How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.

valuation. She became despondent and thought often of suicide. She found release from the utter boredom of lying in bed at all times by having a wireless set installed in her bedroom, and by striking up a friendship with John Barleycorn that grew to such proportions that her mother began to interfere. This was the last straw. She had always been an obstinate and self-willed child, but her mother had usually acceded to her whims before any outbursts of anger and temper tantrums supervened. Now when her mother began chiding her for having the wireless going at three in the morning so that all the neighbours complained, and began insisting that she should curtail her drinking, she became a wireless fan of the worst variety, and a persistent and deep drinker. Her drinking went to such lengths that her mother became more than usually anxious about Elsie s health. The more she drank, the more dilapidated she became, and the more dilapidated she became the more her mother scolded her, and the more her mother scolded Elsie, the more obstinate she became about her drinking, and the more isolated and bed-ridden she was. When friends realized the vicious circle and urged her to move from the house, Elsie produced a sudden access of filial love. She could not leave her aged mother, who was becoming old and weak, and needed her presence. Elsie had read a few books on psychology and realized that her mother was in part responsible for her present state, and she began to hate her mother as violently as she formerly hated the world. Yet Elsie’s dependence was so ingrained that she could not leave her. A psychiatrist was finally called in to consult with her on her symptoms. He insisted on a separation of mother and daughter, and in the face of his seemingly superior knowledge of the case, Elsie acceded for the first time in her life, and took a room in an hotel. She chose a room at the top of the building, moved her medicines, wireless, liquor, and the few French novels that she still read, to her new quarters. On the second day, she walked to