Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-12-23
A MlSMATED POET
The Tardy Marriage of Fitz-
gerald and Lucy Barton. 4
A UNION PlTlFUL, YET COMIC

Tho Couple Were Utterly unsuitsd to
One Another, and hs Fled From Hsr
During the Honeymoon-A Reunion
That Failed to Reunits.
The incidents leading up to and those
following the marriage OF Edward
Fitzgerald. translator OF the Omar
Khayyam." were of a iudicrous aud at
the same time somewhat serious char
acter. Mr.. Francis Gribble gave. the
facts In the Fortnightly Review: n
The Lucy Barton story Is very pitt.
full but it is also rather comic. She
was a Quaker's daughter. who had
Joined the Church of England as a
means. one imagines. of climbing the
social ladder. and she was Just the
sort OF person whom Fitzgerald would
esteem. but detest-prim. pious, me-.
thodical. fussy, not quite lady and
yet in weird provincial way world
~, the sort of person to whom 1t seems
equally important to teach In the Sun
day school and to be 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 he was en-
gagged. to her. But she told him that he
was. and he was too polite 10 contra
dict her
"PolitenesS only broke down when.
after the ceremony, she assumed pro-
pictorial airs and insisted that her
husband should pay afternoon calls
with her and dress for dinner. That
was the last straw, though very likely
1t was also the first.
Fitzgerald supposed apparently that
In marrying Lucy Barton he had mere
ly acquired housekeeper who would
I, know her place. who would conlne
her new dignity to her bousekeeper's
room. leaving him as free as Of old to
slop about In slippered ease, unkempt,
unshaven. enveloped In a dressing
gown until the evening. with books
all over the floor, pipes all over the
mantefpiece and tobacco ash all over
his clothes.
1T would not have mattered. OF
course. II he had married for love and
II his bride had been q woman of
grace and charm, Such one would
have changed NIL that like n fairy wav
Ing q magic wand. But Fitzgerald had
only married to. oblige.' and Mrs. Fitz-
gerald was not in the least like a fairy.
She was more like female drill SER
sgeant. conventional. stiff and stsrched.
yet with preteDsions.
dnxx- of F,,cs,~ .
nuisance. and her interruption Of Fitx-
gerald's medltations with the demand
that he should shave and wear clean
linen assumed the proportion of
tragedy In his eyes -
HE stood It for fortnight and then
ned. leaving the honeymoon unfinished.
going on to stay With friends, boiling
lise a rabbit for its burrow.
There were q reunion and an at
tempt Mt reconciliation. but In vain.
Fitzgcrald's letters TO his friends at
this period are like the letters home OF
a boy who is being buliled Mt school,
Il believe he writes to. Professor
Coweil. there are new channels frettei
In my checks with many humanity
tears. and there really is no evidence
that he bad anything TO cry about be-
yond the fact that he. was being hus-
tied out OF comfortable dressing
gown into a starched shirt with high
collars. .
THAT fact was symbelical OF the
general discrepancy of tastes and
points OF view. SO We find him writ
Ing again. TIL / see better how we get
on j dare tx on no place to live or die
In and then before long came definite
separation and the drafting Of q deed
OF settlement.
Fitzgerald. tits said. used long aft
erward to walk up aud down certain
garden path for hours together, calling
himself fool. and when In later years
he met his wife. again he first put out
bis hand and then changed his, mind
and turned his back"