The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-17
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
II BY DOROTHY DIX -
Worlds Highest Paid Woman writer:
To Marry or Not to Marry.

To Marry or Not to Marry.-2.
his is why it is. well for the poor
soldier ami his sweetheart to wait I'M
til the war is over before they marry.
Marriage in such cases is simply a
luxury that they cannot afford any
more than they could afford to set
up a. touring car, or yacht.
Marriage will not bring such a
couple any happiness. Indeed. it will
they love the worse it will be for
Their. It will be another turn of the
rack to the poor soldier to think of
the woman that he loves, alone. sick
and suffering and perhaps in want,
when she most needs her husband S
care, or to feel that he will be a bur-
den laid upon her v little should
erS.
The poor little war bride. or, per-
haps war widow, will have her sor-
row and grief doubled If she has two
mouths to feed instead Of one, and II
she is held back from doing the things
she could do for her own support by
the clinging fingers of a babe upon
her breast.
It Is true that death and disaster
know neither wealth nor poverty and
the heart of the rich bride will break
over that black line in the newspapers
that tells of her husbands loss just
as much as will that of the poor young
wife who reads the grim announce
me about her man. But even
death itself is not the overwhelming
tragedy to the woman who has only
the woman who must face death and
need in the same breath, and who
must dry her tears in order to find
work support her fatherless child.
And there is another side to this
question of whether young couple
af
the mans starting to war, and that is
its effect on other people. In war
time, or peace time, no honorable
man shorld marry unless he is able
to support 49, family he POUNDS. No
man has a right to marry and dump
the support of his wife and children
on other people.
The parents on either side have
worked long and hard to rear their
own families. They are entitled in
their old age to a little ease. little
letting up of the strain under which
comforts than they have been able
to ind lEe themselves in when they
were bringing up their own children.
and denied themselves every luxury to
give heir boys and girls a better
education. better clothes, a better
1t is a shame. 1t is an outrage. 1t
is a craven thing to do, for a man to
marry a girl and then expect either
his father and mother. or her father
and mother to take upon their b@nt
old backs the burden of her support,
and of her babe. forcing them to
start over again all the sacrifices they
have been through in rearing family.
Pity for their parents should be
enough of itself to keep poor. young
couple from marrying until they are
able TO finance their own household.
The only poor girl who has a right
to marry a poor soldier boy as he
starts to war is a girl like my CORES
pondent-a business girl who has the
intelligence, the skill. and the ability
to take care of herself and to support
her family. She is in the financially
independent class, and is a free
woman, free to do as she please.
= The self supporting girl who can
stand squarely on her own two feet.
has many glorious privileges. but none
SO great as this. that in this crucial
hour she may follow the lead of her
heart, and take her happiness with
out fear For If the worst should hap
pen and her man comes back to her