Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-08-18


this haunting breath that throws its awful
| shadow in discordant echoes down the long cor
| ridOrs OF the river of time
Dangerous Flirtations.
| From the London Truth.
"C'est toujours limprevu qui arrive" saws the
French prOverb. The caamities you anticipate
| seldom happen; but your fate meets YOU round
| the corner. The wretched officer who shot Door
| Miss Mckay through the heart last week, and
| then shot himself, was no doubt up to the last
| moment considered a harmless spectator of the
game of lawn-tennis in which the young girl
was too absorbed to notice him. She was intent
on watching the flight of a tennis-ball when a
more deadly ball of lead pierced her heart
| am not referring to this merely as a sensational
| episode, nor with view of pointing out the
| curiously inconsistent nature OF the YER
dict: granddaughter and suicide while in an
| unsound state of mind"-not murder and
suicide. Perhaps the jury felt that it was inn
possible to say exactly whether the man was
really mad. and equally impossible to declare
him sane. On the bOrderland! Strange border
| land OF vice and volitiOn, which seems to be the
great highway OF human crime. Both victims
being dead. the aggressOr may as well have the
benefit of the doubt for the sake of his friends
and relatives. since he died for the sake of one
whom he slew because she was .dearer to him
IMAM life. The bloody tragedy is past, and
| have no inclination to dwell upon it's narrowing
details, but must say it does suggest the most
unpleasant reflections Any one who Is in the
habit Of glancing at the police news and assize
reports must know THAT assassination or at
tenpts at assassinations of this kind are by no
| means uncommon.
Another French proverb says, in love- "I
| toujours I'm qui ame ct rautre qui Sc laisse
aimer;' but sometimes the other does not let
| herself or himself be loved and then-then--he
or she may be in danger of dear life itself. That
| IL just the point l want to- call attention to.
You have inspired passion; you may have wit
tingly had some little to do with it. You were
| flirting at lawn-tennis; you allowed him to loop
up your dress. Afterward you walked by the
river; you strayed together into the woods; he
| sat at your feet. You were young and flattered
| at the attentions of a man older than yourself
You did not withdraw your hands. There was
another at that party whom you really did care
| Tor; but as he seemed to be engaged very busly
with your cousin. you thought You would just
| show him that you could do without him-for
| time. But the affair turned out to be more
| serious; the person you selected as pis aler
was desperately smitten with yOu-no woman
is quite insensble to the delicious triumph OF
| inspiring love at first sight, you famed the
| f1ame-it needed no fanning-you ALWAYS de-
clared the kiss was stolen. but it was not So
You made conquest, but 1t cost you the love
OF that other whom you really were devoted to,
| and whom you meant to win when YOU had done
teasing him and he had done playing with you,
| and it cost yOu-yOur life!
Many of us have what the doctors call ''the
insane neurOss, only latent, like cancer or con-
sumption; 1t may never be developed. ana we
may finally die of something else; but, like
either of the above taints, it may be developed.
The peculiar emotional conditions and mental
excitation may come to be applied by the ex-
| ternal stimulus of dangerously pretty woman
with magnetic personality; fixed idea-a
helpless, hopeless PASSIONS engendered; the
Wi r oro1 n. hrnn
health, close proximity, jealousy, an ardent
temperament or q dozen other things will do
the rest. Love rejected turns to an eager.
desperate desire still to dominate the object of
others from her. Meanwhile she has half for
gotten ,you-thinks you will get over ire
| members how she got over her first love affair,
at sixteen, with man old enough to be her
| father. She cannot see the difference between
the romantic passion of a susceptible child and
| the deep hunger of a strong man in his full
| maturity. She is heartless, no dOubt-with the
heartlessness OF sunny youth, and with
woman's sense of welding, with sort of poet
icai justice, the fitting weapons OF the weak.
Men flrt and throw girls over, and girls are
helpless. Girls can't ask men to marry them;
they can't go a-hunting like men; they have to
wait, and the mep come or don't come, pick and
| choose. and worry and spoil And then, every
| now and then. girl finds helpless monster at
her tiny little feet Well. it she does not really
much care for him or if she cares for another,
| she thinks-rememberng the tears and signs
she has gulped down in silence for some one
else-there can be no great harm In using him,
or wearing him for little time like an extra
| ribbon or rose while it's fresh. A few parties,
| few walks, dance does the rest; the poor
little bird finds herself lined by desperate pas
sion she does not want, yet can't escape from.
She goes away and thinks she has escaped. She
Is followed. Months pass; she really has lost
every vestige of feeling one way or the other;
can hardly remember what he looks like; gets
engaged to some one else, and is shot dead on
her bridal day. 81 20
Such things are. They happen to women.
and they happen tomen too And how many
are on the point Of happenings But men, as
rule, are more wary. They may have had more
experience Of wOment than women have had Of
them. They don't trust them 30 much. They
are more on the lookout-they manage to get
them protected-out Of the way-l0oked after
In time. For one man killed or injured by q
jealous woman, there are dozen women
manned or murdered by men.
u~.ss->- - ES.>u~~