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Show Kathleen Norris Says: Postwar Hon sec caning Bell Syndicate WNU Features. .j "With divorce breaking up about ten limes as many homes as it has a right to do . . . who are we to talk of reforming the world!" FAULTY THEORY Children's faults and traits are not permanent things. The shy or untruthful child need not and should not stay that tony. Jealousy is curable, so are suspicion, stinginess and the other common faults. These things are cured by conscious con-scious determination; by the deliberate seeking of what old-fashioned old-fashioned persons still call "grace." If the new world is to be built on honesty, brotherhood broth-erhood and service to our fellow fel-low men, then we must eliminate elimi-nate our personal hales, dishonesties, dis-honesties, prejudices and iveaknesses. We must remember remem-ber that the evils which do exist will do whatever possible possi-ble to destroy the "titanic efforts ef-forts and sacrifices we must be ready to make for millions less fortunate than ourselves, when the ivar ends." every afternoon and, evening with young women and girls; with slums in our great cities, unprecedented juvenile delinquency, illiteracy still prevalent in mountain communities, and all our efforts to suppress crime so futile, who are we to talk of reforming, re-forming, educating, policing the world!" Everybody Must Sacrifice for Others Well, perhaps the percentage of all these evils is not as great as she fears. But they do exist. And each and every one will do its part to destroy the titanic efforts and sacrifices sac-rifices we must be ready to make for millions less fortunate than ourselves, our-selves, when the war ends. But already the selfish, weak spirit of indifference is becoming vocal, even before the war is won. Many people are all too anxious to believe that we can do nothing for others, so why try? The place for all reforms to begin is home. And as the moving spirit in most homes is Mother, so the most important job in the world is shortly to devolve upon Mother. More love at home, more content. More talk of duty and responsibility, to the youngsters; some of them hardly know the word "duty." More example, exam-ple, to the neighbors, to the younger wives of the family, of what true, dignified, honest marriage can be. More bearing bravely of the petty shocks, changes, humiliations, disappointments dis-appointments of every 'day. More help for Red Cross, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Children's Hospitals, all the many agencies that, like the yeast in the measure of meal, are working day after day for the betterment ol i America. If there are slums near you, clean up even the tiniest cor-i cor-i ner of them. If there is a "bad boy" element in your town, meel some of these potential criminals, do i something about it. If the girls you i know are saloon frequenters, re- member that they go there for plcos-i plcos-i ure, stimulations, companionship, i and try to provide these things on . safer terms. But if the trouble is in your own home, if there are coldness and dis 1 content, rudeness and insubordina tion, debt and discomfort there, ther. t that is the place to begin. Begir ; with hourly prayers for light; prayers said in your heart as yoL i go about your daily work. It will be I given you. Births Increase In the United States the numbe. of births increased from 2,513,427 in 1941 to 2,808, 9 in 1942. and in Can-I Can-I ada from 255,317 to 271,931. The rate of infant mortality in the United States declined during this period from 45 to 40 for each l.OfiO live i births. In Canada the rr.or'.'jlily rate ; was 60 in 1941 and 54 in 1942. The United Kingdom recordec 775,422 births in 1952. the most since 1931. while its rate of infant mortsl-: mortsl-: lty. 52 per 1,000, was the lcv.c.-t evei recorded in the United Kingdom, j By KATHLEEN NORRIS ryHERE is a dreadful the-I the-I ory that children's faults X and children's traits are put into them to stay. That your selfish small boy may try to conceal it as he grows older, but that he will be a selfish man to the end of his days. That your sneaky or shy or untruthful little girl will presently be a sneaky, shy, untruthful woman, and that nothing you can do for her, or she can do for herself, will make the slightest difference. differ-ence. A most distinguished scientist scien-tist enlarged upon this idea one night, at my dinner table. He had written books on the subject, had Dr. Wiggam, and I could pretend to no scientific knowledge at all, yet he was wrong. And when I said that the lazy child could grow up to be prompt and energetic, the quick-tempered child become be-come some day a controlled and amiable woman, and the destructive and disorderly child turn into a capable and thrifty housewife, I was right. But the professor was taking tak-ing into account only what he could prove with animal statistics, with references to white mice and black mice and various charts and maps and graphs. And I had stronger strong-er forces in mind. Jealousy and Suspicion Curable. For the truth is, if one can make a child or young person once face a fault or defect, see it as it is, and can further interest that child or young person in correcting it why, change is the law of grace just as it is the law of nature, and there is no miracle that may not be accomplished. ac-complished. One of the most serene and amiable men I know, whose own wife laughs at the idea of Tom's having a temper, was a dangerously passionate and unmanageable child. A little girl whose shyness was like an actual sickness is today as gay and gracious a young hostess, in her own home, as any woman in the world. Jealousy is curable, suspicion suspi-cion is curable, stinginess is curable. But not by science or by chance. Only by conscious determination; only by deliberate seeking of what old - fashioned persons still call "grace." And what has that to do with postwar post-war housecleaning? It has a great deal to do with it. For we are assuming as-suming tremendous responsibilities, we Americans, when we promise our boys and indeed promise all the crushed and broken nations of Europe, Eu-rope, a better world when once this peace is won. That new world must be built on honesty, brotherhood, service, willingness will-ingness to face changes, to accept new points of view, to solve our own personal problems. On those same lines go goodness there is no other word for it but "goodness" that we expect to extend to all the nations of the world. Personal hates, personal per-sonal dishonesties, personal weaknesses weak-nesses will have to be scrapped first, and this is a good time to get rid of them. "With divorce breaking up about ten times as many homes as it has any right to break up," says a despairing de-spairing letter from a San Francisco woman, "with bars and saloons filled P J Faults Are Curnblf-. |