Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-04-09
By KATHLEEN NORRIS

A FEATURE of these war
II years, to me, is a mail-ba G
L \ full of letters from girls
who have fallen in love with ma
rines, sailors and soldiers. I've
answered several hundred of
them that 1 believe it is a mis-
take for girl to marry a man
from some other town or state,
a man she has known only a few
weeks or months, and a man
who is off for the war areas.
1t is of course romantic and
beautiful, a sudden marriage
between a soldier and the girl he
has just met, the girl with whom he
has been dancing and picnicking for
few exciting weeks. But after all
they know nothing of each other, and
when the glamour of war dies away,
when the boy comes home a man,
and when the question of a job, a
home, a new kind of life arises, it
seems to me that their chances of
being still in love with each other
are very slim.
Well, if not marriage. how about
engagements, then? But engage
ments can be almost as troublesome
as the actual VOWS of marriage are.
Here is the case of Alma, typical of
other hundreds of cases. Alma is
an Indiana girl, she writes from Fort
Wayne.
Regrets Hasty Engagement.
Last September, says her let
ter, Il went to visit cousins in New
York, and there l met a junior
lieutenant in the navy, a darling
boy from Macon, Ga, who was just
"a. am 10. We became engaged
Both of my cousins were also en-
gagged to servicemen, and one of
them is already married to hers.
Bill went away to sea, but l wore
his ring until Christmas day. Then
a young lawyer in my fathers Of
flee talked to me very seriously
about it, and l began to realize that
perhaps | was not still feeling to
Bill what had felt at first This
man, who is 80, is in every way the
finest man l ever knew in my life;
I had always thought him in love
with another girl, and was complete
ly surprised when he told me that
there had never been anyone else in
the world for him but me. He sug-
gested that we go out together occa-
sionally, and my mother and father
agreed that it was foolish for me to
refuse all invitations because of an
affair that had only lasted three
weeks. The result was that my love
turned entirely to Fred, and l would
be the happieSt woman in the world
if we could be married, as he hopes,
sometime this spring. He is also in
the service and may be called
But on our last day in New York
together, Bill bought me ring that
l loved all the more because it was
not expensive or snowy, and when l
kissed him good-by l solemnly prom
ised to wait for him. Will you ad-
wise me as to the right way out? l
would not marry Bill now, in any
case, as my feelings for Fred are
far deeper and more adult than any
Bill ever reused in me; in every way
this is a more suitable match, for l
know nothing of Bills family nor
home town, and he always talked
as if, after the war, he would want
to return home. Whereas my father
and mother are devoted to Fred, and
his whole family loves me. 1 shall
be waiting your answer and shall
abide by your advice"
Go Slowly With Fred.
My advice, my dear Alma, comes
too late. 1t is advice all the girls
who are losing their hearts to our
servicemen might well take. Prom
Use to write, if you like, promise to
meet him at the dock when he comes