, 1899-01-18
AGE AT WHICH WOMAN LOVES.
Depths OF Feeling Cannot Be Sounded
in Youth.

When we are asked AT what age is
a woman the most beautiful" or AT
what age does a woman love most ar
IDENTITY" it is necessary to consider the
climate-and the type before reply
ing.
Climate exerts a great influence on
the physique, the morals, the minds
and the emotions. Rules which apply
to the ONE OF St. Petersburg, or for
Norway, do o apply to the Of
Italy or Spain or southern France.
Americans are a mixture of many
rationalities, and the peculiarities of
every living race are to be found crop
ping out among the American people.
The typical American girl is, in truth,
physically and mentally u composite
photograph of the many varying ma
t~ionalities which nave produced her.
She often blooms into premature
young ~womanhood and falls into love
before she shakes her teens or fmmed-
lately afterward. This is an inheri-
lance from her tropical ancestors; but
where a girl of the tropics buds, blooms
and fades and becomes an old IN
before 20, our American girls keep in
a state of perptual bloom until 40, and
sometimes later.
Not long G a vision of feminine
beauty and charm capture a whole
army post and fascinated every man
from the commanding officer down to
the privates. Whereupon the wives,
sisters and s~weethearts of the post set
about the feminine If not estimable
task Of looking up the charmer's past
life. and the only fact which gave them
especial pleasure was that Of discover
ing her to be a half a hundred years
old, despite her beauty and face and
form.
When the American girl in her teens
falls in love, however we'll developed
her physical charms may be, her pow
ers of loving are yet immature. There
is scarcely one case in one hundred
which can be found to disprove this
statement.
A young girl is fascinated by a man
Of fashion, by a mustasche, by a ms
lancer and she allows her senti-
ment to dominate her good
| sense. Outlines she is swept
away by the eloquent pleadlngs Of a
fluent tongue and speaking eyes; and
| she mistakes her soul of being for the
love of a lover. After the honeymoon
is over, and the realities of life begin
to engage the attention of both parties,
| the wife sees the man as he is-a mere
boy often, who, a " in the role Of Ro-
meo, is utterly devoid of interest and
| attraction, and who is quite inferior in
every respect.
1t is then the tragedy of life beings
for her.
A woman Of twenty-eight or thirty
two judges men from am entirely differ
ent standpoint, and is capable Of a
depth of feeling wholly unknown to a
girl of eighteen or twenty. Her nature
is ripper, her emotions more intense, her
Judgment more mature.
An old lady OF seventy told me that
she had been three times married. She
was a stranger to me. and seemed
greatly surprised when l remarked:
And you loved your second husband
best Of the three?"
YES" She said, chow did you know"
/ explained that my conclusion was
formed on general principles. The
woman who has been married, three
times usually begins early-too early
to know what real love is. Her choice
is usually n of caprice and accident.
Her second marriage would, under
ordinary circumstances in her
thirties. and it would be a marriage
based on strong magnetic attraction.
The third husband would more than
likely be selected merely as a com
panion for her declining years; one to
whom she gave respect and affection
but no ardent love.
The lady confessed my estimate to
be entirely correct in her case, and l
have no doubt it is a safe summary of
all three-ply married lives.