The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-14
TKZTg[g[P1GG(g4 a DIARY
Notes chou, the Pleasant People Bah Meets.

band was imprisoned for some political
offense. and that the young wife, taking
her children with her, this young girl, for
she was nothing more, went to hive IN the
Gown where the jail was so that she
nliglit have a chance to communicate with
aer husband That she began to write
zen to earn money for him; and that,
d, nen he came out of Jail the little saw
ugs were offered to him. But then like
lany another man, he was ungrateful,
Ind he must have been cruel, for the
duchess took her babies and went to her
3wu people. In '92, meeting Mr.. Hunger
ford, you could only think that she had
married a man out of one of her books.
lie was handsome; he was n great
athlete; he rides, drives, shoots, fishes,
and does everything well. Best of al,
he adores his wife. There is a pen pict-
ure of her workroom in my book. | viii
quote it exact:
The Duchess workshop would never
suggest work, although a great quantity
of it is done there. In it is a huge CRATE,
and the log fire as it blazes up seems to
hint of pictures in its flames that this
fair woman ought to see. There are book
cases all about the room, overhowing with
books of all kinds, from those of refer
ence to those of history, from dictionaries
to books of poetry; and there are all the
novels that were ever worth paying at
tention to- Good pictures are ON the
walls and fine bits Of china are placed
where they give the most artistic effect.
The desk is a marvel of neatness. Every
bundle is carefully tied up and labeled,
and here works a woman who says: i
am more than happy; l have a full COM
plete life, in which my only trouble is
review, for | have never overcome my
terror of criticism, and as each arrives |
finch, like the coward | am, before it is
read. DO you wonder thai l wanted to
turn back the pages of my book of life?
And now she is dead, the woman who
made many people happy; the woman
who was a good wife and a good mother;
and the woman who made so perfect a
home that, when it was even suggested
that she leave it for visit to London,
the tears of the children were piteous
to see, though they nearly always tri-
umphed and kept their mother close to
them.
don't suppose the Duchess name will
be among the great novelists of history;
l don't think she expected that herself.
/ know there are plenty of critics who
snarl at her and say her books are
good goody." I'd rather write ''goody-
goody" books that only last for short
time, than write bad, bitter ones that,
because of the genius in them, viii live
forever. | think l am speaking for a
good many women when | say that it
it pleasanter to laugh with Dicky Brown
than TO be sad with Tolstoi; that it is
more interesting to read of the boycoting
in RosSmoyIe than to make oneself
wretched over the plays of Ibssen; that,
after all, to watch the gradual growth
of hove story, the unfolding of a secret,
or the triumph of virtue over vice, is
pleasanter than to convince ones self OF
the degradation of women. us painted by
LombroSo, or the degeneracy Of the race,
as pictured by Nordeau, or the unhappi-
ness in all the world, as 1T is dragged out
and dilated upon my many of the so
called great n0velists. We want some
merriness in life; we want some Of the
little books that make us laugh, that
make us shed a tear; but, certainly, we
want books that, while they interest us,
do not harrow us or make us wretched.
/ think this kindly little woman tried
to give us such books. / am sure that,
in this country, to which she never came,
she has hundreds of admirers, and / am
more than sure that many young girl
felt sad when she read: "The Duchess is
dead" Not that death is the worst
thing that can come to us. OF her so
much that is pleasant may be said that
it would seem as if death ought to bring
the praise that is her due, and which too
often is not given to people while they
are alive. But what a full life she had!
A happy wife, q good mother, and an
honest worker. Will 1t not be said to
her: "Well done, thou good and faithful
servant; enter into the joys prepared
for you" This is very tiny leaf of
laurel from q far-off country that must
join all those other leafs and go to make
wreath to lay upon the grave Of the
dead Duchess" Bah.