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Show . % ; Iathleen ( Norris Say : . - Old People Are a Ploblem Bell SvndlcAte SvndlcAteWNU -WNU WNU - Features Sht la)1 la1 ) to Ihe ch ldren when ue , send tl tlem em m 10 call Don I boll boller er 10 10CO CO " lilY dears Grandma knollS 'OU OU ' don I wanl to , By KATHLEEN NORRIS NORRIS1/MD NORRIS1 MD / PEOPLE ought tosoh to ( OLD ( ) soh e their own prob prob'V probV ' lemsIt lems lemsIt It is a great reflection reflectlon on onfOur onrour fOur mteihgence mtellIgence if you have havehHd havehed hHd 60 or 70 years in m thIS thISoubled thisroubled [ oubled world and even now nownt nowiont nt know what you want wantow wantww ow you can manage , or how howto to be happy Being Bemg unhappy unhappyis unhappya a matter of mtellIgence intelligenceHid mtellIgenceand and to be unhappy is to argue argueyourself yourself stupIdNaturally stupid ' Kiturilly Naturally there are times In all allI1ves alltier lives I1ves when bereavement , , or orNley orlEiaty Nley trouble or the actions of ofe oftee e dear to us cause us deep con conI conOB ( I Im m not talking talkmg of that sort sortUung sortd thing Uung I m talking talkmg ol of these old oldpeople oldpople people who mourn and tret fret and andmplam andtmplain ( mplam and generally annoy the theyEfiger ger cro vd and make them themIt'm themit'rts themitrts It'm Itm ' ' a burden tor for the last 20 years yearsd yearstllhtir d thelT hvesVal lives hves livesr r Vary Val ' ! Cutter for example at 74 74IlllIoog 74d IlllIoog ttang as a horse and good for forIIWJJ forBUT IIWJJ ' more years Mary v.as vas Y . . as alowd a alavEd lavEd lIe ! ile raised three sons andl andI and I daughter saw them all mcely mcelymoo nicelyBurned moo When she was wIdowed widowedtai found und her resources much re reilCOO reiittd ilCOO she proceeded to make of ofself o ( selfas sell self as much of a nuisance as asI asurnan 8 I human being canShe can canshe she ft II as stunned Wl with th grief when whenisr whenr r ch Idren married fainted famted at the theurch theimrch urch hated hor hllr son in m law and andaughters andlaughters aughters n law violently She car cared cartd ( ed on when she he had to sell the thed theild d home as if she had been hecn turnedinto turned turnedInto ( Into the street Her stay at a ruce ruceJlet niceIJiet Jlet famlly.hotel famllyhotel family-hotel family hotel . - was one long longan longroan [ an . . The girls husbands got together togethermi d bought her a cottage she had hady had'caSj hadcaSj ' y coveted for years They fur fured furBilled ed It moved her in m She Shenked Shelunked nked them half halfheartedly heartedly andg and g { ntc- ntc JI'tt JItt ntcfind ' - find thmgsHong things thmgs vrong \Hong Hong \ with the theace thebince neighkirhond ace window wmdow screens neIgh neIghrhood rhood and the earth in m the gar garla Nothme Nothmg Pleases Her HerOW HerW \OW OW \ five years later she speaks'tely speakstely speaks ' llerly speaksllerly of the ch children dren shunting shuntmg " off olf ' into this dreadful little littleIce little'te littlete Ice ' and * nd asserts that she has al alVI 11 hated it it . . ' ng't ngt ' 'She She ' limply simply Is do ng everyth ng nge ' e can to rum our hves I1ves writesdaughter writes ' daughter She cut Crlt cizes clzes the the"ilireni theilireni " ldren theldren s manners and the way we ween weBl en them She says to them whenlend when ( tend lend them In to caU call Don t t"l tl t"lr Grand81 " ber tber ! r to come my dears Grand GrandI I knows you don t want to to"tte "tte tte be ' ! " worst Bf ef It is this letter lettereludes letter"lldes letterlldes ' " " eludes my husband smother smotherI s mother ' cheerfuld I daring darl ng helpful and cheerfuladored cheerful ' d SheEu Sher.d idored adored by the children She r.d rd . housethere a * frIend ( ncnd keep a board ng house house"we housewe ' livingtc livingIe there " s no quest on of her living Ie but it if we ask her to d nner nner"t nnert nnerce " ce theretrouble more than we do mother there there"ouble thereouble trouble " What can one do with a " a"Mesome aMesome auhlesome " uhlesome unhappy old lady whor who " ' Iso "a a " ts t ck E s ckenough enough tor for a sani saru saruThurn Thurn r\ r \ rIso " or poor enough tor for a home ? " " e all"Eh allEh allgh answer II-nothmg II nothmg is - nothing It If all " " " gh the 30s and the 40s your yourwtl yourer forlJ1ne er " Wasn wasnt t getting ready for forn lJ1ne 1 ' finding tog n andw amusements and sts t with which to fill It look . look"award lookaward lookOTWard " OTWard granden to the delights of grand " " en and to the serene ease . ease"burden easeburden " burden and responslbil responsibll thatlie ty that lie " changeI tttana Ineans nothing will change I would be very careful to to7t toJour Jour > ur husband s and your chllIi chU chll chUBHI interests t $ flrst first and to concede BHI concedeattl Ii t1le t1lea * a . possible to this twisted twistedt " \t t \ ttttBl tttBl you are happy old woman For no matter what whatyou whatyou you do she w U II never be satisfiedSome satisfied satisfiedSome Some years ago I knew a couple couplewho couplewho who had a charming charmmg home do vn on onLong onLong Long island One summer they had hadan hadan an opportun ty to go abroad and andoffered andoffered offered the r home to a busmess busmessfnend businessfriend businessfriendTwo fnend fnendTwo Two Difficult Old Ladles LadlesThe LadiesThe The only thing thmg our friend sa d dm din m making makmg this offer is that my mywIfe mywife wIfe s mother lives with us and andshe andshe she wants to stay on in the house housedurmg houseduring durmg the summerThe summer summerThe The other man s face fellI fell fellI I m sorry he said it can t tbe tbe be done You see we have an old oldlady oldlady lady of our ownBoth own ownBoth Both these men knew that there therewas therewas was no chance that the old lad es eswould eswould would get together work out a con congemal congenial gemal and perhaps even pleasant pleasantrelat pleasantrelat relat onsh p No such hope The sec second second ond family had to forego a chance chancefor chancefor for a cool beach summer and the thefirst , first fam family y had to seek out some someother someother other solution for the old tyrant s scompany scompany scompanyWhy company companyWhy Why is it old age must be so un unreasonable unreasonable reasonable exacting exactmg and unman unmanageable unmanageable ageable ' ? Most old ladies ladles v . were ere nice wom women wonen * en once loved wives and good goodmothers goodmothers mothers Why can t they prepare preparein preparein in their minds mmds all through the theyounger theyounger younger years tor for the inevitablechanges inevItable inevItablechanges changes and sol tudes that are be before before fore them them7 ? Whether you marry or orwhether orwhether whether you don t you may some someday someday day be alone Why deceive your yourself yourself self . with y.lth ylth the idea that the ) oung oungsters oungsters sters want you in their 11 hves ves that thatyou thatyou you have peculiar pecullar charms claIms claImsand claimsand and rights that other old ladles ladleshaven ladieshaven haven t t7 t7Remember ? Remember what you thought 30 30years 30years years ago of your husband s moth mother mothcr er That Tbat s what they think of you youtoday youtoday today Face it and if you can turn turnyourself turnyourself yourself into a cheerful occupieduseful occupIed occupIeduseful useful old woman too busy WIth WIthher withher her own interests to watch the theclock theclock clock and the calendar to make sure surethat surethat that the children cluIdren are neglecting herThe her herThe The one gift you can give your yourcluIdren yourchildren cluIdren now and it is a great g ft ftis ftis is to let them see tha that t you lire lirehappy arehappy happy |