Mr. Aaquith, Mother
Prlnrnu BibeSCO.
flcadlng Her Oym Famous Book
of Memoirs, Which, When
Published, Startled the World.
Che U not old, she U not young,
(The Woman with the Serpent's
Tongue.
With venomed fup she cannot hldt 1
Who half makes lore to you to-day.
To-morrow gives her guest away.
Hectic and always overstrung
The Woman with the Serpent's
Tongue.
Williim Witaotta potdo
txeorUtloa et Vloltt AsqaJtb.
TWO yeni married, and ah wrote a
took of short stories, decidedly heo
Co, entitled 1 Haro Only Myself to
Slame."
Xa the stories she pictures e woman
married to a person In trousers and hear
tat other Indications of helongmf to the
eoale persuasion who utters endless bro
mides who knows not the simplest fun
damentals of loremaklBf who Is one ot
those Impossible persons all too prsTalent
la well nigh etery stratum ot society.
The book is dedicated "To My Husband."
Her husband is Prince Antolne Bfbesoo,
flam an lan Minister to the United States.
Has Princess Elizabeth Blbeaco, daugh
ter of the famous M argot Asaulth. fol
lowed in her mother's literary footsteps
by revealing more ot her own private life
than the ethics of modern usage sanction?
Has she emulated the example of her
half sister, Violet Asqulth, whom William
Watson, made famous In his poem. "The
Woman with the Sergenf s Tongue" T
"Washington society tor the Prince end
Princess are living there Is agog orer
' the possibilities. It haa read and reread
the stories for a solution supposed to be
contained between the covers of the highly
colored little book.
The stories era self-analytical The
yrtter lilts the veil on her emotions she
- dissects her heart throbs she transliter
ates her passions. The book reveals the
soul ot a woman the real self pitilessly
powerfully.
But through the series of short tales
Chare runs a vela of cynicism of, say.
eelf-pity. In each story the heroine Is
sorry tor herself. She realises that ahe Is
, more or less the plaything of a relentless
. fate, foreordained to do certain things,
whether ahe will or no.
In each story, the man disappoints her.
Be Is a male negation, who amotoes. drinks
. and eats who baa all the attributes of a
human being, ye lacks fervor and manly
Initiative. The heroine is fervent, to say
the least. She makes the advancea; she
cpens the door through whkh the man
never enters Into the haven ot love.
The first story, from w hie b the cook
takes Its name, tells of a beautiful woman
who had "only herself to blame' "for
Cjarrylag a man whosa sola reoommenda.
THE OEEGON SUNDAY '' JOURNAL PORTLAND,
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KH;V' V5",
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Princess
Elizabeth
IBibeaco,
Whose
Short Stories Stirred Washington
Society by Their Nonchalant
Cynicism
tion was that "he adored her body and
she was "the first woman he had ever
loved." Here is an excerpt from the storyl
"And all the time she was bound to htm
by some Indefinable physical tie not her
passion for him. but his reverence for her
or rather for her body. To-night every
nerve waa "crying no, while those eternal
six words, 1 have only myself to blame,
bummed an accompaniment.
"She was waiting for him tn her charm
ing boudoir. He had coma home late and
was dressing- for dinner he always dressed
tor dinner. The door opened and he ap
peared Immaculate. She would hare felt
more forgiving had he been more untidy.
"T must apologise for having kept you
waltta. .
"Ton shouldn't have changed.'
" 1 disapprore of a man who thinks he
can be as dirty and untidy as he likes
simply because he is at home'
"How well she know this comedy of for
mality that was his Idea of fine manners, elled la his duties as host. He enjoyed
Dinner was announced. He rave her his offering- his arm to the lady of hlrtiest
arm.
. AiIeTT 4:004 wlne Ky Catherine.' He
VJ5 . v?rL
atwT Wte that. Everything'
mat belongs to him he consecrates by poa-
,e8,v thonIlt-"
Ana tnen she gives a minute, almost mt
Croscoplo description oT the man: .
Horace waa la hlf element. He rev
t
' v
Princess Elizabeth Bibescb
(CJ Bartia 4 Ewing.
-4
Jf V j&
f ft
Prince Antolne BIbcsco, Romanian
Minister to the United States,
Who May or May Not Feel
Uncomfortable at His Wifea
Allusion to Husbands.
rank, even if she were on a of him wtfa'a
supercilious relatives. He liked the siht
01 diamonds and the sound of high titles
though fortunately he never connected
these pleasures with their source. Above
an, he liked the moment when, alone with
the men could push around the decan-
ten offer cigars of Tarylng lengths and
a1. though different, parfectton. and
ICl 1821, fatarsatlOBal restart Scrrtcs,
r
X
SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 15, 1922.
Is Mrs. Asquith's Temperamental
Titled Daughter "Nagging"
Her Own Husband, ;
witt
v .J V!
Ax
Pi
' Jsc
dominate the conversation. He had a
rigid sense ot honor. He believed In
the weakness ot women and believed in
sot believing In God. He was shocked
by corporeal punishment and he was
never able to make op his mind on Tin
section. He thought Freud an lmposter.
He loved animals and was on the wine
committee of his club. He was a good
son, a good citizen, a good husband and
a good friend.
"Of all these things Catherine was
devastatlngly conscious. She felt very
tired and the evening had! been a-complete
failure. She had absolutely noth
ing to say to her husband when they
were alone. She beard his footsteps
on the stairs.
And then, womanlike, she scowls Into
his arms and cries:
" Horace,' she said, Tm so lonely, so
terribly lonely."
In another story, "The Web," she tells
a tale of a woman who was financially
Indebted to a man and sought to square
herself by giving herself to him. Being
a decent sort of chap, ha refuses and
offers to marry her. Ghe, being she,
declines to be a mere wife, and then:
"'Marriage will modify you,' he said.
.aiarnage might modify me if I mazw
rled tbariht mn uiniinfAmMiiM
bring out everything you hate.'
""Helena, do you realize that I lore your
"As alwaya before, at thia real, undo-
fifable, Important, impossible fact, she
stops. To her it is a brick wall to be sur
mounted neither by argument that being
unconvincing hoc surrender that being
unattainable..
Xae. fireat BriUU SIchU
toddInonlt"?
XT: v
Another Likeness of the
Princess Bibesco, Snapped,
at a Costume Dance m
London Shortly Before
Coming to America.
" Helena, do yon know what love
means f
"Again she snatches at her opportunity.
"'Of course I don't. If X did, X might
want to marry yon,....
"She remembers a hundred Instances of
his insolent, moral magnificence. Ton
want me to sign your name, to sit at the
head ot your table, to dazzle your friends,
to eclipse your sisters-in-law, to be a
mother to your children. "
Then there Is "An Ordinary Man." in
which another lore episode is revealed,
the writer's soul is apparently again laid
bare. There is the usual crescendo and
then:
" 1 suppose that X love him. she said to
herself, now that X know the very bottom
of his shallows. The thought humiliated
her. but she faced it with the rest." And
then, he marries another girl.
In "Cyclamen" she describes the man
once, again: ;
" 'Once upon a time, or rather. Just be
fore the war, X knew a man f don't know
bpv to begin. vatat In Jots with, him,
He wasn't tn love with me, but I was B
revelation to him a revelation ot him
self.' People said I had invented him It
wasn't quite true, but X emphasized what
was tin characteristic in him and forced my
estimate on him, when he was with, me
he was nearly always with me. Away
from me he relapsed into his own person
ality, but I didn't know it. I don't know
how to describe his personality. He was
Often considered half-witted. His mind
was like a searchlight which overlooked
cathedrals, but occasionally lit up some
mall forgotten chapel."
Next comes "The Dream," tn which the
anthoresa describes her emotions: -
"She thought ot her ho
band, who had kissed her
as if ahe were a crucifix,
and treated her always as
some infinitely fragile
thing to be broken by a
breath. She thought of the
men who had loved her
since his death of how
they, too, had approached
her on tiptoe, as if hat
predousness bad made her
almost into an invalid.
. . In her bodily lone
llness she cried out for
roughness, for a primitive
disregard of her feelings.
She wanted to be V
woman to a' man; to be
mastered and perhaps
crushed."
And then she has a day
dream of a caveman, only
to be awakened by another
cavalier, who kissed her hands tenderly.
"'I promise I wont .do it again.' he alghf.
Will you forgive meT
I wonder she says bitterly as she tort
her hands away,
Another description of a man. as seen
by the Princess, is contained in Tout Com.
prendre"!
"Adrian Hose was perfectly satisfied:
with life. . . . Having been left money by
an aunt, he was able to live in great com
fort a life of leisure, lazy without being"
idle, and occupied without being busy. He
was interested in literature, tn art, ta
muslo and in people. ... He took an
Indefatigable Interest in what he was go
ing to say next. . . . Adrian believed
in light, lrridescent emotions. ... A
glove, a fan, a camella they were to
him the symbols of lore. ... n'if
a bleeding heart beneath a gallant smile,
he withdrew in favor of his rival, or, aacri
flclng his happiness for hers, he reeoir
died his beloved with her husband." i
And the book containing these descrt
tkras is dedicated To My Husband"! 4
Princess Btblsco is a member of a fam
Ky boasting Violet Asqulth as the former
Premier's daughter by his first marriage I
Margaret Asqulth as her stepmother and
Elizabeth BIbesoo as the daughter of Mar
garet. William Watson, when his poexa.
"The Woman with the Serpent's Tongue
had, created an mternetloual senaatioa.
made the following- explanatory statement
"My poem is a composite photograph)
of Mrs. Asqulth (Margot) and her step,
laughter, Violet. The poem is' a portrait
ot the physical characteristics of Mrs. As
qulth. Violet Is the voice and rules theta
aXL Violet is the real, official voice speak
tug with authority. Sh It is who:
-Slights the worthiest In the land.
Sneers st the Just condemns the bra,ra.
And UuXt&i coodAfisi & its srix!.
i