The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-09
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
b DOROIHf DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer
Second Marriages.-2.


The man expects his bride to be al
ways radiantly beautiful, to be al
ways exquisitely dressed, and for her
always to agree with him perfectly on
every question, and to be willing to
do just what he wants to sdo. The
woman expects her husband to be a
combination plaster saint and matt
nee hero. and when they see each
other IN negligee of dress and man.
ners, and run up against the sharp
Lodges Of each others temper and self
ishness, they suffer agonies of dis
inusionment and quarrel like Kill
kenny cats.
O. previous matrimonial experience do
not expect too much of each other,
and do not demand too much of each
othe-. They know how to make al
lowances for nerves and temperament,
and in subconscious way they try
to atone for the way they treated No.
| by treating No. with extra ten
derness and consideration.
Second wives and husbands reap
the fruits Of many d bitter tear of
repentance that a man and woman
| shed over still coffined form, and
that's why widows and widowers are
a preferred matrimonial risk.
The chief reason, however, why Sec
ond marriages are advisable-always
provided man and woman marry
In their own age claSS--iS because as
people get older they more and more
reed the companionship of someone
who belongs to them. Old people do
rot readily make new friends. They
dc not attract strangers as do the
young and gay. They are thrown in
en- those of thei- own household for
sc ciety.
OF course th.. children virtuously
! pat themselves on their breasts and
say mother or father can always live
with us, and we will take care of her
CT him, and cherish his or her old
age.
Very kind in children. but the trou-
BILE is that mother or father doesn't
enjoy being put up on shelf in sons
or daughters house. and exhibited as
an antique. Neither mother or father
in these days wants to be stuck off
in the chimney corner and expected
to stay put. Little as children sus-
pect it. parents desire to keep alive as
long as they live. and enjoy them
selves.
No man or woman who has been
at, the head of a household for the
second fiddle in somebody else's
house. Neither do they want to live
around in boarding houses and hotels
They want a place of their own where
they can do as they please without
being chicken pecked.
And they want companionship, the
companionship of somebody of their
own age, somebody whose ideas are
of the same vintage, who looks at life
from the same standpoint. This COM
partnership they cannot get from their
children, and the result is that the old
are often pitiably lonely in the homes
of their sons and daughters who are
really trying to do their duty by
father or mother.
OF course when son or daughter see
father about to marry some little
chicken young enough to be his
granddaughter, or mother on the
verge of taking a boy husband to rear,
,, they are right to do anything possible
to stop a folly that is bound to end
disastrously, but when mother or
father pick out a nice, sensible, suita-
BILE mate for their second venture,
their children should urge on the good
work. 1t is happy solution of q
difficult situation.
As for a second marriage showing
any disrespect for the memory of q
first husband or wife, that's too silly
a theory to even combat The suffice
business has gone out of fashion even
in India.