NEW YORK AUTHORESS OWNS
TO ODD MATRIMONIAL CREED
NEED TALENTED WOMAN
GIVE UP CAREER FOR
HOME AND HUSBAND?
Mrs. Ethel Watts Mumford Thought Not, and Broke Marital
Chains That Bound Her Too Tightly.
ROOM IN HEART FOR BOTH LOVE AND WORK
Now She Has Found a Husband Who Promises Devotion
and Freedom to Pursue He *iterary Duties
to Any Extent She May Desire.
To love, cherish—and obey!
Is tnis a promise to be kept to the
last letter? Does it mean even the
sacrificing of a talent under dictation?
Must the woman give up the natural
gift at the bidding of the man. though
it may not prevent her from loving
and from cherishing?
“No!” said Mrs. Ethel Watts Mum
ford. most emphatically.
“Decidedly yes!” retorted George
Dana Mumford, lawyer and capitalist
and lately the husband of Mrs. Mum
ford, one of New York's most talented
and successful woman writers.
Can a woman who writes be. at the
same time, a good wife and a good
mother? Can a woman devote herself
to art and her home at one and the
same time?
“Certainly!” declared Peter Geddes
Grant, broker and lover.
Mrs. Mumford agreed with him very
decidedly. So now the marriage of
Mr. Grant and Mrs. Mumford follows
quite naturally on the heels of the
celebrated divorce case of Mumford
vs. Mumford.
Ethel Dickinson Watts was one of
the most talented daughters of the
south when she met George Dana
Mumford. Born in New York herself,
she was still the high type of south
ern girl that her mother, Mrs. D. G.
Watts, meant her to be. She was
tall, athletic, witty, vivacious, beauti
ful. clever.
Her mother, a woman of wealth,
saw that the daughter's natural gifts
were not neglected. She had a fine
education, and then was sent to Paris
to finish. She studied painting un
der Benjamin Constant; she spent a
year traveling in Europe and the
orient. There was another year in
Japan, a long stay in the South seas,
journeys to the south and west in the
United States, and visits in Mexico
and Central America.
When Miss Watts got back to New
York, says the World, of that city,
she was bubbling over with ideas
which she longed to put down in black
and white. And so there blossomed
out another successful woman writer.
Then came Mr. Mumford. He was
rich, good looking, a graduate of Co
lumbia. ’89, and Harvard, ’91, a mem
ber of half a dozen smart clubs, and
well known socially in New York and
in Tuxedo. He fell head over heels
One after another the things came
into being, only to be striven for by
the publishers. But prose and .poetry
did not comprise all the brilliant girl's
talents. She would write a play and
she did—“The Scenario”—and the tal
ented Annie Russell presented it. It
was a story of Mexico and Paris—note
how the young wife kept close to the
scenes she had visited before her mar
riage.
And all the time she wrote and
wrote. Things were finished, only to
be torn up and rewritten. Other ef
forts were destroyed, never to be seen
by anyone. And all the time. too. the
boy was growing bigger and bigger,,
and needing more and more his moth
er's care.
Who shall say who began the trou
ble?
If a vital household dispute arises,
either wife or husband must make the
sacrifice. It is for the outside world,
knowing nothing of what transpires
around the hearthstone, to say who
shall yield?
Mrs. Mumford wanted to write. Mr.
Mumford didn’t want her to write.
There was the problem. He wanted
his wife to entertain, to go out with
him, to give him all her spare time, to
spend her energies within her home
and not between the covers of the
magazines.
Mrs. Mumford said “No!” She in
sisted that she could be a good wife
and a good mother, and still give rein
to her literary ambitions. Neither
side would yield. There were quar
rels. So, after five years of married
life, in 1899, Mrs. Mumford took her
boy and left her husband alone in his
New York home. As for her. she went
to California and acquired a legal resi
dence there. Then suit for divorce
on the ground of desertion was
brought by the young wife: the proper
papers were served on Mr. Mumford.
He appeared by an attorney, but put
in no defense. In 1901 Justice Heb
bard. in the superior eourt, San Fran
cisco, granted the decree, and the
young wife, free now to write all sne
pleased, went back to New York with
her little son. whose custody the court
allowed her.
But even in California, when the
lawyers were busy untying the knot
tied so few years before, Mrs. Mum
ford’s pen was not idle. She brought
1_ I
rmuffiaoyA/JDL&r
HBt/mBMUSHME
I i ' 1
in love with the talented girl, and
she thought she loved him.
This was in 1884, when both were
very young. It was a quick, ardent
courtship and a beautiful wedding.
Then a delightful honeymoon abroad
and a return to a beautiful home. A
little boy was born two years later—
the apple of his father’s eye. It looked
like a most happy union—this mar
riage of the brilliant southern girl and
the polished ’varsity man.
But here the Muses took a hand and
upset all these pretty little plans of
Dan Cupid. The young wife's literary
bent, temporarily laid aside during
the courtship and honeymoon, again
asserted itself. Tales of adventure.
poemB of the seas, romances of far
away lands—all were seething in her
brain.
And so she took up her l*n again
and wrote.
out her first novel in California—
"Dupes"—published by the Putnams,
and very successful. Then followed
another novel, “White Wash,” and
“The Cynic’s Calendar,” published in
San Francisco.
In New York Mrs. Mumford began
writing again, mostly stories for the
leading magazines. She took up her
residence with her mother, who is very
wealthy.
Meanwhile the divorced husband,
eager still for a home, was not idle.
Hardly was the ink dry on the legal
decree divorcing the two, when he met
Mrs. Claire Drake Butterfield, widow
of the immensely wealthy Theodore
Butterfield, of Rochester. Six months
after the divorce was made public
Mrs. Butterfield announced her en
gagement to Mr. Mumford. In June,
1902, they were married at the Church
of the Messiah, by Rev. Dr. Minot J.
Savage, assisted by Rev. Dr. Clay Mac
Cawley. There was a honeymoon
down at Mr. Mumford's country place,
and when they came back to town in
the autumn it was to live just across
Central park, where Mrs. Mumford
No. 1 lived with her mother and her
little son.
Forgotten. Mrs. Mumford soon for
got.
“I'll never marry again.” she told
her friends, “unless a man comes
along who will not mind how much I
write and paint,” but they laughed at
her.
“Walt and see!” was the drift of
what they said in reply. “There are
men who won’t mind how much you
write and paint.”
They were right.
The man came along six months
ago. He was Peter Leavitt Grant, a
Scotchman, formerly of Granttown,
Scotland, but now a member of the
New York brokerage firm of Leavitt
& Grant.
He was older than Mr. Mumford and
broader in his views. They met at
the house of mutual friends—the rich
broker and the beautiful young au
thoress. He was immensely taken
With it went the understanding
that the bride-to-be-for-the-second-time
could write and paint and study just
as much as she pleased.
“That is distinctly understood,” re
plied the gallant Mr. Grant, and a few
days ago the engagement was an
nounced.
“My daughter will keep on with lit
erary work,” explained Mrs. Watts,
the mother, “just as she always has
done. There is no reason whatever
why a woman cannot be a good wife
and mother and at the same time give
some time to her talents.
"Mr. Grant understands this per
fectly and is just as interested in my
daughter's success as we are. He is
very proud of what she has done al
ready and looks forward to even bet
ter things in the future They have
gone on a honeymoon in the country
and in the autumn they will sail for
Europe to visit Mr. Grant's family in
Scotland.”
As for Mr. Mumford. he was seen
at his office and took the news of his
former wife’s engagement rather test
ily.
“Mrs. Mumford is my divorced
wife,” he said, “and I cannot discuss
1 There wa& Nofmt life
“i r —twi i - n
with her literary work and never
wearied of praising it to his friends—
so different from Mr. Mumford, whom
it bored quite thoroughly.
Mr. Grant frankly told his friends
he believed there were plenty of clever
women who could follow their talents
and at the same time be good wives
and mothers. He held that there
could be no incompatibility between
the art of a woman and the helpful
comeraderie of the home.
Finally the time came when he felt
that he could say this same thing to
Mrs. Mumford. He did. His answer
was a whispered “Yes,” just as the
young college man. Mumford, had re
ceived it 12 years before. But this
time it was a more qualified one.
her affairs or her coming marriage.
She is no longer a part of my life.”
The wedding took place on Satur
day, June 2, Rev. Charles Townsend,
of Orange, N. J., Mr. Grant’s pastor,
officiating. It was a quiet little home
ceremony at Mrs. Watts' house, only
members of the families being pres
ent. Hereafter Mrs. Grant will divide
her time between New York and Scot
land. but the public can assure itself
that fiction and adventure f-om the
fluent pen of Ethel Watts Grant will
be just as frequent as it was from the
pen of Ethel Watts Mumford.
And now Cupid, god of love, and
Clio, muse of literature, will walk
hand in hand.
I LETTER m N II
SELF-MDE PACKER 10 IIS SOI
Paris, June 11. 190G.
Dear Percy: While I am not on the
ground and cannot size up the present
situation with every confidence in my
judgment, I think it would be wise to
clean up the yards and all the bouses,
so as to be ready for any inspectors
or reporters who may ask to be shown
through the plant. I may be wrong,
but probably it wouldn’t hurt any
thing if you were to do a little clean
ing up. You can get Thomas Jefferson
Jackson to do a week’s whitewashing.
He can daub up enough fences in that
time to make the cattle and hog pens
look fairly clean, and possibly he
could finish in time to whiten up the
interior of some of the rooms of the
plant
As I think it over, I guess it would
be a good idea to clean the floors in
all the rooms. Naturally a great deal
of grease will fall on the floors in 10
or 12 years, and much of it will be
ground into the wood and saved.
I Pieces of pork, beef, mutton and rind
and a great deal ot. lard, no doubt,
cover the floors to a depth of six or
seven inches in places. This should
be scraped up carefully and turned
over to the olive cil department,
where it can be placed in the vats
with oxalic acid and formaldehyde.
It can be bottled as “La Picha Olive
Oil. Quality Guaranteed by the Ital
ian Government.” The sediment can
be used in the boneless chicken de
partment.
Put up a few signs saying: “The
use of tobacco prohibited. A violation
of this rule means discharge.” Of
course, such a nonsensical rule can’t
be enforced, and you can give the men
to understand as much.
Here is another thing you can do:
Send for reporters from every paper
in the city and give them a little talk
on food purity and similar rot, tell
what efforts we've made to kill germs,
and tell how for years we have
sprayed the walls, floors, tables, wag
ons and tools with formaldehyde in
order to be certain of absolute clean
liness. In proof of the statement
show them our formaldehyde bills for
the last five or six years. That’ll con
vince 'em.
How is the egg business coming
along? I met a famous French chem
ist yesterday who showed me a thing
or two about eggs, and I had always
supposed 1 knew about everything
worth knowing. I think we can revo
lutionize the egg business. This fel
low has a secret preparation that pre
serves eggs for as long as seven years.
It's something wonderful. Best of all,
this stuff is cheap, costs only eight
cents a gallon, and a gallon is enough
to preserve nearly a million eggs.
You need only one drop of the stuff
and great care must be observed not
to use more than one, as two drops
cause the stomach to rebel and three
cause serious illness and sometimes
death. However, we must all taka
chances in this world. This French
man has invented an instrument with
which the egg is punctured, the pre
servative injected and the hole sealed.
I have offered him 1500,000 for his
formula and instrument, to become
my exclusive property, and I think he
will accept. That seems like a large
amount of money, and it is, but think
how soon it will come back. We will
save thousands and thousands of dol
lars in ice. And when he perfects it
so it can be used on meat—well, inside
of a few years the phrase “cold stor
age” will be deader than Chauncey M.
Depew. Your affectionate father,
JOHN BEEFHAM.
Neckties on Keels.
Haberdashers now keep plain rib
bon ties on reels, the way tape ia sold;
bnt instead of having to take the
whole roll a length of tie is snipped
off for each customer. The advantage
of the reel is that a tie wil fit the sixe
collar worn by the buyer. Formerly
different lengths had to be kept in
stock, bnt now thin necks or fat ones,
small or large, may each be fitted ac
curately by cu tting a piece off the reel.
flHE WOMANS CORNER!
TRUE LOVE LETTERS.
AS A RULE WHAT HAY BE 1
CALLED COMMONPLACE.
_
Love Letters of the Brownings Never
Descended to Banality and Gush—
Letters That Intrench on Delicacy !
Not True Expressions of Love— j
The Sweetness of a Mother’s
Homely Letter to an Absent Child
—Homeric Simplicity of Letters
from San Francisco Sufferers—
Vivid Pictures of Life of Former
Days Preserved in Letters.
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
(Copyright, 1906, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
When, a few years ago, the son of
Robert and Elizaoeth Browning wae
induced to publish the love letters of
his father and mother, written to one
another in the confidence and unre
serve of their mutual affection, every
body shivered as if a blow had been
struck at the most sacred and tender
thing in life.
The first shock ever, everybody who
had found inspiration and joy in the !
poems of the marvelously gifted pair,
proceeded to read the letters. They j
were found to be not very unlike the
love letters of other people, with no i
pretentions to genius and no ability to
pour themselves out in splendid verse.
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Browning betorc
their marriage or after seemed to have i
descended to banality or gush. Their i
letters were honest and affectionate j
and sensible, and were often rather
commonplace, merely the everyday let- j
ters of a cultivated man and an intel
ligent woman who understood one an- !
other and were necessary to one an
other’s happiness.
Love letters that overflow in the ian- \
guage of passionate devotion, that con
tain too great an amount of protesta
tion or that intrench on delicacy and
modesty are not the expressions of
true love. There ran be no real love
where there is not the highest esteem
and the most chivalrous regard.
Take, for example, the letters ex
changed by husband and wife when
they are temporarily separated. Of
course, they write to each other every
day. When postage is cheap and com
munication swift end sure, there is no
reason why members of the same fam
ily should, not exchange letters fre
quently and constantly when they are
separated by business or pleasure, but
although the married lovers are essen
tial to each other, although they have,
so to speak, the same heartbeat, they I
do not fill whole sheets with declara
tions of admiration.
All that is in the past. Mary writes
about the children, about Johnny's
whooping cough and Fanny’s school
report, and the new paper on the walls,
and the little things that make up the
daily sum of daily life. These are far
more welcome and far more interesting
to the absent husband than the finest |
essay on Life and Friendship could
possibly be. Should Mary send the
man a composition such as she read 1
on commencement day, ten years ago.
he wculd fancy her out of her wits. On :
his part. Jack writes of the road, of j
the people he has met, of the success
he has had in business, of the incidents
and episodes a man meets away trom
home. Each concludes the letter with
a word or two of love, and the signa
ture, "Your wife," or “Your husband,"
conveys a whole world of unbounded
affection and regard. The shortest
letter brought by the postman and
handed in at the breakfast table is a
hand-clasp that conveys a heart-throb.
• • • • •
Letters of a still more tender sweet
ness. were it possible, are forever flit
ting across the continent in I'ncle
Sam s mail, letters sent by mothers tc
absent sons, to daughters at coliege or
to children away on a visit. Some o'
the sweetest letters ever written are
penned by hands that are more accus
tomed to the broom and the rolling
pin than to ink and paper. So man>
wise cautions, so many gentle remind
ers, so many loving counsels weave
themselves into homely letters, that gt
from the farmouse or the city flat tc
the distant child, that one fancies the
recording angel smiles as he peeps
over the writer’s shoulder.
Every great catastrophe, a tornado
an earthquake, a vast conflagration or
a disaster at sea. is the occasion of let
ters that, in their straighforward and
pithy narrative, surpass much that is
written directly for the press. When
San Francisco was destroyed by earth
quake and flame, and its thousands
upon thousands of happy people were
made homeless in a day, the first mail
bags were burdened with letters of
Homeric simplicity and force. They
were sent to kindred and acquaint
ances. who watch ;d for them eagerly
and snatched at every detail with an
avidity that could not wait. Times
like these test the sincerity of love
and letters written in the ground—swell
of homelessness and loss come straigh*
from the heart, it is curious to note
in letters of this kind characteristics
of bravery and faith in an almost uni
versal absence of complaint. People
who lost everything they had in the
world were impressed with the suffer
ings of others and wrote as if they had
been spectators of a calamity rather
than victims. Instantly, by wire and
post so soon as It was possible, tangi
ble relief went flying from the east to
the west, not merely in great contribu
tions. but in individual sums that in
every case meant real self-denial and
sacrifice.
A caution may be addressed to all
writers of love letters, especially before
marriage. Never write that which
would cause you a blush or a fleeting
embarrassment should it fall into the
wrong hands. Letters sometimes go
astray. It is foolish and futile to pour
out upon paper a string ot fulsome ad
jectives and superfluous superlatives,
that really mean little. Love should
not waste itself in written endearments
that lose force by needless repetition.
Love is a thing that should stand the
wear and tear of life, that should wash
and not lose color or fiber, that should
endure wind and sun and neither fade
nor tarnish. The best love letter is the
one that the recipient may hold close
to her heart while she would not blush
should it by accident fall under the eye
of a stranger.
DELICATE EMBROIDERY.
Zt Is Worked on Exquisitely Fine
Material and Applied to Back
ground Equally Fine.
■ —-——>
SEMI-TRANSPARENT EMBROIDERY.
The Illustration is lor some ex
ceedingly tasteful and quite novel
fancy work. Delicate flower sprays.
as light and feathery as possible, are
worked upon wnite mousseline de soie
■or cambric, which, in its turn, is ap
plied to a background of soft-colored
silk or of the last-mentioned ma
terial. As shown in the illustration,
the work is adapted to a nightdress
sachet, upon which a design of Mi
chaelmas daisies is worked, partly on
ivory mousseline de soie, partly on
the heliotrope glace silk to which it
is applied, the effect being particu
larly delicate. This style of embroi
dery also works out well and inex
pensively on batiste, with soft book
muslin over it, and such lovely
shades are to be had in the former
material that it lends itself admir
ably to the purpose of background.
To Brighten a Switch.
For brightening switches of false
hair, dip them into common ammonia
without dilution. Half a pint is enough
for this purpose, and the dipping is
said t.o revive it and make the hair
look as if just cut from the head.
NOTES ON THE FASHIONS.
Bright Green on White Chip Sailors
—The Green Linen Suit in
High Favor.
A white chip sailor bat with a wide
folded band and bow at the side of
green silk ribbon is the very smart
thing to wear with all suits and
gowns that allow it, declares Anne
Rittenhouse. Such a hat with a
white wash frock, green suede belt
with broad, Bquare buckle and green
sunshade, makes a most fashionable
combination.
In truth, green—this vivid shade of
it—seams to have taken the place that
violet had last year. For instance,
the very stylish linen suits are now
green. The Bhade used for them is
net so pronounced as that worn in
the ties and hats. It is more faded
and there is no use denying that it
bedbmes more so each week that it
is worn.
There has never been found a green
dye that will stand the sun; not even
the one of nature. However, as all
colors fade under our hot suns, why
not have green as well as any other?
These suits are made strictly plain,
with circular or straight skirts and
hip jackets. The seams are stitched
and lapped. The revers are long and
cut in points either of the linen or
of crochet lace. White pique is also
used.
There is no return to the glazed
white linen for anything. Unbleached
is preferred and is always in the
open weave. Heavy hand embroidery
is still used above all other trimming,
usually in connection with lace.
Cluny or real Torchon is used in pref
erence to Valenciennes.
Plaid wash silk and especially the
new wool and silk flannels are to be
very stylish. The former is the cool
est waist anyone could have. The
flannel is excellent, for chilly summer
days and for playing tennis or boat
ing.
Washing' Bamboo.
Bamboo is improved by an occasion
al wash with cold water, but should
be thoroughly dried afterwards.
later Letts Its Strongtl
Always
the
Same
Calumet
Baking
Powder
It Hist Huithful,
WhuluuM aid Ecuoaical
$1,000.00
given for anythin, injurious to health found
■ Calumet Baking Powder.
Do not be induced to pay 45 or 50 cant*
a pound for the Trust baking powders;
they leave large quantities of Rochelle
Salts in the food.
The constant dosing of Rochelle Salts
will derange the digestive organs. Your
physician will tell you this
INVESTMENT IN MOTH BALLS
Manner of Using the Preventive
That Proved to Be a Signal
Failure.
A State street druggist, telling of the
quaint characters whom he encounters
in his business, recently said: “Late
one afternoon one of the 'ould sod'
ambled up to the counter. ‘Hov yez
onything good to kill moths?’ he asked,
relates the Chicago Record-Herald.
“ ‘Yes,’ said I, ’we have moth balls,
the best reemdy known.'
" 'Give me tin cints' worth, thin,’
Gave he
"1 made up the package, handed it to
him, ana he ambled out again. I had
forgotten all about my customer until
about four o'clock the next afternoon,
when I was forcibly reminded of the
transaction of the day before. After
I had waited on my customers in their
turn 1 walked over to another coun
ter and was there confronted with my
moth-ball investor. Without giving
me time to make an inquiry, he said:
“ 'Are yez the young mon that sold
me thinf things yistiddv?' showing me
the remains of about half a dozen of
the white balls.
“I answered in the affirmative, and
also inquired what the trouble was.
“ ‘Av all the con games I’ve run up
against in me toime. this bates thim
all,’ he said. ‘To think of onyone run
ning a decent down-town store selling
the lolkes of thim things to kill moths
with, or onything else, for the matter
of that. They might be all right for
playing marbles, but for killin’ moths,
niver I may not be as young as yez
are, young mon. but I’m just as stiddy,
and I want to tell you wan thing. If
yez can show me the man or woman
that can throw wan of thWi ball*
quick enough to kill a moth I’ll not
only ate iviry wan of thim yez have
In stock, but I’ll say nothing about
the picture the ould woman and meself
broke in the foine little game ye*
would have us play.’ ”
FOREIGN FINANCE.
Great Britain's public revenue in
April, the first month of the fiscal
year, amounted to £418,895, and ex
penditures, £21,360,361.
New capital issued in London from
January 1 to May 5, amounted to
$288,788,915. as against $434,216,505 in
the same period in 1905.
Total operations of the Bank of
Japan in the year 1905 amounted to
$14,578,127,060, an increase of $5,744,
106,420 compared with 1904. *
The annua! report of the Banque d*
Paris for 1905 shows that net profits
amounted to only 10,804,883 franca,
against 19,411,421 francs in 1904.
A' loan of 10u,000,000 francs will be
shortly put on the Paris market for
the French colonies in West Africa.
The greater part is intended for Sen
egal and the Upper Niger, to improve
the navigation on the two rivers.
The mare is by no means singular.
Everything goes, where money is the
motive —Puck.
THE DOCTOR’S WIFE
Agrees with Him About Food.
A trained nurse says: “In the prac
tice of my profession I have found so
many points in favor of Grape-Nuts
food that I unhesitatingly recommend
it to all my patients.
“It is delicate and pleasing to the
palate (an essential In food for the
sick) and can be adapted to all ages,
being softened with milk or cream
for babies or the aged when deficiency
of teeth renders mastication impos
sible. For fever patients or those on
liquid diet I find Grape-Nuts and al
bumen water very nourishing and re
freshing. This recipe is my own idea
and is made as follows: Soak a tea
spoonful of Grape-Nuts in a glass of
water for an hour, strain and serve
with the beaten white of an egg and
a spoonful of fruit juice or flavoring.
This affords a great deal of nourish
ment that even the weakest stomach
can assimilate without any distress.
“My husband is a physician and he
uses Grape-Nuts himself and orders
it many times for his patients.
“Personally I regard a dish of
Grape-Nuts with fresh or stewed fruit
as the ideal breakfast for anyone—
well or sick.” Name given by Postum
Co., Battle Creek. Mich.
In any case of stomach trouble,
nervous prostration or brain fag, a
10 days’ trial of Grape-Nuts will work
wonders toward nourishing and re
building. and in this way ending the
trouble. ‘There’s a reason" and trial
proves.
Look in pkgs. for the famous little
hook. ‘The Road to Wellvllle.”