Show Kathleen Norris olTis N Says About Nurseries for Children Bell Syndicate Features d J JI I j- j a d v. I Y J dl l 1 in the daytime children are placed in reasonably safe custody the chances chance ire are they tIler are much happier playing about with their contemporaries than alone at al I By KATHLEEN NORRIS HE burning question of THE 1943 for thousands of households h is whether mother or wife has a right to go into defense or hospital or can can- canteen canteen canteen teen or Red Cross activities to a point that inconveniences the family amily And the answer of course is isIke like Ike the answer to most other problems it all depends Like shall I get married or shall we adopt a baby a thousand considerations little and big affect the decision and unless all those conditions are known cnown and con cOll weighed how ho can anyone advise But Punch gave advice to young men about to marry many years ago His advice was Dont And my advice generally speaking to women considering war work of any sort is exactly the opposite Do uDo Brush aside all the superficial ob- ob objections objections of of the conservative old mother law who thinks your place places is s to make Jims Jim's home happy and the neighbors who audibly comment I that they think that you can plan to desert I your little boys three days a week and md go of off to do nurses' nurses aid work in n the hospital If Jim cant can't get into nto uniform for any reason at least leastle he le pan dan an make it possible for you to help And if you you hired a completely inefficient nurse for your boys and went gaily off to movies and bridge three days d ys a week weck the neighbors would consider it quite a normal procedure and would have no criticism criticism criticism cism at all Children Happy at Nurseries There is much too much talk to to- today today today day about the mothers who leave their children in the charge of baby schools or wartime nurseries and take defense jobs The usual thing is to gather the children up at night they sleep at home And if in the daytime they are placed in reason reason- reasonably reasonably reasonably ably safe custody the chances are they are much happier playing about with their contemporaries than alone at home I say There is no really safe custody for fora a child Children are active deli deli- delicate delicate cate ignorant impulsive Pills and pins and dirty objects go confidently into their little mouths they step in front of trucks or down into man man- manholes manholes manholes holes they back off of cliffs and play with matches with total disregard for that priceless possession called life But it isn't always when they are with hired custodians that the acci acci- accidents accidents accidents dents occur Some of you were wore stricken to the heart as I was a few weeks ago when you saw a picture of a long stretch stretch of ocean beach framed by the waves on one side and the lonely dunes on the other And between the two hand in hand wandered the despairing father and mother whose small child had been safe on the shore only a few min min- minutes minutes minutes utes earlier and who was gone forever for for- forever forever ever now Years ago I knew a woman so fearful for the safety of her child that she hired a plain clothes man manto manto manto to watch him When she went from the city to the country place she took a little stand in for her boy who traveled less conspicuously with a nurse and tutor Child Killed Despite Family's Care When the boy was about seven he begged to ride just once on a street car Grandma Mother nurse and detective saw him safely aboard lis is governess in charge But the ittle boy elated ted at this excited ad- ad WIVES WIrES MOTHERS IN WAR WORK Now is the time for women to learn how to work on equal terms with men and at the some same sometime time be doing a great patriotic service If I f she is a mother she e should have no fear of leaving her children at the daytime war tear nursery while she marches off of to toa toa toa a war ivar plant hospital canteen Red Cross station or any other headquarters of the rant home which needs her help Children in the nurseries are as safe as they will ever be If 1 f hubby ob objects ob- ob objects she should tell him that itis it itis itis is her right to arrange her responsibilities re Te- responsibilities so that she size can cann serve America now note venture stepped across the plat plat- platform platform platform form and down on the other side straight into the track of a small smal car driven by a flustered woman He was instantly killed It was a tired tir d half asleep mother who gave her baby an antiseptic solution so so- solution solution lution instead of his cough medicine in this very city not long ago H It was another er mother mother who h leaped un perfectly safe little soon 2 on last sum sum- summer summer summer mer in California and in jumping hit the child the blow that drowned him It was a mother not a nurse who was guarding a small sleeper recently without ever noticing that tha the cord of his wrapper was slowly strangling him while he slept When some woman asks you tartly how you can possibly farm out those dear little babies of yours while you run off to your welding or your I crowded hospital ward ask her if she will take them on for awhile since she is so full of sympathy Of COURSE they may be exposed to measles or whooping cough But not any more than they are in school Not any more than they are areat areat areat at home These nursery diseases float about in the air If you are sure of the general situation in the nursery where you place them anc and if you see them daily tuck them up at night hear their reports of what on then at your work war-work with the th consciousness that you are still nearer them still taking more care of them than if you were a avery avery avery very rich woman flitting about from Palm Beach to Coronado and Coronado Coro- Coro Coronado Coronado nado to Washington leaving them to be lonely lo ely in ln the care of expensive nurses The fact that there are severa several children at the nursery school or shelter is a protection to yours And the fact that the women in charge choose to do this work is a protection protection protection tion too For only real lovers child take on this work in these days when other work pays so much better bet bet- better better ter and demands so much less strain and responsibility Wife's Argument Irrefutable If the man of the house proves to tobe tobe tobe be dissatisfied it seems to me me that tha you can perfectly well submit to him this argument Men UMen have been dis dis- disrupting disrupting disrupting the even course of women's I Il life l e for many hundreds of years with wars Women have accepted the situation humbly and patiently They have had torn away from them everything that they hold dear Their children have grown up ather up less Their income has t been reduced re re- reduced reduced to something less than a living sum When a man decides to follow the colors he not only expects ex ex- expects expects his wife w e to consent he exacts praise and pride from her Her Hervery Hervery Hervery very soul may be revolted by the situation her heart may be sick with fear and despair But she must never let him see her sorrow i |