River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-04-14
WHEN MAN
PROP OS T. s
By HELEN ROWLAND
EEno 1 LOOK perfectly calm?" in


tuck the laprobe around the dashboard.
Because" she went on, beginning to
take off her gloves, and then, as she
recollected herself, nervously drawing
them on again, though you might not
suspect it, I'm-a 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.
ooh, you needn't said Polly. 1T was
only Bobby Paddington."
/ started. The check rein slipped
from my fingers, and 1 let the whip fall
with thud into the snow.
why, what's the matter" asked
Polly. at isn't polite to be surprised
when girl gets proposed to. 1t looks 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 1 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 a privilege which
a woman can take whenever she likes.
It's like the kiss under the mistletoe, en-
tirely a 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 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."
cor womanliness,' | declared.
"Or knowledge of men," said Polly.
"Or breeding"
"Or experience"
81 wonder" said I, eff 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 proposal. The difference be-
tween proposing herself and making a
man propose to her is the difference be-
tween using a whip and spur. You don't
have to 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
a whip, but he minds spur.
"Oh, I see," said 1, 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 tangle-or he
may get cold water dousing."
"Or he fancies there might be ditch
somewhere"
cor a trap" suggested, gently.
Exactly" said Polly, land that is
why it 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
"It's making somebody think some
thing that isn't So"
Making him think that there isn't
cold water on the other side?" / in
quired.
yes, or a 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 q 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 to 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,
if it was brick wall-and always land
on their feet. There is a Divine Proyi-
dence that protects Bobby"
I'm very sure you're very uncompli-
mentary," said Polly. "And, besides,
Bobby Paddington landed right in the
ice-cold water this time. refused him
as hard as could"
l looked down at the demure little
bundle of fur beside me, with one curl
and nose sticking out of the big COL
lar.
did you do it for my sake, Polly?" I
asked softly.
No" 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?" 1 suggested.
"Oh, wel1-that I could-that he
should mean Oh, don't you under
stand, Mr.. Heavyfeather-by IL O'Clock
finished refusing him at five minutes of
while you were waltzing with"
"dow do you know with whom l was
waltzing?'
"Oh, only had to keep one eye and an
ear on Bobby-and not my heart" said
Polly, sweetly.
l melted beneath Polly's smile. as the
snow beneath the sun.
Polly" said l, tell me how you man
aged the mental suggestion in Bobby's
case-how you manage it anyhow"