New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-17


lac Nv william Mottram Illustrated limo.
tiers al c McC1uTg K Co
o-,-or Of this book, cousin OF Mary Ann
IN" .,ho-,yfse George Eliot. is a Wesleyan
- and he deals with her novAl. Adam
-, the religious as we'll as the family
D risw The novelist undoubtedly drew
pO''' leaders of Adam and Seth Bede from her
Ehs '..-d uncle. Robert and Samuel Evans, and
nn norris had her prototype in the gentle
Dip-I - Elizabeth Tomlinson. who became the
70. .bis Samuel Evans. The pious lives of
VI IN, ,roup are described in detail, and with
u' - devout enthusiasm, by their kinsman-
pOD Rio, Is indeed. a secondary parsonage
nok and there is scarcely a hint OF any
- .7 IN the pages devoted to her. Mr..
nm, 4s-,,- anDarently never saw her, and in his
NJ z,ve the Evans family and its connec-
y,a,5ed Cousin Mary Ann mot yet known
wv - Eliot as an undutiful child who had
-,oo5 her fathers religion and had refused
' ,arer 10 accompany him to church. or
- .,,tsecuent inner life and convictions the
- Knows no more than may any careful
,.r+ of her works and Of the Cross biography
o. conclusion he draws from such study is
at all through life she was reverent and
..o,v religious soul in spite of her agnosticism.
~ her family NJ Mottram speaks as re
-.,c,atle country folk and nothing more" Rob
- Evans. George Eliot's father. was stall
.,,t man Of strong character and practical
,buay. He had no literary requirements, even
his smelling being atrocious, but he had the
native intelligence 10 appreciate his youngest
daughters rare gifts and gave her the best edu-
ration be could supply. At seventeen she left
,bool and returned home to act as her fathers
,orssLeeper and dairywoman. Her life was
t7n Al that time Of hard work with her hands.
h., the eager mind was as busy. She washed
milk mans and made butter and cheese and at
ee same time she studied German, Spanish,
italian and music with professors who came
10 her weekly from the nearest town; she
taught herself Greek. and also took UP Hebrew.
II was al this period, when Mary Ann was her
fathers chosen companion, that she stored in
ber memory his "reminiscences Of his youth and
Of country life at the end OF the eighteenth
and the beginning Of the nineteenth century
"reminiscences which she afterward used in
adam Bede." II was in these years too that
che held those long talks with her aunt Eliza
beth Evans Oinah Norris hearing in the
course Of them an anecdote which gave her. as
she has herself told US the germ Of that re-
narkable novel That in Adam she truthfully
drew her sturdy father, the Industrious estate
agent and steward, Is suggested by an anecdote
related 70 Mr. Mottram by Robert Evans's
youngest son and successor:
BE said that one day toward the end of his life
bis father referred 10 the moderate estate he would
have behind him He said ii would not be found
70 be a large amount, that many men placed ia his
Circumstances would have grown very rich but
that ne had always made Il HIS first aim IN life TO
Go the best lie could fer all the clients who had
employed him What different world IL would be
Z al were equally true TO their trustsl
Mr. Mottran says that the character OF Martin
POyser was also drawn from the noveIIst's
father, and, as for her mother, mot a member
q her family who knew the original or has
heard by family tradition OF her capable man
lgement her clockwork exactitude, her clever
tongue, her real Kindness together with her
Eznuine devotion as wife and mother, would