CUPID WITHOUT BLINKERS.

Waikato Times, Volume 101, Issue 16948, 10 November 1926, Page 5

CUPID WITHOUT BLINKERS.

•♦ PRACTICAL AFFECTION. .. Last night I heard a charming woman sing most villainously. Her husband was in the audience, and 1 left tho party wondering if love can be deaf as well as blind, or if the poor man was unable lo muzzle his dear wife,. Of course Iherc was the third possibility-—-lie may have no ear for music—but (he point raises an Interesting query (writes Jane RamsayKerf in the London Daily Mail).

It is heltcr to be loved blindly in Hie good, poetic style, or lo inspire a practical, critical affection in one's nearest and dearest? Cupid, says Iho classic story wears a bandage over his eye, and most, ordinary, nice-looking women have had the truth of the old adage proved to them, for few of us arc. unlucky enough not lo have been told at, least once by one man that we were beautiful. Even if good sense whispered lo us Ilia I, there was no foundation for the rumour, it was pleasanl, to hear it, and I, for one, have sometimes fell, a very warm affection for Hie little blind god. What we all want, however, is io reign, not for a moment, but, for years;

and Hie only way lo achieve. Ibis feminine ideal of happiness is lo contrive lo inspire a. critical affection—not, a blind adoration. The good wearing qualities of the former "line" in love make it a far belter investment than the romantic beauties of (he la 11 or.

The accepted definition of true love is that it blinds one to the faults of the beloved, but the affection which sees the weaknesses of the individual on which if is lavished, and is not irritated by them, is the right kind, because it is easy to live with. To bo considered perfect is wonderful for a day, a month, or even a year—but for a lifetime the thing is impossible. It would mean cither that one parly was a congenital idiot, or that the other was killing herself by trying to live up lo an impossible standard. We must get Ihe bandage off that boy with the bow and arrows if we want to turn a romance into a happy married life. Our beloved must see us as wc are; make allowances for our faults, without, being irritated by them, and love us Tor our characters with their crankish twists, their charming perplexities and their humanity, if we are going lo be queens for life.