San Francisco Call, Volume 106, Number 69, 8 August 1909
On every side is heard, "Who is Elizabeth Dejeans." the author, of the remarkable novel, "The Winning Chance," which is creating much discussion, Mrs. Dejeans— a nom de plume, by the way — is a sunny daughter of the south, with laughing eyes and a real human interest in life. Quaint curios, picked up on her travels abroad, fill her artistic home near Los Angeles. She takes especial pride in her collection of rare old Japanese prints, mellowed by time, each one with a history of its own. Although this is Mrs. Dejeans' first novel, she comes by her gifts naturally, as she is of a literary family. Susan Warner, the noted writer, is her cousin, and Horace Scudder, the historian, is a connection, her mother having been a Scudder. For years, she says, her friends begged her to write. Other things, however, crowded out literary work. But when she settled in California, she decided that she would devote her time to writing, and so energetically did she put this resolution into effect that within two months and a half "The. Winning Chance" was finished.
Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXXVII, Number 341, 7 September 1911
Mrs. Sydney Budgett, better known in literary circles as Elizabeth Dejeans, has returned from the east and passed the afternoon yesterday at the Political Equality league, where she told of the great interest the campaign in California is creating throughout the east. Mrs. Budgett is an enthusiastic suffragist and will give her services for the assistance of the campaign until the election.
The true Democrat. [volume], October 25, 1913, Image 2
Mentions new book Water-witched valley (unpublished?)
Los Angeles Herald, Volume 33, Number 63, 3 December 1910 GIRLS THINK TOO MUCH OF DRESS, TOO LITTLE OF MIND—MRS. BUDGETT
PICTURE
WOMEN WEAR CROWN AWAY, AUTHORESS SAYS
Present Life Declared to Crush out Old-Fashioned Motherly Instincts
"Memorials and reminiscences of Julia Ward Howe must make every thinking woman take pause," said Elizabeth Dejeans Budgett in her cozy writing room yesterday. "The charm wit and beauty of this wonderful woman of the last generation were used by her to advance every member of her sex, with the result that she accomplished a great work. Women of the present day, I think, fail to realize that she used every womanly charm she possessed as well as that splendid intellect of which they all are so proud."
Mrs. Budgett was one of the speakers on the Friday Morning club memorial program held last week for Mrs. Howe, and her words of tribute then suggested further discussion concerning the manner in which women of the present day are following in the paths blazed out for them with so much courage and hardihood by the great women of the passing generation.
"Those women wove always the triple crown of womanhood," she continued, as she moved her chair closer to the fireplace, where, in accordance with customs established during her residence in England, a wood fire blazed cheerfully; "and the component parts of this crown were sweetness, reverence and absolute sincerity. In thinking a good deal of our modern woman—and my profession requires that I think and observe her closely—l find that we are prone to wear this crown just a trifle awry. If women would only apply the mental looking glass to the attitude and adornment of their minds as they apply the material one to those garments with which they adorn their bodies they would realize this carelessness and would rectify it."
Mrs. Budgett is a deep student of women. A natural aptitude for this line of thought has been sharpened by the constant search for new types which her application to Action writing has made necessary. Her idea of sweetness in woman was revealed clearly in the recent book, "The Heart of Desire," in which she makes mother love the one essential of absolute femininity. DON'T KILL MOTHERLY TRAITS "By sweetness I mean graciousness and those characteristics which always suggest the mother heart. What should a woman be but a mother? When we see the maternal traits evidenced by the little girl with her doll, or a tiny baby brother or sister, we always exclaim, 'See, there is the little mother,' yet when that girl grows older we try to kill or at least bury those same qualities. Why not keep them? Why not develop and accentuate those very things which go to make perfection of loved and loving in womanhood? The perfect woman appears with the maternal protecting instinct toward children and women and men as well and in this is found the perfect essence of maternal feminine spirit."
When speaking before the clubwomen last week the speaker emphasized particularly the atmosphere of rush and noise with which women are surrounded.
"It is no wonder we sometimes scream and by our voices testify to the nervous, highly pitched tension of our lives," she said, "for from the first electric car in the morning until the last automobile in the evening we hurry. We never take time to relax, or to realize to what tiresome unworthy efforts we devote much of our lives. We live in staccato, talk in high falsetto and think and move in allegretto vivace. We do not take time to be sweet ..r to be reverential. In fact, some of us are almost afraid to be reverential. We're afraid we won't be in the fashion. The spirit of reverence seems in a way to have 'gone out.' " The difference between mere religious reverence and that which admits appreciation of admirable qualities of age and experience was emphasized by Mrs. Budgett, who continued: "Perhaps I mean deference more than reverence, for I believe thoroughly in woman's deference to ,those about her. The aggressive Independence which admits no duty to nor obligation from those men and women with whom she comes In contact, is merely a passing phase in woman's development." These are the two qualities in which Mrs. Budgett thinks women are not following quite in the footsteps of the famous women whom all hope to emulate in* some particular at least.
"In sincerity, however, we are positive. Never were women more earnest than they are today. It is this quality, perhaps, which makes us forgetful of other and to us lesser things. When we take ourselves less seriously we will allow these other traits a chance for development. They are still with us and need only a little encouragement to Income manifest," she said. Discussing the reason for the recent sudden development of women—that which has been so evident in the last thirty years, Mrs. Budgett Said:
"We are just beginning to see how much there is to women. We are studying women now, their needs and their possibilities. Unless we do study them we cannot think what is best for them to do, nor realise all their complexity. I believe that women are the most complex creatures on earth, and it is the conflict of their various emotions and physical and mental requirements which have kept them the subservient sex through all this time. Now that they are finding themselves they are going, perhaps, to some extremes, but that will soon be overcome. With the understanding of their own possibilities they will diligently and carefully arrange to combine with the that freedom of thought and action which is now theirs, all that charm of femininity which has been theirs for all time, and in combination will discover themselves a tremendous lever for the raising of all humanity to that high plane which all thinking folk realize is to be attained. When they do this, then, indeed, will they become worthy daughters of those great women who are just now passing away and whose memory women can honor in no better way than this."
The Broad Ax, Volume 20, Number 42, 10 July 1915
Elizabeth Dejeans, the author, lives in an apartment overlooking Gramercy pork, New York city, but is listed properly among Californla's authors.
Washington Standard, Volume LIV, Number 22, 21 August 1914
Mentions novel Without Sin
Bisbee daily review. [volume], April 11, 1917, Page TWO, Image 2 PICTURE
Omaha is all stirred up about a new book the Tigers Coat suspected of featuring some of the western city's best known citizens and social leaders.
El Patio, Volume I, Number 8, 2 October 1920
Letter to the editor about having more flowers and trees in Coronado
El Patio, Volume I, Number 23, 8 January 1921
Tuesday evening. Mrs. Elizabeth Dejeans gave a farewell party to a number of her friends, or rather, we should say, a good-bye dinner to her charming home on F Avenue, as she is leaving there and will take an attractive apartment on Orange Avenue.
Coronado Eagle and Journal, Volume 9, Number 49, 16 April 1921
POPULAR NOVELIST TO TAKE SIX MONTHS’ TRIP
Mrs. Elizabeth Dejeans, the novelist, who has made her home in Coronado for the last year, expects to leave about the first of May; for a stay of a few months. Mrs. Dejeans will first go to Hollywood in regard to her motion picture interests, as two of her books are now being filmed and her popular novel, “The Tiger's Goat,” has recently been released, and is now being shown in the northern city. The writer has just finished another book, which she is taking with her, and may arrange for motion picture rights. Later she expects to go to New York to place this book, and attend to other publishing interests,; and then she plans to travel for several months, before returning to Coronado. When she comes back, Mrs. Dejeans expects to build a bungalow of her own, and become a permanent resident of this city.
The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 39 1932 (googlebooks)
Since retiring from the practice of medicine, Sidney Payne Budgett, 95m, has resided in El Monte California, at 2765 Valley Blvd RFD 2