Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-06
DOROTHY DIX DISCUSSES LIFE
TALKS ON HEART AND HOME

widow and I her only child. She
would do everything in the world for
me, but she never shows me a. par
ticle of affection, never sympathizes
with me, is extremely critical and
at times suspicious. Sometimes she
provokes me to tears by imaging
Sights and insults from me or my
friends, and I would rather tell my
dearest enemy of my love affairs or
other condolences than my mother
1t isn't that | am a wild, head
strong girl who needs curling, but
on the other hand [ am very quiet
and settled, and have never given her
any cause for worry. / realize, how
ever, that she has never been out in
the business world, doesn't recognize
that times have changed since she
was a girl, that people are broader:
but sometimes | would give anything
if she would be a little more SYM
pathetic, less critical and suspicious,
and if 1 could confide in her when
L need mothers advice.
I know there are lots of mothers
just like mine-Good, true women,
who would work their fingers to the
bone for their children, yet who by
and affection that should be theirs,
so L would be glad if you would in
one of your talks discuss this mat
ter.
A misunderstood" DAUGH,
TER.
Answer: Unfortunately my dear,
there are many hens who hatch out
swans, and who always suspect that
there is something wrong IN the
swan that makes it take to the wa
ter. Also there is something in the
hen intellect that makes it resent
its offspring not having her was.
1t is popularity believed that no
other two human beings are as close
together or have as much in com
mGn as mother and daughter, but
rncrhers and daughters are just as
likely to be temperamentalIy antagc.
nistic as they are to be sympathetic.
and when there is this difference be-
tween them no stranger could have
less s. lnpathy or under standing or
consideration for a girl than her
mother has.
In such cases only the primitive
animal instinct survives. The moth
er answers the daughters physical
nalds and will sew for her and co2k
for her and make her comfortable
and nurse her when sEe IS sick, but
| she cannot minister 10 ner spiritual
| aeeds She has no sympathy witt
her daughters aspirations # the
girl wants to 90 things she never
wanted to: She has no understand
ing Of emotions she never felt.
1t is only the girls who are replicas
of their mother, and who are moved
| by tho same impulses that moved
! her. that a mother ever understands.
When you hear mother say that she
| is disappointed in her daughter she
always means that the girl is differ
| ent from what she was. And she
is always jealous and resentful OF
| this strange girl to whose heart she
has not the key.
Dear Miss Dix: Isn't it just as
fair for the wife to have her flirta
tons as it is for the husband?
RAMBLING ROSE.
Answer: Certainly it is. But many
| things are fair that are not eXpedt
emit and women have many rights
that 1t ruins them to enforce.
There is Mrs Grundy to be reck
oned with, and the conventions and
! the customs of centuries and the
standard we have set for woman
I hood. All intangible things, but
nevertheless powerful for all that
| So it is that the woman who goes
astray is sent to Coventry, while
! the man who was her partner ir
guilt is asked to dinner and the
! flirtatious wife finds herself gossipeC
! about and losing caste while people
| dig the flirtatious husband in the
ribs and joke him about being a
| devil with the women. All wrong
of course. But it is the way the
world wags.
DOROTHY DIX.
Copyright, 1920