The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-11-06
By KATHLEEN NORRIS
tBen syndicate-wNU Service

ME sons OF all the OLner
mothers I know have
L married decently,
writes a despairing mother
from Brooklyn. Sometimes
they haven't especially liked the
girls, but invariably they have
been fine girls, ambitious to
make good homes, have chill
dren, help their husbands in
every way they can.
"Only mine has lost all his
bearings, forgotten every
thing I ever taught him or
helped him to discover for
himself and is planning
marriage that will wreck his
life and ALLEVIATE him from me for
ever! Let me tell you a little of
his background. Both his father and
grandfather were well-known doc
tors. My father was a musician;
my mother belonged to one of the
finest old families of Kentucky.
don lost his father when he was
three, and I gave my whole life to
him. His friends were the children
of my friends. I tried in every way
to keep him simple and unspoiled,
for his beauty and charm were no.
ticeable from the first. We spent
many summers in Europe, where he
perfected his languages. We were
IN Europe when the war broke out
at was with great difficulty that
obtained a cabin for the home
trip. We had no sooner gone on
board than Don brought to me a
young woman with a small boy.
Don was then 26, the woman adj
nits being five years, and think
is at least eight years older than
he. She is beautiful; the divorced
wife of an Austrian count, herself
American born of Swedish and Eng
ish parents.
Married at Sixteen.
eve found out much later that her
mother had been in a circus, and
that she herself had been married at
16 to a man she divorced also. Don
insisted, on this first meeting, that
she and the child move into the
cabin with me, while he found a
bunk somewhere else; and I con-
scented.
ct have blamed myself a thou
sand times for this, because Don's
interest quickly developed into an
infatuation that swept everything
else aside. had thought that with
the end of the voyage it must end,
but she came to Brooklyn, lived
near us, and he saw her every day.
He gave her the money for her
divorce from the Austrian; gave her
a great deal more than he could af-
ford; bought her everything for
which she showed the slightest
whim. He paid over $1,000 for med
ical attention for the child.
''Now, you would think, if she de-
cided upon a third marriage, it
would be to my poor infatuated boy.
Not at all. While spending Don's
money at Reno she met a man who
was, she said, the only man she
ever had loved, and she married
him there. My poor Don attempted
suicide; we found him unconscious.
Transfusions saved his life. I took
him to Mexico, feeling that I would
rather live there the rest of my life
than expose him again to this siren.
"a month ago he left me without
leave-taking, joined her, and is liv-
ing with her now, caring for her
and the child IN fiat IN New Jer-
sey. Her marriage to her third hus-
band, he says, can be proved lille
gal, and that as soon as she is free
they are to be married. Meanwhile,
as she is quite Ill, and should have
an operation, he is caring for her,
bringing her trays, washing dishes,
going to market. I followed him
up, attempted to see him, to reason
with him. But he is determined to
make her his wife.
81 need not tell you what agony
of spirit this causes me. She will