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Show Kathleen Norris Says: Marital Mix-Up I Beil Syndicate. WNU Features. Li .i i vuj i ft zXv - "I met Harvey. Instantly a great rush of surprise, pleasure and affection went over me, and in the old way I was in his embrace in a second." By KATHLEEN NORRIS " THEN I divorced my A husband four years ago," writes Mary-lee Mary-lee Johnson from Sacramento, Sacramen-to, "we were both more or less undisciplined, frivolous persons. We had been married mar-ried 11 years, everything seemed suddenly to go dull and humdrum; there really seemed no reason for our staying together. There was no quarrel, we simply decided one morning at breakfast that we would be happier apart and Margot and I left for Reno two days later. For a few months the change and freedom free-dom were an immense relief to me: I lived with a woman friend who had a daughter Margot's age, and took a job. "When my friend's husband came home unexpectedly from overseas that arrangement naturally ended. After some months of uncomfortable shifting about, I married again, somewhat hesitantly. I felt much less sure of myself at 34 than at 21, and although Phil is everything that is kind, generous, intelligent, Industrious, yet I know that I have never been truly in love with him. He was 50 when we were married, a captain in the regular service. He has now been overseas for one year, and sometimes, like many other wartime brides, I dare say, I feel as if I hardly knew him. "Well, here is my problem, one that has cost me many days and nights of bitter worrying. Four months ago, walking downtown with Margot, who is now 12, I met Harvey. Instantly a great rush of surprise, pleasure and affection went over me, and in the old way I was in his embrace in a second. He seemed as happy as I, and Margot Mar-got perfectly remembered her adored father as a matter of fact she has visited for some weeks with him and his mqther every year, and we had a happy reunion. Harvey, now also in the service as a Lieutenant Lieu-tenant - Commander, took us to lunch, one of the pleasantest hours of my life. It Was Foolishness. "You can guess the rest. We were always friends, we never disliked each other. Our parting was all foolishness fool-ishness and a mistake; we three belong be-long together, and we know it now. Harvey will be stationed here for some time, he adores his daughter, he makes himself cheerfully at home In my apartment, and yesterday for the first time he suggested that I get 'a divorce and that he and I be remarried. "Phil is 52; he has always been a shy and lonesome man; he has no family. That a woman like myself could love him always seemed to him a miracle. His letters are devotion de-votion itself. 'You are the one thing In life that I care for,' he says over and over. 'You are the only person who belongs to me, the only one I can call mine.' "If he were not in the picture, if I could be all Harvey's again I "What shall I do?" 1 PAINFUL CHOICE After 11 years of peaceful and comfortable married life, things became too dull for Marylee. She and Harvey just decided to part no quarrel divided them, it merely seemed the best way out of a tiresome situation. Marylee accordingly ac-cordingly got a Reno divorce, and took her little daughter to live with a friend. One day Marylee and her daughter unexpectedly met Harvey on the street. There was a happy reunion, and Marylee realized that she had loved Harvey all the time. Now Harvey is asking her to divorce di-vorce her present husband, and remarry him. Marylee is in a quandary. She wants Harvey Har-vey back, yet she feels a certain cer-tain obligation to her second husband, Phil, who has been kind, generous and affectionate. affection-ate. think I would never ask another favor fa-vor of God! But how can I desert Phil, who stood by me when I was lonely and troubled? What shall 1 do? What would be the best thing to do?" The answer, Marylee, is of course that you never should have divorced di-vorced your husband in the first place. Divorce ought to be so serious, seri-ous, so terrible an affair, especially when there is a child to consider, that it could not be considered except ex-cept in a grave crisis. Adequate reasons for divorce should neoes-sarily neoes-sarily be so fundamental that there could never be any question of returning re-turning to married life on the old terms. Marylee, after 11 years, decided on a divorce simply because there didn't seem any good reason to stay married. She has reached one oi those points when married life drags on monotonously, nothing exciting ex-citing happens; a woman has a good husband, a lovely child, food and clothes, books and friends in the most prosperous and secure countrj in the world but that isn't enough. She wants thrills, changes, travel, relief from monotony. So she breaks up her home, tries office work, gets bored, marries a good quiet man who is longing for companionship and domesticity, meets her firsl husband again and falls under the old spell, and then naively asks advice ad-vice as to what is the right course to pursue. There is no advice that will help anyone so unstable in character. U 11 years of marriage were not enough to establish Marylee in a strong, decent, useful manner of living, liv-ing, nothing will. She will probably divorce Phil and remarry Harvey, but that won't solve the problem. When the war is over Harvey will present the same dull old problem and Marylee will be no nearer a realization of the true secret of happy hap-py living than she is today. Keep Your Alarm Clock Busy Let the alarm clock work for you. An alarm clock can and should be used for many purposes othei than waking one up in the morn- j ing. When cleaning or working up- ! stairs or in a room where there is no clock, let the alarm clock call you any time you wish in order to start a meal; or let it announce the time for a favorite radio program. pro-gram. When gardening, set the clock and let it call you to lunch. You can also use the alarm when you are baking or doing other slow cooking. |