Show kathleen norris norms says how many women are arc making titis this womans comans mistake 1 bell syndicate service 1 I 1 0 R 4 A the unfortunate result of 01 our change has slowly affected louise she has grown silent end and depressed by KATHLEEN NORRIS 1 ae HAVE been able to WE A keep our heads above water but just above water writes a pennsylvania woman for the past ten years money matters have been a constant anxiety to my husband and myself not for ourselves but for our daughter who is now 21 ten years ago louise had everything she attended a smart private sc school hool went about with a very nice crowd of girls and naturally supposed that her life was to fall into plea pleasant sant lines then came the crash which affected my husband seriously we were buying our home that had to be sacrificed rif we moved to a small but n nice ice hotel apartment promising louise that it was but tempora but we have found it a great struggle to maintain even this much of an appearance much service is included in th the e rent reni but tips to elevator boys porters chambermaids chambermaid window washers waiters amount to more than the price of one good servant in a private home janitors and delivery boys must be remembered regularly and as no laundry work is permitted in the house that is an additional expense indeed everything we do costs money and with a 55 rent taken from a salary ot of about a month even my most careful management leaves little for pleasures for louise she cannot entertain very much we no longer have a car and of course her clothes are simple and few my husband was quite ill ili last march and although he is now well again he dreads another breakdown and has taken out more insurance than it Is comfortable for our family to properly handle under the circumstances cum stances in which we now find ourselves daughter depressed the unfortunate result ot of our change in position has slowly affected louise at first she attempted to keep up with her old friends and as most of their families had su suffered too this was not hard but now many have drifted away or have regained their old pros prosperity and she feels keenly that she cannot keep pace with them she cannot drive about buy clothes join country clubs and although she did take a position for a short while in a fashionable frock shop she was unable to stand the physical strain and h had ad to give it up many of the nicest girls and indeed some of the wealthiest in town have done this so that she felt no embarrassment in trying it but it was too hard she is extremely pretty and unusually bright and attractive or was so for she has grown silent and depressed now and I 1 have consulted a doctor and a psychopath about her there is nothing organically wrong but she does riot not sleep takes sm small R interest in anything and has long fits of the blues it if I 1 could I 1 would send her on a long trip about the world hoping the change of scene and contact with new friends would shake her out of her depression but that is impossible now tor for many reasons does loan offer solution 1 I have seriously considered going to wealthy friends and borrowing sufficient money to reestablish establish re ourselves in a handsome home again give her the sort fort of life to which she would probably marry but my husband although devoted to her refuses to consider this what do you think ot of this plan it would be only for a few years later we could move into much less expensive quarters and by economizing repay the entire sum by degrees my husband sympathizes with her and with me but he is not at home all day to struggle with her apathy and unhappiness and consequently I 1 feel eel that he does not fully understand please advise and help it if you can louises mother poor louises mother and louises father and louise one hardly knows which to pity most the father gallantly struggling not only to support them now but trying also to lay aside enough insurance ranc e to care for them should he drop in n his tracks or the pretentious superficial u pers mother who never has learned anything of the true values of living 0 or r louise spoiled and idle and discontented destroying by her own young ignorance and selfishness the years that might be the happiest of her life an unhappy lio household what a wretched failure that boxed up little apartment in the hotel must bel be dad tired and discouraged a one of the million men who were deceived by false prosperity before the crash who never really deserved the high positions and high salaries to which national prosperity s wept swept them and who will never get back again mother straining every nerve physical mental social to keep up appearances to maintain her diminished household upon the scale that luckier women can attain with no worry at all to secure for louise friends amusements clothes all just a little too expensive and louise hating the small rooms hating the small salary hating her clothes and her parents and above all herself there the three are tied together failing each other on every count destroying each other and themselves like three unhappy animals in a cage here is a family where a definite readjustment is ab sol necessary louises mother ought to lift that load from the man of the house by moving immediately to smaller cheaper quarters to an unfashionable neighborhood and a 25 rent and louise ought to lift herself and Q her problems from the shoulders of both parents by getting a job ob any ally job there would be a real adventure tor for all three a stimulating change a rebirth re birth of affection and confidence between them all his wife ought to convince this worried struggling man that two healthy women can get along in this world without draining the lifeblood life blood from a fellow creature to do it and the daughter ought to begin to bring into the group not only financial assistance si but cheerful daily reports healthy contributions to the conversation at the dinner table bracing reactions to her first contact with realities change in living thinking needed louises mother probably know it but once she was removed from the misery and humiliation of constant contrast with women luckier than herself she would find life extremely pleasant among humbler neighbors she might find herself considered the fortunate one the women to copy and admire social standards are poor things it if they inspire us to extravagance and idleness and envy far better to get into the open air of honest work after so many years shut into the unhealthy hothouse of having baving to do what the joneses do As tor for borrowing money to bolster up louises delusions ot of grandeur and idleness that would be sheer madness and would wreck whatever chance is left to escape from the net |