The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-03-31
ROMEO AND JULIET,
A AsTORY OF TWO YOUNG FOOLS.
BY BESSIE Lou BURGESS.

BY BESSIE LOU BURGESS.
A dark browed cynic once remarked
that all people under the age Of thirty
five are fOols,-fools absolutely, natur-
ally, hOpelessly.
However true this bitter observation
may be (and it will not appeal to the
masses as gospeD it is an undisputed
fact that the "folliss of youth" are pro-
verbal. Immaturity is always more or
less foolish, using the term in re-
strieted sense.
We excuse it as being one of Natare's
whims, and as Nature is the universal
scapegoat, nobody ressnts the implied
slur upon Nature-the slur that sxoner-
ates humanity. Achilles like, human
nature always has vulnerable point.
1t is either sentimentality or its op-
pesits, practibility.
In the case of Romeo it is sentimeA-
tality. He is very young and very
callsw, but he does net suspect that he
is either. He delights in gorgeous day
dreams. With u cigarette between his
smooth lips, he pictures to himself the
day (Which, as matter of course, is not
far distant) when he shall be crowned
king Of glorious empires-boundless
domains over which he shall rule az
with a rcd Of iron. Where these do
mains lie he does not, as yet, know,
but he shall know ere many days speed
from him. And with a sense OF
Hurculean Importance, he tips his hat
to his left ear, plunges his hands into
his pockets, and affecting a swagger
which lin his estimation) is truly beau
tiful, he sets out upon his lifs's journey.
y
Of course there is a Juliet in his
esming welfare, and she steps upon the
stage at this moment. Like the rising
sun glimmering upon the distant hill.
tops, suffusing its rosy beams over 9
lonely world, so j ulietappears to Romeo
when he first beholds her. He presse;
his hands feebly against the place
where his heart is supposed to be 10.
Gated, and tremuously observes: ~
have met my fate!" And heaven and
earth can not persuade him that it is
merely passing infatuation. julie
bsholds the ardent eyes OF her unknown
lover fixed so earnestly upon her ant
her susceptible little heart leaps wildly
What an Apollo Belvedere he seems tc
hSrl And so it turns out to be a fash
ionably sentimental case of Glove q
first sight" They can not say, will
Julian,
eye ask me, friends, when I begar
to love.
I can net tell you"
They know the very moment tha
Eros sent his rose-tipred Chow often i
proves to be thorn-tipped !! arrow upor
its sweet missien to their hearts.
| Juliet disappears, and he is franti
until he learns her name, oh, the blis
that the knowledge gives him He re
peats it over and over, as though i
were fragment of divine melody, unti
his heart bounds and leaps at the yer,
thought Of it. His face is flushed ant
his appetite gone sadly into the limb
Of things that were. Hcseems to trea,
on air. Juliet's voice is in every sound
her face in everything he sees, th
glimmer OF her hair in the sunshine
she is everywhere, in the wild fancy Q
Cupid's victim. And the little 60
laughs msrrily as he beholds him, fo
he knows the shaft that entered hi
heart is merely a"worthless imatation
of his true and deadly arrows.
"Ah, this is love" thinks Remec
with wild thrill Of exultant rapture
II never knew the meaning of life ur
til love, love, in all its passionate, wor
derful fullness, came to me. An
now"
Words fail him. He longs to put hi
arms around the world, and tell it of hi
new-found passion. And Juliet? Sh
dreams dreams and sees visions" j
which Romeo is the central fgure. A
her life seems suddenly to close abou
that boyish form. He is the personif
cation of all that is COED and noble
He couldn't do an evil deed if he wish
ed to. He is exempt from all the fault
to which flesh is heir. He is a hero,
god, perfect specimen Of perfect mar
hood, all in one. She will never /
happy without him, she decides, i
tears that fail utterly to quench th
ardor of her fond, foolish little hear
She is very young, bat what has age
do with wisdom or with love?
So they stamp each others face an
form indellibly $50 they think on the
hearts.
Romeo spends the greater portion (
his time composing sonnets entitle
J Outlets Eyes," "Love," "Lifs," &c
Broken Heart" etc., ETC., sd infnitun
, much to the disgust of the practic
: land-lady who clears the Uttered flo,
: | Of his chamher AvArx morning or