| Show kathleen norris says young marriage Is unbalanced business deu syndicate service 1 till Z 41 pt t 6 41 47 Z 0 tj LO when a girl arl of 19 marries everything Is joyous tumult Jl presents pour in a dizzying number of frocks are bought grandmothers weal veil is brought out of the she wien linen chest chess fl a photographer takes pictures of little betsey beim 1 by KATHLEEN NORRIS OST girls like the idea M MOST of marrying young at 17 a normal girl walking home front from high school between two girl chums feels in her soul that if she could have the e excitement cite and glory of quietly announcing noun cing that she and peter baker are arc going to be married on her graduation day she care much what else happened or happening hap penin all the years to cornel comel betsey enga engaged gedl gasp the aunts why mercy on us how old is the child ill be 18 in june betsey reminds them demurely but inside her nothing Is demure everything is joyous tumult pride thrill expectation pec tation love of the nice boy who loves her so madly all these keep betteys Bet spirits at high level during her last weeks as a girl other things contribute presents pour in dizzying numbers of frocks are bought parties are given there Is an adorable little apartment to furnish there Is a sparkling ring grandmothers wedding veil is brought out of the linen chest a photographer comes to take pictures of little betsey half hid behind the folds of it the miracle of marriage in all of this athla peters image becomes somewhat fogged in betteys Bet mind he be Is there of course loving laving and happy but he ha Is really much less important in the eyes of an 18 year old girl than the fit at of her wedding gown betsey in all her life has never been lonely ignored I 1 doubtful hungry for friendship by no possibility can she eha value peters affection rightly or estimate this miracle that is marriage at its truo true worth no it is all fun for her betsey has smart attle calling cards with mrs peter arnold baker engraved upon them at 18 but at 19 at 20 the glow begins to pale it that she love peter and dear little attle ridiculous patsy but betsey the center of attention any more the other girls who looked on impressed and perhaps a little envious two years ago are in the full swing of lifes happiest days now betsey is missing all of this she Is married peter has changed from the carefree sweetheart of a few years ag ago 0 he has a wife and baby to support now 1 I was married at 18 11 betsey c can a n still say proudly but it seem to matter any more she Is beginning dimly to perceive that the very young wife has hai an obligation that sits badly on young shoulders erx hers must walt wait janet is 30 33 now she married at 18 and has two daughters of 10 and 13 her husband had two girls by his first marriage also they are now in their early twenties going out a good deal and never so happy as when their handsome father shares their social engagements he hd gives them dances at the cour country itrY club little attle downtown dinners dinner and now that emily the oldest Is engaged to an army captain the house la is in a flurry of wedding preparations from the moment I 1 married emmet janet writes everyone seemed to regard me as a settled old woman I 1 am not old even now but with two great girls at the awkward ages I 1 am not included in any young parties emmet wants emily and isabel to have everything ery thing I 1 thought when wo were married that I 1 would have the managing of his hia house and his children but from the tha first emmets sister who lived next door practically ran our house and tho the girls were in school when they come came emmet was so BO delighted to have two young leidy daughters to spoil that I 1 was reduced to a working housekeepers pos position lUon and anything my own girls wanted had to wait until their halt half sisters had had a chance at the social whirl a chance to go the right places place sand and meet the right men just to give you an idea isabel when she leaves the house will call up to me two extra tor for dinner janeal emily borrowed a tur fur coat my aunt left me just for or this once and has been wearing it all winter when I 1 spoke to emmet about it and said I 1 had intended to cut it into muffs muff a for june jane and diana my own girls he laughed and sold that long before they were ready tor for muffs tho the coat would be moth eaten anyway inconsiderate demands 1 I feel as if 11 1 I had thrown away my life no girlhood really no young of dancing and good i times maternal problems pro blema with the children of a man more than twice my age when I 1 was only 18 and now nothing but slavery in a family of six with constant problems of company meals parties late hours and the inconsiderate demands of two spoiled girls except for occa colonal help by the hour my girls and I 1 do all the work just now the letter concludes emmet is askin asking gane me to put a mortgage on our own home so that he can make the down payment on a home tor for emily and martin well little girl marriages dont at al ways mean total eclipse but they almost always present problems that can be solved only by the sudden and painful growing up of the little girl she long hold the proud position of a young queen adored by her older husband and hardly older herself than those children she is mothering so charmingly for a few months oia year she does bustle about identified in the shops as that pretty girl wife of doctor brown for a few years she talks with precocious wisdom like a grave little girl playing mamma bamm stout about what she and harry mean t to do tor for toddy and nancy but very shortly she learns that even titania when she marries lias has to keep a house comfortable and a cook pacified that toddy is an unpleasantly spoiled little boy who runs to his grandmother with all his troubles and makes a partisan of his father and that nancy uko like her and never will |
