Life — March 30, 1922 — page 25: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

lives of several men of whom 1ave been lately reading have fascinated me; but among two stand out with such 1s and colorful gallantry that T: I 1 greatly them all, malicic they have almost completely engrossed my attention. Both were bigamists, and derived their chief happiness from this diverting amusement. One of them had married three wives, and was trail- ing a jourth when he was caught, poor chap—right in the midst of his jolly trailiny. The other had married ten, and was resting up a bit from his hard work when aroused from his celibate slumbers (so temporary!) to offer un- dignificd explanations to an unfeeling jury—s jury presumably wholly com- posed ordinary persons who were satisfied to live with one wife. Could anything be more unjust? How can a singly inarried man be expected to enter into the emotions of one whose capacity for loving is continuous and confined to no state or territory? * * * This leads me to reflect upon bigamy mM general, and upon the courage and, indeed, all of the diverse and delightful Walities required to pursue it. Who “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” On Being a Bigamist would not be a bigamist? Probably most of us are moral cowards. Con- sider the heroism of any man who doesn’t even care how many honey- moons he undertakes. - It seems strange that bigamists should be regarded with such disfavor by the majority. They undoubtedly marry a lot of people who would not be mar- ried in any other manner. They have to be somewhat hurried in their ar- rangements, and are probably not so particular. Thus they bring joy into lives that might never have a romance. If I were a successful bigamist and had married, well, say a round dozen of it would afford me the greatest satisfaction to think that I had given them all so much to look backward upon, Then again, one has really done nothing to prevent them—if they can— from being regularly married again. And their previous experience certainly ought to be a help. * * * Tt must be delightful to have the ability to attract women in such quan- tities and, at the same time, the self- control necessary to be able to drop” them at the proper moment and take on somebody else. What I like about the bigamist is that he goes straight to the heart of things. He reasons, quite rightly, that love is the greatest thing in the world, and that the trouble with the world is that there isn’t enough of it. And his view is so big and broad that our restricted minds fail to grasp it. Yet he treats love just as Nature would and does. He knows, instine- tively, that the individual doesn’t count. The main point is to get married as often as possible, to start a series of chain loves, to stir a lot of people up to love’s possibilities. He goes after ladies who have saved money, knowing that unless they are awakened to the thrill of romance they will keep on hoarding it, to the detriment of so- ciety in general. He thus stimulates trade, and helps the railroads. The fact is that we are all bigamists at heart, and are afraid to acknowledge it. T. LM; Personal Application “Is poker a matter of luck, or does science enter into it?” “It’s science if you win; luck if you lose.” comicbooks.com