Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-05-25
BY DOROTHY DIX.

BIZ DOROTHY DIX.
A YOUNG woman is suing faith
~ less swain for $4,000 dam
F. - ages.
Twenty-fvc' hundred dollars of this
amount she considers about right for
the injury sustained by her young at
fections. and the other twenty-five hum
+ dred she charges up, to wear and tear
on the family furniture and the gas
DILL.
For one whole. long year did this
devoted maiden, labor and. sacrifice 10
please this youth. For him she mar
ceJled her hair, and donned her prettiest
frocks and her sweetest smiles. For him
she toiled at the piano and stifled her
yawns while he RECALLED himself by tell
ing her what a wonder She was. She
also fed him upon lemonade, cake,
Welsh rarebit, fudge and divers other
r comestibles, and yet, in spite OF all of
this, he went off and married another.
! The deceitful, double dyed villain!
This sad and Oft recurring story
! calls attention again to the, parlous
! plight of the girl Of the present. and
/ shows how much better affairs Of the
| heart were managed in the past than
/ they are nowadays. Modern progress
! has done much for everything eX-
! the advancement has BEEN made back
/ ward, as an. Jrishman, might say.
! In the. times of our grandmothers
! a girl. was not permitted to waste her
| sweetness on the desert air, and to sit
! around growing scraw why and sallow and
/ passe waiting for man TO speak who
| never had the Sigh test intention of
! popping the question.
On the contrary when q youth devel-
! oped habit of hanging around the pre-
misses, and of seeming to thnl; that he
had meal ticket that was good al a
| girls house, the girls, father quietly
| but firmly. too: him aside, and in a tone
! of voice that meant business inquh ed
what Romeo's intentions might be ap-
| pertaining to and concerning Juliet
! Whereupon it was most empha tically
! up TO Romeo to come across with a
bona 1de proposal for Miss Juliets
| hand, or else the places that had known
| him knew him no more. Papa didn't
stand for any trifling. No idle, selfish
| fellow intent only on amusing himself
was permitted to cheaper a peach by rub
bling the downy bloom oft of it. and then
pass on to neighboring orchard Ro-
| meo had 10 put up or shut up and move
on, and precious good rule it was, too
| Unfortunately this wise custom of
! bringing young men to talk has fallen
| into disuse In this country a father
would drop dead with horror if YOU
should even suggest to him that he trv
! 10 md out whether the men who camp
! on his parlor chairs, and eat his din
ners, and smoke his cigars are marry
ing men or not, or even in a position
| in which they could marry if&they so
| desired
This leaves a girl in a situation with
which she has neither the knowledg,
| OF the world or the courage to cone
| She has been left alone unaided and
unarmed. to fight the duel of the sexes
in which woman is so seldom the VIC
! tor
She has the natural lodgings of her
| sex Tor love. and ultimately maria ge,
| but she has no touchstone that enables
! her to tell which of the men that come
/ about her has serious matrimonial IN
| tentons, and which are merely amusing
| themselves All that she can do in the
! dilemma is TO be nice TO them all, to
| smile upon all. and to spread her little
| net with such bait in the shape of din
| ners- and suppers, and seats I'm opera
! boxes. and country house invitations as
| the means of her father permits and as
| observation shows prove most allurinS
| in tolling in the MASCULINE fly.
That girls are grievously imposed
| upon is not to be denied. Only too many
| flies eat the bait, and then YEARLY
spread their wings and fit away, some
times, alas, taking with them the heart
Of the poor little innocent spinner of
| gossamer. webs.
1 But what is a poor girl to do under
! the modern conditions of social inter-
| course between the sexes? She can't
ask a man what his intentions are.
| Neither can her father She can't shut
| her door in his face: Custom does not
| permit her to pop the question herself
| and bring the matter to a decision, ana
! so only too often she waits. between
| hope and fear, year after year, while
her beauty fades, and her youth passes,
| waiting, always waiting, for the words
| that are never spoken.
!: About the only remedy that common
| sense suggests for this menace to the
| peace and happiness of young women Is
! for every girl 10 constitute herself a
| perpetual discourager of the constant
| beau, Three months is plenty of time
| for any man to find out what his SEN
| timents are towards a woman, and six
months gives him an elegant suff1ciency
! of leisure in which TO speak. If by
! the end of that period he has not come
! to the point and asked the girl to name
! the day she can make up her mind that
/ there is, very small use in waiting on
/ him any longer.
Possibly he may still propose. but the
! chances are all against it, and in ravor
! O. his being one OF those men who are
/ dog in the manger-who does not
want to marry a girl himself, but who
delights i'm keeping marrying men away.
Since their parents will not protect
them, girls must learn to protect them
/ selves. and they will save themselves
many q heartache when they learn now
J to freeze out the man who tries to
monopolize their time and their
/ thoughts. and the freshness of their
! charms but who never offers marriage
/ in return--who, as q homely old lady
! once said 10 me Of such q mans at
! tentions 10 her pretty daughter, Comes
/ and comes. but never courts"
/ Copyright 1917. by the Wheeler Syn
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