The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1939-09-11
CHAPTER vi

Then, one Sunday afternoon,
they drove out TO see Bill and
Amy Ellen Sands. The married
life of Dan and Marian might have
been vastly different If they had
not gone to see Bill and Amy
Ellen Sands.
Amy Ellen had been one OF the
stenographers in Grant Fellows
office. A little more than year
earlier she had given up her job to
marry Bill Sands. They lived IN a
cheap little apartment on the West
Side.
Going TO see them on that Sum-
day afternoon had put fear into
Marians heart, the fear that was
to drive gladness out. The dark
little fiat became the symbol of
what It meant to face q precarious
future, even with the man you
loved.
The place was cluttered with
baby things, Bills eyes were wor-
ried even when he laughed. Amy
Ellen was thin and haggard her
prettiness gone. In the bedroom,
pitiful with Its cheap attempts at
beauty, she cried and told Marian
that Bill had lost his job, that she
was frightened for the tiny baby
who needed so many things, ex-
pensive things like orange juice
and cod liver oil and special milk.
On the homeward drive, Marian
had been thoughtful. At last she
had said, Dan, l think I'd better
keep my Job for while until
we get little saved
Not on your life" Dan had
burst out. "Ill do the doing at
our house. When I look at you
want TO know that bought your
pretty dress and your cute shoes,
that I buy your food and pay for
the roof that covers the two of u.s."
II know how you feel, but - but
look at Bill and Amy Ellen. They
can't be happy, they're wasting
the years when they should be
happy, being frightened. 1t got
me, Dan, Amy Ellen was so
pretty, they were In love like we
are
Dan gravely stopped the car and
took her In his arms. "They are
still in love, Glad. Bill loves Amy
Ellen q thousand times more than
he did when everything was rosy,
He's got something to fight for,
Amy Ellen and the baby, he's the
head Of q family. He'll come
through, take my word for 1t. II
she hangs on and believes In him,
he'll come out sailing"
But Marian hadn't been able TO
see 1t, she could see only the poverty
and fear. She had said, Please, Dan
be reasonable, II we both work-if
we both earn"
He broke in. 1T sounds all right,
but II isn't. There's a fundamental
law about marriage. The man pro-
vides the home and the woman
keeps 1t for him. Trying to make
things easier and pleasanter for his
wife, trying 10 give her lovely things,
is the incentive man must have
TO succeed. When he's at work he
wants TO know that his wife Is at
home expecting him to make good,
Can't you see 1t, Glad?"
Eyes, but"
He put his hand over hers.
yAnd babies, Glad - babies don't
come TO couple who are both
working. There isn't time - the
right time"
She pulled her hand away. "A
baby wouldn't have q chance-not
on s35 week. Babies need things
nice little beds and carriages
and-and things"
"A baby needs her mother, Glad.
It's up TO her father to provide
the bed and things"
Marian said, half laughing, Were
certainly looking ahead, Dan"
But you want baby q little
grip"
why a grip ! thought men
always wanted sons"
u don't know -- girls are so cum
ning-1 think ] should love my
little girl best"
The conversation terrified Mar
ian. You fell In love with q man,
you promised to marry him. Then,
all OF q sudden, you were consid-
,ering other lives. She could not
get past the drab picture Of Bill
and Amy Ellen. She went back
70 the first point OF the argument.
Were young Dan. We can