The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-01
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer
Fair or Cloudy Weather..


Then there are people who-are con-
stitutional carriers of discomfort and
dissatisfaction as some unfortunate in
dividuals are constitutional carriers of
typhoid. and one is as contagious as
the other. Also about as deadly
You have been at a pleasure resort.
haven't you, where you were having
a perfectly bully time. You thought
the scenery was delightful, the hotel
fine, the people agreeable, the rickety
old boat, and the one lunged tin Liz
zy barrel of Jun. All the guests in
the hotel were cumming together
like basket of kittens. and everybody
was happy and contented. b..
Along comes the infectious case of
criticism. He or she-and it Is gen.
orally a she, because this is malady
to which women are specially prone
begins the fatal work of inoculating
everybody with a serum of discon-
tent. She can't see anything to admire
in the scenery and hopes you don't
call those measly little hills mountains
The beach is rocky or too sandy. The
river is muddy. AS for the hotel,
1t faces the wrong way, the furniture
is old fashioned, the meals are not
what they are at the st. Robem. and
the service is atrocious. You actually
have to ring twice sometimes for a
maid. ~
AS for the guests-why most of
them are people you never heard of
before. Newly richy probably, or else
from small towns. OF course they
seem to be very respectable and edu-
Gated people, but you never can tell.
They show they are not exclusive by
the way they enter into everything
OF course this hail-fellow-well-me at
titude may suit some people, but it's
dangerous and shows you lack dis
elimination. Who knows whether that
handsome man really is that pretty
married woman's brother or not? And
do you suppose that automobile those
young girls and boys were out in
REALLY broke down, as they said it
did. the night they didn't get in until
IL O'Clock.
You know how this Ieaven of dis
content and CRITICS mworks. Haven't
you seen a whole batch of human
dough begin to ferment as soon as it
was injected into it? Haven't you seen
people who had been perfectly sat
isfied before someone had begun to
knock the scenery. kick at the hotel
and pick at each other? Haven't you
seen just one critic ruin the holiday
of two or three hundred people? 1
have, and l have wished that such a
one could have been taken out and
drowned like a sick cat, for the good
| of the community.
On the other hand there are peo+
pie who radiate- cheer and optimism,
and whose very coming into a room
makes you feel as If the winds of God
had swept thru and purified it, and
| left thu breath of hope in it.
W~-n such people come to see us
| there is laughter their lips. nand
sunshine in their eyes. and their very
garments are gay and joyful.
They may have had trouble and
| isappointment,. but thye never tell
US about them. for they have the
courage to bear their own burdens
without laying them on other peoples
shoulders. They do not recount the
wrongs that have been done to them;
they tell of fine pieces of friendship
and kindness they have met with.
They recount splendid deeds of hero
ism; they tell of successes that have
been won by gallant effort; they are
| full of droll stories that tinkle pleas
antly in your memory.
And whe nthye go. thye leave you
| feeling that God is in His Heaven and
all is well with the world. Sick peo-
pie feel the wine of healing run thru
| their veins, and the despairing grid up
their 1oins for the fight that takes
! them to victory.
| A beloved woman once said to me:
ct have had little money to give but
| I have made it the rule of my life to
give cheer and happiness to all with
Fwhom come in contact. I never let
| out giving a word of appreciation or
| hope, something to make them feel
| happier than tn eywere."
In which of these classes are you?
Do you radiate happiness or despair?