The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-10
OSCAR wILDE's DISGRACE.
4 Mother, Wife and Two Children
Must share His shame.

From the New York Times.
Aside from the depravity that It has been
necessary to make public in the downfall
Of oscar Wilde, people who met him here.
and accepted his letters of introduction as
an accredited English gentleman are Curl
GUS to know something of his family. his
mother, his wife. his children, and almost
everybody else upon whom he has brought
absolute ruin.
Every Irishman is interested in Oscar
Wilde, because he is a born Irishman. His
mother who is now a lettering old lady
in her seventies. was one of the earliest
advocates of the home rule cause. So long
as she was able to write she welded
trenchant pen. In this way she MANAGED
10 earn enough money to educate her two
sons. who were the idols OF her heart. Os-
car was the elder.
No woman in London society for the last
decade has commanded more respect than
Lady Wilde. The best people in the most
exclusive social set used to so to see her
despite the almost intOlerable mannerisms
of the sons to whom she was a most de-
voted mother.
oscar Wilde was born in Dublin about
thirty years ago. His father was a skilled
surgeOn-dentist, frequently called upon by
the queen for professional services. But
some how or other he never seemed to ac-
emulate any money. He was a man of
letters, a skilled statistician, and a man
whose experiments in dentistry are still
an authority in his profession. but he
seemed to lack thrift. Oscar Wilde was
the first one in the family to develop il,
and the success he has achieved as a play
wright and man of letters is mainly due
TO the devotion of his mother. She de-
prived herself of necessities in order that
he might be literally educated
In a primitive school at Enniskillen, Ire
land, Oscar Wilde was sent to get the
rudiments of an education. He soon out
grew the school, and was sent to Trinity
College, Dublin Here, again, he distin-
guished himself with such marked success
that he was sent TO Oxford. He won prize
after prize. This was ten years before he
came to America as the apostle of a new
cult" and attained the celebrity that
brought in the almighty dollar. Whatever
personal humiliation the caricature in
Patience involved, 1t put money in Os-
car Wilde's pocket and placed the entire
family in position of personal indepen-
dence that it had never known before.
Almost every man and woman who has
figured in London society for the last thir-
ty years knew and respected Lady
WILDE. Prominent people were only too
glad to attend her receptions in the home
that, by courtesy, was called Cadogan
House. 1t is located in the most fashion
able part of London, and despite peCu-
mary Teverses Lady Wilde has always
managed to retain possession of it.
At one time the family was so poor that
the blinds were kept closed in broad day-
light In order to conceal the shabbiness OF
the furniture, BY skillful Arrangement
of draperies Lady Wilde always managed
10 make q creditable appearance by cam
delight In those days Oscar used to an
pear before his mothers guests arrayed
in a curious garment Of white cloth cal
culated to display his fine figure to its
best advantage. He had only begun TO
evolve the singular ideas that soon made
him world-famous as an apostle of the
lily culture. His mother and all her
friends encouraged it, but assuredly with
out any dream that IL would lead to the
disgrace that has been the talk of London
ana almost every other part of the civ
llized world within the last few DAYS
oscar Wilde never hesitated to say that
IT was his American experience" and the
plump bank account that he was able to
take home after delivering more than 200
lectures here that taught him that if
PAID to be a crank with a fad that
people were interested in. He said that
once at public dinner. With all his pc
culiarities, he was a shrewd business man,
with sharp eye to pecuniary results He
MADE money much faster than he ex-
pected, and 1t is only just to say that he
was quite unselfish in sharing his pros
perity with other members of his family
who had not been so fortunate
\ wife and two children must also share
the shame brought upon Oscar Wilde by
the exposures of the last few DAYS. About
eleven years ago he married the daughter
:Ot Horace Lloyd, a conspicuous member
OF the English bar, who had been honored
with the title Of queens counsel. Since
her marriage Mrs. Oscar Wilde has been
a notable member OF London society an
enthusiastic first nighter" at the thea
tiers, with belief in her husbands ability
as a novelist and playwright that amount
ed almost to idolatry. She has two chill
dren, Cyril. who was born in 1885. and
Vivian, who was born about a year later
Americans who have had occasion to
visit London know Oscar Wilde's mother
his wife, and children very we'll 1t is
the effect that his disgrace will have upon
them that exc3tes sympathy here just