Show kathleen norris says i building the family bell syndicate w features feature 10 I 1 ta 47 IP CIO there Is the secret ol of building a homes home making it a place where everyone has hai a good time by KATHLEEN NORRIS r phe HE world is full of hand T some useless buildings that have cost incalculable fortunes and that ar are e no use at all in your town and mine everywhere whether youre driving through now new york or newport santa barbara or forest lake you see these gorgeous homesteads shut up even in housing shortages they cant rent these ridiculous palaces because to keep the bathrooms reasonably warm would take more fuel than anyone can get to say nothing of the great sepi sepulchral hallways and the pantries and the vast cave that on once ce was a dining room the history of these old places Is a tragic one not because so much happe happened ried in them but because nothing did some rich dull old man and ambitious woman built every one of them realized very soon that there was something dead about the place and that it would never come alive I 1 know one house outside ot of london that cost two million dollars and never was lived in not for a moment I 1 know another in hillsborough calif into which the husband and wife never moved it has 31 rooms and the floors of all the downstairs rooms are patterned in parlan marbles these people got a divorce and for awhile the husband lived on with a servant or two in the gate lodge nobody ever has lived in the house Pat pathetic hetio monuments up fifth avenue there are hundreds of these pathetic monuments to mans idea that brownstone walls and plate glass windows tiles and brocades brocaded bro cades bolsterle bol serle serie from paris and rugs from the orient will somehow miraculously turn themselves into a iome home some day the real building of a home must de be done clone elements that these pe people ople never possess and never can buy love to begin with and dependence pen dence upon each other service children work and laughter if by any lucky chance you are a woman who has these things then the best thing you can do out of a whole world of service servi ceIs is to incorporate them into a home harriet who writes me from a midwest mid west towns town has a home and just to read of 0 it makes one feel what real riches are having the seven children always about and their friends also who number seven times seven she says in a letter inviting me to visit her 1 I cant promise quiet or order not always for my daughters are friendly creatures and the five boys are a all 11 over the place porch roofs roof s and rain barrels and ladders are their natural perching places but we do have all the things you write about a lunch table out in the side yard a game room where their possessions are never disturbed a special closet in which they hang school coats and hats and put books and pencils in special pigeonholes we nave have a ritual for saturday nights cookies cokes and pencil games we dr built by some fame rich dull old man mam TRUE WEALTH big fine houses of thern themselves selves cant brin bring 9 happiness its the tha people in them that make tho the difference there are plenty of mansions mansions around the world built by bf lonely rich people who hoped to get some real joy ou out t of them too late they dis covered cojei cd that huge empty rooms are a mockery it takes children and their friends and cousins and uncles and aunts anti and lots of acquaintances koput to put life into a house they make noise noise and they wear out the furniture and they cost a lot to feed but they bring human warmth arid and gayety gaiety they make a house into a home letter is front from a mother of seven children they much as possessions go just a small house not big enough for the five boys and two girls and their lively friends but they have the secret of happiness build as many traditions as we can like a picnic on dads birthday and a comfort drawer for serious bumps cuts or injustices this drawer to Is filled with odd toys and treasures from which the afflicted one may select our children think they are lucky and other children do t too 00 and what I 1 want to give the them M household laws of order and helping happy companionship home security work and fun of course I 1 never stop the letter goes on meals and beds socks and floors doors picking up and sewing together there Is no end to it I 1 market twice a week bake once have my main meal in the middle of the day and sandwiches nothing else but their variety can be endless and cooked fruit and perhaps cookies or gingerbread or pudding for supper we put bread of all sorts on a tray fill bowls with chopped eggs mayonnaise jam peanut butter cheese corned beef whatever we can get with tomatoes and lettuce and everyone makes ills his own sandwich and the children feel sorry for other children who have to set tables and eat potatoes and beans tor for dinner and what a good time it all sums up antol there Is the secret ot of building a home making it a place where everyone has a good time all the empty dusty magnificent palaces of 0 the world dont hold have never held the joy of even one hour in such a home as this they moulder away in your town and mine and the children go romping by them never even stopping to look in aj at their forbidding gates it if you want to build a great mansion build it in the happy simple lives of your family cousins uncles aunts old people children that Is the only real building that is what makes america what she Is today |