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Show Kathleen Norris Says : Don't Dont ' Try Tryto to Fight the Law LawBen 4 Ben Syncileate SyncileateWNU Syndicate-WNU Syndicate WNU ; -WNU WNU - Featurn Features I X11 X11J J + tin 1 t ' r t - I , t ' , I . . ' 'hdr : 'hd hd ' 1 - I r " ' "l1r l1r 1 tJe have cuked asked Ralph ID to leatIe leave her where she Llhappy , , wPPYI1l ! sn her home and schooL . ' By KATHLEEN NORRIS c e cAM T AM gomg to fight the lawand lawand law cI I | and get the best of It itA , , too , " writes Mary Lee LeeLhller LeeIldler Leettiller Lhller Ildler from Buffalo "I I " have.een haveseen have haveeen .een een seen . een a peace-loving peace loving peace-lovmg lovmg - - woman womanill womantIl womanill ill tIl my life hie , but I have my my'lghts mylights myights 'lghts lghts lights ' and I propose to mam- mam main- main mamBm mainam main-am main am - Bm am them"Five them"Five them them"Five "Five Five " years ago my closest closestPloman closestvman closestroman Ploman vman fnend friend died , " her let- let letr letter let-ier let ier - - - ter r goes on "On On " her death deathled deathed led ) ed shEil shEilcQnfided shelcgnfided she * , confided cQnfided to me her herlew herfew herlew lew few born daughter , Maureenler MaureenTer Maureen : ier ler Ter husband , Ralph , thanked thankedne ne fervently for taking takmg themId the'held the \ - ' hild -mId mId 'held held , , and he and his ms son sonnoved sonnoved sonnoved noved to another city Theaby Thelaby The Theaby aby laby > ) has grown to be one ofhe of ofhe ofhe he most responsive , mtelh- mtelh mtelli- mtelli intelli- intelli mtellitent intellitent mtelhent - - ; tent ; ent and beautiful beautlful of ch children childrentad childrenind dren drenmd md tad my heart is wrapped wrappedbout wrappedibout wrappedibout \bout bout ibout \ her My own youth-I youth I youthI1m youthItm youth - Iim 1m tm now 31-was 31 was 31 - was sacrificed sacnficed to tonvahd tonvahd tonvalid nvahd parents I will not notnarry notnarry notnarry exceptbr exceptor exceptlOr narry , so I am alone except or lOr ! Maureen . ' Now Ralph has married again againIDd againtad agatemd IDd tad . married mamed a young girl gU'l gUl ' obviouslymfitted obviously obviouslyII1fitted obviouslyi II1fitted i fltted to handle a child chlld ot of five fivebe fivethe fivehe | be the Is pretty , , frivolous and doesn t trant trant trant rant Maureen But Ralph who has has11'0spered hasirospered hasirospered 11'0spered 110spered irospered ' bought a home and andIlaced and'laced andilaced Ilaced 'laced laced ' his son in a fine tine school is de deermined deermined deermlned ermined to have the child cluld Wlth with Wlthhem withhem withhem hem They have one servant a arillplno aPilipino arilipino rillplno Pilipino who has been with Wlth Ralph for forearr forearn lorears earr earn ; , except for what he does the thelew thesew theiew lew sew wife will wiU have to do everythingD everythmgD everythingo everythmg everything D o the way of housework and care carei cared careif i d my adored baby evenings will willlave w willlave lave to be sacrificed sacn1iced to staying at atIOme attome atlome IOme tome with Maureen and the new newrife newrife newrite rife ol of course won t like hke it It , , and may mayake mayeke mayake ake eke It out In dislike dislake for the child childFather childFather childFather Father Demands Daughter'Maureen Daughter Daughter"Maureen ' "Maureen Maureen 'Maureen " ' ' is not spoiled spoUed But she shel shee e . a . sensitive loving lovmg little thmg thing thmgmd thingand thingmd md and transplanting transplantmg her will go hard hardnth hardnth hardnth nth her She may become un unnanageable unnanageable unnanageable nanageable and troublesome The Thehought Thebought Thebought hought bought drives drlves me frantic I havetsked have haveIsked haveasked Isked asked Ralph outright to leave her her"here hervhere hervhere "here here vhere " she is happy In her home homemd homeaid homemd md aid school school , , , with pets games friends friendso o help her develop into a lovely lovelywomanhood lovelywomanhood lovelycomanhood womanhood , , , but he be pleads that he hewants hevants wants " , ants his daughter now I have bave carled car ' : led her through baby sicknesses sicknessesler sicknessesier . ler ier father has contributed contrlbuted neither neithertffort neithertffOit neithertffort tffort tffOit money , , time nor interest all allhese allhese allfaese hese years'My years years'My ' 'My My ' My own lawyer-an lawyer an lawyer - an old man manlays mansays manays lays says that I have no legal claim claimSut claimhit claimSut Sut hit there Is another snottier attorney here"ho herevho here hereno "ho ho vho " no feels that there are stronger strongerU'guments strongerarguments strongerirgumenta U'guments Uguments arguments ' than mere legal ones and andhat andhat andhat hat I have a chance of wmnmg winning What winningffhat wmnmgWhat winningWhat do you think is the probab1l1ty probability probabilitya probab1l1tyn probabilityn n a case of this kind7 kind kind7I ' I have wired Mary Lee by no nopeans nopeens nopeans peans peens to be foolish fool1sh enough to at- at at - ' attempt at1empt ' tempt 1empt 'empt empt any such litigation The ThethlId Thethird Thethild thlId third a * . father has not only the theJtrongest theitrongest thertrongest Jtrongest itrongest but the sole claim Mary.ee Mary .ee ee . . ee has nothing except the mem memtry memany memtty try any of five happy years of adopted adoptednotherhood adoptednotherhood adoptednotherhood notherhood If she is wise she will willIUl"render willRirrender willwrrender IUl"render IUlrender Rirrender " Maureen with as much muchadvice muchidvice muchtdvice advice idvice and encouragement as she sheIan shetan shetan Ian tan instill into a child chlId of five and'eIJY.Iin and ' emaln 'eIJY.Iin eIJY.Iin eIJYIin ematn . . . friendly fnendIy with Ralph and hisnew his hisew , lew new ew wife wlte so that she will be able to toItep tostep toitep Itep step la In and help when the step stepnother stepnother stepnother nother finds the problem too much muchOr mucrtor ! Or r her as she well mayLaws mayLaws may mayLaws Laws are made tor for the greatesood greatest greatestfood food ( ood of the greatest number In the thelI1ajorlty themajority thiMajority lI1ajorlty majority of cases They can take takeso taki10 10 so account of personalities and of ofpeclal ofspecial oipecial peclal special , situations Unless Ralph can canDe canse caiBe De se proved an unfit guardian for forIdaureen toUaureen Idaureen aureen nothing can take her away awayI awayi awa ' , i I . . C C1 -I I -1 1 - Iam 1em t am em al slain elmre M , , at:8D at8D : txcept except ' for tSawesn Maureen- Maureen . . - ' A PARENTS RIGHTNatural RIGHT Natural atur l parents have thefirst the thefirst thefirst first and best right nght to theirchildren theIr theIrclnldren theirchildren clnldren children This Thu right ts IS fixedIn fixed inthe In Inthe inthe the laus laws laus"of lausof , , o " ol olever fevery f every ever everystate ) ' state . . . Occa Occatonally Occastonally Occasionatly tonally stonally $ , these laws may result 1 I 1In Iin lm In some injustice , , as tJJ in the case cave caseconsIdered caveconsidered caseconsidered consIdered consIderedIn in this thu issue issueA ISsueA issueA A young mother , dying dytng soon soonalter soonafter soonafter alter after her baby'was babywas baby wtJJ ' was born , tJJked asked tJJkedher askedher askedher her fnend friend to care for it Thebaby The Thebaby Thebaby baby , Maureen , , grew into mto acharming a acharming acharming charming charmingand andattractwe andattractive and attractive attractwe childNow chld child chldNow childNow , Now her father , who has paul paid paidno paidno . no attention to Maureen for forfive forfive forfive five years , and has htJJ not con con- co contributed contributed - tributed trlbuted to her support , , wantshis wants wantshu wantshis hu his daughter He is marriedagain marned married marnedagain marriedagain again , and andIS is fairly farly , prosperous prosperoru prosperoruThe prosperousThe prosperousThe The mother's mothers ' friend frumd , Mary MaryLee MaryLee MaryLee Lee , , who cared1000lngly cared lovingly 1000lngly for forMaureen forMaureen forMaween Maureen during dunng the tryingyears trymg trying trymgear tryingyears years ) ear . 'of of ' babyhood , , doesn't doesnt doesn'tuant doesn'twant doesn'ttLant doesnttLant ' ' uant want , to give gve , up the child chld , She Sheplan Sheplans Sheplans plan plans . to fight for Maureen incourt In Incourt incourt court , although althoughshe she .he he . has haJ haJno no noadoptIon noadoption noadoption adoptIon papers , or any legalclaim legalclaim legal claimfrom claim claimfrom from him Maureenas Maureen \as as \ has cost Ralpb Ralph Ralpbnothing Ralphnothing Ralphnothing nothing She cost one woman vAoman woman her herlife herlife herlife life and another five years of love lovecare lovecare lovecare care expense time effort But the thelaw thelaw thelaw law hands her over to Ralph as I a Imatter amatter matter of courseCase courseCase course courseCase Case of Unfaithful tnfalthfnl WUe Wife WUeThere WifeThere WifeThere There was another case in which whichthe whichthe whichthe the law was even stranger A youngwife young youngwde youngwife wde wife desperate at the coldness and andduUness anddullness anddullness duUness dullness ot 01 of . an older husband wenl went wenlaway wentaway wentaway away with a younger lover set up upan upan upan an ideally IdeaIIy blissful little httle Bohemian Bohemianmenage Bohemianmenage Bohemianmenage menage had a year or two of radl radi radlant radiant radiant ant happiness happmess and then went to her herhusband herhusband herhusband husband to plead for a divorce dlvorce be because because because cause a child chUd was expected The Thehusband Thehusband Thehusband husband not only refused the dI dIvorce divorce dlvorce vorce but claimed clalmed the child chlld as his hisas hisas hisas as it would be born while wtule she was wasstlU wasstill wasstill stlU still legally his wife we And bis his rlaun elaim rlaunwas elaimwas plaimwas was sustainedAga1n sustainedAgain sustained sustainedAgain Again Aga1n m a certain certam western state stateit stateIt stateIt it , jwas was formerly the law that if 1f a ahusband ahusband ahusband husband discovered proof of a wife s slmmoral simmoral iimmoral lmmoral immoral action even though it hadbeen hadbeen had been committed years before hel her helmarriage hermarriage marriage to him tum hum he could claim claun an anannulment anannulment anannulment annulment of his marriage marrlage and full fullcustody fullcustody fullcustody custody of his Ws children Fortunately Fortunatelysuch Fortunatelysuch Fortunatelysuch such a law would only onIy rarely be In Invoked inyoked inyoked voked yoked and It was recently repealed.The repealedThe repealed . . The absurdity of claiming that first firstthere firstthere firstthere there was no marriage and second secondthe secondthe secondthe the father had upon the children chlldren the theclalm theclaim theclaim clalm claim that only legitimacy legltllnacy gives giveswas giveswas giveswas was too patent and the law was wasswept wasswept wasswept swept awayBut awayBut away awayBut But before it was swept away it itwas itwas itwas was brought to public publ1c attention , by a ahusband ahusband ahusband husband father of tour four who was wasmaintaining wasmaintaining wasmaintaining maintaining a very affectionate affectaonate re relationshlp relationship relationship lationshlp lationship with a certain certam widow In Inhis inhis inhis his neighborhood He had dlSCOV discov discovered discovered , ered early Indiscretions on the part partof partof partof iniquitouslaw mlqultouslaw of his wife W1fe and cited this tbJs mlqultous iniquitous law it was maintained and the thefour thefour thetour four small children were turned over overto overto overto to the widow who promptly prompUy mar marne married marneo ne ried . . their father The mother went wentaway wentaway wentaway away and shortly afterward took tookher tookher tookher her own life hfe This is a true caseLaws caseLaws case caseLaws Laws aren area t always just 'ust ust ' and laws lawscan lawscan lawscan can be changed But the law that thatgives thatgives thaigives gives the surviving parent first claimon claim claimon claimon on a child is as old as Solomon Solomonand Solomonand Solomorand and never will be revoked And one oneof oneof on onof < of the sharpest lessons life teache teachel teaches teachelus teachesus ; us from the time we are bables babies bableswalkmg babieswalking babieswalking walkmg walking Isthat on the grass in the park Is 1 ; that it never pays to fight the law |