Connecticut western news., 1893-07-06
IF WOMEN PROPOSED.
What Would Happen If Progressive Wom-
 an Sought Man In Marriage.

 What Would Happen If Progressive Wom-
 an Sought Man In Marriage.
 Mir. Ward McAllister Is ordinarily warm admirer of MT. Henry Labou- ohere, who, like himself, Is eminent in society and journalism, although MT. McAllister Is greater in the first respect and MT. Labouchere in the second. But MT. McAllister has no toleration for the British editors suggestion that women should propose.
 "It seems to me-" said MT. McAllister, '.that Labouchere's mental faculties must have been seriously affected by ad vancing age when he made such sug- gestion. It is preposterous, sir. There is no sense in 1t either from the mans or 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 hu- man nature remains the same thing in many respects. It is natural law that the man should seek the woman, not social convention. When the woman seeks the man, 1t 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. "The woman who seeks a man will drive him away. In plainer words, the woman who makes a proposal of mar riage will be rejected. The more per sstent she presses her suit the more ob- stinately he will avoid her. The shy ness of persecuted man under these circumstances would be thing that would surprise MT. Labouchere. Man is naturally more bashful 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 passive attitude. She has no doubt 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.
 of a woman asked me to kiss her, should decline to do so. I have, in fact, had more than one such experience. The request takes away any inclination to comply with it. It may be laid down as 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 tol
 "The only excuse for such a reversal of the natural way of doing things would 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- podng think that they would only choose men fit to be husbands. But 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 l would never catch up with them. Even | if women did choose their partners for | lie 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. "A great dealo 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 a home there is likely to be unhappiness. A wifes 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 position at any time to tell them to go away.
 "I 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 un- happiness wherever they go."- New York World