Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-08
SARAH d. LOWRLE,S
SATURDAY EVENING TALK
The Hept,uess Of Being Alone With Your Soul for While


9s 81 ASKED social service worker once
! what to her thinking was the
greatest hardship of the poor. espe-
cially the women of what our mothers
used to call the poorer classes, but
what we today call the proletariat,
much to the distress of Latin purists.
who insist that IL is an incorrect word
to use In the sense In which we
mean II.
suppose. of course. that women
greatly experienced In the customs OF
hard working mothers would say that
the chief hardships of their lives lay
along the line of too little diversion
or too hard physical strain. or too
great worry to make two ends meet. or
too many children, or sordid surround
ipgs. n losing fight with dirt, a kind
OF brutaized marital life. threatened by
drink, I'LL temper. disease. sheer ignor-
aBce aud stupid monotony. ! took 1t
for granted she would light on one or
more of these. but not Ut all ...
She was ready with her answer on
the instant. quite as though 1t was an
old theme of philosophizng with her.
She said that the hardship Of the poor,
generally speaking. either in cities or
in country places, was their herding,
brought about by small rooms and too
Few rooms for their sized families
She went on to say that most of the
cary life of the poor was spent with
out solitude, without even whole.
some privacy, SO that as result when
solitude did come from sickness, or
from old age. the men and women who
had never learned TO use it or enjoy
II suffered from it and took it dumbly.
more like forlprn stricken animals
"a ,ipt Nd .Inp
to think and know oneself that ought
TO have come naturally in childhood
and TO have become n habit Of the mind
IN maturity came FOO late 10 b. any
thing but loneliness and duh dcpres-
sion.
Cl1E added that one of the difficulties
~ of her work--Su far aS her eyperi-
cnce in her particular social service
setiI"ment wcnt--waS that her neigh
n0rs and friends who ;hpcndcd upon
hor sympathy and Judgment never took
~ Tor granted that she required for
hcr own lif" any time alone. 70 them. /
recreation meant some Kind Of unwonted
rI'aSuring of II sociaDic sort. To sit per-
IL, Nv still and iust think. or drift |
without consecutive thinking was i'm
possible to them. II they were ns |
tired as that. they would fall aSlecp anj |
NOD heavily in their chairs. 10 be called |
back 10 consciousness presently by a |
siammng door. or by the cries of |
uuGrr"llng children or by the demands .
oi some one or another wanting "n I
piece or TO be tended to" cuc way
or another, or the kettle would boil
over on the stove. the doorbcI wouli
ring. or the man of tho house would
come in. Ora score of things would
harpcn. To wish. let alone to uInn .
Tor or demand, time Off each day when
they would be free from outside inter-
ruptions did not enter into their calcu- |.
lafions. scarcely in fact could be said .
to enter into their dreams of what
leisure meant.
1t struck me while she talked that
the women who were her neighbors were
not alone in this lack of solitude or !
ignorance of the vitalness of times off ,
alone. Looking mp and down whole .
ilsts or my own acquaintances ana their ,
friends and families. from their board |
lng school days to their summer resort
days. it seemed to me that very few |
took time of for being alone as part |
or the necessity of sane living. The |
difference was. that whereas they easily |
cou I'd do 1t. the women of the other
kind Of environment could scarcely man.
age it. certainly would be hard nut to
thought ''queer.'
I HAVE Il neigbbOr who Is the official
L telephone receiver for her little
country neighborhood. The teleprams
and messages go to her for general
distribution. She goes off fishing when |
things get too strenuous. Not that she |
particularly likes trout or that her
family prefer fish. It is that fishing
is an excuse for being off alone where
no phone call can reach her, and where.
IN the silent monOtony of casting her
l'n", now across this eddy in the river
and now into that quiet pool. she finds
r"rtaiE solac" for her tired brain.
J know only one other country woman
WHO is like her and she escapes from
her large and demanding family of chill
drcn and grandchildren by taking her
pal AMI going off brrrying. refusing
company and rrticpnt aS 10 to the hour
Of her return. Sh" is thought queer"
aIm' Il to the verge of mild insanity b.
hcr kin for this odd desire for her own
"on,,any. For, as she remarked:
They know well enough herryinc is
IL. an excuse
7 SOMETIMES think the contem-
l. Lativr, solitary figures that come
:'l 90 al III" movies in town. and the |.
ya"u" shoppers that seldom buy but
just wander in and ont of shops. are the /.
city versions of the iisherwoman and
the berryin woman up in the country
Nowhere in their houses can they shut
~ uOOr that will close out their families
Only by ''gOinr downtown IN an