The record-union., 1897-12-10

a pledge merely because il has been
given. Honor is not SO common or
cheap that we should belittle it. Wom-
en- are, for many reasons, allowed more
latitude in breaking this promise than
men. A betrothed man who knows that
the girl will go near to break her heart
if he deserts her is in a position where
honor certainly has something to say.
Women are much more lenient than
men to male jiHs, whom other men in
stinctively desire to beat or shoot 1t
is plain that, while men regard honor
as binding principle-so that to lose
honor is to lose all-they will be more
cautious about falling into entangle-
ments. But if they acquire the idea
that they can break engagements with
as little blame as commonly attaches to
the other sex, they will be more reckless
in getting betrothed at a venture A
male jilt inficts much severer social
wrong than lady jilt, yet female opin-
ion lets him off with comparative ease.
Women ought to be more severe in
their judgment of this kind of charac-
ter man may make vows OF love
and honor with more honor than love
in his heart. If so, it is his business
to keep his vows and hold his tongue.
But in all this casuistry, the question
must be one of a choice between two
evils, and people must choose for them
selves. Luckily, the persons who get
into scrapeS are usually the persons
who ger 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 ma
turedly. The fiippants of both sexes" :"
extriCate themselves f1ippantly The
wise who have made blunder act with
congenial wisdom. And the rest write
sentimental lyrics-''all ends in song"
The breaking of an engagement may
''be an action dictated by a keen sense
of honor" but who would preach it
for a truth ''to those that eddy round
and round"
THE MAN GETS TIRED FIRST.
Miss Annie Swans experience of life
teaches her that lin the great majority
of cases it is the man who tires Re-
ally 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 by the Society for Psychi-
cal Research, we shall listen to her Sc
riously. A man suffers little if at all,
from being jilted," says Miss Swan,
which is encouraging to young ladies
who take their morals from popular
magazines. 'To jilt, jilt, jilt, to jilt all
day" viii now be their temptation, for
a man may feel it keenly,' but he
suffers little" says Miss Swan. She
may quote the extremely fatuous per-
son who, hearing talk of woman's fick-
leness, parodied Wordsworth: Alas!
the constancy of girls has often left
me mourning man, it seems, is not
'cheapened' by being left to wear the
willow; woman is. But Miss Swan
should remember that a man betrayed
often abandons himself to a course of
what lnoralists call "gayety." This was
Lovelace's case; he states it fully in a
letter to Mr.. Belford Being Tilted.
Lovelace went and avenged himself on
the whole sex. How he must have
suffered! He sacrificed hectacombs of
the fair to his revenge. Girls should
keep these appalling examples of ''how
much the wretched dare in mind be-
fore they stoop to jilting. Unlike Lady
Laura Kidding, Miss Swan thinks that
few women would not prefer to take
their chance with a reluctant but hon
orable swain rather than lose him. If
that IS so, surely a man is bound to
keep his word; and here the young are
placed in great jeopardy. Are they to
follow Miss Swans or Lady Luar Rid
ding's theory? They can hardly put
the question to the person most con-
cerned, and professional casuists, like
Escobar, leave the matter undetermin-
ed. If a young man consults a lady
friend, she will probably advise break
ing eff. If he consults a man, he is
likely to hear some very plain lam
guage.-London Daily Times