The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-03


neat little children's volume entitled
Amy Dora's Amusing Day. just pub
ushed by the Henry Altemus company.
Adorn with honours due her Votary's urn,
f1is social temper, far away from strife,
With pleasing humour much embellished
Nor can he die. Even now survives his
Immortaiizsd by Friendship. Love and
Fame
Epitaph on the tombstone of one Thos.
Widdowson, at Papplewick church, in
hey.
Miss Halle Erminie Rives, the au-
fhoress, who chose Lord Byron as the
hero of her recently published novel,
The CaStaway, believes that the
above lines were written by the
English bard. Though eighty years
and more have passed since the tragic
death of the poet, and the man TO
whose memory the epitaph was writ
ten had been four years dead then.
the memorial Stanza does not appear
in any of the numerous editions of
Lord Byron's works which have been
published.
The lines are distinctly of a classic
turn and Byronic to the core. That
anything written by the immortal
and forgotten for more than eight de-
cades might at first thought seem al
most incredible. But Miss RiVes who
spent many months in the romantic
Sherwood Forest district of Noting
hamshire, where Newstead Abbey, the
Byron family seat, is situated, and
where the entire neighborhood is
teeming with associations of Lord
Byron's youthful days, his early loves
and widest escapades, declares that
local prejudice, even now that the
poet has been restored to his proper
place in public estimation, is so strong
that little or nothing is done by people
dwelling there to point out anything
recalling his life to the visitor.
AS an instance of this blind pre-
3udice, Miss Rives mentions an Incl
dent that occurred while she stood
bending over the stone that marks his
last resting place in the little village
church at Hucknall, near Newstead
where the poet was laid to rest in the
family vault of the Iordly Byrons. Miss
Rfves naturally was anxious to make
the most of her visit to such a hal
lowed place, but was rudely awakened
from her reverfe when one of the To-
cal rustics approached her and rather
Indignantly asked:
why have you come so far to see
the tomb Of such a miserable rascal d?
He never was no good nohOw." 1t
was in vain the authoress sought to
explain and speak word in vindica-
ton Of her hero, whose remains rested
beneath the slab.
Miss Rives brought the copy of the
epitaph with her when she returned to
THIS country couple OF weeks ago,
after three years absence. During her
stay in Europe Miss Rives, besides
visiting Lord Byron's early home,
spent several months on Lake Geneva
in Switzerland, where the poet lived
during the six months it took him to
write 1.-The Prisoner of Chillon,"
Manfred" and 1.-THE Lament of
Tasso-" She also visited CephaIonfa
and Missolonghi in Greece where dur
ing the last year of his life Lord By
ron, fired with the zeal of freedom
took UP the cause of the Greeks fight
ing for independence, and succeeded
chaos before he finally was seized with
the disease that laid him low. Most
OF her time abroad, however was
spent In Venice, where she lived on
the Grand Canal, in full view of the
Palazzo Mocenigo, which was Byron's
residence before he went to Greece.
Some chapters of her book were writ
ten IN San Lazarro, the monastery of
the Armenian Fathers, where Byron
was a frequent visitor while in
Venice.
Regarding her reasons for believing
Lord Bryon the author of the epitaph
Miss Rives said:
"Widdowson was head gardener at
Newstead Abbey during a long tern,
of years, and was especially liked by
Lord Bryon. He was acting in this ca
pacity when Byron entertained Hob
house Monk Lewis, and others soon
after the appearance of English Bards
and Scotch Reviewers The poet was
fond of joking him and enjoyed his
ready wit. In all probab ility this was
the man who came into the breakfast
room at Newstead on the day Byron