1832 he led “a life of voluntary imprisonment within the four walls of a little room” for over 20 years. During this time he was the most untiring political agitator in Europe, the man most dreaded by its absolute governments. He was always writing, and so eloquently and sincerely that he aroused his followers to an enthusiasm that would dare anything. His organization extended through Italy, and he went to England, where for seven years he struggled hard against poverty, yet managed to help his poorer, ignorant countrymen, the London hand-organ boys, by teaching and civilizing them in night-classes. On the outbreak of the Lombard revolt (1848) Mazzini threw himself into the struggle, though the king of Sardinia sought to win him. When the revolt failed, he made his way to Tuscany. Leghorn received him with wild enthusiasm in February, 1849, the day before the republic was proclaimed at Rome, and elected him her deputy to the republican assembly in the papal city. On March 29 Mazzini was chosen one of three triumvirs with the powers of dictators, but on April 25 the French arrived and in June the republic fell. Mazzini was sentenced to death three times, but in 1866 the sentence was formally rescinded, and he died peacefully at Pisa, Italy, March 10, 1872. Italian nationality is chiefly due to Mazzini, Garibaldi and Cavour. Mazzini prepared the soil, sowed the seed and fostered the growing plants; Garibaldi gathered the ripe fruit; but Cavour gained the final advantage of the harvest. See Marriott’s Makers of Modern Italy.
Mead, Larkin Goldsmith, an American sculptor, was born at Chesterfield, N. H., Jan. 3, 1835. His early years were spent in Vermont. He studied art at Brooklyn, N. Y., and in Italy. The Recording Angel, his first work, was modeled in snow and afterward cut in marble. His large pieces have been executed for public buildings and monuments. Among them are the colossal statue of Vermont, on the dome of the statehouse, and of Ethan Allen in the portico of the same building in Vermont and one of the same hero, given by Vermont to the hall of representatives at Washington. The statue of Lincoln on the monument at Springfield and a group representing Columbus before Queen Isabella, for the state of California and the Returned Soldier are other specimens of his larger statues. He died Oct. 15, 1910.
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| GEN. G. G. MEADE |
Meade, George Gordon, an American general, born at Cadiz, Spain, Dec. 31, 1815. In the Mexican War he was on the staff of General Taylor, afterward on that of General Scott, and won honor at the battles of Palo Alto and Monterey. From 1856 to 1861 he was in charge of the surveys of the Great Lakes. In the Civil War he first was in command of the Pennsylvania brigade, and fought in the battles of Gaines’ Mill and Frazier’s Farm, where he was severely wounded, South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg. He was in command of different corps of the army of the Potomac. Meade succeeded Hooker in the command of the army of the Potomac, and fought the battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3, 1863, receiving the thanks of Congress in 1866 for “his skill and heroic valor.” He was made major-general in the regular army in 1864, and retained the command of the army of the Potomac, under General Grant, during the battles of the Wilderness, the siege of Petersburg etc. until the close of the war. He was in command of the division of the Atlantic, 1865–66; of the department of the east, 1866–67; and later of the military district which included Georgia, Alabama and Florida. His headquarters were at Philadelphia, where he died, Nov. 6, 1872, at his home, the gift of his grateful fellow citizens. See Gettysburg.
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| MEADOWLARK |
Mead′owlark or field-lark, one of our birds given the name of lark but not a true lark, a member of the blackbird family, close kin to the orioles and black birds. While very common, its protective coloring, that of the ground, accounts for the fact that it is not so often seen as the familiar blackbird with which it frequently associates. On the ground it spends all its time while feeding, and is a strong walker. It is about the size of the robin, upper part varying shades of brown and black, underneath yellow with a black crescent on the breast, white on tail conspicuous in flight. Its whistle, usually sounded from upmost branch, is piercing but most musical, “clear as the note of a fife, sweet as the tone of a flute.” The western meadowlark is considered a worthy rival of the nightingale and wood-thrush. After a period of silence in the summer the bird may be heard again in the autumn. When perching it appears uneasy, twitching its tail about
