The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-25
NAT GOODWIN AND
 HIS FIVE SPOUSES
Actor Writes Long-Promised Book on His Many Mari
 tai Affairs.

Nat Goodwin, the famous actor and the survivor of five marriages. has at last published his threatened book, which tells 8. good deal about his mai rimonial affairs For man who ss hesitating about marrying the Volume is bound to prove 8 dismal one but for a. man who has made 8. failure of matrirnony the book should take the place of a sympathetic friend. One by one Nat Goodwin sets his wives up before the public gaze and gives his appreciation or them m tlls crfspast sort of manner Naturally enough MT. Goodwin, looking back over his matrimonial experiences, finds that his first wife was. after a4L the best. She was Eliza WeatheRoy, and he declares that esshe was an angel
 Nellie Baker Pease, his second wife he says, was "a silly woman" while Maxine Elliott, his third choice, was "a Roman senator. Edna GoQeEflcn was his fourth wife and his appraisal Of her is that she was a, pretty utpie thine.'' Margaret Moreland is the pres ent Mrs Goodwin and the author an nounces that she IS "a1l woman, which is doubtless meant as a high compliment.
 .I have been censured sometimes hars11ly for my versatility in the Sc lection of wives confesses Mir. Good win, sand many have marvelled at my fortunate Cor unfortunate) selections have always been long on the mar ket of home and wives.
 ] CT truly believe that no home is complete without a wife, provided sho Is Of the kind that enjoys the conl-e pany of intelligent, honest and clever people. Some men only lease the-r mates and then prate about their re- spectabflity. If I. have decided at different times to tear down any OE the Bphesian comes which have erected, is the fact of nay desToying them enough to Warran my being known, as was Alexander, as the fool that razed Cor is 1t raised2) them 2 There is a note of patllos in Good wins reference to his first wife, Eliza sWeathersby and as one reads it one can but wonder how different the ac- tors life would have been had she lived. He says of her:
 1 tsEsliza. Weathersby proved a loving and 1ovable wife and was of great as sistance to me in my profession, play ing the principal female roles in "a II my plays with great success until she was forced to retire from the stage because of the illness which gradual l. ly brought about her death. q was only a stripling WhenEI mar ried this beautiful creature. Moreover was unreliable and, [ confess, uHap- precdative of what the fates had been so kind as to bestow upon me. Many have accused me of tWanton neglect 1 may have neglected her, but only flor the companionshdp of men. She never complained and during the ten years of our happy married life there I was never one discordant note. She was ten years my senior and treated me more like a. son than a husband, but, like the truant boy who runs. ] away from school now and then. n was always glad to return and seek Ithes forgiveness that san indulgents mother always gives a WayWard child. Our own home near Boston was a little paradise I was seldom away from it and together we spent many, many happy hours, surrounded bp our httle sisters and my friends-Who were always her friends. She was domes- ticated to a degree and never cared for daughter "a. loving wife, she is resting in Woodlawn and the dassies grow lover her grave.'
 Few men have served oftsner as a mark for the sensational newspapers than Goodwin and in his book he takes cognizance of this. He pleads
 guilty to many shortcomings but he
 charges that on many occasions he has been grossly nisrepresented and l lied about. In this connection he takes inventory of the crime with which he has been charged and makes the following confession;- il 'tI have
 been addicted to the use of alcohol ic stimulants-but always with dis tinguished and worthy companions I deserted home and fireside, always by request, bought and dearly paid for.
 Iied-to mysel-for recreation; cheated-the undertaken;
 Ie deceived .syours truIV;'' t been a. reveI1er-dur9ng the day. al
 ways too busy at night;
 been a gamb1er-on the green;
 a rambIer-on fhe nod:
 an actor-on the job;
 a hypocrite-no, by GodI
 However critics may look at it, Nat
 Goodwin's book must be acknowledged
 an unusual human document It is
 wit and venom, mirth and pafhos, un-
 living epigrams and undying memo
 ries. It is not all devoted to his wives ; and. many of it's pages are made
 bright by the stories he tells o1 many
 famous actors and actresses. Much of
 this matter is valuable theatrical his
 tory and gives the book a permanent
 value. The whole story is told in a
 versatile way and from a literary
 standpoint, if from no other. 1t Is well , worth reading
 Frederick Balloon. aged 65. was frog 1-s n~s rH--