The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1924-03-13
Dear Folks |:
Paris, February IL.

dIiS, fcUI odIy IL.
The other night l visited the grave
of the Unknown Soldier which lies
under the Arc de Triomple de q
'Etoile. 1t was raining and as ap-
preached the gigantic arch doomed in
a mist of majestic puppies. Beneath
one could see the silhouettes of tiny
figures beside the heavy slab where
the soldier lies. Flaring into the
darkness was the fire which burns
eternally as a symbol of the undying
gratitude of France to the men who
gave their lives and who made it pos
sible to take down the chains around
the arch where they had been since
Alsace-Lorraine came into the posses
sion of the Germans in 1870. / do
not know how any other token could
be more significant. The flame is at
the head of the tomb and seems to
come from the very bowels of the
earth. Sometimes the wind snatches
at it carrying it so far and so high
that one thinks it most surely will
be blown out. But another flame
leaps to meet it and so it burns-un-
til the last day.
I have never been by the Arc de
Triomphe that the grave has not been
surrounded by people. Most are
women, and l wonder, as all do, if the
boy sleeping there might not be one
of theirs. What a comfort to think
that at least? Never a soldier goes
by but he comes smartly to salute in
tribute to his comrade and never a
civilian man, many with the ribbon
of the Croix de Guere in their but
ton-holes, but stops and stands bare
headed for moment by the great
stone.
If the National Woman's Party is
looking for foreign missionary work
/ would suggest France, Gertrude
Anterior to the contrary nothwith-
standing. She says that France is
the only country which has solved the
marriage problem. / dare rise to
dispute her. The problem was never
more unsettled and the divorce mill
fairly huns, so rapidly does it grind
out liberty for erstwhile husband and
wife. In fact many lawyers, the
scum of the profession to be sure,
advertise divorce rapide." Although
Francis largely Roman Catholic
the laws of the church forbidding di-
vorce and remarriage bother the aver
age Frenchman not at all. A naive
French friend of ours was telling us
the other day about her meeting with
her present husband. He was mar
ried at the time. In less time than
1T takes United States divorce court
to turn around he was divorced and
married again.
"But," said !, "You are Catholic?
How"
"Oh, my goodnessw she answered
in astounding English" s'That makes
no differencew
The chief reason for divorce, how
overland this is where the NWP
comes in-is that the women are
thoroughly tired of the fixed mar
rlages which have been the custom of
France since time forgotten. The
war, which seems to have ushered in
an almost universal woman's revolu-
ton, is slowly affecting the women of
this country. Those who have been
married off" by their parents and
who are unhappy have chosen the d.
vorce in order to marry the men of
their choice later. Marriage is the
ultimate desire of every French girl
but the modern one has said, /" I will
do my own choosing. / would rather
not marry than marry man do not
love-"
Along with this comes the wrath of
another woman who had lived in
America eight years. She was mar
ried recently and received $500 for
a wedding gift. The other day she
took the check to the bank to cash it.
"Are you married?" asked the
teller.
eyes," she said.
! "Then we cannot cash this check
without your husbands consent and
"Think of thatv' she cried when
she told me about it. "Even my own
money isn't my own now that / am
Yes, the women of France are
ready for foreign crusade of the
great American party.
Well, even if divorces are more
and marriages fewer than of yore the
CLOWN couples" are as thick as ever.
Any place in Paris will do for a pet
ting party, the curbstone, a bench |
along the boulevard, cafe-or, why
bother to sit down at all? AS soon as |
dusk settles down they appear. Down
the boulevards they walk, their arms
around each other. Each leans |
towards the other so tenderly that |
from distance one wonders whether
there might be two on one land
A y n ~ A II