A BACHELOR Of EXPERIENCE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 11, 23 December 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

A BACHELOR Of EXPERIENCE.

MISTLETOE AND OTHER CHRISTMAS SUBJECTS.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS to you, my dear girls, and many of them. May Chriatmastide bring you all you want, and may Mr. Right find you lingering beneath the mistletoe with that sort of “didn’t-know-it-was-there’’ sort of expression which you are, most ol you, so well able to assume. The last portion of the last sentence suggests the question : Don’t you think that you girls are far more prone to little deceptions than we men ? 1 do. I have never seen a man standing beneath a bunch of the mystic -white berries trying to look ns though he were not there. If a man does t.-d•>- '•;> such a position he does it opei with a genial smile on bis L.-v though to say, “Come Eoi.g here’s a chance for you, ny ntj,.e dears•” I am glad to say that 1 e n.-ver acted in this way myself, fol win r, r f have seen it done it has been sheer waste of time on the man’s part, and of opportunity on the part of Tile ladies present. Certainly once I sat down in a. comfortable armchair to read a book and I did not know that there was a mistletoe Lough hanging above until a very pretty girl entered the room, and—well, after all, she was my sister. Did you say you didn't think? No, more did I, but that’s what she said r.he’d ho to me later on. Ah, me! Christmastide is responsible for more proposals than any other time of tho year, nt least I believe that such is the delightful case. If a man in love cannot screw him. 1 1 If up to the proposing point during the festive Ynletide season he must be a poor thing. Look at tho opportunities he has, even apart from tho immemorial rites of the mistletoe bough handed down to us from our Druidical forefathers, upon whose ashes bo blessings and peace. Tho selection of a Christmas present gives Humphrey a splendid chance of giving at least n hint of tho heart affection induced by tho beauty and charm of Hilda. I do not moan that be could give anything costly, but one book with an appropriate title can he made to speak volumes, or a carefully ebos-en song might bo as effective as and more comfortable, and much safer than serenading her al! night in th.? snow. Then, agah, Hd-’.. i.i’l ’m full -f

sympathy at this season of goodwill, i her tender heart will be attuned ro I love. So let Humphrey take his heart, i I mean his courage, iu both hands and ! lay it, I mean, his heart, at her dainty i feet. She will not trample upon it —• ■ liis heart—at Christmasticlc; even if he I does not want it she will at worst giro ! it a gentle kick into the corner. And I :f she should have been longing for it. I ah, then!—but I dare say all of you know better than me what she would I do then. I Being accepted at Y’ulctide has more j than one advantage. Take the more i prosaic side of the affair, breaking the * V to papa. What British father • l.osp heart is in th? right (dace i b th the- fountain-pc-u in’- the left . a , ?oek»4 - oj- ids. wafetcoafs—- could i any nay tv- Humphrey on ditixtinas " r ’’~ ’ -.J p gurg’e&eic." ? 1 i ’ J i- " ’iik s r- -y, m‘ that T have been too vfigu. of Cbustimst.de and Yuk 1L p’ir \ must propose either on < u.v mas Eve or on Christmas Dav. for it -K on Christmas Day itself that the i trr view with Hilda’s daddf niust lie sought. On the following ■ ' .’.-'Adv might be dyspeptic. Remember, too. tjn.t .- C - *« D y engagement imposes, oi ,ii>, .’ ’ » ..lose, a certain amount of unselfishness on tho part of the couple concerned. Happy Humphrey and Hilda must not monopolise each other to the extent of spoiling the enjoyment of tho rest of the house-party. Christmas Day is for general rejoicing; sociability :-s the keynote, and to spoil its harmony is not right. And Hilda is finite clever enough to find or make little opportunities for handclasps, tender words, ! and a peep or two at the white berries j without interfering with the and as likely as not she will make Humphrey feel how clever he >=. One and all you have fur a happy Ch and of nice bine neck of my geniality on Christmas Your firm and