Show kathleen norris says say S what Is ahead of you bell syndicate features reat J rm t 1 I talked of a job but bus be spared at as home bome amanda talked of hollywood but as a minor could ns try that B by y KATHLEEN NORRIS T IGHT in the middle of p times so bad that they JL v seemed absolute absolutely ly frightening writes mrs john porter of minneapolis they suddenly grew worse I 1 know just how depress depressing ing t this hi is sounds to many women who are finding times hard and puzzling enough but that Is the way it was with us and will be with others one year ago when prices began to skyrocket and we were practically evicted the nightmare of house hunting the piling up of bills the strain upon my husband and the childrens discontent were giving me long wakeful nights and anxious fretted days we have raised three children in a city apartment amanda Is now 17 the boys 18 19 and 9 for long summers and many weekends we took them to a mountain cabin where they could have swimming fishing and hospitality that hospitality hospital ityl 1 it doubled my bills of course but it meant that the children could return winter favors theaters dances skating parties we have beds tor for 14 at the lake and all summer long they were never empty I 1 struggled to keep up amandas clothes must be fresh and smart jack needed tennis rackets and college tees fees it was too much for or john and me yet it enough one car enough jack said one sitting room enough for amanda I 1 talked of a job but be spared at home amanda talked of hollywood but as a minor try that it was an impasse with john and me rolling away one stone only to have another block our path disaster struck then when meat and butter were at their maximum little jimmy quarantined with mumps and amanda desperate because she was not included in a certain dancing class the blow fell john was brought home helpless never to be fit tor for work downtown again and tor for a few weeks we were shipwrecked indeed jack was offered his bis fathers job as salesman in a uncle linoleum firm and accepted it bitterly only tor for vacation but he has had bad to keep it his college days are over tor for the present 1 I took a job in a hotel botel making beds for a month and well we ate the children were so 10 outraged that they hardly spoke when at home but we die amanda cried cred for days then she got ashamed and rose to the situation calmly announced that she was quitting school and took over at home we were more than three thousand dollars in debt and I 1 showed her lust just where the money had gone her comment was made gravely ai 1 I think you and dad were to ble blame e we kids arent half wits last october I 1 moved us out to the country no not the smart country not the lake either the lake cabin is rented amanda teaches in a private school five days a week boards in town with an older teacher comes to us fridays jimmy goes to public school and loves it lack jack li is doing nearly as well as ai his father ever did and well be out of debt in exactly 23 more months if all goes goe well amanda has boy mends ri endt boys who work hard and know the value of money john is quietly busy all day with vegetables chickens cat dog flowers cowers plans I 1 am happier than I 1 have ever been in my life our place was an abandoned farm it will never make money but it pays taxes and ill 2 am w happier thin than I 1 hav ever w been MEETING THE TEST it is very hard bard and painful for a prosperous upper mid dle class family to drop in the scale to what seems a poverty level it happened often in the she early years of the depression in the but not many people have had to face this crisis during the war years the porter family of minneapolis however had bad to readjust their living standard radically when job john porter fell chronically ill and had to go give up his job as a salesman mrs porter had bad to make swift stern becis decisions ions the children had bad to give up all the glamorous social life all the expensive frills that had bad come to be all important to them lack jack quit pil college and went to work in his fathers firm mrs porter found a job in a hotel amanda left school and took over the housework they bought a place its in the country a worn out farm that provides a pleasant home with plenty of 0 f fruit and vegetables 1 insurance and the children bring in more than the little we need here went through the fire we went through a terrible time w when h en we had to endure our childrens bitter disappointment and suffering when we had to act in a way that seemed to them nothing short of cruel I 1 had bad to make decisions that even to john seemed too sweeping Sweep sweeping ingi the word I 1 had to sweep pride aside sweep away pretense and show I 1 had to let our friends know that we were ruined that we could not do tor for our children what luckier parents could do we went through the fire and it was worth it the whole thing to me was worthwhile when I 1 knew not at first but after a while that my children had heroic stuff in them that they had common sense that down in them was affection and loyalty to their father and me the private schools the tennis rackets and college frats brats and smart cotillions cot illions can be swept away these things leave no mark on their lives except perhaps to weaken and spoil them but to face the ultimate que questions scions of food and shelter and learn what they are worth that Is a lesson they never will forget I 1 agree entirely with mrs john porter we dont have to manufacture difficulties and sacrifices for our children but it if honor demands them surely we are wronging those children by refusing them their share of the great battle that is life efe today and by honor I 1 mean the paying of bills the facing of responsibilities ties the adjustment of family burdens sa so that one person does not carry the whole load perhaps mrs porter is pessimistic in prophesying that hard times are ahead for many of us but a good many wise voices are reminding us that these are good years in which to harden the youngsters of the family to reality this should not be done by fretful and sporadic complaint about this extravagance trava gance or that demand but by a rational and serious discussion of present assets and future liabilities it if it proves sary at least it will do no he harm arm and if yours is a family still insecure as to its financial social and provisional outlook it may do great good |