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Show Dorothy Dix Talks I TO PROPOSE OR NOT TO PROPOSE ; jj D.0KUTH J 1 X , the World s 1 1 s tj'j , jSSSlZL I j A young man Is very much In love with a girl, but he is poor and in no position tO in'arry. It may he years before he is able to undertake the support of a family, and be Is torn in th.- conflict between his heart and: his head. He feels that It Is not ciulte fair to bind the girl to him by a long engagement, en-gagement, and yet he also feels that It is right to let her know that his hear! is hers, and thai he has not been Just philandering with her, so he asks shall he pop the (juestlon or not. I yay, yes. It is a question that the girl has a right to decide, and how-ex how-ex er she does iv it will always be another an-other bead of her rasari of happiness IO know that the man cared for her. to have loved and lost than never to have been loved at all. Many a man who thinks It dishonorable dis-honorable I,, bind .i woman lie loves to his uncertain fortune dooms her. to a far worse fate than poverty. She does uol understand his silence, nor guess why he loved and rode away without speaking, and so she grows into a bitter, hard old maid who rails at the faithlessness of man becausi Shi believe that ihe one man to whom ' she gave the priceless Jewel of her maiden heart trifled with it and flouted flout-ed it. W omen are not pikers In love, nor ; are they a afraid Ol ha rdshlps.as men lm ixme them to be. So If they would prefer to risk their all n the xreat adventure rather thanfpend their days safe ahd dull and knowing never a thrill of lnvi Of danger certalnl ' no' man has the right to deny them the privilege of making the choice, I and deciding the question for them- selves. i agree with the young man In drinking that n long engagement Is I one of the most unsatisfactory phases of til the relationships between men and wotttcu lr l neither the oil) tnin nor the o'.her. it hns neither the freedom of the celibate, nor the Security of the married, it i neither , fish, nor flesh, tu-r good red herring It wears out romance 'as not even man lag- does be. Llus- It is full of the Jealousies and bickerings of Those v ho belong1, and y et do not belong to h other, ;i,i the couples who eventually marry, after they have waited years for each other, almost always find win n they come to drink I their cup of raptun .,t being together at last, that H has gone stale and flat 1 at having stood too lone It is like last night':', champagne served up for breakfast. The long engagement is even more disastrous When a couple are parted land live lis different places. Then U Is Inevitable that they should jfrow apart because 'nvtronment develops , ihem along different lines, or one df- veiops and ihe other stands still. , There are no more profound tragedies trage-dies than those that are the result of A long engagement between ulils I - who are starling In away IH from the siitnll town, ijl to the.tr fortunes. il If the boy does succeed, the J girl youth out In hopeless H and lets her chances tor set- H for life go by her H the nine times out rjl ) n he outgrows the girl and only OiLLLLLI of honor sends him back' to il the he had given her. l He developed J the big life has H him. He has become ac- BH to women women H who speak a, d'fferent language, and H different viewpoint from his H sw eetheart. there has been I; H to c hange her. ' ISSSSSSSSSSSSSI And aad as the fate of a man I longer from a sense of duty. not so horrible as that of th" BBSSSSSSSSSSsfl wife who knows only hold on Is his pity for her. In- married her H have the courage H telling her that he no longer loved But these tragedies of the long n- H gagement no longer necessary H Formerly, when a couple had not en- B OUgh on which to marry, all H that thev eould do was f,,r d-,,. woman io and while the man worked, and thread- H and thrills wore themselves our. H Now when any able-bodied, lntelli- H gent girl can go put and get a Job H and good living for herself, no why any young con- ide should not take their courage H their two hands' and unite their earn- ing capacity their hearts. Thus they may take love at flood tide' instead of waiting for 11 H Thus they give tTVe glory M the Joy of companionship In their Thus they may grow togeth- H together, became one, in- H steal of being two crotchety individu. als. with that they have and fostered during years of ppppB And no husband and wife are vi H close to each other as those who haV4 stood sho tlder to shoulder and fought IH the wolf f away rom the door, who have H "a veil, and planned, ami hoped, and H dreamed together in the years in M w h i I ) Hi. were (rrttinsr rf :rr' H Love, and courage, and the high H Of youth' These are the H things in life. They are worth risk- ing a l"t for. and they surely make H an adequate substitute for the gsw-gaws, gsw-gaws, the swell wedding, and the peri- od furniture which many young couples think It necessary to begin 'heir married H Anyway. in these davs trying to decide whether he has a H right to pop the question or not, H should remember that the modern H girl la not the helpless doll her grand- H mother was. She's capable of belm; bbbbbbbbsbbI helpmeet, and she has the senti- pH i mental suffrage as well as the po- H and the right to a vote on her |