The Truth about Marriage/Chapter21
CHAPTER XXI
IS LOVE ALONE ENOUGH
Now here is another question, and one that is often asked, "Is love alone enough for a happy mating?"
No. That is my answer, and I answer as I do because the word love is capable of so many different interpretations.
Two young people may have what is called calf love. This often occurs when people are very young. It is not a discriminating love, but simply sex sentiment, based upon superficial conditions such as the pink cheeks and bright eyes of the girl and the manly ways of the boy. They are just boy and girl out in the world in quest of love and seeking to enjoy the romance of life, dreaming dreams, and fastening the affections on the first desirable one of the other sex that appears.
Have you ever looked back on your early loves and smiled over them? Of course, there have been boys and girls who have fallen in love as children and have never outgrown it, but they are rare. Our judgment in early youth is apt to be without discrimination.
Then there is the case of the woman who loves a man who does not command her complete respect, possibly because of slipshod ways or language or lack of education or good-breeding, or because of weakness of will or lack of intellect. Love alone is certainly not enough in such a case.
Then there is the question of money, Will love alone suffice? It depends upon the man and also upon the woman. If the man is able to make money later on, love plus character will suffice. If the woman is able to bear hardships of poverty until the man comes into his own, love is enough. But often both the man and woman find that when the wolf knocks at the door love flies out at the window.
Yet some of the happiest marriages have been entered into when the man was as poor as a church mouse. The capacity of the man to provide seems to be highly useful, even when love is deep and strong. Otherwise the woman may lose her patience.