The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-31
CARRIE CARELESS.
Writes Interestingly on the General
Subject OF Husband Catching.


which has been in progress in a London
journal, entitled Woman, as to the best
and most fitting form in which men should
address their proposals OF marriage to our
sex. The arguments put forward in favor
OF one method Of proposal ~ another, be-
! tray either an amazing lack of experience
on the part Of the various fair correspond
ents OF the paper in question, or else
an equally astounding amount of hypocrisy
and lack of candor. Why not
frankly and boldly admit the truth, namely,
that in 500 cases out of every 900 the pro-
posal of marriage is practically made by
ourselves, although we do it so cleverly that
we leave the poor deluded male creature
/ under the impression that he is the proposer
of tho motion that is carried instead OF be-
| ing merely the seconder. | am aware that
We have the privilege Of making the pro-
! posals in leap wear. But it Is great mis-
take to imagine that we restrict ourselves
merely to every fourth year, and that it is
only then that we avail ourselves Of the
| gifts Of tact, intuition and diplomacy with
which nature has 30 abundantly endowed US
| for the purpose of securing husbands.
Our task has been singularly facilitated
| by the increased freedom of our modern
manners, or, as some would put it, OF our
want of manners. When the world was
more formal and courtly than it is now,
and when proposal was hardly proposal
proposer's knees, the matter was infinitely
more difficult For it was no easy affair to
bring man to his knees and to extoIt from
him formal stereotyped string of phrases.
With the ever increasing unconven-
tionallty and liberty OF speech, our task
of bringing possible suitor 20 an
explanations of his sentiments has become
infinitely less arduous. The methods, OF
course, vary, for all fish are not taken by
| the same halt. For instance, there is the
!. diffdent lover the lazy lover. the selfish
| lover aud the Eighty lover. The first of
these is the most Troublesome; for the words
| are almost to he put into his mouth, and he
requires most 1udicious prompting. The
! lazy lover, the selfish lover and the Eighty
, lover do not suffer so much from lack OF
! words as from lack of steady purpose. To
strengthen that purpose at the critical
moment IL a task to which few women are
unequal. The best method Of dealing with
the fiighty and tickle lover and Of bringing
him to book ia by giving him a sudden and
| unexpected cause for jealousy. Similar
! means will be found efiicacious in the case
| II the selfish lover, who fears to commit
himself because he apprehends that MAR
riage would involve the loss OF the comforts
Of his single life. The lazy and sluggish
! lover, who hesitates and holds back, may be
| brought no to the matrimonial winning post
| by an access of pity. Men are such soft
| hearted creatures. There is no necessity for
words. A pair OF swimming eyes. a slight
break or culver in the voice iC quite suffi-
| cient.
or course we suffer a certain disadvantage
by b,ing forced TO conceal our pursuits, for
matrimony, after all, is a pursuit, since
| there if always one Of the parties pursued
| and the other pursuing-but tnen, on the
other hand, we are infinitely better
equipped than man for the chase. In the
! first place we know what we are about,
Nyha fha Ngh ha fG nFsr-
! sunied that there is only one woman III the
| world for him, generally hesitates as to the
| adyisability of telling her SO. Moreover,
we speedily convince ourselves as to
| whether the game is worth winning or not;
while the man is never quite sure whether
! it would not be preferable TO lose 1t.
| Then, too, we are 80 much more ready
and more reSourceful. Our intuition
and keenness of vision and of penetration
are so much greater. The more deeply the
man is in love. the more clumsy, rough
headed aud laundering he is sure TO be. He
beats about the bush, ponders heavy con-
trivances, stumbling in search of speech
and tripping over his own tongue. Some
times it happens that the maiden recipro-
Gales his sentiments of love with the same
degree OF intensity, and then mutual under
standings are arrived at without any pro-
posal al all, or at any rate by proposals
that do not take the form of
possess a language of their own and their
lips can form agreements without the use
OF words. The pressure OF hand may
mean more than volumes could express,
and when it meets with an answering pres
SUI g, what is there left to say in vulgar
common speechl
Unfortunately, such matches as these.
where there is the same degcee of intensity
of passionate love on both sides
are he exception nowadays rather
than the rule. In most cases
worldly aud selfish interests, ETC., either OF
q financial or OF a social character, consti-
tuto tho principal motive and considera-
ton in the mind Of at EAST one OF the two
! loverG. There Is always one of the two
who is less in love than the other, and who
| is therefore, In position to maintain q
more level head upon the shoulders, and to
keep a sharp lookout for the material
rather than for tue sentimental features OF
| the affair.
i dare say shall arouse a cry of indigna-
ton among my fair readers when assert it
is usually the girl rather than the man that
thus succeeds in retaining calm, reflective
/ and correctly balanced mind in the matter,
| and IT, there are any exceptions to this rule
! they mostly consist of very young and in
! experienced school girls, who have built up
an ideal in their minds which is doomed TO
| speedy aud inevitable destruction within q
few weeHs after their marriage.
To those or my sex whose superior knowl-
| edge OF the world enables them TO retain a
sufficient control of the heart by the head,
| to keep them amenable to reason, would
! strongly recommend not TO propose TO or
! confer their hands upon men below 80. It
! is only after attaining that age that man
| learns to appreciate the best and finest quail
tiles of womankind. Before that time his
| experience of the feminine character is de-
rived from the least reputable portion Of our
sex. 1t IS not until he has passed his 30th
year that he cuts his wisdom teeth-that is,
! as far as we are concerned. A young and
inexperienced man seldom makes good
husband, and the familiar proverb about
! reformed rakes making happy wives is true
all the world over. Indeed. in the eyes OF
| the aver age woman Of the present day
marriage with Don Juan would be fer and
away preferable to matrimonial alliance
with Mrs. Potiphar's friend. Joseph.
| CARRIE CARELESS.
THEODORE WEST. one Of the Oldest railway
| engineers ia England. and at present and for
| faudeut of the locomotive