The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 14

THE SOT, BALTIMORE, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 27, 1908. 14 Is Love At First Sight A 5afe Basis For Marriage? if J. i FIVE DOLLARS will be paid for the best letter received by the Sunday Sun before New Year's have actually staked their life's happiness upon love at first sight are especially desire'd. Each and address, but the latter will not be printed without express permission. "Write on one side The Sunday Sun, Sun Square, Baltimore.

Day. The views of those who letter must bear its writer's name of the paper only, and address: Intellectual charms that make It a pleasure II 1M I -JL in seeking common' grounds of Interest the incompatibility of temperament that later looms so large would be discovered in time. Instances may be cited where people have married after an acquaintance of 24 hours or so and "lived: happy ever after-; ward," but it is a hit-and-miss arrangement, and where the marriage is happy it is so In spite of, rather than because of, the plan on which It was made. M. P.

Ga. i A Theological View. In most cases, love at first sight is but a hallucination. But if it is true love at first sight I see no reason why it should not terminate in a happy married life. In fact, if It ig true love the prospective lovers will spend the rest of their days in felicitatious enjoyment of each other's company.

Not only will their love last during their affinity while God permits them to remain on earth, but when one is called to the great beyond the unfortunate remaining mate will cherish his or her love with undying zeal until called to follow the departed one into etern.ityj I believe that' "marriages are made in heaven." When one1 lets an impulse of fascination carry them off Into what they believe is love, it is, simply nonresistance to temptation." They do-; not avoid it, but willingly go into a 6nare that has been conspicuously placed by the devil. They have committed as great a sin as" if they had broken one of the commandments. If it Is true love they will feel in their heats that they are suited for each oher. Their subconscious ego- will make them know, each other's character a3 weir as' if "they had been associates for life. in the theatrical profession1 are good examples of love The marriage of chorus girls are purely the result of a -voice, a' pretty face, an attractive figure.

Are these a success? Ninety' and nine out of every hundred are followed by iniquitous scandal and divorce. People who cannot feel the piercing their hearts by Cupid's shaft would be better off if they stopped that organ from performing its functions. E. L. Annapolis, Md.

The Pathology Of It. Love at first sight the brand that sticks Immediately upon application has never other indivldnal mannerism has often Ira-pressed Itself Indelibly upon an observer of the opposite Bex, and these traits oft-times serve aa an index to a particularly attractive it la safe to assume that there are few modern mortals who do not try to create an "impresaion" when exposed to "first stghta." It Is only with a growing degree of Intimacy that real character becomea known. Aa an example, consider the period of your acquaintance wltli your best friend and analyze the real knowledge you have of what he or ehe would do under certain circumstances. You, and nine of every ten others, will find that 6ince the beginning of your friendship many first illusions have been gradually dispelled, and though a good definition of a friend is "a person who knows yonr faults and loves you in spite of them," there are many little characteristics of this person's make-up which you would remodel after a fashion of your own. The fact that many marriages are hastily made without a knowledge on the part of either one of the contracting parties of these little follies and foibles to which we are all prone is well proved In the records of the divorce courts.

In the humble opinion of a mere observer (thank God!) it is a great piece of folly to enter into that which la presumably a life compact without having had a good acquaintance with the moods of the other party, without having seen the other's actions under most conditions liable to present themselves, and with no more safe and sound a basis for the alliance than a blind belief that the love-Inspiring part, displayed intentionally or otherwise at the first sight, constitutes the whole "private" character. Baltimore. Battj. ft ft The Story Of A Lost Love. Not having married the man with whom I fell In love at first sight (shall we call him the "minute my opinion Is, perhaps, of small value.

The opportunity of making a fool of myself for his sake was never vouchsafed me, for the simple reason that my spontaneous and inexplicable affection seems not to have been returned in kind. Doubtless I am far happier. Several years ago I bestowed my hand and somewhat chastened heart upon the man who loves me, making him a more satisfactory and less exacting wife than if he were the object of a romantic Infatuation. lie Is as sure of me as of the solar system (doubtful compliment), adores his son, enjoys life and all is well. I make him comfortable and happy applied to mere man the words are synonymous.

At any time during our engagement yes, until I stepped down from the chancel hi a wife there was never a moment when I would not have sacrificed him and everything else had the "minute man" but beckoned. "All-for-love and the world-well-lost" sort of thing, you know. Would my husband be shocked or grieved If I disclosed this horrible secret to him? Not at all, my dear friend, because he wouldn't believe it. The other day I ran across my old love and had rather a bad half -minute with heart at doul le quick, cheeka suddenly very warm and ready tongue fallen silent, but the "minute man," Innocent dear, saved the situation by not knowing there was one. I love him still, but a little hero-worship kept In the background does no harm, while a perfectly tangible, prosperous husband In its foreground Is an asset not to be despised.

At the risk of anticlimax, I might even go so far as to say that a husband in the hand la worth two heroea in the bush. Baltimore. R. IS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT a safe basis for marriage In other words, is it safe for a man to many a woman he really scarcely knows, merely because her charms have suddenly bowled him And is it safe for the woman, in the same situation, to marry the man Below are the views of some of the Sunday Sun's readers. A few of them speak from experience, while others give the opinions of mere ookers-on.

More letters will be printed next Sunday, and the prize-winners will be announced. M. The Flash Of An Eye. Is there such a thing as love at first Sight? People who doubt It can hardly be said to have kept their eyes open during life, Perhaps it is hardly fair to say that love at first sight the Intense love that a man feels for the woman he Intends to marry is born, full grown, in moment. One thing, however, is certain, that the seed of an affectionate liking, deepening down into perfect trust and reliance, may be sown with a single glance of a pair of pretty eyes or He cradled in a passing dimple.

Just as destiny blows us where we stand. a mere thistledown, the sport of the winds, bo chance brings t8 us fair speaking youth or maiden, and the twain like each other, the sweetheartlng is on, "the one woman in the world," "his first love," "his Ideal," "for better or worse," the maiden and the adolescent manliness glide Into marriage and are happy ever after. Baltimore. II. tf The Test Of Courtship.

Marriage is the most important factor In our social existence. Happiness and the enjoyment of life are in fact dependent and based upon the perfection of this institution. We therefore should use caution and avoid haste in forming an alliance which rightfully only death can terminate. True is that in some instances love at first sight has united in marriage couples of the most perfect accord who have led a long life of uninterrupted bliss, but in the numerous and the majority of cases it has proved disastrous. Love at first sight is generally influenced by the beautiful in countenance, manners, stature or utterance and may magnetize two hearts beyond resistance.

But this very love may lack the qualities of an enduring greatest essential of marriage. Love at first sight is superficial; it easily wanes, it questions not and does not penetrate the Inner soul. Experience has taught us that the proper method to pursue for those contemplating marriage is to follow the established custom of a more or less extended courtship. Courtship is the time when both can familiarize themselves and blend their natures. It is during this period that the characters and temperaments of both will be revealed, and it may also be possible to detect If either possesses any elements that will not bear harmonizing.

Those who are prone to fall in love at first sight overlook these matters; they been definitely diagnosed, One man who was cloyed in the honey and got stung, calls it a game in which he started feeling like he had a smokestack of blues and came out looking like a white chip. Another chap, who evidently had It too, says it is a disease, and matrimony cured him entirely. The symptoms in his case, he avers, after being exposed to the affliction, were a high pressure in the vicinity of the pumping station on the left bank of his anatomy and a low pressure in the wallet, occasioned by generous portions of terrapin and liberal potions of champagne to stimulate his case. The "American Beauty" habit, also, added to the distressing flatulency in that same region. As a heroic remedy he applied an 18-karat circlet to the third finger of her left College Boy Is The Strangest Of A Veteran Railroad Man's Memories Of John Brown And The Raiders Of 1859 hand, to which he facetiously refers aa his "gold cure," for the disease was -soon In check.

recovery, to a state of normal rehabilitation was brought about by shock, A portable Psyche knot that wasn't work; ing when he came upon it unawares, and a can of complexion in the rough (he fondly nourished the hope that her's. was "pre served" shattered, his dream and scattered his illusions. Marriage upon love kindled at the first fiery glance, is. therefore, not a safe bet. for alimony often sets in during the Intermit: tent stages of the fever, and the victim can never get upon his feet with such an ln-siduous microbe in his system.

D. K. i Baltimore. The Philosophy Of It. It is very doubtful if there be any such thing as "love at first sight." In most people there is an animal magnetism which attracts; this is often supposed to be "love at first sight" by persons of nervous, excitable temperaments, who rush headlong into matrimony, with as little thought as they are capable of giving to any subject.

First impressions are seldom safe guides judging character. It is natural for everyone to appear at his or her best be-f ore others outside of the family circle. Therefore, a short engagement Is not safe, because of the fact person has not been given time to forget the mask worn, which, as acquaintance ripens, is dropped occasionally, revealing the true disposition beneath. the Individual; has a quick temper, not under control, and think always, of self-gratification before the comfort of it Is an "established fact such a person can make no one happy. It is essential for happiness that people should be equal socially, to a certain degree, in order to be congenial.

Also one who is ignorant would make a poor companion for an educated person. It is not especially necessary to have the, same religious belief in order-to be happy, though it is better they should, for among sensible people such. differences -are not mentioned, and the sensibility should be determined before marriage, of course. It is very necessary that one's habits should be good, as reforms are seldom' accomplished after marriage. People who have strong prejudices are not apt to'make others happy, as prejudice is a sister to the narrow mind.

E. C. L. Baltimore, Md. M.

jj. A- 'V if Love Is Like Electricity. There are many who consider the mere possibility of true love being flashed Instantaneously from one, pair(of eyes to another entirely beyond reason and altogether absurd. These assert that fancy la the main factor In such alleged cases and that genuine love is of gradual and protracted growth. Others will admit that there are isolated Instances of "love-at-flrst-sight" marriages that have not Involved both of the contracting parties in regret, unhapplnesa and a generally miserable existence the remainder of their lives.

But It Is the wrlter'a firm conviction that love only can be the Says Old sketch, a musical phrase, suggesting the mists rising from the grass as the sun rises. It suggests the sun snatching the white coverlet from the earth and shaking her awake. But not a single student in that whole class could tell me what it meant Some College Humor. "When I was at a high school In Minnesota: it was a regular custom for the students to bring fruit-cake dough to school the day before the Christmaa holidays, and then throw It at each other In the yard. I was at a school once where it was considered an especial feat to chop down, without being caught, one of the magnificent forest treea that adorned the campus.

"I know of a school where It was considered a great achievement" to steal teachers' hats. The fraternity houses there had thefr walls literally covered with pieces of head wear 'swlpe' (I think that Is the term from poor outwitted members of the faculty. And the teachers clubbed to-! gether to buy a big iron chest to keep their hats in during school hours. "In. all schools there is an elaborate system of behavior for students of different ranks A freshman, for instance, cannot keep'on his hat In the presence of an upper class man.

The upper class men, If they wear boards, wear the tassels on sides that correspond to their rank In the school. rules are inviolable. The older the school, the more sacred and the more numerous are its unwritten laws. "There was a school In which a certain building looked out upon a busy street. There was a broad window in this building that overhung the pavement.

It was a custom In hazing there to make the hazee sit In this window and imitate a parrot. He had to say 'pretty poll-1 and shriek and jabber to all passers-by. "Meanwhile the students stood in a knot beneath the window and gravely smoked cigarettes or discussed football chances for the ensuing year, only noticing their victim in the window above them when it seemed to their expert ears that he was showing a lack of enthusiasm and industry. Methods Of Hazing. "Cockflghting is an old, old method of hazing.

The victims in this are trussed up like chickens with broomsticks stuck beneath their knees and over their arms and bound at the wrist and across the shins. "They are then made to fight each other while their captors make bets on the re-salt. They can move by hopping, and this is the way they carry on their battle. "In another school it is the custom to collect girls' garters. This would be very scandalous anywhere else, but in college it is all right.

The boys rooms are filled with chaste and beautiful specimens of the gartorlal art. "There are large volumes filled with accounts of student customs, and I can't attempt to enumerate all that I myself have seen and participated in. The surplus energy of the college boy finds vent in a vast number of strange and marvelous ways. "Of course, a few studentB are sincerely interested in their studies and pursue them most diligently and successfully. It la gratifying and stimulating to feel the impulse of a mind fresh and yet untainted with the weariness that comes through age.

"Yet the 'grind, as he is called by his fellows, is looked down upon in the school, and he is handicapped most often, moreover, in his own work by lack of practical knowledge. He studies most diligently without ever having had sufficient practical experience in applying knowledge to know just what will be useful for him to know and what not useful for him to know in the world outside. The Football Hero. There are many queer types in college. There la the football player.

He la usually better known for brawn than brain. It does seem that whenever a man cultivates hla body to excess he sacrifices his brain. But probably the manNwho cultivates his body to excess hasn't a very large brain In the first place. "The football captain la always the hero of his classmates. He may.

make ever so large an ass of himself In the classroom, but he Is sure of admiring friends Just so long as hla head remains thick and hla shoulder sturdy. "There Is again the good fellow the college sport. His father has -money and he wears clothes that bring forth the posters you see in store windows. He always has a 'wad' of bills and he usually has a long breath that envelopes that same wad and his whole person like a sacred Incense. "His aaversatlon la about 'peaches' I its effect and voice its fascination.

But what is that which kindles the sacred fire? It is character, disposition, that measure of culture suited to reach the girl's heart or the man's soul. All this is intangible, not visible to the eye, but when it appears in fleshly form the heart-throbs quicken, love slumbers no, long er. The man sees "his angel;" the" woman behojCIs the idol of her girlhood, often seen in dream and visions. But where there is downright sincerity the best qualities may be obscured and require a waiting period before they shine out in undimmed splen dor. It is very romantic, however, to e.ee the object that the heart has been yearning after just as you turn a corner, or under the weird light of the moon, but married life's struggles, disappointments, trials and that of all sorts, need a substantial basis upon which to rest.

Love at first sight is a bubble, which may burst in a moment of time second, third, fourth, fifth, ad libitum, sight love is the thing you can build your matrimonial house upon, without fear of the storms of time or the winds of adversity. J. Aberdeen, Md. The Fatal Wedding. Love at first sight may, very probably, terminate marriage at first sight, I think, is very dangerous for the interested parties.

To fall In love- at first sight to be at tracted by a voice, personality and magnet- Ism- is quite natural, but such love should not necessarily precipitate an immediate marriage. Time and association only can determinethe disposition and character of the girl to whom you have been so quickly attracted. The old saw: "Marry in haste and repent at leisure," is quite true In a number of instances. But love at first sight is very often the basis of a happy marriage, and I really believe the majority of our happy mar riages have been brought about by such a state of affairs. To marry a't first sight displays a certain recklessness and lack of thought about such a serious matter which may result disastrously.

It is often said that when a man is in love he cannot think sanely; all the more reason then that he should take time to consider everything pertain ing to the holy sacrament of matrimony if he wishes to make his wife happy for life and which is essential to a happy marriage. Love at first sight is the proper thing, but the combination, love and marriage at first sight, can have but one ending the discovery of each other's faults after marriage, and which can only be remedied by self-sacrifice, or, as a last resort, the di vorce courts. G. T. Baltimore.

V. f. "A- Si" It Is Always A Lottery. Is it not better to act? What is love? For if it be love it is safe No one would $ut a hand and a foot together and call it a man. Yet we often take one or two elements of love and Imagine we have the thing itself.

The loye that makes marriage safe should embrace the attraction his sweetheart has for the Frenchman, the congeniality that exists between a man and his chum, the "As we started back across the bridge I saw several long spears and was almost frantic from fear. I struck young Brown a powerful blow with my fist, knocked him down and made my escape. In those days I was a swift runnor and, scared as-1 was, I lost no time in -getting back into the town. "Jake" Wasn't Afraid. "The railroad company's agent, at Harpers Ferry at that time was Fountain Beckam, who was also the Mayor of the town.

He had a negro by the name of Hay-ward Sheppard, whom he bad freed some time before and employed around the station, and Sheppard slept in the building. After making my escape the bridge I awoke the negro and told him what had taken place. "I discovered that a bullet had slightly grazed my head, but proceeded to Williams' house to see if he had. returned home. Mrs.

Williams told me he had not, so not wanting to frighten her I said I had just come over to see him about my lantern. "About thus time the Western express was due from Cincinnati, so I returned to the station. She was on time that night, I remember well, reached the, Ferry at 1.26. The conductor in charge of her was 'Jake' Phillips, and I him not to cross the bridge his train, as It had been besieged and such action would be dangerous. 'Jake' was a large and powerful man a typical railroader of the timer who didn't know the meaning of the word fear.

He took his lantern and started over toward the bridge, asking me to join him. While I was terribly scared I didn't want to be a coward, so went with him. "We were fired, at by the abolitionists, though I am convinced they merely wanted to scare us. A man carrying a lantern makes an excellent target for those so skilled in the use of firearms, but the raiders commanded us to advance no farther," saying they wanted liberty and that it was only some negroes fighting for freedom. "Together Conductor Phillips and myself returned to the station and shortly afterward Hayward Sheppard, the negro, ventured out and was mortally wounded.

"In the meantime a farmer by the name of Gist and his sons, who had been attending a religious meeting and were returning home by way of the bridge, were taken prisoners, the sons held and the father dispatched by 'Captain Smith' to tell Phillips to proceed with the train. The mes-saget was to the effect that the idea was not to molest the railroad or delay the United States mail. "Still Phillips refused to move his train during the night, and it was not until after 7 o'clock Monday morning, when 'Captain Smith' himself had come and assured Phillips that no harm would befall the train that it resumed its journey east. Federal Troops On Hand. "The abolitionists held the arsenal all day Monday, the 17th of October," continued Mr.

Higgins, "and kept the village in a state of terror. On Monday afternoon the negro Sheppard, who had been wounded the previous night, appeared to be dying and pleaded with me to give him a drink of water. The poor fellow's sufferings were so agonizing that I determined to risk going for the water, starting for the Shenandoah river with a pitcher. "I was halted, as expected, by a son-in-law of named Thompson, who, on learning by mission, bade me get the negro the. water.

He made a remark, however, that has caused me to ponder many, many times during these years since. As I returned from the river with the water he said 'It serves the nigger right, and if he had listened and taken our advice he would not have been From this I am certain Hayward Sheppard was approached and asked to join in the uprising, which he likely declined and was threatened with death in the event he told. "On Tuesday, October lfe', a company of United States marines from Washington, under command of Col. Robert E. Lee, afterwards the great Confederate leader, and Major Green, arrived at Sandy Hook by freight train over the Baltimore and Ohio and marched to the ferry prepared to take possession of the Government arsenal.

"Major Green advanced toward the fort waving a. white handkerchief, went inside and had a consultation with the raiders. Returning from the fort he came over to where I was standing alongside of Colonel Lee and said 'Colonel, those raiders in there are commanded by old Osawatomie Brown, of Kansas, and he refuses to surrender. "Then it was that the real Identity of 'Captain Smith' was learned; the order to talk with you and the protective tender ness a mother feels for her child, which is above all else unselfish. Tennyson describes it as the beautiful secret Lore took up the harp of life, Smote on all its string with might Smote the chord of self, that, trembling, Passed in music out of sight.

Yet how are we to recognize this ideal love Must we wait for the years to prove it? Before he asks the girl to become his wife, must the man. analyze her nature and disposition, as a botanist tears the petals from a flower to discover the source of its sweetness, until, failing to find perfection, he becomes a self-centered bachelor, for whom nobody is good enough? The secret rests with the individual In keeping his nature sane and wholesome and free from ulterior motives. There are many beautiful faces, hosts of attractive women of fashion even a number of heiresses. But not one of them will make your home the place to which- you turn with joy when the day's work is done. There are many fascinating men, some of them rich, ready to tell a woman all the beautiful lies in the calendai but they say them well from much practice, as some of you know to your sorrow.

Nay, you must begin before this point Is reached. Teach the boy to be honest and manly, the girl to be sweet and true give them interests in life, irrespective of each other. Then when the time to choose life's partner has arrived there wilL be no vexing questions. Rules are Impossible and marriage is a whether it takes place today or 10 years hence. A.

D. V. Baltimore. jt, If Perils Loom Ahead. In love at first sight it is the eye that is attracted.

A man is caught by a roguish mouth and dimpled cheek; a woman by a handsome face and stalwart physique but unless the goodly exterior is backed up by more enduring qualities of mind and heart happiness in the marriage will be shortlived. A walk through the bounteous Lexington Market is a joy to the artistic sense, but would feeding the sight alone keep the fires of life blazing? Ro, a lover is content to feast his eyes on the adored one's beauty, but it requires more workaday qualities to keep a spouse's interest, and these attributes are disclosed only on long acquaintance. There is no reason why two people who are mutually attracted should not promptly fall in love, but they should certainly not rush off and marry and then settle down to become acquainted. Occasionally the experiment does not prove disastrous, but the chances are on the other side. Of the romantic marriages blazoned forth in the press in the past few years, how many have proved happy? Courtship is an old-fashioned word, but there be fewer divorces were the custom of "going a-courting" revived.

If thrown together several times a week for a year or more, even the most ardent lovers would occasionally tire of discussing when each fell in love with the 'other, and was given to charge the fort and after the third attack Brown and his men were captured. Eleven i of these were killed in the encounter and were buried, including Brown's oldest son Oliver, along the Shenandoah river. "Brown and the remainder of his men were taken on the first train to Charles- town, the county seat, and were tried and executed without delay. "I shall never forget that eventful 29th of December, J859, when John Brown was hanged up at Charlestown," said Mr. Higgins.

"His remains were brought here and met by his widow and a man by the name of Tindale, from Philadelphia, who afterwards came to the ferry as a major in the -Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Infantry. "Brown's remains were taken back to his old- home in New England to their last resting place, many miles away from the banks of the peaceful Shenandoah and the dreamy little town he Immortalized by his fanaticism in the cause of abolition." Turbulent In War Time. By reason of the -geographical situation and proximity to botlThe Federal capital at Washington' and that of th Confederacy at Richmond, Harper's-Ferry fend, the adjacent country figured prominently in the maneuvers of both armies. Union troops first entered the village on July 4, 1861, and both arrnies were constantly picketing their forces on' the.heights surrounding the town and pouring volley after -volley across the valley below. On September 15, 1862', Generals "Stonewall" Jackson and A.

P. Hill captured 13,000 Union soldiers under General Miles. General Jackson then left and crossed into Maryland, where he reinforced General Lee for the battle of Antietam, which was fought -on the 17th of the same month. The Baltimore and- Ohio Railroad suffered great damage at the hands of both armies through the war and in numerous places the road was entirely destroyed for miles. "You see," said Mr.

Higgins referring to this, "the Baltimore and Ohio was the most direct line to Washington and through Its western connections the majority of the Union forces from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, were transported to Wash-" ington. This the Confederates tried to prevent by destroying the road, and I saw them at different times heating the rails over fires made of ties and twisting them around telegraph poles." "Pat" Higgins remained in the employ of the Baltimore and Ohio continually from 1853 until his retirement, April 1, 1897. He is now enjoying the comforts of a cozy home at Sandy Hook, but can be seen almost daily at Harper's Ferry walking the platform of the unpretentious little station, whistling a tune of ante-bellum days, shaking hands with passengers and reminiscing of the days when "all wasn' quiet along the Potomac," and John Brown, farmer and abolitionist, was inciting the ig-iorant negroes of the vicinity into a demonstration which may be said to have practically marked the opening of the Civil War. Red Ink Stops Baptism. CHENEY, a little town west of Wichita, Is all excited over the putting of red ink into the Ijaptistry the Christian Church there.

A house-to-house canvass Is being made to- find the culprit, but no clue has yet been obtained. Evangelist Clutter is holding a series of revival meetings in Cheney. Following the meetings preparations were being made to baptize a number of the converts. The con verts were taken before the small tank built In the church for a. baptistry.

Before dipping these men Evangelist Clut ter raised the cover and found the water colored red. The baptism was stopped and the meeting ended in confusion. It was thought the reddish color was due from blood, but It was later found it was red ink. The Incriminating Query. (( A SUSPICIOUS question," said De- LJk lancy Nicoll, the eminent Is ew York lawyer, discussing a celebrated case, 'In fact, one of those suspicious questions which carry their own conviction with them.

"It is Just such a question as a gilded youth asked the head waiter In a Broadway restaurant the other day 'Was Blank here last might? he began 'Yes, the waiter answered. 'And, said the youth, nervously, 'was predominant element In a happy and felicitous union. We all know that, in one respect at love la like electricity it cannot be defined. Electricity is but very Imperfectly understood? It may be, very powerful in Its manifestations, yet the duration of a flash has en estimated at the one-millionth of a second. Love may be regarded as a mighty and Inherent force which lies dormant in the individual until actuated by a correspond- lng force In other individual and aa with an me greai torces 01 nature iuis iraus-formation from latency Into activity may be practically instantaneous.

Nowhere in nature's forces do we find chance neither do we find chance In love, which is the greatest force that operates in the human life. If love were the only factor considered In preBent-day marriages society would be greatly simplified, but modem civilization has brought about a state of affairs In which marriage is made more or less a convenience for political and social purposes. Love, is the only sane basis on which to marry and requires but the briefest apace of time in which to manifest itself. Baltimore. H.

S. ft ft The Best Foot Foremost. While the revelation at first sight of some trick of voice, facial expression or Professor and He treats his studies with a respectful sort of Condescension hard to describe. Inside the classroom be is painfully not. at outside he treats the "profs' with a lofty indifference.

"I am afraid that I seem rather caustic, but I really speak in perfect good temper. All of my friends are collegians, without an exception, almost I don't care what my friends do, just so that I know what they are. When I describe the little peculiarities and twists of collegians it ia in perfect good humor. The Squire Of Dames. "A great college institution Is the college fusser.

He is always a college institution, whether officially chosen, as in some schools, or whether given his place by common conaent. "The college fusser is a being who has an especial, knack for making himself agreeable to the ladies. He always has a dozen or more girls on the string. He usually has money and clothes. "He changes his girls with his suits.

If he has a nice, loud, English walking suit that makes him look about 25 pounds heavier than usual he chooses a nice fluffy little blond from hla acquaintance and with her, and with her dog at the end of a string in her charge, he goes for a promenade. "Suppose, however, that the day is dark and he has a gloomy dark suit upon his manly form. He finds some slim, willowy creature, who is Just a sort ol reminis cence of life, and with her he treads the crowded ways. These observations have been made Very carefully and upon a number of subjects. "The high schools are miniature colleges.

A very interesting type of high school boy la the professional officeholder. Ha the politician of his class. lie harangues the multitude. "With a little pencil back of his ear he is, always dodging back and forth In the school, yard collecting dues for some organization or another or buttonholing- a classmate and carrying him off Into a corner of the yard for lengthy consultation. Whenever there is an election in the school he is on hand, mustering and marshaling the votes and controlling the destinies of the candidates.

"He has held or will hav held every office In the school. He Is an amiable person, but In the classroom he Is rather apt to reverse his policies of the foughten field that is, to lie low and elect some other individual for the white light of the professor's attention. "He is Jovial, stout, most often, fond of smoking and when he leaves school he marries and raises twins. A Rival To Cicero. "There is, again, the.

class orator. He walks about" with a heavy expression as if meditating great thoughts. He talks in dithyrambs. Whenever there is an opportunity to speak he advances to the rostrum and takes full advantage of 'it. He can often be seen In the school yard haranguing the multldtude.

"One of the most pathetic sights, to my mind, in a secondary school is the son of poor parents, who, scrape' and scrape all they can, are Just barely able to give him the 'eddlcatlon whose lack they so sorely feel themselves. "Try as he may he never seems one of his fellows. His clothes are always obviously patched. He has a lost expression all the time. Everything that his companions do Is on a scale larger than he has been accustomed to and he Is never Just able to take part with them.

"He Is almost always studious he Is almost popular, for the boys, with that instinctive tact that marks boys, give him even a warmer friendship' than they bestow upon others. Take it on the whole boys in a second ary school are boisterous and rough and unnecessarily cruel at times, but they have an Immense store of native delicacy and tact that the surface very successfully covers. "I have known of numberless Instances to prove this. I have seen the spirit in the classroom. Suppose there is an unruly class and a new.

teacher. The new teacher's. life is a burden to him and the classroom a bedlam nnder ordinary circumstances. "But If that new teacher happens to be unwell and his class learns about it almost Immediately there la quiet The boys don't reason such matters out, I believe. They Just act by Instinct, With Literary Ambitions.

"Then there is the school literary man. He walketh abroad with an abstract expression. His compositions always abound In phrases that would have made poor are -charmed by appeara'nres and are swayed by passion rather than by judgment. Love and marriage in their vacillating course make the fortune or misfortune in the career of almost every man and woman Love is the master of our destiny that prompts our words and our actions and impels us to obey and fulfill its mandates Baltimore. Peeplexed.

OC- Love Is Various. Love at first sight What struck the man that fateful blow which laid his heart in that feminine hand, to be crushed or quickened Into new life by the magnetic touch of heart-to-heart? Was it the beauty of the woman? That is not a safe and 'sane basis for a life union, for beauty may fade, like a rose of summer. Was it the faultless attire, the superb art of the modiste? That may mean a fresh starting of the divorce mill, because of extravagance or the melting of dollars in the fire, kindled on t5e altar of the God dess of Fashion. Was it the voice? The vibrant may be come strident, the shrewish element may be hidden under that plush-like tongue. Beauty, however, has its power, dress the surrounding mountains.

He used to carry a pick with him and would frequently take long strolls, and, I remember upon two different occasions that he showed me manganese which, he to have obtained here and also some silver which he likewise said he found in the vicinity. "Of course, we people of the locality were very much interested in 'Captain Smith's' pretended discovery, and he said he opening some mines. Later he rented the Kennedy farm, over on the Antietam road, about six miles from Harpers Ferry, and said it was his aim to start at once on his mining venture. "Shortly after moving on the Kennedy property he bought a horse and small wagon, and pretty soon 'Captain Smith' began receiving, almost daily, boxes from the depot, explaining that it was mining Patrick 'Higgins. machinery.

But from the length of those mysterious boxes I have since come to believe that they contained the rifles, revolvers, which he afterward used in his attack on the. arsenal. "This on for some time and, of course, the residents suspected nothing to be wrong. Held Up On The Bridge. "But, as -I have said, I was employed watching the bridge, and before a great while and during the summer a number of strangers came over the bridge and inquired from me whether a 'John Smith lived In the neighborhood and to direct them there.

These men usually came at intervals of about a week, always alone, and, as I later learned, were the men who comprised 'Captain Smith's following In his attack on the arsenal. "Historians have repeatedly written that the insurrection was created by negroes, but this is entirely incorrect and there were not more than three negroes in the party. I personally saw the men who made the attack and with one or two exceptions recognized every man. "Employed with me in watching the old railroad bridge here at' the Ferry was a man named William and we relieved each other at six-hour intervals. The railroad then had a time- clock on the bridge such as is in use in the large offices today, and we were required to register every 30 minutes.

"On Sunday night, October 16, 1859 I remember it well I was due" to report at midnight, but Williams and myself never quarreled with each other if one happened to be a few minutes late. On this night I arrived at the bridge at exactly 12.20 o'clock' and was surprised to find that Williams wasn't there and had not registered on the clock since 10.30. "I immediately started back across the bridge in search of him and was accosted on my way by two armed strangers, this being the first intimation I had of the siege. I was commanded by the men to halt but'1 not inj familiar with military life didn't obey. "After my failure to stop upon the second command I was struck in the side by a bayonet and rendered almost unconscious by the blow.

Regaining my feet, I asked the reason for their nnlestaton and told them I was the watchman on the bridge. answered the man that I afterward learned was John Brown's son Oliver, we will watch the bridge tonight --you come with us. All Animals, amateur old phrasemaker Demo'sthenes turn green with envy. His writing Is eminently nne writing. "In his ordinary conversation he distributes flowers of expression lavishly and with a self-conscious look.

When he graduates from school he almost always goes Into the butcher business, marries and has 12 children. "I remember one boy of this type wh wrote of the moon as 'the great I have never forgotten that phrast. It has spoiled moonlight nights for me. On glorious wintry evenings, when the moon looks out of a Jeweled sky, I can only tee 'the great "Then there is the editor of the school year book. He is the most careworn of them all.

It is a common and accepted say-ing that if you give a schoolboy a year-book editorship you have spoiled his chance of winning a prize. "The work takes up almost all of his time. Studies become simply secondary matters. He Is always trying to persuade his contributors to get their work in on time and la doing so he confronts the greatest evil of college life procrastination. "Oh, school is a marvelous study-ground for observation of your species.

I would rather work In a school than anywhere else In the world. It Is a whole mimic world In Itself. Having fewer and more stringent laws than any other realm it is more free (This last remark is given Just as the professor uttered It. It needs a college pro-fessor to say it and It needs a college professor to explain It.) Girls Are More Sneaky. "I have taught In both boys' and glrta schools.

I prefer to teach boys. Girls are better students, I believe, than their natural complements, but I find a finer feeling, a rreater native delicacy and larger generosity In boys than in girls, and I think that all of my fellow-workers will bear me out. "Girls are all right on the surface, but beDeath the veneer, which they acquire naturally very easily, they conceal 1,000 little meannesses. A boy Is rough on the surface, but there is clear gold all through. "Now, I don't mean that at rock bottom there Is not after all as much good ore In a girl as In a boy, but I do say that they have a host of little meannesses right beneath the surface that a boy has not The talk of girls among themselves (if they feel that they can talk openly, that Is) Is the most cold-blooded, dispassionate, cynical business in the world.

"There was a girl In one of my classes once whom I have never been able to forget. If I had known her much longer I would have lost all trust In womankind. "She was a warm-blooded, impulsive little Southerner, with great brown eyes on the surface. She would run up to her classmates and fling her arms around them and snuggle up to them, just as a turtledove Is supposed to do In the nest. "Yet I knew of at least BO cold-blooded treacheries she had committed against friends during her stay at school.

She would He if she thought It worth while, and she was the most adept girl at cheating In the whole class. "I believe that she would stick a knife Into you with a pleasant smile and ask you If It hurt. I think she was a reincarnation of the spirit of the Borgias. and in the classroom, after looking at her for a moment, I used to turn my ryes to a rough, homely, country girl, with raw cotton, yellow hair and a red skin, big knuckles and a sharp nose. Just for pure pleasure in the feeling that she could be trusted.

Snakes I Snakes Many of them I As to The Fair Co-Edl "There Is the fair Co-ed. I have not had a great opportunity to observe her. The years that I spent In universities were before Co-eds were common sights. "Se Is almost always a creature with a bulging forehead and light blue eyes. She has her hair done in a nent knot and her air is altogether studious.

A more different creature from Tennyson's Princess it would be hard to Imagine. "If I had my way one of the matriculation requirements of a great university would be one whole year's hard work at a trade. Many boys go to school without knowing what they want or how much they want of what they do want, and their tench, era can't help them, because they theuv selves have rarely had practical experience In the world. "But I don't feel like arguing. My Interest In school Is purely on the dramatic side and not on the philosophic.

"It I were so inclined I could write a large volume about the peculiarities of my fellows In the college faculties. But I have to earn living, rt you want to study human nature go to school." Habper's Febby, W. Dec. 2Q. NEXT Tuesday will mark the anniversary of the execution of John Brown and his band of raiders at W.

December 29, 1859, following their attack upon the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Probably the most interesting survivor of those stirring ante-bellum days is Patrick Higgins, who for. more than 40 years watched the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge at the Ferry, was on duty at the time of the attack and, so far as can be learned, is the only living acquaintance of Brown. Mr. Higgins record as a railroad man antedates the Civil War, and was begun on the Baltimore and Ohio way back in 1853, just five months after the railroad had opened the first trunk line in the country from Baltimore to Wheeling, on the Ohio river, and when as he expresses it "the father of American development, the railroad, was an infant." Well may he be termed a railroad man of the old school, for since starting in his life's work, more than 50 years ago, he has seen many conditions of railroading and Improved methods of operation.

His first employment with the Baltimore and Ohio was as a trackman on the first division, between Baltimore and Martinsburg, W. and he was later made a watchman on the Harper's Ferry bridge, where he remained throughout the war. Coming Of The Telegraph. Mr. Higgins considers that no one agency so served to improve railroad conditions of the early days as the telegraph.

It Is rather amusing to listen to him tell of the construction of the line through Harper's Ferry. "It was in 1854 that the wires were strung through here," said he, "and when I asked the linemen the use to be made of the poles they were planting and they told me they were for the telegraph, which would enable the officials in their offices at Baltimore to keep in touch with train movement out on the road, I really thought the men were crazy. "You see, before that time train schedules called for certain meeting points along the line, and if upon arrival of a train the one going in the opposite direction had not made its appearance, the rules required the first train to wait an hour, and allow five minutes for a possible variation of watches, before proceeding. "And in those days," continued Mr. Higgins, "for a man to be a railroad man meant that he could endure countless hardships.

There were no cabooses and other present-day accommodations for the crews, our pay was much less, and there was no overtime then, such as is allowed the trainmen of today. "Why, I remember well making a trip from Martinsburg to Baltimore when I was out on the road twenty-two and three-quarter hours and received for my day's work "The cars in those days were of smaller capacity than our present ones, and on each train was carried a house car, in which were the extra lamps. You see the roadbed as smooth as our twentieth century, seventy-mile-an-hour right of way, and the jolting' of the trains would often extinguish the lights and markers." Owing to his varied railroad duties, Mr. Higgins was closely identified with the thrilling events of the war-time history of this quaint little mountain town, and, although at present retired from active duty, he is as hale and hearty as a young man of one-third his years, his memory is as retentive as a schoolboy's, and he delights in talking of the bygone days when John Brown and his abolitionist followers were inciting outbreaks of violence among the negroes of the vicinity. When John Brown Arrived.

"Yes, I knew John Brown very well," said Mr. Higgins, "but it will be getting considerably ahead of my story to refer to him as 'John Brown. "About the middle of March, 1858, a man giving his name as John Smith Capt John Snith came to Harpers Ferry and procured boarding accommodations over at Sandy Hook. I was at that employed as a watchman on the old wooden bridge at the ferry and boarded also in Sandy Hook, a few doors from 'Captain Smith. "Naturally I got to see a good bit of the 'Captain, and he told me he was a prospector who had come- to Harpers Ferry In the hope of discovering valuable minerals in HE queerest, most complicated, most interesting race of carmv ora in the world is that of the high school and college boys," said a college professor the other day.

We spend much time and money looking into the nature and habits of strange races and animals in unexplored countries. Do you remember how mucn talk there was when Colonel Younghus-band penetrated Tibet But right here at hand we don't seem to bother about that absolutely unique species we confine within the walls of -high -schools and colleges. "Like an old college professor friend or mine, who watched a crowd of his students paste paper over one of the fairest statues upon the campus and then begin to sling paste upon each other, I often feel like changing the ancient proverb which says, 'Boys will be boys' Into 'College boys will be college This Is necessary to explain. by any sane process of reasoning, some of the astounding antics tnat couegians indulge in. 1 "Only college boys would do some of the things that I have seen them do.

No other sentient beings on earth would ever. think them up. Well Worth Close Study. "Therefore I say that the college boy ia as strange and unique a beast as any in the universe and that instead of spending our efforts Investigating the ways and manners of the shf Wallapaloopians we had better turn our attention within the great ramparts and magnificent halls of our splendid colleges and secondary schools. "There is no place In the world that Is so fertile a field for the cultivation of queer freaks of impulse and personality, as the college.

"As soon as a man goes out into the world his conduct and his mode of life are caught in one of many general currents, he is pressed into a groove and he is made to conform to certain set patterns. "He may have money and have to go the social round. He may marry and have to work hard for his living, and his will then be a domestic life. Or he may take up a certain profession. In any case he has to follow a set mode of life.

"We are all oi us pee-wees in a peg-ana-cup game as soon as we start out in life. We start out and then we fall Into a certain altoy. Thereafter we have to follow that alley. Few Yearn To Learn. "But there are fewer limits for a college boy in college than for any other being in the universe.

So long as he conforms with a few easily observed regulations he has almost perfect liberty to do aa he pleases. Therefore, there is no better field for the cultivation of eccentricities of manner, thought and action than the college. "At college human nature ia at ita rankest and freest. Its shoots have not yet been withered by sophistication. You see It In its wildest and most outlandish phases.

"The average college boy, I have found, goes to school more because he has to or because he has not the Initiative to go out Into the world than because he wants to learn. Such a boy has only a perfunctory Interest in his studies, and they do not take up much of his time. He has a great deal of leisure on hia hands and so he turns the superabundant energies of the most abundant period of his life Into any one of a marvelous number of futile channels. "The wooden attltnde of students to their studies is perfectly amazing if you do not reflect upon this purely artlflicial Interest. I remember at one of the greatest universi ties in the country once I was teaching English.

It was one of the very famous centera of learning. When the German Emperor sent commissioners to America to investigate our methods of education this Institution was one that was specially desig nated for a visit in the commissioners' instructions. "I was conducting an English class, I say, and we came to the following In Milton's 'Lycldas' Together both er the high lawns appeared Under the opening eyelids of the mom We diwe afield. "I think that is the way the words go. It is very hard to misquote Milton'a music.

"Anyhow, to point my moral, there was not a single student in that whole class of 24 that could tell me what picture was depicted They could not tell me what the lines meant. It la a bnautitul little) I with him 7 i 1 1.