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Show Kathleen Norris Says: Grow Up to Your Troubles Bell Syndicate WNU r'r'jturra. i If r 1 ' Iv.v-S aSSTI? .'Avv7 Vft'77 ' A r- a "She goes back at night, or rather in tht morning, to her own little place, where the can loaf and gossip and give impromptu suppers, and develop her own soul and personality." ONEPLVSONE Why i it, that the more you have to do, the more you can do? A married woman who works can usually manage to get her housework done in the few minutes she has left at the end of the day. When she gives up her job to devote all of her time to her housework, it takes all of her time. One reason may he, that the busy woman sees her job (or her housework) as a lot of separate sep-arate tasks and doesn't worry too much about the total. "One plus one," you know, is jar less terrifying than "two. Why not try it yourself when you feel you have too much to do? By KATHLEEN NORRIS ONE of the strangest phenomena phe-nomena of wartime is that the men and women wom-en who have tremendous burdens bur-dens of change, separation, grief to bear are facing them - heroically," and those whose problems are just the normal ones of our faulty human living liv-ing are making more fuss than ever. "As if the war wasn't enough!" these people say. After which they detail the dreadful facts that there is a leak in the library ceiling, that Jim's telegram couldn't go to his mother this Christ-1 Christ-1 mas for the first time in eighteen years and that Ethel lost her new mink coat. One woman I know demanded sympathy from a large circle of friends because, at the age of 64, she bad to have artificial replacements of her teeth. "It'll change her appearance ap-pearance so, and she was always so pretty I" wailed her loyal admirers. And upon meeting they asked each other: "Have you heard about poor Elinor?' Isn't It awful? They aren't .going to leave a tooth in her head." Another woman is heartbroken because be-cause a building has been put up on the river side of her city house and tier view Is partially destroyed." You -can still see some of the trees and a atrip of silver water, but not as you did see them twenty years ago." The worst of it is that Phil had a chance to buy that lot for a song, and didn'tl sleeps until four at least. Perhaps twice a week she walks across town, she is a great walker, and shares our six o'clock dinner with her father and me. Also she sometimes drops in on Donna; she is very fond of the baby. Perhaps once a month, on her free Tuesday, she comes to take me to a movie. "But what ELSE does she do? We have no Idea. She has never been expansive with us; we don't know who her friends are, where she usually usu-ally dines, how she spends her money. It seems a foolish waste to have those girls sharing a $45 rent, when there ere three empty bedrooms bed-rooms up stairs in our house, and good 'bus lines to the factory. After all, Emily is our child, still to us the dear baby whose coming caused such delight to uncles and aunts and moth- er and father, and we cannot quite Grieved Over Lost Pearls. Still a third case is that of a girl who lost a string of pearls. They ""-were real pearls, given her on her eighteenth birthday thirty years ago. ., '. They, had been her, grandmother's. " The string was weak and Carrie wore them downtown to have them restrung. But when she got to the jeweler's they were gone. I met her last week and in the course of a casual chat she suddenly burst out about them again: "When I think of grandmother's pearls, that I had right here in my hands I" ' Here is a letter from a mother in Philadelphia; which illustrates again the curious narrowmindedness of some natures. Natures that cannot seem to see things on a wide scale, but must refer everything to their own immediate comfort or pleasure. "We have two daughters," writes Mrs. Parker. "Emily is now 26, and . Donna six years younger. Emily is abandon ber to what may be a most foolish and reckless course! That any fine man will want to marry a gun-turret worker in blue denim slacks is incomprehensible to me, and of course I wish marriage for her, and the happy life of a normal woman. Both Doctor and I are losing sleep over it, and think and talk of little else. I am wondering if you cannot give me some argument that will bear weight with Emily, convince con-vince her that until she married the best place for her is at home." " My . argument my dear Laura Parker," would be " directed1 toward you rather than toward Emily. I think you are the one who is making the foolish mistake. From what you unconsciously reveal in this letter I gather that Donna, the younger daughter, was pretty and popular, which Emily obviously is not. Donna at 18 danced and laughed herself into an entirely suitable marriage nice looking, she has an intellectual lace, wears glasses, is always neat and smartly dressed. Donna, who married most fortunately at 18 the young assistant doctor in her father's office, has an ideal home and a beautiful beau-tiful boy. "Emily never cared for boys, did well in business school, and became A , a very rich man's private secretary. Eight months ago she went Into de-- de-- fense work, taking a midshlft' at a turret lathe. A little later she and a girl friend rented a small apartment apart-ment not far from the factory, and she left home. It is true that we are some distance away, and of course our house is a quiet one; my hns-" hns-" band's hospital work and private practice exhaust him in these busy times, and usually all lights are out at nine o'clock. But to have our re- mainlng child simply move out of her home staggered me and almost broke her father's heart Night after.-night, after.-night, when the dishes are done arfd --A-wt rr;aoi1nr-'-tlir-liDU8ii'-'8ltt me, "where do yoji suppose little Em is tonight?' -Daughter Visits Parents. "Emily gets home or rather to - her apartment, at about nine in the morning, has something to eat, and with her father's partner, and produced pro-duced a fine grandson in - record time. Emily looked on at the bridal finery and the wedding presents, went to dsne in the new dove-cote, heard nothing but praises of gallant little Donna and her baby. Emily Develops Own Life. Emily is human, and she's Jealous. She doesn't want to be just that rather plain smart older daughter of the Parkers, coming home at night to set the table, glance at the paper, listen to the radio. She's hard at work now, important work, she's surrounded sur-rounded by other workers, all . in dead earnest" She goes back at night or rather In the morning, to her own little place, where she can loaf and gossip and give impromptu suppers, and develop her own soul and personality. Every day I have a letter from some frantic mother who puts to me your problem. Sometimes the girl who leaves the parental roof-tree is only 19; sometimes she goes affec-1 affec-1 tionately.-Tegretfully and sometimes defiantly, running away.- ttis trying out of wings is as natural as breathing breath-ing and, in. most cases, it works no harm. Left to herself, .the girl's nature na-ture expands. |