The Washington herald., 1920-03-22
Excellent Advice Z: =:
Making the Best of Things
BY DOROTHY DIX
HIghest-Paid Woman writer.

II have been young and am now.
DID," said a woman the other day.
"and the sum of all the philosophy
that 1 have learned is this-that IL
We wish to be happy. we must make
the most of now and here.
There is no use In waiting to en-
joy ourselves. until the ideal condi-
tion of affairs occurs. 1t never takes
place. but this Is a pretty good old
world. after all. with lots of pleas
ant things In 1t. There Is no use
In waiting for q cloudless day be-
fore you have your picnic. but even
a picnic In the rain is jolly. good
sport IL you laugh at the rain, and
can see how funny you look with
your feathers wilted down.
"Of course, this is hard lesson
for women to learn.> We are wait
ers by nature. We are always do
ing the watchful waiting stunt and
particularly we are always waiting
for the psychological moment to
come, in which we are going to let
ourselves go, and be happy, ana
have a good time.
dim idea that there Is something al
most immoral in being happy at the
present moment, or getting any
good out of a thing while the get
ting is good.
You can see this in the way in
which so many women dress. When
they get d new gown, or new nat
they consider 1t wild extrayagance
to wear them while they are new
and smart, and in the fashion. SO
they put them in their closets and
wear their year-before-l clothes
and go around looking as II they
had just been fished out of the rag
bag, while their up-to-date apparel
is acquiring age and unstylishness
! in uselessness.
why, / had an aunt who Kept
her clothes SO long before she wore
them that she frequently had them
made over a couple of times before
she had them on. She always
looked like q back number because
Iher good clothes were hanging or
hooks wehile she hung the ancient
vintages on herself. @
And haven't you known womer
who were notable housekeepers whc
never had a bit of good jam on the'I
and rows of jars OF delicious con
| fections, but they were too good Il
| eat, and the family was always be-
ing fed on something that had jus'
begun to ferment, or to mould, OF
that was turning to sugar, or hat
something else the matter with IL.
"Such a woman would consider D
a crime to cut q cake and eat L
while it was fresh. She always
used the stale cake until 1t wa'
gone and by the time they go
| through with the old cake the ne"
cake was also old and stale.
| -"And look at the women wht
never indulge themselves in an!
pleasure as they go along through
life, because they are saving uI
every penny 40 splurge on when
they get old. They would like to
take little trips, but they deny
themselves. SO that sometime In the
future they may have grano
travels. They would enjoy goine
to the theater, but they won't spend
the price of a ticket so that al
some indefinite season they may gt
to the grand opera. They won
even indulge themselves in de-
cent meal at a good restaurant be-
cause later on they expect to feas'
at the Ritz.
| But the time never comes fol
them to cash in on their self-denia
and have the grand splurge FOL
which they have been saving up
When the hour arrives that they
had set to be happy in. when they
are to travel, and go to the opera
and stop at swell hotels, they find
that they are too old and rheu
matte to go about, and too deaf anf
blind to see and hear. and too dys'
peptic to eat anything but musf
and milk.
THE only pleasures we are SUR
of, are those that We get as we &c
| along, and We only get these BY
not looking a gift horse too closel,
in the mouth, or being too critical
as to whether they are eighteen
karat gold. or only gold plated.
! And this same pricipal Of max
ing the most of now and here applies
to people even more than It does t.