Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1888-02-15
MOTHERS OF FAMOUS MEN.
what a gassix, DickeIA DaddeH and Leigh
Hunt Owed to Tholr Mothers.

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The mothers OF famous men are
always interesting studies. Concern
ing many Of those women the world
knows much, but of the majority it is
Ignorant. The mother OF Louis Agas.
siz, the scientist, was the wife Of a
Swiss Protestant clergyman, and lived
to very old age. Louis was her fav-
orite son, and she trained him with the
greatest care. When, In 1867, Pro.
fessor Silliman, Of Yale College, Wis.
tied her, he found her DIT four-score a
"tall, erect and dignified woman; =
with animated address and cultivated
manners. When she was assured BY
hef guest that her sons adopted COIN
Try loved him and was proud OF him,
her strong frame was agitated, her
voice trenlbled with emotion, and the
flowing tears told the story 81, a moth
er's heart. The day that Professor
Silliman left, she walked a long way
in the rain to bid him and his wife
farewell. Presenting them with lit
tie bouquet Of pansies, she babe them
tell her son .'her pensees were all for
him." Pensee in French means both
pansy and thought. On the 50th birth
day Of Agassiz, the Saturday Club of
Boston celebrated it with dinner, at
which Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell
read poems. In the poem of the form.
er, allusion was made to the natural
mother az mourning over the fact that
the great mother; Nature, had drawn
her son from the fireside where she
wished to keep him:
And the mother at home says, Harkl
It is growing iats and dark;
And my boy does not return"
Agassiz' head was bent during the
reading of the poem, but when the al
fusion to his mother was made, his
rudy face flushed with restrained feel
ing, tears gathered in his eyes, and as
the last line was uttered they dropped
slowly down his cheeks, one after an
other.
The mother of Alphonse and Earnest
Daudet, the French novelist; was an
intellectual woman. She was a con-
slant feader, and her children were ear
ly impressed with her superiority over
other mothers, and were profoundly
grateful to her in after life for her
careful training of their minds. The
father was rich silk-weaver, 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
Swallowed by poverty, and his sensi.
tive and Imaginative mind was SO keen.
" alive to his position, that it is hard
ly possible that he could draw an abb
solutely IMPARTIAL picture of his par
ents. His mother had keen appre-
citation of the droll and of the pathetic,
and likewise considerable dramatic
talent. She was comely 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 inn
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
tone and gestures would beinimitable,
syxhiI Der manner was. of the quaintest.
nEk declares that to her he owed
MS Hrst desire for knowledge, and
that his earliest passion for reading
E:saas aWakened by his mother, who.
taught him moi only the first rudiments
of English, butsalso.a little of Latin.
Poverty saddened and darkened many
IS hat, 1ifa hnt. ohs1l,,or,
were early compelled to leave her and
earn their own living. but they all
honored and loved her as she de-
served.
Leigh Hunt thus writes of his moth
er: ''My mother had no accomplish
ments but the two best of ala love
of nature and books. DR.. Franklin
offered to teach her the guitar; but she
was too bashful to become his pupil.
She regretted this afterward, partly,
no doubt, for having SO illustrious a
master. Her first child, who died.
was named after him. | know not
whether the anecdote is new, but l
have heard that when DR.. Franklin in
vented the harmonica, he concealed it
from his wife till the instrument was tit
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, / 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 a long period; but her brown COM
plexion had been exchanged for q
jaundiced one, which she retained
through life; here cheeks were sunken
and her mouth drawn down with sor-
row at the corners. 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 frightened aversion.
Never shall forget her face, as it
used to appear to me coming up the
cloisters, with that weary hang OF the
head on one side and that melancholy
smile.
One holiday in a severe winter, as
she was taking me home. she was pc
titioned for charity by a woman sick
and ill-clothed. ! was in Blackfriars
road, think about midway. My
mother, with tears in her eyes, turned
up 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 cold which
ensued 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