Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-26

| job for him. He, the recipient of
the favor, would have said some
thing to this effect:
Thanks, old man. Any time l
can do anything for you. let me
know" And each would have gone
his individual way, pleasantly con-
scious that an agreeable but unde-
manding friendship had been ce-
mented between them.
But we have not yet arrived at
such q condition of equality be-
tween the sexes where a man can,
or thinks he can, treat a woman in
the same way.
The truth is, this girl put the
man in i peculiarily difficult posi-
ton. She not only heaped him with
| benefits, but she did SO before an
audience of her friends. Now, an
audience would not be an audi
ence if it had not certain attributes.
1t il sentimental, it Graves sensa-
ton, and it wants the situation
fully dramatiZed.
The audience then, having OBJ
served the girls interest in the
| youth and her successful efforts to
secure him a place with her firm,
demanded the usual thrills. The
! first act opened like a business
drama; now they wanted the heart
interest. They took it for granted
that no young woman would hustle
| so to advance the interests of a
| perfectly strange young man unless
it was a case of love at first sight.
They expected an immediate re-
sponse on his part, with the usual
denoueInent. That would have af-
forded them a very pretty and in
teresting entertainment with the
desired happy ending"
Il.Yf hi
they felt cheated. They had had
their anticipations aroused for
nothing. Consequently. they showed
their displeasure by taking the
young man to task.
AS for him, when he saw what
every one expected of him, he nat
urally balked. l ann surprised that
he did not bolt.
Most of us want to work out our
destinies in our own way. We do
not want too many guiding hands
90 not want too many sign-posts
along the way affirming that this
particular path is the only road to
happiness. We prefer to take the
fortune of the road as it comes, its
ups and downs. We want to adj
venture for ourselves, and find our
own happiness.
No one could blame this man for
feeling that he has been made
rather absurd figure. Men as a
rule don't care to be under obliga-
tions of this kind to women. When
woman openly promotes mans
fortunes, there is just one construc-
ton the world puts upon it, and
that is c. sentimental one. And he
is also aware that. according to ac-
cepted opinion, absurd and unjust
as it may be, there is only one way
to repay his debt, and that is by
Offering heI his hand and heart.
1 am basing by knowledge of
this particular case solely on the
girls statement. But is it not pos
sible that the young man might
have had more sympathetic
consideration from her and her
friends? He may have had those
dependent upon him which made it
imperative for him to accept the
assistance she held out to him.
He may have known very little of
the world and have been ignorant
of the complications in which it
would involve him. He may have
had a sweetheart back home to
whom his heart was true. Or he
may have been one of those soli-
tary souls who have no desire to
become engaged or to marry, and
who instinctively feel ''he travels
the fastest who travels alone"