The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-18
EVENING CHAT
By RUTH CAMERON.

1 heard something the other day
which made me fairly sick at heart
with horror and disgust.
A certain married mani hate to
give him that name, but must for pur-
poses of convenience-is going about
telling his men friends and generally
circulating the story that young
girl, with whom he has been seen
good deal of late, is perpetually chas-
ing him up and begging him to take
her to dinner. walk to the train with
her, etc.
This is the girls side of the story.
which, of course, has not received any
such general circulation
The man has told her how unhappy
he is at home, that he is not under
stood, that she is one of the rare
that it is not just because he made the
mistake of marrying a woman rot
suited to him that he should be en-
tirely denied the stimulus and inspira-
ton of her society, that there is no
possible harm in her going to dinner
with him at a reputable restaurant oc-
casionally or letting him walk to the
station with her, and that people who
would talk about her are evil minded
and not worth noticing.
The girl is at heart a nice little girl,
who wants to do what is right and has
no real idea of the desolate wilderness
| into which the primrose path she is
treading may lead her.
! OF course, she knows in a general
way that it is something of which
mother would not approve, but mother
| is so old fashioned she justif1es her
self that you can't always tell by what
she thinks. And then she has been
| so lonesome and worked so hard, and
had so little fun since she came to the
| city, and he is the first man who has
been especially kind to her, and the
| diversion of his friendship and kindly
attentions, the delight of having some
| thing to look forward to from day to
day, has gradually become very i'm
portant to her. The wrong is partly
| CLOSED over by his specious arguments
and partly by her feelings that she is
really of use to him. And for the rest
well, lonesomeness and overwork
are not very good as stimulaters of the
moral sense.
That she hasn't the vnguest notion
of the abominable and utterly I'M
founded story he is circulating about
her goes without saying.
Poor, foolish little girl!
How I wish that you and all your
poor foolish little sisters who trust
men like this one so blndly might see
your true positions for a moment!
[ think it would mean some pretty
sharp. short stops for you and some
pretty hard choppers for some of the
cads if you could.
Of course, you each think that the
particular man who is being a pla-
tonic friend with you is really and
truly to be trusted and holds your
honor as dearly as his own.
Listen, girls. Why should this man,
who is betraying his wife, the mother
of his children, the woman he has
every reason to love and honor-and
in your heart of hearts you must ac-
knowledge that if you were that wife
you would certainly resent and regard
as a betrayal the way he talks and
acts to you-why should he be any
more faithful and honorable in his
treatment of vOuo
No, you don't think your particular
man would be capable of saying that
you were running after him.
Perhaps not.
And yet again, there is the chance
that he is saying that or something
worse.
Is it a chance that you care to take?
Everybody reads the State Journal.