New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-05-15
Fdin Simnor IN me Yinrfffnn Cennrv

Edih Sinoor ia The Ninefeenn Century
Somewhere abOnt 1927 friendly neighbor lent
WayeTlcy' 10 an elder sister of little Mary Evans.
II was returned before the child had read 10 tho
end and in her distress az the loss Of the fascinating
volume she began 10 write out the story rs far ~
she had read IL for herself, beginning naturally
where the story begins with WayeIleys adv onturcs
At Iully Neolan, and continuing until the surprised
elders were moved TO get her the book again. Lila
divided her childish allegiance with Scott and she
mcmbcrCd fastening with singular pleasure upon
extract IN some stray almanac from the essay IN
cOmmemOratOn of Captain Jackson, and h!s
slender ration of single Gloucester and proverbs
in praise of cheese Tiud. This Is an extreme cN-
ample OF the general rle that wise child taste ID
literature is SOunder than adults generally venture
20 believe.
Not many years later we may imagine her o grow-
ing girl at school Almost on the outskirts Of the
old town of Coventry, toward the railway station,
the house may still be- seen. ITSELF An oi1iitshioned,
iiyc-WindOW ed Queen Anne sort 81 dwelling. v ith .
shell-shaped c0ruice over the door WIN an Oh th-
bcrcd cottage facing H. and near adjoining quaint
hrch-and-tlmbcr bu1lnR, with an orcl window
thrown ont upon oak pillars. Between forty aud
ffty wears ago Methodist ladies kept the school aud
the name of " little mamma" given by her school
fellows Is a proof that already something "a be
seen of the maternal AIR which charartrrNd her III
later years, aud. perhaps more especially ,n inter
course with her own sex. Fragrance lnes were ~
vogue among the girls. following the example 81
thelreder- and while taking no doubt leading part
these she used to Suicr InIcl sfltr piodl about
her GOODNESS and inability 10 be carried away Win
the same enthusiasm n others. AT The same time
nothing further from her nature than any scen-
teal inclination, and she used 10 pounce Win
ayidity upon any approach 20 argumcniauyc theol
ogy within her reach, carrying PaleAs Etl-
dcnccs mp 20 her bedroom, and deY0uung II a. she
las upon the iioor alone.
mind like hCns must have preyed disaetunsy
upou Aclf during the years of comparative solitude
i'm which she lived at Fulcshlll, had n not hecn for
that ineXhaustiblc source of delight IN every KIND
of intellectual acquisition. Languages music, Ut
craturc, science and philosophy interested her
alike: IL was early IN THE period that ln the course
of a walk with friend she paused and caeped ~
hands with Wild aspiration that She might I'VE
10 reconcile the philosophy OF Lock" and Kant
lcans afterward she remembered the very turn of
the road where she had spoken II.
Before she was twenty she wrote verses IKE Other
yOuthS. hut the silence ia1 10 original pru0ucLohl
which lasted more than fifteen years after mar CATO
WIS owing 10 q Characteristic mlXiuU Of intense
ambition and diihdcncc She dad not cho"se hcE-
self, indeed she thought 1t wrong TO
Dull the worlds sense with mcdiocrl,y,
and She was resolved 20 do nothing except tho
homely duties she held sacred unless size .ouhl DO
what was excellent The translation oi Sirauss and
the translation Of Spiuola's Ethics were under
taken not hy her own choice but at The call ~
friendship; in the fret place ~ complete THAT some
one else was unable tO continue, and ln the second
10 make the philosopher she admired accessible g.
friendly phrcnolOgist Who did not read Latin. ~
all times she regarded translation n v"Ik tiat
should be- undertaken a duty. Ia axe a''rssinle
any book that rcqui ed e. Doe read and though un-
louhtedly she was satisfied that the lchcn Je7u
required 10 be read m England, u would be- dic ub
10 Imagine n temper more naturally antpathrtic 10
her than that of It's author; and critics Who tax
about the " Strauss and lcuerhach period should
be- careful 10 explain that the PHRASE covers no I'M
plication that Size vas 10 any lime an adWirr or =
too remote but too disparate 20 Oe nelndod ID ITO
life.