The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-17
A W0MANS MAN.
By Dorothy Dix.

love iorn youth writes me a pa
+betic letter, saying in effect, that he
* persona non grata with the fair
sev and asking what he must do to
make himself popular with women.
This is a hard question to answer.
There are many women of many
minds, and each has a different mind
about man. The style of masculine
beauty that appeals to one woman
doesn't please another. The charms
that set one maiden's pulses a-flutter
leave another with the marble heart.
The noble and serious qualities that
,Ascinata plain Maria may repulse
frivolous Marie, and so it goes, and
instead of there being a frantic strug-
gle for one particular man, every man
has his innings and every girl has the
secret satisfaction of plying every
other girl because she wasn't lucky
enough to catch her particular Jack
The most jealous wife l ever knew
was a woman who had married man
so homely and so cranky that no
other woman would have had him if
he had been gold plated and set with
diamonds, yet the poor wife spent her
life in the narrowing belief that every
female she met-young or old, mar
ried or single-was trying to snatch
her treasure from her.
There is no disputing about tastes,
especially women's tastes in men.
But this is generalizing, and my
correspondent comes right down to
facts and asks: "How can 1 become
winner with the girls?'
Perhaps the secret of popularity with
our fellow creatures must always re-
main the one unfathomable mystery
Of life In the old days-before she lost
her French accent-Anna Held used to
sing a little song in which she ac-
counted for her fascination for the OPP
posite sex by saying: For 1 have
sooch a way wis me-" That, 1 take it,
is about as clear an analysis of the
reason we like one person, and don
like another as has ever been given.
A man may be possibly able to tell
why he loves a woman, but as far as
women are concerned we never have
the ghost of an idea why we love a
man, He may not be clever, he may
be as homely as sin, and as poor as a
church mouse, but he has sooch a
way wis him." and we get up and leave
our comfortable homes and follow him
to the ends of the earth.
And. heaven help us, we don't know
why we are doing it, any more than
sheep know why they follow their
leader over wall 1t is simply
blind instinct.
I imagine however, that it is pre-
cisely these winning ways that my
correspondent desires to cultivate, and
that he wants to know, from a woman.
what qualities in man are most at
tractive to women. He says that girls
do not care for his society. They cast
no goo-goo eyes in his direction. His
l, ~S.-I1 -
scented missiVes, and when he tries to
curry favor with girls the ungrateful
minXes turn their backs upon him and
talk to another while they eat his
candy. 1t is a sad predicament. Let
us see if we can turn any light upon
this dark problem.
In the first place, it should be con-
ISOLATION to a man to know that his
looks have nothing to do with his
popularity with women. Very few
women care for beauty in a man. II
is a poaching upon their preserves that
they resent. Besides the vanity of a
handsome man, compared to the van.
ity of the vainest woman that ever
lived, is as moon light to sun light. OF
as water under wine, or as any other
imitation to the real thing. 1t is never
ending, all pervasive, utterly unsatis.
fable, and leaves him no room to no.
tice the appearance of any other hui
man being. 1t is worth bearing ir
mind that, almost without exception
the great heart smashers of history
have been men who were not ONLY
plain of face but often hideously ugly
Titania, falling in love with a crea-
ture with the head of a beast was not
such a midsummer madness as the
poet represents it. He was not such
an ass as he looked, for when they
sat upon fiowery bank he spent the
time telling her how beautiful she
was, instead of expecting her to wear
herself out pitching bouquets at him
as he would have demanded had he
been an Apollo.
But, While mere regularity of fea-
lures in a man counts but little in at
tracing a woman's fancy, a man
should always be we'll groomed and
we'll dressed. Nothing on earth but
the grace of God keeps a woman in
love with man with a two days
stubble of beard on his face. Married
women stand this because lack of
shaving is not yet recognized as a
cause of divorce, but no girl wants a
sIoVenly. untidy man, who looks like
ne needed to be run through the
laundry, hanging around her. All the
hooking 1t the word dude" comes
from masculine lips. No woman joins
IN the chorus. On the contrary, she
her presence ill-clothed, dirty and
neglected looking, not only shows dis
respect for her, but indicates that he
lacks Judgment industry and progress
siveness. AS a matter of fact, that is
exactly what being addressed means
now. The man who goes about with
trousers too short in the legs, coat
that looks as if it had been slept in,
and an unshaven face, may be
genius, but there are nine hundred
and ninety-nine chances that he isn't.
He is simply too lazy to take care of
himself, and there are precious few
girls who care to take that long
shot on a hobo beau.
Another thing that women like, ana
It is an attraction that any man can
acquire, is a certain savior falre that
makes him equal to any situation.
woman likes a man to know how 70
ofter her a chair, to help her on with
her wraps, to order a little dinner
ohe hates, with unspeakable loathlng'
me fellow who is always making scenes
IN public, who gets in rows with the
Heater ushers over a mistake ABOUT
lhe seats, or the street car conduct