The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1881-04-28
THEIR SENIORS.
Distinguished Men VINO Married WO
men Older than Themselves.

New York Letter to the Cincinnati Gazette.
Speaking of oblivion, it is surprising how
| rapidly even the great fall out Of notice.
+ Carlyle and George Eliot were literary won
ders, and they are already dropping from
observation. The latter was buried at
Highgate, which is already known. ss the
resting place OF Coleridge. The fact that
her husband John Walter Cross was SO
much younger (twenty years. than herself
occasioned much comment. This, however,
is not without precedent in literary and social
life. One of t leading clergy in this city
is married TO q woman ten years his senior,
mi the union appears congenial. Mohsm.
ned's wife WAS twenty years older Than her
husband, uAd it is much to the credit of the
La. . hat he bonored her 10 the last. lie
ascribed much Of his success to her assistance
snd influence. John Howard, the philan-
.hropist, married out of gratitude a woman
gho was equally bis senior. She died in u
few wears, however, and his second union
was one of love. 1t was, however, also dis
solved by the death of his wife, and he then
devoted himself TO philanthropy. Nspo-
Icons first wife, Josephine, was his senior by
six years, being thirty at the time OF their
marriage, while he was twenty-five. 1t would
have been we'll for him had he valued her
coniugal love, whose violation was the begin.
ming of his ruin. Aaron Burr also married
a widow, who, like Josephine,
had two children. Mrs. Burr was ten years
older than her husband, but the union WAS
very harmonious. She probably allowed
ulla that large liberty with the fair sex 10
which he had been accustomed, and ihus
avoided domestic quarrels. John Wilkes,
the famous London sgitator Of the last cen.
fury, married a lady who was ten yesrs his
senior, but che WAS not willing to overlook
his irregularities, and hence obtained a d.
vorce.
johnson, tho photographer, married the
Widow Porter, who had a small property.
lie was acquainted with the family before
the death of her husband, and this help'd
in the matter Of courtship. Mrs. Porter
was 4S, while her husband was only q at tie
time of the wedding. The parties started
horseback for the place where the ceremony
was to be performed, and johnson thus des-
cribes the journey to Boswell: "Sir, she had
got into her head from old romances, that a
woman of spirit should use her lover like a
dog. At first she told me | rode too fast,
and she could not keep up with me; but
when | Stacked my pace she passed me ard
complained that l Jagged. l was not to be
Inhub hno cAoNp VI NHPAhNof ~
pushed on till l was out Of ght. When she
got 10 the destination l observed that she
was.in tears" johnson always incurred the
loss of his wife, and though be was only 43
at the time Of her death, he never married
again. How often in his subsequent writings
be refers to his lost companion in the most
AffectiUnste manner.
When only IS Shakespeare was married TO
Anne Hathaway, whose age was %. Six
months from the wedding dsy the fHt son
was born 10 this ill-msted psir. The nus
band and father had 10 means of support-
ing a family, and when the latter bad in
erased TO the number Of a son and two
daughters be fed 10 London. The deserted
wife supported her children as best she could,
and twenty years after ward her h2soAnd
returned, and by his subsequent conduc'
strove 10 At0ns for his early error. Such
fscts as these prove that John Walter Cross,
in marrying Marion Evans, had some striking
precedeuts.