The Monitor., 1891-04-24
WHICH ARE BEST LIKED?
ARE MEN MOST ATTRACTED BY
oEMoNsTRATlVE WoMEN2
Old Time Young Ladies and the Girl OF the
Period - My Friend and My Friends
DaugI,ter-The Girl Has TO Offer Her
self IF Missile Is Right.

4 nc VII @A"o ~ O~N-
| self IF Missile Is Right
copyright, 1891, by American Press Associa-
| toni
Twas extremely amused one day, when
| sitting with a mother and daughter
| whom rank among my dear friends, at
O little bit of cynicism that came from
the fresh young lips of the girl. Her
mother, whose ideas and practice are
largely based upon the innocence of
Eden, was reproving her daughter for
having been, as she fancied, a little too
forward in accepting young mans at
tentions and an invitation to ride with
him, and finally, with tremendous as
sumption of worldly wisdom, she said:
''It is great mistake girls are making
nowadays in being so accessible. Men
don't value them half SO much, or try
half so hard to please them, for they see
that they can please without trying, so
why should they trouble themselves? If
a girl is cold and reserved and draws
back, the men will be piqued into pur-
suit and exertion."
Bravo, little mammal cried the
saucy daughter, clapping her hands
and glancing at me, while, am ashamed
to say, joined in her merriment.
"You have at last asserted your position
as the cruel parient' and administered
crushing rebuke to your rebellious child!
Bread and water, a locked cell, and per-
haps salutary chastisement must. soon
follow unless l reform. But, darling
little mother, while you have been con-
cocting all that worldly wisdom the
world has moved on, and nous ar0ns
change tout cela"--
friend. 1.-The man or the woman?'
"The man frst-on the lead, as it
were"--
Slang
Eyes, dear, Just little one you
know! But if the lords of creation take
the lead what can we docile and sub
missive inferior creatures do but follow?
I'm sure that's good orthodox doctrine"
"Well, but over what course are they
on the lead:" interposed I, anxious to get
at the girls theory.
"Why, they don't like the delicate re-
serve and chilly dignity which mamma
says was the fayorite bait in her young
days"
My daughter.'
"Oh, you didn't say bait, did you, 'ttte
mumman2 Well, the men don't pursue
and seek and all the rest Of it worth a
cent in these days, and girl who under
takes those tactics is just left to enjoy
her own chilly dignity in her own cold
corner. In fact she's left out in the cold
altogether"
Then the men like demonstratiy1
women better than modest maidens, do
they:a asked my friend a little tartly,
for few mothers like to be laughed at as
old fashioned by their own daughters.
The girl, too, was just little touched,
and replied more seriously:
"Oh, if you say modest, that's quite
another thing! l fancy we're quite as
modest us the 'prunes, prisms and pro-
priety' mdideHs, as you call them, Of the
last generation, but we're heap jol-
lier"-
"Oh, childr
eyes, mamma, but what / want to
convince you of is that men have grown
at once lazier and more requiring than
they We're in your young days. They
expect the girls to come quite half way
to meet them. and if we don't they just
turn to some one who will.
'.In fact, they lie under the tree and
open their mouths waiting for the plums
TO drop in" suggested I, and my little
friend replied with a sagacious nod:
Exactly SO, although a good many of
them won't take the trouble to open
their mouths; they expect the plum to
come and bump them OPEN
"And the plums are willing to accept
the situation, are they" demanded her
mother scornfully.
'Well, they don't want to wither on
the tree" airily replied Missile with
gleeful glance at me.
Driving home l revolyed the question
in my own mind, Was Missie right. or
was her mother? And l think l con-
cluded that the girl was correct as to
facts and the mother as to theory.
Certainly the ideal relation of man and
maid is for her to smile sweetly from
balcony, and he to risk his neck in
climbing up to her-''the dear idea
where she flies pursues'-the knight,
after making humble prCtestations of
his fealty, is put upon probation, and
travels the world around to prove him
self worthy, never turning SO much as
the tail of his eye" upon any other
beauty, and coming back after seven
years or so to receive his reward. Jacob
served fourteen years for Rachel, and, as
the Good Book tells us, thought it
mere trife compared with his love for
her.
But Jacobs are scarce in these days,
and knights are generally more Grant
than faithful. 4 Penelope who sent her
Ulysses away to seek fame and wealth
in these days might knit and ravel a
great many tides before she would well
come him back, and he would never re-
sist Circe.
l don't know why it is, but it is
painful truth that women are not wooed
in these days SO earnestly as they used
to be, and are won much more easily.
Is it because there are SD many more
of them in proportion to the men, or be-
cause they expect so much more when it
comes to question of marriage:
Or is it that as our country grows older
we are falling into the customs of those
more mature civilizations where mar
riage is a business affair, and the parents
of young lady offer a bonus to the