The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-11
Dorothy DIX Tails
Thriftiness and Honesty.
BY DOR0THg DIX
. Hfghese Paid W@nan


Thriftiness and Honesty.
There was nothing for the woman
to do but to go and live upon her
brother. \who was a poor hard work
ing man, earning small salary in a
little town, and a big family of his
own to support. That woman is COM
hitting the most dastardly of all
crimes. She is literally taking, the
bread out of the mouths of babes. she
is stunting the lives of innocent chill
dren for. because her brother has to
support her, he will be obliged to deny
his children the education that he
might have given them.
''She will shorten her Brothers days
by adding weight to his already over
burdened shoulders, and she will be a
blight upon the home because she is
an interloper who has forced herself
unwanted upon it.
''Now I say that this man and this
woman who selfishly INDUCED them
selves in everything they wanted in
stead of laying up a competency on
which to provide for their needs, were
the meanest of sneak thieves. They
took their pleasure while others shaved
and denied themselves, and they de-
pended on grating a living on the
| frugal when their evil day came.
ut does not make any difference
how you get money that does not be-
long to you. The dishonesty consists
in purloining other peoples property.
Our friends and relatives who pick
our pockets by means of hard luck
stories are morally no better than the
thief who lifts our wallets without
even putting up any bluff about it.
"Of course there are people who al
ways live on the ragged edge of want.
and who by no possibility can save up
enough money to protect themselves
against the disasters of life. These
q Of tn
ask of us with clean hands.
But the men and women who are
good money makers, and who are SO
selfish and self-indulgent that they
spend everything they make as they
go along, are ruthless robbers at
heart. For when their own is gone
they are depending on taking what
they need from others. They know
that family affection will not let them
tsuffer. that family pride will not per-
init them to go to the poorhouse. So
why should they deny themselves
while John and Mary are sacrificing
themselves to lay up a little money
What are friends and relations for
except to be easy marks for high
trollers?
you even see parents take this at
titude towards their children. A man
| providing a nest egg for his old age
| insuring his life for enough to make
| his wife Independent if he should die
| will spend all he makes as he goes
along and depend upon his children
| to support him and their mother in
their declining years.
"Robbing your own child is like
| taking candy money from a blind
baby.
'Yet how. often do we see 1T done
How many old bachelors do you know
who had to put away all thought OF
love and home of their own in their
youth, because father had been such q
good spender he had left them with
the family to support? How many old
maids do you know who had to say
| No to the man who 1oeyd them, and
whom they loved because mothers
extravaganza had worked father tC
death and they had to feed and clothe
and educate a. house full of little sis
tiers and brothers? How many chill
dren are robbed of their childhood
and are forced to go to work before
their time. and are denied education
| by their parents shiftlessness!
/ when we eat our cake, we have
not a right to the other fellows slice
and that's why say that thrift is this
mother of honesty" said the quiet
|