"GEORGE ELIOT'S" CHILDHOOD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1067, 6 May 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

"GEORGE ELIOT'S" CHILDHOOD.

Somewhere about 1827 a friendly neighbour lent "Waverley" to an elder sister of little Mary Evans, It was returned before tho child had read to the end, and in her distress at the loss of the fascinating volume she began to write out the stoty as far as she had read it for herself, beginning naturally where the atory begins with Waverley's adventures at, Tully Veolan, and continuing until the.surprised elders were moved to get her the book again, Elia divided her childish allegiance with Scott s , and she remembered fastening with singular pleasure upon an extract in some stray almanac from the essay in commemoration of Captain Jackson, and his "slender ration of single Gloucester," and proverbs in praise of cheeserind. This is an extreme example of the general rule (liat a wise child's taste in literature Is sounder, than, adults generally venture to believe, Not many years later'we may imagine her a growing giil at school. Almost on the outskirts of the old town of Coventry, toward the railway station, the house may be still seen, itself an old-fashioned five-wiudowed Queen Anne sort of dwelling, with an' oldtimbered cottage facing it, and near adjoining a quaint brick-and-timber building, with an oriel window thrown out upon oak : pillars. Between forty and fifty years ago, Methodist ladies kept the school and the name of " little mama," given by her school-fellows, is a proof that already something was to be seen of the maternal air which characterised her in late years, and perhaps more especially in intercourse with her own.sex. Prayer-meetings were in vogue among the. girls, following the example of their elders, and while taking no doubt a leading part in these, she use to suffer much self-reproach about her coldness and inability io be canied away with the same enthusiasm as others, At the same time nothing was further from her nature than any sceptical inclination, and she used to pounce with avidity upon any approach to argumentslivelheology within her resch, carrying Paley's " Evidences" iip to her bedroom, and devouring it as she lay upon the floor alone,— Edith Simcox, in Nineteenth Century.

STEADFAST IN ! THE FAITH ]W r;v;,THEIR : iM 4 ln '•sailing ddwii the'Ganges'during the month Katik, our October, one-may pass in the course of a single day half a dozen holy -fairs,each with a multitude of pilgrims equal to the population of a large cityi Allofthem are rendered picturesque by the tents and equipages of the.weal.thy, .the variety of the "animals; and the-bright colouring in which the natives delight— those descendants of the ancient Aryans of India, .."'in many respects the most, wonderful race that ever lived on eartn,"as Professor Max Muller calls them, At night all these tents arid booths are ilium* inated,so that the scene is hardly less animated by night'than by day, and all without tumult and disorder,' ''Every one' of these'lbcalilies is h'alldwed ! by some mythological tradition, and the firmest faith is reposed by the'pilgrims in tlie'truth of these traditions. Engrafted for hundreds, nay, thousands of years, in theininds of the people, they have grown up' with their (aith; and strengthened'.with their strength; " Your words are good, Sahib; yqurleacliing is excellent," said some' native Headmen : of villages to a' Christian missionary l itj jSudlj,;"but go and preach elsewhere; We Cqjnot/ want it,;' Our .-fathers' faith is goodjenqugh. for us,i v.What s|iouJd.vwe-,',ijc|'in th£ttj!avens jjf j the Sahibß f'ilhij is no(apciful pictufe. :3&esjf arethetferyfoo^ the 'eilthns'fasuc' 1 rhlssibnarf'by the, pimple, villagers; Andwbat cou]dj/we-,'say.)i» Tgplj? He feftlhe'force nlldw-them toiparalysevhistefForls. Tl\ej re?' ligiousmeto are attended' by. thousands",)?!,' devoiees'onthesameprirrciplethat prompted the villagers' words to lb missionary,-.- They were observed by their fathers. Generation after generation has attended them, 'Hindu or Moslem or Christian the rulers may be, but the'ff^toarestill the same, and looking back into the vista-of vanished centuries, we still see the same crowds; the same devotions, the same amusements; food, clothing,"'and attendant animals;' ■ When Britons were painted' savages it was so,; and j now that Victoria! Queen of England, is 'Empress of India/ifis so still.— Nineteenth Century.