The record-union., 1899-07-17
ALEXANDER sELK1RK.
True Story Of the Original Of De
Foes "Robinson Crusoe."

In the July Century" in an article
entitled .The Making of Robinson Cru
soe,''' J. Cuthbert Hadden tells the
story of Alexander Selkirk-a story
once very familiar but of which all we
remember is that there was a casta-
way of that name on the island of
Juan Fernandez, whose experience sug-
gested De Foes great story. He was
a very real person, it seems, and intl-
mate memorials of him are not lack
ing.
Largo, sluggish and sleepy as it
must then have been, could hardly be
so dull as Juan Fernandez; yet there is
some reason for believing that Selkirk
found it too lively for his tastes. He
erected a sort of cave dwelling in his
fathers back garden, and when he was
not ''meditating" there, he was in the
woods or walking moodily by the shore.
People evidently fought shy of him, as
of some uncanny creature who had
been in league with Satan'S invisible
world. The parish minister of the
town, writing in 179S refers to an old
Largo man who remembered having,
when a boy, slept with him for one
night after his return. He could not
be persuaded to do it a second time,
being terrified at the uncommon
Wilderness of his linen and the hairi-
ness of his body" Imagination truly
does go a long way! To the unmar-
ried females of Largo, Selkirk had,
however. a romantic side; and one fine
day it was discovered that the eccen-
tric exile had eloped with one Sophia
Bruce. who had succumbed to the
charm of the white linen and the in
terest of the island story. Why there
should have been an elopement 1T
would have been difficult to make out.
had it not afterward appeared that the
union was of that sailor type not likely
to be sanctioned by the rigid rules of
Largo kirk. The pair were traced to
London, where Sophia was present."
found alone, Selkirk having gone back
to sea. Before he thus dared the
''perrills' of the deep, he made a will
in her favor-this was in January, lit,
in which he describes her as his "lov-
ing friend, Sophia Bruce, of the Pail
Mall, London, spinster," and bequeashs
her a house at Largo, which had come
to him from his father. But The SAIL
or's affections are VIGOROUSLY unstable,
and poor Sophia, being out of sight,
was soon out of mind. Before 1920
Selkirk had yielded to the blandish-
ments of certain widow named Fran
ces Candis. and the old will was re-
yoked. At this time the worthy sea-
man. as we learn from the Will. was
innate CT his majesty's ship Weymouth.
That is practically the last we hear
of hin for he died on board the YES
sci before December of the following
year. On the strength Of her connec-
ton with him, the Sophia of the elop,-
ment afterward applied for charity to
dissenting minister in Westminster;
and the much-marrying widow she
took a third husband Immediate
ly after Selkirk's death-proved her
right in the Scotch courts, to the house
at Largo.
There is a statue of him at Largo.
and such of his many personal effects
as were associated with his island ex-
istence have naturally been guarded
as Interesting heirlooms by all his col
lateral descendants. There is the gun,
there is the chest, and there is the
drinking cup. The chest. a clumsy
looking affair made of cedarwood, bears
the exile's initials on the lid, with GER
tain other rude carvings-the practical
result, no doubt, of hours of ennui OF,
the island. The drinking cup was made