Show kathleen norris says here ere Is something for youth to think about bell laeh syndicate service x I 1 W 4 11 1 INV 7 i think its ies lousy the girt said impatiently es as though she had said it belore before 1 I if I 1 cant send end her the th other ill fit not send lend her anything by KATHLEEN NORRIS HIS is an appeal to boys and told THIS girls to be good that has an old fashioned ring it and it sounds as though it were addressed to moppets of tour four and five to in the nursery but as a matter ot of fact act I 1 hope to reach older boys and girls youngsters whose ages range from say 13 to 19 these are terrible a ages tor for mothers and fathers these are ages when the grownups w who ho seem so powerful and so unaffected are often living in secret tear fear of their offspring it if tom 17 and margaret 15 knew the panic their lightest word could create in family circle knew the dread with which their bad moods were witnessed by mom and dad they might be more merciful later on when the girl and boy are grown and married they begin to gate gain a little sense they begin then shyly awkwardly and incompletely ely to apologize to their elders margaret struggled with a small house a small income a small baby laughs in embarrassment as she thanks her mother for some small favor I 1 youre such a darling to come sit with him and let me go to the luncheon mother she says 1 I often think I 1 wonder perhaps this is silly but were tom and I 1 awful pigs when we were growing up I 1 think of my bills now and how awful be if the baby gets sick or needs something her mother laughs in answer and says reassuringly that tom and margaret margare t were always little angels no use I 1 to hurt them today by recalling their old stubbornness and selfishness the sons appreciation dad you were always an awful good sport to us kids tom is saying at about the same time now that ive got kids of my own always ways wanting something and raising the root roof if they cant have it I 1 remember the way peg and I 1 used to carry on when we wanted money or tennis rackets well we always did the best we c could 0 u id for you son dad says cheerfully full Y he forgotten he and mom will always wear the scars but the children have grown up fine and good and bygones may well be bygones and in the same way he be and mom would remember it tt if just once in those long ago days the girl or boy had seen their problem had sensed the loving desire they felt to give their children every advant advantage ige and luxury had pitied the shame this loving father and mother experienced when they had to say no the years when we have our parents are not always long years and when they end and one says dazedly mother mother is beadi it is wonderful to remember that instead of treating their burdens as something entirely removed from ourselves w we shared them and helped carry them and made them lighter A challenge to youth and so I 1 challenge every A american boy and girl who reads this to stop and think this morning ask yourself do I 1 know what my fathers worries what my mothers worries are and is there anything I 1 can do abou tit it may be that their chief worry Is you yourself and their tear fear that your girlhood or boyhood wont have enough fun in it enough frocks and trips and parties and good times it may be that to have you s suddenly turn gay and philosophical to have you quite unexpectedly express yourself as satisfied with life will make all the floerence Flie difference rence between shadows find and sunshine to them unconscious tyrants C youngsters in their teens says kathleen norris often unconsciously give their parents their most anxious moments d they know so little of family finances then and have so many desires if 11 they only knetl the panic their lightest word c could create they might be more merciful miss norris thinks C parents naturally w want ant to give their children every luxury they can are they wise to go beyond their means 41 wise vise parents take their children into their confidence show them where the money goes and enlist them on the budgets side I 1 standing at a counter walting waiting for the clerks attention a mother and a daughter fell into conversation beside me or rather they continued a conversation that had evidently commenced some time before the girl was about 14 extremely pretty correctly dressed and with the right hair hairdo do the mother had wistful eyes that hung bung adoringly upon her daughters beauty 1 I like the dollar one real well doris she said timidly 1 I bleeve miss foster would like it 1 I think its lousy the girl said impatiently as though she had said that before it if I 1 cant send her the other ill not send her anything hurt her feelings and you going to her wedding the mother offered gently of course it would the girl said angrily tears in her eyes but 1 I dont have to go to the wedding if I 1 have to wear my old blue out outfit fl t I 1 dont see that ill be much of a sight at the wedding I 1 wish just once we could do things like other people A five dollar box and we cant afford it it de dearie arlel may blay regret her attitude she said the last words with a sneer and a squeak that showed she was impersonating someone who called her dearle dearie her mother of course and someday if 11 the gentle pleading voice is still and doris remembers well wel no money no doing things like other people will comfort her then when children are babies even the simplest home can make them happy if 11 someone loves them there and when they are grown and have learned the value of 0 home love the utter generous devoted goodness ol of dad and mother then they come back again appreciative and wiser but in between is this bad period when they cant and wont understand that one mans modest salary cant be stretched beyond certain limits that food and rent and light and laundry and carfare and shoes have to come before new radios and english sweaters and college parties and beauty parlor charges unusually wise parents take them into the family council show them where the money goes enlist them on the budgets side but lots of parents arent wise they long with all their hearts to give their children all that other youngsters have and often they all but wreck married love and home peace in doing it some youngsters have never thought about this angle of the home problem in this way perhaps if they act tipon upon it they may have a few less dollars to spend this winter but they will ba laying up something that in a f tew e w years they wo would u id not sell tor for many thousands of dollars |