The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-06-12
FLIRTs AND FILTRATION.
A Definition not to be Found in Society
Lexicon.

A Definition not to be Found i'm SOciety's
Lexicon.
DR.. johnson defines a firt ga pert
hussy," and very likely this is the def
milton which would be selected by Mrs.
Proper, and middle-aged ladies of her
way of thinking as correctly describing
young ladies whose conduct they choose
to qualify forward" and who in the
result have the advantage over the
Misses Proper in the matter of mat
rimonial alliances. But men generally
have very different notion of firt,
and frequently the girl who is called
firt in the smoking room would never
be suspected of any such propensities
by matronly gossips at five o'clock tea.
No the laughing, lively, talkative, and
perhaps somewhat boisterous girl, whose
animal spirits and innocent beliefs and
delights stir the bile of dowagers
who's youth has gone forever, and pos
sibly pincn themselves for not having
enjoyed it more while it was theirs to
enjoy, are never regarded by the males
as dangerous characters. 1t is only
the very, very young man who does not
know when girlish spirits are natural
and when they are forced, and who can
not distinguish between the allurements
of the experienced siren and the natu-
raj destinations of the light hearted
vestal-between Venus and Diana. The
fatal fiirt, who alone is to be dreaded,
does not attempt to assume the artless-
ness of poisoning girlhood. On the
contrary, she assumes the experience
of tried woman, who knows some
thing of the sins and sorrCWs OF life.
How much or how little she knows she
carefully wells in signs and mournful
looks. Vanity she possesses in an inor-
dinate degree, but she hides it scrupu-
lousy beneath an appearance of aston
ishment 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 admira-
bly, feigned simplicity, that anybody
should take such 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
that man is dreadfulIy selfish, and is it
possible that any man can be an excep-
ton to the rule? And SO, with soft
voice and expressive eyes, she adds an
other fool to her long list. She pos
sesses more worldly wisdom than Lady
Clara We're de We're, and does not fix
vacant star 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 disap-
pointment role and tears are in her
eyes as she gently says, 81 think it
better for both that we should forget
all that has passed but" she adds ten
derby, "let us part friends" She has
certainly the wisdom of the serpent, if
of the dove. Her heart is, doubtless,
a passionate one, but very little salts
fies it, and she never lets it get the bet
ter of her head. She has quite made
up her mind to marry comfortable, and
she is very careful never to go too far
in the experiments she makes. How
ever checkered her ballroom career,
she never loses sight of the wedding
breakfast and the marriage settlements.
The motives of her prenuptial conduct
are to bs found in a restless vanity.
Her one great delight is to believe
that somebody is in love with her,
She is never so happy as when she has
reason TO LQlQk IndG SOn6 Hill OE OIu6E
is fool enough to prowl about the house
where she lives and idiotically 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 cl inning her for
waltz and gallop. She reads and re-
reads with swelling pride the warm let
tiers dictated by passion she knows to
be hopeless, and her replies would ex-
cite the admiration of veteran diplo-
matist. Occasionally she catches q
Tartar-a male firt as cunning as
herself, but her instinct and her tact
are quicker and superior, and she rare
ly falls into the snare she has laid for
others. Eventually she marries well
and makes an excellent wife, though
she is apt to look uncommonly keen
after her husband. She denounces firts
with an irrepressible energy, and her
daughters grow mp models of circum-
spect behavior. How far such charac-
ter is to be congratulated on its success,
or how far it is to be pitied for it's little
ness or condemned for its contemplate
selfshness, hsve no desire to say
London Society.