The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 25, 1899, Page 17

SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 1899. HER STRANGE AND LOI a vine covered slight but sinewy. 1g shoulders are in th the mascu restless hands with ten nails gnawed to the quick contradict the wooder 1 of the face in repose. ming spot wh ding her stra ridal tour. Helen Wilder thot moon minus the g 1ation is idei necessary groom wou no end of 8 orrare e e A T e lark, and just “darn good fun.” he house stands in the midst of.a wild Helen Wilder-Craft is Inclined to dis- ga with the scent of honey- agree with the wild y conclu- and roses, and gay with the sions of her prehyphenated self, and of vivid red of the flowering from a matron’s standpoint to take ex- 1m that blossoms over the fence ception to a maiden’s idea of what con- into the roadside. stitutes a “good t 1 the groomless bride looking At the self-s: oneymoony in a cool white day of M only by a knot of bril- bbon fastened at the throat rich, : supple and the ning tt iid n with her left hand un- < ing the new, plain, gold o e > 'Y this 5 « third finger to a curlous \ no one would ever think of 1d old slippers. “Why did you doNNt?” I asked. “Bzcause it is romantic,” said the bride who had left .er husband be- hina her. “I hed always said I would not do as other girls have done. Many years ago I decided upon this style of a honeymoon and I am just carrying out my prearranged plans to the very letter. I expected to have a darn good time.” My ways are not the ways of the had considerable no- red of it. What I , though 1 will ad- 1. “What do you ]I}l other girls. I— 1, ’'m not stay home of Mrs. Craft's equaled by the un- s the tale in the plain- f-fact way, alto- by the striking tions and the thrill- whose future tends to * she refers to 1 the most formal manner as efinitely as * As 8 and although now she is thor- nciled to it. er told a soul about my wed- id the Honolulu heiress in nfaltering tones—'‘not even my eves. mother. I have always done just as I liked to, and I was not going to change when it came to a question so closely affecting me as my marriage. I met Mr. Craft, who Is a Seattle man, when I was going down home last October. He is a splendid business man. and soon made his presence felt in the isl- and. We became engaged. I did not worry about the wedding, for I knew when the time came matters would ad- just themselves.” “On the evening of May 15 we went our riding an? in the course of our conversation decided we would get married that night. It was midnight when we had completed all our plans. ‘We went to the home of the licenss clerk, roused him and got our license. Then we went and awoke the Rev. J. Nua. He performed the ceremony in the chapel of the Theological Sem- inary. There were no lights ana Mr. Nua was not completely dressed. After we had spoken the fateful words n’s crowning ough to finall ate by the f a pair of clear HELEN WILDER TELLS HOW SHE 1S FULFILLING _ (i CHERISHED IDEA OF WHAT CONSTITUTES A ROMANTIC HONEY- MOON AND THE PROPER WAY TO SPEND IT. He went to his. 1 in the morning when we wers mar- 1ces surrounding her | ried. At 10 the same morning I sailed for San Francisco. “Mr. Craft was down to see me off, but so were my family and my friends. According to arrangements my solitary honeymoon was to last thirty days. Mr. Craft will now soon be up here. ‘“No, no one was let into the secret,” Mrs. Craft went on to tell, “only just the necessary witnesses, and 1 won't glve their names. I made my marriage 1 ORI HO - s o | ‘! ) s ',Ilfi public when I got here. Honolulu prob- ably knows it by this time. I wonder what they are saying down there?” Mrs. Craft broke into the recital of the exciting details of her wedding with many timely bits of business in- formation comcerning her dearly be- loved Hawaii. She quoted the market, explained a recent wondrous sugar deal, dwelt upon the shiftlessness of the natives, applauded what America had “all done for her land and pald glorious tribute to annexation. She also took exception to many ‘“unkind things” that had been published about her apropos of her splendid, noble work as a special oXlcer of the Humane Society and waxed indignant when she recalled that it had been stated that she strutted round in a blue coat with brass buttons and was in the habit of placing handcuffs upon those who in her judg- ment were gullty of cruelty to animals. The glow that was lacking when she spoke of Mr. Craft spread In warm, glad waves over her entire personality when she discussed her humane work. “It took me just ten minutes to ralse $700 for the Humane Soclety fund,” she cried, “and I never wear a blue coat except on parade and I never put hand- cuffs on any man. I just tap him on the shoulder and say, ‘Follow me.’ That is all that is necessary, he fgllows.” It is not astonishing tHat Helen ‘Wilder was so completely prepared to indulge, at only a few hours’ notice, in a solitary honeymoon. Twice before she came near doing the same thing. A little more than two years ago Miss Wilder decided, with the aid of George Semmes, a paymaster in the United Btates navy to enjoy the manifold pleasures of a solitary bridal tour. “A short time before the day set for the wedding I discovered that he got darn drunk and ate oplum. That set- tled him, and I was thankful for a lucky escape,” explained the lady. “Then I engaged myself to Frank Un- ger. That was a foolish thing to do. In the first place, I am young and he is old—fifty-two—and anyway, he Is too much of a bohemian to make any woman happy. I am a bit of a bo~ hemian myself, but—" and the way her jaw set and her eyes flashed, further speech was rendered unnecessary. “You tired of Unger?” I unceremond« ously asked. The abrupt frankness that is char- acteristic of the woman would not per- mit her even a tiny white lie to hide behind. “No; I did not change my mind. It's a woman's privilege—not a man’s—but I didn’t. I broke the engagement, though.” While Mrs. Craft is lolling away her - thirty days of grace, surrounded by friends and with a scrapbook at her elbow filled from cover to cover with snappy stories about herself, she does not seem to worry how Mr. Craft is enjoying his end of the honeymoon. “And what do you suppose Mr. Craft is doing?" I asked. “Oh! He is busy, I suppose,” she sald, LOUISE VEILLER.