Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-01-23
When 5 a Girl a Flirt ,

" iSeiS- SPOKANE keYleW.
When 5 Girl Flirt?
When is a girl hirt? This is a queS-
ton easy to ask. but not altogether 50.
easy to answer. Yet there is a tiistines
line which marks the limit of what "en-
enlargement a girl may quite properlg
give man.
She does not tiirt when She is serious
IL III love, though appearances may be
deceptive. In Il certain sense every
woman Is ilirt throughout her whols
existence, from the time when baby
dancing in her nurses arms. she firts
with her mothers visitors to the moo
ment when, on her last sick bed, she CO.
quets with her doctors.
The warmest advocate of the fair sex
must admit that the love of admiration
ana the desire to attract are Unborn with
the majority of its members.
Everyone must agree chat a fiirt is a
very desplcable person, but then, the
question is, how far does the desire TO
please constitute Irritation?
Is it flirting when a bright, lively girl
does her best to make some shy youth
feel ON good terms with himself. and, by
affecting breathless interest in his Prov
eSs on the football field, or laughing
heartily at his feeble jokes, convinces
him that he is making an excellent in-
the society of ladies?
Is a girl n flirt when she yields to her
natural high spirits and laughs and chat
tiers with u young fellow in whose So
ciety she takes genuine and innocent
pleasure, but with whom she is not IN
the least in love?
Certainly for Il girl to willfully and de-
lberately lead 4 man to suppose that She
loves him and is encouraging his suit.
whereas she is really only gratifying her
own vanity, and has no intention of ac-
cepting him, is to prove herself flirt Of
almost the worst type.
Perhaps an even meaner type is the
girl who leads man on simply for the
sake of the sweets. thcater tickets and
other pleasures which n lover delights in
showering on the girl he admireS. and
the acceptance of which he rightly and
justly considers encouragement of the
strongest kind. since no nice-minded Won
an would take gifts from sutton whom
she intended to reject.
And yet those bright lively girls who
have plenty to say for themselves and
are SO popular with men are very seldom
really firts The really dangerous flrt Is
the maiden with the sweet, seductive
eyes, the low, begulding voice, the indef-
mite something that no man can resist;
the maiden whom L0ngfellow describes
so well, who
Gives 4 side-glance and looks down,
and whose chief amusement lies in fool
ing" her admirers.
| This class of fiirt frequently carries the
amusement SO far as to enter into an en-
gagement, without, OF course, the small
est intention of fulfilling it.
Although it is feminine spite that most
! frequently fastens the unenviabl reputa-
/ ton of being tiirt on a perfectly limo
cent girl, the vanity of man is not seldom
/ to blame. The frank, merry girl with
/ brothers, who thoroughly understands the
tastes of young men, and has been ac-
custOmed to treat them with sisterly cor
diality, one day comes in contact with one
of those vain young fellows who imagine
/ themselves irresistible, and think all girls
have their heads full Of nothing but love
ana lovers.
The result is inevitable. The girl en-.
/ ters heartily into the topics that interest
/ him. frankly shows her pleasure in his
society, and treats him in the cordial,
kindly way She is in the habit Of using
+ to her brothers friends. But the vain
young man straightway fancies She is in
! love with him, boasts among his friends
/ of his conquest, and Supposes. with a
I lordly air, that he must take pity on
the poor girl and propose" When he is
refused, firmly, and possibly rather indig-
nantly, he goes away in state of fury,
/ fully convinced that he is the victim of
q heartlesS fiirt.
Sometimes very young girl falls into
7 the e~r1r of UnconsciouSly encouraging
n would-be sutton. Sh els SO nexperi-
/ enced that she does not realize he is WOO
ing her, and is still so mucn of child
that she takes his attentions rs disin-
terestcd Kindness shown by friend. So
! she accepts them all with a little confid-
ing air and such sweet gratitude as mis-
leads her sutton into proposing with the
comfortable conviction that he has won
her heart. This. however. is case in
which the lover. on receiving the con
fused and bcwilered refusal which is al
most inevitable. would do well to per
severe in his suit, with good hope of sue
cess, now that the little damsefs eyes
have been opened to his ambitions.
The reputation of being a fiirt, how
ever unjustly gained. is always damaging
TO girl. If she ventures TO show her
preference for an admirer, some kind
friend is always at hand to warn him
against the reputed hirt, and few men
care TO expose themselves TO the risk
Of being fooled by a coquette.-New
, Orleans picayune