The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-10
ENGAGED PEOPLE.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHANGES
IN TWO FAMILIES.

Tho Commonplace Engagements An
| nouncement and How 1t Il Received.
| Speculation About the Feelings of the
| Parents of the Young Woman.
! Miss Eleanor's engagement is an
nouncedr' The commonplace words fell
| trippingly from the tongue Of chance
passer by on the street, whowas discussing
with friend in friendly fashion the hap
penings of their common world. Who Miss
Eleanor might be, whether just out of the
schoolroom or the belle of many bright
seasons, rich or poor. idle or busy. popular
/ or the reverse. the waited thiStledown Of
/ this scrap OF talk gave no intimation OF
personality to the casual and unheeded
outside listener. She was Miss Eleanor,
| girl whom somebody called daughter"
and whom somebody else would one of
| these days call wife"
| Going on her way the listener, who had
unintentionally picked up this fragment
of gossip, found herself thinking, first
vaguely, and then sympathetically. about
| the unknown girl and the people vino be-
| longed to her. Were they pleased, she
wondered, and satisfied with Miss Eleanor's
choice? Did the girls father feel the usual
natural paternal jealousy that his petted
darling should turn with loving eyes and
words to another man, giving to him the
| dover of sweetness of which, in the ia
| theirs secret heart, he doubted any man of
the younger generation to be worthy?
| Did the girls mother hide q heartache
| that her love was no longer sufficient to
her child; that henceforward another must
be nearer and closer to that child than her
| self? Had Eleanor no secret misgiving7
| Was she radiantly happy as she took the
| first step toward the new and different
stage of development, leaving girlhood and
it's freedom behind her, and accepting
| with the new happiness so much response
| bility, not alone for one, but for two lives?
| Then the listener thought of the man,
Miss Eleanor's choice, and of his people
| His mother, to whom this John or Hugh
| in her capricious imagination Eleanor's
mate was at once christened Hugh-how
did his mother regard her future daugh-
ter, and was she large enough, gracious
enough, and wise enough to accept the
new relation, and adopt into her love the
| wife whom her son had selected?
AS society is constituted, the necessary
adjustment of parts which takes place in
| every new arrangement produces little
visible friction. All that is disagreeable
| and trying is decreed offensive to good
taste, and is kept decently in the back
ground, while only that which is bright
| and pleasant is put in evidence. But as
each new family energies from two former
families, as each husband and each wife is
| the product of two different training
schools, bringing to their marriage the
ideas, the standards, the habits of mind,
and the ingrained beliefs and convictions
| of totally diverse people, it is easy to see
that wedding, with all its gayety and
clamor of rejoicing bells, is as serious an
event as any other in which humanity can
participate. 1t is fraught with tremen-
dous possibilities, farreaching for evil or
for good.
Engaged people are therefore interesting
to all who look beneath the glittering so
cial surface and forecast days to come.
Hugh and Eleanor respectively have no
right to be engaged unless they love each
other truly, loyalty, tenderly and exclu-
sively. The compact they seal with the
diamond dewdrop sparkling on the girls
taper finger is a compact indissoluble while
life lasts Far off, in solemn undertone at
every glad betrothal and every happy we'd
ding, sounds the faint sad knell of dirge
- OuUu ueaUn US 90 parJ! NOGnlDR out
death should separate those whom love
has made one, and the love that hallows
an engagement should be of strong, endur-
ing stuff, warranted to stand rough usage
and hold its colors fast and its woof intact
amid the storm and stress of varying
weather. People should love one another
enough for marriage, and for all that mar
riage means, when they enter into that
state of glamor, felicity and graceful dis
tinction called betrothal.
Engaged people may be pardoned if they
are somewhat occupied with one another,
and disposed to survey the rest of the
world from little eminence all their own.
Yet let them beware of selfshness. Hughs
mother and Eleanor's father still have
claims, though the son of one and the
daughter of the other have discovered
happiness which parental love was power
less to bestow.-Harper's Bazaar.