The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-20
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.


THE real good of vacation" said
the business woman. lis not so much
that 1t rests your mind and body, az
that it MAKE You satisfied with your
lot. It's good to go away. but it's
great to come back. l suppose the
of the times we are too close to our
blessings to realize how beautiful they
are. We haze to get far enough away
to get the right perspective on them.
Il always spend my vacations with
my married sister, who lives in a
prett. little mid-western town, and
has the traditional vine-wreathed
cottage. husband and Riddles. and
all the appur-enances that go to make
the convent. nal picture of the ideal
life for woman.
Now I work very hard, as A
woman has to do who holds down Il
mans job and gets mans salary, and
by the time the good old summer time
rolls around have gotten to the place
wherethings have begun to get on my
nerves. and 1 have commenced plying
myself and wondering If I didn't make
mistake when I didn't marry TIL,
nice corner grocer who proposed to
me when l was eighteen.
Il have sort of begun to feel weepy,
you know, when I reflect that l have
no strong arm to lean upon, and
nobody to st: nd between me and the
cruel world. And it seems a bit lonely
to have nobody waiting for me when
l come home at night. Business isn't
any longer a thrilling game where one
pits ones wits and cleverness against
the wits and cleverness of crafty op-
ponents.
Its nothing but sordid, never end
ing drudgery and / begin to hate it
and to wish that instead of putting on
my straight fronts and my tailor made
in the morning. end going forth to do
h1 10 n
the frowsy kimono or domesticity, flop
down into rocking chair and spend
hours Following the fortunes and mis-
fortunes OF Nellie the Beautiful cloak
model. or some other heroine of a
best seller
That's the mood in which I start
to spend my vacation with sister.
When l get there 1 perceive that sis
ter. who is two years younger than 1
am. looks ten years older, which leads
me to reflect that possibly an office
is not as wearing on a woman's ap-
pearance as vine-wreathed cottage
Is. l have thought that I was some
hustler. but observe that / am geared
to low speed compared to the move
! that sister Pets on to get thru her
days stint. At least l don't have to
do more than one thing at time, but
sister does twenty simulta neously
Il marvel as 1 behold her getting
| breakfast will one hand while with
the other she quiets the baby, finds her
husband a clean handkerchief. ties
Johnnie's shoes. buttons Mary's dress.
| teaches the twins their Sunday school
| lesson, fixes up a lunch for Jim who In
going fishing. picks up the clothes
that everybody has scattered all over
the floor, answers the telephone and
| executes a dozen other little side
| stunts.
"And this incessant labor she keeps
up all day, until the children are
| tucked in bed at night. and there IN
never one single minute when she has
| a particle of quiet. or leisure to sit
down and really think. She lives in .
| domestic bedlam that would make
| working in a boiler factory seem quiet
| and peaceful. and that would send me
| to an insane asylum in six weeks"