Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-08-13
LOYE-MAKING In MANILA.
1T PROGRESSES SLOWLY. THE MA.
DENS BEING QUITE COY.
How the Young Spanish Crandee Acts
When He Wishes TO Do the Thing
About Right-This Courtshio in Tedious
and Absurd TO An American,

About Right-This Courtship IN Tedious
and Absurd TO An American.
'One of the most curious customs
among the social upper tendon OF the
Spanish at Manila" remarked Harry
K Montgomery, late secretary OF the
customs service in the Luzon capital,
the other day to the Macon Republicans
interviewer, is their method OF court
ship. If that Kansas City judge had
jurisdiction there he would have jail
full of heightened youths before he was
on the island half day. understand
he is fning men $500 apiece for ogllng
and making remarks about young ladies.
When the young Spanish grandee wants
to do the thing about right he dons
faultless suit of clothes, gets out light
bamboo cane and wakes his mustache.
Without the latter his case would be
hopeless. He goes to the home of his
lady love and takes his station on the
walk where she can see him from her
window. He struts up and down for
her inspection. twisting his idolized
mustache, twirling his cane, and going
through gestures calculated to set off
the offering to the best advantage. The
lady may not even deign to look at him.
In fact, he hardly expects her to until
he has gone through his monkey-shines
number of times to prove his SINGER
ity. 1t may be months before he re-
ceives the encouragement of smile, but
when it does come his raptured heart
repays him for his labor. After a while
say six months. the senorita may drop a
rose, a fan or her perfumed lace hand
kerchief. He seizes the prize with the
avidity that a half-starved miner reaches
for golden nugget where he expected
none. But the bird is not yet within the
suitor's grasp. Not by a long ways. At
this point the dutiful parents of the
young lady appreciate the fact that mat
tiers may become serious some time in
the future, and they begin looking up
the young mans pedigree-and bank &C
count. They never think of inviting him
t. see their daughter until these facts
are ascertained with fidelity that would
do credit to a mercantile agency. His
standing having been ascertained, the
bull dogs are tied up and the warders
sheath their swords. The coast is clear
now and the lover may fetch out his
| mandolin or guitar and send sweet mel
Ody along with the moonlight into the
bedchamber OF his sweetheart. AT the
! end of the year or twelve months, if he
| still remains faithful and refrains from
| prosecuting his suit with undue haste,
he may approach the girls parents and
plead for a personal audience with her.
| This is getting to close quarters and a
| favorable answer means that the girl has
made the same plea to her parents. The
young people are permitted to meet in
| the parlOr, but not alone. The parent
or guardian is always on hand to see
that the prOprieties are thoroughly re-
| spected and this sort of vigilance is
never relaxed until they have plighted
their troth. The lover cannot take his
mistress to church, theatre or even to the
refined. elevating Spanish sport known
as the bull fight until has matrimonial
| intentions are spiked down and welded
A person would think the rigorous Gus
tom would deter aspirants, but it doesn't
They accept the conditions eagerly and
face them like martyrs.
1T is considered quite the proper
thing, indeed, as an evidence of good
taste, for well5dressed young men tc
stand in the parks and along the resident
districts for the purpose of looking al
the women as they pass by. If they au-
dibly express their opinions about the
gayly dressed butterflies, so much the
better, as butterflies expect it and would
feel that there was something lacking il
their makeup if they failed to excite
remarks. No one dreams of resenting
it as an impertinence. The Irritation
however, extends no further, and if the
youth becomes enamored with any of the
specimens a pretty day brings forth The
only way he can call one of them hi:
own is by pursuing the tedious course
have just described Macon Republic
can.