Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-27
PICKING THE WINNER.
By DOROTHY DIX.
The WcrId's Highest Paid Woman
Writer.
YOUNG man asks me HOY

YOUNG man asks me how a
q youth can tell which is the right
- girl when it comes to picking out
wife.
There isn't any way to tell with
absolute surety, son. There is no in
fallible test that you can apply to a
girl either mentally, morally, or ply
sically which will settle beyond any
peradventure If she is the one particu-
lar woman in the world for you and
the one destined by nature for your
ate.
Marriage is the great guessing game
in which the chances are fifty fifty
on your stumbling on the right answer
and being happy ever after, or blum
dering on the wrong answer and pull
ing up in the divorce court. 1t is the
one act in life in which neither age,
wisdom, nor previous experience count
for a cent or any guide to our feet.
You see callow youths with not
enough judgment and intelligence to
be trusted to buy their own neckties
picking out wives who turn out to be
three times winners. And you see
brains and a judgment so clear and
cool that it sends stocks up or down
as it decides a matter Of finance. who
pick out for their second wives chorus
girls young enough to be their grand
daughters.
Nobody knows how a wedding Is 60.
ing to turn out, least of all do the high
contracting parties know, because
they don't know how they are going
to turn out themselves. 1t Is a COM
mon thing to see a girl who was a
society butterfly before marriage turn
around and become a domestic grub
after marriage. 1t is equally common
to see the girl who has been Cinder.
ella before marriage dust the ashes
off her as soon as she enters the holy
estate and do nothing the balance OF
her life but see how fast she can
spend her husbands money. Also
many a girl who before marriage was
so mild and meek that butter would
not melt in her mouth develops after
marriage into a wife with the con-
tinuous curtain lecture habit.
Every girl is mystery wrapped up
in chiffon and no man knows what
he is getting until he takes his prize
package home with him, and then it's
too late to change.
Nor is the uncertainty of woman
the only difficulty in the case. Really,
the chief difficulty is that the man
doesn't know what he wants himself
in wife, or rather he wants one thing
in a sweetheart and another in wife,
which is as absurd as wanting gar
ment which would be swell bathing
suit and smart suit to wear to bust
ness.
Therefore, son. in trying to decide
which is the right girl, try to get
some mental picture of your own ideal
Of a wife. Do you want a wife who
will be thrifty and economical, or do
you want one who will be a good
spender and look like fashion plate?
Do you want a wife to dance the fox
trot with you, or one who will have
cooked you good dish of corned bee1
and cabbage for your dinner? Do you
want a wife who will be a companion
to you, or one who will sit at your
feet and ask you what you think she
thinks? Do you want wife who will
play golf with you and who is an out
of doors woman, or one whose idea
of sport and excitement centers
around the bargain table in a depart
ment store?
If you will decide these questions,
the trick Of picking out the right girl
for a wife isn't such a marvel Of leger-
demain as it is supposed to be- For all
married happiness rests at last on
congeniality and community of inter
ests, and when a man and woman
have these nothing else matters All
the little difficulties are swallowc I'd
up in the big delight of living with
one who has the same tastes and hab-
it's. the same ideals and aspirations
and interests that you have.
You see. son, the trouble with youth
is that it is near-sighted. 1t can't
see beyond the day. That is why it
makes so many fatal blunders in pick
ing out it's life companion. 1t thinks
that it's chills and thrills and hec