South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-11-10
Tea Table Talks
May De Witt Talmage.
WHEN LOVE Is DEAD.

WHEN LOVE is DEAD.
Love, the greatest thing in the
world, is around us in so many forms
we forget what IL means 70 us. Like
the oxygen we breathe, we take II for
granted. yet without oxygen we can
not live, and without love life is liv-
ing death.
A great love makes many things
we have always considered way above
par value drop out of sight and be-
come worthless, while other things,
even things we have never valued at
all, take a new standard. II has been
said, Love is not a word. il is an
inexpressible state, indicated by four
letters" IL Is a short word, but II
contains all. 1t means the body, the
soul, the life, the entire being. We
blood. as we breathe the air. We car
~ il in ourselves as we carry our
thoughts.
The memory OF a great love can sus-
tain and sweeten a whole life. Take,
for instance, children's love, mother
and father love, the love of a true
friend, thu love between man and
woman. But love is frail and must
be delicately handled.
II is one of the saddest things
know of-to see love die for lack OF
crumbs If appreciation. a loving act.
a little thoughtful attention, will sus-
tain il. But If it begins to die it is
like a pot fern; once IL droops there
is nothing will save IT. 1t hardly
seems possible that something that has
been so much a part of us can slip
away, and we not miss 1t until II has
gone forever.
There are many men and women
who, like Diogenes, are out with their
lanterns searching for their high ideal
or dream of what a husband and wife
should be, and yet, when they have
found II, how do they treasure it?
They love with body. mind and soul:
II is an absorption Of every part of
| their being. Like a food il sweeps
everything before 1t. 1t transforms
everything, it needs little TO sustain
it, and yet how often that little is
missing.
A man said to me. you women
little realize what il means when a
man says, I love you! Will you marry
me?' In those few words are all a
mans ideals, all his hope, and II he
is disappointed and home is not all
he hoped for, he is disillusioned, and
love, real love. dies"
A woman conflded TO me that her
husband had chided her because her
love for him was dead.
II told him it was his own fault"
she said When we were married, ]
loved him so l was interested in all
that concerned him and our future
When / questioned him, he thought ]
was jealous or suspicious. Often he
repulsed my caresses with, oh, I'm
tired tonight and too busy TO be in
terrupted' He was absorbed in bus
mess and his own interest Gradually
l gave it all up. I adapted myself to
the life he handed out to me and my
love faded and died for lack of en-
enlargement"
That word business" is accounta bic
for much IT does push so much
aside; love, friendship, the beautiful in
life, mutual interest. It is a big fac
tor in the daily struggle for existence
but why let 1t kill so much that makes
life worth living.
Oh, IL takes a lot Of thoughfulness
patience, tact, broadmindedness and
unselfishness to nourish and keep all
kinds Of love alive. But let us never
forget that when love is dead. like
all other dead things, nothing can re.
vive it, and something very precious
has gone out forever.