Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-02-13
Written for the Spirit Of the Age.
To the Social Circle.

Friendship mysterious cement Of the soul!
Swost'nor ofliic. and solder Of society,
! owe thee much thou hast deserved of me
Far, far beyond what | eau ever pay.-BLAIs.
FAIR GIRLS being an extremely sem
sitive and Dashful young man, and not yet
having ever " seen the elephant" it is with
much trcpidatiou that l present my hum.
BILE petition for admission into your Circle.
But with a firm reliance on the ever gen.
orous nature Of your sex, | venture to
knock at the door of your sympathizing
hearts. Win you receive a stranger into
your favor ?-one who halls from the al
most extreme South Western part of Rip
Vans domiuions-whose humble abode
lies among the pine clad rocky hills of
S~taniy-hills from whose rugged sides
gush thousands of chrystal streamlets, trib-
utaries of Rocky and Pee Dee Rivers.
Being, as above stated, a stranger Il do
not mean that | am an entire stranger, for
/ have long been acquainted with your
Spirit,D l deem it my duty, before pro-
cecding farther, to state to you who and
what | am My name is Alpheus; l I'M
fortunately belong to that much prosecuted
class Of bipeds called bdcheiors-though,
to do myself justice here, | will state that
i am not q bachelor from choice, but from
necessity, and not an "uld' one at that.
In my everyday shoes | stand 5 feet III
inches, in my Sunday boots five feet t%gcive,
wear turned down collars, and sometimes
N high crowned hat; complexion light
dark chestnut hair; high forehead o~fcourse ;
blue eyes, (Id some rather my eyes had
been black, or hazel, but can't help that
Greciau nose lips neither thick nor thin:
but if any odds u icctle on the thin order
chin about right, | believe, with the excep-
ton of being minus a goatce-my /" hav-
ing no beard" seems to have been, in the
language of Rosalind to Orlando ga
younger brothers revenue" l am some
times charged with being a devoted admi-
rcr Of the " fair SEX to which charge
/ beg leave to " plead guilty" The acme
of my ambition has been to make myself o
fsyorlte with the girls-that is, | mean,
the icdics. | do not wish you to under
stand by this that | am a fawning syco-
plant, for | dctest the very name of para
site-I would not " latter Neptune for his
trident, nor Jupiter for his power to thun-
der" Ia some instances / have succeeded
in my attempts at winning the favor of the
ladies beyond my most sanguiue expecta-
tons, but In others, alas, l have been-hav,
been-have been unfortunate. You III
derstand me, girls, when l say l have beer
unfortunate, | mean that have becn-no
not that exactly-ycs-that | have been
"kicked!!' Permit me here, as par paren
thesis, to state, that q nan does not hay
to "propose,' or even to " court q girl t
DO ~entit,ei to receive the " m%itten'-fo
poor fellow, he often gets his "~travelin
papers because he will not propose :
But for all this | am still u /" ladies man,
and so long az can keep them on my sid
] feel conddcut of sueccss-success in VIVA
ever 1 may please to undertake, c~onsister
with their will.
Tho LADIES God bless aud foreV
shield them from harm What man
there, whose heart is not made of adamar
can stand up and say he does not lore L
lovely dears? In the language of Il
honest bard Of Ayr,
"Hail to the set! irk guild chiol says,
WI merry dance in winter days,
Az We to share in common;
The gust o. joy, the balm o Wo,
The saul o life, the hoay'n below,
"b rapture giving is0mon y
But "hand me here p"-I did not co
mence this article with the intention, he
ever laudablc, of delivering a panegyric
the character of woman, but with
sVOW~i purpose only, Of gaining adm