The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling

(Barré) #1

FAREWELL TO REFORM 281
arrival of a second son, born June 18, 1858, and named Gracchus
Babeuf Robert—Gracchus for the champion of the plebs and ad­
vocate of free lands for the poor in ancient Rome and Babeuf for
the noted radical of the French Revolution. Both men, according
to Weitling, had exposed the illusions of democracy and both had
paid for their convictions with their lives. The second son also
managed to extricate himself in later life from the inconvenience
of these revolutionary names and became known as Bob.
A third son, born in 1862, was named Tycho Brahe Edward,
after the famous Danish scientist of the late sixteenth century
whose distinguished work at his observatory at Uraniborg made
his little country the center of European astronomy in his day. As
the boy grew up, he was known only by the last of the three names
which his father had given him. Two years later, in 1864, a fourth
son, Charles Frederick, was born in the family home at 107 Avenue
A. The fifth son, born in 1866, was named Terijon after his French
grandfather. Apparently he inherited some of his father's ability
in the field of invention, and he manifested a special interest in
architecture. For years he was an export manager for a New York
firm which exported steel structures in sections to Brazil. The last
of the children, a daughter named Caroline Johanna after the
mother and the aunt, was born at 126 Norfolk Street, received a
college education at Hunter College and served for many years as
a teacher in the New York schools. All of her brothers had gone
directly from public school or evening school to jobs, although
surprisingly enough the family had found it possible to pay for
some private tutoring for the two older boys before they entered
the public schools.


On Weitling's fiftieth birthday, his wife gave him a daguerre­
otype of herself and her first two children. He was a devoted
and responsible parent and was genuinely interested in what to­
day would be called child psychology. The Weitling home be­
lieved in discipline for growing children but apparently had to
apply serious measures very rarely. The parents seem to have been
in perfect agreement on the problems of child education.

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