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Show Kathleen Norris Says: i; What One Family Did ty Be" Syndicate. WNU Features. S'!i W not try to change him or spur him into efforts that were beyond him." i KATHLEEN NORRIS MIFFORD LAWRENCE, who went to school with S me, married a girl from flj ;.any. His fathei , who was j ); authority on international W went to France on an im-j im-j ant case, took Cliff as his i.:etary. Cliff met Denise, ise father kept an inn, and Tied her. He never has L' retted it. afford made four separate s or ' mpts, but he never passed for K; 3r examinations. His father lost !te c: ;s money, and going was very Hifci:; for all the Lawrences all h the depression. Denise, 1 grai veri never was daunted. By i ime she had two boys and a s then; J she found an old farmhouse, :r & into it, took boarders and :ually opened a roadside res-' res-' tot .nt, to which real French cook-Jes. cook-Jes. :iew a fine trade every week- Clifl meanwhile had tried a many things without success, itelj !: Denise came to accept him as the cl:: '.ly the man she had married better and no worse. Always haie di able and affectionate, musical, ire res:: read, good-looking and well-jetter: well-jetter: ned; a good father and a good thitili land. She did not try to change ade. or to spur him into efforts that i beyond him. sy worked together. Denise un-pultionably un-pultionably did the brain work, Cliff just as unquestionably took JjTjl everal jobs far beneath the dig-J?XT dig-J?XT of the average American hus- I. That is, he went to mar-fTW mar-fTW he brought in ice, he waited V WW I tables. Everyone Worked. iltioii i boys and the gfrl worked too. ;e was a "proud and loving mmK-:sr but there was no nonsense ii mi m t her. Jim drove the station - a to meet trains, Pierre - .;ht in wood, Marie was every- : e. From the age of 10 on there Jprdly anything about the farm JMarie couldn't do. They had ' " j own chickens, cows, bees, 'ls. from the first. They lived iSaiS ;wds and they saved money. lTfllJ rre 's now a doctor, Dut Jim J lUil on with the family business, ) clears about 40,000 a year. "hSt-'!,'e is a war-widow with three itheiB,: She lives with her father mother and helps Jim; but the Scott's E- hard days of Denise's slavery "55" long over- There is a little ditt"!'?' la place; there are two ponies rdniP"' he seven grandchildren. Denise 1 is broad, serene, silvered and T I kit Cliff loves her, leans on her, Wif -:es her- ja ;fhaps because we all worked ''tr," she answered me when alimented her upon the shady, i"fT flower-filled restaurant, the ! crepes and tete-de-boeuf-l tf the handsome serving girls ;ome over from Brittany and . ?ood marriages here; her own j I Jver the lake, her gardens and i "Perhaps I found out 1 I 1 could do and what Clcef f J. and let him do it" never his wife's confidence and love, (j children were taught that ' good," she went on. "They 0, :nty of play, plenty of gifts U privileges while they earned jW knew of our hard times, y shared them. They saw other :;s 'ess happy breaking up, eg aPart. Cleef has always fUvk ,i!0(1 always understood that TA w'lse matterel as long as 3 ViS1 " " Ut to2ether." she fln" 5 ' with many an American f Dis0" ; " miSht nt be so." Ac''00 Kt?8 She has e secret there. ,H,burrt':i; jeri:an marriages are the iprM"',: les and responsibilities of 0y l0rlei mother gets no help " CLOSELY KNIT What is missing in so many marriages is that sense of unity, uni-ty, of co-operation. Husband and wife consider themselves separate entities, not realizing, realiz-ing, or not caring, that marriage mar-riage must be a partnership in everything if it is to succeed suc-ceed fully. The husband tends to keep his business affairs to himself. He does not try to help with the housework, or the care of the children. Too many wives think that they must keep up with the Jones at all costs, no matter how it burdens their husbands, or runs up debts. In today's article Miss Norris Nor-ris tells of an average American Ameri-can man who married a French ivoman. By her wisdom, energy, en-ergy, business acumen and personal charm she was able . to establish and maintain a prosperous restaurant, buy a farm and accumulate a small fortune. They had many hard years, but by cheerfulness and co-operation this family rode out the depression and, ivhen better times returned, they were able to expand their business busi-ness considerably. Meanwhile the children were growing up. They did their share of work, but still had lots of time for play and other normal childhood child-hood pursuits. They knew of the family stringencies, and felt drawn together by the necessity ne-cessity for pitching in together. togeth-er. When prosperity came, they still remembered the bonds forged in those difficult years. husband and wife shared. Bill's business is a mystery to Marian when she marries him, and just as deep a mystery on the day of the golden wedding if they get to a golden wedding. But most times they don't. No Sharing of Duties. Marian wastes his money because she has no idea of its value. When she wants to move to a more expensive ex-pensive apartment, she wangles him into it at a cost of tears, scorn, persistence, per-sistence, stubbornness worthy of a better object. When he refuses her $500 for a new fur coat, she has the old one re-cut at a cost of $257. Bill, on his side, feels it beneath his dignity to come home tired and pitch right in on table-setting, babies' ba-bies' baths, trips up and down stairs. She would not dare ask him even to watch the chops or fill the water glasses. That's her job! And the accident of the wet crib and the spilled ink and the wasp floating around the ceiling are her job, too. Marian may be dropping with fatigue, when two babies are in bed with whooping cough and the third is somewhere about the neighborhood, entirely unconscious un-conscious of the passage of time, but she can't ask Bill to read Peter Rabbit Rab-bit to the invalids, start supper or hunt up the truant - everything must be wonderful for Bill when he gets home. It's a pitv. For co-operation and companionship and sharing are what hold marriages together, unify interests, help formulate plans for happier and easier times. When the wife shares the money conscientiously conscien-tiously and intelligently and the husband hus-band shares the home dut.es, the miracle of a true marriage is under way. |