Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-30
HIGH SCHOOL GIRL
A BLUSHING BRIDE
16-Year-old Ethel Maxwell and
17-Year-old Wilbur Burpitt
Were Secretly Married Last
September.

Ever solace to the tender hearts OF
young lovers las been the time honored
saying that Love will find a way"
Trite as is this familiar old saw, 1t
! is as true as the day, as certain as the
march of the years, as Interchangeable as
! the lock-ribbed hills
! This is the story Of how two true
lovers. children In years, outwitted their
parents and their friends. and followed
the trail blazed by the blind god that
leads to the fair haven of matrimony
and ends at the steps of the altar.
Ear.y last summer. pretty little Ethel
Maxwell. daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Jar
Wis r. Maxwell. OF As oglethOrpe avenue,
and Wilbur Burpitt, son of William b:
Burpitt, Of 1O1 Oglethorpe avenue, decid-
ed 10 get married. s.,- .
| They had been sweethearts for many
months. and despite the fact that Ethel
was a bare Is years Of age and her lover
| only a few months older, their love was
/ as strong as true and as real to them
as though the burden and care Of ma
ture life rested upon their shoulders.
4 RESOLVED ON. SECRET MARRIAGE.
Both were pupils in the Atlanta high
schools. and both knew that IL they re-.
vealed their precious secret to their par
ents che grOwn-ups would take a hand
/ in the matter and muss il up, as grown-
/ folks will do.
Feeling that they could not live longer
unless bound together by the tender ties
OF marriage. and fearful least their par
ents would separate them If their sweet
secret should be discovered. they resolved.
| 10 be united by a secret marriage, or
which none but themselves should know.
And so they were married.
| There were no bridesmaids and grooms-
men at the ceremony, no church organ
peaIed forth its triumphal tones. no sur
I pIiced priest intened the tedious solemn
/ service. when little Ethel Maxwell and
! Wilbur Burpitt were Joined in holy we'd
! lock. The service was simple and short
/ but il was effective. and they walked
| forth from the magistrates office as
| firmly united as the laws Of man could
weld them.
This was in September. They made no
bridal tour and there was no bevy Of
| hilarious friends to pursue them with a
I shower OF shoes and rice, or to tie white
/ ribbons on their carriage and their
/ trunks Ethel went home to her mother.
/ and Wilbur was sheltered that night be-
meath his paternal roof
Their wedding breakfast was eaten in
| their respective homes, and none knew
| that the great and lasting change had
come into their lives. But It was so.
BOTH RETURNED TO SCHOOL
/ Mnen IL came time the SCHOOLS 10
/ open. Ethel and Wilbur entered their
| classes as II nothing had happened. Their
boon companions suspected not that they
were people set apart mysterious and
/ romantic. Not breath of the marriage
ever escaped the lips or Wilbur and. Eth
/ ell, In the moments when she put her
/ arms around the neck of her dearest
: friend, never whispered her greatest
| secret TO the eager ears.
/ Among her classmates at the Girls
High school the little bride was as pop
ular. as beloved. as charming as ever,
and her manner was as unaffected and
as natural as it had always been. 81.
The boys in Wilbur's class at the
/ Boys High school saw no change in
the manly young fellow, unless # was
an added gravity in demeanor that
might have been we'll due to his adj
vancing manhood.
WILBUR TOLD FIRST.
| 1t was but a bare two weeks ago
| that Wilbur Burpitt first told his pa
rents that he had married his little
/ sweetheart. They were astOnished, as
was only natural, but more astonished
that the secret had been kept so long.
1t was only two days ago that Ethel
| decided that ner sweet secret must be
/ made known to her beloved mother and
was too bashrul, however, to tell them
herself and persuaded a girl friend to
do it for her.
I'VE were astonished beyond words"
said Mrs. Maxwell to a Journal report
/ er Friday. I'VE objected to our daugh-
/ ter having boys calling upon her. as
she was so young and there was time
| enough for her to think OF such things
after she should have finished school.
| when we heard that the sly little
thing had actually been married since
before school opened, we were as
! founded"
.sWfIbrt Burpitt is a nice boy, and we
like him very much. The only thing that
we object TO is the fact that they are
both so young Otherwise there is no
/ fault to find"
| Pretty Mrs. Burpitt and her doting hus-
band are as happy as they can be, and
/ say that they are very glad. indeed, that
| love found a way" and say that they
firmly believe that 'alFs well that ends
/ we'll"
/