Through the Year With Famous Authors - Part 16
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Part 16

FOOTNOTES:

[1]

G.o.d sends His highly favored ones Into the wide, wide world to roam.

[2]

Bear ye! Bravely endure; Just one short hour-- And thy dark room with sunshine glows.

[3] Misfortune is in truth a treasure we unearth.

APRIL

APRIL

Dis moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.[1]

"Physiologie du Got,"--_Brillat-Savarin_.

ANTHeLME BRILLAT-SAVARIN, a distinguished French author, was born April 1, 1755, and died in 1826. His fame rests on the noted work: "Physiology of Taste."

Wir Deutschen furchten Gott, sonst aber nichts in der Welt.[2]

"Speech in the Reichstag," 1887,--_Prince Bismarck_.

OTTO EDWARD LEOPOLD VON BISMARCK, the renowned German statesman, was born at Schonhausen, April 1, 1815, and died in 1898. "Bismarck's Letters" won for him a place in literature.

Without doubt I can teach crowing: for I gobble.

"Chantecler," Act. i, Sc. 2,--_Edmond Rostand_.

EDMOND ROSTAND, a noted French dramatist, was born in Ma.r.s.eilles, April 1, 1868, and died in 1918. His notable plays include: "Les Romanesques,"

"La Princesse Lointaine," "La Samaritaine," "Cyrano de Bergerac,"

"L'Aiglon," "Poems," "Les Musardises," "Pour la Grece," "Un Soir a Hernani," "Les Mots," "Chantecler," "Le Cantique de l'Aile," "Le Printemps de l'Aile," etc.

The G.o.d who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

"Summary View of the Rights of British America,"--_Thomas Jefferson_.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, a distinguished American statesman, was born at Shadwell, Va., April 2, 1743, and died at Monticello, Va., July 4, 1826.

He wrote: "Notes on Virginia," "Autobiography," "Correspondence," etc.

The Declaration of Independence was also written by him.

Michael Angelo has expressed in colors what Dante saw and has sung to the generations of the earth.

(Miserere) "In the Sistine Chapel," from "The Improvisatore"

(Translation by Mary Howitt),--_Hans Christian Andersen_.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, a renowned Danish poet and story writer, was born at Odense, April 2, 1805, and died August 4, 1875. He wrote: "The Poet's Bazar," "Only a Fiddler," "The Picture Book Without Pictures,"

"The Improvisatore," and his celebrated "Wonder Tales" for children.

Among his dramatic compositions are: "Raphaella," "The Two Baronesses,"

"The Flowers of Happiness," etc.

Genius and its rewards are briefly told: A liberal nature and a n.i.g.g.ard doom, A difficult journey to a splendid tomb.

"Dedication of the Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith,"--_John Forster_.

JOHN FORSTER, a noted English biographer and historical writer, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, April 2, 1812, and died in London, February 2, 1876. He wrote: "Life of Charles d.i.c.kens," "Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England," "Life of Oliver Goldsmith," "Biographical and Historical Essays," etc.

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky.

"Virtue,"--_George Herbert_.

GEORGE HERBERT, a celebrated English poet, was born in Montgomery Castle, Montgomeryshire, April 3, 1593, and died at Bemerton, Wiltshire, in 1633. His most noted poems are: "Sweet Day, So Cool, So Calm, So Bright," "Virtue," "Life," "Love," "Discipline," "Holy Baptism," etc.

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages.

"The Creole Village,"--_Washington Irving_.

WASHINGTON IRVING, the renowned American historian, biographer, and man of letters, was born in New York, April 3, 1783, and died at "Sunnyside," near Tarrytown, N. Y., November 28, 1859. His princ.i.p.al works are: "The Alhambra," "Mahomet and His Successors," "Conquest of Granada," "The Sketch Book," "Bracebridge Hall," "Life and Times of Christopher Columbus," "Companions of Columbus," "Life of Washington,"

"A Voyage to the Eastern Part of Terra Firma," a translation; "Life of Oliver Goldsmith," "Astoria," "History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker," "The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell," "The Rocky Mountains: Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville," etc.

To look up and not down, To look forward and not back, To look out and not in, and To lend a hand.

Rule of the "Harry Wadsworth Club," from "Ten Times One Is Ten," 1870,--_Edward Everett Hale_.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, a distinguished American divine and prose-writer, was born in Boston, Ma.s.s., April 3, 1822, and died June 10, 1909. Among his writings are: "The Man Without a Country," "My Double and How He Undid Me," "Ten Times One is Ten," "The Skeleton in the Closet," "In His Name," "Ups and Downs," "Philip Nolan's Friends," "The Kingdom of G.o.d,"

"East and West," "Ralph Waldo Emerson," "Memories of a Hundred Years,"

"We, the People," "Prayers in the Senate," "Foundations of the Republic," etc.

Ah, happy world, where all things live Creatures of one great law, indeed; Bound by strong roots, the splendid flower,-- Swept by great seas, the drifting seed!