Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-02-12
THOMAS CARLYLE.
A Clerical Estimate Of the Great
Authors Character.

world lowered over the dealh-oeu OF
tbs GREAT essayist, satirist and revoiu-
tionsry thinker, Thomas Carlyle. de
has done more than any man oil TINS
century to slay cant-philos ophicai can't
religious cant. Though he has COM
nlained much Of men and institutions,
he has been the most magnificent fault-
finder OF the ages. tie mas 9een tEe
miyh,iest foe OF sham and suoterluge'
He has, for half century, been the
great literary iconoclast. 1t Is solemn
time in London, and in the world, now
that he ia diving. The world, sometimes
imna,ient OF his rebuff, will grow ten
der over his memory. Mighty eulogies
are about TO be written and pronounced.
PVT and rhetorician and biographer,
and politician and moralist will, In a
few hours, take up the theme, and all
civilized nations will uncover their head
At hi, obsequies. Bulletins day by day
have announced him worse and worse,
and the last says he can survive only
few hours. Everything concerning MIN
will now attract attention"
81 was most deeply interested when
7 FIRST Jaw his residence. 1t is in Chel-
400 a snburb of London, and on mar
row street with not even a house IN
iron, INT instead thereof a long range
Of brick wall. You 60 through mar
row hall and turn to the left and are
in the literary workshop where some OF
the strongest thunderbolts OF the world
have been forged. The two front
windows have on them scant curtains
NJ reddish calico, hung at the top OIL
the lower sash, 80 as not to keep the
ann from looking down, but to hinder
the street from looking in. The room
has a lounge covered with the same
material that have spoken oil, and oil
construction such as you would ma
in the plainest house among the mount
aims II looks as if it had been made
oy an author not accustomed 10 saw
or hammer, and in the interstlces OF
mental work. / think he MADE IL
himself. On the sides OF the room are a
few woodcuts in plain frames, or pinn-
cd against the wall; also photograph
Of Mr.. CARLYLE, taken one day, as MS
family saws, when he had violent
tooibache' and could attend to nothing
else. and it is his favorite picture, though
!, gives him face more than ordinarily
severe and troubled. happened some
where after returning from Europe to
speak of that picture in his study, ana
some months after got letter from an
artist in London, saying: l see you
admired that rough sketch OF lhomss
CARLYLE with the toothache. There are
bnt three pictures OF that style, one
Mr. CARLYLE has, another l have, who
made il. and the other is on the Atlantic
coming to YOU il you will please to
accept il. In long shelves, implanted
and unsheltered by glass or door, is the
library of the world. renowned thinker.
The books are worn, as though no had
bonpht them to read. Many OF them
are uncommon books, the titles OF
which we never saw before. American
literature is almost ignored, while Ter
many monopolizes many OF the spaces;
We noticed the absence OF theological
works save those of Thomas Chalmers,
whose name and genius he well nigh
worshipped. The relation between
Thomas CARLYLE and Thomas Chalmers
will appear after a while. 1t is known
IN Int few. had shown me in Edln-
burgh, the first time | saw that city,
most remarkable letter written by
Thomas Carlyle tor Thomas Chalmers,
the first part of it devoted to eulogy OF
DR.. Chalmers and great admiration oil
his work, and the rest OF 1t descriptive
OF his own religious doubts. | copied
that letter and carried it to my hotel;
but afterward bethought myself, / had
better return the copy, that is private
letter and it might somehow get out oil
nv possession and go into the public
prints before it ought to go there. 1t is
a wonderful letter. He never wrote
ANYTHING SO tremendous, beautiful,
grand, glorious, melancholy. Speaking
of ,hls room OF Carlyle, the carpets are
old and worn and faded, rot because he
cannot afford better, but because be
would have his home a perpetual pro-
test against the worlds sham. IL IS a
place not calculated to give inspiration
to a writer. No easy chair, no soft
divans, no wealth of upholstery, but
simply a place to work and stay. Never
having heard word about it, it was
nevertheless just such place as We ex-
pected. We have there confirmed our
former theory of mans study as only
a part OF himself or piece OF tight
fitting clothing. 1t is the shell OF a
tortoise just made 10 fit the tortoise's
back"
Thomas Callylc could have no other
kind of workshop. What would he do
With a damask covered table, or Il
gilded inkstand, or an upholstered WIN
dow? Starting with the idea that the
intellect is all, and the body naught but
an adjunct or an appendage, he will
show that the former can live and thrive
without an approval of the latter. He
will give the intellect all costly stimulus
and send the body supperless to bed.
Thomas CARLYLE, taken as a premise,
this homely room is the inevitable con-
clusion. The study is part OF the men,
tai development. Do not blame man
for the style OF his literary apartments
any more than you would for the color
of his hair or the shape Of his features:
II Thomas Carlyle chose to call around
an ink-splattered table Goethe and
Schiller, and dissect the shams OF the
world with a plain goose quill, so he il.
The horns OF an ox's head are not more
certainly part of the OK than Thomas
Csrlyle's study and its appointments
are a part of Thomas Carlyle, Now,
he leaves all this. After struggling
with many doubts and fears, in the
time of Old age hear he has come back
to the simplicity OF the Gospel, and
when he goes away hope he will go
away in everlasting peace, and into the
place where there are no clouds and no
doubts. and no struggle and no pain.
In few days he will go out OF his
home, never to return, but the plain
brick house in Chelsea will be the Mecca
to which generations will make pilgrim
age"
A Card.
To all who are suffering from the er-
Il