The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-10
THE MIDDLE-AGED BEAU

! RALfA0 'Oh, hollow as the days and nights;
 And barren as the days I tread,
 The idle dreams, the vain delights,
 That cheated me- he said;
 'eThe fierce desires, the endless frets,
 The weary waiting day by day.
 That gnaws the heart where live re-
 grets.
 May wear cen love away
 The mniddle-aged single man who loves his comfort and ease should puT on his thinking cap, giving the subject good thrashing out of his nina, interested in a pretty, gay chit Of a maid in her teens.
 If the girl appears to favor his at tentions, the man halfway through his forties is hatered. He thinks he understands the 1ove-game a deal bet fer than the young fellows do; that he could, in fact, give them cards and spades on the art of~winning feminine hearts. If he can win the heart Of a young girl in the freshness of her youth and beauty, why should he bother to please the old fogies who continually harp upon the theme of an older woman being more suitable? E He considers that every man should wed acording to his own taste he be- ing more vitally concerned in his own InaTI1aR6 no matter how near and dear, could possibly be. He does not show tell-tale lines at the corners of his eyes, or sil- yer threads straying among his dark locks, thanks to his barber, who knows his art well, and can, therefore, see no reason why even young girl might not be won by him.
 He enters the love race with every whit as much enthusiasm as the young fellows who are eager to pay court to feminine youth and loveliness.
 Enthusiasm is all very we'll for the rniddle-aged beau to start in with, but he finds, much sooner than he cares to admit, the fact that it peters out with alacrity. The young girl, with bound ing life in her veins and buoyancy in heart and limb, knows nothing of las situde or weariness. Dancings attend ance upon her is usually an object les son for the lockers on. She is athletic nowadays. Her lover must join her on the golf links, following her and the balls a twelve-mile jaunt before break managing the oars of a SkiH for a twelve-mile return, rowing against the tide. If he has a backache, near touch of lunbago, he must be too clever to betray it.
 In the afternoon, the girl expects to be taken for an eighty-n1ile auto spin she laughs gaily at the bumps the in nocent> thank-You-manns deal them but it's noN laughing matter to him After dinner, she's as fresh as rose for moonlit saunter, then dancing far into the wee sna' hours, getting lip with the sun the next morning to re- fpeat the same performance.
 The middle-aged wooer is obliged to send himself a telegram calling him home for a, fortnight. He goes to a nearby rest cure, staying in bed the entire two weeks to nurse back 8 little l Of jS nd
 tion. The girl is a delightful com panion, her love is well worth hercu- lean effort to win, but-what's the rworld to a man if his wife is a widow |? He is soon forced to realize he has
 passed the period when h can burn
 the candle at both ends for the
 smiles of the most delightful girl ever
 born.
 Young men can keep up the pleasWre racket go at any pace, and be quite as untiring as the girl, but the middle aged beau finds that he is not able to cope with the game! After he has jnearly killed himself to I1urnor the whims and fancies of the beautiful
 mafd-in her teens he is brought by de- Egrees to the consciousness that he is I no match for so young a heart; that he cannot come up to her expectations in 4 the final issue, giving her full realiza- ffon OF what love and marriage should .f mean to the woman successfully, con- sl lgeniany mated-and it must end in dissatisfaction, as she is disiI1usioned-
 Nature demands full payment for I every fringement-there's no getting out of it. Middle age cannot cope with youth. He who adores youth and beauty may seon at the notion of nak- ling love to the quiet woman in her I thirties. but if he would but stop to take mental note he would realize, all
 things considered, that he would lead
 more peaceful, happier life were he
 to wed the woman whose giddy days ] are over. Upon whom he shall place l his affections should be a serious prob lem to a man