Show Kathleen Norris N ortis Says The Problem of Mama Bell Syndicate Features t 9 f n o- o 1 r 0 0 ll I PO DOUGLAS o RYAN Evelyn did what 1 I adv advised cd her to do and that was ivas marry at once and let Mama adjust herself to what is a perfectly natural and normal step tep on the part o of f any daughter By KATHLEEN NORRIS NORRiSE VELYN MILLER wants EVELYN E to marry her soldier She wants to go down to New Mexico and find some sort of a small home and start her own l life e as a happy wife But theres there's Mama standing like a grumbling sick dangerous dangerous dangerous dan dan- old lioness right in Evelyns Evelyn's path Both my brothers married married mar mar- married ried young writes Evelyn who is now 29 I 1 was 19 when Papa died and had just got my first teaching tion Now I 1 am principal of an elementary school and have always liked my work My hours are such that I 1 can take Mama her breakfast in bed and get home early enough to get our dinner It has meant steady work but she has always helped me with my papers papers and bookkeeping and we have had ten wonderful years together I dearly love my mother I appreciate all she has done for me and I know I am the very apple of her eyes She does not care for my brothers' brothers wives and rarely sees her three grandchildren Sometimes I go over and see them themon on Sunday evening there is no ill- ill feeling between them and Mama and the boys do come in and see her now and then but we are not intimate with their wives Mother Loves Few but Deeply Mama says she loves few persons persons persons per per- sons but loves those few too much and I believe it is true It means that she depends for her happiness alm almost st entirely entire upon me Old friends do drop in m to see sec her but she and her ber own sister are not particularly attached and while Aunt Emily would gladly come here to live If I were gone the mere prospect of it breaks Mamas Mama's heartWell heartWell heart henrt Well this is where Alan comes in my splendid wonderful lover He Heis Heis Heis is already a captain though a year younger than I. I Before the war he was a college instructor just the work with which I could perhaps help him and the atmosphere I would love Ours has been a whIrlwind whirlwind whirlwind whirl whIrl- wind courtship I met him exactly seven weeks ago but it does seem fate tate to us both Alan Is truly theman the theman man of my dreams and I had a avery avery avery very definite dream of the man I wanted and he be says that all his life lifelong lifelong long he has been waiting for me Mama cant can't and wont won't believe that I know him well enough to care for him bim and to be willing to share my life lite with him She has been actually ill since the affair began and has spoken to Alan only twice The first time she was very cold and stiff the second time yesterday she wept clung to his hands and begged him not to take me away from her ber She said I 1 am all she has Alan says shell she'll get over it and come to live with us when the war waris waris waris is over But I am afraid it may kill her There Is nothing really wrong with her physically but she Is his very frail has headaches and is easily casily tired Alan is willing to have Sher her join us in New Mexico but she sheds shei i ds his s afraid of wartime conditions so near a big camp It seems a deadlock deadlock dead dead- lock Mama llama has a small income but abut she could not pay for a nurse jor Or a maid under present conditions jit t would actually shatter her to have me marry but do you think she would recover do you ou think It would be safe to risk it I am determined to do what you advise but do please remember that utter happiness or utter misery for me is at stake and give me some hope of being Alan's wife even a n year from now even after the war if you possibly can He will wait wail Married and No Rc Regrets This letter came to me two weeks neo ago from Philadelphia I ans answered red it H within the hour by air Today To day 1 I have a irl pl on m II m my desk CHILDREN DONT DON'T OWE PARENTS A LIVING Children more than pay their parents in babyhood for any expense incurred in raising them according to Kathleen Norris It is not fair f for or a mother to stand in her daughters daughter's way when a desirable desirable desirable desir desir- able marriage is in the offing Y Young people are entitled to toa toa a life of their own unfettered unlettered j i by the rite prejudices and notions i j of their in How a young j i school teacher faced just such sucha I a problem and solved it with the help o of f Miss lUiss Norris is related related related re re- re- re this week I Married this morning Mama fine tine love from Plan Alan and Evelyn So Evelyn did what I advised herto her ter to do do and that was marry at once and let Mama adjust herself to what is a perfectly natural and normal step on the part part of any daughter If some of these daughters who sacrifice sacrifice sacrifice sac sac- their entire lives to selfish Mamas could look back a generation and see exactly how much consideration consideration consideration consid consid- Mama gave in to her turn to I the demands needs and opinions of her own parents they might receive I a startling eye Mama was probably selfish as a girl and as a wife or she couldn't be quite so blind now to all interests but her own Mama has alienated sons law daughters grandchildren and her own sister through her narrow pig headed selfishness she has absorbed absorbed absorbed ab ab- ab- ab Evelyns Evelyn's life and undoubtedly undoubted undoubted- ly she would go on contentedly making making mak malt ing fug more and more narrow the circle that shuts in Evelyn draining away Evelyns Evelyn's youth and hope and eagerness for life as mercilessly as the hideous old duchess of the middle ages who bathed in the blood of murdered village girls We see sea too many of ot these selfish old women being escorted tenderly about by starved maiden ladies Indies of daughters patient daughters who place shawls laugh at old old jokes study fare bills concernedly explain explain explain ex ex- ex- ex plain to the waiter how Mama likes her chop or her baked apple One wonders what is going on in the old ladys lady's head as she cackles her feeble feeble feeble fee fee- ble stories and explains that while she had just piles and piles of beaus in the old days Evelyn has always been Mamas Mama's girl Grandmother Given Separate Home Dome A San Francisco matron some ten years ago transplanted her mother abruptly to a two-room two apartment in ina a pleasant sunny house with a garden garden garden gar gar- den a few blocks blocks' away from her own home She did it suddenly between between between be be- tween breakfast ast and lunch Her husband husband husband hus hus- band and children came home unexpectedly unexpectedly unexpectedly un un- expectedly to a house in which Gran Grandma lma was no longer supreme I criticizing delaying complaining I driving the Chinese cook crazy appropriating appropriating ap ap- ap- ap the bathroom to herself at the UC very hours when the man of ot the house and 2nd the children were getting getting get get- ting ready for work and school or just home from work and school I 1 telephoned my sister and my brother announced the wife and mt mother both pay 25 a month mont Mas Ma's rent is 15 15 well well we'll manage manage manage man man- age the he rest For four years Ive I've been wondering what to do and now I Ive I've done It Ive I've been afraid to open the subject but this time I didn't argue I asked Helen to take takeMa takeMa takeMa Ma for tor a long ride and while she was gone I took her things over to the Byron street house Helen brought her there everything was in order gas plate groceries teapot teapot teapot tea tea- pot telephone I said Heres where youre you're going to be Ma and kissed her and we came away This particular mother wouldn't speak to an any child of hers for Cor weeks But she accepted their money and after awhile she accepted the situation situation situa situa- tion and now all Is serenity and p peace ace |