The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-28
MOTHERS ADVICE
 ON ENGAGEMENTS Summer Affairs Are Usually
 Unsuccessful SLEEP OVER YOUR ANSWER Matron Advises the Summer Girl to Defer Her Engagement
 Until She Is Back in
 Town.
From the New York Sun.

her daughter for the summer addressed her thus:
 Now mind, Katharine. I will under no circumstances. countenance a sum mer engagement. I don't care who the man is nor how much in love with him you are nor how desperately in love with you he says he Is, you must refuse to give a final answer till we are back in town. Otherwise I shall turn down his application altogether and get your father to send him about his business I am not going to have a repetition of Lottie Smiths experience in your case if I can help it."
 "Lottle was a silly" the daughter interjected
 50 are the majority of girls with a summer love affair on hand" the moth CT returned.
 Lottie's Experience. Lottie Smiths experience was as fol- lows: She was visiting a girl friend wh ose mother owned a fine house at q watering place where there was con stant round of entertaining day and night. A young man Just graduated from college was visiting the son of the family also just graduated.
 He was good looking, he appeared to be well bred. and everybody took him at his face value without inquiring particularly as to his antecedents or prospects. He was visiting the Blanks, and that was enough.
 It was more than enough for Miss Smith, who was in her first season and had not been properly warned by her elders. When the man made love to her she encouraged him to an extent which made him propose marriage aft CT an acquaintance of five weeks. She accepted him without reservations, agreeing to keep the matter secret till the end of her visit, In three weeks.
 By the end of that time thanks to his uninterrupted opportunities to see the girl, she was so much in love that when her father after Investigating the young mans prospects put his foot down firmly and said ''No," she put down her foot with equal firmness and | announced that if she were not allowed to marry the man of her choice at home she would run away and marry him. As she Is an only daughter she had her way, the marriage taking place in No vember.
 Before the New Year the bride was wretchedly unhappy, having discovered what her father had suspected, that the young man was idle, dissolute in his habits and inclined to i'll treat his young wife, for whom he seemed to care very little.
 Had the girl refused to become en- gagged till after her return home the marriage would probably never have taken place." the narrator concluded with side glance at her daughter. Had she met the young man in town? Certainly not. It would not have been the same thing at all
 "To begin with, he would have had fewer chances of meeting her. Tnen she would have been apt to wonder what his occupation was or what pro- fession or business he intended to fol- low, or if she herself was not curious on these points her mother would sure ly be curious, provided she found the youth dangling around her daughter.
 Idle Young Men.
 "In the city idle young men, unless they happen to be sons of millionaires are locked upon with dlsfavor. while at a watering place all men pass mus ter on the score of idleness because It means simply a respite from bus mess. At summer resort an ordinarily enterprising young man can see more oe girl in one week than he could man age in couple of months in town. and under more romantic circumstances at that.
 q sometimes think that the adaqe about mischief and idle hands Is pa rticu larly apropos of summer love mak ing. l once overheard a man declare that, given moonlight night within slsht or the sea, an orchestra playing sentimental ditties and a woman in n chs'ir beside him and he was bound to @ina--e @ love to that woman no matter now cld or how homely she mgiht be. he si ply couldn't resist the combina ton, and yet he is nearing middle age and when In town is the least sentimen- tai of men and one who has not the least intention of getting married.
 Tn the case of younger men and women, romantic walks and drives and moonlight nights. with piazza tete-a-tetes thrown in, are answerable for no end of engagements, which never would have taAen place had the two met only in town
 For instance, there was young Smith nice fellow, liked by all the girls ana who vas so hard worked in a broker's office that in spite of the invitations poured on him in winter he seldom attended an entertainment and never made social calls. He liked the gym nasium better and he really neded the exercise he got there
 He hasn't much money, as yet but he is in the line of succession to get a lot, and he Is sure, too to make money on his own account. Therefore he Is. or was considered among the eligibles by mothers with marriageable daugh- ters.
 Came Back Engaged.
 But he showed no great liking for the society of young women, and for three summers in succession spent his months vacation camping at some out of the way place with some other men. Last summer. to please his mother. he broke his rule and agreed to spend his vacation with her at a summer resort. The result? He came back engaged. They were married this spring.
 Yes, the match promises to be happy Nevertheless the girl would have shown better taste, to say nothing of judgment, had stt made him wait for her answer till she got back to town in the fall. Four weeks Is very short courtship. "There are very many young women, and their number Is increasing fast, am sorry tt. say, who pride themselves on be- coming engaged before the summer is over in the quickest time possible, in fact, after reaching a summer resort. Sometimes this engagement Is broken soon sfterward, but oftener it is kept