Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-04-01
PLAYING THE GAME.


Arc YOU PLAYING The game 81 life
squarelv and fairly
Arr you making Yourself as httle bur
den rs possible 10 those about you' II
YOU arc not. YOU are not giving your family
a square deal
Take the matter of sickness for IN
stance. To save our faces We speak Of Ill
health as an afilcti0n sent upon us mys-
teriouslv bv some strange Providence that
we do not understand Most of the tune.
this is an ont and out lie. We know well
enough that we arr sick because We broke
the laws OF health, and that We have
nothing but ourselves 10 blame.
We Justify ourselves III overcatlng, IN
refusing to take exercise, in staying out
too late at night, in dancing too much. IN
defvInc wintrv blasts in insufficient
clothing because our new frocks look
better without wraps, by saying that it's
our own stomachs, and our own nerves,
and our own lungs that we are rlsklng
and that il we get dyspepsia, and nervous
prostration. and pneumonia, we are the
ones who Will have 10 suffer.
II that were entirely true. il wouldnt
so much matter, and the family might
well stand aside and let those die who did
not have enough sense TO live; tut IN
cases Of sickness Il is not he III who suffer
most Ii is those who have TO take care OF
them.
There are only small number Of people
who are able TO turn the SICK members oi
their families over 70 the care Of trained
nurses and hospitals. The balance must
keen the weary vigil OF the sick-To0n them
selves. they must fetch. and carry, and
minister to the fretful whlms of those who
have brought their illness upon them
selves bv their own sell-indulgence.
Nor can the average family afford sick
ness anv more than they can to set up q
vacht. or an imported automobile OF
course. when one we love Is suffering
/ and in danger we weigh nothing else IN
/ the scale against his or her safety. The
/ best doctor. the finest surgeon, costly
/ medicines, expensive nOurishment he or
/ she must have no matter what 1t costs
| So the little savings bank account that
! we had gathered together, penny by
Denny. with which to buy a home, and
/ which represents q thousand bitter self
1 denials. nelts away like ice in an August
/ s,In Or worse still. we saddle ourselves
with debts TO doctors and druggists that
/ will sell US into slavery for years TO come
! Who does not know some family that is
( kent down to the low level Of grinding
poverty bv an invalid? There Is never 4
/ chance to save anything, because the sick
one is forever trying some new cure. The
I very food hat growing children need is
/ stinted for patent medicines All ambi-
/ tion and effort are crushed under the
! weight of the perpetual doctor bills
And nlne times out OF ten, the Invalids
/ who martyrlze their famillcs have brought
( their misfortune upon their own heads by
their own folly and self-indulgence There
/ is nothing mysterious IN the gluttor
developing a disease Of the stomach, or thf
! girl who works all dav and dances al
/ night, breaking down with nervous pros
! tration. or women who wear paper-soleC
/ shoes and silk stockings when they walk
/ icv pavements, acquiring colds These
| things belong to the unaltcrable law o
| cause and effect, and the people who dc
/ them know what the results are going
/ to be-
1 They know that they are going to b,
/ made sick and that somebody else has got
/ % nurse them while they are sick, anC
( support them, but they re So selfish and
/ egotistica that they don't care. They arC
/ willing to offer up any goat that happens
/ along ON the altar Of their own momentarJ
| pleasure and self-indulgence
! OF course. there are individuals who are
inflicted with dire diseases through nc
/ fault Of their own These unfortunate.
| merit our tcnderest care and sympathy.
| il is not Of these that ! am speaking
but Of those who might be healthy anC
husky, md do their appointed work il
the world if they would, but who make
themselves sick by gratifying their appe
tites, ard inclinations, and SO become
! burdens on their femilies.
The same structures apply to the vol
unfairly dependent. There are certain
members Of every family who sit dowr
and fold their hands, and force the othel
members of the family to support them
There is hardly aly one who has no
some pensioners, and the curious thing Il
! that among these pensioners there ar
/ always some who, as the phrase goes have
seen better days
This stripped Of glttorilg geueralit les
simply means that while they had plent!
Of money they spent it on pleasure ano