Personal Advertisements in America.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 192, 15 July 1873, Page 7

Personal Advertisements in America.

What strange advertisements are found at | times in the “personal” column of a newspaper ! What pathetic appeals to the wanderer to return to his sorrowing mother and sister! But at the same time what a blessing is that column to a poor heart-broken fellow, whose sweetheart’s “ old man” is averse to any correspondence taking place between his daughter and her ‘ ‘ young man”! Look at such an advertisement as this, which appeared in a recent issue of the New York Herald: — “ Charley. P. is going to Brooklyn at 6. Expect you at back gate at 7. Come. —L.” Can anybody possessed of the least spark of common sense doubt that P;, who-ia going to Brooklyn, is L.’s papa? L.’s papa, it is quite clear, does not desire Charley poking about his back gate, but L. is rather too deep for him, and after finding that her papa intends going to Brooklyn at 6 o’clock, she inserts the advertisement in order that Charley may he on the look-out and “ embrace the opportunity,”—and the young lady also, it may be expected. The following, taken from the Herald of February 27, Is rather neat in its way :—“ Pet,—Strike for life, if you have not forgotten the lane, and there still remain pleasant memories of the past. Let me know where to find you.— Frank.” That is certainly a very curious advertisement. Whatever can Frank mean by asking his pet to strike for life if she has not forgotten the lane ? Does he mean that if she has forgotten the lane she is not expected to strike for life ? There is a mystery about tbat message that nobody but Frank can unravel. The next item in the personal column of the paper referred to above is as follows:—“Blonde,—At Park and Tilford; must have misunderstood yon.—H.” Just so. The “ Blonde” was no doubt bothered i by H., and, in order to get rid of him, promised to meet him at a certain place, but never intended to do so. Of course she did not go to the appointed spot, and consequently H. fancies he must have misunderstood her. He was completely sold. Nobody cau'peruse the following without pain: —“ David, come home at once. Father, and mother were drowned on Thursday, whilst crossing the river. Their bodies have not been found. lam left alone. Your sister Ellen.” Hardly a day passes that the N. Y. Herald does not contain some such advertisement as this. It has been well said that a novelist might write a complete history from the “personals.”