The Washington herald., 1917-08-01
HOW MEN AND WOMEN LOVE.
by DOROTHY DIX.
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

The reason that men and women
are eternaily fascinating to each
I other is because each sex IS a per
petual riddle that the other Is try
| ing to guess without ever finding
the answer.
Men and women are only attrac-
| tive to each other as long Rs they
are different. Women hate and de-
, spise sissy men with Cftcminate
| Chara CteristiCs Men Ioathe manni,h
women who AFFECT mrscrIlinC WAYS
and clothes. The more unlike mon
| and women are to each other the
more they are drawn together.
This Is why little FIu-y Runles.
with nothing on her mind heavier
than her golden locks. almost al
wa-s outmarries her big. strong.
sensible sister. and why refined and
wealthy and gentle little ladies So
| often pick out husky hrutcs for
| husbands with whom they have not
a thing on earth in common.
Tho reason that men and women
| love eaeh Other and hate each other.
why they marry each other ana
quarrel and get divorced. anil why
| they never never understand each
other. is because they are 50 off
| f"rcnt Constitutionally and hccaus"
! they approach everything from a
different point Of view anl see
/ everything from such a different
] angle.
/ Take the matter of love. for In
stance. The two seNeS love differ
| emily. Woman loves CnnCTrtcly. She
| loves some specific man. Man loves
woman as sex. He loves an IDEAL
" hich he attempts to ft. with i'm
perfect suCC' IS. upon some partiCu-
/ lar woman. And especially man
loves an ideal.
I 1t is because man loves an ideal
rather than the woman herself that
we have so many Catastrophcs in
love. Man is in love with an ideal
who is always fair and young. and
| beautifully EOwncd and calm and
who meets her husband with a glad
\ sweet smile when he returns home
at night.
Soonc. or later he comes across
some girl who serves as a fair un-
derstudy for the lady Of his vision
and marrics her on that platform
hut. alas. life is no conserver of
dreams.
In the process Of years and viccis-
| situdes of matrimOny the wife grows
! fat and forty. Calm cannot always
I
babies and over sweltering cook stoves.
A husband is bound to see his wife
with crimpers on her hair and Crimps
| in her disposition.
| But the man Is still in love with
! his ideal, who is young and fair and
calm and beautifully gowned, and so
| he either goes out to hunt up one
who comes up to his specifications or
else secretly regards himself as a
| domestic victim, one Of those who
was handed a gold brick in the matri-
monial trade.
That is. unless he IS one of the
super idealists-one of the dreamers
who never wake up and who never
really see their wives as they are.
but always surrounded by the halo of
| romance of their days Of Courtship.
! These are the men who always speak
of their wives as little girl" long
after they are grizzle headed and have
thirty-four inch belt measure.
Women often complain that their
husbands never notice how they look
/ and that they have to call their Johns s
attention to the fact that they have
on a new gown or hat, or even that
they are looking pale and sick and
| run down. Foolish creatures! They
I ANNlO AtdlALO NllC AuGh lllCg dlC ildg
ing in when they have a non-Observ-
| ant husband, for he Is not seing his
Maria as she is, time-marked and life
| damagde. but as she was when he led
! her, a beauteous bride, to the altar.
On the other hand women are al
most brutaly clear-sighted in their
view Of men. No woman has any IL
lusions in regard to her husband. She
! sees all OF his faults and defects
with a clearness that would appal
him did he even suspect it.
She doesn't still see the waving locks
on his head that she used to love
to run her fingers through. after ne
gets bald-headed. She doesn't see
him 1.-THE and I'm, after he acquires
figure with a Day-window effect. She
doesn't hear the light step Of his
youth after his feet have begun to
drag with rheumatism.
She sees him exactly as he IL, stout
and commonplace, and growing old,
but 1t doesn't make a particle of diff
ference to her. Such as he is, he
is hers, and she can love him with
| Just as fierce a passion of devotion
as IL he were the most gallant and
handsome and romantic hero that ever
graced a six best seller or drew down
million-dollar salary in the movies.
Women love a man for the man him.
self, for the heart, the soul, the in
tellgience In him. and not for some
fancy picture Of what the perfect man
may be that exists in their imagina-
tons. That is why a man may be
fat. or bald, or crippled, or physically
unattractive and yet be a favorite
IN feminine society and loved by wom-