Show I Dorothy Dixs Dix's Dix s 's Letter Box J THE OLD BACHELOR TORN BETWEEN LOVE AND HIS DUTY TO HIS WIDOWED THE MOTHER MOTHER THE FOOLISH WIFE WHO V IS JEALOUS OF HER HUSBANDS HUSBAND'S BUSINESS INTEREST INTEREST- WHY INTEREST WHY PASSING UP THE PARLOR FOR THE CABARET MAKES GIRLS OLD MAIDS T EAR MISS I DIX DIX I am a bachelor 52 years old and live 6 with a DEAR DEAlt widowed mother of 76 7 whom I support Six months ago I met meta meta meta a very attractive woman of 48 98 that I want to marry My mother Is willing that I J should marry this woman but she InsIsts upon k keeping the tho entire management of ot th the home In her hands while naturally this lady should she she marry me would want to be bo the mistress of other 1 her own home My mother has a IL very ery domineer domineer- domineering ing lag spirit and would never consent to this Now I 1 love lovo m my mother and desire to make 4 her last days harpy happy but I have alreadY walled waited oo 00 long to marry and do not wish to lose what a nay be my last chance of getting exactly the kind I of wife wife I wish What can I Ido do dot T G R It ANSWER i The question of which one of two rival N 4 aspirants should sit upon up on a throne thront has f never caused half the heart burning and andA envy and bitterness that the question of which 0 of two women should sit at the head of the table has Nor has hai any Solomon yet arisen who had wisdom enough to settle the of how to divide a house between problem DL ULY two ladles ladies each of whom Is II bound and determined to run It Soils So its no wonder that you OU send out an S 0 O S call for tor help and andI andI J I only regret that I cannot give you some magic formula for or solving ot Of It Is easy enough to see lice how It should your difficulty ui course w bo and turn over overall overall overall be solved Your mother should graciously abdicate all authority to your wife The commonest gratitude and appreciation that she should atlon of all that you have done for her demands not stand in the way of ot your our happiness You have given her years of devotion You have sac sac- sacrificed sacrificed sacrificed your life to her her You have ave slaved to support her herand and the least east that she can do to repay you Is 1 not to stand In your sunshine But If she che is like all of the other domi- domi domineering domineering old women I have known that view of the matter will not appeal to her She will sit alt fast where she ahe Is and hang on to her keys with a death grip and offer you up to her toye l ve of f bossing things without a qualm It Is nothing to her that she Is blighting your last romance and andI I keeping you from marrying a a woman who would make you a tender and loving companion It is nothing to her that when she dies she will leave you homeless and lonely unless you ou marry arr now For the sake ot of being the mistress of ot the house and having everything done exactly her way sho is perfectly willing to sacrifice your happiness So dont look for your mother to make the gesture of re- re reso re renunciation Hunt Ilion a She wont won't d do o it Theres There's nothing so self centered self and selfish as age None who cling so frantically to every vestige of power as the old There There remains then but fog fo you and the woman you love to make the best beat of a bad badi i situation and submit with what grace you can to the tyrant on your hearth Naturally every wife wants to be the head bead ot of her her- own her own establish establish- establishment establishment ment Especially does the tho woman woman who marries late In life crave the pleasure of ot building the nest she has waited for so long But In a case of this kind it seems to me that if she really loved the man she would be willing to marry him and stand aside and leave the old lady In possession of her much much- much coveted coveted authority as long as she lives which cant can't be many more years Cut But what an unenviable position the old put themselves In when they make those those about about them look forward to their death as a day of freedom DOROTHY DIX C e kEAR MISS My DIX DIX My sister Is married to a splendid man kind DEAR DEAlt arid and generous generous and a model husband He lie has a fine fino but it Is- Is such Is-such such that his hours are irregular Irregular and often orten ho he is late for dinner This infuriates my sister Jack says that he loves his work and that it doe doesn't nt tire tiro him no matter how hard It is but that It takes all of the tho life Ilfe out of ot him to come corne home borne and find my sister cross with him Dont Don't you think it a wrong for a wife to interfere in her hus bus husband's bands band's business TROUBLED SISTER ANSWER I certainly do de It Is a fatal mistake for a woman to tomake tomake tomake make and one that that costs her dearly for It nearly alwa always s results In her losing her husband or her wrecking his busi busi- bu business business i- i ness nesa and losing her meal ticket There Is If nothing more unreasonable than the attitude that so many women take toward their husbands work They seem to be Jealous of It and to Ignore the fact that this hated rival provides them with the comfortable living and the good clothes and cars about which they are so keen Yet you will often hear an otherwise Intelligent woman speak of o 0 her husbands husband's office in tones she might might use referring to a vamp she suspected of o stealing him away from her And when a man pleads business as an excuse for not doing something his wife wife wants him to do she plainly Indicates that she doesn't believe him and suspects him of o trying to lo establish a false alibi Millions Millions of of silly women such as your sister li la I refuse to recognize that a business man cannot control his time and so they raise ructions every time husband falls to punch the home time clock on the dot Such women explain why Innumerable men fall fait who started out In life with great promise of o doing doing- big things Their wives take alt all allot or of the heart out of ot them and quench all or of o their enthusiasm It also explains why many men wander away from their own firesides seek seek- ing seeking the sympathy and understanding they fall tall to 10 find at home h home me A mans man's career I It Is the big thing In life to him That isIf is II If f Jie he amounts to anything He wants some lome woman weman to talk It over with some lame woman who Is interested in his hi plans and hopes and with whom he can discuss them endlessly If he cant can't do that with his hll wife if she hates hate his old business he either slumps and loses hi his own In Interest erest and ambition or else he finds some tome woman who doesn't regard what he heI Is heIs trying to do as the dream of a crank and talking shop as the greatest bore on earth As for tor the wife who Is willing to blight her husbands husband's career for the forthe sake or of o a few tow burnt potatoes she doesn't deserve to have a go go- go getter getter go-getter husband And Heaven pity him DOROTHY DIX MISS DIX I T l n DEAR DEAlt am very ery much attracted by a pretty y young oung wo- wo woman man and go to see her two or three evenings a week Now this girl has never once Invited me to spend the evening in her home Always when I J arrive she has her hat on ready to go out to some someplace someplace place of o amusement until I am about beaten out by this battle or of thorough thorough-ly shows We have never sat down and discussed any topic thorough ly Iy or had a chance to get well really acquainted The girls girl's alibi for always Ys being on the go Is that her parents would sit us out If it we attempted to stay at home But this sort of ot wing the is wearing me out Dont Don't you OU think girls make a mistake In not givIng men a chance to see what sort of fireside companions they would make And would that sort of o a girl ever be willing to settle down and stay at home borne of ot an evening e GEORGE ANSWER One of the reasons why ther there are more inore more old maids maid now than there were In our time mothen-time Is It because the girls have passed paned up the parlor for th the cabaret and men dont don't pop bythe the question In public places Its It's the quiet evening by the drop light that turns a mans man's thoughts to matrimony not the mad rush from place to place For after all what a man wants In a wife Is some one to stay at home with ot t some one to step out with But Dut as to whether girls who love 13 to gad will be willing to settle down don after marriage and stay put you never can tell Sometimes they acquire the jazz mania and wear their husbands out as they wore wor their beaux out dragging them around to places of o amusement Sometimes they get so BO fed up on parties that they never want to go to goto another after they are married But I should think that a girl cared more for the good times I was giving her th than than n she ahe did for me If she was never willing to spend an evening alone with me One of the first signs of love Is II the desire for what the French call th the I solitude of two DOROTHY DI Copyright by Public Ledger |