Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-21
LOVERS IN FICTION.
WOOlNG SCENES PAINTED BY WELL
 KNOWN NOvELISTS.

Like Tigers"-Making Love by 1ntimida.
 tion In Feminine Fiction Simple and
 Poetic Scene In "John March,"
 Tho love scene occupies a prominent place in fiction, and there are many which are cited as a proof of their authors deli cate skill Literary fashions may wax and wane, but the love story still remains tho primo favorite with 'the general. So enslaved are we by the nursery tradi- tion that we feel we have been cheated out of something If the novel docs not end with some version of tho old fairy tale for mula, 'So they were married and lived happy ever after," although we have learn ed by our own experience or that of others that matrimony is not always the gateway to Elysium.
 Love scenes in fiction are of many kinds. Howells onco described some spar rows in a garden as 'squabbling like the lovers in a lady's novel," and 1t Is fact that the average feminine novelist makes her turtledoves peck each other with great frequency and vigor. They picker and pout squabble and part forever several times week until finally they kiss and make friends as prelude to matrimony. Often tbere aro a pair of light comedy lovers to balance those whose passion as- sumes tragic cast.
 It Is our tradition to believe that the greater ardor is felt by the man, but evens as Samantha, in those long gone days, invoked the moon and twirled her brazen wheel, chanting the while, My magic wheel, draw homo to me the man love, " there have always been women who wove spells to lure toward them the flckle or timid love. It has been said, "When he who loves is dumb, she who is loved is. deaf" yet there are heroines of fiction who go considerably more than half way to win the hero from bis naughty silence.
 So we find it in the case of Charlotte Bronte's Shirley who, in her proud, i'm perious way, let's the poor tutor see a glimpse of her heart as if feeling that her beauty and fortune permit her to ex- ercise the right of queen. The wild love scenes beween Emily Bronte's Heathcliff and Catherine are like the fierce gambol- ings of pair of tigers whose claws are seldom sheathed even in play. In feminine fiction the gentleman often pays his ad- dresses in manner that savors of intimi- dation. He seems to fancy that he can hector the lady into an ardent affection for himself and Is usually successful in so doing.
 But this is not the ideal lovemaking. We imagine that there should be tender reverence on the man S part, for, as Thack- cray says: 'Men servo women kneeling. When they get on their feet, they walk away" The lover who does not believe his sweetheart an angel has a want of idealism that will mako marriage appear to him a very dull sordid thing, lacking that rosy glow with which illusion irradi- ateS the commonplaceS.
 The walk of Ruth Pinch and John Westlock in the Temple garden is usually ranked among the famous love scenes of fiction, and there is another garden cpl sode-that between Cliye and Ethel New come-which is as sincere in sentiment and touched by far finer literary art. It is not always easy for novelist to present to the mind the charming childishness of lovers without making them seem silly and mawkish, but this Charles Reade in ''Peg Wellington and Christie Johnstone'' has succeeded in doing. There arc pas sages in the courtship of Victor Hugo's Marius and Cosette which have wonder full grace and prettiness and likewise an artlessness that does not always belong to lovemaking in French fiction.
 The figures of Tito and Romola, when tho dark and bright curls mingle in their first embrace, stand out with Q colorful picturesqueness against the rich back ground of old romance which Is wanting in modern tales, but though moro impress i've in q certain sense, these old world lovers are not more actual than Clym Yeo- bright and Eustacia Wye as they walk hand in hand through the furze and fern of Egdon heath Still more vivid is tho aurora militaris which the sword play of Sergeant Troy created about Bathsheba Everdene, ending with that sudden kiss which startled her rebel heart awake.
 Of lato years the river scene in '"Rich- ard Fcverel' has often been mentioned as an example of all that is idyllc, but any writer who is stirred to emulation will find it difficult model It is SD easy to work one's self up. into the ejacnlatory mood. Given plenty of ink and paper, thero is no reason why ono should not continue indefinitely to reel of such sen tences as Pipe, happy sheep boy, Love. Irradiated angels, unfold your winds and lift your voices. Pipe happy love, pipe on to these dear innocents.
 A real idyl, not less simple than poetic, Is to be found in Cables John March, Southerner." The time is spring-the tardy spring of the north-and the man and maid arc straying through the green ing meadows and copses apart and each one dreaming of the others nearness. The girl hears afar the springtime cry of the the quail, two clear glad notes of na- turc' S voice, " and mimics it in memory of her days of childhood. The youth, who had idly uttered the note, fancies himself answered by bird, and so they go on calling and recalling, following the sound until they come face to face startled and wondering all their unconfessed| love shining in their eyes. New Orleans Times Democrat.