Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-10

whether if Madam Necker
had been less gifted and
fortunate, he would SO far
have forgotten his early passion for her as to class
her among the vulgar crowd" of his acquaintance
or whether he would still have recorded the end of
their attachment in the quantity amusing confession
that when his father forbade the alliance he sghed
as a lover, and obeyed a son. 1t is perhaps I'M
just to Gibbon to make the suppositon;. for he
acknowledges in fullest measure his Indebtedness
to the plain, homey woman who cared for him
through his sick1y childhood; though had she been
outside the circle of relationship she also might have
been lost among the vulgar crowd" of his acquaint-
ance AS it IS, he pays her a notable tribute which
will endear her name to all who read the annals of
his early years.
ITO preserve and to rear so frai being" says
the historian, speaking of his infancy the most
tender assiduity was scarcely sufficient, and my
mothers attention somewhat diverted =.
by an exclusive passion for her husband, and by
the dissipation of the world in which his taste and
authority compelled her to minge. But the
maternal office was supplied by my aunt Mrs
Catherine Porten, at whose feel tear of
gratitude tricke down my cheek A life of ceibacy
transferred her vacant affection to her sisters first
child, my weakness excited her pity her attachment
was fortified by labor and success and if there be
any, as trust there are some, who rejoice that
live, to that dear and excellent woman they must
hold themselves indebted"
She Did Not Live in Vain
CERTAINLY Catherine Porten did not live in
- vain, if the world to her offices the life of
the author of The History of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire nor is her reward altogether
with the story of that stupendous work.
The story of Gibbons aunt reminds one of Rob-
ert Southey's maiden aunt Miss Tyler, with whom
the future poet laureate spent his childhood slept
with her, compelled to lie abed late at morning
lest his stirring might waken her, and with some
occasional indulgences suffered many small priva-
tons. He was poor, pensive specimen of "old
maids child" compelled to keep his clothes spot
1essy clean, and restrained from many a childish
ganbol for which the boys heart ached. His chief
recreation at four years of age was to accompany
this eccentric relative her frequent visits to the
theater. After brief and unhappy school expert
ence Southey returned to the of his aunt, but
amid new scenes in the house built by his grand
youthful days. and, in spite of all her oddities, he
evidently loved his aunt. The final rupture be-
tween them was occasioned by his espousal of the
Pantisocratic scheme. The man who became in
later life according to Taine, the professed de-
fender of aristocracy and can't" aenated the guar
dian of his childhood and early youth by his pro-
nounced radicalism. But the young radical whom
she rejected has made the and habits of the
odd spinster familiar to the world.
Cases of Unconscious Greatness
EVERY reader will recall from his own acquaint-
IL ance with literature many other instances of men
and women who have won renown without effort or
desire. Vttoria Coonna lives in the remembrance of
the world as the friend of Michelangeo. The storm
that drenched John Bunyan he returned from
his mission of mercy and induced his fatal illness,
mmortalized the name of the humble grocer Mr..
Strudw1ck at whose house Snow Hill the great
dreamer died. The epistles of Paul abound in OBJ
scure names. everyone of them pregnant with a
fascinating mystery, each sphinx as suggest
i've of unspeakable thoughts and questionngs as
any shape of stone. Were at any time disposed
to sermonize, what suggestions of pr providence I'M
conscious influence, and the vanity of human
wishes there in such lives!
Scores have striven and failed
of the prize. while other scores