Show KATHLEEN NORRIS nag unregenerate into reform WILL JILL YOU PLEASE tell us which Is right mother or ourselves writes 16 year old mary krautsch Krall sch of minneapolis there are four of us joe 20 lisa 18 my twin brother bill and myself y ten years ago my father deserted us there was no trouble no trouble that is that very common in the neighborhood where we lived everyone was poor every flat nos was crowded there were too many children screaming about winters were one long nightmare of colds fights noise money shortage dirt struggle of all sorts we scrambled up as best we could and little mother in the world stood by us she used to put the big bucket of suds in the middle of the kitchen every night and everyone of us got scrubbed although mother was janitress of a thirty apartment building and had plenty of scrubbing to do without w worrying about us our clothes were clean too tor for school and church anyway and even when a meal was waa nothing but bread and milky tea it was served in a tidy kitchen bitter cold nights we had hot cocoa abed and in the burning hot summers mother always let us run pretty free to find coolness and baths and watermelon and summer camps wherever generous people offered them rop fop walks out that was tide the woman pop walked out on ten years ago when joe and lisa got their first jobs while still in high school the first thing they did was move us away we bought a dauble house near town and mother had her own ground under her feet for the first time in her life we all worked vor ked in LJ 2 14 kf big huchel buck ft 0 of suds war time ws wd made as much as a week bills got paid I 1 and my mother never stopped saying how grateful she was for the peace of mind her children had brought to her three months ago my father walked bac back into the kitchen how he found us ua we dont know but there he be was we wa were decent enough to him at first thinking he would get a job and contribute his share to the family finances an and d show by his attitude that he regretted his disgraceful abandonment of us years ago he work but he done anything of the kind he work he criticizes everything he wants the best of everything hi he asks joe and lisa tor for money and says openly that he is our fathering father fathe rind and that we ought to support him this would be bad enough but mothers attitude makes it worse she asli Is a perfect slave to him carrying in his coffee at ten expecting us to respect him and reminding us ua every little while thai tha ii he ls Is our our father and that she promised toi jai love and cherish him until death parts them she washes his clothes cooks what he likes and wont let anyone murmur any criticism do you think we should put up with this chist we have grown up without a fathers help protection or affection we knew years of privation while mother i struggled day and night to support usi us we have gamed gained hip happiness salt inspect respect solvency and orthis untidy tidy critical crItIc 1 old man to our group euln s er la 44 american born bom my lather father er Is if 50 born in hungary tell us what to do my dear mary this Is really a predicament your mother as well as your father Is falling failing you true she did carry you youngsters through the hardest years tl cing and working for you but she has no right now to impose this disreputable and disagreeable man upon you it if he will not pull himself together brace up get a jobana sort of job and treat his children with the consideration they have so well earned then I 1 think you four are quite justified in asking that he live somewhere else and yet easy as that Is to say it is quite different to put into effect your mother will object strenuously to such a change and you are all too young to feel free yourselves so my advice Is to take your mother into your councils and tell her how disturbed you are that the loved home she did so much to save Is threatened by this irresponsible man nag them both steadily and constantly he did not help to raise you now you get together and raise him stop being unreasonable dad dont use that tone dad say thank you to mom dad go put on a clean shirt dad enough crabbing dad hell try not to pay attention hell have to |