Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-06-04
His Love
Affairs
BY Ellis Parker Butter
(Copyright.)

good IrlenuS, as friendships go, Dut
he left me one day never to return,
and without SO much as saying by
your leave" / remember quite well
the day he departed, and was pleased
enough to be rid of him then; but
often now, when the world crowds
hard upon me, long to have him back
again. for he was light of heart, and
he knew how to bring the laughter to
my eyes, and the ready tears, too.
And now / can only laugh as tired
men laugh, and my tears are few and
bitter.
oh, he was a jolly rake, this fellow
"a very Ariel of Love! A Bacchus
for Kisses! And Argus for Love-
looks A born lover, forsooth! Even
before he could toddle across the floor
on his chubby legs he practiced the
wiles of lover, and lavished his love
glances and pretty tricks on one old
enough to be his mother, smuggling
his curly head against her breast and
touching her lips and cheeks and eyes
with his soft hands. Or, again, he
her face and neck. And she, who was
old enough to have outgrown such
flirtations, urged him on. But l shall
not blame her, for love excuses much,
and, after all, she was his mother.
! do not mean to claim for him a
other men. have studied him deep
ly, in retrospect, since i decided to
chronicle his love affairs, and | do not
intend to praise or to blame him. Ho
loved-persistently, frequently; but IL
he hid his deeper feelings beneath a
froth of playfulness, 1t was because
this heart of his was tender and
feared rebuffs. He had good reason to
know the pangs OF one who has
proffered his heart only to have 1t
scorned 1t was his earliest lesson in
the ways OF women. 1t was about the
time he first donned the distinctive
garb of man, and it was at the sea-
side
Why is IL that a mans first love is
given to a woman whose years exceed
his own? Genevieve was at least
twice his age, but he loved her at first
sight-ravenously. He was a thought
less fellow in those days, and to love
with him was to seek to possess. He
rushed upon her. casting away his
calmer senses, and threw his arms
about her neck in an ecstasy of af
lection, regardless that he had never
been introduced, regardless that an
other was her beau, regardless that
she was building a masterpiece OF
sandwork He placed one foot on the
house of sand and the other on her
dress, and kissed her vehemently.
Oh, womanl woman! What love you
throw away! She spurned him. She
grasped him by the shoulders and
threw him down, and cried: You are
bad, bad boy!" and he, poor fellow,
cast himself upon his face and wept.
Shall tell all his love affairs? Bet
ter let them rest Some of the fair
creatures he adored during those
years are wives now, and husbands
are jealous. There were kisses-love
kisses-stolen from his sweetheart
before the very eyes Of their COM
panions, who imagined it was a mere
harmless kissing game" and did not
guess the Joy he felt, nor fathom the
guile that made him kiss every other,
girl in the circle before he chose the
one he really wished to kiss. And,
oh! the Joy when She ran screaming
from him, to be pursued; and how She
fought when caught!-for then he
knew she wanted to be kissedl
There was one brown-haired sweet.
heart who lived in the land of faery,
and who led him, wide-eyed and half
afraid, to the fairy realm in the pas
ture back of the red barn, and then
cast him aside because he could not
see the fairies that she said she saw.
She could not understand that men
were made for sterner things-for
fighting Indians and bold Swiss
Family Robinson life.
misunderstanding, yes, and deceit,
these are the portion Of the heart of
man. For was there not the one with
honest blue eyes to whom he gave his
heart, and under promise of eternal
secrecy, showed the robins nest, only
to find the secret betrayed the mo-
ment his back was turned?
Love is sweet, but there are mo
ments of the deepest pain. His love
for his cousin was sweet, for he had
her much to himself when she visited
his house; but, Of the humiliation
and disgrace of having to battle and be
combed before herl A mans heart
revolts at that. think It was about
that time that he acquired the dislike
for bathing that chung to him as long
as | knew him. Nor is IL soothing to
see the one to whom you would gladly
give up your last long slate-pencil GO
ing to school under the umbrella of
your rival.
/ remember one' sweetheart he had
who was sworn TO marry him. Kate
was wealthy, he knew, because her
father kept two horses; but he did not
care for that. He cared for her snap
ping black eyes and the manner In
which she could tuck her skirts about
,or knaaq and giving head down ri