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Show Dorothy Dix Says A strong woman may love a weak man to the death, but no j , weak man long loves a strong woman after he is married j to her. By DOROTHY DIX, The World's Highest Paid Woman Writer ( A woman, who is 27 years old and successful In business, has fallen In love with a man who is two years younger than she is, and who does not t ' make enough money to support a wife. , ' The woman realizes that she is not . , only older in years, but stronger in tk character and more effiicent than the , 4 man, yet she loves him, and she is S wondering what the chances of happi- jjJ ness would bo for them both if she I3.v, marries him, in a case where the ordi- tf .; nary order of things between husband lrv and wife is reversed. , I wonder, too. t The ago part makes no difference. fl ) Tvo years, nor five, do not count Ife one way or another between a man gg and a woman. Besides, there is noth-Ppj noth-Ppj ing more absurd than to count age by gfa years. There are women who are jy young at 70, and others who are old ipS maids In their cradles, and a woman l4 is as young as her heart is. In other fe days women aged faster than men. but Ta now women, and especially business C$ women, whose lives are full of varied $3 l' interests, keep young longer than men, ra who are apt to burn the candle at both '-"I ends 3 J This woman need not hesitate to '3 marry her suitor because he is a few , A years younger than she. Neither need $j ! she doubt the permanency of her love Vf., for him because it is half maternal, i i for that peculiar brand of affection, ,l ' which has In it both the love of a s woman and a man and of a woman for jf, her child, is the most indestructible (t j passion on earth. It will stand fire ftj and water, and unfaithfulness and gl t drink, and shiftlessness and neglect, m and still live on. Ijfy j The real problem in this case and gb j it's one of the new stumbling blocks ! that the entrance of women into the j working world has strewn in the path of matrimony is the attitude of the man, and the way that he feels about , the situation. And truta compels me to state that while women have gotten a new viewpoint view-point upon the relation of husband and wife, nion look at it from the same old lord-and-master angle. That is to say, a woman can be perfectly happy In marriage In which she does the work and supports the family, but a man is miserable In a marriage In : which he Is not the high cockalorum and rules the roost. ' It Is absolutely indispensable to the ' masculine peace of mind for a man to i feel that he is far. far superior to his wife, that she looks up to him as to the little god who sits up aloft and dis- penses favors when properly placated. Also, he must be the orqele or the family circle, upon whose utterances ' the woman he has done the honor to j marry must hang with bated breath. 1 Now, it is difficult, not to say im- I ; possible, to take this attitude towards I a woman who is a better business man P i than he is, who has clearer Judgment I , . .. .. i iiiw in i I - and more Initiative and who pulls down the better salary envelope, and for this reason the relationship between be-tween the clever business woman and her husband are almost invariably strained. When the gray mare is the better horse her yoke mate lets her pull tho load, but he is never grateful to her for doing it. The inborn passion of woman Is to serve and help tho man sho loves, n seems to the woman who is in business, busi-ness, and who feels that she has a1 keener commercial vision than he has This doesn't make her love him less, nor does it give her any contempt for him or a sense of her own superiority. Her only thought is to brace up his weakness with horostrength, to supplement supple-ment his intelligence with her own, and to be the woman behind the door of his success. She has the generosity generos-ity to give all. but he has not the generosity gen-erosity to receive what she offers. Ho resents her every suggestion as an effect ef-fect to boss him. He sees a covet criticism in every idea she advances, and the more sho is in the right about financial matters, the more he hates her for it. Also, tne woman who tries to help her husband by continuing to earn money after she is married, does so at her pern, for in the large majority of cases the man who findB out that his wife can support the family and him, sits calmly down and lets her do u Nor is this the worst feature of the case, for, stung by the Inward consciousness con-sciousness that they are not doing a man's part in the world, those dependent depend-ent husbands seek to assert their manhood man-hood by a petty tyranny in their own households, and you will find that he most disagreeable husbands In the world-are the ones whose wives do the most for them. A strong woman may love a weak man to death, but no weak man long loves a strong .woman after he is mar-rled mar-rled to her. There is that in her winch shames his own lack, and, as a general thing, it Is not long before he fdrsakes 1 or for tho society of some fluffy-head, ed little goose, who Is sillier and weaker than he is, and before whom he can pose as a great, big, broad- fn France, where matlamo is in business busi-ness with monsieur, as well as married ,. him, whore the two help and sup- plement each other, and are prosperous prosper-ous and comfortable and happy, they seem to have worked this problem out to a satisfactory conclusion. We haven't done it yet in America, where, curiously enough, the idea of the Ser-galio Ser-galio still prevails, and a man Is happiest hap-piest when he feels himself most a providence from whom all blessings flow to his helpless little doll baby of a wife. Of course, he's got to get over that archaic idea, but at present he resents his wife being his equal, and can't forgive for-give her for being his superior, and so, for their mutual good, I should advise my correspondent not to marry her weakling of a sweetheart. She will get neither thanks nor ha'penso. On tho contrary, let her marry some man to whom she looks up so much that she begins every sentence with "John says," and they will both live happy ever after. |