Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1948-03-12
BY KATHLEEN NORRIS
Bell syndicate.-WNU Features.

I MIL I1EN dIlu uSeu
MI to read your articles
L v l. together when I was
49," writes Nina Davis from
Phoenix. ''I'm 80 now, married
and have a daughter. For the
first time Pm asking your adj
vice. I hope 20 years of loyalty
will win it for me.
II married at 20 a popular, intel
ligent, industrious boy of "a. I sup
pose that at those ages people don't
know much about each other, but
then at what age is marriage safe,
anyway? Phil and went on happily
enough for some six years, loving
each other, our small Phyllis and
our home. Phil is commission mer-
chant and has-or had increasingly
good agencies. We went On trips:
One to California, another to New
York and Bermuda. I thought we
were especially fortunate people.
From the first, Phil played
cards for money-Sman sums at
first. It was rather fun if I played
bridge or poker with a certain little
group and if we won. Later, some
three or four years ago, he began
to play for larger stakes and to give
perhaps a Sunday afternoon and
one night week to it. Then it got
serious. Money frightened at home
and I knew it was gambled away.
Phips pals telephoned two, three
and four times week to say casu-
ally that a few of the fellows were
going to play hand or two and
break up at 1890 sharp.
Now a Gamblers Wife.
1T is only in the last year that
have come to the full realization of
the fact that am a gamblers wife.
1t seemed only a small part of
Pills amusement before, like our
fishing and motor trips, occasional
theater and movies. Now it is his
one possessive interest. 1t cuts deep
into his business and home hours
and Phyllis and I feel it. She is
sensitive and unusually sweet-tem-
pered child, and she misses the old
atmosphere of comfort and COM
partnership that we three used to
share.
'Of course I've talked with Phil,
mentioning the miserable sums he
has contributed to the household,
pointing out to him the rarity with
which Phyllis and I see him now
and the uncertainty in which we
live. He tells me almost absent
mindedly that he means to stop or
he gets angry and solaces himself
with drink. The result is growing
despair on my part, increasing in
dependence on his and slowly dis
migrating home. What is your ad-
vice to gamblers wives? I assure
you that l am ready for drastic
measures and will be grateful to be
shown any way out"
This is one of the most serious of
the problems that threaten married
life. Fortunately, it is not very COM
mon, for most men, even if for a
brief space they indulge in the i'd
iocy of gambling, discover its dan
gers for themselves and pull up be-
fore it is too late. Only a weak man
is foolish enough to believe that by
gambling he can help his financial
prospects or solidify his position as
family supporter. Even when lucky,
gamblers do little to help the dull,
everyday budget with their win
nings. The wife may get fur coat
or the whole family be taken for
weeks trip, but in his exultation at
having held good cards at last, the
gamester throws money right and
left and in no time it is gone and he
is losing again.
Become Independent.
My advice to Minna Davis is to
establish herself and her child on a
financial basis independent of Phil.
She can do this without ugliness or
without expelling him from his
home. And it is wiser to do it this
way, with as little disturbance of
the surface values as possible.