The Washington herald., 1921-08-03
WHAT CAN A POOR GIRL DO.

WHAT thN t'OOH hihI DOs
One of the most pathetic things
in the world is the case of a young
girl who has no charm for men.
She has been born with all the
instincts of her sex, the craving
for admirs.ion. the longing for love
and marriage. She is just as anx-
ious for a good time. just as fond
OF dancing as any little fluffy ruff
fies around whom men swarm like
bees around a rose.
But no man ever looks at her
second time. She never has a man
whose attentions have not been
bought and paid for by her mothers
dinner and her fathers theater tick
cts and automobile. No man dances
with her unless driven to it by his
hostess. and then Ire one-steps with
the expression Of an early Chris
tian martyr on his way to the stake.
Whenever she is one of a crowd
she is miserably conscious that the
man who falls to her lot is cursing
his lack of luck in drawing her for
partner.
In the course OF year l get
innumerable letters from these for
lorn maidens. who all recite the
same story of their inability to at
tract men, and who ask why this
is thus, and in what does the
charm of the vamp consist, anyhow?
Alas. NOBODY knows. Only He
who created Eve out of mans rib
knows why il is that Adam falls
for one woman and is adamant be-
fore another. No man. himself. can
tell you just what 1t is in the girl
that makes him get up and follow
he rto the ends of the earth while
he beats it away from her sister as
fast as he can run. Before the
secret of woman's charm for man,
science throws up it's hands, help
less to analyze 1t, still more power
less to devise a substitute for II.
All that we know Is that some
women have it and others have II
not. And there you are.
1t is not a matter of beauty. for
we all know homely girls who have
had the pick OF the matrimonial
chances and made big matches. 1t
isn't question Of brains. for we
see silly lite flappers with men
seven deep around them. 1t isn't
clothes, for we observe many a Paris
1t Is not accomplishments, for we
watch the girls who dance like bal
lerinas and play tennis like profess
sionals who disport themselves with
no partners save other deserted
damsels. 1t isn't a question OF
money, for about the only thing
a rich and indulgent father can't
buy for his pampered daughter is
belledom.
So all that one can say to the
girl who seeks a magic formula for
conjuring men is that il you haven't
got the come-hither. look in your
eye, you haven't, and that is all
there is to II. 1t cannot be ac-
quired, and the wisest thing you
can do is to interest yourself in
something else than men.
It's folly for the girl whom men
don't run after, to run after them,
for women was not built for the
chase, and men can always out
sprint her. And, anyway, kissing
goes by favor, and you can't argue
with the high gods that made some
lips desirable. and others repel-
lent. II is fate. ID. .s ~. !.
This may sound like cold COM
fort, but it is comfort, neverthe-
less, for, after all. a woman
achieves the peace that passes all
understanding when she finally gives
up the attempt to be alluring, and
to catch a husband, and gets to TIE
place where men are only acciden-
tai to her happiness instead of con-
stituting the whole show.
OF course, il takes a lot of grit
and courage for n girl to admit to