Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-05-22

hurry home and listen to a four-act
! play he had written, or tifty-page
| motion picture synopsis. Drops of
sweat beaded my brow. Every
writer on the firing line knows and
fears those ambuhed manuscripts
which lie in wait for him at every
turn of the road.
ITS about getting married"
The color came back to my
cheek, the light to my eye. "Oh,
that's easy" L said. You either
get married or you don't. It's pure
! ly matter of choice.
That's the difficulty" he pom
dered solemnly. Now, what would
you consider the two most desir-
able things in life?"
Every one makes different es-
| innate" l replied. What would
you?"
Love and success" he asserted
without hesitation, thus showing
that he had given the matter
| thought. Now l." he frowned,
have won measure of success"
| 1T does not require a Sherlock
Holmes to tell me that assured
him. ANY man who can order a
dinner in these days without study
ing the prices on the menu must
| indeed have prospered. But 1T is
odd that you should have intro
duced this particular subject l
broke off, because l have letter
at home from a man who is tor
mented by the same perplexity."
What does he say?" he asked
eagerly. -, s,.o.os ii.
younger years to building up an i'm
! portant business, and that now,
when he is between forty and fifty
| he wishes to establish the ties of
home. But he is so afraid of draw
| ing a blank and being miserable for
the rest of his life that he doesn't
dare venture"
"My case exactly" Herbert nod
ded. What advice did you give
| him?"
Nothing as yet. All could think
| of was to tell him not to be faint
hearted, and that One day with life
and heart is more than time enough
| to find a wife But that sounded
| fippant. It's apparent that he has
very consistently guarded himself
against the danger of falling in
love-"
be blamed for that" contended Her.
bert. He wants something more than
merely to get married. He wants
a delightful and congenial compan-
| ion, a woman with similar tastes
and a sympathetic nature. At least
that's the way l fee"
"Yes, and both of you are un-
willing to incur any risks in the ven
ture. But there's no undertaking in
| life that | ever heard of where you
don't have to take risks and plenty
of them" :,
ut isn't that we lack courage,
insisted Herbert, who had now made
his case identical with that of my
correspondent. It's rather an en-
barrassment due to the fact that we
feel ourselves on unfamiliar ground y
But look at this side of 1t" /
! argued. Either of you is sure
enough of himself in matters of
business, otherwise, you would hard
Ily have achieved the success OF
which YOU boast. That shows that
Won are accustomed to take risks
and discount them. Both of you, l
haven't a doubt, have always mini
mized the risks where 1t could be
done; but still there have been a
! lot of hurdles that you've had to
/ take at full speed and without know
| ing just where you were going
to land. AS businessmen you are
| trained to a constant calculation and
weighing of chances; to do so is sec
| ind nature to you by this time. You
| know that in business, when there's
something to be done, the choice. of
methods. important though it be. is
subordinate to the spirit behind the
doing of it, because the determina-
ton and the energy that one puts
into it are what bring it to success
full issue"
"AIl true" agreed Herbert, "but
this matter of marriage is venture
in a new direction. It's of grave
significance to me, and also evident
Iy to this correspondent of yours,
not to make a mistake. Naturally
"And that very hesitation makes
YOU magnify the chances against
YOU" l said why don't you apply
the same methods mere that you
have used to such good purpose in
YOUR business affairs? There you
trust your instincts, and go ahead.
WHY don't you follow the same logic
where your emotions are concerned
and plunge as whole heartedly? |
haven't a doubt, Herbert" /, make
hazard. "but that you have some
girl in mind you want to marry, and
in the end you'll probably do so in
spite of your terrors."
That's the bother" he muttered
desperately. How do / know that
/ am going to be happy?"
You might better be wondering
whether you are going to make her
happy" / rebuked sternly. What
is IL the scientists call a particular
fear that haunts one? Oh, yes-a
phobia. That's what you have-a
marriage phobia. / have a manu-
script phobia. Once a woman begged
me to read story she had written.
| took it home and lost it. l spent
days in a desperate search; the car
nets were taken up, the pictures
lifted from the walls; offered a re-
ward But that lost story was never
found. Before it disappeared the
woman told me that it was just
little thing, her first attempt at
writina;- but after it was gone you
might have thought that / was a
second John Stuart Mill and 1t the
original draft of Carlyles French
revolution which his careless
maid burned up.
"Surely," l reverted to my theme.
"marriage is no more hazardous
than business. What's the first prin-
ciple of business partnership?
Reciprocity. of course. Well, isn't
that true of marriage also?"
"Then you believe that sound busi-
ness principles, IL applied to mar
rage. will insure success?" There
was an eager light in Herbert's eye.
| .sTe -, xvonfad IN paf married