The Ely miner., 1943-05-20
Rv KATHLEEN NORRIS
Bell syndicate-wNU Features.


n TOW and then a man and
N woman get a divorce,
= ' drift about the world try
ing solitary living for awhile,
meet each other again, and are
remarked. In these days Of
too-frequent divorces it often
happens that wife or husband
would be more patient, more
tolerant, more wise, if given
another chance, and sometimes
they have an opportunity to
prove it.
But not often. Usually the first
thing they do, upon getting free, is
to tie themselves up to new mates
as fast as possible. Then new COM
plications have to be taken into ac-
count. And when one partner takes
a serious view of marriage and the
other is bound by no law of God or
man, it takes a man or woman OF
fine character and high principles
to forget and forgive.
Helen Johnson writes me her
phase of this problem. She is 81;
she married a prosperous dentist OF
"a, IA years ago; they had nice
home, three children, friends and
good position when Randy Johnson
went off the reservation entirely,
three years ago, and demanded a
divorce.
Sunday Mornings Bad News
''I will never forget the peaceful
Sunday morning when he broke it
to me that he wanted to marry his
office clerk, girl of 49," writes
Helen. ''The two older girls and I
had just come back from church,
the baby, then two, was running
about the garden; Randy was sitting
on the porch steps, smoking. Sandra
and Pam went into the house, and
Randy said Immediately: Nell, I've
got to get out. All this sickens me,
the kids and the Sunday dinner and
washing the car and all of it. I don't
want to take pictures of Antoinette,
I don't want to telephone to see if
your brother and his wife can come
over to play bridge, I'm done
"After awhile" the letter goes on,
''the truth came out The little girl
in the office loved him, he couldn't
break her heart and his. Better to
have only one of us unhappy, he
said, and I was to be the one. I
could have the house, the girls, and
$3.50 month. That afternoon, while
I was lying down with headache,
he came into the room we shared,
silently packed his things, and stood
in the middle of the floor to make
a final speech.
"He said that he knew everything
I was thinking and everything my
mother would say; that have been
a devoted wife, that our children
were splendid and that he had no
complaint to make. But, he said, no
home is happy when the man of the
family is bored and resentful; he
knew I did not want to hold him
against his will; he would see a
great deal of his children, and in
few months our friends would ac-
cept the situation with the same
grace that he hoped I would.
Heartbroken, Lonely Woman
He went to Reno, and I let him
get divorce. was stunned. From
feeling myself happy, secure, be-
loved and necessary woman was
alone and heartbroken in the space
of two months. But I pulled N.Y.
self together, rebuilt my life with
the girls as well as I could, and after
a long while was happy and busy
again. I still loved Randy; couldn't
stop. He is gentle, humorous,
clever man, and he had made me
very happy for II wonderful years.
Last year Pamela, my middle
daughter, had to have undeveloped
wisdom teeth, impacted, taken from
her jaw. It was a hospital opera