St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-01

WHEN THE PRINCE APPEARED.
After the deluge, which is to say the
divorce, Albemarle county ceased even
to speculate. And when the Prince
Troubetzkoy appeared and an i'm
pending wedding was announced from
Castle Hill, Albermale simply sat with
it's mouth ajar. And, now the wedding
is four days past and the whole coun-
try is discussing and comparing notes.
They cannot speculate as to the future.
They can only review the past.
Thanks to Amelie Rives herself, there
is no lack of material for minute re-
view of her past. 1t does not often
happen that a young and beautiful
woman publishes her autobiography
during her lifetime. In all probability
it has never happened before that she
has published a minute heart-diary, as
it were, almost as soon as she could get
the current material ready for the
presses For that reason, two of her
books, 1.-THE Quick or The Dead?' and
it's sequel, Barbara Dering," have a
unique place in literature.
In one way they rank with the con-
fession of Jean Jacques and the jour-
nal of Marie Bashllirtseff. The only
weakness is that Amelie Rives has
overlaid her heart story with some flc-
ton and has, at times, scattered her
characters. But these flaws in no way
interfere with the perfect understand
ing of her inner life by the reading of
her books.
Shortly after the appearance Of
"The Quick or the Dead" an acquaint-
ance of Amelie Rives explained In
print that it was the history Of her
own heart-eXperience, but that the
struggle so carefully studied in the
book did not represent the struggle
between a dead man and living,
but struggle between an ideal of
what lover and husband should be,
and some flesh and blood lover who
fascinates her while he falls short of
the ideal
She had thought that the man who
would WOO and win her would be
handsome, strong, brave and free, but
at the same time gentle and quick to
respond to her mental as well as to
her physical moods The man who
fascinated her and who was counting
her was handsome, generous, strong,
full of the out-of-doors. but he was
not gentle. He appealed to her wild
side, not to her gentler, more domes-
tic moods He called her witch and
tigress. He never came to see her but
he dragged her into the open air for a
ride or a long walk over the hills or
a slide on the hay ricks. He did not
know about her other side, her moods
of pensive quiet, and he never had a
chance to learn them while he was
counting her.
This is her own account of the court
ship which ended in her marriage to
her first husband. She takes some
pains to conceal her own personal ap-
pearance in the book, but she does
the young man the honor Of describ-
ing him at full length. His physical
+ and mental appearance is drawn with
accuracy, making allowance for some
eXaggerations, partly the result of the
rosy illusions of love and partly the
result of an attempt to conceal.
The first book was issued in April,
1885, Amelie Rives had then been en-
gagged to Mr.. Chanler about two years.
The first book ends in a lovers quar-
rel and separation, which the author
tries in vain to convince you is final
Two years after the publication of the
first book, that is June IA, 1885, Amelie
Rives became Mrs. Chanler. In 1892,
after four years of married life, she
issued her second venture in disguised
autobiography Barbara Dering.
On the whole she is rather just to
both sides. She cannot help sympathiz-
ing with Barbara, but she does not
wholly neglect Dering's point of view
She tells her side also, and, therefore,
partisan appeal for sympathy. After
recounting the quarrels and incompati-
bilities of temper Of the married lovers,
she ends the book with reconciliation.
The matter ended differently in life,
but it is highly probable that, when
she finished this book, she saw what
she thought was reconciliation ahead.
Three years after this book was is
sued Amelie Rives secured a divorce
from her husband on the ground of
"incompatibility Of temper" Over a
year before the divorce she met the
Prince Pierre, which sounds rather
better than the English Peter Troubet-
zkoy. She was visiting his mother at
the Troubetzkoy villa on Lake Mag
giore in Northern Italy. She no doubt
came to know him very we'll there,
came to understand his character and
his tastes. She came away to America
and those who know this strange
woman best will be the first to realize
that no man had dared to make love
to her while she was the wife Of