The Washington herald., 1916-01-25
Proposing.
By John p. BARRY.


rage to her husband gave another sign of the
changing times. Not so many years ago such .
statement would not have been possible either in
public or in private. Always. of course jocular
husbands have liked to intimate that they pro-
posed to for the purpose of getting rise" out
of their wives. The joke used to be permissible
because of the very impossibility of the sugges-
ton. 1t represented the most farcical kind Of
humor. In theory it used to be indisputable that
man always proposed and woman either accepted
or rejected, according to her sweet will.
Certain exceptions, however, were admitted,
very interesting because they were so remarkable,
found, rule among great women, like royalty.
Queen Victoria said to have proposed to
Prince Albert. The marvel is that so little should
have been made of the report-the marriage was
known to be so happy. Under the circumstances,
the queen could hardly have done better. Albert
proved to be man of ability and tact. He had
a hard role to play in life and he played it very
we'll. Though he seemed to be mere hgurehead
in public affairs he nevertheless maintained in
fuence over his wife that must have strongly
counted in the shaping of her opinions. During
the civil he was credited with being the power
behind the throne that kept England from openly
declaring for the Confederacy.
In romantic literature the notion that man does
the proposing has long been sacredly entertained
Even those firtatous ladies who lure their victims
INTO matrimony shrink from speaking any words
OF proposal They may lead the to the brink;
they may even give him the impulse that sends
him over; but. almost invariably, at the crucial
he ;s t,l.. Il, II,
himself.
At last, however, Shaw came along. In the
comedy, MAN and Superman." he dared to go to
extreme lengths. He not only made his heroine
frank and open pursuer Of the hero, but he in.
tmated that she represented the normal type, that
in truth, men had always been not the pursuers
but the pursued. He did his work with such hui
NOR he made the heroine in spite of all her tricks
so attractive that he delighted even the women in
his audiences. af-as-
At that time | asked lady, whose charm did
not depend merely her unquestonable beauty
and whose humor had kept her from being spoiled
by admiration, if she thought there was anything
in Shaws idea. She smiled down on me from
heights of understanding. "The only trouble about
it." she said "is that it's so old. We women have
always known about it. It's strange that it should
have taken a man-writer long to get around to
it and to put it into dramatic form. 1t only shows
how much literature has lost by not encouraging
|women-writers." Dc
"But literature has encouraged women-w writers, /"
l insisted. "They arc writing all over the place
They're taking the bread out of our mouths"
"Oh, but they're only just beginning. They're
still timid. They restrained by the conven-
tons And they don't dare to tell all they know
Human life from the feminine point of view hasn't
literature. When it does we shall have some start,
ling revelations"
"Wil the revelations be pleasing 10 mcn?" l
asked
"Oh, not at all"
Since hearing of that brave suffragettc's revea-
tIons have spoken to another lady this divert
ing subject. She, too, is attractive personally and
wise in experience "If women really take up pro-
posing seriously and thoroughly" l said, what is
likely to happen'"
"Well, in the first place." she replied they will
show men how it ought to be done Though men
have been going through the form of proposing
well. Ask any married woman, happy or unhappy
if she was satisfied with the way she was proposed
to and, if she's honest she'll tell you that she
bitterly disappointed"
Does her disappointment influence her de-
cision,'
mot always. She has to make some allowance
for mans inherent defects, you know"
If that suffrage leader starts new fashion, rob-
bing of their theoretical prerogative it is likely
ito have far-reaching consequences Old bachelors
will be regarded as old maids used to be, before
the period of the alleged feminine revolt against
marriage and the advent of the bach elor woman
Some Of them will be suspected of never having
had offer. Instead of being objects Of smother
ed indignation, they will be objects OF pity To
escape this indignty some of them may be reduced
to angling for offers and to accepting offers that
they don't really care for. And for plays, there
will be many playwrights who will 60 much farther
than Shaw dared to go. We shall have some
new types of love scenes.
Meanwhile, will the matrimonial situation really
be affected? Won't the relation between women
and men be virtually the same? Beneath the con-
ventons don't marriageable women and men un-
derstand each other fairly well now? Most pcopIe