The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-07-14
THE MOTHERS OF GREAT MEN.

cation Of new and powerful State"
THE MOTHERS OF GREAT MEN.
The onl y two satisfactory instances given
by Mrs. Ellis of a mother whose so,l was
really great, and who had direct and
traccablo influence on that greatness, are
the instances Of the mother of ST. Angus
tine and tho mother Of Napoleon. Not
only was ST. Augustine very remarkable
man and Monica very remarkable wo.
man, but the son owed to the mother the
direction of his thoughts, the purpose oe
his life, and the source "f his greatest en-
JoSment. In those moments when St. Au-
gustine was conscious that he reached the
highest pitch Of spiritual exallation, he WAS
also conscious that his mother SCARED rs
he did. 1t would be an abuse of language
to term Monica great woman IN tho sa,ue
way we term St. Augustine great man,
for he adde,: to the pety smd sublime feel
ing OF his mother = remarkable degree of
literary power and z great range Of t ought.
We must also judge Of aII greatness hy the
test of success !; and St. Augustine is prin-
cipally to be called great because he, rs a
matter Of fact, gave so much Of its peculiar
color to Western Christianity. Blu; the ba.
Sis of his thoughts and feelings, his mode
OF viewing the relations between himself
God and the world, had been derived from
his mother. In similar way we can trace
a clear affinity between the character and
mental constitution of Napoleon and those
OF his mother. There was the same stub.
borness, the same largeness of thought, the
some meanness in certain acts Of common
life, the Same resolute determination to Ell.
force the burden of their own personal as
tendency on all around them.
There was in the mother Corsican
tincsse Which degencratcd into the enormous
lying Of the son-the grandest liar, proba
bly,, that the world has ever seen. Napo-
leon himself attributed many of his notions
OF government to the family system in
which he had been brought up and the
plan helping, bullying, and snuJbing his
brothers, according to til c fancies or the
exigencIes of the moment, was founded on
traditions that dated from his infancy. In
fact the whole inquiry as to the influence
OF mothers on sons rs conducted by Mrs.
Ellis, is utterly pnrposcless. Fer what is
| fbn IL. =. a.,
That mothers exercise an influence over
their sons is obvious but there is no rca-
son to suppose that the qualities which
make men great arc more dependent on
this Influence than any other set of quail
ties. If Mrs. ElIls's book proves anything,
1t proves that there is no rule whatever on
the subject, and no lesson whatever to Le
learnt from it. 1t does not need an octave
volume to establish that a man of extraor.
dinary gifts is likely to render those gifts
more profitable to himself ard others if he
has very pious, wise, strict, loving, charm
ing woman to guide him i'll infancy and
youth. But no one can say that great men
have, as rule, had such good fortune.
Greatness depends on qualities that are
entirely personal to the individual, which
defy analysis, and cannot be traced to any
distinct source. They are affected in their
development by an endless variety of cir
cumstances, and tho most important cir
cumstance is the sort Of mother who has
the control Of them in their earliest stage.
But they are quite independent of her. j.
rome and Joseph Bonapart had the same
mother as Napoleon. What made him
great was that which he had besides what
they had and the ultimate result Of all
inquiries Of this sort is to convince us that
it is hopeless to ask why ono individual
differs from another. Physical science is
utterly at loss to account for this differ
ence. There is no perceptible variation in
the size or quality Of the brain, or of the
nervous system, that will in the least ac.
count for the superior activity Of the mind
or the greater firmness of the will.-Satur.
duy Reviev.
Marriage.-In the pressure that now
weighs upon all persons Of limited fortune,