The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-12-01
4 GREAT MAN IN HIS DECLINE.

THE CLOSING DAYS OF THoS. CARLYLE.
From the Baltimore Sun.
E LONDON, Oct. 15.-I have heard much
about Thomas Carlyle being a sufferer
from insomnia. He is net. Heis grad
ually going down the hill of life and
into ''the valley of the shadow of
death" by slow and easy stages, with a
clear and rested brain. He is approach
ing s. years, and may well afford to
look back, as Dante did, and be proud
" remem bered in the future as one
''who whipped vice with a sCourge OF
steel, unmasked stern murder, shamed
lascivious lust, and plucked off the visor
from grim treason's face" made up
my mind 20 call and personally learn at
Carlyle's bOuse his condition.
Years ago l had letter of introduc-
tion to him from literary light of Bos-
ton, and I recalled with some misgiv-
ings my chances Of seeing ''the old man
of perpetual fame" Then it took me
Sdays to see the Sage of Chelsea" How
could hope to see 1.-THE philosopher of
Cheyne Rowe" now in a moment? But
Invent nv way toward this noted abode,
so quaint in its simplicity and so true
in its snug, quiet retreat. l learned
from the trusty servant that MIR. Car
lyle was very i'll, and not able to see
any one ''Take my card, and let him
say through you how he really is, l re-
marked. The servant did so, returned,
al 7
stairs to a sort of semi-boudoir, where,
seated in large, square, halfrecum-
bent chair, l found the great writer,
thinker, reformer. We We're soon join
ed by his neice, a calm and thoughtful
looking little lady, who said might
talk, but che must not" Thomas Car
lyle could net be silent, however, and
said "Ah, cannot work much more,
and that of all grieves me before going" {"
The same persistent idea of work that
marked the young Scotch lad as he came
into the world was with the European
-octo.genarian philosopher as he was GO
ing out Work TO Carlyle-true work
s-has been his gospel of life. By his
side, on little table, also of cane or
zabamboo structure, like unto the chair
in which he recIined, there were slips
ysef paper, 3 as if notes on something of
o the past, or perhaps OF the future, by
dtbis brave cid man.
s3s He looked frem ont and under his
shaggy eyebrows with the deep fire Of
his departing soul, earnestly, seriously,
and almost savagely. His thin, scraggy,
scrawny face, With coarse, gray, grizzly
beard, his compressed, determined lips,
made dual picture of the inner man ef
youth fighting with the outer one de-
cay. His thin, bony, expressive hands
make all his sledge-hammer sentences
come to my memory, and / could then
81 and now quote pages of them by sheer
e, enthusiasm. Presently his neice reap
beared and said: LA me, you've taken
off the inittensw Thereupon she en-
icaaed those wfry hands with knitted
9 awooIlen mittens so large and so loose
THAT all the electoral exPressiveness of
the hands was instantly gene. Arthur
Helps wrote on great hands and their
Z greatness of expression Not large
T. and loose hands; great ones.
~. Carlyle wore black velvet skull cap,
which did not improve his appearance,
and around his body had his favorite
plaid shawl. II am not I'LL never
rswas i'll, said he, in his emphatic and
.7ibread Scotch accent, somewhat pettish-
.ly if not peevishly, 81 am only going
, going going-going." And his eyes
lost their grim fire of expression, his
emphatic, rasping voice fen into low
er tone, and / sat silent before the only
y living man worthy of my silence-the
:, orly man when dead ever worthy of my
!. loud admirationl The room was small,
lIRpdltbe fire made the temperature op-
C opreseive, yet the icy manner of the Sage
Of Chelsea. relieved the atmospheric
4 pressure on our lungs.
Il I saw some few books around, chiefly
& indhe German language. A small bust
9 of William of Orange and one of Peter
the Great were readily discernible, while
an engraving or two Of Scotch scenery
made the rest of the ornamentation of
3 the close and Yell-closed reom In tax.
= ing my leave of the great old man he
said fe6bly: go on ana work with all
your will-uprooi error" / shook the
feeble aud mittened hand and left Thos.
u Carlyle, who in the flesh may soon leave
us, but in the spirit viii ever remain.
.As .-
- Job printing dispatched neatly and