The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-06-10
MRS. BROWNING.
Some Pleasant RecollectiOns of That Popu-
lar Lady Writer.

Some Pleasant RecOllections of That Popu-
lar Lady Writer.
We were taken 70 call very soon after
| they arrived. Mrs Browning received
us in a low room with Napoleonic chairs
and tables. and a wood fire burning on
the hearth.
don't think any girl who had once
experienced it could fail to respond to
Mrs. Browning's motherly advance.
| There was something more than kind
ness in it; there was an implied inter
est, equality, and understanding which
is very difficult to describe and impOssi-
bic to forget. This generous humility
of nature was also to the last one spec
ial attribute of Robert Browning him
self, translated by him into cheerful
and vigorous good will and utter alb
sence of affectation. But. indeed, one
form of greatness is the gift of reaching
the reality in all things, instead of keep
ing to the formalities and the affecta-
tions of life. The free-and-easiness of
the small is a very different thing from
this. 1t may be as false in its way as
fornality itself, if it is founded on con-
ditions which do not and can never ex-
ist
To the writer's own particular taste
there never will be any more delightful
person than the simple-minded woman
of the world, who has seen enough to
know what it is all worth, who is sure
enough of her own position to take it
for granted. who is interested in the
person she is talking to, and uncon-
scious of anything but wish to give
kindness and attention. This is the
impression Mrs Browning made upon
me from the first moment | ever saw
her to the last. Alas! the moments were
not so very many when we were to
gether. Perhaps all the more vivid is
the impression of the peaceful home. of
the fireside where the logs are burning
while the lady of that kind hearth is es-
tablished in her sofa corner, with her
little boy curled up by her side the door
opening and shutting meanwhile to the
quick step of the master of the house. to
the life of the world without as it came
to find her in quiet nook. The hours
seemed to my sister and to me warmer,
more full of interest and peace, in her
sitting-roOm than elsewhere. Whether
at Florence, at Rome, at Paris, or in
London once more, she seemed to carry
her own atmosphere always. something
serious, motherly, absolutely artless,
and yet impassioned, noble, and sin
cere. l can recall the slight figure in
its black dress, the writing apparatus
by the sofa, the tiny inkstand, the quill
nibbed pen-the unpretentious imple-
ments of her magic. ''She was little
woman; she liked little things" Mr..
Browning used to say. Her miniature
editions of the classics are still carefully
preserved, with her name written in
each, in her delicate, sensitive hand
writing, her own, for she dedicated all
her books to him; it was fancy that
she had Nor must his presence in the
home be forgotten any more than in
the books-a spirited domination and
inspired common-sense, which seemed
TO give certain life to her vaguer Wis
ions But of these visions Mrs. Brown
ing rarely spoke; she was too simple and
practical TO indulge in many apostro-
phes-Anne Thackeray Richie, in Har-
pcr's Magazine