The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-06-13
How Mrs. John Early, Shar-
ing Curse Upon Husband,
ClingS to Hope.
COMING OF MALADY
BRINGING DESPAIR
Srusgie of the Girl, Separation
From Babies, and Dreams of
Better Things.
By ALLEN D. ALBERT. Jr.

At the foot OF 4 grassy hill flow
the silent tides ct the river. Over
the brow, like white jewel casket
in the distance. CLEANS the dome of
the Capitol. Against the hillside
rests a brick farmhouse with a
white porch = vine-hung, cool,
homelike. It is such a refuge as
often your mind and mine have pic
tured from the whirring drive of city
life; and here, as the last fulfllment
= our day dream lives a Madonna,
an American Madonna, her heart
consecrated in an unquestioning
CHRISTIAN faith to a manly husband
S'sd Two little sons.
But this retreat, now that We have
found it, is no earthly paradise. 1t
is a prison. No one here has dorT
any great wrong. No one hert has
coveted, or harbored hatred, or
sought human life. n this place
that might so easily be redolent of
the very spirit of hoh.s,tt.'is young
girl, this Madonna, has not only been
brought to send away her two ba-
8ies, but has looked on while the
hands of the Government norfared
and bricked her husband beyond her
reach.
Dead Wall
Divides The House.
A dead wall divides the house. On
this side the woman must live her life
and find what JOY she can. On that the
husband must live his life. The two,
hearing each other speak. singing apart
the hymns that once they sang hand in
hand, sharing the parent-iove OF two
little BOYS, must now conteat their
Hearts with such a reaching out as brick
and lime cannot repulse. We have not
come upon placid contentment, here
beside the river. We have come upon
tragedy, lowering. shadowing tragedy
that has first been pierced and then
finely frightened by the hopefulness OF
a woman.
For half a year in this farm house
have dveit John Early and his little girl
wife We have heard much Of the man
In that time-how he c1me 10 Wash
ington to press his claim for a pen
sion; how there was then fastened upon
him the faint Of lepT5sg. that dread
scourge which the chosen people carried
with them out of Egypt; how, since that
time. he has been hedged away from
his kind: how. lately, he has had held
out to him and then snatched away the
prospect that he might be set free with
ont attaint.
Little Heard of
Courageous Wife.
But we have heard little of his
wife. This article is written in the
belief that she has as great . claim
upon our hearts as he. There is in IL,
also, an earnest desire that so much of
the wife's brave hopefulness as can be
caught In the hardness of a newspaper
page may reach the reader and heaFtsn
him as the nearer understanding OF It
has reached and inspired the writer.
The way 10 this house on the hillside
near Washington has been less than
fuentv-two years long. II began IN
Plattsburg, up in New York. ran then
to Boston, then TO two cities IN inter
Tor New York. then 70 North Carolina.
and now has led TO washington II has
been filed. as most Of our ways are
filled. with happiness and suffering. As
a motto says from the wall of Mrs.
Early's room: God Is Good. Trust
Him" It is not His way TO make any
life all burden-carrying and He has
given even this one Of His children
periods OF reviving rest.
Early Days
Of Pretty Girl
Her home sn Piattsburg reflected
rather a brothers influence than
fathers This woman was less than
{ four years old when her father disd-a
7 decorator and frescoer, a good citizen.
I a devout Methodist, workman proud
/ Of his skill A son had become a preach
/ er of the Parents faith. A daughter
/ had become a school teacher. These
/ two. with the mother. made the home
1 for this little sister.
+ II is pleasant 10 think what this child
/ had become about three years ago No
great painter would have Included her.
/ If NAV be, IN his dream OF fair women.
/ But she must have been cOmeiy and
/ winning nevertheless. Her figure was
almost petite-she has never weighed
/ 100 pounds. She had that air of earnest
ness, of feminine aspiration. OF buoy
ant. laughing girIishness that no church
OF Christian Endeavor Society has ever
yet subdued altogether. and which
every man amongst Us recalls wistfuIly