The Mena weekly star., 1897-11-03

 ENGLISH kOvE-MAkiNG.
curtous Statistics in Regard 10
 xsh Pronosnis of Marriage.

Statistics are dt plcSSn0
 ected on almost every conceivapie suo- Iect What do you think of an Enghsn ,cbolar who has actually thought II worth his while to collect statistics Tn reoard to the manner in which men ana women make love to each otherE lie has snent considerable time over tnls delicate work, and now at last ne ln- forms the world how the men, as rue, nronose to the women, and how the women. as a rule. accept the proposals of the men.
 According to the English scholar, the number of young Englishmen who em- brace. their sweethearts at the moment when they are inviting them to become their wives amounts to 36 per cent. On the other hand, CT per cent. of the men in love kiss their sweethearts on the lips at the critical moment, while four per cent. shower kisses on thelr hair and two per cent. content them selces with kissing their hands.
 At one time it was the fashion for love intoxicated youths to fall on thelr knees when about to make proposals of mar riage, but this fashion is evidently dy- inc out. for we are assured that only three per cent. of those in love at pres ent fall on one knee, while only two per cent. venture to sue for their ladies fa- yor on both knees. A curious reason has been assigned for the decadence of this chivalrous custom, which is, that of late years the neither garments of males have been so constructed that it Is rather risky for any man to flop down suddenly on his knees in lady's pres nee Garments, when strained, will rip and tear, and no self-respecting lover desires to have his act of adoration turned into farce by any such cas- | ualty.
 On the other hand wooers of to-day seem to be far more nervous than the
 gallant men who wooed and won cen- tury ago. Just fancy, 20 per cent. of the English lovers of to-day are awfully nervous when the decisive moment comes, and in the throat of each moth- er's son of them there seems to be a huge lump, which it is impossible for them to swallow. How they get over this difficulty Heaven only knows.
 Somehow the lump disappears after they have struggled with it minute of two, after which it is to be hoped that their agony is at an end.
 The behavior of the young women is similarly remarkable. When the men invite them to share their homes they | Al o4 o1f ferb f VT a out of every hundred fall without a | word into the outstretched arms of their chosen ones and so very easily put an end to a rather embarrassing, if otherwise very delightful, situation; | 6S per cent blush very becomingly, 1nd | in maidenly fashion shrink away as though frightened at their companions boldness; one out of every hundred
 possibly more, possibly less, says the English statistician-fall on sofa as
 though about to faint, and four per cent. are really astonished at receiving
 proposals of marriage.
 On the other hand so out of every 100
 know very we'll what the men have come
 for, and hence they are not taken una- ware, and they behave just as they | should behave on such momentous oc- casion. Furthermore, 60 per cent. look their wooers boldly in the eyes, evident | ly with the idea either of still further bewitching them, or of relieving them from their apparent embarrassment | Curious facts these, but the most
 curious fact of all is that one maiden
 out of every hundred runs away before
 the young man has finished his pretty
 love tale, with the object of telling the | good news to her girl friends.
 1t is pleasant to know that wooing in
 England is, as rule, the preliminary
 to long and happy union. The latest
 statistics show that the average annual
 number of applications Tor divorce does
 not exceed 575, which is certainly small.
 considering that the number of Eng
 lishmen and Englishwomen who marry
 each year is computed at 1000. If we
 take the ten years from 1886 to 1896, we find that the annual number of diyorces has been about 500 and the annual num-
 Der of marriages about 400,000.-N. y. | Herald.
 | An Excited Rrfdaorno...