The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-07-07
-;onally in those days the yo,

and proved himself a - :. -, -.
flirt, amusing himself fol - ~
with no serious intentions. L. 80
not then, as he now is, suffered to &
scot free from this sort of pleasantly.
If after a due period of courtship the
youth made no offer Of matrimony, but
showed symptoms of transferring his at
tentions TO some other shrine, the father
or brother of the sighted fair one call
ed him to account, demanding an ex-
PLANTATION Of his conduct and giving him
to understand that If he had no serious
intentions they had, and that, having
danced to please himself, he was now TO
pay the piper to please them.
Generally a little conversation Of
this sort was effectual, and the tardy
swain insisted that he had only been
waiting for encouragement TO declare
himself, bat if the trifler really tried to
cry off and escape without penalty the
brother or father significantly handled
a heavy riding whip or cane or glanced
at the stout boots he might chance to be
wearing Sometimes indeed a marriage
has been solemnized at the muZZle Of a
los 1ed pistol, with an angry father at
its other end, and have heard Of an
old time marriage where the bridegroom,
being asked, "Do you take this woman
for your welded wife?" replied, 'Not
if can help it, 4" and the brides broth
er deliberately cooked and aimed his
pistol, demanding ''What was your re-
ply, sirrah?'' Eyes, do, {" returned the
other, grinding his teeth, and the mar
rage proceeded One does not envy that
unfortunate bride, however, and in point
of fact she died before the year was over
of a broken heart. However, the family
honor was saved, and in those old days
they placed good deal Of value upon
family honor. So old fashionedl
But these extremities of persuasion
were very rare. Generally speaking, the
Young man asked for no greater priv
leee than an early wedding, and the IA
ther had only to open his pocketbook.
and the brother to make himself agree
able, and the mother to buy and cut
whole bolts of linen and cambria and
cotton into the trousseau which the
pretty bride helped to make up with her
own fingers.
And now all this is changed. Instead
of placidly looking on to see her daugh-
ter hold q little court and select the one
Sic IlSSilIo " VI 14O44l q CIO"o VI
eager aspirants, the mother must be,
like the early bird, very early on the
ground to capture the biggest and rich
est worm before any other mother bird
can grab him and carry him to drop into
her nestling's open mouth. No wonder
she gets an anxious and eager look her
self and worries and frets and twitters
and chirps overmuch and keeps the home
nest in condition of turmoil, for the
worm has grown very wary, and If III
taking his early walks abroad he espies
the fitting form of the mother bird or
even hears her sweet if sharpened song
of greeting he is apt to precipitately re-
tire to his burrow or hide beneath some
stem or clump Of weeds.
Worse than this, should the bachelor
chance to be, instead of a mere worm OF
earth, q beautiful gold or silver fish dis
porting himself in the waters of matrl-
mony, then mamma, instead of q bird,
is seen as a fisher, a veritable fisher of
men, batting her hook with her daugh-
ter's charms, her accomplishments, her
virtues and her affectionate and sub
missive temperament; but, alas, the gold
fish has grown as ''gany" as brook
most experienced arGle::. 81 IN play for
whole season and at the end give
sprightly and humorous twist to his
glittering tail and fly off at a tangent,
to be no more seen in those waters.
| Now, why are these things thusly?
''Why don't the men propose, mammal
as runs the cynically comic song.
! Surely girls are as sweet and as pretty
and as affectionate and as gay as they
| were century or so ago, and as grand
| mamma sensibly remarks, 1.-The world
must go on" and if the young men born
and brought up in our own land will
not assist in propelling the national
! chariot they must not object later on,
! when, as Mrs. Camp has it, "most
votes carries the day, and the descend
| ants of the Knickerbockers and the
/ Puritans ard the T. F. V. s find them
selves in an unconsidered minority.
But why, ] again ask, why should it
! be so, and why do our young men need
I to be urged, from political or any other
reasons, to make themselves the hap
piest of men?'
OF course I know that the question
has been asked before and variously an
swered. But no answer that ever have
heard has net the requirements, and I
almost fancy that it must remain one of
the conundrums without reply which
like snags and powders, still ,,Ss+,,,n.
the stream of time. WV
One reason dor
frequently git --otiess Is tiie one ms
orr, life w. en-then OF mod
are too many and too expensive
for young Ian to rashly undertake.
''The luxuries of one generation be-
come the necessities of the next. " 1t Is
SHARPLY true aphorism and none the
less true because it is 4 well worn tru
ism 1t might indeed be amplified, fol
the luxuries of three generations ago
are almost disdained by rs. Our great
grandmothers were carried about in Sc