The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-13
WOMAN'S
WORLD.

However much Of a blow it may be to
romance, says the New Orleans Picayune,
il must be confessed that among the things
that make love worth while to a girl are
the perauisites. This must not be taken
10 indicate that the guileless debutante is
overly sordid or grasping, The gifts that
her adorers lay at her feet are the out
ward and visible proof of her beiledom-the
scalps she hangs at her belt and exhibits
iu triumph for the benefit of her less for
tunate sisters. for the modern maiden re-
verses the process of the savage and skins
her friends insteadp f her enmies.
or course. there are a few highly proper
young women who loudly declare that
never, never under any circumstances
would they accept a present from man
and who look askance at the gifts from
Tom, Dick and Harry-the tokens Of many
ekirmishes at arms-that deck their girl
friends rooms. This opinion, however, Is
not the generally accepted one, and to the
average girl a girlhood without its cheer
full procession of little presents-a girlhood
where there were no chocolate creams and
violets except what she bought herself. no
silver trinketry, no souvenirs and Christ
mas remembrances-would be a girlhood
shorn Of its chief and most exciting de-
lights One had just as well be married,
or HE them to a nunnery, and be done
with it.
Nor need the girl be too severely censur-
ed for this Men have taught it to her.
There is something in the tender passion
that relaxes a mans purse strings just as
It does his heart strings. The two events
are always coincident. The moment
man begins to take notice of a woman he
begins to want to give her something. 1t
is a premonitory and unfailing symptom of
love It varies in degree and intensity
with different men. Some have 1t lightly
and get off with a few roses and an occa-
sional box of candy Others it deals
solar plexus blow that leaves their pocket
book as fiat as If an elephant instead OF
a girl, had stepped on it. But no man es-
capes. Even the man who, the minute he
Tnarries a girl, will haggle with her over
cents for car fare, is smitten with a reck-
less desire TO give her presents while he Is
counting her
The man who likes to give, and the girl
who enjoys being given TO, make an ideal
combination while IL lasts; but, unfortu-
nately. love is fire that burns itself out
sometimes, and with the cooling of the
flames there occasionally comes to the for
rner lover a moment of calm and dispas-
eionate reflection, when he sits down and
adds up the sum of the good, hard dollars
that he has spent on the girl. Then, like
the hero Of the rag-time song, he wants
dem presents back One would like to be
able to record that invariably the girl In
dignantly hustled back the begrudsed
gifts. but frequently she views the mattM
in an altogether different light. She re-
CARDS the presents simply as spells of war,
Goodness graciousr" she says, Does that
chump think that would have been bored
with him all of this time for nothing?
Well, I guess not. Heaven knows have
paid for the things, anyway, by listening
to his messy old stories and laughing at
his wobbly jokes. Gives presents with
string tied to them. does he? Well, I've got
these and I'd Just like 10 see him get em
back, that's all"
A very interesting decision in matter
of this kind has just been handed down by
a judge in Georgia. In the case in point
it seems that a young man visited a girl
with great assduity and regularity, end
gave her numerous presents as tokens of
his affection. As time Waned, however,
he thought less and less fondly of the girl
and more and more tenderly of the pres
ents, and finally demanded them back.
She was as frugally minded as he was and
declined to surrender them, whereupon he
sued for them, putting In the plea that
during part of the time while he was Wis
iting her and giving her the presents, he
was not mentally responsible. The Judge
admitted the plea, and, being second
Daniel come to judgment, divided the
presents. Those which the young man had
given the girl while he was in his right
mind, and presumably knew what he was
about, she was permitted tn keep. The
Others which were bestowed while the low
er was suffering from temporary mental
alteration, she was forced to return.
The attention of young women who are
cherishing presents from young men is
called to this decision. The outlook is
manifestly dscouraging. Who can settle
whether a man in love is ever sane? Isn't
love itself a sweet madness? Is the man
who tells red-cheeked commonplace girl
that she is an angel sufficiently rational to
buy her q present she can keep? What is
the mental condition of a man who tells a
30Jpound athletic girl that she is his "itty
duckie birdie?' Listen to the twaddle that
an engaged couple talk. You shall hear
saner discourse in a lunatic asylum. If
the emotional insanity plea is to be admit
ted In love, the gloomy conviction forces
itself upon one that any man can get his
presents back, if he wants them.
It seemed precisely the place that they
had been looking for. A silver shingled
farmhouse, surrounded by old-fashioned
flower beds, which, says the New York
Tribune. already showed the leaves of in
Vulnerable hollyhoeks and the sharp
blades of lilies which promised later TO
make the old building beautiful. 1t was
within ten minutes walk of the ocean
too, the booming rear of whose surf could
be plainly heard, although the water line
was hid behind the sand dunes, which ma
ture had thrown up as bulwarks of pro-
lection to the pastures and fields of grain
which formed the farm belonging to the
house.
Inside everything was equally satisfac-
tory. Although scantily furnished, the
rooms were exquisitely neat. Rag car
pet mats covered the well scrubbed deal
floors, The wall papers We're not particu-
larry aggressive, and every sunny window
was filed with the flowers, while a fresh
sea breeze swept through the open win
dows, bringing with ii the salt smell Of
the outgoing tide. I'm the large bare din
ing room was an appetizing odor of siz-
zling fried eggs and bacon, which had been
placed on the table for their luncheon.
Just the place." exclaimed the two wo-
men who were in quest of summer quar-
ters and they inquired Of their hostess