Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-07-17
The Montana Mary.

in evidence. In that book this young
! girl Of 19 disclosed a surprising
| knowledge Of the evils Of the world
and an intimacy with the passions OF
the maturer matrons of easy virtue
| and the wiles of the demimonde. She
| invoked the help of the devil to give
| her the unhallowed desires which
her strange nature demanded. Here
is one OF the striking passages from
that remarkable book:
kind devil, If you are not to fetch
! me happiness, then slip of from
your great steel keyring a bright lit
tie key TO the door of the glittering
| cleaning bad things and give Il TO
me and show me the way and wish
me Joy. I would like TO live about
/ seven years OF judicious badness and
/ then death, If you will. Nineteen
years of damnable nothingness, sew
| en- years Of judicious badness-and
then death. A noble ambition. But
might it not be worse? If not that,
/ then 81 years of damnable nothing
ness and then death. No; when the
I lead is in the sky, that does not ap-
peal to me. My versatile mind turns
10 the seven years of judicious bad
/ ness"
After the Diary" was given to
I the world and all her most sacred
/ and most sensual emotions had been
unblushinglS and boldly paraded in
print, this young sensationalist sub
sided into obscurity, or at least was
/ not before the public eve. She went
TO New York, perhaps hoping to en-
ter upon that seven years of judi
cious badness" but If she achieved
the acme of her ambition ii was not
In the limelight, but on the quiet
with all the glamour and romance of
recklessness rubbed off. She did
desUltoFy newspaper work in New
York and Boston, but none of her
writing was brilliant enough 70 at
tract notice.
And now. at the end of that seven
years, she is again ensconced in her
old home at Butte, Mont. and has
another mission in life. She is at
work on a play which she expects
will stir the country 10 its founda-
tons It IS, of course. a problem
play. that is a play which deals with
sex relations. And with the knOwl-
edge OF that intimate subject which
she displayed in her book as a girl
Of 19-with seven years of life and
problems searching added to that il
may be predicted that her play will
be daring in the extreme, even if il
Is not too improper to pass the len
lent judgment Of the public cen
sors.
But what pity 1t is. after all. that
a young woman of brightness and
brains finds her vocation in exploit
ing the neither things of life. The
same amount Of energy directed to-
wards making the world moral, lend
ing a helping hand TO the submerged
tenth. rescuing girls from the ten
denotes of their emotional natures.
instead of melting them 70 greater
freedom and abandon by depicting
the pleasures of the primrose path
her zeal and personality and ability
and self-sacrifice would be a mighty
factor for better Tenderness and pur-
err lives
Mary Naclane is certainly a strik-
ing indication of where misdirected
mentality may lead a maiden. There
was nothing about her home life that
would warrant her early incursions
into the realm of the tabooed. Where
she imbibed her peculiar doctrines
and by what necromancy she became
impregnated with the spirit of devil
try and developed the uncloaked at
titude along sensual lines is a mys-
terry to all who know her She does
not look the character She is quiet
and unassuming, nothing bold or for
ward about her manner or converse
ton. The recklessness which runs
riot in her books is not a. all aPpaT-
ent in her person.
Her home life is placid and happy.
One might not imagine this from
reading her book, with its very frank
revelations concerning the inner
phases of her domestic relations.
Her stepfather and her mother are
Unfortunately proud of her Her big
boyish brother adores her and her
little half-sister and half-brother
look upon her as a wonderful being
akin TO the gods Withal she is sur
rounded by an atmosphere Of love
and devotion. This is the truth about
her home life. despite some tempera
ply and despite. especially. the ia
nous chapter on the family tooth
brushes on the bathroom shelf. Also
she is much petted and couTted so
cially In Butte and is q particular
mark for tuft hunters.
In fact she has all the markings"
of a good woman, an honor 10 her
sex, the glory of her family and a
power for good in any community.
II her friends could only induce her
20 abandon that play and give up
her dallying with the worst elements
OF human nature. 10 make her life
pure and her ambitions elevating, we
might hear great things, higher
things. happier things Of Mary Mac
lane Of Montana.
Cecil Rhodes Grave.
Cecil Rhodes. the diamond king"