Show r So Your Husbands Husband's Gone ne fo War WarTher I Ther Theres There's s 's M More re Than Love Missing By ETHEL ETHi L GORHAM Chapter Two Living In dread these last few months because you faced thet the t fear feat of ot separation from your husband you had probably overlooked overlooked overt over over- t looked exactly what his exodus would mean In terms of f cold cash Did you forget In the dither of that being t manless means less money that the days to come promise to be hard as well as ely You find out soon enough You discover with a shock how much less In physical comfort it means How it lo lowers lowers' our scale scare of living How not only love and money fly out the window b but t also also he the e consolation of having a aman aman man around to do a mans man's kind I of chores Even if you have a private Income br r a good job of your own it will mean less security security security se se- se- se since married people who I both work usually gear ger themselves themselves them them- selves seh-es to both salaries I. I There is IJ i one sweet comfort 1 If ir you are broke so is almost I everybody else It It- helps no end end- 1 to know that You are factually right when you say a wife WI-fe with a husband at war suffers the most hardshIps hardships hardships hard hard- ships both emotionally and fi ti- ti 4 Income tax gets you too So does the high cost of pf living although you are minus the cushion of your peacetime income But theres there's no reason to be dour about It No reason to swell with resentment If its it's chic to be thrifty its it's not chi chic tobe to tobe tobe be bleak The thing to do is face your finances squarely and see how far you ou can stretch them to include fun and frolic 1 Big Bg Budget Item Is Rent RentI I 1 Major item in your budget Is t the rent Here you can manage to save save although with culty and sometimes o 0 only n a I 1 l through drastic changes If you 4 find yourself with a lease oj on op ari n apartment for lor which you pay 1 less Jess than 80 a month your landlord cannot dispossess you or seize your furnIture for the rent without permission from a court Your landlord however can get the court to grant an eviction within three months Of course if you can continue continua 4 to pay the rent even with your 1 husband in service you are areU U liable to do so 80 if you stay on But If it you like you can break the lease without either you or your husband incurring r spon- spon If you pay more than 80 80 a month and and- cant can't afford to continue continue con con- it all becomes more cult If It you should hould up and move out your husband can be held for the balance of the lease after the war is over Because you dont don't want to start with a major debt against you at that time It Is better to work out some arrangement with your landlord now You have to live somewhere Tell him what you youcan youcan youcan can afford to pay and see what h he will do If you have a home of your own it is advisable to see a lawyer or or go go to one of the free legal a aid I d organizations to straighten you out because real estate agreements ts are complicated complicated complicated for the layman to under under- stand The national office of the Legal Aid is at 11 Park place New York City and you youcan youcan youcan can write there for information On One thing to remember Is that if you signed the agreement of sale or on your house before October 17 1940 you get protection under the soldiers soldiers' soldiers soldiers' sol aol diers' diers and sailors' sailors relief act That means that the court can hold up a suit for foreclosure on your mortgage until not later than three months after the end of your husbands husband's military ice Of course the co court rt may also make any other disposition of the case which protects the interests of both parties but if it is clearly shown that you cannot cannot cannot can can- not keep up payments because of f your husbands husband's service the law Is on your side t you can get out of ofa a l lease Se se or or a mortgage or not or whether hether you can make an arrangement to lower the rent dont don't forget it costs money to move And you'll find you need almost as much space without your husband as you needed with him at home Breaking up house and startIng startIng starting start- start i ing all over again is one thing Then you can move into a a. smaller small small- er space give furniture away if if- necessary pull in your belt so none of the notches show But this is a different problem entirely from the one that confronts confronts confronts con con- fronts the gay divorcee or the live-alone live girl who comes to the city to find a career and sprightly adventure Youre You're not breaking up house You are holding house You will find you want to hold on to every stick every scrap everything that went into your domesticity Because Because Because Be Be- cause you live 11 in expectation of your OUr husbands husband's return you want to keep your your- home intact until that happy time You cant can't throw out his old desk that hes he's loved so and youve you've hat hated d so just because hes he's not around to protect it and you find yourself crowded for space In other qu r- r Now o of all times you cant can't throw it out Hell He'll think with sohie som oni w warrant that youre you're using the war as an excuse excuse cx- cx ex ex- cuse to get rid rid- of of- what you used to call his monstrosity Putting all aU y your furniture and dishes into stor storage ge is expensive Even if you decide t to do it because be be- you cause cause you cant can't face the thought of of- ofa a lonesome house what will you do 2 A return to mother mother- is practical only in certain cases casei It all depends on on h hw w l long g youve you've been married and how accustomed you are to your own household ways It depends as aswell aswell aswell well on mothers mother's finances You'll find if mother has her own economic economic eco eco- eco eco- problems that you will want to p pay y The cost ost of st storage star stor rage r- r age plus plus' the payments payments' to moth moth- ther may amount to the sam same as staying on in yo your r old a apart abart- apartment artmen art art- men ment and nothing is gained except the com companionship pan ion s hip Which of course ourse may be why you considered it in the first place Some wives have put their lares and into storage and gone into hou housekeeping with other women women and and incidentally inci mci- dentally rued the day They have found that by the time they paid rental cooperative food and telephone bills bUls and the storage on their furniture nothing was gained except the trial and strain of trying to live again like a rollicking car career er girl Living with a husband has spoiled me for the joys of a a feminine beehive one one- woman who tried joint housekeeping confessed They are always having beaux in wh when ti 1 T Want to read Or feel chatty when I want to sleep My particular roommates are simply darling girls They're nice fh Th They're yr considerate And they drive me wild Ten Teft years ago the they would have been ideal Now t Oh OhI OhI Oh- Oh I wish I had stayed on n in my old apartment No Place To Entertain Another friend who also took the cooperative apartment way out discovered that it gave her herno herno herno no place to entertain her husband husband hus hus- band when he came in on leave Because she shared her bedroom with one of the girls she found she either had to her dispossess roommate or his herself off toa loa to lo a hotel with her husband The first she didn't care to do do the second she found expensive and unsatisfactory It is is on the whole wiser to try and stay on in the same 4 fashion you did before the war Perhaps in a le less Ids p cheaper but with Intrinsically Intrinsically cally the same setup the same furniture you as 11 the mistress of the house house Instead df of f another nother noth- noth er female or assorted females females- your husband as the master when he returns on furlough One thing is true yo you b d dont don't nl have to be showy You can safely move into less attractive quarters if need be without apologizing And given all your familiar possessions you can turn almost any place you get into a home that closely resembles resembles re re- re- re th the one you have had d. d TO IoB ToBe Continued i |