The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-04
MATRIMONIAL COUNSEL.
The Advantages of the Man with n
Past.

A girl who can be intensely inter-
ested" in two men is not in the least
danger from either, writes Helen Row
land in the New York Press. 1t has
been my unfortunate experience to
find out that a man who has had no
sort of past before he is 80 years old
generally has most exciting and an
unexpected kind of future A FLU
ture" is very much worse than a
past" A man who has sown a rea-
sonable crop of wild oats and cut it
down is very much more satisfactory
as a husband than one who still has
the field bare for a good post-matri-
nonial harvest.
There are just three types of men
the man with past, the man with a
present and the man with a future If
you are looking for an angel. you must
go among women to find such. But
to the average woman an angel is
about as interesting as an unbreakable
doll to the investigating child. There
is a clever little newspaper joke which
tells of a little girl who wanted to
know whether she should play with
angels all day long if she went to
heaven.
why, yes, my dear" her foolish
mother assured her.
But, mama," protested the young
ster IF am very, very good and play
with the angels all morning, do you
think God would give me a nice little
devil to play with in the afternoon"
That child was a girl child, with the
beautiful frailty of a woman in her
delicious little soul. Most women lead
such a good, colorless existence on
their diet of bread and milk in the
morning time of life, that they long
for a little devil and little wine dur
ing their afternoon of matrimony.
What they want in husband is an
antidote, somebody with experience
and the halo of worldliness about him,
who will make things exciting for
them. And generally they get it.
The first thing a woman says to a
man, after the engagement ring has
been slipped on her finger and she
feels that she owns him, is: Now tell
me all about yourself" What she
wants him to tell her is a nice, long,
fascinating fairy tale. as full of spice
and actresses and college escapades
and unfortunate affairs" as he can
cram it."
What you must find out about Bob
by is whether or not he has a pres
emit" / distinctly do not recommend
the man with a present" Of all three
types, he is the most fatal to a wom-
ans happiness. Because if a man is
playing with some other girls he is
very, very likely to be playing with
you. And if he is sleeping his soul in
wine and vice and folly, he is not fit
to touch the hem of the white gar
ment which every good woman wears.
But a man of this kind is not really
dangerous to a clever, wide-awake
girl, after ALL She is apt to see the
color of his soul and to be shocked and
repealed by it before she gets too near
to him to be pulled away. 1t isn't
the vice itself, but the experience,
which is attractive. When a woman
really knows that a man is a cad he
becomes as uninteresting to her as
does hash to the cook who knows
what has been put into it. 1t is the
mystery about the man, as about the
hash, that makes him palatable. A
man with present is like hash that
is just being made, entirely too OBJ
Vlous. But man with past is like
the nice, little brown hash cakes quite
done, we'll seasoned and served on a
SeVres plate, all dressed up in pretty
little green stuff. Neither hash cakes
nor men with pasts are particularly
unwholesome.
Find out the nature of Bobby's past.
One always wants to know what is in
the hash cakes. Don't look for the de-
tails. knowledge of details, in eth
CA A1eN9A CSACo VI PdSlS, Is apt 10 Spoil
ones appetite. You don't want to
know anything about the scraps of
meat nor the particular women in the
case, but you do want to know the
nature of his wild oats, just as you
want to know whether you are eat
ing chicken or ham croquettes A
woman may have preferences in pasts
as in pates.
1 once knew a girl who married a
man of the world. She was a NICE
mousy little thing and you never
would have suspected her of longing
for anything but bread and milk and a
conventional pat on the head all her
life. But l noticed few months after
the wedding that she was growing thin
and getting pathetic little droop
about the corners of her mouth.
mentioned 1t to her and recommended
a masseuse. Then she burst into tears
and told me all about it. She was per-
fectly unhappy, she declared: she
hadn't anything to live for: she had
been deeply disappointed in her hus-
band. He had led her to believe that he
was man of the world. that he had
done all sorts of wild. fascinating
things and she had looked forward to
her marriage as one long, long, eXcit-
ing period full of revelations and
Arabian Nights stories.
And he has never, never done a
lnlnS bad IN MS whole lie, she added,
rubbing her nose with her handker-
chief and letting forth a fresh INSTALL
ment of tears. why, he never even
loved anybody but me-"
Don't YOU believe it!' I assured
her. "Have you looked through that
long leather pocketbook he carries in
his vest?"
II never thought of that" she said,
cheerfully "Ill do it,"
That afternoon I went down to the
mans office and told him the whole
story.
But what am 1 to do?" he said,
dumfounded. 81 can't tell her the
truth"
No" I said. "but I would suggest
that You put a few non-committal old
love letters in that long leather pock-
etbook of yours: also a lock Of hair
and an old ring, if you have it. They
will give her food for thought"
OF course the girl hated me forever
afterward, but it was wonderful how
she cheered UP and became sane and
normal after he had done 1t and had
Confessed" to beautiful past"
which he and 1 had together concocted
In his Office that afternoon. 1t was
rich sort of past and quite past;
That is what you want to find
out about Bobby's past. Is it quite"
past?
Beware of the man who has never
loved another woman 1.-The foolish