The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-24
Dorothy DiG'S Letter B0r

Dorothy DiC'
 Dear Dorothy Dix: I have been [ reading in the papers about Dr. Steinmetz, who says that the time is coming when we won't have to work but four hours a day. That means that men won't have to work but four hours a day, because there's never going to be any automatic | baby pacifier that will tell whether it is bowling because of pin or the collie, or sheer deviltry. Neither is there going to be any electrical de- vice for keeping family fed, and washed, and cleaned, so women will go on doing their usual 14hour shift.
 But do you notice that, in this de- mand for shorter working hours for men, you never head the wives voices swelling the chorus? There's reason for it. I am the wife of a | working man, and as long as my husband worked a full day we got | along finely. He was occupied all | day, and when he came home at night | he was tired and hungry and glad to | sit down and eat a good dinner and | spend most of his evenings at home. |
 Now he doesn't work more than quarters of a day, and he has | a lot of time he doesn't know what | to do with. He either paEses 1t sit ting around the house nagging me about the way do my work, or else he puts it in at the poolroom, or shooting craps. Both of which drive | me crazy. Believe me. Miss Dix, if | the time ever comes, that men don't | have to work but four hours a day it will break up every home in the land.
 No woman has got the patience to endure having a man underfoot all | the time, and 1t will take all the money he earns to pay for his amusement. There will be nothing left to feed the family on.
 INDUSTRIOUS WIFE.
 Answer: Here's an interesting side light on a much discussed subject. | It does not seem to have occurred to those who wish to abolish labor that the idle may become pest to other people. Also that leisure Is a very expensive affair, for if you are not | earning money, you must be spend- ing it. Any one of us can testify that our vacations cost us 10 times | over our usual daily living expenses,
 Certainly it isn't going to make for domestic harmony for husband to have lot of extra time to sit around | -the house and watch his wife work, | for if there Is anything on earth that gets on Woman's nerves 1t Is the ceaseless little suggestions that men make under such circumstances about how the dinner should be cooked, and the children spanked, and how more | efficiently a man can manage, any | way than a woman. Relations are | always a little strained in those fami- | lies in which the man comes home to lunch, and it is not mere coinci- | lr .oI1 common among the rich, where the | men do not have to work than 1t Is among the poor where the man Is busy and occupied all day
 Women know that work Is a mans | salvation. the one thing that keeps him happy, and well, and out of mis- chief. and therefore they are not in | favor of any laborless days for their husbands. Moreover, the ideal nus band Is a man that goes to work at or g, and doesn't come back until 5, when everything Is set for him.
 DOROTHY DIX.
 Dear Miss Dix: I want to ask you three questions;
 (a) Do you think that person who has been disappointed in love can make a true husband or wife? In other words, if a girl has been in love with man who has tilted her for | another girl can she make a true wife for another man?
 (b) Why are so many married | women more flirtatious than girls?
 (c) Why do so many women who l come from the country to cities go l mad about gayety and pleasure?
 A. S. H.
 Answer: (a) Of course, there may be an occasional morbid minded woman who will go through life cherishing a deathless affection for a faithless lover, but such women are as rare as blackbirds. Gener- ally, the knowledge that a man has ceased to care for her kills the wom- ans love for him on the spot and | fills her with hatred for him. Be- cause a woman has loved once Is no reason for her not loving again. h. deed very few people, men or women, ever marry their first loves. 1 They have dozen lesser loves, pass ing fancies, before they come to the grand passion.
 If were man l should not care who a woman's first love had been. | so that I was her last love. Having | known a traitors false vows, she is l all the more apt to appreciate a good mans love.
 (b) When married woman Is fir
 
 causes: Sometimes it is because her husband has quit making love to her and she is heart hungry for sentl- ment She wants some man to ad- mire her and tell her she Is beauti- ful and fascinating. And when her dumb. oyster-like husband won't do it she listens to any man who will hand her soft talk. q
 often a married woman Is moro flirtatious than a girl because she | has more temptation. Men who don't around girls, but they can flirt all they like with a married woman. Also married women have money to spend on Tame Cats, which girls have not. Many a man gratis half his food and all his amusements off flattered married women.
 The third reason that some mar ried women flirt is because they married too early. They didn't have any play time, any beau time, any girl time. when they were girls, and so they are taking 1t when they are | wives.
 Go The reason why the country woman goes mad about pleasure when she comes to the city is be- cause 1t is a novelty to her. She has led dull. monotonous life, so the | bright lights go to her head. and she cannot get enough of cabarets and | theatres. and jazzing. She doesn't l know the ropes. and so she is often indiscreet. She doesn't know the | price women have to pay for their | follies, and so she tumbles into the primrose path far oftener than the | wise city girl. DOROTHY DIX.
 Dear Dorothy Dix-Will you please | give us your definition of love?