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Show f- Dorothy Dix Talks J 1 THE BUSINESS WOMAN AS A WIFE ! : By DOROTHY DIX, the World's Highest Paid Woman Writer ! "Do you think that going into busi-I busi-I nesd unfits a woman for domesticity? I Do jou think a business woman makes I u good wife?" asks a young man. i f 1 flunk that the business woman Is f tho preferred risk in matrimony. I think that there is no other training l for wifehood equal to that which a girl tf get3 in a business office, and that it is n Pity that every woman has not had the experience of actually earning ' her own living for a year or Ivo be-. f fore she marries. I i ' There are many reasons why the! . business girl makes a belter wife, all i I things considered, than the domestic : ; sirl The first is. of course, the ob-f ob-f vioiis one that she is apt to be more! tbri'ty and economical, and knows j more about handling money, and get-i; get-i; ting the value out of It. I Zo woman who has ever earned a ; dollar looks upon It with the same . I Mlii kjrriiiiii i miiumimap eyes as does the woman who has never worked for money, but has always had j it given to her. To the one the dollar mark is the symbol of toll, wearlnoss, I strain and anxiety. To the other it! simply stands for pleasure and the gratification of desire. Therefore the i wff who kuows from experience bowj hard her husband makes his money is ' more careful of It than the wife who I has u vague general idea that green-; backs grow on trees, and all that a man has to do is to go out and pluck them off and bring them to her to 1 throw away. J Business Girl More Reasonable. The second reason why the business I girln makes a good wife is that she is mor? reasonable than the domestic girl because she understands tho dc- mands of business. She knows that j the ver fact that a man is prospering in business often causes him to be j - - i hard up for ready money so that he cannot afford the new car or the fur coat that his wife has sot her heart j upon, and that she thinks he is mean, not to give her because he admits that , business is good. Therefore when a man explains to ibis business wife how they must economize econ-omize in tho present, in order to be rich in the future, she understands, and is glad to cut expenses to the bone to help realize his ambitions Instead of weeping, and fretting, and complaining com-plaining as the domestic wife so often of-ten does under such circumstances. Knows Exigencies of Business. Also, knowing the exigencies of business, she knows that a man cannot can-not always break up an important conference con-ference Just because his wife Is sot on having meals on the strike of the clock, and that there are times and seasons when he must stay downtown to entertain out-of-town customers, and so fcho does not havo hysterics, or get green eyed with jealousy, every time her husband does not punch the time clock at the appointed hour. The third reason why the business woman is a preferred risk in matrimony matri-mony is because she has moro sympathy sympa-thy tor hor husband than tho domestic woman ha3. There- is nothing that teaches us pity like having suffered ourselves. The woman who has toiled in the commercial treadmill hnows that when the day's work is done men and women, alike, are exhausted in body, mind, and soul. They have been through struggles, and fret, and worry untd their nerves are raw and quiver-ing. quiver-ing. and they havo reached the place wii"rc one additional burden is the straw that breaks the camel's hack. The business woman remembers that when she stumbled across her threshhold of an evening, all she wanted want-ed on earth was a hot bath, and some-good some-good food, and for nobody to speak to j her until she had time to rest and pull j herself together. Therefore she greets j her husband with a smile, and coddles cod-dles him silently, and feeds him swift, ly, and lets him do as he pleases. Omits Recital of Woes. She does not moot him at the front door with a recital of everything that I has gone wrong during the day, nor get peeved and think he is grouchy because be-cause ho doesn't feel like talking, nor dooj she quarrel with him because he won't put on his evening clothes and go out to a party with her. I The dpmestic woman doesn't see what on earth there is to tire a man out in sitting at a mahogany desk in an artistically decorated office all day. She thinks he should be glad to go out and dance until ono o'clock to get some exercise. The business woman has been there, and she knows that a battle is fought over that mahogany desk, and in that artistic office every day, that takes the last ounce of vitality vi-tality out of a man, and she wants to pity him, and mother him just as much as she would any wounded soldier thai was brought to her off of the battle-flold battle-flold Knows Discipline. The fourth reason why the business woman makes a good wife is becauso' sho has boen disciplined. and has learned to can hor precious feelings, and not to leave them lying about all over the place for an unwary foot to step on. Likewise she has learned ho.v to control hor temper and her tongue. The first requisite of holding down a job it. to learn to take criticism impersonally, im-personally, and when your faults are pointed out to you to correct them in stead of getting angry and feeling that you are insulted. The second requisite requi-site of holding down a job is the ability abil-ity tc get along with people, and not to bo in an eternal wrangle with those i about you. ; This art tho business woman has ac-'quued, ac-'quued, and she does not burst into a lpa3Sion of tears every time hor hus-Jband hus-Jband says the coffee is mean and the egs loo hard. Sho gots busy and sees that they are right next morning. Nor does she pull the temperamental stuff and make scenes over every little j thine, that goos wrong as does the i girl who has never had to suppress her emotions, or get fired from her , situation. i Learns Masculine Psychology. Finally tho business woman makes a belter wife than the domestic woman , because in working with men she has I learned a lot about the masculine psy-chnlogj. psy-chnlogj. She has found out how to jolly men along and how to dodge tho i angles In their disposition, and when to ask favors and when to keep silent, and a lot more useful information that it takes the domestic woman about . thirty years of matrimony to find out. 1 For any business office is an intensive inten-sive course in the study of mankind that turns her out a post graduate in the gentle art of managing a husband. Against these advantages of the business woman may be set down the j fact that she starts out with little practical prac-tical knowledge of housework, but that does not count. Any girl who has had I sense enough to make her own living, (can learn how to cook in a month. j oo |