RETICENT LOVERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18943, 14 February 1925, Page 6 (Supplement)

RETICENT LOVERS.

Writing "as s man of the world," an English journalist declares ihat "a man should never allow a woman to know how much lie loves her." . , . i There is nothing original in tins counsel to lovers and husbands. It has been accepted for ages by a considerable proportion of men as, a means for retaining a woman's affection and interest. Women offer similar advice to one another respecting suitors and spouses. The formula is something like, this: "My dear, as soon as a man knows that you are really fond of him he begins to grow indifferent, and vou lose your power over him." Ouida used to affirm that English people are abnormally, shy and reticent in their love-making. Reserve and undemonstra{'veness are often a part of the tactics of courtship and matrimony. There are persons without any aptitude for making love. When powerful sentiment surprises them they an; timid and inarticulate. How such folk contrive to woo is a subject of wonder among their acquaintances. AW generalisations fail in universal application. There is a substratum of logic in the man of the world's theory; but his prescription takes no account of the immense differences in the emotional natures of human beings. Whereas one ardent lover mav reallv enjoy the alternate doubt and hope of "she loves me, she loves me not," another will resent the anxiety that such uncertainty provokes. The number of women who are contented with a lover or husband who refrains "on principle" from expressing admiration and love in his speech is very limited. There are certain types of men and women who enjoy the expectation of happiness more than its realisation, and for these the pleasing pain of mingled hope and fear may be provided by a reserved and undemonstrative lover. But average men and women crave the realisa- ! inn 'of affection through oft-repeated Avowals of devotion. However profoundly a girl may admire "the strong, silent man" of fiction, she is apt to question the sincerity of the silent lover, in . real Hie.