The Washington herald., 1920-12-24
Dorothy Dn's Advice
tcopyrisAt. isa0' BY ne wheeler sy'die'ts'


IND who can live on air. that is q
mans mental picture OF the woman
he didn't marry and that is the
deadly rival with whom he Is ai-
Why's comparing his wife In his
thoughts. stg tYft Y q
or course he knows that no such
person exists, but all the same. she
Is "a kind of consolation to turn to
when the real wife calls him T.
book. and grows hard to live with.
The man a woman didn't marry
is the perfect lover. He would have
wooed and won her in romantic sit-
uations, and talked sentiment tc her
in poetic language, and popped the
question to her in a frenzied out
burst of passion which thrilled her
to remember to the last day OF her
life. He would never have said,
Gee, Mary, but i am strong for
you. What do you say to our g st.
ting tied up in double harness?" a.
did the man she married.
And the man she didn't marry
would never have wearied of talk
ing sentiment to her. He wcGld
have continued to kiss her for forty
years with an ardor that never abat-
ed. He would have told her that
she grew more beautiful year by
year, and he would have sung pae-
ans of praise in honor OF her house
keeping.
He would never have had to be
reminded to come back and give
her a bacon-and-eggs peck on the
cheek when he started to work In
the morning. He. would never
have reminded her that she was
taking on weight, and growing old.
He would never. never have demand
ed to know wfg she couldn't learn
to make pie like mothers. as does
the unappreciative man to whom
she Is married
The man she didn't marry would
have known that she was All Soul;
that she was somehow different
from other women, and that the
reason she never could keep the
butchers bill within reason, or have
meals on time was because she was
a genius who had thrown away a
great career by making the mis-
take of getting married instead of
elevating the stage or writing q
masterpiece. And he would have
understood that when she got angry
and was ashamed of it afterwards
that 1t wasn't really temper, but
just because she was temperamental
and finely strung, and he would
have sympathized with her instead
of telling her not to act like fool.
as does the man to whom she is
married.
And the man she didn't marry
would have been able to make
money with one hand and romantic
love with the other, so to speak.
In real life a woman generally has
to choose between the man who
can give her a Limousine and the
one who can entertain her. but the
man a woman didn't marry isn't
tied down to an office. He can take
his wife to afternoon teas. and play
golf with her of mornings and he
is equally srong on poetry and the
stock market.
A woman knows that, in reality,
there isn't any man like the one
she didn't marry but she gets a lot
of fun in thinking about him and
dreaming about what might have
beens and then she comes down to
earth and is quite satisfied with her
own matrimonial bargain. who is
cut off of the same piece of imper-
feet humanity that she Is.
1t is this vision of the romance
they have never had that makes
men and women fall in love with
the stars of the screens. And II is
perfectly harmless and safe way
of blowing on sentimental steam.