The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-07-12
LONG Courtships.

I
There is. perhaps, no country where
| freedom between young folks of the
opposite sexes is so tolerated as in ours.
1t is one of the things that strikes a
visitor to our shores, and it is often
made matter of pride and boast as
showing our liberty, equality and self
| reliance. That it has its advantages
we will not undertake to deny, but
there is one folly to which it exposes
our young people. and that is ill-timed
company keeping. How frequently it
happens that a little lad who has new
! er needed the services of a barber, save
i for a haircut, picks up with a miss
| just out of short dresses, and falls SO
desperately in love that he grows thin
and haggard and contemplates suicide
! il she looks with favor on another. Love
like this is like the Measles not very
dangerous and good thing to have
over but which, with care on the part
of the parents, might be spared the
child, and sometimes evil effects avoid
ed.
But it is of their elder brothers we
especially complain. These young men,
often with no serious thought of mat
rimony, lay siege to a young lady,
heart, take up her time and attention,
when both could be far better en-
ployed. Such conduct, when deliberate,
is unjustifiable and ungentlemanly in
the extreme. The young lady's chances
for suitable match are considerably
lessened, if not entirely destroyed and
the consequences of such injustice
may be lifelong. If the guilty one es-
cape the law court he is sure to be
convicted at the bar of public opinion
and despised by all who know him. The
a-,1o Gf,,,'f
than his female counterpart, is detest-
ed by both God and man.
There is yet another class of young
men, who, consciously or unconsciously,
do a very grave wrong to the marriage
able portion of our young women.
Good young men, for the most part,
but lacking the courage that wins
falr lady" they keep up a senseless
courtship for years and years. 1t is
pity that such young men do not live
in the old country, where their elders
would make the match for them, and
relieve them of the embarrassment
they never seem able to face.
1t may not be courage, so much as
confidence they lack. Perhaps, in a
year or two, the young man thinks he
will be better situated, better able to
SANC a 4iOlliG SUCH DIS ne NOulu WISH 10
furnish. Then there are business anu
family ties, doubtful prospects or a
thousand and one excuses that his
faint heart conjures up. And so it
goes on, but the best years of the lives
of both are slipping away. He grows
old and set, and she is forced to keep
to the appearance of girlhood, and
the linked sweetness of courtship is
long drawn out" The neighbors smile,
and, indeed, it is amusing, if it were
not pathetic. Every day both become
less and less suited to the cares and
trials of married life and lay up for
themselves only a childless, comfort
less old age.
When will they learn that they are
neglecting the very best means for
their own betterment in mutual help
and encouragement? When will these
young men learn that all any sensible
girl requires of the man she loves is an
honest heart, a ready hand, and she is
willing to share the burden and the
battle of life with him? How many
man has attributed all his success in
life to the help and encoura cement of
a faithful wife?