Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-30
THE DOROTHY DIX I KNOW
BY RICHARD DUFFY.

Even the postman likes Dorothy
Dix. though he has told her at times
that her abundance of daily mail from
almost every section of the United
States involves far more than her
share of wear and tear upon Uncle
Sans equipment. | suppose there Is
hardly a city, town or hamlet from
the Atlantic to the Pacific in which
Dorothy Dix couldn't discover a
friend. 1t might be a prominent
banker of the community, or 1t
might be a girl behind a counter. But
either one would have met her first
through her newspaper column when
in search of advice upon the problem
or problems. how to get the most
good out Of life and the least ill.
1t has always amazed me that peo-
pie should wonder whether Dorothy
Dix is "A real person. and my amaze
ment proceeds from the fact that her
very strong yet gentle and witty per-
Sohality is revealed so plainly day
after day In what she writes. She
could not be merely name and
write as delightfully."- and sincerely as
she does. and personally. she is every
bit as delightful and sincere as her
writings.
1t has been my fortune to have
known Dorothy Dix for many years
and the acquaintance began when
was editing a New York magazine, to
which I asked her to contribute some
articles I, too. at that time had some
doubts about the reality of Dorothy
Dix, but ] soon learned that her name
In private life is Elizabeth Merri-
wether Gilmer.
Then she was working as reporter
for a New York newspaper, and they
were very different days from the
present. when the little lady Of New
Orleans, as she is called, talks init.
inately TO millions every day. Many
of her assignments were taken from
the police blotter and in the pursuit
Of her duties she had to seek infor-
nation from all sorts and conditions
of people in all sorts and conditions
OF places.
1t was the hardest and even dis
CouraginE training for young
woman who had been nurtured and
sheltered IN the cultured environ
ment of a prosperous Southern home.
But she was thoroughly game and
these early newspaper ordeals pro-
vided her mind with an insight into
human emotions such as few people
ever acquire.
Prefers Real People.
Dorothy Dix decided that the real
people, high and low proud and
humble. with whom she came in con-
tact as d reporter were far more tn
teresting than any of the fiction
characters she met in the magazines.
go that was why she resolved TO keep
away from the fiction field and write
only about actual personalities she
has come to know.
The years during which she has
been talking intimately and advis-
ing wisely IN her newspaper articles
prove how sound her choice was to
stay in the world of real people.
There is a satisfaction for me. too,
in the fact that / have always be-
lieved in her work and have been
able--not Without some persuasion
to induce her to put into a book
a collection of the articles she deems
the most readable and significant she
has written, and Dorothy Dix: Her
Book is the result.
No one Is SO thoroughly capable Of
giving sound advice Of everyday help
Spr everyday people as Dorothy Dix.
&he character of her work and her
career combined make her competent
and fearless i'll approaching even tho
most complicated life problems SUBJ
emitted TO her judgment.
To many her own life would have
been an unsolvable tragedy. AS she
has told somewhere. almost as soon
as she finished school she tucked up
her hair and got married, as was the
terrible custom of her people. She
expected 10 settle down in the quiet
of a Southern Town and live the in.
nocuous life ordained for the ladies
OF that period. But fate had other
plans for her. A series Of financial
and domestic catastrophes cast her
out into the world not only to earn
her own living. but to support others.