Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-04-07
George Eliot"
Mary Ann Cross,
Born 22d November, 1919,
Died 22d December, 1880.

Upon the grave were two ofthOse hid
| eOuS funeral emb!ems made of black
and white beads, which are so much the
fashion in Europe. They were falling
| to pieces. One | remember bore the
motto: "In Memoriam" The other was
horseshoe shaped. What was left of it
was like this:
Asslee In esu.
The other letters had dropped out, as if
| we'll knowing they had no right there.
1t was strange motto to be placed upon
the grave of the prie3tess ofrationalism.
Some friend had placed there also a
Maltese cross, think it was, of flowers
These were long withered and dead.
But the cross-shaped frame that had
been left made a shallow receptacle.
The rain had fallen and been caught
there. In the four corners of the floral
design had been four sprigs of mignon-
cite. These tender, sweet sprigs had
drunk the water and held up their
heads, bright and green, growing there
They somehow made Il remarkable inn
preston on us. They were the only
touch of anything bright or cheering
about that melancholy grave.
George Eliot! have sometimes
ever Spinoza was. Right or wrong, /
shall always believe she threw away her
life's happiness in fit of generosity. So
her Dorethea threw herself away on
Casaubon. TO me q. fl. Lewes will al.
ways be Casaubon. In the step the
world most bames Miss Evans for, an
other generation may see the most stu
pendons sacrifice woman Is capable
of, made from mistaken sense of duty.
The mistake having been made, George
Eliot was not one to whine.
However this NAV be, a gleam of hap
piness came to her at last in her marriage
with Mr.. Cross. His family were thor
oughly pleased with the match, as we'll
as they might have been.
Zone who knew George Eliot could
never think of her as growing DID," a
friend of hers told me.
There must have been something in
this perennial youthfulness of the gifted
woman. One who knew Mr.. Cross we'll
told me it was purely a love match on
his part. Unknown to all the world =,
he had adOred George Eliot for fifteen
years. For this romantic attachment he
remained in bachelorhood. What were
other women to him who knew Romola?
At length, after the death of Lewes,
the devoted knIg't tod the secret he
had kept so long. The lady married
him.
had always thought of the great nov
elist as q strong, self-reliant character r,
able to live alone and make her way
through thunder and lightning if neces-
sary. But her friends tell me this is all
wrong. She was entirely womanly and
gentle, they say, which goes without
saying. But it was surprising, little,
to be told that woman who welded q
pen of such tremendous force was the
the most cinging and dependent of wo-
men. She hung upon those she loved
as a child does.
81 can not imagine her as living Alone"
said one of her friends.
"Those who knew her did not think
her so unattractive in appearance,
either. To these, her friends, she was
never old, or plain, or under the ban of
society. She was the gentlest, lovablest,
most attractive of women. Such is the
magic of genius. TO these friends,
therefore, her marriage to q man twenty
years younger than herself did not seem
unnatural or unpleasant On the con-
trary, they said it seemed to give her a
new lease of life. She expected yet to
do what she believed, and what they be-
lieved, would be her noblest literary
work. Full of hope and happiness, she
was shortly to begin this work. Then
the fatal chill and illness came, and the
light went out forever. There was left
only the grave in Highgate Cemetery