Show Kathleen Norris Says There Is No Way to Get Back Lost Sweetheart Bell ServIce A I L Lb b II II 1 M z zI I I 3 x tr Z F J I r 1 a o wr y I 4 vi i dJ v I vt l t t I I Iwas was so stupid that night that I hate to tl ti tinA nl nA about It When Hugo made fun of me I 1 Isa so sa d I 1 felt I 1 as gets gelt ng a cold and went upstairs lie He later laler told Mary that when I Iwas was a kid I had been his h sweetheart By KATHLEEN NORRIS is no harder situ situation THERE atlOn for a woman of any age than that in m n which she suspects that the love of the man she idolizes is cool cooling cooling mg ing The self deceptions by whIch abandoned sweethearts solace themselves are pa pathetic pathetic thebe in m their transparency it is almost impossible for anyone any one of us to believe that she has lost her charm for forthe forthe forthe the man she loves The girl who writes me a aletter aletter aletter letter on this tills subject fortu fortu- fortunately fortunately fortunately is young Brenda IS only 17 and whether she likes the idea now or not she is s go mg dig to get over her passion for the fickle Hugo Hugo was fir t my older sister Anna s friend says Brenda stear s tear tearstained tearstained stained letter but from the mo mo- moment mo- mo moment moment ment I first saw him he was the only man m in the world for me I used to hang around just lust to see him bun and my chum and I used to walk downtown so that we could pass his lus office and perhaps have a glimpse of lumMy him lum My diary m in those days was filled With him hun and if I only had a word from hun him it would make me happy for a week That was when I was only 15 Last year Anna got a school in m a city a hundred miles away We had a good by party for her and Hugo came He and I talked together seriously for the fiat fir t tune time and I think he realized that Anna s kid kul sister was not quite so young as her years Anyway after Anna left he came one night and brought me candy and stayed talk talking mg and I was so happy I could not sleep for nights afterward Wrote Each Other Daily After Alter that we saw each other frequently tz and there was no doubt of hIS bis feeling when he went on short trIPS we wrote each other every day and although my parents felt I Iwas Iwas Iwas was too young to make plans yet Hugo is 31 and could well support a wife and that made a difference The joy of those first days WIll rem remain am with me roe all my life for I Ican Ican Ican can never feel for any other man what I feel for Hugo Just his VOIce just lust his hand on mine mme when he taught me to drive the very Jackets lackes and caps and neckties he wore were sacred to me He asked me to marry him and wrote me that night that he would never forget the moment when a dIZZY crazy little girl threw herself hersel into loto his arms In that same letter he says you are going to be the most spoiled little wife m in the world I suppose the reet re t of this story the letter goes on is a familiar one to you Hugo had to go away for three weeks and even m in hIs letters before he came back I felt the change When he did get back backI I put flowers floers around in m the house and wore a new dress but he didn t come that evening All AH the t ne day and the next I didn t hear from him and every second of those days was an agony On the fourth day I telephoned I I couldn t help it He explained that he had been terribly busy and that hIs bis mother had house guests I an old schoolmate of hers and the schoolmate s twin daughters and that I ng the girls took up all his spare time I asked him if they knew about me mc and he answered by asking what about you honey InvIted His Guests When I hung up the telephone I Iwas Iwas Iwas was almost cry cr ng ai at d my mother suggested that I wr tc to ask ng h s guests to come to our house for Sunday supper He seemed pleased by that and they came My mother NOTHING TO REGRET The Brenda who thIS letter is es undoubtedly to In for some heart breaking mo moments moments ments but she has nothing wIth winch which to reproach her herself herself herself self in later years She may have behaved like a silly girl herself at an older man and then sulking when he explained e that she had misunderstood understood his brotherly of af affection feet IOn But she can look for forward forward ward to a more real reala a more lasting 1 J ind md of lore lot e in to a few years Then perhaps she willbe wIll wIllbe willbe be able to laugh at what seems now to be utter tragedy had everything lovely but the eve evening rung ning did not have one happy mo moment moment moment ment for me Both these girls are pretty They are 25 years old and have been everywhere and have seen all the plays One is engaged and I think the other likes Hugo In fact I know she does and so sodo sodo sodo do Mom and Dad DadI I was so stupid that n that I hate to think about It it and when Hugo made fun ot of me I said I felt as it l I was getting a cold and went upstairs Hugo said to Mary that when I was a kid I had been hIS little sweetheart and we had made great marriage plans and were go going mg to build a house up in ill an oak and live lve up there Which made me seem like a baby Last week Hugo wrote me qUite frankly saying that he is sorry that I misunderstood his lus attentIons that he will always love me as a abIg abig abig bIg brother almost old enough to tobe tobe tobe be my father and that he would like his rus letters back My mother who now says she is ms sorry she did It since it disturbed me so much immediately without con me sent back all his letters from my treasure box boxI I love him rum as much as ever He HeIS Heis Heis IS so wonderful there is nobody 1 11 1 I e hIm I If It I live to be 90 and marry 10 times I will always love h m better than anyone else What can canI canI canI I do How can I get him hun back Please please help me keep from despair The Price of LoveIt LoveIt Love LoveIt ItIS It is a cruel thing Brenda tha that t tany any human be being should be g ye ve power to hurt another as Hugo has hurt you But it is the price of love Love is the dearest commod commodity commodity commodity ity m in life Ide the thing for tor wh wb ch v e pay highest It is painfully obvIOus 1 now that his affair with you was just what he calls it hall half paternal I halt haIt brotherly affection for the 1 I tile the gIrl who so openly adored h m He mIght indeed have made you his wIfe and he might have been a faithful husband to you There are men who have petted and adored a child wife until her tall sons seemed older than she but as asa asa asa a general thing the man to whom a girl gives her heart at 17 isn t the true mate and the real love affa r comes along six or even reven years la later ter I You have a lot for which to be thankful Evidently you have set sei Sl si sible sible ble affectionate parents will ng to stand by you help you m in your dif difficult es make your home a center of hosp Those are invaluable able assets just lust now Also you d do t t t m in your infatuation for Hugo throw aay a say ay ay your self respect when hen Iou ou threw a vay yay your heart It t help you to read some of the letters I 1 get from today s sg sg sg g ris girls who don t regard love affaIrs as their mothers did gIrls who argue in ill a moment of pass onIt onit on onit it isn ism t anyone s affair but o 0 u- u o 0 n in what hat we do and if d I love lim and want to do anything he asks I m free to do it 4 |