g his six children die
of neglect, probably of starvation, his wife in rags and despair over
her husband's "folly"; despised by his neighbors for neglecting his
family, worn to a skeleton himself, giving his clothes to his hired man
because he could not pay him in money, hoping always, failing steadily,
until at last his great work was accomplished, and he reaped his reward.

German unity was the idea engraven upon Bismarck's heart. What cared
this herculean despot for the Diet chosen year after year simply to
vote down every measure he proposed? He was indifferent to all
opposition. He simply defied and sent home every Diet which opposed
him. He could play the game alone. To make Germany the greatest power
in Europe, to make William of Prussia a greater potentate than Napoleon
or Alexander, was his all-absorbing purpose. It mattered not what
stood in his way, whether people, Diet, or nation; all must bend to his
mighty will. Germany must hold the deciding voice in the Areopagus of
the world. He rode roughshod over everybody and everything that stood
in his way, defiant of opposition, imperious, irrepressible!

See the great Dante in exile, condemned to be burnt alive on false
charges of embezzlement. Look at his starved features, gaunt form,
melancholy, a poor wanderer; but he never gave up his idea; he poured
out his very soul into his immortal poem, ever believing that right
would at last triumph.

Columbus was exposed to continual scoffs and indignities, being
ridiculed as a mere dreamer and stigmatized as an adventurer. The very
children, it is said, pointed to their foreheads as he passed, being
taught to regard him as a kind of madman.

An American was once invited to dine with Oken, the famous German
naturalist. To his surprise, they had neither meats nor dessert, but
only baked potatoes. Oken was too great a man to apologize for their
simple fare. His wife explained, however, that her husband's income
was very small, and that they preferred to live simply in order that he
might obtain books and instruments for his scientific researches.

Before the discovery of ether it often took a week, in some cases a
month, to recover from the enormous dose, sometimes five hundred drops
of laudanum, given to a patient to deaden the pain during a surgical
operation. Young Dr. Morton believed that there must be some means
provided by Nature to relieve human suffering during these terrible
operations; but wh