The Washington herald., 1921-09-23
HAVE INTERESTS
OUTSIDE FAMILY,
WRITER ADVISES
Dorothy Dix Counsels
Against Excessive
Domesticity.
BY DOROTHY DIX.

You often hear a man say: IT
have no interest outside of my
family and my business" Still
more often a woman will say: 81
have no interest outside OF my
home. and my husband, and chill
drtn."
And when they say II they pun
out their chests, and assume a vir-
tuous expression as IL they counted
II unto themselves for righteous
ness to have sympathies as narrow
az shoe string.
They have made a close corpora
tion Of life from which they have
excluded the balance Of their fellow
creatures. They have shut them
selves away from all manifold Joys
and sorrows. and excitements and
thrills Of the great world. Their
house OF life Is tiny room. walled
" with selfshness. and they Judge
the happenings of the universe by
what goes on within.
We got some wonderful examples
OF this during the Great War when
We met parents who measured the
whole Titanic combat by the way 1t
affected their Johnny, who thought
that every other boy should defend
his country except their Tom, and
who. to this day, boast that their
son smashed the Hindenburg line.
Now family love Is a beautiful
and desirable thing. 1t is good to
sec man who is faithful and de-
voted. and we are all ready to sing
paeans of praise in honor of an
"norinE wife and mother but. like
all other good things. family affec-
tion can easily be overdone and be-
come vice instead of a virtue.
For one thing nothing else on
earth is more supplying to the in
tellect than excessive domesticity.
1t dulis people like dope. 1t makes
them lose their ability to see any
thing outside of their own tiny
circle, or to gauge any event ex-
cept as II reacts upon themselves
Who' to revert once more to the
war, can ever forget the smug COM
placency of men who, while hum
dreds of thousands of other mems
sons were dying on the battle fields
openly boasted that they had made
so much money out Of war con-
ditions that they would be able to
send their own boys to college? ?
Who does not remember some wo-
man who, during the crucial hours
OF some battle. when civilization it.
self hung in the balance. was SO
obsessed by her baby's cutting a
tooth. or her cook leaving. that she
literally did not know what was
happening outside of her home?
Chief among ten thousand bores
are men and women who have no
interest outside OF their families
and their work. Their conversa-
ticnal gamut runs only from the
kitchen to the nursery. and the
store, and back again. ad in
finitum, their wearied companions
have only a choice between listen
ing to a monologue on the grocery
| trade, and the delinquencies OF
maids. and Mamie beaux. and
says. or silence, for when the
overly domestic do not talk about
| themselves they have nothing
| whatever to say.
Sometimes when you see how
dull and tiresome those become
| who are nailed to their own fire.
side you begin to think that you
prefer the rovers. after all.
The people who narrow them
selves down to one interest are
however, the worst sufferers them
selves. They are literally those
who put all of their eggs in one
basket, who stake their entire for
tune on one bet II luck turn.
against them they are wholly bank.
rupted. II the common tragedie,