The Washington herald., 1918-06-03
WAR AND WOMEN
BY DOROTHY DIX,
THE WoRLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER

| "And there are thousands upon
| thousands of women who were drift
ing into invalidism through lack of
exercise and oyereating. idleness and
sheer boredom. that the war has VI
talized and made young again. They
haven't got time TO think about their
, aches and pains, and the aches and
pains automatically disappeared. for
aches and pains are temperamental
things that simply can't live unless
you keep the spotlight turned on them
and give them the glad hand,
why. I don't know when ever
heard a woman talk about her health
1t simply isn't done now. There's
too much to say about hrst-aid dress
! ings and canteens, about liberty
loans and what my boy writes from
the front"
The doctors wife was silent for q
moment, and then she laughed. did
You ever notice." she asked. "that
Ill health is mostly a perquisite of
the rich, so far as women are con-
cerned. and that about the time q
woman acquires q Limousine she also
acquires nervous prostration? As
cooking. washing and baby-tending
and has her hands and her heart
full. she manages to keep well and
strong. It's not the women who get
away with the work of a longshore-
man who throng doctors ofices. II
is the women whose most arduous
occupation is leading Ffdo out on
string, and who consider 1t an ef-
~ % 49,, IT.
think they would like to buy.
These are the women who en-
rich nerve and stomach specialists,
sanitariums and hospitals, for any
woman with lively imagina-
tion and nothing to do but culti-
vate IL can think herself into i'll
health Just as soon as she sets her
mind upon it.
DO you know that / often think
that one OF the most pitiful things
in the world Is that the men who
love US women, and who work them
selves 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 keep
ing us from having to do our share
Of work and worrying, they are
making US invalids in body and
neurotics in mind.
I'VE hear a lot about the deli
cate American woman. the frail
physique of the American woman.
and the American woman's nerves.
1t is often said that the American
woman hasn't the robustness OF
foreign women. STUFF and nonsense.
The American woman is neither del
icate nor frail. She's as strong as
steel. Look at all our pioneer
grandmothers went through. The
woman that helped win this con-
tinent from the Indians didn't have
any nerves? They had nerve.
And their granddaughters are of
the same stock. All that's the mat
ter with the American woman is
that she's spoiled to death. Be
cause the American men Is the most
indulgent husband and father on
earth. and wants to keep his wife
and daughter from every hardship,
he has made them soft. He has de-
prived them of any worth while oc-
cupation. He has enervated them
and made them lazy. They have
had nothing vital to occupy their
minds, and that has turned their
thoughts on themselves and made
them sick physically and mentally.
The war has given many a rich
woman the first worthy object she
has ever had in her life. 1t has
made many a woman think serious
ly for the first time. 1t has taught
her the Joy of doing and giving, the
beauty of sacrifice. made a real wo-
man of her. and TO the day of her
death she will be a changed Great
ure.
I'VE talk a lot about what women
are doing for the war, but believe
me. the war is doing more for the
women. In it they art finding their
souls and health.
Copyright. 1918. by the Wheeler
Syndicate, Incl