The morning times., 1896-05-12
ANSWERING DF. PERSONALS
Dr.. Macdonald Gives His Expert
encs in sThis Line.
Sometimes Happy Marriages Are
the Outgrowth of Newspaper
unications.

us TO wondering Wnat there can be abnormal
in the temperament or environment of
inviduas to make them resort TO this
peculiar method of extending the range
Of their acquaintance.
The motives for answering these personals
are various. Oftener than not it is merely
curiosity, with perhaps a coy and seques-
tered hope that one may possibly thus
chance upon the souls affinity. nd then
there are always romantic and hysterical
young women who dote upon anything that
savors of mystery; while newspaper re-
porters and students of human nature have
resorted To this method of - collecting ma
terial'' from time imnemorial.
Several unique and interesting results
of these peculiar advertisements have ac-
cidentally come within the range of my
own personal knowledge.
In one of the uburban towns OF Bos-
ton, three young schoolgirls, their hair
still In braids down their backs, met
/ one evening at one OF their homes TO study
their lessons for the following day. As
they were drawn up around the dining
room table, a chance newspaper caught
their attention, and seemed TO interest
them more than their Latin grammars
Gluncing down the columns they came upon
one of these weird personals, and tempted
by Il spirit of mischief they decided TO all
swer it, AS result of their correspond
ence, they made an appointment 10 meet
the unknown individual under q certain
tree at 4 O'Clock the following Saturday
afternoon. Considerably before the hour
appointed these three gtggling girls were
safely Installed at their point OF vantage
and neariy screamed with laughter when
they saw approaching a somewhat. peda-
gogicai looking man, with a look under
his arm, the sign agreed upon They
watched him pace impatiently up a nd down
for the space OF half all hour or more, nd
then go away quite detected This was
| TOO good fun TO be relinquished, so a little
note or explanation as 10 the cause OF de-
tentlon, and renewed appointment gave
them repetition OF their amusement
They continued their currespondeuce until
| they became a little anxious as To how
they were going to withdraw from it,
and still more anxious as TO what might
happen to them in case they were de-
tected. SO, partly to relieve themselves
from further responsibility, and partly
for the huge joke or the thing, they gave
their correspondent the name and ad-
dress OF a typical, prim. New England
old maid, member OF the church which
they attended, as the person to whom he
had been writing
The beautiful denouement OF the whole
adventure was that the object Of their
base deceit went, saw and conquered
And on the day that the ancient spinster
rluttered up the church aisle i'll white muslin
and blue ribbon tothe tune of the wedding
march, the three gay young girls sat to-
gether Oh a back bench and secretly gInated
over the hilarious result OF their audaCioUs
prank.
! once knew an unusually bright and
clever young woman, who, while in COZ
lege, answered an attractively worded
personal, signed by a mans name and
desiring only IN entertaining lady cor
respondent" Letters passed back and
forth with ever increasing frequency aud
interest. Leading events OF the day, re-
cent developments in science, art and lit
erature were taken up and discussed in that
delightfully."- free and easy manner, possible
only to the untrammeled scope or the I'M
personal personal letter.
The Intercourse nnally became suff-
ciently intimate for the personal to con-
fess that it was woman, that she, being
an invalid and mporarily ostraciZed
from all but dull people, aud desiring some
fresh, young, intelligent interest In her
life, had taken this means of securing it.
The experience led to a sincere and last
ing friendship, and the Older woman be-
ing wealthy, was pleased 10 extend many
klilU anu dIISulOlS 10 uGE
friend.
Dr. Arthur Macdonald, OF Washington,
who has made special studies in sociology,
abnormal types, etc, has published a
book upon Some Women Who Answer
Personals In this work DR.. MacDon-
aid publishes letters. from about 100 diff
| ferent women who have answered per-
sonals which he has had inserted in
the principal papers of large cities, for
the sake or pursuing empirical inves-
ugation of what he considers abnormal
women.
His first advertisement read as follows:
Gentleman of high social Il university
position desires correspondence tac-
Quautance not necessary with young,
educated woman OF high social and
| financial position. No agents; no triflers;
must give detailed account OF life. Refer
enceS required"
This letter unsensatonal as i is in
character. brought shoals of answers.
There were some letters frOmintellectual,
college-bred women, who were evidently
| studying along the same lines as DR..
Macdonald and wanted to add to their
collection of mental cuTioS.
One letter that amused me exceedingly
| was from woman who had confessed her
| self in Full middle life, but could never
| feel old" She did not believe in sailing
| under false colors," and acknowle dyed
| UefSSll IOT q SulldDie HuSDdui
| Il do want a big, warm heart, one who
| needs just me to round out his life aud
make it complete; one to whom l could
| be "a IL the world and ma ke his every hour
happy, and who could value the wealth
! of affection l have to bestow."
| DR.. Macdonald, after a little correspond
| ence, called upon this blushing widow CT
| fifty, for such she was, and learned that
| when young woman she had come to the
| city and had answered some personals
| lust for q freak" In less than six
| months she was married to cue OF her cor
| respondents and vowed that happier
| maria ge never was" Aud now that the
| days of her mourning were over, she III !
| gone back to her old methods. She was
quite deaf, but made a great point of
! explaining that it was only temporary and
| was due to a recent cold.'
DR.. MacDonald's fiual experiment was
! inserting the following advertisement in
| some OF the principal ne wspapers OF Eu-
! rope: 'Gentleman ID Teducation Euro
| peene) desires TO correspond in German,
| French or English with lady (gebildete
! dame or studer te J..
| Many of the answers to this advertise
ment were exceedingly clever and inter-
| esting, being written by women who had
| Travelled much. who had wide KNOWLEDGE
| of langua ges and literature. and who
| availed themselves of this correspondence
| VI Ill SOlIC SlcCtdI
| to get new point OF view, or simply to
enter upon a correspondence ''amusante
! ct instructive" French woman of es-
prit. who has Travelled from st. Peters
burg to the Orient and reads everything
from Schopenhauer to Gyp, is by no means
dull correspondent. In fact, the letters
| from England. Scotland, Paris and Ger
many made distinctly interesting col
| lection of letters quite we'll worth the time
spent reading them.