Show kathleen norris says say s the one thing worse than being a wife hiie bell features feature to dp W A saal to lean her head against hij shoulder in an unwatched moment to say fred youre being terribly nice makes up or a good deal by KATHLEEN NORRIS THE HE one fate harder than teeing being wife is L being nob odys wife in those few words lies the truth of womans comans position and theres no evading the disconcerting conc erting fact i to be the wife today of a man in service overseas is heartbreakingly hard to be married here at home to be trying to keep happy a nervous overtired over tired anxious irritable and unreasonable man is worse but not to have a man belonging to you at all it not ot to be able to turn to a mate in these darkest days of the worlds history is surely the worst lot of all there are certain brief highlighted high lighted intervals internals in a womans comans life when she may be happier single when she is young and lovely when she signs a new contract in hollywood when she makes a success along any line of business or professional adventuring how delightful to be independent and freel free but that sort of lun fun only keeps its flav flavor 0 r for or a few months g r tor for a few years at most then the chosen vocation however filling to the mind and the purse proves singularly unsatisfying to the heart passing love affairs so thrilling in the beginning so quick to cool so hard to dispose of only make her realize more keenly how they cheat her from land and indeed unlit unfit her for that hard and sweet exhausting and yet a exhilarating constantly pruned yet constantly growing maddening heart filling thing that is true marriage some women need patience very rich and very famous women sometimes patience and character enough to achieve it they fling filing themselves from divorce to divorce often with disastrous effects on their chil childrens dreWs happiness and always with the destruction of their own but many a humbler poorer woman finds in middle age that fate has been kinder to her than she knew perhaps there were times in her younger wifehood when she gladly would have broken away when the he threatened to get a divorce and certainly would have gotten it lf it well if freds mother been so decent for or one thing II if her own mother been so aghast at the idea if the children been so devoted to their father and if their position been so much better living in his bis home this than n it would have been in the more modest establishment she would have maintained on allowance and alimony dignity pride a reluctance to blacken freds character in the eyes of society all these hold her in place so she endures the unendurable swallows her pride stifles her sense of ct self pity and justice gets over her Ns or in the later years particularly a husband is M a source of comport com jort SINGLE LIFE NOT SO BLESSED being a wife is sometimes pretty hard its often tedious frequently disagreeable ably most every married woman has wished at least once in her life that she could get out of her bonds being single has its attractions for a little while when a woman is young and attractive or when the she is succeeding in her career or business but in later years a woman appreciates the comfort and security of having a husband even if i he is quite unsatisfactory he is a source of strength n ath and comfort its so nice ru e to have some one to pet you and smooth you down when everything seems to go wrong someone to lean on in difficulties cul ties someone to rejoice with you in your triumphs or the successes of your children en many women who have contemplated tem plated divorce when married life seemed unbearable are glad they stuck it out afterwards there is only one thing worse than being a wife says miss aliss norris that is being single mad and presently feels all right again and perhaps after awhile she realizes that through no particular merit of her own she has been saved from making a fool of her self as janet did losing home husband children the respect of her family and friends income position and a dozen other things she had been taking calmly tor for grant granted edl for janeas bill has married someone else has been made general manager takes the children oft off for visits visit and they adore him and nobody wants to hear janeas side of the story husband source of comfort even a normally unsatisfactory husband can be a very present source of strength and comfort for a wife has her faults too and does foolish things and feels ashamed sometimes she buys an extravagant blouse when the budget Is already strained she risks taking a baby with a hard cold on a social call and he comes down with bronchitis she forgets that the walkers are asked to dinner and is caught in an old apron with curling pins in and nothing in the house but three frankfurters and half a watermelon these things happen to all wives to lean her head against his shoulder in an unwatched moment to say fred youre being terribly nice I 1 makes up for a good deal oh I 1 always liked him said a peaceful old wife to me on her golden wedding day but ive always loved himl it always easy to live with a man no and it always easy to live without one and ll it always alway easy to live at all |