Show I Kathleen athleen Norris Says Wives Ives Who o Are re Saboteurs Bell Dell Syndicate Features iJ i n 1 r J i f J Ji I S z l lJ f J tf t c i t i l 1 RYAN p II- II When 1 I got my captaincy and sailing orders she came a thousand miles with my little girls to wish me Godspeed I By KATHLEEN NORRIS HAT has happened to W WHAT the honor and fidelity of American women in this war What has become of the time old-time fineness and faithfulness faithful faithful- ness that made it second-nature second for our war wives to cherish the memory of the men who were away on battlefronts to preserve preserve preserve pre pre- serve the sacredness of home and home ties in their absence Gone with the wind evidently Recently Recently Recently Re Re- an eminent military authority ty was responsible for the statement that among married men in the fighting forces today one out of every every every ev ev- ery three receives news from home that his wife is no longer faithful That he is no longer loved That the home of which he dreams in the smoke and blood and horror of the firing line is no longer ready to welcome him back That the children for whom his arms and his heart hunger are no longer to be his to live under their fathers father's roof if if indeed he ever has a home again I The cruelty and selfishness of the women who write such letters to lonely homesick men is sufficiently sufficiently sufficiently dreadful But even worse is the implication that our girls are being being being be be- ing brought up without any respect for marriage motherhood or them them- selves When a woman goes through years of weakness and illness as many women do there is no comfort In the world to her like the deep happiness of knowing that her husband husband husband hus hus- band is faithful is concerned is eager with tender help and care Soldiers Give Up Much l And when men leave their homes leave safety and friends beloved small children and wives behind behind behind be be- hind them when they are regimented regimented regi regi- out of all individuality 1 when they may no longer have a awill awill awill will of their own or be free for a I single hour without some other i iman's i mans man's permission then permission then what sort of ofa i ia a wife is it who begins at once to entertain herself with friendships of I other men who presently writes her I homesick soldier that she has met I I another love that she wants to be befree befree befree free that he must make some l lother I other living arrangements when he gets home The army official above quoted I says one soldier out of every three gets this sort of letter Our enemies could hardly devise anything more destructive to the morale of our troops To wait for mail from home and to eagerly receive it only to be i stunned by fresh misery and ion loneliness loneliness eli eli- ness a sense of inferiority and failure failure failure fail fail- I ure is is an experience that may maywell maywell I well weaken the courage and determination determination deter deer r of any man l We We Ve have one baby girl Mary writes Corporal W. W J. J J. J from northern north north- ern France I think the world of her and God knows I dearly love my wife too But now Ethel writes that she wants a divorce she is I going to marry a fellow I know and take Mary with her I wish I knew what to do ought I try to hold her j feeling eeling like she does I get almost sick being so far away and notable not notable notable able to get home and see her her In my 1 mind I think Ill I'll go coo coo imagining ing myself talking with her and saylie saye say- say j I IlIo lie e is it quite wealthy and prominent I AIDING THE TilE ENEMY As if the cruel hardships of war weren't enough many men in uniform uniform uni uni- f form orm have to endure the loss o of f their wife's love Just the fact that their husbands are absent seems to be an excuse for many women to find pleasure in some other mans man's company Often this illicit romancing leads to a desire f for or a divorce Thousands o of f wives have written to their husbands in service asking for a separation Miss Norris calls these disloyal wives saboteurs They are arc wrecking the morale o of f fighting men men and and far more effectively than any enemy propaganda could do They are arc not only wrecking their own and their husbands husband's lives they lives they are endangering endangering endangering en en- their country I i I I I i I I j 1 ing Forget it Baby Let things goon go goon goon on like they were before until I get home I didn't ask to get into this war Im I'm doing my best to finish finish finish fin fin- ish it up in a hurry and it seems like you could pull your weight too This is a genuine letter one of many that come to me Here is another another another an an- other this one from a professor of English who has been overseas for more than a year Wants Wealthy Man IUan Ann and I have been married 10 years he writes She wanted me meto meto meto to volunteer and when I got my captaincy and sailing orders she came a thousand miles with my little girls to wish me Godspeed That was 14 months ago We have been very happy have a lovely home books friends work in com com- mon Now she writes me that she sheI wishes to go to Reno she has promised promised prom- prom to marry a much older man quite wealthy and prominent in our ourI town He is 52 Ann 34 She asks me not to make any fuss and hopes that I will someday find a woman more worthy of me She says the girls will share their time between us Is that the way wives write to their husbands in war time the thel l letter latter concludes bitterly Is that the best they can do to brace their men through the cruelest ordeal that human human human hu hu- hu- hu man flesh and blood ever faced Were We're tired discouraged homesick homesick homesick home home- sick over here We know how this war is going to end and that well we'll wellcome wellcome come home some home some of us victorious us-victorious victorious but believe me its it's a slow hard hard pull and to have nothing to which which to look forward nothing for which to work nothing loving and comforting comforting comforting comfort- comfort ing to which to come home is pretty disheartening If anyone had told me this of Ann Id I'd have knocked him down Written by her own hand I have to believe it and it has shaken the foundations of my whole life i Thousands of wives are piling up eternal regret and shame for them them- selves For thousands of others perhaps perhaps perhaps per per- haps it isn't too late to stop short to take the course of courage and honor hon hon- or fidelity and plain old-fashioned old goodness as wives i |