Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-12
MAN OF TWENTY SEVEN.
Love is not love that alters,
When il alteration finds"


Love is not love that alters,
When it alteration finds"
Dear Madam: Will you be so kind
as to answer this question through the
World? A woman who has made a
few mistakes, not grevious ones, in
her youth, but for the last few years
has done her duty to God and herself,
wishes to know if you think there is
any hope for happy future for her.
HEARTSORE.
As both of these letters touch on one
subject, one answer is sufficient. The
opinion has been frequently expressed
in this column that the day was past
when there was no future for an err
ing woman but suicide or the convent,
The world is growing broader in its
views on this subject and woman has
so many opportunities for usefulness
now that those VINO have had mis-
fortune in early life do not need to sit
down and chew the cud of bitter rec
objections for the remainder of their
existence, and be pointed at as women
with histories by new generation.
The woman who errs today must suf-
fer mentally and spiritually quite as
keenly as her sister who lived in the
days when the Scarlet Letter was
written That is because of her ma
ture. her temperament and her wo-
manhood. The woman who wanders
satisfied with herself, while many Il
man pats himself upon the back and
congratulates himself upon his i'm
moralities. Men boast of their vices;
women hide them. But there is no
longer the necessity for woman to
consider that Ter whole life is ruin
because she has made a mistake. Let
her put all such ideas out of her mind
and busy herself In a useful career of
some KIND Let her make use of her
best qualities and enlarge her mind by
study and concentration upon worthi-
er themes than her own errors.
The world is growing too busy to
occupy itself in looking up the Past in
discretions of individuals unless they
make themselves conspicuous by their
selfishness their love of display of
their own follies:
active duties and womanly occupa
tions VIII not Ind herself molested by
intrusive gossip regarding her past.
She can make and retain worthy
place for herself in the world today if
she wills it.
AS for a man of twenty-seven, | see
no reason why he should not marry
the woman he loves and be happy in
spite of her past, if e continues in ,-.e
frame of mind MS letter indicates.
Nevertheless, knowing men as | do, |
confess | think the woman unwise to
have told him her story. | have
known two or three cases similar
where such condolences were made and
where the woman was forgiven and
welded, but the men were invariably
Jealous and moody husbands and sus-
piciou sat always an unwelcome guest
at the board.
can only hope that this man of 27
will prove an exception to the rule. and
trust the woman ii marries as implic-
lily as she no loub: will trust him, de-
spite his checkered past | would adj
wise him to keep this copy of the let
ter which he has written me where he
can refer to it as lne years go by. 1t
may serve to stimulate him to con-
tinue the same liberality of thought
after the honeymoon has waned.
Several letters on similar lines will
find an answer in the above. The jeal-
Gus lover whose sweetheart unwisely
confessed an early error and the man