Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-10-03
I Why / Am a Bachelor Series,
Number 4.

I am a bachelor because I have
never married. There. so far as !
am concerned, the responsibility
ceases, for no person. be he man
or be she woman, can rightfully
accuse me of not having made the
effort.
On the contrary, I have made
many efforts. was what might
even be termed perpetual pro-
poser. but was never able to rush
any girl into an entangling alli-
ance as binding as a marriage con-
tract. However. my admiration
for the sacred ties of matrimony
never wavered; to that cause l was
and still am constant. 1t is the
most wonderful institution in this
grand world. If l do say it myself,
j was q wonder at working up a
proposition, but when it came to
getting her name on the dotted
line in the presence of the county
clerk. that was something else
again, and the maiden always tal-
tered.
And aside from the chief reason
WHY I am a bachelor, there are
five others that might be termed
oentributory causes. They were
Martha, Elizabeth, Joan. Margaret
and Sallis Belle. There were some
more, actually of course, but these
stand out because it was at their
feet that / actually lay my heart
and prospects.
Somehow or other, I have never
ah1A n xAoiot Nav
bs / never tried. Pursuing them
was always so pleasant. Looking
back now I can see many errors of
Judgment, although at the time l
thought I was acting with wisdom,
and my intentions were serious and
good.
Martha attracted me first. I pre-
sumo, because l knew her before
/ did the others. She was my age
In years, but older in the expert
snces of wooing. Business neces-
STATED me leaving the city where
We resided, and when she moved
to one that took her even a great
or distance from me than my move,
well---you know how much truth
there Is in absence makes the
heart grow fonder'
In my new field / met Elizabeth,
q daughter of the Southland, as
dainty a creature as ever slurred
an r. She was petite. chic, fair OF
complexion and blue of eye, as cum
ming as d kitten when her fancy
was pleased, but tigress when
you crossed her. Her family was
strong for me as an in-law, and
for that reason her interest Jagged.
She married a lawyer who never
rese higher than the ranks of the
ambulance chasers.
Joan came into my life at a
house party in northern Michigan
In midsummer. She danced di-
vinely, played an instrument teas
ingly. swan, golfed. and even a
motor boat did her bidding. Our
strolls through the great pine
woods, the long lazy delicious
hours We spent on the lake were
sclipsed only by the Joy which was
mine when she invited me to their
cottage for a week in late Sep
tsmber. I went with my mind
trained, or at least I thought il
was, to pay no attention to the
pIeadings of my heart. The crisp
evenings made a fire necessary, and
in front of the blazing log, with
Jean playing softly on the piano.
forgot my determination and
spoiled a wonderful week by tell
ing her that she might refuse me
but / would always be true to my
protestations of love for her.
still have a lock of her titan hair
somewhere in my possessions.
Margaret was the dependable
sort. practical, and domestic. II
was the summer after / had had
typhoid fever and was advised to
rest and loaf in the open air that
I met he. Her stability appealed
to me. She was naturally of a
motherly disposition. and her in
stincts found a wonderful oppor-
tunity to exercise themselves in my