The San Francisco call., 1906-08-19

SoAAPcllcu 10 make pUDllC IN nef
efforts to secure a divorce from
her husband, we'll known in
surance solicitor of Los Angeles. has
made the people Of that pretty southern
city nrst TO open wide, incredulous eyes.
and then TO shudder
The divorce court is the hot-house for
startling revelations. and the judges,
lawyers and hsngers-on OF that par
ticular department OF the law are bored
10 safety by the recital OF marital diff
ferences, but Mrs. Whites story is
such an unusual one that even these
well-sessoned listeners are stirred 10
pity and smazement
II is q story beside which the aver
age divorce court narrative pales into
inslgnihcsnce and becomes petty and
trihing. tale whose tragic details
seem more the offspring OF the roman
GERS mind than the sad life OF a timid
little woman. The strange facts as
she related them are more dramatic
than The Octoroon." The Leopard's
Spots" and other stirring novels whose
plots rsvoive around the question Of
racial fntermarriage-
For twenty-one years Mrs. White has
lived with her husband, has borne him
two children, and never, until the other
Gay. did she have the slightest sux-
picion that he was Of another race.
Then from the lips OF the angry man
himself she learned the sickening, over
whelming truth.
Her husband was a negro,
OF gentle Southern birth, to whom
tsint OF Ethiopian blood is as a Ieprous
spot, she recoiled with horror from the
man she had promised nearly quarter
OF q century ago to love, honor and
obey Shrinking from him, she looked
At last with seeing eyes at her hus-
band. The swarthy skin, the full lips
the tpeculiar eyes, exaggerated them
selves until she could have shrieked
aloud instead Of crouching silently in
. corner OF the room.
How could she have been so blind
ali these years?
Why had not womans rare intuition
warned her?
Why had she not felt an instructive
aversion 20 this man whose name she
bad borne for twenty-one years.
But he had lulied any suspicious that
might have been aroused on account
Of his brown complexion. by expla ining
that he was OF French-Canadlan de-
scent and that life In the open had
also helped TO darken his skin
She, loving and trusting him, had
never doubted him.
She told the pitiful story the other
day to q representative OF the Sunday
Call, seated in a little room in a
cluded part OF Los Angeles. where. with
her children, she is hiding from her
husband. A frail. dainty little woman.
with a quiet dignity, OF which all the
trials and humiliations to which she
has been subjected have not been able
10 rob her. Calmly and slowly she told
OF life as dramatic as any play. She
was not conscious OF heroic role. She
related the facts simply, reluctantly.
and apparently with a scrupulous re-
gard to truth. Malice was absolutely
lacking in the recital of them.
In fact, so gentle did she speak of
the wrongs done her that her older
daughter. sitting beside her holding her
hand. would often eXcitedly interrupt
and express her indignation at the
treatment AFFORDED her mother But
Mrs. White, with a wan smile at her
daughters vehemence, quietly reioned,
Never mind. now, Mamie dear. prob
ably wasn't always in the right, my
self"
My father and mother were Arkan-
sas planters" she began. They came
originally from the East, and were well
educated. They were both delicate.
however, and so. while ] was hardly
more than baby. I was left an or
phan in charge OF neighborE OF ours
who already had a large family OF their
Of the little capital that they had
brought West with them. consequently
by the time I was Is years old I was
dependent upon the charity of the
people with whom i was living. Being
poor themselves, they had nothing to
spare for others, and the drudgery
finally became so heavy ] married an
elderly man to escape from a condition
that practically amounted TO slavery.
After the birth OF our daughter he
died.
SHE MEETS ALBERT WHITE.
1t was at this time that I met Al
bert White A lonely child, robbed
by death of the only person who had
ever shown me any affection. / was
dszzled by the attentions OF the DASH
ing. handsome young fellow. He was
handsome" she repeated, as though
some one had contradieted her and she
was Offering an excuse for the ILL
fortune she had innocently brought
upon herself. In his dark, mysterious
way he was very attractive and he ex-
pIained TO me that he was OF French
Canadian birth and that many years
passed in the open air had tanned his
skin He came 10 see me often, took
me- TO amusements, and had such
charming manners that he won me
completely. He 6naliy telo me that he
loved me. asked me 10 marry him
and promised TO be az good 10 my lit
lie girl as though he were her own
father.
Despite his proteststions and pre-
possessing ways, ] hesitated. / didn't
know why. A nameless dread OF some
thing ] couldn't define came over me
But ] was only child, as innocent in
heart and mind as the one ] carried
in my arms, and I was lonesome and
'yearned TO have some one to love me,
so he easily persuaded me to marry
him. That was in 1885, and was then
not quite I6. 1t was a contract mar
riage. for he told me that was the
usual form in the part of the country
IN which he lived. Afterwsrd 1 grew