Show I I Ia Kathleen Norris Says Extravagance I in ill Marriage 1 Is a Pitfall lL Bell Dell Syndicate Service r r. r 1 Ic I r J VJ-r VJ vJ I cri r c 7 1 wish you could see what my wife got for our baby Perambulator high chair crib sterilizing outfit blankets the the cost was more than our budget By KATHLEEN N NORRIS TOW OW many young wives I V HO I would feel horrified and andI I shocked if their husbands could be identified as the Tired Tim who writes me this letter letter letter let let- ter If you happen to be a ayoung ayoung ayoung young wife the letter may help you yon to see one of the pitfalls of modern marriage a little more clearly than you do I say modern marriage because because because be be- cause marriage used to be quite a different thing a hundred years ago A girl was so glad to get a husband then that she practically idolized him Families Families Families lies were large having from eight to fifteen members Dependent Dependent Dependent De De- pendent mothers and unmarried sisters lived with the young wife and all together the women handled the tremendous burden of domestic duties They hung out long lines of wash cleaned windows fed chickens cared for babies started children off for school wrestled with coal ranges and dirty grates made fruit fruitcake fruitcake fruitcake cake and bed quilts took rugs out outto outto outto to the yard and beat them put up fruit nursed the sick and in between between between be be- tween other jobs wrote voluminous letters to dear old school friends It was natural in those days for forthe forthe forthe the older women of the household to advise the younger and to relieve relieve relieve re re- re- re lieve the bride of too much household household household house house- hold responsibility until she knew how to handle it But its it's different today Each bride launches out by herself In 41 th nn J U U i band explains just where his wife fails him Wife Vile Had No Training Bert is the most adorable girl girlin girlin in the world writes Tired Tim but she never had any training and money simply doesn't mean anything to her We Ve talked budget before we were married and I worked it out on paper but she's I never glanced at it nor given it a thought since Weve been married two years and have a baby seven months old I wish you could see what Bert got for the child Perambulator high highchair highchair highchair chair crib sterilizing outfit blankets it came to more than our budget for him had allowed My salary is 85 a week but I carry insurance and contrib- contrib nt 4 con CI n nn J. J 4 z u Yv U a a aa L lur LUL Illy my mother who has a pension also pay 87 for our house including taxes and amortization of debt and about 40 more monthly for refrigerator stove and so on These expenses will lessen as time goes on but Bert already has found a larger place she likes better where we will have a room for a maid We now have only dinner t w help Bert is hospitable and nothing is too good for her friends In planning planning planning plan plan- ning menus she spares no expense Lets have steaks again and a mousse and alligator pears she will say Our friends are all aU better fixed financially than we are and my wife likes to keep up with V Very ry Much luch in Debt Last week my office boss told me that they had considered me for fora a promotion but the fact that I was about 2300 in debt to doctor hospital hospital hospital hos hos- hos- hos pital dentist florist and so on seemed to them a serious thing and they wanted an explanation Foolishly Foolishly Fool Fool- I told Bert this and her answer answer answer an an- was to appeal to her father for money because Tim was being so mean The old man very much worried worried wor wor- ried ned gave her a diamond ring of her mothers mother's to pawn and Bert ever since has been anxious to redeem it for she naturally values it highly Now dont don't think the letter concludes con con- eludes that I am criticizing my w wife e. e But I am working hard pretty pretty pret ty well burdened and not satisfied to face a future which may be an indefinite nf thic fh s r nf ih thing g Ca Can Y you make k a suggestion gg ii that I can pass on to her in the hope that she will take a different attitude toward extravagance anc and bills The trouble began many years ago Tired Tim when Bert was a little girl Perhaps because she had no mother she evidently grew up feeling that she had only to want a athing athing athing thing to buy it and that there was no relation between honest money and dishonest bills biUs Thousands o of women much older than Bert have this failing and thousands of mothers mothers mothers moth moth- ers let their daughters go into marriage marriage marriage mar mar- without a hint of the seriousness serious serious- ne ness of this his oversight I The simple truth is any woman who lets her husband worry about aboul finances is a poor wife This seems like a sweeping statement but it itis itis itis is true To be only a money spender spend spend- er squandering his won hard-won salary salary sal sal- ary cheerfully on beauty parlors frock shops theaters club lunches bridge prizes is to fail in your job and more marriages go on the rocks because of this inexplicable stupidity ty on the part of intelligent women than because of any other one thing It doesn't matter how fresh groomed curled or frocked you are or how charming your house is with the new hangings the new china the chromium chairs and the Venetian blinds If your husband i ic is worrying about mo money ey he hates it all Husbands Like Serenity For men surprisingly arent aren't fussy about furniture They love comfortable old chairs familiar lamps Dads old desk and Moms old spoons They even get to like the dresses of yesterday many a wife has been exasperated to answer Ive had it three years when an affectionate husband comments comments com corn ments admiringly upon tipon her costume What a husband likes is serenity at home a woman content and busy bills paid I remember one young wife who fell madly in love with the picture picture pic- pic ture of a nude girl by a stream It was in the September Morn era The picture cost It was no prettier than the picture on the grocers grocer's grocers grocer's grocers grocer's gro gro- cers calendar that year but she wanted it and she had to have it She paid installments on it for more than a year tT LL 0 nt 1 it i and anci friends made fun of it She told them she was just storing it for Emily Her husband run down and anxious died of pneumonia that winter leaving leaving leav leav- ing an estate of something less Jess than 2000 Almost tenth one-tenth of that had to go for the picture I hope she felt it was worth while |