The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-01-16
KOSSUTH.
A Forgotten Celebrity.

The following advertisement appears
every now and then in the C0rriere di
ToriRo:
Lessons in German, English, and
Hungarian, given, at moderate rates, by
Il KossUTH,
"I64 Strada Nuoya"
The advertiser is none other than the
once celebrated dictatortf Hungary; be
has grown very old, and is now so poor
that he will gladly give You lesson
for a single franc. This would seem
very humiliating for him, and yet he
is proud of his poverty.
He says:
Three years ago my friends at home,
in Hungary, offered me present of if-
ty thousand forms. / rejected the offer,
and never have regretted it, even when
was hungry, and had no money to pay
for a 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 sks:sl of yaluable
information for my book, Hungary in
1S49." / found him in a very small
room, in the fourth story of a dingy old
building. He sat alone in an easy-ehair,
poring over an old volume. When ]
enterered he did not recognize me- l
recognized him and was shocked. What
change these twenty years had pro-
duced in his once handsome and inter
esting 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 bent. He
almost groaned as he raised himself to
bid me welcome.
He was deeply moved when l informed
him who / was. His face frightened
as he warmly clasped my hand.
"Oh, yes, oh, yes" he said in German,
81 know you now Everybody forgets
me; no one calls upon me; no one cares
any more for me! Why should / re-
member those who were once my
friends?"
To this / objected l 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.
Kosssuth smiled very bitterly.
"Oh, yes" he said, returning 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."
1 asked him how he got along.
"Well," he said, sadly, "were my good
children and my poor wife alive yet, I
would be happy, even in my old age and
poverty But they are all dead, and I
am very lonesome. That is what rem
ders my exile here, where people are so
kind to me, SO distressing. 1t would be
no better in Hungary. l have no kins-
folk anywhere but in the New World" /"
"Why, then, not go to America again,
where your name is still revered?" |
ventured to say.
"Oh," he replied, al have 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 l have to spare; and, next,
I am almost sure that, in my present en-
feebled condition, would be unable to
bear the sea VOYAGE"
All this was very melancholy, and l
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 noticed
Victor Hugo's "Annee Terrible, |" King
lakes "Crimea," and ten or twelve well
worn grammars. On table, close to the
bed, lay loaf of bread and plate o
dried meat.
To my dismay 1 found that my CLAN
cling round the room had attracted Kos
suth's attention.
EYES," he said with a smile, "you se'
for yourself now that am very poor
and yet that when left Hungary in Is
49, 1 was charged by all the mean or
gans of the Hapsburgs with having en-
riched myself at my country's expense
Do you know what my whole incom
was last year? Within fraction o
. eight hundred lireF' LESS than tw
hundred dollars.)
/ shook my head sornowfully. IL
told me what he thought about the chap
ter on Andrassy, gave me plenty of val
: liable and interesting information o
the subject, and then dismissed me, say
e ing that it was time for one of his pu
: pills to make his appearance.-Appl'
s toms Journal.