Show kathleen Kathle ell norms N orris says life Is too short for jealousy all Ser service ol 01 r o 0 j 4 Is never occurred bowly ta sally that in every town there are women who make anake a business of entertaining celebrities if she had stopped I 1 d to think she would have realised realized reali sed that tha these stars could have no interest i in martha tha by KATHLEEN NORRIS OR the 17 best years ol of FOR Fen her life sally davis was envious of martha stevenson then martha was injured in a motor accident and died of a lingering disease sally made no secret of her sense of personal satisfaction and triumph which was worse for her the long years of jealousy or the cruel pleasure in another womans comans tragedy it would be hard haid to say none of it hurt martha but it destroyed sally r from rom 17 to 34 she felt her life shadowed twisted spoiled by marthas berf perfections sections and after 17 years of feeling like that no woman can ever get back to normal sally will be petty jealous unhappy for the rest of 0 her days once jealous always jealous is not just tin an old saying it is a simple psychological truth not mot that there was anything remarkable about martha A hundred other women were prettier prattler smarter and more fortunate nut dut martha was one of those maddening girls who make other women think that everything they have la Is somehow rn mysteriously better than anything anyone else has martha had a way even in high school of dressing up her trips and possessions and friends and plans that made them seem nil all important and she would comment upon what tho other girls had to relate in a sympathetic amused manner that seemed to put them into h a different class took martha seriously sally always took martha seriously it seemed to be her late fate she watched martha as a cot watches or used to watch in less hygienic days baysa a mousehole mou she reported upon marthas doings in so obvious a mood ot of trembling jealousy that they really began to seem as enviable as martha tried to make them the school girls scattered went their happy absorbed ways but it was sallys destiny always to be within sight of martha and to marry the man whose boss martha mar aled martha had bad a smart city apartment sally lived out with joes mother in the country martha had one tidy little lifeless girl and she somehow made it seem amusing and pitiable in sally to have tour four children martha attracted clever persons to her sunday lunches nann managed aged a sort of studio atmosphere dressed in oriental silks alks sally came in from the farm arm to some of at these lunches joe not liking it much but feeling he must keep in with the boss the children protesting the car tn in rione none too good shape sallys clothes not quite right and sally in purgatory to witness marthas success cassand sand and to hear her praised almost killed sally but she seemed drawn into it as a moth to a flame envy had its As terrible way with her and her very soul was corroded by it when men she heard that a singer or a lecturer was coming to town she would say 1 I suppose martha is going to entertain him and when she was answered that indeed martha was she writhed mentally it never occurred to her that great singers and monje actors and lecturers all have dull wives and relatives and secretaries ond and that these supposedly desirable guests can eat up food ind and drink up wine in a way that sends bills skyrocketing sky rocketing and we weary ry a hostess almost to tears A dull business it never occurred to her that in every town and village there are a few women who make a business of following up celebrities and entertaining them if sally had stopped for a moment to think she would have realized that these glittering stars could have no possible interest in martha they went to marthas house because it was cheaper and more comfortable than th a n the hotel concert tours and personal appearances are a dull business in strange towns and any amusement Is welcome sully sally never thought of what she might have made of the farm of the outdoor meals the simple hospitality pita lity the four delightful children in sandals and sun suits the up building of a fanaly family life that might have made matthijs Mattli js tinsel achievements seem small indeed she might have had marthas marthaa tepid little girl out for visits and have had martha feeling a little twinge of jealousy in turn because thelma thclma preferred aunt sallys farm to her own home she might have had thousands of hours of gardening hundreds of picnics years of cloudless happiness instead she nurtured a bitter sense of wrong nothing that joo joe could do compared with what marthas husband gave her sally got so that when she could buy a now new coat she must manage that martha saw it she must ask martha casually what she thought of it and when martha said gently im waiting until new coats are here they tell me going to be much plainer sally promptly hated her coat and felt like a martyr because she had bad to wear it my children are terrible little wild indians Indian sl she said to martha even though in her heart she knew they were perfect and it stung her soul for days when martha said pleasantly well truly I 1 think any woman Is heroic to try to bring up four children without a nurse I 1 dont think one can do any one of them justice letter upon letter comes to me from women who have everything in the world to make them happy who would bo be considered fortunate by 09 out of every women in the world and yet who are eating their hearts out because of 0 the imagined or real of some old friend lose youth and beauty they lor IB their sense of pro proper por tion they lose youth and beauty they wrong everyone to whom they ow owe e service and affection by the constant fresh miseries 4 it 1 watching what that other luckier woman la fit do ng we make our own heveri he aeri afi on this earth and our own hells there were interesting folk scat |