Lunchtime read: Short Stories by Dreiser

A footnote explains that this story was originally published in Cosmopolitan in 1918. My wife had a few years working in the art department in Cosmopolitan and the idea that they might print a story like this is some what removed from the sort of sex positions content the modern magazine handles.

The Second Choice

* A woman who has been taken in by a smooth talking confident man, Arthur, breaks off her engagement with a steady character and dreams of living with Mr Exciting rather than Mr Steady

* However Mr Exciting is just having some fun with her before he moves on and by the time he does she is left with nobody and after a while heads back to her Mr Steady and reignites the relationship

* She consoles herself thinking that she aimed too high and that she will after all have to replicate the life of her parents and churn out some kids and eek out an existence accepting that while she is choosing her second choice she was Arthur’s

* You can imagine the readers of Cosmo lapping this up because of the way the story focuses on the woman and the decisions she makes about her love life. But it is worth a wider readership because it is also making a comment about the way that a little bit of confidence can make a huge difference

More tomorrow…