Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-07-25

:LITERATuRE AND LIFE.
"a. 50. u
Es-s3 1 1 ~


Tho Domestic Life OF Literary Folk.
Balzac said a great man should have
neither wife nor children; that he be-
longs to the world and not to a family,
and should alone tread the thorny path
that leads to glory and success.
However unhappy may have been the
personal and domestic experience on
which the great French novelist based
his dictum, there are other noted
sFrenchmen who might take exception
to IT, judging their views by the ex-
ceptionally happy domestic life that
has fallen to their lot. A notable in
stance was that Of Daudet. who was
turnout his life the lover OF his wife.
She was not only his sweetheart but
also an invaluable helpmeet in his lit
serary work She copied and corrected
his manuscript in the rough, and in
his final provision, rewrote and sent 1t
to the press
Whether there are certain traits OF
disposition and character inseparable
from genious but incompatible with do
nestle happiness, we are not prepared
to say, but certain 1t is. there has been
a great deal written about the welded
misery OF literary men, and a long list
of examples are furnished in our lit
Serary annals. in which it too often hap
pens that the poor unfortunate wife
like the original Eve is made to bear
all the blame, while the husband re-
ceives the lions share Of the worlds
pity and commiseration Doubtless
this is due to the fact that the woman's
side Of the story seldom receives a
hearing. being somewhat obscured by
the greater and dazzling glory of her
hus bands name and fame.
An instance Of this sort is the famous
case OF Socrates We are all familiar
with the sharp tongue and outspokenS
candor of poor xantippe and OF the
odium heaped upon her name and mem.
Dry; but very few OF US perhaps know
that the patient philosopher, the lofty
and virtuous Socrates, In his relations
with the court beauties OF his day;
Aspasia and Diolaina-was not above
suspicion. At least Plato tells us he
was no better than he should be-in
fact, not quite as good. and I am in-
.clined to the opinion that Plato knew
more about It than the rest OF Us.
Euripides tried two wives and was so
unhappy with both that he became an
enemy of the sex.
Dante gives US a vision OF Hell" but
his practical knowledge OF that lured
place was derived from his wife from
whom he separated after she had be-
come the mother Of his six children.
Milton wrote of Paradise Lost and
later made q pathetic effort at Para
n Sn 1lap "a I'M II hfa
ed in the bosom Of his own family. all
tho he tried it with three different Ewes
the first OF whom ran away because
of spar diet and gloomy household"
Shakespeare married a coarse and ig-
and announces from his own bitter ex-
man that's marreu.''
3 But as Shakespeare is suspected to
be Lord Bacon or some other fellow, 1T
is barely possible that Ann Hathaway
was as good as the theatrical thief
whom we have been want to regard as
Shakespeare.
1t seems that Lord Bacon himself en-
joyed but little domestic bliss, go there
is one resemblance at least for the crit
les to wrangle over.
DeQuincey said that wife and chill
dren being mans chief blessings are
also his deadllest anxieties.. He suffer
ed all his days from the burden OF these
anxieties which doubtless tended to ag-
gravate his opium habits. while poor
Bobby Burns was tortured with the
same fear-the failure OF his resources.
Rosseau was wretched with mis- low
and illherate wife, but he had the grace
to blame himself for It, and bewails in
mournful words his sebfishness in fall
ing 10 teach her that love Of books and
learning that would have rendered her
comparable in his loneliness"
II Addison sold himself to the cross
old dowager Countess of Warwick for
her wealth he paid dearly for his cap
sture; since the lady's severe seedlings
drove him from his home to the more
scongental companionship at the Mem
orial Inn.
Moliere caught coquette and was
tortured with jealousy to the end OF
his days.
Poor Southey was the most unfortun-
ate of men. His first wife suffered from
insanity, and after her death. on in
stalling wife number two. he himself
developed insanity from which he never
recovered.
Steele, sterne. Dryden. Montague,
Churchill Coleridge and Shelley were
all married unhappily.
Bulwer married pretty face and
along with it domestic fury from
whom he separated nine years later
AS for unhappy Lord Byron and Car
lyle the worlds sympathies are about
evenly divided between them and their
unfortunate wives. and perhaps J.
would be we'll to remember in passing
judgment in their case that the quality
Of mercy is not strained.
Concerning the troubles In the Dick
ems family the critics have never been
agreed. He himself said 1t was incom-
patlbility OF temper. Others hint that
1t was case Of esrsSious personal
vanity. His face shows TO me irritabili-
~ and selfishness. and az l have never
heard Madam Dickens side OF the story
I am disposed to suspend Judgment, al
tho feel very lenient toward the poor
wife. Fromthe meager records I learn
this much: That she was the mother
OF nine children, to whom she did her
duty In the triple capacity OF nurse,
seamstress and cook. and her faithful
adrudRery prevented her from cultivat-
ing those graces Of mind and manners
that would have fitted her for the ex-.
elusive society in which her husband.