OCR Text |
Show Kathleen Norris Says: Give It a Chance Bell Syndicate. WNU Feature!. """ "Thousands of mothers-in-law have been happily established in thousands of homes for years, in every generation." By KATHLEEN NORRIS " HE and her mother had such a swell time run-ning run-ning the kids while I was away," Writes Billy Williams, Wil-liams, "that sometimes I think Sally would just as soon I hadn't come back! I like the "old lady well enough, but gosh, I didn't think she was going to settle down and live with us!" "My return is a disappointment disappoint-ment to Margaret," writes an older soldier. "I see it I've felt it from the hour of my return. re-turn. I'm back in my old job, but not at my old pay; the firm has changed hands, nothing is as comfortable as it used to be. I'm slowed down in some way tired in mind and soul as well as body, I guess. I hope we can work it out, but I know she's disappointed in me." "My husband has come home a changed man," say scores of letters let-ters from young wives. "He wants to do crazy things give up his job and go pioneer somewhere. He doesn't like the baby. He talks so bitterly. He's suspicious of everything every-thing I did while he was away." "We don't seem to be the same people," many of the letters say sadly. sad-ly. "Perhaps we didn't know each other well enough when we went so gaily into that wartime marriage. I made new friends when he was away. He doesn't like them. We both hate divorce, but we can't see ourselves as ever being happy together to-gether again." To all of these I want to say, "Oh, kids, kids be patient! All this is part of the price humanity has to pay for the insanity of war. Don't add to the terrible sum total of the world's misery today the wreckage wreck-age of what was so gay and beautiful beau-tiful a courting time, only a few years ago; don't make it all a lie, that lovely hour of promises and hope and confidence! Prayer and Patience. Be patient. Wait. Give all these troubles time time and silence and faith and prayer and win through to the happiness of a real marriage. mar-riage. Every man thinks he has to protest pro-test if his wife's mother lives in his house. This is as old a convention as marriage itself; many a young man otherwise good-natured and generous gen-erous will stipulate in his engagement engage-ment days "no mother-in-law!" And many a young man's mother will warn him, "Don't have Judy's mother with, you, dear it never worKsi Now, as a matter of fact, it often works. Thousands of mothers-in-law have been happily established in thousands of homes for years, in every generation. A home with two affectionate and understanding women in it works far better than a home 'with one; a thousand daily problems that are vexatious and bewildering be-wildering to a woman alone, are solved simply and easily when Mother Moth-er is there to sit with the sick child, finish the ironing, answer the telephone, tele-phone, keep the mending basket from bursting. And who benefits from this? The husband, of .course. He may not know it, but the single element that contributes most to his comfort com-fort at home may be that same mother-in-law. As for the wistful husband who writes me that he is a "disappointment "disappoint-ment to Margaret," he need only wait only be patient and in the course of events entirely unforeseen now he will regain all his old security se-curity and happiness. I He came home a changed mun. . . . I MOTHER-IN-LAW'S PLACE IN TEE HOME The war has given a neiv twist to the mother-in - law problem. When the husband went off to the army or navy, his mother-in-law often came into his home to help with the children. After a year or two, she became rather firmly established, es-tablished, as in the situation discussed today. Billy Williams believes his wife and her mother resent his return. "They had such a swell time running the kids while 1 was away, that I sometimes some-times think Sally would just as soon I hadn't come back!" writes this disillusioned veteran. vet-eran. ' I . 1 'Everyday Men and Women.' After the highly emotional crises of parting and separation, after the fervid love-letters that came from a lonely man in camp to a lonely woman waiting at home, it is a shock to find each other only an everday man and woman, with everyday ev-eryday problems of meals and plumbers' bills . and dentist and crowded trains and the claims of unreasonable small children to meet. We would have to be supernatural super-natural in our heroism to resume normal living unscarred by the unnatural un-natural and tragic interruption of war. But even though most of us have not enough character for that heroism, hero-ism, we can school ourselves to patience. pa-tience. Half the battle is won when a man and a woman realize the danger dan-ger of this world crisis, realize that the restlessness and disillusionment they feel are not being experienced by themselves alone; realize that there is hardly a household in America Amer-ica that is not being obliged to rearrange re-arrange all its ideas, abandon some of its dreams, settle down to a type of living that is entirely unlike the bright romantic future that the wartime war-time letters predicted. Give it time, all of you. You'll find the right house. The job will improve. im-prove. The spoiled babies will begin be-gin to fall into line. Life will be full and good again for you both. It'll be all worth while. For believe me, the chances are 99 to 1 that your happiness lies in each other, and in making a success suc-cess of this experiment that seems so close to failure. Don't gamble on that hundredth chance! |