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Show I """"" " I Kathleen Norris Says: Which Door Is Yours? (Bell Syndicate WNU Service.! AT&&M ,y" Ann went to him, "Why, George, shame on you! We'll move right into tht city, I'll have my baby for nothing, in a ward, we'll cut expenses and we'll pay that all oQ in five years." By KATHLEEN NORRIS TWO men, both in the early thirties, were going go-ing home in the subway last night. It was a bleak dreary night, streets were dark and slippery with slush and the underground train was filled with weary home-goers, home-goers, who occupied seats or hung on straps with the tired expressions of men and women wom-en whose day had been dull and hard. One man was Tom Smith, who rents four rooms in the Bronx for $32 a month. A parlor par-lor and kitchen on the street; two bedrooms on air-shafts. Bathroom, some heat, hot water included. The Smiths have one little girl, Eileen, who is 8. Jean Smith is pretty, nervous, dissatisfied. dis-satisfied. She is tired of cooking for Tom, caring for him and Eileen, and doing without furs, trips, down town mpnla thpatori Rh Uvea hv Jealous and minute comparison of her affairs with those of her friends; she has no code and no standards of ber own. If some woman friend and most of them are some years older than she, and all of them in better circumstances if some friend has a new blouse, a new hair-do, new dining table or car, Jean is wretched. Cold Reception. When Tom gets home she is often lying down reading. Or perhaps the house is cluttered from a bridge afternoon; aft-ernoon; the air thick with cigarette smoke, the women finishing the last rubber. A daintily wrapped prize goes to somebody, the guests depart with many kisses and thanks, and Jean wearily begins to straighten up the room. Tom has cold mutton, beets, sandwiches and eclairs for supper, a good enough meal if Jean had any appetite or any interest in it To his kindly inquiries she responds re-sponds vaguely; she isn't disagreeable, disagree-able, but she simply doesn't care what Tom eats or feels or says or wants any more. Half the time her Answer in hie rpmnrWc la "WbntV If things are uncomfortable for Tom he accepts them In silence. Any criticism rouses Jean to an angry summary of the situation. She has given Tom Smith the best years of her lifel She has drudged atong In this rotten little place, when Ethel has moved into those new Rats and Glad and Billy are buying a house. This can go on for a long time. Tom and subdued little Eileen have learned not to Invite it So Tom reconciles himself to a damp disorderly dis-orderly bathroom, sits cheerfully reading the paper In the cold dusty parlor when meals are late, trots down to the delicatessen for forgotten forgot-ten butter, or coffee, takes Jean to movies night after night Tom doesn't complain, but one day he revealed more than he knew of the situation to his friend George Brown, when he said hesitatingly, "You see, I have to sort of think out the effect of what I say to Jean sometimes. I have to kind of feel my way." Browns Are Happy. George Brown, the other home-going home-going man, lives in the same crowded block with the Smiths. He and Ann pay the same rent tor the same space. But there the similarity between be-tween the two families ceases. Ann WRONG WAY? Does cooking for your husband bore you? Are you angry because Tom says you can't afford a new fur coat? Are you tired of constantly having hav-ing to make the pennies s-t-r-e-t-h? Then you should read Kathleen Norris' answers to wives who are going the wrong way. has a girl and a boy; and she and their father rejoice in them and love them and they know it. George is the all-important head of the house; he comes home to warmth, light, welcome, comfort If there Is good news, Ann loves to tell it She has a pleasant little custom of bringing him a cup of hot soup as he reads before dinner. If there's worrisome news, either from his end of the partnership or hers, Ann has a great way of minimizing mini-mizing It. A sick child Is either always al-ways better, or "just reaching the peak, George, it's got to go up to go down!" Ann has a dozen amusing anecdotes of her day to relate; if she is tired, it is just being "comfortably "com-fortably tired." Dishes take about ten minutes in the Brown house after aft-er supper; Davy clears the table and Nancy brushes the floor. George comes into the kitchen to help not because she exacts it, but because he likes to share so much pleasant activity and chatter. Sometimes he and Davy work out arithmetical problems with beans on the kitchen table. Domestlo Co-operation. The Browns go to the movies once a week and look forward to It as a treat On Sundays they always picnic, pic-nic, In bad weather taking their sandwiches to a big museum or gallery gal-lery and buying hot drinks in the cafeteria. Because with all the pleasure of their lives the Browns are solvent and are saving. Seven years ago George's father died leaving him debts totalling more than $4,000, and Ann's mother, a helpless cripple, came to live with them. They had an eight-coom house in the suburbs then. When he realized that their house of cards was coming down around his ears, George hated to go home and tell Ann. Her mother needed medical care and nursina. a new baby was coming, and he was overwhelmed over-whelmed with a debt that represented represent-ed his entire Income for a year and a half. Ann went over to him, where he sat despondently finishing his story and knelt down and put her arms about him and said, "Why, George, shame on youl We'll move right into the city. I'll have my baby for nothing, noth-ing, in a ward, we'll cut out furnace fur-nace and commutation and taxi expenses ex-penses and live right near the office, and we'll pay that all off In five years. We have each other and the babies, and I CAN take care of Mother and that's the great blessing, bless-ing, so you and I'll go househunting tomorrow, and start all over again! " Typical American Success Story. Well, you know the rest. It is the story of 99 out of every 100 American Amer-ican stories of success. Ann's mother moth-er was the only one who minded, and George and Ann, strong In confidence con-fidence and laughter and their mutual mu-tual love, stood that heroically for the remaining few years of her life. The debts were paid off In less than four years, for saving became a sort of game, and an unexpected commission swept away the last third of them In one glorious wave. |