Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1889-03-23
AUTHORS WIVES.
ny EUGENE l.. DIDIER.

belongs TO the world, 70 all, not 70 q
wife and family, and should tread alone
the path OF glory, or OF sacrifice, as the
case may be. From this opinion OF the
greatest of French novelists beg leave
10 dissent, so far as authors are con-
cerned, great or small. II there Is a
man In the world who needs the love
and sympathy OF wife II is the
author. Yet the annals OF literature
furnish the melancholy fact that OF all
men authors have been the least happy
in their domestic lives, and, II the
truth must be told. the wives have
generally been the cause OF this state
OF affairs. The story OF Socrates do
nestle difficulties is too familiar TO DO
repeated here. We all know that II
required much philosOphic patience TO
keep peace in the family OF which
Xantippe was the mistress. We know
/ that CAESARS wife was not ''abOve sus-
picion," and that Cicero's home life
was not the happiest. Milton sang Of
paradise Lost, but did not hnd par
adise in his own family, although no
tried persistently with three successive
wives. Shakespeare, from ais own
bitter experience, announced as a fact
for all time that "a young man mar
rled is man that's married Addison
made a splendid match with tho
dowagcr countess Of Warwick. and was
obliged to escape To wins coffee house
from the gilded misery Of Holland
House. where my lady countess pre-
sided 10 awful state, and iectured her
gentle husband for nssociating herself
with such low fellows a. Pope, Swift.
Steele and other wits OF the golden age
OF Queen Anne.
DE Quincy. writing Of ths wives and
children OF literary men. rays they IL
Is that, being mans chief blessings.
create also for him the dcAdlicst OF his
anxieties; that stuH his pillow with
thorns, and surround his daily life with
snarcs; and he adds. suppose tho case
OF man who has helpless dependents
OF this class upon himself summoned 10
face some sudden failure % his re-
I sources that he should lose this power
OF exerting 80 delicate an organ IS tho
creative intellect, when dealing with
/ subjects so coy as those % tho imagina.
ton what a madleniug though II this
10 a man Of family who has absolutely
no resources except what bis pen may
yield. De- Quinc 3 himself suffered this
terrible anxiety, 20 did Baraa, upon
whom, amongst all the children Of
genius, the primeval curse hnd fallen
heaviest and sunk most deeply
The vito Of literary man should bs
either a plaiu.miudcd woman. who
should occupy hersc!t exclusively with
household matters. and shield her hus-
bands peace BY taking those cares up
on herself. or else a woman capable Of
entering into his literary life. Few
authors wives have been u tho latter
kind a notable instance. however. IL
afforded in tho wife Of AlphOnso Dau.
Diet. She is an invaluable literary as-
sistaut to her husband She takes his
rough, corrected manuscript aud makes
a clear copy. correcting at tho same
time any sligAt errors that NAV have
escaped her husbands notice. Daudps
then tnkcs tho manuscript IN hand
again for final revision and careful pol.
ishing. Nine. Daudct nfterward RI.
writes tho whole manuscript and sends
1t 70 the press.
Bulwer, in the glow Of youth. fell la
love with a pretty face. aud made what
he supposed love match. He soon
found that loves young dream was a
hideous reality that his hopes OF mar
ried life had turned like Dead sen fruit.
TO ashes. The pretty bride become tho
domestic fury. A separation soon iol.
lowed. but she never ceased 70 be n
painful feature In his life.
Dickens domestic troublea have
never been satisfactorily explained. but
ne said Il was case Of incompatibility
OF temper. | think Il was case Of
egregious personal vanity on the part
Of Charles Dickens. The amazing suo-
cess Of his works raised him far above
his original social position; no became
the friend Of Lady Blessiugton, Walter
Savage, Landor, Tennyson. Bulwsr and
Others, whose refined and cultivated
society made him seek happiness abroad
rather than at home. His genius made
him peer Of the highest In the land.
Out his wife remained tho same plain
person who had shared and solaced his
early poverty and obscurity. He be-
came n social lion, whom princes and
mobiles delighted TO honor; her duties.
as the mother Of nino children. kent
ner at home, and she was thus prevent
cd from cultivating tho graces and nc
curing the manners which would have
htted her for the aristocratic society in
which her husband found both his taste
and his vanity gratided.
Lille has been said to be a comedy TO
II -