The Washington herald., 1918-02-11
THE WAR BRIDES.
BY DOROTHY DIX. ..
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

not taught US to borrow trouble. or
discount our joys Youth is the time
when laughter comes to our lips more
readily than tears come to our eyes
1t Is the time when every fiber OF
our being calls out for pleasure and
happiness, for making the most OF
the present moment.
Tehrefore, no matter how much the
little war bride may love her young
husband, no matter how her heart
turns to ice in her bosom when she
thinks OF the dangers TO which he is
exposed, she cannot make a profess
sion of her anxieties. or spend her
days and nights in wearying for his
return.
She must have something to fill her
thoughts that belongs to life instead
of death. She must have amusement,
entertainment, companionShip, some
thing to put thrills into the drab
waiting.
1t isn't that she Is unfaithful In
thought or spirit to her absent hus-
band. 1t Is only that she is very
young. and that she Is a human girl.
OF course IL the war bride belongs
to a well-to-do family this problem
settles itself. She slips back into her
old place, among her old friends, and
is petted and made much of, and taken
about under mothers wing to places
OF amusement, and all is well with
her.
But there are thousands of other
war brides who belong to poor fami-
lies who can do nothing for them.
They have no beautiful homes, no
assured place in society to which to
return. Nobody makes a specially OF
inviting them to teas and luncheons,
and taking them to theater parties
because their husbands are on the
| front "over there" Yet these girls
have the same yearning for pleasure
and the same need for 1t as their
| more fortunate sisters.
1t Is these little war brides that
should be our especial care, and no
woman, no girl can do her bit for her
country better than by adopting one
| Of them and seeing to 1t that she gets
her pleasures in such fashion as will
keep her safe and steady during her
/ husbands absence.
For there are great dangers In
the young war brides position. Be-
ing married woman emancipates
her from her parents control, NO
matter how young and silly and in
experienced she may be. She is
tree to do as she pleases, to live
where she likes, to go and come al
her own discretion, and with what
ever companions she elects, and 1t
is not strange II now and then a
girl mistakes liberty for license, and
blunders into ruin.
The woman of settled position in
society can keep a foolish little war
bride from making this mistake by
holding out a helping hand to heI
at this critical moment. And so ]
urge such women to pick out some
little war bride and make a special
friend of her. Go to see her. In
vite her to your house to little en-
tertainments. Take her to places
OF amusement. Make her feel what
splendid thing her husband is
doing for his country. and that she
must keep herself worthy Of him,
In that way you will keep her
away from cheap and sordid amuse-
ments that will drag her down.
And surely one may appeal to the
patriotism of every man to keep
hands off Of these little war brides,
and to regard them with. a chiyalry
above that they show to their own
sisters. The man who would firt
with a war bride and try to win
her from her allegiance to her SOL
der husband is black-hearted
traitor, who should be lined UP
against q wall and shot.
Surely, we can do nothing more
to hearten our soldiers abroad than
for them to feel that We are cher.
ishing the little brides they left
behind them.
copyrisht. isas, By The Wheeler Syndicate. Inc
Dorothy Dix's articles appear reg
ularly in>this paper every Monday
Wednesday and Friday.
fCopyrieht lql7 bv IL Wheeler exudic. ~ ,fne