FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT.

Manchester, England.

1849.

WRITER OF THE REPUBLIC.

Frances Hodgson was born in England and really did not live in America until after the war. She is claimed, however, as an American writer, as all her literary work has been done in this country, and she is claimed as a Southern writer because her adopted home was Tennessee. She has written so much of English life and scenery that one easily recognizes her English parentage and early surroundings.

She was fifteen years in Manchester, England, and it was there that she gained that wonderful knowledge of Lancashire dialect and character. After the death of her father reverses of fortune induced her mother to come to America. She settled first at Newmarket, Tennessee, then later moved to Knoxville, where a near kinsman resided. There she lived on a farm with her three sons and three daughters.

Frances was only sixteen when she conceived the idea of writing for journals. Her first attempt at a story was Miss Caruther's Engagement. After it was written she sent it to "Ballou's Monthly," but when she found that the editor did not intend to pay her for it, the question arose as to how could she get it back again, as she was not able to buy the stamps for its return. In this dilemma she remembered that a negro girl who lived in the neighborhood was in the habit of selling fruit upon the streets of Knoxville, and she determined to help her gather the fruit, and share the profits with her; in this way she was enabled to obtain sufficient postage not only to recover her manuscript but also to forward it to "Godey's Lady's Book."

She did not dare ask her mother for any aid, for fear she would forbid her to send the manuscript to any one.

The editor in Philadelphia saw unmistakable signs of a thoroughly English story, and wondered how it could come from Tennessee. He wrote a letter of inquiry and asked for another, -his object being to test the genuineness of the first. The young author quickly wrote it, and the first story soon appeared in print-much to her delight-but what delighted her still more was the thirty dollars paid for it. One can well imagine the pleasure it gave to show to her astonished household this sign that her talent was appreciated.

After this her pen never rested. Some of the stories written were very poor, and this may serve to encourage young writers. She sent some to "Peterson's Magazine," and it was in this monthly that her Dorothea first appeared. When it came out in book form, however, she had changed the name to Vagabondia. She sent an English story, Surly Tim's Trouble, to "Scribner's," now the "Century." This was not only accepted, but requests came for more like it.

In 1873 she married Dr. Swan Burnett, a well-known oculist of Knoxville. They moved to Washington City soon afterwards and then made extended visits to Europe. She had two sons, Lionel and Vivian, and never allowed her duty as a mother to be interfered with. The marriage at first was in every way congenial, although Dr. Burnett was much her senior, but estrangements came and in 1898 they were divorced---strange to say the papers for this separation were signed on the day Vivian came of age. Little Lord Fauntleroy, the hero of her most celebrated work, was very much as the mother has described him. One obtains an excellent idea of his childhood from her articles which appeared in the "Ladies' Home Journal" in 1894. His brother Lionel, jealous of the nurse's attention to the little usurper of his place and rights, said: "Frow 'im in 'er fire," but we are very glad that the little gentleman

was not thrown into the fire, but has lived to teach the beautiful lessons of courtesy and filial devotion. The style of dress described in Little Lord Fauntleroy became very fashionable, much to the disgust of many sturdy American youths who fretted because they were made to look so much like girls.

The scenes described in the book are nearly all from life. The one in which Cedric undertakes to teach his grandfather baseball originated in this way, as his mother tells us: "One day Vivian thought it necessary to instruct me in the great national game. After a great deal of explaining I was obliged to admit that I was rather stupid. 'Oh, no, you are not, dearest,' protested the little boy. 'You are not stupid, but I am afraid I am not a good splainer, and then as you are a lady, of course baseball is not very easy to you.'

Very few books have netted the author such a sum as this story for children. Mrs. Burnett received fifty thousand dollars from the stage alone, as she dramatized it herself, and was wise enough to secure the copyright, and is paid a certified per cent. for every presentation of it; it is played as much in England as in this country, and always draws a large house. Mrs. Burnett is at her best when writing for children, and the secret lies in her love for them.

The lass described in That Lass o' Lowrie's is a young working girl that Mrs. Burnett saw in Manchester, when she, the author, was only nine years of age. The face lingered in her memory, and she has immortalized it in this, which is said to be her second best book. This book was written in her early married life to enable Dr. Burnett and herself to go to Europe that he might carry on his studies as an oculist.

The scene is laid in a Lancashire mining-town, and shows a thorough acquaintance with its modes of life, and a deep sympathy with those engaged in mining. The debasing influence of such surroundings is clearly brought out and the development of a rude pit-girl into a noble woman is strongly

given, showing how it is possible to triumph over evil. The characters are lifelike, and the author shows great dramatic skill and a perfect mastery of the Lancashire dialect.

Mrs. Burnett's last works fall far below the promise of the first. Some one has said: "What would Little Lord Fauntleroy have said to the Lady of Quality?"

She is always very happy in her stories for children, seeming to understand thoroughly child nature, and treating young people always with a courtesy and courtliness due to older folk. She says this treatment flatters and pleases a child, and it must, for they delight to read what she gives to them.

1849.

JAMES LANE ALLEN.

Fayette County (near Lexington), Kentucky.

WRITER OF THE REPUBLIC.

James Lane Allen was born in the blue grass region of Kentucky in Fayette county, just a few miles from Lexington. His mother was a Virginian and his father came from Pennsylvania. His ancestors, who were Scotch-Irish, settled in that State after coming to America. As they lived in the country, their children had few school advantages, but when a boy has such a mother as James Lane Allen had he needs no better teacher. She inspired him with an early love for reading— reading of old romances, poetry and history, and to this training are we largely indebted for the literary work that has come from his pen. His own mother and his Nature mother, the lovely blue grass region of Kentucky, were sources of nurture in a literary, educational and spiritual way.

He was only twelve years of age when the storm cloud of war burst over the land, old enough to realize its horrors, and to see the suffering that war entails. His academic studies were pursued at the Transylvania University in Lexington. He devoted special attention to Latin and Greek and his knowledge of the structure of the English language came through a study of the classics in these languages. This was a fine preparation for his work in literature, for it gave him an ambition to know more of other authors. He continued his course until he received the A.M. degree, but not without a struggle, for his father died about this time, and the war had left the family with no means, and James Lane from necessity had to begin