American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1866-04-19
LONG ENGAGEMENTS
BY ANNA CORA RITCHIE.

" neu Iue neart suITeuuerS, cOnnrL
the blushing promise quickly at the altar
foot, is the adjuration of every enamor
ed suitor, eager for the climax of th
wedding ring.
But the maiden who reflects will re
pond with no hasty "amen" to tha
fond prayer. Reflects! Does not KIM
Oberon still walk the earth. performin,
as fantastic and amazing feats with hi
magical flowers as in the days of Bull,
Bottom? =? And did woman ever refec
after the fairy monarch had stolen upol
her slumbers and pressed the juice o
purple blossom upon her folded lids ? TIL
portals of her heart open with her eye
when the latter have once received tha
mystic flowers touch, and the eyes tax,
in and the heart enthrones the first being
looked upon.
Let him wear what shape he may. ht
is transformed and glorifed to her vision
by Loves glamer That moment reason
is unceremoniously thrust ont of door.
In vain she clamors to be heard, and
warns the infatuated fair one against pre-.
cipitauoy--in vain she reminds her that
her happiness is more easily periled than
man's--that her susceptibilities are keen
er-that her suferings will be greater-
that her risks are thousand fold more
numerous. Love fashions a FOOLS cap
out of his madrigals to bind it upon Rea.
sons brow, and from that heur she pas.
ses for Folly.
Goldsmith's Citizen of the World"
quantity remarks, that marriage has
been compared to game of skill for life:
it is generous, then, in both parties to de.
clare that they are sharpers in the begin
ming. In England, am told both sides
use every art to conceal their defects from
each other before marriage, and the rest
Of their lives may be regarded as doing
penance for their dissimulation.
In this malicious SANDER or a rudely
expressed truth Are not lovers, all the
world over, zealousIy engaged in cheat
ing each other. Does not the very state
of mental exhalation, produced by an ab-
sorbing affection, give birth to an unpre,
meditated deception p? Nay, has not
love, in the dawn of its existence, beau.
tifying influence upon the whole const:tu-
ton of mans soul? Are not common
place minds elevated and rendered poetic
by its refining power? What, then, must
be its effect upon spirits Of fine mould?
The period of an open, prosperous be-
rothal is the blossoming season of life.
The son of pure passion calls forth the !
ARREST towers upon every tree, and the |
'ir is filed with the melody of birds car.
bling joyful promises from the branches. |
% the sunshine of bright illusions the
,xhilarating atmosphere of alternate hopes
md fears-the heart glows and swells,
Nd takes in all creation with unwonted
enderness the dullest prospects are ting
ID with orient hues the simplest insi.
lents communicate thrill Of joy ; nature
uts on her gala dress 10 welcome the en-.
nored pair wherever they wander, and
hakes down odorous tributes upon their
eads from every bOugh.
Aud it is well. 1t is better for the
oul, even when love is misplaced, to G
i've bOundless devotion than to enter ,
lin tame affection for an object worthy il
the whole wealth Vt the heart. Il
The man of her choice is always a t
sro whom she loves heartily, and her b
nd fancy invests him with an abundance
captivating attributes, which possibly C
I'VE not the most shadOWy existence out p
her imagination. On the other hand, I
lakespeare tells us that to men "wo~ e
en- are angels wooing." But o. the s.
tier disenchautment if in the glare of f
ymen.s torch the ideal charms vanish A
Tay, the mantle of glory falls from the L
roe shoulders-aDd the "angel," at it
hose shrine the lover devouIy wor- b
ipped, stands before him a most terres- h
j being, full of failings, wants caprices, Il
Unconseiously his eye must then forget
The gentle ray d
They wore on eorrSsAig's smiling day H.
) voice must lose
~The toHss that shed
A tenderness round all they said al
e roses of her bridal chsplet must uith> o.
, and leave a martyrs crown of thorns %
'on the brow they eneireled.
The probation Of long engagement is
E surest talisman against this rude dis. Ii
living Of the spell that surround lovers. pr
airing the interval their various phases al
character are revealed BY unforeseen re
snees-by life's inevitable mutations "
d being discovered at this blissful Pc vi
d when no life-shackle makes endu>
nee compulsory, even grave faults and