Askov American., 1943-10-14
Theory Proved
By BARBARA BENEDICT
Associated Newspapers.
WNU Release.


young men in Robinsdale. Not look
ing at them, she crossed the street,
appearing to be interested in a store
window, and almost collided with
the pair.
''Why, hello, Nell" she exclaimed
with nicely gauged establishment.
'How are you, darling!" Which took
Mel quite by surprise, because pre-
viously Edna Mae had always
passed him by with a smile and
nod and casual remark about the
weather. Then he saw her glance
at Ned Greer, and he understood.
Hello, Edna Mae" he said. "This
is Mr.. Greer. Ned Greer, song
writer. Ned, this is Edna Mae Rog-
ers."
Edna Mae beamed. "Why, how
do you do, Mr.. Greer. I've heard so
much about you"
Hello" said Ned. He didn't lift
his hat, or even look pleased.
But Ned Greer attracted her, cap
tivated her interest. She thought of
him practically all the rest of the
day and when that evening he called
her on the telephone and asked her
out to dinner, she accepted almost
too eagerly. Later she excused her
eagerneSs by telling herself he had
regretted the incident of the morn
ing and wanted to make amends.
Edna Mae dearly loved to listen to
men making amends.
But after Ned Greer arrived she
changed her mind. Entering the ele-
vator, she had to follow him, and
when he accidentally allowed the
door of the taxi to swing against her
shin, he didn't apologize or even
appear sorry. All of which increased
Edna Macs annoyance and stirred
inside of her resolve to teach this
impudent young man lesson.
She employed a dozen methods of
huniliating him, all of which failed.
Ned Greer ignored her direct
thrusts, wasn't at all bothered by
her own discourtesies, and contin-
ued on placidly in the manner which
had characterized him as different
at the start.
And so at last, in desperation,
Edna Mae decided to resort to the
age-old method. She would lead
him on, and, when eventually he
was hopelessly in the mire of un-
reasoning love, she would have her
revenge. And to this end she dedi-
Gated her energy and skill and daily
routine.
1t took time, much longer than
Edna Mae had anticipated. She was
used to having men propose to her
after half dozen meetings. But
with Ned Greer it was different. A
year passed and his interest seemed
to reach a peak of 70 degrees and
stay there. Edna Mae became pam
icky. She cast about for new de-
vices, was, in fact, on the verge Of
changing her campaign, when, Who'll
ly without warning, Ned Greer pro-
posed.
His exact words were: edna
Mae, you and I seem pretty well
suited to each other, seem to get
along - despite everything - and I
think it would be darn good idea
if we got married"
And so she agreed to marry Ned
Greer, and Ned kissed her and said,
'That's fine. I'll bet we'll be happy
together"
But Edna Mae was adamant in
her resolve, and so she married Ned
Greer. They went to live in a stu
dio apartment, which had a great
big, airy room with piano, where
Ned wrote his songs. He was al
ready pretty famous, and Edna Mae,
secretly, couldn't help feeling lit
tie proud of him.
Edna Mae was little puzzled
about it all. She couldn't under
stand her contentment and happi-
ness. She went around feeling an
noyed half the time because the de-
sire to leave Ned hadn't asserted
itself. She assured herself that the
reason for this was because she
hadn't achieved her resolve to teach
Ned a lesson.
Then one night Ned came home
looking very sad. "Poor Mel" he
said. 81 warned the big ape be-
fore he married Alma that his the
ory was all wrong. But he wouldn't
listen to me, and now Alma's gone
to Reno"
''Theory?" said Edna Mae.
whatever do you mean, theory?"
''Why," said Ned, "about how to
treat women and make love to them.
You see, Mel believes that when
you're courting woman you should
put her on pedestal, lead her to
believe she's somebody much more
important than she is. Well, that's
wrong, because it's too hard getting
her down off the pedestal after mar
riage. mean, after marriage a man
begins treating his wife like hui
man being; he skaters her illusions
about herself and about him and it
makes her miserable"
Edna Macs mouth opened in won
der. "You mean, that's the way
you felt about me?"
''Why sure. I've treated you Just
the same since we've been married
as I did before, haven't II"
Better" said Edna Mae.