Show Dorothy Dixs Dix's Dix s 's Letter Box IS THERE ANY RECIPE FOR PRYING CONVERSATION OUT UT OF A DUMB HUSBAND THE SELFISH MAN MAN MN AND THE SENSIBLE BLE WIDOW HOW TO DEAL WITH AN UNGRATEFUL SON DEAR D 7 LAR DOROTHY DIX I DIX I am a young youns oun wife who with three baby girls and ami I am m starved for tor companionship But Dut try as I ma may I cannot Inveigle my husband Into a n conversation conver Uon no matter whether the sub sub- subject subject be sports or current events event or tho the latest murder All ho bo does Is to give far tar tar-i me a A away look ook and say Yes Yea or No 1 0 or merely grunt F T Now my husband Is good looking and In fn r So am I But ButI I might as well be beI one ot of the chairs ln In the dining room for all alli allf f the attention I get set get WHY do you suppose t husbands tres their whoa 10 so utterly for tor k granted No wonder wives leave home MRS H T S Answer Anwer An w r s My dear fl ar lady Idy If I 1 I possessed a aT T 1 formula for lubricating the tir vocal cords corda of husbands at home and mak making ing them th m nice chatty fireside corn com million millions of grateful wives o- o would build a monument In my honor DOROTHY DIX bigger than the th pyramids For you rou do not suffer utter alone There Th r are thousands upon thousands and ten thousands of other husbands who seem to be ba automatically bereft of ot the th power of ot speech as they cross their own thresholds and who spend pend their evenings giving gl a lifelike and convincing imitation of a store tor dummy with an evening paper Japer In Its hand Indeed dumbness ss Is If a complaint that afflicts the great treat majority ot of husbands It Is only occasionally that you find a i man who talks at athorn home bome and who takes take as a much trouble to try to be interesting and en- en entertaining en in the bosom tha-bosom bosom of ot his bis family as ai he does abroad abroM Why this I fi is nobody knows It Isn't because all wives are dull and stupid and Incapable of understanding what their th husbands are talking about or so devoid of humor that thy they cannot catch the point of a story atory The average wife I Is quIte as Intelligent as u her husband and reads as much and Is le as aswell aswell well posted as aI he h I Is and has her laugh hung on a trigger hair that would go off at any witticism But the tb fact tact remains that the man who before marriage can mono mono- monologue mono mono-locue logue to a a girl tin for tor hours at a time finds nothing to say to her after they are married The Tb man whose good stories set tet every other din din- dinner ner nor table in a roar gobbles the he food at hiS hit own table In silence and hE who Is the tho life of or the thi party elsewhere Is a ice clam at home Perhaps men talk themselves out In business durIng the day and want to rest iest up at night Perhaps they consider that the line of f conversation the they carry Is 18 too good for domestic consumption Per Per- Perhaps Perhaps haps they are just lust selfish and are not willing to make the effort to tobe tobe tobe be amusing And perhaps they dont don't realize what a bitter disappoint disappoint- disappointment disappointment ment they are ne to their wives s for the chief thing a woman marries for i is companionship She wants the th stimulus of I contact with a mans man's mind She Sh want to ent enter r Into her hus- hus husband's hus husband's bands band's thoughts thought and interests and when he h shuts her hr out and refuses to talk to her about what he thinks or what she sh thinks think she feel feels that she Is getting mighty little out of matrimony The woman who has little children to take care of or has her hands full but her mind Is empty Her day Is dull and the least that her husband can do when lIe he comes home at at night Is to try to be as as he was in the days when he hi a was courting her Be sure then that It If he be had sat up and just grunted when he was spoken tel td and she had had to corkscrew every remark out ot of him that there would have been no wedding bells When you Iou think how stupid the th average husband makes his wife's evenings the wonder Is la that more mor wives dont don't bang the front door behind them and go out and hunt up other men who arent aren't married to theme them and who consequently will talk For It Is la only husbands who have hav the silence complex DOROTHY DIX f DE DEAR R mss MISS DIX I DIX I am a man 55 years old and am In fn love with a aJ sweet widow of 31 She has one child chUd but I dislike to marry a woman with th a child What shall I do about It She Shi refutes refuses to kiss me Dont Don't you think that it If she loved me she would kiss me I have hae never asked her to marry me but she says she the loves me I fear she Is a flirt Do you think a man of at m my age ace had better stay single EDWARD Answer I think the th widow is a sensible woman who sees seu that you Iou are a selfish man who Is thinking of hi his own good Instead of hers hera No Ko man is really In love with a woman who is as prudent as you are and I think that with your temperament you will be very wise to stay single Marriage is for those who who- can an love without counting the cost who can put Jut the happiness ot of o their beloved one above their own and evidently c you dont don't belong in that class Certainly you have no right to marry a widow with a child and resent the child You couldn't expect a mother to be bc willing to part with her h r child That That would be b asking too much and it la is i something that no woman with a heart In her breast would do And If you have never asked your widow to marry what what right have you to expect her to kiss you She is a wise woman not to do It DOROTHY DIX DOROTHY We DIX DIX We have havo a son whom my husbAnd and I J I DEAF DEA havo sent through high school and one year ear at college at the cost of great treat sacrifices to ourselves Now Kow ho he is making makine 50 50 a week and his hili father told him ho should give gire me mo some money every week for his I no board and laundry but but this he refuses refuse to do He lIe shows no appreciation la lon of at anything we wo have done for him and I worry worly a great deal about the disappointment I have hue met with in him What would you du do In this case cue MRS E S f Answer Answer ite le Only thing to do Is to tell your ungrateful son on that he must either pay board or leave home That is only fair to you Iou and will be b his salvation The more you en selfishness In a child the more rank It grows In his soul That h has s been the th mistake you Iou have made mad You have hav gIven everything to your son on and anda a asked ked nothing of or him until he takes everything Is as a mere matter of course He does not think of you as u anything but to minister to his pleasure All AI children are are Greedy and selfish They have hae to be taught con ide ration for tor other II people o lc and to respect other peoples people rights and to do their theft char share and divide with others other rs Evidently you never In- In inculcated In Inculcated this Spirit In your boy You gave cave him the tho best or of o everything You trade made the sacrifices and now you arc are reaping the harvest of the tares th that t you ou sowed If you had taught your lour son Ion that he h must do all that he could to save uve sav mother If he h had been brought up to revere r vr mother and save savo sav his hla pennies to give her a little treat If he had been taught to appreciate father and to feel that he must mut do all he h could to lighten fathers father's burden as soon oon as he h began making money he would have found his hi chief f Joy In helping you u He would v not be b willing to graft his hi living off you Its It's It late now to begin to undo the harm you have hav done but you ou had at least lea t better save eave whatever money you OU can because when you are re old you cannot depend upon a a selfish son Ion to take tak caro care of at you ou Ho will send end you to the poorhouse DOROTHY DIX Copyright by Public Ledger |