When a Woman Fancies

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 4, Issue 10, 1 April 1926, Page 66

When a Woman Fancies

Yes, it’s a rotten car,” said my friend apologetically. “You see, my wife bought it. She fancied it.” The emphasis of those last three words told the whole story —his annhyance, his despair, his martyrdom. A husband’s continual fear is that his wife without warning will buy “something she fancies,” regardless of its practical worth. To tell her that he could have bought the thing “twice as good at half the price” merely amuses her. For a woman realises the sheer ecstasy of obeying Fancy’s impulse. This delight, in her eyes, compensates for any material loss or disadvantage that may be necessary. Her husband’s solemn, almost painful, inspection of catalogues to find the best and cheapest lawn-mower is exasperating to her. If the money must be spent, she argues, why not enjoy spending it? This illustrates a marked difference between the sexes. To a man. the value of possession is what

matters most; but to a woman, the joy of selecting is the supreme attraction. Her zest for Fancy makes a woman in many ways more “sporting” than a man. On the little excitement of “fancying” a jockey’s colours she will hack a horse regardless of form or of betting odds. Her ideas of finding the winner may be unmethodical, impulsive and reckless; but the point is that they make her far happier than is the sporting gentleman who religiously studies the whole history of the Turf before he lays out a penny. Moreover, it is a mistake to confuse a woman’s fancifulness with her fickleness. For a woman is always very loyal to her “fancies.” Over these “small things,” as she calls them, she feels that her whims have every right to be indulged. Whatever may he the results, and whatever her head may afterwards tell her, she retains all faith in the choice of her heart.