Show jl 4 T I c 1 I t j r r f w wV V I t a Th Ab r e r i E r. r I II 11 NJ I B o V r p. p 1 1 S t t 4 T V Y hY X L s. s fit I a I II Jk L f GL as Q v V V k o oI I P if 1 Government in Paris 4 S Moves to Restore Y c i h 4 Tt Identity of the Girl Y r Yr I I No home no country no husband was I c the American the odd predicament of the chic mademoiselle madeI made made- S nn WI L t 4 r v moiselle who fluted flirted with the Amer American v i ican soldier and married him while he V was wason R k x Doughboy 0 ug oy Left I on leave in her dear Paris Paris only only to be deserted de- de t I later when he returned to America with the A. A E. E F. F leaving her to work out s Ihm When of her status citizen 4 f tr h w i tF y J h F d j the problem as a tk d' d V wy h sd 4 r v r k 1 r ky R When the job w was s finished over there Tom or Vill Will or or J John bade his French bride adieu with a promise and he meant too it i t too y that she vas Was to join oin him soon s I J in the United States Not all aU 4 of them kept their word and ami the French girl found herself possessed of a husband w whose ose whereabouts v sh she did not know kno I forges t i peculiar coincidences e c s and nd not nothing ing better proves this than those tw two paradoxical para para- the of legislation recently acted upon the in-the in the chamber of the Minister of Justice of France Th The Minister of Justice had just finished putting his signature to that sweeping and surprising ruling g which will ill h hereafter here here- hereafter re- re after make divorces for Am Americans ricans in Paris Pans far mor more difficult lt when lo 10 loa a and aud d behold with another sweep of of- his his' p pen n he signed another portentous document designed to do everything in the wo world d to male make certain other American wives free So thus it has come to pass that interesting interesting inter inter- esting sting a tidbit as the shutting down of the Parisian divorce mill for wealthy Americans has supplied it has not matched in importance that second unexpected unexpected and oe entirely from departing tradition procedure of the of-the the French Minister Min Min- ister ster of Justice For the l Americans in hi w whose ose heart affairs this important French official intervened intervene Jare re none other than those attractive but bu distressed young wom women n whose strang strange dilemma dilemma il mma has long been the been the talk of the bout boulevards yards and ana of the big bid and little cities of F France Z l lT ce T are HEY Y Ware are Americans it is true but they do not do-not not speak English Their names are Mrs Will William am Jones Mrs John Smith Smith Mrs Elmer Dodger That is also certain but just ask them to pronounce these names There are of these out o of the some some pretty French mesdemoiselles mesdemoiselles who lost their hearts and were married to American doughboys during and after the war But these had the misfortune to listen to the wooing of Yankee Don Juans Lotharios who sailed nailed away away after the armistice and left their brides behind leaving r no not the slightest trace of an address nor communicating communicating communicating com com- with them since H How w would yo you like to be married and yet yet not not have the slightest t st notion where you ou lived That is the astonishing astonishing astonishing astonish astonish- ing ing- dilemma each one of these daughters I c He Quit the 1 p of k Boulevards of k ks k's Gay Par Par-ee s j t. t P W WM k M I tit F C C i F FK Ft K t v 7 rr Yr t y I J q F. F Their first glimpse of their husbands husbands' home land T rJ c H r filled the little French f war war brides as the they steamed into port with the l keenest joy but our r r a y 1 customs are not theirs and then t too o many of the girl wives discovered that all Americans are are 3 not rich and that at was a disappointment But But now nov by official decree of th the French French Minister l of Justice re recently ent y promulgated promulgated promulgated gated the petite abandoned war war bride is readmitted to Jo native citizenship and and th thus s enabled to get the Ion long de g d e sired divorce that h has s been impossible until now because because because be be- cause of law entanglements of Marianne for whom the Minister of France has just interceded now fac faces s. s How would you like to be bea a citizen of ofa ofa a country you had never even as m much muchas ch chas as laid eyes eyes on That is is the the- knotty problem over which these dainty Parisi Parisian n brows have had to wrinkle In France as in America he the bride ekes akes the citizenship of her husband w wh those those momentous words words' of the e ceremony are pronounced Thus a although OUgh most of those pretty d petite Maries Manes have never never set foot on roadway Broadway Michigan Boulevard Boulevard Boulevard Boule Boule- vard or Telegraph h lull Hill they are arc as much the in wool Americans as ds s the little Yankee Yanke d daughter born in inthe inthe inthe the shadow of Bunker Hil But here is the strange paradox and i irony ony of the situation N. N N French divorce laws so benign operation for Americans could not bu budge ge gean an inch for the benefit of these proxy proxy- daughters of Uncle Sam for the simple reason that although each one possessed a husband not a single one was able to serve notice on him because she hadn't the slightest notion of his pis address And r. r kl k F r what further entered into this legal tangle was that the Yankee war bride could not even give her o own address For Far Forthe Forthe the French law holds that the legal andin and andIn andin In fact only address of a wife is that of her husband It is because of this ruling these distressed distressed distressed dis dis- dis- dis little American war brides have faced the strange riddle of not knowing where they lived themselves Their plight has surely been as desperate as The Man Without a Country for in their predicament they found themselves without country home and what is worse even identity So far as legal status is concerned they had ceased to exist Some in America they mythically shared mythical homes with spouses who by this time seemed quite as unreal What the bill introduced to the French Senate and approved by the French Minister provides in the way of escape from this unfortunate love plight of former daughters of the republic is an opportunity to re-establish re their citizenship citizenship citizenship citizen citizen- ship facility to obtain divorce and then remarriage if their chu church ch permits this All the bride deserted at the ship has todo to to do is present herself before a civil officer and declare she has lived two years n at her present address in France and that she wishes to become once more a citizen of France Then she will be given judicial as assistance assistance as- as F l to obtain aj a F j Y divorce Thus for fork forthe for forthe k i the first time in the n F history of the French courts the husband is Y disregarded disregarded- entirely in the m matter atter of the j breaking of the marriage marriage mar mar- ties Ho He is disregarded disregarded disregarded dis dis- regarded except in so far as there will willbe be a jail sentence waiting for the American phi phi- husband landerer-husband who pokes his nose noe In Inthe inthe from now till we the doorway of France come to doomsday The French people are arc of the the op opinion nion niona would be nothing too a jail sentence boy who wooed bad for or that American of France Franco and ran a pretty daughter away And Americans for their part join heartily in this reflection on the conduct conduct conduct con con- duct of these fickle sons who loved so briefly Aside from the moral side of the question however the curious minded are arc wondering just why it was was- these Yankee boys did not continue to place their affections with young w men generally generally gen gen- credited with being the most alluring of all nations Tho coming into the news of the French demoiselle moiselle has brought back many a happy memory to the tho ex Ameri can can soldier no now settled back into prosaic every day existence back home Merry eyes and pretty glances flood these pic pic- tures There were moonlit nights on on the Champs Elysee when America and France walked in arm The sun un of France shone down on many a garden wall wall where a doughboy and a peasant maiden lingered Neither of or them spoke each others other's language it is true but there are arc more mediums of or speech th than n those set down in grammar books Fond glances traded can be more i. i 1 L eloquent than tongues That the French girl was a fascinating creature there is no denying And the discussion of these alluring and country maidens also brings back to the mind of an American American American Amer Amer- ican girl now safely settled in her own little home just lust how she worried during the time of the war lest one of those piquant charmers steal the heart of her Tom her Bill or her Harry She wondered wondered wondered won won- dered if he ever did come home whether he would ever again be satisfied with her simple and native graces r t ct BEWARE girls French women may vamp your sweethearts were were as every everyone one remembers the type of headlines headlines headlines head head- lines that frequently appeared in n the tho daily papers during wartime to describe the heart battles that were running p parallel parallel par par- r- r with battles of machine guns and gas bombs on the tho othEr side of the At- At lantic As a matter of fact thousands of American boys did marry French girls So many of the doughboys' doughboys showed a preference for the blandishments of the tho dainty daughters of the that France graciously modified her strict marriage laws that these matches matche might be expedited At ono one time as high as thirty marriages a day were solemnized Every Everyone one of course did not continue to approve these marriages General Pershing it will be remembered was one who ins insisted sted on the looking into of t the smitten American soldiers soldier's finances tHus this clipping Cupids Cupid's wings for both the doughboy and the infatuated Paris maiden And as for France General Nivelle came out strongly against the French Frenc Yankee girl-Yankee soldier or sailor alliance But Cupid who laughs at locksmiths can laugh at dignified and wise generals as well The wedding bells with the tricolor and the stars and stripes eno entwined en en- o twined rang merrily on Why then did the French girl with all nil her beauty her briskness briskness briskness' and her hel smartness of dress and the American r boy not hit it off when it came to acting as life partners for each other down the pathway of the years Do piquancy and that glamour for which the daughters of Marie Antoinette are famous lose out when the pal-like pal artless qualities of the American girl are weighed on the other side of the scale Does dainty French coquetry pall as a steady diet when a boy has been brought up to play baseball on the back lots with the girl next door and later pass on to the stage of being engaged engaged en engaged en- en to tier her 1 On the other hand did the dainty French bride become disillusioned with her stalwart hero American husband when she he discovered red that though he made a regular caveman type of lover her doughboy was a dismal failure when it came came to showering those thousand little attentions for which the French husband nd is famous Many French brides were brought proudly to the United States by their soldier husbands as every everyone one knows But heres here's where the rub began And it itcan itcan itcan can truthfully be said the blame rests on both sides WAS General Nivelle himself who ho hoon IT on his return to France after his visit to America summed up the situation by saying that while American hospitality charms the traveler American life is isn n not t generally pleasing to French women French girls who married Americans he ha said frequently did so with the idea that all Americans are are rich So the French girl was very much disappointed when her husband denuded of his picturesque khaki turned to mod modest st employment in ina a city or to a farm And as for American husbands General General General Gen Gen- eral Nivelle found this amazing complaint complaint complaint com com- plaint which they had to make about the wives they brought hOne home from France They were too economical Be that as it may all of this international international discussion about why French girls and American boys did not get along when hen they went to housekeeping in their native land has not come to the assistance assistance assistance assist assist- ance of the five hundred young women who were never given givena a try at it Some Soma of them insist they would have made very good wives in America if they had ever had the slightest chance to prove their worth But instead not only were they deprived of this opportunity to prove themselves in that America which queer laws gave the them the right to call their own bu but because of their distressing dis dis- situation th they y have been prevented pre pre- v vented from receiving the attentions of nice young French men more than willing to settle down with them and d help build up families and homes for the tha Q glory of France T THEY HEY are wives and yet not wives wives- mo modern d ern Pen elopes who have t tried d to tobe toe b be e true in in the long absence of t th their heir husbands eU So who can blame the Minister er 0 of f J Jus Justice us- us t. t tice for Ice or approving with on one e s stroke t ro k e of h his IS pen a bill which says those wealthy wealth Americans y can no longer get et d. d b divorces in F France rance u unless ess conditions wh which I 1 provoke their wishes for or them would y have ave worked as eaSI easily 1 y in m In t their h. h o own States State s Wh Who 0 bl blame ame h him for can France thus tightening th the t he 1 laws as o of with one hand benignly an and b bent loosening them with the other for the he het benefit of those fair daughters for tor wh who whom t the e nation has developed the profound profoundest p pIty y |