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Show j GIVING THe'gIRLTPIE ONCE OVER AS A WIFE I By JJUKUTMY DIa, the World's JJighcst Paid Woman Writer j I A young man has written me a letter let-ter in, which ho says: $ "The only thing that a" man' knows J about, women' la', i that-. eh-. .doesn't know .a, single, solitary," blooming i .thing- about he?,.. Now, 1 yish to get married, and I will be eternally grate-I fulvto. you if you can put me wise to any" method by which I can tell, on j the safe side of the "altar, even ap-j proximately what sort of a wife a girl ! is likely to make.'' ( Surely, son; surely., The one really, real-ly, cover thing that women ;iave ever i.hono is to estabish in the minds of man the tradition that they are creatures crea-tures of mystery beyond' his "fathoming. "fath-oming. That enabled the fair sex to j camouflage its arts and its wiles, and to run in all sorts of hocus-pocus stuff on poor, unsuspecting man. For, you see, man has been so thoroughly convinced thai woman is a1 cbnundrum whose answer he can i new guess, anyway, thaht he- never tried to guess the riddle at all, but goes it blindly and trusts to luck, where- she is concerned. "Which is all nonsense, for woman, is reality, is a simple creature that lie who runs may real. If he will. To begin with, i tho man who Isl thinking of getting married, woud pay niore attention to what is In the skull Immediately under a girl' shalr, than he docs '.to the color of It, and if he i wou(H-tako more-notice of tho size an shape of her Jaw bono than he does of her complexion and if he would givo more . time of observing whether her nostrils arc thin and quivering than he does to whether her profile is classic or piquant, he would start off with a very good tip as to , the kind of a wife ho Is likely to iget if he marries her. For matrimony works no miracles, jit will not change a fool Into a wise 'Woman, nor will U convert the maid-Jon maid-Jon with a square, bulldog chin, into la soft, yicding clinging' v. no, who asks her husband what she thinks she thinks, and whose only desire in lifo is to flop on some manly arm. Neither Neith-er is the maiden who, is nervous and emotional "by temperament apt to be calmed and soother by the stress of matrimony, which is no rest euro for any woman. Aside, however, from tho hints conveyed con-veyed by a careful study of the lady's physiognomy, there aro various points in the daily life and conversation of a voung woman that a prospective benedict may consider with profit to himself. . First, never marry a girl until you have seen her In the bosom of her family, and against her own background. back-ground. Any girl can look good In a party dress, and be amicable In company, especialls' In the company of a young man whom she is stalking stalk-ing in the husband hunt, but when you see her at home, you get a real line on her. It Is desirable, of course, that she know how to cook and run a house, and you shall escape much trouble with your stomach, and large bills to tho butcher and tho baker, if you pick out a girl for a wife who Is mother's helper, and who has learned how to broil a steak, and make bread and buy green groceries at her family's fam-ily's expense. This is not absolutely necessary, however, for any girl who can read can lake a cook book and learn how to cook in six weeks, and slic will do it if she Is sufficiently in loVe with the man she marries. Sometimes a girl who has never done anything but manicure her finger nails before marriage, mar-riage, takes corns oil her hands working work-ing after marriage, and conversely, who has spent her life In the kitchen comes out of It on her wedding day permanently, and can never be induced in-duced to enter It again. You never can tell, and domesticity Is worth taking tak-ing a chance on, anyway. The thing to observe Is whether the girl bosses her family or- not, for bossiness grows by. what it feeds on, and no tyrant was ever cured of tyranny. ty-ranny. Especially the domestic tyrant ty-rant who is the meanest anl most J grinding of all tyrants. Notice well, then, If a glv's mother moth-er anl father arc afraid of her, If they assume a depreciating air on her presence, r.nd i$ they say that Sally won't 'let us do thing and Sally won't let us do that, and Sally wants us to move into another house, and. Sally has made us take all the rocking chairs out of the parlor, and- Sally won't let father smoko a pipe any more. Also, do not let it escape you how tho little brother and sister act when Sally is around, whether they scurry away at her coming, Or cing to her skirt. You may be sure that tiny girl who has got her family terrorized, will have a husband whose hand shakes as he puts the key in his door. You. may bo very, certain . that 'any girl who can put it over her parents, anl her little brothers and sisters, will "have a husband so henpecked that he will say "our pants." But if a girl doesn't try to run the house, and Is just the light and', joy in it, if mother wants -Sally- always at her right hand and father hugs her up to him ns he talks and the little brothers and sisters alorc her, grab her off, son and rush with her to the minister for she wiil make a wife who will be pal, friend and companion com-panion and not one who must be obeyed. Then observe how a girl dresses. If shi Is ni-ravpd lilrr Snlnm.in In nil h'I i glory while tiie balance of tho fam-iy fam-iy go shabby; if she is dressed bp: yond her means, and her father looks bent, and worn, and anxious, pass hoc up, son. She is, selfish and grcody and she will work you to death, even as she does her father, for a wisp of chiffon. Take note of how a girl acts when you go to see her. If sho is never willing" to"stay"at'Tidme o'f fin evening if she always drags you around to some place of amusement, if sho lays a heavy hand . on . your pocketbook, beware. She is pleasure mad. Sho .has no resources within herself. She J considers nothing but her own amusement, amuse-ment, and she will make the sort of wife who is never hapjiy unless she is gadding about somewhere and who considers that the chief good of a husband is to buy his wife fine clothes and take her out to show them off. But when you find a girl who loves to camp under her own pink shaded lamp, who dresses modestly and likes modest pleasures and who can keep you entertained by talking intelligcnt-J intelligcnt-J ly and sympathetically on any sub-ject sub-ject in which you arc interested, seek no farttter. She will make tho kind of a wife with whom you can spend the next forty or fifty years in peace and comfort by your own firesido. Dorothy Dox's articles appear in this paper every Monday, "Wednesday and Friday. |