The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-07-16
Sage of Barlow, Gonzales
cent, Writes Interestingly.
TALKS OF YOUTHFUL JOYS
Gentle Spring Continues to Flirt and
Fool With Old Man Winter.
Mating in the Olden limo
and the Present Day
Compared.

1t is now many weeks since the
good st. Valentine told the birds to
mate and the girls and boys to go WOO
ing. st. Patrick has been out and
shook his shelalah at the snakes, but
still gentle spring keeps on flirting
and fooling with old man winter and
makes him believe she is in love with
MIN. But she isent. May and Deem
Der never mate, nor March and Novem-
Der. 1t is against the order of nature.
We old people can look and linger and
admire, but that is all. We have
sailed down the river and encountered
its perils, it's reefs and rocks and
shoals and quicksands, but strange TO
say, We give no warning. Maybe it Is
because we know that warning will
do no good; maybe, because misery
loves company; maybe, because it is
the order of nature, the fat of the AL
mighty. Verify the young people
would mate and marry and launch
their boat and sail down that river If
they knew there was a Scylla and
Charybdiis at every bent and levia-
thans and maelstroms and cataracts
all the way down. Poor, trusting, suf-
fering woman. What perils, what tri-
ais, what Affections does the maternal
instinct bring upon you. Close up by
us, while write, is a beautiful young
mother lingering in the grasp of death
II hot
live. There is nothing more tduching,
more pitiful, more heroic in nature
There is nothing that man is called
upon to endure that compares with the
death of a mother in childbirth.
But there is brighter side-a more
charming, comforting picture of life
married life, domestic life-when the
good mother is a matron, and looks
with pride upon her children and
grandchildren as they come and go
lovingly before her. What calm sere-
nifty hovers over her matronly face.
What sweet content, what grateful rest
rest from her labors, her pains, her
care and anxiety. Well may she ex-
claim with Paul: 81 have fought a good
fight; have kept the faith; 1 have fin
ished my coure. Henceforth there is
laid up for me crown of righteous
ness
1,'J every lad and 1assie there is pc.
riod of life not always thrilling or trag-
zeal, but highly emotional and sensa-
tional. Of course, l mean the period
Of love-young love-or loves young
dream, which sometimes runs smooth
and sometimes don't. What a luxury
1t would be to look behind the curtain
and see just what love has felt and
suffered and enjoyed. Such kaleido-
scope would have world Of eager
lockers, for the old are as fascinated
with stories of love and courtship as
the middle-aged and young. In look
ing over the daily or weekly paper, we
may skip the displayed headings of
war in Servia or riots in London or
cyclones in Oregon, but any little par
agraph that has love in it arrests the
eye and demands attention. Children
go to school to study books, but the
time they are in their teens they
begin to mix little timid, cautious
love with their other studies. A
sweetheart is a blessed thing for boy.
1t strengthens him up and washes his
face and greases his hair and brushes
his teeth and stimulates his ambition
to excel and be somebody. Jerusa-
lem! How | did luxuriate and palpi
tate and concentrate toward the first
little school girl / ever loved She
was as pretty as pink and as sweet
as a daisy, and one day at recess
when nobody was looking I caught her
on the stairs and kisse her. She
was dreadfully frightened, but not
mad. Oh, no; not mad She ran away
with her bushes on her cheek, and
more than once that evening saw her
glance at me from behind her book
and wondering if I would ever be SO
rash again.
And now, Mr.. Editor, If a thousand
OF your patrons peruse these random
memories, nine hundred of them can
finish up the chapter from their own
unwritten book. Who has not loved,
who has not stolen a kiss, who has
not caught it's palpitating thrill and
felt like Jacob when he lifted up his
voice and wept? Oh, Rachel. beautiful
and well favored, no wonder that ia
cob watered thy sheep and then kissed
thee, for there was no one to modest
or make thee afraid. That memorable
kiss is now four thousand years old,
and has passed into history as classic
and pure, but I have had them, and
SO have you, dear reader, just as sweet
and soul-inspiring, and never said any
thing about it to anybody. Ours was
mixed school, and every Friday the
larger boys and girls nad to stand up
In line and spell and define My
sweetheart stood head most generally,