Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-03-20
~ ) HY SUCCESS.
- T. "IAT MRS. LYNN LINTON
AVS or GEORGE ELIOT.
some Interesting "Reminiscences and Caus-
tic Criticisms Of the Famous Novelist.
Her Character and Conduct In Different
Stages of Her Career.

Her Character and Conduct In Different
Stages of Her Career.
In TIE Woman at Home Mrs. Lynn
Linton gives the following rather caustic
"reminiscences of the great novelist, whom
sho knew, but did not greatly love:
1t was at John Chapman that l first
met George Eliot, then Mary Ann Evans
having adopted neither her pseudonym nor
her style and title of George Lewes' wife
Confession Is good for the soul, " they
say, and will candidly confess my short
sighted prejudices with respect 70 this-to
be-celebratcd person. These We're her
undevelopcd as well AS her insurgent days.
She was known TO be learned, Industrious
thoughtful, noteworthy, but she was not
yet the great genius of her age, nor phi
losopher brackctcd with Plato and Kant
ror was her personality hold TO be superior
TO the law of the land, nor was she recog
nizcd rs n conventional gentlewoman. In
those days indeed she was emphatically
not that. She was essentially underbred
and provincial, and l, in the swaddling
clothes Of early education and proposes
sion, as | was, saw more OF the provincial
than the genius and was repealed by the
uniformed manner rather than attracted
arms kangaroo fashion, was badly dressed
had an unwashcd unbrushcd, unkempt
look altogether and she assumed tone
of superiority over me which / was not
then aware was warranted by her un.
doubted leadership. From first 10 last she
put up my mental bristles, so that l re.
jected then and there what might have be.
come IA closer acquaintance had not been
~ inflnanpaH no
want of conventional graces.
ASH was never habitue OF John Chap
man : famous evenings and knew him and
his wife best when they lived out of Lon
don and before they took their Strand
house, saw but little Of Mary Ann Evans
ill after her flight with George Lewes.
When they returned home, / called on
them by their joint request. They were in
lodgings in ~. Johns Wood, and the azure.
2le of their new love was around them.
There was none OF the pretCnSe OF a sane
toned union which came afterward-none
of the somewhat pretentious assumption
If superior morality which was born OF
her success. She was frank, genial, nat
ural and brimful of happiness. The con-
seriousness that she had finally made her
choice and cast the die which determined
her fate gave her "a nobility of expression
and grandeur of bearing which she had
not had when first knew her Then my
heart warmed TO her with mingled love
and admiration, and ! paid her the hom-
age sho deserved felt her superiority
and acknowledged it with enthusiasm.
Had she always remained on that level she
would have been the grandest woman Of
thi- or any age.
But success and adulaton spoiled her
and destroyed all simplicity, all sincerity
If character. She grew to be artificial,
passcc pretentiouS, unreal. She lived an
unreal life all through both mentally and
socially, and in her cndcavOr 10 harmonic
| two Observation-Disclosures he at once conven-
| tional and insurgent-the upholder Of the
sanctity Of marriage while living as the
wife Of u married man-the self reliant
| lawbrcaker and the eager postulant for the
recognition granted only TO the covenanted
--shc lost every trace Of that finer freedom
| and whole heartedncss which Ind been so
remarkable In the beginning II her con-
ncction with Lewos. She was "a made
woman-not in the French sense-but
| made by self manipulation, as one makes
| q statue or vase. l have never known
| any one who seemed to me SO purely arti-
| fetal as George Eliot.
She took u fine type for imitation, but
! the result was not "a flesh and blood wom-
an. Not line Of spontaneity was left in
| her, not an impulse beyond the reach OF
self conscious philosophy, not an unguard-
ed tract Of mental or moral territory where
Il little unframed folly might luxuriate.
| she was always the goddess on her pedes-
! tal-graciOuS in her condcscension-with
sweet strains Of sympathetic recognition
| for all who came TO her, ever ready To lis
| en- to her worshipers ever ready 10 reply,
| to encourage, to clear from confusion
n inds bofoggcd by unassimilated learning
| and generous in imparting her own. But
| roVcr for one instant did she forget her self
| created self, never did she throw aside the
| rappings or the airs of the benign sibyl
Her soft, low voice was pitched in one
| lowell and monotonous key, and her DELHI
tlation If speech was trifle irritating to
| DO eager whose flint was already fired
| der gestures were as measured as her
words, her attitudes as restrained as her
| zones She was so consciously George
Eliot, so intcrpenetrated head and heel
inside and out, with the sense Of her i'm
portaucc rs the great novelist and profound
| thinker Of her generation, as TO make her
| society II little overwhelming, leaving on
haser creatures the impression of having
| been rolled very flat indeed She was the
sntithcsiS of George Sand, whose impul-
.ivc, largo and loving nature never became
ar;iiioiaizcd 10y her fame, never grew to
| tc self conscious by excess of intellect, AS
was the case with George Eliot. 1t was
| nature and art once more, rs so often be-
'5rc, and NY ones own character the YER
let cf which was best will he determined.
wish all her studied restraint Of manner
George Eliot had a large amount of what
| he French call temperament As q lover
She was both jealous and cxacting, and
| the farfallone amoroso" whom she had
captured was brought pretty faulty to his
bearings. II even he went SO far as Bir-
mingham TO lecture, he had u return
home that night, rs she quite gravely said
to- lady in my presence, Il shoIld not
think Of allowing George to stay away a
night from me "
The Finger Nails.
Many manicures cut with their sharp
| curved scissors the loose scarf skin grow
| inc ar,ttpI no c,tryo - Tho Apnor ,atI