The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-01-11
Naas Story 0eo. M0olera Moon Goddess |BZnzan~
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! And aloud she said, DADDY nae
strange ideas about morality. YOU
know how everybody thinks that il
a woman Is loyal to her husband
and works for him, and never looks
at anybody else but him-why, they
just naturally call her a moral
woman. Don't they? Everybody
does"
MIR. Hart nodded.
why, 1 suppose so,s he said.
well, daddy didn't" she declared
HE thought that any woman who
got married, just to get herself sup
ported, was exactly as bad as il
she'd never married the man at all
But Just lived with him.
Here's one paragraph from the
letter he wrote me. I can quote
every word of it because I know it
all by heart:
eff you trust exclusively to your
youthful charms for your provision
in life,' he said, and if your cum
ming is further prompted by your
mother, you will have just the same
aim as a courtesan, Ashtoreth. Only
you will be wiser and less honest "
A SHTORETH paused to explain.
IN II found the letter." she said,
three days after daddy died. He
had tucked it under some things in
my bureau drawer.
"It was in a big white envelope, all
stuck up with red sealing wax. And
it said on it: For Ashtoreth; a
personal letter. To be opened after
her fathers death
THAT was long before Judge
Lindsey and everybody started talk
ing about companionate marriage.
But daddy quoted something that he
said Nietzsche said.
"'If married couples did not live
together he said, happy marriages
would be more frequent And after
that he wrote, To be surfeited with
love is a tragedy. In marriage there
is inevitable safety And he adj
vised me, if loved a man great
deal, to refuse to live with him."
Hollis pursed his lips refectively.
THAT was pretty strong fodder
for 16-year-old GIRL" he observed.
"Well, he said that women like
to believe that love can do every
thing" expounded Ashtoreth.
THAT it is a superstition peculiar
to us. And that the sooner found
out how helpless and laundering
even the best and deepest love is,
the better of I'd be. And he said
that love destroys, rather than
saves"
do you suppose" asked Hollis,
chat he felt that your mothers love
for him had destroyed him"
A SHTORETH hesitated.
N well" she said, "I think
mothers devotion was sort of
suffocating thing. Mother isn't
what you'd call an inspirational
person, Holly"
did you father read Nietzsche
a great deal?" inquired Hollis.
Would you call him student OF
Nietzsche's philosophy"
"Why yes, I suppose so. Daddy
read lot" explained Ashtoreth.
Hollis held her hands in his.
"And don't you know" he asked
her, that Nietzsche preached dec
adent philosophy? The philosophy
of gloom and horror Now, my
dear, I wouldn't hurt your feelings
for the world.
"And I've no doubt your father
was remarkable man, and a Won
derful father. But you know,
it seems, Orchid, you're rather over
looking your mother. She sounds
to me like a lovely, wholesome
soul.
"And it's rather a dreadful thing
you know, child, when a young girl
gets to feeling so very superior to
the mother who bore her.
Ashtoreth smiled loftily.
"That mother who bore you
stuff bores me to tears" she an
ilounced. "And that sanctity drivel
about motherhood! Why, just be-
cause a woman's been through a
perfectly normal, natural expe-
rience; people should start writing
poems and singing songs about her,
is more than I can See."
Hollis smiled at her.
Don't" he beSought, ''be a mod
ern! Be nice, old-fashioned little
girl"
I'm not old-fashioned!" she
cried. land I'm not particularly
nice"
well, think you are" he told