The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-28
Dorothy DIG Says
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer



Way"
1t was intended to be a humorous
song, but in reality it was one of the
most tragical things ever written, for
it was geographically descriptive OF
nine -tenths of humanity-of the nine
tenths of humanity that works and
strives, and struggles, and fails, be-
cause it has no steadfast purpose, no
definite goal towards which it is
marching.
Do you ever watch a crowd of peo-
pie getting off of railroad train, or
even walking along the streets? They
sway this way and that. They stop.
They are undecided whether they will
turn to the right or the left. They are
diverted from their course by any
trivial thing. They are on their way,
but they don't know where they are
going. And they never arrive any
where in particular.
Suddenly thru this mass of falter-
ing, fumbling, futile people comes a
man who knows exactly where he is
going, and he goes thru the crowd as
a motor boat goes thru still water:
He takes advantage of every foothold
and of every opening. People make
way for him. They stand aside and
let him pass, and while they are still
shifting aimlessly about he's blocks
on his way ahead of them.
This is a picture of life. The secret
of success is purpose. The people VINO
achieve things are those who started
out to do some one definite thing. and
who kept on trying to do that same
one thing until they could do it sup
erlatively well. Those who get there
are those who started for some partic-
ular place, and who let nothing tempt
them tow ander off of the main track
that led to their ambitions end
Read the life history of every grea;
man and it tells the same story. AL
ways hew as obsessed by the deter
nina ton to write, or paint, or build,
or be a merchant, or lead armies, or
discover new worlds Often he did
not know how he was going to do the
thing he wanted to do, but he always
knew that some way he was going to
do it. He was on his way and he
knew where he was going.
And the history of every down and
outer is the exact reverse of this 1t
is the men who have never had any
concrete purpose in their whole exist
ence, who have changed continually
from one ocucpation to another, who
have been jacks of all trades and
masters of none who fill the aims
houses.
1t is as foolish to try to live ones
life without some definite plan for do
ing it as it would be to try to build L
house without knowing whether you
were going to erect a residence, or a
theater, or a garage. Yet that is the
way that most people live, and it is
why their lives are such poor tumble
down structures instead of being lord
ly palaces.
And if this is true of men, it is
doubly true of women. Circumstances
! force most men into some particular
path that leads somewhere, whereas
| most women, at least the domestic
! ones, are left free to aim1essly Zigza G
| thru the world without ever arriving
anywhere
r Yet these women have had it in
them to do great things. They could
| have attained any heights. They
could have been powers of good. And
| they have worked just as hard, used
up just as much energy and strength
| doing nothing as they would have used
in doing something, if only they had
ever worked by a plan and had some
definite object in view, instead of do
| ing things hit-or-miSS.
This lack of a plan of life is the
cause of practically all of women s
failures. Talk to the average girl and
she hasn't the faintest idea of what
she proposes to do with herself She
doesn't know whether she even in
| tends to marry, so she doesn't know
whether to fit herself to be wife or
not. And she's equally uncertain
about whether she wants to be a bust
| ness girl or not. so she doesn't fit
herself for that, either
Even when a woman marries and
| desires above all earthly things to do
her full duty as wife and mother, she
seldom formulates any definite plan of
action. She is guided by impulse. and
depends upon the inspiration of the
moment to direct her
She doesn't set herself definitely to
the task of being a scientific cook SO
| that she can conserve the health of
her family by giving them the exact
IV1.N -I-tNr
| doesn't teach herself to become an eff
| fciency expert, SO that the household
tasks may be accomplished with the
least possible labor and expenditure
of strength. She doesn't study eco
nomics so that she can cut off all un-
necessary waste and get the full value
of every dollar
She doesn't decide on a plan OF
campaign that will best advance her
| husbands interests and secure her
ch1ldren's future. She doesn't even
| study her children's dispositions and
mental peculiarities SO that she NAV
be able to help them to decide on
grow up.
NO Shes on 5ler way as wife and
mother, and it's dear, sweet, loving,
tender way that is paved with all the
good intentions in the world. but she
doesn't know where she's going and
she never gets anywhere
Her mouse is tunglingly managed
her children ill nourished or overfed
ner bills are out of reason She's a
millstone around her husbands neck
and when her boys and girls grow up
she can't guide them because she's
had no compass by which to steer her
own life, and she has sailed for nc
particular port.
Women fail in business for the
same cause. The real reason that
1--we i
work as men is because most of WON
ans work is poor work. 1t is work
done without any object in view other
than a temporary pay envelope.
| Whenever a woman starts out to dc
any kind of work that she means tC
make her life work; whenever she
starts to do a thing with all her hear
and soul, and with some settled plaT