Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-25

within the sound of Bow Bells. He was
| the only child of the distinguished natur-
| alist, Philip Henry Gosse, +. R. s..
who, though he only died last year, was
already forty years old when his son was
| born. His work had, at that time, won
| for him more of reputation than of money;
| and the childhood of the future poet
was passed in Strengthened circumstances.
! Such duties fell to his lot as few children
| have been called on to fulfil. His mother
| sickened of cancer, and when the little
| fellow was only seven he was her COM
| panion and her nurse, in cherries
| apartment in Pimlico. The father was
busy in earning the money to carry on
the little household, and the serious
| seVen-year-old baby watched his mother,
and waited on her, and so made his first
| forlorn acquaintance with the agonies and
horrors of pain and death, for she died
! before he had reached his eighth birth
! day.
! He as well as his father, had possessed
remarkable intellectual force. She was
| a Greek as well as a Latin scholar, at
a time when Latin and Greek were far
more seldom studied by women than at
| present. She was the author of various
religious books, and of a series of
tracts that were selling widely still,
long after she was dead. Both father
and mother were almost fanatically re-
| llgious, and went-he from Methodism
and she from the Church of England
| into the sect called plymouth Broth
REM The mother visited the poor and
| labored to bring their souls into what she
| considered the true faith. The father
shut himself up with his microscope,
and little Edward had for friends
and playmates in those childish
years only library of very
solemn books, until he had to stop
reading and nnrse his dying
mother.
After his wife death the fathers for
tunes began to improve. His lectures
brought him in more money, and he left
London and bought him home near
Torquay, in Deyonshire. Now, indeed,
| little Edmund could ''walk in green
feld,' as he had so longed to do in his
London days that he once startled his
parents by declaring he should die if they
could not some how manage it. He had
his first taste of this delight on visit to
some friends in Wales, where, also, he
for the first time played with children of
his own age.
a wave of religious experience swept
over him. He listened to his fathers
exhortations and was convinced of sin
and resolved to save his soul. He was
told that he must fconfess the Lord in
public baptism; and people thronged
from all parts of Devoushire to witness
the ceremony. l can fancy those were
dark days, when the terrors of the law
had affrighted him, when his father had
disooursed to him of death and of iudg-
ment, and when his young mind strug-
gled with the doctrines of election and
reprobation.
1t was like opening O door that led
from some gloomy dungeon into the
| light of cheerful day, when, In 1862, his
father married a Quaker lady, who
brought into the sombre household the
sunshine of her bright nature, her warm
heart, her happy and reasonable faith.
Edmund was thirteen then, and his.
fathers marriage was the best thing that
could have happened to him. From
| henceforth he had true mother in his
| home-he knew what it was to be praised
and petted and encouraged and made
much of. For the years to come his
stepmother was his closest and loveliest
friend. He was sent through her influ-
ence to private schools where he found
companions and comrades among his
school mates-his day had dawned.
His school education, however, was
not of long duration. In 1866, when he
was seventeen, his father brought
him up to London to earn henceforth his
own living. Fortunately he was able to
do this not too painfully. The Rev.
Charles Kingsley was great friend and
admirer of Gosse, Sr. and he conceived
warm and active interest in the charm
ing boy, whose gifts he already OWNED.
He procured for him an appointment in
the British museum, with q salary OF
EGO $3.50 per year.
Now it was that the education of the
future poet began in earnest. He gave
the day to his work at the museum, but
when he got home at night 1t was to de-
vote himself to his LIES real business.
He lie one OF the best equipped authors,
one of the most scholarly men. of our
own time; and the foundations of his
rare requirements were laid in those busy
nights following busy days. He eagerly
studied the continental languages, which
were to be of such infinite use 30 him
hereafter in the cheerful home he
found for himself with some nice old
ladies in the suburbs of Lottenham he
began already to form the nucleus of
that wonderful library, so rich in rare
books and first editions, which is now his
pride.
The spirit OF song was born IN him in
thosa davs He formed q close friend