Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-15
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BO0kloper

That the futility and sadness OF
Ruskin's life were largely the fault of
his parents is the conclusion of Amabel
Williams Ellis in her intimate life OF
Ruskin, The Exquisite Tragedy" The
author seems at times to fear that she
may be a trifie unfair TO the parents,
though she does not alter her general
! conviction. She says: With Rose La
Touche driven mad by her parents and
Ruskin by his. b truthful chronicle
seems to rock perilously near absurdity,
and biography to be in danger of be-
coming o treatise on the relations of
parents and children. However, the
story is true, and human beings In
general are nothing II not grotesque."
Rose La Touche was the young girl
whom Ruskin loved from her child
hood and wished To marry when she
had reached the age of Is and he was
At. Her mother objected on what
seems the fairly rational ground OF
the difference in their ages and on
the additional ground OF Ruskin's lack
of religious faith. Amabel Williams
Ellis has little sympathy for the point
of view OF the mother: Mr.. and Mrs.
La Touche seem to have played either
| foolish or q cruel part. For at this
| juncture they stepped in, and with
the girl irresolute, tipped the scale
against RuSkin-a man whom a hint
could have discouraged a year or two
| earlier Was Mrs. La Touche really
| aimlessly blind and cruel, or had there
been for years private and intimate
emotion behind her previous encourage
ment of Ruskin? And was there now,
| equally, private sentiment OF surprise
and anger at his definite and formal
declaration of his love for her daugh-
| ter? -" But there is evidence to the
effect. that It was jealousy that made
| Mrs. La Touche suddenly hostile and
| that the weapon the parents used
against Ruskin with Rose was the ac-
/ cusation of his being an immoral
| character" Rose faded and finally
died, but whether the cause was
| thwarted love for Ruskin or malnu-
triton, or hereditary delicacy, or
some other Obscure cause" such as
all doctors are prone to fall back upon.
remains improved. Ruskin from that
| time was subject to recurrent attacks
of insanity. the cause for which also
remains improved.
Whether Ruskin's mental instability
! throughout life and especially in his
later years was at least partly due to
his parents domination is question
| about which Amabel Williams Ellis has
| no doubts. She holds them decidedly
responsible. An only child, born when
| his mother was 81, Ruskin was the sole
| object of their attention as long as
| they lived, and his mother lived to be
| 90. From the beginning his religious
| training was both intensive and in
tense, and duty to parents was its first
tenet. Indoors John Ruskin, aged 6,
sits on a low stool with an open Bible
on his knee and sees nothing but that
and his mothers wide maroon skirt. He
is trying to concentrate on what she is
| reading. This is, in the first place. be-
cause he is dutiful little boy, and in
the second because he viii have to
| read the next verse and must come in at
the right time The idea of not read
ing the next verse has never yet entered
his head" The child John was allowed
TO toys. except wooden blocks, and
even a delightful Punch and Judy, all
dressed in scarlet and gold" given him
| by sympathetic aunt, was taken away
from him by his mother for some rea-
son of her own. Cake and other sweets
were also taboo, and it was a red letter
day when his mother once gave him
/ three raisins from the cupboard. On
Summer holidays at the seashore he
was not permitted to row, sail, swim.
10 go to the edge of the pond, nor in
the same field with the pony, nor TO
the harbor, where the shipping and
old sailors fascinated MIN. All his
precocity threading, writing and draw
Ing were, however, encouraged and his
parents were very proud of his verses
written at the age of 8. They paid
him halfpenny page for copying out
Pope's Homer and a penny for every
20 lines of composition" This strictly
supervised childhood was not altogether
unhappy and Ruskin in later years
weighed its blessings and miseries. Be
ginning with the blessings. he puts
first, that he was tuaght the advan-
tages OF peace in act, thought and
word: That he never heard an angry
voice, never saw the least household
disorder, anxiety. or even hurry. He
counts as an advantage, too, that he
never was aware of any financial trou-
Bile, because his father never spent
more than half of his income. Again
ne counts 1t as blessing that he
learned obedience and faith, and obeyed
word or lifted finger of father or moth
er as simply as a ship obeys her helm -
| The list OF calamities which he sets
of against the blessings includes the
fact that he had nothing to love and
the lack OF any necessity for endur-
ance. 1t was too carefully sheltered,
as well as too carefully supervised
childhood. In 1888 the first of the
many foreign tours of the RuSkin FAM
[
and any boy of that age would, at that
time, have considered himself fortunate
10 cross the channel IN a paddle steam
er and then to travel in a luxuriously
equipped carriage, with a position.
from Calais to Paris, to Geneva and
down into Italy. Doubtless Ruskin was
thrilled by the experience-that first
| time; but when the experience was re-
peated year after year, always in the
| company OF his solicitous and exact
ing parents, until he was over 40. it Is
not surprising that he became melan-
choly as holiday time approached and
was held firm" only by the invisible
/ cord that bound the three together"
Once or twice he was permitted to
leave the family party for a side trip
! or Few weeks, but the time of his
return was fixed for him. The re-
sponsibility for his unhappy marriage is
also placed by this biographer upon
his parents, rather unfairly 1t seems.
for the woman ne first wished 20 marry.
Adele lotilde Domecq, preferred an
| other man, and the woman he actually
married; Euphsmia Gray, afterward
Mrs. John Everett Millais, was favored
by his mother, because her sons fire.
quent anaiHs Of the heart were so detri-
mental to his health and temper that
she thought the sooner he married the
better. Parents and unhappy love az
falrs, together with the inability to
make the world take his economic
tneorles seriously. turned Ruskin's life
into an exquisite tragedy"
In q mental autobiography OF two
volumes, Upstream and Mid Chan
mel" Ludwig Lewisohn relates himself
as Jew to his nation and to the social
world. zionism and the blending of
Hellenism and HebraiSm in modern life
are two OF Mr.. Lewisohns favorite
theories. To find satisfactory culture