Show kathleen norris says upon making the most of our luck beu bell service f 4 n the terms serene belief that we are entitled to everything good in this life often blinds blind a 0 girl to go the fact that marriage is not merely a stepping stone to individual advancement or pleasure by KATHLEEN NORRIS NCE there was an aviator 0 ONCE who took an arab from the heart of a burning desert into one of the garden spots of europe the arab for the first time saw magnificent hotels shops gardens trees ate was disturbed could it be possible he asked that any god was greater or kinder than his god but it was when he saw a river that his whole philosophy suffered a terrible shock here was crystal icy mir miraculous water racing along free would have it inexhaustible he asked how loing the gods god would continue this exhibition and aid was told that as far as men knew the river had bad always flowed and would always flow here Is a strange thing he pondered in my country we must dig through the dry dry sand band lor for water and when we reach it it is scanty warm and tastes oi of camel manure and he be decided when he tet returned turned home and was relating to his people the marvels he had bad seen to make no mention of the river fan fall to appreciate advantages this exquisite little story is included in wind sand and stars st book nothing that ive ever read has ever brought to me more clearly the blessing that is cold clean water and the shameful thought of our of everyday privileges we take so much for grant granted edl I 1 another story that brought that home with terrible force I 1 read in a newspaper a few weeks ago it was contained in one of the many gallant letters fro from england that are filling our press today it was written by a woman who had had bad a tearful fearful experience in london raids she had served the suffering in a dozen capacities advising cooking guiding nursing reassuring for 13 days and nights she had lived through horrors of fear she was bruised sore core exhausted her feet burned by hot ashes when it was over she went down to a friends house bouse in the blessed quiet country she revelled bevelled revel led in a hot bath a clean bed but she found herself so overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of relief from danger hot water fresh sheets and above all by the blissos bliss blis of having her feet bare at night that she could hardly sleep simple needs rule life elsewhere almost everywhere in the world the basic simple needs of life rule the thoughts though ti of men and women to obtain work food shelter these alethe are the burning anxieties of their lives just to have a roof at night to be able to put a loaf of bread or a bowl of rita macaroni caroni or potatoes on the table three times a day just to feel that for a few months at t least for there will be work and pay for that work these are the favors tor for which millions and millions of our fellow creatures humbly ask their gods millions of the women in oriental countries have one gala costume and it lasts them all their lives and is handed down to younger women when they die millions of them use blackened old iron pots and pans that have seen gent generations ration s of service not for them the pleasantness of beauty shops perfumes and soaps lacy underwear spring hats whipped cream bottled cherries bridge parties families there could live year in and year yeah out on just what the up lip k keep beep of a car comes to cars are moving about our country today appreciation LACKING american women reading this arf article Is will travel in fantasy with miss aliss norris to visit other women in london aon china and an a a arab philosopher er in in me e desert she etches the pattern of their III life in well chosen chapters revealing their humility ir for small mall favors which most mast americans accept casualty casually as their birthright when I 1 was Is last S t in china an amah w who ho had been the nurse of my sisters children came to the hotel to make herself useful to us she took entire charge of our rooms and slept on a rug in the bathroom we could not persuade her to anything more comfortable during the course of this stay to give her a length of heavy dark green felt that I 1 had used as a typewriter cover the next day the amah appeared with neat squares of it sewed to her clothes on elbows and knees the autumn weather was insufferably hot and it seemed a strange time for her to make any warmer the suffocating bundle of patched cleaned mended old garments that she wore what else could she do my sister said amah has no bedroom closet no bureau no place to store things she lives in a dusty open compound with a rabble of children and grandchildren cousins and relatives swarming about her to say nothing of a goat a dog a few chickens wash buckets cooking furnace fodder pile chopping block all the ace accumulated umu possessions of centuries of chinese life the cold weather e r is coming and amah put the warm cloth just where it would do the most good find joy in simple things well there Is something to be said for the reality of that sort of living it never grows monotonous and it never grows dull just the race to keep food inside you and famine at arms length is a thrilling thrill thrilling in 9 business A feast two or three times a year is a real feast the whole family anticipates with joy the moment when the roasted pig or goose the rice and hot tea the sauces and pastes shall be ready and remembers the occasion for months A new garment a few extra pennies and unexpected bit of good luck give these peoples peonies joys that we never know most of them live and they have developed a strangely stoical philosophy about those who die being always face to face with death seems to rob it of most of its terrors but it is a pity that we take so quietly for granted the advantages advantage S 0 of f our own position it if we appreciated the them m there is not a woman in america who would wo ua d not feel herself fortunate would not take a changed attitude toward life and toward her own problem and would not want to put herself from now on in a position 15 of giving rather than of taking taking love for granted is one ot of the dangers of this serene belief of ours that we are entitled to everything good in this life and that it Is the duty of everyone around us to see that we get it love is a wonderful perishable changeable thing nine divorces out of ten are caused by husbands and wives who regard it as a set tied accepted fact a thing that needs no further consideration or culture too many wives forget that marriage is not merely a stepping stone to individual advancement or pleasure and that to have love in your life ike is to be counted among be abe privileged of mankind |