The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-08-09
i.uNATic LOVERS.
Historic Instances That rsrova rhnt

SELVES lOr rove or woman. Father Adam
lost Paradise on earth for himself and
for posterity by yielding to Ewes tempt
ing offer of a slice of apple Holo-I
forsles lost his head---in two senses-by
accepting the caresses OF Judith. An
tony was a iunatic to have sacrificed
everything to his love Of the charming
Cleopatra- Paris, sou Of Priam, ought
to have besn put IL a strait-jac,set for
having tempered with the matrimonial
preserves OF Menelaus-the result Of
which poaching on his part caused the
the splitting Of oceans Of human blood,
as well as the destruction Of Troy.
petraroh spent his crazy life penning
sonnets to the eyebrows Of portly
married woman, the mother of a large
family, while he utterly neglected his
Legitimate wife, and would not permit
his daughter to live under his roof!
Dante in his maudlin love of Beatrice
says: $50 powerful was the spell of
her presence that had TO avoid her.
From thinking of this most gracious
creature, became so weak and lean
that it was irksomc for my friends to
look at MEL He was compelled to hide
his skeleton frame in shame and confu-
sion--a spectacle for ridicuie and deri-
sion. Is not this proof evidence that
even the brightest and strongest gen
fuses degenerate into silly, adale-
headed 1nonoman;acs under the infiu-
ence of this fatal passion? When
Beatrice for the first time denied him
her smile, he says that he became pos
sesscd with such grief that, parting
himself from others, he went into 4
lonely place to battle the ground with
the bitterest tears!
Love found its rcadiest victims in the
knights and troubadours OF the middle
ages. Ulrioh Won Lichtcnstein, mcdi-
aeval German cavalier, loved a married
woman with all the intensity of luna
tic He used to drink with gusto the
water in which she had laved her dainty
hands. He had portion of his under
lip cut off because his mistress told him
that it was $50 irregular in construc-
tion that it did not invite her kissas. y
He used to roam over hills and valleys
in quest of other knights whom he chal-
lenged to duels, If they dared to doubt
that his Dulcinea was the fairest OF the
fair. On one occasion he amputatcd
one of his fingers and presented it TO
his patroness, as prcOf ct the torture
he could endure for her sweet sake. AT
her command he went among the lepers
and dsssnk with them from the same
bowNa1n order to test his devotion tc
his lady-love. All this time Ulrich's
wife pinned alone in her chateau in the
forest, waiting anxiously for her dear
lord, who, when he arrived on the
scene, looked so utterly tired and dilap.
idated chat she had to put him to bed
and nurse him for several months, at
the expiration of which time he would
sally forth once more to do doughty
deeds for another mans wife! Ulrich
was very good type of the lunatie
lover.
Hadlaub tells us of Teuton mime.
singer or troubadour who fell so help
lessly in love with little girl that,
when she used to bite him, he became
s'blissfully ecstatic" with ''all his senses
like burning GOALS" Her bite, he naive
ly confesses, twas SO tender and SC
womanly that used to be sorry the
feeling of it passed away. so soon!"
Pierre Vidal, another troubadour, was
SO infatuated with his lady love, whose
name was "Loba"-wolf-tha he had
himself sewed up in VOLTS hide and
used to scamper over the hills daily so
disguised, in order to please his dar-
ling. One day, however, the shepherds
dogs chasad the unfortunate poet, and
selling various portions of the hide in
their jaws they bore off slice Of his
flesh to boot, whereupon the troubadour
abandoned his wolfish mask, TO the
great disgust of his mistress, who re-
nounced him for his arrant cowardicc.
Even the sacrifice of a pound of her
covers flesh in her service would not
satisfy this cruel and willful lady.
The lever, like the lunatic loves soli-
tude. One of the medical attendants
at Boston lunatic asylum assures me
that when his patients are let in the
garden for recreation they never form
In groups. Each walks alone, mopiag
and brooding over one particular idea.
The particular idea of the lover is the
only and everlasting She. Does She
soye him? Docs She not? He recalls
80 mind every word She uttered, every
attitude She assumed in their last con-
yersation. lie twists and distorts Her
aaost significant remarks to such an ex-
tent that he fears she may prefer an
other to him. His diseased mind be-
comes madly morbid at the idea OF
Her being caressed by another than
himself. jealousy takes possession Of
his soul, ind he swears that if She
play him false he will repeat trrgic
incidents of "Othello' without COM
Function.
AS to bewitching woman, there is no
aolly that she will not sometimes COM
init In order to win the man of her
choice. History also records that she
can be wooed and won by methods that
at first blush appear TO be the most inn
probable means toward a triumph over
her heart. There are instances given
in quaint old annals where women are
captivated more surely by brutal force
than by merely gallant attentions of
their suitors. Forinstance, English his
torical records introduce us to the fair
Mathilde, daughter of Count Bahawin,
Prince Of Flanders, who refused to
marry William the Conquerer because
he was a bastard. William, piqued by
the insult, determined to bring the
haughty girl tohis knees. 1t was not.
however, by sweet caresses that he
accomplished this somewhat difficult
task.