CINDERELLAS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5103, 21 March 1927, Page 3

CINDERELLAS.

REAL LIFE ROMANCES. adopted by millionaire. s Life’s lucky day ih.as afforded many rich prizes far those who have least cause to expect them. Many a poor Cinderella has awakened to find the golden coach waiting at the door, and even the glass slippers a little further - along the road. A modern fairy godfather has wa’ftml another of life’s Cinderellas: —a Jmendless little nobody—into fairyland of happiness and romance. When the war broke put, and the tragic flood of refugees streamed back across Belgium, leaving their ruined homes in the hands of the invaders, there journeyed with them a Belgian artisan and his daughter—a pretty, ( flaxen-haired girl of two. Their fuP“*Fure was dark and hopeless. HQjne, prospects,- dreams —everything had been shattered by the rude hands of war. That was in 1914. Meanwhile, the good fairies have been busy. To-day Marie Suzette, the r little waif of the saddest processions in the world’s, history, is the bearer of one of the proudest names in England, and heiress to a substantial fortune. A fairy godmother in the person of Lord Stevenson, of Hblmbury, stepped in and saved her 'from the nightmare of war by adopting her as his own daughter. Now, by his death, she inherits a sum of more than £25,000 under his will. The past, with its terrors forgotten, and a .wonderful new life opens for the little Belgian Cinderella. Not long ago Cinderella’s coach call'll ■ eir at the huipble door of Miss Mary Spas, of Long Island, whose father and mother are janitors, of an apartment house, and whisked her off to the palatial mansion of Mr Edward W. Browning, the 60-year-old real estate millionaire. If the golden coach in modern guise tocik the form of a prosaic advertisement for a girl willing to be adopted into the millionaire’s family, and become a sister to his own daughter, it proved just as sure a passport to fortune as the one transformed from a pumpkin. Mary Spas read of the quest, and with little hope of success set out to tramp the five miles from her home to the millionaire’s office. There were over 12,000 replies from would-be Cinderellas all over'America, and when, weary and coated with JjP-'clust, Mary Spas, arrived at the portals of the magic door, it was to.-find that she had to take her place in a queue over a mile long. At last, came her turn. She went in—and the glass slipper fitted her like a glove. The moment he saw her the millionaire declared that his search was at an end, and that Mary was .the Cinderella he had sought. For the next few weeks the pictured face of Mary Spas gazed out from t,he papers, while the delighted fairy godfather escorted his charming “daughter” round the expensive. jewellers and costumiers in an orgy of buying. Mary had only to • express a desire 'for a pretty jewel or handsome fur for her godfather to wave his magic wand of wealth and m-ati'fv her wish. iOn the first day of , initiation into a life of luxury she ■y selected fifty dainty frocks, in addition to other articles of finery, costing £soo’. Legal steps were taken to have the adoption properly carried out, and the girl was installed in the magnificent apartments at Kew Gardens Inn, where the millionaire lived. Browning had specified that his adopted daughter was not to exceed fourteen years of age. Mary coyly admitted that she was sixteen, but was so artless and confiding, and ' smiled so sweetly, that he decided to extend the age limit. But envious tongues began to wag. It was hinted that Mary had not only emerged from her teens., but at one time had been engaged to be married to a neighbour’s son. Another story was that she had been a cinema actof sorts. Very soon the fairy godfather found that the role, assumed calls for more than fitting glass slippers to the feet of Cinderellas, and installing them in palatial mansions. The upshot was that Mary had to confess that she was over twenty. In s a burst of hysterical chagrin she then ~ swallowed a quantity—a very small 'quantity—«f iodine. The golden coach and the fairy godfather vanish- , ed from her kin, and Cinderella Mary, - her dreams of riches shattered, returned home. But she took her firty frocks and the rest of her pretty gifts with her. Another girl whom Browning adopted was “Peaches” Henan, and in this case he liked her so much that he married her. But it would have . been better had he remained her fairy only, 'for after five days, of wedded life, according to his own affidavit when he applied for a separation, she “froze,” and turned the lovenest into a icehouse. Two baby boys, both born in London in abject poverty, have almost simultaneously become heirs to fortunes of £40,000. One has found a home through the National Children’s , Adoption Association with a man prominent in public life whose n/me is being kept secret. The child will inherit £40,000 unconditionally as well as a famous name. ' The other baby was adopted through the same association by a widow with an income Of £2ooo*. He will not be able to touch the principal £40,000 until he reaches the age of thirty-five. Twenty-five years ago a little boy was playing in Kensington Gardens with his three brothers. Sir James Barrie saw them, joined in their romp with boyish zest, and eventually made the boy, Peter Davies, the hero of the fairy story that has spread its charm throughout the w<>rld. When the boy’* jfbents, Mr and Mrs Llewellyn Davies, Sir James began to play the part Of the good fairy godfather in real life. He adopted the youngsters as his own sons, and lavished a father’; care on them. Unfortunately, tragedy stepped in to mar the idyll. Two of the boys have died —one was killed in -the war and another was drowned while bathing at Oxford. For days after he heard the sad news Sir Jame; sat in a darkened room, refus- ‘ Ing to see anybody, ;) r even to read a newspaper.