1 The Brontë Brother Made It a Point to Die Standing Up
You’ve all heard of Charlotte Brontë, and Emily Brontë, and maybe Anne Brontë. Today, let’s spare a thought for Branwell Brontë, the forgotten brother. True, he never wrote any books, but he did paint. For example, he did the painting below, which... uh, actually, looking at it, maybe it’s for the best that we’ve all forgotten Branwell Brontë.
Branwell didn’t do a whole during his life. One time, he got fired because he left to go drinking and someone robbed the place while he was gone. Then when he was 31, he came down with a fatal condition known as “being in the 19th century,” or a combination of tuberculosis and opium addiction. On September 24, 1848, he declared that to show the power of will, he was going to die standing up. And so, he got up and stood, to die.
You might be tempted to say, “Hey, if human will is so strong, how about you put some of that will toward the goal of not dying.” Still, standing to die made for quite a story. And who has a better story than Branwell the Brontë? (Ryan Menezes)
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