The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-08-17
SHADOW OF A NAME.
BARRY PAlNE's TRIBUTE TO THE
MEMORY OF CHARLES cHADeANp.

Co9nomcn of Ono of Dickens Celebrated
Characters = Wrote Brilliantly, but
Would Not Publish.
At4 o'clock on the morning of Easter
SUNDAY Mt his home near Malvern Well
died Charles Chadband.
with the name of Chadband, thanks
70 dickens, the reading world is famil-.
lar. lt is associated with oiliness, by
poorlsy and self seeking. At the very
sound OF the name the reminiscent grin
starts on all faces. He is o national
joke But we pay for oil our laughter,
ana we have paid for tho Chadband
jest. do not mean to say that the I'M
happy accident by which Dickens Sc
iected the name of Chadband for his
1mposter was tho cause of the death of
Charles Chadband. 1t was not. He died
OF an ordinary disease-consumpt
Ill met 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 no
was justly entitled. 1t has prevented
the general public from reading one sim
gle line of his very excellent works.
AS his literary executor I have had
no choice but to destroy every line of
his manuscript, ill accordance with his
orders. Not single copy has been
taken, and not one word of his works
that his friends remember may be COM
mittcd to writing. I do not easily be-
lleve i'll the existence of genius, but 1
believe that Charles Chadband had
genius. Some, far more competent to
lI16op fhnn T A.
watched tho last sparks die out in the
big pile of burned paper it seemed IL
pity that so much work and such won
derful gifts should DO all wasted for
such stupid, ignoble, maddening rea-
son-becauso the author had inherited
tho name of a 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 i'll Dickens and
would quote the original Chadband
freely. had known him q long time
before knew that the coincidence of
tho names gave him any trouble at all.
1t Was long before could make out
why he would not publish anything.
He used to give the most absurd reasons
Tor his reticence, and when driven into
Il corner he would say that he was going
to publish, but not yet. Ono night,
when had just finished long story of
his, l implorcd him to let mo take it
away with mo to London and sec what
could be done. "No," he said. mo
body would publish it, 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, quito unexpectedly, tho secret
came out. "No serious work" he said,
could possibly do anything associated
with the name of Chadband. He said
it SO light heartcdly that thought he
was once more putting mo off with a
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
jolcd about his name himself, and so
did his friends. Ho defended himself
That's different" he said. "That
is i'll conversation, among men that
know. But could not have some vul-
gar brute who did not know mo at all
doing the same thing i'll cold print 1t
would present my stuff from tho wrong
point of view. No, tho associations of
the name arc too strong. If you arc
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
IN lntemperate, hypocritical, delicious
ass and i'll no other character what
ever
He would not hear of a pseudonym
or Of anonymity. If his work succeeded,
tho secret would be found out, and no
would be ashamed. If it did not sue
cecd-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?" I
said, angry with his obstinacy. eff you
think 1T matters one straw-though it
does not-chango your name once for
all and be done with it, He said that
1T would DO sheer cowardice, and he
could not dream of it.
Very unfortunately, he had private
means. Poverty might have driven him
to overcome his sensitivoness and to
! publish. Had he dono so it would have
been curious to watch the growth of an
entirely new set of associations around
the name Chadband. think he was
strong enough to have redeemed the
name.
He was unmarried-said that he did
not believe i'll tho hereditary principles
as applied to jokes. His real reason for
not marrying was, Of course tho dis
ease of which he died He worked ex-
ceedingly hard, and, as he knew, to no