The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-02-27

cnurchs warden CT his parish chucch OF
st. Thomas was part donor Of q hand
which still are in use In the church,
with his namSTeagraved thereon.
It was IN pursuance OF these out
side interests that the Great MeTs
shop, that supplied uniforms to the
famous sailors Of the day, perhaps In
Guiding Nelson. lost its prestige. re-
ferred to by Captain Marryat in Peter
Simple'@We called at Meredith's the
tailor and he promised that by next
morning we should be fitted complete.n
Melchizedek showed his taste In we'd
ding while still 9 young man, q woman
Of stately marriage, who bore him a
large family of exceptionally fine chill
dren, including a son, Augustus, the.
novelist's father, who Inherited the
business. The four daughters, all beau
tiful girls, married well. One, Louisa,
who appears in the story as the Coun-
tess Silva, married a consul general for
the Azores, decorated by the Emperor
OF Brazil and the King Of Portugal.
Another, Harriet, became the wife OF
q wealthy brewer, sketched by the nov-4
elist's pen under the name Of Andrew
Cogf1lesby. a third was the wife Of q
lieutenant Of the royal marines-the
Garry" of the book and the mother
of Mr.. Ellis.
George, who was the only son of Au-
gustus Meredith, was born at the fam.
lily home in Portsmouth-already famed
as the birthplace Of Charles Dickens
in 1928. His father, who seems to have
been a "muddler," soon after ennigrat-I
ed, n the management Of the blsi-
ness was assumed, as related in Evan
Harrington" by Mrs. Meredith until
her decease, some few years later.
Reared BY His Aunts.
The novelist. then My but s years
old, was looked after by his p%aternal
aunts. He was sent to school, of which
his "chief remembrance" as he vaguely
stated to Mr.. Clodd, was three dreary
services on Sundays, the giving out OF
the text being signal to me for invent
dragon type. l was fond of 1.-THE Ara
bian Nights and this doubtless fed an
Imagination which took shape In The
Shaving of Sagpat.' 1 learned very
little at school. until I was sent to
Neuweid."
which was drawn from the meager for
tune left by his father, who had mean
while returned home from South Africa
and died, was the end Of the writer's
connection with his native place. He
was 15 at the time, and 1t appears
erately cut himself off from all inter
course with his relations.
THAT there was a QUARREL" Mr.. Ellis
remarks, seems evident from the pun
gent manner in which he dealt with
his family history in Evan Harring-
ton"
The arrangement, whatever the
cause, did not, however, prevent the
novelist from later doing a member Of
his family a good turn. Sir Samuel FL
lis, his uncle by marriage, had written
a collection Of West African stories,
publisher. Meredith happened to be a
reader of the concern, and the house
accepted the work on his recommends
ton. 1t CHANGED, however, that the
book caused the publisher much trou-
BILE, as a certain James Pinnock
maligned in one Of the characters In
troduced In the sketches. George Mere
dith was called, with other witnesses,
and when asked IL he knew Mr.. Pin
mock, replied: mot since the days Of
my youth, when I learned his cate
chism."
The plaintiff won his suit and was
awarded $1,000 damages. The Times
treated the verdict to a leading article,
and Meredith's testimony was ira
vested in Punch in a cartoon entitled
by George No n was aware at the
time Of Meredith's family connection
with the author of the libelous book.
Spare az are the accounts furnished
by Mr.. Ellis Of George Meredith's long
concealed ancestry, they furnish an
other instance OF genius applying tne
time honored advice Of look into
thine own soul and write" Meredith
had the courage to look, and in looking
dissect with the mercilese scalpel Of
his art the "Demogorgon,' as he called
1t, of his own false shame Of blood.
Although he never succeeded in cast
ing out the devouring devil, the tor
ment Of a lifetime, he had the nobility
to recognize his weakness and In an
immortalizing work call 1t by Its true
name. That Is the moral Of Evan Har-
%rington," with its Ruy Blas-like hero.
A moral that haunts the reader Of It,
as one trusts Mr.. Ellis will not be
| haunted by this shade Of it's author"
I .Ha -