, 1923-04-29

Boyan seemed to- hor to squander
important energies ON a battle with
art, lie fanatic housewives who 90
vote so much OF their days to keep
ing their homes oiesn that they have
no time to accomplish anything else.
Nom had devoted her body and her
sou. to her public in Office hours.
But there still remained much idio
time for mischief and in these hours,
and in tho days and weeks between
pictures sha found y nagsins her
i~nsufferahiy. She 1vas in the hu.
NOR Of tho 'Florodora' maldeus
whose motto rang through her mind.
II really must love some N and IL
might as well be you.'
The you was almost any attrao-
two man she CHANGED to be with at
tho time. And men were frequent
ING her increasingly. as they have al.
waya flocketI abou actresses. since
actresses are tho peaches al tho top
Of tho basket. Tho stage and the mo-
ton pictures offer opportunity to
besuty at the army to bravery. the
church to piety. tho av to probity.
and finance to ingenuity.
Mems fac was her fortune and
her mind was It's steward. Her per-
lection OF mien drew people to her
a. a lamp draws n wayfarer or a
pilgrim or a moth. seeEorH after a
nights lodging, a months Irritation.
or n life's oompanionship saw her
from afar and ran to-her-wards.
She was in q marriage mood and
her heart and her friends gavs her
conflicting counsel: Don't marry an
aotorl DON'T marry an authorl Don't
marry a business man! Don't marry
anybody
But the 'Fiorodora'' tune Kept tin,
kling in nor heart. She really must
wed aomo one.
Nod Ling was ono OF Mems most
abjeot worshipers. Be had taught
her tho mechanics OF COMEDY. and
hoped her tragedy thereby. Without
being able to laugh al himself, no
taueht her to laugh at herself and
at him.
no grew morbid for her. He cast
away his fearn of love and his hor-
ror OF marriage and his seaise Of hu,
NOR at the same time.
he chung to her hand and played
with her fingers. !piled against her
with his o oil her breast and i'm.
plored her to be his mistress, his
wife his rsscuer from dependency.
But his caresses wera like the FUN.
h'ings Of a child at q maternal bosom
and his widest prayers ware mere
childish naushiiness to her. The only,
love that shc could feel for him was
a sense Of amused motherhood and
he did not want that
He flew into tempests OF anger at
Her unresponsiveness and became "a
tragic clown at whom she could not.
holm smiling
He made comic exits from her pres.
enoe, swearing he would never see her
again. and comic returns But Mem
would on'v flirt with him and with
anyone else who amused her.
She came in at ( ono morning af-
tor a party given to celebrate Char
lie chapiin's return from his royal
progress through Europe, a triumph
that seemed to lift the whole motion
picture world in the nerson of it's re-
preventative. The film people falt
that they were at last n nation find.
Ing recognition. as when the en- S.
sarT Of a republic is accepted as an
ambassador
The party was innocent enough,
devoted 10 dances, oharades. i'm,
pro'nptu speeches. limitations. songs.
operate hurlesques. and an almost
puerile hilarity. hut It 'astod almost
to- the hour when good children are
I getting out Of bed.
while Mem was passing through
this phase OF moral and romantic
si;eptloism and experiment. enanting
pretenses OF devout love before tho
camera and moosins at love outside
It's range. and her mother was not
( quito sure that she had not quite
I gone to the devil her first pictures
were going about tho world lilo mis-.
sionnries winning proselytes to her
shrine.
The whim to bs married reourred
to her necessarily and grew to a fixed
purpose.
II appealed to her various mooGs
In various Ways. when she was un-
der the spell Of her home training
marriage wa a sacramento duty.
When she hoard II discussed with
oynioism or read OF tho shipwreok OF
some other marriaGe, II stirred her
sporting blood she wanted TO bet she
could make n SUCCESS OF Il. When
she Was in an amorous FOYER Il rec
commended itself az an Insurance n
abundant warmth and safety. Whom
she was lonely. II was companion
ship. When she was shocked by tho