Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-08-31
ALL SORTS OF
PROPOSALS
BY Dorothy Dix.

One of the chief causes of suffering
in the world is the difficulty of pro-
posing.
This knowledge comes with e shock
of surprise to most of us. We had
supposed that everey man alive was
bold enough to ask for what he want
ed, and that every woman had wit
enough to give a halting lover the
final shove over the brink Of propo
sal when she had gotten him that far
along the pathway of courtship.
But no. That is the superficial
view of those who have never faced
the trials of the situation, and who
are ignorant of whereof they speak.
Every mail brings letters from bash
full swains asking advice about the
best way to pop the question, and
from eXasperated women who have
grown weary waiting for men who
monopolize their attention and burn
out their gas, but never come to the
point.
AS matter of fact it must be ad-
mitted that, considering men have
had monopoly of all the active love-
making ever since Adam told Eve
she was 1T in the Garden of Eden,
they do it very badly.
They balk at the critical moment.
They bungle the situation They out
,,o oa +ba ortictio Dronriotiae rTIa1, ci+
down on the halo of romance that
woman has woven about the affair.
She has dreamed OF being wooed in
Booth Harrington language, and when
he shoves a commonplace question at
her in any old way it skaters the
ideals of lifetime.
Women nearly always burst into
tears at such a moment. Men think
they are crying because they are glad
they have gotten a good thing, and
are not going to be old maids, but it
is not. They weep to think now bad
ly the thing was done.
One of the unconfessed grievances
that every woman has against her
husband is the way he proposed to
her. She was probably glad enough
to get him on any terms, but there
is a difference between having the
thing you want rendered you on a sill
yer salver and being slugged with it.
Later on you may be very grateful
for the gift-after you get over the
bruises.
Even when men embrace the pro-
fession of love-making as business,
and devote their minds to studying it,
they are so rarely successful that a
good stage lover is worth his weight
in gold to a manager
Women crowd the theater to see the
counterfeit of romance they missed,
yet how poorly even an actor gen
orally does it,
John Drew makes love like chaste
icicle that might thaw a little but
could never melt even under the ray
of burning passion; Mr.. Faversham,
with moderated fervor that seems
to say come to my breast but be care
full not to muss my shirt front; Mr.
Richmond, in an honest bourgeoise
way that is convincing, but hasn't a
thrill to it; Hackett's love is merely
nearsilk, and Kelley learned to pro-
pose out of manual of correct de-
pertinent, where you ask. papa first
and then mention the matter to the
girl.
1t is only once in a blue moon thai
you find stage hero like Joe Ha.
worth, who clutches the heroine tC
him in way that loosens her bach
hair and makes every woman in the
audience sit up with gasp
OFF the stage each man has his owl
system of lovemaking and reaches thu
critical point of proposing by his owl
route.
One of the most popular is by wa,
of the confessional. When MAI
begins to get sentiment he yearns t
ten the girl all about his past life, III
confesses his own sins to her ant
those of his friends.
Then he tells her that she is the on
ly person who ever really understoo'
his Intense nature, and he only need