OCR Text |
Show Dorothy Dix Talks THE TPvCUBLES OF THE GOOD j D0R0T11V DIX, trie Woild s tlighost Paid Woman Writer Next to n bad roputa'lon. thore Is i nohting in the world so uncomfortable I ontl Inconvenient to have nrt a prood on-, i If ou went to llvo iii peace, and nappi- ni nnd comfort, ur.d avoid wrlnklM land trouble, you must never eslablian . la reputation for excellence in any par-i 1 tlrulnr line. If yovj do you are its bond I slave for life. Vou cannot run away 1 I from it. or lea':e .1 behind. Go where i , you will, it will follow s ou. You may thing you have lost It. or lived it down, but Ju3t as you get ready I ' io enjoiy yourself toivcbod) is sure to1 Om .-ilong who know your record for; superior goodness, or self .sacrifice, or j 'whatever it Is. and so rivets your chains ! on you again. Il In very sad to think that we hav 10 puard against oui most amiable 1m-pulses. 1m-pulses. if wo vish lo live in reasonable , peace, but it is a fact, nevertheless. I presume there isn't anybody with a heart! , in them as big as n nickel who doesn't I 'love children, but if you nre onc- rash j enough to make nn undue parade of this, i -ind gel a reputation for It, your lira will be made a martyrdom. Every tlmo your neighbor gets busy making a dress, or wants to play bridge 'nil the afternoon, she bundles her nursery h. on you. "Of course. I wouldn't .lo I this with anybody else." she says, "but I I know how fond you arc of children." V ndl Bah, When y ou bad planned a nice, qule,t afternoon with a novel, and me feeling1 like a female Herod But jyou cnn,t sa.y anything. It's your fatal 1 1 putajlon. Of course everyone likes to entertain ' UiHr friend, but once get a reputation j ior hospitality and you had as well han , lout a sign of "free entertainment for man ;nil beast'" People, you ncor heard ! .f write and tell they are coming to see you: people you have met at summer resorts, and on railroad trains descend upon n i ,n unexpected moments; distant reiatlveSi who had forgotten your exi&:-i exi&:-i n-.- ur.il they happened to s-e a change to shirk a hbtel bill, look you up wn. n Ith'?' come to your to TL They come with queer trunks and nobby bundles, and they stay, and story, and slay. Goodness gracious, haven't wo all slept on the dining room sofa while Cousin Sally and the twins occupied our pie will want to hear what you say. hed, an'l eaten the scraps after six unexpected un-expected guests had dropped in to dinner? "Vou see I am perfectly unceremonious With you." say these uninvited dead beats. "bSeaUSe everyone knos how hos-pliable hos-pliable you are." And there you are, S'ho has the courage to ttand up and deny the good reputation that Is sure to land them ln the ioorhou.se There Is positively no other such rlrnw. back to charily as the danger of petting-a petting-a reputation In that line. Once give to a poor family, and you have established s precedent that you can never live down Nine times out of ten they expect you to support them the balance of their lives, and send the boys to college, and give the girls a debut party. Vou can't give what you can afford and then stop; you can't listen to a tale of woe and weep with the narrator and then enjoy yourself. If you once start there's r.o limit and nobody can see the flni.h. Vou ate tiro perpetual repository of ah the woes of the community. A funny phase of this matter is that after one once acquires a reputation for doing a thing nobody ever gives them the slightest credit for anv irtue in doing it. They seem to "think that yelf sacrifice and hard- work, and sel; denial Just come natural to you and you enjoy It. If you have a reputation of being kind i to the sick you may go and sit up with :i i i rson at nlKlit. and nurse her until you arc ready to drop, you may stand over ih. stove coking Jellies or making broth ' until you arc burnt to a clader, and she takes it as a matter of course; but let i some woman who never sacrifices her- self for anything in the world come by ( and leave a card with ' kind inquiries" pehi Med on it. and she will brag about it for six months. "So sweet of her. Did you ever hear of anything so kind?" But l grateful to you? She never thinks ot such a thing. Your reputation for nurs-' nurs-' ing the sick has gone before you, nnd i she probably thinks the whole affair has I been a kind of picnic to you Who hasn't had experience of this kind of thing? Who hasn't had somebody ; they didn't want come and stay months with tbem, without manifesting the j slightest appreciation of the hospitality i shown them, and then see them go into i ecstasies of delight because some other j friend or relative on whom they had i just the same claim Invited them to tea? i Who hasn't paid for the fuel for some poor family all the winter without on? ! word of thanks, and then heard them (overwhelm somebody else with gratituda j because they had given them a dinky I little hat or a feather boa? Of course wo ought not to care for these things, but wo do. We don't want anybody goin before sounding our praises' on a brazen ti umpet. but we do like to feel that when we make a sacrifice it is at least understood under-stood and appreciated. After all It comes back to the same point, if we once get a reputation ior doing things we have got to keep on Joing them, and the only safe and com-fortnblo com-fortnblo way Is to avoid establishing any precedents. There is no fame, but great safety, in mediocrity. 1 . r n |