The Washington herald., 1918-12-20
Unrequited Affection
By DOROTHY DIX
THE WORLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER

According to tradition, as handed
down by our grand-mamas and old
fashioned novels, the young women
of the past had extremely well regu-
lated hearts that never skipped a
beat. or fiuttered. or gave any other
evidence Of being affected by the
presence of'a young man, until the
said young man had declared his
intentions.
According to these same veracious
authorities, no modest young maiden
ever fell in love with a man before
he fell in love with her. She would
have been incapable of such a thing.
On the contrary, she remained in a
strictly neutral state So far as af-
fectiOn was concerned until he up
and popped the question. Where
upon she said:
oh. Mr.. Smithers. this is so sud
den, l never even dreamed that you
thought about me. You must give
me time to cOnslt my heart" and
upon doing this she Immediately dis
covered that she entertained a
deathless affection, of which she had
not previously suspected herself, for
49, oS - ~ VI so III WI sDllllNIlGIS- Anu
they were married and lived happi-
ly ever after.
Alas. in these insurgent modern
times young women do not appear to
have their hearts under the perfect
control that their grandmothers did
a girl doesn't wait for a man to
make her a formal offer of marriage
before she decides whether he is the
husband she wants or not. She fire.
quently sees him before he sees her,
and unfortunately sometimes he does
not see her at all.
l get hundreds OF letters from
these victims of unrequited affec-
tIOn in which the writer's tell me
that they love men who do not love
them and ask. me how a girl shall
go about winning a mans heart.
1t is a situation that is full of
pathos and tragedy because a mere
convention stands between many of
these young women and happiness.
II girl who is in love with a man
We're as free to WOO him as a man
IN similar circumstances is to WOO
the girl he wants for wife. un-
douotedly the majority of them would
win their hearts desire.
Matches are made of many little
tnlngs-propinquity, little attentions,
delicate batteries, and most of all
the knowledge that another loves US,
mat another admires, that another
asks nothing else of life but to be
near US and to cherish and protect us.
Ihese are the weapons with which
man attacks the citadel of the
heart OF the woman he wants, and
they would be just as effective in fem
mime hands as they are in masculine,
All that many a man needs to
make him fall in love with a girl
Is Just to really get acquainted with
her and find out how sweet and at
tractlYe she really is, but Mrs. Grun-
dy doesn't allow the Door loyeIorn
oainsel 10 go out and hunt up the
man and force herself upon his at
Iehtlons, as man can upon a woman.
All thac would be necessary to
lhcllne many n mans heart tn n
woman would be for him to know
mat she adored him as a little tin
goo That's the way nine men out of
Ten win women. but such slaves are
we TO custom that IL a woman had
the courage to tell a man she loved
MN IN order to marry him, she would
horrify him to death.
Why anyone should consider that
there is anything bold and unwom-
anly In girl falling in love with a
man before he falls in love with her
NOBODY knows. Love is not a matter
OF yolitton. 1t comes unsought, and
It's howers fall as often under the
feet of those who heedlessly trample