Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-11-16

wire OF Ut. nOmAS S0meIVflle, whose son
Mary afterward married for her second
husband. She received the desultcry edu-
cation which was given girls at that time,
and after she left school mastered algebra
and Euclid In secret and without any help.
In 1904 she married her cousin, Capt.
Samuel Greig who lived only two years.
and six years later she married DIR. William
Somerville, inspector of the army medical
board. who encouraged and greatly aided
her in her study of physical science. Her
fame had already attracted the notice Of
the most eminent scientific men Of Europe,
but she now for the first time maize their
acquaintance, among them La Place who
paid her the compliment Of saying she was
the only woman who understood his writ
ingS. These books she afterward trans
lated. and also wrote several scientific
works. She was elected member OF the
astronomical society, in whose hall her
bust, done by Chantrey, is still to be seen.
1t is said that the popularity of her writ
ings Is due 10 the underlying enthusiasm
for her subject which pervades them, with
out which surely the finest rhetoric goes
'pr nanght.
f. j. srld IN that all the members of
large family live to reach maturity, and
the children OF kings are not exempt, so
We cannot wonder that in this royal house
hold which we are considering. one daugh-
ter, Calliope, after brief but brilliant life
disappeared from the face Of the earth.
This Muse of Epic Poetry left behind
her grand masterpieces-the Ilad for
Greece. the Eneid for Rome. Paradise
Lost for England and then passed away
leaving her work to be done by her more
prosaic sister Clio, and her more sensitive
one Erato. who came again upon earth
when Elizabeth Barrett Browning was
born in London, the 9TH uf March. 1909.
the golden year which was slso that Of
Trnny-on'4 birth. She was the eldest
daughter uf Edward Moultou. and was
cnrl~tencd Elizabeth Barrett. a few years
later, her father succeeded to some prop
erty. and taking the name of Barrett. hi,
Christian maine became the fam
liz one.
Mrs., BrownIng- mind msturcd early
w en- eight years Old she read Homer in
the original, and when only twelve had
written her great epic Of the battle Of
Mara hon In four books which her proud
father hld published. Her range Of sub
ject. l. wonderful. especially when we
remember how many years of her life were
passed 10 a sick room. She once wrote
To friend: My story amounts To the
knife. grinders with nothing at all for a
bird in q cage would have
a. good a story; most of my events and
nearly all my intense pleasures have passed
in my thoughts
Her love for Italy was As intense a.
A. her poems ON Italian liberty
bear witness, while The Runaway Slave
at Pilgrims Point" shows the interest she
4 . - 81.
America .Prometheus Bound" gives
glimpse ~ Greek mythology. There are
rnmauce- Of chiyary. simple stories OF
loye, poems OF labor, and poems OF
the bone. while "Aurpra Leigh" il a
social questions OF England. In all these
different veins she excelIei.
Theodore rilton, in his delightful Me-
mortal" tells Us that the "Sonnets from the
Portuguese" are forty four love-l letters, the
most exquisite that ever were written, and
again says: Her prose was magnificent.
Notwithstanding her distrust of IL. She
heaped up glowing sentences like fagots
on lire. Her letters make Cooper's poor;
Wendell Phillips calls them above praise"
while no less critic than Mr.. Ruskn
pronounces her Eve in the Drama OF
Exile iucompsrably superior to Mllton'>
and her Duchess May, the finest female
character brought into literature since
Shakespearc'- day"
But We can never forget that persons
expression is only the manifestation OF the
inner life, and We turn with interest 10
learn The little friends have told Us Of this
grand woman's private life. Mrs. Anne
ThaCkeray Rltchie In her charming recol-
leCtiJn- Of her fathers friends, gives Us
tli.htful picture of the Barretts' country
home al Hope End. where they lived the
quiet, secluded life Of the rich people of
England. We can fancy little Elizabeth
studying Greek with her tutor, doll
under her arm, working in her flower
garden and having long rides across
country on her black pony, until the un-
fortunate day when saddling him alone in
the pasture she fell, injuring her spine
beyond recovery. Her father lost his
properly and they were obliged to live in
London, where Elizabeth, confined TO one
room for many years, endured most in
tense suffering.
The whole world knows how Robert
Browning, having read her poems, obtain
ed through her cousin, the interview
which resulted in one Of the happiest Of
marriages All that Is known OF the
courtship ia what Mrs. Browning h told
in the "Sonnets from the Portuguese.
After the marriage they went at once 10
Italy where much Of their best work was
done, and where the son was born, whom
we know today as a painter-poet as his
parents were poet-painters.
Her lifelong friend Mary Russell Nit
ford, gives Us this pen picture which
Robert Browning esteemed a faithful
likeness of his wife; "A slight delicate
figure, with a shower of dark curls fall
ing on either side OF q most expressive
face large tender eyes, fringed with dark
lashes and a smile like sunbeam, and of
the inner woman, Mrs. Ritchie writes II
don't think any girl who had once ex-
perenced it could fail TO respond to Mrs.
Browning's motherly advance. There was
something more than kindness In it; there
was an implied interest, equality and un-
derstandng which are very difficult to de-
scribe and impossible to forget, and again
she says: Whether at Florence, at Rome
at Paris or in London once more, she
seemed to carry her own atmosphere
always, something serious, motherly
absolutely artess, and yet impassloned.
noble and sincere"
The best loved home of the Browuings
WAS bhsh ouiud III lDEtuCe WueTt lney
lived fourteen years. and from which Mrs
Browning went out to her grave.
The Muse who presides over music has
ever had a watchful eye over the children
of earth; she has lulled infants to sleep in
their cradles, encouraged warriors in bat
tie, comforted those who mourn, made sa-
cred services more sacred, and added
gaiety to the festival and dance; but she
has never had truer representative than
the Swedish Nightingale" whose sweet
songs charmed our own countrymen forty
years ago.
1t was in Stockholm in 1921 that Jenny
Lind first saw the light. At three years
of age she could sing correctly any piece
she had once heard, and at nine was
placed under famous teacher of music.
Soon she was entered at the musical acad-
emy where she made rapid progress. She
acted in childrens parts on the Stockholm
stage until her twelfth year, when her up
per notes lost their sweetness. Then fol-
lowed for four years steady theoretical
study of music, until small part in an
opera, spurned by the vocalists of the city
was offered to Jenny Lind; her voice was
found to have regalned its power, and she
was greeted with enthusiasm.
For year and half she was the star
Of the opera at Stockholm, then having
earned the means by series of concerts
in Norway and Sweden, she went to Paris
and studied under Garcia. A year latel
she was introduced to Meyerbeer who
was anxious to engage her for Berlin, but
she preferred to return to her native
pity whore sha apjOvad praat triumph