Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-03-07

church warden of his parish church OF
some set of silver offertory plates.
which still are in use in the church.
with his name engraved thereon.
1t was In pursuance of these out
side interests that the Great Mers
| shop. that supplied uniforms to the
famous sailors of the day, perhaps in
Guiding Nelson. lost it's prestige, re-
ferred to by Captain Marryat in Peter
Stmple'-"We called at Meredith's the
tailor, and he promised that by next
morning we should be fitted complete"
Melchizedek showed his taste in we'd
ding while still a young man. a 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 we'll. One. Louisa,
who ppears 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
a wealthy brewer, sketched by the nov
elist's pen under the name of Andrew
Cogtilesby. A third was the wife of a
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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT famed
as the birthplace of Charles Dickens
In 1928. His father, who seems to have
been Il "muddler." soon after emigrat-
ed. and the management of the bust
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 only but 5 years
L old Wnu 1nnkod oftor nv hfo mn o~no1
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
ing tales of the Saint George and
bian Nights and this doubtless fed an
imagination which took shape in The
Shaving of Sagpat.' 1 learned very
little at school. until 1 was sent to
| Neuweid."
This German finish to his education,
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 it appears
that thereafter the young man DELHI
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 estrangement. whatever the
cause, did not. however. prevent the
novelist from later doing a member OF
his family a good turn. Sir Samuel Ell
lis, his uncle by marriage, had written
a collection Of West African stories.
which were sent by him to a London
i n1lh1fehor MoroIith honnanol IN h4 n
reader Of the concern. and the house
accepted the work On his recommends
ion. 1t CHANGED. however. that the
book caused the publisher much trou-
BILE. as a certain James Pinnock
sued for libel on the ground that, HI was
maligned in one of the Characters in
PRODUCED in the sketches. George Mere
dith was called, with other witnesses,
n when asked IL he knew Mr.. Pin
mock, replied: mot since the days of
my youth, when I learned his cate
chism."
awarded 1000 damages. The Times
treated the verdict to a leading article,
and Meredith's testimony was ira
vested in Punch in a cartoon entitled
time of Meredith's family connection
with the author OF the libelous book.
Spare as are the accounts furnished
by Mr.. Ellis of George Meredith's long
concealed ancestry, they furnish an
other Instance of genius applying the
time honored advice of Look into
thine own soul and write Meredith
had thu courage to look. and in looking
dissect with h merciless scalpel of
his art the .D~emogorgon," as he called
it. 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
im~mortalizing work call it by it's true
name. That is the moral of EVAN Har-
rington.' with it's Ruy Blas-like hero.
A moral that haunts the reader of it,
as one trusts Mr.. Ellis will not be
! haunted by the shade of its author