The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-04-17

Saturday Review.
It's often quite impossible for the most
intimate friend and closest observer TO
specify all the influences which have COM
bined 70 bring about this state Of mind in
any given instance. Yet this does not
hinder US from supposing that the pro-
cess Is always at bottom q perfectly natu-
raj one. One circumstance Of the case
which seems 10 be commonly overlooked
Is the special predisposition 10 the ANA
tory sentiment which shows Itself in Ger.
tain stages Of development and in certain
transient moods. It Is not too much TO
say, perhaps, that most people fall in love
At 4 given time because Of special condi-
tons OF the moment. II A had not pre-.
sented himself or herself as an object for
the impulse, B or @ would probably have
Sufieed. This way Of looking at the mat.
ter will no doubt appear shocking to the
romantic mind, yet the idea SEEM TO have
4 firm substratum Of fact
II would be interesting TO know what
part the process Of falling in love Is des.
tined to play In the future history Of
mankind. A review Of the past develop
ment Of the custom, from primitive times
10 our own enlightened age, suggests the
reflection that IL has tended TO become a
slower and more conscious operation. Il
Is not many people who now tumble aud.
denly and recklessly into this condition
Of mind. Culture seems to have the effect
Of Transforming the process Of falling into
one Of sliding. To refer again TO 4 some
what analogous mental experience, cul-
ture seems I make less frequent both
sudden forms OF falling in love and sud-
den conversions. And this change is
plainly due in = large measure TO 4 growth
Of yolitional force All falling In love is,
Of course, the direct effect OF an inyolun.
tary and emotional impulse; yet a mega
tive act Of will may perhaps be said to be
involved in the non-repression Of this
impulse. As people advance in intellect
and character, the ascendancy Of the will
increases, and the amAtory sentiment Is
only allowed to attach itself TO an object
very slowly and after the fullest critical
investigation. 1t Is not necessary 10
adopt the ultra.prosaic supposition that
sexual selection will ever become q purely
voluntary action. Il is commonly said
that more and more persona now marry
for definite objects, such Is wealth, social
position or domestic adornment; yet the
normal mode Of selection Is still held to
include the play OF an instructive emotion
as well. What the higher culture seems
to do, over and above strengthening the
controlling power Of will, is to make this
emotion more reflective and self conscious.
People learn 10 understand more clearly
their own feelings and tsstes, and to know
better beforehand what kind Of object Ia
likely to satisfy them. The emotional
impulse now shows itself as 4 conscious
wish TO possess an object Of certain def.
mite character. Still the actual concep.
ton OF 3 strong affection Is n process that
goes outside the will, though the will may
be said to approve OF it in a new sense
when its result l. recognized as agreeing
with apre.existing wish aud desire. We
hardly think, then, that there ia ground
for the cynical prediction that falling in
love is rapidly becoming an obsolete Gus.
tom. The experience will probably grow
much less violent aud catastrophe in Its
character by being brought into closer
relation to the intellectual and volitional
parts OF the mind. And the same in1u-
ence which bring about this effect will
no doubt tend TO tone down peoples rap
turous faith In the occult aud transcen-
dent nature of the process.