Show kathleen norris says this Is no time to borrow trouble bell syndicate features az 1 r 6 I 1 PM V r all our married life my wile has been worrying this morning she said she could not see how my business could continue much longer made elinor our daughter pug on a sweater and asked where we could move if we get oil lor the furnace by KATHLEEN NORRIS MAN named jim davis A writes me that he has a worrying wife he says she takes the greatest trouble in in the world to see that meals are on time and hot and that there are flowers on the table she is is marvelously considerate a bout about having a pencil on the telephone table and an extra comforter at the bottom of his bed she dresses well and economically and goes to a beauty parlor twice a week he s says ys she entertains nicely and has brought up their small daughter elinor carefully and lovingly but s she he worries all the time elinor is nine now ana she is beginning to droop in this atmosphere ot of constant depression just as jim is elinor looks at her mother piteously please mu mummy ammy its not so important it matter itu be all righta the small girl pleads I 1 take it easy may the man of 0 the house says cheerfully I 1 as he settles himself at the table but sooner or later both father and daughter come under the dark s spell pell of the womans comans mood worries about money bloney all our married life she has been worrying about money although with my steady job and her own good management we never have been in any difficulties jim writes the prospect of any extra expense causes her hours of anxiety she is terribly afraid she will have to have a tooth filled she want to call a doctor just tor for a little burn that sort of thing her father has had a heart attack he is 78 and although now restored to good health I 1 suppose he may someday have another but every time the telephone bell rings may whispers papal and staggers to answer it with her hand ever her own heart everything is a cause for or worry and under and over it all U goes the great world worry which none of us can escape Ws this morning for example the letter goes on my wife somewhat monopolized the breakfast conversation as I 1 was supposedly reading the paper but I 1 took out my pencil and quietly noted down the variety of things she was finding to worry bout about it began with the headlines she actually got my old mother crying and my daughter white faced with terror over a picture of what would happen to us in the days of german occupation of a quiet kentucky town then she went on to say that probably the worst that would happen to us would be financial ruin but she hated the thought of losing her beautiful home and garden next came elinore Eli nors cold it was better but it if it got any arse orse my wife would keep her in bed in which case she could not rehearse for the school play end and be in it elinor began nervously to cry into her cereal overlooks nothing may then said that she was afraid emmy the maid would leave us she was afraid the price of beet beef would soon be prohibitive she did not see how my business could continue much longer she asked me how athletes foot started as the sole of one of her feet felt very tender she begged me not to do any business with a man named jackson with whom I 1 have not the slightest intention of doing business she asked my mother twice whether BROTHERS UNITED like brothers united the sun sum total of ow our worries and fears stands invincible but taken separately and faced aced squarely these same fears ears crumble from sheer weakness ive akness and unimportance in this year of universal strife the pe petty ly fears of a woman like the h may alay davis of this letter are something to be a little ashamed of it if each of us were to succumb so easily to unnecessary worry we would soon be fair game for even the weakest adversary united in courage and unselfishness we are invincible she was not afraid to sit in the crosscurrent cross current of air from the por porch h about she talked tor for five minutes about the sample ot of paint they have tried on the garage and said she was sure it was not what she had chosen then she made elinor put on a sweater asked me where we could uld move if we get oil foco foi the furnace this winter asked me twice whether I 1 had put an air stamp on a letter I 1 had mailed asked me tor for the third time whether the bakers were coming to dinner on thur thursday said she wished she could call it off before it was too late as she hated to tackle a dinner for six with no assurance of having a cook in the kitchen after that I 1 left tor for the office feeling as if I 1 were being bitten to death by ducks the moment I 1 got there may was on the telephone elinor bunor had bad gone oft off to school without her rubbers and may thought rain was blowing up also had I 1 seen her opera glasses not that she needed them but shed suddenly thought of them and find them anywhere this may sound funny to you the letter ends but its not so funny to your faithful reader jim davis and theres a postscript but dant fool yourself I 1 love my wife amusing and rat pathetic hetle ive reprinted this letter in fun full because it seems to me amusing and pathetic and maddening an all at once not many women make so thorough a job of worrying that they worry about everything most of us have some avenues ut peaceful and contented thought to which we can escape evidently may davis winston churchill who it AC will be conceded has something over which to worry is quoted as saying that he has developed a priorities system for worrying he takes them one at a time and creaks each one in turn its the old story of the father who asked his strong young sons to break separate sticks which they did with contemptuous ease but when he bound those sticks into a tight heavy bundle it was a different story his point was that brothers united cannot be broken well the great nations of the world are as brothers united today and while they hold together they cannot be broken the slow great tide that is forty nations standing shoulder to shoulder is gathering head and will presently flood deep over the of petty hate and pite and tor for her lesser worries luay davis may well feel sh shame ame this is no time to borrow trouble from the butchert butchers bills of 1944 or to honeycomb our still protected days and ways with dangers |