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Show Kathleen Norris Says: , Should Her Husband Be Told? Bell Syndicate. WNU Features. "Here is a wife of 28 with two small sons and a devoted husband, who is carrying on like a girl in her teens. Should her husband be told?" By KATHLEEN NORRIS " 7"HEN a soldier's wife A is unfaithful to him, ' and he is far away in the South Pacific, should he be told or shouldn't he?" writes Aubrey Davis, from an eastern capital. "My sister-in-law and I have been living together to-gether since both our men went away to war," her letter goes on, "and I am intensely distressed at Anne's conduct. I'm not moralizing, I have my own faults, I know, but here is a wife of 28, with two small sons and a devoted husband, hus-band, who is carrying on like a girl in her teens. "Anne is extremely pretty and she goes out with men all the time I accepted that situation. She sleeps late, laughs over the flowers and candy that arrive regularly, regu-larly, claims that Billy, my brother, would be the first to want her to have a good time. She is out all night practically every night. She stays home for the children's supperI sup-perI have two little girls dresses afterward and is gone at about seven. Soldier Has Confidence in Wife. "The real tragedy is that Billy adores Anne, and she evidently writes him most affectionately, for his letters are filled with gratitude. She sends him snapshots of the boys, books, presents. He has the utmost confidence in her: his wife, the mother moth-er of his two loved little boys, his Anne. The truth would shatter him, he could never trust her again, and yet, is it right to let him go on writing her of his love and longing, while she is wasting all her emotions emo-tions on another man? "There is a fine group of service wives in this particular town; we meet, read, sew, get into canteen and Red Cross work, enjoy our children, chil-dren, our Victory gardens, movies and radio programs. My own life is filled to the brim with interests, many of which I will carry on when my own John gets home, because they broaden my outlook so much. But none of these interests Anne, she lives a mysterious life of her own. She says she loves Billy as much as ever and simply can't help attracting men to her, and that when Billy gets home she'll tell him herself her-self that she's been foolish, and that he'll forgive her. But if I know my brother, he won't, and it makes me miserable to have this situation go on and on, and have her apparently feel herself quite beyond the reach of the law. What should I do?" My dear Aubrey, you should do nothing. Except to go on with your own reasonable and well-ordered life, and stand ready to extend friendship and help to Anne when 1 the crash comes. Say nothing of her affairs to anyone, ignore them, i for the time is approaching when they can't be ignored, and having sowed the wind she will reap the whirlwind. Should your brother ever reproach you for having kept htm in the dark, you have the perfect excuse. It is nobody's business to interfere between be-tween man and wife; your tattling would only lower you in his esteem and in your own. He needs everything every-thing that affection can do for him now; even if it is only Anne's rather shallow affection. Let the situation rest as it is for the time being. You are the one to be made uneasy now; presently it will be Billy's turn. Anne Will Pay for Foolishness. But in the end it will be Anne who pays the piper. Life has a way of catching up with such women. They think that they are just having a good time, yielding to the Insidious temptation to an illicit love affair, doing, as they love to say, what every woman would do if she had the chance. What they really are doing is pulling pull-ing down the very structure of civilization civi-lization and social responsibility. And never in the world did we need a strong moral force in our domestic affairs as we do now. We need true women, faithful to the vows they made, faithful to the claims of their children, faithful to the highest ideals of wifehood and motherhood. We need service from all these lonely wives; service on the battlefront and the home front. We need honesty: honesty in the letters let-ters we write, in the markets and shops, in every social contact we make. Europe's civilization is going to be in ruins for a while after the war. Over central Europe demoralized demor-alized bands of women and children will wander, not knowing where their country is, or if they have a country. Libraries, museums, schools, hospitals already lie in ashes; nations are split in half, nationals na-tionals hopelessly intermixed. Invasion, Inva-sion, slave labor, evacuations, exile have all had their fearful hour; now will come famine and pestilence and homelessness beyond anything our imaginations can reach. America must stand firm in the early years of readjustment. She must hold tight to her own civilized, self-controlled, humanitarian ways, if the world is to be saved at all. She will have no place for slackers, for vain weak women who are unable un-able to appreciate the incalculable benefits of a man's love, little sons to raise, the safety and plenty of our own wonderful country. Anne will find herself alone, superfluous, unwanted un-wanted In the new day that strong men and women will build. |