The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-03-14
PROPOSING TO HER.
SOME ODD WAYS IN WHICH THE
TRICK Is DONE.
Sometimes the Proposal Is Precip-
itate; at Others 1t is Precipitated--
Damsei Usually Lands Her Fish
Without Assistance.


Some proposals proposals Of mar
riage, of course we mean--are percipi-
tate; others are precipitated. Some,
that is to say, follow SO quickly upon
an introduction that the beholder
argues the lover must be either very
brave or very great fool. We have
read somewhere of a man who pro-
posed to a girl at a ball (and was
accepted) solely because he liked the,
shape of her back. She accepted him,
we imagine, because she liked the
color of his hair or for some similar
weighty reason. On the other hand,
a proposal too long deferred is
source of doubts, fears, qualms, heart
barnings, quarrellings, and, too often,
of painful disappointments. Miss Will
lSins tells tale of an American wooer
who, after dangling after a girl for
ten weary years, finally took to his
bed and died, confessing with his last
breath the love he had not had the
courage to avow earlier.
In such cases the proposal has to
be precipitated, either by the young
person herself or by some relative
of hers. A shove is sometimes given
by the girls father or brother, more
frequently by her mother or her maid
en- aunt But, more generally. the
young woman becomes ESQ to speak,
her own executioner, and-to mix met
aphors-lands her fish without assist
ance from any one.
Such was the damsel who, having
been asSiduOuSly wooed for some
years by one who gave her no oppor-
tunity of granting the boon he seemed
to covet, left his side one day when
they were out walking together, and
incontinently dived into furniture
shop. Naturally, the young man in
CURED the object of her visit
"Oh, just ran in to choose tho
dining room curtains she replied,
sweetly.
ITO choose the curtains!" he
echoed, turning pale as he spoke. do
you mean that-that you are going to
be married."
She nodded and smiled.
"But-but you cannot mean it," he
calculated.
''Oh, yes''
Then fell long silence.
May / ask" stammered the young
man. when the happy event is to
take placer"
u am not quite sure-the day isn't
fixed
Another long pause.
'.You will tell me when you choose
the day?' he ventured
why, of course" with mild sur
prise. do you think the 10Th of
next month would suit you, George?"
A flood Of light poured into the
young mans mind; and the silence
deepened. But it was the 10Th Of
next month all the same.
Another variety of marriage pro-
posals is the indirect. In these the
prospective bridegroom, for some I'M
discovered reason timid in the pres
ence of his fair one, has recourse to
some ingenious hint or innuendo to
make his meaning apparent. Perhaps
the quaintest of all such eXpedients
hitherto recorded was that of the
Scotch lover who, in the course Of
Sunday afternoons ramble, led his
divinity into the churchyard. Pausing
for minute or two before a space
rallied in with handsome iron ratings
and adorned with numerous head
stones, he drew the attention Of his
companion to the quiet beauty of the
scene and the extensive prospect
which Nature had provided for the &C.
cupants Of the cemetery, had they
been capable of enjoying it. Turning
his gaze upon large marble cross,
and reading with illconcealed relish
the inscriptions underneath, he OBJ
served that the surname Of the de-
ceased was the same as his own.
"a oor folk lie here, Jean,' he
whispered to his blushing companion.
Would you like to lie here, too?'
The answer was not recorded, but
it is believed that the damsel recog-
nized that her too realistic lover had
the root Of the matter in him and
consented to overlook the grim and
grizzly manner in his Wooing.
Again, there have been proposals
which were, on the part of the per-
son chiefly concerned, wholly unin-
territorial. Valuable as a warming is
the tale of the young man, who took
sea voyage for the benefit of his
health, and in the course of the voy-
age met his fate in an unprecedented
manner.
Among the lady passengers was a
girl named Ethel, whom he knew,
but did not particularly revere. He
was aware that she was an egregious
little firt, and had no mind to be
caught in her snares. But she was
pretty and agreeable and he found it
impossible to abjure, from motives Of
prudence, deck promenades on gold
en- afternoon or the delight of shar-
ing with her a secluded corner on
a moonlight night. He was drifting