Woman's chronicle. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1888-1???, 1890-03-15

all follow that one is very lovely in body or soul
because an individual who had, after all, probably
seen but little of one, chooses to fancy so. On
the contrary, all the presumption should really
be the other way. For the girl who has allowed
matters to come to such pass as proposal has,
in too many cases, proved herself selfish vain,
sometimes stupid, and always inconsiderate.
1t is indeed, seldom that such mad and sud-
den love seizes sutton that he cannot wait to make
tentative and delicate approaches, but declares
himself in such haste as to take the young woman
altogether by surprise. She would, ordinarily, be
very stupid if she failed to see his feelings almost
as soon as he became aware of them himself And
if she has seen them and has allowed him to 90 on
unchecked When they were not reelprocated, and
she meant to put an end to his hopes eventually,
why, then, she must have given him encourage
ment, which amounted to deceit and a kind of tact
falsehood, which was, in plain fact, taking his
hearts best gift and consuming it in smoke as in
cense before the shrine of her own vanity, and all
without any sober thought of the harm possibly
thus wrought ON the luckess loves future and his
whole outlook on life. When, then, we find this
woman who can boast of having numerous pro-
posals, we do not really say the half that is to be
said when we pronounce her stupid vain, selfish
IL
and have quite as much to feed her vanity, if, d-
vining his intentions, she had never let him reach
the overt act of a proposal; if she had spared his
feelings, and had given him earlier to perceive that
his efforts in her direction were useless
Let us suppose that the case and conditions are
reversed, and it had grown to be not outside the
pale of proprlety for woman unsolicited to ex-
press her love to its object, and propose herself as
partner for life to the man who had won her
affections without intending to do SO. And let us
suppose that he, with all the gentleness in the
world, tells her that this which she has wished can
not come to pass that he will be brother to her.
and she shall never want FRIEND and all the rest
that she would say to him were the case the other
way TO nearly absolute certainty she would
not want his friendship; so far from accepting this
tepid, brothery kindness, she would never want to
see his face again. she would experience creep
ing, whitening, burning shame at the thought of
him. And after that if she heard that he had
suffered her secret to escape him, had told his
confidential friend of what had occurred, had al
lowed his family to betray their knowledge of it,
if they had the knowledge, would she not think
him the smallest, basest, meanest of mankind, and
be justified in her opinion? And doing the same
thing herself, as often as she has chance, what
better, then is she!
1t is not to our young lady's credit, we repeat,
that she has ever let things arrive at the open offer
and the humiliation of defeat for one who is ready
to love her better than all the rest of the world be-
Sides 1t is she who really should feel the humii-
alton. But having been so unwise, so negligent,
so blind, so what you please, silence is the only
PREPARATION she can make, the only balm to his
wound she can apply, the only salve to her own
conscience If she can not give love, she can at
least do him this friendly act of apparent forget
fitness 1t is an affair, at least, that she has an
obligation to treat as secret, and secret is safe
only in ones own breast. A good mans love is a
blessing bad mans love is certainly nothing to
boast about; and she who even hints of having
received and refused, for whatever reason, the
offer of the first, is herself uudeserving of it.
A widower with q number of small children