The Washington herald., 1920-12-06
Dorothy Dir's
Excellent Aduice
THE PRICE OF WEDDING BELLS
Copyright, 1870, wheeler
Syndicate. Inc.
By DOROTHY DII

A young girl of my acquaintance
said to me the other day:
II told Jim that I would marry
him whenever he had saved up
enough money to furnish little
home for us. l don't ask for any
thing fine. ] don't expect to start
where my parents are leaving on,
for II has taken father thirty years
hard work to get where he can af-
ford to give mother Oriental rugs
and carved mahogany and aluminium
pots and pans.
Il love Jim. and I'd be satisfied
with mighty little, but that little
has got to be paid for. 1 am not
going to be one of these INSTALL
ment-house brides whose honey
moon is knocked into flinders by
the collector hammering at the door.
I've seen debt kill love too often
10 want to take any chances on IL.
Z don'r want my husband to have
10 think how much i am costing
aim, and wonder how on earth he's
going to get the money for my up
keep, every time he thinks of me.
want to be the nice. sweet mer-
Ingue on his life, not the lemon
pie beneath.
IF a young couple start out in
life loaded down with debt. they
haven't got one chance in fifty to
get out of il, and they haven't one
chance in a hundred of not COM
ing to hate each other. They are
simply foredoomed to make fall
ure of both life and matrimony.
The man seldom gets any higher
than he is. because there is nothing
nj rNf
bills on his back. He can't climb
with that load to carry, and it gets
bigger and bigger. because there Is
sure to come sickness and rainy
days that all cost more money.
TO succeed. a man must have a
little money laid by, so that he can
take advantage of whatever luck
throws in his way. for the only key
that ever unIocks the door of op-
portunity is a golden one. He must
be able to take a few risks. Above
all. IL he is to accomplish anything
worth while, ne must have a calm.
clear mind. and be able to give the
best Of his abilities to his work, in
stead of having half of his brain
cells employed in trying to figure
= out some way to stave of the in
NsIallmsnt~pan.
Tile man who starts out in mar
ried life in debt is beaten at the
very outset. He can't embrace the
opportunity that comes his way, be-
cause all of his money Is going to
pay on the Early Grand Rapids
dininGroom suite. He's bound to
stick to his Clerkship, no matter
whether it leads anywhere or not,
because ne is behind with the butch
eT and the baker. and he can't risk
being out of work a week. And he
can't develop the kind of personality
that employers pay for. because
debt takes the heart out of a man.
and kills ambition quicker than
turns the sunniest nature into q
crouch.
II want my husband to be a sue
Cessful man, and so I'm not going
to be the ons to handicap him in the
race.
Il want my marriage to be a sue
cess and that's why l insist that ii
should have good. strong financial
flank under it. 1t would be alright
for people who are in love to get
married. II they could exist in real
life as they do in novels, on romance
and kisses.
But they can't. We've all got
more stomach than we have heart.
and after We get married we are
just as hungry as We were before.
and take Just as keen an interest in
beefsteak and onions Also. we've
got to be clothed and housed, and
ve find that sentiment plays a
pretty poor second fiddle to our
physical comfort.
Nor does just getting married,
even to the person you love, make
UP TO you entirely for doing without
the kind of things you have been
accustomed to all your life, and
when a man and woman are forced
to make a perpetual sacrifice OF
every taste and habit for each other.
they soon begin to wonder IL the
game is worth the candle.
Think of all the peevish, fretful,
discontented wives you know who
are always complaining because
they are shabby and can't do any of
the things they used to do! Do you
think that their husbands are having
an particular picnic? Think of all
the cynical, bitter men you know
who have fallen out Of love with the
pretty. dainty girls they married.
just because the girls have been
drudges. and who are always warn
ing other men against matrimony!
Pleasant for their wives. isn't it. to
be made to realize that their hus-
bands regard them as burdens?
The truth is that a family is a
luxury that comes high. and whether
you enjoy it or not. or even, whether
you've got a right to indulge your
self in one, depends altogether on
whether you can afford it. To get
married when you haven't the price
Of q bed, or a chair. or a cooking
stove, is just as silly and wicked a
thing to do as IL is to set up an
automobile where you Pay two dol
lars down on it, and are paying the
balance as long as you live. and
where you have heart failure every
time you have to buy another gallon
of gasoline.
And /, for one. am not going to
mortgage my soul to Old Man Trou-
Bile in that way.
Understand, I don't think that n
young couple should wait until
they're rich to get married. or until
they can furnish n home in splen-
dor: but they haven't got any right
TO get married until they can start
life out of debt.
And that's the ultimatum I've put
up to Jim. II he does not think 1 am
worth working for and saving for,
he doesn't want me bad enough to
get mes IN say that"
RIO TRADE MARK