Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-09
WEE CHILD Is AWAITING HER
FATE
Innocent Babe Plays While Men and
Women Testify Against Her
Father and Mother
Alternately

seemed to pay any attention TO her, ana
she looked on T.. wonder at the men
and women about her who leered at her
mother and who grinned at her father
as they sat at opposite ENDS OF the at
torneys' atble.
Poor little mite of girl! Into her
four years of what should have been
rosy babyhood there had been trouble
and sorrow. She had seen her mother
and father quarrel. She had heard their
angry voices and had seen their threat
ening gestures, Instead of the sweet
ness of gentle care, she had more often
been compelled to trot 1t alone, and in
her baby mind she had learned that
tiny fist mashed down in anger would
often gain attention where whimpered
appeal would fail.
Drag Innocence Through Mire
1t was simply the old story of the
Labyrinth" of a new labyrinth with
no olga Nethersole to make attractive
the facts in the case, with all the vice
and horror of the situation laid bare In
the looks of crowd of evil minded
men, who gazed at the little woman
plaintiff in the case in suggestive fash
ion.
And through it all little Julia Arnaz,
daughter of Beatrice and James ArnaZ,
played with her dollie.
Mexicans took the stand to try ana
besmirch the honor of the little ones
mother Brown men they were. and
they looked like Indians with their
black, oily hair and their cultural talk,
but the baby had seen such men be-
fore and paid no heed to them They
told of scenes in her mothers bedroom,
of having put their arms about her
mothers body. and of having kissed
her mothers lips, and the baby looked
on in brown-eyed wonderment.
Oh, it was peculiar sort of story for
that baby mind. At that age little
one is generally learning the fascina-
ton of the fairy story, where the
prince marries the princess and they
live happy ever after, but this little one
Yas learning a new song, the modern
Song of the divorce courts, the story re-
peated every day by men and women
who sin and then in their black hate of
one another spit their venom from
the witness stand of court room in or
der to be free again. And that venom
falls on the heads of the babies.
Babe Hears Awful Story
Strange women told strange things
about her father, and Baby Arnaz gazed
curiously at them. Some of those sto-
ries in her baby mind she must have
known to be lies, for she is bright
little youngSter and the Stories tOlu
We're often conflicting.
So this typically modern little girl list
ened and hummed little baby songs to
herself. She had learned to call home
the place where she hung her little hat.
Outwardly she looked like any other
little girl of years of age. She wore
blue frock with a pretty belt, and
her brown hair was neatly parted and
braided and she wore two big pink
l.. .,.l. IN, hA,
ent leather shoes, ridiculously SMALL
and on her head was a fuzzy white fur
cap with a cockade in 1t. The same
white material was used for the little
coat.
Little Julia marched into the court
room with her mother and looked about
her. She had been there the day before,
and the day before that and some other
days, and she knew all about court
rooms, for she was q modern baby. She
knew what judges did when they gave
her mamma orders for alimony. She
knew that when attorneys raised their
voices and shook their fists in the air
they did not always mean what they
said, and she knew that some of the
men who had said things about her
mamma had not spoken the truth.
Child Plays in Court Room
She had her sole worldly possession
with her, battered old dollie, and that
was all she cared about. All the eXpe-
riences, pleasant and otherwise, of her
little life had been crowded into the
halls and stuffy rooms of a boarding
house, where dogs were welcome guests
and babies We're nuisances. If she had
yelled or screamed with laughter or
play, the warning "sh-h-h-h' from her
mother or some one else's mother had
told her that she mustn't make any
noises, so that she knew what the bail
iff meant when he made that noise at
her after she had essayed a friendly
suggestion of advice to the judge. She
wandered over to the empty chairs
where jurors sit to listen to criminal
cases. and she pressed her little snub
nose against the cold window and
watched the rain trickle down the glass.
She stubbed her dainty little feet into
carpets and spittoons and things, and
dug her chubby hands about in waste
baskets, broken pencils and pieces of
funny paper and old pen points, and if
one was lucky, 81 discarded wad of
chewing gum might often be found
sticking to some piece of paper.
Oh, it was great sport. and no one
had the heart to stop the little mite.
She banged against the edge of the
bench whereon sat the man who was to
decide her future for her: she pressed
the electric bell at the clerks desk and
caused the bailiff to jump up quickly
as though TO answer the call. A red
little finger toyed for a moment with a
shiny button on the wall, and the court
room went suddenly dark as the cleo
trio current switched off.
Cares Little About Her Fate
What mattered it to her that her
mother accused her father OF cruelty,
that her father accused the little wom-
an of the most dishonorable acts he
could think of? What did it matter
that full grown men came sneaking to
the witness stand to boast of alleged
advantages they had taken of the little
woman?
The court was to settle her case
Wednesday, to give or deny her mother
or her father a divorce, to give her to
either or to her uncle, A. b. Yorba,
who had a nice home and a pretty
wife.
SO, after all, what did it matter? She
had learned to move quickly with her
mother, so that they might not have to
pay rent when the father failed to
supply money. Her Wee life had been n