The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1888-02-17
MOTHERS OF FAMOUS MEN.


AgAssla. Dickens, Danaot nod Lso1ga
6ant Owed 70 Ttaeir NotAers.
The mothers Of famous men an
always interesting studies. Concern,
ing many Of those women tho world
knows much, but Of tho majority It Il
ignorant. The mother Of Louis Agas
sig, the scientist, was the wife Of q
Swiss Protestant Clergyman, and lived
to . very old age. Louis was her fay.
orite son, and she trained him with the
greatest care. When, in 1867, Pro.
lessor Silliman, of Yale College, Wis.
tied her, he found her at four.score a
"tall, erect. and dignifed woman
with animated address aud cultivated
manners. When she was assured by
her guest that her sons adopted coun.
try loved him and was proud Of him,
her strong frame was agitated, her
voice trembled with emotion, and the
flowing tears told the story of a moth.
er's heart. The day that Professor
Silliman left, she walked a long way
In tho rain to bid him and his wife
farewell. Presenting them with q lit.
tie bouquet of pansies, she babe them
tell her son .'her pensees were all for
him." Pcnsee in French means both
pansy and thought. On the 5Oth birth.
day OF Agnssiz. the Saturday Club OF
Boston celebrated it with q dinner, at
which Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell
read poems. In the poem of the form.
er, allusion was made to the natural
mother as mourning over the fact that
the great mother, Nature, had drawn
her 10 from tho fircsidc where she
wished to keep him:
"And the mother at home says, Harkl
For his voice ! listen and ycarn,
1t IL growing late and dark,
And my boy docs not return"
Agassiz' head was bent during the
reading Of the poem, but when tho al
fusion to his mother was made, his
ruddy face flushed with restrained feel.
ing, tears gathered in his eyes, and rs
tho last line was uttered they dropped
slowly down his checks, one after an
other.
The mother of Nlphonse and Earnest
Daudet, the French novelist, was an
intellectual woman. She was a con-
slant reader, and her children were ar.
~ impressed with her superiority over
other mothers, aud were profoundly
grateful to her in after life for her
careful training Of their minds. The
father was a rich silk-wcavcr, and had
only an ordinary mind, loss Of fortune
soured him, and he seemed to have
little influence over his gifted sons.
But the mother was their inspiration
and delight.
The childhood of Dickens was so
shadowcd by poverty, and his scnsi-
tive and imaginative mind was so keen.
~ alive to his position, that it is hard
ly possible that he could draw an alb
solutely impartial picture of his par.
ents. His mother had o keen appre-
citation of tho droll' and of the pathetic,
and likewise considerable dramatic
talent. She was o comcly little woman,
with handsome, bright eyes, and a
genial, agreeable person. From her
Dickens undoubtedly inherited his
temperament and intellectual gifts.
She possessed an extraordinary sense
OF the ludicrous, and her power of im-
itatiOn was something astonishing.
Her perception was quick, and she UNI
consciously noted everything that
came under her observation. In de-
scribing ridiculous occurrences, her
tOnc and gestures would be inimitablc,
while ilcr manner was Of the quaintcst.
Dickens declares that to her he owed
his first desire for knowledge, and
that his earliest passion for rcadins
was awakened by his mother, who
taught him not only the first rudimcnts
of English, but also II little of Latin.
Poverty saddencd and darkcncd many
years Of her life, and her children
We're carly compelled to leave her and
EARN their own living, but they all
l!onorcd and loved her as shc dc.
served.
Leigh Hunt thus writes of his moth
or: -''My mother had no accomplish
ments but the two best of ala love
Of nature and of books. DIR. Franklin
offered to teach her the guitar; hut she
was too basllfnl to become his pupil.
She regretted this aftcrward, partly.
no doubt, for having SO illustrioas q
master. Her first child, who died.
was named after him. 1 know not
whether the anecdOte is nev, but l
have heard that when DR.. Franklin in-
vented the harmonica, he concealed it
from his wife till the instrument was fit
to play, and then woke her with it one
night, when she took it for the music
of angels. Having been born
nine years later than the youngest of
my brothers. l have no recollection of
my mothers earlier aspect. Her eyes
were always fine and her person lady
like; her hair also retained its color
for q long period; but her brown COM
plexion had been exchanged for a
jaundiced one, which she retained
through life; here cheeks were sunken
and her mouth drawn down with sor-
row at the orncr She retained the
energy of her character on great occa-
sions, but her spirit in ordinary affairs
was weakened, and she looked at the
hustle and discord of the present state
of society with q frightened aversion.
Never shall I forget her face, as it
used to appear to mo coming up the
cloisters. with that weary hang Of tho
head on one side and that melancholy
smile.
One holiday in a severe winter, as
she was taking me homo. she was pc
titioned for charity by q woman sick
and ill-clothed. / was in Blackfriars
road, I think about midway. My
mother, with tears in her eyes, turned
up a gateway or some other place, and
reckoning the woman to follow, took
off her flannel petticoat and gave it to
her. 1t is supposed that q cold which
cnsued fixed the rheumatism upon her
for life. Actions like this have doubt
less been often performed, and do not
of necessity imply any great virtue in
the performer. but they do, if they arc
ut peace with the rest oftlc character.
Saints have been made for charities nc
greater. From the Womon's Argosy.
Roscoe Ccnkling has taken up his
residence ut the Hoffman House, and
now divides the attention of oers