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thk unhappy moi her OF LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. Life Story of o D*areit” (Mrs. France* Hodg son Burnett), Once a Barefoot G-irl Os Tennessee. The Courtshp, Marriage and Subsequent Do mestic Unhappiness of Doctor and Mrs. Burnett—Divorse Proceedings in Progress. Little Lord Fauntleroy has come of age. ] 9 little Lord Fauntleroy hap py ? Do you know how his birth day was celebrated —the twenty first birthday of the little fellow who captivated two worlds? His famous mother, Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author, and his famous father, the ocu list doctor, started a suit for divorce. That is how the birth day of the little lord who charm ed you all was kept by “dear est.” The love of the little lord and “Dearest,” his mother, is strong RS ever —strong as a rock. But »vhere is the love of “That lass e’ Lowrie’s?” She brought her first “piece” of writing to a lame and intellectual student tc have the spelling corrected. I uci dentally, he taught her the old, old spelling lesson —amor in Latin a id love in English—and started her ou her marvelous career by ottering her his hand as well as his heart to help her. She is as rich today as she is famous. She was as poor in world’s goods as in spelling then. She was barefooted when he met her, and she was a berry girl out in Tennessee. With her first sale of blue berries she bought her first lead pencil. But all that was years ago. With his first money he took her to Paris, where he studied and she wrote. And then came Lionel, ank then Vivian, hand some boys—enough, you would think, to keep any man and wife together. But it wasn’t. The idyllic au tobiogiaphy of love, which is called ‘‘That Lass o’ Lowrie’s,” was over years ago. For the the ttisttime is told the tragical ro mance of the great oculist and the great writer. It is a secret, kept by both husband and wife till their one boy should come of ago. The other died in his mother’s arms seven years ago, says the St. Louis Republic. The separation forever of Dr. Swan M. Burnett, the scientist and oculist, and his famous wife for 25 years is a story of love and letters. The upshot of it would seem to show that the two did not go together very well— at all events, not for 25 years. Perhaps, if it had not been for the literature the love ,u ight have been more lasting ; and it all ends in the divorce court. And how beautifully it all began I ft is like a tale in the old fairy books, It bad its beginning in a little town ’way down in Tennessee. Its heroine was a pretty girl with big blue eyes and a shock °f reddish yellow hair Any °>dinary observer would not have seen anything about her that was remarkable, but there was latent depth of expression.in the blue eyes, and now and then the girl had some hing to say that showed she was possessed of more than ordinary gifts. She was bright and thought* and a smile constantly dim- pled about her mouth. Evident ly she looked out upon the world with a gaze that was somewhat amused, though she was so very young—not yet 17—and her ex perience of life had been ex tremely limited. BAREFOOT TENNESSEE GIRL. Bless you ! how time flies. That was a quarter of a century ago, andyet it seems as if it was only the other day. The girl’s name? Nothing very high sounding or aristo cratic; simply Frances Hodgson she was called. Her parentage was almost bumble, and her fa ther was so poor a man that his young daughter wen t barefoot most of the time. Everybody in that little Ten nessee town liked pretty Fanny Hodgson, and in the ordinary course of events she might have been expected to marry some young farmer and be transform ed into a buxom rural matron, to rear a flock of barefooted boys and girls and superintend the milking and churning, with nothing in the way of an inde pendence beyond the “hen which is the customary perquisite of the woman of the house in agricultural communi ties. How surprised the good neigh bors and gossips would have been if a fortune-teller had come along and informed them, through the medium ot a shuf fling of the cards, that this youi.g girl would some day be a world-famous novelist; that she would secure a celebrity too large for one continent, and that millions of people in Europe and America would read her writ ings. Whatwould she have thought if she had been told that one day she would write a play that’ would yield a profit to her alone of more than $100,000? Yet it was only an accident, after all, that brought these things to pass. But for a chance meeting, this flower of genius might indeed have been left to blush unseen. But destiny had declared otherwise, and things so came about that the romance and the possibilities of future fame began together. There happened to be a young man'staying in the neighbor hood. He was considerably old er than Frances. Hodgson, but still young—that is to say, not over 30. The disparity between them was not so much one of years as in respect to situation. This young man had been born i > the condition of a gentleman, whereas the father of Frances was a media nic—a mechanic of the higher grade, it is true, but still belonging to that class of 1 fe which, in England, where he was born, constitutes a caste of itself. He had been the foreman of a large factory in the old country. Times became hard and he join ed a company of colonists who were going to America to seek a new boms. It was in Tennes see that he settled. If he had gone elsewhere this story, in all probability, would never have been written. BURNETT AS HE WAS. Young Burnett was not the sort of man to take the eye of girlhood at the first glance. He was not only small of statue, but very lame, so as to halt painfully in h a gait. In Mrs. Burnett’s book, “that Lass o’ Lowrie’s,” will be found a spir itual description of him as he first appeared to her. The hero with the crippled arm was in real life so crippled that he was obliged to walk with one knee stiffened, using the toe of that foot to step upon. His face,while having somewhat of the painful expression of a physical sugerer, possessed in a high degree the beauty of intelligence. Its ex pression was sensitive, sympa thetic and, above all, intellectu al . All of these qualities distin guished the young man in a high degree. lit was by prac tice a student, and by instinct a scholar. Observation was Habit ual with him. and he became interested in the girl, from a mere motive of curiosity at first. She attracted him even more by her brightness than by her pret tiness. He amused himself sometimes by talking with her when she brought a tin pail filled with blueberries to sell to his mother. She herself was the original of the pit girl, “That Liss o’ Lowrie’s,” whose rude, r ugh life was quickened and develop ed into a'fiiiished splendid char acter by the love of the London Engineer. For Derrick simply read Burnett. For Joan, Fanny Hodgson. It is a literal fact that the proceeds of her first blueber ries were invested in the pur chase of a lead pencil, with which she wrote her first story. She took the story to the young man, who was so kind and sym pathetic, and he told her how to touch it up here and there and put it into shape; what words were spelled wrong, and how there should be a simicnlon here and a new paragraph there. It was about as pretty a begin ning for a romance as anybody could well imagine, and it is not surprising that Mrs. Burnett should Have utilized the theme, even to some of its minor inci dents, for the novel which was her first great success, and which gave her a first footing in the literary field. A quaint thing it must have been to see the pret ty head, with its fluff of yellow hair, in close cogitation with that of the thoughtful student ’’O* Ou.rd.” / 1 XsSfTT When diseM« </ 'y. 'll shoots the first A I arrow th* truly 'k Vp* YU wise man will ' 'vylkcotne instantly ? 0,1 guard. He 1/1. will not wait for A \.Vthe He y ) 'k 'J w ’" not h ‘ : ‘i tate until the full \ force of disease ' and misery and death comes crashing about him. When a man begins to feel “out of sorts,” when his appetite is failing and his energy is not up to the mark, when he has bilious attacks and a feeling of lassitude and incapacity, if he is wise, he will take Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery right away. It will bring his appetite back again, ano what is more it will bring back his digestive powers. It will give all the assimilative functions the edge and power to extract abundant nourishment from the food he eats. It will make good, pure, healthy blood and send it coursing rapidly through his veins and arteries into every organ and tissue of the body. It will put flesh on his bones and force in his muscles; it will give him strength and courage and cheerfulness, in a word it will give him complete health. It excretes from the system every par ticle of dead, useless, flabby tissue. It even reduces the weight of the corpulent man at the same time that it builds up his strength aud working power. The weight it adds to people who need it is the kind that comes of pure blood and every organ doing its work properly and thoroughly what pugilists call fighting weight.” over the childish output. The natural impulse and de sire of a man who has caused the unfolding of such a flower is to pluck it and wear it in his bosom. Not otherwise was it with young Burnett. In a few short months th” girl had emerged from the crys alls, and from a country lassie was transformed into a happy young wife. Her husband was at the same time her lover and her teacher. What marriage could begin more auspiciously, or with bet ter promise of happiness to come ? IN THE LATIN QUARTER. Soon after their marriage the couple went abroad, and for some time they made their home in the Latin quarter of Paris. Burnett was a student of medi cine. He had chosen the eye as his specialty, and it was his am bition to become a famous ocu list. The schools of Paris afforded exceptional opportunities for study in this line, and in the French metropolis there were, as is the case today, several very celebrated eye specialists from whom much might be learned. The mode of life chosen by the newly married pair was dis tinctly bohemian. One of the bonds of sympathy between them was this bohemian inclina tion. So, while young Dr. Bur nett studied his profession, his pretty wife busied herself with literature work. It was not long before what she wrote began to attract attention, and this was the beginning of what was di stilled to be a vast reputation . There is no question of the fact that at this period of their mar ried life Dr. and Mrs. Burnett were extremely devoted to each % other. The proceeds of the young wife’s work went to help out the expenses of her husband’s high er studies. One of those happy days they went on an excursion together down the river, and a friend of theirs who saw them on that occasion remembers to this day how sweet and still girlish looking Frances looked as she sat at the doctor’s feet in the boat, leaning her head upon his knee. At that time she must have still felt a sense of depend ence upon his stronger brain and his superior knowledge of the world. It is not surprising tHat h<- should have expected her to feel it always, and that this ele ment in the relation between them should constitute, from his point of view, an intregal part of the pleasure derived from her companionship. But the seeds of discord were being sown even then. It is a trite saying that married people get along best together when they differ m< st in respect to temperament and disposition. This belief is open to dispute, to say the least. Judging a priorit it surely might be expected that the persons who have tastes in common feelings in common and views in common, would agree best. Atal) events, it is undeni able that the differences between Dr. Barnett and his wife arose from unlikeness rather than likeness. His was the serious turn of mind of the student, de siring repose and caring little for gayety : she was full of life, longed to be famous, and was fond of being admired. She liked society, handsome gowns, the theaier, entertainments of all sorts, and, in a word, all the delights which accompany social success. Her growing literary reputation brought this kind a success to her and there was a consequent separation of inter ests and employments. Mrs. Burnett’s advanced ideas. Th» re whf »lather element in I School Supplies. I 0 We are pioneers in the school books and school sup ply business and we are also right up-ro-da*e in every thing lha' should be kept by an up-to-date Bookstore. »>; J MM MMMM MM MMM* MMMMMMMMMM | II in pipes, j TO (<<< No hcuse ip. the ytite car. serve vou better when von de- «<< Bire '*■ a new covering fcr tr.e dear ?id wall* of «<< home. See our stock on hand and samples to to I H. A. SMITH, | ■| THF OLD RELIABLE BOOK STORE. | hsMMMw ' •* $ To the People of Rome. $ Mr to au,lounce that I have bought the Model fii/ Steam Laundry and propose to rearrange and aid to it so that you will have in your city a plant second to none \lj in the soucß. I have had years ot practical ex re tence, the past \f/ Uy thr>e years of which 1 have own >|>-ruled one of Ui Mr the largest plan shj Texas. With the -urs of ex peri- W eUCe have had and as I will d->v my entire time and kA/ attention to the business I will he a position to guar-. antee that anything coming to my laundry will be done /A\ /Ak satisfactorily. A trial will convince you that 1 can do all p|\ that [claim' Send in your bvn lie. If it 'ails to please /|V yik J >V there will be no charge . Stop our wag >n or telephone yiC C|j No 158, and your bundle will be returned promptly. C|j /K Hoping t<» receive a fair sh ire of your Jp itroaage, I am /AW C|s yours to pleas« CU * H- PARKIN * Proprietor Mo lei,Steam Laundry, <0 $ the problem. Mrs. Burnett had come to consider that she w past the time of tutelage—that 'he had outgrown leading strings. She thought that the develop* ment of her own mentality no longer required ibe superintend dence of her husband. It may be that this change of ttitude on her part was account* able in a measure for the fric tion that was beginning to be telt between them. The wife entertained notions which a-e still regarded as “ad vanced.’" Some cf these ideas of hers had relation to the status of woman . She believed in the doc trine that woman is as capable of leadership as the man, and this theory, while admissible on ab* stract grounds, perhaps, is calcu* lated to irritate a man when his wife backs it too strongly. Never* tbelees, ak ng while elansed p the fiiciion grew into positive estrangement. To the credit of both the doctor and his wife, it must he said that they never ventilated their mutua grievances It became known only very gradually to their intimate tnends that relations between them were strained. When they came back to Amer 'ca from Paris they had a charm ing home in I slrejt. Washington in which the lehemian method ol tin ir living whi’e in foreign parts was r produced to some exten’. The doctor had hie own den to work in, and his wife bad here, so that they could pursue their chosen occupations as each elected. Their acquaintances were invited to drink tea first in one den and then in the other. Burnett loved to entertain in his own way, but 'hat was not hers, 1 .r the gay side of life, as has been slid he cared nothing. It was the beginning of the end. The doctor did not approv of Mrs. Burnett’s recklessness in mon ey sn utters. And she certainly snent a gre>.t deal. N'oney came flowing in liku the showers ot go'd . on Danae, and easily flowed out Thi- was, in fact the first defined * cause of the trouble. No question between nan and wife, leaving infidelity and drunk enness aside, is so j reductive of , trouble as that of finance. Ail thia added to Mrs. Burnett’s notions of radical independence and could | hardly fail io make discord. And t ii did. It was only a month ago, in Washing’on. that she stated em phatically the heroine of her no vel, “A Lady of Quality,” was her ideal of what a woman rhould tie. Dr. and Mrs. Burnett have sim ply waited for their surviving son to attain his majority before tak ing the final step, which is the re sult of mutual agreement and long continued friction. '1 he surviving eon, Vivian, is a student at Harvard. He is a bright young fellow and really never was a bit like the little Lord Katin! leroy of the book, He has his mother’s coloring, with sandy hair and blue eyes. In Washington last winter, dur ing vacation he stayed at the home of his mother, who gave him the gayest time imaginable, with thea ter parties, suppers and dainty lit tle lunches, to which a cumber <>f her most charming y-ung girl friends were invited. On the occasion of one then'- r paity, the box was decorat'd wi i ths Harvard colors, and in horn r of the university, the girls wore crimson corsage bouquets. He still adores her. She wor ships him. To him she is still “dearest. ” But they say the doctor, sitting among his books, is very lonesome sometimes . i WT-r ; LADIES’ FINE SAILORS. Go tc Lanham & Sons and got one of those fine sailors they are celling so cheap. They are ac tually worth SI.OO, $1.50, $2.00 I and some even more, yet they are selling ch ice f i 50 cents.