The Portland daily press., 1893-04-28
IF WOMEN PROPOSED.
What Wou 'Eda happen if Progressive Won
an Sought Man In Marriage.

|
an Sought Man In Marriage.
Mr.. Ward Mc.Allister is ordinarily a
warm atd1mliirer of Mr.. Henry Labou-
chere, who, like himself, is eminent in
society and journalism, although Mr..
McAillster is greater in the first respect
snd Mr. LaboUchere in the second. But
Mr.. McAllister has no liberation for the
British editors suggestion that women
should propose.
sit seems to me, said Mr.. McAllister,
"that Labouchere's mental faculties
must have been seriously affected by ad-.
vancing age when he made such sug-
gestlon. 1t is preposterous, sir. There
is no sense in it either from the mans
OF woman's point of view.
Human nature will have to change
before this scheme can be carried out,
and however far women's rights may
have advanced within recent years hui
man nature remains the same thing in
many respects. It is natural law that
the man should seek the woman, not a
social convention When the woman
seeks the man, it will be about time for
marriages to cease altogether. AS long
as men have any desire to get married
they will offer themselves. When they
have ceased to care about marriage, it
won't help the women at all to propose.
'sThe woman who seeks a man will
drive him away. In palmer words, the
woman who makes a proposal Of mar
riage will be rejected. The more per-
sistent she presses her suit the more OBJ
stinately he will avoid her. The shy
ness of a prosecuted man under these
circumstances would be a thing that
would surprise Mr.. I4abouchere. Man
is naturally more basEful than woman.
IF he thought himself in danger of pro-
posal from strong minded woman, he
would go away and hide. Woman can
only attract by a passive attitude. She
has no doubt a way of making love, but
to be successful she must avoid any
of the open, straightforward advances
which are natural to man. Her attitude
must be passive.
"H a woman asked me to kiss her,
should decline. to do SO. have, in fact,
had more than one such experience. The
request takes. away any inclination to
comply with it. tt may be laid down as
a general rule that man does not want
to kiss the woman who asks him to.
How much less will he care to marry
the woman who asks him to!
sIhe only excuse for such a reversal
Of the natural way of doing things would
be an economical one. The woman's
life is probably rendered more unhappy
than the mans by Inadequate means to
carry on the. household. Perhaps the
people who are in favor of women pro-
posing think that they would only choose
men fit to be husbands. Bat as things
are now they are able to reject the un-
deserving, and, as have said, they could
not hope to- capture the husbands they
desired by pursuing them, because they
would never catch up with them Even
if women did choose their partners for
life without waiting to be asked, there
is no reason to believe they would show
any more sense than the men or any
more than they themselves do now. !
ga great deal of unhappiness is caused
nowadays by the modern laws which
enable a woman to keep her income en-
tirely separate from that of her hus-
band. I am very old fashioned in this
respect. I believe that wherever there
is a division of financial interest in
home there is likely to be unhappiness.
A wife's income should not be separated
from her husbands. Young men with
out money should not marry women
with great deal Of money, who will be
in a position at any time to tell them to
go away.
81 have made some very serious re-
marks on this subject, and they are
called for. There is no knowing to
what length these progressive women
will go. They have done nothing but
harm already, carrying domestic I'M
happiness wherever they 60" New
York World.