Show I 1 DOROTHY DIX TALKS TALES p R niX DIX the th h World Worlds ni hea Paid raid Woman WHEN FULL DUTY TO CHILDREN HAS BEEN DONE WIVES LIKE SMALL NATIONS HAVE THE RIGHT OF SELF DETERMINATION THEY CAN QUIT ON THE JOB IF THEIR HUSBANDS HAVE BEEN DEEN TYRANTS ALL THESE YEARS n ARTHA was as as a pretty warm warmhearted romantic youn young girl cirl full of MARTHA hIgh igi and th Joy of living When she he was tl t ent she Bhe th tell fit in InOC Inlove OC with Uh Thomas who ho bo was an exemplary man Dan and married him ciro i It seemed emd an ideal match One of Gf I I those thos and they were w re married and loved Ived happily ever afterwards kind of the th atory books Martha became a notable house wife houf-wife wife She Sh was ws thrifty and economical No and than hero her moro more mor epic plc span apan house was waa wa than No man sat ut down to a better dinner 4 did dud her h r husband And when the th babies came no children were cared for f r more mor ten terly none nono non reared with more mor loving wis dom tha than hers hera hr r And through It all Martha kept her herS 4 j self ui u No matter matt r how h w much she h econ econ econ- econ y 4 t she the was always alway neatly and taste fully dressed No matter what the tr j under which she sh lived Dhe ahe one always turned matter a cheerful face faco fac on the world No Dt how hw hard she ahe worked she th always found time for read reading prospered as at h ho he was bound to do with such a helpmeet He H i iwas THOMAS T was sober and moral and to all outward seemIng a model husband But ho he r inflicted on his family all ill the es of a little and mean nature In his home homo he lie sas aa as a grinding tyrant who delighted In shOw allow allowing tog ing hit his power pOl by denying his wife and children every pI pleasure ensure and ond Ih their ever plan He was wa stingy to the point of miserliness He Ho raged like lika a madman when the household hou eh ld bills came In and every cent c for any extra expenditure had to be coaxed coax d and cajoled and Jollied out of him He was waa cross crof and surly and grouchy Ho H would spend days daya In a frozen fr rn silence ll ne In which no rio 0 one n dared F it to move or speak apak for fear o of further offending him and he heW heSs W sent the th domestic atmosphere down to zero ero The sound of his hiskey hiskey hiskey key In the door at night stilled the th prattle of the childrens children's lip lips and sent the th cat scurrying to the th cellar And the family looked forward to Sunday and holidays when the tho th head of the tho house would be at home as days of dread and doom T DID not take much knowledge lEdge of tb the real Thomas to 10 dissipate I IT UT Marthas Martha's ideal Idal of o the lovel lovet she he had hid married It did not require many mony years of browbeating bro and parsimony and Injustice to kill her love lose for him But by that tin time Martha Martho bad l d given ghen en hostages host cs to fortune and she bad the grIt fit and the courage courar to carr arr on for lor the sake eake of her children She stood between them and their father She Sh got ot things out of him by hook hoot or crook for or them softened their lives Uvee as much na as pos possible possible sible b bv by her boundless lovo loo 10 0 and sen Ice She Sh literally offered ot herself up to them BS as s a lIIng Thea The left home borne and got tot away from father as soon as the they could Some of o them are married and ba bay hae e homes home of ot their 0 on o n The others are r settled In business But Dut they are ro all avay aay a ay from father there here they I can live 11 0 their own lives In their own wa I And Martha wants to go too She Sh also alto desires a little free freedom freedom freedom dom a little peace a little happinesS t But when she tells tella her children that she wants to leave leav the th nan man th that t they fled from they are arc horrified HEY Y tell her hr that the she will dIsgrace dup them They say that people wm will TH T talk They SIn say that If it she sh has baa stood living lIvinS- with father for or twenty twenty the JeaN vean they dont don't see sea why she the cant can't stand It until the end They think It ul for or people who have been mimed BO Ro looe to sepa pa- pa I ate These selfish young people to save their own faces facts and to t avoid the unpleasantness of having family affairs gossIped gO about are arc eager ager to sacrifice mother They are arsi ro not willing to love live with father but they have no hesitation in dooming their mother to that fate And when they say uy that because she ohe has endured twenty five years of marriage with t lm she sh should It on to th the tha bitter last lat of her hor life lifo they are talking fool fool They might as well say uy that a prisoner on r who has been In Jail for twenty five yea years year should refuse freedom freed rn They forget that mother has served out her term at hard labor l Marttha IS 11 bewildered about what hat she should do doShe doShe NEVERTHELESS N doIN She doe does not cot know whether sho aho should hould liten ten to life lite lit calling lIing to her heror heror heror or to 10 her children She Is only forty fort years old strong and vis ous of mind and body with many years left Ift before her in which to be happy or miserable Which shall she choose I I say aay she sho th has the right of self determination She has done her full duty to her children She has no duty whatever to the man who failed to keep the th marriage vow to love and cherish her who has haa ha shown her hr no kindness kindness no tenderness no consideration That frees free her from every very obligation to him and if f she ah la Is I wise wiss sho aho sh will tako fk what Is I left for her of life litand and do with It as a she aho sh chooses and at least be free froe fr from the dally daily harassment of living under the th same sam roof with a man she ahe has hall come to loathe loath and despise THERE are ar many In the th world but believe cue me the th num num- num num 1 I 1 ber her would be ho small It If every man realized that patient Martha was going to gIve notice and Quit as soon SOOil as the children are ore grown unless he made mide the wife wire Job attractive e to her DOROTHY DIX s Copyright 1924 1124 by Public Ledger Company |