Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-01-13
DOROTHY. DIX TALKS !;
BY DOROTHY DIX e,
Marrying for Money.
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, Inc.

~ is rich, while there is poor young
man that do love, and whose only fault is
that he has no money!" asks {. young girl.
Certainly not. Parents do no more than
their duty when they try to prevent j. girl
from marrying a man who is brutal and
but between breaking off an insult
able match, and making one that appears
suitable to a third party, there is vast diff
ference. For we can sometimes save per-
son from certain misery, but none of us are
wise enough to know just what will make
another happy.
Real marriages are made in Heaven. They
are not manufactured by nervy meddlers
below.
One of the most curious things in the
world is that fathers and mothers, who are
Mortified when they hear of parents selling
their daughters in heather countries, and
who shrink with disgust from the women OF
the street, themselves hawk their own girls
around the marriage mart, and bring every
pressure to bear on their daughters to in
duce them to sell themselves to the highest
bidder.
Everywhere. you will see whole families
put on practically starvation diet so that
pretty girl may be decked out in fnery to
show off her good points, and dragged
about from summer resort to winter resort
in the hope that she will get a good MATCH
Everywhere you will see anxHous-eyed
mothers throwing their girls at the heads
of rich men. Everywhere you will see women,
not only willing, but glad to have their In
nocent young daughters marry men OLD
enough to be their fathers, men with leperous
past lives, if only they have sufficiently big
bank account
And the mothers justify themselves by
saying that romantic love lasts but for lit
tie while, at best; that after five years all
husbands look alike to a woman, and then
the only thing that counts is an establish
ment, and money
Most Of the mothers who are so mad for
their daughters to marry money, have them
selves known the stress and strain OF poverA
ty. They have been through the bitter strug-
gle to keep up appearances and make one
dollar do the work Of five. They have known
the wearing anxiety of wondering how the
bills are to be paid. Their very souls have
been scared with envy of those who rode
in limousines viii they walked to save car.
fare, and they want to save their girls from
the hardships they have been through.
So are they not wholly selfish in urging
mercenary marriage on their daughters
There Isl even something piteous in their sor-
ddness, but nevertheless they are wrong,
and the bargain they would make for their
girls is a bad bargain, from every point OF
view.
To begin with, money is a poor thing to
marry for, because it is the easiest thing in
the world to get. If a man lacks good looks,
if he lacks youth, If he lacks intelligence, and
the quality of being interesting, it he lacks
personal charm and attractiveness, there is
no way under heaven by which he can OBJ
tain these qualities. =
If girl marries a man who is ugly, or
stupid, or old and fat, or who Is repulslve 10
her, he will be what he is to the end OF the
chapter. But if she marries a poor man
who is energetic, and industrious, he can go
out and get the money.
;o Of WI
gets enough. 1t does not take millions to
make one comfortable, and after that money
loses it's purchasing power so far as buying
happiness is concerned. The woman whose
husband makes enough to give her pretty
little home, and a reasonable amount OF lux
uries, has all that money will do FOR her IN
promoting her felicity.
No sensible person will contend that the
people who are multi-millionaires, and who
live in palaces, waited on by hordes or SER
wants. and who rush from place to place try
ing vainly to find some new sensation to tlcKle
their faded palates are the happ1est people,
Witness the number of divorces among them.
Observe the disgrace their children bring
upon them Look at their tired, weary, blase
faces as you see them in public, and none arc
so poor as to envy them.
The girl who sells her youth and her
chance of love for money, finds that the OLD
myth of Midas and his gold is true. Very
soon just Lne pOSSeSSlou VI Woi nlon0J P"A
upon her She who has nothing except
what money buys, wants nothing that she
can purchase The finery she once longed
for becomes rags, her jewels are just little
hard pebbles. Her check book is mockery,
for there is no bank of happiness IN WHICH
lust dollars and cents are legal tender.
A girl commits great folly when she mar
ries for money, because there is this queer
thing about money-it is more fun to make
money than it is to spend it, Ask any mid
dIe-aged couple who started poor, perhaps
in lust a couple Of rooms over store, ana
who have worked up together until they are
now living in mansion on Easy street with
everything that money can buy, and they will
invariably tell you that their happlest DAYS
were their young days when they were fight
ing to get their feet on the hrst rung Oh INC
ladder of success.
They were the days of adventure, of hopes
and plannings, Of comradeshil in battle
thew we're fighting shoulder to shoulder, and
life had a Zest and flavor that not all the
gold in the world would buy for them now
The great American Romance is the struggle
of young man and young woman, VINO
love each other and who dare poverty to-
gether. and fight together out of it, and the
woman who misses this, has Used some
thing that no elderly Croesus can buy her.
Finally, marrying for money is bad bus1-
ness because it is too risky. Money IS TOO
easily lost and then the woman VINO mas
risked her all on it is indeed pauper IN
happiness. If you will think over the girls
in your acquaintance who have married
"weiP'-that is. men who mad money, you
will he amazed to find how few have kept 1t,
even for the short space of twenty years. In
deed in this country wherv fortunes huc-
tuate so rapidly it may almost be said that