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Show THIS PROPOSITION OF MODERN LOVF, WHAT ABOUT IT? nrnraptdn tells me that thoio has been n good deal said one way nnd unother lntcly about love; mor-j pnr-llcuhrly pnr-llcuhrly sentimental engagements and why they nro so frequently broken brok-en off. L'nvo you heard nnythlng cf It whnt7 No! Oh, well, It doeau't mntter; If Drampton says such Is the case, why It is that's all. Jlrnmpton always knows . The rensons for thesa disillusion-ments disillusion-ments thnt Is, the renson j,lveB, tro various. All tho talk, and the reu3-ons, reu3-ons, too, only go to show how extremely ex-tremely transitory thnt love, which once nwnkened, Is supposed by the romantic to live as long as the lovers. lov-ers. Many people, jt Is Bald, would nov-er nov-er hnve fallen, or never would fall, In love, did they not read about It In books. It may be so, thero Is much said about tho malady In books. Hut certainly this talk, that Urampton tells us of, and tho present conditions show fiulto convincingly thnt the lovo wo seo In so many plays nnd books Is not by any means tho same ns this hcsHntlng, mild nffectlon or uncertain lennlng townrd nnothcr person, which forms tho general rule In llfc ns wo llvo it now. It Is easy to understand why this Is so. In your popular romances we have the genuine hero nnd heroine. They always appear In romances, very seldom In real life. But If wo don't have them real gcnulno heroes and heroines In tho books then they aro not romances, but Just trash. No matter how religious nnd philosophic doubt may oppress them (that Is your genuine heroes nnd heroines In hooks) no mntter how uncertnln their minds mny be In thnt regnrd they ought, nt lenst, nlways to know Just whnt they want In affairs of sentiment sen-timent .Thero Is no uncertnlnty o? mildness about your genuine. They may not know their own minds, but forsooth they must know tholr own hearts. True, that wherever we meet n Richard Tevcral he halt imagines himself in love with some Lady lllandlsh. Hut we and he soon forget her for his Lucy by tho wolr. Ho is at his "mngnctlo age." For only a moment-does ho Imagine. Quickly enough the genuine presents. Thero Is no hesitation when Lucy comes along. Can you doubt his absorbing unselfish devotion for her? Artistic-ally Artistic-ally there could bo nothing but unselfish un-selfish devotion, and certainly tho artistic ar-tistic fineness could tolerate no hint of hesitancy. What sort of a hero, pray, would llomeo have been had ho written Mcrcutlo: , "My dear old pal What am 1 to do? I fell In love (that Is, thought I did i some time ago with n certain Miss Capulet, Juliet, they call her, and wo'ro nngaged. What do you know nbout It? What nm I to do? What am I to do? What would you do? I'm not nt all suro now thnt I Jove her, that Is, that I really, yon actually love her. I like her well enough, en-ough, but I don't think I lovo her Perhaps I do, but I don't know. Whnt do you think? Anyhow tho family Is hostile. Hotter not risk t what?" Why even with' his best blank verse, Shakespeare, or Milton, either for that matter, couldn't have saved that situation. It would hnve been Impossible for them even to make anything out of It, nt all. Just such sentimental timidities nnd tremulous doubts .queries and qucstionlnois, withdrawals and hesitations, however, howev-er, form the main stock-in-trade nt mo.t of the would-bo lovers of to dny. So tho weight of our tnlk runs, at any rate, thanks to Drampton. They want to break off because thoy aro not suro they really care for the. person. Do thoy? Someone, perhaps, can tell them. Thoy descrlbo their symptoms, bored symptoms. Ono would sa'y thoy wero moro lndlcatlvo of a post-matrlmonlnl contentment rather than pro-nuptial bliss. Thoy are not blinded by lovo, and It has been said that true lovo Is blind. No, thoy -have their oyes wldo open, for they seen ono nnothcr's defects. They point them out lo ono another, thoughtfully or otherwise, nnd of course qunrrol n good deal. Poor modern lovors! Has It come to this? Is this ardor of tho old feeling? 'Thousands of peoplo nover would hnve fnllen In lovo hnd they not rend so much nbout It In books, Yes, snd though It bo, we must admit It the aphorism Is true It must bo since thousands who do fall In, fall out bo easily. Yes not only easily, but quickly, and then they wonder querulously whethor thero Is nny roal true flamo or not. After hearing tho mass of "rot" along this lino wo think wo nro justified In concluding that tho big bright flamo burns very rarely rare-ly Indeed !n a few. Most only experience experi-ence only a fitful cnndlo light. And It glimmers so fcobly that tho frst puff of wind blows It out, or tho wind left out ,nt bett, It glimmers ever so faintly but ror a moment, nnd then feebly sputters out. And this is love How long, oh, Lord. How Long! J S. n |