The Indianapolis journal., 1891-02-22

The Daughter OF Thsckersy Gives Her RecoI-
lection Of Charlotte Bronte.
arruff1arss Ma0

lection Of Charlotte Bronte.
n MacmiIiAn's Magazine
One of the most notable persons who ever
came into our old bow-windoved drawing
room in Young street IL guest never TO be
forgotten by me, tiny, delicate little per-
son, whose small hand nevertheless grasped
q mighty lever which set all the literary
world of that day vibrating. can still see
the scene quite plainiy-the hot summer
evening. the open windows, the carriage
driving to the door as we all sat silent and
expecfant; my father, who rarely waited.
waiting with Us; our governess. and my
sister and i all in o row. and prepared for
the great event We saw the carriage stop.
and out of IL sprang the active, well-knit
hgure of young Mr.. George Smith. who was
bringing Miss Bronte 10 see our father. My
father. who had becn walking mp and down
the room, goes ont irto the ball 10 meet his
guests. anu then. after moments delay.
the door opens wide. and the two gentlemen
lady, pale, with fair straight hair, and
steady eyes She mHy be a little over thirty;
she Is dressed In barege dress. with pat
tern of faint green moss. She enters In
mittens. In silence. in seriousness; our
hearts are beating with wild excitement.
This 10 the authoress. the unknown power
whose books have set all London talking.
reading. speculating: some people even say
our father wrote the books-the wonderful
books. TO say that we little. girls
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 unimhgined whirlwind into things.
times. places. all utterly absorbing and ac
the Same time absolutely unintelligible to
us. would more accurately describe our
states of mind on that summers evening az
we look at Jsne Eyre-the great Jane
Eyrs-the tiny LITTLE t, Lady: The mo-
comes ~ relief to the solemnlty
Of the occasion. and we all smile as
my father stoops 90 offer bis arm. for. genius
though she may be. Miss Bronte can barely
rssch his elbow My own personal impres,;
stern, specially to forward little girls who
wish to chatter; Mr.. George smith has
since told me how she afterw ards remarked
my fathers wonderful forbeaTance
sor % incnss;ons .fS sto tsn conVer.at;nn sssn shs
eat gazing at him with kindling eyes of in
terest. lighting up with sort of illumina-
tion. every now and then, as she answered
him. l can see her bending forward over
the table. not eating. but listening TO what
he said as he carved the dish before him.
think il must have been on this very
occasion that my father invited some of has
friends In the evening to meet Miss Bronte
for erybody was interested and anx-
ious to see her. Mrs Grove. the reciter OF
ghost stories, was there. Mrs Brooktield,
Mrs CARLYLE. Mr.. CARLYLE himself was there.
90 am told. railing at the appearance Of
cockneys upon Scotch mountain sides;
too
God compared to the cockneys," says the
philosopher. Besides the Carlyles there
were Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Perry. Mra
Proctor and her daughter. most of my faith
ers habitual friends and companions. In
the recent Life of Lord HoughtonD l was
amused TO see q note quoted In which
Lord Houghton was also convened Would
that he had been present-perhaps the
party would have gone of better. lt was
gloomy and silent evening. Every one
waited for the brilliant conversation which
never began at all. Miss Bronte retired 70
the sofa in the study, and murmured q low
word now and then 20 our kind g0verness
Miss Truelock. The room looked very dark,
the lamp began to smoke little, the con-
Sersation grew DINNER and more dim, the
ladies sat around still expectant. my IA
ther was too much perturbed by the gloom
and the silence to be able to cope with IL az
way by the study. near the corner in which
Miss Bronte was sitting. leaned forward
with q little commonplace. since brilliance
was not TO be the order Of the evening.
DO you like London. Miss Brontep sne
said; another silence. pause, then Miss
Bronte answers "Yes and no' very gravely,
and there the conversation drops My
sister and were much too young TO bo
bored in those days; alarmed. impressed we
might be. but not yet bored. A party was
party, q lioness; and shall confess itf-
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 inconveniently, no
doubt. and excItedly. and IN one of my
excursions crossing the hall. i was sur
prised to see my father opening the front
door with his hat on: He put his fingers TO
his lips. walked out into the darkness. and
shutthe door quietly behind him. When L
went back to the drawing room again, the
ladies asked me where he was Ivagueiy an
swered that thought he was coming back.
was puzzled at the time, nor was it ali
made clear to me till long years afterward
when one day Mrs. Proctor asked me If /
knew what had happened once when my
father had invited q party to meet Jane
Eyre at his house. 1t was one of the dull
est evenings she had ever spent in her life.
she sad. And then with good deal OF
bumor she described the situation. the
ladies who had all come expecting 50 much
gloom and the .constraint and
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 as we were going
up to bed with our candles after every
body was gone. ! remember two pretty
Miss LIS. in shiny silk dresses, arriving,
full of expectation We etill said
we thought our father would soon be back,
hat the Miss LIS declined to wait upon the
chance laughed and drove away again al
most immediately.