Year: 1875




refused by the demure young English
woman with whom he had fallen desper.
ately in love implored him to try to pro-
pose with the seriousness becoming the
occasion He vowed solemnly that he
would behave as if he were acting as
chief mourner at his fathers funeral. The
demure young lady, in imitation Of many Of
| ercountrywomen, graciously accepted her
wild Irish lover. She, however, confided
to her bosom friend that Edmund had pro-
posed in rather an odd way. He had taken
her after church to see the family vault,
and had there, in sepulchral voice,
asked her if she would like to lay her
bones beside his bones. This he evident
! ly thought was a proper way to fulfill the
promise made to his sister of treating the
matter with becoming seriousness.


1t was happily his first and last effort
| in that direction. There must be many
hundred thousand proposals made annual
! Iy in the United Kingdom, but, as the
conjugations, perhaps we shall have
ceased proposing, except by filling up a
printed form, before all its variations are
exhausted. AT the commencement of each
year the Registrar General can foretcll
with tolerable accuracy how many of Her
! Majesty's subjects will enter into the bonds
of holy matrimony before its conclusion.
A more than usually abundant harvest
might increase the number beyond his
calculations, or war might deprCsS
them; but his average would not be very
far astray But what Registrar General can
| tell the average number of proposals which
are made each year, or how many rejec
tions go TO make one marriage? Indeed
it is by no means easy to define exactly
whatsis and what is not to be called a
proposal. When man says to a girl
with whom he has waltzed several times
that fhe becomes Benedict he hopes his
wife will exactly resemble her and dress
precisely as she does, if the girl answers: ::
" You must ask papa" there may reason
ably be a difference of opinion as to
whether the pretty speech can be twisted
into proposal or not. When, however,
a shy man, having got his mother to plead
his cause, says to the beloved one, with a
tremulous gasp: Won't you do the thing
my mother asked youy" there is no doubt
that, to all intenis and purposes, he has
asked her TO be his wife.


Proposals do not necessarily prcccde
marriage, any more than does marriage
necessarily succeed proposal, and many
a servant maid becomes Il wife without
the young man with whom she has kept
company for 50 many alternate Sundays
ever asking her in plain words. Much of
the romance of love-making has, in fact,
disappeared since the number of marry.
| ing men has become so small in cOmpari-
! son with the number Of women who wish
| to become wives. 4 disagreeable fellow
with twenty thousand year may not be
able to win the particular Dukes daugh-
| ter on whom he has set lis heart, but he
will not be condemned to bachelor eX-
| istence because he cannot find plenty OF
pretty young ladies ready to accept his
name and help him to spend his fortune.


1t is not uncommon to hear mother
detail to her friends how Mr.. Longacrcs
would have proposed to dear May, but
that really, owing TO the most eXtrordl-
nary complication Of circumstances, he
never got an opportunity; and that now
he is married to designing little fortune
hunter, and is miserable. She tells how one
day he got so far as tOpropound a riddle to
May, which, if she had only been able to
guess it, would have certainly led the
wav to a declaration OF his affection. In
deed it really did amount to proposal,
for what could be more plain than saying
"My first is myself, my second is play
thing, my whole you are" Of course ii
n woman is a mans idol he wants to
marry her. But poor May became so ag:'
tated by the way in which Mr.. Longacres
looked at her that, although she had
heard the riddle before, and rccollected
its answer the moment he was gone, the
opportunity was unfortunately gone also
Then the mother goes on to say that she
is quite sure one of Violet's lovers in
tended to come to the point in returning
from the Derby, but he lost so many dozen
pairs of gloves from having backed tht
fayorite that he also lost his temper. He
scarcely spoke to anyone the whole way
home, although she had taken care tc
give him an excellent luncheon and tht
driest Of champagne. The next week he
was ordered abroad, so of course had only
time to say hurried good-by.


Generally speaking, this idea of mer
not being able to find opportunities to tel
their love is arrant nonsense. A man may
sometimes not propose where he fears tt
he refused, but when he wishes for Yes
and is pretty certain he will get it, the
question does not remain unasked, NJ
matter what the difficulties which have t
be overcome. There is no place where
the ardent lover, if such being still
exists, cannot tell his tale. There are NJ
circumstances, serious or gay, which can
not be turned to good account by skill
flu! wooer. True, many men are neither
ardent nor sklllful, and contrive almost tt
insult a woman while paying her th'
highest compliment in their power. Blu
others know exactly when and where Il
press their suit with success.


! A young parson travelling in Palestine
and asked to join a pleasant party
amongst whose numbers he found nota
BILE heiress of passionate piety, did well t.
restrain the expression of the ardor of hi
affection until he found himself lying a
her feet on the slopes of the Mount o
Olives, looking toward Jerusalem. Scarce
ly any girl with "a spark of religion o
poetry in her composition could have salt
No to white tie and a pair of handsom
brown eyes under such well-chosen cir
cumstances.


The officer whose leave had nearly ex
pired without his having been able h
bring pretty little coquette to the poin
of acknowledging that she cared for hin
even little wee bit was not unwise t
7 take her, ostensibly for the purpose O
, sketching, to the top of the church tower
! to lock the staircase door, put the key il