The Washington herald., 1915-08-22
The "Shut-In. :"
BY JOHN ID. BARRY.

| The other day received touching letter from
reader of this paper. l wish she had signed he
name. l should like to thank her for her friendly
words and to express my sympathy with he
| plight and my admiration for her courageous
/ spirit. She is "shut-in," one of those invalid
confined to the bed and excluded from the activi
ties OF the world. She asks me to make an appea
! to the members of womens clubs to take an in
terest in invalids such she. She believes thai
the members could do a great deal to alleviate
the lot of the shut-ins by visiting them | cheer.
fully make the suggestion. There must be many
women who would eagerly take up such work
hear that already 1t IS done to some extent in San
francisco. | happen to know that in New York
City the work is pretty well organized.
To those of us who have health and enioy active
interests the life of the shut-ins seems almost in
conceivable. Just to stay in bed for a whole day
strikes me, as | imagine it strikes most men, as a
calamity. For most of us to lie on bed day after
day would be terrible ordeal And yet | have
been told by people used to long sickness that it
is not SO hard it may seem to those who are
well. The very weakness and debility that ac-
companies sickness help to make the situation tol-
cradle. On the other hand | have known bedrid-
den folk to be so worn with the monotony that
they have eagerly welcomed any passing interest
or change. One invalid of my acquaintance used
to have the wallpaper in her room frequently re-
newed After a time the sight of the patterns
would become affliction
But even sickness seems to have its compensa-
tlons A friend of mine, very selfish man. after
long illness told me that he had never realized
before the generosity of human nature As he Law
on his bed of pain he began to think, for the first
time in his life apparently, of his dependence for
comfort and happiness on those about him. So
can conceive of long continued illness helping to
create philosophical attitude that would make
the atilctlon endurable. The world outside. with
its beauty and its pleasures must take on the al
lurcment OF faryland. The people who come in
from II must acquire tar more thrilling interest
than they can possess for one another. Then too
there is the relIet that must go with the lifting of
personal responsibility. friend of mine once
told me that while he was lying i'll with pneumonia.
unconscious, he heard the doctors saw
that he could not possibly recover. He received
the sentence with mild interest and without fear
Later came the moment when he knew that he
was gong to live and with it came the resumption
OF the sense OF responsibility 1t was like the TAX
ing on OF discarded burden
Perhaps the shut-ns suffer more than 7 can
realize from their being in life and vet not having
the responsibilities OF life. So often our burdens
are our joys. The best that we can do for them is
to establish sympathetic relations and to give
them share in our activity and variety of expert
ence Moreover, to those who help them thev. in
urn can give help, for if they cannot take respon-
'lbility 1t is something for them to provide it for
others. Here is the consolation in what must
be to the more sensitive of them a |
great torment. To be burden loses its sting
"hen 1t becomes plain that the burden is to others
IN incentive and inspiration. | have known
Nhoc families whose everyday life had been torn
With dissenson and ill-wll to be brought into |
harmonious relations by the illness of one men,
'er. 1t was the only bond that could bring them
nto sympathy.
But the best that can be done for shut-ins is the
'eSt that can be done for any people, to help them
o help themselves. In many cases, | admit, the
elp is impossible. But in many others it is who'll
y feasible. | have known cases where shut-ins
avc developed interests that they never had be-
orc IN reading, study, certain kinds of work that
I'D not require continuous effort