Show WHAT DOES THE WORLD OWE THIS THIS' WOMAN r She feels that her rich friends could perfectly well help her mother and herself if it only they would By y KATHLEEN NORRIS IE HE world is full of men and T THE women who woo wont won't solve their JL own problems One of them came to to see me yesterday A eyed bright well well dressed dressed nice nice- spoken ly-spoken woman she took up forty- forty one minutes of my working time timen in n pouring out a n story that is so familiar to me that I could have poured it out even more rapidly to her She Is perhaps forty or forty forty- two wo years old she never has conquered conquered con con- the difficulties life has presented presented pre pre- to her and she never wilL wilLI I I. I could have told her that too Everybody with whom this woman worn worn- an nn has come in contact hns hris failed tailed her she has apparently moved through ugh the world trusting fine hardworking honorable only to meet deception and unkindness and trouble She She feels now that the world owes her a living Jiving She knows hUndreds of persons who could perfectly perfectly per pert well s support her and her aged mother But Jh that's ts the way life llie is isn't it You give and give giveand giveand giveand and give until youve you've nothing left to give and you get nothing in return re re- re turn Her husband left her seven years after marriage to go to another woman Alimony But hes he's now b been seen en on relief for three years and andle he le says he cant can't pay it He gave her in parting a house which she describes as a a. a wreck plaster coming coming corning com corn ing off the walls and of course no painting done for ages Her son now 26 20 on account of some federal regulation has gone away to another town because he couldn't hold his job while she had hers She gets 75 a month as manager of a womans woman's club And what can I do with Mother on my hands on THAT she zhe demands demands demands de de- de- de mands path pathetically Its a mere pittance I have a room in the club but I cant can't keep Mother there I have to have an office I go home tired at night and have to start right in getting supper for mother and nd me She gets her own lunch I 1 lunch at the club Think of it for h her r who used to have four servants house-servants 1 I Well that's just typical of the way in which our lives have been changed This woman Jean Brown wants me to use my influence to get her hera a post-office post position that pays a month montin Even supposing me to have any powers in that direction which h I haven't it might occur to her that I couldn't possibly recommend recommend mend a person of whom I know nothing but her own story told ina in ina a casual c call lL These things things' never occur to the seekers of favors and what thousands thousands thou thou- thou thousands sands of them there are A Presidents President's dents dent's life llie a a high officials official's life lia must be made simply unendurable by them They waste ones one's time telling one eagerly and specifically what they C CANT CAN'T NT do they never mention anything ng they can They review what they had in the past how lost it who deceived them they u and failed them Never having lived up to their opportunities they want wider and and better on ones s. s Jean Brown yesterday spoke with deprecatory regret of a mere pittance pittance pittance pit pit- tance of 75 a month montin She told me that she and her mother couldn't possibly live livo on on it Friends she said helped her with clothes and gifts and her son sent cent an occasional occasion occasion- al check otherwise she didn't know where she and poor Mother would be Her taxes are 84 64 a year year- making her rent rent 7 a month Meals at atthe atthe atthe the outside oughtn't to cost these two women more than a dollar a day Hundreds Hundreds thousands of ot women women wom worn en are feeding four yes and six and eight persons on that That leaves a monthly balance of 38 I mentioned this sum sum and she looked at me with her bright unthinking said eyes and True in a dubious tone tono that showed me that she actually never had thought it out on the terms of a budget But telephone and mag magazines and light and shoes and hospitalities ties oh and a thousand things more morel she said cheerfully Uy One cant can't quite vegetate you know Mothers Mother's always been accustomed to the nice little things that that make all aU the difference a few ew flowers a telegram to a friend a new book Nov Now the sublime stupidity of such sucha a woman in hi coming to annoy another busy woman with this sort of ot a tale 13 is the phase of the situation that Interests me Apparently such a person person and and they are by no means meins confined to ono one sex sex sex-in is mentally in in- capable of working out the r roal ral aI values of our respective services to the communities and the age aye in which we live That honest hard work that the making of themselves themselves themselves them them- selves valuable to anyone anywhere any any- where In any capacity in any business business busi busi- ness is the ONLY why way to promotion promotion promo promo- tion and success never seems to occur to them They think it is all luck and influence and social position position position tion they tell you who their grandfathers grand grand- fathers were and that streets In remote remote re re- mote cities were named for for- their uncles they mention a few very rich friends by their first names and then they sit back and expect you to do the rest Jean Brown felt that she could sp speak k with contempt of a salary that to tenths nine-tenths of the women of Russia Russi or Germany today would m mean man an financial security that to a Chinese woman would represent actual actual actual ac ac- ac- ac wealth Thousands of Frenchwomen French Frenchwomen women Italian and Englishwomen are raising families in decency and comfort on 75 75 a month With thrift and dignity and with the elimination of a great many useless things they think essential to their to-their their van long and very never position Jean and her mother could set their entire neighborhood an example of agreeable and successful successful suc sue living Instead she goes about putting the whole sit situation dramatically and appealingly to whosoever will listen criticize the pin headed club women who employ her and retails retails retails re re- re- re tails to all and sundry a list of her herrich herrich herrich rich friends who could perfectly well help her mother and herself herselt if it only they would The successful women of this world know that until you solve your own problem no matter what it Is is' is completely and happily for all concerned you never ne are going to deserve a chance to solve larger problems You may get that chance for influence does sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times put strange persons into high places but you wont won't hold it it you'll presently be out again more aggrieved aggrieved aggrieved ag ag- ag- ag grieved and bewildered than be be- fore Strange that some women should be born with complete delusions about themselves and nd life and that in others hardly out of childhood there is planted a real grasp of the truth that includes a position of humility and simplicity and honesty honesty hon hon- esty toward material things like bills bins and meals and rooms and hard work and a spiritual attitude that makes all these things supremely supreme supreme- ly unimportant In the position of my recent caUer caller caller call caU- er another wiser woman would have gotten that cottage into shape for renting long ago it has seven rooms it is much too large for tor a lonely old lady to inhabit all day long She would have found some snug little corner for a home she never would have plastered the house with the two thousand dollar mortgage that was put on it three years nto lO Sh Shi wr ll nn n w u I that 75 a month and the sense of I living well would put new vitality and satisfaction into her lier whole altitude attitude attitude atti- atti tude toward her work On the face of ot it it Is easier to tobe tobe tobe be rich than poor And to those who are wrestling with real money trouble trou ble it seems to be the one real trial in the world I know it it for tor there were many years in my life lite when a very little more money would have meant to me the difference between worry worry and peace of mind the difference between dignity and embarrassment the difference between taking favors tavon or giving fa fa- fa a. a vors Ive I've not forgotten nor would I belittle the anxiety that shadows the lives of ot mu much h more than half the themen themen themen men and women of the world But one lesson I did learn from the hard years and it is one that goes far to rob plenty as well vell as poverty of their realest fear tear and their most constant pressure I 1 learned that it is better to live in two rooms and on the simplest and plainest of ot food it Is better to forego all luxuries even those that we Americans have come to regard regard regard re re- re- re gard as necessities than to drag out the miserable of ot an exIstence existence ex ex- that depends upon promises the fue asking of favors the wretched consciousness of unpaid bills and md unbalanced expenses It is better betterto to get down under the income to tomake tomake tomake make a game of living on a little and to have ones one's mind gloriously free tree of the fretting and shaming thoughts that shut the door to anything any thing like escape or success e Bell DelI Syndicate tl I |