The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-13
DORUTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

Making the Most OF NOW and Here.
Among my acquaintance is a GER
tain well-to-do elderly woman who is
always dressed in garments of expen-
sive material but they are about three
years behind the fashion.
When other women are wearing
tight skirts her skirts are four yards
around the bottom. When other wom-
en- have on boufant sleeves, her sleeves
fit her arm like a sausage casing.
When other worhen's hats are untrim-
med. hers are loaded down with
ostrich feathers, and altogether she
invariably looks like a back number,
yet she spends as / uch money on her
wardrobe as many woman does who
presents a fashion plate appearance.
Now the reason that this lady re-
sembles something that has been fish
ed out of the rag bag instead of a
Daily Hint from Paris is Because when
she gets new dress and hat she con-
siders them too good to weA when
they are fresh, except on some ex-
ceedingly Respondent occasion, and as
resplendei-t occasions occur but sell
dom in her quiet life, she doesn't wear
them at all. She carefully wraps up
in many coverings her fine new frock
and hat and puts them away in the
closet while she wears her year before
last things, and by the time she gets
around to them they. too, are out of
date, SO she never catches up with the
styles.
In the same spirit she covers up her
new rugs with bits of old carpet, and
sfnothefs her new furniture in tides
to protect 1T, and eats off of knicked
| and BROKEN china to avoid cracking
| her new dishes so that her. house is
always shabby, altfi6 it is full of good
Things that their owner considers too
| good to use.
This woman never mas the pleasure
ef being well { esse1 or living in the
midst of beautiful surroundings because
she has neVe~ LEARNED to make tie
most of now and here. She puts off
using and enjoying her pretty things
until some future time, and when the
| time comes the pleasure that she
might have had is gone Her frock
| that was once SO smart has become
seareerow, her rugs are soiled, her
furniture scratched, her china an old
| pattern, ana she's never had any salts
faction out of them at all.
We can see easily en6ugh this W6ni-
an folly as it manifests itself in a
material way, but do not most of us
spiritually fall under the saine e6n-
are to get any good out of our clothes
and furniture we must do So in the
present, but do not most eff US put eff
enjoying the finer things of life until
II is too late, and the JOY we might
| have had is forever gone?
| We see this pathetic mistake beiHz
made in the domestic relationship a
| man and woman love each other
deeply ana sincerely A woman ap-
preciates to the full every fine and
noble noble quality 9f her husband She
thinks of how hard he tolls to Keep
her soft and safe; of how deep and
abiding is his patience with all of her
little weaknesses, of the generosity
that makes him offer himself up as a
daily sacrifice on the family altar.
The man never looks at his wife
without feeling like going down on his
knees before her as to a saint She
typifies for him all that is good, and
pure, and loyal, and devoted, all the
qualities that lift humanity nearer to
the stars. and there isn't a day when;
in his secret soul, he doesn't bless God
for having given her to him for a wife
Subconsciously these people know
that theirs is one of the rare mar
riages in which q man and woman
sometimes they mean to enjoy this
precious cup of welded bliss that is al
their lips-Sometime they are going Il
sip it drop by drop, tasting to the full
est it's flavor, sometime they are going
to take long hours in reVeling in a
perfect comradeshib.
But not just now: They are toe
busy in the present moment with bust
ness, with housekeeping, with parties
and clubs, and d thousand foolish in
terests to even realize that they are
) happy. or that their marriage is d
success, or to say a word of thanks
or appreciation 10 each other. And
then one Of tfTef1 dies, and the time
; when they might have enjoyed them
selves together is gone past all recall
And every day you see people max
ing the same fatal mistake about theil
children. In the wide Universe there
is nothing else a millionth part so en-.
| chanting, such fun as a little child
whose mind is just beginning to un-
! fold; whose eyes are Opening to E
world of wonder. and whose littl(
tongue is just beginning to babblc
: queer comments on life. To feel the
! cling of tender little arms around you
neck, and the cuddle Of a soft little
body in the hollow of your arm, bring!
: a thrill to the heart more poignant
i sweeter, and more satisfying than an.
: othef that ever. pierces the human
heart.
Probably there is not one fathei
: and mother in a thousand who doesh'
/ know this. or who would sell chilt
| for a million dollars yet how few
parents do you ever see who are reall!
/ enioving their babies, or who realizl
r that they are eating their white bread
1 I of life while their children are play
l ing about their feet, and begging TO
g bedtime stories?
/ They expect to enjoy their children
sometime but not just now. Nov
4 they worry and fret and scold becads'
!, johnnie gets his face so dirty, apt
, tears his clothes, and Mary spots tn,
t tablecloth, and little Susie broke he
: best doll, and there are toy soldier
t under foot in the hafi. and the bes
. hair brush has been used for a sub
T; marine in the bathtub, and the eeoR,
! jar has been raided, and hair ribbon
S are always getting lost,
Oh, certainly, mother and fathe
/ are going to enjoy their children afte
a bit, but Before they Know if Their
=. are no more children to be tueke,
! into bed, no more little prayers tu b
I heard, no little figures climbing upol
/ their Knees, and laying drowsy it'll