The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-06-16
COURTSHlP IN PARIS.
Few Opportunities For the Lovers to Be-
come Acquainted Before Marriage.

Few Opportunities For the Lovers to BE.
come Acquainted Before Marriage.
AS French families are unprotected
by the state in respect to keeping men
at a distance, they themselves have
taken the matter in hand in allowing
no privacy before marriage. Under no
circumstances is an engaged person al
lowed to remain alone; the mother or
elder sister is ever present at the inter-
views. But, Notwithstanding the pres :
ence of the third person, the young en-
gagged couple talk freely of their future
prospects. and frequently indulge in
lovers quarrels. The fiance is daily in
vited to dine with his future wife's fam
lily. Sitting side by side, many word
of fondness and love is whispered in the
young ladys ear out of the hearing of
the lenient papa and mamma. Going
in and out Of the dining-room, they
slyly manage to be the last couple, and
] have been told that it is wonderful
how much can be whispered in the short
walking space lying between the parlor
and the dining-room. Parents SIM
ilarly ignore these innocent pri-
vacies; they remember when, in years
gone by, they trespassed in the
sme way. Mutual acquaintance is
made at the house of mutual friends.
The young people may dance with each
other as much as they like. At a party
the mamma generally carries on an ami
mated conversation with friends of her
own age, and does not listen to the les
sons of love which her future son-in-law
sees fit to give her daughter while sit
ting as far as it is possible from the
maternal ears and authority. Taking
an impartial view of such a courtship,
it is not perhaps as fruitful in results of
acquaintanceship as those of longer du-
ration and extended permission of pri-
waite associations. But, however long
courtship may last, who is the man or
woman who does not persist in putting
on his Sunday manners as well as his
Sunday clothes as long as it lastsp
George Eliot ably puts the question in
"Middlemarch' when she says: "Infer-
ences may seem large, but really life
could never have gone on at any period
but for the liberal allowance of conclu-
S ons which have facilitated marriage
under the difficulties of civilization. Has
any one pinched into its pilulous small
ness the cobweb of prematrimonial ac-
quaintanceship?"
AS a rule, during courtship the young
lady does not call nor visit at the house
OF her betrothed; no dinners or festivi-
ties take place there until after the mar
riagc. All the members of his family,
however, ale frequently invited by the
parents of the young lady to meet all
of her relations and form circle of
alliance. They are all expected to
formally call on each other at least
once or twice a year, if closer ties
of sociability are not maintained. 1t
is not considered bon ton for the en-
gagged couple to call each other by their
Christian name without the prefix of
miss or Mr.. The French thee and thou
are reserved for after marriage, and
nowfrequently are used as an endearing
way for husband and wife to speak to
each other only in the privacy of a
tete-a-tete. Presents are exchanged
only the day before the marriage cere-
mony. 1t is the future husbands duty
to furnish his house. He of course
consults the taste of his bride, and es-
pecialiy that of her mother, who has
more experience, and who thoroughly
knows the wishes of her daughter.
The trousseau and all the house linen
are provided by the bride. The sum
expended on the trousseau is often
mentioned in the contract with