Show Dorothy Dix Talks THERE IS NO GREATER HANDICAP FOR A GIRL THAN A PER WONDERFUL WON ERFUL MOTHER WHO TAKES HER PLACE IN THE SUN AND PUTS HER DAUGHTER IN THE THC SHADE PEOPLE always alway remark what a string strange thing It is that Ellen should I I be such a quiet drab commonplace sort of a girl Irl when the she Is It such sucha a perfectly wonderful mother They seem to think that it reverses the theold theold old legend and is ia a case where a swan aan hatched I t tV V out an ugly uti duckling I But In reality there II U nothing the matter with Ellen except that nu 4 too much mother mothr and that she has hu has hll been bun so 10 overshadowed by her I mother that she ahe has hu never nev had a aC C chance to develop She Is I. Just a col colorless col- col orless orle little plant that has haa grown row up L' L In the shade hade because mother mothe pre preempted empted the place In the sun un In their thel household Ys P IT IT T BEGAN by mother wishing a sort ort of ot a per per- perpetual 4 I babyhood on Ellen and keeping her in a socks and pinafores and being led around by a nursery governess and put to bed at 7 o'clock I until long after girls of her own age ago had quit CIA OIA playing with dolls doll and were were- w re thinking about what they would name their real babies For mother to be young Children do date you so and she couldn't bear to be the mother ot of a halt grown girl So poor Ellen was kept in tho the nursery and mother said uld pretty things about My little baby This treatment didn't make Ellen a moron She has hu too much native Intelligence for fo that but It did make her h. h timid and stunted her development She was wu kept In leading strings so ao long that she learned to depend on en them and had her power of Initiation atrophied She was Wit never ve permitted to stand on her own feet and it hit has made her so 10 In self confidence that she Is afraid to make a move on her hr om oin n volition r ELLEN'S ELLENS ELLE S 'S mother Is one ot of the women who have hare a lot Ot of executive La ability and who run everything in sight eight 81 bt She is always elected president ot of the clubs cluba she be joins join and made chairman ot of committees and of ot course she ehe rules her ber family with a a. rod of ot Iron Iron tells tells them where they get on and where they get off ort And Ellen was wag brought up to be be- believe lIev lieve that it was lese lee majeste to differ from mother eYen even in her h r thoughts The girl Wit was never niver any Iny more permitted to use u. u her h. h mind than If it she he hadn't possessed any such piece of big bag gage aage Mother Mothe did all of her h. h thinking for her and decided all of her problems She ate what mother mothe considered good for her h. h digestion She wears weara what mother considered suitable and becoming She read the books book mother picked out for her She worshipped mothers mother's god and voted mothers mother's ticket when she ehe got old enough I Is I. also alo Ellens Ellen's undoing because mother can do doig ig everything so much better than the girl can She is never permit permitted ted to learn how to do anything at all aU Mother is I. such a sleuth at find finding log ing In bargains and such a wizard at squeezing the last lut cent out of oC a dol dollar lar lan that th t Ellen EUen is never DeTer allowed to use her own judgment in buying things and so she he he has haa no more idea ot of how to handle money than a baby Ellen is 15 naturally domestic and would like to learn how to cook and sew but her mother whose whoso cakes never Dever fall tall cant can't bear to have haTe her messing around the kitchen and wasting good lood sugar and eggs eggl nor can she he endure seeing Ellen botch up material trying to make a a. dresS dregs Besides mother mothe has h. h a fierce Jealousy about t abo anybody Inter Inter- Interfering Interfering fering with her housekeeping and so 0 Ellen will never learn how to cook or sew until she he leaves mother and goes aou Into her own home why they say II a managing mother makes a no no- account daughter while a I lazy lu mother make a smart daughter ELLEN isn't nearly so handsome as mother Strangers always re reo remark mark that Mother is brilliant and dashing with good looks looka that hit bit you in the eye The girl girt is i. inconspicuous You would never no no- notice nolice lice tice her in a a. crowd Well for one thing thin thin the complex Is I. not a I tl besu-tl fier fler Good looks looke are largely self They consist In car car- carrying carrying yourself 60 per cent above your appearance Instead of 70 per cent under It Thata That's the difference between mother mothe and Ellen Ellen has his always alway thought of mother as II being beautiful and admired her and contrasted herself with mother to her own disadvantage until she he has absolutely obliterated herself AND AND then too fine feathers make fine birds bird and mother has always It grabbed the best ot of the feathers A middle aged woman needs real real- really really ly good gowns and jewels you know but young girls look so sweet in simple frocks And Ellen believes this because mother has haa taught her ever since her infancy this gospel ot of abnegation self and that the best I of ot everything must go to mother Ellen has hu few dates datu She Is Isa Is a silent little IItti thing with not much to say uy and no parlor tricks Men Mn find her and difficult to talk to Its It's It because Ellen his has h. h never learned how to talk All her life her role hit has been that of the silent listener for mother has hu always alway monopolized the conversation and she sh has hu been so 0 witty so 0 scintillating so 0 entertaining that nobody has ever eve even noticed that Ellen Is I. sitting around AND AND mother has haa taken away all of or Ellens Ellen's beaux and stood In the way It of ot her marrying Not intentionally for mother would like to see tee Ellen married and established in life lite but whenever a man roan has dawned on the scene mother has so overwhelmed him by her charms and graces and her knowledge of ot how to manage men and flatter them along that he forgot all about poor little quiet Ellen with never a word to say uy for herself or any an knowledge of oC how to exploit herself herselt No there there- Is I. nothing the matter matte with Ellen except too much mother There Is Ie no greater greiter handicap that a girl can have hive than thin a I perfectly wonderful mother who monopolizes monopolize all of the spotlight DOROTHY J DIX IX Copyright by Public Ledger |