Many years ago, I heard a woman say “If my husband stops looking at women, I will know he has died.” Not all women are so charitable toward their mates. Carl Sandburg was an observer of women from a young age.

In his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, he describes quite a number of girls and women whom he knew while growing up in Galesburg. In the eighth grade he kept his head behind his geography book. He enjoyed taking peeks at Ann and Blanche Colville. They were daughters of Robert Colville, Master Mechanic in the CB&Q yard. Ann had bright red hair and freckles. Blanche had black hair and eyes with pale white skin. Mayor Forrest F. Cook's daughter, Bessie, was a brunette in the same class. Sandburg remembered that she had been elected queen of something or other and had ridden on a float in a parade a few years later.

While delivering milk near St. Patrick's Church in the southwest part of Galesburg, Sandburg remembered meeting Theresa Anawalt. She was walking to her job on Main Street. They crossed paths about eight o'clock in the morning dozens of times but never spoke a greeting. He admired her beautiful but sad face. He never forgot it. In writing about her in his autobiography, he wanted to leave a record that he remembered her sixty years later.

Miss Nellie Stowell taught the teenage boys' Sunday School class at the City Mission. The boys joined the class just to look at her face with those long eyelashes. She was very prim and religious. She didn't allow any slang words in her class. The boys tried to be on their best behavior for her sake.

When the Monarch Club held its monthly dances, all the girls were dressed in their prettiest clothes. The boys conducted themselves as gentlemen and treated the girls in a chivalrous manner. The boys enjoyed dancing very much. Being able to hold a girl in one's arms while dancing was especially appreciated.

More than one couple sought a place where they could be together without being seen. The turntable of the Narrow Gauge Railroad was dark at night, but there was privacy under the beams. Sometimes there was gossip about who was doing what under the turntable and the parents stepped in to end any relationships.

There were other kinds of females in Galesburg too. Stella Garrity and Isa Magee were businesswomen. They operated brothels. Stella's business was located on Berrien Street, not far from the Sandburg home.

Isa Magee was a show-off. She dressed in a low-cut gown and a wide-brimmed hat on Sunday afternoons. Then, she would ride around town in a surrey with the fringe on the top. She would wave a silk handkerchief to people she knew (at least the men who were willing to acknowledge her wave).

Later in life Sandburg met Marilyn Monroe. He was able to spend an afternoon dancing and exercising with her. What man wouldn't appreciate that opportunity?

Carl Sandburg was thirty years old when he married. It seems to have been love at first sight when he met Lilian Anna Maria Elizabeth Steichen. At the marriage ceremony they promised to love and honor each other, but not to obey. It was a sign to the rest of the world that they were united.