Show KA KATHLEEN NORRIS no life Is wholly without hope by KATHLEEN NORRIS bell syndicate features aphis HIS IS NOT a letter of cm plaint writes rena janzen 19 years old it is to ask you a question Is there anything ahead in my life that will make difficulties and humiliations worth while we live on the fourth floor of a new york city apartment house far downtown the letter goes on it is one of the thousands of high crowded brick tend ten tenements ments that form more than half of this city the ones down our way are older dirtier more crowded we have four rooms parlor kitchen two bedrooms bath there are eight of us my young brothers of 17 13 and 7 a sister of 11 grandma mother and dad joe and matt sleep in the parlor henry with mother and dad grandma my sister and I 1 have a room so small that there is no space for a chair grandmas grandeas Grand mas mattress is under the three quarter bed and under the bed are also my brushes and makeup a box with spare blouses alyas schoolbooks school books and grand mas black valise live in the kitchen C s ka k 3 course we all live in the ch c he en it is smelly and noisy in summer and hot as only city kitchens get hot in winter it is smelly and noisy and hardly warm av ura J na the look of a tired fired saint er than the rest of the house only the halls are warmed 1 I will leave to your imagination what chance a girl has of beauty lel leisure leasure sure rest hospitality in a life lial ke mine writes rena papa is an anac hp he steadily he has the tired look of an old saint mother works hard they would move us to some better place but we pay 80 now and can afford no more joe wants to be a doctor the nearest he gets is being an orderly in a hospital now my problem what frightens me the letter ends but the terrible the overwhelming fact that so many thousands of lives all about me are as utterly hopeless as mine girls crowding I 1 into n t 0 subways punching time clocks snatching sandwiches and cokes at lunch wearing cheap clothes to coney on summer sundays or waiting in line at cheap movies on winter nights why are we here what are we doing all this for how do we get out of it I 1 dream of a little country place flowers space cleanliness but what good are dreams parents knew poverty mother and father are aus arians they knew poverty and terror in the old world they escaped to this mother revels in her electric light radio telephone gas stove washing machine dad never complains but I 1 look about me and sometimes I 1 despair rena in answering you I 1 am going to begin by warning you against a dangerous error into which you have fallen the problems of the hundreds and thousands of fellow workers that you see about you caught as you think in this same industrial and social treadmill are not yours yours is one problem that of rena janzen sweep all the others out of your mind concentrate u upon P your own fix your thoughts upon that little country home with the flowers and open spaces about it and it will begin to take shape and move toward you as steadily as tomorrows dawn out of just such sordid crowded nois noisy y squalid odorous environ ments as the one you describe have come thousands yes millions of our men and women who now occupy suburban homes who have flowers a car fresh suitable clothing pleasant plentiful meals in a word happy busy useful lives some have risen to actual wealth and power but you will be satisfied with less than that and you can win it released by features |