, is fortunately becoming + one of the lost arts.</p> + + <p>He believed in making studies interesting to pupils; not the + dull, old-fashioned method of learning by rote, whereby, when a + hymn was taught, such as, "A Charge to keep I have," the + children went home to repeat to their astonished mothers, + "Eight yards to keep I have," having learned by ear, with no + knowledge of the meaning of the words. He had friendly talks + with his pupils on all great subjects; and some of these Miss + Elizabeth Peabody, the sister of Mrs. Hawthorne, so greatly + enjoyed, that she took notes, and compiled them in a book.</p> + + <p>New England, always alive to any theological discussion, at + once pronounced the book unorthodox. Emerson had been through + the same kind of a storm, and bravely came to the defence of + his friend. Another charge was laid at Mr. Alcott's door: he + was willing to admit colored children to his school, and such a + thing was not countenanced, except by a few fanatics(?) like + Whittier, and Phillips, and Garrison. The heated newspaper + discussion lessened the attendance at the school; and finally, + in 1839, it was discontinued, and the Alcott family moved to + Concord.</p> + + <p>Here were gifted men and women with whom the philosopher + could feel at home, and rest. Here lived Emerson, in the + two-story drab house, with horsechestnut-trees in front of it. + Here lived Thoreau, near his beautiful Walden Lake, a restful + place, with no sound save, perchance, the dipping of an oar or + the note of a bird, which the lonely man loved so well. Here he + built his house, twelve feet square, and lived for two years + and a half, giving to the world what he desired others to + give,--his inner self. Here was his bean-field, where he "used + to hoe from five o'clock in the morning till noon," and made, + as he said, an intimate acquaintance with weeds, and a + pecuniary profit of eight dollars seventy-one and one-half + cents! Here, too, was Hawthorne, "who," as Oliver Wendell + Holmes says, "brooded himself into a dream-peopled + solitude."</p> + + <p>Here Mr. Alcott could live with little expense and teach his + four daughters. Louisa, the eldest, was an active, enthusiastic + child, getting into little troubles from her frankness and lack + of policy, but making friends with her generous heart. Who can + ever forget Jo in <i>Little Women</i>, who was really Louisa, + the girl who, when reproved for whistling by Amy, the + art-loving sister, says: "I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits! + I'm not a young lady; and if turning up my hair makes me one, + I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty. I hate to think I've + got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and + look as prim as a china-aster! Its bad enough to be a girl, + anyway, when I like boy's games and work and manners!"</p> + + <p>At fifteen, "Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded + one of a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her + long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided + mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to + see everything, and were by turns fierce or funny or + thoughtful. Her long, thick hair was her one beauty, but it was + usually bundled into a net to be out of her way. Round + shoulders had Jo, and big hands and feet, a fly-away look to + her clothes, and the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was + rapidly shooting up into a woman, and didn't like it."</p> + + <p>The four sisters lived a merry life in the Concord haunts, + notwithstanding their scanty means. Now, at the dear mother's + suggestion, they ate bread and milk for breakfast, that they + might carry their nicely prepared meal to a poor woman, with + six children, who called them <i>Engel-kinder</i>, much to + Louisa's delight. Now they improvised a stage, and produced + real plays, while the neighbors looked in and enjoyed the + fun.</p> + + <p>Louisa was especially fond of reading Shakespeare, Goethe, + Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Miss Edgeworth, and George Sand. As + early as eight years of age she wrote a poem of eight lines, + <i>To a Robin</i>, which her mother carefully preserved, + telling her that "if she kept on in this hopeful way, she might + be a second Shakespeare in time." Blessings on those people who + have a kind smile or a word of encouragement as we struggle up + the hard hills of life!</p> + + <p>At thirteen she wrote <i>My Kingdom</i>. When, years + afterward, Mrs. Eva Munson Smith wrote to her, asking for some + poems for <i>Woman in Sacred Song</i>, Miss Alcott sent her + this one, saying, "It is the only hymn I ever wrote. It was + composed at thirteen, and as I still find the same difficulty + in governing my kingdom, it still expresses my soul's desire, + and I have nothing better to offer."</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "A little kingdom I possess<br /> + Where thoughts and feelings dwell, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And very hard the task I find<br /> + Of governing it well; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + For passion tempts and troubles me,<br /> + A wayward will misleads, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And selfishness its shadow casts<br /> + On all my words and deeds. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "How can I learn to rule myself,<br /> + To be the child I should, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Honest and brave, and never tire<br /> + Of trying to be good? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + How can I keep a sunny soul<br /> + To shine along life's way? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + How can I tune my little heart<br /> + To sweetly sing all day? + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Dear Father, help me with the love<br /> + That casteth out my fear; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Teach me to lean on Thee, and feel<br /> + That Thou art very near: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That no temptation is unseen,<br /> + No childish grief too small, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Since Thou, with patience infinite,<br /> + Doth soothe and comfort all. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "I do not ask for any crown,<br /> + But that which all may win; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Nor try to conquer any world<br /> + Except the one within. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Be Thou my guide until I find,<br /> + Led by a tender hand, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Thy happy kingdom in myself,<br /> + And dare to take command." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Louisa was very imaginative, telling stories to her sisters + and her mates, and at sixteen wrote a book for Miss Ellen + Emerson, entitled <i>Flower Fables</i>. It was not published + till six years later, and then, being florid in style, did not + bring her any fame. She was now anxious to earn her support. + She was not the person to sit down idly and wait for marriage, + or for some rich relation to care for her; but she determined + to make a place in the world for herself. She says in <i>Little + Women</i>, "Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; + what it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to + tell her," and at sixteen the time had come to make the + attempt.</p> + + <p>She began to teach school with twenty pupils. Instead of the + theological talks which her father gave his scholars, she told + them stories, which she says made the one pleasant hour in her + school-day. Now the long years of work had begun--fifteen of + them--which should give the girl such rich yet sometimes bitter + experiences, that she could write the most fascinating books + from her own history. Into her volume called <i>Work</i>, + published when she had become famous, she put many of her own + early sorrows in those of "Christie."</p> + + <p>Much of this time was spent in Boston. Sometimes she cared + for an invalid child; sometimes she was a governess; sometimes + she did sewing, adding to her slender means by writing late at + night. Occasionally she went to the house of Rev. Theodore + Parker, where she met Emerson, Sumner, Garrison, and Julia Ward + Howe. Emerson always had a kind word for the girl whom he had + known in Concord, and Mr. Parker would take her by the hand and + say, "How goes it, my child? God bless you; keep your heart up, + Louisa," and then she would go home to her lonely room, brave + and encouraged.</p> + + <p>At nineteen, one of her early stories was published in + <i>Gleason's Pictorial</i>, and for this she received five + dollars. How welcome was this brain-money! Some months later + she sent a story to the <i>Boston Saturday Gazette</i>, + entitled <i>The Rival Prima Donnas</i>, and, to her great + delight, received ten dollars; and what was almost better + still, a request from the editor for another story. Miss Alcott + made the <i>Rival Prima Donnas</i> into a drama, and it was + accepted by a theatre, and would have been put upon the stage + but for some disagreement among the actors. However, the young + teacher received for her work a pass to the theatre for forty + nights. She even meditated going upon the stage, but the + manager quite opportunely broke his leg, and the contract was + annulled. What would the boys and girls of America have lost, + had their favorite turned actress!</p> + + <p>A second story was, of course, written for the <i>Saturday + Evening Gazette</i>. And now Louisa was catching a glimpse of + fame. She says, "One of the memorial moments of my life is that + in which, as I trudged to school on a wintry day, my eye fell + upon a large yellow poster with these delicious words, + '<i>Bertha</i>, a new tale by the author of <i>The Rival Prima + Donnas</i>, will appear in the <i>Saturday Evening + Gazette</i>.' I was late; it was bitter cold; people jostled + me; I was mortally afraid I should be recognized; but there I + stood, feasting my eyes on the fascinating poster, and saying + proudly to myself, in the words of the great Vincent Crummles, + 'This, this is fame!' That day my pupils had an indulgent + teacher; for, while they struggled with their pot-hooks, I was + writing immortal works; and when they droned out the + multiplication table, I was counting up the noble fortune my + pen was to earn for me in the dim, delightful future. That + afternoon my sisters made a pilgrimage to behold this famous + placard, and finding it torn by the wind, boldly stole it, and + came home to wave it like a triumphal banner in the bosom of + the excited family. The tattered paper still exists, folded + away with other relics of those early days, so hard and yet so + sweet, when the first small victories were won, and the + enthusiasm of youth lent romance to life's drudgery."</p> + + <p>Finding that there was money in sensational stories, she set + herself eagerly to work, and soon could write ten or twelve a + month. She says in <i>Little Women</i>: "As long as <i>The + Spread Eagle</i> paid her a dollar a column for her 'rubbish,' + as she called it, Jo felt herself a woman of means, and spun + her little romances diligently. But great plans fermented in + her busy brain and ambitious mind, and the old tin kitchen in + the garret held a slowly increasing pile of blotted manuscript, + which was one day to place the name of March upon the roll of + fame."</p> + + <p>But sensational stories did not bring much fame, and the + conscientious Louisa tired of them. A novel, <i>Moods</i>, + written at eighteen, shared nearly the same fate as <i>Flower + Fables</i>. Some critics praised, some condemned, but the great + world was indifferent. After this, she offered a story to Mr. + James T. Fields, at that time editor of the <i>Atlantic + Monthly</i>, but it was declined, with the kindly advice that + she stick to her teaching. But Louisa Alcott had a strong will + and a brave heart, and would not be overcome by obstacles.</p> + + <p>The Civil War had begun, and the school-teacher's heart was + deeply moved. She was now thirty, having had such experience as + makes us very tender toward suffering. The perfume of natures + does not usually come forth without bruising. She determined to + go to Washington and offer herself as a nurse at the hospital + for soldiers. After much official red tape, she found herself + in the midst of scores of maimed and dying, just brought from + the defeat at Fredericksburg. She says: "Round the great stove + was gathered the dreariest group I ever saw,--ragged, gaunt, + and pale, mud to the knees, with bloody bandages untouched + since put on days before; many bundled up in blankets, coats + being lost or useless, and all wearing that disheartened look + which proclaimed defeat more plainly than any telegram, of the + Burnside blunder. I pitied them so much, I dared not speak to + them. I yearned to serve the dreariest of them all.</p> + + <p>"Presently there came an order, 'Tell them to take off + socks, coats, and shirts; scrub them well, put on clean shirts, + and the attendants will finish them off, and lay them in + bed.'</p> + + <p>"I chanced to light on a withered old Irishman," she says, + "wounded in the head, which caused that portion of his frame to + be tastefully laid out like a garden, the bandages being the + walks, and his hair the shrubbery. He was so overpowered by the + honor of having a lady wash him, as he expressed it, that he + did nothing but roll up his eyes and bless me, in an + irresistible style which was too much for my sense of the + ludicrous, so we laughed together; and when I knelt down to + take off his shoes, he wouldn't hear of my touching 'them dirty + craters.' Some of them took the performance like sleepy + children, leaning their tired heads against me as I worked; + others looked grimly scandalized, and several of the roughest + colored like bashful girls."</p> + + <p>When food was brought, she fed one of the badly wounded men, + and offered the same help to his neighbor. "Thank you, ma'am," + he said, "I don't think I'll ever eat again, for I'm shot in + the stomach. But I'd like a drink of water, if you ain't too + busy."</p> + + <p>"I rushed away," she says; "but the water pails were gone to + be refilled, and it was some time before they reappeared. I did + not forget my patient, meanwhile, and, with the first mugful, + hurried back to him. He seemed asleep; but something in the + tired white face caused me to listen at his lips for a breath. + None came. I touched his forehead; it was cold; and then I knew + that, while he waited, a better nurse than I had given him a + cooler draught, and healed him with a touch. I laid the sheet + over the quiet sleeper, whom no noise could now disturb; and, + half an hour later, the bed was empty."</p> + + <p>With cheerful face and warm heart she went among the + soldiers, now writing letters, now washing faces, and now + singing lullabies. One day a tall, manly fellow was brought in. + He seldom spoke, and uttered no complaint. After a little, when + his wounds were being dressed, Miss Alcott observed the big + tears roll down his cheeks and drop on the floor.</p> + + <p>She says: "My heart opened wide and took him in, as, + gathering the bent head in my arms, as freely as if he had been + a child, I said, 'Let me help you bear it, John!' Never on any + human countenance have I seen so swift and beautiful a look of + gratitude, surprise, and comfort as that which answered me more + eloquently than the whispered--</p> + + <p>"'Thank you, ma'am; this is right good! this is what I + wanted.'</p> + + <p>"'Then why not ask for it before?'</p> + + <p>"'I didn't like to be a trouble, you seemed so busy, and I + could manage to get on alone.'"</p> + + <p>The doctors had told Miss Alcott that John must die, and she + must take the message to him; but she had not the heart to do + it. One evening he asked her to write a letter for him. "Shall + it be addressed to wife or mother, John?"</p> + + <p>"Neither, ma'am; I've got no wife, and will write to mother + myself when I get better. Mother's a widow; I'm the oldest + child she has, and it wouldn't do for me to marry until Lizzy + has a home of her own, and Jack's learned his trade; for we're + not rich, and I must be father to the children and husband to + the dear old woman, if I can."</p> + + <p>"No doubt you are both, John; yet how came you to go to war, + if you felt so?"</p> + + <p>"I went because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory + or the pay; I wanted the right thing done, and people kept + saying the men who were in earnest ought to fight. I was in + earnest, the Lord knows! but I held off as long as I could, not + knowing which was my duty. Mother saw the case, gave me her + ring to keep me steady, and said 'Go'; so I went."</p> + + <p>"Do you ever regret that you came, when you lie here + suffering so much?"</p> + + <p>"Never, ma'am; I haven't helped a great deal, but I've shown + I was willing to give my life, and perhaps I've got to.... This + is my first battle; do they think it's going to be my + last?"</p> + + <p>"I'm afraid they do, John."</p> + + <p>He seemed startled at first, but desired Miss Alcott to + write the letter to Jack, because he could best tell the sad + news to the mother. With a sigh, John said, "I hope the answer + will come in time for me to see it."</p> + + <p>Two days later Miss Alcott was sent for. John stretched out + both hands as he said, "I knew you'd come. I guess I'm moving + on, ma'am." Then clasping her hand so close that the death + marks remained long upon it, he slept the final sleep. An hour + later John's letter came, and putting it in his hand, Miss + Alcott kissed the dead brow of the Virginia blacksmith, for his + aged mother's sake, and buried him in the government lot.</p> + + <p>The noble teacher after a while became ill from overwork, + and was obliged to return home, soon writing her book, + <i>Hospital Sketches</i>, published in 1865. This year, needing + rest and change, she went to Europe as companion to an invalid + lady, spending a year in Germany, Switzerland, Paris, and + London. In the latter city she met Jean Ingelow, Frances Power + Cobbe, John Stuart Mill, George Lewes, and others, who had + known of the brilliant Concord coterie. Such persons did not + ask if Miss Alcott were rich, nor did they care.</p> + + <p>In 1868 her father took several of her more recent stories + to Roberts Brothers to see about their publication in book + form. Mr. Thomas Niles, a member of the firm, a man of + refinement and good judgment, said: "We do not care just now + for volumes of collected stories. Will not your daughter write + us a new book consisting of a single story for girls?"</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott feared she could not do it, and set herself to + write <i>Little Women</i>, to show the publishers that she + could <i>not</i> write a story for girls. But she did not + succeed in convincing them or the world of her inability. In + two months the first part was finished, and published October, + 1868. It was a natural, graphic story of her three sisters and + herself in that simple Concord home. How we, who are grown-up + children, read with interest about the "Lawrence boy," + especially if we had boys of our own, and sympathized with the + little girl who wrote Miss Alcott, "I have cried quarts over + Beth's sickness. If you don't have her marry Laurie in the + second part, I shall never forgive you, and none of the girls + in our school will ever read any more of your books. Do! do! + have her, please."</p> + + <p>The second part appeared in April, 1869, and Miss Alcott + found herself famous. The "pile of blotted manuscript" had + "placed the name of March upon the roll of fame." Some of us + could not be reconciled to dear Jo's marriage with the German + professor, and their school at Plumfield, when Laurie loved her + so tenderly. "We cried over Beth, and felt how strangely like + most young housekeepers was Meg. How the tired teacher, and + tender-hearted nurse for the soldiers must have rejoiced at her + success! "This year," she wrote her publishers, "after toiling + so many years along the uphill road, always a hard one to women + writers, it is peculiarly grateful to me to find the way + growing easier at last, with pleasant little surprises + blossoming on either side, and the rough places made + smooth."</p> + + <p>When <i>Little Men</i> was announced, fifty thousand copies + were ordered in advance of its publication! About this time + Miss Alcott visited Rome with her artist sister May, the "Amy" + of <i>Little Women</i>, and on her return, wrote + <i>Shawl-straps</i>, a bright sketch of their journey, followed + by an <i>Old-Fashioned Girl</i>; that charming book <i>Under + the Lilacs</i>, where your heart goes out to Ben and his dog + Sancho; six volumes of <i>Aunt Jo's Scrap-bag</i>; <i>Jack and + Jill</i>; and others. From these books Miss Alcott has already + received about one hundred thousand dollars.</p> + + <p>She has ever been the most devoted of daughters. Till the + mother went out of life, in 1877, she provided for her every + want. May, the gifted youngest sister, who was married in Paris + in 1878 to Ernst Nieriker, died a year and a half later, + leaving her infant daughter, Louisa May Nieriker, to Miss + Alcott's loving care. The father, who became paralyzed in 1882, + now eighty-six years old, has had her constant ministries. How + proud he has been of his Louisa! I heard him say, years ago, "I + am riding in her golden chariot."</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott now divides her time between Boston and Concord. + "The Orchards," the Alcott home for twenty-five years, set in + its frame of grand trees, its walls and doors daintily covered + with May Alcott's sketches, has become the home of the "Summer + School of Philosophy," and Miss Alcott and her father live in + the house where Thoreau died.</p> + + <p>Most of her stories have been written in Boston, where she + finds more inspiration than at Concord. "She never had a + study," says Mrs. Moulton; "any corner will answer to write in. + She is not particular as to pens and paper, and an old atlas on + her knee is all the desk she cares for. She has the wonderful + power to carry a dozen plots in her head at a time, thinking + them over whenever she is in the mood. Often in the dead waste + and middle of the night she lies awake and plans whole + chapters. In her hardest working days she used to write + fourteen hours in the twenty-four, sitting steadily at her + work, and scarcely tasting food till her daily task was done. + When she has a story to write, she goes to Boston, hires a + quiet room, and shuts herself up in it. In a month or so the + book will be done, and its author comes out 'tired, hungry, and + cross,' and ready to go back to Concord and vegetate for a + time."</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott, like Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is an earnest + advocate of woman's suffrage, and temperance. When Meg in + <i>Little Women</i> prevails upon Laurie to take the pledge on + her wedding-day, the delighted Jo beams her approval. In 1883 + she writes of the suffrage reform, "Every year gives me greater + faith in it, greater hope of its success, a larger charity for + those who cannot see its wisdom, and a more earnest wish to use + what influence I possess for its advancement."</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott has done a noble work for her generation. Her + books have been translated into foreign languages, and + expressions of affection have come to her from both east and + west. She says, "As I turn my face toward sunset, I find so + much to make the down-hill journey smooth and lovely, that, + like Christian, I go on my way rejoicing with a cheerful + heart."</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Miss Alcott died March 6, 1888, at the age of fifty-five, + three days after the death of her distinguished father, Bronson + Alcott, eighty-eight years old. She had been ill for some + months, from care and overwork. On the Saturday morning before + she died, she wrote to a friend: "I am told that I must spend + another year in this 'Saint's Rest,' and then I am promised + twenty years of health. I don't want so many, and I have no + idea I shall see them. But as I don't live for myself, I will + live on for others."</p> + + <p>On the evening of the same day she became unconscious, and + remained so till her death, on Tuesday morning.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c8" id="c8"></a> + + <h3>Mary Lyon.</h3><a href="images/c8lyon.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c8lyon_t.jpg" alt="Mary Lyon." /></a> + + <p>There are two women whose memory the girls in this country + should especially revere,--Mary Lyon and Catharine Beecher. + When it was unfashionable for women to know more than to read, + write, and cipher (the "three R's," as reading, writing, and + arithmetic were called), these two had the courage to ask that + women have an education equal to men, a thing which was laughed + at as impracticable and impossible. To these two pioneers we + are greatly indebted for the grand educational advantages for + women to-day in America.</p> + + <p>Amid the mountains of Western Massachusetts, at Buckland, + Feb. 28, 1797, the fifth of seven children, Mary Lyon came into + the world, in obscurity. The little farm-house was but one + story high, in the midst of rocks and sturdy trees. The father, + Aaron Lyon, was a godly man, beloved by all his + neighbors,--"the peacemaker," he was called,--who died at + forty-five, leaving his little family well-nigh helpless--no, + not helpless, because the mother was of the same material of + which Eliza Garfields are made.</p> + + <p>Such women are above circumstances. She saw to it that the + farm yielded its best. She worked early and late, always + cheerful, always observing the Sabbath most devotedly, always + keeping the children clean and tidy. In her little garden the + May pinks were the sweetest and the peonies the reddest of any + in the neighborhood. One person begged to set a plant in the + corner of her garden, sure that if Mrs. Lyon tended it, it + could never die. "How is it," said the hard-working wife of a + farmer, "that the widow can do more for me than any one else?" + She had her trials, but she saw no use in telling them to + others, so with a brave heart she took up her daily tasks and + performed them.</p> + + <p>Little Mary was an energetic, frank, warm-hearted child, + full of desire to help others. Her mind was eager in grasping + new things, and curious in its investigations. Once, when her + mother had given her some work to do, she climbed upon a chair + to look at the hour-glass, and said, as she studied it, "I know + I have found a way to <i>make more time</i>."</p> + + <p>At the village school she showed a remarkable memory and the + power of committing lessons easily. She was especially good in + mathematics and grammar. In four days she learned all of + Alexander's Grammar, which scholars were accustomed to commit, + and recited it accurately to the astonished teacher.</p> + + <p>When Mary was thirteen, the mother married a second time, + and soon after removed to Ohio. The girl remained at the old + homestead, keeping house for the only brother, and so well did + she do the work, that he gave her a dollar a week for her + services. This she used in buying books and clothes for school. + Besides, she found opportunities to spin and weave for some of + the neighbors, and thus added a little more to her purse.</p> + + <p>After five years, the brother married and sought a home in + New York State. Mary, thus thrown upon herself, began to teach + school for seventy-five cents a week and her board. This amount + would not buy many silks or embroideries, but Mary did not care + much for these. "She is all intellect," said a friend who knew + her well; "she does not know that she has a body to care + for."</p> + + <p>She had now saved enough money to enable her to spend one + term at the Sanderson Academy at Ashfield. What an important + event in life that seemed to the struggling country girl! The + scholars watched her bright, intellectual face, and when she + began to recite, laid aside their books to hear her. The + teacher said, "I should like to see what she would make if she + could be sent to college." When the term ended, her little + savings were all spent, and now she must teach again. If she + only could go forward with her classmates! but the laws of + poverty are inexorable. Just as she was leaving the school, the + trustees came and offered the advantages of the academy free, + for another term. Did ever such a gleam of sunshine come into a + cloudy day?</p> + + <p>But how could she pay her board? She owned a, bed and some + table linen, and taking these to a boarding house, a bargain + was made whereby she could have a room and board in exchange + for her household articles.</p> + + <p>Her red-letter days had indeed come. She might never have a + chance for schooling again; so, without regard to health, she + slept only four hours out of the twenty-four, ate her meals + hurriedly, and gave all her time to her lessons. Not a scholar + in the school could keep up with her. When the teacher gave her + Adams' <i>Latin Grammar</i>, telling her to commit such + portions as were usual in going over the book the first time, + she learned them all in three days!</p> + + <p>When the term closed, she had no difficulty in finding a + place to teach. All the towns around had heard of the + surprising scholar, Mary Lyon, and probably hoped she could + inspire the same scholarship in her pupils, a matter in which + she was most successful.</p> + + <p>As soon as her schools were finished, she would spend the + money in obtaining instruction in some particular study, in + which she thought herself deficient. Now she would go into the + family of Rev. Edward Hitchcock, afterward president of Amherst + College, and study natural science of him, meantime taking + lessons, of his wife in drawing and painting. Now she would + study penmanship, following the copy as closely as a child. + Once when a teacher, in deference to her reputation, wrote the + copy in Latin, she handed it back and asked him to write in + English, lest when the books were examined, she might be + thought wiser than she really was. Thus conscientious was the + young school-teacher.</p> + + <p>She was now twenty-four, and had laid up enough money to + attend the school of Rev. Joseph Emerson, at Byfield. He was an + unusual man in his gifts of teaching and broad views of life. + He had been blest with a wife of splendid talents, and as Miss + Lyon was wont to say, "Men judge of the whole sex by their own + wives," so Mr. Emerson believed women could understand + metaphysics and theology as well as men. He discussed science + and religion with his pupils, and the result was a class of + self-respecting, self-reliant, thinking women.</p> + + <p>Miss Lyon's friends discouraged her going to Byfield, + because they thought she knew enough already. "Why," said they, + "you will never be a minister, and what is the need of going to + school?" She improved her time here. One of her classmates + wrote home, "Mary sends love to all; but time with her is too + precious to spend it in writing letters. She is gaining + knowledge by handfuls."</p> + + <p>The next year, an assistant was wanted in the Sanderson + Academy. The principal thought a man must be engaged. "Try Mary + Lyon," said one of her friends, "and see if she is not + sufficient," and he employed her, and found her a host. But she + could not long be retained, for she was wanted in a larger + field, at Derry, N.H. Miss Grant, one of the teachers at Mr. + Emerson's school, had sent for her former bright pupil. Mary + was glad to be associated with Miss Grant, for she was very + fond of her; but before going, she must attend some lectures in + chemistry and natural history by Professor Eaton at Amherst. + Had she been a young man, how easily could she have secured a + scholarship, and thus worked her way through college; but for a + young woman, neither Amherst, nor Dartmouth, nor Williams, nor + Harvard, nor Yale, with all their wealth, had an open door. + Very fond of chemistry, she could only learn in the spare time + which a busy professor could give.</p> + + <p>Was the cheerful girl never despondent in these hard working + years? Yes; because naturally she was easily discouraged, and + would have long fits of weeping; but she came to the conclusion + that such seasons of depression were wrong, and that "there was + too much to be done, for her to spend her time in that manner." + She used to tell her pupils that "if they were unhappy, it was + probably because they had so many thoughts about themselves, + and so few about the happiness of others." The friend who had + recommended her for the Sanderson Academy now became surety for + her for forty dollars' worth of clothing, and the earnest young + woman started for Derry. The school there numbered ninety + pupils, and Mary Lyon was happy. She wrote her mother, "I do + not number it among the least of my blessings that I am + permitted to <i>do something</i>. Surely I ought to be thankful + for an active life."</p> + + <p>But the Derry school was held only in the summers, so Miss + Lyon came back to teach at Ashfield and Buckland, her + birthplace, for the winters. The first season she had + twenty-five scholars; the last, one hundred. The families in + the neighborhood took the students into their homes to board, + charging them one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five cents + per week, while the tuition was twenty-five cents a week. No + one would grow very rich on such an income. So popular was Miss + Lyon's teaching that a suitable building was erected for her + school, and the Ministerial Association passed a resolution of + praise, urging her to remain permanently in the western part of + Massachusetts.</p> + + <p>However, Miss Grant had removed to Ipswich, and had urged + Miss Lyon to join her, which she did. For six years they taught + a large and most successful school. Miss Lyon was singularly + happy in her intercourse with the young ladies. She won them to + her views, while they scarcely knew that they were being + controlled. She would say to them: "Now, young ladies, you are + here at great expense. Your board and tuition cost a great + deal, and your time ought to be worth more than both; but, in + order to get an equivalent for the money and time you are + spending, you must be systematic, and that is impossible, + unless you have a regular hour for rising.... Persons who run + round all day after the half-hour they lost in the morning + never accomplish much. You may know them by a rip in the glove, + a string pinned to the bonnet, a shawl left on the balustrade, + which they had no time to hang up, they were in such a hurry to + catch their lost thirty minutes. You will see them opening + their books and trying to study at the time of general + exercises in school; but it is a fruitless race; they never + will overtake their lost half-hour. Good men, from Abraham to + Washington, have been early risers." Again, she would say, + "Mind, wherever it is found, will secure respect.... Educate + the women, and the men will be educated. Let the ladies + understand the great doctrine of seeking the greatest good, of + loving their neighbors as themselves; let them indoctrinate + their children in this fundamental truth, and we shall have + wise legislators."</p> + + <p>"You won't do so again, will you, dear?" was almost always + sure to win a tender response from a pupil.</p> + + <p>She would never allow a scholar to be laughed at. If a + teacher spoke jestingly of a scholar's capacity, Miss Lyon + would say, "Yes, I know she has a small mind, but we must do + the best we can for her."</p> + + <p>For nearly sixteen years she had been giving her life to the + education of girls. She had saved no money for herself, giving + it to her relatives or aiding poor girls in going to school. + She was simple in her tastes, the blue cloth dress she + generally wore having been spun and woven by herself. A friend + tells how, standing before the mirror to tie her bonnet, she + said, "Well, I <i>may</i> fail of Heaven, but I shall be very + much disappointed if I do--very much disappointed;" and there + was no thought of what she was doing with the ribbons.</p> + + <p>Miss Lyon was now thirty-three years old. It would be + strange indeed if a woman with her bright mind and sunshiny + face should not have offers of marriage. One of her best + opportunities came, as is often the case, when about thirty, + and Miss Lyon could have been made supremely happy by it, but + she had in her mind one great purpose, and she felt that she + must sacrifice home and love for it. This was the building of a + high-grade school or college for women. Had she decided + otherwise, there probably would have been no Mount Holyoke + Seminary.</p> + + <p>She had the tenderest sympathy for poor girls; they were the + ones usually most desirous of an education, and they struggled + the hardest for it. For them no educational societies were + provided, and no scholarships. Could she, who had no money, + build "a seminary which should be so moderate in its expenses + as to be open to the daughters of farmers and artisans, and to + teachers who might be mainly dependent for their support on + their own exertions"?</p> + + <p>In vain she tried to have the school at Ipswich established + permanently by buildings and endowments. In vain she talked + with college presidents and learned ministers. Nearly all were + indifferent. They could see no need that women should study + science or the classics. That women would be happier with + knowledge, just as they themselves were made happier by it, + seemed never to have occurred to them. That women were soon to + do nine-tenths of the teaching in the schools of the country + could not be foreseen. Oberlin and Cornell, Vassar and + Wellesley, belonged to a golden age as yet undreamed of.</p> + + <p>For two years she thought over it, and prayed over it, and + when all seemed hopeless, she would walk the floor, and say + over and over again, "Commit thy way unto the Lord. He will + keep thee. Women <i>must</i> be educated; they <i>must</i> be." + Finally a meeting was called in Boston at the same time as one + of the religious anniversaries. She wrote to a friend, "Very + few were present. The meeting was adjourned; and the adjourned + meeting utterly failed. There were not enough present to + organize, and there the business, in my view, has come to an + end."</p> + + <p>Still she carried the burden on her heart. She writes, in + 1834, "During the past year my heart has so yearned over the + adult female youth in the common walks of life, that it has + sometimes seemed as though a fire were shut up in my bones." + She conceived the idea of having the young women do the work of + the house, partly to lessen expenses, partly to teach them + useful things, and also because she says, "Might not this + single feature do away much of the prejudice against female + education among common people?"</p> + + <p>At last the purpose in her heart became so strong that she + resigned her position as a teacher, and went from house to + house in Ipswich collecting funds. She wrote to her mother, "I + hope and trust that this is of the Lord, and that He will + prosper it. In this movement I have thought much more + constantly, and have felt much more deeply, about doing that + which shall be for the honor of Christ, and for the good of + souls, than I ever did in any step in my life." She determined + to raise her first thousand dollars from women. She talked in + her good-natured way with the father or the mother. She asked + if they wanted a new shawl or card-table or carpet, if they + would not find a way to procure it. Usually they gave five or + ten dollars; some, only a half-dollar. So interested did two + ladies become that they gave one hundred dollars apiece, and + later, when their house was burned, and the man who had their + money in charge lost it, they worked with their own hands and + earned the two hundred, that their portion might not fail in + the great work.</p> + + <p>In less than two months she had raised the thousand; but she + wrote Miss Grant, "I do not recollect being so fatigued, even + to prostration, as I have been for a few weeks past." She often + quoted a remark of Dr. Lyman Beecher's, "The wear and tear of + what I cannot do is a great deal more than the wear and tear of + what I do." When she became quite worn, her habit was to sleep + nearly all the time, for two or three days, till nature + repaired the system.</p> + + <p>She next went to Amherst, where good Dr. Hitchcock felt as + deeply interested for girls as for the boys in his college. One + January morning, with the thermometer below zero, three or four + hours before sunrise, he and Miss Lyon started on the stage for + Worcester. Each was wrapped in a buffalo robe, so that the long + ride was not unpleasant. A meeting was to be held, and a + decision made as to the location of the seminary, which, at + last, was actually to be built. After a long conference, South + Hadley was chosen, ten miles south of Amherst.</p> + + <p>One by one, good men became interested in the matter, and + one true-hearted minister became an agent for the raising of + funds. Miss Lyon was also untiring in her solicitations. She + spoke before ladies' meetings, and visited those in high + station and low. So troubled were her friends about this public + work for a woman, that they reasoned with her that it was in + better taste to stay at home, and let gentlemen do the + work.</p> + + <p>"What do I that is wrong?" she replied. "I ride in the stage + coach or cars without an escort. Other ladies do the same. I + visit a family where I have been previously invited, and the + minister's wife, or some leading woman, calls the ladies + together to see me, and I lay our object before them. Is that + wrong? I go with Mr. Hawks [the agent], and call on a gentleman + of known liberality, at his own house, and converse with him + about our enterprise. What harm is there in that? My heart is + sick, my soul is pained, with this empty gentility, this + genteel nothingness. I am doing a great work. I cannot come + down." Pitiful, that so noble a woman should have been hampered + by public opinion. How all this has changed! Now, the world and + the church gladly welcome the voice, the hand, and the heart of + woman in their philanthropic work.</p> + + <p>At last, enough money was raised to begin the enterprise, + and the corner-stone of Mount Holyoke Seminary was laid, Oct. + 3, 1836. "It was a day of deep interest," writes Mary Lyon. + "The stones and brick and mortar speak a language which + vibrates through my very soul."</p> + + <p>"With thankful heart and busy hands she watched the progress + of the work. Every detail was under her careful eye. She said: + "Had I a thousand lives, I could sacrifice them all in + suffering and hardship, for the sake of Mount Holyoke Seminary. + Did I possess the greatest fortune, I could readily relinquish + it all, and become poor, and more than poor, if its prosperity + should demand it."</p> + + <p>Finally, in the autumn of 1837, the seminary was ready for + pupils. The main building, four stories high, had been erected. + An admirable course of study had been provided. For the forty + weeks of the school year, the charges for board and tuition + were sixty dollars,--only one dollar and twenty-five cents per + week. Miss Lyon's own salary was but two hundred a year and she + never would receive anything higher. The accommodations were + only for eighty pupils, but one hundred and sixteen came the + first year.</p> + + <p>While Miss Lyon was heartily loved by her scholars, they yet + respected her good discipline. It was against the rules for any + one to absent herself from meals without permission to do so. + One of the young ladies, not feeling quite as fresh as usual, + concluded not to go down stairs at tea time, and to remain + silent on the subject. Miss Lyon's quick eye detected her + absence. Calling the girl's room-mate to her, she asked, "Is + Miss ---- ill?"</p> + + <p>"Oh, no," was the reply, "only a little indisposed, and she + commissioned me to carry her a cup of tea and cracker."</p> + + <p>"Very well, I will see to it."</p> + + <p>After supper, the young lady ascended to her room, in the + fourth story, found her companion enjoying a glorious sunset, + and seating herself beside her, they began an animated + conversation. Presently there was a knock. "Come in!" both + shouted gleefully, when lo! in walked Mary Lyon, with the tea + and cracker. She had come up four flights of stairs; but she + said every one was tired at night, and she could as well bring + up the supper as anybody. She inquired with great kindness + about the young lady's health, who, greatly abashed, had + nothing to say. She was ever after present at meal time, unless + sick in bed.</p> + + <p>The students never forgot Miss Lyon's plain, earnest words. + When they entered, they were told that they were expected to do + right without formal commands; if not, they better go to some + smaller school, where they could receive the peculiar training + needed by little girls. She urged loose clothing and thick + shoes. "If you will persist in killing yourselves by reckless + exposure," she would say, "we are not willing to take the + responsibility of the act. We think, by all means, you better + go home and die, in the arms of your dear mothers."</p> + + <p>Miss Lyon had come to her fiftieth birthday. Her seminary + had prospered beyond her fondest hopes. She had raised nearly + seventy thousand dollars for her beloved school, and it was out + of debt. Nearly two thousand pupils had been at South Hadley, + of whom a large number had become missionaries and teachers. + Not a single year had passed without a revival, and rarely did + a girl leave the institution without professing + Christianity.</p> + + <p>She said to a friend shortly after this fiftieth birthday: + "It was the most solemn day of my life. I devoted it to + reflection and prayer. Of my active toils I then took leave. I + was certain that before another fifty years should have + elapsed, I should wake up amid far different scenes, and far + other thoughts would fill my mind, and other employments would + engage my attention. I felt it. There seemed to be no ladder + between me and the world above. The gates were opened, and I + seemed to stand on the threshold. I felt that the evening of my + days had come, and that I needed repose."</p> + + <p>And the repose came soon. The last of February, 1849, a + young lady in the seminary died. Miss Lyon called the girls + together and spoke tenderly to them, urging them not to fear + death, but to be ready to meet it. She said, "There is nothing + in the universe that I am afraid of, but that I shall not know + and do all my duty." Beautiful words! carved shortly after on + her monument.</p> + + <p>A few days later, Mary Lyon lay upon her death-bed. The + brain had been congested, and she was often unconscious. In one + of her lucid moments, her pastor said, "Christ precious?" + Summoning all her energies, she raised both hands, clasped + them, and said, "Yes." "Have you trusted Christ too much?" he + asked. Seeing that she made an effort to speak, he said, "God + can be glorified by silence." An indescribable smile lit up her + face, and she was gone.</p> + + <p>On the seminary grounds the beloved teacher was buried, her + pupils singing about her open grave, "Why do we mourn departing + friends?" A beautiful monument of Italian marble, square, and + resting upon a granite pedestal, marks the spot. On the west + side are the words:--</p> + + <p class="dedication">MARY LYON,<br /> + THE FOUNDER OF<br /> + MOUNT HOLYOKE FEMALE SEMINARY,<br /> + AND FOR TWELVE YEARS<br /> + ITS PRINCIPAL;<br /> + A TEACHER<br /> + FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS,<br /> + AND OF MORE THAN<br /> + THREE THOUSAND PUPILS.<br /> + BORN, FEBRUARY 28, 1797;<br /> + DIED, MARCH 5, 1849.<br /></p> + + <p>What a devoted, heroic life! and its results, who can + estimate?</p> + + <p>Her work has gone steadily on. The seminary grounds now + cover twenty-five acres. The main structure has two large + wings, while a gymnasium; a library building, with thirteen + thousand volumes; the Lyman Williston Hall, with laboratories + and art gallery; and the new observatory, with fine telescope, + astronomical clock, and other appliances, afford such admirable + opportunities for higher education as noble Mary Lyon could + hardly have dared to hope for. The property is worth about + three hundred thousand dollars. How different from the days + when half-dollars were given into Miss Lyon's willing hands! + Nearly six thousand students have been educated here, + three-fourths of whom have become teachers, and about two + hundred foreign missionaries. Many have married ministers, + presidents of colleges, and leading men in education and good + works.</p> + + <p>The board and tuition have become one hundred and + seventy-five dollars a year, only enough to cover the cost. The + range of study has been constantly increased and elevated to + keep pace with the growing demand that women shall be as fully + educated as men. Even Miss Lyon, in those early days, looked + forward to the needs of the future, by placing in her course of + study, Sullivan's <i>Political Class-Book</i>, and Wayland's + <i>Political Economy</i>. The four years' course is solid and + thorough, while the optional course in French, German, and + Greek is admirable. Eventually, when our preparatory schools + are higher, all our colleges for women will have as difficult + entrance examinations as Harvard and Yale.</p> + + <p>The housework at Mount Holyoke Seminary requires but half an + hour each day for each of the two hundred and ninety-seven + pupils. Much time is spent wisely in the gymnasium, and in + boating on the lake near by. Habits of punctuality, + thoroughness, and order are the outcome of life in this + institution. An endowment of twenty thousand dollars, called + "the Mary Lyon Fund," is now being raised by former students + for the Chair of the Principal. Schools like the Lake Erie + Seminary at Painesville, Ohio, have grown out of the school at + South Hadley. Truly, Mary Lyon was doing a great work, and she + could not come down. Between such a life and the ordinary + social round there can be no comparison.</p> + + <p>The English ivy grows thickly over Miss Lyon's grave, + covering it like a mantle, and sending out its wealth of green + leaves in the spring. So each year her own handiwork + flourishes, sending out into the world its strongest forces, + the very foundation of the highest civilization,--educated and + Christian wives and mothers.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c9" id="c9"></a> + + <h3>Harriet G. Hosmer.</h3><a href="images/c9hosmer.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c9hosmer_t.jpg" alt= + "(From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women.")" /> + </a> + + <p>Some years ago, in an art store in Boston, a crowd of + persons stood gazing intently upon a famous piece of statuary. + The red curtains were drawn aside, and the white marble seemed + almost to speak. A group of girls stood together, and looked on + in rapt admiration. One of them said, "Just to think that a + woman did it!"</p> + + <p>"It makes me proud and glad," said another.</p> + + <p>"Who is Harriet Hosmer?" said a third. "I wish I knew about + her."</p> + + <p>And then one of us, who had stolen all the hours she could + get from school life to read art books from the Hartford + Athenaeum, and kept crude statues, made by herself from chalk + and plaster, secreted in her room, told all she had read about + the brilliant author of "Zenobia."</p> + + <p>The statue was seven feet high, queenly in pose and face, + yet delicate and beautiful, with the thoughts which genius had + wrought in it. The left arm supported the elegant drapery, + while the right hung listlessly by her side, both wrists + chained; the captive of the Emperor Aurelian. Since that time, + I have looked upon other masterpieces in all the great + galleries of Europe, but perhaps none have ever made a stronger + impression upon me than "Zenobia," in those early years.</p> + + <p>And who was the artist of whom we girls were so proud? Born + in Watertown, Mass., Oct. 9, 1830, Harriet Hosmer came into the + welcome home of a leading physician, and a delicate mother, who + soon died of consumption. Dr. Hosmer had also buried his only + child besides Harriet, with the same disease, and he determined + that this girl should live in sunshine and air, that he might + save her if possible. He used to say, "There is a whole + life-time for the education of the mind, but the body develops + in a few years; and during that time nothing should be allowed + to interfere with its free and healthy growth."</p> + + <p>As soon as the child was large enough, she was given a pet + dog, which she decked with ribbons and bells. Then, as the + Charles River flowed past their house, a boat was provided, and + she was allowed to row at will. A Venetian gondola was also + built for her, with silver prow and velvet cushions. "Too much + spoiling--too much spoiling," said some of the neighbors; but + Dr. Hosmer knew that he was keeping his little daughter on the + earth instead of heaven.</p> + + <p>A gun was now purchased, and the girl became an admirable + marksman. Her room was a perfect museum. Here were birds, bats, + beetles, snakes, and toads; some dissected, some preserved in + spirits, and others stuffed, all gathered and prepared by her + own hands. Now she made an inkstand from the egg of a sea-gull + and the body of a kingfisher; now she climbed to the top of a + tree and brought down a crow's nest. She could walk miles upon + miles with no fatigue. She grew up like a boy, which is only + another way of saying that she grew up healthy and strong + physically. Probably polite society was shocked at Dr. Hosmer's + methods. Would that there were many such fathers and mothers, + that we might have a vigorous race of women, and consequently, + a vigorous race of men!</p> + + <p>When Harriet tired of books,--for she was an eager + reader,--she found delight in a clay-pit in the garden, where + she molded horses and dogs to her heart's content. Unused to + restraint, she did not like the first school at which she was + placed, the principal, the brother-in-law of Nathaniel + Hawthorne, writing to her father that he "could do nothing with + her."</p> + + <p>She was then taken to Mrs. Sedgwick, who kept a famous + school at Lenox, Berkshire County. She received "happy Hatty," + as she was called, with the remark, "I have a reputation for + training wild colts, and I will try this one." And the wise + woman succeeded. She won Harriet's confidence, not by the ten + thousand times repeated "don't," which so many children hear in + home and school, till life seems a prison-pen. She let her run + wild, guiding her all the time with so much tact, that the girl + scarcely knew she was guided at all. Blessed tact! How many + thousands of young people are ruined for lack of it!</p> + + <p>She remained here three years. Mrs. Sedgwick says, "She was + the most difficult pupil to manage I ever had, but I think I + never had one in whom I took so deep an interest, and whom I + learned to love so well." About this time, not being quite as + well as usual, Dr. Hosmer engaged a physician of, large + practice to visit his daughter. The busy man could not be + regular, which sadly interfered with Harriet's boating and + driving. Complaining one day that it spoiled her pleasure, he + said, "If I am alive, I will be here," naming the day and + hour.</p> + + <p>"Then if you are not here, I am to conclude that you are + dead," was the reply.</p> + + <p>As he did not come, Harriet drove to the newspaper offices + in Boston that afternoon, and the next morning the community + was startled to read of Dr. ----'s sudden death. Friends + hastened to the house, and messages of condolence came pouring + in. It is probable that he was more punctual after this.</p> + + <p>On Harriet's return from Lenox, she began to take lessons in + drawing, modeling, and anatomical studies, in Boston, + frequently walking from home and back, a distance of fourteen + miles. Feeling the need of a thorough course in anatomy, she + applied to the Boston Medical School for admittance, and was + refused because of her sex. The Medical College of St. Louis + proved itself broader, glad to encourage talent wherever found, + and received her.</p> + + <p>Professor McDowell, under whom the artists Powers and + Clevenger studied anatomy, spared no pains to give her every + advantage, while the students were uniformly courteous. "I + remember him," says Miss Hosmer, "with great affection and + gratitude as being a most thorough and patient teacher, as well + as at all times a good, kind friend." In testimony of her + appreciation, she cut, from a bust of Professor McDowell by + Clevenger, a life-size medallion in marble, now treasured in + the college museum.</p> + + <p>While in St. Louis she made her home with the family of + Wayman Crow, Esq., whose daughter had been her companion at + Lenox. This gentleman proved himself a constant and encouraging + friend, ordering her first statue from Rome, and helping in a + thousand ways a girl who had chosen for herself an unusual work + in life.</p> + + <p>After completing her studies she made a trip to New Orleans, + and then North to the Falls of St. Anthony, smoking the pipe of + peace with the chief of the Dakota Indians, exploring lead + mines in Dubuque, and scaling a high mountain that was soon + after named for her. Did the wealthy girl go alone on these + journeys? Yes. As a rule, no harm comes to a young woman who + conducts herself with becoming reserve with men. Flirts usually + are paid in their own coin.</p> + + <p>On her return home, Dr. Hosmer fitted up a studio for his + daughter, and her first work was to copy from the antique. Then + she cut Canova's "Napoleon" in marble for her father, doing all + the work, that he might especially value the gift. Her next + statue was an ideal bust of Hesper, "with," said Lydia Maria + Child, "the face of a lovely maiden gently falling asleep with + the sound of distant music. Her hair is gracefully arranged, + and intertwined with capsules of the poppy. A star shines on + her forehead, and under her breast lies the crescent moon. The + swell of the cheeks and the bust is like pure, young, healthy + flesh, and the muscles of the beautiful mouth so delicately + cut, it seems like a thing that breathes. She did every stroke + of the work with her own small hands, except knocking off the + corners of the block of marble. She employed a man to do that; + but as he was unused to work for sculptors, she did not venture + to have him approach within several inches of the surface she + intended to cut. Slight girl as she was, she wielded for eight + or ten hours a day a leaden mallet weighing four pounds and a + half. Had it not been for the strength and flexibility of + muscle acquired by rowing and other athletic exercises, such + arduous labor would have been impossible."</p> + + <p>After "Hesper" was completed, she said to her father, "I am + ready to go to Rome."</p> + + <p>"You shall go, my child, this very autumn," was the + response.</p> + + <p>He would, of course, miss the genial companionship of his + only child, but her welfare was to be consulted rather than his + own. When autumn came, she rode on horseback to Wayland to say + good-bye to Mrs. Child. "Shall you never be homesick for your + museum-parlor in Watertown? Can you be contented in a foreign + land?"</p> + + <p>"I can be happy anywhere," said Miss Hosmer, "with good + health and a bit of marble."</p> + + <p>Late in the fall Dr. Hosmer and his daughter started for + Europe, reaching Rome Nov. 12, 1852. She had greatly desired to + study under John Gibson, the leading English sculptor, but he + had taken young women into his studio who in a short time + became discouraged or showed themselves afraid of hard work, + and he feared Miss Hosmer might be of the same useless + type.</p> + + <p>When the photographs of "Hesper" were placed before him by + an artist friend of the Hosmers, he looked at them carefully, + and said, "Send the young lady to me, and whatever I know, and + can teach her, she shall learn." He gave Miss Hosmer an + upstairs room in his studio, and here for seven years she + worked with delight, honored and encouraged by her noble + teacher. She wrote to her friends: "The dearest wish of my + heart is gratified in that I am acknowledged by Gibson as a + pupil. He has been resident in Rome thirty-four years, and + leads the van. I am greatly in luck. He has just finished the + model of the statue of the queen; and as his room is vacant, he + permits me to use it, and I am now in his own studio. I have + also a little room for work which was formerly occupied by + Canova, and perhaps inspiration may be drawn from the + walls."</p> + + <p>The first work which she copied, to show Gibson whether she + had correctness of eye and proper knowledge, was the Venus of + Milo. When nearly finished, the iron which supported the clay + snapped, and the figure lay spoiled upon the floor. She did not + shrink nor cry, but immediately went to work cheerfully to + shape it over again. This conduct Mr. Gibson greatly admired, + and made up his mind to assist her all he could.</p> + + <p>After this she copied the "Cupid" of Praxitiles and Tasso + from the British Museum. Her first original work was Daphne, + the beautiful girl whom Apollo loved, and who, rather than + accept his addresses, was changed into laurel by the gods. + Apollo crowned his head with laurel, and made the flower sacred + to himself forever.</p> + + <p>Next, Miss Hosmer produced "Medusa," famed for her beautiful + hair, which Minerva turned into serpents because Neptune loved + her. According to Grecian mythology, Perseus made himself + immortal by conquering Medusa, whose head he cut off, and the + blood dripping from it filled Africa with snakes. Miss Hosmer + represents the beautiful maiden, when she finds, with horror, + that her hair is turning into serpents.</p> + + <p>Needing a real snake for her work, Miss Hosmer sent a man + into the suburbs to bring her one alive. When it was obtained, + she chloroformed it till she had made a cast, keeping it in + plaster for three hours and a half. Then, instead of killing + it, like a true-hearted woman, as she is, she sent it back into + the country, glad to regain its liberty.</p> + + <p>"Daphne" and "Medusa" were both exhibited in Boston the + following year, 1853, and were much praised. Mr. Gibson said: + "The power of imitating the roundness and softness of flesh, he + had never seen surpassed." Rauch, the great Prussian, whose + mausoleum at Charlottenburg of the beautiful queen Louise can + never be forgotten, gave Miss Hosmer high praise.</p> + + <p>Two years later she completed "Oenone," made for Mr. Crow of + St. Louis. It is the full-length figure of the beautiful nymph + of Mount Ida. The story is a familiar one. Before the birth of + Paris, the son of Priam, it was foretold that he by his + imprudence should cause the destruction of Troy. His father + gave orders for him to be put to death, but possibly through + the fondness of his mother, he was spared, and carried to Mount + Ida, where he was brought up by the shepherds, and finally + married Oenone. In time he became known to his family, who + forgot the prophecy and cordially received him. For a decision + in favor of Venus he was promised the most beautiful woman in + the world for his wife. Forgetting Oenone, he fell in love with + the beautiful Helen, already the wife of Menelaus, and + persuaded her to fly with him to Troy, to his father's court. + War resulted. When he found himself dying of his wounds, he + fled to Oenone for help, but died just as he came into her + presence. She bathed the body with her tears, and stabbed + herself to the heart, a very foolish act for so faithless a + man. Miss Hosmer represents her as a beautiful shepherdess, + bowed with grief from her desertion.</p> + + <p>This work was so much liked in America, that the St. Louis + Mercantile Library made a liberal offer for some other statue. + Accordingly, two years after, "Beatrice Cenci" was sent. The + noble girl lies asleep, the night before her execution, after + the terrible torture. "It was," says Mrs. Child, "the sleep of + a body worn out with the wretchedness of the soul. On that + innocent face suffering had left its traces. The arm that had + been tossing in the grief tempest, had fallen heavily, too + weary to change itself into a more easy position. Those large + eyes, now so closely veiled by their swollen lids, had + evidently wept till the fountain of tears was dry. That lovely + mouth was still the open portal of a sigh, which the mastery of + sleep had left no time to close."</p> + + <p>To make this natural, the sculptor caused several models to + go to sleep in her studio, that she might study them. Gibson is + said to have remarked upon seeing this, "I can teach her + nothing." This was also exhibited in London and in several + American cities.</p> + + <p>For three years she had worked continuously, not leaving + Rome even in the hot, unhealthy summers. She had said, "I will + not be an amateur; I will work as if I had to earn my daily + bread." However, as her health seemed somewhat impaired, at her + father's earnest wish, she had decided to go to England for the + season. Her trunks were packed, and she was ready to start, + when lo! a message came that Dr. Hosmer had lost his property, + that he could send her no more money, and suggested that she + return home at once.</p> + + <p>At first she seemed overwhelmed; then she said firmly, "I + cannot go back, and give up my art." Her trunks were at once + unpacked and a cheap room rented. Her handsome horse and saddle + were sold, and she was now to work indeed "as if she earned her + daily bread."</p> + + <p>By a strange freak of human nature, by which we sometimes do + our most humorous work when we are saddest, Miss Hosmer + produced now in her sorrow her fun-loving "Puck." It represents + a child about four years old seated on a toadstool which breaks + beneath him. The left hand confines a lizard, while the right + holds a beetle. The legs are crossed, and the great toe of the + right foot turns up. The whole is full of merriment. The Crown + Princess of Germany, on seeing it, exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Hosmer, + you have such a talent for toes!" Very true, for this statue, + with the several copies made from it, brought her thirty + thousand dollars! The Prince of Wales has a copy, the Duke of + Hamilton also, and it has gone even to Australia and the West + Indies. A companion piece is the "Will-o'-the-wisp."</p> + + <p>About this time the lovely sixteen-year-old daughter of + Madam Falconnet died at Rome, and for her monument in the + Catholic church of San Andrea del Fratte, Miss Hosmer produced + an exquisite figure resting upon a sarcophagus. Layard, the + explorer of Babylon and Nineveh, wrote to Madam Falconnet: "I + scarcely remember to have seen a monument which more completely + commanded my sympathy and more deeply interested me. I really + know of none, of modern days, which I would rather have placed + over the remains of one who had been dear to me."</p> + + <p>Miss Hosmer also modeled a fountain from the story of Hylas. + The lower basin contains dolphins spouting jets, while in the + upper basin, supported by swans, the youth Hylas stands, + surrounded by the nymphs who admire his beauty, and who + eventually draw him into the water, where he is drowned.</p> + + <p>Miss Hosmer returned to America in 1857, five years after + her departure. She was still young, twenty-seven, vivacious, + hopeful, not wearied from her hard work, and famous. While here + she determined upon a statue of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and + read much concerning her and her times. She had touched fiction + and poetry; now she would attempt history. She could scarcely + have chosen a more heroic or pathetic subject. The brave leader + of a brave people, a skilful warrior, marching at the head of + her troops, now on foot, and now on horseback, beautiful in + face, and cultured in mind, acquainted with Latin, Greek, + Syriac, and Egyptian, finally captured by Aurelian, and borne + through the streets of Rome, adorning his triumphal + procession.</p> + + <p>After Miss Hosmer's return to Rome, she worked on "Zenobia" + with energy and enthusiasm, as she molded the clay, and then + the plaster. When brought to this country, it awakened the + greatest interest; crowds gathered to see it. In Chicago it was + exhibited at the Sanitary Fair in behalf of the soldiers. + Whittier said: "It very fully expresses my conception of what + historical sculpture should be. It tells its whole proud and + melancholy story. In looking at it, I felt that the artist had + been as truly serving her country while working out her + magnificent design abroad, as our soldiers in the field, and + our public officers in their departments." From its exhibition + Miss Hosmer received five thousand dollars. It was purchased by + Mr. A.W. Griswold, of New York. So great a work was the statue + considered in London, that some of the papers declared Gibson + to be its author. Miss Hosmer at once began suits for libel, + and retractions were speedily made.</p> + + <p>In 1860 Miss Hosmer again visited America, to see her + father, who was seriously ill. How proud Dr. Hosmer must have + been of his gifted daughter now that her fame was in two + hemispheres! Surely he had not "spoiled" her. She could now + spend for him as he had spent for her in her childhood. While + here, she received a commission from St. Louis for a bronze + portrait-statue of Missouri's famous statesman, Thomas Hart + Benton. The world wondered if she could bring out of the marble + a man with all his strength and dignity, as she had a woman + with all her grace and nobility.</p> + + <p>She visited St. Louis, to examine portraits and mementos of + Colonel Benton, and then hastened across the ocean to her work. + The next year a photograph of the model was sent to the + friends, and the likeness pronounced good. The statue was cast + at the great royal foundry at Munich, and in due time shipped + to this country. May 27, 1868, it was unveiled in Lafayette + Park, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, the + daughter, Mrs. John C. Fremont, removing the covering. The + statue is ten feet high, and weighs three and one-half tons. It + rests on a granite pedestal, ten feet square, the whole being + twenty-two feet square. On the west side of the pedestal are + the words from Colonel Benton's famous speech on the Pacific + Railroad, "There is the East--there is India." Both press and + people were heartily pleased with this statue, for which Miss + Hosmer received ten thousand dollars, the whole costing thirty + thousand.</p> + + <p>She was now in the midst of busy and successful work. Orders + crowded upon her. Her "Sleeping Faun," which was exhibited at + the Dublin Exhibition in 1865, was sold on the day of opening + for five thousand dollars, to Sir Benjamin Guinness. Some + discussion having arisen about the sale, he offered ten + thousand, saying, that if money could buy it, he would possess + it. Miss Hosmer, however, would receive only the five thousand. + The faun is represented reclining against the trunk of a tree, + partly draped in the spoils of a tiger. A little faun, with + mischievous look, is binding the faun to the tree with the + tiger-skin. The newspapers were enthusiastic about the + work.</p> + + <p>The <i>London Times</i> said: "In the groups of statues are + many works of exquisite beauty, but there is one which at once + arrests attention and extorts admiration. It is a curious fact + that amid all the statues in this court, contributed by the + natives of lands in which the fine arts were naturalized + thousands of years ago, one of the finest should be the + production of an American artist." The French <i>Galignani</i> + said, "The gem of the classical school, in its nobler style of + composition, is due to an American lady, Miss Hosmer." The + <i>London Art Journal</i> said, "The works of Miss Hosmer, + Hiram Powers, and others we might name, have placed American on + a level with the best modern sculptors of Europe." This work + was repeated for the Prince of Wales and for Lady Ashburton, of + England.</p> + + <p>Not long ago I visited the studio of Miss Hosmer in the Via + Margutta, at Rome, and saw her numerous works, many of them + still unfinished. Here an arm seemed just reaching out from the + rough block of marble; here a sweet face seemed like + Pygmalion's statue, coming into life. In the centre of the + studio was the "Siren Fountain," executed for Lady Marion + Alford. A siren sits in the upper basin and sings to the music + of her lute. Three little cupids sit on dolphins, and listen to + her music.</p> + + <p>For some years Miss Hosmer has been preparing a golden + gateway for an art gallery at Ashridge Hall, England, ordered + by Earl Brownlow. These gates, seventeen feet high, are covered + with bas-reliefs representing the Air, Earth, and Sea. The + twelve hours of the night show "Aeolus subduing the Winds," the + "Descent of the Zephyrs," "Iris descending with the Dew," + "Night rising with the Stars," "The Rising Moon," "The Hour's + Sleep," "The Dreams Descend," "The Falling Star," "Phosphor and + Hesper," "The Hours Wake," "Aurora Veils the Stars," and + "Morning." More than eighty figures are in the nineteen + bas-reliefs. Miss Hosmer has done other important works, among + them a statue of the beautiful Queen of Naples, who was a + frequent visitor to the artist's studio, and several well-known + monuments. With her girlish fondness for machinery, she has + given much thought to mechanics in these later years, striving + to find, like many another, the secret of producing perpetual + motion. She spends much of her time now in England. She is + still passionately fond of riding, the Empress of Austria, who + owns more horses than any woman in the world, declaring "that + there was nothing she looked forward to with more interest in + Rome, than to see Miss Hosmer ride."</p> + + <p>Many of the closing years of the sculptor's long life were + spent in Rome, where she had a wide circle of eminent American + and English friends, among whom were Hawthorne, Thackeray, + George Eliot, and the Brownings. She made several discoveries + in her work, one of which was a process of hardening limestone + so that it resembled marble. She also wrote both prose and + poetry, and would have been successful as an author, if she had + not given the bulk of her time to her beloved sculpture.</p> + + <p>After her long sojourn in Rome she spent several years in + England, executing important commissions, and then turned her + face toward America. In Watertown, where she was born, she + again made her home; and here she breathed her last, February + 21, 1908, after an illness of three weeks. She was in her + seventy-eighth year. By her long life of earnest work and + self-reliant purpose, coupled with her high gift, she has made + for herself an abiding place in the history of art.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c10" id="c10"></a> + + <h3>Madame de Staël.</h3><a href= + "images/c10stael.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c10stael_t.jpg" alt= + "MADAME DE STAËL. From the painting by Mlle. Godefroy." /></a> + + <p>It was the twentieth of September, 1881. The sun shone out + mild and beautiful upon Lake Geneva, as we sailed up to Coppet. + The banks were dotted with lovely homes, half hidden by the + foliage, while brilliant flower-beds came close to the water's + edge. Snow-covered Mont Blanc looked down upon the restful + scene, which seemed as charming as anything in Europe.</p> + + <p>We alighted from the boat, and walked up from the landing, + between great rows of oaks, horsechestnuts, and sycamores, to + the famous home we had come to look upon,--that of Madame de + Staël. It is a French chateau, two stories high, drab, + with green blinds, surrounding an open square; vines clamber + over the gate and the high walls, and lovely flowers blossom + everywhere. As you enter, you stand in a long hall, with green + curtains, with many busts, the finest of which is that of + Monsieur Necker. The next room is the large library, with + furniture of blue and white; and the next, hung with old + Gobelin tapestry, is the room where Madame Recamier used to sit + with Madame de Staël, and look out upon the exquisite + scenery, restful even in their troubled lives. Here is the + work-table of her whom Macaulay called "the greatest woman of + her times," and of whom Byron said, "She is a woman by herself, + and has done more than all the rest of them together, + intellectually; she ought to have been a man."</p> + + <p>Next we enter the drawing-room, with carpet woven in a + single piece; the furniture red and white. We stop to look upon + the picture of Monsieur Necker, the father, a strong, + noble-looking man; of the mother, in white silk dress, with + powdered hair, and very beautiful; and De Staël herself, + in a brownish yellow dress, with low neck and short sleeves, + holding in her hand the branch of flowers, which she always + carried, or a leaf, that thus her hands might be employed while + she engaged in the conversation that astonished Europe. Here + also are the pictures of the Baron, her husband, in white wig + and military dress; here her idolized son and daughter, the + latter beautiful, with mild, sad face, and dark hair and + eyes.</p> + + <p>What brings thousands to this quiet retreat every year? + Because here lived and wrote and suffered the only person whom + the great Napoleon feared, whom Galiffe, of Geneva, declared + "the most remarkable woman that Europe has produced"; learned, + rich, the author of <i>Corinne</i> and <i>Allemagne</i>, whose + "talents in conversation," says George Ticknor, "were perhaps + the most remarkable of any person that ever lived."</p> + + <p>April 27, 1766, was the daughter of James Necker, Minister + of Finance under Louis XVI., a man of fine intellect, the + author of fifteen volumes; and Susanna, daughter of a Swiss + pastor, beautiful, educated, and devotedly Christian. Necker + had become rich in early life through banking, and had been + made, by the republic of Geneva, her resident minister at the + Court of Versailles.</p> + + <p>When the throne of Louis seemed crumbling, because the + people were tired of extravagance and heavy taxation, Necker + was called to his aid, with the hope that economy and + retrenchment would save the nation. He also loaned the + government two million dollars. The home of the Neckers, in + Paris, naturally became a social centre, which the mother of + the family was well fitted to grace. Gibbon had been deeply in + love with her.</p> + + <p>He says: "I found her learned without pedantry, lively in + conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and + the first sudden emotion was fortified by the habits and + knowledge of a more familiar acquaintance.... At Crassier and + Lausanne I indulged my dream of felicity; but on my return to + England I soon discovered that my father would not hear of this + strange alliance, and that, without his consent, I was myself + destitute and helpless. After a painful struggle, I yielded to + my fate; I sighed as a lover; I obeyed as a son." Gibbon never + married, but retained his life-long friendship and admiration + for Madame Necker.</p> + + <p>It was not strange, therefore, that Gibbon liked to be + present in her <i>salon</i>, where Buffon, Hume, Diderot, and + D'Alembert were wont to gather. The child of such parents could + scarcely be other than intellectual, surrounded by such gifted + minds. Her mother, too, was a most systematic teacher, and each + day the girl was obliged to sit by her side, erect, on a wooden + stool, and learn difficult lessons.</p> + + <p>"She stood in great awe of her mother," wrote Simond, the + traveller, "but was exceedingly familiar with and extravagantly + fond of her father. Madame Necker had no sooner left the room + one day, after dinner, than the young girl, till then timidly + decorous, suddenly seized her napkin, and threw it across the + table at the head of her father, and then flying round to him, + hung upon his neck, suffocating all his reproofs by her + kisses." Whenever her mother returned to the room, she at once + became silent and restrained.</p> + + <p>The child early began to show literary talent, writing + dramas, and making paper kings and queens to act her tragedies. + This the mother thought to be wrong, and it was discontinued. + But when she was twelve, the mother having somewhat relented, + she wrote a play, which she and her companions acted in the + drawing-room. Grimm was so pleased with her attempts, that he + sent extracts to his correspondents throughout Europe. At + fifteen she wrote an essay on the <i>Revocation of the Edict of + Nantes</i>, and another upon Montesquieu's <i>Spirit of + Laws</i>.</p> + + <p>Overtaxing the brain with her continuous study, she became + ill, and the physician, greatly to her delight, prescribed + fresh air and sunshine. Here often she roamed from morning till + night on their estate at St. Ouen. Madame Necker felt deeply + the thwarting of her educational plans, and years after, when + her daughter had acquired distinction, said, "It is absolutely + nothing compared to what I would have made it."</p> + + <p>Monsieur Necker's restriction of pensions and taxing of + luxuries soon aroused the opposition of the aristocracy, and + the weak but good-hearted King asked his minister to resign. + Both wife and daughter felt the blow keenly, for both idolized + him, so much so that the mother feared lest she be supplanted + by her daughter. Madame de Staël says of her father, "From + the moment of their marriage to her death, the thought of my + mother dominated his life. He was not like other men in power, + attentive to her by occasional tokens of regard, but by + continual expressions of most tender and most delicate + sentiment." Of herself she wrote, "Our destinies would have + united us forever, if fate had only made us contemporaries." At + his death she said, "If he could be restored to me, I would + give all my remaining years for six months." To the last he was + her idol.</p> + + <p>For the next few years the family travelled most of the + time, Necker bringing out a book on the <i>Finances</i>, which + had a sale at once of a hundred thousand copies. A previous + book, the <i>Compte Rendu au Roi</i>, showing how for years the + moneys of France had been wasted, had also a large sale. For + these books, and especially for other correspondence, he was + banished forty leagues from Paris. The daughter's heart seemed + well-nigh broken at this intelligence. Loving Paris, saying she + would rather live there on "one hundred francs a year, and + lodge in the fourth story," than anywhere else in the world, + how could she bear for years the isolation of the country? + Joseph II., King of Poland, and the King of Naples, offered + Necker fine positions, but he declined.</p> + + <p>Mademoiselle Necker had come to womanhood, not beautiful, + but with wonderful fascination and tact. She could compliment + persons without flattery, was cordial and generous, and while + the most brilliant talker, could draw to herself the thoughts + and confidences of others. She had also written a book on + <i>Rousseau</i>, which was much talked about. Pitt, of England, + Count Fersen, of Sweden, and others, sought her in marriage, + but she loved no person as well as her father. Her consent to + marriage could be obtained only by the promise that she should + never be obliged to leave him.</p> + + <p>Baron de Staël, a man of learning and fine social + position, ambassador from Sweden, and the warm friend of + Gustavus, was ready to make any promises for the rich daughter + of the Minister Necker. He was thirty-seven, she only a little + more than half his age, twenty, but she accepted him because + her parents were pleased. Going to Paris, she was, of course, + received at Court, Marie Antoinette paying her much attention. + Necker was soon recalled from exile to his old position.</p> + + <p>The funds rose thirty per cent, and he became the idol of + the people. Soon representative government was demanded, and + then, though the King granted it, the breach was widened. + Necker, unpopular with the bad advisers of the King, was again + asked to leave Paris, and make no noise about it; but the + people, hearing of it, soon demanded his recall, and he was + hastily brought back from Brussels, riding through the streets + like "the sovereign of a nation," said his daughter. The people + were wild with delight.</p> + + <p>But matters had gone too far to prevent a bloody Revolution. + Soon a mob was marching toward Versailles; thousands of men, + women, and even children armed with pikes. They reached the + palace, killed the guards, and penetrated to the queen's + apartments, while some filled the court-yard and demanded + bread. The brave Marie Antoinette appeared on the balcony + leading her two children, while Lafayette knelt by her side and + kissed her hand. But the people could not be appeased.</p> + + <p>Necker finding himself unable to serve his king longer, fled + to his Swiss retreat at Coppet, and there remained till his + death. Madame de Staël, as the wife of the Swedish + ambassador, continued in the turmoil, writing her father daily, + and taking an active interest in politics. "In England," she + said, "women are accustomed to be silent before men when + political questions are discussed. In France, they direct all + conversation, and their minds readily acquire the facility and + talent which this privilege requires." Lafayette, Narbonne, and + Talleyrand consulted with her. She wrote the principal part of + Talleyrand's report on Public Instruction in 1790. She procured + the appointment of Narbonne to the ministry; and later, when + Talleyrand was in exile, obtained his appointment to the + Department of Foreign Affairs.</p> + + <p>Matters had gone from bad to worse. In 1792 the Swedish + government suspended its embassy, and Madame de Staël + prepared to fly, but stayed for a time to save her friends. The + seven prisons of Paris were all crowded under the fearful reign + of Danton and Marat. Great heaps of dead lay before every + prison door. During that Reign of Terror it is estimated that + eighteen thousand six hundred persons perished by the + guillotine. Whole squares were shot down. "When the police + visited her house, where some of the ministers were hidden, she + met them graciously, urging that they must not violate the + privacy of an ambassador's house. When her friends were + arrested, she went to the barbarous leaders, and with her + eloquence begged for their safety, and thus saved the lives of + many.</p> + + <p>At last she must leave the terror-stricken city. Supposing + that her rank as the wife of a foreign ambassador would protect + her, she started with a carriage and six horses, her servants + in livery. At once a crowd of half-famished and haggard women + crowded around, and threw themselves against the horses. The + carriage was stopped, and the occupants were taken to the + Assembly. She plead her case before the noted Robespierre, and + then waited for six hours for the decision of the Commune. + Meantime she saw the hired assassins pass beneath the windows, + their bare arms covered with the blood of the slain. The mob + attempted to pillage her carriage, but a strong man mounted the + box and defended it. She learned afterward that it was the + notorious Santerre, the person who later superintended the + execution of Louis XVI., ordering his drummers to drown the + last words of the dying King. Santerre had seen Necker + distribute corn to the poor of Paris in a time of famine, and + now he was befriending the daughter for this noble act. Finally + she was allowed to continue her journey, and reached Coppet + with her baby, Auguste, well-nigh exhausted after this terrible + ordeal.</p> + + <p>The Swiss home soon became a place of refuge for those who + were flying from the horrors of the Commune. She kept a + faithful agent, who knew the mountain passes, busy in this work + of mercy.</p> + + <p>The following year, 1793, longing for a change from these + dreadful times, she visited England, and received much + attention from prominent persons, among them Fanny Burny, the + author of <i>Evelina</i>, who owned "that she had never heard + conversation before. The most animated eloquence, the keenest + observation, the most sparkling wit, the most courtly grace, + were united to charm her."</p> + + <p>On Jan. 21 of this year, the unfortunate King had met his + death on the scaffold before an immense throng of people. Six + men bound him to the plank, and then his head was severed from + his body amid the shouts and waving of hats of the + blood-thirsty crowd. Necker had begged to go before the + Convention and plead for his king, but was refused. Madame de + Staël wrote a vigorous appeal to the nation in behalf of + the beautiful and tenderhearted Marie Antoinette; but on Sept. + 16, 1793, at four o'clock in the morning, in an open cart, in + the midst of thirty thousand troops and a noisy rabble, she, + too, was borne to the scaffold; and when her pale face was held + up bleeding before the crowd, they jeered and shouted + themselves hoarse.</p> + + <p>The next year 1794, Madame Necker died at Coppet, whispering + to her husband, "We shall see each other in Heaven." "She + looked heavenward," said Necker in a most affecting manner, + "listening while I prayed; then, in dying, raised the finger of + her left hand, which wore the ring I had given her, to remind + me of the pledge engraved upon it, to love her forever." His + devotion to her was beautiful. "No language," says his + daughter, "can give any adequate idea of it. Exhausted by + wakefulness at night, she slept often in the daytime, resting + her head on his arm. I have seen him remain immovable, for + hours together, standing in the same position for fear of + awakening her by the least movement. Absent from her during a + few hours of sleep, he inquired, on his return, of her + attendant, if she had asked for him? She could no longer speak, + but made an effort to say 'yes, yes.'"</p> + + <p>When the Revolution was over, and France had become a + republic, Sweden sent back her ambassador, Baron de Staël, + and his wife returned to him at Paris. Again her <i>salon</i> + became the centre for the great men of the time. She loved + liberty, and believed in the republican form of government. She + had written her book upon the <i>Influence of the Passions on + the Happiness of Individuals and Nations</i>, prompted by the + horrors of the Revolution, and it was considered "irresistible + in energy and dazzling in thought."</p> + + <p>She was also devoting much time to her child, Auguste, + developing him without punishment, thinking that there had been + too much rigor in her own childhood. He well repaid her for her + gentleness and trust, and was inseparable from her through + life, becoming a noble Christian man, and the helper of all + good causes. Meantime Madame de Staël saw with alarm the + growing influence of the young Corsican officer, Bonaparte. The + chief executive power had been placed in the hands of the + Directory, and he had control of the army. He had won brilliant + victories in Italy, and had been made commander-in-chief of the + expedition against Egypt He now returned to Paris, turned out + the Directory, drove out the Council of Five Hundred from the + hall of the Assembly at the point of the bayonet, made the + government into a consulate with three consuls, of whom he was + the first, and lived at the Tuileries in almost royal + style.</p> + + <p>All this time Madame de Staël felt the egotism and + heartlessness of Napoleon. Her <i>salon</i> became more crowded + than ever with those who had their fears for the future. "The + most eloquent of the Republican orators were those who borrowed + from her most of their ideas and telling phrases. Most of them + went forth from her door with speeches ready for the next day, + and with resolution to pronounce them--a courage which was also + derived from her." Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte, the brothers of + Napoleon, were proud of her friendship, and often were guests + at her house, until forbidden by their brother.</p> + + <p>When Benjamin Constant made a speech against the "rising + tyranny," Napoleon suspected that she had prompted it, and + denounced her heartily, all the time declaring that he loved + the Republic, and would always defend it! He said persons + always came away from De Staël's home "less his friends + than when they entered." About this time her book, + <i>Literature considered in its Relation to Social + Institutions</i>, was published, and made a surprising + impression from its wealth of knowledge and power of thought. + Its analysis of Greek and Latin literature, and the chief works + in Italian, English, German, and French, astonished everybody, + because written by a woman!</p> + + <p>Soon after Necker published his <i>Last Views of Politics + and Finance</i>, in which he wrote against the tyranny of a + single man. At once Napoleon caused a sharp letter to be + written to Necker advising him to leave politics to the First + Consul, "who was alone able to govern France," and threatening + his daughter with exile for her supposed aid in his book. She + saw the wisdom of escaping from France, lest she be imprisoned, + and immediately hastened to Coppet. A few months later, in the + winter of 1802, she returned to Paris to bring home Baron de + Staël, who was ill, and from whom she had separated + because he was spending all her fortune and that of her three + children. He died on the journey.</p> + + <p>Virtually banished from France, she now wrote her + <i>Delphine</i>, a brilliant novel which was widely read. It + received its name from a singular circumstance.</p> + + <p>"Desirous of meeting the First Consul for some urgent + reason," says Dr. Stevens in his charming biography of Madame + de Staël, "she went to the villa of Madame de Montessan, + whither he frequently resorted. She was alone in one of the + <i>salles</i> when he arrived, accompanied by the consular + court of brilliant young women. The latter knew the growing + hostility of their master toward her, and passed, without + noticing her, to the other end of the <i>salle</i>, leaving her + entirely alone. Her position was becoming extremely painful, + when a young lady, more courageous and more compassionate than + her companions, crossed the <i>salle</i> and took a seat by her + side. Madame de Staël was touched by this kindness, and + asked for her Christian name. 'Delphine,' she responded. 'Ah, I + will try to immortalize it,' exclaimed Madame de Staël; + and she kept her word. This sensible young lady was the + Comtesse de Custine."</p> + + <p>Her home at Coppet became the home of many great people. + Sismondi, the author of the <i>History of the Italian + Republics</i>, and <i>Literature of Southern Europe</i>, + encouraged by her, wrote here several of his famous works. + Bonstetten made his home here for years. Schlegel, the greatest + critic of his age, became the teacher of her children, and a + most intimate friend. Benjamin Constant, the author and + statesman, was here. All repaired to their rooms for work in + the morning, and in the evening enjoyed philosophic, literary, + and political discussions.</p> + + <p>Bonstetten said: "In seeing her, in hearing her, I feel + myself electrified.... She daily becomes greater and better; + but souls of great talent have great sufferings: they are + solitary in the world, like Mont Blanc."</p> + + <p>In the autumn of 1803, longing for Paris, she ventured to + within ten leagues and hired a quiet home. Word was soon borne + to Napoleon that the road to her house was thronged with + visitors. He at once sent an officer with a letter signed by + himself, exiling her to forty leagues from Paris, and + commanding her to leave within twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p>At once she fled to Germany. At Frankfort her little + daughter was dangerously ill. "I knew no person in the city," + she writes. "I did not know the language; and the physician to + whom I confided my child could not speak French. But my father + shared my trouble; he consulted physicians at Geneva, and sent + me their prescriptions. Oh, what would become of a mother + trembling for the life of her child, if it were not for + prayer!"</p> + + <p>Going to Weimar, she met Goethe, Wieland, Schiller, and + other noted men. At Berlin, the greatest attention was shown + her. The beautiful Louise of Prussia welcomed her heartily. + During this exile her father died, with his latest breath + saying," She has loved me dearly! She has loved me dearly!" On + his death-bed he wrote a letter to Bonaparte telling him that + his daughter was in nowise responsible for his book, but it was + never answered. It was enough for Napoleon to know that she did + not flatter him; therefore he wished her out of the way.</p> + + <p>Madame de Staël was for a time completely overcome by + Necker's death. She wore his picture on her person as long as + she lived. Only once did she part with it, and then she + imagined it might console her daughter in her illness. Giving + it to her, she said, "Gaze upon it, gaze upon it, when you are + in pain."</p> + + <p>She now sought repose in Italy, preparing those beautiful + descriptions for her <i>Corinne</i>, and finally returning to + Coppet, spent a year in writing her book. It was published in + Paris, and, says Sainte-Beuve, "its success was instantaneous + and universal. As a work of art, as a poem, the romance of + <i>Corinne</i> is an immortal monument." Jeffrey, in the + <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, called the author the greatest writer + in France since Voltaire and Rousseau, and the greatest woman + writer of any age or country. Napoleon, however, in his + official paper, caused a scathing criticism on <i>Corinne</i> + to appear; indeed, it was declared to be from his own pen. She + was told by the Minister of Police, that she had but to insert + some praise of Napoleon in <i>Corinne</i>, and she would be + welcomed back to Paris. She could not, however, live a lie, and + she feared Napoleon had evil designs upon France.</p> + + <p>Again she visited Germany with her children, Schlegel, and + Sismondi. So eager was everybody to see her and hear her talk, + that Bettina von Arnim says in her correspondence with Goethe: + "The gentlemen stood around the table and planted themselves + behind us, elbowing one another. They leaned quite over me, and + I said in French, 'Your adorers quite suffocate me.'"</p> + + <p>While in Germany, her eldest son, then seventeen, had an + interview with Bonaparte about the return of his mother. "Your + mother," said Napoleon, "could not be six months in Paris + before I should be compelled to send her to Bicêtre or + the Temple. I should regret this necessity, for it would make a + noise and might injure me a little in public opinion. Say, + therefore, to her that as long as I live she cannot re-enter + Paris. I see what you wish, but it cannot be; she will commit + follies; she will have the world about her."</p> + + <p>On her return to Coppet, she spent two years in writing her + <i>Allemagne</i>, for which she had been making researches for + four years. She wished it published in Paris, as <i>Corinne</i> + had been, and submitted it to the censors of the Press. They + crossed out whatever sentiments they thought might displease + Napoleon, and then ten thousand copies were at once printed, + she meantime removing to France, within her proscribed limits, + that she might correct the proof-sheets.</p> + + <p>What was her astonishment to have Napoleon order the whole + ten thousand destroyed, and her to leave France in three days! + Her two sons attempted to see Bonaparte, who was at + Fontainebleau, but were ordered to turn back, or they would be + arrested. The only reason given for destroying the work was the + fact that she had been silent about the great but egotistical + Emperor.</p> + + <p>Broken in spirit, she returned to Geneva. Amid all this + darkness a new light was about to beam upon her life. In the + social gatherings made for her, she observed a young army + officer, Monsieur Rocca, broken in health from his many wounds, + but handsome and noble in face, and, as she learned, of + irreproachable life. Though only twenty-three and she + forty-five, the young officer was fascinated by her + conversation, and refreshed in spirits by her presence. She + sympathized with his misfortunes in battle; she admired his + courage. He was lofty in sentiments, tender in heart, and gave + her what she had always needed, an unselfish and devoted love. + When discouraged by his friends, he replied, "I will love her + so much that I will finish by making her marry me."</p> + + <p>They were married in 1811, and the marriage was a singularly + happy one. The reason for it is not difficult to perceive. A + marriage that has not a pretty face or a passing fancy for its + foundation, but appreciation of a gifted mind and noble + heart,--such a marriage stands the test of time.</p> + + <p>The marriage was kept secret from all save a few intimate + friends, Madame de Staël fearing that if the news reached + Napoleon, Rocca would be ordered back to France. Her fears were + only too well founded. Schlegel, Madame Recamier, all who had + shown any sympathy for her, began to be exiled. She was + forbidden under any pretext whatever from travelling in + Switzerland, or entering any region annexed to France. She was + advised not to go two leagues from Coppet, lest she be + imprisoned, and this with Napoleon usually meant death.</p> + + <p>The Emperor seemed about to conquer the whole world. Whither + could she fly to escape his persecution? She longed to reach + England, but there was an edict against any French subject + entering that country without special permit. Truly his heel + was upon France. The only way to reach that country was through + Austria, Russia, and Sweden, two thousand leagues. But she must + attempt it. She passed an hour in prayer by her parent's tomb, + kissed his armchair and table, and took his cloak to wrap + herself in should death come.</p> + + <p>May 23, 1812, she, with Rocca and two of her children, began + their flight by carriage, not telling the servants at the + chateau, but that they should return for the next meal.</p> + + <p>They reached Vienna June 6, and were at once put under + surveillance. Everywhere she saw placards admonishing the + officers to watch her sharply. Rocca had to make his way alone, + because Bonaparte had ordered his arrest. They were permitted + to remain only a few hours in any place. Once Madame de + Staël was so overcome by this brutal treatment that she + lost consciousness, and was obliged to be taken from her + carriage to the roadside till she recovered. Every hour she + expected arrest and death.</p> + + <p>Finally, worn in body, she reached Russia, and was cordially + received by Alexander and Empress Elizabeth. From here she went + to Sweden, and had an equally cordial welcome from Bernadotte, + the general who became king. Afterward she spent four months in + England, bringing out <i>Allemagne.</i> Here she received a + perfect ovation. At Lord Lansdowne's the first ladies in the + kingdom mounted on chairs and tables to catch a glimpse of her. + Sir James Mackintosh said: "The whole fashionable and literary + world is occupied with Madame de Staël, the most + celebrated woman of this, or perhaps of any age." Very rare + must be the case where a woman of fine mind does not have many + admirers among gentlemen.</p> + + <p>Her <i>Allemagne</i> was published in 1813, the manuscript + having been secretly carried over Germany, Poland, Russia, + Sweden, and the Baltic Sea. The first part treated of the + manners of Germany; the second, its literature and art; the + third, its philosophy and morals; the fourth, its religion. The + book had a wonderful sale, and was soon translated into all the + principal tongues of Europe. Lamartine said: "Her style, + without losing any of its youthful vigor and splendor, seemed + now to be illuminated with more lofty and eternal lights as she + approached the evening of life, and the diviner mysteries of + thought. This style no longer paints, no longer chants; it + adores.... Her name will live as long as literature, as long as + the history of her country."</p> + + <p>Meantime, great changes had taken place in France. Napoleon + had been defeated at Leipsic, leaving a quarter of a million + murdered on his battle-fields; he had abdicated, and was on his + way to Elba. She immediately returned to Paris, with much the + same feeling as Victor Hugo, when he wept as he came from his + long exile under "Napoleon the Little." Again to her + <i>salon</i> came kings and generals, Alexander of Russia, + Wellington, and others.</p> + + <p>But soon Napoleon returned, and she fled to Coppet. He sent + her an invitation to come to Paris, declaring he would now live + for the peace of Europe, but she could not trust him. She saw + her daughter, lovely and beautiful, married to the Duc de + Broglie, a leading statesman, and was happy in her happiness. + Rocca's health was failing, and they repaired to Italy for a + time.</p> + + <p>In 1816 they returned to Paris, Napoleon having gone from + his final defeat to St. Helena. But Madame de Staël was + broken with her trials. She seemed to grow more and more frail, + till the end came. She said frequently, "My father awaits me on + the other shore." To Chateaubriand she said, "I have loved God, + my father, and my country." She could not and would not go to + sleep the last night, for fear she might never look upon Rocca + again. He begged her to sleep and he would awaken her often. + "Good night," she said, and it was forever. She never wakened. + They buried her beside her father at Coppet, under the grand + old trees. Rocca died in seven months, at the age of + thirty-one. "I hoped," he said, "to have died in her arms."</p> + + <p>Her little son, and Rocca's, five years old, was cared for + by Auguste and Albertine, her daughter. After Madame de + Staël's death, her <i>Considerations on the French + Revolution</i> and <i>Ten Years of Exile</i> were published. Of + the former, Sainte-Beuve says: "Its publication was an event. + It was the splendid public obsequies of the authoress. Its + politics were destined to long and passionate discussions and a + durable influence. She is perfect only from this day; the full + influence of her star is only at her tomb."</p> + + <p>Chateaubriand said, "Her death made one of those breaches + which the fall of a superior intellect produces once in an age, + and which can never be closed."</p> + + <p>As kind as she was great, loving deeply and receiving love + in return, she has left an imperishable name. No wonder that + thousands visit that quiet grave beside Lake Geneva.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c11" id="c11"></a> + + <h3>Rosa Bonheur.</h3><a href="images/c11bonheur.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c11bonheur_t.jpg" alt="ROSA BONHEUR." /></a> + + <p>In a simple home in Paris could have been seen, in 1829, + Raymond Bonheur and his little family,--Rosa, seven years old, + August, Isadore, and Juliette. He was a man of fine talent in + painting, but obliged to spend his time in giving + drawing-lessons to support his children. His wife, Sophie, gave + lessons on the piano, going from house to house all day long, + and sometimes sewing half the night, to earn a little more for + the necessities of life.</p> + + <p>Hard work and poverty soon bore its usual fruit, and the + tired young mother died in 1833. The three oldest children were + sent to board with a plain woman, "La mère + Cathérine," in the Champs Elysées, and the + youngest was placed with relatives. For two years this good + woman cared for the children, sending them to school, though + she was greatly troubled because Rosa persisted in playing in + the woods of the Bois de Boulogne, gathering her arms full of + daisies and marigolds, rather than to be shut up in a + schoolroom. "I never spent an hour of fine weather indoors + during the whole of the two years," she has often said since + those days.</p> + + <p>Finally the father married again and brought the children + home. The two boys were placed in school, and M. Bonheur paid + their way by giving drawing lessons three times a week in the + institution. If Rosa did not love school, she must be taught + something useful, and she was accordingly placed in a sewing + establishment to become a seamstress.</p> + + <p>The child hated sewing, ran the needle into her fingers at + every stitch, cried for the fresh air and sunshine, and + finally, becoming pale and sickly, was taken back to the + Bonheur home. The anxious painter would try his child once more + in school; so he arranged that she should attend, with + compensation met in the same way as for his boys. Rosa soon + became a favorite with the girls in the Fauborg St. Antoine + School, especially because she could draw such witty + caricatures of the teachers, which she pasted against the wall, + with bread chewed into the consistency of putty. The teachers + were not pleased, but so struck were they with the vigor and + originality of the drawings, that they carefully preserved the + sketches in an album.</p> + + <p>The girl was far from happy. Naturally sensitive--as what + poet or painter was ever born otherwise?--she could not bear to + wear a calico dress and coarse shoes, and eat with an iron + spoon from a tin cup, when the other girls wore handsome + dresses, and had silver mugs and spoons. She grew melancholy, + neglected her books, and finally became so ill that she was + obliged to be taken home.</p> + + <p>And now Raymond Bonheur very wisely decided not to make + plans for his child for a time, but see what was her natural + tendency. It was well that he made this decision in time, + before she had been spoiled by his well-meant but poor + intentions.</p> + + <p>Left to herself, she constantly hung about her father's + studio, now drawing, now modeling, copying whatever she saw him + do. She seemed never to be tired, but sang at her work all the + day long.</p> + + <p>Monsieur Bonheur suddenly awoke to the fact that his + daughter had great talent. He began to teach her carefully, to + make her accurate in drawing, and correct in perspective. Then + he sent her to the Louvre to copy the works of the old masters. + Here she worked with the greatest industry and enthusiasm, not + observing anything that was going on around her. Said the + director of the Louvre, "I have never seen an example of such + application and such ardor for work."</p> + + <p>One day an elderly English gentleman stopped beside her + easel, and said: "Your copy, my child, is superb, faultless. + Persevere as you have begun, and I prophesy that you will be a + great artist." How glad those few words made her! She went home + thinking over to herself the determination she had made in the + school when she ate with her iron spoon, that sometime she + would be as famous as her schoolmates, and have some of the + comforts of life.</p> + + <p>Her copies of the old masters were soon sold, and though + they brought small prices, she gladly gave the money to her + father, who needed it now more than ever. His second wife had + two sons when he married her, and now they had a third, + Germain, and every cent that Rosa could earn was needed to help + support seven children. "La mamiche," as they called the new + mother, was an excellent manager of the meagre finances, and + filled her place well.</p> + + <p>Rosa was now seventeen, loving landscape, historical, and + genre painting, perhaps equally; but happening to paint a goat, + she was so pleased in the work, that she determined to make + animal painting a specialty. Having no money to procure models, + she must needs make long walks into the country on foot to the + farms. She would take a piece of bread in her pocket, and + generally forget to eat it. After working all day, she would + come home tired, often drenched with rain, and her shoes + covered with mud.</p> + + <p>She took other means to study animals. In the outskirts of + Paris were great <i>abattoirs</i>, or slaughter-pens. Though + the girl tenderly loved animals, and shrank from the sight of + suffering, she forced herself to see the killing, that she + might know how to depict the death agony on canvas. Though + obliged to mingle more or less with drovers and butchers, no + indignity was ever offered her. As she sat on a bundle of hay, + with her colors about her, they would crowd around to look at + the pictures, and regard her with honest pride. The world soon + learns whether a girl is in earnest about her work, and treats + her accordingly.</p> + + <p>The Bonheur family had moved to the sixth story of a + tenement house in the Rue Rumfort, now the Rue Malesherbes. The + sons, Auguste and Isadore, had both become artists; the former + a painter, the latter a sculptor. Even little Juliette was + learning to paint. Rosa was working hard all day at her easel, + and at night was illustrating books, or molding little groups + of animals for the figure-dealers. All the family were happy + despite their poverty, because they had congenial work.</p> + + <p>On the roof, Rosa improvised a sort of garden, with + honeysuckles, sweet-peas, and nasturtiums, and here they kept a + sheep, with long, silky wool, for a model. Very often Isadore + would take him on his back and carry him down the six flights + of stairs,--the day of elevators had not dawned,--and after he + had enjoyed grazing, would bring him back to his garden home. + It was a docile creature, and much loved by the whole family. + For Rosa's birds, the brothers constructed a net, which they + hung outside the window, and then opened the cage into it.</p> + + <p>At nineteen Rosa was to test the world, and see what the + critics would say. She sent to the Fine Arts Exhibition two + pictures, "Goats and Sheep" and "Two Rabbits." The public was + pleased, and the press gave kind notices. The next year + "Animals in a Pasture," a "Cow lying in a Meadow," and a "Horse + for sale," attracted still more attention. Two years later she + exhibited twelve pictures, some from her father and brother + being hung on either side of hers, the first time they had been + admitted. More and more the critics praised, and the pathway of + the Bonheur family grew less thorny.</p> + + <p>Then, in 1849, when she was twenty-seven, came the triumph. + Her magnificent picture, "Cantal Oxen," took the gold medal, + and was purchased by England. Horace Vernet, the president of + the commission of awards, in the midst of a brilliant assembly, + proclaimed the new laureate, and gave her, in behalf of the + government, a superb Sèvres vase.</p> + + <p>Raymond Bonheur seemed to become young again at this fame of + his child. It brought honors to him also, for he was at once + made director of the government school of design for girls. But + the release from poverty and anxiety came too late, and he died + the same year, greatly lamented by his family. "He had grand + ideas," said his daughter, "and had he not been obliged to give + lessons for our support, he would have been more known, and + to-day acknowledged with other masters."</p> + + <p>Rosa was made director in his place, and Juliette became a + professor in the school. This same year appeared her "Plowing + Scene in the Nivernais," now in the Luxembourg Gallery, thought + to be her most important work after her "Horse Fair." Orders + now poured in upon her, so that she could not accede to half + the requests for work. A rich Hollander offered her one + thousand crowns for a painting which she could have wrought in + two hours; but she refused.</p> + + <p>Four years later, after eighteen long months of preparatory + studies, her "Horse Fair" was painted. This created the + greatest enthusiasm both in England and America. It was sold to + a gentleman in England for eight thousand dollars, and was + finally purchased by A. T. Stewart, of New York, for his famous + collection. No one who has seen this picture will ever forget + the action and vigor of these Normandy horses. In painting it, + a petted horse, it is said, stepped back upon the canvas, + putting his hoof through it, thus spoiling the work of + months.</p> + + <p>So greatly was this picture admired, that Napoleon III. was + urged to bestow upon her the Cross of the Legion of Honor, + entitled her from French usage. Though she was invited to the + state dinner at the Tuileries, always given to artists to whom + the Academy of Fine Arts has awarded its highest honors, + Napoleon had not the courage to give it to her, lest public + opinion might not agree with him in conferring it upon a woman. + Possibly he felt, more than the world knew, the insecurity of + his throne.</p> + + <p>Henry Bacon, in the <i>Century</i>, thus describes the way + in which Rosa Bonheur finally received the badge of + distinction. "The Emperor, leaving Paris for a short summer + excursion in 1865, left the Empress as Regent. From the + imperial residence at Fontainebleau it was only a short drive + to By (the home of Mademoiselle Bonheur). The countersign at + the gate was forced, and unannounced, the Empress entered the + studio where Mademoiselle Rosa was at work. She rose to receive + the visitor, who threw her arms about her neck and kissed her. + It was only a short interview. The imperial vision had + departed, the rumble of the carriage and the crack of the + outriders' whips were lost in the distance. Then, and not till + then, did the artist discover that as the Empress had given the + kiss, she had pinned upon her blouse the Cross of the Legion of + Honor." Since then she has received the Leopold Cross of Honor + from the King of Belgium, said to be the first ever conferred + upon a woman; also a decoration from the King of Spain. Her + brother Auguste, now dead, received the Cross of the Legion of + Honor in 1867, two years after Rosa.</p> + + <p>In preparing to paint the "Horse Fair" and other similar + pictures, which have brought her much into the company of men, + she has found it wise to dress in male costume. A laughable + incident is related of this mode of dress. One day when she + returned from the country, she found a messenger awaiting to + announce to her the sudden illness of one of her young friends. + Rosa did not wait to change her male attire, but hastened to + the bedside of the young lady. In a few minutes after her + arrival, the doctor, who had been sent for, entered, and seeing + a young man, as he supposed, seated on the side of the bed, + with his arm round the neck of the sick girl, thought he was an + intruder, and retreated with all possible speed. "Oh! run after + him! He thinks you are my lover, and has gone and left me to + die!" cried the sick girl. Rosa flew down stairs, and soon + returned with the modest doctor.</p> + + <p>She also needs this mannish costume, for her long journeys + over the Pyrenees into Spain or in the Scottish Highlands. She + is always accompanied by her most intimate friend, Mademoiselle + Micas, herself an artist of repute, whose mother, a widow, + superintends the home for the two devoted friends.</p> + + <p>Sometimes in the Pyrenees these two ladies see no one for + six weeks but muleteers with their mules. The people in these + lonely mountain passes live entirely upon the curdled milk of + sheep. Once Rosa Bonheur and her friend were nearly starving, + when Mademoiselle Micas obtained a quantity of frogs, and + covering the hind legs with leaves, roasted them over a fire. + On these they lived for two days.</p> + + <p>In Scotland she painted her exquisite "Denizens of the + Mountains," "Morning in the Highlands," and "Crossing a Loch in + the Highlands." In England she was treated like a princess. Sir + Edwin Landseer, whom some persons thought she would marry, is + reported to have said, when he first looked upon her "Horse + Fair," "It surpasses me, though it's a little hard to be beaten + by a woman." On her return to France she brought a + skye-terrier, named "Wasp," of which she is very fond, and for + which she has learned several English phrases. When she speaks + to him in English, he wags his tail most appreciatively.</p> + + <p>Rosa Bonheur stands at the head of her profession, an + acknowledged master. Her pictures bring enormous sums, and have + brought her wealth. A "View in the Pyrenees" has been sold for + ten thousand dollars, and some others for twice that sum.</p> + + <p>She gives away much of her income. She has been known to + send to the <i>Mont de Pieté</i> her gold medals to + raise funds to assist poor artists. A woman artist, who had + been refused help by several wealthy painters, applied to Rosa + Bonheur, who at once took down from the wall a small but + valuable painting, and gave it to her, from which she received + a goodly sum. A young sculptor who greatly admired her work, + enclosed twenty dollars, asking her for a small drawing, and + saying that this was all the money he possessed. She + immediately sent him a sketch worth at least two hundred + dollars. She has always provided most generously for her + family, and for servants who have grown old in her employ.</p> + + <p>She dresses very simply, always wearing black, brown, or + gray, with a close fitting jacket over a plain skirt. When she + accepts a social invitation, which is very rare, she adorns her + dress with a lace collar, but without other ornament. Her + working dress is usually a long gray linen or blue flannel + blouse, reaching nearly from head to foot. She has learned that + the conventional tight dress of women is not conducive to great + mental or physical power. She is small in stature, with dainty + hands and feet, blue eyes, and a noble and intelligent + face.</p> + + <p>She is an indefatigable worker, rising usually at six in the + morning, and painting throughout the day.</p> + + <p>So busy is she that she seldom permits herself any + amusements. On one occasion she had tickets sent her for the + theatre. She worked till the carriage was announced. "<i>Je + suis prête</i>," said Rosa, and went to the play in her + working dress. A daintily gloved man in the box next to hers + looked over in disdain, and finally went into the vestibule and + found the manager.</p> + + <p>"Who is this woman in the box next to mine?" he said, in a + rage. "She's in an old calico dress, covered with paint and + oil. The odor is terrible. Turn her out. If you do not, I will + never enter your theatre again."</p> + + <p>The manager went to the box, and returning, informed him + that it was the great painter.</p> + + <p>"Rosa Bonheur!" he gasped. "Who'd have thought it? Make my + apology to her. I dare not enter her presence again."</p> + + <p>She usually walks at the twilight, often thinking out new + subjects for her brush, at that quiet hour. She said to a + friend: "I have been a faithful student since I was ten years + old. I have copied no master. I have studied Nature, and + expressed to the best of my ability the ideas and feelings with + which she has inspired me. Art is an absorbent--a tyrant. It + demands heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of the votary. + Nothing less will win its highest favor. I wed art. It is my + husband, my world, my life-dream, the air I breathe. I know + nothing else, feel nothing else, think nothing else, My soul + finds in it the most complete satisfaction.... I have no taste + for general society,--no interest in its frivolities. I only + seek to be known through my works. If the world feel and + understand them, I have succeeded.... If I had got up a + convention to debate the question of my ability to paint + '<i>Marché au Chevaux</i>' [The Horse Fair], for which + England paid me forty thousand francs, the decision would have + been against me. I felt the power within me to paint; I + cultivated it, and have produced works that have won the + favorable verdicts of the great judges. I have no patience with + women who ask <i>permission to think</i>!"</p> + + <p>For years she lived in Rue d'Assas, a retired street half + made up of gardens. Here she had one of the most beautiful + studios of Paris, the room lighted from the ceiling, the walls + covered with paintings, with here and there old armor, + tapestry, hats, cloaks, sandals, and skins of tigers, leopards, + foxes, and oxen on the floor. One Friday, the day on which she + received guests, one of her friends, coming earlier than usual, + found her fast asleep on her favorite skin, that of a + magnificent ox, with stuffed head and spreading horns. She had + come in tired from the School of Design, and had thrown herself + down to rest. Usually after greeting her friends she would say, + "Allow me to resume my brush; we can talk just as well + together." For those who have any great work to do in this + worlds there is little time for visiting; interruptions cannot + be permitted. No wonder Carlyle groaned when some person had + taken two hours of his time. He could better have spared money + to the visitor.</p> + + <p>For several years Rosa Bonheur has lived near Fontainebleau, + in the Chateau By. Henry Bacon says: "The chateau dates from + the time of Louis XV., and the garden is still laid out in the + style of Le Notre. Since it has been in the present + proprietor's possession, a quaint, picturesque brick building, + containing the carriage house and coachman's lodge on the first + floor, and the studio on the second, has been added; the roof + of the main building has been raised, and the chapel changed + into an orangery: beside the main carriage-entrance, which is + closed by iron gates and wooden blinds, is a postern gate, with + a small grated opening, like those found in convents. The + blinds to the gate and the slide to the grating are generally + closed, and the only communication with the outside world is by + the bell-wire, terminating in a ring beside the gate. Ring, and + the jingle of the bell is at once echoed by the barking of + numerous dogs,--the hounds and bassets in chorus, the grand + Saint Bernard in slow measure, like the bass-drum in an + orchestra. After the first excitement among the dogs has begun + to abate, a remarkably small house-pet that has been somewhere + in the interior arrives upon the scene, and with his sharp, + shrill voice again starts and leads the canine chorus. By this + time the eagle in his cage has awakened, and the parrot, whose + cage is built into the corner of the studio looking upon the + street, adds to the racket.</p> + + <p>"Behind the house is a large park divided from the forest by + a high wall; a lawn and flower-beds are laid out near the + buildings; and on the lawn, in pleasant weather, graze a + magnificent bull and cow, which are kept as models. In a wire + enclosure are two chamois from the Pyrenees, and further + removed from the house, in the wooded part of the park, are + enclosures for sheep and deer, each of which knows its + mistress. Even the stag, bearing its six-branched antlers, + receives her caresses like a pet dog. At the end of one of the + linden avenues is a splendid bronze, by Isadore Bonheur, of a + Gaul attacking a lion.</p> + + <p>"The studio is very large, with a huge chimney at one end, + the supports of which are life-size dogs, modeled by Isadore + Bonheur. Portraits of the father and mother in oval frames hang + at each side, and a pair of gigantic horns ornaments the + centre. The room is decorated with stuffed heads of animals of + various kinds,--boars, bears, wolves, and oxen; and birds perch + in every convenient place."</p> + + <p>When Prussia conquered France, and swept through this town, + orders were given that Rosa Bonheur's home and paintings be + carefully preserved. Even her servants went unmolested. The + peasants idolized the great woman who lived in the chateau, and + were eager to serve her. She always talked to them pleasantly. + Rosa Bonheur died at her home at 11 P.M., Thursday, May 25, + 1899.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c12" id="c12"></a> + + <h3>Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</h3><a href= + "images/c12browning.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c12browning_t.jpg" alt= + "Elizabeth Barrett Browning Rome. February. 1859" /></a> + + <p>Ever since I had received in my girlhood, from my best + friend, the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in five + volumes in blue and gold, I had read and re-read the pages, + till I knew scores by heart. I had longed to see the face and + home of her whom the English call "Shakespeare's daughter," and + whom Edmund Clarence Stedman names "the passion-flower of the + century."</p> + + <p>I shall never forget that beautiful July morning spent in + the Browning home in London. The poet-wife had gone out from + it, and lay buried in Florence, but here were her books and her + pictures. Here was a marble bust, the hair clustering about the + face, and a smile on the lips that showed happiness. Near by + was another bust of the idolized only child, of whom she wrote + in <i>Casa Guidi Windows</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "The sun strikes through the windows, up the floor:<br /> + Stand out in it, my own young Florentine, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Not two years old, and let me see thee more!<br /> + It grows along thy amber curls to shine + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Brighter than elsewhere. Now look straight before<br /> + And fix thy brave blue English eyes on mine, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And from thy soul, which fronts the future so<br /> + With unabashed and unabated gaze, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Teach me to hope for what the Angels know<br /> + When they smile clear as thou dost!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>Here was the breakfast-table at which they three had often + sat together. Close beside it hung a picture of the room in + Florence, where she lived so many years in a wedded bliss as + perfect as any known in history. Tears gathered in the eyes of + Robert Browning, as he pointed out her chair, and sofa, and + writing-table.</p> + + <p>Of this room in Casa Guidi, Kate Field wrote in the + <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, September, 1861: "They who have been + so favored can never forget the square ante-room, with its + great picture and piano-forte, at which the boy Browning passed + many an hour; the little dining room covered with tapestry, and + where hung medallions of Tennyson, Carlyle, and Robert + Browning; the long room filled with plaster casts and studies, + which was Mr. Browning's retreat; and, dearest of all, the + large drawing-room, where <i>she</i> always sat. It opens upon + a balcony filled with plants, and looks out upon the old + iron-gray church of Santa Felice. There was something about + this room that seemed to make it a proper and especial haunt + for poets. The dark shadows and subdued light gave it a dreamy + look, which was enhanced by the tapestry-covered walls, and the + old pictures of saints that looked out sadly from their carved + frames of black wood. Large bookcases, constructed of specimens + of Florentine carving selected by Mr. Browning, were brimming + over with wise-looking books. Tables were covered with more + gayly bound volumes, the gifts of brother authors. Dante's + grave profile, a cast of Keats' face and brow taken after + death, a pen-and-ink sketch of Tennyson, the genial face of + John Kenyon, Mrs. Browning's good friend and relative, little + paintings of the boy Browning, all attracted the eye in turn, + and gave rise to a thousand musings. But the glory of all, and + that which sanctified all, was seated in a low armchair near + the door. A small table, strewn with writing materials, books + and newspapers, was always by her side."</p> + + <p>Then Mr. Browning, in the London home, showed us the room + where he writes, containing his library and hers. The books are + on simple shelves, choice, and many very old and rare. Here are + her books, many in Greek and Hebrew. In the Greek, I saw her + notes on the margin in Hebrew, and in the Hebrew she had + written her marginal notes in Greek. Here also are the five + volumes of her writings, in blue and gold.</p> + + <p>The small table at which she wrote still stands beside the + larger where her husband composes. His table is covered with + letters and papers and books; hers stands there unused, because + it is a constant reminder of those companionable years, when + they worked together. Close by hangs a picture of the "young + Florentine," Robert Barrett Browning, now grown to manhood, an + artist already famed. He has a refined face, as he sits in + artist garb, before his easel, sketching in a peasant's house. + The beloved poet who wrote at the little table, is endeared to + all the world. Born in 1809, in the county of Durham, the + daughter of wealthy parents, she passed her early years partly + in the country in Herefordshire, and partly in the city. That + she loved the country with its wild flowers and woods, her + poem, <i>The Lost Bower</i>, plainly shows.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Green the land is where my daily<br /> + Steps in jocund childhood played, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Dimpled close with hill and valley,<br /> + Dappled very close with shade; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Summer-snow of apple-blossoms running up from glade to + glade. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "But the wood, all close and clenching<br /> + Bough in bough and root in root,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + No more sky (for overbranching)<br /> + At your head than at your foot,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Oh, the wood drew me within it, by a glamour past dispute. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "But my childish heart beat stronger<br /> + Than those thickets dared to grow: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + <i>I</i> could pierce them! I could longer<br /> + Travel on, methought, than so. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Sheep for sheep-paths! braver children climb and creep + where they would go. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Tall the linden-tree, and near it<br /> + An old hawthorne also grew; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And wood-ivy like a spirit<br /> + Hovered dimly round the two, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Shaping thence that bower of beauty which I sing of thus to + you. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "And the ivy veined and glossy<br /> + Was enwrought with eglantine; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And the wild hop fibred closely,<br /> + And the large-leaved columbine, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Arch of door and window mullion, did right sylvanly + entwine. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "I have lost--oh, many a pleasure,<br /> + Many a hope, and many a power-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Studious health, and merry leisure,<br /> + The first dew on the first flower! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But the first of all my losses was the losing of the bower. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Is the bower lost then? Who sayeth<br /> + That the bower indeed is lost? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Hark! my spirit in it prayeth<br /> + Through the sunshine and the frost,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And the prayer preserves it greenly, to the last and + uttermost. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Till another open for me<br /> + In God's Eden-land unknown, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + With an angel at the doorway,<br /> + White with gazing at His throne, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And a saint's voice in the palm-trees, singing, 'All is + lost ... and <i>won</i>!'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>Elizabeth Barrett wrote poems at ten, and when seventeen, + published an <i>Essay on Mind, and Other Poems</i>. The essay + was after the manner of Pope, and though showing good knowledge + of Plato and Bacon, did not find favor with the critics. It was + dedicated to her father, who was proud of a daughter who + preferred Latin and Greek to the novels of the day.</p> + + <p>Her teacher was the blind Hugh Stuart Boyd, whom she praises + in her <i>Wine of Cyprus</i>.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Then, what golden hours were for us!--<br /> + While we sate together there; + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Oh, our Aeschylus, the thunderous!<br /> + How he drove the bolted breath + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Through the cloud to wedge it ponderous<br /> + In the gnarlèd oak beneath. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Oh, our Sophocles, the royal,<br /> + Who was born to monarch's place, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And who made the whole world loyal,<br /> + Less by kingly power than grace. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Our Euripides, the human,<br /> + With his droppings of warm tears, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And his touches of things common<br /> + Till they rose to touch the spheres! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Our Theocritus, our Bion,<br /> + And our Pindar's shining goals!-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + These were cup-bearers undying,<br /> + Of the wine that's meant for souls." + </div> + </div> + + <p>More fond of books than of social life, she was laying the + necessary foundation for a noble fame. The lives of Elizabeth + Barrett Browning, George Eliot, and Margaret Fuller, emphasize + the necessity of almost unlimited knowledge, if woman would + reach lasting fame. A great man or woman of letters, without + great scholarship, is well-nigh an impossible thing.</p> + + <p>Nine years after her first book, <i>Prometheus Bound and + Miscellaneous Poems</i> was published in 1835. She was now + twenty-six. A translation from the Greek of Aeschylus by a + woman caused much comment, but like the first book it received + severe criticism. Several years afterward, when she brought her + collected poems before the world, she wrote: "One early + failure, a translation of the <i>Prometheus of Aeschylus</i>, + which, though happily free of the current of publication, may + be remembered against me by a few of my personal friends, I + have replaced here by an entirely new version, made for them + and my conscience, in expiation of a sin of my youth, with the + sincerest application of my mature mind." "This latter + version," says Mr. Stedman, "of a most sublime tragedy is more + poetical than any other of equal correctness, and has the fire + and vigor of a master-hand. No one has succeeded better than + its author in capturing with rhymed measures the wilful rushing + melody of the tragic chorus."</p> + + <p>In 1835 Miss Barrett made the acquaintance of Mary Russell + Mitford, and a life-long friendship resulted. Miss Mitford + says: "She was certainly one of the most interesting persons I + had ever seen. Everybody who then saw her said the same. Of a + slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on + either side of a most expressive face, large tender eyes, + richly fringed by dark eyelashes, a smile like a sunbeam, and + such a look of youthfulness, that I had some difficulty in + persuading a friend, in whose carriage we went together to + Cheswick, that the translatress of the <i>Prometheus of + Aeschylus</i>, the authoress of the <i>Essay on Mind</i>, was + old enough to be introduced into company, in technical + language, was out. We met so constantly and so familiarly that, + in spite of the difference of age, intimacy ripened into + friendship, and after my return into the country, we + corresponded freely and frequently, her letters being just what + letters ought to be,--her own talk put upon paper."</p> + + <p>The next year Miss Barrett, never robust, broke a + blood-vessel in the lungs. For a year she was ill, and then + with her eldest and favorite brother, was carried to Torquay to + try the effect of a warmer climate. After a year spent here, + she greatly improved, and seemed likely to recover her usual + health.</p> + + <p>One beautiful summer morning she went on the balcony to + watch her brother and two other young men who had gone out for + a sail. Having had much experience, and understanding the + coast, they allowed the boatman to return to land. Only a few + minutes out, and in plain sight, as they were crossing the bar, + the boat went down, and the three friends perished. Their + bodies even were never recovered.</p> + + <p>The whole town was in mourning. Posters were put upon every + cliff and public place, offering large rewards "for linen cast + ashore marked with the initials of the beloved dead; for it so + chanced that all the three were of the dearest and the best: + one, an only son; the other, the son of a widow"; but the sea + was forever silent.</p> + + <p>The sister, who had seen her brother sink before her eyes, + was utterly prostrated. She blamed herself for his death, + because he came to Torquay for her comfort. All winter long she + heard the sound of waves ringing in her ears like the moans of + the dying. From this time forward she never mentioned her + brother's name, and later, exacted from Mr. Browning a promise + that the subject should never be broached between them.</p> + + <p>The following year she was removed to London in an invalid + carriage, journeying twenty miles a day. And then for seven + years, in a large darkened room, lying much of the time upon + her couch, and seeing only a few most intimate friends, the + frail woman lived and wrote. Books more than ever became her + solace and joy. Miss Mitford says, "She read almost every book + worth reading, in almost every language, and gave herself heart + and soul to that poetry of which she seem born to be the + priestess." When Dr. Barry urged that she read light books, she + had a small edition of Plato bound so as to resemble a novel, + and the good man was satisfied. She understood her own needs + better than he.</p> + + <p>When she was twenty-nine, she published <i>The Seraphim and + Other Poems</i>. The <i>Seraphim</i> was a reverential + description of two angels watching the Crucifixion. Though the + critics saw much that was strikingly original, they condemned + the frequent obscurity of meaning and irregularity of rhyme. + The next year, <i>The Romaunt of the Page</i> and other ballads + appeared, and in 1844, when she was thirty-five, a complete + edition of her poems, opening with the <i>Drama of Exile</i>. + This was the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, the first + scene representing "the outer side of the gate of Eden shut + fast with cloud, from the depth of which revolves a sword of + fire self-moved. Adam and Eve are seen in the distance flying + along the glare."</p> + + <p>In one of her prefaces she said: "Poetry has been to me as + serious a thing as life itself,--and life has been a + <i>very</i> serious thing; there has been no playing at + skittles for me in either. I never mistook pleasure for the + final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of the poet. I + have done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand and head + work, apart from the personal being, but as the completest + expression of that being to which I could attain,--and as work + I offer it to the public, feeling its shortcomings more deeply + than any of my readers, because measured from the height of my + aspiration; but feeling also that the reverence and sincerity + with which the work was done should give it some protection + from the reverent and sincere."</p> + + <p>While the <i>Drama of Exile</i> received some adverse + criticism, the shorter poems became the delight of thousands. + Who has not held his breath in reading the <i>Rhyme of the + Duchess May</i>?--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "And her head was on his breast, where she smiled as one at + rest,-- + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'Ring,' she cried, 'O vesper-bell, in the beech-wood's old + chapelle!'<br /> + But the passing-bell rings best! + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "They have caught out at the rein, which Sir Guy threw + loose--in vain,-- + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + For the horse in stark despair, with his front hoofs poised + in air, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + On the last verge rears amain. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Now he hangs, he rocks between, and his nostrils curdle + in!-- + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Now he shivers head and hoof, and the flakes of foam fall + off,<br /> + And his face grows fierce and thin! + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "And a look of human woe from his staring eyes did go, + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + <i>Toll slowly</i>. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And a sharp cry uttered he, in a foretold agony of the + headlong death below." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Who can ever forget that immortal <i>Cry of the + Children</i>, which awoke all England to the horrors of + child-labor? That, and Hood's <i>Song of the Shirt</i>, will + never die.</p> + + <p>Who has not read and loved one of the most tender poems in + any language, <i>Bertha in the Lane</i>?--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Yes, and He too! let him stand<br /> + In thy thoughts, untouched by blame. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Could he help it, if my hand<br /> + He had claimed with hasty claim?<br /> + That was wrong perhaps--but then<br /> + Such things be--and will, again.<br /> + Women cannot judge for men. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "And, dear Bertha, let me keep<br /> + On this hand this little ring, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Which at night, when others sleep,<br /> + I can still see glittering.<br /> + Let me wear it out of sight,<br /> + In the grave,--where it will light<br /> + All the Dark up, day and night." + </div> + </div> + + <p>No woman has ever understood better the fulness of love, or + described it more purely and exquisitely.</p> + + <p>One person among the many who had read Miss Barrett's poems, + felt their genius, because he had genius in his own soul, and + that person was Robert Browning. That she admired his poetic + work was shown in <i>Lady Geraldine's Courtship</i>, when + Bertram reads to his lady-love:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "Or at times a modern volume,--Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted + idyl,<br /> + Howitt's ballad verse, or Tennyson's enchanted reverie,<br /> + Or from Browning some <i>Pomegranate</i>, which, if cut deep + down the middle,<br /> + Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity." + </div> + + <p>Mr. Browning determined to meet the unknown singer. Years + later he told the story to Elizabeth C. Kinney, when she had + gone with the happy husband and wife on a day's excursion from + Florence. She says: "Finding that the invalid did not receive + strangers, he wrote her a letter, intense with his desire to + see her. She reluctantly consented to an interview. He flew to + her apartment, was admitted by the nurse, in whose presence + only could he see the deity at whose shrine he had long + worshipped. But the golden opportunity was not to be lost; love + became oblivious to any save the presence of the real of its + ideal. Then and there Robert Browning poured his impassioned + soul into hers; though his tale of love seemed only an + enthusiast's dream. Infirmity had hitherto so hedged her about, + that she deemed herself forever protected from all assaults of + love. Indeed, she felt only injured that a fellow-poet should + take advantage, as it were, of her indulgence in granting him + an interview, and requested him to withdraw from her presence, + not attempting any response to his proposal, which she could + not believe in earnest. Of course, he withdrew from her sight, + but not to withdraw the offer of his heart and hand; on the + contrary, to repeat it by letter, and in such wise as to + convince her how 'dead in earnest' he was. Her own heart, + touched already when she knew it not, was this time fain to + listen, be convinced, and overcome.</p> + + <p>"As a filial daughter, Elizabeth told her father of the + poet's love, and of the poet's love in return, and asked a + parent's blessing to crown their happiness. At first he was + incredulous of the strange story; but when the truth flashed on + him from the new fire in her eyes, he kindled with rage, and + forbade her ever seeing or communicating with her lover again, + on the penalty of disinheritance and banishment forever from a + father's love. This decision was founded on no dislike for Mr. + Browning personally, or anything in him or his family; it was + simply arbitrary. But the new love was stronger than the old in + her,--it conquered." Mr. Barrett never forgave his daughter, + and died unreconciled, which to her was a great grief.</p> + + <p>In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett arose from her sick-bed to marry + the man of her choice, who took her at once to Italy, where she + spent fifteen happy years. At once, love seemed to infuse new + life into the delicate body and renew the saddened heart. She + was thirty-seven. She had wisely waited till she found a person + of congenial tastes and kindred pursuits. Had she married + earlier, it is possible that the cares of life might have + deprived the world of some of her noblest works.</p> + + <p>The marriage was an ideal one. Both had a grand purpose in + life. Neither individual was merged in the other. George S. + Hillard, in his <i>Six Months in Italy</i>, when he visited the + Brownings the year after their marriage, says, "A happier home + and a more perfect union than theirs it is not easy to imagine; + and this completeness arises not only from the rare qualities + which each possesses, but from their perfect adaptation to each + other.... Nor is she more remarkable for genius and learning, + than for sweetness of temper and purity of spirit. It is a + privilege to know such beings singly and separately, but to see + their powers quickened, and their happiness rounded, by the + sacred tie of marriage, is a cause for peculiar and lasting + gratitude. A union so complete as theirs--in which the mind has + nothing to crave nor the heart to sigh for--is cordial to + behold and soothing to remember."</p> + + <p>"Mr. Browning," says one who knew him well, "did not fear to + speak of his wife's genius, which he did almost with awe, + losing himself so entirely in her glory that one could see that + he did not feel worthy to unloose her shoe-latchet, much less + to call her his own."</p> + + <p>When mothers teach their daughters to cultivate their minds + as did Mrs. Browning, as well as to emulate her sweetness of + temper, then will men venerate women for both mental and moral + power. A love that has reverence for its foundation knows no + change.</p> + + <p>"Mrs. Browning's conversation was most interesting. She + never made an insignificant remark. All that she said was + <i>always</i> worth hearing; a greater compliment could not be + paid her. She was a most conscientious listener, giving you her + mind and heart, as well as her magnetic eyes. <i>Persons</i> + were never her theme, unless public characters were under + discussion, or friends were to be praised. One never dreamed of + frivolities in Mrs. Browning's presence, and gossip felt itself + out of place. Yourself, not herself, was always a pleasant + subject to her, calling out all her best sympathies in joy, and + yet more in sorrow. Books and humanity, great deeds, and above + all, politics, which include all the grand questions of the + day, were foremost in her thoughts, and therefore oftenest on + her lips. I speak not of religion, for with her everything was + religion.</p> + + <p>"Thoughtful in the smallest things for others, she seemed to + give little thought to herself. The first to see merit, she was + the last to censure faults, and gave the praise that she felt + with a generous hand. No one so heartily rejoiced at the + success of others, no one was so modest in her own triumphs. + She loved all who offered her affection, and would solace and + advise with any. Mrs. Browning belonged to no particular + country; the world was inscribed upon the banner under which + she fought. Wrong was her enemy; against this she wrestled, in + whatever part of the globe it was to be found."</p> + + <p>Three years after her marriage her only son was born. The + Italians ever after called her "the mother of the beautiful + child." And now some of her ablest and strongest work was done. + Her <i>Casa Guidi Windows</i> appeared in 1851. It is the story + of the struggle for Italian liberty. In the same volume were + published the <i>Portuguese Sonnets</i>, really her own + love-life. It would be difficult to find any thing more + beautiful than these.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "First time he kissed me he but only kissed<br /> + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write,<br /> + And ever since, it grew more clean and white,<br /> + Slow to world-greetings, quick with its 'Oh, list,'<br /> + When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst<br /> + I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,<br /> + Than that first kiss. The second passed in height<br /> + The first, and sought the forehead, and half-missed<br /> + Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!<br /> + That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown<br /> + With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.<br /> + The third upon my lips was folded down<br /> + In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,<br /> + I have been proud and said, 'My love, my own!'<br /> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div>How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,<br /> + I love thee to the depth and breadth and height<br /> + My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight<br /> + For the ends of being and ideal Grace.<br /> + I love thee to the level of every day's<br /> + Most quiet need, by sun and candle light.<br /> + I love thee freely, as men strive for Right,<br /> + I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.<br /> + I love thee with the passion put to use<br /> + In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.<br /> + I love thee with a love I seemed to lose<br /> + With my lost saints--I love thee with the breath,<br /> + Smiles, tears of all my life!--and, if God choose,<br /> + I shall but love thee better after death." + </div> + + <p>Mrs. Browning's next great poem, in 1856, was <i>Aurora + Leigh</i>, a novel in blank verse, "the most mature," she says + in the preface, "of my works, and the one into which my highest + convictions upon Life and Art have entered." Walter Savage + Landor said of it: "In many pages there is the wild imagination + of Shakespeare. I had no idea that any one in this age was + capable of such poetry."</p> + + <p>For fifteen years this happy wedded life, with its work of + brain and hand, had been lived, and now the bond was to be + severed. In June, 1861, Mrs. Browning took a severe cold, and + was ill for nearly a week. No one thought of danger, though Mr. + Browning would not leave her bedside. On the night of June 29, + toward morning she seemed to be in a sort of ecstasy. She told + her husband of her love for him, gave him her blessing, and + raised herself to die in his arms. "It is beautiful," were her + last words as she caught a glimpse of some heavenly vision. On + the evening of July 1, she was buried in the English cemetery, + in the midst of sobbing friends, for who could carry out that + request?--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "And friends, dear friends, when it shall be + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + That this low breath is gone from me,<br /> + And round my bier ye come to weep, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Let one most loving of you all + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Say, 'Not a tear must o'er her fall,--<br /> + He giveth his beloved sleep!'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>The Italians, who loved her, placed on the doorway of Casa + Guidi a white marble tablet, with the words:--</p> + + <p>"<i>Here wrote and died E.B. Browning, who, in the heart of + a woman, united the science of a sage and the spirit of a poet, + and made with her verse a golden ring binding Italy and + England</i>.</p> + + <p>"<i>Grateful Florence placed this memorial, 1861</i>."</p> + + <p>For twenty-five years Robert Browning and his artist-son + have done their work, blessed with the memory of her whom Mr. + Stedman calls "the most inspired woman, so far as known, of all + who have composed in ancient or modern tongues, or flourished + in any land or time."</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c13" id="c13"></a> + + <h3>George Eliot.</h3><a href="images/c13eliot.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c13eliot_t.jpg" alt= + "GEORGE ELIOT--1864." /></a> + + <p>Going to the Exposition at New Orleans, I took for reading + on the journey, the life of George Eliot, by her husband, Mr. + J.W. Cross, written with great delicacy and beauty. An accident + delayed us, so that for three days I enjoyed this insight into + a wonderful life. I copied the amazing list of books she had + read, and transferred to my note-book many of her beautiful + thoughts. To-day I have been reading the book again; a clear, + vivid picture of a very great woman, whose works, says the + <i>Spectator</i>, "are the best specimens of powerful, simple + English, since Shakespeare."</p> + + <p>What made her a superior woman? Not wealthy parentage; not + congenial surroundings. She had a generous, sympathetic heart + for a foundation, and on this she built a scholarship that even + few men can equal. She loved science, and philosophy, and + language, and mathematics, and grew broad enough to discuss + great questions and think great thoughts. And yet she was + affectionate, tender, and gentle.</p> + + <p>Mary Ann Evans was born Nov. 22, 1819, at Arbury Farm, a + mile from Griff, in Warwickshire, England. When four months old + the family moved to Griff, where the girl lived till she was + twenty-one, in a two-story, old-fashioned, red brick house, the + walls covered with ivy. Two Norway firs and an old yew-tree + shaded the lawn. The father, Robert Evans, a man of + intelligence and good sense, was bred a builder and carpenter, + afterward becoming a land-agent for one of the large estates. + The mother was a woman of sterling character, practical and + capable.</p> + + <p>For the three children, Christiana, Isaac, and Mary Ann, + there was little variety in the commonplace life at Griff. + Twice a day the coach from Birmingham to Stamford passed by the + house, and the coachman and guard in scarlet were a great + diversion. She thus describes, the locality in <i>Felix + Holt</i>: "Here were powerful men walking queerly, with knees + bent outward from squatting in the mine, going home to throw + themselves down in their blackened flannel, and sleep through + the daylight, then rise and spend much of their high wages at + the alehouse with their fellows of the Benefit Club; here the + pale, eager faces of handloom weavers, men and women, haggard + from sitting up late at night to finish the week's work, hardly + begun till the Wednesday. Everywhere the cottages and the small + children were dirty, for the languid mothers gave their + strength to the loom."</p> + + <p>Mary Ann was an affectionate, sensitive child, fond of + out-door sports, imitating everything she saw her brother do, + and early in life feeling in her heart that she was to be + "somebody." When but four years old, she would seat herself at + the piano and play, though she did not know one note from + another, that the servant might see that she was a + distinguished person! Her life was a happy one, as is shown in + her <i>Brother and Sister Sonnet</i>:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "But were another childhood's world my share,<br /> + I would be born a little sister there." + </div> + + <p>At five, the mother being in poor health, the child was sent + to a boarding-school with her sister, Chrissy, where she + remained three or four years. The older scholars petted her, + calling her "little mamma." At eight she went to a larger + school, at Nuneaton, where one of the teachers, Miss Lewis, + became her life-long friend. The child had the greatest + fondness for reading, her first book, a <i>Linnet's Life</i>, + being tenderly cared for all her days. <i>Aesop's Fables</i> + were read and re-read. At this time a neighbor had loaned one + of the Waverley novels to the older sister, who returned it + before Mary Ann had finished it. Distressed at this break in + the story, she began to write out as nearly as she could + remember, the whole volume for herself. Her amazed family + re-borrowed the book, and the child was happy. The mother + sometimes protested against the use of so many candles for + night reading, and rightly feared that her eyes would be + spoiled.</p> + + <p>At the next school, at Coventry, Mary Ann so surpassed her + comrades that they stood in awe of her, but managed to overcome + this when a basket of dainties came in from the country home. + In 1836 the excellent mother died. Mary Ann wrote to a friend + in after life, "I began at sixteen to be acquainted with the + unspeakable grief of a last parting, in the death of my + mother." In the following spring Chrissy was married, and after + a good cry with her brother over this breaking up of the home + circle, Mary Ann took upon herself the household duties, and + became the care-taker instead of the school-girl. Although so + young she took a leading part in the benevolent work of the + neighborhood.</p> + + <p>Her love for books increased. She engaged a well-known + teacher to come from Coventry and give her lessons in French, + German, and Italian, while another helped her in music, of + which she was passionately fond. Later, she studied Greek, + Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. Shut up in the farm-house, + hungering for knowledge, she applied herself with a persistency + and earnestness that by-and-by were to bear their legitimate + fruit. That she felt the privation of a collegiate course is + undoubted. She says in <i>Daniel Deronda</i>: "You may try, but + you can never imagine what it is to have a man's force of + genius in you, and yet to suffer the slavery of being a + girl."</p> + + <p>She did not neglect her household duties. One of her hands, + which were noticeable for their beauty of shape, was broader + than the other, which, she used to say with some pride, was + owing to the butter and cheese she had made. At twenty she was + reading the <i>Life of Wilberforce</i>, Josephus' <i>History of + the Jews</i>, Spenser's <i>Faery Queen</i>, <i>Don Quixote</i>, + Milton, Bacon, Mrs. Somerville's <i>Connection of the Physical + Sciences</i>, and Wordsworth. The latter was always an especial + favorite, and his life, by Frederick Myers in the <i>Men of + Letters</i> series, was one of the last books she ever + read.</p> + + <p>Already she was learning the illimitableness of knowledge. + "For my part," she says, "I am ready to sit down and weep at + the impossibility of my understanding or barely knowing a + fraction of the sum of objects that present themselves for our + contemplation in books and in life."</p> + + <p>About this time Mr. Evans left the farm, and moved to + Foleshill, near Coventry. The poor people at Griff were very + sorry, and said, "We shall never have another Mary Ann Evans." + Marian, as she was now called, found at Foleshill a few + intellectual and companionable friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bray, both + authors, and Miss Hennell, their sister.</p> + + <p>Through the influence of these friends she gave up some of + her evangelical views, but she never ceased to be a devoted + student and lover of the Bible. She was happy in her communing + with nature. "Delicious autumn," she said. "My very soul is + wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the + earth, seeking the successive autumns.... I have been revelling + in Nichol's <i>Architecture, of the Heavens and Phenomena of + the Solar System</i>, and have been in imagination winging my + flight from system to system, from universe to universe."</p> + + <p>In 1844, when Miss Evans was twenty-five years old, she + began the translation of Strauss' <i>Life of Jesus</i>. The + lady who was to marry Miss Hennell's brother had partially done + the work, and asked Miss Evans to finish it. For nearly three + years she gave it all the time at her command, receiving only + one hundred dollars for the labor.</p> + + <p>It was a difficult and weary work. "When I can work fast," + she said, "I am never weary, nor do I regret either that the + work has been begun or that I have undertaken it. I am only + inclined to vow that I will never translate again, if I live to + correct the sheets for Strauss." When the book was finished, it + was declared to be "A faithful, elegant, and scholarlike + translation ... word for word, thought for thought, and + sentence for sentence." Strauss himself was delighted with + it.</p> + + <p>The days passed as usual in the quiet home. Now she and her + father, the latter in failing health, visited the Isle of + Wight, and saw beautiful Alum Bay, with its "high precipice, + the strata upheaved perpendicularly in rainbow,--like streaks + of the brightest maize, violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and + brilliant white,--worn by the weather into fantastic fretwork, + the deep blue sky above, and the glorious sea below." Who of us + has not felt this same delight in looking upon this picture, + painted by nature?</p> + + <p>Now Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as other famous people, + visited the Bray family. Miss Evans writes: "I have seen + Emerson,--the first <i>man</i> I have ever seen." High praise + indeed from our "great, calm soul," as he called Miss Evans. "I + am grateful for the Carlyle eulogium (on Emerson). I have shed + some quite delicious tears over it. This is a world worth + abiding in while one man can thus venerate and love + another."</p> + + <p>Each evening she played on the piano to her admiring father, + and finally, through months of illness, carried him down + tenderly to the grave. He died May 31, 1849.</p> + + <p>Worn with care, Miss Evans went upon the Continent with the + Brays, visiting Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, and finally + resting for some months at Geneva'. As her means were limited, + she tried to sell her <i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i> at + half-price, so that she could have money for music lessons, and + to attend a course of lectures on experimental physics, by the + renowned Professor de la Rive. She was also carefully reading + socialistic themes, Proudhon, Rousseau, and others. She wrote + to friends: "The days are really only two hours long, and I + have so many things to do that I go to bed every night + miserable because I have left out something I meant to do.... I + take a dose of mathematics every day to prevent my brain from + becoming quite soft."</p> + + <p>On her return to England, she visited the Brays, and met Mr. + Chapman, the editor of the <i>Westminster Review</i>, and Mr. + Mackay, upon whose <i>Progress of the Intellect</i> she had + just written a review. Mr. Chapman must have been deeply + impressed with the learning and ability of Miss Evans, for he + offered her the position of assistant editor of the + magazine,--a most unusual position for a woman, since its + contributors were Froude, Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and other + able men.</p> + + <p>Miss Evans accepted, and went to board with Mr. Chapman's + family in London. How different this from the quiet life at + Foleshill! The best society, that is, the greatest in mind, + opened wide its doors to her. Herbert Spencer, who had just + published <i>Social Statics</i>, became one of her best + friends. Harriet Martineau came often to see her. Grote was + very friendly.</p> + + <p>The woman-editor was now thirty-two; her massive head + covered with brown curls, blue-gray eyes, mobile, sympathetic + mouth, strong chin, pale face, and soft, low voice, like + Dorothea's in <i>Middlemarch</i>,--"the voice of a soul that + has once lived in an Aeolian harp." Mr. Bray thought that Miss + Evans' head, after that of Napoleon, showed the largest + development from brow to ear of any person's recorded.</p> + + <p>She had extraordinary power of expression, and extraordinary + psychological powers, but her chief attraction was her + universal sympathy. "She essentially resembled Socrates," says + Mathilde Blind, "in her manner of eliciting whatsoever capacity + for thought might be latent in the people she came in contact + with; were it only a shoemaker or day-laborer, she would never + rest till she had found out in what points that particular man + differed from other men of his class. She always rather educed + what was in others than impressed herself on them; showing much + kindliness of heart in drawing out people who were shy. + Sympathy was the keynote of her nature, the source of her + iridescent humor, of her subtle knowledge of character, of her + dramatic genius." No person attains to permanent fame without + sympathy.</p> + + <p>Miss Evans now found her heart and hands full of work. Her + first article was a review of Carlyle's <i>Life of John + Sterling</i>. She was fond of biography. She said: "We have + often wished that genius would incline itself more frequently + to the task of the biographer, that when some great or good + person dies, instead of the dreary three-or-five volume + compilation of letter and diary and detail, little to the + purpose, which two-thirds of the public have not the chance, + nor the other third the inclination, to read, we could have a + real 'life,' setting forth briefly and vividly the man's inward + and outward struggles, aims, and achievements, so as to make + clear the meaning which his experience has for his fellows.</p> + + <p>"A few such lives (chiefly autobiographies) the world + possesses, and they have, perhaps, been more influential on the + formation of character than any other kind of reading.... It is + a help to read such a life as Margaret Fuller's. How + inexpressibly touching that passage from her journal, 'I shall + always reign through the intellect, but the life! the life! O + my God! shall that never be sweet?' I am thankful, as if for + myself, that it was sweet at last."</p> + + <p>The great minds which Miss Evans met made life a constant + joy, though she was frail in health. Now Herbert Spencer took + her to hear <i>William Tell</i> or the <i>Creation</i>. She + wrote of him: "We have agreed that we are not in love with each + other, and that there is no reason why we should not have as + much of each other's society as we like. He is a good, + delightful creature, and I always feel better for being with + him.... My brightest spot, next to my love of <i>old</i> + friends, is the deliciously calm, <i>new</i> friendship that + Herbert Spencer gives me. We see each other every day, and have + a delightful <i>camaraderie</i> in everything. But for him my + life would be desolate enough."</p> + + <p>There is no telling what this happy friendship might have + resulted in, if Mr. Spencer had not introduced to Miss Evans, + George Henry Lewes, a man of brilliant conversational powers, + who had written a <i>History of Philosophy</i>, two novels, + <i>Ranthorpe</i>, and <i>Rose, Blanche, and Violet</i>, and was + a contributor to several reviews. Mr. Lewes was a witty and + versatile man, a dramatic critic, an actor for a short time, + unsuccessful as an editor of a newspaper, and unsuccessful in + his domestic relations.</p> + + <p>That he loved Miss Evans is not strange; that she admired + him, while she pitied him and his three sons in their broken + home-life, is perhaps not strange. At first she did not like + him, nor did Margaret Fuller, but Miss Evans says: "Mr. Lewes + is kind and attentive, and has quite won my regard, after + having had a good deal of my vituperation. Like a few other + people in the world, he is much better than he seems. A man of + heart and conscience wearing a mask of flippancy."</p> + + <p>Miss Evans tired of her hard work, as who does not in this + working world? "I am bothered to death," she writes, "with + article-reading and scrap-work of all sorts; it is clear my + poor head will never produce anything under these + circumstances; <i>but I am patient</i>.... I had a long call + from George Combe yesterday. He says he thinks the + <i>Westminster</i> under <i>my</i> management the most + important means of enlightenment of a literary nature in + existence; the <i>Edinburgh</i>, under Jeffrey, nothing to it, + etc. I wish <i>I</i> thought so too."</p> + + <p>Sick with continued headaches, she went up to the English + lakes to visit Miss Martineau. The coach, at half-past six in + the evening, stopped at "The Knoll," and a beaming face came to + welcome her. During the evening, she says, "Miss Martineau came + behind me, put her hands round me, and kissed me in the + prettiest way, telling me she was so glad she had got me + here."</p> + + <p>Meantime Miss Evans was writing learned and valuable + articles on <i>Taxation, Woman in France, Evangelical + Teaching</i>, etc. She received five hundred dollars yearly + from her father's estate, but she lived simply, that she might + spend much of this for poor relations.</p> + + <p>In 1854 she resigned her position on the <i>Westminster</i>, + and went with Mr. Lewes to Germany, forming a union which + thousands who love her must regard as the great mistake of a + very great life.</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes was collecting materials for his <i>Life of + Goethe</i>. This took them to Goethe's home at Weimar. "By the + side of the bed," she says, "stands a stuffed chair where he + used to sit and read while he drank his coffee in the morning. + It was not until very late in his life that he adopted the + luxury of an armchair. From the other side of the study one + enters the library, which is fitted up in a very make-shift + fashion, with rough deal shelves, and bits of paper, with + Philosophy, History, etc., written on them, to mark the + classification of the books. Among such memorials one breathes + deeply, and the tears rush to one's eyes."</p> + + <p>George Eliot met Liszt, and "for the first time in her life + beheld real inspiration,--for the first time heard the true + tones of the piano." Rauch, the great sculptor, called upon + them, and "won our hearts by his beautiful person and the + benignant and intelligent charm of his conversation."</p> + + <p>Both writers were hard at work. George Eliot was writing an + article on <i>Weimar</i> for <i>Fraser</i>, on <i>Cumming</i> + for <i>Westminster</i>, and translating Spinoza's + <i>Ethics</i>. No name was signed to these productions, as it + would not do to have it known that a woman wrote them. The + education of most women was so meagre that the articles would + have been considered of little value. Happily Girton and + Newnham colleges are changing this estimate of the sex. Women + do not like to be regarded as inferior; then they must educate + themselves as thoroughly as the best men are educated.</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes was not well. "This is a terrible trial to us poor + scribblers," she writes, "to whom health is money, as well as + all other things worth having." They had but one sitting-room + between them, and the scratching of another pen so affected her + nerves, as to drive her nearly wild. Pecuniarily, life was a + harder struggle than ever, for there were four more mouths to + be fed,--Mr. Lewes' three sons and their mother.</p> + + <p>"Our life is intensely occupied, and the days are far too + short," she writes. They were reading in every spare moment, + twelve plays of Shakespeare, Goethe's works, <i>Wilhelm + Meister, Götz von Berlichingen, Hermann and Dorothea, + Iphigenia, Wanderjahre, Italianische Reise</i>, and others; + Heine's poems; Lessing's <i>Laocoön</i> and <i>Nathan the + Wise</i>; Macaulay's <i>History of England</i>; Moore's <i>Life + of Sheridan</i>; Brougham's <i>Lives of Men of Letters</i>; + White's <i>History of Selborne</i>; Whewell's <i>History of + Inductive Sciences</i>; Boswell; Carpenter's <i>Comparative + Physiology</i>; Jones' <i>Animal Kingdom</i>; Alison's + <i>History of Europe</i>; Kahnis' <i>History of German + Protestantism</i>; Schrader's <i>German Mythology</i>; + Kingsley's <i>Greek Heroes</i>; and the <i>Iliad</i> and + <i>Odyssey</i> in the original. She says, "If you want + delightful reading, get Lowell's <i>My Study Windows</i>, and + read the essays called <i>My Garden Acquaintances</i> and + <i>Winter</i>." No wonder they were busy.</p> + + <p>On their return from Germany they went to the sea-shore, + that Mr. Lewes might perfect his <i>Sea-side Studies</i>. + George Eliot entered heartily into the work. "We were immensely + excited," she says, "by the discovery of this little red + mesembryanthemum. It was a <i>crescendo</i> of delight when we + found a 'strawberry,' and a <i>fortissimo</i> when I, for the + first time, saw the pale, fawn-colored tentacles of an + <i>Anthea cereus</i> viciously waving like little serpents in a + low-tide pool." They read here Gosse's <i>Rambles on the + Devonshire Coast</i>, Edward's <i>Zoology</i>, Harvey's + sea-side book, and other scientific works.</p> + + <p>And now at thirty-seven George Eliot was to begin her + creative work. Mr. Lewes had often said to her, "You have wit, + description, and philosophy--those go a good way towards the + production of a novel." "It had always been a vague dream of + mine," she says, "that sometime or other I might write a novel + ... but I never went further toward the actual writing than an + introductory chapter, describing a Staffordshire village, and + the life of the neighboring farm-houses; and as the years + passed on I lost any hope that. I should ever be able to write + a novel, just as I desponded about everything else in my future + life. I always thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both + of construction and dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease + in the descriptive parts."</p> + + <p>After she had written a portion of <i>Amos Barton</i> in her + <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i>, she read it to Mr. Lewes, who + told her that now he was sure she could write good dialogue, + but not as yet sure about her pathos. One evening, in his + absence, she wrote the scene describing Milly's death, and read + it to Mr. Lewes, on his return. "We both cried over it," she + says, "and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying, 'I + think your pathos is better than your fun!'"</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes sent the story to Blackwood, with the signature of + "George Eliot,"--the first name chosen because it was his own + name, and the last because it pleased her fancy. Mr. Lewes + wrote that this story by a friend of his, showed, according to + his judgment, "such humor, pathos, vivid presentation, and nice + observation as have not been exhibited, in this style, since + the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>."</p> + + <p>Mr. John Blackwood accepted the story, but made some + comments which discouraged the author from trying another. Mr. + Lewes wrote him the effects of his words, which he hastened to + withdraw, as there was so much to be said in praise that he + really desired more stories from the same pen, and sent her a + check for two hundred and fifty dollars.</p> + + <p>This was evidently soothing, as <i>Mr. Gilfil's Love + Story</i> and <i>Janet's Repentance</i> were at once written. + Much interest began to be expressed about the author. Some said + Bulwer wrote the sketches. Thackeray praised them, and Arthur + Helps said, "He is a great writer." Copies of the stories bound + together, with the title <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i>, were + sent to Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Ruskin, and + Faraday. Dickens praised the humor and the pathos, and thought + the author was a woman.</p> + + <p>Jane Welch Carlyle thought it "a <i>human</i> book, written + out of the heart of a live man, not merely out of the brain of + an author, full of tenderness and pathos, without a scrap of + sentimentality, of sense without dogmatism, of earnestness + without twaddle--a book that makes one feel friends at once and + for always with the man or woman who wrote it." She guessed the + author was "a man of middle age, with a wife, from whom he has + got those beautiful <i>feminine</i> touches in his book, a good + many children, and a dog that he has as much fondness for as I + have for my little Nero."</p> + + <p>Mr. Lewes was delighted, and said, "Her fame is beginning." + George Eliot was growing happier, for her nature had been + somewhat despondent. She used to say, "Expecting + disappointments is the only form of hope with which I am + familiar." She said, "I feel a deep satisfaction in having done + a bit of faithful work that will perhaps remain, like a + primrose-root in the hedgerow, and gladden and chasten human + hearts in years to come." "'Conscience goes to the hammering in + of nails' is my gospel," she would say. "Writing is part of my + religion, and I can write no word that is not prompted from + within. At the same time I believe that almost all the best + books in the world have been written with the hope of getting + money for them."</p> + + <p>"My life has deepened unspeakably during the last year: I + feel a greater capacity for moral and intellectual enjoyment, a + more acute sense of my deficiencies in the past, a more solemn + desire to be faithful to coming duties."</p> + + <p>For <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i> she received six hundred + dollars for the first edition, and much more after her other + books appeared.</p> + + <p>And now another work, a longer one, was growing in her mind, + <i>Adam Bede</i>, the germ of which, she says, was an anecdote + told her by her aunt, Elizabeth Evans, the Dinah Morris of the + book. A very ignorant girl had murdered her child, and refused + to confess it. Mrs. Evans, who was a Methodist preacher, stayed + with her all night, praying with her, and at last she burst + into tears and confessed her crime. Mrs. Evans went with her in + the cart to the place of execution, and ministered to the + unhappy girl till death came.</p> + + <p>When the first pages of <i>Adam Bede</i> were shown to Mr. + Blackwood, he said, "That will do." George Eliot and Mr. Lewes + went to Munich, Dresden, and Vienna for rest and change, and + she prepared much of the book in this time. When it was + finished, she wrote on the manuscript, <i>Jubilate</i>. "To my + dear husband, George Henry Lewes, I give the Ms. of a work + which would never have been written but for the happiness which + his love has conferred on my life."</p> + + <p>For this novel she received four thousand dollars for the + copyright for four years. Fame had actually come. All the + literary world were talking about it. John Murray said there + had never been such a book. Charles Reade said, putting his + finger on Lisbeth's account of her coming home with her husband + from their marriage, "the finest thing since Shakespeare." A + workingman wrote: "Forgive me, dear sir, my boldness in asking + you to give us a cheap edition. You would confer on us a great + boon. I can get plenty of trash for a few pence, but I am sick + of it." Mr. Charles Buxton said, in the House of Commons: "As + the farmer's wife says in <i>Adam Bede</i>, 'It wants to be + hatched over again and hatched different.'" This of course + greatly helped to popularize the book.</p> + + <p>To George Eliot all this was cause for the deepest + gratitude. They were able now to rent a home at Wandworth, and + move to it at once. The poverty and the drudgery of life seemed + over. She said: "I sing my magnificat in a quiet way, and have + a great deal of deep, silent joy; but few authors, I suppose, + who have had a real success, have known less of the flush and + the sensations of triumph that are talked of as the + accompaniments of success. I often think of my dreams when I + was four or five and twenty. I thought then how happy fame + would make me.... I am assured now that <i>Adam Bede</i> was + worth writing,--worth living through those long years to write. + But now it seems impossible that I shall ever write anything so + good and true again." Up to this time the world did not know + who George Eliot was; but as a man by the name of Liggins laid + claim to the authorship, and tried to borrow money for his + needs because Blackwood would not pay him, the real name of the + author had to be divulged.</p> + + <p>Five thousand copies of <i>Adam Bede</i> were sold the first + two weeks, and sixteen thousand the first year. So excellent + was the sale that Mr. Blackwood sent her four thousand dollars + in addition to the first four. The work was soon translated + into French, German, and Hungarian. Mr. Lewes' <i>Physiology of + Common Life</i> was now published, but it brought little + pecuniary return.</p> + + <p>The reading was carried on as usual by the two students. The + <i>Life of George Stephenson</i>; the <i>Electra</i> of + Sophocles; the <i>Agamemnon</i> of Aeschylus, Harriet + Martineau's <i>British Empire in India</i>; and <i>History of + the Thirty Years' Peace</i>; Béranger, <i>Modern + Painters</i>, containing some of the finest writing of the age; + Overbech on Greek art; Anna Mary Howitt's book on Munich; + Carlyle's <i>Life of Frederick the Great</i>; Darwin's + <i>Origin of Species</i>; Emerson's <i>Man the Reformer</i>, + "which comes to me with fresh beauty and meaning"; Buckle's + <i>History of Civilization</i>; Plato and Aristotle.</p> + + <p>An American publisher now offered her six thousand dollars + for a book, but she was obliged to decline, for she was writing + the <i>Mill on the Floss</i>, in 1860, for which Blackwood gave + her ten thousand dollars for the first edition of four thousand + copies, and Harper & Brothers fifteen hundred dollars for + using it also. Tauchnitz paid her five hundred for the German + reprint.</p> + + <p>She said: "I am grateful and yet rather sad to have + finished; sad that I shall live with my people on the banks of + the Floss no longer. But it is time that I should go, and + absorb some new life and gather fresh ideas." They went at once + to Italy, where they spent several months in Florence, Venice, + and Rome.</p> + + <p>In the former city she made her studies for her great novel, + <i>Romola</i>. She read Sismondi's <i>History of the Italian + Republics</i>, Tenneman's <i>History of Philosophy</i>, T.A. + Trollope's <i>Beata</i>, Hallam on the <i>Study of Roman Law in + the Middle Ages</i>, Gibbon on the <i>Revival of Greek + Learning</i>, Burlamachi's <i>Life of Savonarola</i>; also + Villari's life of the great preacher, Mrs. Jameson's <i>Sacred + and Legendary Art</i>, Machiavelli's works, Petrarch's Letters, + <i>Casa Guidi Windows</i>, Buhle's <i>History of Modern + Philosophy</i>, Story's <i>Roba di Roma</i>, Liddell's + <i>Rome</i>, Gibbon, Mosheim, and one might almost say the + whole range of Italian literature in the original. Of Mommsen's + <i>History of Rome</i> she said, "It is so fine that I count + all minds graceless who read it without the deepest + stirrings."</p> + + <p>The study necessary to make one familiar with fifteenth + century times was almost limitless. No wonder she told Mr. + Cross, years afterward, "I began <i>Romola</i> a young woman, I + finished it an old woman"; but that, with <i>Adam Bede</i> and + <i>Middlemarch</i>, will be her monument. "What courage and + patience," she says, "are wanted for every life that aims to + produce anything!" "In authorship I hold carelessness to be a + mortal sin." "I took unspeakable pains in preparing to write + <i>Romola</i>."</p> + + <p>For this one book, on which she spent a year and a half, + <i>Cornhill Magazine</i> paid her the small fortune of + thirty-five thousand dollars. She purchased a pleasant home, + "The Priory," Regent's Park, where she made her friends + welcome, though she never made calls upon any, for lack of + time. She had found, like Victor Hugo, that time is a very + precious thing for those who wish to succeed in life. Browning, + Huxley, and Herbert Spencer often came to dine.</p> + + <p>Says Mr. Cross, in his admirable life: "The entertainment + was frequently varied by music when any good performer happened + to be present. I think, however, that the majority of visitors + delighted chiefly to come for the chance of a few words with + George Eliot alone. When the drawing-room door of the Priory + opened, a first glance revealed her always in the same low + arm-chair on the left-hand side of the fire. On entering, a + visitor's eye was at once arrested by the massive head. The + abundant hair, streaked with gray now, was draped with lace, + arranged mantilla fashion, coming to a point at the top of the + forehead. If she were engaged in conversation, her body was + usually bent forward with eager, anxious desire to get as close + as possible to the person with whom she talked. She had a great + dislike to raising her voice, and often became so wholly + absorbed in conversation that the announcement of an in-coming + visitor failed to attract her attention; but the moment the + eyes were lifted up, and recognized a friend, they smiled a + rare welcome--sincere, cordial, grave--a welcome that was felt + to come straight from the heart, not graduated according to any + social distinction."</p> + + <p>After much reading of Fawcett, Mill, and other writers on + political economy, <i>Felix Holt</i> was written, in 1866, and + for this she received from Blackwood twenty-five thousand + dollars.</p> + + <p>Very much worn with her work, though Mr. Lewes relieved her + in every way possible, by writing letters and looking over all + criticisms of her books, which she never read, she was obliged + to go to Germany for rest.</p> + + <p>In 1868 she published her long poem, <i>The Spanish + Gypsy</i>, reading Spanish literature carefully, and finally + passing some time in Spain, that she might be the better able + to make a lasting work. Had she given her life to poetry, + doubtless she would have been a great poet.</p> + + <p><i>Silas Marner</i>, written before <i>Romola</i>, in 1861, + had been well received, and <i>Middlemarch</i>, in 1872, made a + great sensation. It was translated into several languages. + George Bancroft wrote her from Berlin that everybody was + reading it. For this she received a much larger sum than the + thirty-five thousand which she was paid for <i>Romola</i>.</p> + + <p>A home was now purchased in Surrey, with eight or nine acres + of pleasure grounds, for George Eliot had always longed for + trees and flowers about her house. "Sunlight and sweet air," + she said, "make a new creature of me." <i>Daniel Deronda</i> + followed in 1876, for which, it is said, she read nearly a + thousand volumes. Whether this be true or not, the list of + books given in her life, of her reading in these later years, + is as astonishing as it is helpful for any who desire real + knowledge.</p> + + <p>At Witley, in Surrey, they lived a quiet life, seeing only a + few friends like the Tennysons, the Du Mauriers, and Sir Henry + and Lady Holland. Both were growing older, and Mr. Lewes was in + very poor health. Finally, after a ten days' illness, he died, + Nov. 28, 1878.</p> + + <p>To George Eliot this loss was immeasurable. She needed his + help and his affection. She said, "I like not only to be loved, + but also to be told that I am loved," and he had idolized her. + He said: "I owe Spencer a debt of gratitude. It was through him + that I learned to know Marian,--to know her was to love her, + and since then, my life has been a new birth. To her I owe all + my prosperity and all my happiness. God bless her!"</p> + + <p>Mr. John Walter Cross, for some time a wealthy banker in New + York, had long been a friend of the family, and though many + years younger than George Eliot, became her helper in these + days of need. A George Henry Lewes studentship, of the value of + one thousand dollars yearly, was to be given to Cambridge for + some worthy student of either sex, in memory of the man she had + loved. "I want to live a little time that I may do certain + things for his sake," she said. She grew despondent, and the + Cross family used every means to win her away from her + sorrow.</p> + + <p>Mr. Cross' mother, to whom he was devotedly attached, had + also died, and the loneliness of both made their companionship + more comforting. They read Dante together in the original, and + gradually the younger man found that his heart was deeply + interested. It was the higher kind of love, the honor of mind + for mind and soul for soul.</p> + + <p>"I shall be," she said, "a better, more loving creature than + I could have been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly + grateful for this gift of a perfect love is the best + illumination of one's mind to all the possible good there may + be in store for man on this troublous little planet."</p> + + <p>Mr. Cross and George Eliot were married, May 6, 1880, a year + and a half after Mr. Lewes' death, his son Charles giving her + away, and went at once to Italy. She wrote: "Marriage has + seemed to restore me to my old self.... To feel daily the + loveliness of a nature close to me, and to feel grateful for + it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength to endure." + Having passed through a severe illness, she wrote to a friend: + "I have been cared for by something much better than angelic + tenderness.... If it is any good for me that my life has been + prolonged till now, I believe it is owing to this miraculous + affection that has chosen to watch over me."</p> + + <p>She did not forget Mr. Lewes. In looking upon the Grande + Chartreuse, she said, "I would still give up my own life + willingly, if he could have the happiness instead of me."</p> + + <p>On their return to London, they made their winter home at 4 + Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, a plain brick house. The days were + gliding by happily. George Eliot was interested as ever in all + great subjects, giving five hundred dollars for woman's higher + education at Girton College, and helping many a struggling + author, or providing for some poor friend of early times who + was proud to be remembered.</p> + + <p>She and Mr. Cross began their reading for the day with the + Bible, she especially enjoying Isaiah, Jeremiah, and St. Paul's + Epistles. Then they read Max Muller's works, Shakespeare, + Milton, Scott, and whatever was best in English, French, and + German literature. Milton she called her demigod. Her husband + says she had "a limitless persistency in application." Her + health was better, and she gave promise of doing more great + work. When urged to write her autobiography, she said, half + sighing and half smiling: "The only thing I should care much to + dwell on would be the absolute despair I suffered from, of ever + being able to achieve anything. No one could ever have felt + greater despair, and a knowledge of this might be a help to + some other struggler."</p> + + <p>Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, she went to see <i>Agamemnon</i> + performed in Greek by Oxford students, and the next afternoon + to a concert at St. James Hall. She took cold, and on Monday + was treated for sore throat. On Wednesday evening the doctors + came, and she whispered to her husband, "Tell them I have great + pain in the left side." This was the last word. She died with + every faculty bright, and her heart responsive to all noble + things.</p> + + <p>She loved knowledge to the end. She said, "My constant groan + is that I must leave so much of the greatest writing which the + centuries have sifted for me, unread for want of time."</p> + + <p>She had the broadest charity for those whose views differed + from hers. She said, "The best lesson of tolerance we have to + learn, is to tolerate intolerance." She hoped for and "looked + forward to the time when the impulse to help our fellows shall + be as immediate and as irresistible as that which I feel to + grasp something firm if I am falling."</p> + + <p>One Sunday afternoon I went to her grave in Highgate + Cemetery, London. A gray granite shaft, about twenty-five feet + high, stands above it, with these beautiful words from her + great poem:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + "O may I join the choir invisible,<br /> + Of those immortal dead who live again<br /> + In minds made better by their presence." + </div> + + <p>HERE LIES THE BODY<br /> + OF<br /> + GEORGE ELIOT,<br /> + MARY ANN CROSS.<br /> + <br /> + BORN, 22d NOVEMBER, 1819;<br /> + DIED, 22d DECEMBER, 1880.</p> + + <p>A stone coping is around this grave, and bouquets of yellow + crocuses and hyacinths lie upon it. Next to her grave is a + horizontal slab, with the name of George Henry Lewes upon the + stone.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c14" id="c14"></a> + + <h3>Elizabeth Fry.</h3><a href="images/c14fry.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c14fry_t.jpg" alt= + "My attached and obliged friend Elizabeth Fry" /></a> + + <p>When a woman of beauty, great wealth, and the highest social + position, devotes her life to the lifting of the lowly and the + criminal, and preaches the Gospel from the north of Scotland to + the south of France, it is not strange that the world admires, + and that books are written in praise of her. Unselfishness + makes a rare and radiant life, and this was the crowning beauty + of the life of Elizabeth Fry.</p> + + <p>Born in Norwich, England, May 21, 1780, Elizabeth was the + third daughter of Mr. John Gurney, a wealthy London merchant. + Mrs. Gurney, the mother, a descendant of the Barclays of Ury, + was a woman of much personal beauty, singularly intellectual + for those times, making her home a place where literary and + scientific people loved to gather.</p> + + <p>Elizabeth wellnigh idolized her mother, and used often to + cry after going to bed, lest death should take away the + precious parent. In the daytime, when the mother, not very + robust, would sometimes lie down to rest, the child would creep + to the bedside and watch tenderly and anxiously, to see if she + were breathing. Well might Mrs. Gurney say,</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"My dove-like Betsy scarcely ever offends, and is, in + every sense of the word, truly engaging."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>Mrs. Fry wrote years afterward: "My mother was most dear to + me, and the walks she took with me in the old-fashioned garden + are as fresh with me as if only just passed, and her telling me + about Adam and Eve being driven out of Paradise. I always + considered it must be just like our garden.... I remember with + pleasure my mother's beds of wild flowers, which, with delight, + I used as a child to attend with her; it gave me that pleasure + in observing their beauties and varieties that, though I never + have had time to become a botanist, few can imagine, in my many + journeys, how I have been pleased and refreshed by observing + and enjoying the wild flowers on my way."</p> + + <p>The home, Earlham Hall, was one of much beauty and elegance, + a seat of the Bacon family. The large house stood in the centre + of a well-wooded park, the river Wensum flowing through it. On + the south front of the house was a large lawn, flanked by great + trees, underneath which wild flowers grew in profusion. The + views about the house were so artistic that artists often came + there to sketch.</p> + + <p>In this restful and happy home, after a brief illness, Mrs. + Gurney died in early womanhood, leaving eleven children, all + young, the smallest but two years old. Elizabeth was twelve, + old enough to feel the irreparable loss. To the day of her + death the memory of this time was extremely sad.</p> + + <p>She was a nervous and sensitive child, afraid of the dark, + begging that a light be left in her room, and equally afraid to + bathe in the sea. Her feelings were regarded as the whims of a + child, and her nervous system was injured in consequence. She + always felt the lack of wisdom in "hardening" children, and + said, "I am now of opinion that my fear would have been much + more subdued, and great suffering spared, by its having been + still more yielded to: by having a light left in my room, not + being long left alone, and never forced to bathe."</p> + + <p>After her marriage she guided her children rather than + attempt "to break their wills," and lived to see happy results + from the good sense and Christian principle involved in such + guiding. In her prison work she used the least possible + governing, winning control by kindness and gentleness.</p> + + <p>Elizabeth grew to young womanhood, with pleasing manners, + slight and graceful in body, with a profusion of soft flaxen + hair, and a bright, intelligent face. Her mind was quick, + penetrating, and original. She was a skilful rider on + horseback, and made a fine impression in her scarlet + riding-habit, for, while her family were Quakers, they did not + adopt the gray dress.</p> + + <p>She was attractive in society and much admired. She writes + in her journal: "Company at dinner; I must beware of not being + a flirt, it is an abominable character; I hope I shall never be + one, and yet I fear I am one now a little.... I think I am by + degrees losing many excellent qualities. I lay it to my great + love of gayety, and the world.... I am now seventeen, and if + some kind and great circumstance does not happen to me, I shall + have my talents devoured by moth and rust. They will lose their + brightness, and one day they will prove a curse instead of a + blessing."</p> + + <p>Before she was eighteen, William Savery, an American friend, + came to England to spend two years in the British Isles, + preaching. The seven beautiful Gurney sisters went to hear him, + and sat on the front seat, Elizabeth, "with her smart boots, + purple, laced with scarlet."</p> + + <p>As the preacher proceeded, she was greatly moved, weeping + during the service, and nearly all the way home. She had been + thrown much among those who were Deists in thought, and this + gospel-message seemed a revelation to her.</p> + + <p>The next morning Mr. Savery came to Earlham Hall to + breakfast. "From this day," say her daughters, in their + interesting memoir of their mother, "her love of pleasure and + the world seemed gone." She, herself, said, in her last + illness, "Since my heart was touched, at the age of seventeen, + I believe I never have awakened from sleep, in sickness or in + health, by day or by night, without my first waking thought + being, how best I might serve my Lord."</p> + + <p>Soon after she visited London, that she might, as she said, + "try all things" and choose for herself what appeared to her + "to be good." She wrote:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"I went to Drury Lane in the evening. I must own I was + extremely disappointed; to be sure, the house is grand and + dazzling; but I had no other feeling whilst there than that + of wishing it over.... I called on Mrs. Siddons, who was not + at home; then on Mrs. Twiss, who gave me some paint for the + evening. I was painted a little, I had my hair dressed, and + did look pretty for me."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>On her return to Earlham Hall she found that the London + pleasure had not been satisfying. She says, "I wholly gave up + on my own ground, attending all places of public amusement; I + saw they tended to promote evil; therefore, if I could attend + them without being hurt myself, I felt in entering them I lent + my aid to promote that which I was sure from what I saw hurt + others."</p> + + <p>She was also much exercised about dancing, thinking, while + "in a family, it may be of use by the bodily exercise," that + "the more the pleasures of life are given up, the less we love + the world, and our hearts will be set upon better things."</p> + + <p>The heretofore fashionable young girl began to visit the + poor and the sick in the neighborhood, and at last decided to + open a school for poor children. Only one boy came at first; + but soon she had seventy. She lost none of her good cheer and + charming manner, but rather grew more charming. She cultivated + her mind as well, reading logic,--Watts on Judgment, Lavater, + etc.</p> + + <p>The rules of life which she wrote for herself at eighteen + are worth copying: "First,--Never lose any time; I do not think + that lost which is spent in amusement or recreation some time + every day; but always be in the habit of being employed. + Second,--Never err the least in truth. Third,--Never say an ill + thing of a person when I can say a good thing of him; not only + speak charitably, but feel so. Fourth,--Never be irritable or + unkind to anybody. Fifth,--Never indulge myself in luxuries + that are not necessary. Sixth,--Do all things with + consideration, and when my path to act right is most difficult, + put confidence in that Power alone which is able to assist me, + and exert my own powers as far as they go."</p> + + <p>Gradually she laid aside all jewelry, then began to dress in + quiet colors, and finally adopted the Quaker garb, feeling that + she could do more good in it. At first her course did not + altogether please her family, but they lived to idolize and + bless her for her doings, and to thankfully enjoy her worldwide + fame.</p> + + <p>At twenty she received an offer of marriage from a wealthy + London merchant, Mr. Joseph Fry. She hesitated for some time, + lest her active duties in the church should conflict with the + cares of a home of her own. She said, "My most anxious wish is, + that I may not hinder my spiritual welfare, which I have so + much feared as to make me often doubt if marriage were a + desirable thing for me at this time, or even the thoughts of + it."</p> + + <p>However, she was soon married, and a happy life resulted. + For most women this marriage, which made her the mother of + eleven children, would have made all public work impossible; + but to a woman of Elizabeth Fry's strong character nothing + seemed impossible. Whether she would have accomplished more for + the world had she remained unmarried, no one can tell.</p> + + <p>Her husband's parents were "plain, consistent friends," and + his sister became especially congenial to the young bride. A + large and airy house was taken in London, St. Mildred's Court, + which became a centre for "Friends" in both Great Britain and + America.</p> + + <p>With all her wealth and her fondness for her family, she + wrote in her journal, "I have been married eight years + yesterday; various trials of faith and patience have been + permitted me; my course has been very different to what I had + expected; instead of being, as I had hoped, a useful instrument + in the Church Militant, here I am a careworn wife and mother + outwardly, nearly devoted to the things of this life; though at + times this difference in my destination has been trying to me, + yet I believe those trials (which have certainly been very + pinching) that I have had to go through have been very useful, + and have brought me to a feeling sense of what I am; and at the + same time have taught me where power is, and in what we are to + glory; not in ourselves nor in anything we can be or do, but we + are alone to desire that He may be glorified, either through us + or others, in our being something or nothing, as He may see + best for us."</p> + + <p>After eleven years the Fry family moved to a beautiful home + in the country at Plashet. Changes had come in those eleven + years. The father had died; one sister had married Sir Thomas + Fowell Buxton, and she herself had been made a "minister" by + the Society of Friends. While her hands were very full with the + care of her seven children, she had yet found time to do much + outside Christian work.</p> + + <p>Naturally shrinking, she says, "I find it an awful thing to + rise amongst a large assembly, and, unless much covered with + love and power, hardly know how to venture." But she seemed + always to be "covered with love and power," for she prayed much + and studied her Bible closely, and her preaching seemed to melt + alike crowned heads and criminals in chains.</p> + + <p>Opposite the Plashet House, with its great trees and + flowers, was a dilapidated building occupied by an aged man and + his sister. They had once been well-to-do, but were now very + poor, earning a pittance by selling rabbits. The sister, shy + and sorrowful from their reduced circumstances, was nearly + inaccessible, but Mrs. Fry won her way to her heart. Then she + asked how they would like to have a girls' school in a big room + attached to the building. They consented, and soon seventy poor + girls were in attendance.</p> + + <p>"She had," says a friend, "the gentlest touch with children. + She would win their hearts, if they had never seen her before, + almost at the first glance, and by the first sound of her + musical voice."</p> + + <p>Then the young wife, now thirty-one, established a depot of + calicoes and flannels for the poor, with a room full of drugs, + and another department where good soup was prepared all through + the hard winters. She would go into the "Irish Colony," taking + her two older daughters with her, that they might learn the + sweetness of benevolence, "threading her way through children + and pigs, up broken staircases, and by narrow passages; then + she would listen to their tales of want and woe."</p> + + <p>Now she would find a young mother dead, with a paper cross + pinned upon her breast; now she visited a Gypsy camp to care + for a sick child, and give them Bibles. Each year when the camp + returned to Plashet, their chief pleasure was the visits of the + lovely Quaker. Blessings on thee, beautiful Elizabeth Fry!</p> + + <p>She now began to assist in the public meetings near London, + but with some hesitation, as it took her from home; but after + an absence of two weeks, she found her household "in very + comfortable order; and so far from having suffered in my + absence, it appears as if a better blessing had attended them + than common."</p> + + <p>She did not forget her home interests. One of her servants + being ill, she watched by his bedside till he died. When she + talked with him of the world to come, he said, "God bless you, + ma'am." She said, "There is no set of people I feel so much + about as servants, as I do not think they have generally + justice done to them; they are too much considered as another + race of beings, and we are apt to forget that the holy + injunction holds good with them, 'Do as thou wouldst be done + unto.'"</p> + + <p>She who could dine with kings and queens, felt as regards + servants, "that in the best sense we are all one, and though + our paths here may be different, we have all souls equally + valuable, and have all the same work to do; which, if properly + considered, should lead us to great sympathy and love, and also + to a constant care for their welfare, both here and + hereafter."</p> + + <p>When she was thirty-three, having moved to London for the + winter, she began her remarkable work in Newgate prison. The + condition of prisoners was pitiable in the extreme. She found + three hundred women, with their numerous children, huddled + together, with no classification between the most and least + depraved, without employment, in rags and dirt, and sleeping on + the floor with no bedding, the boards simply being raised for a + sort of pillow. Liquors were purchased openly at a bar in the + prison; and swearing, gambling, obscenity, and pulling each + other's hair were common. The walls, both in the men's and + women's departments, were hung with chains and fetters.</p> + + <p>When Mrs. Fry and two or three friends first visited the + prison, the superintendent advised that they lay aside their + watches before entering, which they declined to do. Mrs. Fry + did not fear, nor need she, with her benign presence.</p> + + <p>On her second visit she asked to be left alone with the + women, and read to them the tenth chapter of Matthew, making a + few observations on Christ's having come to save sinners. Some + of the women asked who Christ was. Who shall forgive us for + such ignorance in our very midst?</p> + + <p>The children were almost naked, and ill from want of food, + air, and exercise. Mrs. Fry told them that she would start a + school for their children, which announcement was received with + tears of joy. She asked that they select one from their own + number for a governess. Mary Conner was chosen, a girl who had + been put in prison for stealing a watch. So changed did the + girl become under this new responsibility, that she was never + known to infringe a rule of the prison. After fifteen months + she was released, but died soon after of consumption.</p> + + <p>When the school was opened for all under twenty-five, "the + railing was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together + for the front situations, with the most boisterous violence, + and begging with the utmost vociferation."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry saw at once the need of these women being occupied, + but the idea that these people could be induced to work was + laughed at, as visionary, by the officials. They said the work + would be destroyed or stolen at once. But the good woman did + not rest till an association of twelve persons was formed for + the "Improvement of the Female Prisoners of Newgate"; "to + provide for the clothing, the instruction, and the employment + of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy + Scriptures; and to form in them, as much as possible, those + habits of order, sobriety, and industry, which may render them + docile and peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when + they leave it."</p> + + <p>It was decided that Botany Bay could be supplied with + stockings, and indeed with all the articles needed by convicts, + through the work of these women. A room was at once made ready, + and matrons were appointed. A portion of the earnings was to be + given the women for themselves and their children. In ten + months they made twenty thousand articles of wearing apparel, + and knit from sixty to one hundred pairs of stockings every + month. The Bible was read to them twice each day. They received + marks for good behavior, and were as pleased as children with + the small prizes given them.</p> + + <p>One of the girls who received a prize of clothing came to + Mrs. Fry, and "hoped she would excuse her for being so forward, + but if she might say it, she felt exceedingly disappointed; she + little thought of having clothing given to her, but she had + hoped I would have given her a Bible, that she might read the + Scriptures herself."</p> + + <p>No woman was ever punished under Mrs. Fry's management. They + said, "it would be more terrible to be brought up before her + than before the judge." When she told them she hoped they would + not play cards, five packs were at once brought to her and + burned.</p> + + <p>The place was now so orderly and quiet, that "Newgate had + become almost a show; the statesman and the noble, the city + functionary and the foreign traveller, the high-bred + gentlewoman, the clergyman and the dissenting minister, flocked + to witness the extraordinary change," and to listen to Mrs. + Fry's beautiful Bible readings.</p> + + <p>Letters poured in from all parts of the country, asking her + to come to their prisons for a similar work, or to teach others + how to work. A committee of the House of Commons summoned her + before them to learn her suggestions, and to hear of her + methods; and later the House of Lords.</p> + + <p>Of course the name of Elizabeth Fry became known everywhere. + Queen Victoria gave her audience, and when she appeared in + public, everybody was eager to look at her. The newspapers + spoke of her in the highest praise. Yet with a beautiful spirit + she writes in her journal, "I am ready to say in the fulness of + my heart, surely 'it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our + eyes'; so many are the providential openings of various kinds. + Oh! if good should result, may the praise and glory of the + whole be entirely given where it is due by us, and by all, in + deep humiliation and prostration of spirit."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry's heart was constantly burdened with the scenes she + witnessed. The penal laws were a caricature on justice. Men and + women were hanged for theft, forgery, passing counterfeit + money, and for almost every kind of fraud. One young woman, + with a babe in her arms, was hanged for stealing a piece of + cloth worth one dollar and twenty-five cents! Another was + hanged for taking food to keep herself and little child from + starving. It was no uncommon thing to see women hanging from + the gibbet at Newgate, because they had passed a forged + one-pound note (five dollars).</p> + + <p>George Cruikshank in 1818 was so moved at one of these + executions that he made a picture which represented eight men + and three women hanging from the gallows, and a rope coiled + around the faces of twelve others. Across the picture were the + words, "I promise to perform during the issue of Bank-notes + easily imitated ... for the Governors and Company of the Bank + of England."</p> + + <p>He called the picture a "Bank-note, not to be imitated." It + at once created a great sensation. Crowds blocked the street in + front of the shop where it was hung. The pictures were in such + demand that Cruikshank sat up all night to etch another plate. + The Gurneys, Wilberforce, Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir James + Mackintosh, all worked vigorously against capital punishment, + save, possibly, for murder.</p> + + <p>Among those who were to be executed was Harriet Skelton, + who, for the man she loved, had passed forged notes. She was + singularly open in face and manner, confiding, and + well-behaved. When she was condemned to death, it was a + surprise and horror to all who knew her. Mrs. Fry was deeply + interested. Noblemen went to see her in her damp, dark cell, + which was guarded by a heavy iron door. The Duke of Gloucester + went with Mrs. Fry to the Directors of the Bank of England, and + to Lord Sidmouth, to plead for her, but their hearts were not + to be moved, and the poor young girl was hanged. The public was + enthusiastic in its applause for Mrs. Fry, and unsparing in its + denunciation of Sidmouth. At last the obnoxious laws were + changed.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry was heartily opposed to capital punishment. She + said, "It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life + appear light to them"; it does not lead to reformation, and + "does not deter others from crime, because the crimes subject + to capital punishment are gradually increasing."</p> + + <p>When the world is more civilized than it is to-day, when we + have closed the open saloon, that is the direct cause of nearly + all the murders, then we shall probably do away with hanging; + or, if men and women must be killed for the safety of society, + a thing not easily proven, it will be done in the most humane + manner, by chloroform.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry was likewise strongly opposed to solitary + confinement, which usually makes the subject a mental wreck, + and, as regards moral action, an imbecile. How wonderfully in + advance of her age was this gifted woman!</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry's thoughts now turned to another evil. When the + women prisoners were transported to New South Wales, they were + carried to the ships in open carts, the crowd jeering. She + prevailed upon government to have them carried in coaches, and + promised that she would go with them. When on board the ship, + she knelt on the deck and prayed with them as they were going + into banishment, and then bade them a tender good by. Truly + woman can be an angel of light.</p> + + <p>Says Captain Martin, "Who could resist this beautiful, + persuasive, and heavenly-minded woman? To see her was to love + her; to hear her was to feel as if a guardian angel had bid you + follow that teaching which could alone subdue the temptations + and evils of this life, and secure a Redeemer's love in + eternity."</p> + + <p>At this time Mrs. Fry and her brother Joseph visited + Scotland and the north of England to ascertain the condition of + the prisons. They found much that was inhuman; insane persons + in prison, eighteen months in dungeons! Debtors confined night + and day in dark, filthy cells, and never leaving them; men + chained to the walls of their cells, or to rings in the floor, + or with their limbs stretched apart till they fainted in agony; + women with chains on hands, and feet, and body, while they + slept on bundles of straw. On their return a book was + published, which did much to arouse England.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fry was not yet forty, but her work was known round the + world. The authorities of Russia, at the desire of the Empress, + wrote Mrs. Fry as to the best plans for the St. Petersburg + lunatic asylum and treatment of the inmates, and her + suggestions were carried out to the letter.</p> + + <p>Letters came from Amsterdam, Denmark, Paris, and elsewhere, + asking counsel. The correspondence became so great that two of + her daughters were obliged to attend to it.</p> + + <p>Again she travelled all over England, forming "Ladies' + Prison Associations," which should not only look after the + inmates of prisons, but aid them to obtain work when they were + discharged, or "so provide for them that stealing should not + seem a necessity."</p> + + <p>About this time, 1828, one of the houses in which her + husband was a partner failed, "which involved Elizabeth Fry and + her family in a train of sorrows and perplexities which tinged + the remaining years of her life."</p> + + <p>They sold the house at Plashet, and moved again to Mildred + Court, now the home of one of their sons. Her wealthy brothers + and her children soon re-established the parents in + comfort.</p> + + <p>She now became deeply interested in the five hundred + Coast-Guard stations in the United Kingdom, where the men and + their families led a lonely life. Partly by private + contributions and partly through the aid of government, she + obtained enough money to buy more than twenty-five thousand + volumes for libraries at these stations. The letters of + gratitude were a sufficient reward for the hard work. She also + obtained small libraries for all the packets that sailed from + Falmouth.</p> + + <p>In 1837, with some friends, she visited Paris, making a + detailed examination of its prisons. Guizot entertained her, + the Duchess de Broglie, M. de Pressensé, and others paid + her much attention. The King and Queen sent for her, and had an + earnest talk. At Nismes, where there were twelve hundred + prisoners, she visited the cells, and when five armed soldiers + wished to protect her and her friends, she requested that they + be allowed to go without guard. In one dungeon she found two + men, chained hand and foot. She told them she would plead for + their liberation if they would promise good behavior. They + promised, and kept it, praying every night for their benefactor + thereafter. When she held a meeting in the prison, hundreds + shed tears, and the good effects of her work were visible long + after.</p> + + <p>The next journey was made to Germany. At Brussels, the King + held out both hands to receive her. In Denmark, the King and + Queen invited her to dine, and she sat between them. At Berlin, + the royal family treated her like a sister, and all stood about + her while she knelt and prayed for them.</p> + + <p>The new penitentiaries were built after her suggestions, so + perfect was thought to be her system. The royal family never + forget her. When the King of Prussia visited England, to stand + sponsor for the infant Prince of Wales, in 1842, he dined with + her at her home. She presented to him her eight daughters and + daughters-in-law, her seven sons and eldest grandson, and then + their twenty-five grandchildren.</p> + + <p>Finally, the great meetings, and the earnest plans, with + their wonderful execution, were coming to an end for Elizabeth + Fry.</p> + + <p>There had been many breaks in the home circle. Her beloved + son William, and his two children, had just died. Some years + before she had buried a very precious child, Elizabeth, at the + age of five, who shortly before her death said, "Mamma, I love + everybody better than myself, and I love thee better than + everybody, and I love Almighty much better than thee, and I + hope thee loves Almighty much better than me." This was a + severe stroke, Mrs. Fry saying, "My much-loved husband and I + have drank this cup together, in close sympathy and unity of + feeling. It has at times been very bitter to us both, but we + have been in measure each other's joy and helpers in the + Lord."</p> + + <p>During her last sickness she said, "I believe this is not + death, but it is as passing through the valley of the shadow of + death, and perhaps with more suffering, from more + sensitiveness; but the 'rock is here'; the distress is awful, + but He has been with me."</p> + + <p>The last morning came, Oct. 13, 1845. About nine o'clock, + one of her daughters, sitting by her bedside, read from Isaiah: + "I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto + thee, Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I + will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One + of Israel." The mother said slowly, "Oh! my dear Lord, help and + keep thy servant!" and never spoke afterward.</p> + + <p>She was buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Barking, by + the side of her little Elizabeth, a deep silence prevailing + among the multitudes gathered there, broken only by the solemn + prayer of her brother, Joseph John Gurney.</p> + + <p>Thus closed one of the most beautiful lives among women. To + the last she was doing good deeds. When she was wheeled along + the beach in her chair, she gave books and counsel to the + passers-by. When she stayed at hotels, she usually arranged a + meeting for the servants. She was sent for, from far and near, + to pray with the sick, and comfort the dying, who often begged + to kiss her hand; no home was too desolate for her lovely and + cheerful presence. No wonder Alexander of Russia called her + "one of the wonders of the age."</p> + + <p>Her only surviving son gives this interesting testimony of + her home life: "I never recollect seeing her out of temper or + hearing her speak a harsh word, yet still her word was law, but + always the law of love."</p> + + <p>Naturally timid, always in frail health, sometimes + misunderstood, even with the highest motives, she lived a + heroic life in the best sense, and died the death of a + Christian. What grander sphere for woman than such philanthropy + as this! And the needs of humanity are as great as ever, + waiting for the ministration of such noble souls.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c15" id="c15"></a> + + <h3>Elizabeth Thompson Butler.</h3> + + <p>While woman has not achieved such brilliant success in art, + perhaps, as in literature, many names stand high on the lists. + Early history has its noted women: Propersia di Rossi, of + Bologna, whose romantic history Mrs. Hemans has immortalized; + Elisabetta Sirani, painter, sculptor, and engraver on copper, + herself called a "miracle of art," the honored of popes and + princes, dying at twenty-six; Marietta Tintoretta, who was + invited to be the artist at the courts of emperors and kings, + dying at thirty, leaving her father inconsolable; Sophonisba + Lomellini, invited by Philip II. of Spain to Madrid, to paint + his portrait, and that of the Queen, concerning whom, though + blind, Vandyck said he had received more instruction from a + blind woman than from all his study of the old masters; and + many more.</p> + + <p>The first woman artist in England was Susannah Hornebolt, + daughter of the principal painter who immediately preceded Hans + Holbein, Gerard Hornebolt, a native of Ghent. Albrecht + Dürer said of her, in 1521: "She has made a colored + drawing of our Saviour, for which I gave her a florin [forty + cents]. It is wonderful that a female should be able to do such + work." Her brother Luke received a larger salary from King + Henry VIII. than he ever gave to Holbein,--$13.87 per month. + Susannah married an English sculptor, named Whorstly, and lived + many years in great honor and esteem with all the court.</p> + + <p>Arts flourished under Charles I. To Vandyck and Anne + Carlisle he gave ultra-marine to the value of twenty-five + hundred dollars. Artemisia Gentileschi, from Rome, realized a + splendid income from her work; and, although forty-five years + old when she came to England, she was greatly admired, and + history says made many conquests. This may be possible, as + George IV. said a woman never reaches her highest powers of + fascination till she is forty. Guido was her instructor, and + one of her warmest eulogizers. She was an intimate friend of + Domenichino and of Guercino, who gave all his wealth to + philanthropies, and when in England was the warm friend of + Vandyck. Some of her works are in the Pitti Palace, at + Florence, and some at Madrid, in Spain.</p> + + <p>Of Maria Varelst, the historical painter, the following + story is told: At the theatre she sat next to six German + gentlemen of high rank, who were so impressed with her beauty + and manner that they expressed great admiration for her among + each other. The young lady spoke to them in German, saying that + such extravagant praise in the presence of a lady was no real + compliment. One of the party immediately repeated what he had + said in Latin. She replied in the same tongue "that it was + unjust to endeavor to deprive the fair sex of the knowledge of + that tongue which was the vehicle of true learning." The + gentlemen begged to call upon her. Each sat for his portrait, + and she was thus brought into great prominence.</p> + + <p>The artist around whose beauty and talent romance adds a + special charm, was Angelica Kauffman, the only child of Joseph + Kauffman, born near Lake Constance, about 1741. At nine years + of age she made wonderful pastel pictures. Removing to + Lombardy, it is asserted that her father dressed her in boy's + clothing, and smuggled her into the academy, that she might be + improved in drawing. At eleven she went to Como, where the + charming scenery had a great impression upon the young girl. No + one who wishes to grow in taste and art can afford to live away + from nature's best work. The Bishop of Como became interested + in her, and asked her to paint his portrait. This was well done + in crayon, and soon the wealthy patronized her. Years after, + she wrote: "Como is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como, in my + most happy youth, that I tasted the first real enjoyment of + life."</p> + + <p>When she went to Milan, to study the great masters, the Duke + of Modena was attracted by her beauty and devotion to her work. + He introduced her to the Duchess of Massa Carrara, whose + portrait she painted, as also that of the Austrian governor, + and soon those of many of the nobility. When all seemed at its + brightest, her mother, one of the best of women, died. Her + father, broken-hearted, accepted the offer to decorate the + church of his native town, and Angelica joined him in the + frescoing. After much hard work, they returned to Milan. The + constant work had worn on the delicate girl. She gave herself + no time for rest. When not painting, she was making chalk and + crayon drawings, mastering the harpsichord, or lost in the + pages of French, German, or Italian. For a time she thought of + becoming a singer; but finally gave herself wholly to art. + After this she went to Florence, where she worked from sunrise + to sunset, and in the evening at her crayons. In Rome, with her + youth, beauty, fascinating manners, and varied reading, she + gained a wide circle of friends. Her face was a Greek oval, her + complexion fresh and clear, her eyes deep blue, her mouth + pretty and always smiling. She was accused of being a coquette, + and quite likely was such.</p> + + <p>For three months she painted in the Royal Gallery at Naples, + and then returned to Rome to study the works of Raphael and + Michael Angelo. From thence she went to Bologna and beautiful + Venice. Here she met Lady Wentworth, who took her to London, + where she was introduced at once to the highest circles. Sir + Joshua Reynolds had the greatest admiration for her, and, + indeed, was said to have offered her his hand and heart. The + whole world of art and letters united in her praise. Often she + found laudatory verses pinned on her canvas. The great people + of the land crowded her studio for sittings. She lived in + Golden Square, now a rather dilapidated place back of Regent + Street. She was called the most fascinating woman in England. + Sir Joshua painted her as "Design Listening to Poetry," and + she, in turn, painted him. She was the pet of Buckingham House + and Windsor Castle.</p> + + <p>In the midst of all this unlimited attention, a man calling + himself the Swedish Count, Frederic de Horn, with fine manners + and handsome person, offered himself to Angelica. He + represented that he was calumniated by his enemies and that the + Swedish Government was about to demand his person. He assured + her, if she were his wife, she could intercede with the Queen + and save him. She blindly consented to the marriage, privately. + At last, she confessed it to her father, who took steps at once + to see if the man were true, and found that he was the vilest + impostor. He had a young wife already in Germany, and would + have been condemned to a felon's death if Angelica had been + willing. She said, "He has betrayed me; but God will judge + him."</p> + + <p>She received several offers of marriage after this, but + would accept no one. Years after, when her father, to whom she + was deeply devoted, was about to die, he prevailed upon her to + marry a friend of his, Antonio Zucchi, thirteen years her + senior, with whom she went to Rome, and there died. He was a + man of ability, and perhaps made her life happy. At her burial, + one hundred priests accompanied the coffin, the pall being held + by four young girls, dressed in white, the four tassels held by + four members of the Academy. Two of her pictures were carried + in triumph immediately after her coffin. Then followed a grand + procession of illustrious persons, each bearing a lighted + taper.</p> + + <p>Goethe was one of her chosen friends. He said of her: "She + has a most remarkable and, for a woman, really an unheard-of + talent. No living painter excels her in dignity, or in the + delicate taste with which she handles the pencil."</p> + + <p>Miss Ellen C. Clayton, in her interesting volumes, + <i>English Female Artists</i>, says, "No lady artist, from the + days of Angelica Kauffman, ever created such a vivid interest + as Elizabeth Thompson Butler. None had ever stepped into the + front rank in so short a time, or had in England ever attained + high celebrity at so early an age."</p> + + <p>She was born in the Villa Clermont, Lausanne, Switzerland, a + country beautiful enough to inspire artistic sentiments in all + its inhabitants. Her father, Thomas James Thompson, a man of + great culture and refinement, educated at Trinity College, + Cambridge, was a warm friend of Charles Dickens, Lord Lytton, + and their literary associates. Somewhat frail in health, he + travelled much of the time, collecting pictures, of which he + was extremely fond, and studying with the eye of an artist the + beauties of each country, whether America, Italy, or + France.</p> + + <p>His first wife died early, leaving one son and daughter. The + second wife was an enthusiastic, artistic girl, especially + musical, a friend of Dickens, and every way fitted to be the + intelligent companion of her husband.</p> + + <p>After the birth of Elizabeth, the family resided in various + parts of Southern Europe. Now they lived, says Mrs. Alice + Meynell, her only sister, in the January, 1883, <i>St. + Nicholas</i>, "within sight of the snow-capped peaks of the + Apennines, in an old palace, the Villa de Franchi, immediately + overlooking the Mediterranean, with olive-clad hills at the + back; on the left, the great promontory of Porto Fino; on the + right, the Bay of Genoa, some twelve miles away, and the long + line of the Apennines sloping down into the sea. The palace + garden descended, terrace by terrace, to the rocks, being, + indeed, less a garden than what is called a <i>villa</i> in the + Liguria, and a <i>podere</i> in Tuscany,--a fascinating mixture + of vine, olive, maize, flowers, and corn. A fountain in marble, + lined with maiden-hair, played at the junction of each flight + of steps. A great billiard-room on the first floor, hung with + Chinese designs, was Elizabeth Thompson's first school-room; + and there Charles Dickens, upon one of his Italian visits, + burst in upon a lesson in multiplication.</p> + + <p>"The two children never went to school, and had no other + teacher than their father,--except their mother for music, and + the usual professors for 'accomplishments' in later years. And + whether living happily in their beautiful Genoese home, or + farther north among the picturesque Italian lakes, or in + Switzerland, or among the Kentish hop-gardens and the parks of + Surrey, Elizabeth's one central occupation of drawing was never + abandoned,--literally not for a day."</p> + + <p>She was a close observer of nature, and especially fond of + animals. When not out of doors sketching landscapes, she would + sit in the house and draw, while her father read to her, as he + believed the two things could be carried on beneficially.</p> + + <p>She loved to draw horses running, soldiers, and everything + which showed animation and energy. Her educated parents had the + good sense not to curb her in these perhaps unusual tastes for + a girl. They saw the sure hand and broad thought of their + child, and, no doubt, had expectations of her future fame.</p> + + <p>At fifteen, as the family had removed to England, Elizabeth + joined the South Kensington School of Design, and, later, took + lessons in oil painting, for a year, of Mr. Standish. Thus from + the years of five to sixteen she had studied drawing carefully, + so that now she was ready to touch oil-painting for the first + time. How few young ladies would have been willing to study + drawing for eleven years, before trying to paint in oil!</p> + + <p>The Thompson family now moved to Ventnor, in the Isle of + Wight, staying for three years at Bonchurch, one of the + loveliest places in the world. Ivy grows over walls and houses, + roses and clematis bloom luxuriantly, and the balmy air and + beautiful sea make the place as restful as it is beautiful. + Here Elizabeth received lessons in water-color and landscape + from Mr. Gray.</p> + + <p>After another visit abroad the family returned to London, + and the artist daughter attended the National Art School at + South Kensington, studying in the life-class. The head master, + Mr. Richard Burchett, saw her talent, and helped her in all + ways possible.</p> + + <p>Naturally anxious to test the world's opinion of her work, + she sent some water-colors to the Society of British Artists + for exhibition, and they were rejected. There is very little + encouragement for beginners in any profession. However, + "Bavarian Artillery going into Action" was exhibited at the + Dudley Gallery, and received favorable notice from Mr. Tom + Taylor, art critic of the <i>Times</i>.</p> + + <p>Between two long courses at South Kensington Elizabeth spent + a summer in Florence and a winter at Rome, studying in both + places. At Florence she entered the studio of Signor Guiseppe + Bellucci, an eminent historical painter and consummate + draughtsman, a fellow-student of Sir Frederick Leighton at the + Academy.</p> + + <p>Here the girlish student was intensely interested in her + work. She rose early, before the other members of the family, + taking her breakfast alone, that she might hasten to her + beloved labor. "On the day when she did not work with him," + says Mrs. Meynell, "she copied passages from the frescoes in + the cloisters of the Annunziata, masterpieces of Andrea del + Sarto and Franciabigio, making a special study of the drapery + of the last-named painter. The sacristans of the old + church--the most popular church in Florence--knew and welcomed + the young English girl, who sat for hours so intently at her + work in the cloister, unheeding the coming and going of the + long procession of congregations passing through the gates.</p> + + <p>"Her studies in the galleries were also full of delight and + profit, though she made no other copies, and she was wont to + say that of all the influences of the Florentine school which + stood her in good stead in her after-work, that of Andrea del + Sarto was the most valuable and the most important. The intense + heat of a midsummer, which, day after day, showed a hundred + degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, could not make her relax work, + and her master, Florentine as he was, was obliged to beg her to + spare him, at least for a week, if she would not spare herself. + It was toward the end of October that artist and pupil parted, + his confidence in her future being as unbounded as her + gratitude for his admirable skill and minute carefulness."</p> + + <p>During her seven months in Rome she painted, in 1870, for an + ecclesiastical art exhibition, opened by Pope Pius IX., in the + cloisters of the Carthusian Monastery, the "Visitation of the + Blessed Virgin to St. Elizabeth," and the picture gained + honorable mention.</p> + + <p>On her return to England the painting was offered to the + Royal Academy and rejected. And what was worse still, a large + hole had been torn in the canvas, in the sky of the picture. + Had she not been very persevering, and believed in her heart + that she had talent, perhaps she would not have dared to try + again, but she had worked steadily for too many years to fail + now. Those only win who can bear refusal a thousand times if + need be.</p> + + <p>The next year, being at the Isle of Wight, she sent another + picture to the Academy, and it was rejected. Merit does not + always win the first, nor the second, nor the third time. It + must have been a little consolation to Elizabeth Thompson, to + know that each year the judges were reminded that a person by + that name lived, and was painting pictures!</p> + + <p>The next year a subject from the Franco-Prussian War was + taken, as that was fresh in the minds of the people. The title + was "Missing." "Two French officers, old and young, both + wounded, and with one wounded horse between them, have lost + their way after a disastrous defeat; their names will appear in + the sad roll as missing, and the manner of their death will + never be known."</p> + + <p>The picture was received, but was "skyed," that is, placed + so high that nobody could well see it. During this year she + received a commission from a wealthy art patron to paint a + picture. What should it be? A battle scene, because into that + she could put her heart.</p> + + <p>A studio was taken in London, and the "Roll-Call" (calling + the roll after an engagement,--Crimea) was begun. She put life + into the faces and the attitudes of the men, as she worked with + eager heart and careful labor. In the spring of 1874 it was + sent to the Royal Academy, with, we may suppose, not very + enthusiastic hopes.</p> + + <p>The stirring battle piece pleased the committee, and they + cheered when it was received. Then it began to be talked at the + clubs that a woman had painted a battle scene! Some had even + heard that it was a great picture. When the Academy banquet was + held, prior to the opening, the speeches of the Prince of Wales + and the Duke of Cambridge, both gave high praise to the + "Roll-Call."</p> + + <p>Such an honor was unusual. Everybody was eager to see the + painting. It was the talk at the clubs, on the railway trains, + and on the crowded thoroughfares. All day long crowds gathered + before it, a policeman keeping guard over the painting, that it + be not injured by its eager admirers. The Queen sent for it, + and it was carried, for a few hours, to Buckingham Palace, for + her to gaze upon. So much was she pleased that she desired to + purchase it, and the person who had ordered it gave way to Her + Majesty. The copyright was bought for fifteen times the + original sum agreed upon as its value, and a steel-plate + engraving made from it at a cost of nearly ten thousand + dollars. After thirty-five hundred impressions, the plate was + destroyed, that there might be no inferior engravings of the + picture. The "Roll-Call" was for some time retained by the Fine + Art Society, where it was seen by a quarter of a million + persons. Besides this, it was shown in all the large towns of + England. It is now at Windsor Castle.</p> + + <p>Elizabeth Thompson had become famous in a day, but she was + not elated over it; for, young as she was, she did not forget + that she had been working diligently for twenty years. The + newspapers teemed with descriptions of her, and incidents of + her life, many of which were, of course, purely imaginative. + Whenever she appeared in society, people crowded to look at + her.</p> + + <p>Many a head would have been turned by all this praise; not + so the well-bred student. She at once set to work on a more + difficult subject, "The Twenty-eighth Regiment at Quatre Bras." + When this appeared, in 1875, it drew an enormous crowd. The + true critics praised heartily, but there were some persons who + thought a woman could not possibly know about the smoke of a + battle, or how men would act under fire. That she studied every + detail of her work is shown by Mr. W. H. Davenport Adams, in + his <i>Woman's Work and Worth</i>. "The choice of subject," he + says, "though some people called it a 'very shocking one for a + young lady,' engaged the sympathy of military men, and she was + generously aided in obtaining material and all kinds of data + for the work. Infantry officers sent her photographs of + 'squares.' But these would not do, the men were not in earnest; + they would kneel in such positions as they found easiest for + themselves; indeed, but for the help of a worthy + sergeant-major, who saw that each individual assumed and + maintained the attitude proper for the situation at whatever + inconvenience, the artist could not possibly have impressed + upon her picture that verisimilitude which it now presents.</p> + + <p>"Through the kindness of the authorities, an amount of + gunpowder was expended at Chatham, to make her see, as she + said, how 'the men's faces looked through the smoke,' that + would have justified the criticisms of a rigid parliamentary + economist. Not satisfied with seeing how men <i>looked</i> in + square, she desired to secure some faint idea of how they + <i>felt</i> in square while 'receiving cavalry.' And + accordingly she repaired frequently to the Knightsbridge + Barracks, where she would kneel to 'receive' the riding-master + and a mounted sergeant of the Blues, while they thundered down + upon her the full length of the riding-school, deftly pulling + up, of course, to avoid accident. The fallen horse presented + with such truth and vigor in 'Quatre Bras' was drawn from a + Russian horse belonging to Hengler's Circus, the only one in + England that could be trusted to remain for a sufficient time + in the required position. A sore trial of patience was this to + artist, to model, to Mr. Hengler, who held him down, and to the + artist's father, who was present as spectator. Finally the + rye,--the 'particularly tall rye' in which, as Colonel Siborne + says, the action was fought,--was conscientiously sought for, + and found, after much trouble, at Henly-on-Thames."</p> + + <p>I saw this beautiful and stirring picture, as well as + several others of Mrs. Butler's, while in England. Mr. Ruskin + says of "Quatre Bras": "I never approached a picture with more + iniquitous prejudice against it than I did Miss Thompson's; + partly because I have always said that no woman could paint, + and secondly, because I thought what the public made such a + fuss about <i>must</i> be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's + work, this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-raphaelite + picture of battle we have had, profoundly interesting, and + showing all manner of illustrative and realistic faculty. The + sky is most tenderly painted, and with the truest outline of + cloud of all in the exhibition; and the terrific piece of + gallant wrath and ruin on the extreme left, where the + cuirassier is catching round the neck of his horse as he falls, + and the convulsed fallen horse, seen through the smoke below, + is wrought through all the truth of its frantic passions with + gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of + since Turner's death."</p> + + <p>This year, 1875, a figure from the picture, the "Tenth + Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging," was published as a supplement + to the Christmas number of <i>London Graphic</i>, with the + title "Missed." In 1876, "The Return from Balaklava" was + painted, and in 1877, "The Return from Inkerman," for which + latter work the Fine Art Society paid her fifteen thousand + dollars.</p> + + <p>This year, 1877, on June 11, Miss Thompson was married to + Major, now Colonel, William Francis Butler, K.C.B. He was then + thirty-nine years of age, born in Ireland, educated in Dublin, + and had received many honors. He served on the Red River + expedition, was sent on a special mission to the Saskatchewan + territories in 1870-71, and served on the Ashantee expedition + in 1873. He has been honorably mentioned several times in the + House of Lords by the Field-Marshal-Commanding-in-Chief. He + wrote <i>The Great Lone Land</i> in 1872, <i>The Wild North + Land</i> in 1873, and <i>A Kimfoo</i> in 1875.</p> + + <p>After the marriage they spent much time in Ireland, where + Mrs. Butler painted "Listed for the Connaught Rangers" in 1879. + Her later works are "The Remnant of an Army," showing the + arrival at Jellalabad, in 1842, of Dr. Brydon, the sole + survivor of the sixteen thousand men under General Elphinstone, + in the unfortunate Afghan campaign; the "Scots Greys + Advancing," "The Defence of Rorke's Drift," an incident of the + Zulu War, painted at the desire of the Queen and some + others.</p> + + <p>Still a young and very attractive woman, she has before her + a bright future. She will have exceptional opportunities for + battle studies in her husband's army life. She will probably + spend much time in Africa, India, and other places where the + English army will be stationed. Her husband now holds a + prominent position in Africa.</p> + + <p>In her studio, says her sister, "the walls are hung with old + uniforms--the tall shako, the little coatee, and the stiff + stock--which the visitor's imagination may stuff out with the + form of the British soldier as he fought in the days of + Waterloo. These are objects of use, not ornament; so are the + relics from the fields of France in 1871, and the assegais and + spears and little sharp wooden maces from Zululand."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Butler has perseverance, faithfulness in her work, and + courage. She has won remarkable fame, but has proved herself + deserving by her constant labor, and attention to details. Mrs. + Butler's mother has also exhibited some fine paintings. The + artist herself has illustrated a volume of poems, the work of + her sister, Mrs. Meynell. A cultivated and artistic family + have, of course, been an invaluable aid in Mrs. Butler's + development.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c16" id="c16"></a> + + <h3>Florence Nightingale.</h3><a href= + "images/c16nightingale.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c16nightingale_t.jpg" alt= + "Florence Nightingale--From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women."" /> + </a> + + <p>One of the most interesting places in the whole of London, + is St. Thomas' Hospital, an immense four-story structure of + brick with stone trimmings. Here is the Nightingale Training + School for nurses, established through the gift to Miss + Nightingale of $250,000 by the government, for her wonderful + work in the Crimean War. She would not take a cent for herself, + but was glad to have this institution opened, that girls + through her training might become valuable to the world as + nurses, as she has been.</p> + + <p>Here is the "Nightingale Home." The dining-room, with its + three long tables, is an inviting apartment. The colors of wall + and ceiling are in red and light shades. Here is a Swiss clock + presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden; here a harpsichord, + also a gift. Here is the marble face and figure I have come + especially to see, that of lovely Florence Nightingale. It is a + face full of sweetness and refinement, having withal an earnest + look, as though life were well worth living.</p> + + <p>What better work than to direct these girls how to be + useful? Some are here from the highest social circles. The + "probationers," or nurse pupils, must remain three years before + they can become Protestant "sisters." Each ward is in charge of + a sister; now it is Leopold, because the ward bears that name; + and now Victoria in respect to the Queen, who opened the + institution.</p> + + <p>The sisters look sunny and healthy, though they work hard. + They have regular hours for being off duty, and exercise in the + open air. The patients tell me how "homelike it seems to have + women in the wards, and what a comfort it is in their agony, to + be handled by their careful hands." Here are four hundred + persons in all phases of suffering, in neat, cheerful wards, + brightened by pots of flowers, and the faces of kind, devoted + women.</p> + + <p>And who is this woman to whom the government of Great + Britain felt that it owed so much, and whom the whole world + delights to honor?</p> + + <p>Florence Nightingale, born in 1820, in the beautiful Italian + city of that name, is the younger of two daughters of William + Shore Nightingale, a wealthy land-owner, who inherited both the + name and fortune of his granduncle, Peter Nightingale. The + mother was the daughter of the eminent philanthropist and + member of Parliament, William Smith.</p> + + <p>Most of Miss Nightingale's life has been spent on their + beautiful estate, Lea Hurst, in Derbyshire, a lovely home in + the midst of picturesque scenery. In her youth her father + instructed her carefully in the classics and higher + mathematics; a few years later, partly through extensive + travel, she became proficient in French, German, and + Italian.</p> + + <p>Rich, pretty, and well-educated, what was there more that + she could wish for? Her heart, however, did not turn toward a + fashionable life. Very early she began to visit the poor and + the sick near Lea Hurst, and her father's other estate at Embly + Park, Hampshire. Perhaps the mantle of the mother's father had + fallen upon the young girl.</p> + + <p>She had also the greatest tenderness toward dumb animals, + and never could bear to see them injured. Miss Alldridge, in an + interesting sketch of Miss Nightingale, quotes the following + story from <i>Little Folks:</i>--</p> + + <p>"Some years ago, when the celebrated Florence Nightingale + was a little girl, living at her father's home, a large, old + Elizabethan house, with great woods about it, in Hampshire, + there was one thing that struck everybody who knew her. It was + that she seemed to be always thinking what she could do to + please or help any one who needed either help or comfort. She + was very fond, too, of animals, and she was so gentle in her + way, that even the shyest of them would come quite close to + her, and pick up whatever she flung down for them to eat.</p> + + <p>"There was, in the garden behind the house, a long walk with + trees on each side, the abode of many squirrels; and when + Florence came down the walk, dropping nuts as she went along, + the squirrels would run down the trunks of their trees, and, + hardly waiting until she passed by, would pick up the prize and + dart away, with their little bushy tails curled over their + backs, and their black eyes looking about as if terrified at + the least noise, though they did not seem to be afraid of + Florence.</p> + + <p>"Then there was an old gray pony named Peggy, past work, + living in a paddock, with nothing to do all day long but to + amuse herself. Whenever Florence appeared at the gate, Peggy + would come trotting up and put her nose into the dress pocket + of her little mistress, and pick it of the apple or the roll of + bread that she knew she would always find there, for this was a + trick Florence had taught the pony. Florence was fond of + riding, and her father's old friend, the clergyman of the + parish, used often to come and take her for a ride with him + when he went to the farm cottages at a distance. He was a good + man and very kind to the poor.</p> + + <p>"As he had studied medicine when a young man, he was able to + tell the people what would do them good when they were ill, or + had met with an accident. Little Florence took great delight in + helping to nurse those who were ill; and whenever she went on + these long rides, she had a small basket fastened to her + saddle, filled with something nice which she saved from her + breakfast or dinner, or carried for her mother, who was very + good to the poor.</p> + + <p>"There lived in one of two or three solitary cottages in the + wood an old shepherd of her father's, named Roger, who had a + favorite sheep-dog called Cap. Roger had neither wife nor + child, and Cap lived with him and kept him, and kept him + company at night after he had penned his flock. Cap was a very + sensible dog; indeed, people used to say he could do everything + but speak. He kept the sheep in wonderfully good order, and + thus saved his master a great deal of trouble. One day, as + Florence and her old friend were out for a ride, they came to a + field where they found the shepherd giving his sheep their + night feed; but he was without the dog, and the sheep knew it, + for they were scampering in every direction. Florence and her + friend noticed that the old shepherd looked very sad, and they + stopped to ask what was the matter, and what had become of his + dog.</p> + + <p>"'Oh,' said Roger, 'Cap will never be of any more use to me; + I'll have to hang him, poor fellow, as soon as I go home + to-night.'</p> + + <p>"'Hang him!' said Florence. 'Oh, Roger, how wicked of you! + What has dear old Cap done?'</p> + + <p>"'He has done nothing,' replied Roger; 'but he will never be + of any more use to me, and I cannot afford to keep him for + nothing; one of the mischievous school-boys throwed a stone at + him yesterday, and broke one of his legs.' And the old + shepherd's eyes filled with tears, which he wiped away with his + shirt-sleeve; then he drove his spade deep in the ground to + hide what he felt, for he did not like to be seen crying.</p> + + <p>"'Poor Cap!' he sighed; 'he was as knowing almost as a human + being.'</p> + + <p>"'But are you sure his leg is broken?' asked Florence.</p> + + <p>"'Oh, yes, miss, it is broken safe enough; he has not put + his foot to the ground since.'</p> + + <p>"Florence and her friend rode on without saying anything + more to Roger.</p> + + <p>"'We will go and see poor Cap,' said the vicar; 'I don't + believe the leg is really broken. It would take a big stone and + a hard blow to break the leg of a big dog like Cap.'</p> + + <p>"'Oh, if you could but cure him, how glad Roger would be!' + replied Florence.</p> + + <p>"They soon reached the shepherd's cottage, but the door was + fastened; and when they moved the latch, such a furious barking + was heard that they drew back, startled. However, a little boy + came out of the next cottage, and asked if they wanted to go + in, as Roger had left the key with his mother. So the key was + got, and the door opened; and there on the bare brick floor lay + the dog, his hair dishevelled, and his eyes sparkling with + anger at the intruders. But when he saw the little boy he grew + peaceful, and when he looked at Florence, and heard her call + him 'poor Cap,' he began to wag his short tail; and then crept + from under the table, and lay down at her feet. She took hold + of one of his paws, patted his old rough head, and talked to + him, whilst her friend examined the injured leg. It was + dreadfully swollen, and hurt very much to have it examined; but + the dog knew it was meant kindly, and though he moaned and + winced with pain, he licked the hands that were hurting + him.</p> + + <p>"'It's only a bad bruise; no bones are broken,' said her old + friend; 'rest is all Cap needs; he will soon be well + again.'</p> + + <p>"'I am so glad,' said Florence; 'but can we do nothing for + him? he seems in such pain.'</p> + + <p>"'There is one thing that would ease the pain and heal the + leg all the sooner, and that is plenty of hot water to foment + the part.'</p> + + <p>"Florence struck a light with the tinder-box, and lighted + the fire, which was already laid. She then set off to the other + cottage to get something to bathe the leg with. She found an + old flannel petticoat hanging up to dry, and this she carried + off, and tore up into slips, which she wrung out in warm water, + and laid them tenderly on Cap's swollen leg. It was not long + before the poor dog felt the benefit of the application, and he + looked grateful, wagging his little stump of a tail in thanks. + On their way home they met the shepherd coming slowly along, + with a piece of rope in his hand.</p> + + <p>"'Oh, Roger,' cried Florence, 'you are not to hang poor old + Cap; his leg is not broken at all.'</p> + + <p>"'No, he will serve you yet,' said the vicar.</p> + + <p>"'Well, I be main glad to hear it,' said the shepherd, 'and + many thanks to you for going to see him.'</p> + + <p>"On the next morning Florence was up early, and the first + thing she did was to take two flannel petticoats to give to the + poor woman whose skirt she had torn up to bathe Cap. Then she + went to the dog, and was delighted to find the swelling of his + leg much less. She bathed it again, and Cap was as grateful as + before.</p> + + <p>"Two or three days afterwards Florence and her friend were + riding together, when they came up to Roger and his sheep. This + time Cap was watching the sheep, though he was lying quite + still, and pretending to be asleep. When he heard the voice of + Florence speaking to his master, who was portioning out the + usual food, his tail wagged and his eyes sparkled, but he did + not get up, for he was on duty. The shepherd stopped his work, + and as he glanced at the dog with a merry laugh, said, 'Do look + at the dog, Miss; he be so pleased to hear your voice.' Cap's + tail went faster and faster. 'I be glad,' continued the old + man, 'I did not hang him. I be greatly obliged to you, Miss, + and the vicar, for what you did. But for you I would have + hanged the best dog I ever had in my life.'"</p> + + <p>A girl who was made so happy in saving the life of an animal + would naturally be interested to save human beings. + Occasionally her family passed a season in London, and here, + instead of giving much time to concerts or parties, she would + visit hospitals and benevolent institutions. When the family + travelled in Egypt, she attended several sick Arabs, who + recovered under her hands. They doubtless thought the English + girl was a saint sent down from heaven.</p> + + <p>The more she felt drawn toward the sick, the more she felt + the need of study, and the more she saw the work that refined + women could do in the hospitals. The Sisters of Charity were + standing by sick-beds; why could there not be Protestant + sisters? When they travelled in Germany, France, and Italy, she + visited infirmaries, asylums, and hospitals, carefully noting + the treatment given in each.</p> + + <p>Finally she determined to spend some months at Kaiserwerth, + near Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, in Pastor Fliedner's great + Lutheran hospital. He had been a poor clergyman, the leader of + a scanty flock, whose church was badly in debt. A man of much + enterprise and warm heart, he could not see his work fail for + lack of means; so he set out among the provinces, to tell the + needs of his little parish. He collected funds, learned much + about the poverty and ignorance of cities, preached in some of + the prisons, because interested in criminals, and went back to + his loyal people.</p> + + <p>But so poor were they that they could not meet the yearly + expenses, so he determined to raise an endowment fund. He + visited Holland and Great Britain, and secured the needed + money.</p> + + <p>In England, in 1832, he became acquainted with Elizabeth + Fry. How one good life influences another to the end of time! + When he went back to Germany his heart was aglow with a desire + to help humanity.</p> + + <p>He at once opened an asylum for discharged prison-women. He + saw how almost impossible it was for those who had been in + prison to obtain situations. Then he opened a school for the + children of such as worked in factories, for he realized how + unfit for citizenship are those who grow up in ignorance. He + did not have much money, but he seemed able to obtain what he + really needed. Then he opened a hospital; a home for insane + women; a home of rest for his nurses, or for those who needed a + place to live after their work was done. Soon the "Deaconesses" + at Kaiserwerth became known the country over. Among the wildest + Norwegian mountains we met some of these Kaiserwerth nurses, + refined, educated ladies, getting in summer a new lease of life + for their noble labors.</p> + + <p>This Protestant sisterhood consists now of about seven + hundred sisters, at about two hundred stations, the annual + expense being about $150,000. What a grand work for one man, + with no money, the pastor of a very humble church!</p> + + <p>Into this work of Pastor Fliedner, Florence Nightingale + heartily entered. Was it strange taste for a pretty and wealthy + young woman, whose life had been one of sunshine and happiness? + It was a saintlike taste, and the world is rendered a little + like Paradise by the presence of such women. Back in London the + papers were full of the great exhibition of 1851, but she was + more interested in her Kaiserwerth work than to be at home. + When she had finished her course of instruction, Pastor + Fliedner said, since he had been director of that institution + no one had ever passed so distinguished an examination, or + shown herself so thoroughly mistress of all she had + learned.</p> + + <p>On her return to Lea Hurst, she could not rest very long, + while there was so much work to be done in the world. In + London, a hospital for sick governesses was about to fail, from + lack of means and poor management. Nobody seemed very deeply + interested for these overworked teachers. But Miss Nightingale + was interested, and leaving her lovely home, she came to the + dreary house in Harley Street, where she gave her time and her + fortune for several years. Her own frail health sank for a time + from the close confinement, but she had seen the institution + placed on a sure foundation, and prosperous.</p> + + <p>The Crimean War had begun. England had sent out ship-loads + of men to the Black Sea, to engage in war with Russia. Little + thought seemed to have been taken, in the hurry and enthusiasm + of war, to provide proper clothing or food for the men in that + changing climate. In the desolate country there was almost no + means of transportation, and men and animals suffered from + hunger. After the first winter cholera broke out, and in one + camp twenty men died in twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p>Matters grew from bad to worse. William Howard Russell, the + <i>Times</i> correspondent, wrote home to England: "It is now + pouring rain,--the skies are black as ink,--the wind is howling + over the staggering tents,--the trenches are turned into + dykes,--in the tents the water is sometimes a foot deep,--our + men have not either warm or waterproof clothing,--they are out + for twelve hours at a time in the trenches,--they are plunged + into the inevitable miseries of a winter campaign,--and not a + soul seems to care for their comfort, or even for their lives. + These are hard truths, but the people of England must hear + them. They must know that the wretched beggar who wanders about + the streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince, + compared with the British soldiers who are fighting out here + for their country.</p> + + <p>"The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there + is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness; the + stench is appalling; the fetid air can barely struggle out to + taint the atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls and + roofs; and, for all I can observe, these men die without the + least effort being made to save them. There they lie, just as + they were let gently down on the ground by the poor fellows, + their comrades, who brought them on their backs from the camp + with the greatest tenderness, but who are not allowed to remain + with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the + dying by the dying."</p> + + <p>During the rigorous winter of 1854, with snow three feet + thick, many were frozen in their tents. Out of nearly + forty-five thousand, over eighteen thousand were reported in + the hospitals. The English nation became aroused at this state + of things, and in less than two weeks seventy-five thousand + dollars poured into the Times office for the suffering + soldiers. A special commissioner, Mr. Macdonald, was sent to + the Crimea with shirts, sheets, flannels, and necessary + food.</p> + + <p>But one of the greatest of all needs was woman's hand and + brain, in the dreadful suffering and the confusion. The + testimony of the world thus far has been that men everywhere + need the help of women, and women everywhere need the help of + men. Right Honorable Sydney Herbert, the Secretary of War, knew + of but one woman who could bring order and comfort to those + far-away hospitals, and that woman was Miss Nightingale. She + had made herself ready at Kaiserwerth for a great work, and now + a great work was ready for her.</p> + + <p>But she was frail in health, and was it probable that a rich + and refined lady would go thousands of miles from her kindred, + to live in feverish wards where there were only men? A true + woman dares do anything that helps the world.</p> + + <p>Mr. Herbert wrote her, Oct. 15: "There is, as far as I know, + only one person in England capable of organizing and directing + such a plan, and I have been several times on the point of + asking you if you would be disposed to make the attempt. That + it will be difficult to form a corps of nurses, no one knows + better than yourself.... I have this simple question to put to + you: Could you go out yourself, and take charge of everything? + It is, of course, understood that you will have absolute + authority over all the nurses, unlimited power to draw on the + government for all you judge necessary to the success of your + mission; and I think I may assure you of the co-operation of + the medical staff. Your personal qualities, your knowledge, and + your authority in administrative affairs, all fit you for this + position."</p> + + <p>It was a strange coincidence that on that same day, Oct. 15, + Miss Nightingale, her heart stirred for the suffering soldiers, + had written a letter to Mr. Herbert, offering her services to + the government. A few days later the world read, with moistened + eyes, this letter from the war office: "Miss Nightingale, + accompanied by thirty-four nurses, will leave this evening. + Miss Nightingale, who has, I believe, greater practical + experience of hospital administration and treatment than any + other lady in this country, has, with a self-devotion for which + I have no words to express my gratitude, undertaken this noble + but arduous work."</p> + + <p>The heart of the English nation followed the heroic woman. + Mrs. Jameson wrote: "It is an undertaking wholly new to our + English customs, much at variance with the usual education + given to women in this country. If it succeeds, it will be the + true, the lasting glory of Florence Nightingale and her band of + devoted assistants, that they have broken down a Chinese wall + of prejudices,--religious, social, professional,--and have + established a precedent which will, indeed, multiply the good + to all time." She did succeed, and the results can scarcely be + overestimated.</p> + + <p>As the band of nurses passed through France, hotel-keepers + would take no pay for their accommodation; poor fisherwomen at + Boulogne struggled for the honor of carrying their baggage to + the railway station. They sailed in the <i>Vectis</i> across + the Mediterranean, reaching Scutari, Nov. 5, the day of the + battle of Inkerman.</p> + + <p>They found in the great Barrack Hospital, which had been + lent to the British by the Turkish government, and in another + large hospital near by, about four thousand men. The corridors + were filled with two rows of mattresses, so close that two + persons could scarcely walk between them. There was work to be + done at once.</p> + + <p>One of the nurses wrote home, "The whole of yesterday one + could only forget one's own existence, for it was spent, first + in sewing the men's mattresses together, and then in washing + them, and assisting the surgeons, when we could, in dressing + their ghastly wounds after their five days' confinement on + board ship, during which space their wounds had not been + dressed. Hundreds of men with fever, dysentery, and cholera + (the wounded were the smaller portion) filled the wards in + succession from the overcrowded transports."</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale, calm and unobtrusive, went quietly among + the men, always with a smile of sympathy for the suffering. The + soldiers often wept, as for the first time in months, even + years, a woman's hand adjusted their pillows, and a woman's + voice soothed their sorrows.</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale's pathway was not an easy one. Her coming + did not meet the general approval of military or medical + officials. Some thought women would be in the way; others felt + that their coming was an interference. Possibly some did not + like to have persons about who would be apt to tell the truth + on their return to England. But with good sense and much tact + she was able to overcome the disaffection, using her almost + unlimited power with discretion.</p> + + <p>As soon as the wounded were attended to, she established an + invalid's kitchen, where appetizing food could be + prepared,--one of the essentials in convalescence. Here she + overlooked the proper cooking for eight hundred men who could + not eat ordinary food. Then she established a laundry. The beds + and shirts of the men were in a filthy condition, some wearing + the ragged clothing in which they were brought down from the + Crimea. It was difficult to obtain either food or clothing, + partly from the immense amount of "red tape" in official + life.</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale seemed to be everywhere. Dr. Pincoffs said: + "I believe that there never was a severe case of any kind that + escaped her notice; and sometimes it was wonderful to see her + at the bedside of a patient who had been admitted perhaps but + an hour before, and of whose arrival one would hardly have + supposed it possible she could already be cognizant."</p> + + <p>She aided the senior chaplain in establishing a library and + school-room, and in getting up evening lectures for the men. + She supplied books and games, wrote letters for the sick, and + forwarded their little savings to their home-friends.</p> + + <p>For a year and a half, till the close of the war, she did a + wonderful work, reducing the death-rate in the Barrack Hospital + from sixty per cent to a little above one per cent. Said the + <i>Times</i> correspondent: "Wherever there is disease in its + most dangerous form, and the hand of the spoiler distressingly + nigh, there is that incomparable woman sure to be seen; her + benignant presence is an influence for good comfort even amid + the struggles of expiring nature. She is a 'ministering angel,' + without any exaggeration, in these hospitals, and as her + slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor + fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When + all the medical officers have retired for the night, and + silence and darkness have settled down upon these miles of + prostrate sick, she may be observed, alone, with a little lamp + in her hand, making her solitary rounds.</p> + + <p>"With the heart of a true woman and the manner of a lady, + accomplished and refined beyond most of her sex, she combines a + surprising calmness of judgment and promptitude and decision of + character. The popular instinct was not mistaken, which, when + she set out from England on her mission of mercy, hailed her as + a heroine; I trust she may not earn her title to a higher, + though sadder, appellation. No one who has observed her fragile + figure and delicate health can avoid misgivings lest these + should fail."</p> + + <p>One of the soldiers wrote home: "She would speak to one and + another, and nod and smile to many more; but she could not do + it to all, you know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could + kiss her shadow as it fell, and lay our heads on our pillows + again content." Another wrote home: "Before she came there was + such cussin' and swearin', and after that it was as holy as a + church." No wonder she was called the "Angel of the Crimea." + Once she was prostrated with fever, but recovered after a few + weeks.</p> + + <p>Finally the war came to an end. London was preparing to give + Miss Nightingale a royal welcome, when, lo! she took passage by + design on a French steamer, and reached Lea Hurst, Aug. 15, + 1856, unbeknown to any one. There was a murmur of + disappointment at first, but the people could only honor all + the more the woman who wished no blare of trumpets for her + humane acts.</p> + + <p>Queen Victoria sent for her to visit her at Balmoral, and + presented her with a valuable jewel; a ruby-red enamel cross on + a white field, encircled by a black band with the words, + "Blessed are the merciful." The letters V. R., surmounted by a + crown in diamonds, are impressed upon the centre of the cross. + Green enamel branches of palm, tipped with gold, form the + framework of the shield, while around their stems is a riband + of the blue enamel with the single word "Crimea." On the top + are three brilliant stars of diamonds. On the back is an + inscription written by the Queen. The Sultan sent her a + magnificent bracelet, and the government, $250,000, to found + the school for nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital.</p> + + <p>Since the war, Miss Nightingale has never been in strong + health, but she has written several valuable books. Her + <i>Hospital Notes</i>, published in 1859, have furnished plans + for scores of new hospitals. Her <i>Notes on Nursing</i>, + published in 1860, of which over one hundred thousand have been + sold, deserve to be in every home. She is the most earnest + advocate of sunlight and fresh air.</p> + + <p>She says: "An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night + air. What air can we breathe at night but night air? The choice + is between pure night air from without, and foul night air from + within. Most people prefer the latter,--an unaccountable + choice. What will they say if it be proved true that fully + <i>one-half of all the disease we suffer from, is occasioned by + people sleeping with their windows shut?</i> An open window + most nights of the year can never hurt any one. In great cities + night air is often the best and purest to be had in the + twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p>"The five essentials, for healthy houses," she says, are + "pure air, pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, and + light.... I have known whole houses and hospitals smell of the + sink. I have met just as strong a stream of sewer air coming up + the back staircase of a grand London house, from the sink, as I + have ever met at Scutari; and I have seen the rooms in that + house all ventilated by the open doors, and the passages all + <i>un</i>ventilated by the close windows, in order that as much + of the sewer air as possible might be conducted into and + retained in the bed-rooms. It is wonderful!"</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale has much humor, and she shows it in her + writings. She is opposed to dark houses; says they promote + scrofula; to old papered walls, and to carpets full of dust. An + uninhabited room becomes full of foul air soon, and needs to + have the windows opened often. She would keep sick people, or + well, forever in the sunlight if possible, for sunlight is the + greatest possible purifier of the atmosphere. "In the unsunned + sides of narrow streets, there is degeneracy and weakliness of + the human race,--mind and body equally degenerating." Of the + ruin wrought by bad air, she says: "Oh, the crowded national + school, where so many children's epidemics have their origin, + what a tale its air-test would tell! We should have parents + saying, and saying rightly, 'I will not send my child to that + school; the air-test stands at "horrid."' And the dormitories + of our great boarding-schools! Scarlet fever would be no more + ascribed to contagion, but to its right cause, the air-test + standing at 'Foul.' We should hear no longer of 'Mysterious + Dispensations' and of 'Plague and Pestilence' being in 'God's + hands,' when, so far as we know, He has put them into our own." + She urges much rubbing of the body, washing with warm water and + soap. "The only way I know to <i>remove</i> dust, is to wipe + everything with a damp cloth.... If you must have a carpet, the + only safety is to take it up two or three times a year, instead + of once.... The best wall now extant is oil paint."</p> + + <p>"Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, requires + as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any + painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with + dead canvas or cold marble compared with having to do with the + living body, the temple of God's Spirit? Nursing is one of the + fine arts; I had almost said, the finest of the fine arts."</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale has also written <i>Observations on the + Sanitary State of the Army in India</i>, 1863; <i>Life or Death + in India</i>, read before the National Association for the + Promotion of Social Science, 1873, with an appendix on <i>Life + or Death by Irrigation</i>, 1874.</p> + + <p>She is constantly doing deeds of kindness. With a + subscription sent recently by her to the Gordon Memorial Fund, + she said: "Might but the example of this great and pure hero be + made to tell, in that self no longer existed to him, but only + God and duty, on the soldiers who have died to save him, and on + boys who should live to follow him."</p> + + <p>Miss Nightingale has helped to dignify labor and to elevate + humanity, and has thus made her name immortal.</p> + + <p>Florence Nightingale died August 13, 1910, at 2 P.M., of + heart failure, at the age of ninety. She had received many + distinguished honors: the freedom of the city of London in + 1908, and from King Edward VII, a year previously, a membership + in the Order of Merit, given only to a select few men; such as + Field Marshal Roberts, Lord Kitchener, Alma Tadema, James + Bryce, George Meredith, Lords Kelvin and Lister, and Admiral + Togo.</p> + + <p>Her funeral was a quiet one, according to her wishes.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c17" id="c17"></a> + + <h3>Lady Brassey.</h3><a href="images/c17brassey.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c17brassey_t.jpg" alt="LADY BRASSEY." /></a> + + <p>One of my pleasantest days in England was spent at old + Battle Abbey, the scene of the ever-memorable Battle of + Hastings, where William of Normandy conquered the Saxon + Harold.</p> + + <p>The abbey was built by William as a thank-offering for the + victory, on the spot where Harold set up his standard. The old + gateway is one of the finest in England. Part of the ancient + church remains, flowers and ivy growing out of the beautiful + gothic arches.</p> + + <p>As one stands upon the walls and looks out upon the sea, + that great battle comes up before him. The Norman hosts + disembark; first come the archers in short tunics, with bows as + tall as themselves and quivers full of arrows; then the knights + in coats of mail, with long lances and two-edged swords; Duke + William steps out last from the ship, and falls foremost on + both hands. His men gather about him in alarm, but he says, + "See, my lords, I have taken possession of England with both my + hands. It is now mine, and what is mine is yours."</p> + + <p>Word is sent to Harold to surrender the throne, but he + returns answer as haughty as is sent. Brave and noble, he + plants his standard, a warrior sparkling with gold and precious + stones, and thus addresses his men:--</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"The Normans are good knights, and well used to war. If + they pierce our ranks, we are lost. Cleave, and do not + spare!" Then they build up a breastwork of shields, which no + man can pass alive. William of Normandy is ready for action. + He in turn addresses his men: "Spare not, and strike hard. + There will be booty for all. It will be in vain to ask for + peace; the English will not give it. Flight is impossible; at + the sea you will find neither ship nor bridge; the English + would overtake and annihilate you there. The victory is in + our hands."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>From nine till three the battle rages. The case becomes + desperate. William orders the archers to fire into the air, as + they cannot pierce English armor, and arrows fall down like + rain upon the Saxons. Harold is pierced in the eye. He is soon + overcome and trampled to death by the enemy, dying, it is said, + with the words "Holy Cross" upon his lips.</p> + + <p>Ten thousand are killed on either side, and the Saxons pass + forever under foreign rule. Harold's mother comes and begs the + body of her son, and pays for it, some historians say, its + weight in gold.</p> + + <p>Every foot of ground at Battle Abbey is historic, and all + the country round most interesting. We drive over the smoothest + of roads to a palace in the distance,--Normanhurst, the home of + Lady Brassey, the distinguished author and traveller. Towers + are at either corner and in the centre, and ivy climbs over the + spacious vestibule to the roof. Great buildings for waterworks, + conservatories, and the like, are adjoining, in the midst of + flower-gardens and acres of lawn and forest. It is a place fit + for the abode of royalty itself.</p> + + <p>In no home have I seen so much that is beautiful gathered + from all parts of the world. The hall, as you enter, square and + hung with crimson velvet, is adorned with valuable paintings. + Two easy-chairs before the fireplace are made from ostriches, + their backs forming the seats. These birds were gifts to Lady + Brassey in her travels. In the rooms beyond are treasures from + Japan, the South Sea Islands, South America, indeed from + everywhere; cases of pottery, works in marble, Dresden + candelabra, ancient armor, furs, silks, all arrayed with + exquisite taste.</p> + + <p>One room, called the Marie Antoinette room, has the curtains + and furniture, in yellow, of this unfortunate queen. Here are + pictures by Sir Frederick Leighton, Landseer, and others; + stuffed birds and fishes and animals from every clime, with + flowers in profusion. In the dining-room, with its gray walls + and red furniture, is a large painting of the mistress of this + superb home, with her favorite horse and dogs. The views from + the windows are beautiful, Battle Abbey ruin in the distance, + and rivers flowing to the sea. The house is rich in color, one + room being blue, another red, a third yellow, while large + mirrors seem to repeat the apartments again and again. As we + leave the home, not the least of its attractions come up the + grounds,--a load of merry children, all in sailor hats; the + Mabelle and Muriel and Marie whom we have learned to know in + Lady Brassey's books.</p> + + <p>The well-known author is the daughter of the late Mr. John + Alnutt of Berkley Square, London, who, as well as his father, + was a patron of art, having made large collections of + paintings. Reared in wealth and culture, it was but natural + that the daughter, Annie, should find in the wealthy and + cultured Sir Thomas Brassey a man worthy of her affections. In + 1860, while both were quite young, they were married, and + together they have travelled, written books, aided working men + and women, and made for themselves a noble and lasting + fame.</p> + + <p>Sir Thomas is the eldest son of the late Mr. Brassey, "the + leviathan contractor, the employer of untold thousands of + navvies, the genie of the spade and pick, and almost the + pioneer of railway builders, not only in his own country, but + from one end of the continent to the other." Of superior + education, having been at Rugby and University College, Oxford, + Sir Thomas was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1864, and + was elected to Parliament from Devonport the following year, + and from Hastings three years later, in 1868, which position he + has filled ever since.</p> + + <p>Exceedingly fond of the sea, he determined to be a practical + sailor, and qualified himself as a master-marine, by passing + the requisite Board of Trade examination, and receiving a + certificate as a seaman and navigator. In 1869 he was made + Honorary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.</p> + + <p>Besides his parliamentary work, he has been an able and + voluminous writer. His <i>Foreign Work and English Wages</i> I + purchased in England, and have found it valuable in facts and + helpful in spirit. The statement in the preface that he "has + had under consideration the expediency of retiring from + Parliament, with the view of devoting an undivided attention to + the elucidation of industrial problems, and the improvement of + the relations between capital and labor," shows the heart of + the man. In 1880 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and + in 1881 was created by the Queen a Knight Commander of the + Order of the Bath, for his important services in connection + with the organization of the Naval Reserve forces of the + country.</p> + + <p>In 1869, after Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey had been nine + years married, they determined to take a sea-voyage in his + yacht, and between this time and 1872 they made two cruises in + the Mediterranean and the East. From her childhood the wife had + kept a journal, and from fine powers of observation and much + general knowledge was well fitted to see whatever was to be + seen, and describe it graphically. She wrote long, journal-like + letters to her father, and on her return <i>The Flight of the + Meteor</i> was prepared for distribution among relatives and + intimate friends.</p> + + <p>In the year last mentioned, 1872, they took a trip to Canada + and the United States, sailing up several of the long rivers, + and on her return, <i>A Cruise in the Eothen</i> was published + for friends.</p> + + <p>Four years later they decided to go round the world, and for + this purpose the beautiful yacht <i>Sunbeam</i> was built. The + children, the animal pets, two dogs, three birds, and a Persian + kitten for the baby, were all taken, and the happy family left + England July 1, 1876. With the crew, the whole number of + persons on board was forty-three. Almost at the beginning of + the voyage they encountered a severe storm. Captain Lecky would + have been lost but for the presence of mind of Mabelle Brassey, + the oldest daughter, who has her mother's courage and calmness. + When asked if she thought she was going overboard, she + answered, "I did not think at all, mamma, but felt sure we were + gone."</p> + + <p>"Soon after this adventure," says Lady Brassey, "we all went + to bed, full of thanksgiving that it had ended as well as it + did; but, alas, not, so far as I was concerned, to rest in + peace. In about two hours I was awakened by a tremendous weight + of water suddenly descending upon me and flooding the bed. I + immediately sprang out, only to find myself in another pool on + the floor. It was pitch dark, and I could not think what had + happened; so I rushed on deck, and found that the weather + having moderated a little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of + fresh air, had opened the skylight rather too soon, and one of + the angry waves had popped on board, deluging the cabin.</p> + + <p>"I got a light, and proceeded to mop up, as best I could, + and then endeavored to find a dry place to sleep in. This, + however, was no easy task, for my own bed was drenched, and + every other berth occupied. The deck, too, was ankle-deep in + water, as I found when I tried to get across to the deck-house + sofa. At last I lay down on the floor, wrapped in my ulster, + and wedged between the foot stanchion of our swing bed and the + wardrobe athwart-ship; so that as the yacht rolled heavily, my + feet were often higher than my head."</p> + + <p>No wonder that a woman who could make the best of such + circumstances could make a year's trip on the <i>Sunbeam</i> a + delight to all on board. Their first visits were to the + Madeira, Teneriffe, and Cape de Verde Islands, off the coast of + Africa. With simplicity, the charm of all writing, and + naturalness, Lady Brassey describes the people, the bathing + where the sharks were plentiful, and the masses of wild + geranium, hydrangea, and fuchsia. They climb to the top of the + lava Peak of Teneriffe, over twelve thousand feet high; they + rise at five o'clock to see the beautiful sunrises; they watch + the slaves at coffee-raising at Rio de Janeiro, in South + America, and Lady Brassey is attracted toward the nineteen tiny + babies by the side of their mothers; "the youngest, a dear, + little woolly-headed thing, as black as jet, and only three + weeks old."</p> + + <p>In Belgrano, she says: "We saw for the first time the holes + of the bizcachas, or prairie-dogs, outside which the little + prairie-owls keep guard. There appeared to be always one, and + generally two, of these birds, standing like sentinels, at the + entrance to each hole, with their wise-looking heads on one + side, pictures of prudence and watchfulness. The bird and the + beast are great friends, and are seldom to be found apart." And + then Lady Brassey, who understands photography as well as how + to write several languages, photographs this pretty scene of + prairie-dogs guarded by owls, and puts it in her book.</p> + + <p>On their way to the Straits of Magellan, they see a ship on + fire. They send out a boat to her, and bring in the suffering + crew of fifteen men, almost wild with joy to be rescued. Their + cargo of coal had been on fire for four days. The men were + exhausted, the fires beneath their feet were constantly growing + hotter, and finally they gave up in despair and lay down to + die. But the captain said, "There is One above who looks after + us all," and again they took courage. They lashed the two + apprentice boys in one of the little boats, for fear they would + be washed overboard, for one was the "only son of his mother, + and she a widow."</p> + + <p>"The captain," says Lady Brassey, "drowned his favorite dog, + a splendid Newfoundland, just before leaving the ship; for + although a capital watchdog and very faithful, he was rather + large and fierce; and when it was known that the <i>Sunbeam</i> + was a yacht with ladies and children on board, he feared to + introduce him. Poor fellow! I wish I had known about it in time + to save his life!"</p> + + <p>They "steamed past the low sandy coast of Patagonia and the + rugged mountains of Tierra del Fuego, literally, Land of Fire, + so called from the custom the inhabitants have of lighting + fires on prominent points as signals of assembly." The people + are cannibals, and naked. "Their food is of the most meagre + description, and consists mainly of shell-fish, sea-eggs, for + which the women dive with much dexterity, and fish, which they + train their dogs to assist them in catching. These dogs are + sent into the water at the entrance of a narrow creek or small + bay, and they then bark and flounder about and drive the fish + before them into shallow water, where they are caught."</p> + + <p>Three of these Fuegians, a man, woman, and lad, come out to + the yacht in a craft made of planks rudely tied together with + the sinews of animals, and give otter skins for "tobáco + and galléta" (biscuit), for which they call. When Lady + Brassey gives the lad and his mother some strings of blue, red, + and green glass beads, they laugh and jabber most + enthusiastically. Their paddles are "split branches of trees, + with wider pieces tied on at one end, with the sinews of birds + or beasts." At the various places where they land, all go + armed, Lady Brassey herself being well skilled in their + use.</p> + + <p>She never forgets to do a kindness. In Chili she hears that + a poor engine-driver, an Englishman, has met with a serious + accident, and at once hastens to see him. He is delighted to + hear about the trip of the <i>Sunbeam</i>, and forgets for a + time his intense suffering in his joy at seeing her.</p> + + <p>In Santiago she describes a visit to the ruin of the Jesuit + church, where, Dec. 8, 1863, at the Feast of the Virgin, two + thousand persons, mostly women and children, were burned to + death. A few were drawn up through a hole in the roof and thus + saved.</p> + + <p>Their visit to the South Sea Islands is full of interest. At + Bow Island Lady Brassey buys two tame pigs for twenty-five + cents each, which are so docile that they follow her about the + yacht with the dogs, to whom they took a decided fancy. She + calls one Agag, because he walks so delicately on his toes. The + native women break cocoanuts and offer them the milk to drink. + At Maitea the natives are puzzled to know why the island is + visited. "No sell brandy?" they ask. "No." "No stealy men?" + "No." "No do what then?" The chief receives most courteously, + cutting down a banana-tree for them, when they express a wish + for bananas. He would receive no money for his presents to + them.</p> + + <p>In Tahiti a feast is given in their honor, in a house + seemingly made of banana-trees, "the floor covered with the + finest mats, and the centre strewn with broad green plantain + leaves, to form the table-cloth.... Before each guest was + placed a half-cocoanut full of salt water, another full of + chopped cocoanut, a third full of fresh water, and another full + of milk, two pieces of bamboo, a basket of poi, half a + breadfruit, and a platter of green leaves, the latter being + changed with each course. We took our seats on the ground round + the green table. The first operation was to mix the salt water + and the chopped cocoanut together, so as to make an appetizing + sauce, into which we were supposed to dip each morsel we ate. + We were tolerably successful in the use of our fingers as + substitutes for knives and forks."</p> + + <p>At the Sandwich Islands, in Hilo, they visit the volcano of + Kilauea. They descend the precipice, three hundred feet, which + forms the wall of the old crater. They ascend the present + crater, and stand on the "edge of a precipice, overhanging a + lake of molten fire, a hundred feet below us, and nearly a mile + across. Dashing against the cliffs on the opposite side, with a + noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, waves of blood-red, + fiery liquid lava hurled their billows upon an iron-bound + headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss + their gory spray high in the air."</p> + + <p>They pass the island of Molokai, where the poor lepers end + their days away from home and kindred. At Honolulu they are + entertained by the Prince, and then sail for Japan, China, + Ceylon, through Suez, stopping in Egypt, and then home. On + their arrival, Lady Brassey says, "How can I describe the warm + greetings that met us everywhere, or the crowd that surrounded + us; how, along the whole ten miles from Hastings to Battle, + people were standing by the roadside and at the cottage doors + to welcome us; how the Battle bell-ringers never stopped + ringing except during service time; or how the warmest of + welcomes ended our delightful year of travel and made us feel + we were home at last, with thankful hearts for the providential + care which had watched over us whithersoever we roamed!"</p> + + <p>The trip had been one of continued ovation. Crowds had + gathered in every place to see the <i>Sunbeam</i>, and often + trim her with flowers from stem to stern. Presents of parrots, + and kittens, and pigs abounded, and Lady Brassey had cared + tenderly for them all. Christmas was observed on ship-board + with gifts for everybody; thoughtfulness and kindness had made + the trip a delight to the crew as well as the passengers.</p> + + <p>The letters sent home from the <i>Sunbeam</i> were so + thoroughly enjoyed by her father and friends, that they + prevailed upon her to publish a book, which she did in 1878. It + was found to be as full of interest to the world as it had been + to the intimate friends, and it passed rapidly through four + editions. An abridged edition appeared in the following year; + then the call for it was so great that an edition was prepared + for reading in schools, in 1880, and finally, in 1881, a + twelve-cent edition, that the poor as well as the rich might + have an opportunity of reading this fascinating book, <i>Around + the World in the Yacht Sunbeam</i>. And now Lady Brassey found + herself not only the accomplished and benevolent wife of a + member of Parliament, but a famous author as well.</p> + + <p>This year, July, 1881, the King of the Sandwich Islands, who + had been greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, + was entertained at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady + Brassey with the Order of Kapiolani.</p> + + <p>The next trip made was to the far East, and a book followed + in 1880, entitled, <i>Sunshine and Storm in the East; or, + Cruises to Cyprus and Constantinople</i>, dedicated "to the + brave, true-hearted sailors of England, of all ranks and + services."</p> + + <p>The book is intensely interesting. Now she describes the + Sultan going to the mosque, which he does every Friday at + twelve o'clock. "He appeared in a sort of undress uniform, with + a flowing cloak over it, and with two or three large diamond + stars on his breast. He was mounted on a superb white Arab + charger, thirty-three years old, whose saddle-cloths and + trappings blazed with gold and diamonds. The following of + officers on foot was enormous; and then came two hundred of the + fat blue and gold pashas, with their white horses and brilliant + trappings, the rear being brought up by some troops and a few + carriages.... Nobody dares address the Sultan, even if he + speaks to them, except in monosyllables, with their foreheads + almost touching the floor, the only exception being the grand + vizier, who dares not look up, but stands almost bent double. + He is entirely governed by his mother, who, having been a slave + of the very lowest description, to whom his father, Mahmoud + II., took a fancy as she was carrying wood to the bath, is + naturally bigoted and ignorant.... The Sultan is not allowed to + marry, but the slaves who become mothers of his children are + called sultanas, and not allowed to do any more work. They have + a separate suite of apartments, a retinue of servants, besides + carriages and horses, and each hopes some day to be the mother + of the future Sultan, and therefore the most prominent woman in + Turkey. The sultanas may not sit at table with their own + children, on account of their having been slaves, while the + children are princes and princesses in right of their + father."</p> + + <p>Lady Brassey tells the amusing story of a visit of Eugenie + to the Sultan's mother, when the Empress of the French saluted + her on the cheek. The Turkish woman was furious, and said she + had never been so insulted in her life. "She retired to bed at + once, was bled, and had several Turkish baths, to purify her + from the pollution. Fancy the Empress' feelings when, after + having so far condescended as to kiss the old woman, born one + of the lowest of slaves, she had her embrace received in such a + manner."</p> + + <p>The habits and customs of the people are described by Lady + Brassey with all the interest of a novel. On their return home, + "again the Battle bells rang out a merry peal of gladness; + again everybody rushed out to welcome us. At home once again, + the servants and the animals seemed equally glad to see us + back; the former looked the picture of happiness, while the + dogs jumped and barked; the horses and ponies neighed and + whinnied; the monkeys chattered; the cockatoos and parrots + screamed; the birds chirped; the bullfinches piped their little + paean of welcome.... Our old Sussex cowman says that even the + cows eat their food 'kind of kinder like' when the family are + at home. The deer and the ostriches too, the swans and the call + ducks, all came running to meet us, as we drove round the place + to see them." Kindness to both man and beast bears its + legitimate fruit.</p> + + <p>Two years later she prepared the letter-press to <i>Tahiti: + a Series of Photographs</i>, taken by Colonel Stuart Wortley. + He also is a gentleman of much culture and noble work, in whose + home we saw beautiful things gathered from many lands.</p> + + <p>The last long trip of Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey was made + in the fall of 1883, and resulted in a charming book, <i>In the + Trades, the Tropics, and the Roaring Forties</i>, with about + three hundred illustrations. The route lay through Madeira, + Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and home by way of the + Azores. The resources of the various islands, their history, + and their natural formation, are ably told, showing much study + as well as intelligent observation. The maps and charts are + also valuable. At Trinidad they visit the fine Botanic Gardens, + and see bamboos, mangoes, peach-palms, and cocoa-plants, from + whose seeds chocolate is made. The quantity exported annually + is 13,000,000 pounds.</p> + + <p>They also visit great coffee plantations. "The leaves of the + coffee-shrub," says Lady Brassey, "are of a rich, dark, glossy + green; the flowers, which grow in dense white clusters, when in + full bloom, giving the bushes the appearance of being covered + with snow. The berries vary in color from pale green to reddish + orange or dark red, according to their ripeness, and bear a + strong resemblance to cherries. Each contains two seeds, which, + when properly dried, become what is known to us as 'raw' + coffee."</p> + + <p>At Caracas they view with interest the place which, on March + 26, 1812, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, twelve + thousand persons perishing, thousands of whom were buried alive + by the opening of the ground. They study the formation of + coral-reefs, and witness the gathering of sponges in the + Bahamas. "These are brought to the surface by hooked poles, or + sometimes by diving. When first drawn from the water they are + covered with a soft gelatinous substance, as black as tar and + full of organic life, the sponge, as we know, being only the + skeleton of the organism."</p> + + <p>While all this travelling was being enjoyed, and made most + useful as well, to hundreds of thousands of readers, Lady + Brassey was not forgetting her works of philanthropy. For years + she has been a leading spirit in the St. John's Ambulance + Association. Last October she gave a valuable address to the + members of the "Workingmen's Club and Institute Union," + composed of several hundred societies of workingmen. Her desire + was that each society take up the work of teaching its members + how to care for the body in case of accidents. The association, + now numbering over one hundred thousand persons, is an offshoot + of the ancient order of St. John of Jerusalem, founded eight + hundred years ago, to maintain a hospital for Christian + pilgrims. She says: "The method of arresting bleeding from an + artery is so easy that a child may learn it; yet thousands of + lives have been lost through ignorance, the life-blood ebbing + away in the presence of sorrowing spectators, perfectly + helpless, because none among them had been taught one of the + first rudiments of instruction of an ambulance pupil,--the + application of an extemporized tourniquet. Again, how frequent + is the loss of life by drowning; yet how few persons, + comparatively, understand the way to treat properly the + apparently drowned." Lectures are given by this association on, + first, aid to the injured; also on the general management of + the sick-room.</p> + + <p>Lady Brassey, with the assistance of medical men, has held + classes in all the outlying villages about her home, and has + arranged that simple but useful medical appliances, like + plasters, bandages, and the like, be kept at some convenient + centres.</p> + + <p>At Trindad, and Bahamas, and Bermudas, when they stayed + there in their travels, she caused to be held large meetings + among the most influential residents; also at Madeira and in + the Azores. A class was organized on board the <i>Sunbeam</i>, + and lectures were delivered by a physician. In the Shetland + Islands she has also organized these societies, and thus many + lives have been saved. When the soldiers went to the Soudan, + she arranged for these helpful lectures to them on their voyage + East, and among much other reading-matter which she obtained + for them, sent them books and papers on this essential medical + knowledge.</p> + + <p>She carries on correspondence with India, Australia, and New + Zealand, where ambulance associations have been formed. For her + valued services she was elected in 1881 a <i>Dame + Chevaliere</i> of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.</p> + + <p>Her work among the poor in the East End of London is + admirable. Too much of this cannot be done by those who are + blessed with wealth and culture. She is also interested in all + that helps to educate the people, as is shown by her Museum of + Natural History and Ethnological Specimens, open for inspection + in the School of Fine Art at Hastings. How valuable is such a + life compared with one that uses its time and money for + personal gratification alone.</p> + + <p>In August, 1885, Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey took Mr. and + Mrs. Gladstone, and a few other friends, in the <i>Sunbeam</i>, + up the coast of Norway. When they landed at Stavanger, a + quaint, clean little town, she says, in the October + <i>Contemporary Review</i>: "The reception which we met in this + comparatively out-of-the-way place, where our visit had been + totally unexpected, was very striking. From early morning + little groups of townspeople had been hovering about the quays, + trying to get a distant glimpse of the world-renowned statesman + who was among our passengers." When they walked through the + town, "every window and doorway was filled with on-lookers, + several flags had been hoisted in honor of the occasion, and + the church bells were set ringing. It was interesting and + touching to see the ex-minister walking up the narrow street, + his hat almost constantly raised in response to the salutations + of the townspeople."</p> + + <p>They sail up the fiords, they ride in stolkjoerres over the + country, they climb mountains, they visit old churches, and + they dine with the Prince of Wales on board the royal yacht + <i>Osborne</i>. Before landing, Mr. Gladstone addresses the + crew, thanking them that "the voyage has been made pleasant and + safe by their high sense of duty, constant watchfulness, and + arduous exertion." While he admires the "rare knowledge of + practical seamanship of Sir Thomas Brassey," and thanks both + him and his wife for their "genial and generous hospitality," + he does not forget the sailors, for whom he "wishes health and + happiness," and "prays that God may speed you in all you + undertake." Lady Brassey is living a useful and noble as well + as intellectual life. In London, Sir Thomas and herself + recently gave a reception to over a thousand workingmen in the + South Kensington Museum. Devoted to her family, she does not + forget the best interests of her country, nor the welfare of + those less fortunate than herself. Successful in authorship, + she is equally successful in good works; loved at home and + honored abroad.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Lady Brassey's last voyage was made in the yacht she loved: + the <i>Sunbeam</i>. Three or four years before, her health had + received a serious shock through an attack of typhoid fever, + and it was hoped that travel would restore her. A trip was made + in 1887 to Ceylon, Rangoon, North Borneo and Australia, in + company with Lord Brassey, a son, and three daughters. While in + mid-ocean, on their way to Mauritius, Lady Brassey died of + malarial fever, and was buried at sea, September 14, + 1887.</p><a href="images/c17thasbrassey.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c17thasbrassey_t.jpg" alt= + "SIR THOMAS BRASSEY." /></a> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c18" id="c18"></a> + + <h3>Baroness Burdett-Coutts.</h3><a href= + "images/c18baroness.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c18baroness_t.jpg" alt= + "BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS." /></a> + + <p>We hear, with comparative frequency, of great gifts made by + men: George Peabody and Johns Hopkins, Ezra Cornell and Matthew + Vassar, Commodore Vanderbilt and Leland Stanford. But gifts of + millions have been rare from women. Perhaps this is because + they have not, as often as men, had the control of immense + wealth.</p> + + <p>It is estimated that Baroness Burdett-Coutts has already + given away from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and is + constantly dispensing her fortune. She is feeling, in her + lifetime, the real joy of giving. How many benevolent persons + lose all this joy, by waiting till death before they bestow + their gifts.</p> + + <p>This remarkable woman comes from a remarkable family. Her + father, Sir Francis Burdett, was one of England's most + prominent members of Parliament. So earnest and eloquent was he + that Canning placed him "very nearly, if not quite, at the head + of the orators of the day." His colleague from Westminster, + Hobhouse, said, "Sir Francis Burdett was endowed with qualities + rarely united. A manly understanding and a tender heart gave a + charm to his society such as I have never derived in any other + instance from a man whose principal pursuit was politics. He + was the delight both of young and old."</p> + + <p>He was of fine presence, with great command of language, + natural, sincere, and impressive. After being educated at + Oxford, he spent some time in Paris during the early part of + the French Revolution, and came home with enlarged ideas of + liberty. With as much courage as eloquence, he advocated + liberty of the press in England, and many Parliamentary + reforms. Whenever there were misdeeds to be exposed, he exposed + them. The abuses of Cold Bath Fields and other prisons were + corrected through his searching public inquiries.</p> + + <p>When one of his friends was shut up in Newgate for impugning + the conduct of the House of Commons, Sir Francis took his part, + and for this it was ordered that he too be arrested. Believing + in free speech as he did, he denied the right of the House of + Commons to arrest him, and for nearly three days barricaded his + house, till the police forcibly entered, and carried him to the + Tower. A riot resulted, the people assaulting the police and + the soldiers, for the statesman was extremely popular. Several + persons were killed in the tumult.</p> + + <p>Nine years later, in 1819, because he condemned the + proceedings of the Lancashire magistrates in a massacre case, + he was again arrested for libel (?). His sentence was three + months' imprisonment, and a fine of five thousand dollars. The + banknote with which the money was paid is still preserved in + the Bank of England, "with an inscription in Burdett's own + writing, that to save his life, which further imprisonment + threatened to destroy, he submitted to be robbed."</p> + + <p>For thirty years he represented Westminster, fearless in + what he considered right; strenuous for the abolition of + slavery, and in all other reforms. Napoleon said at St. Helena, + if he had invaded England as he had intended, he would have + made it a republic, with Sir Francis Burdett, the popular idol, + at its head.</p> + + <p>Wealthy himself, Sir Francis married Sophia, the youngest + daughter of the wealthy London banker, Thomas Coutts. One son + and five daughters were born to them, the youngest Angela + Georgina (April 21, 1814), now the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Mr. + Coutts was an eccentric and independent man, who married for + his first wife an excellent girl of very humble position. Their + children, from the great wealth of the father, married into the + highest social rank, one being Marchioness of Bute, one + countess of Guilford, and the third Lady Burdett.</p> + + <p>When Thomas Coutts was eighty-four he married for the second + time, a well-known actress, Harriet Mellon, who for seven + years, till his death, took excellent care of him. He left her + his whole fortune, amounting to several millions, feeling, + perhaps, that he had provided sufficiently for his daughters at + their marriage, by giving them a half-million each. But Harriet + Mellon, with a fine sense of honor, felt that the fortune + belonged to his children. Though she married five years later + the Duke of St. Albans, twenty-four years old, about half her + own age, at her death, in ten years, she left the whole + property, some fifteen millions, to Mr. Coutts' granddaughter, + Angela Burdett. Only one condition was imposed,--that the young + lady should add the name of Coutts to her own.</p> + + <p>Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts became, therefore, at + twenty-three, the sole proprietor of the great Coutts + banking-house, which position she held for thirty years, and + the owner of an immense fortune. Very many young men manifested + a desire to help care for the property, and to share it with + her, but she seems from the first to have had but one definite + life-purpose,--to spend her money for the good of the human + race. She had her father's strength of character, was well + educated, and was a friend of royalty itself. Alas, how many + young women, with fifteen million dollars in hand, and the sum + constantly increasing, would have preferred a life of display + and self-aggrandizement rather than visiting the poor and the + sorrowing!</p> + + <p>Baroness Burdett-Coutts is now over seventy, and for fifty + years her name has been one of the brightest and noblest in + England, or, indeed, in the world. Crabb Robinson said, she is + "the most generous, and delicately generous, person I ever + knew."</p> + + <p>Her charities have extended in every direction. Among her + first good works was the building of two large churches, one at + Carlisle, and another, St. Stephen's, at Westminster, the + latter having also three schools and a parsonage. But Great + Britain did not require all her gifts. Gospel work was needed + in Australia, Africa, and British America. She therefore + endowed three colonial bishoprics, at Adelaide, Cape Town, and + in British Columbia, with a quarter of a million dollars. In + South Australia she also provided an institution for the + improvement of the aborigines, who were ignorant, and for whom + the world seemed to care little.</p> + + <p>She has generously aided her own sex. Feeling that sewing + and other household work should be taught in the national + schools, as from her labors among the poor she had seen how + often food was badly cooked, and mothers were ignorant of + sewing, she gave liberally to the government for this purpose. + Her heart also went out to children in the remote districts, + who were missing all school privileges, and for these she + arranged a plan of "travelling teachers," which was heartily + approved by the English authorities. Even now in these later + years the Baroness may often be seen at the night-schools of + London, offering prizes, or encouraging the young men and women + in their desire to gain knowledge after the hard day's work is + done. She has opened "Reformatory Homes" for girls, and great + good has resulted.</p> + + <p>Like Peabody, she has transformed some of the most degraded + portions of London by her improved tenement houses for the + poor. One place, called Nova Scotia gardens,--the term + "gardens" was a misnomer,--she purchased, tore down the old + rookeries where people slept and ate in filth and rags, and + built tasteful homes for two hundred families, charging for + them low and weekly rentals. Close by she built Columbia + Market, costing over a million dollars, intended for the + convenience of small dealers and people in that locality, where + clean, healthful food could be procured. She opened a museum + and reading-room for the neighborhood, and brought order and + taste out of squalor and distress.</p> + + <p>This building she presented to the city of London, and in + acknowledgment of the munificent gift, the Common Council + presented her, July, 1872, in a public ceremony, the freedom of + the city, an uncommon honor to a woman. It was accompanied by a + complimentary address, enclosed in a beautiful gold casket with + several compartments. One bore the arms of the Baroness, while + the other seven represented tableaux emblematic of her noble + life, "Feeding the Hungry," "Giving Drink to the Thirsty," + "Clothing the Naked," "Visiting the Captive," "Lodging the + Homeless," "Visiting the Sick," and "Burying the Dead." The + four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and + Justice, supported the box at the four corners, while the lid + was surmounted by the arms of the city.</p> + + <p>The Baroness made an able response to the address of the + Council, instead of asking some gentleman to reply for her. + Women who can do valuable benevolent work should be able to + read their own reports, or say what they desire to say in + public speech, without feeling that they have in the slightest + degree departed from the dignity and delicacy of their + womanhood.</p> + + <p>Two years later, 1874, Edinburgh, for her many charities, + also presented the Baroness the freedom of the city. Queen + Victoria, three years before this, in June, 1871, had made her + a peer of the realm.</p> + + <p>In Spitalfields, London, where the poverty was very great, + she started a sewing-school for adult women, and provided not + only work for them, but food as well, so that they might earn + for themselves rather than receive charity. To furnish this + work, she took contracts from the government. From this school + she sent out nurses among the sick, giving them medical + supplies, and clothes for the deserving. When servants needed + outfits, the Baroness provided them, aiding in all ways those + who were willing to work. All this required much executive + ability.</p> + + <p>So interested is she in the welfare of poor children, that + she has converted some of the very old burying-grounds of the + city, where the bodies have long since gone back to dust, into + playgrounds, with walks, and seats, and beds of flowers. Here + the children can romp from morning till night, instead of + living in the stifled air of the tenement houses. In old St. + Pancras churchyard, now used as a playground, she has erected a + sundial as a memorial to its illustrious dead.</p> + + <p>Not alone does Lady Burdett-Coutts build churches, and help + women and girls. She has fitted hundreds of boys for the Royal + Navy; educated them on her training-ships. She usually tries + them in a shoe-black brigade, and if they show a desire to be + honest and trustworthy, she provides homes, either in the navy + or in some good trade.</p> + + <p>When men are out of work, she encourages them in various + ways. When the East End weavers had become reduced to poverty + by the decay of trade, she furnished funds for them to emigrate + to Queensland, with their families. A large number went + together, and formed a prosperous and happy colony, gratefully + sending back thanks to their benefactor. They would have + starved, or, what is more probable, gone into crime in London; + now they were contented and satisfied in their new home.</p> + + <p>When the inhabitants of Girvan, Scotland, were in distress, + she advanced a large sum to take all the needy families to + Australia. Here in America we talk every now and then of + forming societies to help the poor to leave the cities and go + West, and too often the matter ends in talk; while here is a + woman who forms a society in and of herself, and sends the + suffering to any part of the world, expecting no money return + on the capital used. To see happy and contented homes grow from + our expenditures is such an investment of capital as helps to + bring on the millennium.</p> + + <p>When the people near Skibbereen, Ireland, were in want, she + sent food, and clothing, and fishing-tackle, to enable them to + carry on their daily employment of fishing. She supplied the + necessary funds for Sir Henry James' topographical survey of + Jerusalem, in the endeavor to discover the remains of King + Solomon's temple, and offered to restore the ancient aqueduct, + to supply the city with water. Deeply interested in art, she + has aided many struggling artists. Her homes also contain many + valuable pictures.</p> + + <p>The heart of the Baroness seems open to distress from every + clime. In 1877, when word reached England of the suffering + through war of the Bulgarian and Turkish peasantry, she + instituted the "Compassion Fund," by which one hundred and + fifty thousand dollars in money and stores were sent, and + thousands of lives saved from starvation and death. For this + generosity the Sultan conferred upon her the Order of Medjidie, + the first woman, it is said, who has received this + distinction.</p> + + <p>In all this benevolence she has not overlooked the animal + creation. She has erected four handsome drinking fountains: one + in Victoria Park, one at the entrance to the Zoological Gardens + in Regent's Park, one near Columbia Market, and one in the city + of Manchester. At the opening of the latter, the citizens gave + Lady Burdett-Coutts a most enthusiastic reception. To the + unique and interesting home for lost dogs in London, she has + contributed very largely. If the poor animals could speak, how + would they thank her for a warm bed to lie on, and proper food + to eat!</p> + + <p>Her private gifts to the poor have been numberless. Her city + house, I Stratton Street, Piccadilly, and her country home at + Holly Lodge, Highgate, are both well known. When, in 1868, the + great Reform procession passed her house, and she was at the + window, though half out of sight, says a person who was + present, "in one instant a shout was raised. For upwards of two + hours and a half the air rang with the reiterated + huzzas--huzzas unanimous and heart-felt, as if representing a + national sentiment."</p> + + <p>At Holly Lodge, which one passes in visiting the grave of + George Eliot at Highgate Cemetery, the Baroness makes thousands + of persons happy year by year. Now she invites two thousand + Belgian volunteers to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales, + with some five hundred royal and distinguished guests; now she + throws open her beautiful gardens to hundreds of + school-children, and lets them play at will under the oak and + chestnut trees; and now she entertains at tea all her tenants, + numbering about a thousand. So genial and considerate is she + that all love her, both rich and poor. She has fine manners and + an open, pleasant face.</p> + + <p>For some years a young friend, about half her own age, Mr. + William Ashmead-Bartlett, had assisted her in dispensing her + charities, and in other financial matters. At one time he went + to Turkey, at her request, using wisely the funds committed to + his trust. Baroness Coutts had refused many offers of marriage, + but she finally desired to bestow her hand upon this young but + congenial man. On February 12, 1881, they were wedded in Christ + Church, Piccadilly. Her husband took the name of Mr. + Burdett-Coutts Bartlett, and has since become a capable member + of Parliament. The marriage proved a happy one.</p> + + <p>The final years of the Baroness' long, useful life were + rather secluded, being spent at her London residence, or at her + delightful country place near Highgate, where she formerly + entertained largely.</p> + + <p>On Christmas Eve, in 1906, she became ill of bronchitis, and + though her wonderful vitality led her to revive somewhat, she + finally succumbed on December 30, at the age of ninety-two. She + was greatly beloved from the highest to the humblest citizens. + Queen Alexandra sent repeated inquiries and messages. King + Edward once said that he regarded the Baroness, after his + mother, as the most remarkable woman in England. Her life was a + link with the past, as it began during the reign of Emperor + Napoleon I, and witnessed the reigns of five British + sovereigns. Throughout it was spent in doing good.</p> + <hr /> + <br /> + <br /> + <a name="c19" id="c19"></a> + + <h3>Jean Ingelow.</h3><a href="images/c19ingelow.jpg"><br /> + <img src="images/c19ingelow_t.jpg" alt="JEAN INGELOW." /></a> + + <p>The same friend who had given me Mrs. Browning's five + volumes in blue and gold, came one day with a dainty volume + just published by Roberts Brothers, of Boston. They had found a + new poet, and one possessing a beautiful name. Possibly it was + a <i>nom de plume</i>, for who had heard any real name so + musical as that of Jean Ingelow?</p> + + <p>I took the volume down by the quiet stream that flows below + Amherst College, and day after day, under a grand old tree, + read some of the most musical words, wedded to as pure thought + as our century has produced.</p> + + <p>The world was just beginning to know <i>The High Tide on the + Coast of Lincolnshire</i>. Eyes were dimming as they + read,--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I looked without, and lo! my sonne<br /> + Came riding downe with might and main: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + He raised a shout as he drew on,<br /> + Till all the welkin rang again, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'Elizabeth! Elizabeth!'<br /> + (A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath<br /> + Than my sonne's wife Elizabeth.) + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "'The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe,<br /> + The rising tide comes on apace, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And boats adrift in yonder towne<br /> + Go sailing uppe the market-place.' + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + He shook as one who looks on death:<br /> + 'God save you, mother!' straight he saith;<br /> + 'Where is my wife, Elizabeth?'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>And then the waters laid her body at his very door, and the + sweet voice that called, "Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!" was stilled + forever.</p> + + <p>The <i>Songs of Seven</i> soon became as household words, + because they were a reflection of real life. Nobody ever + pictured a child more exquisitely than the little + seven-year-old, who, rich with the little knowledge that seems + much to a child, looks down from superior heights upon</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "The lambs that play always, they know no better;<br /> + They are only one times one." + </div> + </div> + + <p>So happy is she that she makes boon companions of the + flowers:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,<br /> + Give me your honey to hold! + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "O columbine, open your folded wrapper,<br /> + Where two twin turtle-doves dwell! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper<br /> + That hangs in your clear green bell!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>At "seven times two," who of us has not waited for the great + heavy curtains of the future to be drawn aside?</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster,<br /> + Nor long summer bide so late; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And I could grow on, like the fox-glove and aster,<br /> + For some things are ill to wait." + </div> + </div> + + <p>At twenty-one the girl's heart flutters with + expectancy:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover,<br /> + Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover;<br /> + Hush nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale wait + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + Till I listen and hear<br /> + If a step draweth near,<br /> + For my love he is late!" + </div> + </div> + + <p>At twenty-eight, the happy mother lives in a simple home, + made beautiful by her children:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Heigho! daisies and buttercups!<br /> + Mother shall thread them a daisy chain." + </div> + </div> + + <p>At thirty-five a widow; at forty-two giving up her children + to brighten other homes; at forty-nine, "Longing for Home."</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I had a nestful once of my own,<br /> + Ah, happy, happy I! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Right dearly I loved them, but when they were grown<br /> + They spread out their wings to fly. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + O, one after another they flew away,<br /> + Far up to the heavenly blue, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + To the better country, the upper day,<br /> + And--I wish I was going too." + </div> + </div> + + <p>The <i>Songs of Seven</i> will be read and treasured as long + as there are women in the world to be loved, and men in the + world to love them.</p> + + <p>My especial favorite in the volume was the poem + <i>Divided</i>. Never have I seen more exquisite kinship with + nature, or more delicate and tender feeling. Where is there so + beautiful a picture as this?</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "An empty sky, a world of heather,<br /> + Purple of fox-glove, yellow of broom; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + We two among them, wading together,<br /> + Shaking out honey, treading perfume. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Crowds of bees are giddy with clover,<br /> + Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Crowds of larks at their matins hang over,<br /> + Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "We two walk till the purple dieth,<br /> + And short, dry grass under foot is brown; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But one little streak at a distance lieth<br /> + Green like a ribbon to prank the down. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Over the grass we stepped into it,<br /> + And God He knoweth how blithe we were! + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Never a voice to bid us eschew it;<br /> + Hey the green ribbon that showed so fair! + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "A shady freshness, chafers whirring,<br /> + A little piping of leaf-hid birds; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + A flutter of wings, a fitful stirring,<br /> + A cloud to the eastward, snowy as curds. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Bare, glassy slopes, where kids are tethered;<br /> + Round valleys like nests all ferny lined; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Round hills, with fluttering tree-tops feathered,<br /> + Swell high in their freckled robes behind. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "Glitters the dew and shines the river,<br /> + Up comes the lily and dries her bell; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But two are walking apart forever,<br /> + And wave their hands for a mute farewell. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "And yet I know past all doubting, truly--<br /> + And knowledge greater than grief can dim-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I know, as he loved, he will love me duly--<br /> + Yea, better--e'en better than I love him. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "And as I walk by the vast calm river,<br /> + The awful river so dread to see, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I say, 'Thy breadth and thy depth forever<br /> + Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me.'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>In what choice but simple language we are thus told that two + loving hearts cannot be divided.</p> + + <p>Years went by, and I was at last to see the author of the + poems I had loved in girlhood. I had wondered how she looked, + what was her manner, and what were her surroundings.</p> + + <p>In Kensington, a suburb of London, in a two-story-and-a-half + stone house, cream-colored, lives Jean Ingelow. Tasteful + grounds are in front of the home, and in the rear a large lawn + bordered with many flowers, and conservatories; a real English + garden, soft as velvet, and fragrant as new-mown hay. The house + is fit for a poet; roomy, cheerful, and filled with flowers. + One end of the large, double parlors seemed a bank of azalias + and honeysuckles, while great bunches of yellow primrose and + blue forget-me-not were on the tables and in the + bay-windows.</p> + + <p>But most interesting of all was the poet herself, in middle + life, with fine, womanly face, friendly manner, and cultivated + mind. For an hour we talked of many things in both countries. + Miss Ingelow showed great familiarity with American literature + and with our national questions.</p> + + <p>While everything about her indicated deep love for poetry, + and a keen sense of the beautiful, her conversation, fluent and + admirable, showed her to be eminently practical and sensible, + without a touch of sentimentality. Her first work in life seems + to be the making of her two brothers happy in the home. She + usually spends her forenoons in writing. She does her literary + work thoroughly, keeping her productions a long time before + they are put into print. As she is never in robust health, she + gives little time to society, and passes her winters in the + South of France or Italy. A letter dated Feb. 25, from the Alps + Maritime, at Cannes, says, "This lovely spot is full of + flowers, birds, and butterflies." Who that recalls her <i>Songs + on the Voices of Birds</i>, the blackbird, and the nightingale, + will not appreciate her happiness with such surroundings?</p> + + <p>With great fondness for, and pride in, her own country, she + has the most kindly feelings toward America and her people. She + says in the preface of her novel, <i>Fated to be Free</i>, + concerning this work and <i>Off the Skelligs</i>, "I am told + that they are peculiar; and I feel that they must be so, for + most stories of human life are, or at least aim at being, works + of art--selections of interesting portions of life, and fitting + incidents put together and presented as a picture is; and I + have not aimed at producing a work of art at all, but a piece + of nature." And then she goes on to explain her position to + "her American friends," for, she says, "I am sure you more than + deserve of me some efforts to please you. I seldom have an + opportunity of saying how truly I think so."</p> + + <p>Jean Ingelow's life has been a quiet but busy and earnest + one. She was born in the quaint old city of Boston, England, in + 1830. Her father was a well-to-do banker; her mother a + cultivated woman of Scotch descent, from Aberdeenshire. Jean + grew to womanhood in the midst of eleven brothers and sisters, + without the fate of struggle and poverty, so common among the + great.</p> + + <p>She writes to a friend concerning her childhood:--</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"As a child, I was very happy at times, and generally + wondering at something.... I was uncommonly like other + children.... I remember seeing a star, and that my mother + told me of God who lived up there and made the star. This was + on a summer evening. It was my first hearing of God, and made + a great impression on my mind. I remember better than + anything that certain ecstatic sensations of joy used to get + hold of me, and that I used to creep into corners to think + out my thoughts by myself. I was, however, extremely timid, + and easily overawed by fear. We had a lofty nursery with a + bow-window that overlooked the river. My brother and I were + constantly wondering at this river. The coming up of the + tides, and the ships, and the jolly gangs of towers ragging + them on with a monotonous song made a daily delight for us. + The washing of the water, the sunshine upon it, and the + reflections of the waves on our nursery ceiling supplied + hours of talk to us, and days of pleasure. At this time, + being three years old, ... I learned my letters.... I used to + think a good deal, especially about the origin of things. + People said often that they had been in this world, that + house, that nursery, before I came. I thought everything must + have begun when I did.... No doubt other children have such + thoughts, but few remember them. Indeed, nothing is more + remarkable among intelligent people than the recollections + they retain of their early childhood. A few, as I do, + remember it all. Many remember nothing whatever which + occurred before they were five years old.... I have suffered + much from a feeling of shyness and reserve, and I have not + been able to do things by trying to do them. What comes to me + comes of its own accord, and almost in spite of me; and I + have hardly any power when verses are once written to make + them any better.... There were no hardships in my youth, but + care was bestowed on me and my brothers and sisters by a + father and mother who were both cultivated people."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>To another friend she writes: "I suppose I may take for + granted that mine was the poetic temperament, and since there + are no thrilling incidents to relate, you may think you should + like to have my views as to what that means. I cannot tell you + in an hour, or even in a day, for it means so much. I suppose + it, of its absence or presence, to make far more difference + between one person and another than any contrast of + circumstances can do. The possessor does not have it for + nothing. It isolates, particularly in childhood; it takes away + some common blessings, but then it consoles for them all."</p> + + <p>With this poetic temperament, that saw beauty in flower, and + sky, and bird, that felt keenly all the sorrow and all the + happiness of the world about her, that wrote of life rather + than art, because to live rightly was the whole problem of + human existence, with this poetic temperament, the girl grew to + womanhood in the city bordering on the sea.</p> + + <p>Boston, at the mouth of the Witham, was once a famous + seaport, the rival of London in commercial prosperity, in the + thirteenth century. It was the site of the famous monastery of + St. Botolph, built by a pious monk in 657. The town which grew + up around it was called Botolph's town, contracted finally to + Boston. From this town Reverend John Cotton came to America, + and gave the name to the capital of Massachusetts, in which he + settled. The present famous old church of St. Botolph was + founded in 1309, having a bell-tower three hundred feet high, + which supports a lantern visible at sea for forty miles.</p> + + <p>The surrounding country is made up largely of marshes + reclaimed from the sea, which are called fens, and slightly + elevated tracts of land called moors. Here Jean Ingelow studied + the green meadows and the ever-changing ocean.</p> + + <p>Her first book, <i>A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and + Feelings</i>, was published in 1850, when she was twenty, and a + novel, <i>Allerton and Dreux</i>, in 1851; nine years later her + <i>Tales of Orris</i>. But her fame came at thirty-three, when + her first full book of <i>Poems</i> was published in 1863. This + was dedicated to a much loved brother, George K. Ingelow:--</p> + + <p class="dedication">"YOUR LOVING SISTER<br /> + OFFERS YOU THESE POEMS, PARTLY AS<br /> + AN EXPRESSION OF HER AFFECTION, PARTLY FOR THE<br /> + PLEASURE OF CONNECTING HER EFFORT<br /> + WITH YOUR NAME."</p> + + <p>The press everywhere gave flattering notices. A new singer + had come; not one whose life had been spent in the study of + Greek roots, simply, but one who had studied nature and + humanity. She had a message to give the world, and she gave it + well. It was a message of good cheer, of earnest purpose, of + contentment and hope.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "What though unmarked the happy workman toil,<br /> + And break unthanked of man the stubborn clod? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + It is enough, for sacred is the soil,<br /> + Dear are the hills of God. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "Far better in its place the lowliest bird<br /> + Should sing aright to him the lowliest song, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Than that a seraph strayed should take the word<br /> + And sing his glory wrong." + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "But like a river, blest where'er it flows,<br /> + Be still receiving while it still bestows." + </div> + + <div class="tail_r"> + "That life + </div>Goes best with those who take it best. + + <div class="tail_r"> + --it is well + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + For us to be as happy as we can!" + </div><br /> + + <div class="tail_m"> + "Work is its own best earthly meed, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Else have we none more than the sea-born throng + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Who wrought those marvellous isles that bloom afar." + </div> + </div> + + <p>The London press said: "Miss Ingelow's new volume exhibits + abundant evidence that time, study, and devotion to her + vocation have both elevated and welcomed the powers of the most + gifted poetess we possess, now that Elizabeth Barrett Browning + and Adelaide Proctor sing no more on earth. Lincolnshire has + claims to be considered the Arcadia of England at present, + having given birth to Mr. Tennyson and our present Lady + Laureate."</p> + + <p>The press of America was not less cordial. "Except Mrs. + Browning, Jean Ingelow is first among the women whom the world + calls poets," said the <i>Independent</i>.</p> + + <p>The songs touched the popular heart, and some, set to music, + were sung at numberless firesides. Who has not heard the + <i>Sailing beyond Seas</i>?</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Methought the stars were blinking bright,<br /> + And the old brig's sails unfurled; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I said, 'I will sail to my love this night<br /> + At the other side of the world.' + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + I stepped aboard,--we sailed so fast,--<br /> + The sun shot up from the bourne; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + But a dove that perched upon the mast<br /> + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn. + </div><br /> + + <div class="tail_m"> + O fair dove! O fond dove!<br /> + And dove with the white breast, + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + Let me alone, the dream is my own,<br /> + And my heart is full of rest. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "My love! He stood at my right hand,<br /> + His eyes were grave and sweet. + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Methought he said, 'In this fair land,<br /> + O, is it thus we meet? + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Ah, maid most dear, I am not here;<br /> + I have no place,--no part,-- + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + No dwelling more by sea or shore!<br /> + But only in thy heart!' + </div><br /> + + <div class="tail_m"> + O fair dove! O fond dove!<br /> + Till night rose over the bourne, + </div> + + <div class="tail_m"> + The dove on the mast as we sailed past,<br /> + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn." + </div> + </div> + + <p>Edmund Clarence Stedman, one of the ablest and fairest among + American critics, says: "As the voice of Mrs. Browning grew + silent, the songs of Miss Ingelow began, and had instant and + merited popularity. They sprang up suddenly and tunefully as + skylarks from the daisy-spangled, hawthorn-bordered meadows of + old England, with a blitheness long unknown, and in their + idyllic underflights moved with the tenderest currents of human + life. Miss Ingelow may be termed an idyllic lyrist, her lyrical + pieces having always much idyllic beauty. <i>High Tide, + Winstanley, Songs of Seven, and the Long White Seam</i> are + lyrical treasures, and the author especially may be said to + evince that sincerity which is poetry's most enduring + warrant."</p> + + <p><i>Winstanley</i> is especially full of pathos and action. + We watch this heroic man as he builds the lighthouse on the + Eddystone rocks:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Then he and the sea began their strife,<br /> + And worked with power and might: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Whatever the man reared up by day<br /> + The sea broke down by night. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "A Scottish schooner made the port<br /> + The thirteenth day at e'en: + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + 'As I am a man,' the captain cried,<br /> + 'A strange sight I have seen; + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "'And a strange sound heard, my masters all,<br /> + At sea, in the fog and the rain, + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + Like shipwrights' hammers tapping low,<br /> + Then loud, then low again. + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "'And a stately house one instant showed,<br /> + Through a rift, on the vessel's lea; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + What manner of creatures may be those<br /> + That build upon the sea?'" + </div> + </div> + + <p>After the lighthouse was built, Winstanley went out again to + see his precious tower. A fearful storm came up, and the tower + and its builder went down together.</p> + + <p>Several books have come from Miss Ingelow's pen since 1863. + The following year, Studies for Stories was published, of which + the Athenaeum said, "They are prose poems, carefully meditated, + and exquisitely touched in by a teacher ready to sympathize + with every joy and sorrow." The five stories are told in simple + and clear language, and without slang, to which she heartily + objects. For one so rich in imagination as Miss Ingelow, her + prose is singularly free from obscurity and florid + language.</p> + + <p><i>Stories told to a Child</i> was published in 1865, and + <i>A Story of Doom, and Other Poems</i>, in 1868, the principal + poem being drawn from the time of the Deluge. <i>Mopsa the + Fairy</i>, an exquisite story, followed a year later, with <i>A + Sister's Bye-hours</i>, and since that time, <i>Off the + Skelligs</i> in 1872, <i>Fated to be Free</i> in 1875, <i>Sarah + de Berenger</i> in 1879, <i>Don John</i> in 1881, and <i>Poems + of the Old Days and the New</i>, recently issued. Of the + latter, the poet Stoddard says: "Beyond all the women of the + Victorian era, she is the most of an Elizabethan.... She has + tracked the ocean journeyings of Drake, Raleigh, and Frobisher, + and others to whom the Spanish main was a second home, the + <i>El Dorado</i> of which Columbus and his followers dreamed in + their stormy slumbers.... The first of her poems in this + volume, <i>Rosamund</i>, is a masterly battle idyl."</p> + + <p>Her books have had large sale, both here and in Europe. It + is stated that in this country one hundred thousand of her + <i>Poems</i> have been sold, and half that number of her prose + works.</p> + + <p>Miss Ingelow has not been elated by her deserved success. + She has told the world very little of herself in her books. She + once wrote a friend: "I am far from agreeing with you 'that it + is rather too bad when we read people's works, if they won't + let us know anything about themselves.' I consider that an + author should, during life, be as much as possible, impersonal. + I never import myself into my writings, and am much better + pleased that others should feel an interest in me, and wish to + know something of me, than that they should complain of + egotism."</p> + + <p>It is said that the last of her <i>Songs with Preludes</i> + refers to a brother who lies buried in Australia:--</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "I stand on the bridge where last we stood<br /> + When delicate leaves were young; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + The children called us from yonder wood,<br /> + While a mated blackbird sung. + </div> + + <div class="spacer"> + * * * * * + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + "But if all loved, as the few can love,<br /> + This world would seldom be well; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And who need wish, if he dwells above,<br /> + For a deep, a long death-knell? + </div><br /> + + <div class="ln"> + "There are four or five, who, passing this place,<br /> + While they live will name me yet; + </div> + + <div class="ln"> + And when I am gone will think on my face,<br /> + And feel a kind of regret." + </div> + </div> + + <p>With all her literary work, she does not forget to do good + personally. At one time she instituted a "copyright dinner," at + her own expense, which she thus described to a friend: "I have + set up a dinner-table for the sick poor, or rather, for such + persons as are just out of the hospitals, and are hungry, and + yet not strong enough to work. We have about twelve to dinner + three times a week, and hope to continue the plan. It is such a + comfort to see the good it does. I find it one of the great + pleasures of writing, that it gives me more command of money + for such purposes than falls to the lot of most women." Again, + she writes to an American friend: "I should be much obliged to + you if you would give in my name twenty-five dollars to some + charity in Boston. I should prefer such a one as does not + belong to any party in particular, such as a city infirmary or + orphan school. I do not like to draw money from your country, + and give none in charity."</p> + + <p>Miss Ingelow is very fond of children, and herein is, + perhaps, one secret of her success. In Off the Skelligs she + says: "Some people appear to feel that they are much wiser, + much nearer to the truth and to realities, than they were when + they were children. They think of childhood as immeasurably + beneath and behind them. I have never been able to join in such + a notion. It often seems to me that we lose quite as much as we + gain by our lengthened sojourn here. I should not at all wonder + if the thoughts of our childhood, when we look back on it after + the rending of this vail of our humanity, should prove less + unlike what we were intended to derive from the teaching of + life, nature, and revelation, than the thoughts of our more + sophisticated days."</p> + + <p>Best of all, this true woman and true poet as well, like + Emerson, sees and believes in the progress of the race.</p> + + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="ln"> + "Still humanity grows dearer,<br /> + Being learned the more," + </div> + </div> + + <p>she says, in that tender poem, <i>A Mother showing the + Portrait of her Child</i>. Blessed optimism! that amid all the + shortcomings of human nature sees the best, lifts souls upward, + and helps to make the world sunny by its singing.</p> + + <p class="spacer">* * * * *</p> + + <p>Jean Ingelow died at her home in Kensington, London, July + 19, 1897, at the age of sixty-seven, having been born in + Boston, Lincolnshire, in 1830. Her long illness ended in simple + exhaustion, and she welcomed death gladly.</p> + </div><!--END OF TEXT--> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of Girls Who Became Famous +by Sarah Knowles Bolton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS *** + +***** This file should be named 12081-h.htm or 12081-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/8/12081/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mike Boto, Ylva Lind +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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b/old/12081.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a6cecd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12081.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9405 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lives of Girls Who Became Famous, by Sarah Knowles Bolton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lives of Girls Who Became Famous + +Author: Sarah Knowles Bolton + +Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12081] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mike Boto, Ylva Lind +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +LIVES + +OF + +GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +BY + +SARAH K. BOLTON, + +AUTHOR OF "POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "SOCIAL STUDIES IN ENGLAND," +ETC. + + +1914 + + + + +"_Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected._" +--JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +"_Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from them_." +--MADAME DE STAEEL. + + + + +TO + +MY AUNT, + +MRS. MARTHA W. MILLER, +Whose culture and kindness I count +among the blessings of +my life. + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +All of us have aspirations. We build air-castles, and are probably the +happier for the building. However, the sooner we learn that life is +not a play-day, but a thing of earnest activity, the better for us and +for those associated with us. "Energy," says Goethe, "will do anything +that can be done in this world"; and Jean Ingelow truly says, that +"Work is heaven's hest." + +If we cannot, like George Eliot, write _Adam Bede_, we can, like +Elizabeth Fry, visit the poor and the prisoner. If we cannot, like +Rosa Bonheur, paint a "Horse Fair," and receive ten thousand dollars, +we can, like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Alcott, do some kind of work to +lighten the burdens of parents. If poor, with Mary Lyon's persistency +and noble purpose, we can accomplish almost anything. If rich, like +Baroness Burdett-Coutts, we can bless the world in thousands of ways, +and are untrue to God and ourselves if we fail to do it. + +Margaret Fuller said, "All might be superior beings," and doubtless +this is true, if all were willing to cultivate the mind and beautify +the character. + +S.K.B. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE Novelist + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON Poet and Prose Writer + +LUCRETIA MOTT Preacher + +MARY A LIVERMORE Lecturer + +MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI Journalist + +MARIA MITCHELL Scientist + +LOUISA M ALCOTT Author + +MARY LYON Teacher + +HARRIET G HOSMER Sculptor + +MADAME DE STAEL Novelist and Political Writer + +ROSA BONHEUR Artist + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet + +"GEORGE ELIOT" Novelist + +ELIZABETH FRY Philanthropist + +ELIZABETH THOMPSON BUTLER Painter + +FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE Hospital Nurse + +LADY BRASSEY Traveller + +BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS Benefactor + +JEAN INGELOW Poet + + * * * * * + + + + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. + +[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.] + + +In a plain home, in the town of Litchfield, Conn., was born, June 14, +1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The house was well-nigh full of little +ones before her coming. She was the seventh child, while the oldest +was but eleven years old. + +Her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, a man of remarkable mind and sunshiny +heart, was preaching earnest sermons in his own and in all the +neighboring towns, on the munificent salary of five hundred dollars a +year. Her mother, Roxana Beecher, was a woman whose beautiful life has +been an inspiration to thousands. With an education superior for those +times, she came into the home of the young minister with a strength of +mind and heart that made her his companion and reliance. + +There were no carpets on the floors till the girl-wife laid down a +piece of cotton cloth on the parlor, and painted it in oils, with a +border and a bunch of roses and others flowers in the centre. When one +of the good deacons came to visit them, the preacher said, "Walk in, +deacon, walk in!" + +"Why, I can't," said he, "'thout steppin' on't." Then he exclaimed, in +admiration, "D'ye think ya can have all that, _and heaven too_?" + +So meagre was the salary for the increasing household, that Roxana +urged that a select school be started; and in this she taught +French, drawing, painting, and embroidery, besides the higher English +branches. With all this work she found time to make herself the idol +of her children. While Henry Ward hung round her neck, she made dolls +for little Harriet, and read to them from Walter Scott and Washington +Irving. + +These were enchanting days for the enthusiastic girl with brown curls +and blue eyes. She roamed over the meadows, and through the forests, +gathering wild flowers in the spring or nuts in the fall, being +educated, as she afterwards said, "first and foremost by Nature, +wonderful, beautiful, ever-changing as she is in that +cloudland, Litchfield. There were the crisp apples of the pink +azalea,--honeysuckle-apples, we called them; there were scarlet +wintergreen berries; there were pink shell blossoms of trailing +arbutus, and feathers of ground pine; there were blue and white and +yellow violets, and crowsfoot, and bloodroot, and wild anemone, and +other quaint forest treasures." + +A single incident, told by herself in later years, will show the +frolic-loving spirit of the girl, and the gentleness of Roxana +Beecher. "Mother was an enthusiastic horticulturist in all the small +ways that limited means allowed. Her brother John, in New York, had +just sent her a small parcel of fine tulip-bulbs. I remember rummaging +these out of an obscure corner of the nursery one day when she was +gone out, and being strongly seized with the idea that they were good +to eat, and using all the little English I then possessed to persuade +my brothers that these were onions, such as grown people ate, and +would be very nice for us. So we fell to and devoured the whole; and I +recollect being somewhat disappointed in the odd, sweetish taste, and +thinking that onions were not as nice as I had supposed. Then mother's +serene face appeared at the nursery door, and we all ran toward her, +and with one voice began to tell our discovery and achievement. We had +found this bag of onions, and had eaten them all up. + +"There was not even a momentary expression of impatience, but she sat +down and said, 'My dear children, what you have done makes mamma very +sorry; those were not onion roots, but roots of beautiful flowers; +and if you had let them alone, ma would have had next summer in the +garden, great, beautiful red and yellow flowers, such as you never +saw.' I remember how drooping and disappointed we all grew at this +picture, and how sadly we regarded the empty paper bag." + +When Harriet was five years old, a deep shadow fell upon the happy +household. Eight little children were gathered round the bedside of +the dying mother. When they cried and sobbed, she told them, with +inexpressible sweetness, that "God could do more for them than she had +ever done or could do, and that they must trust Him," and urged her +six sons to become ministers of the Gospel. When her heart-broken +husband repeated to her the verse, "You are now come unto Mount Zion, +unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an +innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of +the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of +all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the +Mediator of the New Covenant," she looked up into his face with a +beautiful smile, and closed her eyes forever. That smile Mr. Beecher +never forgot to his dying day. + +The whole family seemed crushed by the blow. Little Henry (now the +great preacher), who had been told that his mother had been buried +in the ground, and also that she had gone to heaven, was found one +morning digging with all his might under his sister's window, saying, +"I'm going to heaven, to find ma!" + +So much did Mr. Beecher miss her counsel and good judgment, that he +sat down and wrote her a long letter, pouring out his whole soul, +hoping somehow that she, his guardian angel, though dead, might see +it. A year later he wrote a friend: "There is a sensation of loss +which nothing alleviates--a solitude which no society interrupts. Amid +the smiles and prattle of children, and the kindness of sympathizing +friends, I am _alone; Roxana is not here_. She partakes in none of my +joys, and bears with me none of my sorrows. I do not murmur; I only +feel daily, constantly, and with deepening impression, how much I have +had for which to be thankful, and how much I have lost.... The whole +year after her death was a year of great emptiness, as if there was +not motive enough in the world to move me. I used to pray earnestly +to God either to take me away, or to restore to me that interest in +things and susceptibility to motive I had had before." + +Once, when sleeping in the room where she died, he dreamed that Roxana +came and stood beside him, and "smiled on me as with a smile from +heaven. With that smile," he said, "all my sorrow passed away. I awoke +joyful, and I was lighthearted for weeks after." + +Harriet went to live for a time with her aunt and grandmother, and +then came back to the lonesome home, into which Mr. Beecher had +felt the necessity of bringing a new mother. She was a refined and +excellent woman, and won the respect and affection of the family. At +first Harriet, with a not unnatural feeling of injury, said to her: +"Because you have come and married my father, when I am big enough, I +mean to go and marry your father;" but she afterwards learned to love +her very much. + +At seven, with a remarkably retentive memory,--a thing which many of +us spoil by trashy reading, or allowing our time and attention to +be distracted by the trifles of every-day life,--Harriet had learned +twenty-seven hymns and two long chapters of the Bible. She was +exceedingly fond of reading, but there was little in a poor minister's +library to attract a child. She found _Bell's Sermons_, and _Toplady +on Predestination_. "Then," she says, "there was a side closet full of +documents, a weltering ocean of pamphlets, in which I dug and toiled +for hours, to be repaid by disinterring a delicious morsel of a _Don +Quixote_, that had once been a book, but was now lying in forty or +fifty _dissecta membra_, amid Calls, Appeals, Essays, Reviews, and +Rejoinders. The turning up of such a fragment seemed like the rising +of an enchanted island out of an ocean of mud." Finally _Ivanhoe_ was +obtained, and she and her brother George read it through seven times. + +At twelve, we find her in the school of Mr. John P. Brace, +a well-known teacher, where she developed great fondness for +composition. At the exhibition at the close of the year, it was +the custom for all the parents to come and listen to the wonderful +productions of their children. From the list of subjects given, +Harriet had chosen, "Can the Immortality of the Soul be proved by the +Light of Nature?" + +"When mine was read," she says, "I noticed that father brightened +and looked interested. 'Who wrote that composition?' he asked of Mr. +Brace. '_Your daughter, sir!_' was the answer. There was no mistaking +father's face when he was pleased, and to have interested _him_ was +past all juvenile triumphs." + +A new life was now to open to Harriet. Her only sister Catharine, +a brilliant and noble girl, was engaged to Professor Fisher of Yale +College. They were to be married on his return from a European tour, +but alas! the _Albion_, on which he sailed, went to pieces on the +rocks, and all on board, save one, perished. Her betrothed was never +heard from. For months all hope seemed to go out of Catharine's life, +and then, with a strong will, she took up a course of mathematical +study, _his_ favorite study, and Latin under her brother Edward. She +was now twenty-three. Life was not to be along the pleasant paths she +had hoped, but she must make it tell for the future. + +With remarkable energy, she went to Hartford, Conn., where her brother +was teaching, and thoroughly impressed with the belief that God had a +work for her to do for girls, she raised several thousand dollars and +built the Hartford Female Seminary. Her brothers had college doors +opened to them; why, she reasoned, should not women have equal +opportunities? Society wondered of what possible use Latin and moral +philosophy could be to girls, but they admired Miss Beecher, and +let her do as she pleased. Students poured in, and the seminary soon +overflowed. My own school life in that beloved institution, years +afterward, I shall never forget. + +And now the little twelve-year-old Harriet came down from Litchfield +to attend Catharine's school, and soon become a pupil-teacher, that +the burden of support might not fall too heavily upon the father. +Other children had come into the Beecher home, and with a salary of +eight hundred dollars, poverty could not be other than a constant +attendant. Once when the family were greatly straitened for money, +while Henry and Charles were in college, the new mother went to bed +weeping, but the father said, "Well, the Lord always has taken care of +me, and I am sure He always will," and was soon fast asleep. The next +morning, Sunday, a letter was handed in at the door, containing a $100 +bill, and no name. It was a thank-offering for the conversion of a +child. + +Mr. Beecher, with all his poverty, could not help being generous. His +wife, by close economy, had saved twenty-five dollars to buy a new +overcoat for him. Handing him the roll of bills, he started out to +purchase the garment, but stopped on the way to attend a missionary +meeting. His heart warmed as he stayed, and when the contribution-box +was passed, he put in the roll of bills for the Sandwich Islanders, +and went home with his threadbare coat! + +Three years later, Mr. Beecher, who had now become widely known as +a revivalist and brilliant preacher, was called to Boston, where he +remained for six years. His six sermons on intemperance had stirred +the whole country. + +Though he loved Boston, his heart often turned toward the great West, +and he longed to help save her young men. When, therefore, he was +asked to go to Ohio and become the president of Lane Theological +Seminary at Cincinnati, he accepted. Singularly dependent upon his +family, Catharine and Harriet must needs go with him to the new home. +The journey was a toilsome one, over the corduroy roads and across the +mountains by stagecoach. Finally they were settled in a pleasant +house on Walnut Hills, one of the suburbs of the city, and the sisters +opened another school. + +Four years later, in 1836, Harriet, now twenty-five, married the +professor of biblical criticism and Oriental literature in the +seminary, Calvin E. Stowe, a learned and able man. + +Meantime the question of slavery had been agitating the minds of +Christian people. Cincinnati being near the border-line of Kentucky, +was naturally the battle-ground of ideas. Slaves fled into the +free State and were helped into Canada by means of the "Underground +Railroad," which was in reality only a friendly house about every ten +miles, where the colored people could be secreted during the day, and +then carried in wagons to the next "station" in the night. + +Lane Seminary became a hot-bed of discussion. Many of the Southern +students freed their slaves, or helped to establish schools for +colored children in Cincinnati, and were disinherited by their fathers +in consequence. Dr. Bailey, a Christian man who attempted to carry on +a fair discussion of the question in his paper, had his presses broken +twice and thrown into the river. The feeling became so intense, that +the houses of free colored people were burned, some killed, and the +seminary was in danger from the mob. The members of Professor Stowe's +family slept with firearms, ready to defend their lives. Finally +the trustees of the college forbade all slavery discussion by the +students, and as a result, nearly the whole body left the institution. + +Dr. Beecher, meantime, was absent at the East, having raised a large +sum of money for the seminary, and came back only to find his labor +almost hopeless. For several years, however, he and his children +stayed and worked on. Mrs. Stowe opened her house to colored children, +whom she taught with her own. One bright boy in her school was claimed +by an estate in Kentucky, arrested, and was to be sold at auction. The +half-crazed mother appealed to Mrs. Stowe, who raised the needed money +among her friends, and thus saved the lad. + +Finally, worn out with the "irrepressible conflict," the Beecher +family, with the Stowes, came North in 1850, Mr. Stowe accepting a +professorship at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. A few boarders +were taken into the family to eke out the limited salary, and Mrs. +Stowe earned a little from a sketch written now and then for the +newspapers. She had even obtained a prize of fifty dollars for a New +England story. Her six brothers had fulfilled their mother's dying +wish, and were all in the ministry. She was now forty years old, a +devoted mother, with an infant; a hard-working teacher, with her hands +full to overflowing. It seemed improbable that she would ever do other +than this quiet, unceasing labor. Most women would have said, "I can +do no more than I am doing. My way is hedged up to any outside work." + +But Mrs. Stowe's heart burned for those in bondage. The Fugitive Slave +Law was hunting colored people and sending them back into servitude +and death. The people of the North seemed indifferent. Could she not +arouse them by something she could write? + +One Sunday, as she sat at the communion table in the little Brunswick +church, the pattern of Uncle Tom formed itself in her mind, and, +almost overcome by her feelings, she hastened home and wrote out the +chapter on his death. When she had finished, she read it to her two +sons, ten and twelve, who burst out sobbing, "Oh! mamma, slavery is +the most cursed thing in the world." + +After two or three more chapters were ready, she wrote to Dr. Bailey, +who had moved his paper from Cincinnati to Washington, offering the +manuscript for the columns of the _National Era_, and it was accepted. +Now the matter must be prepared each week. She visited Boston, and +at the Anti-Slavery rooms borrowed several books to aid in furnishing +facts. And then the story wrote itself out of her full heart and +brain. When it neared completion, Mr. Jewett of Boston, through the +influence of his wife, offered to become the publisher, but feared if +the serial were much longer, it would be a failure. She wrote him that +she could not stop till it was done. + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was published March 20,1852. Then came the +reaction in her own mind. Would anybody read this book? The subject +was unpopular. It would indeed be a failure, she feared, but she would +help the story make its way if possible. She sent a copy of the book +to Prince Albert, knowing that both he and Queen Victoria were deeply +interested in the subject; another copy to Macaulay, whose father +was a friend of Wilberforce; one to Charles Dickens; and another +to Charles Kingsley. And then the busy mother, wife, teacher, +housekeeper, and author waited in her quiet Maine home to see what the +busy world would say. + +In ten days, ten thousand copies had been sold. Eight presses were run +day and night to supply the demand. Thirty different editions appeared +in London in six months. Six theatres in that great city were playing +it at one time. Over three hundred thousand copies were sold in less +than a year. + +Letters poured in upon Mrs. Stowe from all parts of the world. Prince +Albert sent his hearty thanks. Dickens said, "Your book is worthy of +any head and any heart that ever inspired a book." Kingsley wrote, +"It is perfect." The noble Earl of Shaftesbury wrote, "None but a +Christian believer could have produced such a book as yours, which has +absolutely startled the whole world.... I live in hope--God grant it +may rise to faith!--that this system is drawing to a close. It seems +as though our Lord had sent out this book as the messenger before +His face to prepare His way before Him." He wrote out an address of +sympathy "From the women of England to the women of America," to +which were appended the signatures of 562,448 women. These were in +twenty-six folio volumes, bound in morocco, with the American eagle on +the back of each, the whole in a solid oak case, sent to the care of +Mrs. Stowe. + +The learned reviews gave long notices of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. +_Blackwood_ said, "There are scenes and touches in this book which no +living writer that we know can surpass, and perhaps none can equal." +George Eliot wrote her beautiful letters. + +How the heart of Lyman Beecher must have been gladdened by this +wonderful success of his daughter! How Roxana Beecher must have looked +down from heaven, and smiled that never-to-be-forgotten smile! +How Harriet Beecher Stowe herself must have thanked God for this +unexpected fulness of blessing! Thousands of dollars were soon paid to +her as her share of the profits from the sale of the book. How restful +it must have seemed to the tired, over-worked woman, to have more than +enough for daily needs! + +The following year, 1853, Professor Stowe and his now famous +wife decided to cross the ocean for needed rest. What was their +astonishment, to be welcomed by immense public meetings in Liverpool, +Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee; indeed, in every city which they +visited. People in the towns stopped her carriage, to fill it with +flowers. Boys ran along the streets, shouting, "That's her--see the +_courls!_" A penny offering was made her, given by people of all +ranks, consisting of one thousand golden sovereigns on a beautiful +silver salver. When the committee having the matter in charge visited +one little cottage, they found only a blind woman, and said, "She will +feel no interest, as she cannot read the book." + +"Indeed," said the old lady, "if I cannot read, my son has read it to +me, and I've got my penny saved to give." + +The beautiful Duchess of Sutherland entertained Mrs. Stowe at her +house, where she met Lord Palmerston, the Duke of Argyle, Macaulay, +Gladstone, and others. The duchess gave her a solid gold bracelet +in the form of a slave's shackle, with the words, "We trust it is a +memorial of a chain that is soon to be broken." On one link was the +date of the abolition of the slave trade, March 25, 1807, and of +slavery in the English territories, Aug. 1, 1834. On the other +links are now engraved the dates of Emancipation in the District of +Columbia; President Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery in the +States in rebellion, Jan. 1, 1863; and finally, on the clasp, the date +of the Constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery forever in the +United States. Only a decade after _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was written, +and nearly all this accomplished! Who could have believed it possible? + +On Mrs. Stowe's return from Europe, she wrote _Sunny Memories of +Foreign Lands_, which had a large sale. Her husband was now appointed +to the professorship of sacred literature in the Theological Seminary +at Andover, Mass., and here they made their home. The students found +in her a warm-hearted friend, and an inspiration to intellectual work. +Other books followed from her pen: _Dred_, a powerful anti-slavery +story; _The Minister's Wooing_, with lovely Mary Scudder as its +heroine; _Agnes of Sorrento_, an Italian story; the _Pearl of Orr's +Island_, a tale of the New England coast; _Old Town Folks; House and +Home Papers; My Wife and I; Pink and White Tyranny_; and some others, +all of which have been widely read. + +The sale of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has not ceased. It is estimated that +over one and a half million copies have been sold in Great Britain and +her colonies, and probably an equal or greater number in this country. +There have been twelve French editions, eleven German, and +six Spanish. It has been published in nineteen different +languages,--Russian, Hungarian, Armenian, Modern Greek, Finnish, +Welsh, Polish, and others. In Bengal the book is very popular. A lady +of high rank in the court of Siam, liberated her slaves, one hundred +and thirty in number, after reading this book, and said, "I am wishful +to be good like Harriet Beecher Stowe, and never again to buy human +bodies, but only to let them go free once more." In France the sale +of the Bible was increased because the people wished to read the book +Uncle Tom loved so much. + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_, like _Les Miserables_, and a few other novels, +will live, because written with a purpose. No work of fiction is +permanent without some great underlying principle or object. + +Soon after the Civil War, Mrs. Stowe bought a home among the orange +groves of Florida, and thither she goes each winter, with her family. +She has done much there for the colored people whom she helped to make +free. With the proceeds of some public readings at the North she +built a church, in which her husband preached as long as his health +permitted. Her home at Mandarin, with its great moss-covered oaks and +profusion of flowers, is a restful and happy place after these most +fruitful years. + +Her summer residence in Hartford, Conn., beautiful without, and +artistic within, has been visited by thousands, who honor the noble +woman not less than the gifted author. + +Many of the Beecher family have died; Lyman Beecher at eighty-three, +and Catharine at seventy-eight. Some of Mrs. Stowe's own children are +waiting for her in the other country. She says, "I am more interested +in the other side of Jordan than this, though this still has its +pleasures." + +On Mrs. Stowe's seventy-first birthday, her publishers, Messrs. +Houghton, Mifflin & Co., gave a garden party in her honor, at the +hospitable home of Governor Claflin and his wife, at Newton, Mass. +Poets and artists, statesmen and reformers, were invited to meet the +famous author. On a stage, under a great tent, she sat, while poems +were read and speeches made. The brown curls had become snowy white, +and the bright eyes of girlhood had grown deeper and more earnest. The +manner was the same as ever, unostentatious, courteous, kindly. + +Her life is but another confirmation of the well-known fact, that the +best work of the world is done, not by the loiterers, but by those +whose hearts and hands are full of duties. Mrs. Stowe died about +noon, July 1, 1896, of paralysis, at Hartford, Conn., at the age of +eighty-five. She passed away as if to sleep, her son, the Rev. Charles +Edward Stowe, and her daughters, Eliza and Harriet, standing by her +bedside. Since the death of her husband, Professor Calvin E. Stowe, in +1886, Mrs. Stowe had gradually failed physically and mentally. She was +buried July 3 in the cemetery connected with the Theological Seminary +at Andover, Mass., between the graves of her husband and her son, +Henry. The latter was drowned in the Connecticut River, while a member +of Dartmouth College, July 19, 1857. + + + + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON. + +[Illustration: HELEN HUNT JACKSON.] + + +Thousands were saddened when, Aug. 12, 1885, it was flashed across the +wires that Helen Hunt Jackson was dead. The _Nation_ said, "The news +will probably carry a pang of regret into more American homes than +similar intelligence in regard to any other woman, with the possible +exception of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe." + +How, with the simple initials, "H.H.," had she won this place in +the hearts of the people? Was it because she was a poet? Oh no! many +persons of genius have few friends. It was because an earnest life was +back of her gifted writings. A great book needs a great man or woman +behind it to make it a perfect work. Mrs. Jackson's literary work will +be abiding, but her life, with its dark shadow and bright sunlight, +its deep affections and sympathy with the oppressed, will furnish a +rich setting for the gems of thought which she gave to the world. + +Born in the cultured town of Amherst, Mass., Oct. 18, 1831, she +inherited from her mother a sunny, buoyant nature, and from her +father, Nathan W. Fiske, professor of languages and philosophy in the +college, a strong and vigorous mind. Her own vivid description of the +"naughtiest day in my life," in _St. Nicholas_, September and October, +1880, shows the ardent, wilful child who was one day to stand out +fearlessly before the nation and tell its statesmen the wrong they had +done to "her Indians." + +She and her younger sister Annie were allowed one April day, by their +mother, to go into the woods just before school hours, to gather +checkerberries. Helen, finding the woods very pleasant, determined to +spend the day in them, even though sure she would receive a whipping +on her return home. The sister could not be coaxed to do wrong, but a +neighbor's child, with the promise of seeing live snails with horns, +was induced to accompany the truant. They wandered from one forest to +another, till hunger compelled them to seek food at a stranger's home. +The kind farmer and his wife were going to a funeral, and wished to +lock their house; but they took pity on the little ones, and gave +them some bread and milk. "There," said the woman, "now, you just make +yourselves comfortable, and eat all you can; and when you're done, you +push the bowls in among them lilac-bushes, and nobody'll get 'em." + +Urged on by Helen, she and her companion wandered into the village, +to ascertain where the funeral was to be held. It was in the +meeting-house, and thither they went, and seated themselves on the +bier outside the door. Becoming tired of this, they trudged on. One +of them lost her shoe in the mud, and stopping at a house to dry their +stockings, they were captured by two Amherst professors, who had come +over to Hadley to attend the funeral. The children had walked four +miles, and nearly the whole town, with the frightened mother, were +in search of the runaways. Helen, greatly displeased at being caught, +jumped out of the carriage, but was soon retaken. At ten o'clock at +night they reached home, and the child walked in as rosy and smiling +as possible, saying, "Oh, mother! I've had a perfectly splendid time!" + +A few days passed, and then her father sent for her to come into his +study, and told her because she had not said she was sorry for running +away, she must go into the garret, and wait till he came to see her. +Sullen at this punishment, she took a nail and began to bore holes +in the plastering. This so angered the professor, that he gave her +a severe whipping, and kept her in the garret for a week. It is +questionable whether she was more penitent at the end of the week than +she was at the beginning. + +When Helen was twelve, both father and mother died, leaving her to +the care of a grandfather. She was soon placed in the school of the +author, Rev. J.S.C. Abbott, of New York, and here some of her happiest +days were passed. She grew to womanhood, frank, merry, impulsive, +brilliant in conversation, and fond of society. + +At twenty-one she was married to a young army officer, Captain, +afterward Major, Edward B. Hunt, whom his friends called "Cupid" Hunt +from his beauty and his curling hair. He was a brother of Governor +Hunt of New York, an engineer of high rank, and a man of fine +scientific attainments. They lived much of their time at West Point +and Newport, and the young wife moved in a fashionable social circle, +and won hosts of admiring friends. Now and then, when he read a paper +before some learned society, he was proud to take his vivacious and +attractive wife with him. + +Their first baby died when he was eleven months old, but another +beautiful boy came to take his place, named after two friends, Warren +Horsford, but familiarly called "Rennie." He was an uncommonly bright +child, and Mrs. Hunt was passionately fond and proud of him. Life +seemed full of pleasures. She dressed handsomely, and no wish of her +heart seemed ungratified. + +Suddenly, like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky, the happy life was +shattered. Major Hunt was killed Oct. 2, 1863, while experimenting in +Brooklyn, with a submarine gun of his own invention. The young widow +still had her eight-year-old boy, and to him she clung more tenderly +than ever, but in less than two years she stood by his dying bed. +Seeing the agony of his mother, and forgetting his own even in that +dread destroyer, diphtheria, he said, almost at the last moment, +"Promise me, mamma, that you will not kill yourself." + +She promised, and exacted from him also a pledge that if it were +possible, he would come back from the other world to talk with +his mother. He never came, and Mrs. Hunt could have no faith in +spiritualism, because what Rennie could not do, she believed to be +impossible. + +For months she shut herself into her own room, refusing to see her +nearest friends. "Any one who really loves me ought to pray that I may +die, too, like Rennie," she said. Her physician thought she would die +of grief; but when her strong, earnest nature had wrestled with itself +and come off conqueror, she came out of her seclusion, cheerful as +of old. The pictures of her husband and boy were ever beside her, and +these doubtless spurred her on to the work she was to accomplish. + +Three months after Rennie's death, her first poem, _Lifted Over_, +appeared in the _Nation_:-- + + "As tender mothers, guiding baby steps, + When places come at which the tiny feet + Would trip, lift up the little ones in arms + Of love, and set them down beyond the harm, + So did our Father watch the precious boy, + Led o'er the stones by me, who stumbled oft + Myself, but strove to help my darling on: + He saw the sweet limbs faltering, and saw + Rough ways before us, where my arms would fail; + So reached from heaven, and lifting the dear child, + Who smiled in leaving me, He put him down + Beyond all hurt, beyond my sight, and bade + Him wait for me! Shall I not then be glad, + And, thanking God, press on to overtake!" + +The poem was widely copied, and many mothers were comforted by it. +The kind letters she received in consequence were the first gleam of +sunshine in the darkened life. If she were doing even a little good, +she could live and be strong. + +And then began, at thirty-four, absorbing, painstaking literary work. +She studied the best models of composition. She said to a friend, +years after, "Have you ever tested the advantages of an analytical +reading of some writer of finished style? There is a little book +called _Out-Door Papers_, by Wentworth Higginson, that is one of +the most perfect specimens of literary composition in the English +language. It has been my model for years. I go to it as a text-book, +and have actually spent hours at a time, taking one sentence after +another, and experimenting upon them, trying to see if I could take +out a word or transpose a clause, and not destroy their perfection." +And again, "I shall never write a sentence, so long as I live, without +studying it over from the standpoint of whether you would think it +could be bettered." + +Her first prose sketch, a walk up Mt. Washington from the Glen House, +appeared in the _Independent_, Sept. 13, 1866; and from this time she +wrote for that able journal three hundred and seventy-one articles. +She worked rapidly, writing usually with a lead-pencil, on large +sheets of yellow paper, but she pruned carefully. Her first poem in +the _Atlantic Monthly_, entitled _Coronation_, delicate and full of +meaning, appeared in 1869, being taken to Mr. Fields, the editor, by a +friend. + +At this time she spent a year abroad, principally in Germany and +Italy, writing home several sketches. In Rome she became so ill that +her life was despaired of. When she was partially recovered and went +away to regain her strength, her friends insisted that a professional +nurse should go with her; but she took a hard-working young Italian +girl of sixteen, to whom this vacation would be a blessing. + +On her return, in 1870, a little book of _Verses_ was published. Like +most beginners, she was obliged to pay for the stereotyped plates. +The book was well received. Emerson liked especially her sonnet, +_Thought_. He ranked her poetry above that of all American women, +and most American men. Some persons praised the "exquisite musical +structure" of the _Gondolieds_, and others read and re-read her +beautiful _Down to Sleep_. But the world's favorite was _Spinning_:-- + + "Like a blind spinner in the sun, + I tread my days; + I know that all the threads will run + Appointed ways; + I know each day will bring its task, + And, being blind, no more I ask. + + * * * * * + + "But listen, listen, day by day, + To hear their tread + Who bear the finished web away, + And cut the thread, + And bring God's message in the sun, + 'Thou poor blind spinner, work is done." + + +After this came two other small books, _Bits of Travel_ and _Bits of +Talk about Home Matters_. She paid for the plates of the former. Fame +did not burst upon Helen Hunt; it came after years of work, after it +had been fully earned. The road to authorship is a hard one, and only +those should attempt it who have courage and perseverance. + +Again her health failed, but not her cheerful spirits. She travelled +to Colorado, and wrote a book in praise of it. Everywhere she made +lasting friends. Her German landlady in Munich thought her the kindest +person in the world. The newsboy, the little urchin on the street +with a basket full of wares, the guides over the mountain passes, all +remembered her cheery voice and helpful words. She used to say, "She +is only half mother who does not see her own child in every child. Oh, +if the world could only stop long enough for one generation of mothers +to be made all right, what a Millennium could be begun in thirty +years!" Some one, in her childhood, called her a "stupid child" before +strangers, and she never forgot the sting of it. + +In Colorado, in 1876, eleven years after the death of Major Hunt, she +married Mr. William Sharpless Jackson, a Quaker and a cultured banker. +Her home, at Colorado Springs, became an ideal one, sheltered under +the great Manitou, and looking toward the Garden of the Gods, full +of books and magazines, of dainty rugs and dainty china gathered +from many countries, and richly colored Colorado flowers. Once, when +Eastern guests were invited to luncheon, twenty-three varieties of +wildflowers, each massed in its own color, adorned the home. A friend +of hers says: "There is not an artificial flower in the house, on +embroidered table-cover or sofa cushion or tidy; indeed, Mrs. Jackson +holds that the manufacture of silken poppies and crewel sun-flowers +is a 'respectable industry,' intended only to keep idle hands out of +mischief." + +Mrs. Jackson loved flowers almost as though they were children. She +writes: "I bore on this June day a sheaf of the white columbine,--one +single sheaf, one single root; but it was almost more than I could +carry. In the open spaces, I carried it on my shoulder; in the +thickets, I bore it carefully in my arms, like a baby.... There is a +part of Cheyenne Mountain which I and one other have come to call 'our +garden.' When we drive down from 'our garden,' there is seldom room +for another flower in our carriage. The top thrown back is filled, the +space in front of the driver is filled, and our laps and baskets are +filled with the more delicate blossoms. We look as if we were on our +way to the ceremonies of Decoration Day. So we are. All June days are +decoration days in Colorado Springs, but it is the sacred joy of life +that we decorate,--not the sacred sadness of death." But Mrs. Jackson, +with her pleasant home, could not rest from her work. Two novels +came from her pen, _Mercy Philbrick's Choice_ and _Hetty's Strange +History_. It is probable also that she helped to write the beautiful +and tender _Saxe Holm Stories_. It is said that _Draxy Miller's Dowry_ +and _Esther Wynn's Love Letters_ were written by another, while Mrs. +Jackson added the lovely poems; and when a request was made by the +publishers for more stories from the same author, Mrs. Jackson was +prevailed upon to write them. + +The time had now come for her to do her last and perhaps her best +work. She could not write without a definite purpose, and now the +purpose that settled down upon her heart was to help the defrauded +Indians. She believed they needed education and Christianization +rather than extermination. She left her home and spent three months +in the Astor Library of New York, writing her _Century of Dishonor_, +showing how we have despoiled the Indians and broken our treaties with +them. She wrote to a friend, "I cannot think of anything else from +night to morning and from morning to night." So untiringly did she +work that she made herself ill, and was obliged to go to Norway, +leaving a literary ally to correct the proofs of her book. + +At her own expense, she sent a copy to each member of Congress. Its +plain facts were not relished in some quarters, and she began to taste +the cup that all reformers have to drink; but the brave woman never +flinched in her duty. So much was the Government impressed by her +earnestness and good judgment, that she was appointed a Special +Commissioner with her friend, Abbott Kinney, to examine and report on +the condition of the Mission Indians in California. + +Could an accomplished, tenderly reared woman go into their _adobe_ +villages and listen to their wrongs? What would the world say of its +poet? Mrs. Jackson did not ask; she had a mission to perform, and the +more culture, the more responsibility. She brought cheer and hope +to the red men and their wives, and they called her "the Queen." She +wrote able articles about them in the _Century_. + +The report made by Mr. Kinney and herself, which she prepared largely, +was clear and convincing. How different all this from her early life! +Mrs. Jackson had become more than poet and novelist; even the leader +of an oppressed people. At once, in the winter of 1883, she began to +write her wonderfully graphic and tender _Ramona_, and into this, she +said, "I put my heart and soul." The book was immediately reprinted in +England, and has had great popularity. She meant to do for the Indian +what Mrs. Stowe did for the slave, and she lived long enough to see +the great work well in progress. + +This true missionary work had greatly deepened the earnestness of the +brilliant woman. Not always tender to other peoples' "hobbies," as she +said, she now had one of her own, into which she was putting her life. +Her horizon, with her great intellectual gifts, had now become as +wide as the universe. Had she lived, how many more great questions she +would have touched. + +In June, 1884, falling on the staircase of her Colorado home, she +severely fractured her leg, and was confined to the house for several +months. Then she was taken to Los Angeles, Cal., for the winter. The +broken limb mended rapidly, but malarial fever set in, and she was +carried to San Francisco. Her first remark was, as she entered the +house looking out upon the broad and lovely bay, "I did not imagine it +was so pleasant! What a beautiful place to die in!" + +To the last her letters to her friends were full of cheer. "You must +not think because I speak of not getting well that I am sad over it," +she wrote. "On the contrary, I am more and more relieved in my mind, +as it seems to grow more and more sure that I shall die. You see that +I am growing old" (she was but fifty-four), "and I do believe that my +work is done. You have never realized how, for the past five years, my +whole soul has been centered on the Indian question. _Ramona_ was +the outcome of those five years. The Indian cause is on its feet now; +powerful friends are at work." + +To another she wrote, "I am heartily, honestly, and cheerfully ready +to go. In fact, I am glad to go. My _Century of Dishonor_ and _Ramona_ +are the only things I have done of which I am glad now. The rest is +of no moment. They will live, and they will bear fruit. They already +have. The change in public feeling on the Indian question in the last +three years is marvellous; an Indian Rights Association in every large +city in the land." + +She had no fear of death. She said, "It is only just passing from one +country to another.... My only regret is that I have not accomplished +more work; especially that it was so late in the day when I began to +work in real earnest. But I do not doubt we shall keep on working.... +There isn't so much difference, I fancy, between this life and the +next as we think, nor so much barrier.... I shall look in upon you +in the new rooms some day; but you will not see me. Good-bye. Yours +affectionately forever, H.H." Four days before her death she wrote to +President Cleveland:-- + + "From my death-bed I send you a message of heart-felt + thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. + I ask you to read my _Century of Dishonor_. I am + dying happier for the belief I have that it is your hand + that is destined to strike the first steady blow toward + lifting this burden of infamy from our country, and + righting the wrongs of the Indian race. + + "With respect and gratitude, + + "HELEN JACKSON." + +That same day she wrote her last touching poem:-- + + "Father, I scarcely dare to pray, + So clear I see, now it is done, + That I have wasted half my day, + And left my work but just begun; + + "So clear I see that things I thought + Were right or harmless were a sin; + So clear I see that I have sought, + Unconscious, selfish aim to win + + "So clear I see that I have hurt + The souls I might hare helped to save, + That I have slothful been, inert, + Deaf to the calls Thy leaders gave. + + "In outskirts of Thy kingdoms vast, + Father, the humblest spot give me; + Set me the lowliest task Thou hast, + Let me repentant work for Thee!" + +That evening, Aug. 8, after saying farewell, she placed her hand in +her husband's, and went to sleep. After four days, mostly unconscious +ones, she wakened in eternity. + +On her coffin were laid a few simple clover-blossoms, flowers she +loved in life; and then, near the summit of Cheyenne Mountain, four +miles from Colorado Springs, in a spot of her own choosing, she was +buried. + + "Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree + Or flower the little grave which shelters me. + Let the wild wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed, + And back and forth all summer, unalarmed, + Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep; + Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep; + And when, remembering me, you come some day + And stand there, speak no praise, but only say, + 'How she loved us! It was for that she was so dear.' + These are the only words that I shall smile to hear." + +Many will stand by that Colorado grave in the years to come. Says a +California friend: "Above the chirp of the balm-cricket in the grass +that hides her grave, I seem to hear sweet songs of welcome from the +little ones. Among other thoughts of her come visions of a child and +mother straying in fields of light. And so I cannot make her dead, +who lived so earnestly, who wrought so unselfishly, and passed so +trustfully into the mystery of the unseen." + +All honor to a woman who, with a happy home, was willing to leave +it to make other homes happy; who, having suffered, tried with a +sympathetic heart to forget herself and keep others from suffering; +who, being famous, gladly took time to help unknown authors to win +fame; who, having means, preferred a life of labor to a life of ease. + +Mrs. Jackson's work is still going forward. Five editions of her +_Century of Dishonor_ have been printed since her death. _Ramona_ is +in its thirtieth thousand. _Zeph_, a touching story of frontier +life in Colorado, which she finished in her last illness, has been +published. Her sketches of travel have been gathered into _Glimpses +of Three Coasts_, and a new volume of poems, _Sonnets and Lyrics_, has +appeared. + + + + +LUCRETIA MOTT. + +[Illustration: Lucretia Mott.] + + +Years ago I attended, at some inconvenience, a large public meeting, +because I heard that Lucretia Mott was to speak. After several +addresses, a slight lady, with white cap and drab Quaker dress, came +forward. Though well in years, her eyes were bright; her smile was +winsome, and I thought her face one of the loveliest I had ever looked +upon. The voice was singularly sweet and clear, and the manner had +such naturalness and grace as a queen might envy. I have forgotten +the words, forgotten even the subject, but the benign presence and +gracious smile I shall never forget. + +Born among the quiet scenes of Nantucket, Jan. 3, 1793, Lucretia grew +to girlhood with habits of economy, neatness, and helpfulness in +the home. Her father, Thomas Coffin, was a sea-captain of staunch +principle; her mother, a woman of great energy, wit, and good sense. +The children's pleasures were such as a plain country home afforded. +When Mrs. Coffin went to visit her neighbors, she would say to her +daughters, "Now after you have finished knitting twenty bouts, you +may go down cellar and pick out as many as you want of the smallest +potatoes,--the very smallest,--and roast them in the ashes." Then +the six little folks gathered about the big fireplace and enjoyed a +frolic. + +When Lucretia was twelve years old, the family moved to Boston. At +first all the children attended a private school; but Captain Coffin, +fearing this would make them proud, removed them to a public school, +where they could "mingle with all classes without distinction." Years +after Lucretia said, "I am glad, because it gave me a feeling of +sympathy for the patient and struggling poor, which, but for this +experience, I might never have known." + +A year later, she was sent to a Friends' boarding-school at Nine +Partners, N.Y. Both boys and girls attended this school, but were not +permitted to speak to each other unless they were near relatives; if +so, they could talk a little on certain days over a certain corner +of the fence, between the playgrounds! Such grave precautions did not +entirely prevent the acquaintance of the young people; for when a lad +was shut up in a closet, on bread and water, Lucretia and her sister +supplied him with bread and butter under the door. This boy was a +cousin of the teacher, James Mott, who was fond of the quick-witted +school-girl, so that it is probable that no harm came to her from +breaking the rules. + +At fifteen, Lucretia was appointed an assistant teacher, and she and +Mr. Mott, with a desire to know more of literature, and quite possibly +more of each other, began to study French together. He was tall, with +light hair and blue eyes, and shy in manner; she, petite, with dark +hair and eyes, quick in thought and action, and fond of mirth. +When she was eighteen and James twenty-one, the young teachers were +married, and both went to her father's home in Philadelphia to reside, +he assisting in Mr. Coffin's business. + +The war of 1812 brought financial failure to many, and young Mott soon +found himself with a wife and infant daughter to support, and no work. +Hoping that he could obtain a situation with an uncle in New York +State, he took his family thither, but came back disappointed. Finally +he found work in a plow store at a salary of six hundred dollars a +year. + +Captain Coffin meantime had died, leaving his family poor. James could +do so little for them all with his limited salary, that he determined +to open a small store; but the experiment proved a failure. His health +began to be affected by this ill success, when Lucretia, with her +brave heart, said, "My cousin and I will open a school; thee must not +get discouraged, James." + +The school was opened with four pupils, each paying seven dollars a +quarter. The young wife put so much good cheer and earnestness into +her work, that soon there were forty pupils in the school. Mr. Mott's +prospects now brightened, for he was earning one thousand dollars a +year. The young couple were happy in their hard work, for they loved +each other, and love lightens all care and labor. + +But soon a sorrow worse than poverty came. Their only son, Thomas, a +most affectionate child, died, saying with his latest breath, "I love +thee, mother." It was a crushing blow; but it proved a blessing in the +end, leading her thoughts heavenward. + +A few months afterwards her voice was heard for the first time in +public, in prayer, in one of the Friends' meetings. The words were +simple, earnest, eloquent. The good Quakers marvelled, and encouraged +the "gift." They did not ask whether man or woman brought the message, +so it came from heaven. + +And now, at twenty-five, having resigned her position as teacher, she +began close study of the Bible and theological books. She had four +children to care for, did all her sewing, even cutting and making her +own dresses; but she learned what every one can learn,--to economize +time. Her house was kept scrupulously clean. She says: "I omitted much +unnecessary stitching and ornamental work in the sewing for my family, +so that I might have more time for the improvement of my mind. +For novels and light reading I never had much taste; the ladies' +department in the periodicals of the day had no attraction for me. "She +would lay a copy of William Penn's ponderous volumes open at the foot +of her bed, and drawing her chair close to it, with her baby on her +lap, would study the book diligently. A woman of less energy and less +will-power than young Mrs. Mott would have given up all hope of being +a scholar. She read the best books in philosophy and science. John +Stuart Mill and Dean Stanley, though widely different, were among her +favorite authors. + +James Mott was now prospering in the cotton business, so that they +could spare time to go in their carriage and speak at the Quaker +meetings in the surrounding country. Lucretia would be so absorbed +in thought as not to notice the beauties of the landscape, which her +husband always greatly enjoyed. Pointing out a fine view to her, she +replied, "Yes, it is beautiful, now that thou points it out, but +I should not have noticed it. I have always taken more interest in +_human_ nature." From a child she was deeply interested for the slave. +She had read in her school-books Clarkson's description of the slave +ships, and these left an impression never to be effaced. When, Dec. 4, +1833, a convention met in Philadelphia for the purpose of forming the +American Anti-Slavery Society, Lucretia Mott was one of the four +women who braved the social obloquy, as friends of the despised +abolitionists. She spoke, and was listened to with attention. +Immediately the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was formed, +and Mrs. Mott became its president and its inspiration. So unheard of +a thing was an association of women, and so unaccustomed were they to +the methods of organization, that they were obliged to call a colored +man to the chair to assist them. + +The years of martyrdom which followed, we at this day can scarcely +realize. Anti-slavery lecturers were tarred and feathered. Mobs in New +York and Philadelphia swarmed the streets, burning houses and breaking +church windows. In the latter city they surrounded the hall of the +Abolitionists, where the women were holding a large convention, and +Mrs. Mott was addressing them. All day long they cursed and threw +stones, and as soon as the women left the building, they burned it +to ashes. Then, wrought up to fury, the mob started for the house of +James and Lucretia Mott. Knowing that they were coming, the calm woman +sent her little children away, and then in the parlor, with a few +friends, peacefully awaited a probable death. + +In the turbulent throng was a young man who, while he was no friend +of the colored man, could not see Lucretia Mott harmed. With skilful +ruse, as they neared the house, he rushed up another street, shouting +at the top of his voice, "On to Motts!" and the wild crowd blindly +followed, wreaking their vengeance in another quarter. + +A year later, in Delaware, where Mrs. Mott was speaking, one of her +party, a defenceless old man, was dragged from the house, and tarred +and feathered. She followed, begging the men to desist, and saying +that she was the real offender, but no violent hands were laid upon +her. + +At another time, when the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society +in New York was broken up by the mob, some of the speakers were +roughly handled. Perceiving that several ladies were timid, Mrs. Mott +said to the gentleman who was accompanying her, "Won't thee look after +some of the others?" + +"But who will take care of you?" he said. + +With great tact and a sweet smile, she answered, "This man," laying +her hand on the arm of one of the roughest of the mob; "he will see me +safe through." + +The astonished man had, like others, a tender heart beneath the +roughness, and with respectful manner took her to a place of safety. +The next day, going into a restaurant, she saw the leader of the mob, +and immediately sat down by him, and began to converse. Her kindness +and her sweet voice left a deep impression. As he went out of the +room, he asked at the door, "Who is that lady?" + +"Why, that is Lucretia Mott!" + +For a second he was dumbfounded; but he added, "Well, she's a good, +sensible woman." + +In 1839 a World's Convention was called at London to debate the +slavery question. Among the delegates chosen were James and Lucretia +Mott, Wendell Phillips and his wife, and others. Mrs. Mott was +jubilant at the thought of the world's interest in this great +question, and glad for an opportunity to cross the ocean and enjoy a +little rest, and the pleasure of meeting friends who had worked in the +same cause. + +When the party arrived, they were told, to their astonishment, that +no women were to be admitted to the Convention as delegates. They had +faced mobs and ostracism; they had given money and earnest labor, +but they were to be ignored. William Lloyd Garrison, hurt at such +injustice, refused to take part in the Convention, and sat in the +gallery with the women. Although Mrs. Mott did not speak in the +assembly, the _Dublin Herald_ said, "Nobody doubts that she was the +lioness of the Convention." She was entertained at public breakfasts, +and at these spoke with the greatest acceptance to both men and women. +The Duchess of Sutherland and Lady Byron showed her great attention. +Carlyle was "much pleased with the Quaker lady, whose quiet manner had +a soothing effect on him," wrote Mrs. Carlyle to a friend. At Glasgow +"she held a delighted audience for nearly two hours in breathless +attention," said the press. + +After some months of devoted Christian work, along with sight-seeing, +Mr. and Mrs. Mott started homeward. He had spoken less frequently +than his wife, but always had been listened to with deep interest. +Her heart was moved toward a large number of Irish emigrants in the +steerage, and she desired to hold a religious meeting among them. When +asked about it, they said they would not hear a woman preacher, for +women priests were not allowed in their church. Then she asked that +they would come together and consider whether they would have a +meeting. This seemed fair, and they came. She explained to them +that she did not intend to hold a church service; that, as they were +leaving their old homes and seeking new ones in her country, she +wanted to talk with them in such a way as would help them in the land +of strangers. And then, if they would listen,--they were all the time +listening very eagerly,--she would give an outline of what she had +intended to say, if the meeting had been held. At the close, when all +had departed, it dawned upon some of the quicker-witted ones that they +"had got the preachment from the woman preacher, after all." + +The steamer arrived at the close of a twenty-nine days' voyage, and, +after a brief rest, Mrs. Mott began again her public work. She spoke +before the legislatures of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. She +called on President Tyler, and he talked with her cordially and freely +about the slave. In Kentucky, says one of the leading papers, "For an +hour and a half she enchained an ordinarily restless audience--many +were standing--to a degree never surpassed here by the most popular +orators. She said some things that were far from palatable, but said +them with an air of sincerity that commanded respect and attention." + +Mrs. Mott was deeply interested in other questions besides +slavery,--suffrage for women, total abstinence, and national +differences settled by arbitration instead of war. Years before, when +she began to teach school, and found that while girls paid the same +tuition as boys, "when they became teachers, women received only half +as much as men for their services," she says: "The injustice of this +distinction was so apparent, that I early resolved to claim for myself +all that an impartial Creator had bestowed." + +In 1848, Mrs. Mott, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and some others, +called the first Woman's Suffrage Convention in this country, at +Seneca Falls, N.Y. There was much ridicule,--we had not learned, forty +years ago, to treat with courtesy those whose opinions are different +from our own,--but the sweet Quaker preacher went serenely forward, as +though all the world were on her side. When she conversed with those +who differed, she listened so courteously to objections, and stated +her own views so delicately and kindly, and often so wittily, that +none could help liking her, even though they did not agree with +her. She realized that few can be driven, while many can be won with +gentleness and tact. + +In all these years of public speaking, her home was not only a refuge +for the oppressed, but a delightful social centre, where prominent +people gathered from both Europe and America. At the table black and +white were treated with equal courtesy. One young man, a frequent +visitor, finding himself seated at dinner next to a colored man, +resolved to keep away from the house in future; but as he was in +love with one of Mrs. Mott's pretty daughters, he found that his +"principles" gave way to his affections. He renewed his visits, became +a son-in-law, and, later, an ardent advocate of equality for the +colored people. + +Now the guests at the hospitable home were a mother and seven +children, from England, who, meeting with disappointments, had become +reduced to poverty. Now it was an escaped slave, who had come from +Richmond, Va., in a dry-goods box, by Adams Express. This poor man, +whose wife and three children had been sold from him, determined to +seek his freedom, even if he died in the effort. Weighing nearly two +hundred pounds, he was encased in a box two feet long, twenty-three +inches wide, and three feet high, in a sitting posture. He was +provided with a few crackers, and a bladder filled with water. With a +small gimlet he bored holes in the box to let in fresh air, and fanned +himself with his hat, to keep the air in motion. The box was covered +with canvas, that no one might suspect its contents. His sufferings +were almost unbearable. As the box was tossed from one place to +another, he was badly bruised, and sometimes he rested for miles +on his head and shoulders, when it seemed as though his veins would +burst. Finally he reached the Mott home, and found shelter and +comfort. + +Their large house was always full. Mr. Mott had given up a prosperous +cotton business, because the cotton was the product of slave labor; +but he had been equally successful in the wool trade, so that the days +of privation had passed by long ago. Two of their six children, +with their families, lived at home, and the harmony was remarked by +everybody. Mrs. Mott rose early, and did much housework herself. She +wrote to a friend: "I prepared mince for forty pies, doing every part +myself, even to meat-chopping; picked over lots of apples, stewed a +quantity, chopped some more, and made apple pudding; all of which kept +me on my feet till almost two o'clock, having to come into the parlor +every now and then to receive guests." As a rule, those women are the +best housekeepers whose lives are varied by some outside interests. + +In the broad hall of the house stood two armchairs, which the children +called "beggars' chairs," because they were in constant use for all +sorts of people, "waiting to see the missus." She never refused to see +anybody. When letters came from all over the country, asking for all +sorts of favors, bedding, silver spoons, a silk umbrella, or begging +her to invest some money in the manufacture of an article, warranted +"to take the kink out of the hair of the negro," she would always +check the merriment of her family by saying, "Don't laugh too much; +the poor souls meant well." + +Mrs. Mott was now sixty-three years of age. For forty years she had +been seen and loved by thousands. Strangers would stop her on the +street and say, "God bless you, Lucretia Mott!" Once, when a slave was +being tried for running away, Mrs. Mott sat near him in the court, +her son-in-law, Mr. Edward Hopper, defending his case. The opposing +counsel asked that her chair might be moved, as her face would +influence the jury against him! Benjamin H. Brewster, afterwards +United States Attorney-General, also counsel for the Southern master, +said: "I have heard a great deal of your mother-in-law, Hopper; but I +never saw her before to-day. She is an angel." Years after, when Mr. +Brewster was asked how he dared to change his political opinions, he +replied, "Do you think there is anything I dare not do, after facing +Lucretia Mott in that court-room?" + +It seemed best at this time, in 1856, as Mrs. Mott was much worn with +care, to sell the large house in town and move eight miles into the +country, to a quaint, roomy house which they called Roadside. Before +they went, however, at the last family gathering a long poem was read, +ending with:-- + + "Who constantly will ring the bell, + And ask if they will please to tell + Where Mrs. Mott has gone to dwell? + The beggars. + + "And who persistently will say, + 'We cannot, cannot go away; + Here in the entry let us stay?' + Colored beggars. + + "Who never, never, nevermore + Will see the 'lions' at the door + That they've so often seen before? + The neighbors. + + "And who will miss, for months at least, + That place of rest for man and beast, + from North, and South, and West, and East? + Everybody." + +Much of the shrubbery was cut down at Roadside, that Mrs. Mott might +have the full sunlight. So cheery a nature must have sunshine. Here +life went on quietly and happy. Many papers and books were on her +table, and she read carefully and widely. She loved especially Milton +and Cowper. Arnold's _Light of Asia_ was a great favorite in later +years. The papers were sent to hospitals and infirmaries, that no good +reading might be lost. She liked to read aloud; and if others were +busy, she would copy extracts to read to them when they were at +leisure. Who can measure the power of an educated, intellectual mother +in a home? + +The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mott was celebrated in 1861, and a +joyous season it was. James, the prosperous merchant, was proud of his +gifted wife, and aided her in every way possible; while Lucretia +loved and honored the true-hearted husband. Though Mrs. Mott was +now seventy, she did not cease her benevolent work. Her carriage was +always full of fruits, vegetables, and gifts for the poor. In buying +goods she traded usually with the small stores, where things were +dearer, but she knew that for many of the proprietors it was a +struggle to make ends meet. A woman so considerate of others would of +course be loved. + +Once when riding on the street-cars in Philadelphia, when no black +person was allowed to ride inside, every fifth car being reserved for +their use, she saw a frail-looking and scantily-dressed colored woman, +standing on the platform in the rain. The day was bitter cold, and +Mrs. Mott begged the conductor to allow her to come inside. "The +company's orders must be obeyed," was the reply. Whereupon the slight +Quaker lady of seventy walked out and stood beside the colored woman. +It would never do to have the famous Mrs. Mott seen in the rain on his +car; so the conductor, in his turn, went out and begged her to come +in. + +"I cannot go in without this woman," said Mrs. Mott quietly. +Nonplussed for a moment, he looked at the kindly face, and said, "Oh, +well, bring her in then!" Soon the "company's orders" were changed in +the interests of humanity, and colored people as well as white enjoyed +their civil rights, as becomes a great nation. + +With all this beauty of character, Lucretia Mott had her trials. +Somewhat early in life she and her husband had joined the so-called +Unitarian branch of Quakers, and for this they were persecuted. So +deep was the sectarian feeling, that once, when suffering from acute +neuralgia, a physician who knew her well, when called to attend her, +said, "Lucretia, I am so deeply afflicted by thy rebellious spirit, +that I do not feel that I can prescribe for thee," and he left her to +her sufferings. Such lack of toleration reads very strangely at this +day. + +In 1868, Mr. Mott and his wife, the one eighty, and the other +seventy-five, went to Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit their grandchildren. +He was taken ill of pneumonia, and expressed a wish to go home, but +added, "I suppose I shall die here, and then I shall be at home; it +is just as well." Mrs. Mott watched with him through the night, and at +last, becoming weary, laid her head upon his pillow and went to sleep. +In the morning, the daughter coming in, found the one resting from +weariness, the other resting forever. + +At the request of several colored men, who respected their benefactor, +Mr. Mott was borne to his grave by their hands. Thus ended, for this +world, what one who knew them well called "the most perfect wedded +life to be found on earth." + +Mrs. Mott said, "James and I loved each other more than ever since we +worked together for a great cause." She carried out the old couplet:-- + + "And be this thy pride, what but few have done, + To hold fast the love thou hast early won." + +After his death, she wrote to a friend, "I do not mourn, but rather +remember my blessings, and the blessing of his long life with me." + +For twelve years more she lived and did her various duties. She had +seen the slave freed, and was thankful. The other reforms for which +she labored were progressing. At eighty-five she still spoke in the +great meetings. Each Christmas she carried turkeys, pies, and a gift +for each man and woman at the "Aged Colored Home," in Philadelphia, +driving twenty miles, there and back. Each year she sent a box +of candy to each conductor and brakeman on the North Pennsylvania +Railroad, "Because," she said, "they never let me lift out my bundles, +but catch them up so quickly, and they all seem to know me." + +Finally the time came for her to go to meet James. As the end drew +near, she seemed to think that she was conducting her own funeral, and +said, as though addressing an audience, "If you resolve to follow the +Lamb wherever you may be led, you will find all the ways pleasant and +the paths peace. Let me go! Do take me!" + +There was a large and almost silent funeral at the house, and at the +cemetery several thousand persons were gathered. When friends were +standing by the open grave, a low voice said, ""Will no one say +anything?" and another responded, "Who can speak? the preacher is +dead!" + +Memorial services were held in various cities. For such a woman as +Lucretia Mott, with cultured mind, noble heart, and holy purpose, +there are no sex limitations. Her field is the world. + +Those who desire to know, more of this gifted woman will find it in a +most interesting volume, _Lives of James and Lucretia Mott_, written +by their grandaughter, Anna Davis Hallowell, West Medford, Mass. + + + + +MARY A. LIVERMORE. + +[Illustration: MARY A. LIVERMORE.] + + +When a nation passes through a great struggle like our Civil War, +great leaders are developed. Had it not been for this, probably Mrs. +Livermore, like many other noble women, would be to-day living quietly +in some pleasant home, doing the common duties of every-day life. She +would not be the famous lecturer, the gifted writer, the leader of the +Sanitary Commission in the West; a brilliant illustration of the work +a woman may do in the world, and still retain the truest womanliness. + +She was born in Boston, descended from ancestors who for six +generations had been Welsh preachers, and reared by parents of the +strictest Calvinistic faith. Mr. Rice, her father, was a man of +honesty and integrity, while the mother was a woman of remarkable +judgment and common sense. + +Mary was an eager scholar, and a great favorite in school, because she +took the part of all the poor children. If a little boy or girl was +a cripple, or wore shabby clothes, or had scanty dinners, or was +ridiculed, he or she found an earnest friend and defender in the +courageous girl. + +So fond was she of the five children in the home, younger than +herself, and so much did she take upon herself the responsibility of +their conversion, that when but ten years old, unable to sleep, she +would rise from her bed and waken her father and mother that they +might pray for the sisters. "It's no matter about me," she would say; +"if they are saved, I can bear anything." + +Mature in thought and care-taking beyond her years, she was still +fond of out-door sports and merry times. Sliding on the ice was her +especial delight. One day, after a full hour's fun in the bracing +air, she rushed into the house, the blood tingling in every vein, +exclaiming, "It's splendid sliding!" "Yes," replied the father, "it's +good fun, but wretched for shoes." + +All at once the young girl saw how hard it was for her parents to buy +shoes, with their limited means; and from that day to this she never +slid upon the ice. + +There were few playthings in the simple home, but her chief pastime +was in holding meetings in her father's woodshed, with the other +children. Great logs were laid out for benches, and split sticks were +set upon them for people. Mary was always the leader, both in praying +and preaching, and the others were good listeners. Mrs. Rice would be +so much amused at the queer scene, that a smile would creep over her +face; but Mr. Rice would look on reverently, and say, "I wish you had +been a boy; you could have been trained for the ministry." + +When she was twelve years old she began to be eager to earn something. +She could not bear to see her father work so hard for her. Alas! how +often young women, twice twelve, allow their father's hair to grow +white from overwork, because they think society will look down upon +them if they labor. Is work more a disgrace to a girl than a boy? Not +at all. Unfortunate is the young man who marries a girl who is either +afraid or ashamed to work. + +Though not fond of sewing, Mary decided to learn dressmaking, because +this would give her self-support. For three months she worked in a +shop, that she might learn the trade, and then she stayed three months +longer and earned thirty-seven cents a day. As this seemed meagre, she +looked about her for more work. Going to a clothing establishment, +she asked for a dozen red flannel shirts to make. The proprietor might +have wondered who the child was, but he trusted her honest face, +and gave her the bundle. She was to receive six and a quarter cents +apiece, and to return them on a certain day. Working night after +night, sometimes till the early morning hours, she was able to finish +only half at the time specified. + +On that day a man came to the door and asked, "Does Mary Rice live +here?" + +The mother had gone to the door, and answered in the affirmative. + +"Well, she took a dozen red flannel shirts from my shop to make, and +she hain't returned 'em!" + +"It can't be my daughter," said Mrs. Rice. + +The man was sure he had the right number, but he looked perplexed. +Just then Mary, who was in the sitting-room, appeared on the scene. + +"Yes, mother, I got these shirts of the man." + +"You promised to get 'em done, Miss," he said, "and we are in a great +hurry." + +"You shall have the shirts to-morrow night," said Mrs. Rice. + +After the man left the house, the mother burst into tears, saying, "We +are not so poor as that. My dear child, what is to become of you if +you take all the cares of the world upon your shoulders?" + +When the work was done, and the seventy-five cents received, Mary +would take only half of it, because she had earned but half. + +A brighter day was dawning for Mary Rice. A little later, longing for +an education, Dr. Neale, their good minister, encouraged and assisted +her to go to the Charlestown Female Seminary. Before the term closed +one of the teachers died, and the bright, earnest pupil was asked to +fill the vacancy. She accepted, reciting out of school to fit herself +for her classes, earning enough by her teaching to pay her way, and +taking the four years' course in two years. Before she was twenty she +taught two years on a Virginia plantation as a governess, and came +North with six hundred dollars and a good supply of clothes. Probably +she has never felt so rich since that day. + +She was now asked to take charge of the Duxbury High School, where she +became an inspiration to her scholars. Even the dullest learned under +her enthusiasm. She took long walks to keep up her health and spirits, +thus making her body as vigorous as her heart was sympathetic. + +It was not to be wondered at that the bright young teacher had +many admirers. Who ever knew an educated, genial girl who was not a +favorite with young men? It is a libel on the sex to think that they +prefer ignorant or idle girls. + +Among those who saw the beauty of character and the mental power of +Miss Rice was a young minister, whose church was near her schoolhouse. +The first time she attended his services, he preached from the text, +"And thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from +their sins." Her sister had died, and the family were in sorrow; but +this gospel of love, which he preached with no allusion to eternal +punishment, was full of comfort. What was the minister's surprise +to have the young lady ask to take home the sermon and read it, and +afterwards, some of his theological books. What was the teacher's +surprise, a little later, to find that while she was interested in his +sermons and books, he had become interested in her. The sequel can +be guessed easily; she became the wife of Rev. D.P. Livermore at +twenty-three. + +He had idolized his mother; very naturally, with deep reverence +for woman, he would make a devoted husband. For fifteen years the +intelligent wife aided him in editing _The New Covenant_, a religious +paper published in Chicago, in which city they had made their home. +Her writings were always clear, strong, and helpful. Three children +had been born into their home, and life, with its cares and its work, +was a very happy one. + +But the time came for the quiet life to be entirely changed. In 1861 +the nation found itself plunged into war. The slave question was to +be settled once for all at the point of the bayonet. Like every other +true-hearted woman, Mrs. Livermore had been deeply stirred by passing +events. When Abraham Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men +was eagerly responded to, she was in Boston, and saw the troops, all +unused to hardships, start for the battle-fields. The streets were +crowded with tens of thousands. Bells rung, bands played, and women +smiled and said good-bye, when their hearts were breaking. After the +train moved out of the station, four women fainted; nature could no +longer bear the terrible strain. Mrs. Livermore helped restore +the women to consciousness. She had no sons to send; but when such +partings were seen, and such sorrows were in the future, she could not +rest. + +What could women do to help in the dreadful struggle? A meeting of +New York ladies was called, which resulted in the formation of an Aid +Society, pledging loyalty to the Government, and promising assistance +to soldiers and their families. Two gentlemen were sent to Washington +to ask what work could be done, but word came back that there was no +place for women at the front, nor no need for them in the hospitals. +Such words were worse than wasted on American women. Since the day +when men and women together breasted the storms of New England in the +_Mayflower_, and together planted a new civilization, together they +have worked side by side in all great matters. They were untiring +in the Revolutionary War; they worked faithfully in the dark days of +anti-slavery agitation, taking their very lives in their hands. And +now their husbands and sons and brothers had gone from their homes. +They would die on battle-fields, and in lonely camps untended, and the +women simply said, "Some of us must follow our best-beloved." + +The United States Sanitary Commission was soon organized, for working +in hospitals, looking after camps, and providing comforts for the +soldiers. Branch associations were formed in ten large cities. +The great Northwestern Branch was put under the leadership of Mrs. +Livermore and Mrs. A.H. Hoge. Useful things began to pour in from all +over the country,--fruits, clothing, bedding, and all needed comforts +for the army. Then Mrs. Livermore, now a woman of forty, with great +executive ability, warm heart, courage, and perseverance, with a few +others, went to Washington to talk with President Lincoln. + +"Can no women go to the front?" they asked. + +"No civilian, either man or woman, is permitted by _law_," said +Mr. Lincoln. But the great heart of the greatest man in America was +superior to the law, and he placed not a straw in their way. He was in +favor of anything which helped the men who fought and bled for their +country. + +Mrs. Livermore's first broad experience in the war was after the +battle of Fort Donelson. There were no hospitals for the men, and the +wounded were hauled down the hillside in rough-board Tennessee wagons, +most of them dying before they reached St. Louis. Some poor fellows +lay with the frozen earth around them, chopped out after lying in the +mud from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. + +One blue-eyed lad of nineteen, with both legs and both arms shattered, +when asked, "How did it happen that you were left so long?" said, +"Why, you see, they couldn't stop to bother with us, _because they had +to take the fort_. When they took it, we forgot our sufferings, and +all over the battle-field cheers went up from the wounded, and even +from the dying." + +At the rear of the battle-fields the Sanitary Commission now began +to keep its wagons with hot soup and hot coffee, women, fitly chosen, +always joining in this work, in the midst of danger. After the first +repulse at Vicksburg, there was great sickness and suffering. The +Commission sent Mrs. Hoge, two gentlemen accompanying her, with a +boat-load of supplies for the sick. One emaciated soldier, to whom she +gave a little package of white sugar, with a lemon, some green tea, +two herrings, two onions, and some pepper, said, "Is that _all_ for +me?" She bowed assent. She says: "He covered his pinched face with his +thin hands and burst into a low, sobbing cry. I laid my hand upon +his shoulder, and said, 'Why do you weep?' 'God bless the women!' +he sobbed out. 'What should we do but for them? I came from father's +farm, where all knew plenty; I've lain sick these three months; I've +seen no woman's face, nor heard her voice, nor felt her warm hand +till to-day, and it unmans me; but don't think I rue my bargain, for +I don't. I've suffered much and long, but don't let them know at +home. Maybe I'll never have a chance to tell them how much; but I'd go +through it all for the old flag.'" + +Shortly after, accompanied by an officer, she went into the +rifle-pits. The heat was stifling, and the minie-balls were whizzing. +"Why, madam, where did you come from? Did you drop from heaven into +these rifle-pits? You are the first lady we have seen here;" and then +the voice was choked with tears. + +"I have come from your friends at home, and bring messages of love and +honor. I have come to bring you the comforts we owe you, and love +to give. I've come to see if you receive what they send you," she +replied. + +"Do they think as much of as as that? Why, boys, we can fight another +year on that, can't we?" + +"Yes, yes!" they cried, and almost every hand was raised to brush away +the tears. + +She made them a kindly talk, shook the hard, honest hands, and said +good-bye. "Madame," said the officer, "promise me that you'll visit my +regiment to-morrow; 'twould be worth a victory to them. You don't know +what good a lady's visit to the army does. These men whom you have +seen to-day will talk of your visit for six months to come. Around +the fires, in the rifle-pits, in the dark night, or on the march, they +will repeat your words, describe your looks, voice, size, and dress; +and all agree in one respect,--that you look like an angel, and +exactly like each man's wife or mother. Ah! was there no work for +women to do? + +The Sanitary and Christian Commissions expended about fifty million +dollars during the war, and of this, the women raised a generous +portion. Each battle cost the Sanitary Commission about seventy-five +thousand dollars, and the battle of Gettysburg, a half million +dollars. Mrs. Livermore was one of the most efficient helpers in +raising this money. She went among the people, and solicited funds and +supplies of every kind. + +One night it was arranged that she should speak in Dubuque, Iowa, that +the people of that State might hear directly from their soldiers at +the front. When she arrived, instead of finding a few women as she had +expected, a large church was packed with both men and women, eager to +listen. The governor of the State and other officials were present. +She had never spoken in a mixed assembly. Her conservative training +made her shrink from it, and, unfortunately, made her feel incapable +of doing it. + +"I cannot speak!" she said to the women who had asked her to come. + +Disappointed and disheartened, they finally arranged with a prominent +statesman to jot down the facts from her lips; and then, as best he +could, tell to the audience the experiences of the woman who had been +on battle-fields, amid the wounded and dying. Just as they were about +to go upon the platform, the gentleman said, "Mrs. Livermore, I have +heard you say at the front, that you would give your all for the +soldiers,--a foot, a hand, or a voice. Now is the time to give your +voice, if you wish to do good." + +She meditated a moment, and then she said, "I will try." + +When she arose to speak, the sea of faces before her seemed blurred. +She was talking into blank darkness. She could not even hear her own +voice. But as she went on, and the needs of the soldiers crowded upon +her mind, she forgot all fear, and for two hours held the audience +spell-bound. Men and women wept, and patriotism filled every heart. At +eleven o'clock eight thousand dollars were pledged, and then, at the +suggestion of the presiding officer, they remained until one o'clock +to perfect plans for a fair, from which they cleared sixty thousand +dollars. After this, Mrs. Livermore spoke in hundreds of towns, +helping to organize many of the more than twelve thousand five hundred +aid societies formed during eighteen months. + +As money became more and more needed, Mrs. Livermore decided to try +a sanitary commission fair in Chicago. The women said, "We will +raise twenty-five thousand dollars," but the men laughed at such +an impossibility. The farmers were visited, and solicited to give +vegetables and grain, while the cities were not forgotten. Fourteen of +Chicago's largest halls were hired. The women had gone into debt ten +thousand dollars, and the men of the city began to think they were +crazy. The Board of Trade called upon them and advised that the fair +be given up; the debts should be paid, and the men would give the +twenty-five thousand, when, in their judgment, it was needed! The +women thanked them courteously, but pushed forward in the work. + +It had been arranged that the farmers should come on the opening day, +in a procession, with their gifts of vegetables. Of this plan the +newspapers made great sport, calling it the "potato procession." The +day came. The school children had a holiday, the bells were rung, +one hundred guns were fired, and the whole city gathered to see the +"potato procession." Finally it arrived,--great loads of cabbages, +onions, and over four thousand bushels of potatoes. The wagons each +bore a motto, draped in black, with the words, "We buried a son at +Donelson," "Our father lies at Stone River," and other similar ones. +The flags on the horses' heads were bound with black; the women who +rode beside a husband or son, were dressed in deep mourning. When the +procession stopped before Mrs. Livermore's house, the jeers were over, +and the dense crowd wept like children. + +Six of the public halls were filled with beautiful things for sale, +while eight were closed so that no other attractions might compete +with the fair. Instead of twenty-five thousand, the women cleared one +hundred thousand dollars. + +Then Cincinnati followed with a fair, making two hundred and +twenty-five thousand; Boston, three hundred and eighty thousand; New +York, one million; and Philadelphia, two hundred thousand more than +New York. The women had found that there was work enough for them to +do. + +Mrs. Livermore was finally ordered to make a tour of the hospitals +and military posts on the Mississippi River, and here her aid was +invaluable. It required a remarkable woman to undertake such a work. +At one point she found twenty-three men, sick and wounded, whose +regiments had left them, and who could not be discharged because they +had no descriptive lists. She went at once to General Grant, and said, +"General, if you will give me authority to do so, I will agree to take +these twenty-three wounded men home." + +The officials respected the noble woman, and the red tape of army life +was broken for her sake. + +When the desolate company arrived in Chicago, on Saturday, the last +train had left which could have taken a Wisconsin soldier home. She +took him to the hotel, had a fire made for him, and called a doctor. + +"Pull him through till Monday, Doctor," she said, "and I'll get him +home." Then, to the lad, "You shall have a nurse, and Monday morning I +will go with you to your mother." + +"Oh! don't go away," he pleaded; "I never shall see you again." + +"Well, then, I'll go home and see my family, and come back in two +hours. The door shall be left open, and I'll put this bell beside you, +so that the chambermaid will come when you ring." + +He consented, and Mrs. Livermore came back in two hours. The soldier's +face was turned toward the door, as though waiting for her, but he was +dead. He had gone home, but not to Wisconsin. + +After the close of the war, so eager were the people to hear her, +that she entered the lecture field and has for years held the foremost +place among women as a public speaker. She lectures five nights a +week, for five months, travelling twenty-five thousand miles annually. +Her fine voice, womanly, dignified manner, and able thought have +brought crowded houses before her, year after year. She has +earned money, and spent it generously for others. The energy and +conscientiousness of little Mary Rice have borne their legitimate +fruit. + +Every year touching incidents came up concerning the war days. Once, +after she had spoken at Fabyan's American Institute of Instruction, a +military man, six feet tall, came up to her and said, "Do you remember +at Memphis coming over to the officers' hospital?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Livermore. + +While the officers were paid salaries, very often the paymasters could +not find them when ill, and for months they would not have a penny, +not even receiving army rations. Mrs. Livermore found many in +great need, and carried them from the Sanitary Commission blankets, +medicine, and food. Milk was greatly desired, and almost impossible to +be obtained. One day she came into the wards, and said that a certain +portion of the sick "could have two goblets of milk for every meal." + +"Do you remember," said the tall man, who was then a major, "that one +man cried bitterly and said, 'I want two glasses of milk,' and that +you patted him on the head, as he lay on his cot? And that the man +said, as he thought of the dear ones at home, whom he might not see +again, 'Could you kiss me?' and the noble woman bent down and kissed +him? I am that man, and God bless you for your kindness." + +Mrs. Livermore wears on her third finger a plain gold ring which has a +touching history. + +After lecturing recently at Albion, Mich., a woman came up, who had +driven eight miles, to thank her for a letter written for John, +her son, as he was dying in the hospital. The first four lines were +dictated by the dying soldier; then death came, and Mrs. Livermore +finished the message. The faded letter had been kept for twenty years, +and copies made of it. "Annie, my son's wife," said the mother, "never +got over John's death. She kept about and worked, but the life had +gone out of her. Eight years ago she died. One day she said, 'Mother, +if you ever find Mrs. Livermore, or hear of her, I wish you would give +her my wedding ring, which has never been off my finger since John put +it there. Ask her to wear it for John's sake and mine, and tell her +this was my dying request.'" + +With tears in the eyes of both giver and receiver, Mrs. Livermore held +out her hand, and the mother placed on the finger this memento of two +precious lives. + +Mrs. Livermore has spent ten years in the temperance reform. While +she has shown the dreadful results of the liquor traffic, she has +been kind both in word and deed. Some time ago, passing along a Boston +street, she saw a man in the ditch, and a poor woman bending over him. + +"Who is he?" she asked of the woman. + +"He's my husband, ma'am. He's a good man when he is sober, and earns +four dollars a day in the foundry. I keep a saloon." + +Mrs. Livermore called a hack. "Will you carry this man to number ----?" + +"No, madam, he's too dirty. I won't soil my carriage." + +"Oh!" pleaded the wife, "I'll clean it all up for ye, if ye'll take +him," and pulling off her dress-skirt, she tried to wrap it around her +husband. Stepping to a saloon near by, Mrs. Livermore asked the men to +come out and help lift him. At first they laughed, but were soon made +ashamed, when they saw that a lady was assisting. The drunken man was +gotten upon his feet, wrapped in his wife's clothing, put into the +hack, and then Mrs. Livermore and the wife got in beside him, and he +was taken home. The next day the good Samaritan called, and brought +the priest, from whom the man took the pledge. A changed family was +the result. + +Her life is filled with thousands of acts of kindness, on the cars, in +poor homes, and in various charitable institutions. She is the author +of two or more books, _What shall we do with Our Daughters?_ and +_Reminiscences of the War;_ but her especial power has been her +eloquent words, spoken all over the country, in pulpits, before +colleges, in city and country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. +Like Abraham Lincoln, who said, "I go for all sharing the privileges +of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens,--by no means +excluding women," she has advocated the enfranchisement of her sex, +along with her other work. + +Now, past sixty, her active, earnest life, in contact with the people, +has kept her young in heart and in looks. + +"A great authority on what constitutes beauty complains that the +majority of women acquire a dull, vacant expression towards middle +life, which makes them positively plain. He attributes it to their +neglect of all mental culture, their lives having settled down to a +monotonous routine of house-keeping, visiting, gossip, and shopping. +Their thoughts become monotonous, too, for, though these things are +all good enough in their way, they are powerless to keep up any mental +life or any activity of thought." + +Mrs. Livermore has been an inspiration to girls to make the most +of themselves and their opportunities. She has been an ideal of +womanhood, not only to "the boys" on the battle-fields, but to tens +of thousands who are fighting the scarcely less heroic battles of +every-day life. May it be many years before she shall go out forever +from her restful, happy home, at Melrose, Mass. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Livermore died at her home, May 23, 1905, at 8 A.M., of +bronchitis. She was in her eighty-fourth year, and had survived her +husband six years. When her funeral services were held, the schools of +Melrose closed, business was suspended, bells were tolled, and flags +floated at half-mast. She was an active member of thirty-seven clubs. +The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon her, in 1896, by Tufts +College. + + + + +MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI. + +[Illustration: MARGARET FULLER + +From engraving by Hall] + + +Margaret Fuller, in some respects the most remarkable of American +women, lived a pathetic life and died a tragic death. Without money +and without beauty, she became the idol of an immense circle of +friends; men and women were alike her devotees. It is the old story: +that the woman of brain makes lasting conquests of hearts, while the +pretty face holds its sway only for a month or a year. + +Margaret, born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, was the +oldest child of a scholarly lawyer, Mr. Timothy Fuller, and of a +sweet-tempered, devoted mother. The father, with small means, had +one absorbing purpose in life,--to see that each of his children was +finely educated. To do this, and make ends meet, was a struggle. His +daughter said, years after, in writing of him: "His love for my mother +was the green spot on which he stood apart from the commonplaces of +a mere bread-winning existence. She was one of those fair and +flower-like natures, which sometimes spring up even beside the most +dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom I have known, she had in +her most of the angelic,--of that spontaneous love for every living +thing, for man and beast and tree, which restores the Golden Age." + +Very fond of his oldest child, Margaret, the father determined that +she should be as well educated as his boys. In those days there were +no colleges for girls, and none where they might enter with their +brothers, so that Mr. Fuller was obliged to teach his daughter after +the wearing work of the day. The bright child began to read Latin +at six, but was necessarily kept up late for the recitation. When +a little later she was walking in her sleep, and dreaming strange +dreams, he did not see that he was overtaxing both her body and brain. +When the lessons had been learned, she would go into the library, and +read eagerly. One Sunday afternoon, when she was eight years old, she +took down Shakespeare from the shelves, opened at Romeo and Juliet, +and soon became fascinated with the story. + +"What are you reading?" asked her father. + +"Shakespeare," was the answer, not lifting her eyes from the page. + +"That won't do--that's no book for Sunday; go put it away, and take +another." + +Margaret did as she was bidden; but the temptation was too strong, and +the book was soon in her hands again. + +"What is that child about, that she don't hear a word we say?" said an +aunt. + +Seeing what she was reading, the father said, angrily, "Give me the +book, and go directly to bed." + +There could have been a wiser and gentler way of control, but he had +not learned that it is better to lead children than to drive them. + +When not reading, Margaret enjoyed her mother's little garden of +flowers. "I loved," she says, "to gaze on the roses, the violets, the +lilies, the pinks; my mother's hand had planted them, and they bloomed +for me. I kissed them, and pressed them to my bosom with passionate +emotions. An ambition swelled my heart to be as beautiful, as perfect +as they." + +Margaret grew to fifteen with an exuberance of life and affection, +which the chilling atmosphere of that New England home somewhat +suppressed, and with an increasing love for books and cultured people. +"I rise a little before five," she writes, "walk an hour, and then +practise on the piano till seven, when we breakfast. Next, I read +French--Sismondi's _Literature of the South of Europe_--till eight; +then two or three lectures in Brown's _Philosophy._ About half past +nine I go to Mr. Perkins's school, and study Greek till twelve, when, +the school being dismissed, I recite, go home, and practise again till +dinner, at two. Then, when I can, I read two hours in Italian." + +And why all this hard work for a girl of fifteen? The "all-powerful +motive of ambition," she says. "I am determined on distinction, which +formerly I thought to win at an easy rate; but now I see that long +years of labor must be given." + +She had learned the secret of most prominent lives. The majority in +this world will always be mediocre, because they lack high-minded +ambition and the willingness to work. + +Two years after, at seventeen, she writes: "I am studying Madame de +Stael, Epictetus, Milton, Racine, and the Castilian ballads, with +great delight.... I am engrossed in reading the elder Italian +poets, beginning with Berni, from whom I shall proceed to Pulci and +Politian." How almost infinitely above "beaus and dresses" was such +intellectual work as this! + +It was impossible for such a girl not to influence the mind of every +person she met. At nineteen she became the warm friend of Rev. James +Freeman Clarke, "whose friendship," he says, "was to me a gift of the +gods.... With what eagerness did she seek for knowledge! What fire, +what exuberance, what reach, grasp, overflow of thought, shone in her +conversation!... And what she thus was to me, she was to many others. +Inexhaustible in power of insight, and with a good will 'broad as +ether,' she could enter into the needs, and sympathize with the +various excellences, of the greatest variety of characters. One +thing only she demanded of all her friends, that they should not be +satisfied with the common routine of life,--that they should aspire to +something higher, better, holier, than had now attained." + +Witty, learned, imaginative, she was conceded to be the best +conversationist in any circle. She possessed the charm that every +woman may possess,--appreciation of others, and interest in their +welfare. This sympathy unlocked every heart to her. She was made the +confidante of thousands. All classes loved her. Now it was a serving +girl who told Margaret her troubles and her cares; now it was a +distinguished man of letters. She was always an inspiration. Men never +talked idle, commonplace talk with her; she could appreciate the best +of their minds and hearts, and they gave it. She was fond of social +life, and no party seemed complete without her. + +At twenty-two she began to study German, and in three months was +reading with ease Goethe's _Faust, Tasso and Iphigenia_, Koerner, +Richter, and Schiller. She greatly admired Goethe, desiring, like him, +"always to have some engrossing object of pursuit." Besides all this +study she was teaching six little children, to help bear the expenses +of the household. + +The family at this time moved to Groton, a great privation for +Margaret, who enjoyed and needed the culture of Boston society. But +she says, "As, sad or merry, I must always be learning, I laid down a +course of study at the beginning of the winter." This consisted of the +history and geography of modern Europe, and of America, architecture, +and the works of Alfieri, Goethe, and Schiller. The teaching was +continued because her brothers must be sent to Harvard College, and +this required money; not the first nor the last time that sisters have +worked to give brothers an education superior to their own. + +At last the constitution, never robust, broke down, and for nine days +Margaret lay hovering between this world and the next. The tender +mother called her "dear lamb," and watched her constantly, while the +stern father, who never praised his children, lest it might harm them, +said, "My dear, I have been thinking of you in the night, and I cannot +remember that you have any _faults._ You have defects, of course, as +all mortals have, but I do not know that you have a single fault." + +"While Margaret recovered, the father was taken suddenly with cholera, +and died after a two days' illness. He was sadly missed, for at heart +he was devoted to his family. When the estate was settled, there was +little left for each; so for Margaret life would be more laborious +than ever. She had expected to visit Europe with Harriet Martineau, +who was just returning home from a visit to this country, but the +father's death crushed this long-cherished and ardently-prayed-for +journey. She must stay at home and work for others. + +Books were read now more eagerly than ever,--_Sartor Resartus_, +Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Heine. But money must be earned. Ah! if +genius could only develop in ease and prosperity. It rarely has the +chance. The tree grows best when the dirt is oftenest stirred about +the roots; perhaps the best in us comes only from such stirring. + +Margaret now obtained a situation as teacher of French and Latin in +Bronson Alcott's school. Here she was appreciated by both master and +pupils. Mr. Alcott said, "I think her the most brilliant talker of +the day. She has a quick and comprehensive wit, a firm command of her +thoughts, and a speech to win the ear of the most cultivated." She +taught advanced classes in German and Italian, besides having several +private pupils. + +Before this time she had become a valued friend of the Emerson family. +Mr. Emerson says, "Sometimes she stayed a few days, often a week, more +seldom a month, and all tasks that could be suspended were put aside +to catch the favorable hour in walking, riding, or boating, to talk +with this joyful guest, who brought wit, anecdotes, love-stories, +tragedies, oracles with her.... The day was never long enough to +exhaust her opulent memory, and I, who knew her intimately for ten +years, never saw her without surprise at her new powers." + +She was passionately fond of music and of art, saying, "I have been +very happy with four hundred and seventy designs of Raphael in my +possession for a week." She loved nature like a friend, paying homage +to rocks and woods and flowers. She said, "I hate not to be beautiful +when all around is so." + +After teaching with Mr. Alcott, she became the principal teacher in a +school at Providence, R.I. Here, as ever, she showed great wisdom both +with children and adults. The little folks in the house were allowed +to look at the gifts of many friends in her room, on condition that +they would not touch them. One day a young visitor came, and insisted +on taking down a microscope, and broke it. The child who belonged +in the house was well-nigh heart-broken over the affair, and, though +protesting her innocence, was suspected both of the deed and of +falsehood. Miss Fuller took the weeping child upon her knee, saying, +"Now, my dear little girl, tell me all about it; only remember +that you must be careful, for I shall believe every word you say." +Investigation showed that the child thus confided in told the whole +truth. + +After two years in Providence she returned to Boston, and in 1839 +began a series of parlor lectures, or "conversations," as they were +called. This seemed a strange thing for a woman, when public speaking +by her sex was almost unknown. These talks were given weekly, +from eleven o'clock till one, to twenty-five or thirty of the most +cultivated women of the city. Now the subject of discussion was +Grecian mythology; now it was fine arts, education, or the relations +of woman to the family, the church, society, and literature. These +meetings were continued through five winters, supplemented by evening +"conversations," attended by both men and women. In these gatherings +Margaret was at her best,--brilliant, eloquent, charming. + +During this time a few gifted men, Emerson, Channing, and others, +decided to start a literary and philosophical magazine called the +_Dial_. Probably no woman in the country would have been chosen as the +editor, save Margaret Fuller. She accepted the position, and for four +years managed the journal ably, writing for it some valuable essays. +Some of these were published later in her book on _Literature and +Art_. Her _Woman in the Nineteenth Century_, a learned and vigorous +essay on woman's place in the world, first appeared in part in the +_Dial_. Of this work, she said, in closing it, "After taking a long +walk, early one most exhilarating morning, I sat down to work, and did +not give it the last stroke till near nine in the evening. Then I felt +a delightful glow, as if I had put a good deal of my true life in it, +and as if, should I go away now, the measure of my footprint would be +left on the earth." + +Miss Fuller had published, besides these works, two books of +translations from the German, and a sketch of travel called _Summer +on the Lakes_. Her experience was like that of most authors who are +beginning,--some fame, but no money realized. All this time she was +frail in health, overworked, struggling against odds to make a living +for herself and those she loved. But there were some compensations +in this life of toil. One person wrote her, "What I am I owe in large +measure to the stimulus you imparted. You roused my heart with high +hopes; you raised my aims from paltry and vain pursuits to those which +lasted and fed the soul; you inspired me with a great ambition, and +made me see the worth and the meaning of life." + +William Hunt, the renowned artist, was looking in a book that lay on +the table of a friend. It was Mrs. Jameson's _Italian Painters._ In +describing Correggio, she said he was "one of those superior beings of +whom there are so few." Margaret had written on the margin, "And +yet all might be such." Mr. Hunt said, "These words struck out a new +strength in me. They revived resolutions long fallen away, and made me +set my face like a flint." + +Margaret was now thirty-four. The sister was married, the brothers had +finished their college course, and she was about to accept an +offer from the _New York Tribune_ to become one of its constant +contributors, an honor that few women would have received. Early in +December, 1844, Margaret moved to New York and became a member of +Mr. Greeley's family. Her literary work here was that of, says Mr. +Higginson, "the best literary critic whom America has yet seen." + +Sometimes her reviews, like those on the poetry of Longfellow and +Lowell, were censured, but she was impartial and able. Society opened +wide its doors to her, as it had in Boston. Mrs. Greeley became her +devoted friend, and their little son "Pickie," five years old, the +idol of Mr. Greeley, her restful playmate. + +A year and a half later an opportunity came for Margaret to go to +Europe. Now, at last, she would see the art-galleries of the old +world, and places rich in history, like Rome. Still there was the +trouble of scanty means, and poor health from overwork. She said, "A +noble career is yet before me, if I can be unimpeded by cares. If +our family affairs could now be so arranged that I might be tolerably +tranquil for the next six or eight years, I should go out of life +better satisfied with the page I have turned in it than I shall if I +must still toil on." + +After two weeks on the ocean, the party of friends arrived in +London, and Miss Fuller received a cordial welcome. Wordsworth, now +seventy-six, showed her the lovely scenery of Rydal Mount, pointing +out as his especial pride, his avenue of hollyhocks--crimson, +straw-color, and white. De Quincey showed her many courtesies. Dr. +Chalmers talked eloquently, while William and Mary Howitt seemed like +old friends. Carlyle invited her to his home. "To interrupt him," she +said, "is a physical impossibility. If you get a chance to remonstrate +for a moment, he raises his voice and bears you down." + +In Paris, Margaret attended the Academy lectures, saw much of George +Sand, waded through melting snow at Avignon to see Laura's tomb, and +at last was in Italy, the country she had longed to see. Here Mrs. +Jameson, Powers, and Greenough, and the Brownings and Storys, were her +warm friends. Here she settled down to systematic work, trying to keep +her expenses for six months within four hundred dollars. Still, when +most cramped for means herself, she was always generous. Once, when +living on a mere pittance, she loaned fifty dollars to a needy artist. +In New York she gave an impecunious author five hundred dollars to +publish his book, and, of course, never received a dollar in return. +Yet the race for life was wearing her out. So tired was she that she +said, "I should like to go to sleep, and be born again into a state +where my young life should not be prematurely taxed." + +Meantime the struggle for Italian unity was coming to its climax. +Mazzini and his followers were eager for a republic. Pius IX. had +given promises to the Liberal party, but afterwards abandoned it, and +fled to Gaeta. Then Mazzini turned for help to the President of the +French Republic, Louis Napoleon, who, in his heart, had no love for +republics, but sent an army to reinstate the Pope. Rome, when she +found herself betrayed, fought like a tiger. Men issued from the +workshops with their tools for weapons, while women from the housetops +urged them on. One night over one hundred and fifty bombs were thrown +into the heart of the city. + +Margaret was the friend of Mazzini, and enthusiastic for Roman +liberty. All those dreadful months she ministered to the wounded and +dying in the hospitals, and was their "saint," as they called her. + +But there was another reason why Margaret Fuller loved Italy. + +Soon after her arrival in Rome, as she was attending vespers at St. +Peter's with a party of friends, she became separated from them. +Failing to find them, seeing her anxious face, a young Italian came +up to her, and politely offered to assist her. Unable to regain her +friends, Angelo Ossoli walked with her to her home, though he could +speak no English, and she almost no Italian. She learned afterward +that he was of a noble and refined family; that his brothers were in +the Papal army, and that he was highly respected. + +After this he saw Margaret once or twice, when she left Rome for some +months. On her return, he renewed the acquaintance, shy and quiet +though he was, for her influence seemed great over him. His father, +the Marquis Ossoli, had just died, and Margaret, with her large heart, +sympathized with him, as she alone knew how to sympathize. He joined +the Liberals, thus separating himself from his family, and was made a +captain of the Civic Guard. + +Finally he confessed to Margaret that he loved her, and that he "must +marry her or be miserable." She refused to listen to him as a lover, +said he must marry a younger woman,--she was thirty-seven, and he but +thirty,--but she would be his friend. For weeks he was dejected and +unhappy. She debated the matter with her own heart. Should she, +who had had many admirers, now marry a man her junior, and not of +surpassing intellect, like her own? If she married him, it must be +kept a secret till his father's estate was settled, for marriage with +a Protestant would spoil all prospect of an equitable division. + +Love conquered, and she married the young Marquis Ossoli in December, +1847. He gave to Margaret the kind of love which lasts after marriage, +veneration of her ability and her goodness. "Such tender, unselfish +love," writes Mrs. Story, "I have rarely before seen; it made green +her days, and gave her an expression of peace and serenity which +before was a stranger to her. When she was ill, he nursed and watched +over her with the tenderness of a woman. No service was too trivial, +no sacrifice too great for him. 'How sweet it is to do little things +for you,' he would say." + +To her mother, Margaret wrote, though she did not tell her secret, +"I have not been so happy since I was a child, as during the last six +weeks." + +But days of anxiety soon came, with all the horrors of war. Ossoli was +constantly exposed to death, in that dreadful siege of Rome. Then Rome +fell, and with it the hopes of Ossoli and his wife. There would be +neither fortune nor home for a Liberal now--only exile. Very sadly +Margaret said goodbye to the soldiers in the hospitals, brave fellows +whom she honored, who in the midst of death itself, would cry "Viva l' +Italia!" + +But before leaving Rome, a day's journey must be made to Rieta, at the +foot of the Umbrian Apennines. And for what? The most precious thing +of Margaret's life was there,--her baby. The fair child, with blue +eyes and light hair like her own, had already been named by the people +in the house, Angelino, from his beauty. She had always been fond +of children. Emerson's Waldo, for whom _Threnody_ was written was an +especial favorite; then "Pickie," Mr. Greeley's beautiful boy, and now +a new joy had come into her heart, a child of her own. She wrote to +her mother: "In him I find satisfaction, for the first time, to +the deep wants of my heart. Nothing but a child can take the worst +bitterness out of life, and break the spell of loneliness. I shall not +be alone in other worlds, whenever Eternity may call me.... I wake in +the night,--I look at him. He is so beautiful and good, I could die +for him!" + +When Ossoli and Margaret reached Rieta, what was their horror to find +their child worn to a skeleton, half starved through the falsity of a +nurse. For four weeks the distressed parents coaxed him back to life, +till the sweet beauty of the rounded face came again, and then they +carried him to Florence, where, despite poverty and exile, they were +happy. + +"In the morning," she says, "as soon as dressed, he signs to come into +our room; then draws our curtain with his little dimpled hand, kisses +me rather violently, and pats my face.... I feel so refreshed by his +young life, and Ossoli diffuses such a power and sweetness over every +day, that I cannot endure to think yet of our future.... It is very +sad we have no money, we could be so quietly happy a while. I rejoice +in all Ossoli did; but the results, in this our earthly state, are +disastrous, especially as my strength is now so impaired. This much I +hope--in life or death, to be no more separated from Angelino." + +Margaret's friends now urged her return to America. She had nearly +finished a history of Rome in this trying time, 1848, and could better +attend to its publication in this country. Ossoli, though coming to a +land of strangers, could find something to help, support the family. + +To save expense, they started from Leghorn, May 17, 1850, in the +_Elizabeth_, a sailing vessel, though Margaret dreaded the two months' +voyage, and had premonitions of disaster. She wrote: "I have a vague +expectation of some crisis,--I know not what. But it has long seemed +that, in the year 1850, I should stand on a plateau in the ascent of +life, when I should be allowed to pause for a while, and take more +clear and commanding views than ever before. Yet my life proceeds as +regularly as the fates of a Greek tragedy, and I can but accept the +pages as they turn.... I shall embark, praying fervently that it may +not be my lot to lose my boy at sea, either by unsolaced illness, or +amid the howling waves; or, if so, that Ossoli, Angelo, and I may go +together, and that the anguish may be brief." + +For a few days all went well on shipboard; and then the noble Captain +Hasty died of small-pox, and was buried at sea. Angelino took this +dread disease, and for a time his life was despaired of, but he +finally recovered, and became a great pet with the sailors. Margaret +was putting the last touches to her book. Ossoli and young Sumner, +brother of Charles, gave each other lessons in Italian and English, +and thus the weeks went by. + +On Thursday, July 18, after two months, the _Elizabeth_ stood off the +Jersey coast, between Cape May and Barnegat. Trunks were packed, good +nights were spoken, and all were happy, for they would be in New York +on the morrow. At nine that night a gale arose; at midnight it was +a hurricane; at four o'clock, Friday morning, the ship struck Fire +Island beach. The passengers sprung from their berths. "We must die!" +said Sumner to Mrs. Hasty. "Let us die calmly, then!" was the response +of the widow of the captain. + +At first, as the billows swept over the vessel, Angelino, wet and +afraid, began to cry; but his mother held him closely in her arms and +sang him to sleep. Noble courage on a sinking ship! The Italian girl +who had come with them was in terror; but after Ossoli prayed with +her, she became calm. For hours they waited anxiously for help from +the shore. They could see the life-boat, and the people collecting the +spoils which had floated thither from the ship, but no relief came. +One sailor and another sprang into the waves and saved themselves. +Then Sumner jumped overboard, but sank. + +One of the sailors suggested that if each passenger sit on a plank, +holding on by ropes, they would attempt to push him or her to land. +Mrs. Hasty was the first to venture, and after being twice washed +off, half-drowned, reached the shore. Then Margaret was urged, but she +hesitated, unless all three could be saved. Every moment the danger +increased. The crew were finally ordered "to save themselves," but +four remained with the passengers. It was useless to look longer +to the people on shore for help, though it was now past three +o'clock,--twelve hours since the vessel struck. + +Margaret had finally been induced to try the plank. The steward had +taken Angelino in his arms, promising to save him or die with him, +when a strong sea swept the forecastle, and all went down together. +Ossoli caught the rigging for a moment, but Margaret sank at once. +When last seen, she was seated at the foot of the foremast, still +clad in her white nightdress, with her hair fallen loose upon her +shoulders. Angelino and the steward were washed upon the beach +twenty minutes later, both dead, though warm. Margaret's prayer was +answered,--that they "might go together, and that the anguish might be +brief." + +The pretty boy of two years was dressed in a child's frock taken from +his mother's trunk, which had come to shore, laid in a seaman's +chest, and buried in the sand, while the sailors, who loved him, +stood around, weeping. His body was finally removed to Mt. Auburn, and +buried in the family lot. The bodies of Ossoli and Margaret were never +recovered. The only papers of value which came to shore were their +love letters, now deeply prized. The book ready for publication was +never found. + +When those on shore were asked why they did not launch the life-boat, +they replied, "Oh! if we had known there were any such persons of +importance on board, we should have tried to do our best!" + +Thus, at forty, died one of the most gifted women in America, when her +work seemed just begun. To us, who see how the world needed her, her +death is a mystery; to Him who "worketh all things after the counsel +of His own will" there is no mystery. She filled her life with +charities and her mind with knowledge, and such are ready for the +progress of Eternity. + + + + +MARIA MITCHELL. + +[Illustration: MARIA MITCHELL.] + + +In the quiet, picturesque island of Nantucket, in a simple home, lived +William and Lydia Mitchell with their family of ten children. William +had been a school-teacher, beginning when he was eighteen years of +age, and receiving two dollars a week in winter, while in summer he +kept soul and body together by working on a small farm, and fishing. + +In this impecunious condition he had fallen in love with and married +Lydia Coleman, a true-hearted Quaker girl, a descendant of Benjamin +Franklin, one singularly fitted to help him make his way in life. She +was quick, intelligent, and attractive in her usual dress of white, +and was the clerk of the Friends' meeting where he attended. She +was enthusiastic in reading, becoming librarian successively of two +circulating libraries, till she had read every book upon the +shelves, and then in the evenings repeating what she had read to her +associates, her young lover among them. + +When they were married, they had nothing but warm hearts and willing +hands to work together. After a time William joined his father in +converting a ship-load of whale oil into soap, and then a little +money was made; but at the end of seven years he went back to +school-teaching because he loved the work. At first he had charge of +a fine grammar school established at Nantucket, and later, of a school +of his own. + +Into this school came his third child, Maria, shy and retiring, with +all her mother's love of reading. Faithful at home, with, as she says, +"an endless washing of dishes," not to be wondered at where there were +ten little folks, she was not less faithful at school. The teacher +could not help seeing that his little daughter had a mind which would +well repay all the time he could spend upon it. + +While he was a good school-teacher, he was an equally good student of +nature, born with a love of the heavens above him. When eight years +old, his father called him to the door to look at the planet Saturn, +and from that time the boy calculated his age from the position of +the planet, year by year. Always striving to improve himself, when he +became a man, he built a small observatory upon his own land, that he +might study the stars. He was thus enabled to earn one hundred dollars +a year in the work of the United States Coast Survey. Teaching at +two dollars a week, and fishing, could not always cramp a man of such +aspiring mind. + +Brought up beside the sea, he was as broad as the sea in his thought +and true nobility of character. He could see no reason why his +daughters should not be just as well educated as his sons. He +therefore taught Maria the same as his boys, giving her especial drill +in navigation. Perhaps it is not strange that after such teaching, +his daughter could have no taste for making worsted work or Kensington +stitches. She often says to this day, "A woman might be learning seven +languages while she is learning fancy work," and there is little doubt +that the seven languages would make her seven times more valuable as +a wife and mother. If teaching navigation to girls would give us +a thousand Maria Mitchells in this country, by all means let it be +taught. + +Maria left the public school at sixteen, and for a year attended a +private school; then, loving mathematics, and being deeply interested +in her father's studies, she became at seventeen his helper in the +work of the Coast Survey. This astronomical labor brought Professors +Agassiz, Bache, and other noted men to the quiet Mitchell home, and +thus the girl heard the stimulating conversation of superior minds. + +But the family needed more money. Though Mr. Mitchell wrote articles +for _Silliman's Journal_, and delivered an able course of lectures +before a Boston society of which Daniel Webster was president, +scientific study did not put many dollars in a man's pocket. An elder +sister was earning three hundred dollars yearly by teaching, and Maria +felt that she too must help more largely to share the family burdens. +She was offered the position of librarian at the Nantucket library, +with a salary of sixty dollars the first year, and seventy-five the +second. While a dollar and twenty cents a week seemed very little, +there would be much time for study, for the small island did not +afford a continuous stream of readers. She accepted the position, +and for twenty years, till youth had been lost in middle life, Maria +Mitchell worked for one hundred dollars a year, studying on, that she +might do her noble work in the world. + +Did not she who loved nature, long for the open air and the blue sky, +and for some days of leisure which so many girls thoughtlessly waste? +Yes, doubtless. However, the laws of life are as rigid as mathematics. +A person cannot idle away the hours and come to prominence. No great +singer, no great artist, no great scientist, comes to honor without +continuous labor. Society devotees are heard of only for a day or a +year, while those who develop minds and ennoble hearts have lasting +remembrance. + +Miss Mitchell says, "I was born of only ordinary capacity, but of +extraordinary persistency," and herein is the secret of a great life. +She did not dabble in French or music or painting and give it up; she +went steadily on to success. Did she neglect home duties? Never. She +knit stockings a yard long for her aged father till his death, usually +studying while she knit. To those who learn to be industrious early in +life, idleness is never enjoyable. + +There was another secret of Miss Mitchell's success. She read good +books early in life. She says: "We always had books, and were bookish +people. There was a public library in Nantucket before I was born. +It was not a free library, but we always paid the subscription of +one dollar per annum, and always read and studied from it. I remember +among its volumes Hannah More's books and Rollin's _Ancient History_. +I remember too that Charles Folger, the present Secretary of the +Treasury, and I had both read this latter work through before we were +ten years old, though neither of us spoke of it to the other until a +later period." + +All this study had made Miss Mitchell a superior woman. It was not +strange, therefore, that fame should come to her. One autumn night, +October, 1847, she was gazing through the telescope, as usual, when, +lo! she was startled to perceive an unknown comet. She at once told +her father, who thus wrote to Professor William C. Bond, director of +the Observatory at Cambridge: -- + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--I write now merely to say that + Maria discovered a telescopic comet at half-past ten on + the evening of the first instant, at that hour nearly above + Polaris five degrees. Last evening it had advanced + westerly; this evening still further, and nearing the pole. + It does not bear illumination. Maria has obtained its + right ascension and declination, and will not suffer me to + announce it. Pray tell me whether it is one of Georgi's, + and whether it has been seen by anybody. Maria supposes + it may be an old story. If quite convenient, just + drop a line to her; it will oblige me much. I expect to + leave home in a day or two, and shall be in Boston next + week, and I would like to have her hear from you before I + can meet you. I hope it will not give thee much trouble + amidst thy close engagements. Our regards are to all of + you most truly. + +WILLIAM MITCHELL. + +The answer showed that Miss Mitchell had indeed made a new discovery. +Frederick VI., King of Denmark, had, sixteen years before, offered a +gold medal of the value of twenty ducats to whoever should discover +a telescopic comet. That no mistake might be made as to the real +discoverer, the condition was made that word be sent at once to the +Astronomer Royal of England. This the Mitchells had not done, +on account of their isolated position. Hon. Edward Everett, then +President of Harvard College, wrote to the American Minister at the +Danish Court, who in turn presented the evidence to the King. "It +would gratify me," said Mr. Mitchell, "that this generous monarch +should know that there is a love of science even in this, to him, +remote corner of the earth." + +The medal was at last awarded, and the woman astronomer of Nantucket +found herself in the scientific journals and in the press as the +discoverer of "Miss Mitchell's Comet." Another had been added to the +list of Mary Somervilles and Caroline Herschels. Perhaps there was +additional zest now in the mathematical work in the Coast Survey. She +also assisted in compiling the _American Nautical Almanac_, and wrote +for the scientific periodicals. Did she break down from her unusual +brain work? Oh, no! Probably astronomical work was not nearly so hard +as her mother's,--the care of a house and ten children! + +For ten years more Miss Mitchell worked in the library, and in +studying the heavens. But she had longed to see the observatories of +Europe, and the great minds outside their quiet island. Therefore, +in 1857, she visited England, and was at once welcomed to the most +learned circles. Brains always find open doors. Had she been rich or +beautiful simply, Sir John Herschel, and Lady Herschell as well, would +not have reached out both hands, and said, "You are always welcome at +this house," and given her some of his own calculations? and some of +his Aunt Caroline's writing. Had she been rich or handsome simply, +Alexander Von Humboldt would not have taken her to his home, and, +seating himself beside her on the sofa, talked, as she says, "on +all manner of subjects, and on all varieties of people. He spoke of +Kansas, India, China, observatories; of Bache, Maury, Gould, Ticknor, +Buchanan, Jefferson, Hamilton, Brunow, Peters, Encke, Airy, Leverrier, +Mrs. Somerville, and a host of others." + +What, if he had said these things to some women who go abroad! It is +safe for women who travel to read widely, for ignorance is quickly +detected. Miss Mitchell said of Humboldt: "He is handsome--his hair +is thin and white, his eyes very blue. He is a little deaf, and so is +Mrs. Somerville. He asked me what instruments I had, and what I was +doing; and when I told him that I was interested in the variable +stars, he said I must go to Bonn and see Agelander." + +There was no end of courtesies to the scholarly woman. Professor +Adams, of Cambridge, who, with his charming wife, years afterward +helped to make our own visit to the University a delight, showed +her the spot on which he made his computations for Neptune, which +he discovered at the same time as Leverrier. Sir George Airy, the +Astronomer Royal of England, wrote to Leverrier in Paris to announce +her coming. When they met, she said, "His English was worse than my +French." + +Later she visited Florence, where she met, several times, Mrs. +Somerville, who, she says, "talks with all the readiness and clearness +of a man," and is still "very gentle and womanly, without the least +pretence or the least coldness." She gave Miss Mitchell two of her +books, and desired a photographed star sent to Florence. "She had +never heard of its being done, and saw at once the importance of such +a step." She said with her Scotch accent, "Miss Mitchell, ye have done +yeself great credit." + +In Rome she saw much of the Hawthornes, of Miss Bremer, who was +visiting there, and of the artists. From here she went to Venice, +Vienna, and Berlin, where she met Encke, the astronomer, who took her +to see the wedding presents of the Princess Royal. + +Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in an admirable sketch of Miss Mitchell, tells +how the practical woman, with her love of republican institutions, +was impressed. "The presents were in two rooms," says Miss Mitchell, +"ticketed and numbered, and a catalogue of them sold. All the +manufacturing companies availed themselves of the opportunity to +advertise their commodities, I suppose, as she had presents of all +kinds. What she will do with sixty albums I can't see, but I can +understand the use of two clothes-lines, because she can lend one to +her mother, who must have a large Monday's wash!" + +After a year, Miss Mitchell returned to her simple Nantucket home, +as devoted to her parents and her scientific work as ever. Two years +afterward, in 1860, her good mother died, and a year later, desiring +to be near Boston, the family removed to Lynn. Here Miss Mitchell +purchased a small house for sixteen hundred and fifty dollars. From +her yearly salary of one hundred dollars, and what she could earn +in her government work, she had saved enough to buy a home for +her father! The rule is that the fathers wear themselves out for +daughters; the rule was reversed in this case. + +Miss Mitchell now earned five hundred dollars yearly for her +government computations, while her father received a pension of three +hundred more for his efficient services. Five years thus passed +quietly and comfortably. + +Meanwhile another life was carrying out its cherished plan, and Miss +Mitchell, unknowingly, was to have an important part in it. Soon +after the Revolutionary War there came to this country an English +wool-grower and his family, and settled on a little farm near the +Hudson River. The mother, a hard-working and intelligent woman, +was eager in her help toward earning a living, and would drive the +farm-wagon to market, with butter and eggs, and fowls, while her +seven-year-old boy sat beside her. To increase the income some English +ale was brewed. The lad grew up with an aversion to making beer, and +when fourteen, his father insisting that he should enter the business, +his mother helped him to run away. Tying all his worldly possessions, +a shirt and pair of stockings, in a cotton handkerchief, the mother +and her boy walked eight miles below Poughkeepsie, when, giving him +all the money she had, seventy-five cents, she kissed him, and with +tears in her eyes saw him cross the ferry and land safely on the other +side. He trudged on till a place was found in a country store, and +here, for five years, he worked honestly and industriously, coming +home to his now reconciled father with one hundred and fifty dollars +in his pocket. + +Changes had taken place. The father's brewery had burned, the oldest +son had been killed in attempting to save something from the wreck, +all were poorer than ever, and there seemed nothing before the boy of +nineteen but to help support the parents, his two unmarried sisters, +and two younger brothers. Whether he had the old dislike for the ale +business or not, he saw therein a means of support, and adopted +it. The world had not then thought so much about the misery which +intoxicants cause, and had not learned that we are better off without +stimulants than with them. + +Every day the young man worked in his brewery, and in the evening till +midnight tended a small oyster house, which he had opened. Two years +later, an Englishman who had seen Matthew Vassar's untiring industry +and honesty, offered to furnish all the capital which he needed. The +long, hard road of poverty had opened at last into a field of plenty. +Henceforward, while there was to be work and economy, there was to be +continued prosperity, and finally, great wealth. + +Realizing his lack of early education, he began to improve himself by +reading science, art, history, poetry, and the Bible. He travelled in +Europe, and being a close observer, was a constant learner. + +One day, standing by the great London hospital, built by Thomas Guy, +a relative, and endowed by him with over a million dollars, Mr. Vassar +read these words on the pedestal of the bronze statue:-- + + SOLE FOUNDER OF THE HOSPITAL. + IN HIS LIFETIME. + +The last three words left a deep impression on his mind. He had no +children. He desired to leave his money where it would be of permanent +value to the world. He debated many plans in his own mind. It is +said that his niece, a hard-working teacher, Lydia Booth, finally +influenced him to his grand decision. + +There was no real college for women in the land. He talked the matter +over with his friends, but they were full of discouragements. "Women +will never desire college training," said some. "They will be ruined +in health, if they attempt it," said others. "Science is not needed +by women; classical education is not needed; they must have something +appropriate to their sphere," was constantly reiterated. Some wise +heads thought they knew just what that education should be, and just +what were the limits of woman's sphere; but Matthew Vassar had his own +thoughts. + +Calling together, Feb. 26, 1861, some twenty or thirty of the men in +the State most conversant with educational matters, the white-haired +man, now nearly seventy, laid his hand upon a round tin box, labelled +"Vassar College Papers," containing four hundred thousand dollars in +bonds and securities, and said: "It has long been my desire, after +suitably providing for those of my kindred who have claims upon me, +to make such a disposition of my means as should best honor God and +benefit my fellow-men. At different periods I have regarded various +plans with favor; but these have all been dismissed one after another, +until the subject of erecting and endowing a college for the education +of young women was presented for my consideration. The novelty, +grandeur, and benignity of the idea arrested my attention. + +"It occurred to me that woman, having received from the Creator the +same intellectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to +intellectual culture and development. + +"I considered that the mothers of a country mould its citizens, +determine its institutions, and shape its destiny. + +"It has also seemed to me that if woman was properly educated, some +new avenues of useful and honorable employment, in entire harmony with +the gentleness and modesty of her sex, might be opened to her. + +"It further appeared, there is not in our country, there is not in +the world, so far as known, a single fully endowed institution for +the education of women.... I have come to the conclusion that the +establishment and endowment of a COLLEGE FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG +WOMEN is a work which will satisfy my highest aspirations, and will +be, under God, a rich blessing to this city and State, to our country +and the world. + +"It is my hope to be the instrument in the hands of Providence, of +founding and perpetuating an institution _which shall accomplish for +young women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men_." + +For four years Matthew Vassar watched the great buildings take form +and shape in the midst of two hundred acres of lake and river and +green sward, near Poughkeepsie; the main building, five hundred feet +long, two hundred broad, and five stories high; the museum of natural +history, with school of art and library; the great observatory, three +stories high, furnished with the then third largest telescope in the +country. + +In 1865 Vassar College was opened, and three hundred and fifty +students came pouring in from all parts of the land. Girls, after all, +did desire an education equal to that of young men. Matthew Vassar +was right. His joy seemed complete. He visited the college daily, +and always received the heartiest welcome. Each year his birthday +was celebrated as "Founder's Day." On one of these occasions he said: +"This is almost more happiness than I can bear. This one day more than +repays me for all I have done." An able and noble man, John Howard +Raymond, was chosen president. + +Mr. Vassar lived but three years after his beloved institution was +opened. June 23, 1868, the day before commencement, he had called the +members of the Board around him to listen to his customary address. +Suddenly, when he had nearly finished, his voice ceased, the paper +dropped from his hand, and--he was dead! His last gifts amounted to +over five hundred thousand dollars, making in all $989,122.00 for +the college. The poor lad wrought as he had hoped, a blessing "to the +country and the world." His nephews, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy +Vassar, have given over one hundred and forty thousand dollars. + +After the observatory was completed, there was but one wish as to who +should occupy it; of course, the person desired was Maria Mitchell. +She hesitated to accept the position. Her father was seventy and +needed her care, but he said, "Go, and I will go with you." So she +left her Lynn home for the arduous position of a teacher. For four +years Mr. Mitchell lived to enjoy the enthusiastic work of his +gifted daughter. He said, "Among the teachers and pupils I have made +acquaintances that a prince might covet." + +Miss Mitchell makes the observatory her home. Here are her books, her +pictures, her great astronomical clock, and a bust of Mrs. Somerville, +the gift of Frances Power Cobbe. Here for twenty years she has helped +to make Vassar College known and honored both at home and abroad. +Hundreds have been drawn thither by her name and fame. A friend of +mine who went, intending to stay two years, remained five, for her +admiration of and enjoyment in Miss Mitchell. She says: "She is one of +the few genuine persons I have ever known. There is not one particle +of deceit about her. For girls who accomplish something, she has great +respect; for idlers, none. She has no sentimentality, but much wit and +common sense. No one can be long under her teaching without learning +dignity of manner and self-reliance." + +She dresses simply, in black or gray, somewhat after the fashion of +her Quaker ancestors. Once when urging economy upon the girls, she +said, "All the clothing I have on cost but seventeen dollars, and four +suits would last each of you a year." There was a quiet smile, but +no audible expression of a purpose to adopt Miss Mitchell's style of +dress. + +The pupils greatly honor and love the undemonstrative woman, who, they +well know, would make any sacrifices for their well-being. Each week +the informal gatherings at her rooms, where various useful topics +are discussed, are eagerly looked forward to. Chief of all, Miss +Mitchell's own bright and sensible talk is enjoyed. Her "dome +parties," held yearly in June, under the great dome of the +observatory, with pupils coming back from all over the country, +original poems read and songs sung, are among the joys of college +life. + +All these years the astronomer's fame has steadily increased. In 1868, +in the great meteoric shower, she and her pupils recorded the paths +of four thousand meteors, and gave valuable data of their height above +the earth. In the summer of 1869 she joined the astronomers who went +to Burlington, Iowa, to observe the total eclipse of the sun, Aug. 7. +Her observations on the transit of Venus were also valuable. She has +written much on the _Satellites of Saturn_, and has prepared a work on +the _Satellites of Jupiter_. + +In 1873 she again visited Europe, spending some time with the +family of the Russian astronomer, Professor Struve, at the Imperial +Observatory at Pultowa. + +She is an honor to her sex, a striking example of what a quiet country +girl can accomplish without money or fortuitous circumstances. + + * * * * * + +She resigned her position at Vassar in 1888. Miss Mitchell died on the +morning of June 28, 1889, at Lynn, Mass., at the age of seventy-one, +and was buried at Nantucket on Sunday afternoon, June 30. + + + + +LOUISA M. ALCOTT. + +[Illustration: LOUISA M. ALCOTT.] + + +A dozen of us sat about the dinner-table at the Hotel Bellevue, +Boston. One was the gifted wife of a gifted clergyman; one had written +two or three novels; one was a journalist; one was on the eve of a +long journey abroad; and one, whom we were all glad to honor, was the +brilliant author of _Little Women_. She had a womanly face, bright, +gray eyes, that looked full of merriment, and would not see the hard +side of life, and an air of common sense that made all defer to her +judgment. She told witty stories of the many who wrote her for +advice or favors, and good-naturedly gave bits of her own personal +experience. Nearly twenty years before, I had seen her, just after +her _Hospital Sketches_ were published, over which I, and thousands of +others, had shed tears. Though but thirty years old then, Miss Alcott +looked frail and tired. That was the day of her struggle with life. +Now, at fifty, she looked happy and comfortable. The desire of her +heart had been realized,--to do good to tens of thousands, and earn +enough money to care for those whom she loved. + +Louisa Alcott's life, like that of so many famous women, has been full +of obstacles. She was born in Germantown, Pa., Nov. 29, 1832, in the +home of an extremely lovely mother and cultivated father, Amos Bronson +Alcott. Beginning life poor, his desire for knowledge led him to +obtain an education and become a teacher. In 1830 he married Miss May, +a descendant of the well-known Sewells and Quincys, of Boston. Louise +Chandler Moulton says, in her excellent sketch of Miss Alcott, "I have +heard that the May family were strongly opposed to the union of their +beautiful daughter with the penniless teacher and philosopher;" but he +made a devoted husband, though poverty was long their guest. + +For eleven years, mostly in Boston, he was the earnest and successful +teacher. Margaret Fuller was one of his assistants. Everybody +respected his purity of life and his scholarship. His kindness +of heart made him opposed to corporal punishment, and in favor of +self-government. The world had not come then to his high ideal, +but has been creeping toward it ever since, until whipping, both in +schools and homes, is fortunately becoming one of the lost arts. + +He believed in making studies interesting to pupils; not the dull, +old-fashioned method of learning by rote, whereby, when a hymn was +taught, such as, "A Charge to keep I have," the children went home +to repeat to their astonished mothers, "Eight yards to keep I have," +having learned by ear, with no knowledge of the meaning of the words. +He had friendly talks with his pupils on all great subjects; and some +of these Miss Elizabeth Peabody, the sister of Mrs. Hawthorne, so +greatly enjoyed, that she took notes, and compiled them in a book. + +New England, always alive to any theological discussion, at once +pronounced the book unorthodox. Emerson had been through the same kind +of a storm, and bravely came to the defence of his friend. Another +charge was laid at Mr. Alcott's door: he was willing to admit colored +children to his school, and such a thing was not countenanced, except +by a few fanatics(?) like Whittier, and Phillips, and Garrison. The +heated newspaper discussion lessened the attendance at the school; and +finally, in 1839, it was discontinued, and the Alcott family moved to +Concord. + +Here were gifted men and women with whom the philosopher could feel at +home, and rest. Here lived Emerson, in the two-story drab house, +with horsechestnut-trees in front of it. Here lived Thoreau, near his +beautiful Walden Lake, a restful place, with no sound save, perchance, +the dipping of an oar or the note of a bird, which the lonely man +loved so well. Here he built his house, twelve feet square, and lived +for two years and a half, giving to the world what he desired others +to give,--his inner self. Here was his bean-field, where he "used to +hoe from five o'clock in the morning till noon," and made, as he said, +an intimate acquaintance with weeds, and a pecuniary profit of eight +dollars seventy-one and one-half cents! Here, too, was Hawthorne, +"who," as Oliver Wendell Holmes says, "brooded himself into a +dream-peopled solitude." + +Here Mr. Alcott could live with little expense and teach his four +daughters. Louisa, the eldest, was an active, enthusiastic child, +getting into little troubles from her frankness and lack of policy, +but making friends with her generous heart. Who can ever forget Jo in +_Little Women_, who was really Louisa, the girl who, when reproved +for whistling by Amy, the art-loving sister, says: "I hate affected, +niminy-piminy chits! I'm not a young lady; and if turning up my hair +makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty. I hate to +think I've got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and +look as prim as a china-aster! Its bad enough to be a girl, anyway, +when I like boy's games and work and manners!" + +At fifteen, "Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of +a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, +which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical +nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were +by turns fierce or funny or thoughtful. Her long, thick hair was her +one beauty, but it was usually bundled into a net to be out of her +way. Round shoulders had Jo, and big hands and feet, a fly-away look +to her clothes, and the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was +rapidly shooting up into a woman, and didn't like it." + +The four sisters lived a merry life in the Concord haunts, +notwithstanding their scanty means. Now, at the dear mother's +suggestion, they ate bread and milk for breakfast, that they might +carry their nicely prepared meal to a poor woman, with six children, +who called them _Engel-kinder_, much to Louisa's delight. Now they +improvised a stage, and produced real plays, while the neighbors +looked in and enjoyed the fun. + +Louisa was especially fond of reading Shakespeare, Goethe, Emerson, +Margaret Fuller, Miss Edgeworth, and George Sand. As early as eight +years of age she wrote a poem of eight lines, _To a Robin_, which her +mother carefully preserved, telling her that "if she kept on in this +hopeful way, she might be a second Shakespeare in time." Blessings on +those people who have a kind smile or a word of encouragement as we +struggle up the hard hills of life! + +At thirteen she wrote _My Kingdom_. When, years afterward, Mrs. Eva +Munson Smith wrote to her, asking for some poems for _Woman in Sacred +Song_, Miss Alcott sent her this one, saying, "It is the only hymn I +ever wrote. It was composed at thirteen, and as I still find the +same difficulty in governing my kingdom, it still expresses my soul's +desire, and I have nothing better to offer." + + "A little kingdom I possess + Where thoughts and feelings dwell, + And very hard the task I find + Of governing it well; + For passion tempts and troubles me, + A wayward will misleads, + And selfishness its shadow casts + On all my words and deeds. + + "How can I learn to rule myself, + To be the child I should, + Honest and brave, and never tire + Of trying to be good? + How can I keep a sunny soul + To shine along life's way? + How can I tune my little heart + To sweetly sing all day? + + "Dear Father, help me with the love + That casteth out my fear; + Teach me to lean on Thee, and feel + That Thou art very near: + That no temptation is unseen, + No childish grief too small, + Since Thou, with patience infinite, + Doth soothe and comfort all. + + "I do not ask for any crown, + But that which all may win; + Nor try to conquer any world + Except the one within. + Be Thou my guide until I find, + Led by a tender hand, + Thy happy kingdom in myself, + And dare to take command." + +Louisa was very imaginative, telling stories to her sisters and her +mates, and at sixteen wrote a book for Miss Ellen Emerson, entitled +_Flower Fables_. It was not published till six years later, and then, +being florid in style, did not bring her any fame. She was now anxious +to earn her support. She was not the person to sit down idly and +wait for marriage, or for some rich relation to care for her; but +she determined to make a place in the world for herself. She says in +_Little Women_, "Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; what +it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to tell her," and +at sixteen the time had come to make the attempt. + +She began to teach school with twenty pupils. Instead of the +theological talks which her father gave his scholars, she told them +stories, which she says made the one pleasant hour in her school-day. +Now the long years of work had begun--fifteen of them--which should +give the girl such rich yet sometimes bitter experiences, that she +could write the most fascinating books from her own history. Into her +volume called _Work_, published when she had become famous, she put +many of her own early sorrows in those of "Christie." + +Much of this time was spent in Boston. Sometimes she cared for an +invalid child; sometimes she was a governess; sometimes she did +sewing, adding to her slender means by writing late at night. +Occasionally she went to the house of Rev. Theodore Parker, where she +met Emerson, Sumner, Garrison, and Julia Ward Howe. Emerson always had +a kind word for the girl whom he had known in Concord, and Mr. Parker +would take her by the hand and say, "How goes it, my child? God bless +you; keep your heart up, Louisa," and then she would go home to her +lonely room, brave and encouraged. + +At nineteen, one of her early stories was published in _Gleason's +Pictorial_, and for this she received five dollars. How welcome was +this brain-money! Some months later she sent a story to the _Boston +Saturday Gazette_, entitled _The Rival Prima Donnas_, and, to her +great delight, received ten dollars; and what was almost better still, +a request from the editor for another story. Miss Alcott made the +_Rival Prima Donnas_ into a drama, and it was accepted by a theatre, +and would have been put upon the stage but for some disagreement among +the actors. However, the young teacher received for her work a pass to +the theatre for forty nights. She even meditated going upon the stage, +but the manager quite opportunely broke his leg, and the contract +was annulled. What would the boys and girls of America have lost, had +their favorite turned actress! + +A second story was, of course, written for the _Saturday Evening +Gazette_. And now Louisa was catching a glimpse of fame. She says, +"One of the memorial moments of my life is that in which, as I trudged +to school on a wintry day, my eye fell upon a large yellow poster with +these delicious words, '_Bertha_, a new tale by the author of _The +Rival Prima Donnas_, will appear in the _Saturday Evening Gazette_.' I +was late; it was bitter cold; people jostled me; I was mortally afraid +I should be recognized; but there I stood, feasting my eyes on the +fascinating poster, and saying proudly to myself, in the words of the +great Vincent Crummles, 'This, this is fame!' That day my pupils had +an indulgent teacher; for, while they struggled with their +pot-hooks, I was writing immortal works; and when they droned out the +multiplication table, I was counting up the noble fortune my pen +was to earn for me in the dim, delightful future. That afternoon my +sisters made a pilgrimage to behold this famous placard, and finding +it torn by the wind, boldly stole it, and came home to wave it like +a triumphal banner in the bosom of the excited family. The tattered +paper still exists, folded away with other relics of those early days, +so hard and yet so sweet, when the first small victories were won, and +the enthusiasm of youth lent romance to life's drudgery." + +Finding that there was money in sensational stories, she set herself +eagerly to work, and soon could write ten or twelve a month. She says +in _Little Women:_ "As long as _The Spread Eagle_ paid her a dollar a +column for her 'rubbish,' as she called it, Jo felt herself a woman +of means, and spun her little romances diligently. But great plans +fermented in her busy brain and ambitious mind, and the old tin +kitchen in the garret held a slowly increasing pile of blotted +manuscript, which was one day to place the name of March upon the roll +of fame." + +But sensational stories did not bring much fame, and the conscientious +Louisa tired of them. A novel, _Moods_, written at eighteen, shared +nearly the same fate as _Flower Fables_. Some critics praised, some +condemned, but the great world was indifferent. After this, she +offered a story to Mr. James T. Fields, at that time editor of the +_Atlantic Monthly_, but it was declined, with the kindly advice that +she stick to her teaching. But Louisa Alcott had a strong will and a +brave heart, and would not be overcome by obstacles. + +The Civil War had begun, and the school-teacher's heart was deeply +moved. She was now thirty, having had such experience as makes us very +tender toward suffering. The perfume of natures does not usually come +forth without bruising. She determined to go to Washington and offer +herself as a nurse at the hospital for soldiers. After much official +red tape, she found herself in the midst of scores of maimed and +dying, just brought from the defeat at Fredericksburg. She says: +"Round the great stove was gathered the dreariest group I ever +saw,--ragged, gaunt, and pale, mud to the knees, with bloody bandages +untouched since put on days before; many bundled up in blankets, coats +being lost or useless, and all wearing that disheartened look which +proclaimed defeat more plainly than any telegram, of the Burnside +blunder. I pitied them so much, I dared not speak to them. I yearned +to serve the dreariest of them all. + +"Presently there came an order, 'Tell them to take off socks, coats, +and shirts; scrub them well, put on clean shirts, and the attendants +will finish them off, and lay them in bed.' + +"I chanced to light on a withered old Irishman," she says, "wounded in +the head, which caused that portion of his frame to be tastefully +laid out like a garden, the bandages being the walks, and his hair the +shrubbery. He was so overpowered by the honor of having a lady wash +him, as he expressed it, that he did nothing but roll up his eyes and +bless me, in an irresistible style which was too much for my sense of +the ludicrous, so we laughed together; and when I knelt down to take +off his shoes, he wouldn't hear of my touching 'them dirty craters.' +Some of them took the performance like sleepy children, leaning their +tired heads against me as I worked; others looked grimly scandalized, +and several of the roughest colored like bashful girls." + +When food was brought, she fed one of the badly wounded men, and +offered the same help to his neighbor. "Thank you, ma'am," he said, "I +don't think I'll ever eat again, for I'm shot in the stomach. But I'd +like a drink of water, if you ain't too busy." + +"I rushed away," she says; "but the water pails were gone to be +refilled, and it was some time before they reappeared. I did not +forget my patient, meanwhile, and, with the first mugful, hurried back +to him. He seemed asleep; but something in the tired white face +caused me to listen at his lips for a breath. None came. I touched his +forehead; it was cold; and then I knew that, while he waited, a better +nurse than I had given him a cooler draught, and healed him with a +touch. I laid the sheet over the quiet sleeper, whom no noise could +now disturb; and, half an hour later, the bed was empty." + +With cheerful face and warm heart she went among the soldiers, now +writing letters, now washing faces, and now singing lullabies. One day +a tall, manly fellow was brought in. He seldom spoke, and uttered no +complaint. After a little, when his wounds were being dressed, Miss +Alcott observed the big tears roll down his cheeks and drop on the +floor. + +She says: "My heart opened wide and took him in, as, gathering the +bent head in my arms, as freely as if he had been a child, I said, +'Let me help you bear it, John!' Never on any human countenance have I +seen so swift and beautiful a look of gratitude, surprise, and comfort +as that which answered me more eloquently than the whispered-- + +"'Thank you, ma'am; this is right good! this is what I wanted.' + +"'Then why not ask for it before?' + +"'I didn't like to be a trouble, you seemed so busy, and I could +manage to get on alone.'" + +The doctors had told Miss Alcott that John must die, and she must take +the message to him; but she had not the heart to do it. One evening he +asked her to write a letter for him. "Shall it be addressed to wife or +mother, John?" + +"Neither, ma'am; I've got no wife, and will write to mother myself +when I get better. Mother's a widow; I'm the oldest child she has, +and it wouldn't do for me to marry until Lizzy has a home of her own, +and Jack's learned his trade; for we're not rich, and I must be father +to the children and husband to the dear old woman, if I can." + +"No doubt you are both, John; yet how came you to go to war, if you +felt so?" + +"I went because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory or the +pay; I wanted the right thing done, and people kept saying the men who +were in earnest ought to fight. I was in earnest, the Lord knows! but +I held off as long as I could, not knowing which was my duty. Mother +saw the case, gave me her ring to keep me steady, and said 'Go'; so I +went." + +"Do you ever regret that you came, when you lie here suffering so +much?" + +"Never, ma'am; I haven't helped a great deal, but I've shown I was +willing to give my life, and perhaps I've got to.... This is my first +battle; do they think it's going to be my last?" + +"I'm afraid they do, John." + +He seemed startled at first, but desired Miss Alcott to write the +letter to Jack, because he could best tell the sad news to the mother. +With a sigh, John said, "I hope the answer will come in time for me to +see it." + +Two days later Miss Alcott was sent for. John stretched out both hands +as he said, "I knew you'd come. I guess I'm moving on, ma'am." Then +clasping her hand so close that the death marks remained long upon +it, he slept the final sleep. An hour later John's letter came, +and putting it in his hand, Miss Alcott kissed the dead brow of the +Virginia blacksmith, for his aged mother's sake, and buried him in the +government lot. + +The noble teacher after a while became ill from overwork, and was +obliged to return home, soon writing her book, _Hospital Sketches_, +published in 1865. This year, needing rest and change, she went to +Europe as companion to an invalid lady, spending a year in Germany, +Switzerland, Paris, and London. In the latter city she met Jean +Ingelow, Frances Power Cobbe, John Stuart Mill, George Lewes, and +others, who had known of the brilliant Concord coterie. Such persons +did not ask if Miss Alcott were rich, nor did they care. + +In 1868 her father took several of her more recent stories to Roberts +Brothers to see about their publication in book form. Mr. Thomas +Niles, a member of the firm, a man of refinement and good judgment, +said: "We do not care just now for volumes of collected stories. Will +not your daughter write us a new book consisting of a single story for +girls?" + +Miss Alcott feared she could not do it, and set herself to write +_Little Women_, to show the publishers that she could _not_ write a +story for girls. But she did not succeed in convincing them or the +world of her inability. In two months the first part was finished, and +published October, 1868. It was a natural, graphic story of her three +sisters and herself in that simple Concord home. How we, who are +grown-up children, read with interest about the "Lawrence boy," +especially if we had boys of our own, and sympathized with the little +girl who wrote Miss Alcott, "I have cried quarts over Beth's sickness. +If you don't have her marry Laurie in the second part, I shall never +forgive you, and none of the girls in our school will ever read any +more of your books. Do! do! have her, please." + +The second part appeared in April, 1869, and Miss Alcott found herself +famous. The "pile of blotted manuscript" had "placed the name of March +upon the roll of fame." Some of us could not be reconciled to +dear Jo's marriage with the German professor, and their school at +Plumfield, when Laurie loved her so tenderly. "We cried over Beth, and +felt how strangely like most young housekeepers was Meg. How the tired +teacher, and tender-hearted nurse for the soldiers must have rejoiced +at her success! "This year," she wrote her publishers, "after toiling +so many years along the uphill road, always a hard one to women +writers, it is peculiarly grateful to me to find the way growing +easier at last, with pleasant little surprises blossoming on either +side, and the rough places made smooth." + +When _Little Men_ was announced, fifty thousand copies were ordered in +advance of its publication! About this time Miss Alcott visited Rome +with her artist sister May, the "Amy" of _Little Women_, and on +her return, wrote _Shawl-straps_, a bright sketch of their journey, +followed by an _Old-Fashioned Girl_; that charming book _Under the +Lilacs_, where your heart goes out to Ben and his dog Sancho; six +volumes of _Aunt Jo's Scrap-bag_; _Jack and Jill_; and others. +From these books Miss Alcott has already received about one hundred +thousand dollars. + +She has ever been the most devoted of daughters. Till the mother went +out of life, in 1877, she provided for her every want. May, the gifted +youngest sister, who was married in Paris in 1878 to Ernst Nieriker, +died a year and a half later, leaving her infant daughter, Louisa +May Nieriker, to Miss Alcott's loving care. The father, who became +paralyzed in 1882, now eighty-six years old, has had her constant +ministries. How proud he has been of his Louisa! I heard him say, +years ago, "I am riding in her golden chariot." + +Miss Alcott now divides her time between Boston and Concord. "The +Orchards," the Alcott home for twenty-five years, set in its frame of +grand trees, its walls and doors daintily covered with May Alcott's +sketches, has become the home of the "Summer School of Philosophy," +and Miss Alcott and her father live in the house where Thoreau died. + +Most of her stories have been written in Boston, where she finds +more inspiration than at Concord. "She never had a study," says Mrs. +Moulton; "any corner will answer to write in. She is not particular +as to pens and paper, and an old atlas on her knee is all the desk she +cares for. She has the wonderful power to carry a dozen plots in her +head at a time, thinking them over whenever she is in the mood. Often +in the dead waste and middle of the night she lies awake and plans +whole chapters. In her hardest working days she used to write fourteen +hours in the twenty-four, sitting steadily at her work, and scarcely +tasting food till her daily task was done. When she has a story to +write, she goes to Boston, hires a quiet room, and shuts herself up in +it. In a month or so the book will be done, and its author comes +out 'tired, hungry, and cross,' and ready to go back to Concord and +vegetate for a time." + +Miss Alcott, like Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is an earnest advocate of +woman's suffrage, and temperance. When Meg in _Little Women_ prevails +upon Laurie to take the pledge on her wedding-day, the delighted Jo +beams her approval. In 1883 she writes of the suffrage reform, "Every +year gives me greater faith in it, greater hope of its success, a +larger charity for those who cannot see its wisdom, and a more earnest +wish to use what influence I possess for its advancement." + +Miss Alcott has done a noble work for her generation. Her books have +been translated into foreign languages, and expressions of affection +have come to her from both east and west. She says, "As I turn my face +toward sunset, I find so much to make the down-hill journey smooth and +lovely, that, like Christian, I go on my way rejoicing with a cheerful +heart." + + * * * * * + +Miss Alcott died March 6, 1888, at the age of fifty-five, three +days after the death of her distinguished father, Bronson Alcott, +eighty-eight years old. She had been ill for some months, from care +and overwork. On the Saturday morning before she died, she wrote to +a friend: "I am told that I must spend another year in this 'Saint's +Rest,' and then I am promised twenty years of health. I don't want +so many, and I have no idea I shall see them. But as I don't live for +myself, I will live on for others." + +On the evening of the same day she became unconscious, and remained so +till her death, on Tuesday morning. + + + + +MARY LYON. + +[Illustration] + + +There are two women whose memory the girls in this country should +especially revere,--Mary Lyon and Catharine Beecher. When it was +unfashionable for women to know more than to read, write, and cipher +(the "three R's," as reading, writing, and arithmetic were called), +these two had the courage to ask that women have an education equal to +men, a thing which was laughed at as impracticable and impossible. To +these two pioneers we are greatly indebted for the grand educational +advantages for women to-day in America. + +Amid the mountains of Western Massachusetts, at Buckland, Feb. 28, +1797, the fifth of seven children, Mary Lyon came into the world, in +obscurity. The little farm-house was but one story high, in the midst +of rocks and sturdy trees. The father, Aaron Lyon, was a godly man, +beloved by all his neighbors,--"the peacemaker," he was called,--who +died at forty-five, leaving his little family well-nigh helpless--no, +not helpless, because the mother was of the same material of which +Eliza Garfields are made. + +Such women are above circumstances. She saw to it that the farm +yielded its best. She worked early and late, always cheerful, always +observing the Sabbath most devotedly, always keeping the children +clean and tidy. In her little garden the May pinks were the sweetest +and the peonies the reddest of any in the neighborhood. One person +begged to set a plant in the corner of her garden, sure that if Mrs. +Lyon tended it, it could never die. "How is it," said the hard-working +wife of a farmer, "that the widow can do more for me than any one +else?" She had her trials, but she saw no use in telling them +to others, so with a brave heart she took up her daily tasks and +performed them. + +Little Mary was an energetic, frank, warm-hearted child, full of +desire to help others. Her mind was eager in grasping new things, and +curious in its investigations. Once, when her mother had given her +some work to do, she climbed upon a chair to look at the hour-glass, +and said, as she studied it, "I know I have found a way to _make more +time_." + +At the village school she showed a remarkable memory and the power of +committing lessons easily. She was especially good in mathematics and +grammar. In four days she learned all of Alexander's Grammar, which +scholars were accustomed to commit, and recited it accurately to the +astonished teacher. + +When Mary was thirteen, the mother married a second time, and soon +after removed to Ohio. The girl remained at the old homestead, keeping +house for the only brother, and so well did she do the work, that he +gave her a dollar a week for her services. This she used in buying +books and clothes for school. Besides, she found opportunities to spin +and weave for some of the neighbors, and thus added a little more to +her purse. + +After five years, the brother married and sought a home in New York +State. Mary, thus thrown upon herself, began to teach school for +seventy-five cents a week and her board. This amount would not buy +many silks or embroideries, but Mary did not care much for these. "She +is all intellect," said a friend who knew her well; "she does not know +that she has a body to care for." + +She had now saved enough money to enable her to spend one term at the +Sanderson Academy at Ashfield. What an important event in life that +seemed to the struggling country girl! The scholars watched her +bright, intellectual face, and when she began to recite, laid aside +their books to hear her. The teacher said, "I should like to see what +she would make if she could be sent to college." When the term ended, +her little savings were all spent, and now she must teach again. If +she only could go forward with her classmates! but the laws of poverty +are inexorable. Just as she was leaving the school, the trustees came +and offered the advantages of the academy free, for another term. Did +ever such a gleam of sunshine come into a cloudy day? + +But how could she pay her board? She owned a, bed and some table +linen, and taking these to a boarding house, a bargain was made +whereby she could have a room and board in exchange for her household +articles. + +Her red-letter days had indeed come. She might never have a chance +for schooling again; so, without regard to health, she slept only four +hours out of the twenty-four, ate her meals hurriedly, and gave all +her time to her lessons. Not a scholar in the school could keep up +with her. When the teacher gave her Adams' _Latin Grammar_, telling +her to commit such portions as were usual in going over the book the +first time, she learned them all in three days! + +When the term closed, she had no difficulty in finding a place to +teach. All the towns around had heard of the surprising scholar, Mary +Lyon, and probably hoped she could inspire the same scholarship in her +pupils, a matter in which she was most successful. + +As soon as her schools were finished, she would spend the money in +obtaining instruction in some particular study, in which she thought +herself deficient. Now she would go into the family of Rev. Edward +Hitchcock, afterward president of Amherst College, and study natural +science of him, meantime taking lessons, of his wife in drawing +and painting. Now she would study penmanship, following the copy +as closely as a child. Once when a teacher, in deference to her +reputation, wrote the copy in Latin, she handed it back and asked him +to write in English, lest when the books were examined, she might be +thought wiser than she really was. Thus conscientious was the young +school-teacher. + +She was now twenty-four, and had laid up enough money to attend the +school of Rev. Joseph Emerson, at Byfield. He was an unusual man in +his gifts of teaching and broad views of life. He had been blest with +a wife of splendid talents, and as Miss Lyon was wont to say, "Men +judge of the whole sex by their own wives," so Mr. Emerson believed +women could understand metaphysics and theology as well as men. He +discussed science and religion with his pupils, and the result was a +class of self-respecting, self-reliant, thinking women. + +Miss Lyon's friends discouraged her going to Byfield, because they +thought she knew enough already. "Why," said they, "you will never be +a minister, and what is the need of going to school?" She improved her +time here. One of her classmates wrote home, "Mary sends love to all; +but time with her is too precious to spend it in writing letters. She +is gaining knowledge by handfuls." + +The next year, an assistant was wanted in the Sanderson Academy. The +principal thought a man must be engaged. "Try Mary Lyon," said one of +her friends, "and see if she is not sufficient," and he employed her, +and found her a host. But she could not long be retained, for she +was wanted in a larger field, at Derry, N.H. Miss Grant, one of the +teachers at Mr. Emerson's school, had sent for her former bright +pupil. Mary was glad to be associated with Miss Grant, for she was +very fond of her; but before going, she must attend some lectures in +chemistry and natural history by Professor Eaton at Amherst. Had she +been a young man, how easily could she have secured a scholarship, and +thus worked her way through college; but for a young woman, neither +Amherst, nor Dartmouth, nor Williams, nor Harvard, nor Yale, with all +their wealth, had an open door. Very fond of chemistry, she could only +learn in the spare time which a busy professor could give. + +Was the cheerful girl never despondent in these hard working years? +Yes; because naturally she was easily discouraged, and would have long +fits of weeping; but she came to the conclusion that such seasons of +depression were wrong, and that "there was too much to be done, for +her to spend her time in that manner." She used to tell her pupils +that "if they were unhappy, it was probably because they had so many +thoughts about themselves, and so few about the happiness of others." +The friend who had recommended her for the Sanderson Academy now +became surety for her for forty dollars' worth of clothing, and the +earnest young woman started for Derry. The school there numbered +ninety pupils, and Mary Lyon was happy. She wrote her mother, "I do +not number it among the least of my blessings that I am permitted to +_do something_. Surely I ought to be thankful for an active life." + +But the Derry school was held only in the summers, so Miss Lyon +came back to teach at Ashfield and Buckland, her birthplace, for the +winters. The first season she had twenty-five scholars; the last, one +hundred. The families in the neighborhood took the students into their +homes to board, charging them one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five +cents per week, while the tuition was twenty-five cents a week. No +one would grow very rich on such an income. So popular was Miss Lyon's +teaching that a suitable building was erected for her school, and the +Ministerial Association passed a resolution of praise, urging her to +remain permanently in the western part of Massachusetts. + +However, Miss Grant had removed to Ipswich, and had urged Miss Lyon +to join her, which she did. For six years they taught a large and most +successful school. Miss Lyon was singularly happy in her intercourse +with the young ladies. She won them to her views, while they scarcely +knew that they were being controlled. She would say to them: "Now, +young ladies, you are here at great expense. Your board and tuition +cost a great deal, and your time ought to be worth more than both; +but, in order to get an equivalent for the money and time you are +spending, you must be systematic, and that is impossible, unless you +have a regular hour for rising.... Persons who run round all day after +the half-hour they lost in the morning never accomplish much. You +may know them by a rip in the glove, a string pinned to the bonnet, a +shawl left on the balustrade, which they had no time to hang up, they +were in such a hurry to catch their lost thirty minutes. You will see +them opening their books and trying to study at the time of general +exercises in school; but it is a fruitless race; they never will +overtake their lost half-hour. Good men, from Abraham to Washington, +have been early risers." Again, she would say, "Mind, wherever it is +found, will secure respect.... Educate the women, and the men will be +educated. Let the ladies understand the great doctrine of seeking +the greatest good, of loving their neighbors as themselves; let them +indoctrinate their children in this fundamental truth, and we shall +have wise legislators." + +"You won't do so again, will you, dear?" was almost always sure to win +a tender response from a pupil. + +She would never allow a scholar to be laughed at. If a teacher spoke +jestingly of a scholar's capacity, Miss Lyon would say, "Yes, I know +she has a small mind, but we must do the best we can for her." + +For nearly sixteen years she had been giving her life to the education +of girls. She had saved no money for herself, giving it to her +relatives or aiding poor girls in going to school. She was simple in +her tastes, the blue cloth dress she generally wore having been spun +and woven by herself. A friend tells how, standing before the mirror +to tie her bonnet, she said, "Well, I _may_ fail of Heaven, but I +shall be very much disappointed if I do--very much disappointed;" and +there was no thought of what she was doing with the ribbons. + +Miss Lyon was now thirty-three years old. It would be strange indeed +if a woman with her bright mind and sunshiny face should not have +offers of marriage. One of her best opportunities came, as is often +the case, when about thirty, and Miss Lyon could have been made +supremely happy by it, but she had in her mind one great purpose, and +she felt that she must sacrifice home and love for it. This was the +building of a high-grade school or college for women. Had she decided +otherwise, there probably would have been no Mount Holyoke Seminary. + +She had the tenderest sympathy for poor girls; they were the ones +usually most desirous of an education, and they struggled the hardest +for it. For them no educational societies were provided, and no +scholarships. Could she, who had no money, build "a seminary which +should be so moderate in its expenses as to be open to the daughters +of farmers and artisans, and to teachers who might be mainly dependent +for their support on their own exertions"? + +In vain she tried to have the school at Ipswich established +permanently by buildings and endowments. In vain she talked with +college presidents and learned ministers. Nearly all were indifferent. +They could see no need that women should study science or the +classics. That women would be happier with knowledge, just as they +themselves were made happier by it, seemed never to have occurred to +them. That women were soon to do nine-tenths of the teaching in the +schools of the country could not be foreseen. Oberlin and Cornell, +Vassar and Wellesley, belonged to a golden age as yet undreamed of. + +For two years she thought over it, and prayed over it, and when all +seemed hopeless, she would walk the floor, and say over and over +again, "Commit thy way unto the Lord. He will keep thee. Women _must_ +be educated; they _must_ be." Finally a meeting was called in Boston +at the same time as one of the religious anniversaries. She wrote to +a friend, "Very few were present. The meeting was adjourned; and the +adjourned meeting utterly failed. There were not enough present to +organize, and there the business, in my view, has come to an end." + +Still she carried the burden on her heart. She writes, in 1834, +"During the past year my heart has so yearned over the adult female +youth in the common walks of life, that it has sometimes seemed as +though a fire were shut up in my bones." She conceived the idea of +having the young women do the work of the house, partly to lessen +expenses, partly to teach them useful things, and also because she +says, "Might not this single feature do away much of the prejudice +against female education among common people?" + +At last the purpose in her heart became so strong that she resigned +her position as a teacher, and went from house to house in Ipswich +collecting funds. She wrote to her mother, "I hope and trust that this +is of the Lord, and that He will prosper it. In this movement I have +thought much more constantly, and have felt much more deeply, about +doing that which shall be for the honor of Christ, and for the good +of souls, than I ever did in any step in my life." She determined +to raise her first thousand dollars from women. She talked in her +good-natured way with the father or the mother. She asked if they +wanted a new shawl or card-table or carpet, if they would not find a +way to procure it. Usually they gave five or ten dollars; some, only +a half-dollar. So interested did two ladies become that they gave one +hundred dollars apiece, and later, when their house was burned, and +the man who had their money in charge lost it, they worked with their +own hands and earned the two hundred, that their portion might not +fail in the great work. + +In less than two months she had raised the thousand; but she +wrote Miss Grant, "I do not recollect being so fatigued, even to +prostration, as I have been for a few weeks past." She often quoted a +remark of Dr. Lyman Beecher's, "The wear and tear of what I cannot do +is a great deal more than the wear and tear of what I do." When she +became quite worn, her habit was to sleep nearly all the time, for two +or three days, till nature repaired the system. + +She next went to Amherst, where good Dr. Hitchcock felt as deeply +interested for girls as for the boys in his college. One January +morning, with the thermometer below zero, three or four hours before +sunrise, he and Miss Lyon started on the stage for Worcester. Each was +wrapped in a buffalo robe, so that the long ride was not unpleasant. +A meeting was to be held, and a decision made as to the location of +the seminary, which, at last, was actually to be built. After a long +conference, South Hadley was chosen, ten miles south of Amherst. + +One by one, good men became interested in the matter, and one +true-hearted minister became an agent for the raising of funds. Miss +Lyon was also untiring in her solicitations. She spoke before ladies' +meetings, and visited those in high station and low. So troubled were +her friends about this public work for a woman, that they reasoned +with her that it was in better taste to stay at home, and let +gentlemen do the work. + +"What do I that is wrong?" she replied. "I ride in the stage coach +or cars without an escort. Other ladies do the same. I visit a family +where I have been previously invited, and the minister's wife, or +some leading woman, calls the ladies together to see me, and I lay our +object before them. Is that wrong? I go with Mr. Hawks [the agent], +and call on a gentleman of known liberality, at his own house, and +converse with him about our enterprise. What harm is there in that? +My heart is sick, my soul is pained, with this empty gentility, this +genteel nothingness. I am doing a great work. I cannot come down." +Pitiful, that so noble a woman should have been hampered by public +opinion. How all this has changed! Now, the world and the church +gladly welcome the voice, the hand, and the heart of woman in their +philanthropic work. + +At last, enough money was raised to begin the enterprise, and the +corner-stone of Mount Holyoke Seminary was laid, Oct. 3, 1836. "It was +a day of deep interest," writes Mary Lyon. "The stones and brick and +mortar speak a language which vibrates through my very soul." + +"With thankful heart and busy hands she watched the progress of the +work. Every detail was under her careful eye. She said: "Had I a +thousand lives, I could sacrifice them all in suffering and hardship, +for the sake of Mount Holyoke Seminary. Did I possess the greatest +fortune, I could readily relinquish it all, and become poor, and more +than poor, if its prosperity should demand it." + +Finally, in the autumn of 1837, the seminary was ready for pupils. +The main building, four stories high, had been erected. An admirable +course of study had been provided. For the forty weeks of the school +year, the charges for board and tuition were sixty dollars,--only one +dollar and twenty-five cents per week. Miss Lyon's own salary was but +two hundred a year and she never would receive anything higher. +The accommodations were only for eighty pupils, but one hundred and +sixteen came the first year. + +While Miss Lyon was heartily loved by her scholars, they yet respected +her good discipline. It was against the rules for any one to absent +herself from meals without permission to do so. One of the young +ladies, not feeling quite as fresh as usual, concluded not to go down +stairs at tea time, and to remain silent on the subject. Miss Lyon's +quick eye detected her absence. Calling the girl's room-mate to her, +she asked, "Is Miss ---- ill?" + +"Oh, no," was the reply, "only a little indisposed, and she +commissioned me to carry her a cup of tea and cracker." + +"Very well, I will see to it." + +After supper, the young lady ascended to her room, in the fourth +story, found her companion enjoying a glorious sunset, and seating +herself beside her, they began an animated conversation. Presently +there was a knock. "Come in!" both shouted gleefully, when lo! in +walked Mary Lyon, with the tea and cracker. She had come up four +flights of stairs; but she said every one was tired at night, and she +could as well bring up the supper as anybody. She inquired with great +kindness about the young lady's health, who, greatly abashed, had +nothing to say. She was ever after present at meal time, unless sick +in bed. + +The students never forgot Miss Lyon's plain, earnest words. When they +entered, they were told that they were expected to do right without +formal commands; if not, they better go to some smaller school, where +they could receive the peculiar training needed by little girls. She +urged loose clothing and thick shoes. "If you will persist in killing +yourselves by reckless exposure," she would say, "we are not willing +to take the responsibility of the act. We think, by all means, you +better go home and die, in the arms of your dear mothers." + +Miss Lyon had come to her fiftieth birthday. Her seminary had +prospered beyond her fondest hopes. She had raised nearly seventy +thousand dollars for her beloved school, and it was out of debt. +Nearly two thousand pupils had been at South Hadley, of whom a large +number had become missionaries and teachers. Not a single year had +passed without a revival, and rarely did a girl leave the institution +without professing Christianity. + +She said to a friend shortly after this fiftieth birthday: "It was the +most solemn day of my life. I devoted it to reflection and prayer. Of +my active toils I then took leave. I was certain that before another +fifty years should have elapsed, I should wake up amid far different +scenes, and far other thoughts would fill my mind, and other +employments would engage my attention. I felt it. There seemed to be +no ladder between me and the world above. The gates were opened, and +I seemed to stand on the threshold. I felt that the evening of my days +had come, and that I needed repose." + +And the repose came soon. The last of February, 1849, a young lady +in the seminary died. Miss Lyon called the girls together and spoke +tenderly to them, urging them not to fear death, but to be ready to +meet it. She said, "There is nothing in the universe that I am afraid +of, but that I shall not know and do all my duty." Beautiful words! +carved shortly after on her monument. + +A few days later, Mary Lyon lay upon her death-bed. The brain had been +congested, and she was often unconscious. In one of her lucid moments, +her pastor said, "Christ precious?" Summoning all her energies, she +raised both hands, clasped them, and said, "Yes." "Have you trusted +Christ too much?" he asked. Seeing that she made an effort to speak, +he said, "God can be glorified by silence." An indescribable smile lit +up her face, and she was gone. + +On the seminary grounds the beloved teacher was buried, her pupils +singing about her open grave, "Why do we mourn departing friends?" +A beautiful monument of Italian marble, square, and resting upon a +granite pedestal, marks the spot. On the west side are the words:-- + + MARY LYON, + THE FOUNDER OF + MOUNT HOLYOKE FEMALE SEMINARY, + AND FOR TWELVE YEARS + ITS PRINCIPAL; + A TEACHER + FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, + AND OF MORE THAN + THREE THOUSAND PUPILS. + BORN, FEBRUARY 28, 1797; + DIED, MARCH 5, 1849. + +What a devoted, heroic life! and its results, who can estimate? + +Her work has gone steadily on. The seminary grounds now cover +twenty-five acres. The main structure has two large wings, while a +gymnasium; a library building, with thirteen thousand volumes; the +Lyman Williston Hall, with laboratories and art gallery; and the +new observatory, with fine telescope, astronomical clock, and other +appliances, afford such admirable opportunities for higher education +as noble Mary Lyon could hardly have dared to hope for. The property +is worth about three hundred thousand dollars. How different from +the days when half-dollars were given into Miss Lyon's willing hands! +Nearly six thousand students have been educated here, three-fourths of +whom have become teachers, and about two hundred foreign missionaries. +Many have married ministers, presidents of colleges, and leading men +in education and good works. + +The board and tuition have become one hundred and seventy-five dollars +a year, only enough to cover the cost. The range of study has been +constantly increased and elevated to keep pace with the growing demand +that women shall be as fully educated as men. Even Miss Lyon, in those +early days, looked forward to the needs of the future, by placing in +her course of study, Sullivan's _Political Class-Book_, and Wayland's +_Political Economy_. The four years' course is solid and thorough, +while the optional course in French, German, and Greek is admirable. +Eventually, when our preparatory schools are higher, all our colleges +for women will have as difficult entrance examinations as Harvard and +Yale. + +The housework at Mount Holyoke Seminary requires but half an hour each +day for each of the two hundred and ninety-seven pupils. Much time +is spent wisely in the gymnasium, and in boating on the lake near by. +Habits of punctuality, thoroughness, and order are the outcome of life +in this institution. An endowment of twenty thousand dollars, called +"the Mary Lyon Fund," is now being raised by former students for +the Chair of the Principal. Schools like the Lake Erie Seminary at +Painesville, Ohio, have grown out of the school at South Hadley. +Truly, Mary Lyon was doing a great work, and she could not come down. +Between such a life and the ordinary social round there can be no +comparison. + +The English ivy grows thickly over Miss Lyon's grave, covering it like +a mantle, and sending out its wealth of green leaves in the spring. So +each year her own handiwork flourishes, sending out into the world +its strongest forces, the very foundation of the highest +civilization,--educated and Christian wives and mothers. + + + + +HARRIET G. HOSMER. + +[Illustration: (From the "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and +Women.")] + + +Some years ago, in an art store in Boston, a crowd of persons stood +gazing intently upon a famous piece of statuary. The red curtains were +drawn aside, and the white marble seemed almost to speak. A group of +girls stood together, and looked on in rapt admiration. One of them +said, "Just to think that a woman did it!" + +"It makes me proud and glad," said another. + +"Who is Harriet Hosmer?" said a third. "I wish I knew about her." + +And then one of us, who had stolen all the hours she could get from +school life to read art books from the Hartford Athenaeum, and kept +crude statues, made by herself from chalk and plaster, secreted in her +room, told all she had read about the brilliant author of "Zenobia." + +The statue was seven feet high, queenly in pose and face, yet delicate +and beautiful, with the thoughts which genius had wrought in it. +The left arm supported the elegant drapery, while the right hung +listlessly by her side, both wrists chained; the captive of +the Emperor Aurelian. Since that time, I have looked upon other +masterpieces in all the great galleries of Europe, but perhaps none +have ever made a stronger impression upon me than "Zenobia," in those +early years. + +And who was the artist of whom we girls were so proud? Born in +Watertown, Mass., Oct. 9, 1830, Harriet Hosmer came into the welcome +home of a leading physician, and a delicate mother, who soon died +of consumption. Dr. Hosmer had also buried his only child besides +Harriet, with the same disease, and he determined that this girl +should live in sunshine and air, that he might save her if possible. +He used to say, "There is a whole life-time for the education of +the mind, but the body develops in a few years; and during that time +nothing should be allowed to interfere with its free and healthy +growth." + +As soon as the child was large enough, she was given a pet dog, which +she decked with ribbons and bells. Then, as the Charles River flowed +past their house, a boat was provided, and she was allowed to row at +will. A Venetian gondola was also built for her, with silver prow and +velvet cushions. "Too much spoiling--too much spoiling," said some +of the neighbors; but Dr. Hosmer knew that he was keeping his little +daughter on the earth instead of heaven. + +A gun was now purchased, and the girl became an admirable marksman. +Her room was a perfect museum. Here were birds, bats, beetles, snakes, +and toads; some dissected, some preserved in spirits, and others +stuffed, all gathered and prepared by her own hands. Now she made an +inkstand from the egg of a sea-gull and the body of a kingfisher; now +she climbed to the top of a tree and brought down a crow's nest. She +could walk miles upon miles with no fatigue. She grew up like a boy, +which is only another way of saying that she grew up healthy and +strong physically. Probably polite society was shocked at Dr. Hosmer's +methods. Would that there were many such fathers and mothers, that we +might have a vigorous race of women, and consequently, a vigorous race +of men! + +When Harriet tired of books,--for she was an eager reader,--she found +delight in a clay-pit in the garden, where she molded horses and dogs +to her heart's content. Unused to restraint, she did not like +the first school at which she was placed, the principal, the +brother-in-law of Nathaniel Hawthorne, writing to her father that he +"could do nothing with her." + +She was then taken to Mrs. Sedgwick, who kept a famous school at +Lenox, Berkshire County. She received "happy Hatty," as she was +called, with the remark, "I have a reputation for training wild +colts, and I will try this one." And the wise woman succeeded. She won +Harriet's confidence, not by the ten thousand times repeated "don't," +which so many children hear in home and school, till life seems a +prison-pen. She let her run wild, guiding her all the time with so +much tact, that the girl scarcely knew she was guided at all. Blessed +tact! How many thousands of young people are ruined for lack of it! + +She remained here three years. Mrs. Sedgwick says, "She was the most +difficult pupil to manage I ever had, but I think I never had one in +whom I took so deep an interest, and whom I learned to love so well." +About this time, not being quite as well as usual, Dr. Hosmer engaged +a physician of, large practice to visit his daughter. The busy man +could not be regular, which sadly interfered with Harriet's boating +and driving. Complaining one day that it spoiled her pleasure, he +said, "If I am alive, I will be here," naming the day and hour. + +"Then if you are not here, I am to conclude that you are dead," was +the reply. + +As he did not come, Harriet drove to the newspaper offices in Boston +that afternoon, and the next morning the community was startled to +read of Dr. ----'s sudden death. Friends hastened to the house, and +messages of condolence came pouring in. It is probable that he was +more punctual after this. + +On Harriet's return from Lenox, she began to take lessons in drawing, +modeling, and anatomical studies, in Boston, frequently walking from +home and back, a distance of fourteen miles. Feeling the need of a +thorough course in anatomy, she applied to the Boston Medical School +for admittance, and was refused because of her sex. The Medical +College of St. Louis proved itself broader, glad to encourage talent +wherever found, and received her. + +Professor McDowell, under whom the artists Powers and Clevenger +studied anatomy, spared no pains to give her every advantage, while +the students were uniformly courteous. "I remember him," says Miss +Hosmer, "with great affection and gratitude as being a most thorough +and patient teacher, as well as at all times a good, kind friend." +In testimony of her appreciation, she cut, from a bust of Professor +McDowell by Clevenger, a life-size medallion in marble, now treasured +in the college museum. + +While in St. Louis she made her home with the family of Wayman Crow, +Esq., whose daughter had been her companion at Lenox. This gentleman +proved himself a constant and encouraging friend, ordering her first +statue from Rome, and helping in a thousand ways a girl who had chosen +for herself an unusual work in life. + +After completing her studies she made a trip to New Orleans, and then +North to the Falls of St. Anthony, smoking the pipe of peace with +the chief of the Dakota Indians, exploring lead mines in Dubuque, and +scaling a high mountain that was soon after named for her. Did the +wealthy girl go alone on these journeys? Yes. As a rule, no harm comes +to a young woman who conducts herself with becoming reserve with men. +Flirts usually are paid in their own coin. + +On her return home, Dr. Hosmer fitted up a studio for his daughter, +and her first work was to copy from the antique. Then she cut Canova's +"Napoleon" in marble for her father, doing all the work, that he +might especially value the gift. Her next statue was an ideal bust of +Hesper, "with," said Lydia Maria Child, "the face of a lovely maiden +gently falling asleep with the sound of distant music. Her hair is +gracefully arranged, and intertwined with capsules of the poppy. A +star shines on her forehead, and under her breast lies the crescent +moon. The swell of the cheeks and the bust is like pure, young, +healthy flesh, and the muscles of the beautiful mouth so delicately +cut, it seems like a thing that breathes. She did every stroke of the +work with her own small hands, except knocking off the corners of the +block of marble. She employed a man to do that; but as he was unused +to work for sculptors, she did not venture to have him approach within +several inches of the surface she intended to cut. Slight girl as she +was, she wielded for eight or ten hours a day a leaden mallet +weighing four pounds and a half. Had it not been for the strength and +flexibility of muscle acquired by rowing and other athletic exercises, +such arduous labor would have been impossible." + +After "Hesper" was completed, she said to her father, "I am ready to +go to Rome." + +"You shall go, my child, this very autumn," was the response. + +He would, of course, miss the genial companionship of his only child, +but her welfare was to be consulted rather than his own. When autumn +came, she rode on horseback to Wayland to say good-bye to Mrs. Child. +"Shall you never be homesick for your museum-parlor in Watertown? Can +you be contented in a foreign land?" + +"I can be happy anywhere," said Miss Hosmer, "with good health and a +bit of marble." + +Late in the fall Dr. Hosmer and his daughter started for Europe, +reaching Rome Nov. 12, 1852. She had greatly desired to study under +John Gibson, the leading English sculptor, but he had taken young +women into his studio who in a short time became discouraged or showed +themselves afraid of hard work, and he feared Miss Hosmer might be of +the same useless type. + +When the photographs of "Hesper" were placed before him by an artist +friend of the Hosmers, he looked at them carefully, and said, "Send +the young lady to me, and whatever I know, and can teach her, she +shall learn." He gave Miss Hosmer an upstairs room in his studio, and +here for seven years she worked with delight, honored and encouraged +by her noble teacher. She wrote to her friends: "The dearest wish of +my heart is gratified in that I am acknowledged by Gibson as a pupil. +He has been resident in Rome thirty-four years, and leads the van. I +am greatly in luck. He has just finished the model of the statue of +the queen; and as his room is vacant, he permits me to use it, and I +am now in his own studio. I have also a little room for work which was +formerly occupied by Canova, and perhaps inspiration may be drawn from +the walls." + +The first work which she copied, to show Gibson whether she had +correctness of eye and proper knowledge, was the Venus of Milo. When +nearly finished, the iron which supported the clay snapped, and the +figure lay spoiled upon the floor. She did not shrink nor cry, but +immediately went to work cheerfully to shape it over again. This +conduct Mr. Gibson greatly admired, and made up his mind to assist her +all he could. + +After this she copied the "Cupid" of Praxitiles and Tasso from the +British Museum. Her first original work was Daphne, the beautiful +girl whom Apollo loved, and who, rather than accept his addresses, was +changed into laurel by the gods. Apollo crowned his head with laurel, +and made the flower sacred to himself forever. + +Next, Miss Hosmer produced "Medusa," famed for her beautiful hair, +which Minerva turned into serpents because Neptune loved her. +According to Grecian mythology, Perseus made himself immortal by +conquering Medusa, whose head he cut off, and the blood dripping from +it filled Africa with snakes. Miss Hosmer represents the beautiful +maiden, when she finds, with horror, that her hair is turning into +serpents. + +Needing a real snake for her work, Miss Hosmer sent a man into the +suburbs to bring her one alive. When it was obtained, she chloroformed +it till she had made a cast, keeping it in plaster for three hours and +a half. Then, instead of killing it, like a true-hearted woman, as she +is, she sent it back into the country, glad to regain its liberty. + +"Daphne" and "Medusa" were both exhibited in Boston the following +year, 1853, and were much praised. Mr. Gibson said: "The power of +imitating the roundness and softness of flesh, he had never +seen surpassed." Rauch, the great Prussian, whose mausoleum at +Charlottenburg of the beautiful queen Louise can never be forgotten, +gave Miss Hosmer high praise. + +Two years later she completed "Oenone," made for Mr. Crow of St. +Louis. It is the full-length figure of the beautiful nymph of Mount +Ida. The story is a familiar one. Before the birth of Paris, the son +of Priam, it was foretold that he by his imprudence should cause +the destruction of Troy. His father gave orders for him to be put to +death, but possibly through the fondness of his mother, he was spared, +and carried to Mount Ida, where he was brought up by the shepherds, +and finally married Oenone. In time he became known to his family, +who forgot the prophecy and cordially received him. For a decision in +favor of Venus he was promised the most beautiful woman in the world +for his wife. Forgetting Oenone, he fell in love with the beautiful +Helen, already the wife of Menelaus, and persuaded her to fly with him +to Troy, to his father's court. War resulted. When he found himself +dying of his wounds, he fled to Oenone for help, but died just as +he came into her presence. She bathed the body with her tears, and +stabbed herself to the heart, a very foolish act for so faithless a +man. Miss Hosmer represents her as a beautiful shepherdess, bowed with +grief from her desertion. + +This work was so much liked in America, that the St. Louis Mercantile +Library made a liberal offer for some other statue. Accordingly, two +years after, "Beatrice Cenci" was sent. The noble girl lies asleep, +the night before her execution, after the terrible torture. "It was," +says Mrs. Child, "the sleep of a body worn out with the wretchedness +of the soul. On that innocent face suffering had left its traces. The +arm that had been tossing in the grief tempest, had fallen heavily, +too weary to change itself into a more easy position. Those large +eyes, now so closely veiled by their swollen lids, had evidently wept +till the fountain of tears was dry. That lovely mouth was still the +open portal of a sigh, which the mastery of sleep had left no time to +close." + +To make this natural, the sculptor caused several models to go to +sleep in her studio, that she might study them. Gibson is said to have +remarked upon seeing this, "I can teach her nothing." This was also +exhibited in London and in several American cities. + +For three years she had worked continuously, not leaving Rome even in +the hot, unhealthy summers. She had said, "I will not be an amateur; I +will work as if I had to earn my daily bread." However, as her health +seemed somewhat impaired, at her father's earnest wish, she had +decided to go to England for the season. Her trunks were packed, and +she was ready to start, when lo! a message came that Dr. Hosmer had +lost his property, that he could send her no more money, and suggested +that she return home at once. + +At first she seemed overwhelmed; then she said firmly, "I cannot go +back, and give up my art." Her trunks were at once unpacked and a +cheap room rented. Her handsome horse and saddle were sold, and she +was now to work indeed "as if she earned her daily bread." + +By a strange freak of human nature, by which we sometimes do our most +humorous work when we are saddest, Miss Hosmer produced now in her +sorrow her fun-loving "Puck." It represents a child about four years +old seated on a toadstool which breaks beneath him. The left hand +confines a lizard, while the right holds a beetle. The legs are +crossed, and the great toe of the right foot turns up. The whole +is full of merriment. The Crown Princess of Germany, on seeing it, +exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Hosmer, you have such a talent for toes!" Very +true, for this statue, with the several copies made from it, brought +her thirty thousand dollars! The Prince of Wales has a copy, the +Duke of Hamilton also, and it has gone even to Australia and the West +Indies. A companion piece is the "Will-o'-the-wisp." + +About this time the lovely sixteen-year-old daughter of Madam +Falconnet died at Rome, and for her monument in the Catholic church +of San Andrea del Fratte, Miss Hosmer produced an exquisite figure +resting upon a sarcophagus. Layard, the explorer of Babylon and +Nineveh, wrote to Madam Falconnet: "I scarcely remember to have seen +a monument which more completely commanded my sympathy and more deeply +interested me. I really know of none, of modern days, which I would +rather have placed over the remains of one who had been dear to me." + +Miss Hosmer also modeled a fountain from the story of Hylas. The +lower basin contains dolphins spouting jets, while in the upper basin, +supported by swans, the youth Hylas stands, surrounded by the nymphs +who admire his beauty, and who eventually draw him into the water, +where he is drowned. + +Miss Hosmer returned to America in 1857, five years after her +departure. She was still young, twenty-seven, vivacious, hopeful, not +wearied from her hard work, and famous. While here she determined upon +a statue of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and read much concerning her +and her times. She had touched fiction and poetry; now she would +attempt history. She could scarcely have chosen a more heroic or +pathetic subject. The brave leader of a brave people, a skilful +warrior, marching at the head of her troops, now on foot, and now on +horseback, beautiful in face, and cultured in mind, acquainted with +Latin, Greek, Syriac, and Egyptian, finally captured by Aurelian, and +borne through the streets of Rome, adorning his triumphal procession. + +After Miss Hosmer's return to Rome, she worked on "Zenobia" with +energy and enthusiasm, as she molded the clay, and then the plaster. +When brought to this country, it awakened the greatest interest; +crowds gathered to see it. In Chicago it was exhibited at the +Sanitary Fair in behalf of the soldiers. Whittier said: "It very fully +expresses my conception of what historical sculpture should be. It +tells its whole proud and melancholy story. In looking at it, I felt +that the artist had been as truly serving her country while working +out her magnificent design abroad, as our soldiers in the field, and +our public officers in their departments." From its exhibition Miss +Hosmer received five thousand dollars. It was purchased by Mr. A.W. +Griswold, of New York. So great a work was the statue considered in +London, that some of the papers declared Gibson to be its author. Miss +Hosmer at once began suits for libel, and retractions were speedily +made. + +In 1860 Miss Hosmer again visited America, to see her father, who +was seriously ill. How proud Dr. Hosmer must have been of his gifted +daughter now that her fame was in two hemispheres! Surely he had not +"spoiled" her. She could now spend for him as he had spent for her in +her childhood. While here, she received a commission from St. Louis +for a bronze portrait-statue of Missouri's famous statesman, Thomas +Hart Benton. The world wondered if she could bring out of the marble a +man with all his strength and dignity, as she had a woman with all her +grace and nobility. + +She visited St. Louis, to examine portraits and mementos of Colonel +Benton, and then hastened across the ocean to her work. The next year +a photograph of the model was sent to the friends, and the likeness +pronounced good. The statue was cast at the great royal foundry at +Munich, and in due time shipped to this country. May 27, 1868, it was +unveiled in Lafayette Park, in the presence of an immense concourse of +people, the daughter, Mrs. John C. Fremont, removing the covering. The +statue is ten feet high, and weighs three and one-half tons. It rests +on a granite pedestal, ten feet square, the whole being twenty-two +feet square. On the west side of the pedestal are the words from +Colonel Benton's famous speech on the Pacific Railroad, "There is the +East--there is India." Both press and people were heartily pleased +with this statue, for which Miss Hosmer received ten thousand dollars, +the whole costing thirty thousand. + +She was now in the midst of busy and successful work. Orders crowded +upon her. Her "Sleeping Faun," which was exhibited at the Dublin +Exhibition in 1865, was sold on the day of opening for five thousand +dollars, to Sir Benjamin Guinness. Some discussion having arisen about +the sale, he offered ten thousand, saying, that if money could buy it, +he would possess it. Miss Hosmer, however, would receive only the five +thousand. The faun is represented reclining against the trunk of a +tree, partly draped in the spoils of a tiger. A little faun, with +mischievous look, is binding the faun to the tree with the tiger-skin. +The newspapers were enthusiastic about the work. + +The _London Times_ said: "In the groups of statues are many works of +exquisite beauty, but there is one which at once arrests attention and +extorts admiration. It is a curious fact that amid all the statues in +this court, contributed by the natives of lands in which the fine arts +were naturalized thousands of years ago, one of the finest should be +the production of an American artist." The French _Galignani_ said, +"The gem of the classical school, in its nobler style of composition, +is due to an American lady, Miss Hosmer." The _London Art Journal_ +said, "The works of Miss Hosmer, Hiram Powers, and others we might +name, have placed American on a level with the best modern sculptors +of Europe." This work was repeated for the Prince of Wales and for +Lady Ashburton, of England. + +Not long ago I visited the studio of Miss Hosmer in the Via Margutta, +at Rome, and saw her numerous works, many of them still unfinished. +Here an arm seemed just reaching out from the rough block of marble; +here a sweet face seemed like Pygmalion's statue, coming into life. In +the centre of the studio was the "Siren Fountain," executed for Lady +Marion Alford. A siren sits in the upper basin and sings to the music +of her lute. Three little cupids sit on dolphins, and listen to her +music. + +For some years Miss Hosmer has been preparing a golden gateway for an +art gallery at Ashridge Hall, England, ordered by Earl Brownlow. These +gates, seventeen feet high, are covered with bas-reliefs representing +the Air, Earth, and Sea. The twelve hours of the night show "Aeolus +subduing the Winds," the "Descent of the Zephyrs," "Iris descending +with the Dew," "Night rising with the Stars," "The Rising Moon," "The +Hour's Sleep," "The Dreams Descend," "The Falling Star," "Phosphor and +Hesper," "The Hours Wake," "Aurora Veils the Stars," and "Morning." +More than eighty figures are in the nineteen bas-reliefs. Miss Hosmer +has done other important works, among them a statue of the beautiful +Queen of Naples, who was a frequent visitor to the artist's studio, +and several well-known monuments. With her girlish fondness for +machinery, she has given much thought to mechanics in these later +years, striving to find, like many another, the secret of producing +perpetual motion. She spends much of her time now in England. She is +still passionately fond of riding, the Empress of Austria, who owns +more horses than any woman in the world, declaring "that there was +nothing she looked forward to with more interest in Rome, than to see +Miss Hosmer ride." + +Many of the closing years of the sculptor's long life were spent in +Rome, where she had a wide circle of eminent American and English +friends, among whom were Hawthorne, Thackeray, George Eliot, and the +Brownings. She made several discoveries in her work, one of which was +a process of hardening limestone so that it resembled marble. She +also wrote both prose and poetry, and would have been successful as +an author, if she had not given the bulk of her time to her beloved +sculpture. + +After her long sojourn in Rome she spent several years in England, +executing important commissions, and then turned her face toward +America. In Watertown, where she was born, she again made her home; +and here she breathed her last, February 21, 1908, after an illness of +three weeks. She was in her seventy-eighth year. By her long life of +earnest work and self-reliant purpose, coupled with her high gift, she +has made for herself an abiding place in the history of art. + + + + +MADAME DE STAEL. + +[Illustration: MADAME DE STAEL. + +From the painting by Mlle. Godefroy.] + + +It was the twentieth of September, 1881. The sun shone out mild and +beautiful upon Lake Geneva, as we sailed up to Coppet. The banks were +dotted with lovely homes, half hidden by the foliage, while brilliant +flower-beds came close to the water's edge. Snow-covered Mont Blanc +looked down upon the restful scene, which seemed as charming as +anything in Europe. + +We alighted from the boat, and walked up from the landing, between +great rows of oaks, horsechestnuts, and sycamores, to the famous home +we had come to look upon,--that of Madame de Stael. It is a French +chateau, two stories high, drab, with green blinds, surrounding an +open square; vines clamber over the gate and the high walls, and +lovely flowers blossom everywhere. As you enter, you stand in a long +hall, with green curtains, with many busts, the finest of which is +that of Monsieur Necker. The next room is the large library, with +furniture of blue and white; and the next, hung with old Gobelin +tapestry, is the room where Madame Recamier used to sit with Madame de +Stael, and look out upon the exquisite scenery, restful even in their +troubled lives. Here is the work-table of her whom Macaulay called +"the greatest woman of her times," and of whom Byron said, "She is +a woman by herself, and has done more than all the rest of them +together, intellectually; she ought to have been a man." + +Next we enter the drawing-room, with carpet woven in a single piece; +the furniture red and white. We stop to look upon the picture of +Monsieur Necker, the father, a strong, noble-looking man; of the +mother, in white silk dress, with powdered hair, and very beautiful; +and De Stael herself, in a brownish yellow dress, with low neck and +short sleeves, holding in her hand the branch of flowers, which she +always carried, or a leaf, that thus her hands might be employed while +she engaged in the conversation that astonished Europe. Here also +are the pictures of the Baron, her husband, in white wig and military +dress; here her idolized son and daughter, the latter beautiful, with +mild, sad face, and dark hair and eyes. + +What brings thousands to this quiet retreat every year? Because here +lived and wrote and suffered the only person whom the great Napoleon +feared, whom Galiffe, of Geneva, declared "the most remarkable woman +that Europe has produced"; learned, rich, the author of _Corinne_ and +_Allemagne_, whose "talents in conversation," says George Ticknor, +"were perhaps the most remarkable of any person that ever lived." + +April 27, 1766, was the daughter of James Necker, Minister of Finance +under Louis XVI., a man of fine intellect, the author of fifteen +volumes; and Susanna, daughter of a Swiss pastor, beautiful, educated, +and devotedly Christian. Necker had become rich in early life through +banking, and had been made, by the republic of Geneva, her resident +minister at the Court of Versailles. + +When the throne of Louis seemed crumbling, because the people were +tired of extravagance and heavy taxation, Necker was called to his +aid, with the hope that economy and retrenchment would save the +nation. He also loaned the government two million dollars. The home +of the Neckers, in Paris, naturally became a social centre, which the +mother of the family was well fitted to grace. Gibbon had been deeply +in love with her. + +He says: "I found her learned without pedantry, lively in +conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and the first +sudden emotion was fortified by the habits and knowledge of a more +familiar acquaintance.... At Crassier and Lausanne I indulged my dream +of felicity; but on my return to England I soon discovered that my +father would not hear of this strange alliance, and that, without +his consent, I was myself destitute and helpless. After a painful +struggle, I yielded to my fate; I sighed as a lover; I obeyed as a +son." Gibbon never married, but retained his life-long friendship and +admiration for Madame Necker. + +It was not strange, therefore, that Gibbon liked to be present in +her _salon_, where Buffon, Hume, Diderot, and D'Alembert were wont +to gather. The child of such parents could scarcely be other than +intellectual, surrounded by such gifted minds. Her mother, too, was a +most systematic teacher, and each day the girl was obliged to sit by +her side, erect, on a wooden stool, and learn difficult lessons. + +"She stood in great awe of her mother," wrote Simond, the traveller, +"but was exceedingly familiar with and extravagantly fond of her +father. Madame Necker had no sooner left the room one day, after +dinner, than the young girl, till then timidly decorous, suddenly +seized her napkin, and threw it across the table at the head of her +father, and then flying round to him, hung upon his neck, suffocating +all his reproofs by her kisses." Whenever her mother returned to the +room, she at once became silent and restrained. + +The child early began to show literary talent, writing dramas, and +making paper kings and queens to act her tragedies. This the mother +thought to be wrong, and it was discontinued. But when she was twelve, +the mother having somewhat relented, she wrote a play, which she and +her companions acted in the drawing-room. Grimm was so pleased with +her attempts, that he sent extracts to his correspondents throughout +Europe. At fifteen she wrote an essay on the _Revocation of the Edict +of Nantes_, and another upon Montesquieu's _Spirit of Laws_. + +Overtaxing the brain with her continuous study, she became ill, +and the physician, greatly to her delight, prescribed fresh air and +sunshine. Here often she roamed from morning till night on their +estate at St. Ouen. Madame Necker felt deeply the thwarting of her +educational plans, and years after, when her daughter had acquired +distinction, said, "It is absolutely nothing compared to what I would +have made it." + +Monsieur Necker's restriction of pensions and taxing of luxuries +soon aroused the opposition of the aristocracy, and the weak but +good-hearted King asked his minister to resign. Both wife and daughter +felt the blow keenly, for both idolized him, so much so that the +mother feared lest she be supplanted by her daughter. Madame de Stael +says of her father, "From the moment of their marriage to her death, +the thought of my mother dominated his life. He was not like other +men in power, attentive to her by occasional tokens of regard, but by +continual expressions of most tender and most delicate sentiment." +Of herself she wrote, "Our destinies would have united us forever, if +fate had only made us contemporaries." At his death she said, "If he +could be restored to me, I would give all my remaining years for six +months." To the last he was her idol. + +For the next few years the family travelled most of the time, Necker +bringing out a book on the _Finances_, which had a sale at once of a +hundred thousand copies. A previous book, the _Compte Rendu au Roi_, +showing how for years the moneys of France had been wasted, had also a +large sale. For these books, and especially for other correspondence, +he was banished forty leagues from Paris. The daughter's heart seemed +well-nigh broken at this intelligence. Loving Paris, saying she would +rather live there on "one hundred francs a year, and lodge in the +fourth story," than anywhere else in the world, how could she bear for +years the isolation of the country? Joseph II., King of Poland, and +the King of Naples, offered Necker fine positions, but he declined. + +Mademoiselle Necker had come to womanhood, not beautiful, but with +wonderful fascination and tact. She could compliment persons without +flattery, was cordial and generous, and while the most brilliant +talker, could draw to herself the thoughts and confidences of others. +She had also written a book on _Rousseau_, which was much talked +about. Pitt, of England, Count Fersen, of Sweden, and others, sought +her in marriage, but she loved no person as well as her father. Her +consent to marriage could be obtained only by the promise that she +should never be obliged to leave him. + +Baron de Stael, a man of learning and fine social position, ambassador +from Sweden, and the warm friend of Gustavus, was ready to make +any promises for the rich daughter of the Minister Necker. He was +thirty-seven, she only a little more than half his age, twenty, but +she accepted him because her parents were pleased. Going to Paris, she +was, of course, received at Court, Marie Antoinette paying her much +attention. Necker was soon recalled from exile to his old position. + +The funds rose thirty per cent, and he became the idol of the people. +Soon representative government was demanded, and then, though the King +granted it, the breach was widened. Necker, unpopular with the bad +advisers of the King, was again asked to leave Paris, and make no +noise about it; but the people, hearing of it, soon demanded his +recall, and he was hastily brought back from Brussels, riding through +the streets like "the sovereign of a nation," said his daughter. The +people were wild with delight. + +But matters had gone too far to prevent a bloody Revolution. Soon a +mob was marching toward Versailles; thousands of men, women, and even +children armed with pikes. They reached the palace, killed the guards, +and penetrated to the queen's apartments, while some filled the +court-yard and demanded bread. The brave Marie Antoinette appeared +on the balcony leading her two children, while Lafayette knelt by her +side and kissed her hand. But the people could not be appeased. + +Necker finding himself unable to serve his king longer, fled to his +Swiss retreat at Coppet, and there remained till his death. Madame +de Stael, as the wife of the Swedish ambassador, continued in the +turmoil, writing her father daily, and taking an active interest in +politics. "In England," she said, "women are accustomed to be silent +before men when political questions are discussed. In France, they +direct all conversation, and their minds readily acquire the facility +and talent which this privilege requires." Lafayette, Narbonne, +and Talleyrand consulted with her. She wrote the principal part of +Talleyrand's report on Public Instruction in 1790. She procured the +appointment of Narbonne to the ministry; and later, when Talleyrand +was in exile, obtained his appointment to the Department of Foreign +Affairs. + +Matters had gone from bad to worse. In 1792 the Swedish government +suspended its embassy, and Madame de Stael prepared to fly, but stayed +for a time to save her friends. The seven prisons of Paris were all +crowded under the fearful reign of Danton and Marat. Great heaps of +dead lay before every prison door. During that Reign of Terror it is +estimated that eighteen thousand six hundred persons perished by the +guillotine. Whole squares were shot down. "When the police visited +her house, where some of the ministers were hidden, she met them +graciously, urging that they must not violate the privacy of an +ambassador's house. When her friends were arrested, she went to the +barbarous leaders, and with her eloquence begged for their safety, and +thus saved the lives of many. + +At last she must leave the terror-stricken city. Supposing that +her rank as the wife of a foreign ambassador would protect her, she +started with a carriage and six horses, her servants in livery. At +once a crowd of half-famished and haggard women crowded around, and +threw themselves against the horses. The carriage was stopped, and the +occupants were taken to the Assembly. She plead her case before the +noted Robespierre, and then waited for six hours for the decision of +the Commune. Meantime she saw the hired assassins pass beneath the +windows, their bare arms covered with the blood of the slain. The mob +attempted to pillage her carriage, but a strong man mounted the box +and defended it. She learned afterward that it was the notorious +Santerre, the person who later superintended the execution of Louis +XVI., ordering his drummers to drown the last words of the dying King. +Santerre had seen Necker distribute corn to the poor of Paris in a +time of famine, and now he was befriending the daughter for this noble +act. Finally she was allowed to continue her journey, and reached +Coppet with her baby, Auguste, well-nigh exhausted after this terrible +ordeal. + +The Swiss home soon became a place of refuge for those who were flying +from the horrors of the Commune. She kept a faithful agent, who knew +the mountain passes, busy in this work of mercy. + +The following year, 1793, longing for a change from these dreadful +times, she visited England, and received much attention from prominent +persons, among them Fanny Burny, the author of _Evelina_, who owned +"that she had never heard conversation before. The most animated +eloquence, the keenest observation, the most sparkling wit, the most +courtly grace, were united to charm her." + +On Jan. 21 of this year, the unfortunate King had met his death on the +scaffold before an immense throng of people. Six men bound him to the +plank, and then his head was severed from his body amid the shouts +and waving of hats of the blood-thirsty crowd. Necker had begged to go +before the Convention and plead for his king, but was refused. Madame +de Stael wrote a vigorous appeal to the nation in behalf of the +beautiful and tenderhearted Marie Antoinette; but on Sept. 16, 1793, +at four o'clock in the morning, in an open cart, in the midst of +thirty thousand troops and a noisy rabble, she, too, was borne to +the scaffold; and when her pale face was held up bleeding before the +crowd, they jeered and shouted themselves hoarse. + +The next year 1794, Madame Necker died at Coppet, whispering to her +husband, "We shall see each other in Heaven." "She looked heavenward," +said Necker in a most affecting manner, "listening while I prayed; +then, in dying, raised the finger of her left hand, which wore the +ring I had given her, to remind me of the pledge engraved upon it, to +love her forever." His devotion to her was beautiful. "No language," +says his daughter, "can give any adequate idea of it. Exhausted by +wakefulness at night, she slept often in the daytime, resting her +head on his arm. I have seen him remain immovable, for hours together, +standing in the same position for fear of awakening her by the least +movement. Absent from her during a few hours of sleep, he inquired, on +his return, of her attendant, if she had asked for him? She could no +longer speak, but made an effort to say 'yes, yes.'" + +When the Revolution was over, and France had become a republic, Sweden +sent back her ambassador, Baron de Stael, and his wife returned to him +at Paris. Again her _salon_ became the centre for the great men of +the time. She loved liberty, and believed in the republican form +of government. She had written her book upon the _Influence of the +Passions on the Happiness of Individuals and Nations_, prompted by +the horrors of the Revolution, and it was considered "irresistible in +energy and dazzling in thought." + +She was also devoting much time to her child, Auguste, developing him +without punishment, thinking that there had been too much rigor in her +own childhood. He well repaid her for her gentleness and trust, and +was inseparable from her through life, becoming a noble Christian man, +and the helper of all good causes. Meantime Madame de Stael saw with +alarm the growing influence of the young Corsican officer, Bonaparte. +The chief executive power had been placed in the hands of the +Directory, and he had control of the army. He had won brilliant +victories in Italy, and had been made commander-in-chief of the +expedition against Egypt He now returned to Paris, turned out the +Directory, drove out the Council of Five Hundred from the hall of +the Assembly at the point of the bayonet, made the government into a +consulate with three consuls, of whom he was the first, and lived at +the Tuileries in almost royal style. + +All this time Madame de Stael felt the egotism and heartlessness of +Napoleon. Her _salon_ became more crowded than ever with those who +had their fears for the future. "The most eloquent of the Republican +orators were those who borrowed from her most of their ideas and +telling phrases. Most of them went forth from her door with speeches +ready for the next day, and with resolution to pronounce them--a +courage which was also derived from her." Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte, +the brothers of Napoleon, were proud of her friendship, and often were +guests at her house, until forbidden by their brother. + +When Benjamin Constant made a speech against the "rising tyranny," +Napoleon suspected that she had prompted it, and denounced her +heartily, all the time declaring that he loved the Republic, and would +always defend it! He said persons always came away from De Stael's +home "less his friends than when they entered." About this time her +book, _Literature considered in its Relation to Social Institutions_, +was published, and made a surprising impression from its wealth +of knowledge and power of thought. Its analysis of Greek and Latin +literature, and the chief works in Italian, English, German, and +French, astonished everybody, because written by a woman! + +Soon after Necker published his _Last Views of Politics and Finance_, +in which he wrote against the tyranny of a single man. At once +Napoleon caused a sharp letter to be written to Necker advising him +to leave politics to the First Consul, "who was alone able to govern +France," and threatening his daughter with exile for her supposed aid +in his book. She saw the wisdom of escaping from France, lest she be +imprisoned, and immediately hastened to Coppet. A few months later, +in the winter of 1802, she returned to Paris to bring home Baron de +Stael, who was ill, and from whom she had separated because he was +spending all her fortune and that of her three children. He died on +the journey. + +Virtually banished from France, she now wrote her _Delphine_, a +brilliant novel which was widely read. It received its name from a +singular circumstance. + +"Desirous of meeting the First Consul for some urgent reason," says +Dr. Stevens in his charming biography of Madame de Stael, "she went to +the villa of Madame de Montessan, whither he frequently resorted. She +was alone in one of the _salles_ when he arrived, accompanied by the +consular court of brilliant young women. The latter knew the growing +hostility of their master toward her, and passed, without noticing +her, to the other end of the _salle_, leaving her entirely alone. +Her position was becoming extremely painful, when a young lady, more +courageous and more compassionate than her companions, crossed the +_salle_ and took a seat by her side. Madame de Stael was touched +by this kindness, and asked for her Christian name. 'Delphine,' she +responded. 'Ah, I will try to immortalize it,' exclaimed Madame +de Stael; and she kept her word. This sensible young lady was the +Comtesse de Custine." + +Her home at Coppet became the home of many great people. Sismondi, the +author of the _History of the Italian Republics_, and _Literature of +Southern Europe_, encouraged by her, wrote here several of his famous +works. Bonstetten made his home here for years. Schlegel, the greatest +critic of his age, became the teacher of her children, and a most +intimate friend. Benjamin Constant, the author and statesman, was +here. All repaired to their rooms for work in the morning, and in the +evening enjoyed philosophic, literary, and political discussions. + +Bonstetten said: "In seeing her, in hearing her, I feel myself +electrified.... She daily becomes greater and better; but souls of +great talent have great sufferings: they are solitary in the world, +like Mont Blanc." + +In the autumn of 1803, longing for Paris, she ventured to within ten +leagues and hired a quiet home. Word was soon borne to Napoleon that +the road to her house was thronged with visitors. He at once sent an +officer with a letter signed by himself, exiling her to forty leagues +from Paris, and commanding her to leave within twenty-four hours. + +At once she fled to Germany. At Frankfort her little daughter was +dangerously ill. "I knew no person in the city," she writes. "I did +not know the language; and the physician to whom I confided my child +could not speak French. But my father shared my trouble; he consulted +physicians at Geneva, and sent me their prescriptions. Oh, what would +become of a mother trembling for the life of her child, if it were not +for prayer!" + +Going to Weimar, she met Goethe, Wieland, Schiller, and other noted +men. At Berlin, the greatest attention was shown her. The beautiful +Louise of Prussia welcomed her heartily. During this exile her father +died, with his latest breath saying," She has loved me dearly! She +has loved me dearly!" On his death-bed he wrote a letter to Bonaparte +telling him that his daughter was in nowise responsible for his book, +but it was never answered. It was enough for Napoleon to know that she +did not flatter him; therefore he wished her out of the way. + +Madame de Stael was for a time completely overcome by Necker's death. +She wore his picture on her person as long as she lived. Only once did +she part with it, and then she imagined it might console her daughter +in her illness. Giving it to her, she said, "Gaze upon it, gaze upon +it, when you are in pain." + +She now sought repose in Italy, preparing those beautiful descriptions +for her _Corinne_, and finally returning to Coppet, spent a year in +writing her book. It was published in Paris, and, says Sainte-Beuve, +"its success was instantaneous and universal. As a work of art, as a +poem, the romance of _Corinne_ is an immortal monument." Jeffrey, +in the _Edinburgh Review_, called the author the greatest writer in +France since Voltaire and Rousseau, and the greatest woman writer of +any age or country. Napoleon, however, in his official paper, caused a +scathing criticism on _Corinne_ to appear; indeed, it was declared to +be from his own pen. She was told by the Minister of Police, that she +had but to insert some praise of Napoleon in _Corinne_, and she would +be welcomed back to Paris. She could not, however, live a lie, and she +feared Napoleon had evil designs upon France. + +Again she visited Germany with her children, Schlegel, and Sismondi. +So eager was everybody to see her and hear her talk, that Bettina von +Arnim says in her correspondence with Goethe: "The gentlemen stood +around the table and planted themselves behind us, elbowing one +another. They leaned quite over me, and I said in French, 'Your +adorers quite suffocate me.'" + +While in Germany, her eldest son, then seventeen, had an interview +with Bonaparte about the return of his mother. "Your mother," said +Napoleon, "could not be six months in Paris before I should be +compelled to send her to Bicetre or the Temple. I should regret this +necessity, for it would make a noise and might injure me a little +in public opinion. Say, therefore, to her that as long as I live she +cannot re-enter Paris. I see what you wish, but it cannot be; she will +commit follies; she will have the world about her." + +On her return to Coppet, she spent two years in writing her +_Allemagne_, for which she had been making researches for four years. +She wished it published in Paris, as _Corinne_ had been, and submitted +it to the censors of the Press. They crossed out whatever sentiments +they thought might displease Napoleon, and then ten thousand copies +were at once printed, she meantime removing to France, within her +proscribed limits, that she might correct the proof-sheets. + +What was her astonishment to have Napoleon order the whole ten +thousand destroyed, and her to leave France in three days! Her two +sons attempted to see Bonaparte, who was at Fontainebleau, but were +ordered to turn back, or they would be arrested. The only reason given +for destroying the work was the fact that she had been silent about +the great but egotistical Emperor. + +Broken in spirit, she returned to Geneva. Amid all this darkness a new +light was about to beam upon her life. In the social gatherings made +for her, she observed a young army officer, Monsieur Rocca, broken in +health from his many wounds, but handsome and noble in face, and, as +she learned, of irreproachable life. Though only twenty-three and she +forty-five, the young officer was fascinated by her conversation, +and refreshed in spirits by her presence. She sympathized with his +misfortunes in battle; she admired his courage. He was lofty in +sentiments, tender in heart, and gave her what she had always needed, +an unselfish and devoted love. When discouraged by his friends, he +replied, "I will love her so much that I will finish by making her +marry me." + +They were married in 1811, and the marriage was a singularly happy +one. The reason for it is not difficult to perceive. A marriage that +has not a pretty face or a passing fancy for its foundation, but +appreciation of a gifted mind and noble heart,--such a marriage +stands the test of time. + +The marriage was kept secret from all save a few intimate friends, +Madame de Stael fearing that if the news reached Napoleon, Rocca +would be ordered back to France. Her fears were only too well founded. +Schlegel, Madame Recamier, all who had shown any sympathy for her, +began to be exiled. She was forbidden under any pretext whatever from +travelling in Switzerland, or entering any region annexed to France. +She was advised not to go two leagues from Coppet, lest she be +imprisoned, and this with Napoleon usually meant death. + +The Emperor seemed about to conquer the whole world. Whither could she +fly to escape his persecution? She longed to reach England, but there +was an edict against any French subject entering that country without +special permit. Truly his heel was upon France. The only way to reach +that country was through Austria, Russia, and Sweden, two thousand +leagues. But she must attempt it. She passed an hour in prayer by her +parent's tomb, kissed his armchair and table, and took his cloak to +wrap herself in should death come. + +May 23, 1812, she, with Rocca and two of her children, began their +flight by carriage, not telling the servants at the chateau, but that +they should return for the next meal. + +They reached Vienna June 6, and were at once put under surveillance. +Everywhere she saw placards admonishing the officers to watch her +sharply. Rocca had to make his way alone, because Bonaparte had +ordered his arrest. They were permitted to remain only a few hours +in any place. Once Madame de Stael was so overcome by this brutal +treatment that she lost consciousness, and was obliged to be taken +from her carriage to the roadside till she recovered. Every hour she +expected arrest and death. + +Finally, worn in body, she reached Russia, and was cordially received +by Alexander and Empress Elizabeth. From here she went to Sweden, and +had an equally cordial welcome from Bernadotte, the general who +became king. Afterward she spent four months in England, bringing out +_Allemagne._ Here she received a perfect ovation. At Lord Lansdowne's +the first ladies in the kingdom mounted on chairs and tables to catch +a glimpse of her. Sir James Mackintosh said: "The whole fashionable +and literary world is occupied with Madame de Stael, the most +celebrated woman of this, or perhaps of any age." Very rare must be +the case where a woman of fine mind does not have many admirers among +gentlemen. + +Her _Allemagne_ was published in 1813, the manuscript having been +secretly carried over Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the Baltic +Sea. The first part treated of the manners of Germany; the second, its +literature and art; the third, its philosophy and morals; the fourth, +its religion. The book had a wonderful sale, and was soon translated +into all the principal tongues of Europe. Lamartine said: "Her style, +without losing any of its youthful vigor and splendor, seemed now to +be illuminated with more lofty and eternal lights as she approached +the evening of life, and the diviner mysteries of thought. This style +no longer paints, no longer chants; it adores.... Her name will live +as long as literature, as long as the history of her country." + +Meantime, great changes had taken place in France. Napoleon had been +defeated at Leipsic, leaving a quarter of a million murdered on his +battle-fields; he had abdicated, and was on his way to Elba. She +immediately returned to Paris, with much the same feeling as Victor +Hugo, when he wept as he came from his long exile under "Napoleon the +Little." Again to her _salon_ came kings and generals, Alexander of +Russia, Wellington, and others. + +But soon Napoleon returned, and she fled to Coppet. He sent her an +invitation to come to Paris, declaring he would now live for the peace +of Europe, but she could not trust him. She saw her daughter, lovely +and beautiful, married to the Duc de Broglie, a leading statesman, +and was happy in her happiness. Rocca's health was failing, and they +repaired to Italy for a time. + +In 1816 they returned to Paris, Napoleon having gone from his final +defeat to St. Helena. But Madame de Stael was broken with her trials. +She seemed to grow more and more frail, till the end came. She said +frequently, "My father awaits me on the other shore." To Chateaubriand +she said, "I have loved God, my father, and my country." She could +not and would not go to sleep the last night, for fear she might never +look upon Rocca again. He begged her to sleep and he would awaken her +often. "Good night," she said, and it was forever. She never wakened. +They buried her beside her father at Coppet, under the grand old +trees. Rocca died in seven months, at the age of thirty-one. "I +hoped," he said, "to have died in her arms." + +Her little son, and Rocca's, five years old, was cared for by Auguste +and Albertine, her daughter. After Madame de Stael's death, her +_Considerations on the French Revolution_ and _Ten Years of Exile_ +were published. Of the former, Sainte-Beuve says: "Its publication was +an event. It was the splendid public obsequies of the authoress. +Its politics were destined to long and passionate discussions and +a durable influence. She is perfect only from this day; the full +influence of her star is only at her tomb." + +Chateaubriand said, "Her death made one of those breaches which the +fall of a superior intellect produces once in an age, and which can +never be closed." + +As kind as she was great, loving deeply and receiving love in return, +she has left an imperishable name. No wonder that thousands visit that +quiet grave beside Lake Geneva. + + + + +ROSA BONHEUR + +[Illustration: ROSA BONHEUR.] + +In a simple home in Paris could have been seen, in 1829, Raymond +Bonheur and his little family,--Rosa, seven years old, August, +Isadore, and Juliette. He was a man of fine talent in painting, but +obliged to spend his time in giving drawing-lessons to support his +children. His wife, Sophie, gave lessons on the piano, going from +house to house all day long, and sometimes sewing half the night, to +earn a little more for the necessities of life. + +Hard work and poverty soon bore its usual fruit, and the tired young +mother died in 1833. The three oldest children were sent to board with +a plain woman, "La mere Catherine," in the Champs Elysees, and the +youngest was placed with relatives. For two years this good woman +cared for the children, sending them to school, though she was greatly +troubled because Rosa persisted in playing in the woods of the Bois +de Boulogne, gathering her arms full of daisies and marigolds, rather +than to be shut up in a schoolroom. "I never spent an hour of fine +weather indoors during the whole of the two years," she has often said +since those days. + +Finally the father married again and brought the children home. The +two boys were placed in school, and M. Bonheur paid their way by +giving drawing lessons three times a week in the institution. If Rosa +did not love school, she must be taught something useful, and she was +accordingly placed in a sewing establishment to become a seamstress. + +The child hated sewing, ran the needle into her fingers at every +stitch, cried for the fresh air and sunshine, and finally, becoming +pale and sickly, was taken back to the Bonheur home. The anxious +painter would try his child once more in school; so he arranged that +she should attend, with compensation met in the same way as for his +boys. Rosa soon became a favorite with the girls in the Fauborg +St. Antoine School, especially because she could draw such witty +caricatures of the teachers, which she pasted against the wall, with +bread chewed into the consistency of putty. The teachers were not +pleased, but so struck were they with the vigor and originality of the +drawings, that they carefully preserved the sketches in an album. + +The girl was far from happy. Naturally sensitive--as what poet or +painter was ever born otherwise?--she could not bear to wear a calico +dress and coarse shoes, and eat with an iron spoon from a tin cup, +when the other girls wore handsome dresses, and had silver mugs and +spoons. She grew melancholy, neglected her books, and finally became +so ill that she was obliged to be taken home. + +And now Raymond Bonheur very wisely decided not to make plans for his +child for a time, but see what was her natural tendency. It was well +that he made this decision in time, before she had been spoiled by his +well-meant but poor intentions. + +Left to herself, she constantly hung about her father's studio, now +drawing, now modeling, copying whatever she saw him do. She seemed +never to be tired, but sang at her work all the day long. + +Monsieur Bonheur suddenly awoke to the fact that his daughter had +great talent. He began to teach her carefully, to make her accurate in +drawing, and correct in perspective. Then he sent her to the Louvre to +copy the works of the old masters. Here she worked with the greatest +industry and enthusiasm, not observing anything that was going on +around her. Said the director of the Louvre, "I have never seen an +example of such application and such ardor for work." + +One day an elderly English gentleman stopped beside her easel, and +said: "Your copy, my child, is superb, faultless. Persevere as you +have begun, and I prophesy that you will be a great artist." How glad +those few words made her! She went home thinking over to herself the +determination she had made in the school when she ate with her iron +spoon, that sometime she would be as famous as her schoolmates, and +have some of the comforts of life. + +Her copies of the old masters were soon sold, and though they brought +small prices, she gladly gave the money to her father, who needed it +now more than ever. His second wife had two sons when he married her, +and now they had a third, Germain, and every cent that Rosa could +earn was needed to help support seven children. "La mamiche," as +they called the new mother, was an excellent manager of the meagre +finances, and filled her place well. + +Rosa was now seventeen, loving landscape, historical, and genre +painting, perhaps equally; but happening to paint a goat, she was so +pleased in the work, that she determined to make animal painting a +specialty. Having no money to procure models, she must needs make long +walks into the country on foot to the farms. She would take a piece of +bread in her pocket, and generally forget to eat it. After working +all day, she would come home tired, often drenched with rain, and her +shoes covered with mud. + +She took other means to study animals. In the outskirts of Paris were +great _abattoirs_, or slaughter-pens. Though the girl tenderly loved +animals, and shrank from the sight of suffering, she forced herself to +see the killing, that she might know how to depict the death agony +on canvas. Though obliged to mingle more or less with drovers and +butchers, no indignity was ever offered her. As she sat on a bundle of +hay, with her colors about her, they would crowd around to look at +the pictures, and regard her with honest pride. The world soon +learns whether a girl is in earnest about her work, and treats her +accordingly. + +The Bonheur family had moved to the sixth story of a tenement house +in the Rue Rumfort, now the Rue Malesherbes. The sons, Auguste and +Isadore, had both become artists; the former a painter, the latter a +sculptor. Even little Juliette was learning to paint. Rosa was working +hard all day at her easel, and at night was illustrating books, or +molding little groups of animals for the figure-dealers. All the +family were happy despite their poverty, because they had congenial +work. + +On the roof, Rosa improvised a sort of garden, with honeysuckles, +sweet-peas, and nasturtiums, and here they kept a sheep, with long, +silky wool, for a model. Very often Isadore would take him on his back +and carry him down the six flights of stairs,--the day of elevators +had not dawned,--and after he had enjoyed grazing, would bring him +back to his garden home. It was a docile creature, and much loved by +the whole family. For Rosa's birds, the brothers constructed a net, +which they hung outside the window, and then opened the cage into it. + +At nineteen Rosa was to test the world, and see what the critics would +say. She sent to the Fine Arts Exhibition two pictures, "Goats and +Sheep" and "Two Rabbits." The public was pleased, and the press gave +kind notices. The next year "Animals in a Pasture," a "Cow lying in a +Meadow," and a "Horse for sale," attracted still more attention. Two +years later she exhibited twelve pictures, some from her father and +brother being hung on either side of hers, the first time they had +been admitted. More and more the critics praised, and the pathway of +the Bonheur family grew less thorny. + +Then, in 1849, when she was twenty-seven, came the triumph. Her +magnificent picture, "Cantal Oxen," took the gold medal, and was +purchased by England. Horace Vernet, the president of the commission +of awards, in the midst of a brilliant assembly, proclaimed the new +laureate, and gave her, in behalf of the government, a superb Sevres +vase. + +Raymond Bonheur seemed to become young again at this fame of his +child. It brought honors to him also, for he was at once made director +of the government school of design for girls. But the release from +poverty and anxiety came too late, and he died the same year, greatly +lamented by his family. "He had grand ideas," said his daughter, "and +had he not been obliged to give lessons for our support, he would have +been more known, and to-day acknowledged with other masters." + +Rosa was made director in his place, and Juliette became a professor +in the school. This same year appeared her "Plowing Scene in the +Nivernais," now in the Luxembourg Gallery, thought to be her most +important work after her "Horse Fair." Orders now poured in upon her, +so that she could not accede to half the requests for work. A rich +Hollander offered her one thousand crowns for a painting which she +could have wrought in two hours; but she refused. + +Four years later, after eighteen long months of preparatory studies, +her "Horse Fair" was painted. This created the greatest enthusiasm +both in England and America. It was sold to a gentleman in England for +eight thousand dollars, and was finally purchased by A. T. Stewart, of +New York, for his famous collection. No one who has seen this picture +will ever forget the action and vigor of these Normandy horses. In +painting it, a petted horse, it is said, stepped back upon the canvas, +putting his hoof through it, thus spoiling the work of months. + +So greatly was this picture admired, that Napoleon III. was urged to +bestow upon her the Cross of the Legion of Honor, entitled her from +French usage. Though she was invited to the state dinner at the +Tuileries, always given to artists to whom the Academy of Fine Arts +has awarded its highest honors, Napoleon had not the courage to give +it to her, lest public opinion might not agree with him in conferring +it upon a woman. Possibly he felt, more than the world knew, the +insecurity of his throne. + +Henry Bacon, in the _Century_, thus describes the way in which Rosa +Bonheur finally received the badge of distinction. "The Emperor, +leaving Paris for a short summer excursion in 1865, left the Empress +as Regent. From the imperial residence at Fontainebleau it was only a +short drive to By (the home of Mademoiselle Bonheur). The countersign +at the gate was forced, and unannounced, the Empress entered the +studio where Mademoiselle Rosa was at work. She rose to receive the +visitor, who threw her arms about her neck and kissed her. It was only +a short interview. The imperial vision had departed, the rumble of +the carriage and the crack of the outriders' whips were lost in the +distance. Then, and not till then, did the artist discover that as the +Empress had given the kiss, she had pinned upon her blouse the Cross +of the Legion of Honor." Since then she has received the Leopold Cross +of Honor from the King of Belgium, said to be the first ever conferred +upon a woman; also a decoration from the King of Spain. Her brother +Auguste, now dead, received the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1867, +two years after Rosa. + +In preparing to paint the "Horse Fair" and other similar pictures, +which have brought her much into the company of men, she has found it +wise to dress in male costume. A laughable incident is related of this +mode of dress. One day when she returned from the country, she found a +messenger awaiting to announce to her the sudden illness of one of +her young friends. Rosa did not wait to change her male attire, but +hastened to the bedside of the young lady. In a few minutes after +her arrival, the doctor, who had been sent for, entered, and seeing a +young man, as he supposed, seated on the side of the bed, with his +arm round the neck of the sick girl, thought he was an intruder, and +retreated with all possible speed. "Oh! run after him! He thinks you +are my lover, and has gone and left me to die!" cried the sick girl. +Rosa flew down stairs, and soon returned with the modest doctor. + +She also needs this mannish costume, for her long journeys over +the Pyrenees into Spain or in the Scottish Highlands. She is always +accompanied by her most intimate friend, Mademoiselle Micas, herself +an artist of repute, whose mother, a widow, superintends the home for +the two devoted friends. + +Sometimes in the Pyrenees these two ladies see no one for six weeks +but muleteers with their mules. The people in these lonely mountain +passes live entirely upon the curdled milk of sheep. Once Rosa Bonheur +and her friend were nearly starving, when Mademoiselle Micas obtained +a quantity of frogs, and covering the hind legs with leaves, roasted +them over a fire. On these they lived for two days. + +In Scotland she painted her exquisite "Denizens of the Mountains," +"Morning in the Highlands," and "Crossing a Loch in the Highlands." In +England she was treated like a princess. Sir Edwin Landseer, whom some +persons thought she would marry, is reported to have said, when he +first looked upon her "Horse Fair," "It surpasses me, though it's +a little hard to be beaten by a woman." On her return to France she +brought a skye-terrier, named "Wasp," of which she is very fond, and +for which she has learned several English phrases. When she speaks to +him in English, he wags his tail most appreciatively. + +Rosa Bonheur stands at the head of her profession, an acknowledged +master. Her pictures bring enormous sums, and have brought her wealth. +A "View in the Pyrenees" has been sold for ten thousand dollars, and +some others for twice that sum. + +She gives away much of her income. She has been known to send to the +_Mont de Piete_ her gold medals to raise funds to assist poor artists. +A woman artist, who had been refused help by several wealthy painters, +applied to Rosa Bonheur, who at once took down from the wall a small +but valuable painting, and gave it to her, from which she received a +goodly sum. A young sculptor who greatly admired her work, enclosed +twenty dollars, asking her for a small drawing, and saying that this +was all the money he possessed. She immediately sent him a sketch +worth at least two hundred dollars. She has always provided most +generously for her family, and for servants who have grown old in her +employ. + +She dresses very simply, always wearing black, brown, or gray, with +a close fitting jacket over a plain skirt. When she accepts a social +invitation, which is very rare, she adorns her dress with a lace +collar, but without other ornament. Her working dress is usually a +long gray linen or blue flannel blouse, reaching nearly from head to +foot. She has learned that the conventional tight dress of women +is not conducive to great mental or physical power. She is small +in stature, with dainty hands and feet, blue eyes, and a noble and +intelligent face. + +She is an indefatigable worker, rising usually at six in the morning, +and painting throughout the day. + +So busy is she that she seldom permits herself any amusements. On one +occasion she had tickets sent her for the theatre. She worked till the +carriage was announced. "_Je suis prete_," said Rosa, and went to the +play in her working dress. A daintily gloved man in the box next to +hers looked over in disdain, and finally went into the vestibule and +found the manager. + +"Who is this woman in the box next to mine?" he said, in a rage. +"She's in an old calico dress, covered with paint and oil. The odor is +terrible. Turn her out. If you do not, I will never enter your theatre +again." + +The manager went to the box, and returning, informed him that it was +the great painter. + +"Rosa Bonheur!" he gasped. "Who'd have thought it? Make my apology to +her. I dare not enter her presence again." + +She usually walks at the twilight, often thinking out new subjects for +her brush, at that quiet hour. She said to a friend: "I have been a +faithful student since I was ten years old. I have copied no master. I +have studied Nature, and expressed to the best of my ability the ideas +and feelings with which she has inspired me. Art is an absorbent--a +tyrant. It demands heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of the +votary. Nothing less will win its highest favor. I wed art. It is my +husband, my world, my life-dream, the air I breathe. I know nothing +else, feel nothing else, think nothing else, My soul finds in it +the most complete satisfaction.... I have no taste for general +society,--no interest in its frivolities. I only seek to be known +through my works. If the world feel and understand them, I have +succeeded.... If I had got up a convention to debate the question of +my ability to paint '_Marche au Chevaux_' [The Horse Fair], for which +England paid me forty thousand francs, the decision would have been +against me. I felt the power within me to paint; I cultivated it, and +have produced works that have won the favorable verdicts of the great +judges. I have no patience with women who ask _permission to think_!" + +For years she lived in Rue d'Assas, a retired street half made up of +gardens. Here she had one of the most beautiful studios of Paris, the +room lighted from the ceiling, the walls covered with paintings, with +here and there old armor, tapestry, hats, cloaks, sandals, and skins +of tigers, leopards, foxes, and oxen on the floor. One Friday, the day +on which she received guests, one of her friends, coming earlier +than usual, found her fast asleep on her favorite skin, that of a +magnificent ox, with stuffed head and spreading horns. She had come in +tired from the School of Design, and had thrown herself down to rest. +Usually after greeting her friends she would say, "Allow me to resume +my brush; we can talk just as well together." For those who have any +great work to do in this worlds there is little time for visiting; +interruptions cannot be permitted. No wonder Carlyle groaned when some +person had taken two hours of his time. He could better have spared +money to the visitor. + +For several years Rosa Bonheur has lived near Fontainebleau, in the +Chateau By. Henry Bacon says: "The chateau dates from the time of +Louis XV., and the garden is still laid out in the style of Le Notre. +Since it has been in the present proprietor's possession, a quaint, +picturesque brick building, containing the carriage house and +coachman's lodge on the first floor, and the studio on the second, +has been added; the roof of the main building has been raised, and the +chapel changed into an orangery: beside the main carriage-entrance, +which is closed by iron gates and wooden blinds, is a postern gate, +with a small grated opening, like those found in convents. The blinds +to the gate and the slide to the grating are generally closed, and +the only communication with the outside world is by the bell-wire, +terminating in a ring beside the gate. Ring, and the jingle of the +bell is at once echoed by the barking of numerous dogs,--the hounds +and bassets in chorus, the grand Saint Bernard in slow measure, like +the bass-drum in an orchestra. After the first excitement among the +dogs has begun to abate, a remarkably small house-pet that has been +somewhere in the interior arrives upon the scene, and with his sharp, +shrill voice again starts and leads the canine chorus. By this time +the eagle in his cage has awakened, and the parrot, whose cage is +built into the corner of the studio looking upon the street, adds to +the racket. + +"Behind the house is a large park divided from the forest by a high +wall; a lawn and flower-beds are laid out near the buildings; and on +the lawn, in pleasant weather, graze a magnificent bull and cow, +which are kept as models. In a wire enclosure are two chamois from the +Pyrenees, and further removed from the house, in the wooded part of +the park, are enclosures for sheep and deer, each of which knows its +mistress. Even the stag, bearing its six-branched antlers, receives +her caresses like a pet dog. At the end of one of the linden avenues +is a splendid bronze, by Isadore Bonheur, of a Gaul attacking a lion. + +"The studio is very large, with a huge chimney at one end, the +supports of which are life-size dogs, modeled by Isadore Bonheur. +Portraits of the father and mother in oval frames hang at each +side, and a pair of gigantic horns ornaments the centre. The room +is decorated with stuffed heads of animals of various kinds,--boars, +bears, wolves, and oxen; and birds perch in every convenient place." + +When Prussia conquered France, and swept through this town, orders +were given that Rosa Bonheur's home and paintings be carefully +preserved. Even her servants went unmolested. The peasants idolized +the great woman who lived in the chateau, and were eager to serve her. +She always talked to them pleasantly. Rosa Bonheur died at her home at +11 P.M., Thursday, May 25, 1899. + + + + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. + +[Illustration: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Rome. February. 1859] + +Ever since I had received in my girlhood, from my best friend, the +works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in five volumes in blue and gold, +I had read and re-read the pages, till I knew scores by heart. I +had longed to see the face and home of her whom the English call +"Shakespeare's daughter," and whom Edmund Clarence Stedman names "the +passion-flower of the century." + +I shall never forget that beautiful July morning spent in the Browning +home in London. The poet-wife had gone out from it, and lay buried in +Florence, but here were her books and her pictures. Here was a marble +bust, the hair clustering about the face, and a smile on the lips that +showed happiness. Near by was another bust of the idolized only child, +of whom she wrote in _Casa Guidi Windows_:-- + + "The sun strikes through the windows, up the floor: + Stand out in it, my own young Florentine, + Not two years old, and let me see thee more! + It grows along thy amber curls to shine + Brighter than elsewhere. Now look straight before + And fix thy brave blue English eyes on mine, + And from thy soul, which fronts the future so + With unabashed and unabated gaze, + Teach me to hope for what the Angels know + When they smile clear as thou dost!" + +Here was the breakfast-table at which they three had often sat +together. Close beside it hung a picture of the room in Florence, +where she lived so many years in a wedded bliss as perfect as any +known in history. Tears gathered in the eyes of Robert Browning, as he +pointed out her chair, and sofa, and writing-table. + +Of this room in Casa Guidi, Kate Field wrote in the _Atlantic +Monthly_, September, 1861: "They who have been so favored can never +forget the square ante-room, with its great picture and piano-forte, +at which the boy Browning passed many an hour; the little dining room +covered with tapestry, and where hung medallions of Tennyson, Carlyle, +and Robert Browning; the long room filled with plaster casts and +studies, which was Mr. Browning's retreat; and, dearest of all, the +large drawing-room, where _she_ always sat. It opens upon a balcony +filled with plants, and looks out upon the old iron-gray church of +Santa Felice. There was something about this room that seemed to make +it a proper and especial haunt for poets. The dark shadows and +subdued light gave it a dreamy look, which was enhanced by the +tapestry-covered walls, and the old pictures of saints that looked +out sadly from their carved frames of black wood. Large bookcases, +constructed of specimens of Florentine carving selected by Mr. +Browning, were brimming over with wise-looking books. Tables were +covered with more gayly bound volumes, the gifts of brother authors. +Dante's grave profile, a cast of Keats' face and brow taken after +death, a pen-and-ink sketch of Tennyson, the genial face of John +Kenyon, Mrs. Browning's good friend and relative, little paintings of +the boy Browning, all attracted the eye in turn, and gave rise to a +thousand musings. But the glory of all, and that which sanctified all, +was seated in a low armchair near the door. A small table, strewn with +writing materials, books and newspapers, was always by her side." + +Then Mr. Browning, in the London home, showed us the room where he +writes, containing his library and hers. The books are on simple +shelves, choice, and many very old and rare. Here are her books, many +in Greek and Hebrew. In the Greek, I saw her notes on the margin in +Hebrew, and in the Hebrew she had written her marginal notes in Greek. +Here also are the five volumes of her writings, in blue and gold. + +The small table at which she wrote still stands beside the larger +where her husband composes. His table is covered with letters and +papers and books; hers stands there unused, because it is a constant +reminder of those companionable years, when they worked together. +Close by hangs a picture of the "young Florentine," Robert Barrett +Browning, now grown to manhood, an artist already famed. He has a +refined face, as he sits in artist garb, before his easel, sketching +in a peasant's house. The beloved poet who wrote at the little table, +is endeared to all the world. Born in 1809, in the county of Durham, +the daughter of wealthy parents, she passed her early years partly in +the country in Herefordshire, and partly in the city. That she loved +the country with its wild flowers and woods, her poem, _The Lost +Bower_, plainly shows. + + "Green the land is where my daily + Steps in jocund childhood played, + Dimpled close with hill and valley, + Dappled very close with shade; + Summer-snow of apple-blossoms running up from glade to glade. + + * * * * * + + "But the wood, all close and clenching + Bough in bough and root in root,-- + No more sky (for overbranching) + At your head than at your foot,-- + Oh, the wood drew me within it, by a glamour past dispute. + + "But my childish heart beat stronger + Than those thickets dared to grow: + _I_ could pierce them! I could longer + Travel on, methought, than so. + Sheep for sheep-paths! braver children climb and creep where they + would go. + + * * * * * + + "Tall the linden-tree, and near it + An old hawthorne also grew; + And wood-ivy like a spirit + Hovered dimly round the two, + Shaping thence that bower of beauty which I sing of thus to you. + + "And the ivy veined and glossy + Was enwrought with eglantine; + And the wild hop fibred closely, + And the large-leaved columbine, + Arch of door and window mullion, did right sylvanly entwine. + + * * * * * + + "I have lost--oh, many a pleasure, + Many a hope, and many a power-- + Studious health, and merry leisure, + The first dew on the first flower! + But the first of all my losses was the losing of the bower. + + * * * * * + + "Is the bower lost then? Who sayeth + That the bower indeed is lost? + Hark! my spirit in it prayeth + Through the sunshine and the frost,-- + And the prayer preserves it greenly, to the last + and uttermost. + + "Till another open for me + In God's Eden-land unknown, + With an angel at the doorway, + White with gazing at His throne, + And a saint's voice in the palm-trees, singing, 'All is lost ... + and _won_!'" + +Elizabeth Barrett wrote poems at ten, and when seventeen, published +an _Essay on Mind, and Other Poems_. The essay was after the manner +of Pope, and though showing good knowledge of Plato and Bacon, did not +find favor with the critics. It was dedicated to her father, who was +proud of a daughter who preferred Latin and Greek to the novels of the +day. + +Her teacher was the blind Hugh Stuart Boyd, whom she praises in her +_Wine of Cyprus_. + + "Then, what golden hours were for us!-- + While we sate together there; + + * * * * * + + "Oh, our Aeschylus, the thunderous! + How he drove the bolted breath + Through the cloud to wedge it ponderous + In the gnarled oak beneath. + Oh, our Sophocles, the royal, + Who was born to monarch's place, + And who made the whole world loyal, + Less by kingly power than grace. + + "Our Euripides, the human, + With his droppings of warm tears, + And his touches of things common + Till they rose to touch the spheres! + Our Theocritus, our Bion, + And our Pindar's shining goals!-- + These were cup-bearers undying, + Of the wine that's meant for souls." + +More fond of books than of social life, she was laying the necessary +foundation for a noble fame. The lives of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, +George Eliot, and Margaret Fuller, emphasize the necessity of almost +unlimited knowledge, if woman would reach lasting fame. A great man +or woman of letters, without great scholarship, is well-nigh an +impossible thing. + +Nine years after her first book, _Prometheus Bound and Miscellaneous +Poems_ was published in 1835. She was now twenty-six. A translation +from the Greek of Aeschylus by a woman caused much comment, but like +the first book it received severe criticism. Several years afterward, +when she brought her collected poems before the world, she wrote: "One +early failure, a translation of the _Prometheus of Aeschylus_, which, +though happily free of the current of publication, may be remembered +against me by a few of my personal friends, I have replaced here by an +entirely new version, made for them and my conscience, in expiation of +a sin of my youth, with the sincerest application of my mature mind." +"This latter version," says Mr. Stedman, "of a most sublime tragedy +is more poetical than any other of equal correctness, and has the +fire and vigor of a master-hand. No one has succeeded better than its +author in capturing with rhymed measures the wilful rushing melody of +the tragic chorus." + +In 1835 Miss Barrett made the acquaintance of Mary Russell Mitford, +and a life-long friendship resulted. Miss Mitford says: "She was +certainly one of the most interesting persons I had ever seen. +Everybody who then saw her said the same. Of a slight, delicate +figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on either side of a most +expressive face, large tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, +a smile like a sunbeam, and such a look of youthfulness, that I had +some difficulty in persuading a friend, in whose carriage we went +together to Cheswick, that the translatress of the _Prometheus of +Aeschylus_, the authoress of the _Essay on Mind_, was old enough to +be introduced into company, in technical language, was out. We met so +constantly and so familiarly that, in spite of the difference of +age, intimacy ripened into friendship, and after my return into the +country, we corresponded freely and frequently, her letters being just +what letters ought to be,--her own talk put upon paper." + +The next year Miss Barrett, never robust, broke a blood-vessel in the +lungs. For a year she was ill, and then with her eldest and favorite +brother, was carried to Torquay to try the effect of a warmer climate. +After a year spent here, she greatly improved, and seemed likely to +recover her usual health. + +One beautiful summer morning she went on the balcony to watch her +brother and two other young men who had gone out for a sail. Having +had much experience, and understanding the coast, they allowed the +boatman to return to land. Only a few minutes out, and in plain sight, +as they were crossing the bar, the boat went down, and the three +friends perished. Their bodies even were never recovered. + +The whole town was in mourning. Posters were put upon every cliff and +public place, offering large rewards "for linen cast ashore marked +with the initials of the beloved dead; for it so chanced that all the +three were of the dearest and the best: one, an only son; the other, +the son of a widow"; but the sea was forever silent. + +The sister, who had seen her brother sink before her eyes, was utterly +prostrated. She blamed herself for his death, because he came to +Torquay for her comfort. All winter long she heard the sound of +waves ringing in her ears like the moans of the dying. From this time +forward she never mentioned her brother's name, and later, exacted +from Mr. Browning a promise that the subject should never be broached +between them. + +The following year she was removed to London in an invalid carriage, +journeying twenty miles a day. And then for seven years, in a large +darkened room, lying much of the time upon her couch, and seeing only +a few most intimate friends, the frail woman lived and wrote. Books +more than ever became her solace and joy. Miss Mitford says, "She read +almost every book worth reading, in almost every language, and gave +herself heart and soul to that poetry of which she seem born to be the +priestess." When Dr. Barry urged that she read light books, she had a +small edition of Plato bound so as to resemble a novel, and the good +man was satisfied. She understood her own needs better than he. + +When she was twenty-nine, she published _The Seraphim and Other +Poems_. The _Seraphim_ was a reverential description of two angels +watching the Crucifixion. Though the critics saw much that was +strikingly original, they condemned the frequent obscurity of meaning +and irregularity of rhyme. The next year, _The Romaunt of the Page_ +and other ballads appeared, and in 1844, when she was thirty-five, a +complete edition of her poems, opening with the _Drama of Exile_. +This was the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, the first scene +representing "the outer side of the gate of Eden shut fast with cloud, +from the depth of which revolves a sword of fire self-moved. Adam and +Eve are seen in the distance flying along the glare." + +In one of her prefaces she said: "Poetry has been to me as serious a +thing as life itself,--and life has been a _very_ serious thing; there +has been no playing at skittles for me in either. I never mistook +pleasure for the final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of +the poet. I have done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand +and head work, apart from the personal being, but as the completest +expression of that being to which I could attain,--and as work I offer +it to the public, feeling its shortcomings more deeply than any of +my readers, because measured from the height of my aspiration; but +feeling also that the reverence and sincerity with which the work was +done should give it some protection from the reverent and sincere." + +While the _Drama of Exile_ received some adverse criticism, the shorter +poems became the delight of thousands. Who has not held his breath in +reading the _Rhyme of the Duchess May_?-- + + "And her head was on his breast, where she smiled as one at rest,-- + _Toll slowly_. + 'Ring,' she cried, 'O vesper-bell, in the beech-wood's old chapelle!' + But the passing-bell rings best! + + "They have caught out at the rein, which Sir Guy threw loose--in vain,-- + _Toll slowly_. + For the horse in stark despair, with his front hoofs poised in air, + On the last verge rears amain. + + "Now he hangs, he rocks between, and his nostrils curdle in!-- + _Toll slowly_. + Now he shivers head and hoof, and the flakes of foam fall off, + And his face grows fierce and thin! + + "And a look of human woe from his staring eyes did go, + _Toll slowly_. + And a sharp cry uttered he, in a foretold agony of the headlong death below." + +Who can ever forget that immortal _Cry of the Children_, which awoke +all England to the horrors of child-labor? That, and Hood's _Song of +the Shirt_, will never die. + +Who has not read and loved one of the most tender poems in any +language, _Bertha in the Lane_?-- + + "Yes, and He too! let him stand + In thy thoughts, untouched by blame. + Could he help it, if my hand + He had claimed with hasty claim? + That was wrong perhaps--but then + Such things be--and will, again. + Women cannot judge for men. + + * * * * * + + "And, dear Bertha, let me keep + On this hand this little ring, + Which at night, when others sleep, + I can still see glittering. + Let me wear it out of sight, + In the grave,--where it will light + All the Dark up, day and night." + +No woman has ever understood better the fulness of love, or described +it more purely and exquisitely. + +One person among the many who had read Miss Barrett's poems, felt +their genius, because he had genius in his own soul, and that person +was Robert Browning. That she admired his poetic work was shown in +_Lady Geraldine's Courtship_, when Bertram reads to his lady-love:-- + + "Or at times a modern volume,--Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted idyl, + Howitt's ballad verse, or Tennyson's enchanted reverie, + Or from Browning some _Pomegranate_, which, if cut deep down the middle, + Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity." + +Mr. Browning determined to meet the unknown singer. Years later he +told the story to Elizabeth C. Kinney, when she had gone with the +happy husband and wife on a day's excursion from Florence. She says: +"Finding that the invalid did not receive strangers, he wrote her a +letter, intense with his desire to see her. She reluctantly consented +to an interview. He flew to her apartment, was admitted by the nurse, +in whose presence only could he see the deity at whose shrine he had +long worshipped. But the golden opportunity was not to be lost; love +became oblivious to any save the presence of the real of its ideal. +Then and there Robert Browning poured his impassioned soul into hers; +though his tale of love seemed only an enthusiast's dream. Infirmity +had hitherto so hedged her about, that she deemed herself forever +protected from all assaults of love. Indeed, she felt only injured +that a fellow-poet should take advantage, as it were, of her +indulgence in granting him an interview, and requested him to withdraw +from her presence, not attempting any response to his proposal, which +she could not believe in earnest. Of course, he withdrew from her +sight, but not to withdraw the offer of his heart and hand; on the +contrary, to repeat it by letter, and in such wise as to convince her +how 'dead in earnest' he was. Her own heart, touched already when she +knew it not, was this time fain to listen, be convinced, and overcome. + +"As a filial daughter, Elizabeth told her father of the poet's love, +and of the poet's love in return, and asked a parent's blessing to +crown their happiness. At first he was incredulous of the strange +story; but when the truth flashed on him from the new fire in +her eyes, he kindled with rage, and forbade her ever seeing or +communicating with her lover again, on the penalty of disinheritance +and banishment forever from a father's love. This decision was founded +on no dislike for Mr. Browning personally, or anything in him or his +family; it was simply arbitrary. But the new love was stronger +than the old in her,--it conquered." Mr. Barrett never forgave his +daughter, and died unreconciled, which to her was a great grief. + +In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett arose from her sick-bed to marry the man +of her choice, who took her at once to Italy, where she spent fifteen +happy years. At once, love seemed to infuse new life into the delicate +body and renew the saddened heart. She was thirty-seven. She had +wisely waited till she found a person of congenial tastes and kindred +pursuits. Had she married earlier, it is possible that the cares of +life might have deprived the world of some of her noblest works. + +The marriage was an ideal one. Both had a grand purpose in life. +Neither individual was merged in the other. George S. Hillard, in his +_Six Months in Italy_, when he visited the Brownings the year after +their marriage, says, "A happier home and a more perfect union than +theirs it is not easy to imagine; and this completeness arises not +only from the rare qualities which each possesses, but from their +perfect adaptation to each other.... Nor is she more remarkable +for genius and learning, than for sweetness of temper and purity of +spirit. It is a privilege to know such beings singly and separately, +but to see their powers quickened, and their happiness rounded, by the +sacred tie of marriage, is a cause for peculiar and lasting gratitude. +A union so complete as theirs--in which the mind has nothing to +crave nor the heart to sigh for--is cordial to behold and soothing to +remember." + +"Mr. Browning," says one who knew him well, "did not fear to speak +of his wife's genius, which he did almost with awe, losing himself so +entirely in her glory that one could see that he did not feel worthy +to unloose her shoe-latchet, much less to call her his own." + +When mothers teach their daughters to cultivate their minds as did +Mrs. Browning, as well as to emulate her sweetness of temper, then +will men venerate women for both mental and moral power. A love that +has reverence for its foundation knows no change. + +"Mrs. Browning's conversation was most interesting. She never made an +insignificant remark. All that she said was _always_ worth hearing; a +greater compliment could not be paid her. She was a most conscientious +listener, giving you her mind and heart, as well as her magnetic eyes. +_Persons_ were never her theme, unless public characters were under +discussion, or friends were to be praised. One never dreamed of +frivolities in Mrs. Browning's presence, and gossip felt itself out +of place. Yourself, not herself, was always a pleasant subject to her, +calling out all her best sympathies in joy, and yet more in sorrow. +Books and humanity, great deeds, and above all, politics, which +include all the grand questions of the day, were foremost in her +thoughts, and therefore oftenest on her lips. I speak not of religion, +for with her everything was religion. + +"Thoughtful in the smallest things for others, she seemed to give +little thought to herself. The first to see merit, she was the last +to censure faults, and gave the praise that she felt with a generous +hand. No one so heartily rejoiced at the success of others, no one +was so modest in her own triumphs. She loved all who offered her +affection, and would solace and advise with any. Mrs. Browning +belonged to no particular country; the world was inscribed upon the +banner under which she fought. Wrong was her enemy; against this she +wrestled, in whatever part of the globe it was to be found." + +Three years after her marriage her only son was born. The Italians +ever after called her "the mother of the beautiful child." And now +some of her ablest and strongest work was done. Her _Casa Guidi +Windows_ appeared in 1851. It is the story of the struggle for Italian +liberty. In the same volume were published the _Portuguese Sonnets_, +really her own love-life. It would be difficult to find any thing more +beautiful than these. + + "First time he kissed me he but only kissed + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write, + And ever since, it grew more clean and white, + Slow to world-greetings, quick with its 'Oh, list,' + When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst + I could not wear here, plainer to my sight, + Than that first kiss. The second passed in height + The first, and sought the forehead, and half-missed + Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed! + That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown + With sanctifying sweetness, did precede. + The third upon my lips was folded down + In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed, + I have been proud and said, 'My love, my own!' + + * * * * * + + How do I love thee? Let me count the ways, + I love thee to the depth and breadth and height + My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight + For the ends of being and ideal Grace. + I love thee to the level of every day's + Most quiet need, by sun and candle light. + I love thee freely, as men strive for Right, + I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. + I love thee with the passion put to use + In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. + I love thee with a love I seemed to lose + With my lost saints--I love thee with the breath, + Smiles, tears of all my life!--and, if God choose, + I shall but love thee better after death." + +Mrs. Browning's next great poem, in 1856, was _Aurora Leigh_, a novel +in blank verse, "the most mature," she says in the preface, "of my +works, and the one into which my highest convictions upon Life and Art +have entered." Walter Savage Landor said of it: "In many pages there +is the wild imagination of Shakespeare. I had no idea that any one in +this age was capable of such poetry." + +For fifteen years this happy wedded life, with its work of brain and +hand, had been lived, and now the bond was to be severed. In June, +1861, Mrs. Browning took a severe cold, and was ill for nearly a week. +No one thought of danger, though Mr. Browning would not leave her +bedside. On the night of June 29, toward morning she seemed to be in +a sort of ecstasy. She told her husband of her love for him, gave +him her blessing, and raised herself to die in his arms. "It is +beautiful," were her last words as she caught a glimpse of some +heavenly vision. On the evening of July 1, she was buried in the +English cemetery, in the midst of sobbing friends, for who could carry +out that request?-- + + "And friends, dear friends, when it shall be + That this low breath is gone from me, + And round my bier ye come to weep, + Let one most loving of you all + Say, 'Not a tear must o'er her fall,-- + He giveth his beloved sleep!'" + +The Italians, who loved her, placed on the doorway of Casa Guidi a +white marble tablet, with the words:-- + +"_Here wrote and died E.B. Browning, who, in the heart of a woman, +united the science of a sage and the spirit of a poet, and made with +her verse a golden ring binding Italy and England. + +"Grateful Florence placed this memorial, 1861_." + +For twenty-five years Robert Browning and his artist-son have done +their work, blessed with the memory of her whom Mr. Stedman calls +"the most inspired woman, so far as known, of all who have composed in +ancient or modern tongues, or flourished in any land or time." + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT. + +[Illustration: GEORGE ELIOT--1864.] + +Going to the Exposition at New Orleans, I took for reading on the +journey, the life of George Eliot, by her husband, Mr. J.W. Cross, +written with great delicacy and beauty. An accident delayed us, so +that for three days I enjoyed this insight into a wonderful life. I +copied the amazing list of books she had read, and transferred to my +note-book many of her beautiful thoughts. To-day I have been reading +the book again; a clear, vivid picture of a very great woman, whose +works, says the _Spectator_, "are the best specimens of powerful, +simple English, since Shakespeare." + +What made her a superior woman? Not wealthy parentage; not congenial +surroundings. She had a generous, sympathetic heart for a foundation, +and on this she built a scholarship that even few men can equal. She +loved science, and philosophy, and language, and mathematics, and grew +broad enough to discuss great questions and think great thoughts. And +yet she was affectionate, tender, and gentle. + +Mary Ann Evans was born Nov. 22, 1819, at Arbury Farm, a mile from +Griff, in Warwickshire, England. When four months old the family +moved to Griff, where the girl lived till she was twenty-one, in a +two-story, old-fashioned, red brick house, the walls covered with +ivy. Two Norway firs and an old yew-tree shaded the lawn. The father, +Robert Evans, a man of intelligence and good sense, was bred a builder +and carpenter, afterward becoming a land-agent for one of the large +estates. The mother was a woman of sterling character, practical and +capable. + +For the three children, Christiana, Isaac, and Mary Ann, there was +little variety in the commonplace life at Griff. Twice a day the coach +from Birmingham to Stamford passed by the house, and the coachman +and guard in scarlet were a great diversion. She thus describes, the +locality in _Felix Holt_: "Here were powerful men walking queerly, +with knees bent outward from squatting in the mine, going home to +throw themselves down in their blackened flannel, and sleep through +the daylight, then rise and spend much of their high wages at the +alehouse with their fellows of the Benefit Club; here the pale, eager +faces of handloom weavers, men and women, haggard from sitting up late +at night to finish the week's work, hardly begun till the Wednesday. +Everywhere the cottages and the small children were dirty, for the +languid mothers gave their strength to the loom." + +Mary Ann was an affectionate, sensitive child, fond of out-door +sports, imitating everything she saw her brother do, and early in +life feeling in her heart that she was to be "somebody." When but four +years old, she would seat herself at the piano and play, though she +did not know one note from another, that the servant might see that +she was a distinguished person! Her life was a happy one, as is shown +in her _Brother and Sister Sonnet_:-- + + "But were another childhood's world my share, + I would be born a little sister there." + +At five, the mother being in poor health, the child was sent to a +boarding-school with her sister, Chrissy, where she remained three or +four years. The older scholars petted her, calling her "little mamma." +At eight she went to a larger school, at Nuneaton, where one of the +teachers, Miss Lewis, became her life-long friend. The child had the +greatest fondness for reading, her first book, a _Linnet's Life_, +being tenderly cared for all her days. _Aesop's Fables_ were read and +re-read. At this time a neighbor had loaned one of the Waverley novels +to the older sister, who returned it before Mary Ann had finished +it. Distressed at this break in the story, she began to write out as +nearly as she could remember, the whole volume for herself. Her amazed +family re-borrowed the book, and the child was happy. The mother +sometimes protested against the use of so many candles for night +reading, and rightly feared that her eyes would be spoiled. + +At the next school, at Coventry, Mary Ann so surpassed her comrades +that they stood in awe of her, but managed to overcome this when +a basket of dainties came in from the country home. In 1836 the +excellent mother died. Mary Ann wrote to a friend in after life, "I +began at sixteen to be acquainted with the unspeakable grief of a last +parting, in the death of my mother." In the following spring Chrissy +was married, and after a good cry with her brother over this breaking +up of the home circle, Mary Ann took upon herself the household +duties, and became the care-taker instead of the school-girl. Although +so young she took a leading part in the benevolent work of the +neighborhood. + +Her love for books increased. She engaged a well-known teacher to come +from Coventry and give her lessons in French, German, and Italian, +while another helped her in music, of which she was passionately fond. +Later, she studied Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. Shut up in +the farm-house, hungering for knowledge, she applied herself with +a persistency and earnestness that by-and-by were to bear their +legitimate fruit. That she felt the privation of a collegiate course +is undoubted. She says in _Daniel Deronda_: "You may try, but you can +never imagine what it is to have a man's force of genius in you, and +yet to suffer the slavery of being a girl." + +She did not neglect her household duties. One of her hands, which +were noticeable for their beauty of shape, was broader than the other, +which, she used to say with some pride, was owing to the butter +and cheese she had made. At twenty she was reading the _Life of +Wilberforce_, Josephus' _History of the Jews_, Spenser's _Faery Queen, +Don Quixote_, Milton, Bacon, Mrs. Somerville's _Connection of the +Physical Sciences_, and Wordsworth. The latter was always an especial +favorite, and his life, by Frederick Myers in the _Men of Letters_ +series, was one of the last books she ever read. + +Already she was learning the illimitableness of knowledge. "For my +part," she says, "I am ready to sit down and weep at the impossibility +of my understanding or barely knowing a fraction of the sum of objects +that present themselves for our contemplation in books and in life." + +About this time Mr. Evans left the farm, and moved to Foleshill, near +Coventry. The poor people at Griff were very sorry, and said, "We +shall never have another Mary Ann Evans." Marian, as she was now +called, found at Foleshill a few intellectual and companionable +friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bray, both authors, and Miss Hennell, their +sister. + +Through the influence of these friends she gave up some of her +evangelical views, but she never ceased to be a devoted student +and lover of the Bible. She was happy in her communing with nature. +"Delicious autumn," she said. "My very soul is wedded to it, and if +I were a bird, I would fly about the earth, seeking the successive +autumns.... I have been revelling in Nichol's _Architecture, of +the Heavens and Phenomena of the Solar System_, and have been in +imagination winging my flight from system to system, from universe to +universe." + +In 1844, when Miss Evans was twenty-five years old, she began the +translation of Strauss' _Life of Jesus_. The lady who was to marry +Miss Hennell's brother had partially done the work, and asked Miss +Evans to finish it. For nearly three years she gave it all the time at +her command, receiving only one hundred dollars for the labor. + +It was a difficult and weary work. "When I can work fast," she said, +"I am never weary, nor do I regret either that the work has been begun +or that I have undertaken it. I am only inclined to vow that I will +never translate again, if I live to correct the sheets for Strauss." +When the book was finished, it was declared to be "A faithful, +elegant, and scholarlike translation ... word for word, thought for +thought, and sentence for sentence." Strauss himself was delighted +with it. + +The days passed as usual in the quiet home. Now she and her father, +the latter in failing health, visited the Isle of Wight, and saw +beautiful Alum Bay, with its "high precipice, the strata upheaved +perpendicularly in rainbow,--like streaks of the brightest maize, +violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and brilliant white,--worn by the +weather into fantastic fretwork, the deep blue sky above, and the +glorious sea below." Who of us has not felt this same delight in +looking upon this picture, painted by nature? + +Now Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as other famous people, visited the +Bray family. Miss Evans writes: "I have seen Emerson,--the first _man_ +I have ever seen." High praise indeed from our "great, calm soul," +as he called Miss Evans. "I am grateful for the Carlyle eulogium (on +Emerson). I have shed some quite delicious tears over it. This is +a world worth abiding in while one man can thus venerate and love +another." + +Each evening she played on the piano to her admiring father, and +finally, through months of illness, carried him down tenderly to the +grave. He died May 31, 1849. + +Worn with care, Miss Evans went upon the Continent with the Brays, +visiting Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, and finally resting for some +months at Geneva'. As her means were limited, she tried to sell her +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ at half-price, so that she could have money +for music lessons, and to attend a course of lectures on experimental +physics, by the renowned Professor de la Rive. She was also carefully +reading socialistic themes, Proudhon, Rousseau, and others. She wrote +to friends: "The days are really only two hours long, and I have so +many things to do that I go to bed every night miserable because I +have left out something I meant to do.... I take a dose of mathematics +every day to prevent my brain from becoming quite soft." + +On her return to England, she visited the Brays, and met Mr. Chapman, +the editor of the _Westminster Review_, and Mr. Mackay, upon whose +_Progress of the Intellect_ she had just written a review. Mr. Chapman +must have been deeply impressed with the learning and ability of Miss +Evans, for he offered her the position of assistant editor of the +magazine,--a most unusual position for a woman, since its contributors +were Froude, Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and other able men. + +Miss Evans accepted, and went to board with Mr. Chapman's family in +London. How different this from the quiet life at Foleshill! The best +society, that is, the greatest in mind, opened wide its doors to her. +Herbert Spencer, who had just published _Social Statics_, became one of +her best friends. Harriet Martineau came often to see her. Grote was +very friendly. + +The woman-editor was now thirty-two; her massive head covered with +brown curls, blue-gray eyes, mobile, sympathetic mouth, strong +chin, pale face, and soft, low voice, like Dorothea's in +_Middlemarch_,--"the voice of a soul that has once lived in an Aeolian +harp." Mr. Bray thought that Miss Evans' head, after that of Napoleon, +showed the largest development from brow to ear of any person's +recorded. + +She had extraordinary power of expression, and extraordinary +psychological powers, but her chief attraction was her universal +sympathy. "She essentially resembled Socrates," says Mathilde Blind, +"in her manner of eliciting whatsoever capacity for thought might +be latent in the people she came in contact with; were it only a +shoemaker or day-laborer, she would never rest till she had found out +in what points that particular man differed from other men of his +class. She always rather educed what was in others than impressed +herself on them; showing much kindliness of heart in drawing out +people who were shy. Sympathy was the keynote of her nature, the +source of her iridescent humor, of her subtle knowledge of character, +of her dramatic genius." No person attains to permanent fame without +sympathy. + +Miss Evans now found her heart and hands full of work. Her first +article was a review of Carlyle's _Life of John Sterling_. She was +fond of biography. She said: "We have often wished that genius would +incline itself more frequently to the task of the biographer, +that when some great or good person dies, instead of the dreary +three-or-five volume compilation of letter and diary and detail, +little to the purpose, which two-thirds of the public have not the +chance, nor the other third the inclination, to read, we could have +a real 'life,' setting forth briefly and vividly the man's inward and +outward struggles, aims, and achievements, so as to make clear the +meaning which his experience has for his fellows. + +"A few such lives (chiefly autobiographies) the world possesses, +and they have, perhaps, been more influential on the formation of +character than any other kind of reading.... It is a help to read such +a life as Margaret Fuller's. How inexpressibly touching that passage +from her journal, 'I shall always reign through the intellect, but the +life! the life! O my God! shall that never be sweet?' I am thankful, +as if for myself, that it was sweet at last." + +The great minds which Miss Evans met made life a constant joy, though +she was frail in health. Now Herbert Spencer took her to hear _William +Tell_ or the _Creation_. She wrote of him: "We have agreed that we +are not in love with each other, and that there is no reason why we +should not have as much of each other's society as we like. He is a +good, delightful creature, and I always feel better for being with +him.... My brightest spot, next to my love of _old_ friends, is the +deliciously calm, _new_ friendship that Herbert Spencer gives me. +We see each other every day, and have a delightful _camaraderie_ in +everything. But for him my life would be desolate enough." + +There is no telling what this happy friendship might have resulted in, +if Mr. Spencer had not introduced to Miss Evans, George Henry Lewes, a +man of brilliant conversational powers, who had written a _History of +Philosophy_, two novels, _Ranthorpe_, and _Rose, Blanche, and Violet_, +and was a contributor to several reviews. Mr. Lewes was a witty +and versatile man, a dramatic critic, an actor for a short time, +unsuccessful as an editor of a newspaper, and unsuccessful in his +domestic relations. + +That he loved Miss Evans is not strange; that she admired him, while +she pitied him and his three sons in their broken home-life, is +perhaps not strange. At first she did not like him, nor did Margaret +Fuller, but Miss Evans says: "Mr. Lewes is kind and attentive, and has +quite won my regard, after having had a good deal of my vituperation. +Like a few other people in the world, he is much better than he seems. +A man of heart and conscience wearing a mask of flippancy." + +Miss Evans tired of her hard work, as who does not in this working +world? "I am bothered to death," she writes, "with article-reading and +scrap-work of all sorts; it is clear my poor head will never produce +anything under these circumstances; _but I am patient_.... I had +a long call from George Combe yesterday. He says he thinks the +_Westminster_ under _my_ management the most important means of +enlightenment of a literary nature in existence; the _Edinburgh_, +under Jeffrey, nothing to it, etc. I wish _I_ thought so too." + +Sick with continued headaches, she went up to the English lakes to +visit Miss Martineau. The coach, at half-past six in the evening, +stopped at "The Knoll," and a beaming face came to welcome her. During +the evening, she says, "Miss Martineau came behind me, put her hands +round me, and kissed me in the prettiest way, telling me she was so +glad she had got me here." + +Meantime Miss Evans was writing learned and valuable articles on +_Taxation, Woman in France, Evangelical Teaching_, etc. She received +five hundred dollars yearly from her father's estate, but she lived +simply, that she might spend much of this for poor relations. + +In 1854 she resigned her position on the _Westminster_, and went with +Mr. Lewes to Germany, forming a union which thousands who love her +must regard as the great mistake of a very great life. + +Mr. Lewes was collecting materials for his _Life of Goethe_. This took +them to Goethe's home at Weimar. "By the side of the bed," she says, +"stands a stuffed chair where he used to sit and read while he drank +his coffee in the morning. It was not until very late in his life that +he adopted the luxury of an armchair. From the other side of the +study one enters the library, which is fitted up in a very make-shift +fashion, with rough deal shelves, and bits of paper, with Philosophy, +History, etc., written on them, to mark the classification of the +books. Among such memorials one breathes deeply, and the tears rush to +one's eyes." + +George Eliot met Liszt, and "for the first time in her life beheld +real inspiration,--for the first time heard the true tones of the +piano." Rauch, the great sculptor, called upon them, and "won our +hearts by his beautiful person and the benignant and intelligent charm +of his conversation." + +Both writers were hard at work. George Eliot was writing an article +on _Weimar_ for _Fraser_, on _Cumming_ for _Westminster_, and +translating Spinoza's _Ethics_. No name was signed to these +productions, as it would not do to have it known that a woman wrote +them. The education of most women was so meagre that the articles +would have been considered of little value. Happily Girton and Newnham +colleges are changing this estimate of the sex. Women do not like +to be regarded as inferior; then they must educate themselves as +thoroughly as the best men are educated. + +Mr. Lewes was not well. "This is a terrible trial to us poor +scribblers," she writes, "to whom health is money, as well as all +other things worth having." They had but one sitting-room between +them, and the scratching of another pen so affected her nerves, as to +drive her nearly wild. Pecuniarily, life was a harder struggle than +ever, for there were four more mouths to be fed,--Mr. Lewes' three +sons and their mother. + +"Our life is intensely occupied, and the days are far too short," +she writes. They were reading in every spare moment, twelve plays of +Shakespeare, Goethe's works, _Wilhelm Meister, Goetz von Berlichingen, +Hermann and Dorothea, Iphigenia, Wanderjahre, Italianische Reise_, +and others; Heine's poems; Lessing's _Laocooen_ and _Nathan the +Wise_; Macaulay's _History of England_; Moore's _Life of Sheridan_; +Brougham's _Lives of Men of Letters_; White's _History of Selborne_; +Whewell's _History of Inductive Sciences_; Boswell; Carpenter's +_Comparative Physiology_; Jones' _Animal Kingdom_; Alison's _History +of Europe_; Kahnis' _History of German Protestantism_; Schrader's +_German Mythology_; Kingsley's _Greek Heroes_; and the _Iliad_ and +_Odyssey_ in the original. She says, "If you want delightful reading, +get Lowell's _My Study Windows_, and read the essays called _My Garden +Acquaintances_ and _Winter_." No wonder they were busy. + +On their return from Germany they went to the sea-shore, that Mr. +Lewes might perfect his _Sea-side Studies_. George Eliot entered +heartily into the work. "We were immensely excited," she says, "by the +discovery of this little red mesembryanthemum. It was a _crescendo_ of +delight when we found a 'strawberry,' and a _fortissimo_ when I, for +the first time, saw the pale, fawn-colored tentacles of an _Anthea +cereus_ viciously waving like little serpents in a low-tide pool." +They read here Gosse's _Rambles on the Devonshire Coast_, Edward's +_Zoology_, Harvey's sea-side book, and other scientific works. + +And now at thirty-seven George Eliot was to begin her creative work. +Mr. Lewes had often said to her, "You have wit, description, and +philosophy--those go a good way towards the production of a novel." +"It had always been a vague dream of mine," she says, "that sometime +or other I might write a novel ... but I never went further toward +the actual writing than an introductory chapter, describing a +Staffordshire village, and the life of the neighboring farm-houses; +and as the years passed on I lost any hope that. I should ever be +able to write a novel, just as I desponded about everything else in my +future life. I always thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both +of construction and dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease in the +descriptive parts." + +After she had written a portion of _Amos Barton_ in her _Scenes of +Clerical Life_, she read it to Mr. Lewes, who told her that now he +was sure she could write good dialogue, but not as yet sure about her +pathos. One evening, in his absence, she wrote the scene describing +Milly's death, and read it to Mr. Lewes, on his return. "We both cried +over it," she says, "and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying, +'I think your pathos is better than your fun!'" + +Mr. Lewes sent the story to Blackwood, with the signature of "George +Eliot,"--the first name chosen because it was his own name, and the +last because it pleased her fancy. Mr. Lewes wrote that this story +by a friend of his, showed, according to his judgment, "such humor, +pathos, vivid presentation, and nice observation as have not been +exhibited, in this style, since the _Vicar of Wakefield_." + +Mr. John Blackwood accepted the story, but made some comments which +discouraged the author from trying another. Mr. Lewes wrote him the +effects of his words, which he hastened to withdraw, as there was so +much to be said in praise that he really desired more stories from the +same pen, and sent her a check for two hundred and fifty dollars. + +This was evidently soothing, as _Mr. Gilfil's Love Story_ and _Janet's +Repentance_ were at once written. Much interest began to be expressed +about the author. Some said Bulwer wrote the sketches. Thackeray +praised them, and Arthur Helps said, "He is a great writer." Copies of +the stories bound together, with the title _Scenes of Clerical +Life_, were sent to Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Ruskin, and +Faraday. Dickens praised the humor and the pathos, and thought the +author was a woman. + +Jane Welch Carlyle thought it "a _human_ book, written out of the +heart of a live man, not merely out of the brain of an author, full +of tenderness and pathos, without a scrap of sentimentality, of sense +without dogmatism, of earnestness without twaddle--a book that makes +one feel friends at once and for always with the man or woman who +wrote it." She guessed the author was "a man of middle age, with a +wife, from whom he has got those beautiful _feminine_ touches in his +book, a good many children, and a dog that he has as much fondness for +as I have for my little Nero." + +Mr. Lewes was delighted, and said, "Her fame is beginning." George +Eliot was growing happier, for her nature had been somewhat +despondent. She used to say, "Expecting disappointments is the only +form of hope with which I am familiar." She said, "I feel a deep +satisfaction in having done a bit of faithful work that will perhaps +remain, like a primrose-root in the hedgerow, and gladden and chasten +human hearts in years to come." "'Conscience goes to the hammering +in of nails' is my gospel," she would say. "Writing is part of my +religion, and I can write no word that is not prompted from within. +At the same time I believe that almost all the best books in the world +have been written with the hope of getting money for them." + +"My life has deepened unspeakably during the last year: I feel a +greater capacity for moral and intellectual enjoyment, a more acute +sense of my deficiencies in the past, a more solemn desire to be +faithful to coming duties." + +For _Scenes of Clerical Life_ she received six hundred dollars for the +first edition, and much more after her other books appeared. + +And now another work, a longer one, was growing in her mind, _Adam +Bede_, the germ of which, she says, was an anecdote told her by her +aunt, Elizabeth Evans, the Dinah Morris of the book. A very ignorant +girl had murdered her child, and refused to confess it. Mrs. Evans, +who was a Methodist preacher, stayed with her all night, praying with +her, and at last she burst into tears and confessed her crime. +Mrs. Evans went with her in the cart to the place of execution, and +ministered to the unhappy girl till death came. + +When the first pages of _Adam Bede_ were shown to Mr. Blackwood, +he said, "That will do." George Eliot and Mr. Lewes went to Munich, +Dresden, and Vienna for rest and change, and she prepared much of the +book in this time. When it was finished, she wrote on the manuscript, +_Jubilate_. "To my dear husband, George Henry Lewes, I give the Ms. of +a work which would never have been written but for the happiness which +his love has conferred on my life." + +For this novel she received four thousand dollars for the copyright +for four years. Fame had actually come. All the literary world were +talking about it. John Murray said there had never been such a book. +Charles Reade said, putting his finger on Lisbeth's account of her +coming home with her husband from their marriage, "the finest thing +since Shakespeare." A workingman wrote: "Forgive me, dear sir, my +boldness in asking you to give us a cheap edition. You would confer on +us a great boon. I can get plenty of trash for a few pence, but I am +sick of it." Mr. Charles Buxton said, in the House of Commons: "As the +farmer's wife says in _Adam Bede_, 'It wants to be hatched over again +and hatched different.'" This of course greatly helped to popularize +the book. + +To George Eliot all this was cause for the deepest gratitude. They +were able now to rent a home at Wandworth, and move to it at once. +The poverty and the drudgery of life seemed over. She said: "I sing my +magnificat in a quiet way, and have a great deal of deep, silent joy; +but few authors, I suppose, who have had a real success, have known +less of the flush and the sensations of triumph that are talked of as +the accompaniments of success. I often think of my dreams when I was +four or five and twenty. I thought then how happy fame would make +me.... I am assured now that _Adam Bede_ was worth writing,--worth +living through those long years to write. But now it seems impossible +that I shall ever write anything so good and true again." Up to this +time the world did not know who George Eliot was; but as a man by +the name of Liggins laid claim to the authorship, and tried to borrow +money for his needs because Blackwood would not pay him, the real name +of the author had to be divulged. + +Five thousand copies of _Adam Bede_ were sold the first two weeks, and +sixteen thousand the first year. So excellent was the sale that Mr. +Blackwood sent her four thousand dollars in addition to the first +four. The work was soon translated into French, German, and Hungarian. +Mr. Lewes' _Physiology of Common Life_ was now published, but it +brought little pecuniary return. + +The reading was carried on as usual by the two students. The _Life +of George Stephenson_; the _Electra_ of Sophocles; the _Agamemnon_ of +Aeschylus, Harriet Martineau's _British Empire in India_; and _History +of the Thirty Years' Peace_; Beranger, _Modern Painters_, containing +some of the finest writing of the age; Overbech on Greek art; Anna +Mary Howitt's book on Munich; Carlyle's _Life of Frederick the Great_; +Darwin's _Origin of Species_; Emerson's _Man the Reformer_, "which +comes to me with fresh beauty and meaning"; Buckle's _History of +Civilization_; Plato and Aristotle. + +An American publisher now offered her six thousand dollars for a book, +but she was obliged to decline, for she was writing the _Mill on the +Floss_, in 1860, for which Blackwood gave her ten thousand dollars +for the first edition of four thousand copies, and Harper & Brothers +fifteen hundred dollars for using it also. Tauchnitz paid her five +hundred for the German reprint. + +She said: "I am grateful and yet rather sad to have finished; sad that +I shall live with my people on the banks of the Floss no longer. But +it is time that I should go, and absorb some new life and gather fresh +ideas." They went at once to Italy, where they spent several months in +Florence, Venice, and Rome. + +In the former city she made her studies for her great novel, _Romola_. +She read Sismondi's _History of the Italian Republics_, Tenneman's +_History of Philosophy_, T.A. Trollope's _Beata_, Hallam on the _Study +of Roman Law in the Middle Ages_, Gibbon on the _Revival of Greek +Learning_, Burlamachi's _Life of Savonarola_; also Villari's life +of the great preacher, Mrs. Jameson's _Sacred and Legendary Art_, +Machiavelli's works, Petrarch's Letters, _Casa Guidi Windows_, Buhle's +_History of Modern Philosophy_, Story's _Roba di Roma_, Liddell's +_Rome_, Gibbon, Mosheim, and one might almost say the whole range of +Italian literature in the original. Of Mommsen's _History of Rome_ +she said, "It is so fine that I count all minds graceless who read it +without the deepest stirrings." + +The study necessary to make one familiar with fifteenth century times +was almost limitless. No wonder she told Mr. Cross, years afterward, +"I began _Romola_ a young woman, I finished it an old woman"; but +that, with _Adam Bede_ and _Middlemarch_, will be her monument. "What +courage and patience," she says, "are wanted for every life that +aims to produce anything!" "In authorship I hold carelessness to be +a mortal sin." "I took unspeakable pains in preparing to write +_Romola_." + +For this one book, on which she spent a year and a half, _Cornhill +Magazine_ paid her the small fortune of thirty-five thousand dollars. +She purchased a pleasant home, "The Priory," Regent's Park, where she +made her friends welcome, though she never made calls upon any, for +lack of time. She had found, like Victor Hugo, that time is a very +precious thing for those who wish to succeed in life. Browning, +Huxley, and Herbert Spencer often came to dine. + +Says Mr. Cross, in his admirable life: "The entertainment was +frequently varied by music when any good performer happened to be +present. I think, however, that the majority of visitors delighted +chiefly to come for the chance of a few words with George Eliot +alone. When the drawing-room door of the Priory opened, a first glance +revealed her always in the same low arm-chair on the left-hand side +of the fire. On entering, a visitor's eye was at once arrested by the +massive head. The abundant hair, streaked with gray now, was draped +with lace, arranged mantilla fashion, coming to a point at the top +of the forehead. If she were engaged in conversation, her body was +usually bent forward with eager, anxious desire to get as close as +possible to the person with whom she talked. She had a great +dislike to raising her voice, and often became so wholly absorbed in +conversation that the announcement of an in-coming visitor failed to +attract her attention; but the moment the eyes were lifted up, and +recognized a friend, they smiled a rare welcome--sincere, cordial, +grave--a welcome that was felt to come straight from the heart, not +graduated according to any social distinction." + +After much reading of Fawcett, Mill, and other writers on political +economy, _Felix Holt_ was written, in 1866, and for this she received +from Blackwood twenty-five thousand dollars. + +Very much worn with her work, though Mr. Lewes relieved her in every +way possible, by writing letters and looking over all criticisms of +her books, which she never read, she was obliged to go to Germany for +rest. + +In 1868 she published her long poem, _The Spanish Gypsy_, reading +Spanish literature carefully, and finally passing some time in Spain, +that she might be the better able to make a lasting work. Had she +given her life to poetry, doubtless she would have been a great poet. + +_Silas Marner_, written before _Romola_, in 1861, had been well +received, and _Middlemarch_, in 1872, made a great sensation. It was +translated into several languages. George Bancroft wrote her from +Berlin that everybody was reading it. For this she received a much +larger sum than the thirty-five thousand which she was paid for +_Romola_. + +A home was now purchased in Surrey, with eight or nine acres of +pleasure grounds, for George Eliot had always longed for trees and +flowers about her house. "Sunlight and sweet air," she said, "make a +new creature of me." _Daniel Deronda_ followed in 1876, for which, it +is said, she read nearly a thousand volumes. Whether this be true +or not, the list of books given in her life, of her reading in these +later years, is as astonishing as it is helpful for any who desire +real knowledge. + +At Witley, in Surrey, they lived a quiet life, seeing only a few +friends like the Tennysons, the Du Mauriers, and Sir Henry and Lady +Holland. Both were growing older, and Mr. Lewes was in very poor +health. Finally, after a ten days' illness, he died, Nov. 28, 1878. + +To George Eliot this loss was immeasurable. She needed his help and +his affection. She said, "I like not only to be loved, but also to +be told that I am loved," and he had idolized her. He said: "I owe +Spencer a debt of gratitude. It was through him that I learned to know +Marian,--to know her was to love her, and since then, my life has been +a new birth. To her I owe all my prosperity and all my happiness. God +bless her!" + +Mr. John Walter Cross, for some time a wealthy banker in New York, had +long been a friend of the family, and though many years younger than +George Eliot, became her helper in these days of need. A George Henry +Lewes studentship, of the value of one thousand dollars yearly, was to +be given to Cambridge for some worthy student of either sex, in memory +of the man she had loved. "I want to live a little time that I may do +certain things for his sake," she said. She grew despondent, and the +Cross family used every means to win her away from her sorrow. + +Mr. Cross' mother, to whom he was devotedly attached, had also died, +and the loneliness of both made their companionship more comforting. +They read Dante together in the original, and gradually the younger +man found that his heart was deeply interested. It was the higher kind +of love, the honor of mind for mind and soul for soul. + +"I shall be," she said, "a better, more loving creature than I could +have been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly grateful for this +gift of a perfect love is the best illumination of one's mind to all +the possible good there may be in store for man on this troublous +little planet." + +Mr. Cross and George Eliot were married, May 6, 1880, a year and a +half after Mr. Lewes' death, his son Charles giving her away, and went +at once to Italy. She wrote: "Marriage has seemed to restore me to my +old self.... To feel daily the loveliness of a nature close to me, and +to feel grateful for it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength +to endure." Having passed through a severe illness, she wrote to a +friend: "I have been cared for by something much better than angelic +tenderness.... If it is any good for me that my life has been +prolonged till now, I believe it is owing to this miraculous affection +that has chosen to watch over me." + +She did not forget Mr. Lewes. In looking upon the Grande Chartreuse, +she said, "I would still give up my own life willingly, if he could +have the happiness instead of me." + +On their return to London, they made their winter home at 4 Cheyne +Walk, Chelsea, a plain brick house. The days were gliding by happily. +George Eliot was interested as ever in all great subjects, giving five +hundred dollars for woman's higher education at Girton College, and +helping many a struggling author, or providing for some poor friend of +early times who was proud to be remembered. + +She and Mr. Cross began their reading for the day with the Bible, she +especially enjoying Isaiah, Jeremiah, and St. Paul's Epistles. Then +they read Max Muller's works, Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, and whatever +was best in English, French, and German literature. Milton she called +her demigod. Her husband says she had "a limitless persistency in +application." Her health was better, and she gave promise of doing +more great work. When urged to write her autobiography, she said, half +sighing and half smiling: "The only thing I should care much to dwell +on would be the absolute despair I suffered from, of ever being able +to achieve anything. No one could ever have felt greater despair, and +a knowledge of this might be a help to some other struggler." + +Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, she went to see _Agamemnon_ performed in +Greek by Oxford students, and the next afternoon to a concert at St. +James Hall. She took cold, and on Monday was treated for sore throat. +On Wednesday evening the doctors came, and she whispered to her +husband, "Tell them I have great pain in the left side." This was +the last word. She died with every faculty bright, and her heart +responsive to all noble things. + +She loved knowledge to the end. She said, "My constant groan is that +I must leave so much of the greatest writing which the centuries have +sifted for me, unread for want of time." + +She had the broadest charity for those whose views differed from +hers. She said, "The best lesson of tolerance we have to learn, is to +tolerate intolerance." She hoped for and "looked forward to the time +when the impulse to help our fellows shall be as immediate and as +irresistible as that which I feel to grasp something firm if I am +falling." + +One Sunday afternoon I went to her grave in Highgate Cemetery, London. +A gray granite shaft, about twenty-five feet high, stands above it, +with these beautiful words from her great poem:-- + + "O may I join the choir invisible, + Of those immortal dead who live again + In minds made better by their presence." + + HERE LIES THE BODY + OF + GEORGE ELIOT, + MARY ANN CROSS. + + BORN, 22d NOVEMBER, 1819; + DIED, 22d DECEMBER, 1880. + + +A stone coping is around this grave, and bouquets of yellow crocuses +and hyacinths lie upon it. Next to her grave is a horizontal slab, +with the name of George Henry Lewes upon the stone. + + + + +ELIZABETH FRY. + +[Illustration: My attached and obliged friend Elizabeth Fry] + +When a woman of beauty, great wealth, and the highest social position, +devotes her life to the lifting of the lowly and the criminal, and +preaches the Gospel from the north of Scotland to the south of France, +it is not strange that the world admires, and that books are written +in praise of her. Unselfishness makes a rare and radiant life, and +this was the crowning beauty of the life of Elizabeth Fry. + +Born in Norwich, England, May 21, 1780, Elizabeth was the third +daughter of Mr. John Gurney, a wealthy London merchant. Mrs. Gurney, +the mother, a descendant of the Barclays of Ury, was a woman of much +personal beauty, singularly intellectual for those times, making her +home a place where literary and scientific people loved to gather. + +Elizabeth wellnigh idolized her mother, and used often to cry after +going to bed, lest death should take away the precious parent. In the +daytime, when the mother, not very robust, would sometimes lie down +to rest, the child would creep to the bedside and watch tenderly and +anxiously, to see if she were breathing. Well might Mrs. Gurney say, + + "My dove-like Betsy scarcely ever offends, and is, in every + sense of the word, truly engaging." + +Mrs. Fry wrote years afterward: "My mother was most dear to me, and +the walks she took with me in the old-fashioned garden are as fresh +with me as if only just passed, and her telling me about Adam and Eve +being driven out of Paradise. I always considered it must be just +like our garden.... I remember with pleasure my mother's beds of wild +flowers, which, with delight, I used as a child to attend with her; it +gave me that pleasure in observing their beauties and varieties that, +though I never have had time to become a botanist, few can imagine, in +my many journeys, how I have been pleased and refreshed by observing +and enjoying the wild flowers on my way." + +The home, Earlham Hall, was one of much beauty and elegance, a seat of +the Bacon family. The large house stood in the centre of a well-wooded +park, the river Wensum flowing through it. On the south front of the +house was a large lawn, flanked by great trees, underneath which wild +flowers grew in profusion. The views about the house were so artistic +that artists often came there to sketch. + +In this restful and happy home, after a brief illness, Mrs. Gurney +died in early womanhood, leaving eleven children, all young, the +smallest but two years old. Elizabeth was twelve, old enough to feel +the irreparable loss. To the day of her death the memory of this time +was extremely sad. + +She was a nervous and sensitive child, afraid of the dark, begging +that a light be left in her room, and equally afraid to bathe in +the sea. Her feelings were regarded as the whims of a child, and her +nervous system was injured in consequence. She always felt the lack of +wisdom in "hardening" children, and said, "I am now of opinion that my +fear would have been much more subdued, and great suffering spared, +by its having been still more yielded to: by having a light left in my +room, not being long left alone, and never forced to bathe." + +After her marriage she guided her children rather than attempt "to +break their wills," and lived to see happy results from the good sense +and Christian principle involved in such guiding. In her prison work +she used the least possible governing, winning control by kindness and +gentleness. + +Elizabeth grew to young womanhood, with pleasing manners, slight and +graceful in body, with a profusion of soft flaxen hair, and a bright, +intelligent face. Her mind was quick, penetrating, and original. She +was a skilful rider on horseback, and made a fine impression in her +scarlet riding-habit, for, while her family were Quakers, they did not +adopt the gray dress. + +She was attractive in society and much admired. She writes in her +journal: "Company at dinner; I must beware of not being a flirt, it is +an abominable character; I hope I shall never be one, and yet I fear I +am one now a little.... I think I am by degrees losing many excellent +qualities. I lay it to my great love of gayety, and the world.... I am +now seventeen, and if some kind and great circumstance does not happen +to me, I shall have my talents devoured by moth and rust. They will +lose their brightness, and one day they will prove a curse instead of +a blessing." + +Before she was eighteen, William Savery, an American friend, came to +England to spend two years in the British Isles, preaching. The seven +beautiful Gurney sisters went to hear him, and sat on the front seat, +Elizabeth, "with her smart boots, purple, laced with scarlet." + +As the preacher proceeded, she was greatly moved, weeping during the +service, and nearly all the way home. She had been thrown much among +those who were Deists in thought, and this gospel-message seemed a +revelation to her. + +The next morning Mr. Savery came to Earlham Hall to breakfast. "From +this day," say her daughters, in their interesting memoir of their +mother, "her love of pleasure and the world seemed gone." She, +herself, said, in her last illness, "Since my heart was touched, at +the age of seventeen, I believe I never have awakened from sleep, in +sickness or in health, by day or by night, without my first waking +thought being, how best I might serve my Lord." + +Soon after she visited London, that she might, as she said, "try all +things" and choose for herself what appeared to her "to be good." She +wrote: + +"I went to Drury Lane in the evening. I must own I was extremely +disappointed; to be sure, the house is grand and dazzling; but I +had no other feeling whilst there than that of wishing it over.... I +called on Mrs. Siddons, who was not at home; then on Mrs. Twiss, who +gave me some paint for the evening. I was painted a little, I had my +hair dressed, and did look pretty for me." + +On her return to Earlham Hall she found that the London pleasure had +not been satisfying. She says, "I wholly gave up on my own ground, +attending all places of public amusement; I saw they tended to promote +evil; therefore, if I could attend them without being hurt myself, I +felt in entering them I lent my aid to promote that which I was sure +from what I saw hurt others." + +She was also much exercised about dancing, thinking, while "in a +family, it may be of use by the bodily exercise," that "the more the +pleasures of life are given up, the less we love the world, and our +hearts will be set upon better things." + +The heretofore fashionable young girl began to visit the poor and the +sick in the neighborhood, and at last decided to open a school for +poor children. Only one boy came at first; but soon she had seventy. +She lost none of her good cheer and charming manner, but rather grew +more charming. She cultivated her mind as well, reading logic,--Watts +on Judgment, Lavater, etc. + +The rules of life which she wrote for herself at eighteen are worth +copying: "First,--Never lose any time; I do not think that lost which +is spent in amusement or recreation some time every day; but always be +in the habit of being employed. Second,--Never err the least in truth. +Third,--Never say an ill thing of a person when I can say a good thing +of him; not only speak charitably, but feel so. Fourth,--Never be +irritable or unkind to anybody. Fifth,--Never indulge myself +in luxuries that are not necessary. Sixth,--Do all things with +consideration, and when my path to act right is most difficult, put +confidence in that Power alone which is able to assist me, and exert +my own powers as far as they go." + +Gradually she laid aside all jewelry, then began to dress in quiet +colors, and finally adopted the Quaker garb, feeling that she could +do more good in it. At first her course did not altogether please her +family, but they lived to idolize and bless her for her doings, and to +thankfully enjoy her worldwide fame. + +At twenty she received an offer of marriage from a wealthy London +merchant, Mr. Joseph Fry. She hesitated for some time, lest her active +duties in the church should conflict with the cares of a home of her +own. She said, "My most anxious wish is, that I may not hinder my +spiritual welfare, which I have so much feared as to make me often +doubt if marriage were a desirable thing for me at this time, or even +the thoughts of it." + +However, she was soon married, and a happy life resulted. For most +women this marriage, which made her the mother of eleven children, +would have made all public work impossible; but to a woman of +Elizabeth Fry's strong character nothing seemed impossible. Whether +she would have accomplished more for the world had she remained +unmarried, no one can tell. + +Her husband's parents were "plain, consistent friends," and his sister +became especially congenial to the young bride. A large and airy house +was taken in London, St. Mildred's Court, which became a centre for +"Friends" in both Great Britain and America. + +With all her wealth and her fondness for her family, she wrote in her +journal, "I have been married eight years yesterday; various trials +of faith and patience have been permitted me; my course has been very +different to what I had expected; instead of being, as I had hoped, +a useful instrument in the Church Militant, here I am a careworn +wife and mother outwardly, nearly devoted to the things of this life; +though at times this difference in my destination has been trying +to me, yet I believe those trials (which have certainly been very +pinching) that I have had to go through have been very useful, and +have brought me to a feeling sense of what I am; and at the same time +have taught me where power is, and in what we are to glory; not in +ourselves nor in anything we can be or do, but we are alone to desire +that He may be glorified, either through us or others, in our being +something or nothing, as He may see best for us." + +After eleven years the Fry family moved to a beautiful home in the +country at Plashet. Changes had come in those eleven years. The father +had died; one sister had married Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and she +herself had been made a "minister" by the Society of Friends. While +her hands were very full with the care of her seven children, she had +yet found time to do much outside Christian work. + +Naturally shrinking, she says, "I find it an awful thing to rise +amongst a large assembly, and, unless much covered with love and +power, hardly know how to venture." But she seemed always to be +"covered with love and power," for she prayed much and studied her +Bible closely, and her preaching seemed to melt alike crowned heads +and criminals in chains. + +Opposite the Plashet House, with its great trees and flowers, was a +dilapidated building occupied by an aged man and his sister. They had +once been well-to-do, but were now very poor, earning a pittance by +selling rabbits. The sister, shy and sorrowful from their reduced +circumstances, was nearly inaccessible, but Mrs. Fry won her way to +her heart. Then she asked how they would like to have a girls' school +in a big room attached to the building. They consented, and soon +seventy poor girls were in attendance. + +"She had," says a friend, "the gentlest touch with children. She would +win their hearts, if they had never seen her before, almost at the +first glance, and by the first sound of her musical voice." + +Then the young wife, now thirty-one, established a depot of calicoes +and flannels for the poor, with a room full of drugs, and another +department where good soup was prepared all through the hard winters. +She would go into the "Irish Colony," taking her two older daughters +with her, that they might learn the sweetness of benevolence, +"threading her way through children and pigs, up broken staircases, +and by narrow passages; then she would listen to their tales of want +and woe." + +Now she would find a young mother dead, with a paper cross pinned upon +her breast; now she visited a Gypsy camp to care for a sick child, and +give them Bibles. Each year when the camp returned to Plashet, their +chief pleasure was the visits of the lovely Quaker. Blessings on thee, +beautiful Elizabeth Fry! + +She now began to assist in the public meetings near London, but with +some hesitation, as it took her from home; but after an absence of two +weeks, she found her household "in very comfortable order; and so far +from having suffered in my absence, it appears as if a better blessing +had attended them than common." + +She did not forget her home interests. One of her servants being ill, +she watched by his bedside till he died. When she talked with him of +the world to come, he said, "God bless you, ma'am." She said, "There +is no set of people I feel so much about as servants, as I do not +think they have generally justice done to them; they are too much +considered as another race of beings, and we are apt to forget that +the holy injunction holds good with them, 'Do as thou wouldst be done +unto.'" + +She who could dine with kings and queens, felt as regards servants, +"that in the best sense we are all one, and though our paths here may +be different, we have all souls equally valuable, and have all the +same work to do; which, if properly considered, should lead us +to great sympathy and love, and also to a constant care for their +welfare, both here and hereafter." + +When she was thirty-three, having moved to London for the winter, +she began her remarkable work in Newgate prison. The condition of +prisoners was pitiable in the extreme. She found three hundred women, +with their numerous children, huddled together, with no classification +between the most and least depraved, without employment, in rags and +dirt, and sleeping on the floor with no bedding, the boards simply +being raised for a sort of pillow. Liquors were purchased openly at a +bar in the prison; and swearing, gambling, obscenity, and pulling each +other's hair were common. The walls, both in the men's and women's +departments, were hung with chains and fetters. + +When Mrs. Fry and two or three friends first visited the prison, +the superintendent advised that they lay aside their watches before +entering, which they declined to do. Mrs. Fry did not fear, nor need +she, with her benign presence. + +On her second visit she asked to be left alone with the women, and +read to them the tenth chapter of Matthew, making a few observations +on Christ's having come to save sinners. Some of the women asked who +Christ was. Who shall forgive us for such ignorance in our very midst? + +The children were almost naked, and ill from want of food, air, and +exercise. Mrs. Fry told them that she would start a school for their +children, which announcement was received with tears of joy. She +asked that they select one from their own number for a governess. Mary +Conner was chosen, a girl who had been put in prison for stealing a +watch. So changed did the girl become under this new responsibility, +that she was never known to infringe a rule of the prison. After +fifteen months she was released, but died soon after of consumption. + +When the school was opened for all under twenty-five, "the railing +was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together for the front +situations, with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the +utmost vociferation." + +Mrs. Fry saw at once the need of these women being occupied, but the +idea that these people could be induced to work was laughed at, as +visionary, by the officials. They said the work would be destroyed or +stolen at once. But the good woman did not rest till an association of +twelve persons was formed for the "Improvement of the Female Prisoners +of Newgate"; "to provide for the clothing, the instruction, and the +employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy +Scriptures; and to form in them, as much as possible, those habits +of order, sobriety, and industry, which may render them docile and +peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when they leave it." + +It was decided that Botany Bay could be supplied with stockings, and +indeed with all the articles needed by convicts, through the work +of these women. A room was at once made ready, and matrons were +appointed. A portion of the earnings was to be given the women for +themselves and their children. In ten months they made twenty thousand +articles of wearing apparel, and knit from sixty to one hundred pairs +of stockings every month. The Bible was read to them twice each day. +They received marks for good behavior, and were as pleased as children +with the small prizes given them. + +One of the girls who received a prize of clothing came to Mrs. Fry, +and "hoped she would excuse her for being so forward, but if she +might say it, she felt exceedingly disappointed; she little thought of +having clothing given to her, but she had hoped I would have given her +a Bible, that she might read the Scriptures herself." + +No woman was ever punished under Mrs. Fry's management. They said, +"it would be more terrible to be brought up before her than before the +judge." When she told them she hoped they would not play cards, five +packs were at once brought to her and burned. + +The place was now so orderly and quiet, that "Newgate had become +almost a show; the statesman and the noble, the city functionary and +the foreign traveller, the high-bred gentlewoman, the clergyman and +the dissenting minister, flocked to witness the extraordinary change," +and to listen to Mrs. Fry's beautiful Bible readings. + +Letters poured in from all parts of the country, asking her to come +to their prisons for a similar work, or to teach others how to work. +A committee of the House of Commons summoned her before them to learn +her suggestions, and to hear of her methods; and later the House of +Lords. + +Of course the name of Elizabeth Fry became known everywhere. Queen +Victoria gave her audience, and when she appeared in public, everybody +was eager to look at her. The newspapers spoke of her in the highest +praise. Yet with a beautiful spirit she writes in her journal, "I +am ready to say in the fulness of my heart, surely 'it is the Lord's +doing, and marvellous in our eyes'; so many are the providential +openings of various kinds. Oh! if good should result, may the praise +and glory of the whole be entirely given where it is due by us, and by +all, in deep humiliation and prostration of spirit." + +Mrs. Fry's heart was constantly burdened with the scenes she +witnessed. The penal laws were a caricature on justice. Men and women +were hanged for theft, forgery, passing counterfeit money, and for +almost every kind of fraud. One young woman, with a babe in her +arms, was hanged for stealing a piece of cloth worth one dollar and +twenty-five cents! Another was hanged for taking food to keep herself +and little child from starving. It was no uncommon thing to see women +hanging from the gibbet at Newgate, because they had passed a forged +one-pound note (five dollars). + +George Cruikshank in 1818 was so moved at one of these executions that +he made a picture which represented eight men and three women hanging +from the gallows, and a rope coiled around the faces of twelve others. +Across the picture were the words, "I promise to perform during the +issue of Bank-notes easily imitated ... for the Governors and Company +of the Bank of England." + +He called the picture a "Bank-note, not to be imitated." It at once +created a great sensation. Crowds blocked the street in front of +the shop where it was hung. The pictures were in such demand that +Cruikshank sat up all night to etch another plate. The Gurneys, +Wilberforce, Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir James Mackintosh, all worked +vigorously against capital punishment, save, possibly, for murder. + +Among those who were to be executed was Harriet Skelton, who, for the +man she loved, had passed forged notes. She was singularly open in +face and manner, confiding, and well-behaved. When she was condemned +to death, it was a surprise and horror to all who knew her. Mrs. Fry +was deeply interested. Noblemen went to see her in her damp, dark +cell, which was guarded by a heavy iron door. The Duke of Gloucester +went with Mrs. Fry to the Directors of the Bank of England, and to +Lord Sidmouth, to plead for her, but their hearts were not to be +moved, and the poor young girl was hanged. The public was enthusiastic +in its applause for Mrs. Fry, and unsparing in its denunciation of +Sidmouth. At last the obnoxious laws were changed. + +Mrs. Fry was heartily opposed to capital punishment. She said, "It +hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light +to them"; it does not lead to reformation, and "does not deter others +from crime, because the crimes subject to capital punishment are +gradually increasing." + +When the world is more civilized than it is to-day, when we have +closed the open saloon, that is the direct cause of nearly all the +murders, then we shall probably do away with hanging; or, if men and +women must be killed for the safety of society, a thing not easily +proven, it will be done in the most humane manner, by chloroform. + +Mrs. Fry was likewise strongly opposed to solitary confinement, +which usually makes the subject a mental wreck, and, as regards moral +action, an imbecile. How wonderfully in advance of her age was this +gifted woman! + +Mrs. Fry's thoughts now turned to another evil. When the women +prisoners were transported to New South Wales, they were carried +to the ships in open carts, the crowd jeering. She prevailed upon +government to have them carried in coaches, and promised that she +would go with them. When on board the ship, she knelt on the deck and +prayed with them as they were going into banishment, and then bade +them a tender good by. Truly woman can be an angel of light. + +Says Captain Martin, "Who could resist this beautiful, persuasive, and +heavenly-minded woman? To see her was to love her; to hear her was +to feel as if a guardian angel had bid you follow that teaching which +could alone subdue the temptations and evils of this life, and secure +a Redeemer's love in eternity." + +At this time Mrs. Fry and her brother Joseph visited Scotland and the +north of England to ascertain the condition of the prisons. They found +much that was inhuman; insane persons in prison, eighteen months in +dungeons! Debtors confined night and day in dark, filthy cells, and +never leaving them; men chained to the walls of their cells, or to +rings in the floor, or with their limbs stretched apart till they +fainted in agony; women with chains on hands, and feet, and body, +while they slept on bundles of straw. On their return a book was +published, which did much to arouse England. + +Mrs. Fry was not yet forty, but her work was known round the world. +The authorities of Russia, at the desire of the Empress, wrote Mrs. +Fry as to the best plans for the St. Petersburg lunatic asylum and +treatment of the inmates, and her suggestions were carried out to the +letter. + +Letters came from Amsterdam, Denmark, Paris, and elsewhere, asking +counsel. The correspondence became so great that two of her daughters +were obliged to attend to it. + +Again she travelled all over England, forming "Ladies' Prison +Associations," which should not only look after the inmates of +prisons, but aid them to obtain work when they were discharged, or "so +provide for them that stealing should not seem a necessity." + +About this time, 1828, one of the houses in which her husband was +a partner failed, "which involved Elizabeth Fry and her family in a +train of sorrows and perplexities which tinged the remaining years of +her life." + +They sold the house at Plashet, and moved again to Mildred Court, now +the home of one of their sons. Her wealthy brothers and her children +soon re-established the parents in comfort. + +She now became deeply interested in the five hundred Coast-Guard +stations in the United Kingdom, where the men and their families led +a lonely life. Partly by private contributions and partly through +the aid of government, she obtained enough money to buy more than +twenty-five thousand volumes for libraries at these stations. The +letters of gratitude were a sufficient reward for the hard work. She +also obtained small libraries for all the packets that sailed from +Falmouth. + +In 1837, with some friends, she visited Paris, making a detailed +examination of its prisons. Guizot entertained her, the Duchess de +Broglie, M. de Pressense, and others paid her much attention. The +King and Queen sent for her, and had an earnest talk. At Nismes, where +there were twelve hundred prisoners, she visited the cells, and +when five armed soldiers wished to protect her and her friends, she +requested that they be allowed to go without guard. In one dungeon she +found two men, chained hand and foot. She told them she would plead +for their liberation if they would promise good behavior. They +promised, and kept it, praying every night for their benefactor +thereafter. When she held a meeting in the prison, hundreds shed +tears, and the good effects of her work were visible long after. + +The next journey was made to Germany. At Brussels, the King held out +both hands to receive her. In Denmark, the King and Queen invited her +to dine, and she sat between them. At Berlin, the royal family treated +her like a sister, and all stood about her while she knelt and prayed +for them. + +The new penitentiaries were built after her suggestions, so perfect +was thought to be her system. The royal family never forget her. When +the King of Prussia visited England, to stand sponsor for the infant +Prince of Wales, in 1842, he dined with her at her home. She presented +to him her eight daughters and daughters-in-law, her seven sons and +eldest grandson, and then their twenty-five grandchildren. + +Finally, the great meetings, and the earnest plans, with their +wonderful execution, were coming to an end for Elizabeth Fry. + +There had been many breaks in the home circle. Her beloved son +William, and his two children, had just died. Some years before she +had buried a very precious child, Elizabeth, at the age of five, who +shortly before her death said, "Mamma, I love everybody better than +myself, and I love thee better than everybody, and I love Almighty +much better than thee, and I hope thee loves Almighty much better than +me." This was a severe stroke, Mrs. Fry saying, "My much-loved husband +and I have drank this cup together, in close sympathy and unity of +feeling. It has at times been very bitter to us both, but we have been +in measure each other's joy and helpers in the Lord." + +During her last sickness she said, "I believe this is not death, +but it is as passing through the valley of the shadow of death, and +perhaps with more suffering, from more sensitiveness; but the 'rock is +here'; the distress is awful, but He has been with me." + +The last morning came, Oct. 13, 1845. About nine o'clock, one of her +daughters, sitting by her bedside, read from Isaiah: "I, the Lord thy +God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, thou worm +of Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and +thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." The mother said slowly, "Oh! my +dear Lord, help and keep thy servant!" and never spoke afterward. + +She was buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Barking, by the +side of her little Elizabeth, a deep silence prevailing among the +multitudes gathered there, broken only by the solemn prayer of her +brother, Joseph John Gurney. + +Thus closed one of the most beautiful lives among women. To the last +she was doing good deeds. When she was wheeled along the beach in her +chair, she gave books and counsel to the passers-by. When she stayed +at hotels, she usually arranged a meeting for the servants. She was +sent for, from far and near, to pray with the sick, and comfort the +dying, who often begged to kiss her hand; no home was too desolate for +her lovely and cheerful presence. No wonder Alexander of Russia called +her "one of the wonders of the age." + +Her only surviving son gives this interesting testimony of her home +life: "I never recollect seeing her out of temper or hearing her speak +a harsh word, yet still her word was law, but always the law of love." + +Naturally timid, always in frail health, sometimes misunderstood, even +with the highest motives, she lived a heroic life in the best sense, +and died the death of a Christian. What grander sphere for woman than +such philanthropy as this! And the needs of humanity are as great as +ever, waiting for the ministration of such noble souls. + + + +ELIZABETH THOMPSON BUTLER. + + +While woman has not achieved such brilliant success in art, perhaps, +as in literature, many names stand high on the lists. Early history +has its noted women: Propersia di Rossi, of Bologna, whose romantic +history Mrs. Hemans has immortalized; Elisabetta Sirani, painter, +sculptor, and engraver on copper, herself called a "miracle of art," +the honored of popes and princes, dying at twenty-six; Marietta +Tintoretta, who was invited to be the artist at the courts of +emperors and kings, dying at thirty, leaving her father inconsolable; +Sophonisba Lomellini, invited by Philip II. of Spain to Madrid, to +paint his portrait, and that of the Queen, concerning whom, though +blind, Vandyck said he had received more instruction from a blind +woman than from all his study of the old masters; and many more. + +The first woman artist in England was Susannah Hornebolt, daughter of +the principal painter who immediately preceded Hans Holbein, Gerard +Hornebolt, a native of Ghent. Albrecht Duerer said of her, in 1521: +"She has made a colored drawing of our Saviour, for which I gave her a +florin [forty cents]. It is wonderful that a female should be able +to do such work." Her brother Luke received a larger salary from King +Henry VIII. than he ever gave to Holbein,--$13.87 per month. Susannah +married an English sculptor, named Whorstly, and lived many years in +great honor and esteem with all the court. + +Arts flourished under Charles I. To Vandyck and Anne Carlisle he gave +ultra-marine to the value of twenty-five hundred dollars. Artemisia +Gentileschi, from Rome, realized a splendid income from her work; +and, although forty-five years old when she came to England, she was +greatly admired, and history says made many conquests. This may be +possible, as George IV. said a woman never reaches her highest powers +of fascination till she is forty. Guido was her instructor, and one of +her warmest eulogizers. She was an intimate friend of Domenichino and +of Guercino, who gave all his wealth to philanthropies, and when in +England was the warm friend of Vandyck. Some of her works are in the +Pitti Palace, at Florence, and some at Madrid, in Spain. + +Of Maria Varelst, the historical painter, the following story is told: +At the theatre she sat next to six German gentlemen of high rank, who +were so impressed with her beauty and manner that they expressed great +admiration for her among each other. The young lady spoke to them in +German, saying that such extravagant praise in the presence of a lady +was no real compliment. One of the party immediately repeated what he +had said in Latin. She replied in the same tongue "that it was unjust +to endeavor to deprive the fair sex of the knowledge of that tongue +which was the vehicle of true learning." The gentlemen begged to call +upon her. Each sat for his portrait, and she was thus brought into +great prominence. + +The artist around whose beauty and talent romance adds a special +charm, was Angelica Kauffman, the only child of Joseph Kauffman, +born near Lake Constance, about 1741. At nine years of age she made +wonderful pastel pictures. Removing to Lombardy, it is asserted that +her father dressed her in boy's clothing, and smuggled her into the +academy, that she might be improved in drawing. At eleven she went to +Como, where the charming scenery had a great impression upon the young +girl. No one who wishes to grow in taste and art can afford to live +away from nature's best work. The Bishop of Como became interested +in her, and asked her to paint his portrait. This was well done in +crayon, and soon the wealthy patronized her. Years after, she wrote: +"Como is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como, in my most happy youth, +that I tasted the first real enjoyment of life." + +When she went to Milan, to study the great masters, the Duke of Modena +was attracted by her beauty and devotion to her work. He introduced +her to the Duchess of Massa Carrara, whose portrait she painted, as +also that of the Austrian governor, and soon those of many of the +nobility. When all seemed at its brightest, her mother, one of the +best of women, died. Her father, broken-hearted, accepted the offer to +decorate the church of his native town, and Angelica joined him in the +frescoing. After much hard work, they returned to Milan. The constant +work had worn on the delicate girl. She gave herself no time for rest. +When not painting, she was making chalk and crayon drawings, mastering +the harpsichord, or lost in the pages of French, German, or Italian. +For a time she thought of becoming a singer; but finally gave herself +wholly to art. After this she went to Florence, where she worked from +sunrise to sunset, and in the evening at her crayons. In Rome, with +her youth, beauty, fascinating manners, and varied reading, she gained +a wide circle of friends. Her face was a Greek oval, her complexion +fresh and clear, her eyes deep blue, her mouth pretty and always +smiling. She was accused of being a coquette, and quite likely was +such. + +For three months she painted in the Royal Gallery at Naples, and then +returned to Rome to study the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo. +From thence she went to Bologna and beautiful Venice. Here she met +Lady Wentworth, who took her to London, where she was introduced at +once to the highest circles. Sir Joshua Reynolds had the greatest +admiration for her, and, indeed, was said to have offered her his hand +and heart. The whole world of art and letters united in her praise. +Often she found laudatory verses pinned on her canvas. The great +people of the land crowded her studio for sittings. She lived in +Golden Square, now a rather dilapidated place back of Regent Street. +She was called the most fascinating woman in England. Sir Joshua +painted her as "Design Listening to Poetry," and she, in turn, painted +him. She was the pet of Buckingham House and Windsor Castle. + +In the midst of all this unlimited attention, a man calling himself +the Swedish Count, Frederic de Horn, with fine manners and handsome +person, offered himself to Angelica. He represented that he was +calumniated by his enemies and that the Swedish Government was about +to demand his person. He assured her, if she were his wife, she could +intercede with the Queen and save him. She blindly consented to the +marriage, privately. At last, she confessed it to her father, who took +steps at once to see if the man were true, and found that he was the +vilest impostor. He had a young wife already in Germany, and would +have been condemned to a felon's death if Angelica had been willing. +She said, "He has betrayed me; but God will judge him." + +She received several offers of marriage after this, but would accept +no one. Years after, when her father, to whom she was deeply devoted, +was about to die, he prevailed upon her to marry a friend of his, +Antonio Zucchi, thirteen years her senior, with whom she went to Rome, +and there died. He was a man of ability, and perhaps made her life +happy. At her burial, one hundred priests accompanied the coffin, +the pall being held by four young girls, dressed in white, the four +tassels held by four members of the Academy. Two of her pictures were +carried in triumph immediately after her coffin. Then followed a grand +procession of illustrious persons, each bearing a lighted taper. + +Goethe was one of her chosen friends. He said of her: "She has a most +remarkable and, for a woman, really an unheard-of talent. No living +painter excels her in dignity, or in the delicate taste with which she +handles the pencil." + +Miss Ellen C. Clayton, in her interesting volumes, _English Female +Artists_, says, "No lady artist, from the days of Angelica Kauffman, +ever created such a vivid interest as Elizabeth Thompson Butler. None +had ever stepped into the front rank in so short a time, or had in +England ever attained high celebrity at so early an age." + +She was born in the Villa Clermont, Lausanne, Switzerland, a +country beautiful enough to inspire artistic sentiments in all its +inhabitants. Her father, Thomas James Thompson, a man of great culture +and refinement, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a warm +friend of Charles Dickens, Lord Lytton, and their literary associates. +Somewhat frail in health, he travelled much of the time, collecting +pictures, of which he was extremely fond, and studying with the eye +of an artist the beauties of each country, whether America, Italy, or +France. + +His first wife died early, leaving one son and daughter. The second +wife was an enthusiastic, artistic girl, especially musical, a friend +of Dickens, and every way fitted to be the intelligent companion of +her husband. + +After the birth of Elizabeth, the family resided in various parts of +Southern Europe. Now they lived, says Mrs. Alice Meynell, her only +sister, in the January, 1883, _St. Nicholas_, "within sight of the +snow-capped peaks of the Apennines, in an old palace, the Villa de +Franchi, immediately overlooking the Mediterranean, with olive-clad +hills at the back; on the left, the great promontory of Porto Fino; on +the right, the Bay of Genoa, some twelve miles away, and the long +line of the Apennines sloping down into the sea. The palace garden +descended, terrace by terrace, to the rocks, being, indeed, less a +garden than what is called a _villa_ in the Liguria, and a _podere_ +in Tuscany,--a fascinating mixture of vine, olive, maize, flowers, +and corn. A fountain in marble, lined with maiden-hair, played at the +junction of each flight of steps. A great billiard-room on the first +floor, hung with Chinese designs, was Elizabeth Thompson's first +school-room; and there Charles Dickens, upon one of his Italian +visits, burst in upon a lesson in multiplication. + +"The two children never went to school, and had no other teacher than +their father,--except their mother for music, and the usual professors +for 'accomplishments' in later years. And whether living happily in +their beautiful Genoese home, or farther north among the picturesque +Italian lakes, or in Switzerland, or among the Kentish hop-gardens and +the parks of Surrey, Elizabeth's one central occupation of drawing was +never abandoned,--literally not for a day." + +She was a close observer of nature, and especially fond of animals. +When not out of doors sketching landscapes, she would sit in the house +and draw, while her father read to her, as he believed the two things +could be carried on beneficially. + +She loved to draw horses running, soldiers, and everything which +showed animation and energy. Her educated parents had the good sense +not to curb her in these perhaps unusual tastes for a girl. They saw +the sure hand and broad thought of their child, and, no doubt, had +expectations of her future fame. + +At fifteen, as the family had removed to England, Elizabeth joined +the South Kensington School of Design, and, later, took lessons in oil +painting, for a year, of Mr. Standish. Thus from the years of five to +sixteen she had studied drawing carefully, so that now she was ready +to touch oil-painting for the first time. How few young ladies would +have been willing to study drawing for eleven years, before trying to +paint in oil! + +The Thompson family now moved to Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, +staying for three years at Bonchurch, one of the loveliest places in +the world. Ivy grows over walls and houses, roses and clematis bloom +luxuriantly, and the balmy air and beautiful sea make the place +as restful as it is beautiful. Here Elizabeth received lessons in +water-color and landscape from Mr. Gray. + +After another visit abroad the family returned to London, and the +artist daughter attended the National Art School at South Kensington, +studying in the life-class. The head master, Mr. Richard Burchett, saw +her talent, and helped her in all ways possible. + +Naturally anxious to test the world's opinion of her work, she sent +some water-colors to the Society of British Artists for exhibition, +and they were rejected. There is very little encouragement for +beginners in any profession. However, "Bavarian Artillery going into +Action" was exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, and received favorable +notice from Mr. Tom Taylor, art critic of the _Times_. + +Between two long courses at South Kensington Elizabeth spent a summer +in Florence and a winter at Rome, studying in both places. At Florence +she entered the studio of Signor Guiseppe Bellucci, an eminent +historical painter and consummate draughtsman, a fellow-student of Sir +Frederick Leighton at the Academy. + +Here the girlish student was intensely interested in her work. +She rose early, before the other members of the family, taking her +breakfast alone, that she might hasten to her beloved labor. "On the +day when she did not work with him," says Mrs. Meynell, "she copied +passages from the frescoes in the cloisters of the Annunziata, +masterpieces of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio, making a special +study of the drapery of the last-named painter. The sacristans of the +old church--the most popular church in Florence--knew and welcomed the +young English girl, who sat for hours so intently at her work in the +cloister, unheeding the coming and going of the long procession of +congregations passing through the gates. + +"Her studies in the galleries were also full of delight and profit, +though she made no other copies, and she was wont to say that of all +the influences of the Florentine school which stood her in good stead +in her after-work, that of Andrea del Sarto was the most valuable and +the most important. The intense heat of a midsummer, which, day after +day, showed a hundred degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, could not make +her relax work, and her master, Florentine as he was, was obliged +to beg her to spare him, at least for a week, if she would not spare +herself. It was toward the end of October that artist and pupil +parted, his confidence in her future being as unbounded as her +gratitude for his admirable skill and minute carefulness." + +During her seven months in Rome she painted, in 1870, for an +ecclesiastical art exhibition, opened by Pope Pius IX., in the +cloisters of the Carthusian Monastery, the "Visitation of the Blessed +Virgin to St. Elizabeth," and the picture gained honorable mention. + +On her return to England the painting was offered to the Royal Academy +and rejected. And what was worse still, a large hole had been torn +in the canvas, in the sky of the picture. Had she not been very +persevering, and believed in her heart that she had talent, perhaps +she would not have dared to try again, but she had worked steadily +for too many years to fail now. Those only win who can bear refusal a +thousand times if need be. + +The next year, being at the Isle of Wight, she sent another picture to +the Academy, and it was rejected. Merit does not always win the +first, nor the second, nor the third time. It must have been a little +consolation to Elizabeth Thompson, to know that each year the judges +were reminded that a person by that name lived, and was painting +pictures! + +The next year a subject from the Franco-Prussian War was taken, as +that was fresh in the minds of the people. The title was "Missing." +"Two French officers, old and young, both wounded, and with one +wounded horse between them, have lost their way after a disastrous +defeat; their names will appear in the sad roll as missing, and the +manner of their death will never be known." + +The picture was received, but was "skyed," that is, placed so high +that nobody could well see it. During this year she received a +commission from a wealthy art patron to paint a picture. What should +it be? A battle scene, because into that she could put her heart. + +A studio was taken in London, and the "Roll-Call" (calling the roll +after an engagement,--Crimea) was begun. She put life into the faces +and the attitudes of the men, as she worked with eager heart and +careful labor. In the spring of 1874 it was sent to the Royal Academy, +with, we may suppose, not very enthusiastic hopes. + +The stirring battle piece pleased the committee, and they cheered when +it was received. Then it began to be talked at the clubs that a woman +had painted a battle scene! Some had even heard that it was a great +picture. When the Academy banquet was held, prior to the opening, the +speeches of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, both gave +high praise to the "Roll-Call." + +Such an honor was unusual. Everybody was eager to see the painting. It +was the talk at the clubs, on the railway trains, and on the crowded +thoroughfares. All day long crowds gathered before it, a policeman +keeping guard over the painting, that it be not injured by its eager +admirers. The Queen sent for it, and it was carried, for a few hours, +to Buckingham Palace, for her to gaze upon. So much was she pleased +that she desired to purchase it, and the person who had ordered it +gave way to Her Majesty. The copyright was bought for fifteen times +the original sum agreed upon as its value, and a steel-plate +engraving made from it at a cost of nearly ten thousand dollars. After +thirty-five hundred impressions, the plate was destroyed, that there +might be no inferior engravings of the picture. The "Roll-Call" was +for some time retained by the Fine Art Society, where it was seen by +a quarter of a million persons. Besides this, it was shown in all the +large towns of England. It is now at Windsor Castle. + +Elizabeth Thompson had become famous in a day, but she was not elated +over it; for, young as she was, she did not forget that she had +been working diligently for twenty years. The newspapers teemed with +descriptions of her, and incidents of her life, many of which were, of +course, purely imaginative. Whenever she appeared in society, people +crowded to look at her. + +Many a head would have been turned by all this praise; not so the +well-bred student. She at once set to work on a more difficult +subject, "The Twenty-eighth Regiment at Quatre Bras." When this +appeared, in 1875, it drew an enormous crowd. The true critics praised +heartily, but there were some persons who thought a woman could not +possibly know about the smoke of a battle, or how men would act under +fire. That she studied every detail of her work is shown by Mr. W. +H. Davenport Adams, in his _Woman's Work and Worth._ "The choice of +subject," he says, "though some people called it a 'very shocking one +for a young lady,' engaged the sympathy of military men, and she was +generously aided in obtaining material and all kinds of data for the +work. Infantry officers sent her photographs of 'squares.' But these +would not do, the men were not in earnest; they would kneel in such +positions as they found easiest for themselves; indeed, but for the +help of a worthy sergeant-major, who saw that each individual assumed +and maintained the attitude proper for the situation at whatever +inconvenience, the artist could not possibly have impressed upon her +picture that verisimilitude which it now presents. + +"Through the kindness of the authorities, an amount of gunpowder was +expended at Chatham, to make her see, as she said, how 'the men's +faces looked through the smoke,' that would have justified the +criticisms of a rigid parliamentary economist. Not satisfied with +seeing how men _looked_ in square, she desired to secure some faint +idea of how they _felt_ in square while 'receiving cavalry.' And +accordingly she repaired frequently to the Knightsbridge Barracks, +where she would kneel to 'receive' the riding-master and a mounted +sergeant of the Blues, while they thundered down upon her the full +length of the riding-school, deftly pulling up, of course, to avoid +accident. The fallen horse presented with such truth and vigor in +'Quatre Bras' was drawn from a Russian horse belonging to Hengler's +Circus, the only one in England that could be trusted to remain for a +sufficient time in the required position. A sore trial of patience was +this to artist, to model, to Mr. Hengler, who held him down, and +to the artist's father, who was present as spectator. Finally the +rye,--the 'particularly tall rye' in which, as Colonel Siborne says, +the action was fought,--was conscientiously sought for, and found, +after much trouble, at Henly-on-Thames." + +I saw this beautiful and stirring picture, as well as several others +of Mrs. Butler's, while in England. Mr. Ruskin says of "Quatre Bras": +"I never approached a picture with more iniquitous prejudice against +it than I did Miss Thompson's; partly because I have always said that +no woman could paint, and secondly, because I thought what the public +made such a fuss about _must_ be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's +work, this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-raphaelite picture +of battle we have had, profoundly interesting, and showing all manner +of illustrative and realistic faculty. The sky is most tenderly +painted, and with the truest outline of cloud of all in the +exhibition; and the terrific piece of gallant wrath and ruin on the +extreme left, where the cuirassier is catching round the neck of his +horse as he falls, and the convulsed fallen horse, seen through the +smoke below, is wrought through all the truth of its frantic passions +with gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of +since Turner's death." + +This year, 1875, a figure from the picture, the "Tenth Bengal Lancers +at Tent-pegging," was published as a supplement to the Christmas +number of _London Graphic_, with the title "Missed." In 1876, "The +Return from Balaklava" was painted, and in 1877, "The Return from +Inkerman," for which latter work the Fine Art Society paid her fifteen +thousand dollars. + +This year, 1877, on June 11, Miss Thompson was married to Major, now +Colonel, William Francis Butler, K.C.B. He was then thirty-nine years +of age, born in Ireland, educated in Dublin, and had received many +honors. He served on the Red River expedition, was sent on a special +mission to the Saskatchewan territories in 1870-71, and served on the +Ashantee expedition in 1873. He has been honorably mentioned several +times in the House of Lords by the Field-Marshal-Commanding-in-Chief. +He wrote _The Great Lone Land_ in 1872, _The Wild North Land_ in 1873, +and _A Kimfoo_ in 1875. + +After the marriage they spent much time in Ireland, where Mrs. Butler +painted "Listed for the Connaught Rangers" in 1879. Her later works +are "The Remnant of an Army," showing the arrival at Jellalabad, in +1842, of Dr. Brydon, the sole survivor of the sixteen thousand men +under General Elphinstone, in the unfortunate Afghan campaign; the +"Scots Greys Advancing," "The Defence of Rorke's Drift," an incident +of the Zulu War, painted at the desire of the Queen and some others. + +Still a young and very attractive woman, she has before her a bright +future. She will have exceptional opportunities for battle studies in +her husband's army life. She will probably spend much time in Africa, +India, and other places where the English army will be stationed. Her +husband now holds a prominent position in Africa. + +In her studio, says her sister, "the walls are hung with old +uniforms--the tall shako, the little coatee, and the stiff +stock--which the visitor's imagination may stuff out with the form of +the British soldier as he fought in the days of Waterloo. These are +objects of use, not ornament; so are the relics from the fields of +France in 1871, and the assegais and spears and little sharp wooden +maces from Zululand." + +Mrs. Butler has perseverance, faithfulness in her work, and courage. +She has won remarkable fame, but has proved herself deserving by her +constant labor, and attention to details. Mrs. Butler's mother has +also exhibited some fine paintings. The artist herself has illustrated +a volume of poems, the work of her sister, Mrs. Meynell. A cultivated +and artistic family have, of course, been an invaluable aid in Mrs. +Butler's development. + + + + +FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. + +[Illustration: Florence Nightingale--From the "Portrait Gallery of +Eminent Men and Women."] + +One of the most interesting places in the whole of London, is St. +Thomas' Hospital, an immense four-story structure of brick with +stone trimmings. Here is the Nightingale Training School for nurses, +established through the gift to Miss Nightingale of $250,000 by the +government, for her wonderful work in the Crimean War. She would not +take a cent for herself, but was glad to have this institution opened, +that girls through her training might become valuable to the world as +nurses, as she has been. + +Here is the "Nightingale Home." The dining-room, with its three long +tables, is an inviting apartment. The colors of wall and ceiling are +in red and light shades. Here is a Swiss clock presented by the Grand +Duchess of Baden; here a harpsichord, also a gift. Here is the marble +face and figure I have come especially to see, that of lovely Florence +Nightingale. It is a face full of sweetness and refinement, having +withal an earnest look, as though life were well worth living. + + +What better work than to direct these girls how to be useful? Some +are here from the highest social circles. The "probationers," or nurse +pupils, must remain three years before they can become Protestant +"sisters." Each ward is in charge of a sister; now it is Leopold, +because the ward bears that name; and now Victoria in respect to the +Queen, who opened the institution. + +The sisters look sunny and healthy, though they work hard. They have +regular hours for being off duty, and exercise in the open air. The +patients tell me how "homelike it seems to have women in the wards, +and what a comfort it is in their agony, to be handled by their +careful hands." Here are four hundred persons in all phases of +suffering, in neat, cheerful wards, brightened by pots of flowers, and +the faces of kind, devoted women. + +And who is this woman to whom the government of Great Britain felt +that it owed so much, and whom the whole world delights to honor? + +Florence Nightingale, born in 1820, in the beautiful Italian city +of that name, is the younger of two daughters of William Shore +Nightingale, a wealthy land-owner, who inherited both the name and +fortune of his granduncle, Peter Nightingale. The mother was the +daughter of the eminent philanthropist and member of Parliament, +William Smith. + +Most of Miss Nightingale's life has been spent on their beautiful +estate, Lea Hurst, in Derbyshire, a lovely home in the midst of +picturesque scenery. In her youth her father instructed her carefully +in the classics and higher mathematics; a few years later, partly +through extensive travel, she became proficient in French, German, and +Italian. + +Rich, pretty, and well-educated, what was there more that she could +wish for? Her heart, however, did not turn toward a fashionable life. +Very early she began to visit the poor and the sick near Lea Hurst, +and her father's other estate at Embly Park, Hampshire. Perhaps the +mantle of the mother's father had fallen upon the young girl. + +She had also the greatest tenderness toward dumb animals, and never +could bear to see them injured. Miss Alldridge, in an interesting +sketch of Miss Nightingale, quotes the following story from _Little +Folks:_-- + +"Some years ago, when the celebrated Florence Nightingale was a little +girl, living at her father's home, a large, old Elizabethan house, +with great woods about it, in Hampshire, there was one thing that +struck everybody who knew her. It was that she seemed to be always +thinking what she could do to please or help any one who needed either +help or comfort. She was very fond, too, of animals, and she was so +gentle in her way, that even the shyest of them would come quite close +to her, and pick up whatever she flung down for them to eat. + +"There was, in the garden behind the house, a long walk with trees on +each side, the abode of many squirrels; and when Florence came down +the walk, dropping nuts as she went along, the squirrels would run +down the trunks of their trees, and, hardly waiting until she passed +by, would pick up the prize and dart away, with their little bushy +tails curled over their backs, and their black eyes looking about as +if terrified at the least noise, though they did not seem to be afraid +of Florence. + +"Then there was an old gray pony named Peggy, past work, living in +a paddock, with nothing to do all day long but to amuse herself. +Whenever Florence appeared at the gate, Peggy would come trotting up +and put her nose into the dress pocket of her little mistress, and +pick it of the apple or the roll of bread that she knew she would +always find there, for this was a trick Florence had taught the +pony. Florence was fond of riding, and her father's old friend, the +clergyman of the parish, used often to come and take her for a ride +with him when he went to the farm cottages at a distance. He was a +good man and very kind to the poor. + +"As he had studied medicine when a young man, he was able to tell the +people what would do them good when they were ill, or had met with an +accident. Little Florence took great delight in helping to nurse those +who were ill; and whenever she went on these long rides, she had a +small basket fastened to her saddle, filled with something nice which +she saved from her breakfast or dinner, or carried for her mother, who +was very good to the poor. + +"There lived in one of two or three solitary cottages in the wood +an old shepherd of her father's, named Roger, who had a favorite +sheep-dog called Cap. Roger had neither wife nor child, and Cap lived +with him and kept him, and kept him company at night after he had +penned his flock. Cap was a very sensible dog; indeed, people used to +say he could do everything but speak. He kept the sheep in wonderfully +good order, and thus saved his master a great deal of trouble. One +day, as Florence and her old friend were out for a ride, they came +to a field where they found the shepherd giving his sheep their night +feed; but he was without the dog, and the sheep knew it, for they were +scampering in every direction. Florence and her friend noticed that +the old shepherd looked very sad, and they stopped to ask what was the +matter, and what had become of his dog. + +"'Oh,' said Roger, 'Cap will never be of any more use to me; I'll have +to hang him, poor fellow, as soon as I go home to-night.' + +"'Hang him!' said Florence. 'Oh, Roger, how wicked of you! What has +dear old Cap done?' + +"'He has done nothing,' replied Roger; 'but he will never be of any +more use to me, and I cannot afford to keep him for nothing; one of +the mischievous school-boys throwed a stone at him yesterday, and +broke one of his legs.' And the old shepherd's eyes filled with tears, +which he wiped away with his shirt-sleeve; then he drove his spade +deep in the ground to hide what he felt, for he did not like to be +seen crying. + +"'Poor Cap!' he sighed; 'he was as knowing almost as a human being.' + +"'But are you sure his leg is broken?' asked Florence. + +"'Oh, yes, miss, it is broken safe enough; he has not put his foot to +the ground since.' + +"Florence and her friend rode on without saying anything more to +Roger. + +"'We will go and see poor Cap,' said the vicar; 'I don't believe the +leg is really broken. It would take a big stone and a hard blow to +break the leg of a big dog like Cap.' + +"'Oh, if you could but cure him, how glad Roger would be!' replied +Florence. + +"They soon reached the shepherd's cottage, but the door was fastened; +and when they moved the latch, such a furious barking was heard that +they drew back, startled. However, a little boy came out of the next +cottage, and asked if they wanted to go in, as Roger had left the key +with his mother. So the key was got, and the door opened; and there on +the bare brick floor lay the dog, his hair dishevelled, and his eyes +sparkling with anger at the intruders. But when he saw the little boy +he grew peaceful, and when he looked at Florence, and heard her call +him 'poor Cap,' he began to wag his short tail; and then crept from +under the table, and lay down at her feet. She took hold of one of his +paws, patted his old rough head, and talked to him, whilst her friend +examined the injured leg. It was dreadfully swollen, and hurt very +much to have it examined; but the dog knew it was meant kindly, and +though he moaned and winced with pain, he licked the hands that were +hurting him. + +"'It's only a bad bruise; no bones are broken,' said her old friend; +'rest is all Cap needs; he will soon be well again.' + +"'I am so glad,' said Florence; 'but can we do nothing for him? he +seems in such pain.' + +"'There is one thing that would ease the pain and heal the leg all the +sooner, and that is plenty of hot water to foment the part.' + +"Florence struck a light with the tinder-box, and lighted the fire, +which was already laid. She then set off to the other cottage to get +something to bathe the leg with. She found an old flannel petticoat +hanging up to dry, and this she carried off, and tore up into slips, +which she wrung out in warm water, and laid them tenderly on Cap's +swollen leg. It was not long before the poor dog felt the benefit of +the application, and he looked grateful, wagging his little stump of a +tail in thanks. On their way home they met the shepherd coming slowly +along, with a piece of rope in his hand. + +"'Oh, Roger,' cried Florence, 'you are not to hang poor old Cap; his +leg is not broken at all.' + +"'No, he will serve you yet,' said the vicar. + +"'Well, I be main glad to hear it,' said the shepherd, 'and many +thanks to you for going to see him.' + +"On the next morning Florence was up early, and the first thing she +did was to take two flannel petticoats to give to the poor woman whose +skirt she had torn up to bathe Cap. Then she went to the dog, and was +delighted to find the swelling of his leg much less. She bathed it +again, and Cap was as grateful as before. + +"Two or three days afterwards Florence and her friend were riding +together, when they came up to Roger and his sheep. This time Cap was +watching the sheep, though he was lying quite still, and pretending to +be asleep. When he heard the voice of Florence speaking to his master, +who was portioning out the usual food, his tail wagged and his eyes +sparkled, but he did not get up, for he was on duty. The shepherd +stopped his work, and as he glanced at the dog with a merry laugh, +said, 'Do look at the dog, Miss; he be so pleased to hear your voice.' +Cap's tail went faster and faster. 'I be glad,' continued the old man, +'I did not hang him. I be greatly obliged to you, Miss, and the vicar, +for what you did. But for you I would have hanged the best dog I ever +had in my life.'" + +A girl who was made so happy in saving the life of an animal would +naturally be interested to save human beings. Occasionally her family +passed a season in London, and here, instead of giving much time +to concerts or parties, she would visit hospitals and benevolent +institutions. When the family travelled in Egypt, she attended several +sick Arabs, who recovered under her hands. They doubtless thought the +English girl was a saint sent down from heaven. + +The more she felt drawn toward the sick, the more she felt the need +of study, and the more she saw the work that refined women could do in +the hospitals. The Sisters of Charity were standing by sick-beds; why +could there not be Protestant sisters? When they travelled in Germany, +France, and Italy, she visited infirmaries, asylums, and hospitals, +carefully noting the treatment given in each. + +Finally she determined to spend some months at Kaiserwerth, near +Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, in Pastor Fliedner's great Lutheran +hospital. He had been a poor clergyman, the leader of a scanty flock, +whose church was badly in debt. A man of much enterprise and warm +heart, he could not see his work fail for lack of means; so he set +out among the provinces, to tell the needs of his little parish. +He collected funds, learned much about the poverty and ignorance +of cities, preached in some of the prisons, because interested in +criminals, and went back to his loyal people. + +But so poor were they that they could not meet the yearly expenses, so +he determined to raise an endowment fund. He visited Holland and Great +Britain, and secured the needed money. + +In England, in 1832, he became acquainted with Elizabeth Fry. How one +good life influences another to the end of time! When he went back to +Germany his heart was aglow with a desire to help humanity. + +He at once opened an asylum for discharged prison-women. He saw how +almost impossible it was for those who had been in prison to obtain +situations. Then he opened a school for the children of such as worked +in factories, for he realized how unfit for citizenship are those who +grow up in ignorance. He did not have much money, but he seemed able +to obtain what he really needed. Then he opened a hospital; a home for +insane women; a home of rest for his nurses, or for those who needed +a place to live after their work was done. Soon the "Deaconesses" at +Kaiserwerth became known the country over. Among the wildest Norwegian +mountains we met some of these Kaiserwerth nurses, refined, educated +ladies, getting in summer a new lease of life for their noble labors. + +This Protestant sisterhood consists now of about seven hundred +sisters, at about two hundred stations, the annual expense being about +$150,000. What a grand work for one man, with no money, the pastor of +a very humble church! + +Into this work of Pastor Fliedner, Florence Nightingale heartily +entered. Was it strange taste for a pretty and wealthy young woman, +whose life had been one of sunshine and happiness? It was a saintlike +taste, and the world is rendered a little like Paradise by the +presence of such women. Back in London the papers were full of +the great exhibition of 1851, but she was more interested in her +Kaiserwerth work than to be at home. When she had finished her course +of instruction, Pastor Fliedner said, since he had been director +of that institution no one had ever passed so distinguished an +examination, or shown herself so thoroughly mistress of all she had +learned. + +On her return to Lea Hurst, she could not rest very long, while there +was so much work to be done in the world. In London, a hospital +for sick governesses was about to fail, from lack of means and poor +management. Nobody seemed very deeply interested for these overworked +teachers. But Miss Nightingale was interested, and leaving her lovely +home, she came to the dreary house in Harley Street, where she gave +her time and her fortune for several years. Her own frail health +sank for a time from the close confinement, but she had seen the +institution placed on a sure foundation, and prosperous. + +The Crimean War had begun. England had sent out ship-loads of men to +the Black Sea, to engage in war with Russia. Little thought seemed to +have been taken, in the hurry and enthusiasm of war, to provide proper +clothing or food for the men in that changing climate. In the desolate +country there was almost no means of transportation, and men and +animals suffered from hunger. After the first winter cholera broke +out, and in one camp twenty men died in twenty-four hours. + +Matters grew from bad to worse. William Howard Russell, the _Times_ +correspondent, wrote home to England: "It is now pouring rain,--the +skies are black as ink,--the wind is howling over the staggering +tents,--the trenches are turned into dykes,--in the tents the water +is sometimes a foot deep,--our men have not either warm or +waterproof clothing,--they are out for twelve hours at a time in the +trenches,--they are plunged into the inevitable miseries of a winter +campaign,--and not a soul seems to care for their comfort, or even +for their lives. These are hard truths, but the people of England must +hear them. They must know that the wretched beggar who wanders +about the streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince, +compared with the British soldiers who are fighting out here for their +country. + +"The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there is not +the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness; the stench +is appalling; the fetid air can barely struggle out to taint the +atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls and roofs; and, for +all I can observe, these men die without the least effort being made +to save them. There they lie, just as they were let gently down on the +ground by the poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on their +backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness, but who are not +allowed to remain with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, +and the dying by the dying." + +During the rigorous winter of 1854, with snow three feet thick, many +were frozen in their tents. Out of nearly forty-five thousand, over +eighteen thousand were reported in the hospitals. The English nation +became aroused at this state of things, and in less than two weeks +seventy-five thousand dollars poured into the Times office for the +suffering soldiers. A special commissioner, Mr. Macdonald, was sent to +the Crimea with shirts, sheets, flannels, and necessary food. + +But one of the greatest of all needs was woman's hand and brain, in +the dreadful suffering and the confusion. The testimony of the world +thus far has been that men everywhere need the help of women, and +women everywhere need the help of men. Right Honorable Sydney Herbert, +the Secretary of War, knew of but one woman who could bring order +and comfort to those far-away hospitals, and that woman was Miss +Nightingale. She had made herself ready at Kaiserwerth for a great +work, and now a great work was ready for her. + +But she was frail in health, and was it probable that a rich and +refined lady would go thousands of miles from her kindred, to live +in feverish wards where there were only men? A true woman dares do +anything that helps the world. + +Mr. Herbert wrote her, Oct. 15: "There is, as far as I know, only one +person in England capable of organizing and directing such a plan, and +I have been several times on the point of asking you if you would +be disposed to make the attempt. That it will be difficult to form +a corps of nurses, no one knows better than yourself.... I have this +simple question to put to you: Could you go out yourself, and take +charge of everything? It is, of course, understood that you will have +absolute authority over all the nurses, unlimited power to draw on the +government for all you judge necessary to the success of your mission; +and I think I may assure you of the co-operation of the medical +staff. Your personal qualities, your knowledge, and your authority in +administrative affairs, all fit you for this position." + +It was a strange coincidence that on that same day, Oct. 15, Miss +Nightingale, her heart stirred for the suffering soldiers, had written +a letter to Mr. Herbert, offering her services to the government. A +few days later the world read, with moistened eyes, this letter from +the war office: "Miss Nightingale, accompanied by thirty-four nurses, +will leave this evening. Miss Nightingale, who has, I believe, greater +practical experience of hospital administration and treatment than any +other lady in this country, has, with a self-devotion for which I have +no words to express my gratitude, undertaken this noble but arduous +work." + +The heart of the English nation followed the heroic woman. Mrs. +Jameson wrote: "It is an undertaking wholly new to our English +customs, much at variance with the usual education given to women in +this country. If it succeeds, it will be the true, the lasting glory +of Florence Nightingale and her band of devoted assistants, that they +have broken down a Chinese wall of prejudices,--religious, social, +professional,--and have established a precedent which will, indeed, +multiply the good to all time." She did succeed, and the results can +scarcely be overestimated. + +As the band of nurses passed through France, hotel-keepers would take +no pay for their accommodation; poor fisherwomen at Boulogne struggled +for the honor of carrying their baggage to the railway station. They +sailed in the _Vectis_ across the Mediterranean, reaching Scutari, +Nov. 5, the day of the battle of Inkerman. + +They found in the great Barrack Hospital, which had been lent to the +British by the Turkish government, and in another large hospital near +by, about four thousand men. The corridors were filled with two rows +of mattresses, so close that two persons could scarcely walk between +them. There was work to be done at once. + +One of the nurses wrote home, "The whole of yesterday one could only +forget one's own existence, for it was spent, first in sewing the +men's mattresses together, and then in washing them, and assisting the +surgeons, when we could, in dressing their ghastly wounds after their +five days' confinement on board ship, during which space their wounds +had not been dressed. Hundreds of men with fever, dysentery, and +cholera (the wounded were the smaller portion) filled the wards in +succession from the overcrowded transports." + +Miss Nightingale, calm and unobtrusive, went quietly among the men, +always with a smile of sympathy for the suffering. The soldiers often +wept, as for the first time in months, even years, a woman's hand +adjusted their pillows, and a woman's voice soothed their sorrows. + +Miss Nightingale's pathway was not an easy one. Her coming did not +meet the general approval of military or medical officials. Some +thought women would be in the way; others felt that their coming was +an interference. Possibly some did not like to have persons about who +would be apt to tell the truth on their return to England. But with +good sense and much tact she was able to overcome the disaffection, +using her almost unlimited power with discretion. + +As soon as the wounded were attended to, she established an invalid's +kitchen, where appetizing food could be prepared,--one of the +essentials in convalescence. Here she overlooked the proper cooking +for eight hundred men who could not eat ordinary food. Then she +established a laundry. The beds and shirts of the men were in a filthy +condition, some wearing the ragged clothing in which they were brought +down from the Crimea. It was difficult to obtain either food or +clothing, partly from the immense amount of "red tape" in official +life. + +Miss Nightingale seemed to be everywhere. Dr. Pincoffs said: "I +believe that there never was a severe case of any kind that escaped +her notice; and sometimes it was wonderful to see her at the bedside +of a patient who had been admitted perhaps but an hour before, and +of whose arrival one would hardly have supposed it possible she could +already be cognizant." + +She aided the senior chaplain in establishing a library and +school-room, and in getting up evening lectures for the men. She +supplied books and games, wrote letters for the sick, and forwarded +their little savings to their home-friends. + +For a year and a half, till the close of the war, she did a wonderful +work, reducing the death-rate in the Barrack Hospital from sixty per +cent to a little above one per cent. Said the _Times_ correspondent: +"Wherever there is disease in its most dangerous form, and the hand of +the spoiler distressingly nigh, there is that incomparable woman sure +to be seen; her benignant presence is an influence for good comfort +even amid the struggles of expiring nature. She is a 'ministering +angel,' without any exaggeration, in these hospitals, and as her +slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's +face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical +officers have retired for the night, and silence and darkness have +settled down upon these miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed, +alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds. + +"With the heart of a true woman and the manner of a lady, accomplished +and refined beyond most of her sex, she combines a surprising calmness +of judgment and promptitude and decision of character. The popular +instinct was not mistaken, which, when she set out from England on her +mission of mercy, hailed her as a heroine; I trust she may not earn +her title to a higher, though sadder, appellation. No one who has +observed her fragile figure and delicate health can avoid misgivings +lest these should fail." + +One of the soldiers wrote home: "She would speak to one and another, +and nod and smile to many more; but she could not do it to all, you +know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could kiss her shadow as it +fell, and lay our heads on our pillows again content." Another wrote +home: "Before she came there was such cussin' and swearin', and after +that it was as holy as a church." No wonder she was called the "Angel +of the Crimea." Once she was prostrated with fever, but recovered +after a few weeks. + +Finally the war came to an end. London was preparing to give Miss +Nightingale a royal welcome, when, lo! she took passage by design on a +French steamer, and reached Lea Hurst, Aug. 15, 1856, unbeknown to +any one. There was a murmur of disappointment at first, but the +people could only honor all the more the woman who wished no blare of +trumpets for her humane acts. + +Queen Victoria sent for her to visit her at Balmoral, and presented +her with a valuable jewel; a ruby-red enamel cross on a white field, +encircled by a black band with the words, "Blessed are the merciful." +The letters V. R., surmounted by a crown in diamonds, are impressed +upon the centre of the cross. Green enamel branches of palm, tipped +with gold, form the framework of the shield, while around their stems +is a riband of the blue enamel with the single word "Crimea." On +the top are three brilliant stars of diamonds. On the back is an +inscription written by the Queen. The Sultan sent her a magnificent +bracelet, and the government, $250,000, to found the school for nurses +at St. Thomas' Hospital. + +Since the war, Miss Nightingale has never been in strong health, +but she has written several valuable books. Her _Hospital Notes_, +published in 1859, have furnished plans for scores of new hospitals. +Her _Notes on Nursing_, published in 1860, of which over one hundred +thousand have been sold, deserve to be in every home. She is the most +earnest advocate of sunlight and fresh air. + +She says: "An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What +air can we breathe at night but night air? The choice is between pure +night air from without, and foul night air from within. Most people +prefer the latter,--an unaccountable choice. What will they say if it +be proved true that fully _one-half of all the disease we suffer from, +is occasioned by people sleeping with their windows shut?_ An open +window most nights of the year can never hurt any one. In great cities +night air is often the best and purest to be had in the twenty-four +hours. + +"The five essentials, for healthy houses," she says, are "pure air, +pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light.... I have +known whole houses and hospitals smell of the sink. I have met just as +strong a stream of sewer air coming up the back staircase of a grand +London house, from the sink, as I have ever met at Scutari; and I have +seen the rooms in that house all ventilated by the open doors, and +the passages all _un_ventilated by the close windows, in order that as +much of the sewer air as possible might be conducted into and retained +in the bed-rooms. It is wonderful!" + +Miss Nightingale has much humor, and she shows it in her writings. She +is opposed to dark houses; says they promote scrofula; to old papered +walls, and to carpets full of dust. An uninhabited room becomes full +of foul air soon, and needs to have the windows opened often. She +would keep sick people, or well, forever in the sunlight if possible, +for sunlight is the greatest possible purifier of the atmosphere. +"In the unsunned sides of narrow streets, there is degeneracy and +weakliness of the human race,--mind and body equally degenerating." +Of the ruin wrought by bad air, she says: "Oh, the crowded national +school, where so many children's epidemics have their origin, what +a tale its air-test would tell! We should have parents saying, and +saying rightly, 'I will not send my child to that school; the +air-test stands at "horrid."' And the dormitories of our great +boarding-schools! Scarlet fever would be no more ascribed to +contagion, but to its right cause, the air-test standing at 'Foul.' We +should hear no longer of 'Mysterious Dispensations' and of 'Plague and +Pestilence' being in 'God's hands,' when, so far as we know, He has +put them into our own." She urges much rubbing of the body, washing +with warm water and soap. "The only way I know to _remove_ dust, is to +wipe everything with a damp cloth.... If you must have a carpet, the +only safety is to take it up two or three times a year, instead of +once.... The best wall now extant is oil paint." + +"Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, requires as +exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter's or +sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or cold +marble compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of +God's Spirit? Nursing is one of the fine arts; I had almost said, the +finest of the fine arts." + +Miss Nightingale has also written _Observations on the Sanitary State +of the Army in India,_ 1863; _Life or Death in India_, read before the +National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1873, with +an appendix on _Life or Death by Irrigation_, 1874. + +She is constantly doing deeds of kindness. With a subscription sent +recently by her to the Gordon Memorial Fund, she said: "Might but the +example of this great and pure hero be made to tell, in that self no +longer existed to him, but only God and duty, on the soldiers who have +died to save him, and on boys who should live to follow him." + +Miss Nightingale has helped to dignify labor and to elevate humanity, +and has thus made her name immortal. + +Florence Nightingale died August 13, 1910, at 2 P.M., of heart +failure, at the age of ninety. She had received many distinguished +honors: the freedom of the city of London in 1908, and from King +Edward VII, a year previously, a membership in the Order of Merit, +given only to a select few men; such as Field Marshal Roberts, Lord +Kitchener, Alma Tadema, James Bryce, George Meredith, Lords Kelvin and +Lister, and Admiral Togo. + +Her funeral was a quiet one, according to her wishes. + + + +LADY BRASSEY. + +[Illustration: LADY BRASSEY.] + +One of my pleasantest days in England was spent at old Battle Abbey, +the scene of the ever-memorable Battle of Hastings, where William of +Normandy conquered the Saxon Harold. + +The abbey was built by William as a thank-offering for the victory, on +the spot where Harold set up his standard. The old gateway is one of +the finest in England. Part of the ancient church remains, flowers and +ivy growing out of the beautiful gothic arches. + +As one stands upon the walls and looks out upon the sea, that great +battle comes up before him. The Norman hosts disembark; first come the +archers in short tunics, with bows as tall as themselves and quivers +full of arrows; then the knights in coats of mail, with long lances +and two-edged swords; Duke William steps out last from the ship, and +falls foremost on both hands. His men gather about him in alarm, but +he says, "See, my lords, I have taken possession of England with both +my hands. It is now mine, and what is mine is yours." + +Word is sent to Harold to surrender the throne, but he returns answer +as haughty as is sent. Brave and noble, he plants his standard, a +warrior sparkling with gold and precious stones, and thus addresses +his men:-- + +"The Normans are good knights, and well used to war. If they pierce +our ranks, we are lost. Cleave, and do not spare!" Then they build +up a breastwork of shields, which no man can pass alive. William of +Normandy is ready for action. He in turn addresses his men: "Spare +not, and strike hard. There will be booty for all. It will be in vain +to ask for peace; the English will not give it. Flight is impossible; +at the sea you will find neither ship nor bridge; the English would +overtake and annihilate you there. The victory is in our hands." + +From nine till three the battle rages. The case becomes desperate. +William orders the archers to fire into the air, as they cannot pierce +English armor, and arrows fall down like rain upon the Saxons. Harold +is pierced in the eye. He is soon overcome and trampled to death by +the enemy, dying, it is said, with the words "Holy Cross" upon his +lips. + +Ten thousand are killed on either side, and the Saxons pass forever +under foreign rule. Harold's mother comes and begs the body of her +son, and pays for it, some historians say, its weight in gold. + +Every foot of ground at Battle Abbey is historic, and all the country +round most interesting. We drive over the smoothest of roads to a +palace in the distance,--Normanhurst, the home of Lady Brassey, the +distinguished author and traveller. Towers are at either corner and +in the centre, and ivy climbs over the spacious vestibule to the roof. +Great buildings for waterworks, conservatories, and the like, are +adjoining, in the midst of flower-gardens and acres of lawn and +forest. It is a place fit for the abode of royalty itself. + +In no home have I seen so much that is beautiful gathered from all +parts of the world. The hall, as you enter, square and hung with +crimson velvet, is adorned with valuable paintings. Two easy-chairs +before the fireplace are made from ostriches, their backs forming the +seats. These birds were gifts to Lady Brassey in her travels. In the +rooms beyond are treasures from Japan, the South Sea Islands, South +America, indeed from everywhere; cases of pottery, works in marble, +Dresden candelabra, ancient armor, furs, silks, all arrayed with +exquisite taste. + +One room, called the Marie Antoinette room, has the curtains and +furniture, in yellow, of this unfortunate queen. Here are pictures by +Sir Frederick Leighton, Landseer, and others; stuffed birds and +fishes and animals from every clime, with flowers in profusion. In +the dining-room, with its gray walls and red furniture, is a large +painting of the mistress of this superb home, with her favorite horse +and dogs. The views from the windows are beautiful, Battle Abbey ruin +in the distance, and rivers flowing to the sea. The house is rich in +color, one room being blue, another red, a third yellow, while large +mirrors seem to repeat the apartments again and again. As we leave the +home, not the least of its attractions come up the grounds,--a load of +merry children, all in sailor hats; the Mabelle and Muriel and Marie +whom we have learned to know in Lady Brassey's books. + +The well-known author is the daughter of the late Mr. John Alnutt of +Berkley Square, London, who, as well as his father, was a patron of +art, having made large collections of paintings. Reared in wealth and +culture, it was but natural that the daughter, Annie, should find +in the wealthy and cultured Sir Thomas Brassey a man worthy of her +affections. In 1860, while both were quite young, they were married, +and together they have travelled, written books, aided working men and +women, and made for themselves a noble and lasting fame. + +Sir Thomas is the eldest son of the late Mr. Brassey, "the leviathan +contractor, the employer of untold thousands of navvies, the genie of +the spade and pick, and almost the pioneer of railway builders, not +only in his own country, but from one end of the continent to the +other." Of superior education, having been at Rugby and University +College, Oxford, Sir Thomas was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in +1864, and was elected to Parliament from Devonport the following year, +and from Hastings three years later, in 1868, which position he has +filled ever since. + +Exceedingly fond of the sea, he determined to be a practical sailor, +and qualified himself as a master-marine, by passing the requisite +Board of Trade examination, and receiving a certificate as a seaman +and navigator. In 1869 he was made Honorary Lieutenant in the Royal +Naval Reserve. + +Besides his parliamentary work, he has been an able and voluminous +writer. His _Foreign Work and English Wages_ I purchased in England, +and have found it valuable in facts and helpful in spirit. The +statement in the preface that he "has had under consideration the +expediency of retiring from Parliament, with the view of devoting an +undivided attention to the elucidation of industrial problems, and +the improvement of the relations between capital and labor," shows the +heart of the man. In 1880 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and +in 1881 was created by the Queen a Knight Commander of the Order +of the Bath, for his important services in connection with the +organization of the Naval Reserve forces of the country. + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BRASSEY.] + +In 1869, after Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey had been nine years +married, they determined to take a sea-voyage in his yacht, and +between this time and 1872 they made two cruises in the Mediterranean +and the East. From her childhood the wife had kept a journal, and from +fine powers of observation and much general knowledge was well fitted +to see whatever was to be seen, and describe it graphically. She +wrote long, journal-like letters to her father, and on her return _The +Flight of the Meteor_ was prepared for distribution among relatives +and intimate friends. + +In the year last mentioned, 1872, they took a trip to Canada and +the United States, sailing up several of the long rivers, and on her +return, _A Cruise in the Eothen_ was published for friends. + +Four years later they decided to go round the world, and for this +purpose the beautiful yacht _Sunbeam_ was built. The children, the +animal pets, two dogs, three birds, and a Persian kitten for the baby, +were all taken, and the happy family left England July 1, 1876. With +the crew, the whole number of persons on board was forty-three. +Almost at the beginning of the voyage they encountered a severe storm. +Captain Lecky would have been lost but for the presence of mind of +Mabelle Brassey, the oldest daughter, who has her mother's courage +and calmness. When asked if she thought she was going overboard, she +answered, "I did not think at all, mamma, but felt sure we were gone." + +"Soon after this adventure," says Lady Brassey, "we all went to bed, +full of thanksgiving that it had ended as well as it did; but, alas, +not, so far as I was concerned, to rest in peace. In about two hours I +was awakened by a tremendous weight of water suddenly descending upon +me and flooding the bed. I immediately sprang out, only to find myself +in another pool on the floor. It was pitch dark, and I could not think +what had happened; so I rushed on deck, and found that the weather +having moderated a little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of fresh +air, had opened the skylight rather too soon, and one of the angry +waves had popped on board, deluging the cabin. + +"I got a light, and proceeded to mop up, as best I could, and then +endeavored to find a dry place to sleep in. This, however, was no easy +task, for my own bed was drenched, and every other berth occupied. +The deck, too, was ankle-deep in water, as I found when I tried to +get across to the deck-house sofa. At last I lay down on the floor, +wrapped in my ulster, and wedged between the foot stanchion of our +swing bed and the wardrobe athwart-ship; so that as the yacht rolled +heavily, my feet were often higher than my head." + +No wonder that a woman who could make the best of such circumstances +could make a year's trip on the _Sunbeam_ a delight to all on board. +Their first visits were to the Madeira, Teneriffe, and Cape de Verde +Islands, off the coast of Africa. With simplicity, the charm of all +writing, and naturalness, Lady Brassey describes the people, the +bathing where the sharks were plentiful, and the masses of wild +geranium, hydrangea, and fuchsia. They climb to the top of the lava +Peak of Teneriffe, over twelve thousand feet high; they rise at +five o'clock to see the beautiful sunrises; they watch the slaves at +coffee-raising at Rio de Janeiro, in South America, and Lady Brassey +is attracted toward the nineteen tiny babies by the side of their +mothers; "the youngest, a dear, little woolly-headed thing, as black +as jet, and only three weeks old." + +In Belgrano, she says: "We saw for the first time the holes of the +bizcachas, or prairie-dogs, outside which the little prairie-owls keep +guard. There appeared to be always one, and generally two, of these +birds, standing like sentinels, at the entrance to each hole, with +their wise-looking heads on one side, pictures of prudence and +watchfulness. The bird and the beast are great friends, and are seldom +to be found apart." And then Lady Brassey, who understands photography +as well as how to write several languages, photographs this pretty +scene of prairie-dogs guarded by owls, and puts it in her book. + +On their way to the Straits of Magellan, they see a ship on fire. They +send out a boat to her, and bring in the suffering crew of fifteen +men, almost wild with joy to be rescued. Their cargo of coal had been +on fire for four days. The men were exhausted, the fires beneath +their feet were constantly growing hotter, and finally they gave up in +despair and lay down to die. But the captain said, "There is One above +who looks after us all," and again they took courage. They lashed the +two apprentice boys in one of the little boats, for fear they would be +washed overboard, for one was the "only son of his mother, and she a +widow." + +"The captain," says Lady Brassey, "drowned his favorite dog, a +splendid Newfoundland, just before leaving the ship; for although a +capital watchdog and very faithful, he was rather large and fierce; +and when it was known that the _Sunbeam_ was a yacht with ladies and +children on board, he feared to introduce him. Poor fellow! I wish I +had known about it in time to save his life!" + +They "steamed past the low sandy coast of Patagonia and the rugged +mountains of Tierra del Fuego, literally, Land of Fire, so called from +the custom the inhabitants have of lighting fires on prominent points +as signals of assembly." The people are cannibals, and naked. "Their +food is of the most meagre description, and consists mainly of +shell-fish, sea-eggs, for which the women dive with much dexterity, +and fish, which they train their dogs to assist them in catching. +These dogs are sent into the water at the entrance of a narrow creek +or small bay, and they then bark and flounder about and drive the fish +before them into shallow water, where they are caught." + +Three of these Fuegians, a man, woman, and lad, come out to the yacht +in a craft made of planks rudely tied together with the sinews of +animals, and give otter skins for "tobaco and galleta" (biscuit), for +which they call. When Lady Brassey gives the lad and his mother some +strings of blue, red, and green glass beads, they laugh and jabber +most enthusiastically. Their paddles are "split branches of trees, +with wider pieces tied on at one end, with the sinews of birds or +beasts." At the various places where they land, all go armed, Lady +Brassey herself being well skilled in their use. + +She never forgets to do a kindness. In Chili she hears that a poor +engine-driver, an Englishman, has met with a serious accident, and at +once hastens to see him. He is delighted to hear about the trip of the +_Sunbeam_, and forgets for a time his intense suffering in his joy at +seeing her. + +In Santiago she describes a visit to the ruin of the Jesuit church, +where, Dec. 8, 1863, at the Feast of the Virgin, two thousand persons, +mostly women and children, were burned to death. A few were drawn up +through a hole in the roof and thus saved. + +Their visit to the South Sea Islands is full of interest. At Bow +Island Lady Brassey buys two tame pigs for twenty-five cents each, +which are so docile that they follow her about the yacht with the +dogs, to whom they took a decided fancy. She calls one Agag, because +he walks so delicately on his toes. The native women break cocoanuts +and offer them the milk to drink. At Maitea the natives are puzzled to +know why the island is visited. "No sell brandy?" they ask. "No." +"No stealy men?" "No." "No do what then?" The chief receives most +courteously, cutting down a banana-tree for them, when they express a +wish for bananas. He would receive no money for his presents to them. + +In Tahiti a feast is given in their honor, in a house seemingly made +of banana-trees, "the floor covered with the finest mats, and +the centre strewn with broad green plantain leaves, to form the +table-cloth.... Before each guest was placed a half-cocoanut full of +salt water, another full of chopped cocoanut, a third full of fresh +water, and another full of milk, two pieces of bamboo, a basket of +poi, half a breadfruit, and a platter of green leaves, the latter +being changed with each course. We took our seats on the ground round +the green table. The first operation was to mix the salt water and +the chopped cocoanut together, so as to make an appetizing sauce, into +which we were supposed to dip each morsel we ate. We were tolerably +successful in the use of our fingers as substitutes for knives and +forks." + +At the Sandwich Islands, in Hilo, they visit the volcano of Kilauea. +They descend the precipice, three hundred feet, which forms the wall +of the old crater. They ascend the present crater, and stand on the +"edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake of molten fire, a hundred +feet below us, and nearly a mile across. Dashing against the cliffs on +the opposite side, with a noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, +waves of blood-red, fiery liquid lava hurled their billows upon an +iron-bound headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss +their gory spray high in the air." + +They pass the island of Molokai, where the poor lepers end their days +away from home and kindred. At Honolulu they are entertained by the +Prince, and then sail for Japan, China, Ceylon, through Suez, stopping +in Egypt, and then home. On their arrival, Lady Brassey says, "How +can I describe the warm greetings that met us everywhere, or the crowd +that surrounded us; how, along the whole ten miles from Hastings to +Battle, people were standing by the roadside and at the cottage doors +to welcome us; how the Battle bell-ringers never stopped ringing +except during service time; or how the warmest of welcomes ended our +delightful year of travel and made us feel we were home at last, with +thankful hearts for the providential care which had watched over us +whithersoever we roamed!" + +The trip had been one of continued ovation. Crowds had gathered in +every place to see the _Sunbeam_, and often trim her with flowers from +stem to stern. Presents of parrots, and kittens, and pigs abounded, +and Lady Brassey had cared tenderly for them all. Christmas was +observed on ship-board with gifts for everybody; thoughtfulness +and kindness had made the trip a delight to the crew as well as the +passengers. + +The letters sent home from the _Sunbeam_ were so thoroughly enjoyed +by her father and friends, that they prevailed upon her to publish a +book, which she did in 1878. It was found to be as full of interest +to the world as it had been to the intimate friends, and it passed +rapidly through four editions. An abridged edition appeared in the +following year; then the call for it was so great that an edition +was prepared for reading in schools, in 1880, and finally, in 1881, a +twelve-cent edition, that the poor as well as the rich might have an +opportunity of reading this fascinating book, _Around the World in +the Yacht Sunbeam_. And now Lady Brassey found herself not only the +accomplished and benevolent wife of a member of Parliament, but a +famous author as well. + +This year, July, 1881, the King of the Sandwich Islands, who had been +greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, was entertained +at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady Brassey with the Order of +Kapiolani. + +The next trip made was to the far East, and a book followed in 1880, +entitled, _Sunshine and Storm in the East; or, Cruises to Cyprus and +Constantinople_, dedicated "to the brave, true-hearted sailors of +England, of all ranks and services." + +The book is intensely interesting. Now she describes the Sultan going +to the mosque, which he does every Friday at twelve o'clock. "He +appeared in a sort of undress uniform, with a flowing cloak over +it, and with two or three large diamond stars on his breast. He was +mounted on a superb white Arab charger, thirty-three years old, +whose saddle-cloths and trappings blazed with gold and diamonds. The +following of officers on foot was enormous; and then came two hundred +of the fat blue and gold pashas, with their white horses and brilliant +trappings, the rear being brought up by some troops and a few +carriages.... Nobody dares address the Sultan, even if he speaks to +them, except in monosyllables, with their foreheads almost touching +the floor, the only exception being the grand vizier, who dares not +look up, but stands almost bent double. He is entirely governed by his +mother, who, having been a slave of the very lowest description, to +whom his father, Mahmoud II., took a fancy as she was carrying wood +to the bath, is naturally bigoted and ignorant.... The Sultan is not +allowed to marry, but the slaves who become mothers of his children +are called sultanas, and not allowed to do any more work. They have a +separate suite of apartments, a retinue of servants, besides carriages +and horses, and each hopes some day to be the mother of the future +Sultan, and therefore the most prominent woman in Turkey. The sultanas +may not sit at table with their own children, on account of their +having been slaves, while the children are princes and princesses in +right of their father." + +Lady Brassey tells the amusing story of a visit of Eugenie to the +Sultan's mother, when the Empress of the French saluted her on the +cheek. The Turkish woman was furious, and said she had never been so +insulted in her life. "She retired to bed at once, was bled, and had +several Turkish baths, to purify her from the pollution. Fancy the +Empress' feelings when, after having so far condescended as to kiss +the old woman, born one of the lowest of slaves, she had her embrace +received in such a manner." + +The habits and customs of the people are described by Lady Brassey +with all the interest of a novel. On their return home, "again the +Battle bells rang out a merry peal of gladness; again everybody rushed +out to welcome us. At home once again, the servants and the animals +seemed equally glad to see us back; the former looked the picture of +happiness, while the dogs jumped and barked; the horses and ponies +neighed and whinnied; the monkeys chattered; the cockatoos and parrots +screamed; the birds chirped; the bullfinches piped their little paean +of welcome.... Our old Sussex cowman says that even the cows eat their +food 'kind of kinder like' when the family are at home. The deer and +the ostriches too, the swans and the call ducks, all came running to +meet us, as we drove round the place to see them." Kindness to both +man and beast bears its legitimate fruit. + +Two years later she prepared the letter-press to _Tahiti: a Series of +Photographs_, taken by Colonel Stuart Wortley. He also is a gentleman +of much culture and noble work, in whose home we saw beautiful things +gathered from many lands. + +The last long trip of Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey was made in the fall +of 1883, and resulted in a charming book, _In the Trades, the Tropics, +and the Roaring Forties_, with about three hundred illustrations. The +route lay through Madeira, Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and home +by way of the Azores. The resources of the various islands, their +history, and their natural formation, are ably told, showing much +study as well as intelligent observation. The maps and charts are also +valuable. At Trinidad they visit the fine Botanic Gardens, and see +bamboos, mangoes, peach-palms, and cocoa-plants, from whose seeds +chocolate is made. The quantity exported annually is 13,000,000 +pounds. + +They also visit great coffee plantations. "The leaves of the +coffee-shrub," says Lady Brassey, "are of a rich, dark, glossy green; +the flowers, which grow in dense white clusters, when in full bloom, +giving the bushes the appearance of being covered with snow. The +berries vary in color from pale green to reddish orange or dark +red, according to their ripeness, and bear a strong resemblance to +cherries. Each contains two seeds, which, when properly dried, become +what is known to us as 'raw' coffee." + +At Caracas they view with interest the place which, on March 26, +1812, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, twelve thousand persons +perishing, thousands of whom were buried alive by the opening of +the ground. They study the formation of coral-reefs, and witness the +gathering of sponges in the Bahamas. "These are brought to the surface +by hooked poles, or sometimes by diving. When first drawn from the +water they are covered with a soft gelatinous substance, as black as +tar and full of organic life, the sponge, as we know, being only the +skeleton of the organism." + +While all this travelling was being enjoyed, and made most useful +as well, to hundreds of thousands of readers, Lady Brassey was not +forgetting her works of philanthropy. For years she has been a leading +spirit in the St. John's Ambulance Association. Last October she +gave a valuable address to the members of the "Workingmen's Club and +Institute Union," composed of several hundred societies of workingmen. +Her desire was that each society take up the work of teaching +its members how to care for the body in case of accidents. The +association, now numbering over one hundred thousand persons, is an +offshoot of the ancient order of St. John of Jerusalem, founded eight +hundred years ago, to maintain a hospital for Christian pilgrims. She +says: "The method of arresting bleeding from an artery is so easy that +a child may learn it; yet thousands of lives have been lost through +ignorance, the life-blood ebbing away in the presence of sorrowing +spectators, perfectly helpless, because none among them had been +taught one of the first rudiments of instruction of an ambulance +pupil,--the application of an extemporized tourniquet. Again, how +frequent is the loss of life by drowning; yet how few persons, +comparatively, understand the way to treat properly the apparently +drowned." Lectures are given by this association on, first, aid to the +injured; also on the general management of the sick-room. + +Lady Brassey, with the assistance of medical men, has held classes in +all the outlying villages about her home, and has arranged that simple +but useful medical appliances, like plasters, bandages, and the like, +be kept at some convenient centres. + +At Trindad, and Bahamas, and Bermudas, when they stayed there in +their travels, she caused to be held large meetings among the most +influential residents; also at Madeira and in the Azores. A class was +organized on board the _Sunbeam_, and lectures were delivered by +a physician. In the Shetland Islands she has also organized these +societies, and thus many lives have been saved. When the soldiers +went to the Soudan, she arranged for these helpful lectures to them +on their voyage East, and among much other reading-matter which +she obtained for them, sent them books and papers on this essential +medical knowledge. + +She carries on correspondence with India, Australia, and New Zealand, +where ambulance associations have been formed. For her valued services +she was elected in 1881 a _Dame Chevaliere_ of the Order of St. John +of Jerusalem. + +Her work among the poor in the East End of London is admirable. Too +much of this cannot be done by those who are blessed with wealth +and culture. She is also interested in all that helps to educate the +people, as is shown by her Museum of Natural History and Ethnological +Specimens, open for inspection in the School of Fine Art at Hastings. +How valuable is such a life compared with one that uses its time and +money for personal gratification alone. + +In August, 1885, Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey took Mr. and Mrs. +Gladstone, and a few other friends, in the _Sunbeam_, up the coast of +Norway. When they landed at Stavanger, a quaint, clean little town, +she says, in the October _Contemporary Review_: "The reception which +we met in this comparatively out-of-the-way place, where our visit had +been totally unexpected, was very striking. From early morning little +groups of townspeople had been hovering about the quays, trying to get +a distant glimpse of the world-renowned statesman who was among our +passengers." When they walked through the town, "every window and +doorway was filled with on-lookers, several flags had been hoisted in +honor of the occasion, and the church bells were set ringing. It was +interesting and touching to see the ex-minister walking up the +narrow street, his hat almost constantly raised in response to the +salutations of the townspeople." + +They sail up the fiords, they ride in stolkjoerres over the country, +they climb mountains, they visit old churches, and they dine with the +Prince of Wales on board the royal yacht _Osborne_. Before landing, +Mr. Gladstone addresses the crew, thanking them that "the voyage has +been made pleasant and safe by their high sense of duty, constant +watchfulness, and arduous exertion." While he admires the "rare +knowledge of practical seamanship of Sir Thomas Brassey," and thanks +both him and his wife for their "genial and generous hospitality," +he does not forget the sailors, for whom he "wishes health and +happiness," and "prays that God may speed you in all you undertake." + +Lady Brassey is living a useful and noble as well as intellectual +life. In London, Sir Thomas and herself recently gave a reception to +over a thousand workingmen in the South Kensington Museum. Devoted to +her family, she does not forget the best interests of her country, +nor the welfare of those less fortunate than herself. Successful in +authorship, she is equally successful in good works; loved at home and +honored abroad. + + * * * * * + +Lady Brassey's last voyage was made in the yacht she loved: the +_Sunbeam_. Three or four years before, her health had received a +serious shock through an attack of typhoid fever, and it was hoped +that travel would restore her. A trip was made in 1887 to Ceylon, +Rangoon, North Borneo and Australia, in company with Lord Brassey, +a son, and three daughters. While in mid-ocean, on their way to +Mauritius, Lady Brassey died of malarial fever, and was buried at sea, +September 14, 1887. + + + + +BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. + +[Illustration: BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS.] + +We hear, with comparative frequency, of great gifts made by men: +George Peabody and Johns Hopkins, Ezra Cornell and Matthew Vassar, +Commodore Vanderbilt and Leland Stanford. But gifts of millions have +been rare from women. Perhaps this is because they have not, as often +as men, had the control of immense wealth. + +It is estimated that Baroness Burdett-Coutts has already given away +from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and is constantly dispensing +her fortune. She is feeling, in her lifetime, the real joy of giving. +How many benevolent persons lose all this joy, by waiting till death +before they bestow their gifts. + +This remarkable woman comes from a remarkable family. Her father, +Sir Francis Burdett, was one of England's most prominent members of +Parliament. So earnest and eloquent was he that Canning placed him +"very nearly, if not quite, at the head of the orators of the day." +His colleague from Westminster, Hobhouse, said, "Sir Francis Burdett +was endowed with qualities rarely united. A manly understanding and a +tender heart gave a charm to his society such as I have never derived +in any other instance from a man whose principal pursuit was politics. +He was the delight both of young and old." + +He was of fine presence, with great command of language, natural, +sincere, and impressive. After being educated at Oxford, he spent some +time in Paris during the early part of the French Revolution, and +came home with enlarged ideas of liberty. With as much courage as +eloquence, he advocated liberty of the press in England, and many +Parliamentary reforms. Whenever there were misdeeds to be exposed, he +exposed them. The abuses of Cold Bath Fields and other prisons were +corrected through his searching public inquiries. + +When one of his friends was shut up in Newgate for impugning the +conduct of the House of Commons, Sir Francis took his part, and for +this it was ordered that he too be arrested. Believing in free speech +as he did, he denied the right of the House of Commons to arrest +him, and for nearly three days barricaded his house, till the police +forcibly entered, and carried him to the Tower. A riot resulted, the +people assaulting the police and the soldiers, for the statesman was +extremely popular. Several persons were killed in the tumult. + +Nine years later, in 1819, because he condemned the proceedings of the +Lancashire magistrates in a massacre case, he was again arrested for +libel (?). His sentence was three months' imprisonment, and a fine of +five thousand dollars. The banknote with which the money was paid +is still preserved in the Bank of England, "with an inscription +in Burdett's own writing, that to save his life, which further +imprisonment threatened to destroy, he submitted to be robbed." + +For thirty years he represented Westminster, fearless in what he +considered right; strenuous for the abolition of slavery, and in all +other reforms. Napoleon said at St. Helena, if he had invaded England +as he had intended, he would have made it a republic, with Sir Francis +Burdett, the popular idol, at its head. + +Wealthy himself, Sir Francis married Sophia, the youngest daughter of +the wealthy London banker, Thomas Coutts. One son and five daughters +were born to them, the youngest Angela Georgina (April 21, 1814), +now the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Mr. Coutts was an eccentric and +independent man, who married for his first wife an excellent girl of +very humble position. Their children, from the great wealth of the +father, married into the highest social rank, one being Marchioness of +Bute, one countess of Guilford, and the third Lady Burdett. + +When Thomas Coutts was eighty-four he married for the second time, +a well-known actress, Harriet Mellon, who for seven years, till his +death, took excellent care of him. He left her his whole fortune, +amounting to several millions, feeling, perhaps, that he had provided +sufficiently for his daughters at their marriage, by giving them a +half-million each. But Harriet Mellon, with a fine sense of honor, +felt that the fortune belonged to his children. Though she married +five years later the Duke of St. Albans, twenty-four years old, about +half her own age, at her death, in ten years, she left the whole +property, some fifteen millions, to Mr. Coutts' granddaughter, Angela +Burdett. Only one condition was imposed,--that the young lady should +add the name of Coutts to her own. + +Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts became, therefore, at twenty-three, the +sole proprietor of the great Coutts banking-house, which position she +held for thirty years, and the owner of an immense fortune. Very many +young men manifested a desire to help care for the property, and to +share it with her, but she seems from the first to have had but one +definite life-purpose,--to spend her money for the good of the human +race. She had her father's strength of character, was well educated, +and was a friend of royalty itself. Alas, how many young women, with +fifteen million dollars in hand, and the sum constantly increasing, +would have preferred a life of display and self-aggrandizement rather +than visiting the poor and the sorrowing! + +Baroness Burdett-Coutts is now over seventy, and for fifty years her +name has been one of the brightest and noblest in England, or, indeed, +in the world. Crabb Robinson said, she is "the most generous, and +delicately generous, person I ever knew." + +Her charities have extended in every direction. Among her first good +works was the building of two large churches, one at Carlisle, and +another, St. Stephen's, at Westminster, the latter having also three +schools and a parsonage. But Great Britain did not require all her +gifts. Gospel work was needed in Australia, Africa, and British +America. She therefore endowed three colonial bishoprics, at Adelaide, +Cape Town, and in British Columbia, with a quarter of a million +dollars. In South Australia she also provided an institution for the +improvement of the aborigines, who were ignorant, and for whom the +world seemed to care little. + +She has generously aided her own sex. Feeling that sewing and other +household work should be taught in the national schools, as from her +labors among the poor she had seen how often food was badly cooked, +and mothers were ignorant of sewing, she gave liberally to the +government for this purpose. Her heart also went out to children in +the remote districts, who were missing all school privileges, and for +these she arranged a plan of "travelling teachers," which was heartily +approved by the English authorities. Even now in these later years the +Baroness may often be seen at the night-schools of London, offering +prizes, or encouraging the young men and women in their desire to +gain knowledge after the hard day's work is done. She has opened +"Reformatory Homes" for girls, and great good has resulted. + +Like Peabody, she has transformed some of the most degraded portions +of London by her improved tenement houses for the poor. One place, +called Nova Scotia gardens,--the term "gardens" was a misnomer,--she +purchased, tore down the old rookeries where people slept and ate in +filth and rags, and built tasteful homes for two hundred families, +charging for them low and weekly rentals. Close by she built Columbia +Market, costing over a million dollars, intended for the convenience +of small dealers and people in that locality, where clean, healthful +food could be procured. She opened a museum and reading-room for the +neighborhood, and brought order and taste out of squalor and distress. + +This building she presented to the city of London, and in +acknowledgment of the munificent gift, the Common Council presented +her, July, 1872, in a public ceremony, the freedom of the city, an +uncommon honor to a woman. It was accompanied by a complimentary +address, enclosed in a beautiful gold casket with several +compartments. One bore the arms of the Baroness, while the other +seven represented tableaux emblematic of her noble life, "Feeding +the Hungry," "Giving Drink to the Thirsty," "Clothing the Naked," +"Visiting the Captive," "Lodging the Homeless," "Visiting the +Sick," and "Burying the Dead." The four cardinal virtues, Prudence, +Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice, supported the box at the four +corners, while the lid was surmounted by the arms of the city. + +The Baroness made an able response to the address of the Council, +instead of asking some gentleman to reply for her. Women who can do +valuable benevolent work should be able to read their own reports, +or say what they desire to say in public speech, without feeling +that they have in the slightest degree departed from the dignity and +delicacy of their womanhood. + +Two years later, 1874, Edinburgh, for her many charities, also +presented the Baroness the freedom of the city. Queen Victoria, three +years before this, in June, 1871, had made her a peer of the realm. + +In Spitalfields, London, where the poverty was very great, she started +a sewing-school for adult women, and provided not only work for them, +but food as well, so that they might earn for themselves rather than +receive charity. To furnish this work, she took contracts from the +government. From this school she sent out nurses among the sick, +giving them medical supplies, and clothes for the deserving. When +servants needed outfits, the Baroness provided them, aiding in all +ways those who were willing to work. All this required much executive +ability. + +So interested is she in the welfare of poor children, that she has +converted some of the very old burying-grounds of the city, where +the bodies have long since gone back to dust, into playgrounds, with +walks, and seats, and beds of flowers. Here the children can romp +from morning till night, instead of living in the stifled air of +the tenement houses. In old St. Pancras churchyard, now used as a +playground, she has erected a sundial as a memorial to its illustrious +dead. + +Not alone does Lady Burdett-Coutts build churches, and help women and +girls. She has fitted hundreds of boys for the Royal Navy; educated +them on her training-ships. She usually tries them in a shoe-black +brigade, and if they show a desire to be honest and trustworthy, she +provides homes, either in the navy or in some good trade. + +When men are out of work, she encourages them in various ways. When +the East End weavers had become reduced to poverty by the decay of +trade, she furnished funds for them to emigrate to Queensland, with +their families. A large number went together, and formed a prosperous +and happy colony, gratefully sending back thanks to their benefactor. +They would have starved, or, what is more probable, gone into crime in +London; now they were contented and satisfied in their new home. + +When the inhabitants of Girvan, Scotland, were in distress, she +advanced a large sum to take all the needy families to Australia. Here +in America we talk every now and then of forming societies to help the +poor to leave the cities and go West, and too often the matter ends in +talk; while here is a woman who forms a society in and of herself, +and sends the suffering to any part of the world, expecting no money +return on the capital used. To see happy and contented homes grow from +our expenditures is such an investment of capital as helps to bring on +the millennium. + +When the people near Skibbereen, Ireland, were in want, she sent food, +and clothing, and fishing-tackle, to enable them to carry on their +daily employment of fishing. She supplied the necessary funds for Sir +Henry James' topographical survey of Jerusalem, in the endeavor to +discover the remains of King Solomon's temple, and offered to restore +the ancient aqueduct, to supply the city with water. Deeply interested +in art, she has aided many struggling artists. Her homes also contain +many valuable pictures. + +The heart of the Baroness seems open to distress from every clime. In +1877, when word reached England of the suffering through war of the +Bulgarian and Turkish peasantry, she instituted the "Compassion Fund," +by which one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and stores +were sent, and thousands of lives saved from starvation and death. For +this generosity the Sultan conferred upon her the Order of Medjidie, +the first woman, it is said, who has received this distinction. + +In all this benevolence she has not overlooked the animal creation. +She has erected four handsome drinking fountains: one in Victoria +Park, one at the entrance to the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, +one near Columbia Market, and one in the city of Manchester. At the +opening of the latter, the citizens gave Lady Burdett-Coutts a most +enthusiastic reception. To the unique and interesting home for lost +dogs in London, she has contributed very largely. If the poor animals +could speak, how would they thank her for a warm bed to lie on, and +proper food to eat! + +Her private gifts to the poor have been numberless. Her city house, +I Stratton Street, Piccadilly, and her country home at Holly Lodge, +Highgate, are both well known. When, in 1868, the great Reform +procession passed her house, and she was at the window, though half +out of sight, says a person who was present, "in one instant a shout +was raised. For upwards of two hours and a half the air rang with the +reiterated huzzas--huzzas unanimous and heart-felt, as if representing +a national sentiment." + +At Holly Lodge, which one passes in visiting the grave of George Eliot +at Highgate Cemetery, the Baroness makes thousands of persons happy +year by year. Now she invites two thousand Belgian volunteers to meet +the Prince and Princess of Wales, with some five hundred royal and +distinguished guests; now she throws open her beautiful gardens to +hundreds of school-children, and lets them play at will under the oak +and chestnut trees; and now she entertains at tea all her tenants, +numbering about a thousand. So genial and considerate is she that +all love her, both rich and poor. She has fine manners and an open, +pleasant face. + +For some years a young friend, about half her own age, Mr. William +Ashmead-Bartlett, had assisted her in dispensing her charities, and +in other financial matters. At one time he went to Turkey, at her +request, using wisely the funds committed to his trust. Baroness +Coutts had refused many offers of marriage, but she finally desired +to bestow her hand upon this young but congenial man. On February 12, +1881, they were wedded in Christ Church, Piccadilly. Her husband +took the name of Mr. Burdett-Coutts Bartlett, and has since become a +capable member of Parliament. The marriage proved a happy one. + +The final years of the Baroness' long, useful life were rather +secluded, being spent at her London residence, or at her delightful +country place near Highgate, where she formerly entertained largely. + +On Christmas Eve, in 1906, she became ill of bronchitis, and though +her wonderful vitality led her to revive somewhat, she finally +succumbed on December 30, at the age of ninety-two. She was greatly +beloved from the highest to the humblest citizens. Queen Alexandra +sent repeated inquiries and messages. King Edward once said that he +regarded the Baroness, after his mother, as the most remarkable woman +in England. Her life was a link with the past, as it began during the +reign of Emperor Napoleon I, and witnessed the reigns of five British +sovereigns. Throughout it was spent in doing good. + + + + +JEAN INGELOW. + +[Illustration: JEAN INGELOW.] + +The same friend who had given me Mrs. Browning's five volumes in blue +and gold, came one day with a dainty volume just published by Roberts +Brothers, of Boston. They had found a new poet, and one possessing a +beautiful name. Possibly it was a _nom de plume_, for who had heard +any real name so musical as that of Jean Ingelow? + +I took the volume down by the quiet stream that flows below Amherst +College, and day after day, under a grand old tree, read some of +the most musical words, wedded to as pure thought as our century has +produced. + +The world was just beginning to know _The High Tide on the Coast of +Lincolnshire_. Eyes were dimming as they read,-- + + "I looked without, and lo! my sonne + Came riding downe with might and main: + He raised a shout as he drew on, + Till all the welkin rang again, + 'Elizabeth! Elizabeth!' + (A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath + Than my sonne's wife Elizabeth.) + + "'The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe, + The rising tide comes on apace, + And boats adrift in yonder towne + Go sailing uppe the market-place.' + He shook as one who looks on death: + 'God save you, mother!' straight he saith; + 'Where is my wife, Elizabeth?'" + +And then the waters laid her body at his very door, and the sweet +voice that called, "Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!" was stilled forever. + +The _Songs of Seven_ soon became as household words, because they +were a reflection of real life. Nobody ever pictured a child more +exquisitely than the little seven-year-old, who, rich with the little +knowledge that seems much to a child, looks down from superior heights +upon + + "The lambs that play always, they know no better; + They are only one times one." + +So happy is she that she makes boon companions of the flowers:-- + + "O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow, + Give me your honey to hold! + + "O columbine, open your folded wrapper, + Where two twin turtle-doves dwell! + O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper + That hangs in your clear green bell!" + +At "seven times two," who of us has not waited for the great heavy +curtains of the future to be drawn aside? + + "I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster, + Nor long summer bide so late; + And I could grow on, like the fox-glove and aster, + For some things are ill to wait." + +At twenty-one the girl's heart flutters with expectancy:-- + + "I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover, + Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate; + Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover; + Hush nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale wait + Till I listen and hear + If a step draweth near, + For my love he is late!" + +At twenty-eight, the happy mother lives in a simple home, made +beautiful by her children:-- + + "Heigho! daisies and buttercups! + Mother shall thread them a daisy chain." + +At thirty-five a widow; at forty-two giving up her children to +brighten other homes; at forty-nine, "Longing for Home." + + "I had a nestful once of my own, + Ah, happy, happy I! + Right dearly I loved them, but when they were grown + They spread out their wings to fly. + O, one after another they flew away, + Far up to the heavenly blue, + To the better country, the upper day, + And--I wish I was going too." + +The _Songs of Seven_ will be read and treasured as long as there are +women in the world to be loved, and men in the world to love them. + +My especial favorite in the volume was the poem _Divided_. Never have +I seen more exquisite kinship with nature, or more delicate and tender +feeling. Where is there so beautiful a picture as this? + + "An empty sky, a world of heather, + Purple of fox-glove, yellow of broom; + We two among them, wading together, + Shaking out honey, treading perfume. + + "Crowds of bees are giddy with clover, + Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, + Crowds of larks at their matins hang over, + Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet. + + * * * * * + + "We two walk till the purple dieth, + And short, dry grass under foot is brown; + But one little streak at a distance lieth + Green like a ribbon to prank the down. + + "Over the grass we stepped into it, + And God He knoweth how blithe we were! + Never a voice to bid us eschew it; + Hey the green ribbon that showed so fair! + + * * * * * + + "A shady freshness, chafers whirring, + A little piping of leaf-hid birds; + A flutter of wings, a fitful stirring, + A cloud to the eastward, snowy as curds. + + "Bare, glassy slopes, where kids are tethered; + Round valleys like nests all ferny lined; + Round hills, with fluttering tree-tops feathered, + Swell high in their freckled robes behind. + + * * * * * + + "Glitters the dew and shines the river, + Up comes the lily and dries her bell; + But two are walking apart forever, + And wave their hands for a mute farewell. + + * * * * * + + "And yet I know past all doubting, truly-- + And knowledge greater than grief can dim-- + I know, as he loved, he will love me duly-- + Yea, better--e'en better than I love him. + + "And as I walk by the vast calm river, + The awful river so dread to see, + I say, 'Thy breadth and thy depth forever + Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me.'" + +In what choice but simple language we are thus told that two loving +hearts cannot be divided. + +Years went by, and I was at last to see the author of the poems I had +loved in girlhood. I had wondered how she looked, what was her manner, +and what were her surroundings. + +In Kensington, a suburb of London, in a two-story-and-a-half stone +house, cream-colored, lives Jean Ingelow. Tasteful grounds are in +front of the home, and in the rear a large lawn bordered with many +flowers, and conservatories; a real English garden, soft as velvet, +and fragrant as new-mown hay. The house is fit for a poet; roomy, +cheerful, and filled with flowers. One end of the large, double +parlors seemed a bank of azalias and honeysuckles, while great bunches +of yellow primrose and blue forget-me-not were on the tables and in +the bay-windows. + +But most interesting of all was the poet herself, in middle life, with +fine, womanly face, friendly manner, and cultivated mind. For an hour +we talked of many things in both countries. Miss Ingelow showed great +familiarity with American literature and with our national questions. + +While everything about her indicated deep love for poetry, and a keen +sense of the beautiful, her conversation, fluent and admirable, +showed her to be eminently practical and sensible, without a touch of +sentimentality. Her first work in life seems to be the making of her +two brothers happy in the home. She usually spends her forenoons +in writing. She does her literary work thoroughly, keeping her +productions a long time before they are put into print. As she is +never in robust health, she gives little time to society, and passes +her winters in the South of France or Italy. A letter dated Feb. 25, +from the Alps Maritime, at Cannes, says, "This lovely spot is full of +flowers, birds, and butterflies." Who that recalls her _Songs on +the Voices of Birds_, the blackbird, and the nightingale, will not +appreciate her happiness with such surroundings? + +With great fondness for, and pride in, her own country, she has the +most kindly feelings toward America and her people. She says in the +preface of her novel, _Fated to be Free_, concerning this work and +_Off the Skelligs_, "I am told that they are peculiar; and I feel that +they must be so, for most stories of human life are, or at least aim +at being, works of art--selections of interesting portions of life, +and fitting incidents put together and presented as a picture is; and +I have not aimed at producing a work of art at all, but a piece of +nature." And then she goes on to explain her position to "her American +friends," for, she says, "I am sure you more than deserve of me some +efforts to please you. I seldom have an opportunity of saying how +truly I think so." + +Jean Ingelow's life has been a quiet but busy and earnest one. She was +born in the quaint old city of Boston, England, in 1830. Her father +was a well-to-do banker; her mother a cultivated woman of Scotch +descent, from Aberdeenshire. Jean grew to womanhood in the midst of +eleven brothers and sisters, without the fate of struggle and poverty, +so common among the great. + +She writes to a friend concerning her childhood:-- + +"As a child, I was very happy at times, and generally wondering at +something.... I was uncommonly like other children.... I remember seeing +a star, and that my mother told me of God who lived up there and made +the star. This was on a summer evening. It was my first hearing of +God, and made a great impression on my mind. I remember better than +anything that certain ecstatic sensations of joy used to get hold of +me, and that I used to creep into corners to think out my thoughts by +myself. I was, however, extremely timid, and easily overawed by fear. +We had a lofty nursery with a bow-window that overlooked the river. My +brother and I were constantly wondering at this river. The coming up +of the tides, and the ships, and the jolly gangs of towers ragging +them on with a monotonous song made a daily delight for us. The +washing of the water, the sunshine upon it, and the reflections of the +waves on our nursery ceiling supplied hours of talk to us, and days +of pleasure. At this time, being three years old, ... I learned my +letters.... I used to think a good deal, especially about the origin +of things. People said often that they had been in this world, that +house, that nursery, before I came. I thought everything must have +begun when I did.... No doubt other children have such thoughts, +but few remember them. Indeed, nothing is more remarkable among +intelligent people than the recollections they retain of their early +childhood. A few, as I do, remember it all. Many remember nothing +whatever which occurred before they were five years old.... I have +suffered much from a feeling of shyness and reserve, and I have not +been able to do things by trying to do them. What comes to me comes of +its own accord, and almost in spite of me; and I have hardly any power +when verses are once written to make them any better.... There were no +hardships in my youth, but care was bestowed on me and my brothers and +sisters by a father and mother who were both cultivated people." + +To another friend she writes: "I suppose I may take for granted that +mine was the poetic temperament, and since there are no thrilling +incidents to relate, you may think you should like to have my views +as to what that means. I cannot tell you in an hour, or even in a day, +for it means so much. I suppose it, of its absence or presence, to +make far more difference between one person and another than any +contrast of circumstances can do. The possessor does not have it for +nothing. It isolates, particularly in childhood; it takes away some +common blessings, but then it consoles for them all." + +With this poetic temperament, that saw beauty in flower, and sky, and +bird, that felt keenly all the sorrow and all the happiness of the +world about her, that wrote of life rather than art, because to live +rightly was the whole problem of human existence, with this poetic +temperament, the girl grew to womanhood in the city bordering on the +sea. + +Boston, at the mouth of the Witham, was once a famous seaport, the +rival of London in commercial prosperity, in the thirteenth century. +It was the site of the famous monastery of St. Botolph, built by +a pious monk in 657. The town which grew up around it was called +Botolph's town, contracted finally to Boston. From this town Reverend +John Cotton came to America, and gave the name to the capital of +Massachusetts, in which he settled. The present famous old church of +St. Botolph was founded in 1309, having a bell-tower three hundred +feet high, which supports a lantern visible at sea for forty miles. + +The surrounding country is made up largely of marshes reclaimed from +the sea, which are called fens, and slightly elevated tracts of land +called moors. Here Jean Ingelow studied the green meadows and the +ever-changing ocean. + +Her first book, _A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and Feelings_, was +published in 1850, when she was twenty, and a novel, _Allerton and +Dreux_, in 1851; nine years later her _Tales of Orris_. But her +fame came at thirty-three, when her first full book of _Poems_ was +published in 1863. This was dedicated to a much loved brother, George +K. Ingelow:-- + + "YOUR LOVING SISTER + OFFERS YOU THESE POEMS, PARTLY AS + AN EXPRESSION OF HER AFFECTION, PARTLY FOR THE + PLEASURE OF CONNECTING HER EFFORT + WITH YOUR NAME." + +The press everywhere gave flattering notices. A new singer had come; +not one whose life had been spent in the study of Greek roots, simply, +but one who had studied nature and humanity. She had a message to give +the world, and she gave it well. It was a message of good cheer, of +earnest purpose, of contentment and hope. + + "What though unmarked the happy workman toil, + And break unthanked of man the stubborn clod? + It is enough, for sacred is the soil, + Dear are the hills of God. + + "Far better in its place the lowliest bird + Should sing aright to him the lowliest song, + Than that a seraph strayed should take the word + And sing his glory wrong." + + "But like a river, blest where'er it flows, + Be still receiving while it still bestows." + "That life + Goes best with those who take it best. + --it is well + For us to be as happy as we can!" + + "Work is its own best earthly meed, + Else have we none more than the sea-born throng + Who wrought those marvellous isles that bloom afar." + +The London press said: "Miss Ingelow's new volume exhibits abundant +evidence that time, study, and devotion to her vocation have both +elevated and welcomed the powers of the most gifted poetess we +possess, now that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Adelaide Proctor sing +no more on earth. Lincolnshire has claims to be considered the Arcadia +of England at present, having given birth to Mr. Tennyson and our +present Lady Laureate." + +The press of America was not less cordial. "Except Mrs. Browning, Jean +Ingelow is first among the women whom the world calls poets," said the +_Independent_. + +The songs touched the popular heart, and some, set to music, were sung +at numberless firesides. Who has not heard the _Sailing beyond Seas?_ + + "Methought the stars were blinking bright, + And the old brig's sails unfurled; + I said, 'I will sail to my love this night + At the other side of the world.' + I stepped aboard,--we sailed so fast,-- + The sun shot up from the bourne; + But a dove that perched upon the mast + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn. + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + And dove with the white breast, + Let me alone, the dream is my own, + And my heart is full of rest. + + "My love! He stood at my right hand, + His eyes were grave and sweet. + Methought he said, 'In this fair land, + O, is it thus we meet? + Ah, maid most dear, I am not here; + I have no place,--no part,-- + No dwelling more by sea or shore! + But only in thy heart!' + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + Till night rose over the bourne, + The dove on the mast as we sailed past, + Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn." + +Edmund Clarence Stedman, one of the ablest and fairest among American +critics, says: "As the voice of Mrs. Browning grew silent, the songs +of Miss Ingelow began, and had instant and merited popularity. They +sprang up suddenly and tunefully as skylarks from the daisy-spangled, +hawthorn-bordered meadows of old England, with a blitheness long +unknown, and in their idyllic underflights moved with the tenderest +currents of human life. Miss Ingelow may be termed an idyllic lyrist, +her lyrical pieces having always much idyllic beauty. _High Tide, +Winstanley, Songs of Seven, and the Long White Seam_ are lyrical +treasures, and the author especially may be said to evince that +sincerity which is poetry's most enduring warrant." + +_Winstanley_ is especially full of pathos and action. We watch this +heroic man as he builds the lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks:-- + + "Then he and the sea began their strife, + And worked with power and might: + Whatever the man reared up by day + The sea broke down by night. + + * * * * * + + "A Scottish schooner made the port + The thirteenth day at e'en: + 'As I am a man,' the captain cried, + 'A strange sight I have seen; + + "'And a strange sound heard, my masters all, + At sea, in the fog and the rain, + Like shipwrights' hammers tapping low, + Then loud, then low again. + + "'And a stately house one instant showed, + Through a rift, on the vessel's lea; + What manner of creatures may be those + That build upon the sea?'" + +After the lighthouse was built, Winstanley went out again to see his +precious tower. A fearful storm came up, and the tower and its builder +went down together. + +Several books have come from Miss Ingelow's pen since 1863. The +following year, Studies for Stories was published, of which the +Athenaeum said, "They are prose poems, carefully meditated, and +exquisitely touched in by a teacher ready to sympathize with every joy +and sorrow." The five stories are told in simple and clear language, +and without slang, to which she heartily objects. For one so rich +in imagination as Miss Ingelow, her prose is singularly free from +obscurity and florid language. + +_Stories told to a Child_ was published in 1865, and _A Story of Doom, +and Other Poems_, in 1868, the principal poem being drawn from the +time of the Deluge. _Mopsa the Fairy_, an exquisite story, followed a +year later, with _A Sister's Bye-hours_, and since that time, _Off the +Skelligs_ in 1872, _Fated to be Free_ in 1875, _Sarah de Berenger_ +in 1879, _Don John_ in 1881, and _Poems of the Old Days and the New_, +recently issued. Of the latter, the poet Stoddard says: "Beyond all +the women of the Victorian era, she is the most of an Elizabethan.... +She has tracked the ocean journeyings of Drake, Raleigh, and +Frobisher, and others to whom the Spanish main was a second home, +the _El Dorado_ of which Columbus and his followers dreamed in their +stormy slumbers.... The first of her poems in this volume, _Rosamund_, +is a masterly battle idyl." + +Her books have had large sale, both here and in Europe. It is stated +that in this country one hundred thousand of her _Poems_ have been +sold, and half that number of her prose works. + +Miss Ingelow has not been elated by her deserved success. She has +told the world very little of herself in her books. She once wrote a +friend: "I am far from agreeing with you 'that it is rather too bad +when we read people's works, if they won't let us know anything about +themselves.' I consider that an author should, during life, be as much +as possible, impersonal. I never import myself into my writings, and +am much better pleased that others should feel an interest in me, +and wish to know something of me, than that they should complain of +egotism." + +It is said that the last of her _Songs with Preludes_ refers to a +brother who lies buried in Australia:-- + + "I stand on the bridge where last we stood + When delicate leaves were young; + The children called us from yonder wood, + While a mated blackbird sung. + + * * * * * + + "But if all loved, as the few can love, + This world would seldom be well; + And who need wish, if he dwells above, + For a deep, a long death-knell? + + "There are four or five, who, passing this place, + While they live will name me yet; + And when I am gone will think on my face, + And feel a kind of regret." + +With all her literary work, she does not forget to do good personally. +At one time she instituted a "copyright dinner," at her own expense, +which she thus described to a friend: "I have set up a dinner-table +for the sick poor, or rather, for such persons as are just out of the +hospitals, and are hungry, and yet not strong enough to work. We have +about twelve to dinner three times a week, and hope to continue the +plan. It is such a comfort to see the good it does. I find it one of +the great pleasures of writing, that it gives me more command of money +for such purposes than falls to the lot of most women." Again, she +writes to an American friend: "I should be much obliged to you if you +would give in my name twenty-five dollars to some charity in Boston. +I should prefer such a one as does not belong to any party in +particular, such as a city infirmary or orphan school. I do not like +to draw money from your country, and give none in charity." + +Miss Ingelow is very fond of children, and herein is, perhaps, one +secret of her success. In Off the Skelligs she says: "Some people +appear to feel that they are much wiser, much nearer to the truth and +to realities, than they were when they were children. They think of +childhood as immeasurably beneath and behind them. I have never been +able to join in such a notion. It often seems to me that we lose quite +as much as we gain by our lengthened sojourn here. I should not at all +wonder if the thoughts of our childhood, when we look back on it after +the rending of this vail of our humanity, should prove less unlike +what we were intended to derive from the teaching of life, nature, and +revelation, than the thoughts of our more sophisticated days." + +Best of all, this true woman and true poet as well, like Emerson, sees +and believes in the progress of the race. + + "Still humanity grows dearer, + Being learned the more," + +she says, in that tender poem, _A Mother showing the Portrait of her +Child._ Blessed optimism! that amid all the shortcomings of human +nature sees the best, lifts souls upward, and helps to make the world +sunny by its singing. + + * * * * * + +Jean Ingelow died at her home in Kensington, London, July 19, 1897, at +the age of sixty-seven, having been born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in +1830. Her long illness ended in simple exhaustion, and she welcomed +death gladly. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of Girls Who Became Famous +by Sarah Knowles Bolton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS *** + +***** This file should be named 12081.txt or 12081.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/8/12081/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mike Boto, Ylva Lind +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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