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Show ! Dorothy Dix Talks j HUNTING A HUSBAND i By DOROTHY DIX, the World's Highest Paid "Woman Writer 5 I have received a letter from a woman who says: T am thirty-five years old. I am well born, well educated, well off financially, fi-nancially, and good enough looking. I think I am like the woman In Balr-ac's story who only needed a kiss and a love letter to make her beautiful. "But T have never had a beau. Nq man has ever even looked at me a second time. T havo never oven danced with a man or gone automo-blling automo-blling with a man who wasn't old enough to be my father, or young enough to be m' kid brother, for I live In a little New England village in which, In my recollection, there has never been a single cllglblo man In my class of society. As the young men grow up. they all go away to seek their fortunes. 'T frankly want to marry. I am domestic in my tastes and the only career that appeals to mo Is that of wife and mother and home maker. BUT I AIM THIRTY-FIVE, YEARS OLD. My hour of grace is almost over. If I don't marry in tho next J year or two my fate as an oldmaid Is sealed. It Is already signed, sealed"! and delivered so far as my opportunities opportuni-ties of marriage in my home town are concerned. Therefore, as I am strong in the belief that heaven helps those who help themselves, I have been thinking of advertising in a matrimonial matri-monial Journal for a husband. Suitable Husband " "What do you think of It? Do you think T will have my chance of establishing es-tablishing an acquaintance in that way with some man who might make mo a suitable husband?''" . I certainly do not. If marriage it a lottery even If. entered Into by a man and woman who know each other, and had an opportunity to study each other, what sort of a long shot at happiness is a woman taking who marries mar-ries 6ome stranger that she Identifies by his wearing a white carnation in 1 the lapel of his coat? She hasn't got even a hundred to one chance of winning a prize. I She doesn't know what sort of a past the man has. She 'doesn't know! whether he has got a dozen other! wives that he mot in tho same infor-: mal way, scattered about the country. She doesn't know what sort of people he springsfrom, nor what stains are upon tho namo she Is making her own and will give to her children, and j anyone who could be guilty of such I folly should bo locked up somewhere .in a padded cell where they will be safe until they come to their senses. Picking Out Hubbies There is just one thing that a worn-, J an can be sure of in the husband she .gets through advertising, and that is that he Is the sort she doesn't want, for no man who hasn't some serious defect of mind or body, or who Isn't an out-and-out adventurer needs to get a wife that way. Heaven knows women are not so particular about the kind of husbands they marry, and any man who is half way decent can. pick out some woman he already knows for a wlfo and lead her to the altar. No one need smile, however, at tho woman who wants to get married, and in her search for a husband Is driven to the desperation of advertising for a nice, gentle, quiet man who is will-J ing to work In double harness, and will stand when hitched. Since we all admit that marriage Is the proper sphere for woman, and tho one in which she finds her own highest happiness, and Is most useful to society, we should encourage her on In the husband hunt 'instead of berating her for going out on- the chase. Nothing could be more idiotic and inconsistent than our attitude In this matter, and if wo only had enougli Intelligence to abolish-- tho foolish convention that prevents women wom-en from openly seeking her mate we should not only have more marriages, but happier ones. For women kriow what they want In a husband, and If they had tholr choice they would get it. It Is only because they have to tako any thing that Is offered to them tha.t they make ! what appears to u to be such poor selections. I nuiiui, men, iu imo woman wno wants a husband .and has tho courage to seek ono Instead of submitting tamely to fate and ending her days In the Spinster's Retreat. 1 would remind such a ono of two things. The first is to use judgment in selecting her hunting ground. Just as there Is no use in fishing In a river In which thero aro no fish, or beating a bush in which there Are no birds, so there is no profit in seeking a husband in places whero the Only men are dotards, or beardless boys.' j - Good Hunting Grumlos At presqnt the happy hunting ground for husbands is in tho business world. Thero arc two reasons for this. One is that when a woman Is In business she Is where the men are thickest, and where she has an opportunity op-portunity to meet daily and hourly men- of every conciovablc type. Any business girl knows a hundred times more men than tho most popular society belle does, and has therefore that many more chances to catch one. Secondly, in business a girl has a man off his guard, "yviien ho visits a girl in her hoirib, or takes her out to parties he knows 'that he hao entered en-tered into the domain of the-man hunter, hun-ter, and fcftat tho traps are set and havo been balled 'especially for him, so he is wary and suspicious. But with the business woman he feels safe, and he strolls merrily along, careless and unconcerned, until she gets hor put shot into his heart, and bowls him over. Men Like Children I wuold also remind the woman who wants to" marry that men aro like children, indifferent to tho things they have and with which they are familiar, fami-liar, but Liken with a 7iew toy. Thus it is that the girl who is a wall flower at home is rushed when she goes to a strange place, and, that not infrequently in-frequently a woman who has been regarded re-garded as a hopeless old maid makes a highly desirable match when she. goes on a visit to her sister. The moral of all which it, if you are not appreciated at home, go where the men have better taste. There is nothing like a change of partners. But don't advertise for a husband. It's not romance "you will get but black regret. Dorothy Dix's articles will appear in this paper every Monday, "Wed-nesdaj "Wed-nesdaj and Friday. |