Show HINTS FOR A HAPPY HOME marriages can be happy r by KATHLEEN NORRIS T WANT my marriage to be i J a success Is there any secret this is what a girl from philadelphia writes me in in a most touching letter she is 22 has been motherless since since her year and has been managed by a grandmother aunts her father and not one but two stepmothers the marriage history of most of these persons happy mary lees grandmother was widowed young married and divorced and now is separating from her third mate a man 33 years old two aunts are divorced and her fir first st stepmother and her father did not make a success of it george Is 29 writes mary le lee e he is my dream man although I 1 am not silly enough to tell him that but he truly has been my ideal since he was in college and I 1 was in first year high school he has a tine fine job with an oil company he has been buying a love of a home six rooms and a garden in a lovely neighborhood and everyone is sending us things of course I 1 am the happi happiest est girl in the world but what I 1 want to know the letter goes on in a more serious tone is how to begin now to make my marriage a success I 1 want children and friends I 1 want to be a sort of woman that other women admire admira as a wife and mother I 1 want a silver wedding in 1973 with children and grandchildren determined to succeed george seems perfect to me now gentle and wise and liked by everybody but I 1 see the wrecks of JP Is there any secret pt marriage all about me and I 1 feel that there must be some secret rules some way in which it if a man and his wife are determined to stay together and to go on loving each other they can do it my mother and her mother were good and devoted wives but you cant imagine how afraid I 1 am of mistakes how anxious I 1 am not to do something that I 1 will regret an all my life and george this charming and innocent letter ends feels the same way in reply I 1 want to tell mary lee that she and her george in making these resolves are starting right and tor for the rest if they will try to remember as the years go by that they both are humans both faulty both given to changes of opinion and inconsistencies in action they will find it easier to forgive each other when the inevitable jars occur put him first in everything perhaps as important a rule as any keep him feeling so comfortable for table and so loved that he always will want to put you first this mean spoiling him or making a doormat doorman of yourself but it does mean consideration tor for his ideas and his dignity it means that you dont make plans without consulting him and that if he isn t enthusiastic about parties dancing or your old girlhood friends go very light on all these for a time eventually you will work out your own friends both together and then i NUPTIAL BLISS despite dreamy p I 1 a t i tildes heralding the never ceasing happiness in marriage the fact remains that married life is a busi busine neIt t must be nu nurtured stured cha and nursed with extreme tenderness and care successful marriages are not accidents nor are they t h e y unions which resulted from some perplexing mystical force they are successful because the participants want them to be and exercise ci se every ev ery bit of ingenuity at their command in an all out effort to achieve their ambition mary lee 22 is on the verge of being married and apprehensively seeks a secret formula for success in her marriage she is wary of success because ashes witnessed much happiness liap in the marriages of close relatives who have been unable to reap a fruitful harvest from the state of matrimony j parties will be more enjoyable than any lopsided affair where one partner or the other is feeling bored or abused remember that finances are of major importance dont waste dont run bills dont express desires tor for what you cannot afford more quarrels more bitterness more divorces arise from this one source than from any other I 1 keep the honeymoon light alive by affectionate little acts and words never stop them just one little sentence of praise tor for your hus bus bands generosity will make him more generous just saying that he was right ansome conversation with other persons will warm his heart and straighten out any hurt or mortification he feels about it it think about the future and above all mary lee build tor for the future the are not all of life nor are the it may be that you will be starting the when you george margaret george jr and little betsy go oft off tor for that holiday cruise for which you are hungering now it may be on the morning of your silver wedding that george smiling that smile th ahja thas t var has meant happiness fc for you esy years will ask you to ope riat eat big box from the furriers and see if you like it still be young handsome able abla to enjoy to the full every moment of the harvest you are sow ing now in fact im not sure but what these later joys have a flavor and a deepness that the younger years never know take as much happiness as you can along the way keep the real friends endure whatever you must mw from georges family with lauh laugh ter and philosophy and make them love you go la in for picnics weekend trips outdoor meals boo book music garden everything that the fortunate life of A 7 yoons american wife may hold lcara fi school yourself not to wan at you cant ha have ve remind yourself that you will change with the passing months and so will george hell amaze you sometimes sometime by vw the which he h wholeheartedness with abandons his plans and accepts yours of all the tri and believe me achievements of a woman marriage IS K the life a successful most unusual and the most satisfy ing my good wishes and my prayer pray will be with you on your wedding day mary lee |