The Arizona sentinel., 1886-06-19
COURTSHIP IN PARIS.
Few Opportunities For the Lovers to Be.
 come Acquainted Before Marriage,

1 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
 fly. Sitting side by side, many word
 of fondness and love is whispered in the young lady's 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 l 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
 same way. Mutual acquaintance is maGe at the house of mutual friends. The young people may dance with each other as much as they like. At 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 nit to give her daughter while sit tlng as far as it is possible from the maternal ears and authority. Taking an impartial view of such a courtship' 1t is not perhaps as fruitful in results of ac1uaintanceship as those of longer du- ration and extended permission of pri- vate associations. But. however Ionp courtshjp 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 lasts? 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- ons which have facilitated marriage under the difficulties of civilization. Has any one pinched into its pilulous small ms the cobweb of prematrimonial ac- quaintanceship?"
 As rule, during courtship the young lady does not call nor visit at the house O. her betrothed; no dinners or festivi- ties take place there until after the mar rlage. All the members of his family. | however, are 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 year, if closer ties | of socia6ility are not maintained It | is not considered bon ton for the en- gagged couple to call each other by their Christian name without the prefix of miss or MT. The French thee and thou are reserved for after marriage, and now frequently 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. It IS the future husbands duty to furnish his house. He of course the taste of his bride, and es- pecially that of her mother, who has more experience, and who thoroughly knows the wishes of her daughter. The trousseau and all the house linen lre provided by the bride. The sum expended on the trousseau is often mentioned in the contract with