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Show t tKathleen Kathleen Norris Says : What A Veteran Wants Wantsaon lieU aon Synd Syndcate SyndcaseWNU cate cateWNU case-WNU case WNU -WNU WNU - futuru eeaturee eeatureeitt itt ] ; . + if- if ifL ? - _ L r rr r7 Jr7 r7v r J v---- v vJ - - - - J 4 l 9 \ - $341- $341 341 $3414 $ - / , - 4 ) 6 6P P G GpoudtA4 poudtA4 R/Ad R Ad / - t ti t"When i "When When " she , he me met ' as u . 1 began to ' 0 soy , ay what " , ha ' rd Pd planned plonned1 plonned1m , 'I I 'Im ' m .orry orry sorry . re Pre Prealways r rallDay e allDay always . been .0rI 0rI sorry . " , ! ' Then we " , e .cere cere scene . crYing on each eacholher eachother's olher other's others ' ' . .houlder houlder shoulder . ' I I I I , I I , I . I I . By KATHLEEN NORRISH NORRISERE NORRIS NORRISfERE IBy fERE ERE is a letter from aG aG a aG HERE H G I Joe who finds himself himself him . self stationed in northern north northern northern ern Germany He comes from froma a small American Amencan town and he hewants hewants hewants wants to get back to it Ger Ger- German Ger- Ger German German - - man frauleins fraulems fraulefns don dont t mterest interest mteresthim interesthim interesthim I mterestI him nor Germany s devastated devastatedI devastatedcities devastatedcities devastatedcities cities , , he doesn t like lake the Ian Ianguage Ianguage language guage and he is tired hred after afterthree afterthree afterthree three years of army food foodi i * . e * . e * . " , ' 1m I m 22 and 1m I m going gomg to totake totake totake take an engineering engIneenng course af- af after after af after - - ter BoyI the war he writes wntes Boy I can t wait walt waft to get going gomg All AllI Allthat Allthat Allthat that has kept me sane through throughthese throughthese throughthese these years is lS the thought ofhome of ofhome ofhome home and the family I have havesome havesome havesome some family I have three SIS SISters sisters sisters ters one married marned with wlth three threekids threekids I kids and one brother , who has hastwo hastwo hastwo two little httle boys My grandma IS isliving isliving I Ihvmg hvmg living and she and one ofmy of my myaunts myaunts myaunts aunts helpMom live with us and help Mom housekeepingMy with the housekeepIng My youngest sister is going to tomarry tomarry tomarry marry her captain at Chnst Christ Chnstmas Christmas Christmas mas the middle one was mar mar- marI marned married married - I ried ned last JulyYou JulyYou July JulyYoud You Youd d never look twice &t t a.t at & . our ourhouse ourhouse ourhouse house though It stands back under underbig underbig I Ibig big trees and has a lot of space spacea.round spacearound spacearound a.round around . It for barns and fences and andPop andPop I IPop Pop s chickens and the windmill wlndmll1 But Butthe Butthe Butthe the Tullleries Tu111erJes Tuilleries don dont t look any better betterto betterto I Ito to meWba.t meWhat me meWhit Whit Wba.t Wbat What . Food . What Wba.t Wbat Fun ' Sa.turda.ys-yum Saturda.ysyum Sa.turda.ys Saturdays yum Saturdays-yum Saturdays . . - - yum yum yam yum-does yum does yumdoescooking yum - - doescooking , COOking go on in that tha.t . house I ! I Fried Pried Priedchicken Friedchicken ' chicken and strawberry shortcake- shortcake shortcakeand shortcakeand shortcake shortcakeund - - und and Mom with a . big apron on and andthe andthe I Ithe the grandchildren grandchlldren falling around un tin tinder unI unI under under I . der everyone s a feet f et and maybe Petethat Petethats Pete Petetha.t.1 -that that -thats thats - tha.t.1 that.1 that1 . II . my older brother to In law lawI lawbrmging lawbringing lawbringing I . brmging bringing In a . sugar cured ham-he ham he hamheraises ham - herakes ra.Jses raJses raises . hogs out la In the country The Thekids Thekids I kids put on a . play or we have ha.ve . games gamesat gamesat gamesat at the t.a.ble-my ta.blemy t.a.ble table my table-my table . - - my girl glrJ comes over overwith overwith I wIth her brother and we play tennis tennisone tennison on one onethe , the municipal mun.lcJpal munlcJpal . courts-we courts we courts - - we , oil fllJ all go goswimming goswimming I Iswimming swimming after alter dinner and when wecome we weI wecome come home something good tood to eat is ison Ison Ison on the table with a . message from fromMom fromMom fromMom Mom don dont t make mak any noise and andwake andwaka I ' * wake Dad ' The 'The fellows out here the Jetter letter lettergoes lettergoes ' I'The goes on who come from homes lIke likethat likethat tha.t that . homes with lots of laughing laughingand laughingand laughingand and cooking cooling and good times In themcouslna them themcousins themcousins cousins couslna coming and end going sisterstrying sisters sisterstrying sisterstrying trying to get Moms attention a.ttentlon- a.ttentlon attention- a.ttentlonthey attentionthey . attentiontheyra - - they theyra re the ones that are coming comingback comingback comingback back sane Every little custom-ev- custom ev customevcry customevcry custom - - ev every - - ery cry association with home Is dear to tous tous tous us now we compare snapshots 8Dapshots we weread weread weread read sections of ot letters to each other otherSome otherSome otherSome Some nights nlghts three fellows feJlows and I 1 get getpenc11s getpencils getpencils penc11s pencils and tablets and draw dia din diagrams dingrams diagrams grams of Main Street , , , or the farm- farm farmthe farmthe farm farmthe - the way wa.y . the trees and the houses housesstand housesstand housesttand stand Nothing else counts-these counts these countsthesegll"Is countsthesegirls counts - - thesegirls gll"Is gllIs girls " over here don dont t mean rnean anything anythingto to us-nothlng us nothlng us-nothing nothing - us - nothing means an any anthtac } thing e except ' ! t tcept cept that It if we stick this out and see seeit seeft seeIt it ft through we well 11 get back and the thefolks thefolks thfolks ( folks won wont t be ashamed of us . . . There Is a . letter to put heart beart Into Intoany intoany toteany any woman whose Job of running thehouse the thehouse thehouse house and somehow providing meals mealsfOl mealsfar mealsfor fOl far " the family sometlmea sometimes seems rou routine routine rouUna tine and dull to her " "Tha Tha "The The " fellows fellowswho fellowswho fellowswho who come from real homes are com com- comIng comIng coming - ' ing back saneH sanesa.ya Eane sane H " says sa.ya saya . JoeLots JoeLots Joe JoeLots Lots of others aren area t Lots Lois of others oth- oth others oth others - ers are never going to find that cure cureof cureof curtof of love and home life lite Just to find findMom findMom findMom Mom cooking the rememberecdoughnuts remembered remembereddoughnuts remembereddoughnuts doughnuts to hear Dad mildly cuss cussfur cussIng cussIn fur Ing ? ; as he washes the car to have a . apretty Epretty pretty cousin turn up with tennJs tennis tennisrackets tennJsrackets tennlrackets . ! rackets or to . tit .8Jt 8Jt sit with a 8 . small sma.ll . ap apprecJatlve apprecfative appreclatlve precJatlve precfative nephew in his hJa lap listen- listen listening listening listen listening - ing wide eyed to war wax stories-In stories In storiesInthese storiesInthese stories - tethese these things there Is healingHealing healingHealing healing healingHealing Healing for your boy and healing healingtor healingtor heallnetor tor the world . , . Home is the unit un1t ol olFried of 1 t tFried Friedchicken Fried chicken andetrawberrr and etrawberrr etrawberrrshortcake itrawberteakf shortcake " BACK TO DEAR OLDWAYS OLDWAYSMost OLD OLDWAYS OLDWAYS WAYS WAYSMost - I Most soldiers sold.ers solders . don t go crazy crayyor , or develop de-relop de relop - strange strangt ! des.rts desrts desires des.rtsIIIh.lt desireswhile desireswhile . ! IIIh.lt IIIhlt while . ! they are abroad Theyjust Thty They Thtylust Theylust ! lust want > ant to get back to the l.fe lfe life l.fethey lifethey lifethey . they used to know knolll It wasn lIIasn tperfect t tperfect tperfect perfect , , but it .t t . satisfied them thempretty thempretty thempretty pretty well lIIell Nothing Nothmg they hare have hareseen haveseen haveseen seen in en Europe or the Or.ent Orent Orient Or.enthas Orienthas Orienthas . has really reallychanged changed their thetr tastes tastesor tastesor tastesor or longingsThe longmgsThe longings longmgs The soldier sold.er solder . whose letter ap appears appears I pears in m this issue ISSUt ! just lust wantsto wants wantsto wantsto to get back to his IllS farm home hometo hometo hometo wantsj j to his family fam.ly famly . and friends and andsllleetheart andsweetheart andsweetheart sllleetheart sweetheart The memory o of f the thes.mple thesimple thesimple s.mple smple simple . pleasures , the hearty heartyand heartyand heartyand theI I and delectable food the manyjoyous many many10Yous manyjoyous 10Yous joyous associations are all that thatI thatkept thatkept thatkept I kept him h.m hm . sane in farasay faranay faraway Ger Germany Germany I Imany many , , he writes lIIT1ttS ! The German Germangirls Germangirls Germangirls girls don dont t I appeal ttppeal to him 111m ! rim GermanI nordo nor nordo nordo I do the foreign fore.gn foregn . language and andCIIstoms andCUstoms andcustoms CIIstoms CUstoms In short he just lust wantsto wants wantsto wantsto to get back home and pick pICkup upwhere up upnhere upwhere nhere where he left off He is 22 22IIIh.ch 22which 22which IIIh.ch IIIhch which IIIh.chIS whichis . is still st.ll stll . young YOllng YOllngenough youngenough enough to tostart tostart tostart start afresh , , so he intends to tostudy tostudy tostudy study engineering engmeerlng engineeringThis engmeerlngThIS This young , oung man u IS no doubt doubta a typ.calserr.ceman typicalserviceman typical typ.cal typcal . serviceman serr.ceman serrceman . Although Althoughsaddened Althoughsaddened Althoughsaddened saddened saddenedand and andweary weary after hIS hISharsh hisharsh hisharsh harsh harshexperIences experiences , , he is not b.t bt bit b.tter bitter bitter . ter or disgruntled dlSgrrmtled He , is s readyto ready readyto to slip sl.p slp . back backInto into the tht ! old oldgroores oldgrooves oldgrooves groores grooves as socm socmas soon as he ht ! is dlS dis dlScharged discharged discharged charged Most .IoSI IoSI ! . wives wyes , sweet sweethearts sweethearts sweethearts hearts andmothers and mothers who IIIho havebeen haye have hayebeen havebeen been worrying worrymK about abollt the 'mpact mpact impact 'mpactof impactof ' impactof of ofwar war on the men they lovewill lore love lovewill 71.11 7111 will ' . be pleasantly sur surprised rlStd ! to tofind tofind tofind find find all them thtm ! little l.ttle lttle . changed , afterall afterwhich after afterwhich which tha the whole world s safety rests restsIn restsIn I In just so much us as you can make lti ib lti110rmal ibnormal rnormal 110rmal normal freejfrom happy affectionate freej free fre frefrom < ( from quarreling debt worry yoUj youy yolhelp yoUjhelp youyhelp help to cure your son of ot the effects ot of otthese ofthese o ; these years of Insanity InsanityA A Splendid Gilt GIft . . "Thinking Thinking "Th1nk1ng Th1nk1ng " ' " of what to send Yeafor Yea Yeafcfor for his birthday writes a young w wife wifefrom wififrom ml1ldjthat from Memphis 1 'I I T ' made up my ml1ldj min minthat minethat that better than any tangible thine thin thinwould thinswould : ; would be the news that his mother motherand mothezJ mothezJand mothe : and I were friendly frJendly With his fathe father fatherI ; I Ive ve ye always been on good terms tenns bu but butin buIn marriageI marriageId in all the five years of our marriage marriagiId Id I d never spoken to his mother be becaUS becausg because caUS\ caUS causg caUSof byYeats \ ! of a . message rnessage she sent me by b ; Yeats when we were engaged"I engaged engaged"I "I I " took our three small sm'1ll sm1ll ' boys all an allclean anclean alclean clean and fresh and went boldly to tomy tomy t tmy < my father In law s house When she shemet shemet shimet met us I began to say what I d planned plan planned planned ned I Im rn m sorry I Ive ve ye always been beensorry beensorry bccisorry sorry Then v.e ve we . e were crying on each eachother eachothers eactothers other others s shoulders and after that we wesent wesent wisent sent Yeats what he called the finestj finest finestpresent finespresent present finestjpresent anyone ever received-just received just receivedjustthe received-just received just receivedjustthe received - Justhe the news that we were friends frJenc1s . . , I Im m happier than I lie Ise \ e ever been beenIn beenIn beeiIn In my life ilte and so is she And when whenYeats whenYeats wheiYeats Yeats comes home 111 Ill feel ashame ashamed ashamea.t ashamedat < a.t at . his hls happiness So It its s a II . gate gain all allround allround alround alroundSome round roundSorne roundSome Some Sorne other woman reading thIs thIsmight thismight thismight might think up a II . similar gift gt ! for forhusband forhusband torhusband husband or son |