The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-06

ITS nonsense" remarked, with a
long suffering air, one woman who has
several young daughters. THE New
York girl is not, never has been, and
probably never will be. understood on
the other side. of the water.
Her good fellowship is always put
down as boldness. That she can as
sociate more or less constantly with
a man for weeks at a time, share in
his sports and pleasures and accept
his courtesies without a thought of
love or marriage entering her head is
unbelievable to the average English
woman.
According to the writer of that ar
ticle, to walk out with man unless
a girl contemplates marrying him is
something to be reproved. What if
American girls were expected to mar
ry every man who invited them for
a STROLL As it is, men and women in
good society here may promenade Fifth
avenue or any other thoroughfare in
daylight without being irrevocably COM
mitted to matrimony.
"As for the main question. whether
the American girl makes a speciality of
breaking an engagement of marriage,
say emphatically, No When compared
with the number of engagements made
public every year, the number of an
VI OIOhCh AA6dSClAiClllo 10
astonishingly small.
"In fact, of all the weddings which
have taken place in fashionable circles
so far this winter, 1 can't recall at the
moment one bride who had been en-
gagged before she met her husband that
was to be.
mo: the New York girl may have
plenty of shortcomings, but she is not
jilt"
Said another woman conspicuous in
society:
Long Engagements are quite out of
fashion over here now; have been for a
J good many years. The accepted rule
now is that a young man does not Of
fer himself until he is ready to get
married.
Except in the rural districts, the
Jacob and Rachel idea of courtship is
hopelessly out of date. Nowadays al
most as soon as an engagement is an
nounced preparations are begun for the
wedding. The bride to be has little or
no chance to regret the step taken or to
change her mind.
'In these days the mother who knows
her business, will not allow her daugh-
ter to become formally engaged to any
Young man who has no prospect of be-
ing able to get married for years to
come; that is, unless she means to play
special providence to the pair herself.
In that case the engagement is an
nounced, and the wedding follows in
three months at the outside.
"a young couple may be sincerely at
tached, but until the way TO the altar
is clear no engagement is declared. on
the whole, I think this Is a much more
sensible plan than the old one and apt
to result in fewer broken engagements.
who wants to doom any girl to
waste seven or eight OF her best years
waiting for a man who perhaps al the
end OF them Is very little better off
than he was at the beginning / do not
know just how English women view the
question. but on this side OF the Allan
tic / am safe I'm saying that the long
engagement Is looked upon az the re-
verse Of admirable, not so much per-
haps by the girls az by their mothers.
THE American girl - far from faith-
less. She loves attention and admira-
ton, and having a good many strings
~ her bow. but she is not Ambitious 20
make and break engagements OF mar
riage, She does not do H."