Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1869-10-14
lFrsm the New York Ledser.I
Popping the Question.
Br HENRY WARD BsEcHER.


them as the heavens with stars, there
is but one question meant, when it is
''popped." What an absurd word..
How ridiculous, that the sweet be-
ginning of the sweetest act of mans
life should have tackled to it word
so wholly ridiculous. Why popped,
rather than looked or bre0thed or
sighed? But so it is. That exquisite
drama that opens every ones love
lite, the softening word, the name
less attraction, the growing charm,
the sympathetic disturbance, the fe-
verlsh imagination, the hone, 0he
despair, the hope again, the ap-
proach, the silence with prearranged
words stuck in the throat, the matter
adjourned and put off again, and
again, while the heart misery will
not be put off, but grows more and
more despotic; the fortunate even. |
ing, the mellow sunset, the unexpect.
ed being left alone together, the un-
premeditated conversation leading
right on, as the breath grows short.
and the heart beats faster and faster.
to the ecstatic moment when the
eyes meet, the hands are elasped.
the word is spoken, the veil is gone,
and embosomed lovers now atone in
flowing rapture, for the long pent up
suspense-( now, then, please let me
go back to the beginning of that SEN
.ence, and see how my verbs and
nominatives are to come out harmo-
niously; well all the aforesaid expe-
rience) is summed up In the ridicu
lous phrase, popped the question:"
as if it were something shot out OF q
pop gun.
But all this is Introductory to let
ter which lies before me, signed
Philadelphus, bearing internal eyi
dence of being written by an old
bachelor-thirty- eight years Old
and unfolding his sorrows. Here is
the first half, verbatim e. Merdtim.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 9th, go
Henry Ward Beecher:
DEAR SIR-As you write on the
general issues of the Day Please
give us Something that will cause q
Revolution in the Present Mode of
Popping the Question. The Fact is
My dear sir, fear that | cannot get
up sufficient courage to pop. l
have not kept a Record of the Times
that | resolved TO do it, they would
fill volum es, but the Record of Ny
Birth Stares me in the Face. Born
in Eighteen Hundred and Thirty,
and the clock is still going, and l
have not popped yet.
"The present mode of popping the
question! why, the modes are in,
Vulnerable. They are more than the
sand on the shore. There is no
mode. 1t is an accident. Men do
it on purpose and they do it before
they know what they are doing -
They undertake to breach the ques.
ton, and sheer aside Ikea shy horse
Then again with no intentions that
way, they suddenly blossom forth
into love like rosebud in June
Some write it. Some look it; some
hint it; some take it for granted
The hand, with gentle pressure, may
speak as plain as words. Reading a
love tale aloud, strikes like light
ming. If manly fellow only shows
disposed to do the right
thing, and she must be a hard heart
ed girl that will not help him, he
need not say word.
But there is a thousand ways of
making the inevitable easy, if wo-
man choose / exclude all cases
where the woman is not pleased,
and all the wicked cases in which
she is angling merely for amuse
ment.
Now, what shall be said OF this
poor fellow? Fear is stronger than
love in his case, or he would have
broken through, in some one of his
endeavors. If all these purposes
had been confined to one woman,
either he is hard hearted or she is
fool But if, as | fear, the writer
has been attracted and repelled by
scores and hundreds OF fair faces, |
fear that his trouble is that his :
heart is not deep enough.
, But let us have the other half Of
his letter, which seems to grow more
sober and sad
Now why may not girls Pop, when
men stand back iu fear Good Sir,
ian you not break up this Old Rule,
the men to Propose and in 7
,titute something that will bring hap
oiness to many that now stand on the J
Brink Of Popping.
~4 Yours, &c,