I" ! n I Jeanne Jettto fro xmtraS 5 VOL. XL I PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY 3IORNING, OCTOBER 1, 1922 NO. 40 J r FY i Jl I Uworc&Q-cMdfid vera Unexpected besurrs V i L if .4 s Biflie Shaw, dancer, who allows her ' divorced husband, Billy Seabury, to share her apartment and under her mother-in-law's chap eronage, is receiving "serious at tentions" from him SIMULTANEOUSLY Irom New York and Chicago, out of the. unhappy minds of two wives, strangers to each other, comes the latest recipe for winning back one's husband. 'The plan has to do only with those wives who want to do such a thing. Both Billie Shaw, short-story writer and dancer of New York, city, and Mrs. Mayme Thorne Watling, Chicago society woman, want to bring this about. So each conceived a scheme. Each divorced her husband. And when they had their de crees of freedom they informed their ex husbands that they were willing to be courted over again. And they gave their erstwhile mates clearly to understand that good behavior over a period of sev eral months, and evidence that good faith was intended, might mean wedding bells again. Billie Shaw's agreement is a bit more daring than that of Mrs. "Watling, who limits Mr. Watling to a daily two hours' visit at her home. For Billie Shaw per mits William Seabury, from whom she got legal independence last July, actually to live in the same apartment with her. And his mother lives there, too, and acts the chaperone, and sees to it that neither forgets that the prerogatives of married life are nonexistent. "We are living together beautifully," Miss Shaw declared, when the writer called on her in the apartment he and she occupy In West Forty-eighth street,' ,New York city. "We show the utmost respect if I i I .''- . ; ... ' . , . .... , j ;" ; : '':: " J .wf '. v, Xl M ' pil Ml I 111 ii m - 'The very next evening after the divorce he was observed calling on her." toward each other and our courtship is carried on under the watchful eye of my 1 IkPHIQIR31 f 1 William Seabury, sowing" lost him to regain. former, mother-in-law. , Will I marry him again? Well, I lore him very dearly and i ' - - - i -I Usually a Court Decree Means That the Former Mates Go Their Respective Ways but in These Very Up-to-Date Cases the Wives Permit a Re newal of Courtship With Possibly a Second "Yes" whose post-nuptial "Wild oats the pretty wife he now wishes It he proves to me daring the next few months that he can forget there is such a thing as any other woman but me I shall be very -willing to go again to the altar with him." Of the Watltng probationary divorce experiment an intimate friend of Mrs. Watling says: - "All that Frank has to do to win her again is to prove that he has conquered his ungovernable temper. She loves him dearly. When the fit of choleric disposi tion is not on him there is no sweeter man under the sun. Gladly will she re wed him when he proves to her that he had, indeed, banished forever the churl ishness which cansed all her nnhappiness. For there is no other woman In the case." But Mrs. Watling, nnlike Miss Shaw, also believes that absence makes the heart grow fonder. She left for French Lick shortly after the decree and he start ed for California. They will have pleas ant recollections of a two weeks' court "His mother lives there ship he carried on with her before the departure. When they return, after sev eral months' absence, the wooing will be renewed, their friends expect, and If he is successful the wedding - bells Will ring again before the beginning of the new year. Mr. Watling left after declaring that he is "too hot-headed" and that the divorce had "brought him to his senses." The friends of Billie Shaw and Billy Seabury were greatly shocked when the divorce action was begun. For they recall the "kid" romance of the pair, which be gan in the dancing studio of Vernon Cas tle. That was 'seven years ago, when Bil lie was IS and Billy was 17. Billie in sisted that she was "too old" to marry Billy, but Billy insisted that he was old enough to marry Billie and support her. He Is a New York man and comes of a wealthy family. But this business of the age question only began about five min utes ter they met. For it wasn't until then that they fell in love, they both ad mit. Billie was taking lessons of Mr. Castle to become a professional dancer. Billy was taking them to shine on the dance floor of society. Mr. Castle had been look ing for a partner for Billie, and when he fonnd Billy proved to be such an excel lent pupil he suggested that they become dance par'iers. This they did and soon became lile partners. "We were such kids in appearance," said Miss Shaw, remlniscently, when talk ing over her case at her apartment, "that we had great difficulty making anyone believe we were married. At several ho tels we had some embarrassment." They went along swimmingly for years. Then, a year ago, they dissolved their dancing team.- And that was where the trouble began. "Married people shouldn't live or work apart," says Miss Shaw, giving what she believes was the cause of her husband's interest in other women. "We were an ideal married couple for five years, be cause we had always worked together up to that time and were constantly with each other. But when we separated the trouble started. All the sacredness of marriage flies out of the window when distance separates a couple. "Of course, while I realize that Mr.Sea bury's wild doings were really nothing but sowing wild oats, I could not stand his high Jinks forever. I had to do some thing to bring him to his senses. He doesn't seem to realize responsibility at all. He told me everything. In fact, he told me too much. And his letters!" She stamped her foot. "Please read this one!." and acts the chaperon." She handed the following letter re ceived 'by her from her former husband during the pendency of their divorce ac tion: "You wouldn't worry about my health if you saw me golfing every rooming at seven. . . . Mamma girl, you have passed the stage where you will be hurt, so I want to tell you I have met a wonderfully sweet girl . . . you must have heard of her, as she has starred in pictures. She is almost as sweet as you, but not quite. And I love her almost as much, but not quite. "You are my real love, no matter what I have done. . . . Lots of sweet 'tisses' for my Mamma-heart. YOUR BOY." Mrs. Watling has had a bit more matri monial experience than Miss Shaw. The husband she JUBt divorced, to cure him of his temperament, was her second. Her first, Raymond Thorne, son of the founder of one of the biggest mall order houses in the country, was killed in an automo bile accident. Mr. Thorne left his widow a fortune of $2,000,000 in Chicago real estate and also a half-dozen automobiles. Shortly after his death she met Mr. Watling. He was very attentive to her and took her to dances and entertainments in an effort to cheer her up. In January he proposed to her and she accepted him. They were married in Chicago's Little Church Around the Corner. Society was surprised when she mar ried Mr. Watling a few months after the death of her first husband. Mr. Watling was a well-known clubman and sports man. They seemed to be a happily mated couple, and society was pointing them out to the unmarried as the model husband and wife when the news that Mrs. Wat llngj bad sued her husband for divorce fell among their friends like the explo sion of a bombshell. But the amazement that followed the beginning of the action was as nothing compared to that which was subsequent to the actual trial of the case. For when the principals went into court. Instead of sitting apart, as litigants In defended di vorce cases almost invariably do, and glaring dagger looks at each other, they sat together, chatted and appeared to be mighty good friends. And when the sable-robed Justice, granted her the inter locutory decree of divorce, the husband-that-had-been congratulated the wlfe-that-had-been, and, smiling and happy, they left the courtroom. But the amazement of their friends was lCaaeutU4 i t 2.) i 'A