The Washington herald., 1917-08-10
DIVIDENDS ON THRIFT
By DOROTHY DIX,
The Worlds Highest Paid
Woman Writer.

said to me the other day:
do you know what is almost the
strongest impression made on my mind
by my whole trip?. It Is homely
lesson In thrift. and did not get 1t
from the frugal Orientals either. but
from my own country people.
Everywhere / met Americans-sun-
ming themselves in the warmth OF
Southern California, splashing around
in the jeweled waters at Honolulu,
drinking tea and gossipping with trav-
elers from the Back of Beyond in the
Grand Hotel at Yokohoma. poking
around the curio shops In Pekin-and
three-fourths Of these Americans. yes,
nine-tenths OF them who were travel
ing for pleasure, were fat, gray head
cd. prosperous, middle-aged couples.
Occasionally there was young son
or daughter along, but not often.
Most of them were just oldish mar
ried folks who in their late fifties or
early sixties were taking the honey
moon trip that they had been too poor
to take thirty-five years before.
II talked to dozens of these couples
and always they told me practically
the same story.
Mother and were married when
we were very young and hadn't a
split Canadian dime between u.s. the
man would say, with a reminiscent
chuckle, but we both had plenty of
pep and ginger. and we rolled up our
sleeves and went to work. I tell you
1t was skimpy living and hard hustling
in those days.
"I was at the store before Z o'clock
every morning and I stayed in It until
o'clock at night. and mother was up
an hour before me and gave me a hot
breakfast that she had cooked with
her own hands. and when I went to
sleep she was patching my trousers
or washing my shirt so that I could
look neat and respectable to go to
work the next day. And we counted
the pennies and pinched every dollar
until We made the eagle scream in
agony, and about the only amusement
we INDUCED ourselves In was watching
the little savings bank account grow.
THAT policy OF work and saving
won out then as It always has won
out and always will win out. 1t wasn't
long before was able to get an inter-
est in the business, and after a while
We moved over on the sunny side or
Easy street. Now our children are
SIOWh anu ocNlAChg ouA
so a year or two ago / turned the
business over to the boys and 1 said
to mother that after this we would
enjoying ourselves and taking the
trips and doing the things We didn't
have the time nor the money to do
when we were young.
And every time I looked at these
nj ad
faces that beamed with that surety
Of well-being that only the posses
sion of a safety deposit vault full
OF gilt-edged securities can give,
thought to myself, surely, after all,
want to be happy and comfortable
when you are old you must practice
| thrift when you are young.
"And my mind would go back Ia
other couples that / knew very well
had started life on the same capital
OF nothing but love and health and
youth. But the man always worked
with one eye on the clock and a set
tied determination that he was not
going to do one lick more than he
was paid for. and his wife had fed
him out of paper bags and bought
shoddy ready-made clothes for the
family because she couldn't see any
sense in woman shaving herself
to death over the cook-stove and sew
ing machine.
And they have never, In all the
years since they have been married,
been quite even with the landlord
or the butcher or the grocer or the
installment-furniture man. They are
( =. - 49,.
are old and worn and broken, and
the only trips they will ever take
will be to the poorhouse and in a
cheap hearse to a cheap cemetery.
And I thought of another couple
about the age Of these middle-aged
toy-trippers who started out in mat
rimony with a nice, comfortable lit
tie fortune. 1t was one of those de-
moralizing wads Of money that are
just enough to make a man feel that
he doesn't have to work unless he
wants to, and that are not big enough
to be waste-proof. Honest to good
! ness, the best luck young fellow
can have is either to have a billion
dollars ar not penny.
well, at any rate, this young couple
let their money make them laxy and
| eAlTdNd6dnls lHt DuSl'
ness affairs to his subordinates and
let his employees rob and waste, ant
his wife got bitten with the society
bug and became a reckless spendel
trying to keep up with people ter
| times as rich as she was. And the
result was that by the time they were
middle-aged the sheriff sold them out
and now they are the most forlorr
and miserable old people you evei
saw.
For there Is nothing else on earth
so pathetic as impoverished old age
old age without the comforts it needs
old age without hope of any good
fortune ever coming to it, old age
that is forced to eat the bitter bread
of dependence, and take grudgins
charity,
II thought Of these piteous old
couples that know, the ones who
had wasted and spent. and idled and
frivoled in their youth. and 1 con.
trasted them with these other middle.
aged couples who had worked and
saved in their youth and who are now
so happy and prosperous, and
! thought, what a lesson in thrift!
And I thought that practically
| life offers US a choice of whether
we will indulge ourselves in oul
youth or in our old age; whether
we'd rather have an easy Job wher
we are in our twenties, or be abl'
to retire from business when We
are in our sixties; whether wee
rather go to all sorts OF little fool
| ish shows and parties when we are
young or to go around the work
when we are middle aged.
| One thing is certain, we cam
eat our cake when We are youne
and still have 1t when we are old
II we spend every cent as we gC
along no miracle makes it grow