I WORDEN 414 WORK'GMEN'S COMPENSATION" few excepted, by the literary value of their cootents. WORDEN, JOHN LORIMER, an American naval officer; born in Sing Sing: (now Ossining), Westchester co., N. Y., March 12, 1818; was appointed a midshipman in the navy, Jan. 10, 1834. At the beginning of the Civil War he was captured by the Confederates, and after being held seven months was ex- changed. He was ordered to the com- mand of John Ericsson's "Monitor," which was armed with two 11-inch smooth-bore Dahlgren guns, carrying a shot of 168 pounds, and which left New York March 6, 1862. He arrived at Hampton Roads on the evening of the 8th, after the iron-clad "Merrimac" had destroyed the wooden frigates "Cumber- land" and "Congress." On the morning of the 9th a memorable battle was fought by the "Merrimac" and "Moni- tor," the former of which was partly dis- abled and abandoned the fight, after sev- eral violent collisions with the "Moni- tor." He was promoted commander in 1862, captain in 1863; and commanded the iron-clad "Montauk" in the opera- tions against Fort Sumter in April of that year. In June, 1868, he was pro- moted commodore, and in 1872 rear- admiral. He was superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1870- 1874; commander-in-chief of the Euro- pean squadron in 1875-1877; and was re- tired, at his own request, with full sea pay, Dec. 23, 1886. He died in Washing- ton, D. C, Oct. 18, 1897. WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM, an Eng- lish poet; born in Cockerraouth, Cumber- land, April 7, 1770. He was the son of an attorney and in 1787 was sent to St, John's College, Cambridge. He left the university after taking his degree, but without having otherwise distin- guished himself, and lived aimlessly in London and elsewhere. He crossed to France in November, 1791, and exhibited vehement sjrmpathy with the revolution, remaining in France for nearly a year. After his return, disregarding all en- treaties to enter on a professional career, he published his "Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches" (1793). Two years afterward he received a legacy of $4,500 from Raisley Calvert, a friend whom he had nursed in his last illness. With this sum and the consecrated help- fulness of his sister Dorothy he con- trived to keep house for eight years, while he gave himself to poetic effort as his high "office on earth." For the first two years they lived at Racedown in Dorset where the poet among other experiments began his tragedy of "The Borderers." In this retreat they were visited (1797) by Coleridge, who had al- ready recognized an original poetic genius in the author of "Descriptive Sketches." Coleridge was at this time living at Nether Stowey, in Somerset, and during this visit he induced the Wordsworths to go into residence at Al- foxden, in his immediate neighborhood. Here the two poets held daily inter- course, and after a year they published "Lyrical Ballads" (1798) in literary co- partnership. Though this volume was received with almost complete public indifference, yet Wordsworth felt that he had found his mission, and after a winter spent in Germany, he and his sister settled at Grasmere (1799), where he proposed to write a great philosophical poem on man, nature, and society. Thenceforth his life was marked by a few inc'dents. Those worth noting are his marriage in 1802 with his cousin Mary Hutchison; a re- moval from Grasmere to Allan Bank in 1808; his appointment in 1818 to an in- spectorship of stamps, and his removal to Rydal Mount; several journeys into Scotland and to the Continent; his ac- ceptance of a D. C. L. degree conferred on him in 1839 by the University of Oxford; and his accession in 1843 to the laureateship on the death of Southey. Wordsworth's great philosophic poem, which, in his own phrase, was to be the Gothic cathedral of his labor, re- ceived only a fragmentary accomplish- ment in "The Prelude," "The Excur- sion," and "The Recluse." Yet enough was achieved in his smaller poems to justify his own conception of himself as a "dedicated spirit," and to set him apart among the greatest of England's poets. A complete edition of his poetical works has been published by Professor Knight, his prose writings have been collected and published by Dr. Grossart, his "Memoirs" were published in 1851 by his nephew, and an interesting account of the poet and his sister Dorothy is found in her "Diary of a Tour of the Highlands." He died in Rydal Mount, April 23, 1850. WORKINGMEN'S CCMPENSATION, a system of compensation for accidents in the course of emplojrment doing away with the delays, costs, and obstacles which brought hardship to the injured workers. Under the employers' liability laws a workingman who had suffered an accident was required to bring suit at law and break down the objections put forward by his employer before he could secure damage for his injury. These laws surrounded the employer with de- fenses so that the injured worker had
