The Washington times., 1927-02-02
tcontinued trom Page b

II must get away-I must be
alone" he would say.
And then he would so out for
/, &, lonely tramps over the hills,
always alone,
He never wanted any one with
h. at those times. He did not
ask me to so with him and did
not suggest 1t.
I / remember once he came home
from one Of those lonely walks
very much annoyed. He said that
a man with whom, on other oc.|
casions, he had been very friendly
had met him and insisted on walk
ing with him.
"CO1ldn't he see that ] wanted to
be alOnee" Charlie asked.
His moods came and went. Some
times he was the Charlie OF our
courtship days, tender, ardent, low
ing. He seemed to have forgotten
his work. forgotten everything but
me.
Once, remember, I came home
with a throbbing headache. Charlie.
was as gentle as q woman with me.
He insisted on dampening his own
handkerchief and tying it around
my head. He sat by me and
strcked my temples.
Sympathetic With Sufferers
He is intensely sympathetic with
physical pain. He cannot bear to
see any one suffer physically, but
sometimes he seems utterly oblivi.
GUS to the fact that mental anguish
may be more terrible than any hurt
OF the body. 1t is not that he de.
hberately makes people suffer in
spirit; he simply does not realize
that they are hurt.
Sometimes his rest1essness sent
him cut into the crowds.
II must be with people" he would
say. II must watch them. see what
they are doing, see what they are
thinking. ! must know more about
people,"
AS our married life went on,
these moods grew upon him. Some
times l would not see him for night
after night. know that he was
not out on wild parties; he is not
that kind. lie was simply incapable
Of resisting his mood for solitude,
for studying people, for thinking.
Had to- Be Alone
Charlie, am so lonely when you
are away, ! said, now and then.
Wont you stay at home with me
t0night?"
He would look at me and say:
i must be alone, to think"
Then he would go, without another
word. felt that he was shut off
from me BY an invisible wall that /
could not cross. II was the wall Of
his own nature that has made him
. lonely man all his life.
Perhaps you say all when you say
that Charlie Chaplin IL q genius. One
cannot judge him by ordinary rules.
l am sure that he Is as unhappy
himself as he ever made nle-Or his
second wife.
! don't believe he fully under.
stands himself. He Is q victim Of his
own temperament.
| was not SO very different from
other girl brides when / went to
live in Charlie Chaplin's house in
Beverly Hills.
! dreamed and thought so much
of having our own home, or planning
pretty things for 1t, Of entertaining
my friends And his friends.
But soon found that Charlie was
not so interested in his home as /
was. mean, in the little things, the
planning together for new curtains
or new rugs or new flowers in the
garden.
Sometimes when suggested some
thing for the house, he would laugh
good naturedl yand tease me. Some
times he paid no attention at all
that was when his moods were
upon him and he was lost in
thought.
! think that every girl. when she
dreams of her own home, wants the
little domestic pleasures, even the
little domestic worries, to be shared
with her husband.
Mood Changed Rapidly
And that / had only now and
then. Charles mood could change
in an instant, so that he scarcely
seemed like the same person who
q moment before had been 50 loving
and considerate.
At first 1t startled me and made
me indignant, even when ] told
myself that it was temperament
and to be expected in an artist like
Charlie. Later / came to see that
it was just q part Of daily life, some
thing that Charlie could not: help
any more than could help wanting
him to keep on being the tender,
ardent lover Of our days OF court.
ship.
Sometimes would awaken in
the night and hear him leaving the
house. driven by his restless spirit
to wander off in the dark. think
ing. observing. / would lie awake
and cry because he wanted to 90
away without me. waiting for hours
for him to come back.
And then. many times. when he
came back. he would be the old
Charlie again. seeming to think
only of me.
Once, remember. when ! had
II