New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1928-05-17
Mad4e Graham ON the Threshold vi
New Life, Yet Not Oar
ing to Enter


times not even translated to herself
There IS but one thing certain
about it. No matter what his sill
against her love, the heart OF a wifi
never fails to pulse in recognition
and response to the call Of her hus
bands need or to the tug Of mem
cries connected with their life to
gether. He may be dead TO her IL
truth. or in separation, but neVcl
can she forget or free her soul of {
certain bondage to him.
But when | say wife I do not
meant the self-centered, flamboy-
ant exponent of our jazz-age unrest
who signs her marriage register with
one hand, and figurat,vely reaches
70. her divorce decree-and aim ony
with the other Perhaps J am IN
,ust, but ! believe some other nam E
should be devised for her. that she
has no right 10 the word which has
stood through the Z 3es as the sym
DO! o. devotion Of loyalty and Of
ta,th The woman Who has chosen
her husband because she deeply
loved him, who has approached her
marriage VOWS with reverence and
kept them with fidelity. who has
nlnistered 10 MIN in sickness and
II health and has shared years of
10Y and sorrow with him-that
woman can no more put him wholly
out of her heart and memory tkan
she can bear with equanlmi'y the
loss of a severed member of her
body.
This Is the only answer which !,
Madge Graham. have been able 10
lind TO a long and merclless self
quizzlng concerning my attitude to-
ward Dicky. my husband And II
leaves me nearly as lmpotent TO
chart any plan tor mutual marital
happiness as vas " q few months
ago when ! feared that my love for
my husband was but a heap OF en-
bers, II grave danger Of becoming
dead, gray ashes.
That fear, however, has gone for
ever. IT vanished upon the night
which brought back Harry Under
wood, -ecreant husband OF my dear
est ..iend, Lillian, into our lives
the night when found myself
trembling with wild terror at
Dicky's danger and thrilling with
pride at the way he dominated the
situation SO filled the peril for all of
US. ! knew then beyond all doubt
ing. truly" that Dicky was still my
man. that even though the beauty
OF our romance had been furnished
by our quarrels, our anger, our
jealously.. but above all his awful
doubt Of me, yet never could my
love for him die.
Yet how to build a new structure
OF happiness upon so slight a foun-
dation! This is my problem as
suppose it is that of thousands of
wives who find that their carefully
reared and cherished temples of
marital love and fealty are but
heaps of tumbled stones.
1t In a problem the working out
Of which / cannot much longer de-
lay. We are still at my fathers
home, the farmhouse of eastern
Long Island which has been the |
scene Of so many of our joys and
sorrows. But the exigenccs of both |
Dicky's work as illustrator and his |
magazine venture with Edith Fair
fax demand his residence In or near
the city as much as mine Is re-
CURED there by the responsibilities
of my position In the organization |
OF Philip VeritzerA the greatest dra-
matte producer Of the country.
I must plan a home with Dicky
and must decide the terms upon
which we shall live in it--whether
we shall continue the arrangement
Of being apparently lovers but il
reality strangers which we have
kept up ever since Grace Diapers
death following Dicky's terrible
doubt of me, or whether we shall
wipe the slate clean and begin a
new chapter.
1t is the end of the Summer, the
beginning of the lovely Long Island
Autumn. l am loath to leave the
farmhouse, which is the center of
other emotional problems, apparent
ly as difficult of solution as mine.
Harry Underwood and Lillian are
still with us, the returned adventur-
err not yet fully recovered from the
illness following his wounding at
the hands of Sergius, the murderous
conspirator against the government.
Lillian as yet has given me no word
of comment upon her reconciliation
with her husband, nor has Marion
Morton. her idolized young daugh-
ter. betrayed any hint of her reac-
ton to her mothers decision. Yet
'nstinctively know that Marion is
secretly rebellious, and her mother
deeply grieved and anxious concern
ing the future.
But 1t is Mary Harrison's problem
which is causing me the most un-
easiness of anything outside my own
difficulties. know that Dicky's ex-
quieitely lovely and rarely gifted
young niece is secretly suffering be-
cause of Philip Ncrtzen's n,aneu-
vers to separate his son Noel from
her and throw him into the COM
pany Of the Princess Dina of Trans
>ania, known to our little world as
Eleanor Lincoln, the chatelaine of
The Larchcs. Mary does not suspect
the identity of the princess nor of
the handsome youth who calls him
self George Jackson. but who is in
reality Prince Georges of Trees. once
the devoted admirer of Princess
Dina, but now Enthusiastically wooing
Mary, much TO Noel Neritzen's dis /
may.