The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
I
Copyrlgh't,llll, by tht Star Companr. Great Britain nights Reiervad.'
The Inevitable End of Genius GorkyS
SCANDALOUS
Romance
"No vow is of any use for the people who
stand at the top. I have sacrificed myself
enough for my romatic sentiments." Mmc.
Andreyeva's Cynical Farewell to Gorky.
'4
The Brilliant Mme.
Andreyeva Who Took Him
from His Wife and Child
ains That She Has Had
to Abandon:: the Russian
Novelist Because
She b a "denitis" Herself
Expli
TUB Inevitable consequences havo followed, and
ended, the scandalous romanco of the. celobratod
Russian novelist, Maxim Qorky. Tho beautiful
actress, Mme. Andrcyeva, -who took him from his wife
and child seven years ago and accompanied him to
America, has loft him exiled In Italy and returned tc
Moscow and nor former life of tho Btage.
Gorky'a appearance In America, accompanied by tho
actress, It will be remembered, barred him from
Amorlcan society, and caused him and his companion
to bo ejected from a Now York hotol. Tho novelist
could not got a divorce from his wife, and could not
return to Russia. Accompanied by Mmc Andreyova he
went to Italy. They luolatcd themselves In a cottage
on the Island of Capri whore they romalned together
until a few weeks ago when, as ds ordained In all such
cases, tho Irregular bond, at last overstrained, snapped,
and she abandoned htm.
Interviewed in Moscow, the actrosB brazenly declares
that laws governing the relations of tho soxes aro doubt
less good for tho masses, for ordinary plodders, but
ot tor "genius." Doing a gonlus horsolf, and not car
ing longer to sink her "art personality" In that of Gorky,
he decided to resumo her Independent career.
And Uils Inevitable climax has come In spite of cir
cumstances which enabled Gorky to obtain. divorce
aad to .marry Mme. Andreyevs, This attempt to right
a wrong made bo difference. And tho moral Is further
j pointed by tho contrast offered by tho two women In
volved. While Mme. Androyeva playn her part of the
fceartless "genius," the first Madamo Gorky is all sym
pathy for tho abandoned novelist and frankly declares
Iter wish to befriend him.
From the first Gorky's real friends In Russia dis
cerned that his genius would be fettered instoad of In
spired by his irregular relationship with Mme. Andrey
va. What they have learned of their life togethor In
.the cottage on Capri ber.ra out all their forebodings.
Gorky wrote novels and plays, and his companion
attempted to asstst him In the capacity of a critic and
adviser. But none of his works of tuts period held the
appeal so characteristic of his former spontaneous pro
ductions. Instead of continuing In his successful field
of vagabond and outcast life, he dealt more and more
with, that of tho middle class and Us special problems
which he was not fitted to discuss. It seems that Mme.
Androyeva, with her woman's pcrvorseness, strovo to
make another Maeterlinck of him.
This woman, who selfishly abandoned Gorky In his
exile, and admHa it, at present is stopping with friends
Jn Moscow, She expects shortly to resume her inter
rupted stage career. At first she avoided representa
tives of the press, but Anally to ono whom she had
known in the old days she gave an interview, of which
the following are tho significant portions.
"My explanation is that I could not any longor resist
.the call of the stage. It grew louder and louder. A
phantom of my glorious past haunted me night and
day, I feared that I would commit suicide It I shut my
ears to it any longer. I simply yielded."
"But how about your husband? Old he share your
feelings?'
Madame Androyeva blushed and seemed contused.
"I am sorry to say, no. We aro intimate .frlonds,
that Is all. He could not understand mo. That Is the
painful feature of. our relations. The question lsl why
should I sacrifice my art for the art of my husband!
Why should I give up my art for tho sake of my ro
mantic attachment to hlmt Can the husband's laurels
tie also the laurels of his wife? Will she be happy In
decorating herself with what she has not earned? Why
.should I bury my art on that small island for the sake
of remaining a true companion of my husband. I don't
see why."
"It's a serious problem. Indeed, especially since your
husband could not follow you In your career. But is
there no chance of a compromise?"
"Well, let me tell you," answered Mme. Andreyevs,
"I bare come to the conclusion that marriage Is only a
jsecsuary regulation for mediocrities and the masses,
bat it has no meaning for geniuses or degenerates. No
vow is of any use for tho people who stand at the top.
It is a alee knot for the average mind. I have under
cone many deprivations for the eake of ray romantic
vow and would undergo moro still, but I am an artist
tayttlf, like ray husband, and must accomplish more
than I could as. merely his cheering companion. I am
Mt ealy a woaaa. but also a factor la a Ugsr saasr
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:;- J Russian 'Dress) Whom He rv SSr
'"V Abandoning His First Wife j
j ILbs-S' h" Been Abndoned
"Which will Gorky choose
to pursue the wife who
so coolly abandons him or
to return, broken, to the
wife who offers him again
her love and devotion?"
YVtillflLlllllflilijIIIBWl
Maxim Gorky, the Celebrated Russian Novelist, Who
Has Been Abandoned by the Actress for Whom
He Deserted His Wife and Child.
I have sacrificed myself onough for ray romantlo senti
ments. Now I have higher IdealB. Uke my husband .has,
and for that reason I cannot go any further.
"You see that I have my own reputation almost In
the same degree that my husband has. It this were
not the caso, I certainly would be satisfied in finding
contentment within the frame of my family, I would
remain the wife the woman. But I feel that spcloty
the art-loving world has bigger claims upon me: I
am a member of the universal family. In order tc
serve humanity, I am Justlfiod In forsaking my husband,
even if it should displease him. It I should meet a
Btarvlng man and was unable, to help him, I would be
Justified In taking from whomever I could, taking by
violence It the ono I asked refused to give deliberately.
I am not a criminal It I do that, but an executioner of
higher Ideals. The same Is the case when I leave my
family In order to live tor a thousand other families.
I am perfectly Justified in sinning against my family
If I can do good for humanity. All that I have done, at
present is that I have sacrificed my personal self tor
a blggor self.
"Any man who marries a woman with high Ideals
should know that he sits In the saddle ot a wild horse.
He should be prepared from tho first touch ot her llps
to see tho romantlo flamo die out any day. She. is a
double personality; real and Ideal, physical .and
spiritual. Whenever a woman who has a message mar
ries a man and says she will be true to him till death,
she Is untruo to herself. Sho does not know that. she
will over be able to keep that vow. There are no writ
ten laws for a genius, except those ot his or her own
conscience. (
"She should not marry at all, It she thinks she has
a message to humanity besides being a woman. But
the conventional views ot society urge her to follow
tho old and regular channels. She never takes . the
family seriously, and that is the reason why a modern
highly educated woman grows so easily tired of strict
'amllv Ufa and. makes lova to. another man. If ah h
nothing higher to occupy her mind? The divorces in
more civilised countries are perfectly natural facts and
should never bo condemned.
"Only a half-educated and entirely feminine woman
Is perfectly happy within her family and strictly loyal
to her husband. An educated and highly Intellectual
woman baa no time to. fuss with housekeeping, the
education of her children and keeping the affection ot
her husband. She has bigger problems to solve and
employs others to take care ot her family duties. The
American woman, for Instance, has roached the highest
degree ot general education, and is Interested in higher
questions of llto, therefore she is a poor mother and
an unreliable wlfo. But I don't blame her."
"But isn't motherhood the aupremest of all Ideals of
a woman?"
"Not when a woman can be the mother of a spiritual
creation art, or an ideal of any spiritual nature. That
Is' the great philosophic point in woman's life. Tho
higher a woman ascends Intellectually, the moro she
loses of her physical motherhood. She becomes the
mother ot the spiritual child, Just the same si the
husband becomes the father of the creation ot his
mind, instead ot that ot bis body. That Is the very
reason why the children of nearly all great men re
main mediocrities. Their parents neglect them, being
concerned only with their intellectual children. Rous
seau and Browning are the best examples In support
of my argument"
"Did your husband acduiesce with your leaving him
to his fate? Are you expected to return to him after
tho theatrical season Is over?"
"We are friends Just the same, and may be much
more friends than before. But his opinion Is that the
glory ot the husband Is also tho glory ot the wife, In
which I disagree. In case ot the wife being able to get
her own glory. Even if my departure should mean the
death ot his inspiration, I shall remain firm In my own
ambition. Whether . I will return to him or not Is a
matter for the disposition of my sentiments in the
future."
But what is the explanation ot Gorky himself ot this
new turn tn his family affairs? He forsook his first
wife and their child tor Androyeva. Now this wife
forsakes him. So far no one knows whether he ever
will explain It in any other way than In his memoirs.
But ot great Interest Is the short opinion of his first
wife on the matter, which she expressed to a Russian
Journalist
"A man should never fall in love with a woman who
has her own ambition In social life. He will never be
happy. Much more,. It she da superior to him Intel
lectually she will exploit his creative power for hor
own use and when sho has nothing more to get from
him she will leave him without any sympathy, as was
the case with Gorky's marriage to Andreyeva. I am
very sorry for him.
"Andreyeva Is a very clever woman, and Intellectual
ly superior to him. He tell In love with her because of
her great talent while she was playing the role of the
heroine ot his drama. He is a simple, uneducated
man ot the people. He was greatly fascinated by
her brilliance. He probably thought or felt that she
would Inspire him more than I did, and that is the
reason he left mo and the boy whom he loved so af
fectionately. But soon he realized that It was only an
illusion.
"Andreyeva urged him to Imitate Ibsen and Maeter
linck, and he did so. That was the worst he could do.
I, ot course, felt sorry about It; yet I thought, It he
can accomplish mdre with her, heaven bless him! But
she polished him to such an extent that she killed all
his originality. However, If he should feel forsaken
by all the world, I am certainly the first and last ot
his most devoted friends to stay with him. I am really
ready to sacrifice everything for bis success."
NOW Is the Time to Kill the Filthy Fly
By Dr. Leonard K. Herschberg.
(Of Johhs Hopkins Medical College)
TUB Summer about to dawn is the
tenth anniversary of our conclusive
conviction and tangible proof that
the common nuisance and ubiquitous
plague, the pestiferous housefly, produces
many dangerous maladies, such as typhoid,
cholera, dysentery, infantile ailments, and
tho like. True enough, ever since tho Gov
ernment report about the typhoid fever
among American soldiers in the Spanish
war, the housefly was fairly well known to
be responsible for the spread ot that in
fection. It was not, however, until the re-v
searches ot the ensuing years had accu
mulated that the fly's guilt was established
beyond the cavil ot a doubt.
The proboscis, or what you might call
tho tongue, of tho housefly, is a most per
nicious organ. Because the common fly
cannot chew' or blto or suck or pierce tho
skin, food must be served up to the fly in
liquid form. In other words, a fly is always
on a soft liquid or "fever" diet
As a fly alights upon food, it sticks out
its tongue or proboscis by means ot a pair
of air-sacs or vacuum cleaners, which blow
out tho proboscis Just as you blow into a
glove to expand the fingers. Another pump
of tho fly's mouth sucks In the liquid food
mixed, with the insect's saliva. The food
passes through tho alimentary canal and
the undesirable parts are shot forth as
flecks ot dust and moistened dirt from tho
under surface ot the fly's body.
It has been abundantly confirmed by ex
periments that the fly not only stores up
food for days and weeks at a time In Its
crop, but It also regurgitates fresh as well
bb old food very often; A fly will thus re
gurgitate food out through Its mouth and
proboscis mixed with Ballva, in order to
dissolve and liquefy food that Is too solid
for it to take. Indeed, files are so filthy in
their habits that they 'regurgitate and re
swallow the samo food many times. These
regurgitation spots may be seen on white
surfaces of window panes, and are easily
distinguished from spots of waste matter
discharged by the fly, because they aro
much lighter in color than the latter.
You may thus readily picture to yourself
what takes place when a fly gorged with a
liquefied diet ot typhoid material, tubercu
losis sputum, or microbe-rich milk, hops
gayly here and there on your berries, but
ter, sugar bowl and kitchen utensils. The
apparently clean and harmless fly that idly
glides into your kitchen from tho passing
garbage cart in order to havo a bit of your
bread, your sugar, your meat, or your but
ter, regurgitates a few times hero and
there wherever it alights. Briefly, It a fly
wishes to sip some nourishment from
your table it must regurgitate several
times at least upon the food It craves.
Some of Its ejected saliva and food may
be the remnants of fetid repasts obtained
some dpys previously frcm tho filthiest
Moreover, the sticky, gluey cushions
upon a fly's feet are literally alive and
swarming, with bacteria and other disease
spreading filth. Tho much-admired and
graceful act of a fly walking upside down is
due to this mucilaginous material present
upon the Insect's feet Tho footpads of a
fly are so glutinous that they take up part
of. anything with which they como in con
tact Every known disease germ and con
tagion has boon recovered from tho sole
ot a fly's foot
Since the abiding places of the rausca
domestlca aro stableB, barns, manure
heaps, rubbish boxes, outhouses and any
decaying animal or vegetable matter, you
may well imagine what varieties of, germs
are encountered upon a fly's feet and in
side its hollow tongue and mouth. Such
delectable places are the brooding spot ot
the mother fly. She lays her eggs, in a
series of from 100 to 200 eggs at a time.
Sho usually lives long enough to rear many
thousands of progeny, halt of which in
turn also become aggressive, egg-laying
mothers. I have, however, seen female files
during the Winter deposit eggs in a warm
cellar, upon moist mud, in which thero
was no nourishment
One fly killed in April Is equal tu the
combined onslaught and destruction of
billions of flies by thousands of persons in
July and August The boy or girl who de
stroys the early flies of April and May can
carve himself or herself a belt with the
motto on It of "A Million at One Blow"
For potentially, every mother fly to-day
will be responsible for billions upon bill.
Ions in August
All of the mighty milk crusades with
their aims for a pure, undefiled and germ
free milk will go for naught if a "Swat the.
Fly" campaign is not vigorously waged be
forehand as well as simultaneously. You
may have a milk so perfect that not a bac
teria is in it, yet if thero be a fly about
ready to pounce upon an infant's lips, on
its bottle, nipple or tiny hands, then all
the other anticipated precautions will havo
been absolutely nullified.
The rapid substitution of tho garage for
the tables, cowsheds and barnyards has
gone a long way to reduce the number of
flies In American cities. Tho new city or
dinances which require all garbage cans to
be kept under cover, the dissemination ot
knowledge among the public as to the In
Jury from flies, the use ot fly traps, and the
inoculation by the Government experts of
parasites ot filed In order to destroy the
insects by epidemics fatal to them, all of
these schemes In conjunction with anti
fly crusades by civic organizations should
materially lengthen the life' of tho human
race by a reduction of the number of files.
Flies dlo off.
And men survive;
The more flies you kill
The longer you're alive.