Evening star., 1935-10-29

bedutlful ana charming girl.
- deceived her about my age,
for am a few months younger than
she Is, but by some unfortunate acci-
dent she found my birth certificate
and since then she refuses to talk to
me and spends the time in tears and
gloom. We were so happy, loving, liv-
ing and laughing together until this
| happened. Now all is changed and we
| are miserable. I fear I will lose her
and will 60 mad If do. What can
I do? G. A. G.
Answer think your wife must be
singularly lacking in good old, hard,
horse sense If she is letting such an
| Insignificant thing as q few months
difference in age wreck happy mar
riage. If she had found out that you
had another wife, or that you had
some terrible blot upon your past, or
| that you were a drunkard, or took
| dope, she might feel that you had
lnveigled her into marriage under
false pretenses and that she had
cause for grief. But when your secret
is nothing more serious than a birth
| day it Is to laugh.
%*
TT is curious what a bother some
people make about the age factor
in marriage and how many romances
1t blights. In this same mail there is a
letter from man of 40 who hesitates
to marry girl Is years his junior
because he fears he is too old for her.
And another from a man who is des-
perately unhappy because the woman
he is in love with is six years older
than he is and refuses to marry him
because she says she won't ruin his
life by saddling an old wife on him.
All OF which is the most utter nom
sense because there are a thousand
| things more important to consider
in picking out husband or wife than
his or her age. And the way a mar
| riaee turns out depends upon the con-
geniality and suitability and charac-
| ters and manners and habits of the
high contracting parties. not upon
| which has the most candles on his or
| her birthday cake.
OF course. when December weds
May. disaster is bound to ensue. This
happens just as often when an old
man marries f1apper as when an old
woman buys herself a boy husband
But, leaving out great disparity of
years, it doesn't make a particle of
difference whether the wife or the
husband is the elder so far as the sue
cess OF the marriage goes.
A S A matter of fact you cannot go
by the calendar in judging the
real age of an individual. There are
men and women who are mere girls
and boys at 20, and boys and girls
who are senile at II. 1t is our DISPOSE
tions and ways that keep young and
flexible or get wrinkled and stiff and
have rheumatism in their joints.
So when a man thinks of marrying
a girl Is years younger than him
self he should not worry over her lit
eral age. He should consider her per-
sonality. If she is quiet, intelligent,
thoughtful sort Of a girl, a domestic
girl, one who likes to read and prefers
| placid pleasures, what We call set
tied" girl. it is perfectly safe for her
to marry man many years older
| than herself.
But, on the other hand, If she is a
flibberty- -gibberty, wild. harum- scar
um kind of a girl. girl who must be
always on the go and who lives on
excitement and is bored to death with
domesticity, then she is a bad bet for
a middle-aged man as a wife. She
should marry somebody as young and
pleasure loving as herself.
X
! A ND just the same thing holds good
about the man marrying the
woman older than himself. If he is
| old for his age and she is young for
hers, they meet on a common ground
and age becomes negligible. Nor is
| there any reason why a man should
not marry woman older than him.
self II he is of the mother complex
type. Many such marriages are most
happy, because the older woman can
give the husband love and tender
ness that no young wife could.
The objection formerly made to
| such marriages was that women aged
Vttta fI,a.