The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-07-13

| WIN /
81 am afraid it does" replied HAT.
old, struggling with his mirth In all
his life he had never had SO funny M
experience.
And you can Taught" exclaimed
Mary eproachfully. "You are heart
less, absolutely heartless. She turned
and left the room without another word
and Harold INDUCED in unrestrained
laughter until suddenly made aware
that the old lady was regarding him
with great seriousness.
"It would have been better" she
said, "if you had been little more
manly You might at least have offered
to be brother to her. You have hurt
Il very warm heart and lost good
chance to marry. Mary could have re-
lieved you of many vexations.
The old lady's seriousness irritated
Harold. The idea of any one taking
such proposal seriously was too pre-
posterous to be entertained for mo-
ment. He concluded that his call had
been quite long enough, and that he
should take his departure as soon as he
had made sure that she could tell him
nothing more about dining.
ibid I understand you to say" he
asked, that no one eats anything bat
broth and.-ah. air?"
II said nothing about eating air.
There are nuts and fruits. They are
produced in great quantities, and grow
ers vie with each other in starting new
varieties. And, by the way, I must
warn you not to present basket of fruit
to any one. mention it, remembering
that in your day it was done as mark
of friendship and even of love. How
dreadfully coarse it was! In this day it
would be considered as insulting as the
presentation of a beef roast would have
been hundred years ago."
MAY ask" said Harold, smiling
,ft the thought, what young men do
offer the ladies of their affections?"
"What do young men-oh, now see
why you laughed at Mary! No In
these days, my dear sir, young men offer
1t would be considered mark
of immodesty. They do not seek ladies
in marriage. 1t would be highly i'm
proper for them to show any affection
until the lady has offered them some en-
{"
"Am l to understand that women
now do the lovemaking3"
why, to be sure.'
And the men wait to be courted?"
How else could there be marriages."
Harold stared at the old lady for fully
i've minutes before replying. Such a
state of affairs was quite beyond his
1t was too serious to
oe laughable.
1T used to be different, know"
ldded the old lady, "but it was no more
satisfactory"
Wash it, thought" exclaimed Har-
Id. Permit me to say that do not
gree with you. But let us not quarrel
n that subject. At present am more
Interested in the food question than in
he fact that women have a corner on
he business of lovemaking. Can you
egard to the habit of dining?"
because women could not use their
recious time in cooking, setting tables,
ASKING dishes, hemming table linen
nd doing the thousand and one other
asks which the old habit of dining
lade necessary
but how do women employ them
elves?"
Keep your eyes open for one week,
~ dear sir, and you will not need to
SIX. Although the character of the
York has changed, there is still plenty
} do, and, as you can see, men amount
} little in these days. That is my opin-
IN at least, and think it will be yours,
ut women do not seem to agree with
,e. They consider me very odd for not
myself to one of these little
pecimens of humanity. All, they did
OF live in the days when there were
len like your
why are all the men so small?'
sked Harold hastily. He feared an
Their proposal.
st is a natural result of generations
dissipation. l have been told that in
500 there were many miniature speci-
lens of masculinity to be seen on the
reefs, but the people did not seem to
ealize or even to recognize the danger
hitch they heralded. There was an oc-
asional prophet who spoke of the dan
ers of cigarette smoking, for instance,
ut Notwithstanding two-thirds of the
oys smoked cigarettes and wondered
by they did not grow to be as large as
leir fathers. Were you as large as
our father?'
Harold admitted that he had not been, [
nd that it had been source of regret
him.
Had you not gone to sleep, contin '
I'd the old lady, "Ipresume you would
ot have been so good or so much of a l
an in any way as your father. Men {
dulged in all sorts of designations, i
hich had their effect both mentally
I'd morally. AS they became less man. |
S. women became more so. Women {
ok up all sorts of self culture and be- s
me mans superior in every way long c
fore even they or the men recognized '
e fact. When the awakening came, :
L. l.