The Monticellonian., 1917-12-07
Little Problems
 SfWarried Life
By WILLIAM GEORGE JORDAN
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 (Copyrightl
coMRADEsHiP IN MARRIED LIFE.

CoMRADESHiP IN MARRIED LIFE. There Is but one reason, but one justification for marriage, and that Is love; all the other motives are not reasons, they are only excuses. Those who start in married life with Il good capital of love feel that they have an absolute guarantee of harmony and happiness that will endure through all their years, but if they depend sole ly on love they may find they are ex- hausting their capital instead of living on the interest and may soon become bankrupt of love. But love alone is too fine. delicate and emotional to stand the constant hard usage of daily life. Like gold, 1t is better and strong CT when alloyed; love should be made sturdy and lasting. reinforced, strengthened and intensified in it's power to resist wear. It Is only when alloyed, or blended, with comradeship and trust that 1t is at it's best.
 The truest, sweetest and happiest marriages are those of two who just are welded sweethearts and good chums. With this duality of condition and trust that keeps their atmosphere pure, clear. bracing and wholesome. all sources of discord are neutraliZed, all joys are doubled by sharing, all sor- rows frightened by mutual sympathy, comfort and inspiration, and all prob lens solved in the sweet sacredness of conference, with the united wisdom of both ever at the command of either, needing no outside referee.
 Success in married life does not re- quire heroic spectacular qualities pos sible only to a few chosen ones, the elect of the earth; it needs only loving comradeship and confidence, little self-eontrol, courage, kindness, unsel- fshness, cheerfuness and just daily patience along the way. It does not require wealth, for often the poor are the happiest and most contented. It does not demand intellectual powers and fine education, for two aged lovers, hardly able to read, may sit together in the sunshine by cottage door at eventide. finding all their world in each others eyes, telling their beads of sweet memories of past joys and of sorrows outlived, and as her thin worn hand rests lovingly in his, there seems a benediction of calm peace and conse- erated love that makes mere intellec- tual wisdom seem worthless by con trast.
 There are some who tell us the quail ities necessary in husband and wife. The long inventory sounds like an un- abridged dictionary of all the virtues and one can imagine the saints blush ing with shame at the sudden realiza- ton of how far short they are of this perfection. It seems like test ex- animation for front seat In paradise and few of us would get more than q nine per cent rating on an honest marking.
 Let us be thankful that two who are just human and with all their faults, fobles and failings can have happiness if they determine to have 1t and pay the price in thought and effort. It is not gamble; 1t is certainty if both determine to do their best and work in union and unity. It does not mean life unclouded by trial, sorrow, or suffering but q home filled with love and peace, rest and a refuge where no real discord can long throw dark ening shadows.
 Comradeship Is one of the strongest ties of married life. Comradeship is friendship in negligee suit; 1t is free, near, trustful, comfortable, familiar and intimate. It has a basic respect that makes formality out of place, and pretense and pose seem treason; the two are their natural selves, sponta- neous and unrestrained except by that respect for each others individuality that makes each careful not to wound or offend the other.
 Comradeship between husband and wife is the finest type of friendship. for pulsing through it Is the constant current of love, tenderness, sympathy, nearness, dearness and closer com munion of interests, that ever vitalizes, intensifies and freshens. Comrade- ship gives to each a finer, truer under standing of the other that comes, not from the mere observation of acts and of moods. but from glimpses into the depths of each others thought, the revealings of standards and ideals, the unconscious confession of hopes. fears and longings and restless ambitions that are hidden forces struggling to- wards expression like the root of q plant seeking to penetrate the soil and reach the light. These come only in easy conversation where there is no thought of talking for effect, no sense of being on dress parade.
 When the two are real comrades the wife Is interested in the hobbies, games, business, friends and politics of the husband. She may not see what fun he can have knocking little ball over the landscape and then poking