Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-02-07
The Marble Fam.
The Real "HIIda" of Nathaniel Haw-
thOrne's Studies.

The Real Hilda" of Nathaniel Haw-
thorne's Studies.
high above all the characters that
Hawthorne ever drew, strong because
of the perfect purity of her nature,
sweet because of its absolute truthful
ness, stands Hilda of the "Marble
Faun, and yet it is only probable that
for the original of this lovely portrait
the darkest and saddest of fates has
been reserved. Years ago, in her girl
hood, Adeline Shepard was a governess
in the family of Nathaniel Hawthorne,
making part of that happy domestic
group during its sojourn in England
and Italy, and the great novelist,
watching her and studying her as it was
his custom to study all with whom he
came in contact, placed her portrait in
the "Marble Faun as his ideal of a
maidenly purity so perfect as to be self
protecting, and potent for good with all
who encountered it. Such, in her
youth, was Mrs. Adeline A. Badger,
concerning whom public conjecture has
been busy during the last week, finally
settled down to the dreary conviction
that the life which began so beautifully
has ended darkly and sadly.
From her childhood Mrs. Badger was
distinguished for her cleverness and
aptitude as a scholar, attracting the at
tention of Horace Mann while she was
a pupil at the Normal School at West
Newton, and winning the hearty COM
mendation of the masters with whom
she afterwards pursued her studies, at
home and at Antioch College. 1t was
after leaving this institution that she
went to Europe with the Hawthornes.
and travelled with them. Among the
Americans whom she met abroad was
Theodore Parker, to whom, from an APP
probation similar to that which called
forth the naturally chary sympathies of
Hawthorne, she had been long endeared.
Quite pleasant anecdote is related of
the cordial welcome extended by Mr..
Parker at the time the two met in
Florence. After her return she again
went West, and eventually married the
Rev. Henry @. Badger, of Antioch Col
lege, Unitarian minister. With him
she passed some years at the West,
where he was preaching, and afterwards
came to Cambridge. His health failed,
and his energetic wife opened school
for girls and carried it on successfully
for years.
This is the very short and simple
story of life which was very quiet I'M
til within a few months, when Mrs.
Badgers appointment on the School
Committee necessarily brought her be.
fore the public and made her name @
household word in every city of the
Union in which a daily newspaper is
published, and caused her to be an OBJ.
ject of interest both to the woman suf.
fragists and to those who oppose them
in the political field. Whether the ex-
element of the discussion which arose,
or the feeling of the responsibility Of
her new position, or some unknown
cause, drove her to her death, will
probably never be known. The few
brief notes that she left behind her tel
little, and she seems to have been reti
cent in her conversation with the ladies
to whom she spoke on the Fall River
boat there is no hint of any secret
grief, and the only theory of the suicide
is that the gifted woman and talented
teacher sought her own destruction, hav
ing become insane through dread of in
sanity. Having already seen the darl
cloud descend upon more than one
member of her family she feared it's ap
proach to herself, and sought security
in death.
Herein it is proper to remark thai
some transformation has been pub
lished in regard to the presence of in
sanity in the family. Her father, the
late Otis Shepard, of Dorchester, waI
never subject to insanity, nor is it true
that one of the sisters died insane. TIL,
arrangement in the only two cases tina
have occurred was temporary, ant
yielded readily to judicious treatment
It is the conviction of those best know
ing the facts that if the subject of this
sketch could have been reached betimes
whatever alterations of mind she nigh
have been thus subject to might easily
have been warred off and a permanent
mental restoration secured.