The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-11
Dorothy DlT Says
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer



Friendship" said the woman in the
blue hat, as she dropped another lump
of sugar in her tea, lis NJ only one
of the most beautiful and 'ovely things
in life, it is also one of thu most cur
ious phenomena of nature Life with
out friends would be unbearable, yet
they frequently make existence insup-
portable. They are at once our sup
port and our burden, and there are
times when 1 don't know which / envy
most, the friendless or the popular"
1.-The worst thing about our friends
is that they won't get along together.
! They hate each other at sight" said
the woman in taupe TT, easier to
| together in peace than it is to get your
! friends to sit down together to a din
ner table without scrapping."
That's right" assented he woman
! in green. Il spend my life being kind
of human buffer between my friends,
/ trying - keep Mary from insulting
Julia, and Julia from clawing Mary,
and Sally off of Fannie's toes, and
Fannie from running rough shod all
over Sally's pet prejudice and hob
bies. Yet Julia and Mary and Sally
and Fannie are all perfectiv good and
lovely ladies, and why they can't har-
monte beats me-"
oh" exclaimed the woman in the
/ L
the reason that our friends dislike
each other is because we have chosen
! each of them for some differe mt quail
ity. Each one is a different note of
J the human scale, so to speak, and we
can make music out of tie combina-
| ton, but when they are brought to-
| gether they simply clash and make a
discord like KillkennJ sat fight.
For instance, I've got dozen diff
ferent friends, with each one of whom
in nd
seek the society of each particular
friend when 1 want th-. particular
thing that she gives me. There's Maria
who is Intellectual and highbrowed
who has read and studied, and who
discourses about transcendental phil
osophy and the inner meaning OF
Browning and the symb oiism of Ib-
sen. 1 like to sit at Maria's feet and
imbibe wisdom and probe with her
! into the depths of things.
And there's Violet who hasn't got
an idea in her head beyond the tango
and the latest thing in freakiSh fash
ion. She never read anything deeper
than a Robert Chambers. novel in her
life, and all that she gets ont of them
is that the heroine was just a 'sweety
and the hero swell feller.' Now
enjoy Violet's society Just because she
is nothing but a \butterfly who doesn t
understand and isn't troubled by any
of the great problems of lie that tear
the soul of thinkers like Maria But
1 can understand why Nara and Vio-
let don't have hilarious time when
invite them to meet IA other at
lunch at my house. Y
And there's Eliza who has been
torn and buffetted and bruised by the
world, who has fought and struggled
and suffered, who has been thru ex-
periences that cruelty, and who has
come out of it all with a bitter and
cynical knowledge of life. 1 love her
and 1 enjoy her talk that bites like
acid. But I also love Harriet who
has always lived in a satin lined jewel
box, who has never been thru any
ordeal more trying than changing
cooks. and whose conversational range
reaches from her husband to her ba-
bies. 1 comprehend, however. why
Harriet's babble drives Eliza mad, and
why Harriet is shocked by ELIAS epi-
grams
q suppose you are right" agreed
the woman in green, but your friends
not being able to get along together
complexities dinner giving. When 1
am going to invite two or three of my
intimates to dinner 1 always feel as if
should serve peace warrants with
| the cocktails"
"A man makes the best friend
said the woman in taupe.
1T depends upon the occasion" re-
piled the woman in the lue hat. "If
you want somebody to rejoice with
you, go to a man friend. If you want
someone to sympathize with you in
trouble, go to a woman, but never
reverse the process or you will lose
: your friend. A man friend can't stand
I your adversely. A woman friend can
I stand your prosperity, and there you
are!"
That's true" exclaimed the wom-
an in green. Men are far better
friends to have a good time with than
women are, but they are only fair
weather friends. a man wants you to
always be at your best, for you to be
\ healthy and happy and contented. He
. wants you to be gay and amusing an6
= in high spirits. and just the minute
, you are not he drop you.
HE doesn't want to be about you
Il when you are sick, and complaining
9 He doesn't want to take you out un-
), less you've got plenty of glad rags
: He positively will not listen to YOU
!, : tale of woe, and if you show signs o.
y weeping he conducts all of his con
:. versation with you over the telephone
: All of my men friends come to ms
O with their triubles, but l shouldn'1
dare to even whisper to one of then
n that I have worry.
ION the contrary a woman never
q likes you so well as when you arr
r. looking haggard and worn and sick
. and she simply loves you when yol
7 put your head down on her shoulde
N and sob out the story of your life. Blu
e your best woman friend acts 1ittl
n cold and distant towards you whel
II good luck comes knocking at you
s door. She's glad for you to succeed
IS but success doesn't endear you to her
I while misery does.
n saThe moral of all of which is, go t.
e YOUR men friends when you are hap
= DIV, and your women friends when yo'
s are sad"
a II IS