THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13480, 3 July 1907, Page 9

THINGS IN GENERAL.

ON LOVE.; '.•WHAT is truth?" asked Pilate. And there , re many rilates to -- v asking "What is-, truth'" Sometimes it is hard to say , vheW ' truth ends and a lit- begins. " What • • lie?" asked a- Sunday-school superintendent and there spoke up a chubby, little fellow in the class", "A very present help ftimo-of trouble." Hut " What is lover" \„ man knows, yet all men have- felt it. Whence- comes it? Why? A strange throbbing at the l«nit, an indescribable tingling of the „™j-agoodne«. knowsnot what! (icorge Washington, they say, could tell the truth, and couldn't tell a lie. "Many men whom I know more intimately | 'mild tell a- lie and couldn't toll the truth. j liut show me the "''''' who my *' " ' could] not love,' and .1 will dissect him and analyse him, and tell him that he lies. This V the strange part, of it: nil men love. The rich man in his castle; the poor man! j,, his cottage-all are staves. Love comes to'them all alike. There is nothing quite, «, universal as this Cupid with his bow. | Two people-* man and a woman -ga/.oj upoll eacl.othe.,and"fallin love." Why?, Two people for»Pt that they are mortal. feel themselves transported to a heavenly ■ | imc breathing in ambrosial ononis, re-1 bering not that the world has others in; it"besides themselves Why? The sun | .. line on the rainiest day. and the universe glpitates with joy, and the whole world •- full of melody. In the name of all that's Underfill, tell'me why ! " Sorrow-Pain,"; some poet has called it : and men go chasi„,r this Sorrow-Pain to-day as they did d old and will no on doing so, 1 suppose, 'ill doomsdav. But Sorrow is sweet at times, and Paiii ''* « joy nt times; and when grief is most poignant (they say), love is greatest. "i' l " I " an '" says Emerson, "ever forwot the visitations of that power to his heart and brain which created all things new; which was the dawn in him of music, poetry, and art; which made the face d mtture'radiant with purple light, the moraine and tire night varied enchantments; when a single tone of one voice could make the heart beat, and the most trivial circumstances, associated with one form, were put in the amber of memory ; when we became all eyo when one was present, and all. memory when one was gone; when the vouth "became a watcher of windows, ami: s'tudious of a glove, a veil, a riband, or the, wheels of a carriage." And Emerson was » man who knew a lot about most things. ITS PLACE ON THE STAGE. Ah! hot-blooded youth and your win-;

dows! One voice, one form . . .aim when distance separates you from those windows, and iron; the voice and form vou love, do you never fancy that von bear that voice and see that form.' Dees distance never lend enchantment to the view'; Though you be as far apart as the poles, do vou forget the "vanished hand" and the sound of the voice you loved? Nay, but, you cling to your sweet-, heart. Sorrow-Pain, and you think of the time to be! This is the mystery of it. Some say absence makes tho.< heart grow fonder, and some that what is out ol sight passes out of mind. Let those -who know answer. But 1 have seen strong men in love, and heard ■them sigh when far away from the windows they used to watch, and I have heard men say they would die for the girls they have left, behind them—and I have wondered if it all were true. What is it that holds the stage together, that makes the people flock to see the play? Nought but love, believe mc. 1 never" vet saw a successful play but it had in it the element of love. You may leave'anything else out, that you like, but /Aatittnilst remain: . And . the. theatre only* reflex of life as it i* in the world outside, tor "all the world's » stage and all the men and women merely players. j See Julius Knight play Robin Hood to Miss Elbert-Orton's Marian do Vaux—how lovely it is. Even Robin Hood, you see, j though he said he would never forget his dinner thinking of a woman, came ; to recognise how foolish it was to attempt to withstand the love-light of a woman's —one form, one voice. • And looking at windows was not enough for this merry, man of Sherwood, but he must needs go

courting all sorts of clanger for the sake of a woman. Or see this same man play Romeo—what will he not dare for the Juliet whom he loves? Cares he for the wrath of all the Capulets? No! It matters not if death come for his pains: bis well. " Sorrow- - Pain " — how sweet! There are those who say that R. L. Stevenson could not write a love-book, but fake his " Catriona" and read it, and i! yon say there is no "love-writing" there, then I know not what it is. Why does Davie Balfour'love his Catriona? He cannot tell. He only knows lie loves her. "There is no greater wonder," says he. " than, the way the face of a young woman fits in a man's mind, and stays there, and he could never tell you why ; it just seems it was the thing he wanted.'' Two souls that have but a single thought, two hearts beating as one —that is all. All? Goodness me! they tell me it is worlds! ■'■■ OTHER ASPECTS. .And then there's friendship. And when it's friendship between a man and a woman, it's very like walking on a tight-rope —you don't'know the moment you will topple over and fall head and ears in loveit's no easy thing to keep your balance. It's different when two men are friends,' because they don't as a rule fall in love. But sometimes, I believe, there is to he found just as true love between two men as between man and woman. Often we bear the remark, "They are inseparable." as applied to two men—they find in each others company all that they desire, all that thev 'iced. But if there is. a woman lurking about, as we see in "Two Gentlemen of Verona." the men soon fall out. and i' isn't every man who can forgive, his friend for stealing his ladylove. We know how David and Jonathan loved each other: they were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not divided. We know how Tennyson loved Hallam. But Cupid is a tickle jade, and he's not in his element if there's not a woman about. He doesn't care to mix himself up with this love of man for man; there's no fun in it. He likes a good shuffling of the cards, some kings as , well as queens, .some knaves, a. few clubs, spade or two. and any amount of hearts. What 1 his views are oil the subject of Platonic friendship I do not know, but I shouldn't wonder if In- had his suspicions. It's wonderful to 'watch him. What a delight lie takes in making the countess fall .in Jove with her butler! How he laughs as\he watches the millionaire running off with the (iaielv girl! He revels ' n .'t. He loves surprises. Nothing gives him greater pleasure than to clap his little hands and chuckle tc himself: "My! won't they get a surprise when they read. . tie paper in the morning!" Nothing is '""possible with him. 1 don't know what that stuff was that made Titanic tall in love with a donkey, but there's a lot of it ?Hllleft. Rich women in their furs fallm 8 m love with chimney-sweeps; bottles .running after the Veto de Veres. Marriages it is said, are made in heaven; JUl > however that may be, a large number -w them, are unmade in the Divorce Court. And .he who "did hold his eves lock'd in .-■"« crystal looks," goes out of the (Joint a *™ and a'wiser man; while she win, • a 'd "his words are bonds, his oaths are |oracles," who had no reason other than a woman g, who thought him so because she . 'nougat him so, goes away vowing she will ;««'■ speak to another man—and marries J Sain next year. / "WHAT TYPE OF MAN?" 'sampV l has as ,nuu v lives as a eat. this staw Ve '. Km it, anil it will live again ; a W fiS a,,d cn,sll it! to pulp. and. like aitaih-wSH • 10t " mls itHrtlf, it-will come up ill-treat i V, smilif fi #- The more vol. ■*°« 'thou If I1,01 ; U hi i'K v it grows. " Th,; burns.•"%t in -"I' t - V up, the more it' :'ters whirl, ' S "'terming to read the let-! Papers on. im fi '* irae to time i.i the ! ~ } *"- 01 What. l{ V vi mun does a

woman like best?" I was reading some in one of the papers the other day. This is what Mabel said; " Sir,—The favourite type of man is the masterly man (only, of course, a woman would not confess it!). A man who, instead of being swayed by women, sways women. Above all things a man must not be ' .small of stature.' There can be no two opinions about that. In fact, the ideal type of man can be expressed ill three Avoids—big, strong, and masterly." Good for .Mabel. Then "F.H." wrote: "The reason one sees an effeminate, scented fop handing tea round is because lie is 'the only type of man one can get at such ! functions, not because the womanly woman | like-- him. livery animal has its use, and 1 suppose the fop is made for fetching ami carrying, and one must admit he does- ii very well. One might as well harness .. young elephant to a milk cart as use y manly man for handing round tea in a. drawingroom of knickkrmcks. .It is a mistake to say that women like the bad man best. There may he some who do, but they are j mostly young girls. He is generally no [chicken, .and has bad a vast amount of ex-' perience in the gentle art of love-making."l [Bee discussed the question whether good I looks counted. " I cannot agree with sunn |of your correspondents that good looks in a. man do not count with women. They do always! Hut character is so infinite!;.* ■ above looks, and men as a rule are plain, so that we have to try and be contented I with what we can get. Ido not think that men as a rule are 'noble, great-hearted, 'line fellows, whe naturally like to be good.' Surely these, are the exception, and few of jus have the chance of meeting them." Selina wrote in favour of a- union of brains. j" Surely the madness of athletic worship 1 was never more clearly shown than in the 'letter of the sack-racing hero, who won a wile by putting his legs--I had almost said his heart—in a large bag. Fortunately, the heads, even id' muscular young ladies. are not always dressed by the athletic brain- ' storm. Surely a sensible girl would prefor a man who could converse with her durling tho long winter evenings on the cosmic . position of radium, the intricacies of the 'binomial theorem, or the place of .loan of [Are in the history, not theology, of her country, to one who could do nothing but 'oil his cricket bat, grease his football boots. .! aTTd expel clouds of evil-smelling vapour j from his lips. A union of heart,*, must be founded on a union of brains." Selina is 'evidently a very sensible young woman—or rather old maid—just the type of woman. . in fact, who would refuse to marry a man because her parents objected to the way he blacked his boots, or tied his tie. And I Aunt Sally, wrote, impressing upon voting girls the wisdom of marrying an old friend, •on the principle that it is : advisable to know I something of your husband before you marry him. There is no doubt something !in this. We often hear it said old friends are best. King James used to call for his 'old shoes: they were easiest for his feet. ! " THE GEN-ERAt.