Brave Men and Women: Their Struggles, Failures, And TriumphsFuller, Osgood E. (Osgood Eaton)
History
Brave Men and Women: Their Struggles, Failures, And Triumphs
Fuller, Osgood E. (Osgood Eaton)
Biography
At this point his sister arrived, the quiet domestic life she had been
living in Hanover being suddenly changed for one of "ceaseless and
inexhaustible activity" in her brother's service, being at once his
astronomical and musical assistant, and his housekeeper and guardian. Of
the latter, his erratic habits made him in great need. "For ten years
she persevered at Bath," says her biographer, "singing when she was told
to sing, copying when she was told to copy, 'lending a hand' in the
workshop, and taking her full share in all the stirring and exciting
changes by which the musician became the king's astronomer and a
celebrity; but she never, by a single word, betrays how these wonderful
events affected her, nor indulges in the slightest approach to an
original sentiment, comment, or reflection not strictly connected with
the present fact." In an ordinary case this would not be remarkable, but
in the present instance it acquires considerable significance from the
fact that, to our best knowledge, Miss Herschel's was a temperament
which would be strongly affected by the life she was leading, and her
silence as to personal sentiment shows to what an extent she had become
a tool in her brother's hands--rejoicing in his successes, and
sympathizing in his sorrows, but never revealing to what depth of
self-sacrifice she may have been plunged by her voluntary surrender and
devotion to her brother.
As we understand her, Miss Herschel would have been eminently fitted to
fill a position of high domestic responsibility; and no woman of this
sort, who has once dreamed of a home of her own, with its ennobling and
divine responsibilities, can, without a pang, give up so sweet a vision
for a life of sacrifice, although it be brilliant with the cold
splendors of science. Her life with her brother, as has been said, was
one of ceaseless activity in all the capacities in which she served him.
As housekeeper, she occupied a small room in the attic, while her
brother occupied the ground-floor, furnished in new and handsome style.
She received a sum for weekly expenses, of which she must keep a careful
account, and all the marketing fell to her. She had to struggle with
hot-tempered servants, and with the greatest irregularity and disorder
in the household; while her imperfect knowledge of English (this was
soon after her arrival at Bath) added a new pang to her homesickness and
low spirits. Later on, in her capacity as musical assistant, we are told
that she once copied the scores of the "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabaeus"
into parts for an orchestra of nearly one hundred performers, and the
vocal parts of "Samson," besides instructing the treble singers, of whom
she was now herself the first. As astronomical assistant, she has
herself given a glimpse of her experience in the following words: "In my
brother's absence from home, I was, of course, left solely to amuse
myself with my own thoughts, which were any thing but cheerful. I found
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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