The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-08
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.
War and Womcn.-2.


when we think OF war" went on
the doctors wife. I'VE think of it in
terms OF death, but We should think
Of 1t in terms of life also. for just as
many lives are going to be saved by
the war a. are going to be lost IN 1t,
and queerly enough the ones who are
going to be saved by it are the boys
and wome.. There are Thousands
upon thousands OF pale, habby. thin
chested boys who have been turned
by army discipline and exercise into
big, strong. husky young men. These
| boys who were doomed to early death
by peace. will be saved to a hale old
age by war.
And there are thousands upon
| thousands of women who were drift
| ing into invalidism thru lack of ex-
| ercise and over-eating. idleness and
| sheer boredom. that the war has vital
/ lied and made young again. They
haven't gIt time to think about their
aches and pains, and their aches and
pains automatically disappeared. for
aches AMI pains are temperamental
things that simply can't live unless
| you keep the spotlight turned on
them and give them the glad hand.
| "Why. / don't know when l even
| heard a woman talk about her health!
4 j
| much to say about first aid dressings
and cantesns. about liberty loans and
| what my boy writes from the front"
| The doctors wife was silent for a
moment, and then she laughed. Did
you ever notice." she asked, that i'll
health is mostly perquisite Of the
rich, so far as women are concerned.
and that about the time woman ac-
quires limousine she also acquires
nervous prostitution? AS long as q
woman has to do her own cooking,
washing and baby ten ling and has
her hands and her heart full.she man.
ages to keep well and strong. It's
not the women who get away with the
work of a 1ongshoreman who throng
doctors offices. his the women whose
most arduous occupation is leading
Fido out on a string, and who con-
slider it an effort to even try to think
what they think they would like to
buy.
These are the women who enrich
nerve and stomach specialists. sana-
| forums and hospitals, for any woman
with lively imagination and nothing
to do but cultivate it can think her
self into i'll health Just as soon as she
sets her mind upon it.
DO youAknow that often think
that one of the most pitiful things ir
the world is that the men who love us
women and who work themselves to
death to keep US from any hardship
are really doing us a harm as great as
malice itself could invent. They are
literally killing us with kindness, and
in keeping US from having to do oul
share of work and worrying, they are
making US invalids in body and neu.
rotics in mind.
I'VE hear a lot about the delicate
American woman. the frail physique
of the American woman, and the
American woman's nerves. 1t is otter
said that the American woman hasn't
the robustness of foreign women
j STUFF and nonsense. The American
1 woman is neither delicate nor frail
our pioneer grandmothers went thru!
The woman that helped win this con-
tinent from the Indians didn't have
any nerves. They had nerve.
And their granddaughter are Of
the same stock. All that's the matter
with the American woman is that she
spoiled to death Because the Ameri.
can man is the most indulgent hus
band and father on earth. and wants
to keep his wife and daughter from
soft. He has deprived them of an,
worth while occupation. He has ener
waited them and made them lazy. The!
have had nothing vital to occupy thei
minds, and that has turned thei
thoughts on themselves and mad,
them sick physically and mentally.
The war has given many a ricl
woman the first worthy object she ha
ever had in her life. 1t has mad
many a woman think seriously for tn
first time. 1t has taught her the 10,
of doing and giving, the beauty of sac
rifice, made real woman of her and I,
the day of her death she will be .
changed creature.
I'VE talk lot about what womei
are doing for the war. but believe me
the war is doing more for the women
In it they are finding their souls ant
| health"
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