The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-12-08

| TrOtwOOd MagaZ1ne)
My Dear Little Sweethearts:
The prettiest thing l ever saw wore
dresses; the sweetest thing l ever sur
veyed had mouth like crimson
bow, and two bright eyes that looked
like two little heavens with angels in
EN-; and the happiest thing l ever
beheld wore slippers and tripped like
fairy on the horizon of life's blissful
| morning. When l add the dress, the
mouth, and eyes, and slippers all to-
| gether, l have the sum of beauty,
sweetness, brightness and happiness;
and that is you. l never see you that
l do not think of rosebuds, and music,
and love; and why should not think
of them? Rosebuds are the prophe-
cies of full-blown beauty music is the
incense of the soul, and love is the
soul of itself
In every human breast there is a
little throbbing world, ruddy as the
planet Mars, and far more wonderful.
1t hath but one continent, upon whose
purple shores the crimson tides of life
forever ebb and flow, measuring off
the circling years of time. We call
this little world the human heart. It
is the paradise of love. It's ruby gates
are guarded by the seraphim Of vir-
tue and truth; and in the rapturous
hours Of girlhood no wings ever cleave
its crystal air but angel wings; with
in it's blissful bowers no voices are
ever heard but the voices Of happi-
ness. The heart Of an innocent girl is
little palpitating world Of mirth and
merriment, untainted by guile, I'M
clouded by sin. It hath its fragrant
rose banks, where beautiful dreams
wake and heave the bosom with Joy;
it hath its budding springs of laugh
ter and its ripping rivers of song;
and here love transforms itself into
little winged god, with shining quiv-
err and silver bow, and flies away to
the heaven of the eyes, from whose
fields of light he finds wanton sport in
shooting poisoned arrows at all the
hearts that chance to come within his
range.
Do you want me to tell you how
you may know when boy has been
hit with one of Cupid's arrows? He
begins to shave his pimpled face, and
make a desperate effort to sprout a
mustache; he begins to wear collars
bigger than his shirt and a necktie
like morning glory; he has his trou
sers creased every day, and his pat
ent feathers polished; he has dreamy
look, and bushes whether he will or
no; he feels like a culprit, and dare
not look you straight in the eyes, lest
you discover his secret thought; he
cannot refrain from sending boxes of
caramels, and French candies, and
fruits in season. The effect of the
amorous wound is blood poison, pro-
ducing temporary insanity, followed
by softening of the brain.
The young merchant and his clerks
let business languish while they play
the game of hearts; the young law
yers turn away from textbooks to file
their first bills in the chancery OF
love, only to be demurred out of
court; the young doctor cures his pa
tients with neglect, while he pre-
scribes affectionate elixirs for his
darling "Dulcinea del Tobosco;" the
town swell hicks his horses tail and
buys new buggy; and when he has
tucked his hallucination close by his
side under the silver spray Of his
new laprobe there is ripple Of laugh
ter, a crack of the whip, and instantly
a silk shirt waist and cutaway coat
"hit the dim and shadowy distance
like Nancy Hanks"
But it Is the law of God that through
the sacred portals of true girls
heart only one spirit can pass at a
time, to mate with her spirit in the
Eden Of love; and 1t is for her, and
her alone, to say: Come in, sweet
angel; come in" II the spirit who
enters is pure, and noble, and good,
and true, and congenial with her
ideals, and generous to her whims,
then there will be
Two souls with but a single thought,
Two hearts that beat as one;"
and no matter how dark are the clouds
of sorrow that lower, no matter how
thick are the troubles of life that
gather, the roses of love will bloom
on and the fountains Of happiness will
flow to the grave. But-alas!-to
often the disguised spirit of brute Ia
admitted, and then the heart of Eden
IL blighted; 1t Is loves paradise lost.