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Show I Dorothy Dix Talks ! By DOROTHY DIX, the World's Highest Paid Woman Writer i! GETTING THEIR NUMBER j A man was wondering tho other day why women understood men so much better than men understand women. wo-men. Ho attributed It to some occult power that ho culled feminine Intuition. Intu-ition. Then he said something about the mystery of woman, and dismissed tho subject as one. beyond the comprehension com-prehension of mortal mind. Stuff and nonesonae. There Is nothing no-thing 6trange about tho matter at all. Women do understand men better than men understand women, but tho reason for It Is because they have had to. Ever since Mother Eve undertook to cajole Father Adam into eating that apple, that he knew lie should not eat. and that he did not crave unywoy, tho proper study of womankind woman-kind has been man. Upon a woman's knowledge of how some m.in would rc :ict to everv situa- Hon hu-! depended not only lur bread and butter, but her cakeB and ale, her good times, or bad times, her clothes, and whether she be kissed or beaten ' for what she did. Therefore, It behooved be-hooved her to explore every nook and : cranny of the masculine mind, and ferret out every quirk and peculiar- 1 lty of the masculine temperament: and solve every problem of DMUBCU- j line psychology Naturally ail of this Intensive Study of one subject by generations upon generations of women. has borne, frull. Thut is why we observe that a girl baby Is able to work every man with, whom she comes In contact i and that the female fool can over match a w ise man any day in the i week. For men have had no such necessity to study women as women have had to study men Their haiplne ani prosperity has not been wholly di -pendent on their ability to manage' their wives. So. with the excepttlon of a few novelists and playwrights. 1 they have not bothered to make even a casual investigation into the feminine femin-ine mind to see how It works, its won- I ders to perforin. A man's Interest ha been confine to the outside of a woman's head, not the inside. He has been concerned with what tho did. not why sho did It'. If she was beautiful, he admired her. If sho was Intelligent she entertained en-tertained him If she was amiable, he liked her. If she was agreeable, he Stayed at home with her. If she was disagreeable, lie beat It away from her as fast as ho could. And that was about all Why, so little have men studied women that I i not one In a thousand can analyze a woman's tears, and find out when ,he Is weeping tears of real Brief, and when she Is weeping only for revenge Nor can the average man distinguish between nerves and temper, and teii when a woman should be soothed and kissed, and when she should have tho law laid down to her. Also there are millions of men who are married to women for forty years without ever ascerUilninc that their Wives will swallow any proposition bait, hook and sinker, if It is put to them tho right way, but that they will balk at tho most reasonable proposition prop-osition If it is put the Wrong way. It Is not what you say to I woman, It is the way you say It, that makes her purr under your hand or claw like a tiger cat. Yet. there arc men who complain that they never can tell what their wives are going to do under un-der any given circumstances: Now, when tho average woman doei not get along in pence and harmony with the, average husband, It Is because be-cause she is not willing 16 lake the . trouble to manage him. She knoyvs perfectly well how to do It. She has got his number down to the last figure. Sho knoyvs Just what I subjects are like waving a rod flag 'at a mad bull. Sho knows his every i little weakness SS and could say them i buckwurds In her sleep. She knows Just how to Jolly him and Just how to rile him Sho knows, even before he ! knows himself. Just what he is going i to do and say. and how ho can bo cajoled ca-joled into doing the things ho said he j tover would do and prevented from doing the things he has set his heart upon doing. But a man has no such guide along the matrimonial pathway, because he starts out to go it blind, without even a road map to show him where the ; hairpin turns are In his wife's disposition, dispo-sition, and where the matrimonial ;ui win ni. in uvrr me uium, mm ditched, if ho doesn't put on the brakes. Which Is n pity, because It would be money in a man's pocket, and peace In his home if he would only Study hla wife enough' to get the com blnatlon that works her.' It would pay a man to know, for Instance, that women put far more value on words than they do In deeds, and that a man may work himself to death for a woman, yet she may doubt his love and be miserable, but she will bn perfectly happy and belieo ever) word he says If he swears his devotion devo-tion to her, yet lets her take In boarders board-ers to support him. It would also pay men to know that a woman will break her neck to please a man yvho praises her. but she will not turn her hand over ' to conciliate concil-iate a knocker. Therefore, If a man wants his wife to bo thrifty, and a good cook, all that he has to do is to bo continually bragging about her dinners, din-ners, and what a good manager sho Is. It would likewise profit a man to know that when his wife romplaln3 of having to do without things, nnd how hard she has to work, that all he is bidding for If Just sympathy, and that If ho will tell her that he- would like to see her dressed like the Queen of Sheba. and that sho is a household angel, an-gel, she will bo Just as satisfied as she would bo with a trunk full of 1m- ! ported frocks and a dozen servants. It is a pity for men's own eakes. that they don't think it worth while to study women. But it makes a great graft for the women, Dorothy Dlx's articles appear in this newspaper every Monday, Wednesday Wed-nesday and Friday. |
