The Washington herald., 1917-08-29
GIRLS LETTERS.
BY DOROTHY DIX.
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

1t is good news to hear that the gen
erai government Is going TO put q
| stop to the maudlin and pernicious
correspondence between women anc
men convicts in penitentiaries anc
jails.
Strange as II may seem to the aver
age healthy minded individual. a so
ciety for promoting letter writing be-
tween respectable women and the
male inmates of penal institutions ex'
lists. 1t is called the Oriental EsoteriC
Literary League OF Washington, and
It sends out circulars TO women draw
ing a pathetic picture of the sad and
lonely life of the men behind the bars
telling how greatly they would bt
cheered and uplifted by receiving let
ters from some pure young girl oi
some woman with a warm, tender
sympathetic heart, and asking such
women to adopt a convict and write
to him regularly.
And all over the country thousands
of silly geese Of females who think
only with their emotions have re-
sponded to this appeal and carried or
heart-to-heart correspondence with
gentlemen whose permanent addresses
are Sing Sing, or Joliet. or Leaven'
worth, or Atlanta. or Trenton, or some
other place which is a winter and
summer resort for murderers. burglars
and white slavers.
1t seemed to these women that II
was such a little thing to write a let
ter and, of course, they reasoned that
. he 90 dnl hRfn0
in prison, not being able to go to pink
teas and bridge parties and matinees
and SO on. and It must be perfectly
lovely to get letters. especially from
strangers. So they picked out theiI
pet convict and proceeded to cheer
him up with libations of ink, without
ever stopping to think that the mere
fact that the men to whom they were
writing were convicted criminals was
of itself. an all-suficient reason why
no decent woman should CORRESPOND
with them
Neither did they pause TO reflect or
the trouble and danger they were lay
ing up for themselves. For naturally
the very first thing that the burglar
or the white SLAYER would think oi
doing after he served out his terri
would be of repairing at once to th'
home of the gentle correspondent who
had manifested so warm an interest
In him while he was in prison anc
who should stand ready, by all rule!
of logic. TO extend him a warm wei
come and a helping hand.
What such woman would reall!
do when her ex-convict appeared or
the scene with his prison pallor anC
his furtive look would be to scream
for help. But IL would not make hel
sleep the sweeter to recall that th'
man possessed a thick packet of NOR
| or less sentimental letters that sh'
had written him. which would prov
| exceedingly interesting reading Z
her dear FIVE hundred friends
| That the law has to stop with il
heavy hand the correspondence be
tween nice" women and criminal
is a commentary on feminine in
telligence that makes every sensibl,
woman blush with shame for her sex
Also it calls attention anew TO
feminine weakness against whicl
every woman should guard herself
and every mother. In especial, shoul'
| guard her daughter.
| And that is letter writing. Ink zoe
to a woman's head like a strong drinl
and steals her reason, her judgmen
and her good taste. Let a woman sc
herself down at a desk with a rean
of fair paper spread before her, a,
inexhaustible ink pot and a smOotl
| glowing pen, and the things sh,
writes she wouldn't believe Of hersel
the next day, even when she sees !
down in black and white over he
I own signature.
She has tossed discretion to tn
winds. She has kissed reserve an
| feminine coyness and reluctance good
by. She has confided secrets sh
never meant to tell and written thing
that she would have bitten her tongu
off before she would have said. wors
still she has put the loud pedal Of
all Of her emotions and sentiment
and exaggerated them to the highes
| degree.
Why women do this only God VIII
contrived the puzzle Of feminin
psychology knows. Perhaps the bes
guess at the riddle is that every WON
an is at heart a poet and a novels
and that il is only in her letters tha
she finds a vent for the bubbling an,
i eNSNA4AAAs anu lOHlaHN
that is bottled up within her
She hasn't the nerve to express her
self in high fallutin' phrases in fac
| to face talk with anyone. Nor i
ordinary conversation could sh
rhapsodize over nature or paint luri
| pictures of her own soul hunger an
yearnings after the whatness Of tn
what. She knows people would laugl
/ at her.
! But when she sits down to writ
a letter all restraints are Of 1t
the open season for a woman maxim
as big a fool OF herself as she cal
and going as far as she likes Thu
/ it happens that a woman will writ
a man letters breathing the mos
| passionate vows of devotion whel
she really isn't in love with him a
all. or she will pen incrilninatini
things that she has 10 buy back witt
good money, not because she wa
swept of Of her feet by the fascina
tions Of the man, but by the fascina
| ton Of writing
In neither case did she mean wha
she wrote, but it just looked so goo,
! on paper she didn't have the strength
( of mind not to send IL.
| Hence these tears and much Of tn
thriving trade in blackmail. Nor i