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Show Kathleen Norris Says: j Was This the Wrong Advice? Bell Syndicate. WNU Ftaturei. i lLas: u. ' I "Btvirly took job; th saw utrybojy and beard all tbt gossip." I By KATHLEEN NORRIS THE agonizing problem of Martha McNeill was not a new one. It is as old as the story of the prince and the beggar-maid. But in I these days, the prince's posi-1 posi-1 tion and that of the beggar-maid beggar-maid have drawn nearer to- gether than they were; the prince in this case was only a ! handsome and popular young ' man, only son of a rich family, and the beggar maid never I knew what it was to beg; she went throughgrammar grades with the rest of the boys and girls, had her movies and chocolate-malts and her rides in the family car and tried a year or two of high school. But that didn't appeal, and Beverly Bev-erly took a Job in the candy store. She saw everybody, everybody liked her, and she heard all the school and college gossip, so she was more in the heart of things than ever, or It seemed so. However, when exclusive little dances and weekends in mountain cabins for winter sports began, Beverly Bev-erly was out of it, of course. The country club gathered In the young crowd that used to meet In the candy store. Beverly was left to solace herself with a different group, and had lively fights with her father and mother over late hours, drinks, petting, all the usual evils of reckless girlhood. From that point on Lewis McNeill's Mc-Neill's mother takes up the story. "When our Lew got out of the navy last June he happened to meet Beverly. Her name, my daughter tells me, already had been coupled with that of more than one other man; she bewitched Lew. He must have known what she was, but for a few weeks he couldn't see anyone any-one else. Then came awakening, and he ended the association, but too late. There is to be a child, and Lew admits it may be his. Who nas the Rights? "If you could know the frenzy of despair and indecision into which this has thrown me," the letter went on. "I know you would help me to do what Is right. Lew's three years in the navy interrupted his I college work, but he since has grad-uated grad-uated from the school of chemistry, and soon will be his father's right ! hand in a large family business. There is no girl in town who would not be flattered by my son's attcn- ' tion. Why should he throw himself away upon this cheap, unscrupulous unscrupu-lous girl who has been all but promiscuous, according to report? Before this scandal breaks, and my son alienates himself from his own group completely, will you make me some suggestion any sug- ; gestion that will help?" Unfortunately, not Lew nor his i parents, not Beverly or hers, have right of way in ' this case. The baby must he the first considera-t considera-t tion. For unless we put the unborn generations first, unless we make sacrifices so that our children and their children will Inherit a better world, we have only contributed to I the appalling suffering and darkness dark-ness of this one. Martha McNeill owed something to her oldest grandchild. 1 suggested she surely did not want the thought of that wronged and defrauded baby to haunt her. whin later grandchildren came along. My advice to Martha was an immediate im-mediate marriage, and that the young pair should, if possible, start their married life in some strange city. This they did. It was a complete com-plete failure. All this was a year ago. Lack of anything like community of interest ruined it from the start. I pi) . . the right o all babiat." THE BABY'S RIGHTS "Just the form of a marriage; just the pretenst of welcome and a borne are the right of all babies." That is Miss Norris' contention in today's article as she answers the old but ever-present ever-present problem concerning the prince and the beggar-maid. . "Sometimes," Miss Norris continues, "these forms fill out with real life and love; sometimes some-times the baby becomes miraculously mirac-ulously the little beating heart of real home." That is sage advice, for the questions arising from the actions ac-tions of reckless youth must be answered in the terms of the far future, not only as they affect af-fect the boy and girl involved but also the still unborn baby. The prince in this case returned re-turned from war, finished his college career and prepared lo step into bis wealthy father's lucrative business. But he met the beggar-maid, who really had never begged for anything except the evils of reckless girlhood. girl-hood. Their association ended with a rude awakening, but, on Miss Norris' advice, tbey were married a year ago. Now their baby is dead, the girl wants her freedom, wants to marry someone else. Beverly was lonely, bored, perverse. per-verse. She hated the strange place, she missed the constant excitement the gossip and planning of her old life. Lew was equally wretched, and the small baby lived only a few days. Now Beverly wants her freedom, wants to go home, wants to marry someone eTse. Lew cannot remarry without sacrificing his faith and again breaking his mother's heart. For although Martha wants temporal tem-poral happiness for her only son, she wants spiritual safety more. Money can't buy her out of this difficulty; time isn't supposedly a factor, for Beverly is not yet 23, and may live for SO more healthy years. Martha writes me again, in despair a second time. Must Think of Future. She blames me for my advice. She says that if Lew had consented only to a justlce-of-the-peace wedding wed-ding and adoption of the baby by strangers he would not now be hobbled hob-bled by a tie that will forever prevent pre-vent his marriage with a girl of his own faith. She says that but for my decision there never would have been a marriage between Lew and Beverly at all, and Beverly might have made any arrangements she liked for the baby. Anyway, she finished fin-ished angrily, the baby died, so all that fuss about his rights was nonsense. non-sense. Well, 1 wonder? One has to work on deep basic principles in these questions. One has to think of the far future. Perhaps It isn't too good fur a boy like Lew to feel that the claim of his first-burn can be brushed aside to moke way for the beautiful church wedding with bridesmaids and music that his mother plans for him. Perhaps the sobering reality cf motherhood rnlKht be the first step toward making mak-ing a woman of Beverly. And certainly cer-tainly and no perhaps about it the difference to a little boy or girl is life-long In its effects. Just the form of a marriage; Just the pretense of a welcome nnd a home are the riuht of all babies. Sometimes, too, these forms fill out with real life and love; sometimes the baby becomes miraculously the little beating licut of a real home. |
