Show I 1 kathleen athleen norris nori is says marty many wives aid the dic c enemy L bell features Fett 13 Af A oUie lollie the site says is ii a perfectly nood good girt but she has her friends at the house all the time who are laughing end and making candy and going to off afternoon ernson movies monies by KATHLEEN NORRIS r ephings H INGS have just been brunning Tru running nning down at home 1 since ted and larry went away to war whined a woman to me in the ma market arket the other day you see she went on larry was making good money and he helped out a lot and by this time I 1 suppose ted would have been a wage earner too now with just betty and bad at home we weare are the most dismal group you can imagine and the money trouble help to console us I 1 cant wait to have the boys get back when we can get all straightened out pay our debts and start over I 1 looked at this woman tn in amazement she loves her sons ions she will grieve bitterly it if either la is taken by war and yet she could stand there and tell me with a sort of melancholy tir pride ade that the welcome provided tor for the boys of the family Is going to be complaints debts anxieties responsibilities no heartening assurance of the fam ilys solvency and security no encouraging plans tor for rest and recuperation aeration pe ration just the old tedious complaining and protesting against the general injustices of fate another woman wrote to her son that she and his grandmother who have been living together have had so serious a disagreement that they are going to law about it she asks him to answer several questions by return mall mail does he remember his grandmother saying that his mother had been mixed up in an unsavory love affair before her in marriage arriage will he testify that his grandm grandmother 0 ther often called his mother ugly names and so 0 o on the lonely son wasting the best years of his life in the bleak aleu fians must sit down and handle the quarrels of the two undisciplined women runs down ills his wife another woman writes her son disparaging letters about his wife mollie she says is a perfectly good girl but she has friends at the house all the time who are laughing and making candy and going to afternoon movies and the m mother 0 ther inlaw in law thinks it is a shame to have bobs money wasted that way and again a homesick man must open letters that fill 1113 his heart with bitterness and despair As for the dear johw john letters these have become a recognized aid to io the enemy the dear john letter is a missive that opens with the shattering phrase 1 I have been thinking of us and our married life and I 1 believe we would both be happier if we were to obtain a divorce and make a fresh start with other mates dont smile althis and dismiss it as only an occasional thing it Is a very real and desperate menace to the morale and peace of mind of our lighting fighting boys hundreds and hundreds of these cruel notes go forth dally daily and the effect they have on a man whose nerves nerve s are shaken already by danger by the loss losi of comrades by homesickness mosquitoes and strangeness may be imagined the woman he loves want to see him any more the little children who cried when daddy went away wont be his children when he h comes bomes back the home and already icken by danger home dir knois MORALE WRECKERS it is every tv omans duty to try y to preserve the morale of the he men of her family who are fighting she should do everything she can to preserve and when possible to improve the situation at home when there are difficulties that she cannot cope with she should tell her soldier little or nothing abo about u t them perhaps they will clear up u p in in any 4 nase case they can wait it lit seldom can the poor fellow in a distant camp do anything about them anyway ile he has enough to contend avith struggling against the enemy and enduring dis comforts of all sorts letters disparaging his wife telling of family quarrels and financial problems do serious damage to the spirit of the front line fighters L ty tor for which he Is fighting arent either home or secure the devastating breath of war Is not only blighting his life now at the terrible battle front but it has destroyed everything else too grim vital days ahead I 1 would like to remind these let ter writing women that we are going into grim and vital postwar days every woman in america will be a help or a burden to the building of the new world then there will be no halfway half way thousands of helpless selfish discontented women will find themselves left out of the running their children rebellious at the change that gives them a strange home and a new father their new mates not inclined to be particularly considerate of 0 the women who could 0 uld drop old mates during the crisis of war but thank god there will be other women millions of them women who have written nothing but encouraging cou raging and loving letters during this time women who have planned practically tor for the homecoming are saving money are out of debt and are full of ideas tor for toms future women who know that more than our pilgrim or pioneer mothers needed them we need now courage self control economy and foresight it Is the woman who Is strong faithful to her mate concerned with his welfare and that of the children and able to live on her income no matter how small who Is going to be the inspiration the essential creator of the new america |