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Show I Dorothy Dix Talks j By K)TiiY PlX'i the Wprld'a Highest Paid Woman Writer THE BUSINESS GIRL AND MATRIMONY A young woman who draws down a fat salary as the head of a department depart-ment In the store, in which she works. . rites me that I am mistaken w hen I say that the business world Is the happy hunting ground for a girl who wishes to capture a husband. In proof whereof she asserts that she would like to marry If she could find the Intelligent, successful, broad-minded, broad-minded, noble, chivalrous sort of a man she desires for a husband,. Bu hu lias never yet met Just the man who cam.- up to her Ideal, and who was worth giving Up her Job for. I The men who have popped the question to her have all been poor fish. eac:h with seme fatal defect. Some of theni outdn't make as much money us she does. Others were conceited con-ceited asses uthers bad the morals of allev cats. Still others were am weaklings who had to be perpetually jollle-l and flattered. She says she wouldn't take one of these men a9 a gift Still, she wants I to get married, and she knows plenty I of other young women in her own fix,4 '1 hey arc good, looking, clever. Icapablo, holding fine positions that they would like to swap off for a home with the right man, but it seems I to them that all the desirable husbands they meet have already been taken I by some previous lady Also, that men look upon an efficient business woman with the dispassionate gaze of S fellow worker Instead of the eye of leatlment Therefore .-ho thinks that the society girl has a better chance to marrv than the business girl "Wrong. It may be true that not every woman who starts odt on the husband chase makes her kill, but it is Indisputable that the one who I hunts where the hunting is good, and th fame plentiful, hois a better cbancu lot luck, than sho who stalks her prey In barren pastures where seldom a deer roam. - r:c e those who are protected pro-tected by either the old age limit or the babv act. The girl in business Is in the one place where men most abound- She Is thrown dally and hourly into close ! association with them, and if she has uny charm to conjure with 9he has the best place in the world to WOrkl :t. Moreover she has this great advantage, ad-vantage, Sho has the man off his guard. In society a man knows that he Is pursued, nnd It is up to him I to be foxy enough to make a get- away. If he can. In business, ho falsely imagines himself safo, andl keeps no watch for tho pitfalls that may be laid for him. That business is tho first aid to matrimony, and the fatal handicap! to woman's success In commercial . life is a matter of common knowledge.! Tho managers of the telephone com-1 pany. and big dry goods stores all I unite In saying that Cupid keeps their forces perpetually crippled, and bus-.ne.-s men hesitate to advance clever and capable young women to the positions po-sitions their merits entitle them to. l?caus? about tho time they becom Indispensable they up nnd marry and leave. on big corporation will not employ a woman under 4 bceauso that ago makes a sort of dividing Un between those who am pretty sure to marry, and those who probably won't. If the business girl, then, doesn't marry, it is pretty sure to be her own fault, and there are two reasons for this Tho first Is that she knows men far better than the society girl doiS. and has fe,wr Illusions about them. The woman who works with a man hn' such a close-up view of him that nobody except his wli. '-vi- gets !-".- sees him without the veneer Of his soc-lety manners. She sees him s hen hi is sic k. and when he is well, iv hen lie's tjre t, and w orn, and nerve lacked, and fill of ajvxletlefl and fears, and she sees exactly how he reacts to all the strains of life. It is easy enough for a man to !o a carpet kniRht, and say beautiful and chivalrous th ngs to a girl he sees once a wetA, until he looks to her liko an understudy of Sir Qalsjhad. It la easy enough for a man to puff out his chest, and brag about the big d alj he has pulled off. anu to throw his money around when he takes i gfifl out, until he makes her think he's a second Kocke feller, and as good 0 spender as Coaloil Johnny. But no man lives v no can put anything any-thing over on the girl Who tak, a bU 'dictation, or checks up his sales. She has his number to the. dec imal point She Knows whether lie's ready to protect pro-tect a weak woman, or if he Is making mak-ing h fool of A silly little cash girl She knows the measure of his ability, and just how fur he Is likely lo go. She knows whether the money he spends is wrung out ot tho thin pay c n elopes of poor scrub women or not. ! And. knowing these things, sho can forecast what the life of the wife of such a man would like be, and very often it makes her job look mighty good to her. For she can .Ui when she gets tired of it and the wife can't. Moreover no mean man treats u female fe-male emplo;. e as he docs his wife. He doesn't dare to. And the business girl with her good job Is far more choosey about whom ahe marries than the society girl is. It Is the privilege that her estato of Independence gives her. The girl who Stays at homo and who has no for-tuno for-tuno of hoi own, feels that she must marry because she must have a meal ticket. She can't expect her father to support her forever. Also she mu.t marry to got something to do to keep her from Perishing of boredom I The business girl hns an Interesting Interest-ing ind absorbing occupation to fill hor thoughts, and hor own pockot-book pockot-book bo she can afford to pick and choose when she comes to selecting a husband, and not take Just anybody as the dependent must do. Of courso. plenty of business women wom-en don't marry, but It isn't because they couldn't. |