The Washington herald., 1917-06-06
Helping the World to Happiness
By DOROTHY DIX,
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

It is a bromide to say that a happy
marriage is Paradise regained. and
that an unhappy marriage is hell
on earth There Is no other sorrow
equal to the misery experienced by
the mismated, Just as there is no
other joy. equal TO that serene happi-
ness Of the man and woman who md
in each other perfect sympathy and
companionship.
1t makes no difference TO a man
how hard he works. II ne labors for
a wife who gives him love and graft
tude in return for 1t. 1t makes no
difference how poor the home is, II
peace and affection glorify It. 1t
makes no difference to a woman If
she wears a so hand-me-down suit If
she knows that her husband srfeves
because he cannot buy her the finest
imported gown on Fifth avenue
And II makes no difference how
many palaces a couple own, how many
limousines they ride in. how many
quarts OF pearls and diamonds a man
bestows on his wife, II one or the
other is selfish and sharp tongued
and tyrannical. and II their home is
a place Of strife and pickering.
When We are married our happine IS
and the kind of husband or wife we
have. We cannot get away from that
1t is the thing that is ever present
with us. 1t is our own crown Of
glory, or our hidden torment, and the
Individual who would be the greatest
benefactor that humanity could pos
stbly have would be the one who
could insure that every man would get
good wife and every woman a good
husband.
There is one such Individual. an In
dividual who holds the happiness Of
humanity in her hands She could
wipe the tears from millions OF eyes.
She could have millions Of hearts
from being broken. She could stop
divorce and prevent the breaking up
OF millions of homes, and the orphan
ing of millions Of helpless little chill
dren, and she is so selfish that she
will not do t.
This individual, who callously re-
fuses to use her power for good. is
called Mother. and there is no other
that she refuses to even recognize
her responsibility for wrong that
devastates the world and strews 1t
with broken lives She doesn't even
see that, with a fearful revenge, her
sin reacts on herself. and that the
pitiless cruelty she shows to others
comes back to slay her own.
Observation and experience have
taught US to speak of marriage as ;
the greatest OF all lotteries. and to
prophet to foretell how a wedding is
going to turn out. nor what sort Of b
husband or wife a man or woman viii
Yet it is within the ability Of every
mother to change marriage from
oelng lottery into being a certainty.
and TO assure every man and woman
VINO gets married of getting a good
wife or husband. It is strictly within
the power OF the mothers who are
raising up children to stop divorce
within one generation. and blot do
nestle misery out of the universe.
There Is no mystery in what con-
sututes good husband or wife. It
requires no marvellous gifts nor su-
pernal qualifications. Nobody wants
70 be married to an angel The most
that any Of us ask in our helpmeets
is just a reasonable amount Of self
control and unselfshness and justice
and common fair play. And II added
to this we could get some real sym
pathy and tenderness and apprecia-
ton, we should consider ourselves
among the most blessed of all NOR
tals.s
Suppose, for instance, a mother
started out with a benevolent inten-
tlon OF raising her son up to be