The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-04-01
Her New Love
Author of Little Lord FauntIeroy
and Her Marriage.

and Her Marriage.
history of Mrs. Burnett, the author
of Little Lord Fountleroy." is given by
the New York Journal as follows:
Visitors at Cornwall called her ''The
little Girl of the Mines" There were
many little girls who played, bareheaded
and barefooted and with only bit of a
ragged. homespun dress between those
sunburned extremities, on the Cornish
dumps, but for reasons which the visl-
tors could not, or did not try to- explain
only one face was remembered, and that
hers whom they called 1.-The Little Girl
90 the Mines"
She had not ever that claim to atten-
tion, height. She was short, and she was
undeniably fat. Distinguishable chiefly by
an overabundance-her mother called it
mop-of brown hair and by a pair of
Wonderfully luminous blue eyes the child
had an added trick of a sudden smile
that frightened rather heavy face like
a sunburst. The hair and the eyes and
the smile formed trihity that challenged
remembrance.
The visitors to the mines said she was
quaint" Her mother and the other Cor
zish women said she was queer" When
they We're angry they told her she was
'uncanny" She was too good-tempered,
too Indifferent and too indolent to make
any reply.
She used to lie for hours on her back
on the Gump staring at the sky and
dreaming day dreams. ''Thinkin' Of
things" she would say by way of ex-
plantation
Vide THE Little Girl OF the Mines
transplanted to the American city Of
magnificent distances. Americas capital
See her awaken from her Incidence. an
omniverous devourer of books. See her
in a rented floor of a tenement house on
T street, n. w, Sinking household
duties as usual and dreaming day
dreams with more assiduity than before.
See her growing to the feminine height
and dignity of her first love.
It does not matter so much in the de-
velopment of woman nature whom she
loves as how she loves. 1t happened to
De Swan NJ. Burnett, a poor young med
first fell in love. That they were both
Door beyond the point of comparison con-
stituted no bar to their romanticism They
married first and considered the problem
of livelihood afterward
That after years Of poverty and toll
and sacrifice on the part of both these
two separated and pursued their paths UP
the hill Of fame alone does not greatly
concern this narrative.
The incident of the marriage had to do
chiefly with the fact that it was the
awakening of a genius to her knowledge
of love, that powerful, mysterious
troubling thing that is a tremendous ell
ement in all Frances Hodgson Burnett's
novels She wrote of It as the ghost |
that will not lie, the terrible all-conquer-
ing force in whose grasp a human being
IS as helpless as a ton boat In real |
WHIRLPOOL Frances Hodgson- Burnett |
has written the most powerful love
stories in the womans share of Ameri- |
can literature And Swan Burnett, the |
poor medical student, was her first love, |
her DreceDtor.
Their lives diverged. The court records |
had something to say &C incompatibility. |
DR.. Swan Burnett pursued his way alone |
and became one of the most eminent |
ocuIists in America Mrs. Frances Hodg- |
son Burnett became the leading woman
novelist in America. Both lived in Wash
ington. They see each other occasionally |
IN society and at Mrs. Burnetts home
They are reputed to be great friends"
III
Mrs Burnett was wont to quote the
words of Corneia. Roman matron,
These are my Jewels
Her two sons, Lionel and Vivian, were
her chiefest treasures. 1t was for them
she turned to writing and clothed in
literature those day dreams Of THE Lit
tie Girl Of the Mines"
Il had to do something to earn my |
living and that of my boys" she says
of that time. Under the circumstances
one naturally tries the first thing one
loves best to do. / tried writing. 1t
was the only thing 1 could do 1t was
what I enjoyed doing; and, fortunately
indeed. 1t proved successful 1 have found
literature very profitable. and l think sole
ly because it was an opportunity Tor me
to unite pot-poiling and the labor OF
love n one effort
Vivian. the younger, was graduated
from Yale last year He choose journal
ism as a profession. He is a member of
the Denver Republican staff.
II was Lionel the elder, who Ilspired
his mother to write Little Lord Faun-
tIeroy" The piquant, sad story was pho-
tographic Mrs. Burnett said so herself
and said she offered to divide the i'm
mense profit Of the book and play with
her Inspiration. The Inspiration de-
clined. He found that inspiring books
was something of a bore. Its results he
described as awful.
He was followed about Washington at
a respectful distance. That did not pre-
ven. his hearing the admiring whisper;
.sThere goes the original Little Lord
Fauntleroy" When he appeared in New
York the clamor had lost its soft, South
ern whispers.
'dn' Lord Fauntleroy. De real ting
shouted the newg0oys.
There were FauI>Hleroy hats. Fauntleroy |
shoes. Fauntleroy ties and Fauntleroy
knickerbockers There were Faunueroy
waltzes ground out by street organs
whose zeal exceeded their music. There
we're Fauntleroy puzzles. and that most
ardent tribute to fame, babies christened
Faunueroy.
Lionel Burnett grew tired Of being the
rage. His mother took him TO London.
He was appalled, to frd that the Fauntle-
ror vogue had preceded him. He went
n Paris. 1t was there before him He
greaned a last protest and submitted TO
being popular. He was a wise lad, now
ever He begged his mother to write