The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-04-30


miner Did he then start in and tell
her of his long years of alteration; how
he never could love anyone else how
the sun of his being rose and set in her;
how she was his heaven, and il she said
no he must inevitably take an instan-
taneous fight for the other place? Did
he, when she made murmurs of dissent
indignantly cast her hand away from
him as though it was tennis-ball, and
demand the name of his rival? Did he
cover his face with his hands and sob
and scrape his toes along the carpet as
he walked up and down the parlor? Did
he, when she began to yield, rush at her
with the speed of professional sprint
er, seize her around the waist, and pour
forth n royal octave volume of impas-
stoned rhetoric? This is the way they
do in novels and plays, but in real life
people of experience say it is different.
II is hard to tell whether the girl or the
man is the more frightened Both
know it is coming. lie doesn't know
what he says. He had made up speech
beforehand, but of course he forgets IL;
but it makes no difference, She has
her mind made up. All the eloquencc in
the world isn't going to do any good if
she has determined to say mo" She may
not mean mo" at all, but she generally
says so. She only wants him to come
again often. AS for sinking down on
one knee, or both knees, authorities on
popping say it is never done-that
not much which is worth remem beriug
is said on either side
Perhaps it is better that the books
and plays should be artificial in this
matter. There is hardly printed ac-
count which contains true confession
of what man said and what woman
replied when he proposed and she ac-
cepted him. There are, however, a few
of the love letters of great men in
print Now, either these letters were
written with the supposition that they
might at some day be printed. in which
case they are of no value except as
pieces of literary composition, or else
being intended for the eye of one per.
son alone, they ought not to be given to
the public Who ever read Bulwer's
love letters without feeling of dis
gust? He runs riot on paper, loses his
senses entirely, signs himself Your
Idolatrous Puppy" and commits u
thousand absurdities. But why should
a man not be absurd when he is writing
to the one woman he loves? TO write
love letters with the fear before you of
their being subsequently published
would be like proposing with steneg-
rapher to take down your speech. And
to print real love letters written hon
estly is like listening and overhearing
proposal Your eavesdropping might
be exciting and interesting, but if you
did as you ought to do you would not
listen. or having overheard through ac-
cident you would not go away and tell
everybody about it-that is, YOU would
not if you were a good man and cared
anything about doing to others what
you would have them do to you.
Did you ever know man who told all
he said when he proposed to the girl
whom he subsequently married? A re-
apparently, but he does not tell it all,
you may depend upon it, and an
accepted man may tell you what
led up to it, as in the case of the gcu-
tleman who became engaged through
the agency of cow, but an absolutely
correct report of all the nonsense
spoken on occasions of this kind would
be something that no man could brip :.
himself to repeat, and, il it were re-
peated, it would be very disagrecable
to listen to. The whole thing would
appear painfully ludicrous, but it is not
ludicrous to the parties in interest 1t
is serious always, painful frequently,
and sometimes, as everybody knows,
very tragic.
All these remarks apply especially to
the lovemating of young people. When
an old stager proposes he may be calm
and collected 1t is the voice OF expert
ence that speaks, and if he is rejected
he may take it quietly enough, for in
all probability he has proposed several
times before. There are some old
bachelors who are chronic proposers.
There are some old firts who may be
depended upon not only to make love
to any woman who will give them Il
chance to do SO, but who will be sure
to propose, too. These men mean it,
but they don't mean it very long, and
women understand them and will
have none of them. 1t is the fair sex
that is the stronger in matters of this
kind The unhappy marriages are nut
merous enough, but if women were as
weak as men there would be much
larger number of silly matches.
Now, strange as it may seem, there
is no doubt that the most successful
proposer is the man who does it clum-
silly. When man speaks well and
calmly and gives IA woman good reasons
for marrying him-argues the matter
just as though he were pleading a cause
in court-the woman doesn't believe he is
in earnest. 1t is not case that is gov
erned by reasonable argument, and APP
peals to the brain are not what she
cares about. The appeal must be made
to the heart. lie stands good chance
of success as soon as he convinccs her
that his heart is thoroughly in earnest.
Washington Star.
THEIR AL MA MATER