The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-11-21
For the r. a Nj. Household.

H.. don t be so grasplng and take, ''all
| tor your yourself" as the children say,
1.-The pigmy charge you may be the
only member of our Household who
''has dared TO find FAULT with the intel
lectual giant. Thomas CARLYLE, but in
doing so you only joined in a cry that
has sounded throughout the newspaper
world of England and America ever
since the publication of his "Reminis-
cences; :" and it was exactly because
do not think it necessary, that, being
pigmies, as compared with him, we
should be ''short sighted ones, that
wrote as | did of Mrs. Clarlyle's Let
ters.' a book which also gave me "a
great heroine but, | am glad to say
didn't take from me my greater hero.
The three great factors in the evolu-
| ton of humanity are here:ity, environ
ment and adaptation, and in Judging
such man as Carlyle. who has left his
impress on the intellectual development
of his age, it is not only important, but
also simple act of justice, that we
should consider the power Of the first
| two of these factors before we judge him
| for the third.
| Carlyle was born peasant, had no
| inherited refinement of culture, and no
refined surroundings in his youth; but
he had inherited strength OF character as
well as sternness of manner. He
says himself that his father was ''per-
haps among Scottish peasants, what
! Samuel Johnson was among English
| authors
As the daughter of physician, his
wife was socially his superior at the time
of their marriage, and many of the re-
finements of life which were to her as
daily bread were unknown to him, and
he did not habitually pay her the thous-
and little attentions so dear to wife,
which the French so expressively call
"petHs SONS For instance he never
thought of making her birthday present
until the first birthday after her mothers
| death. when, in order that his Jennie
might not miss what had been her
mothers invariable custom, he went out
and bought her present, taking care,
as she was away from home at the time,
| that il should reach her on her birthday.
and never afterwards forgot to so re-
member the day. Here the true heart
OF the man spoke, and whenever that was
| touched it rang out a note of tenderness
all tire deeper for that repression which
| he inherited from his father, of whom he
| saws in his "Reminiscences Ibis heart
seemed as if walled in, he had not
| the free means to unbossom himself
1T seemed as if an atmosphere of tear
repelled Us from him.
You complain. my dear \. l.. H.,
| that he took none of the Household cares
upon him and ran away from the house
cleenings. thing from this last SEN
tence you n.ust be of the male germs,
if not, you are certainly rara aris of a
| house keeper. not to feel that that was
| the kindest thing he could do to poor
| little Jennie Welsh!'
| | had not read the "Reminiscences"
when | wrote lay last letter, but no
sooner had | finished the volume of Let
| ters than | wrote to Messrs Harper to
send copy of it as a companion vol
ume to the Letters. and, fully to un-
derstand them and Carlyle. the two
books should be read together Had |
ever doubted Carlyle's genuine tender
ness and love, hidden as it was under his
| rough and stern exterior, the wall of the
poor old man for his lost wife in this
book, and his self reproach at his blind
ness, would have convinced me, that his
heart was in the right place, and that
he fully appreciated, not only her ge-
MUS, but her self denying care of HIM
| self
| But for the environment created by
the self sacrifice of his wife Carlyle
could never have done the work that he
did He had almost absolutely no pow
er of adaptation, and his health and
and temperament were such that he
| could not work unless free from all in
terruption recognizing this fact as clear
| ly as she did his wonderful intellectual
power, she lived, moved and had her
being, not for the purpose of adapting
him to his environment, but lis envi-
ronment to him. Of course she spoilt
| him. for he was man-but she attain
cd her end, and had her reward. We
read in the "Reminiscences" where
CARLYLE saws of her, ''she had from an
early period formed her own little
opinion about me (what an FL Dorado
to me, ungrateful being-blind, migrate
rul. condemnable, and heavy laden. and
crushed down into blindness by great
misery as / oftenest was,) and she new
er tiinched from it an instant, l think, or
cared. or counted, what the world said to
the contrary (very brave. magnanamous
and noble, truly she was in all this):
but to have the world confirm ..her in
it, was always sensible pleasure, which
she took no pains to hide, especially
from me-"
He was fully sensible of her efforts to
adapt his environment to his peculiar
nature, and in his "Reminiscences"
gives her full credit for all she did and
was to him.
Il was myself the most collapsed Of
men and had no sunshine in my life,
but what came from her?''
Speaking of her death he says, ''It has