The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1886-10-30

NV sky is swept of shadows FREQ
Because of thee!
Sorrow. and care have lost their sting,
The blossoms glow, tho linnets sing,
All things in my delight have part
"1'' '-'0S' = -cs,ia 7Aan.ey.
A.
Bachelors S Confession.
I do notsknow quite what it was that
first set me so decidedly and sternly
against women-youug and marriages
able women, mean. Let me hasten
to assure you, however, of one thing It
was not It was not, as I believe Is 80
frequently the case, q desperate affair
of the heart, in which some worthless
tilt had forever chilled my young life.
Nothing of that kind ever occurred TO
me. was heart-whole. had grown
to be q bachelor. Not an "old bach-
elor" by any means, for the rising iore'
head and sallow complexion-whtch
both became me, by the way-were
due more to hard reading and to club
life than to years. Still, knew was
spoken of as a bachelor, and sometimes
an "old bachelor" but as have ex'
planned, the "old," in my case, was
mere figure Of speech.
From the time became OF age ana
secured the modest competence which
allowed me to pursue my reading and
live a leisurely club life-to both OF
which I was strongly atfached-from
that time something like dread OF
falling in love took possession OF me,
and worked upon me until it became
a morbid fear I find 1t difficult to ex-
plain even to myself. The line OF
reading 1 drifted into, and the phito-
sopby of my club life may have had
much to do with this fear. went in
10 society as little as a decent attention
to my sister permitted, and when she
married and went to Los Angeles to
live, eagerly vowed myself to social
exile.
Then, that all apparent danger had
ceased, instead Of feeling secure ana at
my ease, grew even more morbid In
the one dread of my otherwise calm
life. When the married men OF my
set invited ,ne to due with them at
their homes, declined in nervous fear,
unless knew no married women were
to be present. I Stunned the club
fellows knew to have marriageable
sisters, and in buying my seats for the
theatre or opera always made sure to
be seated between two men Of my set.
Yet all these precautions did not serve
to quiet my mind or kill my fears. On
the con ntrary, felt that was be-
coming a monomaniac, heard OF the
engagement of many of my men
friends with the feelings soldier must
have who sees his comrade shot down
at his side-ait may be my turn next y"
I went through regular course OF
reading to prepare my mental defense
against the luckless day when I should
find myself confronted with my enemy
for so T considered all marriageable
women. dlved in La Rochefoucauld,
took shower baths of Howells, went
skating over Henry James, took
sulphur baths in Rousseau, gave my
self bypothermic injections Of Octave
FeuilIet, supped lightly with George
Sand. and dined heavily with Thack-
cray.
And the more I read the more l felt
the terror and strength of the enemy.
found her painted as more adroit in
verbal fencing, more skilled in the
diplomacy of the tete>a-tete, more
subtle. in the art of heart snaring, more
armed with tact and more clad in the
armor of insincerity than man. l was
taught by my books that woman's uni
form cleverness alone prevented the
disclosure of her universal untruthful-
ness, and I was taught by the philo'
sophy of my club that marriage was
the seed OF hypocrisy and living lie
You may woll ask why, after such
course of training, 1 feared to meet any
woman; or why, If I should meet the
! fairest and greatest of her sex, should
not feel the strength of knowledge
which would make her most adroi
attacks Intellectual.
We'll, then, must confess that hae
never fallen in love simply because
had never allowed myself the opportun
lity. / was so far from being one o
those men impervious 10 woman
charms that [, was, in fact, consciou
that l should be more easily and deepI.
affected thsn any man / ever knew.
felt almost asi ] was cursed with an her
editary weakness for woman's charm
that my only safety lay in absolute
self-denial of the bitter sweet. In thi
most singular frame Of mind, easii.
fxx