Social Moods,

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 426, 9 June 1904, Page 7

Social Moods,

THE SINCERE MAI?.'- - ■HEN the world of lovers is partially peopled by wooers of every •'■ age whose/.sincerity is to- them , hardly second to their religion, and also—alas.! when that same golden world contains superficial trifled, heaving an eqaally varied complement of years, it is difficult to arrive at anything like a theoretical conclusion regarding the period of a man's life when his heart is most ready to become surely and anBwervably fixed; but, nevertheless, it ia interesting to reflect upon probabilitiesi and draw deductions concerning a sub- • j-ct upon which every woman has pon« dered and speculated at some period of ( her career. . >• -. If we try to settle the knotty point.By'. .'■ consulting opis-'ons of those writers,'the weight of whcss words is Btrong enough . to bear the strain of time and'experience, • we are confronted with a perplexing difference of idea, • . Sir Walter Scott thinka that the most loyal heart-beats throb ' Just at the age 'twixt boy and youth, - When thought is speech and speech is truth,', ... : ~;■ while Burke asserts that ' the nearer we approach the goal of life tbe batter we : begin to understand the real weight of < our opinion,' whether the opinion con« earns the state of our own emotions or. less important matters. Another writer mentions between forty and sixty as the . time when a man's affections are deepest; and someone else asserts that 'love at twenty-two is a terribly intoxicating draught/ but as, happily/the effects-of , intoxication are not generally .of long' - duration, these few instaaoes seem: to .give: ' the palm for sincerity in 'affaires d'amour*. - to him who has left the springtime of his life some little way behind. :, „. \\'l A pretty girl-friend of my own,' whose sunny hair, not many months ago, enjoyed 1 : its golden floating liberty, unfettered by pin or net, cams to me yesterday, and . when she withdrew her left-hand glove— >-' she seemed quite in a hurry to do so—l noticed a new turquoise and pearl ring encircling the slenderthird finger.; ; 'Yes, it's Dick,'she answered in.reply to my queries, while seventeen's sweetest blashes found their home upon her cheeks. • ' Isn't it Ipvely t— he turned twenty last the right age for. a Bweetheart, isn't it?' . ..',,. tasked her why. " f ' ' Oh! because he's had no time to ever love anyone else before; so, you see, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to* oare for another girl, and. he hasn't; learnt the shallowness or treachery of • soma women, therefore he can't realise that there is anything not beautiful about loving.' Her words caused me to indulge deeply ia the luxury of reflexion, particularly'/ when, a few days later, I was able to con-' trast them with some adverse impressions created by a bride of three months standing whose husband had left early youth - and its illusions well in the rear. • ■'- •;:. ' Yes, I am wonderfully. happy,' she a said. 'Some people say that Paul is a . tiny bit too old for me, but I know that,is, not so. A man cannot really love till ex- .. penance of many thing has taught him , the-value of one true woman's affection, anymore than a fire will burn clear and steadily before the dust and ashes from early conflagrations have bseh swept away!' However, my own opinions, based upsn intermittent observation, is that the gold.' of masculine affection rings truest before embittering experiences have had time to cloud the horizon, and after enough years' have elapsed for a man to realise the worth of unsullied devotion and the deep value to be attached to its retention. Though myriads of adoring and devoted lovers whose ages :range from twenty-four to thirty-five rise before my mental vision as a reproachful army denouncing this theory, still I am inclined to believe that : if there is any epoch of a man's life when unsettled convictions are likely to cause wavering fondness, it occurs during the' interval after boyhood's fresh, impetuous, and unsullied ardour is dispelled, and before the real grit of definite mental manhood begins, Of course, with different individuals this interval is differently placed in their lives, varying according to tbier separate degrees of development and precocity; but I can't help thinking that in many cases (with but few exceptions) it is during the midway eight or nine years of a man's life that his capability : for unswerving affection is not quite bo great as •• when his youthful heart flrat realised the beautiful ideal possibilities of loving, or when, later, the clouds of doubt, cynicism, and temporary disillusionment have been blown away by the steady invigorating, breezes of trust and faith. ;