Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-04-10
.. Ole
Home Maker
Price We Pay for Belonging to a
Family.
EDITED BY
ALICE f. TALCOTT.
(By Dorothy Dix

| Wise woman was telllnS JnlS III
tie story at tea the other day:
Il have two young men," she said,
"one of whom is very orderly, very
methodical in his ways, and very par
ticular about his belongings. The
other boy is a happy-go-lucky,
harum-scarum sort of a chap who
scatters his possessions to the four
quarters of the earth, and who leaves
a room looking as if cyclone had
passed through it.
THE two boys occupy the same
apartment, and the disorderly habits
of the scatterer try the very soul of
his methodical brother, and he is
forever complaining to me about it.
%. sympathize with YOU" say to
him. 81 know just how aggravating
it is to have to live with an untidy
person, and to have some one use
your things and not put them back,
and strew his OWE things about in
forbidden places, but you must look
at another side of the question. Hav-
ing to put up with this annoyance is
part of the penalty that you must pay
for belonging to family. Belong
ing to family brings you many
pleasures and privileges, but it also
brings certain pains, among them
the necessity of standing other peo-
ple's peculiarities and ways. It's the
price you pay for belonging to fam
ily."
wish every household in the land
might have the sapient words of this
Solomon-in-petticoet emblazoned on
the walls of every room in it, for
it would cure that disgruntled feeling
that prevades so many homes. Read
it again and let it's philosophy, it's
good hard, horse sense soak into
you:
Having to put up with other peo-
ple's peculiarities is the price you pay
for the privilege CT belonging to a
family
Stick that motto on your mirror,
Mrs. Housewife, and when you feel
inclined to consider yourself a do
mestic slave and to complain about
the monotony and drudgery of get
ting up meals that are eaten as soon
r as cooked, of sweeping floors that
I have to be swept over again the next
t day, of darning socks that get holes
e in them within "a hours, just re-
: member that your work is the price
q you pay for having a home and a
= family.
!. If you are lonely, homeless, hus-
n bardless, childless woman you would
e MT have to cook and sew and scrub
: ard mend as you do, but would you
change places with the woman who
d has nothing to do and nobody and
e nothing belonging to her? Hardly
e Well, then, pay the price for what
d you have without grumbling.
y And you, mother, What a tale oi
e woe you have to tell about being
: tied down at home with your babies
;, You can't go to theatres and parties
n and the children are. always tracking
S in dirt, and spilling things, ant
t mussing up the rooms, and you cam
S walk across the floor without
stumbling over a toy train or a doll
e and there isn't five minutes in the
: day that there isn't call for Moo
a other" You are filled with self-pity
= as you contemplate your lot. Bu
/ what about the feel of little arms
l. about your neck, what about the
Il nesting of downy heads agains
your breast, what about the millions
of fresh interests that children bring
into the life?
g All of the work and the worry is
il just the price you pay for the privi
t lege of having a family, and believe
h me, it is worth what it costs. You
a can't have the freedom to go and
n come, the leisure, or, perhaps, as fine
d clothes of the childless woman who
S has nobody but herself to consider
! but would you trade off your nursery
= for a motor car or a trip to Europe?
It No, not if the whole United States
Il treasury was thrown in to boot
Then play square, and don't be
grudge the cost tag of motherhood.
And you, oh wife, how often dc
x we have to listen to your grumbling
s about your husband! He's got fun
# ny, fussy ways. He's cantankerous
J. at times. He's more interested in
+ his work than he is in books, and
he isn't bit like the hero of ro
J. nance that you thought you were
il marrying. 1t is true that he is 6
O good provider and that you've got &
l. good house and good clothes; but
a heavens how tired you get of trying
to sidestep the subjects that are like
a red flag to mad bull to him and
d of taking flying leaps to keep from
" stepping on the corns of his preju
II diceS