Show kathleen norris says can you do it beu ben features feature I 1 N 31 I 1 the four a them lived with great gaiety and courage and infinite adventures by KATHLEEN NORRIS AN you write your soldier C CAN or sailor or marine or airman that life is going to be wonderful for him when he comes home can you truthfully tell him that all is serene at home all small frictions smoothed out everything going well and everyone waiting for the glorious news of the peace that will bring him back are you making definite postwar plans for him so that if lie he has always dreamed of being an engineer or an airman or a doctor the means and the way will wil I 1 be ready for him are you watching national legislation closely so that you can write your congressman urging the passage of this bill or asking the suppression ol of that are you out ot of debt and putting bonds safely into that little deposit box at the bank so that when he comes home he will have a little that will enable him to t 0 take a breathing spell when he Is honorably discharged from the service A that will spare him the bitter humiliation of job hunting among the luckier fellows who had flat feet or bad eyes and so could stay safe at home and progress pro progress gresi in their jobs from promotion to promotion while he be the i was saving civilization of the world world do you write him all your petty troubles that everyone has flu that papa Is worried about the doe doc torsa bill that his wife pretty little betsy who cried so hard when he be went away seems to be having a pretty good time with the boys from camp that you have to move and there anywhere to go that everyone hopes that this senseless war soon will be over it wont accomplish anything anyway and that his old chum tom has been made one of the banks vice presidents imag ine that at women actually do write letters uke like that more than one heartsick homesick mosquito bitten swamp soaked boy has sent such letters to me with comments that ask sometimes in extremely violent terms what the heck any woman who writes such letters belongs to the fifth col column what those boys ought to hear hea ulm is that we are proud of them down to the last fiber of our minds souls and bodies that cruel and aggressive a nations must learn that they may neither torture their own peoples nor swarm swann like pirates over the borders of peaceable countries countr fes and that they our boys are teaching them that lesson swiftly decisively and god wil willing lingl I 1 tor for an all time that we know god IS willing and that we believe it will be for all time and that when the boys come back they shall have a hand in deciding just how it shall be done that nothing that we have to face at home in the way of taxes privations vat ions shortages food stamps shoe stamps is in anything more than a joke compared to what they are sacrificing and risking or better yet a challenge a chance to show our lighting fighting men that in our way we pack a 4 unit smile in your letterel letter let teral 11 ENCLOSE A SMILE all of us know the importance of mail to our men on the fighting fronts all of us know that despite whatever little sacrifices we make at home that he is making the greatest while he is thousands of miles away that soldier sailor or marine of ours his desire for news of what takes place at home is a keen one when he receive receive his quota of letters nat naturally u rally hes apt to feet feel letdown its up to all of us to io provide our servicemen servicemen with the news of 0 f what we are doing to safeguard his interests at home while he is protecting ours when we write lets not mention our petty troubles that everyone has the flu that papa is worried about bills or that the wife who cried when he left seems to be having a pretty good time since lies hes gone lets make the mail cheerful let him know that were doing our utmost to see that things will be pretty smooth sailing when he returns enclose a s smile 1 I L pack a lot of laughs in letters etter to him you can do it are ea eager ger to go as far as they are g going 0 in g so it you are dragging along in the usual way letting bills accumulate grumbling about inconveniences not too scrupulous about a little black marketing here and there living up to the last cent of your income and generally a little hill e more then pull yourself up right t now with a jerk whatever your income Is did it ever occur to you that you could live on exactly half of it if you had to this Is the simple truth millions of families are living on half your income and living respectably too there is a widow in my town who found herself left 15 years ago with three children to care tor for on 80 60 a month she never took 0 one e penny of help she rented a one room cottage tor for 11 ai ll a month and the lour four of them alved live doh oh not easily not luxuriously but with great gaiety lety and courage gat today oda Y she runs a small restaurant for a good salary two girls are married one has a job wl with the telephone company the son is down in southern seas with the fleet when he comes home a present from his bis mother and sisters is going to be a small but profitable newspaper and magazine business the old man from whom they bought it will run it until he gets back then chuck can either carry it on or sell it anyway ita a temporary solution of that bitter problem that cost our men such humiliation after the last war there were men in uniform asking you huskily tor for eawy nil ey tor for a cup of coffee after the last war in england all over europe yes and here too some of them wore decorations some were crippled Is your boy after this war going to be one ot of them |