Show PRABGESUDRHRTT A Chat With the Novelist in Her Washington Home ABOUT HERSELF AND HER WORK Her Ideas of the Realistic School of Fiction and Her Object In Writing How Her First Manuscript Looked In Print WASHINGTON April 12 1S92 Special i correspondence of THE SUXDAT HERALD Mrs Frances Hodgson Burnett the novelist novel-ist is spending the spring very quietly in Washington She returned from England about the first of March and she will remain re-main here until the summer when she will leave the capital for the sea shore or the mountains She is in excellent health and the probability is that she will soon resume re-sume her literary labors As it is she is turning out some manuscript every day and the work she is engaged upon now is a story of a boys club in London which she is writing strangely enough for her son I Vivian and which will be published by bim in the little printing office which ho is running in the basement of her Massachusetts Massachu-setts avenue mansion Vivian Burnett is the original Little Lord Fauntleroy Mrs Burnett tells me the public and the newspapers have made a mistake in supposing sup-posing that she took the character from her elder son Lionel the boy who died and that the real original was Vivian She told me that Lionel furnished hero and them a paragraph in tho work but that it was Vivians personality that led her to imagine how interesting such a boy would be in fiction and that Little Lord Faunt leroy was in fact a vivid reproduction of him and his sayings It will be interesting interest-ing for the people to know that the genuine LUtlo Lord Fauntleroy is still alive and that heis very much alive too He is now a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years of age arid he is as bright and manly young fellow as you will find at the capital He Is noted for his tact and his kina heartedness hearted-ness and ho has something of the literary bent so strongly shown in his mother He is going to school here but he publishes at the same time a little newspaper called The Jlfooii which gives all the social news about the young people of Washington society and which on Its editorial pace states that S it is published in the interest of the dancing danc-ing class and Its pupils This paper is about the size of a page of foolscap and it costs five cents per copy It Is packed full of Rood news about the young people for whom it is published and is not a bad little newspaper Mrs Burnett tells me that she thinks the book she is writing will be A VERY INTERESTING ONE and that she hopes It will have a wide circulation cir-culation He will have his type set up under his own supervision and the probability proba-bility is that It will be taken up by the book trade and will be sold everywhere throughout the United States Mrs Bur xiett gets the basis of her story from a club of poor boys in London She originated this club herself during I her stay there in honor of her son Lionel who died and sho furnished it with a reading room and library The club Is one composed of poor boys and the book will probably be full of stories of boy life in London Mrs Bur nett Is very fond of writing for children During my call upon her the other day I S asked her as to what she considered herS her-S mission in writting and she told me that she felt that she was doing the most good when she was writintr good books for children Sbe docs not believe in the realistic real-istic school of fiction and says that the realism of today consists of painting all its horrors the vices of mankind She be S 5 5 ieves 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 better bet-ter This is especially the case with boys Every boy is naturally a hero worshiper and even the worst boys try to imitate the heroes they admire As to being a reformer re-former said Mrs Burness I am not one In tha sense of attempting special reforms such as Charles Dickens or Charles Reado did when they wrote of great public evils Dickens did great good by his pictures of Dotheboys Hall and Oliver Twist and Charles Reade opened the eyes of England to the corruptions and cruelties of its insane in-sane asylums and prisons In this line of reform have done nothing and my stories havo not been written with such au idea though I aim to do good in my own wayu I talked with Mrs Burnett in her den in the third story of ner beautiful home on Massachusetts avenue This home is a large threestory house of pressed brick and brown stono with a wide bay window reaching from the ground to the roof It is within a stones throw of Blames mansion man-sion on Dupont Crele and it lies between that and the big red brick of vicePresi dent Morton surrounded by the most handsome houses of fashionable Washington Washing-ton It is just above Senatot Van Wycks 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 a wide front door and find yoU self in a great hull filled with old fashioned furniture of carved wood some of which Mrs Burnett picked up in Italy hare oia TurKisn rugs lie upon tile floor and at the right is the parlor furnished in blue and gold Winding stairs of Georgia pine conduct you by many landings to the third floor and here in a large room with Its windows looking out on Massachusetts avenue you find the literary workshop of one of the most popular popu-lar writers of modern fiction The room looks moro like one of ease and comfort than one of hard work There Is a cosy open fire before which luxurious armchairs arm-chairs stnna and invite repose There is a divan in the window and the hangings of the room are of a rich dark red with a touch of yellow and tho whole floora strange thing in Washington where rugs are all the gOIs carpeted The walls are bung with pictures and on the mantle are photographs of Mrs Burnetts friends Among others is noticed the face of Gladstone Glad-stone and Mrs Burnottin speaking of him characterized him asl1 sweet old man At the side of tho room there is a broad flattop desk of oak covered with papers but the seat in front of this is not overly worn and the papers upon it seem to be in very good order There were however some evidences of work Mrs Burnett bad been writing just before 1 came in and her manuscript lay upon the table with the ink hardly dry She uses a cheap foolscap paper for her composition and writes with a pen in slop I ing Spencerian h characters making her cupv Luuit uixu iimi ui u aiuuui uuy man I the fine delicate hand which is supposed to be peculiar to women She writes very easily and she tells me that her pen seems to write the stories Itself when she is in the mood and has started it to going She has never found it hard to write and she turns out from ten to twelve pages a day I when she is doing her regular work making I mak-ing I judge an average of about 2000 or 2500 words per day She has not done much work for the past four years The death of her son Lionel and her accident at London together with other things have made her moods such that site has not felt like writing and the only work teat she has done has been some stories of children chil-dren here and there over the world Those sho has put together in book form and with the addition or a few extra stories they will form the next product of her pen This book is almost ready for the press and It will probably come out this fall Mrs Burnett is a very modest woman In response to my note asking for an interview inter-view she replied that she did not see that she could furnish any matter concerning herself that would be interesting to tho people and that sue was leadings lifo of retirement re-tirement She gave me an appointment and then talked very freely herself her-self and the newspapers saying that she did not like to be interviewed interviews always made one so prominent and wore usually published that the people interS inter-S viewed seemed to act as though they were seeking notoriety She begged me to make the Ego in any thing r might quote from her as small as possible and she spoko very modestly concerning herself and her work She said she considered her power to write very largely a matter of gift It Is no credit to me said she that I have it for I did not acquire it by hard work One man you know may be born with a voice for singing another may be so strong that bo can lift great weights and a thid may have a wonderful faculty for mathematics Writing has always been easy for me and 1 like it and take pleasure in it It has always been a surprise to me that my books have always been so successful but I suppose it is the result of a storytelling talent which is given to some people You are Mis Burnett said I just at tho beginning of your prime I suppose you will continue to write I hope so was the reply 1 should feel badly to think otherwise I want to write as long as I can and I feel that I ought to be able to do better work as I grow older When did you first begin to write said I I cant remember when I did f not write replied Mrs Burnett I have always al-ways been writing At tho ago of seven 1 remember writing a poem I cant say how good it was but probably not very good My family had gone to church and I was alone at home l heard the bells ringing and in somo way or other I wrote this little verse about the bells It was torn up and 1 dont suppose the world lost much in its destruction Still it is curious as showing an evidence of my desire to write I remember when I was a little girl at school that I had already in my childish way gotten an idea that I was to be an authoress and when we children would speak together and say what wo would bo when we grew up I used to say I proposed to be an authoress and write booksWont Wont you please tell me the story of your first published manuscript I asked The story is an old one and I dont oo here it will bear retelling but there are some things about it that are rather interesting inter-esting lly first story was Mias Car ruthers Engagement and I sent it away because I wanted to make some money I had begun the story several years before but had not finished it and when I got this desire lor money for some purpose or other I wondered ifI could not mate some out of my writing I sent it to ZtaZIous Magazine and sent a note along with it In a short time I got a note from Mr Ballou saying that the article was good end they would like to publish it but that they could not afford to pay for it I was only twelve years old at tho time and I wondor now at the good sense I showed then I had a decided idea that if the article ar-ticle was gowl enough to publish it WilD good enough be paid for and I at once sent hack a latter which 1 can remember almost as well today us when I wrote it It read something like this Mr Editor DEAlt SmIf my story la not good enough to pay for it is not good enough to publish and if you cannot nay for it I Wish you would return it My object is I remuneration This letter was signed with a fictitious name as was also the letter accompanying the manuscript In responno to it the I story was sent back and I sent it to GOdeys Lady Book Their readers doubted its originality and Mr Godey wrote me that he liked the story and if I could provo that it was original ho would pay ino 20 for it aud that I might set about writing another nt once I wrote in reply showing them that the story was undoubtedly undoubt-edly my own and to provo it I sent them another called Hearts and Diamonds and for tho two I got35 Do you remember your sensations on seeing your first story in print I asked Yes I cant replied Mrs Burnett with a laugh I know I read tno 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 I felt that my vocation In life was fixed and indeed I have been writing from that day to this The conversation hero drifted to Mrs Burnetts characters and I asked nor whether she invented her characters and situations or took them from real lifo She replied that she did both and she told me that the heroine of That Lass OLow riesn which many suppose to have been taken from real life was almost altogether an ideal creatiQn The character said she was suggested by a strong handsome t oman among the miners in the English town where I lived with my parents before be-fore I came to America I was a very little girl when I saw herbut she made a great impression upon me and she was a queen among the rough ptfople with whom she associated used to watch herwith great interest when she would pass my fathers gate and though I had no acquaintance with her she produced such an impression upon me that I wove around her the character which you find in my story 1 suppose all my characters are suggested by something but only ono or two of them have been taken from people in real life and these are notablj Littlo Lord Fauntle roy and Lawrence Arbuthnot in Through One Administration I suppose Mrs Burnett you have been n great reader all your life What books have influenced yoii most and of what class of literature bare you been most fondI I can hardly say replied Mrs Bnrnott I read nearly everything 1 could get my bands on when a girl I could never keep away from books and I was often punished pun-ished when I was a child for my impoliteness impolite-ness for looking into books and stealing a page of reading at a time when visitors I were present pretending all the time to bo interested in the con veisaton I havo always been very fond of novels and I think my favorites favor-ites are Dickens and Tbackary Of the former I dearly loved David Copperiicld I and I have traveled about London with Pendcnnis and Nicholas Nickelby I cant tell when I did not read I dont think I ever learned my letters nor to read by learning to spelL us most children do anti my first remembrance of reading is that I stood one day when I was just three years old at my grandmothers knee and out of her brown speckled Bible road these words S wordsWhen When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Jude tIt t-It is strange I should remember them but I do remember them and they are my first memory of reading anything out of a j book I I suppose Little Lord Fauntleroy has i paid tho best of all your boolts has it not Yes it has was the reply it has hurt a very largo circulation and I have made much out of Us dramatization I suppose that play writing pays much bettor than novel writing i Yes a successful ploy brings in a lures and immediate income andit continues toe I to-e profitable for a long time Little Lord Fauntleroy was a great success in England II Eng-land but tho receipts from it there were I nothing like those of the United States I Most of my plays havo done very well and I though I do not like play writing us well as j storyyrtingit i is so profitable that 1 can not give II Up Give me some idea of the difference between I be-tween playwriting and story writing Mrs Burnett said I They nra very great I can assure you II was the reply You haveto write for two 1 different audiences nnd the circumstances of reading your stories aro different In playwriting there is no chance for any subtle toucnes of art or thought Everything Every-thing has to be of the broadest and plainest kind Your points must be such as to strike the audience right between the eyes and they must be understood without rea pon or intellectual exertion All tho pretty things you are proud of in your stories such as tho analysis of character tha subtle sub-tle undertones of thought and the words vhich you want your readers to imaginp between the lines have ti be cut out and you have to say just what you mean so plain that ho that gallops can read la writing a play 1 compose it in tho shape ot a story and then go over it and remodel re-model it and rewrite it for the stage The conversation hero turned to Mrs Burnetts new play The Showmans > > in Daughter which she brought out Londonlast season but which appeared just at the time of the death of the Duke of Clarence This death threw all Ldudon into mourning and it practically ruined I the theatrebusiness of the city for tho season On account of itMrs Burnett 5 5 1r S S withdrew her play from the stage but she tells me that her experience with it was such as to show that the play was a decided de-cided success and she expects it to have a great run here and will have it brought out in the fall She told me a mcst interesting story of her star actor whom she found in the person of a well known young physician in London and who she says seems to be made for her play This young man belongs to one of the good families of England and ho was born with a passion for the stage After ho had finished his schooling he wanted to make acting his profession and he did play some parts in tho provinces His family objected ob-jected to such an extent that he gave up the stage and at his mothers request studied medicine and graduated with such honors that he wos made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a valuable practice was offered him in Australia He could have made a good livinr in London but he still longed for the stage and Mrs Burnett becoming acquainted ac-quainted with him through her London physician asked him to act as a manager of her thoatrica business He had this position posi-tion when Mrs Burnett took her sick boy Lionel over to Europe and he met her at Southampton and traveled with her to tho continent During his trip Lionel took a great fancy to the young doctor and the love of the two was mutual for the young man went with Lionel and flayed with him in the mountains acting ns his resident physician until he died When this new play was put on the stage Mrs Burnett had great trouble in getting a person for I tho principal part She tried several of the noted oldmen actors of London but nono of them wore successful in it and I she finally asked the young surgeon to attempt it As soon ns she saw Ins masse up sho exclaimed That 19 just what I want and when she heard him render the part she was delSshted He was reluctant to attempt the character in London where the critics are so merciless in their treatment I treat-ment of new actors but at Mrs Burnetts I urgent solicitation he appeared in it ana came out under the assumed name of Mr Will Denna a name which he took from a Washington lawyer A this first nigh he created a great sensation The critics of all the great papers praised him and his acting wits the sensation of stare circles Mr Will Dennis is still a young man Ho is a fine looking telow and Mrs Burnett thinks ho will be very popular in the United States FKAXK G CAIIPENTEIS |