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Show j Dorothy Dix Talks jl j By DOROTHY DIX. the World's Highest Paid Woman Writer i: I LISTEN, PARENTS j , Play fair with your girls Olve them Just as good a chance in life as you give your boys Your Mamie, or Sadie, or Maud has Just graduated from the high school, or fashionable finishing school, or from college. Don t let her education stop there. Don't consider that you have done your part toward fitting her for the struggle of life until you have had her taught some trade by which she can support herself, It does not matter whether you are rich or poor whether you have not a penny to give her. or a million to leave her. See to it that ..our daughter daugh-ter has within herself the ability to make her own living. It is the best Insurance that you can take out for her against misery, and want, and temptation. Parents have rea'lzcd the nerensltv of preparing boys for the battle of llf. and none but the most callous, and careless, cast their son Into the fray without putting in their hands a strong weapon with which to figh; their way. but these very ame parents par-ents who helped their sons to help themselves duck their responsibility to their daughters. They do not think it worth while to teach their girls how to take care of themselves because- they trust to luck that daughter will marry, and that they will be able to shunt the burden of her maintenance mainten-ance onto some other man. This would be a good theory if every ev-ery woman married; if every husband was a good money-maker and If " -erj marriage turned out happil Unfortunately, Un-fortunately, this is a chance "world, and nono of these things are certainties. certain-ties. A girl may not marry. There are millions more women in the world 1 than there are men. and men are showing less ami less willingness to burden themselves with famtlle.-. i Hence a girl's chance of getting a j husband to provide for her grows more problematical year by year. Anyway, ft is 0 brutal thing to pu; a girl Into a position where she Is! forced to mat:') for a home We i shudder with horror w hen we h.' ir about parents who sell their daugh-I daugh-I ters to harems, but those heathen fathers and mothers are not worse than the respectable parents wo know who marry their daughters of" to any sort of men. Just to be rid of them Many p girl is made to feel that she Is such a burden at home, and Is so! nagged and twitted because she docs not marry, that hc is literally driven Into taklnc the first man who Pro-I Pro-I poses to her. Thousands of loveless 1 I and ""fortunate marriages would be prevented if every girl were self-supporting, and .-ould wait for .Mr Klslu to come along. Haying a profession would he an equally efficacious protection against making a foolish match for the rich girl because she would not he drive.i into matrimony to escape bor-dom as the ldh- g,rl often Is. She Would have something interesting to do-something do-something to fin her thoughts, and" Sy,her Un,e- To the nian en-gaged en-gaged in agreeable work, matrimony Is not a necessity. It a a llixury without which she can do quite com-j fortably. If a woman does marry, her safety i Is not assured. There are many good j men who have not the gift of maklnc money, and who can never support ih-ir families In decent comfort Oft-on Oft-on a man who has been prosperous In business dies leaving no estate. Sickness smites down other men, and million of women find themselves! with little children clinging to their! skirts, suddenly called upon to be- uinc bread winners for hungry little mouths. V'lri. a tragedy then lf the women Is utterly untrained; lf she has no wares that are marketable; If she knows nothing of the ways of the business world. But If 6ho has any i merchantable skill, lr she has any trade or art which she can fall back upon, if she i an pro bark to her old Job the situation Is robbed of its despair The competent woman simply sim-ply shoulders her burden and marches on with It without any wringing of helpless hands. The woman who makes an unfor-i tunate marriage la never at the merry Ot a brute lf she knows how to make her living She can always get up and leave, whereas the woman who is dependant upon her husband for her food, and th roof that shelters her. and the clothes that cover her must endure whatever Indignities ar put upon her. or else starve. The man who is dastardly enough to abuse and Insult n wife who is dependen upon him. will treat with respect the Wife who can go out and earn a be'-ter be'-ter living for herself than he gives her. Nothing Is such a safeguard against temptation for girls as- to give them some way of earning monev honestly Instead of w orklng men for It Every girl wants pretty clothes. Every girl wants the finery that enhances he,-beautv. he,-beautv. Don't waste any time preach-1 log to her upon the folly or vanity Expend your energy in showing her bo'.s -he can make the price of the things she desires, instead of soiling her soul for them There is always a demand for skilled skill-ed and trained workers ?c- to i that no daughter of yours can ever "' fyK hcrs('lf for taking the wrong road by saying that she was driven to It, because she knew no way to make a decent living Teach your girls a trade because of the dignity and self-respect It gives woman to know that she can Mand on her own feet, and make her own ll-.ing. and needn t be a parasite m .n?' Man' ,The 9elf-suPPortln wo-man wo-man Is the only free woman on earth Plaa fair with your girls. Give them thl Ir chance In life. IX.rothy l,x's ,ak. appear in this PJ 1 ' fj Mondaj Wednesday and |
