The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-10-31

unframed girlhood He may have abb
solutely nothing i'll common with her
real self-the self that is still sleeping,
that has not yet been awakened. She is
not | say, in love. 1t is rather the new
interest that he has brought into her
life, and the truth of it is that if instead
of one admirer she has several, she finds
precisely the same pleasure in the soci-
ETY. of each and all of them, for they
all appeal alike to the superficial quail
tiles of her woman's nature. The ex-
citement is wholly pleasurable, almost
the gaiety and fun of childhood There
is not the slightest shade of seriousness
about it, much less the possibility of
passion and of pain. She believes her
self to be in love, The feeling that
she has for the man who courts her
is wholly new to her experience, The
interest which her friends display in
the affair, the sense of Importance which
it gives to her-these things create III
her a pleasurable excitement such as
she has never known before, and she
is quite convinced that it must indeed
be love. And then the man who wishes
her to be his wife, she likes him, she
is sure of that, undoubtedly this is love,
she thinks. The thought of going on
through life in just this pleasant way,
with a companion who will also be pro-.
tector, friend and husband, is thoroughly
attractive She cares much more for
him than she has for anyone else, and
SO again this must be love. Poor little
victim of pathetic inexperience. 1t is
not long before she understands too
we'll just what that faint instructive
stirring of distrust was meant to tell
her The actualities of marriage find
her wholly unprepared.
Whatever she may have thought,
whatever she may have heard, what
ever she may have half devined are
nothing, nothing. A month transforms
her from a careless girl into clear
eyed, conscious woman, face to face
with reality which sometimes
may be beautiful, but which is some
times joyless and sometimes hideous.
It is not alone the intimacies of her new
life that she has to face and accept, it
is the daily, hourly revelation of things
that never came to her before, even
in imagination. Most of all it is the
revelation of character, the character
of the man to whose life her own is
linked Yet how are women ever going
to know? How can they ever hope
to understand the difference etween
the mere fluttering of girlish emulation,
and the great elemental throb which
! rends the soul with the birth-pangs of
an mortal love. The one vital point is
that woman should in some way be en-
abled to distinguish between the mere
liking that means nothing, and the love
that lasts. | would advise all, girls and
women, not to marry until they have
/ felt the warm magnetic touch of one
who is physically and bSyehically their
rightful mate, for then and then only
the infinite content comes when botf
the senses and the soul are satisfied.
/ I know woman who even had {
higher test. Rather than let the man she
loves go forever out of her life, She
sacrificed pride and declared her love
for him before he had asked for it, anc
continues to declare it knowing that he
can never love herl
When two persons marry for love
it does not follow, always, that the1
will BE- happy, but it is true that the,
at least will possess the possibility o.
happiness, and that if they do not MAKE
this possibility an actually, then tn
fault is not the fault of fate nor of ex
terna1 circumstances, but fault TO
which they themselves alone are res
Iponsible.
i This is the wonan's side-can yot
give the mans side7