The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-14
Tim a reputation few prisoners have ever

him reputation few prisoners have ever
won.
In our day a lecturer has told Of the
Bright Side of Libby Prison" The nov
els and plays of CervaTtes show a liking
for the brave and kindly souls among the
Turks. 1t was said that no other Spaniard
OF that time you'd admit that virtues
could be found among Portuguese, AIoors
or Englishmen. Cervantes could find
praise for all three.
Re-enlisting as a private, Cervantes saw
more lighting. He was in Portugal for
some time, and in Lisbon his ilegt;imate
daughter, Isabel, was born. For a short
time ne held a civil office. Then followed
a struggle for literary employments. In
1881 Cervantes married a lady with a small
property The next year he moved to
Madrid, His wife. his daughter, his wild
owed sister and her daughter all had to be
maintained, hut the women seem TO have
been industrious aud earned nancy a du-
cat as dressmakers. Cervantes worked
hard as dramatist and produced twenty
or thirty plays. of which he modestly
states that the actors were not Kissed or
pelted with cucumbers. This is damn
ing with faint praise and as Scott gave
up writing poetry in the face of Byron.
Cervantes slowly yielded the stage TO
Lope de Vega. Leaving Madrid Tor Sc
vile, CerVantes began to purchase stores
OF oil and grain for the fleet. He legged
the King for a place in the American
colonies but failed to obtain it, As a
tax collector he was too confident in his
subordnates, and had to make good thcif
shortages. Once he had to pay 1890
reals, his salary as tax collector being
5000 reals per annum. For three months
he was in jail, and his life was one of
chronic poverty. He was glad to copy
a legal document and it was a bright day
when he won three silver spoons as a
prize for the best poem on St Jacinto.
If Cervantes had 20 fight Moors in his
youth, he had many a fierce literary bat
tie in after years. Few readers of to-day
care how the Yorkshire school masters
vowed vengeance on the author of "Nich-
olas Nickleby," or how the ultra -partisans
of the Covenanters fell tooth and nail on
'Old Mortality" Still fewer care about
the savage attacks on Don Quixote' in
the days of it's infancy. Cervantes was
called stupid, Illogical. ignorant, unpa-
triotic and irrehgious. He might have felt
the displeasure of the Inquisition, but for
the friendship of Archbishop Sandoval,
kindly and broad minded prelate. Shortly
before his death Cervantes was received
into a religious order. This insured him
decent burial One is tempted to say of
such a man that, if he died poor, he made
many rich, and that, if he had nothing,
yet he possessed all things. In his mighty
novel one finds a purity few old books can
rival No man drew an evil thought from
Don Quixote."
Many have laughed over later stories
without thinking how the Don and Sancho
Panza set the fashion of linking to a hero
somewhat grotesque companion. In
Fielding" Tom Jones would lose a great
deal were it not for the gossip of Par
fridge, Smollett's Roderick Random owes
much to Hugh Strap. Wanda is placed
by Scott at Occur de-LAon's side, while
Cuddie Headrigg shares the journeys of
Morton. Miss Edgeworth Jokes the ro-
mantle Angelina with the prosaic Betty
Williams. The best remarks of Mr.. Mid
shipman Easy are addressed to the faith
full Mesty. Neither on his travels nor in
the Fleet prison could Mr.. Pickwick lose
the inimitable Sam Weller. In many a
rich chapter of modern fiction the shadow
of the immortal Spaniard falls across the
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