Licking Valley courier., 1917-06-14

doubt II it cost my parents So
to launch me fairly on my career.
One or two visits from the old
village doctor with his leather
saddle bags, a call of a night or
part Of a day from a neighboring
housewife, a little extra care and
attention from the "hired Cir" "
and the crisis was safely passed.
A trained nurse was never heard
of, And in a couple of weeks
mother was probably up and a.
bout her. business skimming
milk and packing butter.
If | had decided to die after a
week or ten days illness, on
reaching mans estate, the cost
to my family would probably not
have exceeded $25 or $50. Say,
ten visits from the doctor, three
miles away, a good CHEEKY coffin
made by the local cabinet maker
good enough for a king-no un-
dertaker, no hired carriages, no
vain show, the coffin taken to
the church in a farmers pleasure
wagon" then borne to the ceme-
terry by the hands Of neighbors,
and the grave filled by the same
hands-and all is overl
But the old simplicity, the old
homeIy ways are gone, and the
Snowy, high-priced, fussy new
ways have come in. There is a
vast army Of trained nurses to
be supported, and to persuade
you or command you to employ
a trained nurse.
A friend who mad been referred
from specialist to specialist, for
whom trained nurses, a masseuse,
sequestration, special diets and
various other remedial measures
had been adopted, was naively
assured by her last trained nurse
(who was about to be dismissed
that a nurse for other specialists
might be installed: Really,
Mrs. N, it would be cheaper
for you to de
In the household of another
acquaintance | recently learned
of there having been five differ
ent specialists and as many train
ed nurses called within eight
days.
Yes, and there is a member of
the coffin trust in every village
to tax you 500 for a sham, but
snowy coffin, and the use of his
dismal trappings and funeral
proprieties.
No special class of persons is
to blame for this change. 1t is
the spirit Of the times, the in
crease in wealth, the rise in the
standard OF living, the growth of
pride, the rivalry and competition
in all the departments of life.
the decay of seriousmindednes,
of humility and the shifting of
the standard of values from the
real to the meretricious among
the people.
OF course, one reason of the
high cost Of living, as of dying,
is the abundance of money. As
money becomes cheap, things be
come dear. Another is thu
thousand and one convenience,
and luXuries with which we sur
round ourselves the telephone
the telegraph, the trolley line
, automobiles, the electric lights
! State roads, the newspapers, an,
the food supplies from all part
OF the earth.
We must pay for what W,
| have; we must pay for ever.
, pretty wrapper and box and til
r can and bottle and paper bal
, that our food and drink come in
{ We buy Il pound OF rice put u
| in cotton cloth bags, prettil
e stamped; We buy sugar in five o
= ten-pound bags of a similar kind
and flour in twenty or thirty
$ pound bags, and so on. We bu
p our groceries in driblets, elegant
v Iy put up. We buy our apple
n and potatoes and peaches by tn
t quart and have them sent HON,
e We are ashamed to he seen @
$ the street carrying Il market ba
e ket.
o Some years ago | did see Ii
!, Judge OF ane of our county cour
!, going home carrying his Chris
t mas turkey in his hand. b,
d lieye that judge would give yC
q Il fair trial