Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-08-10
When Man
Proposes.

do l look perfectly calm?" in
quired Polly, climbing into the wrong
side of the sleigh and trying to tuck
the laprobe around the dashboard.
,'Becuse," she went on, beginning to
take off her gloves, and then, as she
re-collected herself, nervously draw
Ing them on again, though you might
not suspect it, ina little-excited.
I've just finished getting proposed
to-"
l gave the check rein violent
Jerk that must have insulted a horse
like Marc Antony.
Il wouldn't even ask who" I be-
gan.
"Oh, you needn't" said Polly. ut
was only Bobby Paddington."
started. The check rein slipped
from my fingers, and let the whip
fall with a thud into the snow.
why, what is the matter?" asked
Polly. ut isn't polite to be sur
prised when a girl gets proposed to.
1t looks as if you had thought she
couldn't"
ooh, it isn't that" said l. Anybody
could get proposed to by Bobby Pad
dington-and in leap year"
"Pooh!" said Polly, as stepped in
to the sleigh and tucked the robe
around her. Leap year has nothing
to do with it-nor Bobby Paddington,
,eitRer-if a girl has really made up
her mind. Leap year merely gives
her a privilege which woman can
take whenever she likes. It's like
the kiss under the mistletoe, entire
f1y joke. You wouldn't dare kiss
any girl under the mistletoe whom
you wouldn't dare kiss anywhere
else. And no girl would think of
year, or at any other time-that is,
no girl with d particle Of common
sense or delicacy."
"Or womanliness," I declared.
"Or knowledge of men" said Polly.
cor breeding"
cor experience"
II wonder" said I, eff any woman
ever did use that leap year privi-
lege"
Never" said Polly, "since she has
had the every year privilege of max
ing man propose to her. 1t would
have been so very unnecessary. Any
woman who uses little tact and sets
out to can get a proposal. The diff
ference between roposing herself
and making mar propose to her is
the difference betwsen using a whip
and spur. You dent have to whip
a hOrse-that is, horse worth hav-
ing-do you? But you do often have
to spur him when you come TO
jump. A man is like a horse; he
hates a whip, but he minds spur"
"Oh, | see," said |, chuckling 70
Marc Antony until the sleigh sped
over the frozen road; "a proposal is
like hedge. A fellow wants to get
over it, but he is afraid of what is
on the other side. He may land in
a tangIe-or he may get cold water
dousing."
"Or he fanCies there might be a
ditch somewhere"
Cor trap" l suggested gently.
Exactly" said Polly, "and that is
why it needs a little mental sugges-
ton from the girl to spur him on.
If she attempts to drive him with
whip he balks. But mental sug-
gestion-"
THAT isn't anything like-hypno-
tism-is it, Polly?"
"Well-a little" acknowledged Pol
ly. tits making somebody think
something that isn't So"
Making him think that there isn't
cold water on the other side?" l in
quired.
Eyes, or a tangle," said Polly.
"The average man breads getting
tangled up worse than he does plung-
ing into cold water. But if you can
hide all the cords of binding en-
gagement and all the bonds of matri-
mony, or can make them look like
garlands, or cover them with silk and
can persuade him that proposal
isn't hedge at all, but just a bower
of roses that he can slip over with
out any discomfort, and that the wa
Ter on the other side couldn't posi-
bly, be cold, but just warm tears of
affectionate sympathy, and that
there aren't any bitches in which to
be entombed alive, or any traps in
which to be caught, and then can
make him believe that you don't care
whether he takes the leap or not"
HE will go pell NELL on to his
DOOM" finished tragically.