The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1904-04-16
WHEN MAN
PROPOSES
By HELEN ROWLAND
ITO LOOK perfectly calm?" in

TeCOlleClCu UtTStllt utINOusly Ni""4N
them on again, though you might not
suspect 1t. Tina little-eXcited. I've
Just finished getting proposed to-"
gave the check rein violent jerk
that must have insulted horse like
Marc Antony.
81 wouldn't even ask who" began,
"Oh. you needn't" said Polly. "ltwas
only Bobby Paddington"
! started. The check rein slipped
from my fingers, and | let the whip fall
with thud into the snow.
"Why, what's the matter?' asked
Polly. ut isn't polite to be surprised
when girl gets proposed TO- ltlooks as
If you had thought she couldn't
ooh. it isn't that" said |. Anybody
could get proposed to by 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 Bobble Paddington, elther-if a
girl has really made up her mind. Leap
year merely gives her a privilege which
a woman can take whenever she likes
It's like the kiss under the mistetoe, en-
tirely a joke. You wouldn't dare KISS
any girl under the mstletoe whom you
wouldn't dare kiss anywhere else, And
no girl would think Of asking a man to
marry her on leap year, or at any other
time-that is, no girl with particle OF
common sense or delicacy."
"Or womanliness, | declared.
cor knowledge of men, said Polly
"Or breeding"
"Or experience"
81 wonder" said |, 'lf any woman
ever did use that leap-year privilege
Never" said Polly, "since she has
had the every year privilege of making
a man propose to her. 1t would have
been so very unnecessary. Any woman
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 to whip a horse-that is horse
worth having-do you? But you do
often have to spur him when you come to
a jump. A man is like horse; he hates
q whip, but he minds spur"
"Oh | see" said |, chucking to Mare
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 tangle-or he
may get a cold water dousing"
"Or he fancies there might be ditch
somewhere"
cor trap" suggested gently,
Exactly said Polly, land that Is
why 1t needs a 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-hypnodsm
is It, Polly?"
"Well--a little" acknowledged Polly,
Tts making somebody think some
thing that isn't So
Making him think that there isn't
cold water on the other side?" | in
CURED.
Eyes, or tangle," said Polly. "The
average man breads getting tangled up
worse than he does plunging into cold
water But II you can hide all the cords
Of a binding engagement and all the
bonds Of matrimony or can make them
look Ike garlands, or cover them with
silk and can persuade him that a pro-
posal isn't n 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
patty and that there aren't any bitches
IN which to be entomhed alive, or any
traps In which TO be caught and then
can make him believe that YOU don't
care whether he takes n leap or not"
"lio will 30 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.
Il Il was a brick wall-and always land
on their feet There is a Divine Proyl-
doneo that protects Bobby"
'Im very sure you're very uucomplI-
mcnlary" said Polly And, besides.
Bobby paddIngton landed right IN the
ice-cold water this time refused him
AS hard as | could
| looked down at the domurc little
bundle Of fur beside me, with one curl
and q nose sticking out Of the big COLI
lar
"Dld YOU do It for my sake, polly?" |
asked softly
mo" said Polly, "for BobbIoa lie
needed the lesson His concolt was
something 0trocIous. Besides, made
sort Of wager with Kitty Carter"
Polly stopped
"Woll?' | suggested
ooh, woll-that | could that he
should mean Oh, don't you under.
stand, MIR lIeayyfeathor-by f. o'clock,
! finished refusing him ut i've minutes Of,
while you were walt2InR with"
"llow do you know with whom wae
wall2inf9'
"Oh | only had to keep one eye and an
ear ON Bobby and rot my heart said
Polly, 5wgctly
melted beneath pollys smile, M the
fn0w beneath the sun
polly" said |, "Jol me how you man
aged the mental suggestion IN Bobby'e
case-how you manage It anyhow"
with Bobby? Oh, yes, began by
telling him that the jam was In the
closet but that the door was locked"