The record-union., 1897-06-17
HANDICAP OF a NAME.
Aspirations Crushed by
His Sensitiyeness to Ridicuie.


His Sensitiveness to Ridicuie.
At o'clock on the morning of Easter
Sunday, at his home near Malvern
Wells, died Charles Chadband.
With the name of Chadband every
body, thanks TO Dickens, is familiar. 1t
is associated with oiliness, hypocrisy
and self-seeking. At the very sound of
the name the reminiscent grin starts on
all faces. He is a national joke. But
we pay for all our laughter, and we
have just paid for the Chadband jest
do not mean to say that the unhappy
accident by which Dickens selected the
name of Chadband for his impostor was
the cause of the death of Charles Chad
band. 1t was not; he died of an ordl-
nary disease-of consumption, in fact
But that unhappy accident did over
shadow the whole of Charles Chad
bands life. 1t did prevent him from
taking the place and fame to which he
was justly entitled. 1t has prevented
the general public from reading one
single line of his very excellent work.
AS his literary executor l have had no
choice but to destroy every line of his
manuscript in accordance with his or
ders. Not a single copy has been taxi
en-, and not one word of his works that
his friends remember may be commit
ted to writing. l do not easily believe
in the existence of genius, but 1 believe
that Charles Chadband had genius.
Some, far more competent to judge
than 1 am, thought the same. As
watched the last sparks die out of the
big pile Of burned papers it seemed
pity that so much work and such won
Il :, oil e.,
such a stupid, ignoble, maddening rea-
son-because the author had inherited
the name of a character in Dickens
He was very sensitive. But, unlike
most very sensitive men, he was not
affected nor vain. When I was first in
troduced to him he said, laughing. that
he was no relation to the original Chad
band He reveled in Dickens-and
would quote the original Chadband
freely. l had known him long time
before ] knew that the coincidence of
the names gave him any trouble at ALL
1t was long before I could make out
why he would not publish anything He
used to give the most absurd reasons
for his reticence, and when driven into
q corner he would say that he was go
ing to publish, but not yet One night,
when had just finished a long story of
his, L implored him to let me take it
away with me to London, and see what
could be done. NO. he said; no
body would publish it, 1 told him that
1t might be refused by five men out of
six, but that the sixth would afterward
be proud that he had accepted it,
Then, quite Unexpectedly, the secret
came out, No serious work." he said,
could possibly do anything associated
with the name of Chadband" He said
1t so light-heartedly that I thought he
was once more putting me off with a
wrong reason. But soon found that
he was sincere. He imagined reviewers
making Jests about his name, and own
ed that he would not be able to stand
1t. This surprised me, for he frequent
Iy joked about his name himself, and
50 did his friends. He defended him
self That's different" he said. THAT
is in conversation with men that
know. But l could not have some vul-
gar brute who did not know me at all
doing the same thing in cold print. 1t
would present my stuff from the wrong
point of view. No, the associations of
the name are too strong If you are
called Chadband, you are called Chad
band, and there's an end of it; you may
do what you like in private, but you
can come before the public only as an
Incorporate, hypocritical, delicious ass
and in no other character whatever"
He would not hear of pseudonym or
anonymity. If his work succeeded, the
secret would be found out and he would
be ashamed. If it did not succeed
and he did not think it would-it was
not worth his while to add to the an
l this fuss about nothing?" I said,
angry with his obstinacy eff you
think it matters one straw-though it
does not-change your name once for
all and be done with it." He said that
it would be sheer cowardice, and he
could not dream of it.
Very unfortunately, he had private
means. Poverty might have driven
him to overcome his sensitiveness and
to publish Had he done so, it would
have been curious to watch the growth
of an entirely new set of associations
around the name Chadband 1 think
he was strong enough to have redeem
ed the name.
He was unmarried-said that he did
not believe in the hereditary principles
as applied to jokes. His real reason for
not marrying was, of course, the dis
ease of which he died. He worked ex-
ceedingly hard, and, as he knew, to no
purpose. He would not own that he
took pleasure in his work No" he
said, its like smOking-I get no pleas
ure from it, but 1 should miss it if
gave it up" He took enormous pains
with his work finished it as thoroughly
as though it were to constitute his ap-
peal to the world on the following day
He kept the final copy of everything he
approved, but his instructions were
that it was all to be burned as soon as
possible after his death.
He is dead and his work is destroyed
and it seems quite odd that most people
cannot possibly care To those who
knew the man and the work it is the
principal event of the week.-Black and
White.
The largest desert is Sahara, in
Northern Africa Its length is 1900
miles and breadth 900 miles, having an
area of > 0fA0 000 SoTarp miles