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Show tu- I Dorothy Dix Talks j WHO WRECKS THE .HOME? By DOROTHY DIX, the World's Highest Paid Woman Writer ii . Are women more avaricious than ' 1 men? ; M . Aro women greedier than men? '" Do women care more for the flesh j! pots than men? j- ' Are women more responsible than J j; men for the increase in divorce and the decrease in matrimony? J1' 1 A wealthy bachelor answers all of f! these questions with an emphatic II "yes." He says that women marry for money, and that they not only regard matrimony simply as a meaf ticket, but they demand that it shall Do a meal 1 ticket " at a fashionable restaurant with a. smart cabaret, or else they quit. ;' He further deposes that no man with ! a five thousand dollar income can a- ' I ford to take unto himself a wife, and j 1 says that the reason that he, and many i i other unmarried men ho knows don't ? j get married is because they cannot , I ' find any sweet domestic young gifls, ; j who are willing to lead the simple life as their mothers did. ' 1 -v - . it's a delicate job to settle off-hand . whether women, or men are tho home all ' wreckers. To a dispassionate observ- a er, it seems more a question of Individ- S uality than sex. Sometimes a good man jj . gets a selfish, shrewish, extravagant WtM wifo who makes his domestic life a WL hell on earth. Marries a Brute. Sometimes a good woman marries a brute who turns their homo into an earthly purgatory. Sometimes both the husband and wife are, self-cen-tered, egotistic, intent only on their personal .pleasures and then there is tho sound in that establishment of crashing china and breaking vows as j they fight it out. Matrimony has its saints and its marly re, 'and its victims of both sexes, but take is by and large, there are un-doubtcdly un-doubtcdly moro women than men who deliberately and consciously and con-sclentiously con-sclentiously try to make their marri-ages marri-ages a success, and to do their duty in the holy stale. Men are apt to think that they have done everything that can be expected BH of them towards making a happy home ' - when they pay tho bills, and that no BVj reasonable woman could ask for any- nmm " thing more thana wedding ring to ( keep her in a perpetual state of bliss. As for tho charge that women now- sdays marry only for money, why this is the first tlmo in the whole history of the feminine sex when a woman doesn't havo to marry for a living. Sho can make quite as good a one for herself as tho average man can offer jher. Dear grandmama may havc looked artless, but she knew she had to marry her bread and butter, for in her days the only honorable work for a perfect lady was working for a man. Love of Fleoh Pots. Concerning the charge that wmeni care more for the flesh ,pol3 than men, 'perhaps tho sexes break even there. It' is the curse of our civilization' that' what used to be luxurres have become necessities, and that our love of comfort com-fort and ease is strongor than our lovo of romance. Blink the crude fact as we will'lt is nevertheless a fact, that when we have to pay tho price of poverty, and shabbi-ness shabbi-ness and everlasting self-denial for love and tho, possession of a mate and children and home, we balk at tho bar-,gain. bar-,gain. And men balk moro than wo-imen wo-imen do, for men caro less for love, and children and home than women do. The bachelor with an income that enables him to go Into good society and live In luxury does a 'little figur ing, and ascertains that what is plenty for one is scant rations for two, to say nothing of a possible four or five. He has his pretty rooms, artistically furnished. He can afford a little car, perhaps. Ho belongs to a good club. He dresses well. He is In demand for dinners and theatres, and week end parties in tho homes of the rich, for the man who is not tagged by a superfluous super-fluous woman is a jewel above price to hostesses. If lie marries, all of this must be sacrificed. He must live in a small flat, or a suburban cottage. He must furnish it cheaply. He must live among people who aro often ignorant and uncultivated. His wife must be a i domestic drudge. "She must dress shabbily, as he must. He will be asked no more to the fine homes where his bachelorhood was his card of admission. admis-sion. Decides to Hang On. Such being the car Is it any wonder won-der that he takes a long.IIngerlng look at the cakes and ale of his single ostate before he gives them up. And then decides to hang onto them, and let matrimony go? But when the bachelor doesn't marry mar-ry It Isn't fair to lay the blame on the girls, and say that they demand too many luxuries. No man really considers con-siders tho woman when he makes his decision to stay unwed. He Js considering consid-ering his own tastes and comforts. He is thinking of his own back and tummy; Far more women would take the risk of poverty for the sake of love than men, but they never have the opportunity oppor-tunity to show that they put sentiment above an automobile, and would rather go clothed in romance than in silk attire. Men don't give them the chance Tho men don't propose, and, after all, it is they who settle the matrimonial question. The most sentimental and least grafting girl in the world can't drag a man to the altar against his will. No. Bachelors must find some better excuse for staying single than that girls won't marry any man who Isn't rich. I dare and double dare, anyone of them to .put the matter to the proof by proposing to the next nice young women he fancies but doesn't ask to marry him. Dorothy Dix's articles will appear in this paper every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. , .rr - |
