The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-02
DOROTMY DIX TALKS
BIZ DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

Women Growing Less Sentimental
| One of the curious evolutions of
modern life is the decay of sentiment
among women. Women are fast be-
coming the practical sex. and it be-
gins to look as If the old fashioned
woman who lived only in her emo
| lions and who viewed the world thru
| a pink veil of romance would soon
be as extinct as the dodo.
| A thousand little proofs of the de-
cadence of sentiment in women force
| themselves on ones attention. Take
novels. for instance. Novels are writ
ten mostly for women and by wom-
en-, and they reflect women's point of
| view at every period.
i Compare the heroines of the old
school of fiction-the Belindas, and
Evelinas, and Amelias, who simply
exude sentim ent at every pore, with
the strenuous heroine of the modern
novel. and you will have a standard
by which to gauge how far women
have gotten away from the mushy
| ideals of other days.
| No novelist now would dare to rep
resent his heroine nursing a broken
| heart, or pining away and dying of
| blighted affections, or even suffering
and being strong, because women
wouldn't have her at any price. They
are out of sympathy with that state
of mind. They would regard that sort
of woman as a f1abby, spineless. weak
minded chump, who wasn't worth
even reading about.
What interests women in fiction is
heroine who sees things fairly and
squarely, and even unconyentionally,
life, and who makes something out of
her life even If it has had the misfor-
tune to be marred in places. There
must be love story, of course, but
I<xv@ T. -
vital thing.
The theater, which is also largely
supported by women, shows the same
Indifference to sentiment. The most
successful plays of late years have
been the problem plays. and plays of
action. not those that depended who'll
ly on sentiment. Women are the most
| enthusiastic Shawites and Ibsenites
| whose appeal is always to the intel
| lect, and not the heart.
| TWO other straws that show which
way the winds of feminine tempera-
ment blow are the fact that women
have ceased to swoon, and almost
ceased to weep. The sweet Alice Ben
Bolts who wept with delight when
you gave them a smile, and trembled
with fear at your frown" left no
| progeny behind them. The days when
this emotionalism was thought inter-
esting are passed. A woman who can't
control herself now consid ers herself
the victim of hysteria. and hustles
OIL to the nearest nerve specialist for
| treatment. because she realizes that
she's an object of derision with other
women.
Women have just as many causes
to weep and to be unhappy as they
ever had. AT this particular period
OF me worlds history they have more
cause for tears than they ever had
before, God pity them, but every
| where thew have pric oil,
with heroism.
'rhey have packed up their trou-
bies i'll their old kit bag" and sent
their men away with smiles. And
fairs with quiet bravery, instead of
posing as martyrs, as the overly senti-
mental woman of the past did when
she haC anything hard to endure.
One of the interesting phases of this
fall off and decline in sentiment
among women, as Mr.. Wegg would
say. IS that 1T makes them take a
totally different view of men and mat
| rimony
The poet who write that Love was
of mans life a thing apart, it's wo-
mans y-nole existence" expressed the
condition of affairs at a time when
women lived only in their sentiments.
If he were writing now he would
have a very different story to tell.
Love isn't the whole of the modern
woman's existence by long shot. 1t
is beautiful annex, but t>isn't the
entire structure. If love comes to her
she is GLAD of it, but If Cupid fails to
| knock at the door she can get along
| very con- fortably without it, thank
you.
Probably all girls still look forward
to getting married, and every woman
would prefer to marry if she could
! find her ideal. but they are in no
hurry about doing it.
Nothing is more common than to
hea- even young girls speak of dread
| ing to get married, even when they
up their personal liberty. Working
women in especial, who earn good
salaries acknowledge that they have
no inclination whatever towards mat
rimon.'.
! What could a husband give me
that I don't have?" a professional
woman who makes a fine Income said
to me recently in discussing an offer
of marriage that she had received.
I suggested the conventional thing
about loneliness and compa nionship,
and the protecting care of a husband,
to which she replied that she wasn't
lonely, and furthermore that no one
knew when they were getting hus-
band whether his scompanionship
would be agreeable OF not, or even
whether he was going to protect his
wife. o. she would have to support
him.
OF course women are going to fall
in love and marry when the right
man comes along. The decline of
sentiment in the sex isn't going to de-
cline enough to prevent that, but they
are going to pick out their husbands
in the future with their heads as we'll
as their hearts.
The ladies who died of broken
hearts because they were Tilted by
faithless SWANS. and who spent forty
or fifty years weeping over a pack of
yellow letters, have no imitators now
Nor do they appeal to their sisters as
romantic figures.
On the contrary. they have such a