The herald., 1894-03-04
QUEEN OF ACOOK-STOVE THRONE
Charlotte Perkins StetsOn OBJ
jects to MatrimOny.
So She Brings Suit for a Divorce
From Her Absent Husband.
Her Husband Claimed That She objected
to Washing Dishes, and He IL
Now y Cock at
Boston.

Mrs. Stetson, who is a social reformer
and writer, who formerly lived in Pasa-
dena, but now resides in Oakland, made
her appearance in new role Thursday
in the Alameda county superior court.
She commenced an action to obtain q
divorce from Charles w. Stetson. who is
q resident OF Providence, r. ].
Mrs. Stetson made her appearances in
Oakland couple of years ago. when che
was introduced by her uncle, Edward
Everett Hale. She gained standing as
q reformer among the ladies and she has
posed in the community as an advocate
OF woman's rights. In fact, she is q
reformer in more ways than one, and
has frequently appeared before the pub
lic and discussed economic questions.
She has been and is leader IN her line
OF work and has quite following across
the bay. Mrs. Stetson has aspirations
to become a writer OF note, and she has
had hard time in the struggle to try
and pueh herself to the front 80 that
her poems might find ready sale in the
market.
The move on her part to secure an
absolute divorce has caused considera.
BILE surprise among her friends, for
they did not believe she would bother
about getting legal separation. Mr..
and Mrs. Steteon were married at Prov
idence on May 2, 1884. He was a strug-
CLING artist with good connections. He
was working for fame, and with him
money did not seem to count. His
wife soon discovered this failing and q
separation was the result. Mrs. Stetson
was ambitious to be a writer and
scholar, but as the wife of q struggling
artist she had no time to improve her
self. When the separation took place
the wife came to the coast and COM
menced the struggle on her own
account, having child besides herself
to support.
In her complaint she says that her
husband did not support her, nor has
he contributed to her support in any
manner for more than a wear paet.
She therefore claims that she ia entitled
to divorce on the ground of failure to
provide. She says that Stetson is an
artist, and is an abls-bodied man in the
prime of life. He insists on painting
pictures, so she says, when he might
put forth his efforts in other di-
rections, from which the resaIts
would be much better in q fnaucial
way. He has declined to take his wife'H
advice on this subject, and will paint
pictures when he will do nothing else.
Stetson is an artist of some note in the
east, and his pictures have been called
to the attention of the public on more
than one occasion. About year ago he
uua nf hainn xnaAdoA N
absent wife, 30 he Brought an action for
q divorce on the ground of willtul deser.
ton. He claimed that his wife had left
his home and gone to the coast and that
she did not intend to return. In sup
port of this statement he produced some
letters wherein Mrs. Stetson stated her
position very frankly. She informed
her husband that she thought it better
that they part, for as his wife she could
not pursue her work. She gave him
to understand that he need not look for
her return, as che had q new sphere in
which to work. The Judge, however,
thought that both sides were at fault in
the matter and go he denied the divorce.
Mrs. Stetson has worked hard in her
way to find favor among the women.
Not so very long ago she experienced
some very hard times and the battle for
bread seemed to be going against her.
According to her own statement it was
from those bitter times that she got the
material for her poem, The Wolf at the
Door, which was recently published. In
that poem appsar these verses:
There's q haunting horror near us
That nothing drives away;
Fierce, lSmping eyes at ntRhtfall,
A crouching shade by day.
There's whining at the threshold,
There's scratching at the hoor-
To work To work. In heavens namel
The w0it tg at the door.
There's hot breath at the keyhole,
And te,.ring as OF tn.
Well do | know the bloodShot eyes
And the dripping jaws beneatn
There's a whining At the thres hold
There's q scratching on the hocr.
To work to work. in heavens namel
The wolf is at the door.
Mrs. Stetson wrote a number of poems
looking at life as it had been with her,
She is not in favor OF young wives slav.
ing for their husbands, and so che puts
her thoughts in poem entitled, To the
Young Wife. 1t is said that the verses
somewhat applied to her own case.
Here is a sample of her questions to the
wives:
Are you content, you pretty three-years' wife?
Are you content and satisfied TO live
And give to him your iife2
Are you content with work? To toll alone;
To clean Things dirty and to soil things clean;
To be kitchen -maid-be called queen
Queen oil the cook-stove throne?
What holds you? All. my dear, it is your
thronel =
Your paltry uueenship in that narrow place;
Your antique lsbors, your restricted space;
Your working all alone.
Be not deceived IT'S not your wifely bond
That holds you, nor the mother Q royal power,
But selfish, slavish service hour by hour
A life with no beyond.
Mrs. Stetson's ideas were objected to
by some of the young mothers OF Oak
land, while others thought that they
were very fine. Her ideas of matrimony
where riches are lacking and the wife
has to work are fairly we'll expressed in
her poem. The poetess of Oakland
knows something about welded bliss.
She has written poem entitled Welded
Bliss. One verse of it will probably be
sufficient to give her ideas about the
matter:
80 come and be my mate" said the eagle 10
the hem
" love to soar, but then
want my mate to rest
Forever in the nestl"
Bald the hen, al cannot fy,
have no wish to try,
But / Joy to see my mate careering through the