The Washington herald., 1918-06-12
JEALOUSY AND LOVE
By DOROTHY DIX
THE WORLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER

In a recent sensational divorce case
in which a man was seeking to have
the matrimonial letters which bound
him to his wife severed, part of the
testimony introduced consisted OF
some exceedingly affectionate letters
which the woman had written to an
other man. The wife admitted the
authorship of the billets-deaux. but
claimed that she was not in love with
the man, but had simply written these
letters with the sole purpose of awak-
ening her husbands love by making
him jealous.
The woman's attitude was inter est
ing because so many other women
hold to the same fallacy. that jealousy
is the handmaiden of love, instead Of
being its assassin. This leads them
into committing innumerable tollies.
and while one can hardly credit the
idiocy of a wife who would put such
weapon as a bunch OF discriminating
letters into the hands of a husband
whom she suspected of being tired OF
her. IL is nevertheless true that many
women are silly enough TO engage IN
flirtations Just to make their hus-
bands jealous.
They have an idea that by torment
ing a man they can keep the fires of
affection alight in his breast. and. at
any rate, it is a sop to their vanity
to see that they still have the power
to make their husbands register fiery
passion, as cur moving picture friends
say.
Such women believe that jealousy
of a woman is a proof of mans
love for her, and that as long as he
"ares for her he does the Othello act.
They are on a par with the drunken
laborer's wife who wept that her
husband no longer took enough inter-
est in her to beat her.
They do not understand that, In re-
ality. stripped of all the chiffons that
novelists have woven about 1t, jeal-
ousy is nothing but suspicion, and
that instead of its being a compli-
ment to its objects. It is a deadly and
unforgivable insult. No man is jealous
of the woman in whose faith and
honor he trusts. 1t is when he be-
comes doubtful that he grows green
, eyed at the approach of other men.
Possibly there may be a psyche
logical moment during courtship when
mans jealousy may be aroused ad-
vantageously to the end that he is
made to realize that he must stake
his claims to a woman's heart to
keep some other man from jumping
them. In other words, it is clever
tactics for a woman to make a dila-
tory lover come to the proposing point
by affecting to care for some other
man. This is one of the fair moves
in the game of courtship, for so Pc
culiarly are men built that many a
one only finds out that he wants a
woman when he sees some other man
apparently about to snatch her from
him.
But while II may be a crafty thing
to rouse a mans jealousy before mar
riage, after marriage it is a fatal
mistake.
The heart must have some place to
| rest in utter security, for perfect love
is perfect faith and trust, and a wom-
an can have no other hold upon a
man so great as his belief that her
love for him Is as unfaltering and
true as the stars in Heaven. and she
disturbs this faith with jealousies.
and doubts, and fears at her peril.
Hence wives who try to wake their
husbands jealousy are either fools.
or they will bear watching. More
| over, they are lacking in some Of the
essentially fine feminine character
istics, for there are only two rea-
sons that can prompt q woman to
torture a man by rousing q passion
that eats like an acid into his soul.
First. she must do it because there
Is something cruel and catlike In her
that prompts her to play with the
heart that loves her, as a cat does
with a mouse. careless of the suffer-
ing she causes.
Or else, she does it because 1t fiat
| ters her vanity to be able to show
off her power over a man. She likes
to see him sulking in dark corners
while she smiles radiaptly on another.
She enjoys watching him grow white