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“Which will Gorky choose
—to pursue the wife who
so coolly abandons him or
to return, broken, to the
wife who offers him again
her love and devotion?”
The Inevitable End or GeniusGorkys
Scandalous
"Romance
“No vow is of any use for file people who
stand at the top. I have sacrificed myself
enough for my romatic sentiments.” Mme
Andreyeva’s Cynical Farewell to Gorky.
St. Petersburg, April :J0.
r-,—’HE inevitable consequences have followed, and
* ended, the scandalous romance of the celebrated
Russian novelist, Maxim Gorky. The beautiful
•
actress, Mine. Andreyevs, who took him from his wite
and child seven years ago and accompanied him to
America,' has left him exiled in Ltaly and returned to
Moscow and her former life of the stage.
Gorky's appearance in America, accompanied by the
actress, it will be remembered, barred < Mm from
American society, and caused him and his companion
to be ejected from a New York hotel. The novelist
could not.get a divorce from his wife, and could not
return to Russia. Accompanied by Mme. Andreyevs he
went to Italy. They isolated themselves in a cottage
on the island of Capri, where they remained together
until a few weeks ago when, as is ordained in all such
cases, the irregular bond, at last over-str,ained, snapped,
and she abandoned him.
Interviewed in Moscow, the actress brazenly declares
that laws governing the relations of the sexes are doubt
less good for the masses, for ordinary plodders, but
not for “genius.” Being a genius herself, and not car
ing longer to sink her “art personality” in that of Gorky,
she decided to resume her independent career.
And this inevitable climax has come in spite of cir
cumstances which enabled Gorky to obtain a divorce
and to marry Mme. Andreyeva. This attempt to right
a wrong made no difference. And the moral is further
pointed by the contrast offered by the two women in
volved. While Mme. Andreyeva plays her part of the
heartless “genius,’’ the first Madame Gorky is all sym
pathy for the abandoned novelist and frankly declares
her wish to befriend him.
From the first Gorky’s real friends in Russia dis
cerned that his genius would be fettered instead of in
spired by his irregular relationship with Mme. Andrey
eva. What they have learned of their life together in
the cottage on Capri bears out all their forebodings.
Gorky wrote novels and plays, and his companion
»tt<f npted to assist him in the capacity of a critic and
adviser. But none of his works of this period held the
appeal so characteristic of his former spontaneous pro
ductions. Instead of continuing in his successful field
of vagabond and outcast life, he dealt more and more
with 'that of the middle class and its special problems—
which he was not fitted to discuss. It seems that Mme.
Andreyeva, with her woman’s perverseness, strove ro
make another Maeterlinck of him.
This woman who selfishly abandoned Gorky in his
exile, and admits it, at present is stopping with friends
In Moscow. She expects shortly to resume he,r inter
rupted stage career. At first she avoided representa
tives of the press, but finally to one whom she had
known in the old days she gave an interview, of which
the following are the significant portions.
“My explanation is that I could not any longer resist
the call of the stage. It grew louder and louder. A
phantom of my glorious past haunted me night and
day. I feared that I would commit suicide if I shut my
ears to it any longer. I simply yielded.”
“Bur how about your husband? Did he share your
feelings ?”
Madame Andreyeva blushed and seemed confused.
1 am sorry to say. no. We are intimate friends,
that is all. He could not understand me. That is the
painful feature of our relations. The question is, why
should I sacrifice my art for the art of my husband?
Why should I give up my art for the sake of my ro
mantic 'attachment to him? Can the husband’s laurels
be also ti~|e laurels of his wife? Will she be happy in
decorating herself with what she has not earned? Why
should f bury my art on that small island for the sake
of remaining a true companion of my husband. I don’t
see why.”
“It’s a serious problem, indeed, especially since your
husband could not follow you in your career. But is
there no chance of a compromise? "
“Well, let me tell you,” answered Mme. Andreyeva.
“I have come to the conclusion that marriage is only a
necessary regulation for mediocrities and the masses,
but it has no meaning for geniuses or degenerates. No
vow is of any use for the people who stand at the top.
It is a nice knot for the average niind. I have under
gone many deprivations for the sake of my romantic
vow and would undergo more still, but I am an artist
myself, like my husband, and must accomplish more
than I could as merely his cheering companion. I am
not only a woman, but also a factor in a bigger sense.
JCEni
The Brilliant Mme.
Andreyeva Who Took Him
from His Wife and Child
Explains That She Has Had
to “Abandon” the Russian
Novelist Because
She Is a “Genius” Herself
Mme. Andreyeva ( r,
Russian Dress) Y/iic
Married Finally /
Abandoning His First
for her. Now, in Hi. 1
He Has Been A bander ’
by Her.
Maxim Gorky, the Celebrated Russian Novelist, Who
Has Been Abandoned by the Actress for Whom
He Deserted His Wife and Child.
1 have sacrificed myself enough for my romantic senti
ments. Now I have higher ideals, like my husband has,
and for that reason I cannot go any further.
“You see that I have my own reputation almost in
the same degree that my husband has. if this wore
not the case, I certainly would be satisfied in finding
contentment within the frame of my family. I would'
remain the wife—the woman. But, I feel that society
—the art-loving world—has bigger claims upon me. I
am a member of the universal family. In order to
serve humanity, I am justified 1n forsaking my husband,
even if it should displease him. If I should meet a
starving man and was unable to help him, I would be
justified in taking from whomever I could, taking by*
violence if the one 1 asked refused to give deliberately.
1 am not a criminal if I do that, but an executioner of»
higher ideals. The same is the case. when I leave my
family in order to live for a thousand other families.
I am perfectly justified in sinning against niv family
if I can do good for humanity. All that I have done at
present is that ! have sacrificed my personal seif for
a bigger self.
"Any man who marries a woman with high ideals
should know that he sits in the saddle of a wild horse.
He should be prepared from the first touch of her lips
to see tlie romantic flame die out any day. She is a
double personality; real and ideal, physical and
spiritual. Whenever a woman who has a message mar
ries a man and says she will be true to him till death,
she is untrue to herself. She does not know that she
will ever be able to keep that vow. There are no writ
ten laws for a genius, except those of his or her own
conscience.
“She should not marry at all, if she thinks she has
a message to humanity besides being a woman. But
the conventional views of society urge her to follow
the old and regular channels. She never takes the
family seriously, and that is the reason why a modern
highly educated woman grows so easily tired of strict,
family life and makes love to another man, if she has
nothing higher to occupy her mind? The divorces in
more civilized countries are perfectly natural facts and
should never be condemned.
/‘Only a half-educated and entirely feminine woman
is perfectly happy within her family and strictly loyal
to her husband. An educated and highly intellectual
woman has no time to fuss with housekeeping, the
education of her children and keeping the affection of
her husband. She has bigger problems to solve and
employs others to take care of her family duties. Tin
American woman, for instance, has reached the highesi
degree of general education, and is interested in higlie:
questions of life, therefore she is a poor mother and
an unreliable wife. But I don’t blame her.”
“But isn’t motherhood the supremest of all ideals of
a woman?”
“Not when a woman can be the mother of a spiritual
creation—art, or an ideal of any spiritual nature. That
is the great philosophic point in woman’s life. The
higher a woman ascends intellectually, the more she
loses of her physical motherhood. She becomes the
mother of the spiritual child, just the samA as the
husband becomes the father of the creation of his
mind, Instead of that of his body. That is the very
reason why the children of nearly all great men re
main mediocrities. Their parents neglect them, being
concerned only with their intellectual children. Rous
seau and Browning are the best examples in support
of my argument.”
“Did your husband acquiesce with your leaving him
to his fate? Are you expected to return to him after
the theatrical season is over?”
“We are friends just the same, and ruay be much
more friends than before. But his opinion is that the
glory of the husband is also the glory of the wife, in
which i disagree, in case of the wife being able to get
her own glory. Even if my departure should mean the
death of his inspiration, I shall remain firm in my own
ambition. Whether I will return to him or not is a
matter for the disposition of my sentiments in the
future.”
But what is the explanation of Gorky himself of this
new turn in his family affairs? He forsook his first
wife and their child for Andreyeva. Now this wife
forsakes him. So far no one knows whether he ever
will explain it in any other way than in Ms memoirs.
But of great interest is the short opinion of his first
wife on the matter, which she expressed to a Russian
journalist.
"A man should never fall in love with a woman who
has her own ambition in social life. He wil! never b-
happy. Much more, if she is superior to him intel
lectually she will exploit his creative power for her
own use and when she has nothing more to get from
him she will leave him without any sympathy, as was
the case with Gorky’s marriage to Andreyeva. I am
very sorry for him.
“Andreyeva is a very clever woman, and intellectual
ly superior tff him. He fell in love with her because of
her great talent while she was playing the role of the
heroine of his drama. He is a simple, uneducated
man of the people. He was greatly fascinated by
her brilliance. He probably thought or felt that she
would inspire him more than I did, and 'that is the
reason he left me and the boy whom he loved so af
fectionately. But soon he realized that it was only an
illusion.
Andreyeva urged Mm to imitate Ibsen and Maeter
linck, and he did so. That was the worst he could do.
I of course felt sorry about it; yet 1 thought, if lie
can ac -mulish more with her, heaven bless him! But
she polished him to such an extent that she killed all
his originality. However, if he should feel forsaken
by all the world, I am certainly the first and last of
his most devoted Intends to stay with him. I am really
ready to sacrifice everything for hit success.”
NOW Is the Time to Kill the Filthy Fly
By Dr. Leonard K. Herschberg.
(Of Johns Hopkins Medical College)
T HE Summer aboul to dawn i the
tenth anniversary of our conclusive
conviction and tangible proof that
the common nuisance and ubiquitous
plague, the pestiferous housefly, produces
many dangerous maladies, such as typhoid,
cholera, dysentery, infantile ailments, and
the like. True enough, ever since the Gov
ernment. report about tile typhoid fever
among American soldiers in the Spanish
var, the housefly was fairly well known to
be responsible for the spread of that in
faction. It was not, however, until the re
searches of the ensuing years had accu
mulated that the fly’s guilt was established
beyond the cavil of a doubt.
The proboscis, or what you might call
the tongue, of the housefly, is a most per
nicious organ. Because the common Hy
cannot chew or bite or suck or pierce the
skin, food must be served up to the fly in
liquid form. In other words, a fly is always
on a soft, liquid or "fever” diet.
As a fly alights upon food, il slicks out
its tongue or proboscis by means of a pair
of air-sacs or vacuum cleaners, which blow
out the proboscis just os you blow into a
glove to expand the fingers. Another pump
of the fly's mouth sucks in the liquid food
mixed with the insect’s saliva. The food
passes through the alimentary canal and
the undesirable parts are shot forth as
flecks of dust and moistened dirt from the
under surface of the fly’s body.
It has been abundantly confirmed by ex
periments that the fly not only stores up
f ood for days and weeks at a time in its
crop, but it also regurgitates fresh as well
as old food very often. A fly will thus re
gurgitate food out through its mouth and
proboscis mixed with saliva, in order to
dissolve and liquefy food that is too solid
for it to take. Indeed, flies are so filthy in
their habits that they regurgitate and re
swallow the same food many times. These
regurgitation spots may be seen on white
surfaces of window panes, and are easily
distinguished from spots of waste matter
discharged by the fly, because they are
much lighter in coloj- than the latter.
You may thus readily picture to yourself
what takes place when a fly gorged with a
liquefied diet of typhoid material, tubercu
losis sputum, or microbe-rich milk, hops
gayly here and there on your berries, but
ter, su^ar bowl and kitchen utensils. The
apparently clean and harmless fly'that idly
glides into your kitchen front the passing
garbage cart in ord»r to have a l>it of your
bread, your sugar, your meat, or your but
ter, regurgitates a few times here and
there wherever it alights. Briefly, if a fly
wishes to sip some nourishment from
your table it must ingurgitate several
times at least upon the tood it craves.
Some of its ejected saliva and food may
be the remnants of fetid repasts obtained
s. me days previously f r em the filthiest
places. ‘ , .
Moreover, the sticky, gluey cushions
upon a fly's feet arc; literally alive and
swarming with bacteria and other disease
spreading filth. The much-admired and
graceful act of a fly walking upside down is
clue to this mucilaginous material present
upon the insect's feet. The footpads Of a
fly are so glutinous that they take up part
of anything with which they come in con
tact. Every known disease germ and con
tagion has been recovered from the sole
of a fly's foot.
Since the abiding places of the musca
domestica are stables, barns, manure
heaps, rubbish boxes, outhouses and any
decaying animal or vegetable matter, you
may well imagine what varieties of germs
are encountered upon a fly’s feet and in
side its hollow tongue and mouth. Such
delectable places are the breeding spot of
the mother fly. She lays her eggs in a
series of from 100 to 200 eggs at a time.
She usually lives long enough to rear many
thousands of progeny, half of which in
I urn also become aggressive, egg-laying
mothers, i have, however, Seen, female flies
during flu- Winter deposit eggs in a warm
cellar, upon moist mud, in which there
was no nourishment.
One fly killed in April is equal to the
combined onslaught and destruction of
billions of flies by thousands of persons in
July and August. The hoy or girl who de
stroys the early flies of April and May can
carve himself or herself a belt with the
motto on it of “A Million at One Blow”
For potentially, every mother fly to-day
will be responsible for billions upon bill
ions in August.
All of the (mighty milk crusades wttii
their aims for a pure, undefiled and ge rm-
free milk Will go for naught if a “Swat the
Fly” campaign is not vigorously waged be
forehand as well as simultaneously. You
may have a milk so perfect that not. a line
teria is in it, yet if there be a fly al;o
ready to pounce upon an infant’s lips, n
its bottle, nipple or tiny hands, then al!
the other anticipated precautions will lia -
been absolutely nullified.
The rapid substitution of The garage for
ih-' stables, cowsheds and barnyards ha -
gone a long way to reduce the number of
flies in American cities. The new city or
dinances which require al! garbage cans to
be kept under cover, the dissemination of
knowledge among the public as to the in
jury from flies, the use of fly traps, and the
inoculation by the Government experts of,
parasites of flies in order to destroy the]
insects by epidemics fatal to them, all of
these schemes in conjunction with anti
fly crusades by civic organizations should
materially lengthen the life of the human
race by a reduction of the number of flies.
Flies die off.
And men survive; £
The more flies you kill
The longer you're alive
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