The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-01-06
Cupid ON Crutch es.

Cupid ON Clutches.
We protest with some feeling of indigpa-
ton against the priggism which prompts
fatuous wit whenever an elderly dmoroso
thinks proper. to unite himself in wedlock
with lady still basking on the sunny side
Of fifty What right has any scribbler
to belittle the conquests and assail the
motives of the glorious little god of Love,
because he aims his arrows at the hearts Of
a venerable octogenarian and mature
beauty, who has already chronicled on her
tablets the conquests and triumphs of nearly
five decades? On what psychological prin-
ciple can we contend that the soul of man,
after he has reached the highly respectable
age of four score years, becomes sort of non
infammable concrete, dead to all new inn
pressions and impervious to Cupid's darts
What maintainable ground have we for the
belief that ripe and experienced beauty,
within two years of kissing her first half
century, cannot possibly kindle with a
genuine love for dear old boy of eighty.
three?
We do not intend to exhaust history in
producing examples of happy marriages in
which the bridegrooms gray hairs have
formed pleasant foil for the golden locks
of the youthful bride. We do not care to
show Nw frequently long lines Of heirs
have sprung up, the eldest of whom has
first opened his eyes in this world on an
anxious father Of seventy and happy,
painting mother of seventeen. We shall not
even quote the we'll known and we'll worn
proverbs relating to such marriages, one of
which tells us that it is better to be an old
mans darling than a young mans slave,
and another Of which has something to say
about winter lingering in the lap of spring.
All we desire to contend for is that an
elderly gentleman and a mature widow have
jus. as much right to fall in love as lad Of
twenty-five and schoolgirl OF seven
teen. Just as much right indeed? We
may properly say much better right. What
are young mans necessities for wife
as compared with those of on old man? A
young man can jump into his slippers,
fasten his collar and suspenders behind as
chores for himself without assistance An
old man needs helpmate, and loves wife
for the aid she gives him as well as for her
beauty, gentleness and grace. So far as the
female is concern ed, woman is fond and
loving by nature, and her heart is certain
to go out toward those who are in measure
dependent upon her. When the fame that
attracts and consumes her is kindled by O
sutton of between eighty and ninety sum-
mers it may burn all the more steadily
from the knowledge that it is fed by tot
tering form which may need the firm hand
of a true woman to guide it through the path
of life in the future. If in union be.
tween eighty-three and forty-eight some
little attention is paid to pccuniary matters
it is only the result of a prudence taught by
experience. The we'll known fact that when
poverty comes in at the door love flies out of
the window is seldom remembered by giddy
young couples, who rush into wedlock with
out knowing whether their love is genuine
or fictitious. 1t is not likely to be overlooked
or forgotten by a bridegroom who came into
the world when Robespierre was in his glory
or by bride to whom for score of wears
housekeeping has been no new experiment.
But because the chink of gold keeps pleas
ant tune with the marriage bells it does not
follow that it must necessarily blunt the
edge of Cupid's arrows The winged mes
sengers of love fly straight, and we protest
against the impudent assumption that they
are powerless to reach the experienced heart
of widowed forty-eight when shot by the
amorous eyes of four score and three.