MERCEDES GLEITZ.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 26

MERCEDES GLEITZ.

SOLDIER SWAIN DISMISSED. THE SEA CLAIMS HER OWN. (Fhom Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 5. ■Miss Mercedes Gleitze, who was anxious to go to New Zealand to swim Cook Strait has managed to obtain further inglorious publicity through the columns of the Daily Express. This time she has changed her mind about marriage, and she gives' her reasons. She has now decided to to marry the young soldier to whom she became engaged long before she saw him. The history of the romance which has been shattered by the call of the sea is as follows; Miss Gleitze for two years corresponded with a soldier stationed in India, and became engaged to be married to him. Last November he came to England. The two searched for each other for a week or so, and eventually met on the steps of Westminster Cathedral. “I like him,” was Miss Gleitze’s verdict. Now, after five weeks’ courtship, during which, apparently, they have met only once more, the romance has come to what appears to he the end. PASSIONATE LOVE FOR THE SEA. Miss Gleitze in a letter to the Daily Express said: “I have definitely decided not to marry him, and, should be glad if you would publish this information.” The letter continued:— “He is an exceedingly nice man, but I do not consider myself fit to be any man’s wife on account of my passionate love of the sea. When I consented to marry him two years ago I did so because I thought I had as much right as any other girl to become a wife, and, perhaps, a mother, hut I now find that the call for the sea is greater than the call for the comforts of home life; hence my decision."

Accompanying this letter was a copy of the final communication which Miss Gleitze had sent to her soldier lover:—

“ Please accept my apology for not having communicated with you ere this. I regret having to inform you to-day that I shall be unable to marry you. I am afraid marriage would interfere with my swimming career. I have thought the matter over, and feel convinced that I shall never be able to settle down in a home as a wife until I have successfully swum the Irish Channel, the Wash, and the Hellespont, so what is the use of letting a man make a home for me when in my thoughts the sea spells ‘ Home, Sweet. Home,’ to me? “Although I have only seen you twice, I am sure you would make an idea] husband for the right kind of girl. All my best wishes for a happy future are with you. Please rest assured that your social and position have nothing to do with my decision—l am a working girl, and poor myself. Again wishing you the best, I remain, yours sincerely, Mercedes.’’