The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-10-15
s2jtllmcntI nispatth.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 10, 'oo'.
EiISs Love.


II Is ono OF the oldest points OF difference
between man and woman that woman ny
no first love. The long alphabet OF her nj
facf;ons is without any distinct end or Ne
o;nn;,r. che mounts bv ins"nSihe grada-
flows from dolls and kittens and pet brotherS
~ no yen;,h of rassion, 10 descend nv the
s',,,n ;nscnsihIc rradat;on from the zenith OF
,,,ssion through pet brothers to taoby-ca's.
Thcre is no such event rs first KISS forms
IN q bov's life To mark for woman the trans'-
ton from girlhood to the sudden ma'uriI!
~ rassion she has been kissing and pur-
rinr and fondiinc ana pottinc from her era
dc and she will pet aud fondle and pur.r
and kiss to her grave. Love, IN the technl-
cal sense Of the word, tswith her little more
than an iutonsifving of her ordinary li!e.
There Sc no new picture, hut the colors
are For the while = little heightened and the
tone raised. Presently the rividncss OF color
win f,de again. and the cool grays loWerth the
tone, and the passion OF ihe WI! nave useo
NJ which one conld fairly say that love came
a. went. 4 girl who is not whispcrin" in a
Lovers ear will always Say frankly enough
that she never knew what 1t was not TO De
in love. There Is one obvious deduction
which she forccts to draw, that there never
can be \ time when she can know what IL IS
fo ne in love. Here and there. OF course,
woman may he colder, or later in develop
,7nnt. or more srlC-conscious, and may divide
Inv more RICHLY marked lines the phases Of
hnr life. But even then. if she be woman
nt al. she can have no first love. Feeling,
with woman, has no past, rs 1t hls no tu-
turc. Every phase OF her life begins with
an act Of oblivion. Every love i first love.
81 never loved any one before Is said, and
said truly. to q dozen loving ears in success
sion. ..rhe first thing I SHOULD like to meet
coil 7 aIy Wort Low Nom
t4o1,. "voulG he the river Lctllc. the stream
cf T0rcctfulneSs" But woman finds little
r;yrict of Lethe ut every stage Of her hearts
.orccr. If she remembers the past ut all, it
is 10 offer il up rs burnt sacrifice to the deity
NJ the present. When Cleopatra talked
about Caesar to Mark Antony. she passed,
no doubt, her fingers through her lovers
hair and wondered how she conld have ever
dotted on such q baldpatcl fellow us the
Dictator. Had she succeeded in charming
Octayius, she would have wondered equally
Mt her infatuation for such n ne'er-do-well rs
ANTONY. And so it Is no wonder that wo-
mans first love, even if she realizes 1t at all,
goes down in this general wreck Of the past.
But in mans life it is q revolution. 1t is in
fact the one thing that makes him man.
The world Of boyhood is strictly world Of
BOYS. Sisters, cousins, auntS, mothers, are
mixed I'D in the general crowd Of barha-
There are few warmer or more poetic altcc
lions than the chivalrous friendship ol
school-fcllows there is no trucr or more
genuine worship than boy worship of the
hero Of the scrimml@c or the crlcket-ield.
It is 4 tine world in itself, but it is 4 Won
derfullv narrow and restricted world. Not
n gil may peep over the pailngS. Girls can
lump, or fac cut, or swarm up Tree they
have nothing to talk about As boys talk;
go bat al a
OIiBrown's: they arc awful milk-sop>; they
crv and "tell mama; they are AFRAID OF
novclneSs and OF Il COW. II i, impossible
TO conceive Il creature more utterly con-
tcmrtiblc in Il boys eyes than girl Of his
own ace usually is. Then in some fatal mo-
ment comes the revolution. The barrier ot
contempt goes down with crash. The boy
world disappears. Brown, That god OF the
playground, i cast II the Owls ana 10 the
hats. There is 4 sudden GOODNESS III the
friendship that was to last from school to the
crave. Papcr-chaSes and the annual match
with the {" old fellows" ccas" to be the high
est objects OF human interest. There is less
excitement than there was last year when
great cheer welcomes the news that Mu@br
has got the ireland. The boys life has BE-
come muddlcd and confused. The old eX-
isencc i shccrIg of, and the new comes
>hyly. iil.ully. II is only by 4 sort Of COM
puisiun that be VIII own lnal ne u lnikln-
Ill this - fuss" about girl. For the mo-
ment he rebels against the spell Of that one
little face. the witchcry Of that on" little
hand, he fingers on the border Of this new
country, from whence there j. 10 return To-
the old playing-liclds. Tic Is shy, strange to
this world OF woman, and woman : talk and
woman'S ways. The Surcst. %tcodlcst foot
on the battle-ground tunh!"S over foot
stools and tan2ios Itself III colorcd woods.
The >turiie>t arm that ever welded bat
trcmElcs at the touch Of tho tiny finger.
The voice that rang ont like trumpet
among the lumult Of football bushes and
tremblns ard i;tlters in saying half Il dozen
commonplace words. The old sense Of mus
tcly is gone. He knows that every chit in
The nursery has found ont his secret, and is
laughing over it. lie bushes, and Il boys
blush i u bot, painful thing, when the Sis
tcrly heads bend together, and he hears them
whispering what fool he is. Ics, he is Il
ioUl-that is one thing which he feels quite
certain about. There is only one other
thing which he feels even more certain
about-that he j. in love, and that love has
made him a man.-Sd'urday EcaH@~.