oman's
temperament.

Man has for ages boasted of his sex virility; of his conquests in what
he has termed "love." Not infrequently a man's choice of a wife is the
result of much seeking in the garden of Life; and much sipping of the
honey from the various flowers that grow therein. Often, indeed, a man
frankly tells the woman he would marry that he knows he loves her
above all other women for the convincing reason that he has tried so
many and none have held him. Should a woman make the same confession
and draw the same conclusion, he would be horrified.

It must be admitted, then, that the term "free-lovers" is applied only
to those who defy Public Opinion and claim their right to respect and
morality despite their defiance of Society's false standards of
morality. These standards are false because they are based upon
criticism and censure of results instead of upon motives.

Society ignores, if it does not actually encourage, frivolous
flirtations, and frowns most harshly upon instances of real love. It
sets the seal of disapproval and ostracism upon those who, because of
circumstances or possibly because of indifference to man-made laws,
take their affairs into their own hands and refuse to exhibit either
penitence or shame when the world discovers that they neglected the
marriage ceremony. If two persons truly love each other and there is
nothing to interfere with their undergoing the publicity of a marriage
ceremony, well and good, unless, indeed, it is a matter of principle
with them that our social customs are a fetich. But there are
innumerable instances where there are obstacles to unions which to
overcome would involve hardships and suffering to others, or where
absurd laws prevent marriage, and where two persons loving each other,
prefer to pay the price of social ostracism to separation. Such as
these lose nothing by Society's disapproval, but Society does lose
something by persecuting those who are independent enough and honest
enough to act from motive, rather than from custom, and who insist
upon maintaining their self-respect, in the face of criticism.
Self-respect is not related to braggadocio.

It must be admitted that as yet there are few persons who have the
courage to endure martyrdom for their convictions, which is, perhaps,
just as well, because the majority are unable to distinguish between
brazen shamelessness and unashamedness. The average woman will stick
to the safe habit of dissembling.