The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-04
Dorothy Di1 Says
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer
What Shall a Poor Girl Do?

ing for his country, and she wants to
know what she shall do while her
fiance is away-whether she shall go
about to places of amusement with
other young people or nope in her
home and wear the willow.
II am young" she writes. L work
hard ali Gay and when L come home
of an evening / find it very dreary and
lonesome to sit up alone, So L have
been going out with some of my
friends. 1t passes the time more quick
ly aad keeps me from worrying about
my sweetheart who has answered the
call of his country, but my parents
think that for me to amuse myself in.
his bSence is not being true to him
Many other girls are in my position.
7, i'll you tell US what we should do?"
Take the innocent pleasures OF
youth as they come to you, my dear.
Life is not so full of sunshine that we
and those who would darken day
of your girlhood know not the crime
that they commit.
The most mischievous cult in the
world is that which teaches us that
there is some peculiar virtue in tears
and grief, and that making ourselves
miserable will be accounted unto US
for righteousness. These people think
that they are never so fully doing their
duty as when they are worrying them
selves sick, and that to be morbid and
melancholy shows that they have
depths of character not possessed by
those who get over things"
This is rank tommyrot nonsense.
WORRY does nothing but fragile out
your nerves and put a razor edge on
| your temper. Anxiety achieves moth
| ing, but it makes lines in your face.
Unavailing tears only dim your eyes
and constant brooding over the dan
| ger and death that may come to a be-
| loved one has no effect except to make
you sick and miserable and such a
| gloomy companion that everyone
avoids your society.
AS you say, there are thousands. of
| other young girls whose sweethearts
| have kissed them and ridden away to
the war. What useful purpose can
\ be served by all of these young women
withdrawing themselves from all the
pleasures of life and sitting down in
solitary rooms to pine. and wait, and
weep for their lovers return, and tor
ture themselves by letting their imag-
nations picture the risks their men
are running?
aside, not one trench will their fears
make safer, mot one gas bomb will
| their despair make innocuous. They
will but add needlessly to the misery
that hangs over this darkened old
world, and their letters, filled with
gloom and apprehension as they are
bound to be, will sap the courage and
take the heart out of the men who
get them at the front.
| Now women are called on as never
before in the history of the world to
assume a brave attitude towards life.
and the biggest part of this bravery
consist:S in keeping smile on their
faces. They cannot do this if they
deliberately make themselves misera-
| bic sby refusing every pleasure and
pining themselves away to a shadow
The best, thing that any girl can do
for her Sammy is to go on and lead
her normal life with courage. keep
herself cheerful, and write him the
jolliest letters she cam pen. telling him
that just as he is doing the part of
a man at the front, so she is trying
to do the part OF woman at home
That's the sort of a girl a man likes
to think of coming back to, not a
poor Lydia Languish creature who has
fretted herself into a case of nervous
prostration.
As for the danger of a girl not re-
naming true to her sweetheart be-
cause she goes to places of amuse-
ment where she meets other men, that
is not worth considering. If a girl
is so poor and weak minded and tickle
as that, and has so little real love
for a man that as soon as he is out
of sight he is out of mind, why, the
sooner he gets rid of her the better
She isn't worthy any real mans
her for a wife ought to go down OF
his knees and thank God for his luck
There is no magic in a wedding ring
that keeps a light and frivolous wo-
man true and steady and the woman
who is a faithless sweetheart will
make a faithless wife.
AS matter of fact it would be a
good thing If every engagement could
be tried out by absence, and by both
the man and woman being thrown
f1xxr re "a
and men,. Then they would find out
how strong their love for each other
really was, and whether they were
destined for mates. If time and dis
lance served only to make them dear
err to each other, if no other woman
had power to charm the man, and nc
other man could make the girls heart
beat quicker, then they might &C
ahead with the wedding without feaI
for the future.
But if absence weakens the tie be-
tween a couple, and their affection is
so fragile it cannot endure the test
of association with other people, then
surely it is a good thing to find it out
on the safe side of the altar, for di-
vorce is a messy thing and unpleas-
ant to have about the premises.
Personally, 1 should not think that
it would be very difficult for girl to
remain true to her Sammy, when she
compared him with the slackers who
roman at home. Bstween the stall
wart. cle.r eyed youth who rose uii
and answered Here" to his country s
call for men to defend 1t, and the fell
low who lets some other man fight his
battle while he escorts girls to the
movies or hands around ten, or fox
trots with them, there isn't much
choice for a woman who wants a real
! man for a husband.
So don't be afraid, girls, that it Will
shake your allegiance to Sammy for
you to receive a few attentions from
other men. If you really love Sammy
and are a Worthwhile woman, fit to
be a brave mans wife. you viii be
faithful to him. And If you are Of
the type that prefers lounge lizards
[ why, you will be doing Sammy an in
estimable favor by marrying somebody
| else