The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-03-26

1 hNuui DcbiEt hlloi4 QUO Rldppitu NuNNths-
fully With all the PHILOSOPHERS OF this CEN
| fury, and in their most intricate paths sho
| walked with unfaltering step. In the deep
| probings OF her thought projections she
almost touches the divine mind itself She
/ was acquainted with most foreign Lam
| guages; she was musician of no mean
| attainment, she was thoroughly familtt
with the natural sciences. besides all thus
she was skilled in the homoly details Of
| bread making and the duties OF the dnlry.
In personal appearance, she was not
striking, we are told, II we except the mas
sive head. One who was intimately asso-
cated with her has described her as being
OF the middle height. the brow ample,
| the lower face massive, the eyes gray,
| lighting up from time TO time with a
sympathetic glow; the countenance sonsi-
| tive spiritual with mind and music
breathing from 1t; the general domeanor
composed and gracious, her utterance
fluent and Finished, her voice clear and
melodious, moving evenly, with sort Of
quiet oagerness, into a higher note" Her
| features were too large for anything like
! beauty. We are told, however that no
picture does her justice, The mere shape
OF the head" says one biographer would
be the despair of any painter" II was so
grand and massive that 1t would scarcely
be possible to represent Il without giving
the idea of dsproportion 10 the frame, OF
which no one thought for moment when
he saw her, although II was a surprise
when she stood up to zee that, after all,
she was but a little fragile woman, who
bore this weight OF brow and brain.
She never took no her pen without los-
son to teach Let those who would know
her message read her books. While she
had message for all who Will study her.
yet her chief mission WAS to the ordinary
commonplace people who form such large
| proportion OF tho worlds inhabitants--peo~
pie like poor Amos Barton, with features
OF no particular shape and eyes OF no par
ticular expression" Once in while
genius is born into the world. The genius
can take care of himself, but what Is TO bS
done to help this multitude OF struggling,
suffering, commonplace people2 This Is the
problem which George Eliot did her utmost
best to solve. How well she has done ~
let those answer who have gained strength
from her books to bear a hard, uninterest-
ing life and to ennoble II by patience and
self-sacrifice. These commonplace people,
she writes, many of them have felt tho
divine promptings TO do the painful right,
they have their unspoken SORROWS aud
theirs sacred joys; their hearts have per-
haps gone out 10 their frstbosn and they
have mourncd over the irreclamable dead.
Nay. Is there not pathos in their very in
Significance in our comparison OF their aim
and narrow existence with the glorious
possibilities OF that human nature which
they share? Depend upon IT, abe con-
| tinues, you Woulu gam unbpedhuDly III you
would learn with me to see some OF the
poetry and the pathos, the tragedy and the
| comedy lying in the experience of human
soul that looks out through dull gray eyes
and speaks In n voice OF quite ordinary
tone" She has glorhed the most common
place life and made II heroic by making
every man conscious OF the ego within him
She has made each individual to feel his
responsibility as part OF the whole OF
society. Society is made up OF the HE
and death struggles of separate human be-
ings. 1t Is not given to every one to
climb the ladder OF fame. but every one
can be faithful in the homely duties OF
every day life, and Just according as each
separate individual is true and faithful Will
the body OF society be wholesome and beau
tifu.
The limits Of this paper forbid any dig
cussion of her religious and philosophic
Views. Great as she was, her genius had
its limitations. What she might have been
had she allowed the love OF an infinite
father aud the compassion ot Il sunerinR
Christ to brood over her mighty spirit, who
can say2 1t Is this love and this Christ In
her books which causes the world TO cling
to them and to find comfort In them. Take
the Christianity out OF them ana they
would soon be relocated TO the dusty
shelves Of some obscure bookseller.
| II has been the custom to indulge In
fierce denunciation OF her life and ex-
travagant panegyrie OF her works, but
1 "Can bitter fountain bring forth sweet
| water?" She has been called inhdel. free
[ thinker, evolutionlst. post!vist and some
worse names, but "By their fruits ye shall
| know them" II che was vile she did a
. | grander work in her fall than most good
Z women do in all the glory Of their upright
ness. II she was immoral. why are her
works not corrupting in their influence
E II she was low, whence comes her power 70
s inspire in others desire 20 rtsAg There Il
more religious teaching more Christianity
in her books than she herself was probably
aware or and clearer faith than she ever
formulated for herself. She has taught "a
others the lessons which she herself could
not learn. What writer has inculcated 0
higher faith or n deeper reverence? Who
teaches the sacredness Of work and OF dutS
with more emphasis? Who so glorliles self
sacrihce--self-saerlh mot in some Idea
sphere sought out for ourselves in the vair
spirit Of self-pleasing but wherever GOO
has placed US. amid honiely, petty ankle
ties. loves and sorrows"
n In order to thoroughly understand
: George Eliot one must understand thu
IL Nineteenth century in It's scientific re
II search and it's sgnostic philosophy. Sh'
,e il the offspring Of the century and II ha
Z been said OF her that She is not only
= voice 20 utter its meaning, but trumpe
n call 10 lead Il IN. OF all the dead aud gon
"a | centuries which one ever acknowledged