Show KATHLEEN NORRIS MORRIS Dont Don't Lose Happy Middle Years n its it's H n its it's H TirE WE WE ARE IN A RUT and its it's TV getting on our nerves Lee isn't as kind to me as he used to be I bore him He seems tired and quiet all aU the time If I start a subject subject sub sub- he may say wearily Lets pot talk about it Sometimes he says Please dont don't use that word Often Otten he hardly seems to hear me We are the run people continues the letter of Mildred Mil Mil- Miller Miller ler ter of ot New York City Lees salary salary sal sale ary is a week We pay 85 rent for five rooms in the West Sixties Lee Is 52 I am 47 We lost our one son In 1945 1045 and his widow has remarried and lives fives with our grandson In Los Angeles Our daughter died as a baby so we have weathered two great sorrows But nut until now I always felt that while Lee needed me I had reason for living Now there Isn't any question that he feels himself tied to a woman who means nothing to him bim Security Isn't Isn Enough I am a good cook I keep the house going Weve We've never been In debt We have a good nest-egg nest in government bonds and insurance all all that But that isn't enough isit is 11 isit it if it ones one's heart is restless and unsatisfied and life has grown duller dull dull- er er and quieter day by day There is is no other woman In the case I know although Lee is at the age when men sometimes fall faU for tor flattery flattery flat flat- tery and Interest t And physically we are both well sleep and eat like the normal human animals we weare weare weare are and feel bewildered at this apathy that has fallen tallen upon us As for tor amusements Lee has a cocker he adores He works on the window garden which is quite a success He lie likes walking bridge and a few special movies I like movies am taking a weekly lesson In Interior decoration and love to toi tol l i t H I arcs ant a good too took cook fuss with curtains and flower ar ar- I want to save our marriage I want to go eo into the fifties tittles busy happy and useful Thousands of persons live Uve as we do on less leas money and seem content Neither Lee Le nor I had any religious training train ing when young but we both be believe be lieve In God and sometimes go 10 to church Mysterious 1 Element This is hi an ordinary enough story and yet it has one mysterious element Why is It one asks that what makes certain c couples absolutely ab lb content with a nice home adequate income health companionship compan compan- isn't enough for far other couples t tWell Well the answer is that one on couple ha has baa found what it wants want and the other one The very fact that Mildred considers herself her ber sell self U and Lee to be in a rut shows that she the doesn't belong there That reaching out for tor interests his fussing fuss fuss- tag ing with window boxes her patient attention w while file professional decorators decorator decora ton tor lecture to 0 her shows ow that both are unsatisfied Has n. it occurred to Mildred and Gee Lev to move out of tho city The rent they ther are art paying would more than cover the monthly payments on n a small maU farm fann within within well well not an hour of th the city but an pour hour our and 20 0 minute minutes Wouldn't buying bUlin a small maU neglected farm tarm somewhere give him a chance of gardening on a larger scale give her ber a real chance at interior decoration and give the cocker an day all run instead instead instead in in- stead of a few moments of at freedom morning and night Mildred doesn't mention Lees Lee's Job Is it a job lob that could be transferred to a smaller city more more accessible to suburban farms There is no Joy in the world like feeling the ground under your feet to be your own like feeling that every faucet every picket every shingle you add to it is making it more yours You dont don't have to do without hot water electric light and power radio gas stove as your grandmother did when she moved Into the country You can still get your consomme canned and your peas picked But you'll hear bear the logs crackle in your own fire winter nights you'll see the moonlight whitewash your own roofs and fences in summer To say lay we raised that rooster when you serve the fried tried chicken to send people home carrying a arm r m s t f u l 1 of huckleberry and bunches of ot long-legged long white violets vio via violets lets to hang your Monday wash washout washout out O In blazing sunshine and eat your Sunday breakfast under your own grape arbor this is to find youth and life lite and delight again Peaceful b bus busy u s y healthy unworried unworried un un- worried age is a goal worth worth work workIng work ing lag toward It has to be achieved according to to pattern and with Intelligent intelligent in In- effort eUort Dont Don't lose these all aU important middle years |