Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 30, 1916, Page 21

,% L | A T Romance of Magpieleyre {fGIJOPEIQ‘prfJflo _ Overcome by Pity at Seeing Her Childhood Sweetheart Lying with Severed Right Arm in a British Military Hospital, the Prima Donna Falls on Her Knees Beside the Little Cot and Sobs Out Her Proposal LOVE EPIGRAMS BY MAGGIE TEYTE. WHAT a woman weants is steady love. When a woman is loved by two men it is the one who makes the most show who wins her. Persons who bave great gifts must choose between love and o I should choose my carcer. My husband preferred love to a career. career for me he loat my respect. Every woman likes attention. I proposed to Lieutenant Robertson. That man who loses & woman's respect loses her love. My first marriage was the old-fashioned kind—the marriage of career. dependence. My next marria, By Maggie Teyte. ‘rn.l-htllm-n!n. n will probably be in May, when I return to England. My flance is Lieutenant Seymour Robertson, of the Hnglish One Hundred and Seventeenth Regl ment. 1 will tell the story of my ro-" mance because it may help some other woman to find her way to the new marriage without under- going the friction of the old mar- riage—as I did, I believe that I would have some- time married Lieutenant Robert- son, but I would not have married him so soon had it not been for the war. He lost his left arm. It was shot away at Ypres. He was invalided home. I met him at a private hos- pital. | 1 secured a divorce from my first husband, Monsleur Plummon, be- cause I cherished my independence. When 1 saw my first sweetheart lying in the hospital cot maimed and, oh, so feeble, I felt within me all the old childish love increase immeasurably. We hsd been child lovers at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire. I Promise to Marry a Wreck of War. A great flood of love and pity overwhelmed me. 1 fell on my knees beside his cot sobbing. “I will marry you,” I sald. “What—me, & wreck of war, maimed and usele he said, bit- terly. “1 will not allow it. “You've got to,” 1 eried; “You've got to marry me.” And we are going to be married. But let me go back to that child- bood in the Midlands, what is called “The Black Country,” and tell you my romance from its be- ginning. Only I cannot commence at the actual beginning, for ft seems that I have always known Seymour Robertson. He is seven years older than I and has a clearer memory of “The Teyte Baby” than I have of “The big Bobertson Boy,” for his memories began earlier than mine. But we did talk of what we were going to be when we grew up. I ocannot remember when he had not determindd to be a lawyer. And it was my intention to become a singer ever since my brother broke down in the middle of a solo, He had a heavy cold and we were all anxious about him. I sat close to the .platform, eagerly listening. When his volce wobbled, then stopped, 1 took up the strain and sang it to the end. No one no- ticed whence the voice came, They stared at the boy standing there, red and mute, listened to the child- ish soprano and wondered. That day 1 resolved to become a public T, '“;‘:nu to a Sonvent school, then father took me to the Royal Col- lege of Music in London. 8ir Hu- bert Parry, director of the college, refused to teach me. He said I was too young. That was the rea- son I went to Parls. Jean de Reszke forgave my taught me. in Paris. Comique. youth, He I continued my studies 1 sang at the Opera 1 crested a part in the Circe. Had I been ac- student in London my ave flown in a differ- shall be one of independence. I believe in marriage; butldo not believe in being too much married. It is better for every woman to marry. and human nature needs anchorage. Because ho neglected his 1 said: “You've got to.” It gives her anchorage, A Striking Photograph of Miss Teyte at the Time She Disobeyed Her Hus- band and Came to America. ent channel. I would have met Seymour pegging away at his law. There would have lbeen ‘a better understanding between us. But I carved my success in Paris. And I wet Eugene Plummon. There 1 stop to ask myself the question: “Why?" And I answer: “Because when & womsn is loved by two men it {s the man who makes the most show who wins her." I believed that Seymour Robert- son loved me, but he was self-con- tained, deep in his studies and In establishing his practice of the law. 1 was in Paris. Mons. Piummon was in Paris. I saw him every day. Every woman likes attention. 1 married him. My marriage was only tolerably happy from the first, and it became less successful until it degenerated into & failure. There were two rea- sons for the unhappy outcome. First, let me remind you, that in some essential respects women are alike, They admire the man who es & high place in the world. s one of the common points between the Colonel's Lady and the O'Grady person between whom Kip- ling discovered so much Ilikeness. If a man cannot attain & bigh place in the world, at least he should con- vince the woman nearest to his life that he is doing his best to develop his talents, All persons of great gifts may have to decide between love and & career. I would not hesitate a moment. I should choose & career. But my husband chuse love. Instead of attending to the big business of & man’s life—makin, place for bimself—he devoted his time and thoughts to me. For this 1 soon ceased to respect my hus- band. When a woman's respect for & man goes her love follows. That is one reason for the failure of my marriage to Mons. Plummon. Another was his disposition to meddle in my care wanted to be let alone. I do not mean liter- ally alone, for every normal human being enjoys companionship. But 1 did not want dictation. No woman wants some one al- ways it her elbow saying: “Do Coovright 1918, by this” or “Don’t do that” It is ridiculous in this stage of the de velopment of women to promise to obey. It is a form of perjury, for every intelligent woman well knows that she has no intention of render. ing obedience to her husband. She will discuss family matters with him. She will follow his sugges- tions, provided she thinks them as 8 or better than hers. That Mr. Plummon let his own career take care, in great measure, of itself, and meddled with mine. In vain I warned him that he must not interfere with my plans. He ob- iecud to my going to America. 1 nsisted. I came. He divorced me with my entire consent, 1 did not defend the wuit, What he sald was true. 1 wished to lead an inde- pendent life And so | shall, despite my be- trothal to 14 t Robertson He respects anot individuality He willing that 1 shall be from home on my concert tours. He knows that he will take the same place in my life that my adopted daughter does. One must feel when the Star Company Great Britain R Lieutenant Seymour Robert~ son, to Whom the Prima Donna Proposed. she s far away that there is some place that is hers, that there s who belongs to her. An That is right. An anchorage! After my marriage to Mr. Plum- mon I lived for the most part in Paris, I did not meet my former playmate of “The Black Country” until a year ago last Summer, he met my husband and me. It was very formal. He was most digni- fled. And yet I knew that he still cared. A woman alwaye knows. It was on the eve of the war. He volunteered. He was wounded at Ypres while I was in this country A friend cabled me about his injury and sald he was being invalided home. When I salled from America last Spring I intended to join the work- ers in the fleld In France. I volun- teered as a visitress, one of those women who goes from one supply store to another and who sees that the necessaries are furnished. That post not being open to me, 1 sang all Summer at the hospitals. I made up & party of four and we visited the hospitals to cheer the lucky ones—brave fellows who, though they had lost one leg or two legs, one arm or both, counted them- selves “lucky” merely to be alive Often I sang ten or twelve numbers. The boys liked the ballads, Their weak volces jolned the choruses. I, with other friends, called on Lieutenant Robertson in his hos- pital. From that first meeting there was a reunderstanding. 1 took my singers to the hospital and sang there. Often I called without them My divorce was assured, and the love affair of years before, inter rupted by my going to Paris, was renewed I had to propose to him, as I have told. I knew he loved me and 1 saw that he did not intend to ask me to share what he thought was & poor remnant of & life, o 1 did. I sald to him, “You've got to.” Ours will be what I call an inde- pendent marriage. He will not in- terfere with my career nor I with his. But when the tour is over and hits Reserved \ Hoto O Vi iss Teyte as Cherublno In “The Marriage of Figaro.” his cases are finished, there will be common ground for meeting. We will have a home and we will have each other. My wish to be alone will be fulfilled. Aloneness i the artist's right. It {s more-—it is the woman’s right, My stand is the revolt of womanhood. We ask that the form of our life shall be let alone, The form of our life is the work we h: elected to do. I expect to marry when I return to England in May, My flance is still in the private hospital, but. thank Heaven, he is gaining fast. We will show the world that the new marriage, the independent mar- rlage, will be a success. How Wall Paper Affects the Air We Breathe the condition of the walls, whether coversd with paper or whitewashed, has an important effect on a room's ventilation. This was proved by some recent mtenltmhuperimcnu with two walls of one room overed with a light paper which had become somewhat soiled by the lapse of time. Those of the other were whitewashed. The results of the experiments showed that the proportion of car- bonic acid remaining in the alr was appreclably lees in the room with the whitewashed walls, Taking into consideration not only this, but the amount of humidity and all the other factors, the ventilation of the whitewashed room was found to be 17 per cent better than that of the one with paper on the walls, Other parallel experiments were made to ascertain the effect of different methods of ventilation. One pair of experiments shows the wide and closing ery halt bour dur- ur period. The ven- tilation was A\mproved about 10 SURPI(!ING as It may seem, per cent by this periodical opening of the door. Other sets of tests compared the effect of taking the air supply to the gas stove from the corridor with taking it from the room itself. The supply of air to the gas stove from the room {tself improved the ventilation by about 20 per ces. In other tests the eftect of opems ing the window flap while the gas stove took {ts alr supply from the room itself was tried, with the re- ult that it was found that the {lation was thus increased by per cent. Finally, a series of tests was made in which the vent pipe in the celling was opened. was most effective, the ventilation be- ing increased two and ome-half to two and three-quarter times, and in one case even five times. Ob- viously, this increased ventilation must affect the humidity of, and proportion of carbonic acid in, the ro%::‘. tists believe, however, thay thes sts with the open went pipe have not much slg nificance, as there is od provision for ceiling [ living roama