Evening Star Newspaper, September 14, 1936, Page 22

LIFE OF DIONNES IS REVOLUTIONIZED Father Stranger to Former Friends—Makes Money at Stard. ' The heavy responsibility that has come to Dr. Allan Roy Defoe and the changes in the personality and ways of life of Oliva Dionne that have been brought by the quintuplets are described here in the fifth of a series of seven dis- patches giving a close-up view of | the Callander scene and the chief | actors in it. | BY IRA WOLFERT. ALLANDER, Ontario, Septem- ber 14—Dr. Alan Roy Dafoe and Oliva Dionne are men who, as distances go in this country, have lived practically side by side all their lives. Their homes are less than 3 miles apart, and that, in a region where people travel 100 miles for an eve- ning’s entertainment, is but a step. Hundreds of times their paths crossed and three times they met in the roles of obstetrician and new father. The fourth time that hap- pened was the night the quintuplets were born. On both their lives, the impact of that bifth was shattering. On both their lives, the babies laid rude, strong hands, remodeling the fixed obits of two lifetimes, breaking what did not bend. Dr. Dafoe, speaking of that night, says he was “too tired to grasp it; it passed like & dream.” Oliva Dionne says he felt as if he had been “punched.” Today, 32-year-old Oliva Dionne and his young wife—now only 27— live as if in a prison, and Dr. Dafoe, 4n his own words, lives “on a spot. I have shouldered the entire respon- sibility for them and if anything goes | wrong I am the one who will be blamed.” House Doors Closed. The Dionne family still occupies | the crude, 33-year-old frame house in which Oliva was born, but now the shades are drawn all day and all night, the doors closed, the front lawn goneytq weeds for want of any one willing t3 guow if in the blinding glare | of tourists’ gyes, and & high wooden fence has n erected around the | back to provige a private playyard | for the chfldrz{ who remain at home. | They have tHe only pulley-operated clothes line in' the district. 't was necessary in forder to enable Mrs.| Dionne to hafg the femily wash in- | side the house and pulley it i.to the sunlight ‘fout becoming the object of a vast thirong of prying eyes. | How often Mrs. Dionne has left the ! house in the last year is a matter of conjecture. Certain it is that not more than once or twice have her travels carried her further than across the road to the Dafoe nursery and her five babies. According to local report, the last time she was in North Bay, nine miles away, was late in 1934 to buy a handbag for her trip to the Chicago World’s Fair. Since the arrival of the new baby— whose life was signed away to & news- paper syndicate long before it began —she has not had the time to visi¢ her quintuplets so frequently. But she used to go every day, and, after each visit would hurry back home across the road, a stout, shy, pretty- faced girl, her plump legs speeding under her gingham dress, her head ducked low to hide the tears .that rolled down her pallid face. A neigh- bor :said the tears dropped like blood in the dust, and “you could follow her afternoon trail until dusk” by them. Goes Out More Often. Oliva Dionne goes out more often. He has had two new cheap cars since the babies were born two years ago and he has used them frequently, but he _dopts a curious defense in his travels. He just doesn't look at any- body. He keeps his eyes downward and tries desperately to see as little as possible of what is going on around him. In this way he has, perhaps unconsciously, “cut” so many of his lifelong friends that few of them even say “hello” to him any more. Financially, the revolution in the life of the Dionnes has been even more complete. But Oliva seems to have reacted to the swift, dazzling pour of gold with native French shrewdness and curious stubbornness. Local gossip is still speculating wildly on just how much money the quintuplets have brought to their parents. Oliva himself says that his total cash intake the first eight months after the babies were born 1J was; $111 in government relief money and. that he was forced by to und s personal appearance tour Chicago World's Fair where he made “a little money, a few dollars,” Since then he has received $100 a month from the government and, it is said, $2,500 from a news syndicate for picture rights, “That's the total of it all.” Has New Car. Certainly he has made few changes in his standard of living. A girl to help Mrs. Dionne in the house, & new car (he has driven cars for years, at least since 1931), better clothes for the six children who re- main at home ‘with him. But local gossip is not satisfied that “that's the total of it all.” Local gos= sip remembers when the Dionne house became so ove! with gifts from the world over that overflow filled the porch and the front yard, and local gossip remembers the thousands of letters that poured in on him daily for months. One of these letters, says a8 man who assisted Oliva in ac- knowledging them, came from Henry Ford. “Now, a man like Ford,” he added, “couldn’t send less than $100, Miss REE LEEF SALE—3 DAYS ONLY Washable White Fabric TABLE L Top—Green Back Made to Fit Any Shape or Wood Grain Finish and all high-grade pads reduced 40% on this sale. Heat Proof Liquid Proof Phone or write, and a representative will call to measure your table. No charge for this service. Suburban and country calls made day or evening. SEGMAN'S UNITED MANUFACTURING CO. 802 F St. N.W. Room 27 _ Ready to Wear e Ready to Uss Phone DI. 2979 NO wonder Manhattan Laundry’s famous Economy Service is saving time, work, worry and money in thousands of Washington homes! It’s such a relief to discover a laundry service with pothing to be done at home—and at a price you can afford to pay. And such a relief to know that clothes are washed in soft net bags, where the bags get the wear and the clothes get only the wash! Manhattan’sfamousNet Bag Washing makesclotheslast muchlonger. Try Manhattan’s Economy Service this week. It’s the modern way to economize on laundry. Ten pounds only $1.59. Big families get the benefit of bigger savings — because the bigger the bundle the lower the cost per pound. Send for the Manhattan Routeman. Phaows Decatios 1120 = Now! MANHATTAN Net Bag LAUNDRY 1330-1346 FLORIDA AVENUE A Complete Cleaning Institution Every Type of Laundry Service % Guaranteed Dry Clesning % Guaranteed Rug Cleaning and Storage * Fur Cleaning, Repairing and Remodelling * Pillow Sanitizing * Curtain, Drapery and Portier Cleaning % Furniture snd Automobile Seat Cover Cleaning % Moth-proof Storage Vaults for Furs, Clothing, Draperies, Portiers, Curtains and Blanketss , WASHINGTON, could he?” Stranger things than that poverty | have happened, but Callander remains unconvinced. ‘The best local opinion is that, while on the night of May 28, 1934, Lis cash resources wouldn't tot up into a sizable grocery bill, Oliva was worth some- thing between $9,000 and $15,000 carly in August when he entered into a 50- 50 partnership with Dan Saya, North Bay druggist, to erect a souvenir stand. The genersi celicf is that Oliva wgreed to supply the money and Saya the management. At any rate, Saya manages and ©liva writes the checks in payment of the bills. An expert estimate of the gross bus- iness done dally at this stand is $700, A on which the profit is considerable. In this place, 5-and-10-cent articles sell for 49 cents and $1, toast and coffee costs 25 cents, penny postcards are two for 15 cents. Oliva has another important source of income—autographs. A small booth has been erected in tae rear of the store, and in it Dionne sits behind & bridge table, signing his name on articles purchased at the stand at 25 cents a signature. Tha line outside the booth is long and patient and Oliva, writing in his careiul siow way and stuffing quarters into all his pock- ets, averages about 400 signatures a day, or $700 a week. But Oliva stands only on the outer C.,- MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1936.. edge of the gold flelds. As father of the quintuplets, e has been invited in, even urged in. But he clings warily, stubbornly, even violently to the rim. He wants all or nothing, and has consistently rebuffed the gov- ernment in its hundreds of attempts to give him a large part and save the rest for the quints. He wants to be boss, and the Legislature of Ontario feels that he has not demonstrated sufficient capacity for running what amounts to a big business. They feel that he will fall into the hands of unscrupulous promotors and that not only he, but the quintuplets them- selves, will suffer. On the other hand, Oliva is con- vinced- the government is engaged in 8 persistent campaign of persecution against him. As examples, he cites the gasoline tanks they made him take out of his property because they did ot want inflammable material 80 near the nursery, and the fact that “they potsoned” three of his cows. It seems that, & short while ago, the cows drank a solution government road builders had been using to tem- per their drills. 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