Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-02-24
Green threshold OF our common grave;'
A Daughter Of the People.

how stTOnS, no" pTaVc, no" cA"iIeu ~
makes the spirit to dwell upon the history
of a lovely, gifted, and heroic woman!
MADAME ROLAND was all this, and much
more. In g~lancing over the records of a
! mighty Past, no name shines with falrer
lustre than that of this master spirit of the
Girondists.
Mademoiselle Philippon was a" daugh-
ter of the peeple,"-her father an engra-
yer, and a "perturbed spirit J" her mosh-i
| er a beautiful, quiet, and devont woman.
Jane was an only child, her parents were
. her playmates, and books her greatest
| pleasure. She was extraordinary even as
a child. At four years of age she read,
and what is more, understood what she
read, and yet that ripeness of intellect
which distinguished her could not proper
ly be called precocity, for that conveys
the idea of something premature, while
maturity Of mind in her seems to have
been perfectly sound and natural.
: In early youth she was educated at a
! convent, and imbibing the doctrines of the
Church of Rome, became, like her moth
. er, a devout Catholic.
j At the age of twenty-five she was
: married to NJ. Roland; q scholar, a phil
osopher, and a most worthy man, but TWEEN
ty>ive years her senior. The five years
Immediately subsequent to her marriage,
' were spent at La Platiere, the country-seat
of M. Roland, near Lyons. These were
the h~appiest and brightest days Of her
- %eventful life, her husband was proud other,
and loved her most devotedly, and
here their only child, Eudora, was born
When the Revolution dawned upon
France, M. and Nine. Roland enthusiast
t~ically espoused the cause of the Republic,
and removed from La Platiere to Paris.
Here he was chosen Minister of the Inte-
rior, he became the head and his lovely
IN wife the heart of the Girondist party. She
no devoted herself to the cause of LIBERTY
NJ her saloon was crowded with the noble
en- and the gifted, and she swayed those bold
ne spirits at her will yet was her influence {
'ur quiet one, for she was no Amazon, but
loving, modest, gifted, and dignifed aooman
de Robespierre was won't to linger about be-
we for hours, carefully measuring up her elo
quent words, and bold ideas, which h,
would afterwards audaciously thunder fortl
'ud before the Convention as his own !! Abou
IN this time too she saved the life of the in
CRATE, who afterwards condemned he
his to the 'guillotine @
abe When Louis was no longer looked upo
re- as the head of the nation, the letter fror
me his minister demanding his abdicaion wa
allfidictated by Madame Roland and tn
life naughty reply, refusing the demand, an
its deposing the minister, dictated by the nobl
hearted but imperious and short-sighte
was Queen, Maria A~ntonionette. Who wi
d of say than the worlds rulers are men 2
heir They may be the throne, but there is
ugh "power behind the throne"-wonan.-
lere And yet, let woman not speak of b
see power boastfully, or with vain -glorio
lose thoughts, but .remsnber that in exact pr
1der portion to her influence, so is her respo
In sibility, and let ber more humbly al
your earnestly strive that every such infuen
ling may be exerted for good.
er IL Once again, for a brief space, Madar
YER Roland, with her husband, sought the {
hes lightful seclusion Of La Platiere, bat {
so long We find them again in Paris, and
asses Roland at the head of affairs. Louis a
Maria Antoinette were then prisoners, a
'ould the Jacobins were then in the ascenda
you When the Girondist leaders were ARREST,
can Madame Roland assisted her husband
cross escape, but she herself was torn from I
years child, and dragged to prison. A few di
1 the subsequent to the celebrated last bal
and quetn of the Girondist leaders, and th
your execution, she underwent a mock tr
as when she was was condemned as be
Ter is the soiffe of her husband. and the fri,
ONLY of his frignds-apd ontonoaJ IN tho n