Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-17
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
The Best Gift
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, Inc.
little newborn girl baby.

II
a little newborn girl baby.
81 wish" said one of them, "that we
were the traditional garry godomthers Of the
story books, and could bestow upon her all
the good gifts Of life"
What would you give herr" asked the
mother of the child.
''I would give her money" said the first
woman, II would assure her life OF ease
and luxury, and pleasure, and amusement
She should have the lovely clothes that are
frame for a pretty woman's beauty, and
that make even homely woman good look
ing.
"She would ride in automobiles through
life and have the background of a fine es-
Enlistment. She should have the poise that
wide travel brings, and live safe and soft
behind the barriers that money builds about
it's fortunate possessors.
GAS a girl she should never know what
it is to stand weary hours behind counter,
Or with humping nerves, and aching head
pound upon a typewriter, or to drag herself,
tired and exhausted in mind and body,
through the>struggling mob on the street cars
to the dull poor place that she calls home.
"She should never know the bitter envy
that fills the poor girl as she sells to more
fortunate girls the silks, and 'laces, and
filmy finery that she Graves, but can never
have. She should have the Joy time of life,
the years when girls fet ache to dance,
the years when the hunger for pleasure is a
gnawfng APPETITE within, free for enjoyment
She should not be chained like slave to her
job during the all too brief play time of a
woman's existence
And when she was woman I would save
her from the purgatory of anxiety about
money, and the sordid, pinching economies
that make the poor woman old and worn
before her time. She should never know
what it was to burn up her youth over the
Kitchen stove, to agonize over the price of
hIIf0 hnYSr -
thinner, and use oleomargerine instead Of
butter, to save the money to get Bobby
new pair OF shoes, or Mary stockings or to
have even the horror of sickness made ten
fold worse because Of the added burden of
the doctors bill.
mo. I would give her the money that lu-
bricates the wheels of domesticity, that takes
the burden of ministering with her own
hands to her family off woman, and lets
her enjoy her children instead of being their
beast of burden; that enables her to preserve
her health, and strength, and keep her nerves
and temper intact, and that makes mother as
young and jolly as girl.
"That's why, if I were a good fairy, ia
leave bag of gold in every girl baby's cra-.
die. The price tag Of happiness, and the ply
steal comforts that mean happiness has got
a dollar mark on it for everybody, but 1t is
much more necessary for a woman to have
money than it is for a man. He can make
it easier, for one thing and for another he
needs less of it, for there isn't very much
that money will buy for a man, but it buys
most things for woman. Or else it pur-
ehases fairly good substitutes, and anyway
there is no situation in life that the posses
sion of good checking account in a bank
doesn't enhance or ameliorate."
IF I were good fairy" said the second
woman, Il would give the baby beauty II
she had that, she wouldn't ned to be born
with your money bags. She could marry
them, and she would have your gift, with
mine added to it..
IT have always thought that the most won
derful sensation in the world must be to be
able to look into your mirror and admire the
reflection that you saw there 1t must be
heavenly to be able to gloat over yourself as
a masterpiece eof nature to love your own
face for it's sheer beauty.
"And the beautiful woman Is the un-
crowned queen. Wherever she goes she re-
ceives the homage of the world. Every eye
brlghtens with pleasure as he passes, every
head turns to follow her.
"The beauty does not have to struggle for
what she wants The world lays it's tribute
at her feet. She is lived, admired feted.
Everybody gives way before her. She may
go where she pleases. She may have what
she likes. She may break every law Of God
and man. All is forgiven her, for the sake
of her face. Believe me, beauty is a wom-
ans best gift. and peach is what would
eff were fairy godmother, should give
her JOY in living" said the third woman, land
my gift would be better than either of yours
because it is one that she could carry with
her to the grave, and Of which nothing could
rob her. The time comes when money, Of
itself, no longer buys happiness. Years are
bound to take a woman's beauty away from
her. but if she has the joy of living, she has
the magic that gets pleasure out of whatever
befalls her.
Poverty has no terrors for her, because
she can turne howell into an abode of
sweetness and light, and she can scintillate
just as brilliantly over cornbeef hash and
tea as she could over terrapin and cham
payne She can get more advantage out Of
going to market on the street car, than many
another could out of tour de luxe around
the world.
eff er beauty fades and her figure loses
it's lightnes, it does not matter. She is the
jolliest Of grizzled-headed fat women. Age
cannot wither her, because perpetual youth
of high spirits bubbles up from the inexhaust-
ible spring of her joy in living.
Happiness is not from without. It is from
within, and SO if were a fairy godmother
I'd give every girl bayb merry/heart and
laughing lips to carry her through life"
And if I were fairy godmother,' said
the baby's mother with shining eyes, 81 would
give her none Of your gifts I would give
her love. That's all that really counts to a
woman 'l.
Copyright, 1921, by The heller Syndicate,
Inc.)
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