The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-04-17
F1irts Married and Single.

The women who ret no end ofofcrS'
ar at least who sly they DO. are A dis
uct class. They act like the lighter
and more worthless sort OF married
women, who Systematically labor u
make the men come on. with the
Ioresoue determination that II they will
only coIne al they shall speedily haze
Ia go Oft They want %pToyender for
their empty vanity. aud that is all. II
would be 3 waste otvaluab.c compassion
Ia extend Il 10 men who are the victims
of thI, sort OF strategy where married
women are concerned. They must be
rather greenhorns ii they do not take
he Tenth Of the little foot ofthis sort 81
lady n soon aS ever She commences on
perat,ons. 1t j. an old and weli-recog-
need game. which We recommend no
he to play, but the law of which i
well established. and which any simple
tom ought to he able To master. The
first and only law Is that there is no
necessity 10 play fair. How 10 hum
bug, circumyent, and finally let down
the other, j, the essence and whole of
II. K is a far more dangerous game for
the woman than the man for TWO rea-
sons. Ii he be very d~exterous, he ma
possibly pique her INTO a state of mind
hardly di,tinguishable from love and
IN any case She runS the risk Of her re-
putatlon being no better for the expert
ment. lie, at most, viii suffer some
transltory disappointment. But w are
got much concerned to inquire what be-
ome OF q couple OF gamblers who keep
cards up their sleeve. and neither Of
whom intends to pay the stakes If they
set too high. But the unmarried
woman runs or GEMS to run much less
risk, at the same time that She NAV in
flct an l~ncalcueblo amount OF suffering
and damage. An honest man naturally
assuns that a girl IS ingenious at any
rate in her affections. He has a right
to suppose if she displays a preference
for hlm. that she entertains it and if
she exhibits this sentiment above a GER
tain point, he IS entitled to conclude
that she will accept him az a lover, and
finally as a husband. in case his means
are sufficient to justify him in aspiring
TO the responsible position Of the head
of a household. He has every
cause Of complaint if, after lead
ing him to believe himself engaging,
a Young lady refuses to be engaged to
him. it cannot but be Notifying to a
man to feel affection for a girl, which
she shows 10 symptoms Of returning;
yet this is a lot to which no brave man
would demur. 1t has happened to some
of the best, the most virtuous, the most
distinguished, and even the most tasci-
mating OF the male species. BUTT must
be something more than Notifying to IA
man to fall in love, and to be made to
fall In love with a Girl who, all the time
she Vas leading him on, was calculating
what a triumph 1t would be 10 drive
him off. That there are girls who do
this IS certain, and they are the girls
who Get the no end of offers" Once
a girl permits herself @ indulge IN this
,aa,ime, habit soon becomes a second
nature. and she ends By being as inca
pable OF LOVING a man as OF not wanting
men to love her. After a time she ends
her career Of Disseminating them by
herself becoming anything but enchant-
She gets blown upon. and the
.eSuIt Of her numerous offers is that she
find a husband. 1t Is not that
men become afraid Of being rejected by
her, but rather that they would dread
)eine accepted. She may still maintain
I'll the department of a successful fiirt,
md some men may yet hirt with her.
But they go no further. Shemust con
herself with her doubtful reminis-
.ences. Her passion for homage has
survived in all its intensity; but it is a
ire fed with but very little fuel. 1t will
hen be found that she seeks comfort in
imagining that men are still proposing
Q her; and she drops mysterious hints
: to lovers who have still to be discard
I. People smile and pity her. Yet
ne scarcely deserves to be pitied. She
that admirable truth -
lie comes toonear who comes to be denied
nd after having spent her youth in
others, she has to pass the
age III denying herself. -London
ruth.