Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1857-06-06
M | S G E L L A N Y.
A DEBATE ON FRIENDSHIP.
CHAPTER I.

DO you believe tha, a man and woman can
be truly friends!'
have had the question put to me towards
midnight, in the dusk Of my quiet room, by a
fallaw calla0ians who s.as lah.-;.- ..L.- .L.
oppressive consciousness Of his first love, which
is, you know, kind of dyspepsia ofthe soul
and whose heart was yearning 10 pour into my
bosom all its new burden of hopes and fears
This was the awkward way he took to approach
the subject.
! have had such question put to me tow
ards the close of bachelor dinner, and have
earned passing reputation for satirical humor
by banterng the unsophisticated young pro-
pounder, and putting him to blush.
Can any one blame me because in my own
snug room, or amid the haze Of ofcigar- smoke and
,inkle Of wine glasses, the roar Of good fellow
ship, felt utterly, recklessly independent of
woman and her society for my enjoymenis -
But now | was away from the bachelor herd
when the question was half whispered, by girl
ish lips to me, on a warm evening, between
summertime and autumn.
1t was one Of those mysterious nights which
seem created 10 promote the growth of poetry
and the ruin of fsingle men one ofthose nights
when the moon hangs over US cold, distant and
unsympalhiziag, in its inexpressibe glory; when
the dome beneath which we stand seems loftier
than usual, and more empty; when the stars
quiver family, and are lost in that boundless
realm. The whole world seems to grope in
lonely space; and man, as he looks upwards,
feels himself shrinking into state of painful
insignfcance, and longs for some human COM
pany in which he may regain his selfrespect by
comparison with his kind.
Nature has no sympathy to offer him for all
things are gathered, cozily nesting to rest, un-
der the brooding wing of night. To and fro
in the forest, the katydids handy their drowsy
cadence, the grasshopper sings necessarily
among the long grass, and the cricket ever and
anon lifts us his comfortable chirp.
! should have turned afTectonately TO any hu-
man being just then, and this was the reason
why the little hand which lay shining and dim
pling in the moonlight on my arm gave me SO
keen a thrill whenever its soft weight became
sensiblo-not at all because il was a woman q
hand.
DO you believe that man and woman can
be truly friends' she said, looking mp to me
so that the moonlight filled her carries: eyes
and could see that she meant the question Il
be then and there set at rest forever. Rathe
than TO have entered on metaphysical discus
sion Ike this, in the solitude of such night,
and in such company, would gladly have fore
gathered with this Sphynx, alone, somewhere
in the desert-perhaps on the top of pyrami'
and had that unreasonable animal propose I'M
riddles by the hour.
Il do not believe, cannot believe it possible,
I answered hastily to her abrup question.
A ftful wind crept through the trees shaking
their leaves stealthy, and passed away in dee
drawn sigh. The debilitating influences oftht
night and its romance were gathering aroun'
me.
Il admit continued |, that with some pain
the sexes may make plausible kind of a trea
ty, which will answer all the purposes of friend
ship for the time being. The feeling will b.
novel and delightful, on both sides, and beauti
ful to look upon.
But it will not last-will itl'
perhaps not. And yet added, touched
by her gentle voice, Il myself have had friend
among your sex, who were truer and more un
selfish, while they ,uere friends, than any ma
could be. Butihey are dangerous companions
particularly in the outset of life, while we hav
still faith in our kind for one can scarcely re
frain from trusting them with every thought
and even inventing little dramatic confdenc