I Dorothy Dirothy Dix s 's Letter Box BoJ ADVICE TO A DISCOURAGED STEPMOTHER THE JEALOUS WIFE OF A TOO ATTRACTIVE GOLF COLF INSTRUCTOR SHOULD A ABOY ABOY ABOY BOY OF 21 USE THE FAMILY CAR CARl flEAR AH MISS DIX Ten BIX-Ten Ten years ago I married a widower with children I ILI D DEAR LI have hare always done tho the host best I 1 could with them I have kept them In school chool and have havo gone without good clothes that I needed myself so they might be well dressed Now they are aro about right for tor forme torme think It Is 18 perfectly r grown and they me to work all tho the time wash time wash Iron and COOK cookI I and wait walt on them and for tor them to loaf loat and not notI I 1 try to do anything And what they thoy do they I half halt do and I have to do It over again I havo hayo I 4 a a. very good home homo and a good husband but It itI I doesn't seem like home to me It Is 18 like liko I 1 was w working for tor someone else and I cant can't stand it 1 much longer The children have made mads life so 80 F i p. p miserable for tor me mo that I hate them and I would I. I leave except that I 1 have a child of ot my own What would you do It if you wore were In my place lace 5 A VERY LONELY WOMAN t b 7 Answer Why If I were you I would try to possess my soul In patience for a little while longer and say eay ay to my myself elf that DOROTHY OIX Dix after the long lono fight I wa wasn't nt going to torun torun torun run up the white flag and turn quitter when the end of the battle was almost In sight For your trials and tribulations with your stepchildren are almost over They are nearly grown and In a few tew more years cars not moro more than three or four at most probably not more than one year they will be gone about the business of ot life me for themselves them elves Then you will have haTe your husband and your house and ancl your own child to yourself and you youcan youcan can cau draw a long breath breaths and sit down and rest and pin a medal for tor heroism on your breast W And let It console you that no woman woman In the world does a II finer thing than to take another womans woman's children and mother them so that they never know that they are motherless All the work you have done for your husbands husband's children all the sacrifices you have havo made for them will be stars of glory In your crown and when you get to heaven you will find that the very best row front reserved seats have been saved vod a for step step- stepmothers mothers Its It's a great thing to be a good mother but It Is a mil mu- million lion lien times greater to be a good stepmother Because the stepmother hasn't the love that makes makE's hor her blind to childrens children's faults and deaf to their noise that enables her to make a thousand excuses for every childish fault and that takes the sting out of ot all lien her sacrifices It is nothing but stern duty that makes her shut her eyes and stuff her ears full of ot cotton colton and bite her ber tongue to keep from saying cross words and that makes her wear her old hat hilt so 80 that Mary and aI d Sally may have new ones Men have o been decorated for tor heroism and saints canonized for tor less courage and self abnegation than this Your stepchildren are only treating tre you exactly like all other hobbledehoy boys and girls are treating their own moth moth- ers All children think It Is Ii I right for their mothers to cook md wash and sew for them because that Is what they are used to having done for them all of their lives live And If It these thee were your own children you wouldn't think It a hardship to make them a comfortable home You would love making tho the particular pie that thit th t Johnny likes and fixing up the girls girl's room prettily and tastefully It Is because they are your stepchildren that you resent having to do It And nearly grown boys and girls are lazy and duck having to do chores at home They slight their work and rush off oft to their pleasures and you wouldn't mind that It If they were your jour our own You would be help- help helpIng helpIng helping Ing them to good times and when jou ou had to do their tasks over for fos them you would smile and say that boys will be boys and girls will be girls sirls Try to take that attitude toward your stepchildren because It Is the only just way to look at the subject and If you do you will reap a rich reward later on For while these children do donot donot donot not appreciate what you do do for them now ow when they have homes and children of their own they will understand and be grateful to you and love you I have known women who got more appreciation and more affection from their stepchildren than they ever received from their own Sometimes we wo aro are a long time lime getting our pay for tor doing the right thing but in the end we never fail tail to receive it and with compound Interest DOROTHY DIX C C C C DEAR flEAR DOROTHY DIX I BIX-I I have been married fourteen years to a man 1 who has only one fault tault He lie seems always to overstep himself where bere girls are arc concerned He lie Is instructor of ot golf golt and of ot course comes in contact with both sexes and he is liked by every one But there is always some girl In Jn whose game he takes a great interest and this last one took lessons all winter She came cause to say goodbye and thank him for his kindness in teaching her This same girl sent lovely and expensive presents to the children Ho He likes hikes to be flattered and is so kind hearted he can never see any ones one's faults and is Interested in everybody and their affairs and people tell him ever thing about themselves lIe He makes wonderful tips and he always alwa's gives them to me and I 1 know by his actions that he be thinks I Iam Iam Iam am Just IT But Dut I am worried Sometimes I think he is Just pure- pure minded and at other times I dont donl What do you think WORRIED MOTHER Answer I think dear lady that you have to take husbands as they come and make the best of them on that basis Also Alto I think that you are borrowing trouble and that your hu husband band Is It Ju just t tone one of the kindly friendly souls that love everybody and are interested In everybody's affairs And Anti of ot all men that type typo is the least likely to be a philanderer His affections are spread ad over too wide a field ever to become specific lie He is charmed by every attractive woman that he meets and enjoys enjo's an earful or an eyeful and that is the end of ot it He lie likes the next one who comes along Just as well and the only one he really cares cares for tor is the little woman at home You make a great mistake In being jealous of the women with whom your husbands husband's profession throws him In contact or of thinking that they have any ulterior designs design upon him The chances are that nothing I Is further from the thoughts of either one of them than sentiment It Is your husbands husband busl busi business ness to teach golf The woman Is paying out good money to learn how to play and to get all the benefit she can aan out of his hi Instruction For the time being they are absorbed In golf and as far removed from any thought of lex sex as If they were disembodied bodied spirits Many rany wives make the same mistake that you rou are They are Jealous of ot their husbands' husbands stenographer or of ot any woman with wills whom their husbands enjoy talking and end they cannot understand how a man mon and a woman can spend hours together absorbed in work or in a common Interest and aud with no more personal interest in each other than they would have bave in a congenial companion of ot their own sex I think you are a mighty lucky woman to have a pleasant amiable generous husband who comes home and tells you about the nice women he has been coaching In let the ancient and hon lion honorable game And If I were you I would encourage him to tell m me all about them and I would feel flattered flittered that he thought I had Intelligence enough to see the situation a II as It Is Ic without Imagining things and suspecting him of being silly and flirty with every woman who came along DOROTHY DIX e DEAn HEAR flEAR MISS DIX Our DIX Our family car stays sta in the garage all week and V only comes out on Sunday when dad takes a ride Dont Don't you think a steady stead reliable son of ot 21 might have the tho use every now and then say say two or three times a week ONE OK OF O THE TIlE FAMILY Answer I certainly do But If it father Is I. so stingy with his old car why dont don't you hustle out and earn the money to buy one ono of your own 1 DOROTHY DIX Copyright by Public Ledger