The Washington herald., 1912-03-12
ny DOROTHY DIX.


A woman who is getting her fourth
divorce. and who should have cut her
wisdom teeth on husbands and know
whereof she speaks. advises all girls to
marry old men. She says that young
man does not know how to treat a wife,
and it IS only the elderly husband who
is tender, kind, and considerate to a
woman, and who may be safely trusted
out Of her sight.
HIM. wonder?
OF course there is an old proverb that
has been handed down from mother to
daughter for ages that says. TT Is better
TO be an old mans darling than young
mans slave But like other proverbs
this one is only true in spots and under
certain conditions. and, as a general
thing. the girl who marries an old man,
thinking that he will make Of her pam
pered pet, finds that she has been griev-
ously gold bricked in the transaction.
She has got the old husband, and the
slavery to boot.
But at what age it is safest to take a
matrimonial risk on a man? Twenty?
Thirty? Forty? Fifty? Sixty?
Pass up twenty to begin with. Heaven
help the girl who is fool enough to marry
a boy of twenty! At twenty a man has
an the matrimonial faults in the calen-
low, egotstical. self centered. selfish, un-
developed. unstable, and marriage with
him spells certain misery. There's
divorce coupon that goes with nearly
every. marriage license that is issued to
3 boy OF twenty,
He Is Selfish.
No very young man ever thinks of any
thing but his own pleasure. Life has not
disciplined him and taught him self-con-
troll, and so when things go wrong
in the home and he feels upon his
shoulders the burdens OF family life, he
is dead sure TO take out on his wife
the price OF his own folly. The gayety
and amusements That rightly belong to
his time of life call to him. and when
he has 10 stay at home and walk the
colo and push the perambulator instead
of honking away in automobiles or two
stepping at dances. or roaming the green
golf links, he is the family gloom, all
right.
Besides which, no boy of twenty or
thereabouts knows what he wants in
a wife and the one best bet is that
he'll tire OF whomever he did marry.
no matter what a confederation she
may be Of feminine Eraces and vir-
tues. Therefore. girls, as you value your
happiness, never. never, never marry
mere boy. Kidnapping is a life sentence
at hard labor in matrimony as II is in
crime.
Thirty is a good risk. BY the time a
man is thirty years old his character
is at least. we'll enough formed for a
woman to be able TO look him over and
see what she's getting. When she mar
ries him she isn't marrying a human
riddle, the answer to which no one can
guess, as she does when she marries
boy Also a man at that age has been
h1FN Tko nHnoria
to knock some of the conceit out OF him,
and a little consideration for other peo-
pie into him.
Centered on Getting Along.
Against thirty it may be said that
man still retains many of the Grand
Turk ideas of his youth concerning
woman. and that he will expect any
woman that he marries to be property
grateful to him for the honor that he
Confers upon her. Also that most men
at that age are just in the hardest part
Of their fight to get a foothold in busi-
ness so that the women who marry
them must be willing to do their part
to make many sacrifices, endure many
pTivations and TO be content with the
perfunctory attentions of a man whose
whole heart is centered on getting along
But in favor Of the man of thirty il
may also be said that he has the fire
and passion of youth, for him are still
the glory and the circling wings of love
before romance pales and sentiment dies
down into ashes. He can give to his wife
that most precious of all boons, COM
radeship. and it matters not to the woman
who gets this whether her rugs are
Oriental or New Jersey. whether she eats
on Sevres or Iron Stone china So, IL
you marry man Of thirty. girls you'll
stand very good chance of never having
10 buy ticket for Reno.
Forty Even Better.
Forty. though, is an even better age
for a husband than thirty because all of
the advantages that a man possessed at
thirty he still has at forty with two
additional qualifications that make his
matrimonial stock a gilt edge security
which a prudent woman may safely in
vest her happiness. At forty a man is
still capable of being the perfect lover,
and when he does love it is with an ardor
that makes the calf love of youthful Ro-
meos taste like milk and water beside
champagne.
He is man at the full maturity of his