The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1903-05-28

" my lObS Will SIuAio G0ot nave Aoo
been born king.
About this time he began writing
for the magazines. He Jared pretty
much as all new writer's usually do, be-
Ing sent up to the skies with delight
one day by a success, and dropped into
the depths OF despair the next time by
a failure. He resolutely refused to be
discouraged though, and soon the sue
cesses out balanced the failures, two to
one. Then gradually the remarkable
learning, vigor, and depths of his essays
began to attract attention. In 1926,
while stlll struggling at the bottom OF
the literary ladder. Carlyle married
Jane Welsh, very brilliant and beau
tiful woman, to whom he was always
deeply attached. For several years at
ter their marriage the young couple
were desperately poor, and lived at
Craigenputtock, q Scotch moorland
farm. 1t was while there that some of
Carlyle's best work was done; work
which won the approval Of students
throughout the literary world, and laid
the foundation OF the great fame which
was soon to be his. In 1881 the Carl
yles removed to London, and in 1885
he completed the first volume of his
great work on the French Revolution.
just how much pri>ation, how many
months of toll, how many sleepless
nights, those closely written pages rep
resented, no one but the worn out au-
thor ever knew! And it all went for
naught! He gave the precious manu-
script to friend to read, and servant
thinking that it was just bundle OF
old paper threw it in the fire Carlyle
bore his loss with a quietness that
seems almost incredible, when one re-
members all that volume had repre-
sented to him. II could not COM
plain" he wrote to Emerson, "my
friend would have shot himself. / be-
gan again at the beginning to such a
wretched, paralyzing torpedo of task,
as my hand never found to do" He
did begin again though at once, and so
wonderfully tenacious was his memory
that the entire volume was soon re-
written almost without notes. The
book was completed in 1887, and into
it he put what is generally considered
the greatest work OF his life. After its
publication, not only fame was his, but
as his other great works were issued
one after another, fortune in a measure
came also. All the world knows of
Car]yle's masterpieces of the splendid
monument he built himself in the
temple of literary fame, with the books
he gave to the world. But with the
real man, the crusty old Scotchman,
With his fierce love of truth, his funny
crotchets, and his indomitable courage,
1t is possibly not so familiar. He was
irritable and full of whims we are told,
but there are few Of us who would not
be, it we had battled near a lifetime
with jangling nerves, acute dyspepsia,
and biting poverty. And with all his
oddities, there are two very beautiful
traits of Carlyle's which should always
be remembered in connection with
him. One was his sturdy independent e
and fierce honesty, and the other was
his devotion to his humble parents.
When all the world was doing him
honor, title was offered him. But
he would none of it. Instead be
hunched up his shoulders, put on bis
blacklist scowl, and more CURLY than
politely answered, that as plain Thomas
Carlyle he had lived and written bis
books, and as plain THOMAS Carlyle be
would die and leave them behind him
To his mother, the man whom the
world called sour misanthrope, he was
always a devoted and tender son, shar
ing whatever he earned with her, no
matter how little it might be. eff l
had but one sovereign In the world, >
he once wrote her, II don't see how
could purchase more enjoyment with
it, than by sharing it with YOU"
! Carlyle lived in world of his own
coming out of the clouds SO seldom that
he was one Of the most impracticable
of men, as the following incident al
related by Tennyson will show:
He and the kindly poet were great
friends, and on one occasion the two
families were spending the summer al
the same little resort in the Highlands
One day the poet met Carlyle on the
road, and in the course of conversation
mentioned that Lady Tennyson wat
not at all we'll. The Sage of Chelses
turned promptly on his heel and went
striding off toward home without ut
tering word OF farewell. Too accus.
toned to his friends i'd iosyncrasles tc
notice, Tennyson slowly sauntered
homeward, when just as he mounted