OCR Text |
Show Dorothy Dix Talks JUST SUPPOSE If .B.' . D K. T.H V . 1 X' 1 'I C Wrid. '& Highes paid W-oman Writer Mr Man, just suppose I I You were a nice, good looking. young fellow, and vou had always B looked forward to some Ja f a 1 1 i n l; in love with .1 charming girl anu Diamine her. and stabhshing an ideal home in which ynu would live happv evpr afterwards t: And suppose some day you met tup with the lad of your dream, and you fell (1- fpHr;,:r;, iii f,-. i with li r. land wanted her more than you ever i Wanted anything else in your life, ana you knew that if you married ber, .you would make her just the sort or husband she ncr-ded th kind thai Btuld know how to cherish her, ana ; help her alone in tho world. I . But, you had to miss getting the . girl whom nature intended for your mate, because the conventions didn t allow vou to show hT that you loveu I her, or to ask her to be your wife, and all that you could do was jusi to sit around and look willing, ana , finally to take any sort of old wile that wished herself on you. Yet, that is the matrimonial handicap handi-cap that every woman has to carry, -Mr. Man, . uat suppose -You were an industrious, rompe- tent, highly efficient office man, but nature had cursed ou with a snub i nose, and carroty hair, and salaratuu ' biscuit complexion, and every time I you applied for a job, you were passed over for some little movie hero looking kid, with cow like eyes, and' I a poetic curl in tin- midst of his whu-I whu-I forehead, and solid ivory underneattl , it, because employers expected their j stenographers and bookkeepers to be ' - living pictures, as well as good spell-iers spell-iers and accountants ' .Or, suppose you were a highly educated, edu-cated, intelligent man, who had read I tnd thought and traveled, but you I Were forty years old, and fat, and ban i a bald spot coming on the top of your : head, and nobody would invite you to dinner, except as an act of charity, although you could keep a whole table emertained with your conversation, conversa-tion, because no young woman was idling to hao you saddled off on her at tho dinner party, and when you Went to dances, you had to sit out very one of them with the grandpapas, grand-papas, because no pretty young girl ; could be induced to dance with you, j ' &d the only way you could get any Ocial attention was simply by buying it with dinners, and automobiles and , ; theatro tickets. : i Yet, that is the sad fate of the ! ihomely woman. Suppose. Mr. Man t That you had a natural vocation 'or some particular work, and that j 3'ou had spent years of time, and lota of money preparing yourself to J i oo this especial labor efficiently. Sup P06e there wasn't any detail of fh-profession fh-profession of law or medicine, or dentistry', den-tistry', or merchandizing, or acting, or editing that wasn't just thrillinglv m I leresting to you. and that the very atmosphere of a stor or office was the breath of life to you, whereas, you couldn't abide the dull. flat, monotony of the country, and hated the hard and 1 uncongenial manual labor of farm Ing, although you were perfectly aware that agriculture was the great, i original occupation of nil mankind, and that the prosperity of the country depends on the farmer. And suppose, when you got arrmied. public opinion forced vou arbitrarily to give up your practice of law or medicine, or dentistry, or merchandising, merchan-dising, or acting, or editing, and be- come a farmer, because ft is held that farming is a mans natural occupation oc-cupation and it reflects on his wife ; somehow J he doesn't farm. And uppose, you hated farming and weren't trained to farmrv and I didn't know how to farm, and you could earn a big salary at the kind oi work you loved and enjoyed doing, I and you could get somebody frr a few dollars a week to do your farming farm-ing better than you could do it, and you had to do without many of the i luxuries you had been accustomed to, j and could so easily make the money , to buy. but your wife wouldn't think I of allowing you to go back to ur old ' work for fear of what people would I Si. But that is what happens to the professional women aud business women when they get married. Mr. Man, just suppose You went into partnership with another an-other man, and you put into the busi-I busi-I ness every cent of money yon had, and you worked for the success of the firm tirelessly, and you conserved its re- I ! sources, and gave every energy of i your body and brain to pushing it on j to success, suppose you got up au , hour or two before your partner in the nomine, and worked an hour ,r two after he went to bed at night, and ou took on your shoulders the most mental, and uninteresting , branch of labor. And suppose that your partner nev- , er told you about now things were going with the firm, or consulted your opinion, and that when he cam to dividing the profits of the business, busi-ness, that .11 ho gave you was just your food and lodging, and that whenever you wanted a dollar, you had to go to j i the senior member of the firm and ask him for it as a favor, instead of jiuit taking it as your fair share, to I which you had as much right as he , had, and that he always asked you what you did with that quarter he gave you a week before last, and reprimanded re-primanded you for your extravagance. Suppose the firm got rich largely I owing to your labor, and thrift, and j economy, yet you never realized ou I any of the assets, you never had a I bank account of your own, or a single dollar that you could do with as you I pleased. Mr. Man. these are the things that happen to ever) woman Suppose you put yourself in a woman's place and try to make life easier for her. |