0 HUSBANDS AND WIFES; 1938

Dear Editor: My husband praises my cooking. He thinks I make a grand mother for our five children. He gives me a friendly hug or a pat once in a while. He tells me the news and the new jokes he hears. He never forgets me on my birthday and on other special days. In short, he lets me know by words and deeds that he appreciates and loves me.

I might add: He forever leaves his shoes just anywhere, his hat where it lands, his coat somewhere else and it is all right with me. What are those little things when compared to his thoughtfulness?   Contented in South Carolina


Dear Editor: Henry and Alice have been married about fifteen years. They have three children and have just finished paying for their farm. In a few months Alice will inherit a small legacy. Henry wants to use it as a down payment on an adjoining quarter section. He argues that he needs more pasture and that a larger farm will keep the boys at home.

Alice has planned to buy a power washer, and chicken-tight yard fence, paint the house, get a chest of drawers for the boys' room to help teach them neatness and order, some curtains and a rug for the living room and more trees for their orchard. Since no extra labor need be hired for this, she expects to have at least half of her little fortune left and this she would put in the bank for an emergency fund.

If they put the money into more farm land it means another mortgage, more hard work, hired men to cook for and wash for, no flowers. By the time they are out of debt again she will be too tired to care, the children will be grown and may not want to stay on the farm. If she is stubborn about it she may have a sulky husband who will not cooperate in her plans.

Alice wants this bit of security very much but she wants a happy home most of all. What shall she do?  Martha in Kansas