The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-24

reproduced In various publications IN this
country,
During this period she had many adj
mirerS-artists, authors, a Russian prince
or two. There was one story of a prince
who followed her on one of her visits
TO this country. But she never married.
The memory of her boy was with her.
With all her art and study and the at
fractions of the butterfly life she led.
back to see the growing youth she had
tried to carry away in 1878. In 1886, she
found him student at Yale, where her
father had been graduated, and some. OF
the old tenderness that had never been
crushed out OF the heart Of enther
''Traff'' Blackstone or his first wife, as
was later proved, began to well Up once
more. With the lapse of the flying years
there had come a wish TO see again and
hear the voice of the man who had
courted her nearly twenty years before.
Then the wish to be near her stalwart
son was strong, and so it came about
that in May. 1897. Nine. Blackstone, of
Paris, came back to New Cork, very
quietly, and established studio at No.
Al Union suare.
It was inevitable that she should meet
her former husband some day, face to
face.
And what Of Traford Blackstone? He
too, had had his troubles. In the early
eighties a woman, who said she was Mrs.
Annie Rich Of New York, visited Norwich
looking for him. She alternated between
his house and his Office until she learned
that the day before her arrival he had
left for Boston.
She kept the wires busy until she
learned that he had sailed for Europe.
Then she left Norwich, but only for a
while. A little later the local papers
copied from the London dailies the an
nouncement that Mr. De Trafford Black
stone and Mrs. Annie Rich had been mar
ried in st. Georges Church. Hanover
square. A few months later Mr.. BBlack-
stone installed in his home in Broadway,
Norwich. the second Mrs. Blackstone. She
identified herself with the Park Church,
devoting much time to charity. She died
in 1895
Even while the second Mrs. Blackstone
was occupying the home that once was
hers, Nine. Blackstone, Of Paris. went
to Norwich, to see her son. The boy
was not in the house of his stepmother,
however, but with his grandmother, Mrs.
Lorenzo Blackstone. And so it came
about that at these times ''Traff'' and his
firts love never met.
With his second bereavement, Trafford
Blackstone settled down to quiet exis-
tence. He had gone the pace. He needed
rest and took it. He was a handsome,
well preserved man, with just tinge of
gray hair that set off his ford complex
ion
Meanwhile the former wife and mother
was keeping the studio in Union suare.
Well, what might be expected hap
pened. With young Lorenzo out of col
lege and calling all the time either upon
one or the other Of his parents, there
was a silver line between the two hearts
that had never really been sundered. 1t
IS said that the lad brought about the
reconciliation. Twenty years apart, they
met again and greed to remarry. The tes-
timony of the man in the case is good
right here. He said on the 21st of Feb
ruary, 1897:
1--WE have agreed to forget the past.
Mrs. Blackstone. who was and is to be,
will give up her studio here and fit up
another in our home in Norwich, Conn.
She will devote her leisure TO her art
ur son willcausiBfr /. shin ecmfwypoinin
Our son was partly instrumental in bring
ing about our reconciliation"
At this time they were both stopping at
the waldorf. The following Tuesday
they left for philadelphia, where they
were remarked by the Rev. r. S. Blanch-
ard of st. James Episcopal Church.
Nine Leger and her nephew. NJ. RosOu-
lin, of Paris, friends of the bride, and
Thomas F. Manning, of New York,
friend of the groom, were the only
guests who witnessed the ceremony. 10
reno Blackstone. the son, gave the bride
away After short tour Mr.. and Mrs.
James de Trafford Blackstone were 'at
home" in the old house in Norwich.
Twenty years of trouble seemed to have
earned for them some peace, but all
dreams were suddenly dissioated lit
tie over year after they had entered
on the. new life. by the death Of Mr.
Blackstone.
Then came the realization that her nus
bands death left nothing to her, but ev-
erything to her son. who now had so
changed toward her that she was COM
PEELED to petition the court to order the
administrator to pay her s25 a week for
her maintenance.