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Show I. TALENTED WOMAN GIVE UP CAREER FOR HOME AND HUSBAND? Mrs. Ethel Watts Mumford Thought Not, and Broke Marital Chains That Bound Her Too Tightly. ROOM IN HEART FOR BOTH LOVE AND WORK Now She Hns Pound a Husband Who Promises Devotion and Freedom to f ursuc Her Literary Duties to Any Extent She May Desire. I To love, cherish and obey! Is this a promise to bo kept to the last letter? Does It mean even the sacrificing of a talent under dictation? Must tho woman give up the natural I gift at tho bidding of tho man, though I it may not provent her from loving and from cherishing? "No!" said Mrs. Ethel Watts Mum- ford, most omphutlcnlly. I "Decidedly yes!" retorted George Dana Mumford, lawyer and capitalist and lately tho husband of Mrs. Mum-H Mum-H ford, ono of Now York's most talented H and Bucccssful woman writers. H Can n woman who writes be, at tho H eamo time, n good wlfo and a good I A motller? Can a woman devote herself H to art and her homo at ono and tho H samo time? "Certainly I" declared Peter Geddos H Grant, broker and lover, H Mrs. Mumford agreed with him very H decidedly. So now tho marrlago of H Mr. Grant and Mrs. Mumford follows H quite naturally on tho heels of Uio H celebrated divorce caso of Mumford H ts. Mumford. H Ethel Dickinson Watts was ono of H tho most talented daughters of tho H south when she met Gcorgo Dana H Mumford. Horn in New York herself, H shfi'Mvas still the high type of south- H ' em girl that her mother, Mrs. D. G. Watts, mdant her to bo. Sho( was tall, uthlctlc, witty, vivacious, bcautl-ful, bcautl-ful, clever. Ilcr mother, a woman of wealth, iP saw that tho daughter's natural gifts were not neglected. She had a, fine education, and then was sent to Paris to flu I all. She studied pulnting tin-dcr tin-dcr Dcnjamin Constant; sho spent a year traveling In Europe and tho orient. There was another year In Japnn, a long stay In the South seas, Journeys to the south and west In tho BJ United States, and visits In Mexico BJ and Ccntrnl America. Bfl V When Miss Watts got back to Now HB Ji York,' says tho World, of that city, BB sho was bubbling over with Ideas Hfl which sho longed to put down In Wack Bfl and vhltp. And so there blossomed Bfl out nrio'th'cr successful woman writer. Bfl Then came Mr. Mumford. lie was HB rich, good looking, a gruduato of Co- lumbla, '89, and Harvard, '91, n mom-bcr mom-bcr of hnlf a dozen smart clubs, and well known toclnlly In New York and in Tuxedo, Ho fell head over heels I 111 --M HHBHHHH tho courtship nnd honeymoon, ngnln asserted Itself. Tales of ndventuro, poems of tho sens, romances) of faraway far-away lands nil wero seething In her brain. And so she took up her pen again and wrote. Ono after another tho things enmo Into being, only to bo striven for by the publishers. Dm proso and' poetry did not comprlso all tho brilliant girl's talents. Sho would write n play und sho did "The Scenario" and tho talented tal-ented Annie Ilusscll presented It. It was n story of Mexico and Paris noto how the young wife kept closo to tho scenes she had visited beforo her marriage. mar-riage. And nil tho tlmo bIio wrote and wrote. Things wero finished, only to bo torn up and rewritten. Other efforts ef-forts wero destroyed, never to bo seen by anyone. And all tho tlmo, too, the boy was growing bigger and bigger, nnd needing more and more his mother's moth-er's care. Who shall say who began the trou-bio? trou-bio? If n vital household dlsputo arises, either wlfo or husband must make the sacrifice. It Is for tho outsldo world, knowing nothing of what transpires around the hearthstone, to say who shall yield? Mrs. Mumford wanted to Wlte. Mr. Mumford didn't want her to write. Thero was tho problem, lie wanted Ills wife to entertain, to go out with him, to give him nil her spare time, to spond her energies within her homo and not between tho covers of the magazines. Mrs. Mumford snld "No!" She Insisted In-sisted that she could bo a good wlfo and a good mother, nnd still givo rein to her literary ambitions. Neither sldo would yield. Thero were quarrels. quar-rels. So, after live years of married life, In 1899, Mrs. Mumford took her boy and left her husband alone In his Now York homo. As for her, sho went to California and acquired n legal residence resi-dence there. Then suit for dlvorco on tho ground of desertion was brought by tho young wlfo; tho propor papers wero served on Mr. Mumford. Ho appeared by an attorney, but put In no defense In 1901 Justlco Hob-bard, Hob-bard, in tho superior court, Sun Francisco, Fran-cisco, granted tho decree, ahd tho young wife, freo now to write all Bno In lovo with the talented girl, and i sho thought sho loved him. T This was In 1891, when both wero very young. It was n quick, ardent courtship and a beautiful wedding. Then a delightful honoymoon abroad and a return lo a beautiful homo, A llttlo boy was born two years Inter H tho apple of Ills fathor's oyo. It looked PJ like n most happy union this' mar- H rlage of tho brilliant southern girl and H tho polished 'varsity man. PR Hut hero the Muses took a hand and H upsot all theso pretty llttlo ntons of Dan Cupid. The young wife's literary PH bent, temporarily laid aside during pleased, went back to Now York with hor llttlo son, whoso custody tho court allowed her. Hut oven In California, when tho lawyers wero busy untying tho knot tied so fow years boforo, Mrs. Mum-ford's Mum-ford's pen was not Idle. She brought out her first novol In California "Dupes" published by tho I'utnams, and very successful. Thon followed another novol, "White Wash," nnd "Tho Cynic's Calendar," published In San Francisco. In Now York Mrs. Mumford begnn writing again, mostly stories for tho leading magazines, Sho took up her residence with her mother, who Is rery wealthy. Meanwhile the divorced husband, eager still for a homo, was not ldlo. Hardly was tho ink dry on the legal decreo divorcing the two, when ho mot Mrs. Claire Drake Butterfleld, widow of tho immensely wealthy Thcodoro Duttcrflold, of nochestcr. Six months alter the divorce wns made public Mrs. Hutterfleld announced her -engagement to Mr. Mumford. In June, 1902, they were married nt the Church of the Messiah, by Hov. Dr. Mlnot J. Savage, assisted by Hov. Dr. Clay Mac-Cnwley. Mac-Cnwley. There wus n honeymoon down at Mr. Mumford's country place, nnd when they enme back to town In the autumn It was. to live Just across Central park, whero Mrs. Mumford No. 1 lived with hor mother and her little son. Forgotten, Mrs. Mumfni'd soon forgot. for-got. "I'll never marry again," she told her friends, "unless a man comes uloug who will not mind how much I write nnd paint." hut they laughed at her. "Walt and see!" wns the drift of what they snld In reply. "Thero nre men who wont mind how much you wrlto and paint." They were right. The man canio nlong six months I J 1 ' 1 3L 1 ago, He was i'oter Lcavltt Grant, a Scotchman, formerly of Granttowu, Scotland, but now a member of the : New York brokerage firm of l.envltt t & Grant. Ho was oliler tliun Mr. Mumford uud broader In his views. They met at tho house of mutual friends tho rich broker and tho benutlful young authoress. au-thoress. Ho wns Immensely taken with her lltornry work and never wcnrlcd of praising It to his friends so different from Mr. Mumford, whom it bored quite thoroughly. Mr. Grant frankly told his friends ho believed there were plenty of clover women who could follow their talents and nt thu samo tlmo bo good wives and mothers. Ho held that there could be no Incompatibility between tho art of a woman and tho helpful comorndorlo of tho home. Finally tho time enmu when ho felt that ho could say this same thing to Mrs. Mumford. He did. His answer was n whispered "Yes," Just as tho young collcgo man, Mumford, had received re-ceived It 12 years before. ' Hut this tlmo It wns u moro qualified one. With It went tho understanding that tho brldo-to-bo-for-tho-second-tlme could wrlto and paint and study JiiBt ns much us sho pleased. "That Is distinctly understood," replied re-plied tho gnllant Mr. Grant, nnd n fow days ago tho engagement wns announced, an-nounced, "My daughter will keep on with literary lit-erary work," oxplalned Mrs. Watts, tho mother, "Just us she always has done. There Is no reason whatever why a woman cannot bo n good wlfo und mother nnd nt tho samo time givo somo tlmo to hor tnlcnts. "Mr. Grant understands this perfectly per-fectly and Is Just ns Interested In my daughter's success bb wo nro. He Is very proud of what she has dono already al-ready and looks forwnrd to oven bettor bet-tor things In tho futuro They havo gono on a honeymoon In tho country and In tho autumn thoy will sail for Europo to visit Mr. Grant's fnmlly In Scotland." As for Mr. Mumford, ho wns seen nt his ofllco and took tho nows of his formor wife's engagement rathor testily. test-ily. "Mrs, Mumford Is my divorced wife," ho said, "and I cannot discuss hor affairs or her coming marriage. Sho is no longer u part of my life." Tho wedding took plnco on Satur-'day, Satur-'day, Juno 2, He v. Charles Townsend, of Orange, N. J., Mr. Grant's pastor, officiating, It wns a quiet llttlo home ceremony at Mrs. Watts' house, only members of the families being present, pres-ent, lloreaflor Mrs, Grant will divide her time between Now Yorlc aud Scot- land, but tho public can assure Kielf that fiction and adventure from the! fluent pen of Ethel Watts Grant will1 be Jnst as frequent as It was from the pen or Ethel Wntta Mumford. And now Cupid, god of lovo, and Clio, muso of literature, will ' walk hand In hand. |