Ellis Parker Butler

“ Love is sweet, but there are moments of the deepest pain. His love for his cousin was sweet, for he had her much to himself when she visited his house; but, oh! the humiliation and disgrace of having to bathe and be combed before her! A man's heart revolts at that. ”

“ He had good reason to know the pangs of one who has proffered his heart only to have it scorned. It was his earliest lesson in the ways of women. It was about the time he first donned the distinctive garb of a man, and it was at the seaside.
"About this time he first donned the distinctive garb of a man."
Why is it that a man's first love is given to a woman whose years exceed his own? Genevieve was at least twice his age, but he loved her at first sight—ravenously. He was a thoughtless fellow in those days, and to love with him was to seek to possess. ”

“ His heart was weary of love, and his limbs ached with growing pains. He went much with the other men of his age, and learned to smoke cornsilk and cigarettes. For the first time in his life he had no sweetheart, and he wanted none. He decided that he would never marry. He would wait until met Dorothy, and then he would explain how he had come to desert her, and would beg her pardon, and she would tell him that he was the only boy she had ever cared anything about, and they would be happy, up there. ”