Show ka kathleen norris says say S tie shortest way homo bell syndicate features feature V why not give them your blessing and huy buy them thein sortie some sturdy boots and shirts and ship them oj to canada and All mexico exico by KATHLEEN NORRIS IM PHILLIPS mother JIM wrote me an anguished letter a year a ago go when jim was reported dead in a japanese prison camp later by one of those miracles that justa just a few mothers were privileged to know jim came home thinner and graver and older but back safe into their arms once more the glory glor of that reunion the laughter and tears lasted only a f few e w days then jim had to t 0 tell her that on his last leave now nearly two years ago he had been secretly married and to th the e wrong girl andthil and this blow has shattered jims mother m more or than ethan even did the false report of his death she is prostrated telka Is three years older than ihan biml jim she Is 28 writes jims mother she Is american born of rus sian and english parentage never finished high school and has been working for nine years jim met herchen her when she came into my mf house hold as a practical nurse during my father in laws last Ill illness riess that there was anything between them I 1 never dreamed but tt it seems there was and my splendid gen generous erous boy made her his legal wife before he went aag away y when the report of his bath came telka was away inan in an army hospital nursing and that report was denied by his return before we heard anything from her now she ishom Is home e living with her mother father and some younger brothers and sisters in the crowded way such families do live tired and confused it if jim sill loved her J I 1 would not rewriting be writing you this letter but he seems seem s to haven havel had ally all feell feeling ng drained out ot of him by the frightful experience through which he has passed twenty one months of star vatia cold loneliness and the sufferings ond and deaths of his frien friends dsa all about h him im have hav eleft left him only herrl terribly tired confused helpless into our lovely home perfectly kept by the old colored servants who have been abben with me since the first of my children was born comes th this s strong big foreign appearing girl with her claim as my sons soils wife she Is a as s shy and confused as jim Is but when my husband very considerately sidera tely talked to her she gave no signs of surrendering her claim telka I 1 may add is tha thought eghi unusually handsome we are aie all ah in the same agony of perplexity th that atas has seized upon tho the younger pair telka will not agree to hushing the matter up with a quiet divorce although my husband would pay her expenses to nevada md and support her there indi indefinitely finitelY she Zhe says gays the whole thing must be mode made public for the sake of her avro n reputation as quite a few of her friends ind and her own family are arc aware of the situation and she will not have any suspicions floating ting about in in future days jim appears bewildered and tired tired tired he has no job and as my husband Is a portrait painter he cannot make a job for hisson his son at one moment jim says of course he loves telha teft a af another t A bonit mft t sj s J 1 t ya he says to me wearily you tell me chatto do mom 1 I oaf am at my wits ends and I 1 in turn a am m turning to you what shall we do leave them alone here is another of the wartime problems that simply dont admit of a solution but 1 I 1 think I 1 read be tween the lines of this letter something that louise phillips know she put there I 1 think jim phillips has come back on the brink of that nervous ner v ous break breakdown dom that JS is putting thousands of our return returning ng servicemen into hospitals I 1 think perhaps telkah bigness and shyness and beauty still have their appeal tor for him if only mother and everybody make such a ghostly ghastly tuss fuss I 1 think the smartest sf thing to flo ao would be to use that money moncy that wai was meant to send telka away tor foi the double purpose of send ing then both away together and giving jim a years il holiday oliday to got get adjusted adjust bd to the new we life that is so bafflingly like and yet unlike the old why not give them your blessing and buy them some sturdy boots and shirts and ship them oil oft to canada or to mexico for tramping camping exploring asdall A small see sec ond hand car a promised income of some two hundred a month and the devoted big handsome wife ife for companion and nurse may be the things that will save jims reason and save av 0 y you 0 u all from alt ultimate m a t 0 anguish let him get his bearings with only one woman for companion and with tile the long beautiful roads and mountains rivers and oceans for setting after nearly two years of unimaginable horrors our young men cant settle down quietly to our ordered and protected lives the contrast is too shocking the young minds continue to work resentfully morbidly on the causes of this ibis world ruin and world despair and even the loveliest home and the most perfect servants are not the cure telka sounds to jo me like lust just the right medicine for jim in any case this Is your ybur best bet and I 1 hope be sensible enough to suggest it |