The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-30
For TM ARKANsAw TRAvKLKR.
 FELICIA HEMANS.
BY ADAM DEAN.

ing to make mankind better, IS worthy to be called great. In the records" of her sex, Felicia Hemans perpetuated in mu- sical verse, that ever has an undertone of sadness, a memorial pillar unto all that is most noble and good in woman, that will outfast any monumental stone ever erected. And yet, how few are they that care or seek to know who or what she was. All women should know her, she wrote for and of them. It may well be said that Mrs. Hemans' poetry is in- tensely feminine. Is not that the highest praise? To find spread over all that one reads the glory of all that is good in humanity; to 6nd*purity of morals and beauty of intellectual gifts thrown over all that is written. But
 "Where hath not woman stood strong in affec tions mightl
 | A reed upborne by an oyermastering cur rent!"
 It is pride and joy to serve what one loves, it may be by giving ones hearts blood, or consist quite simply in making tea. 1t is ali the same it only depends on time and topportunity. How touch- ingly is this truth set forth in the picture drawn by Mrs. Hemans of Gertrude, wife to Baron Von der Wart, accused, though it is believed unjustly, as an &C., complice in the assassination of the En- peror Albert.
 Bound alive to the wheel, he was at- tended throughout his last agonizing' hours by his wife who in that dread hour soothed and comforted him with the most heroic devotedness.
 "I have been with thee in thine hour
 Of glory and of bliss
 Doubt not its memory's living power
 Pc strengthen me through this."
 High words to fall from woman's lips when all s"e loved was there. A differ ent scene, and yet, none the less exalted, appears in the cottage home of the Switzer. Werner-Stanffacher, one of the three confederates of the field of Guth aroused by the entreaties of his wife, he deliberated with his friends upon the measures by which Switzerland was finally delivered. In council of war a woman's voice may not be heard, but reaching out beyond her place by the side of the hearth's fire glow, the weight and might of her influence is felt and deeds cf valor and of daring show how mighty is her silent power. The Switzers wife in their cottage home near the White Alps that glittered through the solemn sky, moved with the meek thoughtfulness of woman calmly loving and beloved. But the hour of need found her brave and strong. Her country's wrongs nered her heart to steel and the thought that amid their ancient hills freedoms voice was still, gave her courage te bid her husband go. " Away" she cried, " bless our child and me, can pray"
 We come little nearer earth when we touch the sad death scene of Philip the Handsome, of Austria, his wife Juana whom he had treated with uniform neg lect, refused to believe that he was dead. She had his body laid upon bed of state and clothed him in a magnificent robe of roy alty, and in wild and passion ate idolatry waited necessarily for the moment when the king should conquer death. Forgotten was his studied neg lect his coldness and his scorn. The home that laid in the dust the beauty that had charmed a court, found a woman's constant heart keeping watch and fighting even death and not until the shadows of the grave had swept over every grace could she be persuaded that death had conquered love.
 Another stirring story Mrs. Hemans weaves into beautiful words is founded upon an incident in early French history. The wife of Chatillon waited in lone illness and dread, amid the warrior tombs of her husbands ancestors, who lay shrouded in armor undisturbed by tear or sigh. For safety she had gone to the home of the dead, in terror she waited for news of the battle; axtep is heard, perhaps her husband had come. She starts, and goes to meet him when a vas- sal before her stands, and to her ques- tionings tells how there are those who say his leader had been seen to fly, with his back to the foe. The wife's heart in the woman's breast dropped low, but she dashed the gathering tears from her kindling eyes and with a glance born of a sudden lofty purpose, she bade the peasant lead her through the gloom of the night to the battle field. Silently, with hands clasped about her head, she followed where he led. At last where the most had been dared and done. where