Show KATHLEEN KA NORRIS Childhood Has Certain Rights WILL YOU HELP my brother TV and me solve a terrible problem probe lem em writes Vivian Bates from froma a Philadelphia suburb We are 16 and 14 Five years ago my mother divorced my father taking us with her to Reno and marrying there on the day of her divorce a man mano manto manto to o whom she had long been de de- de voted My father had just been appointed to the of a aCal Cal California ornia branch of his company and he ha moved there The arrangement arrangement arrangement arrange arrange- ment was that we were to spend I summers with him which we have I done and that when Bob was 14 we ve should have the right to choose which parent we wanted to live with My mother has a little boy by this his second marriage and also the he care of a year old daughter of my stepfathers stepfather's first marriage our house is very small and money scarce carce although my father pays generously for my support and Bobs Bob's Both my brother and I have decided that we want to go to my ray f father ather who now has a comfortable home with a beloved aunt of ours who is widowed keeping house for or him Bob and I love our father and although we love our mother too we feel that we can do little tomake tomake to tomake make her happy in the d difficult circumstances here B But t she cries bitterly at the Idea of our going away and tells us very frankly that she cannot make ends meet without the allowance oui out father makes her for our expenses She s says ys we owe her more than we ever can repay and of course we do But I feel that if I am ama to go o to college I want it to be a California Califor Califor- nia college and Bob and I never want to be separated So we are writing to you to see if you can suggest any argument to my mother that will make her feel that this is the right thing to do False Position Here is one more case of a divorce divorce di die vorce that puts innocent children She is attempting to hole hold them now against their own will in a ahome ahome ahome home infinitely less comfortable and dignified than that their father offers them Any woman reading their story knows just how much work there is in a small smaIl household containing a baby boy three older children and ond a man and his wife just how much picking up table table- setting dishwashing falls to Vivians Vivian's share Even if her mother were the least selfish woman in hi the world even if the circumstances were natural ones this would be a hard life for dreamIng dream dream- Ing lag eager seventeen And if Vivian were offered an escape from it ft such a 0 mother would encourage her to take it As it is I can only advise Vivian and Bob to write their father that they are coming to him and keep such arrangements as he makes secret from their mother until almost almost al al- al most the day of their departure Then they must briskly and quietly quiet quiet- ly pack and get away giving her heras heras heras as little time as possible for lamentations and reproach Afterward Vivian and Bob dont don't forget to send affectionate letters to your mother small reminders to other members of the family that you have not forgotten them No matter what your mother says or even writes after you leave forget torget everything and maintain a friendly footing In time she will forgive you h sh h since she is capable of so peculiar a conception n of her duties and dignities as a mother she may never concede that tha t you did anything but treat her un un- un fairly As a matter of fact she has had her own way throughout leaving a good husband taking two affectionate affectionate children away from their father putting a stepfather over them and sharing maternal care |