Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-02-16

Tay DAsA's SARAArARnLAf
THE CURIOSITY sHos.


I.Asresting Incidents In the Carver -
khoda Brouxhtoa. the Novelist
Miss Rhoda Broughton, the creator of
such never to be forgotten people =
Nancy, Joan and Gillian Latimer. comes
Of an old Cheshire family. and was born IN
. picturesque old house on the estate It
her fathers eldest brother, the then hsad
Il the Broughton family. Here, IN alnose
osmplete deselation from the outer world.
aavs for occasional county halls. 10 spsnt
her early yesrs. Hero too. perched up o.
. ladder in her fathers library, absorbed
IN the fiction Of an earlier day. she ga&aad
that Experience of Life" which her critics
declared must have been Of so extensive
and varied q character when 1t appeared
embodied in the pages of her earliest novel
mot Wisely. but Too Well"
1t appeared in the pages Of the Dublin
University Review and was followed In .
year or two by "Cometh Up as Flower"
which was promptly accepted by Temple
Bar, where also mot Wisely, but Too
Welp subsequently appeared after one or
two incidents had been toned down in
Difference to the feelings Of the British
public.
!, Both novels made a considerable stir by
the freshness and unconventionality Of
their treatment Of well worn themes; but
their appearance WAS hailed by an out
pouring of invective from the press,
which proved to be but the commence
ment Of what can only be termed sys-
tematic journalistic persecution lasting
over twenty years. For time this hos
tile attitude Of the professional critics did
undoubtedly affect Miss Broughton's rep
utation. But within the last few years
the opposition has largely broken down,
and she is now almost generally recog-
nized as one Of the best of lighter English
novelists, a position which several dis
tinguished French critics. and good deal
Of more discriminating English opinion.
had long ago assigned to her.
The hostility of the press was powerless
to affect her popularity, for the public read
her books, liked them aud asked persist
emily for more. But in spite Of all tempt
alton to overwrite herself, Miss Brough-
ton has remained one of the very few
English novelists of the present day with
An artistic conscience. Instead OF turning
out three novels in one year she has pre-
ferred to mature one novel in three, and
has gained in SO doing distinctions which
moro than compensates tor smaller pe-
cuniary receipts. In 1880 Miss Broughton
moved with her sister to Oxford. Here she
has lived for the last ten years, finding
time both to gather round her pleasant
circle of cultivated people and to produce
Belinda, (" Or. Cupid" and ALAS"
The Smallest F1owering Plant.
The smallest towering plant, according
to London Tit-Bits, is wolffia microscopes,
. native of India. 1t belongs to the duck
weed family. 1t is almost microscopic il
size, destitute of proper stem, leaves and
roots, but having these organs merged in
one, forming frond. There is prolon-
cation of the lower surface, the purpose Of
which seems to be to enable the plant to
float upright in the water. The fronds
multiply by sending out other fronds from
slit or cavity, and with such rapidity does
this take place that few days often suffice
to produce from few individuals enough
similar ones to cover many square rods Of
pond surface with the minute green gran
ules. Small as these plants are they bear
flowers. Two are produced on a plant
each Of them very simple, one Of single
stamen and the other of single pistil,
both Of which burst through the upper
surface of the frond.