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Show Kathleen Norris Says: War Times Are No Fun Bell Syndicate. WNU Features. "Mary-Belle doesn't know the kids around here as well as she did in the old street, and she goes around with a pretty tough crowd after school." A 17-YEAR-OLD FACES WAR An unusually wise and sensitive sen-sitive 17-year-old girl is disturbed dis-turbed by the changes in her family brought about by war. She wants her war-working mother to stay home and run things as in the pre-war days. She is also worried about a 14-year-old sister who appears to be running wild and traveling with the wrong kind of company. com-pany. Kathleen Norris advises this 17-year-old to give up her job and try to guide her younger young-er sister, as they work together, to bring back some of the niceties nice-ties of pre-war family life. The mother's work is vital to the war effort. By KATHLEEN NORRIS "TS THERE a family in this I country that hasn't been blown into pieces by this war?" writes Miriam, from an Oklahoma city. "We were a solid family two years ago; now there never seems to be a regular meal in our house, or a clean towel, or an answered telephone. Once it was only Pop who worked, and we all went to him for money. Now everyone has a job, except my sister, Mary-Belle, who is 14, and yet we have less comfort and less home life than before. "Pop was an ice-box salesman," sales-man," the letter goes on. "He made around $150 a month and Mom managed us all wonderfully. But when the war started Pop went right into in-to defense work. "I am 17, and am' paid a little more than $45 a week in a machine shop, but the surprise is Mom, who worried so about my brother Jim being drafted that the doctor told her to get a job, and now she makes much more than all of us put together to-gether even counting Jim who sends her half his lieutenant's pay every month. "Well, Mom found a chicken farm years ago that she wanted to buy, and now she is buying it and we've moved in. It's three miles from town in the hills, with an orchard and some woods; we're all crazy about it. But we're so dead tired and so dirty all the time we can't enjoy it much. And the real trouble is Mary-Belle, who is just running wild; I don't care if she sees this, we've all talked ourselves hoarse to her. She's affectionate and she's awfully pretty, but she doesn't know the kids around here as she did in the old street, and she goes 'round with a pretty tough crowd, after school. Mother Won't Stay Home. "Pop and I think Mom ought to stay home and run us all as she did before, keep an eye on Mary-Belle, entertain her friends here, as she always does. But Mom seems wedded wed-ded to her overalls and her lunch box, she tells us that Jimmy is sacrificing sac-rificing everything and that we can all do something that's needed to help the boys and shorten the war. "I get home early," finishes Miriam's Miri-am's letter, "and get dinner. Mom wakes up, has her bath, comes out and eats about five. Pop is home just as Mom goes off, and Mary-Belle straggles in whenever she feels like it. It's getting us all nervous, this way of doing, and knowing you must have had this problem to solve many times before be-fore I write you and ask your advice. ad-vice. "Isn't a mother's place in her home, taking care of her children? It's all very well to have a lovely spacious old farmhouse instead of a four-room flat with your brother sleeping in the dining-room, but if we aren't getting any fun out of it, is it worth while? Mom is 43; Pop is 63." Miriam, there is more than one consideration involved here. It is true that thousands of American mothers, now working in factories or plants, are sacrificing their small children's welfare by taking jobs. Domestic agencies and boards all over the country are attempting to deal, case by case, with this situation. situa-tion. But I am not sure that your mother should give up her job and go back to housekeeping. Mother's Big Chance. For one thing, she is buying a home, a very important element in the lives of all of you. For another, he is evidently conspicuously ef- flcient, if her salary exceeds $500 a month. She has been drudging along, raising three children, educating educat-ing them, keeping them comfortable, even including hospitality in her plan for them. But all the time she has been capable of this business success. suc-cess. Now comes her chance to earn money, to buy the house of her dreams, to save. It seems to me that it is Pop, Mary-Belle and yourself who are not co-operating fully. In any case your mother could exert over Mary-Belle only the fond, anxious watching of a somewhat helpless parent. She can only say feebly, as all of us who are parents do, "Where were you, dear? Aren't you acting foolishly? Are you telling me the whole truth?" But you are close to Mary-Belle in years, and the influence of a sister is one of the strongest our lives ever know. Couldn't you and Mary-Belle Mary-Belle enter into a conspiracy to help Mom buy the house, strengthen her bond investments, . and insure that future toward which she perhaps is looking anxiously. Your father is old; he will have great difficulty in getting any employment at all after the war. Isn't it possible that Mom foresees that, and foresees, too, a comfortable old age on a small chicken ranch, with Pop and herself asking little or no aid from yourself and Jim and Mary-Belle? Give up your job. Take Mary-Belle Mary-Belle into your household interests. Meet her after school and market with her; ask a few friends out to the farm for week-ends, or for Mom's free day. You are evidently a fine, level-headed little person with none of the lawless temptations that beset Mary-Belle. Give her the benefit of your own experiences; make that new spacious farm house a happy home, and watch Mom and Pop relax gratefully in the atmosphere atmos-phere of order and comfort. Many a girl your age was a married woman wom-an with approaching maternal responsibilities re-sponsibilities a hundred years ago; your grandmother probably married at 16. Take your place in this troubled war time as a useful human hu-man being, and put oft until after the war the frocks and hair-dos that your, salary is paying for today. Mary-Belle is affectionate; you can draw her very close to you. What her big sister does probably already seems important in her eyes. Woman's Skill Needed Now. Your mother is doing a magnificent magnifi-cent job. It is a Job that needs skill, quick thought, secrecy, strength. Not many men and very few women have been trusted in this particular line. It Is of inestimable ines-timable service to the country. Our men overseas must not only be kept generously supplied with exactly what your mother Is making, but they must know that fresh supplies In limitless quantities are on their way. To have your mother report that, as the head of a department, she Is resigning, is to pull out one precious indispensable cog In an enormous machine. |