gcyj "-r' VW'' "?'' 'HWlftTWWJrPWW - ' ''W'wrHw-Y,jfr' v '' - ''i wmirjF'-tn gt Kl4.'?ffTM7BTI M- "'a ' T nt , fr&yA r'vxyi.rii'i'jii JIT . rv - - wf --., - T,- rt. , j - -rV .1 EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1922 DESERTED fVIFE, 10 YEARS IN POORHOUSE, FINDS SON SHE SAIV LAST OVER HALF CENTURY BEFORE ii M m ,i"tf &' Kindly Fate Brings Strange Reunion for Mary Reper, Whose Husba?id Toek Her Children Away Fifty-eight Years Age PAIN OF SEPARATION W AS PARTL Y ERASED FROM HER I MIND BY LONG SUFFERING tt T t Sv J 7 7 fY 7 r low rr tin kjhuu one lest as a JSabv and With $10,000 Frem Her Errant Spouse's Pension, Last Bits of Her Saga Are Happy Ones mHE town ei ncnren ib uusiue me eanKa 01 tne piaciu canal ever which ere-laden barges travel languorously but steadily toward the Lake Erie ports. 1' 'ins net cnanEed much in sixty years. A few mere hundreds, te the population, perhaps; a few manufactories idded, a new set of dominant families, a Chamber of Commerce, maybe but essentially it is ene of these pretty survivals te be found with decreas ing frequency in that section of the Middle West. Or, except for the flatness of the surrounding landscape, it might be I New England town; the same wide, brick-guttercd streets; the same mat many-gabled houses; the same sycamores whitewashed te their middles; the same churches with the same names; the same slew purpose purpese Ifulness in the leek of the inhabitants. It is New England in bleed, spirit ind traditions. It is here in Hebren that the saga j of Mary Reper cheeses te begin, in the two decades preceding the Civil War. The earlier numbers arc net is complcte as one might wish te have them. These who might supply what is wanting in them are dead or cannot remember, and Mary her self is new se old as te confuse her memories. Ecr Wooing Came Along Canal Pathway Let us believe, at least, that when ihe was Mary Harris she was the prettiest girl in Hebren; net a belle, ht better than a belle slim vaisted, ruddy-cheeked and black eyed, one of these types produced by the early American life; te whose culture the butter churn contributed as much as the harmonium; te whom Fate might with equal carelessness give for wife te a statesman, a barge owner, a missionary, a banker or a tcra prodigal. Fate gave her, of course, te Jim Reper, as much in his way a type of the milieu as herself. That it was a fated thing there can be no doubt ing, for from the moment he tied the first bag of sugar for her and sited her te walk along the bypath of the canal, there was contentment en neither side until they were mar ried less than n month later. Jim did net belong te Hebren. He Was from ever Springfield way. As t7 one said of him, there was ething wrong somewhere, for he kd deserted the farm that his hther had left him, and after knock about various corners of Ohie at list reached Hebren, where he man ned te get a job as clerk in the general store. He was then twenty we, lank, clqar-eyed, en the whole father handsome and a geed bit of a fve. He was no creat hand for "rk, but he cot en well cneuch with Id Seth Kiley, who owned the store. erhaps because of nelitics. for Jim. fe old Seth, was a rip splittin' nienist, a3 indeed were most pee peo poe 's thereabouts. The eaily married months of Jim id Mary seem te hnve hnnn nnn of these rural idyls which occur some times. Them is nn rlnnht thnt Mnrv yorshiped QVery nnk jnrtef this wuew who was the best jumper, the N queiter and the best rider in I Wing County as who might net ? I re seems. ftny. i,:n ,,..: tn I 1 tb.t ine until mbi I "C jumped rathnr less, te have Wen rarely alone, te have been nt queit games infrequently and te ave confined arguments te store 'ours. 'Lets of Life te Live," Is Mary's Optimism AFTER fifty-eight wandering and years of privation, Mary Reper says there is still "lets of life te live." Optimism that spirit which has buoyed her up for mere than half a cen tury, still dominates her life. "I want te see Charles new that I have Joie ivith me again," she says. "Seme day before I die he will come back, I am sure of it. "And there is still lets of life te live." Jim went out of Hebren with the rest of the Twenty-sixth Ohie Vol unteer Infantry. Mnry and his in fant son and old Kiley were, of course, among the crowd that watched them march from the court house and disappear ever the read that led across Licking County te the railroad. Hew much Jim did in the war is net very clearly known. Possibly a great deal, for his regiment was at Gettysburg, helped te storm Lookout Mountain and followed Sherman across Georgia. Twice during the war he leturned te Hebren. The first time there was a bad wound in his left side, and Mary, half grateful te the rebel who had made it, nursed him, almost re gretfully, back te strength again. He was the whole time impatient te be back with the army, and when at last he did set off again it was seem ingly a much happier day for him than when he had first moved out with his company. Net much later he was back again, with the furrow of a Confederate bayonet across his forehead. This time a sergeant came te efTer him an honorable discharge for wounds, and the palpitating wife heard him refuse it stormily. Somewhere between Atlanta and the coast a hit of shell tore away three of his right fingers. Such a man could de little mere for eman cipation or the Constitution, and he was discharged willy-nilly and sent back te Hebren. Anether -.en had been born In the in t.rvnl nntl christened Charles Reper. The baby delighted him, and he swore te make the child the greatest tighter of men or wildcats alive. He tallied often like this and an alarm, of which she had beginnings during his fur loughs, began te 6rew steadily in Mary. Silent, Meedy Soldier Returned Frem the War Jim was. net nt nil the Mine old Jim. Me never beaMed. Me made ambigu ous threats. He never talKed politics sometimes he would net talk at all for dnN, net even te bin wife and children, but sit Wiln In hand In fient of Jiis home, watching the sky. Kiley offered the job at tint Mere, but Jim made no mew te take it. Sometimes he would net eat arid pretended net te henr when feed nn effeied. At ether times he would suddenly accuse hit. wife of try- i.i.. 1 I.I ,1A. .... 1 n jy, i f - ilng Hi starve nun nun um mii .. lter a recrnitine- sere runt, ill I i f .,.,,.m...l l,lmr nn thn In. ,l..i, ,, n r. - iiiiiiiiT ui ni'i-iitii-e I.....B- .- ... n U1UC coat find ran nnil 1 flit W Heard Call of War and Shouldered a Musket At the end of a vear n hev wan E"; About the sumo time the ck'ng County Clarien went fren- le te press with the new nf Kfi- "len and Fert Sumter. Net many li. . I.. "OUSers with n front nwnt.li of '" Btrinn ! ... 1 . ---I'- ill WIUIH illllJUIUCU "II AD0ren f irn...... . . . , . no iviiey s store ana tacueu .ii Llncln's proclamations te the ihf Wl, mu co,ue out te see n' Was UP. renrl it ntfe- fh ..- 7l? shoulder and was his before "Waned reading, st.mt. "Shell Hlieck," of course, and rap idly becoming Infectious but theie wus In these dii.is no such term and no such implicated understanding. A period followed In which Jim left the cottiii'e niid eumc back Irregularly, hemetlmcfl net for weeks. !n this time the whole burden of support for her tell and her chlldrtn fell upon the J there was none who could tell her. No body had heard of them. He hud been seen with the children In the next town en the day after, but hed net stepped there. Thnt was all. It was mere than nnturnlly cruel, because a sort of 6urvey hud taken place in her memory. She could net remember the absurd, morbid Jim of the months after the war. Only Jim, the handsome clerk, who could jump bet ter, ride better, talk better, thnii any body else. Ilrave Jim, wonderful Jim who had been the drat te join up for freedom. Whatever had happened surely was of her doing. Inenne, she must have been. Yes, certainly, in in Bnne. lie would understand once she put It te blm that way. liut hew was she te find him and explain? There wbb, of course, no nnswer te that and by and by she grew te understand It. And here the bugu very nearly steps. She was, of course, with out money. Fer a while she did odd bits of work around Hebren and liunlly "hired out" with a family et Londen. They treated her decently, and In time some of the old beauty came back te her. There were many men of a little substance In Londen who were net ashamed te court this hired girl, and her geed-natured employer told her she should ask the courts for dlierce. She would net hear the suggestion twice. Jim, she wus sure, had forgiven her and she would wait until she found him or he found her. What money was paid her she spent en advertisements and detectives. After Beme'years the family for whom she worked moved te Lee's Summit, Me. She went with them, but seen after her employer died and the family was dis rupted. She became housekeeper for another family. Hut she was getting old and the work grew tee hard. She became a childnurse. Kindly Employer Get Her Inte Heme for Aged Years followed ethers until the one that told her she was seenty-three. Husband Marched Away te War and Came Ba c k ' 'Shell-Shocked, ' ' and Then Left With Their Children and Disappeared LIVES ONL Y A FEW MILES FROM PLACE WHERE WIFE MOURNED FOR LOVED ONES Strange Chance Brings Brightness te Drab Life, and Government Meney Cemes as Additional Boen te Brighten Her Remaining Days tee old. This employer wus a kindly i te her the whole home collected about man and did the best he could. He)nr, as much excited as herself. Peer managed te get her admitted Inte a lery's worn wits could net encempase fairly comfortable home for old women at Little Blue. Perhaps It tells semct'iluj of what Mary was like thnt she became known there as "Mether." A rare tribute, rather, te be known as "Mether" among old women in a home. She talked often of her tragediea ns nearly all old people de, and strangely the worst thing that might have hnnpennd for her peace would have been that she should suddeily forget thpm Here anyway, a suggestion of the ort was nvcr wasted upon Mary. The placing ff advertisements had becem-s a sort of ritual. One morning, almost fifty -eiht jenr Mrs. Mary Reper and her son Jpseph Science Could Have Prevented Clouds Frem Mrs. Reper's Life GCIENCE that science which is healing the scars, physical and mental, of war victims could have prevented most of the life trag edy of Mary Reper. But it was net until the last great war that humani tarian turned toward alleviating the aftermath of the battlefields for these who came through their ordeal still bearing its marks. "Jim" Reper was "shellshecked." True, the term was net known in these days after the Blue had grappled with the Gray and the survivors liad come home. These who tried te take up their old places, but who relapsed into moodiness and fits of ill temper, were merely called "queer." Fer a while their mannerisms were put up ivith, then the cause was forgotten. Se it was with Reper. As iw moody spells grew he found himself receiving less and less sympathy. Then came his desertion. And te the last of his days he bore the mark of his "quecrncsa." But today it is different. Uncle Sam w spending millions te take his soldier boys who are just as Reper was moody, taciturn and morose, and by the latest healings of science put them back as nearly at "par" as when they marched away te France. Occupational therapy, vocational training these are some of the things untheught of in "Jim" Reper's day. Had they been even dreamed of, Mary Reper's ders might have had much mere sunshine instead of shadow. rounding shoulders of the wife, who had watched herself growing dull -eyed and heavy-footed, and at last bitter, for stories were brought unkindly te her. One evening, Jim, uncouth and un shaven, appeared after a fortnight's nbsence. lie at once demanded supper. He watched with a stiff stare while she piepnred it. As she was carrying a dish of meat te the table her own eyes met this stare. She let fall the dish nnd the next instant Jim was en his feet shouting an oath. Just Put en His Hat and Walked Frem Heme At this sound the bitterness in Mary strained nnd broke. She began a long cold Indictment of his sins, te which be listened in strange silence. At the end of It he put en his hat, walked te the erlb in the corner nnd lifted the youngest boy te his shoulder. An though stricken the wife watched him. She saw him go Inte the next room, heard a word or two between him and the ether boy. She tried te comprehend what was happening Something dreadful hut what? It was net until he cnine buck into the room drugging four-yenr-eld Jeseph by the arm that she found speech. "What a re you doing?" she asked in a dull voice. He answered net word, but but toned the boy's coat ever his night gown nnd picked up the shawl that was used as the baby's wrap. The next thing she knew he was taking them out e! the deer. Mnry watched them go as though it were a dream. The deer closed en them and she could hear them going off be hind the window. What could It all mean? She puzxled quietly for a llttle w hlle as one will ever abstractions. Then as though some one had shaken her it enme te her all at once. She rushed out of the house and frnntlcnlly down the read after them. If he beard her coming he gave no sign, though Jeseph turned his head and shouted te her. When, breathless, she came full upon him she pulled at his coat. "Jim! Jim! Where are you going? His answer was te push her away. Hut she took the edge of his coat again, "Jim I Tell me where you are going! Men me wnere you are taking the babies!" He shifted the infant en his shoulder ... ...... Rilgntiy and with 1.1s free arm gnve her' lng. She was holding a candle up the n micili tlin. at.... 1... 1. .1.1 I . . . . ' .. i-m.. .mm. ni itci ucuuurni en 10 the read When she had picked herself up he was disappearing down the hill. Shu ran this way and that, tearing tit her clothes, weeping and shouting, When a little later neighbors found her they : 'r 4 im ?w il ' wfif Car M J 5ts ilfl fi i could muke nothing of what she wasl Buying, unu ei mem toeK tier te nls home. Forgetfulness Covered Pains of Her Lesses Fer a long time after that Mary was sick. She did net nsk for her husband or her babies. She had forgotten them. She had never had husband or babies. She was a little girl gathering cow slips and bluebells In the fields along the canal. She was sitting with her mother In front of the fire helping te sew together little silk squares of vari ous patterns. She was stnglnB with tee ether children en a Sunday morn uui-nmuirii te ecu, tuut trigiitcneil at the shadows and straining for the com forting hum of words from below where her parents sat talking. Very slowly, Indeed, did the ruthless reality return te her, and when she did at last ask where were Jim and Jeseph and Charles Mrs. Jeseph Reper In that year her employer suddenly went bankrupt. Anether job, of course, could net be found for her. She was te the daj from the one en which her husband had left her lying en the read, there wus an answer. As It wqb handed quite what was happening te her. Sbe handed the letter te some one te explain te her. It was a long letter and signed "Your son, Jeseph Heper " Wanderer Found Haven Near te His Old Heme New Jim Reper had moved te Colum bus, net sixty miles from Hebren, found a job there and raised his two children in the belief their mother was dead. It again Mary Itoper's saga nearly ends, wns net much of a life for any of them. WnR It some philanthropic outsider. I He let the boys remain In school until or one of the ether old women who, ' they were ten. Then he sent Jee te nfler M.iry had been at the lui:i nnd i black beets in front of the courthouse tnlldne- of it for ten rears, suggested i and Charlie te sell pnpeM near the. nn advertisement in the National 0. A. R. monthly? It is net clear. Hut, railroad stntlen. As for himself, he sometimes hud a job and sometimes none. His taciturnity grew. He talked te them little and never about the war or their mother. A question en cither subject would threw him into fury. When Jeseph wns twenty and Charles seventeen he suddenly deserted them and went te live with a comrade In Cleve land. Twe yeurs later he died nnd wn. burled In the soldiers' let of the Erie cemetery. Charles seen afterward began a reaming life, and In a few jears had dropped from his brother's knowledge. Jeseph remained In Columbus, found a geed job and married. Rejoins Sen She Lest Nearly Lifetime Age One morning recently Mrs. Jeseph Reper arrived at the old women's home in Little Blue te announce that she waa I going te take Mary home te Celumbns, There were some te say that even yet .unry aiu net understand. However she went willingly, nnd some hours later her son was embracing h,.r en fne station platform at Oe;uuibus. They took her home and Installed her In mere comfort than she l,a,i known in man a ear. il vet there are tlniCK when they tee m nec tiitjin that she ('eniprelicnds, Ji'r seieial times she has tehl tLein, as she wen,. I n new jri.ieiilt.iiiri, of tli liUfc bnnd who left her jenrH age, talking with him his two sons, unci who will some duy come back Here ends the saga of Mary n0per. And jet net quite. It o.viured ie veme one that if Mary were the widow of a soldier, pension money Wui due her. .Somebody wrote te W'nshiiigte.i about It, iiml the answer (niii.j t linfc sue mis a runiiui cmi-ii t ,,.., t,(l .-Minimi - Mliey I,nve tried I tell her of it Hut this, tee, she fulls te uiiiivrsiauu. Here ends the sags of Mary I i I it ! t f s is00! 1 ,.-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers