THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND. SUNDAY HORNING. - OCTOBER IX 1907
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AN'Toogo, papat Ain't
oo comin 'long? ... Don't
go away and leave us."
This plaintive cry,
from the lips of his little
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-year-old son, was the last that fell on the
tars of Ferdinand P. Earle, the artist, as he
rushed from the stateroom of the steamship
where he had parted forever, perhaps, from
his wife and baby.
It was the real tragedy of the Earle case
that recent exploitation of "affinity" that,
has nauseated the whole country.
Were it not for that agonized baby cry
the plea of a little heart that, somehow, in
tome mysterious, intuitive way, felt that it
was being deserted the Earle case, despite
the world-wide attention1 it attracted only a
thort time ago, would, perhaps, ere now be
forgotten in the onward rush of current
tvents.
But the pitiful wail from a child's heart
links deep. Artist Earle, despite his uncon
ventional ideas of "affinity," loved his hand-
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some little son; parting from the baby was a
sad wrench to his theories.
Because of this fact his friends hope that
in time that baby love will be the magnet that
, will once more draw together the hearts of
father and mother. And even more, perhaps,
the tiny fingers of babyhood will in time van
quish and cast out from modern life this the
ory of "affinity" that now seems a fad run
mad.
HEN, Artist Earle rushed from the stateroom
of the ocean liner which was to take his
wife and child from him. perhaps forever, he
did po with hando to his ears to shut out
that, wee childish voice that called him back.
"Tome tn"-k here! Tome back here!" screamed the
': little boy. "Papa, I say, tome back here!"
Then his eyes, which had blazed fiercely, took on a
; scared look, and this in turn was followed by tears.
He burled his face in the lap of the frail little woman
i who sat on a b-mk, looking dazedly at the opposite
wall.
They were there alone those two, mother and baby.
The others had all gone when the gong was sounded!
. tor the last time, and the i-ailois stood ready to haul
r . In the gangplanks.
, Outsi ie. on tieck, the matter-of-fact musicians,
hired uy the week, with careless, cheery countenances,
i.re playing "New York Town." A snatch of the lively
air flitted down along the boat's side and through
the Window to the Utile woman, and Bho burst Into a
flood Of tears.
. , . FRIENDS LOOK FOR REUNION
"- . -" " V
ABO HOW II a oeuevea that if Ferrllnanrt Plnnpv
be brought together
along been the main difficulty
. in the way of the parting.
Earle had not been willing
to give him up, nor Mrs. Earle
to ask the sacrifice, until some
one should be found who could
fully take the place of both
child and mother in the artist's
heart and home.
From the country town, a
two hours' ride from New
Tork, where the country folk
were expressing themselves on
this new-fangled affinity busi
ness In no flattering terms to
Earle, they had come on the
train father, mother and son
to Jersey City; they had failed
to hire a cab and had to alter
nately ride on street cars and
stand in a pouring rain on cor
ners until they reached the Ho
boken piers.
There, at the Holland-American
Line pier, was the big
ship Ryndam ready for the
voyage. On its deck the part
ing took place. The tall artist
led his wife and boy into their
stateroom.
The French wife sat on the
bunk. Her sister-in-law sat
near her. making a faint
hearted attempt to comfort
her. Earle, the artist, stood,
his head nearly reaching the
celling, and continued to smile
that forced smile.
His brother, a keen busi
ness man, feeling and appre
ciating the popular disfavor
which had been so clearly
manifested, walked about
nervously, hoping that it would
soon be over.
And Harold?
The boy was Just amused at
first.
He had never seen a big
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m clumsy littls sunbonnet which h was glad enough to
(t rid of' as soon as ths taUroom was reached.
v But his body, on could im, was remarkably well pro
portioned, and ha morsd about with ths limbs of aa
athlete, despite bla tsnder'ysara.
And whan ha turned hta faoa toward you you could
sea In it mora than tha chubby, haalthy face of a olilld;
thsra was in It an understanding past his years even, ona
might imagine, a touoh of genius.
, Finally, tha final bell was sounded. Tha deck must
ba cleared for all ascspt thosa booked for ths voyage.
Earl stooped over it was necessary fo& him to bend
almost double and kissed his Wife. At least, he per
formed the physical similitude of kissing her. But It
was a rather mlsarahls exsus for a kiss. It was simply
tha touching of lips to cheek Earl is too sclentlflo to
kiss any one, even his wife or ohlld, on the Hps and had,
or seemed to, have, not a particle of soul feeling In it
Earl lifted littl Harold up to kiss him good-bye.
fn would have thought that aather with an ounc
Of parental feeling would hava broken down at such a
crista
At least ona would axpact to sea a tear, soma show
Of feeling there.
But this man, remember, had stled himself for th
ordeal. H had determined to not feel badly; to smlls; to
how th crowd that "vry on was satisfied." -
- WILL HE FORGET?
And yet. If ha had broken down and cried h would
have gained In manhood. In honor, a thousand times In
rh estimation of every person there, including th wife
h was sending away.
He hastened away slunk through th dark corridor
and down th gangplank to th cab that stood waiting.
And his poor little boy beat upon tha door and orled
and scolded by turns as the ship slid out from the dock,
taking his mother and himself to a foreign shore away
from th man responsible for his being.
As well Vtw the curtain her.
Any mother, any on who ha a mothsr, can picture
that lonely voyage.
And little Harold?
"I will teach him to forget" said bis mothsr, at th
parting.
Assuredly, sh will try to teach him to forget In her
father's beautiful home, over in France, sh will provide
playthings, music, pleasant companions. She will horself
assume the position of story teller.
And. Instead of th calico dress and sunbonnst sh
will dress him In th pretty togs that all children, es
pecially French children, delight in.
And she herself will dress fashionably, and they will
go to tha tneaters and all the pretty places and meet
jolly people. Instead of looking out all day long upon th
folka of th little New Tork state village.
Perhaps Earle will visit them there be for It Is too
lite he has promised to visit them, If his wife's father
will let him and he may sea the change in his wife's
disposition and the appearance of his child, and he may
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ship before at least not sines
he was old enough to explore
for himself. From the moment
that he bad seen the Ryndam
he had kept up a constant
chatter.
And now he was playing
about the bunk on which his
mother was wearily sitting.
Is dls Harold's kib?" he ask
ed; and all attempted to smile
at his babyish way of trying to
say "crib."
The wife and mother had
thrown aside the black veil
which she wore when she cam
on shipboard, and to the little
company showed her wan, al
most ghastly face. The eyes
were tearless, but so large that
one thought she must be exer
cising unusual exertion to keep
them under control.
She was very plainly dress
ed. Her artist husband, with
his ideas about socialism and
Idealism, had never cared
much to see her fashionably
dressed, and so even on this
last occasion she had appeared
like a poor village girl out of
deference to him.
The commonplaces had all
been said. But one could not
help noticing that Earle's eyes
were following Harold every
way the child turned.
It probably occurred to him
that the child was more beau
tiful than he had ever before
supposed.
As a matter of fact, he was
beautiful, although, he too, like
his mother, out of deference to
the father's ideas about sim
plicity, was dressed plainly.
He had on simply a blue
polka-dot calico dress, and
when he came aboard he wore
Poarcks alltunatics in the City of Foob
Earl and his wife snail ever
jut " wiu boy who cnid apa
' 1 V . i,: J. 1 '"tessanily, as the ship bore
. jiiiii wwwoi wnttiu x" ranee
That Such a reunion will occur' some amour the
Close Intimates Of the Earles tirmly belTeve
And -lf .aucb Should be the caA, what a romantic
denouement to a story which has fox last several
week occupied thettentiun of the American public
Jt had bean , ona of ihe most talked 0 Ham tl dis
agreement in years. Wl " UIS
So opposed to this new method of chanirlnsr wlfn
for affinity was the public that crowds had "onare!
gated to hoot-or gibe theitist at the steamship nier
aeross tha river from New York city. amBn'P P'vr.
-Yet the pair were determined to part.
UmA hMAm aiLfiflfieri thnt t Ii & .i
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t.-i 1 1 - A " mnA Avon I. I , . . i was nOL
had agreed that Miss Julia Kuttner, big American
irL waa tha ona ordained to make her husband ho" "
t0 tha two women had lived peaceably toKeth;
In that artistic home at Monroe, New Tork. tot tl
week, and th lawful Wife was going back to her
rstlv country to secure a divorce that her husband
might wad tha other. u,
Jf sha wera going alone, there would have been
i hvit little troubl. But thera waa tha child part and
Barrel of tham both, t"
Xhl toy IiaroJd, now almost ( yaara old. had all
'U , " .
WANDEKING near the town of Gheel,
which is about twenty-seven miles
from Antwerp, Belgium, some time
ago, an American tourist was accosted
by a tall, intelligent-looking man who appeared
to be in the stress of great terror.
He clutched the tourist by the arm and in a
quavering voice begged:
"Put me in your pocket, please, put me in
your pocket."
The visitor looked at the man in amazement,
but the latter continued pulling at his coat
sleeve and reiterating his request. Then he added :
"I am u mustard seed, and the birds will
swallow me."
"No," reassured the visitor, "the birds will not.
Because they swallow only hemp seed."
The tourist recalled the fact that Gheel ia a
town where the principal industry is boarding
insane- people, aud this man was probably one of
the unfortunates. Reassured, the strange man
accompanied the American to the village.
IN GHEEL. Insane people live almost like others,
visit one another socially,, go to church, eat In
cafes and work in the fields.
About 1600 harmless lunatics live In Gheel.
Most of them board with the townspeople, who for
hundreds of years have made a business of caring tor
them.
A town of lunatics! It looks like any ordinary vil
lage, it is a maid, pretty country town. The people
are peaceful. There is singing by day and entertain
ments in the evenings.
Outside .the village is an asylum for violently in
sane people. Those who board with the town folk are
what are called "innocents." Here' they live quietly,
their vagaries are indulged and their fancies humored.
The natives get from $60 to 1600 a year for caring
for them. You will find insane people there from all
parts of the world England, America, Asia and else
where. Doctors visit Gheel annually from all parts of the
globe. The care of the Insane has been reduced to a
science. At the hotels they are cared for just as ordi
nary guests, and the woman who imagines that sh Is
the "queen of Holland" and insists that she have a
lord chamberlain is supplied with a servant, who takes
this part
There are inns, stores and churches In Gheel. About
the houses are big gardens, where the Insane are al
lowed to roam or raise flowers. They visit one another,
and sometimes you would be able to hear a "poet
laureate" talking to a woman who Imagine she la th
"Holy Ghost"
From long experience the people of Gheel under
stand exactly how to humor their boarders. The art
of caring for the weak-minded has been handed down
from father to son. They are always given the first
seats at the table and treated as the favorites of tha
family.
The "popes," "kings," "queens," "millionaires" and
"rajahs" are encouraged in their fancies in a tactful
way.
There is a resident of Gheel who Is obsessed by the
Idea that he is pursued by a moth which wishes to
get into his skull and eat away his brain. When ter
rified by this idea the people with whom he lives tell
him, yes, they see the moth. Then a member of the
family takes a net and throws it over the imaginary
moth, and the Insane man. believing it has been cap
tured, smiles and feels safe.
At one of the inns, day after day, sits an old man
who talks lucidly about philosophy. Ha staggers vis
itors by his disquisitions on Spinoza and Descartes. Tet
he Imagines that he Is made of glass and is quite brit
tle. ' So servants carry him about on a chair, and he smiles
and feels perfectly at ease. He is afraid to rise, but phy
sicians say he would be perfectly able to do so If h
could free himself of the idea.
In the streets of Gheel you will find little children
out walking with people whose minds are absolutely
lost. The little ones talk to the "king" or "pope" Just
as If he were such. Sometimes there are outbreaks of
violence, but these are extremely rare. This city .of
fools is said to be an Ideal place In which to live.
decide that the old-fashioned way is the better after all,
and go to them.
Mrs. Earle loves her husbsnd she said so many times
before she left. His child loves him, and would like to
romp and play with him as he used to. And Earle him
self says that he loves them.
Will the magnetism of the child the crystallisation
of their love draw them together again?
A talk which the writer of this article naa wun Mr.
Earle in New York suggested that such might be the
case. It was immediately after the JKyndam had sailed.
The cab had deposited Earle at the Hoboken ferry, and
a few minutes later he was at the) Christopher Street
wharf, in New York. It waa 8 o'clock in the afternoon.
"I'm hungry," said Earle, trying to smile. "I declare,
I was so busy arranging matters for my wife to sail that
I neglected to get any lunch."
80 he repaired with the reporter to a restaurant where
both sat at table. Earle ordered a modest meal, con
sisting principally of fruit and vegetables and a grain
coffee he is a vegetarian. But the food remained for
many minutes untouched.
Rather than eat, the man preferred to talk of his
boy. His wife, he said, had seemed all sunshine when
he had tlrst met her in Paris, after having but Justi
emerged from ten years of solitary study of arts and
sciences.
And this streak of sunshine cast athwart his path
was such a revelation that he married her right away.
It was only after he had brought her to America that
he realized that she was not of a nature perfectly attuned
to his own. Call it incompatibility of temperament, or
what you will, he had to deal, not with a-theory, but
with a condition.
"HOW I LOVED THAT BOY"
"We thought when the baby came it would make a
difference," said Earle. "But It didn't. I was so happy
attJirst; but doubly discouraged when I realized that
everything was just as before. So we decided to part.
Only, 1 could not agree to give up the child, and my
wife could not ask me to, until I should And some one
to All their place. I found Miss Kuttner. That's all
there Is to it."
But there was more. There was little Harold.
When Earle started to talk about the boy he was
essaying to eat some stewed tomatoes from a side Msh
which he held In his hand.
The tomatoes were forgotten; they swayed this way
and that, and gradually spilled from the dish and trickled
down thi man's wrist and soiled his coat sleeve.
And all unheeded Just as were the tears that trickled
down his cheeks.
"How I loved that boy!"'he wept. "Why, it would be
Impossible for a father to think more of a child than I
of him. And the sacrifice I made In giving him up, to
my mind, ia the best possible evidence of my honor and
honesty in this wh le matter.
"I loved him so that I built a swinging playhouse in
the .studio, and there he would play while I painted. We
were always together.
"I took him down to the seashore when he was 5
months old, and, do you' believe it, he actually could keep
afloat
"He is an athlete, every Inch of him. This surprised
the farmer neighbors up at Monroe, who said that be
cause we were vegetarians the child's bones would be
brittle, and all that. But he turned out healthy and
beautiful
"My wife is going to bring him to see me once in a
while, and I am going to go to see them. It will be such
a great pleasure, for we are tha best of friends, you
know."
Then he made the significant remark:
"Miss Kuttner would gladly give me up If my wife'
and I should decide to live together again. Wouldnlt It
be strange If we should decide to do so, after all wouldn't
It be a Joke on the public?"
Has tha child-magnet already hegun to draw them
together?