Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1915 — Laura Jean Libbeu's Talks on Heart Topics [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Laura Jean Libbeu's Talks on Heart Topics

[Cwrirfc 1914 to ItoOm Nmnpw flndmtol “LOVE WIVES." She who ne'er answers till a hueband cools, - Or, if she roles him, never shows aha ’ ratosi. She Is—mine own! I am rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if .all their sand were pearls, % The water nectar and the rocks pure gold. Since the widespread publication of the Rogers scandal —that unhappy

episode In which a New York lawyer divorced one wife, wedded another, and in short order threw her over for an affinity—l have received an avalanche of letters asking me to denounce the term "wife,” as applied to the third woman In the tangle. These letters are mostly from society women, honorable wives and loyal mothers. I may as well strike right at the

root of this bitter feeling in the hearts of these wives. Who will say thatthey are not satisfied .in their Insistence that the name of wife should not be applied to the woman who has deliberately given herself to man’s lust without troubling herself as to the holy bond of matrimony not being entered into? The term love wife, when applied to an unmarried female, is a gross Insult; an indignity heaped upon the respectable women who bear with honor and dignity the name "wife." Webster’s definition of wife reads: "The lawful consort of a man; a woman who ia united to a man in wedlock.” It Is infamous to give to a woman who is willfully unchaste that sacred name. Call them "passion companions," ‘love thieves,” anything; but never give damaged affection the name of that which is pure and spotless.

Three women, whom the world knows of, have come under this man’s spell. Some writers have put forth the query: Why did not the first wife give him up when she found his heart had gone from her to another? It is very heroic to think of what other Women can do under such circumstances. But if it were their own case they would know it would be quite as easy to tear out the living, beating heart from their bosom as to resignthe idol they worshiped to another woman’s arms. Because some other woman comes along and takes a fancy to what we have is it just and right to relinquish one’s claim to another? If the wife whom he wedded was not a -love wife" by Clod’s approval what was she? The man wooed and won her Innocent heart in all its girlish purity, reverence and faith. She gives up her best years to him. When he casts her off for a passion companion, cart he restore to his wife those years with their lost possibilities, which have ended in loss of love, ruined faith, and outlook of a desolate future? With all this staring her in the face, weighing down her tortured heart, what is there left for her of happiness, peace and love? She is the first and only love wife until the day she dies. The woman who takes her chances on marrying a man who is 'light o’ love” must take her' chances on how long her hold upon his affections will last. When a man marries he can have no knowledge as to whether the good Lord will decree that union to be fruitless or otherwise. If children come, he should be thankful. If they are denied he should not rail against the wisdom of the all wise. This fact does not give him the right to cast off the faithful mate. He should love and comfort her. She is the more dependent upon him as the years slip by. She, who by the subtle art of family raising endeavors to usurp the wife’s place, will find her road a long and thorny one. Passion companions of this kind win find themselves ousted in their turn by a younger and prettier fascinater.