The Washington herald., 1915-01-13

| ERlENDSHlP does not, and cannot
exist without a community of in
= terest.
We select our friends, our real friends
because they think as We do. like the
things which We like. and are interested
in what interests us.
Likes do not repeI, and unlikes do not
| attract, in every case by any manner
of means, Notwithstanding the old and
somewhat accepted adage to that effect
Friends may differ in detail, but never
are fundamentally apart in either thought
or action. They are comrades. They love
to be together, to work together, to play
| together. Neither tires of the other.
They have a common interest and occupy
a mutual ground.
Ninety per cent of unhappy and un-
profitable marriages are due to the fact
that they are born of sentiment and the
imitation of love, instead of being found
| ed upon comTadeship.
Sentiment is not safe. It has led more
people astray, and been responsible for
more trouble, than any other one element
in the composition of human affairs.
1t is difficult for one to know whether
or not a certain person is suitable for
him to marry, If he depends upon senti-
mental feeling or allows blind love to
guide him. If. on the other hand. both
parties are good comrades, liking the
same things, having a strong mutual in
terest; and, If they are contented when
together, irrespective of the affectionate
side of courtship, 1t is pretty safe for
them to marry, even though they may
not have what is commonly called love
for each other.
In order that I may not be misunder-
stood, let me say that love, IL it is pure.
is an absolutely safe guide to follow:
but, as comparativ few of US can sep
arate true love from dangerous senti-
ment, we are not likely to know whether
We are under the influence of the gen.
uine article.
1t is, therefore, safer to depend upon
that which is surer, namely, comrade-
ship, for If genuine. it will breed and
develop Dove; but sentiment, IL not based
wholly on true love, does not necessarily
carry comradeship or give or hold a COM
munity of interest.
No man should marry a woman unless
he feels perfectly happy with her before
marriage under an conditions and cir
cumstances; unless he loves her at play,
at work, at home, and away; unless he
is completely contented when in her COM
pany, with no desire to be away from her
or to have any interest which he does
not want her to share with him.
II he can be happier at his club. among
his men friends, than he would be in
doors or out OF doors with his intended
wife, there is something the matter with
him, or with her, or with both of them.
do not mean to say that a man
should be unhappy or discontented when
temporarily away from his hancee or
his wife: but, unless before marriage
he is happier and more contented with
the woman than without her, and he is
willing to make her a partner in every
thing, there is lacking that comradeship.
that community of interest, which is sure
70 kill all the love there may be'between
them, and result in disaster
II men would select their mates as
they choose their intimate friends, and
use the same judgment in so doing, and il
women would do likewise. the percentage
of unhappy marriages would be reduced
to the minimur-