Page:The Truth about Marriage.djvu/109

 like the other person a little at the first love will grow. But will it necessarily grow?

I do not believe it will grow enough when there is a strong reluctance to go forward into marriage. I know that many people marry under such conditions and seem to get on fairly well, but I believe they are people who are steady-going and reliable and apt to get on pretty well with anyone they like fairly well.

A woman after she is married and has begun to have children is likely to develop an affection for the man who is the father of her children. The marriage may lack the perfect understanding and sympathy which come when two people are ideally mated. It may lack a great deal more.

My answer to the question is that the way to test yourself as to love is to picture to yourself the other person under all conditions.

For example, how would you like to spend every evening at home alone with the person you have in mind? Do you get a little bored now? Have you anything to talk about after you have discussed the weather and the neighbors and topics of general interest? Do you find yourself at last without topics of conversation?

When you talk do you agree in your conclusions? Do you enjoy each other's company so much that