Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-29

/ sour one. Still. cannot help
! feeling downhearted at times. and
wondering if l have not missed
| life's greatest gift.
Hoping you will write an article
on that ever-interesting subject,
! love, | am,
"One of Your Faithful Readers"
Let us get back to the main
! query first. Do ! believe there are
| people who go through their entire
| lives without knowing what love is :?
l most certainly do. / think there
are men and women who have lived
we'll satisfied with existence on the
whole, and yet have never known
for a minute what love iS-that
! love. | mean, of course, which serves
as a theme for the novelists and
poets. And l do not believe that
such cases are exceptional, either.
l think there are thousands of
them.
These are the women with whom
the material instinct, or the desire
! for social prestige, or the love of
display is the ruling passion of their
! lives. and the men with whom the
CLAIMS of business or of their am
bitions far outweigh any other con-
Sideration. while in both sexes there
are thousands who are just too con-
foundedly selfish ever to fall in love.
They are all a bit abnormal, per-
hapS. but they exist.
And even with the normal people,
love does not mean the same thing
to all temperaments alike. To one 1t
means a placid. serene devotion, to
another frenzy and transports;to one
pretty sentiment and protection, TO
another comradeship and congen!al-
ity.
1t takes all kinds of people to
make a world. and il takes all kinds
of love to suit their various per-
sonalities. According to their de-
sires be it unto them.
Our ideas of love differ greatly.
too, at different ages. The love
fancies of a girl of sixteen dream
ing of her fairy prince are not
those of the sophisticated woman
of thirty.
But do unqualifiedly believe this,
that whatever kind of love we want,
if we want it sincerely and strongly
enough, we can bring it into our
lives.
Do you remember Florence Morse
Kingsley's story of Miss Phil
lura." the dowdy. shabby, little old
maid who forced herself to believe
so strongly in the imaginary lover
she had created that she made him
come true?
And you are no Miss Phillura,"
but charming and arractive wom-
an. only thirty-four. My dear,
thirty-four is by no means the
jumping-off place. On the contrary,
il is the age when a woman is at
her best.
l gather from your letter that you
are one of those who mature late
in life In your girlhood you were
cn1f-nnnSpinIS ShN absorbed
tionally a child. You didn't want
love: your woman's heart had not
yet awakened. Now it has, and it is
demanding its own.
l know of an almost parallel case
to yours, a woman who in her youth
had lived almost entirely within
herself and believed herself plain
and uninteresting and unattractive
to men. At thirty-four she made
journey around the world. and 1t
came to her almost as a shock to
find that in this new environment
she was courted and sought after.
Under the influence of her reviving
self-esteem she blossomed out into
. charm and beauty, and on her re-
turn home love come to her-real
love-as Unexpectedly as lightning
from a clear sky.
Perhaps it might not be a bad
plan Tor my correspondent 10 MAKE
a visit away from home. A strange
| girl. especially in one of the small
! er places is always an object of at
! traction, and to be an object of at
traction is the best physical, moral
and mental tonic that l know.
| But whether she goes away or
! stays at home. she has only to de-
| sire love strongly enough and to
/ believe that she possesses it, to
make it come true. Maybe it is al
ready approaching just around the
! corner
The things I seek are seeking
| And what is mine shall know my
I