The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-17

ehA tncl LGkkeu NClY freely
concerning herself and the newspapers,
saying that she did not like to be inter-
viewed, as interviews always made one so
prominent, and were usually so published
that the people interviewed seemed to act
as though they were seeking notoriety.
one begged me to make the ego
In anything 1 might quote from her
as small as possible, and she
and her work. She said she considered
her power to write very largely a matter
OF GIT; at is no credit to me-" said she,
that nave 1t, for did not acquire it by
hard WORK. One man, you know, may be
porn with voice for singing, another
may be so strong that he can lift great
Eelgnts, and third may have wonder
full faculty for mathematics Writing has
always been easy for me, and like it and
take pleasure in it. Ii has always been
surprise to me that my books have been
SO successful, but suppose it is the re-
suit OF storytelling talent which is
gwen to some people.
"You are now, Mrs. Burnett" said I,
''just at the beginning OF your prime. 1
suppose you will continue to write'
81 hope so," was the reply. ~ should
feel badly to think otherwise. l want to
write as long as / can, and feel that 1
ought to be able to do better work as 1
grow older"
when did you first begin to write ?"
said L.
Il can't remember when 1 did not
write, replied Mrs. Burnett. 81 have al
ways been writing. At the age of Z / re-
member writing poem. l can't say how
good it was, but probably not very good.
My family had gone to church and
l was. alone at home. 1 heard the
bells ringing and in some way or other
wrote this little verse about the bells. 1t
was torn up, and / don't suppose the
world lost much in Its destruction. Still,
It is'curious as showing an evidence of nv
desire to write. / remember when I was q
little girl at school that l had already in
my childish way gotten an idea that l was
to be an authoress, and when We children
would speak together and say what We
would do when We grew mp. used to say
l proposed to be an authoress and write
books"
Wont you please tell me the story of
your first published manuscript ?" asked.
"The story is an old one and don't be-
Eeve it will bear retelling, but there are
some things about it that are rather inter-
esting. My first story was miss Carruth-
er's Engagement" and / sent it away be-
cause 1 wanted to make some money. I
hod DCsun tllc StOTy several years before,
but had not finished it, and when / got
this desire for money for some purpose or
other l wondered if could not make
some out of my writing. l sent it to Bal
louis Magazine and sent a note along
with it, asking them to send me what
it was worth if they published it. In a
short time / got note from Mr.. Ballou
saying that the article was good and they
would like to publish it, but that they
could not afford to pay for it. l was only
IL years old at the time, and wonder now
at the good sense l showed then. l had
decided idea that if the article was good
enough to publish it was good enough to
be paid for and at once sent back let
ter which l can remember almost as well
today as when l wrote it. 1t read some
thing like this:
Mr. Editor-Dedr Sir: II my story is not good
enough TO paw for it is not good enough TO pub
lsh, and if you cannot pay for it 1 wish you
would return it. My object is remuneration.
This letter was signed with a fictitious
name, as was also the letter accompanying
the manuscript. In response to 1t the
story was sent back. and / sent it to
Godey's Lady's Book. Their readers
doubted its tS; and Mr. Mr.; Cooley
it was original he would pay
me $40 for it, and that l might set about
writing another at once. | wrote in re-
ply showing them that the story was un-
doubtedly my own, and to prove it sent
them another called Hearts and Dia-
monds, and for the two got $35."
do you remember your sensations on
seeing your first story in print?" | asked.
yes, 1 can" replied Mrs. Burnett,
with laugh. II know l read the story
over and over again, and it seemed much
more interesting and better than it did in
the original manuscript. The money I
got seemed to be a great deal, and felt
that my vocation in life was fixed and
indeed, / have been writing from that day
to this"
The conversation here drifted to Mrs.
Burnett's characters, and 1 asked her
whether she invented characters and situa-
tions or took them from real life. She re-
piled that she did both. and she told me
that the heroine of THAT Lass o. Low
rie's, which many suppose to have been
taken from real life, was almost altogether
an ideal creation. "The character" she
said, 'was suggested by strong, hand
some woman among the miners in the
English town where lived with my par
ents before / came to America. / was a
very little girl when | saw her, but she
made great impression lpon me, and she
was queen among the rough people with
whom she associated. l used to watch her
with great interest when she would
pass my fathers gate. and though | had
no acquaintance with her she produced
such an impression upon me that | wove
around her the character which you find in
my story. l suppose all characters are
suggested by something, but only one or
two of them have been taken from people
in real life, and these are notably Little
Lord Fauntleroy and Lawrence Arbuth-
not, in Through One Administration.
81 suppose, Mrs. Burnett, you have
been great reader all your life? What
books have influenced you most and OF
what class of literature have you been
most fond?"
~ can hardly say" replied Mrs Burnett.
al read nearly everything could get my
hands on when girl. | could never keep
away from books, and was often pun
ished when | was child for my Impolite-
ness for looking into books and stealing
page of reading at time when visitors were
present, pretending all the time to be inter-
ested in The conversation. l have always
been very fond of novels, and | think my
favorites are Dickens and Thaekeray. Of
the former dearly Ioved David Copper
field, and | have travelled about London
with Pendennis and Nicholas Nickleby,
| can't tell when l did not read. | don't
think | ever learned my letters, or to read
by learning to spell as most children do,
and my first remembrance of reading Is.
that | stood one day when l was Just
wears old at my grandmother's knee. and
out of her rown-speckled leather Bible
read these words:
when Jesus was born In Bethlenem OF
Judea."
Ii is strange should remember them,
but | do remember them, and they are my
first memory Of reading anything out OF