Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-05-13


dry buildings, his glance aud touch
influence her ripened and craving
emotions.
She is capable OF feeling and Of in.
spring a great passion, and, unlike
either OF the types already described,
she attracts and IS attracted by men
strong in their emotions and Of no mean
mental endowments, men who have
| grown beyond their wives, and who
nave perhaps lived through years Of
brain solitude and heart hunger before
they met this girl.
We speak Of young woman OF
twenty-five or thirty as old enough To be
sensible and well behaved; but. In TACT,
| that is the very time OF life when It Is
most difficult for an unanchored woman
TO be prudent or reasonable. From
| fourteen TO seventeen healthy, vigorous
girl is In danger OF imprudence or folly
from ignorance Of her emotions. from
twenty FIVE to thirty she IS In danger
| from her knowledge Of them.
The blind aud cruel judgment of
! Christian communities on this subject
Is inconsistent with the spirit OF Christ,
or with the scientific enlightenment Of
the present day IN other matters.
| When hear Of girl in that period OF
life who has wrecked her future and
lost her good name through some great
act Of folly, ! am moved with the deep.
est pity and sorrow. She Is like the
ungathered deadripc fruit that bursts in
the sun and falls into the dust below.
II is all very well for you. with your
satisfied lives. TO sit in judgmcn, and
say: "But she should have spurncd the
frs, approach; she should have been in.
dignant at such thought, she should
have shown womaniy pride and
strength" II Is not so easy to call all
those qualities TO your aid when. with
youth slipping behind, with loneliness
before, with heart breaking for sympa
| thy, a brain on fire with feeling, and
veins bursting with unused vitality, you
encounter q beautiful and alluring temp
tation. II Is SO easy TO believe at such
q time that the world Is well lost for
love; that one hour OF possession will
be worth lifetime Of disgrace. But no
! more fallacious idea ever dlzzled the
eyes Of the soul. Time has yet to show
us the pair OF lawlcss lovers who, hav.
ing given up the world for loves sake,
did not resent II II the world took them
at their word Love Is the light from
Gods eyes; unless lie smiles approval
happiness or content.
The weak and tortured girl who
thinks she cannot endure life without
the companionship of man who Is not
free TO claim her before all the world
would find she could not be happy with
his companionship. One or both would
regret the step which debarred them
from the respect Of their kind, so dear
to the human heart.
Love OF appreciation is very strong in
most OF us, and II is well that 1t is so
believe more lives have been saved from
wreck ON the rocks Of passion through
love OF appreciation than through prin.
ciple. II may not be the best motive
for right'doing, hut It gives better mo.
tives an opportunity TO gain the ascen.
dancy later.
One would think the unhappily mar.
ried man ought to have strength enough |
to protect the overripe girl against her |
self; that his wider knowledge Of human |
emotions and temptations should fill |
him with pity for her. Blu, IL never does. |
Men have not been taught that self.con. |
troll Is necessary to them In these |
matters. The whole tendency of the |
world has been toward masculine free |
dom and seli.indulgence, and II Is not |
to be wondered at that he Is the tcmpter |
instead OF the protector.
But II does seem a wonder that he |
invariably blames the woman when he
falls. Such is the fact, however. and
many a passion-blinded girl. who has
believed that the world was well lost for
the love of married man, lives to hear
him recrimnate her for leading him
astray. II is the man who first and most
keenly feels the lash OF public blame.
Many a case has come under my obser
walton where the husband has returned
TO his wife who was never able TO make
him happy leaving the girl who was In
every wayendowed to be his companion,
so powerful factor In human happiness
was public respect.
II is well for the overripe girl to recall
such cases before she yields to the fascl.
mating Illusion held out to her by her
emotions and her lover. Nothing else
in all the range OF human experience is
so overpoweringly allufing as the attrac-
ton oil the sexes; and when the imagin.
alton and the senses are both on iire,
reason lends but little light.
But alas for those who live TO sit by
the ashes OF the burned.out senses,
among the ruins of imagination and
this Is an experience certain to follow an
unlicensed passion. The only hope Of
continued happiness In the relation of
man and woman is in the strengthening
and deepening Of the moral and spiritual
nature Of both; for physical attraction
atone is plant that rarely outllves the
season. How lrail, then, must be the
chances Of happiness for the two who |
violate moral laws TO seize the perishing
flower Of desirel Only those who have |
been tempted by its perfume and false |
splendor and lived TO wear the royal |
rose Of a worthy love, or those who, !
having plucked II only TO see is leaves |
wither and die, leaving the ugly thoms.
can realize how frail such hopes OF
happiness arel
ELLA WHRELER-WLcox.