The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-10-18
OAmY JOURNAL
MONDAY. OCTOBER Is. 1868.
POPPING THE QUESTION.
By HENRY WARD BEE sHER

ry of man runneth not to the con
trary," great has been the art o
popping the question" The tern
needs no explanation. OF all ques
tons, and the earth is filed will
them as the heaven with stars. there
is but one question meant when it is
said that it is popped" What ar
absurd word How ridiculous, thai
the sweet beginning of the sweetest
act OF mans life should have tack
led to 1t word so wholly ridiculous
Why popping, rather than looked,
or 6reGthed, or si9hed2 But so it is.
That exquisite drama that opens
every ones love life, the softening
word, the nameless attraction, the
growing charm, the sympathetic dis
turbance, the feverish Imagination,
the hope, the despair, the hope again,
the approach, the silence with pre-ar-
ranged words stuck in the throat, the
matter adjourned and put off again
and again, while the heart misery will
not be put of, but grows more aud
more despotic; the fortunate evening,
the mellow sunset, the unexpected
being left alone together, the unpre-
meditated conversation leading right
us
the heart beats faster and faster, to
the ecstatic moment when the eyes
meet, the hands are clasped, the word
is spoken, the veil is gone, and en-
bosomed lovers now atone in flowing
rapture for the long pent-up suspense
-(now, then, please let me 60 back to
the beginning of the sentence, and see
how many verbs and nominatives
come out harmonious ~; well all the
aforesaid experience)-is summed up
in the ridiculous phrase, popped the
question, as if it were something
shot out of pop-gun.
But all this is Introductory to a
letter which lies before me. signed
Philadelphus, bearing internal evil
denee of being written by an old
Observation-Disclosures years old
and unfolding his sorrows. Here Is
the first half. verbatinl ct titeratiBs.
PHILADELPHIA, August "a, 1863
Henry Ward Bcecher:
DEAR SIR: As you write on the
general issues Of the Day Please give
us Something that will cause Rev
olution in the Present Mode Of Pop
ping the Question. The Fact is My
dear sir, fear cannot get up sufi-
cient courage to pop. I have not
kept a Record of the Times that /
resolved to do it, they would fill vol
umes, but the Record of My Birth
Stares me In the Face. Born IN
Eighteen Hundred and Thirty, and
the clock is still going, and | have
not popped yet"
1.-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 question,
and sheer aside like shying horse.
Then again with no intention that
way, they suddenly blossom forth
into love like rosebud in June.
Some write 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 lightning. If a manly
fellow only shows himself disposed to
do the right thing, and she must be
hard-hearted girl that will not help
him, he need not say a word.
But there are a thousand ways of
making the inevitable easy, if a Wo-
man choose. [ exclude all cases
where the woman is not pleased, and
all the wicked. cases In which she is
angling merely for amusement.
Now, what shall be said of this
poor fellow2 Fear is stronger than
love in his case, or he would have
broken through in his endeaYors. 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 repealed by scores and hundreds
of fair faces, [ lear 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 aud sad.
Now why may not girls Pop, when
men stand back in tear. Good Sir,
can you not break up this Old Rule,
requiring the men to Propose and
institute something that will bring
happiness to many that now stand on
the Brink of Popping?
Yours, etc.,
PHILADELPHUs."
If we know our mind we do not
propose to NEEDLE with this matter.
. If our suspicious are correct, there
is, in hundreds of instances, no need
of any change. Oh, how some men
are taken up, shared, kept. all their
attempts to escape bahied, and
against their will, almost. have they
had a declaration snatched from
them. OHe of the exquisite sur
prises of life is experienced In the
case of honest souls that find out that
they never could find out how
they had become engaged to the Wo-
man they did not love and never
meant to have But then these are
exceptional cases.
Meanwhile, we must turn over to
our good friends of the Revolution
this proposed question of the liberty
Of popping the question. 1t is not a
matter for men TO NEEDLE with. IF
the coming woman is determined to
do it, how can it be helped? Our
houses may be protected from light
ming by suitable rods, but is there any
protection for the heart if a rare
creature strikesa man with the full
battery of lover
We must leave our disconsolate
bachelor with but slight hint as to
possibilities. Procure an eligible
room, advertise that you will be on
exhibition for several hours, arrange
the room so that ladies can pass in
and look at you without being them
selves seen, and if, after two full days,
nobody proposes for you, you may
consider it decree that you are to
live and die an old bachelor.
.uuru.s M