Musical accompaniment: In the Chapel by (the criminally underrated) Ann Cole
I came across this 1919 cartoon by Charles Dana Gibson, the inventor of the famous Gibson girl! It’s called The Girl Who Didn’t Wait.
The young woman on the right is walking away with her elderly husband, while her boyfriend, recently returned from World War One, is devastated to see her. He’s dropped his cane and is being escorted away by a friend.
The cartoon reminds me of a six-word story I once read: “Found true love. Married someone else.”
LOC.gov
Six-word stories are exactly what you’d think. Tell a whole story in six words. Has anyone ever tried writing one? Back in the 1920s, a lot of authors were competing with each other to write the best six-word story. Ernest Hemingway won. Here was his story: “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”
The Girl Who Didn’t Wait is a pretty powerful five-word story! It’s been a long time since we talked about Mr. Charles Dana Gibson. The last post about him was in 2014!
old spirituals 
I wonder… what did “not waiting” and engaging the elderly mans (lineage) actually result in? Not to say that one way would have been better than the other. Just that either way they lost and gained… something. Given the ‘wounded soldier’ was first in line, so to speak. Did they loose some sense of credibility, innocence or dignity? What did they gain from the elderly man but a lavish lifestyle in the current life? What did the elderly man gain from them, but the lavish lifestyle the women provided in the moment? Is it about contentment, the power of the desire for satisfaction of lust for living abundantly or a missed opportunity for the woman and Soldier. Or did the women dodge a bullet and the elderly wise man, avoiding the draft and profiting from the war economy, gain the life the Soldier was fighting for.
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This is such a great response! I looked at it completely differently… probably the more predictable way. The soldier and the girl were in love and he went away to war. She didn’t know if he was ever coming back and had an opportunity to marry an elderly man with money… and she took it. He came back expecting to find her waiting for him only to find out she didn’t wait. I like your way of looking at it. In my opinion, it would be fair to say the soldier lost his innocence and the girl lost something too. I’m not sure she sacrificed her dignity and credibility, but she traded away the love she had for financial ease.
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As to older fellow, I appreciate your response there too or at least an alternative vision. My thought was he’s an older guy making a lot of money off the war and he picked up a trophy wife. His feelings weren’t involved. Your (potential) interpretation is more generous.
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I can’t like the woman but you make me see both men in a new light
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I see the cartoon’s depiction not as young versus old. I would title it: Age does not matter, money DOES!
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That’s true for a lot of people!
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Your title is as true today as it was then. It seems your title is “ageless.” 🙂
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Perhaps I should write a companion post: the Foolish Romantics!
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