Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-07-29
CATHERINE GAUNr.
A Simple Story which May Explain
Mrs. riIlOn's Faults and Beecher's
OHenSe.

Onense.
From the New York Herald.l
That is a weird, singular, significant
letter which Mrs. Tilton wrote to her
husband: My dear Theodore, to-day
through the character of Catherine
Gaunt a character of fiction, my eyes
have been opened for the first time in
nv experience, so that clearly see my
sin. 1t was when | knew that | was
loved to suffer it to grow to a passion.
A virtuous woman should check in
stantly an absorbing love" There is
something penitent and noble in these
words, but, withal something so mawk-
ishly sentimental that we look for the
explanation not to the woman who ut
tered them, but to the philosophy that
was taught her and the atmosphere OF
her daily life 1t is plain that she is no
Hester Prynne, carrying in her breast a
secret which the flaming scarlet letter
on her bosom only helped to conceal.
Neither is she Catherine Gaunt, reso-
lutte, wrong. headed, fanatical, but pure.
She is simply an emotional woman,
given to rhapsodies, who fell in love
with a great preacher to whom hus-
band jealousy imputed the offense OF a
Dimmesdale or a Brother Leonard.
And yet much as it grieves US to say
this, she is the feeble counterpart of
both these unfortunate heroines, and
stands to- day the justification of tictlOns
which well nigh drove the world mad
with their unrealities.
A study of Charles Reade's novel re-
veals the dual life of'the woman houn-
dering between her strong love of her
church and her unconscious love Of her
priest. 1t is singularly well drawn pic
ture which the novelist paints. Father
Francis, coarse and burly ecclesiastic,
yielded place to Brother Leonard, who
"looked and moved like a being who
had come from some higher sphere to
pay the world little visit Mrs. Gaunt
at first could make nothing of him and
complained to her husband that he was
Spiritual machine" while that genial
gentleman answered, Well, / am of
your mind; be is very poor company
compared with that jovial old blade,
Francis. But why so many words, Kate
You don't use to bite twice at cherry;
if the milksop is not your taste give him
the sack, and be damned to him" But
Brother Leonard was really a great
preacher, and the first time she heard
him Mrs. Gaunt sat thrilled, enraptured,
melted" She soon became the priests
Madonna, filling his rooms with flowers
when he was absent and caring for him
in secret She could not only under
stand his sermons, but the occultsympa-
thy between them told her he was preach
ing to her and that she was part of his in
spiratiou. But all the time something
whispered to her heart that perhaps
Leonard admired her more than was safe
or prudent The spell was on her, how
ever, and it was not easy to foresee the
real danger. His fervent eloqueuce had
appealed at once to her imagination aud
her religious aspirations. From an in
tsrest in the preaching it was only step
to an interest in the preacher; but in all
things she treated him simply as a holy
man, her spiritual guide. He was so
devout that she forgave him for keeping
her glove, which he picked up in the
wood, and for painting her portrait for
his own delectation. She even obeyed
him when he told her to dismiss her
Protestant servants and employ Catho-
lies in their places Busy and malicious
tongues told part of this to her husband,
and he, as a matter of course, was furi-
Gus. She failed to understand the road
she had taken. In a short time she had
become so jealous in good works that she
withdrew from society, surrendered her
Judgment to her spiritual director, and
no longer took an interest in her hus-
bands affairs. There was separation
and grief, and after much suffering that
reconciliation which is necessary to give
novel happy ending.
The story, we begin to suspect, is not
an uncommon one. Here was a woman,
albeit a character of fiction. as Mrs.
Tilton says, who never thought to wrong
her husband but the devotion she owed
him as a wife she permitted to be ab
sorbed by another, aud not only became
the defender Of the poor silly priest, but
allowed her husband to 90 from her in
the blindness Of her own folly and devo-
ton. The sin was Leonards, said