The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-04-03
FIRST LOVE.

L tol lhe LouuOu o1tIiu6J AN0NiC"'J
The life. which has passed. middle age
has its established place on the stage of
the novelist. In more or less remote
distances it provides the background of
the action: Its character may be genial
or morose; its Influence may be direct
ed to make. or to mar..t the Happiness of
the principal aetQrs j. but its own h4RRi-
ness does not much concern either au-
thor or reader; it is ike Aristotle'e Slave
IN britnecaf society,'a klnf of live ma
chine. 1t has great capacity for passion,
in the sense in which children use the
term; and in no other; it can hate, but
it cann0t love. Regent writers, tits true,
from. the days of Charlotte Bronte have
regions on the confines of middle
life formerly mtrOdden by the novelist.
Tired to death Of heroes Of twenty FIVE,
they. have borrowed from Sir Walter
Scott the :'hlack mustaehe.i aud curly
hair, coaI-black,. but grizzled here and
there, but more through toll than age
Of Lord Marion, and have dressed it.np
in. various styles, as Rochester. or the
Senior Fellow but in no case have'they
ventured to carry it across the rubicoh of
forty A hero Of fifty is. as likely to be
met in the realms of,tic:iOn as a heroine
of that age. in the paths of real life,
lTOweye r, twenty five moves onward to
fifty and the years. beyond, and. the race
of life tends to settle down into walk,
with welcomed Resting places here and
there to be still and look back" Hero no
longer, If heIever seemed ,one-in war or
letters OF. .EomanGe-but.a very prosaic
with HE IA of his -i1a nd
a heap Of half yearly bills by way Of
Contribution from the once ahxiously
awaited postman, The looks back along
the vista ofIthe path. which hes has .trOd-
den, and in the distance, if it chance not
to be clouded one, his eye will rest and
finger on his first love. For in the first
decade of the presentreign, however diff,
enlt- for this generation to realize the.
fact, there was such thing as first love.
1t was very odd as a phenomenon, no
doubt; 1ike the fashion of wearing tail
coats in the morning. Which still survived.
in those days; and its memories may be
worth recalling 3 matter of historical
Interest for a time which has banished
it from contemporary experience In
making this Last statement we must
decline to submit to a merely arlthmetl-
cal test. We admit at once that men,
who marry in our own day do, or at least
that some of them do, love their wives,
and did love them before they became
such. We allow also that in every such
Instance there was a time when first in
the Puritan phrase, '"the purpose of mar,
riage" was formed on the part of the
bridegroom, perhaps in reference to the
lady whose list of wedding presents were
furnished to the reporters, and perhaps
to somebody else. 1t is undeniable
Therefore that mans first love has still
a reality as distinct as that which we
might predicate Of his first wife Only
that reality is a different thing altogeth-
er from the memories which middle age
recalls and cherishes across the distance
traversed in a busy life. -
The. contrast presents itself in a more
distinct way to men who have" sons of
their own than it does to others, The
public school boy of this generation does
not concern himself with falling in love:
1t may be that he has no opportunity, it
may be that he has no time, or it may
be that he has no inclination. At any
rate the fact remains, and lit is sometimes
suggested that the great extension of the
public school system is the cause, or at
least the chief cause, of this remarkable
social change. The Sixth Form has
plenty of. ~ork on its hands; and plenty
lfof exciting interests out.Of doors, 1t is
not given to much introspection, and
does not know ten lines of Childe Har
old, unless they have been ''set for a
copy" If boy in one of the higher
forms is not in the running" for schpl-
arships and such like prizes of competi-
ton, he is Sin" for something else. He
Graves ribbons" and .'stars, and t''elev-
en- coIors," and all sorts of "favors, +"
known to his own peculiar Technology:
| but the possession Of ga braid Of his fair
| lady's hair" is the very last thing that it
would enter his head to desire and, il
he have a, lock of hair at all in some re!
cess of his desk, it is most likely his
fuence of the public school is shown in
the absolute disappearance, from the
Universities of the once familiar fresh
man. The type is extinct. s'Tke pub
| lie sehoolmeh need little advice of ours, .
wrote the author. of the Hints to Fresh
men in 1843 and. for this reason the oc-
cupation of the adviser is now complete
/ IL gone. The neophyte 'sprepared fol
his University career by six years res
idence with a superannuated divine
somewhere on the Wolds Of Yorkshire
supplied the element out of which the
freshman of the past was formed; !. ant
he, as rule, either was, or supposed
himself to be, in love. He could ,repea
by heart a touching poem of some twaly'
or fifteen stanzas, the opening lines O.
which we commend J. to the notice o
scholarship examiners fer a test qaes
ton in an English paper, hazarding a
the same time our belief that not On,
public schoolboyi in fifty will be able t
supply the context, the catastrophe, o
4 the name of the author, who yet Has
bard ofrepute in his days
4 Al fond sixteen my rowing heart,
Was pierced BY Loves delightful darf.
/ As sn sid to remoFy, we viii GO so lfa
as TO add the name ofthe lady and kh
81 title of the poem 6 Hannah Ampn
| the mythical legends once current sdon
!. corning late web known and excellen
| professor, il was told how his frienlii
II welcome to the freshman of his colleg
always included.an inquiry whether th
youth ..had viFtu0us attaehment Ia lth
! country; and. absurd as. the questiol