Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-04-20
WHEN MAN
PROPOSES
By HELEN ROWLAND

4u14e GU IOlIy, CllmDluS luLO III
wrong side of the sleigh and trying t.
tuck the laprobe around the dashboard
BECAUSE she went on. beginning tt
take off her gloves, and then, as sh'
recollected herself, nervously drawing
them on again, though you might no
suspect it, Ina little-excited. I've
just finished getting proposed to-"
| gave the check rein a violent jerl
that must have insulted horse like
Marc Antony.
Il wouldn't even ask who" began
ooh. you needn't said Polly. 1T was
only Bobby Pad6ington."
l started. The check rein Slipped
from my fingers, and l let the whip fal
with thud into the snow.
why. what's the matter?" asked
Polly. 1T isn't polite to be surprised
when girl gets proposed to. Itlooks as
if you had thought she couldn't"
''Oh, it isn't that" said l. ANYBODY
could get proposed to b. Bobby Padding
ton-and in leap year
"Pooh!" said Polly. as stepped into
the sleigh and tucked the robe around
her Leap year has nothing to do with
it-nor Bobbie Paddington, either-if a
girl has really made up her mind. Leap
year merely gives her privilege which
a woman can take whenever she likes.
It's like the kiss under the mstletoe. en-
t!rely joke. You wouldn't dare kiss
any girl under the mjstletoe whom you
wouldn't dare kiss anywhere else. And
no girl would think Of asking a man to
marry her on leap H"ar. or at any other
1inle-that is. no gil with a particle Of
common sense or ueiicacy.'
Or WOmaniness,' | declared
"Or knowledge Of men, said Polly.
"Or breeding.'
"Or experience"
Il WONDER said l, "if any woman
ever did use TINT leap-year privilege"
Never said Polly. since she has
had the every year privilege of making
a man propose to her. 1t would have
who uses a little tact and sets out to
can get a proposal. The difference be-
tween proposing herself and making a
man propose to her is the difference be-
tween using whip and spur. You don't
have 70 whip hOrse-that is horse
worth having-do you? But you do
often have to spur him when you come to
jump. A man is like horse; he hates
q whip, but he minds spur
'Oh. l see.' said |. chuckling to Marc
Antony until the sleigh sped over the
frozen road; "a proposal is like a
hedge. A fellow wants to get over it,
but he is afraid Of what is on the other
side. He may land in a tangle-or he
may get cold water dousing"
OR he fancies there might be ditch
SOMEWHERE
''Or trap" suggested, gently.
Exactly" said Polly, land that is
why 1t needs little mental suggestion
from the girl to spur him on. If she at
tempts to drive him with a whip he
balks. But mental SUGGESTION"
THAI isn't anything like-hypnotism
is it. Polly?"
"Well-a little" acknowledged Polly.
cts making somebody think some
thing that isn't So"
Making him think that there isn't
cold water on the other 5ide?" l in
Quired.
Yes, or tangle.' said Polly. "The
average man breads getting tangled up
worse than he does plunging into cold
water. But if you can hide all the cords
of binding engagement and all the
bonds of matrimony, or can make them
look like garlands, or cover them with
Silk and can persuade him that pro-
posal isn't hedge at all, but bower of
roses that he can slip over without any
discomfort. and that the water on the
other side couldn't possibly be cold but
just warm tears of affectionate SYM
pathy. and that there aren't any bitches
IN which to be entombed alive. or any
traps in which 10 be caught, and then
can make him believe that you don't
care whether he takes leap or not
He will go pell-mell on to his DOOM"
finished tragically.
Like Bobb Paddington." Polly gig
gled.
"Oh, Bobby Paddington!' remarked
with disgust. He is just like some
fool horses that would take any hedge
II 1t was a brick wall-and always land
on their feet. There is a Divine Proyi-
dence that protects Bobby"
I'm very sure you're very uncomnli-
mentary,' said Polly. And, besides
Bobby Paddington landed right in the
as hard as I could"
l looked down at the demure little
bundle Of fur beside me, with one c,,r,
and a nose sticking out of the big co,-
lar.
did you do it for my sake, Polly?"
asked softly
mo- said Polly, "for Boobies. He
needed the lesson. His conceit was
something atrocious Besides, I made
a sort Of wager with Kitty Carter"
Polly stopped
"Well?" suggested.
"Oh, Well-that could-that he
should mean Oh, don't you under
stand, Mr.. Heavyfeather-by ~ o'clock
I finished refusing him at five minutes of
while you were waltzing with"
"How do you know with whom was
waltzing?"
"Oh, only had to keep one eye and an
ear on Bobby-and not my hear" said
Polly, 'sweetly.
melted beneath Polly's smile, as the
snow beneath the sun.
Polly" said I, tell me how you man.
aged the mental suggestion in Bobbv,s
case-how you manage it anyhow"
with Bobby? Oh, yes; began bv
telling him that the jam was in the
closet. but that the door was 1oclod"