Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-29
AHEAD OF HER TIME.
Bessie Bramble's Estimate Of the
Nuch-Abused Frances Wright.
MEETS HER IDEAL OF A W0MAN.
Her skepticism Natural Result Of Liter
ary Surroundings
As A LECTURER AND As 4 WIFE
WRITTEN FOR THE pIsPArCH.1

| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.1
| Carlyle saws somewhere that deep, great,
genuine sincerity is the first characteristic
Of hero. Judged by this test, Frances
Wright, who came under condemnation
some go years ago as a free thinker, was q
hero. She was 'knight Grant to the
last" in her devotion to the cause of human
ity and truth. Her aspiration in life was to
be can awakener of sleeping minds, cham
pion of the universal love of mankind" q
worker in behalf Of the poor and helpless.
In view of the miseries of the world about
her, and as shown in history, she formed the
idea that some great fault or vice must be
the cause, and at the age when most girls
are contemplating a debut into society,
and round of pleasures ending in love,
marriage and happiness, she determined to
| do her best to redress the wrongs which
made the world unhappy. No man OF
woman has more zealously engaged in the
work of converting the heather, or evan
gelizing the masses, than did Fanny
Wright" enter into what she deemed the
cause of truth and the advancement of
freedom.
The Beginning Of Parties.
When he was born the battles Of the
American Revolution had been fought, and
freedom had been established under the
bulwark of the Constitution of the United
States. Cincinnati. where she spent some
of her later years, was little stockade
fort, defended by the troops of mad
Anthony" Wayne. Thomas Jefferson had
Just returned from France and was red hot
with republicanism. He had no love
for Adams, the Vice President, and
became imbued with the idea that Adams
and Hamilton were aristocrats, who de-
sired the establishment of monarchy, and
that Washington might be led to coun-
tenance their views as to government.
With such suspicious in his mind, he
recorded their every word that seemed to
give basis to this thought. The antagon-
ism of these great statesmen resulted in the
formation of the two great political parties
which kept up incessant warfare upon each
other. No pure patriot was ever more
scandalously abused and illuminated than
was Washington, and it is not wonderful
that he longed for retirement and refused
nomination for another term.
It was during this test of republican prin-
ciples in this country, and while the revolu-
tionists of France were struggling with the
evils that followed the horrors of the great
tragedy that laid waste their hopes and
and ruined their cause, that Frances Wright
was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1895. Her
father was scholarly man, and member of
several scientific associations. The British
Museum has been enriched by his donations
of antique coins and medals, and BY the
result Of his researches in the domains of
science and literature. On her mothers
side she was connected with Baron Rokeby,
primate of Ireland, the famous Mrs. Mon
tague, General William Campbell and others
of note.
She Inherited Her Patriotism.
Her father took deep interest in the
stirring events of the French Revolution
His sympathies and hopes were on the side
Of liberty. He circulated Paine's cage of
Reason" and "Rights of Man." and SUBJ
.jected himself to the suspicious of the En-
glish Government by his outspoken repub-
1icah sentiments. 1t may therefore be in
ferred that Fannie Wright was endowed
with her turn for innovation, and her bias
toward free thought by virtue of inher-
itance. When she was not yet 8 years old,
she and her brother and sister were de-
prived of the loving care and tender guar
dianship of their parents by death. The
son was taken in charge by his uncle, Prof.
Mylne, of Glasgow University, and the lit
tie girls fell to the care of maternal aunt
But Sin all this cold and hollow world,
there is no fount of deep, strong, deathless
love, save that within mothers heart"
That Frances Wight had reason to mourn
and miss her mother seems evident, since she
SAYS in the story of her youth that to the
solitude of her life as an orphan, and to the
oh nf. thx1 %h4 Il
characters of the members of this aunt's
family are due her devotion to books,
her application to the study Of
art and science, and her deep and abiding
interest in subjects with which the women
of the day rarely bothered their heads, and
which were deemed dangerous for even men
to discuss.
Truth Was Thought Dangerous.
"Can truth be dangerous?" was a ques-
tion she submitted to shrewd and deep
thinking man. "It is thought SO, was his
reply. On this occasion, as she relates, she
first learned that truth was still to be
found, and that men were afraid of it"
AS she had access to extensive libra |
ries and sheltered "solid literature" she |
mastered much of science and of history. |
AS her father was possessed of the demo |
cratic ideas that had led to the establish |
ment of American democracy, it is likely |
that the works of Rousseau, who is held to |
be the 'sFather of Democracy" and the |
writings of Voltaire, who stood at the head |
of the European literature Of his day, had |
for her mind fascination and gave impulse |
to her powers of reason. The works of Vo!-
taire made stir in every department of |
human thought. He made philosophy and |
history, not interesting only to the scholar,
but to the general public The influence of
his mind was . all the more
powerful because in the expression of
his sentiments he kept close to the
heart and understanding Of the common
people, Hume's History of England and
his Political Discourses were at that time
among the books that were stirring the
minds of men as never before, and that they |
were detested and denounced by Wings and
Tories, by clergy and laity, patriots and
politicians made them all the more likely
10 be read. That they raised their author
from poverty to wealth is not matter TOR
wonder in view of such valuable advertise
ment Gibbons History of The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire had but
lately been published, and with all that
I