The times., 1898-02-20
Saks & Company
"SakS' Corner.
Mary Anderson Mt Home.
lFrom the Young Woman.l

bioiH tLt lVult- NtlHth-y
No TWO children could be more guile
lessly. unahectedly happy than this
giIlish woman and her husband. After
that marriage they lived in a pretty
house at Tunbridge Wells where by
the way, there was quite a unique por1
trait gallery. 1t consisted of an almost
endless number of portraits of one per-
son. and that person the lady of the
house Size herself had nothing to do
| with il. but il belonged TO her husband.
I and formed a frieze all around the
j roon:.
We talked of stage life. and Mrs. De
Navarro expressed her absolute dislike
TO the life Of an actress - the most De,
cided way. Long before she had gives
up acting. she said, she had felt the
h0liowness Of il all TO the full. The
| glamour and glitter might please al
! first, but they could not satisfy for any
/ length Of time. They were not enough.
IN fact. they were nothing, and less
/ tEan nothing, TO anyone who did nos
| think all life was nothing but a farce
! And, oh, the inexpreSsible relief. the
! happiness, the calm, the peace of the
simple, quiet life they were now lead
( ing! Mrs De Nay arCO's face beamed a.
! she talked about their life-their un-
! conventional roamings. their simple
j pleasures, their love for music and art
/ and their friendly. intercourse witi>
| kindred spirits. But what struck me-
most was the beautiful devotion to-
! their religion, the reverence with which
! they spoke of il. and the evident part il
| played in their everyday lives A shors
time afterwards Mrs. De Navarro
wrote to me. and l observed then that
| her letters were just as spontaneous.
! as impulsiveiy friendly and as unaf-
| fected as the writer herself
The solitude deux. which Mr.. and
Mrs. De Navarro found so congeniaI
! does not seem to have paiied yet For
years they lived the same free, uncon-
vsntiOnal life, pitching their tent here
and there, while the villa at Tunbridge
Wells remained the pied a terre where
they could turn when they wanted to
be within their own four walls. But
| they remained great travellers, being
very fond of nature - all her different
| aspects. Now you might hear of them
in a place in rural England. which lay
very far off the beaten travellers track,
and again you might write. hoping TO
see them, and the answer came. I'VE
are just off for Spain and from there
to other parts of the continent" -,ever
q word of longing 70 be back in public
| life, and always the same intense thank
fulness that that chapter of life was
closed.
1t is the same sun. A utJie more
than a year ago Mr. and Mrs. De Nav
AFRO were staying at Wimbledon. and l
| went to see them and pay my respects
! TO a certain Senior Jose de Navarro,
just four weeks old on the day i saw
him in his white cot, his tiny fists
against the warm pink checks. There
WILL perchance, be less roaming now
that son and heir has come to stay
at the picturesque old house that
stands in a quaint garden in the coun-
try. But for all that. there/will never
be thought of stage life as a possible
attraction, notwithstanding all the re-
cent rumoTs to the contrary. For it
was with more determination than ever
that Mrs. De Navarro said to me after
we had been looking at little Jose:
Life is something greater and better
than stage excitement and admiration.
There is. for instance, that boy up
stairs. tiny mite though he is. And
there are so many, many things one is
interested in. One of my constant de-
lights is singing and music. and as soon
as 1 am quite strong again | hope to do
a great deal Of singing. j always loved
il, especially oratOrio music. But stage
Iife-no, never. never again And
thought, as Mrs. De Navarro reciined
on her couch. with the sofa lace and
cIinging folds of a pale blue tea-gown
falling about her that | had never seen
her look more beautiful.