Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-08-08
Fair With Girls
By BEATRICE FAIRFAX.

Men pride themselves on Deing
good sports" But / think that in
their dealings with women they for
get what being a good sport" really
means!
Nothing is sporting" in the best
sense unless 1t is based on principles
Of honesty and fair play. A man who
lays any claim to being gentleman
brings the spirit of fair play as mat
ter of course into his clubs, his ath-
ietics, his business life and his amuse-
ments of every sort, except those IN
which women are concerned.
The average man in his relation
ships with women wants amusement
and entertainment. If he can get it
for the asking he takes it. But he
values what he gets for nothing at nil.
My girls write me that the men
they know lose interest in them when
denied kisses and caresses. All around
. me in social life | see the same thing
men demanding the privilege of
making love" to women whom they
do not even pretend to love in any
fine sense.
And ever since the days of the old
song, "He loved and rode away" that
is just what the men have been doing.
They make love lightly when permit
ted, and tire easily. Worse still, they
kiss and tell" .
And this is reprehensible enough,
unkind and even dishonorable. But
what makes it even less sporting"
is the fact that whenever men are
expressing their honest opinion to
each other or to an older woman for
whose favors they are not striving,
they acknowledge that they are look
ing for an ideal girl who won't per-
nit herself to be kissed and caressed
by all and sundry.
Oh, yes, men confess 1t. Their
dream girl"-the girl they mean to
love and marry is girl who holds
herself too high to permit any light
and facile lovemaking. As for the
rest they say, "Oh, I'm just amusing
myself. She ought to know that"
She ought to-but she Doesn't Too
many girls fancy that the way to hold
a man is by letting him have what
he wants. Girl after girl has confessed
to me sadly when it was too late:
ooh, | was afraid to say no. There
was Molly Green waiting. And If l
didn't give in to him, l was afraid
he'd go after her"
Too late the girl learned that after
she had given in to him, the man gets
tired of what was his for the asking
and goes off for new worlds to con-
quer.
The spirit OF the chase makes men
like hunting, but is it good hunting"
to blind the quarry first and then to
hunt it down? %
Where is the masculine instinct Of
fair play? How can any self-respect-
ing man reconcile the statements he
makes to the girl he wants to win,
without the responsibility Of marry
ing and supporting her, with the
statement he makes to outsiders for
whom he has enough respect to cause
him to tell them the truth?
To Susie, John says, "Oh, I've got
to kiss you. You know I'm fond of
you. Don't torture me by refusing.
You couldn't be so selfish and TN
kind" And Susie, either because she
is loving, self-sacrifcing little thing,
or because she is emotional and easily
moved, let's John kiss her.
Then John tells his men friends or
some older woman for whose men
tality he has plenty of respect that
he's going to marry girl who is
dignihed and who holds herself above
idle lovemaking--the sort of girl, in
fact. who is fit to be a good mans
wife. And he feels very noble and
righteous as he says it.
Is that honorable sport? Is that
fair play?" leave it to you, boys
to YOU and your own consciences.