The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-04-17

lieves that we should look at the better
side Of man rather than his worst side,
and that by idealizing his good qualities
we can make those who read about him bet
ter. This is especially the case with boys.
Every boy is naturally hero worshiper,
and even the worst boys try TO initiate the
heroes they admire. "As to being a re-
former said Mrs. Burmese, ~ am not one
In the sense Of attempting special reforms
such as Charles Dickens or Charles Reade
did when they wrote of great public evils.
Dickens did great good by his pictures of
Dotheboys Halt and Oliver Twist, and
Charles Reade opened the eyes of England
to the corruptions and cruelties of It's in
sane asylums and prisons. In this line of
reform L have done nothing and my stories
have not been written with such au idea,
though l aim to do good In my own way.n
talked with Mrs. Burnett in her den in
the third story of ner beautiful home on
Massachusetts avenue. This home is q
large three-story house of pressed brick and
brown stone with a wide bay window
reaching from the ground to the roof. 1t
is within a stones throw of Blaine's man
sion on Dupont Circle and it lies between
that and the big red brick OF vice-Presi-
dent Morton, surrounded by the most
handsome houses of fashionable Washing
ton. 1t is just above Senator Van Wyck's
house, in which Chief Justice Fuller is
now living and not far Off from the homes
of Librarian Spofford and Senator Proctor
You enter it by wide front door and ind
youl self in a great hall filled with old
fashioned furniture of carved wood, some
OF which Mrs. Burnett picked up in Italy
Rare old Turkish rugs lie upon the floor
and at the right IS the parlor furnished in
blue and gold. Winding stairs of Georgia
pine conduct you by many landings 10 the
third floor and here IN a large
room, with Its windows looking out
OF Massachusetts avenue you find the
literary workshop of one of the most popu-
lar writers of modern fiction. The room
looks more like one of ease and comfort
than one Of hard work. There is a COSY
open fire before which luxurious arm
chairs stand and invite repose. There is a
divar In the window, and the hangInss of
| the room are of rich dark red. with d
touch of yellow, and the whole fioor-a
strange thing in Washington where rugs
are all the go-is carpeled. The walls are
hung with pictures, and on the mantle are
photographs Of Mrs. Burnetts friends.
Among others is noticed the face Of Glad
stone, and Mrs. Burnettin speaking of him
characterized him as "a sweet old man, y
AT the side of the room there is q broad
ttat-top desk Of oak covered with papers,
but the seat in front of this is not overly
worn and the papers upon it seem TO he in
very good order. There were, however.
some evidences Of work Mrs. Burnett
had been writing just before came in and
her manuscript lay upon the table
with the ink hardly dry. She
uses cheap foolscap paper Tor her
composition and writes with pen In slop.
! ing Spencerian characters, making her
copy more like that of a school boy than
the fine, delicate hand which is supposed
to be peculiar TO women. She writes very
easily and she tells me that her pen seem.
to write the stories itself when she is il
the mood and has started il to going She
has never found it hard to write and sh,
turns out from ten TO twelve pages day
when she is doing her regular work, max
ing judge an average of about 1000 Of
2, 500 words per day. She has not dom
much work for the past four years Tn.
death of her son Lionel, and her acciden
| at London, together with other thing
have made her moods such that she has no
/ felt like writing and the only work tina
she has done has been some stories of chill
| dren here and there over the world Thes
she has put together in book form and witt
the addition of a few extra stories, the,
will form the next product of her pen
This book is almost ready for the press
and 1t will probably come out this fall.
Mrs. Burnett is very modest woman
! In response to my note asking for an inter
view, she replied that she did not see tina
she could furnish any matter concerning
herself that would be interesting to tn
| people and that she was leading life of re
tirement She gave me an appointment
and then talked very freely concerning her
self and the newspapers, saying that sh
| did not like TO be interviewed as interview
always made one so prominent and wer
usually so published that the people inter