The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-15
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer
Thc Chnrm of Ignorancc.


This is the age of the educated and
the near educated when every one
knows it ail-or pretends that he or
she does.
To be ignorant on any subject seems
to be regarded as sort of disgrace,
altho the field of knowledge is so vast
and illimitab BILE that no one could pe
expected to cultivate it all. The best
that the most intelligent of us can 40
, is to delve in our own particular nttie
patch, and to admit that all that lies
beyond is vast and uneXpiored terra
incognitO to US.
| This frank admission of our intellec-
tuai Limitation does not,meet with the
popular approval nowadays, however
! The Solomons and Mrs Solomons
whom we daily meet in society con-
slider that in order to show the higher
| culture, or culturine with which they
F.: have been vaccinated, has taken prop
| srly upon them, they must pretend TO
Omniscience.
Speak to them about the latest book
and they assert that they have always
read it, tho they cannot remember
what it was about, or whether 1bsen
was a poet or a humorist. or whether
! the book in question was a six best
seller or transcendental philosophy.
Talk about old china and they give you
; to understand that the study of il has
been life passion with them, tho they
do not know the difference between
| old Spode and the dishes from a ten
cent store.
Talk to them of travel and there is
no place under the sun they have not
visited, altho they may be as mixed in
their geograp ply as the lady who, when
asked If she liked the Dardanelles. re-
piled that she simply adofed them.
especially when they were served with
tartar sauce.
| Now of all stupid poses none is so
assinine as that of the pretended wise
acre. 1t does not take two minutes to
strip his masque from him and show
him for the silly imposter that he is.
The unliterary come cropper the
minute they try to discuss books that
they have never read. So do the un-.
musiealN who attempt to DISCOURSE
,learnedly OF technique and coloratura
voices, while the first question to the
globe trotter, who has done his travel
ing in ina gination only, reveals him
for the faker he is.
Yet we continually encounter these
know-it-alls who go blundering along.
making the most ridiculous mistakes
Z, by pretending to information that they
do not possess. and fondiy imagining
that they are impressing us with awe
and admiration OF a culture that is SO
transparently spurious that we can
only laugh at 1t.
They do not know that intelligent
ignorance is one of the most attractive
qualities that any man or woman can
J possess, and that no other human be-
ing Is such good company as the one
who does not know the things we
: know, who has not read the books we
have read, or been to the places that
we have been to. and who listens with
interest and comprehension to our de-
scriptions of them.
None of us but takes a secret
joy in being Sir Oracle, and probably
the people we enjoy most are those
whose ignorance I'VE can enlighten, to
whom we can tell some new thing, to
whom we can give Q fresh point of
view on some subject. and there is no
sweeter sound to our cars than their
exclamation of surprise, or delight, or
wonder over, our revelations.
Indeed, IL one were giving for
mula for how to become popular. and
be an ever welcome guest to your fell
low creatures, one could sum 1t up in
the admonition: Don't Know Too
Much. Let people tell you about what
they have read in the papers, about
| the last new play, about Timbucktoo
Or Hoboken, or wherever they have
Travelled. If you've read the same
story in the paper and seen the play.
and been to Timbucktoo or Hoboken a
miHion times yourself, don't let them
find it out
This requires self sacrifice and pa
tience. but great will be your reward.
If it is a mistake for man to af-
feet to know it all, it is a suicidal
policy for a woman to pursue. Espe-
eially If she wants to marry, for men
still resent woman's carrying a line
! OF information on anything but cook
ing. and babies, and matters that make
for the ease and comfort of their
lord and master.
| The chief charm that the average
woman has to the average man is her
ignorance. He likes to pose before
her as an authority on literature and
art, to expound world politics to her.
to elucidate the mysteries of finance
to her feeble feminine apprehension.
and he can only do this to one who
herself makes no pretensions to all
embracing knowledge.
This is why little COW eyed girls.
who gaze awesomely at men while
| they talk and murmur How Wonder
iful, How wise you are! How can
you know SO much? You must have
read every book In the world! have
! their pick of all the best catches, and
can marry ell around their high
browed sisters.
They are-the wise virgins who have
played the charm of ignorance to win.
And it does it.
| Therefore, let US never be ashamed
to say that we do not know. 1t gives
other people the chance for which
| they have been hoping and praying to
tell somebody the things they do
know.