Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-15
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
THE LOVE GAME
BY DOROTHY DIX
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, Inc.

nOpOllZ0S nor society WITHOUT ever
her to marry him. But what about thd
girl who plays with the heart of an honesI
man who is in love with her, who lets him
fetch and carry for her, who encourages
him to spend his money on her, and Wild
keeps him dangling on, year after year.
while she waits for a better chance I'd
come along?"
She also is a cad, but the feminine cheaI
in the game of hearts is never quite sd
despicable the male, because the cardi
are all stacked against her, and that makei
some small excuse for her taking whal
advantage she can.
No man can realize how terribly the mat
rimonial odds are against woman, bel
cause convention does not permit her t@
frankly seek her mate. She can't go ouI
in the open, and pick out a man she likes
and ask him to be her husand. She's goI
to do the thing stealthily, and by hook OF
crook, and often by resorting to tactics tina
are repugnant to her, and this has madN
her feel that anything is fair in love-, and
the war of the sexes.
Now one of the things that nearly al
women know is that men are like sheep5
they follow the leader about womanH
They admire the women that other mel
admire. They go to see the girl that othe|
men go to see. They want to marry tn
girl that other men want to marry. Tha'
is the reason a girl is either belle or
wall flower, for to her that hath beau
other beaux shall be added even NOR
abundantly, and for her that hath MOI
shall be taken away even the one solitar'
one that she hath. 1t is this prediction
of men for worshipping in crowd thai
| makes women bind every man they cal
to them, in order to have a come-on fol
the man they really want. And sometime
it inflicts a cruel fate on the bell Wethe1
am not urging this as justification fo'
girl playing with an honest heart, buS
after all, self-preservation is the first lay
of nature.
Certainly woman is selfish to the core
and has a lump of ice in her bosom in
stead of a heart, when she turns man
devotion into press agency for herself, an
capitalizes his love for revenue.
Yet we have all seen that kind of thin
done scores Of times. We have seen
splendid man break his alabaster box a
the feet of some greedy and grasping gin
who had not soul enough even to SAVIOR TIL
incense that was offered her. Still les
did she have conscience enough and SYM
pathy enough to stop his sacrifice of th7
best he had to give.
She had no intention Of marrying TIL
man, yet she, let him waste on her all TIL
treasure of his youth, and romance, all q
his power to love purely and passionatelI
and deeply, and woman because 1t fla1
tered her vanity to be so adored, and Il
have one more in her string of admirers.
Also he could be reckoned as a gilt
edged asset in the way of presents, AMI
theater tickets, and rides, and as an even
present help in times Of trouble about get
ting to and from places, when no othe|
cavalier was available. And for this small
gain, innumerable women have robbed mel
of their peace and happiness, and thel
faith in the whole feminine sex.
OF course, the woman may say that shI
told the man that she didn't love him an.
/ wouldn't marry him, but while her LIN
said mo-" her eyes said eyes," and shI
framed her refusal in such way that hop
still lived on, and in this way she kept TN
man hanging on, spending his time AM
money upon her, and wasting the treasurI
of his affection upon her until she wal
ready to marry someone else.
There is more despicable thing, nj
crueller thing, than for men and womeI
to play with the hearts of those who low
them, yet in common fairness to thes|
philanderers we must admit that sometime
the harm they do is unintentional
Love is thing over which we have nj
control We cannot make ourselves low
any more than we can make ourselveE
cease from loving. Nor can we heat up
Iukewarm affection into a burning, sizzlin
passion. And this is equally true of mel
and women.
We change, God knows how and why
but suddenly we realize that footsteH
that thrilled us thrills us no more, tha|
the little ways of an individual allure u
no more, that we are bored to tears at tn
presence of one of whose society we haV
thought we could never weary.
We have fallen out of love as 1nexH
plicably as we fell in love, and we know
not why in either case. The man or WomS
an we loved has not been changed. 1t u
we who have changed and we can no morf
go back to that other self that loved, anS
admired, and was satisfied, than we caH
go back into the crandle again.
A false sense of honor, and m1sgu1des
pity and tenderness, have made thousand
of men and women go on and marry tn
women and men that they have outgroWIT
and ceased to love, because they felt thaE
in such cases the fault was theirs, and thaH
they should be the sacrifice. So men, Wit
death in their hearts, come back and leaq
to the altar the girls they got engaged II
before they went forth to seek their forG
tunes in the wide world, and women max
bleak marriages with the patient sutton
who have been counting them for year.
and years, and whom they nave not III
courage to refuse at last.
Never was there a more mistaken 1deaH
of beauty Never a crueller kindness. NJ
human being can do another greateH
wrong than to marry him or her for pity
1t is only in fiction that Sentimental
Tommy can camouflage his feelings, anq
hide his WEAKNESS we'll enough to deceive
the wife or husband of his or her bosom
into thinking that skinned milk aftect1o4
is the cream of devotion.
Sc a man or woman is justified in ren1gH
ing in the love game whenever they hn9
out they have ceased to hold trumps. 1t II
better to be called gutter than to 81
an unloving husband or wife. But 1ti
a great game; this game of hearts, II you
don't weaken. l
Copyright, 1921, by the Wheeler syndicate4
OUIPS AND QUIDDITIES
"Ah," said Tomkins to the ardent fisherman