The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-05-11
NO.. 10
FLIRTING.

other object should any intercourse
having the appearance of courtship be
permitted or INDUCED in. 1t is a sre-
cies of high-handed fraud upon an I'M
suspecting heart, worthy of the
heaviest penalty Of public opinion, or
law. The affections are too tender
and sacred to be trifled with. He who
does it is a wretc!'. He should be
ranked among thieves, robbers, vii
lains, and murderers. He who steals
money steals trash but he who steals
affections without return of similar
affections steals that which is dearer
than life and more precious than
wealth. His theft is robbery of the
heart.
Flirting is horid outrage upon the
most holy and exalted feelings of the
human soul, and the most sacred and
important relation of life 1t is vul-
garism and wickedness to be compared
only to blasphemy. 1t had, and still
has, its ORIGIN in the basest lust. The
refined soul is always Disguised with
it. 1t is awfully demoralizing in its
tentency, and low and base in its char
acter. 1t is true, many handy their
low jokes upon this matter in thought
lessness; but if they would take one
moments sober reflection upon it, they
would see the improperly of jesting
about the most delicate, serious, and
sacred feelings and relations in human
existence. The whole tendency Of such
lightness is to cause the marriage rela-
tion to be lightly esteemed, and court
ship to be made round of low fun
and frolic, in which every species of
deception is endeavored to be played
off. Until it is viewed in it's true light,
in that sober earnestness which the
subject demands, how can courtship
be anything else than a grand game of
hypocrisy, resulting in wickedness and
misery the most ruinous and deplora-
able?
There is much trifing counting
among the young in some portions of
the country that results in such calam-
itous consequences carried on some
times when the young man means
nothing but present pleasure, and
sometimes when the young woman has
no other object in view. Such inter
course is confined mostly to young
men and women before they are of
age. 1t is a crying evil, worthy of
the severest censure.
A case was recently tried in Rut-
lond, Vermont, in which Miss Mum
son recovered fourteen hundred and
twenty-five dollars of Mr.. Hastings
for a breach of marriage contract.
The curiosity of the thing is this:
The Vermont judge charged the jury
that no explicit promise was necessary
to bind the parties to a marriage con-
tract, but that long continued atten-
tions or intimacy with a female was as
good evidence of intended matrimony
as a special contract The principle
of the case undoubtedly is, that if
Hastings did not promise, he ought to
have done so-the law holds him res
ponsible for the non-performance of his
duty A most excellent decision. We
think if there were more such cases
there would be less flirting.
One of the meanest things Young
man can do (and it is not an uncom-
mon occurrence) is to monopolize the
time and attention of a young girl for
a year, or more, without any definite
object, and to the exclusion of other
gentlemen, who. supposing him to
have matrimonial intentions, absent
themselves from her society. This
selfish "dog-in-the-mange" way of pro-
ceeding should be dscountenanced and
forbidden by parents and guardians.
1t prevents the reception of eligible Of
fers of marriage, and fastens upoi
the young lady, when the acquaintance
is finally dissolved, the unenviable and
unmeritcd appcllation of ''firt.' Let
all your dealings with womtn, young
man, be frank, honest and noble. That
many whose education and position
in life would warrant our looking for
better things, are culpably criminal on
these points, is no excuse for your
shortcomings. That woman is often
injured, or wronged, though her ho-
Hest feelings, adds but blacker dye
to your meanness. One rule is always
safe: Treat every ooman you meet as
you uoula uish another man to treat
you innocent, eonfding sister.
In the spring the birds are singing
AS they build their summer home,
Blades of grass and buds are springing,
Ger the mead the cattle roam.
In the spring your blood is freighted
With the germs that cause diseas
Humors, boils, are designated
Signals warning you Of these.
In the spring that tired feeling
Makes you every duty shirk,-