Show kathleen norris says the stepmother Pr still E exists bell demce R 4 A T J 4 4 q t V R Z X 4 dianas mother lets her do anything she likes so go out with boys use makeup make up drink a cocktail now and then and smoke the girl buys extravagant clothe and wastes vates the allowance her grandmother gives fives her by KATHLEEN NORRIS N THESE days of easy divorces I 1 IN when so many otherwise sensible men and women are colv convinced incel that the kindest thing which can be done for children is to break up homes and substitute strangers for daddy and mummy there is a heavy crop of stepmothers the stepmother used to come into the picture only when the mother died the motherless or fatherless child in those days was always heartily pitied the term cruel stepmother was proverbial to say stepmother at all was almost to say 49 gunj unjust U t well that Is changed now thank god the little writhing hands of first reader classes are not struck with rulers in school babies mouths are not washed out with yell yellow 0 IN soap boys are not flogged thrashed d caned the rod and the whip are not terms uselin general conversation the problem swi still exists but that mean here a stepmother problem and aimee a 24 year old virginia wife writes me of hers lloyd and I 1 fell in love with each other while I 1 was working in his office she writes ho he is 19 years older than I 1 am in every way he seems to me today only more wonderful than he used to seem in those old days handsome devoted clever popular and able to give me the beautiful home of which all girls drea dream m lloyds wife and lie he had been living apart for months before he asked her for a divorce she is a very rich woman travels from palm beach to coronado from hawaii to newport he had had no home life and no affection from her for years she did not object to the divorce and agreed that diana their daughter should be with us in in the school months and go to her mother in the summer however sallys travels and visits have been such that she has had diana only for seneh seven weeks out of the 15 months we have been married this delights lloyd who adores his daughter di is now 14 a poor sch scholar blar but a very handsome developed girl precocious in her tastes her mother lets her do anything she likes go about with boys use makeup make up drink a cocktail now and then smoke she buys extravagant and unsuitable clothes and wastes the allowance her mothe mothers rs mother gives her when she is with us of course diana expects to do the same I 1 know she lies to her father I 1 know she is going to get hers herself elf into trouble but I 1 am helpless lloyd merely asks me to give the kid a break andriana and diana glares at roe me ifer her other grandmother wants her and lloyd would consent to Us this arrangement beca because tise he lunches downtown every day in his mothers apartment but what sort of a life would that be for a girl that tha tage age A sophisticated worldly bridge playing woman who is 68 63 an and j looks about 50 a dally daily gove governess mess or comp companion anlon to take di about and help her with lessons no control at all and the feeling that she has triumphed over her father and roe me and escaped from home influences this is far from what I 1 planned when first I 1 thought of marrying lloyd and making a harmonious happy home for him and his little girl I 1 began by showing di nothing but big sisterly affection and sympathy I 1 invited her friends to the house tried to become her confidante and pal relationship strained it seems to me now that we are all in a mess and for the first time I 1 feel a nervous and critical element in the relationship between my husband and myself diana was a quiet sweet shy little girl when first I 1 met her can you supply me with some argument that will convince him that I 1 am the best person to handle his child and that eventually we can work it out here but my dear aimee I 1 am obliged to say in reply I 1 am far from convinced you are the best person to handle the situation even if you had decent material with which to deal which you obviously have not diana is evidently a girl who grew too rapidly from childhood into maturity maturi turi aty she ou ought to have a smooth running home at this time tiffie and the affectionate not too pressing help and companionship of both father and mother instead she finds an attractive new wife absorbing her fathers love and her mother wandering about from place to place to find amusement for herself quite unconcerned as to the welfare of her child the two grandmothers and the aunts and uncles are doing their r share to demoralize her and the fact that there is enough mone money y on all sides to make constant experiments and changes possible adds the last element to her mental and moral upset my advice would be for you to discipline yourself sternly to keep fiands h ands off if she will go to the worldly grandmother let her go by all means she wont like it there the company of an old person is infinitely boring to a girl that age she wont like the clothes her grandmother suggests nor the amusements nor the constant tiresome repetitive talk afan old lady keep friendly with all and welcome came diana when she drops in |