X V, V / / fi' i.Vv / 1 V N * s ■ ii V* i >-; r, * >” . mi»• •. > w \ • “ ,v* <• i V ‘ > r ; V v • Y'i • ,rv• VlV . ,' n•, , V' ' J*VI'l’ •“ *• *‘ V-V-V »•• l 7 *> i ■ : ' C '’ . W*v— > • V • *t. 4*> M r • - I • :i'-. J v' • fy Aiu • c>- * * | -/ u s Y / I I * . •* 11 'll % I GRIFF HOUSE GEORGE ELIOT’S EARLY HOME GEORGE ELIOT’S if SILAS MARNER The Weaver of Raveloe EDITED BY EVALINE HARRINGTON DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, WEST HIGH SCHOOL COLUMBUS, OHIO With Illustrations by FRANK T. MERRILL “A child, more than all other gifts That earth can offer to declining man. Brings hope with it, and forward-looking thoughts ” Wordsworth GOL¬ DEN D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS LONDON to. P£3 .£>3 HEATH’S GOLDEN KEY SERIES “Dl The following titles, among many others, are available or in preparation: POETRY Arnold’s sohrab and rustum and other poems browning’s shorter poems french’s recent poetry GUINDON AND O’KEEFE’S JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL POETRY milton’s shorter poems scott’s lady of the lake tennyson’s idylls of the king FICTION cooper’s LAST OF THE MOHICANS ELIOT’S SILAS MARNER eliot’s mill on the floss hawthorne’s house of the seven gables TALES FROM HAWTHORNE dickens’s tale of two cities (entire) dickens’s tale of two cities (editedfor rapid reading) scott’s ivanhoe SCOTT’S QUENTIN DURWARD WILLIAMS AND LIEBER’s PANORAMA OF THE SHORT STORY OTHER TITLES ADDISON AND STEELE’S SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS boswell’s life of Johnson (selections) burke’s on conciliation PHILLIPS AND GEISLER’s GLIMPSES INTO THE WORLD OF SCIENCE LOWELL’S A MIRROR FOR AMERICANS (essays by Lowell and others about ourselves and our neighbors) MACAULA.y’s JOHNSON french’s OLD TESTAMENT NARRATIVES Shakespeare’s julius caesar Shakespeare’s midsummer night’s dream Copyright, 1930 By D. C. Heath and Company 3 B o Printed in the United States of America RPR -7 I9@C1 A 21598 PREFACE In contrast to an historical romance, a novel of char¬ acter, like Silas Marner, does not require much editing. The story is true for all time and is perfectly clear with¬ out reference to its setting. Consequently introductory matter has been reduced to the minimum. The editor has included a short sketch of George Eliot — sufficient material to give the student some idea of the author — and a brief appreciation of the novel. The rest of her attention has been given to suggesting a variety of lesson helps and discussion questions, intended to indicate a few of the many ways of approaching this ever-popular story. CONTENTS PAGE Preface.. iii Introduction.vii Part I. Chapters I-XV.i Part II. Chapters XVI-XXI .... 193 Notes and Questions ..261 Suggestions for Study.279 Library References.283 Biographical Outline.285 v ILLUSTRATION^ Griff House.Frontispiece FACING PAGE It Was All Over with Wildfire ... 48 There’s Been a Cursed Piece of III Luck with Wildfire.96 A Quaint Procession.145 It Was a Sleeping Child *.159 Eppie and Silas Were Seated Alone . 234 vi INTRODUCTION A Mind Open for Inspection As we walk through a real estate addition we often see before a new house this placard: “Open for Inspection.” We enter and go through the house, perhaps admiring the plan and arrangement of the rooms, designed for con¬ venience, comfort, and beauty. If we are discerning, we see more than this, more than walls, wood, and plaster. We see also the mind of the architect “open for inspec¬ tion.” We sense that technical training, knowledge, skill, understanding of the housekeeper’s needs, supplied the mental equipment for his vocation. So it is with the author of a book; his mind is open for inspection. A book may entertain, tire, inspire us, ac¬ cording to the harmony between our mind and the mind of the author. If the author’s mind is poorly and meagerly furnished, the book will have the same qualities. If his mind is richly furnished and his nature fine and generous, his work will be of like caliber, because in his books he both reflects and projects himself. George Eliot had the richest mental gifts of any English novelist. As a child and young woman, Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) attended the best private schools in her neighborhood, but she was in maturity largely self-taught. Young women in her time, the early Victorian period, did not go to college. A student by nature, devoted to mental pursuits, she even worked mathematical problems to keep her mind from becoming soft. She knew Latin, Greek, vii viii INTRODUCTION. German, French, Italian, and Spanish as literature, not simply as languages. In middle life she taught herself Hebrew. The mid-Victorian period in which she lived helped to develop her mind; intellectually it is still a memorable and distinguished era. She knew many eminent Victorians, including Herbert Spencer, Harriet Martineau, Charles Dickens, and Thackeray. Music was her greatest source of pleasure and entertain¬ ment, and she was a creditable performer on the piano, reading with ease and playing with feeling. Oratorios moved her to tears. The sciences claimed her interest, but she thought that the soul of the universe could never be captured by scientific research. To her writing she brought a scholar’s background, an independence of thought, and a fund of classified informa¬ tion and knowledge. Many partially educated people have minds crowded with all kinds of unsorted, unrelated facts, but her knowledge was stored away in orderly fashion, ready at hand to illustrate a point by an apt allusion, an historical reference, or a figure of speech. But hers was not a mere pedant’s mind. She had a very practical acquaintance with everyday things. Her house¬ wifely characters show this. When she was fifteen, her mother died, and she became the head of her father’s house. She delighted in keeping a neat, well-ordered home and was determined to excel in the domestic arts. “Im¬ portant trivialities” was her term for household duties. The dairy was an attractive spot to her, and she became skilled in molding cheese and butter. In her letters she speaks of making mince pies and currant jelly. She was an expert needlewoman and made ornamental articles for the home esteemed at that time, including hooked rugs, now once more in vogue. Her day was divided into periods for household affairs, reading, and study. When her father came to his last illness, she herself nursed him cheerfully and efficiently. “My chair by father’s bedside INTRODUCTION. IX is a very blessed seat to me,” she writes in one of her letters.1 Although her mind was masterly and masculine in strength and quality, her nature was very feminine and dependent, given to loneliness and self-distrust. She had no natural conceit and was never satisfied with her work, because her standards were very high. In her letters she referred to her “ivy nature” and was of the opinion that all human beings were dependent upon the affection and devotion of others for true happiness. To love and be loved she thought necessary states of being. She is fond of depicting “lonely souls,” but she does not let them pine in self-pity; she leads them to forget themselves and to find an object or cause for living. Silas Marner is a good example of this treatment. George Eliot’s family ties were very strong. The death of her father left her desolate, and long after she be¬ queathed to the kindness of friends the first little book he had given her as a child. Her elder sister’s illness “ploughed her heart.” The friends of her youth were cherished until her death and she begged to share not only their joys but their troubles. Her last unfinished letter was to a friend in sorrow. Sympathy was her richest gift. She was especially fond of pets and also loved children dearly. The sons of Mr. Lewes called her mother and looked to her for counsel and affection. One of her last letters records her pleasure in a little granddaughter. To her mind, the fullest lives were well-rooted in some comer of a native soil. The Midlands of England she took as her proper literary province. Her heart and affections were rooted there. Travel on the Continent enlarged her vision, but her mind always showed the im¬ press of England and her early training. This attachment 1 Cross’s Life of George Eliot, Vol. I, page 147. X INTRODUCTION. and love for her fellow countrymen enabled her to write of them, to tell what they thought and why they acted as they did. She saw them with an understanding mind and a warm, sympathetic heart. But George Eliot’s success as a writer was not alto¬ gether due to these qualities, to intellectual gifts, or to craftsmanship. She had in addition a passion for express¬ ing herself so that she could be of help to others, and she sought to prepare herself for this objective just as she studied to improve her literary style. Probably her best expression of this desire is voiced in “ The Choir Invisible ” which shows the lofty quality of her spirit. In her zeal to instill lessons of right conduct she sometimes becomes didactic and heavy, the mind prevailing over the heart, but at her best she touches the life of her characters with humor, irony, and discerning tenderness. Girls and women now hear much shallow talk about charm and personal beauty, but rarely in these discussions is the quality and the furnishing of the mind mentioned as a feminine asset.