Glacier County chief., 1940-05-24
By KATHLEEN NORRIS

~ AAlHLEEN NOKklS
be one of those
women to whom only
- beauty, money and a
good digestion are important in
life.
Don't be one of the millions
who consider eating and drink
ing, amusements and parties,
firtations and gay companies,
smooth hair and smooth skin
the real objects and aims of
existence.
All these things are fun, in
mild doses. But there is only
one companion who goes with
you to the end, and that's yourself.
Find that companion, cultivate her,
give her taste for the things that
last, before it is too late.
Women don't think enough about
this. When they are young they
feel that age never will come, and
when it does come it finds them ut
terly unprepared. These ripe years,
which ought to be the very best of
all, strike them like a thunderbolt.
They've never considered the finan-
cial side Of them. They've never
considered the social or domestic
side Of them. They've never con-
sidered the moral side of them.
Twenty-Five Years Ago.
To be sure, Is years ago Peggy
married gaily enough, leaving her
own father and mother alone. And
when that mother was widowed,
Peggy shed dutiful tears for her lost
father and felt quite sorry for moth
er, who was Immediately plunged
into money difficulties.
But all this doesn't affect Peggy
personally at all. SHE never thinks
of herself as fifty, and alone. SHE
never will be widowed, her one child
married, her entire provision for old
age a small life insurance policy.
When these inevitable conditions
arise in her own case Peggy is
shocked and despairing. All her
plans have included herself as i'm
portant, attractive, and protected by
John. But now her daughter is mar
ried and gone, her husband dead,
she must give up her home, and in
her bitterness and loss she feels
that there is nothing left. She very
probably sinks into the limbo Of
those unhappy lonely little women
who live only in their child's life
complaining. remembering, griev-
ing.
Burden on Others.
Instead Of having that child de-
pend upon her, and half envy moth
er's independence, freedom, high
spirits, Peggy becomes a burden
upon the younger family. Her con-
versation becomes long dreary ye-
cital of what glories and possessions
she once had. She cannot sufficient
ly reiterate the trials, the dismal
ness of age; when you get to her
age, she says, you might as well be
dead, and goodness knows she often
wishes she were dead.
Now, since you know, you women
Of Is, 80, 40, that this time must
come, why not prepare for it, why
not defeat it Of its horrors? It can
be the most serene, the most trium-
plant period Of your whole life.
It can be time of harvest, rather
than Of famine.
Older Women Different.
For in the years after As woman
can be herself, express herself, live
her own life as she never can in
younger years. No girl is SO use
less, SO defeated and unhappy, as
the girl who tries to be independ-
ent. In rushing of to Paris, or into
some unknown field Of endeavor, she
only proves to herself that she has
thrown away the honest beginnings
Of life. refused to play the game by
rule. and beside making herself RI
diculous. has made It practically i'm
possible to get back to q real start.
With the older woman Il il differ
ent. she has served her apprentice