great fortune in California. Inspired by a dream at the time of his
little son’s death, he determined to found and endow an institution
of learning in his State. The result was the Leland Stanford Junior
University, whose direct endowment was princely, and whose indirect
endowment is expected to amount to $20,000,000 or more.
[Illustration: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.]
Florence Nightingale was born, May, 1823, in Florence, Italy, of
English parents, and, prompted by philanthropic instincts, turned her
attention to the relief of humanity. After study in various nursing
schools, she was sent at the head of a corps of trained nurses to
care for the sick and wounded soldiers of the Crimean war, in which
position she displayed marvelous energy and ability. A grateful public
subscribed for her a testimonial of $250,000, which she devoted to the
founding of a training-school for nurses.
Clara Barton (b. about 1830) left a clerkship in Washington to
engage in the work of alleviating the sufferings of the soldiers
of the Civil War, on the battlefields and in hospitals, a work she
performed with rare energy and self-sacrifice. She afterwards aided
the Grand Duchess of Baden in establishing her hospitals during the
Franco-Prussian war, and was decorated with the Golden Cross of Baden
and the Iron Cross of Germany. In 1881 she organized the American Red
Cross Society, for which she secured an international treaty giving it
protection. She performed splendid service in camp and field during the
Spanish-American war.
John D. Rockefeller (b. 1839) is a splendid example of those many
and noble American millionaires who have responded with astonishing
liberality to the promptings of their philanthropic natures. The
reconstruction of the Chicago University, the founding or endowment of
other public institutions, and of numerous charitable benefactions,
together embracing the expenditure of many millions, are magnificent
monuments to Mr. Rockefeller’s share in promoting the progress of his
country during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Matthew Vassar (b. April 29, 1792; d. June 23, 1868) founded Vassar
College, N. Y., in 1861. A brewer of large fortune, he conceived the
idea of erecting and endowing a college for women, wherein education
could be obtained either moderately or gratuitously, and which should
be undenominational. To this end he gave land and $428,000 for
buildings and equipment. Again he gave $360,000. Other members of his
family added to his gifts, till $1,000,000 and more were expended
in buildings, apparatus, etc., and the endowment amounted to over
$1,000,000.
INVENTORS.—George Stephenson, of England (b. June 9, 1781; d. August
12, 1848), was the first (1814) to construct a satisfactory locomotive
steam engine. In 1815 he introduced the steam blast into his second
locomotive. In 1822 he built and operated his first railway, eight
miles long. In 1829 his engine, named the Rocket, was driven at the
rate of twenty-nine miles an hour. He invented a safety lamp, which is
still in use in English collieries. A natural genius and self-taught
mechanic, he refused knighthood, but has received by common consent the
title of the father of railways.
Richard M. Hoe (b. September 12, 1812; d. June 7, 1886) completely
revolutionized the art of printing by the invention of his “lightning”
rotary press, in 1846. This marvel was capable of printing 20,000
impressions an hour. After many costly experiments, with a view to
printing both sides of a sheet at once, he evolved his web-perfecting
press, which drew the paper from a roll, perhaps miles in length, at
the rate of 1000 feet a minute, printed both sides simultaneously, and
cut and folded the sheets at the rate of 20,000 per hour. Subsequent
improvements have given his machines a much larger hourly capacity.
[Illustration: CLARA BARTON.]
Elias Howe (b. June 9, 1819; d. October 3, 1867) contributed the
sewing-machine to the century’s triumphs and wonders, though it is
alleged that the honor of inventing both the eye-pointed needle and
the lock-stitch belongs to Walter Hunt, between whom and Howe long
litigation prevailed, finally resulting in the recognition of the 1846
patent of the latter. Modifications and improvements by more recent
inventors have made the sewing-machine the household boon of to-day.
Cyrus W. Field (b. November 30, 1819; d. July 12, 1892) made the
problem of a telegraphic cable across the Atlantic an aim of his life.
For thirteen years he labored with wonderful faith and perseverance,
and at last, after a series of defeats and mortifying failures,
succeeded (1866) in laying a cable that thoroughly solved the problem.
Since then submarine telegraphy has become one of the most useful and
powerful factors in the private and public life of the world.
Samuel F. B. Morse (b. April 27, 1791; d. April 2, 1872) contributed
to the century’s triumphs and world’s civilization by that brilliant
and persistent series of investigations, which resulted in the first
practical telegraph. He brought his invention before the world in 1844,
and with the aid of the government set up a line of forty miles between
Washington and Baltimore, over which dispatches successfully passed,
May 24, 1844. From this moment his triumph was complete, and he became
the recipient of many flattering distinctions at home and abroad.
John Ericsson (b. July 31, 1803; d. March 8, 1899) either invented, or
first made practical, the steam fire-engine, the artificial draught for
locomotives, the reversible locomotive, the “link-motion,” the caloric
engine, and the screw propeller. Discouraged in England, he came to
the United States in 1839, where he revolutionized naval warfare by
applying the screw propeller to the U. S. S. Princeton, and employing a
range finder. In 1854 he invented the Monitor iron-clad on principles
first applied in the Monitor which defeated the Merrimac in Hampton
Roads, Virginia, March 9, 1862. His career was signalized by many other
valuable inventions.
Alexander Graham Bell, born March 3, 1846, besides exploiting in
America his father’s valuable system of instruction to deaf mutes,
typifies the inventive spirit of his age by his contribution to
public progress through the material side, as exemplified in that
indispensable aid to modern life, the telephone, with the invention of
which he is generally, but by no means undisputedly, credited.
Thomas Alva Edison (b. February 11, 1847) is a splendid example of the
tireless, acute, and practical scientific inventor, and is well named
the electrical “wizard.” Among the triumphs of his skill and genius are
the automatic telegraphic repeater; the duplex telegraph, afterwards
developed into the quadruplex and sextuplex transmitter; the printing
telegraph for stock quotations; the carbon telephone transmitter; the
aerophone; the megaphone and microphone; the phonograph and photometer;
the incandescent lamp; and many other devices for electric lighting.
Nicola Tesla (born 1858), a former pupil and assistant of Edison,
shares with his master the honor of representing the world’s greatest
and most practical of scientific inventors and discoverers. His most
noted investigations and discoveries have been along the line of
arousing luminous vibrations in matter, without, at the same time,
setting in action heat-vibrations. He has made the remarkable discovery
that 200,000 volts may pass harmlessly through that body which 2000
would kill, and is experimenting to produce 3,000,000 vibrations a
minute in matter. He has also shown that both motors and lights can be
operated on one wire without a circuit. His rotary motor is used in
conveying power from the great plant at Niagara Falls.
NOVELISTS.—Sir Walter Scott, of Scotland (b. August 15, 1771; d.
September 21, 1832), exerted a powerful influence on the literature of
the century through the medium of his stirring poetry and delightful
fiction, in both of which he was most ready and prolific. His numerous
works, teeming with striking situations, strong and noble in style, are
models of literary excellence, and are as captivating to readers of
to-day as they were half a century ago.
[Illustration: SIR WALTER SCOTT.]
Charles Dickens, of England (b. February 7, 1812; d. June 9, 1870),
ably exemplified that school of novelists who paint homely social
life with all its innocent, clumsy efforts at humor; its sorrows,
vanities, and weaknesses; its selfishness, malice, and vice; its
wrongs, sufferings, and goodnesses. Though faulty in plot and style
and ridiculous in their exaggerations, his novels marked a new era in
literature, and no books ever so appealed to the sympathies and good
impulses of readers.
James Fenimore Cooper (b. September 15, 1789; d. September 14, 1851)
typifies a large and apparently enduring class of fiction writers
of which he was a remarkable forerunner; that school of novelists
who deal with stirring, bold, and healthful adventure, in which the
Anglo-Saxon mind particularly seems to find unfailing delight. Both at
home and abroad, his novels attained a wide, sudden, and well-deserved
popularity. And to this day no library of fiction is complete without
them.
[Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS.]
Nathaniel Hawthorne (b. July 4, 1804; d. May 18, 1864) exhibits in his
numerous fictional works a man’s breadth and strength of imagination
and a woman’s quick perception and spiritual insight. Almost gloomy in
color, overhung with impending fate, and often uncanny, his stories
are yet always fascinating. As has been well said, one catches in them
“gleaming wit, tender satire, exquisite natural description, subtle and
strange analysis of human life, darkly passionate and weird.”
Count Leo (or Lyoff) Alekseevich Tolstoi (b. August 28, 1828) is a
Russian aristocrat by birth, but has assumed the dress and life of a
peasant, the better to exploit his doctrines respecting non-resistance,
communism, labor, religion, politics, government, and society. His
numerous writings show a combination of keenness of realistic insight
and wealth of poetical imagination, of a wonderful breadth of view with
perfect handling of minute detail, seldom rivaled in all literature.
Whether or not he will prove to be the forerunner of a great revolution
in the world’s national and social life, there is no disputing his
genius and pertinacity.
Edward George Earle Bulwer (Baron Lytton), of England (b. May 25, 1803;
d. January 18, 1873), was novelist, poet, dramatist, and essayist,
and ranked as one of the most versatile and classical authors of the
century. Through his plays, poetry, and novels he introduced a new
literary era, and was the leader, if not actual founder, of the school
of melodramatic romance.
Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe (b. June 14, 1811; d. July 1, 1896)
acquired great fame as authoress of the epoch-making book, “Uncle Tom’s
Cabin.” It proved to be a powerful contribution to the anti-slavery
cause, and served to electrify readers in twenty different languages.
In dramatized form it has delighted millions of auditors. The authoress
represents woman’s efforts for the overthrow of slavery; efforts she
put forth modestly, completely unconscious of their great power and
future influence.
George Eliot, pseudonym of Marian Evans, afterwards Mrs. Lewes, then
Mrs. Cross, of England (b. November 22, 1819; d. December 22, 1880),
was one of the ablest of the world’s female novelists, and had but few
equals among men. She was a leading epoch-maker in that introspective
school which always with astonishing skill uses the “plot” in all its
events, environments, and circumstances to develop each character in
strict logical accord, whether for good or evil.
Victor Hugo, of France (b. February 20, 1802; d. May 22, 1885), was,
in his day, the most popular author who has ever lived. Few poems, no
drama, and absolutely no novel have ever produced the immediate and
tremendous effect of his earlier poems, his “Hernani,” and his “Les
Misérables.” Through “Hernani” he completely defeated the classic
school and became the leader of the romantic school of revolutionary
individualists, thus creating a new epoch in literature. He invented
novelties in poetry and prose which produced strength, variety,
delicacy, harmony, and richness of imagery and coloring, absolutely
unparalleled and original.
[Illustration: LORD BYRON.]
POETS.—Lord George Gordon Byron, of England (b. January 22, 1788;
d. April 19, 1824), is a remarkable instance of a poet of marvelous
natural powers, mingling good and evil in accordance with the whim
that took him; yet exhibiting distinctly, through it all, evidences
of a great soul and genius. He created an epoch in the world’s poetic
literature. Skeptical, cynical, melancholy even to sentimentality, and
skillfully manipulating the public side of his affairs to keep up a
most fascinating air of romantic mystery about them all, he succeeded
in affecting public thought with these characteristics to a wonderful
extent. As a result, “Byronism,” for a time, was the absorbing rage in
all prominent circles, literary and even social.
Henry W. Longfellow (b. February 27, 1807; d. March 24, 1882) is
possibly the century’s finest type of the people’s poet. Though by
no means a poet of great imaginative or creative powers, yet few
reached his perfect skill as a painstaking and unerring artist; while
none have ever surpassed him in creating that atmosphere of subtile
beauty which always seems to surround and penetrate his verse. As an
epoch-maker his influence extended even to Europe, and especially to
England, securing him a fame wider and greater than that of any other
American poet, and rarely failing to win the enduring affection of all
kinds of readers.
John Greenleaf Whittier (b. December 17, 1807; d. September 7, 1892),
as an editor and poet contributed no little to the cause of the
abolitionists. Together with Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Hawthorne,
and Emerson, he may be considered an epoch-maker in the development of
American literature as guided by the spirit of New England. He types
the sweet, simple, and absolutely sincere poet whose verse breathes
forth a strong patriotism, and is redolent of the healthful home life
of the Eastern States.
Sir Alfred Tennyson, of England (b. August 6, 1809; d. October 6,
1892), was by far the leading representative of those English poets
who, while not wanting in the fire and spontaneity of true genius,
nevertheless wrote carefully, after long reflection, with calculation
and toil, as to diction, polish, and arrangement of sentences and
thoughts. His highly-wrought “In Memoriam” and his exquisite, though
somewhat sensuous “Idylls of the King” were absolutely novel, and mark
an epoch in the history of the world’s poetry.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (b. 1809; d. June 29, 1861) is, without
doubt, the greatest poetess of the present century and probably of
any other. She presents an extraordinary instance of the grasp,
comprehensiveness, and logic of man’s intellect, united with the
intuitions, deep emotions, impulses, and visions of woman. Her especial
contribution to the progress of this century is not only to the wealth
of its poetry, but also to the careful and discriminating consideration
of many of its social problems.
Robert Browning (b. in London, May 7, 1812; d. in Venice, December
12, 1889) was the foremost of psychological poets. Belonging to “The
Romantic School,” he created an epoch in literature by carrying his
high ideals and wonderful efforts of genius over into what became known
as “The Spasmodic School.”
ACTORS.—Edmund Keene, of England (b. 1787; d. May 15, 1833), was one
of the greatest and most popular actors of all time. He typified, and
greatly contributed to the success of, that school of actors who rely
almost solely on their own native genius and acquired powers, rather
than on the aid of externals. He has been called both the “Byron” and
the “Napoleon” of actors, and seemed to have the most extraordinary
power both of catching and revealing the meaning of Shakespeare, with
the quickness and vividness of the lightning flash.
Edwin Forrest (b. March 9, 1806; d. December 12, 1872) was a tragedian
of the robust type. His success upon the stage was signal, owing to
natural genius, superb form, and noble presence. For more than a
generation he rendered effective and kept popular the leading tragedies
of Shakespeare, and others suited to his powers. The Actors’ Home at
Philadelphia was endowed by him, and stands as his monument.
Edwin Booth (b. November 13, 1833; d. June 7, 1893) stood as the
exponent of the refined and lofty in drama. Through his rare
histrionic powers he became a recognized interpreter of such
characters as Richard III., Shylock, Lear, Iago, Othello, Brutus, etc.,
but he never appeared to better advantage than in Hamlet. His ability
was as fully recognized abroad as at home. He expended $175,000 in
establishing the Players’ House and Club in New York.
Charlotte S. Cushman (b. July 23, 1816; d. February 18, 1876) first won
her histrionic honors in opera. Her voice failed, and then she began
her memorable career as actress, her most famous personations being
Lady Macbeth, Bianca, Julia, Beatrice, Lady Teazle, Queen Katharine,
and Meg Merrilies. She readily ranked with the great dramatic artists
of the century, and her skill, native and acquired, divided with her
own splendid character the admiration of the general public.
Tommaso Salvini (b. January, 1830) demonstrates that now very rare and
severely tragic school of the stage in which the actor appeals to the
public through his genius and art, rather than through his environments
and accessories. He thus belongs to an apparently closing era in
the history of the stage. Powerful, passionate yet self-controlled,
magnificent in physique, in elocution, in reading and in deportment,
as an actor he really belongs to the world, although Italian in both
spirit and training.
Sir Henry Irving (or really John Henry Broadrib), of England, was born
in 1838, and is the leader of that modern school of actors, who depend
not so much on good reading, acting and general elocution as upon
careful attention to details in stage-setting and presentation. As an
epoch-maker in the history of the modern drama, he marks that point
where the actor begins to look away from his own personal art to that
displayed in his surroundings and accessories.
LYRIC DRAMATISTS.—Ludwig van Beethoven, of Germany (b. December 17,
1770; d. March 26, 1827), is widely held to be the most colossal of
musical geniuses, in breadth and grasp of intellect, in vastness and
boldness of imagination, and in depth and tenderness of emotion.
His one opera, “Fidelio,” is by many considered to be unrivaled in
the realm of pure dramatic music. His sonatas and chamber music are
generally conceded easily to lead in those two departments, while his
symphonies are universally believed to have reached the utmost limit of
development which is possible in the field of orchestral composition.
Charles F. Gounod, of France (b. June 17, 1818; d. October 18, 1893),
is an instance of a composer whose permanent fame must rest on but
one work, the opera of “Faust,” in which he reached the utmost height
of his powers and success. No opera has ever had such instant,
universal, and constant popularity. Eclectic in style, and faithful
and enthusiastic in his art, he did much to advance the progress of
religious and operatic music in France.
Robert Schumann, of Saxony (b. June 8, 1810; d. July 29, 1856) was one
of the creators of the romantic school of music. He was not a piano
player, but a teacher and composer. His symphonies have been accorded
a rank next to those of Beethoven, and for their deep pathos, fine,
intense passion and wild, mournful beauty many of his compositions are
almost peerless.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (b. February 5, 1809; d. November 4, 1847)
was as lovely in character as in works. In symphony, song, piano-forte,
organ, or oratorio, he showed himself worthy of being classed with the
great musical masters. His compositions suffered eclipse for a time by
those of a stronger school, but his true position in the musical world
is once more becoming recognized.
Franz Schubert, of Austria (b. January 31, 1797; d. November 10, 1829),
has been called “the immortal melodist.” His fecundity was marvelous,
and he is best known by his songs, several hundred in number, and
nearly half of which have immortal quality. He also composed many
charming symphonies and operas. His chief characteristics are the
freshness of his delightful melodies supported by harmonies of equal
interest.
Anton Gregor Rubinstein, of Russia (b. November 30, 1830; d. November
20, 1894), combined the brilliant pianist with the composer of
genius. Had he not been preceded by Liszt as an epoch maker, he would
undoubtedly have had the honor of being first of all great pianists.
Frederic F. Chopin, of Poland (b. March 1, 1809; d. October 17, 1849),
was one of the first of pianists and musical composers. His playing,
like his music, was marked by a strange and ravishing grace, and he was
the great interpreter of the music of his native country. He composed
concertos, waltzes, nocturnes, preludes, and mazurkas abounding in
poetic fancy and subtle harmonic effects.
Jacques Offenbach, of France (b. June 21, 1819; d. October 4, 1880),
was the chief creator of the opera bouffe, and was an astonishingly
prolific composer. He stands for the clever, tactful musician, shrewd
to perceive and quick to seize what catches the public ear for the time
being.
Franz Liszt, of Hungary (b. October 22, 1811; d. July 31, 1886), ranks
as one of the world’s phenomenal pianists. His strength and technique
were prodigious, his magnetism irresistible, and his power over
audiences unequaled. By his free, fantastic compositions he created a
new school of composers. He gave extraordinary aid and inspiration to
other musicians, and in reality brought Richard Wagner into prominence
before the musical world.
Richard Wagner, of Germany (b. May 22, 1813; d. February 13, 1883),
early abandoned Beethoven as an operatic model, and felt that a new
era in music was about to dawn. His musical theories first found full
swing in his famous opera of the “Nibelungen Ring,” with which, and
kindred productions, he practically created the modern music-drama. In
his operas he was sole author of their wonderful wealth of true poetry,
stage effects, dramatic action, and endless melody. No musician has
ever made such bitter foes and warm friends, and none ever had to fight
his way so stubbornly to recognition.
Giuseppe Verdi, of Italy (b. October 9, 1813), is one of the most
remarkable musical composers of the century, in the respect that his
talent has not failed with age, but has kept pace with the great
changes which have affected the dramatic stage since his youth. In
the beauty of his melodies and the intensity of his dramatic powers
he is unsurpassed. Very few, indeed, of his numerous productions have
failed to hold exalted place in public estimation. His best-known works
are “Il Trovatore,” “La Traviata,” “Rigoletto,” “Ballo in Maschera,”
“Aïda,” “Otello,” and “Falstaff,” the latter written in 1893, when the
author had reached the age of eighty.