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Show Dorothy Dix Talks THE BEST GIFT L.illJlLJ'.1;.'. 'sLl'5Ji,"st P',id voni.Tn Write-.. 1 Three women tent over the cradls of a little new born girl baby wish." nasi one of them, "that we II, , 1 1 ...III ..: I I'ftlrx .;.lm,.l hers of the StOr) l...ok. anrl could bestow upon her all th good Kifls of life.' 'What would you give her?" asked the mother ot the child "l would giVl h.r monev." said the! first woman. I would assute her a life I of ease and luxury, and pleasure, and amusement. She should have the lovely clothes that are a frame for a pretty woman's beauty, and thst make even a homelv woman good looking "She should ride In automobiles through life, and huve the background of a flin establishment. She should have the culture, and poise thai wide travel brings, and live safe and soft behind be-hind the barriers M.ui money builds about Its fortunate pic-c --sors. "As a Irl she should never know what it Is to stand weary hours behind a i OUntcr. or with thumping nerves and ai hltik lu ml. pound upon a lp w l iter, or lo lia- bers.lf. tlre.l and exhausted I in mind and body, through the struggling; j mob on the street .ar to the dull poor place that she calls home. "She should never know ihe hitter envy that fills the poor girl as she sells I lo inor. fortunate clrls the silks-, the la.es. and filmy finely that she craves. 'but can never have. She should have I the Joy time ,,f h.r life. Ihe years when I 'i tlrl s feet ache to dance, the years I when the hunger for pleasure Is a gnnw-I gnnw-I inR appetite within free for 1 enjoyment I She should not be chulned like a slave to her job during the all to brli f play ilnio of n woman's existence. I "And v hen she was a woman I would save her fn in the purgatory of anxiety al out money, and the sordid, p Inching , economies that make the poor woman old agd worn before her time. She should never know what It was to burn up bcr youth over the kitchen stove, to agonize ... . I- the prict of butcher's meal to pare I Ihe potatoes a little thinner, and us.-f us.-f olbomargertoe Instead of butter to save the money to eel Bobby a now pair of shoes, or Mary stockings-, or to have . even the horror of sickness made ten fold I worse because of the added burden of a doctor's bill. " s'o I would give her the money that lubricates the wheels of domesticity, that lul.es the burden of UUnlslerillK with hei own hands to her family off a woman, and lets her enjoy her children Insti id of being their beast of burden; that enables en-ables h.-r to preserve her health, and strength, nnd keep her nerves and tern per Intact, and that makes mother as young and jolly as a girl. "That's why. If T were a good falrv. I'd leave a bag of gold in i very Orl baby's cradle The price tag of happiness, hap-piness, and the physical comforts that mean happiness, has got a dollar mark on ll for everybody, hut it Is much more necessar) for a woman to have money than It Is for a man. He can make if .aser. for one thing, and for another. ! he needs less of ll. for then- Isn't very mill h thai monev will buy for a man. i but ii bliyi nio-i things for a woman Or i e it purchases fairly gd substi tutee. and. anyw-ay. there in no situation in life that the possession of a giu-ii I checking account In a Ijank doesn't enhance, en-hance, or am. -Hot a I .' "If 1 were a good fair " sold the se ond woman, "i would give the nab; beauty. If she had thai, she Wouldn't need to be born with vour monev bags. She could innrry them, and -he' would I have your gift, with mine added to ll "1 have always thought that the most , wonderful sensation in the world must be to le able to look Into your mirror and I admire the reflection that yoU saw Mien It must be heavenly to be" able m gloat ' lover yourself as a mastcrpb f nature.' to love your own face for Its sheer I beauty. "And the beautiful woman Is the un- I crowned queen. Win rev i hi gOCf she1 receives the homage r.r ti.. world. Bverj eye brightens with pbasure us she , passes, every head lurns to follow her. "The beauty does not have to struggle ', for what she wants. The world lavs Us I tribute at her feet. She is loved, ad- , 1 mired, feted. Everybody gives waj be- fore her She may go where she pleases, j 1 Slo may have what she likes She ma , break every law of .d and man Ail i i Is forgiven her for the sake of -her face. I I Believe mo. heautv is u woman's best gift, and a peach is what I would la In even girl baby's cradle." "If 1 were a fairy godmother. I should give her Joy In living " laid the third I woman. and my gift would be better ' than either of ours because it is one Ihrit she could carry with her to I t I grave, and of which nothing could rob ' In-r The time comes when money, of i iis. if no long.-r buys happiness. S'ears I are bound to take a woman's beauty I : away from her. but if she has the Jay Of I living, she has the magic that gets pleas- lire out of whatever befalls her : "Puvertv has no terrors for her because be-cause she. can turn a hovel Into an abode i f sweetness ind ilcht. and she .an scintillate scin-tillate Jut as brilliantly .vr cornbeef lias! ami tea an she oou Id over terrapin and champagne She can get more ad' ; vantage out of going to market on the , :.tiret car, than many another co-jld out' of a tour de luxe around the world. , ' If her beauty fades and her figure lov, its llphtnesf. If does not matter. She is the Jolllest of pxi:'7b-d-heaile. at women. Age cannot wither her. because ; a perpetual youth of hlg'o spirits bubbles 1 up from the inexhaustible spring of her Joy In living. "Happiness Is not from without. It ' Is from within and so If I were n falr godmother, I'd give every girl baby a merry heart and laughing lips to .arr; . her through life." And If I were a fair godmother." said the baby's mother with shining . -.. . "I would give her none of your gifts I would give- her love. That's all that really counts to a woman." |