The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-18
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.
The Silver Lining to Poverty.

The Silver Lining TO Poverty.
81 envy you the advantages that
you are able to give your children"
said the millionaire to the poor
woman.
THE advantages that can give my
children" cried the poor woman in
amazement, what. advantage can
give my children"
THE great advantage of poverty"
replied the millionaire.
You are hooking me-" said the
woman. why the bitterest thing in
poverty to me is the fact that I can
not give my children the advantages
that I want to give them. For myself
do not greatly care. I have been
poor so long and have done with
out the things that 1 wanted SO long
/ that my personal desires have been
atrophied. 1 can accept poverty for
myself with patience and philosophy.
But with my children it is another
matter. The knowledge that 1 cannot
give my children the advantages that
the rich can give theirs stabs me to
the heart and vets my pillow with
tears. 1 see my girls pretty, charm
ing and attractive, and I yearn to
give them beautiful clothes, to take
them to winter and summer resorts,
to entertain for them, to give them
social advantages.
II see my boys handsome, manly.
with fine minds, energetic and ambi-
LOuS, ana WouIu give my very 44Ao
to send them to college, to give them
the advantage of education and a
start in the world.
Instead of my being able to do
what I would like for my children
they have had to do for themselves.
other is in a store. Both of my boys
have been at work since they were
sixteen. 1 have been able to give
none of them any advantages"
tlan fG-T fNya nj n 90 n
all-pOVerty" repeated the million
aire. 81 have heard that your daugh-
ter, who is Stenographer, has be-
come the private secretary to the
head of her firm, and that the one in
the store is going to be made buyer.
/ l am told that both of your boys are
hustling, wide awake young fellows
who are looked upon as coming men
by their employers. So it seems TO
me that you have proved my theory
that poverty is a blessing in youth,
even if it is blessing that is so
camouf1auged that we don't recognize
it at sight
Il can sympathize with you in the
way you have felt when your pretty
young daughters had to roll up their
sleeves and &C to work instead of
/ spending their time gaddingN around
| from store to store and party to party,
and filling their days with silly extrava-
! gapces and amusements. But when
/
! really think that the idle life is better
| for a girl physically, morally or spir-
| ituelly than it as for her to be engaged
/ in some useful work?
| Don't you think that the girl who
uses her brains in graphing with the
! real problems of the world develops
into a more intelligent human being
I than the girl who never exercises her
mind over anything but dress and
bridge? Don't you think that the girl
who has achieved independence and
can stand on her two strong little feet
/ is finer character than the poor.
weak, parasitic female who has to
hang on to some man for support as
long as she lives?
Don't you think that the poor girl
has a better chance to marry happily
] than the rich girl? 1 think no girls
in the world have as poor a show OF
getting decent husband as rich ones.
/ They are pursued by fortune hunters
/ and they are surrounded by idle,
worthless. selfish, pampered pets that
/ have never done anything in their
1 lives but think about themselves and
their own pleasure and amusement.
The men who are doing things and
who are worth marrying are in the
world where your daughters live-not
where mine are-and your daughters
have ten times the matrimonial op-
your daughters marry they will be
married for love; mine will be mar
ried by men with an eager eye on their