Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-29
DOROTHY, DIX TALKS
GENTEEL POVERTY
BY DOROTHY DIX
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syn
cate, Inc.
Copyright, 1921, by the Wheeler sy

visibility of her going into business.
She says that she hesitates to go 20 VI
bet ause 1t will mean practically giving up
the friends and acquaintance of her wi
life; not that they especially look down u
a working woman, but that they are
ldlers and sEenders who pass their days
golf links and at bridge tables instead o
officers They merely live in a diffe
world, and there are not many bridges
cross over from the habitat Of the I'M
trious poor to tina of the idle rich.
Also, the girl says she is pretty ant
! tractlVe, and she is afraid that she
| jeopardize her chances of marrying il
| becomes business grub instead of a soc
butterfly.
[ say to the girl that if she desires I'd
really happy, and to experience the purest
on EARTH which is self-respect, she ough
| go to work.
Of all miserable lots on earth, none Il
full of heart burning, and envy, and uns;
! fed desire, as that of the shabby gen
nor is there any other occupation on 81
so agonizing as that of hanging on to sod
! by your. eyelashes
Real honest poverty, that doesn't pref
| to be anything but what it is, has few
rors in it, anu many compensations.
humble house can be perfectly comforta
plain meal may be more tasty and noul
ing than things cooked a la this and
| that. A hOmeSpun coat can be as warn
a broadcloth one. No friends are so tru
| the warm-hearted neighbors of the /
who come in to help in every time of tro
and rejoicing
Those who accept poverty frankly
that it turns a kindly face upon them.
is only bitter enemy to those who tr
camouflage it; who pretend that the rel
that they live in shabby part of the 4
is because of the roma1tic atmosphere;
starve at home that they may give a
tea once a season; who Pit the money
| should go into red flannel underwear I'M
ball dress. and who haze no friends bee
| they spend their lives trying to get to d
the people who don't want to know them
It's the pretenses, the lies, the deceits!
agOnizing effolt to make one dollar go al
as five, the straining to keep up with t
| whose pace is too swift for one that M
| genteel poverty the most horrible fate
earth.
It's the having to flatter, and cajole,
fawr on those with money and estab
ments, the having to accept snubs from
ill-bred and arrogant rich, that makes
but the most craven spirited lick-sp
writhe.
Yet that is the lot of the poor girl of
family who tries to play the society gam
a shoes string. She has to wheedle and
ter cranky old ladies' on the chance of |
giving her ten spot. She is invited to c
try houses, where she is expected to
her way by entertaining the bores, and K
ing an eye on the children. She is aske
fill in at the last moment at parties W
she was never among the original gu
! She is always spoken Of half-pityingly
| half-contemptuOusly as Poor jane
Poor Mary" and the traditional shir
,nettles would not chafe her back more
do the cast-Cff clothes of other women
| she wears.
Can there be any comparison in peac,
happiness, in dignity, between the girl
is hanger-on of a rich family, and the
who stands on her own feet and earns
own living? The one is dependent.
other is al Independent, free human b,
The one is a beggar, a sycophant,
Ticker. The other can look the world in
eye and tell it to go where it p eases.
It is very true that the near-sociey
has to give up her real society friends '
she goes to work, but she will fin! that
has achieved the peace that passeth ur
standing when she >rops into the class
which she has the price. For the poor
no more run the race comfortably with
rich, than the tortise can with the hare
To live upon the bounty of others, I'd
their food and ride in their motors
you can make no return; to let someone
pay your way, weakens the moral fiber,
turns the recipient into either a parasid
an anarchist.
The girl who clings to her social pos
in the hopes that she will thereby NAL
big marriage, is turning matrimony from
noblest career a woman can follow, to
most despicable profession. She is offd
| herself for sale as much as if she wei
slave in The bazaars, and she seldom mi
a good bargain. For men are leery of
petty, poor girl whose face is her fort
and whose family are still on the hunt
somebody to take her off their hands.
There is no other girl who has so go|
chance to marry we'll as the business
She is at the very source of supplies
matrimony, for she is in the offices WI
men congregate. The working ,irl NEE
hundred men, where the society girl nj
one. She had the chance to know them
timately that the society girl never has,
in his close, daily contact, If she has
graces of person, or heart, or mind, mem
tice it.
Moreover the very fact that the gil
working shows that she is not on the
| band hunt, and that she has enough chard
| and intelligence to support herself until
| right man comes along, and so man Isl
afraid that he is being grabbed up as
ticket when he marries business girl.
So I say to the business girl with
| blood and an empty pocketbook, go to V
if you want to be happy. A few sod
friends are too high price to pay for pI
siteism After ALL the only person wi
| approval is absolutely necesst ry to us
| our own.