The age-herald., 1901-08-18
How to Ask for the Girl.

1 How to Ask for the Giri.
 How to ask for girl in marriage is an interesting question asked by cultured man of Johns in these interesting words:
 June, July and August being the l months, seemingly, of so many happy matrimonial flights, and there having I been several youhg man recently to me l seeking to know the proper parlance of asking the old man and woman for the girl and I being aged-relegated-hesi- tated to try the impossible. Hence, I write and pray of you that you give them through your columns the modus oper- andi-wkether to ask in person or to write.
 T trust that you will find time to give this laudable question vent in Sundays issue"
 This note was referred to bachelor of Birmingham. and he writes: "The question is one of deep and abid- ing interest Most men who have had the glorious privilege of asking each for his beloved in marriage declare that after making up their minds as to precisely what they should say to the parential authority in pleading for more than life, they forgot every word of it and merely mumbled.
 There was a young man of consequence in Lowndes county who was skeered to death when the girl bade him to ask pa. He rode to church with her on Sunday, and took dinner with the family after they got back-had chicken-pie; | meatn'greens, and many other dishes | good enough to make one's mouth water | to think about them.
 "'You can ask pa this evening" she had said to him as they rode homeward She meant to call him across and he knew it, and was glad. The most nut tonheaded man in the world would be glad in. like circumstances!
 That afternoon the ardent lover and the girls pa talked about the crops, the weather, and other subjects until the shadows far lengthening lay. Suddenly the lover said to the pa that he wished to see him on private business, which wasn't true but he just had to ask pa Below the house spread a primeval forest. unbroken for nearly a mile. and toward this the lover and the girls pa moved that hot August afternoon. the old man talking glibiy the while. The lover continued to be skeered to death, . and he repeatedly looked around him furtively, as if seeking some avenue of escape. They walked on deeper into the cool forest, the pa talking as if for big wages and the lover becoming more rest less, nervous. frightened.
 'When the two men had walked above a half mile into the dense, shadowy and lonesome wood the pa suddenly remem- bered that the lover desired to speak prepared the old man for this trying duty. As if new thought had struck him all of a heap, her pa said:
 "what did you wish to see me about?'
 "Panic-stricken and shivering with fear, the lover darted behind a giant oak, which is still standing as 1t has stood for hundreds of years down there in the county of Lowndes. Her pa was startled, amazed, speeches., and as he stood there saying nothing in seventeen modern lan- guages the lover peeped from behind that tall oak which from a little acorn grew, and whispered sibbilantly. pas sionately:
 :" I want to marry your daughter
 "'rake her. you fool the old man said disgusted with his walk could have told you that at the house. -.
 Tt is a fatal error. undoubtedly, to
 ask pa by word of mouth. It is all right to ask ma,' for whether she be willing for the girl to marry you or em- phatically disapproves. she is certain to give you her noble and motherly sym pathy. She takes your love for the girl as in part compliment to herself. and so 1t is; for see the mother and you see the girl as she'll be in the afterwhile when something of the romance is gone and you have daughter of your own whom some fellow wishes to- marry!
 Make a clean breast of 1t to ma al- ways. You can't fool her. She is jealous for the girl and sleeplessly vigilant. The girl Is her other self, and she's been through the rub in q way, has mother wisdom, and is prepared in any hour to die for the girl. That is the noblest thing in the world, the comradeship between the good mother and the daughter with a lover!
 Don't ever communicate orally with the girls pa until the way is perfectly clear. If you be acceptable she and her ma will fix things with him, make 1t smooth for you. If it's not all right with her ma, you'd just as we'll go jump in the river! Write to her pa, telegraph him, send him a special delivery letter, an express parcel, anything to break the the ice If he be disposed to favor you for a son-in-law he'll ask you to come and talk it over with him. His invita- ton will remove all embarrassment; and the chances are seventy-five to one that the girl will have her ear to the keyhole and just a-dying laughing at you begging her pas consent!
 ''If this advice be not satisfactory. there