Life — April 7, 1910 — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

632 “LIFE: (Continued from page 630) In all ideal marriages, then, one of the blessed participants must ever stand ready to supply the temperamental and in- tellectual needs of the other. If we are right in claiming this, we would be justified in predicting that while two able-bodied cornetists might, and probably would, jar and fret each other intolerably in the privacy of their little home, a union between a male cornetist and a lady deaf-mute would not only be serene but, very possibly, fruitful. We think that to prove our contention finally and indis- putably we have but to quote the striking and exceedingly fashionable example of Mr. and Mrs. Madison P. . those aristocratic, fortunate and highly favored beings whose names were once so familiar to readers of the social jottings in our metropolitan dailies. (It will be remembered, of course, that their wedding at St. Bartholomew's, a little over six years ago, was far and away the politest and most lavish of the season.) There was a love-match for you, pure and simple! No one could have accused Madison or Muriel of marry- ing for money, for it was common knowledge that the poor devil had but a trifle more than fifty thousand dollars a year, pour tout potage, while the beautiful Muriel herself was cer- in of only a like amount from her doting but miserly papa Here were two beings then who, for love's sweet sake, were prepared to face comparative poverty together. It should also be noted that not only were their tastes totally dissimilar but at their very temperaments were diametrically opposed. Madison's was an exceedingly modest and retiring nature. He had alwa River acres, on that extremely fashionable portion of the river lived very quietly on his paternal Hudson just below T———. Above and beyond everything in life Madison loved little children. Being something of a scholar and reader, he liked, and daily frequented, his fine and sp cious old library. He also had a consuming passion for farm- ing, and his Holsteins were renowned wherever the agricul tural papers were borrowed of subscribed for. He was a sober individual and cordially detested light novels, the Latin races, bridge whist, motor-cars, afternoon teas, flirtations and all other forms of social activity and struggle At the time of Madison's marriage he was a trifle under forty The fascinating, blonde and bewitching Muriel, on the other hand, was an entirely different type of being Hers was a mould abounding in softness. ringlets, dimples and charm. She adored French novels, theatres, admiration (pref- erably from tall, thin gentlemen), Paris and bridge whist She particularly longed for two things: a larger and more heaping measure of liberty and an emerald tiara that she had once observed at Cartier’s in Paris. She had a positive genius for society, week-end visiting and intimate, if fatuous, téte-a-tétes We are ashamed to admit that America rather bored her and that the Hudson in particular depressed and saddened her inexpressibly. She might perhaps have learned to love Madi- son's herd of gentle Holsteins, but it soon developed that the odor of cows inevitably superinduced in her symptoms of swimming or vertiginous giddiness As for children, she can- didly confessed—before her marriage—that it made her ex- tremely nervous to have them “sprawling and screaming about.’" She was, at the time of ber nuptials, in her nine- teenth year. Now what prophet could have cast his eyes into the future and foreseen the satisfaction that was to spring from such a union as this, both for the sober and studious Madison and the jocund and delectable Muriel? At first glance it seems almost incredible that peace and comfort could issue from such a mating, but, as we write, Madison is certainly one of the con- tentedest of men. Since his honeymoon in Paris (where he purchased an emerald tiara that he perhaps would never have noticed but for Muriel’s unselfish kindness in pointing it out to him) he has never left bis beloved farm on the Hudson. He continues to spend much of his time in his splendid li- brary and among his immaculate and prize-winning Holsteins. His two beautiful children are, very naturally, the greatest delight of his life. He likes to boast of his comfort and con- tentment and to say that the pretty and fascinating Muriel has completely dulled the edge of his appetite for all other feminine society. After living with such a wife, he declares, no other woman shall be permitted to so much as touch the hem of his tranquil existence. Six years and more have rolled by but Muriel is every whit as vivacious and alluring as ever she was. She positively radiates happiness and seems not a day older than when she tremblingly accepted Madison's grave and hesitating proposal It is hardly necessary 10 say that she is worshipped by many of her (tall and thin) neighbors and admired by them all. For her dinners she somehow invariably manages to secure the “ smartest" and most distinguished men in her restricted and fashionable world. Her receptions, séances of bridge, fetes and charming little motor-picnics are justly famous as well for their unaffected elegance as for their boundless and con- ious merriment Yes, it is quite undeniable that both Mr. and Mrs. Madison Pp— have, as a result of their union, completely gained their hungry hearts’ desires. Indeed, for four happy years there has not been so much as the suspicion of a word or a quarrel or a disagreement between them—nothing, in short, to mar the exquisite and grateful serenity of their lives. By the oddest possible coincidence it was precisely four years ago that the winsome and enchanting Muriel left the Hudson and settled herself permanently in a ¢ house on the Avenue Kléber in Paris. ming little THE SAME OLD BLUFF Dr. Skair Muthers: wourn you RATHER SACRIFICE THE OF ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN THAN THE LIFE OF A DOG? comicbooks.com