be said with conviction because it is most blessedly true.





CHAPTER IV


FALLING IN LOVE AND GETTING ENGAGED


This will be a very short chapter, for there is only one thing which I
feel moved to say on this subject, and yet it is so important that I
put it in a chapter by itself. Put in a sentence it is this: Only real
love offers a basis for a happy marriage, and real love is something
more than physical attraction. If all young men and women knew that and
would be strong enough to act upon it, there would be very few
calamitous marriages in the future.

But let us face the facts. Mere physical attraction can be tremendously
strong. It springs into existence sometimes between two people who
hardly know each other. The explanation of it must lie in mysterious
facts about our incarnate life which I certainly cannot analyze. Once
it is there it is felt as an imperious summons to marriage. To each
the other seems for the time being a wonderful person, to be desired
beyond all others. Often the critical faculty in us is entirely
suspended by this attraction; and "her" words seem wise, though in fact
they are silly, and "he" seems noble, though in fact he is only an
averagely decent man. Two such persons long ardently to be together,