The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-05-17
CoURTsHIPs IN CANADA.
Our Canuck Cousins Nothing IL Not Prac-
tlcal-Pretty Young Housekeepers.

ttcal-Pretty Young Housekeepers'
Canada may be several laps behind
most nations in the march of intellect
ual progress, but she keeps going
perseveringly onward. Her provinces
have their school systems, her boys
are wearing off the virgin gold of their
natural quickness aud ability, and
polishing it until they have almost ar
rived at the glitter which dazzles and
captivates the world that has yet failed
to recognize or encourage mere dia-
monds in the rough. Her girls are
really the cream of the continent.
Their coyness is more than an equal
for the blushing. sensuous bashfulness
of the Southern brunette, and their
physique has the perfection to which
alone the moderate zone and the
Northern cline can give birth.
A certain business idea underlies all
their actions and crops out in national
as well as individual concerns. Even
the courting of the young folks. which
is in most countries a sort of deliri-
Gus, if not insane, round of continuous
ecstasy and an exaggerated idea of the
beauty and worth of the individual,
takes mundane form.
pleasant one, but invariably a short
one. By this it must not be under
stood that the young ladies may be
had for the asking, or that they are mer-
chandise of their parents. Not at all
1t simply means that both the men and
women take the sensible view of the
subject. 1t is not that their Dulcinea
is divine or their Lothario is an Apollo.
L %I anl, do
that marriage would be an excellent
thing for both. There is no consump-
ton of several tons of coal or cords of
wood over the proceeding. 1t doesn't
last long enough for that.
Generally the probation period is,
six months, and if young man has
been brought up within fifteen or
twenty miles of the lady to whom he
is paying his attentions he necessarily
knows all about her and her ancestry.
and he is expected to make his pro-
posals and announce his intentions
within that period. Ii he is particu-
larly bashful and the young lady is in
dulgent she may give him place on
the sofa and accept the contributions
of the sap of the maple with which he
comes laden to her fresh from the
forest for another three months. But
unless somewhere in that month he
asks her to be his own he must seek
other firesides. She doesn't weep at
the parting or make any time over it.
There are just asgood fish in the sea as
ever were caught. she argues, and in
| that reason she finds consolation for
the misspent time.
Are Canadian girls pretty? Well.
rather. and, better still, they are all
trained to make good housekeepers.
There is not young lady from the
Red River to Labrador that cannot
| make the most tempting of wheat
| cakes as we'll as the rarer delicacies.
They are good helpmates and never
| prove faithless.
In religion the Canadians are emil
nentlv practical as well. Religion
doesn't bring any grist to their mills,
and they are content to let the minis
ters work in the vineyard without
hampering them with any advice or
suggestions.
Politics is also great field in which
the Canadian distinguishes himself
Will it pay me to go into it? the
young man asks. If it does, he will
90. If it does not he will remain at
home. Country" is an abstract term
with them. They have no idea of re-
forming the world. They don't run
| wild at election times and wave the
old flag up and down their platforms,
an election is purely business tran
saction. There is some principle in
| one, to be sure, but the principle they
| have with them at all times, and when
election comes around they let that
particular idea take possession OF
| them, and all principle. III many in
stances, to take a well-deserved rest.
Who will be their candidates.? Two
things determine this.
| FIRST. the man must be able to put
up an amount of money that will be
equal to the sum of g on every vote in
| the constituency in which he is to run.
This is not necessarily bribery fund.
That IS the sum that the parties had
agreed on as absolutely necessary to
pay for hall hire and bands as well as
| for votes. Then, again, he must be of
the free and easy fellows. He must
laugh and be merry and slap every
| body on the back when he would
| rather slap them in the mouth, but he
| must make virtue of necessity. What
have they nominated him for? They
don't expect him to develop into an
angel. They look upon Parliament as a
body that is entitled to take hand in
the Treasury grab-bag, and they
neither wonder nor grow jealous if he
comes back home a rich man, pro-
vided he performs his part with some
cleyerness.
They are very simple, these Canadi-
! ans, but they know some few facts that
make them interesting. The echoes
from the outside world have reached
them, and they dress them in the most
fantastic and exaggerated forms.
There are hopes for their coming into
the intellectual and mechanical race
with the Americans, bat if they do it
will be quite safe and possibly pru-
dent to not attempt to capture them
by sprinkling salt on their tails. They
| do not object to the sprinkling, but the
chances are hundred to one that
after that operation has been per-
formed they will march back to their
own strange land and utilize and enjoy
the salt while the sprinklers are won
dering what it means.-NeV York
Press.