The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1865-08-11
An OldB 4chelor's Last Love.

- :. $50 I.
I have no faith In the idea that we NOR
tails can love but once. Nature is not 50
stingy. Every one ID liable to have as
many loves, at least, as he has phases IL
ilfe. That young man OF twenty, whom
| remember TO have called myself, ohds
jenkins, twenty years ago, was as differ
ent in love matters, rs in all others, from
the present writer, as twenty years hence,
lsperhaps, will be the ola man of sixty,
calling himself il he sees ttl by the same
| name.
IL is one OF the caprices of young gen
! tlemen in their teens-and a very sensl
bic c,pIlee il il, too--io like women OF
mature years, women ripper than them
selves, mar, led women aVen.; and the
hiking, wlthl1 proper Unite; Is apt 10 be
r.c,prnca;ed. For mere girls they have
a klnd Of contempt, borrowed from the
contempt they nave Tor their late boy
hood and what OF 1t still hpgers about
| then. They have that greatest OF all
/ horrors. the horror of being Thought
green; they slroke their chlns lmpa
tientIy in search OF the much coveted
| beard, and as soon as its first down APP
pears-that soft, d, licious, prophetic fuzz
they pui chase razor, hoist up thel
! ollars, proclaim Themselves men, ana
fall IN love with women OF thirty.
] Is This he first and oniy love about
which we hear so much? Judging from
my own experience, which was like tina
of most others, / should incline 10 hope
not. The seraphic being upon whom l
Laid out n'y Using affections Miss Anna
Condorl was an old maid of thirty five,
who coiled herself about my heart, like
the cunning serpent that she was, and
then unreeled herseif, at days notice,
to encircle and wed rich widower OF
fifty esquire Lemou), whom She squeez q
| l@ deal h in less than six months, and
| rom whom she inherited wido VS. pile
of halt million. And yet | loved her
dearly, and gave her the ''frstlings of my
| b art I"
| Others NAV have been more fortunate
i'm their first love, but few are disposed 10
mmortahze it.
An OLD friend of mine, now at Saratoga
spending his fourth honeymoon, declares
mat the intensity OF his love has IN
creased in every instance IN "arIthm+t
cal proportion" whatever that is, aud
believe that is something tremendous).
each of his wives seeming to himso mdcn
more lovely than her Immediate prede-
ce sor, who was neveri heless III her day,
the paragon OF women. that he wondered
how he could ever have dreamed OF any
body else. Put if this is so, what be-
CONES ut our theories OF first love?
Now have not only to confess my
here sizes on this sutj-c to the reader.
who is proverbially ''indulgent." but am
dreading the day when must make y
clean breast Of them 10 Clara Vernon,
when will be a much more formidable
matter-tke said Clara being my last love.
H w shall have the courage TO declare
NV passion TO her-if passion it is--seeing
s that she will at once curl up her pretty
? ups II think pretty lips may always be
i aSsumed), and ask me impertinen
ly wneiher l am making my thir
!. tirth or torLieth d claIaIion, to which
mast net DIS rep!y-though have kept NJ
Laily-that is at least my twentieth. I'm
asine the face she will make up!
Put if don't look out some young gal"
liant will get the start of me, aud be a
her feet win his first declaration, which
will be as agreeable to her as the frs,
rose of summer. Well, whoever he is,
hope that she will accept him, for it h'
doesn't sicken her of first love In les
J, than a 70, might. she is not the dear FIR
| take her for He is sure TO be some
man VINO has met her at q ball, and WIN
t. has danced with her all the evening
without once losing step or treadIng OF
- her dress As for me, never caEce'
with her but once, and then l lost no
), only my step but my footing, and brough
her with me to the floor. Bat a man ma.
be very good partner for 81 dance, an'
yet very sorry one for life,: which is
. | trIfle more serious than a cotillion or eve'
: apoika, as | shall take the liberty, II
ID s1me disinteres,ed moment, OF tellin
3 her. And vet what does she care abnu
l 10 n m
the other evening, lis too serious by hat
ed Nature is not so terribly glum. She Is o
be broad grin half the Time, and laugh
~ even through her tears. look at tn
e sesrs up yonder. win king at each othe
~ for very fun all the hight Iong, and iaugf
ing at the s.,ber faced MOON"
Sill. Clara is more serious than SD
chooses 20 appear. IL is not always, nc
generally, the persons OF the most soirth
exterior vino are the most serious; sofen
nttv is often q mask for stupidity. Cara
in. liant face is honest enough, bat It r.
fl cts onty the surface of her nature.
nd don't know that she can be Gale
bic hnughtfui, for thcus htfulaess impii'
deliberate and sustain d mental action
IRE whereas the movement OF her MIND, hk
- that of her body, is uupremedlsate. o.
never reasons, and would seem, tntr
fore, never thinks; bu; she has that KIN
Of instinct which may be called spout
VII neous reason, and which dives straiei
he INTO he heart of things OF once. Nor
over, she has such q lively iroaglnat'c
'@6 that her mind appears to bs all OF a biaE
i've Except in Certain emergencies, when u
III: the Ore suddenly goes out, leaving her bIai
ma as il wefe in white heat. SUCH natur
or. are always extremely sensitive, and, g.
lily -.. fooI and snffer vs.
for keenly.
Clara is not very complete type
n't this character, for she inherifs certa
amount of common sense from her faith
I. Ia sbrewd bus ness man, with q profou'
. Knowledge of the surface of thing
which t+mpers her chsracser and, TO q
2 seeming, derogates not q little from
II beauty; for IL there is 3 person less
ltpresting "a me than any other, il is w b