The San Francisco call., 1913-09-06
Are Just AS
|COnceited AS WOmen|
By DOROTHY DIX

K the sad intelligence of the seri-
= Gus wounding of young man
whose throat was cut by his three
story collar.
The account of this deplorable ac-
cident says that the man is what Is
known as "a swell dresser" and that
in particular he has a neck built upon
such liberal and giraffelike lines that
he can wear a collar Of such altitude
that it is the despairing envy of all
the other young men of his acquaint-
ance A few mornings ago. resplen-
dent in all his shining expanse of
white linen, in attempting to get on
a streetcar his foot slipped and he
received a bad fall. as a result OF
which the sharp edges of his collar
penetrated his neck, infiieting two
gashes that required the services of a
doctor.
This incident scores one against
man for self-sacrificing vanity, for
no woman has yet been choked to
death by her collar, though many q
short necked woman has found out
what that verse in the bible means
that says. HE. being in torment
lifted UP his eyes,
The truth Is that men have talked
so much about women's vanity that
we have come to think that the fair
sex monopolizes this weakness. Far
from it. Men are just as conceited
about their looks as women are. OF
course, they haven't as good an op-
portunity to show it, because unkind
fate has narrowed them down to a
Spartan simplicity in the way of per-
sonal adornment, but what they have
they make the most of.
NECkTIEs VS.. FRoCKs
No debutante. fussing over her first
party frock, was ever so particular
as man about his neckties. He
doesn't hesitate to consign half a
dozen white ones to the scrap basket
if he muses. them in tying, or fails to
get the proper set to the bow; while
no amount of family affection would
induce him 10 wear a homemade one.
There are places he couldn't be
dragged to by wild horses unless he
had on an evening suit. nor could
you sell him a hat whose crown
was an infnitesimal degree lower or
higher than every other mans hat.
even II you threw In a chrome with
it.
Observe the pains he takes to show
his fancy socks, and note that the
crease in his trousers is never off
his mind for a single instant. In the
theater, in the car, in the parlor. the
moment ne gets seated he begins
hitching al his trousers to preserve
that razor edge, and it is worse than
useless TO attempt to engage his at
tention until it has been tenderly
settled in place.
Now it is just as awful and heart
breaking a thing for tailor made
frock to bag at the knees as 1t is
for trousers, but you never see a
woman in public spending her time
pulling at a seam in her skirt.
But the most amusing and childlike
exhibition of vanity of which men
that he looks like some famous man,
and goes around forever after. in a
ridiculous pose, trying to emphasize
the resemblance.
HE LOOKS LIKE BOOTH
men we have all known who cul-
tfvated a distraught air, and pale
and melancholy countenance because
some indiscreet person had detected
a fancied resemblance between them
and Booth.
Recall the pompous gentleman
whose principal object In life seems
to be to cultivate a pair of whiskers
and tell you how they were taken
for Chauncey Depew or the excess
lively Engiish-American who develops
an ingrowing British accent and
spends his days and nights imagining
he looks like King George. This is
phase of vanity that is exclusively
masculine. A woman's vanity never
reaches the pitch of understanding
celebrities.
THEIR Personal CHARMS
Men are much vainer than women
about their personal charms. A mans
belief in his powers of fascination
never wavers. He never grows too
rogate to himself admiration that a
woman in her palmiest days would
hardly dare to claim. The elderly
millionaire, though he be the home
liest of his sex, can see no reason
why he shouldn't fire the fancy and
come up to the ideal of budding 16.
In his own eyes he Is, now and for
ever, the embodiment of all the manly
charms and graces, and he can never
be persuaded that any woma
wouldn't have the time of her life
sitting around looking at him and
listening to him.
A woman. on the other hand. is
taught from her cradle that she may
only hope to inspire love while she is
young and attractive. and when her
glass tells her that this is no longer
the case she looks with distrust on
the man who asks her to marry him.
or course, there have been cases
where rich old women have married
mere boys, but their insane jealousy
of their young husbands proved that
the women knew that the men mar
ried them for their money
THE RICH OLD MAN
The rich old man, however, who
marries a young girl Is troubled by
no such doubts. His bride may yawn
In his face and shrink from his touch,
but he never suspects that she had
any other object in view than pure,
unaduIterated affection in marrying
him.
A man shows his superior vanity to
woman in the way he talks about
himself. He thinks nothing of spend
ing an entire evening in mono1ogue
about himself. his business, his
on,uaanenfs what he said IN aa and
SO. and what they said to him, etc.