OCR Text |
Show _ _ _ _ u Kathleen Norris Says : Are You Ready for Peace ? BeD Hen SpDdI"atll-WNU SpDdI"atll SpDdIatll WNU Syndiceter-W2W Syndiceter W2W ; " . - - I.ature Iature Feature ' . . f fJ , S . --J J - ; . , , T ' " It- It - It'fd 'fd fd 'fdHelllmng ' ! , . ' . / ' 'hp hp 'hplao1 ' lao1 ' q qoJ oJ { , . , IJ .10 10 . .10r .10C .10O tu r / O 1 1uL C \ uL < - - . 1 / "Hell Hell - " -Helllmng Helllmng bring home II a uck sick pup pupUld /Uld Uld and / nur'e nure nurse ' It u an in my kltchera kdehen orad and 1 f dora don I ' CGre care CGrettHlr carewe're ttHlr we're were ' . aZ&1J aZ1J alive & .gain gain . ,1I1lI 1I1lI , . , tlJrlre sae're saere ' equal to m the . demIUIM demands m the . chllnged changed world hal has made madellpoll madeupon _ . . " llpoll upon as 1 . By KATHLEEN NORRISI NORRISE NORRIS NORRISTHILE I THILE EtluSWarmaynot EtluSWarmaynotbe E this war may not notbe not/ not notbe , / be over for months to tocome tocome toV come , or even unt until untilsometime untilsometime sometune sometime m in 1945 , your share shareof shareof shareof of it may end at any timeHad timeHad time timeHad Had you thought that that7 ? ' Had Hadyou Hadyou Hadyou you thought that your partic partic- particular particular particular - - ular man may be , home agam again againthis , thlS this week or next , incapaci mcapac1- mcapac1 incapaci- mcapac1tated incapacitated incapacitated - - tated for any further part m in mthe inthe inthe the world struggle , but hvmg living hvmgw1th livingwith livingwith w1th with all a human bemg's bemgs being's beings bemg'seagerness being'seagerness being'seagerness beingseagerness ' eagerness for security andhappiness7 and andhappmess andhappiness happmess happiness ? ' Perhaps that se- se securlty Security se security - curity curlty and happiness happmess will have haveto haveto haveto to come from you Are youready youready you youready ready for it7 its 1t itsOr it7Or ? Or are re you dragging draggmg along doing doinga a . food good deal of at complaining complaming and wor war worrymg warTying worryme rymg Tying while you area are \ naitmg altmg artmg spend spendfng spending tpendInf fng ing money as s fast tast as it comes in ingiving ingiving inliving giving no thought at all aU to tomor tomorrow's tomorrow's tomorrow's tomorrows row's rows ' ' problem ? Too many wives and andmothers andmothers andmothers mothers are doing that Too many manyare manyare manyare are counting countmg upon the false talse hope hopethat hopethat hopethat that after the war things wiU wIn will go goback goback goback back to normal . Well Wen , , , maybe theywill they theywillIt theywillif will-It will It will-if if - It there ever was such a stateas stateas state states as s j'normal jnormal { ' ' 'normal normal ' ' In human affairs Butthey But Butthey Butthey they won wont t go back quickly , and andmeanwhile andmeanwhile andmeanwhile meanwhile anything anythmg you can do to toImooth tosmooth toimooth Imooth smooth out the family tamily s troubles for forthe forthe torthe the nert next three UIree or four years will be bejust bejust bejust just so much gain 1 1Yet \ i iYet Yet HeiTler Heavier Burdens Bnddend Bnddend'What Burdens"What BurdensWhat ' " 'What What ' a Christmas s " ' ' writesEmily writes writesEmily writesEmily Emily Deane of Los Angeles To Tosee Tosee Totee see Larry crippled cnppled wasn t the worst worstIt worstIt worstIt It was what the war had done to his hisspirit hisspirit hisspirit spirit Laura married only three threemonths threemonths threemonths months when her husband was sent sentto sentto sentto to Italy and widowed a year later laterwasn laterwasn latervrasn wasn t much help in cheering cheermg him bun himI bunI bunI I felt that running rumung the house for a atired atired atired tired despondent husband , , a grlev griev grleving grieving grievIng ing daughter and a lively baby was wasenough wasenough wasenough enough job for one woman womanI I soon on found that I was wrong wrongWe wrongWe wrongWe We hadn hadnt t even plumbed the thesurface thesurface thesurface surface of trouble My splendid boy boywas boywas boywas was silent morose morose , , , lazy He would wouldmake wouldmake wouldmake make no effort his IDS heart seemed to tobe tobe tobe be broken My husband came down downWIth downwith downwith WIth a long slow case of ot flu fiu pneu pneumonia pneumonia pneumonia monia rheumatism Laura had to tobe tobe tobe be nurse cook housekeeper for tor Itook I Itook Itook took a job Those were terrible ternble days daysfor daysfor daysfor for I used to come home too ex exhausted exhausted exhausted hausted to stand Laura worked her herlelf herself herself lelf self sick and we had to borrow borrowmoney borrowmoney borrowmoney money and get In a practical practlcal nurse nursefor nursefor nursefor for five weeksWen weeksWell weeks weeksWell Wen Well , . , I learned something somethmg I Ilearned Ilearned Ilearned learned that you can endure the im impossIble impossible 1mpossible possIble and get through It it . . Laura Lauragot Lauragot Lauragot got work in a nursery school and andtook andtook andtook took the baby with her every mom morn moming morning morning ing Larry and Edward Bdward consoled consoledeach consoledeach ' each other , , we we moved to a shanty shantyout shantyout shantyout out near the hospital where I work workcheap , cheap and it is away from the fac factory factory tactory tory districts and has a garden . and andbarns andbarns andbarns barns Edward comes and goes on onthe onthe onthe the bus and Larry has a job It pays h1m hum payshim paysh1m payshum keepsbun keepsh1m ten dollars a week it keeps h1m bun busy He works with the local localveterinary localveterinary localveterinary bringhome brmghome veterinary he loves it Hell He 11 U brmg bring home a lick lack sick pup and nurse It in my kitchen kitchen mykitchen , , and I don dont t care we werealive re realive realive alive again agam we re equal to the de- de demands demands de demands - mands the changed world has made made'But made"But madeBut 'But But " ' But there was one night ' this'I this this'I , \ [ ( ' " - t / ' 'I I ' 1 blamed blamedmyself myself bitterly bltlC'rly bltlCrly buterly ' " extraordinary extraordmary letter concludes ' ' , when Laura had broken down and andthey andthey andthey they thought Edward was dymg dying dymgLarry dyingLarry dyingCarry Larry sat in the kitchen holdmg holding holdmgbaby holdingbaby holdingbaby baby Ken rain was pounng pourmg pouring downI down I [ was worn out with broken nIghts nIghtsand nightsand nightsand and hard working workmg days Life Lite seemed seemednothmg seemednothing seemednothing nothmg nothing but bills fatigue utter des despair despair despair pair Nothmg Nothing could make Edward Edwardand Edwardand Edwardand and me young again agam or restore restoreLarry restoreLarry restoreLarry Larry s leg or bring brmg Laura s hus husband husband busland band back backForesight Foresight Needed'I Needed 'I I ' I blamed myself bitterly J I Jthought Ithought Ithought thought I could have gotten rgady ready readytot rgadyfo readyfog fo fog ! this th1s I might have seen it com corn commg corning corning mg ing Larry might have come home homei hometo hometo hometo i to a very different world as it is I Imust Imust Imust must sit by and watch the wreck wreckage wreckage wreckage age of at my children s lives Debt DebtIdleness . . Idleness Helplessness Lack of courage cour courage courage age foresightNo and imagination and foresIght No planning plannmg No saving savmg No hope ' Well we are still a family badly badlyscarred badlyscarred badlyscarred scarred by the war But we are to together together together gether we are sav saving ng money-only money only moneyonlya money - onlya a little but something somethmg We have haveplans haveplans haveplans plans happyhours tor for the future tuture we haye have happy hours of at laughter and harmony harmonywhen harmonywhen harmonywhen when we move our breakfast table tableout tableout tableout out into mto the shade of the trees treestie treeswe ' tie v . e ve ye stopped asking why does docs this tins thishave tinshave thishave have to happen to us ' ? And we weare weare weare are no longer afraidr afraid r . . . There is a brave letter with ales alesson a les lesson leston son in it tor for many and many an anAmerican anAmerican anAmerican American mother How ready are ore areyou oreyou areyou you for tor the boy s return ? To what whatIs whatis whatis Is daysin he coming commg home9 home ' ? These are days in which we have to strike out Into Intonew intonew intonew new lines lmes of thought Mother s trIed fried trIedchIcken friedchicken triedchicken chIcken and strawberry ice cream creamaren creamaren creamaren aren t enough tor for the returning returnmg sol soldler soldier soldier dler dier now He U n D want to know just justwhat justwhat juswhat ! what share he II s s going to have in the thebrave thebrave thbrave ( brave new world |