The record-union., 1897-08-15
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
By Memo"


To young men in love (second article):
Admitting the truth of all l said to you
last week about the compelling force OF
love and it's molding influence, so
strange that purified thought has forced
out grossness, so transforming that mu-
sic is in your soul and poetry on your
tongue. so volcanic that the crust of
Selfishnesss thick over your heart is
rent asunder and a stream of thought
fulness for another guSheS forth; ad-
mitting this, / say, you must concede
another fact that exists in tvery Chris
tian civilization. Every young fellow,
no matter how Iowly or lofty, no mat
ter how badly or we'll brought up,
gains from his feeling of devotion to
one dear woman-choice of his heart
a glimpse at least of the real grandeur
of living and a ray at least of the sun
shine of life possible to all of us for
ever and ever through woman the
weak-strong complement of man. This
gift of better understanding of the re-
sponsibiity of existence comes to all
who truly love; with some it fingers
for aye with others it vanishes like the
dew on a summer morning. But to all
it comes. whittier treasured or disre-
garded.
Please now-for here my heartfelt
appeal to you whose steps are springy
with hope must begin-look around you
Look we'll at many of those who having
loved each other and truly, years ago
passed into marriage, state which in
your present feeling seems the one
thing above all others to be desired.
Study them closely. for mayhap you
are looking in a prophetic mirror! The
| youth of ten summers ago goes to his
daily duties now like a machine, and
like a mere machine he turns homeward
at night. Buoyancy has disappeared.
He plods much like a horse plods, with
no motion taken unless forced to it by
external necessity. Where he once
obeyed a gentle voice with alacrity,
glorying in sacrifice, leaping to her
| tasks Che was just as sincere as you
are), he is apt now to grumbIe at even
the harnessing of the horse for her to
drive. He approaches the maiden of
ten years ago more often with COM
plainings than with praise. AT even
tide he wraps himself up in silence, do
ing nothing to enliven the hours, or
away he goes to the society of the
! club or the grocery or the saloon or
| OIulndIN
ed by civilized feeling towards women
is forgotten when with his wife, and he
finds in marriage merely permission to
be rude to one woman without fear of
rebuke. The fragrance of love that
exists in tiny attentions like opening the
door. raising the hat and saving choice
portions for her at the table, has evap-
GRATED and left no trace behind. If oc-
| nc ciO hc &c
thinks backward along the way he has
Travelled, his puzzled heart will admit
with a groan that no matter how sweet
the uncertainties and hopes and dream
ings of cOurtship, marriage with its
knowledge and intimacy has scattered
all. Sunshine has been followed by
gloom; the rosy tints of the dawn Of
love by the unrelieved stretches of a
dun colored day.
SO lads, though you are likely to deny
such a thing and probably ready to ar
que with me most vigorously about it,
there is a possibility, not very remote,
if we may judge from others, that your
| hearts feelings will change and the
glorious oasis you are resting in (capa-
BILE of becoming a beauteous kingdom
under your care), will witness your
back turned on it's pleasures and your
face set towards a dreary, desert jour
ney, like the one you have Travelled be
fore you found your dear love. As fell
lows traversing but once the pathway
of life, let us talk with our hearts close
together.
To avoid the misery 7 depict, you
must keep alive in your heart its pres
ent conviction that perfect love con-
sists as much in communion with her
dear mind ard spirit as it does in Sc
| curing contact with her precious body.
I know yCu have felt this way, and
! ought to still, for you like to think as
she does; opinions and beliefs expressed
! by her tender lips and her bright eyes
have become for awhile more real
| touches of Divine wisdom than you
think you ever heard before. OF course
she is not the wisest mortal, but the
! effect on you is just as good as if she
were, for it draws you to her side and
you both rejoice in being together. If
| this feeling can be made to last, your
future will be one of beautiful growth
in wisdom and happiness.
| To avoid the misery I depict, bear in
| Llluu LndI uF6 IS SOOQ servant Dut n
| frightful master; that the added free
| dom of marriage will have a tendency
| to confuse your thought so that the
| minor function-a function whose graf
| ification has not hitherto been essential
| to your happy communion with hers
| in danger of becoming the major feat
| ure Of the united life. Instead of being
a subordinate enjoyment, merely add
ed that the mental and spiritual attach
ment may be more firmly welded, it
| will, like a cuckoo in the home nest,
grow and fight for the mastery of all
and will succeed unless you watch. The
| abuse of the physical duties and privi-
| leges will, like the scorching heat of a
desert, destroy the fragrance and deli
cacy of life. The dividing line between
| love and lust is easily crossed, and then,
| like paralyzed king in the lower floor
| of his three-storied palace, it Will be
hard to reach the higher stories of her
mind and spirit, in whose beauties you
once gloried. Where there is a COM
! plete surrender of the best of each to
| EACH there will never be contentment
with grossness; the completion of love
| will remain lofty and sanctifed. But
where the act degenerates into lust, it
/ becomes as unlovely as the satisfied
grunting of breeding swine. Then our
! little Eden will become closed to US by
| the flaming sword of the outraged
| higher qualities