The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-05-11

of the Order of ST. Anne. To Russia with him
went his wife and their two sons one of them
a slender, weak lad, affectionately known to his
mother Jamie" And jamie he was to her
to the end Of her days, even when he became
a worldfamous painter. For the close tie be-
tween the mother and the son who was to i'm
mortalize her on canvas began during this Rus
sian experience
She nursed him during those bitter years and
when they were ended in the death of Major
Whistler and when the widow and her two sons
were reduced to poverty, she brought them out
Of the land of SHOWS back to her sunny North
Carolina. When Jamie" grew up he decided to
follow the profession of his father and become
a soldier. He secured an appointment to West
Point in 1852, but his career there was a short
In fact, it lasted only two years.
Years later Whistler humorously remarked
Had silicon been a noxious gas would have
been general today" And therein lies the rea-
for the failure of the line of soldiers, begin
ming with old John Whistler to continue beyond
James Abbott Mcneil Whistler. One day Cadet
Whistler and the others at the Point were taking
a chemistry examination. One Of the questions
was to define silicon. Whistler guessed on that
one and he guessed wrong. 1t is probable, how
ever that it was only one of several mistakes
that he made in the examination. At any rate
he "found"-that is, discharged from the
academy for deficiency In chemistry
But the loss to the military world II indeed
it was loss, was the gain of the world of art
After leaving West Point, Whistler went to Paris
resolved to become a painter, and his career in
that role is too well known to need further
comment. During the years he was rising to
fame his mother was In Europe. also, not with
him always, but nearby in case he should have
need of her. For somehow her little Jamie"
never seemed to grow up enough to be without
his mother In 1860 Whistler left London for
three years more of study in Paris and his
mother returned TO America for last visit with
her relatives in North Carolina. For Whistler
had decided never to return to his native land
to live. So his mother was going to wind up
what few affairs she had there and then return
to London. where they would live the scant
means which the son could provide.
While she was visiting in Cumberland and
Bladen counties in North Carolina, the storm of
the Civil war broke and her return to Europe
postponed indefinitely. Finally early in 1854
came word from her that he had returned
to London and established himself there. So
she announced her intention of joining him.
Her relatives tried to deter her. Up in Virginia
a bearded little man in blue uniform was deal
ing the sledge-hammer strokes around Richmond
which were sounding the death-knell Of the Lost
Cause. His name was Ulysses S. Grant, who
a lieutenant had clicked his heels In salute to his
colonel, William Whistler, back in the Mexican
war days. Along the Atlantic coast Union war
ships were Tightening the blockade of the ports
of the Confederacy which was slowly but surely
strangling it to DEATH
But no matter how much her relatives told
Anna Mathilda Mcneil Whistler that 1t would
be impossible for her to go to Europe now. her
only reply was the calm statement that her
Jamie" needed her and she was going. And go
she did. Somehow she arranged to take passage
the Confederate blockade runner, the Ad-
vance, which was preparing to leave Wilmington,
n. c.. taking 1900 bales of cotton to the cotton
mills in England-if the Advance could get
through the blockade. Another passenger on the
same ship was William Laurie Hill, going a
mission from the Confederate government to
London. He knew that he was taking long
chance Of getting through alive but the urgency
of his mission permitted no delay.
The Advance stole out of the harbor one night
under the cover of darkness. Outside was a
massed fleet Of 80 Union vessels, concentrated
against the last surviving port Of the Confed-
eracy. which was guarded by Fort Fisher. By
some miracle the Advance made her escape and
arrived safely In England
There Anna Mathilda Mcneil Whistler lived
to the end Of her days, the inseparable compan-
ion Of the man who came to be hailed as one
OF the greatest painters In the world.
G by Western Newspsper Union