Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-31
HOW GREAT MATTER
4 LITTLE FIRE KINDLETH.
BY W. ]. HAMPTON.
,ritten Exclusively for The Evening Star.


| who NEEDLES with summer girl, and I
| had been in imminent peril for as much as
! three weeks and the summer was as yet
but in its childhood. It was June, leafy
| June, rosy June, time to rapture and to
| spoon, and was engaged in the exercise of
| all my faculties in both particulars. In the
| vernacular of the vulgar I was going the
whole ho-I mean the whole June, and l
| was fairly blooming, not to say booming.
| I, Edward Leffert, aetat, thlrty-eight,
married, was raving in love with one OF
| those soft, white fluffy things called sum-
ner girls, and I wasn't ashamed OF 1t,
either.
And was married. Eighteen years be-
| fore the time of which I am now writing
| 1 had wooed and won Katherine Lee. L
was twenty and she seventeen, and W1tnln
| the year we were married. That was eisn,
| teen years ago, within few months and
1t seemed as ages and ages. Is 1t that
marriage clips the wings of time that II
| flies SO slow? Or is it-well. think might
| as we'll not'go. into too many inquiries upon
| this subject so near to the lives or SO many
| in the bonds of marrimony. 1t is enough
| that eighteen years had gone by since l
| had welded Katherine Lee, and 1t seemed
to me now as If she had never been. Inc
sweet Kitty Lee Of my boyh"od romance
| the girl that I adored and married. An me,
| what pcrils do environ the man who med
dies with summer girl, and eighteen years
the product of newer civilization.
| At thirty-eight, think, am quite as 70,
| mantle as 1 was at twenty, and when l
came to this summer resort. alone, reu
| that 1 had the rights of young man and
could court whatever girl my heart dictated
ard had done SO.
| 1t began the very first night OF my APP
pearance on the spot. Eta SheIton, IN
| fluffy cloud of white, had foated into my
! CT tire attention before met her, for had
been sitting among the chaperons 3ettlig
fhn CDTin
when this young girl came tripping down
| the piazza like a belated sunbeam in the
paler blaze of the electric light, knew that
| the old song was singing IN my heart' ahu
she was the accompaniment.
After q man has had some experience IN
these matters he is much less liable 10
make mistakes in his conclusions, anu IL
was so in this instance, Tor later IN the
evening 1 met Miss Shelton, and there was
| that affinity established at once which TO
some never comes in a lifetime.
For two weeks after this meehng we
| walked together, and talked together, and
read together, and drove together, ana
| rode together, all the time drawing closer
together. Under such circumstances, what
other bat one result could eventuate? OF
course 1 was sixteen years older than she,
but until after a man is sixty his age
| doesn't count seriously against him, more
especially if he should happen to be blessed
| with such an allowance of this worlds
goods that he has negotiable, not to
| say marketable, value. In my case, at
| least, l heard no objection to my years.
On the contrary, Miss Shelton was one of
| those young women who take pride in an
| nouncing that they like older men much
| better than any other brand, and that they
| utterly abhor boys.
| Along at the beginning of the third week,
| it Sunday night as l remember very
distinctly. Miss Shelton and 1 strolled out
| on the piazza and sat down on settee
| about six feet beyond the shadow cast
| across the floor by a corner (which con-
| veniently thrust itself across the line of
| light from the great arc burner which was
| supposed to illuminate the entire piazza.
| But they never do. I've never seen a
| summer hotel piazza which hadn't one or
| more shady hooks and corners, and
wouldn't stop at hotel where l had seen
| such an unromantic anomaly. Anyhow, l
| wouldn't stop there in the summer.
What night this is for lovers said
| to her when We had been sitting there for
| several minutes.
| What loyerS?" she inquired with guile
less grace that was enhancing.
4 ANY lovers who love-" 1 responded
i tentatively.
| asked, looking out into the shadows of the
| great trees on the lawn.
| Il presume they think they do l said
| with somewhat of the air of experience or
| cynicism, as you may prefer; or both, if
| you are of the kind who thinks experience
| is cynicism.
| had never told her the story of my life,
| and. as consequence, she could not know
that l was not she was in the matter
| OF young Loves dream, and of the poetry
| that must always go with that unsubstan-
| tial vision. And why should l tell her?
| Surely ii would not advance my cause and
| what earthly good could there be in my
| taking the risk of turning this lovely June
| dream into Il disagreeable nightmare? Not
| particle, and my resolve was firm to tell
| her nothing of my marriage. A married
man has some rights that are bound to
| be respected. and a half dozen or more of
| them are embodied in his ri-ht to make
n
| Besides, the summer girl has some rights
| as well, for would she not be utterly mis-
| cradle, and would not her life be quite in
vain if every man she met did not make
| love to her? Of course, for she expects it,
| and it would not be fair to disappoint her.
| 1t was with some such thoughts as these
in my mind that 1 said what did to her.
! Don't speak that way" she replied, al
! most pleadingly. Love is such beauti-
full and delicate thing that even hard
thought let fall against it will break it."
| Not all love-" 1 commended. Perhaps,
| though, this summer girl love is of that
| kind 1 ventured.
Summer girl love- YOU call it," she
said, may be as deep and as lasting as
| the love that even death cannot end
| 1T always seemed to me to be a fluffy
| kind of thing, like the girls gown is" /
| said, still pursuing the course of conten-
| ton.
THAT is probably because you never
| sought further than the fluff and the f,zz
| confess that summer girls are efferves-
| cent, as one meets them In such places as
| this but 1 can assure you that in most
cases 1T is artificial 1t is merely an armor
| they wear to protect them against the
| men who are just as fluffy and fizzy as the
| girls are
| Il like that" I said, aggressively.
| Take yourself. for example," she re-
| sponded." You have been making love to
| me desperately for weeks, and l have been
| receiving all you said if you We're the
| one man in all the world / cared to listen
| to. Would you have liked me as well if
| 1 had told you after the first few talks
| and walks we had that you We're a fraud,
| and the truth was not in your
This was putting the matter in differ
] ent light from that might have expected.
But you could not have said that if
you" began with downright seriousness,
| when she held up her hand warningly.
| Now don't try to make it any worse"
| she said. I'VE having too charming
| companionstip to spoil it all with an on
| slaught of the plain unromantic truth.
| What do We care if we both capering
| with Cupid? 1t will Only be for little
| time, anyway, and we might as well enjoy
| it as the ignorant always enjoy
| But we can't enjoy 1t any longer" l
| said. You have done the very thing you
| say we should not have DONE"
| "And what Is that?' she asked with per-
| foot sfnra