The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-15
POVERTY NO BAR TO
 PROPOSAL TO GIRL
Rx IRENE WESTON

Perhaps there is no point in regard to love and marriage on which all men are more than agreed than that no man mas any right to ask @ woman to marry him until he is in a position to support her in a fitting manner.
 That they by no means so universally live up to the belief is, of course, beside the question.
 There are other masculine theories more honored in the breach than in the op- servance. and with which it Is well to accept the ancient scrap of advice, and do as they say, not as they do.'
 But putting aside such quaint little ln- constituencies, Is it a not-to-be-quarreieo- with fact that a man must not ask the girl he loves to marry him until the way to fortune is straight before him?
 If the asking means the suggestion of an immediate marriage, with reck- less disregard as to how the claims or the butcher and baker are to be met. and infinitely less thought given to future habitation than that bestowed by the birds in the spring, who do build a nest. why then, is 1t absolutely certain that the answer should not be decided in the negative?
 When. however, only marriage in the dim and distant future is contemplated, if is by no means so certain that lover should refrain from asking the question which alone can assure bis lady love be- yond doubt as to his exact wishes and intentions.
 of course. milord- -high-fown ideas will prate glibly of leaving the maid of his heart free" will almost convince himself that he is nobly stand- ing aside and permitting her to take her choice of other and richer suitors
 Unfortunately, feminine perceptions. particularly on the subject of love and marriage, are exceedingly keen, and 1t is probable that long before the gentle man grasped that he was in the tolls of Master Dan Cupid, the lady was keen ly awake to the situation and quietly busy either encouraging or discouragng it.
 This being so, makes it surely less ad- visable that silence on the subject should always be maintained
 It is true that very long engagements are by no means altogether desirable; but between an engagement lasting even for years and the same period of miser- able uncertainty, what woman but would choose the former?
 Only the curious blindness of man out side his own particular beliefs could com init the masculine half of creation to inn agine itself particularly noble simply by refraining from asking: ''Will you marry
  coveted heart.
 Unless she is asked the momentous question, a girl is never comfortably pos itive as to her right to love the man she does love. That she Is aware of his love for herself is not enough. More than anything in the world she desires to know beyond d doubt that he has chosen her from all the other women in existence.
 Let her be assured of this and she will be content to cheerfullly wait until the ship comes home that makes a wedding possible. Leave the question unasked and she still waits--if she loves-but waits niserably, filled with the doubts and fears that ever beset the path of love.
 Ttere Is yet another aspect to the case, which seems to prove It is well for a lover to ask for what he wants, even although the time for granting be perforce far away in the future
 In their anxiety to De generous, men forget that woman adores to be gem erous also. Once let her get into her head that man has so little belief in the reality of her love that he is waiting until he can tempt her into becoming his wife with all sorts of worldly advantages let her once believe that and he may bid good-by to all chances of winning her.
 Should man ask a girl to marry him before he is in position to support wife? Indeed yes, when he has permit ted her to see he loves her. No matter how long the waiting, both will be the happier for the question being asked end answered.