The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-07
OOROTMY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.
Common Sense as a Cure-An.


1t is a strange thing how little
common sense we bring to the solving
of the spiritual problems of life.
We are practical enough about Or
binary every day affairs. We use our
minds in thinking out a direct and eff
fective method of dealing with the diff
ficulties that we encounter in, the
grocery business, or our office jobs, or
housekeeping. There is nothing that
we are prouder of, than our ability
to cope with adverse circumstances
and turn defeat into victory in mater
ial affairs by the exercise of our in
telligence.
We deal sensibly enough with the
things of our outer lives, but when
we come TO dealing with the things of
the inner self-the things on which
our real happiness depends-we take
leave of all human intelligence, and
act like idiots and imbeciles
We refuse, to begin with, to recog-
nize the elementary fact that the con-
ditionS of our souls depend on the
conditions of our bodies, and that
the state of our affections is merely
the reflection of the state of our stom-
achs. Therefore that ninety-nine times
out of hundred, grouchineSs. temper,
irrita bility, and general cussedness
are nothing but tangled nerves, and
that half of the divorces could be pre-
vented by the judicious administering
of a liver pill.
If we use any common sense we
should call in the family doctor in
stead of the family lawyer to settle
domestic squabbles. The result would
be that the matrimonial millennium
would be inaugurated.
Suppose when a man gets to the
stage when he kicks the cat, and
spanks the baby, and snaps the head
off of his wife when she speaks to
him when he goes home at night, that
instead of making his unfortunate
family tremble before his temper he
used enough intelligence to recognize
that he was half crazed with nerves,
and let up on his work little. and cut
down on his cigars. and took on a
little more golf and exercise. Would
MT it bring peace into millions of tenn
pestuous homes?
There are very few men with bru-
tai enough instincts to really enjoy
torturing their families, and when a
man is so diSa greeable and cross in
his own home that he makes every
body miserable, it is nearly always due
either to his nerves. or dyspepsia. II
either he or his wife used any COM
mon sense they would try to cure the
physical cause of his cantankerous-
ness This is why the wise wife sees
to the proper feeding of her man;
sees that he gets all the outdoor ex-
erciSe that is possible. Golf and the
automobile have done more for the
reformation OIL liIdi Oil NhC
moral precepts.
No home can be happy that has
grouchy husband in it, nor can 1t be
happy if it shelters a gloomy, peevish.
melancholy woman And the wife's
state of mind is just as much depen-
dent on her physical condition as IS
the husbands.
once knew a sunshiny woman who
was always bright and cheerful. and
bubbling over with fun. Another
woman asked this Pollyanna the Sc
cret of her inner radiance.
/ "A box of liver pills replied the
cheerful one. when I find myself
getting gloomy, and misanthropic, and
brooding over every little thing that
goes wrong, and beginning to watch
my husband to see if he loves me as
much as he used to do. why, 1 recog-
nize that I've gotten bilious, and am
taking a jaundiced view of every
+ thing and SO l HE me to my little
pill box, and 10, the world is changed
and everything is rosy once more. Be
( Heve me, when you get morbid IT'S
not your heart that is out OF order,
it's your liver.
| Another place in which we show
( how little common sense we use in
( trying to solve a big problem is the
way in which we ignore the fatal ef-
| fects of dullness and monotony on the
/ domestic morale.
1t is a matter of common knowledge
that no matter how picturesque, or de-
lightfuI a placa> may be, no matter
how perfect its climate is, we weary
of it after a while. and get so. that we