New Britain herald., 1923-04-12
The Question Vital to Her Happiness With Dicky and 10 All Who Are Married, Which Madsc Had
 to Ask Herself,

Wth Dlekt ana 10 All Nho nv
 Married, Which Nadgr Had
 to Ask Herself.
 Is there some mysterious magical thing which lies at tho heart of evers marriage that is completely happy?
 This is the question which tugs a' my heart-strings as l look back to the long-ago perfect wcdding.day and honeymoon which were Dicky's and mine.
 And then there comes to mo tho memory of the phrase which on my wedding day wrote in the little diary that never has left me--to which have devoted an hour each day since we were married--my thinking hour" my little mother used to call it. To give the full flavor of that phrase, l shall copy here the scn- tences which preceded it;
 ''I do not knnw what has come to me. l worship Dick. He sweeps me of my feet with his love, his vivid personality overpowers my moro com inonplace self, but through all the be- widering intoxication of my engage ment and marriage, a little mocking devil. cool, cynical, little devil, Is constantly whispering in my ear:
 "'You fool you fool, to imagine you can escape unhappiness There is no such thing as happy mar riage :.
 Swiftly my mind sweeps back over the joys and the sorrows of the years which lie between the hour l wrote that sentence and this instant. Dicky insisted l give up my work. and against all my convictions yielded to his wishes, only to go back to work when the war took him away, to find the money needed and to have a sedative for the heartache of loneli- ness, I returned for time to the teaching l gave up when l became Dicky's wife So I know that the magic l am seeking lies not in work Of my own,
 Aladgc is PcrpIexed
 The coming of our adorable son seemed to promise that his lips would lisp the magic secret. Yet unhappi- ness even more poignant than be- fore his sunny smiles lighted our home, has been mine in moments of deep sadness.
 Is the fault mine alone that we have missed the magic formula of. perfect happiness? Is it Dicly's only? Are we equally at fault? Or is there need Of constant adjustment--daily battling with self--to find the never-abiding 1, lt-a tr 1za ,,;t zee for which our hearts yearn? or
 My mind wanders over the lives of my own little mother, now dead and gone, and my father still haunted by the memory of moments which he will always regret.
 Dicky's mother--dear Mother Gra- ham--loyal. never complaining about any hour of her years with Dicky' s father. Eow dead. and yet sometimes watching me with sympathetic, under- standing eyes
 Katherine and Jack Bickctt-how sure I was that they would find to- gether perfect peace, She seemed ideally constituted to bring enduring happiness to the cousin foster- brother. who once had asked me to be his wife, and with whom at times had be- lievcd l might find true happiness. But Jack is far away on business, and katherine--because of his unreason- able command that she immure her self in oneliness--secretly took up some vital government work under <he direction Of Lillian Underwood and brilliantly finished it.
 Lillian and Harry Underwood how strange it seems even to link their names Is Lillians real req son for not divorcing Harry, coldly separated and poignantly unhappy as they both have been for so long, her desire not to bring her little daugh. ter's name--dear little Marion--nto divorce proceedings? Much as Lillian loves Robert Savarin---perfectly as he worships fer--does Lillian fear 10 chance again the hazards of happi- ness in marriage even with her ideal lover?
 Alfred and Leila Durkee. so re- gently welded and yet sometimes so strangely restless in their happiness why?
 Why? ...
 This is the word as small as a grain of dust, and yet as big as the earth. which shines before my eyes as though writ in letters of fire