Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-01


ezs lgetting married and yet never marries'
made the confession recently that he had been
engaged fourteen times and had been rejected
twenty-eight times He is at present out OF m
engagement, but he hopes that this condition
Of affairs will not last long. He was asked il
he had any formula for proposing. but he re-
Piled that he had not; that he always trusted
TO the inspiration of the moment and that
each OF his forty-two proposals had been
made in q different way. He described
his last rejection, saying that while
the joke was on him. it was, nevertheless. too
good to keep. The girl had dog that she was
extravagantly fond of, named Tifin. and after
matters had progressed to such a stage that
she could not mistake that genuine proposal
was soon to be forthcoming, the three. the
man, the girl and Tiffin. were alone one even
Ing in her parlor. She was on the sofa and
Iliin was on the rug at her feet, his head
a6ainst her hand locking up at her with eyes
that spoke the fondest attachment Looking
down upon the happy little brute and coming
close up beside his mistress, the young mao
whispered softly:
Darling. Iwould like TO be in Tiffin's place"
He hadn't finished the sentence before the
wretched dog jumped nimbly into the lady's
lap! OF course, she was MORALLY offended and
never spoke to the man afterward.
GOOD ENGAGEMENT CROP.
The peach crop was undoubtedly o failure
this year, but the engagement crop is turning
out to be a rousing one. Early fall engage
ments came upon the market plentifully
enough, but the late fall and early winter en-
gagements are simply Cutting the market
Ana here 1t may be remarked that engagements
are really more like apples than peaches
Some years there are plenty, other years there
are hardly any and occasionally 1t seems to
literally rain engagements. Never since the
world began, have there been so MANY as there
are this season A popular New York clergy
man recently bought fine pair of horses with
the marriage fees he had already received this
fall and he counted up the engagements among
his parishioners and came to the conclusion
that he would be able to purchase house and
lot by the spring, when the weddings came Off
TIE TEA-cUP FAD.
pretty fashion has recently come into
vogue in New England of presenting the girl,
upon the announcement of her engagement.
with tea cup. This is all very we'll but what
Is she to do IL the engagement is broken off
To return to her ex-fance all his presents and
letters is easy enough, but to return forty or
nifty tea cups to as many different people must
be extremely awkward. A girl would be apt to
marry man rather than take this trouble: vet
1t has, nevertheless, been done. In Boston
where the fashion hOurishes, popular girl re-
celved slxty-tiye cups of every variety and
kind. Her engagement being subsequently
broken off she attempted to return them all to
the different people who had sent them. but
having got them all mixed she managed to
send to each person the piece Of china that
some one else had sent her. As she re.
turned the cups anonymously there was
terrible confusion, for many of the people had
sent cups to other engaged girls, and for the
life OF them they couldn't tell which engage
ment had been broken off, and several of them,
having little love affairs of their own on hand
and not recognizing the cups as their own
supposed that they were being congratulated
II required a great deal OF embarrassing e1-
PLANTATION to set the matter straight, and
another girl, breaking off her engagement
shortly atterward, took warning and kept
every cup that had been sent her. and she had
received no less than seventy-one. On the
whole this new fashion is not one to be en-
couraged, and it is to be hoped that Washing
ton society will not adopt 1t.
EASIER Foa THE GIRL TO BREAK OFF.
All things considered it is very much easier
for girl to get out of an engagement than it
is for a man. She may iilt you, and, while it is
true that such conduct is not generally ap-
proved of, comparatively speaking. she receives
little blame. But if you jilt her! Whew! A
regular hornets nest Is turned loose about your
ears. The expert on engagements whose expe-
rlence has just been quoted says the best way
to avoid the contamination OF an engagement
expressed it, ''let her down easy" You should
make excuses to get away from her until she
begins to see thatthe excuses are manufactured,
and then she has the satisfaction of .'glving
you the sack" 1t is true that you occupy
rather disagreeable position under these cir
cumstances, but the affair soon blows over and
your honor has not been called into question
Or course an engagement is a very curious
thing and ought never to be undertaken upon
impulse, but rather after due delberation and
forethought The man, before he pops the
question, ought TO make quiet inquiries as to
the lady's temper at home he light to first
find out what she knows about housekeeping
whether she sew5 on buttons with strong
thread and is expert at darning, and whether
she has proper sense Of the value of money
III she is satisfactory in all these particulars,
let him ask her to be his wife. Similarly, the
young woman should send discreet detective
to follow the young man who as counting her.
and report to her his private habits and
the nature OF the places he fire.
quents The investigation showing that
he doesn't drink cocktails before dinner
or smoke cigarettes or play poker for fye-
dollar limit, she should accept him as soon as
he proposes What a beautiful union of hearts
and housekeeping" this would be. Old men,
vino ran away and got married in their youth
or who entered into wedlock when they had
nothing year, and whose married life has
been VIGOROUSLY happy, always give this ad-
vice. which Is so far valuable that they never
followed it themselves. There is no use in ad-
visnS people in matters of the heart These
things so b. feeling and impulse and we must
take our chances OF success or failure.
TROUBLE OF HAVING TWO OR THREE ENGAGE
MENTs.
The man or girl who manages TO keep en-
gagged off and on all the time is a clever person,
but the cleverest rascal of all is the individual
who has two or three engagements running on
at the same time. This thing is done, how
ever, but it is not recommended By those who
have tried it as a safe thing to do. You are
pretty certain to be found out in the end. and
a terrible explosion is apt to be the result.
Then again you may be shot down, which is
annoying to say the least and in the old times
you would have had to stand up in duel or So
which was always dangerous to one party or
the other. At all events you will be the victim
of social ostraclsm among the ladies, or if you
are woman the men will abuse you. One OF
the cleverest scOundreis that ever lived was a
certain Pennsylvania who had two households
and two wives, and neither ever sus-
pected the existence Of the other until
some time after the villain died He
was q dentist and his name was Stoneman and
one week he spent with one wife in the town of
A and the next week he spent with the other
wife in the town of Is. Each wife thought his
alternate weeks we're spent in business expedi-
tons. He kept this double existence up for
years and when DIR. Stonemau finally died the
two wives appeared to claim the property he
had left Then, for the first time, each one
discovered the existence Of the other. A fine
law suit ensued, but, of course, the woman he
married first was the only legal wife. This is
the story OF DIR. Stonemans two wives. What
genius at double dealing he must have been.
There cannot be much doubt of the place that