Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-23
GEy1 MAXIM or THE BOOK OF LIFE

came in here to find out whether it was permissible
for him to marry deaf mute"
"You have a wide scope for advice" suggested
"The circumstances these" continued MT
Cahan 1.-THE girl was the daughter of Hebrew
who had succeeded. He worth about $oo'OOO'
The daughter, being deaf and mute, found II 1mpos-
sibe to marry The father, wishing to settle her IN
life, offered $4,000 with her as dowry' here was
the problem of the who came to mel
"Tm failure in life, he said. 1 tried peuuIlng
and failed 1 tried keeping little store and faleo.
tried as salesman and failed. am very poor
make only So a week. There is nothing before me-
Now here is this $4,000 offered If will only marry
this girl feel that ought to take it. But have
doubt in me; I came to you
''NVell we told him that he ought not TO take l''
You would not love her. we said 1T would Dc
wrong.
Gle looked out of the window which you see ana
pointed TO the thousands of women sitting there In
the park opposite.
"'Do you mean to say that all those women married
for love? No; they married for homes. They maze
marriages convenience and yet they are good wives
The rich do 1t every day. I would De goou nus
band-I promise you that-once 1 married her. Is
not marriage justified by other things than loVeF
man is lonely. say His nature is becoming warped Dy
solitude Is he not justified in marrying for assocla
ton? Whether you speak by mouth or hngers-lC Is
the same Intelligent association is what you neeu'
".It would be selling yourself. insisted You are
marrying her for her $4,000 You selling yourself
as much as the woman in the street Failure OF no
failure man should not sell himself for money
"Well, he went away and said that he wouldn't 90
it." said Mr.. Cahan. IAN argument like that might
seem ineffective If used with the ordinary man, but
the Jew of the east side has deep feeling OF re-
sponsiblity to his nmost ideals"
The Book of Life.
Mr. Cahan paused and excused himself for mo-
ment while he went to another silent shawled figure
which waited patiently a chair at the end OF the
large room where wrote at desks he spoke Win
her for five minutes and returned
But our most striking feature" he remarked in con-
tnuation 'f you like TO call it that is The BOOK OF
Life 1t is made of letters from the people, which tell
their problems; speak their tragedies We print three
columns of these day We give the people advice II
they want it. It has, perhaps, been due as much to
this as anything that we have grown We get thirty
of these letters day. and select about three from
them"
YOU wanted at 6vst?"
"yelI it was difficult" he answered. 81 addressed
letter to the people in the first place. sad:-You
have life. Give it to us. There are great tragedies
and comedies of life in your tenement houses. II
could tear the roofs from them could see those
tragedies and comedies; but can't You must hep
me to know
''Well at first they couldn't understand. They sent
in long letters with those artificial climaXes for
which the magazines have such tender regard-exag
gerated emotions, with no simplicity no truth So
tried again I wrote letter myself. 1t was an arti
fetal egg the editorial hencoop to induce the real
kind Then the stream commenced to pour inlet
tiers throbbing with pain; weighted with the primal
burdens of men and women-problems or living hu-
mainly written in tears"
Mr. Cahan turned to file. Here it is, you see."
He indicated the page, which to me was an unntellt
gibrity Here is one,' he said, formulating the
skeleton of it slowly.
'He loves a girl He is a cripple. He is conscious
of his deformity and ashamed to speak to her The
,5arat nd md LANG of i'm of he Ii
ashamed to show himself in the street. He hides
himself in his room. lie says that he does not know
what to do. He asks u.s.
Mr. Cahans moving finger passed along.
Here is boarder who lived in family and quar-
relied with the woman. That was year ago. He
left and started rumor that she unfaithful to
her husband. Now his conscience bothers him. He
is sorry. 4 hate myself he says 4 want you to
publish this woman's name and print that 1 call my
self liar. This good woman 1 was
only angry and lied "
I'm fact" continued Mr.. Cahan, at is remarkable
what part conscience plays here There a letter
the other day from who bought some fake
jewelry for dollar or so and sold it to a for
fifty. You know"-Nr Cahan pantommed the man
who in the street with the furve air and the
piece of jewelry concealed beneath his coat well the
went away and prospered Now he's worth $1O,-
600 and his conscience bothers him.. He wants to find
the woman that he give back the $50. He says
that if she will little incident connected
with the sale he will send it back He feels bad"
Mr. Cahan consulted the files again.
Here's woman who had her watch stolen" he
went "She knows the man who stole it, He is her
Il
and not thief, she writes. He was only tempted
for he is very very poor She wants him know that
this is how she feels. She wants her watch back but
she does not to hurt his feelings She knows he
has pawned it, Let him only leave the ticket in some
place in which can get it, she says, and 1t will be
all right Then let him come to me just as he always
did. Let him not be ashamed. will not remind him
it-not in look word 1t will be just as If did
not know Just let him leave the ticket at the place."
He turned the files. Here is another one" he
said "Ths is from woman. She and her husband
lived happily up to year ago. Then he began to
ceve suspicion that she saving money secretly
He would search in her stockings. He is always on
the hunt for money in unlikely places-pIaces in which
he thinks she might have hidden it. She cannot con-
him that she is not saving any, 1t is Of
misery to both of them"
He turned over pages, pages-each a chapter in his
Book of Life. Here is girl in love with man
twenty years her senior. They friends in the
old country They worked together Her love is
based upon affection and esteem, but she doubts her
heart. Her head tells her that there is too great
disparity in ages. Yet she is lonely and sure of hie
affection He is so good to her-so tender. What
shall do?