Show kathleen nore s says what Is ahead af you bell features 1 lo 10 07 70 j 1 I talked of a job but be spared at bome amanda talked of clywood but aj 4 minor try shat by KATHLEEN NORRIS NORMS IGHT in of R he times so bad that they JL V seemed absolu absolutely absolutes tel y frightening writes mr mrs S john porter of minneapolis they suddenly grew worse I 1 know just how depressing depress ing this sounds to many women who are finding times hard and puzzling enough but that is the way it was with us and willbe will be with others one year ago when prices began to skyrocket and we were practically evicted the nightmare of house hunting the piling ulof up of bills the strain upon my husband and the childrens discontent were giving wakeful nights and anxious fretted days we have raised three children in a city apartment amanda to is now 17 the boys 19 and 9 for long sum mers and many weekends weekend swe we took them to a mountain cabin where e they could have swimming fishing ashing and hospitality that hospitality hospital ityl it doubled my bills of course but it meant that the children i could return winter favors theaters dances skating parties we have bi beds ds for 14 atthe lake andall and i all summer long they were never empty 1 I struggled to keep up amandas clothes must be fresh and smart jack needed tennis rackets and college fees lt it was too much tor for john and me y yet t tt it enough one ona car wani enough jack said one sitting room enough for amandi amanda I 1 talked of a job but be spared at home amanda talked of hollywood but as a minor try that it was an impasse with john and me rolling away one stone only to have another block our path I 1 disaster struck then when meat and butter were at their maximum little jim m my y quarantined with bumps mumps andl and amanda desperate because she avas was not included in a certain dancing class the blow fell john was brought home helpless never to be fit for work downtown again and tor for a few weeks we were ship wrecked indeed jack wai was offered his fathers joli job as salesman in a linoleum firm and accepted it bitterly only tor for vacation but he has a ha had d to keep it his college days daya are over for the present press nt 1 I took a job in a hotel making beds for a month and well we a ate te the children were so outraged that they hardly spoke when at home but we die amanda cried tor for days then she got ashamed and rose to the situation calmly announced that she was quitting school and took too kover over at home we were more than three thousand dollars in debt and I 1 showed her just where the tha money had bad gone her comment was made gravely 11 1 I think you and dad were to blame we W e kids k 1 ds arent half wits last october I 1 moved us out to the country no riot the smart country not tha lake laka either cither the lake cabin to is rented aenied amanda teaches in a private school fave days day s a week boards in town with an ol 01 older de r teacher cornea comes to us fridays jimmy goes to public school and loves it jack Is doing nearly as well as his tather lather ever did and well be butof out of debt in exactly 23 more months if all 11 goes well amanda has boy bay friends ri ends boys boy a who work hard and know th the value of money john ta Is quietly busy all ail day with vege legeta tab blea i chickens cat dog flowers plans I 1 am happier than I 1 have ever been in my life our place was a en abandoned farm it will never make money dut it pays taxes and 1 1 1 01 07 ol 01 arn happier jasa I 1 batts ever been insurance and the children bring in more than the little we nee need dhere here went vent through the fire we went through a terrible time when we had to endure e our childrens bitter disappointment and suffering when we had to io act in in a way way that seemed bothern to them nothing short of cruel I 1 had to make decisions that even to john seemed too sweeping sweeping Sweep ingi th ats the tha word I 1 had to sweep pride a aside 1 ide 1 sweep away pretense and sho show w I 1 had bad to let our friends know that we were ruined that we could not do for oue children what luckier parents could do we went mient through the fire and it was worth it the th a whole thing to me was worthwhile when I 1 knew not at first but after a while that my children had heroic stuff in them that they had common mon sense that down in theta them was affection and loyalty to their father and me the private schools the tennis rackets and college frats brats and smart coffil cotillions cot illions lons can be swept away these things leave no mark on their lives except perhaps to weaken and spoil tham but to face the ultimate questions of food and shelter and learn what they are worth that Is a lesson they never will forgot I 1 agree entirely with mrs john porter we dont havo have to manufacture difficulties and sacrifices for our children but if honor demands them surely we are wronging thos choie children by refusing them their share of the great battle that thavis Is life today and by honor I 1 mean the paying P 2 ying of bills the facing of responsibilities ties the adjustment of family burdens b so that one person does docs not carry the whole load perhaps mrs porter Is A pessimistic in prophesying that hard har times are ahead for many of us but a good many wise voices are reminding us that these are good years in which to harden the youngsters of the family fam ly to rea reality ty th this should not be done by fretful and sporadic complaint about this extravagance trava gance or that demand but by a rational and serious discussion of present assets and future liabilities if it proves sary at least it will do no harm and if yours Is a family still insecure as to its financial social and provisional outlook it may do great good |