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Show jj Dorothy Dix Talks j l'l ij THE HIGH COST OF LOVING j By DOROTHY DIX, the World's Highest Paid Woman Writer II "The reason that girls have to flock j bo much by their two-somes nowadays, J and why there 19 such a decline and j fall-off in marriage, as that old gink ,vj In Dicken's story used to say, j6 not so j much because of the high cost of liv-I liv-I log, as because of the ...gh cost of lov-'l lov-'l jng," quoth a young man tho other day. j "The girls have become profiteers in courtship, and they have mado it so a expensive that visit a young woman t has become a luxury of the rich. The I ordinary chap Can't afford to know . girls, and if he does not know girls, s low can he fall in love and get mar-,j mar-,j rlcd? I'll ask the world that. . Selected li Class Girl :i "Take my case, for example. Not long ago. I met a very charming young n person, who certainly did make a hit ' with me as soon as 1 gave her the once '.j dver. She looked simple, and elegant, nnd refined, and comparatively litex-) litex-) pensive, so to speak. I mado a few ', iuquiries and found out that her father was a salaried ban, and hot a high sal-v sal-v aried one, at that, and that they lived in a walk-up flat, so I thought that ;, here was a girl in my own class, and a that a fellow who had his own way to wake In the world and was trying to f eavo up a little 'money to start on, ;ji could possibly afford to run -Vith her. 4 "So I blew myself for a couple ot l' two dollar and a half theatro seats, ', and tucked a V spot in my change pocket for a bite after the play, and phoned the girl and asked her if she 1 would go to tne show with me. ' "She Said that She would, and then 5 she cooed over the wires 'What sort ; of flowers ure you going to send me? I thought I would ask you because I'm KOing to wear a grey frock, and violets ! ha.rmonizo so beautifully with grey.' "Far had it been from my thoughts ) to send any flowers at all, but I braced myself for the hold-up, and replied sweetly: 'Violets it shall be,' but in- l wardiy I thought, 'Darn it. There go tho cats, but If she hod rather gorge herself on violets than Lobster New-berg, New-berg, lot he go to it.' "Well, the auspicious night arrived, and I showed up at my Jano's house, and I'll say that she certainly did look a pippin when she came fluttering down all in grey and with my five dollar dol-lar bunch of violets pinned on whore-they whore-they would do the most good. I woo about to forgivo her for her graft when She piped up: " 'is the taxi waiting?' " 'Not on your life,' I replied. I came up oil the good old reliable street car.' " 'There's a taxi stand just around the corner. The number is So-and-So. You can telephone for one while I am getting my scarr," she said as she drifted away, and gnashing my teeth bitterly I phoned for the taxi. "After the play she artlessly inquired, in-quired, 'Where are wo going for supper?' sup-per?' Let's go to the Robber's Itoosi, they have such wonderful food, and the finest jazz band in town, and the cabaret is simply wonderful. "We wenL 1 paid and paid, AND PAID. But why prolong the agony of the recital. By tho time I had seen the young lauy home I was out over $30 for a simple evening's entertainment. entertain-ment. As We parted, she said she had had a perfectly lovely time, and thai she hoped that she would see me again toon. Too Expensive An Evening "But never again for muh. If that dame ever beholds this cherished form agam it win be uirougn a long distance dis-tance telephone. 1 "Now, I am not saying that I am any great catch for any girl, or that she misses much in not getting me o." being deprived of the moderate priced pleasuros that I could give her. "But I do say that I am a typo of tho average young man who would lllce to know girls, and go about Willi them, and show them attentions, but who is dobnrretl from It by ihe exlrnvagaiu stnndnrds glrlB have set up, and tho amount of money they force a man to rnend when he takes them out. Why Glrlo Have Few Beaux "That's -why girls "nave so few beaux. They have mado the price prohibitive. They've killed tho gander that laid tho golden ofcg. "Of course 1 don't understand the femlnlno psychology, but will you teil me why it Is that a girl who rides on the stroot car every day of her llfo line to be conveyed about In a taxicab by finy young man who is rasli enough to aslc hor to go anywhere with him? It Isn't becauuo of her evening drons, because be-cause Bhe puts a cloak over that, nnd beats it to the subway when she lias to pay her own way, as you can see any night of your life. "And why Is it that a girl can't eat enough at home to sustain her until fhe gets back to her own ice box, If you take her out anywhere you've got to feed her? And vhy does she nl-ways nl-ways order tho most expensive dishes on "a Ibll of faro? It isn't because she Ktppo5.es that you are young Mr. Van-derbilt, Van-derbilt, masquerading as Tom Jones for a lark, for she is wlso to your ai-ary, ai-ary, and perfectly aware tuht when she sticks you for a ten or fifteen dollar supper It sends you to tho dairy lunch Jor the next month. Should Have Better Sense "Haven't the girls enough senso to know that while a man will let them play him for an easy mark once, that it's never again with him? There Is r.nmelhlng about being flira flammed thnt makes any fellow with a spark of spirit in him mad clean through and I'urough. "Besides It's a desecration of all of jour Ideas of womanhood. There's something peculiarly repulsive In the sight of a sweet, innocent, child-like little girl trying to gouge the last cent she can get out of a man, and taking advantage of the situation and her sex, and his gallantry to hold him up and rob him. That kind of a selfish, greedy, avaricious Woman Is not the sort of a wife any man wants. "It's tho grafting girl who keeps men out of matrimony. Take it from mo, a wise dame waits until after a man is legally tied to hor and can't . get away before she goes after his pocket book." Dorothy Dix's articles appear regularly regu-larly in this pappr every Monday, Wednesday Wed-nesday and Friday. oo |