Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-03-24
THACKERAY AT HOME.
ACCOUNT 3Y HIS DAUGHTER OF
A RECEPTION TO AN AUTHOR.
1t Was a Terribly Dull Affair, and the
Host Escaped to His Club-A Pen Por-
trait of Charlotte Bronte-She Was Not
Noted as a Conversationalist.

One of the most notable persons who
ever came into our old bow willdorv draw
ing room in Young street is a guest never
TO be forgotten by me, Il tiny, delicate lit
lie person, whose small hand nevertheless
grasped a mighty lever which set all the
literary world of that day vibrating. l can
still see the scene quite plainly!-the hot
summer evening, the open windows, the
carriage driving to the door as we all sat
silent and expectant; my father who rare
ly waited, waiting with us; our governess
md my sister and all in row, and pre-
Jared for the great event.
We saw the carriage stop, and ont of il
sprang the active, well knit figure of Mr..
George Smith, who was bringing Miss
Bronte to see our father. Ny father. who
had been walking up and down the room,
goes out into the hall to meet his guests,
and then after moments delay the door
opens wide, and the two gentlemen come
IN, leading a tiny, delicate, serious little
| lady, pale, with fair, straight hair and
| steady eyes. She may be little over thir-
ty; she Is dressed in q little barege dress
with pattern of faint green moss
She enters in mittens, in silence. in Sc
robustness; our hearts are beating with
wild excitement. This, then, is the author
ess, the unknown power whose books have
set all London talking, reading, speculat-
ing: some people even say our father wrote
the books-thc wonderful books
To say that we little girls had been given
Jane Eyre to read scarcely represents
The facts of the case, to say that We had
taken it without leave read bits here and
read bits there, been carried away by an
undreamed of and hitherto unimacined
whirlwind into things, times, places, all
| utterly absorbing and at the same time alb
| solutely unintelligible to us, would more
| accurately describe our states of mind on
| that summers evening as we look at Jane
! Eyre-the great Jane Eyre-the tiny little
lady.
The moment is so breathless that dinner
| comes as relief to the solemnity of the
occasion, and we all smile as my father
stoops to offer his arm, for, genius though
she may be, Miss Bronte can barely reach
| his elbow. My own personal impressions
are that she Is somewhat grave and stern,
| specially to forward little girls who wish
| 10 chatter. Mr.. George Smith has since told
| me how she afterward remarked upon nv
| fathers wonderful forbearance and gentle
| ness with our uncalled for inCursions into
| The conversation. She sat gazing at him
| with kindlinG eyes of interest, lighting ND
! with "a sort of illumination every now and
! then as she answered him. can see her
| bending forward over the table. not eating,
! but listening to what he said as he carve!
| The dish before him.
l think it must have been on this very
occasion that my father invited some of
! his friends in the evening to meet Miss
| Bronte-for everybody was interested and
| anxious to see her. Mrs. Grove, the reciter
| Of ghost stories, was there. Mrs. Brook
| field, Mrs. Carlyle, Mr.. Carlyle himself was
| there, so | am told, railing ut the appear
! lnce of cockneys upon Scotch mountain
| sides; there were also too many Americans
| for his taste, but the Americans were as
| God compared to the cockneys," says the
| philosopher. Besides the CarIyles there
we're Mrs. Elliott and Miss Perry. Mrs.
| Proctor and her daughter most of my
| fathers habitual friends and companions.
| In the recent life OF Lord Hcughton was
amused to see note quoted in which Lord
| HOughtOn was also convened. Would that
he had been present!-perhaps the party
would have gone of better. 1t was
| gloomy and Il silent evening.
Every one waited Tor the brilliant con
versation which never began ut all Miss
Bronte retired to the sofa in the study, and
| murmured a low word now and then to
Dur kind governness, Miss Truelock The
room looked very dark the lamp began 20
smoke a little, the conversation grew dim
mer and more dim, the ladies sat around
still eXpectant, my father was too much
Derturbed by the gloom and the silence to
be able to cope with it at all
Mrs. Brookfi field, who was in the doorway
by the study, near the corner in which Miss
Bronte was sitting, leaned forward with a
| little commonplace, since brilliance was
not to be the order of the evening. DO
| you ike London, Miss Bronte?" she said,
another a to
| answers Yes" and NO" very gravely,
and there the conversation drops
My sister and | were much too young to
| be bored in those days: alarmed, impressed
| we might be, but not yet bored \ party
| was party, a Honess was a lioness; and
| shall confess it2-at that time an extra
| dish of biscuits was enough to mark the
evening. We felt all the Importance of
the occasion; tea spread in the dining
room, ladies in the drawing room; we
roamed about incouveniently. no doubt,
| and excitediy, and in one of my excursions
crossing the hall | was surprised to see my
| father opening the front door with his hat
on. He pat his fingers to his lips, walked
out into the darkness, and shut the door
| quietly behind him. When | went back
to the drawing room again the ladies asked
| me where he was. | vaguely answered that
| | thought lie was comm, back
| was puzzled. at the time, nor was it all
| made clear 10 me till long years aftcrward.
! when one day Mrs. Proctor asked me ii
knew what had happened once when my
! father had invited party to meet Jane
| Eyre at his house. il was one of the dull
ast evenings she had ever spent IN her life,
| She said. And then, with u good deal of
| humor she described the situation, the la
| lies who all come expecting so much de
| lightful conversation, and the gloom and
| the cOnstraint, and how finally, over
whelmed by the situation, my father had
| quietly left the room, left the house and
| gone off TO his club
The ladies waited, wondered, and finally
| departed also; and we were going up to
bed with our candles after everybody was
| gone, remember two pretty Miss L. S, in
shiny silk dresses, arriving, full of expec-
| tation. We still said we thought our
| father would soon he back, bu. the Miss
LIS declined to wait upon the chance,