The Portland daily press., 1874-06-11
ERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE.
From the Cincinnati Times.J
Shall Flirting be Suppressed?

Crusades are in order now. The whiskey
crusade has aroused an appetite for crusading
against all social, political and moral evils.
Do Lewis says he has plan for a crusade
against tobacco soaking in his brain," and
while the plan is undergoing that process in
such contracted quarters, woman in the
East loudly calls for crusade to be organized
against the practice of flirting
before any movement can be made against
tne practice, it is well to understand its ma
ture somewhat, and establish the fact that it
IS moraiIy wrong. Webster defines flirting
as playing at conrtng." 1t is simply a game,
ike croquet, where both players know they
are playing game, where one gets beaten as
in croquet, and where both enjoy the game
immensely, as in crOquet. Why not crusade
croquet? The desire for whiskey and tobac-
co is an abnormal and acquired appetite The
inclination to flirt, to play at counting, "comes
by nature 1t is instructive; il is one of the
innate ideas. Children in arms play at court
ing. Jimmy and Dolly play at cour'ing,
while they make mud pies or slide on the
cellar door. As schoolboys and girls they
play at courting. As college students and
boarding school misses they play at courting.
As young ladies and gentlemen of the world
they play at courting-and then one gets
beaten; there is ring, cake, license, blush
ing bridegroom, bridal tour, and the flirting
OF Jimmy and Dolly is over.
But ''fiirting is dangerous" because into
it enter persons who cheat, who are profess
slonals, who are false, who take advantage Of
anotner's ignorance or inexperence, and who
play Tor the mere pleasure and excitement,
and who are dangerous, as all bad characters
are in whatever game of life is being played.
But is not filtration the mother of matrimo-
ny? Suppress filtration, and will you not
strike mortal blow at marriage, of which So
ciety has little enough already? 'lI
The female reformer aforesaid indulges in
half column of advice to innocent girls, who
arc about to be undone by the sin OF flirting.
According TO this authority, an innocent fir
tation is impossible. Filtration means crime,
ruin and despair, and because she is vrtuous
we shall have no more cakes and ale. To
her the sldeloDg glances, the coy advances,
the little words and ways of encouragement
seem to have all the sinful significance of the
seductive song that the old hag in ''Hypatia''
sang for the betrayal of the innocent Phil
ammon:
'Why are we born but for bliss?
Why are we ripe but to fall?
Dream net that ty
Shall bar thee from beauty,
Like water and sunshine, the heirloom Of all.
clips are made only to kiss;
Hands are made only TO toy;
Eyes are made only
To live on the lonely,
The longing, the loving, and drown them in joy
If there be no dirtations, then the BALI
rooms may be turned into offices, the opera
abandoned, theaters shut up, summer resorts
closed and deserted, picnics given up, prayer
meetings and singng-schools and sleigh-rides
stopped forever, and the gas turn I'd on in the
front parlor 1t will be farewell a long fare
well to all the sweetness and romance, and all
hail the era of "business." The tender glance,
the timid pressure of lingering palm, the
coy waywardness of affected Indifference, the
sweet uncertainty of affection-all will van
ish, and the words of the poet be realized:
"No flowers the dusty pathway strew;
To-day no courtly lover true
Unto bis lady bends the knee,
As in the days OF ehvalry,
And tells the old, old story sweet;
But mid the rush of hurrying feet
He names his price and clinks his gold.
Aud buys his lady and her SOUL"
Of course, the game oflirtaton is not sub
ject to the rigid rules and restrictions that
other games are. Hearts will not submit TO
the laws and bounds and forfeits that are at
tached to games OF heads and hands. The
method and significance of playing at court
ing differs with different persons, ages, and
climes. In the tropics it is represented as
wild delight There are no particular re-
strictions put upon it, and social laws allow
it to be carried TO any extent, and none OF its
results are deprecated. Away down East it
is more serious business; when ZekePs heart
goes pit-a-pat, and Huldy's goes pity-Zekel,
and Irritation generally ends in marriage In
Ohio the filtration often ends in marriage;
ard if it does not, the verdict of society is,
mo harm DONE" and the pins are set up for
another game.
This leads us to remark upon the difference
between filtration in Ohio and filtration in
Kentucky. The Buckeye girl frts desper-
ately down to the proposal. Then she ac-
cepts, or she refuses, and the young man is
turned out like to an empty ass to shake his
ears and Craze in commons. But, across the
river. the Kentucky girl looks upon the en-
gagement as really the beginning of the fir
tation, and promptly accepts every offer of
marriage, firts in The liveliest manner with
her afianced, and ''shakes him" only alter
the day is set. If she is engaged to three or
four young gentlemen at once, il makes it all
the more interesting The Ohio girl firts
with many, and plights her troth to but one.
The Kentucky girl plights her troth to great
many, and marries but one.