Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-03
BEING FAIR WITH THE GIRLS
BY Beatrice Fairfax

Men pride themselves on being
"good sports" Btu | 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 it is based on principles
of honesty and fair play. A man
who lays any claim to being a gentle
man brings the spirit of fair play as
a matter of course into his clubs, his
athletics, his business life and his
amusements 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 lost interest in them when
denied kisses and caresses. All
around me in social life l 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
They make love lightly when per-
mitted, and tire easily. Worse still,
they kiss and tell
All 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 it. Their
"dream girl"-the girl they mean to
love and marry is girl who holds
herself too high to permit any light
ana facile lovemaking. AS for the
rest, they say, "Oh, I'm just amusing
myself. She ought to know that"
The Sad Part of 1t
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: "Oh, ! 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 has given in to him, the men 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 hunt
ing" 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
statements 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 un-
kind" And Susie, either because
she is a loving, self-sacrificing 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 a girl who is dig
nified and who holds herself above
idle love-making-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
flair pla~?" l leave it to you boys
Ito you and your own consciences.