The Ely miner., 1943-12-09
BY KATHLEEN NORRIS
Bell syndicate-wNu Features.

y 111GIeG q Idllllly LII LIl1S
country that hasn't been
4 blown into pieces by this
WARP" writes Miriam, from an
Oklahoma city. "We were a
solid family two years ago; now
there never seems to be a regu-
lar 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 IA, and yet we
have less comfort and less home
life than before.
"Pop was an ice-box sales
man." the letter goes on. 'He
made around $3.50 a month and
Nom managed us all wonderful
ly. But when the war started
Pop went right into defense
work.
81 am II, and am paid a little
more than $45 a week in a machine
shop, but the surprise is Nom, 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 to-
gether-even counting Jim who
sends her half his heutenant's pay
every month.
''Well, Nom found 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; / 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 Nom 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 Nom seems we'd
ded to her overalls and her lunch
box, she tells us that Jimmy is sac
r;ficing everything and that we can
all do something that's needed to
help the boys and shorten the war.
81 get home early" finishes Miri-
ANS letter, "and get dinner. Nom
wakes up, has her bath, comes
out and eats about five. Pop is
home just as Nom 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 be-
fore I write you and ask your ad-
vice.
"Isn't mothers 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 fiat with your brother
sleeping in the dining-room, but if
we aren't getting any fun out of it,
is it worth while? Nom 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 situa-
ton. But ! am not sure that your
mother should give up her Job and
go back to housekeeping.
Mothers Big Chance.
For one thing, she is buying a
home, very important element in
the lives of all of you. For another,
she is evidently conspicuously eff