The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-12-05
IS 1T WRONG TO FLlRra
Blk FLOREECE I. BATCH
Tn American Queen.

Is III WEO0k W AtEBS Is q 44OESAO1
often asked. Some girls have a right
to complain that every friendship, how
ever frank it may be, between a young
man and a young girl is called fgrts-
ton. The friendship between men and
women of all ages-if it is sincere, if
it does not cloak itself under the guis'
of honesty and pursue methods that
are dishonest-is one Of the most bsne
fetal influences in life.
Filtration which is the game OF play
ing at being in love, is not only a dan
gerous game, but a mean and cruel
pastime. Is must lead to unfortunate
results; it certainly leads to the dete
rioration of a girls whole nature. Her
point Of view is vitiated, and she
places her point of honor where there
ia no honor. I knew a girl who deter
mined to get q doz4n offers Of mar.
riage. She used all the arts at her
command to realiz9 her ambition, and
she did reaIizs it. This was a savage
view to take of her feminine power.
It was as ghoulish in it's way as was the
ideal of the princess in the Arabian
Nights" who o a girdle composed
of the hearts of her lovers. To be a
firt is often to be a fool.
The lives of women who have been
great dirts are examples of the trihing
away of the greatest OF all powers,
the power to charm. I remember an
old lady who had been a great beauty
and q heartless fl rt. She had been the
toast of the social gatherings of her
time. People clambered on chairs to
catch a glimpse of the lovely Kitty as
she passed. She delighted in her queen
ship, and she cultivated all the wiles
of fascination and counted broken
hearts as savage chiefs in the old days
counted the hands cut off from the
slain on the battlefield. To fool the
men who were intoxicated by her
beauty was her occupation. She
marred the life Of an honorable man
who loved her truly. Poor beauty |
she suddenly awoke to the fact one
day that her youth was passing, her
beauty waning. H9r power to capti'
vate was no longer what it wac. Then
she Yves glad enough to marry q poor
man, who was Of a coarse and brutal
nature and led her a sorry life. The
old fable of the dog who dropped the
substance in seeking to grasp the
shadow was never better exempliied
than in the career of the lovely Kitty.
1t might btand for that OK all hirts. It
ia easy enough to have cheap admira'
ton AMI 20 from a petty triumph to
another. This conception Of romance
stands to the true romance Of life in
the same relation Rs that OF a cheap
novelette, to that Of a great love poem
In studies, in sports, in the various
businesses of life, young men and girls
have opportunities of meeting each
other as they never had before. They
can exchange ideas, discuss points of
view, learn to know and understand
each other for their own benefit and
that of the world, for it is or the fine
relationship of men and women that
the beauty, the dignity Of life hinge.
Some girls complain that friendship
is 30 often mistaken by the man for IN
couragement to love. It is for the
conscience of every girl to settle with
itself as to whether this danger might
not have been averted by her in time
II it can set this doubt at rest within
her she must bravely meet it as a peril
that could not be avoided aud acquis
herself, having out of self love given
pain to her friend. Sincerity of soul
keeps the nature as sensitive as insin
certify blunts it, and usually a true
girl is warned in time that her chum
is beginning to have for her a warmer
feeling than friendship, and that she
can by a thousand ways make him
realize that on her side she cannot re-
spond to the change within him. Such
a girl, by so doing, may lose a lover,
but probably she will keep her friend
through life, and when true love
comes to her she can meet it without
having lost the spiritual bloom of her
maidenhood.
The following from the Letters of