Evening star., 1943-12-13
Dorothy
DixSays

For nearly half a century this
column has been the Wailing Wall
to which the lovelorn have come to
weep over their heart troubles. But,
common as are blighted affections,
tickle lovers, and misfit' marriages, 1t
has taken this war to bring about
a sentimental situation that is pro-
ducing almost as many tragedies as
the war itself. And perhaps bitterer
ones, for it is not so hard to lose
one we love by death as it is by
faithlessness. And the irony Of 1t
all is that these crimes are not COM
mitted Intentionally. They are just
the result of Nature working out to
its ineXorable ends.
Thousands of youngsters have
married just because everybody else
is doing it. Thousands of girls have
married because they were afraid
of being old maids and because they
felt left out of things when all the
other girls have husbands and they
have none. Thousands of other girls
have married to have SWanky war
weddings, with bridal cakes that
they could cut with sword. Thou
sands of other girls married because
they were homeSick at leaving every
one they knew, and wanted to feel
that they had some one who be-
longed to them who would be watch
ing and waiting for them to come
home
And so they got engaged. or they
we're married, and the boys went
off to the war. And for a little
while the engaged girl and the bride
have been content to sit at home Of
evenings with mama and papa and
knit sweaters and write letters to
the absent ones. But after a bit
this begins to pail on girls who are
used to having dates and they begin
stepping out and going places.
They intend no disloyalty to their
fiances and husbands, but in thou
sands of cases the inevitable has
happened. Absence and separation
has wiped out the last vestige Of
feeling they had for the boys to
whom they became betrothed or
married and they fall desperately
In love with men to whom they
can give the kind of love that lasts.
And thousands of boys have had
this same experience. They have
grown up in the army. They are
men now who have seen the world
and the different types OF women
who are in it, and it makes them
tired even to think of the girls back
home with whom they thought they
were in love. Worse still, sometimes
they have found the girls who could
be their real mates.
Now neither the girls back home
or the boys at the front want to
hurt those who trust them. They
don't deliberately fall in love with
some one else. 1t just happens
And what troubles them is what to
do about the situation. Shall they
go on and marry those for whom
they have lost their affection and
spend their lives paying for mis-
take Of their youth? Or shall they
honestly and frankly confess that
their unruly hearts have found new
shrines at which to worship?
And, If they do, shall they tell
the bad news at once, or go on
keeping up a pretense of affection
they no longer feel for the duration?
Every mail brings me scores of let
tiers telling of some war romance
that has failed and asking these
questions, and they are written by
youngsters who want to do what is
right and who do not know that
often we have to be cruel to be kind
But doesn't it look as if the wa,
has brought us enough grief and
anxiety without adding love troubles
IA L.