Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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6 The Annual of men, and Garrick had achieved great success and prominence as an actor, while Johnson was still poor and in comparative obscurity. I ast among Johnson ' s intimate friends at this pe- riod of his life, was Sir Joshua Reynolds, one of England ' s greatest portrait painters. It was he, who, in after 5 ears with Johnson, founded the famous Literary Club. In later life, Johnson became recognized as holding a high position among litterateurs and became the recipient of royal bounty. Then it was that Burke took notice of this man of genius and grew to be so intimate with him. At this time, too, Johnson made the acquaintance of the solid thinking Thrale and his wife, the latter of whom was famous as well for the in- tellectual society she gathered around her as for her talents. In the house of these friends Johnson enjoyed all that friend- ship, admiration and wealth could give; frequently he made excursions to different parts of England in their company. We must not forget while recalling Johnson ' s friends, to mention the vain, tattling busybody, James Boswell, who, to give prom- inence to himself, sought the acquaintance of distinguished men. It is to him we owe our familiarity, not only with the more important things, but also with the minutest details of Johnson ' s life, as he has given them to the world in his biog- raphy of this great man. We do not love Johnson for his odd personality only, for his character is such as to excite our love and admiration. We find, predominant among his characteristics that of moral courage. It was his valor that helped him to rise so manfully above disease, disappointments and poverty, and, with .so many drawbacks, to live so noble and .so patient a life. Some one has said, Since the time of John Milton, no truer heart has beat in an English bosom than Samuel John.son bore. Then, too, Johnson was truthful in word and thought, and honest in action. His life testifies to the fact that the love of truth filled his heart and mind. Even in his writings there is not a line nor a sentence that is dishonest or other than it pretends to be. Perhaps more than by an ything else we are attracted to him by his tender heart. He gave freely of his little to relieve the

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The Mary Bald7vin Seminary. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. The name of Samuel Johnson sounds very familiar to us, almost as much so as that of one of our immediate friends. When his name is mentioned there is before our mind ' s eye a figure large and uncouth, a face much disfigured by marks of disease, small blinking eyes, a brown coat hanging loosely about his figure, black worsted stockings, and crowning all a gray wig, with a scorched foretop, that barely covers his head. If we could blot out the years that separate our lives from the time in which he lived, and could look in on him, either in his home or elsewhere, we would probably see him sitting with his head inclined on his right shoulder, his vast trunk swaying backward and forward, and his hand keeping up a correspond- ing motion upon his knee. At times we would hear him mak- ing a clucking sound, again uttering a suppressed whistle, and still more frequently a humming sound, accompanied with a vacant smile. Although Johnson was exceedingly unattractive to the eye, he captivated all by his great conversational powers. His friends used to gather about him in the tavern, to which he so frequently resorted, and listen by the hour to the rich and ani- mated conversation of this wise man. Even in the days of comparative obscurity, John.son enjoyed all, or nearly all, that fame can yield a man — the respect and obedience of those about him. The circle of friends, of which he was the centre, gradu- ally enlarged as the report of him .spread. Goldsmith was frequently with him, though it is probable he did not love Johnson, but rather envied him on account of his genius. Then there was chivalrous Topham Beauclerk with his sharp wit and courtly manners, and Bennet Langton, an orthodox gen- tleman. Garrick, too, was a prominent member of this circle of friends, although there was a feeling of jealousy existing between Johnson and himself, and for this reason : Johnson and Garrick had come to London together, both as poor young

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The Mary Baldwin Scwinary. 7 needy ; and the poor and wretclied received not only his hard earned shillinj s, but his love and sympatliy. To prove his tender, generous heart, we need but recall the house of John- son in Gough Square, where he spent the greater portion of his life in London. There, for some time before the death of his wife he had begun to gather about him a family group made up of a strangely assorted set of pensioners on his char- ity : Mrs. Williams, a poor blind woman; Dr. Robert Levett, an odd little man who practised among the poorest people in London and frequently received his fees in liquor; Frank Bar- ber, a faithful negro servant; and an old cat Hodge. These and other dependents surrounded Johnson in his poverty, and have become as familiar to us as objects that surround us from day to day. On account of his rough manners, John.son was nicknamed the bear; but Goldsmith said, No man alive has a better heart, he has nothing of the bear but the .skin. We might recall other noble qualities that adorned the character of Johnson, but are not courage, truthfulness and generosity, united with a high order of genius enough to secure for this great and good man the first place in our love and admiration? Elizabeth H. Turnbull, Durham, N. C. ASHEVILLE ' 97. Three years ago, it was decided by the International Com- mittee of the Young Woman ' s Christian As.sociation to have a summer school in the South, similar to the ones held at North- field, Lake Geneva, and Mills College. The first school was held at Rogersville, Tennessee in 1895. It was such a success that the next year the school was again held and this time at Asheville, North Carolina. La.st year it met in the .same place and this was the meeting I attended. The Conference lasted from the fifteenth to the twenty- fifth of June, and was attended by about forty or fifty regular students besides a great many visitors. The meetings were