| Show kathleen norris says our house households liolis face rough weather cell bell features feature i aa D V CAR G home t 0 o UT f 00 I 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Irn impress the children so 10 forcefully with the he throttling power ol of debt that the lesson will last them cherest th erest a of their lives in peace as well as in war by KATHLEEN NORRIS N THE old clipper days it IN was part of a captains job to know when a storm WEIS was coming coining ho he watched the sky and when there was trouble ahead lie he sent every man he could spare up into the yards to shorten the sails perhaps the ship had been sailing along swiftly in fair weather br perhaps there been a cloud in the sky au at she had spread her white wings to the kiss of the winds but squalls come up swiftly and smart seamen deal with them in at st antly long before rough gales reach them they have every bit of canvas roped and tied and the ship is ready to dive head on into the waves and slip unobstructed through the seas your household and mine are facing rough weather of americas moro more than 40 million homes all ex capt a few are going to feel eel the strain of the coming months months so vital in the history of the world and of civilization that whatever our personal losses or 0 r fears we must feel eel ourselves pr privileged V to live in them we are going to win the war whether it takes us alve months or five years or fifteen something to hope for it may be that this coming autumn will see the tide turned will assure us the worst Is over and tho the only dragging months of settlement and reaO readjustment are ahead some ot of the best informed men in america and england think that this might be so something to hope for anyway but whether tho the road to pence peace is long or short it is for you and me now to shorten sail and just as those old sea captains used to send their very smallest boys up into the rigging so begin with the smallest members of the family and take them into your confidence work out a plan that means paying up every debt you owe to the very I 1 last ast I 1 cent make a graph of these debts it if you like and post it la in the living room slowly obliterate the red lines as aa dentist installment collector insurance and grocer get their due impress the hie children so force fully with the throttling power of debt that tho the lesson will last them the rest of their lives la in peace as well as war times if your argument is we barely get along now it Is utterly impossible for us to do any better something Is wrong in your mind it is always possible to do better in every department of your housekeeping there Is leakage small in hi itself but adding up into formidable waste wasted bread and butter on small plates wasted lights burning unneeded eded wasted oven heat wasted hot water wasted telephoning wasteful habits of helping oneself to just a little attle too much gravy potato biscuits bacon sliced peaches wasteful thinking worst and most extravagant of all is the wasteful thinking I 1 thinking Ib inking that you and yours must have certain things and must live in a certain way dad likes pure olive oil in salads so none of the cheaper vegetable oils will do there is usable substitute for pure butter in cake the front hall and draing room must be lighted five every evening telegrams must be sent on all occa CA e IN THE RED to those mho never quite manages manage to make the proverbial ends meat who always feet feel that little extravagances are arc necessary just this once who are ara moro more than willing to pay the tha doctor the tha grocer the tax collector next time to these and all others like them who are never completely on th the credit side of the ledger kathleen norris offers a solemn warning that tho the peace that comes after this war will bring greater freedom greater ila happiness priness gr greater ater opportunity only to those choso whoso lives are not clouded by the knowledge that although they know where the next meal is coming corn from thoy they will probably y not bo be able to pay for it slona olives and celery must be upon the table whenever there is company friends in the hospital must have flowers these are the niceties and lux urie uric living we havo have accustomed ourselves to them and it is hard to do without them it Is much more pleasant to have a nice girl in a cap and apron serving dinner and to be able to ignore the question of dishwashing and clearing afterward than to serve things up in a scramble with molly running in and out of the pantry setting the table and mother cooking but none of these things is as valuable as a spirit of peace there is no quicker way to banish fear and doubt than to get the home situation well in hand and to face the future solvent and unafraid solvency la Is freedom this Is a war for freedom and independence solvency Is freedom being out of debt Is independence it wont help you much when the world Is free and when we are all rejoicing in the dawn of a new day to remember that during the war you refused to adapt yourself you stumbled right on into deeper and deeper debt and that though america has won you have bave lost A nashville woman writes me this last year we had three sons at home two working and contributing to expenses one in school now two iwo of them are drafted the third past 18 and therefore eligible to the draft and my husband recently stricken with a heart illness that will mend slowly perhaps taking months to cure this means that from an income of 67 a week plus 10 each from the boys more than a month in all I 1 arn am reduced to whatever dud bud can earn and even that may presently disappear but rhy my people have always been soldiers and pioneers and 1 I am proud to follow in their footsteps I 1 rented my home and moved into a three room apartment that I 1 get tor for nothing because I 1 am caretaker not a janitress tor for there is a good janitor but I 1 am expected to hire elevator boys answer complaints send for plumbers when necessary advertise empty apartments sign leases and so on 1 I advertised that a woman of 46 whose sons were called to the service would like to be given a trial in any capacity that assured her er of a home and had five answers of which this job was my choice bud gets 40 a week and gives hall half to me for board I 1 save every cent of Ws this as the 75 1 I g get et for my home more than pays our expenses |
