The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-04-14
Very
Unfemilnine
By OSCAR cox

P ]
! went into Charnlcy's for lunch ihe
other day, AMI while was eats..s
Fred RcIncrton eama in. aai l. 'assei
him To sit down al the table with me.
He IL. so. and congratulated MIN IN
his engagement. Of which ! had hgari
some time before. lie didn't i"uh Sf
! a man who hal Just beeu ma1e a3irN
! BY a girl, bur reckoucd he had lt~- a
/ out of the seventh Leavcu s...-t and
was wonderin: how he WAS -".1- -
4 support Il WIFE "a a salary tha' w. li'' !
been spending entirely cn hiss
Its all Off" he said snHp "'F
whats the trouhlr:" ! asked.
"See here. jim; I've had all / at
| of girls. They have no >Ult~c al e.-J'
such as a man has Fa.t is '..~.s'S
nothing manly mean nohlc-it rh
at all. Nothing Il girl likes $50 J.. ID
as to get fellow 10y the car AMI l''ay
him for a fool That's what M:iii"
wanted with me.
"You haven't yet got Ia the "an>e "t
the breach.
"Well Molly and | were cut al a
| dance. | put my name on her e".
for every alternate dance, leaving her
! a dance with some one else Tor every
dance with me. That was about right,
wasn't it? She objected | told her
thought one in two was enough for
the other fellows, ana she said she
thought that If she danced with me
two or three times during the evening
1t would be enough for me. | told her
that II that was all ! was to get I'd
go without any. And | scratched my
name off her card entirely. DO YOU
know, the girl filed her card without
Y my name being on It and was the mer-
riest girl in the room"
every unfcminine."
you mean very detestable."
What did you do next?'
"Why, l left before the dance was
finished and left her TO go home with
some one OF the fellows she had pre-
ferred TO me
"Oh, you did,"
"You bet | did,"
"You had taken her to the dance.
hadn't you?"
"Yes"
what did she do nextT
Nothing"
And you?"
II wrote her n note saying that II
every other fellow had as much right
to dance with her as | we'd better call
It Off"
"And she?'
"She hasn't deigned to send me re.
ply"
"Verv unfemnlne."
"Jim' he said, bristling that's the
second time you've used that express
sion. Ed like to know what you mean
by It,"
II have used 1t ironically. Fred"
"Ironicaly?"
Yes. The girl acted like girl
You acted like ninny."
Now, he knew very we'll that he had
made a guy of himself, and when |
bore witness to the fact instead Of get
ting up on his ear he collapsed He
didn't say word for awhile, but he
looked like man who had committed
crime and had Just realized that the
heavens were about to fall on him
His first words We're:
oil lo
universe"
"Oh, no, YOU haven't"
You don't think sof" eagerly and
with beam of hope
NO"
What shall l do?"
Take back track as quick as YOU
can"
How"
Go to her and ask her pardon. Tell
her that you've made an ass of your.
self and will never do so any more"
Il think I'd rather write It,"
Nonsense. Face the music Nike a
man. Writing would only show half
hearted repentance. Speech Is better
than ink any time and in such cases
is Infinitely better. What's written
Is capable Of various interpretations.
In speaking one has the advantage of
looking his meaning. In writing there
Is no expression of any kind"
but suppose she won't see meY"
Hang on till she does"
And suppose she sees me. but turns
ME down.
Hang on all the tighter"
He sat deliberating. Presently no
looked up at me and said:
Jim, | would rather attack a forti.
hcation single handed. Is there no
other way out OF it?"
There wouldn't be for me IL | wera
in your place"