The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-02-18

Some years ago there was book writ
ten called Poems of Passion" and the
author, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, has since
been known. apparently to her great con-
tent, as the '.poetess of passion Also
she has kept on writing
From a poem of hers, recently printed
not in newspaper, but in magazine,
one is led tn wonder how, and why. such
illusions are allowed to find their way
into publications supposed to be intended
for family reading There is a great to-
do now and then about some novel, sup
posed to be immoral because it depicts
the conditions of the under world in some
foreign city; and the advertising that the
book gets in this way generally has the
effect of increasing its sales. But at any
rate, these works are not published in
serial form in reputable magazines. and
those who read them know what they. are
going TO find
This poem by Mrs Wilcox is trash,
which is one reason why no self-respeet-
ing magazine ought to have published it;
and it is trash of kind which is not
pretty to have around The title Of it
is The Chaperon," and we are told in
the beginning that the ehaperon advised
her charge never to allow a man to kiss
even her hand if she would hold him
with loves safe tether." Just after this
was said the adviser had a vision of her
own youth, which resulted IN her allow
ing the maiden under her protection to go
out on the balcony and look at the moon
with young man. Thus far the thing is
Stop. But the Renaissance is of 4 kind
which teaches lesson 10 say the least
somewhat doubtful. This is the feryid
description Of it given by Mrs Wilcox.
and far and away from the great towns glare.
Anc tar ana away from the world OF fashion,
She was snGSgled again in the old chintz chair
Held close by the strong Young arms OF passion.
By the autumn winds that the tall trees stirred
Alone was the eloquent silence broken,
For ciinging kiss tells more than a word,
And 50 ii that room there were few words
spoken.
She melted into his ardent arms
As . rosebud yields TO the suns embraces
his world was c0mpassed by her Young charms.
And loves great glory lit both glad faces
She felt no doubt and She felt no fear
Vas he not her lover her own defender
| And the true heart tIrobbing beneath her ear
The cruel old clock the shelf tolled one:
Like startled bird from her nest she huttered-
But the hafhOHr struck the last kiss was done
And the last and lingering goodnight uttered %
The inference is that in respectable so
ciety young girls are allowed to sit up
until half rast one o'clock in the morn
ing with any man who happens to be in
love with them, the rest of the household
being asleep, and that the time IS TO be
passed in demonstrations of affection
This sort of thing is not only rubbish.
but it is linsanitary While it IS quite
true that the chaperon was an Institution
unknown to many respectable circles of
American society in former days. the ira
dition being that If man who was al
lowed the friendship OF a young girl did
not know how to treat her without being
watched, he was not fit to be her friend,
it is unlikely that even that elastic cen
dition of things allowed him to take the
kind Of liberties so gIowingIy described
above If he did, Ii is just as well that
that innocent tradition does not now ex-
ist. Engagements are sometimes broken.
and though a girl who has been tn
gagged TO enc man is not invariably inca
pacitated for loving another, she would
probably feel more self-respecting + she
knew that no man then walking about
on the earth had in his mind reninis-
cences Of the sort described by Mrs VII
cox