Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1850-09-21
Popping tho Question.

/ He iotIOWlnH III tlie CONFESSION OIL Ell
old bachelor, who describes himself as be,
being DOW go dried up, that he is little better
than mummy, aud expects, some Of these
days, to be i'lown. away into dust. He
advises all young men to get married. afid
tells them how to manage the n''eonrting.
The o d fellow speaks like one WHO knows,
| though he has touch Of the crab.apple
| in him; perhaps he got Tilted when young
Notwithstanding he pretends to have been
so aN fau
"Now. gentlemen, this going n court.
ing is nothing to be afraid OF, if, like me,
one understands how to do it. / dont
mean to boast, btl'--the fact was--in my
young days was up to thing or two
In the first place, give out that you are a
marrying man! 1t will smooth difficult
ties wonderfully. Brothers will invite
you to dinnef---rna,nma ask their daagh-
ters to sing your favorite songs--your
opinion will be asked on all points, and If
the family have country seat, you eau
go tH-re every Saturday night, aud stay
till Monday, the summer through, with
ont spending sou marhee. You've no
idea, sir, what an easy thing love-making
becomes under such circumstances. A
walk by moonlight, a chance meeting at
early morning in the garden, or a summer
afternoon together in the acove. does the
business. TO tell the truth never came
SO near going as when [ spent week in
the country with bridesmaid / had wait
ed on there was a porch almost buried
in honeysuckles. behind the house, and
adjoining the gardeYA, which was perfect
Paradise. There we used to sit, and one
day if it hadn't been that the old gentle
man woke from his nap and threw up the
parior window just as got his daughters
hand in mine, the question would have
popped itself
You stare; but. Irepeat, it would have
popped itself. The fact is. between our
selves, these things become astonishingy
natural after all, quite as if one was brought
up to them from child. Don't trouble
yourself at how you look or what yon
shall say--he lest thing you can do is
not to think of the matter at all, make a
plunge at once and then tile business is
soon over. There are thousand ways to
pop the question, ms there are thousand
ways to make love. Some do it with
easy iulpndence--some choke for words
aud stick fast--sofns deliver set speech
and look for c.eau spot on the carpet
to get down on their knees--and some
glide into it gradually, like hawk mar
rowing his gyrations before he stoop~---
the poor girl sitting beside him all the
time, her heart futtering in her bodice
like frightened bird. I've heard Of one
or two poor sinners who popped the ques-
ton to insure refusal, aid that is to pro-
pase in letter. A woman--let her love
you as she will, is always frightened when
she seriously thinks OF leaving her parents
TO trust her all wltha comparative stranger,
if you give her time to look at these mat
ters cooliy, ten TO one she'll give you
denial / am an Old man and have seen
the word. aud lei me tell you the girl who
Yields in tears, on a moonlight evening,
would write civil refusal or eqnivocal
answer the next morning after breakfast
And then what foo, man makes OF
himself on paper. / read some letters
the other day--the gods forgive my sins
for writing such.
It's mistake, sir, in these matters to
lend ,he young helping hand--all they
ask is 10 be LETT alone, and if there are ans
metl1Iing youngsters about, have them
nut TO bed. or drowned. it don't matter
which, so they're out Of the way. Only
give the lovers fair play, kick your match
making aunts to the deuce, and---my llie
on it - the most demure will find way
of being understood, even il, like old Sir
Isaac Newton, they have to make love
with their feet. II may come rather odd
at first, but they will set looking at each
others eyes until by, and by, their hands
will steal into each other, and so, getting
cozier and cozier, the question, when they
least expect it, will pop out like cork
from champagne bottle. 1t will pop
itself