The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-17
RALEIGH N c. WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER H. 1888,

the French Revolution. heavy laden in
many ways and gl,.omy of mind. ~ She
saws Of him. in one of her letters. s.For
my husband. he is as usual; never
healthy. never absolutely i'll. protesting
against things in general, with the old
emphasis, with increased, vehemence
just at present. being in the agonies nj
getting Hndef way with another book. y
Mrs. Carlyle loved her hus band and
was proad of him. and though with her
self tormenting nature, she made her
self miserable by her very love for him,
I do not believe she ever once inEhis
whole married life thought of him - a
domestic tyrant, and this is the role-he
is now being made to fill by persons
who look only at his nervous suscenti-
bilty and utterly ignore her graphic
power of reproducing every event and
emotion in highly dramatic manner for
the amusement of the friends TO whom
she was writing. If he did rampage
through the sleeping house half the
night. or if it was day time. suddenly
break out of his study. declaring he
could neither think nor live while the
necessary noise Of the house was going
vi. SuC III litI luItl NOuIu Uc uTINcli
equally frantic by the ordinary sound OF
night. and find THAT dog uncomfortable, y
or declared she must shorten her visit to
a friend if certain ass could not be
prevented from braying under her win
dow.
Mrs. Oliphant who knew both parties
and seems to have been a sincere friend
on whom Mrs. Carlyle greatly relied.
says of them. The curious household il
was the mistress, brilliant.
caustic. never to be calculated upon what
next she might do or say: the husband
laboring heavily through his work, try
ing every room in succession. findT1.
everything unsatisfactory. A wonder
full Northern Gothic couple, blazing od
into thunder and lightning of sudden
fierce wrangle, with volleys of rolling
words, far too mighty for the occasion.
fire and flame and the smoke of battle,
and laughter ringing through. No wonder
that people misunderstood them - In
one of her letters to her cousin. Miss
Hel-ri Welsh, she says ssthe name OF
Welsh (that is the bearers of it)--has
something in it wholly and everlasting
ly antipathetical to patience and toiera
ton. and is no more capable of coalescing
with it than fire with water
When | remember Carlyle's remark
about the English nation being ''AIaistly
fules' (mostly fools) and read her jocosely
expressed fear that instead of ladies and
gentlemen" he will commence his lectures
with 'men and women, ''or perhaps
fool creatures come here for diversion.
| cannot but feel that Mrs. Oiphant is
right when she says, 'Thi, man had the
helpmeet most meet for him. and that
the theory OF zap unhappy msrriage w n
love worn out on one side and never *
listed on the the other, 10 as unaccount.
ble as any undiscovered hieroglyphic ever
was"
Harper Brothers have Just issued a
new edition Of these letters in Literary
form. certainly one o. the most tasciua-
ting books have lately come across As
. writer, the wife, in her way, was epua
to the husband in his, but it seems TO ne
horrible outrage on the memory of both
to have thus laid bare the secrets of then
home. or what should have been such,
to all but the friends to whom these let
ters we're written. What woman would
like to have all her irritable utterances on
ucr DelRuDpTS lOT UOrTOWluR auu never
returning household articles, her com
ments on their 'shiftlessness' or her
spats with her servant on the discovery
of bed bugs in her bed. reported to the
public. much less to have her husband
judged by her pettish utterances when
suffering from i'll health or nervous eX-
citability, and from them branded q
''tyrant;" yet this injustice has been
done to Mrs. CARLYLE. NJ B. C.