SOCIETY DIVORCE CASE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 76, 26 April 1909, Page 4

SOCIETY DIVORCE CASE.

SCATHING UOMMKXTS BY TIIE JtKpGK. IDLE SOCIETY Lll-K. Amid breathless silence Lord Guthrie delivered his reserved judgment in the Stiiihig divorce suits oil 10th March. Mrs. Stirling's petition wart refused. Mr. Stirling's petition was granted. The parties, it will be remembered, are Mrs. Clara Elizabeth Taylor, or Stirling, and John Alexander Stirling, of Kippenda.vie, Perthshire. The trial extended over I'liree weeks, and created widespread interest by reason of the light which the evidence threw on the ordinary daily life of certain people in societv.

Lord Guthrie, after announcing his decision added: "Mr. Stirling is entitled to the custody of the eliild. That will leave two qutwtions on which I will be glad to hear counsel—that of access to the child ami the question of expenses." After referring to the length of the trial and the waste; of time and money, Lord Guthrie delivered an extraordinary series of strictures upon the j methods of life of the parties. Beyond | a few introductory facts, the whole j period embraced, he said, w a* only a little over four months from 20th May i to 24th September. 1008. The incidents happened in Paris, in and :near London,' and in the Isle of Wight. The case had | uo legal, and ought to have had no i public interest. j i Most of the evidence was taken up ■ , with petty incidents in -ellish. idle lives, | containing nothing that was romantic.. 1 not much that was even mock hero'c, and little that was legitimately interesting. Whatever might be said about . Mr. Stirling and Lord Northland, it wars . necessary to remember—in considering the conduct of Mrs. Stirling and of Mrs. Atherton—that their mental endowments -could not be ranked high, nor tlieir common sense, good taste, or right feeling. IS peaking of Paris, they mentioned t'he Louvre, not the great museum and gallery, but the shop. Mrs. Stirling, young, and iii good health, breakfasted in lied at U o'clock or ut midday in summer m the country, while her husband. went regularly to business in London by a-a 0> train. At Amherle.v Cottage, near Maidenhead, in the latter part of June and in July, the only useful occupation of Mr. and Mrs. Stirling. Mrs. Atherton. a-nd Lord Northland seemed lo consist on Sundav in manicuring each other's naiL. When on a voyage alone to America in July, take"! under painful circumstances brought about by herself which threatened the hrcak up of her home, Mns. Stirling, according lo her own account, spent the time on board the Adriatic in playing I,ridge with a total stranger, with whom she llirted, and from she entertained an invitation to sing at his house.

Mrs. Stirling's only letter to her Imsband was written to make a selfish proposal for a separation! to suit her own convenience. coupled with a condition that tshe should get an annual allowanee of £750, apparently for tin 1 rest of her life. On her return tdie frequented restaurants and theatres with the man on account of whom she had separated herself from her husband. She courted public attention, while her conduct was the subject oi talk. Both Mrs. Stirling and Mrs. Atherton appeared to have a poor "opinion of their own sex. For the coolness which after marriage, . his lordship thought Mrs. Stitlimr was mainly responsible, more pei'haps frc*n her 'naturally unstable ami totallv undisciplined character and her want of consideration fov the feelof others than from deliberate iuI tenlioii. She had. no relations in this country, ami her mo>t congenial friends wen- her old theatrical friends, who were not in the hinder walks of the profession. Mr. Stirling tried his best to hvtioduce her to his but she proved unfit, and t'hev drifted into the llnhemiau life bi which she excelled. She remained devoted to her husband *[> long as lie put no check upon her 'extravagance. When lie urged a more domestic life and moderation in-expen-diture. she resented his interference and revealed full blown the unreasonable and ungovernable temper she had more than oiice displayed in the witness-box. ■ Coming to Mrs. Atherton and Lord Northland. 'Lord Guthrie pointed out thai Lord Xorthland had been a Green Kimin and midnight supper party acquaintance of Mr*. Stirling in her theatrical davs. Vor the introduction «f Mr*. Stirling to Mr*. Atherton. who wa> divorced in 1000, and wa~ plaintiff in an action againsi her paramour for breach of promise of marriage made to her while -till a wedded wife, his lordshin held Mr. Stirling responsible, lie welcomed an introduction which, on i very ei'ou'id of common sense, good t-i-te. and right feeling, he should have shunned. One was n ladv of birth, lilted naturally and by education l<> take a conspicuous place in >-ocietv. but ostracised bv her own wrongdoing from wholesome peo|)le; and the other was ostracised by society by her own incapacity to adopt or ,ape its manners, to take or affect interest in its conventional pursuite, or to adhere to its standard. Mrs. Stirling ease was founded on the plea that her husband, alone, or in concert with Mrs. Atherton, had. formed the idea of getting rid of her. He found no evidence to support this. The idea was impudent and inconsistent. Mrs. Atherton was abundantly endowed with the kind of beauty which a man like Mr. Stirling admired, and along with tact, perfect control of temper, and gracious manners, th ( » sort of fascination which captivated men with his ideals, or aWnce of ideals, and. indeed, ainrt from past, history. 1o which Mr. Stirling M-emed to attach no importance. she was fitted to grace any soi cietv.

Lord Xorthland had described his condnH a< entirclv platonic. Ilis LonMiip held Unit. he had not onlv failed to prove that, but that his previous and >ubsei|uent conduct conviiiccil him that the letters lie wrote reoresentod hi* ft»Ming* towards Mrs. Stirling, lie could not doubt thai the other letters passing between liini iind Mrs. Stirling, those dot roved, were couched .in similar levins of endciirment. Ifc looked upon tlie-:' letters as the crux of t'ic case. l;ord Xorthland looked a kindlv. *cn*lblc, and straightforward man, lint mi mere friendship or humanity could account for lik playing with Mr*. Stirling tor the riiitr given by his own mother, or for his acts of incredible folly in connection with Mis. Stirling. i' |( ' s c i»:irties were not normal. i:i so far a- both showed themselves highly suseeptiible and weak in will, both were indifferent to religion* sanctities, moral prohibition-. and l moral and .social eOn*o(|uenci'>.

Tii an interview Mrs. Stirling's solicitors said the decision would be appealed against. l.ord Northland's sol ici tors? make the -ame statement, London Daily Xpw»<.