Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1898-07-21
A PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP
By MARGARET iiANNIs.

women. You VIII ma tnat IL IS true
if you stop q moment to think about
it, that men do not talk much about this
sort OF regard for each other-beiween
men and women, mean, Plato's great
est number of converts are women.
You will also find that the man who
talks most about Platonic friendship
has been educated along that line, or has
first had the notion put into his head
By q woman.
But TO return to the girl who one
day talked to a lot of other girls about
uhis sort of friendship.
All the other girls listened to her In
tently. She was superior sort of girl
It Is only such one that can attract
the attention of other girls: She was
''co-ed," which made her all the more
interesting 10 the other girls who were
not @co-eds," but thought what love
", jolly thing it must be to be one.
The "co-ed" girl was bright and
brainy and healthy: She had studied
as hard as any student who was not
burdened with trailing skirts ard be-
rufaed bodices, and many times had car
ried off honors that these same other
students. minus the referred-to badges
of tcm,nioity, epvicd her. Her cheeks
bloomed and her eyes sparklcd aud she
was good 10 look upon. With all her
ability and little out of the ordinary
advantages, she was not masculine.
Had she been, that would have spoiled
ii all. As it was, she was very charm
ing advocate Of poor old Plates philos,
ophy. She could reckon her ':Platoplc"
SFierds in goodly numbers, for these
admirers OF the "co-ed' girl fold Them
selves that it was long way from
being unpleasant, even this sort of phil
osophicallg regulated devotion to the
"co-ed."
But there was one out Of all this num-
Der that, had Mr.. Plato been about, he
would have shaken his head over and
said: 'Mv dear child, far from stick
ing close to my teachings, and thus
keeping array from that wicked little
Cupid's way, you are getting nearer and
nearer to the danger and further away
from what I would have" But Plato
was not about. Lo! he had been dead
these many years-before there was
such a thing thought Of as a "co-ed
girl. And 50 the girl never knew until
but this is getting ahead of the story
To this very particular "Platonic
friend" "co-ed" told more Of her affairs
than she did to any of the rest They
said over and over to themselves and to
each other that they were the most con-
genial and mattcr-of-fact friends in the
world. AT least the '!co.ed" girl said
this unhesitatingly. She seemed to
have been the first to discover how
'matter=of=faet they were: And then
YOU know, the man on whom she Law
ished this particular friendship fell in
with her way of thinking. Didn't ne
know from the first they were emily 'Rla.
tonic friends?'n Well, I don't know. l
think he admired the "co-ed" girl very
much and felt little chill when philos-
ophy was brought to bear in the case
But after the manner OF men he fepk
his cue from the woman. Women are
the leaders of men in matters Of love
and friendship:
They talked OF love and marriage,
and did not blush. When two are still
young and do this, then Cupid gathers
up his arrows, let fall a disappointed
ter or two, md seeks a spot where
two say nothing of marriage until
there is q ring ready to plight troth
with. And SO the "co-ed" girl and the
man were never to be lovers. The
coed" girl was quite sure thata Pla-
tonic friendship was not only possible
but ideal.
This was some time ago. The years
have passed by, adding much to the
"co-ed" girls store of knowledge, but
adding also to her store Of womanlipess.
Her particular Pla TONIC friend has never
failed. Even Plato himself must have
been pleased to see aman so much after
his own heart.
There came day when the man went
far away. Before parting he and the
@co-edn girl talked 1t all overflow
happy they had been together for so
many years, and that if she, the "co-ed''
girl, needed him, the Platonic friend, at
any time, that she must send for him.
and that he would come to her, his slit
tie sister," from the ends Of the earth.
There was not even a good-by kiss-l
wish there had been-for though kisses
might properly be a part of Platonic
friendship, this age is even more prac-
teal than the one in which Plato taught.
1t cannot be said Of US Of the present
that If we adopta philosophy, we ddnot
adopt 1t intensely. 1t is this intensity
that gives to that which we advocate
most strongly the epithet of "fad."
Somehow things did not go right
for the "co-ed" girl after the Platonic
friend went away on his travels. There
came troubles as troubles always come
pa6 singly, but in lots. She was brave
her absent friend had always said she
was the bravest woman he ever knew
but it would have been so comforting
to tell somebody "who understood" all
about it. In fact, there were affairs that
it needed manly hand to straighten.
No matter if she was "co-edn girl, the
foolish old business world looked upon
all women alike, whether they had been
shut up for years in boarding school
for young ladies" and never saw man
but their brothers and uncles, or sat
every day with the sterner sex and
worked out mathematical problems and
recited lessons in Latin and Greek. And
so one night the "co-sd" girl crept to
bed and cried, she was so lonely.
But in the morning she looked in her
glass and smiled. The happy face she
saw there really startled her. 1t was
not because there were fewer trials to
face that day. The night had swept
none of them away. 1t was only that
she had at last reached concisi.--sE-.