The San Francisco call. [volume], February 23, 1913, Image 8

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
COURTING
ffftTES, we three sisters, living in
X the same house, were wooed
at the same time, became engaged at
the same time and probably will be
married at the same time. But why
f should so much Interest attach to the
1 circumstance?"
Miss Ruth Kronholm leaned for
ward and opened her brown eyes very
wide as she asked thß question. Her
sister, Miss Dagmar Kronholm, sec
onded it Her younger sister,' Miss
Fannie—well, Miss Fannie did not say
a word. She only smiled, straightened
her shoulders, then looked very severe
and shook her pretty blond head
vigorously.
"Ruth and Fannie think I am talk-'
ing too much," Miss Dagmar observed.
Just as if it would be possible to
talk too much about such an import
ant occurrence!
Cupid is studying social, economics.
He has cast aside old metfiods of rin
dividualistic romance dependant upon
quiet, cozy nooks and the exclusive use
of the front parlor and has adopted
the pleasing and thoroughly modern
system of community interest.
At New Britain, Conn., he has I
taken his place in the family living
room and there, right under the very
eyes of father, mother, two younger
Bisters and a brother, has so success
fully aimed arrows that three young
iwomen and three young men have
been gently led along almost to the
words "and they lived happily ever
after."
The brides-elect are the three eld
est daughters of Mr. and Mrs. John
Kronholm. The announcement of
their triple engagement has had an
jonexpected result; It has brought a
email army of energetic reporters and
anxious young people besieging the
family residence, vigorously clamor-:
lag to know just how it all came
about.
Where else might one reasonably,
expect to obtain helpful hints on
"How to Win and How to Keep a
Bweetheart," "How to Make
Under Difficulties," "Three Best
Ways of Winning the Approval of a
Future Mother-in-law," and "How to
Teach Younger Brothers and Sisters
to Know the Time for Disappearing."
At "first, the Misses Kronholm re
fused to give any information. But
one day a stranger, realizing the im
portance of the question, actually
crossed the threshold of the Kron
holm home.
'"Sh!" The warning came from the
head of the stairway. The stranger
gazed upwards.
A pair of blue eyes peered cautious
ly down and apparently decided that
Zht, visitor standing below was harm
less. An instant later, the owner of
the blue eyes—a round-faced, rosy
cheeked girl—descended the stairs-.
"I am Miss Dagmar Kronholm," she
remarked as she waited for an ex
planation from the stranger.
"Who is it Who is it?"
A still, small voice from above was
heard with surprising distinctness.
Miss Dagmar did pot reply. A mo
ment later a tall, slender young
woman with dark brown hair and
liquid-brown eyes came slowly down
the stairway.
"My elder sister, Ruth," explained
ML iii ONI MELOir
Miss Dagmar, by way of introduction.
"Yes, we are engaged to be mar
ried." The announcement was made
in chorus, but with dignity. The in
ference was plain that the Misses
Kronholm considered the fact of their
engagement a personal matter.
"We really can say nothing more,"
continued Miss Dagmar. "My father
is very angry now. Why, he put a
reporter out bodily yesterday!" Miss
Dagmar could not repress a smile at
the recollection. "It was all in the
paper this morning," she added, dryly.
"That's when Papa Kronholm 'got
his.'"
Then a third bride-elect appeared
at the head of the stairway. She was
very pretty, very youthful, very, very \
cautious. -Slowly she approached. At
the fourth step she, too, halted and,
leaning forward, added her keen,
blue eyes—the kind that can, upon
occasion, flash black—to the battery
already turned upon the one who had
dared to force an entrance into that
house.
"My younger sister, Fannie," again
explained Miss Dagmar, this time
somewhat fearfully. Evidently "my
younger sister Fannie" was a little
person to be held in some degree of
awe.
For one short moment the blue, the
brown and the blue-black eyes re
mained focused. Then they moved
slowly downward until the three sis
ters reached the door and Miss Ruth
expressed their united sentiments by
her pointed question.
But, however Mies Ruth may ques-!
tion, and whatever Miss Dagmar may
say, and however much Miss Fannie
may shrug her shoulders in dis
approval, Interest remains the same.
It was "Papa Kronholm" himself
who finally relented and, slapping his
hand upon his knee, laughingly ex
claimed, "Well, I admit we did have
some pretty lively times. The house
only has seven rooms and—there are
eight of us in our own family." He
laughed exactly like Ifcisß Dagmar.
"It was npt nearly so bad as Papa
made out," she said. "When the three
boys happened there at the same time
we all visited together-just as .any
one else would visit.
Was it merely hallucination or was
it really Cupid that gleefully whis
pered, "When Ruth and Carl had the
sofa in the parlor Dagmar and
Harold sat on the front stairs and
Fannie—well, Fannie didn't want any
one to know that she and Ernest
were engaged, but, of course, every
body guessed it when they persisted
sitting by themselves in the dining
room."
"The boys* are just like my own
sons, anyway," chuckled Papa Kron
holm, referring to Carl Strom, Harold I
Miss
Dagmar
Kronholm.
S. Carlson and Ernest Anderson.
"Mother and I thought for a while
that we might hay« to look up a
boarding place for ourselves outside,
but I guess the worst Is over now.
"Of course," he admitted,' "there
was a little side-stepping on the part
of the rest of the family, and I pre
• sums there were occasions when
i mother and I, just to be obliging, re
i tired somewhat earlier than we would
1 otherwise have done, but" —
"My father is a great joker," inter
] rupted Miss Dagmar. "We did not in
j sist upon having separate rooms in
which to receive our sweethearts at
all. That would have been impossible
—in our house. The whole family
was always around" —
Miss Dagmar paused abruptly. Miss
Ruth looked almost tearful. Miss
Cupid is study
ing social eco
nomics. He has
cast aside ole
methods of nidi
vidualistic ro
mance depend
ant upon quiet,
cosy nooks and
the exclusice us<
of the front par
lor and has adopt
ed the pleasing
and thorough*)
modern system
of community in
terest.
Fannie gazed in righteous indigna
tion. What WAS Papa Kronholm
laughing about?
"You should have seen them," he
began.
Then the veil of the immediate past
suddenly lifted. The picture was clear
and bright
Cupid, that mischievous little god,
| skipped merrily about the festal
[board on Christmas Day while Papa
Kronholm carved turkey and Mamma
Kronholm served cranberry sauce,
apparently blissfully oblivious of
three pairs of handß affectionately
clasped—under the table cloth.
And Papa Kronholm slapped his
knee at the recollection, glanced with
pride at his- three pretty daughters,
entrenched himself with newspapers
and laughed and laughed and laughed.
"THE MIDGET CARMEN"
ADVENTURESS
Charles Somerville
EVERY young woman of mod
erate circumstances—at leas!
every one who is equipped with
any degree of imagination
dreams and hopes and wishes
that some day she may be a
grand lady, with every luxury
she can ask. She wants to have
princes and millionaires at her
feet. She wants to be sought
after, admired.
Whether she works In an office
or in a shop, her day dreams are
much the same. She longs to
*wear silk gowns and jewels, to
ride in her own motor cars and
have hordes of servants to wait
upon her. She reads romantic
novels, and when she has finished
the last chapter she drops the
book In her lap and closes her
eyes and sees visions, charming
visions, lives through beautiful
love stories, of which she herself
is always the heroine.
These dreams don't come true,
at least not often. The Clnderal
las usually are limited to the
confines of the covers of a book.
Mary Jane Relnseimer, once of
Relgelsville, Pa., is an exception.
In a country hotel in Easton,
Pa., twelve years ago, Mary Jane
Reinseimer was a waitress. Her
surroundings disgusted her; her
mind was set on big things.
She wanted to see the world, to
be a part of it
"I want to live! I want to
live!" Tliat was her cry. And
to "live" meant to have money
without end—travel, culture —
everything about which,the story
books had told her.
"I am going to get out, of this,"
she determined. "I'm going to be
somebody. I'm pretty; men like
me; women who are no more at
tractive than I have these things.
Why shouldn't I have them?"
The difference between Mary
Jane and the others was that
Mary Jane didn't stop when she
had done her might and main to
make it come true, and It didn't
matter to her how she gained the
end. Her code was not that
countenanced by society, hut
, Mary Jane knew little of codes,
cared little for them. She wanted
to conquer.
She did conquer. Now she is thirty
years old, and all the things she
wished for are hers.
It remains to count the cost She
says she is happy. Perhaps she tells
the truth.
And all in twelve years has been
enacted this amazing transition.
Modern magic—surely.
What is she like, what has she of
beauty, wit and daring to have done
all this, to have flipped her prettily
arched foot in disdain of Easton, Pa.
At the age of eighteen she arrived
smiling and confident for her conquest
of New York; with startling success
she carried her campaign to Europe;
she jilted a duke, danced with the
Baron Rothschild of France and had
a score or more of New York no
tables, young and old, on the strings
of her enchantment. She won Georges
Enrico Creel, a Chilian multi-million
aire, for a husband.
She held Walter *de Mumm, scion
of .the "champagne" de Mumms of
Germany, for three years in abject
thralldom against the fury of his
family, and at his last faint effort to
break away from her lotus-flower in
fluence answered the attempt im
periously with the blaze of a revolver
—and three days later he, from his j
hospital cot, pleaded with her with
bouquets and billet fdoux for recon-" 1
ciliation.
Paris, which loves to give subrlquets,
has long called her the "Midget Car
men." But this is only a recogni
tion of her beauty and impulsiveness.
The answer to the question as to
whether she has beauty, wit and
daring is best given by a chronological
consideration of her achievements.
It is a little vague—her advent to
New York. The story is that she
went from Easton to Allentown, Pa.
Allentown is prettier than Pittsburgh
and quite as palpitant.
After Allentown it was New York.
She dabbled in- chorus work—dabbled
daintily, but she was not to be
found in the gay restaurant-conserva
tories of the ho! polloi. The little
waitress aimed with fine discernment
for the bull's-eye contained within
the inner circle of the conservative
risque. Her fame spread in a certain I
set —the young chaps who own or J
whose "guvnors" own those six-cyl
indered French cars and who drive
them in what appears to be a deter
mined effort to leave the earth—lt
was, indeed, a heavily gilt, edged
Mary Jane Reinselmcr.
coterie that ; knew; her at all 1 when she
I was In > New York. ■ . { ; .-; t '/■■_ ' .'{ "
■ Then Paris—her speech grown soft,
h«r grammar }j faultless, , her ; tongue :
familiar : to , the inte^persion9 ; -' of!
French •;phrases, her ;!, manner delect
able, % her smile a , subtle witchery. ;{'
{4Then— -gloom ';. immeasurable for allJ
—came Georges Enrico Creel, a Chil
ian of • great wealth. Georges ■ Enrico I
Creel had captured "Mrs. / Barnes of
New , York" for a bride! A Parisian i
magistrate ;: performed • the ■: wedding
office. Mesdames of { France with con
vent {: bred daughters had rigorously,
Ingeniously played for Georges Enrico-
Creel. S0- ■ :; ''i .w-':,,{;<;;7
"£i The > Creel {family } did not j like the
, marriage at all. J Primarily, they ob
jected because the bride was not a
Catholic. - She promptly became one
and -j there was a church marriage in
New York. ■ A ; handsome boy baby ■ re-'
warded the union. > ; ; \/:J;\:[.K\\ >%'\
? But ;; next—Senora Creel .;■ was > found
standing on I the ; deck ? of ; an outgoing
ocean liner, i and before : all • the report
ers j she She had J decided, ■ most i
reluctantly she averred, ; that shej
would have to separate :1 from -\ the j
"handsomest man in the ■ world." She'
would, in France, seek a legal , part
ing.'-''";;^.;/;:"^"';v-/-'v > ■;;;;- .: •■ ■>;
• Walter,' de Mumm appeared. The
scene * of their -• meeting ; was the same
as .that j with Georges I Enrico ? Creel —
the sunlit lawn, the brilliant setting
of v; Longchamps. ' An extraordinary
tall and slender youth is de Mumm,
who, despite the general idea this side
of the water concerning : him, '■ is not
French. The family ■ is -. German. v r Of
course ''. the scion of ; the champagne
family ,■ has a big fortune —one at his
immediate ; disposal: and more to : _ come.
Hβ is not only handsome, but very
modern, daring, sporty. . ; . . •.
vi Quite openly the ; brilliant f Mme.
Barnes-Creel \ expressed her admiration
for de Mumm. She demoted the dap
per, slender ; Creel of : the > "perfectly,
adorably small hands and feet," : the
"handsomest j man in the world." ■■ On j
the . new pedestal of ; her; admiration i
she ; placed the • lean, 'laughing,■'boyish' j
de >■ Mumm. She conferred upon him I
the decoration of "handsomest man;
in "the- world." . / v • - '*
■ Apparently she had been wholly sin- 1
cere. Either romance" has lasted" three i
years and she has done what she; had '
never conspicuously done before—!
flouted conventions. ' ■ !
The rumor that do Mumm would \
surely marry her .was offset by the j
fact that as a Catholic - she could; not j
J divorce Creel of Chill. There * was alwi
the opposition of the de Mumm family.
while,-the objections of da
Mumm's a family j became • very strong.
It was finally impressed upon him that
he • must tear • himself away from the
influence of ; the charming American.
He tried. ,_ He told her one morning
that he had to attend to pressing busi
ness I down; in Wall \ street and dashed
off in a cab to a steamship bound for
Cherbourg—just got up the gangplank
in the nick of time. { " >,.{
T ?Not long afterward Mme. Barnes-
Creel ' closed her -r apartment in New
York. '{i She shipped all her .belongings
to Paris. Reconciliation bloomed like
a r hyacinth at dawn. '
Several)' times afterward they quar
reHed ' and parted, de Mumm every lit
tle while ;; becoming ; conscience-strick
en regarding": his failure to comply
with the duties ( of a scion of his house
—as hie family saw them. But always
he, came back.' ; :■'■■'' ■■;'- -•: ;
{ Once again the efforts of the de
Mumm family prevailed. Dβ Mumm
laid 'before> her the hopelessness
of their j situation—her Catholic mar
riage; the i young son of her marrfage
to Creel, now at an English school, a
lad eight * years \ old. They must really
separate. -{ It * 5 was necessary in support
of family s requirements that he marry
In the conventional manner of wealthy .
Europeans—a bride selected In the
regular old-fashioned manner — for
family, tradition, wealth, social de
sirability.-. ;*"j J /- \
■ Mme. Barnes-Creel - had heard that
sort of talk before. When de
proposed 'fav farewell : dinner at Maxims
she indulgently smiled. After the din
ner • he , put off saying the farewell and
accompanied her J to her "abme. ■ There
he told her goodby. This was really
final, he said.- : {
; Then ■ it was shown that in? Parisian
boulevardier who had first f named her
the v "Midget "Carmen"' knew well his '■
psychology. From . her escritoire ?l\ n .
took out a r small gold-mounted pistol
and shot de Mumm; once—
He was carried from the Rue del ;
Belles Feuilles and r into ; an ambulance.
He did " not 's die. • He 'Scoffs now at tho ,
idea .,' that ,; she could possibly have
meant to kill. One wound was in bis
shoulder;-: the other t .in^. his thigh. {
Lastly, , he '• is .'pleading■{with her ; tor
forgiveness. \ She is indignantly , deny
ing that when , she was 'shooting him
he "so far forgot himself" as to strife—
her roughly, fiercely, as the * report", a«.
first weal out.. : . .,
' What will the end be7 >'.{