INTRODUCTION. 



FAMILIAR to all as is the name this volume bears, 

 it is not without hesitation that the following pages 

 are given to the world. To subject the memorials of 

 a deeply earnest life to the eyes of a generation over- 

 crowded with books, raises a certain amount of 

 diffidence. 



Of Caroline Herschel herself most people will plead 

 ignorance without feeling ashamed, and yet may we 

 not assert that Caroline Herschel is well worth 

 knowing. 



Great men and great causes have always some 

 helper of whom the outside world knows- but little. 

 There always is, and always has been, some human 

 being in whose life their roots have been nourished. 

 Sometimes these helpers have been men, sometimes 

 they have been women, who have given themselves to 

 help and to strengthen those called upon to be leaders 

 and workers, inspiring them with courage, keeping- 

 faith in their own idea alive, in days of darkness, 



When all the world seems adverse to desert. 



These helpers and sustainers, men or women, have 

 all the same quality in common absolute devotion and 



