Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1913-09-17
AIheory
By GRACE OCLEsBY

| paths they are liable to bewilderment,
| and so when they find or believe they
have found that they have been infiu-
eneed by false ideas in Selling new
ones they are prone to jump from the
| frying pan into the fire More than
| this. they are liable to jump from
/ terra firma into water altogether too
deep for them.
| One of the new departures of the
| present day is dissatisfaction with
1 marriage as we In America have
known It. Kent Blakeman's father
and mother had lived together com.
/ fortably, bringing up half dozen
children Kent at twenty-five discoy.
cred that they had taken a great risk
/ In binding themselves so closely to-
/ gether that there was no easy way for
/ them to break the chain. In their
! case fortunately they had not wished
10 break It, But, as for him. he did
not intend thus TO tie himself up. He
/ believed in experimental marriage. If
/ he married he would reserve the right
/ to leave his wife as soon as he ceased
/ to love her. and she should have the
| same privilege with regard TO him.
| Miss Esteile Woodruff, being about
! the same age as Brakeman, also grew
/ up in the same atmosphere of hyster-
| ical reform. She heard persons talk
| ing about the frequency of divorce
| marriage being a failure and kindred
| subjects, and her mind was very sus-
| Ceptible to absorb new theories Blake
/ man found few women to sympathize
/ with him in his notions about mar
/ riage-most reforms begin with
| paucity of numbers-and when he met
| Miss Woodruff and made an easy con-
, vert of her he was much pleased with
| her-that Is, he was much pleased
| with himself for having struck into a
| new path-and considered the girl
, above the ordinary in that she had
appreciated his ideas.
There is an infinite variety of mental
| structure among human beings. Blake
| man, who married Miss Woodruff, was
| OF a different brain. He kept on de-
veloping In his anti-marriage theories,
while she, with the coming Of children,
/ NtdStdl W ldht an lultitSl litiAi anu
| at last turned against them.
Perhaps 1t was the discovery that
| he had been mistaken In his wife's
/ mental caliber that started him in his
| idea that they were not fitted for each
| other. Their union had lost its romance
| and was becoming humdrum. 1t seem
! ed to him that the connubial kiss morn
Q IA, II hnI
asserted when bachelor that the hon
/ eymoon should last always and that
when 1t had completely waned 1t was
/ time for the couple to separate and
each find new mate.
| Time came when Brakeman conclud-
ed TO ''be true TO himself" as he put
/ il, and claim the privilege he had re
served for himself when he married.
He made several attempts to get his
courage up to q point where he could
| tell his wife that she was not his af-
finity and that he proposed to free him
self from her and make another trial
to find a real and lasting mate. At last
he succeeded.
Between Il passing influence in youth
and a woman who had been made over.
so to speak, by the possession of two
little children-a boy and a giri-there
was an enormous difference. She was
not only surprised by her husbands
announcement; she was thunderstruck.
But II she had not developed she
had insensibly come into lot OF
horse sense. To attempt to argue her
husband out of his nonsense she knew
would be futile. To oppose him would
be equally so. Moreover, she remem-
bered that at the time of her marriage
she had conceded with his views. 1t
was he who had been consistent. she
who had changed 1t had been mu-
tually agreed that when either wished
for freedom 1t should be granted
She held to her agreement. though
she recognized the outcome as great
| misfortune. But she was a plucky as
well as a proud woman and gave no
sign of what a blow she suffered. The
prenuptial agreement gave the children
if any came-to the mother, and this
was, of course, godsend to her. She
wondered as she looked back when the
( provision was made that she had very
nearly assented TO conditional propo-
sition to divide the children between
husband and wife.
When all preliminary arrangements
had been made Mrs. Brakeman and her
children-the little ones being igno-
rant of the separation of their parents
took a train for the mothers birth
| place. where they expected TO live,
Brakeman saw them off and as the
train was starting kissed them all and
| left the car.
He stood on the platform. looking
after them as they rolled out of the
! station. and all Of sudden a great
! light broke in upon his brain''s and he
| SAID to himself:
What an addle pated ninny l have
made of myselfr'
Going to the ticket office, he bought
ticket for the next train to follow