El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-16
A Mothers Anxiety.


HObrOOke, Va, Oct 90.
AURA DEAREST:
What is there for me to say.
What is there for any mother to
say when she receives such conf
( dence from her daughter, the hearI OF
her heart, the flesh OF her flesh2 There
are mothers, / suppose, who have sue
cessfully cOmbated such a condition,
but have they ever really come through
ViCtOriOusly2 I know in my heart that
I am right when L tell you that you
are risking your whole future. my dear
est, when you accept the prOtestauOns
of a man who is not free to marry you
and whom, strictly speaking, you should
never marry You should start free
with the man you love. He has al
ready lived a life in which you have
had no part There is a part OF him
that you viii never know. When he
is sitting before the fire in your home,
silent and staring into the flames from
the logs how viii you know that he
is not dreaming of this other woman
who played so large part in his ear
Her lfeZ How viii you know that he
is not remembering pet gestures and
little tricks of her voice, and longing
and yet not daring to define the
longing How viii you know?
You are offering him more than you
can ever get from him in exchange
You viii be going to him without any
entanglementS, without any other influ-
ences digging into your heart You
Up the hill OF life, but perhaps he is
tired already. A wOman's ills viii not
inspire sudden tenderness in him To
him it viii be the same old story. All
women are alike. The best of them,
like the worst of them, have headaches
and are irritable They have nerves
and annoy a man. No matter how
much he may love you, he viii be COM
PEELED to compare you to the other
woman" Sometimes you will seem so
infinitely superior, but again. An,
Laura, dear, have you thought of eve
ryth1ng of ali sideS2 You won't get
enthusiasm. you won't get complete
unity. There viii always be that chap
ter Of his life Of which you really know
nothing, except the superficial side
of which he has told YOU. You won't
know anything about the inner sacred
ness OF 1t, the first bloom of it when
he admired her eyes and her throat
and her lips. when he thought that she
was a goddess and that they were
ideally suited to each other. All that
you viii know is what he tells you
Just that and nothing more And words
can never tell what is in the heart.
There viii never be any real secrets
between you. Far off somewhere she
viii know what her husband-her for
mer husband. I mean-is saving. She
viii know the way he plays dreamily
with the knife and fork beside his
plate at dinner; how he tells what
happened at the office that day; she
viii even know the very touch of his
lips upon hers Oh, my poor Laura
my poor Laura Can't you see what
this viii mean to a girl of your ma
ture- Unless he is under marvellous
control, he viii drop word some time
that will let you see that he remembers
the life that he left behind 1t is so
easy TO make a mistake, dAar-just
one false step. something that takes 1
tive minutes in the making-and a
life is ruined. 1t is one of the greatest |
ironics of fate that the biggest trag-
edies of life, lasting through many
years in their effects, are brought
about by one moment of vanity. or
or sudden love or hate. It is