Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-05-29
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Long Engagements.
BY ANNIE CORA RITCHIE.

When the heart surrenders, confirm the
blushing promise quickly at the affairs foot"
is the adjuration of every enamored suitor,
eager for the climax of the wedding-ring.
But the maiden who reflects will respond with
no hasty amen to that fond prayer. Re
fleets ?-does not King Oberon still walk the
earth, performing as fantastic and amazing feats
with his magical flower as in the days Of Bully
Bottom? And did women ever reflect after the
fairy monarch had stolen upon her slumbers
and pressed the juice OF his purple blossom up
on her folded lips? The portals Of her heart
open with her eyes when the latter have once
received that mystic flowers touch, and the
eyes take in and the heart enthrones the being
first looked upon. Let him wear what shape
he may, he is transformed and glorifed to her
vision by Loves glamour. That moment Rea
son is unceremoniousy thrust out of doors. In
vain she clamors to be heard, and warns the in
fatuated fair one against precipitancy-in vain
she reminds her that her happiness is more
easily perilled than man ns-that her suscepti-
bilities are keener-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 Reasons brow,
and from that hour she passes 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 declare that they are sharpers
in the beginning. 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 former dissmulation "
Is this a malicious slander or rudely ex-
pressed truth? Are not lovers, all the world
over, zealously engaged in cheating each other
Does not the very state Of mental exatatlon
produced by an absorbing affection give birth
to unprecedented deception? Nay has not
love- In the dawn of its existence, a beautlfylng
influence upon the whole constitution of man S
soul? Are not commonplace minds elevated
and rendered poetic by its refining power p
What then, must be its effect upon spirits OF
finer mould?
The period of an open, prosperous betrothal
is the blossoming season of life. The sun OF a
pure passion calls forth the fairest flowers upon
every tree, and the air is filed with the melody
Of birds carolling joyful promises from the
branches. In the sunshine of bright illusions =
the exhilarating atmosphere Of alternate hopes
and tears-the heart glows, and swells, and
takes In all creation with unwonted tenderness ;
the dullest prospects are tinged with orient
hues; the simplest incidents communicate a
thrill OF joy; nature puts on her gala to
welcome the enamored pair wherever they
wander, and shakes down odorous tributes upon
their heads from every bough
And 1t Is well. 1t is better for the soul, even
when love is misplaced to give boundless de-
votlon than to entertain tame affection for an
object worthy Of the whole wealth of the heart.
The man OF her choice is always horo to a
woman who loves heartily, and her fond fancy
invests hlm with an abundance Of captivating