The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-07-20
HEROISMOF AUTHORS
BRAVE BATTLES WAGED AGAINST
THE AGONY OF DISEASE

BRAVE BATTLES WAGED AGAINST
THE AGONY OF DISEASE.
Literature, as Well as Art and sci
ence and History, Is Indebted to
Pain and Worry and Suffering FOR
Some OF Its Choicest Gems.
There are heroes Of the pen as we'll
as of the sword, and the victories of the
study are quite as affecting and mem
orable as those of the battlefield.
If a complete list of the fine exam
pies of heroism Of authors were COM
piled it would reach we'll out into the
thousands and include large number
Of illustrious names. In fact, it Is said
that few authors have done really great
work except under adverse circum-
stances. Literature, as we'll as science,
art and history, is indebted to pain and
worry and suffering for some of it's
choicest gems.
There are few finer examples of the
heroism Of the study than that present
ed by Professor Finsen, the discoyerer
Of the light cure for lupus. For the
last twenty years of his too short life
he suffered from painful diseases of
the heart and liver, to which dropsy
was superadded, and it was only by
daily self denial and the strictest diet
Ing that he was able to live at all.
Yet for all these years, lived in the
very shadow of death and in constant
suffering, he stuck bravely to his great
life work, even studying his own dis
eases with the keenest attention and
writing articles on them for medical
journals. The last two or three years
Of his life were spent lying on his back,
unable even to be carried to his be-
loved institute few yards away, and
yet the lion hearted scientist never re-
laxed for single day his gallant fight
for his fellow men against disease.
The heroism of the Danish profess
or suggests similar brave battle
waged by an English professor, J. r.
Green, the historian, against disease
and pain. 1t was in 1869, when the
disease which had assailed him for
many years finally Frustrated him and
when the doctors gave him no hope Of
living more than six months, that
Green set to work to write his famous
E1Short History of the English Peo-
pie" Day after day he toiled at his
task, holding desperately on to life
and in state Of ceaseless pain and ex-
haustfon, and so brave was the mans
spirit that he actually prolonged his
life for five years. Even he was bound
to confess, II wonder how in those
years Of physical pain and despond-
ency I could ever have written the
book at ALL"
General Grants memoirs, which
brought his widow the enormous sum
Of $50O,O0O, were written under even
more trying conditions than Green's
history. In 1884, the year before his
death, the ex-pres1dent found himself
bankrupt through the failure of the
Marine bank and face to face with the
prospect Of dying penniless and leav-
ing his wife destitute. It was at this
terrible crisis that he began to write
the story Of his stirring career. But
the cup Of his misfortune was not yet
full. a cancer formed at the root Of
his tongue, and the gallant soldier was
compelled to write day after day, suf-
fering constant and severe agony.
Mrs. Browning, too, wrote most Of
her beautiful poems confined to a
darkened chamber, to which only her
own family and few devoted friends
could be admitted, in great weakness
and almost unintermittent suffering,
with her favorite spaniel as her CON-
panion
The German poet Heine was another
martyr and hero of the study. The
last seven years of. his life were spent
on his mattress grave" racked with
such excruciating pain that he had to
take doses Of opium large enough to
have killed several men in order to
give him a few blessed hours Of free
dom from it. Through all these years
of torture he not only bore himself
with noble resignation and cheerful
ness, but produced many Of his finest
and most finished works, including his
Last Poems and Thoughts and his
confessions"
Sir Walter Scots heroic struggle
with misfortune and failing health dur
ing the closing years Of his life is per-
haps too well known to call for more
than mention. After the commercial
crash came which left him crushed
with debt and with shattered health he
set to work with wearied eyes and
worn brain" and toiled for years, often
as much as fourteen hours day, until
the end came and with it the lifting of
all burdens, including that of his debts,
every penny of which his monumental
toll had paid.
In the list are also Frank Smedley,
who wrote his book on "a bed Of an
guish;" Edna Lyall, who kept death at
bay by her brave spirit and busy pen,
and Clark Russell, who set magnif-
icent example of patience by his in
dustry when racked with rheumatism.
It is also said that much Of Sir Arthur
Sullivan's sweetest music was distilled
from pain.-New York Herald.