The Argosy — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Mother of Lord Macaulay. 53 boyish mind and memory. Macaulay’s life, and the intoxicating breath of flattery which surrounded him in middle age on the river of hurried work which swept him along, would never have been so true to the right and the noble, had not that old Bible music still been ringing in his heart. Throughout their long years of married life no single cloud ever darkened the mutual love and trust of Zachary and Selina Macaulay. The very closeness, however, of the tie-which bound her to her hus- band brought Selina many trials. Zachary Macaulay’s whole existence was one long struggle against the slave trade. Before that contest was won, those engaged in it had to undergo many a defeat, many a disap- pointment, to bear patiently many a misinterpretation of pure and lofty intention. The iron firmness of Zachary Macaulay’s character enabled him to endure all this with calmness, but the more delicate organisation of his wife felt keenly each blow which was aimed at him. It was a rich life, rich in smiles and tears, the life of Selina Macaulay. There were the elder daughters to be led softly from girlhood into womanhood ; there were the little ones to be played with; there was her husband to be talked to with sympathetic comprehension ; there was Tom to be listened to when he ran in overflowing with airy fan and racy anecdote. , The home of the Macaulays was for a considerable time at Clapham. There they were surrounded by a little band of friends whose religious and political opinions were entirely congenial to those of Selina’s husband ; whose hearts, like his, throbbed with a great longing to see the horrors of slavery banished from the British dominions. Even now they rise up before us, that glorious company of the abolitionists— Wilberforce, with his plain face and silver voice, his broken health, and his nature overflowing with cheery life ; and Thornton, walking in his own calm grove of thought ; and good old Buxton, with his high yet childlike faith, turning to his Bible for a sign before he made a speech ; and Zachary Macaulay himself, with his worn intellectual features bearing the marks of his long championship in the cause. It was ina home where men like these went and came familiarly that Selina Macaulay reigned in her woman’s kingdom. Selina did not live to be an old woman, but she lived to see the first rays of his fame shine round her great son. Her end was hastened by the sudden death of one of her daughters; she never recovered the ‘shock. She passed away gently, surrounded by those she loved. As we turn from her story the thought uppermost in our mind is that motherhood is a high mission for woman. ALicE KINc. comicbooks.com