Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1927-01-30 | Page 60 | Helpless Little Victims of Their Parents' Loves and Hates

ss S Victims Ss Of Sf Their Parents Parent eros Lovec and King Solomon was called WHEN vj upon to determine which was the real mother of a 1 disputed b babe be he sent for a sword bearer and threatened to have the infant cut into two parts But of course a divorce court judge in humane America can make mako no such uch brutal gesture as ns that that-in that in such a case for instance as that of Lydon Burchand Burch Burchand Burchand and his wife Isabelle who will soon bo be contesting for possession of Marilyn Burch one year ear old and who is five hc When father and mother stand before him pleading for tor custody of minor children of the union all he can do is isto isto isto to decide whether father or mother Is the more fitting guardian and whether complete or divided custody is the proper thing All he can do for the helpless victims of their parents loves and hates is make them half orphans or give them a time part-time father and a time apart time part mot mother er Once again the attention of the public is directed t toward ward the real victims of divorce by the sensational Burch case and the tho equally sensational divorce of Janet Beecher actress by Dr Richard n H Hoffman of New Kew York Of course Miss Beecher has appealed from the verdict and of course Mrs Burch will fight hard for her little ones Whichever er way the litigation goes how how- however however ever young Richard Hoffman offman and the Burch children face life deprived of half halfa a childs child's heritage Home without a mother or mother or a father is father is only half a ahome ahome ahome home When the absent mother is dead at least the child can be told she has gone away to te heaven But when he knows she is walking about enjoying herself the knowledge of her seeming negligence is likely to be demoralizing Agencies exist for the solo purpose of caring for the children of ot destitute couples of the slums poor widows un- un unmarried un unmarried married mothers orphans-in-fact orphans No agency has yet et been invented to prevent the untold demoralization and suffering of the divorce court orphans of the well well- well well-to-dp to Nearly every celebrated divorce action has such victims who are usually dismissed witha with a curt paragraph de- de describing de describing scribing them as the minor children whose custody is at stake Children hildren who are in the same plight as young Hoffman and the Burches num num- number number ber tens of thousands They are no longer self-conscious self at boarding school Custody of the Burch children came Into controversy a few tew months ago when Lydon Burch of Yonkers grandson of the late lato Bishop Burch discovered his wife had run off with his own mothers mother's husband Cap Captain bin Arnaldo Marson for for- formerly for formerly merly an Italian army officer Marson and ond Mrs Burch were arrested at San Francisco charged with violating the Mann Act If he has his way his children will not see their mother again They will be to do well well-to-do well bred and well educated Theoretically they are masters of their fates tates but they ca cannot ot call mama any J more when they fall tall down do and hurt themselves Deprived of ot her son Janet Beecher sums up the case for the children in Mrs Isabelle isa- isa isabelle belle Burch Burchand Burchand and andone one of the children she a aban ban Boned when she ran away with f her law in n na a OIl 17 b 15 summing up for tor herself She says My little boy needs me What child of five does not need a mothers mother's loving care The other evening he ho telephoned me while his father was away He lie cried over the telephone When I asked him what the matter was he said eaid he had just gotten the wishbone of a chicken at din dinner er and had wished for for God to send his mother back The Countess of Dunbar and the little son of whom she has re- re recently re recently regained possession c It t o I sS r i y 4 1 1 r rM M Jane Beeche r and the son over whose custody she is fighting with 4 her divorced husband ar j