Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1910-10-21
A MiSMA7ED POET
The Tardy Marriage Of Fitz.
gerald and Lucy Barton.
A UNION PITIFUL, YET COMIC
The Couple We're Utterly Unsuited TO
One Another, and He Fled From Her
During the Honeynoon-A Reunion
That Failed TO Reunite.

That Failed to Reunite.
The incidents leading up to and those
following the marriage Of Edward
Fitzgerald. translator of the Omar
Khayyam." were Of a ludicrous and at
the same time somewhat serious char
acter Mr.. Francis Gribble gave the
facts in the Fortnightly Review:
"The Lucy Barton story is very pitt.
full, but II is also rather comic. She
was n Quaker's daughter, who had
joined the Church Of England as
means. one imaglnes. Of climbing the
social ladder. and she was just the
sort Of person whom Fitzgerald would
esteem, but detest-prlm. pious. me-
thodical, fussy. not quite lady and
yet in q weird provincial way world
ly, the sort Of person TO whom 1t seems
equally important to teach in the Sun
day school and to be u leader Of So
ciety.
"Fitzgerald and she had known each
other for the greater part OF their
lives and were both nearly fifty years
Of age when marriage overlook them.
He did not even know that be was en-
gagged to her. But she told him that he
was, and he was too polite to contra
dict her.
"Politeness only broke down when.
after the ceremony, she assumed pro-
prietoria airs and insisted that her
husband should pay afternoon calls
with her and dress for dinner. That
was the last straw, though very likely
it was also the first.
"Fitzgerald supposed apparently that
In marrying Lucy Barton he had mere
" acquired housckceper who would
know her place. who would contine
her new dignity to her hOusekeepcr's
room. leaving him rs free as Of old TO
slop about in slippered ease. ankempt,
unshaven. enveloped in dressing
gown until the evening. with books
all over the floor. pipes all over the
mantelpiece and tobacco ash all over
his clothes
at would not have mattered, Of
course. II he had married for love and
IL his bride had been woman Of
grace and charm. Such one would
have changed all that like fairy wav-
ing a magic wand But Fitzgerald had
only married TO obIige.' and Mrs. Fitz-
gerald was not in the least like Il fairy.
She was more like female drill ser
geant. conventional. st.lf and Starched.
yet with pretensions.
"Her flow OF fussy small t. TX was &
nuisance. and her interruption Of Fitz-
gerald's mcdtations with the demand
that he should shave and wear clean
linen assumed the proportion Of
tragedy in his eyes.
He stood il for n fortnight AMI then
fed. leaving the honeymoon unfinished,
going of 10 stay with friends. boltinG
like a rabbit for It's burrOw.
There were a reunion and an at
tempt at reconciliation. but in vain.
Fitzgerald's letters to his friends at
this period are like the letters home of
a boy who is being bullied at school.
al believe he writes to Professor
Cowell. there are new channels fretted
I'm nv cheeks with many unmanly
tears. and there really is no evidence
that he had anything 10 cry about be-
yond the fact that he was being hus'
tied out Of comfortable dressing
gown into q starched shirt with high
collars.
THAT fact was symbolical OK the
general disc repancy Of tastes and
points of view. So we find him writ
ing again. TIL | see better how we get
on dare fix on no place 10 live or dle
in and then before long came definite
separation and ihe drafting of deed
of settlement.
"ritzgerald. 1t Is said. used long art
erward TO walk up and down certain
garden path for hours together calling
himself a fool. and when in later years
lie met his wife again he first put oui
his hand and then changed MS mind
and turned his back"