Show kathleen norris says say s so good and so dull dell bell syndicate feature 1 1 v when jimmy aws afraid he the team she kissed him and said mid you will nevi year and mother loves you yon team or no team by KATHLEEN NORRIS ANT you write some CANT thing about women be ing just sweet asks a man in phoenix ariz my wife bif e is a fine woman his letter continues but she is so darned dreary I 1 dont think it ever goes through her head that a man and kids get home tired too and that bad news and complaints are sort of discouraging cou raging when you first come in my wife looks sad all the time we had it too hard my work Is steady I 1 dont drink or run around nights we have a good home and two fine kids but emma never cheers up she looks us over end and sighs bob got high marks in arithmetic this month she shook her head and said she hoped hed keep it up mary lou hates studying and practicing and dishwashing as all kids do but her mother never smiles or encourages her she just says things like have them to do all your life life any joke so you might as well make up your mind to it I 1 dont lakeit like it any better than you 0 do it if I 1 say lets go 90 iw to a sh show r she he says and wear what I 1 never have any othes clothes if I 1 say its a grand night tor for home and the fire she says but its not exactly exciting for a woman chos been cc cooped aped up in the house all day 1 I began by saying emmas a fine woman she Is she keeps my house spotless keeps bills down keeps the c hildren children healthy and well groomed it if the neighbors are in trouble ashes the one who takes a turn at night watching or mothers a baby for a few days and she does a lot of praying too A ilard hard life before marriage the thing Is the letter ends that emma has had a hard life her folks were the shiftless sorta sort and r she he supported most of them oft off and on her brothers were a steady anxiety to her during the first years of our marriage her paralyzed mo mother ther was with us then I 1 had a long illness and when I 1 recovered I 1 went into the army as a captain she hated being alone when I 1 came back she gave me a grand party and now she really much to worry about but she cant stop fretting and worrying and looking anxious and putting the darkest construction on everything you get tired of it you get dar darned ned tired of a person who sets her lips tight sighs reminds the children that we cant have what rich people have apologizes for perfectly good dinners and go goes es into gloomy abstractions when she hear anything at all ive tried for years to shake her out of it now I 1 don dont t know what more to do but its not much of a prospect to live with a woman who patiently puts up her cheek when you want to kiss her and it if you praise anything she does begins to tell you wrong with her clothes her house the market the pudding and your little girls hair bair this comprehensive summary pretty well describes the way some wives act they are patient tireless capable ca pable uncomplaining to a degree that makes any man of spirit want to kill them to live with a meek drudge who only wants the least encouragement to break into a mild whining recital of her wrongs is in almost the worst domestic tragedy that can befall a man some years ago a woman wrote 0 0 V she never chee 5 up PERMANENT depression A woman who gets into the habit babil of complaining wo worrying and sighing when she has 1111 real troubles to endure often cant change her ways whet when J the clouds roll by she is so used to the dark view of things that she cant realize that there is another and a brighter side to lip life such a woman is emma who lives in phoenix ariz she is a capable thrifty dutiful wife and mother religious and neighborly writes her husband in short he says she is a fine woman by all outward standards but she is hard to live with because of her perpetual sadness drabness and anxiety about the future there is an explanation for her attitude her husband admits in its she had to endure many bards hardships bips and face many troubles all this ibis has wort worn down emmas spirit and has given her a permanently depressed attitude now when she has no real worries and a chance at last for real happiness she seems unable or unwilling to change her mental habits I 1 me of 0 this fault in herself she was making everyone about her wretched suppressing all the natural happiness of 0 her children and sister because a perfectly unworthy husband had done herthe berthe great tavor favor to desert her there was plenty of 0 money and there were tour four boys boy s to raise but the dreariness of the affront she had suffered added to her characteristic gloom was too much tor for her serenity and sweetness I 1 suggested that she rise above herself always a heroic but al ways a possible thing to do and stun the family by suddenly assuming a pose of serenity and sweetness it would be only a pose for a while le of course but such a pose br brings ing such immediate results in enthusiasms and joy to the household that any sensible woman may find herself turning it into the real thing whether my correspondent ol of that day ever tried it I 1 dont know but if she did she must have had man many y a chance for interior laughter watching the completely bewildered faces about her hearing the incredulous what on earths happened to mother she was laughing at breakfast she said she loved a day like this when she was free to get at a thousand things she wanted to do at home here she said I 1 could have bill over tor for supper saturday she said we were so fortunate to have neighbors like the jacksons right next door and when jimmy said he was afraid he make the team she kissed him and said you will next year anyway and your mother loves you team or no tearrill 11 A mi miracle r acle like this Is in the power of man many y a woman to perform overnight she can wipe away the gloomy self absorbed past and emerge as the center ot of a happy group the emmas of the world darkening the whole scene are very often women who have no real troubles to face they have simply gotten into their heads beads the notion that life Is a aearl wearisome some e drag and a comans womans lot especially bleak and they are too obtuse and unimaginative to get it out |