The evening times., 1898-04-16
THEY CANNOT
BE FRIENDS
Plato's Reasoning Upset by
the Events Of Every Day.
'MeddIesome Masties- and Natural
Causes Gon-bine to Overthrow
Friendship Between sexes.


An impossible, What do you meanF
why. a man. TO be sure. who cannot
afford TO marry"
But you might have him for n friend" "
/ "A friend, you silly thing: why. how
! can a woman have a man for a friend
/ 1 see you haven't experimental with
I that kind of friendship.
A loud peal of girIish laughter ended
I the dialogue so far as 1 was concerned.
for the couple melted away in the crowd
about me. I sat still for a good thirty
minutes thinking hard and my thoughts
filled my very being with disgust.
The girl who declared a woman could
not have a man for a friend spoke the
truth if ever it was spoken. 1t is as
true as the Gospel that man and a wom-
an cannot be friends says Dorothy Mad
doX. They manage to rub along fairly
well as acquaintances. but the very mo-
ment the boundary line of mere acquain,-
anceship is crossed there is trouble. and
heaps Of it. for somebody.
1t may be that the family suffers as it
roosts about watching. hawk-like, every
friendship maneuver. IL suffers either
because il does want or il does not want
something to come from this precarious
relationship.
''Casuals the onlookers outside the
household. are on the qui vive from the
time il is noted that Miss and Mr.
- are congenial. until the affair cul-
inmates romantically. or ends in big
split. One or the other must happen be-
cause of meddlesome Matties and their
meddlesome brothers. l will say, how
ever. that maScuines are never so keen
on the scent OF discovery as the femI-
mines.
Men would bother mighty seldom over
the sentimental situations of other people
were they not egged on by woman.
/ Throwing dust in her eyes is ted en-
ergy. Meanwhile the princir . in the
great act lind each other enjoyable
Thoroughly so. Ideas and pursuits are
in harmony. There is an excellent show
ing for the development Of a delightful
mind union and i'm time this union might
reveal perfect affinity We're the pair per
mitted to run their own matters
] say might" with a decided empha-
sis. for while outsiders may be held up
for many absurdities of thought regard
ing two persons. much more mischief is
wrought by the parties involved.
The fearful vanity OF the woman and
the man cannot withstand the perils that
end in the UproOting OF the tenderest ten
drills Of friendship. Take the child grown
10 womanhood. Why. the very first party
the little creature attended she was
teased about an urchin I'm knickerbock-
ers: 50 teased that never after could she
meet the lad without a feeling OF self
consciousness. This self-consciousnes
grows and nourishes like = field thistle IL
fostered i'm childish minds.
The man who j. hoping 10 enjoy pla-
tonic friendship cannot long allow his
natural vanity 10 lie 4 dprmant. As boy
he was permitted ali sorts Of notions
about the girls. As man why should ne
not imagine the first smile the nrst ear
nest desire FOR his society sufficient en-
couragement 10 get mis- head chock fun
81 misleading ideas2
Foolish vanity IL g. and cultivated
vanity AT that that stirS the sentiment
al ibers Of our beings into activity
when they might remain for years DOR
mant but for this unhappy trait Un-
happy, because were "a not for our vani-
ties We would not be able TO weave such
dun toned threads into the brightly
tinted woof Of our existence
Why then need we wonder that the
sparsest offers OF friendship are SO con-
stantly exaggerated until the bond is
completely severed or cemented by q
stronger tie.
Young men and young women who
have miraculously escaped that unhappy
self-cOnsciousness which nips the most
promising bud Of real liking without the
love. cannot long remain unmolested
Somebody comes along. a well-mean-
ing somebody perhaps, and with wanton
jest or careless gibe rents asunder a
dainty Illusion. Friendship in its incipi-
ent state is as easily destroyed as the
delicate meshes Of a conweb
we might live almost within the portals
Of paradise were friendships between
the sexes not tampered with Two
thirds Of creation are fools and the 9TH
er third idiots.
So TO the query. "Can men and wom-
en- be friends?" I always answer, MOT
emphatically. Mo- Feminine vanities.
masculine egOtisms and interference
form romantically inclined individuals
prove too much for the combination. 1t
goes 10 pieces. This VIII be SO to the
end of time.