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Show I Dorothy Dix Talks !; By DOROTHY DIX. the World's Bighes1 Paid Woman Writer j CURING A KNOCKER A woman wants to know how to cure a husband who Is afflicted with the knocking habit. Sho says that she is married to a good man who provides her with a nice home, and all tho comforts of life, but he makes hi 1 life tninei -abll by MB perpetual fault-finding. She further depo- -that '-lie Is n thrifty manager, and 3 good cook, but th:it no matter how she trie." o phase her husband, sho never succeeds In doing II The minute he puts his key in tho I is Gie signal for the anvil chorus chor-us to begin. The house is either too hot or too cold. About a million things are the matter with the children, chil-dren, if they have mutton for dinner, din-ner, ho demands to know why It isn't beef. If It is beef he wants to know why they .ant have mutton some, times. When tho wife buys a new dregs or a hat, he criticises it mull lie destroys all of her pleasure in It. He sneers at all of her opinions, and derides her Judgment, and the poor wife spends jor Hie mentally on the Jump, trying ' dodge the brick ha is With which he amuses himself by hurling at her. And she Is tired of it. and wants to fcnow some way of curing him 1 don't believe there is an)- vuy of curing cur-ing a genuine, born knocker who purs real heart Interest in Ills work, because be-cause knocking is the outward and Invisible expression of a mean, ittle, envious soul Lnat Is so greedy It is forever fearful that It Is not getting all that is coming to it. and so niggardly nig-gardly it begrudges even a word of praise for favors granted. More than that, your chronic knocker knock-er is a coward who never hits a person per-son his own size Hi t victims are Invariably In-variably those who are In his power. Von n.-v.. h.-ir of knockers lumbast Ing those above thern. They confine then- attentions to those below them. Now t.he only way to deal with 1 . oward Is through fear. So Ihe only advloe 1 cm otter to ihe woman with a fault-finding husband Is to (error- . Ize him so completely that he won't dare open his mouth to protest even hen the roast is burnt, and the bread like lead, and she has takon the rent money to buy an lrrrported r t ench model spring hat. Beat htm to the hammer, and begin bj pounding pound-ing everything he does and Bays with ; such vim and vigor that ho w ill not have an opportunity to get In a sln- gle word of criticism of your fault Ix-n it comes to a verbal battle ' no man is the equal of a woman She outclasses him in swiftness of long i . , and staring powers and therefore It is a wife's own fault If she lets her husband nag her to death. 1 Tito man who marries a girl, and mnk'Vi her the target for the spleen I ho dares nut vent upon the balance of the world, la us despicable a crea- ' ture as Uvea, for ho has taken in his hands a (allow cieature's life and deliberately de-liberately ruined U to gratify hl.s oTUOl whim. For to B woman her homo ,s ' the world, her husband Is the god who hanrrs the sun In her sky, or blots It out In darkness. He makes for her happiness, or misery. 1 If he makes her foel that ho admires ad-mires her. tluil be appreciates all that she does for Ills comfort and well-being, well-being, that he soes and understands., then nothing that she may have to endure or do for him is too much or too hard But If her every effort is rewarded only with blamo and Ingratitude In-gratitude and sense of failure, then nothing is worth while, and marriage becomes nothing to her but slavery to a grinding tyrant. If men would only trouble to study ine psyenoiogy 01 women a little, husbands would forbear to be knockers knock-ers Just for their own selfish goo L j For it la an axiom thai you 1 an lead 1 woman where you cannot drive lie;-, and that you can cajole one Into doing do-ing things that no earthly power could coerce her into doing. The salve .spreader la mightier than the hammer With the entire feminine sex, and if a man wants to develop any particular virtue in hla wife, he Should praise h'r fur possessing it. Instead of criticising her lack of it. I or If she thinks her husband admires ad-mires a certain quality In her. she Will bend might and main to acquire It, but If she knows that he Is going to blnme her for not possessing it. sho Will shrug her shoulders and say. ' What's the use?" and let It go at j that Let u man, for instance, be forever ! oxtolllng hla wife's pies, and she will sit up nights with the cook-book un-l un-l til she becomes the champion pie-maker pie-maker of her community. Bot a ; man sing the song of his wife's thrlit j and she will pinch the buffalo off a nlckle. Bet him praise her amiability, amia-bility, and her good sportsmanship, land her breadth of view, and she will bite her tongue out before she will call time on him when he stays out 1 at night with the boys But let a man growl over his food, and his wife will say to herseif, "Whut s the use of bothering with trying to get up good meals ,c, ,11-. ! he will find fault anyway. ' Bet him I raise ructions over every bill, and she will revenge herself by extravagant I buying. Let him show her that ho lhlnks her a dull companion, and ho will have to fight for It is latch key to get away from her. Praise is a stimulant that puis ! fresh enthusiasm and energy into u 1 but constant criticism takes overs j bit of spirit and enthusiasm out of I ua. If is tho dreary dripping of cold water that sends our morale down to zero, and makes us turn cowards and quit. Therefore. I say to all ;nen If you want a good wife, boost, don't knock. A little appreciation goes a lor.g way with a woman |