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Show II At One Stroke She Solved the Problem of Living Apart, I Supporting Herself and Humiliating Mr. Sheffield II TTITT'IIEN a husband is behaving badly It Is not always I W easy for a to Pnnish hIm If tho wIfo doea not 9 " happen to have independent means of her own it is not convenient to leave him or if she flees a way to tako care of herself It may be a satisfaction to him rather than a punishment if sho leaves him. It has remained for Mrs. Juatus Sheffield, of New York, to End a way to solve all I three problems at one stroke to leave her husband's uncon- genial presence, to support herself and little daughter and to "get even" with Mr. Sheffield in a way he doesn't I relish. This she accomplished by writing a novel, the sale B of which is paying her living expenses, and her portrayal of I her own husband as a conspicuous character In the boob H has made him furious. II rTBE Qolden Hollow" is the name of a little D I novel which has accomplished three resultB I JL It enabled the writer to live apart from I an uncongenial husband, its sales have paid her living I expenses, and the characterization of one of the per-I per-I Bonages in the book has extremely annoyed the hus-I hus-I band. Mrs. Justus P. Sheffield, the wife of a New York I lawyer, Is the author of the took. She is now living 1 In Short Hills, N. J., with her child. 1 "I might as weH tell you," said Mrs. Sheffield, "what I brought about the final separation between Mr. Shef-1 Shef-1 field and me. Ho sent a telegram up to New London, I the day before Christmas, three years ago, saying that ij -he was coming on Christmas Day, but would bring no jj money and make no provision for the children's 1 Christmas. At the time he had money for taxlcabs I and seats at the opera. We had two children then. I "In spite of his non-provision for the kiddles' Chrlst- 1 mas I had a tree, which my women friends fixed for I ub, with gifts on it for Mr. Sheffield, which the chll-1 chll-1 dren had made, and one of my own verBes framed, 1 tffhlcb read: 1 LITE'S AUTOMOBILE. 1 (When the world Is out of kilter, 1 'And the running gear's askew, 1 Tighten up your grit a little, ij 'And you'll surely buok it through. Um RENA CARY SHEFFIELD. . fjf "Mr. Sheffield arrived Christmas Day, not armed M rniih good holiday cheer or wishes, but with a legal Rjj paper drawn by himself, which ho spent the entire day jj! trying to forco me to sign. I "When I refused to sign this paper he tormented me, and threatened to turn me out into the Btreets unprovided unpro-vided for, with my two children. As a clincher, hoping to force my hand, he said he had decided to put Barbara Bar-bara on the stage in child partn to earn money for him. Barbara was not four at the time." 'Mrs. Sheffield's book takes the form of a series of Imaginary letters written by "Babs" to a sympathetic friend and confidant, "Captain Oalderwood." In this series of heart-exposing letters Is frequent mention of n character named Mac. It is in this oharacter of Mao that Mr. Sheffield declares he soe3 a mirror of himself, though distorted, and he has aBked the publishers of ,he book to stop printing it. Early 'in the book Babs writes in one of her letters: "Why am I unhappy7 A case of diametrical opposition. opposi-tion. Mac's mind is unusual and brilliant, trat, somehow, some-how, he does not understand. He cannot understand anything 'that Is not built upon geometrical lines and , backed by logic. Life to him is a simple and pleasure- i nbie adjustment of facts, not? necessarily corelated Just j facts. Life to me Is an algebraic problem, X equalling the unknown mystery of things. I stand in awe of logic and I never was good at equations, so I don't get any further than the doorstep of Mac's mind, and I sit there like a child who has been locked out all unknow- nln'lv it .is the lonely little spirit of me waiting in the darkness and I am "afraid I" Not a promising outlook for per-manenco per-manenco In marriage, and we are not surprised to come In a later letter upon tills in the book: "To-night there Is a dinner and I am hostess. Long ago Cornelia gave me that honor, as she does not like to preside. At the last dlnnor party Mac slipped Into the dining room and changed the place cards. He thought I might find the man on my left too Interesting. Mao guards me from what ho considers temptations. I am always put with tho cfiauffeur on any motor trln If thera hannann to hn n. goodlooking man along. JuBt how he reconciles It with his manners I don't see. People Peo-ple attribute it to his eccentricities. Things are moving backward with Babs and Mac, ac- . cording to a speedily. following letter: "It is a sombre 'me who is writing you to-night. Mac's last sally Into stocks went up like a rocket, with an alluring spray of gold that vanished1, and the stick, when it fell, struck home. He Is game to the end, though, and goes about ns usual. One cou!d not help admiring him, if it were in a worthier cause. The children go about on tiptoe and ask innumerable questions. ques-tions. "I have 'begun sorting oyer the household things. Mao won't tell me Just how far he is Involved, but I surmise it is more than a little. I wish I could care for him, for I want to stand by him now, but I don't care. He Is such a bully. He takes so muoh tor granted. Ho la unsympathetic and unreasonable. He has shown for months that we are going to the wall, yet he hasn't drawn in on his extravagances nor changed his mode of living. He seems almost to have dared the gods to do their worst," In a letter written by Babs Is this: "I am caught up with tbe storm. No suggestions of mine are tolerated. It's his affair, he says, and he Intends In-tends to run it to the Inst. He Is like a drunken captain cap-tain that knows his channel, but cannot keep it, yet refuses to give up the command. I am wnltlng breathlessly breath-lessly for the crash. It la nearly upon us. The Japanese butler still opens the door with, much ceremony to the casual visitor, and a chef turns out marvels of epicurean art from almost al-most nothing, and a French maid buttons and unbuttons my frocks that are beginning to grow a little shabby. But yesterday the gas was turned off. To-day they discontinued discontin-ued the telephone service. The circle is narrowing. Soon I shall be like tho boy that stood on tho burning deck, whence all but him had fled." The story of growing poverty and a side light on Mao's personality is shown in these words: "His library haB Increased amazingly in the past years. Its hundreds of volumes that filled the shelves when I first came now run into tnousanos, most of them de luxe and very charming. The editions retain their worth intact, and, I might add, appreciate in value, as ho seldom takes them down except to exhibit them to some admiring ad-miring or inquiring connoisseur, and the pages are still, nearly all of them, uncut. "There was a rap at the door. The servants stood there an angry, righteous mob. 'We want our money,' they demanded. "Mac smoothed the backs of his thin hands. He calmly looked the servnnts over. "'I have no money,' he said, finally. 'I don't see that you are so badly off. Haven't I fed you for months and provided a roof over your heads? You are unreasonable. I have no monoy. How can I give it to i you If I haven't auy7' "'Sell tho rich things In the house and pay us off,' rejoined the butler. 'If you don't we'll stay right on till you do.' j "Mac shifted his position. " You are welcome to remain If you like.' he said. To-morrow we leave for the country. I shut up the house. If you stay you starve.' I "I took up Kipling's ballads. Mao resumed his study of tho book catalogues. "'Are your hands clean?' he questioned me, glancing out over the pages he was perusing. Ye3,' I answered. 'I try to keep them sol' '"Did you wash them before or after dinner?' "'Before dinner.' . " "Well, go and wash them again, if you are going to-read to-read that book.' "I compiled with good-humored tolerance." Toward the end of the book the author gives a snapshot snap-shot of Mac's personal appearance. "His light hair hung very flat across his forehead." That, the residents of Short Hills remember, was characteristic of the vaulshed Justus 8heffied. He was very tall and thin and pale, even to his hair, which I Above Miss Barbara Sheffield, Whose Parents Quarrelled About Her Going on the Stage. To the Left Mr. Justus Shef field, Who Resents the Resemblance of "Mac" to Himself. was thin and lay flat upon his head. Mrs. Sheffield confided once to a visitor to Short Hills that he was so "tall and pale and forlorn looking" that Bhe married him because he "needed somebody to take caro of him." The handsome author has said but little about the book and the identity of its characters. ' But she has admitted that much In her novel grazes the truth, and that this passages embraces It: "I could hear Mac discoursing dis-coursing on the respective merits of music at the other end of the table. " 'It's this way,' he was saying. When I don't like an opera I keep going to It over and over again, that I may discover why I don't like It' " 'Hiat Justus Sheffield wn: nn Inveterate opera fre- Mrs, Justus P. Sheffield, Who Wrote a Book to PunlBh Her Husband wftfl.' Replace His Support. fl- quenter admits no denial." "I didn't dislike music, but I did not care enough for opera to go with him to hear it six times a week," Is his wife's retrospect In the novel Mao and Barbara split upon the rook of her chargo that he had lived for years upon hor money. That Mrs. Sheffield says Is mere novelist's license, a needed climax. The climax came In the affairs of the Sheffields, so the author-wife will state In court, when her husband proposed pro-posed to place their six-year-old daughter, Barbara, on the stage to increase the family Income. In-come. Inditmant, Mrs. Shef field left their home. In the book Babs says it in this way: "I am saying to the man on my left, 'YeB, wo have seats for the opera ,as usual this Winter. Mac adores It and I always go because I want to please him. I don't care as much for anuslo as he does. I get so tired hearing over and over a lot of people I don't know screaming about a lot of things I don't care about In a language I don't understand. That sounds raw. doesn't it"? Mrs. Sheffield, as all her friends know, is essw' tially domestic. She craves tho Blmple life, and trmfr. in these days of feminine unrest finds It omineojlf satisfying. She makes Babo, her other self, mm1 "How I long to live a plain life, with my foldajt sewing, and my books, and Mother my head cM , ' menus, and a dally husband. Mao would be an intfl.J mlttent one. Good night to you. I want to cry." IMK Her mood is a purple one In a succeeding lepu for she writes: "I pictured myself dead, and the epSj being shovelled down upon me, and I hoped they mMi arrange my hair becomingly and not ask a latjBj people. I hoped Mao would not wear black. He jfifl tall and fair, and black is unsulted to him." Nor does she share "Mao's" liking for golf, -lM hlB method of playing it , "Mac is so carefully consistent in his score t2u don't oven dare think a shot without oountlng itj golf for me. I always seem to be holding up ever.H and never getting anywhere Just standing artiH while they shout themselves hoarse yelling 'Fore'H me. No golf for me. It makes me feel like a coUaH without any boundaries. Jacques says that's exkH what I am, 'a country without any bounda'rlB Babs refused her suitor twice, but accepted him ''B third time. For this she gives her reason. sheAHj some light on the continually recurring question, IB Joes a .woman say 'No' when she means rYes"l f "A man should have three chances, I think. The time ho asks you to marry him he is carried awaftB! his own ardor. The second time he feelB he must nK good. But If he asks the third time it'n sife." |