Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-06-13
Harriet Martineau.

Inc pen was her sword, which sh'
welded with warriors joy, in the con
fict of truth with error, of right will
wrong. She wrote many books; but he
articles in reviews and newspapers were
lnnumerable. We find no attempt IL
either part of this biography to give {
complete list of her writings. Perhaps
it would be impossible She never seems
to have thought of keeping such RECORD
herself any more than hero records the
number of the blows he strikes in battle
No sooner had she dismissed one task
than another came; and sometimes sew
eral were going on together. Like other
yoluminous writer's, she enjoyed the ex,
ercise of her productive powers; and
as she somewhere tells us, her happiest
hours were those in which she was seated
at her desk with her pen.
Each thing she did had for its purpose
nothing merely personal, but some good
to mankind. Though there was nothing
in her character of the sentimentalism of
philanthropy. A born reformer, she in
herited from her Huguenot and her Uni
tartan ancestors the love of truth and the
hatred of error, with the courage which
was ready to avow her opinions, however
unpopular. Thus, her work was warfare,
and every article or book which she
printed was blow delivered against
some fragrant wrong, or what she be-
lieved such, in defence of some struggling
truth, or something supposed to be truth.
She might be mistaken; but her pur-
poses through life were, in the main,
noble, generous, and good.
In 1884, at the age of thirty-two, Har-
riet Martineau sailed for the United
States, where she remained two years.
She went for rest; but the quantity of
work done in those two years would have
been enough to fill five or six years of
any common life. At this point she be-
gan a new career; forming new ties, en-
gaging in new duties, studying new
problems, and beginning d new activity
in another sphere of labor. The same
great qualities which she had hitherto
displayed showed themselves here again !;
accom- panied with her corresponding de-
fects. Her wonderful power of study
enabled her to enter into the very midst
of the phenomena of American life; her
noble generosity induced her to throw
herself, heart, hand, and mind into the
greatest struggle then waging on the
face of the earth. The anti-slavery
question, which the great majority of
people of culture despised or disliked,
took possession of her soul She became
one of the party of Abolitionists, of
which Mr.. Garrison was the chief, and
lived to see that party triumph in the
downfall of slavery. She took her share
of the hatred or the scorn heaped on that
fiery body of Jealous propagandists, and
was counted worthy of belonging to what
she herself called the Martyr Age of
the United States"
In 1888, when SO years old, she was
fined her to her room for six years.
She attributes this illness to her anxiety
about her aged aunt and mother. Her
mother, she tells us, was irritable on
account of Miss Martineau's fame and
position in society; in short, she was
jealous of her daughters success. Miss
Martineau was obliged, she says, to sit
up late after midnight to mend her own
clothes, as she was not allowed to have a
maid, or to hire working woman, even
at her own expense. How she could
have been prevented is difficult to see
especially as she was the money-making
member of the family. It seems hardly
worth while to give us this glimpse into
domestic difficulties. But no doubt she
is quite correct in adding, as another
reason for her illness, the tolls which
were breaking her down. The strongest
men could hardly bear such strain on
the nervous system without giving way
The last years of Miss Martineau were
happy and peaceful. She had pleas
ant home at Ambleside, on Lake Win
dermore. She had many friends, was
conscious of having done good work
and if she had no hopes in the hereafter
neither had she any fears concerning it
She was strong, upright: true-hearted
woman; one Of those who have helped
to vindicate "the right of women tt
learn the alphabet" FLAMES Freeman
| Clarke.
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