Woman's World

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 281, 30 April 1914, Page 6

Woman's World

, THE IDEAL AiARRYING AGE. •With a majority of girls the idem marrying age arrives wiien they meet the right man. But marriage, if wit! may use the simile, is like a salad, for its many possibilities depend upon the skill brougnt to bear upon the mixture. The world and most mothers smile approvingly if -Miss .Nineteen decides that tiie time has arrived for lier to wed. But early marriages—beloved also by the eugenist—contain elements of danger, winch this scientist is too scientific to think worthy of consideration True self-reliance, even at 20, is very lure, and the girl who marries in her teens is entrusting another person with the care of ner individuality at its most impressionable stage, and an ideal is necessary on which to model her life, her ideas and aspirations. Above all, she demands that the lover-like love made up of admiration and caresses, shall continue. The girl who marries is going to find out as the weeks go by that she and her husband think very differently upon a good many 1 subjects, telle is going to discover, often to her dismay, that he is quite different irom wnac siie thought ■him. One cynical woman has said that marriage on the man's part is to ge; snd forget: on the woman's part, give and forgive. This is sill arrangement of words, not facts, and therefore is more clever than true. But as marriage must inevitably descend from the realms o£ glorified idealism to those of prosaic conunonsense, a happy married life means obedience to the motto, "Bear and Forbear." Naturally ,it takes time for the girl-wife to digest this wisdom. Sometimes she never does, but goes on making demands which an archangel—much less a man —could scarcely fulfil. However, the modern girl has starts to think.' At 30, having all her wits about her, she can still play games, dance and flirt without.looking ridiculous, and at the same time her experiences have given her poise and balance. Man is not apt to consider a woman of 30 far above • him spiritually; rather is'lie inclined to ( respect her as his intellectual equal.! Thirty years has taught the lesson that J friendship is merely a game of give and, take. The woman of 30 brings to the ( market —or should do if she has used her time right—a stock in trade consisting of prudence, good nature, and generosity. These admirable qualities assist materially to steer a love affair to a satisfactory conclusion. Flirtation with her is an art, and she. is well up to the various methods o? practising it. But she realises that ordinary friendship between a man and a woman has a charm of its own, and never imagines that] every man she meets is in love with her —a fatal mistake most common to her younger sister. Neither is she a victim to the uncomfortable lubit of frequent-' ly falling in love herself. | Though, perhaps, 100 old at 46, 30 ren-. ders her too attractive for the man's peace of mind, and many a confirmed bachelor wavers in his determination to sidestep matrimony when thrown in the company of the 30-year-old girl who understands how to make the best of herself. A lurking idea that her youth is on the wing has tue desirable effect of keeping her up to the ma:v. and Nature gains the assistance of suitable colors and becoming attire. Her play days are by no means over, but she proves something more than an unpractical expensive asset to a husband. Moreover, she understands the value ol good housekeeping.