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Show II Dorothy Dix Talks I WHAT IS LOVE? jy PpjROTHY DIX. the Woild's Highest Paid Woman Write IAmonc my acquaintances is a wo-raan wo-raan who 1 u veritable household ar.gel And she Is adored by her faml-lv faml-lv Awuy, they are never weary of telling, and otner people, how they iovu her, and she believes them, tor in His mercy, God ordained that even the cleverest woman should be of an idiotic trustfulness and credulity where Inr heart is concerned. Now this woman is as fra!) and a3J delicate: as a flower- She la one of the women who must be shielded and cared for like a bothouse piant if she j is going to live, but apparently these members of her own nousehoid. who I say thoy arc so devoted to hei . have never once noticed how thin she lias crown, how tired slie looks, how che elroops In her chair. Her old mother, who lives with her, blesses heaven foe having beatp.wcd upon her such a daughter, but si.e makes daughter take u tnousand unnecessary un-necessary 3ips a la to gintliy hoi senseless whima. and she rasps daughter's daugh-ter's nerves to iho breaking point by l ei ceaseless fretting Bhd complaining I ccause she is old, because things are Cot UUe they used 'to be. because llle generally is as it is. The husband loves his wife so well that he will never let h r go away from .ionic eve n for a week's end, und simply laughs to scorn the doctor's order that she must go a rest i u re lor three month. Othei men may let their wives go north !n rummer rum-mer and south In wintir He Is so de-oted de-oted to his wife that he !s lorft Whpn -j-- she ts awa; Why. the house Is empty. ami nothing goes right, ami he can t think of a thing to do. Why, it up-"Ji up-"Ji - sets him for n whole evening for her noi to I" ...i .ii" al I i do tor h:m M hen he conies home at night. And tKF la- pats hinxself on the B swells out with a sense of being the Bi model lover husband because he Is so B i n, las wifi that he keeps her railed lo her own fireside. And the children tell you they have got the beat mother on earth, and the dearest mother, end the sweetest mother, and the girls will let her sit up half the night to make them frilly parly dreiase, and urge her on by telling her that Susy snooks had real embroidery on her frock, and won t she put a IP tie more on theirs And Hi,-, buys scatter their clothes and he-longings he-longings all over the house, and call 1 lor mother to hunt their caps and balls and bats, und double her work by readies clutter And the curious pari of it all Is that these people really believe they love the womun they arc murdering, and when they have got in thc'.r deadly work and she Ilea at rest at lost in her coffin, thoy will weep above hei and say. self -rlghteousb , that than); goodness, they pave all the affection and appreciation she craved. And they would be furious If you told them that none of them ever n ally trulv loved hur. that all ihey eve; loved was themselves, and thut their reeling for the woman was measured meas-ured In terms of their own selfishness L-J and what slip did to make life pleasant pleas-ant for them, but ou would tell them the truth, nevertheless. If lhi mnllipr I, . I lier fi r up h t r s she would spare her all tm extra work she puts on her, and her whines of seli'-pitv fur things no human being call help. If the husband loved bU wife, he would deny himself the com-1 com-1 : fort of her presence for the sake of : f saving her life. If the children loved their mother, the girls would make their own clothen rather than sec her lired hands laboring over them, nnd B0S tlio boys save her every possible step bv keeping their own things In order H as they do In camp H In reality, vorls :.i e no t st of love b And they are pretty poor and cheap things as compared with deeds II Is Idle to protest our affection when wc do iinlliing to show It Real love Is not selfishness It Is sacrifice 11 ddes not Seek Its own, but the hnp- p.ness of another. The man who does nothing to makr rl his wife happy, who gives her no little H treats, when never pay her a com- i pllment, who doe3 not even notict I whether she looks 111 or well, ioct not love her, no matter how mucl he misses her when she is away froir j, home. He thinks he loves her. but hi only loves the comfort with which she i surrounds him. I The woman who nags at her hus- br.nd. who hen-pecks nnd tyrannize! I V over him, and who makes his life hai 'and burdensome, may think she 'e he'r hubnd, but she doesn't. She l loves only her sense of power and the ijCreature comforts he brings In, The parents who sacrifice their 'children's lives to themselves, whol keep a daughter bound like a slave to them because they do not want to bo waited on by hhed hands, or pre-v pre-v -nt a son following a career bec-iuse they cannot bear to be parted from Mm. only love themselves. They do not love their children. it Is no excuse to suy that people i not think, that u man neglecLs his wife that a vvlf? !s cross and hateful to her husband, that children roh their parents and parents sacrifice their children unconsciously Real love 'never forgets It is clever blind Ii Is always iialer-Anne-oii-the-house-top looking tor the welfare of its beloved. be-loved. I There Is Just one test of love. It in prferrinr another before yourself. It's thinking of that other one first, last and all the time. |