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EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1922
DESERTED
fVIFE, 10 YEARS IN POORHOUSE, FINDS
SON SHE
SAIV LAST OVER HALF CENTURY BEFORE
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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
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