The Washington times., 1927-05-30
Ruth Snyder s Final
Appeal for Mercy

fascinating bird or fancy plumage
that fascinated him because Of
probably just those things she was.
Both must change. And both
must tune themselves, as they
themselves change, to allow for the
changes in the other.
Thus so much can come to COM
pensate for the waning Of a honey
moon, for the romantic but often
frivolous qualities that gave them
the loving and marrying instincts
in the first place.
Had understood that as l now
do, 1 would never have been dis.
tinctly unhappy with my husband.
1t could never have gone to any
danger point.
How They Get Hooked Up
True, was mismated. Mating
is an accidental reach in the dark,
anyway. What do the average
man and woman know about one
another before they marry? He
Is attracted first by her looks--her
lips or her eyes or her hair. He
doesn't propose on the spot, prob
ably.
But he pursues, he sees her
smile, he sees she is sunny-of
course she is to him; there Is prob
ably nothing for her to be other
wise over. So, after q while, he
asks her to marry him-maybe It
is an impetuous sentence, spoken
before he hardly realizes what he
has said.
And she? She is of marriageable
age, with the impulses of full-grown
womanhood but without the wisdom
that should go with it.
She sees that he isn't a bad-look-
Ing man. he has a position that will
sustain her, he seems devoted. She
has long had an urge to leave her
parents roof and step out for her
self remember so wildly how.
though loved my family. was
wild to have that fetch known
through all the ages as a growing
girls ambition-"a home of my
own"
Establishments Come
And so they are married. They
are scarcely acquainted. But they
are united. They haven't given
mature thought to the faculties
that make for a happy or even
sane married life.
They soon see in one another dis
appointing features for which they
weer totally unprepared. They be.
gin to feel alarm-have they made
a mistake? The proofs come thick
and fast-they have. And after
that they live sourly on. It de-
bends thereafter on their peculiar
dispositions and on circumstances
what the end will be. It may be a
quick break or IL may be q long,
sorry pull to the drab end.
Perhaps 1t appears absurd that
from a convicted murderess. writ
ing in the half light of stone and
steel cell in the death house of a
penitentiary, should come the pre-
sumption to tell respectable people
how TO live-and how to live rightly
and happily.
But perhaps. it will not seem so
homogeneous on second reflection.
All, Well May Ruth Preach!
Who knows what Is safe so well
as one who has fallen? Who can
see the blessings of virtue and the
rewards of common sense as sharply
as one who has been doomed to
the extreme human penalty for the
violation Of both?
Only old age knows and appreci.
ates youth. Only the condemned
criminal knows and appreciates
straightneSs. None can so passion.
ately vision how life should be lived
as one who a million times has said
to herself, with sohs of agony and
in the clutches of grim despair-
oh, God, how wish I had Iivad
as should have lived"
Unfortunately, it is in visualizinr
what we could do If we could do #
over again, and not while we have
it to live within and before ms that
we can see the truth in blazinr and
burning relief.
Unfortunately, we who have mic.
spent our God-given lives car So
most clearly for what we are hain,
punished.
Can Be or Real Service
It is only after one has .oro
through the ordeal Of teS+,fS,;Ie
an cross examination that one can
peicelVe just what one might have
saiu ana could have said to save
one ser. Wisdom too often comes
70 us IN that form, a retrospect in
would save us. "A ~
1t Is only, by the same token
after one has gone through the
ordeal Of an unhappy ending. that
one can pick out at a glance the
causes that brought it about. that
oring such things about always.
II. from the bottOmIess pit of INV
tI,y; can give a helpful
thought to others above, walking
the fair world. drinking the fresh
free air. with their lives still tn live
at the guidance of their own indU.
ment and will. 1 shall feel that a
little good has been rescued from
a great evil. - OHi
Another intensely In
teresting installment of Ruth
Snyder's Own Story tomor-
row r.. in the Washington
Times. Watch for it!
TNk