Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-12-03
WOMkN'S GREAT PRIVILEGE
Appalling Shadow on the Trail Of
the Uplift.
PRECIOUS FREEDOM COMES HIGH
wOman's Centuries-OId Privilege of
Changing Her Mind-DRngcr
of Being sacrificed-fOr
WHAT
BY ADA PATTERSON.

In the wake of the womans movement
has come an appalling shadow. She is &C
quiring freedom of action and independ-
ence of thought, but what are these since
she has lost the centuries-old privilege
OF changing her mind?
i've changed my mind" used to be an
excuse as valid as the accepted II meant
to, but / forgot" Once the child who
pleaded that he had meant to do something
but forgot was pardoned Now he, after
being told that forgetting is in itself a
serious fault is spanked by way of
emphasis. once It was enough for
woman to say to the man she had prom
Used to marry, I've changed my mind"
He might complain of broken heart.
He might even jump in the river or send
a bullet into the cranal chamber where
lodged what he called a brain. Or he
might be more philosophical and send
wedding present to her when she mar
ried somone else. But he never presumed
to criticise her action. She had changed
her mind That was enough. His not to
wonder why. His but to get over it or
die. In these unchivalrous days there is
still change, but the face about is In
mans attitude toward woman's mental
waverings.
Turning the Tables.
Twice within month women who have
changed their minds about marrying a
man have been sued for breach of prom
Use. Love letters were read and love to-
kens spread before bored juries or bust
ness men, The actual value in dollars
and cents OF heart throbs and heart
aches was carefully calculated by law
yers who constituted themselves experts.
1t was severe anti-climax to the party
OF the first part who had been accustomed
to being addressed as darling and the
party OF the second part, who answered
to precious one"
The man who brought the first suit
lost, not through any archaic notions
about -womans privileges of changing
her mind as often as she powdered her
nose, but as the jury afterwards CON
fided to the world, for the sole and sim
pie reason that in the "mushy letters"
as the defendants lawyer characterized
his clients love letters, she had made
no promise Of marriage. The second suit
has been brought, so the plaintiff de-
clares. not because he wants any mere
mercenary accounting with the rich girl
who has just Tilted him. Perish the
thought He says he wants to get into
court, where he can look into her eyes,
and resume the hypnotism OF love.
Granted this opportunity, he says he can
win her back, The girl has not been
heard from except through her lawyer,
who declares that she is doing at last
what her former fiancee wishes she had
done before. She is standing pat"
What she will do when the ardent wooer,
not deaf to the Jingle OF coin, the other
side contends, gazes into her eyes, is
still matter for conjecture. II she re-
news her vows the lover says he will
be quite content to marry her II not,
there must be change in the balance
OF her fathers large account at the
bank.
whittier We Are Drifting.
DO you see the goal to which this Is
leading, girls? II you murmur n half
smothered Yes" on tho shoulder OF a
brown eheviot overcoat the sequel may
be not the marriage altar but a court of
law. A seaside filtration, just for fun,
may not pass into the nothingness you
expect, but may be what lawyers ponder
1 ously describe as 1.-THE question involved
in this litigation, your Honor" You have
no assurance that after being the sweet
est girl in the world" you will not have
soon a different status, that Of de
PENDANT in the suit"
For the first time in the ages Of her
sex development It Is cruelty assumed
that a woman means what she says
Since men have become so ungallant as
to ask the aid of the courts I'm their
wooing, courtship has lost it's subtleties
LOvemaking must henceforth be done
with buslnesslike directness. The pastime
Of ages is disappearing. The flirt must
go.
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