The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-22

the sunlit meadows of peace, William
Ashe surely would have done this. HIS
intelligence, his perfect trust, which his
critics are disposed to think were un-
wisely exercised at the beginning Of
their married life, was exactly the
proper course to take with Lady Kitty.
No harsh measures would have done
with her She was utterly undiScip
lined and if William Ashe had tried
severity, repression. censorship, had
sought to model her behavior along con-
ventional lines and to make another
Mary LySter of her she would have
flown off the tangent long before she
did. Sir William understood her better
than anybody else and his attitude to-
ward her was perfectly calculated to
bring out the best in her If anyone
could have tanned her William Ashe
would have succeeded. But nobody
could tame Lady Kitty because the
faint of madness was in her blood.
Now judge this case purely on its
merits and as one would judge SIM
liar case in the next street or the next
house Under such circumstances
would ones sympathy be with Lady
Kitty or with William Ashe? The
chances are with William Ashe- NO
doubt one would go too lar the otnef
way if the thing happened IN one
own acquaintance, would be unWrlIlI-5
to make proper allowances for Lady
Kitty's handicap in the way OF blood
birth and training, would condemn her
harshly. cruelty and unfairly Tor WhaI'
after all, was more her misfortune
than her fault But surely no one
would complain that William Ashe
was too good or, later, say II was
his fault because, Lady Kitty having
tried him sorely, abused his kindness
and his Datience he had found COnsOla-
ton in his work and learned to care
more for politics than he did Tor her.
Perhaps the result would nave been
the same in any case. Nothing is so
first fierce fires
cool but really if Kitty were ones
neighbor instead of the very fascinat-
ing heroine of a well written book, one
would marvel, not, that Wllllam unally
ceased to care for her more ardently
and passionately than for anything
else in the world. but that he should
have cared for her as long as he did
Kitty had a keen sense of humor
when Lord Parham of Mary Lyster or
any of her enemies We're concerned
but she had none for her Own actions
She was eaten by egotlsm and vanity
else she must have seen how ridiculous
she was with her play-aetlng. her pos
ing her fainting in her box at the
theatre in order to catch the attention
of the visiting royalty. her burning OF
Cities letters and picture, her dancing
with the lighted lamp on the pedestal
Of Hebe If she could have had
good hard laugh at herself it might
have frightened away the dark spirits
that possessed her soul.
No one can help plying Lady Kitty
and loving her but VINO, beside could
resist the charm of William Ashe-so
chivalrous, 50 scholarly, so generous
and so wise. He was a model husband
and nobody knew it better than his
wife, but she was not normal wo-
man, and had no taste for ordinary
virtues, ordinary pleasures or ordinary
experiences 1t was the strange, the
wild. the odd, the unconventional. the
impossible. the forbidden that allured
and attra cted her. She was not clever
enough to appreciate Ashes intel
1ectual superiority over the more dash
ing and snowy Cliffe. besides-but she
was mad, mad as a March hare, and
If it was no fault of hers neither was
it any fault of her husbands.
''I know one girl on the South side
who has had great success as an anti
love cure says Willie Dearborn In the
Chicago ter-Ocean. ('fvgi1lie Dear
born is tn enom de plume of Mrs.
Jessie Luelling Call, formerly Of To-
peka.) eShe claims that by admin
istering excerpts from certain philoso-