THE BATTALION.
7
verse. Ladies are actuated by the same motives. Reason
ing a priori draws us to the same conclusion to which we are
led by observation. Flirtation in ns various forms is seen in
every assemblage of men and women undisturbed by sorrow.
The coroneted knights and jeweled ladies that go arm in
arm beneath the evening shadows of marble pillars into the
sculptured halls of the great, have already commenced a night
of gay flirtations. The rustic farm boy, as he spurs his har
ness-marked plough-horse, is already alive with unusual
gaity as he thinks of the country damsels he will charm as
he leads them to the picnic dance. The music that rises en-
chantingly from the ball room of the summer watering resort
is only thrilling the breasts of gallant gentlemen and fair la
dies that increased impetus may be lent to the charms of flir
tation. The schoolboy with broken slate and dog-eared
books, as he staals away from the noisy crowd of school birds
and strolls leisurely along the sidewalk casting smiles upon a
romping maiden is showing a preference that is merely a flir
tation.
Flirtation in its general form is perfectly harmless. It is
generally known in society that ladies and gentlemen will be
polite; the entertainment of friends of the other sex generally
demands it, and it is necessaty to manifest more than your
real feelings to each lady. It is not necessary to “nop the
question,” as it is generally termed, to constitute a flirtation.
It is sufficient to make love in jest, to express an unusual re
gard in fun, or to show any preference whatever, otherwise
than in earnest. What injury can result in such gaity—none
whatever. It is only when unprincipled, dastardly monsters
in human form seize upon their innocent unsophisticated vic
tims and drown their fondest hopes in a sea of grief. But this
is foreign to our question; it is a corruption of the agent, not
of the instrument. We are merely discussing the feasibility
of the instrument, and are not concerned with the improper
occasional and injurious application of that instrument
by unfeeling wretches who would accomplish their purpose
if flirtation were obsolete.