National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1874-01-23
4 FORGOTTEN Celebrity.

A Forgotten Celebrity.
Tho following advertisement appear
every now and then In the Cbrrtsrs d
20rtno:
Lessons In German, English, and Hun
III. KossUTH, 164 Strsda Nuova."
The advertiser IL none other than the
once celebrated dictator OF Hungary,
He Ia now almost utterly forgotten, even
in Hungary he has grown very old,
and is now so poor that he will gladly
give you lesson for q single franc.
This would seem very humiliating fol
him, and yet he is proud Of his poverty.
He says, "Three years ago my
friends at home, in Hungary, offered
me present OF fifty thousand forms.
rejected the offer, and never have re.
GREETED 1t, even when I was hungry,
and had no money to pay for q fire"
had occasion, the other day, to call
upon him. was no stranger to Kos
suth. Twenty years ago he had given
me, in London, great deal of valuable
information for my book, Hungary in
1849." I found him in very small
room on the fourth floor OF q dingy old
building. He sat alone in an easy chair.
porting over an old volume. When I
entered he did not recognize me. I
recognized him, and was shocked.
What change these twenty years had
produced in his once handsome and in
teresting face ! His hair was entirely
white, his cheeks wan and hollow, and
his eyes utterly dimmed. His form,
once erect and proud, was now painfully
heAt. He almost groaned as he raised
himself to bid me welcome.
Ho was deeply moved when I in
formed him who I was. His face
frightened as he warmly clasped my
hand.
"Oh, yes, yes" he said in German,
II know you now. Everybody forgets
me; no one calls upon me; no one
cares any more for me Why should I
remember those who were once my
friends ?"
To this I objected. I asked him how
he could be forgotten when his friends
in Hungary wanted him to return to his
native country, and take again an active
part in its affairs.
He smiled very Utterly.
ooh, yes" he said, "return to Hun.
gary dishonored, with an oath of allie.
glance to the Hapsburgs who murdered
my friends and kinsmen, and who set a
price upon my head. I am neither a
Deak nor an Andrassy."
asked him how he got along.
"Well," he said, sadly, "were my
good children and my poor wife alive
yet, would be happy, even in my old
age aud poverty. But they are all dead,
and I am very lonesome That is what
renders my exile here, where people are
so kind to me, so distressing. It would
be no better in Hungary. I have no
kinsfolk anywhere but in the New
World"
"Why, then, not go to America
again, where your name is still
I ventured to say.
"Oh," he replied, II have often been
sorely tempted to go back to the United
States, but there are two obstacles in
the way: In the first place, it would
cost more money than I have to spare
and next, I am almost sure that, in my
present enfeebled condition, would be
unable to bear the sea-voyage."
All this was very melancholy, and I
fastened to change the subject of our
conversation.
I showed him the proof-sheets of the
chapter on Andrassy in my new work on
Austria. He put on his spectacles,
and, holding the paper in his trembling
hand, read carefully what had written.
Meanwhile had time to look around
in the room. Against the rear wall
stood narrow, plain bed. On the
walls hung portraits of Mazzini, Bixio,
Kisz, and, strangely enough, of Louis
Napoleon. On the bookshelf by my
side 1 noticed Victor Hugo's "Annee
Terrible" Kinglake's Crimea," and
ten or twelve we'll. worn grammars. On
a table, close to the bed, lay loaf of
bread and plate of dried meat.
To my dismay, I found that my
glancing round the room had attracted
Kossuth's attention.
eyes," he said, with smile, "you
see for yourself now that I am very
poor and yet, when left Hungary in
1849, I was charged by all the mean
organs of the Hapsburgs with having
enriched myself at my country's ex-
pense. Do you know what my income
was last year? Within a fraction of
eight hundred lire" Ness than two
hundred dollars.)
I shook my head sorrowfully. He
told me what he thought of the chapter
on Andrassy, gave mo plenty of valu-
able and interesting information on the
and then dismissed me, saying
that it was time for one of his pupils to
make his appearance.-Mar Schless-
niger.