The Washington herald., 1918-04-29
ARE WOMEN STINGY?
By DOROTHY DIX,
THE WORLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER

I to go on short rations and inch and
pinch to pay for it.
Mrs. Col. Buster is accounted a close
| woman. She takes no stock Al any
! such liberality. An unpaid biltyis 10
her like nightmare; Mrs. Jones hight
| 20 on without soda water foreva' if
| sht waited for her to treat while Mlry
| needed new frock or Johnny Iafxed
shoes. Furthermore, if a candidtte s
election to office in a woman'S clut de-
pended on her friends putting up
money for it. she would never get into
the presidents chair in the world
The truth of the matter isl that
whether liberality is a crime or vir-
tue depends altogether on ctCum-
stances. How often do we cet tbratc
the generosity of this or that Isoung
man? He never asks the price OF
things, he never neglects to send flow
erS to his hostess or bonbonS to the
debutantes, and he insists on paving
eVerybody'S way on an excursion. How
parsimonious beside him appears his
sister, who counts every penny, and
washes her handkerchiefs in her room
and dries them on the mirror, and
who lets her friend pay her own street
car fare.
Then some day we hear that in
his expansive way of doing things
the open-hearted young man has
| embraced the contents OF his en-
ployer's cash drawer, and is a fu-
gitive from justice. and then We
wonder IL there are not times
when honesty is as good as liber-
ality.
When it comes to real gencros-
ity-the generosity that means
self-denial and self-sacrIfiCe-thc
very finest flower of il may be
found among women. A woman
may insist on having the worth of
her money. she may refuse to treat
! or pay the way of those who are
perfectly able to pay for them
selves, but when it comes TO a Qucs-
ton of real want her hand is the
| quickest and first to give. 1t is the
mites that women save by scrimp-
ing here and pinching there that
build the churches, and sustain the
charities.
| Behind the apparent stinginess OF
many a woman lies a pathetic lit
tie story that the world never
knows. Sometimes she is a we'll
to-do woman, who is Cloaking her
husbands miserlinCss to her. Some
times we see her niCgardly, and the
servants tell US tales of pinChinc
| ana scrimpinE, and we cannot
| know that she is herOiCally stand
! ing. like lonely and deserted SEN
tlnel. over wretched and ruined for
tunes trying TO keep up appear
anccs until the girls are married
or the boys in business.
/ 1t Is to this mothers so-called stin-
Giness that many poor boy owes
this college education. and his ca
4 reer in life. His father hadn't the
courage not TO he liberal, because
he couldn't afford il. He must be-
long to lodges, and pay his part
! for expensive floral designs when
Pat Doolan died. and contribute 10
the band fund when some idiot
suggests presenting a medal to the
leader. He was esteemed the soul
! of generosity. and the neighbor-
hood pitied him for having a stingy
wife.
They do say she can make five
/ pies out of three blackberries, -
they whispered and Uttered behind
her back. But she went unmoyed
on her way. She stinted the cof-
fec. and saved on the sugar. and
practiced a thousand heart-break
ing economies. but she gave her
boy an education, and a start in
life.
/ Stingy? No. 1t is an unfOunded
charge against women. Women arc
careful of money. They are Just
with it. and when there is need they
! are liberal with it.