Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-06-04

Thing may be perfectly satisfactory for
The young lady. the trouble of the
youth has ju-t begun, fer in all well.
regulated families papa's consent to
the engagement must be obtained, and
ii the necessity for this formality is
pre- Sented to the interested youth by
his inamorata, he may be excused for
Ieeling that. as the biblical proverb
says, there Is time for all things, u
ibis Is the proper time for cold sweat.
And he has it, too. for as the dismal
words are poured into the portals of
his reluctant ears. he feels that death
would be relief. But there i no help
fer it, so he arranges with himself a
time when he will call or his prospect,
i've father-in-law and adjust matters.
Ho docs not, in the language of Old
Virginia, "hanker after the Job" He
has dim consciousness that an inter.
view with hangman on the gallow
would be jovial, not to say hilarious,
occasion by comparison. He defers the
matter from time to time, giving him
self u reprieve from the inevitable
| Whom, however, it can be no longer
| deferred, he puts on as bold face a.
in his depressed condition he can pos
sibly assume, and starts for the house
| Courageous as he may have been at
starting, however, he becomes u
| pitab'e picture before he reaches
his destination. His courage oozcs
out in an inverse ratio to the
| distance; that is, the nearer he
gets tho faster it oozcs. He discusses
with himself whether he would bet
ter go on or run away out of town
or go off somewhere and quietly
die. He tries to think OF something to
| say and fails. lie tries to think what
he shall answer if the father-in-law,
that is TO be, asks him any questions
about himself and scores another
failure He walks past the house hall
dozen times before he can make up
his mind to enter, momentarily dis,
cuss.ng with himself the propriety OF
boiling and letting the whole thing &C
by default. He fails to see tho necos.
sitS of a girl having any parents, and
a though devoutly thankful to PROV.
1ence for having provided him with q
sweetheart entirely to his taste, can
not understand why Providence could
nos gust as we'll have sent him an or
phan. Yet all this time he is, in all
probability, gravely in error, for the
parents of the young lady are perhaps
ireading the interview just as much ae
him elf, ana will be just as much re.
lleved as he when 1t Is at an end.
Blind us a kitten, however, he can not
see that their love for their daughter
tmiel5 them to be careful of her in.
te est, and that the obstacles which
they see to the union are created sole.
ly by regard to the future happiness OF
their child. As rule, he finds that the
ordeal is by no means so dreadful Il:
he feared it would be, and before
the business is half over he realize:
that parents, are not ogres living
In wait to scare timd lovers into
fits, but kindly, considerate, well
meaning people, ready to overlook hi.
embarras meut, and even, when nee
ossary, to hold out a helping hand to
;uhering fellox-creature in distress
and smooth his path when they see he
is about to make disgraceful stumble
In fact, before tho interview is over
he has experienced radical change OF
heart with regard to parents in,law
and has made up his mind that as o
young lady's mother is to her the dear
est one on earth, that husband must be
aither brute or boar who could, il
terms OF disrespeCt, allude to his
mother-in-law. But time would fail tc
tell of the mis cries of the engagement
and how the young lady keeps 1t secret
by telling all her friends about It, She
does it, of course, because she is PROUD
OF him. She probably has no cause tc
be, for the chances are that he is
very ordinary fellow with nothing tC
commend him to the attention of any
body but herself, and the other girls
after reading his letters to her, kindly
rendered for that purpose, and pro
nouncing them "Just lovely, go away
and wonder what she can see In that
man TO admire; but then she has said
just the same thing about their beauX
and so the honors are about even. The
poor fellow thought that the whole
trouble was over when he had asked
the lady and obtained the consent OF
her parents, but to his terror finds
that 1t was only Just begun. For there
are the miseries of the engagement
with the twitting of his friends going
on in mover. ceasing stream; the prep
arations for the wedding, and, worst
of all, the wedding itself, with the sol
emn preacher in front, his own t"em
bling self as an aim for curious eyes
and the grinning and giggling audi
ence in the b. cllground. OF urse
when the affair passes from the state
of the engagement to the condition OF
pubicawedding the groom loses his
prominence and passes into insignifi.
cameo when compared with the bride
He is a sort of necessary nuisance, tol
Grated be- cause there is no gcttine
along without him, but long before the
close of the ordeal he usually subsiGe.
into state of harmless idiocy, me
chanically grinning and snakinc
hands with cVcrV ono who comes neal