East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-01-17

10 DElHB up " haNe lhiieIIttu q lodu OF
debts from his parents. lie cannot just
ly add such burdens to those which may
have come to his wife-elect from her
family. So the pair agree to wait, Do
you think the man whom you term self
ish enjoys being the sole old bachelor
among his men friends? Don't you be-
lieve that ne secretly envies those
friends the families which are growing
up about them? Don't you know that
his conscience tells him that he was
wrong to ask a woman 10 marry him at
some very vague date, the while he tells
himself that he cannot give her upi"
Certainly | agree to all that" assent
cd the other. at is exactly in line with
my argument that a girl is foolish to
wait more than-well, say FIVE GEARS,
for a man. | could ~contently live in a
shack with any man whom ! could love
we'll enough to marry" she added, with
q note of conscious virtue in her voice.
so could most Of the women whom
we both know" said the Abiding Char
acter. The bride of today would have
done as much. But she did not have
tho chance to. She could simply an
ticipsts the time when she could wholly
devote herself to that fat, horid, gril-
zIed man who, in the guise of a lover,
appears utterly absurd to you, and so
noble to her. She doesn't see the
changes which the years have wrought
upon him"
Then, of course, you imagine that
he doesn't notice the toll which Father
Time has made her psy?" The Prccipi-
tate One was almost sneering.
The Abiding Characters reply came
promptly: Certainly he does not see
her as we do. Had he come to regard
her as she truly is-a faded old maid
with a gentle smile and a rather timid
manner-she would instinctivcly have
known Il, And they would never have
married. BE assured that while each ono
sees themself clearly, they view the
other through rose-colored glass"
Romance is still with them," sneered
the Precipitate One.
ives, it u.s." replied the Abiding Char
acter stoutly. Granted that they look
absurd TO the world. Granted that TO
nance is expected to step aside to make
room for reality or pa ssion, when one
has turned the quarter century mark.
Granted that at hfty-eight youth sedelu-
sions are far, far in the misty back
ground. Nevertheless, il was better for
today's bride t have waited for her
bridegroom. since she believes that he
was worthy of waiting for, whether
he was or not in the opinion of the rest
of us than TO have married some man
whom she liked less"
The village gossips say that as a girl
she had many well-to-do admirers. Had
she married one of those men she might
have had everything which she has
done without during the best years of
her life-a luxurious home, a family, a
leading position in societyl Everything
to make a woman happy.
mot happy if the husband who pro-
vided the home and the position were
the man whom she loved" denied
the Abiding Character.
well, l simply could moi go through
she's zone through with for any
sake, The indefinite waiting
would have driven me TO desperation ~
exclaimed the Precipitste One. 81 be-
that it's every woman's duty TO
to extract the utmost happiness
life"
$50 do l." agreed the Abiding Charac-
ter. From my viewpoint the woman
who can love a worthy man we'll enough
10 wait indefinitely to marry him gets
he utmost out of life. The world may
that she is sentimental and foolish
y romantic. But she and hc-the per
most concerned-kuow better"