The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1888-02-24
MOTHERS or FAMOUS MEN.
What ATssais, Dickens. Daudet and Leigh
Hunt Owed to Their Mothers.

The mothers Of famous men are
always Interesting studies. Concern.
ing many Of those women tho 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 a very old age. Louis was her fav.
Orite son, and she trained him with the
greatest care. When, in 1857, Pro.
lessor Silliman, of Yale College. Wis.
tied her, he foundah ut four-score a
s'tall. erect and dignificd woman"
with animated address and 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 trcMbled with emotion, and the
flowing tears told the story of a moth.
er,s heart. Tho day that Professor
Silliman left, slic walked a long way
in the rain to bid him and his wife
farewell. Presenting them with a lit.
tie bouquet of pansies, she badc them
tell her son cher pcnsccs were all for
him." Pensee in French means both
pansy and thought. On the 50th birth.
day OF Agass!z. the Saturday Club Of
Boston celebrated it with a dinner, at
which Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell
read poems. In the poem of the form.
cr, allusion was made to the natural
mother rs mourning over the fact that
the great mother, Nature, had drawn
her sol from the tircside where she
wished to keep him:
And the mother at homo snys. Harkl
For his voice l listen ind yeOrn.
1t Is growing late and dark,
Aud my boy does not return"
Asnssiz' head was bent during the
reading Of the poem, but when the al
fusion to his mother was made, his
ruddy face flushed with restrained feel.
Ing, tears gathered in his eyes. and as
the last line was uttered they dropped
slowly down his checks, one after an
other.
The mother of Alphonsc and Earnest
Daudct, the French novelist, was an
intellectual woman. Sl;c was a con-
slant reader. and her children were ear
ly impressed with her superiority ovcr
other mothers, and 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
litlo influence over his gifted sons.
But the mother was their inspiration
and delight.
The childhood of Dickens was so
shadowed by poverty, and his scnsi.
tive and imaginative mind was SO keen.
ly alive to his position. that it is hard
ly possible that he could draw an alb
solutcly impartial picture of his par.
ents. His mother had q keen appre-
citation OF the droll and of the pathetic,
and likewise considerable dramatic
talent. She was a comcly little woman,
with handsome, bright eyes, and o
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
itatiun was something astonishing.
Her perception was quick, and she I'M
consciously noted everything that
came under her observation. In de-
scribing ridiculous occurrences, her
tone and gestures would beinimitablc,
while iicr manner was of the quaintest:
Dickens declares that to !.cr he owed
his first desire for knowledge, and
that his earliest passion for reading
was awakened by his mother, who
taught him not only the first ruslimcmts
of English, but also u little of Latin.
Poverty saddencd and darkened many
years of her life, and her clildrci,
were early compelled to leave her and
earn their living. but they all
l!onored and loved her as She de-
served.
Leigh Hunt thus writes of his moth
or: .'My mother had no accomplish
mcn!s but the two best of ALA love
of nature and of books. DR.. Franklin
offered to teach her the guitar; hut she
was too bashful to become his pupil.
She regretted this aftcrward, partly.
no doubt, for having so illustrious a
master. Her first child, who died.
was named after him. I know not
whether the anccdotc is new, but ]
have heard that when DR.. Franklin in-
vented the harmonica. he concealed il
from his wife till the instrument vas fit
to play, and then woke her with it ono
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. Hcr eyes
were always fine and her person lady
like; her hair also retained its color
for u long period; but her brown com
plexion had been exchanged for I,
jaundiced one, which she retained
through life; here checks were sunker
and her mouth drawn down with sor
row at the rnc She retained til,
energy of her character on great occa
sions, but her spirit in ordinary affair
was weakened, and she looked ut tn
hustle and discord of the present stat,
of society with a frightened aversion
Never shall l forget her face, al j
used to appear to mo coming up tn
cloisters, with that weary hang of til
head on one side and that melancholy
smile.
One holiday in a severe winter, a
she was taking me home. she vas pc
titioned for charity by a woman sicl
and ill-clothed. / was in Blackfriar
road. I think about midway. NJ
mother, with tears in her eyes. turne
up a gateway or some other place, an
reckoning the woman to follow. too
off her flannel petticoat and gave it t
her. 1t is supposed that a cold whic
ensued fixed the rheumatism upon he
for life. Actions like this have doub
, less been often performed, and do nt
; of necessity imply any great virtue j
: the performer. but they do. if they NJ
: at peace with the rest ofthe character
. Saints have been made for charities n
. greater ."-F1ons the W0maW's argos,
; AQueer Kiss Marx.