Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-12-09

angling for husband, and all the men
that come TO her net are fish.
No such apology may be offered for
the flirtatlous married woman. She Is
old enough to know better. She Is wise
TO the ways OF the world and realizes the
irreparable wrong she Is doing. She has
her husband. She II not n pot hunter,
| She Stays forthe cruel pleasure Of killing.
The fllratlous married woman is both
fool and knave-fool because she risks
80 much for so little, and knave because
she is disloyal 10 the bread she eats, and
betrays her husband in his own house.
The professional adventures Is not so
despicable a character as the married
woman who uses her wedding certificate
as cloak OF respectablity TO cover her
sentimental affairs with men.
The adventures at least fights IN the
open, under her own colors. and takes the
risks herself. while the wife hides behind
her husband, and carries on her guerrilla
sBirmLshes from the safe shelter Of her
home. Which tx a nefarious proceeding,
and not according TO the code OF civilized
warfare between the sexes.
II should be every woman's first duty
to keep her honor white and her name
ing upon her when she marries. and
voluntarily takes into her keeping a
mans honor and mans name She
should DO even more careful to keep
them unsullled than she did her own.
a woman may conceivably have right
to do as she pleases with her own. II
may be her privilege to throw her pearls
In the mud II she fancies. and trample
them underfoot. but nothing could con-
done her fault II she threw away the
most precious jewel that a man had, and
that he had trusted to her. The black
treaehory of bringing disgrace on name
that had been given reveTently into her
keeping should be enough to make amy
married woman with n CLEAN Of honor
or honesty, or common decency in her
soul. run straight.
Unfortunately there are many women
whose vanity is so great II outwelghs
their principles. and for the sake OF be-
Ing flattered and for the pleasure OF
listening to a few lying, sentimental
speeches they are willing to be false TO
the vows they have made and bespatter
the names they bear
And tho name OF this woman IL Mrs.
Legion, for the fliTtatlOus wife Is more
common figure than we like 10 admit
Not all Of the side stepping from the
straight and narrow path is done by hus-
bands, even IN the most respectable
church going circles. It's n good thing
for the integrity OF the home that Caesar
doesn't always know al that Caesars
wife does. nor all that the nelghbors say
OF Mrs. c.
OF course. the fllrtauouE wife justifies
herself by saying that her little affairs
are perfectly Innocent that there's no
harm IN a little spooning I'm the twilight
with some man who regularly drops In
20 tea when her husband Is at business,
or in her meeting somo man almost by
accident In the park or at luncheon or
in the writing and receiving of senti-
mental notes. II Is true that she wouldn't
have her husband overhear any OF these
tete-a-tets conversations, or have one OF
the letters drop into his hands for
worlds, but that's Just because John is
so absurd and ridiculous and obtuse that
lie wouldn't understand.
But she's quite sure there's no harm IN
her flirting a bit. because she will know
where to stop, and when TO draw the line.
Which sometimes happens and sometimes
doesn't, but a womans knowing the psy-
geological moment IN which TO call off a
filtration doesn't Justify her In Il. On the
other hand Il condemns her the more, be-
cause some excuse is TO be made for the
indiGcretion OF married woman, carried
away by overwhelming passion for a
man not her husband, but none is 10 be
made for the disloyalty of the wife who
is being unfaithful merely 20 titillate her
egotism by being admired by men.
Any married woman who flirts. who
seeks or receives the attention OF strange