Marion Marlowe in Cleveland, or, The Mystery of the Red Rose — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ie = ha * > yp eee _ —o ir * 7”. a eA a. - me - % — y “My friends and I nave read with interest the seven books of Marion Marlowe’s career. It eretion, she does not profit from her experiences. ~ When she has learned that such traps are set for - girls, how is it wise to continue to fall into these traps, for the purpose of exhibiting her bravery and purity? ——_ “Would you advise all brave, strong-minded girls to do the same, that they might tell of their ~ wonderful escapades and receive notice, in the _ daily papers, as heroines? Do you think Marion makes very judicious use of her money, when at p= oy request, even from strangers, she gives so liberally and freely? It seems to me that she ~~ ought to make inquiries into the motives of her ‘dear friends’ before being so anxious to aid them. A girl so readily influenced into all sorts of ‘charitable acts’ I should call ‘easy.’ Do you think it wise that a young girl marry a man with whom she has.only a few months’ acquaintance, as did Dollie? oe } “Do you believe that love is ‘an itching around the heart?’ “Do couples have any more rights after an en- gagement, and before marriage, than they had before their engagement? AROLF B. H.”’ - Kindly allow me to give you, as briefly as pos- sible, an idea of the character of Marion Marlowe. Marion is a country girl. She is young, inexperi- enced, unsophisticated, even ‘“‘green,” as many, ny a girl has been when she first reached the city. The little she knows of human nature and the world at large has been learned on her 1 ather’s farm, and, until she meets Emile Vorse at the Grand Central Station, she has been en- tirely unacquainted with personal treachery. It _ is not easy fora young girl of her temperament to distrust, and Marion is ‘bitten’ many times _ before she learns to be catttious. _ Furthermore, all readers of ‘‘“My Queen” must certainly understand that in “Marion Marlowe’ is the embodiment of a composite nature. Hun- dreds, perhaps thousands, of young people will I cad her career, and many will find in her some- thing that appeals to their individual natures or to their individual experiences. In order to bea companion to all, she must share the sorrows and pleasures of all, and, if she is unwise at times, it is because she is not perfect. No one is. If she is brave you will not find fault with her, andif she is “easy,” it is because others have ‘suffered from the same fault, and Marion does not claim superiority over all. To answer another question, we can only say that “‘marriage is a lottery.’’ As good marriages have been contracted in weeks as in months. There is no rule that can be applied to the length or shortness of engagements. _ We believe that love is the purest, holiest senti- ment there is, but we know nothing of the physi- al condition which you designate in your letter. i 4 man and woman who are engaged to be mar- Med have the right to be loyal and true to each other, to respect and honor each other and to, ina great measure, monopolize each other’s so- ciety - All this is greatly modified before an , * 1A f MY QUEEN. seems as though fora girl of her years and dis- . ‘ 29 engagement and intensified after marriage. I shall always be pleased with candid, respectful criticism, and shall do my best to answer proper questions. “T have read much of your advice to young girls, so I am going to ask you for some advice. I am just seventeen years old and have been asked to marry a young man. I think I love him, but papa thinks I am too young, and ma don’t, so I wish you would please advise me soon. “Trwas D.’! I agree with your father entirely. You are far too young to marry. By all means, wait a year, at least. I think you will have no difficulty in talking your mother over to your father’s way of thinking as she cannot possibly be in Such a hurry to lose you. ee “T have brown eyes and light hair, and I want you to tell me something that would make my eyebrows and eyelashes heavy. Alsoif such a thing is possible, please tell me how to make my hands smaller or how to keep them white when you wash dishes. A.J.” Rub a little vaseline on your eyebrows and eyelashes every night. This is said to be very beneficial. A little glycerine and rose water on the hands, immediately after washing, is an ex- cellent remedy for the roughness and redness which follows dish washing. We know of nothing that will reduce the size of the hands which nature has given us. : ‘‘T am very much worried and would like to have your kind advice. I go real often to the theatre and go behind the scenes after the opera, and there I made the acquaintance of an actor with whom I fell in love, and he soon after asked me to marry him and run away. ‘‘T do not think it is right, isit? FANNIE S.”’ The man who asks you to ‘‘run away,’’ as you express it, is not a desirable man for you to know. We advise you to drop the acquaintance of the actor at once. Have you no parents or sisters or brothers? If you have, pray go to them and let them settle with the actor. “YT had a lover whom I had been going with for quite a while and who wanted me to marry him. I always thought I loved him till a while ago, when I met another fellow whom I thought I liked better. I told my lover I did not want him any more, so he stopped coming to my house, and now I find that I love him best, and I have written him a letter telling him if he will forgive me to call on mea certain night. He did not call, but I think he still loves me, He is very sensitive. Please advise me what to do, and tell me if I did wrong to write that letter, ‘“MARGIR,”’ We do not blame you for writing the letter neither do we blame your old lover for not déin- ing back. No man who respects himself cares to come and go at the beck and call of a fickle sweetheart. If your old lover does come back to you, we trust you will not falter in your decision again. There is no virtue in love if it is not loyal EORNICLOOKS. ECO