Private Whitehouse's Baby

Arthur and Rose Whitehouse, married seven years, had no children. When Arthur, big, blond and 25, gave up paper hanging early in 1942 to go into the Army, redhaired Rose, 42, went to work at a Philadelphia 5-&-10-c- store.

Four months later, Pfc. Whitehouse was shipped off to Newfoundland. He found it a bleak and lonely post, particularly in spring and summer. To while away the dull evenings, he wrote long letters to Rose. Then one day he met Nurse Theresa St. Croix: "I just met her and had a few dates and that was that."

Early this year Nurse St. Croix gave birth to a baby girl. Private Whitehouse had no hesitation about stepping forward and admitting his responsibility. He talked the matter over calmly with the baby's mother and reported: "She didn't want the baby and she didn't want me." He wrote to Rose, telling her the whole story. Rose did not reply. It took several months in a Newfoundland court, but Nurse St. Croix gladly signed the papers which made Arthur the baby's sole legal guardian. The preoccupied U.S. Army gave Private Whitehouse a 32-day emergency furlough.

Last week Arthur Whitehouse and his big-eyed, ten-month-old daughter arrived in Philadelphia. On the 1,000-mile journey, Father Whitehouse had efficiently mixed and administered her formula. Geraldine Mary Whitehouse, the youngest passenger ever flown across the North Atlantic route by the Air Transport Command, exhibited a placid, healthy interest in her toes. Much less sure of himself, Father Whitehouse delayed seeing his wife, headed straight for his mother's three-room apartment. Startled, Mrs. Whitehouse Senior remarked "Well, I didn't expect this kind of Christmas present." Then she added: "But I'm not ashamed. Most boys would have run away."

At first, Rose ducked the swarms of newsmen who hounded her at home and at the candy counter where she works. But her older brother told reporters: "I don't want to speak out of turn, but I'll admit that my sister is upset. I can't imagine her taking him back now. I was in the other war and I know something about these things. . . ."

But Rose's brother did not know all there was to know about Rose. This week, with Geraldine Mary on hand to assure a less formal atmosphere, the Whitehouses finally had a family conference. After it was over, Rose announced: "I am the only woman Arthur loves. We are reunited and I am satisfied to bring up the baby as my own."

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