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diff --git a/old/12081.txt 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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