Show KATHLEEN NORRIS Divorce Isn't Happiness Road JACKSON is one more S STEPHEN victim of the divorce scourge He was married for six years He loved his home he dearly loved his small son and daughter He was a good provider he didn't drink or gamble or look at other women But Adele fell in love with another another another an an- other man and was crazy with love and passion and pain Stephen after months of resistance resistance- agreed to get a divorce surrendered his children and has never had a happy happy hap hap- py hour since since Divorce brings more tragedies to American homes than infantile paralysis does docs We should fight it with the same horror that we do dothe dothe dothe the disease Wise mothers should warn their daughters of the dangers and symptoms that lead up to it fathers should instruct their sons as to the best ways of ot avoiding it Nobody should ever lightly suggest it as a solution to marital troubles for It never is Divorce Must Be BeTrue BeTrue BeTrue True if a marriage is childless and if circumstances are unusually serious there must be divorces But where there are 50 now there should be only one No money paid to psychiatrists in years ears to come will undo what your divorce does to the minds and souls of your children now But to come back to Stephen Jackson Here is a man I have known since he was a cheerful sturdy little fellow of 10 He delivered delivered delivered de de- de- de livered papers in high school days took a n time part-time job to pay his hisA v A t ti r Y Yr wj r a with the usual white veil n way through engineering school at college and immediately upon graduation obtained a good job He has changed jobs twice in these 10 years but always alwa's upward He married a n nice girl with the usual white veil and the usual promises promises and and Steve meant meD them Little Georgia was born to completely completely completely com com- captivate her father and then a sturdy small edition of himsel himself him him- self sel in Steve junior He loves them he loved his home he deeply loved Adele But Adele three years ago fell in love The man is a vocational adviser in hi a large institution It makes me wonder who advises him For from the moment he and Adele decided to shake off oU their respective respective respective tive mates at any cost they proceeded proceeded proceeded pro pro- to make everyone everyone everyone- concerned concerned concerned con con- thoroughly miserable Adele took her children and went to her mothers mother's home Her mother warned yarned her that she couldn't stay but at the same time she didn't turn out Adele and she loved her grandchildren She prayed and hoped that the situation would clear up Everybody Miserable I Philip the vocational adviser got his divorce with no trouble and und he and Adele went to Steve and begged him to relent Stephen finally gave in but he claimed the custody of ot his children Adele agreed perhaps because she knew w what h hat a t would happen Stephen hasn't a relative in the world the care cure of children of or five and three simply isn't possible for for- him As Asan Asan Asan an engineer he comes and goes between the west coast cities he couldn't be sure of Bettina a house house- keeper who would care for them So Adele has them The children at first welcomed their then father when he came cama to see them But that is lessening In the institution where their stepfather works they are absorbed There are other children community meals They are not unhappy Stephen tells me although in one sense they have no father and no mother For Adele three weeks after her marriage after the achievement achievement achievement achieve achieve- ment of her dream and her dream man was stricken with a disease that has baffled science She is bedridden in the big institution She has books and callers and care but she will never walk again If It it is merely a fixation it Is a very real one for she makes desperate efforts to walk without success The children visit her One wonders what goes on in their small minds about the whole thing Stephens Stephen's heart is broken Or rather it is stilled and sobered in ina a way that makes seeing him hard for those of us who love him He HeIs Heis Heis is very quiet about it but he cannot cannot cannot can can- not understand what went wrong Here was a lovely home with a man anc and a woman in it a garden here twice w were e ere r e those tremendous hours that usher in a new life lite and twice the delight of bringing home a child to its new home What happened happened happened hap hap- Arent Aren't those things permanent permanent permanent per per- manent fundamental If It they arent aren't what is |