Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-03-24
vRoiNIA's FLlRTs.
Their Fame Extends Beyond America
and ELECTS British ADVICE.

a correspondent IN MdryidHu draws
our attention to bill-sorre intimation
IF which has already been received in
his country-at present pending be-
;ore the senate of Virginia. This meas
Ire is intended to apply veto to the
dangerous practice of filtration. 1t is
Untitled: "a bill for the Protection Of
Boarding Schools and Colleges for
Females and the Principals and In
mates Thereof" and its provisions are
IF the character described as drastic"
If it passes it will be unlawful for any
male person in the state of Virginia to
''willfully and unnecessarily interfere
with, disturb. or in any way disquiet"
the pupils of any schools or colleges
for females" while on any public road
OR street. Or III any building or struc-
ture. 1t viii be equally unlawful &c
"disquiet" the principals and teachers
| in charge of the aforesaid maidens,
though whether the young Virginian is
in the habit of flirting with the ''princi-
pals of young ladies' seminaries, or
whether he only causes them dis
auietude by his attentions to their
pupils, is not to be gathered from the in
formal ton before us.
At any rate. no nonsense is to he
stood from the youths of Virginia in
| their relations toward girls schools
They are forbidden to hold any COM
munication for such purposes" ii. e..
Irritation purposes) with the pupils.
either orally, or in writing, or ''by
signs or otherwise Senator McCune.
| who has drafted the bill. evidently
knows a thing or two-militavit non
| sine gloria. He is probably aware that
the language of Cupid has many dia
lects, and can at times make itself re-
markably we'll understood ''by signs or
otherwise" But they will not stand
that sort of thing in Virginia if Senator
McCunr has his way. Any person who
commits one of the very numerous
offenses described in the bill, such as
| lettering, wandering. or sitting upon
the public roads or ''sidewalks," with
| intent to annoy. veN or disturb the oc
cupants, teachers or pupils of any girls
school, shall be. upon conviction, fined
rot less than five dollars nor more than
$50 for the first time. If he offends
again, he may be sent to prison for any
period from ten to thirty days. The
| bill, it will be observed, is one-sided in
its operation. The "boys" must not
| fiirt with the girls; but, on the other
hand, there seems to be nothing to pre-
vent the damsels of the Old Dominion
from ''disquieting" the masculine Teart
to any extent they please. Thus try
| ing situation may arise for the sus-
ceptible local bachelor. He may be eX-
posed to all the artillery OF, the blue,
brown and black eyes of a whole col
umn of fascinating maidens, and be
unable to respond by so much a "a sign
or otherwise''-say a mere languishing
glance or the gentle lowering OF, an eye
lid-under penalty of fine and imprison-
| Inent. Some difficulty, one would think,
would occasionally arise when it is
sought to obtain evidence for the prose
cution.
| There are young ladies. even in Vir-
| ginia, who would be far from dis
| quieted by the circumstance that a
young man has openly manifested adj
miration of a pretty face OF a smart new
frock. If Mr.. McCune's bill passes, they
want a court of love-with Il jury OF
minor poets-in Virginia. But even
there they stop short of the heroic
sumptuary legislation of South Caro-
lima. In that state, says a Baltimore
journal, they are confronted with a
proposed hip-pocket bill, by which it
will be made penal for a man to adorn
the garments in America called "pants"
| with that commodious receptacle. The
hip pocket wide works of American
novelists passim) is where the spirited
southerHcr and westerner keeps his re-
volver. Consequently, if there are no
hip pockets, the shooting iron" will
not be so handy to get at. 1t seems a
roundabout method of meeting the evil,
and perhaps it would be simpler to pro-
hibit the pistol rather than the pistol
pocket. Another way would be to hang
messieurs les assassins; but as that
might outrage local sentiment and en-
danger the lives of jurors, the Baltimore
journalists suggest that, instead OF
abolishing the hip pocket, it should be
made by ladies' dressmallers. Everybody
knows the difficulty women encounter
when they attempt to find the way to
their own pockets. Apply this to the
case of gentlemen's pants" and the
warlike ardor of the pistoling South
Carolinians will be quenched. BY the
time pair of enemies have found their
concealed weapons they will be too
much exhausted for further eXertion
and will probably pay for each others
drinks instead of shooting. The effect
might, in each case, be the same in the
end; bur, with the suggestion innova
ton itwould be reached bya less openly
violent and lawless method.-London
Standard.