Show kathleen norris says life Is too short for jealousy bell syndicate service edw I 1 R V it h never occurred to salty sally that in every town there are women who make a business bus iness ol of entertaining celebrities I 1 if the she had stopped to think she would have reali realized sed that dw these stars could have no interest in martha by KATHLEEN NORRIS OR the 17 best years of F FOR her life sally davis was envious of martha stevenson then martha was injured in a motor accident and died of a lingering disease sally made no secret of her sense of personal satisfaction and triumph which was worse for her the ion long g years of jealousy jealous y or the cruel pleasure in another womans comans tragedy it would be hard to say none of it hurt martha but it destroyed sally from 17 to 34 she felt her life shadowed twisted spoiled by marthas perfections and after 17 years of feeling like that no woman can ever get back to normal sally will be petty jealous unhappy for the rest of her days once jealous always jealous is not just an old saying it is a simple psychological truth not that there was anything remarkable about martha A hundred other women were prettier smarter and more fortunate but martha was one of those maddening girls who make other women think that everything they have is somehow mysteriously better than anything anyone else has martha had a way even in high school of dressing u up p her trips and possessions and friends and plans that made them seem all important and she would comment upon what the other girls had to relate in a sympathetic amused manner that seemed to put them into a different class took martha seriously sally always took martha seriously it seemed to be her fate she watched martha as a cat watches or used to watch in less hygienic days a mousehole she reported upon marthas doings in so obvious a mood of trembling jealousy that they really began to seem as enviable as martha tried to make them the school girls scattered went their happy absorbed ways but it was sallys destiny always to be within sight of martha and to marry the man whose boss martha married martha had a smart city apartment sally lived out with joes mother in the country martha had one tidy little lifeless girl and she somehow made it seem amusing and pitiable to in sally to have tour four children martha attracted clever persons to her sunday lunches managed a sor sort t of studio atmosphere dressed in ori oriental orientis entil silks sally came in from the farm to some of these lunches joe not liking it much but feeling he must keep in with the boss the children protesting the car in none too good shape sallys clothes not quite right and sally in purgatory to witness marthas success and to hear her praised almost killed sally but she seemed drawn into it as a amoth moth to a name flame envy had its terrible way with her and her very soul was corroded by it when she heard that a singer or a lecturer was coming to town she would say 1 I suppose martha is kol going ng to entertain him and when she was vas answered that indeed martha was she writhed mentally it never occurred to her that great singers and movie actors and lecturers all have dull wives and relatives and secretaries secret arles and that these supposedly desirable guests gueits can eat up food and drink up wine in a way that sends bills skyrocketing sky rocketing and I 1 weary ery a hostess almost to tears A dull business it never occurred to her that in every town and village there are a few women who make a business of following up celebrities and entertaining them if sally had stopped for a moment to think she would have realized that these glittering stars could have no possible interest in martha they went to marthas house because it was cheaper and more comfortable than the hotel concert tours and personal appearances are a dull business in strange towns and any amusement is welcome sally never thought ot of what she might have in made de of the farm of the outdoor meals mals the simple hospitality pita lity the four delightful children in sandals and sun suits the up building of a family life that might have made marthas tinsel achievements seem small indeed she might have had marthas tepid little girl out for visits and have had martha feeling a little twinge of jealousy to in turn because thelma preferred aunt sallys farm to her own home she might have had thousands of hours of gardening hundreds of picnics years of cloudless happiness instead she nurtured a bitter sense of wrong nothing that joe could do compared with what marthas husband gave her sally got so that when she could buy a new coat she must manage that martha saw it she must ask martha casually what she thought of it and when martha said gently im waiting until Brau manns new coats are here they tell me going to be much plainer sally promptly hated her coat and felt like a martyr because she had to wear it my children are terrible little wild indians Indian sl she said to martha even though to in her heart she knew they were perfect and it stung her soul for days when martha said pleasantly well weli truly I 1 think any woman is heroic to try to bring up tour four children without a nurse I 1 dont think one can do any one of them justice letter upon letter comes to me from women who have everything to in the world to make them happy who would be considered fortunate by 99 out of every women in the world and yet who are eating their hearts out because of the imagined or real of some old friend lose youth and beamut they lose their sense of proportion they lose youth and beauty they wrong everyone to whom they owe service and affection by the constant fresh miseries of watching what that other luckier woman Is I 1 doing we make our own heavens heaven on this earth and our own hells belli there were interesting erestine int folk scat |