The Washington times., 1920-05-04
FANNIE HURST WE'D,
REVEALS SECRET
Tells How She and Her Hus.
band Have Proved Plan to
Keep Happy.
Continued from First Pase.)

CONTINUED from First Pase)
a week opposite one another might
prove irksome. Our average is two.
Ignores Nusty Custom.
1--WE decided that the antedeluvian
custom of a woman casting aside the
name that had become as much q part
OF her personally as the color OF her
eyes had neither rhyme or reason.
was born Fannie Hurst and expect to
die Fannie Hurst.
my husband telephones me for a
dinner appointment exactly the same
as scores OF other friends. i have the
same regard for his plans. We de-
cided that, since nature SO often
springs a trap as her means to invei-
gle two people into matrimony, we
would try our marriage for year
and at the end OF that period go
quietly apart. should the venture
prove itself a liability instead OF an
asset.
Finds Marriage Successful.
but, of course, the proof OF the
pudding lies in the eating. and-well,
we are announcing instead OF annul-
ling. ......... . .........
"one evening last week I attended
theater with friend, and sat, quite
by chance, next to my husband and a
party OF his friends. And we were in
troduced to one another" .(Exclama-
tion point by Fannie Hurst).
And the conclusion of the narrative
is: "On these premises. in our case
at least, after a five-year acid test,
the dust is still on the butterfly
wings OF our adventure. The dew Is
on the rose"
Result of Theories.
We were married by a justice of
the peace or a magistrate, I forget
which, at Lakewood, N. J., on May 5.
1915"
When asked IL she had written q
special. ceremony for the marriage,
embodying the agreements which in
five years have resulted in the aver
formal calls of the husband and other
features of the plan, she answered
with a laugh
mo, everything was entirely the
same in that respect as any other
marriage. These things were under
stood in a sort of verbal 'gentleman's
agreement 1t was a prosaic little
ceremony and we did everything to
keep it secret, to work 1t out our
selves with three of my friends and
three of my friends and three of Mr..
III Ou kttC SCCICL.
Yes, of course, my IIlrents knew and
approved OF the plan.
Five years ago, when I met
jacques Danielson in musical circles,
I found that my youthful determine
tion that marriage was not for noe
suddenly undermined. But my deter
mfnation that marriage should never
lesen my capacity for creatice work
or pull me down to a sedentary state
of fat -mindedness, was NOT under
mined"
No Fad or "Ism- In II.
Miss Hurst laughingly said she was
born in st. Louis in 1889 and that her
husband was born in Petrograd, then
st. Petersburg, thirty-nine years ago,
but came to America more than twen-
ty years back. She said her husband
was quite in accord with the idea of
the trial." and added:
Being firmly OF the opinion that
nine out of ten of the alliances / saw
about me were merely sordid endur-
ance tests, overgrown with the fungi
OF familiarity and contempt con-
vinced that too often the most sacred
human relationship wears of like a
piece OF high sheen damask, and in a
few months becomes as a breakfast
cloth, stale with soft-boiled egg
stains, I made certain resolutions con-
cerning what my marriage should not
be.
Miss Hurst's provision in case OF a
child blessing their happy union was
set forth as follows:
I'VE decided that in the event of
offspring, the child should take the
paternal name until reaching the age
of discretion, when the decision would
lie with him"
Neither of the persons involved is
held to explanation OF the way the
hours are spent apart from the other.
Miss Hurst continued:
1--WE decided that accounting for
our time to one another would prove
irksome and for i've years we have
enjoyed our personal liberty precise
ly as we did before our marriage,
using. rather than abusing, the un-
usual privileges we grant one an
other.
Have Lived Separately.
eve have lived separately and
shall continue to do So We have or
separate circles OF friends, as we'll as
a common group, and at our pleasure
we have enjoyed during these happy
years land hope we shall continue
TO enjoy) fine and full companion
ship together.
II do not think our experiment
could have been attempted outside OF
New York city, where the individual
becomes unit and not n person"
Miss Hurst said her husband was
"really and truly" in Boston yester-
day, but would return on the anni-
verssry day. lie maintains an apart
ment in Carnegie Hall. She went on.
Neither my husband nor live in