Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-01-18
Popping the Question.

The following is the confession of an cid
bachelor who described himself as being now
so dried up, that he is little better than mumy
and expects, some of these days 10 be blown
away into the dust. He advises all young
young men to get married. The old fellow
speaks like one who knows, though he has a
touch Of the crabapple in him; perhaps he got
Tilted when young, Notwithstanding he appears
to be so al ffau:
Now, gentlemen, this going q occurring isnoth-
ing to be afraid Of. if, like me, one understands
how to do it. den mean 10 boast, but, the
fact was, in my roan. days, | was up to a thing
or two. In the first place give out that you
are {, marrying man! 1t will ST. Doth Difficult.
ties Observation-Disclosures will invite YOU 10
diuner-mammas as. their daughters 10 sing
your ~favorite songs--your opinion will be asked
on all points-aud if the family have Il country
seat, you eau 60 there every Saturday night, and
stay till Monday, the summer through, without
spending a soumarckee. You've no idea, sir,
what an easy thing love becomes under such
circumstances. A walk by moonlight, d chance
meeting at early morning in the garden, or a
summer afternoon together in the ~alcovcs, does
the business. To tell the truth, never came
so near going, as when ! spent a week in the
country with a bridesmaid | had waited on; there
was a porch almost buried in honey-suckle, be-
hind the house and adjoining garden, which was
a perfect paradise. There we used to sit, and
one day, if it hatn' been that the old gentleman
woke from his nap and threw up his parlor win
dow, just as | got his daughters hand in mine,
the question would have popped itself.
You stare; butt repeat, it would have popped
itself. The fact is-between ourselyes-these
things come ASTONISHING natural after al, quite.
as if one was brought up to them from 4 child,
Don't trouble yourselves about low you look,
Or what you say--the best thing You can do,
is not to think of the matter at all, but make
a plunge al at once and the business is soon
over. There are Il thousand ways to pop the
question, as there are Il thousand ways 10 make
love. Some do it with easy impudence, some
choke for words and stick fast, some deliver a
set speech, and look for a clean spot on the car
pet to 90 down on their knees; and some glide
into it gradually like a hawk narrowing his
gyrations before he stoops, the poor girl sitting
beside him all the time, her heart huttering in
her bodice like Il frightened bird. I've heard
of one or two sinners who popped the question
in the street. There's only one way more GER
tain to insure a refusal and that is to propose
it in a letter. A woman, let her love you as she
will, is always frightened when she comes serl-
ously to think of leaving her parents to trust
her all with a comparative stranger, and If you
give her time to look at these matters coolly,
ten to one she Il give you a denIaI-l am an old
man, and have seen the world, and 'et me tell
you, the girl who yields in tears on 4 moonlight
evening, would write a civil refusal or an equiv
peal answer the next morliHg after breakfast.
And then what Il fool Il lover makes himself on
paper! | read some letters the other day-the
gods forgive my sins for writing such.
It's a mistake, sir, in these matters, to end
he young a helping hand-ali they ask is to be
eft alone-as, If there are any meddting young
ters about, have them put to bed or drowned,
t don't matter which, SO that they're out of the
way. Only give to lovers fair play, kick yeur
matchmaking annts to the deuce, and, my life
IN it |. the most demnre viii find q way to be
understood, even il. like old Sir Isaac Newton,
hey have to make love with their feet. ltmay
rather odd ut first, but they will sit look
,g into each others eyes, until, BY and bye,
heir hands will somehow steal into each other,
nd so, getting cosIer aud cosier, the question,
hen they least expect it, will pop ont like a
ork from Il champagne bottle. II will pop IL
elf.