Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-01-18
lEy U,o.MEN PROPOSE.

LET WO-nEN fhOkNOSC.
Mrs. Bc,ra 4. Lock,cooets vic,vs on tie
Iml;,oreant subject.
Mrs. Lockwood answeredthe question
"Should Womca Propose?' put to her
by New York reporter in the follow
ing letter:
"M'hy not9 In the ages past mel,
have married their preferences women,
their opportunities. The man may
choose the woman refuse, but she re-
fuses at her peril, as her decision may
condemn her to a life OF celibacy, es-
pecially in our thickly populated New
England or Middle States, where the
women outnumber the men. The man
she accepts may be in no wise; the man
Of her choice; but it may be a marriage
of complaisance, of convenience, or OF
necessity under our present. system,
while the woman looks calmly on to see
another fill the place that she has
coveted, without any. intimqtion in the
male breast of her desire, when little
more frankness on the part of the wo-
man might have added to the happiness
of both. A woman would be slow to
make application for divorce from the
man who had married her on her own
calm deliberation and request; while
the positive privilege Of making another
selection should he refuse-and the man
should have the same right Of refusal
as the woman-would give her conf
dence to approach the man she deemed
best suited to her condition and -happi-
ness. Matches would be more carefully
made when considered from both stand
points, and the glamour and indefinite
ness that usually hedged around a pro
posal would be wiped away in the cool
consideration of mutual business
contract.
And why should the women not have
voice and choice in the man who is
to be her life partner, the father of her
children and who is most likely to give
the tone and color to all Of her after
Life? The majority of women never
rise above the character given to them
by the man whom they chance to wed,
for chance in the past has ''aually had
more to do with the marl4u,. ..4au rea-
son. The Catholics make marriage a
canon Of the church and indissoluble,
but it is considered in most of the States
as civil contract. It should undoubt-
edly be civil contract with the utmost
mutually, with both of the contracting
parties at liberty to propose and to re-
ject proposals without offense and with.
out any violation of any of the ordinary
rules of propriety. The contract should
also be construed to contain equal prop
erty rights for the man and the wo-
man, and an equal control over the
children of the marriage. Why should
the woman have more difidence in Sc
lecting the man who is to wed her than
in the selection of the house she is to
live in and its intricate furnishings
when the former has infinitely so much
more to do with hes happiness and pros.
perity?
To propose has always been consid-
cred the prerogative Of Queens, but in
this respect ever American woman
should consider herself a queen. It
was not until Queen Victoria had signi-
fed to Prince Albert that a proposal
from him would be favorably received
that he ventured to make advances to
that honored lady. Queen Elizabeth
years before had claimed the right of
proposal as England's sovereign Queen.
The incident recited in scripture be-
tween Ruth and Boaz, after the day of
cleaning in the field, was virtually a
proposal by Ruth.
WOMEN OF THIN wEsr