The times., 1899-10-08
SOME GREAT BACHELORS.
Conspicuous Men of Mark Who Never
Married.
Frnm Az 81 I-n,,is clohn- -nornoorot

From the ST. Louis Globe .Democrat)
Samuel ]. Tilden was the richest Ameri-
can who ever entered public life and re-
mained single to the end OF his days. His
persistent celibacy was remarkable for,
unlike Sir Thomas, Mr. Tilden was born
with money. and thus from his youth was
considered eligible by the mammas OF many
young women.
No Republican of half Mr. Tilden's
prominence has gone through life without
marrying but including David Bennett
Hill, who seems to be a confirmed baehe-
lor. Democracy's rolls show noteworthy
triumvirate OF the distinguished celibates
James Buchanan, the only bachelor Presi-
dent, being the third member thereof.
Buchanan is understood TO have refrained
from taking wife because the girl upon
whom he set his youthful affections was
obdurate. He is said to have regretted the
single state to the day of his death Mr.
Hill, ON the other hand, is reported to be a
bachelor from choice.
Literature has furnished a long string
of names to the list of eminent bachelors
Possibly the best known unmarried man of
letters today is Henry James, the novel
ist. He maintains stoutly that the artist,
no matter what the medium of his ex-
preston, should remain single, on the
ground that the petty cares and carpings
of domestic life tend to wear on de,ieateiy
adjusted nerves and exhaust the mental
fibre of genius, whether its possessor be a
painter OF pictures, a worker in words a
| modeler of statues a composer of music
| singer, or one who amuses the people
from the stage.
John Greenleaf Whittier was a bachelor.
though not from the same cause of the
brilliant fiction writer mentioned. Whit
tier was a great admirer OF the married
state, We are told, and in his boyhood had
| blue-eyed, red-cheeked New England
girl for his sweetheart Together they
went to school as children, and when they
grew to youths estate he told her the story
most girls like to hear. She heard il glad
| iy, too, but he was poor and a poet and
love must wait for recognition. She prom
ised, but waiting is wearisome; before rec
ognition came to the gentle young verse
maker she forgot him as a lover, and was
married to some one else.
| Edward Fitzgerald. the translator. Oh
omar khayyam's quatrains, was "a bache-
| lor, and there was a romance In hrs life,
much like the one which saddened>Whit-
| tiers. but there was little else which they
had in common. The celibacy of Charles
| Lamb was full of pathos, for he remained
| single all his life that he might care for
his sister Venerable John Burroughs,
| naturalist as well as writer, and one OF
the most charming of men, has never
married. Mr.. Burroughs was not even a
woman hater, neither has anyone ever
surmised that a romance caused his bache-
| lorhood.
| The only literary bachelor who is ae-
knowledged to be a hater of women is the
| English poet, Algernon Charles Swim
burne. His sentiment appears to be based
| upon the fear that a woman of little cul-
| ture would be dull beyond description as a
| life partner, and the conviction that the
| clever we'll informed woman is the least
| attractive of her sex
| Only one noted Protestant divine has
| been a bachelor. He was Phillips Brooks,
! who finished life as Bishop of the Episco-
pal Church. and seemingly possessed every
| quality desirable in model husband. The
cause OF remaining single appears never to
| have been understood, even by those who
| were closest to him. He did not avoid the
| fair nor has anyone been able to recall a
| romance in his life. IL his student days
| and in his career as clergyman he had
| many friendships with women, while his
| passionate fondness for children was re-
/ marked often. His letters to some of his
| juvenile friends, published few years age
| in one of the magazines, were models in
1 their way
| The bachelorhood OF Sir Isaac Newton
was puzzle to some OF his contemporaries