Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-27
mary that includes an appraisal Of Van
Gogh's work and Of his place in the his
tory OF the art Of the last century.

mary that includes an appraisal Of Van
Gogh's work and Of his place in the his
tory Of the art Of the last century.
MY PAST, "Reminiscences Of the Courts
Of Austria and Davariay Together
With the True Story OF the Events
Rudolph, Crown Prince Of Austria.
BY the Countess Marie Larisch. IL
Illustrated. New York: G. P. Put
MANS Sons.
That great representative of mankind.
the average person, is able to approach
the courts Of royalty through hearsay
alone. But this hearsay-tradition and
history. poetry and report-together with
his own imaginings about the high call
ing of kings, has given him vision OF
the beauty and dignity. and gracious
seriousness OF royal men and women.
Therefore. when one energies from the
innermost circle Of the most exclusive of
European courts with things to say about
its intimate life the average person nat
urally sits up to see his vision settle into
fact, or. better. to see 1t expand 70 meet
a larger and more substantial fact. The
particular emergence celebrated by TINS
volume books the reader for disappoint-
ment, and makes even his own poor
imaginings rattle around lonesomely In
this empty account of the social life OF
an aristocratic court. The past of the
Countess Marie Larisch, favorite niece
of Elizabeth, Empress of Austria an IN
innate of the court life, chief confidant
of the empress herself. is b pitifully thin
and meager past To be sure there is
great deal here about lovers, and the
amount of conniving necessary to achieve
and retain these. There is full informa-
ton about the quality and quantity OF
the empress lingerie. and about the par.
ticular methods employed by this august
lady to preserve the beauty of which she
was so consumingly enamored. With
nicely affection the countess discourses
upon the fact that the empress had very
bad teeth, accounting for certain man
nerism of speech and an habitual use of
either one hand or the other to- conceal
this blemish on an otherwise naWless
face. The countess confesses the love-
lessness of her own marriage with
freedom and fullness of detail that
make the mere average reader hope that
Mr.. Larisch is either dead or otherwise
removed from the sphere OF this depress-
ing condition, There Is no END OF very
intimate revelation. concerning the mys-
terious and tragic taking or Of Rudolph,
the crown prince, and the Baroness Mary
Vetsera.
There have been a few truly admirable
court gossips-men and women OF wit
and humor; of keen insight and firm
grasp Of the few fundamental facts OF
human nature. men and women with
feeling, and literary gift. These have
lifted mere gossip into permanent illumi-
naClOnS Oh IlllCS dUu pldCcS duu pOoPiC.
There is no such lift to Marie Larisch'
"My Past"
REFRACTORY HUSBANDS. By Mary
Stewart Cutting, author of Little
Stories of Married Life" etc. New
York: Doubleday, Page & Co. Wash
ington: Woodward & Lothrop.
The husbands of whom Mrs. Cutting
writes here SO amusingly are those OF
only the mildly refractory" sort. Those
whose shortcomings are a long way this
side Of actual sins. Peccadilloes rather,
that teasing brand Of offense calculated
to drive fussy wives to every kind of de-
SPAR. These husbands are, In the MAN.
only stretching their legs and slushing
around a bit in their new domestictty. as
a relaxation from the worriments OF
wooing and the keyed-up condition OF
pursuit. Blandly to skip shave now
and then is about the size OF these re-
fractions, or to slip back into the oio
clothes that are so comfortably intimate
with the loosened muscles of ante-court-
ing days, or to tell moss-covered joke
cocksure of its smiling reception as one
of the fresh-every-hour variety. or 10
strut about In the new freedom from the
tyranny Of flowers, and bonbons, ana
half-hourIy phone calls, and seni-daily
special delivery notes and theater
tickets, and carriages, and all the rest
of the decorations of those hamboyant
days. Such is something Of the nature
and. extent Of these husbandly defec-
tons. Mrs. Cutting writes out OF a keen
and Laughing observation. The best point
of these humorous and admirably written