Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/243

 KEADE READING 227 and " The Zing's Rival." " Clouds and Sun- shine " and "Art, a Dramatic Tale," two novel- lettes, appeared in 1855. All these works were received with a flattering welcome, and in 1856 he published a more ambitious novel, entitled "It is Never too Late to Mend," in which he aimed to show the possibility of the reforma- tion of a criminal. This, which was the first of a series of romances, each written to illus- trate some social or public wrong, aroused at- tention to the brutalities of the English prison system, and was instrumental in effecting their amelioration. His later works are : " The Double Marriage, or White Lies," " The Course of True Love never did run Smooth," "Pro- pria Quae Maribus, and the Box Tunnel " (1857) ; " Cream : Jack of all Trades," and the "Auto- biography of a Thief" (1858) ; " Love me Lit- tle, Love me Long," and "A Good Fight and other Tales " (1859) ; " The Eighth Command- ment " (1860) ; " The Cloister and the Hearth, or Maid, Wife, and Widow " (1861) ; " Hard Cash "(1863); "Griffith Gaunt, or Jealousy " (1866); "Foul Play," in connection with Dion Boucicault (1868) ; " Put Yourself in his Place" (1870); "A Terrible Temptation" (1871); " The Wandering Heir" (1872); "A Simpleton: a Story of a Day" (1874); and "A Hero and a Martyr" (1875). Of these, " The Cloister and the Hearth " incorporates the greater part of a previous story, "A Good Fight," but the plot soon changes and justi- fies the secondary title of " Maid, Wife, and Widow." The chief characters, Gerard and Margaret, are the parents of Erasmus. " Hard Cash " was written with the object of calling attention to the abuses of lunatic asylums; and so forcibly did he put the facts which he had gathered that it awakened official investi- gation and led to a change in the English luna- cy laws. "Put Yourself in his Place " is an exposure of the system of terrorism, vulgarly called "rattening," practised by the trades unions in English manufacturing towns for the intimidation of independent workmen. Many of Mr. Reade's stories have been successfully dramatized, and nearly all of them have been translated into the different languages of Eu- rope. Mr. Reade's style is characterized by great terseness and vigor, and by a wealth of incident which few writers of fiction have pos- sessed ; and though marred by occasional pe- culiarities, which in some instances degener- ate into literary trickery, it has won him great popularity and a place among the foremost Novelists of the age. II. William Winwood, an English traveller, nephew of the preceding, born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire, in 1839, died at Wimbledon, April 24, 1875. He visited the west coast of Africa first in 1862-'3, and on his return published "Savage Africa: a Narrative of a Tour in Equatorial, Southwestern, and Northwestern Africa " (1863). In 1868-'70 he again visited the west coast, penetrated inland by a new route from Sierra Leone to the source of the Niger, established friendly relations be- tween that colony and the native powers 450 m. from the coast, and proved that the Niger has its rise in the same range of mountains as the Senegal and the Gambia. (See NIGER.) He soon after published " The Martyrdom of Man " (1872) and " The African Sketch Book " (1873). In 1873-'4 he accompanied the Ashan- tee expedition as special correspondent of the London " Times," and incurred the disease which resulted in his death. His " Story of the Ashantee Campaign" was published in 1875. Mr. Reade was also the author of sev- eral novels : " Charlotte and Myra " and " Lib- erty Hall, Oxon." (1859) ; " The Veil of Isis, or the Mysteries of the Druids " (1861) ; " See- Saw, by Francesco Abati, edited by W. W. Reade" (1865); and "The Outcast" (1875). READING; a city and the capital of Berks co., Pennsylvania, on the E. bank of the Schuyl- kill river, here crossed by three bridges, and on the Schuylkill and Union canals, at the in- tersection of several branches of the Philadel- phia and Reading railroad with the Wilming- ton and Reading line, 54 m. E. of Harrisburg and 58 m. N. W. of Philadelphia; pop. in 1800, 2,385 ; in 1810, 3,463 ; in 1820, 4,352 ; in 1830, 5,859; in 1840, 8,410; in 1850, 15,743; in 1860, 23,162 ; in 1870, 33,930, of whom 3,871 were foreigners. It is very pleasantly situated on an elevated and ascending plain, backed on the east by Penn's Mount, and on the south by the Neversink mountain, from both of which flow streams of pure water, abundantly sup- plying the city. It is regularly laid out, well built, and kept neat and cleanly. The streets cross each other at right angles, and in the centre is a square on which are the chief hotels and stores. The court house is a very hand- some edifice with a fine portico, sustained by six columns of red sandstone. Other public buildings are the city hall, county jail, opera house, and academy of music. Of the church- es the most conspicuous are Trinity (German Lutheran), an antique building with a spire 210 ft. high, and Christ (Episcopal), an imposing Gothic edifice of red sandstone with a spire 202 ft. high. Reading is surrounded by a rich farming country, with which it has a very im- portant trade. The inhabitants of this dis- trict are chiefly of German origin, and a dia- lect of German, known as Pennsylvania Dutch, prevails extensively among them. The city is especially noted for its manufactures, among which the production and working of iron hold the first rank. Much of the ore is obtained from Penn's Mount. The chief establishments are 6 furnaces, 2 forges, 7" founderies, 5 roll- ing mills, a nail factory, 15 machine shops, 3 manufactories of iron ware of various sorts, 3 of steam boilers, 2 of nuts and bolts, and 3 of iron pipe. There are also a cotton mill, 13 shoe factories, 8 tanneries, 6 breweries, 9 brick factories, 9 manufactories of furniture, 80 of cigars, one of spokes, one of rope, one of car- pets, one of spectacles, 10 of wool hats, 6 of cooperage, 2 distilleries, 3 paper mills, and 5