Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1880 — A Frnch Here Whese Name is to be Kept Green. [ARTICLE]

A Frnch Here Whese Name is to be Kept Green.

- j “One of the batch of „ui!«d soon to be rechrlutcned will be Le Rue Romitln le (iotT,” says » ialt nuiiilwr of the Pall Mall Gazette u Who was Roman U* Goff? A metllt»l student, who lo*t lita life In trying tA i>lu<*k Hokllers fnmi the jaws ol death. He died when less than twenty, Tl;e riminwlAnees under which his short and promising carter ended were harrowing, as'those -which led op to the olimax f»f Balzac’s mosl Kignant novels. -Itaniain le Gofl »ff was the son of a distinguished professor of philosophy in a lirst-ehu* I fyeeum—a gay, charming, higli-spir-Kd and tlioMughly honorahlc and nest Freehinfln of the eighteenth j century school, who became a l>eist, was held in had odor l»y inspectors ol academies anxious to stand well with the Empress Eugene and her set. I They could not dismiss him, but they nagged at and harrassed him so much that his patience broke down, and he asked leave to retire on a miserable •mall pension, but it was his and his wife’s intention to set up a private school; but the influence that drove them from the lyceum rendered this scheme impracticable. Mr. le Goff when the Delegate Government was at Tours, was secretary general to the Post and Telegraph Department. He there saw much of Gambetta, and conceived for him affectionate admiration which, as he did not hide it when the Assembly reigned, was a source of fresh persecutiou. A paper he directed was suppressed, and serious pecuniary losses thereby entailed on him. Misfortune was rendered blacker by a fall during a verglas, in which he'broke his wrist. His wife, though an accomplished lady, was glad of the humble place of mistress lu a girl’s free school, under the municipality of Paris at Bourg-la-Relne, and was allowed to take her daughter to be her assistant. Mile, le Goff was very beautiful and carefully educated,

and not twenty. The young Remain entered the School of Medicine. In meeting liabilities contracted while ihe was engaged in the newspaper venture the father's small pension was abeori>ed, and a good deal of his wife’s salary. As the wolf was very close to the door, poor young Romafn boldly faced privations of all kinds and won a place as house student in a hospital. He had not far to go in the direction of a medical diploma when he l>egan his clinical studies at Val de Grace. There, ou a January morning at 6 o’clock a surgeon appealed to the de-voument-of the students to save-a soldier, whose life could only be preserved by the transfusion of healthy blood into" his veins. Nobody answered. Another appeal was made and then a third. Romain le Goff bared his arm and came forward. The operation being clumsily performed he lost more blood than was necessary for the salvation of the Invalid. Le Goff had not been well fed, his clothing was not wintry, the cold was -terrible and he had to go to another hospital for an early morning clinical lecture. The poor youth was very weak and went to a Histor of Charity for a glass of dint soup or a glass of wine. (Sisters of Charity are more often than not humane ’and kindly disposed to\Airds young people. This one was a harsh fanatic, and of what ife not fanaticism cajMible? (She point-blank refused, twitted the student with having protested against an attempt to force the last Sacraments upon a soldier who wanted to die without them, and when Romain le Uoff pressed her told him he had no orders from the surgeon, who had by this time left the hospital. Young le tioff, bloodless, without a greatcoat, without nutriment or stimulant to enable him to resist the cold,-went on foot over the snow to a hospital at the other end of the town. He was seized with a violent Inflamation of the pericardium, and for six-uiul-twenty days was on the verge of the grave. His sister devoted hergelf to him. He got over the accidental malady to fail into a consumption; and Mile le Goff died » few weeks after he was out of immediate danger, of iuflaniation of the lungs, Romain lingered for a few years. General Cliaiizy attached him to the military service lo enable him to winter in Algiers. where he expired last May. The Municipal Council, in giving this youth’s name t<» flu 1 street, wishes to perpetuate the memory of his generous at'tinu Jn the Val de Grace hospital. I well knew the deceased student, and am Intimately acquainted with his family. Prosperity has returned to the father ana mother, but the fhihlren on whom they set their hearts at** not alive to enjoy it with them. It will, however, he some compensation to live in a street called after a son because he was a civic hero,”