The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-08-28

LII was mere tlidt IOiu MuilllS saw
his advantage and pursued it. He
agreed finally TO divorce Ina and
grant her sufficient alimony on which
TO live, but only on condition that
she surrender Greta.
1t was with genuine mother pang
that Ina finally agreed to this, her
consolation lying in the fact that in
so doing she was convinced that the
greater good of her child lay in her
heart. And so it was. Certainly the
subsequent environment of Greta Null
Inns, in the home of her fathel. and
even after he had married again and
introduced a stepmother into that
home, was safer, sounder one than
any Ina would have been able to pro-
vide for her in the years TO come.
To Paris Ina went, living there for
three years on the left bank of the
Seine, enjoying its comaraderie; car
rying on the loose, pleasant vagabond
life of the studios, working a little,
playing more; talking a great deal of
art, accomplishing not so much. Then
there were months of the easy-come,
easy-go life along the italian riviera
and in the little art colonies that
flock to Capri.
In her own eyes at least, Ina be-
came sort of beloved vagabond. She
painted great deal, mostly where lit
tie art colonies were foregathered,
but somehow, after the first flash in
hn ~ har fo1
plishment did not come out of the
hit-and-miss existence it pleased her
TO follow. Bohemia took too much of
her time. Arty folk cluttered up what
should have been work-a-day hours.
And so the years marched on, a
good many of them, before ma began
to experience her first pangs Of real
iZations. The first realizations were
that the world of her bohemia was
shifting one. Why, in the ten years
since she had been living here-and-
there, faces had come and faces had
gone Young students had flashed into
the scene and then somehow had
drifted out of the scene few Of
them had gone on to accomplishment
and fame. But most of them, in fact
the appalling majority of them, had
just dropped out. Constantly Ina was
receiving letters from erstwhile
friends; art students who had come
TO Paris from Indiana. Sussex, Brit
tany, Sicily and had drifted back
home again. there to settle down to
commercial life, marriage, obscurity.
1t seemed to Ina, looking back, that
90 per cent of the inhabitants of her
Bohemia had passed in the night, so
to speak. They had dabbied bit. and
had returned to the staider products
of business marriage. and home-life.
When Ina was forty, she was rather
a scrawny, arty-looking woman. who
wore homespun, sandals. berets and
had nicotine-stained fingers.
She still moved about from bohe-
mia TO bohemia. She still sat in the
candle-lit cafes of this and that Latin
quarter, smoking, drinking, discussing
art-discussing art-discussing art.
Yearly she submitted her work to this
and that salon; yearly it failed to
achieve distinction. Aft a while, Ina
found herself working practically not
at all. The business of being a bohe-
milan monopolized her entire time
There came the night when. sitting
in cellar cafe known as "The Green
Duck" in the Greenwich village dis
triet of New York. she found herself
next to a table occupied by her hus-
band, his second wife and her daugh-
ter Greta The Tom Mullinses were
on a business trip to New York and
Tom was Summing with his wife and
daughter.
Tom and Ina were modern about
this meeting of theirs. And so. for
that matter. was the extremely blond
and personable Pauline whom Tom
had chosen for his second wife. Greta
was the one who caught at the heart
beat of Ina II smote her with sud-
den terribleness, that she would new
err have recognized this exotic and
lovely young woman as her daughter
had she met her on the street.
Ina. in her homespun, sandals. and
beret. Joined the Tom Mullinses at
their table. They smoked, joked ate
and drank in the stuffy little interior,
and Ina took great pains to point out
TO them the notorious figures Of her
bohemia To the casual observer, it
was just any meeting in any stuffy
Greenwich village cafe.
The Tom Mullinses were charming
to Ina. Pauline Mullins displayed fine
sense of humor. and the lovely Greta.
regarding her mother with sweet, I'M
awakened. unf1abbergasted eyes, was
all that could he desired in courtesy.
1t was after midnight when the
group at the table fiLally broke up.
Pauline Mullins was concerned for
her stepdaughter. Greta had been up
TOO late on several consecutive nights.
1t was time she returned to their ho-
tel for some sleep. The eyes of these
two women-stepmotker and daughter
met and smiled, their hands were
constantly caressing one another. The
three of them trooped out after polite
good-nights to Ina, the two women arm
in arm affectionately following the
footsteps of Tom, who did all the
chores, paying the bills, getting them
in their wraps, bothering about their
possessions. picking up objects that
women are constantly dropping. such
as purses. scarfs and gloves.
They went out leaving Ina seated