The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-09
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid woman Writer.

No girl can be stupid enough not to
know that there are multitudes of men
dishonorable enough to show their let
tiers as a tangible proof of what heart
smashers they are. Most girls have
had men offer to, show them love let
ters from other girls, and it is stfanee
that they do not realize that their own
letters are likely to share the same
fate, and to consider how they would
writhe at the thought of catty fenl-
nine eyes scanning their tender emu
sions, and sneering masculine lips
writing in ribald laughter over them.
You would think that that Of itself
would be enough to stay any feminine
pen. If it isn't, the knowledge that
even when men are not cadS enough
to deliberately show letters they are
careless about them. should give every
girl pen paralysis. for even the Sir
Galahads among men regard love let
tiers as mere scraps Of paper. They
leave them about ip the drawers OF
their bureaus and desks, and in old
coat pockets for any prying person to
read.
If any girl believes that the man to
whom she addressed red hot love
letter destroys 1t on the spot, or locks
it up in his safety deposit box. she
had just as well disabuse her mind of
that fancy. The chances are that
even if the man doesn't share 1t with
his masculine friends, the curious eye
of the office boy, or the chambermaid
at the boarding house peruse her ten
der words and opine that she has got
it bad.
There Is also the danger of love let
tiers falling into evil hands, and more
than one father has had to pay good
round sum to get back the indiscreet
letters of his daughter. Unhappily the
Ill ,rxv ;- CT; IN, mid cf q v1d
the silly. gushy, sentimental letters
| that a foolish little girl writes in all
the innocence of her unsophisticated
little heart take on a very different
and sinister meaning in a villain s
clutches.
place where mothers are SO blameable
fas they are in permitting their daugh-
tiers to correspond with men. No girl
should write regularly to any man to
whom she is not engaged and the wed
ding day set. The temptation to get
high fallutin and romantic, and write
sentiment Is more than the average
girl can stand. and she needs her
mother with a great big blue pencil
to edit her effusions. And this goes
double now in these war times when
we'll meaning. but indiscreet people
are urging girls to correspond Fith
soldiers that they don't even know.
Don't write love letters. girls. Men
will respect you more If you don't.
, And you'll save yourself lot of sor-
row, shame and humiliation.
Cheer-O-1.
The war has taught women no
greater lesson than th!s-that cheer
fulness Is a duty-a debt Of honor that
we owe to our fellow creatures.
Women have been adjured to send
their sons away with a smile, and they
have done SO altho their hearts were
, breaking. They have been told to
write only bright, hopeful letters to
their men at the front. and they have
| put the soft pedal on the sob stuff.
They have been eDtreated not to
wear black for the heroes who have
persisted for their country in order
| that they may not depress other moth
! ers whose sons are on the firing line,
| and for the most part they have for
| borne to swathe themselves in funereal
garments They have been taught
| that optimism is sometimes the high
est form of patriotism. and it is only
| now and then you meet a woman who
weeps and whines over the sacrifice
she has been called upon to make.
This is a marvellous change to have
| been wrought in the feminine outlook
Of life, for women are not by nature
a cheerful lot On the contrary they
are given to fears and forebodings as
| the sparks are to fly upwards. and
they have an inherent talent for Dor
| rowing trouble. They take to sorrow
general thing they are never SO happy
as when they are perfectly miserable.
Why women should be more melan-