The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-25
Dorothy Dix Tails
The Tn,aglnary Rlval-1.
ny DOHOrHY DIE
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A man writes me that he doubts his
| fiancee's affection for him because
she is always extolling the charms of
a certain movie hero. and he wants to
! know IL think that the girl can real
~ love him while she raves above the
soulful eyes and Greek profile of the
gentleman on the screen. and signs to
be made love to as men do it in novels
and on the stage, and never do in real
life.
J. Pooh. Nonsense. As long as a man
hasn't anything to be Jealous of ex-
cept film, he's in luck. There is no
danger of that breaking up his happy
home IL only he has sense enough to
realize that the girls admiration for
this stage hero, whom she has never
seen in the flesh and probably never
will see, is just a little romantic
meringue on the lemon pie of life.
She enjoys just a bite of 1T now and
then, but she doesn't want it for a
steady diet, and she no more desires
really to marry the man than she
would to live on pastry. It's roast
beef, and potatoes, and a good, steady
fellow with a snub nose, and no roll
to his eyes that woman wants for
regular consumption.
AS a matter of fact, every husband
and wife in the world has one of these
imaginary rivals. Sometimes 1t is
hero in book. Sometimes 1t is an
actor ar an actress. Generally it Is no
one particular person. 1t is just the
man or woman we didn't marry, and
who is so different from We one we
did marry.
with the man, the woman he did
not marry is always young and beau
tiful. When he looks across the table
at the woman he did marry and per-
ceives her fat, and grizzle haired, with
sagging cheeks, and triple chins, he
thinks how different she is from that
other One who would have the glory
of eternal youth and beauty about her.
And the woman he did not marry
would have been some sort OF, miracle
worker who would never have both
cred him about money. She would
have presided over a house that was
always spick and span. in which there
were perfect meals and plenty of heat,
and light, and we'll trained servants,
but there would have been no bills to
bother him, and no deadly Twill you
leave me some money for the chill
dren's shoes, and the laundry, and to
pay my milliner?" shot across the
breakfast table to ruin his day for him.
And the woman he didn't marry
would have been sweetly reasonable
creature who would always greet him
with a glad. sweet smile when he came
home at three A. NJ. and told him
how glad she was that he took little
diversion with the boys. And she
would know that because man is
married doesn't afflict him with any
kind of astigmatism that prevents him
from taking note of a pretty face, or a
trim ankle, that happens to drift
across his vision. She would not be a
woman with a mania about having
man show up on time of an evening,
nor would she be filled with deep.
dark suspicious of every girl who is
half her age and weight at whom her
husband looks, as is the wife of his
bosom.
A beautiful and lithesome young
creature who is never sick who has
no nerves or temper, who was born
with a permanent wave in her hair.
with Paris clothes growing on. her
back like feathers on peacock, and
who can live on air, that is a mans
mental picture of the woman he didn't
marry, and that is the deadly rival
with whom he is always comparing his
wife in his thoughts.
OF course he knows that no such
person exists, but all the same, she is
kind of consolation to turn to when
the real wife calls him to book, and
grows hard to live with.