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Show In the end all our fears were idle. The two came back to each other after every separation. Jonathan finished college summa cum laude and prepared for work, equipped with, ample scholarships . Mary did w ell in a job for two years. Then the two of them took matters into their own hands. I remember the evening they came to see me, a winters evening just before Christmas when snow lay on the ground and I sat before the fire in the living room, listening to a Brahms symphony. They wralked in, hand in hand, their cheeks rosy with cold. Mary and I are going to be married Jonapost-gradua- te than announced. In June Mary added. Who she was, at last We talked until the fire was embers, and for Christmas he gave her a ring. I went away then for some months abroad but I hurried back for the Reginald Dovis not have missed it for any occupation! Yes, it was a day in June, a hot afternoon. We went to the little church where Mary had been baptized and where each Sunday she had attended services. That day the altar was festooned in flowers and I was given a seat of honor at the front, escorted there by a handsome young man in dark trousers and white jacket. The church filled quietly. Her parents entered and took their places. The wedding march rang out. We rose. The young groom waited for his best man who was her adopted brother. I turned where I stood, unwilling to lose an instants sight of Mary. Her four bridesmaids came first, the maid of honor her adopted sister, in apple-gree- n taffeta. Behind them all she came, in white satin and lace veil and flowers, hand on her fathers arm, face radiant with joy and beauty. The tears come to my eyes now as they came that day when I looked at her, a bride. They are not wedding. I would sentimental tears, and were not on that day. They were, they are, tears of joy and fulfillment. I remember the childs face, the hopeless child so many years ago, the lost child, and I see it now, transfigured by love and confidence. She knew at last who she was. So did we all. And as if this wrere not enough, the final touch was added to the perfect day. For when the ceremony was over, when she was Jonathans wife, and the two of them had almost run down the aisle, Jonathans mother crossed the aisle and took my hand. I want you to know, she said. I want you to know that we consider it an honor to have Mary in our family. We her. c That was last June. Now on Easter morning I as think of wrhat was best in all the year, I think of Mary on her wedding day and know a solid joy. Is this not resurrection, that the lost is found, the hopeless fulfilled, the sorrowful made glad? I answer yes, in strong affirmative. ( the end love Pix Pearl Buck, America' 8 most distinguished woman of letters T winner of Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes, author of The Good Earth, has had a lifelong the orphaned, the handicapped, lost children devotion to children, especially those of mixed parentage. She has raised fire adopted children in addition to her own. In 1919, she founded Welcome House, which finds homes for orphans of mixed heritage. From its beginning near her home in Pennsylvania, Welcome House has spread across the U.S. Miss Bucks newest philanthropic activity: the Pearl Buck Foundation ( address Philadelphia S), devoted to rescuing children left in foreign lands by American servicemen. Above: with her granddaughter Susan and two of her adopted children Mary Chieko, left, and Joanna, right. Asian-Americ- an THIS WEEK Magazine April 18, 1965 5 |