Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-03-13
DOROTHY
DIX SAYS
WHEN is the love time of life?
w At what psychological me
ment in ones existence is Il

IA HEN is the love time OF me
w At what psychological mo-
ment in ones existence is the
heart capable of experiencing the ten
derest and most profound devotion TO
another?
Is there one day. golden above all
other days, when alone we may be thrill
ed by the grand passion?
In a way, being in love is like having
a bad cold. Every time we are smitten
down We think ii is the worst case we
ever had. and that we will never recover
from il. For the most part, however, we
do get over it, though there are colds
that end in la grippe, or tonsilitis, or
pneumonia, just as there are love affairs
that end in a wedding, and nothing
would be more interesting to know than
at what time during ones life these at
tacks of the heart are most dangerous
and most likely to be fatal.
Not long ago a man was reciting to
me the litany of the virtues of the young
women he was about to marry-that she
was handsome, intelligent, of good fam
lily. and possessed an amiable DISPOSE
ton. When he had finished 1 said:
But il seems to me that you have left
out the most important thing of all. You
don't tell me If she is is the only woman
in the world 10 you, and if you are
wildly in love with her"
"Oh, 1 am sufficiently in love-" he re-
piled calmly.
II don't suppose any man ever pal
pilates, and thrills, and gurgles at the
rustic of a woman's skirts after he gets
over his calf love. It's only when We
are in our salad days that we are green
enough to seriously contemplate suicide
if our lady loves fail TO smile on US.
When a boy is sweet-and-uwenty, he
thinks there's only one woman in the
world. When he's Torty, as / am, he
has ascertained that there are others,
and that to be happy. though married,
you must pick out a wife with your
head as we'll as your heart"
That's not love. That's common
sense" Knocked
The only time when either men or
woman are really in love is when they
are young" insisted the man. After
we are old enough to reason about love,
We may experience wonderful friend
ships, but never the fire, and the fervor,
and the passion of love"
l think the man is wrong. But poets
and romances bear out his theory of
youth being the only love time of life.
No novelist would dare to make his hero
or heroine middle aged if he intended to
enchant us with thrills and throbs Of
passion, and on the stage, no matter
now SABAAg NnG dCNOA pOA II O. NAS PeNA
OF the lover, our first demand is tina.
he must look like stripping. The mid
die aged lover is not convincing.
Shakespeare makes Juliet, child Of
fourteen, capable of the most profound
passion. Rebecca and Di Vernon, and
all of Scott's other heroines of lofty de-
votion and high and heroic mould, range
from seventeen to nineteen. All ro-
nance is full Of boys, still in their
h. marvellous deeds
of daring for the sake Of some fair
lady.
Thus have we been misled by novelists
and poetasters. for il has made US at
tribute 10 youth the power of love that
il does not possess Incidentally, IL has
been provocative of much unhappiness
because IL has led many girl and boy
TO regard their heart throbs seriously,
instead of looking upon them lightly rs
mere growing pains
Undoubtedly when a boy and girl
imagine themselves in love their emo
tions are very poignant. Nobody wants
a thing again with the same passion
of longing with which they desired red
sled. or a doll that talked, but the de-
sires of youth are fieeting and the toy
it cried for one day. ii throws away
the next
There is probably no youth and maid
en-. prevented from marrying their first
loves who did not feel utterly sure that
their hearts were broken past all mend
ing. Yet. who of us ever met his first
love after the lapse of years without
panrfng TO put up prayers in the temple
for miraculous deliverance?
Also. IL is a matter of cold statistics
that the fire of youthful passion soon
burns itself out. and that an overwhelm
ingly large percentage Of the cases that
become before the divorce courts are
nothing, more or less than the disas-
trous results Of early marriage.
Yet if youth is too soon for love, when
one is past middle age IL is too late.
Then ones fine enthusiasms are gone,
ones hope and faith chilled, and one
has learned to eat for ones stomach, to
marry for ones head, and love is only
an incident in life. not the whole of IT.
Sincere affection, warm friendship, con-
genial companionship they may know.
but no man or woman after fifty ever
experienced the grand passion.
The real love Of life comes with full
maturity. when il is summertime with
the heart. With woman this Is from
twenty-five to thirty-fve. and with
man from thirty TO forty years of age.
When they have taken the measures of
their own deeds and desires; their
tastes are formed, their character set
tied into permanent lines.
If a man or woman find then his or
her soulmate. the love that springs into
/. being between them Is as imperishable
as the spark of life itself In IL are
! merged all the strength of mind and
body, and heart and soul. when every
power is at its fullest: and compared
with this love the hoy and girl love is
but the vaporing of children, and the
love of middle aged but plstonic
friendship.