The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-23
CHARLES READE AT HOME.
The Benign Influence Exerted Over Him
by His Housekeeper.

by HIS HOuSeKeepers
Robert Buchanan, in September Harper.
The reader though familiar with the name
and works Of Reade may require to be reminded
that he lived and died a bachelor, and that the
Mrs Seymour of whom have more than once
spoken was his housekeeper for many years.
When he began to write plays she was popu-
lar actress, and thus they were brought together;
and presently he went to reside with her,
her husband lwho was then living, and two
other friends and dodgers. Gradually the lit
tie circle thinned; its members died off one
by one, till Mrs. Seymour, a widow, was left
to keep house for only one survivor, Charles
Reade. Their relationship, from first to last,
was one of pure sacred friendship, and the
world would be better in my opinion, if such
friendships were more common. Bright, intel
ligent, noble minded, and generous to fault,
Laura Seymour deserved every word of the
passionate eulogy which Charles Reade COM
posed upon her death, and had engraved upon
her tombstone. She was little woman bright
eyed, viyacious, and altogether charming. In
all literary matters she was his first adviser and
final court of appeal; but, like himself, she was
very impulsive, and occasionally wrong headed
She had the best and finest of all vrtues-char-
ity Wherever there was poverty and suffering
her purse was open as her heart She loved
dumb animals-dogs especially, In the pleasant
days that are gone | used to drive down to
Albert Gate certain Pickwickian pony of mine,
christened Jack. On his first appearance at the
gate, nothing would content the good Seymour
but should take him out Of the trap, release
him of his harness, and escort him through the
house to the back garden, Poor fellow" she
cried; do bring him in and let him Craze on the
lawn. This would hardly have done, as Jack
was a soft sybarite already, and too plump,
moreover, to get through the lobby without acct
dents. Mrs. Seymour relieved her kind heart
by sending him out some cakes and bread, to
which he was very partial, and ever after that
day. when Jack pulled up at the Vineyard, be
sure he had his treat of something nice given
by that kindly and gentle hand.
In his personal habits Reade was exceedingly
eccentric. For example he had mania for
buying all sorts OF hotsam, with the idea that
they might come in useful" On one occasion
he purchased stuffed horses head, thinking he
might utilize it in one of his plays, and placed
it in his lumber room. where it soon became
moth eaten. On another he invested in large
number of knives and forks, which he secreted
away, thinking to produce them afterward
triumphantly. Seymour he explained to a
confdant, thinks of giving party; so I've
purchased this cutlery in case she may run
short He was troubled with corns, and wore
enormous boots. We found him one morning
with whole waste-paper basket full of new
boots which he had ordered wholesale, after a
pattern that took his fancy. His gingham
umbrella would have delighted Mrs. Camp.
Altogether his whims and oddities were con
slant care to Mrs. Seymour, who rallied him
mercilessly about them. In his play of Jealousy
produced at the Olympic Theatre, there was
scene where one of the actresses, supposed to be
danseuse, had to hide behind very high screen.
DO you think, my dear he said to the actress
rehearslng the part, you could show the agility
of the dansuese by lifting your foot and letting
foot and ankle pass in sight of the audience,
close to the top of the screenln but this bit of
gymnastics was declined as simply impossible
Then my dear, we'll have a false leg made, and
at the proper moment you will work it, grace
fully and rapidly, as shall direct" 1t lis scarcely
necessary TO add that this realistic notion was
not carried out.
| am disposed to think that Mrs Seymour's in
fuence had much to do in sweetening and soften
ing the character of Charles Reade; that it was
altogether benign and beautiful influence, to
which the world, however indirectly, owes much
photograph of Reade taken when he was
about fye-and- thirty, shows sternness of out
line and turbulence of expression which after
Ward completely changed; it represents, indeed
face of extraordinary power, but no gentleness
Another photograph in my possession, taken at
Margate, in 1878, pictures the same face, soft
ened by the touch of time; the face of a benevo-
lent imbecie,' he himself playfully calls it in a
brief note upon the back. have no
doubt whatever that his benevolence was
greatly fostered by his warm
hearted companion; but be that
as it may, he was, when knew him, the gen
tlest of men-like our friend Boanerges, all fire
and thunder in the pulpit, all kindness and
sweetness at his own Preside. The fact is, his
style was thoroughbred. and often ran away
with him. or, when he sought to drive it mildly,
kicked the subject to pieces. He was the Boy
thorne of literature, only the big speeches and
terrible invectives were not spoken, but set
down on paper Yet he looked on human ma
ture with the eye of lover. He, too had a pas
sion for dumb animals. Not long before his
death he filed the garden with tame hares. A
noble deed stirred him like a trumpet; great as
his hate for wrong-doing was his compassion
for suffering Over and above all was his natur-
al piety which bound his days each to each as