nary
frequency with which, even by means of subterfuges, the lovers exchange
letters; (2) the anxiety to see and talk to each other, to press each
other's hands, to embrace and kiss; (3) the long conversations and the
very long reveries; (4) persistent jealousy, with its manifold arts and
usual results; (5) exaltation of the beloved's qualities; (6) the habit of
writing the beloved's name everywhere; (7) absence of envy for the loved
one's qualities; (8) the lover's abnegation in conquering all obstacles to
the manifestations of her love; (9) the vanity with which some respond to
'flame' declarations; (10) the consciousness of doing a prohibited thing;
(11) the pleasure of conquest, of which the trophies (letters, etc.) are
preserved."

The difference between a "flame" and a friendship is very well marked in
the absolute exclusiveness of the former, whence arises the possibility
of jealousy. At the same time friendship and love are here woven together.
The letters are chaste (a few exceptions among so many letters not
affecting this general rule), and the purity of the flame relationship is
also shown by the fact that it is usually between boarders and day-pupils,
girls in different classes and different rooms, and seldom between those
who are living in close proximity to each other. "Certainly," writes one
of the lady collaborators, "the first sensual manifestations develop in
girls with physical excitement pure and simple, but (at all events, I
would wish to believe it) the majority of college-girls find sufficient
satisfaction in being as near as possible to the beloved person (of
whichever sex), in mutual admiration and in kissing, or, very frequently,
in conversation that is by no means moral, though usually very
metaphorical. The object of such conversation is to discover the most
important mysteries of human nature, the why and the wherefore; it deals
with natural necessities, which the girl feels and has an intuition of,
but as yet knows nothing definite about. Such conversations are the order
of the day in schools and in colleges and specially revolve around
procreation, the most difficult mystery of all. They are a heap of
stupidities." This lady had only known of one definitely homosexual
relationship during the whole of her college-life; the couple in question
were little liked and had no other "flames." The chief general sexual
manifestations, this lady concludes, which she had noted among her
companions wa