The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-02-04
DICKS LETTER IS FULL

l expect. little book, II you
think at all, you think l am a
very peculiar woman, but l am
not. am just like every other
woman.
/ do not believe there is a
woman anywhere in the world
who, having gone through the
agony that | have, would not have
thought as / did when she saw q
letter from her husband with the
word Sweetheart" used as its
salutation.
Dicks letter, however, interest
ed me very much, although some
of 1t hurts me, as think he is try
ing to be not only honest but he
is also earnestly trying to make
me understand the mans view
point. His letter began:
Sweetheart:
81 have been thinking of YOU
a lot today and wondering just
what you are doing, and just
what you are thinking about.
81 am much afraid, Margie
that both you and 1 will have to
go long ways before we car
come to the place Of mutual un'
Outstanding. / have never quite
realized how far apart are the
standards of men and women un'
til now when the whole mess thai
I have made of my life and yours
is before me.
"You know, dear, what cad
considered Harry at the time OF
his episode. Then l did not think
| it possible for any man to trea'
woman he loved as Harry had
Eliene; now l know it is possible
for / have treated you in the self
same fashion and / love you.
Eyes, dearheart, although you
may not believe it, love you, and
stranger still, l have never told
any other woman than you in sc
many words that | loved her.
Even poor Eleanor had to be
satisfied with L want you, dear.
oh Margie, can't you realize
the great difference between =
love you and L want you?
"A man can want woman
without loving her, but he car
never love a woman and not want
her.
81 think, Margie, that 1t is be-
cause | have trusted you so i'm.
plicitly that l have perhaps moi
been worthy of trust myself.
have always known that you were
mine, that no other man could
take you from ME.
docs any woman understand
the complex nature of man?
"Can she realize that every
man, who is a man, shirks from
letting his wife see to what
abysses he can sink? He holds
her above all his lower self. His
wife is set apart from every other
woman except perhaps his moth
er. In my case, Margie, you
know l have held you above my
mother. You were and are the
one woman respect most and
love best.
But all the time there has
been another side of me which
you could not satisfy-perhaps
because / would not let you do so
ut is a queer feeling, my dear,
but l believe every man has it
He wishes to keep from the one
woman he calls wife all the worst
of himself. He wants her to be
pure in heart that she may al
ways inherit the beautiful king
dom of his home which he feels
he must not profane in any way.
Il have sometimes thought that
il men would treat their wives as
they do their mistresses there
would be fewer divorces. know
positively that IL men would treat
their mistresses as they do their
wives there would be no mis-
tresses.
Are you shocked, Margie
You ysee | am trying for once to
be honest with you. l am no
different from other men, most
of whom l believe can love one
woman devotedly and be untrue
to'her every week of the year.
II did not mean to write you
this when / began, ! only meant
to let you know that since | nearly
lost you, my soul is sick with
dread that some day the awful
thing might come true.
Dick"