GIRL WHO DOESN’T KNOW FEAR

Evening Star, Issue 23055, 6 September 1938, Page 12

GIRL WHO DOESN’T KNOW FEAR

HOME FROM COURT OF CANNIBAL KING From the court of a cannibal king, where tribal dancers swayed to the beat of the tom-tom, to the palace of the world’s most civilised monarch, she has come—the lovely -23-year-old Comtcsse de Reneville. Daughter of Airs Clare Sheridan, the sculpturess, and one of the most beautiful debutantes of the season, the cotntesse made her bow before King George A T I. at Buckingham Palace. AA'hile the orchestra played languorous music in the Throne Room the mind of the comtesse must have been filled with memories of that barbaric court whore she witnessed amazing religious rites and ceremonies. It was in the heart of the French Congo, where she was living with her husband, the Comte de Reneville, a member of the staff of the Governorgeneral, that tho comtesse mingled with the cannibal warriors. “ In' the tribe whose habits I studied,” she said. “ there were some grim customs. One of these was the practice of killing orphan babies. These unfortunate infants were looked upon as being possessed of devils, and they were killed by order of the witch doctors in the villages. “ On one occasion I pleaded personally before a cannibal chief for the life of a child, and when he laughed at my pleadings I threatened that 1 would tell my husband, and the GovernorGeneral would send soldiers to punish t)ip village. That threat stopped them, and saved the life of the little one. “ There are not many tribesmen or women who practise cannibalism now; but when one remembers that these people were all cannibals some 20 years ago, one realises that it is hard for them to shed their old natures all at once. “ Usually they are kind and docile. But. you may have a servant who will be gentle and obedient and efficient—until one day he reverts to his primitive self and goes savage again. AVe had one such servant. He suddenly went cannibal and killed his two brothers.” For several years the comtesse lived with her mother in the Sahara Desert, spending nights and days with the nomads, speaking their language and sharing their adventures. “She thrives upon danger,” her mother stated. “ Margaret is one of those people who never seem to care how near they go to death. “ When she was travelling with her husband on a hunting expedition in Central Africa, the comte shot and wounded a buffalo. This enraged the whole herd, and they advanced in a thundering horde upon the spot where Margaret was standing. She bad only a few seconds in which to-act, and she dashed up a tree which was covered with long spiky branches. Despite the dangerous spikes, Margaret managed to climb the tree, and she remained there while the trumpeting battalions of buffaloes (lashed by. “ She has many times risked her life to attend to leper children in the Congo, and she once carried one of these poor sufferers miles to a hospital.”