MARRIAGES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16359, 23 February 1921, Page 9

MARRIAGES.

THE ROMANCE OF LOVE. , s S IS IT EVER TOO LATE TO MARRY? (MeJboiirn©. “ Ase'*) J For tom© it is never too la*«: many it can ba far too early- itessentially a question tor manalone can deride—when he -will Tnajnry*— With the lady it depends entirely 43#',. ; when she is asked. Give her the of a chance, and she is game to niaVl y at every age. For herself .she thinks every age suitable; towards other women she is much less cbantable--Men have "been known to propose- tir> ai woman feeling sure of a refusal on the score of ber age- Such men invariably! struck a- snag. The question of the late marriage must he distinguished from the May and .December marriage- The latter belongs to a different and much more dangerous category than to the. nage where each contracting party ii# distinctly elderly. Interest- in t-Ke matter has been raised by some recent notable instances.. Anotole France*, for example, has just surprised that literary world of which he is such sir ’ brilliant ornament, by maiTjing at the- 'i .ago of seventy-six. Camille Flammarion. famous for two generations an astronomer, lis been married, seven ty-e i gh t. HI PE BLOOMS OF LATE-FLOWERu. % 1 TNG T.OVE. lint it is America that supplies the ripest blooms of late-flowering love- Dr Andrew Malcolm Morrison. of T<oa Angeles, and Miss Mary Augusta Barney have just married The bride is seven tv-two ; the bridegroom is 100. Air and Mrs Edward Remsen Teller started courting sixty years ago. They had a tiff which ended in them marrying others. Tbe-se others died, and now, at seventy-fire, the early, lovers have become husband and wife! ' Mr I>. J. Manley, of Texashas. Tparried. at ninet.y-three, his wife is a. girl ten years his junior. He has had four wives, she has had four husbands; both 4 have agreed that,, if tlie otijicr * dieSsT another helpmeet - will be s<ftiKb& ; | •lohn Shell, of Kentucky, cannot recall how many wives ho lias had- His imperfect memory may be excused on tJSja. ground lhat his age is 130, and ldiflt . he was last married lie Was .123. Th< 4 case scorns thoroughly authenticated the Chicago doctors recsiitly exaftnined-'v Mr Shell, and declare him to he iii feet health, though, his daughter is ninety. 'V LYV* • J Cases could be quoted all proving that age enjoys no imraiir 1 nrtv from the passion called ** Many a man would never marry - if lovit: ; would let him alone. But it delight a, ry : | t-i precipitate into matrimony''the- 3 unlikely. It seems not in the least particular as to where it finds ment. It is most frequently associate ed with tlie hopes and dreams of lusty youth. But not always. Even,when a heart is fatty, or is beginningp'to beat feebly, love will step in with electrical effect. THE ERROR OF YOUTHQuite the stupidest notion cherished by youth is that age is incapablo of romantic affection. Youth is amusingly arrogant. It claims for itself nil the poetry of life. Tt sanctions romonce only in those of its owri generation. Yet parental love and conjugal lovo arc infinitely stronger %han mantic love, and they are BjQplyJoUwf . __ in persons wltose first youth is past. The young take their fill of love: to , them it is a sacred thing. Bui let ttuK? woman whose hair is grey, and the-., man whose hair is gone, or f* show signs of the same emotion.. and .. youth will dorisivelv describe them' as I “ a paii* of silly old buffers. r> Everything is beautiful in it* sea- I son. ail cl love is always in season. But though nge often experiences a resurrection of youthful passion, society has never quite made up its mind how to treat the victims- Certainly, mature I lovo 011 gift not to ho sneered at. if for no other reason than that it> is vastly . .JM superior in quality to the* callow stuff ifl that passes round among you'thf-rtl lovers.* Calf love is crude in its nature J and in its forms of expression. Never . wore aged lovers so hopelessly silly as j vouihS.il lovers- Yet the latteA ceift 4*' -id. •• tlie former a titling subject for 1 their humour and their censure. '‘\4m THE KITTENTSH FLAPPER. I- :-1 Probablv not even the Day of .Tudg- 1 j meat will disclose how marff'tlf Inn seemingly happy married people by whom we arr daily surrounded a t&-_ m > wishing, secretly and heartily. J had not married so early. Everyone ] Knows that a woman is soldottf looking at after she is thirty, and stie.-* is seldom worth speaking to before filicvjr. is thirty. Quite a host of them arp not worth speaking to long aftt*r that. • | S. if yc.ll insisted orrmaTrying tho flap- ‘‘ J per whose kitten-like antics amused •you. . at sixteen, don’t be disa£>pdinted if }■ she proves a dull piece of she approaches sixty ; be legs' dtsap e v.Z' d pointed still if you find th’at the" like qualities have developed into v*et-,.; like characteristics- From nR perils the late marriage would liavq 1 li-.-r.d you. . ■ ... J Romance is w idely believed to be a quality specially peculiar to woman. The truth is that. behind bis coarser exterior,, man is the much m3re rq>v' mantic creature* The first', 'retbrt'' on" * the lips of youth, when subjected to the i t monstrance of ago, is “Oh, things arc quite different ' nowadays.**', It is sadly true. In the old days there was romance; there is none to-day. THE MODERN YOUNG WOMAN. The most matter-of-fact, unromantic person in all creation is the?. modem y-'iing woman. She is as ifc razor’s edge. It may he set down to her participation in business, but it js undeniable that she is intensely ;ui4L ■ inrornantically practical. The scenfc&ttj. miss who regards you wMi eyes qo seemingly innocent can size vcms up rf with the shrewdness of a card sharper,.* Sue seems tlie ideal of a thousand lerio romances, yet carefully docketed in the recesses of her mind is a note of the * 4 financial position and prospects of every young man m 110 seemed likely liiake her the object of his interest. The old drama, of the innocent yoaoc maiden being forced to marry the wicked old Earl is ended for ever. She is npt the simple-minded maiden any more. She c.m contrive to fall on to the fnatri- - % luomnl velvet with a dexterity 4 her rpr antic great-grandmother could never have equalled. She is efficient. sell-sufficient, indo-? f pendent; she is a ( harming product for. v her generation hut she is not foiaan.rf tic, as were the women of other* dava. Marriage settlements and all tlie lated business arrangements were then ~ put into sfiajje by interested onlookers'; romance alone, was tho business of the lovers. Thus the. spirit of romance was iostered, and all through their long lives it lingered, lingered to give a. shocic to this cynical generation in the’-' shaf»e ot bride or bridegroom who isfc', y ;.!so a uonogenarian. It must lake a’> stout lieart to stand and listen to your marriage service, dimly conscious that it would be mere appropriately your 1 uiieral service. But to those who en« ; - icr the married state so late there ai-* wayi Remains tiie-etmsolation that ibeH*-- AK • xperience. if bitter, «annot r last long. . **