South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-11-30

800 M f2ssfi can KNOW TOO
Ssss much about men.
Mr.. Cutting. Be
sides il she really knew anything
about them. she wouldn't tell them
so. She would know that, above all
things, a man likes to be regarded
as a deep. dark. inscrutable mys-
teryl Telling a man that you un-
derstand' him. doesn't flatter him
It merely frightens him. II IS the
first sign OF a tyro."
still" persisted the Bachelor
You must admit that the happer
Of today is not exactly an unsophis-
ticated little thing"
The Widow shuddered.
Il must" she acquiesced sorrow
fully, she makes me blush."
AT her vast stock OF worldly wis
dom ," inquired the Bachelor. smil-
ing. cor at her advanced ideas"
Neither" and the Widow shook
her head emphatically. AT my own
childish simplicity Mr.. CBtting-at
my crude antediluvian notions OF
life. and love, and marriage. She
makes me feel like an 1880 model
flying machine IN a 1919 aviation
contest. I simply collapse and drop
TO earth, the minute the fiapper be
gins TO hapl She has all the latest
wrinkles. theories and modern i'm
provements. Keeping up with her
is out Of the question-for a simple
innocent unsophisticated widow. I
ought to stop trying, and take 10
bombazine. bonnets, and pepsin
tablets" and she sighed pathetical-
~.
Poor girl" sympathized the
Bachelor. Have some French
pastry. It's the worst thing for
you"
Positively" resumed the Widow,
selecting a wicked looking cnerry
tart from the walters delectible
tray. when I think Of what an
unmitigated, little. 1S-carat fool 1
was at II, and of how implicitly I
believed everything that anybody |
told me"
you must have been soul-satis- |
flying to talk to-then," murmured
the Bachelor. wistfully.
And how used TO read Keats"
went on the Widow. and Mrs.
Browning and Thackeray and Dick
ems"
Instead of Ellen Key, and Freud
and Elinor Glynn." suggested the
Bachelor.
And how I used TO write poetry,
oil Tuh
broken hearts; and how l used to
dream OF Prince Charming. and Of
being kissed and engaged
Instead of planning TO be a di-
vorcee and to go into the movies
grinned the Bachelor, appreciative-
", you were a cavewoman, beside
the modern fiapper!"
Yes, and wouldn't she have pitied
and scorned me-" sighed the Widow
enviously. The young girl Of to-
day may thank her stars that she
is not brought up in a satin-lined
box and covered with illusions and
fairy dreams and sentimental cotton
batting as most girls were 10 years
ago, OF course. she doesn't know
half as much as she thinks she
does"
Heaven forbid!T murmured the
Bachelor ferventIy
But at least she has a theoreti-
cal knowledge Of life" pursued the
Widow, and an academic knOwl-
edge OF men. and love. and mar
riage She faces the world with her
eyes wide open, instead OF going at
life as though Il were a game OF
blind mans buff, and its only OBJ
jet to catch a husband, She Is al
lowed 10 think. and 70 be herself"
Yes retorted the Bachelor, with
a touch OF scOrn,' and look what
she becomes,"
she becomes a personality, Mr..
Cutting-not just a sweet young
thing She goes 10 work or to col
lege and studies law or art or Jour
nalism, or economies, or house-dec-
Grating. or something useful"
Sometimes" admitted the Bach
elor wryly. and sometimes she goes
10 the movies and studies Kitty
Gordon's gowns and poses And
somelimes she goes down 70 Wash
ington Square. and bobs her hair
and studies socialism, and Sudersen
and eugenics and soap-boK oratory.'
And sometimes" rejoined the
Widow. she has her hair perman-
emily waved and her eyebrows fixed
and studies nothing but the styles
and dermatology-
And won't let a man hold her
hand until she has looked him up IL
Bradstreet's, finished the Bachelor.
"Oh. she's wise all right. She knows
lot more than her mother, and
has her grandmother backed of the
map"
Perhaps" and the Widow sip
ped her coffee cOmplacently. but.
whatever she is. she's a personally
and I envy her, She doesn't go az
life blindly She always has a pur-
pose. whether it's 20 be rsforner
or a milliner-and she knows ez-
actly what she wants. whether it's a
career or a husband And some
times. wonder II I shouldn't have
been spared a, lot Of hard knocks