The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-31
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.
The Lovers Litany.-1


Isn't is queer how differently we
trying it? And it is queerer still how
experience of the holy estate shifts our
sense of values. and makes the things
that seemed ,unimportant before mar
rfage all important afterwards, while
it turns the mountains of courtship in
to the mole hills of wedlock.
To romantic young couple nothing
in the world seems to matter but love
and the state of their hearts. After
marriage they find out that a million
other things are quite as necessary to
their peace, comfort and happiness as
is affection and that whether lite is
worth living or not depends less upon
the state of their hearts than upon
the condition of their lives.
When youth and maiden discover
that they are enamored of each other
and cannot live apart, they spend
hours, weeks and months. sometimes
years asking each other these all i'm
portant questions zoos ducky is 'oo?''-
Are you utterly, absolutely sure that
you never loved before? 2" If should
die, will You swear never to marry
AGAIN. DO You miss me when L am
gomez" and DO you count the hours
until L shall come again 2" when did
you first realize that you loved me?'
VIII you never find fault with me,
no matter if l am not quite the angel
you think L ann viii you love me
when 1 am -old?" And SO on. A never
ending list which both cheerfully per-
jure themselves in answering.
That is before marriage. When
neither the man nor the woman has
the remotest idea of what qualities go
to make up good husband or wife.
or what sort of capital one needs to
carry on successfully the business of
matrimony.
But after marriage, if the thing
were to do over again, the anxious
seekers after connubial bliss would
PROFOUND very different line of con-
undrums to their intendeds. They
wouldn't bother SO much with heart
throbs as they would with stomachs,
and they wouldn't be nearly SO much
interested in finding out exactly what
each one thought of the other as they
would be in ascertaining what each
one was willing to do for the other.
No man, after having been married
for six months, would ask a, girl ''Oo's
ducky is 'oo?" He would inquire of
| her ii she was a good cook and house,
keeper, and knew how to prepare a
! meal that wasn't a menace to health
and happiness. For experience would
have taught him that while a baby
! talk lady, who doesn't know whether
| you buy eggs by the dozen or the
bushel, may be fascinating to make
love to, she can drive a man to drink
! when she sits him down to dyspepsia
breeding meals.
| Romeo never thinks of investigating
how Juliet qualities in the domestic
| class, yet the whole question of
whether his marriage is going to be
a success or failure rests on the
kitchen range and the grocery pass
| book. Cupid abides permanently in
| only those homes where there is a
| thrifty wife. There is no record of
| any mans low having survived stodgy
| potatoes, undone boiled mutton, waste.
debts and discomfort in the home.
Nor would any man, after sampling
matrimony, waste his breath in asking
| a girl If her heart beat for him alone.
| He would put to her few cautious,
discreet, yet searching questions
about the state of her nerves. He
would not try to find out If she
thrilled at the sound of his footsteps
but if she had Mysteries every time
| any little thing went wrong.
Experience woulI have taught -hip1
! that while temperament is interesting,
alluring and all that kind of thing
you know, when 1t gets translated in
to the prose of domestic life, it is
mighty apt to turn into temper; and
that while a sweetheart who is al
ways presenting another angle of heI
| many sided character to a man is
| fascinating, when it comes to being
| married a man wants to know what
he can depend on in his wife without
any guessing.
Likewise he would have deduced
that while it is flattering to a mans
/ vanity for his wife to worship him
madly, wildly and passionately, he
buys this alteration at too high a price
if he has to deal with a neurotic, I'M
reasonable creature who is given tc
floods of tears. subject to fits OF
jealousy. one who. makes scenes, an6
lets her husband in for bankruptcy
in doctor and sanitarium bills for the
balance of his life.
&~&7 ~.