Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-03
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
A WOman'S Best Friend
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, Inc

| =
protector, demands to be tried by
jury of women, because she says that onlyH
women can understand woman in her DO
sition well enough to be merciful to her.
Yet this poor erring creature has com
mltted the cardinal sin in the code of WOMB
en- She is guilty Of husband stealing. She
is young and beautiful, and she took hus-
band away from a wife who lad grown old
and worn, and haggard working, and
scrimping, and saving to help him pile upI
the fortune that he squandered on this other
woman
One might think that of all things onE
earth, such an one would fear the untemperl
ed justice that a jury Of women would deal
out, but this woman knows better. She UNI
derstands the psychology of her sex, and
shows an almost uncanny wisdom when She
appeals from Caesar to Caesar'7 wife.
For it is only woman who knows how
great and many are the temptations that be T
set poor and pretty young girl. 1t is onlyH
woman who can understand how girl can
sell her soul for yard of chiffon and al
pair of dancing pumps. 1t is only woman
who knows how many men there are in
| sleeps clothing, seeking for unprotected
! lambs to devOur
To men, women either good or bad |
If a girl goes wrong, they set her down as
wholly vicious, but women know that most
of the bad women are not really bad of in {
| tention. They are only weak, and they are
! the victims of environment.
woman's play time of life is so short |
| In the few years of her early youth she ]
must have all the FUN, all the admiration
all the adventure, all the romance she will
ever have. Whit wonder, then, that the
! foolish among them, who lack the wit I'd
drive a good bargain with fate buy at any
cost the clothes that enhance their beauty
and the pleasure they crave and must have
now or never?
Men cannot understand this, because them
personal appearance does not make or man
their chance in life. Nor do they have I'd
make their sentimental hay while the sun
of their youth and beauty shines, and sd
| they judge more harshly than the womanI
does the poor little butterfly who barterss
her all for the sake of Haunting her gaudys
wings for an hour in the sunshine.
And women know, as a man never knows
| that 1.-The wages of sin is DEATH to wom{
an. They have seen the look of the damnt
ed in the eyes of their sisters of the street.
They have heard that laughter that is sadderI
than the sound OF sobA on a Womans lipsI
They know that child more ruthlessly
breaks it's toys, and casts them aside When
it is tired of them, than a man does the.
woman who has been his plaything, and sd
even good women pity bad women moro
| than men do.
OF course, this is not the old theory THAI
! is, that women are hard and cruel to other
women, and that woman's inhum unity I'd
woman makes countless thousands mourn
If this ever true, it is not true now
! Women everywhere are stretching out theif
hands to other women, trying to help themE
| to comfort them, to uplift them.
There is not charity for the betterment
of unfortunate women that does not owe itS
origin and it's existence to the work of sym
pathetic women. 1t is women who reach
down to the women in the cutters and try
to pull them up to a higher level, and it il
men who the chief obstacle to the rel
Mobilization in society Of the woman who ha4
sinned. Women are willing to forgive tho
Magdalene if she repents and desires to atond
for her past, but men will not let theii
wives and daughters associate with one
whose garments are mud-bespattered.
You often hear a silly woman say thai
she has no women friends, that all Of her
| friends are men, and when she wants to ash
a favor she goer to man for it.
Fool. She knows not what she says, and
she soon finds out her error if she has need
to put friendship to tho test. Men are bue
| fair-weather friends to women A man END
joys the society of a woman just as long al
she makes no demands upon him.
While she is at her BEST happy and gayE
and prosperous, and well-dressed, ready I'd
listen to him with a sympathetic ear, he is 4
charming and interesting friend. But lef
the evil day come, and all this is changed II
| Sn0 IS III ue6u, he Will l6Hu ueT LuOHSy, OuCT
or twice If she is sick, he will send her q
bunch of flowers If her heart is broken
he will write her note of coincidence, perl
haps. And that's all. He will dodge her
as if she had the plague, rather than listen
to her tale of woes. He would walk ter
miles to avoid having her weep over himI
and when she becomes shabby, and bor1
rover of small sums, his office boy gets orr
ders to say that he is perpetually out
! It's only woman friend whose friend
| ship will stand the test of listening, hour
| after hour, to the selfish monologue Of GRIEF
who will let you weep out your heart upon.
| her bosom, and who will invite you the
oftener to her house, the shabber and more
| forlorn you get
| And in business it is other women who
push women up the ladder of success. Leg
girl show any ability, any industry, any
ambition to rise, and some woman above
! her will open the door of opportunity to her /
It is the busy forewomen who teach green
| little girls their trade. 1t is the girls who
have jobs who are on tn" lookout for jobs
| for other girls. 1t is women who go down
into their lean purses and help other women
! in need.
Everywhere, a woman's best friend is Al
woman, and the woman who Put her faithH
| in other women's justice and kndness4
never has reason to regret it.