Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-05


the piutocrats OF the city, but he 10 solidly,
II his wife SURVIVES him. she will have an in
come amply sufficient for the proper education
OF the i've blooming children, and when she
dies they will all have incomes-not vast
tates which will make il impossible for them
to do anything on eartn but live a life Of
pleasure. but incomes that will help in estab-
nshing them in the useful walks of life. IL is
the people OF this type that make up the body
and strength Of the community rather than
the enormously wealthy class that lives only
Tor pleasure, the drawing room and style"
BUT II Is not OF money that this article would
treat, but Of the various methods Of getting
engaged, and SO the question asked OF this
substantial man Of family, '.How did you get
engaged to your wife?"
what! l must have misunderstood YOU"
SAID the writer. Il did not ask you how you
got milk Tor your family, but how you got en-
gagged to the lady who is now your wife"
by means OF q COW" he answered again.
he was prevailed upon to explain aud told
very singular, unique and touching story of
love, solemn promises, happiness and q COW.
Here Is the tale reduced to moderate length.
The gentleman may, for convenience, be termed
Mr.. \. and the lady Miss Y.
THE STORY OF COW.
Mr.. K, when he Was twenty-four wears of
age, went to stay with his uncle at his country
place on the eastern shore of Maryland. Hav-
ing said that he had relations who lived on the
eastern shore, 1t has been said that be was of
most sristocratic lineage, for everybody knows
that the families OF that portion of the earth's
surface are all Of the very best. Virginia itself
Is not more noted for families than the famous
eastern shore. In ia CT, il a geography were
called upon to truthfully say what is the prin-
cipal product Of the eastern shore 1t would be
n lUal IN sol 60
at his uncle's house a young Virginia girl.
Miss L. \. had nothing in the world TO do,
nor had Miss Y, SO they killed time by falling
In love with one another. Ii is not bad smuse-
ment in the country. You can read poetry
together. sit on porches together, take walks
OF no rivals, the girl lie in no danger of having
the man enticed away from her. \.
and Miss Y. had q glorious time for
two weeks, and one of their favorite
amusements every evening was to stroll
down to the pasture and watch the milking of
the cows. There was one COW in particular of
which the youth and the maid grew very fond.
She was young Jersey-Alderney was the
term used then-the color Of q fawn, with a
glossy, beautiful coat and eyes as gentle and
soft In their expression as Miss Us own. As
she would stand in the cool OF the evening
lazily whisking the flies with her tail she would
permit the young couple to approach her aud
stroke her or scratch her forehead. There is
nothing particularly romantic in the act Of
scratching a gentle COW between the horns but
1t happened one day that Y. stretched out
his hand to perform this pleasing act OF friend
ship to the heifer his hand met Miss Y. o, and
the COW, moving back as il impressed with the
eseysctaon that she was spelling fun, left them
hand in hand in the corner Of the pasture.
After that they never missed day in the pas
ture and they always caressed the Jersey COW,
until one day Ks uncle, joining them, said
joeosely:
You Young people seem 80 fond Of that COW
that shall have to give her TO one Of you"
''To which of usg" said \.
'Ah!" sald the uncle, You must settle that
between you"
When the old gentleman went OF Z. looked
at Miss Y. and said simply:
Can my uncle give the COW to both Of us2"
And she quietly answered, Yes"
And SO this substantial citizen became en-
gagged, as he truly said, through the agency Of
q COW.
ARTIFICIAL STYLES on THE STAGE.
There are q thousand ways Of popping the
question, and upon careful inquiry il has been
ascertained that the method which is usually
employed upon the stage and in novels is the
most uncommon. Let the reader who is over
twenty-one stop and consider amoment how he
made the various proposals Of his life. Did he
sink down on one knee, and clasping the young
girl by the hand frantically Shrek out: BE
mine! Be miner" Did he then start in and
tell her OF his long years Of alteration; how be
never could love any one else; how the sun Of
his being rose and set in her; how she was his
heaven, and II she said no he must inevitably
take an instantaneous flight for the other
place? Did he, when she made murmurs Of
dissent, Indignantly cast her hand away from
him as though it was q tennis ball and demand
the name Of his rival2 Did he cover his face
with his hands and sob and scrspe his toes along
the carpet as he walked up and down the par
10 1hAU EhA h~<wA a. ..ll ~
her with the speed Of q professional Splinter,
seize her around the waist aud pour forth q
royal octave volume Of imprisoned rhetoric?
This 10 the way they do in novels and PLAYS, but
in real life people of experience say it is diff
ferent 1t il hard to tell whether the girl or
the man is the more frightened. Both know It
is coming. He doesn't know what he says. He
has made up q speech beforehand, but of course
he forgets it; but it makes no difference. She
has her mind made up. All the eloquence in
determined to say no. She may not mean no
at all, but she generally says SO. She only
wants him to come again often. A for sinking
down on one knee, or both knees, authorities
on popping" say it 10 never done-that not
much which 10 worth remembering il said on
either side.
ABOUT LOVE LErrHRa
Perhaps 1t is better that the books and plays
should be artificial in this matter. There is
narQly prlnteo ACCOUNT winch CONTAINS Q true
confession of what o man said and what Q
woman replied when he proposed and she &C.
cepted him. There are, however, . few Of the
love letters Of great men in print. Now, either
these letters we're written with the superstition
that they might at some day be printed, in
which case they are Of no value except - pieces
Of literary composition, or else, being intended
for the eye Of one person alone, they ought not
to be given to the public. Who ever read Bull
wer's love letters without . feeling Of disgust?
He runs riot ON paper, loses his senses entirely.
signs himself "Your idolatrous puppy" and
commits . thousand absurdities But vhy
should . man not be absurd when he ID writing
TO the one woman he loves2 To write love let
tiers with the fear before you of their being
subsequently published would be like propos-
ing with stenographer to take down your
speech. And to print real love letters written
honestly h like listening and oyerhearinR q
proposal Your housekeeping might be excit-
ing and interesting, but Il you did g you ought
to do you would not listen, or having over
heard through accident you would not 20 svay
and tell everybody about it-that is, you
wouidntn you were good man and cared
anything about doing to others What you would
have them do to you. Did you ever know
man who told You all he said when he proposed
TO the girl whom he subsequently, married? A
rejected man may give the thing away" ap-
parerty, but he does not tell IL an. You NAV
depend upon il, and an accepted man may tell
you what led nm 70 Il. q in thu casa M thu 0en-