The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-04-16
At any moment hnve e,caped Il CARLYLE would

ten down 10 the level OF the multitude. Ii ne
ever tagged. 1t was his wife who spurred him
on nor would she ever allow him to do less than
his very best. She never flattered any one.
least Of all her husband; and when she saw
cause for It, the sarcasms flashed out from her
as the sparks fly from lacerated steel. Carlyle.
on his side did not find in his marriage the
miraculous transformation Of nature which he
had promised himself. He remained lonely
and dyspeptic. possessed by thoughts and con-
victlons which struggled in him for utterance,
and which could be fused and cast into form
only when Carlyle could work in solitude. and
when. as Mr.. Froude has heard him say his
whole mind was like furnace at white heat.
The work which he has done Is before the
world. and the world has long acknowledged
what II owes to him. II would not. according
to the biographer. have been done as well. and
perhaps would never have been done at ALL II
he had not had a woman at his side who would
bear without resenting IL the outbreaks OF his
dyspeptic humor. and would shield him from
the petty troubles OF poor mans life-from
vexations which would have irrltated him to
madness-by her own incessant toll.
The victory" says Mr.. Froudc. was won.
but as OF old. In Aulis. not without victim.
Miss Welsh had looked forward to being Car
lyle's intellectual companion. to sharing his
thoughts and helping him with his writings.
She was not overrating her natural powers
when she felt being equal to such position, and
deserving it. The reality was not like the
dream. She had to work as monial servant.
She, who had never known wish unqualified
for any object that money could buy; she, who
had seen the rich OF the land at her feot, and
might have chosen among them at pleasure.
with a weak frame withal. which had never re-
covered the shock Of her fathers death-she
was obliged III lieu Of intellectual companion
ship TO slave like the wife Of hodger. to cook
and wash. and scour. and mend. shoes and
clothes for many n weary year" The biog-
rapher goes on to tell us that she went through
II all brayey and that she would have gone
through 1t cheerfuy. il she had been rewarded
with ordinary gratitude. But II things were
done rightly Carlyle did not inquire who did
them. Partly he was occupied partly he was
naturally administrative and partly She in
generosity. concealed from him the worstwhich
she had to bear The hardest part Of all was
that he did not see that there was occasion for
any special acknowledgment. Poor mems wives
hat TO work. She was a poor mans wife
and it was fit and natural that she
should work. He had seen his mother and his
sisters doing the drudGery OF his fathers
household. without expecting to be admired
fore, In his wife'e doing the same thing2 This
was hard to bear, and Mr.. Froude dwells also
on the extreme loneliness of Mrs Carlyle's life.
except so far as she had access to other friends
besides her husband. Carlyle. indeed consult
ed her judgment about his writings when fin
iehed, for he knew the value of 1t: but in his
conceptions and Celebrations he chose to be
always by himself. When he was at work he
could bear no one in the room. and he rode and
walked alone. not choosing to have his thoughts
interrupted. Again. the slightest noise or
movement at night shattered his nervous sys-
TEN. and he required. accordingly. a bedroom
TO himself. Thus. from the first his wife saw
little Of him. and. as time went on. less and
less. She too. undoubtedly. was human and
irritable. Carlyle proved. in short. as his
mother had known him. "gey i'll to live vii"
Generous and kind as he was in the deep
places Of his heart. and "a he always showed
himself when he had leisure to reflect. the
devil" as he himself said. continued to speak
out OF him in distempered sentences" and
when the shaft wounded his wife's sensitive
spirit an arrow OF equal bitterness was occa-
sionaly shot back. When provoked she was
as hard as flint. with possibilities OF dangerous
sparks Of fire.
Summing up his reflections on the painful
but indispensable disclosure Of Caryles I'M
lovely character in private life. Mr. Froude
thinks 1t probable that Miss Welsh would have
passed her DAYS more pleasantly had she mar
ried some one in her own station. and that Car
lyle on his part might have done his work more
or less successfully with some humble but de-
voted peasant woman. like his mother or his
sister. to look after him. But after all is said
trials and sufferings are only to be regretted
when they have proved too severe to be borne.
Though the lives Of the Carlyles were not hap
ny yet to the biographer. looking back at them
from the beginning to the end. they appear
grandly beautiful, Neither Of them, probably.
under other conditions would have risen to as
high pitch OF excellence as. in fact, they each
achieved and to Mr.. Froude's mind the main
question is not how happy men and women
have been in this world. but what they have
made OF themselves. e l we'll remember" says
the bioGranher. " the bright asserting laugh
with which she once responded TO some words
Of mine. when the propriety was being dis
cussed of relaxing the marriage laws Mr..
Froude had said that the true way to look at
marriage was as a discipline OF character.
Just rs Carlyle's matrimonial mistake sup
plies the key to the unhapriness OF his domes-
tic life and to the sore agony that the awakened
consciousness OF his own shortcomings wrought
in him after his wfes DEATH so his :undamen-
tai conceptions, i'll formulated to himself and
still moro impertectly eXpoundcd, of mans re-
lation to his fellow man and to his Maker. en-
plains all that is most characteristic in his
teaching. The secret Of his wifcs unJoyful eX-
istence and his own responsibility for it were
disclosed to him in his own lifetime. There
broke upon him in his late years like n fash Of
lightning from heaven the terrible revelation
that he had sacrificed his wifcs health and
happines. through his absorption in his work (;
that he had been Obvious Of his most obvious
obligations. and had boon negligent inron-
sidcratc. and selfish Tho falt was grave and
the rcmorsc agonilius. For many years after
she had lett him. when, i'll his walks with
Mr.. Froude, he passed the spot where she
was last seen alive. he would bare his gray
head in the wind and rain. his features wIung
with unavaihnG SORROW. This SID knowledge
came in his last davs To Carlyle himself hut
another thing he would fan have known.
and as to which he had mi-sNnGs, vi.
the significance and the utility OF tho message
ho believed had been intrustcd 10 HIM will he
best determined by pustcrity. Meanwhile Mr..
Frouda attempts that IN which fow II CArlyle'a