The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-24
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
World'n Highest Paid Woman Writer.
How to. Make a Happy Home-2.

1
How to. Make Happy Home-2.
Every man who wants a peaceful.
happy home should begin by making
his wife a definite allowance. as lib
eral as he can afford. That saves ar
gument over the money question. 1t
teaches a woman responsibility and
develops business sense in her, and 1t
makes her feel that her husband is
giving her a square deal. There Is
thirty times less friction about money
in a house where the husband gives
his wife a check on the first OF the
month than there is where she has
to ask him for the days supply every
morning at the breakfast table.
Make up your mind to be good
sports, and take whatever fate sends
without winning. Make the best or
each other instead of the worst. Look
for each others virtues ana magniIy
them instead of going on still hunt
for each others weaknesses and dwell
ing upon them.
When you find that the girl you
have married is not quite the pin
feathered angel you had supposed, just
remember what a corking good COOK
she is. When you discover that the
man who led you to the altar is not
the romantic hero of your girlish
dream, just reflect what a good Pro-
wider he IS, and how faithful and hon
est. And when the times of domestic
stress come and everything seems go
ing wrong, and you wonder why any
body's fool enough to slip their necks
into the domestic yoke, just sit tight
and Keep stiff upper lip. and re-
m ember that altho luck seems going
against you that in the end the family
always wins out.
Allow each other some personal lib
erty. The main trouble with matri-
mony is that most people make 1T a
prison house in which a man and
woman are chained together SO tight
ly that they can never get more than
few feet apart. This causes them
to get on each others nerves and hate
each other. Have a room for your
self If you can possibly afford it. Go
off alone every now and then. Never
open each others letters. Give each
other some personal privacy. Even a
servant has an afternoon or evening
off once a week. If every husband
and wife had the same privilege it
would cut down the number of di-
vorces.
And being married to a. person
doesn't give you the right to police his
or her every action. to tell him CT her
what ne shall eat. what he or she shall
wear, or what he or she shall think or
do. Remember that there is no rec
ord of anybody having enjoyed staying
in a penitentiary, or having fallen in
love with their jailer.
Don't argue. The thing that has
wrecked moro homes than all the sew
en- deadly sins combined in the futile
family argument. An argument never
leads anywhere except to strife, bitter
words, and ordinations and recrimi-
nations. 1t never convinces anybody
or changes his or her views. Then
why indulge in it?
- If wife says black is white, let 1t go
at that. Perhaps she's color blind
Anyway, it doesn't make a particle of
difference. If husband opines that it's
going to be a fine day while wife
thinks all the signs point to rainy
weather. let him hold~to this own pre-
diction in peace. Time will settle it.
as far towards making a happy home
as just for a husband and wife to
make a rock bottom resolution not to
dispute over any assertion that the
other makes.
Say thank you to each other for IA
vors received.
1t is joy and a delight to toll and
sacrifice for those who appreciate
what we do for them and are grateful
for it. 1t is bitter and hard to toll
and sacrifice for those who take ev-
erything we do for them for granted.
and are diSgruntled because we do not
do more.
II you want to make your husband
feel that all his hard, grueHing days
work is worth while, tell him every
evening when he comes home how you
love MIN for it, and how your very
soul bows down in gratitude when you
think his strong arm is standing be-
tween you and want, while so many
other women are fighting the wolf
from the door with their soft and ten
der hands. And if you want to make
your wife's heart sing, for joy, tell her
continually how you thank her for all
she does for your happiness and COM
fort
THESE are very simple rules for
making happy home. but they work
Every time. Try them