The age-herald., 1900-07-12
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Charlotte Perkins Stets0n's Views
 At Variance With Her Life

AI VdTIdHCe Witu ueI Lic The Charlotte Perkins Stetson craze that has swept over clubdom and indeed extend ed far beyond its boundaries has made recent newspaper article quite widely copied by reason of the new light in which Mrs. Stetson stands revealed. A clever Birming- ham woman who represents both the ideal mother and the ideal club woman, in speak ing of the article yesterday declared that 1t should be reproduced in all the papers, for 1t proved that the abnormal new wo- man did exist and that she and her incon- sistencies must be suppressed. Mrs. Stet- son." she said "has been expressing her beautiful theories on the duty of a mother to her child and after bringing tears to the eyes of her listeners, she is perfectly con- scious of her own inconsistent life in re- gard to her own child. I regard that any woman who looks upon her husband or children as mere incidents in her life Is lacking in the essential qualities of woman hood, and no mother, however brilliant she may be- as to what heights she may rise in advocating the cause of woman, she in my opinion is a most abnormal creature if she regards her life hampered by her family. l would be glad to believe that Mrs Stet- son stands alone in her attitude to her hus- band and child, and that there are few women who regard their children as ob- stacles to their own greatness"
 In view of the following extract from the article that is going the rounds, it will be interesting to know that it Is stated upon good authority that Mrs. Stetson is soon to be married to a man many years her junior The engagement has not, however, been publicly announced.
 Mrs Stetson's domestic life is written of as follows
 "I think it was apparent to their friends long before the separation took place that the husband and wife were not suited to each other, and Mrs Stetson undoubtedly felt within her this great power which the burden of family cares, that had to be met with limited income, did not permit her to use or exercise So she brought her wonderful mind to bear upon the subject, and finally determined that her dearest and most intimate friend, Miss Grace Ellery Charming of Boston, who, by the way, is a granddaughter of William Ellery Chan ming, the famous Unitarian preacher would make a far better wife for MT. Stetson and a better mother to the little daughter than
 
 think was to act. She invited Miss Chan ming to visit her at Pasadena. She did everything possible to promote friendship between Miss Charming and her husband, and MT. Stetson was not slow to discover that she was very lovely and lovable girl. Then the matter was calmly talked over between husband and wife; a separation was agreed upon, a divorce quietly pro- cured. and after a suitable lapse of time MT Stetson married Miss Charming.
 But this was not the strangest part of 1t all. Charlotte Perkins Stetson was pres ent at the wedding and accompanied the newly-married pair on the wedding jour ney as far as New York; where they sailed for Europe, while she commenced in ear nest and unhampered her brilliant literary career. The queerly-assorted pair stopped few days in New York, where Mrs. Stet- son No. 1 purchased clothes for her little daughter, whom she then turned over com pletely to the new wife, who has had charge of her ever since. And now Char lotte Perkins Stetson goes once year to Pasadena and visits her one-time husband and his wife, who is still her dearest friend And this is what we may all be coming to, if this so-called advancement of women goes on.
 
 the United States today. I do not know of another mind to compare with her for brillancy and logical conclusions. But she is the most intensely selfish person that 1 have ever known. Herself, her own wishes, desires, welfare, inclnations = these come first always with her. What is best for others even those who are near and ought to be dear to her, she never considers for one moment. And do you know, it has seemed to me that between her face and her voice there exists the strangest contradic- tion, and yet one that explains the seem- ingly contradictory nature. It is a poetic face, you know, intense yet tender with an indefinable and indescribable resem- blance to the pictures of George Eliot, and it would seem to accord perfectly with the beautiful and wonderful verses that she writes, and the tender and beautiful sen timents she expresses. But her voice-that indication of so much of ones innermost nature-is harsh and heavy and unlovely, and 1 believe that is the exponent of the other side of her nature, that which is selfish and self-seeking and unthoughtful