Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1925-04-23
TO ELOPE - OR NOT TO
ELOPE, AT 10?

Dear Miss Flo
l am eighteen years old and very
much in love with a young man 21
years old, who goes to a university in
nearby town. He gave me an engage
ment ring and we wanted to get mar
ried at once. OF course it would be
necessary for me to live at home while
he finished his college course, be-
cause it would be impossible for
him to support me until after he
graduated and started to work. Mo
tier would not permit me to accept
the ring. She said I was much too
young to be engaged, and marriage
was simply out of the question. She
didn't think it was fair to either of
us to be bound for such long time.
know I'll never love anyone else,
and we are planning to elope in the
spring. We will have to keep our mar
riage secret until Billy is able to
support me. Do you think we will be
happy? Don't you think l am old
enough to know my own mind and
know what | want? Marie
| really don't think you will be hap
py. In fact, l am quite sure that your
chances for happiness are very small.
I know, Marie, you are positive that
you know what you want now, and no
doubt you do, but what about five
years from now? That's a long time,
you know, and you may change so
much that you will laugh at the idea
of ever having thought of marrying
Billy. That is why l disapprove OF
long engagements. Every day OF the
year you change in some way, and at
the end of four years very little of the
cid Marie will be left. You will be
surprised when you realize that the
things that appealed to you at eight
cen seem positively stupid to you at
twenty-five. New experiences broaden
your mind and change your viewpoint,
and the result is that your mind read
justs itself to the changes. This is ev-
en- more true of the boy than the girl.
1t is generally admitted that boy of
tlenty-one is not fully developed men
tally. Billy is going to college. He
will be caught in a new current-for-
eign to you. He will meet new people,
brilliant men-he will have new ex-
periences-his life will be colorful--
and the changes in him will be great
er than in you. At the end of his col
lege days he may regard the love af-
fair as "puppy-love."
You are much too young to marry.
You have a lot of good fun coming
to you yet before you accept the respon
s;bilities of marriage. When you have
had years of happy girlhood-care--
free gaiety-when you are able ment-
ally and physically to consider the
responsibilities of being wife and
mother, then, and not before. are you
old enough to marry. Do you think it
is fair or unselfish of Billy to ask you
to give UP your own youth and sit
at home-a married COMMUNICATING
for him to graduate and give you a
home of your own? And if you do
marry him-and find at the end of four
years-that he does not love YOU
then who is to blame? Married life
lasts a great deal longer than youth.
Why make it longer?
Elopements are dangerous, Marie,
and as a general rule, are not con-
dusive to happiness, even when those
clipping are not impetuous youngsters.
The wedding day belongs to the girl
and her memories of the marriage
should be bright, cheerful and happy.
The wedding should be sacred and
beautiful, not merely legal form. 1t
should inspire both the girl and the