WOMEN WHO HAVE HELPED THEIR HUSBANDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 11

WOMEN WHO HAVE HELPED THEIR HUSBANDS.

Tho work of many famous mon has been ombuod with the delicacy that, only a feminino hand can givo (.says tho "Daily News Advertiser"). Y\ nat would tho "Tales from Shakespeare" havo been without tho tender grace tnat Mary Lamb lent'to tUo work ot her brother Unarlos ? "Would Schumann have been so widely lenown as a musician if his compositions had not been played by his wife? Would Green's "History of the English People" ever havo boen written if Mrs. Groen had not' lent her dying husband her own strength and encouragement? Tho Lambs collaborated in their studies of Shakespeare, he writing the tragedies, sho tho comedies, in that popular form which has helped so many beginners to an appreciation of tho work of tho master. When Robert Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his music teacher, ho united to his genius as a composer her talents as a player. Ho wroto and she played his music, as no other person could play it, for sho know better than any one else how he desired that it should bo played. John Richard Green, the historian, was a physical wreck when he married' Alice Stopford in 1877 ; he knew that consumption would carry him off in a few years; but he had a great work to do,' and his bride started right in to help him. With her assistance ho _ expanded his "Short History of England" into tho "History of tho English People"; ho was dictating to her the second volume of "The Making of England" when he died. Another great, English historian and political economist, the Right Hon. "Henry l''awcett, had a loving wife to help him in his work. And Fawcett needed her as much, as Green needed his wife, for ho was blind. Millicent Fawcett is still living; she is an LL.D. of St. Andrew's' University! and has written several works on political cconomy and history since her husband's death, besides the famous volume of ."Essays and Lectures" which they published • in. collaboration soon after ho ceased to be PostmasterGenoral of England.

Then there is Sir William Herschel, tho discoverer of the value of' finger-prints in the identification, of criminals. He had a wife whoso help in the collection and study of finger-prints had much to do with his success in ■ convincing the world that his discovery was valuable. Among tho most'popular of modern collaborateurs are Charles Norris Williamson and Ids wife, who was Alice Muriel Livingston, granddaughter of Chancellor Livingston of "Up tho Hudson." Since their marriage three years ago they have lived at Cap Martin, in- the South of France, and spent much of their time motoring. Tho automobile has inspired their joint work, nf which "Tho Car of Destiny" is a type. Others of tbnir stories are "The Lightning Conductor." "The Princess Passes." "My ■ Friend the Chauffeur." and' "Lndv Betty aoross the Water," in most of which tho gasoline-power aspiration sticks out even in the titles.