The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-11 00:00:00

Flirting on Skates.

Flirtation may be an evil, but the world, or that
portion of it which is blessed with common sense,
has pretty well made up its mind that it is a neces-
sary one. So long as the sun and moon shine and
the stars run in their accustomed orbits—so long as
we are actuated by those inflexible necessities which
a bounteous Providence has planted in the breast of
humanity—so long as women are fascinating and
men susceptible, flirtation will continue one of the
things which is and which, therefore, presumably
ought to be. It is surely not so grave a thing as
love, or, of course, so grand and glorious a thing.
But then without it love would scarcely ever visit us
at all. It is the beautiful and roseate forerunner of
the nobler and loftier passion which, like the sun
itself, may afterward illumine a long and steadfast
day of life or haply be darkened by the clouds of
misunderstanding, of incompatibility, or of misfor-
tune. The little god, like an able general, throws
out his skirmishers in advance to feel the enemy's'
position, and often with results as happy in averting
calamity as in paving the way to victorious assault.
Assuming, then, that flirtation is inevitable, it
becomes a matter of legitimate interest to in-
quire what are its least hurtful conditions, or under
what circumstances it may be indulged in with the
minimum of disadvantage to those who feel
irresistibly,impelled to explore its mysteries and to
plunge into its halycon if often fleeting intoxica-
tions. Modern civilisation has brought all manner
of new provocatives and furnished all manner of
new opportunities for the delightful pastime, and
whether a greater proportion of marriages be the
fruit or not than of yore, it is certain that the
chances are sufficiently augmented. People of
good degree now flirt in the fashionable promenade
to a degree which, when the pavements were not,
would have been quite out of the question. They
flirt in theatre and opera and concert-room in a
way which before the era of gas and open audi-
toriums Would have been, if net impossible, at
least very difficult. They flirt, moreover, in the
omnibus and the railway carriage, on steamboats
and in parks, whereas a hundred years ago such
facilities were denied save, in the latter case, to a
few and favoured localities. They flirt, too, vigor-
ously at croquet, and even at billiards and other
semi-muscular sports whereat our grandmothers
would have stared with wonder and thought the
end of all things was verily close at hand. The
old-fashioned opportunities of balls and dinner
parties and morning vista, meanwhile, still re-
main ; so that all ancient avenues for flirta-
tion are preserved and countless new ones are opened.
Some of these, whether new or old; may be objection-
able, and love-making for hours on a winter's
evening in the heat of a pestilential stove is fairly
to be reckoned as one of the number. But if any
method or scheme of flirtation can be pronounced
free of most objections—if any presents the valuable
feature of uniting health with fascinating pleasure
—if there is any which cannot be reprobated save
by those who denounce flirtation altogether per se,
it is the exhilarating modernism of flirting on
skates I What can be more charming than a bevy of
pretty girls, their cheeks all aglow with blushes of
that exquisite sort which is richly heightened by
genial exercise, becomingly clad in warm and radiant
colours, and flying over the glittering ice like so
many Atalantas, pursued by their eager and ad-
miring swains ? Each pulse •is bounding with
health, each laughing eye is beaming with pleasure
and mischief, each dainty figure is tounded with
hearty and vigorous respiration, and every look and
movement is instinct with the consciousness of doing
something innocent yet pleasurable, and look-
ing most lovely while doing it ! Surely if
American girls would but skate enough,
whether they unite flirtation with the sport
or no, the sad complaint of physical delicacy
and degeneration we have heard so much of might
soon fade away, and at last be heard by a succeed-
ing generation with incredulous surprise. We will
warrant too that flirting, to whatever reasonable
lengths it might be carried, would interfere no whit
with wholesme and robust development. The
truth is that whatever is morbid or unwholesome
in the mind, no less than in the body, is almost sure
to be regulated and expelled by active physical
exercise and plenty of it. Flirtations which are
most demoralising are those which are carried on by
the palid, the weakly, and the morbidly sensitive.
Your stout, brave girl, who walks or skates her ten
or fifteen miles a day, is the one least likely to for-
get her self -respect in her intercourse either with
the opposite sex or her own. The law which leads
us to look for sound minds in sound bodies operates
in amatory matters with a force at least as
great as in any others. Flirtations born of the
heated atmosphere of the ball-room or theatre map
lead to harm at times, as most things human do;
but those whose soft nothings are breathed on
skates are, we will be bound, as little hurtful as
aught on " the dangerous edge of things" can
possibly be. —The bound Table.

COUNTB.Y MARKETS.

NORWICH - SATURDAY.

At this market to-day the supply of wheat was only fair,
and for the best qualities the prices of this day se'magbt
were well supported, damp and ill-conditioned samples
sold at irregular prices. A tolerably good supply of barley,
and prices may be quoted about Is per qr. lower for all de-
scriptions. In oats, beans, and peas little doing.
White wheat (weighing 631 b), 70s to 72s • old red aitto,
(weighing 631 b), 60s to 655; new red ditto weighing
601 b to 631 b), 60s to 65s ; best malting barley weighing
521 b to 531 b), 48s to 50s ; runs ditto
(weighing MI to 6.21 b),
J2lb) r`
45s to 47s • distilling ditto (weighing bOlb to , 36s to
40s ; oats, 24s to 26s ; beans, b7s to 39s ; peas (maple), 369
to 38s per qr. Flour, 45s Od per sack.
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