The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-20

CA4G "&S Z
"a daughter of the gods, divinely TALL
and, as became an Englishwoman Of
social position in Paris, Wiz an Unborn
taste in dress of an unconventional
kind: she used to walk out in
a red merino cloak, trimmed with err
mine, which gave the air Of a retired
Empress wearing out her clothes"
Her name was Isabella Shaw and
some years after marriage went COM
pletely deranged in mind, and so lived
until she died in advanced age. in 1884.
surviving her husband some quarter
of a century The marriage took place
in 1863. 1t was h great blight of his
life, but he said he would marry her il
it had to be gone over again His love
was profound. Speaking of his own.
sad experiences in the person of an
other. in a conversation with a warm
personal friend, Hon. William b. Reed,
who wrote a delightful book, Among
My Books which Edward ]. Hale &
Son published, he said, and it is very
noble and pathetic:
He spoke to me of domestic sorrowsE
and anxieties too sacred TO be record-l
ed here. He referred to a friend whOsel
wife had beer deranged for many years
hopelessly so, and never shall L forget.
the look, and manner, and voice with
| which he said to me, 1T is an awful
thing for her to continue so to live. 1t
is an awful thing for her so to die.
! But has it never occurred to you how
| awful a thing the recovery Of lost rea-I
son must be. without the consciousness
of the lapse Of time? The friend, the
lover of her youth, a g~ray-halred old
man and her infants young men and
| women! Is it not sad to think of this p
| And yet, it was this man whom vulgar
minded people called heartiess! AS he
| thus talked to me 1 thought Of lines of
tenderness, often quoted, which no one.
but him could have written:
| All me too quick the days are fitting;
I mind me Of a time that's gone
| When here I'd sit, as now I'm sitting
In this same place, but not alone.
A fair young form was nestled near me-.
A dear, dear face looked fondly up
And sweetly spoke and smiled to cheer
| me
There's no one now to share my cup"
Frank V%incent's new book entitled
| Actual Africa" may be the very work
you are in search of. 1t has 1O4 full
| page illustrations, octave, price S..
1ISIe L z hS" oisNOA -
! Shakespeare, among them a small ele-
| CANT pocket edition. There is also a
new Temple edition of Dickens whose
genius is forever fresh and whose pop
ularity is undiminished. Scott is fav-
ored with two large, splendidly illus
trated editions. By the way, Mrs.
Baker, a descendant Of Shakespeare's
! wife, Anne Hathaway, and who was
! the keeper Of the house in which the
greatest of poets was born, and had
lived in it for more than eighty years,
has just died.
Mr.. M. w. Whitlock in the New York
Saturday Review says that Harry
Lyndon is a MASTERPIECES; as has
been observed, it is difficult to see how
pure intellect can rise higher in the
construction of a story. Yet who OF
Thackeray's contemporaries proclaimed
the advent Of a new immortal, who
hailed the young writer MASTER,
Like some other great works (Milton's
paradise Lost" that sold for $50, fol-
the copyright, and for years was not
| SAAo NAAAdoN ~
tistic book fell comparatively still-borr
and the oracles were dumb" An,
thony Trollope in his rather poor book
on Thackeray, has proper discernmenr
and gives to Harry Lyndon" a very
high place among the greatest fictive
works.
Victor Hugo's Memoirs" will be
-,.- h o4+-a~@ Tl.Or, Lo~o I~os, ~-,h
lished in England. Two volumes o.
S~tevenson's letters will soon issue
from the press. 1t contains between
$50 and 500 epistles.
Walter Besant failed recently in {
novel he published and he is grinding
away upon another. His best novel.
are good, but were written severa
years ago.
The very able and distinguished
English historian, w. E. H. Lecky, ha'
a volume of essays ready he cal1i
The Map of Life: Conduct and Char
acter.' Those who have read his mas
terly History of England in the Eigh
teenth Century," in eight %octayos, viii
desire to read the new volume.
HopkinsOn Smith, put down as {
southern writer, but we doubt the cor
rectness, has a volume of stories read!
with the title THE Other Fellow"
A new work of interest is "Politica
History of Europe, 1896" by a foreign
author Seignosbos. It has been. trasla
ted by Professor Mac Vane, of Harvard
University.
PARDONING CRIMINALS.