Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-02-22
Things for the TableOrings of the MarkeHouSehod HINTS
Women 1Oith
Doctor Habit Are
Burden to Families
ny ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
Copyright. 1918. Star Company.

In spite OF the fact that I'll health Ia
Questionable today. there are hundreds
Of women to be found who regard their
ailments with fond reverence and who
anticipate the coming OF the doctor
as the event Of the day or week.
These women have nothing the matter
with them but their unoccupied or per
verted minds and their craving for dis
traction
They are found in all classes and To-
calities. but flourish In comfort and
opulence, rather than in poverty. for
poverty as a rule enforces labor and labor
leaves no time for imagination or hys-
teria
Once let a woman acquire the doctor
habit" and she Is as difficult 20 cure
as an opium victim. and as hopeless to
reason with.
She resents being told she looks well
and times drags heavily when she has no
occasion to send hurry call for the doc
tor
But a slight cold. little fatigue, over
eating. or a late cup Of coffee or tea and
consequent wakefulness will open the way
for this hurry call: and she dons her
most becoming negligee gown, sits boil
stored up in bed ana with eager, ex-
pcctant eyes. watches the door for the
entrance of the one human being who
Is not bored and wearied with her de
scription Of her symptoms-the doctor.
How sympathetic he 10. and how sweet
such sympathy is to her!And he tells her
what she knew was true, but what her
cold-hearted family would not believe,
that she Is a very sick woman. and needs
a nurse and afterward a change Of air
and freedom from all care
Dear, good doctorl How bleak the world
would be without him and his kind!
Meantime the husband who Is working
twelve hours a day in order to keep his
business up to the standard where he can
pay employees for working eight, comes
home with his head in a whirl. longing
for quiet evening OF domestic happi-
ness, and finds the house all excitement.
Madame has had "a bad attack" and
the doctor and the nurse are both with
her
Ghe husband realizes what this means
Sss%eeks OF loneliness and. expense and dis
comfort; dining alone, coming home to
desolation and gloom-but no knows how
useless it is to utter one protest. He will
only seem heartless and precipitate an
other attack Of hysteria.
So he puts on his most serious expires
sion of concern and visits the invalid
and hears all about the complicated
symptoms, and is duly sympathetic and
tells the doctor TO spare no palms or ex-
pense in his efforts to save madame'i
life-and the curtain goes down again OF
the little farce he has been accustomed
TO participate in year after year at In
tervals.
This Is no overdrawn picture. It Is
an absolute portrait OF hundreds OF idle
purposeless, selfish, hysterical women IN
the world
Sometimes the spectators pity for the
husband is lessened by the consciousness:
that he has In measure been instru-
mental in bringing about these condi
tons
He has allowed business to absorb his
whole time and energy, and he has had
no leisure to give to his wife. She haI
pinned for distraction, for entertainment
and, not being rich in resources. she hai
turned to the contemplation of her phys
zeal sensations until she has become g
monomaniac upon the subject.
To be i'll and have the household upset
about her condition is her only diversion
But with the world at woman's feet
today, and every possible opportunity
for self-improvement within her grasp
what a pity that she should waste one
day of this beautiful life in thinking OF
sNShysical disorders which her own mind
has caused and can heal
A half hour given each day to sys'
tematic deep breathing. and cutting
down Of her food supply to few simple
nutritious dishes. right exercise and
baths, and right thoughts, and nature
would bring harmony, without drugs oil
doctors or nurses. But how useless tc
preach these truths to the hysterical vic
tins OF doctor dissipation.
Then the pleasure OF talking about the
illness afterward to callers is such a
satisfaction
In country places one finds the sam'
type of woman. She is frequently single
and past her first youth, and the doc
tors visits are a solace to her lionel.
hours While we can sympathize will
her situation, yet we must think sh'
would be better off were she to be thrown
out upon the world and forced TO for
get her ailments in an active battle 70
existence as bachelor girl
Work-a rpose-cheerfulness-a desir,
90 make happiness for others-these ar,
a few of the antidotes to the "docto
habit"