The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19

Add to your meal some merriment,
Add a thought for kith ana kin,
And then, as a prime ingredient,
y plenty of work thrown ia.
And spice il all with the essence OF love-
And a little Whit of play;
Let a wise old book and glance above
Complete the wcll-speut day
Mrs. J. d. II. Crest, River Edge, y. ).
rs it ever justinable 10 break off an en-
eagement?" is problem, says the st.
Louis Daily News, discussed by several
ladies in one of their own periodicals.
Now. of course. there are circumstances
in which Amadis of Gaul or Faithful Girl
eel. would have broken off an engage
ment. If it turns OUT that the betrothed
fair loves the wassan bowl even too well,
that the swain has been detected with
cards up his sleeve, that either belongs to
a family OF hereditary homicidal maniacs,
then almost every one would say break
the engagement off" To be sure some
young things will insist they can slowly
break Edwin OF his habit of turning up
the nine, or of tarrying by the wine cup,
but here a stern parent may exert all the
by the march of intellect.
We do not enter into the chapter of what
Meg Dods was beginning to call ''prenup,
as affecting the tenure of engagements,
because fun instructions on that theme in
all its bearings may be found in novels by
emancipated ladies'. They recommend the
fair to put the swain through a strict eX-
animation of his pre-betrothal conduct
but that should be before accepting him,
not after. The examination may be viva
voice." or on paper, but paper work Is
much to be preferred, many men being
nervous in viva voce" Somehow no
masculine novelist has ever yet instruct
ed the swain to cross-examine the nymph.
BY examining first and proposing or ac-
cepting afterward, many painful
feelings may be avoided. These, OF
course, are merely amateur reflections; we
turn to the ladies who sit on the bench OF
British Cupid in this Court of Love. Mrs.
Sarah Grand thinks that we certainly
ought not to break off many engagements.
s'You mauna aye be dram, draining" as
the Scotch minister said, after making
the most ample allowances.
Mrs Grand thinks that if a girl, as soon
as she has hooked her fish. begins to dis
play anxiety about her future carriage.
and betrays Aspirations on the same ma
terial plane" it would be unfair to the
girl" if a soaring swain Glove to his word.
Obviously, this rule applies all round. In
an engagement the betrothed parties are
likely to find each other out. one may
be soaring, the other material terrible
ment enfonce dams la matiere." One may
be jealous, and, if any discovery can be
terrifying, it is the discovery of jealousy.
The lady had better break off, the gentle
man may shoot himself accidentally in
going through a hedge. A prig has been
known to end his engagement on the dis
covery of intellectual Disparity: this is
rare Mrs. Grand admits that a girl may
take more license in jiting, for men get
on pretty comfortably with quite inferior
women" Indeed, a man is apt to make
the best, and a woman the worst, of what
cannot be mended.
Mrs. Joseph Parker justly remarks that
the wise thing is to know all about each
other before people get engaged at all
two wrongs, breaking off an engagement
may be the less. girl may discover
that she does not care for a man. or that
she prefers somebody else. There is a le-
gend of a lady whose swain, when she
murmured YES" said Let US kneel and
pray for blessing" The young woman
con( ssed that she occupied this interval
in thinking how to break It off, which
she did promptly Mrs. Haweis remarks
that a lady should not use a man "as a
sort of spooning machine" Persons of
taste will not listen to advice couched in
the most vulgar slang.
Lady Laura Kidding exclaims against
the strange things done in the name of
honor as when a man or woman keeps a
pledge merely because it has been given.
Honor is not so common or cheap that we
should belittle it. Women are, for many
reasons, allowed more latitude in breaking
this promise than men. A bethrothed
l. -
to break her heart if he deserts her is in a
position where honor certainly has some
thing to say. Women are much more len
ient than men TO male jilts, whom other
men instinctly desire to beat or shoot. 1t
is plain that, while men regard honor as a
binding principle-so that TO lose honor is
to lose all--they will be more cautious
about falling into entanglements. But if
they acquire the idea that they can break
engagements with as little blame as COM
monty attaches 70 the other sex, they will
be more reckless in getting betrothed at
venture. a male jilt infiicts much Sc
verer social wrong than a lady jilt, yet fe-
male opinion let's him off with compara-
tive ease.
Women ought to be more severe in their
judgment of this kind of character. A
man may make "vows of love and honor
with more honor than love in his heart
If so, il is his business TO keep his vows
ana hold ms tongue But In all this
casuistry the question must be one of a
choice between two evils, and people must
choose for themselves. Luckily me per
sons who get into scrapes are usually the
persons who get out of them again with
least pain and trouble. The good
natured souls who become engaged out of
good nature, on either side, go on good
naturedly. THE nippants of both sexes
extricate themselves fiippantly. The wise
who have made a blunder act with con-
genial wisdom. And the rest write sentj-
mental lyrcs-"all end in song" The
breaking an engagement may be an ac-
ton dictated by a keen sense of honor"
but who would preach # for a truth ITO
those that eddy round and round"
Miss Annie Swans experience of life
teaches her that lin the great majority of
cases 1t is the man who tires" Really
we can only accept this opinion if backed
by great masses Of statistics. If Miss
Swan will procure these, by sending out
papers OF questions like those issued bv
the Society Tor Psychical Research. we
snail listen to her seriously. "A man suf-
1ers little, IL at all, from being Tilted" saws
Miss Swan, which is encouraging to Young
ladies' who take their morals from popular
magazines. ITO jnt, jilt jit to jIt an
DAY VIII now be their temptation, for a
man may feel it keenly," but he suffers