THE FALL OF AN IDOL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8154, 5 June 1906, Page 7

THE FALL OF AN IDOL.

—r» Maxim Gorky's mission to America od behalf of his "suffering, pov-erty-stricken, enslaved countrymen in Russia,;" c<nne to an untimely and eveu ridiculous end. American national pride was deeply stirred by this PASSIONATE APOSTROPHE of the statue of Liberty at the entrance to New York Harbour. "America, America," he declared, "how I have longed for. this day when my foot Bhall tread the soil where despotism cannot live." On landing he declared that ha felt his lungs expand AND HIS BLOOD TINGLE with the exhilarating spirit of freedom pervading the atmosphere. He and Madame Gorky wore received with open arms by tbe friends of liberty, were installed in a luxurious suite in the fashionable Belleolaire Hotel, and became the lions of the hour. But, alas 1 ; before long it was discovered that; Madame Gorky was not the real Madame Gorky, who remained in St. Petersburg with her children. The guests at the hotel marched in a body to the landlord and DEMANDED THE EXPULSION of the two Russians, who were ejected amid the cheers of the outrasged. Eventually, tbe visitors had to be content with a small furnished fiat. The lionising ended abruptly. Mark Twain, who was a member of the Revolutionary Committee of Welcome, said:—"l am a revolutionist by birth, breeding, principle, and everything elaa. 1 love all revolutions, no matter where, when, or why they start. But every country rightly HAS ITS OWN LAWS of conduct, and anyone arriving from a foreign land ought to conform to them. This discovery has seriously impaired Gorky's influence as a propagandist." One by one HIS SUPPORTERS DESERTED him, and matters were not improved by the discovery that the wine bill of the champion of poverty-stricken Russia was £25 daily. As for Gorky himself when asked if he were married to his companion, he shrugged his shoulders and said he did not believe that tbe LIBERTY-LOVING PEOPLE of America were responsible for suoh » cowardly attaok on a lady who was his wife under the higher law of humanity. Afterwards he proceeded to tell the Americana just what he thought of them. The Americans, he telegraphed to a Paris paper, were just the same spitting, vulgar people that Charles Dickens fuund, and personal liberty there was as hampered as in Russia. He was rather glad than otherwise that his trip wasraiued, for tbe sooner he got out of the wretched country the better he would be pleased.