The wageworker., 1910-04-01
ENTIRELY *
IMPERSONAL

necktie was absentmindedly thought
full amid the idle chatter. Suddenly
he spoke.
Its queer how time changes a fell
low." he said. I've noticed it in lots
of my friends. They change their
ideas, you know. I've noticed that if
they don't get married ridiculously
early they generally wait till it is
ridiculously late"
What great truth" cried the
young man with the gray tie. IF it
isn't dark it is sure to be light! Even
so!"
Let him alone!" ordered the
hostess. But why matrimony?" she
inquired of the young man with the
maroon tie. 1--WE were talking of golf,
you know"
Were we?" asked the absentminded
one. II don't believe a man really.
falls in love after he is 80, say. Do
you? Lose his head and all that. you
know-or be willing to fly to the end
of the EARTH, regardless Of his next
weeks business engagements. He
uses sense. And you can't use sense
about falling in love!"
Few people do.' observed the hos
tess. Look at the individuals they
pick out to fall in love with! You
aren't doing it, are you, Richard"
"Of course not" said the young man
with the maroon tie, gruf11y. How
absurd! l was just speaking general
ly. l observe things, you know. And
a fellow doesn't feel sure he's got the
right girl unless he does lose his head
a bit. does he?"
"Why, l can remember" went on
the young man with the maroon tie,
when I was 10 or 20 of two love af-
fairs, in both of which l was clean
crazy. l was so desperately mad over
those girls-at separate times, of
course-that life absolutely was not
worth living contemplated apart from
them! l remember l wanted to die
and so avoid the dark and dreary fu-
ture stretching before me when Eve
lyn turned me down. And it was ac-
tual anguish, too! Now, if I can laugh
at anything as real as that just be-
cause a few years have intervened,
how the dickens could l ever be sure
any infatuation l might tumble into
now wasn't just as ephemeral?"
II thought" observed the young
man with the maroon tie, you said
| you weren't personally interested in
| the subject. 1t begins to look to
| me-" H-=
| Rubbish" interrupted the young
man with the maroon tie. Its far
thest from my thoughts. don't know
4 ri or1v n
! though l do know some mighty nice
girls! You just change, that's all! 1t
becomes a matter of calm judgment
and-and- -er-all that. You stop to
think whether the girl is really suited
to you and consider her disposition
and tastes, and her mother, and wheth-
er you like her brother.
| Now, that destroys all the romance,
doesn't it? 1t makes the whole affair
humdrum and casual. There's abso
lutely nothing spontaneous about it.
why, remember when Evelyn was
the light of the world to me
wouldn't have cared if her mother had
smoked a pipe or made platform
speeches, and as for Evelyn's tastes
well, to this day l know not whether
|
preferred Shakespeare to Laura Jean
Libbey. l didn't care-and that's the
point. would care now You
couldn't consider wife without con
sidering what your friends would think
of her. And you want to be sure, too
that you really care!"
This sounds suspicious" observed
the hostess.
Not at ALL" protested the young
man with the maroon tie. mot al
all! just got started on this subject
that's all! No, l don't think l shall
ever marry. In the first place, In
not in love, and l don't think 1 evel
shall be.
81 really can't take such an absorb
ing interest in any girl nowadays tina
l miss my meals in my abstraction
And, somehow, l wouldn't die for any
of them. Yet l know two or thre,
fascinating girls. l don't think i
would be wise to run the chance o
making yourself and the girl miser
able when you weren't quite sure. d.
you think there is anything in thi
theory of learning to care more afte
you are married? 1t doesn't seem ra
tional to me. l suppose the only real
ly happy man is the one who marie
Evelyn when he is 20 years old an,
too young to know better"
But consider what Evelyn might b.
when you were 30!" suggested tn
hostess. Probably not at all a cor
genial person or the one you woul,
then pick out!"
THAT makes it all the more compl
Gated, doesn't it?" said the young MAJ
in the maroon tie, mournfully. 81
fellow doesn't stand much show any
way you put it. This falling in Low
is all nonsense. anyway! I'm glad "
kept cut OF it,"