The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-05-26
MARY M'LANE FINDS
BUTTE STILL UGLY.
Sensation Of Seven Years Ago
Back Home After Her
Wanderings.

Butte, Mont, Letter in New York World
Mary McLan has been home again.
You remember Mary McLane7 The
young girl who was a seven days won
der about seven years ago. The un-
sophisticated child Of this mining camp
who created a sensation by publishing
THE Story of Mary McLane." In which
| she mathematical in crude but pic
turesque language the town of her
birth and the people with whom she
had associated all her life and ex-
pressed q yearning to meet q dear
deVil?.
Butte has not seen her since that day,
seven years ago. when she shook the
metallic dust of its grassless streets
off her feet and sought In h east
that distraction which was at last made
possible by the notoriety her book had
brought her. But her return was not
noticed. In fact, h had been here
q week before any one but her own
intimate friends knew she was here.
Butte never took her very seriously,
anyway.
Mary has been promising herself and
her relatives this visit for several years,
has found it difficult to overcome
her repulsion for the place n make
1t.
II was curious also to test my i'm
pressions OF Butte after seven years
ABSENCE she said. II hoped T might
Il lll Ao3Ss 1SN RIiA ~ ~
the same hideous home OF dTudging
devils and scared scenery 1t was all
ways"
Yet Mary McLane is warm hearted,
affectionate and loyal to those she
loves. 1t was a perfectly feminine lit
tie scream Of delight that she gave
when she descended from the train the
day before Christmas and launched
herself into the arms Of the family
group awaiting her in the dingy rail-
road station.
How lovely it is TIC see you ALL
she cried. Then she threw her arms
about her mother N sister n
Rugged them as ecstatically as n
other young woman would have done
after seven years equalization from
home Inc family.
Nevertheless, on the way through
town, as the hack whirled along well
remembered streets, she could not fore
go her old comments. "Paltry" she
4 called the city, also rude and "dingy."
During this seven years of exile Mary
never ever once turned her eyes toward
her old home with y%earning. At least,
so she says.
"No," said she to a school girl friend,
two days after her return. Il did not
miss this place for a day. not for a
moment. OF course, I missed and
and wished for them time mi again;
and I often thought of visiting Butte
to see them. But n would think OF
purgatory In the same way, II one had
dear friends n relatives there. The
ugliness Of this place always made me
ache. I shan't stay long, / believe the
people here grow to look as ugly as
the place. Not you, dear, OF course
not"
She stayed at the homo of her mother
and s~tepfather, Colonel Horace Klenze.
t q handsome brick and stone edifice at
No. 1132 Broadway. Colonel Klenze is
) the owner Of many valuable mining
; interests in various mining fields in
Montana. His home Is artistically fur
nished and has a large library. Mary
grand piano and the library have
occupied most Of her time. Indeed.
| Mary is rather responsible for the H.
{ brary. None of her relatives are much
interested in books or literary matters
Colonel Klenze Is immersed in indus
trial pursuits, and his life is too active
to allow time for dawdling yer books
But the notoriety of his s~tepdaughtel
in the literary world led him to de.
vote some Of his wealth to standard
works-to live up to the reputation Of
the family. as it were.
Mary was out every day in q big
motor car, her sole companion a French
poodle, Mephisto by name, which sh.
acquired at Palm Beach. Fla.
Mary is still slim and petite. She ha.
a piquant air and travels and stud,
and observation rave done much fol
her in the years since fame came tx
her in q single night. Her gowns hav
taken on a touch of style which the,
lacked when she was a budding geniuI
Just out OF school. Her pink n whit
complexion, indicating her Scotch an
cestry. Is one Of her chief beauties
and the years have rounded and soft
ened some Of the sharp contours Of he
personality, so notable in the earle
days, while developing in her manner
figure n face charms that give he
an added beauty.
During all these seven years Mar
d has lived in the eastern and southern
states, save for a short time spent q
) Denver. She passed the time writing
sometimes as a newspaper, woma.
sometimes on her books.
Since I left Butte I have had tn
sort Of life that suited me-" said Mar
to an interviewer. ut has been a lif
y Of ideas I have not permitted tn
It ugly, monotonous, sordid particulars @
existence to obtrude upon me at al
Sc All this I've kept out"
Sc h made a sweeping motion towar
the outer world that embraced Butt
and It's ugly mine buildings and othe
y unpleasant structures.
What will I do in the future7 Writ,
I will pursue the same life. I love 1
v, l have man plans, but ali of them in
us clude writing and devotion to literar
% work"
In addition to the desire to sec rele
tives and old friends, she had two pun
= poses In returning to Montana. She
- always looking for new IDEAS and ne
scenes and characters, and she wante
pc to see the west with the new visio
at acquired by her years of roaming an
culture in the east and south. The otf
er purpose was to look for a ranch.
Yes" she said, II may buy a ranc
int in Montana. MOI now That is a futu,
es consideration. But I shall do It SON
day. It will be postponed by my lite,
en- airy work for some years, but I sha
n i eventually return to Montana. The ca,
has culture. and I love the south;
Is SO restful. Yet the west is the plat
les Of freedom. and at times I rave fe