Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-04-19
Ye ear-Old Girls.
Copyrighted, 1899, by Charz Nox Press Bu-
 reau-

Copyrighted, 1s99 by oharlz No1 Press Blu
 feau-
 New York, April l6.-Among our readers noa few are discovering that onr aim is to deal with the problems of eye", day life. Thi1 Sunday Morning Talk isintended for girls who, unprepared in more ways than one, are thinking of marriage while tn. J are yet too young.
 A friend of mine, part of whose work is to tie the nnptial knot, tells me that he is sometimes ob iged to refuse to perform the ceremony on account oi the youth of the parties applying. Indeed" said he, mot long ago a girl of seyeL teen years of age came to be married, and having lied to me in answer to one of my questions, went away indignant with me because 1 refused to perform the ceremony. More than 0nce," adied he. ''I have declined to become a third party in the unwise desire of persons too young to enter into q contract of which they know so lit tie"
 What did that seventeen-year-old girl who could tell q lie on the eve of 50 important ceremony as mnrri- age know about love? What do thousands of these young girls with with emotions aroused by novel reading, and who cannot detect the smile of honor from the smile of the knave, know about the passion of real love-girls who are DO more pre- pared to enter upon the voyage Of matrimony than cabin boy is fitted to take command of ship?
 Preparation for marriage includes many things. Among them are good health, suitable age, tical knowl- edge of household matters, a desire to rear children. and most impor- tant of all the presence of that great est of all powers in the universe, he power of love.
 No Moonshine Sentiment.
 The deepest current in human being is love. The grandest passion of human son is love The most exalted theme of poeu or of prose is love. The lotuest inspiration of a painters touch is love. Love is the deepest response of one soul to the deepest longing of another soul.
 But much that is called love is not such. Many men and women have never felt the sway of this holiest touch upon their hearts, for love is not the passing emotion of an hour in which a face of beauty leads one on, nor an unh lg ds-ire that would storm to ruin the fortress of anoth- CTS brightest hopes, but an emotion as if on ,he bosom of a mighty cur rent, and bears it on and on to j04 that passion which knows no wealth no creed, no station: but which, lik, swollen stream of the human henrt bears everything along with it.
 Love Is life's noblest theme. Othe things also give happiness inlife. bu as highway to sublimest joy non, equals this. Love never touched , life but to bless it Whenever tn, love In one soul fibds response ii the love of another soul these tw, lives are richer, trner, -Hobler on ne count of the experience. But how true it is that too many times mar riages are made in ignorance of wha such love is, and unhappiness $ sur, to follow. Thousands of y0ubt girls could be saye] from wears q despair if, instead of being influenced by something as less strong than love as the ripples on the surface q the water are less stro1e than tn mighty currents beneath it the would wait before taking this stsr But, instead, they unwisely go to d altar not of love but of sacrifice, q altaron which are sacrificed some , the granoest hopes of life. Ignoran of the importance O the step, UT
 willing to take advice from thos