The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-23
HIS LIFE EBBING AWAY.
RUskIN, THE AUTHOR AND MAS
TER-CRITIC, DYING.


His Mind Wrecked by Long Sickness.
How Ruskin is Beloved in the Lake
District-His Friendship for Carlyle.
His Beautiful Gardens, Literary
Habits, and Social Traits - His Lib
crafty.
(Copyrfqht)
LONDON, Feb. 22.-Literary England, and
the literary world for that matter, has been
saddened by the news that John Ruskin, the
greatest of living critics, and since CARLYLE
the foremost exponent of that remarkable
school Of which the erratic Scottish genius
was the master, is very near his end. He
has been ailing for some time past; but his
friends had hopes that it was not really Sc
rious. Now, how ever, comes the news that
there are indications of the once powerful
mind breaking down under tho burden of
age and sickness, and that Ruskin is little
better than a babe in the hands of his
nurse.
ran down to Commission few days be-
fore the i'll news came, in the hope that, al
though sick. he might still be able TO meet
me. Very few people who so to the beau
tiful Lake district of England are aware
bnhu Oile VI JHe kIedLeSU VI llNlilR IlHH mas
his home within its borders. Wordsworth
painted the lakes on canvass that is inn
perishable; but it is the dead whom the liv-
ing most honor. Yet the time will come
when Brentwood by the Commission will be a
Mecca for the thousands who have read
Sesame and Lilies, and the "Seven Lamps
of Architectural
1t was Sunday morning when l walked
to Commission, over the mountain passes, past
lC atp tsal Ilrffl arA atb tNa -.
Water and through the village of Hawks
head. On this particular day, the Professor
was at home, but was 30 sick that he could
see no one 1t was great disappointment
to himself as well as to tho villagers that he
was unable to go TO church.
"Oh, no sir" said the attendant. "He's
sick, you know, sir; and he has Just como
back from the seashore. He hasn't been
about much of late"
All this was accompanied by such a
gloomy expression of countenance, and
spoken 80 lugubriously, that made further
inquiries. 1t was too true; the master was
i'll and the gravest approximations were felt
as to his condition. 1t was feared that the
end was not very far Off. Some friends
were buoyed up by the hope that, like his
other seizures, the present illness would
pass away; but his physicians held out no
such encouragement. 1t seemed that the
sands Of the great mans life were slowly
running out, and thaJ his death might
occur at any time.
The love the simple country folk about
Commission bear for Ruskin is something
| touching and beautiful. At Ambleside,
have found many who never heard of Har-
| riet Martineau; at Rydal some could direct
you to Rydal Mount, and few knew that
| Wordsworth had once lived there; but there
| were many who had never heard Of the
name. The same was the case at che homes
of Hartley Coleridge and Thomas De
Quincy, in the Rydal neighborhood. But
| at Conniston everybody knows RuslIin,
| who lives with those around
| him, aud who love him. He Is
rarely seen in the Lake district, out of sight
Of his beloved lake and the little village by
its side Every villager one meets has
some kind word to say Of the master, who
is now lying so weak Ia the great house at
Brentwood, as Ruskin's home is called. He
has many servants, aud is generally be-
lieved to be rich, although all his life he
has been giving lavishly. He began by
bestowing upon poor relatives the bulk OF
| the splendid fortune no inherited, reserv-
| ing for his own use only $4,000 sterling
annually, and even that he gave away.
| Still his income has been a very large one
from his books and other literary work.
While he has lived at Brentwood he has had
a secretary to transcribe his copy for the
publishers, for his own handwriting was so
villainous that few cared to attempt to de-
cipher it.