The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-01-09

0a Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate,
"HEY were grand old pair.
That was how the local press
i eulogized them upon the cele-
bration of their fiftieth wedding
anniversary.
They deserved the appelation. Their
half-century of life together had en-
bodied all those qualities that go to
sOlidify and enrich the human scene.
Helen and Lazarus Bradstoop had
builded well and tenanted their home
with family that they reared in
harmony and unison. Four girls and
six boys were the issue of it. All,
with the exception of two sacrificed
TO war, grown and out of the nest.
Even the nest that had borne them
had passed With the marriage of
their last child, Aileen. 10 French
viscount, the old couple. responding TO
pressure. had agreed to give up the
great brown stone family home and
move into the compact quarters of an
apartment hotel.
When Helen was sixty-fve and her
husband seventy. they took their first
trip abroad. in the company of one
of their older sons and his wife.
II was four-months' tour and rs
Helen proudly related when they re-
turned. their son and daughter-in-law
had literally carried them about. so
solicitous were they for the well-being
and comfort of the parents.
That was the attitude of the entire
large family of Bradstoops. Helen
and Lazarus had reached time of
life when they were entitled to the
good things. The Bradstoop children.
by tacit agreement. saw to it. each
and severally. that their parents
should come into rich old age.
Every year when the family met ar
Christmas. around table that seated
forty. even a stranger looking in
might have felt his heart strain as he
saw: strain with a sense of the beau
ty of this spectacle of family well be-
ing
And now, we come to what must
reluctantly be termed the fly in the
ointment. If there was one flaw in
the perfect family sequence. 1t CEN
tered around the charming and per-
sonable figure of Aileen Bradstoop.
who had married the viscount and
moved TO Paris.
The Bradstoops. with unanimity,
had opposed that marriage of the
baby of the family 70 Leland lie
Conte. young aviator who had CRAWL
tated to st. Louis.
Aileen and lie Conte met at a coun-
try club, became engaged that same
evening and ten days later were mar
ried with an ado of social furry. to
say nothing of the consistent. If re-
pressed. opposition of the Bradstoop
family.
lie Conte was bona fide as to con-
nections. all right. The third son of
an ancient If decadent Alsatian fam
lily. impecunious. reckless. high-strung.
but all in all. in the opinion of the
Bradstoops and their friends. Just the
man for the correspondence high
strung Aileen not TO marry.
A word about Aileen. Born six
years after the ninth child. she had
been from the start. special kind of
youngster. Erratic, strangely lovely
in a blond fashion that was distinct
ly departure from the Bradstoop
olive tints. and with blue eyes that
glittered like ice in the sun.
Countless were the secret confer
ences held by her parents over this
elusive sprite, their child. Her moth
er feared her bit and where a repri-
mand would suffice for one of the 9TH
er children. with Aileen il was al
ways matter of knowing just how to
handle her.
The old gentleman Bradstoop, a dis
ciplinarian after fashion, although
a kind one to the letter. SHE'D off a
bit, too. where Aileen was concerned.
In the phraseology of the ST. Louis of
this period. people said that Aileen
"had her family bluffed." They de-
ferred to her.
For instance, in community where
smoking was still vice for a woman.
AiIeen at eighteen Haunted the weed.
defying parental remonstrance and
threatening to smoke in the public
parks if the home were forbidden her.
Aileen won.
AT nineteen. she openly went to the
room Of one of the towns well-known
bachelors. entered unannounced and
Informed the fiabbergasted conserva-
tive that she had arrived for tea.
She was not of the yielding. pas
sive. eontented breed of her sisters,
was forever getting herself talked
about in one boisterous capacity after
another. and at one time was reported
TO have eloped with the family chauf-
feur.
So, unwelcome as the viscount mar