Show KATHLEEN NORRIS MORRIS Don t lose Happy Middle Years WE ARE IN A RUT and its it's VT getting on our nerves Lee isn't as kind to me as he used to be I bore him He seems tired and quiet all the time If I start a subject subject subject sub sub- he may say wearily Lets not talk alk about it Sometimes he says Please dont don't use that word Often he ae hardly seems to hear me We are the run people continues the letter of Mildred Miller Miller Mil Mu- ler of New York City Lees salary salary salary sal sal- ary is a week We pay 85 rent for five rooms in the West Sixties Lee is 52 I am 47 We lost our one son in 1945 and his widow has remarried and lives with our grandson in Los Angeles Our daughter died as a baby so we have lave weathered two great sorrows But until now I always felt that while Lee needed me I had reason for living Now there isn't any question that he feels himself tied to o a woman who means nothing to hum him Security Isn't Enough I am a good cook I keep the house louse going Weve We've never been in debt We have a good nest egg in government bonds and insurance all all that But that isn't enough bit isit it is it if ones one's heart is restless and unsatisfied and life has grown duller dull dull- er and quieter day by day There Theres Is s no other woman in the case I know although Lee is at the age when men sometimes fall for flattery flattery flat- flat tery ery and interest And physically we are both well sleep and eat like ike the normal human animals we weare weare weare are and feel bewildered at this apathy that has fallen upon us As for amusements Lee has a cocker he adores He works on the window garden which is quite a success He likes walking bridge and a few special movies I like movies am taking a weekly lesson in interior decoration and love to toi i I 3 4 I II I U ft I 1 am a good cook fuss with curtains and flower ar ar- ar- ar I ItI want to save our marriage I want to go into the fifties busy happy and useful Thousands of persons live as we do on less money and seem content Neither Lee nor I had any religious training training training train train- ing when young but we both believe believe believe be be- lieve in God and sometimes go to church Mysterious Element This Is an ordinary enough story and yet it has one mysterious el element ment Why is it one asks that what makes certain couples absolutely absolutely absolutely ab ab- ab- ab content with a nice home adequate income health companionship companionship companionship compan compan- io isn't enough for other couples Well the answer is that one couple has found what it wants and the other one hasn't The very fact that Mildred considers herself herself herself her her- self and Lee Lee- Leeto to be in a rut shows that she doesn't belong there That That reaching out for interests his bis fussing fussing fuss fuss- ing with window boxes her patient attention while professional decorators decorators decora decora- tors lecture to her shows that both are unsatisfied Has it occurred to Mildred and andLee andLee andLee Lee to move out of the city The rent they are paying would more than cover the monthly y payments on a small farm within within welI well not an hour of at the city but an hour and 20 minutes Wouldn't buying a aman man farm somewhere give him a chance of gardening on a larger scale give her a n real chance at interior decoration and give the cocker an day all run instead instead instead in in- stead of a few moments of freedom morning and night Mildred doesn't mention Lees Lee's job Is it a job that could be transferred to a smaller city more accessible to suburban farms There is no joy in the world like feeling the ground under your feet to be your own like feeling that every faucet every picket every shingle you add to it is making it more yours You dont don't have to do without hot water electric light and power radio gas stove as your grandmother did when she moved into the country You can still get your consomme canned and your peas picked But you'll hear the logs crackle in your own I fire winter nights you'll see the moonlight whitewash your own roofs and fences in summer To say we raised that rooster when you serve the fried chicken to send people home carrying a arm r m s 5 f u I 1 of huckleberry and bunches Dunches of long-legged long white violets violets vio yb- lets to hang your Monday wash washout washout washout out in blazing sunshine and eat cat your Sunday breakfast under your own grape-arbor grape this is to find youth and life and delight again Peaceful b bus busy u 5 y healthy unworried unworried un- un worried age is a goal worth working working working work work- ing toward It has to be achieved according to pattern and with intelligent intelligent in in- effort Dont Don't lose these all important middle years |