Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-04-02
DOROTHY, DIX TALKS
PLAYING THE GAME
BY DOROTHY DIX
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, inc.

NV JOu oiO uOG giving yOuI family
square deal.
Take the matter of sickness, for instancd
TO save our faces we speak of i'll health al
an affliction sent upon us mysteriously bI
some strange Providence that we do not ND
derstand Most of the time, this is an ou
and out lie. We know well enough that wi
are sick because we broke therlaws of health
and that we have nothing but ourselves Il
blame.
We justify ourselves in overeating, in I'd
tuslng to take exercise, in staying out too lad
at night in dancing too much, in defyinI
Wlntry blasts in insufficient clothing becaud
our new frocks look better without wrapi
by saying that it's our own stomachs, anil
our own nerves, and our own lungs that wi
are r1sklng, and that if we get dyspepsia, AMI
nervous prostration, and pneumonia, we arI
the ones who will have to suffer.
If that were entirely true, it wouldn't 81
much matter, and the family might we'll stanH
aside and let those die who did not hayI
enough sense to live; but in cases Of sickness
it is not the i'll who suffer most. It is thoss
who have to take care of them.
There are only small number of peopH
who are able to turn the sick members d
their families over to the care of traineA
nurses and hospitals. The balance must keeS
the weary vigil of the sick-room themselveI
they must fetch, and carry, and minister 4
the fretful whims of those who have brouglH
their illness upon themselves by their owl
self-indulgence.
Nor can the average family afford sic
ness any more than they can to set up
yacht, or an imported automobile. OF cours !
when one we love is suffering and in dan
ger, we weigh nothing else in the seal
against his or her safety. The best doctoE
the finest surgeon, costly medicines, expel1
sive nourishment he or she must have, n
matter what it costs.
ca bo auip ho0 thot ~
had gathered together, penny by penny. wit
which to buy home, and which represen
a thousand bitter self-denials, melts ava
like ice in an August sun. Or worse still, VI
saddle ourselves with debts to doctors an
druggists that will sell us into slavery I'd
years to come.
Who does not know some family that
kept down to the low level of grinding poT
erty by an invalid? There is never a chand|
to save anything, because the sick one
forever trying some new cure. The very foo
that growing children need is stinted I'd
patent medicines. All ambition and effoH
are crushed under the weight of the perpOE
ual doctors bills.
And nine times out of ten, the invali s
who martyrize their families have broug
their misfortune upon their own heads d
their own folly and self-indulgence. There
nothing mysterious in the glutton developinz
a disease of the stomach or the girl VII
down with nervous prostration, or wome
who wear paper-soled shoes and silk stoc s
ings when they walk icy pavements, acquirirS
colds. These things belong to the unalter s
BILE law of cause and effect, and the Peep
who do them know what the results are g
ing to be.
They know that they are going to be ma.
sick and that somebody else has got to nur
them while they are sick, and support Their
but they are so selfish and egotistical tn
they don't care. They are willing to of S
up any goat that happens along on the alt S
of their own momentary pleasure and SCI s
indulgence.
Of course, there are individuals who are i
flicted with dire diseases through no fault Z
their own. These unfortunates merit our ter
derest care and sympathy. 1t is not or the
that / am speaking, but of those who mig
be healthy and husky, and do their appointd
work in the world if they would, but WI
make themselves sick by gratifying their
petites, and inclinations, and so become DuE
dens on their families
The same structures apply to the volu
tarily dependent. There are certain mer
bers of every family who sit down and FOL
their hands, and force the other members
the family to support them.
There is hardly any one who has not son
pensioners and the curious thing is TN s
among these pensioners there are alwa
some who, as the phrase goes have seen oe
ter days. 49,
This, stripped of glittering generalltle
simply means that while they had plenty
money they spent it on pleasure and self-l
diligence, instead of denying themselves
lay I'D for the rainy day that comes to
They ate, and drank, and made merry, al
left to others the job of feeding them aft s
they had devoured their cake.
Last winter man I knew died. For tive
ty years he had been earning an lmmen
e. 1anI n
as if it were water When his estate can
to be settled up. it was found that he had
left penny. He and his wife had lived
to everything he made, and when she was WI
owed she had to go and live on her brothe
poor man who could i'll afford to suppo
her There are thousands of such cases. al
these dependent people never seem to reai
that they are grafters and thieves becau
they have no right to fail to provide for tne1
selves.
Even parents have no right to make the1
selves burden for their children to take ca
of unless it is absolutely unavoidable. VIC
men and women quit work too early. In
would be healthier and happier, and bett
satisfied if they would keep on with the
Jobs to the last possible moment, and TN
would have far more self-respect il tha
earned their own living that they have
transformers on their children and their
laws.
7 don't know what Saint Peter is going
ask us when we come up and knock for
mission at the Heavenly Gate, but have
idea that if we can say that we have play
the game of life fairly and squarely, al
made ourselves as little affliction to 9th
neopIe as was possible, that we will have Il
oo,,1tcr, sign and the pass word.
Downright, 1921, by The Wheeler Syndlca'
Inc.)
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