Smyrna times., 1874-08-12
MiSce e//UU 2 OMS.
Male Flirts.


The M lie firt exists He is not an extinct
ANIMAL like the ma>tOlOn, nor a tabled one,
like the phoenix, nor is he confined to any one
class. One would think he WIS only to be
found amid dry gOo1S, AMI other fine clerks,
or among those youths WHO pIrt their hair in
the middle, or Was to be seen in the set who
wear red neck ties, and parade Fourth street.
one hand cased in lavender glove, the other
carrying the same, while on the bare little
finger CLEANS a diamond cluster or seal ring
all of which elegance is purchased on four or
| five hundred year.
He exists. You rs ,et him every day s S)me-
times h. has the form OF youth of 20, or
gay gallant somewhat older. He may be a
wel-preserved old bachelor, a married man
with half dozen children, or an old man,
and more than probable is a widOwer, and not
very attractive one either. OF one thing you
may be assured-if he Is an old man anu es
says the role, the older he happens to be
the more fascinating he will persuade himself
| he is, and the more sentimental he will become
| Second childhood is bat a sad mockery of the
halcyOn days OF youth.
Of all classes of male Arts the most dan
gerous is clerical one. Scores of cergymen
are firts who never deem themselves such, and
would shrink from the inslnuatioR as though it
were deadly sin, as it is They are insnua
ting, and kind, and tender, that they may WOO
souls. They press young hands softly and
murmur blessings while looking into eyes !;
thus they awake hearts Instead of consciences,
and set young brains dreaming ia way they
little wish or wot of.
Of all deliberate firts the married man is
the most deliberate. The fruit is not his; it
grows on another man s tree; it is forbidden
him he has the like in his own garden; he
/ does not mean to appropriate. Oh, no F.! his
neghbor knows he cannot do that; so it is
safe to admire and handle and be RECALLED with
the perfume, until the bloom is gone aud blight
. has begun, when it is left unplucked to decay.
! When married man undertakes to play
this game with married woman it is Greek
meeting Greek, and there is not often so much
r harm done. 1t is merely passage at arms
which may not always be as agreeable to the
other parties supposed to be interested in it as
/ it is to those engaged in the sport
n The most insinuating of all hirts is the wild
e over, he who is mourning for his dear depart
+ ed, and is so lonely. He always begins BY
n playing on the sympathies of the woman he i
d seeking to devour. He docs not commit him
" self he is too wary for that. He pays 81!
:, visits, is complimentary, and tender and gush
:: ing when no one is by. He sighs, hints tina
e he needs consolation, and suggests that there
> one who can give it. He looks unutterabl
x things, but utters nothing to the purpose
re- Should it so chance that he is thrown with hi
,e fair one, and must escort her OF an evening, b
q is only everything that is courteous and pot
Cd before others, as gentleman should be, bu
f. outside the door he draws her arm through hi
ndd as though with the sanction of propretorshr
We probably retaining her hand in so doing, an
giving her feeling as if she was claimed au
- appropriated. When weary of this 8 lingerin
sweetness long drawn out, he quietly drops i
and the deluded woman, who more than lkel
is one of a certain age to whom this triang
a serious NATTER has no redress, for he h'
not said anything. She is subjected to mort
ficatiou, ridcule, and remark. She can not
as some women would, and as Hannah Mo-
is said to have done--sue him fer breach
re promise. and thus punish him in the enly wa
he is capable OF feeling, because he has mac
no promise She can only bear it as best 81
si- may. To be sure ''she was old enough
know better" We are all old enough to kno
better. but how many of us do better? In Il
meantime he goes his way, hugs his small var