Amador weekly ledger., 1858-01-16
Learn to Never Praise Friend before Your
Sweetheart.
BY Won HERR IcHE.

And every Julep that he drinks
May gout and bile, and headache be-
And when he strives to calm his pain,
May cholic mingle with his tea.
May nightshade cluster round his path,
And thistes shoot and brambles cling;
May blistering ivy scorch his veins,
And dog-wood burn and nettles sting.
Holmes
Come all ye innocent ones, who have never
been "done," and listen to the advice of one
who knows-"N Never praise friend before
your sweetheart;" never, out Of pure disin-
terested motives, speak Of the talent or good
qualities of friend, unless you want to be
fooled. This may appear strange to the unin-
itiated; but only have patience, and | will
explain
| once had a sweetheart and a friend; and
she, like all others, was
"More beautiful than the moon on the fourteenth
night
With glossy black hair, that hung in ringlets
around neck that would have graced He
be; eyes of bright, brilliant black, that were
always sparkling as if they were magazines
OF fun; and her lips, in the poetical words Of
Willis,
"were slightly parted, like the cleft of pome-
granate."
just showing the tips Of her pearly teeth /;
her form---well, it's no use trying to de-
scribe her any further, as no words of mine
would do justice to the subject; and | know
of no quotation just now that will apply
But just think of your sweetheart, and she
was all that and more
Now for this friend Of mine He was one
Of those noble, whoe-souled, true hearted
men, that one meets but seldom and prizes
the more on account of their scarcity. He
was sometimes given to writing poetry, and
that very good-something | never could do.
In fact, he was one whom it was an honor to
call "friend;" and |, being one of the priyi-
legged few, felt it to be my bounden duty to
expatiate upon his merits to every one who
would listen to me-
Now, my sweetheart happened to meet
him one night at soiree, given by one of
her friends, and being struck by the quiet
easy dignity of his manners, asked me if i
knew him, whereupon | told her 'yes," and
launched forth into a long panegyric about
his many noble qualities, his brilliant talents,
&c; mentioned also his being poet, which
knew would please her, as she was remarka-
bly, fond of poetry; and having one of his
late eifusions in my pocket, pulled it out and
showed it to her, to ratify what / had said
to her She read it through, and immediate
ly expressed her desire to have an introduc-
ton. /, in the innocence Of my heart, imag-
ining it was simply because he was my friend,
eagerly proflered to give the introduction
So went off, got him, brought him over,
and introduced him.
After awhile finding that they were get
ting along finely together, walked out to
take smoke. Coming in again in about
half an hour, | discovered that they were
still together, and she, with eyes riveted upon
his, intently listening to his remarks. then
began congratulating myself upon my good
fortune; for it was always a source of great
satisfaction to me to have my friends liked
and esteemed by those | loved. Well, the
evening passed off in this manner-he talking
to her, and enjoying it. The next evening,
on going round to see her, who should find
but my friend /; but | thought nothing of this
at the time; so, as we left the house | began
to question him as to what he thought Of
Miss - He began by saying that he
thought her the most beautiful young lady be
had ever met, aud that the beauty of her
mind far exceeded that Of her person. This
made me feel rather queer for a little while,
but then it all wore off, for thought it was
only the admiration due her from every man,
for | thought so.
Well, things went on thus for some time,
he going there about as often as / did; in
fact, was fast coming to the conclusion that
my friend was nuisance. One night asked
her if she would not take drive the next
evening. "No,p she couldn't go; she was
engaged to take ride with Mr.. --, (my
friend. Well, wouldn't she go to the con
cert the next nighty NO" she thanked me;
but unfortunately was engaged to go with
Mr.. , (my friend again. This was
too much; so / said thought she might af
ford to deprive herself of the exquisite pleas
urc Of Mr.. IS company for one night
in the week, at any rate She made some
cutting reply. l answered. She retorted
got up, took my hat, and left
The next day called to see her, and she
sent me word that she was not at home, while
she was at that moment talking to my friend.
This learned from the boy who answered
the bell, through the medium Of half dollar
which | slipped into his hand. l became
desperate, went home-I wrote a note saying
that Judging from present appearances, the
relationship which had hitherto existed be-
tween us had better be discontinued, and If
she we're so disposed that we would exchange
letters, &c, and quit" received very
short and pithy reply. simply saying, With
all my heart" And SO all my hopes OF fu-
ture happiness were blasted, all my rose-tinted
dreams of pleasure faded away. AS for my
friend, at first thought of challenging him,