Show KATHLEEN NORRIS at times advice Is infuriating infuriation g N MY MAIL this week was a resentful I 1 IN and angry letter from a woman named kate bush who lives in Williams williamsville ville new york kate differs with me very definitely and wants me to know it the article that enraged her was intended for those american women who are worried about m money oney these women and there are millions of them are managing incomes that range from to a year with the rising demands of their children the drain of visible and hidden taxes the increased cost of living they find themselves in a constant state of anxious discouragement T there h e r e simply is no way to make ends meet to save the husband and father the responsibility that is killing him to satisfy the demands of the children hund hundreds reds of letters come to me every ye year r emphasizing this predicament and it was in answer to one of them that I 1 quoted in my article the case of a polish family that arrived in america only seven years ago and that is now independent the daughter prosperously married the son in a contracting business with his father the mother secure in the home she is so proud to keep comfortable and happy for them peace of mind I 1 said that in the beginning these exiles rented three rooms for 20 26 a month near the river in an unfashionable neighborhood and that both son and daughter w worked in high school days so that two thirds of the combined earnings went into government bonds fresh r 1 0 in in a contracting arting bus business ineis from enslaved poland these people found our world a veritable paradise and my point was that their road to security and success is open to all families and that it is the only way to peace of mind when dom domestic eslic ways and means are the problem more than that to completely change ones way of life is a most stimulating adventure to stop worrying about ones social standing with utterly unimportant acquaintances to stop all consideration of what Is is the right environment tor for the children to make a game of getting way under the income instead of eternally overspending over spending it this Is really to live and certain harassed anxious housewives never have known real living need counsel but this advice infuriated kate gush bush and her letter told me why kate bush need such counsel she has solved her problem by moving to the country which she truthfully asserts is a much more wholesome place for or children than a cheap city slum our youngsters go to a fine school her letter says and to sunday school and to a show every two weeks they have pets and amusements galore chickens ducks rabbits skates skis sleds every kind of fun at home they never tease tor for money because there is no place to spend it of course that is an ideal solution for all problems mothers dads the childrens the budget et everything but it was not for women like kate bush that I 1 wrote it was for the troubled ones the bewildered wil dered ones who feel that everything in the home must be as comfortable for table and luxurious as things always were in mamas house and who simply cant manage it today get out ont from under to such I 1 give the old advice get out from under it all move to the unfashionable neighborhood it be a slum As a matter of fact unfashionable neighborhoods near the river or the bay or up tip on the hill or out in the fi fields elds on the fringes of the city will be the choicest locations of all in a few years when I 1 was married in 1908 large sunny flats on the river in new yorks upper east side running from to street were rented for 20 and 25 monthly that is new yorks most elegant mayfair now it if and the if is underlined you can move your family as kate bush did to country freedom vegetable garden pets skates skis sleds but so ideal an arrangement is not within reach of many of the housewives who find themselves caught in the confusions of a changing world and have not the courage to realize that at such times each of us must m make ake her own world sweep away past sensitiveness and prejudice and give her children an honest view of tomorrow it if you are living over your income then try living under it it is much more restful most of the things you will have to sacrifice are valuable only in your imagination |