Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1885 — Behavior of a Rejected Lover. [ARTICLE]

Behavior of a Rejected Lover.

The situation of a man who has been “winged” is much better than that of a girl under the same circumstances. At first he takes it very hard. He rails against marriage, sneers at woman in general, and becomes for the time being a second Diogenes. Ere many months have elapsed he emerges from his tub and his sulky fit. He now begins to realize that he is “interesting.” A halo of romance encircles him; others may bear away the palm in literature, science, or art, but there are some kind ..souls by whom the dejected hero is at once placed on a pedestal, owing to the mere fact of his having been badly treated by one of their own sex. “Poor Edwin! so clever, so amusing, and brokenhearted!” says Angelina to herself. She at once sets to work to repair the damage done by the unappreciative rival. It is Mr pleasing task to guide the wounded spirit through the successive stages of pique, cynicism, desire for sympathy, and platonic friendship; until Edwin is gently but firmly led to the alter before he well knows where he is. Sometimes, however, the young man is too wide-awake for this, and while making a' very good thing out of his broken heart, he prefers confiding his sorrows to more than one Angelina, deftly “sheering off” when pity is becoming inconveniently like love. Thus one disappointment may prove a foundation for many flirtations, and Edwin consoles himself, and is consoled, by an ever-varying procession of good Samaritans, till at last he really forgets how it all began, who jilted him, and whom he jilted. He has the proud satisfaction of feeliug that die has amply avenged his wrongs by the number of blighted beings whom he has “winged” in his turn, continues his triumphal progress until it is brought to a close by a well-dowered widow in “the roaring forties,” from whom he fails to escape, and finally settles down to “peace with honor” and a comfortable income.— London Standard.