The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-08-20
SHADOW OF A NAME.
BARRY PAINE'S TRIBUTE TO THE
MEMORY. OF CHARLES CHADBAND.


Characters - Wrote Brilliantly, tnt
Would Not Publish.
At4 O'Clock on the morning of Easter
Sunday at his home near Malvern Well
fled Charles Chadband
With the name Of Chadband, thanks
to Dickens, the reading world is famil-
lar. 1t is associated with oiliness, by
pocrisy and self seeking. At the very
sound of the name the reminiscent grin
starts on all faces. He is national
joke. But we pay for all our laughter,
and we have paid for the Chadband
Jest. do not mean to say that the I'M
happy accident by which Dickens Sc
lected the name of Chadband for his
imposter was the cause of the death of
Charles Chadband 1t was not. He died
of an ordinary disease-consumpti
in fact But that unhappy accident did
overshadow 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 sin
gle line of his very excellent works.
AS his literary executor I have had
no choice but to destroy every line of
his manuscript in accordance with his
orders Not a single copy has been
taken, and not one word of his works
that his friends remember may be COM
mitted to writing. l do not easily be-
lieve in the existence of genius, but
believe that Charles Chadband had
c,o,;,,e Cor,o for yr,oro pOu netpOt tO
Judge than I am, thought the same. AS
! watched the last sparks die out in the
big pile of burned paper it seemed a
pity that so much work and such won
derful gifts should be all wasted for
such a stupid, ignoble, maddening rea-
son-because the author had inherited
the name of character in Dickens.
He was very sensitive, but, unlike
most very sensitive men, he was not
affected or vain. When was first in
troduced to him, he said, laughing,
that he was no relation to the original
Chadband He reveled in Dickens and
would quote the original Chadband
freely | had known him a long time
before I knew that the coincidence Of
the names gave him any trouble at all.
1t was long before l could make out
why he would not publish anything.
He used to give the most absurd reasons
for his reticenCe, and when driven into
corner he would say that be was going
to publish, but not yet. One night,
when had just finished long story of
his, 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. " told him that
it 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 any thing associated
with the name of Chadband. He said
it so light heartedly that l thought he
was once more putting me off with
wrong reason, but soon found that he
was sincere. He imagined reviewers
making jests about his name and owned
that he would not be able to stand it.
This surprised me, for he frequently
joked about his name himself, and so
did his friends. He defended himself.
1udG ulll6EtuIy u6 SulU. IuuJ
is in conversation, among men that l
know. But | 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 what
ever. :"
He would not hear of a pseudonym
or of anonymity. If his work succeeded,
the secret would be found out, and he
would be ashamed. If it did not sue
ceed-and he did not think it would
it was not worth his while to add to
the annual output of bad books "Why
make all this fuss about nothing?" |
said, angry 18th his obstinacy IF you
think it matters one stTaw-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 l think he was
strong enough to have redeemed the
name.
He was unmarried-said that he did
not believe i'll 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, ''it's like smoking get no pleas
ure from it, but l should miss it if l
gave it up. He took enormous pains
with his work and finished it as thor
oughly as though it were to constitute
his appeal to the world on the follow
ing day. He kept the final copy of
everything he approved, but his in
structions were that it was all to be