Show kathleen kathlee n nor norris ris says the glorious fifties bell features Feat 1 dmn 0 J it L W gawf hundreds of sensible women of 50 are invaluable to their families fam aliss lie althy thy serene busy by KATHLEEN NORRIS 11 T AM 50 1 am superfluous I 1 am fitted for no special J work I 1 am faced with depe dependence n 51 ence upon a daughter who is is burdened with two stepchildren and a new baby and a son in law who frankly like me an old admirer 70 with some property wants to m marry arry me would you think a woman of 50 crazy to marry again I 1 have been widowed three years this is part of the rather stark letter of wentla wenda white who lives in boston I 1 certainly would advise any woman of 50 or even 60 to marry an old admirer if she wants to but im not sure id advise rf wenda that way when she says that she is superfluous and fitted for no special work she adds unconsciously c 0 that she Is stupid and a stupid woman Is not ap aatto to make a good wife in middle age sometimes stupid little beau beauties ties in their teens make a success of it because they learn and they are cute while learning but wenda sounds rather grim I 1 doubt it if shi she could learn now to be a happy wife note what wendel wenda tells me in these few phrases in her three years of widowhood and in the years before it she never kas has found any us useful eaul work not nurses aide work not library or kindergarten or tearoom r 0 om work nothing that would kee keep p h her er busy and insure her independence d e nee for the past six years america a has been crying aloud for women workers has been overpaying overplaying over paying fla them favoring them but not wenda her only child has been heavily b burdened with young wifehood the premature care of babies not her own the expense and responsibility of motherhood but wenda surely much use all she admits she did was antagonize her daughters husband perhaps she want violet to marry a man who already had two children perhaps she felt that violets own motherhood took place too promptly whatever it was instead of making herself adored by this young couple and indispensable to them wenda has only made herself disagreeable and closed that door too wenda will fall fail again now she proposes to take her hei various failures discontents contents dis inefficiencies e cien cies into still another sphere heaven help her old admirer it if he gets herl A smarter old man would find a woman who had a good job and liked it whose family idolized her and shrieked at the thought of anyone walking away with mom it y A A very young wife may have her t moods her limitations her pretty little faults but when a woman has lived 50 years without learning the secret of usefulness service affection t then she never is going to be anything to anyone daughter husband or friend B but t 50 can be a glorious age I 1 bonu dont t mean a shadowy resigned wistful ful time of looking on at life I 1 mean a time tor for splendid and useful living when a womans comans hectic early days are over her children gro grown in herself freed for all the interests ter ests and activities for which she ha has n never ever had time she may well en enter t r into the pleasant est years of her whole hole life there is some work that a well developed and experienced woman ought to be interest 16 ed in by that time something she is eager to do her health will be good it if she has learned how bow to care K jbf she feels superfluous TWO viewpoints ON MIDDLE AGE to many women the later years are the best of their lives the TJ je fillies fifties sixties even the seventies and eighties can be full of richness and quiet qui e I 1 happiness iness after a womans comans children rem have grown up tip she has a new freedom and an opportunity to do many things that she could not while her family was her first concern she cat can travel pursue some hobby study or do any number of things bings perhaps her greatest joy will be helping to care for her grandchildren or she may want to give her time to some charitable work on oft the other hand some women find the later years a miserable time they feel useless unwanted nothing seems worth do doing n g usually these women have been been unhappy all their lives wenda white is 50 and a widow she is dependent upon her daughter who has three children bendas son in law like her and takes no pains to hide the fact A way out has appeared sudden suddenly lyp however and wenda is wondering what to do an old admirer has asked her to marry marr y him he has a little property a and nd could take care of her well she is asking miss aliss norris what course to follow lor for herself and a hundred of the younger desires and dreams will have been brushed aside like the worthless things they were not halt half enough has been said ol of the golden autumn beauty of the any younger woman contemplating them shudders away with horror and too many women reaching them accept that horror as a true indication of 0 what they mean and help to preserve the delusion that the are a lonely superfluous time when one belong and wanted anywhere actually the most useful women in the world are those between 45 and 65 and any woman who discover it when she reaches the earliest date is cheating herself she can achieve complete happiness if she will hotel manager at SO 10 I 1 could cite hundreds of cases of sensible women of 50 and more who are invaluable to their families healthy serene busy hundreds more hold positions of dignity and trust some do both one woman 70 years old this week found herself widowed 20 years ago with a delf delicate daughter three small grandchildren and a eon bon tn ln law who was tubercular all to be provided for there was no talk of being superfluous or untrained from mary diary carter although for all her 50 years she had been an adored and pampered daughter and wife she moved the family to a climate in which max could uve live and he is living still she took over an abandoned hotel put all her heart and energy into it and runs it at a profit today with her birthday in sight she has enjoyed I 1 it t laughed over it used her ima imagination gl on it and she is the most popular person in her own mountain town today I 1 wonder who what poor wenda would have made of it |