Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-05-05

|
care for her. and though at first she could
hardly believe it, she was convinced when
Seymour took her in his strong arms and
/ told her that he first began to love her in
that very spot.
Miss Augusta almost tainted when she
first heard the news. But il she couldn't
have the grand city home herself, there
were plenty of chances to be met if it WAS
ones sisters. And tell you 'smy sister,
Mrs. Seymour Bowen" is quite different
person from comfy just Lizzie"
! a--e%s<>s-s-s-
AN OPnN LETTER TO ANY GIRL WHO
CLAIMS IT.
They tell me you are what the world calls
a fiirt, that all the little attractions which
nature has given you have been subordi-
mated to base uses, and you have openly
boosted Of the conquests you have made
through the power Of coquetry. Pause, l
| beg you; it is not yet too late; you cannot
know whittier this tendency is leading you,
| OF you would never have entered the path.
pause. The fact that you are debasing
your womanhood proves conclusiyely that
you could never have known the power Of
a passion that has many times made de-
mons of angels. Oh! you blush. 1t is
we'll; it gives hope for the future; it tells
that you are not dead to reason and shame.
| Shall I tell you why you are on the brink
Of terrible danger? Does not your heart
| tell you that some time, as there enters
| into the heart of every man and woman,
sooner or later, q love stronger than death,
and true as truth. SO it must come to you,
and in your soul of souls you must feel
that the only man worthy the admiration
and love of any woman is one that would
not for an instant trife with the affections
Of another? Do you think that the true
man whom you could honor as husband
would care to take to his embrace a wife
whose lips had been sullied by careless and
promiscuous contact with any who had
CHANGED to be the plaything of the hour.
You may plead in extenuation of your
fault, that you were engaged TO those
whose caresses you permitted, but in
the several instances referred to, dis
covered before it was too late you had mis-
taken passing fancy for lifelong affec-
| ton. 1t is no excuse at all. Indeed, it
proves you weaker than before. You have
no right to promise yourself in marriage to
man whom you are not sure you can
love until death. These are not to be
made matters of taste-and when you so
far forget your womanly dignity as to snap
at any chance bait that may be offered, to
| find out later that you are mistaken, you
must not wonder that your name is ban
died carelessly about among your mascu-
line acquaintances, and the better kind Of
men begin to sfun you.
| There is q difference, my young friend
between prudishness and womanly self-re-
spect, and you will always find that any
man, high or low, pure in thought ca thor
oughly debased, will not forget the defer
ence due to q true woman. You ought to
know instinctively that familiarity is no
evidence of manly regard, and the proffered
caress often springs from motive SO base
that l need not name it. Guard yourself,
| then, that when the time does come III
which you can truly say to any man that
he is more to you than all else, You will
have no reluctance to lay before him the
history of your past life, unspotted by the
| breath Of suspicion, and untarnished by
practices not open to the world; and, when
| the time does come, as you would have true
sympathy and happiness in the future, give
each other your confidence regarding the
past. Let there be no sealed pages, no for
gotten details, whose ghosty presence will
haunt you ever after, and, it discovered,
cast a shadow between you and him who
has trusted you.
! SHUN ECCENTRICITIEs.-Ay us far
as possible those weaknesses which dimin-
ish respect for character. This will be
very difficult. Most men have some great
follies about them. The GREATEST are not
the exceptions. Tycho Brahe lost his color
and trembled at the sight of a fox or hare.
DR.. johnson would never enter a room
with his left foot foremost. Julius Caesar
fled to the cellars at the sound of thunder.
Peter the Great could not be persuaded to
cross a bridge. Marshal SAKE screamed at
the sight Of q cat. Byron would never
help any one to salt. He would leave the
table if any salt was spilled during the
meal. A clergyman of the last generation
could not pray with dying person if a cat
lay sleeping by the fire. Another greatly
! injured his usefulness by always wiping on
the table-cloth the knives and forks before
eating, Early in life is the time to find out
and put away our foolish practices. In a
minister, far more than in female, ''tem-
per is everything." Put off all hatred and
malice. BE not irritable. Anger units
for either study OF devotion. IA little
jogging puts a clock out of frame; a little
passion the heart. A man cannot wrestle
with God and wrangle with his neighbor
! at the same time"
MEN misconceive when they separate
Gods attributes from himself. Gods att
tributes are the essential principles which
make I'D God. and cannot be separated