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Show J Dorothy Talks I MAKING THE MOST OF NOW AND HERE. i B7 DOROTHY DiX, The World's Highest Paid Woman Writer j 1 Among my acquaintances is a certain cer-tain -well-to-do elderly woman who is always dressed in garments of expensive expen-sive material, but they are about three , years behind the fashion. When other women are wearing tight skirts, her skirts are four yards around the bottom. When other wom-JKmfot wom-JKmfot en have on boufant sleeves, her pSSTj? sleeves fit her arm liko a sausage casing. When other women's hats are untrimmed, hers are loaded down with ostrich feathers, and altogether she invariably looks like a back number, ; yet she spends as much money on her j wardrobe as many a woman does who j presents a fashion plate appearance. Now the reason that this lady resembles re-sembles something that has been ; fished out of the rag bag instead of a Daiiy Hint from Paris is because when she gets a new dress and hat she considers them too coocf to wear when they are fresh, except on some exceedingly resplendent occasion, and as resplendent occasions occur but seldom in her quiet life she doesn't wear them at all. She carefully wraps up in many coverings her fine new frock and hat and puts them away in the closet while she wears her year before last things, and by the time she gets around to them they, too, are out of date, so she never catches up with the styles. In the same spirit sho covers up her new rugs with bits of old carpet, and smothers her new furniture in tidies to protect it, and eats off of : knicked and broken china to avoid cracking her new dishes, so that her house is always shabby, although it Is ful1 good tbnS3 tnat their owner i Iffi-v-" considers too good to use. j This woman never has the pleasure of being well dressed or living in the 5 midst of beautiful surroundings be- cause she has never learned to make : the most of now and here. She puts j off using and enjoying her pretty t things until some future time, and t when the time comes the pleasure that she mignt have had is gone. Her frock that was once so smart has become be-come a scarecrow, her rugs are soiled, her furniture scratched, her china an old pattern, and she's never had any satisfaction out of them at all. We can see easily enough this woman's wom-an's folly as it manifests itself in a material way, but do not most of us spiritually fall under the same condemnation? con-demnation? We can see that if we are to get any good out of our clothes and furniture we must do so in the present, but do not most of us put off enjoying the finer things of ilfe until it is too lato and the joy we might have had is forever gone? We see this pathetic mistake being made so often in the domestic relationship. rela-tionship. A man and woman love each other deeply and sincerely. A woman appreciates to the full every fine and noble quality of her husband. She could weep with gratitude when she thinks of how hard he toiled to keep her soft and safe of how deep and abiding is his patience with all of her little weaknesses, of the generosity that makes him offer nimself up as a dally sacrifice on the family altar. The man never looks at his wife without feeling like going down on his knees before her as to a saint. She typifies for him all that is good, and pure, and loyal, and devoted, all the qualities that lift humanity nearer to the stars, and there isn't a day when, in his secret soul, he doesn't bless God for having given her to him for a wife. Subconsciously these people know that theirs is one of the rare marriages mar-riages in which a man and woman have really found their mates, and sometimes they mean to. enjoy this precious cup of vedded bliss that is at their lips sometime they are going to sip it drop by drop, tasting to the fullest its flavor, sometime they are going to take long hours in revel- ing in a perfect comradeship. But not just now. They are too busy in the present moment with business, with housekeeping, with parties and clubs, and a thousand foolish interests to even realize that they are happy, or that their marriage mar-riage is a success, or to say a word of thanks or appreciation to each other. And then one of them dies, and the lime when they might have1, enjoyed themselves together is gone past all recall. And every day you see people making mak-ing the same fatal mistake about their children. In the wide universe there is nothing else a millionth part so enchanting, so interesting, such fun as a little child whose mind is just beginning to unfold, whose eyes are opening to a world of wonder, and whose little tongue is just beginning to babble queer comments on life. To ' feel the cling of tender little arms around your neck, and the cuddle of a soft little body in the hollow of your j arm, brings a thrill to the heart more poignant, sweeter, and more satisfying satisfy-ing than any other that ever pierces the human heart. I Probably there is not one father and mother ii a thousand who doesn't know this, or who would sell a child for a million dollars, yet how few parents pa-rents do you ever see who are really en jo v ing their babies, or who realize that they are eating their white I bread of life while their children are i playing about their feet, and begging for bedtime stories? They expect to enjoy their children sometime, but not just now. Now they worry and fret and scold because Johnnie gets his face so dirty, and tears his clothes, and Mary spots the tablecloth, and little Susie broke her best doll, and there are toy soldiers under foot in the hall, and the best hair brush has been used for a submarine sub-marine In the bathtub, and the cooky jar has been raided, and hair ribbons are always getting lost. Oh, certainly, mother and father are going to enjoy their children after a bit, but before they know it thero are no more children to be tucked into bqd, no more litue prayers to be heard, no little figures climbing up on their knees, and laying drowsy little golden heads against their breasts. The children are gone, they are men and women out In the world, and their house is left empty, with only tho barren memory for comfort that they missed the best thing that life ever offered to them. Most of us could be a thousandfold happier than we are, and get far more out of life, if we only had intelligence intelli-gence enough to enjoy the present moment mo-ment and get tho most pleasure out of it, Instead of putting off enjoying things to some indefinite future that never comes. We are tired and overworked and we need a rest and a pleasant trip, but in place of taking It while we still have health and strength enough to enjoy it we wait until we are so sick and miserable that tho only place we can go to Is a sanitarium. We scrimp and save and deny ourselves all tho little indulgences that we cravo and that we would so enjoy now in order to pile up money to enjoy in our old age. And then we find out that when we are old we no longer want things, and there are no pleasures that our money will buy us. Life has not taught us the elementary ele-mentary fact that wo only live one day at a time, and that what wo have missed today we have missed forever. Therefore the wise man and woman make the best of now and here. It is all we have of time and" opportunity. campaign in Box Elder county were i considered. oo |