The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-06-12

dent young man, is evidently much
pleased with you begins to talk to you
volubly, having hitherto somewhat dis
regarded you; and you are quite salts
fed that as far as you understand the
word, Mrs. Proper is quite as worthy
the name of fiirt as Mrs. Threestars OF
| Miss Black herself. So you 90 on, en-
| deavoring by an exhaustive process of
experimental inquiries to find out the
! IifeTer3tjG of the species of firt.
| It may be said that the only person
| who has ever succeeded in accurately
describing firt is Mr.. Tennyson in his
poem "Lady Clara We're de We're. "
| But then she was f1irt of truly por-
| tentous type; her pastime was put an
end to by the coarse suicide of an ex-
cellent youth, and she laid herself open
to being called a very bad name by the
youths mother. But then it must be
remembered that Lady Clara We're de
We're was a great heiress; and it is quite
possible that 'young Laurence" cut
his throat quite as much out of disap-
pointment at not being lord and master
of the "halls and towers" as at being
met with I" a vacant stare :" and there
fore we are not quite satisfied that it
was the Irritation alone that induced the
youth to put an end to what, under
more favorable circumstances, might
have been a useful career. And so the
moral of the tale is lost in obscurity, or
at least is doubtful. For if "young
Laurence" after all, as is quite posi-
BILE, only sought Lady Clara for her
wealth, we cannot but feel that the
simple yoeman," who took upon him
self to rebuke her ladyship so scorn-
fully, indulged in undeserved ipvee-
tive. Besides, might not this same
simple yoeman" have been somewhat
conceited, or at least hasty, in presum-
ing that Lady Clara was endeavoring to
get up a Irritation with him? Even the
Poet Laureate has not succeeded in
clearing away the nebulosity that sur
rounds the nature of the firt.
DIR. johnson defines a firt 90 a pert
hussy," and very likely this is the defn-
ition which would be selected by Mrs.
Proper, and middle-aged ladies of her
way of thinking, as correctly describing
young ladies whose conduct they chose
to qualify as forward" and who in
the result have the advantage over the
Misses Proper in the matter of matri-
monial alliances. But men generally have
a very different notion of firt, and
frequently the girl who is called a firt
in the smoking-roGm would never be
suspected of any such propensities by
matronly gossips at five o'clock tea.
No; the laughing, lively, talkative, and
perhars somewhat boisterOus girl,
whose animal spirits and innocent be-
Iiefs and delights stir the bile of dowa-
ayers whose youth has gone forever,
and possibly pinch themselves for not
having enjoyed it more while it was
theirs to enjoy, are never regarded by
the males as " dangerous characters.
It is only the very, very young man
who does not know when girlish spirits
are natural and when they are forced,
and who cannot distinguish between the
alIurements of the experienced siren and
the natural fascinations of the light
hearted vestal-betweeR Venus ssand Di-
ana. The fatal firt, who alone is to be
dreaded, does not attempt to assume
the artlessness of blossoming girlhood.
On the contrary, she assumes the expe-
rieEce of a tried woman who knows
something of the sins and sorrows of
life. How much or how little she
knows she carefully wells in sighs and
mournful looks. Vanity she possesses
in an inordinate degree, but she hides
it unsvrupulously beneath an appearance
of astonishment when her victim first
gives her to understand that he likes
her rather better than her sisters.
What is there about her, she asks with
admirably feigned simplicity, that any
body should take such a fancy to her?
Oh. no he must be mistaken /; or,
worse, he is endeavoring to deceive her,
and that is not kind. For she has suf-
fered-ah, yes she has suffered. She
has learned, to her cost, that man is
dreadfully selfish, and is it possible that
any man can be an exception to the
rule ? And so, with soft voice and ex-
pressive eyes, she adds another fool to
her long list. She possesses more
worldly wisdom than Lady Clara, and
does not fix a vacant stare on the lover
she wants to be off as the new one is
coming on. She is clever at contriving
quarrels, but she is especially careful
not to put herself in the wrong. She
PLAYS the sad and disappointed role, and
tears are in her eyes as she gently says,
"I think it better for beth that we
should forget all that has passed but,
she adds tenderly, ''let us part friends"
She has certainly the wisdom of the
serpent, if nature has denied her the in
nocence of the dove. Her heart is,
doubtless, a passionate one, but a very
little satisfies it, and she never let's it
get the better of her head. She has
quite made up her mind to marry COM
Portable, and she is very careful never
to 90 too far in the experiments she
makes. However checkered her ball |
room career, she never loses sight of
the wedding breakfast and the marriage
settlements, The motives of her pre-
naptial conduct are to be found in a
restless vanity. Her one great delight
is to believe that somebody Is in love
&c
when she has reason to think that some
man or other is fool enough to prowl
about the house where she lives and i'd
iotically stare at a bedroom window
which he thinks is hers. To draw men
away from other women is her great
triumph, and she is IN her glory when
partners eagerly vie with each other in
claiming her for waltz and gallop. She
reads and re-reads with swelling pride
the warm letters dictated by passion she
knows to be hopeless, and her replies
would excite the admiration of veteran
diplomatist. Occasionally she catches
a Tartar-a male firt as cunning as her
self, but her instinct and her tact are
quicker and superior, and she rarely
falls into the snare that she has laid for
others. Eventually she marr1es well
and makes an excellent wife, though she
is apt to look uncommOnly keen after
her husband. She denounces fiirts with
an irrepressible energy, and her daugh-
ters grow up models of circumspect be-
havior. How far such a character is to
be congratulated on its success, or how
far it is to be pitied for its littleness or
condemned for its contemplate selfish
ness, I have no desire to say.
"But this won't do, I hear some
fair reader exclaim. "The fault of
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