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Show El Dorothy Dix Talks I I BE YOUR OWN GOOD FAIRY I I Do you remember how, in Poter Pan, Maud Adams would come down to tho footlights and in that thrilling thrill-ing voice of hers ask, "Do you bc-lleve bc-lleve in fairies?" And tho whole house would shout back at her: A belief in fairies is a very beautiful beau-tiful and lovely thing, and an agreeable agree-able and innocuous pastlmo if indulged in-dulged in for an hour orao occasionally occasion-ally in the twilight, buC it becomes a very dangerous and mischievous faith If ono tries to make a working proposition of it. And this Is what women do. Nin-oty-nlne per cent of the women in the world still bedieve In fairies, and they are sitting around waiting for their fairy godmother to come along and pull off some more Cinderella stuff, and change their pumpkins into limousines, and their hand-mo-downs into Paris confections, and transport them from their own gas ranges to scenery of princely splendor. And they expect all of thi3 change to come about through some touch , of a magic wand, and without calling upon them for any labor or effort. Now tho days of magic are not past. Many a woman who began lifo as a kitchen drudge passes on to T riches and splendor. There aro still ' fairies and fairy godmothers, and con- Jure but they work in a different way in these times, and wo call them by different names. The other name of.. the good fairy used to be Luck. I Nov we call her Pluck, j Nowadays a woman does not have to sit around wishing for a good fairy. All she has to do is to get up and be her own good fairy. Let's sec about It. The first thing that the forlorn maiden used to ask her fairy ;ou-mothey ;ou-mothey for was beauty, and immediately imme-diately the ugly duckling was turned into a beautiful swan. 'Her carroty J hair became golden, her pug nose straight,' her sallow complexion f bloomed with lilies and roses, and her 1 snaggled teeth were converted into 2 pearls. Some miracle! 1 The modern woman can practically j work this samo metamorphosis in her- .j . eelf whenever she chooses. Sho can givo light and lustre to hair by brushing brush-ing IL Sho can make over her complexion com-plexion and hor figure by diet and i exercises, and a lovely sot of tcoth Rre mm simply a secret between her and hor dentist. Moreover, a woman's looks are largely a matter of clotho3. Any young L girl, not a monstrosity. Is a dream in white chiffon; and what shade, color and line will camouflntr n tho way of defects is beyond all human guessing. The second gift that the distrait maiden asked of her fairy godmother was a husband. Probably a good many girls think that a young woman still needs the aid of some good, strong magic spell to enable her to catch a man and lead him to tho altar al-tar In these days when the husband supply is so far below par. Not so. The girl Who wants to marry is still hor own best matchmaker, match-maker, but she must depend upon herself, and get out and look up the kind of a man sho wajits, instead of sitting In tho corner sucking r.cr. thumbs waiting for tho fairy prince to happen along. There Is no use In angling in a stream in which there are no fish, nor is thorc any uso in' fishing for a whale with a fly, nor attempting to harpoon har-poon a brook trout. So the woman who is her own matrimonial good fairy goes out into business where men are plentiful, and she finds tho bait that is most alluring to the poor fish that sho desires, and before ho knows it she has landed him. The third gift that a maiden asked of her fairy godmother was money, so that sho might adorn herself In glad raiment and ride In a coach and four. The woman who Is her own good fairy doesn't waste any time in wishing for money nowadays. She goes out and earns it, for sho has found out that If women put In half the time, and tho labor, and the energy en-ergy in working that they do in wanting want-ing things, they could buy t-iem for themselves. The fourth gift that the maiden asked of her godmother was happiness. happi-ness. Tho woman who is her own good fairy bestows thi3 upon herself. her-self. She fills her life full of so many interests that there is novor a dull moment in it. Tho days are too short to do all the things that she has planned to do, and there Is always something exciting to look forward to in tomorrow. She has found out that there is no happiness savo In unselfishness, and so sho does not try to drug herself Into a state of sensuous bliss with riches, ease and softness. Sho finda happiness in being of service to others and doing a worthy work in the world. She loves and gives herself. She broadens her mind and her heart. She possesses hor soul in calm and peace, for she knows that if we find happiness at all we must find it in ourselves. No one can givo it to us from tho outside. No circumstances of life can assure it. And that is all there is to the fairy buslnoss. It is pluck and not luck that wins out In life. If wo win what we want we must bo go-getters, not stay-wanters. stay-wanters. Nothing Is so futile as to sit with idle hands wishing for the good x things of tho world, and bellovlng that somehow, someway they arc going go-ing to be dropped from tho clouds into one's lap. Nothing comes that way but envy, jealousy and bitter disappointment. disap-pointment. Yet that is the way many womon spend their llvos wanting things they might have if only thoy had tho energy en-ergy to go after thorn. Eating their hearts out in dreary waiting for some miraclo to com arid change their lots when thoy have the magic wand In their own hands that would work tho miracle If they only had spunk enough to wave It. Bolievo me, sisters, tho only perfectly per-fectly Tollable, fairy godmother that any woman ever has is herself. So don't wait for your good fairy any longer. Get on tho Job yourself. ' Dorothy Dix's articles will appear In this paper every Monday, Wednesday Wednes-day 'and Friday. . ... : . I |
