New-York tribune., 1922-09-10
Letters to the Editor

( bride" for him; fate worse than q
war marriage for her. Disillusion and
unhappiness for him, with disaster and
disgrace through a reckless business
venture; disaster and disgrace and
i death for her.
/ And Rosalie and Harry7 And their
partnership on strictly business
basis2 Rosalie and Harry had found
! it working out splendidly for them
selves; they were completely happy in
their work and in their united life
"after business hours but they had
| ignored and left out of their scheme
that od-fashioned factor of married
| life--the home. The home life that
their children had the right to, the
home life which, never having known,
they could not even know that they
either wanted it or needed it.
with a great sum I obtained this
freedom" With the sum Of the happi-
ness and morals and lives of her chill
dren-with this great sum Rosalie OBJ
tanned her freedom. The freedom to
lead her own life. The freedom which
God, in His infinite wisdom, has never
| given to woman unless she obey His
1 unspoken and unwritten law that she
purchase it with the great sum Of aban-
doned motherhood.
"A man may not serve two masters"
Nor may woman. But the gift Of
choice has been given to her. She
may choose freedom and "the right to
lead her own life," or she may choose
wifehood and motherhood. For the
immediate good of her own children
and the ultimate good OF her race, she
cannot choose both.
AS | put down the book and close it's
pages | open a closed leaf of my own
| HThpra hut for the crropa NJ Cod
goes"
MRS. E. POOR MONTGOMERY.
Queen Square, Bath, Somersetshire.
About James Stephens
! Dear Mr. Rascoe: You have Ernest
Boyd saying in your "Day Book" that
James Stephens had told him he hadn't
written anything in two years.
When / was in Dublin early this
year Stephens told me he was at work
now and again on very long epic
based on the exploits of Maeve and
that he had given up other writing
except for an occasional article or bit
of verse. Perhaps what he said to Boyd
was that he had completed no book in
two years. AS recall his telling, the
poem is to require four or five vol
umes. Mrs. Stephens, who has red
hair and an alertly attractive face, as
sured me that it was towering work
and one on which James could rest his
claim to posterity's attention.
One night, at his home-which is
under the caves of a gaunt old Geor-
gian house in Fitzwilliams Place--he
read me asleep and awake from the
! legends of Maeve on which he is bas-
ing his poem. I gathered from his in
toning that the champions of the pc
riod of Maeve were concerned prin-
W yIJfh ,,,I has1
liant colors of their raiment and with
bronze gauds of heroic dimensions.
1t was a goldfish night and the fire
was inadequate. Mrs. Stephens and
found the room uncomfortable. She
confided prettily that she could not
abide the thick undergarments that
custom DEGREES in the damp isles. She
forgot her discomfort in talk, at which
she is adept, and I overcame mine
from the inside with liberal applica-
tions Of almost the only palatable Irish
being fortified with wooens and
warmed by absorption in his topic, suf-
fered none. We talked of variety of
affairs, Of Irish characteristics, on
which I expressed myself with the
fiuency of a stranger and over which
we wrangled good-humoredly; Of fairies,
In which Stephens professed whole
souled belief; on race suicide (they
have two youngsters); on Irish an
tiquities, In which department Mrs.
Stephens is somewhat of an au-
| thority, and on America. They would
welcome the opportunity for visit
lt seems pity Stephens is denied
the enabling profits of a lecture tour
when his lessers gain them so readily
| To return to Boyd's testimony on the
present productivity of Irish
writer's. 1t is my opinion that they are
under establishment growing out
Of the recent turn of affairs. During
the rebellion they were stirred to high
pitches of anticipation. Now they are
disappointed and saddened by the mur-
derous intransigeance of many Of their
| fellows. During the exciting days
| from 1915 on it was, Of course, difficult
for them to write. Stephens used
the long evenings Of the curfew re-
gime in learning to play musical in
strument. 1t sticks in my memory, it
something equally silly. Zone had
little chance for reflection IN Dublin
then" George Russell told me. Ste
phens and some Of the others became
pamphleteers for the republican cause.
But Stephens is not republican, nor
| democrat. He is a royalist who hopes
| for return of the five kingdoms Of
lTelanu, altnougn ne mas llCtle faith In
the consummation of his hope. Dar-
rel Figgis, the fame bearded, great
scion of Morse conquerors, gentleman
politico, favorite at Trinity, draughts-
man Of the new constitution, has writ
ten two books since "the trouble" be-
/, gan, but he writes handily and without
| taking pains.
saw much of Stephens in Dublin.
almost formed the habit of calling
round at the National Gallery, where
he is resident curator, at lunch times
| and taking him away with me to Jam
NETS for food and drink and three hours
of talk. "AE" says Stephens is the fore
most conversationalist in Dublin and
that is primacy worth while, one,
should think, on a plane with being
the first diplomatist of London, the
In another week dealers
nj