Evening star., 1937-12-23
For Christmas Dinner, Four INTERCHANGEABLE Menus
Dorothy Dix Says
Ability to Earn and Save Money
Gives One the Right to Marry.
\ EAR MISS DIX-I am 20 and
my boy friend Is %. We love
j each other and want to get

N EAR MISS DIx-I am 20 and
my boy friend Is %. We love
each other and want to get
- married. Have been going
together for three years and we know
each other well enough to be sure
we will be happy together. For
more than a year we have been put
ting money in the bank and nobody
but us knows how hard it has been
to save. Walking instead Of taking
the street cars, going to cheap movies,
sometimes not going at all. No more
parties, no more suppers at restaur-
ants, no more good concerts. My boy
friends wearing his last years suit
and me doing without a new hat and
cutting out the beauty parlors.s Now
that we have saved up the money to
get married, our families object. Say
we are too young and should wait un-
til We have more money. His people
want him to spend his money on them
instead of wife So we are both very
discouraged. What should we do?
Don't you think we could make a go
of marriage If we are willing to work
and would rather have each other
than luxuries? ANXIOUS?.
Answer-I don't think a girl of 20
and q boy Of % are too young to
marry, especially If they have had the
maturing experience Of standing on
their own feet and making their own
livings as you two have. That develops
youngsters quicker than time does.
The boy and girl who have been
petted and pampered darlings, who
have been kept in cotton wool and
babied are mere infants at an age
when a boy and girl who have been
on their own are grown-up men and
women.
The objection to the early marriage
Is that uniformed youngsters, who
have had no experience of life, don't
know what they are going to be them
selves, or what they are going to
want and need in their mates. But
at 20 girl is a woman. Her tastes
should have jelled and she should
know her own mind if she is ever
going to know it. At % boys char
acter is formed and he should be
capable Of picking out a wife, which,
after all. is CLANCY job whose re-
/ suits neither age nor experience can
guarantee. Anyway, a lad who by his
own efforts can support a wife has
earned the right and privilege of
having one.
So that's that, and I think you are
not only old enough to marry, but
that you will be wise to do it while
you are young and ardent and while
your romance is still fresh beautiful
and untarnished. 1t is only in youth
that we see the glory and feel the
circllng wings about us. Love that is
kept waiting on the doorstep too long
grows weary, faints and sometimes
dies.
That Is what makes a long engage
ment a tragedy to be avoided if pos
sible. So often the long deferred mar
riage hasn't single thrill left in it,
not even the desire ST the bridegroom
and bride for each other.
AS for your ability to make 60
OF your marriage. sure you can do it.
Any young couple who have shown
that they can work, save and do
without luxuries to get the money to
| marry on needn't be afraid to tackle
it with light pocketbook. 1t is the
youngsters who can't live without cars
and fine clothes and night clubs
who haven't the intestinal stamina.
If you get what I mean-who throw
up their hands and quit when they
| find that marriage means sacrifice of
, the comforts to which they were used
nEAR DOROTHY DIX: My hus-
band and are nearing 40. We
have nice home, good car, and,
as individuals, We average up with
our neighbors. We are very fond of
each other and enjoy being together,
but We like outside contacts, too, and
we have to admit that we are not
popular. People come to our house to
dinner or to play bridge and seem to
have nice time. but they do not ask
us to their homes. Once I overheard
them talking about us, and a woman
said: Shall We invite Mr. and Mrs.
X?" meaning us. The other woman
said: Lets not. We can't tell any
stories If they are there and they
don't drink more than two drinks,
| and il any one touches either one
Of them they look embarrassed. I
confess don't like other women's
husbands paving me and ! hate
women sitting on my husbands lap.
loathe rotten stories and my hus-
band gets green-eyed II man touches
me. So there We are, and what's to
do about it? MIR. AND MRS. x.
Answer should say that the
thing to do is to try to make new
set Of acquaintances. Evidently you
have got into the wrong crowd. They
want to get drunk, tell smutty stories,
paw and pet and because these vul-
garities are repulsive to you you are
wet blanket on their parties. You
cramp their style. But you needn't
be lonely because there are plenty of
nice, refined, intelligent women and
men who don't feel that they have to
be hoggish in order to have a good
time. Seek these out and get into
your own class. They won't consider
you fiat tires. They will think you
charming additions to their group.
y
DEAR MISS DIX: My husband and
are wondering whether we
should have our twin girls, age 7, at
tend Sunday School. Do you think
that church and Sunday School have
a refining influence and may prevent
them from growing up into being hard
and irreligious? Our girls are very