Page:Karl Marx the man and his message.pdf/10

 despite the most tempting offers, refused to prostitute his talents in the service of the ruling caste, he was hounded as a felon, and branded as an enemy of the race, and made to suffer all the physical and mental tortures of the damned. Here is an extract from a private letter, written by Mrs. Marx to a friend during this period, which it is difficult to read even now without emotion:—

But the brave woman complained not. She too loved the cause. She knew the titanic struggle in which her husband was engaged; how he was being assailed by jealous rivals and carping critics within the movement and implacable enemies without, and how much all this added to the burden of his herculean labours. She was his helpmate and comrade. And thus it was that, despite the fearful struggle, these two continued to be sweethearts and playmates to the end. The movement can never know all that it owes to the women who stand by their men in the dark days.

By and by the financial situation grew more easy, but Marx's health had been shattered beyond repair. He continued to work as hard as ever, but breakdowns became ever more frequent. Then came the end.

"On the 14th of March, 1883, shortly before 2 o'clock, the crisis came, and Engels was at once summoned. He found Eleanor in tears. Marx had gone from the bedroom to the study, they said, where, seated in his armchair, he seemed half asleep. Engels went to the study at once and found his old friend, not half asleep, but fully and for ever, with a smile upon his lips. Karl Marx was dead."