San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-08-09
ALL ABOUT THE BEAU.
HOW HE DIFFERS FROM OTHER
ADMIRERS OF THE FAIR SEX.

Lovers. Admirers, Adorers, Comrades, None
of These Are Beaux-Girls Often Mistake
Beaux for Lovers, but Women Value Them
as They Do Novels or a Comedy.
Ny mother used to talk about my beaux,
and perhaps for her sake am fond of the
quaint, old fashioned word But let me say
in the beginning that it has distinct mean
! ing of its own, and should not be misapplied.
Hood says
| remember, remember,
\ When my little lovers came,
| With posy or a cherry,
| Or some new invented game
Well, he does not mean lovers at all, he
means beaux.
One may have beau, a lover, an admirer,
an adUrer or a comrade, but seldom may COM
bine two of these in one individual, and never
all five in any one epoch of her life For the
beau is special attribute of girlhood, and
seldom develops the exacting tenderness of
the lover, the blind delusions of the admirer,
the nfatuation of the adorer or the honest
sympathy and helpfulness of the comrade,
who, however, does often develop camerad-
erie into friendship-perhaps after ali the
most satisfying relationship between man and
woman.
WHAT Is BEAU'
But the beau The beaul What is hef Who
is he's What is his origin. habitat, sphere of
actiOn'
let us describe him first by negatives. He
need not be young-in fact, IAN old beau" is
a well known character in fiction. drama and
real life
He need not be handsome, although he in
variably thinks he is.
He need not be intellectual or learned-in
fact, ! never knew beau who was either,
although have known some men of whom
other men SAID: He isn't half such fool as
he looks"
He need not be brave, for nobody expects
courage or leadership from him Nor need
he be business man, for he is usually found
spending the money his father or somebody
else has accumulated for him. In fact, the
beau reduced to poverty and real work is the
most forlorn of objects, reminding one of a
performing canary bird or an industrious flea,
or poor, little trained poodle, or any other
helpless and harmless little animal coerced
into unnatural labor and foreign pursuits.
Not that mean to speak severely of the
BEAU for | don't; in fact, like him and value
him and should be really sorry to miss him
out of the world, but he has his limitations,
poor dear, like the rest of us, and one hates
to see him pushed up to the wall that defines
those limits.
Moreover, there is a positive as well as
negative formula in the recipe for beau. He
must be good natured, and always ready, if
not with o smile at least with shipper; he
must be quick at repartee, even though a
mild one he must have good memory and
a certain adheSivenesS of touch which will
enable him to pick up the floating gossamer
threads of society talk and carry them to
just the right quarter for repetition. He unjust
never forget any bodys connections relation
ships, friendships and enmities, and never by
any chance step upon any body's toes or any
body's remotest frillS. He must discover and
keep the narrow path between harmless Cos
sip and perilous scandal, and while always
having something interesting to say never
say anything that could be repeated to his
own or anybody else's detriment. He must
be sentimental to the extent of remeni bering
the favorite flowers, colors and perfumes of
the lady to whom he is for the moment at
tentive, and making graceful little offerings
in harmony with those tastes He must have
sufficient tact to be always where he is want
ed, and TO skillfully efface himself in the
presence of a lover or favored admirer or
adorer; for one of the peculiarities of the
beau is that he has his season, like the mush-
room, and is not at all acceptable out of it.
THE ADoRER AND THE BEAU.
But, even as one will sometimes caprici
ously prefer sailed, dried or picked mush-
rooms to fresh and tender vegetables, there
will be intervals in iife-perhaps to its very
endz-when one turns from grande passion,
from the pedestal wherein ones adorer places
one even from the solid satisfaction of a
comrades honest sympathy, and finds a