Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-09-09
REFINED CRUELTY OF
FRENCH MARRIAGES.
tiedged in With Restrictions Every Hand, From the
First Meeting to the Wedding Day.

has reached his 30th year and until the
girl is 35 they must bring legal suit
against the parents who refuse con-
sent to make them show cause why the
marriage should not come off, Con-
sisting as 1t does. in its beginning, of
three Summons" each to be witnessed,
served, returned Endorsed and register
ed, 1t may be lodged" from year to
year by artfu1 parents, with no remedy
except an appeal to the President of the
Republic.
C0urtshfD in q Theatre.
Where marriage is hedged round by
such precautions against hasty choice
you may be sure that courtship has.lit-
tie opportunity to take clandestine
beginning. 1t is said that the Paris
middle-class ideal of the first meet
ing" remains still the classical subter-
fuge of the Opera Comique. Like most
European playhouses, the parquet cir
Gle and balcony of the new Opera Conf
que are given up to little private boxes.
The mother takes the box, and has
her fluttering daughter under her wing.
Between the first and second acts the
young man enters with a mutual friend,
ostensibly to pay mere visit of polite
ness. When he has disappeared the
girls mother makes some tentative re-
marks to her about the young man
looks, age, disposition and position,
trying without alarming or starting up
strange thoughts to ascertain what i'm
preston has been made. 1t is a first
principle that mothers ought not to
forewarn or instruct their daughters
previously for the rencontre. For if
she be catechized beforehand the girl
will be so filled with apprehension and
emotion as to lose her grace and nat
uralness. IL She may not be able to pres
erve sufficient GOODNESS to observe the
young man, whether he be pleasing or
not. She ought not even to know the
object of the meeting-for, if she has
failed to please, it is humiliating to be
aware of it Several such humiliations
have even been known to make a girl
lose part of her confidence. Now, If
it be true that young girl ought not
to have too high iaeas of her own mer-
its, it is still only proper that she should
not be made to think meanly of herself
Then the mutual friends meet to let
each other know the mutual effects
that have been produced on the two
young minds and hearts. If 1t be the
young girl who has failed to please
nothing further will be said The NUT
ual friends will talk about the weather.
have a drink and separate. But if it
be the young man who has not made
a good impression he will be told of
it. Sometimes-and there are those
who think it should always be the
practice-a young girl favorabiy dis
posed to the youth offered to ner &C.
mands, nevertheless, to see more OF
him before she gives her word. 1t is
arranged that she shall meet him, then,
as often as may be judged decorous,
but not intimately Good tas.e de-
mands, on his part. that the aspirant
should not pay her any particular at
tentions at these chance" meetings
He must simply show off at mis- best.
The next step is the proposal.
A young Frenchman | know propos-
ed to an American girl. He got his
uncle to do 1t for him. But no, the
uncle did not propose to the girl. He
proposed--as we have all cause to re-
member-to her moneyed aunt. Mad
anne, I have the honor to ask on be-
half of my nephew, the hand of your
niece" And so on. And here, by the
way, is where the facts left the beaten
track of routine. The girl. highly dis
pleased at such a roundabout declara-
ton, spurned that French youth. Not
so the moneyed aunt She saw the
delicacy of the thought, the respect
and honor Of it. She talked it over so
much with that willy old uncle, that the
result was their own marriage. The
young heirs-presumptive now kick
themselves at the thought of the pos
sible consequences.
The right-thinking way here is for
the father or the brother or the uncle
of the youth to go and propose for him.
The father or guardian of the girl
should give response at the first mo-
ment possible In this interval ques-
lions about fortune and the like are
discussed with more detail than they
had been during the viewing" prelim-
inaries. Notes are made for the mar
riage contract"
Immediately he has been accepted,
the young man must put on his dress
suit-though 1t be 10 a. m.-and make
a formal visit to-the parents of the
girl. He ought to thank them warmly,
but without exaggeratfon. Sometimes
the girl will be present at this meet
ing. The best taste, however, leaves
the youth to gush over his future mo-
ther-in-law.
The next step being the betrothal, a
private family party, the young girl has
still opportunity to hide her bushes.
You don't invite mere acquaintance.
You don't expose the artless happiness
of young creature to the cold indif-
ference of the merely curious, do you?
The young man brings the betrothal
ring. They could not well pretend to
slip it on her finger for him, and they
do not 1t is the first time that he has
touched her fingers. At the betrothal
dinner they sit side by side at the mid
die of the table. The girl must wear
a gay gown. tender rose, celestial blue
or white, with colored ribbons all
about. In the soiree that follows they
must be allowed 10 talk to each other
without being overheard.
And now, although betrothed, it Is
still thought best that the girl should
never go out in public with her fiancee;
but If they do go out together there is
no doubt as to whom the youth must
give his arm Good taste demands that
he should invariably escort her mother.
But in a garden the engaged ones may
walk arm in arm.
Each morning, now, he brings or
sends white bouquet 1t is essential.