The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-04-26

one epoch OF nay life TO another. Bat never
went further toward the actual writing OF the
novel than an Introductory chapter oescrIb-
ing Staffordshire village and the life OF the
neighboring fsrm-houses; and as tie years
passed on lost all hope that should ever
be Gtle to write 8 novel, Just as ! desponded
about everything else in Say future. / al
wsys thought that was deficient in dramatic
power. both Of construction end dialogue,
but felt that should be at my ease in the
descriptive parts of novel Nv lperoduc-
tory chapter YES pure detcript G 4, though
there were good materials in il for dramatic
| presentation. It happened 10 be ameeg the
psIe-s l had with me in Germany, and one
evening st Berlin something led me . read
| II to CT oTge. lie was struck with IL as q bit
of c. 0crete description, and it suggested -
aim the possibility of my being able &c write
novel, thoagh be distrusted, indeed, eisbe-
lieveG in ny possession OF any dramatic
power. 0De morning az / was thinking
what ehould he the subject OF my hrss story,
my Thoughts merged themselves into a
creamy dCze, and imagined myself writing
q story OF which the title was rhe Sad For
tunes OF tie Reverend Amos Barton Was
soon wide awake again aud told q. He aid:
oh, what s capital title and tom that time
! had settled in Iny mind that this should De
my FIRST story. 8 When | had Rad
him the FIRST part OF Amos he had no longer
sly dOU6t of my ability 10 carry out toe
an. The scene at Cross Farm, he said. sat.
Isfed him that had the very element he had
been doubtful about-It was clear l co0ld
write good dialogue. There still re-
NAMED the question whether I could com.
mand any Iathos; and that was to be decided
by the mode in which | treated Mllys
death One night @. went to town on Dur-
pose to leave ne a quiet evening for writing
II. ! wrote the chapter from the news
bought by the shepherd by Mrs. HAckett to
the II Oment when Amos is drseged FROM toe
I "A / I'D ~ fr vh ho ana
home. We both cried over IL and thea ne
came up to me and kissed nae, saying [
think your pathos is better than your fun =
The tale was begun September D, 1856,
and finished November D. l. WAS accepted
| by Mr.. John Black wood, who expressed
strong appreciation Of its humor and path S.
The price paid for it val fifty guineas. Mr.
Cross gives the following plan atiGn of shy
she adopted her nom de plume: i may
mention here tia. my wife tod me the
son she hxeo on this lame WIS that George
was Mr.. LeWes Christian anne, aad Eliot
was good, noutL-6lling. easily promo IN ced
word" The splenoid reception IF this aud
the oiber stories lch composed Scenes of
Clerical life settled George Eliot's career rs
aIovelist. So on October 20, 1891, she WrO
in her journal: Began my Lev novel
Adam Bede :"
1t is intei estipg to note thst among the let.
tiers Of Ii anks received by George Eliot from
those 20 whom che had sent presentation
CO pies of her book Dickens guessed that the
stories must have been written by woAan,
and Mrs. Carlyle came very near ii when sac
said she thought of the author as e man o.
middle sge, with a wife, from whom he has
got lhCse beautiful feminine touches in his
81 Ok" Thackeray, on the other hRud, told
Blackwood that They were not written 0y
woman"
Adam Bsce' was finished November Is
1858, and its origin Is related By George ( OF
as follows:
THE germ OF Adam Bede' was an arec-
dote told me bv my Methodist Aunt Samuel
(the wife of my fathers younger BROTHER
an anecdote from her own experience. We
we've sitting t gether one afternoon during
her visit t. me at Grif probably in 1899 or
1910. when it occurred to her to tell me how
she had visited s condemned crimnsl-a
very ignorant girl who had murdered her
child and refused 70 confess; how she had
stayed with her, praying through the night,
and how the poor creature at last broke out
into tears and confess ed her crime. My aunt
sfteTwsI dis went with her IN the cart to the
place of execution; and she described to
The great respect with which this ministry of
hers was regarded by the official pc o pie about
the Jail. The story told by my aunt with
great feeling affected Inc deeply, and never
lost the impression of that afternoon and or
talk together. The character Of
Dlnah grew out { / my recollections OF my
aunt, but Dinah is not at all like my aunt,
who was very small, back eyed woman,
and las ] was told, tor / never heard her
pTeacb) very vehems ut in her style of preach
| ing. The character of Adam, and
| one or tive incidents connected with him
| were suggested by my father early life, bat
Adam is not my father any more than Dinsh
is my aunt. Indeed, there is not q single
portrait In Adam Bede'-only the suggest
| ions OF experience wrought 10 into new c1m-
binatioDs. When began to write II the only
eli nfe I had dcto IN NJ
character OF Dinah. were the character OF
Adam, his relations to Arthur DOnnithorne,
ard Il cir mutual relst ons TO Hetty-i. e.,
! to the girl who commits chIld-murder the
see ne in the prison being, of course, the cli-
max toward which | worked. Everything
| else grew cut of the characters and their mt
| tual relations"
1t is remarked that the frat friend OF
George Eiiot's who discovered her identity
| was Madame Bodichon, who having only
read extracts in reviews, wrote that she
would 90 20 the stake on the assertion that
| her old scquaiD tarce had written Adam
| Bede.' George Eliot replied: God bless
| you. dearest Barbara, for your love and sym.
| patty. You are the first friend who has
| given any symptom OF knowing me-the
| first heart that has recognized me in a book
| which has come from nv heart of hearts.
There is not space for more OF those inter-
6siiDg revelations of George Eliots personal
| life. II remains, however, to give Mr. Cross
own account OF his marriage to George Eliot
aud the causes which led to 1t Speaking OF
the n onths succeeding George a. LsSes
death, lie says:
AS the year vent on George Eliot begAu
to see all her old friends again. Bat her life
was nevertheless life of heart loneliness.
| Accustomed IS she had been for SO many
| years to solitude a deux. the want of close
compsui onship continued TO be very bitterly
felt She wss in the habit OF going with me
very frequently TO the Nation al Gallery, ard
to other exhibitions of pictures, to the British
Museum Sculptures, and TO South kensing-
| ton. This COL slant association engros5ed
| me completely, and vas new interest to
her. a bond of mutual dependence had