The Washington times., 1936-08-17
Adored Her
Faithful
Employer
Rv BEATRICE FAIRFAX

Famous Authority on PTO0Len1S OF
LoUe and Marriage
"of all sad words of tongue
or pen, the saddest are, It
might have been Infinitely
harder still, it is when empty
promises and meaningless
avowals of love consume the
best years of a girls life, from
the unstinting eagerness of her
girlhood to the unrequited,
shattered promise of maturity,
What strange moral code was
this that permitted an employer
to accept the undivided love of
his secretary, giving nothing in
return but vacant phrases? In
today's letter, from the abiding
melancholia of her Illustration,
comes a plaintive cry, ending in
a note of bitter irony, that fully
epitomizes the position in which
this girl now finds herself. Read
for yourself
Dear Miss Fairfax:
The problem of the office wife
versus the home wife, discussed in
your column, is of vital interest
to me. Quoting Hamlet, To be
or not to be- perfectly exempli-
fieS my position. 1 have never
been the preferred woman, either
at home or in the office. For,
even though I've loved the man
1 work for, paSsionately, devotedly.
SelfleSsly, during all my youth and
even now that middle age is ap.
preaching, he has never really
been mine.
HAD A "CODE-
II was 10 when I went into the
office. At that time he was one
of the assistant managers. We
we're attracted to each other, as is
only natural for young people who
are thrown together every day.
Sometimes - rather often, in
fact-we went out to dinner, but
always to some cutoff place,
as he didn't want to be seen with
me. The reason for this was
made plain enough when, later,
his engagement to the daughter
Of the firms president was an
nOunced.
MY lover, if I may call him
that, had his code. It was that
an honorable man should not pos
i'm ri
So he made love to me-paSSion-
ately, madly-burned me with his
kisses, and then left me with
good night, sweetheart So much
for his code! I sometimes think
it would have been better if he
had no code.
Three evenings before he was
married. we had our last dinner
together. He told me he loved
me. and would never love anyone
else in the same way. was fool
ish enough to believe that.
yet three days later, 1 sat with
other employees of the firm and
saw him walk down the aisle with
the lovely vision in white tulle,
satin and orange blossoms - the
woman he had sworn to love,
honor and cherish.
THEN. PRESIDENT
He looked at me as he passed
by the pew where I sat-a look
that might be translated any way
a girl in my position would choose
| to take it. There were no more
dinners together after his mar
riage, but sometimes he kissed me
in the old way when I went to his
office.
Some years later, his wife's
father died, and as her family
held the majority stock of the
firm, my honorable lover be-
came president.
although I've never had even
a passing fancy for any other
man, now he is alleged to be in
love with a young girl in the Of
flee. 1 wonder if he still holds
to his code. I wonder sometimes.
now that I am no longer in my
first youth, what my life would
have been if I hadn't gone into
that office and met my fate.
Would I have had my own home.
being perhaps the joyful mother
of children?
What becomes of love poured
out as unstintingly as mine? Is
the world any better for it? His
wife has sent me flowers when I
was ill., he gives me a little big
ger check at Christmas than he
gives the other employees. and
oh, the irony of It'll take his
children to the dentist on Sat
| Irdav half ho1idavS"