The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-03-21

the wav to a fallacious conclusion
| Woman, when she marries, is as &
tame canary let loose from tiny cage
into the comparative freedom of a
spacious aviary. Man, on the con
q; trary, is as wild songster made cap.
tive, to whom the said aviary is not a
place Of liberty, but prison. Yet
instead of being pleased with the in
creased freedom thus brought to them:
instead of feeling grateful to him who
has sacrificed himself on purpose to
bring it to them, these thankless cana
ries must needs scold and chatte: be-
cause the aviary is not larger, and
hold themselves cruelty aggrieved if
those wild songsters, their mates, fly
off now and ,heE by themselves to
stretch their wings awhile in their
native and congenial blue.
For myself, l will never sacrifice my
right to soar unfettered through the
boundless sky, in order to bring CON-
parat.ve freedom to any Gagged canary.
No aviary and no scolding mate for
me. No, thank you. A wild songster
| am, and wild songster l will re-
main. Yes; the canaries-artful dick
ies-shall preen and plume themselves,
and set their little yellow caps at me
in vain. To be sure, | will bill and
tiirt with them, and make playful love
to the pre,tiest through the bars; but
enter the cage? Not /.
AT this minute, there are. to be pre-
else, no less tEan five canarics bent
upon engaging me. There is Ethel
Phipson. There is Lily Cartwright.
There is Janet Fairbains. There is
Nellie Dampler. There is Jessie Ray
mond. AL are pretty and charming.
If | lived in the domlnions of the
Grand Turk, might possibly we'd the
lot, for there the Gagged canaries con-
tinue to he Gagged, and the wild song
ster, though mated 10 times over, con-
tinues to enjoy unfettered freedom.
But since live in England, this land
of monogamic fetterdom, wholesale
matrimony is impossible, and retail
union is not good enough. They are
dear girls, as girls. AS such, like to
love them all little. But to devote
myself entirely to one of them as a
wife is hardly my ticket. 'One man,
one vote is preposterous theory
enough. in all conscience, but zone
man, one love-" is altogether too ridicu-
lous. In the investment of a fellow s
affections, as Of his money, this maxim
holds good, 'never put all your eggs
in one basket"
wrote the above in my common
place book one day last year. 1t con-
tanned the ideas for novel which l
meant to write, when | lad time-a
masculine matrimonial novel, which
should counteract the false impressions
created by those feminine matrimonial
novels to which | have alluded. 1t
was to be a scorcher, too-a regular
'sSixth Satire of Juvenal' novel
Uxorem, Postume, ducis?
Dis, qua Tis phone Iuibus exagitare colublis?
Ferre potes Gominam, salvis tot restibus, ullam?-
and a l that sort of thing. But |
haven't written it. The fact is, it
seemed, on mature reflection, rather
absurd to crush butterflies with a
sledgehammer-to to bowl over canaries
with 47-inch gun. Let 'em be-poor
little chattering, scolding dickies!
Let 'em peck at us as they please, in
the pages of their Y elbow Asters" and
their "Beth Books!' The digs and
stabs of their little bills, after all, hurt
US not. They only tickle.
met Ethel Phipson today in the
train coming down from London. She
was accompanied 10y friend-an eld-
erly lady-to whom she introduced
me. The latter at once entered into
conversation. She had Il keen, intel
lectual face, and-it | may be allowed
the expression-she talked up to it.
Indeed, | have seldom conversel with
a cieverer or better informed woman.
| was quite sorry when the train
stopped. Our homes-the Pbipsons'
and mine-lay in different directions.
So we parted at the station. Ethel
ran after me few PAGES, as | walked
away.
"Oh, MIR. Vaneson,' she said, chow
capitalIy You got on with Mrs. Lowen-
stein. She is so dreadfulIy clever, you
know, that we're all quite afraid of her.
| wish yoa'd come in to dinner one
night to help entertain her. Mamma
would be so grateful. Can you come
tomorrow ~
with pleasure" | replied.
The Phipsons' dinners were always
good; and Mr.. p. had some Of the best
after dinner clarct in Surrey. Besides
as Gagged canary Ethel was very
charming little bird. liked 20 bill
and flrt with her through the bars.
Therefore | said, truthfnlly,
with pleasure"
IL am so glad you can come,' she
answered. Mrs. Lowenstein is going
to tell our characters. Won't it be
fun? We must get her to tell yours.
as she palmis,, then?'' inquired.