a blight upon the face of life, and the hours a burden to be dragged through the weary length of day. Love was not held to be woman's only concern. Marital affection was rarely of the wildly romantic sort, but a mutual hearty good-will, esteem, and devotion, often amounting to tenderness, bred by habit and a community of interests. There are in the Sagas a few sublime instances of romantic attachments; as in the touchingly beautiful tale of "Gunlaug SerpentTongue and Helga the Fair. But they are relatively exceptional. What strikes one above all in the women of the Norse Sagas is their admirable practical efficiency and their passionate absorption in the quarrels, rivalries, ambitions, and feuds of their husbands, sons, and brothers. Generally speaking, love was not all of life to them, but an episode, though a highly important one. But it did not engross

and possess them to the exclusion of all other interests. Primarily they were human beings; secondarily, women. As members of the family and the clan, they were as much concerned in the turbulent politics of the period as those who wielded the sword; nay, they were only too often the instigators of the fearful internecine wars which devastated the land. A kind of heroic lawlessness and mighty power of will made them often terrible and at times sublime. We have to admire, even though we may not approve. Such formidable strength of personality and elemental force of character (for good or for ill) present a glaring contrast to the sweet, coy, but comparatively insignificant women of the age of chivalry, who emphatically did "stand outside the world belonging to the men.' They dwelt much of the time in sequestered bowers, like Turkish houris, listened to love romances, attended the solemn buffooneries of the love courts, gossipped, embroidered, played chess, dreamed, sighed, and had stolen interviews with lovers. Their whole lives and emotions centred in the passion of love. They were sweethearts, wives, mothers (and probably fairly good ones), but they were nothing else. They had no separate individual existence, no larger public interests; and their personalities were therefore, from generation to generation, reduced, impoverished, and dwarfed. Their sex gradually came to take precedence of their humanity, which is the most disastrous thing that can happen to any creature, male or female:

It may perhaps be impertinent to ask to what extent European and American women of to-day have emancipated themselves from this feudal ideal. The novelists, who not unfairly reflect public opinion, are yet tolerably unanimous in representing love as the one

dominant and overshadowing concern in a woman's life. Most of them are also inclined to ridicule any member of the sex who aspires to wider spheres of activity. We fill the brains of our daughters with current conventional catchwords, as we fill their pockets with the current coin of the Republic, and it would no more occur to most of us to furnish them with the materials for forming independent opinions than it would to supply them with the tools for coining their own money. So long as this system remains in vogue, the happy comradeship between men and women which prevailed in pagan times is out of the question. For you cannot make a comrade of a cackling flirt, or a simpering fashion-plate, or an amiable echo. Until we cease to teach our girls the pernicious folly that they are to live only to love, they will, in my opinion, not be worth loving,besides being exceedingly trying to live with.

HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN.

STUDIES OF NOTABLE MEN: STAMBOLOFF.

THE assassination of ex-Premier Stamboloff, of Bulgaria, last July, removed from the scene of his activities the most remarkable personality in southeastern Europe. Opinions as to his worth differ, and perhaps always will; but that he was a very remarkable man no thinking person can for a moment doubt. The stormy history of new Bulgaria is rich in heroic names, but in achievements and just renown no name rises higher than that of Stefan Stamboloff. He was born to lead and to command; a man of tremendous force of character, indomitable will, and, in pursuing his plans, original, fearless, and tireless. Built after the pattern and of the stuff of which Nature builds greatness, his strength and his weakness, his virtues and his vices, were alike great. great. A A man, in fact,—

"whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much."

It was by no accident, therefore, that his murder, at the early age of forty-one, created such a profound sensation throughout the civilized world.

Stefan Nikoloff Stamboloff was born February 12, 1854, at Trnovo, the ancient capital of Bulgaria. There he passed his boyhood, during which period of his life his fertile imagination was fired by the remnants of the ancient greatness of his enslaved country. At Trnovo he also received his primary education. When about seventeen years old he went to Russia and entered a theological seminary in Odessa, where he remained about three years. As a student "he showed a remarkable aptitude for learning, but his industrial moods were fitful and irregular." At length he left (some say that, owing to his total disregard of discipline, he was expelled) before quite completing his course, in order to join the insurrectionary bands in Roumania.

And who were these people that allured young Stefan from his studies, and what was their aim? They consisted chiefly of three classes: first, true patriots, who on account of their patriotism were

exiled, or had saved themselves by flight, from Turkey; secondly, men who had suffered some personal or family wrong (such as father or brother killed, sister or sweetheart forcibly carried away, by the Turks) which had led them to vow eternal vengeance upon the race of their oppressors; and, thirdly, regular outlaws,-half soldiers, half brigands,—whose love of fighting and plunder, as well as hatred of the Turk, had led them to make common cause with the genuine patriots. The headquarters of this motley crowd was the " Central Revolutionary Committee" at Bucharest, whose purpose was disguised under the name of the "Central Benevolent Committee." The aim of this organization was to arouse the Bulgarian people to rebellion, in the hope of liberating their country from Turkish thraldom. With this end in view, from time to time small bands of them attempted with arms to force their way into Turkey; but the result of such attempts was always the same, the utter destruction of the daring band, and the martyrdom of their sympathizers, real or suspected. Yet other bands followed in the same track, only to meet a similar fate.

Another no less daring and even more romantic method of work for the same end was their so-called "apostleship." The "Apostles of Liberty" were a class of picked men, usually the most ardent and persuasive speakers among the revolutionists, who were set apart and sent across the Danube to preach insurrection against the Turks. A more perilous life than theirs can scarcely be conceived. To be sure, they took some precautionary measures. Each "apostle" had an assumed name and garb, as well as an occupation which varied with the places he visited. Some of them were in turn merchants, farmers, foreign travellers, priests, and even Turks. They surrounded themselves with mystery, and they communicated their movements to the Central Committee by special messengers. But, despite all disguises, they were hourly exposed to danger. All these preachers of the gospel of political liberty, therefore, looked to the gallows as their most probable goal.

Such were the men, the movement, and its agencies that allured young Stefan from the seminary in 1874, when Liuben Karaveloff was the head as well as the soul of the insurrectionary idea, and Vasil Levsky, who had left the altar to become a revolutionist, was by merit the chief "apostle." The ardent nature, patriotic fervor, and restless spirit of Stamboloff fitted him for just such hazardous adventures. He at once joined the Central Revolutionary Committee, and threw his whole soul and tireless energy into its cause. Thus, although a mere youth of about twenty, he soon became one of the most important factors in

the movement. All his rare talents, which have since won for him a world-wide fame, then became manifest. With his eloquence and original revolutionary songs he fired the organization to enthusiasm and greater activities. He presided at the sessions of the Fourth Revolutionary Assembly, and was elected one of the "Twelve Apostles.' When Apostle Levsky was captured, and, after unspeakable tortures, was hung by the Turkish authorities at Sophia, Stamboloff took his place,—a position whose greatest distinction was its great peril.

In 1875 "Apostle" Stamboloff tried ineffectually to raise in revolt the city of Stara Zagora in Thracian Bulgaria. Upon its failure he saved himself by hiding in the Balkans, and afterwards by flight into friendly Roumania. But the next year, in spite of the vigilance of the government, he was again in Bulgaria, working with resolution and increased energy.

In the spring of 1876 the insurrection of Bosnia and Herzegovina broke out, and the "apostles" made a desperate effort to raise a like one in Bulgaria, the partial success of which ended in the notorious Turkish atrocities. Yet this terrible failure proved a success in disguise; the long-cherished purpose of the patriots was attained. The victims indeed were many, but not in vain. The massacre, filling the whole civilized world with horror and indignation against the Turk— "the anti-human specimen of humanity "-led finally to the RussoTurkish war (1877-1878), which ended in the liberation of at least the most important part of Bulgaria. And had it not been for the interference of England, under Beaconsfield, every inch of our fatherland would to-day have been independent, and there would have been no "Macedonian Question." Only two "apostles," so far as I am aware, lived to see Bulgaria free, they were Stoyan Zaimoff and Stefan Stamboloff. Thus, while in this last venture almost every "apostle " perished, as happened several times before, Stamboloff again managed to escape with his life.

After the liberation of Bulgaria, a still wider field was open for the display of his splendid talents; and, owing to his high public services, he was justly popular in the country. He naturally joined the Liberals, who were then in opposition; and when elected to the Sobranje as deputy for Trnovo, he distinguished himself from the first by that boldness which was at once the strength and the weakness of his character. When, for instance, a certain deputy, in advocating some government measure, mentioned, for the purpose of influencing his colleagues, that his measure was approved by the Prince himself, Stamboloff sprang