Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-11-29
nHICOSTITISn

To the Editor Of the Evenin0 Ledger:
slr-It is unnecessary for me to remark
that the high cost of living is pre-
eminently the bugbear of present day
housekeepers, Trying to make both ends
meet is feat that Is attended with even
more serious consequences than at first
appear. ! mean to say that the skyward
gymnastics of every article of food is apt
to get upon the average woman's nerves
and before long we shall have a new dis
ease superlnduced by eVer-recurrlng shock
that comes from being told and told again
that such an article of food has advanced
in price. "Butter, fifty cents - Eggs, now
sixty dozen! !" Sorry, but lard Is twenty
two cents today" The poor housekeeper
peers into her lanky purse and 10 is devel-
oped sinking of the heart-symptom No.
of the new disease, which we shall call
"hicosttis." In its more advanced stages
attained by receiving daily jabs from
the butcher, the baker, the CANDLE
stlclImaker"-the disease shows varying
features, according to the temperament of
the patient Mrs. Swoonaway will faint
and take to bed while the housemaid
(wages overdue, by the way) will hunt the
smelling salts How differently will hi
costitis" treat little Miss Hightemper!
Rapid protests will mark her attack, At
the rate of twenty sentences n minute the
delirium will move her to discourse upon
the villainy of the American farmer, and
SO on For her, the disease probably Will
not terminate fatally, since her energy will
create a reaction. The pert and saucy ones
are all SO energetic Before long, Miss
Hlghtemper will be busy with the ways
and methods of making sufficient money to
keep up with advancing prices.
Among the glded youths who spend their
last cent upon Geraldine and Susan the
disease will not prevail since the followers
of Cupid glory in lavishing their all upon
weapons and bait, Nervousness necessary
to the development of hicOstitis, will not
he present But, bide wee, A year hence.
when the purchasing of bread and meat
shall have taken the place of bOnbon and
flower bartering, these then chastened
youths will be sure enouah victims. The
high cost Of loving" is amusing-the nigh
cost of living a grim specter that carries
the germ.
whether you, yourself, are now in the
throes or whether your superb constitution
has enabled you thus far TO Withstand, will
you not fight the disease? Remember that
the really best things of life cost not cent
love and laughter, pure air and sunshine,
and a neighhors good Will may be had for
nothing A starlt sky by night and by
day heecy clouds chasing one another like
lambs across a blue carpet-are not these
worthy of our contemplation? Take Rus
kin's advice and forget the sordid things of
life. Raise your head; the animals were
made TO scent the earth, but man to gaze
upward Get acquainted with the ever
shifting panorama that is enacted among
the clouds without intermssion and with
out price-and almost without an audience.
Learn the names of the planets and their
location. You will be none the worse for
plain living provided 1t be accompanied by
high thinking, Any pig may gorge and
Krunt contentedly In its safety 1t takes
a God-giyen intellect TO find the sweetness
of a humble rose and the glories of the
heavens above. J. SKINNER,
baltimore. November %.